Amarillo's Pirate Adventure (One Piece SI)

Chapter 1– The Next Journey.

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[You Have Died. Pick Up To Five Traits For Your New Life.]

What the fuck is this. I move my hands to try and push this weird blue screen out of my way, but then I realise I don't have hands. So where is my body, and why am I so calm right now when I should be freaking out like an average person would be? And I am dead. How can that be when I don't even remember dying?

[You Are Now Dead, You Are Now Being Prepared For A New Life. It Has Been Decided That You No Longer Need Your Emotions And Connections To That Life Since It Is Now Over. Therefore, The Growth Of New Emotion And Feeling Has Been Put On Hold Till Your Next Life Begins. This Will Help The Facilitation Of New Feelings, New Emotions And New Connections In The Next Life With No Past Attachments. You Do Not Remember Your Death Because, In Some Cases, The Trauma Carries Over, Into The Next Life. This Is Unpreffered. Choose Up To 5 Traits.]

While I may not feel any emotion or feelings at the moment, I still have my memories for the most part and from that, I know and remember what kind of reaction I would have to such a situation. I would not like it one bit, so I decided to boycott this mysterious screen to see what would happen, and if I could be offered some other alternatives, as I no longer have a body that can die, I could stay like this infinitely. So I remain still and look around at the black void that covers everything around me, and the only light source in this place is the blue screen.

Time moves forward (or does it?) as I just stay still and look at the screen in front of me without doing anything, and the weird screen doesn't say anything else, letting me do whatever I want. So time passes, and I can't tell if it has been minutes or millenniums, but what is clear is that the screen does not care about my abstaining.

So eventually, I decided to just move forward. Having grown bored of this dark void, I may not have emotions at the moment. However, I can still feel boredom and the need to experience anything other than this monotony. As if hearing my thoughts, the screen shows all the possible traits available to me.

[ Adrenaline Junkie:
You are someone who enjoys intense and thrilling activities that generate an adrenaline rush. "Moves faster when highly panicked."

Athletic:
You are a person who is trained or skilled in exercises, sports, or games requiring physical strength, agility, or stamina. "Can run faster and longer without tiring."

Brave:
You have the mental and moral strength to face danger, fear, or difficulty. You possess the potential to be as courageous as a brave soldier in a war. "Less prone to becoming panicked."

Cat's Eyes:
You have the eyes of a wild cat, eyes that are evolved to help hunt down its prey and have the most incredible vision, even at night. "Better vision, including at night."

Dextrous:
You are someone who is graceful and skilful in physical movements, a person who is especially good with their hands. "Handles objects and items quickly and effectively."

Eagle-Eyed:
You have the eyes of an eagle. You see everything carefully and notice everything there is to notice. "Has a faster visibility fade and a higher visibility arc."

Fast Healer:
Healing takes a lot of time for everyone else, but for you, you heal faster than them, so much so that you wonder if you were even hurt in the first place. "Recovers faster from injury and illness."

Fast Learner:
Learning takes a lot of time for everyone else, but for you, you learn faster than them, so much so that you can become adequate and understand something in only a few minutes. "Learns and understands faster."

Fast Reader:
An average person pushed to the limits can read at around a rate of 400-700 words per minute while sacrificing comprehension. You can read so much more and understand every single word. "Takes less time to read books or any other such things."

Fit:
You are naturally in good shape, and your physique defies common sense as you hardly have to work to maintain it. "In good physical shape."

Graceful:
Everything you do is beautiful, well-formed and done with ease. You are as elegant and graceful as a ballet dancer having grace in movement, shape, or proportion. "Makes less noise when moving and can move with unnatural prowess."

Inconspicuous:
The word comes from the Latin word inconspicuous, or 'not visible'. The original meaning of inconspicuous was 'invisible'. You do not attract attention to yourself in any way as you blend in without being prominent or attracting attention. "Less likely to be spotted by anyone."

Iron Gut:
You can drink or eat whatever you want with no worries about how it will affect your stomach. You will never have food poisoning or food-induced puke thanks to your Iron Gut. "Less chance to have food illness."

Keen Hearing:
You have a powerful ability to listen, overhear, understand and comprehend anything being said. "Larger perception radius."

Light Eater:
You don't have to eat that much to stay fighting fit. You could fight off a herd of horses, having only eaten a single apple. "Needs to eat less regularly."

Low Thirst:
Ordinary people can go a couple of weeks without eating but only a little under a week without water. You can go without water for much longer. "Needs to drink water less regularly."

Lucky:
Luck is success or failure apparently brought by chance rather than through one's own actions. Your luck is more attuned to success than failure. "Sometimes things just go your way."

Organised:
You are very meticulous and neat, you do things in a particular way, and you abide by the rules of order and organisation. Some would say to the point it's unhealthy. "Increased organisation capacity."

Outdoorsman:
You are someone who spends too much time outdoors or in outdoor activities. You know the lay of the land and how to forage through it and suckle on mother nature's teat for sustenance. "Not affected by harsh weather conditions and comfortable in the woods."

Resilient:
You can handle anything. You will bear the pain and soldier on through the hardship no matter the cost. "Less prone to disease. A slower rate of decay."

Speed Demon:
You love the speed and exhilaration you get from going fast. Some might mistake you for a furry blue hedgehog with white gloves and red boots who loves chilli dogs. "Speed is increased beyond measure."

Stout:
You stand your ground when people try to take you away from it. When the world comes and tries to move you, you say, 'no, you move'. "Diminished knockback from melee weapons and increased carry weight. Doubles with Strong"

Strong:
You stand your ground when people try to take you away from it. When the world comes and tries to move you, you say, 'no, you move'. "Diminished knockback from melee weapons and increased carry weight. Doubles with Stout"

Thick Skinned:
Not the resilience to insults and words directed at you. This is the literal thickness of the skin, which provides better protection and durability. "Less chance of lacerations or cuts breaking through the skin."

Wakeful:
When pushed to the maximum, ordinary people can only survive less than a week without sleep. You can survive double that and even more when pushed to the max. "Needs less sleep."]

Okay, well, first of all, I don't really need any of the traits that have physical effects since all of that can be cultivated and trained with time if the new world I go to even needs such physical skills. I doubt I'll need the traits that have other random effects since any world I go to will probably be civilised, and if it is not, the people I am born to will help to make me prepared for the world. Hence, it is better to get traits with more mental aspects as they can then be applied to all other aspects of life and improve them.

Also, the descriptions themselves are pretty confusing, as there is a short description under each skill. Then after the report is a brief note on the trait, so it is a bit confusing. Still, I think that the description is just some flowery words to trick people, and the quick note afterwards is the actual effect which would make most of the skills in the list look a lot different. Still, all of them have a flowery description, so if I choose based on the brief notes, then the result will most likely be much better. Or not. Who knows how this thing works.

I will pick Brave as being brave can apply to facing off against significant threats against yourself or simply facing a daunting situation, so that is a definite plus. Fast Learner, as learning things fast and adapting and comprehending at a quicker rate is crucial to survival and, more importantly, flourishing. Lucky as luck can play a big part in everyone's life, and if I am more lucky than unlucky, then indeed, that is better.

Believing that that is enough traits for the mental aspect of my future self, I then decide to at least invest in some passive physical attributes in case I do end up going to a harsher world, and the last two traits will complement my other characteristics as well. Therefore I decide on Fast Healer, as healing faster will always be helpful, and less time being ill means more time doing more important stuff.

Finally, I choose Adrenaline Junkie as this will genuinely be crucial if I am born into a much harsher world, and it will help me to survive any dangerous situations I may come across in the new world. Of course, I can always build my body up and get stronger, but this will help my survivability and allow me to be faster if I need to fight or run away.

[You Have Chosen Adrenaline Junkie, Brave, Fast Healer, Fast Learner and Lucky. These Traits Are Now Locked In. Now Assigning You 5 Random Negative Traits To Balance Out You're New Life.]

Wait, what? I wasn't told about any negative traits. If I knew about that, then I wouldn't have risked it and not picked any of the characteristics as it said I could pick up to five, which means I can pick zero as well. It is too late now, though, my traits are locked in, and all I can do now is hope for the best.

[You Have Been Assigned Claustrophobic, Clumsy, Conspicuous, Sleepy Head and Smoker.

Claustrophobic:
Claustrophobia is the irrational fear of confined spaces, and there are different severities, but avoiding these places may reinforce that fear. Some people with claustrophobia can experience mild anxiety when in a confined space. In contrast, other people will have severe anxiety or a panic attack, and the most common experience is a feeling or fear of losing control. "Gets panicked when in tightly confined spaces. Reactions can be variable."

Clumsy:
Dropping things, tripping a lot, and stumbling are all examples of clumsiness. Clumsy people usually aren't too good at sports or anything requiring accuracy, and you most certainly will not be a surgeon in your lifetime. "Not at all graceful and makes more noise when moving."

Conspicuous:
You are clearly visible, obvious and showy, attracting attention because of a unique quality or feature or even your actions. "More likely to be spotted by everyone around you, has striking features or fashion."

Sleepy Head:
You are a sleepy and absent-minded person that is prone to tiredness and sleeping for much too long. If something is not stimulating enough, you can very easily fall asleep due to boredom. "Needs more sleep."

Smoker:
You smoke substances regularly, having become addicted to them, everything becomes so much better and more manageable when you begin to smoke, and you relax and calm down when you smoke, but you can't go too long without a cloud of smoke, or you will fall and burn. "Stress and unhappiness decrease after smoking tobacco. Unhappiness rises when tobacco is not smoked."]

Overall out of the many possible negative traits I can think of, I don't think I pulled the worst shortest straw. Still, I also didn't pull the longest because some of these, while manageable, can also become a real headache in the future. Conspicuous and Smoker, while slightly annoying, don't actually have much of an impact as they are just striking looks and clothes as well as smoking some cigarettes every day, with the last one probably only kicking in when I am mature, and that may only be stressful when I no longer have anything to smoke. Still, the other three can actually give me quite a headache.

First of all, Sleepy Head will be really obstructive because I will work less efficiently if I don't get enough sleep, and I am also liable to just fall asleep if whatever happening is not stimulating enough. Being clumsy will also be very inconvenient as I will be stumbling and messing things up, not to mention that if the world is indeed a dangerous place, then being Clumsy will make life infinitely more difficult for me.

Finally, Claustrophobic is the worst of them all as it can range anywhere from mild discomfort to severe anxiety, which means that either way, I will find it challenging to remain in closed-off tight spaces, and since those are pretty much everywhere, I am pretty screwed.

[With All Of Your Traits now Chosen, You May Move On To Your Next Life, Your Memories Will Be Erased, And Your Soul Will Be Sent Off To Begin Its New Journey. Alternatively, You Can Choose The Option To Keep Your Memories Without Any Of The Emotional Connect, And Your Emotions Will Be Resumed In Your Next Life. If You Choose This Option, You Must Spin The Wheel Of Conditions.]

So I can either have my soul sent off to begin a new life without my memories, but does that even constitute it as still being me? Alternatively, I can keep all of my memories without the emotional connections and attachments, but to do that, I need to spin something called The Wheel Of Conditions. I want to choose the second option, but I need to figure out what The Wheel Of Conditions is. It must be some kind of cost that needs to be paid in order to keep my memories and intellectual knowledge.

[The Wheel Of Knowledge Is A Wheel That, When Spun, Will Land On A Condition/Law That Will Be Enforced On You For The Rest Of Your Next Life. It Could Be Something Simple Such As Shouting 'Tequila' After Every Expel Of Gas You Do Or Something Much More Complicated Like Cutting Off A Part Of Your Body Every Time Something Enters Your Anus. Make A Decision.]

So I can move on to my next life without my memories, or I can take my memories. Still, in return, I have to abide by a specific condition that will be enforced upon me for the rest of my life. Still, this condition can be anything from very mild to very serious. I also have to consider if the theme in the next world without my memories will really be me since they have none of the memories that I have, and for that matter, am I even really who I was before without my old emotions and connections.

If the person I become in the next world isn't even me, then what is the point of choosing all of these traits if I will never get to experience all of them myself and I have just selected the base plate for the person my soul will go on into, wouldn't it be worth it to spin the wheel and keep my memories to at least somewhat experience the next world for myself even if I do have to abide by some random condition.

[You Have Ten Seconds Before You Are Sent On To The Next World, Make Your Decision.]

[10.]

[9.]

[8.]

[7.]

Okay, okay. I choose to keep my memories and spin The Wheel Of Conditions.

[Spinning The Wheel Of Conditions]

Okay, I expected to have some kind of mystical wheel show up, and I would have to spin it. But instead, the screen is just saying it's turning the wheel, and it is probably going to rely on some sort of random number generator to pick the condition that is random, so it doesn't matter.

[Condition Selected. Condition Is Imprinted

Imprinted:
A female in your new world will be chosen upon your birth, and they will be selected as the person you imprint on. of course, you can go your whole life without meeting them, or they can die before you meet them, which will nullify the condition. You can't control when it happens or to who, and it can happen at any age. Imprinting on someone means when you see her, everything will change. You will listen to her every word and not be able to refuse her regardless of how you feel on the inside. You will not be able to harm her, you will have to listen to her every command, and there is nothing you can do about it. Of course, nothing is impossible.]

What the hell. I have just agreed to become a slave of a random woman in my next world. I would rather lose my memories than live as someone's servant. Before I can contemplate this any further, the blue screen plinks out of existence, taking me by surprise, and all I am left with is the deep dark void around me, but even that doesn't last. The opening begins to twist and turn on itself as if it was a black hole, and it happens so fast that I can't even react as space folds in on itself. I am sucked into the deep crevice of existence.

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My name is Amarillo Toro, and I have lived in the town of Shokuyasi Village since I can remember. Though apparently, I was born in Gosa Village, but my mother died in childbirth, so I was immediately taken to the only orphanage that exists on the Conomi Islands. This orphanage is in Shokuyasi Village, and it is run by two people who are called Mummy Mee and Daddy Dee.

Mummy Mee is a fair-skinned woman with a long face, long eyelashes, and a pointed chin. She has puffed-up purple hair and wears red lipstick and gold earrings. She also wears a fancy purple coat with a fluffy, white fur collar and a yellow-orange button-up shirt with a red dress underneath.

Daddy Dee is a tan-skinned man with brown hair and a thin, two-piece moustache. He wears a blue and white striped top hat, a blue double-breasted suit, and a pair of circular glasses. He also wears a brown scarf underneath his suit.

I have never fit in with the other children at the orphanage because I am too different to them, and I just think differently. However, since I was born, there have always been these memories in my mind, and I know that they come from the man that I used to be since we both have the same soul.

Still, he has lived for decades, and I am not even ten years old yet, so while I know that the memories are mine, I also know that they don't belong to me and belong to the man I used to be before all the emotions and feelings were cut from the memories, either way, these memories are mine and have helped me in many ways as they helped me skip a few embarrassing moments that people must go through when growing.

However, the language in the memories does not exist in this new world as there is a different primary language here which I had to learn, and due to learning and thinking in English, it was more challenging to get the hang of though I still managed to understand it before the other children around my age.

That is actually one of the reasons that the orphanage children and I don't get along. It is because I am much more clever than the other children in the orphanage, even the ones older than me. They definitely don't like that because when they do things that they think are fantastic, I know that it is actually idiotic due to my inherited common sense.

When they try to involve me, I make my opinion clear, which they don't like. Regardless I have grown up pretty isolated in my village, with only Mummy Mee and Daddy Dee to properly converse with. Aside from that, I have been trying to make use of all of the traits that the past me chose. Thank you for your choices past me.

Currently, I have not felt the effect of Smoker or Claustrophobic apart from those that I have experienced the rest of my in some way or another. The trait I have experienced the most would be clumsy as I am constantly tripping and falling over things though thankfully, that is the only way that this trait shows itself.

I am not clumsy with my hands though I do get a few injuries with my clumsiness. Thankfully, they heal quickly thanks to Fast Healer though I have had a few close calls where I have fallen in very dangerous places.

For instance, Daddy Dee was once taking us kids on a walk through the island to see the sights. When we were walking along a cliff edge, I ended up stumbling and falling over the edge of the cliff, only to have my leg get tangled up in some roots growing from the side. Daddy Dee managed to pull me back up, and I can't help but think that that was my Lucky trait coming into effect as it saved me from my negative trait, clumsy, so I can at least be assured that Clumsy is being nullified somewhat by Lucky.

I have made use of my Fast Learner trait by comprehending and absorbing things much faster than others, such as in the classes that Mummy Mee and Daddy Dee have for us and thanks to my memories, I pretty much knew most of the things already or at least something similar which is where my next trait Sleepy Head came into effect as I started to fall asleep in all of the classes which were dull. However, I am thankful that this trait just means I sleep more than other people, and I will fall asleep if I am seriously bored.

Finally, my trait Brave was used whenever I stood up to the groups of kids in the orphanage who didn't like me since there were quite a lot of them. Still, I stood my ground nonetheless, which brought my final trait Adrenaline Junkie into effect as my adrenaline shot up when I began to fight with the other kids. Then I got addicted to the feeling of the thrill when I was fighting due to my trait. At this point, both Adrenaline Junkie and Brave fed off of each other to get me into fights which I began to enjoy. Maybe in hindsight, it was not clever to pair these two traits together.

When those fights began to happen, I was always on the losing end, usually ending up beaten and crying until Mommy Mee or Daddy Dee found me and then patched me up and helped my Fast Healer trait to work faster, but even though I would not tell them they would work out who it was that was fighting me, and they would punish them which only made those kids madder at me which made more and more fights occur but unexpectedly I began to enjoy the meetings of fists and the sting of punches.

I got better and better at fighting, and I believe it was because of my traits Brave, Adrenaline Junkie, Clumsy and Lucky which all fed into each other to help me out with Adrenaline Junkie providing me with a much-needed boost in battle, Brave helping me to not shy away from giving and receiving hits. I was wrong about Lucky nullifying Clumsy as it ultimately depended on the situation and whether being Clumsy would be beneficial to me in a single moment.

Luck fed into Clumsy making me stumble or trip out of the way of punches or unexpectedly into someone's guard, allowing me to get a body shot in. Realising this, I began to take advantage of it and focus on using it in my fights, and since I was aware of it, my trait Fast Learner came into effect.

I began to develop a style which was kind of similar to the drunken fist. Still, instead of pretending to be drunk and getting into that mindset, I was just feeding into my clumsiness and manipulating it to suit my needs which meant using lurching, random movements and falling have been incorporated into my style, which gave me the edge against the other kids in the orphanage.

Just recently, I have become undefeated with none of the kids in the orphanage being able to put up a fight against me which didn't get my blood flowing. So I began to stupidly fall asleep during the battle due to the trait Sleepy Head and that allows them to sometimes get a good wallop in and get my blood flowing.

However, it ultimately isn't enough as I still easily beat them, it has gotten to the point that I don't even bother talking to them anymore as there is no point in conversing with them, but this seems to annoy them more. They still come at me, prolonging this long chain of battles that is no longer fun for me.

Today I am 7 years old, and I have just been called into Mummy Mee and Daddy Dee's office to discuss something first thing in the morning. I knock on the door, and when I get a reply, I enter, closing the door behind me before looking t them both.

They are dressed in their good clothes like usual, as are all of us in the orphanage, which is not what I expected, but I guess it doesn't matter and expecting them to have called me here to tell me happy birthday, I go to greet them both but stop because instead of the both of them looking glad they both instead look severe.

