"There it is! Our second island in the Grand Line!"
They make it to Little Garden, but it's far from a swell and relaxing trip to town. Gin emerges from the room just to see the ruckus, and he has to falter at the grand sight before him.
Larger than necessary wildlife, narrow rivers, exotic greenery.
"Oh hey! Look at that!" Usopp exclaims, pointing upward to something shivering in the hanging trees.
All heads turn up. They don't find anything-- but they do realize the implication, so they shoot dirty looks toward him.
"I'm just kidding." Usopp simply hums, still looking upward at nothing with a smile on his face. "But that's how it'll sound like when one of you guys spot something strange."
Sanji axe-kicks him and makes sure he doesn't get up anytime soon.
"This is a prehistoric island and giants live on it," Gin says. "Get us a dinosaur or two, the meat will last us a while. Don't talk to the giants."
Usopp has the sudden urge to reply 'yes dad' to that, but he doesn't think they'll appreciate the joke.
"The quartermaster has spoken," is Sanji's dry response to that-- which, works just as well.
"Yay! Dinosaur meat!" Luffy cheers. Jungle boy as he is, the looming threat of a huge jungle with large animals was just Tuesday for him. In fact, he was all set and excited for adventure already. "Oh! And Sanji, one Pirate Lunchbox!"
"Pirate Lunchbox?" Zoro has to ask.
"High protein and lots of meat," Gin translates.
"It's actually a thing?!"
The groupings went as such-- Usopp, Kinoko and Gin had to stay on shipwatch, because their injuries may get infected. Nami, Sanji and Zoro, the latter two of whom started some sort of fight over who could hunt better, are to go and acquire foodstuff. Finally, Luffy, as well as Vivi and Carue, were going to explore the island and try to scout for their enemies.
The Baroque Works members were coming, but there was nothing they could do except keep an eye out until they showed up. Everyone was supposed to be on high alarm, which is why Luffy was going with Vivi whilst the others went alone.
"Hold on, everyone!" Usopp declares, right as all the groups step off the ship. Wielding a can of suspicious-looking spray, he points out in the swordsman's general direction, "that's including you, Zoro! Hold it!"
There's a tut and a disbelieving mutter of "is that guy actually blind?!" but Usopp shakes the can tentatively, making his way forward.
"This is a prehistoric island, so we have no idea what extinct species and bugs are out there," saying so, he blows Luffy a faceful of-- according to the captain's absolutely repulsed reaction of shrieking and coughing, absolutely disgusting-- spray.
He douses the rest of the monster trio in the spray before they hack disastrously and yell, "HEY! WARN US before you do that!"
Well, just blame his blindness that he can't tell where their mouths are, but seriously, "if you die from bug poison, you're a bug."
So Usopp promptly ignores them (and Nami's annoyed mutter of "that isn't how it works…") to hand the spray to Nami.
Chemicals shouldn't go near Gin's wound right now, so Gin is spared.
"We don't want you catching any prehistoric viruses," Usopp says, pointing the last part to Nami who, though he can't see to tell for sure, is definitely pouting and mouthing something cheeky. "We'll be in trouble if it's a long-extinct disease without a cure."
It doesn't quite satisfy the boys and their new grudges, but Vivi is very appreciative of it.
"It'll repel bugs and most vermin, but it's not the same for large animals," Nami says. "So don't worry about animals avoiding you or anything-- and Luffy," a swat, "stop licking it."
"It's bitter," Luffy gags. "I hate it."
"So your solution is to eat it?"
Luffy seems to realize that is dumb, so his next course of action is to wipe it on Carue, who cawks really loudly before booting him into a tree. Seriously, when will he learn?
"One more thing," Nami takes off her seastone bangle, handing it to Vivi. "Wear this. It'll come in handy against Devil Fruit users."
Vivi doesn't quite understand, but after a moment of hesitation, she pulls it through her wrist with an obedient nod.
"I will keep that in mind," she says.
She didn't know very well what Seastone did, but she knew this was an important object for Nami. Nami did, after all, wear this bangle daily. She wouldn't do that without reason.
"If you guys encounter the Baroque Works agents that have come after us, be careful when dealing with them. Though I don't think I have to remind you about that."
Luffy grins at that. "You bet!" he says. "We'll beat them up and come right back, Usopp! So you and Gin stay here, alright? Burns are nasty in a forest, after all."
Well, wouldn't he be the prime person to understand that.
