177 Dawn Island

Jayr POV - Blue Star, East Blue, Dawn Island - 20 GAP

We are all standing on the bridge of the Athena's God Bidoof watching as we get closer and closer to our destination, the southern shores of Dawn Island where I can already see and sense most of the layout of this island.

The first thing I focus on is the huge capital of the Goa Kingdom, the city of Goa, the iconic huge circular wall that surrounds the main towns of the kingdom and separates the Grey Terminal from the Edge Town.

It can be clearly seen even from over here that there are different towns separating the different social classes in Goa.

Outside the main wall surrounding the main towns lies the Gray Terminal, which is a huge junkyard filled with unwanted goods and people ejected from the city of Goa, it is a lawless community without proper medical care, leaving many ravaged by disease, and it is also the place Sabo lived for some time.

Many, or possibly all of the inhabitants of the Gray Terminal make their livelihood by selling various wares found in the slum or surrounding mountains to the citizens of Edge Town.

Talking about Edge Town, is the closest town of the walled kingdom of the Goa Kingdom to the Grey Terminal outside the wall, an area where many of the country's criminals gather.

From what I remember from the anime and the manga it is an area with a high crime rate, and various groups of gangsters fighting for power in its streets.

Then there is the Town Center, the area where the majority of the population living in the walled part of the Goa kingdom resides.

This is where the people who fall neither in the category of being nobles nor lower class.

The inhabitants of this area mostly experience normal lives and are those who mostly occupy professions such as policemen, soldiers, servants, or intendants in the High Town, which is how the richest part of the Goa kingdom is called and takes this name because it stands on top a hill surrounded by another circular wall.

This is where the members of the royal family and the nobility of the kingdom live in opulence.

It is made up of high-class residential neighborhoods with elegant mansions and well-maintained streets, and of course the Royal Palace in the middle of everything.

Its inhabitants enjoy a high quality of life thanks to their status and perceive themselves as better than the rest of the kingdom's population, whose access is denied to the High Town because one needs to be of noble status to reside there.

Then beyond the Gray Terminal, there is a vast chain of mountains surrounding the area and the walled part of the kingdom.

These mountains are inhabited by many groups of bandits and dangerous animals, making life scarce there, and of course, the most famous of the mountains is Mt. Colubo one of the multiple mountains in the kingdom that separate the Grey Terminal from Foosha Village.

Beyond the mountains, there are vast plains where life is easier and calmer, with small villages such as our true destination, Foosha Village, being found there.

Indeed, as we get closer to the coast of the Dawn Island, I steer Athena's God Bidoof toward the east of the Goa Kingdom capital, toward the more important and pleasant-looking, Foosha Village, a little port village that resembles a typical rural community, with rustic wooden houses, docks and a few windmills.

But as we get closer to the docks, I can't help but notice the presence of another familiar ship resting there, with the outer hull painted in a greenish-blue basis, patterned with darker streaks and soon the other also notices it, and an excited Koby exclaims, "A marine vessel!! So cool..."

Indeed, it is a battleship-class Marine vessel, and what helps me easily recognize whose battleship is the iconic ship's crow nests that are shaped like a dog house and the figurehead which is shaped like a dog head, which has a bone in its mouth, plus the many sails on this ship, with the masts shaped like bones with dog-paws.

The fact that the overall vessel has a dog theme, and one of the major front sails bears the marking HQ-03 under the marine markings, indicates that this ship can only be Garp's personal vessel, which means that Garp is also on the island at the moment as he is probably visiting Luffy, and this makes me question, 'What kind of fucking coincidence is this? I want to check on Luffy's situation and also find that Garp is here visiting him!? Just how much are the chances of something like this happening?'

(Image Here - Garp's Ship)

I'm briefly unsure of how to act here, as I didn't plan to encounter someone like Garp so soon, but then I shrug my shoulder and decide to not care and improvise after all, one I'm not a pirate nor wanted in any way, and second, Garp is, well, Garp and that is enough.

Realizing that, I bring Athena's God Bidoof into Foosha Village's dock and stop it right next to Garp's ship without any hesitation, then I look at everyone on the bridge and ask, "So? Who wants to come with me?"

