Wealth, Fame, Power…
Chapter 43: Old Meets New
"Wait, what!? There's no way that's true!"
"Shishishishi! Yep, I'm not joking. You should have seen the look on his face when she grabbed his nose, he was flopping around like a fish!"
Vivi put both of her hands over her mouth in a terrible attempt to not burst out into laughter. It didn't seem all that appropriate to just laugh without worry right now, she was a princess after all, she was raised to be polite. But right now, after hearing a couple of Luffy's stories about his crewmates, she hardly felt like royalty at all.
She felt almost… Normal. It was nice.
"Heh, yeah, my crew is full of weirdos, but that's what makes them fun!"
Vivi again couldn't stop the genuine smile from taking over her face. "You sound like you really care about them."
"Oh yeah," Luffy said wholeheartedly. "I love every single one em."
Not stopping her staring, the blunette had to actively snap herself out of her daze and look forward again. She really needed to stop this and focus on her mission. There was just something about Luffy's personality that felt so comfortable though. He was so lighthearted and easy to talk to… It was uncanny.
And it was messing with her head.
Should I go through with this? I'm starting to feel bad for lying to this boy so blatantly. She thought to herself sincerely.
"Hey Vivi! I think we're here! Look I can see that weird light from earlier up ahead!"
Vivi turned up from her thoughts and flashed the boy a fake smile. He sounded so excited, yet she was honestly feeling the opposite right now. "Uh, right," she said almost hesitantly. "Let's do this Luffy."
With that, the pair jogged up ahead together into the unknown, stopping only when they reached the threshold where the light was pouring in.
"Woooooah!" Luffy shouted. "I thought you said we were inside of a whale Vivi? Why can I see the sky?"
Putting on a look of pure business, Vivi explained the situation to the ignorant boy. "This is the stomach of the whale Luffy. It's where he lives…"
Scratching his head, the rubber man looked to his new friend with curiosity. "Huh?"
"Like I told you already, he's acting as the guardian for this whale, and this is where he lives. Look, you can see his little house from here, over on that island."
The teen took heed of her pointed finger and turned his attention straight ahead again. After squinting a bit, it didn't take long for him to spot the little sandy island in the middle of what looked like pure ocean. Was this really all fake? If it was, it sure as hell fooled him.
"Wow… This is crazy… What's the plan then? How do we get over to him?
"Hmm… I'm not sure. Me and Mister Nine usually swim over, but we have to be quick, that blue stuff isn't water, it's stomach acid. If we stay in there for more than ten minutes, we're dead."
"Oh… Well that kinda sucks. I don't do so well with swimming."
Vivi didn't seem to pick up on what the boy just admitted and thought nothing of it. Instead proceeding to bark out the next set of orders. "Alright then Luffy, We'll sit here until Mister Nine wakes up, then all three of us can go over there and ambush that old weirdo."
But Luffy was no longer paying any attention to the blue haired teen. Being the problem solver he was, the boy quickly ran over and picked her up, tossing her onto his back on top of Mister Nine.
"Woah! Luffy, what are you doing!?" She asked with worry as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders for security. This position was really uncomfortable since she had to share it with her orange haired partner.
"Shishishi, just hold on tight Vivi! I'll get us over there no problem!"
Before the blunette could retort back at the boy, her eyes turned to saucers when his arms suddenly stretched out and latched onto either sides of the stomach's opening.
Wait what!? Luffy is a devil fruit user!? This… This is amazing! There's no way we can lose now! We've got this in the ba-
"Here we go! Gum gum rocket!" He yelled out in excitement, totally cutting off any further thoughts that the blue haired girl had.
"Wahhhhhh!" Vivi shrieked, holding onto the rubber man for dear life as the three of them soared through the air.
"Wooohoo! This never gets old!" Luffy cheered.
But the poor blunette didn't seem hear a single word he said, she was way too busy panicking and flailing around to register anything right now. And after what seemed like an eternity to her, Luffy finally landed with a hard thud of his feet hitting the ground.
"Wow, that was awesome! I really need to come up with a faster version of that move, then it would be even more fun!"
Vivi however, was not nearly on the same level of elation as the straw hat teen, that was for sure. Taking big gulps of air in rapid succession, she looked over at her partner's limp and unconscious body. Well, we're alive… Somehow. But Mister Nine is still down for the count. Can Luffy and I pull this off alone? Now that I know he's a devil fruit user I feel a little better, but still…
"Hey Vivi, is that him? The old guy?"