"Please, take a seat, Toro. We have something we need to discuss with you, something serious."

 

Chapter 2– Alone Again.

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"Something serious, huh? Just what exactly is this about?" I ask, concerned, never having heard this tone of voice from Mummy Mee in my entire life, having only heard kindness and sometimes her stern voice, but right now, she is all business. There is no emotion to be seen on her face, Daddy Dee is trying to emulate her but can't quite manage it as he looks a little sad but resigned next to her, and they both look at one another as if to confirm something before they turn their gazes back to me.

"I am sorry, Detoro, but you can no longer live in the orphanage. There are too many issues caused by your continued presence here, the other children are afraid of you, and they are scared to leave their rooms in fear of running into you, so for the sake of all the other children within this building, we have to remove you from it." I remain absolutely motionless, shocked and in disbelief at the words that leave her mouth, and I don't know how to react in this situation. this is just so unbelievably unfair.

First of all, those other kids started picking on me and beating me up, and when the situation changed, I was beating them up in return, but I only ever fought with people who started the fight with me. Otherwise, I would just ignore them. of course, I became a bit antagonistic to goad them into fights as I got a little battle manic, but they could have easily restrained themselves and not acted as they already knew they would be beaten up. Still, they decided to do so and then started coming at me with even more significant numbers, so they can only blame themselves.

"B-But I- Where, where am I going to go? You can't just kick me out. how will I feed and clothe myself?" I nearly voice my frustration at the situation and the unfairness of it all. Still, I am mature enough to know that they already know the ins and outs of the case and what is actually going on, but even so, they have to think about the majority and me being the problem in an issue that can't be solved.

The easiest solution is to just remove the problematic piece from the equation to get things working again. I understand that, and so I don't complain, knowing it would be a waste of breath. I will be leaving this place for sure, but all I need to do now is find out precisely what happens after that and how I am expected to survive.

"We are an orphanage that is funded by the World Government Detoro. for every child that resides here, we are given a certain amount of berries to provide that child with everything they need, such as food, water, clothes and any other sort of expenses that they need to survive and live healthy lives. So while you may be leaving the building, we will still regard you as one of the children that live at the orphanage." I nod my head, not voicing my dissatisfaction with the situation.

"When the World Government delivers the funds every month, we will take the amount of one child and give it to you as a stipend, this should be enough to buy yourself anything you may need, but unfortunately, we can't have you living at anybody else's house in the village as that would make your orphan status null which would stop your stipend and everybody in the village only has enough for themselves until the harvest comes. So they won't be able to accept another person in their home." Mummy Mee says with a stoic expression.

Daddy Dee then cuts in. "Of course, we would not leave you without a place to sleep or a roof over your head. Myself and Daddy Dee are both technically employed by the World Government, so we are paid a good amount for our work, and with a portion of our money, we have managed to procure a small home for you, which is next to the beach. So with that, you should have everything you need." Daddy Dee finishes, and I once again find myself speechless, but this time it is due to the kindness shown by both Mummy Mee and Daddy Dee.

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Shokuyasi Village is a coastal village that resides by the sea and is quite a while away from the other towns that are in close contact with each other, and that is because between Shokuyasi Village. The other village is a massive rice field which is the main harvest on the island. This means we are pretty cut off from the other towns due to the significant difference, but that also means that everyone in the village is pretty familiar with each other. Not a lot of people are moving into the town, and so there are exactly the amount of houses in the town for the population of the village.

However, right here on the beach is my new house which is basically just a small wooden shack (small for an adult, big enough for a child). There are actually no other houses on the beach near it for some reason, even though it seems like quite a good location, but I don't question my good luck as this will make for quite the private home where I can be myself and have fun.

"Okay, Detoro, this is now your new home. From here on, you are responsible for your own home and well-being, use your stipend wisely, and if you want any more furniture or luxuries or you have to make repairs to your home, you will have to take care of those yourself. So look after yourself, Detoro. if you ever need any help, just ask but keep in mind that we are not miracle makers, and we have a full orphanage of children to look after." Mummy Mee says with a professional tone and face with Daddy Dee by her side, who nods along with her words.

They both go to leave, but suddenly Mummy Mee stops taking me by surprise as she suddenly turns around and lunges to pull me into a quick, powerful hug. All I can do is stare at Daddy Dee, who just shrugs helplessly at me, and then she lets go and turns around before walking off back to the orphanage with Daddy Dee following her coattails.

I watch them go into the distance, and I keep observing as they move farther and farther away and slowly fade out of sight, and then they are gone. So I watch for a little longer just to make sure and affirm that they will not be coming back for me, I wait a good ten minutes, and they are not back, which means I am now officially on my own.

I pull out the key given to me by Mummy Mee and Daddy Dee and unlock the front door of my house and enter to lay sight on the inside, which is surprisingly sparse, having only a bed in the left corner with a bedside drawer, a small wardrobe near the end of the bed, a kitchen in the front right corner with a wooden stool placed in front of the counter which finishes of the meagre inside of my tiny house.

However, I suppose it is enough for a kid that lives on his own. With the door now unlocked, I go back outside to collect my luggage which Daddy Dee carried here for me. It is just a minor case which holds my clothes and a few of the items I was able to scramble together in my time at the orphanage.

Dragging the bag inside, I kick the door closed behind me with my foot and then lug the bag on top of the bed before unzipping it and beginning to place the contents in their new locations in the house. as I am doing so, I decided to look at the silver lining which is this nifty little house that is secluded and seems to be very well made. This house is actually a steal. It's a wonder why no one ever bought it before Mummy Mee did for me. I really lucked out, didn't I?

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Drip. Drip. Drip.

Water was leaking through the roof, and I had to place some of my cups, plates and bowls in strategic places to capture the water drops, which also meant that I had to move my bed into the very centre of the room where no water dropped. Also, it was freezing, and I only had one duvet for myself, which wasn't enough to keep me warm.

I am sure that when Mummy Mee and Daddy Dee looked at this property, they didn't see any problems with it, and that would be very true as it hadn't rained for nearly a week, which meant the signs of slight water damage were not that obvious. However, since we had hot sun all week, it was hot as well, so I can't blame them for accidentally buying a less-than-ideal house for me. I can't even complain since they had no obligation to do it and did so out of the kindness of their own hearts, which means that I am going to have to stick with this place.

Not being able to sleep, I get out of bed and light the lanterns in the room. As I pass by the front door while doing so, I reach out a hand and pull the handle just to check that it is locked. When it is, I give a sigh of relief, being scared that I had forgotten to lock it on the first night alone in a new place and afraid that someone might come in during the night, having lit up the room and having nothing better to do I begin to properly inspect my new home and discover all the other defects that have been hidden.

After a long inspection, I had found a lot of things about the room, all of which assured me that the former owner of this house was a dick. They must have gotten fortunate to have been blessed with good weather, and then when they heard that someone was looking for a home, they quickly went and hid all of the bad things in the house in a desperate bid to see it, and unluckily the orphanage owners fell for the ploy.

I had discovered that the entire floor had been painted to cover up the water damage, they had hung a mesh kind of material across the top of the room to hide the roof, under my mattress, most of the wooden supports were broken as well as the springs in the matters also being broken, and the worst thing I had discovered was that when I moved the wardrobe out of the way there was a big child-sized hole in the wall and that's why the room is so cold. The bastard former owner just covered it up with the wardrobe.

Even so, I can't call them out on it because if I do, then that means he will be exposed in front of the village, and while that is good. But ultimately, it won't mean that my housing situation will be resolved as the contracts are already signed, and the house has been sold. But, still, most importantly, if I do expose him, then Mummy Mee and Daddy Dee are going to find out, and they will be mortified they gave me such a decrepit and shoddy home, and I don't want them to experience the guilt they will feel as they are good decent people.

Resolving myself, I decide that I will deal with all of this stuff tomorrow and get set out on making a plan to fix this place and turn this house into a home, feeling that I should at least get some sleep in preparation for tomorrow I go and blow out all of the candles and walk back to the bed and- OH CRAP!! Who the hell left that pot on the floor, and why is my arm now so cold now, looking up I am face to face with a wooden wall, and when I look down, I can see my arm going through it, and it is getting incredibly wet and cold, so I pull it back in, but now I am left with the new problem.

Deciding to take a leaf out of the former owner's handbook, I walk over and drag the bedside table over in front of the new hole and then climb back into bed. I huddle up inside my duvet and curl in on myself, hoping that tomorrow will be a better day than today.

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I am currently in one of the only bookstores in Shokuyasi village, and I am staring at a carpentry book for idiots which costs ฿400, and I am thinking. Still, whether to buy it or not since I could just find some planks of wood and nail them onto the walls to cover the holes, which would make shoddy repairs. I also have to think about my money situation, yesterday Mummy Mee gave me my stipend for this month, which was ฿10,000, which I thought was a lot of money, but that was only because I had never had to buy things for myself.

After a bit of exploration today, I discovered that things are not as easy as I thought they were. After visiting all the shops and finding everything I would need to live through the month, I made a few calculations in my head and discovered that I would not have much extra money left over at the end of the month. The things I would need to buy are a loaf of bread for breakfast, some apples or other fruit for lunch, some meat and flavourings for dinner, and I would also need to purchase water for all my meals as well as I can't drink seawater. Finally, I would buy some new things for the house.

A loaf of bread costs ฿100, and it would last about a week, which means I need to buy four loaves for the month. A bunch of apples or fruit costs ฿60, and I would be eating a bunch a day, meaning 7 bunches a week which is ฿420. I would be buying some fresh meat along with seasoning every day to eat so I grow up big and strong with the proper nutrients so that would mean ฿250 for a day and ฿1,750 for a week. Finally, I would need to buy some water for the week, which is thankfully cheap at ฿155 since we are literally surrounded by the stuff.

All in all, when considering the costs and then stretching out the calculations to cover an entire month, it would result in ฿400 a month for the loaves of bread, ฿1,680 for the fruits a month, ฿7,000 a month for the meat and seasoning and finally ฿620 for enough water to last the month which all adds up to a sum of ฿9,700 which leaves just ฿300 for my own personal use but right now I need ฿400 just to buy the beginners guide to carpentry so that I can start to fix up my home which I will be living in for the foreseeable future.

I guess while I do need all the food I can get to grow up big and strong, I can just buy fewer bunches of fruits as the bread and meat will provide most of my sustenance. The fruit was just to be healthy, and I could use the extra money to buy the other things I needed. If I eat just 3 fruits a day instead of 4, I can cut down my monthly cost of fruit by ฿420, which would make my outcome a month ฿9,280 and leave me ฿720 for my own spending, which means I can buy this book and then still have ฿320 left over to buy some other stuff.

"You have been staring pretty hard at the book in your hands for quite some time, young'un. Why would a child like you be thinking about learning carpentry?" An old man wearing glasses and generic nice old guy clothes appears out of nowhere with a bushy moustache and a kind smile on his face. as he looks down at me and as I look back at him, the word 'Flanders' flashes through my mind, which must be from my previous life and this guy, and his atmosphere just reminds me of a Flanders whatever the hell one of those things are.

"Ah, I just wanted to try fixing some stuff at my home. There are a few broken things, and I want to fix them and to fix them I need this book so that I can figure out how to fix them. Still, I just wondered if I had enough money as it is quite expensive for a child like me," I say to him while looking down at the book and resolving myself to buy this book and start learning about this stuff so I can turn this shoddy little wooden house by the beach into a great home. Maybe if I turn out good at this, I can make a career out of this and renovate and flip houses in the future since the world might change, but appearance, greed, and profit do not.

"Oh ho, and here I thought all the kids in this village were more bothered about playing pirates and marines and goofing around. To think there would actually be a diligent and thoughtful child in this village brings an old man joy. Because of that, I am willing to sell that book to you at a discounted price of 75%, and then in a few years, there will be a new carpenter around to come make new shelves for my books and fix things around my home, at least I hope so." He says, and I am quick to respond with a yes as this 75% price means it will cost only ฿300, which is the exact amount of money I had leftover in my first calculation.

But even so, I will stick to the new estimates as I may need to buy more stuff in the future. So I go to reach into my pockets for the money before I realise that I don't have any on me and I can tell the old man realises that as well by the look on my face but I quickly pass him the book and tell him to hold it for me as I am going to run back home to get my money.

I run through the village all the way to the outskirts and then through the open fields till I get to my home and quickly fish out the key from my pocket and unlock the door before closing and locking it behind me and then reaching under my bed that is still in the middle of the room and removing one of the wooden planks and fishing out my money, making some quick calculations of what I need I take ฿1,120 which should pay for all my food for the week and my meat for the day as well as that book that I desperately need.

Quickly hiding my stash of money under the wooden planks again and locking the house up, I run back through the village with my money safely stored inside my pants pocket and avoiding people as much as possible scared that I may bump into them and the money will fall out, or someone will swipe the money from my pocket, and I finally make it back to the bookstore which I enter with excitement and spot the old man sitting behind the counter.

"I am back. Here is the ฿300 for the book. I can't wait to read it and then get to fixing the house. Just watch. I am going to make it into a mansion." I blurt out excitedly as I dig into my pocket and whip out the bundle of cash before counting out ฿300 and handing it over to the man, and then pushing the rest of the money back into my pocket and waiting for the old man to hand over the book to me.

"Ha, you sure are excited, aren't ya? A mansion, ya say? I'll wait till I see it. That's also a lot of money you got there. Do you want to buy more than one book? Because if so, I have a lot of good books that I think will serve a good lad like you well." He says, taking the money from me, pulling out the book from inside his desk, and putting it into a bag before handing it over to me. I get a bit worried when he questions the amount of money I have in my possession, but then I remember that this man gave me a discount and he was also helpful, so he is a good person.

"Ah, this money isn't for more books. It is for all my groceries for this week. I need to buy a lot of food to last the week, which is why I am glad that you gave me a discounted price. Otherwise, I would not have been able to buy the book. Thanks, Oji-San." I say to him with a happy smile on my face as I take the bag with the book inside. This book is the key to starting fixing up my house and turning the home that Mummy Mee and Daddy Dee bought for me into something magnificent.

"Haha, is that so? Then feel free to come around often, and you can sit around and read some books. I could do with some company as this old shop can get quite lonely sometimes. But you will have to buy any books you want to take back home. see ya later, young'un." Saying so, he waves me goodbye as I walk out of the door and go on my way to buy my groceries for the day and source some fresh meat to cook for dinner when I get home.

And then, after eating, I can start reading my book. One thing for sure is that I am gonna take that old man up on his offer and begin reading books at his shop because I don't really have much else to do all day, and I can learn even more instead of buying loads of books. Right now, though, I am going to have to start shopping for food and then, after that, carry it all home. So it isn't that hard to live by yourself.

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Right now, I am at home in bed and reading my newly bought book in my bed after a long day of shopping and cooking my dinner, which was just some beef that I managed to procure from one of the farmers and which I burned quite a bit on my oven which I am grateful for working considering that I forget to check that and if it didn't I would have just had some raw meat and been able to do nothing with it.

Buying the seasonings was a great call because even if I burnt the food so much so that it basically tasted like charcoal, I was able to season and flavour it, which made the taste much better in my mouth. However, it still wasn't as good as what was served at the orphanage.

After that, I went and explored the surroundings of my house for a while, but there were only some woods close by. So the rest of it was pretty deserted, which was just great for me as it meant that I could easily bathe myself in the sea instead of looking at other possibly expensive options. This way, all I had to do was make sure I stayed in the shallow waters and kept a watch out for any fish or dangerous aquatic creatures. Then when it was getting dark, I decided to go to bed early and read my book by candlelight.

Still, I realised that I had made a mistake when I was freezing in my bed, having forgotten how cold my home was. So it was a blessing that it was not raining right now, which I comforted myself with as I huddled up under the duvet and resolved to learn everything in this book so that I could sleep well at night.

I am really learning a lot from this book, and I am feeling very optimistic about the future and just how many repairs I am going to make on this structure starting tomorrow. I am going to use a hammer and some wood to start fixing up those holes and nailing some wood in.

I am going to use a saw to cut some wood exactly to create some new skirting boards to put around the room to protect the bottom of the wall, as I am liable to kick it in with my occasional bouts of clumsiness. I am going to replace all the wood in the structure little by little and get rid of the rotting wood, I am gonna make new drawers and cupboards for all the excellent possessions I am going to have in the future, and I am going to use a ham-

I don't have a hammer, I don't have any equipment, and I don't have any material or nails either. I don't have anything I need to repair this building, and I most likely don't have enough money to buy it with my current stipend. I can't get equipment or material to improve my home without money. I only get ฿10,000 a month which primarily covers my food leaving only a little left for other things, which means to make any sort of improvement on this home, I am going to have to figure out how to get more money.

Then it is settled. I am going to go to sleep, and then tomorrow morning, I am going to try and figure out a way to acquire more money so that I can fix up my home and no longer be so cold at night. I am going to make something out of this shoddy house. I won't give up, no matter how difficult it might seem.

 

Chapter 3– A Ship Arrives.

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I am currently walking through the village while keeping my eyes open for any opportunities that might make my life easier. Still, in a small town like this, there aren't so many of those, so I have just ended up mindlessly wandering through the village and observing the townspeople, who are all very friendly and neighbourly since this village is a tight nit community.

I am ashamed to say that quite a few people in this village actually know my name and who I am. In contrast, I don't remember theirs because I never really paid attention to any of them and mainly just fought with the kids at the orphanage and interacted with the townspeople a few times. Still, I never really paid them anytime as opposed to those who seem to have remembered me, and they shout out friendly greetings as I pass them by.

Eventually, I make it to the docks at the beach, which is a different beach than the one I live at since Shokuyasi Village is a coastal town that is at the very end of the Conomi Islands with it being surrounded on three of its sides by the seas and the other path being the one that leads to the other villages on the island.

Shokuyasi Village itself is more concentrated to the right of that piece of the island, having the sea close by on the north and east, and there is a long old path to the beach to the west, which is where I currently live. So it is pretty isolated from the village and different from the other two beaches, which are heavily populated, with the north beach having the docks of the town.

Walking along the docks, I look at the various buildings where workers are constantly coming in and out of with multiple things and out at the boats where fishermen are standing around on ships that are coming in and out of the harbour with varying shipments on board. Still, mainly they are carrying in fish that they have caught fishing out and seas, and I catch sight of one particular fishing boat pushing out of the harbour.

My eyes trail it as it drifts off into the sea, and I watch it become smaller and smaller, becoming a dot before I can no longer see it. I am just staring out at sea with the sun high up in the sky, shining down and reflecting off of the luminescent waves. I can't believe just how beautiful the ocean looks right now because the sea back in my previous life would not be able to compare to this at all with how polluted it was.

Amazed by the sight, I walk to the end of a dock and sit down, letting my legs dangle off of the side. My toes tip down into the water as I watch the mesmerising wonder in front of me and calmly watch it while feeling a sense of peace that I have never felt before. I can't help but wonder just what other amazing sights there are out there that I haven't seen yet because this world, unlike my last one, is not adequately explored, or at least it is not documented for everyone since in my previous life, everything was pretty much studied. It was all recorded on the internet, but there is nothing like that here in this world.

Of course, I have read a few of the World Economy Newspapers. Still, I was more focused on getting stronger and fighting the other kids at the orphanage, so I didn't pay much attention to any other things that were going on but from the classes at the orphanage. These rumours spread among the children, and I have a pretty basic understanding of this world from some of the newspapers I read.

