When they got up the next morning, Bartolomeo was ecstatic about something, and was bouncing around like a little kid. "Did something happen or some shit?" Zoro asked in slight annoyance.

"I have something to show all of you! Besides you, Trafalgar," he said. The rooster head didn't like Law much. He liked Ace a lot more than him, but that might just because he was Luffy's brother. They walked inside to a hallway that had a curtain over the wall. Like there was some exhibit. "Look at these!" he said, and lowered the curtain. "New bounties!" he exclaimed.

Luffy grinned. Everyone's bounties had gone up! Even those that hadn't been at Dressrosa. Luffy's had gone up another hundred million, while Zoro's was the second one to raise pretty high, at 320 million. The others had more modest increases, but high numbers nonetheless. Poor Chopper only went up 100 berries. He wouldn't be happy about that.

Each one had a new photo for the poster. Luffy's was still pretty much the same, but everyone else's looked different. Brook's was just his concert poster as Soul King. Luffy was happy for Sanji that his poster was no longer that sketch he hated so much.

"It's odd that Sanji's is 'only alive'," Robin said lightly.

"He's just not worth killing," Zoro said in a bland voice, though he was smiling about his much higher bounty than before. Ace's bounty had gone up 75 million, too, so he was still higher than Luffy's bounty. Law's had gone up 80 million. Luffy was sure his went up the highest out of the three leaders because he was the one to actually kill Doflamingo.

Well, he was happy that everyone had new, higher bounties. After all the work they'd gone through over the past two years, they all deserved higher bounties. Even those that hadn't even set foot on Dressrosa. Luffy hoped they'd gotten to Zou safely.

It became painfully clear that, though Bartolomeo had a ship and a crew, they were terrible pirates. Not only did they not have a navigator, which would be fine if it was the East Blue and there were no storms, but they had no information on how to navigate New World weather! How the hell had they made it this far? They just tried different remedies from suggestions of others, not based on science or experience.

Hail the size of human heads battered the ship. Ace was annoyed, just like Law, and they stood on the side with their arms crossed. The hail went right through Ace's logia body and Law managed to dodge them all with haki, still looking unimpressed and irritated while doing so.

"How did you last this long?!" Zoro demanded as they attempted to fix the situation but failed. They did their best to make it out of the hail storm without Nami, but the New World seas didn't give them a break even after that certain storm ended. It was miserable. Luffy hated dealing with storms with a regular ship and no navigator.

The Straw Hats and allies were all thoroughly annoyed, much more than they'd be if it was on the Sunny. Hopefully they'd be at Zou soon enough.

They passed into a fog, and vision was disrupted, but Luffy could use his other senses. He could hear something huge moving, and smell all sorts of scents. It seemed they finally passed into the path of the Sunny, as the smell of the ship wafted through the air. They were nearly there! But how was this huge thing moving? Was there a monster on the island? Luffy hoped so, that would be awesome!

"We're nearly there! And I think there's a huge monster outside the fog, too!"

"Ahhh! Don't sound so excited about it!" Usopp scolded.

"Luffy-senpai is so brave! Bwaaa!" Bartolomeo cried. The guests had gotten used to it and no longer paid attention to his weird outbursts from his fanboy tendencies about Luffy and the Straw Hats. Ace found him amusing, the only one not completely annoyed by him by now.

Zoro snagged the binoculars from one of the passing pirates, and looked straight ahead. "Is it right ahead?" he asked.

Luffy said, "Yup! And I can smell the Sunny nearby. I think the fog is right next to the island." Law casually said that Zou wasn't an island, it was an elephant. Franky side eyed him and wondered why he waited until then to say something. It was pretty late to learn that information.

"It didn't matter and the time," Law said flatly.

The fog cleared, and they finally saw what Luffy had sensed. It was a giant elephant! Amazing! His eyes sparkled at the huge beast. It really was a monster, just by its size alone. Who knew what kind of temperament it had? Something so big… just how long were its legs to reach the ocean floor, but still be able to be above the surface? It was amazing.

The New World was full of crazy things like this. Ace held his hat on his head and looked upwards, whistling at the size. "Now how the hell do we get up? If that's Zou, then the others are up there. And there's the fact it keeps moving. I wonder if it even knows we're here."

They didn't know how to get up, and nobody took Luffy up on his offer to slingshot them up one by one. "Are there people up there? Your crew's up there, right?"

