Broken Faith

Lesson 16: Commoners are not fit to breathe the same air as World Nobles

BANG!

"Hey Dadan!"

"Oh. You're here." She droned unenthusiastically as the door (and hinges) sailed past her and thunked into the opposite wall.

You sipped your tea, "This is why I loosened the screws this morning." A sigh. "Otherwise I'd have to replace the door frame again..." And you were getting sick of fixing Garp's mess. Honestly, it was a waste of perfectly good wood.

"At least he was on time," Sabo pointed out, pouring himself another cup.

"Yeah." Ace huffed in the corner. Tea wasn't his thing. "I woulda been pissed if he hadn't been! I don't want to wait all day!"

Garp blinked at the serene display, "...huh?"

A small figure wriggled out of the Marine's meaty grip, "Heeeey guys!"

"Luffy!" You smiled, setting your cup aside, "Have you got all your stuff?"

"Yup. I have Hat!" He giggled as he waved the brim.

Ace snickered, sauntering over to ruffle the hair underneath Luffy's hat, "You gave it a name? Geez, you're such a kid."

"OI! Don't touch it!

"I guess that's all you really need, huh?" Sabo chuckled as he moved next to you, "Well we've set up a bed for you in our room. You know where that is, right?"

"Course I do!"

"Woahwoahwoah... Hang on a minute!" Gap scratched his head, hunching over slightly so he could actually fit inside, "Whaddya mean you've set up a bed?! How did you know that he was gonna move in?!"

Five tired pairs of eyes stared up at him in disdain.

"You serious?" Ace raised an eyebrow.

Sabo nodded in agreement, "It was pretty obvious."

"I mean c'mon Gramps-" Luffy crossed his arms- "Where else was I gonna go? Stuuupid!"

They were lucky that the Vice Admiral was currently too stunned to retaliate. Otherwise... You shuddered. There would be so many repairs to do... "We've been expecting this ever since Peta moved into Master Tobias' apartment. Makino can't exactly take care of both Luffy and Partys Bar simultaneously."

"And I was just shocked that ya didn't pull this sooner." Groaning, Dadan pinched her nose, "Ya shoved Ace and Angel on me with no warning."

"A... Angel was Ivankov's fault!"

"Oh shut up. It was both of ya damn faults!"

"I didn't want my grandson to associate with criminals!"

"HA! And that turned out great for you!"

Ace nudged your side, "And he didn't care about us? The kids of two so-called demons? Wouldn't that be an even bigger problem?"

You snorted. Although Mother was a different brand of demon altogether.

"Since let's face it. Where else was the brat s'posed to go?!" Dadan continued on, "Who in the area knows him?"

"Us." The bandits chorused.

"Who's taken care of kids before?"

"Us."

"Who do ya have blackmail material on so ya can keep this hush hush?"

"Us."

"Who-"

"Yeah yeah I get the picture," Garp waved a lazy hand. "So..." He beamed, "will ya take him?"

Dadan and her bandits groaned, "You're not exactly gonna give us a choice in the matter... And I've already resigned myself to this..."