I got a lot of support for the story on ao3 so I'll keep posting. Enjoy.
They were all awoken by obnoxious ringing of loud bells. The minks jerked awake first and fled the scene. Luffy sat up slowly, asking what was going on before he was grabbed around the neck and dragged out of the building by a frantic Nami and Chopper. "Whaz go-in on?!" he coughed.
Nami let him go, but kept running. Luffy ran after, the others getting up, too. "What's the problem? Where are Robin, Franky and Brook?" he wondered. They kept running, and Chopper said that it was probably Kanjuro and Kin'emon that set off the bells. "Why?"
"We told you, they hate samurai here!" Chopper shouted in annoyance. He just followed the scent of the two, going around the place Nami was making them go through. He jumped onto one of the destroyed buildings to watch, going to slide down and try to be some sort of diplomat before he was shocked with the two rulers, the cat and dog kings, arguing with one another, both drawn to the same area with the emergency bell.
When Luffy zipped around their field of vision, he found Kin'emon and Kanjuro, grabbing them and snapping them to him, behind a building. "Luffy-dono, what are you doing?"
"Apparently they all hate samurai! It's dangerous for you to be seen… or something," Luffy said, not really understanding this either. The minks were all seeming angry, searching for the samurai. He tried pulling them back when they rose regardless, but they resisted. Kin'emon walked right out into the open, with the Straw Hats frantic to stop them.
Luffy was worried they'd be harmed, and made to step out and stop them, but it was too late when Kin'emon blunty and honestly said, "Ye of the country of Zou! I am a retainer of the Kozuki family of Wano! My name is Kin'emon! We have come in search for a warrior of our country, Raizo of the mist! Has he come here by chance?!"
The Straw Hats and allies across from him on the other side of the ruined building were cringing and horrified that they'd come out and not only give the fact they were samurai, but also knew who Raizo was. Who had somehow caused them a lot of trouble. Luffy hadn't paid much attention at that point of the explanation, worrying about Sanji.
But they were all shocked when both Nekomamushi and the dog king, who each were wounded from the assault by the Beast Pirate, Jack, bowed to the two samurai, who seemed wholly unsurprised by this. Luffy was sure they'd all met before, and that's why the dog and cat bowed to them.
His crew were shocked by the sudden turn of events. After all, they'd all hatted the word "samurai" and "Raizo", yet they were bowing. Both had tears in their eyes, too. "We have been eagerly awaiting your arrival!" the dog one said. "Raizo-dono, is safe!"
Luffy was shocked and confused, and looked accusingly at Nami, who made him worry over nothing! But she seemed shocked, too, along with the rest of the crew. Usopp was first to react. "Wait a second! You knew?! But you all got beaten up and nearly killed over him! Raizo was here the whole time?!" he demanded.
The two leaders nodded, as did every other mink Luffy could see. All injured in at least some small way. They'd lied and faced pain and suffering for whoever this "Raizo" was. Luffy wasn't a big person on the concept of "honor", at least not when it came to himself, but he thought it was amazing that they didn't sell out their friend or comrade, even in the face of torture.
Luffy was reminded of when he was seven and took on the torture of Porchemy to not sell out the two people he dreamt of being friends with. It was like that situation, but nobody had walked in halfway through to stop the pain that the minks suffered. Needless to say, Luffy was very confused.
"This millenia old civilization… would have been reduced to rubble!" Usopp insisted.
"Forgive us for all keeping it secret. We and the Kozuki clan have been a family longer than I care to say. Even if it meant our kingdom's demise… we'd never rat out one of our friends to the enemy!" Nekomamushi said brightly. Luffy grinned widely, very much liking the new developments.
The other Straw Hats were smiling, too. Relieved but also approving of the minks' decision and dedication to their friend. Ace came up behind Luffy and ruffled his hair. "Reminds me of somebody," he said with a grin. Luffy nodded in agreement. They watched Kin'emon prove his identity to them by showing a tattoo on his back. It didn't seem necessary, since the minks all trusted his words when he said them, but he did it to prove to them fully.
