The trek up Mt. Colubo was the kind of uphill journey that tested your legs, lungs, and life choices. Gale wasn't exactly dying, but he was… reevaluating.
"Poqin," he grumbled, one hand dusting his trousers, the other holding his cloak away from his body to let some breeze in. "Remind me again why we didn't bring horses? Or a cart. Or a rope and just drag me up."
The monk-like giant beside him didn't even look winded. "The journey is good for your spirit," Poqin said serenely, his oversized backpack barely shifting with each heavy step. "And for your legs."
Gale muttered something about spiritual journeys being overrated and trudged on.
Ahead of them, Vice Admiral Garp was climbing like a man half his age—whistling, laughing, occasionally kicking boulders out of the way just because he could. At one point he even stopped to pick a wild mango and toss it back to Gale, who caught it with all the grace of a falling broomstick.
"You two better not slow down," Garp called over his shoulder. "We're almost there!"
"Almost," Gale echoed in annoyance. "That word's been used too many times on this mountain."
By the time they reached the clearing where Dadan's shabby-yet-sturdy house stood, Gale was coated in dust, and something he hoped was just pollen.
Garp cupped his hands to his mouth and bellowed, "OIIII! DADAN! GET OUT HERE!"
There was a loud crash from inside the house, followed by the sound of hasty footsteps and several cuss words Gale didn't recognize but mentally bookmarked for future use.
The door flew open, and out came Curly Dadan—mountain bandit, reluctant foster mom, and certified stress magnet. She had that classic tired look of someone who'd been dealing with Garp for too many years and hadn't been paid nearly enough for it.
"Garp, what the hell are you yelling for?! You almost gave me a heart atta—" She stopped mid-sentence.
Her eyes fell on Gale and Poqin, both standing behind Garp like two new entries in a "Guess What Weird Animal This Is" contest.
Gale, ever the showman, gave her a cheeky grin and a two-finger salute. "Hello there."
Poqin gave a slow, respectful bow, which only made him look more intimidating.
Dadan stared at them for one solid second—then promptly marched up to Garp, grabbed him by the front of his coat, and yelled in his face. "YOU'RE NOT DUMPING MORE WEIRDOS ON ME! JUST THROW ME IN PRISON ALREADY!"
Gale blinked. "Wow. We haven't even done anything weird yet."
Garp, unfazed, casually smacked her on the head with his palm like he was swatting a fly. "Relax, ya damn drama queen! These two aren't staying here—they're recruits. They're just tagging along."
Dadan rubbed her head, glared at him, then glanced warily at Gale and Poqin again. "They better not be eating my food. Or trying to be friends. I don't do friends."
Gale leaned toward Poqin and whispered, "She says that, but I bet she has a scrapbook of all her friends somewhere."
"I heard that!" Dadan snapped.
Gale gave her an innocent smile.
Once the yelling simmered down, Garp folded his arms and asked, "So? Where's Luffy?"
Dadan's mouth opened—but her words hesitated halfway out. "He's… uh…"
Gale raised an eyebrow. He knew a lot about their family dynamics, and that was the expression of someone desperately trying to come up with a lie.
"He should be in his… uh… out there... somewhere," she finished with a strained smile.
Garp narrowed his eyes. "Should?"
Dadan's brain raced. If Garp found out that Luffy had been living alone for months, after she'd sworn she'd keep him under watch in exchange for not being locked up… well, she might end up in Impel Down with a roommate named "Stabsy."
She cleared her throat, trying to sound casual. "He's out hunting! Training himself! Y'know, boy stuff. Push-ups and… bear wrestling."
"Bear wrestling?" Gale mouthed behind her.
Poqin nodded thoughtfully. "Sounds effective."
Garp stared at Dadan for a moment longer, then grunted. "Hmph. Makes sense. That brat better not be slacking off."
Dadan exhaled like she'd just defused a bomb. "Yep. Definitely training. All day, every day. Soooo disciplined."