This world is split up into four different seas called the North Blue, the Sout Blue, the West Blue and the East Blue, which is where I live. Apart from that, a big red cliff separates the East and South blues from the North and West blues. Then even those seas are split up as well because of this big ocean that cuts through the planet, which is somehow perpendicular to the big red wall and then even that sea, which is called the Grand Line, is further separated from the other blues by two strips on either side which is called the Calm Belts which for some reason stop boats going through (It was never really explained, we were just told too never go into the calm belt).

The only sources of information about the rest of the world come from the World Economy Newspapers, and they mainly talk about the significant events and are very focused on the battles between great pirates and marines, which were quite fun to read about and apart from that you only get newspapers that are local on islands, and that is it for information which makes me very curious about what is actually out there to be explored because this world for me is full of mystery just because of the weird set up of the ocean and that is not to mention all of the rumours I have heard.

Rumours about massive creatures in the sea called Seakings, the immensely powered people that exist that can destroy mountains with a punch, the different humanoid species out there, with the most interesting being the mermaids and those people with wings, the apparently magical abilities that can be gained from eating some funky Devil Fruits.

By far the most exciting thing I've heard, which obviously has some truth to it, is the existence of the Pirate King Gold Roger, who has the greatest treasure in the world, the One Piece, which is the cause of the uprise of pirates in the world and the most confusing since people are fighting over something they only know the name of or maybe they are fighting over the title of Pirate King which only belongs to the person who has possession of the One Piece.

I think about all this and more while sitting there looking out at the seas as the sun slowly sets. I daydream and wonder about all the fantastic things out there that are not being put in the newspapers and that the World Government and the Marines are keeping hidden. I can't help but wonder what mysteries and amazing things are out there, just waiting to be found. I can't see myself staying on this island forever since it seems kind of boring, and I want to go out there and see if all those rumours are actually true and if there are actual mermaids out there and if I can find one called Ariel to help me live out my own Disney story.

I continue to look out at the sea, and I finally notice that the sun is actually setting and the day is turning into night. And I have wasted my whole day just sitting here when I should have been improving my situation, so I go to get up and leave. Still, before I do, I spot a dot in the distance directly in front of the sea that slowly gets bigger in my eyes and thinking that it is the fishing boat that went out earlier, I stay sat to watch it so that I have at least gone full circle.

As it pulls in closer and closer, I realise it is much too big to be a fishing boat and the fact that it is blue and white sails and a pale green body with a brown strip. It also has a dog's face on the front that has a bone in its mouth, and did I mention that the World Government symbol is on the front of one of the sails and behind that sail is another that says MARINE.

I sit and watch as the marine ship draws closer and closer and find myself oddly excited because this is the first time I am seeing the law enforcement of this world. If any of those rumours are true, then obviously, some of the people on board that ship should be proof of them since they are tasked with protecting the innocents of the world and should have mighty power to fight off all the pirate scum that terrorise villagers and innocents everywhere, the marine ship has finally drawn close enough that I can see all of it correctly.

I can see that it is a ship made for battle. Still, it also has its quirks, as its crow nests resemble a dog house while the figurehead resembles a dog head with a bone in its mouth and this ship has a lot of sails on it, and the masts are shaped like bones with dog paws with all of this clearly stating the overall theme of this vessel is dogs.

The marine ship is now pulling into the harbour and wanting to get a closer look at all the marines that will no doubt be disembarking (ha, barking, like the ship) the ship and flooding into town to do whatever it is that they have come to do here. So I jump up from my spot at the end of one of the docks and quickly book it over to the dock where the marines have anchored. I slide to a stop as they lay down the plank with a slap of wood meeting wood. I stand awed as marines pour out of the ship and down the plank in neat single-file order, and then they line up on either side of the dock and hoist their guns to the sky against their shoulders as they stand to attention, and I am inspired by the discipline and machismo.

All the marines that came down just now were regular human beings. Still, they were impressive none the less but what I saw next truly broke open the boundaries of my mind because I saw a tall, tanned, broad-chested, muscular old man with a grey beard and a scar over his left eye, blue eyes, and grey hair walk down the plank and then along the dock. Of course, all the marines saluted and shouted at sir when he stepped foot onto the dock. Still, what genuinely shocked me was this man's height as, from a glance, he seemed to be around 9'5", and by comparison, I didn't even make it to the size of his knees, and I was actually pretty tall for my age.

This man was very clearly the boss of this ship as he wore a completely white ensemble having white leather shoes, white pants, a blue shirt with a green tie that strained against his broad chest, over that he wore a white suit coat which was one of those weird ones that had one side wrapped over the others kinda like when you wrap a towel around yourself. It had six gold buttons on the coat, keeping it close, with there being two lines of three which are parallel to each other. His cufflinks are gold too.

Overall, he wears a majestic long white coat that has golden and blue shoulder pads that look kinda regal. But, by far, the weirdest thing about this guy is the bloody dog mask that he wears, which is basically just the cut-off head of a big yellow dog with brown marks and stripes on it, and its eyes have a light yellow fabric on it.

By far, the most maniacal thing is that the dog mask still has all of the sharp teeth in place. So this crazy old man's head is inside the mouth with those dangerous pointy teeth looking dangerously close to his eyes and chin, but he doesn't seem to care as he walks down the dock towards me while munching on some crackers or something.

"Oi kid, you are blocking the way. Move aside. you know where I can find a restaurant or something to eat some food since these buffoons behind me didn't pack enough supplies for our trip, and I have been starving." First, I look up from his knees, which my head barely reaches.

Then, I move my gaze upwards to see this giant old man having his cookies in one hand and having the pinkie of his other hand digging around inside his nose, looking for something, which he finds eventually as he pulls his finger free with a look of triumph on his face. Still, that look quickly switches to frustration pretty easily as he continues to try and flick the booger out into the sea, but no matter what he does, it stays attached to the end of his finger.

"WHAT THE HELL, IT WAS OUR FAULT!? IT WAS ALL YOUR FAULT, WE STOCKED UP ON MORE THAN ENOUGH, BUT YOU ATE IT ALL BEFORE WE EVEN LEFT THE EAST BLUE!!" All the marines that were orderly lined up a second ago suddenly lose all decorum and shout at what I assume to be their captain while chopping their hands down. Still, the man in front of me acts like there's nothing but air and just focuses on trying to remove the booger from the tip of his finger.

At this point, another man comes off of the ship and to my surprise, this man actually turns out to be half a head taller than the man currently standing in front of me. He has short blonde hair and wears a marine coat which is draped over his shoulders, underneath which he wears a matching beige suit and hat, with the hat covering his eyes in a dark shadow.

The man has a katana on his left hip which is attached to his belt with a brown strap, and it has a grey-wrapped hilt, a golden rounded-cross-shaped tsuba and a deep green sheath. The man himself seems to wear an apparently perpetual scowl on his face due to the corners of his mouth always pointing downwards, which emphasises his air of seriousness, and this man is currently walking down the docks towards us.

"HAH" The man in front of me suddenly switches from his dopey face and lazy stance to a severe expression and posture. As he does, I feel him exude an immense pressure into his surroundings which presses down onto me from all sides and makes me feel like the most insignificant thing to have ever existed. Then the burly old man flicks his hand backwards, and he finally succeeds and flicks the booger away, and I can feel the air literally whoosh as the booger flies like a cannonball behind the old man and it is heading straight for the man in the brown suit at an insane speed.

Either that man has incredible reflexes, or he is so light and the booger so fast because as the booger blasts towards him, the man floats to the side and literally flutters around the booger as if a paper bag carried by the wind and the booger continues on past him to splatter against the side of one of the marines faces. The impact is such that the poor man lets out a piercing scream as he is literally blasted off of the docks and out to sea for about 50 meters before he loses momentum and miraculously stays there in the air for a moment before gravity kicks back in. Then, finally, the man falls into the ocean with a large splash.

"Garp-san. Look." The man in the brown suit says as he nods to me, completely ignoring the situation behind him as some of the marines, as if used to the situation, begin to get into a rowboat in preparation to go get the stranded marine as the rest of them laugh at the misfortune of their comrade, the man apparently called Garp directs his serious face down following the man in brown's direction and as his eyes set on me I can feel myself literally wanting to crawl into my self at the pressure emitting from his eyes.

I can feel the sweat pouring down my body and dripping at Garp's intense gaze. Then, I feel myself stumble and nearly drop to my ass when Garp's face returns to its dopey look, and he starts munching on crackers again, with all that intense pressure disappearing like mist.

"Hm, ahh, my bad. Sorry boy, I forgot you were here. you should stop being so short, as no one will be able to see you like that." So you're saying this is my fault, you stupid, disgusting old man, when I am a child, and it's not my decision to be this short, you idiot. Still, while I think this in my head, I don't have the guts to say it out loud, having just felt this man's unbelievable strength and knowing that he could crush my head with his little pinky, which just flung a booger like a cannonball.

At the man's apology, I ended up just nodding and agreeing with what he said, not knowing what else to do in this situation. Still, underneath all of this nervousness and fear, I can feel my blood pumping and my lungs burning at the thought that these feats of strength are actually real and achievable and now that the idea is in my head and festers and balloons up in my head crushing all my other emotions underneath it. Finally, I can't contain my excitement any longer.

"C-Can I do that as well? What you just did?" I blurt out without control, and this takes both Garp and the man in brown by surprise, but while the man in brown maintains his stoic expression Garp tilts his head at me for a second and then looks me up and down before-

"BWAHAHAHAHAHA"

-letting loose a guttural full belly laugh while holding his stomach and leaning back so that his face is looking at the sky. I can see tears begin to sprinkle out of his eyes as he point blankly laughs at my question, and I can feel tears start to leak out of my own eyes as this man who is supposed to be a law-upholding righteous man ridicules me with his savage cackle.

"W-Why, why are you laughing? I-I can do that too. why... wouldn't I be able to do it..?" I stutter out as I wipe my tears away with the sleeve of my arm. I shouldn't be crying like a baby when I still have memories of a time when I was once an adult, but no matter what I do, I can't stop the flow of water from my eyes.

I rub my eyes raw, trying to do so to the point that the skin around my eyes is literally burning as I try to stem my eyeballs and stop this pathetic showing. Still, nothing stops the avalanche of salty water pouring from my eyes. Who does this man think he is to be able to laugh at me like this, make fun of me like this, belittle me like this and ridicule my existence in such a way my anger builds. The more I watch this demented grandpa laugh himself silly, the more my rage festers and builds, and before I know it, I have pulled back my arm, clenched my fist and jumped forward to strike this old man down.

"AAAGGGGHHHHH!! AMARRIILLLOOOO PUUUUNCH!!!"

My fist flies forward faster than I ever thought possible with a roar, and I feel as if lightning itself is coursing through my veins. As my muscles tense and my fist drives forward to deliver a critical blow to this old fart, my punch lands with a deafening crack, and the impact is such that all other sounds cease to be as my fist implants itself against Garp's right knee and he immediately stops laughing, he is obviously in such crippling pain that he hasn't even registered the pain and the momentum and chock hasn't yet carried through so that he can feel his broken kneecap and drop on to his ass and he is-

"Hmm."

-tilting his head to the side again and looking down at me with a pitying look on his face which doesn't make sense since I literally just shattered his right kneecap into pieces, so why the hell is this old fart looking down on me again and giving me such a pitying look when he should be crying his eyes out and regretting that he ever crossed my path and disrespected me.

It is probably just a delayed reaction like in those shows in my past life, and it is going to take a while for the pain to register, so I draw my fist back and look down at Garp's right knee. However, to my surprise, there's no blood or anything as his pants are still a stainless white, and they don't even look crumpled in the least, which doesn't make sense as I just dropped a haymaker on it, confused I move my hand to clasp my chin and...

"AAAGGGGHHHHH!!"

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"Tch, who told you to punch me, you dumb brat. It's your own fault that you are in this situation. you should show some respect to your elders, shrimp." I am currently sitting on one of the crates lined up along the docks as one of the doctors aboard the marine ship is trying to fix my hand and is now putting some bandages on my ruined fist, which completely ruptured when I tried to break Garp's leg and the pain was so intense that I hadn't even realised what happened until I saw my own fist after which the pain pierced me like a needle straight into the brain. I let out an anguished scream and cradled my deformed hand as I dropped to my knees in horror and passed out from the pain.

When I woke up a short time later, this doctor was already mending my hand as I lay on a crate. He must have given me some pain-reducing drugs or something because I no longer felt that excruciating pain anymore, right now Garp was sitting across from me on another crate munching on crackers and behind him stood the man dressed in brown, who I have learned is Garp's right-hand man and his name is Bogard. He stays silent as he watches the proceedings, which I much prefer to Garp taking the opportunity to ridicule me.

"Haaah? I tried to punch you because you were laughing at me. Tell me, why should I show respect to an old man who ridicules little kids? All I asked was a question, why were you laughing so much?" I try to defend myself as I now know that it was pretty dumb to punch a full-grown man and expect some kind of result, not to mention that this man was the leader or captain or whatever of a massive marine ship.

However, this guy should not have been laughing in the face of a young kid like me. What would he do if this encounter scarred me and I grew up hating the marines and became a marine serial killer that trawled the seas, killing every marine I found until I found this old man that laughed at me as a child.

"Haha, sorry, sorry, it was just too funny. Please, Mr Marine, can you tell me if I can do what you just did? Of course, I am going to laugh, especially when I hear such ridiculous words. You wanted to learn to flick boogers like cannonballs. what kind of idiot wants to flick their boogers as a method of fighting, haha!" Garp begins to laugh again while clenching his stomach, and when he phrases it like that, I can see why he would start laughing and that it wasn't malicious.

However, it still really hurt to be laughed at like that when I just excitedly asked an innocent question. I didn't even mean that as I meant to ask if it would be possible for me to perform such feats and not that I wanted to use my boogers as lethal projectiles to blow people's heads off from miles away with a flick of my fingers.

"That isn't at all what I meant. that would be so stupid. I was just asking if I could perform such feats of strength like you and such power that you can send a booger flying and have it shoot someone off into the distance. that was all." I say to which Garp quietens down and wipes the tears from his face. He looks me dead in the eyes and speaks.

"No way, there is no way you could perform such things. I can do such things because I am strong. You can't because you are weak-" The hope in my heart to be as strong as this man begins to die. I can feel myself on the verge of breaking down, am I destined to live yet another life full of mediocrity and condemned to stay within this small village and live a lacklustre life that is the same as every other idiot on this planet.

What is the point of living if I can't be as strong as this man "-right now. In the future, if you work hard and train, you can be strong like me, and then you can join the marines and help me protect the good people of this world and lock away all the scummy pirates. if you eat right, train properly and get taught by a good mentor, then there is no reason why you can't be as strong as me." He flashes a thumbs up at me, and his grin widens to insane proportions as he lets loose a guttural laugh, but this time it is not as grating to my ears as I can feel my hope returning, and now knowing that it is possible I can feel a new determination within me start to grow to one day reach such a level and even surpass it.

I start smirking at the old man as I know he won't be able to refuse my subsequent request because he is a good (and a bit dumb) man who takes his job seriously. He is a good marine, and from what I know of him, there is no way that he is gonna let a debt he owes go unpaid. "You owe me, old man. I broke my hand and smashed it into smithereens because of you. To repay your debt, you can become my mentor and train me to become a strong person. It is the least you can do."

"HAAAH!?"

 

Chapter 4– Garp.

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Holding the mop in both my hands, I continue to swish it back and forth along the upper deck of Marine Vice-Admiral Garp's ship. I make sure to clean up every spot in my sight before dipping the mop back into the bucket, twirling it around to get it clean, and pulling it back out to continue the process. Marines are lounging around the ship, just talking or drinking while wiping down their blades and checking the gunpowder in their guns.

All the while, I am here alone, working myself along the length of the ship and cleaning every single inch of this enormous ship. Some of the marines are looking at me in pity. Still, I ignore them and continue with my work. I asked for this after all, so I don't need their sympathy, and I certainly don't need their help, but for the life of me, I still don't understand why I am cleaning up this goddamn ship.

------------------------------------

"HAAAH!?"

Garp's mouth opens wide as he lets out his confusion, and Bogard in the back remains stoic, calmly smoking the cigarette between his lips. The medic who was attending to my broken hand has finally finished bandaging my hand and has put a cast around it, and he sees that this situation is going to get a lot more complicated in a few seconds. So he quickly packs away his tools and makes a tactical retreat towards his comrades on the ship, taking advantage of the fact that Garp is still stunned. Bogard just doesn't seem to really care.

The sound has stopped escaping from Garp's mouth, and his mouth is now closed as he looks me up and down again. Still, I ignore him for the moment and instead look down at my right hand, which is now fully covered by my new cast. I am not feeling much pain from the thing right now compared to earlier. Still, I am sure that is because the doctor gave me something to numb the pain for now, and the pain is not as sudden and piercing as it was when I discovered it.

"Hmm, okay. How old are you, kid?" Garp exits his musing and directs this question at me. I am not about to get told that I am too young and that I will have to wait until I am like twelve until I can receive his training, am I?

"I am 7 years old, but that doesn't mean anything. I am ready to train hard, and I am willing to give it my all, rain or shine, no matter the pain or discomfort. I want to be strong, as strong as you are." So I say with conviction in my voice, I want this man to understand that I am willing to go the distance, and I am going to break records while doing so. Garp crosses his arms and puts on a stern face. Then, out of nowhere, his upper body suddenly bows down by 90 degrees, and his legs remain straight as he shoves his face directly into mine and looks me dead in the eye.

The situation is made even more daunting when I can see his eyes only peeking out from underneath his dog hat, and my mind seems to be playing tricks on me as I can hear his hat begin to growl at me and see it bare its fangs at me. "And why is that, hmm? Why do you seek such strength? What reason could a small boy on a peaceful island like this possibly have to want to gain such power? With such strength, strength as great as mine, what would you plan to do?"

I find myself shaking under his burning gaze. My knees are knocking together as it takes all of my strength to remain standing under this older man's insanely powerful pressure that he is exerting. I gulp hard. I can feel myself close to passing out from the sheer intensity pouring from this man, and I can feel my eyes begin to roll into the back of my head.

My legs lose their footing as I fall back towards the ground, but as I go down. My eyes are moving into my skull. Then, finally, I catch a glimpse of the older adult's face again. From this angle, I can see the grin hidden within the shadows of his mask, but it is fast disappearing, and I can see his eyes slowly filling with disappointment.

My leg moves backwards and skids against the ground to stop my momentum. I clench my fists hard as I move myself back forward and scream with all my might. "I WANT TO EXPLORE THIS WORLD AND SEE WHAT IT HAS TO OFFER! I WANT TO TRAVEL ALL OVER THE WORLD AND MEET ALL SORTS OF PEOPLE AND LEARN ABOUT THEIR CULTURES! I WANT TO BECOME SOMEONE WHO IS WORTH A DAMN!! I WANT TO BECOME THE STRONGEST MAN IN THE WORLD!!!"

"BWAHAHA. The strongest man in the world, you say? BWAHAHAHA. You are surely going to have your work cut out for you. after all, to be the strongest man in the world, you have to be capable of destroying the whole world." Garp lets loose a loud laugh at my words, and I completely forget about how I felt a minute ago because I now feel indignant that this man is laughing at my goals again.