The crest of the Kozuki family. "Hey, 'Kozuki Oden'. My predecessor, huh?" Ace mumbled, though Luffy could hear him easily. He had a thoughtful look on, and then mumbled, "Oden… So strange, I've heard that before, too, but I can't remember…"
Nekomamushi and Inuarashi (as the others called him) were very happy to see Kin'emon and Kanjuro, and it was clear that these four had known one another a long time. Luffy wondered how, and where they met. How did the people of Zou meet someone from Wano? He wanted to know, it sounded like an interesting story!
Then the cat and dog kings started to argue again. They acted so familiar only seconds ago, both smiling and happy that the samurai had arrived. And now they were bickering like children. Luffy didn't know how old they were, though. But in cat and dog years, don't they mature faster than humans? So they should be way too old to bicker like this. Right? Did they get in an argument and one stole the other's meat?
Momonosuke walked up from behind and cut in, and told them to stop fighting. He'd not been with the others after Luffy and his group came. He kind of felt bad for not paying attention to Momo, just knowing he was safe there. "You two were such fast friends! What could have happened to you to act this way?! Even if it is about father, he would be deeply saddened to see you act like this to one another!" Momonosuke shouted, tears in his eyes. He knew these two personally, as well.
Luffy wondered just how much the two Wano citizens had been hiding and lying about.
"We're sorry, lord Momonosuke," Nekomamushi said. Zoro snapped at Nami and Robin that they'd let Momo's head inflate with all their allowing him to be at their tits. Nami hit him on the head and called him an idiot, her face bright red. Luffy laughed obnoxiously, breaking any serious aura that had come.
"But hey, why are they calling you lord? And what do you mean 'father'? He's right here, isn't he?" Luffy asked curiously, though he knew some of the truth.
"Please forgive our deceiving you!" Kin'emon said, turning and bowing to the pirates grouped together, watching what was unfolding with growing confusion. "Momonosuke and I are not father and son!"
"Oh, I knew that," Luffy said simply. "You were lying about a lot all this time." Kin'emon and Momonosuke looked startled by him knowing, truly confused and not knowing how to react. The smaller asked why they let him on their ship if he knew they were lying. "I figured you'd tell us eventually, and weren't bad guys."
Kin'emon had tears in his eyes, and he deeply apologized to them. "So, who the heck are you guys?" Luffy wondered.
"Lord Momonsuke is the descendent of the great daimyo of Kuri of the Wano Country, Lord Kozuki Oden!"
"What's a daimyo?" Luffy asked. Ace said it was a leader, similar to the position of a king. "Heh. So he's a prince?" Luffy wondered.
"Well, sort of, but not really," Ace said, having trouble explaining it properly. So Robin stepped in, and explained it was a high up, underling of the shogun, which was in the position of a king in the government. Momonosuke was the heir of a daimyo, which meant he was very important, but not necessarily as a prince. Luffy cocked his head, and they gave up on explaining anymore to him.
"Well, that's not a very big deal. He's still Momo," Luffy said, picking his nose. "And you're not his dad?" Momonosuke didn't like Luffy's attitude. Kin'emon said that he was their master. "So, is he the babysitter?"
"He's our lord, we are his retainers."
"Neh, Momo. Do you get anything you ask them? Since you're a prince and all?" Luffy asked cluelessly.
"I do not appreciate your tone, Luffy! I'm heir to the daimyo!" Momonosuke said in irritation. Luffy raised one eyebrow and said, "Big whoop. We're pirates, we don't gotta treat anyone with authority. Nehe, Ace is a prince, too, after all. He's probably a more well known prince than you will ever be," Luffy teased. Ace slapped his hand to his face with a groan.
"The hell is he talking about?" Franky asked. Momonosuke was glaring at Ace, now. Robin giggled, and said Luffy might be referring to Roger being the Pirate King. Ace just sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He didn't get angry about Roger being mentioned, having moved on from that long ago. He was just irritated with Luffy's childishness, then.
"You are not a proper, heir, Ace," Momonosuke said. The Straw Hats started laughing, and the little lord got angrier with their teasing.
Ace calmly said that he was not an heir to anybody and Luffy was being ridiculous. "And now you are as well. Should the son of a daimyo be so petty?" Ace asked. "You're supposed to lead people, not look down at them for being… less fortunate in their status."
"Hey, I'll be a king before he's the daimyo!" Luffy accused, pointing his finger in Momonosuke's face.
"Yes, but as a daimyo, he'll actually rule in practice, not just in name."
"Oh, that sounds boring," Luffy said simply, and sat back down on the rock. "Well, whatever. You're still Momo to us. You're not our lord or anything. I'm the captain of my ship, you ain't bossing me around." Monomosuke was growing more and more annoyed before he retreated into Nami's cleavage.
He heard the cat and dog make a truce, so they didn't look bad or upset Momonosuke. Man, he really was the ruler of them! He was like, eight, wasn't he? Well, maybe he was older in mind. He did like boobs at a young age, after all. Luffy sat down in Zoro's lap, who had started to doze off. He sat kind of suddenly and it made Zoro hiss at the pain of his crotch being crushed suddenly. "Oi, really?" Zoro asked in slight annoyance.
"What?"
"You crushed by junk," Zoro said in irritation and moved over a little bit. "There. So, now what? Is something going to happen now that you know who Momonosuke is? Who's Raizo anyways? You've been looking for him for awhile."
"That's right! Follow us to the whale tree," Nekomamushi said, followed by Inuarashi, suddenly on better terms with one another. They were going to see Raizo, who Luffy couldn't smell, so he may not have come up this way. But they were indeed going to see the mysterious ninja that everyone had been shielding from Jack.
"Ninja! Ninja! We're seeing a ninja~!" Luffy cheered. Chopper was clapping the same thing, while the others followed the cat ruler up the cliff of the tree that looked like a breaching whale. Franky had his hair styled as the whale, too. The captain and Chopper thought it looked cool. They were both excited to see someone with ninja powers.
Law was tagging along, being virtually not present through the whole incident with meeting Kanjuro and Kin'emon. Luffy, and the others, had barely noticed him there. Momonosuke was on Kin'emon's back, and kept complaining about a voice that nobody else could hear, not even Luffy with his enhanced hearing.
"Hey, Momo, are you haunted by a ghost or something?" Luffy asked, walking backwards. Then he paused, and heard a small whisper. "Oh no, I'm haunted, too!"
Zoro asked what he was talking about, thoroughly confused by what he was saying. "Well, Momonosuke keeps hearing voices. I thought he was haunted. Well, I thought I heard one, too, but it went away it seems."
"No! Ghosts aren't real!" Chopper said. Luffy jumped in front of him and started chanting "Negative! Negative!" while making those weird dance movements the negative ghosts had made.
"Stop that, don't remind me of Thriller Bark!" Then Zoro demanded he not make that noise anymore. Luffy wondered why.
"I had to deal with her for two years! She was a nightmare to live with," Zoro said. The others all started laughing, and the air was lighthearted. It was a warm, welcoming feeling. Sanji probably would have called him an idiot already. When they got to a part of the whale's belly, there was a door that opened right at the foot of it, and they walked down a deceivingly long and wide staircase.
Luffy did hear the shouting at the b of the stairs, before the others heard it. He didn't comment on it. The person was very angry, and tears were in their voice. A man. Luffy started running down the stairs. "Ninji! We're coming!" Luffy announced, arms in the air before the staircase stopped and showed a large room, with a huge, red poneglyph. Not covered in red blood stone, but it was just red.
The ninja was chained to the poneglyph. "Robin, what's it say?!" Luffy asked. They all ended up at the end of the staircase, and Luffy's attention had already shifted from the disappointing looking ninja, and to the poneglyph they arrived at.
