"BWHAAH!"
As the Merry speed down the Reverse Mountain, heading to the Grand Line, Aya, L and Zoro heard a low deep noise that sounded like it was coming up ahead.
"Do you guys hear something?" Aya frowned.
"Huh? What's that?" Nami spoke.
"That groaning sound, didn't you hear it?" Zoro asked.
"It was probably just the wind. At this speed, everything sounds distorted!" Nami told them. Usopp looked through his goggles and spotted something large and dark on the path ahead.
"What's that?" Usopp murmured. "BWAAH!"
"Nami! I see a mountain up ahead!" Sanji shouted, seeing it as well.
"What? That's impossible!" Nami shouted.
"But it's right there! I can see it!" Sanji exclaimed. The rest of the straw hats saw it as well, getting closer and closer as the ship continued speeding up.
"Who cares! Go!" Luffy grinned.
"But there should be nothing but ocean up ahead!" Nami shouted at him.
"What is it?!" Zoro cried out.
"IT'S A WHALE!" Usopp cried out. At the end of the canal, was a large black whale with large scar etchedacross itsit's head. Its head stretched up from out of the water, almost reaching the sky. They were heading straight into it!
"What are we gonna do?!" Usopp shouted.
"Should we fight it?" Luffy suggested.
"How are we gonna fight a hundred-ton whale?!" Nami shouted at him.
"Calm down! If this creature looks like a giant to us, then we must look like a speck." Sanji replied.
"That's right. It's entirely possible that this thing isn't aware that we're here!" Nami shouted.
"We're gonna run right into it unless we change course! Look! We can get by on the left!" Zoro pointed out. At the whale's left there was a small opening big enough for the ship to get around. "Port! Hard to port!"
"The rudder's broken! In case you've forgotten!" Usopp shouted.
"Do something!" Zoro shouted. He jumped down, along with Sanji, landing on the deck, running to help the sniper steer the ship. Aya and L quickly jumped down to help them as well.
"Wait I know!" Luffy grinned and stood up. He ran past Nami and Ichi, heading into the crew quarters.
"Luffy! What are you doing!?" Nami shouted.
"We're gonna crash!" Ichi cried out, panicking. Zoro, Sanji, L, Usopp and Aya all tried to get the ship to turn, as they pulled back on the broken rudder.
"This is pointless! The ship's not going to turn!" L shouted.
"Damn it! Don't give up!" Sanji shouted. Nami's eyes widen in horror and dread. She couldn't move as she felt her feet completely froze in place as she saw the ship about to crash into the large mammal.
"Is this the end?" Suddenly, a loud boom was heard as the cannon fired from the ship, hitting the whale. Nami fell back landing
"THE CANNON?!" Everyone cried out. Their mouths dropped in shock.
"That should slow it down." Luffy chuckled. The ship began to drift slower until the figurehead tapped against the creature. It snapped off, almost crushing Nami as it flew over her, falling onto the deck, inches away from the navigator. Luffy cried out as soon as he saw it smash in front of him.
"HEY! THAT WAS MY SPECIAL SPOT!" He yelled furiously. The whale made a low moan but still hadn't noticed the Merry below it. Nami sat up, gritting her teeth anxiously, trembling, as she stared up at the whale.
"Damn! Let's get out of here before it's too late!" Zoro shouted. The swordsman, Usopp, Sanji, L, Ichi, and Aya quickly grabbed the oars and started to paddle, steering the ship around the massive creature.
"What the heck is going on!?" Usopp shouted.
"It's so big that the cannon ball didn't even make it flinch! That or its reaction time is very slow!" Sanji pointed out.
"At least we're alive!" Zoro said. Then the whale let out a low ear-piercing roar. The crew covered their ears as they tried to get away.
"My ears!" Usopp cried out.
"Just paddle!" Sanji shouted.
"Luffy?" Nami looked up to see the straw hat captain glaring up at the giant creature, narrowing his eyes at it furiously.
"You think that you can just break my special seat and get away with it?! Take this!" Luffy threw back his fist and punched the giant eye of the whale.
"You moron!" The entire crew cried out. The eye quickly moved down at the ship, spotting the crew on it.
"Yeah, that's right! I'm not through with you and there's a lot more where that came from!" Luffy growled.
"Shut up before you kill us!" Both Zoro and Usopp shouted, kicking Luffy.
"But whales are supposed to be pretty docile creatures though." Aya spoke. Suddenly, the whale made a deep roar as it opened it's mouth.
"Does that seem docile to you!?" Usopp shouted. The Merry was getting pulled in into the whale's mouth by the strong currents.
