Hey, all you Voice readers!

Sorry for the wait, but summer can be busy!

Luffy: But, Frosty always has time to write!

FM13: Luffy? What are you doing here? Where's everyone else?

Koe: Usopp went to buy some eggs. (frowns and taps her forehead) If he was telling me the truth. I have to take everything he says with a grain of salt.

Luffy: Nami went shopping.

Koe: Zoro and Sanji are fighting somewhere. I guess I'm kind of at fault, too. I asked Zoro what he thought of Sanji's cooking, and he said it was 'okay'. Of course, Sanji blew his top. So, yeah. They're fighting.

Luffy: You guys want some meat?

FM13: (chuckles) Not yet, Luffy.

Luffy: Awww... But I'm hungry.

Koe: (smacks him upside the head) Be patient!

FM13: How about another riddle to keep your mind off things?

Luffy: Yeah! Lay it on me!

FM13: What can you catch but not throw?

Koe: (snorts) I know this one.

Luffy: You do?! When did you hear it?

Koe: I never did. I can figure it out really easily, though.

Luffy: That's because you're smart.

Koe: I'll give you time to think about it. So, frostmoon13 doesn't own One Piece, or any of it's characters. Only her OCs.

Luffy: I will figure out that answer! I'll do my best!

Chapter 35

I made my way past Laboon's optical lobe. Man, it was confusing in there! The inside of a whale body is a lot harder to navigate than the average suburban neighborhood.

At one point, I got lost and ended up in Laboon's nasal passage. I figured that out when I had put my hand on the wall to steady myself. I'm not going into details. I'm sure you can figure out what I can put my hand in.

When I finally made my way to the stomach, I noticed there were two people crouching behind the door. "Hey." I said.

They both turned around. Apparently, they weren't expecting someone to come up behind them, because they jumped about a foot in the air.

The man was tall and lanky. He had bright orange hair, like Nami's. He wore a green suit. He had two tattoos of the number nine on each cheek, right under the eyes. The weirdest part; there was a silver crown on his head.

The woman - well, I probably shouldn't say 'woman', she only looked about a year older than me - was a little taller than me, with a long mane of bright blue hair pulled back in a ponytail. She had brown eyes, and pale skin. She wore a tank top with blue wavy stripes, and beige short shorts.

Both of them were eyeing me like I had just dropped from the moon.

"Well." said the man. "Looks like we have a straggler from that crew over there. What do you think?" He turned to the woman.

She giggled in a manner that disgusted me. "I agree..." she said.

"Who are you two?" I asked.

The two of them smirked. "I am Mr. 9." the man said.

"I am Miss Wednesday." the woman said.

I stopped short and stared at them. I blinked a couple of times.

Are you sure that's what you heard? my brain said.

We definitely heard exactly that. my ears responded. You have to work out the rest.

What kind of twisted parents were that cruel? Unless they were surnames. But who on the sea has the number nine as a surname?

"Well...?" I said slowly. Suddenly, it dawned on me. Whalers. These people were carrying guns. I reached for the water bottle I usually kept on my belt.

I didn't get the chance, though. There was a loud crash, and Luffy fell right on top of them.

He looked at me for a second. "Oh, hey Koe!" he said. "What were you saying about wool?"

I facepalmed. "I said 'whale'!" I said wearily. "I was trying to tell you not to come in here! And how did you get in here without passing through his stomach?"

Luffy pointed upwards. "There was a door in him. I just went through the door."

I rolled my eyes. "By the way, not that I'm against it, but you might want to stop standing on them."

Luffy looked down, noticed the pair of whalers he was standing on, and nearly jumped out of his skin. "Oh! Sorry!" he yelped. "I guess I should have looked where I landed. Shishishishi!"

I half laughed, half sighed. I was pretty sure I was happy that Luffy was a complete idiot and didn't look where he landed.

"Who are these people anyway?" he asked.