"Plus, giants!" Luffy's eyes sparkle. "We get to meet GIANTS! How cool is that?!"
Gin sputters. "The first thing I literally said was don't talk to them! " he snaps, to which Luffy continues to look into the distance with eyes of pure exhilaration.
One day, Gin will understand how to withhold the necessary information from the resident overexcited captain idiot, but today is apparently not that day.
Usopp and Nami, however, know the importance of that. Which is why Usopp pulled Nami to the side when their captain was distracted, and spoke in sign regarding the two voices his Haki has found.
Sanji does glance over strangely, but alas, he couldn't eavesdrop on a non-verbal conversation.
Regardless, they finally filed out into their separate directions after lots of goading.
Gin returns to the cabin, because he's got a book to read, some rest to get, and an appointment with another anxiety attack to get to.
Usopp is left behind on the ship to get some progress on his workshop. Kinoko isn't quite ready to fly around yet, but she's well enough to watch the ship with him. So he spends most of his time fixing her fit. He strings the Buggy Passport around her wing, tucked just beside the armor shell so it wouldn't get in her way when she flies.
She may be the undeniably weakest member of the crew, but she's also the member most versatile as a checkpoint in regard to passing information through the line.
(Speaking of the information line, they'll have to come in contact soon. He might want to call in some favours from them, now that they have access to it and all.)
Usopp sits down and continues carving into the wooden block. He's been working on for weeks now, scrapping too many failed attempts to be comfortable.
Kinoko narrates on his shoulder, but he's carving as carefully as he can, feeling around the patterns and making sure they're exactly how he wants them to be.
(If anyone asks, he'll say it's part of his coordination training. The ability to be precise is vital to a sniper, after all-- this is part and parcel.)
(But in reality, it's just a hobby. A little part of him that just wants to prove to himself that he can still do his simple crafts, like a wooden sculpture, a print stamp, amateur gears and wooden planks…)
(It's the little things that make great effort worth it in the long run.)
(This is just his portion of the little effort he wants to make.)
It's peaceful, for the most part. Aside from a number of strange vultures looking on curiously, there was really nothing of note right now.
...Usopp has a feeling he's forgetting something.
"Oh, I see we have guests."
His Haki zeroes right on the Giant that had made his way beside them. Okay, Usopp will blame the lack of hostility for why he didn't notice them, but he was so startled he actually instinctively chucked his carving knife in that direction.
It doesn't hit its target, mainly because it hits a tree on the way. Brogy-- because he knows that's Brogy, he spent too many years on Elbaf with this guy to not recognize it now-- simply laughs at it, parting the tree, possibly tearing a few at the trunks as he came closer.
"Feisty! My fault for startling you, little human," he says, amused and good-natured. "Anyways, you guys got any rum?"
Usopp knows that's only because female vikings would stab people if disturbed in a similar way, so Brogy knows very well an alarmed warrior when he sees one.
Kinoko is shrieking in horror, and Usopp barely remembers to set a hand around her back to ease her.
Gin, however, hurtles himself right up to the deck in alarm.
Then, "GAH!" he definitely shrieks at the sight of the giant, "wha--" he swirls on Usopp, pointing loudly in a panic as he made his way over, setting himself before the sharpshooter with his tonfas in hand. "Hey Usopp! Stand back, it's a giant!"
Usopp appreciates the gesture very much. "Yeah… I can see that."
"No, you can't!" Gin snaps.
Usopp tries to deny that, but he realizes he's right.
Instead, he clears his throat, and sets a hand on Gin's arm. "Don't worry, he's just curious," he assures the quartermaster, to which Gin makes a noise of disbelief.
Usopp thinks it's endearing how much Gin is freaking out. Kinoko is frozen solid.
"Ah, little human, you seem injured there," Brogy comments idly, brows furrowing at the sight. "You shouldn't be about. A warrior should know when to sit, they ought."
Gin winces.
Usopp mildly chews on the sheer hypocrisy of the sentence, because this is the guy that walked around with his severed hand in his other hand because he couldn't find his hair tie -- but no, no. Usopp should stop thinking in future terms. This isn't the idiotic best pal Brogy he knows. He can't chew him out right now.
"He's right, Gin."
Usopp sets down his things and steps forward, but Gin is stubborn. He lets Usopp move, but he doesn't let him go too far. Maybe that's why Usopp feels calm-- someone else is evidently more freaked out than himself right now.
