Chapter 16
Garp had to walk around Lougetown with his face all bandaged up for two days, looking more like a mummy than a man. He kept saying he fell and his hit face on the floor, which normally would not be a stretch for the man, but everyone could see the incredibly smug looking feline that was still perched on his head.
Said feline would smack him with her paw every time he said something about the incident. Garp had learned his lesson, forlornly going about his duties. When the marines finally finished getting their supplies, finding and outfitting a ship for Smoker, laughing at Garp, they set off for Foosha Village.
It took them about 2 days to go from Lougetown to Goa Kingdom, which got Yoruichi quite bored, as she was used to getting to islands within a few hours. That boredom led to Yoruichi learning a bit on how to run a ship from Bogard, such as what different sails are, how to navigate, which she was familiar with already, and learning a bit on what different ropes do on the ship, such as the side rigging.
Most of the soldiers got to watch as Bogard patiently taught a 1’1/2” foot tall black cat how to navigate, the cat perched curiously on his shoulder to get a better view, tail swishing side to side. Every time Garp saw the scene, he just pouted, pointedly ignoring the glares Yoruichi still gave him every so often.
On the final few hours until landfall, Garp came to meet Yoruichi and Bogard, who was currently teaching the cat on the layout of the first half of the grand line, aka Paradise.
Pouting, Garp asked, “Why are you never this calm with me, Yoruichi?” he asked pitifully, earning an amused smile from Bogard and a glare from Yoruichi. She growled a bit, and replied, “Maybe, just maybe, it’s because Bogard doesn’t send me flying into the damn ocean!”
Garp just threw his head back “Bahahaha! What’s the problem?! A little bath doesn’t hurt anyone, does it?” He stopped laughing when he saw the blank faces on his right-hand man, and increasingly irate cat.
Bogard, ever the calm man, just said “Garp. Imagine you just chucked Tsuru into the water. What do you think would happen?” Yoruichi smiled viciously at that, having been told that Garp, Tsuru, Sengoku, and Zephyr were best friends ever since they joined the marines.
Both watched as Garp got lost in his own mind, going ever paler by the second, cold sweat starting to appear on his face.
‘Whatever he’s imagining, it must be horrific. Never thought the ‘big, tough, hero of the marines’ could go pale in fear over one person.’ Yoruichi paused in her thoughts, before grinning internally even more. ‘I can’t wait to meet her. Maybe we can spike Garp’s crackers with laxatives.’
Garp literally shook himself out of his horror story, body vibrating like he just got electrocuted. He looked at both man and cat, and said, “We will be landing soon, so Bogard I will need you out here. Yoruichi don’t fall in the ocean again.” He chuckled as he turned around, pulling a sleeve of crackers out of his coat pocket and walked out again.
Yoruichi hopped off Bogard’s shoulder, leaving the man to follow his boss out the door.
She was left mumbling to herself, “Yes. Laxatives, or just straight poison in the crackers.” Anyone who would have walked by then would have seen a slightly deranged look on a small feline, which was chuckling to itself evilly while staring off into space.
Docking at Foosha village was a standard affair. Marines running around, pulling the sails up, rowing in the last few hundred yards, everyone getting ready to disembark.
Yoruichi was sat on the railing of the ship, looking down at the townspeople gathered. She could sense many familiar people with her spiritual sense, but she could not sense Luffy.
Spreading her senses thinner, she still could not sense him, even though she covered a lot of the forest,
‘He may be up at his treehouse clearing.’ She thought, ‘it is very deep into the forest, isn’t it.’
She hopped off the railing, leaping over the few feet of space between the ship and the pier. She started lightly running through the crowd, most of them only giving her a cursory glance. She saw Makino toward the back of the crowd, still in her work clothes.
Yoruichi walked up to her, rubbing herself on the green haired woman’s leg.
Makino looked down, and smiled warmly. “Oh look at you! I haven’t seen you in forever! Where have you been all this time!” She said a bit loudly. She reached down and picked up Yoruichi, cuddling her closely.
Yoruichi chirped at her, like a cat that had lost its prey. Makino giggled a bit at that, then leaned closer and whispered “Luffy saw the ship coming and took off. He should be over near the garbage dump by now.” Makino pet Yoruichi a bit longer, before putting her back down.
Makino then said, again a bit loudly, “you should show yourself more. I worry you’ll starve around here! Come back soon!” The woman waved the werecat off.
Yoruichi chuckled a bit to herself. Makino and Luffy were the only ones who even knew she could transform, outside of the men on Garp’s ship. Yoruichi had gotten. A bit mischievous one night and went to go nap on Makino’s bed in her cat form. Yoruichi then proceeded to get almost choked to death by the sleeping green haired woman, for the entire night, until the woman woke up and realized she had probably killed a cat in her sleep.
This drew Luffy, who happened to be staying at the bar for a few days, and both watched as the ‘dead cat’ turned into Yoruichi. That led to confusion from Luffy, and a very embarrassed Makino. Ever since, Makino had been helping Yoruichi sneak around the town for some juicy goss_ *cough cough* espionage.