The girl curiously poked her head around Luffy and laid eyes on the person he was pointing at. Not hesitating for a moment to draw her weapon in blind fury. "You!" She said accusingly. "We're here to take you in! And we're killing this whale afterwards too!"
Luffy craned his neck to the side slightly in confusion. Did she just say they were gonna take this guy in? What did that mean?
"Quit your yapping, will ya? I'm trying to read the paper and relax. So how about you just run along back to your village girly, I already told you that you're not gonna kill my friend."
Ok, now Luffy was really confused. "Huh? Friend? What is he talking about Vivi?"
"Don't listen to him Luffy! He's trying to take advantage of you! Just attack!"
The straw hat teen looked like he was undecided on what to believe, but in the end, he had known Vivi for longer, so he went with her. "Uh, right!"
"Ah, I see. You brought a lackey this time. Do you really think It's gonna make a difference though?"
Luffy did his best to focus, holding his shoulder and preparing for a starting attack. Something about this still felt off though, he just couldn't pinpoint what it was. "Gum gum,"
"Hurry this up kid, I've gotta start treating Laboon here pretty soon."
With that, the teen's right fist began preparing to be launched at the elder still sitting on his beach chair. Which was partly terrifying and impressive at the same time.
"Ah yes, the gum gum fruit. Can be quite dangerous if used creatively. Unless of course, your opponent completely outclasses you."
As if to prove his point right there on the spot, the old man simply ducked his head prematurely, now waiting on the attack that was about to come.
"Pistol!" Luffy shouted, shooting his fist forward at great speed. To his bewilderment though, his punch passed right over his opponent's head… Exactly where he dodged before he even threw the punch…
"What the hell!?" How did you do that!? It's like you knew where my attack would be! And you even knew my devil fruit!"
Yawning, the old timer placed the newspaper he was reading in his lap and faced forward. "First of all kid, I've got some tricks up my sleeve from my younger days, so you won't be able to beat me. And second of all, I didn't need to see into the future to reveal your devil fruit… You used it right in my face to fling yourself over here…"
"Woah… You can see into the future!?" The rubber man questioned in awe, completely missing the second half of what the man had to say.
The old man rolled his eyes and sighed at how blunt the boy was. "Ah, whatever, I'm gonna go ahead and end this if that's ok with you two. You can't win."
Vivi's legs began to tremble as more and more time passed. This was ridiculous! Sure he had beaten her many times when she only had Mister Nine as backup, but now even this thirty million beri pirate seemed to be outmatched as well!
"Uhh, what happened? Where are we Miss Wednesday?" A groggy looking Mister Nine moaned softly, sitting up and surveying the battlefield.
"I'm not giving up yet! I'm gonna be the Pirate King one day, so I'm not about to just quit after missing one attack!"
This specific sentence caught the old man's attention in the blink of an eye, making him narrow his eyes at the straw hat teen. "Really now? You think you've got what it takes to reach the top? Let's test that, shall we?"
Suddenly, an immense amount of pressure filled the entire room. Pushing down without a single ounce of mercy behind it.
Luffy felt his shoulders slump slightly, and his eyelids began to feel heavy all of the sudden. But this did not deter him from staring his opponent down with determination, pushing through this weird feeling with all that he had.
Vivi and Mister Nine on the other hand, passed out instantly. Falling down to the ground as sheer willpower overcame their system.
After about ten second or so of this constant presence in the air, it vanished. Making Luffy fall to one knee in slight fatigue.
But never once did his eyes leave the old man's.
This piqued the old man's interest as he stared back with just as much venom. "How Long have you been sailing the Grand Line kid?" He mumbled lowly, a deadly serious tone behind his words.
Breathing slightly heavier, Luffy answered honestly. "I just got here. The whale swallowed me up and then I ran into these two."
"Shut your damn mouth!" The old man screamed, his eyes growing wider by the second. "A rookie wouldn't have been able to do what you just did, so cut the crap!"
"I'm not lying!" The rubber man retorted as he took to his feet once again. "But I don't care what you think! I'm still not gonna quit!"
The old man didn't want to believe it, but the boy sounded genuine. And if that was the case, then this whole situation just got a lot more interesting…
"Well then, if you're telling the truth… then there's only one other explanation… you have it too… You're just like me..."
Alrighty then, yep I made Crocus a badass lol. I always felt like he was trying to use Conqueror's Haki on the crew back in canon, so I decided to give him an upgrade for my version. And yes, this does play a big role in Luffy's development. How? Well I guess you'll have to wait until next week. See ya then :D
