Another chapter is here. Enjoy
Big GAGANTIC whale!
As they ride down Reverse Mountain Luffy stands in front of the ship with a smile as they go through a thick cloud which blurs their vision. "Whoa, this is great!" Sanji shout as Nami and Usopp yell in excitement. "This is amazing." Kent shouts while holding on to his hat to ensure it doesn't go flying away. Suddenly a loud low groaning sound is heard in the distant.
"Did you guys just hear something?!" Zoro yells. "Huh?" Nami exclaims. "That groaning sound didn't you hear it?" Zoro ask. "It was probably just the wind. At this speed everything sounds distorted!" Nami yells. Then a black obstacle appears in front of the ship. "What was that?" Usopp wonders looking at the obstacle. "Nami I see a mountain up ahead!" Sanji shouts. "What? That's impossible!" She yells. "But it's right there. I can see it." He says. "He's right!" Kent yells barely able to hear him. "WHO CAAAAAAAAAAARES. LET'S GOOOOOOOOOO!" Luffy yells with joy. "After we past the twin caves up ahead there should be nothing but ocean." She yells. As they sail closer to the obstacle it starts to grow bigger. "Are you sure? Cause all I see is the mountain." Kent yells.
As the clouds finally disperse the mountain becomes clear as it appears to be huge and black. Everyone starts to scream in terror as they sail at high speed at it. "IT'S A BLACK WALL!" Luffy screams. "NO IT'S NOT!" Nami shout. "THEN WHAT IS IT?" Zoro yells. Kent looks at it as his eyes widen in surprise, excitement and fear all at once as he shouts. "GIGANTIC WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALE!"
The creature is mouth is facing the air with its stomach to the ship as it gives a loud ear piercing groan. "What are we gonna do?" Usopp says panicking. "Should we fight?" Luffy asks. "Idiot, how are we supposed to fight a hundred ton whale?!" Nami yells. "We got to do something our path is blocked. How do we escape?" Usopp says. "Calm down. If this creature looks like a giant wall to us then we must be a spec." Sanji says.
"That's right. It's highly possible that this thing isn't even aware that we are here." Nami says. "We'll run right into it unless we change course." Zoro says as he sees something. "Look we can get by on the left." Zoro says pointing at a gap on the whales left side. "Port move to port!" Zoro yells. Kent looks at the rudder then back to Zoro. "If you've forgotten the rudder is broken!" Kent says. "Do something! ANYTHING!" Zoro yells as he Usopp, Sanji and Kent run to the rudder to turn it. "Wait I know this'll work. It has to." Luffy says as he disappears to the cannon room.
The four of them try as hard as they can to move the rudder as it just won't budge. "Move you damn thing. MOVE!" Kent yells as he tries to move it. "This is pointless the ships not gonna turn." Usopp says. "Dammit, don't give up!" Zoro says as they continue to turn the rudder.
Just when they thought that this could be the end a loud blast is suddenly heard from a cannon that is shot by Luffy that was aimed at the whale. The recoil plus the blast radius causes the ship to immediately begin to slow down. Everyone but Luffy has dumbfounded looks on their faces. "A CANNON?!" They all scream in unison. "Done." Luffy says proudly as he chuckles. As the ship slows down it stops as it hits the whale. As it does so the figurehead of the Going Merry breaks off as it flies to the back of the ship while spinning. "We're screwed. This is it." Nami says as she lies on the floor with fear in her eyes. As the figurehead lands on the floor Luffy screams. "HEY THAT WAS MY SPEACIAL SEAT!" He yells. As the rest of them sit where they are waiting for the inevitable the whale stays as it is without doing anything or reacting to what happened.
Zoro gulps as he says "Damn." They all then grab an oar as they quickly row the boat to safety. "let's get out of here before it's too late." "Would someone mind telling me what the heck is going on?!" Usopp panics. "It so big that the cannonball didn't even make it flinch, either that or it's reaction time is slow." Sanji explains. As they row Kent looks at the beast. "Besides all this I have to say that this is a magnificent whale. It's so big that I have to document it and…" Kent tries to say before Zoro interrupts him. "Would you worry more about staying alive and keep rowing!" He yells.
The whale gives another low ear piercing groan as it vibrates the whole ship. "Aaaah, my ears!" Sanji yells in pain. "Just paddle." Usopp says. "We got to get away from here." Zoro says. As the whale suddenly stop groaning they stop in front of its eye as Luffy stands in the middle of the ship with an angered look.
"Luffy, what are you doing?" Kent asks. "You think you can break my special seat and get away with it?!" Luffy shouts at the whale. "TAKE THIS!" He yells as he stretches his arm and punches the whale square in the eye as the crew's jaws drop. "YOU MORON!" Everyone screams at him. "Whelp we're dead." Kent says. For a few moments all is quiet as nothing happens when then the whale eye looks at the ship causing the entire crew to scream in fear.
"I'm not through with you there's a lot more where that…" Luffy shouts as he is then kicked in the head by Zoro and Kent so as to make him stop. "Shut up before you kill us!" They both say.
The whale then opens its mouth as it creates a current that causes the ship to be sucked into it. The strong current shakes the ship as it causes Luffy to fall of it. Before he even touches the water he stretches his hand and latches onto one of the whale's teeth. He proceeds to climb up on the whale's nose. "I am not going to die!" He yells. As the ship continues to sink down the beast's jaws as the ship along with its crew vanish into the darkness in the beast.
Inside the whale the ship is steady and relaxed as the crew take in their surroundings. And they are absolutely surprised. Inside it the ship is floating on some green water as it facing a small island with a house resting on it as there is also a sky on top of them.
"So what do you think?" Nami asks confused. Kent looks at environment. "Mmmm, I'm not much of a whale biologist but even I know this is not what the inside of a whale is supposed to look like." Kent says as he dries his safari hat. "Is this even real? Cause I know exactly what I saw and felt and we were swallowed by the whale." Sanji says. "Is this a dream?" Usopp wonders. "Yeaaaaah, I'd say that's a fair guess." Zoro says.
They look at the ship as they wonder. "What's with this island and the house?" Nami asks. "Illusions." Zoro says bluntly. Kent puts his hat back on as he shakes his head. "I highly doubt that. Still the inside of this whale is impressive." He says as he takes out his book and starts writing. Suddenly the water that the ship is on starts to rise up in front of them as it grows higher and higher. The water falls apart as it falls back revealing a giant squid.
Nami looks at it. "Uhm…that looks like…" She says as she and Usopp's faces turn blue and they move away in fear. "A great big squid!" She and Usopp yell simultaneously. Sanji, Zoro and Kent take a stance as the three of them get ready to fight the giant beast. Before they can make a move however three harpoons suddenly strike the squid from behind its head. Losing its life it falls backwards and splashes in the water as it lies there dead.
Zoro, Sanji and Kent looks as they behind the squid are lines that are attached to the harpoons as they their lines starts at the entrance of the house, which the door are now wide open, indicating that they came from there. Zoro has a smile grin on his face. "Looks like someone's home." He says. "let's hope it's a person." Sanji says. "And hopefully a non-hostile one at that." Kent adds.
Nami and Usopp have both fell to the ground as Nami looks at the three of them with tears of fear falling down her face. "I've had it. Let's go." She says. Usopp with the same expression as Nami also looks at the three. "Giant squids, guys with harpoons and where is Luffy?" He says scared. Nami looks at him. "Yeah where is he?" She says. Kent groans. "Well where ever he is, when we find him I'm going to kick his ass." He says.
Usopp quickly stands up as he points to the door of the house. "Whoa Whoa Whoa Whoa!" We should fire our cannon there now!" Usopp shouts. "No, hold on a sec. Someone's coming out." Sanji says. They all see a shadowy figure standing in the door watching them.
The figure grabs the ropes of the harpoons as it pulls the squid in. Feeling the squid is in enough it then moves out of the shadows of the house as it steps forward revealing it face. Sanji is shocked when he sees the figures face.. It's an old man that is wearing sandals, has blue pants, wearing a pink shirt with blue circles over yellow lines. He is wearing spectacles and for some reason is wearing a peacock's tail feathers over his head.
"Ugh…it's a…" He says as they can all see the figure clearly "Flower?" Zoro says confused. "No, it's…a person." Sanji answers. "Are you sure?" Usopp asks. "I think we'd all be able to recognise a person when we see one." Kent says while writing in his book. "That old man just killed a great king squid with one shot." Nami says shocked. "Technically he killed it with three shots but yeah he did." Kent says still writing. Nami looks at him with a scowl.
"The question is, why? Was he trying to save us…or was he just fishing?" Sanji says. "Maybe both?" Kent says putting his book back into his satchel. The old man stands on the island looking at the crew as he walks to his right. Even though his face is facing in the direction he is walking he doesn't let his sight wander away from them. The crew stand there with nervous looks while the old man glares at them as tension brews up in the air. The old man stops when he comes to a lawn chair as he bends his legs and sits on it. He takes out a newspaper as he…reads.
"YOU GONNA SAY ANTHING?!" Sanji screams in an annoyed tone with shark teeth. The old man slowly moves his head as he looks at the crew with the same serious look not uttering a single word. Usopp points to him. "Hey you wanna fight then fight! We got canons here you bastard!" Usopp yells. The old man gives them a more serious look.
The camera moves away from the old showing him sitting, it is then behind Zoro on his left side, then behind Sanji on his right side, then to Kent behind him, then behind the old man showing also the ship, then in front of the old man also showing the ship, then behind the ship, then to the old man's face and then closes up to his eye. "You try it and someone is going to die.
Zoro's face gets serious as well as Kents. Nami and Usopp hug each other for safety while Sanji looks at the old man with a grin. "Yeah, and who's that?" He asks cockily.
"Me of course." The old man says. "EXCUSE ME?!" Sanji says as he has the same annoyed look with shark teeth from before. "You" Sanji says grinding his teeth. Zoro grabs his shoulder as he pulls him back. "Ease up there buddy." He says. "The old bastards mocking us." Sanji says as Zoro moves in front of him. Kent stands behind Sanji chuckling quietly. Sanji turns around and faces him as Kent quickly looks away and whistles innocently. Zoro looks at the old man. "There's a couple of things we need to know. Where are we…and who are you?" He says.
The old man turns serious again. The camera again moves away from the old showing him sitting, it is then behind Zoro on his left side, then behind Sanji on his right side, then to Kent behind him, then behind the old man showing also the ship, then in front of the old man also showing the ship, then behind the ship, then to the old man's face and then closes up to his eye.
"You got some nerve stranger." The old man says. Zoro looks at him confused. "It's only polite to introduce yourself before asking a question of someone you just met." The old man says. Zoro is a little surprised as he then smirks. "Alright, I'll go first. My name is…" "If you must know. My Crocus and I am the lighthouse keeper of the Twin Capes. I'm seventy one and a half years old…" Crocus says speaking over Zoro who gets incredibly angry as he has shark teeth as he looks to the others with his hand shaking on one of his blades. "I'll kill him I swear!" Zoro says frustrated. "Calm down." Sanji says to him as he holds his shoulder. "At least he's being straight forward with us and not making it difficult." Kent says.
They all look back at Crocus as they listen to what he has to say. "You'd like to know where we are, but your rude behaviour leaves me disincline to accommodate your curiosity except that you are trespassing on my private resort." He says. "Besides I thinks it's pretty obvious seeing as how you were eaten." He adds.
Usopp surprised as he looks up at the fake sky. "So you're saying we were eaten. But since when does a whales stomach have clouds in it." He says. Kent looks at Usopp with an angry look. "Since never!" He shouts. Nami is scared by this news. "Wait a minute, we've been eaten? What's going to happen to us? I don't want to be digested." Nami says.
