Then, Usopp rode up to Lucci on his motorbike and Sekhmet grabbed Lucci's arm getting the race car driver's attention.
"Hey! If dad and mum ask, we were just out smashing mailboxes, okay!" she shouted as she and Usopp took off down the road. Lucci watched the two teenagers drive away into the café/gas station.
"What?" Lucci said, confused. He looked in the direction they just came from and saw dust clouds forming. He squinted at it and it didn't take long for him to see that in the cloud was a herd of goats! And it looked like the goats he and the teens had made faint the night before! Lucci jumped out of the goat's path and watched as they scattered across down.
"Oh man! The paint on the road is still wet!" Franky, who had been painting the yellow lines on the road, shouted as he ran into his paint shop. The goats started to head towards Tom's statue, where Chopper was watering the flowers.
The reindeer-boy glanced at the goats, then at the flowers, figuring out their target. Chopper got in front of the flowers, and whipped out a small orb. He ate it and within seconds grew into this giant monstrous reindeer, and roared at the goats. Several fell down, fainting from the scare, but several scattered into the different shops.
One of them went into Brook and Laboon's tire shop.
"No! Get out of the store!" Brook shouted as Laboon went after the goat. There was another goat eating some of the tires.
"No! Don't eat the radial!" Brook snapped. Then the skeleton pushed a stack of tires near the goat. "Here! Take the snow tires! Nobody bought them anyway!" he said.
"Usopp!" Paulie shouted as he chased after some of the goats.
"We weren't scaring the goats!" Usopp lied.
"Then where did we all of these damn goats come from!" Paulie shouted.
"Sekhmet! You didn't go with him, did you?!" Jabra questioned his daughter.
"No," Sekhmet lied, making it clear she wasn't being honest.
"Sekhmet! I can tell you're lying!" Jabra snapped.
Robin was calmly sitting at one of the café tables, petting a baby goat.
"How are you so calm during all this!" Usopp shouted, as he ran by her.
Lucci snickered at the chaos going on all around him until he noticed one of the goats started to run out of the town.
"Hey guys, there's one going this way!" Lucci hollered. When nobody stopped to get it, he decided to go after it himself. "I got it," he said.
He followed the goat over to Willie's butte. "Come here, little goat, come here," Lucci said, trying to coax it to him.
The goat stopped at one point and Lucci said, "That's a good goat." Before it started walking off again. "No, no, no, no. Come here. What are you doing? You're not supposed to go wandering off all-," he said until he saw Iceberg's car on the dirt track. "Alone," he finished himself.
Lucci slowly went over to the ledge and looked at the old car. The old car had racing tires on it.
"What are you doing with your car in those old racing tires?" Lucci wondered.
Iceberg was in his car, staring at the track. He sighed.
"Come on, Iceberg, drive," Lucci muttered.
Iceberg looked at the track before revving the engine in his car. Then, Iceberg took off really fast down the dirt track. Lucci watched in amazement, until he saw Iceberg driving to the part of the track where Lucci always screwed up on. Iceberg then made the car start going sideways, with the tires in the position they were in to turn right. Lucci watched as Iceberg made the turn perfectly without any trouble and he continued to drive to the finish line.
When Iceberg stopped, the man took a deep breath and smiled. Lucci then ran up to the car and said, "Wow, you're amazing!"
Iceberg, shocked to see Lucci had seen him, immediately drove out of Willie's Butte.
"Hey, what're you doing! Iceberg, wait!" Lucci shouted, as he ran after the car.
Iceberg made it back to town and parked his car in front of the clinic and entered the garage. Lucci went after, only to get briefly interrupted by Usopp and Sekhmet, who were herding the goats out of Galley-La. Lucci then continued to follow Iceberg and entered the garage.
"Iceberg, hold it! Seriously, your driving's incredible!" Lucci stated.
"Wonderful, now go away," Iceberg sneered.
"Hey, I mean it! You still got it," Lucci added.
"I'm asking you to leave," Iceberg said.
