Wealth, Fame, Power…

Chapter 41: Chewing Gum

The last thing Luffy ever expected to be at the start of the Grand Line was a giant water slide of death and destruction. It was truly something else to feel so much wind in his face right now, the terrified screams of his four friends magnifying this mind numbing feeling even more.

And he was loving every second of it…

"Haha! Faster Merry! This is great!"

However, while the captain of the ship was having the time of his life at that very moment, the four other normal people aboard the ship were screaming their lungs out.

"Ahhh! Sanji, you better be holding that rudder steady!" Nami wailed in pure fear. Out of the five pirates, she was the only one who had changed up her attire. Switching up her shirt to a blue tank top with a blue heart in the center with a matching pair of blue heeled sandals.

"I'm trying my beautiful swan!" The blonde responded lovingly before changing back to anger. "Usopp! Get your scrawny ass up here and help me!"

The poor marksman gulped and nodded at his friend's request, but couldn't seem to get his feet to move, his knees were buckling too hard as he held onto the railing for dear life.

"Hurry Usopp!" Sanji repeated.

This time the long nosed teen didn't even hear the call of his friend, his attention being brought to something very big and very bad showing up off in the distance. And judging by how no one had reacted to the towering structure, Usopp guessed that his crew hadn't spotted it yet. His advanced eyesight must have been giving him the edge.

"Uhh, guys?" Ussop began shakily, still trying to swallow his fear.

Before he could come out with it though, the second most observant straw hat locked his eagle eyes on the giant black silhouette as well. "Shit! There's something up ahead blocking the path!"

The swordsman's outcry instantly grabbed everyone's attention and placed it on the ever growing show up ahead of them.

Nami's eyes bulged open in total speechlessness, and if she weren't so busy holding onto some railing for support, she was sure she would be grabbing a handful of her hair right about now. "We need to stop! Lower the sails! They'll help us slow down!"

Zoro turned back to her like she was speaking another language. "Are you crazy!? The mast is gonna snap like a twig if we do that!"

"It's better than crashing into whatever that is!" Nami defended.

"Gah!" Sanji growled, struggling to hold the rudder in its neutral position. "Just do something guys! I can't hold this much longer!"

That seemed to snap Usopp out of his shock, because he quickly shook himself loose and ran up the stairs to assist his friend.

Zoro on the other hand appeared to be quite unsure of himself. Looking hesitantly between the navigator who just gave him an order and the cook who was now red with exertion. "Damn it! Fine, I'll lower the sails."

But just as he began to climb the main mast, Zoro was stopped by the only man who outranked the orange haired navigator. "Zoro, stop right there…"

Nami didn't hesitate to shoot a very incredulous look at her captain, what was he thinking!? "Luffy, what are you doing?" She squeaked worriedly. Somehow she knew she wasn't gonna like his next orders.

Beaming with his signature grin, Luffy punched his open palm with excitement. "We're not risking destroying the Merry, and we're not slowing down either. Sanji, Usopp! Just keep her steady! let me handle the rest!"

You've gotta be kidding me!? He's not gonna punch a mountain is he? Nami thought to herself. Already sighing in defeat at how Zoro stopped climbing, of course he would side with Luffy.

"Ugh, fine! But if I die, I'm totally gonna kill you Luffy!"

"Shishishishi, don't worry Nami, just sit back and watch," the teen spoke confidently, finding it amusing how the girl's threat didn't even make sense. His first instinct when he saw the huge obstacle was to go below deck and try slowing the ship down with the cannon, but a much funner idea had just made its way into his head. There was a specific gum gum move that he hadn't gotten the chance to show anyone yet. The last two times he tried he was interrupted, and no one got to see it, but now was the perfect time, and nothing was gonna stop him from using one of his favorite techniques.

"Just a little closer!" Luffy yelled as the fog cleared, showing off that it was not in fact a mountain in front of them, but instead an enormous whale.

"What the hell!?" Nami screeched.

The rest of the crew just watched with wide eyes, not even having words for what they were seeing.

"Uh, Luffy?" Zoro asked nervously. "If you're gonna do something, you better hurry!"

Luffy's big smile only widened as he got into position, moving up to stand tall on top of Merry's figurehead. "Here we go! Gum gum!" He yelled out, leaping off of the ship with perfect timing. "Balloon!"

With his intentions becoming more and more clear by the moment, Luffy began inhaling as much as he possibly could, which resulted in him inflating his body into a sizable rubber bubble.

And so, with impeccable timing, the inflated rubber man slowly floated down into position, wedging himself right in between the oncoming Merry and the giant whale threatening to end their journey…

Needless to say, this was not a pretty sight. The second that the pirate ship collided with Luffy's impromptu cushion, all of the air in his belly left him immediately. The only good thing that seemed to happen was the semi comfortable stop that the Going Merry came to, because after that everything went to hell.

"Ahhhh!" Luffy screamed. But it wasn't because of pain, it was because of how he was now flying randomly through the air now, all of the air leaving through his mouth propelling him quickly through the sky.

The rest of the crew barely had any time to even see what happened, but they managed to recover from the not so graceful stop just in time to see something completely mind boggling.

…

…

…

Luffy running out of air to shoot him around…

Right over the whale's open mouth…

Causing him to fall straight in…

"LUFFY!" The four pirates yelled for their captain.

"Woah, I cant't see a thing!" the rubber man stated matter-of-factly. He didn't know where he was right now, but it sure was dark, and it felt like he was in a free fall right now, except he couldn't see the ground below him...

All of the sudden though, a circle of light opened up under him. Uncovering what looked to be… More ocean? Ok, this was seriously weird.

Luffy continued to fall, now aiming to fall inside the opened up hole and back out into the light of day, but fate had other plans, because as soon as he was about to fall through, the mysterious hole closed up and he fell flat on his face.

"Aww gross! The ground is all slimy!"

Luckily, the teen didn't have to wait around very long for something else to happen, because a second later, another hole opened up, revealing a giant hallway made of flesh and metal… Wow was this surreal.

Stepping through the opening, Luffy walked through the giant corridor, looking around curiously for any sort of clue to where he was. "Where the hell am I?" He scratched his head.

"I'm telling you Mister Nine, It's this way!"

"I'm sorry Miss Wednesday, but I have to disagree with you, the stomach is that way!"

"Hmm?" Luffy looked over the edge of his little flesh sidewalk to see two people arguing below him. A woman with light blue hair tied back into a ponytail wearing a green jacket. And an orange haired man with a king's crown on his head. "Huh, who are these guys?"

"D-did we just watch our captain die?" Usopp asked shakily, tears forming in his eyes.

Taking an extra long puff of his cigarette, Sanji was the first to reply. "I don't know, that might have just be the dumbest thing I've ever seen him do…"

Zoro was only staring at the whale in an angry silence. He didn't know what to think right now if he was being honest.

Nami also felt the life leave her body as she sunk down to the floor, both hands collapsed firmly over her mouth. "No way… Luffy."