Gaimon's mouth spluttered without a word of belief to what he was seeing. His emotions had been through an absolute rollercoaster in getting second hand confirmation that the treasure chests were empty - but now his life was spun right around. He was instantly catapulted back to the day he had been left here by his pirate crew. They had boldly just endeavored onto the Grand Line from their home of the South Blue and gotten the run down of what else they needed to know from the Keeper of the Capes. They were ready, though.
The Keeper of the Capes, Crocus, gave them a treasure map he'd been left with that he wanted little to do with, and said they would know the island if they got there; it was covered in strange, hybrid animals. Apparently, they fetched a high price, but the pirates were rather uninterested in poaching. They were excited to pursue their first treasure map. And the Log Pose allowed them great luck: They were deposited at the very island the Keeper had spoken of.
Yet they found the island and scoured it from top to bottom almost - except for the mountains by the ravine. The cliffs were too treacherous for any of them to climb; they had no Devil Fruits like Luffy's to jet them up there like he had nor wings like Boss had. Yet Gaimon and the musician he was partnered up with had been ambitious more so than everyone else; they had discovered one treasure chest, already empty.
After trying and failing to scale even fifteen feet up the cliff wall, they gave up, pledging to get stronger so they could return here one day as their cryer ran around the island, gathering everyone for departure. Gaimon told the musician he'd be there in a few moments, he had to take a leak. Really, he took one last stab at climbing the cliff.
Alone, he found he could dig deeper and he managed to climb one foot after another, one hand under another, and he kept rising and rising despite his aching muscles. He was no strong man; his limbs were like pinkies. Yet he was desperate to get to the top of the mountain that day. He finally managed to poke his head over the top of the cliff - and saw the four treasure chests on the top of the mountain.
Gaimon gasped, and was about to cry out to the musician for help, but in gasping, he sucked in too much weight too fast and he fell backwards, ripping his handhold from the side of the cliff. He felt himself tipping backward and fell the entire way down the mountain in midair, too scared to even let out a scream as he fell into the treasure chest. Flopping in had saved his life, cushioning the blow just enough to save his life, but he'd also been knocked out on the way down.
The musician was annoyed and went to meet up with the crew at the beach, figuring Gaimon had snuck off to join the crew themselves. Instead, he found that Gaimon was nowhere to be seen and alerted the captain. They scoured the island once more, but could not find Gaimon even though they searched heavily in the area around the mountains where they'd been searching for the treasure. Gaimon had landed deep in the ravine, only accessible from another section of the island.
By the time Gaimon had woken up, he found that the ship and his crew were far from shore now. They'd searched for hours but chalked it up to being eaten by some of the island's predators after coming across a great boar-devil that had eaten another of their chore boys. They escaped the island as the boar-devil chased them down, having been disturbed too much throughout the day by their search across the island.
Gaimon cried and shouted on the beach like a child, unable to squeeze or break out of the treasure chest binding his body. At the least, his hands and feet poked out of the top and bottom that he'd busted out on the fall deeper into the ravine. But the chest was still strong against his weak muscles. The sun was setting, and he spent the entire night, shivering despite the heat, on the beach alone, watching the distant light of his ship finally disappear over the horizon line at some point late in the night.
Once Gaimon's fear of the predators wore off, he fell asleep on the beach as the morning wore on with a peaceful breeze rocking him to sleep. A great animal's roar woke him, shocking him into running to a hiding place just in the treeline. He had a terrible thirst in his mouth, so he crept through the jungle to find a fresh water source and drank from it happily. Little did he know that the predators sniffed his tasty smell out, but were entirely freaked out by his strange form that was more alien than they were.
Gaimon being abandoned here soon became real life on a permanent level, as one day turned into two, turned into a week turned into two, turned into a month, turned into ten, turned into two years, turned into two decades and seven years on top of that and four months and thirty days. But at that point, Gaimon was half crazed and decided to stop counting. His hair was massive and grew more and more everyday. And crazier was that he felt his body aging and growing into the form behind the box that restrained him. He was not looking forward to the life ahead.
The only reprieve he received was getting to torment the awful pirates that would roll through, attempting to poach the unique animals here. Gaimon eventually scared a pistol off a pirate by charging him and warded the crew from the island. One of the crewmates had aptly yelled out that he was probably the God of the Forest. Gaimon had adopted that name, wanting to guard this island despite being targeted as food time here and there. Yet after a time, the animals never attacked him again.