I'm pretty sure my expression darkened, because Luffy jumped back a bit. I took a deep breath, and said, "I'm not sure. I think they're... whalers."

Luffy frowned, which looked rather alien on him. Then, his innocent expression reasserted control. "What are whalers?"

I slapped my forehead so hard I thought my skull would crack. "They hunt whales."

Luffy's look changed from innocence to disgust. "They hunt WHALES?!"

"That's what I said." I said. "At least, that's what I think. I'm not sure..."

"Oh!" Luffy said. "So, do you want me to kick their asses?"

I stifled a laugh. "I think you've already done that." I said. I knelt down and touched Miss Wednesday's wrist. "She's got a pulse... I think they're both alive." I gently pushed Luffy off them. "Let's take them to the ship. I can heal their bumps and bruises on board."

Luffy grabbed Mr. 9's unconscious body and flung it over his shoulder.

I took up miss Wednesday's arm. With a lot of difficulty, I managed to haul her off the floor, and followed Luffy out the door.

When we got back to the ship, we were met with complete confusion.

"Who on earth are these people?" Nami asked.

"They're whalers." Luffy said.

I shot a quick glance at Crocus. "Uh, Luffy..." I said quickly. "Maybe you should wait. Crocus might kill them."

Sure enough, Crocus' look was murderous. "I will never let these bastards lay a hand on Laboon."

I stood up in front of him. "Wait just a second!" I said. "We'll keep them on the ship and take them back to where they belong!"

That earned me a look of confusion and annoyance from Sanji and Usopp. "So now we're doing charity runs for whalers?" Sanji asked.

"It's a bad idea, Koe." Usopp said, although in a much nicer tone than Sanji.

I sighed and shook my head, and propped both of them up against the mast. "Listen, Crocus-ossan." I said. "We'll give them the boot once we take them to their home, and I'll make them swear never to come here again. But first, we have a problem that we need to solve right away." I paused for effect. "We need to get out of Laboon's stomach. Fast." I walked over to the rail and looked down at the damaged hull. "I don't know how much more Merry can take."

Crocus nodded. "Fine." he said. "As long as you take those... people out of here."

"Get us out of here?!" someone said smugly. Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday were up. They had their guns cocked over their shoulders. "Well, you're all pretty stupid, aren't you?"

Miss Wednesday laughed. "We will have whale meat to feed our village!"

"WAIT!" I shouted. But they both pulled their triggers. Two large cannonballs shot towards the wall of Laboon's stomach. I couldn't do anything. I couldn't let them kill the whale!

There was a loud bang, and the cannonballs exploded in mid-air.

Crocus smiled. "These cannonballs are nothing." he said.

I sighed with relief. I walked up to them, and grabbed them by their ears. I shoved them to the ground. I grabbed their bazookas, and tossed them into Laboon's stomach acid.

I wasn't sure why, but I was feeling very protective of this whale. It was probably because I felt sorry for him, having a bunch of passageways in his body, slamming his head into the red line, and being hunted by whalers like these jokers.

"If you two try anything funny, I'll push you off the ship." I growled.

Zoro stepped up to me. "You really are a head case." he said. "First you decided to help them and take them back to where they came from, then you tell them you'll push them into stomach acid. You should seek professional help."

I shot up and stared up into Zoro's eyes - which, of course, I had to stand on my tiptoes - glaring at him. "You stay out of it!" I snapped. I probably shouldn't have jumped down Zoro's throat like that, but I was still pissed about him tricking me and letting me fall twenty feet from the rigging. "None of us really know what this poor whale has gone through! I'm not letting them hurt him more than he already is!"

To my surprise, Zoro stepped back, looking extremely affronted. I guess I had snapped at him too hard.

"Ummm..."

We both whipped around. "What?"

Miss Wednesday was staring at us with an odd look in her eyes. "I hate to interrupt you little... um..."

