Here we go again guys. Didn't do any writing again this week… Thanks for all the support though, really makes my day when I see how much you guys enjoy this story :)

Wealth, Fame, Power…

Chapter 45: Trust Issues

"Is… Is that a giant duck?"

The orange haired navigator's question was one that was reverberating inside everyone's head at the moment. And all they could do was stare at the creature in an awkward silence.

Currently, the four remaining Straw Hat Pirates were all standing on the deck of the Going Merry, which was now securely docked right on the edge of Reverse Mountain. But the catch was that their ship was not the only one present. There was another small boat docked next to them, one that was carrying a human sized yellow duck with a hat on its head…

"Wow… this is like something straight out of one of my stories," Usopp joked, though no one cared enough to laugh.

"Oh shit! This is awesome! I haven't had a chance to cook any duck in a long time. Nami my dear? Have you ever had roast duck before!? It's incredible!"

The navigator was right in the middle of rolling her eyes when Zoro decided to speak up.

"Forget about that weird thing, let's just start climbing. This is about Luffy remember? This is serious."

Something about the dark tone in the swordsman's words shook Nami out of her trance-like state and allowed her to focus up as well. "Zoro's right Sanji, Let's just start climbing and find Luffy. The longer we wait, the lower his chances of surviving are."

This in turn, sobered Sanji up quite quickly too…

"Nami-swan is right! Let's go and find our captain guys!"

"Jeez, and here I thought Kaya had me wrapped around her finger…" Usopp mumbled as he shook his head.

The group was about to get a move on and start climbing the large cliff when everything started shaking.

"What the hell?" Zoro questioned himself, taking his hand off of the side of the cliff and seeing that the Merry was rocking as well.

"Uh, guys? I'm not the only one who feels this earthquake right?" Usopp asked timidly, grabbing hold of the rail with a mighty death grip.

"It's not an earthquake," Zoro said with confidence in his voice. "The rock isn't shaking but the ship is. It's gotta be that damn whale, It's coming back up…"

Nami gulped at the dark tone behind the swordsman's words as she watched him reach for his scabbards. This was about to get terrifying…

She could feel it.

And so without any other options in her small array ideas, she clung to the closest person to her with all her strength.

And Usopp wasn't complaining one bit, one could almost hear his teeth chattering from a mile away.

"Well damn, I guess we're really about to fight this thing huh?" Sanji grumbled, rolling up his sleeves and stepping up beside Zoro, who had just finished placing his bandana on his head.

"You got that right, this is for my captain."

And not ten seconds after, something enormous emerged from the depths of the grand blue sea, making many large waves and causing the Merry to shake around violently.

"AHHHHH!" Nami and Usopp cried together, tears in each of their eyes.

Zoro and Sanji did all they could to keep their footing, but in the end, the amount that the Going Merry was shaking was just too much for them, and they soon fell to the deck together.

Nami didn't open her eyes until she felt the ship stop rocking, which felt like an eternity. When she did however, she saw the green haired swordsman and the blonde cook both stumbling back up to their feet, and Usopp getting way too grabby with her body.

But she was way too scared to care right now.

Because the next thing she saw absolutely took her breath away. She thought she had gotten a good look at the whale before, but no… This was just unbelievable… What she was laying eyes on right now, could barely be classified as an animal, because it was big enough to be an actual mountain…

This… this is just stupid! The Going Merry is just a speck to that thing! And we really thought Zoro would be able to cut it!? Soon though, another thought crept into the navigators head. A much more depressing one. Maybe… Maybe Luffy really is dead then… I mean, look at the size of that thing…

So overrun with unknown emotion, the orange haired teen never even noticed Zoro and Sanji take their battle stances once again, ready to fight to the very last moment, no matter how big the opponent was.

"You ready mosshead?"

"Of course, I'm gonna cut it to pieces."

.

"Alright then, on the count of three we'll both jump, but once we get as high as we can, I'll use my legs to boost you up the rest of the way, got it?"

"Heh, that's a pretty funny way of saying you're gonna kick me in the ass."

Sanji almost laughed as well, but kept his cool. "Call it what you want, do you want my help or not?"

"Let's do this."

