Whiskey Peak - The Grand Line
"Ace!" Luffy screamed in excitedly.
"You know this guy captain?" Zoro questioned as he eyed the newcomer. The second intruder was wearing black combat boots, plain black shorts and no top with an orange cowboy hat that had two buttons on it that looked like grinning faces.
"Of course I do, that's my big brother Ace!" Luffy announced as he finally took his eyes off Ace and looked at Zoro. At Luffy's explanation at who the intruder was Zoro shrugged and fixed his gaze back onto the female intruder, who now that Zoro looked closely no longer looked as confident as she did previously.
The recently identified Ace grinned broadly at Luffy before he allowed his eyes to roam over the others aboard the Going Merry, his eyes lingering on each person for just a few moments. "Nice crew you've got yourself here bro," Ace said while the grin never left his face.
While Ace was getting acquainted with the crew of the Strawhats Miss All Sunday was frozen in fear and a cold sweat slowly trickled down her brow and what felt like a ball of lead formed in her stomach. This was because despite the jovial atmosphere in front of her she recognised the infamous 'Fire Fist' Ace and was aware of his five hundred and fifty million bounty. His relation to the Strawhats was not something she forseen and she realised she needed to make a quick getaway.
Incedibly enough despite the intense fear she was feeling at that precise moment miss All Sunday didn't let an ounce of it show on her face as she maintained her stoic mask of indifference. Shifting her body language slightly to give off an impression of smug nonchalance she stood up on the rail she had previously been perched upon. "Well this is where we must part ways," she then allowed a small smirk onto her face before continuing. "I do hope you survive Little Garden." With her final parting shot uttered she walked along the rail, her calm demeanour betraying none of her nervousness, before jumping onto the back of her ride which happened to be a giant turtle.
At the departure of Miss All Sunday Ace looked at Luffy with a single eyebrow raised in silent question. Unable to actually answer the question Ace was silently asking Luffy just gave a careless shrug and said "Meh." Before he could get too bogged down with catching up with his brother and wanting to be ship to be on it's way to the next island he turned to Nami, "Take the helm and keep our course steady."
At her captain's instructions Nami immediately took the helm and altered their course according to the logpose. Luffy seeing Nami doing as requested turned back to Ace. "So Ace, you never did say what you wanted this eternal pose for." As he said this he grinned at his brother while spinning the eternal pose on his fingertip as if it was a basketball. However the grimace that flashed across Ace's face at his statement confused him.
"I'm back in this part of the grand line hunting somebody," said a very grim faced Ace. The crew of the Strawhats could only look on in shock as somebody who uptil this moment been every bit happy go lucky and carefree as their own captain turn deadly serious at the drop of a hat.
"Ha, you turned to bounty hunting or summet Ace?" Luffy asked with mirth evident in his voice.
Ace shook his head slightly before he explained. "I'm chasing a man called Teach, he was part of my devision of the Whitebeard pirates before he comitted the greatest crime a pirate can commit." Ace leaned back against the guardrail of the Going Merry and folded his arms before taking a fortifying breath. "He murdered the fourth devision commander and stole a devil fruit before jumping ship." Locking eyes with Luffy he continued "I need that eternal pose to get to Alabaster before him."
Luffy stared down Ace in silent contemplation, not about whether or not to give Ace the eternal pose as he had already decided to give him it the moment Ace had asked for it but about the burden of responsibility the Ace was feeling at the death of a crewmate. Nodding slightly he gave his brother a wide grin, "One condition though." Ace tilted his head slightly and had a small smile on his face hearing this as he had a good idea what this 'one condition' would be. "You gotta stay here on my ship tonight, I can't be letting my big bro just disappear before we even have time to cath up."
Hearing this Ace let out a loud and almost bark like laugh before quickly stepping forwards and grabbing Luffy in a headlock and giving him a noogie. The rest of the Strawhats could only smile or laugh at the brotherly interaction.
"So, you gonna introduce me to the rest of your crew bro?" A moment after had Ace asked that question Luffy stamped his foot onto Ace's twisted slightly before mule kicking him in a place that made every male member of the Strawhats wince. This action forced Ace to not only release his hold on Luffy but also drop to the deck of the ship holding his family jewels.
Luffy just took a moment to laugh at his brother's pain before offering him a hand and helping him to his feet. Slinging an arm over his brother brother's shoulder he set about about introductions between his brother and his crew, pointing at each member of the Strawhats as he introduced them.
