Chapter 6: I’ll make a marine out of you
“WAAAAAAAAAAAKE UP KID !!!”
It was with those words that Garp burst? the wall of the infirmary open.
Rick who was sleeping soundly muttered an almost inaudible :
“Five more minutes..”
A bulging vein popped on Garp temple.
“WAAAKE UP NOW!”
He took Rick in his arms and did an olympic worthy demonstration of a german suplex.
“Vice-admiral Garp!? Rookie Rick is definitively not going to wake up now!”
Garp had an embarrassed smile. He did knock out Rick with his antics, then laugh at the nickname.
“Rookie Rick?”
“ Sir, yes, sir! That’s what the guys are calling him.”
“He’s not going to like it.
The marine laughed with Garp.
“Sir, no, sir. He’s definitely not going to like it”.
“Good, good, his anger will serve him well.”
Garp stood up and was about to leave.
“Sir, the wall ?”
“What about it? Just fix it .”
“Sir what was the point of breaking it to just fix right after?”
“I broke it to make a cool entrance! “
“Sir, you're a Vice-admiral, you can’t do childish things like that and expect your subordinate to clean up the mess!” said the marine with a reproachful tone.
“ Alright, alright, but you’re all helping! Because I don't know how to build things, I’m more into breaking them.”
Before the full teeth smile of their superior the marines could only sighed in acceptance.
‘ I guess we’re never going to change the wild beast of the marine ‘.
~~~~
Rick ended up waking up to a strange sight.
Garp was sitting in seiza and was getting lecture by his subordinates.
“ Vice-admiral Garp from now on we’re not helping you fix things you break anymore. You’ll have to learn to fix it yourself. Your behavior is not only unbecoming of your rank but of any marine!”
“What the bell is going on?”
“Oi, Rookie Rick you’re up!” said Garp
Rick frowned.
“Rookie what, now?”
“It’s training time!”
And with those words Garp grabbed him and went through the window, escaping the rest of his lecture, leaving the rest of the marines bewildered.
The one who was lecturing Garp let out a long sigh.
“Well at least the window was open and we don’t have to replace it.”
Many of his colleagues nodded in agreement.
~~~~
Garp and Rick arrived on the training grounds.
The Vice-admiral let go of his subordinate.
“ Rookie Rick, now that you have proven to have the will power, and the stamina to be a marine, it’s time to make a marine out of you.”
“Sir, what did you call me sir ?” said Rick in irritation
“Rookie Rick, it’s your nickname, now”.
“Sir, I don’t like it, sir”.
The anger was growing within Rick.
‘Who’s the bastard that came up with it.’
Garp, who had his index up his nose, removed a bogey from it and fired it at Rick’s forehead.
“Don’t care kid. What I do care, is to make you a fine marine. For that the real training is going to start. For now the training is simple, fighting.
Until you can land a hit on me we’re gonna fight and fight and fight.”
“Sir! Yes, sir!”
‘I’m gonna enjoy it so much when I will finally be able to punch your face’
‘Hehe look at that pup, dying to give me a good one’
“Though first thing first, we’re going to talk about your devil fruit power.”
Rick was surprised
“You know that I’m a devil fruit user, Sir?”
“ Of course I know brat! Did you really think I wouldn’t after what you did when we met?”
Rick then remembered that when Garp tested him to enroll into the mirane he answered back by using his gravity powers.
“Oh yeah that, I completely forgot, sir.”
“What is your power anyway, kid? That was a lot of pressure you put on me back then. An average man could not have handled it.”
“ Gravity sir! I ate the Zushi Zushi no Mi sir”.
“Oh, that explains why I felt heavier. What can you do with it now kid ?’
“Sir, right now, I can increase? the gravity a lot on a target or in a specific area. The bigger the zone the less the gravity’s increase is important. I can also do the opposite sir, I can decrease? the gravity. Right, by manipulating gravity I can float a few centimeters above the ground.”
And to prove his words Rick decreases the gravity on himself and makes a jump as if he was on the moon. Upon landing, he reverses the gravity where he’s standing on and starts to float a bit before landing again.
“That’s a powerful ability you have here kid. Be Careful with it, and don’t misuse it okay?”
“Yes, sir!”
“Good, let’s start training then.”
Garp smiled a crooked one.
The only thought that Rick had was ‘ Oh shit! ’