Chapter 4: Grandpa
Ken was hardly awake for more than 1 hour while he played with the curious Ace for a bit. He was intrigued by the new specimen that had just arrived and he seemed happy that he had a new friend who would soon be his friend.
But little did he know that this young baby would be totally different from what the young Ace was wishing for. Ken then continued spending his days with the bandits. Contrary to the times Luffy lived with Dadan, the bandits provided all the food and nutrition a baby would require to live through for both Ace and Ken.
This surprised Ken as he remembered that Luffy and his brothers were the ones who used to bring food on a daily basis and the bandits used to eat from that. Dadan had even said she will only provide one meal once a day to Luffy.
"Dadan was really a kind hearted woman who treated Ace badly. Thank god!!"
Ken thought. He was passing his days as beautifully as ever and never cried, not that Dadan gave any reasons to cry. Only thing that irritated Ken was the fight for food every night and partying whenever they got a chance. Ken was never a party guy and that too a party where everybody was shouting, yelling and singing kind of cringed him out.
Though it was kind of unique to his character and it hampered his sleep too. But complaining about this would only fall into deaf ears, so after crying for the first few times, he accepted it forcefully later.
"Can't wait to grow up and build a separate home for myself. I should learn survival skills and how to make a home."
Though it was boring for Ken without his mobile and his typical life, it was good that he was sleeping day in and day out. Meanwhile an interesting thing happened when he was passing his life with the bandits.
One day, Garp showed up to have a look at his grandson. And when he saw a new baby in the house he was taken aback.
"&*^*&% Whose baby is this?)&&&**"
Ken had been trying to understand the Japanese language everyday and finally he had some grasp on it, thanks to his baby brain. Though he was still far away from the real deal, at least he could understand the general trend of the conversation.
"&^^&^&*&() on the door."
Garp then looked at Ken for a few seconds again and then asked Dadan.
"What is the name have you given to this kid?&(&&*^^(."
"No, there were no &*^*^%^&(."
"Alright from today onwards you will be named Mack." Garp said. Surprisingly Ken understood the whole sentence and the new name made him instantly angry. His full name was Kenny in his previous life but everyone called him Ken. He loved his short name and in no way he was going to change his name to a typical name like Mack. It was not even a Japanese name for God's sake.
Ken instantly showed an angered face and made such an expression that it was apparent that he didn't like that name. This sudden change of behaviour surprised Garp and others. Ken was just a baby and he shouldn't understand what they were speaking, forget about expressing discontent with a name.
"You don't like the name?"
Ken moved his head sideways to express his thoughts.
"*^^*&*)*& Sebastian?"
"Iyaaaa"
"Anthony?"
"Iyaaaa."
"Kenny?"
"Hai."
The weird exchange between Ken and Garp was noticed by everyone with wide eyes. They just saw an old man and a baby that was just born a few months ago interact like they had known each other since ages. Was this even possible? What was up with this duo?
"Yosh.. From today you are Kenny." Garp said. Ken looked happy with the proclamation as Ken finally had a name as Dadan had just been calling him by random Japanese words.
"Hhahaha such a lovely kid... (&(&^*&&*.. my grandson."
"EH!!!!"
"Nani?"
Ken was taken aback by the reaction of the bandits as he didn't understand what Garp meant and he had a confused face. Garp lifted Ken up and took him in his arms. And after Garp made it clear did he understand what had happened.
He just got adopted by Garp as his grandson just like Ace!!!
Dadan was still not over the fact that Ken and Garp could even interact and now this fell on their shoulders. Ken didn't know what he would do with this new designation that just got attached to his resume. Ken. Grandson of Marine hero, Garp. He was ecstatic inside thinking he finally had a family. Though the bandits were still his new family he could still feel some indifference from the bandits as everyone was not like Dadan. But Garp was different.
He would finally have someone that he could call his own. He felt a little lonely while being a baby, thinking there was nobody to call his own yet. Now at least, he had a grandpa.
Garp and Ken looked happy as they looked at each other. Ken gave a wide face while Garp showed his teeth to Ken. Both seemed like they understood each other. It was still a miracle of how Garp was okay with Ken able to understand him and show the expressions that were not possible for a young baby.
Dadan didn't want to spend much time on this and invited Garp to spend some time with them, which Garp happily obliged. Ken and Ace spent a week with Garp as he showed the island around and even took them to the kingdom to have a sightseeing.
Ken was taking everything in as he could and looked around. Being with Garp made him understand how much Garp loved both Ace and himself. Though Ken was just randomly added to the group suddenly, there were no differences between his love for the two younglings.
The vacations soon ended for Garp and he left for his work soon. Ken and Ace bade their goodbye to Garp while Dadan sighed in relief. She always felt she was living in danger whenever Garp used to come by.