Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.
"One Piece." – Speaking
'One Piece.' – Thinking
One Piece. – Flashbacks
One Piece. – Devil Fruits and Techniques
Deadly Drinking Pirate
The Man Forever Ridiculed!
Previously on Deadly Drunken Pirate,
"Yes, sir." Tashigi spoke up. "Despite their low numbers, they were still responsible for the destruction on Drum Island and defeating the former king, Wapol, who is now missing." Neither of the marines noticed that each of the Straw Hats growled or else gritted their teeth; it was infuriating that they couldn't break it to the marines that Wapol had fled like a coward, not even bothering to fight the Blackbeard Pirates.
That was when the Blackbeard Pirates were engulfed in a smoke screen that even blocked out any awareness to where the scumbags were. Because both the Straw Hats and the marines were in the winning tide, the captain of the Blackbeard Pirates himself had issued a silent order to retreat.
XXXXX
Earlier, both Luffy and Smoker were the ones standing high and above a fallen fatso that is Teach. It was clear that the pirate who calls himself Blackbeard was about to lose conscious if he tries to keep the battle train running.
"Give up Blackbeard!" Smoker shouted, "You can absorb all the pain you want but you have to feel Mugiwara's poison sooner or later! As we speak, more and more marines will be arriving and you will not be able to fight you way out!" Smoker hoped nobody heard that part about Luffy still, "We are putting you under arrest for the destruction that you caused on Drum Island, still registered to belong to the World Government.
"Ribereishon (Liberation)!" Teach used not one but both of his hands clad in darkness to release the smoke he absorbed from Smoker to create his own smokescreen. "Retreat you bastards! We're not ready to face Straw Hats, not with the marines too!" Teach was able to tell that his crew had heard the call and made their way past him but not before, "Remember this Mugiwara! I spent twenty years to enact my plan and I will not be denied of what I deserve! I will become the King of Pirates!" Then Teach turned tailed like before and didn't get far before he was answered,
"If you want to be the next Pirate King, then I am more than glad to fight you for it. But I will never accept someone who harms my friends, my family and smears on the Name of D, a rival for my dream!" Luffy shouted back at Blackbeard who still kept running. "I am warning you Teach! Once I learn that you harmed a hair on my brother, I will go to war with you if I have to!"
Then the world froze, everything suddenly moving as if time had slowed to the speed of a snail. Only Luffy and Teach seemed to be affected as their heart rates are still pumping hard from all the excitement. "I will get what I want, whether you are my ally or enemy. I promise that." With that, the world started to move like normal and the Blackbeard Pirates somehow evaded the marines while Luffy didn't budge an inch to stop them.
"Mugiwara (Straw Hat) …" Smoker growled but he didn't need to speak another word to show how disappointed he was in Luffy and himself, for allowing not just Teach but also his crew to escape.
"I know Smokey, but you won't want it to go the other way. You are the one that doesn't trust us Shichibuki (Seven Royal Warlords)." Luffy responded by cooling himself down and putting away his blades into their scabbards. "And you were right once before, I say that you still have your mind in the right place."
"Flattery will get you nowhere Mugiwara!" Smoker retorted and before he could get on a rant, he felt the eyes of the devil staring down his shoulder. Turning around, he saw Momonga in all his glory. "Vice Admiral, sir!" Smoker quickly got into a stiff salute.
"…for a marine that doesn't trust the Shichibuki, you fought just fine with Mugiwara. I saw it all." Smoker didn't say a word, waiting for his superior to give the word that he may speak. "And I understand that you feel ashamed but I have it worse. I was sent when Headquarters recognized that Blackbeard used to sail the Grand Line under Whitebeard. I was supposed to be the one to append him but I choose to fight his dirt bag foot soldiers. I didn't want your protégé to be killed off or seen among pirates."
Smoker took it in and nodded. "So, you just return to your assigned ship with your attendant and take some rest. As a vice-admiral, everything falls on me when we fail to capture non-Shichibuki pirates. Dismissed."
"Yes sir. Come on Tashigi and don't get lost." Smoker finally spoke and the swordswoman hurried over to him. "And Mugiwara…" Luffy gave his attention to Smoker. "…it was fun. Thanks." Smoker mumbled, hoping that only Luffy heard it; thankfully, he did and Luffy even hide his smile.
"Now then Mugiwara…" Momonga then spoke to the Shichibuki. "I offer my apologies should we have gotten in your way in any form." For each person shocked that a Vice-Admiral will talk to a pirate as if Luffy was a level above him, they hid it. "We were moving everyone out and labeled at least one of the inhabitants as Bellamy the Hyena, worth fifty-five million berries. And I am confident that the state in he was found, beaten to a pulp, was of your doing?"
Luffy nodded his head. "If I may speak my mind…" Momonga gave off the face that said 'it better be good and quick'. "I have been rough with that rookie when he barged into a tavern where I was enjoying a meal. He thought me replacing Crocodile was a farce, a lie, a scam made by the World Government. I didn't care for what he thought but he got under my skin when he had to address my crew as prey. Even us pirates have some honor in our veins."
"Duly noted." Momonga responded. "As for me bringing this up, you were the one who not only defeated the Hyena but also noted us to where his crew was, shall we discuss a share of his bounty?" Once again, the atmosphere was frozen with disbelief and it will finally explain how the marines knew where to find the Straw Hats in the middle of their fight with the Blackbeard Pirates.
"To be fair, I ask only twenty-five million while you keep the remaining thirty million berries. Sounds fair?" Momonga nodded as his answer, and with the twitch of his finger a marine soldier appeared with a pair of suitcases. Momonga took the one from the marine's left hand that somehow appeared lighter than the other; and the Vice Admiral promptly gave it to Luffy to hold. Opening it, Luffy saw the share of Bellamy's bounty inside in the form of thousand berry bills.
Luffy then closed the suitcase and gave Momonga the bow of a businessman concluding his affairs, and the Vice Admiral gave a smaller bow out of respect for his rank. Momonga then walked off with that same marine, still holding the other suitcase while Luffy walked towards his crew.
"You can bash my face in later Nami." Luffy spoke to his girlfriend, handling the suitcase over to her. "Now let's get back to the King's Gourd and plan where to go next. I have had it with this dump."
XXXXX
Later,
Nami did have the urge to lock Luffy out of the cabin for the night, giving more than half the bounty to the marines, but she wasn't the type to try her bargaining skill and luck with a Vice Admiral; especially the one that Momonga portrayed him as. Still, there was some good news to be shared.
"A hermit, living on this island talking about a sky island, and even discovered gold at the bottom of the ocean…" Luffy reviewed the notes while Chopper still worked on any wounds. "We still have a lot of time to kill before the Log Pose eventually settles on another island. It will worth something, so let's do it!"
Luffy made the call and his crew hurried to move the King's Gourd to the side of the island that is a dense forest on the other side of Mock Town. Still they had a surprise to see something like that of a fairy tail castle! Yet a few of the guys were not convinced and remarked that it was an illusion.
True to their word, Luffy discovered that it was fake. The reality was that it was a plywood cut out of a castle that was covering what seems to be a small house cut clean in half. And the only thing nearly was a stump that had a kid's picture book. Nami checked it out and read the title to read 'Noland the Liar'. Apparently, it was published in the North Blue sea; and Sanji remarked that he read that book a lot when he was of the age and that he was born in the North. This baffled most of the crew, the remaining few had a feeling that Sanji was more than born in the North but wasn't talking; they had no idea on how right they were.
Luffy emerged out of the house saying that it was unoccupied so they decided to stick around and wait for the hermit to return, albeit with a rude welcome. All the while, Nami read the child's book. It went like this,
Long time ago, there was an adventurer named Noland. He often told high tales, stories from the sea that sounded so far-fetched that not even the children believed him. They simply wanted to hear what he will come up next.
One day, after yet another voyage to the sea, Noland visited the country king. He said that he discovered a city of gold on an island! This was the greatest of his stories yet he sounded so sure about it.
The king had agreed to check out the story of the city of gold and assembled a crew of over a thousand sailors and soldiers on a single ship. The sea was rough with storms and monsters yet the king was able to protect valiantly.
But by the time they got to the island, they were left with only two hundred left and the island was covered in nothing but a forest.
Noland was sent back to the kingdom and sentenced to death for lying. And, on the death stand, Noland shouted out that the City of Gold could have sunk into the ocean. This baffled everyone, that the foolish liar still believed in the City of Gold right to his very death. The End.
Nami closed the book and even teased Usopp about how both him and Noland were considered to be liars. Meanwhile, Luffy noticed bubbles nearly the edge of the island. It was like something was breathing down there. And Luffy was able to back away from a human hand shooting out to grab him. "Look sharp guys!"
"What the hell are you scumbags doing on my property!?" This alerted everyone while their captain moved back for some looking space. This wasn't want they had in mind for a hermit talking about a Sky Island. He was a muscular, middle aged man with blond hair. He has a large chestnut on his head. He wears dark-purple tracksuit-pants with a white stripe running along each leg, and a rope around his waist. He was wearing simply a pair of trousers. He is usually seen smoking with a cigarette in his mouth. On his left arm, the man had a tattoo of a chestnut with the word "Maroon" written across it.
"You are after my gold, aren't you? Then, drop dead!" Sanji had to dodge quickly when the chestnut man delivered a mean kick to the face. Which was followed by an equally swift side-sweep kick. But while Sanji was able to dodge that too, the man moved in with grace to go for a left stab. The blonde-haired cook was barely able to use one of his legs to parry, just barely.
Then the man started to play dirty, pulling a gun from who knows where and almost shot Sanji for real. Too bad that was only a close shot that Sanji was able to dodge right before the man started to shot off randomly and recklessly.
"Alright, if he fights with guns…" Frank spoke up from all the noise and inaction, pulling out his trusty revolver and aimed it at the old man until the latter suddenly fell to the ground in pain. "What?"
Chopper noticed something about how the old man was twitching worse than a fish on dry land. "Everyone, help me get him inside! I think that he is sick!" In no time at all, the old man was relocated into the strange house with the sun shining through the windows while hot wet towels were placed in certain spots on him.
Chopper explained that it was an illness that was common with deep-sea divers, who constantly expose their bodies to water pressure for days without end, and without giving their bodies the time to adjust to the change in pressure. This was a decompression sickness that involves water bubbles forming around the muscles, causing great pain which can lead to death. The old man was definitely diving and the little scuffle he had with Sanji had accelerated the sickness until he was in too much pain to even stand up.
Still there were more surprises to be made while the pirates were still taking care of the hermit. "Old Guy! Are you okay!? We heard gunshots and Mock Town was destroyed!" It appeared to be two large apes in human clothing trying to wedge their way into the doorway. And they almost thought that the Straw Hats were harming the hermit which seems to be their friend, or rather their boss.
"Oh! You are here to talk about finding an island and you were helping our old man. Sorry about that." One of them which apparently was the older brother had laughed it off along with his younger brother. And in order, their names were Shoujou and Masira.
Shoujou is a large man who looks like an orangutan with long green hair. He wears a black button up shirt that is too small for his body showing off his hairy torso, a green captain's coat with his arms in the sleeves, and a green captain's hat with his personal jolly roger on the front. He also wears a belt that has the kanji for forest engraved upon it. His hair is so long that its entire length is almost as long as Shoujou's entire body height.
And Masira was also a human with ape-like features. He wears an orange-yellow jumpsuit, and also has headphones and goggles. What makes him interesting is he apparently has a tail, although sometimes it cannot be seen. Masira also has huge arms and some kind of piercing around his wrists.
Of course, like most brothers, they gotten in a disagreement that has gotten physical but Luffy didn't care, he heard from Chopper and Kaya that the hermit had awoken. Luffy re-entered the house to see the old man sitting on the bed and taking a smoke. Apparently, he was the hermit who dives every day to look for gold and that his name was Montblanc Cricket.
"Sorry about the hostility guys, I seriously thought you were yet more thieves hearing about my gold from Mock Town." The old man said and Luffy just waved it off. "And I understand that while I was hundreds of feet down below like usual, you and your little gang fought with another pirate crew that got Mock Town into the garbage dump it always was."
"Let's drop it okay? We are here because you also believe in Sky Island. Our Log Pose is pointing towards the clouds and we even have a map that speak of Skypiea." Luffy responded and even took out the map to show to Cricket. Yet the old man only took a look for a split second before laughing manically.
"You seriously believe this crap?" Nobody was amused and just waited for Cricket to be finished. "This map is over two hundred years old! Who knows if it's real and not something made up and then tossed into the sea to be found by fools like you. What makes you think there is a Sky Island at all?"
