Wishfull-star: 3

For reference for the rest of the story: Luffy called Garp by his name. They have a very bad history and so Luffy just calls him by his first name. It will into detail about this much later. Big news in this chapter! Enjoy~

After a bit, the mountain came into view. "It's the magic mountain!" he shouted. "It's huge!" They couldn't even see the top of the Red Line because it was so tall, it was hidden by the clouds. Luffy wondered if anybody could live up there. And he wondered if he'd ever be able to slingshot his way up.

"Get a good grip of the rudder so we aren't dragged under," Nami commanded, Usopp and Sanji hurrying inside.

Zoro had the binoculars. "I can't believe it. The water is actually going up." Then he grinned. "Either adventure or death awaits us, huh?" Luffy laughed, so giddy to hurry up and get there. Until Nami told them to move starboard a bit, and then the rudder snapped. Everyone was horrified, but they didn't have time to dwell on it, they had to do something!

"WE'RE GONNA CRASH!"

Luffy acted immediately, jumping off of the ship and inflating his body to cushion between the entrance pillar and the ship, turning it to the side. He started to fall until he grabbed Zoro's hand and was brought back up. And finally, they were going up the mountain, into the amazing sea. Danger and adventure awaited them.

He was beaming. "Our dreams begin now, huh?" Zoro asked, putting his arm around Luffy's shoulders. Luffy nodded, and then his face fell. Now that it seemed the danger was gone, he was feeling the negative feelings of losing that information. Stupid storm. "So what's wrong?"

"Someone put a note in my pocket and I think it could have been important to what I am but I dropped it and it blew away." Those that heard were silent for a bit, even as they headed up the mountain. "Huh?!" they exclaimed. But then they reached the top, and this part was more fun. "I can see the Grand Line!" All of them were screaming or laughing, and then grabbed onto something as they plummeted down.

The Luffy stopped. "Hey, there's something in front of us! Really loud!"

"I can't hear anythin-"

BOUOHHH!

What they could see looked like a mountain, but Luffy thought it was something else. He squinted his eyes and smelled deeply. But it was something unfamiliar, so that didn't help. Then when they got closer, the sound came again, and they saw it was a giant whale. They argued about fighting it, but that wasn't possible.

"We can't die from a whale this early!" Usopp shouted. Luffy didn't know what to do until he heard it moan again, and it was louder than a cannon. He put his hands over his ears, since it was so loud it actually hurt.

"I have an idea!" he shouted, and went below deck to the cannon that was facing out the front, and he shot it, making it stop abruptly. Well, slow, but the figurehead was still broken off by hitting the whale. "My special seat!" He'd barely gotten to use it! He hurried up above, and everyone was rowing as fast as they could. The moans stopped, so he didn't cover his ears anymore.

He was angry. "Hey, you!" he shouted. The whale's eye moved, and it submerged partially. "I'm gonna make you pay!" It submerged fully and it created a whirlpool, dragging the ship inside and under. They barely made it out, and they didn't even need to stuff themselves in barrels. The ship was swirling, making all of them sick.

Luffy fell off, and hit the water, being thrashed around in the whirlpool and dragged under. He couldn't smell or hear, but he saw a black thing nearing him, and it slammed him into the wall of the cliff, making him lose what was left of his air supply. He didn't die, but he felt he would. His devil fruit wasn't working, so he felt that.

He couldn't even cover his ears as the whale made another moan, and Luffy ended up in its open mouth, just by bad luck. He didn't try going in there himself. He was very dizzy and confused as he went down the thing's throat all alone, into the darkness.

He smelled metal, and found there seemed to be metal piping. He also smelled stomach acid, and worried he'd be decomposed in there. He shot his arm to the metal and broke his way into the dry, metal pathway. Why was there piping in a whale? Well, he had to get out. But it wasn't easy as the whale moved, throwing him down the hall, bouncing on the walls and screaming.

God he was dizzy. His eyes were spinning, but he heard other people here, and their voices got louder as he fell, screaming. He saw two people there, both with large guns. "Ahhhh!" he screamed, and slammed into them. They burst out through a door and into the whale's stomach. Luffy was lucky enough to shoot out his arms to the place he fell out of.

He hung off, and saw the people he slammed into were in the stomach acid. "Ahh! I'm sorry!" Luffy shouted, and climbed his way up. The whale dived again it seemed, and Luffy was thrown into the acid. He sank and couldn't breathe, unable to swim. But the stomach acid shook around and Luffy was out of the water, grabbing onto the only place of land and shooting there, safe out of the stomach acid.

Slamming into the land - land? - he felt like a pancake. He felt his stomach, and saw there was a horrific bruise there. He really could be harmed underwater. He didn't think he broke anything, as it didn't hurt. He was fine, then. He was glad he had his hat somehow. Thankfully. He would have freaked if he lost it.

He smelled a person behind him, only just coming out of his thoughts. The other two people were in the stomach acid, cursing him. He ruined a plan? Well, it wasn't like he tried to. And why was the inside of the whale not black? The walls were painted like the sky. And there was a floating island that he was on, barely rocking.

"Hey, how is this possible?! Is this really in the whale?" he asked. The man was old but jumped into the stomach acid before he said anything, and then went through the chamber he just came out of. Luffy looked around, and saw the two people in the acid. He shot his arms out and grabbed him by the scruff of their clothes, yanking them back onto land.

"I'm sorry I knocked you in!"

The shaking stopped, the whale calming, finally. But then the two people pointed their guns at the old man. Luffy yanked the guns away while they aimed, and pulled them to him. "Hey, the whale ate me, but you shouldn't shoot him," he said simply. The old man was back, and jumped in willingly! The whole place stunk badly.

He came back on the land and grabbed the two with the guns, banging their heads together to knock them out. Luffy looked at the guns, deducting they were used for bad purposes, and threw them into the acid. The old man sat back down, and looked at Luffy intently. Luffy stared back blankly before starting to ask where he was. He was cut off.

"What's your name?" he asked. His voice was hard and accusatory. Luffy hadn't actually done anything bad… so…

"Monkey D. Luffy," he said. "Hey, are we inside the whale?"

"Yes. Boy, where'd you come from?"

"East Blue. Hey, who are you?" The guy sat down on a lounge chair, and said his name was Crocus.

"Take off your hat. I've already seen your eyes, just show me your hair." Luffy frowned, but felt he should show him for some reason. It seemed like he knew Luffy's hair would be weird already. He took his hat off, showing the white spots. Crocus' eyes widened just slightly. "I thought so. You got the marks on your chest?"

Luffy lifted his shirt, and crocus looked more shocked with the terrible bruise. "The whale slammed me into the wall. Did he do that on purpose?!" He was distracted from the guy seeming familiar. Crocus explained that the whale had not done it on purpose. He was committing self harm.

"Ace? What are you doing?"

"Nothing! Don't look!"

"Wait, your arm's bleeding! Did something bite you?!"

"Just… don't ask, okay? Please."

Luffy frowned. Why would a whale be self harming? "He's doing it because he wants to get to the other side of the Red Line. To get to his friends. I'll take you outta here, but I have to ask you. What are you?" He honestly didn't seem like he was surprised by any of this.

"I don't know," Luffy replied honestly.

"Do you know anything?" Luffy shook his head. "Well, what you are has no name, no use looking for one." Luffy's eyes widened. "Does any of your family look like you? You have enhanced senses, right? You have sudden bursts of strength when angry? You need to drink blood to survive?"

Luffy was speechless, couldn't answer. "You're not the only one."

"There are others?" Crocus said he'd only ever met one. But that Luffy was almost exactly like him. Just the hair is different. "Who?"

"My old captain. He wore contacts and covered his hair with a hat, also dyed it black, as well." Luffy asked if he'd always been like this. "He was. Up until his death." He sat down in front of him, eyes wide. "He got no answers throughout his life, even after traveling around the world. He thought he was alone, but obviously not. There may be others like you out there. I wouldn't count on finding them easily."

Luffy asked, "Was he a monster?"

"The world saw him that way, but not in the way you're thinking. I honestly don't have anything to tell you. You will get stronger, but maybe not from being what you are. He worked to be strong. He may have been stronger due to it, but he still worked to be strong. The best I can tell you is you're not a monster and you're not alone."

Luffy held his hat to his chest, and Crocus sharply asked where he got that. "Shanks gave it to me." Crocus started laughing.

"You don't say. Well, the world really is a curious place." Luffy looked confused. "Never mind. What are you in the Grand Line for?" His questions were all blunt, but Luffy answered every single one honesty. Wanting to know more. He wasn't alone? But he was still an unknown creature. His captain had been like this, he hadn't changed as he got older. Luffy would always be this way.

