Chương 14: Chapter 14: You've got to ask yourself a question: 'do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?
Sengoku was hanging up his den den mushi.
"Well… you told the truth, you did write your real age and the correct birthdate."
He had called someone still in the office and ordered him to find a copy of Rick's contract to the marines.
Rick was still playing the innocent, timid and wrong kid, albeit a bit different.
Why ?
To know that, let's back up the time a bit.
~~~~~~
"GARP! WHAT DID YOU DO TO THAT KID?"
"What? I didn't do any…"
He couldn't finish his sentence as Tsuzru was already upon him.
Aaaaaand she wiped the floor with him.
Literally.
She used the power of her Washo Washo no mi on Garp and cleaned the floor with him (the floor was clean though).
She left him there, and went to sit next to Rick.
He looked at her as if she was a goddess of vengeance who came down this mortal plane to fulfill his prayer.
The veneration he had in eyes was not faked by his acting skill.
It was genuine.
Sengoku smirked as he could see the stars in the kid's eyes.
'I think Tsuru has a fan for life now, she just stole his heart'
Tsuru was just drinking her tea, but Rick could see a little teeny tiny curve in the corner of her mouth.
He didn't hear Sengoku talk to him. His sight was fixed on her beautiful face.
(Author note: YES! I know at that time Tsuru was full of wrinkles and looked like an old lady. The same for SEngoku Being fleet Admiral. Remember, this is a fanfiction, some changes are bound to happen.)
(Author note 2: not many though…)
"Whoaaaaa. Big sis, that was amazing! Can you teach me?"
Impassive, Tsuru answered that maybe one day she will.
She was still in "cute mode" though.
Sengoku thought 'Adorable' before coughing, attracting Rick's attention.
"Kid, What don't you tell us about your story from the beginning?
Rick turned his head to face him.
'And now the watery part.'
He put up a really sad face and looked at the ground. As he started talking he took Tsuru's hand in his, making it seem as if it wasn't intentional and was just reaching for some sort of comfort.
She didn't take her hand away, instead grabbed his, in a way that, without actually saying anything she conveyed the message :
'It's okay, I'm here with you.'
Feeling her hand Rick was ecstatic.
'Yes, the plan is working, let's keep it up'.
" About 2 years ago, I woke up at the edge of the forest near LogueTown. I… I couldn't remember anything. Neither my parents, or where I was and where I lived. I just knew that Rick Wald was my name, that I was 6, that my head was frobing a lot.
I had a weird fruit in my hand. It looked like an apple but deformed and it was dark purple.
I remember that I was hungry so I ate it. It wasn't very good. In fact the taste was horrible."
Sengoku and Tsuru exchanged a look. ' A devil fruit '
"I went to town and tried to ask for help but no one did. Except one granny, that told me to go to the marines and that if I was ten they would take me in.
I knew that I didn't look like a 10 years old kid, so I went back to the forest and built a shelter with branches and big leaves that had fallen to the ground."
He stopped talking to add a dramatic effect, and faked a sob.
Tsuru squeezed his hand a bit tighter.
Garp said something but in the state he was in, no one could understand his speech.
Rick fake his anger, glared at him and said with authority:
"Shush grandpa, the adults are talking and you're being punished for the bad deeds you did!".
Sengoku chuckled and Tsuru, she couldn't help it, she smirked.
Rick continued his tale.
"Soon I discovered that I could move objects towards me or send them away without touching them. I could squish fruits that were on the ground or make them fall faster if I focused enough."
"Oh! So your power is to control gravity?"
Rick nodded.
" Then I trained for a year and a half. I heard that marines sometimes used weight for training so I used my power on myself while exercising. I don't know how but I grew big and when I was big enough to be mistaken for a 10 year old kid, I came back to town and went straight to the marine office and tried to enroll. The marine at the desk laughed at me so loudly that two others came from the back and when they heard that I wanted to join, they laughed too."
"That's not the behavior of a good marine." said Sengoku with a frown.