"That there is Zoro, my first mate and future world's best swordman." Hearing this Zoro gave Ace and Luffy a slight grin as well as an inclune of his head. "This is Sanji my chef and I swear his food is the beat you'll ever taste." Just like Zoro Sanji gave the two brothers a grin before lighing another cigarette.
"A chain smoking chef, well damn now I've seen just about everything." Ace chucked lightly.
"Moving on this is Usopp my ship's gunner and marksman and I kid you not he's the best shot this side of the Grand Line." At his captain's praise Usopp puffed out his chest and stood in what he believed to be a heroic pose, sadly instead of looking heroic he just looked ridiculous. "This is Gin, he's my boatswain. Now this beauty is Alvida, my quartermaster. A word of warning though she's just as deadly with her mace as she is beautiful." A look of shock briefly adorned Alvida's face at hearing Luffy proclaim her to be the ship's quartermaster as he had yet to tell her of her role aboard the ship.
"Up at the helm is my gorgeous navigator, and I promise you she's the only navigator you'll ever find that can plot a course through uncharted waters in the middle of a storm." Nami tried not to let Luffy's words of praise get to her but she couldnt help the faint blush adorning her her cheeks, a blush that Ace picked up on.
"And last bit not least this is Johnny and Yosuku."
"Erm ok but which one's which?" Questioned Ace.
Several seconds passed as Luffy attempted to remember which one was which before he responded. "This is Johnny and Yozuku."
Realising what Luffy was getting him and not asking again. "Ok so what's their role aboard the ship."
At this question Luffy looked over to Zoro who simply gave a slight shrug of his shoulders. Not getting any help from his first mate Luffy turned back to his brother. "Cabin boys," was his simple response. Upon hearing that they were the ship's cabin boys both Johnny and Yozuku sunk to the deck of the ship on their knees in depression over being the lowest rung of the totem pole. Facing the rest of the crew Luffy addressed them, "Everyone this is my big brother Fire Fist Ace."
Various greetings were called out by the crew of the Strawhat pirates while Ace simply waved at them all, at least for the few seconds it took for Luffy introduction to sink in. When who Ace actually was did sink in several of the Strawhats nearly had a heart attack. After all everyone has heatd of the infamous second devision commander of the Whitebeard pirates.
Ace looked around at the Strawhats obviously amused at their reaction to who he is. "I wanna thank you all for looking after my kid brother, I know he can be a pain and all," he finished with a grin.
Luffy simply rolled his eyes at his brothers words before he turned to Sanji. "Yo Sanji, how about you show my brother how awesome your food is and whip us all up something to eat."
"Sure thing captain." Sanji replied with a slight grin on his face before making his way over to the kitchen.
"Nami! Are we on course?" Luffy asked and adter an affirmative response from his navigator he continued, "Have we put enough distance between us and Sake Summit?" Unseen by Luffy Nami gave a small eyeroll before responding with another affirmative answer. "In that case, Gin drop the anchor! Johnny and Yozuku furl the sails!" Once those tasks were done Luffy ordered everyone to the kitchen.
Once everone was sat around the table and tucking into a delicious meal courtesy of Sanji, princess Vivi included, Nami made an observation as she eyed Ace's tattoo. "You know Ace, that tattoo on your arm reminds me of the one Luffy got done on his chest." Ace looked over at Luffy questioningly only for Luffy to unbutton his shirt and show Ace his ASL tattoo, the sight of which casued a sad smile to form on Ace's face. "What's the story with that tattoo, I mean you both have the letter S crossed out."
It was Ace that was forcd to answer the question as Luffy made no attempt to answer as he silently buttoned up his shirt once more. "It was our brother's initial."
"Was?" Questioned Usopp with all the sensitivity and tact of a hammer to the face.
Letting out a small sigh it was Luffy that answered this time. "Yeah was, he died." Wanting to move on Luffy changed the subject slightly. "Guess we know who cares about the other more," seeing Ace's puzzled look he added, "Well I got yours and Sabo's initial on me but you only got Sabo's."
"Tch what you on about I've got yours right here." As he said this he pointed to the C in his ASCE tattoo.
"Uuummmm hate to break it to you Ace but my name begins with L." Luffy deadpanned.
"Yeah i know but I used the initial of your nickname back from when we were kids."
Hearing this Luffy suddenly looked a little panicked, an expression that wasn't missed by anyone in the room. Sensing the opportunity for prime teasing material it was Nami thar asjed the question that was on nearly everyones minds. "What nickname would this be?" The amusement was clear in her voice.
"Don't you dare Ace!"
