Chapter 5: Resignation

April 20, 801 WG

"I can't believe I let you talk me into riding inside the whale," groused Law not for the first time since idea had been proposed.

"None of us had a choice in the matter," Luffy shot back.

Once Luffy's guess on targets had been explained to everyone, along with Lance vouching for him, they all wanted to set out immediately. Even if they were closer to Alabasta than Pluton and the Marine escort ships, they would still need to get there as quickly as possible. They needed to explain the danger heading toward the desert nation to its king. The more time they all had to plan their next course of action the better.

Laboon wasn't keen on being left behind again, especially with his friends riding straight into danger against a very deadly ship. The island whale was still reeling from the knowledge his first crew had been ambushed and killed without ever making it to the midpoint. And the Rumbar Pirates had just been heading out for adventure.

Laboon accepted he had been too little to go with them then, but that was not the case now. He would go with them this time. To fight alongside them and make sure they survived their encounter. He, via Chopper translator, had voiced all this to the crews. He had waited and this time, his wait hadn't been in vain. Now he would do what he wanted.

Everyone had argued against his coming. They stated they were going to fight a huge island-killing ship. That it was no place for an island whale. Laboon argued he should go for that very reason. They only had two puny ships to go against a huge island-killing ship. He was a giant island whale; he could grab that menace and drag it to the bottom of the ocean.

Lance didn't help the pirates in trying to talk the massive animal out of joining them. Instead, he felt Laboon was right. If they couldn't get onboard to blow up the ship, Laboon's large size might be the only thing that could crack the hull and let the ocean pour in, sinking it.

Lance was really showing his Marine background in this. All he saw in Laboon was an asset and not a friend. Not a charitable thought toward the man, Law knew, but his little brother had grown pale when the great whale had stated he was coming. And the former Marine Vice-Admiral had pointedly not looked at his godson.

He vouched for Luffy's budding clairvoyance yet is ignoring him now, when he is displaying signs of another possible vision, thought the Heart Pirates' Captain. I don't think it's a coincidence he's ignoring him now. He realizes the issue, but he's focused on the goal and won't do or say anything against it.

When he had pressed his brother, and the vision he had supposedly suffered concerning Laboon, Luffy could only describe a feeling of sorrow and inevitability with the whale's decision.

i"I don't know, if he comes something bad will happen," said Luffy, then he looked down. "But if he doesn't, something worse will."/i

Laboon had ended any further argument by swallowing them and their ships. Law and his crew had been alarmed along with several Straw Hats. Luffy, Nami, Zoro, Sanji and Usopp had shouted in anger as if they had experienced this before. Seeing the painted walls of the whale's stomach and Crocus's island ship, once they arrived in the belly of the beast, told him this was not an uncommon maneuver for the whale.

Lance just took the crazy in stride with the comment, "Well, that settles that. Not that we could have done anything about the whale following us, anyway."

A true enough statement, Law realized with huff. Laboon arguing with them had just been a function of politeness. He didn't need their permission and any attempts to throw him off their trail would have wasted time they didn't have. And from what Law understood about Brook and Laboon's relationship, that he had been briefed on when they arrived at the lighthouse, the Rumbar pirates had tried that before they even left West Blue. Hadn't worked then when he was a little baby, it definitely wouldn't work now that he was an adult.

Franky sighed. "It's a good thing then I never removed the steel plates from that time we dealt with Mad Treasure and got swallowed by that giant lantern fish. Tra-o, your ship is made of metal, so I presume it will be all right in this acid sea."

Law turned to regard the Straw Hat shipwright. Just how many times did this crew get swallowed by giant sea creatures? Or any creature for that matter?

It was Uni that responded, as the Polar Tang's shipwright he would know. The man was forever wearing a striped mask to protect his lower face from sparks the engines of his submarine kicked up when being worked on.

"The hull itself is fine but the propellers are delicate. The acid may cause a problem if we stay here too long. There isn't anything we can do about it, though. We may have to plan on replacing parts before we engage in battle."

Law didn't like the idea of his ship being damaged. Why couldn't the damn whale just follow them?

"Did we have time to take the correct log from the lighthouse?" asked Lance. They were all standing on Crocus's floating island with their ships tied to it. The whale had started moving soon after swallowing them and it was kicking up acid waves. However, the floating island and been designed with that in mind.

"No need for that," said Nami with a self-assured grin. She held out an eternal pose. "We had this since we tricked Baroque Works. It's an eternal pose to Alabasta." She grinned for a moment then the smile turned into a frown and she glared at the fake sky above them. "The only problem with this arrangement is that we can't communicate with Laboon to let him know which way to go. If we're moving, he's moving away from the Redline. But once he loses sight of it… I don't know how island whales navigate but he certainly doesn't know where Alabasta is."

This whale doesn't think things through, thought Law. No wonder he gets along with Luffy. He felt a flash of guilt at the thought and glanced at his younger brother, who continued to stare up at the painted sky, his expression unreadable. Luffy wasn't so careless anymore.

"Hey, Robin, can you peek outside and see if he's traveling along the surface?" asked the Straw Hat Captain, displaying some of the good sense that was so foreign to his pre-death self. Further emphasizing the changes that pinged Law's conscious.

"I can do that," replied Robin. "Do you want me to bloom a clone there and tell him which direction to swim?"

"I think it might be best if we travel inside him for the time," said Luffy.

Law blinked in surprise. "Why do you say that?"

"The Marines are looking for pirates not an island whale," replied Luffy. "And Laboon can dive, they won't be able to follow."

Law grimaced, that was actually a good plan. The Hearts Pirate captain needed to accept the damage and changes he had caused and move on. As a captain of a submarine he should realize the obvious stealth advantage of their current position within the whale.

Luffy, himself, sounded resigned to Laboon's involvement. While he smiled as he spoke, it didn't reach his eyes.

Something bad will happen if Laboon goes, but something worse will happen if he doesn't, recalled Law and shuddered.

Was Luffy having to choose between the lives of his friends?

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In the original draft this chapter was longer because it was originally slated to be the lead in to a different section of the story. Lance was supposed to tell the story of Luffy's parents while they were traveling within Laboon. However, just in the process of writing it, I realized it needed to be it's own entry because it was going to be a very lengthy story on its own.

That prequel will be under "Mark of the Wind" which include the sequences of "Hero of Altear", "The Silver Platter Incident", "Dance of the Moon", "A Cat's Ambition" and "Fall of the Moon". Which will cover the entire story of Luffy's parents from when they met to when they parted, this also covers their entire Marine career and why Dragon went on to form the Revolutionary Army.

Later on, the gang will make references to stories Lance told them and that was because of this sequence was originally supposed to be part of this story. Fortunately, for all of you, I realized the problem and pulled those chapters out. So that's what's going on with that.

I will do "Mark of the Wind" before "Shard of the Moon" as "Dance of the Moon", that is within "Mark of the Wind" helps to explain what winds up happening in "Shard of the Moon". It will also shed more light on what the Malice of the World was referring to in Chapter 2: Bargaining with the Dead.