I cut her off. "If you call it a 'lover's quarrel' I swear that I'll-"

I was immediately cut off by Sanji. "There is no way Koe-chwan wouldbe with that stupid marimo! Koe-chwan-"

"Is definitely not with you." I cut him off cooly. "Can we please drop this?" I said, a little more wearily. I ran my hand through my hair, and sighed heavily. I was painfully conscious of Usopp, Nami, and Luffy staring at Sanji, Zoro, and I wide-eyed, not daring to say a thing.

I blushed. I had just lost my cool. Exploded. Went psycho. In front of everyone.

"Anyway," I said, turning my wrath back to Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday. "Like I said, don't try anything funny."

Mr. 9 smirked. "I never expected such a cute little kid to-" Before I could react, Luffy had bonked both of them on the head, knocking them both out.

"Why did you-" I began.

"I felt like it." Luffy said. "They needed a good thump."

I sighed. Then, I nodded. "Luffy..." I said. "I'll check the sail... It might have come loose in the storm."

As I walked off, I heard Crocus whispering to Luffy. "I never thought she had such a temper." he said. "She really shut all four of them up."

I heard Luffy laugh. "I haven't seen her explode like that since our brother locked her in the closet by accident. Shishishi! She was so mad!"

I climbed up the mast, trying to keep that memory out of my mind. I remembered that. Ace had looked just as taken aback as Zoro was now. Later, Ace had called that an impressive feat, considering the fact that I only knew about six or seven words at that time, so I had been ranting at him in english. I still felt a pang of embarrassment whenever I thought about it, even though Ace had told me there was no hard feelings.

Crocus gave instructions to get out of Laboon's stomach.

Nami was shouting orders.

Everyone else was running around, taking Nami's orders, except for Usopp, who kept an eye on Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday.

After spending ten minutes fussing with a sail that was completely fine, I could see there was no help for it. With a sigh, I climbed down the rigging, a little nervous about the height, and went down on deck.

I hit the deck with a thump, and looked around. I sighed. Might as well get the one that would be less uncomfortable over with first.

Sanji was standing at the bow, looking out between Laboon's teeth.

Taking a deep breath, I tapped his shoulder. "Hey."

Sanji turned around, and raised an eyebrow at me. "Hey, Koe-chan." he said. "What's up?"

I stared at my feet. "I'm... I wanted to apologise." I said. Time to bite the bullet. "I've been a bit of a jerk."

Sanji raised his curly eyebrow, and smiled. "No problem." he said. "I'm not upset. Besides, I'm not exactly faultless in this instance.

Or in any other, for that matter. I thought. "Look, I'll try to be a little nicer to you, but please-"

Sanji had made a move towards me.

"Don't hug me." I said.

Sanji smiled. "It's fine. Though, right now, you look like you need one." Then, without warning, he gave me a quick hug.

It wasn't like Sanji to do that. That was almost as surprising as the fact that he let go. It was just an I'm-your-friend-and -I'm-here-for-you hug, not a 'te amo' hug.

After he let me go, Sanji turned away.

I knew the matter was closed. Sanji had forgiven and forgotten, and there was no reason to bring it up again.

I smiled. That hadn't gone so badly...

I wasn't looking forward to my next encounter. I stepped over to the rail, where Zoro was struggling with the anchor. I waited till he finished hooking the anchor on the rail before I tapped him on the shoulder.

Zoro turned around, one eyebrow raised. When he noticed it was me, he half-turned away, and grunted.

"Umm..." I said. Geez louise, this was awkward... "I- I wanted to apologise..."

Zoro didn't move, didn't say anything. He just grunted.

"I really shouldn't have snapped at you like that. I don't know what's gotten into me since we left Loguetown." I said. "I... I was a complete ass today."

Zoro nodded, a thoughtful look on his face.

That wasn't the reaction I expected. He didn't look happy, or upset, or smug, or nettled, or any other emotion I might have expected him to feel. He just nodded, without saying anything.

For a few minutes, we just stood there. I felt a prickle of embarrassment. Was he going to say anything? It was getting more and more awkward as we stood there in silence.

