Another request from RoseDracul~

Garp X Reader

Shots rang out, almost as loud as the chorus of terrified screams. Some were cut short, ending in bloody, gurgled gasps, like people were choking on their own blood. Others stopped completely and so suddenly you wondered if you misheard them. And through it all, you could hear the cruel laughter of the one responsible for all the destruction.

Blackbeard himself.

You were hidden away in an already ransacked building, ducked behind a counter as you tried to control your breathing and avoid detection. The other villagers weren't so lucky. The pirates devil fruit swallowed people whole while the rest of his crew brutally murdered the rest. All the while, they laughed and giggled cheerfully like there wasn't anything more fun. Buildings were set alight and you feared the one you were hiding in would be next, flushing you out so you could be just another casualty.

There was a crash as the front door was thrown open and someone stumbled in, crying and muttering to themself about finding a place to hide. Your stomach churned as all you could think was they needed to find somewhere else. They were going to draw attention to you. To your horror, they skittered around the corner on their hands and knees to your spot behind the counter and locked eyes with you.

A middle aged man, one you knew personally. He went by Kav and was the local blacksmith. Usually he held a harsh expression, especially around you as you often made plenty of trouble for him. But now he was different. His grey eyes were frantic with fear, blood dripped down his face from a cut on his temple, and black hair clung to his face in clumps. He stared at you for a moment, confused. And then he gave out a yelp as he was jerked back by a leg. There was a sharp intake of breath, like he was about to shout for help, and then it was cut off with a sickening splat.

Flecks of blood flicked across the dark wood floors, a startling red contrast. Your heart picked up speed as you realized both of you never heard one of the pirates enter. You were too engrossed in the fact that you'd come across someone else to notice. Now the heavy footsteps practically echoed through the room and your head as the pirate moved around, pausing occasionally to listen for any noise. You bit down on your hand, willing yourself to keep quiet to the point of drawing blood.

You hand throbbed painfully in protest but you only bit down harder, tasting the harsh metallic warmth as it entered your mouth.

Don't breathe.

Don't cry.

Don't scream.

The pirate walked out of the building with a disappointed sigh. They were hoping to find someone else. As soon as you were sure they were gone, you slowly released your hand and inspected the wound. You bit down hard. Blood dripped to the floor below steadily and you could make out the individual marks left by each tooth. It'd scar if you got out of this alive.

The sounds outside began to die down as the number of victims dwindled. If you wanted to leave town, find a safer place to lie low, now was the time. You braved a look around the counter to make sure to room was empty off all life except you. A few feet away was the body of Kav. His head was smashed in, fragments of skull and bits of meat sprayed out around him. His eyes stared back at you, dull and somehow still full of fear. One had popped out of it's socket from the force of impact.

You couldn't take it. The second you were able to make sense of the corpse, your body rejected it and you were bent over yourself, heaving and dumping the contents of your stomach on the floor. It didn't help adding that to the mix. Your body shook and your eyes pricked with tears from the rancid smell as you stumbled to your feet and searched for a back door. You had to leave. Now.

Except when you found your exit, the door wouldn't open. You yanked at the handle but it refused to budge. A small sob escaped you as you started to panic. But that was short lived. A dark laugh behind you made you slowly turn around to see Blackbeard himself standing in the middle of the room. He was grinning maniacally at you.

Not a single word left his mouth as shadows began to pool at his feet and reach out towards you. You tried to let out a scream, but as the darkness swallowed you up, it took your voice as well. And then there was nothing.

You shot up out of bed, covered in sweat and gasping like you'd just run a marathon.

"Fuck this bullshit." You growled as you got up.

It was early in the morning, technically too early for you to be out and about but you'd only get in trouble if you got caught. You'd had enough of your past haunting you with nightmares and needed some fresh air. The shared bedroom space was too much for you right now.

Blackbeard attacked your home village over a year ago and you still couldn't quite get over it. The nightmares involving it were always the same. They were always perfect copies of what happened in real life, up until the end at least. He never found you. You'd caught a glimpse of his fleeting figure as you escaped our the back door of the building that day, but you never locked eyes with him or got to see his devil fruit in action. You could still imagine how it'd look and you were pretty sure your twisted imagination wasn't far off from the truth.

You crept out into the hallways of the building and found the nearest window, opening it quickly and pulling yourself out before anyone on watch noticed you. From there, you hoisted yourself up to the roof and sat down. You slept on the top floor with the other newer members of the Marines so getting up here wasn't hard. Soon enough though, things would change. Currently you were being trained under Vice Admiral Garp and it wouldn't be long until you were pushed off onto someone else to work under. You could feel it each passing day.

You breathed deeply as the sweat began to dry against your skin and your body relaxed. It was dark out still and the air was cool, sending light shivers down your spine. Crickets chirped and owls made their soft calls, breaking the silence and filling you with a sense of urgency. You had a job to do. That's why you joined the Marines in the first place. A year of training and you felt like you weren't getting any closer to your goal. It was beginning to frustrate you.

"Out of bed this morning are we?"

You jumped as Vice Admiral Garp himself hopped up with you.

"Yep." You said simply, drawing your knees up and resting your chin on them as you waited for his usual punishment for breaking the rules.

Sure enough, there was a sharp crack as he swat you upside the head, rattling your teeth and making you wince in pain.

"You're supposed to stay in the dorms until dawn you brat." He growled.

"In theory."

Another smack, this time a little harder.

"I shouldn't have to put up with troublesome kids like you." Garp grumbled as he took a seat by you. He was already dressed for the day in his uniform. Not a button out of place or a wrinkle to be seen.

"You signed up for this." You reminded him. "You chose to be an instructor."