Gaimon found himself in pinches against some of the pirates that would come here; some of that was Gaimon's fault of his own, as he began indiscriminately attacking even the pirates that arrived here by happenstance and wanted nothing to do with poaching. Gaimon liked the torment; part of it was revenge for them getting to live a life he had to give up without any choice of his own.
Yet the animals might arrive to break up fights; and after some time, he met Boss, who would always help him out in a pinch, acting as the body to the God of the Forest while Gaimon was his voice and his shot. The pair of them even managed to scare off the boar-devil at one point when he'd been lured back down from his hill. Gaimon eventually had to divide his time with Boss, as there was a girl named Talisa who was alone a lot. Gaimon fully understood, and Boss even tried to let Gaimon ride him all the way to meet Talisa. Yet his box couldn't stabilize at all on Boss' shoulders and he'd fall every time. It was impossible.
And all the while, Gaimon recalled the treasure chests atop the mountain, wondering if he was cooked for being able to talk to a fire breathing beetle, wondering if the treasure even existed, wondering if he were a pirate or a man or just one of the hybrid animals on this island. Many nights were spent spiraling into that thought loop, until the morning would arrive and he could work himself up to that point again and again and again and again and again.
Today, Gaimon looked down at the treasure before him, clutching handfuls of it in awe as he recounted his story to the Straw Hats. Luffy sat atop the mountain still, leaning his arms on the last two treasure chests at the top of the mountain with him. Usopp and Nami were crying, while Sanji somberly ached for a cigarette. Gaimon's story related far too much to his own to ignore sympathy.
"I feel like everything's come back to clarity with meeting you all!" Gaimon cried out, sputtering through his tears. "I met Boss' friend! Better yet, I confirmed that Boss was even real! I have been speaking with him . . . and there's treasure in these chests! I was right!"
"Yup!" Luffy said. "Thanks for guarding it for us."
The line cut through everyone like a scathing knife. Usopp, Sanji, and Nami were shocked to their core as they stared up the mountain as if Luffy was now some villain. Never would they have suspected such blatant thievery to come from his mouth.
Gaimon's eyes went wide, barely comprehending the words that were coming out of Luffy's mouth. "What's that, Straw Hat?" he called up jokingly.
"We'll be taking this treasure. Like you said, Nami, we have plenty, but more's always better, right?" he said.
"Well . . . not like this! Gaimon's dedicated his life to it! And it's without his own approval - that makes his work all the more meaningful!" Nami retorted.
"Come off it, Luffy," Sanji said as he stood up. "Did you smoke something funny?"
"What's wrong, Sanji? Feeling soft for Gaimon? You like him better than Zoro?" Luffy asked. There was a degree of sincerity to the question.
"I - What?" Sanji sputtered out, completely unsure how to answer that question.
"Luffy, come down and forget about this! You're acting funny," Usopp shouted up.
"You see the dangers that come with being a pirate?" Luffy asked Usopp then. "At any moment on any day, this could be your fate. Marooned on some island for god knows how long . . . Is that a risk you're willing to take to become a brave warrior of the sea?"
Usopp thought on Luffy's meaningful words long and hard. "Yes, it is." He licked his lips. "And I'm ready to knock some sense into you, too, if it means reminding you of the honor you should be showing Gaimon."
"No, guys, he's kidding, right Luffy?" Gaimon said, nerves coursing through his veins as he stared between the rivaling crew now. This is the last thing I want! Responsible for a crew's ruin?! I just like scaring the pirates off!
"No, I'm not kidding," Luffy said emphatically, standing and cupping the two treasure chests under each armpit. He smiled below the shade cast by his straw hat down at the four figures below. "So it's up to you! You gonna resume your pirate journey with us and enjoy this plunder, or stay here on this island until the day you die?"
The Straw Hats' breaths were taken away; they wondered what point he was trying to prove by laying into them like that just to offer up such a request. And yet this invitation seemed the least strange and outlandish out of the five Luffy had asked of their new friends so far. They each had their moment to shake their heads at Luffy's subtle game of chess he seemed to be playing at all times. "You're not as dumb as you look, Straw Hat," Sanji muttered.
Gaimon couldn't control his breathing as he stammered over his words, unable to form coherent ones for Luffy. "Are you meaning it?" he finally stammered out as his sobs began again.
Luffy laughed and said, "Yes, I'm meaning it! Join my crew! Join the Straw Hat Pirates!"
