𝗚𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 & 𝗯𝗼𝗹𝘁𝘀 ┃One Piece

28. Change of course

"A stowaway? I don't know, it is not normal to find stowaways arguing openly with an yonko."

"I swear-"

You bit your tongue by raising your voice for the twelfth time in the conversation with the old marine, you decided to relax your thoughts by shutting up for a few seconds while rubbing your temples. Shanks's smile in the situation only made you want to hit him so strong that he reached the One Piece of the kick you would give him. Your mind stopped for an instant, so desperate to avoid the redhead for his damn stupid behavior, you could only think of one thing, since you were a stowaway on a yonko's ship, wasn't it the same as being on a navy ship?

"It's okay, take me with you, I don't care if you see me as someone from the crew or not, prisioner or not, I just want to get out of this ship."

"Auch..."

The captain took his hand to his heart pretending a stab of pain, the marine looked at you for a second, laughing like a maniac after seeing your interaction, he already knew that you did not belong here, but he wanted to know how far you would go, oh, you were as stubborn as one of his grandchildren.

"You are a good couple, ah, young."

"I had enough of my 'partner', now, I would like that you leave me in the nearest town."

"Are you sure you want to leave a yonko behind?"

You looked to the side to see Shanks with a pout, you assumed that he crossed his arm because he could not do it alone with one, looking at you with puppy eyes, you sighed looking at the floor with a grimace, you were not having a bad time but did you go to abandon now?

"Yes, I want to go."

"What!? I thought you were just doing the interesting one!"

"No, I don't want to discover how many of my precious babies you can break."

Despite the constant complaints of the man you did not go back to your decision, you also thought that the marines would have some more tools that Shanks would not have on board, because it seemed here that all they had were weapons, food and beer. The last thing you expected from this little adventure was to end up traveling with marines, but they seemed much better than those you already knew.

"You still have the opportunity to stay."

The old man gave you a sidelong glance as you finished tying all your things into huge bags filled with your plane parts, while the base and larger parts were being moved to the other ship by cadets.

"Nah, I know him well enough to know that it will take much longer to reach any port, he would delay on purpose."

"If that is your last decision then... will you allow me?"

He extended his arms looking for your approval, you did not know very well what he had in mind and what you least expected was to be thrown into the air with an almost inhuman force, apparently it was not strange for his boys since they had a net installed to catch people that were thrown.

"It seems that the years don't take their toll on everyone..."

You recovered from the surprise listening to the guffaw of the gray-haired man, he denied having as much strength as in his younger years, giving you a small tour of the ship, warning that you were a stowaway on board and that they set course for the nearest island. Of course, working here was much calmer, because yes, as soon as you finished seeing the whole boat you got back to work with your invention, at least you were not dodging drunken flying glasses or listening to bad jokes every minute, much less constant belching. Being here allowed you to have much more relaxation and concentration, which you were grateful, you were so focused on repairing that you did not notice how the blanket of stars completely covered the sky.

You were snapped out of your deepest thoughts when the sound of shoes being shuffled along with the screeching of cutlery made you shift your attention to the person who had sat next to you, silently watching.

"I love that young people strive and make an effort with the things they like, but a break is never too much, you know?"

You smiled awkwardly, waving your hand to downplay your overwork, feeling like a silly teenager being scolded by her father for being caught doing something she shouldn't.

"It's not that bad, I can still work well." a growl coming from your gut made your words contradict each other "Well, maybe a rest won't hurt me..."

"Yeah, it wouldn't hurt, besides, all this has happened so fast that we haven't even introduced ourselves properly, I'd like to know who I'm taking aboard my ship."

Certainly, with all the nerves of not being linked with pirates, Shanks's annoying attitude and the little argument with the same old man who was talking to you now, made you completely forget that you didn't know what your names were.

"Oh... true."

You extended your arm with a smile murmuring your name, listening to a light laugh as your hand was gently shaken.

"I'm Garp."

Strangely, that name sounded somewhat familiar to you. But you had to think when you had a full stomach, for now you would enjoy your dinner with some small talk in between.