Chapter 23: Naval Headquarters
The Marine warship sailed steadily across the brilliant blue sea.
The journey itself was dull, almost painfully so.
The sky was clear, the water calm, and the only real sound was the creaking of wood, the snap of sails, and the endless rhythm of waves striking the hull. It should have been peaceful.
Axel was not at peace.
Not even close.
With nothing better to do, Garp pulled out a bag of rice crackers and started eating with great enthusiasm.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
Axel sat nearby in silence for a few seconds, then suddenly reached out, snatched the whole bag, and pulled one of the crackers out for himself.
If he was going to get hit anyway, then he might as well earn it first.
That way, at least the pain would come with a little satisfaction.
Sure enough, the moment Axel stole the rice crackers, Garp's fist came crashing down onto his head.
Bang!
"Ow!"
Axel's whole body shook. His hands trembled from the pain, but he stubbornly shoved the rice cracker into his mouth and chewed anyway.
There was even a tiny bit of pleasure in it.
After all, he had successfully stolen food from Garp.
Garp, however, did not even bother taking the bag back.
Instead, he burst out laughing.
"Hahaha! As expected of my grandson, you've got the same taste as me!"
Then he turned to the Marines nearby and ordered, "You lot, go to the storage room and bring more."
Axel stopped chewing.
More?
A few Marines saluted at once and ran toward the lower deck.
A bad feeling rose in Axel's chest.
Then Garp, grinning proudly, confirmed his worst fears.
"Hahaha! I've got a whole storeroom full of rice crackers!"
Axel stared at him blankly.
So the punch had been completely meaningless.
This old man was openly abusing his authority for snacks.
A little later, the Marines returned with more bags of crackers, and Garp resumed eating as if nothing had happened.
Watching him like this, sprawled out on the deck and chewing noisily, it was almost impossible to connect the man in front of him with the title of Marine hero.
This was the same man who had cornered the Pirate King countless times.
This was the same man feared across the seas.
And yet right now, he looked more like an overgrown old brute with no manners, no restraint, and no concept of personal space.
Still, Axel did not think Garp was as simple as he appeared.
On the surface, Garp looked rough, reckless, and impossible to control.
But was that all there was to him?
Axel did not believe it.
With Garp's position and reputation in the Marines, it would have been easy for him to force Luffy into the organization when he was younger. He could have brought the boy to Marine Headquarters, surrounded him with Marines, disciplined him, shaped his environment, and slowly pushed him away from piracy.
Over time, Luffy might have changed.
Or at least, that would have been the logical guess.
But Garp had never done that.
Instead, he had adopted a strange middle ground. He barked, he threatened, he punched, but in the end, he still let Luffy grow the way he wanted.
Why?
Axel's guess was simple.
Dragon.
Garp must once have wanted the same thing for his son.
He probably wanted Dragon to become a righteous Marine and inherit his path.
Instead, Dragon became the leader of the Revolutionary Army.
That kind of turn did not happen by accident.
Very likely, Dragon had seen too much.
Too much corruption.
Too much hypocrisy.
Too much filth hiding beneath the Marines' banner of justice.
Protecting the Celestial Dragons.
Obeying the rotten World Government.
The Buster Call.
State sanctioned slaughter carried out in the name of order.
Every bit of it stained the word justice.
Perhaps Dragon had seen all that, endured it, and finally decided the world itself had to change.
And perhaps because of that, Garp stopped trying to force Luffy down the same road.
He still hit him.
Still shouted at him.
Still acted as though he wanted him to become a Marine.
But underneath all of that, maybe there was a kind of restraint.
Maybe even respect.
Of course, that was only Axel's guess.
And he had absolutely no intention of asking Garp directly.
That would be like grabbing a tiger by the tail and then asking whether it minded.
In other words, suicide.
"Hahaha! What's wrong?" Garp suddenly asked. "Eat more. If you're going to become the strongest Marine, you can't stay this skinny."
Before Axel could react, Garp grabbed a fistful of crackers and stuffed them straight into his mouth.
"Mmph!"
Axel almost choked on the spot.
Several pieces were swallowed before he even managed to chew them properly.
In that moment, Axel had to admit something against his will.
Garp really was terrifying.
The ship eventually crossed the Calm Belt.
Thanks to the seastone lining on the warship, no Sea Kings came to interfere, and with the help of swift current routes, the return trip moved faster than Axel would have liked.
Before long, Marine Headquarters was already in sight.
By the time they approached Marineford, Axel looked half dead.
For the past several days, Garp had punched him so many times that he had lost count. His entire body felt drained, his spirit battered, and his patience worn down to almost nothing.
That violent demon.
And because Garp acted entirely on impulse, there was no rhythm to it either. Axel's face might have drawn leniency from normal people, but it had absolutely no effect on Garp.
