Chapter 15
"Well, please hurry back anyway," Makino said happily, though her expression clearly stated otherwise."Oh, and please let us know beforehand so that we can gather enough crackers to cover your next stay," she added as Garp tilted his head back to finish the bag.
"I gotta say, anyone who can stand up to Garp like that has nerves of steel," Zoro said, his eyebrows raised impressed. "And she seems willing to put up with Luffy, so that only adds to it."
Robin smiled and laughed slightly, "Well, he was cute…"
Garp just laughed even harder as he waved goodbye. The sun had all but fallen on the horizon and the bright orange of the sunset had given way to the deep purples and blues of night.
"So, he's just leaving him?" Nami asked sardonically. "With no money or clothes or anything?"
"I'd just be happy with him gone," Usopp whispered as Makino took Luffy upstairs where so that she could clean him up.
"He's getting pretty harsh with his training isn't he?" Makino asked in a kind voice, looking sadly at his bleeding hands. "But it looks like you'll be staying with me again tonight huh?"
"I really like her!" Chopper said at once as Luffy smiled at her. "She seems really nice!"
"Oh, look at you," she said, rubbing some of the dirt off his cheek, "You're a mess. Well, I was thinking about taking a bath anyway, why don't you take one with me?"
"WHAT?!" Sanji cried out, hearts in his eyes. "Oh, I'm all for it! Thank you Luffy for remembering this!"
"You aren't going to watch!" Nami yelled, punching him hard.
"Nami-swwwwaaaaannnn…" he croaked out as he hit the ground with a bloody nose. Though it was hard to tell if it was from the punch or his own thoughts.
"Yohohoho, I wonder what color panties she has," Brook asked as he went off to follow closely behind, only to have Nami also ended up knocking him out. She didn't know who this woman was, but she at least deserved some privacy.
*Later*
"Come on, Nami!" Usopp begged as they followed Makino and Luffy to a small living area above the bar, which was obvious where Makino lived. They watched as she had gathered up some clothes and a first-aid kit before leading Luffy to a small bathhouse back downstairs. "It's just a memory! It's not like we're spying on them for real!"
"I don't care," she snapped, standing in front of the doorway with an angry look at them. Sanji, Usopp, Brook, and Franky were all there, trying to figure out some way to get passed Nami as Zoro and Chopper stood back, clearly not interested in looking. "No one in going in!" Nami yelled at them. "And anyone who tries deals with me!"
Robin giggled as she used her powers out of curiosity to listen to what was going on in there.
"Makino?" Luffy's voice asked as the sound of water splashed. "Why does grandpa want me to be a marine so badly?"
"That is a good question," she heard Makino answer. "Well, he wants you to be able to help people and to protect them from pirates."
"But I wanna be a pirate," Luffy said as a scrubbing sound came next. "Does that make me bad?"
"No," she laughed good-naturedly. "I don't think you can be bad if you tried, Luffy. But there are some really bad pirates in the world, so that's why we have the marines do their best to protect us from them. But I'm sure there are still some good pirates in the world."
"I wanna be a good pirate!" Luffy exclaimed, splashing some water and laughing. "I wanna go on adventures and see the world! Makino do you think I can? Huh?"
Makino giggled as she responded, "Yes, I'm sure you will someday. But I think it would be best not to tell Garp-san that."
"I'm going to be a pirate even if Grandpa says no!" Luffy declared, the loudest splash yet came and Makino laughed as the water went everywhere.
"I know," she giggled at him. "You're not the type of person who gives up their dreams easily. I'm sure that you'll be out there on the seas someday. But if you did, what would you do?"
"I'd ah… I'd…" Luffy's voice trailed off as he thought that over. "I don't know yet. I know I want to be a pirate but…?"
Robin could tell that Makino was smiling as she heard her getting out of the water. "It's ok, you don't need to decide what you want yet. You've got a long time to figure that out before you leave. But until you do, this'll be our secret ok?"
Robin giggled again as some of the boys fought with Nami, trying to get a peek inside, but soon, Makino and Luffy came back out, both of them dressed and—in Luffy's case—bandaged up. Luffy was already yawning tiredly as Makino led him to a small room in the house where a bed was already made up.
She lay him down on the bed and in a motherly way, she ran her hand through his hair before finally closed the curtains just as the moon was coming up. She closed the door quietly behind her and they heard her go back downstairs to attend to her bar again.
"That's so sweet," Nami sighed. "She's just like a mother to him…"
"But who is she?" Franky asked. "Did Luffy ever mention her to you guys?"
"Now that you mention it, Luffy doesn't talk much about his past now does he?" Zoro asked as Luffy's eyes began to close.
"None of us do," Robin spoke up, and they all looked at each other. Yeah, none of them liked to mention their pasts, even to each other. They prefer to just live through each day having fun and enjoying each other's company. They all knew enough about each other that they didn't need to know about their pasts.
But now… they just witness a small part of Luffy's childhood. His grandfather's idea of 'training' would kill a normal person, while a woman with a kind heart took care of him afterwards.
"What's happening now?" Brook asked as everything slowly faded away around them.
"I think Luffy's falling asleep," Sanji said, his heart still broken to the idea of never being able to see Makino bathing. Really, what good were memories when you couldn't see anything worth seeing?
But before the room completely disappeared around them, they could just make out a voice shouting out through the night, "Pirates! A pirate ship is docking!"
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