"Come on, I'm a race car driver, you're…a much older race car driver, but under the exterior, you and I are the same!" Lucci said.
"We are not the same! Understand? Now get out," Iceberg snapped.
"How can a guy like you quit at the top of your game?" Lucci asked.
Iceberg got a shocked expression and said, "You think I quit?" Iceberg clicked a light switch and a light went on, revealing a framed newspaper article. It showed a severely damaged car and a younger Iceberg on a stretcher.
"Right, you big wreck in '94," Lucci said.
"They quit on me. When I finally got well again, I went back expecting a big welcome. You know what they said? 'You're history'. Moved right on to the next rookie standing in line. There was a lot left in me. I never got chance to show them. I keep that, to remind me never to go back. I just never expected that that world would...would find me here," Iceberg explained.
"Hey, look iceberg. I'm not them," Lucci said.
"Oh, yeah?" Iceberg said.
"No, I'm not," Lucci insisted.
"When was the last time you cared about something other than yourself. You name me one time and I will take it all back," Iceberg said.
Lucci then went silent.
"Ah huh? I didn't think so. These are good folk around here, who care about one another. I don't want them depending on someone they can't count on," Iceberg said.
"Oh, like you? You've been here how long and your friends don't even know who you are? Who cares about only himself?" Lucci asked.
"Just finished that road and get out of here!" Iceberg snapped.
Lucci was forced out of the garage and Iceberg locked the doors to the garage. Lucci stood by himself, in the town, thinking to himself about what Iceberg just said.
Was there ever a time when Lucci cared about someone other than himself? To be honest, no, but Lucci would change that right away.
The next morning, Usopp woke up in his old house and stepped outside, ready to see what there was to do that day, until he noticed the road was paved in front of his home. Usopp saw that it was paved to the point where the two road work signs were, which weren't that far from his house. Usopp walked down the road and looked out into the distance. Iceberg walked out of his house and joined him.
"He's done. He must've finished while we were all asleep," Usopp said.
"Good riddance," Iceberg said before walking into the clinic.
Eventually, the rest of the residents in Galley-La joined Usopp.
"He's gone?" Robin said.
"Well, we wouldn't want him to miss that big race of his," Jabra said.
Luffy got a sad expression on his face, sad that Lucci had left. The boy walked into his office.
Paulie then sniffed.
"Aw, bro, are you crying?" Franky asked the cop.
"No! I'm happy! I don't have to watch him every second of the day anymore! I'm glad he's gone!" Paulie shouted, trying to sound happy.
Chopper sniffed, before he ran off crying, running behind the junkyard and causing the tall stack of tires to fall over again. Turns out, the reindeer-boy had grown to like Lucci.
Lucci walked up to Sekhmet and asked, "What's wrong with Chopper?"
"Oh, he's just sad because you left town to your big race to win the Grand Line Cup that you've always dreamed about your whole life, get that big old sponsor and that fancy helicopter you were talking about," Sekhmet answered, not realizing she was talking to Lucci. She looked at Lucci for a few moments before she widened her eyes and said, "Wait a minute!"
The other townsfolk laughed.
"I knew you wouldn't leave without saying goodbye!" Usopp exclaimed, patting Lucci on the shoulder.
"What are you doing here, Lucci? You're going to miss your race," Paulie said. "Don't worry, I'll give you a police escort and we'll make up the time." Paulie was about to go and get his police when Lucci said, "Thanks Paulie, but I can't go just yet."
"Why not?" Paulie asked.
"I don't know if my car's tires," Lucci said, and heard a gasp from Brook. "Can get me all the way to Raftel," Lucci finished.
"Pit stop?" Laboon asked.
"Does anyone know when Brook's tire shop opens?" Lucci asked.
"Yohoho! I can't believe it! Four new tires!" Brook exclaimed once Lucci and his race car were inside his tire shop.
"Thank you, Lucci-san! Thank you!" Brook said.
"Would you look at that," Robin said with a smile.
