A/N: Hey-o! Back Again!
Now that the Tea Party is over, the Straw-Clown Alliance can return in triumph, but they're not out of the woods just yet...
I do not own One Piece, It is the property of Eiichiro Oda
After a fairly short and generally uneventful return trip, Luffy, Buggy, and the Straw Hats arrive back at Karaibari Island quite happy with themselves and the way things turned out. They are met by everyone they were talking with when Mont-d'Or's call came through. Buggy is quick to brag to Alvida and Galdino, but the major Straw Hats know to go straight to Luffy for a more accurate retelling of events.
"So, how'd things go?" Nami asks Luffy while he scratches his chest tattoo, crossbones with a red "A" on the left space, a blue "S" with a (purposely) crude black "x" drawn through it at the top space, and a magenta "L" on the right space.
"They went good! The Big Mom Pirates were really nice to us! We saw Bege and Kid there, too!" Luffy replies with a big smile. Robin puts her hand to her chin and thinks aloud,
"I had heard Bege had allied with Big Mom while we were separated over the past two years, but Kid sunk one of Big Mom's ships a few months ago…I wonder why she would invite him." She ponders.
"She didn't. He and his crew attacked her island while we were there, so I beat them up." Luffy replies plainly.
"You defeated the Kid Pirates?! All by yourself?! He was a big deal! He had a four hundred seventy million Beri bounty!" Usopp says, sounding a bit panicked, especially for someone on the winning side. In all fairness, no one should have been surprised, Luffy had accomplished crazier feats, but it still was not something they were expecting to hear.
"And he's a part of the Worst Generation like you and Zoro. That should cause quite a stir." Robin points out.
"What happened to them, then? After you won? Did they escape?" Franky asks.
"Big Mom took him and his crew prisoner, so I'm not sure what happened to 'em. Actually, I do wonder…" Luffy thinks aloud. Nami, Usopp, and Chopper shudder at the thought of being held prisoner by an Emperor, but Luffy keeps talking.
"But we met a bunch of cool people, like the guy who called us on the Snail, Monty…" Luffy starts.
"Mont-d'Or." Buggy corrects.
"…And this really cool lady named Gal-y…" Luffy continues.
"Galette." Buggy corrects again.
"…And this super cool dude who Big Mom said can use Conqueror's Haki just like me named Doggy!" Luffy finishes.
"DOGTOOTH! AT LEAST TRY HARDER TO GET THEIR NAMES RIGHT!" Buggy says, finally getting too annoyed to restrain himself. Luffy does not really acknowledge Buggy, and neither do the Straw Hats, much to his chagrin.
"Anyway, Big Mom wants to have another meeting some time, and we're all gonna become friends and stuff!" Luffy adds, a bit of a shock to hear for the Straw Hats. They knew Luffy would come back okay, he always did, but they were pretty sure he was going to mess it up like Buggy was afraid he would. Frankly, it is a pleasant surprise to hear things went so well, but they supposed it was not over yet, so they should not jump the gun.
"Oh yeah, and check this out! Gal-y gave me Big Mom's Vivre Card! Now we can always know about how things are going with them!" Luffy says as he pulls the Vivre Card out of his hat's band. Buggy slides up next to Luffy with a goofy kind of devious expression.
"Yeah, and Straw hat here was totally putting the moves on Miss Galette back there.!" Buggy says, elbowing Luffy in the side lightly while saying so.
"What?.! No I wasn't.!" Luffy says, sounding more like this is the first he is hearing of it than the assumed "annoyed" approach Buggy thought he would take.
"WHAT?!" Sanji shouts out, grabbing Luffy by the collar and shaking him violently while shouting at him,
"YOU BASTARD! HOW DARE YOU GET A GIRL BEFORE ME! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, HUH?!" He yells as Luffy starts to get dizzy from all the shaking. When Sanji finally stops shaking him, Luffy defends himself,
"I didn't do anything, Sanji.! Gal-y's just my friend! I think." He says.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'you think,' HUH?!" Sanji asks while increasing the volume of his voice even more.
"Lay off the shouting, love cook.! You're giving me a headache." Zoro says, immediately redirecting his anger to Zoro.
"WHAT'D YOU SAY, YOU SHITTY STRAY MOSS?!" Sanji responds, getting in Zoro's face about it and readying a kick.
"What'd you just call me, you pervert cook?!" Zoro retorts and unsheathes one of his swords before both are smacked on the head by Nami.
