Chapter 3.5: Mini-Adventures of the Grand-Line Strawhats #1.
AN: Hey guys! Sorry for making you wait. Here's a little interlude where we see two Strawhats from the Grand Line.
Glad you liked what I did with Luffy's wanted poster. Why writing on his teeth ? Because it sounded cool! Shishishishi. And because it amused me that, in Luffy's wanted poster we got to see his huuuge grin with his super white teeth in the open and everything. So, yeah ...
Oh yeah, and why isn't Zoro getting any bounty? Well since he hasn't been given one last time after Loguetown (where he had been officially reported as being part of Luffy's crew) I didn't see the point in giving him a bounty now. But he'll get one, eventually.
And why did the name change ? I thought the original name was too 'ordinary' and it didn't please me so ... I've changed it. This one's definitive though.
Oh, and I'll probably tell the whole story behind the mugiwara's sudden trip to the past around the Baratie Arc. You've guessed it, it's about 'Disturbing Someone's Nap' !
Hope you'll enjoy the mini-chapter :D
Somewhere on the seas of 'Grand Line'
A certain swordsman was sailing on his tiny boat, staring the mist and the ships shapes in front of him with a slight smirk on his face.
Pirate Fleet Admiral Don Krieg. Wanted for 17 Millions Berry.
It was a small fry, a very small fry compared to the opponents Dracule Mihawk slew in the second part of Grand Line, but, hey, what was the point of having a 'Pirate's Graveyard' if some rookies didn't get slashed by living legends now and then? It was incredible how most of the pirates from the other seas knew next to nothing about the realities that lied beneath 'Grand Line'.
Mihawk was about to drew the sword on his back when a bird gave him the news paper. He took it and paid the news Coco.
He raised an eyebrow. There was a bounty poster along with the news paper.
"Wait a minute?" Mihawk muttered as he saw the pirate's photo. "Is that red-hair's hat?"
Shanks, Mihawk's old enemy and sparring-partner in some occasions, had once told him a story like this: red-hair had given his straw-hat to a kid who wanted to become the Pirate king and held the same name as Vice-Admiral Garp's, or something.
"Better see him later." Mihawk mumbled to himself, forgetting about the fleet in front of him for a few seconds.
"Twelve Millions Berries! But that's fewer than Buggy's!" A Green-haired swordsman exclaimed, laughing, before drinking some sake to the bottle.
"Even I had a higher bounty after Enies Lobby." Nami added.
The trio was on the seas of East Blue, sailing with a small boat and heading to a place named "Orange Town", following the captain's orders.
The captain of this small crew, Monkey D. Luffy, simply laughed. "Shishishishi, I don't care about the number. I'm just glad they have put this photo on the poster."
On the teeth of Luffy's bounty poster, there was something written: "Wait Us". The inscription was small, but would catch the eye of the other members of this crew.
"They could have altered it." Zoro said. "Bounty posters aren't here to publish a message, after all. Why did you put it on your teeth, of all things?"
Luffy shrugged. "I dunno; I thought it was cool."
Nami rolled her eyes. "Any way, I hope the others will get the message."
"Usopp and 'funny eyebrow' will surely receive the message." Zoro said. "They're in East Blue, after all."
The orange-haired navigator nodded her head. "Robin will see the poster, I'm sure of it." She said thoughtfully. "It's the kind of stuff the number 2 of Baroque Works receive easily. However, I'm not sure about the others from Grand Line."
"Brook is in the Frodon Triangle…" Luffy began, before being interrupted by Nami.
"It's 'Florian' Triangle." She corrected.
"Right." He said. "Brook's near that eggplant Shichibukai and he probably won't get the message." Luffy grinned. "Well, we'll go to Thriller Bark anyway."
"I'm not sure about Franky and Chopper though." Zoro said finally. "Do they care about a pirate with such a low bounty in Grand Line?"
Luffy shrugged. "Don't know. But if I get a higher bounty, then Franky and Chopper will definitely know that I'm back too, right?"
