First of all. 50th chapter. Also, we broke 700 reviews (778), 500 favorites (524), 500 follows (502) and 170.000 views (172.465). This fic is now 16th in reviews, 10th in favorites and 5th in the number of followers (among OP fics of course). So, it seems it's going to the top. Hopefully. :D Muahahahaha. And fast too, two chapters ago it was on the second page regarding reviews and on 15th place in number of favorites (i think). Thanks, guys. Hope you like this chapter too.
50. Marine Admiral Kuzan, "AOKIJI"
They approached the next island. Luffy recognized it immediately. From the distance, everyone could see the extremely long trees, along with the very long grass. The island itself was also very long.
'The Long island.' Luffy thought. He grinned.
"What's this place?" Luffy asked cheerfully. "It's cool! There's grass everywhere!"
"Humpf. I don't know why you're so excited, Luffy!" Sanji said. "This place looks plain to me."
Nami nodded in agreement.
"I wonder if it's inhabited?" Robin asked.
Luffy grinned.
"One way to find out!" he yelled and jumped off the ship. "YAHOOOO!"
"HEY!" Nami yelled with razor-sharp teeth.
Chopper convinced Usopp, who was still thinking about Merry to come along and they both jumped off the ship as well.
Luffy ran ahead and noticed a weird-looking animal. It looked like a bear, except it was extremely tall.
"What's that?" Chopper asked. "A person?"
Luffy laughed.
"There's no person this tall." he told him and threw himself at the animal. "It's a bear!"
"There's no bear this tall either!" Usopp yelled, but followed his example along with Chopper.
"He's fluffy!" Luffy yelled as he nuzzled against the animal's fur. But the long-bear had enough of it and shook them off.
"Meanie!" Luffy yelled and stuck his tongue out.
"Hey Luffy, look!" Chopper yelled and pointed at something. Luffy followed where his finger had pointed and saw some sort of fruit.
He stretched and grabbed it.
He took a bite.
"Ooh, it's an apple!" he called cheerfully. He grabbed two of them and threw them at Usopp and Chopper, who caught them. "Try it!"
"Ohh, this is good!" Chopper yelled. Luffy laughed.
He noticed a few more long animals going past them. A long-fox with a long-tail, a long-deer, a long-stork and a long-dog ...
"SERIOUSLY!?" Luffy yelled. "What the HELL?!"
He ran up to the dog and petted him.
"Shake!" he called. The dog gave him his paw.
He saw Usopp attempting to impress Chopper by trying to do the limbo underneath the long-dog.
Luffy snickered.
"Sit!" he ordered. The dog crushed the sharpshooter underneath him. Luffy laughed while Usopp struggled to get free.
Finally, he told the dog to beg so he stopped crushing the poor Usopp.
He noticed two long bamboo sticks that extended into the sky.
'There's something with that, but I can't remember it.' he thought.
Then one of them crashed into him.
"Why you!" he shouted and kicked it, breaking it.
He heard shouting from above.
'Uh oh.' he thought.
Then an old man crashed on top of him.
After both picked themselves up, the man introduced himself as Tonjit to the three crew-members. He thanked them for getting him off the stilts and told them his dramatic tale of … being trapped and eating apples on the top of the sticks for 10 years.
"By the way, old man!" Luffy asked. "Why is everything on this island so long?"
Tonjit turned around and faced him.
"I'd imagine an outsider like you would ask that!" he replied. "There is a reason."
He pointed in the distance.
"As you can see, this island has a vast expanse of grassland. All the animals live such relaxed lifestyles that they've grown longer!" he explained.
Luffy sweat-dropped.
'Seriously …'
But then, a gunshot was heard from behind them. Luffy turned around and saw someone he did not want to see.
It was Foxy and his two henchmen.
Luffy sighed.
'Just by looking at me,' he thought. 'He's already pissing me off.'
"That horse now belongs to me." the split-haired pirate announced. He turned around and noticed that the white long-horse, or hooooorse was trapped in a net.
"Yes, yes!" the annoying woman with black … things on her eyes, that resembled glasses but had no glass, said. "This horse belongs to Oyabin now!"
Luffy strongly resisted the urge to face-palm.
'What kind of stupid ass pirate randomly steals a horse?' he thought to himself. He shook his head.
"Who the hell are you, anyway?" Luffy asked.
Foxy fell on the ground in depression.
"He doesn't know?" he muttered. Luffy groaned.
"Oh, you're Foxy!" Luffy exclaimed after a while. Foxy's head raised hopefully. "The guy known for cheating in all of his Davy Back fights?"
The captain of the Foxy pirates and both of his henchmen fell on the ground in depression. Luffy chuckled. He freed the horse from his net.
He made his way back to their ship along his two nakama. He found the 4 underneath the Going Merry, apparently arguing with the inhabitants of the much larger ship that towered over their own.
"Hey guys!" he yelled. "Who are those guys?"
"L-Luffy, y-you didn't accept the Davy Back fight, d-did you?"Nami stuttered. Luffy grinned.
"Nope." he said. She sighed in relief.
The two men of the crew looked at him in disappointment and slight annoyance.
"Why not?" Zoro grumbled. "They'll think we're afraid of them or something!"
Luffy shook his head. He pointed at the Sexy Foxy, the ship of the Foxy pirates.
"Those guys." he said. "Are known as cheaters."
Sanji looked at the pirate ship and then at Luffy.
"Seriously?" he asked. Luffy nodded.
"HEY, DON'T INSULT US!" someone yelled from the ship. "IF YOU'RE SCARED, JUST ADMIT IT!"
Luffy raised his head and glared at them. The man who spoke and several others flinched and backed away under his gaze. A man worth 160.000.000 Berry was intimidating after all.
"If you want to fight me." he murmured quietly, but everyone heard him nonetheless. "I'll take you all on."
Several of the man sweated.
"But … I'm not playing a Davy Back game against cheaters." he finished. He hoped that would shut them up. To be completely honest, everything about them just pissed him off. The captain himself was an ugly and arrogant bastard (not to mention annoying), their eye-wear was ugly and pointless. Their ship was okay, but it was full of traps. He also wasn't too much of a fan of Davy Back fights. After all, their very purpose was to take crew-members away from someone. Luffy did not consider that to be good.
His words seemed to have made the pirates stop demanding a match. They pulled away from their ship and landed somewhere else. A few of them jumped from the ship, presumably to locate their captain.
Luffy sighed.
"How come you know about that, Captain-san?" Robin asked him. He turned to her with a pout.
"Again with the-" he stared grumpily.
"Luffy." she corrected herself, interrupting his grumbling.
"Ace warned me." Luffy lied. The truth was that Foxy, no matter how huge of a crew he might have acquired, was still a nobody. Saying he just heard about him might not have worked. The answer seemingly satisfied her however.
The Straw hats headed to explore the island. When they returned to Tonjit's house, an interesting sight greeted them.
An immensely tall individual stood in front of the house, snoring away. While asking if he should get them some refreshments, Tonjit bumped into him.
Immediately upon seeing him, Robin tensed up. Luffy glanced up to her. Her eyes were wide. This was the first time that he witnessed her display outright fear, apart from maybe when Enel was about to electrocute her.
The man removed his sleeping mask and looked at everyone present. His gaze stopped at Robin in particular.
'It's him.' she thought in panic. 'It's him. Why is he here?'
She started backing away. Luffy, who was walking next to her and Sanji, leaned towards her ear.
"Keep calm." he whispered to her. She looked at him, fear still in her eyes.
'How does he intend to handle this situation?' she asked herself.
"No matter what happens, don't attack him." he told her quietly.
Kuzan watched their interaction with interest.
"So, who are you guys?" the admiral asked despite already knowing all about them.
"So, you must be a maaaaaan?" Chopper asked as he looked in awe at his height. The admiral looked below and noticed him, making him flinch.
"Oooh, a tanuki (racoon)!" he exclaimed. This got Chopper a bit mad.
"I'm a reindeer!" he yelled with razor-sharp teeth. "I've got antlers, see!?"