Still, when he mentions destroying the world, I get worried that he will get the wrong impression of me and not train me." So I-I only said, I just want to be the strongest man in the world. I never said anything about destroying the world. I would never want to do that, putting aside how impossible it is to do that. It is impossible... It, it is impossible, right?"

Garp stops his laughing and looks down at me once more with a blank expression on his face, and I don't know if I am imagining it or not. Still, I see the corners of his lips begin to tilt up to form a slight, nearly imperceptible smile, but there is no way right. This man either bellows his enjoyment or picks his nose with a lazy expression on his face, and as far as I have seen, there is no in-between.

Then, before I can pay any more attention to his face, he spins around. He walks back to his men who are by the ship, he walks along with Bogard, quickly falling into line behind him, and I quickly begin to walk after them, but they are so big and their legs so long that I have to jog to keep pace with them. "Oi, you guys. One of you idiots, quickly throw me a broomstick."

In reply to his words, a barrage of broomsticks begins to fly off of the ship, all heading straight towards us on the dock. Hundreds of broomsticks that might as well be harpoons speed through the air towards us at intense speed, and I quickly crouch down and put my arms over my head to protect myself. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I spot Bogard still calmly standing there with a newly lit cigarette burning in his mouth.

Next to him, Garp is standing still with his hand in his pockets. His dog mask covers his face ignoring the broomsticks that are launching in the air towards us. I know I should be scared as all those broomsticks are definitely going to do some severe damage to the little seven-year-old boy that is me, but seeming both of them stood there as cool as ice, I can't help but feel safe as if there is no need to panic.

"I thought I only asked for one of you dumbasses to throw me a broomstick, so then why-" Out of nowhere, Garp's right leg moves as if fully independent from his body and swings up through the air with his hands still inside his pockets. "- ARE ALL OF YOU THROWING A BROOMSTICK!? YOU IDIOTS, IT SEEMS THAT ALL OF YOU NEED MORE TRAINING!!" An immeasurable gust of wind erupts as Garp's right leg sweeps from right to left through the air, and all of the broomstick's momentum stops in mid-air, and they just stay there for a moment before they begin to move again.

Only this time, they begin to go back from whence they came. It is like time has reversed as the broomsticks don't even change their position and begin to move backwards, following the trajectory that they were launched at and with even more force than they were thrown. I weather the wind blowing against my face and raise an arm to block some of the gusts to watch the spectacular sight of the broomsticks arcing back through the air going back along their exact path, and finally diving back down onto the ship and out of my sight.

"Aggh"

"My finger!"

"My head!"

"AGGH, MY ASS!! HOW DID IT EVEN GET THROUGH MY PANTS!!?"

"Hm, serves them right. These stupid fledglings, how hard is it to follow orders?" Garp is standing ramrod straight with his left leg like a tree trunk rooted into the ground and his body perfectly perpendicular to the ground with his hands still in his pocket. Yet, his right leg is high in the sky above his own head, and it remains there but does not affect his balance in the least.

After a moment, he brings it back down to the ground, but as he does so, I realise something that was staring me in the eyes this whole time, his knee is not bent at all, and it, in fact, never bent even when he kicked out at the air, he simply moved his leg up into the air and now he is moving it back down, he must have an absurd amount of strength and control over his own body to perform such a feat.

"Garp, I don't think you have any right to say that. We are supposed to be at Marine Headquarters by now, but we have not even left the East Blue." Bogard deadpans while breathing out the smoke from his cigarette. he then breathes in another puff and- Wait, what? His cigarette is still lit, but I am standing right next to him.

Those intense winds hit us both, so how hasn't his cigarette blown out when we were both buffeted by the side effect of Garp's overwhelming kick? Bogard's hands are still in his pocket as well, so he can't have put his hands around it to protect the cigarette, as I would have noticed that. So how?

"That is different, Bogard. These idiots tried to fulfil orders and messed it up while I have received orders and completely ignored them, completely different. Those stupid old fogies think they can just call me, and I will come running, fat chance. They tried to limit my time with my cute little grandson. Did you see him, Bogard? He will grow to be a strong Marine and join his grandpa in the Marines and take over my position so that I can retire and enjoy life and eat all the crackers I want and drink as much as I want." Aren't marines supposed to be upstanding and moral? Why is this guy the complete opposite?

"I was only able to raise him till he was six, and now I have to go back because of those bastards. Even worse, I had to leave him in a bar. I know Makino is a good girl and the only one in the village who will be able to handle him, but a bar is not a suitable environment for a child. So I am going to annoy Sengoku for this." But, unfortunately, Garp gets lost in his rant about his higher-ups and his grandson, who I pity for having to be raised by this ham-handed beast of a man. If that kid is anything like his grandfather, then I don't want to meet him. Just the image of a little hyper-energetic Garp running around all over the place is terrifying.

Bogard lets out a slight cough which breaks Garp out of his rant and brings him back to reality. Still, I can tell his mood is soured thinking about his old fogy bosses and the fact that he had to leave his six-year-old grandson on whatever island he came from. Suffice to say that I really don't want to rock the boat at this moment with that irritated expression on the old man's face. So I am confused when Garp suddenly stretches his arm up above his head and opens his hand to the sky as if waiting to receive something.

So I look up to the sky to see what that may be, but the blue sky is too bright, and the sun is burning too hot, so I have to shield my eyes from the sky, but I can't see anything. I think I can see a bird or something, but it is so high in the sky that it just looks like a dot. Wait, is it getting big- "SWOOSH!! WHACK!!" I am blown backwards by a gust of wind and fall back ass overhead to the wooden floor of the dock, which actually hurts my knees and elbows quite a bit. Pushing my hands against the ground, I raise myself up, still on my hands on knees and elevate my head to see what the hell just blew me away.

Looking up, I can see that Garp's hand that was reaching towards the sky is now holding a broomstick which must've been the thing that fell from the sky, but for it to fall with such force means that it must have been insanely high up in the air so much so that I only registered it as a dot when I looked up, not to mention the fact that I must only have felt a fraction of the power in Garp's kick if it launched the broomstick that high into the sky and that's not even taking into account the precision needed to kick at the exact moment in order to send all the other broomsticks back onto the ship and launch this singular broom upwards into the sky so that he could catch it later.

I watch as he brings his clasped hand down in front of his chest, and then he looks towards me. This is it. This must be one of the strongest people in the world. If I can learn from him, then indeed, I will become strong. He is absurdly strong. He is the pinnacle of pow-"

"CRACK!"

"Ah, it broke."

"GIVE ME BACK MY AWE, YOU SHITTY OLD MAN. THAT WAS PROBABLY JUST LUCK!!" I scream when the broomstick snaps into two and clatters to the ground with the old man just standing there with a dumb look on his face and absolutely nothing in his hand, which is now clasping air. This guy might be strong, but he is an idiot. He was most definitely born a monster, and there is no way an idiot like this would be able to teach others. This guy has put all his stat points into STR and ignored INT, this min-maxing motherfu- "Oh, that's it. I forgot to use-"

"That is right, Garp. You forgot to use-"

"Yes, yes, Bogard, I know. But look at this. The broomstick is broken now. I need another one. OI, YOU GUYS, THROW ME ANOTHER BROOMSTICK!" Garp shouts once more to the men on his ship, and I can't help but worry that the men on board the vessel are as dumb as their captains, and they are about to throw another barrage of broomsticks even though they just got rebuked for it.

Thankfully though, it seems like the men on the ship are much more developed in the head than their captain, as a singular marine with a particularly big bump on his head runs off the boat and down the plank with a broomstick in his hand, which he promptly hands over to Garp. "Here you are, Vice Admiral Garp. One broomstick, just one."

"Ahaha, that is good. Good job, soldier, good job. Thank you, you can go back to the ship now. Ah, but before you go-" Garp takes the broomstick from the Marine and then tells him that he can go.

The Marine nods and wipes some sweat off of his forehead before turning around and moving to go back to the ship due to Garp waving him off, but before he can walk off more than two steps, Garp's leg suddenly blurs forward without warning- "DIDN'T I TELL YOU TO THROW IT TO ME, DUMBASS!!" - and strikes the bottom of the Marine's arse (I swear he hit the Marine with the tip of his foot, did it go in his arse?

That is like a thousand years of death all dealt with a single foot) with such force, the Marine blasts off into the sky, clenching his buttcheeks with his legs flailing wildly in pain and arcs back down to crash into the ship with an anguished scream.

"Good grief, what am I going to do with these guys? They can't even follow simple orders, were they dropped on their heads as babies or something?" Oi, oi, are you serious? I am pretty sure that those guys are normal and that it was you that was dropped on your head as a child. That Marine has been scarred for life and will inevitably have trauma for the rest of his life about this incident.

For some reason, I am really regretting asking this guy to train me, and I think even if I do get good training from this guy, I will lose more than I gain. Am I going to get treated like that guy? If so, maybe it would be better if I just left. But is it too late to back out and leave?

"Hey, brat. You wanted me to train you, right, to make you strong? Well then, prepare yourself because you are either going to become a strong man or you are going to die trying. So there is no backing out now. I will train you, and you better become a strong Marine in the future, or I will find you and kick your ass! BWAHAHAHA!!" Garp laughs as he deals me my death sentence, as if he is just talking about the weather. I regret asking him to train me.

But all I thought after I saw his display of strength was that this was a strong man who could make me strong. Still, I didn't stop to think if that was a good idea, to consider if this man who flicks boogers like cannonballs and blasts his own men into the ocean might just end up killing me instead of raising me up to his level.

I might be mature for my age, but I am still a child. He won't be too harsh on me, right? Right? Ah, who am I kidding? This man could not be gentle if his life depended on it. Even flicking a booger away nearly sent his soldier to those pearly white gates in the sky. There was no way he was going to be anything but rough. Why did I come down to the docks to- "Ugh."

The wood slaps against my chest, and I quickly bring my hands up to clasp the wooden broomstick against my stinging body as I look up at Garp, who just lightly threw that at me, but even that really stung my skin. My future does not look bright with this overgrown man-child holding the reins. "Here, shrimp, your training starts now. First, you are going to take that broomstick and sweep the entirety of my ship. After you have finished that, you will mop the whole ship, and then you will wax the deck until it is spotless."

"Huh, wait, what? So you want me to become a chore boy and become one of the cleaners on your ship? I thought that you were supposed to be training me and making me strong like you, not making me an errand boy." So I speak, absolutely frazzled. I know that I was regretting even asking for training and wanted to back out, but I would instead get trained by this man and risk death under his arm than become a menial cleaner on his ship, no way.

I came to this man and asked him to be strong because I didn't want to be a mediocre powerless person like in my past life. That is what I am most afraid of, living another meaningless life and achieving nothing. This old bastard gave me his word that he would be my mentor and train me to be as strong as him, but now he is making me into a bloody janitor?

"Haah, I am training you, you little punk. If you don't like it, you can piss off. If you are staying, then shut up. Also, when did I say you were becoming one of my cleaners? You are going to be the only cleaner on my ship. DO YOU HEAR THAT, YOU GUYS!? NONE OF YOU HAVE CLEANING DUTY ANYMORE. IF I FIND ANY OF YOU CLEANING UP, EVEN IF IT IS AFTER YOURSELF, THEN I AM GONNA SHOW YOU MY FIST OF LOVE! IN FACT, YOU GUYS MAKE AS MUCH OF A MESS AS POSSIBLE. THE MORE, THE BETTER. I WILL GIVE THE MESSIEST PERSON HALF A YEAR OF VACATION TIME, SO TRY YOUR BEST!!" He, I am, what. What the hell is it... What?

"Well, kid, what are you waiting for? Get to work, hop to it."

------------------------------------

It has now been a week, and I have been working all day every day to keep this goddamn ship sick and span, which is the hardest thing in the world as, while most of the marines just don't clean up after themselves. There are quite a few who go out of the way to make as much mess as possible to get that half a year of vacation to go back home and be with their girls. I have quickly realised that these specific Marines with girls waiting for them back home are the most desperate to get that half a year of vacation, so I am constantly cleaning.

In contrast to those friendly Marines who just don't clean up after themselves in order to follow Garp's orders, those asshole Marines continue to make all sorts of absurd messes. How the hell do you get the ceiling muddy and the fill an entire room up to the brim with water that washes away the next person to open it? Suffice to say, I am not happy with my current situation, but I am hanging in there, hoping that Garp will eventually teach me some stuff though that hope dies a little every day.

It is not even just cleaning that I have to do. I have to also help the chefs in the kitchen and help prepare food for the Marines' breakfast, lunch and dinner. Not only that, but I also had to assist the doctors in the medical room because Garp ended up hurting at least five different Marines to varying degrees by accident. I swear that these must be the most advanced doctors in the world as they are used to Garp's shenanigans and quickly fix up those Marines, but Garp usually hurts more than one at a time, which is why I have been helping out there.

At least for the past week, I have been sleeping on the ship and also having my meals for free with the Marines on board the vessel, which means I don't really have to buy any food or spend any money, so I haven't gone back to my house in a while. However, I did sneak back just yesterday to receive the weekly money from Mommy Mee, which I stashed under the wooden boards of my house. Apart from that, this week has been hell, but I have been enduring it and trying my best not to strangle Garp in the night.

Speaking of the devil, here he comes now, munching on crackers. And spilling crumbs all over the deck, my freshly... cleaned... deck...

"YOU SHITTY OLD MAN!"

 

Chapter 5– Outburst.

-----------------------------------

"YOU SHITTY OLD MAN!" I HAVE CONTAINED MY RAGE FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE, BUT I SHALL UNLEASH MY FURY UPON YOU LIKE THE CRASHING OF A THOUSAND WAVES! BEGONE, VILE MAN! BEGONE FROM ME! I CLEAN ALL DAY! I TOIL AWAY FOR HOURS ON END, AND YOU RUIN IT IN A MATTER OF MOMENTS! I AM UNTETHERED, AND MY RAGE KNOWS NO BOUNDS! THIS FORSAKEN BROOMSTICK, I HAVE USED IT FOR SO LONG THAT IT HAS BECOME ANOTHER LIMB FOR ME, AND I HAVE UNLOCKED THE TRUE POWER THAT WAS HIDDEN WITHIN THE WOOD! FEEL THE MIGHT OF MY BROOMSTICK!!!"

I jump forward, feeling an untold amount of power surge throughout my body. Never before seen strength erupts from the centre of my anguished soul, and it travels from the centre of my chest to my shoulders, along my arms and through my hands to shroud my broomstick.

Reaching the precipice of my jump, I begin to fall downwards towards the old fogey, and I use the gravity to boost the power of my blow. I swing my broomstick down upon the head of the man who still continues to munch on his snacks, not having noticed me. Well, maybe you will feel this, you bastard.

"AAGGGHHHH!!!" I scream as I strike the top of the bastard's skull, feeling the impact jar my bones and shake my entire body, causing me to become stationary in the air for a moment.

"SNAP!" I hear the rich sound as the laws of physics kick back in, and I fall back down to my crumb-ridden deck. I land on my feet, but I feel my calves burn, and I nearly fall to the ground, but I clench my broomstick with both hands and steady myself.

"A-Ah, m-my limb..." All I am holding now is a slim piece of wood in my hand, with the end and broom brushes themselves being nowhere to be seen. Where did my limb go-

"AGH, IT HURTS!" Something hits the top of my head, and it follows through and drives me to the ground. I roll around in pain, clutching my head which now sports a big bump. Goddamn, this hurts.

"BWAHAHAHA, STUPID BRAT!- MUNCH!- WHO TOLD YOU TO TRY HITTING ME AGAIN?- MUNCH MUNCH!- DIDN'T YOU LEARN ANYTHING LAST TIME!- MUNCH!- YOUR OWN BROOMSTICK HIT YOU ON THE HEAD, BWAHAHAHA!" I forget about my pain when I hear the old man start to laugh above my head while still eating away at his crackers, I just hurt myself, and this gluttonous guy is laughing at me?

"Shut up! You idiot, old man, my head hurts because of you! Y-You lied to me. I-I thought you were supposed to be training me!" I reach my hands out, work my way to my feet, and then wipe some tears from my eyes. Some dust must have gotten into them.

So this is it. for a week, I had just been working like a mule on this horse and hardly even interacted with this old man when he was supposed to be training me. they took advantage of me and laughed at me as they made me clean their ship for an entire week.

"Hmm, I lied to you? I haven't been training you? So then, what do you think I have been doing this past week?" He questions, stopping his munching for a second to look down at me with a blank expression on his face. It cows me for a second before I remember just how angry I am at him for not fulfilling his commitment and making me work like a horse. I tell him exactly what is on my mind with my bolstered anger.

"YOU HAVE BEEN MAKING ME WORK ALL WEEK, CLEANING THIS STUPID SHIP FROM TOP TO BOTTOM UNTIL IT IS SPOTLESS. I HAVE TO HELP COOK FOOD FOR ALL THOSE MARINES AND CLEAN UP ALL THE MESS THEY MAKE, NOT TO MENTION I HAVE TO HELP PATCH UP ALL THE ONES YOU INJURE JUST BY BEING YOURSELF! I HAVE NOT BEEN TRAINING, I HAVE BEEN MANUAL LABOUR FOR YOU, AND THAT IS IT!!" I shout, having blown my top.

I could have dealt with all this stuff individually, especially if the Marines weren't deliberately making masses for me and the captain of this ship wasn't a miniature giant that smashes everything he touches to pieces. I would have been alright working on this ship, but this absurdity is too much for me.

I stare defiantly at the monstrosity of a man before me, his face is shadowed, and he has lowered his hands to his sides, with his left hand clutching the bag of crackers so tightly that I can hear them cracking.

With each crunch that emits from inside the bag, I can feel my confidence and anger fade away to be replaced by nervousness and unsureness. I watch as he raises his right hand into the air, and then he clenches it into a fist. "You rude little shrimp, I haven't been training you? Boy, it seems like someone needs the Fist of Love."

The Fist of Love? What the hell is that? Is it like respect, like a fist bum-

"BOINK!"

"OWW, IT HURTS!" I crouch down and clutch my head as I feel a new bump sprout out of the one I just got a minute ago. This old man just punched me in the head. That wasn't a Fist of Love. That was a Fist of Pain and suffering. Ah, some more dust got in my eyes from his blow, sending dust everywhere. My eyes are tearing up because of it, because of the dust.

"Hmph, that should have sorted out that stupid head of yours. You little brat, I have been training you all this time. I have been showing you the meaning of hard work. If you don't have the willpower and you aren't willing to work towards it, then there is no way you can get strong like me, and that little outburst just showed me that you aren't ready. If you can't handle something like this, then you aren't ready for my training. Look at you, you're nearly a teenager, and you are crying your eyes out. I can't have a crybaby like you be known as my student."

"I-I'm not a crybaby, and I'm not a teenager. I am only seven years old, you stupid old man. And I know the meaning of hard work. I am an orphan, and I live by myself. I just wanted you to teach me something before you leave, I know you won't stay here forever, and I don't want to waste any time." I spit out while getting back to my feet and starting to wipe at my eyes, trying to eviscerate these pathetic tears coming from my eyes.

So he thought I was nearly a teenager. I only reached just above the knee of this ten-foot giant, and he believed that equates to the height of a teenager, is his expectations that bizarre, or am I tall for my age and just didn't know it.

