Freckles
chapter 18

"Buuuuuh"

"Did you hear that ?" Zoro asked cocking an eyebrow. Yeah, he liked doing that a lot.

"Must be the wind," Nami said.

"Who cares !" Eli was still on Ace's back, a large grin plastered on her face.

"Buuuuuh"

"Nami ! There's a mountain blocking our way," Sanji shouted.

"A mountain ?" Nami looked at the cook in disbelief. "That's impossible !"

"I think..." Ace said.

"Buuuuuh"

"What do you think Freckles ?" Eli asked tilting her head to the side to look at him.

Usopp adjusted his goggles. "It's not a mountain," he said, "IT'S A GIANT WHALE !!!"

"That ! That's what I thought," Ace said to a gaping Eli.

Of course, Luffy wanted to fight the colossus, and of course this caused Nami to jolt him on the head.

Usopp was holding tight on the mast, mumbling things about being too young to die, with fear in his eyes. While Zoro, Sanji, and Ace were fruitlessly gripping the broken whipstaff to make it move.

"MOVE IT !" Eli yelled.

"Trying to !" they replied through gritted teeth.

The girl glanced over her shoulder, her eyes widened seeing the whale was now only few meters away.

"Oh... frak..."

Their journey was about to end before it had barely started. Sad. Eli was still glad. She had found wonderful friends, and she had to admit that from the moment she had met Luffy and Ace, life has been really good.

At least I'm not gonna die a vir-

"KABOOM"

Someone had fired the front cannon right into the whale. And the blast was so powerful that the Merry was, at long last, slowing down.

Luffy walked out on the anchor deck, smiling.

"Oh God... This boy is a genius," Eli muttered incredulously.

The ship had slowed down, but was still heading toward the whale.

"CRICK"

The Merry's figurehead snapped hitting the whale.

"MY SPECIAL SEAT !!!" Luffy shrieked.

Seeing that the whale had still not moved, the men of the crew started to row the ship frenetically through the small gap between the beast and the cliff. Hoping that it'll keep on ignoring the small ship.

Thanks to the large amount of adrenaline flowing in their veins, they managed to row the ship past the small opening in a few seconds.

The Merry was now sailing along the whale's side, right under its eye, but still unnoticed.

Luffy glared at the whale's orb with raging eyes.

Oh no Luffy... Don't you dare... Eli pleaded looking at the angry boy.

But he did.

Luffy hurled his rubber fist in the animal's huge eye.
"You destroyed my special seat !!"

"Oh God... This boy is a moron," Eli muttered incredulously.

Luffy definitely got the whale's attention since its gigantic eye was now looking at the small ship.

"Come and fight me you stupid fish !" the boy taunted clenching his fists angrily.

Eli ran to Luffy and tied his rubbery limbs, light-speed, to the railing to prevent him from endangering the crew's lives any more.

"Shut up Luffy !" Ace slapped his brother's head.

But it was too late. The whale opened its huge mouth, creating a mighty current that sucked the ship in.

The sudden acceleration of the ship threw Eli overboard.

The girl was slowly falling backwards, aware that below her was the ocean, her deadly enemy. Eli saw the horror in Ace eyes', as the ship was dashing away. She threw desperately her hands out toward him.

"ACE !"

What happened next was a bit confusing.

He jumped ? Did he actually jump ?

Ace did jump, or more accurately, propelled himself like a rocket, fire bursting from his feet. He grabbed Eli, and landed on one of the whale's teeth. Then the young man jumped on the monster's cheek, right before it closed his mouth.

The pair slumped on the whale's head, panting heavily. Climbing the giant and slippery head had been quite an ordeal by itself.

After a few minutes to catch their breaths, Ace and Eli sat up facing each other.

"Luffy you idiot..." Eli muttered.

Ace nodded.
"Why did he do that for ?"

"He's YOUR brother you should know. He never think before acting !"

Ace sighed deeply fixing his hat.

Eli looked at him silently remembering her salvaging.

He jumped... Eli thought. He jumped to save me.
Well it's only natural that he saved you ! You're his crewmate, he wasn't going to let you die there, logical Eli pointed out.
I know that ! she retorted. It was pretty amazing though...

"Thanks for saving me," she said giving him a warm smile.

He smiled back.
"No biggie Twig."

Eli cleared her throat, not wanting to dwell on the subject.
"So... What do we do now ?"