"Ooop, sorry!" the man apologized and shook his hand in front of him. "Anyway, it's great to see you again, Nico Robin!"
Everyone looked at Robin. Everyone now saw how scared she was.
'Robin's really scared of him.' Nami thought. Everyone else had similar ideas.
"Oooh!" the man exclaimed and looked at Nami, or more specifically, her chest.
"What?" Nami asked as she nearly jumped away, startled by the man.
"I see a knockout babe with super boobs." he told her. "You free tonight?"
Luffy and everyone else sweat-dropped.
"What are you doing, you lanky bastard?!" Sanji yelled with shark teeth.
"Humpf. His idea of flirting is even worse than yours, Ero-cook!" Zoro announced. Sanji turned to him with a face, reddened from anger.
"What did you say, shitty marimo?!" he yelled. "Like a neanderthal like you could know anything about that?!"
"But at least he's honest about it." Zoro finished with a smirk. A fight nearly broke out between them.
Nami politely declined his request. After seeing how afraid Robin seemed, she didn't want to exactly yell at the guy, no matter how tempted she was.
"Who is this guy?" Usopp asked loudly.
"T-This is-" Robin began with a shaking voice.
"Marine admiral, Kuzan." Luffy answered for her. "Also known as Aokiji."
Everyone either gripped their weapons or tensed up.
Zoro sweated.
'Against this guy, even Luffy has a good chance of losing.' he thought as he nervously gripped his Wado Ichimonji.
"Ararara, don't be so aggressive." Aokiji replied and shook his hands in front of him defensively. "I'm just on a stroll anyway, I'm not under any orders."
He scratched his head.
"Anyway, you guys are … " he began, but then gained a thoughtful expression. "Forgot what I was about to say ..."
"YOU'RE NOT MAKING ANY SENSE!" Sanji and Usopp yelled in irritation.
The admiral sighed.
"How can this guy be an admiral?" Usopp yelled at Luffy. "Are you sure it's him?"
"Yes." both Luffy and Robin said in unison, though Robin's voice faltered.
"I uphold the model of 'lazy justice'." the admiral told them. Everyone sweat-dropped.
'Well, it's better than 'thorough' or 'unclear justice' if you ask me.' Luffy thought. 'Not sure if it beats 'blind justice' though.'
"We can see that." Zoro told him. The admiral laid down on the ground, using his hand to support his head as he still faced them.
"What are you doing?" Nami asked him. He sighed.
"I'm tired from standing." he replied. "Anyways, I'm not here to arrest you, so just chill out."
He sighed again. Luffy briefly wondered if the admiral was annoyed just by having to speak.
"I'm only here to report my discovery of your group taking in Nico Robin." he continued. He yawned. "So that the bounty can be … what's the word … "
He stared at a random tree in the distance for like a minute.
"Recalculated. That's it." he announced after a while. He yawned again. "160 million plus 60 million plus 79 million."
He moved his fingers on his free hand.
"I don't know." he said after a while. "Some big number."
"Too lazy to count, eh?" Zoro asked with a sweat-drop. Luffy ran up to him.
"Hey, admiral-guy!" he greeted with a grin. "I heard you have the Ice logia!"
Aokiji blinked at the straw-hatted pirate.
"Could you show me?!" he pleaded. "Make me an ice sword! No, a saber! No, a CANNON!"
The admiral sweat-dropped. As did the other pirates.
"SHOW ME SOME TRICKS!" the pirate demanded.
"What am I to you, some circus freak?" the admiral asked, but his voice was normal. It was as if he was too lazy to be irritated. Luffy grinned.
"Oh, come on!" he yelled, practically in his face. "Show me something!"
The man groaned. He stood up.
"Fine." he grunted in annoyance. He looked at Tonjit. "You need to get to the next island, right?"
The small man nodded. He packed everything he needed and then everyone headed to the beach.
"So, how will you do that?" Zoro asked the admiral. Said man shook his head.
"I'm too lazy to explain, so just watch." he replied.