"Excuse me, Roronoa. Do you have eggs and a stove I could use?" Mr. 7 asked Zoro, interrupting his training for the first time. He and Ms. Indy Day had sat over to the opposite edge of the deck from where Zoro lifted an immense amount of weight.
Zoro raised an eyebrow at Mr. 7, none too welcoming of these people. They claimed to want a word with his captain, so he agreed to let them wait on the Merry, but he didn't want to. If I couldn't cut you both down, I'd tell you to get off now, Zoro thought as he replied verbally, "Not for you. Get back over there."
Mr. 7 made that way, taking one step before noticing Zoro's swords leaning against the railing nearby, eyeing them up and down. The one in the white scabbard stood out to him most of all. Zoro noticed his recognition of the swords and brought the weights down to the deck as gently and quickly as possible so he could take two long strides over to his swords, tying them around his belt again and mean mugging Mr. 7 as he made back for his weights. Mr. 7 smiled almost deliriously down at Zoro, trying his best to be disarming but achieving discomfort instead.
It had been almost an entire day at this point that Zoro had these two uncomfortable presences on the ship, and he wondered if any of the other Straw Hats would have a problem with this. Whether he did or not, he knew Sanji would say something about this. If he doesn't get distracted by another pretty woman, Zoro thought bitterly as he stared at Ms. Indy Day, who had hardly taken her eyes off him once. Its seductive gaze didn't fool him; she was studying him for a fight, or something worse.
Mr. 7 returned to Ms. Indy Day's side, sitting atop some boxes beside her as he leaned his hands on his knees. The three of them on board the Going Merry suddenly heard voices from the island, and the Baroque Works agents stood, staring off the railing menacingly at the approaching folks. Mr. 7 stroked his beard, most curious to meet the newest rookie bounty, Straw Hat.
"We're about to meet our other crewmate, Zoro!" Luffy said to Gaimon as they plodded single file through the jungle, Gaimon's small belongings were gathered in a rucksack tied to a branch he leaned over his afro as he walked behind Luffy, followed by Usopp, Nami, then Sanji bringing up the rear.
"Only a crew of five so far?" Gaimon exclaimed. "You guys must be pretty good! You sure you want some dead weight tagging along?"
"Dead weight? What do you mean?! You've been a pirate the longest as far as I'm concerned!" Luffy exclaimed. He carried two of the treasure chests under his arms and Gaimon had stuffed his immense afro full of the gold and beris and jewels from the totally busted treasure chest. Sanji had the last ones. "We need to figure out what position you'll have on my crew."
"You're captain, Usopp's First Mate, Nami's our navigator, and Sanji's the cook," Gaimon listed off. "What was Zoro? You didn't mention him."
"He's our swordsman!" Luffy said confidently, but the other four wondered what sort of role a swordsman had on a pirate crew. He beamed as he remembered Lucky Roux from Shanks' ship, one of his favorite of Shanks' crewmates. "What about a quartermaster?! We still need one of those! What do you say?"
"Quartermaster! I like the sound of that! So I'll take care of the inside of the ship and our armaments?" Gaimon said, thinking it over. "I can't wait! That sounds good to me! I may need help reaching those top shelves when it comes time to dust."
"I'm not gonna make you dust! We're pirates! We don't need to keep things dusted" Luffy called back in laughter.
"We need to keep things dusted," Nami said sternly.
"Guys. Who is that?" Sanji said firmly from the back of the line, stopping his gate as he stared up at the Going Merry's deck sternly. The others looked up at the deck and found Zoro was not alone. The Baroque Works agents waved back, somehow villainously.
"Oy, Luffy," Zoro called from on deck, leaning on the railing and gesturing toward the recruitment agents. "These guys say they want something with you. Sorry if I shouldn't have let them on the ship."
Luffy laughed. "Don't worry about it! Who are your new friends?"
"Ms. Independence Day," Mr. 7 said expectantly - and she darted from beside him, her big blue hair bobbing in the air as she landed right next to the other five Straw Hats. Her string that she commanded that spun from spools on her wrists flew toward the Straw Hats. Gaimon's afro blocked one from totally engulfing the rest of the Straw Hats, but the string net on her right wrist wrapped itself firmly around Luffy, tightening as it swung around his heels and swept him off his feet.
"Mr. Roronoa Zoro," Mr. 7 said as he turned to face Zoro. "We are with an exclusive agent called Baroque Works. We'll be taking your captain in for his bounty, we're sorry to say. We're something of a startup, so every bit of money is going toward a good cause. Before we knew you were part of a pirate crew, we were actually interested in recruiting you for a position as one of our Officer Agents."
