This is a sequel to "The Huntress" and "The Huntress in the East Blue"
(X)(X)
Chapter one
"Maaann, these Marines are so weird." Luffy complained to Zoro after they left the bounties office. "Why was he so surprised about the red nosed guy. He was such a stupid pirate"
Zoro snorted. "These guys probably never saw a pirate worth more than five thousand Belly. This is the weakest of the seas after all"
"Meh!" Luffy was definitely not impressed. These Marines were no fun.
Turning left, the two kept walking down the road on their way to Rika's family restaurant to join Nami for a meal before they sat sail again.
"So, you are the two bounty hunters that just handed over Buggy the Clown?"
The voice came from a side alley, and if that wasn't sketchy enough already, the man the voice belonged to was a sleazy looking man with oily hair and big sword by his side.
"What's it to you?" Zoro asked aggressively, probably not liking the looks the guy was sending his captain.
Luffy herself coked her head as she took in the new weird guy. She would have asked how he knew about Buggy, but Zoro and her had dragged the pirate through the streets, not really caring about who saw them or not.
"Well, it's important to me because I am part of an organization that would be very interested in employing you. Let me introduce myself. I am Mr. 7."
Luffy looked at Zoro.
Zoro looked at Luffy.
Eyebrows were raised.
(X)(X)
The ship was cutting through the white fog, faster than she had ever gone, and Luffy couldn't help but hoop in excitement.
"DID YOU HEAR THAT NOISE?" She heard Zoro shout from right beside her.
She hadn't. And apparently Nami hadn't either because she could hear something about it being the wind or something.
But then, the fog started to clear, and a weird humming sound came from the bottom of the mountain.
Luffy widened her eyes in surprise.
"IT'S A WHALE!" They all… wailed together.
…
Two minutes later Luffy's favourite seat was broken and she was climbing down a mysterious trapdoor on top of the whale's head.
(X)(X)
Luffy scratched her ear as she heard the old man finish the story about the pirates that Laboon had followed to the grand line. The weird duo that had tried to eat the whale had fled, and all her nakama were spread around the lighthouse on the exit of the mystery mountain.
The story had been good. But sad. And a bit confusing.
"I don't get it." She said, crossing her arms as looking at the old flower guy with a pout. "Why is Laboon still here? It's not like she's still a baby. She could go explore the grand line, or try to cross the calm belt back to West Blue. She's probably doing all this because she feels stuck. Whales must be like people. If we're stuck in one place, we start to go crazy. She must be bored. I would be bored too!"
Everyone looked back at her, speechless.
She blinked back at them, even more confused than before. "What?"
The flower guy cleared his throat and fixed his glasses before finally saying something. "The grand line is very dangerous."
"But she's huge! She's a whale, so she's a top predator. She even swallowed our ship whole. There aren't many things that could actually harm her if she's looking out for herself and not stuck here."
"West Blue whales are used to certain environments. The grand line can have all seasons in one day. There are islands were its always winter. And some that are complete deserts. She would not survive that."
"So?" Luffy blinked. Before scowling. "She can swim you know? She can just avoid those places. I bet there is snow in some places in the west blue too. Animals are better than people at avoiding places they don't like you know? And hey, aren't whales pretty good with cold? I thought they lived almost everywhere, except the really hot places."
The old man frowned at her, and before he could tell her another reason why the cool whale couldn't go on an adventure in the grand line, Luffy narrowed her eyes at him and asked. "Hey, old man, are you sure you're not just afraid of ending up here alone and making excuses why she can't go and explore new places? She's an adult ya now? It's time for her to leave her parents already"
The old man spluttered.
Her nakama seemed divided between blinking in incomprehension, holding their stomachs from containing their laughter, and shaking their heads in exasperation.
(X)(X)
"Alright Laboon! This is what we will do!" hitting the palm of her hand with her closed fist, Luffy listed all the details of her plan.
"On this first leg, I decided to see the place where those two weirdos came from. Since they have been trying two eat you, you should stay underwater as much as possible until we get there. When the weirdos leave, we will talk again."
A whine came from her new friend, who was clearly not very happy with the idea.
"I know I know. It's not a nice way to travel, but it shouldn't take too long. They said less than a day. I just want to see why they would try to eat such an awesome whale as yourself!"
A flipper splashed water into her face. "I know right? Ahahahahah!"
"Anyway, we will see what happens, but the grand line is supposed to be crazy! One time it could be sunny, and then a storm comes like woooosh!" Luffy made the accompanying noises as she told her hypothetical scenarios to her rapt audience. Having a whale nakama was the best! "And it could feel like summer, and then all of a sudden it's freezing! Brrrrr!"
