Alright, my dear readers. This will be the last chapter of the years, which is what I really wanted to put out there for you all! I want to thank you for still following this crazy story, for sticking with me despite the slow updates. I want to wish you a merry christmas and a happy new years to each and every one of you my readers, and I wish I had some way to do it personally, but you can't have it all XD

Still, in the next part we're finally introducing more exciting elements! Look forward to it and part 3 of Grand Line is Paradice (and thank you to all of you who suggested the name ;) )

EDIT; so yeah, I did change my mind and put this into the first part. Sorry if there's any confusion.


Part 2; Island Whale

Chapter 4/4; Trust only in the Grand Line Compass

They were overdue, their weapons were gone, they were hungry, and whatever was left of their lives' supply of luck had just been used to take them back to the Twin Peak without the compass. Both of them had been seriously afraid there for a while. Now there was just the last little problem left to face before they could make it back as fast as they could and report back to the boss.

The only good thing about a week like this was that the next one could only be better. Mr 9 was nothing of not forcefully optimistic.

"I found them! Finally!"

Miss Wednesday, his partner since three years now, looked over, her blue-grey eyes sharp. "Are you sure it's them?"

"I am. See for yourself," Mr 9 said and handed her the binocular to grab the oar to steer their raft closer to the cliffs so they could go ashore.

"It's them," Miss Wednesday confirmed and sighed in obvious relief. "I can't believe I dropped the log pose. We're running so late. They'll send the Unluckies on our case soon."

As if he didn't know that. "Let's do a quick assault, surprise them, grab the log pose and be on our way within the minute. We can use your…"

A clicking sound filled the air.

Cursing, the duo jumped up, causing the raft to rock violently. It didn't matter because they were both trying to jump into the sea in time before the Unluckies; Mr 13 the otter and his partner Miss Friday the vulture, dropped the bomb on them.

Mr 9 grabbed the neck of his partner and threw her in first. But not fast enough. The bomb hit their raft and the man felt the burn against his back seconds before the sea embraced him.


Twin Peak were two rocky capes surrounding the entrance of the Grand Line. It wasn't much, but on one side stood a lighthouse. It had been there for a long time, beaten by weather and wind and rebuilt several times. Nothing grew here, but if you took a boat and sailed along the Red Line you could get to a cleave of sorts that was big enough to house a small forest. This the lighthouse keeper through the years had used as a garden, and this is where Crocus, the current keeper, grew all medical herbs he couldn't order, any wood he'd need for repairs on the lighthouse or the odd ship that needed it and that made a good impression on Crocus, and some crops to eat.

Today, Crocus had made a quick trip here to get some food. He did cast glances at the herbs though. He remembered he was almost out of sedatives for Laboon, but he actually doubted he would need it anymore. Not after the whale had been given new hope, even though Crocus wasn't too sure how true Ruffy's claims were.

Was it possible? Had he found nothing but a false rumour? Had he really been so wrong? Crocus kneeled down by a flower. If he wanted to make more sedatives he would need to pick it today. But it didn't matter if he was wrong or not. Crocus was way more worried what would happen if he died. If Ruffy failed to find the one she claimed was still alive and still within Grand Line, then what? And even if she did find him, whoever was still alive was an old man now. What if they'd made a life for themselves on some island, settled down and married and all that?

"Grand Line can't be trusted," Crocus muttered to himself. "People can't be trusted either."

Staring at the flower, Crocus stood, leaving it there to wither and grow seeds so that next season there would be even more of them. Because in the end, it might not matter. The only one rule of the pirate life was to live for the day and not for the future after all.


Sanji had taken over cleaning the main mast, since it wasn't as bad as they had thought, while Ruffy was thankfully helping Usopp pour his superglue over the broken halves of Merry's neck and head. He then circled her neck with a sturdy sheet of metal and nailed it in place so that Merry's head wouldn't come off again.

As he worked, Usopp couldn't help but think that now Merry resembled Ruffy, the way they both had these wide scars around their necks.

"I'm so sorry, Merry. We'll fix you right back up! Don't worry," Ruffy said as she hugged the ship's head.

"It would be better if we got a carpenter to help," Usopp muttered. "You can't always rely on me to fix her."

"But you're so resourceful, Usopp," Ruffy praised, still happily hugging Merry. "I didn't know what to do at all. Nami isn't good with wood, and if any of the others tried they'd probably just make it worse."

Way to stoke his ego. Usopp flushed with pride and stood straight, even when he realized this meant he'd stay the stand-in shipwright.