He approached the water and put his hand in it. He waited for a moment, calculating roughly how much power he'd have to release to do it.
A sea-king appeared next to him from the water. A few of the straw hats shouted for him to watch out. He didn't listen.
"Ice age." he finally announced. In an instant, as far as they could see, the ocean turned into ice. Along with the sea-king.
Straw hat jaws were on the ground, along with the old man's.
"Shishishishi, awesome!" Luffy yelled. Everyone turned to him with their jaw still on the ground.
"This is the power of a Marine Admiral." Robin said slowly. Fear did not leave her expression after first seeing the man.
Aokiji pulled his hand out of the ice. He walked up to the old man and the pirates.
He looked at the old man.
"Just walk in that direction." he said and pointed somewhere in the distance. "The ice should last about a week, so take your time."
He walked past him.
"Dress warm." he continued. "It'll be a bit cold where you're going."
"Is … this a dream?" the old man asked. But then he quickly turned around.
"Thank you, Admiral-san!" he yelled happily. The marine just waved his hand.
The straw hats helped the old man down on the ice along with his small wagon, or whatever it was.
"Thank you, Marine-san!" the old man yelled and waved as he left. "Thank you, guys!"
The straw hats waved back.
"Take care!" Luffy yelled.
After a while, they disappeared into the distance. The straw hats returned to the island, shaking because of the cold.
Aokiji sat on the grass. He stretched his head.
Luffy inwardly groaned. 'So here it comes.' he thought.
The marine admiral scratched his head and looked at him as he approached.
"What?" Luffy asked. He shook his head.
"You are very much like your grandfather." he said after a while. "Childish and reckless. Loud."
Luffy huffed.
"I'm the captain!" he announced and puffed his chest. "I can be as childish and loud as I want to be!"
A few people sweat-dropped.
"But hard to fully understand." the admiral continued, ignoring the interruption. He sighed.
"Your grandpa helped me a long time ago." he said after a while. Luffy narrowed his eyes. Kuzan mentioned that bit quite a lot.
"Grandpa told me about you." Luffy told him, interrupting whatever he wanted to say next. The admiral looked up in surprise.
"Arara, what did he say?" he asked. Luffy gained a thoughtful expression.
Flashback:
"Grandpa, tell me about the admirals!" Luffy suddenly asked while his grandpa and him were eating meat somewhere in the forest.
The old man raised an eyebrow as he munched on his food.
"Why are you asking that?" he asked. He gulped his meat.
Then he got a victorious grin on his face.
"Ah, you're finally considering becoming a marine!" he announced with a booming voice and a smirk.
Luffy grimaced.
"No way." he muttered. "Pirates are cooler."
Garp lost his smirk.
"What?!" he yelled. "I'm a marine! Is grandpa not cool enough?!"
Luffy smirked.
"Shanks is way cooler!" he chirped out and laughed. The old marine gritted his teeth.
"Why you damn brat!" he muttered and bonked his grandson on the head.
He huffed and turned around.
"If you're not becoming a marine, I'm not telling you anything about the admirals!" he said.
Luffy pouted. But then he smirked devilishly.
"If you tell me, maybe I'll think they're cool!" he replied cheerfully. The marine turned back to him, eying him suspiciously.
'Clever brat.' he thought. He sighed and shook his head.
"Fine!" he muttered. He gained a thoughtful expression.
"Well, they are all a bunch of amateurs compared to me!" he declared and puffed out his chest proudly.
"But they're really tough. One of them could crush the three of you easy as pie!" he continued, referring to the three brothers.
"Wow, they're strong then!" Luffy chirped out. Garp grinned.
"Of course!" he shouted, scaring away every bird in the forest. "Marines are strong!"
Luffy narrowed his eyes.
"Pirates are strong too!" he announced. His grandpa bonked him on the head again.
"Shut up when I'm talking!" he yelled. He took a bite out of his meat.
"Anyway!" he continued. "There's Sakazuki, Kuzan and Borsalino, but they're also known under their codenames, which I don't really get."
He shook his hand and then took another bite.
