All for Naught -7

The crew watched cautiously as Luffy spoke to his grandfather. They had found it odd that the old man would show up like this, especially without landing a blow to Luffy's skull first, but then again, the boy was a Marine now, and therefore Garp could easily talk to him without having to cover it up later.

The thought of that still made everyone's stomach turn.

Suddenly, Luffy's posture went frigid, and though he wasn't facing them, the pirates knew that something was bothering their friend. His muscles where tense, his back was like a rod, and his hands were curled into fists at his side.

The crew couldn't hear what the two were talking about, but they had a feeling it had to do with them, especially when the relatives parted and Luffy turned around.

He looked positively livid.

But more importantly, he looked afraid.

-x-

Luffy was beyond angry as he mulled over his conversation with Garp.

"W-what are you talking about, old man?" he had asked.

Garp's face was wary as he explained, "Don't play stupid with me, boy. There are those more...powerful…than me, in our organization, Luffy, and they know about our deal."

The young captain could feel the hair on the back of his neck raise, but he did his best to hold a passive face.

"They know and they aren't happy," Garp continued, "Your friends must get off this island or it could end horribly for everyone."

Luffy was pretty sure his nails were drawing the blood from his palms by now.

"Is…is there anything you can do? At all?"

The gray haired man nodded slightly, scowling, "I tried, brat. I couldn't change their minds, but I could calm them down. Now they only want your crew behind bars instead of dead. You just have to do something for us."

Luffy's eyes widened hopefully "Yeah?"

"You have to make them believe you want to be here. Make them hate you. Make. Them. Give. Up."

The smaller D gulped, hope wavering, "What makes you think that'll work? They're stubborn people."

"Aye, but I know you can be very convincing if you have to be. I don't care what it takes. Just make it happen."

Something in Luffy's thoughts clicked together, causing his onyx eyes to narrow, "Why do you suddenly care so much about them, Garp?"

The old man growled deep in his throat, "I don't. But believe it or not, I care about you. If something happened to those bastards out there, you'd be devastated. I can't have you be alone again…You have three days."

Luffy couldn't argue that and Garp knew it. So without another word, the old Marine left his grandson to think.

But before his grandfather was out of sight, Luffy called after him with one more pressing question, "Do I at least get to know who I'm dealing with here?"

Garp never turned around to answer.

No matter how much Luffy hated this, he knew he had no choice. But he'd worry about everything later, for now the stupid rookies in front of him needed to be dealt with.

"Oi!" He hollered, "Break's over! Get up."

The poor Marine trainees scrambled to gather in front of their commanding officer, "Sir, yes sir!"

If at all possible, Luffy's face hardened further.

"Shut up and get to work. You'll be sparring with each other instead of me. With the mood I'm in I may or may not," he put up his fingers, bending them to make air quotes, "'accidentally' kill one of you."

The rookie's faces were horrified, but they didn't dare stick around to find out the validity of that statement. Thus, the field burst out into a frenzy of battle cries, the sound of swords clashing, and gunfire.

None of them noticed Luffy had left.

-x-

The crew continued to watch from their hiding spot, once again awed by the apparent harshness their bubbly friend had buried.

Just what had Garp said to him? Luffy never used the word "kill". They were under the assumption it wasn't in his vocabulary. Yes, they'd seen what he could accomplish if angry enough and knew that Luffy was very much capable of ending someone's life, but for him to actually consider doing it just because he felt like he could?

"That isn't Luffy. Please, someone tell me that that monster isn't Luffy!" Usopp cried.

Sanji, being the closest to the young sniper, gently put a calloused hand on his shoulder, and turned him so they were eye to eye.

"Usopp, quit it. You know that Luffy would never do anything like this on purpose. He's just…trying to prove he's a capable marine so Garp will keep the deal going," he looked to Zoro, "Right, Marimo?"

Zoro, who had been lost in his own mind, sighed heavily through his nose, "I…I don-…," he paused as he looked out over his nakama, taking in their stricken expressions and tear stained cheeks, "Yeah. He's just…acting." He couldn't even bring himself to insult the blond back, but thankfully, Sanji didn't notice, and if he did, Franky cut him off.

"This is so not super…"

The others couldn't help but force smiles at the cyborg's forced attempt to lighten the mood.

"But there's still something wrong here…"

All eyes turned to Nami, and the redhead fidgeted as she tried to find her words, "Luffy can't lie…"

The mood instantly blackened once more as that truth sank in.

Robin, ever the voice of reason, spoke up next, "Acting and lying are not the same thing, Navigator-san."

Nami blinked, "I don't understand…"

Everyone listened carefully as Robin explained, "Think of his act as if Captain-san was pretending, which he essentially is."

The younger woman nodded hesitantly, "I...I see."

They left it at that.

Zoro, who had been watching, sighed again before turning to Chopper. The little doctor had been awfully quiet during the debates, and he knew that the reindeer was probably the most upset about the situation, besides Zoro himself.

After all, Luffy was Chopper's everything.

"Chopper? What do you have to say about all this?"

Chopper looked up at the swordsman, large brown eyes overflowing underneath the shade of his big pink hat. It was painfully obvious that he was trying to be strong.

"I…"

The older teen knelt down to his friend's height, "You what?" he asked softly.

"I…"

Zoro smiled sadly, "It's okay to tell us, Chopper. I promise we won't say make fun of you."

"I'm scared, Zoro…"

Before anyone could answer or comfort their youngest, a new, laughing voice spoke up behind them.

"You should be."