"Please, stop." Nami cried out. As the ship was getting pulled closer and closer into the whale's mouth, Luffy lost his balance and fell overboard from the Merry.
"Luffy!" Sanji shouted. The captain was plummeting to the water. Luffy quickly stretched his arm and grabbed onto the whale's tooth and hopped up, grabbing onto the side of the whale.
"This is not the end!" Luffy shouted. The ship went down the creature's throat, swallowing it and the entire straw hat crew entirely. Luffy held on as he climbed up the whale and finally reached to the top of it. Finally, the whale stopped its assault and closed its mouth. Luffy panted as he tried to catch his breath and his eyes widen in realization.
"Aw man, everyone's been swallowed whole!" He stood up, looking down at the whale, punching it on its head. "Hey, you! Do you hear me!? Spit them out! Spit out my friends! Damn you!" He continued to punch and kick at the whale, trying to get it to open its mouth. Then Luffy noticed that the whale was starting to sink slowly into the water, taking the straw hat with it... "Where do you think you're going, you jerk!? You give them back right now!" Then Luffy noticed a small door on the whale.
"A trapdoor?" He quickly climbed inside as the whale sank deeper, disappearing into the sea.
Inside of the whale's stomach, the rest of the straw hats, looked around to see where they were at. There was water surrounding all around the ship and the clouds and sky above their heads. In front of them was a tiny island with a small house, that appeared someone was living there. There was as small boat docked beside the house, clothes were hanging from the line, drying, and a folded-up chair next to the house.
"So, what do you think?" Nami asked everyone.
"I don't know what to think." Zoro replied.
"What else is there to think? We just got eaten by a whale!" Ichi exclaimed.
"Is this even real? Cause I know exactly what I saw and what I felt, we were swallowed by the whale." Sanji replied.
"Is this a dream?" Usopp asked.
"Yeah, I'd say that's a fair guess." Zoro answered.
"What's with this island and the house?" Aya pointed out.
"Illusions." Zoro spoke.
"And that looks like-" Ichi pointed out as he saw something coming out from the water. A giant squid towered over the ship, leering down at the crew. Nami and Usopp screamed.
"A GREAT BIG SQUID!" The two quickly ducked down for cover on the deck while Zoro, Sanji, Aya, L, and Ichi braced themselves. The creature lunged out at the ship, about to attack when a couple of harpoons shot out from the house, stopping it in its tracks. The squid fell into the water dead. Zoro saw someone standing inside the house, looking at the crew.
"Looks like someone's home." He murmured.
"Let's hope it's a person." Sanji said. Nami and Usopp were lying on the deck,
"Where's Luffy?" Usopp whimpered.
"Yeah, where is he?" Nami pondered as well, wondering where he was, crying as well.
Luffy wandered around inside the whale, heading deeper in, seeing that he was in a long narrow hallway.
"I don't know about whales but since when do they have doors and lighted hallways?" Luffy questioned himself.
"We should fire our cannon!" Usopp shouted.
"No. Hold a sec. Someone's coming out." Sanji told him.
The straw hats saw a strange old man step out from the house, revealing himself to them. He had a muscular body, his beard split in two parts, his lower lip was larger than his upper, bald at the top of his head with yellow flower petals around it with purple tips while his white hair hanged loose in the back. He had glasses, a seaweed necklace, three gold bracelets along with a green gem bracelet on his left wrist and a scar on his left arm. He was also wearing a pink shirt with yellow and green stripe and purple circles and blueish grey shorts and sandals.
"It's a-" Sanji stammered in shock.
"Flower?" Zoro added.
"No, it's a person." Sanji spoke.
"Are you sure?" Usopp asked.
"That old man just killed a great king squid with one shot!" Nami said in disbelief.
"The question is why? Is he trying to save us or was he just fishing?" Sanji asked. The crew kept their eyes on the old man as he quietly walked past them, who was watching them as well. He stopped at his folded-up chair and laid down on it, ignoring them, reading his newspaper. "ARE YOU GOING TO SAY ANYTHING?!"
The old man silently turned his head back towards the crew.
"Hey! You want to fight, we'll fight! We got cannons back here, you bastard!" Usopp shouted.
"You try it and someone's going to die." The old man told the crew. Usopp squeaked.
"Yeah, and who's that?" Sanji asked him.
"Me, of course." The man answered. Sanji twitched, irritated.
"EXCUSE ME?! You!-" He growled.
"Ease up there, cook." Zoro said.
"That bastard's mocking us!" Sanji shouted.
"There's a couple of things that we need to know, where are we? And who are you?" Zoro asked the man.