"Well, it doesn't look good for a captain to not be able to…"

"Hey Sanji, are you done with the mast already?" Ruffy waved to the cook when she noticed him straighten up.

"I'm done. I should also get lunch started, so you two finish up here."

"Okay!" Ruffy called back happily.

"Why me?! I'm not a goddamn carpenter!" Usopp protested.

"But you're the only one who can do it!" Ruffy said with a pair of wide doe-eyes that sent Usopp into a tired slump of submission.

It was a good thing that Ruffy was so strong, because Zoro was snoring against the railing and there was no way Usopp would have managed to get the mast back in place by himself. The girl captain also turned out to be surprisingly good with rope. While Usopp hurriedly tried to secure the mast by nailing another sheet of metal around it, excess of his superglue sipping out, Ruffy was repairing the rig, finishing before Usopp and then assisted him by handing him nails.

They were just done, Sanji coming out from the kitchen carrying large trays of what appeared to be the fish he bought in Rouge Town, when the air was sliced with a horrified shriek.

"Didn't that sound a lot like Nami?" Ruffy asked.

"It did," Usopp confirmed and jumped ashore with Sanji… actually, Sanji looked like he was twirling and dancing like a ballerina before them.

"What's the ruckus, Nami?" Ruffy asked.

"Nami-san! How may I assist you?! I come bringing food!" Sanji sang.

"The compass!" Nami cried. "The compass is broken! The needle is just spinning!"

Ruffy blinked, and then started laughing.

"Hey! Stop laughing! This is serious!" Usopp demanded, hitting his captain on the shoulder while Sanji unloaded the plates of food on the table.

"But!" Ruffy took a deep breath and rubbed her eye. "She's looking at the wrong compass."

"What do you mean, the wrong compass!" Nami shrieked, shaking the vital instrument, hoping it would stop spinning.

Just having returned for wherever he'd gone, coming over to see what the yelling was about, Crocus put his bag down in the shade.

"I do believe your captain knows more than you," the old man commented, looking seriously at Nami. "You're the navigator, right. Did you come here to die? Didn't I tell you before that logic and common sense has no value in this sea? Your compass isn't broken."

"So… it's magnetic fields?" Nami guessed, worry in her eyes. Because if Grand Line was laced with multiple magnetic fields then her compass was completely useless.

"Correct," Crocus nodded. "Each island in Grand Line are composed of varying density of magnetic minerals. The winds and currents are also completely unpredictable because of that."

"That's why I gave you the log pose!" Ruffy said happily, looking up from the food she was eying as if looking for something suspicious. Her expression changed into disgust at the memory. "I won it in Rouge Town, and I threw up so much. So you need to look at the right compass. The Grand Line one!"

"You gave me a Grand Line compass?" Nami asked. "When did you ever give me…?" she silenced.

"Most people wear it like a bracelet," Crocus said. "It's a glass ball with only a compass needle in it. It records the unique magnetic fields of Grand Line's islands and so points in the direction of the next island rather than north."

Nami was starting to look rather pale. She did remember Ruffy giving her something that matched the description, but she'd put it in her pocket, thinking it was just some knick-knack rather than the vital device she was now learning about. She'd had absolutely no idea Grand Line required a special compass. It did explain why so many people barely made it past the Twin Peaks though.

"Um… Ruffy. You didn't happen to win two of them, did you?" Nami asked, laughing nervously.

"Of course not! Those are really hard to find outside Grand Line, you know," the captain said around a mouthful of food. Then she suddenly looked straight at Nami, narrowing her eyes. "Why would you need two log poses?"

"I might have put it in my pocket…" Nami started, hand going to rub the back of her head. "And the jacket the pocket belonged to might have been thrown to the winds?"

It was Usopp who connected the dots first. "Wait, what you're saying is that we're dead if we set out without this log compass?! What the hell Nami! You're supposed to be the smart one!"

"Nami-san, you're so cute when you make mistakes," Sanji sighed dreamily.

Ruffy was looking rather displeased too, then reached into her pocket and picked out the log pose that had belonged to those two strangers they'd thrown overboard last night.

Unfortunately, Usopp didn't see this, as he'd turned on Sanji.

"Cute, my ass! A navigator is supposed to know these things! Now we're going to die because she's an idiot!"

"How dare you!"

Nami had thoroughly ignored the boys, happily reaching out for the log pose Ruffy was reluctantly handing her.

