COMPLETED LOG!
Who: Smoker & Garp
What: Talking over drinks
When: like WEEKS AGO. Guh. Back when Smoker FIRST pissed Garp off. :| Before Allen even got kidnapped.
Why: Smoker pissed Garp off but tries to fix and then they had to discuss girls.
Where: Garp's office on the Fido.
Rating: PG-13 for drinking, language and Garp treating Smoker like his justice son and Smoker treating Garp like his insane C.O. lol
Garp: [Leans back into his desk chair and stares at the half empty glass of whiskey that had only been opened a few times before the whole damned thing, he rubs a hand down his tired face and sighs at the fact that his idiot grandson had left a bit earlier. He felt lonely and it was almost like something important was missing and he hadn't felt this bad in years, then again it was always like that. A few years went by and then something set him off and he went into thinking about how much he missed her. The glass was lifted off the desk and he took a deep swig, before frowning and staring at the door.]
Smoker stormed through the decks of Fido irritably and nearly kicked down the door. He didn't offer to have tea for anyone ever and the damn bastard was still upset and the worst part of it was that it was definitely Smoker's fault. He hated that feeling. "Garp," Smoker growled impatiently outside the door. He'd brought a couple more bottles of Scotch whiskey and then rum for himself. "Let me in, will ya?" He wasn't going to share his cigars. Garp would just have to make do with his own and the picture albums Smoker was certain were already laid out.
An eyebrow rose and he sighed, getting up from the chair, glass in hand as he slunk towards the door, opening it and gesturing for Smoker to come in with his free hand. The photoalbums were put away for the day, having already gone through them with Ace over and over again, the male laughing at the strange pictures he managed to get taken of Luffy and himself when they were both young. Ace being 8 and Luffy being 5. He smiled vaguely at the remembrance and then stared at Greyhorn and stepped back, keeping the door open with his foot. "You're letting a cool breeze in, Greyhorn, get in."
Arching an eyebrow at the lack of pictures laid out everywhere, a warning chill went down Smoker's spine as he desperately wanted to run away and get out, feeling like it was a trap. The marine gruffly laid the bottles of alcohol on Garp's desk and threw himself in one of the overly large chairs and kicked his heels up on the desk, leaning back to suck down cigar smoke. "Talk, Garp," Smoker growled, unable to look the man in the eyes, still feeling wrought with guilt he was repressing furiously.
"About what Greyhorn?" He sighed and walked slowly back to his desk, on his way, however, ruffling the younger's hair lazily, before he sat on the mostly cleared desk. "There's not much else to say, other than you pissed me off more than I have been in a long time. Which, has honestly been a something I should've expected," he pointed out quietly, before rubbing his jaw. "It wasn't your fault at all, mostly mine for taking it so seriously. And I know you didn't mean to insult Nana and that I really shouldn't have taken it that way." He sighed and glanced down at the alcohol in his hand, before he set it down and lightly ruffled his own hair with a hand. "What do you remember about her?"
Flinching at the hand on his head, Smoker suffered through it without completely pushing the vice admiral away. "It's not your fault either, sir," Smoker dropped his grey eyes, "As I said, I went over the line. And..." Smoker rubbed the back of his neck irritably. "Hn. What I remember? Dark hair, dark eyes..." Smoker snorted, remembering the first time he met the woman and the shock that anyone like her would marry someone like the Vice admiral. "She was a librarian. We spoke about books a lot. She seemed as surprised that one of your cadets would read so much as I was surprised you would marry a librarian."
"She was crazier than she let on," he commented, rubbing his chin a bit. "When she was pregnant with Dragon, Sengoku asked her if she was sure the kid wasn't going to be born with horns, she beat the crap out of him and then did it again when he brought her the wrong kinda ice cream for an apology." He laughed loudly, chuckling. "She made him cookies when he got promoted to Admiral too, 'cause I fell asleep on the cake and kinda smooshed it, the icing was tasty and cookies were obviously the better choice. She let me make a Sengoku-shaped one and ice it for him." He laughed and just thought for a few more moments. "She made me read some good novels too, mostly random ones that were fun to read, like Tuck Everlasting. Hn. I let you read that one, huh?" He smiled a bit more and then frowned, getting ready to voice out the next thought that came to mind. "She died when I was on duty, far away from East Blue, I was at the marinefold when I got the news, I'unno, I just remember feeling like a part of me died that day and it didn't get much better the next few weeks, rushing back to the village and almost missing her funeral."
Smoker swallowed hard, it brought up a lot of his own fears. The reason he hadn't really kept a steady relationship until Karen. It was rough on marines leaving their wives at home on an island while their husbands ran off to war, but it was worse on the wives. "Hardly your fault either, sir. And she wasn't that crazy. Just as much as any good woman I suppose." He a ran his fingers through his hair, thinking fast and grabbed the bottle of rum as fast as possible, downing the alcohol in a quick gulp. He hated talking about things like this. "You don't... regret the job, do you, Sir?"
"Greyhorn, she beat the crap out of Sengoku and chased me around with a frying pan for trying to bake a cake. It was funny actually, she came home from the library and found me dumping three bags of sugar into a large bowl and rotten strawberries into the mix. She promptly got out the frying pan and started yelling at me and chasing me around the kitchen. And then yelled at Sengoku for not stopping me and she hit him in the face with the frying pan and me accidentally. She was crazy, beautiful as a storm lingering on the horizon when she was angry, but like the sun breaking through the clouds after that storm whenever she smiled. One of the most beautiful things I've ever seen, she was. Probably number one on that list. She could drive me crazy one minute and then make me smile and laugh my self silly the next." He stopped talking and then looked down at his feet, sighing slightly. "Never, she was always proud of me when I came home, telling me that I was the best man in the world and covered my face in butterfly-soft kisses and then beat me over the head and ask me why I hadn't come home sooner. The only thing I regret is not saying goodbye or hearing her voice one last time before I left. Just one little 'I love you' would've done it." He hug his head and laughed sadly, the glass in his hand was put down and he looked at Smoker for a few seconds and then chuckled louder, more happier. "I think she would've adored you if I had taken you back with me more, silly Greyhorn. Probably should've, in retrospect. Maybe then I wouldn't have to punch you as much as I do now!"