"What? No, no, you can't be. My six-year-old grandson only reaches about halfway up my calf, and you reach up to my knees. You are near twice his height. There is no way you are only seven years old. That is impossible." Finally, he speaks, stumbling back, shocked at my age. For some reason, he refuses to believe that I am seven, and he continues to deny the fact, which pisses me off. Who knows my age, him or me.

"What? So I am not seven years old. How old am I, then? Are you calling me a liar?" I say, offended that this old fart is questioning my words. I may be many things, but I am not a liar. I haven't actually had the chance to lie about anything, but the point still stands, I have never told a lie in my life. So for this shitty old man to question me over something as simple as my age, it pisses me off.

"N-No, I am not calling you a liar, not at all. I'm just surprised, that is all. I thought you were older. You are clever for your age, more clever than my grandson, so I just thought you were older. S-Stop crying, okay? Grandpa is sorry." He begins to apologise, but that doesn't mean anything to me.

This guy was working me like a mule because he thought I was older than I looked, and that just made me angrier, and now that he is apologising, I am getting more and more confident. So his apologising means I am in the right. And he is in the wrong.

"You aren't my grandpa, you silly old fart. Don't you feel bad? You have been making a tiny child like me do an entire shipful of Marines' work. Aren't Marines supposed to protect and help the innocent, but you are treating me like a sla-" Suddenly, he reaches out and grabs me by the lapel and raises me into the air. He pulls me closer until I am right up against his face.

"Do not say that word. just don't! You disrespectful little brat, I am nothing like them! I thought you were older and you could handle more. I made a mistake! but just because I made a mistake, don't think you can get away with saying stuff, brat!" Garp spits in my face, literally. I can feel the saliva slap across my face and begin to drop down my face.

My confidence starts to diminish little by little, and I can't help but think that maybe I took it too far, but then my eyes peer past his shoulders and seeing what is behind him, my resolve hardens. I started this, so I am gonna finish it, even if it means that I am going to make a bit of a fool of myself and do some questionable things. This old man has pissed me off, and I want to win this little confrontation. No matter the cost, I am willing to give it my all.

"U-UWAAAAAAH! WHY ARE YOU PICKING ON ME!? I AM ONLY SEVEN, BUT YOU MADE ME DO ALL OF THIS WORK. YOU LAUGHED AT ME AND MADE MORE MESS FOR ME AS I WORKED MYSELF TO THE BONE! AND NOW YOU ARE GOING TO HURT ME! I THOUGHT YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO TRAIN ME! UWAAAAAH!" It pains me to do this and cry. in all my years on this planet, I haven't cried once, but this man has pissed me off, so I am willing to do it even though it shames me.

Not only because I want to best this old fogey that has made me toil for an entire week without teaching me anything, but also because I just damaged my relationship with Garp. This minimises the chance of him training me after this, so I did this to gather public support. He who has the public rules the world.

"What..? YOU SHRIMP, STOP TALKING NONSENSE BEFORE I-"

"Garp-san." Garp freezes in the middle of his tirade before mechanically turning his head around to look behind him, all the while still holding me in the air by my shirt. Behind him stands Bogard, regarding him with a blank look and not really showing anything on his face, but behind him is the crew of the rest of the ship.

They are peeking out of doorways and around corners, trying to hide themselves, but with the sheer amount of them, they can hardly obscure themselves from our sight. But what is synonymous with all of them is that they are all looking at Garp disapprovingly. All of them have some kind of negative emotion on their face, with most of them having disappointment upon their faces and looking as if reality itself has shattered for them.

"W-Wait, no, Bogard! I-It isn't what it looks like, okay! The brat was, I mean, little Detoro was just acting, we were just playing a game and-" Garp suddenly starts to waffle and spew words trying to rectify the situation and defend himself, and so he turns around to state his case and waves his hands around making some bizarre gestures as if they will somehow get his point across, but he forgot one thing-

"UWAAAAAHHHHH-"

I feel so sick and dizzy, everything is a blur, and I feel like I am just stuck in a tornado that is twirling me round and round. I was still gripped within Garp's hand, and so he was just viciously waving me around while trying to convince his crew that he was not a bad guy that bullied children. Needless to say, they could not help but doubt the man that was swinging around a child like a flag- "Ughh."

My shirt ripped, and I hit the floor with a thud. The old man's momentum carried me a few feet until I was laid out against the ground, my eyes were still swirling, and I could hardly tell what was going on except that I was now on the floor.

I was around halfway between Bogard, who was looking down at me with a stoic face and Garp, who was looking at the ripped cloth in his hand in disbelief, only now realising that I was still within his grip until recently.

Quickly understanding the situation, Garp releases the ripped fabric in his hand, letting it float down to the ground and rushes over to me. He crouches down and pulls me up by my shoulders with his hands holding on to my shoulders with such suddenness that I don't even recognise the transition, my feet dangling in the air as he holds me up while still crouched on his knees. "Are you alright, kid? I forgot you were there. I am sorry for throwing you like that. I didn't mean it. Can you just tell these guys that I wasn't doing anything-"

"BLECHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"wrong..." Garp finishes, only just realising that I had just emptied my stomach onto his pristine white leather shoes. I really don't feel good, and even though I just puked up the contents of my stomach, I still feel like I have more to give, but as my eyes regain focus, I see Garp's face looking down at his puke-covered shoes and then back up to me.

I can't help the smirk that appears on my face at his plight and the black expression on his face with his mouth still open from the words he was just saying. I don't want to smirk in this situation as I know my situation might just worsen, but with Bogard and the rest of the Marines to my back and only Garp in front of me, I can't help it.

Only he will see my smirk, and I don't have the proper strength in my mouth muscles to control my lips and stop them from stretching to either side of my face. So the best I can do is keep my pearly whites from showing.

Unfortunately, my restraint doesn't seem to have any effect as I can feel the old man's grip on my shoulders tightens to the point of hurting. Still, I don't voice any complaints as I can see his jaw clench and his teeth begin to grind against each other in frustration.

I know that he is genuinely off pissed now because of my cries which he now knows were deliberately done for the crowd behind me because of my own betraying grin. I see a vein pulsate on the right side of his forehead. The smirk bleeds off of my face at the angered visage on his face.

"Brat... You have pissed me-"

"Garp-san. That is enough. let Detoro go." Bogard says while walking closer and laying his hand on Garp's shoulder, clasping it while talking with the same monotone voice and look on his face.

"But, Bogard. This little shrimp-"

"I know Garp-san, but you have to put him down. The Marines behind us are beginning to doubt you, so put him down and do what I say, okay." Bogard says, making me realise that my faked cries didn't work on him. Maybe he is just that loyal and trusting of his boss, or maybe there is some other reason I don't know.

He moves closer to Garp and slouches over to bring his mouth closer to his ear before whispering into his ears, I want to know what he is saying, but I can't hear anything. I strain my ears, trying to hear something, until Garp suddenly releases his clutches on my shoulders, letting me land on my two feet before standing back to his full height.

"BWAHAHAHAHA, AND THAT YOUNG DETORO IS WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN IF YOU EVER COME ACROSS A PIRATE! IF YOU EVER DO SO, REMEMBER TO TRY NOT TO MAKE THEM ANGRY AND WAIT FOR HELP FROM THE MARINES! THAT IS, OF COURSE, IF YOU ARE NOT STRONG ENOUGH TO BEAT THEM UP YOURSELF, BWAHAHAHA!" He bellows out while reaching down to ruffle my hair with his face looking up at the sky as he laughs so loud that my eardrums hurt.

It is evident that this guy just made that up, Garp can't lie for anything, and he shouted it so loudly that all the Marines around could hear him, which is overly suspicious. There is no way anybody will be convinced by that performance.

"Oh, of course. Vice-Admiral Garp was just teaching the kid. What a great guy."

"He really is the Marine Hero, taking the time to educate this kid. But, unfortunately, this kid is weak-willed and started crying at the Vice Admirals demonstration, wasting Vice-Admiral Garp's time."

"Hey, you know Mari-Chan, the girl that works at the grocery store. She has a break now. So let's go see her and her friends. She is very close to giving in and letting me take her out for a meal."

"Hey, let's go..."

Slowly the Marines begin to disperse and go about their days, their faith in their leader restored with minimal effort, which makes me question reality. The man was literally waving me at supersonic speeds around and making me puke, he was shouting directly into my face, and maybe it would be believable if he was crying arrrgh or me mateys or something. Still, he was yelling at me and telling me not to disrespect him. There was nothing even pirate-related said.

I go to say something to try and keep them here, but when I open my mouth, nothing comes out except my breath. What can I say? They are fiercely loyal to their leader, and even when they saw him practically terrorising a child, except for a moment of doubt, the flimsiest of excuses brought them back onside.

I can do nothing but watch as all the Marines quickly disappear one after the other, like deers getting spooked and dashing away within the blink of an eye. The ship's halls are now utterly deserted, with no one in sight. I am sure if I was outside, I would hear a cricket chirp right now, but I don't even have that, only total silence in addition to the malevolent presence I can feel looming behind me.

Turning around, I come knee to face with Garp, and when I raise my head, I see Bogard first standing behind Garp with the same nonplussed face and casual stance, and when I lift my head up even further, I come face to face with the grinning visage of Garp who is smiling down at me.

"Hm, what were you saying, brat? You little shrimp, what happened to all those tears in your eyes?" He looks down at me, but though his mouth is smiling, his eyes are not. If anything, I would say that there is a malicious glint in his eyes, and his smile is stretching to a frightening degree.

"A-Ah, I am- Garp-San. I was just frustrated that I wasn't getting trained like I expected. I am only seven, so the sheer amount of work got to me, and I had a little outburst." I stutter out, knowing that I have lost this exchange, though, to be fair, I was not on my home turf, and I did not have the advantage, so I can't be too disappointed in this loss. The odds were against me.

"You were incredibly naughty just now, Detoro-Kun. Naughty children like you need to be disciplined and taught right from wrong. That bad behaviour is like a sickness, and do you know what the best medicine for sickness is?" He speaks with a smile before raising his hand, not holding the packet of crackers, into the air and clenching it into a fist. His smile somehow gets even more expansive, and I feel a shudder course through my body. Oh no, he is going to-

"A FIST OF LOVE!"

"OWW! DAMN IT, THAT HURTS!" His fist came down with an abruptness that it didn't deserve to have. I was expecting his Fist of Love, and yet I was unprepared for the speed with which he stuck, so much so that I was still looking into his eyes before I had a chance to try and defend my head.

But the difference between the last Fist of Love that I received and This Fist of Love was the impact. The last one's force made me crouch on the ground and hold my head in pain, but this one merely made my upturned head turn downward from looking at Garp's face to looking at the floor.

It also didn't hurt as much as the last one though it still hurt a lot. Garp must have considered my age with this one and lessened the blow. However, he still made sure it was full of love, and I could feel another more minor bump grow out of the bug bump he had made on my head a few minutes ago.

"Garp-san." I look back up to see Bogard looking at Garp, but I still can't gather a single clue on the guy as his face remains as impassive as it ever has, and the only movement it ever does is when he speaks as well as when he is smoking a cigarette.

While I don't seem to recognise the minor cues on his face, Garp does as he suddenly deflates and whatever emotion that was in his being suddenly disappears as he slouches over and reaches his hand back into his cracker packet to start munching on some. Finally, however, there is irritation on his face as he chomps somewhat angrily, Bogard looking on impassively.

"Garp-San, while Detoro-Kun was wrong, you also have some blame on you for the situation. You have used the excuse of having a debt to young Detoro to stay on this island and delay your return to Marine HQ. While what you were doing was cultivating a good foundation in the boy, you have also made him work well past his capability, especially considering his age, but even so, he burrowed forward and continued to work even though we gave him the workload of someone double his age. He has shown his willingness and willpower. The least we can do is take his request seriously and impart some wisdom to him. he deserves that much." Bogard says while Garp continues to munch on his crackers.

Is this real? Is the situation actually working out for me after all the crap I just pulled? Logic would dictate that after what I have just done, Garp would be incredibly angry and refuse to train me anymore, but is this actually happening? Are things actually going my way? Unfathomable, and yet it is happening. Garp pauses his munching and tilts his head to the side to think for a moment before nodding to himself in affirmation of something only he knows.

"Okay then, you want training, brat? Then you've got it. I will put you through the same training that I was putting my grandson through before I was recalled to headquarters. Just you wait, kid. You are either going to come out the other end of my training as a strong man or as a lifeless corpse. You brought this on yourself, shrimp." Garp smiles to himself before turning around and walking off.

He leaves chowing down on his crackers, no longer caring about what just happened, to leave Bogard and me looking at each other. I see a trace of something in Bogard's eyes as he looks down at me, but it quickly disappears, making me wonder if I had imagined it. Finally, he nods his head at me and turns to walk away as well.

Did-Did I just come out of this conundrum with a good result..?

 

Chapter 6– Hellish Training.

-----------------------------------

"Have you sorted everything out, brat? Because we will be gone for a while, shrimp, do not blame me when you come back and find that your house isn't where you left it." Garp says, sitting on a crate. We are at the docks right next to his Marine Ship, and Garp is currently sitting staring out at the ocean and picking his nose, flinging his boogers out to sea and watching his bogies skip along the surface of the sea as if they were stones.

Sometimes I doubt my own intelligence for thinking that this senile old man would be a good teacher for me, but I just have to remember that what he is flicking isn't what is important. It is that he is blasting it off over the horizon with just his finger.

"Yep, I sorted out everything, and I'm not dumb enough to forget where my house is. I also brought some clothes for the trip, and I even brought a book to read." I say, bursting with enthusiasm, quickly forgetting the questionable actions performed by the man in front of me. I lug the big sack up off of my shoulder and pull out the carpentry book for beginners that I bought from the bookstore, holding it out for Garp to see with a big smile on my face.

The only thing I had to sort out on this island was the weekly stipend I received from Mummy Mee, which I won't be able to collect while on this trip. So I told Mummy Mee that I got some non-paying work experience on a ship for a couple of weeks and would have no money when I returned. So that she could save my money for me, and when I return, I can collect it, having a surplus built up as Garp will be putting me up for free, food and board.

"Hm, your bringing stuff? Give it here. now, let us see." He suddenly snatches the bag out of my hands and he loosens the string holding it close. He peeks inside and reaches a hand in, and begins to ruffle a hand around through all my belongings.

"Huh, wait, what? T-That's mine, that is my bag! What do you think you're doing? Give it back to me! This is a violation of my human rights. give me back my bag, you shitty old man!" Then, feeling the empty air in my hand, I come back to my senses and realise that Garp just stole my bag. Quickly reacting, I rush at him, reaching for my bag, wanting to safeguard some of the only things I possess in this life.

But instead, Garp casually puts his hand out and puts an end to my goal by smushing it against my face keeping me from coming any closer with my arms just being painfully out of reach from the only thing I care about right now.

"Hmm, human rights? What are those? Is it food? Can I eat it? Anyway, look at all this useless stuff. You have a winter hat and jacket, some shorts, and dress shoes, you have all these clothes for different climates, and none of it matches. Why do you have slippers in here? Whatever, it doesn't matter." He states, and then still holding my head at a distance, he flings the bag behind him out quite a stretch, where it splashes into the ocean and sinks to its depths. I immediately stop struggling, and Garp, sensing that, lets my face go.

A-All my clothes, gone, sunk to the bottom of the sea. All those countless weeks I spent saving up my allowance at the orphanage and then purchasing any and all cool clothing I found from the merchants from overseas selling, gone, laying at the bottom of the ocean. So now all I have left is the stuff I left at home and the clothes I am wearing right now, that being a bright orange sunhat, some cool swimming goggles strapped to my forehead, a blue tank top with an open green vest on top, some blue jeans and red flipflops on my feet.

"Y-You crazy old man, do you know how much I spent on that stuff!? Are you going to pay me back for that stuff!? Just- Just, why did you do that, you old fogey!?" I shout at him once reality sinks in, and I come to terms with the fact that my fashionable wardrobe has been destroyed, and I am going to have to start buying more clothing in the future to build it back up to its once magnificent state.

"I did it because you do not need any of that stuff. It is just going to slow you down when you start your training, and the fewer distractions you have, the more training you will get done. Ah, that reminds me, drop that book in the ocean as well and then we can set off, hurry up." Hearing him, I quickly clutch the book to my chest. This is my most priceless possession, with a price of ฿400 lowered to ฿300.

I can't let him destroy it. This is to help make me a mansion in the future, I need this book. I stifle the urge to shout like a brat and complain to get my way because that doesn't work on this man as he is an even bigger brat, so I need to convince him rather than face his stubborn brain head-on.

"Hey, uh, you will be eating those crackers and snacks while we train, right?" He nods his head.

"And those help you relax and destress whenever you are, uh, stressed, right?" He thinks for a moment, then nods his head again.

"Well, that is what this book is for me. It is a way for me to relax and destress, which will be especially helpful with training as I know you have to make sure you rest as much as you train, so can I keep this book and take it with me, please?" Garp hums for a second and tilts his head to the side, fixing his free hand to his chin as he ponders my request.

He stares at me, and then down to the book in my hands and then to the crackers in his own hand, and then back to my book, and then back to the snacks, his heading moving rapidly between the two before finally coming back up to stare at my face.

"It would be better for me to read this book while we rest instead of me annoying you, right? If I don't have this book, I will need another way to relax. I might have to partake in some of your snacks to relax." Getting worried that my argument was not strong enough, I added some more to try and reinforce it and drive it through his thick skull, putting a personal stake in it for him so that he would be more liable to see things from my point of view.

"Hm, okay. You can bring the book, but that is it. It will be better than hearing your annoying complaints later, brat, and that way, you won't want any of my crackers. Now, hurry up and get on the boat." He says, much to my relief, this way, I will be able to do my training and then focus on this book in my spare time so that I can actually start learning. I know I don't have any of the materials or tools, and I can't do any actual work with the book, but reading it should prove to be enlightening anyway and help me better understand the craft I want to learn.

Holding my book with one arm to my chest, I turn to my right and begin to make my way towards the ship, ready to start my journey. I wonder what amazing sights I will see on this trip, what food I will taste and what kinds of people I will meet, and I think about the next time I step back onto this dock where I will be a stronger man. And it all begins with this step, this one step which will thrust me forward into a new era, and so my foot lands on the plank leading up to the ship, and I-

"Hey, where do you think you're going, shrimp?" Suddenly my feet lose contact with the ground, and my body is raised up off the ground. When I look behind me to see what is happening, I realise that Garp is lifting me up off the ground by the scruff of my neck and stopping me from continuing my journey to greatness, even though he just told me to get on the ship.

"Huh, what do you mean where am I going? You told me to hurry up and get on the ship, so that is what I am doing. Can you let go of me now, or are you going lug me up there?" I ask, crossing my arms while still hanging in the middle of the air from his grip and turning my head as much as possible so that I can shoot him a stern look that doesn't do anything and makes no impact whatsoever, but I don't care. So first, this guy dropped all my clothes into the ocean, and now he is stretching out my awesome green vest, which he is using to pick me up,

"No, brat, I told you to get on the boat, this boat down here. We will not take the ship since I want to get away from those annoying- I mean, because the Marines on board would interfere with your training, so we will be going alone, just the two of us." He says, walking a bit further along the dock with me still in his grasp and holding me out over the sea and allowing me to see the small rowboat docked right in front of the massive Marine ship, a tiny little thing that looks good enough and there is a big sack upon the boat. Still, I would much prefer to be going on the big ship just for the sake of comfort. This little thing looks uncomfortable.