"I've never seen a red one before," she said in surprise. The Wano Country group hurried to Raizo, who was very happy to see them, too. "Is that the crest of the Kozuki clan?" she asked of the huge mark on the wall. It was what had been on Kin'emon's back not long ago. Luffy looked up at it, with Ace looking thoughtful, too.
Law asked if Ace recognized it. "No. Not at all," Ace replied simply. Then Inuarahsi answered Robin as to why it was red when all of the others were either made of stone or gold. Plain stone, like most rocks, not a deep, deep red. Darker than the blood stone had been, and Luffy could tell this one had nothing to do with bloodstone.
"This poneglyph has a different function than all others. Can you read it?"
"May I?" Robin asked, though Luffy was sure she'd already read it by now. But the duke dog agreed, and Robin stepped closer to read. Luffy got distracted to Raizo with Usopp and Chopper, asking him to do ninja things for them. Luffy wanted to see clones of him, wanted to see him train under a waterfall.
Raizo seemed confused and offended, before becoming even more so once he heard pirates were there. He didn't accept pirates, which made sense after Jack, but they were friends of his friends, so it shouldn't be a problem at all. "What do pirates want with ninjas anyways?!" Raizo demanded in irritation.
"All men are obsessed with ninjas!" Franky said.
"Yeah, like afros!" Luffy added. They looked at him in confusion before Brook agreed that afros, indeed, were cool. The men continued to beg for him to show them ninja moves, with even Law and Zoro asking questions. All of them pouted when he declined bluntly until he saw their faces.
He relented, and showed them all what they wanted to see. "Awesome!" Luffy, Usopp and Chopper exclaimed in amazement. "Ninja!" Luffy cheered, clapping his hands above his head. Kin'emon walked to Raizo and put his hand on his shoulder, saying there was something he must see, his demeanor changing the moment he saw the serious look on his friend's face.
Luffy shared a look with Usopp, wondering what the problem was as the three samurai, well, two samurai and one ninja, briefly left the tree to see the damage done to Zou, where they'd been when the place was buzzing with movement in the now destroyed city, while the Straw Hats, Law and Ace remained in the cave with the red poneglyph.
This one was supposedly different not just because it was a deep red color. Robin and Nami were talking about a sea route coming from the poneglyph, which was definitely different than most that gave some sort of history or story. Instead, did this one make a map? "This tree is sacred due to this poneglyph! The 'guardians' tasked us with keeping it safe long ago, so that is what we do. Nobody but some of the minks know this is here," Nekomamushi explained.
Inuarashi added, "That red stone marks it as a 'road poneglyph'. The final point of the Grand Line, pursued by so many, cannot be found without the aid of road poneglyphs! They tell the way to what is now called 'Raftel'. It guides it to the location!" Their jaws all dropped, and even Law was shocked.
"No way!" Luffy and the others shouted in shock and disbelief. They'd never known of this before, so it was shocking news, that the way to Raftel was really that complicated. Ace whistled, arms crossed, looking slightly interested. He was never after the One Piece, at least, not for many years, so it didn't really faze him as much as the others.
"It's the freakin' finish line!" Franky yelled, looking at his captain. "You'll be the Pirate King!"
"Neehee, I sure will be!" Law was doing well to not argue, even if he aimed for the same thing, just less loudly and enthusiastically. "So, we know the location from this rock?! Let's go!"
Inuarashi stopped their excitement and buzzed emotions. "Hold your horses, there's a 'however'!" he shouted. Luffy was still beaming, but stopped screaming. "The red stone, the road poneglyph, is not the only one. There are a total of four in the whole world."
"Hah?! There's four Raftels?!" Luffy asked, thinking each one was a map to a different place. That would take forever to find! Usopp slapped him on the head and told him to listen to the end. The dog mink explained that the four stones would be needed to pinpoint the place of Raftel. Only once they found the four road poneglyphs, they could make it to the last island that nobody but Roger's crew had found. "So, we just gotta find the four other stones…" Luffy summed up correctly.