Instantly, Eri, Seika, Saori, Tio, and Koby raise their hands while the kids yell, "Yay!!" and Nikita shrugs her shoulders and comments, "How can I miss this?"

And so, we all set foot on the wooden dock leaving only Kuro and Python on the ship one as a prisoner, while the other as its guard, well not that it is needed, but Python is going through his molting, so we left him on the ship so that he can molt in peace.

But as soon as we step on the wooden dock I notice that someone is staring at us, and quickly see a tall man with short hair, wearing a marine coat, which is draped over his shoulders, and a matching beige suit and hat, with the hat covering his eyes in a shadow as he stands on top of the dog figurehead looking at us with what appears to be a scowl on his face due to the corners of his mouth always pointing downwards.

He has his katana on his left hip, attached to his belt with a brown strap, the sword has a grey-wrapped hilt, a golden, rounded, cross-shaped tsuba, and a deep green sheath, he is none other than Bogard, Garp's silent right-hand man.

(Image Here - Bogard)

Looking at him, it is clear that he is somewhat wary of the newcomers, especially since his hand is already on the hilt of his sword and his whole body is tense, ready to react to any unexpected situation.

I feel his gaze focusing only on me as we continue to walk into the village, and once close enough, I politely greet him with a smile, "Good morning, Mr. Marine! I hope you are having a pleasant day!"

Quickly after my greeting, Koby gives him a marine salute yelling, "Thank you for your hard work!", while my cute Kharna in Tio's arms yells, "Hellwo!" followed by Galen in Eri's arms which yells, "Good morning!", while the girls simply lightly lower their heads to greet him.

In response, Bogard looks back at us for a few moments, as his body slowly relaxes, then he smirks slightly, lifts his hat, and greets us back with a silent hat tip.

Once away from the dock, a curious Tio asks, "Who was that guy, husband?" making me explain, "His name is Bogard, a Commissioned Marine Officer, I don't know his exact rank but I won't be surprised if he is a Rear-Admiral as he is the right-hand man of the famous Marine Hero Garp the Fist, he is a very loyal and trustworthy man."

The girls simply take this bit of information with nonchalance, but Koby is shocked as he exclaims, "Wait! Wait!! Jayr-san! Are you telling me that was the right-hand man of the Marine Hero Garp the Fist!? That was his battleship!? Would this mean that he is currently on this island!?"

I simply nod as I continue to lead the way while replying, "It is very likely, after all, this village is Mr. Garp's hometown, well, not that many know this information so keep it a secret."

This shocks Koby once more as he starts to curiously look at everything around him with stars in his eyes as he mutters, "This is where a Marine Hero grew up..."

Looking at him like that, I'm almost tempted to tell him that this is also the place where a pirate with a current bounty of 100.000.000 Belly who is actually the son of the Pirate King, a future Pirate King, a high-ranked member of the Revolutionary Army, and one of the founders of the very Revolutionary Army and the currently most wanted man alive also grew up on this island, moreover, 3 of those 4 are closely connected to Marine Hero.

Plus there is also that "strange connection" that one of the Four Emperors also has with this village, as I still can't forget about the many theories that run around about Makino's child, and I kinda lean on the one that Shanks is truly the father.

Anyway, for sure Foosha Village is connected to a lot of high-profile people.

While we are walking around the village enjoying its peaceful atmosphere, I can't help but be impressed by the open and cheerful attitude toward outsiders of the people living here despite the fact that this village, like the many others built outside the walls of the capital of Goa Kingdom, is from time to time harassed by the various bandits that hide in the vast chain of mountains.

Soon we arrive in front of one of the most important landmarks in this village, the Partys Bar, Makino's workplace, the bar where Shanks and his crew often partied, and also the place where Luffy ate the Gomu Gomu no Mi (Gum-Gum Fruit) and discovered its powers.

But as soon as my gaze lands on the old Western saloon-like entrance, the bar doors swing open and someone is thrown out of the bar as a boisterous voice yells, "You damned brat!! Why do you continue spewing this foolish idea about becoming a pirate!"

The person thrown out bounces on the ground a few times before finally crashing on a nearby boulder destroying it and raising a cloud of dust that hides his features.

