*purururu*

“Hmm?”

*purururu*

“Who’s calling while I’m on mission?”

Vice-admiral Garp was looking in the direction where his men headed when the den den mushi rang. With his status any call for him while on a mission was not for chit chat. Serious matter only.

Garp finally picked up.

“Vice-admiral Garp.”

“Sir, the mission is complete but..”

“Kaza? How did you get a den den mushi? And my number? “

Kaza was Garp's right hand woman. She was leading the group of marines that went to the hideout. Knowing Garp's personality, Fleet Admiral Sengoku secretly gave her a den den mushi with two numbers in it. His and Garp. In the event that Garp somewhat screwed up she had to call Sengoku immediately. She never had to even once in the ten years since she received it.

As for garp number it was in case of emergency. Either when he had disappeared or the crew was in peril. She never had to use that number either.

Until now.

“Sir, we have ..”

“Sengoku gave it to you right? To keep up in case I go too far? Well I guess that’s..”

“SIR! RICK WAS BADLY INJURED. HE’S DYING RIGHT NOW,AND WILL SOON BE DEAD WITHOUT SEVERE MEDICAL ATTENTION!”.

Kaza was talking to the wind.

When he heard that Rick was injured Garp rushed to the hideout at a terrifying speed.

Less than 5 minutes later, he was bursting the hideout’s wall to get inside.

“WHERE’S THE KID?!”

Kaza moved fast forward carrying Rick in her arms.

“Here,Sir. We somehow stop the bleeding, but the wound is still open. He lost a lot of blood”.

“I’ll take him back to the ship so the doc can patch him up. Escort the hostages back to it too. Kaza I want a full report of everything that happened here.”

“Understood, Sir.”

Garp left the way he came, carrying Rick in his arms.

‘Hang on kid, Hang on. Don’t you dare die on me.’

As soon as Garp departed, Kaza began giving orders.

“Gus and Saul, escort the misses back to the ship.. Walter and Jessie each one of you form a team. Walter I want your team to investigate what happened here. Jessie yours will search every corner of this hideout. I want to know everything, what treasure they have, who those pirates were or were affiliated to, what was their plan. Everything.

I don’t have to tell you to don’t botch the job, right ?”

“““““No Captain!”””””

No one wanted to do a half-assed job with Garp in this state. It would end badly for them.

~~~~~

A deathly silence was on the ship

Garp was walking in circles on the deck. Worried to death about Rick.

Every marines on board were too. They were all wearing the same gloomy expression.

To him, Rick was like the mascot of the crew or their little brother.

He may have joined them little more than 6 months ago but they quickly have been fond of him.

When Garp left in a hurry one member of the crew picked up his den den mushi and spoke to captain Kaza, who related Rick’s situation to them. Without any delay the marine warned the doc and nurse on board, who quickly prepare themselves and the infirmary for when Garp will be back with Rick.

It’s been one hour now since Garp came back with him.

Should someone told them it has been a thousand, they would have believed it.

Finally a door opened and the doc came out of it.

“ The little shit is fine. Scared the hell out of me.”

Garp let out a relieving sigh. Some marines shout out their contentment, some hugged each other and some just sat on the ground with relief.

“Ha! I knew it! The kid is a fighter, no way he’s gonna get done by a scratch like that.”

Everyone knew that it was a lie. Garp was clearly the most worried of them all. But as a Vice-admiral he had to keep some face, so no one said anything.

The doc announced to Garp:

“The kid was already healing when you brought him. Very slowly though. Never saw such a thing. Anyway, I estimate he’ll be asleep for a few days, and would need at least a month to be back in top condition.”

Looking at Garp with severity

“That means no physical activity for a month, or he won’t heal properly and have permanent damage.”

Garp gulped. Ha was planning to give him a few days to recuperate after waking up and continue training him.

Unfortunately for him the doc knew Garp well, hence the warning.

In truth with Rick’s body healing alone on his own he would be fine within 2 weeks. By saying a month we wanted him to take it slow. Because he’s strong, everyone tends to forget that Rick is only a 10 years old child. Too much training would impede his growth.

~~~~~~

The sun was setting when Kaza and the marines with her came back, along with the surviving pirates who were chained. The hostages have been back for a while now and were resting in the infirmary with Rick.

She went to report to Garp.

“We’re done investigating sir.”

“Good. So kaza, what happened?”

“When we left for the hideout, Rick went ahead of us, either for scouting or for saving the hostage as quickly as possible. He knocked out the two entrance guards stealthily as there was no trace of struggle.

I believe he then sneaked in. From the traces left by the battle. I think Rick tried to ambush a group of five pirates with his power but got found out by a sixth that came from the basement, from the entrance Rick couldn’t have seen neither him nor the door. It was bad luck.

He dealt with the sixth man first then with the group of five. One of them tried to attack him in close combat. He knocked them all out with his power by throwing them to the ceiling then to the ground.

I think that it was at his moment he was injured. I think he was flanked by a seventh man that came from the room where the princess’ retainers were sexually assaulted.

One had already fainted at the time, but the other said that there were three pirates in the room and that one of them left to see what the loud sound they heard was while the two others kept on abusing her.

Rick threw the man who hurt him so violently against the wall, that what’s left of him is a mass of flesh and blood.

Rick then came to the room and threw one of the last two men through the door. And ended the same way that his comrade.

The retainer said that she then floated toward the ceiling while the last man sank through the bed to the floor. She heard his bones breaking.

After checking on him, all of them were broken.

Rick told her that we were coming and asked for the princess location.

Then it’s the princess’ testimony. From what she said, she was chained to a wall and getting whipped by the captain of the pirate crew, when he suddenly turned around and was.. spliced in two.”

“Spliced in two?” asked Garp.

“Yes sir. Vertically. The right half of his body was on one wall and the left side on another.”

“Damn!”

“Yes sir, that was not a pleasant sight.”

“So what’s next?”

“Rick freed the princess, told her that we were upstairs, he seems to have heard us when he was walking down the stairs. He sat and leaned against the wall and told her to go without him.”

“Thank you Kaza, you can go rest now”.

“Yes, sir. What are we doing now?”

“We set sail to the ladies’ home then back to HQ”.

“Yes, sir.”

Kaza was leaving when she stopped and turned around.

“Sir”

“What, now ?”

“It’s not your fault sir.”

“‘Course it is. I send a kid to his death because he’s strong. Completely forgetting that even though he is, he’s still just a 10 years old kid with no experience.”

“That’s not true sir. First Rick is alive, so your point about sending him to his death is moot. Second he fought against 10 seasoned pirates alone. Captured 6 of them and killed the rest. He also saved the hostages. I would not say that he’s inexperienced.

He was just unlucky to be spotted. It could have happened to anyone. But not anyone could have done what he did.

So don’t blame yourself sir.”

Garp didn’t say anything. Kaza was right, he was blaming himself. Thinking he sent to die the little guy that he now thought of as his grandson. She was also right that he wasn’t responsible.”

Without facing her, Garp just said:

“Thanks Kaza.”

Kaza smiled and left.

Garp could not help it and smile. He was proud of what Rick did.

‘He’s really going to be one of the best marines.’

~~~~~

Rick woke up two days later.

‘So I made it, huh. Thank the Goddess’.