Ok, now Nami had seen it all. Not only was she staring at a mountain sized whale right now, but now Zoro and Sanji were willingly working together!? That fight they had together must have actually done something for their cooperation skills.

"Ready! One, two, thr-"

"WAHOOO!"

With legendary timing, the attention of all four pirates was forcefully grabbed and brought up to the top of the whale, where the scream-like noise was definitely coming from. And just as more and more questions started arising, answers came just as fast. Because flying out of the whale's blowhole, was none other than the infamous straw hat captain.

"No way…" Sanji breathed.

"Is that?" Zoro began, only to be cut off.

"LUFFY!" Nami and Usopp cried passionately.

"Oh hey! It's my crew! Awesome!" The teen said to no one in particular as he continued his free fall.

"Uh, guys? Luffy can't swim right?" Usopp questioned, though he already knew the answer.

"No, he can't, he's a devil fruit user-" Nami replied normally, still too focused on seeing Luffy alive to think about anything else… Until it clicked in her head… "Crap! Usopp has a point! Luffy is just gonna land in the water and drown! One of you guys has to swim out there and wait for him!"

Sanji sighed and started to obey his sweet Nami. He was the best swimmer out of the bunch, at least in his opinion. He'd never actually seen Zoro swim, but he doubted that he liked getting wet very much, considering he was always carrying around those fancy swords.

"Hold up curlybrow," The swordsman stated calmly, stopping the cook right as he was taking off his shoes. "I don't think that'll be necessary, Luffy's carrying two people with him. If he starts drowning, they can just save him."

"What!? You're really gonna trust a couple of random people to save him out of the kindness of their heart!? What if they can't swim either!?" Nami asked incredulously.

"I mean, I guess, but are they really randoms when it comes to Luffy? Knowing that dumbass, he's probably already gotten to know them on a personal level. Wouldn't be surprised if they already had friendship bracelets."

"Ugh, ok, I guess that makes sense, he does make friends really easily. But what about the other thing? You can't even see those two clearly from here, they could be horrible swimmers!"

"Hmm, I guess that's true…" The swordsman put a hand to his chin, thinking for a moment before moving his eyes towards Usopp.

"Usopp, you're the only person I know with better eyes than me. Look up there and describe the people Luffy's holding onto."

"Huh? Oh! On it!" The long nosed teen stuttered as he scrambled to his feet. Without any further hesitation, he reached up and moved the lenses of his brand new goggles down over his eyes, squinting heavily in an attempt to identify the people that were accompanying his captain.

Nami looked on uneasily as the sniper worked his magic. While what Zoro said was absolutely true, it wasn't a very safe thing to bet on. I mean, for all they knew, those could be a couple bounty hunters trying to trick Luffy and take his head. He was a wanted man now after all. Ugh, don't worry so much. She thought to herself. Even if he's a bit naive, Luffy still has really good judgement on character, he'll be fine. Still though, I wonder who he could have met inside of a gigantic whale?

"I see something!" Usopp called, gathering up everyone's focus again. "On his back he's got a guy with orange hair like Nami's, and in his arms he's got a girl with blue hair. Both of them look unconscious!"

"Wait, what!? A girl!?" Sanji and Nami shouted out in unison, both of them having polar opposite reactions.

"Well don't just stand there Usopp! Tell me, is she hot!?" Sanji continued.

"Huh? Oh, well uh… Yeah actually, she does look pretty good, at least from far away."

"Who gives a crap!" Zoro butted in. "You just said they're both unconscious! Get in there curlybrow! He's gonna sink like a stone!"

Getting the memo, Sanji rushed to finish taking off his shoes and jacket. "Alright, but don't get mad at me if I come back here with that beauty instead of our stupid captain."

Right as the cook was about to dive into the water however, another scream was heard by the group, presumably from their captain.

"Haha! This is so much fun!"

"Um, why does he not sound worried?" Sanji hesitated, pausing his plan to go for a swim.

But his question was not met with an answer. Instead, silence loomed over the deck of the Going Merry as they all looked on in confusion.

This was Luffy after all… He had this under control right?

Falling rapidly towards the ocean, Luffy's smile could be seen growing exponentially. And if he had a plan, he didn't show it, because he was getting closer to the water every second without any action.

It wasn't until he was only 50 meters or so from the surface that Luffy made his move, and an odd one at that.

"Gum gum stamp!" He yelled, shooting one of his legs out backwards as hard as he could. This turned out to be quite a smart move, as the leg he stretched out landed hard against the side of Laboon's body, sending Luffy flying in the direction of his ship and his friends.

"H-he did it! He's coming this way!" Nami pointed out excitedly.

"That wasn't enough… He's not gonna make it." Zoro spoke up, a deadly tone behind his words once again.

"Yeah, Zoro's right," Usopp added, bringing his expertise to the table. "His angle is all wrong, he should have done that when he was way higher. He didn't account for the drop over time. But I wouldn't really expect Luffy to know that, so I can't really blame him."

Nami began chewing her nails again when she heard Usopp's explanation. She knew he was right too, not only did Usopp know a lot about the subject because of his set of skills and role on the crew, but it also sounded really logical, and logic was something very high on her list of things to believe over emotion.

And if Luffy didn't know before, he sure did now, because even he could feel how his trajectory was starting to drop off course. This was bad.

Luckily though, improvisation was one of the rubber man's strong suits.

"Alrighty then, I guess I'll have to do this the old fashioned way from here."

As fast as he could, Luffy threw Vivi over his shoulder, taking her out of the bridal carry and placing her next to her partner on his back, while also freeing up both of his arms. He didn't have any time to celebrate their smooth transition though, because the water was coming towards him fast.

"Ok arm, please be long enough," he joked as he held his right shoulder and cocked back.

Once he had aimed and taken his best shot, Luffy only watched the vast ocean under him with wide eyes. Every second that past only freaked him out more as the large blue void approached him with great speed.

So words could not describe the relief flooding his veins when he felt the familiar tug of tension on his rubber appendage.

"Shishishi! Here I come guys!"

And true to his word he was, because he arrived back to the Going Merry in practically no time at all. It was truly amazing how fast Luffy's powers allowed him to move.

Sometimes a little too fast in fact…

"Oh cra-" Luffy started before being cut off, his face coming into direct contact with Merry's figurehead, breaking it off completely.

"Luffy!" the whole crew yelled out in both worry and relief.

"Uhhhhh, wow, that was crazy…" Luffy said, rubbing his head and looking around as he slowly stood up. "Oh crap! Merry!"

Immediately noticing what he had just done to his dear ship, the rubber man got up frantically and patted the lamb head sitting on the deck. Luckily it was only the post that it rested on that broke, but still, it was his favorite seat…

"Aw man, my favorite se-"

"YOU DUMBASS!"

Luffy's eyes widened in complete horror when he heard the familiar angry voice. And when he slowly turned to face it, he wasn't surprised to find Nami with the mother of all veins bulging on her forehead, and her fist raised as she ran at him.

"Ahh! No wait! Nami! Before you hit me I-"

But rather than pound the poor boy's skull in, the orange haired teen tackled him in a bone crushing hug, ending any and all conversation that may have started.

And while Sanji and Usopp may have looked indifferent for the most part, Zoro narrowed his eyes at the girl's action. He also could have sworn that Luffy was about to get his head caved in right there. And this was the second time recently that he had caught Nami acting slightly off and out of character. Was she really starting to become nicer?

Stop being paranoid Zoro. He kicked himself mentally. Maybe this is how she actually is when some freak isn't making her worry about her village. I'm looking into this way too much.

"W-we thought you died." She said within the embrace.

"Heh, I'm fine Nami, really. I'm glad you guys were worried about me though. It was really weird in there.

Now having a better look at the two other 'guests' that had landed to the side safely. Sanji wasted no time in inquiring about them. The blue haired beauty in particular. "Luffy! What were you doing in there with such a perfect angel! Don't just stand there! Introduce us!"

Backing up out of Nami's hug slowly, Luffy's demeanor did a one eighty when Sanji mentioned the two newcomers. "Oh yeah, them… I don't wanna talk about them right now…

There it is, sorry if it feels like the Reverse Mountain arc is dragging a bit, but this is by design. I'm planning on kinda merging it with Whisky Peak in a weird way. Anyway, you'll see when we get there :)