Laboon seemed to shudder with her. The West Blue whales probably didn't like the winter too much. "Well, if it's too hot for you, try to go around that area if you can. Or dive deeper down if it's better for you there. Try to keep the ship in site so you don't get lost, okay? If it gets too bad, swim right to the next island and we will try to meet there. And if you can't find us, you can always come back to stay with old man Crocus right?
The whale nodded.
"Good!" Luffy smiled, satisfied with her plans. "And if you do have to come back, don't forget that you have our flag there now. So, no ruining our nakama promise, you hear?"
"Whoooooonnnnnnn"
Sitting on top of the cliff, Luffy smiled up at her new nakama.
"Let's go on awesome adventures together!"
The newest member of the Straw Hat Bounty Hunters sent her own cheer towards the sky.
(X)(X)
"Thank you for the ride. Baby! Whahahahahahaha!"
And the two weirdos jumped out of the ship and started swimming full speed towards the river.
"That was weird" Usopp muttered.
"Yep!" Luffy said, her head leaning to the right and her big eyes blinking rapidly. Deciding to forget the weird people, she shrugged and leaned over the railing of the ship. "Hey LABOOONNN! You can come up now! Those mean guys are gone!"
"Wheeeee-whooonnn"
Luffy laughed at their friends greeting. "Yeah, your right. Those freeloaders. Shishishi!"
"So, what do we do now?" Zoro asked.
"Well, we're here, and we need to wait for the logue pose to set." Nami stated. "We might as well explore, I guess. We might find some money on this island."
Zoro snorted under his breath. "There should be something alright, with all that Mr. Nine bullshit."
"Hey Laboon, where going inside, can you wait for us?"
"Whooooonnnnnnnnnn"
"I now, I now, you'll miss all the fun parts, but we'll tell you later! Pinkie promise!".
Luffy laughed as she leaned over the railing even more, using her legs to hang on to the mast so she wouldn't fall in the sea.
"O my god" Nami half cried half laughed in exasperation as her captain tried to pinkie swear with a whale – after explaining what it meant to said whale.
Beside her Zoro just shook his head in amusement. "She never changes. I like it."
"Anyway Laboon, we'll be back tomorrow, I hope they have some food we can eat in repayment for bringing them here. Let's make a signal, if it's too dangerous for you to come out, we'll put down some ropes in the water so you know, ok?
"WHeeeeen- whoon"
Luffy laughed again. "She said have a good dinner everyone!"
"Thank you Laboon chan!" Sanji said. As the cook, he should always wish for good meals. "Have a good meal too!~"
As Laboon submerged, and the Going Merry started making its way up the river, Usopp couldn't help but ask the question they all had in their minds.
"Hey Luffy, when did you start speaking the language of whales?" he stopped and blinked "Wait. Should it be called Wale-ish?"
"Heh?" She turned over to him and scratched the back of her head. "It's not that hard you know? You just have to pay attention."
All the others looked at each other and shook their heads with a laugh.
One more quirk of the person that was their captain.
Nothing new. Just a normal day with Luffy on board.
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"WEAAAAAH!"
"WELCOME TO THE GRAND LINE!"
"THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE! WE LOVE BOUNTY HUNTERS!"
"WELCOME HEROES OF THE SEAS!"
The town's people cheered as their ship approached, and Luffy couldn't help but raise ger eyebrow in surprise. A shared look with Zoro proved that she wasn't alone in her thoughts.
"Whoa! They love bounty hunters?" Johnny asked, incredulous. "Zoro bro, this is the best reception we've ever gotten!"
"Right?" Yosaku agreed. "There must be a lot of pirates in the grand line, so they must appreciate the work of bounty hunters!"
"Yeah! That makes sense!" The rest of the crew agreed.
Seeing their enthusiasm, Luffy couldn't help but agree. "Well, then, I guess we should enjoy their hospitality. Shishishishishi"
(X)(X)
When Luffy woke up, she was still too bloated up from dinner to really make sense of anything.
And she really needed to pee! Too much to drink and all that!
Coming back from the bathroom – she wasn't a heathen to just do her business wherever if she had another option, thank you very much – she suddenly realized that the town square was full of knocked out people.
"Whaaaattt?" She screamed in distress. "Who did this?"
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"ZOOROOO!"
The furious scream was enough to distract the newly arrived Mr.5 and Miss Valentine from their current target.
"I don't know who you are, but we have a job to do"
It was a good try from Mr.5 to get back on track for his confrontation with the Arabastan Princess. Unfortunately for him, Luffy was a woman on the warpath.
"HOW COULD YOU?"
"Wait, Luffy, let me explain. I thought you knew… They were…"
Zoro didn't finish, as he had to dodge Luffy's suddenly extended fist.
Said fist caught Mr.5 square in the face, sending him flying into the closest building.
"HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?"
"Wait! ... HEY!"
Miss Valentine was ignored after another elastic limb sent her flying away.
