00009. Meeting Bogard.

A few days passed quickly as the boys adjusted to their new training method. It was a lot more grueling than before and just their morning warm up routine left them drained. It didn't help that Garp was with them, forcing each of them to push a little harder each time till they collapsed.

They ended up only spending half the day using the harness before they took it off and did more normal types of training. Also the weights that Garp brought were all too heavy for anyone to currently use. He said they should be able to use the weights, once they could last a whole day in the harness. So the weights, along with the extra harnesses and level stones were stored away at Makino's for now.

It was early in the morning on the fourth day as a navy ship pulled into dock. After the gang plank landed on the dock. A man wearing a navy coat draped over his beige suit and matching hat. The brim of his hat was low which casted a shadow over his eyes as he stepped off the ship onto the gang plank.

As he stepped onto the dock itself, he glanced around at the quiet little village that had yet to wake up. Before the man turned his head in one direction and smiled a tiny bit as he felt a familiar presence moving towards him.

A few moments later, Garp landed in front of him and said, "Thanks for coming, Bogard."

"You didn't leave me any room to refuse."

Garp laughed as he patted the man's shoulder as he said, "Don't worry, it'll be fun."

"That's what I'm afraid of…" Bogard said with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

Garp laughed again before he asked, "Where's the weapon rack?"

Bogard pointed to where some marines were hoisting something from below the deck. Garp jumped onto the deck, reached up and easily lifted the weapon rack up. He glanced at one of the sailors and said, "Unhook it, I'll take it from here."

After it was unhooked, Garp jumped down from the ship while he carried the weapon rack on one of his shoulders. He glanced at Bogard and said, "Follow me."

As they started walking into the quiet village Bogard asked, "So why did you ask me to come here anyways?"

"I needed someone good with weapons to help train my grandsons."

Bogard stopped in his tracks as he looked at Garps back. Garp glanced over his shoulder as he asked, "What's wrong?"

"You! You want me to train some little kids?"

Garp waved it off as he said, "Trust me, it'll be fun."

"You owe me a barrel of my favorite wine." Bogard said before he started walking again.

"I'll get one for you after my vacation is over." Garp said with a laugh.

After walking through town, Garp led Bogard to the back of a bar. Behind the bar was a small house along with what looked like a large storeroom. Garp set the weapon rack down by the storeroom as he said, "Wait here, I'll go get my grandsons. It's about time they start their morning training."

Garp walked inside the little house and came back a few minutes later with the boys. Each one still looked half asleep as Garp had them line up in front of Bogard. Garp pointed at Bogard as he said, "This is Bogard. He's here to teach you about weapons and the proper techniques to use them."

"Bogard, these are my grandsons, Ace, Sabo, Luffy and Marcus." Garp said as he pointed at each boy.

Each boy greeted Bogard with a yawn before Garp said, "Now get suited up and do your warm up routine."

The boys grumbled as they walked into the store house. A few minutes later they all slowly walked out in their training harness before they started to slowly jog towards the coast.

After they left Bogard turned to Garp with a serious look as he asked, "Aren't those the defective Rokushiki training harnesses Dr. Vegapunk made for navy HQ?"

"Yup."

"Why in the hell do you have them and why are you letting your grandsons use them?"

Garp started to pick his nose as he said, "They're great for physical training."

Bogard let out a sigh as he said, "But they're defective, you saw what happened to the people who used them! Those things crippled grown men, Garp. Yet you think letting your grandkids use them is a good idea?!?"

Garp pulled his finger out of his nose and waved off Bogard's comment as he said, "I used them at the max level and I was fine. That means my grandkids will be fine too."

"Your logic doesn't make any sense… I… You know what? Go ahead, I don't care if you wanna cripple your grandkids… But that also doesn't explain why you even have them in the first place. I thought they were sent back to Vegapunk for disposal?"

Garp patted Bogard on the shoulder as he said, "They were, but when I took them to Vegapunk. I told him I wanted to use them for training my grandkids. He agreed, but only gave them to me after he adjusted them."

Bogard let out a relieved sigh before he glared at Garp and said, "So he fixed them?! Just tell me that first, next time!"

Garp laughed as he shrugged and said, "Eh, he never told me they were fixed. Actually I think he said they were a failure for Rokushiki training and he removed that function of the harness."

"Then they are fixed. It was the Rokushiki training functions that crippled people. The weight and movement resistance functions passed all tests." Bogard said as he glanced towards the place the boys ran off to.

"Exactly. So don't worry about it."

Bogard shook his head before he said, "Shouldn't you bring those harnesses back to navy HQ?"

Garp shrugged as he said, "They were sent for disposal. As far as I'm concerned they're disposed of."

Bogard lightly shook his head as he mumbled to himself, "It's Garp, thinking about it will only cause a headache."

Garp laughed before he said, "Come on, I'll introduce you to Makino. She's making breakfast right now."

