Chapter 211: The City of Water
As they parted ways from the station as they left but before they did Kokoro gave them a letter to help them with fixing the ship.
"It's a letter of introduction and a simple map." Said Kokoro, "Have your ship fixed up nicely. Water 7 is a big town so don't get lost."
"We're going there soon." Said Chimney.
"If we'll ever meet again I'll treat you to a drink." Said Kokoro, "The log will take a week to set, so spend some leisure time."
And so they left after easily befriending people that at the time they didn't know, deep ties to the town.
"That was oddly easy." Said Naruto.
"A little too easy." Said Kyubi, "It's the calm before the storm."
The crew talked about what kind of shipwright they wanted.
"Look Luffy, let me find it, I'll find a real cutie." Said Sanji.
"No way! The shipwright has to be a mountain of a man!" said Luffy, "5 meters tall."
"Luffy… that's a giant… I don't think a giant can fit on the boat." Said Sakura with a sweat drop.
Meanwhile Nami looked at the map that was given to her, she tossed it when it turned out to be a crappy map.
"What am I supposed to do with this?" she asked.
Nami sighed… hopefully it wouldn't be so bad getting there.
Luffy was showing the crew what he hoped the kind of shipwright to get, it was some weird guy with a sat and weird arms.
Then again nit was Luffy's drawing and he's a really bad artist so yeah…
"Just ignore his drawing, because I don't think we're going to get a guy like that." Sighed Sakura.
"Why do I get the weirdest feeling that the guy we get will vaguely look like that?" asked Kyubi.
"I have no idea…" thought Naruto.
As things began to calm down a little, Usopp was hugging the mast.
"What are you doing?" asked Sasuke with a sweat drop.
"You know how much Usopp loves this ship right?" asked Kiba.
"Yeah." Said Usopp, "I know these tin plates holds the memories of our battles, but I can't help but to stir up a few feelings." Said Usopp.
"Yeah, feelings for Kaya." Said Kiba.
Akamaru barked in agreement.
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Usopp.
"Admit it, you have the hots for Kaya." Said Kiba.
"I don't." said Usopp.
"Don't lie this time…" said Kiba.
As they sailed on they saw the island, which appeared to be a giant fountain as well as a city.
"Amazing…" whispered Hinata.
"That's so cool!" yelled Luffy.
As they got closer to the island they saw a place called Blue Station.
"Hey you!" yelled a random guy fishing, "If you come in to the front, you'll get in trouble, go around to the other side of town and enter though there!"
"Thanks!" called out Luffy.
And so they sailed to the other side of the island, as they did they marveled at the buildings.
"Are those houses sinking?" asked Chopper.
"No." answered Robin, "If you look at the foundation, then you can see they're built that way."
"Oh wow…." Said Chopper.
'It's probably why it's called the city of water." Said Isaribi.
"This palace is so cool!" called out Luffy.
"I know right. " said Naruto.
As they continued, guy sitting at a café saw them.
"Hey! Are you coming to loot us?" asked the guy.
"What? No!" yelled Luffy, "We're trying to get our ship fixed!"
"Oh then keep going start, there's a cape you can dock." Said the guy.
They got to the cape and docked there.
"All right unfurl the sail!" called out Nami.
However as they pulled the rope, the mast bended.
"I'm sorry!" yelled Zoro.
"It's okay." Said Isaribi, "We're here the fix the ship, remember."
"It's in such bad shape…" said Naruto.
Meanwhile Gaara was busy with something involving his sand, when he was done a couple dozen gold bars were on the deck of the ship.
"Oh wow!" said Nami.
"This is only a small fraction of what the pillar." Said Gaara, "I think it would be a good idea to only this amount for the ship."
"I almost forgot about that." said Nami.
Usopp was staring at the mast, he knew that it needed to get fixed and badly.
"All right! Everyone! Let's go!" yelled Luffy.
Luffy, Naruto and Usopp ran off.
"Wait!" yelled Nami, "Follow me!"
"What?" asked Naruto.
"Why?" asked Luffy.
"We need to find this Iceberg guy with this introductory letter form Kokoro…" said Nami, "He'll be the one to fix the ship."
"Oh yeah." Said Naruto.
"I'm coming too." Said Hinata.
"That's good." Said Naruto.
"This is getting ridiculous…" said Kyubi.
"What is?" asked Naruto.
"Never mind." Sighed Kyubi.
They packed up all the necessary treasure and headed off.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" asked Usopp, "I mean with all that treasure? What if pirates come?"
"We're pirates." Said Luffy.
"But there's five of us." Said Hinata, "And Naruto can make clones."
"Yeah, don't worry." Said Naruto.
"Maybe if we got cash it would be easier to carry." Said Nami.
"That's where we should go first." Said Luffy.
They got to a place called "Bull Rental"
"Bull Rental?" asked Naruto.
"What's that?" asked Nami.
Luffy decided to just walk right in and say "I'd like to rent a bully please."
"Know what it is first!" yelled Nami.
"Welcome." Said the man ruining it, "So you want to rent one, how many people?"
"5" answered Luffy.
"The ranks are Yagara, Rabuka and King…" said the man running it grabbing what appeared to be some sort of saddle thing, "Well if it's five people I think three Yagara should do nicely."
"Okay grill them up." Said Luffy.
"I don't think that's what he's referring to." Saied Usopp.
