Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or Katekyo Hitman Reborn! unfortunately.

A/N: This is self-betaed so please excuse any grammar and spelling mistakes. Please Review too!

Chapter 4

They don't tell Makino anything and that is for the best because it's for her best. Makino is strong in many ways but she doesn't know much of the cruelty of the world.

She is a civilian but that's okay. Colonello and Luffy are protectors and she is family so they will protect her too.

Makino, Luffy, and Colonello are family now and nothing will change that.

And Luffy is also learning. She is learning more about people and how to fight. She learns the best way to throw a punch and how to conserve her movements to be precise and not waste any energy.

She learns how to walk silently and move swiftly. She spends long hours practicing because she has promised herself that she would be strong. She also spends much time with Colonello.

They train together. Colonello is trying to become stronger too after all. It's slow going but that's to be expected. Strength does not come from shortcuts and it doesn't faze them because they are improving.

And isn't that the best they can hope for. To steadily improve to the point where they can see the difference in the level of their skills from what they had started with.

And Colonello is also learning. He is learning that being at the top in their old world means nothing here in this crazy world that is mostly comprised of water.

He learns that the level of strength is much different here, not because he has experience fighting or meeting with any strong opponents of this world yet, but because this world has a greater population of fighters.

You need to be strong to travel in this world so people became strong as a necessity and there are more ruthless fighters here than the entire mafia world back home.

Colonello also learns that there is always room for improvement and that you can always get stronger. Luffy has taught him this.

Luffy has taught him that there is never a best and that you can always become better. Standing at the top as one of the strongest seven in the mafia had clouded that sight.

He had been used to be thinking that he's at his peak in strength and all he has to do is maintain that strength. He is ashamed to admit that being the strongest has made him arrogant, albeit unintentionally.

Colonello never once thought he could be training to get much stronger back then. To be fair though, there wasn't much need for him to get any stronger back then.

But now, Colonello needs strength because he has something to use it for. He needs it because he has something to protect.

He has a family now and nothing will rip that away from him.

And for a while, they settle into a nice routine. Of course, there are a few bumps along the road so to speak. Mainly, the first meeting between Garp and Colonello.

For all his seeming obliviousness, Garp is actually pretty sharp after all and is automatically wary and suspicious when this powerful not-a-child-killer-assassin is around his precious granddaughter in what is known as the weakest and most peaceful of the four Blues.

The not-a-child has the look of one who has taken numerous lives in his eyes and Garp is too worried about his granddaughter and on alert to focus on reading anything else from the dangerous man in front of him

And the not-a-child man watches him just as carefully. The calculating look in those old eyes set in a youthful face deeply unsettles him. There is something very wrong with this thing and his instincts are screaming at him to eliminate this abnormality, to eliminate this threat.

But...he uses all of his will power to restrain himself, to hold himself back because that's his granddaughter right there and Garp knows intimately how civilian casualties occur. He is an experienced marine and even if he doesn't act like it, he's seen a lot of corpses in his life. He's fully aware of the dark side of humanity and there is little he hasn't already seen already.

Garp is a powerful marine who has forcibly learned to trust his instincts to stay alive through blood and death (which is why he gave his special training to his son and Ace. He didn't - doesn't want the two of them to develop those same instincts that way. It would be safer for them to develop them young to increase their chances of survival).

When he gets a gut feeling, he knows to act on it now... but this isn't about him this time.

This is about his granddaughter and for once he ignores his instincts no matter how much they scream at him because he will do what is best for Luffy this time. This is about his duty as a grandfather instead of about his duty as a marine.

So, he takes the breath he didn't know he was holding and steels himself and asks the most important question he has right now. "What are your intentions towards Luffy?"

They are both settled at a corner in Makino's bar for privacy while Makino and Luffy were busying themselves in the kitchen, preparing lunch.

Pause. The only sound is the whir of a fan for a few moments.

"To protect her," the assassin says in return. He doesn't beat around the bush either, cutting straight to the point.