Then a tall, tanned, broad-chested, muscular old man walks out of the bar, he has a beard and a scar over his left eye with blue eyes and grey hair and is wearing sandals, a red tropical shirt, and light-colored shorts, he is of course, Monkey D. Garp the Marine Hero, who quickly mutters, "It is all that damned red-hair fault that he turned out like this, he poisoned his mind with a silly romantic idea of what it means to be a pirate..."

(Image Here - Monkey D. Garp)

Hearing that, I can't exactly disagree with him, because if you ignore very few exceptional cases, most of the pirates are truly the lowest scum, hell, if one carefully counts the number of Luffy's enemies one can easily realize that Luffy fought more pirates and criminals than marines during his whole pirate career.

While thinking that, my gaze moves to the other side of the street where, as expected, a young man of average height with shaggy black hair, round black eyes, a noticeable scar with two stitches underneath his left eye, and a slim muscular build as he slowly gets up from within a cloud of dust while holding his head that shows a growing bump, but despite the quite strong impact, that is the only wound on his body, a clear advantage of the rubber propiety of his body.

He has his trademark straw hat, blue shorts with cuffs, sandals, and a sleeveless red vest, he can only be Monkey D. Luffy, grandson of Garp and protagonist of this world who ate the Gomu Gomu no Mi (Gum Gum Fruit), a Paramecia Devil Fruit that grants the user's body the properties of rubber, effectively turning them into a Rubber Human.

(AN: For those who forgot the MC died before the revelation of the Gomu Gomu no Mi's true nature, so he is still ignorant about it.)

(Image Here - Monkey D. Luffy)

Seeing him like that, quickly eased some of the worries I had and already fulfilled my objective of coming here, I confirmed that Luffy was still alive and had already eaten the Gomu Gomu no Mi (Gum Gum Fruit), it seemed that wasn't hit by the butterfly effect as Nami did, making me curious of what exactly did the Champion living in this world do all this time.

Meanwhile, Luffy quickly recovers then he makes a funny face at Garp while yelling, "Gheeee! Jii-chan, I already decided! I'm going to be the Pirate King no matter what!!" then he runs off toward Mt. Colubo.

Garp doesn't chase after him but simply looks at him as he runs away and, after letting out a defeated sigh, he mutters, "That stinking brat... After everything I've done to make sure that he'd become a Marine... Really both him and Ace wish to become pirates instead of marines like I hoped... I truly don't know where I went wrong raising those brats..."

At this point, a young woman walks out of the bar, she has brown eyes and dark green hair that goes up to just above her shoulders and is wearing a yellow kerchief, an orange blouse with black sleeves, a long light blue skirt, and orange sneakers with white soles.

She is Makino and she quickly tries to console the old man, "You don't have to worry Garp-san. I have known them since they were little and I can assure you that both Ace and Luffy are good kids, even if they call themselves pirates, I'm sure that they'll never do something that you should be ashamed of, they may call themselves pirates but they will never be that kind of pirate..."

(Image Here - Makino)

But then he quickly starts to laugh out loud as he yells, "Wahahaha! It doesn't matter if they cross a line that shouldn't be crossed, I'll be there to punish them with my Fist of Love! Bwhahahaha!"

Suddenly Garp stops laughing and with a serious expression on his face, his eyes lock on me, and I can't help but notice that his body grew a lot more tense as if ready to fight at any moment.

Makino, who notices Garp's sudden change, asks worried, "Garp-san... Is something wrong?" in response, Garp simply replies, "Makino, go inside and don't come out until I say so..." while his gaze doesn't move away from me ignoring everything else.

Koby quickly notices the suddenly tense atmosphere and quickly asks as he looks around worried, "W-What is going on Jayr-san?" but soon after him, Saori holds my hand and whispers, "Jayr, restrain yourself a little, you are making him uncomfortable."

At this point, I finally realized what was going on and what was my mistake that caused such a reaction in him, 'Ah! I was so relaxed and careless since I'm still in the weakest East Blue that I forgot to restrain my presence to a normal level, it isn't a problem when I stand in front of normal people or weak pirates as they won't notice anything... but if I stand in front of someone with a very strong Kenbunshoku Haki (Observation Haki)... well, I could probably scare the shit out of them, because even as I'm totally relaxed and unguarded my body still holds enough power to easily destroy a world with a sneeze... I don't even want to imagine what I look like to him right now.'