Luffy heard the commotion and went over to see what was going on and was surprised to see Lucci in the tire shop. The boy smiled and watched.
"Our first real customers in years! I am filled with tears of ecstasy, for this is the most glorious day of my life!" Brook exclaimed.
Iceberg heard the noise too and saw Lucci was still in town. He grumbled as he stomped off toward his clinic.
"All right, Brook. Give my car the best set of black walls you got," Lucci said.
"No, no, no, no! You don't know what you want. I know what you want. Black wall tires; they blend into the pavement. But this," Brook said as he pulled a rope, which opened a curtain over a shelf, revealing a set of white-wall tires. "White-wall tires! They say, 'Look at me! Here I am! Love me'," Brook said.
"All right, you're the expert," Lucci said.
"Yohohoho!" Brook laughed.
"Oh, and don't forget the spare," Lucci said.
"Wonderful. Laboon!" Brook said.
"Pit stop!" the younger man cheered.
Laboon grabbed his electric wrench and Brook had a checked flag in his hand. The skeleton waved the flag and within seconds, Laboon replaced the tires on Lucci's car very fast.
"Yohohoho, what did I tell you?" Brook said as Lucci observed his car.
"Wow, you were right. Better than one of the Four Emperors, huh?" Lucci asked.
"No," Brook said as he and Laboon gave Lucci frowns. Lucci sweat dropped.
Later, Lucci was at Kumadori's, tasting his organic tea. "Wow, this organic tea is great! Why haven't I heard about it before?" Lucci asked.
"Yoi-yoi! It's a conspiracyyyyy! The artificial juice companies got a grip on the government! They're feeding us a bunch of liiiiiiieeeeeees," Kumadori stated.
"Ok, I'll take some," Lucci said.
A while later, Lucci was in Jabra's surplus shop, trying on a pair of night vision goggles.
Then he went to Kokoro's Curio shop, where he got some bumper stickers for his car.
Then, he went to Franky's, where he got his car spray painted.
Then, Sekhmet helped him find something new to wear.
By sundown, Luffy was coming down the road near Franky's paint shop.
"Here he comes!" Usopp said.
"Places, everyone! Hurry! Act natural!" Lucci, who was out of sight, ordered.
The townsfolk stood in a line, hiding Lucci from Luffy's view. "Hi Luffy," everyone greeted the boy.
"All right, what's going on?" Luffy asked, already suspicious.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the new Rob Lucci!" Usopp announced.
Everyone stepped away to allow Lucci to drive his car to the middle of the road. It was painted a yellow-gold and there was a black outline of a leopard and its spots pattern on the hood. Lucci stepped out of the car, revealing to be wearing a leopard print shirt, black slacks, black shoes, his hair was pulled back, and he had on a top hat.
"What do you think? Galley-La looks pretty good on me," Lucci said.
"I'll say! Rrrrr, wow. You're going to fit right in in Raftel," Luffy stated with a big grin on his face. "Wow, it looks like you helped everyone in town."
"Everyone except one," Lucci said, smirking. "Hey, is it getting dark out?"
"What? What did he say?" Kokoro asked.
"Let me say that again. Is it getting dark out?" Lucci asked a little louder.
"Now what was I supposed to do after that?" Kokoro asked, when Chopper punched the radio, which started to play music.
When the sun went down, all of the neon lights on all the buildings started to turn on.
"They fixed their neon," Luffy gasped, as he watched all the lights turn on. Then, everyone started to dance to the music on the road.
"Just like in its heyday, right?" Lucci asked.
"It's even better than I imagined," Luffy said. "Thank you."
As everyone continued to dance, Lucci asked, "Shall we dance?"
Then, Kokoro ran up to Lucci and grabbed his arm. "Why thank you, dearie. I'd love to!" she exclaimed as she dragged Lucci away.
"Monster Granny!" Luffy said.
"I remember when Tom first asked me to go on a date with him…" Kokoro said.
Sekhmet walked up to Luffy and asked, "Hi Luffy, can you dance with me?"