"Crybaby." Was the simple answer from Ace, however it was this simple answer that stunned the entire room and as one every member of the crew sliwly turned to liok at their caotain. Their captain who they were now seeing a new side to as up until now they had only ever seen the strong, proud and determined Luffy they all knew and loved.
"Crybaby?" Zoro asked. Hearing that question Luffy groaned and looked at the ceiling attempting to ignore the conversation that was now going on all around him.
"Oh hell yeah, when we were kids he was the biggest crybaby ever. If he lost a fight against me or Sabo, which was everytime we fought, he cried. If he got frustrated over not being able to use his devil fruit powers properly, he cried. If he got woke up too suddenly, then he cried. If he went longer than eight hours without a meal, then yeah you guessed it, he cried."
The entire room barring Luffy and Nami was now attempting to hide their amusement at the thought of their captain crying like a baby as a child. Nami however made bo effort to hide her amusement over his embarrassment.
Wanting others to potentially share in his brother's embarrassment he decided to ask what he knew would be a volatile question. "So Luffy, how many of the women aboard your ship have you slept with so far?"
At Ace's not so innocent question Nami immediately flushed so deeply it qas like her entire face was on fire. Luffy on the other hand looked indignant, "And just what is that supposed to mean."
Ace merely gave Luffy a deadpan look, "Lu I know you." At Luffy's continued indignant look he added, "Do you not remember the last six months before I left Dawn Island?" Now Luffy looked puzzled as he wondered where Ace was going with this question. "So I take it you don't remember what happened with that nobles daughter? You know who I mean Heartphillia or whatever the hell it was."
Luffy, upon hearing the name Hearphillia, immediately looked away and incredibly shifty. "That was just a misunderstanding."
Ace just looked unimpressed, "Yuh huh. You know you've always been a shit liar Lu, you've always had the exact same tells." Ace simply stared at Luffy for just a few moments. "Well what about when that girl Cana's crazy old man, Gildarts, chased the pair of us all over Dawn Island for nearly two days?"
Again Luffy seemed to find a spot on the wall fascinating. "That wasn't my fault."
Once again Ace looked unimpressed at Luffy. "Mmmm, well what about when that red haired armour chick showed up at Dadan's and punched a wall down just to get at you."
This time instead of looking shifty Luffy looked indignant and was ready to argue back. "Hey! How was I supposed to know she had freaky super strength."
The various members of the Strawhats had different reactions to hearing this snippit into their captain's past. Gin, Johnny and Yozuku were either chuckling or snickering. Usopp looked at Luffy disapprovingly and shook his head. Since Sanji was unable to make his mind up on where to worship his captain for being so successful with the ladies, or to hate him for the exact same reason he simply made himself busy preparing coffee for everyone.
Their guest's, princess Vivi, face was bright red as she thought about everything she was hearing and her imagination ran away with her. In fact her blush was so bad steam was starting to come out of her ears. Nami and Alvida's expression gave nothing away as they sat there stonily and as for Zoro, well he just looked bored.
Over the following few hours the Strawhats heard numerous stories about both Ace and Luffy growing up that had them in stitches. Stories such when Luffy stole Dadan's underwear to use as the flag their treehouse, or when Ace turned fifteen and he got incrediblydrunk and tried to make a pass at Makino only to trip over a barstool and face plant into the bar.
It was as things were beginning to wind down slightly that Luffy reminded Nami about the loot they had taked from Whiskey Peak and she was the best person to catalogue and value it. After Nami left to commence her favourite past time of counting treasure the various other members of the Strawhats began to leave for bed, with Alvida dragging Vivi to the women's quarters.
Luffy let out a massive yawn and stretched his arms above his head when he stood up. "C'mon bro, you can kip in my cabin. It'll be just like old times." Ace nodded his head at Luffy's words and got up to follow him to the captain's cabin.
It was the just after dawn the next morning that the Strawhats were sat around same table they had been last night, only this time they having breakfast.
"Nami," at hearing Luffy call her name she looked up from her food and looked him in the eye. "You haven't said yet. How good was the haul we got from Whiskey Peak?"
Nami grinned slightly at the thought of treasure, regardless of how small the haul may have been. "Not as great as I first thought. A little over three million in cash, about four million in gold and jewellery as well as a few odds and ends."
Luffy looked slightly disappointed at her declaration but didnt say anything. After all nobody knew treasure as well as Nami, so if she said it was all only worth seven million total then that's all it was worth.