He suddenly laughed. "I suppose I did. Though I figured I'd have beat the disrespect out of all you recruits by now. You can't keep from breaking the rules though, no matter what I do."

"Old habits die hard." You said with a shrug, turning your attention to the beginnings of the sunrise. There was the faintest bit of color taking over the inky black of night.

"I figured you'd always been trouble."

"Yep."

You could feel him getting irritated beside you. This was something he liked to do, prod you for answers or conversations from time to time. You didn't talk much to any of the people around here besides what you considered necessary. Apparently that habit grabbed his attention and he'd been dead set on getting more out of you ever since.

"Why'd you do that yesterday?" He asked.

"Do what?"

"You know what I'm talking about. Spit it out before I hit you again."

You smiled before you could help it. "Oh you mean when I turned Helmeppo into a chicken?"

The man was getting on your nerves yesterday. He was trying to boss you around more than necessary so you decided to teach him a lesson in humility by setting a trap for him. When it was sprung, he was doused in honey and covered in feathers. You'd turned your superior into a giant, pissy chicken. It took him and Koby hours to get him cleaned up properly.

"He was being an ass. He deserved it."

"You can't go exacting your own justice on others, especially those above you. It'll make me look bad." Garp sighed.

"You don't care about looking bad, don't make a big deal of it."

He chuckled. "You're right there but still, leave those boys alone."

He hit another obstacle in the conversation as you went silent once again. But he was stubborn and refused to give in easily.

"Tell me about that scar on your hand."

You looked down, knowing exactly which one he meant. The obvious halfmoon of bite marks wrapping around the meaty part of your hand.

"It's just a scar."

"Its self inflicted. Tell me about it."

It wasn't hard to tell you'd done it to yourself. With where it was and how it was angled, of course he could tell.

"I bit myself."

"Why?"

That was the million berri question everyone seemed to want to know. You'd been asked that more times than you could count but not once have you ever answered. No one knew where you came from and you always thought it was for the better. Sometimes pity got you farther than you needed to be in the worst kind of way. Other times it held you back. By not telling anyone your story, you'd prevented either from happening.

"It's not important." You finally answered. "It's just another mark."

"Don't lie to me." He snapped.

You expected another hit but it didn't come.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Well you should."

Garp wasn't looking at you when you glanced in his direction. He was watching the sun rise, just like you had been doing. It was steadily basking the sky in a gradient of reds, pinks, and yellows.

You nibbled on your bottom lip as you debated just telling him your story. If anyone were to not make a big deal out of it, it'd be him. That had to be more because of his harsh ways though you knew he always meant well. Maybe you'd even feel better about the nightmares if you let him in on your past a bit.

"I did it so I'd stay quiet." You finally said. "It was life or death."

"Pirates?"

You nodded. "Not long before I joined the Marines, my home town was attacked by the Blackbeard pirates."

"That group has been especially bad after–"

"Marineford. I know." You'd seen the live feed when it all went down. "Either way, he came, destroyed everything in sight, killed just about everyone. I was lucky to make it out. I figured if I became a marine, made myself stronger, I could find him and do to him what he did to the townsfolk. I want to be the one to take him down."

You clenched your fists in anger and frustration. Blackbeard didn't just scare you, he made you furious. It made no sense that someone could be so heartless as to slaughter innocent people like he did. Like he still does. There were so many others still suffering because of him and it had to stop.

"You've got a long way to go girlie." Garp said with a grunt.

"I know. I'm no where near where I need to be yet."

"But you're not doing half bad." He offered some solace. "Out of all the recruits in your class, you've got the best marks with a rifle and pick up on the hand to hand combat fast. You could use more practice with a blade, but you're ahead of the game all things considered."

Coming from Garp, that was a huge compliment. He didn't praise people for their skills often and even when he did, it was never to such a degree. You were shocked to say the least.

"You need to fix those troublemaking habits though. Stop picking on people when they do things you done like. Learn to take orders. And for fuck's sake, stop breaking curfew. Use all the energy you put into that into bettering yourself instead and I know you'll make a great marine."

"Do you really mean that, or are you just saying it to keep me from being a pain?"

He laughed heartily. "Maybe a bit of both. Y'know, when I look at you, sometimes I see my grandson."

"Strawhat?"

"Yeah." He growled. Garp was perpetually annoyed at his grandson's career choice. It was a well known fact. "Both of you have a habit of doing what you want when you want with little regard for yourselves. Just like him, you've also done nothing but make things difficult for me."

You winced at that. It wasn't intentional, it was just what you did.

"But your intentions are good. With a little help, you'll be well on your way to your goal. Though it'd be stupid to go after such a pirate as Blackbeard by yourself."

"I'd be willing to accept help if it means getting stronger faster."

"Good." He grinned. "How's this for help then; you quit with your nonsense and I'll put together some extra training for you."

"Really?" Your eyes widened. "You're serious?"

"Sure am, but first, you're going to have to deal with your real punishment for breaking curfew."

You groaned. Of course he'd have something else in store for you.

"You're on bathroom cleaning duty today. And when that's all done, come find me so we can put your ass to real work."

He gave you an encouraging slap on the back that pushed the air from your lungs and left you sputtering as he hopped back down to the ground. The building was tall but apparently not tall enough to deter him.

As you relearned how to breathe, you watched the sun rise completely. The sky was bright as the fort began to stir with human life. You thought about what Garp said and decided he was right. It was about time you started applying yourself for real. It was a new day, one where you'd forget about your nightmares and gain the strength to right your wrongs.

Justice would be served. It was only a matter of time.

(A/n)
I wasn't sure how easy this one would be to write out but I had the easiest time getting this done. Finished it much faster than anything else I'd written this week and I'm hella happy with that~