After being introduced to Makino and showing Bogard where he could stay for the month. Garp and Bogard talked with Makino until the boys came back from their workout. After breakfast they headed outside so Bogard could start on their weapons training.

Bogard opened up the weapons training rack and said, "Since today is the first day of training, I want each of you to find a weapon you're comfortable with."

"But I don't want a weapon, I want my punch to be as powerful as a pistol!" Luffy said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Marcus rubbed the bridge of his nose as he said, "Here we go again."

Bogard regarded Luffy for a few moments before he said, "That's an admirable goal to have. You know your grandfather is the same way. He only likes to use his fists to fight."

Bogard pulled out his sword as he asked, "But tell me, how would you fight someone using a sword. When you only have your fists to rely on?"

Luffy scratched his head as he said, "I would punch them."

"Show me then. Come try to punch me." Bogard said as he waved for Luffy to come towards him.

Luffy took a stance and started to move towards Bogard. As soon as Luffy was in range, Bogard moved his sword down and used the side of it to hit one of Luffy's arms as he said, "If this was a real fight, you would have lost that arm."

Luffy pouted as he said, "No fair, you have a sword."

Everyone sweat dropped as Bogard said, "Life isn't fair. Now try again."

Luffy moved forward again, but he was a lot faster this time. Bogard whipped his sword out and struck Luffy in the neck with the flat of the blade. Luffy was lifted off his feet and hit the ground a few feet away as Bogard said, "That time you were killed. Wanna try again?"

Luffy slowly got up as he rubbed his neck and asked, "How am I supposed to hit you?"

"Training and learning how your opponents use their weapons."

Luffy tilted his head to the side as he asked, "How am I supposed to learn that?"

Bogard pointed to the weapon rack and said, "By learning the basics of each weapon and training with people who use those weapons."

Bogard pointed his sword at Garp as he said, "Come let's show the boys a little demonstration."

Garp smiled as he cracked his knuckles before Bogard said, "Slow speed so the boys can see us and don't get serious."

Garp's smile faltered as he said, "You're no fun."

Bogard flashed a serious look before he said, "I'm trying to teach them, not show off."

"Fine." Garp said with a huff.

"Good, now come." Bogard said as he took a more guarded stance.

Garp jumped towards Bogard with his arm cocked back ready to unleash a punch. When the punch came, Bogard easily deflected the attack with the edge of his sword. Then quickly returned a slash towards Garp's exposed chest.

Garp swatted the incoming attack away before he threw another punch towards Bogard's face.

Bogard swept his right foot back to gracefully dodge the blow. Then used his elbow to hit Garp in the chest.

Garp smiled as he stepped back from the blow and rubbed the spot that was hit. Then he rushed back at Bogard throwing out a series of blows.

Bogard was able to parry and dodge most of the blows, but one quick jab made it through, which struck Bogard in the arm.

Bogard frowned slightly as he shook his numb arm while Garp winked at him. Bogard shook his head before he attacked again with a powerful overhead slash.

Garp laughed as he punched into Bogard's attack and slammed his fist it into the edge of the blade. A sound like metal hitting together rang out and both men froze for a moment before they each stepped back.

Bogard glanced at Luffy and the others as he asked, "What do you boys think?"

Everyone looked pretty shocked, but Luffy had stars in his eyes as he asked, "What was that!? How did gramps block a sword with just his fist and why did it sound like metal hitting metal?!"

Garp smiled wide as he said, "If you train enough, your fists can become stronger than steel. But until then…"

Garp dug around in his pockets for a few moments before he pulled out something and handed the item to Luffy. As Luffy looked at the items Garp said, "You can use those to protect your fists and deal more damage. Try them on."

Luffy slid the items on his hands after a moment and looked at them. It was a set of gloves with an outside metal cover over the knuckles, back of the hand and wrist area. As Luffy looked over the gloves Garp said, "I had a set just like them when I was younger, they'll work to protect your hands till you're older."

Luffy smiled up at Garp as he said, "Thanks gramps! Do I still need to learn how to use the other weapons?"

Garp patted Luffy on the head as he said, "Of course, but only the basics. It'll help you learn how to fight people who use weapons."

"Fine, but only because it'll make me a better fighter."

As Garp talked to Luffy, Bogard glanced at the other boys as he said, "Go check out the weapons and mess with them till you find something you like and that feels good in your hands."

Marcus was quick and found a training sword shaped like a katana. It was a little long for him currently and it had a longer then normal grip, but it felt right when he held it. Ace played around with different weapons till he settled on naginata. It reminded him of his pipe, but it felt better in his hands, almost natural. Sabo also found something like his pipe, but it was actually a halberd. It ended in a decent size axehead along with a foot long spear at the tip.

As the boy's tested out their weapons, Bogard glanced over each of them for a moment before he said, "For the next few days I'll train you in the basics of those weapons. If you don't show any talent for them, I'll have you pick out another weapon."