The old man's eyes become serious once more. The camera moves once again away from the old showing him sitting, it is then behind Zoro on his left side, then behind Sanji on his right side, then to Kent behind him, then behind the old man showing also the ship, then in front of the old man also showing the ship, then behind the ship, then to the old man's face and then closes up to his eye.
The camera moves back as it has the ship in view. "STOP DOING THAT!" Everyone screams to the old man at the same time. "What's wrong? Haven't you ever heard of a running gag?" The old man asks. Everyone flinches back. "THAT WAS A GAG?!" They all shout.
"The exit is over there." The old man says pointing to a large metal door that is right behind the ship. Everyone is completely dumbfounded by this. "WE CAN GET OUT?!" They all say. Kent gets angry as his eyes turn white as he has shark teeth. "THAT'S IT!" He shouts as he tries to run at the old man only to be held back by Sanji, Zoro and Usopp. "Calm down Kent!" Usopp says as they try to keep Kent from hurting Crocus. "LET ME AT HIM!" Kent shouts.
Nami looks at the door. "Okay even if I believed that a whales belly could have an exit door." She says. "WHICH IT DOES NOT!" Kent screams. "Nothings there but sky." She says. "Somethings not right here." Usopp says as he looks up at the sky. He looks up and suddenl realizes something. "Wait look at the sky, those seagulls. Nothings moving. They're painted on. It's a giant boreal inside the whale's stomach." He says.
"Call it a doctor's playful mind." Crocus says. Usopp looks at him with an annoyed look and shark teeth. "YOU'RE NOT MAKING ANY SENSE YOU CRAZY OLD FOOL!" He shouts. "Easy, don't let him get to you." Zoro says holding Usopp's arm.
"Yeah just shut up." Sanji says. Zoro faces Nami. "Nami, if that is an exit then we need to get to it." He says to her. Nami nods at this. "Agreed." She says.
Suddenly the whole place that they are in starts rumbling as the water around them starts moving in wild motion as the crew tries to keep their footing. "Ah great, what now?" Sanji says. Nami looks at Crocus's island as she gasps and notices something. "Look!" She shouts as she points to the island and everyone looks in her direction. "That's no island. It's some kind of ship made of iron." She says as they can see the underside of the island is made of iron. "Of course, cause we are floating on a sea of gastric acid." Usopp says. "That means a wooden ship wouldn't fair well if it stayed too long." Sanji says. "That means if we don't get out of here then we are screwed." Kent says.
"Hey, what's with this freaky whale?!" Usopp yells to Crocus who turns to face him but doesn't answer. "Answer me old man!" Usopp yells at him. Crocus looks up at the fake sky. "He's very angry." He says. Kent raises an eyebrow. "These aftershocks are a result of him hitting his head against the red line." He says. Suddenly the rumble starts again. "What?!" Sanji, Zoro and Kent say simultaneously. Nami's eyes widen as she realizes what he means. "That explains why he had such deep scars on his forehead. Not to mention all the strange howling." She says. Usopp looks at her. "Why's he doing it?" He asks her.
"It's because…he's suffering!" She says.
They all hear a loud howling followed by another rumble. "It's all starting to make sense." Usopp says as he looks at Crocus. "So what's the geezer up to?" Usopp asks. "More than likely he's trying to kill the whale from the inside." Nami says. Usopp becomes angry by this. "What a despicable way to kill something." He says. "Effective though." Kent says. Zoro turns to them. "Okay we solved the mystery of the whale, so how about we find a way out of its belly before it digests us." Zoro says.
Sanji and Zoro walk past Nami, Kent and Usopp. "We have no right to judge the old man nor do we need to save the whale. What we need to do is focus on how the hell to get out of here." Sanji says. "Any suggestions?" Kent asks them.
More rumblings can be felt as the waves rock the ship up and down. "Aaaagh, we're never going to get anywhere if the waves keep surging like this. How can we escape if we can't even move?" Usopp says. "Our only choice is to paddle. Grab the oars!" Zoro says. "Whatever it takes we have to find Luffy right away." Nami says. Zoro looks at her. "I know he's outside. I caught a glimpse of him flying out of the whale's mouth." He says. Kent holds onto one of the railings while he keeps his hat from flying away. "Well let's focus now on getting out of here." He says.