"You got some nerve stranger. So impolite, introduce yourself before asking a question to someone you just met." He told the swordsman. Zoro blinked in confusion before making a small grin.
"Fair enough, I'll go first my name is-" The man cut the swordsman off, introducing himself to the entire crew.
"My name is Crocus, and I am the lighthouse keeper of the twin capes, 71 and half years old, Gemini."
"I'm going to kill him." Zoro growled.
"Calm down." Sanji mocked him.
"You like to know where you are? How dare you invade my personal private resort and order me around like a bunch of big shots! Besides I thought that it was pretty obvious seeing that you were eaten." Crocus explained to them.
"So, you're saying that we were swallowed by the whale! But since when does a whale's stomach have clouds in it!?" Usopp shouted.
"We've been eaten! What's going to happen to us? I don't want to be digested!" Nami cried out. Crocus looked at the crew with a dead stare in his eyes.
"STOP DOING THAT!" Everyone shouted at the old man.
"What's wrong? Haven't you ever heard of a running gag?" Crocus asked.
"THAT WAS A GAG?" Usopp questioned in disbelief. Then the old man pointed out. The straw hats turned and saw that he was pointing out towards a large iron door. Beside it was a long ladder, leading up to another door.
"The exit's over there." He told them.
"WE CAN GET OUT!?" Everyone exclaimed in shock.
"Something's not right here." Usopp replied and looked up. "Wait, look at the sky! Those seagulls, nothing's moving, they're painted on! It's a giant mural inside the whale's stomach!"
"It's a hobby of mine." Crocus replied.
"YOU'RE NOT MAKING ANY SENSE, YOU CRAZY OLD MAN!" Usopp shouted, angrily.
"Don't let him get to you." Zoro told the sniper.
"If that is the exit then we need to get to it." Aya replied. Suddenly, big waves began to form, rocking the ship, nearly knocking everyone down.
"Aw, great! What now!?" Sanji shouted.
"It's begun." Crocus frowned.
"Look! That's no island, it's some kind of ship, made of iron!" Nami pointed out towards Crocus's small island.
"Yeah, of course! Cause we're floating on a sea of gastric acid!" Usopp shouted.
"That means that a wooden ship wouldn't fare well if it stayed here too long." Zoro pointed out.
"Hey! What's with this freaky whale!? Answer me, old man!" Usopp called out to Crocus.
"He's very angry. These aftershocks are the result of him hitting his head on the Red Line." Crocus answered.
"What?" Zoro, Ichi, and Sanji questioned.
"That explains it, why he had deep scars on his forehead. Not to mention all the strange howling." Nami replied.
"Why is he doing it?" Usopp asked.
"It's because he's suffering." Nami frowned.
"It's starting to make sense. So, what's the geezer doing here?" Usopp asked.
"More than likely, he's trying to kill the whale from the inside." Nami replied.
"What a despicable way to kill something!" Usopp shouted, narrowing his eyes at Crocus.
"That doesn't sound right?" Aya frowned. There's something else that's not adding up. Why kill the whale? What would he have to gain from it? The old man could leave anytime if he wanted to.
"Okay, we've solved the mystery of the whale. Now how about we found out a way out of its belly before it digests us?" Zoro spoke.
"We have no right to judge the old man, nor do we need to save the whale. What we need to do is focus on how the hell we're going to get out of here." Sanji said.
"I agree! I don't want to be digested!" Ichi shouted.
"We're never going to get anywhere if the waves keep charging like this! How can we escape if we can't even move!?" Usopp shouted.
"Our only choice is the paddle! Get the oars!" Zoro shouted.
"Whatever it takes! We have to find Luffy right away!" Nami shouted.
"I know that he's outside! I caught a glimpse of him from the whale's mouth!" Zoro told her.
"That old guy just jumped in!" L shouted.
"Is he insane? That acid will eat him alive!" Zoro shouted.
Luffy screamed as he was bounced around falling down the hallway while the whale continued to slam its head against the mountain. "So dizzy! I'm gonna hurl!" Luffy cried out. He flew out of the hall, bouncing around some more and landed face first on the steel floor. He groaned sitting up and looked around to find that he was in a long tunnel of some sort.
Then there was a low rumble and Luffy felt the floor beneath him began to shake. He felt himself slowly sliding backwards. Luffy quickly stood up and started to run trying not to fall but he lost his footing. He screamed as he fell into the dark tunnel.
"Guys! Crocus just resurfaced!" Usopp called out seeing Crocus breach out of the water and climbing up the ladder.
"What's he doing?" Aya asked.