Before Luffy could speak up, the old man spoke up again. "Because there was one man that said it was real and went down as a liar forever. My ancestor, Monbanc Noland!" This was a surprise and the chestnut on the head should have been a clue; they thought Noland's chestnut was just another plot device to make him look more foolish. Cricket went on that his family also believed in the city of gold and the island in the sky, so they all sailed the Grand Line to look for it but with no luck. And Cricket said that he was the black sheep of the family as he was the only one that didn't care for any of this and tried to rid himself of the ridicule he knew from the day he was born, simply for having the blood of Noland.
And, in an act of irony, he assembled a pirate crew and found the island of Jaya; the one that Noland claimed to have seen the city of gold. He figured that since he was the only one of the Monblanc family to ever find the island then it was his destiny to find out once for and all that Noland's stories were true or false. His crew never agreed to it and left him to live on Jaya, where he found the house cut clean in half and made it his home. "I am just an old man trying to get free from what my ancestor had done to our family. Don't let you kids get in the middle of my battle." Cricket finished with the sigh of his cigarette, "After all that, why do you still want my help in finding this island in the sky?
"Because Roger arrived at a Sky Island along with a cabin boy who will grow up to be a great pirate and one of my teachers." Luffy spoke with usher surety and everyone in the room.
"You were taught by someone who sailed under the Pirate King!?" That was the collected response by most of the crew. Even the stoic Robin was shocked to hear that Luffy had such a connection to Roger.
"That will be for later, but I know that there is a Skypiea and you are the only one who knows how to get there." Luffy responded and stared hard Cricket, settling a thick atmosphere in the room.
"…We will talk over a drink or two."
XXXXX
When Cricket said to 'talk over drinks', he really meant having a drink-out; a party at his place. When Shoujou and Masira finally stopped their childish brawl, they joined in and brought in the booze and refreshments. And that got the party into full swing with everyone eating themselves full and drinking themselves drunk. There was the little thing of Cricket trying to direct Nami to sit besides him but Luffy keep a good distance since the old man was clearly having too much to drink.
Yet, all the while everyone was eating or drinking, Robin preferred tea and a good book to read. And the book she was reading happened to be an ancient one, easily four hundred years old that she found on the bookshelf near the bed. It was a journal and when she came across a page with minimal writing and some tear spots, Cricket appeared in her face. "…I saw the gold in the skull's right eye."
That got everyone's attention and they stopped to hear what it supposedly meant. "That was the last my ancestor ever wrote until his planned execution! As for the meaning, not I was able to figure it out! Does it mean the eye of a human skull? Or does it mean there is an island shaped like a skull and the gold is there? We may never know as Noland took the answer to his grave!"
Cricket finished his drink and let out a satisfied sigh, "Now that we have been rested over, I would like to share some things with you as your captain agreed." Cricket turned to the two ape-looking men and they hurried over to fetch something.
And when they returned, the Straw Hats were amazed to see a bell made of gold that was the size to fit in the palm of a human hand. But while that was impressive, the real star of the show was the large, gold model of what seems to be some kind of a toucan. "As for what this statute, made of real gold, is supposed to be of; a South Bird!"
Silence filled the air, like a foreign word was shot out. But Luffy looked the wiser like before, "I have heard of those somewhere while training. South Birds are tropical birds that are called so because they have the best sense of direction for any living creature, better than any compass made. Sailors who acquire a South Bird have a good way of navigating because those birds face south no matter what, even during storms or the Grand Line."
"ARRGH!" The whole house suddenly shook and nearly knocked everything over. "That reminds me! If you are going to get to the Sky Island then you will have to take a very dangerous current that shots upward to the clouds! And the only way to make it is with a South Bird!"
"WHAAT!?"
End of Chapter 34.
*What do you think? It is back to adventure and action rather than battles for a while now! And I apologize for such an ending but it is the best I can think of. The semester is counting down and I will have to spend a lot more time studying for my finals than anything else. Again, I am sorry if it is anticlimactic in the sense.
Also, I apologize for not including the part where Cricket explains about being bullied and insulted for simply having the same last name (and hair style) of Noland. I made sure to include that in this chapter and say, welcome to December! My finals practically start now so I will be extra busy this week and the next! I will be back to work in time for Christmas!*
