POWAAAA....
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We hit 2K in collections, YEAAAAA.
Thanks a lot for supporting me like this, you amazing, beautiful readers.
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Thought of the day:
Happiness is a flex homie, so don't shy away from showing it off.
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Attendance Please:
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Everyone was celebrating.
Luffy and Usopp were dancing and singing Bink's Sake, striking goofy poses that would make any serious musician cringe.
Yuji sat on the railing of their new ship, the Going Merry, sipping orange juice. It tasted sharp and sweet. Beside him, Zoro stood lazily, one arm draped over the railing, a bottle of booze dangling from his fingers.
Nami sat on the steps of the upper deck, trying to distract herself from her thoughts. The glass of orange juice in her hands was still full; its contents having warmed against her palm. Droplets of condensation slid down the side in crooked lines.
Everyone was busy with their own things.
One kilometer away, a large Marine ship with a dog-shaped figurehead cut through the waves. The carved dog head appeared to snarl with each crest, and the brass fittings gleamed like teeth. It was heading straight toward them, rapidly.
On the marine ship, dozens of soldiers were performing their duties. Some worked the sails, the canvas snapping loudly like gunfire. Others tied ropes into knots that could hold fast during a storm. A few cleaned the side cannons, wiping oil along the barrels, preparing for anything.
Two boys mopped the main deck—one small, with pink hair like cotton candy; the other taller, sporting a strange blond haircut that looked cheap. They watched the other soldiers prepare for what might be a fight.
A tall man with short brown hair stepped onto the stairs leading to the upper deck. A Marine coat hung loosely over his shoulders, the kind of look someone earns when they can wear it however they please. Beneath it, he wore a beige suit with two rows of buttons, a dark brown tie, and a light green collared shirt. A beige hat rested on his head, shading his eyes. On his left hip, a katana hung from a brown strap—its handle gray, cross-shaped guard gold, and sheath dark green.
He stopped in front of an old man who stood with his back turned, gazing at the horizon where a tiny speck had been floating for several minutes.
The old man was tall, tan, broad-chested, and strong—built like a cliff shaped into a person. A short gray beard framed his chin and mouth, and a scar encircled his left eye. He wore a light gray suit, a dark blue dress shirt, a light blue tie, and white shoes. A white Marine coat hung over his shoulders, matching the one behind him.
But his shirt still smelled a little like donuts.
The tall man spoke. "Vice Admiral, we're approaching quickly. Are you sure you want to proceed?"
The old man laughed—a rough, rolling sound. "BWAHAHAHAHAHA… you don't need to worry about anything, Bogard! That kid has been a handful since he was this tall." He held his hand flat at knee level. "And I know exactly how to knock some sense into a stubborn fool like him!"
He grinned broadly, his eyes never leaving the ship in the distance.
This was Vice Admiral Monkey D Garp—Garp the Fist, the Hero of the Marines. At this moment, he was in the East Blue of all places, determined to beat some sense into his foolish, pirate-loving grandson.
"Bring me the transponder," he said.
Bogard nodded and walked toward the captain's room. His footsteps made no sound on the wooden floor.
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On the Going Merry, the party continued their journey.
Luffy stretched his rubbery face into silly shapes, pulling his cheeks until they flapped and blowing up his nose until he looked like a startled anteater. Usopp doubled over laughing, then tried to copy him and nearly dislocated his jaw.
Yuji sat on the railing, savoring a quiet moment alone.
Then his ears twitched.
With his keen hearing, he heard, in the distance, a sharp shriiiiing—the sound of something tearing through the air at an incredibly high speed.
He turned toward the noise—
BOOM
Something struck the water near their ship, sending a huge wave crashing over the Going Merry like a waterfall. The ship rocked violently.
"What the—!?" Usopp grabbed the railing just in time, his eyes widening in shock.
Luffy, mid-pose, landed face-first on the deck with a wet smack.
Zoro's hand immediately went to his swords.
"MARINES!" Nami yelled from the upper deck. She was already on her feet. The untouched glass of orange juice tumbled down the steps, leaving a wet trail behind.
"Huh!? Marines!? How did they get this close without us noticing?" Usopp fumbled for his bag.
"You were too busy celebrating," Zoro said, narrowing his eyes at the incoming ship. "I saw them ten minutes ago."
"AND YOU DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING!?"
"You didn't ask."
Nami's eye twitched.
Usopp finally pulled out his spyglass, extended it with a click, and raised it to his eye. The Marine ship came into view—the gleaming brass, the marching soldiers, and an old man who was somehow staring directly at him, grinning.
Usopp felt his blood run cold. "Ummm… it's a really big Marine ship with a dog-shaped figurehead, and some old man is standing on it, grinning at… me?"
No way that old man could see him from that far away.
But the grin grew wider.
Usopp lowered the spyglass, then raised it again. The grin remained, still directed at his face.
At Usopp's words, both Luffy and Yuji froze simultaneously. Their eyes widened as if they had both just witnessed the same nightmare.
Because only one man in the entire Navy sailed on a ship with a dog-shaped figurehead.
Only one man would chase his own grandson across half the sea just for fun.
"Fuck! What is he doing here?" Luffy and Yuji shouted together.
The deck fell silent.
Everyone turned to Luffy. This was the first time any of them had heard him curse. The word hung in the air like an unfamiliar bird.
Usopp's jaw moved, but no sound came out.
Zoro raised an eyebrow.
Nami's mouth formed a small, surprised *o*.
Then Luffy turned to Yuji, confused. "Huh? You know him too?"
Yuji shook off his shock. "Not personally, but everyone knows who he is."
"You know that scary old man?" Usopp's voice cracked.
"We can talk about that later!" Nami's head snapped toward the Marine ship, which was closer now—close enough to see people moving on deck. "What do we do?"
Nami's question was interrupted before anyone could respond.
BOOM
Another shot. Another huge splash of seawater, closer this time. The Going Merry groaned beneath them.
Luffy gritted his teeth, his hands clenched tightly at his sides.
"Screw this. I'm not running from that old man anymore."
He looked at Usopp.
"Usopp, aim the cannon at them."
"Huh!?"
"I said, aim the cannon at them."
Usopp stared at him, confused. Then, seeing how serious Luffy was, he nodded. He ran toward the back cannon, nearly tripping over a rope, and began turning the heavy barrel toward the incoming ship.
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On Garp's ship—
Bogard returned with the transponder snail—a strange, spotted creature with a receiver protruding from its shell. He handed it to Garp, who took it and flipped the switch. The snail's eyes rolled forward, and its mouth formed a perfect circle.
"PIRATE VESSEL, BY ORDER OF THE MARINES: LOWER YOUR SAILS AND SURRENDER."
Garp's voice boomed across the water. Seagulls took flight from a nearby rock, and fish scattered below.
He watched as a small figure jumped onto the railing of the Going Merry's upper deck, rubbery limbs wobbling, red vest bright as a warning flag, and yelled back:
"NEVERRRRRR!"
The sound carried, it always did when Luffy was involved.
Garp's eye twitched, and a vein pulsed at his temple, the same vein that had been bothering him since the boy learned to walk.
"Alright, you brat. Have it your way."
He handed the transponder back to Bogard, who took it without a word. Then Garp shrugged off his Marine coat. The white fabric fluttered once before settling in a pile at his feet.
He walked to the cabinet filled with cannonballs—racks of them, black and heavy, smelling of metal and salt.
He picked one up with his bare hands.
The nearby soldiers went very still.
He looked at the pirate ship—that tiny speck on the water, that stubborn little boat carrying his foolish yet beloved grandson, and threw the cannonball with his bare hand as if it were a toy.
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On the Going Merry—
Luffy watched as the speck grew larger. The cannonball was coming straight toward them, whistling through the air.
"Usopp, FIRE!"
Usopp's hand jerked the fuse.
The cannon roared loudly.
The two cannonballs met in the middle of the sky—a perfect, impossible collision. Metal screamed against metal as sparks rained down toward the waves like angry fireflies.
And then something strange happened.
The cannonball Usopp fired twisted through the air, deflecting Garp's cannonball. Garp's cannonball curved downward toward the sea, struck the water, and exploded in a burst of foam and light.
But Usopp's cannonball kept flying.
Straight toward Garp's ship.
Straight toward the main mast.
The crash was deafening. Wood splintered, and ropes snapped like guitar strings. The mast broke in half and fell onto the deck, sending Marines scattering in all directions.
On the Going Merry, silence prevailed.
Complete, utter silence.
Usopp stared at the cannon, then at his hands, then at the distant Marine ship with its broken mast, and finally back at his hands.
"H-how did I do that?"
His voice was small and lost, like that of a child who had just discovered he could lift a wagon.
Yuji, Zoro, and Nami looked at Usopp as if he was some kind of God.
Luffy threw his hands in the air. "WOOHOO! HELL YEAH! TAKE THAT, OLD MAN!"
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On Garp's side, everything was in chaos.
Marines shouted conflicting orders. A lieutenant ran in three different directions simultaneously.
Garp leaned on the railing, his knuckles white and his jaw clenched so tightly that his teeth might break.
"AAAAAAHHHHH!"
The roar echoed across the water as seagulls took flight once more.
Then, slowly, the anger shifted. Garp's shoulders began to shake. A grunt escaped, followed by a chuckle. Then—
"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA… Oh… not bad, boy. Not bad."
He grinned widely, watching his grandson's ship sail away toward the horizon. The Going Merry was already shrinking, a toy boat on a blue tablecloth.
Bogard cleared his throat. "What now, Vice Admiral? Should we continue the pursuit?"
Garp shook his head. "Nah. Let them go." He turned and looked at the broken mast—the splintered wood, the tangled ropes, and the Marines still picking splinters out of their clothes. "They earned it."
He was quiet for a moment, then said, "Change course. Head to Syrup Village. I heard a pirate raid occurred there a few days ago."
"Yes, sir." Bogard's tone remained steady, sounding as unyielding as stone. "We received reports from a nearby base. Five days ago, the Black Cat Pirates raided Syrup Village. It appears your grandson and his new friends single-handedly stopped the entire raid."
Garp's laugh was louder this time, warm and genuine. "BWAHAHAHAHA! Looks like my teaching paid off after all!"
He looked at his right-hand man, and for just a moment, he was not the Hero of the Marines. He was simply an old man, proud of a boy who had never once done what he was told.
"Let's go see what kind of mess my foolish grandson left in that village."
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On the Going Merry—
After finally escaping the Marines, the dog-shaped ship had become a tiny dot in the opposite direction.
Everyone turned to look at Usopp.
Usopp looked back, one eyebrow raised. "What?"
"Dude," Nami's voice was still high and shaky, "how did you do that?"
"Yeah." Zoro crossed his arms. "You just knocked a cannonball out of the air. That's impossible."
"I—I don't know!" Usopp rubbed the back of his neck, his fingers still shaking. "It just… happened!"
"Shishishishishi… who cares!" Luffy grinned. "We got away from the old man! You don't know what would've happened if he had caught us."
Nami turned to Luffy, her expression shifting from awe to curiosity. "And who is that old man? The one who made you—" she pointed at his face, "—actually curse?"
Luffy shivered—a subtle movement, barely noticeable, yet his crew saw it.
"H-he's my grandpa," he said, his voice barely a mumble.
Everyone heard it.
Silence.
Then Nami's eyes went wide. "Wait, your grandpa is a Marine?"
"And not just any Marine," Yuji finally said. "He's the one who captured the Pirate King—the Hero of the Marines, Vice Admiral Monkey D Garp."
Nami, Usopp, and Zoro's eyes all widened simultaneously.
They all looked at Luffy.
Luffy's eyes widened in surprise. "WHAT!? My grandpa caught the Pirate King!?"
Yuji nodded. "Yeah. Not only did he catch him, but he also walked him to the execution platform. Stood there and watched as Gol D Roger started the Great Pirate Era with his last words."
The crew's mouths dropped open in surprise.
But then Nami noticed something. "Wait, Gol D Roger? I thought his name was Gold Roger."
Yuji's expression flickered. "That's what the World Government calls him, to hide the truth."
"Gol D Roger," Usopp muttered under his breath, trying it out. "Monkey D Luffy. Monkey D Garp." He looked up. "Hey, what's with all the Ds in their names? Does it mean something? Are they all related?"
Yuji shrugged. "Who knows?"
But his eyes told a different story.
"All I know," he went on, "is that anyone with a 'D' in their name is bound to cause trouble, one way or another."
The sun had reached its highest point and was now slowly descending toward the west. The Going Merry sailed steadily onward toward an unknown destination, her rudder creaking a gentle rhythm, her sails full of wind.
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