‘Ahh. Good times.’ Yoruichi thought fondly. ‘Makino has become a decent friend, even in the little time I have known her.’ She smiled a bit, taking off to find Luffy.
5 minutes later, she found him digging through trash on the outskirts of Goa Kingdom. Yoruichi never came here, because it was so dirty, but Luffy and his siblings apparently found much of their treasure here. It was nominally known as Grey Terminal, and had been set fire to by the nobles some years ago.
‘This is where that third brother died, Sado, I think?’ Yoruichi thought. ‘I wonder what a kid like Luffy would want to do here. This had to bring back bad memories’ Yoruichi looked around. She could still see the scorch marks on much of the trash, even some decayed corpses if she looked hard enough. There was still newer trash piled on top, courtesy of the nobles who kept piling their old stuff out there.
She created the final hill between her and Luffy, seeing him with her eyes, instead of her spirit sense. He was digging into the trash, tossing old scrap metal, dolls, and whatever else the Nobles did not want out of the way, setting aside things like old jewelry, coins, things that could be sold.
Yoruichi knew he was only doing this out of habit, as Luffy could not sell anything to save his life. It was usually his family that did it for him, either Makino or Ace. She knew Garp was almost as bad, Bogard being the one to control the funds on the ship.
Yoruichi walked over to Luffy and sat down next to him. She watched him dig more and more stuff out of the hole, completely oblivious to his surroundings.
After a few minutes of watching, Yoruichi decided to greet the teen. “So, how goes the digging, Luffy?” she asked, her deep voice causing the rubber man to jump impossibly high into the air, and his eyeballs to fall out of his head in shock.
“GAHHHH” Luffy Screamed, “Who-What-Whowhatwherewhatthehell?!” Luffy yelled, his voice cracking with fear.
When he landed in a heap, and calmed down enough to have his brain catch up to his fear, he looked around, spotting Yoruichi almost immediately. He looked a bit confused at the cat, asking, “What are you doing here kitty? Its dangerous out here.” He reached toward Yoruichi, intent on grabbing her.
Yoruichi slapped his hand with her paw, then looked wryly at Luffy. “You’re oblivious you know that? How do you not recognize me.”
Luffy just looked at her, even more confused. “I know you? Uhhhhhh.” He got this really scrunched up face for a minute, and Yoruichi could swear there was actual steam coming out of his ears. She waited patiently, having induced this state in Luffy on more than one occasion. ‘Ah, yes. His thinking state. Where he grills braincells over a fire to try and extract even one bit of memory or intellectual thought from them’ Yoruichi thought snidely.
She winced a bit as Luffy jumped up from the heap he was on the ground to stand and point accusingly at her, yelling “AHHHHHH! You’re that weird cat dude that hangs around with Makino sometimes!”
Yoruichi sighed, saying, “Why do I even try…...” She then looked closer at the dirtied visage of Luffy, and deadpanned “Garp is here. And he is coming for your ass.” She watched a bit gleefully as Luffy screamed again, before making a run for it to the treeline.
She followed along, knowing full well Garp did not have time to ‘come for his ass’ aka torture, aka training. ‘At most, Garp will hit him a bit and try to drag him to the marines again.’ She chuckled internally, knowing it baffled the teen on how Garp was able to hurt him to this day.
5 minutes later, she found Luffy up a tree like a scared animal, staring down fearfully at the actual bear of a man standing underneath the tree, yelling up at him.
“Get down here, brat! I gotta show you the pride of the Marines!” Garp was shouting, his arms in the air. Yoruichi could sense the haki in them, blaring in the heat of what Luffy calls his ‘fist of love’. Luffy just shook his head silently, clinging to the tree trunk, tears pouring out of his eyes.
Garp saw that, then proceeded to crouch down like a long jumper, before exploding off the ground, cracking it a bit, and jumping the 20+ feet it took to get to where Luffy was sat.
The teen screeched in inhuman horror, trying in vain to scramble even a bit higher up the tree, but it was all for nothing as Garp grabbed his leg, stretching it as Garp descended back to the ground, splintering it once more.
Yoruichi watched as the old marine looked at the leg in his grip, deciding to just keep on pulling the now hysterical kid out of the tree, inch of leg, by inch.
Yoruichi decided to change back into her human form while this was happening, the puff of smoke going unnoticed by the distracted men in front of her. She quickly got dressed, then leaned against a tree nearby,
It took a few moments, but Luffy’s grip finally gave out, sending him snapping at his grandfather like a missile. Garp, who had apparently forgot that particular aspect of rubber, had widened eyes as he was hit in the face by the rest of his grandson, sending them both to the ground in a ball of limbs.
They both got to their feet, Garp grabbing Luffy by the back of the neck. “Come on, brat. Makino has a party for you going on in the bar.” He started walking off, dragging the now surprised and giddy teenager behind him.
Yoruichi followed behind them, waving at Luffy who had just now noticed her. “AHHH! Yoruichi! I know! You’re the weird cat dude!” She facefaulted at that, before shaking her head and giving the kid a kick.
Once they got to the other side of the mountain, it taking almost 20 minutes due to Garp lugging his baggage around. When they did get there, they saw streamers and a general party going on around Party’s Bar.
Garp dragged Luffy inside, plopping him down in the seat center to the bar. He then turned around, saying “It isn’t every year I get to be here for my grandson’s birthday, so I am glad to be here for one more.” He paused as he grabbed a mug of alcohol from the table next to him, raising it to the air as the people in the bar copied him.
Yoruichi knew almost none of them, but she knew everyone always took advantage of any chance to party. She raised her own mug, which she had sneakily grabbed off the table closest to the door, and downed it with the rest of them, as Garp said, “To the next year of my grandkid’s life! May he become a wonderful Marine!”
Luffy, hearing that squawked in indignation, shouting “I’m gonna be the pirate king, you old geezer!” And he earned a punch to the back of the head for his trouble.
After the obligatory sharing of booze, the presents started coming in. Most of it inconsequential, Makino having given the kid a week’s worth of meat she cooked just for him.
Garp went last, with the present Yoruichi told him to give. Handing it over, he said gruffly, “here, brat. Hope they serve you well.” Yoruichi wandered over to see the kid’s reaction to the gift.
Of course, his eyes were sparkling with glee, saying “wooooaaahhh. So cool!” He then looked up, asking, “what do I do with them?” Both Yoruichi and Garp cringed, and Yoruichi stepped forward to help him put the gloves on.
“You wear them, dumbass. They are supposed to stretch with you, so you should t worry about breaking them.” She finished helping him, and Luffy looked at his hands with visible glee, turning them over and over.
Yoruichi stepped back, crossing her arms, and said, “You use them to punch stuff. There are balls of seastone in the knuckles…... ah shit.” She finished as she watched Luffy curiously poke at one of the balls, causing his body to go limp. It was only for a moment, as the momentum of his falling caused his hand to not touch the stone anymore.
Garp grabbed him again, repeating the process of putting him back into the seat. Continuing where Yoruichi left off, he said “Seastone is used by the marines to combat devil fruit users. One touch and they feel like they fall into the sea itself. You will have to be very careful with those gloves, or you will regret it.” His face was a bit solemn, trying to drill the seriousness of seastone into Luffy as much as possible.
Luffy just nodded absentmindedly, still in awe over his new ‘cool thing’. “Yeah, Gramps, thanks for the thing.”
Garp grinned, saying, “Thank Yoruichi too, she was the one who found them.” Yoruichi chuckled a bit, as Luffy’s head snapped in her direction, a wide grin on his face.
“Thanks, Kaibyo. Hehehe” Luffy giggled a bit at the new nickname (a/n for those who don’t know Japanese, it is supposed to mean “strange cat” Apparently comes from Japanese Folklore. If you got a better nickname that Luffy can use, share it!).
Yoruichi just groaned. And Garp laughed and slapped her on the back.
“Hahaha! I was wondering what he would give you. He tends to do that, you know? Calls me Jiji all the time. Bahaha!”
Yoruichi shrugged off his hard pats and turned to go find Makino. “Ugh, you two are useless. Make sure he doesn’t kill himself with those gloves, will ya?”
Yoruichi spent the next few hours, enjoying the party. Eventually it got to the point that the afternoon had turned into evening, and everyone had to go. This included Garp, Yoruichi, and the rest of the Marines.
Yoruichi turned back into her cat form, and hopped up onto the railing of the ship, the bright, almost full moon shining down on them.
Garp was down by the gangplank, with Luffy, Makino, and a few others by the dock itself.
Waving goodbye, Garp said, “Luffy, I expect you at the Marine base in Shells town by your next birthday! I will be there to pick you up, got it?” He laughed when Luffy growled out his discontent with, “No! I’m going to be a pirate, and you cant stop me!”
Yoruichi chuckled, then called out, “Luffy!” The straw-hat wearing teen turned to face her. “I will see you on the grand line, yeah? Don’t listen to that wrinkled bastard over there, follow what makes you happy!” She then jumped off the railing, ignoring the shouting from the energetic rubberman. She passed Bogard on the way to her room, and he asked for a moment.
Looking up at the 9-foot-tall man, she said, “What’s up, detective man.”
Bogard smiled, crossing his arms, and asked “Why are you bac k in your devil fruit form? You were in your human one earlier.”
Yoruichi chuckled and said “I get better sleep like this after I’ve had some booze. Dreams stay simple if you know what I mean.” She finished a bit somberly, with Bogard’s face turning to match the tone.
“Ah. That does make sense. Wish I could do the same sometimes.” He said, leaning against the wall of the hallway.
Yoruichi nodded her agreement and turned to continue walking. As she did, she left him with a saying from Shinji, one of the Visored. “Sometimes, the faces that appear to us keep us grounded. Keep us who we are. Remember why they appear in your dreams, and you will never fall victim to indulging in the how.”
Bogard chuckled, a rare thing for the man. “Thank you for the advice, Yoruichi. I know you hide much, but you are a good person.” They both left to their respective destinations, her inside her cabin, and him to command the ship to head to the grand line.
Yay, I enjoy the slice of life tbh