Zoro however narrowed his eyes at Nami. "Oi sea witch! Since when have you had diamond earrings?"
"Mind your own damn business!" Nami retorted angrily as she threw her for at Zoro's head, not that it did any good as Zoro just casually tilted his head to the side and allowed the fork to pass him by easily.
As they were all eating breakfast Ace looked around the room and thought to himself that he had only seen this kind of atmosphere and camaraderie in two other places. One was aboard the Moby Dick with pops where everyone was family and every meal was a party. The second was Dadan's place back on Dawn Island, even though those guys were mountain bandits they still looked after one another like a family should, himself and Luffy included.
With the meal finished Ace was itching to leave however so he and Luffy walked outside and to the spot of the Merry where Ace had tied his little dinghy. However when Luffy actually saw Ace's ship he was floored. "Ace, what in the shit is that!"
Ace knew precisely what hos brother was meaning and so he answered his question as well as the unasked one. Well that and he wanted to show of the cool little ship that he had and his little brother didn't. "Its my skiff Lulu. The sail bit is just to catch the wind enough to aid with steering the power all comes from the back." With that he pointed to the back of his little skiff where an engine of some description could be seen. "That bit there is and engine that's fueled by my own fire from my devil fruit."
Luffy couldn't help it, he was jealous. Very, very jealous. "Usopp! Usopp get your arse out here!"
Hearing his name called in such a way Usopp came sprinting out of the kitchen with his pistols drawn but sagged in relief when he saw just Ace and Luffy on the deck. Holstering his pistols once more he made his way quickly over to the pair.
"Usopp I want one." Luffy stated petulantly as he pointed to Ace's skiff. After a quick and basic explantion of how the skiff functioned Usopp looked thoughful as he stroked his chin.
"You know captain it may take some time and a fair bit of cash for the parts I'll need but I think I can get something cobbled together just for you." Hearing this from the long nosed teen Luffy gave him an award winning grin that was returned whole heartedly.
Ace gave a short laugh at his brother's antics before he gave a short wave and leaping over the side of Merry and onto his customised skiff. Moments after he landed in it flames poured from the back of the skiff and the engine gave a loud purr before it shot off across the waves a hell of a lot faster than either Luffy or Usopp would've thought possible.
"Tch now he just showing off." Luffy then turned to the rest of the crew who were just now exiting the kitchen. "Gin unfurl the sails! Johnny weigh the anchor! Nami take the helm! Let's get to Little Garden."
It took six days of sailing to reach Little Garden and in that the Strawhats had been attacked twice by other pirate crews as well as once by the marines. Not that they were complaining as each attacker was easily defeated, and with each ship they defeated the Strawhats robbed them blind before sinking their ship.
It was because of the replenishment to their supplies that they got from the sunk ships that the Strawhats were able party every night without worry of running out of food. They were also able to add roughly five million beli to the treasury, and it was this that broke Nami out of the foul mood she had been in over the last several days.
"Land dead ahead captain!" Gin shouted down from his spot in the crows nest. The rest of the crew gathered at the side of the ship to get a look at the island they were rapidly approaching.
"Tch, guess the name Little Gardens' ironic then captain." Zoro stated sardonically as from their spot on the Merry they could all see the giant looming trees on the island.
Scanning the island quickly Luffy pointed to a spot o. the islan. "Nami take us up that river."
"Aye aye captain," Nami said as she steered the ship towards the spot luffy pointed out and then began to sail up the river.
As they sailed up the river the Strawhats could only stare in awe at the size of the trees that made up the jungle of Little Garden. However it was when several loud growls could be heard coming from within the jungle that some of the crew began to freak out. A moment later a tiger several times larger than a normal tiger emerged from the trees and approached the shoreline.
Luffy let out a low whistle of appreciation. "I've seen bigger back home but still...that's pretty big." The rest of the crew could only look at Luffy in disbelief. They were broken out of this their disbelief when the tiger, which was now by the riverbank, let out a low groan and collapsed to the floor with a big chunk of it's back missing.
"What the hell happened to it!" Yelled Yozuku in worry.
Usopp with his sharp eyes and attention to detail looked at the tiger's back and pieced together what had happened to it. "Look there at it's back. Those are teeth marks, whatever did that to that tiger must have been massive."
The thought of an even bigger predator on the island that could take down a tiger bigger than any most of them had ever seen had them nervous. "Nami stop the ship here. Sanji prepare me a pirate lunchbox, I'm gonna have a look around the island."
