With her sweetened breath [ONE PIECE]

13 - A SOLDIER AND A WARRIOR

Garp's private office smells like hardwood and day old newspaper, a faint scent of his cologne lingered on the air  like a subtle temptation.

A mahogany table were placed in the middle of a red cotton carpet, littered with stack of paper works and unopened local snacks. Next to a hardbound black book were a blue picture frame, design with tiny rainbows and cliche red hearts, depicted inside of its thick glass were a photograph of him and his beloved Grandson - Luffy.

Luffy was young, about the time he and his brothers were still stranger to the harshness of the ocean current and the cruelty of the greedy pirates. He was grinning with all he can, eyes glimmering with innocent joy despite of the two protruding comical red lump on the back of his head. Garp stood next to him, grinning the same way, graying hair in a mess that made him look more younger, more softer, more of a grandfather rather than a soldier.

They look happy.

Y/n gulped, blinking the tears that had suddenly threaten to fall on her stinging eyes. There's an ache on her chest that she can't quiet stop, can't quiet ignore - it was all too familiar, one that she was tired of always carrying. It was yearning. Yearning for the past, yearning for something she cannot have, yearning for the time she cannot hold now, yearning to hear the same old laugh, to see the same old smile, to play the same damn song that her father likes, tasting the same old food her mother likes to brag, to feel the warmth of their hug, to act annoyed on the wetness of their kiss, to fussed and to huffed on a particular bad joke they always like to tell. She wants it all,she yearns for everything and anything she will never get back.

"His name is Luffy!" She had almost jumped on the loudness of his voice.
"My grandson, cute isn't he?" Her heart clenched on the proudness that clings on his tone. "He's a little shit but I.. " brown eyes had turned soft, one that awfully reminded her of her father. "I Love him to death" followed by a raspy laugh, more quieter, one that holds adoration and longing rather than humour.

"He looks like a great kid" She replied with a smile, Garp met her eyes as he nodded.

"Oh he is! he remind me so much of his father when he was young, always so full of life and can't seems to get away from trouble YAHAHAHAHA!"
He gave a belly laugh, chest rumbling in pure joy - he look so much happier talking about them.

"Where are they now?" She decided to ask even tho she knows the answer, Y/n wanted to see what Garp would say, Would the softness on his gaze crumbled when he remember what they are now or would it still stay the same?

"Ah.." Garp paused as he strolled towards the chair behind his desk.
"They're pirates now, unfortunately"
His eyes were hooded by the shadow of the vanishing sun, orange light painting the walls of his room and making the conversation more serious than before, more real.

"Hmm" she hummed, rough fingers dancing on the hardwood of the desk - caressing every bump and dent.

Then Garp met her eyes, soft it was, unbelievable so, all fondness and adoration. He doesnt look like the Garp she had known before, no, he looks more older now - the tiredness he had always carry but always desperately hide were now prominent on every line of his face and every shift of his eyes.

This is the Garp not many people had seen, slumped shoulder and heaving chest, as if all the wounds he had taken before and all the scars littered on his flesh were now as fresh as it once was. As if all the years of his battle on the harsh sea were now all weighting on the broadness of his shoulder, graying hair glimmering like silver on the orange light - a reminder that he wasnt no longer on his Prime, he wasnt the Marine Hero that people always like to chant, he wasnt the same man that fought with and along side with Gol D. Roger, the punches he had thrown will now make the bones of his arms crumbled, the force he had once were now fleeting together with the strength he was so proud of before.