Chapter 21: Garp
Time passed quietly after the four of them became sworn brothers.
That invisible bond between them only grew stronger with each passing day. Whether they were eating, fighting, training, arguing, or getting chased around by Dadan, they had already begun moving with the easy rhythm of people who belonged together.
And after Bluejam's fall, Mount Colubo had changed.
There were still dangers on the island, of course, but among the people who mattered, Luffy and the others had practically become untouchable. No one in Gray Terminal dared provoke them lightly anymore, and around the mountains, there were even fewer people foolish enough to volunteer as training material.
Which meant they had to aim higher.
Much higher.
Their next target became the true overlord of Mount Colubo.
A giant tiger.
Not an ordinary tiger, but a massive beast dozens of times larger than any normal one, a monster that ruled the mountain with sheer size and savagery. The first few times they had seen it from a distance, even Ace and Sabo had instinctively understood one thing.
That thing was trouble.
Back then, they had no real intention of fighting it.
But after defeating Bluejam, something about the tiger no longer felt as terrifying as before.
Compared to Bluejam, this beast was simpler.
More direct.
And if they had already dared to clash with Bluejam face to face, then why should they fear a tiger, no matter how absurdly huge it was?
Naturally, things were not that simple in practice.
Ace, Luffy, and Sabo could use the giant tiger as an excellent opponent.
Axel, unfortunately, could not.
His power was too abnormal.
Too one sided.
If he joined the battle freely, the giant tiger would stop being training material and become dinner in a very short amount of time. So after some discussion, and much to Axel's helpless annoyance, the other three made a collective decision to limit how much he could interfere in their battles.
Which meant Axel was pushed to the side.
And left with nothing to do but train by himself.
At first, he was irritated.
Then he accepted it.
After all, they were right.
Vector manipulation, at its core, was merely the ability to control the direction of force and energy. But once paired with immense computational power, that "mere" ability became something monstrous. Energy could be redirected, gathered, transformed, refined, or granted new behavior. What looked simple on the surface became nearly flawless in practice.
That was what made Accelerator terrifying.
Not just the power itself, but the brain behind it.
That was Axel's true goal now.
To bring his mind and his ability closer together.
To stop merely using vector manipulation and start mastering it.
Unfortunately, understanding the principle and actually making progress were two very different things.
Training calculation speed through repetition worked, yes.
But it was mind numbingly tedious.
And worst of all, the faster Axel improved, the slower the next improvement came.
When his control had been crude, progress came quickly. Every day brought visible change. But once the basics became familiar, every further step felt like trying to force open a door with his bare fingers.
He practiced constantly.
He analyzed wind direction.
He altered the movement of tiny leaves.
He tried to make a single drifting leaf fall without disturbing the ones beside it.
He made currents of air circle around his body.
He tried to change the form and behavior of natural force more precisely.
There was progress.
Yes.
But only in details.
Finer control.
Better form.
Smoother execution.
The real core, his raw calculation ability and overall output, had hit a wall.
And that wall made him restless.
What should I do?
That question had been haunting him more and more lately.
The reason was simple.
He still felt weak.
Maybe not weak by the standards of a small island like this one.
But weak by the standards of the real world waiting beyond it.
With his current strength, Axel judged that he was maybe somewhere around the level of a low bounty pirate worth a few million Berries, at best.
That sounded impressive only if one ignored the rest of the sea.
In the Grand Line, and especially in the New World, that kind of strength was nothing.
Even pirates worth over one hundred million Berries could die horribly if they made a single wrong choice. Axel knew that better than anyone because he knew what kind of monsters existed out there.
Compared to them, what had he really achieved so far?
Very little.
"Axel, what are you thinking about?"
Luffy's voice snapped him out of it.
Axel looked up and saw him walking over, looking battered and dirty.
His clothes were torn in multiple places, his face was smudged with dust, and he had the unmistakable look of someone who had just failed at something spectacular and still refused to admit defeat.
The giant tiger again, probably.
Axel answered honestly.
"I'm thinking about how to get stronger."
Luffy blinked.
"How to get stronger...?"
Then, for some reason, Axel's answer only seemed to fire him up even more.
"You're already crazy strong, and you're still thinking about getting stronger?" Luffy clenched his fists, face full of fierce determination. "Then I definitely can't slack off either! You said you want to be a hero, right? I'm not gonna let myself get caught by you!"
Axel stared at him.
There it is again.
Somehow, despite everything Axel had said before, Luffy still seemed convinced that "hero" meant "future Marine who will try to catch pirates."
Before Axel could clear up the misunderstanding, Sabo's exhausted voice cut in from the side.
"Another challenge this afternoon? Spare me."
He dropped down onto a nearby rock with the expression of a man whose soul had nearly been left behind in the jungle.
Unlike Luffy, who charged forward at problems like they personally offended him, Sabo had spent a great deal of today's fight running, baiting, distracting, escaping, and generally suffering for the sake of the others' training.
And he was sick of it.
"You two always use me as bait," Sabo complained, glaring at Ace and Luffy. "If we do this again this afternoon, I might actually die."
Ace, who had just walked over, looked completely unmoved.