"I take it you're an officer agent," Zoro said as he slowly unsheathed the Wado Ichimonji from its sheath.
"We're only Frontier Agents. The recruitment pair dedicated to finding new employees," Mr. 7 replied. He spread his arms wide. "Come meet with our boss, Mr. 0. He would love to meet you, and he can make you a fantastic offer. What do you say?"
"Luffy!" Usopp cried as he sprang from behind Gaimon's afro to see Luffy completely entangled. He snatched his slingshot from his belt and loaded it with a Lead Star aimed right at Ms. Independence Day's head. But she sprang to the side, her hair bobbing as the last thing to be seen as she disappeared. It's just like Kuro's power! Luffy thought as he was forced to watch Ms. Indy Day punch Usopp straight in the jaw, knocking him to the ground.
"What do you say, Roronoa Zoro?" Mr. 7 asked Zoro again, standing almost stock still.
Zoro considered the strange but not totally unexpected developments here as he drew the rest of his swords, placing the Wado in his mouth. "I say . . . you must be some special kind of idiot to try such a move against my captain."
Zoro slew himself forward with the strength of all three swords behind his attack, bringing them full force against Mr. 7's axe as he deftly drew it, using it to block Zoro's move. He held back, scruffing against the deck slightly as Zoro's strength pushed him back. Zoro growled at him through his attack, his deepest desire now being to break through Mr. 7's defenses.
On the beach, Miss Independence Day sat on Usopp's head as he lay on the ground, totally knocked out from the strength of Indy Day's punch. She crossed her legs and leaned her elbow on her knee then her head on her hand. She grinned toward Sanji, Nami, and Gaimon snarkily as she tapped her foot in midair. "Consider that check mate. You three don't look like much."
"Oh yeah? Sanji, prove her wrong!" Nami called, pointing at Indy Day with the confidence of one hundred percent. Yet Sanji ended up standing stock still, snarling at Ms. Independence Day but unable to send his kicks careening into her face to free Usopp and Luffy. Nami stared at him, incredulous. "What are you doing?! Our leaders are in danger!"
"I can't . . . attack a lady . . . I'm sorry," Sanji said glaring daggers at Ms. Indy Day even though his eyes also shot arrow hearts right at her bosom. Nami rolled her eyes, disappointed in their cook in not even being able to attack a simple enemy.
"Seems there are tough foes on this sea after all. And weak allies," Zoro groaned as he finally broke through 7's defense, knocking his axe aside. He sent sword after sword careening against Mr. 7's blade, pushing him back more and more until he was pushed up against the Merry's rail. He used his other hand to brace the upper hand of his axe's hilt to ward off Zoro's barrage of sword swipes, never taking his staunch grin off his face.
"Just enjoy the fight! By the end of this, your entire trajectory will be quite different," Ms. Independence Day taunted to the other three Straw Hats she viewed as the weak ones. She tugged at the netting that ensnared Luffy, pulling it tighter around him as he continued to struggle in vain. "If you're lucky, we might just leave you here!"
Mr. 7 harrumphed and leapt over Zoro's head, arcing high over his head. "Come now, Roronoa! Mr. 0 pays handsomely! And I'm sure his goals are lofty enough to entice a warrior such as yourself."
Yet as he landed, Zoro plunged his two swords he held in his hands into Mr. 7's body, straight out of his back as they severed through his flesh and organs before he could bring his axe down upon Zoro. He grunted and dropped his weapon, grunting as he spat up blood and trembled from the pain of two swords piercing straight through his body. Zoro grunted as he delivered the killing blow, jerking his swords deeper through Mr. 7's body.
"Wait, what?!" Ms. Independence Day said as she stood off of Usopp's head, staring up with wide eyes at the scene in front of her. "But . . . but . . . 7! No!"
"ZORO!" Luffy cried from his entangled netting, straining against the hyper-strong string that held him tight in place. He gripped on tight to the netting, straining to get out - no longer to fight their foes but to restrain Zoro. He gnashed his teeth and snarled as he gripped against Indy Day's strings.
Nami clapped her hands to her mouth as Zoro gripped his swords strong, propping up Mr. 7's body. He finally threw 7's body off and over and the side of the Going Merry, blood spraying everywhere as Mr. 7's already dead corpse hit the sand, staring blankly at the sky. Zoro cleaned his swords over his knee, his clothes already soaked with blood.