Letting out a long held sigh, Smoker leaned back and let the words tumble over him. He really was so much better at listening than talking. "Sounds like Karen," Smoker laughed softly and scrubbed his face roughly. "She drives me absolutely insane. She got sick around Christmas and I sent one of my marines to keep her safe and she beat the crap out of him because he tried to tell her to stay in her room. Then she beat him up again just because I was pissing her off." Smoker shook his head and laughed softly. "She terrifies me. Genuinely worries me. She'd go right up to Sengoku and tell him off for being a pain if I let her. She's so..." His eyes sparkled but he couldn't find the words to sum it up. The green-grey haired marine hung his head for a moment, "I'm sure Nanase would have kicked my ass as well, sir." He chuckled darkly, "Only beautiful women ever really can."
"Yeah, that's why I like Flame-lady. She's beautiful and reminds me of Nana," he grinned lazily and kicked at Smoker's leg lazily. "See, if Nana was still around, she probably would've kicked him in the balls for hurting her grandbabies. And then would've promptly kick me in the nuts for not stopping him in the first place. And she'd probably tell Flaming-Lady all about how to handle guys like us. Kick them in the face or beat the crap out of them with frying pans." He smiled and reached back, pulling a picture frame off the desk, tossing it at the other. "That's Nana on Ace's first birthday, she dressed him up in a tuxedo and then promptly dressed me in one too and made me take them to a fancy restaurant. That dress she was wearing? The blue sundress? She was buried in it, because before when talking with me, she said she wanted to dress as if the sun was going to be beating down on her no matter what the weather was like when she was buried. It was sunny and beautiful and she was gorgeous and angelic, I swore she was just sleeping and that she'd wake up any moment, but she didn't, Sengoku only showed up after Makino took the brats home and we went drinking. He used to be a good man through and through, but now, he's just a little bit cynical and really just lost sight of true justice. But he's still my best friend, even if he is a meanieface that deserves to be kicked sometimes." He laughed brightly and then looked down at Smoker, kicking him again and then thought for another moment.
"Karen is very beautiful, Greyhorn and I hope you know, if you make her cry, I don't care if I've known you longer and you're family. I will punch you into the ocean repeatedly." He smiled brightly and then chuckled. "And I'll make sure your wedding goes smoothly, Greyhorn, even if I have to stop it in the middle of the whole thing and punch whoevers ruining it." The bright and crazy smile was back for a few moments, before he dropped it and snorted. "Greyhorn, you still gonna man up for that cup of tea?"
"As if I don't have enough women on my ship threatening to kick me in the balls already," Smoker growled. "You know Lala is doing the same thing? She says she's always been this way, but Grand Line is corrupting Tashigi. She keeps kicking my shins." He didn't mind. He'd rather his Ensign kept fighting back, kept her fighting spirit up for the rest of her life. She needed it and he couldn't stand seeing her collapse on shaky legs one more time. He'd kill the next man who did that to her, brass or not. "People have got to stop suggesting I'll make Karen cry. Woman's already brought ME to... not the other way around." He flushed, he couldn't admit that to anyone, how dark it had gotten when Karen left through no fault of her own. Dark enough he'd called up Garp just to have someone who knew him well enough to know it had gotten bad. Smoker swallowed hard around the cigars and narrowed his eyes at the next words, "Do you know how much I hate tea, Garp?" he growled furiously. Then Smoker sighed, he'd given his word and an officer without his word had nothing, "Yeah, I'll drink the fucking tea. Only one cup though!"
"I'm not a woman, idiot!" Another kick was given to the younger male, before he smiled and shook his head a bit. "Strong women are a good thing to have on a crew, Greyhorn. They even may flash the enemy to get them to be distracted! Well, if you asked them too." He stared blankly at Smoker, before he grinned and laughed. "A good woman always brings the man they love to crying at LEAST once, it's always been a rule!" He laughed softly and then crossed his arms over his chest and thought for a moment. "Nana did many times. The first time she beat me with a frying pan, first time she told me she loved me, uhhh, when she told me she was pregnant with my CRAZY son. When she told me that if she ever had to go out when I was home, she'd let me hog the bed and blankets until she came back, I'unno why, don't ask -- and the first time she made me a cake for my birthday. Our wedding day, she looked pretty, like a goddess came down and hugged my head into her boobs all the time. Um, another one would be finding out that she died and on her funeral." At least he was honest about it.
"Like fuck I'm letting of my female personnel flash the enemy," Smoker growled irritably, lighting up another pair of cigars. He always went through them faster around the vice admiral. "Although... Nevan probably will be flashing them even though I ordered her to wear a shirt." He dragged a palm down his face. "It's part of her fighting style. She's a demoness. The seducing kind..." a gloved hand pinched the bridge between his eyes. "A succubus." He was never going to let Lavi forget it. Not ever.
Smoker stoically tried to listen to the insane man's stories without change in expression. Then he grabbed a bottle of rum and fervently tried to clean his brain the mental images. Having an overactive imagination really sucked when you were surrounded by such psychopaths such as Garp. "Just the once so far for me," Smoker growled. "But I haven't cried since I was five otherwise." He leaned his head into the fist, still listening, but added softly. "Karen doesn't even need a frying pan. She just burns things. Me, the bed sheets... she just burnt up all the coffee on the ship because we were arguing." He finished off the second bottle and roughly scratched his chin. "Still my angel though," he muttered almost purring like a happy kitten.
