Second Guessed

Chapter 1

I stared at the tiny dumbbells plopped in front of me, undoubtedly looking like a normal uninterested little kid. In reality, I was doing my best deadpan. I hit my grandfather with that same look, and turned to hobble away on my tiny legs.

He had taken me on his ship, making me practice walking on the rocking decks to build my sea legs and leg muscles at the same time. Little things while we were aboard to help me out. It had taken two months, but we finally reached Marine HQ, Marineford. And I was on the edge of the training field, the stench of sweat heavy in the air as new transfer recruits were whipped into shape a few yards away. And Garp was trying to have me lift dumbbells. Baby sized dumbbells.

I lunged with my slightly stronger calves towards his unprotected beard, vulnerable with him crouching so close to me, and yanked hard to see if that would knock some sense into him. Yes, he wanted me to build muscle. I understood that. But baby sized dumbbells? What the hell? I could still tell they were heavier than some normal-sized weights, smaller didn't mean lighter.

"OW! Ungrateful brat!" He easily tugged me off of his facial hair, setting me down gently as he frowned. "Come on, Maven. They're only twenty pounds, easy as pie!"

I glared at him, probably looking about as intimidating as a newborn puppy. Twenty pounds was heavier than I was!

"Dumb gweezah," I huffed, my voice slightly clearer. I had practiced this phrase often enough for it to be much more recognizable— it was necessary to know such accurate phrases for this man.

"GAHHHHH! YOU BRAT! FLICK OF LOVE!" Being too small for his fist of love, the vice admiral was undaunted. He had quickly come up with an alternative, flicking me on the forehead with his stupidly strong fingers and knocking me back a few feet. He was quickly made aware of how I was smarter than an average one year old, and had become less merciful with his punishments after that discovery.

It was risky being at Marine HQ. Very risky, which is the primary reason Garp hadn't even thought of bringing Ace or Luffy anywhere near it. If anyone found out who my biological father was, I'd be dead on the spot. But Gramps had obviously decided that making me strong enough to survive more than three years was worth the risk, since he couldn't stay away from headquarters that long.

"Tenty is too mutt," I tried to speak normally, but my tongue and lips were still clumsy. I hated my baby speak, but it always made Gramps coo softly. He did his best to hide his little coos of adoration from the Admirals and other Vice Admirals, but they all noticed. It was hard not to. Nonetheless, he got the gist of what I was trying to say.

"What do you mean, too much? It's practically nothing!" He balances both weights on his pinkie to try and make his point. I just crossed my tiny arms.

"Monstah," I replied, making his drop the weights as my comment hit him.

"Why you..!"

"Garp," a relaxed voice called out, it's owner obviously trying to hold back laughter. A tall man with dark skin and poofy black hair held back by a black bandana over the top of his head cane strolling in. His appearance was younger, but I could still recognize him from my fairly-fresh memories of the manga and anime. I only remembered his Admiral name, Aokiji.

The tall man sauntered over, kneeling next to Garp to look at me. The older man huffed, but smiled a bit.

"Maven, this is Kuzan. He's a Vice Admiral," Gramps softly told me. Vice admiral? I hummed, rocking back and forth slightly as I let myself examine the man. He obviously hadn't been promoted yet. This was such an odd thing for me to see. Gramps looked over at Kuzan. "She's smarter than your average brat her age. You can talk to her like you'd talk to ten year old, at the least."