Chopper asked if Inuarashi knew where they all were. Where they could start looking. "I wonder if it's really there? The One Piece! Alright, we're going to search for them all! We'll go get Sanji and come right back!"
Ace patiently told him they had to take down Kaido first. Then they could look for the stones all they want. But they were already tangled with another yonko. He said it before Law could blow up. Zoro was beaming, looking forward to searching the seas for the ultimate prizes besides the One Piece. The end game for their main mission. Then they were to continue going on adventures long after their "final" destination was found.
"Well, we'll figure it out," Luffy said confidently. Nobody pushed him, glad to move on and knowing there was no point to talk about it with Luffy so excited. Nekomamushi told them there was only one road poneglyph unaccounted for, and the other two both belonged to pirates. "Pirates?" Law muttered.
Nekomamushi nodded. "Big Mom and Kaido both have one."
"Great! That means we can get the poneglyphs on our way! See, Tra-guy!" Law rolled his eyes slightly at Luffy. "We'll sneak in and steal the rocks and then find Raftel before anyone else can!" Zoro said it wouldn't be easy to find them under the noses of any yonkos, but didn't sound deterred or unconfident in this new mission. One required to make Luffy's dream come true.
"I'm not feeling very happy now…" Nami bemoaned.
"We were gonna beat their asses anyways, now we just have some more stuff to do, too!" Luffy said. "It shouldn't be that hard." The others said it would be hard, but there was no other choice. There was the issue with Law actually being a rival to find the One Piece, and knowing all they knew. Though he couldn't read the stones like Robin could.
They could just keep that information to themselves. Law was Luffy's friend, in his eyes, but he was the one to become the Pirate King, not the Surgeon of Death, no way. But he didn't say anything on that thought.
"You don't need to worry about stealing the whole poneglyphs. How would you lug those out anyways? There are copies of traces of them all around the underworld. But nobody can read them. Just find one of those and use that," Nekomamushi said. "It's safer that way." Luffy was dissatisfied. It would be more rewarding to get them themselves!
"What are you looking dissatisfied for?!" Usopp demanded of Luffy, grabbing him by the shirt and shaking him.
"That's boring," he said through the shaking, his head bobbing back and forth because he was made of rubber.
Nekomamushi continued to talk, and spoke of worry for Robin's safety with those out there wanting to know how to read the poneglyphs. Luffy told them not to worry about Robin. She was strong, and if she wasn't, she had them for help! He said this even as Usopp still throttled him. Robin giggled and thanked him for the support.
"I'm unafraid, because of our captain's very honest words." Chopper and Nami smiled, and they all promised to kick the asses of anyone that attempted to take her, while Zoro gave a curt nod, standing with his arms crossed. He turned to Law and point blank told him Luffy was still going to be the Pirate King, not him. Law fumed, but Nami loudly said there was no reason to bring that up while they were allies.
Law and Zoro had a glaring contest before Luffy jumped Zoro and distracted him. "We'll figure all that stuff out later once we take out Kaido!" he insisted with a grin. Zoro's face relaxed, and he agreed with a nod. Law looked away, still irritated.
"You sure are a dependable bunch!" Nekmoamushi exclaimed with a loud laugh. Robin wondered how they all knew so much about poneglyphs if they weren't from Ohara. The minks had to keep it a secret until Momonosuke gave him permission. "Permission, huh? You sure are getting full of yourself!" Luffy said in annoyance. Zoro looked mildly annoyed, too.
But the large cat continued now that Momo had told him he could speak the truth. The three samurai came back, Raizo looking very burdened. The truth was that the Kozuki family had been, for generations, stone masons. They quarried for stones and manufactured them. "Their technical prowess was amazing, if I do say so myself. 800 years ago, the Kozuki family created indestructible books! Those books are none other than poneglyphs!"