"Anyway, Sakazuki is a good marine, but he always has that stupid expression on his face, like someone just threw a bunch of dog crap into his face." Garp told him. Luffy laughed. "And he's always on about absolute justice this, absolute justice that! He's really annoying with that!"
Luffy felt that Garp had more to tell him, but wouldn't say because he might fear that it'd turn him off from admiring the marine. Nevertheless, he figured out that grandpa did not really like the magma admiral. And he was happy to hear that.
"Then there's Borsalino!" he continued. "I don't really mind him, but he's kind of a weirdo. I never know what's going on in his head."
He took another bite.
"Kuzan is kinda cool." he continued. "I like him. Except being horribly lazy, he's a terrific marine. Still just an amateur though."
He turned to Luffy.
"So, what do you think, Luffy?" he asked. Luffy grinned.
"Grandpa is cooler!" he announced. Garp got a slight blush.
"Why thank-"
"But Shanks is still the coolest! Shishishishi!" Luffy interrupted and ran away laughing.
"WHY YOU DAMN BRAT!"
Luffy smiled at the memory. He looked at the admiral.
"He said you were an amateur." he told him. The man rolled his eyes, but his lip twitched from a barely suppressed smirk. "But that you're kinda cool anyway."
The straw hats, except Zoro, looked at Luffy in shock.
"Your grandpa thinks of a marine admiral as an amateur?!" Nami screeched out. Luffy smirked.
"Grandpa is stronger than that guy." he said and pointed at the man.
Aokiji shrugged.
"I'm not ashamed to admit that." he replied. "Garp-san is after all, a legendary marine. Even though I have a logia devil fruit, I'd still be reluctant to fight him."
'Garp-san, Garp-san,' Nami thought. Then, suddenly, a realization struck her.
"GARP THE FIST?!" she yelled out.
Luffy grinned.
"Shishishishi! That's my grandpa, Monkey D Garp!" he said cheerfully. Everyone stared in shock.
'His grandfather is Garp 'the Fist'.' Robin thought in shock. 'His brothers are 'Fire Fist' Ace and 'Blue Gentleman' Sabo. He personally knows 'Red-Haired' Shanks. When will it end?'
"Hey, Marimo, why aren't you shocked?!" Sanji suddenly asked. Zoro smirked.
"Oh, I knew from the beginning!" he announced.
"WHAT?" everyone yelled. Luffy laughed.
"I'm afraid to ask who your father is, Luffy!" Usopp said. Luffy's laugh became louder.
'His dad too?!' everyone thought.
"Anyway, kiddies!" Aokiji interrupted. Everyone looked at him. "I was kinda thinking here."
He sighed. Then he looked at them.
"Maybe you guys should all just die."
Ah, that's this chapter done. I hope you liked Aokiji's introduction. If you're unsure about the types of justice, Aokiji has lazy justice, Kizaru has unclear justice, Akainu has thorough justice and (SPOILER) the new guy, Fujitora probably has blind justice, though that's unconfirmed. (/SPOILER)
And the Straw hats learned about Luffy's grandpa. Btw, I hope you liked the flashback. In the next chapter I will complete the encounter with Aokiji (sorry, I originally wanted to do the whole encounter, but there was just too much) and then, onwards to Enies Lobby.
Btw, I don't like the first part, up to the meeting with Aokiji. It's lame as hell, but it kinda had to be done. As promised, I dealt with Foxy quickly.
About Sabo's devil fruit, I got A LOT of ideas from you guys for a Zoan DF. It'll be really hard to resist giving him one. :D (Haven't decided on anything yet btw.) I mean, look at these: pterodactyl, lion, sphinx, hellhound, man eating bird, pegasus, monkey (idk why :) ), griffon, pandaman :D, peacock :D, pink unicorn (oh yes :D ), caladrius, kobalos, etc etc. Or I could give his staff one of those. Uhm, but I still have plenty of time to decide. Even if I rushed through everything (which I won't, at least not too much).
Thanks for reading. Please review. Don't bitch though. Bitches bitch, so don't be a bitch and bitch! Yeah, that makes sense.