("For us giant warriors, our long lives mean it matters not how we live. But our deaths-- we hold that in very high value," Brogy had told him. "Let us go out in battle, Sogeking.")
(Usopp hated the way they viewed life there. That's why he spent his years on Elbaf achieving great things, pulling civilisation forward, creating things that changed history forever-- all to prove to them just how a man can live their life to the fullest, and more time isn't a sign of dull longevity, but of immense, unending opportunity.)
(But that is also why, along the last of their generation, Usopp allowed the aged giants to go and fight to their ending. Sacrifice was sacred and exalted, and that's how they should be remembered.)
(That, in some way, was the end of an era for the giants' way of life. The surviving giants from the purging massacre lived on with Sogeking's ideals.)
(Life should not simply be the precedence to a grand death. It should be the grand epic, a saga that leads into a marvelous, beautiful ending.)
("You are a brave warrior of the seas, are you not?" Dory had challenged, even though Usopp had earned that title from every giant on the island long ago. "Go forward, and don't look back. Believe in our pride as warriors one last time, just as we believe yours.")
(Those were their parting words.)
Usopp can't deny that he has to take a few moments before he can speak, pretending nothing of their past has ever happened. Because none of it has happened. And as things went-- he may or may not ever have it again.
He will still try, of course. He just has to start over again.
Kinoko, ever the perceptive one, finally snaps out of her trance long enough to nuzzle a little closer to the crook of his neck.
"Sorry for throwing that knife at you!" Usopp says, speaking up loud and bold, as he'd learnt was an indication of a friendly greeting in the giant's culture. "We've got plenty of rum to spare!"
"Wha--!!" Gin yelps, surprised at the sudden volume. He doesn't expect Usopp to suddenly speak boisterously-- but then again, Usopp has always been unnaturally bold toward inhuman creatures… "Wait, we do not have plenty of rum to spare!"
Rum was precious on a voyage-- it lasted longer than water, and god knows any form of replenishing liquids are important. Yes, Sanji got them a few barrels from Whiskey Peak, but who knows how much a giant drinks, they'll be empty in a second!
"Awh, no rum?" Brogy asks, sounding quite disappointed.
"That's right, Gin. Awh, no rum?" Usopp asks. "If we don't give the big scary giant some rum, he might kill us and make us into rum, you know?"
"Stop talking bullshit!" Gin snaps, not falling for the childish scaring tactic. He does turn to Brogy with another raise of his tonfas, though, growling. "Hey, giant! If we give you rum, will you leave us alone?!"
Usopp immediately pouts at that. "That was what I was suggesting," but Gin hisses at him to be quiet.
Brogy grins widely at Gin's offer, though.
"I'd be overjoyed!" Brogy says, "please, let me entertain you as my guests. It's been years since I've been visited-- would you allow me to treat you to a meal, at least? You'll have time before your log pose sets, after all."
Gin hesitates.
They don't need to wait for the log pose-- but it'd be impolite, or even a clear show of distrust, if they didn't accept this offer now.
"I can handle this, Gin," Usopp says.
"But--"
"Gin," Usopp repeats himself, a proud smile on his face. "Just trust me, alright?"
And perhaps, for the first time-- Gin has to stop himself from taking charge. Just trust me were words he still faltered at-- he's getting there, step by step, but he evidently has much further to go-- this was one of those times he had to bite back the urge and let it happen.
He had to trust.
"We're really sorry, Mister Giant-- as you can see, some of us are still injured from our last voyage," Usopp indicates toward Gin and Kinoko. "Humans are a lot more fragile than giants, so if possible, could we remain on our ship?"
Brogy blinks at that.
"Of course you can!" he beams, "just wait a sec-- oh, a dinosaur!"
When Brogy swings his axe down and lops the creature's head right off, Kinoko's flight or fight instincts respond as a frantic scramble for freedom. But she couldn't fly well, so she made about two inches off Usopp's shoulder before she plummeted straight down.
Usopp winces when she hits the deck with a loud SPLAT.
Gin is clinging tightly onto Usopp's shoulders, "oh fuck. Usopp, whatever you do… don't make this giant angry," he hisses sharply.
Sure enough, seeing a giant lop the head of a dinosaur off like a twig was definitely alarming-- it would be enough to freak anyone with a shred of sanity out, to be honest.