"Now, get in." He says, letting go of my cool green vest- ah, wait, what?

*Splash* I crashed down into the ship upsetting the waters with my sudden presence and making a big splash. I didn't even say anything, as everything happened too fast for me to utter anything, and Garp's actions were so out of the blue that I didn't even realise what had happened until I was halfway through my descent.

Thankfully the boat does seem to be quite sturdy as it easily held against my body, impacting it, though that doesn't mean it didn't hurt. I let out a groan as I work my way to my feet and put my hand on the side of the boat to steady myself.

*Splash* "AGGGHH!" This time sound escapes my mouth as something else falls down into the small rowboat, and I release a loud shout as my balance is disrupted, and I feel like the entire sea is trembling as the impact sends the water roaring. I fall back down onto the boat, my back smashing against the sturdy wood, though I can feel it groaning from whatever it was that impacted it.

Laying against the wood, I close my eyes and remain still as the water in the air comes back down and splashes against my still body, soaking my fresh clothes with the cold water and chilling me to the bone. Then, after a moment, with the water having settled and the boat steadying, I opened my eyes.

I was greeted by the sight of Garp standing tall above me with his coat bristling in the wind with the fresh breeze soaring through the air, a magnificent view, to be sure, for those not aware of the idiotic mind residing within the staunch body.

"BWAHAHAHA! What are you doing lying down there, boy? Now is not the time for a nap, you dumb brat. Get up. it's time for us to set off!" He barks with a massive grin on his face as he stares down at me before lifting his head to stare off into the distance with a thoughtful look on his face, which would make better sense if he was faced towards the sea and not towards the wooden structure holding up the docks.

I work myself back to my feet once again, thinking all sorts of nasty things about the man-child standing tall on the boat. It is his bloody fault that I am lying against the floor of the rowboat. Not only did he drop me down into the vessel, but then he jumped down himself. Whose bloody fault does he think it is that I am lying down on the floor?

Pulling myself up with my hand on the edge of the boat, I steady myself and look at this foolish old man who is the key to my future travels and strength, but I might just try to strangle him in his sleep if he keeps on-

*Slap* I feel the harsh sting of both my hands impacting against the sides of my cheeks, destroying all the stupid thoughts inside of my head. I just have to focus on my goals, and they are to explore as much of this world as possible while documenting it and becoming the strongest on this planet.

The thing I abhor the most is a mediocre existence which means the more I interact with abnormal people like Garp, the more I move away from such an existence. Garp is the path forward for me, the person who will help me on my way to fulfilling all my goals, so I will have to embrace all the things that come with him, even if I might not like them.

"Yeah, let's get going, old man! So that I can get stronger and eventually kick your saggy old ass!" I cheer, sticking my fists up into the air, psyching myself up for what is to come, both today and in the future. No more excuses and being a little baby, no more schemes and acts like when I cried upon the ship. Those are the actions of someone weak and cowardly.

A mediocre existence, that sort of person will never fulfil my goals, and I refuse to be that person, not anymore. Never again will I fall on my back. I would rather land on my balls and bust them than be forced to fall on my ass and stare at the sky. My back will never be forced to touch the ground again. The day it does is the day I die.

"Kick my ass? BWAHAHA! Watch your mouth, shrimp, but your right. Let's set off. Marines!" At his call, two marines appear above us and pop out their heads to look down at us. Then they disappear from sight a second before two oars are thrown down for Garp to catch, which he does so without looking. He is still staring off at the bottom of the docks as if there is something to actually see, or maybe he is seeing something that I can't. Best to just ignore stuff like that and just stay focused.

"Ugh," I grunt as an oar is suddenly thrown at me, and I receive it with my chest, only just managing to bring an arm up to keep it clutched tightly against me. I look down at the big oar in my arms and then to Garp, who is sitting down on the boat facing towards me, resting his back on the big sack behind him, clutching his own oar in his hand. Seeing him sit down, I take a seat myself, transferring the oar from my arm into my hands.

"You want me to help row the boat? You do remember that I am just seven years old, right?" I ask as I grab the oar with both hands and then dip the end into the water on the right side of the rowboat. I am not complaining or anything, and I am fine with helping to row the boat, but he was forcing me to do all of that work on the ship when he thought I was older than I was, so I am asking if his knowledge of my age has in any way impacted the way he is treating me.

"Hm, you did want me to train you, right? So just listen to me and start your rowing. Also, you want to use the oar to push away from the dock first, and then you row on the right to turn left and on the left to turn right, switching between the two to go forward and pushing forwards or backward to change the way you are going. Well, get to it." I sit stunned for a second, in awe that actual words carrying meaning have left his mouth. He is actually imparting some actual knowledge upon me, and he hadn't released that ridiculous laugh even once. Maybe he isn't going to be such a lousy teacher.

Coming back to my senses, I quickly use his advice and push my oar against the docks to move the rowboat out into the sea. Seeing that it actually worked, I got excited, thinking that this old man was actually going to teach me things. So I quickly get to using the other knowledge he has introduced to me and begin to row the boat, alternating between the left and the right and to my amazement, the vessel starts to actually move forward.

I begin to move the oar even faster when I see that it is actually working, that this old man has truly taught me something that has an actual basis in real life and is genuinely helpful. It makes me hopeful for my future learning under this man. Using my new skills with enthusiasm, I continue to row left, right, left, right, left, and right, always moving forward. Until eventually, I look up past Garp to the open ocean in front of me and stop my rowing. I then look to my sides and see nothing but the open sea before I look behind me to the Conami Islands, which is so far away that it is basically just a dot on the horizon.

"Uh, wait a minute. Where am I supposed to be going? I just rowed all the way out here without knowing. where are we headed, old man?" I ask while embarrassedly rubbing the back of my head. Unfortunately, I got overexcited and just started going for it without having an actual destination in mind. Thankfully, it seems Garp overlooked this as well, as my words disrupted his eating his crackers, and he looked up at me with his cheeks full before gulping it all down. I can see the bulge of crackers move from his mouth down his neck and into his stomach.

"Ah, right. One second, I've got it somewhere here. Or was it? No, wait, here it is, catch." Garp begins to pat down his body, seemingly looking for something. I get more worried when he doesn't seem to be able to find it at all and ceases his patting before he suddenly realises something and reaches up beneath his dog hat to pull something out from underneath it. He then immediately chucks the object to me, making me drop my oar and quickly fumble with the thing playing hot potato with it, before finally clasping my two hands around it.

I look down at the object in my hand and regard it with wonder. I intensely observe it. It is made up of a wooden structure formed by a thick circular board on top and a wide circular board on the bottom, which is connected by small wooden pillars arranged in the formation of a triangle, but that is just the shell.

It is what is inside that is truly mesmerising. Held within the wooden structure is a clear glass ball, so clear that it is almost invisible. And within that, hanging by a piece of string so that it is in the centre, is an object shaped like an oblong pyramid, with two opposite corners stretching to just touch the edge of the glass, with one side being painted red.

The red side is pointing into the distance behind Garp, and I turn the object around in my hands to look at the other sides of it. as I do so, the inside of the glass remains unchanged, with the red end still pointing in the same direction, no matter how much I move the object.

"Uh, what is this... thing?" I look towards Garp to see him once again chowing down on his snacks and lying back on the giant sack behind him, which presumably holds a lot of supplies for whenever we get where we are going, my question once again spurs him from his rest. He looks back up at me again, but this time he doesn't pause in his snacking as he looks at me blankly before my words seem to connect with his mind, and he nods blearily.

"Right, well, that thing in your hand is called an Eternal Pose. There is a whole lotta science mumbo jumbo behind it, but basically, it remembers where an island is by remembering its smell or something. I didn't really pay attention when Jengapunk or whatever his name was explained it to me. So the point is, just follow that, and we'll get where we are going." He pauses his munching to say before resuming it, no longer paying attention to me and sinking back into the sack so much so that he is now staring at the sky, munching on his snacks, without a care in the world with his oar placed by his feet.

"Are you just going to laze there and eat your snacks, or will you put that oar by your feet to use and help me start rowing?" I asked after realising that I had rowed all of this distance, all the way out here, by my lonesome while this old fogey just relaxed and ate his snacks, taking advantage of my overexcitement and allowing me to do all of this work by myself.

"Hm, this thing?" Garp says, reaching down and picking up the oar and holding it up to the sky.

"This isn't an oar. This is a backscratcher. Totally different thing. you scratch your back with it." He says, moving the oar behind him and leaning forward. He then spears the oar downwards with impossible accuracy and slips it between the small space between his shirt collar and his own skin, rapidly moving it up and down to scratch his back and letting out a pleasurable groan while doing so.

"It's not a goddamn backscratcher, so stop messing around and help me row. And for the love of all things sacred, stop letting out those disgusting sounds. Do you have no shame?" I say, I no longer have the strength to shout and waste my energy on the actions of this abnormal old man. At my words, he just grins and continues to use his self-proclaimed backscratcher and groaning.

"I ain't helping you row, boy. I may have given you the workload of someone double your age on my ship, but that doesn't change the fact that you were completing all your duties. You can handle rowing the boat all by yourself. Your training has already begun. It is up to you, you can either start rowing the boat and following the Eternal Pose, or you turn this boat around and row back to your home." Garp says and then washes his hands of the matter, relaxing back into his sack, scratching his back with the oar and using his other hand to munch on his snacks.

Sighing, I look down at the Eternal Pose in my hand and look at the plaque on its bottom, which reads Troga. Now aware of my destination, I place it on the seat in front of me so that it is in my line of sight. I reach for my oar and then dip it back into the water on my right, and then I start to row.

 

Chapter 7– I'm not too fond of Garp.

-----------------------------------

"Finally, we are here. It took you forever, damn brat. I was very close to just doing the rowing myself, but luckily, I had my crackers to keep me company. BWAHAHA!" Garp bellows as the small rowboat we have been riding beaches on the tropical island shore of Troga.

I don't pay an iota of attention to Garp's words as I quickly hop out of the boat and onto the sandy beach before the vessel even entirely stops. Dropping to my hands and knees, I clench my hands and feel the sand run through them. Feeling each grain run through my fingers assures me that I am not dreaming.

*Mwah* Mwah* Mwah*

I start to kiss the ground feverishly, thankful that the nightmare is finally over and that I am no longer floating about on the high seas accompanied by an evil madman. I am finally back on the ground where everything is safe and nothing can hurt me.

I am never going to get on those seas ever again, and I know that my goal is to travel around the world and become the world's strongest man, but I will manufacture a plane to travel the world instead of traversing the dangerous waters.

"Stop whining, brat. It only took a few days to get here, and we only had o deal with a few small fish. And stop kissing the sand. It's weird. Is there something wrong with your head?" Garp's question stops me from kissing the sand, drawn out of my fugue by his baseless accusation.

I mean, who the hell is he to say I am weird and ask me if I am okay in the head? He is the one that is weird and messed up in the head, and what does he mean by small fish? They were not small in the least. That entire boat ride was a nightmare.

First of all, the distance I had to cover was much too considerable, and I had to row it all by myself. I didn't really question it or think anything about how far I would have to row when I began, but I paddled for a full day and night before I no longer paid attention to the day cycle and just focused on rowing.

Second, resisting the urge to sleep and take a break was hard, so very hard, primarily because of my debuff. So why didn't I take any breaks? Well, I quickly learned why that was a bad idea when I first tried to. Garp was either eating his crackers or sleeping, and during one of his naps during the night, I also decided to take a rest. Unfortunately, he was stopping me from doing so when awake, so that was my only chance.

During my nap, I was awoken by a sudden blast of wind that threatened to topple over the small rowboat, which I found very bizarre as there had been no wind at all for quite a while. I don't know when it happened, but during my rowing, at some point, I noticed that there were no currents in the seas and no tides. It was absolutely still, and there was no wind to boot. When I asked Garp about it, he told me to ignore it, so I did.

When I opened my eyes after the sudden blast of wind, I came face to face with a scaly mountain, the biggest thing I had ever seen, and it had a mouth full of scarily sharp teeth, and two draconic yellow eyes glowed in the darkness. I was so shocked and scared by the sight that I couldn't even move or do anything as the beast suddenly opened its mouth and lunged to devour me.

I was only saved by the timely intervention of Garp, who moved with great speed and struck the sea monster on the tip of the snout with his oar. he still insists it is a backscratcher, which launches the beast a million miles away. Then he turns around and goes back to sleep, ignoring me and the situation entirely.

After that, I learned never to take a break because these things were widespread in these waters, and we were attacked several times by more of what Garp called Seakings, some bigger and some smaller, which Garp fended off with ease.

This boat ride was also made infinitely more complicated because Garp forbade me from eating or drinking anything until we reached our destination. Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do about the madman's condition, so I just had to accept that and sneak some of the broken pieces of cracker on the floor into my mouth while Garp nodded off.

One night, with Garp deep in his sleep, I take the opportunity to stop the rowboat for a moment and scavage for crackers on the boat's floor, getting lucky and finding some pieces instead of just the usual crumbs. Garp is like an animal, and he devours like one as well. His stomach is eternal, and his hunger is astounding. he hardly leaves more than crumbs behind. This night Garp was deeply asleep. I could tell because of how giant the snot bubble from his nose was. Over those days at sea, I noticed that the deeper he was in sleep, the larger the snot bubble.

I was searching through the floor for his scraps. Some might have said this is humiliating and that they would never do it, but to them, I say bugger off. I had been rowing day and night with no sustenance, and sea creatures had randomly attacked me at every turn. I needed to eat these little crumbs to survive and receive Garp's training so that I could fulfil my goals and realise my full potential, and I wanted to go the distance.

Searching through the things on the floor, I begin to pick out the pieces of crackers to gather them all together and then devour them all at once. It just seems to be more filling this way rather than eating them straight off the floor. Suddenly a cold wind brushed over my skin, causing me to shudder. Before there was silence, I could now hear the soft wind blowing against me, which shouldn't be possible, according to Garp.

I Immediately turn around to come face to face with a gigantic yellow eye with black split pupils right next to the boat, the eye of a Seaking, or in this case, a Seaprince, given it is much smaller than the other ones, and yet it is still huge, way bigger than the rowboat. I watch, stunned, as I stand right in the centre of its eye, its eye which is slowly moving upwards, water streaming down its face and sloshing off the top of its head.

This one, while smaller, must be much smarter than the others, and it must have been observing us for quite some time as it chose the exact moment when Garp was in a deep sleep. First, it waited for me to stop the boat and forage for crumbs, and then instead of bursting out of the water like the others and alerting Garp, it chose to slowly rise from the ocean right next to the boat so that it could have a better chance of ambushing us and getting a good meal.

It slowly, ever so slowly, rises up out of the water, so slowly that the water basically dribbles off of its head, allowing it to have a silent entrance leaving me without the protection of Garp, most likely after having observed us after this long, it must now know that I am the weaker link. It would be folly to try to eat Garp, meaning that I am its target, and there is a possibility that it will move to attack me if I open my mouth to speak.

I know for a fact that Garp takes a while to wake up from his sleep. He is very drowsy after a nap, so am I willing to shout for his help, knowing that as soon as I do, the beast will move to attack me? But, on the other hand, am I willing to bet on Garp waking up faster than usual and coming to protect me before the beast can gobble me up? Hell no, the man might be strong, but he sure as hell isn't dependable. I will scream to wake him, but that is not the only thing I will do.

I looked down at the oar clenched in my right hand. Ever since this journey had started, I had kept this oar on my person at all times. After the attacks of the Seakings, I had made sure to keep it clenched in one of my hands after seeing Garp using an oar to bat away those numerous beasts. It gave me a measure of comfort to hold it in my hand, so I had it even when I was rummaging for Garp's leftovers.

In Garp's hand, this oar, which seems to be made of some type of oar, managed to do severe damage, but that is not what I was focusing upon. Instead, I am focusing on the fact that this oar which should be pretty flimsy, seems to be incredibly durable and firm, enough so that it does not break when used to beat Seakings. Therefore, I can't just scream and wait for Garp to come to save me. I need to do more than just that, and I will, making use of this oar in my hand.

The Seakings head is still slowly rising, its unflinching gaze on me, waiting to see what I will do. Its eye is nearly entirely out of the water. If I wait any longer, I will miss my chance, and it will have risen too high for me to do anything. While my tool might be mighty, it still does not have much of a reach and won't do much when piercing into the beast's skin.

It is simply too big for my small oar to have any effect, which is why I have to go for a vital spot, the eye, which is slowly getting further and further away from me. Staunching myself, I grip my oar, steady my beating heart, and look the monster straight in its eyes.

"ARGGRGGHHHH!!" I scream aloud to alert Garp to the current situation and bolster myself up and somehow boost my courage as I run forward and lift my right into the air above my head. Grasping the oar with both of my hands, I step onto the boat's edge and then use that as a platform to jump towards the creature's massive pitch-black pupil.

I thrust both my hands forward and smash the oar forward and into the slit black pupil of the beast. I can feel it as it punctures the surprisingly vulnerable eye and sinks through the gooeyness and into the eyeball.

Immediately I hear a mournful wail as the beast opens its jaw, and then it shoots straight out of the water and into the air, no longer caring about being silent and just wanting to vent. Instead, its mournful wail transforms into a roar full of rage.

I grasp the oar tightly as it shoots straight up into the air with me still attached to it via the oar still sticking out of its eye. It begins to madly flail every which way trying to unlodge me from its eye, but I stay put and hold remains fierce, resisting the cold air and the water spraying against my face having to close my eyes when it got too much.

Not only because I want to keep damaging this beast but because if I let go, I will be flung off into the far distance, which will make the splash hurt quite a bit, not to mention the fact that I will be in open water miles away from my boat and with ravenous sea creatures surrounding me.

"ARGGRGGHHHH!!" I screamed as I held on for dear life as the beast continued to move with wild abandon. My hands turned raw as my hands twisted and turned against the wood with every change in direction, but no matter how the thing moved, I do not let go knowing this was my only lifeline. Suddenly the beast went still, allowing me to just dangle in the air for a moment before we plummeted straight down, and all I knew was coldness.

I still held on for dear life, but my grip was beginning to slip, the extreme cold was badgering me constantly, and I could feel myself turning numb. I could feel the ocean itself start to seep into my very bones, and I was beginning to lose strength. Finally, feeling myself letting go, I opened my eyes, trying to stay awake and alert. Still, even with my eyes open, all I see is darkness, hardly being able to see the beast's skin right in front of me.

This stupid fish is undoubtedly the smartest one I've seen yet, and knowing that I can't breathe underwater, it decided to take us down below. Still, even so, I don't let go knowing that if I do, it will just eat me as soon as I do. My breath began to escape from my mouth, disappearing in little bubbles that floated away in the water, I panicked, but there was nothing I could do except hold on tightly to the oar, my only lifeline.

*Snap*

It snapped, my only lifeline. I guess it wasn't the mighty weapon I thought it was, or maybe I just wasn't strong enough to pull out its full potential. Still grasping onto the broken handle of the oar, the other half of it still lodged into the eye of the beast, I began to drift off into the cold, freezing ocean, all the air now escaping my mouth as if an unstoppable leak had sprung.

And as I sunk into the ocean's depths, I looked up into the absolute darkness to see a circle of light shimmering through the top of the sea. The light of the moon illuminated my surroundings and revealed to me the dozens upon dozens of Seakings that surrounded me, every space around me being filled by one, I felt despair set in, and hopelessness fills my being at the sight.

There was no oxygen left in my lungs, and the Seakings began to move in closer to me, blocking out my only source of light. I could see their jaws opening, revealing the sharp sets of teeth held within, which would soon be tearing me into tiny little pieces. The darkness began to seep in from the corners of my eyes, and I allowed it to do so, not wanting to be conscious when I was ripped apart by the countless beasts surrounding me.

Before the darkness entirely covered my eyes, I saw the moonlight above me ripple intensely, and all of the Seakings suddenly moved. And then I woke on the boat. Garp sat across from me, still munching on his crackers as if nothing had happened.

For a moment, I had pondered if anything had happened and If I didn't just end up falling asleep from sleep deprivation and ended up having an intensely realistic dream, but then I looked to my right, where I saw my fingers were tightly grasped around a broken piece of wood, which used to be an oar.

We didn't talk about it, and I didn't try to. Garp merely got frustrated that he had to give me his backscratcher to use as a makeshift oar, even though it was an actual oar. So after that, I put my head down and continued to row, not even stopping to sleep or scavenge for more of Garp's crumbs, and I just kept on rowing and rowing until I got to my destination. I didn't worry about starving, and I didn't worry about not getting enough sleep. all I worried about was getting to Troga as soon as possible.

A few more incidents with beasts occurred, but I never stopped my rowing for even a second. Even when my arms ached and my lungs burned, I never stopped rowing, I didn't stop to eat, I didn't stop to sleep, and I didn't stop when something tried to eat me. Because if there was one thing that was reliable about Garp, then it would be his brutish strength, I could rely on that, and I did so as I continued my travel.

While Garp may not have been reliable when it came to other things, I could always rely on the fact that he likes to be undisturbed, so even when he was sleeping, he would bash away threats. Even when a Seaking burst out of the water suddenly and rushed forward to take a chomp out of us, Garp, still sleeping, stuck his hand out and backhanded the giant sea creature away. I continued the rest of the journey like this, wanting to get it over with as soon as possible and start my proper training.

So it was only natural for me to get off of that boat and onto the land as soon as we beached because while Garp may not have had that taxing of a journey, I certainly did. Garp may be correct when he says it only took a few days to get here, but those few days were full of danger for me, and it was very traumatic. I was attacked by numerous Seakings, dragged down into the depths of the ocean and nearly drowned, and worked to the bone while being starved.

I can't be bothered to argue with the man, though. So I just get up off my knees and turn around to go back to the boat. Garp himself has now landed on the sandy beaches of Troga. He is walking off to do something or other. I don't pay attention in favour of going to the boat and grabbing the huge sack that Garp has been resting on this whole trip which is full of supplies. I just want to set up whatever we will be using to sleep, eat some food and then go to bed.

Grabbing hold of the sack, I turn around and walk back a distance on the sandy beach, not wanting to open the sack too close to the sea and risk any of the supplies being washed away by the ocean currents. I get busy trying to undo the knot that holds the bag closed, but I have some difficulty undoing it. Whoever did this knot pulled the string so tightly that I could hardly even pull at the thing. My nails couldn't seem to find enough purchase to loosen the knot.

"Oi, Brat! What the hell do you think you are doing? Put that back right now!" Garp yells from a distance, walking out of the tree line and towards me. I continue to struggle with the knot, not paying him any mind as I just want to sleep, I am finding it very hard to stay awake right now and could drop dead at any moment, but I need to set up my bed and eat something before I do.

"Relax, old man. I am just opening up the bag to get the supplies out and set up our tents or whatever you've got in here, then get some food and go to sleep. After all, I haven't slept in a few days, and I haven't eaten either, you know- Ah, finally opened the damn thing." So I say when I finally loosen the knot, and then I grab the top of the bag and pull on it to open the sack wide. I am too tired to look through the thing, so I just grab the pack from the bottom and then pour everything out onto the sand.

"AH, YOU DUMB IDIOT!! MY SNACKS, YOU'RE GETTING SAND ON MY CRACKERS!!!" Garp shouts as the contents of the bag are thrown all over the beach, a literal waterfall of crackers having poured out onto the sand, with nothing else coming out of the bag. I let go of the sack, letting it blow away with the wind, shocked that there was nothing else inside. This colossal sack that I thought held a bunch of supplies actually only had a literal mountain of crackers inside and nothing else.

Garp emerges from nowhere, holding the sack that I just let go of and dropping to his knees. He begins to shovel packet after packet of crackers back into the bag like a man possessed, cursing me all the while for dumping his precious crackers on the ground. I don't care. I turn around and walk a distance away from him before sitting down on the sandy beach. I then flop backwards and rest my back on it.

We have just come to a tropical island out in the middle of nowhere that looks to be completely deserted, with no sign of civilisation on the island at all. We have no supplies to speak of, and we have nowhere to rest. Furthermore, there are undoubtedly a number of dangerous animals on this island, not to mention the fact that the surrounding seas are full of gigantic Seakings.

We are going to die. Wait that is not correct. I am going to die. Garp will be just fine, but I will not. My stomach rumbles as I lay on the coarse sand staring up at the bright blue sky without a cloud to be seen, the evening sun glaring down at me.

My hunger is painful, but the slumber's call is much more enticing. It is vastly more potent than my hunger. So I- I am going to sleep.

-----------------------------------

My stomach dangerously gurgling is what brings me back to Earth. Is this Earth? I don't care anymore. All I know is that my hunger has brought me out of deep sleep, and I need to eat something. But when I open my eyes, I am not treated to the same sight I saw before I slept. Instead of the bright blue sky, I expected to greet me, I saw a canopy of green trees and foliage covering my vision.

Sitting up, I look around to find myself in a clearing in the middle of a forest, surrounded by trees on all sides, with no clue where I am. Even when I look up, I find it hard to spot the sky through the absolute litany of trees that occupy my surrounding space. I panic, not knowing how I arrived here and knowing I did not fall asleep here, which means that someone must have moved me while I slept, and the only other person on this island, as far as I know, is Garp.

Putting my hands on the ground, I push myself to stand up, and as I do so, I catch a glimpse of a boulder behind me. Now on my feet, I turn around and walk over to the boulder, upon which is inscribed a message. It seems to have been carved into it with some sort of circular tool, something in the shape of a finger. Disregarding that fact, I look towards the message within the rock, which hopefully holds the reason I am out here in the middle of nowhere.

[Brat.

The training begins now.

Find your way back to the beach.

Hurry, or this book of yours goes into the ocean. Garp]

Goddamit, that book cost me quite a bit, and this bloody oaf is just going to chuck it into the sea. Not to mention the fact that he has stranded me in the middle of this stupid island while I am still tired and suffering from starvation, with no clue as to where the hell I am.

Which way is the goddamned beach?

 

Chapter 8– Troga.

-----------------------------------

Alright, I am in the middle of this random island. No, it isn't random. This island is Troga, the island Garp has taken me to so that I can train, and my training has just begun.

Of course, my first objective is to make it back to the beach, but I have a much more pressing issue right now, which is my grumbling stomach. I hardly ate anything on the journey here, and when we got here, I ended up falling asleep because I got no sleep on the trip here either.

So priority number one is finding food, which I can then eat, ensuring that I will live to see the beach. Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be too much around me that I can eat as far as I can see. If there is, I am not experienced enough to recognise it, having never been in a survival situation before.

My best bet now is to pick a direction and go foraging for food, but it makes no sense to just head in a random direction. I might as well figure out which way the beach is and go foraging in that direction. No point wasting energy.

Alright, if I remember correctly when we were on the boat, and we finally caught sight of the island, the sun was pretty much high in the sky. So when we beached, I think it was setting to the left of me, which means it rose to the right of me, and the sun always rises in the east.

So all I have to do is get a glance at the sun and see where it is and in which direction it is heading. by figuring that out, I can figure out which way the beach is as the sun rises to the right of it.

I look up to the sky, but it is entirely covered by the canopy of trees above my head. I can see sunshine escaping through some of the foliage, but I don't have enough vision to tell which direction it is coming from.

My only options now are to either walk to a clearing, which could take me forever to find since I am in a bloody forest, or I could climb the trees and look for the sun from the top. One will take some time, and the other will have more immediate results, and the trees don't look too high.

Sighing, I begin to look at the trees surrounding me, trying to find the one which will give me the most straightforward route up to the top. Unfortunately, it is turning out to be quite challenging, each one I look at seems okay, but I can't help but feel that there must be a better option.

At one point, I realised that I was just delaying and decided to climb an old tree. I can't waste time on stupid stuff like this, and I need to be more like Garp because, apparently, that mentality gets things done.

I go to the best tree I have seen so far and reach my hands out to grasp it. I chose this tree because it has the most hand holds, and the branches are pretty low down, it is a small tree, and once I climb it and get to the branches, I can climb the surrounding trees to get even higher.

Getting to work, I begin my climb, moving cautiously and ensuring I put my hands in the correct place. There is a time to be like Garp, and there is a time not to be suicidal. Sometimes, slow and steady wins the race, and this is one of those times.

It takes a bit, but hand by hand, foot by foot, I slowly make my way up the tree, basically hugging the thing because if I fall, that will reset my progress, and I will have to begin all over again. This is a weird experience for me because, well, I have never really climbed anything before, not like this. I have just never needed to, I had stairs in my town, after all, and if I needed to get somewhere high, I could just use a ladder that had rungs to hold my hands and feet. However, this is proving to be more challenging.

I have finally climbed high enough to reach the branches, so I do so. First, I reach out a hand and grasp onto the nearest branch, and I pull on it twice to make sure it is stable before using it to pull myself further up the tree, and then I do so with another branch and then another.

After the first few, I figured that the tree was pretty stable, so I started just to climb without worrying so much. Then, finally, I get into a rhythm and begin to climb even faster, now grabbing onto the branches of other trees and continuing to rise through the forest.

*Snap*

The branch I was clenching with my right hand just snapped. I was in such a rhythm that I was already reaching my left hand out for the next branch, which was terrible. I was so close to the summit that I could see the sunshine breaking through the leaves, shining so brightly, but I couldn't tell the direction.

I stretch my hands out, trying to grasp something, anything, because gravity is starting to take effect, and I begin to fall backwards. my hands flail rapidly, trying to latch onto whatever they can.

I am failing, I am falling backwards, and I will fall quite the distance. These trees are about 40 feet tall, and I had reached quite far up. If I landed badly, a fall from this height could prove to be quite fatal.

Realising that my flailing of both hands is not working, I make the decision to commit to just my left hand and stretch it out even further, trying to grasp something. But, of course, this means that my balance is even more off, and my right side starts to inch backward while my left goes forward, making me fall faster.

This is do or die. I either grab onto something or fall down and seriously injure myself, risking death. I flex the fingers on my left hand, not clenching them, knowing I am too far gone to grab something properly. My only hope now is to claw onto something and hope for the best, so I make clawing motions to try and catch a lifeline.

It is futile. I grasp nothing and fall backwards towards my doom. I can no longer reach for something in front of me, and my hand drifts toward my left as gravity performs its job. Then, for a moment, I just float there for a second. Maybe I actually do that, or perhaps my senses just got super heightened for a moment, and I am seeing things in slow motion.

Either way, time stops momentarily, allowing me to see my surroundings. The leaves above me had moved out of the way at some point, leaving a clearing in the foliage and allowing me to see the clear blue sky.

I can see the bright sun up in the sky, and it is to the right of the blue sky, but that still doesn't help me because I don't know if it is setting or rising. Right now, it could be the morning or the evening, and I can't say because I hadn't slept for a few days, and so when I finally got some rest, who knows how long I slept, so even if I have gotten a glimpse of the sun, it doesn't matter if I don't see which direction it is heading.

Time seems to resume, and I continue to tip backwards, my feet nearly having left the branches they were standing on, but it is at this point that I feel something. I can feel leaves brushing against the fingers of my left hand as I fall.

I am such an idiot. I only tried to reach for something in front of me, knowing that the clearing I woke up in was to my back, with only a few dozen branches to break my back on the way down. However, there are still some trees to my side that I might have been able to reach, that I can still get to, and I try to.

Yes, yes, yes, thank you, thank you, whoever lives up in that big blue sky. I have managed just to grasp something, and I am currently still, with my feet just on top of two branches and my left hand out to the side of me, managing to just hold onto something that is saving my life. However, while I am safe for right now, I am still in a precarious position, stuck between three different points, stretched out and hanging over a thirty-foot drop.

Looking over to my right, I can see that I am holding onto the end of a vine draping off the side of a branch. The fact that I am not holding onto something in a fixed position worries me quite a bit, so I follow the vine along to see where it goes and see that it goes along a few branches, including the branch one of my feet is on before it disappears from my sight.

Then, seeing that the vine is also on the branch my left foot rests on, I look towards the branch my right foot rests on to see if there is anything that might help me, but there is nothing there that could help me. So, acting quickly but calmly, I make sure to dig my right foot into the tree, and then I slowly but surely twist my left foot around on the branch and wrap the vine around it, another layer of protection, in case I should slip.

I breathe a sigh of relief, taking a moment to relax and think about my situation and, more importantly, how I am going to get out of this mess. I stare up at the sky, and I notice the sun has moved. It is further to the right than it was before, which means it is setting to the right. This is because the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. The sun sets to the island's right when we beached, meaning the beach is to the south, and the south is directly in front of me.

Well, at least something came out of this unfortunate situation I have found myself in. So that is one less thing to worry about, and now I can focus on removing myself from this precarious position. Right now, only three of my limbs are in use, my left hand holding onto the end of the vine, and both of my feet are just clinging onto the tree branches, but my right hand is completely free, though it is not close to anything that could help me.

I have a pretty tight grip on the vine, though, and as far as I can see, it is stable and seems to be quite sturdy and thick. So as long as I keep my grip, I should be good, even if I try anything. I quickly look around, spinning my head around and taking note of everything in the area. Then, feeling a plan coming together, I take a deep breath.

Resolving myself, I reach my right hand towards my left and go to grab onto the vine. Due to my observation, I have seen that the vine has enough slack that I could use it to swing to a nearby branch that is quite thick. It is also surrounded by a multitude of other branches in case I don't make my target.

My body starts to spin to the left, and so I act quickly and make a last grab. My right-hand meets my left, and they are now both curled around the vine, but my body has fully twisted due to the movement. Instead of facing the sky like I was a moment ago, I am now facing the ground, and it is a lot more daunting when you look down and see that the floor is thirty feet away from you and there is nothing between you but air.

It's okay. You have got this, Detoro. You can do this. Just ignore the fall to the pits of hell below you. It is just a little drop, don't worry about it. You can do this. Psyching myself up, I reaffirm my grip on the vine and steady my feet against the bark, and then I push with all my might going for the swing.

The rope swings and I follow it, but only for a moment. Then, something goes wrong, and my left leg is stuck for some reason, which prevents me from completing my swing, and the swing stops before it even really went. So I end up once again stuck in the middle of the air, my left leg still attached to the tree branch for some reason and holding onto the vine, which is now above my head.

Because I swung, I am now facing the ground, held in place by my left foot and my arms above my head, holding onto the vine. Unfortunately, the vine is perpendicular to the ground, and I can feel my hands slowly losing their grip.

Managing a look behind me, I see the root of my problem. One of my feet did indeed leave the tree, but my left leg did not leave because, like the idiot I am, I forgot that I had wrapped the vine on that branch around my leg. So when I grabbed the vine with my right hand, I twisted to face the ground, and my foot became even more tangled.

To put it simply, I am between a rock and a hard place, even though I am between a vine and a branch surrounded by nothing but air, and I am screwed because my hands are slowly slipping. Crap, I have to complete the swing before I slip and fall to my death, and to do that, I have to untangle my leg from the vine, and I don't have the time to be neat about it.

I begin to kick and kick, trying to free myself, kicking against the tree as well as pulling my leg, trying my utmost to free myself. With each passing moment, I can feel myself slipping, and my struggle is not helping me. Finally, my hands are nearly at the bottom. At this point, I am really panicking, and I just start to move my legs in a frenzy, both of them, just trying to survive.

*Snap*

Yes, I am free, and now I am swinging, and I am going to make it. I am going to-

"AGGGHHHHHH!!"

I slipped halfway through the swing. I missed my target completely, not even landing on my backup branches. I fly feet first right underneath them, travelling through the forest, and-

"UGGH!"

I impact a tree which stops my travel. I flop off of it like a wet pancake and begin falling down to my death. I am-

"Ugh."

I feel myself impact something much softer than wood. It still hurts but is not severe. Not the, oh my god, I am dying kind of pain. Whatever it is, it doesn't do much to slow me down, and I continue to fall. Down I go and-

"Ugh."

I hit another one, and then another one and then I am just being barraged by them as I continue my travel, and I have no idea what the hell is happening, but my speed is slowing down, and that is a good thing. I might actually survive. Then, I suddenly land roughly on my ass on something, and my journey ends there. My momentum carries through, and my back falls back as well. My back slams into what is obviously the ground, and a cloud of dust blooms in my wake.

Damn, that really hurt my ass, and my back isn't doing so good either, but thank god I am alive. I could have seriously died, but my speed had diminished so much that I didn't break my ass. Unfortunately, though, I am going to have a massive bruise. So I stay there for a moment, in a state of shock and intense relief at my survival. But, goddamn it, why am I so bloody clumsy? Damn you, my past self. Why did you make such bad decisions?

Hmm, what the hell are all those yellow things in the sky, and why are they getting so much bigger? They kind of look like- Crap. I quickly move my arms and cross them over my face. I bring my knees up over my stomach as well, all to protect myself.

"Ugh."

"Agh."

"Gah."

I grunt as the multiple projectiles slam down on me, battering my arms and legs, but thankfully my hasty defence was good enough that none of them managed to slip through and punch into my stomach or head. Instead, they continue to wallop into my limbs, seriously bruising them. My limbs shake with each hit, gravity assisting it in battering my arms and legs, and I very nearly drop my guard, but before I can, the barrage stops.

I stay like that for a moment, just in case any more are coming, but it seems to be over. I chance a peek over my arms, and there is nothing above me except the green of the canopy above me. Feeling safe now, I move my arms out of my face and sit up, and I take a look at what the hell it was that had broken my fall.

Looking down, I can see a bunch of green vines underneath my butt, like a whole ton of them. These must have been what broke my fall. I was falling so fast that I kept running through them one by one, which slowed me down, and I even ended up taking them with me to the floor. They also helped break my fall. With the amount there, it is like I have a net made of vines. I can hardly see the grass underneath it due to the sheer amount.

All of these vines were attached and wrapped around trees, so it is obvious that they were the reason for the sudden barrage. But, in addition, it was because every time I broke landed on one of these things, the vines would strain and tug on the tree before either coming loose or snapping. Either way, with the number of vines being pulled and tugged on as I descended, the trees were constantly shaken, which ended up throwing some other things down with me.

The things that were falling down on me were some kind of yellow fruit. The trees were shaken so much that these things shook loose as well and fell down, and there is a whole bunch of them, more than two dozen of them. Reaching out, I grab one of them. It is a round yellow fruit. It is hard and hairy like a coconut, except it has yellow hair, but unlike a coconut, this has a stalk, like a banana.

Fiddling around with it, I can't seem to figure it out and am not able to open it, it is very hard all the way around, but I have discovered that the section between the stalk and the rest of the fruit is very soft. So I grab hold of it and pull it down, not dissimilar to how one would peel a banana.

