Mud squelched under my worn boots as I pushed myself up, spitting out a clump of dirt. Luffy landed nearby with a rubbery thwump, bouncing slightly before scrambling to his feet, already complaining. Ace landed cleanly, cat-like despite the unexpected propulsion, his glare fixed on the silhouetted figure of Garp filling the doorway. The old man's laughter, loud and utterly without remorse, echoed in the suddenly quiet forest clearing.
"Training begins NOW!" he'd bellowed. Apparently, Lesson One was 'How to Kiss the Dirt'.
"Ow ow ow!" Luffy whined, rubbing his backside vigorously. "Why'd you do that, Gramps?! That hurt!"
"Bwahahaha! That was a love tap!" Garp roared back, finally stepping out into the clearing. The sun glinted off his grey hair. He stretched his arms wide, cracking his neck with a sound like grinding boulders. "Pain teaches focus! Now, warm-up! Ten laps around the base of the mountain! Go!"
"TEN LAPS?!" Ace yelped, incredulous. "Around the whole base?! That'll take all day!" Mt. Colubo wasn't just a hill; it was a proper mountain, dominating the skyline, its slopes thick with ancient, imposing trees and jagged rock faces.
"Then you'd better start running!" Garp grinned, pointing a thick finger towards the dense treeline. "Last one back gets extra sparring practice with me!"
That was all the motivation needed. Ace shot off like a bolt, disappearing into the undergrowth without a backward glance. Luffy, despite his complaints, stretched his legs out in a comical wind-up – boioioing! – and launched himself after Ace with a "GOMU GOMU NO... ROCKET!" ricocheting off tree trunks.
I hesitated for only a second. Ten laps. Sparring with him. I clenched my jaw and sprinted after them, pushing my weary legs into action. The forest swallowed us instantly. Sunlight filtered down in dappled patches through the thick canopy, illuminating a world of tangled roots, moss-covered stones, and trees thicker than Dadan's hut. The air was cooler here, damp and smelling of pine and decay.
Running wasn't just running. It was leaping over fallen logs taller than I was, scrambling through thorny thickets that tore at my cloak, splashing through icy streams that numbed my feet, and dodging the occasional territorial giant beetle the size of a small dog. Ace moved with practiced agility, finding paths I couldn't see, his metal pipe occasionally flashing as he batted aside aggressive vines or startled monkeys. Luffy bounced ahead, sometimes literally, using tree branches like slingshots, his laughter echoing oddly between the massive trunks.
Keeping up was brutal. My lungs burned, my legs ached, the damp chill seeping back into my bones despite the exertion. Four years of running from things hadn't prepared me for running towards Garp's insane demands. More than once, I stumbled on hidden roots or slick patches of moss, crashing to the forest floor. But each time, the memory of Hi-no-Kuni burning, the weight of the Kaenken, the pulse of the Sunstone Heart against my skin, pushed me back up. Survive.
During one such stumble, sliding down a muddy embankment, a flash of panic flared. My hand instinctively shot out, and for a split second, the shadows beneath the trees seemed to recoil from a faint, warm glow emanating from my palm. It vanished as quickly as it appeared, leaving me blinking in the dim light, my heart pounding. The Tenshi fruit? Already? I hadn't even tried to use it. It felt like an alien presence under my skin, unpredictable, untapped.
Ace, surprisingly, paused at the bottom of the slope, glancing back, his usual scowl softened slightly by concern. "Oi. You alright?"
"Fine," I gasped, scrambling the rest of the way down, ignoring the stinging scrapes on my hands.
Luffy bounced back towards us, having apparently run headfirst into a tree. "Shishishi! Did you fall? Look, Ace, she fell!" He pointed, oblivious.
Ace smacked him again. WHACK! "Keep running, idiot!" He shot me another quick glance before taking off again, leaving me to push onwards, the strange warmth fading from my palm.
Hours passed. The sun climbed higher, then began its slow descent, painting the sky orange and purple through the gaps in the leaves. My body screamed in protest. We must have completed maybe three laps – the mountain was huge, the terrain unforgiving. We stopped only briefly to gulp water from streams or snatch handfuls of edible-looking berries (Ace seemed to know which ones wouldn't kill us). During one stop, Luffy triumphantly caught a large, iridescent beetle, holding it up proudly. "Look! Lunch!"
"Don't you dare eat that, Luffy!" Ace snapped, snatching it away and tossing it back into the bushes before Luffy could take a bite.
I watched them, leaning against a thick tree trunk, catching my breath. Their bickering, their easy familiarity born of shared hardship under Garp's 'care', felt like a world away from my solitary existence. I was an intruder here, an ember blown far from its hearth, landing in this strange nest of bandits and future chaos.
Suddenly, a low growl echoed through the trees, deeper and more menacing than any monkey chatter. The air grew heavy. Ace stiffened, gripping his pipe tighter. Luffy stopped trying to retrieve his beetle-lunch, his head cocked.