The Vice-Admiral just grinned crazily and shook his head lazily. "A demon, huh? You really get all the MANLY people. I should steal some of 'em, huh?" He teased with a wry smile, watching Smoker quietly, watching his expression change when he talked about Karen like that. The pride bubbling in his stomach that Smoker had found his own Nanase just made him overjoyed. (For many reasons, one would be for the "justice grandbabies" and another would be because Smoker deserved that much.)
"I'm glad, Greyhorn! She's very pretty too, I bet she's a real firecracker in the sack." He smirked at that, waiting for the blush to come.
"Yes, you should steal some of them," Smoker shrugged lazily, eyes glazed on the bottle before focusing better. "But not Allen, Karen, Tashigi, Tsuzuki, Bookman Lavi or... fuck... you can't have any of them. You should steal them before I pick them up." He took a heavy swig of rum, and splurted it out at hearing Garp talk about his fiance like that. Blushing furiously, Smoker growled, "She-- she is! But that's not the point!!" Even his ears were bright red. God damn that man.
"I like Shigi though. And Starface. Flame-Lady too. I'll steal 'em aaaaall!"
He couldn't stop the laugh that followed, feeling so much better, as he reached back to grab the drink he had set aside, sipping it languidly for a few seconds before he smiled innocently at the other. "Nice ears, Greyhorn! Pink looks good with your hair! ...I should really get Bogart to get you a pink coat for your birthday! That's coming up, huh? March 14th!"
"No," Smoker growled possessively, "Mine." He'd bite the Vice Admiral if he tried to kidnap them. Genuinely bite the man. "Grrrr... I hate pink." Smoker rubbed his ears irritably, once again relieved that Garp hadn't been around to see the pink hair dye. "And everyone should just forget about my birthday so that I can." Turning 36 wasn't going to be easy. Worse with the reminder from a bunch of damn teens who already called him ten different kinds of old.
"Possessive, are we? Does that make you mine, Greyhorn? 'Cause you're still part of my crew, whether you like it or not." He hummed playfully and wiggled his fingers at the other with a teasing motion. "No! Your birthday is a GRAND event! Just wait until you turn FIFTY and on the GRANDLINE. It's AWESOME." He nodded wildly and rubbed the back of his neck, downing the rest of the glass as he stared blankly at the bottom of the empty glass before setting it back down. "Y'know, you're a pretty lucky man, Greyhorn. Not many men in the marines find the person they wanna spend their life with out having to have lost them without even really having them at all. The door opens and shuts so quickly, sometimes, some people even step into it for a few minutes, before they let the door hit their asses on their way out. Don't let that lady go, Greyhorn. And make sure if you have to, you leave gracefully and not trip over your own two feet and make an ass of yourself."
"I did lose her," Smoker grunted sadly. "She dumped me for well... several reasons, and then just when we were starting to work things out she wound up back in her world." He put his head in his gloves glumly. "I thought I'd never see her again. I was ready to do anything to try to follow her and just when I was at my darkest she found me again. Just like that. She's always the one finding me." He ruefully shook his head and blatantly ignored the concept of still being one of Garp's men and jumped on the fifty year birthday mark instead. "I definitely don't want anyone knowing when I turn fifty. Not even myself." That deserved another drink, but he was out of rum and borrow some of the scotch he brought for Garp instead.
"Idiot, she came back, that's not losing the opportunity, Greyhorn! You were just half way out the door when she pulled you back in," he pointed out with a small smirk, then laughed about the whole turning-fifty thing. "It's not as bad as you think it is, especially if you have great friends to celebrate with! I'll take you out for it! And your birthday this year too! ... We'll have a TEA PARTY." He paused and then. "A NAKED TEA PARTY!"
The look of horror on Smoker's face was probably exactly what Garp was aiming for, and it was priceless. "Oh God Garp, no. No forever. ANYTHING, but that." Anything was a bad word. Anything could mean so many horrible means of torture and brain break and trauma beyond anything Smoker could even begin to imagine. "Can't I just take out my bike and jitte and get drunk and beat up pirates?" Smoker growled, trying to somehow enforce that he could not be forced into a naked tea party, under any circumstances ever. Even less for his birthday. "Just once I'd like to spend White Day not listening to idiot jokes and trying to remember who I'm supposed to send marshmallows to until I say fuck it and blow off the whole damn tradition." The free cigars where nice though.
"Anything, huuuuh?" He grinned and rubbed his chin and then stared at Smoker for a few minutes and his face split out into a wider grin, leaning over the other and smirking. "Well, I don't usually drink, Greyhorn. However, perhaps I can do something one up than you getting drunk alone and being an idiot. I'll take you, your crew and Flame-lady to dinner. If you can put up with my two justice-grandsons! I'll even get something I only really liked on occasion. We'll go to one of those places that deepfry turkey and smoke their hams and make the best goddamned turkey sandwiches in the WORLD that makes you think of when you were younger." He smirked and crossed his arms over his chest. "Because I don't think you want me to make this a fancy dress thingy-majigger, huh?"
That did sound good. Really good in fact, especially since the alternative would be considered murdered and Smoker didn't want to be courtmartialed and tried for killing his superior officer. But really good coming from Garp meant the catch had to fucking huge. "Justice" grandsons at least ruled out Smoker's prey, but even Garp wasn't insane enough to suggest Smoker not try to arrest Straw-Hat Luffy, grandson or not. "What, the blond and pink-haired brats you've been training?" Smoker scratched his chin wondering who else Garp could mean.
He laughed and nodded for a few moments. "Duuuh! Justice Grandsons!" He leered and rubbed his chin in thought, staring at Smoker with an almost crazy smirk. "Unless you wanna leave me with all the Turkey?" He was easily happy with that idea. Turkies were so goddamned good-- He shook his head and grinned at Smoker again. "And I'll convince your crew to join ME instead! 'Cause Starface is cool and so is Flaming-Lady and so is Shigi."
"My crew," Smoker growled flatly with a glare. "Don't touch." He leaned back with his hands behind his head again, "If you even try I'll have to steal your justice grandsons to make up for missing ranks." It was a complete bluff, the two brats would annoy him within a day and would never ever leave Garp's side, but Smoker could play along.
He rolled his eyes and smiled brightly at the Commodore, crows-feet appearing at the edges of his eyes as he leaned in and ruffled the male's hair with a happy noise. "You'd go crazy with them, Greyhorn. They sometimes even drive me crazy. Kinda like how you and Pink-man-lady did, bickering and trying to beat each other up. Except they don't try to pick fights with me! Unlike a certain little Greenhorn I know!"
"Tch," Smoker scowled, "Only when they deserve it." He got a little sad, less playing, more serious. "I mean it Garp. Sometimes I worry I like them too much. Karen, Allen, Bookman... But I really don't want to lose any of them."
"Greyhorn, do you honestly think I'd take your crew away from you? I'm insane, well according to some people, not mean. If I wanted to take them I'd have ordered them to leave your ship already. You need to stop being so insecure, idiot. If you ever think you're going to smother them, think about what I did to you. I smothered you and then gave you a small breath of fresh air then dragged you back down for more smothering. It happens when you care about your crew, dumbass!"
Smoker dragged a palm down his face. "That is what I'm trying not to do Garp," he pointed out acerbically, expecting to get kicked through the wall.
"You're hearing my words, but you're not not listening to them." He scowled and kicked the male hard in the knee. "If they didn't like it, Smoker, they wouldn't stay. You're obviously like a father figure to most and a friend to others, Shigi wouldn't have stayed as long as she has if you weren't doing something right with your crew," he growled lowly, before rubbing his palm over his face. "No regrets, is what I taught you. Thinking you're smothering them is a doubt and a doubt is a type of regret. You're obviously doing something right, look at all the awesome people you picked up along the way!"
The marine commodore ignored the kick to the knee (it was barely a tap by Garp standards) and nodded. It was what he expected to hear but he still needed to hear it. Since when did he give a damn what anyone else thought? He was going to do what he knew he wanted to and pay for the consequences later. Of course his worry wasn't with the crew he already had or the way he already treated them, but stopping himself from getting worse with others. How many kids would he try to rescue losing his mind along the way? He didn't regret offering Pearl and Trucy a safe haven on his ship and they weren't regular kids. They'd seen more most and... "Grrrr...." Smoker growled out loud picking up a bottle to grab another drink and accidentally breaking it in a too firm grip. "I can't save the world, just my pieces," he snarled, and shifted to smoke to let the shards of glass drop to the ground before carefully cleaning it up. "What do they expect me to do Garp?!" The stress of trying to manage everything, his own personal life, work, and often feeling like the only marine who did what needed to be done was getting to him. The entire reason he'd looked Garp up in the first place, asking for help.
"Greyhorn, you're human," he commented, quickly reaching behind him and setting his palm down behind him, ready to push himself off of the desk. "That's all anyone expects from you, despite being a Logia user, you're still just human, if you were anything else, you wouldn't be you." He sighed and got off of his desk, moving to kneel down where Smoker was picking up the glass, stopping him, and grabbing a shard. "Marines are just humans," he smiled sadly, using the shard to lightly cut into his own skin. "We bleed, we can't be everywhere at once and we can't save everyone. Nor can we even afford to worry about the 'what if's, trust me I tried. It got me many a scars, because of being absent minded on the battlefield, wondering if I could've saved those marines that fell in battle." He clenched the bleeding hand and smiled down at his ex-cadet. "Smoker, we can only look forwards, trusting our justice and our hearts to do what the right thing is, if you think anyone ever expects more from you, think about what you expect from yourself and maybe, take a breather to think about what's going on. Because, if you keep worrying," he paused to lean in and lightly brush his lips in a father-kissing-his-child-type-way against the younger's forehead. "You're going to end up having a heart attack. I don't want you dying before me, Greyhorn. I don't need to see anyone else that I care about go before me."
Smoker froze at the fatherly gesture and blushed lobster red, quickly getting flustered and batting the older man away. "No one's going to take me down until I'm good and ready, old man," Smoker growled fiercely, "And it's not over until I say it is." He sighed and shivered, backing away from Garp even though he was grateful. "Stick around a little will you? I only have one prey I'm after and fucking everyone keeps throwing someone else in the way to interfere. It's like the heavens themselves protect him." Smoker lit up a second pair of cigars and muttered, "Goddam D luck."
"Oi, if you don't, I'll kick your corpse into the ground and not give you a burial at sea." He smiled and then sat back onto his knees, shaking his bleeding hand a bit, clenching it tight. "And I'll be waiting for you to take my idiot grandson down, Greyhorn. It'll be a day I'll laugh and punch you in the shoulder in congratulations! Then kick you in the face for actually succeeding!" He grinned crazily and rocked forwards and lightly ruffled the grey-green hair.
He then smiled and nodded. "I won't be going anywhere anytime soon, boy! Should punch you for even thinking I'd die! I'd rather have you and my idiots BURYING ME like... when I can't be an AWESOME MARINE. Or when one of you accidentally give me a heart attack because of your STUPIDITY! Then I'd come back and PUNCH EACH OF YOU WITH A GHOSTLY FIST!"
What: Talking over drinks
When: like WEEKS AGO. Guh. Back when Smoker FIRST pissed Garp off. :| Before Allen even got kidnapped.
Why: Smoker pissed Garp off but tries to fix and then they had to discuss girls.
Where: Garp's office on the Fido.
Rating: PG-13 for drinking, language and Garp treating Smoker like his justice son and Smoker treating Garp like his insane C.O. lol
Garp: [Leans back into his desk chair and stares at the half empty glass of whiskey that had only been opened a few times before the whole damned thing, he rubs a hand down his tired face and sighs at the fact that his idiot grandson had left a bit earlier. He felt lonely and it was almost like something important was missing and he hadn't felt this bad in years, then again it was always like that. A few years went by and then something set him off and he went into thinking about how much he missed her. The glass was lifted off the desk and he took a deep swig, before frowning and staring at the door.]
Smoker stormed through the decks of Fido irritably and nearly kicked down the door. He didn't offer to have tea for anyone ever and the damn bastard was still upset and the worst part of it was that it was definitely Smoker's fault. He hated that feeling. "Garp," Smoker growled impatiently outside the door. He'd brought a couple more bottles of Scotch whiskey and then rum for himself. "Let me in, will ya?" He wasn't going to share his cigars. Garp would just have to make do with his own and the picture albums Smoker was certain were already laid out.
An eyebrow rose and he sighed, getting up from the chair, glass in hand as he slunk towards the door, opening it and gesturing for Smoker to come in with his free hand. The photoalbums were put away for the day, having already gone through them with Ace over and over again, the male laughing at the strange pictures he managed to get taken of Luffy and himself when they were both young. Ace being 8 and Luffy being 5. He smiled vaguely at the remembrance and then stared at Greyhorn and stepped back, keeping the door open with his foot. "You're letting a cool breeze in, Greyhorn, get in."
Arching an eyebrow at the lack of pictures laid out everywhere, a warning chill went down Smoker's spine as he desperately wanted to run away and get out, feeling like it was a trap. The marine gruffly laid the bottles of alcohol on Garp's desk and threw himself in one of the overly large chairs and kicked his heels up on the desk, leaning back to suck down cigar smoke. "Talk, Garp," Smoker growled, unable to look the man in the eyes, still feeling wrought with guilt he was repressing furiously.
"About what Greyhorn?" He sighed and walked slowly back to his desk, on his way, however, ruffling the younger's hair lazily, before he sat on the mostly cleared desk. "There's not much else to say, other than you pissed me off more than I have been in a long time. Which, has honestly been a something I should've expected," he pointed out quietly, before rubbing his jaw. "It wasn't your fault at all, mostly mine for taking it so seriously. And I know you didn't mean to insult Nana and that I really shouldn't have taken it that way." He sighed and glanced down at the alcohol in his hand, before he set it down and lightly ruffled his own hair with a hand. "What do you remember about her?"
Flinching at the hand on his head, Smoker suffered through it without completely pushing the vice admiral away. "It's not your fault either, sir," Smoker dropped his grey eyes, "As I said, I went over the line. And..." Smoker rubbed the back of his neck irritably. "Hn. What I remember? Dark hair, dark eyes..." Smoker snorted, remembering the first time he met the woman and the shock that anyone like her would marry someone like the Vice admiral. "She was a librarian. We spoke about books a lot. She seemed as surprised that one of your cadets would read so much as I was surprised you would marry a librarian."
"She was crazier than she let on," he commented, rubbing his chin a bit. "When she was pregnant with Dragon, Sengoku asked her if she was sure the kid wasn't going to be born with horns, she beat the crap out of him and then did it again when he brought her the wrong kinda ice cream for an apology." He laughed loudly, chuckling. "She made him cookies when he got promoted to Admiral too, 'cause I fell asleep on the cake and kinda smooshed it, the icing was tasty and cookies were obviously the better choice. She let me make a Sengoku-shaped one and ice it for him." He laughed and just thought for a few more moments. "She made me read some good novels too, mostly random ones that were fun to read, like Tuck Everlasting. Hn. I let you read that one, huh?" He smiled a bit more and then frowned, getting ready to voice out the next thought that came to mind. "She died when I was on duty, far away from East Blue, I was at the marinefold when I got the news, I'unno, I just remember feeling like a part of me died that day and it didn't get much better the next few weeks, rushing back to the village and almost missing her funeral."
Smoker swallowed hard, it brought up a lot of his own fears. The reason he hadn't really kept a steady relationship until Karen. It was rough on marines leaving their wives at home on an island while their husbands ran off to war, but it was worse on the wives. "Hardly your fault either, sir. And she wasn't that crazy. Just as much as any good woman I suppose." He a ran his fingers through his hair, thinking fast and grabbed the bottle of rum as fast as possible, downing the alcohol in a quick gulp. He hated talking about things like this. "You don't... regret the job, do you, Sir?"
"Greyhorn, she beat the crap out of Sengoku and chased me around with a frying pan for trying to bake a cake. It was funny actually, she came home from the library and found me dumping three bags of sugar into a large bowl and rotten strawberries into the mix. She promptly got out the frying pan and started yelling at me and chasing me around the kitchen. And then yelled at Sengoku for not stopping me and she hit him in the face with the frying pan and me accidentally. She was crazy, beautiful as a storm lingering on the horizon when she was angry, but like the sun breaking through the clouds after that storm whenever she smiled. One of the most beautiful things I've ever seen, she was. Probably number one on that list. She could drive me crazy one minute and then make me smile and laugh my self silly the next." He stopped talking and then looked down at his feet, sighing slightly. "Never, she was always proud of me when I came home, telling me that I was the best man in the world and covered my face in butterfly-soft kisses and then beat me over the head and ask me why I hadn't come home sooner. The only thing I regret is not saying goodbye or hearing her voice one last time before I left. Just one little 'I love you' would've done it." He hug his head and laughed sadly, the glass in his hand was put down and he looked at Smoker for a few seconds and then chuckled louder, more happier. "I think she would've adored you if I had taken you back with me more, silly Greyhorn. Probably should've, in retrospect. Maybe then I wouldn't have to punch you as much as I do now!"
Letting out a long held sigh, Smoker leaned back and let the words tumble over him. He really was so much better at listening than talking. "Sounds like Karen," Smoker laughed softly and scrubbed his face roughly. "She drives me absolutely insane. She got sick around Christmas and I sent one of my marines to keep her safe and she beat the crap out of him because he tried to tell her to stay in her room. Then she beat him up again just because I was pissing her off." Smoker shook his head and laughed softly. "She terrifies me. Genuinely worries me. She'd go right up to Sengoku and tell him off for being a pain if I let her. She's so..." His eyes sparkled but he couldn't find the words to sum it up. The green-grey haired marine hung his head for a moment, "I'm sure Nanase would have kicked my ass as well, sir." He chuckled darkly, "Only beautiful women ever really can."
"Yeah, that's why I like Flame-lady. She's beautiful and reminds me of Nana," he grinned lazily and kicked at Smoker's leg lazily. "See, if Nana was still around, she probably would've kicked him in the balls for hurting her grandbabies. And then would've promptly kick me in the nuts for not stopping him in the first place. And she'd probably tell Flaming-Lady all about how to handle guys like us. Kick them in the face or beat the crap out of them with frying pans." He smiled and reached back, pulling a picture frame off the desk, tossing it at the other. "That's Nana on Ace's first birthday, she dressed him up in a tuxedo and then promptly dressed me in one too and made me take them to a fancy restaurant. That dress she was wearing? The blue sundress? She was buried in it, because before when talking with me, she said she wanted to dress as if the sun was going to be beating down on her no matter what the weather was like when she was buried. It was sunny and beautiful and she was gorgeous and angelic, I swore she was just sleeping and that she'd wake up any moment, but she didn't, Sengoku only showed up after Makino took the brats home and we went drinking. He used to be a good man through and through, but now, he's just a little bit cynical and really just lost sight of true justice. But he's still my best friend, even if he is a meanieface that deserves to be kicked sometimes." He laughed brightly and then looked down at Smoker, kicking him again and then thought for another moment.
"Karen is very beautiful, Greyhorn and I hope you know, if you make her cry, I don't care if I've known you longer and you're family. I will punch you into the ocean repeatedly." He smiled brightly and then chuckled. "And I'll make sure your wedding goes smoothly, Greyhorn, even if I have to stop it in the middle of the whole thing and punch whoevers ruining it." The bright and crazy smile was back for a few moments, before he dropped it and snorted. "Greyhorn, you still gonna man up for that cup of tea?"
"As if I don't have enough women on my ship threatening to kick me in the balls already," Smoker growled. "You know Lala is doing the same thing? She says she's always been this way, but Grand Line is corrupting Tashigi. She keeps kicking my shins." He didn't mind. He'd rather his Ensign kept fighting back, kept her fighting spirit up for the rest of her life. She needed it and he couldn't stand seeing her collapse on shaky legs one more time. He'd kill the next man who did that to her, brass or not. "People have got to stop suggesting I'll make Karen cry. Woman's already brought ME to... not the other way around." He flushed, he couldn't admit that to anyone, how dark it had gotten when Karen left through no fault of her own. Dark enough he'd called up Garp just to have someone who knew him well enough to know it had gotten bad. Smoker swallowed hard around the cigars and narrowed his eyes at the next words, "Do you know how much I hate tea, Garp?" he growled furiously. Then Smoker sighed, he'd given his word and an officer without his word had nothing, "Yeah, I'll drink the fucking tea. Only one cup though!"
"I'm not a woman, idiot!" Another kick was given to the younger male, before he smiled and shook his head a bit. "Strong women are a good thing to have on a crew, Greyhorn. They even may flash the enemy to get them to be distracted! Well, if you asked them too." He stared blankly at Smoker, before he grinned and laughed. "A good woman always brings the man they love to crying at LEAST once, it's always been a rule!" He laughed softly and then crossed his arms over his chest and thought for a moment. "Nana did many times. The first time she beat me with a frying pan, first time she told me she loved me, uhhh, when she told me she was pregnant with my CRAZY son. When she told me that if she ever had to go out when I was home, she'd let me hog the bed and blankets until she came back, I'unno why, don't ask -- and the first time she made me a cake for my birthday. Our wedding day, she looked pretty, like a goddess came down and hugged my head into her boobs all the time. Um, another one would be finding out that she died and on her funeral." At least he was honest about it.
"Like fuck I'm letting of my female personnel flash the enemy," Smoker growled irritably, lighting up another pair of cigars. He always went through them faster around the vice admiral. "Although... Nevan probably will be flashing them even though I ordered her to wear a shirt." He dragged a palm down his face. "It's part of her fighting style. She's a demoness. The seducing kind..." a gloved hand pinched the bridge between his eyes. "A succubus." He was never going to let Lavi forget it. Not ever.
Smoker stoically tried to listen to the insane man's stories without change in expression. Then he grabbed a bottle of rum and fervently tried to clean his brain the mental images. Having an overactive imagination really sucked when you were surrounded by such psychopaths such as Garp. "Just the once so far for me," Smoker growled. "But I haven't cried since I was five otherwise." He leaned his head into the fist, still listening, but added softly. "Karen doesn't even need a frying pan. She just burns things. Me, the bed sheets... she just burnt up all the coffee on the ship because we were arguing." He finished off the second bottle and roughly scratched his chin. "Still my angel though," he muttered almost purring like a happy kitten.
The Vice-Admiral just grinned crazily and shook his head lazily. "A demon, huh? You really get all the MANLY people. I should steal some of 'em, huh?" He teased with a wry smile, watching Smoker quietly, watching his expression change when he talked about Karen like that. The pride bubbling in his stomach that Smoker had found his own Nanase just made him overjoyed. (For many reasons, one would be for the "justice grandbabies" and another would be because Smoker deserved that much.)
"I'm glad, Greyhorn! She's very pretty too, I bet she's a real firecracker in the sack." He smirked at that, waiting for the blush to come.
"Yes, you should steal some of them," Smoker shrugged lazily, eyes glazed on the bottle before focusing better. "But not Allen, Karen, Tashigi, Tsuzuki, Bookman Lavi or... fuck... you can't have any of them. You should steal them before I pick them up." He took a heavy swig of rum, and splurted it out at hearing Garp talk about his fiance like that. Blushing furiously, Smoker growled, "She-- she is! But that's not the point!!" Even his ears were bright red. God damn that man.
"I like Shigi though. And Starface. Flame-Lady too. I'll steal 'em aaaaall!"
He couldn't stop the laugh that followed, feeling so much better, as he reached back to grab the drink he had set aside, sipping it languidly for a few seconds before he smiled innocently at the other. "Nice ears, Greyhorn! Pink looks good with your hair! ...I should really get Bogart to get you a pink coat for your birthday! That's coming up, huh? March 14th!"
"No," Smoker growled possessively, "Mine." He'd bite the Vice Admiral if he tried to kidnap them. Genuinely bite the man. "Grrrr... I hate pink." Smoker rubbed his ears irritably, once again relieved that Garp hadn't been around to see the pink hair dye. "And everyone should just forget about my birthday so that I can." Turning 36 wasn't going to be easy. Worse with the reminder from a bunch of damn teens who already called him ten different kinds of old.
"Possessive, are we? Does that make you mine, Greyhorn? 'Cause you're still part of my crew, whether you like it or not." He hummed playfully and wiggled his fingers at the other with a teasing motion. "No! Your birthday is a GRAND event! Just wait until you turn FIFTY and on the GRANDLINE. It's AWESOME." He nodded wildly and rubbed the back of his neck, downing the rest of the glass as he stared blankly at the bottom of the empty glass before setting it back down. "Y'know, you're a pretty lucky man, Greyhorn. Not many men in the marines find the person they wanna spend their life with out having to have lost them without even really having them at all. The door opens and shuts so quickly, sometimes, some people even step into it for a few minutes, before they let the door hit their asses on their way out. Don't let that lady go, Greyhorn. And make sure if you have to, you leave gracefully and not trip over your own two feet and make an ass of yourself."
"I did lose her," Smoker grunted sadly. "She dumped me for well... several reasons, and then just when we were starting to work things out she wound up back in her world." He put his head in his gloves glumly. "I thought I'd never see her again. I was ready to do anything to try to follow her and just when I was at my darkest she found me again. Just like that. She's always the one finding me." He ruefully shook his head and blatantly ignored the concept of still being one of Garp's men and jumped on the fifty year birthday mark instead. "I definitely don't want anyone knowing when I turn fifty. Not even myself." That deserved another drink, but he was out of rum and borrow some of the scotch he brought for Garp instead.
"Idiot, she came back, that's not losing the opportunity, Greyhorn! You were just half way out the door when she pulled you back in," he pointed out with a small smirk, then laughed about the whole turning-fifty thing. "It's not as bad as you think it is, especially if you have great friends to celebrate with! I'll take you out for it! And your birthday this year too! ... We'll have a TEA PARTY." He paused and then. "A NAKED TEA PARTY!"
The look of horror on Smoker's face was probably exactly what Garp was aiming for, and it was priceless. "Oh God Garp, no. No forever. ANYTHING, but that." Anything was a bad word. Anything could mean so many horrible means of torture and brain break and trauma beyond anything Smoker could even begin to imagine. "Can't I just take out my bike and jitte and get drunk and beat up pirates?" Smoker growled, trying to somehow enforce that he could not be forced into a naked tea party, under any circumstances ever. Even less for his birthday. "Just once I'd like to spend White Day not listening to idiot jokes and trying to remember who I'm supposed to send marshmallows to until I say fuck it and blow off the whole damn tradition." The free cigars where nice though.
"Anything, huuuuh?" He grinned and rubbed his chin and then stared at Smoker for a few minutes and his face split out into a wider grin, leaning over the other and smirking. "Well, I don't usually drink, Greyhorn. However, perhaps I can do something one up than you getting drunk alone and being an idiot. I'll take you, your crew and Flame-lady to dinner. If you can put up with my two justice-grandsons! I'll even get something I only really liked on occasion. We'll go to one of those places that deepfry turkey and smoke their hams and make the best goddamned turkey sandwiches in the WORLD that makes you think of when you were younger." He smirked and crossed his arms over his chest. "Because I don't think you want me to make this a fancy dress thingy-majigger, huh?"
That did sound good. Really good in fact, especially since the alternative would be considered murdered and Smoker didn't want to be courtmartialed and tried for killing his superior officer. But really good coming from Garp meant the catch had to fucking huge. "Justice" grandsons at least ruled out Smoker's prey, but even Garp wasn't insane enough to suggest Smoker not try to arrest Straw-Hat Luffy, grandson or not. "What, the blond and pink-haired brats you've been training?" Smoker scratched his chin wondering who else Garp could mean.