At least he didn't think he was a demon. He didn't like that word much anymore. Monster was better than demon. Demons were from hell, right? And were wicked. He wasn't. He was officially changing his title from "demon" to "monster". Neither were good, but one was better than the other.

Luffy said he wanted to be the Pirate King." Crocus didn't look surprised. "Hey, who was your captain?"

"I ain't gonna say. But you'll definitely go far in life." Luffy asked how he knew. "I just do. C'mon, let's get out of here and back on land." He looked at Luffy almost fondly. He really wondered who Crocus' captain was. What kind of guy? But it didn't seem like Luffy would be told. "Drag those idiots out, too."

Luffy nodded, and Crocus moved the little island boat to the ladder. Luffy wrapped his arm around them. He shot his hand up onto the ledge and pulled himself up, with the other two. Luffy was quiet, thinking. He wasn't all alone. He might never find anyone like him again. But he wasn't alone! He hadn't been alone! He wished he could have met this guy's captain! But he was dead.

Somebody else had lived who needed blood. Luffy might be one of the only ones, but… he wasn't a mistake made of the universe. Maybe he was some mutant. Maybe he was unnatural, but he wasn't alone. He grinned as he dragged the two out. They exited the whale through the top, which was raised above the water.

"LUFFY!" his crew shouted.

"Yo! I got eaten by the whale! And you won't believe what happened!" he shouted. They all looked confused about why he was happy. After being swallowed by the whale but then taken out. They got onto the shore of the Red Line, and the ship docked there. Zoro got off and grabbed Luffy in a tight hug.

"I'm sorry I scared everyone," he apologized sincerely. "But it was a good thing I went in there! Cause I met Crocus! And he told me that I'm not alone and his captain was like I am!" Zoro pulled him away, and Crocus was silent as he tied the two intruders up. They were asleep so didn't fight it. A woman and man. The woman didn't look much older than Nami.

They all sat down, and Luffy explained everything Crocus had said. His crew were amazed, and all of them happy for him. Very happy. Zoro was smiling at him so warmly. Nami said, "I knew you were never a demon."

Luffy beamed and nodded. Crocus stayed quiet the whole time. He didn't have much to offer, Luffy said it all. He winced at his stomach. It was painful. He hadn't had a bruise in almost a decade. Not one that actually hurt like this.

After his story was over, he moved to sit in Zoro's lap, leaning against his chest. "So, what's wrong with the whale?"

Crocus finally spoke, having just listened the whole time Luffy was talking. "His crew left him here. He wants to find them, wanting to enter the second part of the Grand Line to find them. That was 50 years ago. Laboon is his name. He's in denial, desperate to see them."

"They just left him here?"

"If they haven't come back in 50 years, they have to be… dead, right?" Nami asked the last part quietly. Crocus said their ship was seen sailing out through the Calm Belt. "So they did leave him? Just waiting here, for them to never come back?" se asked, much more angry now. Crocus nodded silently.

The crew looked at the floating whale sadly. Poor guy. Sanji and Usopp were the angriest, furious he was abandoned. Luffy wondered if that really happened. He would bet they all died before sailing out of the Grand Line the easy way. Nami said the Calm Belt was impossible to sail through, right?

Well, then they must have died on their way back. "And he won't stop hitting his head against the wall?" Luffy asked.

"No. That's why I live inside of his stomach. I build that place so I can take care of him from the inside." Luffy was amazed all of that was there. How did he carve out his insides? Where did he get so much metal from here, the Red Line? It was awesome, but also kind of sad. He looked at the whale. He wanted to somehow make him stop hitting his head.

Hearing his story was just so pitiful.

Then the two weirdos woke up. Apparently, they'd been trying to kill the whale to feed a starving island. "You can't kill that whale!" Luffy snapped. Zoro traced the spaces he knew where Luffy's markings were, and reminded him that they were tied up and weaponless.

"Even if they don't kill him, Laboon will likely die soon if he keeps slamming his head against the Red Line. But, I'll be there for him until he passes, taking care of him. We have an odd relationship, but I care about him. It's hard to see him like this." His voice was sad, showing the most emotion so far.

Luffy stood up and walked to the area Laboon was resting at. His crew let him be, talking about how to travel though the Grand Line, which was more complicated that they had ever expected.

They were all shocked when Luffy went running from their ship, carrying their main mast. Well, they could fix it! He was sure. He ran onto the whale's head, as he was sleeping, and slammed it down into his skin, onto the pained scars. He felt bad, but this was bad in the short term, but hopefully good in the long term. The whale was wide awake now, thrashing him around as he tried to hang on for dear life. It threw him into the wall, and Luffy punched his eyes. It slammed its tail into him, crashing him against the ground.