"That old guy just jumped in!" Nami exclaims as she points to Crocus swimming into the acid. "Is he insane? That acid will eat him alive." Zoro says as Crocus swimmer down deeper into the acid. After a while Usopp looks at the doors as he notices something. "Guys, Crocus just resurfaced." He says. "Let's forget about him and concentrate on getting those doors to open." Kent says.
A few moments later they for some reason hear screaming. They all look up as they see three people flying in the air. "What the hell?!" Kent shouts. The three people that are flying are Luffy and a weird man and woman who are both screaming. Zoro looks at the people slowly flies pass them. "Luffy?" Zoro says confused by this. Luffy looks at Zoro as he passes them. "Zoro is everyone okay?" He asks him. "So uhm…I could use a hand." He says as he and the other two fall into the acid.
The crew stand there on the ship as they see their captain sink into the acid. "Looks like Luffy's not alone. Who do you suppose those two wierdos are with him?" Usopp asks. "Where'd that old geezer disappear to?" Nami asks. "Forget him, we need to save Luffy." Zoro says. Kent nods. "Agreed, one of you save Luffy and I'll go after the two weird ones." He says. Zoro nods as he dives into the acid.
Kent rubs he hands together as he has an excited look on his face. "Swift Swift…JOLT!" Kent shouts as he whooshes out of the ship in a burst of speed. He is seen running on the acid at high speed.
The two persons come out of the acid as they cough a little. The man wearing a golden crown looks at the blue haired ponytail woman. "Are you alright Ms. Wednesday?" He asks her. Ms. Wednesday shakes her head. "Yes Mr. 9 I am." She says. Mr. 9 has an annoyed look on his face. "Good now let's get out of this acid so we can kill that whale." He says. Ms. Wednesday nods as she looks behind him. Her eyes widen as she looks scared. Mr. 9 is confused by this. "Is something the matter?" He asks her. The only thing she can do is point as the upper part of her face turns blue. Mr. 9 turns around and also becomes scared and blue when he sees what she means.
Heading towards them is a fast moving being who is wearing safari hat, has a tan shirt with pockets in different places while wearing blue jeans and brown shoes while carrying a satchel over his shoulder and is heading straight towards. This person is the crew member Kent as he has a cocky grin on his face while he is running on the acid with ease and not sinking.
"AAAAAAAGH!" Mr. 9 and Ms. Wednesday scream as they swim away as quickly as possible. Unfortunately for them their swimming compared to his speed is nothing more than futile as he grabs the collar of their coats and yanks them behind him as he runs back to the ship.
The two continue to scream as Kent is almost to the ship. Suddenly Kent realizes something. "Aw crap!" He shouts. Even though he has gotten a hang of his devil fruit powers he keeps forgetting the one thing he has not yet mastered.
"I DON'T KNOW HOW TO STOP!" He shouts as he trips and he and the two wierdos are send flying to the ship. Even if he doesn't know how to stop the collision sure as hell does. He slams against the mast of the Going Merry with his body slamming the mast and his legs and arms are around it. Ms. Wednesday and Mr. 9 slam against the railing of the ship face first as they lay there sore. "I'f got the vierthose" Kent muffles as he falls back on the deck on his back in the same stupid position
After a while they all hear a loud wale. "I don't claim to speak whale but it seems to have calmed down a bit." Nami says. "Seems that way." Zoro says as he turns to face the two wierdos that Kent picked up as the crew look at them with Luffy sitting on the front railing on the ship where the figure head used to be and Sanji looking at Ms. Wednesday with lovely goofy eyes. "Now we saved your lives for the time being, but you better talk and make it quick." Zoro says seriously.