Sanji gave a nod and turned to leave and prepare his captain a lunchbox filled with nothing but meat. Nami however just screeched at him. "Have you gone completely tonto? That jungle's filled with nothing but monsters, how can you go wandering about in it?"
Luffy was unpeturbed by this and just shrugged and waved away her concerns. "We're stuck here till the log pose resets aren't we? So might as well have a bit of a shufty round the island and find out what were dealing with."
Nami, despite the fact she couldnt refute anything he had just, still couldn't believe he wanted to wander around the island filled with monsters. Before she continue to argue with her captain Vivi spoke up. "Erm Luffy would it be OK if I was to accompany you out there?" At seeing the looks of disbelief directed her way by a few members of the crew she continued. "It would really take my mind of what's going on back in Alabaster."
Hearing her reasoning and seeing no reason to deny her since he'd be with her anyway and could therefore keep her safe Luffy just nodded. "Oi Sanji! Make that two pirate lunchboxes."
When Sanji returned and handed the lunchboxes over to Luffy and Vivi, after telling Vivi he put all his love for her into hers, Luffy asked "You bringing your duck with you?" At Luffy's question Caroo let out several loud and drantic quacks and waved his wings in front of him. This casued several crew members to chuckle, more for the fact that a duck had more common sense not to walk around the dangerous island than their captain.
"C'mon let's goooo!" And with that said Luffy through Vivi over his shoulder in a fireman's lift and jumped over the side of the Merry and onto the riverbank. Due to the position she was in as well as the placement of Luffy's hand which happened to be resting on her shapely rear Vivi couldn't help but turn crimson.
With the captain absent Alvida went to the women's quarters to perform her duties as quartermaster by preparing lists of everything the ship and crew needs when the next make port at island with an actual civilisation. Zoro and Sanji got into an argument over who could hunt rhe biggest animal, and so they went their separate ways with Gin going with Sanji and Zor being followed by both Johnny and Yozuku. Nami and Usopp however still had a slight cowardly streak still and it only took them one look at each other for them to both come to the decision to stay on the ship where it was safe.
Luffy had been walking for about ten minutes before Vivi's whining about being put down finally got to him. Setting her down and grinning at her still beetroot face he set of walking aimlessly once more.
It wasn't longe before the duo got their next surprise of the island as when the passed through a treeline they came out into a large clearing. A clearing that was far from empty as it had over two dozen sauropod dinosaurs.
Vivi could hardly believe her eyes. "This...this just can't be real! Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years!"
"Well obviously not. They don't look too dangerous though, they're just munching on tree leaves." As he said this Luffy pointed to one of the sauropod that was grazing peacefully on one of trees nearby. This changed when out of nowhere a giant sword swooped down and beheaded the sauropod.
"Gyegyagyegya," chuckled a loud voice. After seeing what had made such loud chuckle Vivi immediately hid behind Luffy and tried to use him as a human shield, this was because in front of them was a giant of a man that easily towered above the massive dinosaurs. "Little humans, you guys ever dinosaur meat?" Luffy and Vivi both shook their heads, Luffy with far more enthusiasm and a wide grin on his face. "Well in that case why don't you both join me, after all dinosaur meat is some good eating with only sea king meat being better."
An ecstatic Luffy and reluctant Vivi followed the giant who they learned was call Dory back to his camp outside a massive cave system with Luffy only pausing for a moment when he felt a sudden surge of murderous intent somewhere on the island. With that in mind Luffy stretched out with his observation haki and was able to sense not just his crew but also four other presences that he was unfamiliar with. Once at Dory's camp the duo watched as Dory began to roast and entire dinosaur leg over a bonfire.
Once cooked Dory sliced off a huge chunk of meat and dropped it in front of Luffy and Vivi. Wasting no time Luffy immediatly began tearing chunks of meat off and stuffing his face. "Woah you were right, dino meant is really good!" Said Luffy in between great big mouthfuls of food, only stopping once in while to listen to Dory's tale of why he and his friend Brogy are on this island. The duo soon duacovered that Dory and Brogy have been on Little Garden for over a century fighting to the death everytime a certain volcano goes off, and over the course of the century they have fought and tied over seventy six thousand times.
Vivi shook her head in disbelief that two friends could fight for so long, especially since apprently neither of them could even remember the reason why they were fighting in the first place. Being a pacifist at heart Vivi felt very strongly that they should have attempted to sort out whatever dispute they were having through their words rather than their weapons. Having no appetite, especially after witnessing Luffy devour his food looked up at Dory with questioning eyes. "Erm excuse me Mr Dory but how long does it take for the log pose to reset on this island."