"Why? Why Luffy? What could you possibly gain from protecting her?" Garp questions in frustration without relenting. He isn't going to risk his family on the simple words of one person, no matter how sincere they seemed.

"I don't gain anything. It's as simple as this. Luffy is my friend. She saved me and gave me a purpose even if she doesn't know it. I'm sure you can sense that I'm dangerous but that doesn't mean that I will harm her or any other innocent here. Luffy trusts me and I can't - won't betray that trust," the not-a-baby replies in turn.

And this time the words ring true, his instincts settle down. So even if he still doesn't like how such a dangerous person is here, he sighs and asks, "What is your name?"

And the not-a-baby smiles in return and answers, "Colonello."

"So you knew those people from Luffy's old life? Is that another reason you want to protect her"

"No, while my mentor did work with Iemitsu, I didn't really like him that much. I'm not sure why I ended here on Dawn Island of all places but at first I just watched out for her because she was a little girl going through a dangerous forest. I didn't recognize her until later and by then I had already gotten attached."

"I see, well my granddaughter has always been charismatic so I'm not surprised. She's a really good kid so I don't hold this Iemitsu in a high light at all or anyone else from that family. I do have to ask you this though, if you had to go against your mentor to protect Luffy, would you?"

And he doesn't even hesitate this time to say, "Yes."

Garp and Colonello still don't fully trust each other but by the time lunch is finished, they seemed to have reached an understanding.

They act more warmly towards each other and Garp willingly answers Colonello's questions about this world, the three sides (pirate, marine, and revolutionary), the Grand Line, Tenryuubitos as well as anything else that he feels that Colonello should know.

After all, this man Colonello is going to protect Luffy so there are definitely some things he should know especially since Luffy is going to leave this peaceful island one day.

A "D" is always fated to have a great destiny and be in the middle of things and Luffy is a "D" now. She's bound to set out and stir things up as well as get into danger more often than not while she does so.

Garp departs from Dawn Island on good terms and is content for now. He can leave Luffy and the village to Colonello because although Colonello has blood on his hands that will never wash away, Luffy is his beacon.

Colonello is a protector now and that is plain to see.

He also doesn't have to worry about Luffy after seeing how hard she is working towards being strong. Surprisingly, Colonello is a good and patient teacher.

No, they both are because although Colonello seems to be the teacher, he is also the student. He is learning from Luffy as well.

Besides, he's glad to see that he doesn't have to throw Luffy into his special brand of training and subject her to that since she already has those instincts and trusts in them deeply.

(He's also furious that she's already had to develop and trust them on her own from already going through life and death situations as well as having been betrayed one to many times at such a young age.)

But now is not the time to think on that, he reminds himself as he stalks through the marine headquarters to Sengoku's office. Sengoku might understand but there are many here who would blame the sins of the parents on the children.

So he relaxes and then runs through into the office, ignoring the shut door he just trampled and greets Sengoku warmly with sweet sake and rice cakes.

And while Colonello and Luffy were in Makino's Part Bar, chatting with the customers and generally helping Makino out while Garp was munching on rice cakes with Sengoku, another figure was making its way through the East Blue.

In fact, said figure was heading in the general direction of Dawn Island.

The figure's small boat was rather swift too due to the fierce winds whipping around and pushing the sail of the boat.

And suddenly a particularly harsh wind made the boat lurch forward, causing the figure's hood to be flung off and reveal pure white hair that glinted in the sunlight. Still, it didn't faze the boy as violet eyes stared ahead determinedly.

He was definitely going to get to Foosha Village with his Dying Will.

Wow, so it's been a long time but I've finally went back to my stuff and churned out another chapter.

Thanks to everyone who bared with this unintentional hiatus and hung in there for me to continue writing again. I didn't write for a long time due to medical reasons but am better now! :D

So, this chapter is all about coming together and Garp's point of view. I kind of actually like a supportive Garp and actually thinks that he probably isn't as stupid as he is portrayed and really does have reasons for his actions.

Thank you everyone who has reviewed and followed my story. I'll try to update my other stories too! And yes, the last part was a little teaser there! ;)