"Sure Sekhmet," Luffy said, smiling. The two were about to join the others, but Paulie stopped them. The traffic light changed to red and a herd of goats started to cross across the road.
Luffy looked at where Lucci, who was still with Kokoro, and he seemed to have the "Help me" expression, which made Luffy snicker.
"...and again and I said, 'No,' and he asked me again, and I said, 'No.' But, oh, he was a persistent little bugger. Finally I said, 'All right, one little drive'…" Kokoro went on and Lucci finally got away from her.
Lucci looked at the street, wondering where Luffy was until he felt someone grab the back of his collar. He glanced back to see Usopp riding on his motorbike and Sekhmet was in the sidecar and she had grabbed Lucci's collar. The duo took duo off the main street and to Luffy.
"Thanks guys," Luffy said.
"Good evening, you two," Usopp and Sekhmet said, with ridiculous grins on their faces.
While everyone was having fun, Kokoro stood next to Tom's statue. "Oh Tom, I wish you could see this," she said.
Luffy moved closer to Lucci and the duo smiled at each other.
"Is that what I think it is?" Nami asked.
"I don't know, Nami. I haven't found the chance to find out, but I am going to find out," Luffy said.
"Not that," Nami said, pointing at Luffy and Lucci, "That." Nami pointed down the road, where there were dozens of car lights.
"Customers?!" Luffy gasped.
"Customers, everybody! And a lot of them! You know what to do, just like we rehearsed!" Nami shouted.
Lucci took a step, to get a closer look at the lights, when this big spotlight went on him.
"It's the ghostlight!" Usopp and Sekhmet screamed.
Up above, a helicopter pilot said over a radio, saying, "We have found, Lucci, we have found Lucci!"
Then, before anyone knew it, tons of reporters flooded into Galley-La and started to surround Lucci and the other townsfolk.
"Lucci, over here!" one of the reporters shouted, trying to take a picture of him.
"Ah, wait, excuse me," Lucci said, trying to find his friends. But the reporters wouldn't budge and started asking him outrageous questions.
"Is it true you've been in rehab?"
"Did you have a nervous breakdown, Lucci?"
"I'm sorry, what?" Lucci asked, not hearing the questions since they came so fast.
"Lucci's car has whitewalls!" someone shouted.
"Lucci! Lucci!" Luffy shouted, trying to get the race car driver's attention.
"Was Rob Lucci your prisoner?" one of the reporters asked Usopp and Sekhmet.
"What, no! We're best friends," Usopp said.
"And we're not bragging or anything but we were in charge of hunting him down if he tried to escape," Sekhmet added.
"Don't tell them that!" Usopp shouted.
"Luffy! Luffy!" Lucci shouted.
"Lucci!" Kaya shouted as she made her way up to Lucci. "Will you still race for the Grand Line Cup?"
"Lucci!" Luffy hollered.
"Luffy!" Lucci shouted back.
"Come on, give us the growl!" one of the reporters shouted.
Then, Tilestone drove into the tow, with Lucci's trailer. "You're here! Thank the kami! You're alive!" Tilestone shouted.
"Tilestone?" Lucci asked, going up to the truck.
"You're here! I can't believe! You are a sight for sore eyes! I'm so sorry I lost you, boss! I'll make it up to you!" Tilestone shouted.
"Tilestone, I, I can't believe you're here," Lucci said.
Then, Harv's voice came from inside the trailer, "Is the world's fastest racing machine?"
"Is that Harv?" Lucci asked.
"Yeah, he's in the back," Tilestone said.
As Lucci walked over to the door to his trailer, Tilestone helped make the crowd move so he could.
"Get back you blood-thirsty parasites!" Tilestone shouted as he did so.
"Harv! Harv!" Lucci shouted as he opened his trailer door. When he saw nobody was inside, he said, "Harv?"
"Kid, I'm over here," Harv's voice said from the phone.
"How're you doing, buddy?" Lucci asked.