'Forget about the old man! Our focus should be finding a way to open these doors." Zoro replied.
Luffy screamed as he continued to fall down the tunnel. His back was met with something hard as he slammed into it. It was a man dressed like a prince with a crown on his head. He was wearing a dark green suit with white frills, red scarf, and black shoes. On the side of his cheek was a tattoo of the number 9. The woman next to him had blue hair tied up in a ponytail, wearing a lime green jacket, purple striped shirt, white shorts and shoes. The three collided against the door behind them, falling outside.
"Aw man! We're gonna fall into gastric acid!" The man with the number 9 on his cheek shouted. The woman screamed as the three were flying in the air.
"Luffy?" Zoro questioned, seeing the three.
"Who are those guys?" Aya questioned as well.
"Zoro! Is everyone okay!?" Luffy called out to Zoro. He cringed as he saw that he was getting closer to the water. "Zoro, I could use a hand!" The three splashed into the water.
"Looks like Luffy's not alone. Who do you suppose those two weirdos are?" Usopp asked.
"Where did that old geezer disappear to?" Nami asked.
"Forget him. We need to save Luffy." Zoro told them.
Suddenly, there was a low bellow as it echoed through the entire room. Nami gasped when she noticed that the waves had slowed down a little. "I know that I don't speak whale, but it seems to have calm down a bit."
"Seems that way." Zoro replied, pulling Luffy out of the water. The other two people, sat on the deck, glaring up at the crew. "Now, we've saved your life for the time being, but you better talk and make it quick."
"Who are you people?" Aya asked them.
"Mr. 9, these heathens are pirates." The blue-haired woman told the man beside her, ignoring Sanji who was sitting closely beside her, grinning.
"That painfully obvious Miss Wednesday. But if we speak to their humanity and compassion then they should understand our plight." Mr.9 told her.
"You parasites are still here? I've grown weary of this and for the last time, as long as I draw breath you will not lay a single harmful finger on Laboon!" Crocus shouted. Everyone saw him standing at the top of the ladder, looking down at them. He was glaring at the two people.
"He's back again." Usopp murmured.
"Who's the old guy?" Luffy asked.
"You can't bully us into abandoning our mission." Miss Wednesday laughed, standing up.
"We came here to hunt this whale and that's exactly what we're going to do!" Mr.9 replied, standing up as well.
"And there's the answer. The old man's trying to defend the whale against these guys." Aya frowned at them. The two pulled out bazooka's.
"And this time we won't let you interfere! We're about to give this whale a new blow hole! Fire, baby!" Mr.9 smirked wickedly along with his partner. The two fired their weapon at the whale!
"Right!"
"No!" Crocus jumped out, in front of the cannons taking the blast, falling into the water. The straw hats gasped in shock seeing what he did.
"He jumped straight into the line of fire!" Usopp shouted. Miss Wednesday laughed. Aya frowned turning to her.
"Your defiance is pointless! Go ahead, waste your time!"
"And make no mistake, that hulking beast will make food for our town!" Mr. 9 laughed alongside her. Aya growled and stepped over to the two, slamming their heads together. The two fell on the deck knocked out cold. Nami's and Usopp's mouth dropped open wide in shock.
"Aya! Why'd you do that!?" Usopp exclaimed at her.
"I didn't like them."
The straw hats fished Crocus out of the water and returned to his island. The man and woman were tied up, still knocked out.
"I hate to thank you for saving my life but why did you do it?" Crocus asked her.
"There was something about those two I didn't like." Aya told him.
"Yeah, I didn't like them either." Luffy replied. "I was actually going to hit them as well before Aya jumped in."
"Okay, I think it's time that we've got some answers? Who are these guys and how did you end up inside this whale?" Nami questioned.
"These two are thugs from a nearby town looking for whale meat. If they caught him, Laboon could feed the townspeople for at least two or three years easily." Crocus explained to them.
"Now, I feel kind of bad for knocking them out." Aya replied, rubbing her head.
"Don't be. All they're concerned with is feeding their fat greedy bellies." He told her.
"Laboon?" Nami asked.
"That's the whale's name. He's a unique and magnificent creature. An island whale, one of the largest species in the world that can only be found in the West Blue. I won't allow them to slaughter him for food. It's a shame that he's stuck here so far away from his domain. You see. there's a reason that he keeps hitting himself on the Red Line." He explained.
"There is?" Nami asked. Crocus nodded.
"Yes, to put it bluntly. Inside Laboon's body beats the heart of a human. He has patiently waited and is eternally devoted to a certain band of pirates, for 50 long years."
"50 years?" Aya's eyes widened in surprise.