Even Gin is freaking out, his grip on Usopp's arm tightening sharply as he shoves the shorter boy further behind him.
(Seriously, Gin and Zoro have 'big brother' ingrained in their veins or something.)
But that fright is a little hard to sympathize with when Usopp can't see what's going on.
Yeah, maybe the gore will make him a little sick if he actually sees it, but primitive carnage is something he's very much accustomed to by now. Alright, maybe if it was a human… nah, he shouldn't acknowledge his crippled morals. Don't put it in words.
Anyways, let's start by calming Gin down before he aggravates his wounds and raises his blood pressure too high.
(Should I knock him out?) Usopp perishes the thought. He isn't Nami, after all.
"That's fine, dinosaur meat is delicious," Usopp says.
"That isn't the probl-- has anyone told you it's exhausting to talk to you?!" Gin snaps. "He just cut a dinosaur! It'd probably take a sneeze to destroy our ship!"
Usopp laughs dryly at that. Well, he isn't wrong…
(Maybe he should knock him out.)
Brogy points the severed dinosaur jaw in their direction.
"I got us lunch!" Brogy reports, cheerful.
Nami's sign language is rusty, but she understood what Usopp was trying to tell her back on the ship. She almost signs back in response before she remembers he couldn't see them either way. Guess that's a plus.
She can't even remember who it was that taught them sign language last time around anymore. It's been so long since anyone used it.
("Two foreigners," no, strangers? Or perhaps intruders? "South-southeast, near," ah, she understood that one. For some reason, she remembered signs for directions better.)
"Usopp's definition of 'near' is pretty skewed, too," she mutters, wandering through the forest with her axe in hand. "I can't even sense them yet," and she could sense pretty damn far, really. Not as far as Usopp, but seriously, her range is nothing to scoff at either.
Seriously, Haki is a cruel power system for the people on the average scale...
She spots a broken branch right before her hands could brush against them. In a trail, there's a short uphill, and leaves had been cleared away from the soil in an attempt to find a stable foothold.
There weren't footprints or smudged soil, but there were plenty of subtle traces all over, including the loose hair of a very huge brush-- and even if she didn't know it came from a paintbrush, it was bleached horse hair. You wouldn't find it in a jungle like this one.
These guys were complete amateurs in a jungle setting and gods, was it obvious.
"I don't even need Haki to find these guys, do I…"
It doesn't take too long at all. She cuts through about a quarter of the island (Usopp's sense of what is large or small doesn't make human sense. Is he measuring things in Elbaf perimeters now?) before she finds them.
The garish, obnoxiously out-of-place candle house.
"If this place wasn't so huge, this shelter would never have worked."
Her axe curves from shoulder to shoulder, gracing the air with a bright silver sheen-- she brandishes it before her, smiling.
"Well then," a pure black sheen coating its surface. She lifts it overhead with both arms, "sorry for the intrusion!"
And severed the building into two clean halves.
Nami will forever remember the gobsmacked expressions on their faces as she brought down the axe and split their shelter right down the middle.
She hefts the weapon back across her shoulders, resting her hands on them as she grinned, leaning on one leg with pure roguery in her eyes.
"Mister Three and Miss Goldenweek, am I right?" she asks, rhetorically, "do you accept commissions of personalized wax statues, by the way?"
Miss Goldenweek, seemingly mid-slumber, had jumped right to attention with a brush in her hand, eyes sharpened with alarm.
Mister Three is much less graceful, however. He stumbles out of his chair, smacks his face against the ground, and has to shove aside a chair to lousily grapple for what remains of his pride as he gets up.
She spots a couple sketches on the table-- Gin's and Nami's wanted posters aside, there was a picture of Vivi as her princess self, then a sketch of Zoro and Usopp.
(None of Luffy or Sanji? Awh, their captain's going to be upset.)
Then again, Usopp showed himself to the group of bounty hunters at the start, while Luffy hung around in random spots and avoided the big noise, like Sanji. Coupled with the fact that Zoro shot down the vulture, it makes sense the Unluckies didn't notice them.
Nami finishes her little observation by eyeing Dory's and Brogy's wanted poster, conveniently left out right before her.
"Wh- Burglar Cat! You're already here?!" he exclaims, moments before realizing his mistake, "I mean-- of course, we expected you!" Then finally, he sputters out a response, "of course we don't take commissions!"
"Awh," Nami pouts, "Usopp would be so happy to have a wax figure of Kaya, though."