And realizing this, I quickly restrain myself and instantly notice that Garps visibly relaxes, then he quickly starts to walk toward us and with a smile, he bluntly asks, "Damn boy! What kind of impossible monster are you?"

In response, I tilt my head a little and with a smile, I reply a little unsure, "The good kind...?"

Hearing that Garp once again laughs as he says, "Bwahahaha! I truly hope so! Your "aura" is so strong that almost blinded good old me! It was basically covering everything in my sight, the sky, the earth, the sea, it didn't even look like something a human could be able to produce for god's sake!!"

Then he offers his hand and introduces himself, "My name is Garp by the way, I'm a marine, though currently I'm on vacation." I shake his hand and also introduce myself, "Nice to meet you, Garp-san. Sorry about that, I got a little careless knowing that I was in the East Blue and that no one capable of using Haki should be here... Now that I think about it, I should also apologize for probably scaring that man on the marine vessel with a hat, he had a similar reaction when he saw me."

Hearing that, Garp laughs even more loudly as he comments, "Wahahaha! So you also freaked out Bogard, eh? Don't worry too much about him, I'm sure he is fine."

Suddenly, little Kharna also starts to laugh out loud imitating Garp a little, "Bwehehehe!"

Garp then notices her and Galen and starts to make some funny faces and verses at them while asking, "Grualala! And who are these cute kids?"

Seeing that, I quickly start to introduce everyone, "They are my kids, the girl's name is Kharna, while the boy is Galen. Then there are Saori, Seika, Eri, and Tio who are my girlfriends, and soon-to-be wives, then there is my friend Nikita, and my pupil Koby who dreams of becoming a Marine."

At this point, Koby, who finally realizes who is the person in front of us, nervously greets him with the marine salute as he stutters, "N-N-Nice to meet you, S-Sir! I-I-It's an honor."

Hearing and seeing Koby's greeting, makes Garp smile widely as he nods and comments, "Good, good. It's always good to see some new blood wishing to join the Marines! Wahahaha!!" then he lightly pats Koby on the back, which causes him to stumble and fall on the ground.

But soon after that, Garp notices something and takes a more serious glance at Koby as he slowly gets up, then he comments impressed, "Oh... not bad... not bad at all. His body is developing quite well despite his young age, in fact, he is almost at the level where he can start learning the Rokushiki, meaning he is just like many of the Elitè Recruit from the Marine HQ in the Grand Line. Truly an impressive feat for someone so young..."

I nod at his compliment and proudly say, "That's true, he may not be at Rob Lucci's level in both physical strength and talent for combat, but he more than makes up for it in willpower and hard work, after all, what you see is the result of less of a month of really hard life-threatening training, and despite that, he never once complained and persisted through all of it. And the result can speak for itself."

This seems to really surprise Garp as he exclaims, "Wait! It isn't even a month since he started training!? That's impossible, to have such an astonishing result in such little time, you should have put him through a literal hell, and there is no way the human body can safely endure such pressure and pace! Not even someone like me who enjoys putting his disciples through all kinds of difficult conditions to make them strong would dare to do something so reckless!"

I nod in response to Garp's outburst, then I calmly explain, "That's very true, and what I put Koby through would have easily crippled or even killed most of the people. But the reason why Koby is still fine and well despite that is that I am a truly good doctor and that I carefully deal with any of the harmful consequences that he receives during his training."

Garp doesn't says anything, but quickly moves toward Koby and starts to touch and tap his body at various point with a serious expression on his face.

Quickly after that, his expression relaxes and as he looks at me once more, he says, "It's true, his body is in almost perfect condition, but his muscles are still a little strained."

But before I could say anything, it was Koby himself who explained, "G-Garp-san, Sir. That's because I'm training even at this very moment. You see what I'm wearing are weighted clothes that constantly put my body under strain and pressure, and I'm almost always wearing them even during my training, I only remove them when I bathe and when I put on my sleeping outfit, but that one is also weighted. But I can guarantee you, Sir, that Jayr-san takes very good care of me..." but then he adds with a slight shudder and in a lower tone, "...When we aren't training that is..."