Ms. Wednesday looks at Mr. 9 with a worried look. "Mr. 9, these heathens are pirates." She says. Mr. 9 looks at her. "Yes that's painfully obvious Ms. Wednesday, but if we speak to their humanity and compassion they should understand our plight, maybe." Mr. 9 says doubting that a bit.
"You parasites are still here?!" Everyone looks to the giant iron doors as they look to see that it was Crocus who said those words as he is standing in front of the small door next to the big one. "As long as I draw breath you will not harm a single harmful finger on Laboon!" He shouts.
The whole crew look at him. "He's back again." Usopp says. Luffy looks at them. "Who's the old guy?" He asks. They all hear wicked laughter coming from the two harm doers as they look at them as they stand up. "You can't bully us into abandoning our mission." Ms. Wednesday says. "We were sent here to hunt this whale and that's exactly what we're going to do and this time we're not going to let you interfere." Mr. 9 says. They both turn around as they pick up their bazookas and aim it at one of the parts of the whale's insides. "We're about to give this whale a new blowhole. FIRE BABY!" Mr. 9 shout as they both pull the triggers on the cannons and fire as two cannon balls head straight towards their target.
Before the balls could reach the target Crocus jumps into them as they explode damaging him but leaving the whale completely unharmed as Crocus fall into the acid. Everyone is shocked by this. "He jumped straight into the line of fire!" Usopp says. "Did he just… did he protect the whale?" Sanji asks surprised by this.
Ms. Wednesday just laughs. "Your defiance is pointless." She says. "Go ahead, waste your time. Make no mistake that hulking beast will provide food for our town." Mr.9 says. They both start laughing feeling so proud of themselves. Nami looks at them confused. "What is going on?" She asks very confused while the two whale hunters keep laughing.
Little do they both know however their arrogance enrages a crew member who is right behind them with shark teeth and red furious eyes. He raises both his arms up as he has his hands curled up into fists as he has a fist over each of their heads. He pushes them down slamming them hard against their heads.
"YOU TWO HARM THAT WHALE AND THE OLD MAN AGAIN AND MARK MY WORDS IT WILL BE THE LAST ACTION YOU EVER DO! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!" Kent shouts. "Yes…sir." Ms. Wednesday and Mr. 9 say weakly before falling to the ground unconscious. The whole crew looks at Kent surprised. "Ugh…what was that for?" Usopp asks him. Kent looks at him with the same angry face. "THEY WERE REALLY PISSING ME OFF!" He shouts.
Moments later
Everyone decided to dock on Crocus's island as they decide to interrogate the two whale hunters who are now tied up while Luffy is for some reason clinging to the palm tree on the island as Usopp tries to pull him off. "I thank you for saving my life but I must ask, why did you do it?" Crocus asks Kent who is sitting down and looking at Ms. Wednesday with curiosity as he rubs his chin and writing in his book. "I wasn't trying to save your life. These two were just really annoying me." Kent says as he stands up. "Okay I think it's time we got some answers. Who are these guys and how did you end up inside this whale?" Nami asks.
"These two are thugs from a nearby town looking for whale meat. If they caught him Laboon's body could feed the townspeople for at least two or three years easy. All they are concerned with is filling their fat greedy bellies." Crocus says. Nami looks at him confused. "Laboon?" She says. "That's the whale's name. He's a unique and magnificent creature. An island whale one of the largest species in the world that can only be found in the West Blue. I won't allow them to slaughter him for food." Crocus says as he looks over yonder.
"It's a shame that he's stuck here so far away from his domain. You see there's a reason he keeps hitting his head on the red line and howling at Reverse Mountain." He says. Kent keeps writing in his book. "Really?" He asks. "There is?" Nami asks. Crocus nods. "Yes, to put it one way. Inside Laboon's body beats the heart of a human. He has most impatiently awaited and is most certainly devoted to a certain band of pirates." He says as he sighs.
"Going on for fifty long years now." He says
And the chapter is done hope you all enjoyed it. As always thank you all so much for reading I really as always truly appreciate it. Thank you so very much hope to see you all in the next chapter. Bye.