"Ah, sorry to disappoint. I can't make lifelike figures of people I haven't seen."
"Oh. Bummer."
Pause.
Then, "why am I answering you casually?!" Mister Three yells, "don't lead me on! What the hell are you even doing here?!"
Nami feigns a hurt look, "I'm uninvited?"
"Ah no, of course, you can come in for some tea-- no!" Mister Three barks out in frustration, "ah, fuck everything! You know we're after your life, right? Stop playing around!"
The two Baroque Works Officer Agents glance at each other testingly, before poising forward in preparation of battle.
"You're overconfident if you think you can come alone!" Mister Three snorts.
With a wave of his hand, the fallen candle house dissolves, and swamps around Nami's feet, solidifying in a hardened wax shackle around her ankles.
"Now you can't escape," Mister Three boasts, "my candle trap may just be wax, but it's harder than steel if you pile it on thickly enough."
Miss Goldenweek takes the chaos to heft her large bag over her shoulder, raising a brush over her paints contemplatively. She only takes half a moment to decide Yellow-Green of Friendship is the colour to use, and the symbol takes form under Nami's feet.
Nami shrugs, unimpressed.
"And Miss Goldenweek's hypnotic Colours Trap has sealed your fate," Mister Three grinned, "I don't know why you came right to our doorstep, but it's working in our favour. Now that their strongest player is on our side--"
Nami laughs, raising her axe once again.
Her feet are still on the ground, after all-- this is nothing compared to the large candle cake she was trapped in last time around.
In fact, she didn't even need to try and cut it.
When she brings the axe down, it's blunt edge downward with a loud roar-- shattering the candle and the earth under it with the same, wide-swung motion.
"You are kidding!"
Mister Three and Miss Goldenweek scramble for safety that can't be found, the earth breaking through under them as they clung on to anything. The fissure brings down the ground, pierces through the earth, and cracks through the trees nearby.
When the shaking finally stops, Nami chuckles.
"Sorry," she sticks out a cheeky little tongue, "your hypnotism thing works better on people with a weak mental fortitude, right? So it won't work on me," she approaches Miss Goldenweek, who squeaks in fear as she steps forward.
Miss Goldenweek yelps, tears brimming through her eyes in pure horror when Nami touches her with a cold, metal arm.
She isn't used to someone breaking out of her Colours Trap so easily, huh. It was a cinch to Nami, however-- mind-control tactics are common around the New World, and as a manipulator herself, she couldn't falter in that regard.
(Nevermind the fact that her entire prosthesis surgery took more mental fortitude than anything else, really. This much is nothing to her at all.)
Nami smiles.
When she turns aside, however, she finds Mister Three replaced by a white, candle statue. Loudly, she swears under her breath.
"So if he puts enough desperation into a wax figure, it retains his voice for a while, huh?" Nami mutters, observing the structure. It's also colourless if Miss Goldenweek doesn't paint it, good to know. "I let my guard down."
She swirls back around before Miss Goldenweek manages to crawl too far away in her escape attempt. Nami grabs the girl by the scruff, and, in a show of impressive strength, lifts her up with her bag like one would a kitten.
"Nuh-uh, sweetie. You're coming with me."
Miss Goldenweek sobs, shrinking away in real fear. "I'm sorry, please let me go!"
Meanwhile, Luffy and Vivi have found themselves in the care of Dory, the other giant.
The volcano erupts, and he sets off toward his fated battle.
"Man, he's so cool!" Luffy sits by the fire, picking up a piece of really huge meat and gnawing on it while he waited for the battle to begin.
Vivi, however, sighs in visible relief. "And Mister Man Demon even warned us…"
She has suddenly realized that she'd chosen the wrong group of people as her escort on this adventure, but what can she do except despair, really? Of course the first thing Luffy will do upon finding a giant is call out to it. What was she expecting?
She definitely wasn't expecting them to get along so well, though...
(Did this crew come with an instruction manual? She makes a mental note to ask later.)
"See that, Vivi? It's a warrior's fight!" Luffy points excitedly as the blade comes down on the shield, and the shield thrusts forward on the blade. "It's so awesome! Usopp would be so jealous he doesn't get to see this!"
"Well, that is a bit of a high order," Vivi says. "I'm sure he can still feel the tremors of battle, though… now that I think about it, are we sure it's fine to leave Mister Longnose as the only able guard on the ship?"