"What is that ?" Ace said pointing a small metal thingy on the top of the whale's head.

Looking over her shoulder Eli's eyes fell on the mysterious object.

"A hatch... on a whale... What the..." she stammered in disbelief.

Ace stood up and walked to the said hatch to examine it. Eli joined him. Indeed, it was a hatch, a hatch on a whale.

The young man opened it.

"Shall we ?" he said sounding rather amused.

"I am dreaming right ?" Eli asked looking around in disbelief.

How could they be in a corridor, if they had just gone through a hatch on a whale's head. Wait, that was impossible to begin with.

Ace pinched her arm.

"OW ! Why did you do that ?" she asked rubbing her arm.

"You're not dreaming Twig," Ace said looking around. "We came through a hatch, on a whale's head, and now there's a corridor."

As he started walking, she followed him.

"Hey how did you know it was a whale ?" Eli asked.

"Saw it when I came the first time," he said. "It wasn't blocking the way then."

"Is it guarding the entrance ?"

"Nope." Ace shook his head. "The overseer of the Twin Capes Lighthouse told us it's waiting for friends."

The young man told Eli the story of the whale.

Its name was Laboon. It originally came from West Blue Many years ago with a group of pirates. But they knew that the journey ahead of them was going to be dangerous, too dangerous for the little whale Laboon was at that time. So they decided to leave it here and they asked the overseer to take care of it. They told him that they would travel around the world and come back here for Laboon. It was 50 years ago, and Laboon was still waiting.

"This is so sad !" Eli said with watery eyes.

That did not explain why the insides of the animal were so human friendly though.

Lost in her thoughts, Eli didn't notice that Ace had stopped walking, and bumped into the young man's back.

"Oi !"

But he didn't reply, what he did though, was slowly falling forward. Eli winced when his body hit the floor with a thud.

She sighed and sat next to him.

Eli was inspecting the walls while Ace was asleep. Someone had built this corridor inside the whale, but why ? A recreational activity ? As stupid as it sounded it might be true, they were on Grand Line after all.

The girl was snapped out of her thoughts by a sudden earthquake. Or was it a whalequake ?

Eli whined as she was jerked from a wall to the other, as if she was a rag doll. The girl curled up into a tight ball to lessen the damages on the frail body.
Oh she will be covered with bruises, she was sure of it.

When the quake had finally come to an end, they had arrived in a larger corridor with a waterway in the middle, though it didn't look like water, and since they were inside a whale, it probably wasn't.

"Hu ? Was I asleep ?" Ace was finally waking up.

How did he manage to stay asleep during the quake was a total mystery to Eli.

"You know, you should come up with an other question," she said. "If you're wondering, it's probably because you were."

Using her arms for support to picked herself up she felt a sharp pain in her left wrist.

Eli winced holding her aching wrist.

"Are you alright ?" Ace asked worriedly.

"Yea, I think I hurt my wrist, but it's ok."

He crouched next to the girl.
"Let me see."

As he took her hand and moved it slowly, a screech escaped the girl's mouth.

"It's probably sprained."

Eli quickly took her hand back, glaring at the young man.
"Thanks for the diagnostic dumbass !" she snarled. "Anyway, let's go."

They were starting to walk when an other tremor occurred, pushing them forward.

"Not again." Eli pleaded trying to keep her balance.

She threw a glance at her partner, and almost gaped seeing him grin. The young man was actually having fun.
How was that even possible?

But his smile was contagious, and soon Eli found herself enjoying her fall.

Drawing near a gate, they saw two unknown figures standing in their way. And there was no way they could decelerate.

"MOVE !" Ace yelled to warn the two strangers.

But they didn't and the pair crashed into them forcefully.

Once they got past the threshold, the floor under their feet disappeared. How lucky. And they were flung into the air.

Apparently they had gone through some exit since they could see the sky above them.
And the sea below.

Frak...

Fortunately, the Merry was there too.

"SAVE US !" Eli cried to her crewmates.

"ELISABETH !"
Sanji threw his vest and shoes away to dive into the sea straightaway.

"ACE ! ELI !" Luffy waved happily.

They smiled waving back, like two idiots, before entering the water.

"We are still inside the whale ?" Eli asked looking with amazement at her surroundings.

They were on the Merry, and after a second observation, the sea they were sailing on had a strange greenish hue. And the bright blue sky above their heads seemed a bit unreal, mainly because the birds and clouds were motionless.
The whole scenery looked, somehow, fake.

"Yes, we're in its stomach to be more precise," Nami answered resting her hand on her hip.

"Which mean I am covered with..."

Usopp nodded.

"Ew !"

The two strangers were sitting on the ship's deck.

One of them was a man. He had light brown hair, wore a green suit, and a crown. He had the number 9 written on both his cheeks.

The other was a young, and very pretty woman, whence Sanji was crouched by her side, staring at her with flirty eyes.
She wore a white and blue stripped tank top, and a light green coat. Her light blue hair were pulled into a high ponytail.

"So ? Who are you ?" Nami asked.

They both seemed a bit tense under the pirates' inquisitive stares. They clutched their bazookas tightly and started whispering to each other.

"As long as I am alive I'll protect this whale !"

"Oh ! It's the overseer I told you about," Ace informed Eli.

The man was standing on a platform before the very door Ace and Eli had gone through earlier.

The two strangers stood up briskly.
"We are inside the whale..."
And, without delay, they both fired a cannonball toward the whale's stomach with their bazookas.
"You can't stop us any more !"

The overseer growled and jumped to intercept the cannonballs with his body. The explosion blasted the man away.

The two strangers laughed evilly.
"It's worthless ! No matter what you do, this whale will soon feed our town !"

Luffy got behind them and hit the two hunters on the heads with a loud thud.

The name of the overseer was Crocus. He told the pirates about Laboon's story, and also explained them that it was bashing against Red Line in an attempt to get to the other side and rejoin his pirate comrades.

When Eli asked him about the corridors, Crocus told her that was once a doctor, and that he had built the passages in the whale's body in order to cure him from the inside.

Once outside Luffy threw the two hunters overboard.

"By the way, who are you ?" the boy asked leaning against the railing.

"It's none of you business !" they both yelled.

"Well Miss Wednesday, we should go now," the crowned man said to his partner.

"You're right Mr Nine," the blue haired girl replied.

"We'll see you soon you lousy pirates !" they said swimming away.

"Miss Wednesday and Mr Nine..." Eli crossed her arms.

"Sounds like fake names," Ace said.

"Sounds like COOL names !" the girl grinned. "Isn't it Mr Freckles ?"

"It sure is Miss Twig !"

After taking a needed shower, Eli went to the deck with her book. She wanted to write about Laboon's story. However she had forgotten about her wrist and found herself unable to hold a pen properly.
But the girl was going to give up so easily, so she tried to write with her right hand.

She sure looked rather funny. Sticking her tongue out the corner of the mouth, while holding her pen like a child would. After a few minutes the result wasn't really satisfying, it kinda looked like Luffy's handwriting.

Eli sighed deeply and decided to give up her book for today. She leaned back against the railing and let the soft sound of the waves lulled her into sleep.

A scream woke Eli out of her nap rather brusquely.

She stood up to find Luffy rampaging on the top of Laboon's head.

"What the..." she muttered.
Her eyes widened.
"What the frak is Luffy doing with our mast ?"

"He's fighting with the whale I guess." Ace said.

She hadn't notice that the young man was sitting next to her.

Reading her book.

"What the frak are you doing with my book ?" she said flabbergasted at the young man's intrusion.

"Reading ?"

"Oi !" Eli snatched her book from the snooper. "No one touches my book without my permission !"

He smirked.
"You drew me."

What ? Eli looked at the arrogant man before her with wide eyes.

"I drew EVERYONE !" She held her book tightly against her chest.

Ace stood up and and took a step toward the girl.

"But you drew me TWICE !" he said looking smugly at the girl's face.

"The second time it was your back, hardly counts !" she retorted right away.

"If you say so," he said with amusement in his voice.

She started walking away as she couldn't bear his self-satisfied look anymore.
Just who does he think he is, she thought bitterly.

Hearing him laugh she whirled.
"I'll make you pay for this Portgas !" she threatened pointing a finger to the young man's freckled face.

His smirk grew larger.
"You're cute when you blush Twig."

to be continued

I wondered... Should I name my chapters ?
And if you think I should, how the hell do you name a chapter ?!

XD Shibo26
ThexWhitexPhoenix I saw an art of Sanji in Ace's clothes and he looked really good.
Your favorite chapter Tropicall ! Well now I just have to try my best to do better.
You have to admit Emma0707, Sanji totally deserved it :)
Making people laugh is the best compliment I could get, thank you Art-sama.