Chapter 14

"You heard me," Zoro shot back, his hands going for his swords again.

"Enough!" Nami screamed. "What do we have to do? Put you both in time out! While this is interesting, don't you think it's about time that we try to find a way out of this place?"

They stopped arguing and looked up to her, forgetting where they were for a moment. "I don't know where we are, or how this is possible," Nami went on, "But we shouldn't be waiting our time here like this! We've got to try and find a way out of here, find Luffy, and get back to the ship. All of this is really starting to creep me out!"

"Yes, Nami-swwwwaaaannnnn…" Sanji cried out, smiling as he came before her. "Your wish is my command!"

"But ah…" Brook asked slowly, "How do we get out of here…? My eyes don't see a way out do yours? Ah! Not that I have eyes to begin with! Yohohoho!"

"Stop messing around!" Nami snapped. "Joking isn't going to get us out of this place any quicker now is it?" But before she could really start telling them off, a familiar voice shouted out, "MAKINO!"

They looked up in time to see Luffy running out of nowhere, dirty and covered with bruises as he went straight for the woman at the bar. She braced herself just in time to avoid being knocked over as he lunge for her leg, terror on his face as he hung onto her skirt.

"Luffy, what-?" she asked as she heard a familiar booming laugh coming up the road.

"Sounds like Garp's coming," Franky stated. "Poor kid… wonder how he got out of that ravine though…?"

"Hide meeeeeeeeee!" Luffy begged the woman, looking back to the road. "Gramps! He's coming!"

She blinked before she took his hand and led him inside the tavern. They followed them inside the warm-looking building, pass all the chairs and tables until they got to the bar. They watched as the woman took him and told him to duck down and be quite until she got rid of Garp. Nami watched as Luffy sat on the floor, holding a chubby finger to his lips as if to shush her. She had to fight a smile… why couldn't Luffy still be this cute?

Suddenly, the two doors burst open and Garp came in.

"Is he in here?!" Garp asked as he came up to the woman named Makino, who stood up straight and tall.

"Training hard, Garp-san?" she asked politely, stealthily covering up the squeak of fear that came from near her feet.

"That brat… I never had this problem with Ace," Garp sighed as he sat down at one of the tables and pulled out a bag of rice crackers and taking a big bite.

"What is it now?" she asked, still smiling and Sanji swooned at the sweet smile she had.

"Makino," Garp grunted, not answering the question. "Did Luffy come here? I go to the trouble of gathering all those balloons, and he insists on running and hiding from training."

"Balloons?" Chopper asked in confusion. "Why would you need balloons for training?"

"I don't know, but I don't think we'll like the answer," Usopp said, feeling sweat fall from his face, feeling bad for Luffy having to put up with this.

"Balloons for what?" Makino asked, obviously wondering the same thing.

"Flight training," he answered simply. "I'm trying to figure out what else I can do since he's such a horrible swimmer!"

"I CAN TOO SWIM!" Luffy yelled, before clamping his hands over his mouth.

"What a big mouth," Sanji sighed, smacking himself in the face. "You'd think that he'd keep quiet!"

"AHAH!" Garp called out, getting up to lean over the bar to grab him, but Luffy was faster as he clambered out of the way by a hair and ran over to Makino to hide behind her.

"NOOOOOOO!" he cried, hiding from Garp. "HE'S GONNA KILL ME! I 'DUN WANNA DIEEEEEEEE!"

"LUFFY GET BACK HERE!" Garp yelled, cracking his knuckles together, a sadistic grin on his face.

"Poor kid," Zoro said, unusually sympathetic as Garp came closer to them.

Makino then held up her hands and cried out, "Garp-san, didn't you say that you had to go somewhere today? Apparently, Marine Headquarters need you back for a very important job?"

"I do, but Luffy spent all day running from his training," Garp barked. "It's lucky we got any training down at all this week."

"What did you make him do this time?" Makino asked as Luffy didn't dare come out from behind her.

"He left me down a giant hole for two days," Luffy whispered to her.

"Two days?" Chopper screamed out.

"Poor guy," Franky sighed as he looked at Luffy's bleeding hands and scratches on his face.

"How could anyone do that?" Nami demanded hotly. "I understand training, but there's a limit! If I didn't know better, I'd swear that he's trying to kill him!"

"So how have things been here?" Garp asked in a casual manner, now addressing Makino.

"Quiet and peaceful as always," she smiled, "Through I can't help but think that's because your ship is docked at the harbor."

"I'll be returning to HQ tonight," he said as Makino looked up. "So I'll be leaving this trouble-maker with you again."

"So… he's just leaving his grandson with some random person?" Nami asked, looking at Makino. Who was this lady? She looked a little too young to be Luffy's mother.

Makino smiled at him and nodded. "That's great. You know how much I love having Luffy visit." She then smiled at the little boy and ran her fingers through his hair fondly before she asked, "Do you know when you'll be back?"

"I guess she isn't his mother," Robin said lightly.

"How could Luffy come from such a kind and beautiful woman anyway?" Sanji asked at once.

"Yohoho, Makino-san is so nice!" Brook laughed happily.

"Don't know yet," Garp answered, finishing up his bag of rice crackers. "But don't worry. This village is so small no real pirate will stop by here again. The last ones who were dumb enough to come by were complete weaklings. Bwahahahaha!"

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