"There's an elusive tribe of people up there. The Minks, a group that has been in hiding on Zou for 1,000 years or so. My navigator is a mink, this is his original home," Law explained. Franky again complained that Law was telling them all of this stuff way too late. Law ignored him completely, making the cyborg annoyed.

But Luffy was shocked the elephant had been alive 1,000 years. Surely it had been all over the New World, then? And where was it originally from? How was it born? So interesting!

The ship pulled up to the Sunny, which was docked at the back leg, and attached to the elephant with a chain wrapped around its thick appendage. The skin was very rough and dry, despite being exposed to the ocean spray at all times. Luffy wondered if the elephant had a goal in mind, was it looking for something, or just endlessly walking?

He could hear things coming from the back of it, well, the top of it. From high, high above. "It looks like they got away from Big Mom okay. There are no damages to it," Franky said when lightly inspecting the Thousand Sunny.

"Hah?! Big Mom?!" His crew looked at him blankly.

"We've literally spoken about this on our way here!" Usopp shouted. "That's your fault, Zoro!"

"How is it my fault?!"

"You're always distracting him!" Usopp shot back.

"Heh, so Big Mom went after them. I hope they're okay," Luffy said vaguely. "Hup!" he jumped onto the deck of the Thousand Sunny. Nothing smelled off, really. No blood spilled or anything like that. His nakama had been here at least a couple days ago. Zoro asked if everything was fine. "Yeah, nothing seems wrong." Ace went into the ship, down to his craft, and hid Whitebeard's devil fruit inside it's compartment.

Usopp looked up at the elephant's leg. "How the hell do we get up there?" he asked hesitantly. He didn't want to go on top of a massive elephant in the middle of the New World sea. "We know they're up there, so how did they get up, too?" Luffy wondered the same thing. While they wondered how to get up, Bartolomeo and his crew were gushing excitedly about their time with the Straw Hats.

By then, they had become accustomed to ignoring them. Luffy turned to the pirates who didn't know how to pirate very well and thanked them with a smile. "You've been such a help for us! Thank you!" Luffy said brightly.

"W-We promise to be stronger the next time we meet! We won't bring shame upon the Straw Hat Grand Fleet!" he vowed tearfully. "If you ever need help, we'll be there! It's been the greatest honor fighting with you!" Ace was amused while the rest kind of seemed like they just wanted to move on. But they still had to figure out how to get up, though the Barto Club wouldn't really be of much help anymore. Luffy waved goodbye to them as they sailed off. The Straw Hats, Law, Ace and Wano citizens were all left on the deck of the Sunny.

"Do not worry, I can get us up with my magic!" Kanjuro said. Luffy hadn't really talked to him much since Dressrosa. He'd spent most of the time with Zoro and Ace. He'd tried talking to Law, but he was still grumpy, even after everything they went through at Dressrosa. Luffy wished he'd see them as a friend, but it just didn't seem like that would be possible. Allies alone, in his eyes. But Luffy saw him as a friend, so it didn't matter.

They watched Kanjuro paint a worm on the deck. It was long, and came alive after he was done painting it. A drawing coming to life! Amazing! Luffy wondered if he could paint humans and if they could talk, too! He could just make a friend whenever he wanted. It was awesome. Ace was impressed, too, even though he lightly commented that it wasn't the best quality art.

The samurai ignored the comment, and said it was a dragon. It looked more like a worm, but a cool and big one! Luffy couldn't wait to ride it, and was glad he wouldn't just shoot them up with a gomu gomu rocket. Riding a worm dragon would be more fun, no doubt! But the dragon had no wings.

They all sat on it, hanging on tightly as they left the Sunny below and held on as the dragon made its way up the huge leg. Luffy had his arms wrapped around the neck, and the others were holding on in various ways. Ace had fallen asleep. He had done so well lately to not fall asleep when it was a problem, so Luffy wrapped an arm around him to hold him up.

Man, narcolepsy must suck, huh?

The climb took a long time. The dragon was very tired, but kept going. "Neh, Kin'emon, Kanjuro, Law, why do you wanna go to Zou anyways?" Luffy asked halfway up the elephant's leg, which was still moving very slowly.