His two crew members nodded. "Makes sense."
'Luffy is making sense again!' Nami thought in astonishment.
Luffy then raised his fist in the air. "Yosh! Let's kick Buggy's ass!"
1: The Quintessence of Manliness.
Somewhere on Grand Line, on a city named Water 7.
"B-B-Boss!" Zambai shouted. "What happened to your shoulders!?"
Needless to say, the Franky Family members were all very surprised by the sudden appearance of their boss, Franky.
"He's got insanely big arms!" Mozu exclaimed.
"He's lost all of his hairs!" Kiwi added in shock.
"What happened to you, boss!?" Everyone shouted in disbelief.
Franky grinned. He didn't know why he popped up suddenly in the Franky house but he was glad to see them all. It seemed the house was like in his old memories.
"Don't worry about my hair." Franky said while pushing his nose. Three seconds later blue hairs popped out, under the incredulous gaze of his gang. He took out a comb out of nowhere and made his old haircut back.
Franky made a thumb up with his enormous fist.
"As for my new appearance, I've made a two-year trip on a robotic island." He explained.
Question marks appeared on top of everyone's heads.
"Listen up, guys!" Franky exclaimed, beginning his choreography. Mozu and Kiwi followed his path. "With these new transformations I've become the quintessence of manliness!" He joined his super-sized arms, thus forming a blue star. "SUUUUUUPERR!"
'I haven't a clue to what's going on right now.' Franky thought while doing his SUPER-choreography. 'I'm surely in the past, but what of the others? Oh, I'll worry about these things later, there's nothing I can do about it anyway.'
2: Somewhere To Go.
Alabasta, Rainbase.
"Could you tell me what is so funny, Miss All Sunday?!" Shouted an annoyed Crocodile. The leader of Baroque Works was sitting on the chair of his desk, in front of the aquarium with the Bananawanis. The woman was sitting on the desk, maybe as a mark of disrespect to the man's authority.
The woman referred as 'Miss All Sunday' was known as another name: Nico Robin. She was holding a piece of paper – the bounty poster of a wanted pirate from East Blue- and she seemed to be amused by what she saw.
'He wrote it … in his teeth.' Robin thought in amusement. 'Luffy won't change a bit. And of course, I got the message.'
When she was eight, Nico Robin had lost her home, and everyone she cared about. For twenty years she had been forced to live on her own because of the government. But, one day, she finally found what she lacked the most in this twisted World.
A Home.
So, when Robin realized that she wasn't the only one who found herself in this bizarre situation, but that Luffy and everyone from the crew she affectionate that much were thrown back in the past, she couldn't help but show her bliss to Crocodile.
"Are you hiding me something?!" Crocodile asked in irritation. "You have changed in these last two days. Are you …"
Robin activated her devil fruit abilities and grew a couple of arms from her left shoulder.
"I'm still me, Croco-san." Robin said with an amusement smirk. "I'm not some governmental agent trying to spy on you."
Crocodile gritted his teeth. 'This woman is insufferable!' He thought angrily. 'If she wasn't the key for Pluton, I'd…'
"I just changed my haircut." Robin said simply. "If that's what you were asking."
Crocodile began to focus on the bounty poster Miss All Sunday was holding.
"Is that a new wanted head?" Crocodile asked aloud.
Miss All Sunday nodded and showed her 'boss' the paper. "From East Blue. He's got a funny face."
"Che." Crocodile said mockingly. "He's just some naïve rookie. He won't last a week on Grand Line."
Robin stared at her captain's picture and smiled. 'I was very surprised that you allied with Crocodile during the war, Luffy.' She thought. 'I guess the situation imposed it.'
"Who knows?" Robin said aloud. "You might end up saving his life one day."
Crocodile ignored the taunt. "You shouldn't say impossible things like that, Nico Robin."
Robin just shrugged and didn't respond as she was lost in her thoughts. 'I'm sure of it now. The whole crew has been sent in the past, before I met Luffy. They'll surely come to Alabasta once again, which means … I have a lot of work to do.'