The hard outer shell comes off. It seems to have been on top of the soft skin inside, and inside, the fruit is something akin to the inside of a banana but round and segmented like an orange. I take a bite. It was delicious, I quickly scoffed it down, and before I knew it, the whole thing was gone.

I am left with the hard shell, which had been segmented when I peeled the fruit. They are like little rigid plates. I could probably use this for something. But, dismissing that for now, I look at my surroundings and at all the surrounding fruit and then at the big green net under me, which is made of vines.

I get up and start to gather all of the fruits together and place them in the middle of the net. I then gather the edges all together and lift them up. I have fashioned myself a makeshift bag from the vines to hold my food and take it with me on my journey back to the beach.

I can't tell if I am lucky or I am unlucky. Due to my clumsiness, I took a severe fall and hurt myself quite a bit, and yet due to that, I figured out which direction to go, collected a whole bunch of fruits, and acquired a vine net to store the fruit. I completed all my immediate objectives in one go, yet I have seriously bruised my ass, back, forearms and shins. Am I really lucky?

Sighing, I ignore the many questions I have that will never be answered and heft my makeshift bag over my back. I walk back into the clearing, which, thankfully, is not too far. It is a good thing I hit that branch and fell so close to it. Otherwise, I would have to do another dreaded climb again to regain my bearings.

Reenetreing the clearing, I walk up to the tree that I had climbed, the tree I used as a bearing point, and I walk past it heading south, heading towards the beach. Finally, I have my bearings, I have food, and I have had enough sleep. It should just be a straight shot from here to the beach now. Easy enough. I just need to walk in a straight line. How hard could it be?

-----------------------------------

"ROAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

"Huff... Huff... Huff..." I pant as I stay pasted to the back of the giant boulder I have hidden behind, doing my best to keep my breath from coming out. Still, the best I can limit it to is a slight panting, but at least I can keep my crackling breath and wheeze from coming out, which would surely alert the beast currently looking for me.

I was an idiot when I thought this would be a walk in the park. I must have cursed myself because this journey has been anything but easy since I left the clearing. From the simplest things, such as somehow getting turned around and significant obstructions in my way, to something like an animal getting too close and freaking out or even attacking me.

All manner of things in this hell-like forest have constantly gotten in my way and made me lose my footing. I have had to climb trees quite a few times to get a sighting of the sun so that I can continue the trek in the right direction.

*Smash*

"GROAAAAAAAH!!!"

I hear the massive gorilla behind me bellow in rage and smash something to smithereens in anger because it can't find me. I suppress a shiver when some debris comes shooting past me and imbeds itself into the trees in front of me. I had come across a few different animals here, a deer that got spooked and knocked me to the ground, some foxes that stalked me for a while, and some kind of wild tiger cat, which I thankfully saw first and hid from before it could spot me.

I hear the heavy footsteps of the giant gorilla behind me and then some shuffling behind me. What the hell is he doi- I fall backwards and get laid out on the ground, staring up in confusion at the massive gorilla that is standing right above my supine body. The beast towers above me, holding the colossal boulder that I was resting on high above his head, I am cast in their large shadow, and I feel as if the sun has disappeared as a cold chill runs through my body.

I don't know what to do, and my body doesn't either, so I just continue to lay on the green grass, the dangerous creature holding its equally dangerous weapon above my defenceless body.

I am so screwed.

 

Chapter 9– Treacherous Trail.

-----------------------------------

The massive gorilla roars while hefting the giant boulder above his head, and I am still pasted against the ground, completely paralysed. I have no time to react at all. But then, the gorilla moves its arms forward, thrusting the rock forward, and as I see its arms move forward to crush the boulder on top of my fragile little body and bury me under it, my life flashes before my eyes.

I see it all rush through my mind: my life at the orphanage, all the stupid little fights I had, the tiny little village that I had spent all my life in, and all I can think is how dull it all seems, a waste of a life. Nothing of consequence happened in my life. If I were to disappear, no one would really care or even feel anything.

Even Mommy Mee and Daddy Dee would not fret for long. they have dozens of children to look after, and they can't waste their time on me and the marines and Garp. I am just a little pet project to them, something for Garp to procrastinate on instead of doing his job.

I want to be more than that, and I want to be someone of consequence, someone that makes a difference. And when I die, I want the whole world to shake with shock, for everyone everywhere to tremble in awe. I want to live to the max and make the most of it. I DON'T WANT TO DIE JUST YET, AND I STILL HAVE THINGS I NEED TO DO!!

I quickly roll to my left, still holding onto my bag of fruits, hoping to all that is holy that I haven't left it too late. So I keep moving to my left, hoping that I will evade the oncoming boulder coming down or, at the very least most of it. Even if I lose an arm, I will be happy as long as I survive.

*Smash*

I hear the crash, and seeing that my body is unchanged, I have obviously survived the dangerous event. Stopping my roll, I looked to my right to see what I had evaded. There is nothing there, the gorilla is still standing there, and the boulder is nowhere in si- oh wait, there it is, embedded in the tree in the distance.

The gorilla didn't even see me. It just picked up the boulder in the midst of its rampage and threw it without any clue of me being behind it. I was panicking for nothing. I was in no danger whatsoever.

"GRRAAAAAH!" Scratch that. I was in no danger. Now I am in danger. My rolling seems to have attracted the attention of the gorilla, who was previously unaware of my position, and its eyes have now locked onto my fragile form once more.

Reaffirming my grip on my bag, I quickly shoot to my feet and bolt off in the opposite direction of the gorilla, hoping to evade the gorilla once again. I sprint as fast as I can with all of my heart, and I can hear the gorilla lumbering on after me. Even as I skim and twist around various trees and branches, it continues its pursuit knocking down all the obstacles in its way and kicking up dirt as it pounces after me.

I can feel the wind whipping around behind me, it is right on my tail, and I can practically feel its horrible breath on my neck. Its giant hands make one or two grasps for me, which I narrowly manage to avoid, and I find my chance in a tiny gap between two colossal thick trees, and I leap through it.

Slipping through the gap head first, as if being born again, it should have been a simple fall onto my arms and knees, but for some reason, I tumble across the ground and scrape my shins quite hard before landing on my back, thunking the back of my head on the floor. Then, holding the back of my head, I look back towards the gap in the trees, and I see the large white eye of the gorilla peaking through the hole, looking down at me calmly, no rage to be seen on its face whatsoever, which scares me even more.

Its eyes search down my form, and again, I am too stunned to move, though this time, I would like to think it is more because of my little head injury than any fear. Its eyes, for some reason, leave my form, no longer paying any attention to me. Instead, it searches around my body, looking for something before its eyes finally drift down toward the tree it is peeking through, and its eyes alight on my bag of fruit.

My bag of fruit is what had ruined my little stunt, being too big and full of fruits. While I managed to slip through the gap with extreme ease, the baggage I had with me was caught behind me and ruined my jump, making me tumble across the dirt floor. And I am thankful that it happened because I didn't seem to ever be the target of the gorilla. Just what I had on my person was of interest to the beast.

The gorilla completely ignores me now and reaches its giant thumb and forefinger to grasp my makeshift bag of fruits, which was so big when it was on my person but seemed so tiny, trapped between its pinch. Then, with its objective in hand, it retreats from the gap, leaving me sitting there on the floor like an idiot, working my way to my feet, ignoring the big bump on the back of my head as I approach the gap in the trees.

I know I should probably leave well enough alone, but my curiosity is getting the best of me. So approaching the gap, I look through it to see the giant gorilla sitting on the ground, messing with my makeshift bag, trying to open it but finding its hands too big and cumbersome for the job.

Kind of reminiscent of a toddler trying to figure something out, it sits there and turns the bag every which way and tosses it about, trying to get at the fruit within. For some reason, despite being a giant gorilla, it looks kind of cute like this, it could easily just rip the thing apart, but it is trying to undo the knot I had on it.

It lifts the bag above its head and inspects it with a close eye trying to figure out how to get the treasures within, and evidently, its wish is granted because while my ropework was adequate, the materials of my makeshift bag were not, and it rips, and outfalls dozens of fruits which all smack the gorilla in the face, with one poking it in its eye. The gorilla drops the bag and starts rolling around on the floor while clutching its eyes and wailing like a baby. It does seem like a child.

It finally stops its tantrum and picks up one of the fruits off the ground and fiddles around with it for a moment before pealing it and enthusiastically chowing down on the food, which it does with a single chomp that swallows the small fruit.

The gorilla begins to quickly pick up, peel and then stuffs every fruit in its vicinity into its mouth, and its cheeks bulge to an insane degree as it squeezes them all in without swallowing and starts to chew on them. Then, finally, it swallows, and with a big gulp, the entire bulge of fruit moves down from its mouth, through its throat and into its stomach. It pats its belly in satisfaction and leans back with its arms out behind it, pressing against the ground, just lazing about after its meal.

Well, crap, the gorilla scared the crap out of me and stole my food, but I can't be angry at it. It is like a big child who doesn't know any better and is just hungry. But, of course, it was never trying to hurt me and just wanted the fruit. I think it might, in fact, be a child, what with how it threw a tantrum when I disappeared from its sight earlier and started throwing things around. But it doesn't matter. Let the gorilla have the fruit. I have gotten really good at climbing trees now just so I can keep heading in the right direction towards the beach. Then, I can easily just collect more.

"AWHOOOOOOO!" I heard a dozen howls break through the calm like the crashing of a thousand waves, insanely loud cries that felt like they were right next to my ear, and I was deafened by the piercing howls. Suddenly three wolves jump out of the surrounding forest and leap onto the gorilla. I watch as they begin to gnaw on its flesh, rending chunks of meat from the body and scratching at its fur. The wolves don't seem to do much harm by themselves, but they are seriously damaging the gorilla together.

It roars and jumps around frantically, trying to throw the wolves off of it, but they hold on tight with their jaws, their sharp teeth dug into the flesh of the gorilla. The situation worsens even further when more wolves jump out of the surroundings and rush the gorilla, jumping onto it and latching onto its skin as well. All I can do is watch, horrified, as the mighty child-like beast is slowly whittled down by the sly, conniving wolves that have grouped together to overthrow the mammoth.

The gorilla having enough sense to realise that it is losing decides to jump high into the air and then comes back down to land on its back, flattening one of the wolves entirely and smushing its body into paste while the others are thrown away from the resulting blast.

"Hah." I back away when one of the wolves is blown in my direction and crashes against the gap that I was spectating from, though thankfully, the wolf is too big to get through, though its body does get dangerously close to touching my face through the gap. Even a few steps away, I can still see through the hole. I watch as the wolf slides down against the tree and out of my sight, allowing me to see the battle still raging on, the gorilla holding its own now that it is not off guard and it is currently holding a wolf in its big hamfisted hand and smacking around the other wolves.

A big yellow eye with red veins and slitted black pupils locks onto me, and I feel a shiver journey through my body as I feel the gaze of a predator lock onto me, something that sees me as food and nothing else. Compared to the gorilla chasing me earlier that was child's play, the wolf suddenly let's loose a loud piercing howl into the air, then waits, and a few more cries sound out in reply.

"ROOAAAGGHHH!"

"AHH!" I stumble back, falling onto my ass as the wolf lunges forward, managing to just fit its snout through the gap in the tree and start biting for my head. Luckily, I was about an inch too far away so that I could safely back away without having my nose bitten off. The wolf doesn't seem to be getting through any time soon, being stuck in the tree, which it can't fit through, and it looks pretty stable-

"ROAAAAGGHHH!"

Crap, crap, crap. Another bloody snout just poked through above the other one and is also ferociously trying to get through the gap to me as well. I rapidly begin to scooch backwards, gaining some distance from the tree until I feel safe. Even with another wolf trying to break through, there isn't any leeway and-

"ROAAGGGHHH!"

Crap, another one just appeared above the others, and the tree has also started to groan. These wolves are constantly bashing against the wood, trying to get through to me, they have probably given up on the gorilla as it proved to be too strong for them, and it had already killed one of their pack by flattening the wolf instead they are now going for me, the weaker prey that shouldn't put up much of a fight, and-

The wood splinters, and some bark breaks off as the tree suddenly shakes and moves position, allowing the wolves to fit even more of their faces through the gap. I don't waste any more time. I clamber back up and start to run away in the opposite direction of the tree. I don't know what happened with that gorilla, but it is just a matter of time before those wolves break through and start to hunt me down, and I need to get a healthy distance between us before the bark breaks.

I run with all my might once again, yet this time I am more desperate than ever. Somehow, I am going faster than I was when the gorilla was chasing me. If I don't escape, then I am going to be ripped to shreds and feasted on by numerous wolves. Nevertheless, I still have things I need to do, and I am not going to let these pathetic cunning, bottom eaters be the ones to bring me down. I just decided I wanted a brilliant life, didn't I?

I feel the blood pumping through my legs, my tendons aching, and my Achilles feel like they are going to fall out at any moment, but I don't care. All I need to do is keep running, keep running up this hill, just keep running till I don't have to run anymore. So I don't think anymore. I just do. I don't take the time to analyse my surroundings. I don't think about direction or obstacles. I just do.

So I leap and jump, making split-second calls based on nothing else but my instinct and gut and luck, which seems to be working out for me as I have kept running for who knows how long, and yet the wolves are still behind me, right on my tail but just out of reach.

I feel my mouth turn upwards, and a grin breaks out stupidly all over my face. I am going to best these wolves, I am going to outrun them and escape from their wily pursuit, and there is nothing they can do to stop me. I am home free-

"Ahh." Something bonks me on the head out of nowhere and upsets my course. I trip and stumble but try to remain upright. I see the cause of my troubles as I fumble. It is a fruit that had randomly dropped from a tree. I really question if I am lucky sometimes. I manage to catch myself on my left foot, but I do so at an awkward angle, making my knee buckle, and I feel a sharp pain in it, but it doesn't matter, I may have injured my left knee, but it still kept me upright, it has kept me ali-

"UGH!" My foot slips underneath a vine, which trips me over, sending me sprawling to the ground. My face impacts the dirt and scrapes against it as my momentum carries me forward, my cheek splits up, and I feel a harsh sting as mud enters the wound, and- That is a lake.

My head lols over the edge of a cliff, the rest of my body resting on the cliff's edge, just a slight movement away from tipping myself entirely over the edge. Below me is a giant lake, with a few waterfalls falling down into it on my far left. I look around from the high ground, and then, then, I spot it. Beyond the lake, beyond the forest that surrounds the lake, there is the beach, my goal, directly in front of me.

I bring my hands up and use them to scooch myself up and away from the treacherous cliff and get up to my feet, backing up a bit further. My goal is right there. I just need to find a way to get down the cliff safely, and then I am home free, to Garp, to safety and training and some rest.
I am closer than ever, and I-

"GRRR." A growl sounds out from the trees behind me, and I quickly spin around, reminded of the deadly situation I am in and the looming threat hiding in the woods. A wolf pops out, and I move back, frightened, but my foot touches the edge, and I am reminded that my situation has worsened. Still, instead of going right for me, it stops, regarding me with a predatorial eye before moving to the right. It is clear why when another wolf pops out of the forest behind it and then another, one stays there looking at me while the other moves around to the left, surrounding me.

The wolves are cornering me, the intelligent animals that they are. They have figured out that there is nowhere for me to go and that I can't run anymore. And so they are blocking my escape roots and forcing me to stay here, where they will slowly whittle me down with guerilla tactics like they were doing to the gorilla, except I will not be able to last as long as that beast under the assault.

I quickly observed the formation the wolves had taken, looking for any gaps or weaknesses that I could take advantage of to make my escape. One wolf is directly in front of me, and the other two are to my left and right, respectively, with each of them an equal distance between the wolf in the middle and the edge of the cliff.

I have two options now, four really, and they are all equally dangerous. I could try and go for a gap between the wolves, either the left one or the right one, but that would be a high chance of death. I would have to slip between two wolves in either direction, and they are not stationary. They will move, and they will both go for me, so maybe I can get through if luck is on my side.

But which direction to go in is also another predicament. To my right is the waterfall meaning there is a river in that direction that I can cross somehow and lose my attackers, but the waterfall is quite far away, and I don't know if I can make it there, so do I take a chance and go left which is unknown to me.

And then there is option two, which I just as deadly as the last option depending on how you look at it and what kind of death you would prefer. Instead of trying to run through the gap between two wolves, I can try to run through the gap between a wolf and the cliff's edge, which is one less wolf but includes a dangerous drop. Again I have the same predicament of which direction to take, but either way, I will be risking a lot.

If I go with this option, there is less chance of me being taken down by a wolf since they will be cautious of jumping for me if they also risk going over the edge and falling to their deaths. I know they are clever enough to understand that from how they have been behaving.

Still, for that to work, I will have to run close enough to the edge of the cliff because the closer I am to it, the less likely the wolf is to attack. However, the ground itself is uneven, and there are a few things on the floor that may trip me up, and I don't have the luxury of taking my time and being careful, so there is the risk of me falling over as well, and if I fall over...

I take a second to lean back and look behind me, just for a second, but that is all I need to understand how well and truly screwed I am. The cliff's face is sheer until about halfway down, at which part it gets very rocky and starts to jut out all over the place, leaving out hard edges and rock crags.

If something were to fall down from here, they would be able to fall just long enough to build up some serious speed before smashing into the rocks about ten times before finally landing into the lake, significantly damaged. So what the hell do I do? Do I take my chances and run between the wolves, or do I-

"AWHOOOO!!" A howl once more pierces through the air, coming from the deep forest, the cry being the product of a few wolves acting in sync. There are more on their way, and when they get here, things will just get worse for me, and I won't be able to do anything except die for them. I am running out of time. I have to act quickly and do something, anything. It doesn't matter what. There is no time to ponder. Just act like Garp would. Don't think. Just do.

Bursting into motion, I run straight at the centre wolf, which takes it by surprise. it wasn't expecting a frontal assault, so it is cautious and backs up a little. However, the other two wolfs quickly move closer to the centre wolf to try and keep me blocked in. I close in on the wolf at full speed, but before I reach it, I put my foot down, skidding against the ground and kicking up dirt into the face of the wolf as well as blinding the other two that had moved in close.

Turning on the heel of my foot, I face the cliff again and sprint t full speed once more, but this time I have no intention of stopping. I intend to go all the way, all in. Finally, my foot touches the edge, and I jump off over the lake, or at least I hope I am over the lake. I feel like I am floating on air, like I am light as a feather for a single moment before reality comes crashing back down along with me as my jump begins to arc, and I begin to fall, and down I go.

-----------------------------------

Pulling myself out of the water, I drag my drenched form onto the sand that surrounds the lake that I had dropped into like a rock into the water. Thankfully it was deep enough that I didn't hit anything when I dived in, and I had jumped far enough to not clip myself on any of the rock faces that were jutting out, though my body was sore all over from a splash of that height. But I don't regret it. In fact, I have learned a valuable lesson.

There is a time to think and plan, and there is a time to stop thinking and just act, and thankfully I now know which is which. You can plan and think when you have the luxury to think and you have the time, but when you don't have the time, then you can't waste it thinking about possibilities, and you just have to go for it. So think and plan before you head off into action, but when you are in the thick of it, when you are in the heart of it, stay in the heat and don't let your head mess it up.

I have actually learnt something from this experience. Godamn you, Garp, I hate you.

With my goal in sight, I continue trudging on, the picture of the beach itself reinvigorating me and giving me a boost.

Not far now. I am nearly there.