Chapitre 4: The World's a Stage
"Looffy surwawed" I muttered out somehow through what felt like a broken jaw, while the other three have probably lost at least 20% of our braincells from the beating Garp gave us. Sorry, "fists of love". Which is concerning, mostly because Luffy probably only has like two braincells left. Anyway, who cares. The others and me are still scarfing down the meat Garp somehow manifested in front of us...wait its probably from Dadan's stock. RIP lady, you're going to starve for the next few days.
Our plan was a roaring success in that we managed to hit Garp with a water balloon, only to realize he'd let himself be hit, just so he could beat us up to make us "strong marines". Maybe he just enjoyed beating little kids? What if Oda's biggest plot twist was that Dragon decided going against the World Government was an easier job than dealing with Garp's fists of love and defected? But I digress.
"Oi, brat, you still want to join the marines?" Garp suddenly asked. I looked towards him, and with the firmest voice I could muster, I replied "yes". The time is right. I'm it's 1512 and I'm 15 years old. Ace and Sabo are 10 and 11. Luffy's only 8, though he did manage to eat the Gum-Gum no mi like in cannon. There's nothing to be gained any more from staying here, neither in terms of connections nor training. I even met Shanks...
----------FLASHBACK--------
"Pistols aren't for threats. They're for actions! Are you willing to risk your life?" he said it! He said the line! I know I'm going for the mastermind behind the scenes role, but will any red-blooded anime fan be able to resist the sheer awesomeness of having your favorite lines and scenes play out in front of you?
I can hardly wait for Gear 5th: Nika Man. I kind of wish there was some way to make the "real" One Piece world have background music during fights, because without the epic background score, fights in the real world are a series of grunts and screams, and with Devil Fruit powers, a collection of swishes, whooshes, crackles and whatnot.
Anyway after Shanks dispatched the Whatchamacallit bandits, there was a huge party, where I "sneaked" some alcohol, "got drunk" along with Luffy, rushed up to Shanks, and said "I'm going to be the strongest marine...so if you are bad pirates I will catch you!"
Shanks must have stared at me for a solid minute before replying "sure thing kid", and then proceeding to laugh his ass off, while Rakilu, Yasopp and the others were also dying of laughter at the other tables.
With one sentence, I had established a rapport with Shanks, established an image as a good guy and made sure he wouldn't write me off as a nobody. Not bad for an 13 year old, eh? Sure it was a risk going up to Yonko crew to scream out you were going to catch them later, but I trusted my friendship with Luffy and the fact Shanks' personality is a bit on the easygoing side meant he would laugh me off, but remember a certain "Ranvier Sosuke" from Foosha village. It's nice to make connections.
Of course I still let him get his arm eaten by the sea monster. First off, I didn't know if he was doing this act on purpose to get Luffy to solidify his view on becoming a pirate. Secondly, though I could help him, it would reveal my devil fruit wasn't afraid of seawater. Finally, for someone as sketchy as Shanks, it would be better he get a nerf. Losing an arm means losing at least 10% of your combat potential.
I was at the docks to bid goodbye to him as he left. However, as his ship left the dock, I couldn't help but notice that Shanks also had a slightly wary look in his eyes when he looked at me...shit, where did I go wrong?
-----------END-----------
"They we leave next week. Say goodbye to the other brats." he said with some seriousness, that I mirrored on my face.
"Okay Garp-san. I will. Don't worry, i'll be stronger than you in no time"
"You want another fist of love?"
"No, I'll go to my room to pack" and scampered off. After I entered my room, I started thinking to my self. 'This was always part of the plan... but the plan didn't mean we couldn't be friends. It was fun with them while it lasted. Now they had their own paths and...I had my own. Luffy, Ace, you can dream about being the Pirate King, Sabo, you can dream of overthrowing the World Government, but in the end, there can only be one person that stands at the top of this world - and it will be me'.
I didn't notice at the time, but a golden-reddish aura was starting to form around me.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone