"Well, that day I was in the forest with my grandpa..."
As Luffy eagerly told his story, Gustave learned exactly what had happened after he'd lost consciousness.
On the day of their dramatic crash landing, Luffy had been receiving his grandfather's special brand of "fist of love" training deep in the forest. Garp was visiting his family and, as usual, was toughening up his grandson through rigorous combat exercises. Suddenly, a tremendous crash echoed from the direction of the beach.
Both Garp and Luffy turned toward the coast and saw an enormous dust cloud rising from the shoreline, accompanied by faint screaming—which, of course, came from three figures flying through the air.
"Luffy, stay right here while I investigate," Garp commanded, then launched himself skyward with explosive leg strength. This was clearly Geppo, the Moon Walk technique from the Marine's Six Powers.
Garp air-stepped his way toward the beach, expecting to find some foolhardy pirates bombarding the coastline.
Of course, if Luffy could actually follow Garp's orders, he wouldn't be Monkey D. Luffy. The moment his grandfather headed for the beach, the boy took off running on his short legs, determined to see the excitement for himself.
When Garp reached the shore, he found no pirates—just the wreckage of a small wooden boat that had smashed against a large boulder. Not far offshore, a massive Sea King was roaring furiously at the sky.
The Lord of the Coast was absolutely livid. It had been hunting peacefully when it spotted a large fish over two meters long taking Tom's bait. Following the principle of "the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the hawk behind," the Sea King had swallowed the massive fish in one gulp—hook, line, and all.
Tom, diving in his bright red swimsuit, had assumed he'd hooked the day's catch and bravely raised his mallet to knock out what he thought was just another fish. He struck the Sea King squarely on the forehead.
The result was predictably disastrous. Tom's mallet snapped in two, leaving nothing but a massive bump on the Sea King's head. When Tom realized his target was very much conscious and glaring at him with murderous intent, he flashed an awkward but polite smile.
Tom then gently tried to push down the bump on the Sea King's forehead, but it immediately popped back up. Realizing he was in serious trouble, Tom swam for the surface with every ounce of strength he possessed.
Everyone knows what happened next—the terrifying chase sequence that ended with their boat's destruction.
The Lord of the Coast was furious beyond measure. The audacious cat that had given it such an embarrassing bump had escaped to shore, and the Sea King had never suffered such humiliation in its entire life.
It was seriously considering charging onto the beach to find Tom when it spotted Garp landing on the shore. Thinking it might as well vent its frustration on this small human, the Sea King began advancing—only to sense the absolutely terrifying aura radiating from this "little" man. Following the wise principle that staying alive was more important than revenge, the Sea King immediately reversed course and vanished beneath the waves.
Watching the Sea King's hasty retreat, Garp made no effort to pursue it. Instead, he turned toward the forest, knowing that the destroyed boat must have carried passengers.
After searching the woods for several minutes without finding any humans, Garp heard his grandson shouting. Following the sound, he discovered Luffy calling out around a round black and white figure—naturally, Po.
Garp rolled Po over and found the panda clutching both a cat and a human protectively in his arms.
After quickly examining all three unconscious figures, Garp determined their conditions. Tom had simply fainted but was otherwise unharmed.
Po had served as a living cushion and absorbed most of the impact damage, but his future Dragon Warrior physique was already showing. He'd only suffered some bone displacement—nothing too serious.
Gustave, unfortunately, had drawn the short straw. While his condition was excellent compared to ordinary people, he was still within normal human limits. Despite Po's protection, Gustave had sustained a broken left hand, a concussion, and remained unconscious.
Fortunately, Po's sacrifice had saved Gustave's life. Without the panda's intervention, Gustave would have been killed just days after being abandoned by their worthless system.
After discovering the three unconscious castaways, Garp brought them back to Windmill Village. However, the old marine didn't know the first thing about medical treatment, so he asked Makino for help. While Makino wasn't exactly a doctor either, she was certainly more qualified than Garp.
Fortunately, Tom regained consciousness just as Makino arrived. After learning from Luffy that Garp had rescued them, Tom expressed his profound gratitude through elaborate gestures and bowing.
Tom then began examining his injured companions. After all, Tom was a universal expert—chef, pianist, doctor, swordsman, and champion mouse-catcher (except when it came to Jerry)...
Po's dislocated bones were quickly reset by Tom's expert care. During the treatment process, Po woke up, and little Luffy enthusiastically retold the story of how Garp had rescued all three of them.
Since Garp was their savior, Po naturally expressed enormous gratitude and introduced himself and his companions by name. This was how Makino learned Gustave's identity.
An amusing incident occurred while Tom was treating Gustave's injuries. When Tom rummaged through his miraculous bundle and produced an entire pharmacy's worth of medical supplies, little Luffy's eyes went wide with amazement. He couldn't understand how such a small package could possibly hold so many items!
After Tom finished applying medicine to Gustave and properly splinting his injuries, Luffy began pestering the cat, begging him to teach him how to create his own magical bundle.
This put Tom in quite a predicament. He had absolutely no idea how to teach someone to make a magic bundle. He'd simply taken a piece of red cloth and somehow created the thing. Tom couldn't explain the principle behind it any more than he could explain how he survived being flattened by anvils.
The day after Garp's rescue, Po had completely recovered and was bouncing around with so much energy that he showed no signs of ever being injured. This remarkable recovery astonished Garp.
When Garp asked Po if he'd ever learned any physical techniques or skills like Seimei Kikan, the answer was that Po currently knew no special moves whatsoever. To Garp, this was like discovering a diamond in the rough.
Po's ability to suffer only minor injuries from such a tremendous fall was already incredible, but possessing such amazing recovery abilities without any training? This was the mark of a true martial arts prodigy!
Moved by his admiration for natural talent, Garp immediately forced Po to become his apprentice and began training him intensively.
At this point in time, Po hadn't yet been chosen as the Dragon Warrior by Master Oogway. He was still an "ordinary" panda who helped his goose father run a small noodle shop. While kind-hearted and honest, he was admittedly rather lazy and had little interest in anything beyond cooking and eating delicious food.
Unfortunately for Po, Garp's vacation time was limited. To train his new apprentice as efficiently as possible, Garp employed his tried-and-true method: the Iron Fist of Love. Poor Po found himself on the receiving end of the same brutal training regimen that had toughened up Luffy.
Po's recovery abilities were truly extraordinary. After being thoroughly pummeled by Garp, he'd be completely healed and energetic by the next morning, showing no signs of injury whatsoever. This only encouraged Garp to increase the intensity of his "love" day by day.
As for Tom, he was absolutely fascinated by Garp's training methods. After all, he genuinely enjoyed watching chaos unfold. At the same time, seeing Garp's iron fist made even Luffy nervous, which gave Tom the perfect opportunity to escape the boy's constant attention. Tom eagerly volunteered to join the special training sessions.
So while Po and Tom underwent Garp's special training, bored little Luffy could only follow Makino around as she cared for the unconscious Gustave.
The boy was desperately waiting for Gustave to wake up so he'd finally have someone to play with.
This was why the first person Gustave saw upon regaining consciousness was little Luffy, practically vibrating with excitement at having a new potential playmate.