Ruffy hadn't paid much attention to Sanji and Usopp either, a little bit too miffed about the fact Nami had managed to throw away the hard-won log pose Ruffy had acquired in Rouge Town. Thus none of the girls saw Usopp come flying from Sanji's sudden kick. They both did see the glass ball of the log pose shatter when Usopp came flying in between them, and the compass needle fall to the ground, their only way to sail Grand Line lost and gone.

Usopp groaned and rubbed his head, not seeing Ruffy march up to him. Sanji tried a loving smile as he shrunk in Nami's looming shadow.

Both boys found themselves flying through the air towards the open sea with the girls crying something incoherent after them that were probably curses.

"TWO LOG POSES!" Ruffy shrieked at her navigator. "HOW COULD YOU MANAGE TO BREAK TWO LOG POSES BEFORE WE LEAVE THE TWIN PEAKS?!"

Nami turned teary eyes to Crocus, who was watching with a sense of amazement. Losing two log poses was a feat of the worst possible kind and shouldn't be anything to laugh about. So why the old man was fighting down bubbling laugher he wasn't really sure, but the image the girl made with that appropriate look of horror mixed with a speechless open mouth and the broken log pose in her trembling hands might have something to do with it.

"All right, calm down," he sighed around a smile. "You folks can have my log pose. I do owe you a favour after all you've done for Laboon."

"R-really?!" Nami cried, barely able to believe this kind of luck would be granted them.

She took the chance to silently wish for a mountain of gold while the luck was still present.

Ruffy however was not quite as ready to let Nami have it. "After losing one and breaking a second log pose?! Eat crap! Give it to me!"

"Hey! I'm the navigator!" Nami protested."

"TWO log poses!" Ruffy yelled in Nami's still flushed face, absolutely outraged. She couldn't help it. The memory of whatever had been in that bottle and how sick she'd been was still too fresh in the girl captain's memory to forgive her comrade for losing the log pose.

Nami, at least, had the decency to be ashamed. Well, the second log pose hadn't been her fault, but the first one definitely was. Because in hindsight, she should have questioned it. Grand Line was called the "pirate graveyard". Thousands upon thousands of pirates died on this sea every year and those who came back were merely shadows of the people they had been. Walking corpses, people called them, forever lost in the nightmare that was Grand Line. Nami really should have asked the question why it was so difficult to sail Grand Line. She'd just taken for granted that it was sea kings or stronger pirates that was the problem; not the sea itself.

Grand Line had killed all those millions of pirates, not the people or monsters that lived here.

"This time, I swear it to you, captain," the navigator spoke to the slightly shorter girl before her, sincerity and determination glowing like a fire in her heart. "I won't break or lose this log pose! We're going to sail to all the ends of the world, and I'm going to map it all."

The captain narrowed her eyes, but she stepped back. "If you do break it, you'll be the one drinking that homebrew."


The water was everywhere, pulling her down and lifting her up and throwing her sideways. She fought the water, taking a gulp of precious air whenever she got the chance, swallowing cold mouthfuls of seawater despite her best efforts not to. The cliffs were right there. They had been right there all this time, but the sea was toying with her, teasing her with the safety of those solid rocks while rolling her around in its watery palm.

'I can't die,' she thought. 'I can't die. Absolutely, I will not die!'

A hand gripped her elbow, and suddenly she was pulled through the water towards the cliffs.

'Mr 9?'

Her partner pulled them both underwater where his extendable weapon had finally caught in the cleave of a rock. They were out of the current.

It felt like an old friend. The solidity of the land neither held nor pushed her away, but she clung to Mother Earth, taking greedy gulps of salty air and coughing up as much seawater as she could.

She heard someone break the surface of the water beside her, but didn't bother looking up, thinking it was just her partner.

But then there was another body climbing onto the dry land on her other side.

Turning that way, Miss Wednesday found her partner, breathing heavily before turning to see if she was okay.

Turning the other way, she was met by another two wet faces.

One of them was a lanky blond man who quickly shot out of the water and kneeled chivalrously in front of her.

"Allow me to be of assistance, beautiful Miss Wednesday."

She was a little stunned by the treatment, but she had to admit; it made her a little happy. So she smiled and accepted the hand that was as cold and wet as her own, but was still a firm and solid touch that she welcomed as much as the ground under her feet after spending too long in the water.

"Hey wait! I have a request!" Mr 9 called out as he had to help himself out of the sea.


Nami was well aware that Ruffy was still in a bit of a bad mood, and the thief actually couldn't blame her captain for it. So when Sanji and Usopp came back with two familiar strangers, Nami saw Ruffy's hackles rise, so the navigator stepped forward to take care of the issue, hoping it would give the captain the moments she needed to calm down.