Oh no, she hadn't thought about that yet-- the excitement of adventure had consumed her, what an oversight.
"Hm? Why wouldn't it be fine?"
Luffy's question genuinely stumps her.
Did he seriously ask what wasn't wrong about leaving a blind man and a heavily injured man on the ship when there are clearly highly hostile forces coming after them?
Now she is incredibly worried.
"I mean… Mister Longnose can't exactly keep ship watch can he? Would Mister Man Demon be doing all the lookout work, then?" she wonders, not quite expecting a serious answer from Luffy anymore. "I suppose it's not an ideal rest, but in our circumstances, it can't be helped."
Luffy giggles at that.
"You worry about strange things, Vivi!" he says. "Usopp's our crew sniper, you know! Of course he can be a lookout."
Vivi doesn't understand this crew at all. "But he's blind, Luffy-san," she reiterates, "sure, if he isn't light blind, he can still make out colours and see movement. But that's not exactly enough to defensively secure the ship on his own."
Luffy's brows furrow, and his lips purse in a way that probably means he's trying hard to use his head.
"Uhhh, I don't really get it, but Usopp can handle it," he assures once more.
Vivi gives up.
Well, then. "Let's hope Nami-san and the others make it back to the ship soon." Don't want Mister Five blowing up the ship or something, after all.
Dory returns, three barrels of rum tucked between his fingers. He comes back with bits of dried blood between his lips, dust and dirt caked around his ears, and a large, growing bruise at his chest-- but his smile is wide, unfazed by it all.
"Oh hey, those are ours!" Luffy notices quickly.
"It seems we have more guests!" Dory reports cheerfully, "they're with my buddy Brogy right now, by a ship. I suppose that's your crew?"
Of course it is. When he sets down the barrels, Luffy tells Vivi about the clear markings peppered across the center, noting the flaws of each barrel and what they could or couldn't store.
"So Mister Man Demon is your crew's cooper as well?" Vivi asks. "There's a lot of multitasking in this ship, I see."
Luffy beams, "yeah, my crew's the best, right?"
And he sets a hand in the corner of the lid. He doesn't expect it to pop open as easily as it does, however-- when he feels the corner edge off without resistance, he looks back in surprise.
"Huh?"
Dory looks over, curious. He'd been waiting for Luffy to open it with his little human hands, after all-- if he tried cracking it open himself, he'd be drinking wood chips.
"What's wrong?" Vivi comes over. She tries her hand on the next barrel over, and she's surprised to find it doesn't open easily, like it had been sealed inside. She would need a tool for this.
"Ah, I'll do it," Luffy says, gripping the side and-- with a small amount of effort, pulls it right open. On the inside, there was a strip of paper glued on just one part of the inside, a thin defense acting as a lid joint.
(Ah, that's what made it difficult to open.)
Luffy peels it off, turning to Carue just to cheekily stick it down the side of his beak. Carue yelps in surprise, not expecting the sudden harassment. He flaps his wings desperately, trying to get it off of himself.
Carue, in a fit of anger, pries his beak open, tearing apart the paper in the process. If he goes to bite Luffy, let's just say Vivi pretends not to see.
(What's the point of that? It's definitely not meant to seal the lid-- something like that would be on the outside. Much more, it's just one strip-- a strong person can tear it off easily.)
(Ah, not tearing it off is the point, right?)
"So it's there to ensure that only the quartermaster and the chef touch the barrel, I see," Vivi considers, "that's quite a handy idea."
If it was torn, they would know that someone stole food at night. Especially in a crew as gluttonous as this one, it's important to keep a strict check on the stock, after all.
"Yeah, cause Zoro keeps stealing it," Luffy says, ignoring the giant duck chomping on his head. His eyes then narrow, turning to the barrel he had found open a moment ago. "But this one was already open. I wonder why?"
Vivi freezes at that.
(She hadn't seen Mister Bushido drink even once since she got on the ship.)
There's no way it's Nami or Usopp, either-- they were smarter than to fall for a convenient trick like this one, even if the latter was blind.
So if it wasn't Luffy, then who?
"It looks the same amount as the others, so it probably wasn't Zoro that drank it," Luffy hums. "Well, whatever. Giant Ossan--"
"No!" Vivi sets her hands on the barrel. When the three others around her flinch at her sudden volume, she looks over them with horror. "I have a really bad feeling about this, Luffy-san. Let's not drink this one. Please."