The old man simply hit him whenever the mood struck.
As the warship neared the fortress, a voice called out from ahead.
"Warship approaching, identify your unit and prepare for inspection!"
Even Marine vessels had to be checked before entering Marine Headquarters. In the New World, where pirates could use all kinds of tricks and stolen ships, caution was necessary. That was why even Marineford, the heart of Marine power, did not allow anyone to pass without verification.
At that moment, Garp stepped forward and roared back with a laugh.
"Hahaha! It's me, Garp!"
There was a brief silence.
Then the response came back in obvious shock.
"Vice Admiral Garp?!"
The tone changed instantly.
"I'll arrange docking immediately!"
That reaction was not surprising. Garp was practically a living legend within the Marines. To most ordinary soldiers, hearing his name was already enough to make them stand straighter.
The ship passed the checkpoint smoothly and entered Marineford.
Axel stared at the headquarters in silence.
It was magnificent.
Marineford was not merely a base. It was a fortress. Fully enclosed, heavily defended, and built with a kind of crushing authority that made it feel almost untouchable. Even the mountain ridges above had lookout positions and guard stations. Everywhere Axel looked, the place radiated power, discipline, and the kind of solemnity only great institutions could produce.
Once the ship docked, Garp dismissed the sailors who had escorted them and dragged Axel along toward the massive central stronghold.
The large building bore the word MARINE and the seagull symbol proudly on its face.
As Garp approached, Marines along the way saluted him from a distance.
He did not bother with stairs.
Or proper entrances.
Instead, he grabbed Axel, leapt up along the rock wall of the fortress like some monstrous ape, landed atop the structure, set Axel down, and started walking toward one of the upper entrances.
Then he shoved the door open.
Too hard.
Bang!
The door slammed against the frame so violently that both came loose and crashed to the floor.
Garp did not even glance at the broken wood.
He simply walked inside as though nothing had happened.
Axel followed, already unsurprised.
From inside the office came an irritated voice.
"So it's you again, Garp! How many doors do you plan to destroy before you die?!"
The speaker was a man wearing frog shaped glasses, with a braided beard, a strange hairstyle, and the sharp, exhausted air of someone who had spent far too long dealing with Garp.
Fleet Admiral Sengoku.
The office itself was not especially elaborate, but there was one thing that stood out immediately: the words Absolute Justice hanging prominently on the wall.
Garp waved a hand dismissively.
"Hahaha! Don't sweat the small stuff."
Sengoku's face twitched, but compared to all the other problems Garp caused, a shattered door clearly did not make the top of the list anymore.
Then Sengoku finally noticed the child behind him.
He paused.
"And who is this?"
Garp answered without hesitation.
"My grandson."
Sengoku looked from Garp to Axel and back again.
Then he sighed.
"I never expected you to have such a cute granddaughter."
Axel stepped forward immediately.
"I'm a boy."
Sengoku blinked, then looked even more interested.
"Oh. So he's a boy." He adjusted his glasses slightly. "That almost makes him even cuter."
Axel instantly retreated behind Garp.
His guard shot straight to maximum.
This reaction, from the Fleet Admiral no less, felt far more dangerous than it should have.
Sengoku noticed the movement and smiled faintly.
"So clingy."
Garp snorted.
"Clingy? Don't be stupid. He's scared of me."
"Oh?" Sengoku replied, in a tone that clearly said he did not believe that at all.
Then he looked at Axel again.
"What's his name?"
Garp thought for a moment, then declared with complete confidence, "Monkey D. Axel."
Axel opened his mouth, then decided not to argue with that particular insanity.
Sengoku repeated the name once, then glanced at Garp with a look Axel did not like at all.
"You know," Sengoku said slowly, "since you're clearly unreliable, how about letting him become my grandson instead?"
Garp's hand immediately moved to his nose.
"Oi, Sengoku, I'm still standing right here. You planning to poach my family in front of me?"
Then, as if to emphasize the absurdity of the moment, he flicked a booger in Sengoku's direction.
Axel felt his soul leave his body.
Garp, meanwhile, puffed up with absolute self confidence.
"This kid needs me to train him into the strongest Marine. You couldn't handle it."
Sengoku's face darkened instantly.
A vein bulged at his temple.
Then he spoke in a voice so controlled it sounded more dangerous than a shout.
"Garp."
The whole room seemed to go still.
"You left your duties without warning and ran all the way to the East Blue." Sengoku's smile did not reach his eyes. "Do you know how much trouble that caused? How much work landed on my desk because of you?"
Garp, somehow, still looked utterly carefree.
Sengoku continued.
"And now you suddenly decide you've brought back a grandson and want to train him yourself?"
His expression turned flat.
"No."
He pointed toward Axel.
"You are going back to work. The boy will stay here for now. I'll arrange for him to receive study and training in town."
.....
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