"ZORO!" Luffy screamed again. "Let me out of this net, lady! Zoro! Why did you do that?! He was so far beneath you!"
Zoro stared strangely at Luffy, not following his train of thought whatsoever as he sheathed his swords one by one. "What?" he said simply after trying to decipher Luffy's meaning.
"You were so obviously above him! Why did you go that hard against him?! You didn't have to take his life!" Luffy raged at his crewmate, furious beyond furious that Zoro went that far that fast. Zoro hadn't strained even a single second; Zoro hadn't struggled. Luffy trembled with more rage than Ms. Independence Day did at the murder of her partner.
"He was a threat," Zoro said simply as he sheathed his Wado Ichimonji. "I put him down. He wanted to turn you into the World Government, you know." He glared down at Luffy, expecting this pass over nonchalantly.
"7 . . . dear God . . ." Ms. Indy Day stammered through her staggered breathing.
"What on earth is going on here?!" Gaimon exclaimed, totally lost on whatever plot thread the Straw Hats were going through here.
Nami saw the moment where Ms. Independence Day was distracted, still wanting to free Luffy; she deftly pulled her bowstaff from her thigh holster and unhitched it to where it snapped into place as the full weapon. She whipped it into Ms. Independence Day's face, knocking her to the sand. "Release our captain! This is over!"
"Zoro! Apologize to me now!" Luffy yelled, still entangled.
"Nami!" Sanji exclaimed, not expecting the leap of action from her at that moment.
Nami threatened to smack the bowstaff against Ms. Indy Day's head as she lay on the ground, waiting as she said, "Release! Our! Captain!" It was emphatic and enunciated eloquently, a total threat against this stranger.
Ms. Indy Day grunted and whipped her wrist around, slacking the string around Luffy and retracted back into the automatic spool weaponry she had attached to her wrist. Her eyes were tearing up. This is not how the mission was supposed to go! What do I do?! She was on the verge of a full on panic attack.
But she spotted her and 7's waivers sitting on the beach just twenty paces from her and she stood, leaping forward to reach them and get away from this devilish crew. She was too flustered by this turn of events to act on her own as accorded her stature; she had to get away for her own life. Her superiors could hear something satisfactory and reassign her. But what'll I tell Mr. 0?! she thought in a panic as she mounted her waiver and pushed off the sand to enter the wake of the sea, turning the engine over and speeding into the horizon.
Luffy ripped the wrest of the string from his body and stood up, taking a moment to make sure Usopp was alright before stretching his arms up and bounding onto the Merry's deck. He stalked toward Zoro, the two of them mean mugging each other as he made his way forward. Luffy grabbed Zoro by the collar, yanking him around. "You were so much stronger than him! Even I could tell! Why did you do that?! That wasn't merciful! That wasn't fair! You saw his weakness and exploited him!"
"He was gonna turn you into the World Government or the Navy!" Zoro yelled back in protest to Luffy's issue. "Let me go!"
"No!" Luffy screamed back. "Apologize! We all let our words get away from us, but our actions never should!" He simmered down a bit to let the point get across, albeit still sensitive to Zoro's other feelings. "I know you were on a game of self defense for a while as a bounty hunter . . . but reconsider the adventure we're on! I do not want to leave a trail of bodies behind us! Do you understand?!"
The words hit Zoro like bullets by the time Luffy's entire speech was over, and he grimaced; he might have naturally wanted to verbally spar with Luffy at the least, but he didn't for whatever reason. Part of him understood not wanting to leave a trail of bodies behind them; part of him understood the necessity of managing one's strength; and part of him respected Luffy's words as captain. Combined together, he was able to humbly tell Luffy, "I'm so sorry. I needed to . . . fully understand how to conduct myself as a swordsman."
Luffy unhanded Zoro, still scowling. "We might face foes we need to kill. Sometimes on an adventure, that's inevitable. But that guy was . . . weak. Save it next time you fight someone like him, okay?" Luffy's scowl dissolved as he spoke, holding his hand out to grip it like brothers would. "You're gonna be the greatest swordsman whether you're merciful or not, so if you sail with me, won't you at least be merciful?"
Zoro bowed his head slightly, disarming his frown. "I'm sorry, Captain. I won't . . . unnecessarily kill again."
"Ever or just while you sail with me?" Luffy said.
Zoro took a deep breath, wincing. "I'm not gonna sail with anyone else ever again. Even those who claim to want to find the One Piece don't claim to want the title of King of the Pirates. You're one of a kind. Same as me."