Crocus was worried, but Nami told him he was fine. He wouldn't die from this. Luffy slammed his fists into his head, and then was tossed again, the whale screaming in his ears, making him cover them with his hands and scrunching his eyes from the pain. It hurt badly and he felt blood come from them, listening through cotton balls. His ear drums had been injured. That was new.

But it stopped when Luffy said, "IT'S A DRAW! I'm pretty strong, aren't I? And scary, huh? Shishishi. Hey, you're crew's not gonna come back. But we will. Since this fight turned into a draw, we'll have to meet again to finish it, right?"

Laboon had huge tears in his eyes. "And I can promise you we won't die! We will return! Even if our ship is in shambles, even if it's 20 years from now, I swear we will come back. And I'll tell you ALL about our journey! So, you gotta stay alive until then! Until I can fight you and then tell you all the secrets of the Grand Line."

He got some paint from their ship, left over from painting the sails, and painted the Straw Hat mark on his head. Their jolly roger. "Now, you gotta stop hurting yourself, better not rub this mark off! Y'hear me? This is our agreement to meet again. Understand?" Laboon moaned, and agreed.

Luffy got the mast and said, "There, fix it!" he was hit by everyone until they saw blood was from his ears. "Ah, he was really loud and really close. I think my eardrums burst. But I can have some blood and it'll be just fine," he said dismissively. They were mad about the mast, but glad it was for that purpose, it seemed.

The mast was repairable, just didn't look so pristine anymore. Well, wear and tear was natural! They had food with Crocus, and talked about how to navigate, use the log pose, what to expect. They learned about the "final island". Raftel. "Hey, why is it called that?"

"I don't know. Maybe it was lost in translation." But he looked knowing about it. They ended up taking the two weirdos, Miss Wednesday and Mr. 9. Taking them to Whiskey Peak. Well, their first island would be that, then.

"Let's bring them," Luffy had decided.

"Why?! They tried killing Laboon!" Usopp protested. Luffy pointed out that Laboon was in better condition than ever. "Still. Do we really want people like that with us? They won't even tell us anything about themselves."

Miss Wednesday and Mr. 9 both had their heads down. "I can tell."

"Tell what?!"

"Shishishi! We'll bring them along. It'll be interesting!"

"But-!"

"You heard him. Captain's orders," Zoro said firmly. Then he turned to the two. "Just so you know, Luffy can hear anything you say, no matter how quiet. So no scheming. If you do, we'll tie you to the ship and drag you along behind us." Luffy didn't disagree with this.

"... We understand. Thank you," they both said. They sounded irate, but that was to be expected in this situation.

They all thanked Crocus for everything, and he gave Luffy the brightest smile. "I hope I'll be seeing you in the newspapers!" Luffy promised they would. They waved goodbye, and Luffy said he looked forward to seeing Laboon again.

"Wait for us, okay! We won't let you down!" Luffy called. The whale moaned, but it didn't sound sad or angry, like it had. But it was the same sound. Strange. He sighed, very, very happy with their visit to the Red Line. He felt light. Light like he dropped a huge weight that he didn't realize he was carrying. He went inside and drank a blood bag, his ears healing up. Zoro came in, and wiped his ears out for him.

"Did it hurt?"

"Yeah, but it wasn't for a long time. Hey… I'm not alone," Luffy said, grinning brightly. Zoro said he was never alone. Even if he'd been the only of what he was, he was still never alone. Luffy leaned over and kissed Zoro. Luffy got on his lap, and moved his shirt aside.

"Really?"

"Yeah," Luffy said simply. Zoro was feeling intense excitement and anticipation. They hadn't done this in weeks. He bit down on his shoulder and drank heavily. He didn't need blood, but he wanted Zoro to feel good. He let out moans, his jaw clenched trying to hold them in, but Luffy moved his hand to his face, Zoro biting on his finger to stop the moans. Maybe he didn't want anyone to hear and interrupt.

Zoro ran his hands along Luffy's back, pressing them on his hip bones, but not going any further. Luffy pulled back and wiped his mouth. Zoro was panting, and Luffy was glad he enjoyed it. Maybe he shouldn't avoid it anymore. He was confident Zoro didn't love him just for this. He never had gotten mad or impatient with them stopping.

He loved Luffy for who he was, not what he could make him feel.