"Wait! That means they knew all about the fourth great weapon!" Luffy exclaimed. "How did they know? I thought poneglyphs were just there! Not made by anybody!"
The others were surprised by the news as well. Would there be further answers in Wano? How they knew all about the blood stone, and those affected by it? Were there people like that in the Kozuki family, and that's how they knew? Well, now Luffy had his own bigger, personal reason to go to Wano himself! "Well, we can try and find out when we get there," Nami suggested. "It's big news, though! How did they know all about the great weapons, the original three? Were they psychic?" Luffy turned to Momonosuke and asked if he knew any weirdos from his family.
"How disrespectful! The Kozuki family is great and successful for generations!" Momonosuke said in anger. Luffy looked unimpressed, and picked his nose, saying he didn't give a crap about the strong and smart ones, he wanted to hear of any strange or out of place anywhere. But he was getting no answers from the prideful child.
Nobody but Robin and the former members of the Kozuki family could read them. Momonosuke's dad, Oden, had died, apparently, taking the knowledge of poneglyphs with him to the grave. Luffy frowned at the boy, but said nothing of it. The non-pirates all started to cry before they even said a word, and Luffy stepped in.
Much like he had done to Hancock and her sisters, he told them they didn't need to tell him anything if it made them this upset. They really cared for Oden, it seemed. But they spoke regardless, ignoring Luffy's words completely. "Lord Oden… our master... was executed by the hands of the Shogun of Wano, and the pirate, Kaido!" Kin'emon finally said, shouting the words like they were painful to say, and he wanted them out quickly.
The Straw Hats and allies were shocked by the turn of events. So that's why they hated Kaido so much. "And as for all of us, Lord Oden's humble retainers, to his very last breath, he succeeded in protecting us!" Law scowled, mumbling Kaido's name in light disgust. "The hundred Beast Pirate crew, led by the yonko Kaido, now occupies Wano Country!"
Zoro asked why their lord was executed, and why they were being chased. They had to be related in some way. "I understand if you don't want to say anything, but still."
Kin'emon explained that they were being protected by their lord. "Kaido was trying to get information from us, about the island Lord Odn and Roger went to! The final island, which Oden was privy to releasing information about. He didn't want to tell anybody, not even us! So we had no idea what to answer regardless, not that we would have ever sold him out."
"What?! Oden went with Roger to Raftel?! Your dad was part of the Pirate King's crew?!" Luffy demanded in shock. Ace looked thoughtful. Why did Oden leave Whitebeard's crew, or why did Oden leave Roger's crew to switch? Looking at Momonosuke with a thoughtful look, Ace stayed silent.
Robin mused, "One of the few that learned the secret of this world, like what Rayleigh said."
"So, that's why everyone is after you, for information on Raftel. Kaido, Caesar and Doflamingo all wanted that secret from you, and that's why everything got all fucked up," Zoro summed up. The samurai and ninja nodded, but again said they knew nothing about any of it. If they did get caught, they'd be executed regardless of knowing or not.
"So with an enemy who won't reason, and won't return our home to us, then all we have is the option to fight!" Kanjuro said firmly. "Lord Oden left us with few words. 'Open the Wano Country!' It's been cut off from the world forever, and his last wish was for the country to learn about the world he went out to for so many years."
"He protected us to the death, so all we can do to repay him and possibly absolve our sins, is to do as he said! Kill the Shogun and open the borders of Wano Country!" Raizo said in a strong, determined voice. Luffy had a blank look on his face, nobody could tell what he was thinking.
Kin'emon spoke again, saying the enemy was too great, the small resistance in Wano that there were today were too small to go against the enemy. They were just too great, with too many members in their army. Even if the minks helped out, like they vowed to do, it would be useless. He bowed to Luffy and Law, and begged them for their assistance, swallowing their pride to ask for help.
Luffy stayed silent for a few awkward beats. "Nope," he said simply. Everyone was shocked, and Usopp throttled him again, shaking him back and forth, nobody understood why Luffy would say no after vowing to help before he even knew any of this stuff. He hadn't changed his mind, he did want to help but not like this.
