The Apparition

“Hey, Coco?”

“Yeah Luffy,” Atlantis asked as she allowed her head to roll to the side to stare at the boy napping beside her on the window seat. 

“What do coconuts look like?”

“They’re brown and fuzzy?” Atlantis scratched her chin as Luffy furrowed his eyebrows together in thought.

“I think we have some of those here,” Luffy mumbled as he turned to roll over on the side of the window seat.

“Really?” Atlantis asked, surprised as Luffy hesitantly nodded his head. 

“Yeah, big trees.” Luffy nodded as he jumped, “Come on! Let’s go find some to eat!”

“Hmm, okay!” Together, the two immediately set out into the town to search for the rumored coconut trees that Luffy had spoken of.

 “Race you to the grove,” Atlantis yelled at Luffy as they ran to a specific area that Luffy remembered the brown fuzzy coconuts being, a grove at the edge of the forest.

 “Luffy!?” One of the townspeople ran into him causing them to trip as Atlantis laughed and kept running to the grove. “You okay kid?”

“Yeah!” Luffy smiled as he jumped back up before the man stopped him.

“What are you two doing?”

“Looking for coconuts.”

“Luffy,” The man called out to him while he knelt in front of him. “You know our island doesn't have any coconuts right?”

“Yeah.” Luffy nodded when suddenly a serious expression crossed his face, “But you can't tell Coco that because she's happy right now.”

“Oh,” The man commented as Luffy shot off towards Atlantis without a second thought laughing all the way. “He's surprisingly insightful.”

“Is it here?” Atlantis asked as she looked up at the grove with large palm-like trees in front of her. It could be likely, but…

“Yep!” Luffy commented as he took a leaping jump at the tree grabbing it around its trunk to prevent him from sliding down.

“Luffy!” Atlantis laughed as she stared wide-eyed at the now climbing Luffy, “What are you doing?”

Luffy turned to look down on her from his advantage on the tree with a confused face, “Trying to see if there are coconuts on top?”

“Why do you sound so unsure?”

“Why aren't you climbing a tree?”

Atlantis shook her head with a laugh building up in her throat when she heard it, quiet footsteps coming somewhere deeper in the forest. With a forced grin, she moved to the tree next to Luffy and immediately began to climb it. She didn't say a word and for some reason Luffy was quiet as he continued to climb to the top of the tree, once Atlantis reached a good height she stopped to listen once more for the animal that had been approaching them.

Only to hear a muttered conversation and the top of a man’s head peeking out of the bushes looking around confused.

Holding in a gasp at the appearance of the unknown person she cast her eyes up to Luffy who still didn't notice and then back to the man.

As Atlantis moved to duck behind the leaves of the tree in case the man looked up and to get a better view of the forest floor trying to see whoever the man must have been talking to when a flip flop dropped onto the man’s head at a fast pace, which she could only stare at in shock while Luffy called out from the top of the tree. “Yo! Who the hell are you?”

How Luffy had even hit the man with the flip flop when there were so many branches and leaves in the way was a miracle, which Atlantis assumed would come in common later on, but it was still weird. The man on the other hand didn’t seem to care about the probability of being hit in the head with a flip flop and instead fell to the ground clutching his head while spewing a string of curse words.

“Oi, kids!” Another man called out as he jumped from the bushes and began looking around with his head thrown back to look into the top of the trees with his eyes scrunched. Two more men emerged from the forest to kneel by their friend and glare at the trees, as the fourth man tried to speak with them.

“Kids?” Luffy squawked as he glared down at the man from where he was paused on his pursuit up the tree. “Who the hell are you?!”

“I’m a friend of your grandfather’s. Come down here so we can see you.” The man gave a leery smile as he continued to search the trees.

While he was searching Atlantis turned to find Luffy’s questioning eyes already on her, to which she shook her head no while moving slowly up the tree so she could be even with Luffy’s height. “I don’t like this.”

“Okay,” Luffy muttered before pulling off his other flip flop and hurling straight at the man’s face who cried out in pain as he fell back onto the ground beside his companions all the while holding onto his bleeding nose, “You can’t tell me what to do! Why are you worried about what I’m doing?”

“Yeah! You need to be worried about picking out your casket.” Atlantis yelled out as Luffy started giggling at the angry groans from the ground.

“I said come down here you brats!”

“Just burn the trees down.” A fifth man spoke as he appeared from within the forest to stare down at the other men. “If they won’t cooperate then just force them to leave the trees by burning them down.”

“Luffy,” Atlantis called out as she turned to him with fear in her eyes as her heart began to speed up, all the while the smell of smoke and harsh laughter began to rise within reach of her senses.

Luffy simply pouted down at the ground with an angry expression, “They used my shoes to start that fire.”

“Luffy,” Atlantis let out an exasperated laugh as Luffy turned a smile towards her before swinging to another tree in the grove. After securing his grip he motioned for her to reach for the tree next to hers as well.

Together they moved through the trees calmly until they reached a part of the grove facing the town and at a distance away from the five men staring up at the trees with expectant expressions. Quietly they landed on the forest ground before taking off down the hill towards the town as fast as they possibly could.

Yells shouted from behind them as the men started to gain on them to which Atlantis brought her hand up to grip the bow she kept for good luck only to feel it shift in her grip. Pulling her hand back she watched as a blade began to form from the dangling chains until a sword appeared. Turning abruptly she pushed Luffy forwards, “Go get help! I’ll hold them off.”

Luffy shot a concerned glance behind her before stopping in his tracks with a shake of his head, “I'm not leaving you.”

Moving back with a huff she pulled the black katana from its sheath and watched as a bolt of purple lightning flashed down the blade before glowing slightly.

Turning the blade just in time she held it out threateningly at the men who all rushed to a stop at the sight of the weapon. They had confused faces that seemed stuck between fear of the weapon and humor at the small children glaring at them.

The fifth man appeared from behind the others with a huff of amusement, “Now where did you get that? Not that it matters.”

A stare off occurred as no one moved an inch before a growl sounded as a fist struck the back of the supposed ring leader of the group’s head. The man fell to the ground with a thud as Monkey D. Garp turned his glare onto the other four men who immediately broke out into a sprint only to run into some of Garp’s subordinates.

Meanwhile, he turned back to the two kids to sweep them up in a hug to Atlantis’ protest of fear before noticing the katana was gone. She could only stare down at her hands as Garp brought them up on his shoulders to sit while he made the walk back to town.

A pair of linked rings now could be found on the index and thumb of her left hand.