"HOW COULD YOU BEAT THEM ALL UP?" Luffy's furious tirade was again interrupted, this time by Mr.5.
Taking a few seconds to take care of the annoying guy, Luffy patted her stomach.
"Tch… at least they were good for my digestion."
Focusing back on Zoro, Luffy's face set itself back into a furious scowl. "YOU DIDN'T LEAVE ANY OF THEM FOR ME TO BEAT UP! YOU BASTARD! HOW IS THAT BEING A GOOD NAKAMA!"
"HEH?" That was what had made her mad?
Zoro blinked, incredulous, before laughing like a maniac. Only his captain would be mad at something like that.
"DON'T LAUGH! YOU MEANIE!" But Luff's anger was waning, her scowl turning into more of a pout.
Zoro chuckled. "I knew you had realized what they were!" As the pout didn't leave his captain's face, Zoro sighed, before smiling softly. "I'm sorry I didn't leave any of the guys for you. I wanted you to rest after the tiring day you guys had. And you did get a fight in the end"
"Tch. These two were weak. Are all the people of Barton Forks this weak and stupid?"
…
Zoro blinked.
"I think it was Baroque Works" Zoro said, laughing at Luffy's muttered 'whatever'.
"What did these two weirdoes want anyway?"
"Well, about that" The new voice came from behind them, and Luffy turned to see Nami with a familiar look in her eyes.
A look that meant money was on the line.
"We will be giving a lift to a certain princess."
"Heh? A Princess?"
(X)(X)
A couple of hours later, Luffy was greeting Laboon once more.
What an interesting start to their grand line adventure.
A nest of bad bounty hunters, criminals really. Worse than pirates to tell the truth.
Then an undercover Princess from a desert country.
And a mission to take her home!
Then a couple of photo taking, criminal sidekicks.
And then a huuuuge explosion that seemed to kill to weird old man. But then it didn't seem to kill him? Luffy wasn't sure., so she didn't say anything, but there was something in the air that seemed to say the old man wasn't dead. It was weird.
And then a lady with a mystery power riding a giant turtle!
Who tried to tell her what to do! And take her hat!
And no siree! No one told Luffy what to do! Especially hat stealers! She would make her own adventure, thank you very much!
"Alright! Our crew is complete again! Now onward to this Little Garden!"
Luffy raised her fist while lounging on her favourite seat, accompanied by a chorus of human and whale voices.
(X)(X)
"Hey Gramps?" Luffy called, small bare feet rushing over towards the much bigger man sitting by the fireplace.
"What is it Lu?"
Climbing up his leg like a monkey, Luffy perched herself on his lap and showed him her schoolbook. "We had geography lesson today. But they didn't explain it right." She stated with a pout.
"Bwahahahaha." Grabbing the book from her hands, Garp frowned slightly as he analysed its contents. "So, you have questions? What do you want to know?"
Luffy blinked up at him with her huge eyes that could make anyone do what she wanted.
"I get that there are four seas, the red line and the grand line, but they don't really explain how you go from one place to the other. I mean, why don't we cross the calm belt?"
"Uhmm, let's see…" Garp picked her up and sat her with her back to his front, the book sitting on top of her legs. "It's true that crossing the calm belt would let you travel faster, but there is no wind in the calm belt, and it's a place where those huge sea monsters like to live, so it's almost impossible to survive a crossing."
"Whooooaaaa!"
"Right? Bwahahahaha! Now, you could travel between the seas if you crossed the redline, but it's a very tall cliff! Taller than a mountain! So no one could climb it!"
"Then how?"
"Well, you can go directly from any sea and into the grand line, through this place here" he pointed at the place where the grand line and the red line crossed over. "Here is a place called reversed mountain. The sea climbs up the red line, and then goes back down into the grand line!"
"Really! Amazing! What about the other side of the grand line?"
"Here's the thing Luffy, this first part of the grand line? It's pretty well known you know. Lots of marines there. People call it Paradise, because it's like a heaven when you compare it with the second part."
"Ohhhhhh. Then how do you get there?"
"Well, there is a way to go under the red line, but it's a mystery way, so I can't tell you how. The other way is to become a marine and climb an awesome elevator all the way up to the red line, and then down again towards the grand line again!"
"So cool! I wanna see it!"
"Bwahahahaha. You can see it if you became a marine!"
"No way! I'm gonna be a bounty hunter! I want to go there by the mystery path and go underwater!"
(X)(X)
So, I tried to make a Nemo reference there with the "speaking whale" part, but it just didn't come out as I wanted in the end. In the translation to my native language, they translated it as Dory speaking "baleiês" which you could translate back to English as a made-up word like "whale-ish" or "whalish". Anyway. It just sounded better in my head and now I'm sad that it's not the same in English…
Me sad…
:(
Ahahaha, ranting aside, I hope you liked this chapter! Next time, little garden!