Usopp shoved him to the ground angrily. "Momo, what are you, some big shot, right? You're the leader of all those people, and all you can do is cry like a baby!" Luffy said. If Momonosuke was going to act like a big shot, then he was going to act on that, not just make an appearance or say so with flimsy dedication. "You're supposed to be a man for your country, aren't you?!"
"Stop berating an 8 year old child, Luffy!"
"Luffy-san, the truth is, heirs don't really do much until they succeed to the position or throne. It's the adults around them that assist and of most of the work for the child," Brook tried to explain patiently. Luffy wasn't telling Momonosuke to suddenly be the Shogun, he just had a position he had to fill, no matter what age.
He had to be at least the emotional leader to lead his people to the fight. Acting and crying like a child wasn't going to help his cause. He glared down at Momonosuke, who was wiping his eyes before he looked down, eyes shadowed. Luffy waited. Then the child looked up, and through his tears, declared, "I wanna beat Kaido! Kaido is the enemy of my parents! Even my mother fell by his hand! Even if I wish to become an adult and get big and strong and get vengeance for my parents, I want to protect my retainers!"
The mink leaders and three retainers for the Kozuki family had tears in their eyes. "But I am small, and cannot! Please, fight alongside us, Luffy!" Momo said, head bowed slightly and still crying, despite his strong voice. He got down on his knees, and begged before Luffy stopped him.
"That's more like it," Luffy said firmly. "Let's join forces!" he said as he reached out his hand. "An alliance! I'll take down Kaido for you all, too! Now there's even more of a reason to go to Wano! More keep popping up! Shishishi." Momonosuke was crying in relief and thanked him profusely.
Law walked up and said, "Straw Hat-ya, what about your faith in me? I'm not Ace-ya and will just go along without a word. You didn't even ask me."
"But you're cool with it, right?"
"That's not the point!" Ace said he was all for it. It didn't change anything for him. His duties were to help out Luffy and take down Kaido, too. So Ace was fine with everything. Zoro said not much had changed, in the first place, other than gaining more allies and comrades for an already difficult fight.
"There's no need for anyone to get their panties in a twist." Law's eye twitched. He finally settled with, "If you keep going on making decisions without my input, I'll be doing the same to you."
"Oh, okay. I just thought you'd be fine with it! And we have to go to Big Mom's to get the road poneglyph, so there's another reason besides getting Sanji back, too!" Luffy said brightly. He turned away from Law and put his hand out. "From now on, we're all allies! The Ninja-Pirate-Mink alliance!" he declared.
They all agreed before Raizo mentioned Luffy had said something about Big Mom. "Oh, yeah! One of my crew members is missing, so have to go and get him back before we all get to Wano. Half of us are going to Wano and the other to Big Mom!" Nobody else knew about this, and were surprised. "He's our friend and nakama. And now that we're an alliance, that means we're all friends, too!"
"Not even close! I'm not your friend!"
"Keep telling yourself that, Tra-guy," Franky said dismissively.
"So, that's a condition to help, is going to go get Sanji back. If he's here, it's like the help from a thousand men!" Luffy said with conviction. Zoro grumbled that he was worth two thousand men, and Luffy giggled at it. "So, don't get into trouble before we get there!"
Ace calmly said, "I think you need to worry about yourself more than us causing trouble. We have the adults of the alliance on our side." Luffy wasn't offended, and just laughed and nodded in agreement.
"It's fortunate to have someone worth a thousand men to help us, but will going against Big Mom be okay?" Luffy nodded. He planned on taking Pekoms. He bluntly said, "We could use him to help us out, so we're gonna take his ass back with us." It was a plan, and Pekoms couldn't say no, his only way back on his own terms was through going with the Straw Hats.