This makes me smirk, while Tio comments in a low voice, "Poor Koby, he still doesn't have any idea of what expects him yet... Husband's training regime truly isn't for the faint-hearted." followed by Eri, who nods and comments, "Truly that kind of training is a basically a torture that almost becomes a form of art, especially considering the fact, that it is usually done by 5-year-old kids. The dreadful Saint Training Regime..."

But hearing that, Seika shakes her head and says, "No, not even the usual Saint Training is that tough, it is only Grandpa Jayr's Training Regime is just especially brutal as it is built to push someone just a bit beyond their limit, and then some more after that..." Saori then adds, "That is natural, Aldebaran Jayr comes from a long and ancient bloodline of Saints, in fact, he is a direct descendant of the King of Sparta, Leonidas, who was also the Libra Gold Saint of his era... Basically, their training regime is something that was refined from eons, it was also what was used as the basis for the creation of the training regime of the current Trainee..."

That last bit of information surprised even me, as I didn't know anything about that, sure I knew that Grandpa was from Sparta, but that we came from a dynasty of Saints that originates from King Leonidas I himself is totally new to me, not even the Sanctuary Library had anything about it.

At the same time, a curious expression appears on Garp's face as uses his index and thumb to grab Koby's shirt a lift him from the floor for a few moments before quickly lowering him back to the ground

Then Garp exclaims pleasantly surprised, "Oh! It is around 250 kg, quite a nice weight to start with, and this is such a genius idea why didn't I ever though of it before!? I have to ask Sengoku if we can also make something like this or maybe Vegapunk can come up with something even better."

After that, Garp looked at me and said, "Thanks for giving me this new idea for tor-Zzzz. Zzzz. Zzzzz." but suddenly as he was talking, he fell asleep on his feet snoring loudly surprising everyone but me and Nikita as we are already used to his and Luffy's antics as the anime/manga already prepared us for something like this.

Eri curious can't help but ask out loud, "How can someone fall asleep on his feet like that!? He was even talking with Jayr when it happened." but Nikita quickly explains to her, "That's just the kind of man he is... and the worse thing is that it runs in his genes. His grandson is just like him."

At the same time, I add, "He should wake up on his own soon, think of it as a simple power nap. After all, he is a 74-year-old elderly who fought almost his whole life against pirates and evil, and despite that, he is still one of strongest people in this world."

And indeed, he soon wakes up yelling, "Where is that brat!?" completely forgetting about our presence for a few seconds, but soon he remembers, and looking at us he says, "Well, Jayr and family, it was nice meeting you! My vacation is almost over and I have to make sure that everything is fine with that brat! See you soon!"

Immediately after saying that, Garp also runs toward Mt. Colubo, at the same time, we decide just to enjoy the village's peaceful atmosphere a little more and continue to sightsee before leaving this island to head toward our last destination in the East Blue, Polestar Islands, where the town of the beginning and the end is located.

Garp POV - Blue Star, East Blue, Dawn Island - 20 GAP

As I continue to chase after that cheeky brat so that I can give him another taste of my Fist of Love, I can't help but think back at that group of people I've met a few moments ago, 'The only normal person among them was that Koby kid... All the women at his side aren't ordinary, especially the one with the long black hair, she is even stronger than Xebec, meanwhile, the one with long lilac hair appeared normal but my instinct tells me that she is the most dangerous one, and let's not talk about the kids, their little bodies hide an unbelievable amount of power and potential.'

But then the image of the young man with messy dark blue hair and bright green eyes appears in my mind, 'And Jayr... I still shudder remembering his "aura", I never felt so small and weak, it was almost like I was facing some kind of unimaginable being... I truly felt like he encompassed everything in existence... it was the scariest thing I ever saw.'

Soon a smile forms on my face as I remember what I felt from that Koby kid and the scene of Jayr's proud and happy smile as he talked about his kids and muttered, "Well, at least he isn't a bad guy so it should be fine, but I also have to warn Sengoku about him and make sure that no one pisses him off, especially the World Noble scum... and while I'm at it, I also leave behind a few words about that Koby kid, he seems like a good seed with the heart in the right place."