"Wow, Aoi! Your island is really cool!" Luffy exclaimed.
"Thanks, Ruffy!" Aoi replied with a closed-eyed smile.
"It's Luffy." Luffy replied. He laughed.
"Oh! Sorry..." Aoi apologized.
"Don't worry, Aoi!" Luffy replied.
"Oh! My friends call me Hina. Call me Hina from now on." Luffy grinned.
"So we're friends now!" He exclaimed.
"Hey Ruffy..."
"Luffy."
"I'll get it eventually... Wanna come to my secret hangout spot?"
"Really?" Luffy asked. "You sure?"
"Mm-hmm!" Aoi replied, nodding happily. "We're friends now, so I should trust you." She stood. Luffy grinned.
"Thanks!" He replied, also standing.
"Well come on!" Aoi said, leading the way.
'I think I met my next nakama!' Luffy thought gleefully as he dashed after his new friend.
Meanwhile, with Zalo, Goro and Zoro...
"So...what did you want to know about Shenron?" Goro asked.
"How was he doing when you last saw him?"
"Well...he always had a huge grin on his face when I saw him." Goro chuckled as he remembered Shenron's smiling face. Zalo smiled as well.
"Yeah, that's Shenron, alright. Always the optimist." He said fondly.
"At the time, he was bragging about his bounty." Goro said, shaking his head. Zalo tilted his head.
"Oh? What was his bounty?" He asked.
"80 million berries." Goro responded. "He's quite dangerous." Zalo's eyes widened, and Zoro spat his drink out.
"E-EIGHTY MILLION?!" Zoro exclaimed. "I've never even met anyone with a bounty so high!"
"Well, he WAS one of the strongest members on Gold Roger's crew, after all..." Goro replied. Zalo's eyes practically bulged out of their sockets.
"WHAT?! HE WAS WITH THE FREAKING KING OF THE PIRATES?! WHY DID HE NEVER TELL ME ABOUT THAT?! I am gonna have words with that brother of mine next time I see him..." Goro chuckled.
"Anything else you want to know about him?"
"Yeah...What of his...special condition? Do you know anything about it?" Goro smiled sadly.
"Ah...You mean when he ate the second one." He said softly, looking forlorn.
"Exactly." Zalo replied, looking serious. "Did he seem...y'know...fine?" Goro looked thoughtful.
"He seemed to have his health under control, if that's what you mean." He replied. Zalo sighed in relief, wiping sweat from his brow. "But you should know...he has gained many powers in his journies. Some of them confused me on how he got them." Zalo smiled.
"Thank you, Goro." He said gratefully.
In Impel Down...
"Right this way." Magellan said as he led a young black-haired woman down to a familiar cell. "Shenron!" Shenron was whistling, idly trying to pass the time.
"Hmm? Yeah, Poison Warden?" Magellan scowled halfheartedly.
"You have a new guard." He gestured to the woman, who stared blankly at the pirate. Shenron smirked.
"Ah, I see you brought one that's actually appealing to look at. But, you know I'm married, so I can't really do anything with her..." The woman's eyes hardened slightly.
"...I will guard him to the best of my ability, Warden." She said.
"Hmm..." Magellan grunted and walked away. There was a long silence. The woman stared at Shenron, saying nothing, expression blank.
"...Sooooooo..." Shenron began. "Have a good day?" No response. "Okay, I see, I see, you don't wanna talk about it...Then um...got any family?" Again, no response. "Oh! Wanna hear a story?" Silence. "Okay, here we go...So, I was on my ship with my crew, right? And my cook has these REALLY cool flames he can use. So he was using those to boil the water for food, but he put his flames at a much higher heat than needed, and all the water went bursting out of the roof. And that's not all...see, me and my crew have like, a pet type of thing, we don't know what it is, but we call him Coco. Anyway, the boiling hot water hit Coco's head, right? So it went into the kitchen, and started fighting our cook. And when me and the crew walked in for dinner, we were entertained with the scene of our cook and our pet holding each other by the neck in a funny position." Shenron burst into laughter. He sighed and wiped a tear from his eye. The woman still stared blankly. "...Stop ignoring me." Shenron said flatly.
"...Why do you talk so much?" The woman asked.
"Hmm...You could say it's because my brother never talked, really. He was too busy moping around with his thoughts, so I had to start pretty much every conversation. Don't get me wrong, I love my brother, but he's a BIT of a loner. So what about you? Got any...boyfriends or anything?"
"Didn't you say you were married?"
"Yeah, yeah I am. Don't get me wrong, I love her. I'm just making conversation."
"...All I have is my sister."
"Oh? And how old is she?"
"18, like me. We're twins."
"Interesting...What's she like?"
"She's the head executioner. She never shows up herself. She lets her little bear animatronic take the head of her executions. I'm the only one who knows her true identity."
"Oh, that's nice." Shenron said. "Oh, I'm the captain of my ship."
"...I...know."
"Oh! I bet you didn't know this...I used to have a god complex." She raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you see, during my time before I joined my first pirate crew, I used my devil fruit power for certain...unpleasant acts of aggression."
"Like what?"
"Remember a town called Cocoa Village?"
"No."
"Exactly."
"...Oh..."
"...So...What's your name?"
"I'm Mukoro. Mukoro Ikusaba."
"Nice name. Um...Wanna do something?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, it's BORING in here for one, you seem bored out of your mind, and I heard there were a bunch of crazy creatures in the eighth prison cage down in section B down here."
"And you wanted to do what with them?"
"Oh. Slaughter them of course."
"...How can you say such a thing so easily?"
"I'll only tell you if you let me do it."
"...No."
"...You're boring."
"I'm doing my job."
"I like Poison Warden better. He was a better conversationalist."
"It's not my job to converse. It's my job to guard you."
"Ooh, ooh I know! Did you get the file on what I said to Poison Warden one day?"
"You'll have to explain."
"Well you see, I told him that seastone cuffs can't hold every power a devil fruit user has."
"...What do you mean?" Mukoro was alerted.
"What I mean is look into my eyes." Mukoro did so. "SHARINGAN!"