If she was just overthinking it, that would be fine. But with all the explosions that happened back on Whiskey Peak-- they had forgotten that they had left their ship unattended on that bay for a while too long to be assuring.
They would be lucky if this rum was the only alcohol trap Mister Five left behind.
Luffy tries to respond, but Carue, in his fit of trying to eat Luffy, accidentally swings by a little too wide-- and knocks the barrel over with a vigor.
Vivi tries to salvage it, but it's too late.
The sparks flare-- and Luffy yells, "VIVI!" moments before he lunges for her and the explosion rips across the field.
Dory gets up in a panic, definitely not expecting the sudden explosion-- it grazes his feet, but he gets it out of the way so the worst of his problems are splinters near his heel.
He brushes his hand through the smoke, careful to only use the force of wind from his swing so he wouldn't accidentally hit one of them. "Hey, are you alright, little ones?"
"Hey, if the Ossan drank that, it would've been bad!" Luffy's voice rings out in the remnant of the chaos. Covered in soot and something damp, he gets up with a grunt.
Vivi gets up from previously under the boy, a little muddy but otherwise completely unscathed. "Dory-san!" she hollers, "you should go to your friend and stop him before he drinks any! Some of our other barrels may be similarly poisoned!"
Luffy holds out a hand, looking warily in the direction of the mountains as the volcano suddenly erupts, signalling the next round of the giants' battle.
Carue quickly joins Vivi, worriedly looking over his girl all teary-eyed in concern. Vivi reaches up to pat him soothingly, her eyes never leaving the shreds of the barrel wood on the ground that would have split her to pieces.
Dory looks down upon them and smiles assuringly. "I'm simply glad the two of you are alright, regardless," he says. "I will extend your warning to your friends by the ship, but my pal is probably fine."
Ah-- that was true. He had probably taken a drink or two before giving some to Dory, after all. He may have luckily gotten an untouched barrel.
(Gin and Usopp were there, after all. Gin would definitely know which ones have been tampered with, and be more wary with them.)
"Gin can deal with things over there, Vivi, don't worry," Luffy tells her. "But I'm angry-- that Five guy, first he blows up Chikuwa Ossan, then he blows up Ennosuke and Gin, and now he almost blows up the Giant Ossan? I'm pissed!"
Vivi stares, baffled. "Uhm, Luffy-san, that last one is actually our fault, not theirs…" but he isn't listening, so she wisely quiets down.
Well, at least that gave her heart time to stop beating like a horse race.
(She's been in plenty of life-or-death situations before, but never any so close to her face. Being saved is also a relatively new feeling.)
"Besides," Dory laughs his strange notes, "if I avoided the bomb, then the warrior god Elbaf is surely watching over our sacred duel! Brogy and I-- we are blessed by his divine protection-- gegyagyagya! Keep watching, young ones. This next battle will be one worthy of Elbaf's honour!"
"Wha-- you're still going?!" Vivi asks. "You're still injured from the previous bout."
(Mister Five-- he is definitely coming after them, even if Nami said he was incapacitated.)
(What 'took him out' was an explosion, after all. And if there's something Vivi know about fruit users, it's the fact that they are always immune to their own element.)
"Of course!" Dory boasts, confident as the last time he went out to end in a draw. "I may be injured, but it's the same for Brogy."
Luffy laughs, "okay then! Good luck, Giant ossan! Go get him!"
"I will, little one!"
And he goes.
Vivi sets her hand on the Seastone bangle Nami had given her. Removing it from her wrist, she lets herself have a breath.
The explosion was like a jarring reminder that they weren't here to explore and have fun-- they were here, simply to draw their opponents out into an extended battle.
And instead of grouping together, they've split into groups or one to two, which is a terrible idea in her opinion-- but she had no authority in this crew, so she didn't want to push her luck. But she trusted them to get her to Alabasta, and she had nothing else to believe in.
A loud click of the tongue interrupts them, and they swirl on the pair that emerges from the wood, dusted, battered, and looking furious.
"Only two of you, huh," Mister Five mutters, evidently irritated. His loud coat is nowhere to be seen, and his clothes-- what's left of it-- is charred, his sunglasses cracked.
Miss Valentine is seething , "Miss Wednesday!" she says, her words boiling with sarcasm, her lips curled upward, "how nice it is to see you again."
Yeah, Vivi is not going to get anywhere near her and her stilettos.