"You're too weak, Sabo."
Sabo's face twitched.
Ace folded his arms and spoke as though delivering an unshakable truth.
"We're doing it again this afternoon. I'm going to become a great pirate. There's no way I'm getting stopped by a tiger."
Sabo immediately turned toward him in disbelief.
"You say that so easily, but why am I always the bait?!"
Ace casually dug at his ear as if he had heard nothing.
"The capable should do more."
Luffy instantly copied the pose.
"The capable should do more."
Sabo looked at the two of them and almost lost the will to live.
"I care very much!"
But of course, neither Ace nor Luffy showed even the slightest intention of changing their minds.
In the end, Sabo could only drag in a long sigh and silently accept that he would once again be running for his life later because his brothers were lunatics.
Training resumed.
Day after day, they challenged the giant tiger.
There was no mysterious old master suddenly appearing to coach them like in some convenient legend. No secret shortcut. No miracle teacher. Only repeated failure, stubbornness, bruises, and grit.
But slowly, they improved.
After fighting Bluejam, all three of them had already grown. Their sense for battle, timing, and teamwork were sharper than before. Month by month, the giant tiger stopped looking like an impossible wall and started looking more like a challenge that could be overcome.
Eventually, after enough attempts, they won.
The giant tiger fell.
And, unsurprisingly, it became food.
Axel had briefly entertained the idea of taming it and using it as a mount.
Luffy had destroyed that dream by drooling.
And in the end, meat won.
...
Time continued to move forward.
One day, Makino came to visit Luffy, bringing gifts with her, while Mayor Woop Slap accompanied her.
The moment Luffy saw her, he immediately rushed over and hugged her around the waist.
Makino laughed softly and patted his head.
She was as gentle as ever, with her warm smile and calm voice, the kind of person who could soften the atmosphere of any room without even trying.
Not far away, Axel, Ace, and Sabo hid behind the doorway and peeked out.
Makino noticed them almost immediately.
"You three can come out too," she said with a smile. "I brought gifts for all of you."
Sabo walked out first without hesitation.
Axel and Ace, however, were much slower.
It was not fear.
It was embarrassment.
Axel, especially, had the mindset of someone who had once been an adult. Having Makino measure him, fuss over clothes, and help dress him up felt strangely uncomfortable in a way he could not quite explain.
Ace clearly felt something similar, though he would rather die than say it aloud.
Eventually, though, both of them were dragged out anyway.
Later, after they had all been changed into new clothes, the teasing began immediately.
Luffy and Sabo laughed openly.
Ace and Axel became the targets.
Dinner that night was also far richer than usual thanks to Makino's help. The table was packed with food, and the atmosphere inside Dadan's hideout was livelier than normal.
As they ate, Luffy and the others naturally started talking about their dreams again.
Pirates.
The sea.
The future.
Axel, however, stayed unusually quiet.
Because he knew.
If things were following the path he remembered, then tonight someone else was going to arrive.
And Axel had absolutely no interest in receiving the so called Fist of Love.
That was not love.
That was concentrated sorrow delivered by a human cannonball disguised as a grandfather.
Luffy, completely unaware of the storm approaching, puffed out his chest and declared loudly, "I'm definitely gonna become a pirate first! And once I set sail, Axel won't ever catch me!"
Axel turned slowly.
Caught?
Why are we still on this?
He had barely opened his mouth when Luffy doubled down.
"I'm gonna get stronger and stronger and stronger, and become the strongest pirate! Then even you, as a Marine, won't catch me!"
Axel's eyes twitched.
"Wait, what do you mean 'as a Marine'? I never..."
"Hmph. Still saying nonsense like that?"
A deep voice sounded from behind him.
The room instantly went still.
Everyone turned.
The moment Luffy and Ace saw who was standing there, both of them spat out the water in their mouths.
Monkey D. Garp stood in the doorway like a mountain that had decided to start moving.
Sabo looked confused for a second.
Axel looked deeply, deeply tired.
It's here.
Of course it's here.
And naturally, Luffy immediately betrayed everyone.
"He's Sabo!" Luffy shouted, pointing. "And we already became sworn brothers! We're all gonna be pirates!"
Garp's face darkened.
"Oh?" His gaze shifted to Sabo. "Then that's one more brat I need to beat some sense into."
Then his eyes moved to Axel.
"And you?"
Before Axel could answer, Luffy helpfully ruined his life too.
"He's Axel! He's also our sworn brother! But he wants to become a Marine!"
Garp's expression changed instantly.
"Oh?" He looked Axel over with clear approval. "So there is one decent kid here."
Axel closed his eyes.
No.
No, there isn't.
But he also had no interest in correcting Garp if it meant drawing the old man's full attention. Explaining now would only get him dragged into the same lesson.
So Axel remained perfectly silent.
Garp cracked his knuckles.
"Good. Then I only need to educate the other three idiots."
The next moment, Luffy, Ace, and Sabo bolted for the door like their lives depended on it.
Because they absolutely did.
Axel stood off to the side, watching them disappear into the night with Garp charging after them.
He folded his hands silently.
And, out of pure solidarity, offered them a brief prayer.
.....
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