Law said his crew was there, short and simple without elaborating at all. Luffy didn't expect anything more, so he turned to their two other guests. "It's only right we should tell you everything after all you've done for us, but we would like to do so after seeing Momonosuke is safe. So please let us reach there first. Plus, we wish to see if our comrade, Raizo the ninja, is safe."

Luffy was amazed and excited to meet a real life ninja! He agreed to wait, and looked back up, hearing something before they could see it. Falling down on them! It was screaming strange noises as it plummeted. It smelled like an animal, clearly, but didn't seem afraid of Luffy. Though it was scared as it was falling.

Ace woke up just in time to dodge with everyone else but Kanjiuro and Kin'emon! "Guys!" Luffy shouted in worry and fear. "Damn it, dragon turn around and go get them!" Luffy begged. But Kanjuro's voice echoed up from below, where they couldn't see due to distance and some fog.

"Go on without us, we'll catch up just fine!" Luffy was hesitant. The others were, too, until they realized that the dragon might not even make it all the way up, let alone back down again. He was reluctant, but there was no other choice, and they continued upwards. Luffy could hear all sorts of noises, the noises of forests and animals, as well as speaking.

He worried about his two friends, but trusted them when they had said they'd be fine. The dragon was struggling badly, and Luffy felt for him, and they all started cheering for him, but for Law and Zoro. Even Ace was encouraging him to make it to the end. When they finally made it to the top, the smells exploded now that there was no distance and no more fog in the way. It truly was a tropical jungle.

There were all sorts of animal smells he felt he'd never come into contact before, and could tell there were people around due to voices, but they didn't smell human either. Minks, then, like Law had explained. Luffy couldn't wait to see them! Animal people, huh? Neat! They cheered at making it up all the way alive.

Then they turned around to thank the drawing, but it was exhausted, and started to disappear. They didn't even get to thank him properly before he started to merge back with the ground, becoming a drawing once again. It was strange to look over and see Robin crying about it. They all cried his name, feeling bad for him.

"This is ridiculous," Law grumbled.

"It was just a lousy drawing," Zoro added. Ace said nothing, just looking amused.

"How could you say that, Zoro?!" Luffy demanded. Zoro put his hands up in surrender, but Luffy moved on when Ace reminded him to pay attention with his senses. It distracted him, and Zoro mouthed a thank you to the commander, who chuckled at his brother fondly. Luffy kept his senses open.

"Well, we're close to lots of people, but they're hiding. But I smell Nami and Brook and them!" Luffy cheered happily, so glad to know they made it up okay. He'd worried they could have fallen into the water, but they made it up. The crew sighed in relief. They walked, and called out for the minks to come out. Luffy said they didn't smell like humans.

Ace called, "We're just here looking for five people and a crew!" His voice was simple and calm, negotiating. "They're names are Nami, Chopper, Brook and Sanji and a little boy!"

"As well as my crew, the Heart Pirates," Law added. Some of the minks came out of the forest, holding weapons. They really were animal people! Wearing clothes and everything. Luffy was happy to see new things, always loving that. They lowered their weapons when a dog mink (Luffy assumed) came out and told them to do so. Lucky!

Luffy was recognized, and that was why they lowered their weapons, even if they were still suspicious of them, clearly. Law's men came hurrying out, too, Luffy hearing the polar bear shouting that he could smell their captain. The reunion was not as physical as it was for the Straw Hats, full of hugs. Law just smiled lightly and said he was glad they were alright.

The group were directed to walk through the city, the one that was destroyed, full of claw marks, huge footprints, and broken buildings. Everything was damaged. It would be hard or even impossible to repair the buildings, reminding Luffy of the damage of Dressrosa, but not nearly as bad.

He held hands with Zoro, listening to the dog mink, Wanda, explain that there was a fight that had eradicated the city, from a man named Jack. When hearing this name, Law's brows rose. "You know him?" Zoro asked, noticing this reaction.

"He's directly under Kaido," Law said darkly. Usopp gasped. The town was completely empty, and they were all heading to a place in the middle of the elephant island, where they were told their crew was. But Luffy noticed something odd. He saw Ace could tell, too, brows furrowed. He was walking near the back of the group.

He was speaking to some of the minks about the Whitebeards, who had been here before, long ago. They were happy to hear they were doing alright, even if they were no longer seen as powerful as they had been before.

"Is there a problem?" Luffy asked Wanda.

"I'm sure your crew will tell you in detail." This didn't make the Straw Hats feel any better, since it showed that there was something wrong. They were nervous. As they walked, there was a loud noise, and a volcano sprouted out of nowhere at the front of the island. "Get to higher ground!" Wanda shouted, with all the minks jumping into trees.

They helped the Straw Hats into the trees as well, Luffy and Ace gripping onto the branches tightly. They were told it would flood in a moment. So they definitely didn't want to get in a flood on this island and be washed over the side and to their deaths by falling into the ocean. He hoped Kanjuro and Kin'emon were okay.

The ground flooded when the volcano erupted with water. It didn't sound like a real volcano, so it didn't set him off, thankfully. The water rushed beneath them, making Luffy very uncomfortable. But it cleared after a few moments. "That's a weird water volcano! Is that all rain water?!" Luffy asked, glad the water was washing away quickly.

The sound was very loud and distracting before he tuned it out and focused on the mink speaking. Wanda explained that it wasn't rain water, or a volcano. "Zunisha does that twice a day, letting water out of her trunk to give our people fish and other seafood as well as to water the plants." It made sense that they didn't have a common climate as a moving "island".

The elephant took care of the minks and their home. It was really cool. "This elephant is pretty cool, huh?" Luffy mused. The ground was damp and muddy, getting in his sandals and being kind of gross, but it wasn't too big a deal to him. They followed her and some of the other minks, uneasy still about the sketchy response about their crew, and whatever problem had happened. Wanda explained Jack's attack, sudden and looking for something he never got after attacking multiple marine ships beforehand. He was crazy, going after the ship with Fujitora, the blind guy from Dressrosa that caused so much trouble for them.

Jack was probably somewhere alive, according to Wanda, with Law saying he thought the same. Bepo, his polar bear mink, and two other prominent members, Shachi and Penguin, were all walking closer together. Law finally showed some care for people. Luffy was sure he cared for Luffy in some way after Dressorsa, but probably as a helpful ally, not a friend.

Well, he was Law's friend, so that was that. Wanda didn't go into much more detail about the attack, and Luffy was now clinging to Ace's back, just because. Ace had no problem, and acted as if it wasn't happening.

"So, how's Marco?" the mink asked. Whitebeard did appear to be close to them at one point, or at least one of their members had been. The second division commander.

"Hah?!" Ace exclaimed.

"Kozuki Oden. He was the second division commander once, as I heard. I never actually met the man," the mink explained. Nameless, still. Luffy asked about Ace being in that position. He assumed he was the second one. After all, he knew the spot had been open for a long time before he was offered the post. Now he was interested in the guy. What kind of person did he replace? He hoped he'd lived up to the man nobody had ever talked about.

"We're here." Luffy could smell his nakama, even though most of the scent on their way there had been mostly washed away by the rushing sea water. They came across a gate of some sorts, and two guards. Wanda's presence allowed the group to enter. Luffy really wondered what had happened on this elephant regarding his crew.

Because there was one problem he was facing: one of his nakama wasn't there, and he knew which one. He could smell the sources, Nami, Chopper and Brook, Momonosuke not with the main group, but the smell of Sanji was old, at least by a few days. He wrung his hands after getting off of Ace's back. He looked at his little brother in concern, asking what was wrong. "Sanji's gone."

Ace frowned in worry, too. When they passed the leaf gates, with everyone glad they were there, preparing a feast already, Luffy wondered why, but was distracted with the living area. There were pineapples as homes, hanging from the trees! It was busy, and Luffy could tell there were many people here. Many minks, along with two humans, a reindeer and skeleton.

He hurried to them, smelling Chopper and Nami in the same place. He liked the atmosphere of this place, but wanted to know the news of what had happened, worried about why Sanji alone would be gone. He didn't take the Sunny, obviously, so where the hell was he?!

Nami came running out and Luffy grinned. Surprisingly, she hugged Luffy, who hugged her back, telling she was going to cry by her wobbling lips. "Where's Sanji?" he asked quietly, her flinching. Luffy gently pushed her back to look at her face. Everyone was silent and looked worried. Why Nami was crying. They hadn't heard Luffy's words.

Luffy could hear Wanda telling the curious group why they were so nice and accommodating to them. They just saw the humans as monkey minks, their way of getting past the fact that they were all humans in a place not meant for their kind. At least they were being hospitable. That was a relief!