"No, but then grandpa came in ! And when he learned what I wanted, he asked my age and then I felt as if I had weight on my shoulders. It was so heavy my legs were shaking. But I knew it was grandpa's doing, so I put weight on his back with my power too!"
Rick laughed as he said that.
Garp was trying to talk but everyone ignored him.
" You use your gravity on Garp?" Sengoku was dumbfounded!
"Yes! And then the weight was gone and grandpa smiled, he gave a different order to each marine and asked me why I wanted to join."
At that point Garp was really loud.
"Big sis, can you turn grandpa back to normal? I think he was punished enough."
Tsuru waved her free hand towards Garp and he was… Garp again. He sat next to Sengoku who advised him to stay quiet when he tried to talk.
"So, why did you want to enroll? What did you tell Garp?"
"I told grandpa that I wanted to join the marine because I wanted to see the world, and protect the people who couldn't protect themselves and bring justice to all evil doers that I meet or hear about!" said Rick with pride.
'All of you take that! Cuteness level is over 9000!'
"Come on kid, that's not all you said to me."
'Oh shit the beast is rebelling. Play it cool, play it cool'
"I... I…"
"Come on kid, A lie by omission is still a lie, besides where are the guts you showed me that day? Come on show them again."
"I...I…"
For a dramatic effect Rick nearly shouted.
"I want to be the greatest Fleet Admiral the Marine will ever know!"
You know the drill: Garp laughed, Sengoku smirked and Tsuru went full "cute mode".
"Oh? Should I be worried about my job?"
"Yeah!"
'And now, ladies and gentlemen, the drop of Fat Man!'
" But not for now. I heard you must be really old to become Fleet Admiral. At least 30!"
The temperature in the room dropped abysmally.
'Hehehehe'
Besides Rick, everyone else was either in their late forties or already in their fifties.
Garp and Sengoku had a twitching eye.
Tsuru's expression would have scared Death herself.
"Don't worry big sis, you have plenty of time before trying to be a Fleet Admiral."
Garp and Sengoku went full Tsukkomi.
"" HEY!""
Tsuru returned to her impassive face and gave a short answer:
"What? You heard him, I've got plenty of time."
At that, the two men grumble some inaudible words.
Truth was, Tsuru looked way younger than her actual age that was XX (Author note: Never say a woman's age).
Her appearance wasn't so young that she could pass for a woman in her early twenties but she truly did look 15 to 20 years younger than her age. Maybe because of her devil fruit that kept things smooth and clean?
'Really, who knew that messing with the three of them was so much fun!'
"Then grandpa took me to the training grounds and ordered me to run 50 laps in an hour."
"Garp! The average man does it in 90 minutes! What were you thinking?"
"Really? I thought it was an hour."
"Grandpa said that I could have a cookie if I did it. In the end I only did 38laps."
Tsuru and Sengoku opened their eyes wide and looked at Garp who nodded.
" Since I failed to do 50 laps. Grandpa said that I had to finish them, take a 15 minutes break then do sets of 50 laps until the sun set, with no time limit and a break between each set. Every morning I tried and failed to do 50 laps under an hour, and went on to do the punishment. At the end of the week I was so mad that I did it."
"Wait, wait, wait. You did it ? 50 laps in 60 minutes?"
" 'Course he did. You think I would have taken him under my wing otherwise?"
Sengoku didn't know what to say, it was surreal.
Surprisingly it was Tsuru that spoke up.
"Rick, why were you mad?"
"Because after the 3rd day the marines made a betting booth. They betted if I was going to give up and if not if I would do it under, at best, two weeks."
Sengoku yelled: " THEY DID WHAT?!"
"No wonder you were mad." said Tsuru.
"Oh, I was angry but not mad. I was mad on the fifth day."
Rick looked at his "grandpa" in anger. Garp was clearly uncomfortable and squirming in his seat.
"When grandpa came back on the fifth day, I was happy, I thought he would punish them all but he went and betted himself!"
His tone was full of reproach.
'Take that old man! Karma is a bitch!'
""GARP!""
He was in big doodoo and knew it.
"YOU! A Vice-Admiral of the Marine!"
"It was just a bit of fun! It was to motivate him. In the end it worked, right?"
Garp was trying to defend himself best as he could but it was not a pretty sight.
"True, I don't think I would have done it otherwise. Though What made me madder that HE WON!"
"WHY? I had faith in you kid! Everyone one else was against you!"
"You gave me a fake cookie!"
"A fake cookie?" asked Sengoku?
"Yeah! Grandpa gave me a cookie but it was not chocolate it was full of raisins!"
Rick was glaring at Garp who didn't seem to see the problem.
Sengoku gasped.
"What? Raisins are good for your health."
It was Tsuru that said what everyone but Garp was thinking.
"There is a special place in hell for people like you Garp."
~~~~~~
After a short argument about why cookies with raisins are not real cookies, Rick continued his tale.
He talked about his first month of fighting with Garp and his abandonment on the deserted Island for 6 months to which Garp commented.
"I knew he would pass with flying colors on the test and he did!"
That didn't stop Tsuru from jumping on him. Now his face looked like a Mister Potato head.
Rick went about the day the pirate king was executed.
" I wanted to go to the plaza to see the pirate king, but grandpa refused. He said that it was not something a kid like me should see."
Sengoku and Tsuru looked at him like he had a third arm on his forehead.
"What?"
"Nothing. Just…. That's the first time I hear that you acted with common sense."
"Oi, who do you take …"
Tsuru squeezed Rick's hand, indicating him to continue.
"Because grandpa forgot my birthday, he didn't give me a day off and send me patrolling the streets."
Rick faked a pout.
"I said I was sorry! And didn't I get you Sengoku's cap?"
He smiled and said: " Yes you did."
Back to his tale…
"I was patrolling the streets when I saw Dark King Rayleigh.
'Bomb number 3, droppred.'
"""WHAT!"""
Even Tsuru yelled?
"Kid stop lying!"
"I'm not grandpa!"
"You really saw the Silvers Rayleigh?"
" I even made a deal with him!"
Rick went on about the deal and his time with rayleigh.
"Why didn't you tell me kid?"
"I was about to! But when I came into your office, you were on the den den mushi laughing, then you hung up and told me to pack my bag because we were leaving immediately for here.
Don't worry Grandpa, I promised that I will catch him and I keep my promises."
The next part of the tale was the mission Garp and Rick returned from.
When he related that Garp made him cry in front of the whole crew, neither Sengoku and Tsuru were happy.
Seriously, what kind of man makes a child cry?
Once Rick was done with his story, Sengoku spoke:
"Tsuru I want you to join Garp on his ship."
"What? Why?"
"Because I want her to supervise you with training Rick…"
Tsuru nodded.
"Kid, go back to the ship and ready a room for her."
"Yes, Grandpa".
'Time for the grand finale!"
Rich stood up and declared, while looking at her with eyes full of stars, still holding her hand:
"Big sis when I'm all grown up, I'm going to marry you!"
Sengoku eyes were big and wide.
Garp froze.
No one dares to say such words to Tsuru. The Ice queen of the marines.
Actually one guy tried. They still haven't found his body and that was more than 25 years ago.
Rick then kissed her cheek.
Tsuru simply answered:
"Sure". And smiled beautifully.
Sengoku dropped his jaw to the floor and Garp…
Well Garp wasn't doing anything because he fainted in the position he froze, his face still looking like a Mister Potato head.The shock was apparently too much for him.
Rick ran out of the house yelling " Bye uncle buddha!".
Another shock for Sengoku. He didn't think he could take another one and not pass out.
Tsuru laughed.
"Fufufu. Uncle buddha."
Sengoku fainted.
Author's note: So what do YOU think? Did Garp feel lucky or not?
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