7 Chapter 7

Disclaimer: If you recognise it, surprise, I don't on it.

Chapter 4– Garp.

Edited: 08/03/2023

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Holding the mop in both my hands, I continue to swish it back and forth along the upper deck of Marine Vice-Admiral Garp's ship. I make sure to clean up every spot in my sight before dipping the mop back into the bucket, twirling it around to get it clean, and pulling it back out to continue the process. Marines are lounging around the ship, just talking or drinking while wiping down their blades and checking the gunpowder in their guns.

All the while, I am here alone, working myself along the length of the ship and cleaning every single inch of this enormous ship. Some of the marines are looking at me in pity. Still, I ignore them and continue with my work. I asked for this after all, so I don't need their sympathy, and I certainly don't need their help, but for the life of me, I still don't understand why I am cleaning up this goddamn ship.

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"HAAAH!?"

Garp's mouth opens wide as he lets out his confusion, and Bogard in the back remains stoic, calmly smoking the cigarette between his lips. The medic who was attending to my broken hand has finally finished bandaging my hand and has put a cast around it, and he sees that this situation is going to get a lot more complicated in a few seconds. So he quickly packs away his tools and makes a tactical retreat towards his comrades on the ship, taking advantage of the fact that Garp is still stunned. Bogard just doesn't seem to really care.

The sound has stopped escaping from Garp's mouth, and his mouth is now closed as he looks me up and down again. Still, I ignore him for the moment and instead look down at my right hand, which is now fully covered by my new cast. I am not feeling much pain from the thing right now compared to earlier. Still, I am sure that is because the doctor gave me something to numb the pain for now, and the pain is not as sudden and piercing as it was when I discovered it.

"Hmm, okay. How old are you, kid?" Garp exits his musing and directs this question at me. I am not about to get told that I am too young and that I will have to wait until I am like twelve until I can receive his training, am I?

"I am 7 years old, but that doesn't mean anything. I am ready to train hard, and I am willing to give it my all, rain or shine, no matter the pain or discomfort. I want to be strong, as strong as you are." So I say with conviction in my voice, I want this man to understand that I am willing to go the distance, and I am going to break records while doing so. Garp crosses his arms and puts on a stern face. Then, out of nowhere, his upper body suddenly bows down by 90 degrees, and his legs remain straight as he shoves his face directly into mine and looks me dead in the eye.

The situation is made even more daunting when I can see his eyes only peeking out from underneath his dog hat, and my mind seems to be playing tricks on me as I can hear his hat begin to growl at me and see it bare its fangs at me. "And why is that, hmm? Why do you seek such strength? What reason could a small boy on a peaceful island like this possibly have to want to gain such power? With such strength, strength as great as mine, what would you plan to do?"

I find myself shaking under his burning gaze. My knees are knocking together as it takes all of my strength to remain standing under this older man's insanely powerful pressure that he is exerting. I gulp hard. I can feel myself close to passing out from the sheer intensity pouring from this man, and I can feel my eyes begin to roll into the back of my head.

My legs lose their footing as I fall back towards the ground, but as I go down. My eyes are moving into my skull. Then, finally, I catch a glimpse of the older adult's face again. From this angle, I can see the grin hidden within the shadows of his mask, but it is fast disappearing, and I can see his eyes slowly filling with disappointment.

My leg moves backwards and skids against the ground to stop my momentum. I clench my fists hard as I move myself back forward and scream with all my might. "I WANT TO EXPLORE THIS WORLD AND SEE WHAT IT HAS TO OFFER! I WANT TO TRAVEL ALL OVER THE WORLD AND MEET ALL SORTS OF PEOPLE AND LEARN ABOUT THEIR CULTURES! I WANT TO BECOME SOMEONE WHO IS WORTH A DAMN!! I WANT TO BECOME THE STRONGEST MAN IN THE WORLD!!!"

"BWAHAHA. The strongest man in the world, you say? BWAHAHAHA. You are surely going to have your work cut out for you. after all, to be the strongest man in the world, you have to be capable of destroying the whole world." Garp lets loose a loud laugh at my words, and I completely forget about how I felt a minute ago because I now feel indignant that this man is laughing at my goals again.

Still, when he mentions destroying the world, I get worried that he will get the wrong impression of me and not train me." So I-I only said, I just want to be the strongest man in the world. I never said anything about destroying the world. I would never want to do that, putting aside how impossible it is to do that. It is impossible... It, it is impossible, right?"

Garp stops his laughing and looks down at me once more with a blank expression on his face, and I don't know if I am imagining it or not. Still, I see the corners of his lips begin to tilt up to form a slight, nearly imperceptible smile, but there is no way right. This man either bellows his enjoyment or picks his nose with a lazy expression on his face, and as far as I have seen, there is no in-between.

Then, before I can pay any more attention to his face, he spins around. He walks back to his men who are by the ship, he walks along with Bogard, quickly falling into line behind him, and I quickly begin to walk after them, but they are so big and their legs so long that I have to jog to keep pace with them. "Oi, you guys. One of you idiots, quickly throw me a broomstick."

In reply to his words, a barrage of broomsticks begins to fly off of the ship, all heading straight towards us on the dock. Hundreds of broomsticks that might as well be harpoons speed through the air towards us at intense speed, and I quickly crouch down and put my arms over my head to protect myself. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I spot Bogard still calmly standing there with a newly lit cigarette burning in his mouth.

Next to him, Garp is standing still with his hand in his pockets. His dog mask covers his face ignoring the broomsticks that are launching in the air towards us. I know I should be scared as all those broomsticks are definitely going to do some severe damage to the little seven-year-old boy that is me, but seeming both of them stood there as cool as ice, I can't help but feel safe as if there is no need to panic.

"I thought I only asked for one of you dumbasses to throw me a broomstick, so then why-" Out of nowhere, Garp's right leg moves as if fully independent from his body and swings up through the air with his hands still inside his pockets. "- ARE ALL OF YOU THROWING A BROOMSTICK!? YOU IDIOTS, IT SEEMS THAT ALL OF YOU NEED MORE TRAINING!!" An immeasurable gust of wind erupts as Garp's right leg sweeps from right to left through the air, and all of the broomstick's momentum stops in mid-air, and they just stay there for a moment before they begin to move again.

Only this time, they begin to go back from whence they came. It is like time has reversed as the broomsticks don't even change their position and begin to move backwards, following the trajectory that they were launched at and with even more force than they were thrown. I weather the wind blowing against my face and raise an arm to block some of the gusts to watch the spectacular sight of the broomsticks arcing back through the air going back along their exact path, and finally diving back down onto the ship and out of my sight.

"Aggh"

"My finger!"

"My head!"

"AGGH, MY ASS!! HOW DID IT EVEN GET THROUGH MY PANTS!!?"

"Hm, serves them right. These stupid fledglings, how hard is it to follow orders?" Garp is standing ramrod straight with his left leg like a tree trunk rooted into the ground and his body perfectly perpendicular to the ground with his hands still in his pocket. Yet, his right leg is high in the sky above his own head, and it remains there but does not affect his balance in the least.

After a moment, he brings it back down to the ground, but as he does so, I realise something that was staring me in the eyes this whole time, his knee is not bent at all, and it, in fact, never bent even when he kicked out at the air, he simply moved his leg up into the air and now he is moving it back down, he must have an absurd amount of strength and control over his own body to perform such a feat.

"Garp, I don't think you have any right to say that. We are supposed to be at Marine Headquarters by now, but we have not even left the East Blue." Bogard deadpans while breathing out the smoke from his cigarette. he then breathes in another puff and- Wait, what? His cigarette is still lit, but I am standing right next to him.

Those intense winds hit us both, so how hasn't his cigarette blown out when we were both buffeted by the side effect of Garp's overwhelming kick? Bogard's hands are still in his pocket as well, so he can't have put his hands around it to protect the cigarette, as I would have noticed that. So how?

"That is different, Bogard. These idiots tried to fulfil orders and messed it up while I have received orders and completely ignored them, completely different. Those stupid old fogies think they can just call me, and I will come running, fat chance. They tried to limit my time with my cute little grandson. Did you see him, Bogard? He will grow to be a strong Marine and join his grandpa in the Marines and take over my position so that I can retire and enjoy life and eat all the crackers I want and drink as much as I want." Aren't marines supposed to be upstanding and moral? Why is this guy the complete opposite?

"I was only able to raise him till he was six, and now I have to go back because of those bastards. Even worse, I had to leave him in a bar. I know Makino is a good girl and the only one in the village who will be able to handle him, but a bar is not a suitable environment for a child. So I am going to annoy Sengoku for this." But, unfortunately, Garp gets lost in his rant about his higher-ups and his grandson, who I pity for having to be raised by this ham-handed beast of a man. If that kid is anything like his grandfather, then I don't want to meet him. Just the image of a little hyper-energetic Garp running around all over the place is terrifying.