"Penny-chan's ready for bed, so leave her alone! I'll escort you, Penny chan." Sanji said in his usual love struck tone, and she shook her head with a laugh.
"Thanks, Sanji-kun, but I think I remember the way. Good night, everyone!"
"Night, Penny-chan!"
'These guys….they're crazy…..I love it……
What in the hell have I gotten myself into….?'
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm going to die! I'm going to die! I'm seriously going to die! Why, of all the pirates I could have chosen to leave with, did it have to be the Straw Hat Pirates?!
Penny's thoughts raced as she screamed alongside Usopp and Nami as the ship veered off course slightly and headed straight for the Red Line.
"Gumo Gumo no Fussen!" Luffy's voice was heard over the screams as he inflated like a balloon and was able to bounce the ship back on course. When she did not fall off the ship, the reddish haired girl fell to her knees in relief.
"Thank God…" She muttered, and heard Usopp grumble something similar beside her. She looked around, and her eyes widened seeing that they were above the clouds.
"Sugoi! Everyone, we're above the clouds!" she exclaimed, and forgot her fears for a moment to join in with the more insane of the crew in celebrating and having fun.
"Did you guys here something?" Penny asked suddenly as something reached her ears, something…sad… in anguish, almost.
"Nope!"
The girl shrugged it off and continued with her fun.
Fun that was soon halted once they were over the top of Reverse Mountain.
"Nami-san! There's a mountain on the other side!" Sanji said, and the Navigator looked over in disbelief.
"Impossible! There were no mountains on the map after this one!" She said as she looked down, seeing it with her own eyes.
"It's not a mountain… It's a whale…!" Penny said, her above-average eyesight picking up the details of the whale easily, even from the distance.
"What?! How is that even possible?! Shit! We're going to crash into it!" Zoro yelled as Nami took charge and begin barking out orders for when they reached the bottom.
"Can't we just shoot it?" Luffy asked, and Penny felt like smacking herself. Or him. But she restrained herself.
"Sorry, captain, but if we did that, then we would have a big, angry whale" she said annoyed as he blinked, then frowned.
"So, it's a mystery."
"It's not a mystery! The thing's just too big to be hurt by a cannonball!!" Sanji yelled as he took the helm and followed Namis' orders. The whale was too close to the mountain, though, and their ship was damaged.
"Whew. That could have been a lot worse, huh guys?" Penny said, and the others, panting and sprawled out on the deck, nodded.
"Yea, we could have…"
"…"
"……"
"……….."
"Luffy-san just punched the whale in the eye, didn't he?" Penny asked, and the others nodded, though there was no need to. She took a deep nervous breath as she watched the whales' eye look down at them, then screamed, along with a few of the others, as they were swallowed.
"Luffy you idiot!!!!"
"Nami-san, Penny-chan, are you two ok?" The two said they were fine. Penny thought to herself, though, 'I can think of times when I've been better. Like when I wasn't in the stomach of a whale.'
"What do you think?" Nami asked everyone, and Zoro was the one to answer.
"'What do I think' you say. It clearly doesn't matter what I think."
"We clearly just got swallowed by a whale." Sanji stated bluntly, a bit of a twitch above his brow.
"Mah, mah, calm down, you guys." Penny stated cheerfully as she looked around.
"Is this a dream?" Usopp asked, and Penny deadpanned.
"Yeah. Probably a dream." The auburn haired girl scowled at Zoro.
"Zoro-san, that's not helping the situation any at all."
"Ah. So the house on that island is …..?"
"And illusion."
"You guys! This is reality! We were swallowed by that whale!"As the irate Penny yelled at them, a giant squid appeared from within the water…or…stomach acid.
"Ah…and this?"
"A GIANT SQUID!!" Usopp and Nami screamed together as they were snapped back into reality by fear. Sanji and Zoro got ready to attack, but before they could, harpoons were launched from the island and into the squid, killing it.
"Looks like someone's home" Zoro said, a smirk on his face.
"Better hope it's someone friendly" Sanji said, a similar smirk donning his face.
"No more, I wanna go home…." Nami looked up, tears in her eyes.
"If Luffy were here, he'd know what to do…." Usopp said, tears in his eyes too.
"Oh yea, where is Captain, anyways?" Penny asked as she looked around.
"Shoot it! Blast the island with the cannon!" Usopp said suddenly, and Penny looked at him as if he was crazy.
"What good is that going to do? Besides, if that island wasn't there, we would be squid food!"
"Wait a minute, someone's coming out." Sanji said, and sure enough, there was movement on the island. "Ah! It's a flower!!!"
"Flower?"
"My mistake, it's a person."
Penny felt a sweat-drop appear on her head at the mistake, before she saw the old man. "Ah! It, I mean he, does look like a flower!" she said in awe.
"Anyways, what's up with that old man? He just killed that giant squid…." Usopp demanded.
"He was fishing……or he was saving us." Sanji said as he locked eyes with the old man, and everyone stared. And stared. The old man stared back, an intense staring contest going on…..
Before he sat down in his lawn chair and pulled out the daily newspaper.
"SAY SOMETHING, ASSHOLE!!" Sanji yelled, annoyed.
"We'll fight you if that's what you want, bastard! We've got cannons right here!!" Usopp yelled from the safety of the entrance of the cabin. Once again the old man locked eyes with the crew.
"Don't. Or someone will die." He said, his voice sending shivers down Penny, Nami, and Usopps' spin.
"Oh? And who would that be?" Sanji asked just as coldly, and the old man looked at him.
"Me."
"YOU?! Why you freakin'...!"
"Hey, don't get pissed off." Zoro said, laying a hand on the blondes' shoulder, amusement clear on his face.
"Playing with me like that…" Sanji muttered in anger as Zoro pushed the cook back and took over.
"Hey, old man, tell me, where are we, and who are you?" He asked, and the old man's eyes turned again.
"If you want something from someone, its proper manners to introduce yourself first." The old flower-looking man said, and Zoro blinked.
"A-Ah, that's right. My mistake. I am Zoro."
"I am Crocus. I am the keeper of the Twin Capes Lighthouses. I'm 71 years old. Gemini. Blood type AB."
"CAN I KILL HIM NOW?!" Zoro exploded, and Penny snickered.
"Hey, cool off!"
"You want to know where you are? You came to my one man resort and then yell such rude things at me. Do you think you're inside a rat's stomach?" He demanded, and Usopps' eyes widened.
"So we really were swallowed by the whale..! But this doesn't look like the inside of a whale." Usopp said as Nami begin to freak out.
"Wait, what's going to happen to us?! I don't want to be digested!!"
That thought never occurred to Penny….
"Wait, we're actually in acid?! WHAAA! I don't wanna be digested, either!!" She wailed, suddenly wishing that Luffy had left her at Rougetown.
"As for the exit, it's over there." The old man said, and pointed to some iron doors.
"We can leave?!" Everyone yelled at the same time.
"Wait a second, what's an exit doing inside a whales stomach? And why is that door in the sky?" She asked, referring to where the door was placed on the painted inside.
"JUST WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" Usopp yelled, and the old man smiled.
"I like having fun."
"It's ok, just leave him alone." Zoro said, annoyed. He just wanted to leave.
"Now what?" Sanji asked, since Zoro had taken charge, being first mate and all.
"Nami, there's the exit. Let's just get outta here." He said, and she nodded.
"Alright."
Before they could move, though, the ocean of stomach acid they were floating on begin to rock back and forth violently.
"Now what?!" Penny wailed, almost not wanting an answer.
"He's started again."
"Hey, look! That's not an island, it's a ship!" Nami said, catching the others attention.
"It looks like it's made of iron…" Penny said.
"Oi! Started what! Explain!" Usopp yelled.
"This whale…..Laboon has started ramming himself against the Red Line."
"WHAT?!"
"Now that you mention it….this whale had some huge scars on his head…." Penny said a bit curiously. Why would he ram himself against the Red Line like that?
"And it was bellowing to the sky." Nami said and Penny nodded. Usopp looked at them confused.
"What are you saying?" He asked, and Nami explained.
"It's in pain!"
"I get it! So the old man's plan is…."
"Probably. To kill the whale from the inside out."
"What a horrible way to kill it…" Penny muttered as she twirled a knife absentmindedly, not liking the idea at all.
"Now that we've solved this mystery, let's get out of here." Zoro said. "Our ships going to dissolve if you just stand there complaining."
"Well, the whaling business doesn't bother me, and I don't feel like saving this one. Let's get out of here." Sanji said indifferently.
The waves suddenly started up again.
"Shit! The waves are to strong! We won't be able to get to the exit like this!!" Usopp yelled as he braced himself onto the ship.
"Were gonna have to try rowing! Take the oars!" Zoro ordered and they begin to move.
"We have to get out of here now, and find out what happened to Luffy!" Penny yelled as she went to help with the rowing, but Sanji would have none of it.
"He's outside the whale, I saw him get thrown up to the side of the whales mouth!" The rest of the crew relaxed a bit.
"The old man jumped in!" Nami suddenly yelled.
"Eh?" Zoro and Penny both said at the same time as they looked to where he had disappeared to.
"Why'd he do that? He'll be digested." Zoro said in his really couldn't care less voice.
"Oi, the old man's coming up." Usopp said after spotting him coming up the side on a ladder.
"Just ignore him! We have to figure out a way to open the door." Zoro said, then paused, along with the others when he heard a familiar scream. Luffy came bursting through the door above the old man's head, along with two other strange looking figures.
"Luffy!?"
"Oh, you guys are ok! By the way….save me!" The captain of the Straw-Hat Pirates ordered before he fell into the digestive fluids of Laboons' stomach