"My star client disappears off the face of the earth! How do you think I'm doing?" Harv asked, sounding angry.
"Harv, I can explain," Lucci said, sounding worried.
"I'm doing great!" Harv shouted happily. "You're everywhere, baby! Radio, TV, the papers! You can't buy this kind of publicity! What do you need me for? That's just a figure of speech, by the way. You signed a contract. Where are you? I can't even find you on Google Maps."
"I'm in this little town called Galley-La. You know Route 66? It's still here!" Lucci stated.
"Yeah, that's great, kid. Playtime is over, pal. While the world's been trying to find you, One Piece has had no one to woo. Who are they going to woo?" Harv asked Lucci.
"Doflamingo," Lucci snarled.
"Bingo. In fact check out the plasma right now!" Harv said.
Lucci turned on the TV to see some reporters were interviewing Doflamingo. Lucci could see the Sqaure sisters near Doffy, dressed like they were his fans instead of Lucci's.
"Give us the bird!" one of the reporters demanded.
"You want the bird? You want the bird!" Doflamingo said before he did the screech of a bird, making the reporters excited.
"Hey, that's my bit," Lucci said.
"You've gotta get to Raftel, pronto! Just get out of Grubby-Lo now, or One Piece is history, you hear me?" Harv said as Lucci saw Luffy was watching from the doorway.
"Just give me a second here, Harv," Lucci said as he stepped out of the trailer.
"No, no, no, wait. Where are going? Get in the trailer, baby. Kid! You want, you want a bigger trailer?" Harv started to say as Lucci went up to Luffy.
"Luffy, I…I…I want you to…look, I wish…" Lucci stammered, not sure what to say.
"Thank you. Thanks for everything," Luffy said with a small smile.
"It was just a road," Lucci said, also with a small smile.
"No, it was much more than that," Luffy said.
Then Tilestone ran up to Lucci and exclaimed, "Hey, kid! We got to go. Harv's going crazy! He's going have me fired if I don't get you in the truck right now!"
"Tilestone, just…hold it for-," Lucci started to say when Luffy said, "You should go."
"I know but…" Lucci said when Luffy said.
"Good luck in Raftel. I hope you find what you're looking for." Luffy then walked away sadly.
"Luffy!" Lucci shouted, trying to go after him when he got interrupted by reporters.
"Show us the growl, Lucci! The growl!"
"Where's the old Lucci!"
"Lucci, come on!"
Lucci stepped back and stepped into his trailer and found his car was already being pushed inside by Tilestone.
"Come on, get in the trailer. That's it. That's right kid, let's go! You're a big shining star. You're a superstar. You don't belong there, anyway," Harv said as the car door shut.
Lucci got one last look at his friends as it shut. The other reporters, which were interviewing the residents, didn't notice Lucci was leaving until another reporter said, "Hey, guys! Lucci's leaving in the truck!"
The reporters then ran to their cars and drove after Lucci's trailer, leaving the people alone. As everyone was leaving, Kaya noticed Iceberg watching from behind his clinic.
Kaya walked up to him and asked, "Hey, are you Iceberg?" she asked.
"Yeah," Iceberg said.
"Thanks for the call," she said before she got into her truck and drove away. Iceberg then looked another direction, to see Luffy was watching.
"You called them?" he asked.
"It's best for everyone, Luffy," Iceberg said.
"Best for everyone? Or best for you?" Luffy asked angrily as he stomped away.
The residents stood in the street and watched as the truck that had their new friend drove away. Iceberg eventually joined them.
"I didn't even get to say goodbye to him," Sekhmet said sorrowfully.
Luffy took one last look at the departing truck before entering the Foosha Motel Lobby and turned off the neon.
Everyone, looking very sad walked off the street and entered their businesses, also turning off the neon in the process.
Iceberg was alone on the street and the only light left was the blinking yellow light of the traffic light.
We know what the next chapter will revolve around if you've seen the cars movie.
I own Sekhmet
Oda-san owns One Piece
Disney Pixar owns Cars
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