"Same as all of us," Luffy said, extending his hand to the other Straw Hats on the beach, totally knocked out. "That's Gaimon, our new crewmate. He's our quartermaster."
Zoro studied the box-man with the humongous afro and waved. "Hello, Quartermaster Gaimon."
Gaimon waved a hand to Zoro. "Hello!"
Usopp was still knocked out, but Sanji held him up for Luffy to grab hold of, springing him up to the Merry's deck. His thoughts lingered on the strength of Ms. Indy Day, remembering the speed at which Kuro had moved. She moved the exact same way, Luffy reflected as he shouldered Usopp into the cabin. What sort of power is that? And who are these people? They'd receive no answers with Ms. Indy Day gone and Mr. 7 dead.
Usopp and Nami ushered in Zoro's help to haul Gaimon and the treasure chests up to the deck, followed by Sanji last. "Great job defending the ship from invaders. This island isn't exactly easy to find," Sanji said vibrantly. "Guess we can't depend on you as a ship guard." Zoro rolled his eyes in simple response, walking away from Sanji.
Gaimon shook his afro about the deck, knocking the money in his hair loose onto the deck among the chests stacked neatly on deck. Luffy finally re emerged from the cabin, staring out with a smile as his other feelings had been set aside to enjoy the rest of the day. "Look at all this treasure! How much is this worth in today's day and age?" Gaimon asked, gesturing toward the chests and beris scattered on deck as he fished whatever else was left in his hair onto the deck. He was uncomfortable saying so; he hadn't expected such a reaction from Luffy to killing. These are curious pirates, Gaimon thought, remembering the plunder his own crew had enacted in the South Blue at times.
"I'm glad you made the right choice, Gaimon," Luffy said, clapping Gaimon cheerily on the afro. It knocked more gold out. "So! How will you tell Boss you're leaving to be a pirate again?"
Gaimon stared off to the horizon, far off to sea. He had never hoped to sail water again. He smiled cheerily and replied, "I think he'll know." He wasn't sure how their communication worked, but part of him felt like they had made the farewell as Boss had carted Talisa off back to her home. It'll save you energy for trips now, Gaimon thought as his eyes teared up at not getting to see a close friend again. Understand the fickleness of man! We long for new places, no matter how long or short we're where we are!
"So how long do Log Poses take to set here?" Luffy asked, grabbing Nami as she walked past to inspect the Log Pose from her wrist.
"Only about six and a half hours," Gaimon explained. That fact had been etched on his mind from the time his crew had called for them to depart from the island. His crew's name was even lost to him, but that number would never be lost.
"Oh! We're already set then!" Nami exclaimed, noticing that the Log Pose indeed pointed to a totally different direction than where it was pointing as they'd pulled into the island. "We're ready to depart then, if you all are."
"Any last words to your home, Gaimon?" Sanji asked Gaimon happily, still sensitive to how bitter it might be.
"I'm . . . glad I survived this long," Gaimon muttered as his tears began flowing readily. He stared out at the Island of Lost Animals, at the vast jungle vegetation that spread out around the treeline and the shoreline.
And there were the animals of the island, staring ahead at the Merry. As Gaimon made eye contact with them, he noticed they were staying silent on purpose. For as they made eye contact, the animals on the island croaked, cried, roared, and moaned out to Gaimon for his departure. Even the boar-devil is here! Gaimon thought, for once touched to see the immense beast's form. He wept and spread his hands as wide as they would go to the animals of the island. "Thank you! Wow! I can't . . . I can't believe it! I am forever indebted to you! I ought to stay and defend you . . . but I know! I know! I hear you!"
What do you hear? Nami wondered, studying Luffy's face as their captain seemed to understand. He smiled at Gaimon, their new quartermaster, and the inhabitants of the Island of Lost Animals alike with warm enthusiasm. Some of the animals with more arm-like limbs even seemed to be waving at the Going Merry as Sanji pushed them from shore, jumping back on deck as the ship entered the plunge of the sea once more. Their Log Pose would be their guide to the next adventure.
"THANK YOU~!" Gaimon cried in glee as he waved his hands wide, more gold shaking from his hair. He would never forget these animals; just as they would never forget him.
ATB
Hi guys! So sorry for the delay on this chapter. I was just coming to check how it was doing because I did post it last night - but it clearly didn't go through! That woulda been the first time I made my Thursday schedule on time too LOL
Hope you all enjoy the chapter. Gaimon's someone I've been itching to get to.
Until next time
ATB