As they walked out of the whale, Robin having written down the message on the road poneglyph to keep safe, they learned more about the two leaders of the country. They had traveled with Shanks and Roger, too. After they went with Oden on Whitebeard's ship. "That means you were on the Whitebeard crew really early on!" Ace said in bright interest. "What was the crew like back then?"
"Marco was a very silly person. I heard he's more mature now, but he would partake in pranks and do things without permission from the captain. He was just an apprentice back then. He and Jozu would spy on Toki and Oden, who was his future wife and mother of Momonosuke." Ace's jaw dropped. That Marco, responsible and sometimes boring, would go against his father's orders?!
"Neehee, I guess Pineapple was a kid sometime, too!"
"Oh, I could have so much to tease him with. Tell me more!" Ace insisted. Luffy was holding Zoro's hand, swinging it happily. The scenery was beautiful, and if they weren't on a time crunch to get to Sanji, he'd want to go on picnics or long walks with Zoro. They got no date time at Dressrosa. Hell, not much at Fishman Island either.
"Hey, Zoro, let's go on a walk," Luffy suggested. Zoro said he didn't know why not. Everyone was talking about the time on Roger's ship, and how nobody wanted Oden to go anyway. Ace recognized Izo, another commander, as somebody from Wano who hated Whitebeard at first. It was nostalgic, to have somebody like Ace in the beginning, who wanted to kill the captain but then joined the family.
Ace didn't sound sad when talking about Whitebeard, which was a relief.
"Hold it! I'm concerned about our route," Nami said, stopping in front of the group. "Raftel is supposed to go to the last island? But now we'll be going off route, to Big Mom and then Wano. Will we lose our way to the last island doing that?" she asked, bringing up good points.
Luffy said, "You're the best navigator, you can figure it out."
"I'm not experienced with this! Sometimes even I need help," she said in annoyance. Inuarashi explained that the usual route was not one to get to Raftel, the true last island. Many had made it to the end of the log pose, but it was not Raftel they found there.
"To get to Raftel, it requires reading the road poneglyphs and going to where the needles point then. You have to find out more about the world to make it to that place where no one has succeeded in over twenty years. But you've learned of the road poneglyphs and those who made the ancient texts. Now you just need to get the writings of the other three poneglyphs, and follow that route to the Lost Island.
"You've not lost your way. Keep going," Inuarshi finished with a reassuring smile to Nami, who looked relieved and happy at the news.
Luffy beamed. "Our navigator is the best, she won't get us lost!" he praised. Nami blushed and looked satisfied with the praise from Luffy, even though she got angry he was slapping her at the same time hard on the back.
There was so much to learn there at the island on top of the elephants back. Everything fell together. Law didn't know about the road poneglyph or anything when he had them go to Zou in the beginning. It was either a string of coincidences or fate. Whatever fate was.
"Ace-dono, I was wondering if your crew would come to our aid," Kin'emon said quietly. Ace raised his brows.
"My crew? You know there are hundreds of us, right? We wouldn't exactly be conspicuous," Ace said. Luffy wanted to go on a date with Zoro! But Nami said they had to leave soon for Sanji. Luffy pouted, but knew he was right. They had to hurry. Well, Luffy had his time with Zoro on the ship. Maybe they'd have time for some fun for once.
But he turned his attention back to Kin'emon, who was beside Nekomamushi. "At least the commanders, then?" he asked. Ace hummed.
"Well, Izo is mixed up with this from the past. Maybe he'd like to come, too? I definitely can't promise Marco. He's the captain of our crew and the leader of the Whitebeard fleet, those that stayed with us. I don't think it would be the best for him to go to Wano right now. Well, anytime soon. I'm already going to cause them trouble by going against Kaido, Marco is too smart to put more of the crew in danger.
"He could just write me off on going on my own. If the captain came, it would show we're directly against Kaido. I just think it wouldn't be in the best interest of the crew. I'm sorry. At least you have me, though." The minks looked disappointed, but agreed. "I'll still ask for you, but be prepared for a no." They nodded again.