After what seemed like an eternity, Zoro turned his back on me and stared out at Laboon's passing teeth. "Well," he said. "I wasn't exactly making it very hard for you."

Was Zoro agreeing? Was he apologising to me? Was I delving too deep into this?

Zoro sighed, and turned to face me. "We've been butting heads since I joined the crew." he said. Not exactly an untrue statement. "Maybe if we gave it a rest. A little."

I smiled. "Just so it doesn't get too far." I said.

A faint smile crossed Zoro's face. He held out his hand.

I shook it. A handshake. Not exactly a hug, but what else could I expect with Zoro?

Suddenly, Luffy jumped up behind us, put his arms over our shoulders, and turned us towards the bow. "Look!" he shouted, grinning. "We're there!"

We watched as Laboon's huge mouth opened, and a blast of light met us.

I blinked, waiting for my eyes to adjust. My gaze was met by the splendor of Twin Cape, and the salty rush of sea wind made me feel more alive than I could ever have believed possible.

Luffy laughed again. "We're out!"

"Well." I said faintly, staring up at Laboon. "He really is big."

I was staring at what looked like the largest whale in the world. I knew Laboon had to be huge, considering the fact that he'd swallowed Merry and her crew whole, without scraping his throat with the mast, but I'd never imagine that he was as large as Reverse Mountain itself. His teeth were the size of a man, you could have built a small neighborhood on his nose, and the merry could have fitted many times in his huge, round eye. There were huge scars on his snout. Even a mighty whale like Laboon couldn't ram against the red line without getting a wound.

Crocus nodded. "Laboon is an island whale." he said. "When he first came to Twin Cape fifty years ago, he was about the size of a small boat. Quite cute, really."

I frowned. That's when I remembered. Makino had given me a book on the different types of whales when I was learning to read. Island whales were considered the largest whales in the world. "But Crocus-ossan..." I said. "Island whales aren't native to the grand line. They're from the west blue."

Crocus smiled. "You know whales, eh?" he said. "You're right. Laboon came across Reverse Mountain with a group of pirates from the west blue. The pirates left to sail the world, leaving Laboon here. They promised they'd come back someday."

"But it's been fifty years..." Nami said sadly. "They didn't achieve their promise."

Crocus shook his head. "Laboon is still waiting for them." he said. "He believes they'll come back someday."

I stepped up and put my hand on Laboon's thick hide. "Poor Laboon..." I said. "They must have been great friends."

Laboon opened his huge mouth, and let out an ear splitting roar. I covered my ears so to keep my eardrums from breaking. I smiled. "I knew it." I said. "They aren't dead. They'll come back."

I turned to Luffy. "Hey! While we sail the grand line, let's keep a lookout for Laboon's friends."

Luffy grinned. "Shishishi!" he laughed. "Alright!"

I smiled.

I had wondered what it was about Laboon that made me like him so much. Now I knew. He had lost important people, too. He was waiting for them to get back. He was trying to burst through the red line to find them.

I felt kind of... well, part of me wanted to give up right then and there. Laboon had been waiting for fifty years, and still hadn't met up with his friends again. It didn't exactly make me feel hopeful about seeing Keith again. Suddenly, I got the feeling the world was a lot bigger than I thought.

On the other hand, I also felt an odd sense of determination. It was amazing how a meeting with a whale could strengthen my resolve to find my brother.

"Thanks, Laboon." I muttered.

Luffy: Hmmmm...

Koe: Still haven't figured it out, eh?

Luffy: (throws his hands in the air) I just don't get it!

Koe: Think hard, Luffy. Catching isn't just an expression used for ball games.

Luffy: Are you talking about that base-ball stuff again?

Koe: (nods) But you can throw a baseball. Think more... subtle.

FM13: Koe, don't tell him everything. You'll give away the answer.

Koe: (shrugs) Okay, then... Please review!