"Huh? Who're you guys?" Luffy looks over.
"They're Mister Five and Miss Valentine," Vivi explains quickly, abruptly realizing Luffy hasn't met them yet.
"Oh," Luffy's dry response. Then, "OH, you guys are the ones that messed up Chikuwa-ossan, Gin, and Ennosuke!" he yells.
To which Mister Five groans in annoyance, "this sucks. Not only did we fail to slip the giants some spiked booze because the sniper stayed on the boat, but now I don't even get to fight the Burglar Cat?"
"The blond dandy isn't around, either," Miss Valentine sighs, "I wanted to claw his face out for trying to deceive me. I'll have to compromise, I guess."
(Wow, thank god. Sanji might've let her.)
"Hey, where's Chachamaru?"
Vivi's eyes widen as she swirls around in alarm, abruptly realizing Carue is gone.
"Ideally, we wanted to separate you two," Mister Five tosses before him a burnt, bloodied gargle of feathers and flesh-- Carue, heavily injured-- "but our bait wasn't exactly being cooperative. But no matter. We'll just deal with both of you and get on with it now."
Mister Five flicks something forward-- a booger.
Vivi's heart stopped.
Luffy freezes, but he doesn't move before Vivi surges forward, "Carue!"
The explosive lands right before the bird, the explosion taking them off the ground and erupting in a short fuse of flames.
It chars her slightly, blows her back-- but she presses on, only worried for her bird companion.
She doesn't remember to be careful until the laughter is overhead.
"Kyahaha!"
A heel-- sharp, heavy and painful-- swipes across her cheek, ripping apart skin. It doesn't end there-- her face is knocked out of the range after the first hit, but the second squares her in the center of her left shoulder, nailing her to the ground in an agonizing weight.
"Now, stay still, Princess," Miss Valentines teases her, crouching down with a heel in the shoulder and the other in the middle of her back, her parasol still open over her head. "If I lose my balance just a little, my heel might just accidentally go ka-chak on an important bone, you know? Kyahahaa~!"
"Gomu-gomu no…"
Neither of them realize that Luffy's a Devil Fruit user until the rubberman's foot comes slinging right into their faces.
"WHIP!"
Needless to say, they're not very happy when they're slung off a rubber leg and flung right into the large skull walls that made Dory's home.
"You alright, Vivi?" Luffy asks as Vivi coughs, holding her shoulder in clear remnant pain.
She's clearly more concerned by her duck, though, as she immediately regains her bearings and heads for him. "Carue? Oh, Carue-- thank god, he's still breathing. Did they seriously shoot a booger at you? How dare they shoot a booger at you."
Carue grumbles weakly.
"What, you mad about that?" Luffy asks. "When we beat them you can spit on them or something if you want."
Carue raises his hand in frustrated approval.
Miss Valentine screeches, "I'm covered in dust! No one told me there was a brat that could stretch!"
In the same way, Mister Five groans, picking himself up. "Oh this fucking does it, I'm murdering them both. I don't care what Mister Three says!"
"Mister… Three?" Vivi whispers, horrified. "Oh no! I forgot!" she gasps, "other officer agents might have been assigned to us and are after us now! I should've warned all of you before we split off," she realises, "Mister Three has been deployed to this island?!"
Luffy looks over, "three?"
"He's bad news! He's a candleman, and he's not even in Mister Five's caliber!" she exclaims, the urgency overwhelming her. "Luffy-san, we have to--"
She's interrupted by a loud, devastating crash in the distance-- and the sickening squelch of steel against flesh, ripping open a gash from face to chest.
In the distance, Dory the Blue Ogre had been cut down. His posture was off-- like he had slipped on uneven footing of some sort-- but there was no real way to tell.
"Heh, I'm glad we still managed to do that part of the plan right," Mister Five mutters. "Guess we didn't need to spike the booze after all."
"Kyahaha!" Miss Valentine dusts herself off.
"You-- you guys-- what did you do?" Vivi demands, infuriated "Why are you interfering with the giants' duel? They shouldn't have anything to do with--"
She pauses when Luffy's straw hat is tossed into her hands, and Luffy grips his fists, stepping toward the two officer agents.
"Hold that for a bit," Luffy simply says. "This might get a bit messy."
His voice is cold as he bends, stretching out his heels, getting warmed up. They didn't have time to demand answers from these bastards, and Luffy knew that much.
Punch first, questions later.