While the feast was being prepared, and the minks latched onto some of them, chewing and licking them, Nami explained what had happened in the last 11 days they were apart. They had miraculously escaped Big Mom's ship, which held the two guys who wanted the candy from Fishman Island which felt so long ago. Along with one of the Worst Generation that Luffy, Law and Zoro were a part of, Capone Bege.

But they got away, and made it to Zou somehow. But when they got there, the place was already a wreck. It was damaged from Jack's attack. Many were hit by some sort of man made illness unleashed on the mink tribe.

"Everyone was very sick, and helpless. They couldn't fight us even if we were enemies and meant harm. But they didn't want us there until Chopper offered and succeeded in treating the illness and injuries. That's why they're so open with us, from Chopper treating them when they were on a death sentence."

That made sense of why they were so welcomed despite not being minks themselves. Chopper was in Luffy's arms by now, the captain hugging him to his chest like a stuffed animal. The other pirates were annoyed with the physical affection the mink strangers were giving them. All but Ace, who seemed perfect at just ignoring the biting and licking. Unfazed completely.

"We spent the next few days helping the minks recuperate, and getting to know them. How this travesty happened. Who and what they were and all. But it was two days ago that Sanji… left," Chopper explained, tears in his eyes as he looked at Luffy in guilt. "We let him go! I'm sorry!" he cried.

Luffy patted his head, and said he wanted to hear the rest of the story. "If it was Sanji's choice, or he was forced, I don't blame you, promise," he said reassuringly, pulling out his caring captain side, taking this extremely seriously while the others listened with hard faces, now finally being able to ignore the heavy affection by the minks.

"Well, two days ago, Big Mom's ship had followed us," Brook said. "What happened next… well, Sanji-san may never return to us because of it." Luffy's face grew darker. "Pekoms, and Gang Bege came. Sanji-san and I confronted them. They were after Caesar as well, for abusing money Big Mom gave him.

"Their mission was to take back Caesar and destroy our crew. Pekoms was against that after he found out we saved the minks, who had his family and friends here. He was reluctant to destroy us for doing that. Gang Bege shot him for it. Then he revealed his devil fruit, which allowed him to house other people in his body. A castle man!

"They captured all of us, including Chopper-san and Nami-san. We were inside his castle body when Sanji-san got the reason why they wanted him. Not just Caesar. He was invited to Big Mom's tea party, and was to be married to one of her daughters. He refused, but seemed to be given no choice. He was told something we couldn't hear.

"Apparently, if you didn't attend the tea party, your whole family would be killed! So Sanji-san left the note, and forced us out of the castle! Gang Bege got away. He left us the note. 'To: you bastards, I'm gonna go meet some girl, but I'll be back'."

Luffy was looking down, hat shadowing his eyes. "Who was behind forcing him to get married," he asked darkly.

"His family, the Vinsmokes."

"Parent figures are the worst sometimes. I'm not gonna talk about my own stuff, but still, I understand what you feel about being the disappointment."

"We're going after him." He didn't mention what Sanji said in passing, but it was enough to know his family weren't people he respected, or who respected him. Luffy would never let him be forced to do something from his "family". He'd vehemently refused, once, ever having siblings, but Luffy could of course hear that lie. He hated his siblings and parents.

To have them force him to live how they wanted… Luffy knew that feeling very well. He wouldn't let his nakama go through that. Even if he planned on coming back, Luffy wasn't going to leave him hanging there like that. And getting away from Big Mom alone… it sounded hard, if not impossible.

They'd never personally met her, but Luffy had met Whitebeard, a yonko who was ill, and he was already a force to be reckoned with. If Big Mom was anywhere near as powerful, and not a good person like old man Whitebeard was, then one man against her was not going to happen, no matter how strong Sanji was now.

"Did Gang Bege say anything more about the situation? That you could hear?"

"Just some bit about Big Mom and her terror, only threats. Sanji-san was forced to go, and we would have been killed if he declined. We don't know what happened inside that man's body after it was closed off, but he left in a hurry before we could try to rescue him," Brook replied. Nami and Chopper had tears in their eyes.

Luffy gave a smile. "Well, I guess another rescue mission, huh? First Nami, then Robin and Franky, Brook… I guess it's Sanji's turn. Don't tell him I said it like that," he said light heartedly, trying to brighten up the atmosphere. Chopper hugged his legs, and Nami sniffled, wiped her eyes and nodded with a determined look.