He laughed and nodded for a few moments. "Duuuh! Justice Grandsons!" He leered and rubbed his chin in thought, staring at Smoker with an almost crazy smirk. "Unless you wanna leave me with all the Turkey?" He was easily happy with that idea. Turkies were so goddamned good-- He shook his head and grinned at Smoker again. "And I'll convince your crew to join ME instead! 'Cause Starface is cool and so is Flaming-Lady and so is Shigi."
"My crew," Smoker growled flatly with a glare. "Don't touch." He leaned back with his hands behind his head again, "If you even try I'll have to steal your justice grandsons to make up for missing ranks." It was a complete bluff, the two brats would annoy him within a day and would never ever leave Garp's side, but Smoker could play along.
He rolled his eyes and smiled brightly at the Commodore, crows-feet appearing at the edges of his eyes as he leaned in and ruffled the male's hair with a happy noise. "You'd go crazy with them, Greyhorn. They sometimes even drive me crazy. Kinda like how you and Pink-man-lady did, bickering and trying to beat each other up. Except they don't try to pick fights with me! Unlike a certain little Greenhorn I know!"
"Tch," Smoker scowled, "Only when they deserve it." He got a little sad, less playing, more serious. "I mean it Garp. Sometimes I worry I like them too much. Karen, Allen, Bookman... But I really don't want to lose any of them."
"Greyhorn, do you honestly think I'd take your crew away from you? I'm insane, well according to some people, not mean. If I wanted to take them I'd have ordered them to leave your ship already. You need to stop being so insecure, idiot. If you ever think you're going to smother them, think about what I did to you. I smothered you and then gave you a small breath of fresh air then dragged you back down for more smothering. It happens when you care about your crew, dumbass!"
Smoker dragged a palm down his face. "That is what I'm trying not to do Garp," he pointed out acerbically, expecting to get kicked through the wall.
"You're hearing my words, but you're not not listening to them." He scowled and kicked the male hard in the knee. "If they didn't like it, Smoker, they wouldn't stay. You're obviously like a father figure to most and a friend to others, Shigi wouldn't have stayed as long as she has if you weren't doing something right with your crew," he growled lowly, before rubbing his palm over his face. "No regrets, is what I taught you. Thinking you're smothering them is a doubt and a doubt is a type of regret. You're obviously doing something right, look at all the awesome people you picked up along the way!"
The marine commodore ignored the kick to the knee (it was barely a tap by Garp standards) and nodded. It was what he expected to hear but he still needed to hear it. Since when did he give a damn what anyone else thought? He was going to do what he knew he wanted to and pay for the consequences later. Of course his worry wasn't with the crew he already had or the way he already treated them, but stopping himself from getting worse with others. How many kids would he try to rescue losing his mind along the way? He didn't regret offering Pearl and Trucy a safe haven on his ship and they weren't regular kids. They'd seen more most and... "Grrrr...." Smoker growled out loud picking up a bottle to grab another drink and accidentally breaking it in a too firm grip. "I can't save the world, just my pieces," he snarled, and shifted to smoke to let the shards of glass drop to the ground before carefully cleaning it up. "What do they expect me to do Garp?!" The stress of trying to manage everything, his own personal life, work, and often feeling like the only marine who did what needed to be done was getting to him. The entire reason he'd looked Garp up in the first place, asking for help.
"Greyhorn, you're human," he commented, quickly reaching behind him and setting his palm down behind him, ready to push himself off of the desk. "That's all anyone expects from you, despite being a Logia user, you're still just human, if you were anything else, you wouldn't be you." He sighed and got off of his desk, moving to kneel down where Smoker was picking up the glass, stopping him, and grabbing a shard. "Marines are just humans," he smiled sadly, using the shard to lightly cut into his own skin. "We bleed, we can't be everywhere at once and we can't save everyone. Nor can we even afford to worry about the 'what if's, trust me I tried. It got me many a scars, because of being absent minded on the battlefield, wondering if I could've saved those marines that fell in battle." He clenched the bleeding hand and smiled down at his ex-cadet. "Smoker, we can only look forwards, trusting our justice and our hearts to do what the right thing is, if you think anyone ever expects more from you, think about what you expect from yourself and maybe, take a breather to think about what's going on. Because, if you keep worrying," he paused to lean in and lightly brush his lips in a father-kissing-his-child-type-way against the younger's forehead. "You're going to end up having a heart attack. I don't want you dying before me, Greyhorn. I don't need to see anyone else that I care about go before me."
Smoker froze at the fatherly gesture and blushed lobster red, quickly getting flustered and batting the older man away. "No one's going to take me down until I'm good and ready, old man," Smoker growled fiercely, "And it's not over until I say it is." He sighed and shivered, backing away from Garp even though he was grateful. "Stick around a little will you? I only have one prey I'm after and fucking everyone keeps throwing someone else in the way to interfere. It's like the heavens themselves protect him." Smoker lit up a second pair of cigars and muttered, "Goddam D luck."
"Oi, if you don't, I'll kick your corpse into the ground and not give you a burial at sea." He smiled and then sat back onto his knees, shaking his bleeding hand a bit, clenching it tight. "And I'll be waiting for you to take my idiot grandson down, Greyhorn. It'll be a day I'll laugh and punch you in the shoulder in congratulations! Then kick you in the face for actually succeeding!" He grinned crazily and rocked forwards and lightly ruffled the grey-green hair.
He then smiled and nodded. "I won't be going anywhere anytime soon, boy! Should punch you for even thinking I'd die! I'd rather have you and my idiots BURYING ME like... when I can't be an AWESOME MARINE. Or when one of you accidentally give me a heart attack because of your STUPIDITY! Then I'd come back and PUNCH EACH OF YOU WITH A GHOSTLY FIST!"