From the dense shadows emerged a creature that made the giant beetles look like house pets. It was a bear, but easily twice the size of any bear I'd ever imagined, with matted brown fur, claws like daggers, and eyes burning with red-hot hunger. It lumbered towards us, its massive paws crushing ferns underfoot.
"Whoa! Big!" Luffy exclaimed, eyes wide with excitement rather than fear.
"Get back, Luffy!" Ace yelled, stepping in front of his brother, pipe held ready.
The bear roared, a sound that shook the leaves from the trees, and charged. Ace met it head-on, swinging his pipe with surprising force, aiming for its snout. CLANG! The pipe connected, but the bear barely flinched, swiping a massive paw that Ace narrowly dodged.
Luffy stretched his arm back. "GOMU GOMU NO..."
Before he could launch his attack, something moved faster. My instincts, honed by years on the run, screamed. Time seemed to slow. I saw the bear's other paw swinging towards Luffy's blind side. Without thinking, I pushed off the tree, drawing the Kaenken in a single, fluid motion I hadn't consciously practiced but felt strangely natural.
The black blade felt light, alive in my hand. It didn't just cut the air; it seemed to drink the heat from it. As I lunged forward, positioning myself between the bear's claws and Luffy, the blade edge shimmered, glowing faintly with an inner heat, like embers fanned by a sudden wind.
SHING!
The blade met the bear's thick hide. It didn't cut deep – the creature was too massive, my strength still lacking – but the heat radiating from the Kaenken made the bear roar in pain and surprise, pulling its paw back sharply, leaving scorched fur where the blade had touched.
It paused, confused, looking between me, the strange glowing sword, Ace, and Luffy who was now winding up again.
"PISTOL!" Luffy's fist shot forward, slamming into the bear's jaw with a satisfying THWACK!
The bear staggered back, shaking its massive head. Before it could recover, Ace saw his opening, vaulting onto its back and bringing his pipe down hard on the back of its skull multiple times. WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!
With a final groan, the giant bear collapsed, unconscious or perhaps dead, shaking the ground.
Silence fell, broken only by our ragged breathing. Luffy poked the bear. "Shishishi! We beat it! Meat!"
Ace slid off the bear's back, breathing heavily, looking at me with wide, surprised eyes. He glanced at the Kaenken, still faintly warm in my hand, then back at my face. "You... That sword..."
I sheathed the Kaenken quickly, the warmth fading. "It gets hot," I offered lamely, unsure how else to explain it.
Before Ace could press further, a familiar, booming laugh erupted from the trees nearby. "BWAHAHAHAHA! Not bad, brats! Took you long enough!" Garp emerged, munching on a giant haunch of roasted meat that looked suspiciously bear-sized. "Good teamwork! Though, Akane," he grinned, pointing at me with the bone, "relying on fancy swords won't cut it forever! Need more muscle!"
He tossed the bone aside. "Alright! Enough playing with grizzlies! Back to the hut! Sun's nearly down!"
The run back felt even longer, fueled only by sheer exhaustion and the lingering adrenaline from the bear fight. We stumbled into the clearing just as the last rays of sun disappeared, collapsing in a heap near the hut's door. Muddy, bruised, scratched, and utterly spent.
Dadan poked her head out. "About time! Dinner's cold!" she grumbled, though her eyes lingered briefly on our battered state with something that might have been faint concern, quickly masked.
Garp stood over us, arms crossed, looking down not with anger, but with a critical assessment. "Hmmph. Pathetic endurance. Sloppy footwork. Rely too much on your weird powers." He jabbed a finger towards Luffy, then Ace, then me. "But..." A slow grin spread across his face. "There's a spark. In all three of ya."
He crouched down, his face suddenly serious, his gaze intense as it swept over us, finally landing on me. The laughter was gone, replaced by the weight of the world, the weight of the knowledge he carried.
"You survived today," he rumbled, his voice low. "But don't get cocky." He leaned in slightly, his next words meant for all of us, yet somehow aimed directly at the core of my being, echoing the fears born in Hi-no-Kuni's ashes.
"The real training hasn't even started yet. You think I'm a devil?" He chuckled darkly, a sound devoid of humor. "You haven't met the monsters who pull the strings."
Garp's dark chuckle hung in the cooling air, heavier than the damp earth clinging to our clothes. "You haven't met the monsters who pull the strings." The words landed like stones, sending ripples through the exhaustion clouding my mind. Monsters. I knew monsters. They wore pristine white uniforms and sailed ships bearing the flag of Justice. They rained fire from the sky and called it order. Were there worse ones? The idea sent a chill deeper than the evening air down my spine.
Luffy, sprawled face-first in the mud nearby, just blinked owlishly. "Monsters? Like the giant bear? Or the Lord of the Coast? Are they tasty?" Typical Luffy. Fear and existential dread seemed to bounce right off his rubbery brain.
Ace, however, pushed himself into a sitting position, wiping mud from his cheek with the back of his hand. His dark eyes were fixed on Garp, sharp and intense. He'd heard the edge in Garp's voice, the weight behind the words. He wasn't laughing.
Garp's brief moment of grim seriousness passed as quickly as it came. He straightened up, puffing out his chest again, the drill sergeant persona snapping back into place like ill-fitting armor. "Bwahahaha! Worry about the monsters you can punch later, brats! Right now, worry about Dadan!"
As if summoned, Dadan's screech cut through the twilight. "ARE YOU THREE JUST GOING TO LIE THERE AND DIE?! GET INSIDE BEFORE THE NIGHT CREEPERS DRAG YOU OFF! AND WASH THAT MUD OFF BEFORE YOU COME IN MY HOUSE!" She brandished a ladle threateningly from the doorway, though the effect was slightly ruined by the way her eyes flickered over our battered forms – Ace's torn shirt, Luffy's new collection of bruises, the general state of dishevelment I presented. She wouldn't admit it, not in a million years, but maybe the old mountain bandit wasn't entirely without a heart, buried deep under layers of cheap liquor and annoyance.
Groaning, we dragged ourselves towards the dubious sanctuary of the hut. There was a rain barrel near the side, filled with murky water. We took turns splashing the worst of the mud off, the cold water a shock against scraped skin. Ace shot me another look, a quick, assessing glance that lingered on the hilt of the Kaenken visible beneath my cloak. He didn't say anything, but the curiosity was plain on his face.
Inside, the hut felt marginally warmer, the air thick with woodsmoke and the smell of Dadan's simmering (and likely identical to the last batch) stew. We found spots around the rough table again, muscles screaming in protest with every movement. Luffy immediately started demanding food. Ace slumped onto a bench, examining a new dent in his metal pipe. I huddled on my stool, pulling the damp orange shirt tighter around me, feeling the day's exhaustion settle deep in my bones.
Garp watched us, munching loudly on another rice cracker he'd produced from somewhere. He didn't launch into another lecture, didn't immediately start planning the next phase of 'hellish' training. He just watched, his gaze thoughtful as it moved between the three of us. When his eyes rested on me, they held that same complex mix of guilt, curiosity, and something else… calculation? It was unnerving. He knew what I carried – the fruit, the sword, the stone. He knew why my home was destroyed. What did he plan to do with that knowledge? With me?
Dinner was another serving of the brown sludge, consumed mostly in silence, punctuated only by Luffy's slurping and Dadan's occasional grumbling about ungrateful brats and intrusive Marines. Even Luffy seemed slightly subdued by the day's exertions, his usual non-stop chatter reduced to occasional sleepy demands for more meat.
After eating, Ace found a corner to curl up in, using his pipe as a pillow. Luffy simply flopped onto the floor near the hearth, snoring loudly within seconds, his limbs sprawled at impossible angles. Dadan pointed me towards a pile of musty straw and burlap sacks in another corner that apparently served as a guest bed. Luxury.
I settled into the scratchy pile, pulling my cloak tighter around me. The Kaenken rested against my back, a solid, familiar weight. The Sunstone Heart pulsed faintly against my skin, a silent reminder. Sleep felt miles away, my body aching, my mind racing. Garp's words echoed: Monsters who pull the strings… Saint Jaygarcia Saturn's cold, impassive face flashed in my memory. Was he one of them? How many more were there? How could anyone fight beings like that?
Across the room, Garp hadn't moved from his crate. He wasn't sleeping. He was staring into the dying embers of the fire, his expression lost in shadow, brooding. He seemed less like the 'Hero of the Marines' or the 'Devil Gramps' right now, and more like an old man carrying a weight too heavy even for his broad shoulders. Was he thinking about Hi-no-Kuni? About the choices he'd made? The ones he couldn't make?
The silence stretched, filled only by Luffy's snores and the crackle of the embers. Then, Ace's voice cut through the quiet, surprisingly clear. He hadn't been asleep either. He was sitting up, looking directly at Garp, his young face set with determination.
"Oi. Gramps."
Garp grunted, not turning. "What is it, brat? Can't sleep?"
"That girl," Ace said, nodding towards me. I stiffened, pretending to be asleep, listening intently. "Akane. Her bounty... Eighty million. You said the World Government wants those things she has." He paused, gathering his thoughts. "But why? Why does the World Government want a kid dead that badly?"
Garp was silent for a long moment. The fire popped, sending a spray of sparks upwards. When he finally spoke, his voice was low, rough, stripped of all laughter.
"Because, Ace," he rumbled, turning his head slowly, his eyes glinting in the dim firelight, locking onto Ace's questioning gaze. "She's not just carrying artifacts they fear..."
He paused, letting the weight hang in the air before delivering the final, chilling blow.
"...She's carrying proof that their 'Absolute Justice' is built on a foundation of lies."