"Wait? What are you talking about?" asked Nami.
He noticed her log pose and began to explain that bulls were a type of fish that swam with its head out the water and because of their size they were used like horses. Because of the fact the city had cannels instead of streets, they were a necessary for traveling around the city.
"Oh wow… they're so cool!" said Luffy looking at the tank where the rentals were.
One of them swam right up to Luffy and licked him.
"Why you!" yelled Luffy.
"That one took a liking to you, looks like that's the one." Said the man running it.
He began to saddle them up.
"Will they be able to carry a heavy load?" asked Luffy.
"Oh yeah, they could move a house if they wanted to." Said the man running it.
"Because we have this huge pile of gold…" said Luffy.
"Can I have some!" said the man running it.
"No!" yelled Nami almost ready to attack the guy.
After talking about a currency exchange, the man running it told them where to go, and so with their rented bulls, they headed to their destination, with Luffy and the treasure in one boat, Naruto and Hinata in one an Nami and Usopp in the last.
"So where do we have to go?" asked Nami.
That was when they came across a cannel going up and bulls swam up them… showing that they could.
"Come on let's just take a leisure tour." Said Luffy.
However the bulls had something else in mind as they got to the shopping district street.
"Oh wow...that was so fast." Said Naruto.
"It was a short cut." Said Nami, "They're so smart…"
As they enjoyed the sties including seeing a giant bull pulling a boat filled with people wearing masks, Luffy's' bull pulled him to a meat vendor.
"No wonder why that bull likes Luffy." Said Kyubi, "He's the Luffy version of a bull."
Naruto couldn't help to laugh a little.
"What's so funny?" asked Hinata.
"Kyubi says that bull is the bull version of Luffy." said Naruto.
Hinata, Nami and Usopp all laughed as Luffy came back with many pieces of meat.
As they counted on, they saw a woman calling out, "The water elevator is now open going to ship building island… the gate will be open for one minute so please hurry."
"What's going on, some kind of show?" asked Luffy.
"It's an elevator." Said Nami.
They got in and the water started to rise bring them to another level.
"This place is so cool!" said Luffy.
Meanwhile on the going Merry, Sanji was freaking out.
"Where did Robin go?" asked Sanji.
"She went with Chopper and Sakura to explore." Said Isaribi.
"I see…" said Sanji, "I'm going to look for her."
They watched as Sanji left.
"I don't know if he's extra protective or he just wants to hit on her." Said Ino.
"Either or." Said Sasuke.
"IF you guys want to leave… I can handle it." Said Gaara.
"No way…" said Sasuke.
"Me neither." Said Ino looking at Sasuke.
"I'll explore another time." said Isaribi.
"Usopp will complain if I don't help watch the ship." Said Kiba.
They all sweat dropped when they saw Zoro was asleep.
Back with Luffy's group they left the elevator and arrived at the next level.
"Oh wow… this place gets cooler and cooler." Said Luffy.
They saw a large crowd had gather and Luffy had his bull swim there.
"What's going on?" asked Luffy.
"Oh just that pirates attacks and the shipwrights fought them off." Answered some random man.
"Really?" asked Luffy.
"Oh you must tourists." Said the random man who explained that almost everyone looked up to the shipwrights of the islands.
"Oh wow! So cool I can't wait to meet them." Said Luffy.
Meanwhile on Going Merry, a bunch of men arrived and attacked Zoro who was sleeping.
"Who are you?" asked Zoro waking up.
"We thought you were still asleep." Answered one of the men.
"Hey!" called out a Kiba.
"We're here too." said Ino.
"This ship is much more guarded than we thought." Said one of them.
"Who are you?" asked Gaara.
"We're the Franky Family, we're bounty hunters…" said another one of them.
"We're only here for Zoro." Answered another of them.
Zoro grabbed his swords, as did Sasuke, Gaara readied his sand.
Zoro slashed the air, causing many of them to be sent flying… as did Sasuke… Gaara used his sand to do the same thing…
"Wow… they didn't stand a chance." Said Isaribi with a sweat drop.
Zoro went back to sleep.
Meanwhile with Robin's group, they were looking around town.
"This place is so amazing." Said Chopper.
"I've never seen a place like this." Said Sakura.
"What's with those faces." Said Chopper.
"They're masks." Said Sakura.
"That's right." Said Robin, "There's a costume festival going on one of the other islands that served by the Sea Train."
"I guess that's where everyone's going." Said Sakura.
"Where did you hear that?" asked Chopper.
"From some people around town." Said Robin, "Ever since I was little I've been good at observing people."
"Oh wow." Said Chopper.
"By the way there's a book store up ahead." Said Robin.
Chopper ran off ahead of them, causing Sakura to laugh.
"I'll go on ahead to make sure he's not getting into trouble." Said Sakura.
"I'm sure that's it." Said Robin with a sly smile.
"That smile better not mean what I think it means." Muttered Sakura.
Sakura ran towards Chopper, causing Robin to smile.
As Robin headed towards them… a person passed by her whispering, "I work for CP9."
Robin began to sweat as she looked at the person.
Back in the book store, the person running couldn't help but to stare at Chopper.
"That's weird… where's Robin?" asked Sakura.
"I don't know." Said Chopper.
Little did they know that they're troubles was only beginning…
Next time: Luffy's group manages to get the money and meet up with the people who run Water 7... what will happen? Find out next time!