Prepare For Trouble
The news of Red-Haired Shanks reappearing from his year-long hiatus wasn’t shocking, sure the missing arm was pretty shocking. As the news had landed on Garp’s desk he had dismissed it as soon as he had seen it, but the news that Shanks had apparently been spotted near his home? That had sent Garp into overdrive and he had assigned himself to evaluate the East Blue Bases once more.
It was as he stepped onto the shores of Foosha Village did he know, you could tell from the ground that this island had seen a change. What truly gave it away was the hat sitting on Luffy’s head, a hat he had seen before.
“GRANDKIDS!” Garp screamed as he ran for them, shocking them to fall over from where they had been playing in the sand. They barely had time to dodge before he had swept them up into his arms to tightly squeeze them to his chest.
“Gramps! Let go!” Luffy squirmed and thrashed about as Atlantis sighed and gave up on escaping Garp’s arm before he was satisfied.
“Look at my little marines!” Garp wept as he swung around fastly to march towards the town.
“No! I’m going to be a pirate like Shanks!”
“No way in hell!” Garp screamed as he tossed Luffy ahead of him before gently setting her down before sprinting after Luffy to chase him down.
Sighing, she made her way to the bar before stopping to turn and stare at the marines casually sitting at the harbor waiting for the return of their boss.
A brilliant idea popped into her head as she gleefully turned back to the bar, pushing the door open to find the boys already at the bar.
“Gramps,” She called out sweetly as she came to stand beside him with a smile on her face.
Garp turned to her happily as he placed his food down, which unbeknownst to him was immediately devoured by impatient hands. “What is it, my lovely granddaughter?”
“I want to go with you to learn how to fight. Can I join the marines?”
Everyone in the bar stopped moving as Garp blinked down at her before his smile somehow began extremely large, “Yes! My granddaughter wants to be a marine!” Atlantis could only blink as she found herself being flung into the air as Garp happily cheered, meanwhile Luffy had already begun rapidly moving closer in protest.
“No!” Luffy angrily pouted as he began trying to climb up Garp’s back. “You can't go, Coco. You've got to stay here with me and become a pirate with me and be on my crew and and you just can't go be a marine.”
“Luffy,” Atlantis called as she reached for him causing Garp to sit her down with a smile before bolting off to demand his crew prepare a section for her. “I’m not going to be a marine. I’m going because I need to be stronger if I am going to be on your crew, but I promise that you will always come first.”
“Oh,” Luffy muttered as he scuffed his toe on the floorboard before stopping to turn to stare at Atlantis with tears building in his eyes. “You don’t need to get stronger. I can be strong enough for both of us.”
“Luffy, we both need to be ready if we are going to be pirates.” Atlantis chuckled sadly as she ruffled Luffy’s hair fondly.
“But you… you aren’t supposed to leave me. You’re supposed to be beside me forever.”
Garp stopped in his tracks as he stared down at Luffy with some unknown emotion shifting in his eyes. They stared at each other for an entire minute before Garp cracked a humorous smile, “Is that so?”
“Fuck,” Atlantis cursed as she stared at the shore of Foosha Village as Garp ordered the marines to move towards the next base on their list to check. She turned to stare at Luffy who was upset sitting on the railing staring out at the shores with an angry pout on his face.
Atlantis ran a hand over her face before dropping the bag Makino had rapidly packed for them to the ground and moving to sit beside Luffy to stare after their home fading rapidly from view. “At least we’re together, yeah?”
“Yeah.” Luffy smiled as he shoots up and turned to stare at the marine crew. Luffy cracked a grin as he turned his sight over the helpless marines who were focused on performing their duties. “As a pirate…”
_____
Luffy laughed as he pulled Atlantis from the ship to land on the soil of the island they had landed on while the poor marines shouted in dismay and relief as Luffy finally left them alone. Only for them to scream in horror as the two kids rounded the corner with giggles as one of Luffy’s remaining pranks was set off.
They giggled furiously to each other as Garp shouted out for them as they sprinted into an alleyway in hopes of preventing Garp from following after them.
Atlantis yelped as she face-planted hard into a warm surface before falling to the ground pulling Luffy down with her as she rubbed her nose.
“Captain Smoker!”
...Captain Smoker? Turning her face up she stared at the formed muscles in front of her in shock before turning her eyes further up to stare at the cautious eyes of Smoker who seemed frozen in place at the sight of children. Behind him, a young girl followed on his coattails and stared between the two of them as she came to a stop directly behind Smoker before turning her gaze to the children.
“You should hurry along children and find your parent.”
Atlantis jolted up at their comment and pulled Luffy to stand directly behind Smoker as Garp entered the alleyway.
“Well if it isn’t little Captain Smoker.” Garp laughed as he came to a stop in front of the frozen captain who snapped out of his daze to greet Garp. “You haven’t happened to see two little rascals running around here have you?”
Smoker quietly stepped to the side to reveal the glaring kids causing Garp to laugh as he reached out to snap Luffy by the back of his collar before he could run.
“I called ahead asking if you needed a new apprentice,” Garp commented as he gestured to Atlantis who turned to stare at Smoker with wide eyes. “This is Atlantis, take her in for a few days before you give me a final decision. This little brat is Luffy,” Garp punctuated the comment by shaking him. “He’ll be staying with her for these few days.”
“Alright,” Smoker commented as he narrowed his eyes at the two kids before nodding his head in a direction. “I’ll show you where they can stay while they are here.”
Smoker guided them back towards the main marine base and the small homes built nearest to them. He made his way to the first one opening the door and guiding them in. “This is my room here but the rest of the rooms are open for your use while you stay here.”
“Quite close to you, huh?” Garp commented as he took in the small building.
“Yeah, when you said the children are six and eight, I figured having them close would be best for everyone involved.”
“Hmm, smart.” Garp commented before smiling as he slapped Smoker on his back, “Good luck. I’ll be back in a month when I finish my other evaluations.”
With that Garp was gone, leaving Smoker staring at the two kids who simply stood frozen staring at the man in question.