"I recognize you. You're the people who tried to kill the whale," Nami opened.

"We do what we are ordered to do, and food is scarce on our island," the king said as he and his partner in crime kneeled down on the ground before Nami. "But that is not important. We appear to have lost our ship, and kindly request you take us with you to Whiskey Peak."

"Whisky Peak? What's that?" the thief asked slowly, making a grand show of not believing a word those people spoke.

"It's… the name of our town," the man said hesitatingly, but it was a statement, and Nami didn't hear any tell-tale call of "liar" from Ruffy, so that much was probably true.

"And you lost your ship?" Nami went on, still speaking slowly, discreetly checking the wrists of these people. She hadn't thought about it before, but she did recall Ruffy picking something up that these people had dropped, which was most likely the other log pose she'd offered to Nami before Sanji and Usopp broke it.

"This is Grand Line. The sea holds many dangers," the woman said gravely.

Stealing a glance at her captain, Nami found her staring at the two with a suspicious frown. Well, they all knew Ruffy had trust issues, but she was also unpredictable, and she seldom listened to a whole sentence.

Nami crouched down on her heels, a deceptive smile on her face, in front of the king who was doing most of the talking. This close up, he really did look like he could belong to Buggy's crew, with his bright carrot red hair and marks on his face. It was just the feminine suit and brass crown he wore that said he wasn't one of Buggy's men.

The female looked different but not better. Her hair was long and blue in colour, wearing cheap clothes that would only pass for stylish if you didn't know anything about fashion. But her skin looked perfect. Not that it mattered.

"Don't you think you're asking for a lot, Mr 9?" the thief said, her voice smooth and cold like marble. "We are pirates; kindness isn't in our nature, you know. And our captain has taken a liking to the whale you tried to kill."

"Who are you anyway?" Usopp growled, accepting the towel Sanji brought.

"I'm a king," the male said without missing a beat, just to flinch in pain when Nami pinched his cheek and both she and Ruffy called "Liar".

"We can't say!" the woman cried and fell forward. Nami thought the other was trying to bow in some manner, but looked highly unfamiliar with the motion and was instead doing a poor imitation of it. The king however was much more accustomed to the rite, his posture giving away the ease of someone who had been bowing down for all their life.

"We beg to the goodness of your hearts; take us home and we'll make sure to return the favour!"

"We really don't like all this secrecy but mystery is the motto of our organization!" the woman said and made sure to hide her face, as if Nami was going to be fooled by a trembling voice and shoulder. "If we say another word, we'll be killed for sure! Please, if there is any mercy in your hearts, help us home!"

Nami fought back a smirk as she stood; she loved this game. So she ignored the reminder from Crocus that these people couldn't be trusted and instead smiled apologetically as she held up the broken log pose.

"Well, you see, our log pose is broken. Would you still like to tag along?"

The duo looked up, and their forcefully humbled expressions were gone. They both jumped up.

"YOU BROKE IT?! YOU BUNCH OF WORTHLESS SCOUNDRELS, THAT WAS MINE!"

"How dare you play us for fools! We're crawling on our bare knees when you're just as stranded here as we are, you rats!" the woman cried.

Ruffy's face twitched, her jaw tensing.

Nami didn't notice and instead made a face as if she just remembered. "Oh, that's right. Crocus kindly let us have his log pose."

The duo was immediately on their knees again, faces to the ground to hide their expressions or humiliation and rage at having been played so easily. Their plea to "the goodness" in Nami's heart was spoken through gritted teeth.

Nami smiled widely in victory. These people were no less crooks than she was.

"Whiskey Peak isn't your home," Ruffy suddenly spoke.

The duo looked up. "What do you mean? Of course it is! It's where we live," Mr 9 protested. But it wasn't him Ruffy was looking at.

Miss Wednesday's mouth closed with a snap as her expression changed. Nami didn't know what it was, but the woman seemed frightened all of a sudden.

Out there, Laboon broke the surface and his voice was a light tune on the winds.

"Ah, we might as well take you with us. That's the direction we're headed anyway," Ruffy said, surprising everyone.

"Are you sure? You can't trust these backstabbers," Crocus said.

"I know that, both of them are lying. But it's fine, we have to start this journey somewhere anyway." Ruffy smiled happily. "And if we don't like it we'll just come back and do it again!"

"I see," Crocus grinned down at her, surprisingly joyously, as if in agreement.

The duo still kneeling on the ground stared at the straw-hat girl with some surprise before it turned into mirth. Mirth that ended in pain when Nami came down on them.