"One full year," Dory replied carelessly not recognising the nervousness the blue heaired teen was showing. Hearing Dory's answer broke Vivi's heart as they had to wait on this island for a full year before they could once more sail towards her homeland, and by that time Crocodile will have ruined her country beyond all repair. In that moment it truly seemed there was no hope.
Luffy looked up from his meat and met her eyes. "Don't worry Vivi, I'll get you back home in time, I promise you."
"But how? Were stuck on this island until thhe log pose resets." Tears were now falling from Vivi's eyes that she hastily wiped away.
Luffy thought about it for a moment and an idea began to take shape in his mind. While Luffy was thinking a volcano errupted somewhere on the island and upin heading this Dory stood up and drew his weapon. "That's the signal for our battle little friends." With that Dory began to make his way to the middle of the island where he began to clash with Brogy, another giant who much like Dory was clad in viking style apparel.
"You know Vivi loads of pirate have come to this island and died havent they?" Vivi wiped her eyes once more and gave Luffy a nod. "Well in that case surely there must be a log pose around here somewhere on the island that's been reset to this place."
Hearing a plan no matter how farfetched seemed to cheer up Vivi. With nothing else to do Luffy once more used his haki to feel out his surroundings and noticed that there was two individuals nearby. Not wanting to risk falling into some kind of trap Luffy let them be for now and simply kept his senses focused on them.
It wasnt long before Dory returned carrying a few barrels of sake. "Gyegya, another fight and another draw." Sitting down by the bonfire he put the barrels of sake that hed been carrying down. "Brogy said he got these from some little humans just like you."
"Were they a guy with a reaaallllyyy long nose and an orange haired spitfire by any chance?" Luffy asked chuckling knowing that out of the entire crew they would have likely been the only ones to stay on the ship.
"Gyegyagyegya that's exactly what Brogy said about 'em alright." Dory then picked up one of the barrels of sake yhat in his giant hands looked like nothing more than a small cup. "Well bottoms up!"
As Dory raised the barrel to his lips to drink Luffy's haki alerted him to a sudden spike of excitement from the two watching the group nearby. Connecting the sudden excitement to Dory about to drink from the barrel Luffy shouted out, "Don't drink that." As Dory began to set the barrel down Luffy explained his suspicions and what he had felt on the island.
"Do you think Baroque Works could have tracked us to Little Garden?" Vivi questioned Luffy. Luffy's only response was to give a slow grim nod. Before anything else could be said the volcano went off once again so Dory got up to meet his friend in battle.
"Dont you worry Dory, me and my crew will deal with these intuders, we wont let them interfere with your sacred duel." Dory nodded his head in thanks and cintinued on his way. Once he had left the two presences that Luffy had been keeping an eye on made themselves known.
Furious at their plan not succeeding the Mr Five pair immediatly began their assault on Vivi and Luffy. Miss Valentine lept over a hundred feet into the air thanks to her devil fruit abilities while Mr Five pulled out a revolver from inside his jacket, opening the chamber he blew into it before he prepared to fire.
Thinking quickly Luffy turned into lightning and appeared directly in front of Mr five before grabbing him by the scruff of the neck and his belt. Quickly spinning in a circle several times to build up enough momentum he lauched Mr Five at his partner who was decending at a rapid speed on a collision course for Vivi. Luffy's aim was true and he not only knocked her off course but the collision caused Mr Five to break his nose. Thanks to Mr Five's devil fruit as soon as his blood connected with Miss Valentine it caused an explosion that knocked them both out.
Approaching where the two assassins had fallen Luffy looked them both over and came to the conclusion that out of thr two of them Mr Five was definitely more dangerous. Turning his hand into lightning and put his hand straight through the chest of Mr Five ending his life. "Vivi! Go over to those trees and get me a few meters of vines!" When Vivi returned with the vines a moment later Luffy restrained Miss Valentine.
"Why did you kill Mr Five and leave her alive?"
"We need answers and I cant get them from a corpse. But him, he was too fangerous to keep alive. With his devil fruit I don't even know if we could've kept him restrained."
It didnt take long for Miss Valentine to come round and upon seeing her partner dead and Luffy looming her she readily answered all his questions. From this impromptu interrogation Luffy learned that not only was it the Mr three pair that was on the island but also their abilities. Luffy sat down on the ground to better relax in order to stetch out with his haki even more. When he did so he smiled as not only had he found the other assassins but also one of he crew that approaching their location.