"GIVE IT REST, YOU TWO!" She shouts with a pissed off expression. Zoro does not respond, but it is clear he got the message as he hunches over and grips the new bump on his head.
"Yes, Nami-swan.! You're so hot when your angry.!" Sanji says shakily while hunched over and griping his head wound as well.
"Either way, Big Mom said she'll be contacting us soon to set up an alliance soon, so we should be looking forward to hearing from her.!" Buggy explains with some latent excitement in his voice in spite of the situation in front of him gradually devolving. Buggy's crew are certainly excited at the prospect of having an Emperor's crew on their side, and three cheers for Buggy seem to be the appropriate reaction to it. Most of the Straw Hats were not even there, but they can guess Luffy did all the hard work, so this course of action simply exasperates them all. Luffy does not seem to mind, though, and simply laughs at the devotion Buggy's crew has to him. Luffy and the rest of the Straw Hats, major members and suited alike, all leave Buggy's fanbase to do whatever they will do and go inside, Luffy looking forward to a nice nap and a nicer lunch when he wakes up later.
A few weeks pass, the Delivery's mercenary and White Lead businesses are booming and they are reaching record-break successes in both industries. It is obvious to Buggy, even though they have not heard a word from her in some time now, that Big Mom must have pulled some strings to get both of their industries all this extra business. Meanwhile, Luffy and the major Straw Hats went off and toppled the Warlord Doflamingo after allying with Trafalgar Law, which was another big boost for the Delivery company and a major blow to the Emperor Kaido, who Doflamingo was secretly working for under the alias "Joker."
On the day of Luffy and the Straw Hats' return to HQ, after parting ways with Law with a promise to meet again and fight alongside each other in the future, they would receive a call. As Luffy was strolling around the top floor of the HQ building, he heard a snail ringing, and followed the sound to it's source. He ended up in his own office, which he has only been in maybe three times maximum, and finds his personal line is ringing. Curious, Luffy goes over to it, but does not pick it up just yet. Who could be calling? He is not sure anyone has ever called his personal line before, or at least not that he can recall. Usually if someone needs to talk to the higher-ups of Straw Hat Delivery, they dial Buggy, and if they really need to speak with Luffy, they dial the Poison Moon's Snail. After deciding he can just solve the whole mystery by just picking it up, he does just that.
"Hello? This Monkey D. Luffy.! I'm gonna be King of the Pirates.!" He answers. A familiar female voice responds,
"Well hello, Straw Hat.! I was hoping to speak with you." The voice says. Before Luffy can respond, Buggy walks in, surprised to see Luffy in his own office. Before he can ask anything, Luffy recognizes the person on the other end.
"Oh! Big Mom! Good to finally hear from you!" He says, causing Buggy to scramble silently before running up close to listen in on the conversation.
"First, I wanted to congratulate you on your defeat of the Warlord Doflamingo, that was quite impressive, and will be a major blow to my rival, Kaido." Big Mom says, causing Luffy to beam with pride at his accomplishment.
"It was no problem, but I did it for my friend Traffy! Thanks though!" He says quickly.
"But, more importantly, I wanted to invite you to come back to Totto Land so we could discuss forming an official alliance. Galette gave you my Vivre Card, yes?" Big Mom says.
"Uh huh! Gal-y let me keep it." He replies nonchalantly.
"Excellent! Please head over here as soon as you can, follow the Vivre Card! And feel free to bring an entourage with you. We'll be waiting for you, safe travels!" She says as she hangs up the Snail. Luffy hangs up as well and turns to Buggy,
"What's an entourage?" He asks. Luffy's knack for missing the important parts of something shines through once again.
"We're gonna die this time, aren't we?.!" Buggy questions under his breath pessimistically.
A/N: Summoned again, the Straw-Clown Alliance is destined to meet with Big Mom and her family once more, but how will it go this time? And what does Big Mom have in store for them? Find out next time! Now, we can see (part of) the reason Katakuri is called "Dogtooth" here. "Doggy" is a much more fun version of any nickname I came up with for the name Katakuri. However, there will be a more profound reason for this as promised, but that won't show up for a while. By the way, for convenience sake, the nicknames Luffy makes for people who's names he cannot (or does not want to) pronounce will basically be the first part of their name with an "-y" sound added at the end. Anyway, stay tuned for the big reveal next time and don't forget to Follow, Favorite, and Review!