A wide, prideful grin stretched across Garp's weathered face as the distant sounds of mayhem echoed through the trees. "As expected of my grandson! He'll make a fine Marine soon enough!"
Gale, standing nearby with arms crossed, squinted at the man like he'd just claimed a boar could play the violin. "Such sweet delusion…" he muttered under his breath.
But Garp's ears were sharp—sharper than someone his age should have. His head snapped toward Gale with the speed of a cannon swivel. "What was that, brat?!"
Gale cleared his throat quickly, schooling his face into innocence. "Didn't say anything, Vice Admiral. Must've been the wind. Mountain echo. Very tricky acoustics."
Garp grunted suspiciously, muttering something about "spineless youngsters and their slippery tongues" before turning his attention back to Dadan.
"Oi, Dadan," he barked, stretching his back with a crack that echoed louder than Gale's knees after the hike. "Get me something to drink. And find me a place to rest away from the sun."
Dadan looked like she was about to spit out her last nerve. Her mouth opened—probably to say something along the lines of "this ain't your damn vacation home"—but then she caught herself.
She let out a long, slow sigh, rubbed her temples, and forced a smile that said I'm only doing this because I like my freedom.
"Right away," she said, gesturing toward the door. "Make yourself at home."
Garp gave a jolly laugh and strolled inside like he did own the place. Which, let's be honest, emotionally speaking, he kinda did.
Once he was over the threshold, he turned around and pointed a thick finger at Gale and Poqin. "You two! Go find my grandson and drag him back here. He's probably still out in the forest hunting or training or doing who knows what. Mountain's full of beasts, but don't worry—no one else goes in there, so you don't have to worry about stumbling on the wrong guy. Just look for a kid causing a mess."
Poqin nodded serenely, as if he had just been tasked with a sacred quest. "Understood."
Gale gave him a look. "You nod like we're heading to enlightenment, not fetching what is practically a human hurricane."
Poqin gave a small shrug.
Gale gave him a bigger one.
And with that unspoken exchange of mutual resignation, the two recruits turned and headed toward the edge of the forest, the sound of rustling leaves and distant crashing guiding their way.
"Well," Gale muttered as they entered the shade of the trees, "let's go find the kid before he gets eaten by a wild pig... or he eats the entire ecosystem, which is entirely possible given who his grandfather is..."
Poqin didn't even blink. "If he is to be eaten, it is because fate wills it so."
Gale rolled his eyes. "See, this is why we don't let you talk to kids."
...
Luffy crouched in the crook of a thick tree branch, arms crossed and cheeks puffed out, eyes fixed on the beaten dirt path below like a jungle cat on a stakeout.
"C'mon, c'mon…" he whispered to himself, stomach growling low in anticipation.
It had been a few years since he and his brothers beat the ever-loving snot out of that giant tiger-thing that used to terrorize Mt. Colubo, and for a while, things were peaceful.
Until that boar showed up. Huge, mean, and twice as ugly.
The thing had a temper that could go toe-to-toe with Grandpa Garp's—and that was saying something. Luffy had been content to leave the boar alone. Nature did its thing, after all. But then it had the nerve—the nerve—to sabotage one of his hunts.
Stole a whole deer.
A whole deer.
That was his lunch. Maybe even breakfast and dinner, too. Probably not, though.
So yeah, that boar? It was going down today. Luffy had even skipped breakfast to make sure he was light and fast. Which, in hindsight, was either a really smart idea or a horrible one, but he was too hungry to think about it.
"Today's the day," Luffy muttered, adjusting his grip on the tree. "You're gonna be soup."
Right on cue, footsteps approached from down the path. Luffy's eyes sharpened. This was it. This was the boar. He could already taste the roast…
But wait.
Something was off.
The footsteps were too light. Too casual. Not nearly enough hoofy stomp. No rustling, no angry snorting, no ominous musical sting.
Instead, there were voices. Talking. Loudly.