Sanji had now been wandering around this god forsaken jungle for hours looking for a beast that the moss head would never be able to take down. As he moved through a tree line he came across a secluded copse and he did a double take. "Now that's not someting you see everday." As Sanji lit another cigarette he never took his eyes off the strage wax house.
He began to make his way over to the strange house to investigate only to stop when two people exited the house. One was a tall weedy looking man in a blue and white striped jacket and beige trousers and his black hair styled above his head in the shape of the number three. The girl on the other hand was wearing a pink cowboy hat, a blue shirt with white fluffy clouds on it and a red skirt. Her red hair was tied in pig tails and she was carrying a paintbrush and pallete.
Sanji locked eyes with the two weirdos, his eyes never left them even when he heard the girl call the man as Mr Three and identify himself as a member of the Strawhat pirates. Hearing the weirdos name he now knew that these two were members of Baroque Works and therefore needed to go down. Sanji tapped the toes of his dress shoes against the floor as he prepared to attack.
The first attack however was taken by Mr Three who threw from his a hand a globule of wax the size of Sanji's head at Sanji's feet. Sanji easily dodged what was in truth a somewhat clumsy attack, eying the wax that was rapidly hardening on the floor he came to a conclusion. "You ate a devil fruit didn't you?"
Mr three laughed uproariously having total confidence in his devil fruit and his ability to capture some no name pirate. "Indeed! I ate the wax wax fruit so now I'm a wax man!"
Sanji merely scoffed at Mr Three's attitude but still remained wary, after all this weirdo still had a partner. Sadly his partner was a girl and Sanji's gentleman code would not allow him to harm a girl. Mr Three wasted no more time as he once more began to throw globules of wax at Sanji, while he mainly aimed for his feet he wasn't particularly choosy when it came to targets.
A plan formed in Sanji's mind as he came up with a way to take the girl out of the fight without even having to hit her. As Sanji continued to dodge Mr Three's attacks he began to position himself between Mr Three and his partner. When he was finally between the two Baroque Works agents his senses screamed at him and trusting his own senses he immediately threw himself to the side. He did this not a moment too soon as he saw that the girl had approached him from behind with her brush outstretched as if to paint something on his back.
Sadly for the Baroque Works agents as the girl tried to paint one of her special sigils on Sanji's back Mr Three had launched an attack. This meant the girl was now covered in wax that was rapidly cooling and hardening. Seeing the opportunity Sanji dashed forwards to get into melee range of Mr Three, dodging his attacks as he did so.
When he was close enough Sanji launched a vicious roundhouse kick at Mr Three only to be surprised when his attack did almost nothing. This was due to the wax that was now coating parts of Mr Three like a suit of armour. Now the were both in melee range Mr Three attempted to attack Sanji with various weapons, all made of wax. As Sanji dodged these strikes he lauched kick after kick yet nothing caused Mr Three any damage.
A technique that he had been working on with Zeff came to mind and Sanji knew precisely what he had to do. Dodging a strike from a sword made of wax Sanji dropped to the ground then immediately swept Mr Three's legs out from under him before jumping back a few feet. With a little bit of distance he had time to do what he need to do.
Raising one knee so he was now only stood on one leg Sanji began to spin on the spot. Faster and faster he spun until he was nothing more than a blur until he suddenly stopped and when he did the leg he had been spinning was glowing red. "Diablo Jambe." Not wasting any time Sanji lept at Mr Three who was now getting back to his feet, Sanji's kick empowered by the heat of diablo jambe melted the wax and landed a solid blow on Mr Three.
Mr Three, who even admit it himslef, was not much of a fighter. His talents lay in planning and cunning executions, so when Sanji's leg melted his wax armour and connected with his side several ribs broke and he went down and was unable to get back up. Not wanting to take any chances Sanji stamped on the back of his head making sure the guy was out cold.
The legs Sanji had used diablo jambe for was in agony and his shoe was now ruined. Looking at the wax house the duo had emerged from Sanji slowly limped his way inside it. The inside of the wax house looked like some sort of a cross between a secret hideout and a living room, he wasnt investigating for long before a nearby den den mushi began to ring.
Not seeing any harm in answering Sanji picked up the receiver. "Hello you've reached the crap cafe, may I take your order?"
"That's enough messing around from you Mr Three," a voice growled out through the receiver.
"Yes sir! Of course sir!" Sanji replied playing along, after all this was obviously someone from Baroque Works so there was a chance he could gain some decent intel, and if he could some decent intel that helped then maybe princess Vivi would let him snuggle in her bountiful chest.
