I have so many questions about Grumpy, especially the fact that he and Luffy are so close in age and so dramatically different in personality. How do he and Luffy get along? Does he grow up alongside ASL and if so how does that work? And when he announces he wants to be a Marine, how do his brothers react? I know that they are raised significantly less feral than in canon but I’m still picturing Ace, Sabo and Luffy running off into the wilderness with their pipes and Crocodile asking, “Aren’t you going to go play with your brothers?” and Grumpy not even looking up from his book and going, “Not even if you paid me.”
I just love him so much (And mini-Mingo too but I think you said she was a few years younger than Grumpy + Luffy so I'm imagining that Ace and Sabo were already off pirating/revolutionary-ing by the time she was old enough to join their hijinx)
All very good questions but I don't really know the answers either because surely the addition of other children is going to affect the dynamic. For example, Ace finds himself the fierce guardian of not only Luffy (who just showers him in constant sweet baby affection and a lot of crying) but also a second little brother. One that is a lot more reserved, doesn't offer smiles quite as willingly but at least he cries less than Luffy! Ace probably spends a lot of time with Luffy to give his parents a bit of time to look after the Grumpy. Once Luffy can walk, they're off in the village, at the beach. Just constantly on adventures.
And they will include Grumpy as soon as he's a bit older. I think there's just no way around being a bit feral if you're a Monkey D, with parents who don't really know what a normal childhood is.
And I think Luffy is getting a lot of pointers from Ace (and Sabo) about what a solemn duty it is to be a big brother. I think Luffy would just pull Grumpy along to play and fight and hunt wild animals.
It would probably also be one of the main ASL activities and competition to get a smile out of their grumpy little brother. Which isn't toooooo hard because I think he can be rather cheerful as well, especially as a child. He's just a lot more quiet and thoughtful than Luffy is, not as interested in beating each other up but the wildness of the D.clan lineage just has to find an outlet somehow! He and Dragon can sit at a desk for hours, just quietly reading and working. Sabo likes to read too but if you give him the choice between reading and beating something or someone up with a pipe, he's gonna choose the latter.
(I'm a bit amused about how Shanks might react when there are two kids in Makino's bar because she's probably watching the kids and Luffy drags Grumpy everywhere. And if we go with the idea that Shanks knows Dragon, the kid's quiet way of handling things would be very familiar, but surely that's just a coincidence.)
The events of Grey Terminal are probably going to affect all of the boys differently, setting them off on their own trajectories towards becoming pirates, a revolutionary and, well, a marine. A lot of pirates are rough and cruel after all and will hurt those who are defenseless. Grumpy wants to help and there are just not a lot of ways of doing it.
I don't think Grumpy will tell anyone about what he wants to do, especially not Grandpa Garp because he'd just become more intense, maybe forcing him to train even harder. And they also all have different things to worry about: the aftermath of Grey Terminal as well as the birth of Mini Mingo not long after mean that there's just not any time for Grumpy to bring up what he thinks he's going to do. When asked, he probably just says he's thinking about becoming a doctor.
When Luffy is about to sail off, I think Grumpy will set out as well and he'll tell Luffy where he's going (a Marine base, to enlist). And just like with Koby, Luffy instantly accepts it. That's his little brother after all, he knows what he's doing! And he'd probably insist on taking Grumpy with him, just for a bit, but no, thank you, Grumpy isn't going to sail on a pirate's ship ;3 He's going to take commercial vessels, do it properly.
(And then when Grumpy makes his way to the base he wanted to enlist in he finds it completely demolished by Luffy. Great. Okay, then let's head to Logue Town, Smoker is rather well known here as well. And then, well... Again. In the middle of the meeting with Smoker to enlist, Luffy happens to Logue Town and Tashigi bumps into something, spilling coffee over his enlistment form. What was his name again? Can't read it... Oh well, make sure No Brows catches the first ship heading towards HQ tomorrow! Says the man who has no brows either. I think. Does Smoker have eyebrows?? *lol*)
I think Dragon will be the one the most worried about Grumpy's choice to enlist. He did the same thing, he walked the same path and it is soul crushing. But Grumpy has to make those choices himself, they can't tell him no and allow the other kids to follow their (very dangerous) dreams. It is a big risk, considering that there will be people in HQ who will look at the boy and go "huh, I swear I've seen this face before" but Garp's in HQ as well and Crocodile is technically an employee of the WG as well. It'll be fine.
It's far from fine, Marineford wrecks all of them.
(Of course, if anyone has any ideas let me know, this verse isn't particularly fleshed out, I'm just listing various ideas and we'll see what sticks around *lol*)