"Laugh at my captain again and you'll spend the voyage swimming."


They had lunch while Crocus placed his log pose in the position where the magnetic field corresponded with that of Whiskey Peak.

"It will only take a couple of hours to load. Make sure your ship is in the best state she can be."

"Oh yeah. Sanji-kun did you fix the helm?" Nami asked.

"Um, I'm afraid not, Nami-san."

"I have some glue left. I'll make sure to fix it," Usopp offered with a sigh. "This is going to be my job until we find a shipwright isn't it?"

"Probably," Sanji smiled, not sorry at all. Carpentry had never been his forte.

"Haven't Zoro been sleeping for a long time?" Ruffy asked.

"Just ignore him, Ruffy," Nami growled.

The navigator left her crew to it as she studied the map she'd stolen from Buggy. She wondered who had drawn it, and how accurate it was. She was going to have to fix it if it wasn't. But she realized it might be difficult. Crocus had stressed the fact that she couldn't trust anything other than the log pose. She couldn't trust the sun or the stars and never the sea. But Nami trusted her instincts. She was ready to start mapping Grand Line.

Their two freeloaders stayed out of the way, whispering together and sneering at the pirates. Well, Nami was going to kick both of them either off the ship or into action as soon as they took off.

Ruffy climbed the cliffs and started calling out, her voice strangely clear when it echoed between the rock formations. Not that Nami thought a lot about the sound of Ruffy's voice, but she noticed a difference now. The bird-like chirps Nami was used to sounded… bigger. But when Laboon started breaking the waves, way out there, heading towards Ruffy, Nami realized she knew why. She wondered if those animalistic traits of her captain meant she could talk to all animals, or just the intelligent ones…

The navigator left the thought there and returned to her maps.

"Hey, whale! I'm off soon to look for your friend," Ruffy said once Laboon was in front of her.

The mammal made a hopeful little sound.

"I don't know. You'll have to believe in me and believe in your friend, then I'll find him for sure." Ruffy looked down at the two liars they were bringing along. "Old flower guy has protected you for some time now. My nakama are protecting me too. So we should take care of ourselves and… allow them to love us."

It was quite a lot to ask. Ruffy knew that for herself, and by the tiny whine from the whale, she knew Laboon would have to work on that too. Rather than just doing whatever he wanted and not caring if Crocus was there or not, the whale would have to learn to turn to the old man. After all, those scars on his head weren't all from his persistent headbutting with Red Line.

"Hey Ruffy! We're ready to take off."

"Coming! I'll see you again, Laboon, and when we do, you'll be singing Bink's Sake with the one who taught you to sing!"

The promise made Laboon laugh happily, loud clicks that lit a warm glow of happiness in Crocus' heart.

"Captain Ruffy, thank you for this favour," the false king smiled at the girl.

"It's Captain Rayla for you, mister!" Ruffy snarled at the man. "Only friends may call me Ruffy, and I don't like you!"

Stunned and fully aware that it was only thanks to this girl they were going to get home at all, Mr 9 backed off, watching the girl stride away after sniffing at his partner.

"The women on this ship seems rather testy, wouldn't you say, Miss Wednesday?"

While everyone were busy boarding the ship, Crocus was rubbing his beard as he searched his memory.

"Mugiwara," he called to the girl captain.

"Hm?"

"What's your full name?"

The teen tilted her head in confusion, then straightened as realization swept over her features. "Oh! I never said, right? I'm Monkey D. Rayla! But friends call me Ruffy! Thanks for having us, Flower-ossan*."

In the old man's heartbeat, Ruffy suddenly caught a connection between herself and someone she never wanted to see again. It was only the state of the connection itself that had Ruffy not lashing out in self-defence.

"I see," Crocus said around a nostalgic smile. Then he caught her expression and relaxed. "I'm just a lighthouse keeper. Nothing more and nothing less."

It was a sincere statement, so Ruffy nodded once, with a little bit of a frown on her mouth. "An old lighthouse keeper," she said with a huff and turned to board her ship.

'Sharp,' Crocus thought with a smirk as the caravel started moving out, the crew gathering in the alt to wave him and Laboon goodbye.

"Fate sure has a twisted sense of humour."

Laboon made a questioning little sound, and Crocus sighed.

"Monkey D. Rayla was reported missing and possibly dead many years ago. I wonder he even knows she's alive." The old man grunted. "If they do, their family issues just got a lot more complicated."


*ossan= old man/gramps. Since English doesn't have a lot of variation in words to name people by their age, I have decided to use "ossan" from here on out.

MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR