Broken Faith

Observation 27: The door must close eventually

WHAM!

"Well if it isn't my lovely granddaughter!"

"Hm?!" You remembered raising your head, only barely able to peer up from the immense piles of paperwork monitoring your desk. Hearing that voice though was enough to light your face in a smile. "Garp!"

Before you would have run from him, completely terrified at what physical torment he was going to put you through, but now? It was taking everything in your bones to not leap from your chair and barrel into his chest for a hug.

None of the other World Nobles talked to you. Even though you'd been in Mary Geoise for a little over a year at this point, they didn't really see you as a part of them. Which, in a way, you weren't. You always had been different from the very beginning, even before meeting Ace, Sabo, Luffy, and the others.

So it wasn't that you didn't mind that they ignored you. No! Why would you be bothered about spending time with a bunch of narcissistic idiots who could barely even write their own names. But when you weren't formally allowed into World Government headquarters, and the only human conversation you got was through transponder snails or the occasional couriers who delivered and retrieved documents you had to look through...

...

You weren't lonely. N-no. By no means. You were 11 years old! You weren't a kid! You... you had to prove you were trustworthy.

Still, you hopped down from your incredibly tall chair (you didn't need a smaller one! You were definitely going to keep growing!) and hopped forwards to stand at his feet. Now that you were certain no one else was coming in, you let your large metal arm drop from around your waist. Coughing, you puffed out your chest, "Vice Admiral Garp! It is a pleasure to-"

"Bwahahaha!" A large hand reached down and tousled your hair so aggressively it made you dizzy, "What's all the politeness about? I'm just here to see how you're getting on! It's been some time since I've seen you, so I thought I'd go ahead and come visit."

"Uh..." You faltered. Having someone be this informal towards you was... confusing. Even Commander-in-Chief Kong kept you at arms distance. Which made sense, given that you probably still couldn't be fully trusted. That sort of respect took years to develop.

Garp's hand stilled for a moment on your head, pausing without saying a word. You shifted in an effort to glance up and look at his expression, but his grip was tight. Something was running through his mind and you couldn't figure out what.

"Well then!" Without any warning, you found your feet and metal arm leaving the ground as Garp hoisted you onto his burly shoulders. "Let's get out of this stuffy office for a bit! We need to do some training."

The hairs raised on the back of your neck as you looked back at the mound of unprocessed documents you had to complete. "Uh! Um! But I... There's so much work I still need to finish..."

"Bwahahaha!" You clutched onto Garp's head to stop yourself from falling, "That stuff's boring as hell! We need fresh air and to get out of this grimy place."

You actually thought your office was pretty clean, considering that you didn't have a designated slave cleaning for you. But even then, you couldn't remember the last time you'd actually been outside and felt fresh Mariejois air on your face. Days? Maybe even a week? Time slipped away from you here. You just stared at documents upon documents until you passed out at your desk, your calloused fingers still clutching a pen. Then you woke up, got your day's meals delivered from the World Government kitchens (nothing you could do about that, unless you got a slave. Which you made a promise to yourself never to have), ate it without tasting, and got back to work again.