ONE PIECE: THE CHILD OF GOD - CHAPTER 5

Garp was a captivating individual so to speak, and not in a particularly good way, more in like he’s batshit crazy but interesting kind of way, anyhow, the point was, he was bothering me, relentlessly might I add, because seemingly, the fact he had seen me smack a bear like a fly while he had come to visit Ace for the weekend, was more than enough for him to think I was marine material.

When I was certainly not.

Not that I was pirate material in any case, but if I had to pick, I would pick the latter of the two, because I refused to obey spoiled brats on the grounds I don’t want to.

“Hey, brat! Train hard so that you can become a marine!” Garp shouted with a wild grin as he saw me walk out of the room with Ace hanging off my back on a baby back carrier, once again annoyingly recommending me his career path of choice, being a marine or as I like to call it, a bitch.

“I refuse,” I replied with a neutral tone, as usual, walking out of Dadan’s house with the intention of trying a few things out.

“That’s it! Keep that attitude! And become a strong and powerful marine! HAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHA” But as always, Garp thoroughly ignored my reply and started laughing, thinking God knows what.

“Garp-san!” Dadan muttered, serving him some food with a fearful look on her face as she did so.

Sighing at the sight, I walked out of the house closing the door behind me, deafening the impossibly loud laugh Garp had, and started walking, with no destination in particular.

I just wanted to find a place to test a few things out to see what I was working with.

At that thought, I chuckled, it was surprising really, at times it would unnerve me how calm I was with all of this, even after killing a bear with a single hit sporting the body of a child, I felt nothing.

Well, I did feel something, but not what I should’ve felt.

The version of me I knew would’ve run in fright, or in any case, die… but here I was, as a kid, and I didn’t even hesitate to attack, it was as if my body was sure the bear didn’t pose a threat to me in the slightest. 

“How stupid,” I chuckled at my own inner quandary, if anything, not being totally me was a rather beneficial thing for this scenario I was living through right now.

Fear after all was a curse, one I undoubtedly didn’t need here, not if I wanted to survive, at least not on the levels I had back home.

“Baaaa buuu!” Ace babbled on my back, making a great point.

“You are absolutely right,” I nodded, putting baby Ace down so that he could play, leaving me the full use of my body to test a few things out.

But first, I needed to find a target, not necessarily a live one, a rock would do.

With that thought in mind, I looked around for a while, finding a few boulders a few meters away from me.

They would do.

“Well, this will either hurt like a bitch, or give me a good idea of what I’m working with,” I muttered, approaching one of the boulders.

Taking a deep breath, I took a step back, and swung my arm at the boulder at full strength, fully knowing this could very well result in my fist breaking, however, what broke was not my fist, but the rock upon impact leaving nothing behind but tiny rocks of varying sizes.

I blinked, looking at my fist.

I was fine…

No pain…

What in the hell was I?

As I pondered over that thought, Ace started crying, so I naturally turned around to see why, finding Garp grabbing baby Ace by the head like a ball, looking at me with a frown, “You call that a punch! I’d seen dead people THROW BETTER PUNCHES!”

“I destroyed the boulder,” I replied with a small frown, wondering why he thought my punch was inadequate… I mean, sure I wasn’t a fighter, never had to be before, but still, I broke the damn boulder into tiny pieces.

“And you could’ve destroyed more than that!” Garp barked, dropping baby Ace to the ground like a sack of potatoes. “Watch and learn!”

Looking at Ace, who was now glaring daggers at Garp for dropping him, I turned my attention to Garp and decided to do as he was telling me, he was after all an experienced fighter, meaning any advice out of him was possibly useful.

“So that you can become a powerful marine, I’ll teach you how to punch!” Garp grinned, approaching a boulder, then, the old marine placed one foot forward, bending his knees ever so lightly, holding his left hand out in front of him, palm forward, while his right hand formed a fist at his waist. “Take my stance,” Garp ordered, 

Once again, I did as I was told copying him with relative ease. 

“Now focus your energy in the movement of your waist, and push it forward. Like this,” Garp grinned, his right-hand shooting forward incredibly fast, obliterating the boulder alongside a big part of the ground he was standing by upon the slightest contact, creating a massive crater around him.

I blinked in shock.

“See?!” Garp laughed, “When you punch, you have to leave nothing behind! HAHAHAHAHA!” 

Sighing, I decided to try what he had shown me and focused, concentrating on my waist like he had said before I pushed my hand forward, moving my entire body as a unit as he had.

Like his punch, mine destroyed the boulder to nothing but dust, creating a small crater underneath where the boulder had been standing.

“See?!” Garp laughed, “I can already see your name in the big leagues! By the way, what’s your name brat?” 

I didn’t reply, I was currently lost, staring at my right hand in disbelief, as I couldn’t help but feel a sense of giddy delight creeping up on me.

“Whatever, I’ll call you brat,” Garp shrugged, picking his nose up, and playing with his boogers.