"Is the mission complete? Are the Strawhats and the princess dead?"
"Yes sir, I've just this moment finished dispatching the last of the pirates." Sanji responded immediately feigning being a loyal subordinate.
There was a long pause and Sanji began to worry that the owner of the voice had seen through his charade. "Good, I've dispatched the unluckies to your location. They're carrying an eternal pose for Alabaster. Make your way back to base." With that order given the voice hung up the den den.
Turning around Sanji saw a sight that must have been weird even by Grand Line standards, perched on the windowsill was an otter in a purple polka dot onsie was riding a vulture who was wearing an aviator helmet. When the two unluckies saw Sanji they turned around and attempted to fly away, likely to inform their boss of the situation, so Sanji lept into action. He picked up a discarded knife and fork that were both made of wax and launched them at the unluckies hitting both of them in the neck.
After searching through the bag the unluckies had with them he found the eternal pose the voice had mentioned over the den den. Smiling to himself he pocketed it and began searching for his captain to inform him of the good news.
Luffy was waiting patiently by the bonfire for the duel between Dory and Brogy to end. When Dory returned he informed Dory of everything he had sensed on the island through his haki. After Dory had got over his shock that Luffy truly did know know haki he agreed to go get Dory and the members of Luffy's crew that were with him.
Luffy then sent several bolts of lightning into the sky as a signal to the rest of his crew that were scattered about the island. He continued doing this until everyone was present, even Zoro who despite his terrible sense of direction can, as it turns out, head towards lightning flying into the sky every few seconds.
With every member of the crew present Luffy insisted that they had to throw a feast in celebration of kicking the arse of even more Baroque Works agents, as well as getting an eternal pose to Alabaster courtesy of Sanji. Zoro and Sanji got into a slight argument over who had the better kill but this caused Dory and Brogy to remember what had caused their disagreement in the first place.
The Strawhats and giants ate both dinosaurs that Zoro and Sanji had killed while they drank every drip of booze that had on the Merry. As the party raged on through the night Luffy made sure to dance with not only Nami but Alvida and Vivi as well, he couldn't afford to show favouritism after all.
Johnny, Yozuku and Gin got in some kind of three way wrestling match that had everyone laughing at their lack of coordination. While Usopp was soaking up every story of Elbaf, the land of the giants, that he could get.
When morning dawned the Strawhats all woke up with sore heads, well with the exception of Zoro who for some reason never seemed to suffer from a hangover.. despite the fact that he drinks all night and sleeps all day.
After a hearty breakfast courtesy of Sanji the crew began theur trek back to the Merry. After loading up all the uncooked dinosaur meat onto the ship Luffy gave the order to begin preperations to set sail.
As the Merry made it's way further upstream as it headed towards the ocean the crew saw Dory and Brogy standing guard on either side of the river by the sea. "There's one last foe before you can leave." Dory boomed out.
From the Brogy continued, "In the sea around this island is a giant sea king known as the island eater."
"It's a sea king so large it's shit is often mistaken for islands." Hearing this Nami, Zoro and Luffy stated laughing having heard of this sea king in one of Usopp's tales.
"No matter what happens my friends you must sail straight forwards."
Luffy nodded from his place steering the ship at the helm. As the Merry made it out onto the open ocean the island eater made it's appearance. The island eater was a sea king that looked like a giant goldfish, a goldfish that as the Merry sailed closer opened it's mouth in preparation to swallow the ship hole in a way very reminiscent of Laboon.
"Luffy what are you doing! Adjust our course its gonna swallow us!" Nami screeched in terror.
Before Luffy could respond Usopp did. "No Dory and Brogy told us to sail straight so that's what we have to do." Everyone was taken aback at this as despite the fact that Usopp had indeed tougjned up over the course of their journey togethet he still jad a bit of a cowardly streak.
Before any more could be said the island eater closed it's mouth sealing the Merry in it's mouth. As several crew members began to panic at being eaten a force slammed into the island eater, punching a hole in it's head and straight through the back. The force also sent the Merry flying through the newly created hole and to safety.
The Strawhats turned around to wave goodbye to Dory and Brogy and saw the weapons the giants had been holding shatter. This caused the crew to realise it had been the giants that had saved them from their grisly fate.
"Right guys Little Garden is now behind us. We're now heading for Alabaster so we can can kick some Croc arse." Luffy looked over the crew on the main deck before yelling, "Now whose with me." The cheers that answered him brought a huge grin to his face.