Luffy squinted and tilted his head as two young men strolled into view, chatting like they were on a Sunday walk instead of smack-dab in beast country.
"I'm just saying," Gale muttered, gesturing with one hand while the other fiddled with a twig, "if the mosquito bites through your shirt, that counts as armor penetration."
Poqin raised a brow. "It's armor penetration either way since it would have to bite through your skin to get your blood..."
"…That's not how—okay, actually, fair point."
From his perch, Luffy stared at them like they were the strangest thing he'd seen all week. That was saying something—last week a giant bird literally tried to steal his lunch.
"Who the heck are those guys?" Luffy whispered. "They look like they belong in town. Lost or stupid…"
Probably both.
But his confusion didn't last long. His gaze flicked ahead of the pair, and his expression dropped.
"Oh no," he muttered, eyes narrowing.
Right there, barely visible beneath a thin pile of dead leaves, was a long, glistening coil. A faint twitch. A flicker of tongue.
Snake.
And not just any snake—that snake. The nasty kind that made your face turn blue and your feet forget how to work. Venomous, fast, and super grumpy if stepped on. It was the unofficial rule of the mountain: don't step on the leaves if they're hissing.
The two guys, of course, were walking straight into it, still bickering about mosquito Haki like this was a philosophy class.
Luffy stood up on the branch, breath catching in his throat. He was just about to yell—"Oi! Watch out, ya idiots!"—when the snake moved.
Not slithered. Launched.
"Aw crap," Luffy muttered. That thing was fast—faster than he remembered. Not even a full second and it was already halfway to those two weirdos.
They had no clue. Just strolling along like they were on a date with destiny and forgot to bring bug spray.
Luffy's eyes darted—he wouldn't reach them in time. Best-case scenario? He could scoop up whichever one got bit and sprint to town before the venom made their brain melt. He'd done worse. Maybe he could tie them to his back and use tree branches like slingshots—
He didn't get to finish the thought.
Because the scrawny one—thin as a flagpole and dressed like someone trying way too hard—suddenly snapped his head toward the snake mid-stride.
Luffy blinked.
'Huh. Guy's got good senses.'
But that wasn't gonna help. Those snakes didn't telegraph their attacks—they just struck. A split second later, sure enough, the thing lunged at Twiggy with all the rage of something that woke up and chose violence.
The guy flinched. Confused. Just for the briefest second. Like his brain hadn't caught up with what his eyes were seeing.
Then his hand moved.
Fast.
He caught the snake. Mid-air. By the neck.
'Wait, what?!'
Luffy skidded to a stop behind a bush, jaw slightly unhinged.
Twiggy just… stared at it. Right in its beady little eyes.
"Oh hey," Gale said, like he just found a weird-looking sock. "Kinda rude, trying to bite me when we just met, don't you think?"
The snake writhed and hissed, tail flailing angrily. Gale didn't flinch—if anything, he tilted his head like he was mildly annoyed.
Behind him, Poqin wandered over like they'd found a new brand of chips at the store. He peered at the snake with mild academic curiosity, like it might give him a sermon on poisons.
"That's one pretty lookin' snake," Poqin said thoughtfully, stroking his chin. "You think it's venomous?"
"I know it is," Gale replied, casually holding the serpent an inch from his face. "It's got the eyes of someone who's never been hugged."
Poqin nodded sagely. "Tragic."
From his bush, Luffy was now seriously reconsidering who the idiots in this situation were.
Were they just that weird?
Or was he the one who'd been overreacting this whole time?
...
I'm motivated by praise and interaction, so be sure to leave a like, power stone, or whatever kind of shendig this site uses, and more importantly do share you thoughts on the chapter in the comment section!
Want more chapters? Then consider subscribing to my pat rēon. You can read ahead for as little as $1 and it helps me a lot!
-> (pat rēon..com / wicked132)
You can also always come and say hi on my discord server
-> (disc ord..gg / sEtqmRs5y7)- or hit me up at - Wicked132#5511 - and I'll add you myself)