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Chapter 4– Garp.

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Holding the mop in both my hands, I continue to swish it back and forth along the upper deck of Marine Vice-Admiral Garp's ship. I make sure to clean up every spot in my sight before dipping the mop back into the bucket, twirling it around to get it clean, and pulling it back out to continue the process. Marines are lounging around the ship, just talking or drinking while wiping down their blades and checking the gunpowder in their guns.

All the while, I am here alone, working myself along the length of the ship and cleaning every single inch of this enormous ship. Some of the marines are looking at me in pity. Still, I ignore them and continue with my work. I asked for this after all, so I don't need their sympathy, and I certainly don't need their help, but for the life of me, I still don't understand why I am cleaning up this goddamn ship.

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"HAAAH!?"

Garp's mouth opens wide as he lets out his confusion, and Bogard in the back remains stoic, calmly smoking the cigarette between his lips. The medic who was attending to my broken hand has finally finished bandaging my hand and has put a cast around it, and he sees that this situation is going to get a lot more complicated in a few seconds. So he quickly packs away his tools and makes a tactical retreat towards his comrades on the ship, taking advantage of the fact that Garp is still stunned. Bogard just doesn't seem to really care.

The sound has stopped escaping from Garp's mouth, and his mouth is now closed as he looks me up and down again. Still, I ignore him for the moment and instead look down at my right hand, which is now fully covered by my new cast. I am not feeling much pain from the thing right now compared to earlier. Still, I am sure that is because the doctor gave me something to numb the pain for now, and the pain is not as sudden and piercing as it was when I discovered it.

"Hmm, okay. How old are you, kid?" Garp exits his musing and directs this question at me. I am not about to get told that I am too young and that I will have to wait until I am like twelve until I can receive his training, am I?

"I am 7 years old, but that doesn't mean anything. I am ready to train hard, and I am willing to give it my all, rain or shine, no matter the pain or discomfort. I want to be strong, as strong as you are." So I say with conviction in my voice, I want this man to understand that I am willing to go the distance, and I am going to break records while doing so. Garp crosses his arms and puts on a stern face. Then, out of nowhere, his upper body suddenly bows down by 90 degrees, and his legs remain straight as he shoves his face directly into mine and looks me dead in the eye.

The situation is made even more daunting when I can see his eyes only peeking out from underneath his dog hat, and my mind seems to be playing tricks on me as I can hear his hat begin to growl at me and see it bare its fangs at me. "And why is that, hmm? Why do you seek such strength? What reason could a small boy on a peaceful island like this possibly have to want to gain such power? With such strength, strength as great as mine, what would you plan to do?"

I find myself shaking under his burning gaze. My knees are knocking together as it takes all of my strength to remain standing under this older man's insanely powerful pressure that he is exerting. I gulp hard. I can feel myself close to passing out from the sheer intensity pouring from this man, and I can feel my eyes begin to roll into the back of my head.

My legs lose their footing as I fall back towards the ground, but as I go down. My eyes are moving into my skull. Then, finally, I catch a glimpse of the older adult's face again. From this angle, I can see the grin hidden within the shadows of his mask, but it is fast disappearing, and I can see his eyes slowly filling with disappointment.

My leg moves backwards and skids against the ground to stop my momentum. I clench my fists hard as I move myself back forward and scream with all my might. "I WANT TO EXPLORE THIS WORLD AND SEE WHAT IT HAS TO OFFER! I WANT TO TRAVEL ALL OVER THE WORLD AND MEET ALL SORTS OF PEOPLE AND LEARN ABOUT THEIR CULTURES! I WANT TO BECOME SOMEONE WHO IS WORTH A DAMN! I WANT TO BECOME THE STRONGEST MAN IN THE WORLD!"

"BWAHAHA. The strongest man in the world, you say? BWAHAHAHA. You are surely going to have your work cut out for you. after all, to be the strongest man in the world, you have to be capable of destroying the whole world." Garp lets loose a loud laugh at my words, and I completely forget about how I felt a minute ago because I now feel indignant that this man is laughing at my goals again.

Still, when he mentions destroying the world, I get worried that he will get the wrong impression of me and not train me." So I-I only said, I just want to be the strongest man in the world. I never said anything about destroying the world. I would never want to do that, putting aside how impossible it is to do that. It is impossible... It, it is impossible, right?"

Garp stops his laughing and looks down at me once more with a blank expression on his face, and I don't know if I am imagining it or not. Still, I see the corners of his lips begin to tilt up to form a slight, nearly imperceptible smile, but there is no way right. This man either bellows his enjoyment or picks his nose with a lazy expression on his face, and as far as I have seen, there is no in-between.

Then, before I can pay any more attention to his face, he spins around. He walks back to his men who are by the ship, he walks along with Bogard, quickly falling into line behind him, and I quickly begin to walk after them, but they are so big and their legs so long that I have to jog to keep pace with them. "Oi, you guys. One of you idiots, quickly throw me a broomstick."

In reply to his words, a barrage of broomsticks begins to fly off of the ship, all heading straight towards us on the dock. Hundreds of broomsticks that might as well be harpoons speed through the air towards us at intense speed, and I quickly crouch down and put my arms over my head to protect myself. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I spot Bogard still calmly standing there with a newly lit cigarette burning in his mouth.

Next to him, Garp is standing still with his hand in his pockets. His dog mask covers his face ignoring the broomsticks that are launching in the air towards us. I know I should be scared as all those broomsticks are definitely going to do some severe damage to the little seven-year-old boy that is me, but seeming both of them stood there as cool as ice, I can't help but feel safe as if there is no need to panic.

"I thought I only asked for one of you dumbasses to throw me a broomstick, so then why-" Out of nowhere, Garp's right leg moves as if fully independent from his body and swings up through the air with his hands still inside his pockets. "- ARE ALL OF YOU THROWING A BROOMSTICK!? YOU IDIOTS, IT SEEMS THAT ALL OF YOU NEED MORE TRAINING!" An immeasurable gust of wind erupts as Garp's right leg sweeps from right to left through the air, and all of the broomstick's momentum stops in mid-air, and they just stay there for a moment before they begin to move again.

Only this time, they begin to go back from whence they came. It is like time has reversed as the broomsticks don't even change their position and begin to move backwards, following the trajectory that they were launched at and with even more force than they were thrown. I weather the wind blowing against my face and raise an arm to block some of the gusts to watch the spectacular sight of the broomsticks arcing back through the air going back along their exact path, and finally diving back down onto the ship and out of my sight.

"Aggh"

"My finger!"

"My head!"

"AGGH, MY ASS! HOW DID IT EVEN GET THROUGH MY PANTS!?"

"Hm, serves them right. These stupid fledglings, how hard is it to follow orders?" Garp is standing ramrod straight with his left leg like a tree trunk rooted into the ground and his body perfectly perpendicular to the ground with his hands still in his pocket. Yet, his right leg is high in the sky above his own head, and it remains there but does not affect his balance in the least.

After a moment, he brings it back down to the ground, but as he does so, I realise something that was staring me in the eyes this whole time, his knee is not bent at all, and it, in fact, never bent even when he kicked out at the air, he simply moved his leg up into the air and now he is moving it back down, he must have an absurd amount of strength and control over his own body to perform such a feat.

"Garp, I don't think you have any right to say that. We are supposed to be at Marine Headquarters by now, but we have not even left the East Blue." Bogard deadpans while breathing out the smoke from his cigarette. he then breathes in another puff and- Wait, what? His cigarette is still lit, but I am standing right next to him.

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Those intense winds hit us both, so how hasn't his cigarette blown out when we were both buffeted by the side effect of Garp's overwhelming kick? Bogard's hands are still in his pocket as well, so he can't have put his hands around it to protect the cigarette, as I would have noticed that. So how?

"That is different, Bogard. These idiots tried to fulfil orders and messed it up while I have received orders and completely ignored them, completely different. Those stupid old fogies think they can just call me, and I will come running, fat chance. They tried to limit my time with my cute little grandson. Did you see him, Bogard? He will grow to be a strong Marine and join his grandpa in the Marines and take over my position so that I can retire and enjoy life and eat all the crackers I want and drink as much as I want." Aren't marines supposed to be upstanding and moral? Why is this guy the complete opposite?

"I was only able to raise him till he was six, and now I have to go back because of those bastards. Even worse, I had to leave him in a bar. I know Makino is a good girl and the only one in the village who will be able to handle him, but a bar is not a suitable environment for a child. So I am going to annoy Sengoku for this." But, unfortunately, Garp gets lost in his rant about his higher-ups and his grandson, who I pity for having to be raised by this ham-handed beast of a man. If that kid is anything like his grandfather, then I don't want to meet him. Just the image of a little hyper-energetic Garp running around all over the place is terrifying.

Bogard lets out a slight cough which breaks Garp out of his rant and brings him back to reality. Still, I can tell his mood is soured thinking about his old fogy bosses and the fact that he had to leave his six-year-old grandson on whatever island he came from. Suffice to say that I really don't want to rock the boat at this moment with that irritated expression on the old man's face. So I am confused when Garp suddenly stretches his arm up above his head and opens his hand to the sky as if waiting to receive something.

So I look up to the sky to see what that may be, but the blue sky is too bright, and the sun is burning too hot, so I have to shield my eyes from the sky, but I can't see anything. I think I can see a bird or something, but it is so high in the sky that it just looks like a dot. Wait, is it getting big- "SWOOSH! WHACK!" I am blown backwards by a gust of wind and fall back ass overhead to the wooden floor of the dock, which actually hurts my knees and elbows quite a bit. Pushing my hands against the ground, I raise myself up, still on my hands on knees and elevate my head to see what the hell just blew me away.

Looking up, I can see that Garp's hand that was reaching towards the sky is now holding a broomstick which must've been the thing that fell from the sky, but for it to fall with such force means that it must have been insanely high up in the air so much so that I only registered it as a dot when I looked up, not to mention the fact that I must only have felt a fraction of the power in Garp's kick if it launched the broomstick that high into the sky and that's not even taking into account the precision needed to kick at the exact moment in order to send all the other broomsticks back onto the ship and launch this singular broom upwards into the sky so that he could catch it later.

I watch as he brings his clasped hand down in front of his chest, and then he looks towards me. This is it. This must be one of the strongest people in the world. If I can learn from him, then indeed, I will become strong. He is absurdly strong. He is the pinnacle of pow-"

"CRACK!"

"Ah, it broke."

"GIVE ME BACK MY AWE, YOU SHITTY OLD MAN. THAT WAS PROBABLY JUST LUCK!" I scream when the broomstick snaps into two and clatters to the ground with the old man just standing there with a dumb look on his face and absolutely nothing in his hand, which is now clasping air. This guy might be strong, but he is an idiot. He was most definitely born a monster, and there is no way an idiot like this would be able to teach others. This guy has put all his stat points into STR and ignored INT, this min-maxing motherfu- "Oh, that's it. I forgot to use-"

"That is right, Garp. You forgot to use-"

"Yes, yes, Bogard, I know. But look at this. The broomstick is broken now. I need another one. OI, YOU GUYS, THROW ME ANOTHER BROOMSTICK!" Garp shouts once more to the men on his ship, and I can't help but worry that the men on board the vessel are as dumb as their captains, and they are about to throw another barrage of broomsticks even though they just got rebuked for it.

Thankfully though, it seems like the men on the ship are much more developed in the head than their captain, as a singular marine with a particularly big bump on his head runs off the boat and down the plank with a broomstick in his hand, which he promptly hands over to Garp. "Here you are, Vice Admiral Garp. One broomstick, just one."

"Ahaha, that is good. Good job, soldier, good job. Thank you, you can go back to the ship now. Ah, but before you go-" Garp takes the broomstick from the Marine and then tells him that he can go.

The Marine nods and wipes some sweat off of his forehead before turning around and moving to go back to the ship due to Garp waving him off, but before he can walk off more than two steps, Garp's leg suddenly blurs forward without warning- "DIDN'T I TELL YOU TO THROW IT TO ME, DUMBASS!" - and strikes the bottom of the Marine's arse (I swear he hit the Marine with the tip of his foot, did it go in his arse?

That is like a thousand years of death all dealt with a single foot) with such force, the Marine blasts off into the sky, clenching his buttcheeks with his legs flailing wildly in pain and arcs back down to crash into the ship with an anguished scream.

"Good grief, what am I going to do with these guys? They can't even follow simple orders, were they dropped on their heads as babies or something?" Oi, oi, are you serious? I am pretty sure that those guys are normal and that it was you that was dropped on your head as a child. That Marine has been scarred for life and will inevitably have trauma for the rest of his life about this incident.

For some reason, I am really regretting asking this guy to train me, and I think even if I do get good training from this guy, I will lose more than I gain. Am I going to get treated like that guy? If so, maybe it would be better if I just left. But is it too late to back out and leave?

"Hey, brat. You wanted me to train you, right, to make you strong? Well then, prepare yourself because you are either going to become a strong man or you are going to die trying. So there is no backing out now. I will train you, and you better become a strong Marine in the future, or I will find you and kick your ass! BWAHAHAHA!" Garp laughs as he deals me my death sentence, as if he is just talking about the weather. I regret asking him to train me.

But all I thought after I saw his display of strength was that this was a strong man who could make me strong. Still, I didn't stop to think if that was a good idea, to consider if this man who flicks boogers like cannonballs and blasts his own men into the ocean might just end up killing me instead of raising me up to his level.

I might be mature for my age, but I am still a child. He won't be too harsh on me, right? Right? Ah, who am I kidding? This man could not be gentle if his life depended on it. Even flicking a booger away nearly sent his soldier to those pearly white gates in the sky. There was no way he was going to be anything but rough. Why did I come down to the docks to- "Ugh."

The wood slaps against my chest, and I quickly bring my hands up to clasp the wooden broomstick against my stinging body as I look up at Garp, who just lightly threw that at me, but even that really stung my skin. My future does not look bright with this overgrown man-child holding the reins. "Here, shrimp, your training starts now. First, you are going to take that broomstick and sweep the entirety of my ship. After you have finished that, you will mop the whole ship, and then you will wax the deck until it is spotless."

"Huh, wait, what? So you want me to become a chore boy and become one of the cleaners on your ship? I thought that you were supposed to be training me and making me strong like you, not making me an errand boy." So I speak, absolutely frazzled. I know that I was regretting even asking for training and wanted to back out, but I would instead get trained by this man and risk death under his arm than become a menial cleaner on his ship, no way.

I came to this man and asked him to be strong because I didn't want to be a mediocre powerless person like in my past life. That is what I am most afraid of, living another meaningless life and achieving nothing. This old bastard gave me his word that he would be my mentor and train me to be as strong as him, but now he is making me into a bloody janitor?

"Haah, I am training you, you little punk. If you don't like it, you can piss off. If you are staying, then shut up. Also, when did I say you were becoming one of my cleaners? You are going to be the only cleaner on my ship. DO YOU HEAR THAT, YOU GUYS!? NONE OF YOU HAVE CLEANING DUTY ANYMORE. IF I FIND ANY OF YOU CLEANING UP, EVEN IF IT IS AFTER YOURSELF, THEN I AM GONNA SHOW YOU MY FIST OF LOVE! IN FACT, YOU GUYS MAKE AS MUCH OF A MESS AS POSSIBLE. THE MORE, THE BETTER. I WILL GIVE THE MESSIEST PERSON HALF A YEAR OF VACATION TIME, SO TRY YOUR BEST!" He, I am, what. What the hell is it... What?

"Well, kid, what are you waiting for? Get to work, hop to it."

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It has now been a week, and I have been working all day every day to keep this goddamn ship sick and span, which is the hardest thing in the world as, while most of the marines just don't clean up after themselves. There are quite a few who go out of the way to make as much mess as possible to get that half a year of vacation to go back home and be with their girls. I have quickly realised that these specific Marines with girls waiting for them back home are the most desperate to get that half a year of vacation, so I am constantly cleaning.

In contrast to those friendly Marines who just don't clean up after themselves in order to follow Garp's orders, those asshole Marines continue to make all sorts of absurd messes. How the hell do you get the ceiling muddy and the fill an entire room up to the brim with water that washes away the next person to open it? Suffice to say, I am not happy with my current situation, but I am hanging in there, hoping that Garp will eventually teach me some stuff though that hope dies a little every day.

It is not even just cleaning that I have to do. I have to also help the chefs in the kitchen and help prepare food for the Marines' breakfast, lunch and dinner. Not only that, but I also had to assist the doctors in the medical room because Garp ended up hurting at least five different Marines to varying degrees by accident. I swear that these must be the most advanced doctors in the world as they are used to Garp's shenanigans and quickly fix up those Marines, but Garp usually hurts more than one at a time, which is why I have been helping out there.

At least for the past week, I have been sleeping on the ship and also having my meals for free with the Marines on board the vessel, which means I don't really have to buy any food or spend any money, so I haven't gone back to my house in a while. However, I did sneak back just yesterday to receive the weekly money from Mommy Mee, which I stashed under the wooden boards of my house. Apart from that, this week has been hell, but I have been enduring it and trying my best not to strangle Garp in the night.

Speaking of the devil, here he comes now, munching on crackers. And spilling crumbs all over the deck, my freshly... cleaned... deck...

"YOU SHITTY OLD MAN!"