Disclaimer: Sadly, One Piece is not owned by me. One can dream though.
Chapter 11
The Straw Hats all enjoyed the break-neck ride down Reverse Mountain, the wind blowing past them as they continued to pick up speed as they went, the water sprayed everywhere creating more mist. The entire crew was shouting in joy—obviously loving every minute of it.
Downwards they sped, almost as if they were on a waterslide, breaking through the clouds so that they couldn't see anything but the white fog in front of them. All five were laughing, sounding as if they didn't have a care in the world… but then Zoro was shouting out, "Did you just hear something?"
"Huh, what's that?" Nami yelled over at him as the Straw Hats stopped laughing long enough to hear them.
"That groaning sound!" Zoro shouted out, "Didn't you hear it?!"
"It was probably just the wind!" she dismissed at him as they started to go even faster, "At this speed, everything sounds distorted!"
But then they heard it—a distance wailing that sounded like a foghorn had come through the clouds.
Usopp began to look through his goggles to try and find that answer as well. "Nami!" screamed Sanji from the mast, "I see a mountain up ahead!"
"WHAT?! THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!" Nami yelled up at him in panic.
"But it's right there!" Sanji screamed back as he pointed in front of them, "I can see it!"
"Who cares!?" Luffy yelled from the Merry's head—and it was obvious that he couldn't have cared less to what might happen. "GO!"
Nami began to scream that they should be home free after they pass the Twin Capes. But then that groaning wail sounded off once again, louder than ever so that no one could deny that they didn't hear it.
Luffy was now trying to squint his eyes through the thick fog—trying to make something out. Just then, they broke through the white sheet and all that could be seen was a vast navy blue, almost black—which caused the five Straw Hats to scream in shock.
"It's a black wall!" Luffy screamed in fear.
"No, it's not…!" Nami shouted in horror as she grabbed hold of the railing, tears in her eyes.
"Then what is it!?" Zoro yelled before she could finish.
"It's a whale!" Usopp screamed.
To say that this whale was enormous would be the understatement of the century… in front of them was a magnificent creature that was so large, it looked like it could swallow an entire island in one gulp. The whale's massive mouth opened a little so that they could see the row of sharp teeth, and a single tooth about the size of the Merry, if not bigger… and his great head was also covered in dozens of scars, both old and new.
But unaware of what was going on around him, the whale wailed out once again—the loudest one yet—that made the entire mountain shake. They all covered their ears, the noise piercing their brains and their eardrums felt as if they were about to burst.
The Straw Hats, however, were all screaming in a panic.
"W… wha… what are we gonna do!?" Usopp screamed out, looking ready to faint as he stared at them all, desperate that one of them had a plan here.
"Should we fight?" Luffy suggested quickly.
"Idiot, how are we supposed to fight a HUNDRED TON WHALE?!" Nami demanded hysterically.
"Well, do something!" Usopp screamed at them both. "Our path is blocked! How do we escape?!"
"Calm down," Sanji yelled—though he too sounded close to losing his mind in blind fear, "If this creature looks like a giant wall to us, we must be a speck!"
Zoro yelled out that it wouldn't matter if they were small to him because they were going to crash right into him unless they changed course. "Look!" he then shouted, pointing to the titan's side where there was an opening, "We can get by on the left! Port! Hard to port!"
"The rudder's broken!" Usopp reminded him loudly.
"Do something for Pete's sake!" Zoro yelled, and it was strange to see him lose control of his calm like this, "Anything!"
"Wait! I know!" Luffy yelled as he jumped off the figurehead and headed straight down to the hull. "This'll work, it has to!"
Nami yelled after him what he was up to, but he didn't stick around to answer as he disappeared through the front of the ship. The other three men went and tried to pull what was left of the rudder to the left.
"This is pointless!" Usopp yelled as the other two cursed, "The ship's not gonna turn!"
Just as they had almost reached Laboon—below deck there was an enormous blast which could only mean one thing…
"THE CANNON?!" they screamed.
The impact of the blast shot the ship back slightly and blew up in front of them once it hit the whale. The cannon had stopped them from crashing right into the whale and being destroyed, but it wasn't enough to stop them completely. The ship had slowed down considerably but when it bumped into the whale, it ended up breaking off the Merry's figurehead. The sheep's head broke with a loud CRACK and went flying overhead so that when it hit the deck they could hear Luffy's scream of horror, "HEY! THAT WAS MY SPECIAL SEAT!"
Once everyone had caught their breath and let sink in what happened, they broke out the paddles and were now trying to slip past the whale without him noticing anything.
Zoro, Usopp, and Sanji were all yelling at each other about what just happened. "Alright, let's get out of here before it's too late!" Zoro began.
"Someone mind telling me what the heck is going on?!" Usopp shouted back, looking ready to cry.
"It's so big that the cannonball didn't even make it flinch!" Sanji cried as they were working hard to paddle, "That, or his reaction time is really slow!"
"Who cares!?" Zoro yelled at him, "At least we're alive!"
Once again, the gigantic whale howled out, feeling as if his voice was a shockwave, the Straw Hats were all trying to block out the sound and only focused on paddling right past him.
They kept rowing until they were passing right underneath the whale's eye, which was easily more than four times bigger than the little ship, when Luffy came back up to the deck, looking furious.
"Luffy?" Nami whispered, wondering just what it was that he was going to do now.
"You think you can break my special seat and get away with it?!" Luffy yelled as he balled his fist. Leaping off the ship, the wings of a hawk sprang from Luffy's back as he flew full force right into the whale's eye. "TAKE THIS!"
"YOU MORON!" all the Straw yelled—each one of them had tears of fear in their eyes. For a second, time seemed to freeze for nothing could be heard but the sounds of the waves hitting the ship… but then the massive eye suddenly looked down at them and they screamed in terror.
"It sees us!" they yelled, and looked ready to start paddling like crazy away from there.
Luffy, naturally, stood his ground as he used his wings to hover in between the whale and his ship. "I'm not through with you! There's a lot more where that came from!" However, before their idiotic captain could escalate the situation even more, Nami threw a lasso from the ships rigging that snagged the childish captain around his neck. With a yank, the noose dragged Luffy to the Merry where Zoro and Usopp proceeded to kick him in the head, yelling at him that he could get them all killed.
The massive aquatic mammal groaned angrily before he slowly opened his massive mouth, revealing the large teeth once again.
"Please… no," Nami croaked out, now crying hard. But the rushing water going into the gaping mouth was like a current and their little ship didn't stand a chance as it was quickly pulled in. It acted as a black hole… they were pulled right into the whale's mouth and there wasn't anything they could do but hold on tight and hope for the best.
But as they were swept away into the mouth, Luffy was knocked overboard—screaming the whole way as his crew called after him earnestly. Luffy almost hit the water, but had enough sense to regrow his wings and grab onto one of the iceberg sized teeth and hung on tightly, least the powerful winds brought up by the behemoth's breathing suck him in as well.
"I am not gonna die here!" Luffy growled as he held on for dear life. Through the wind he struggled to climb his way up. After a few moments, the whale closed his mouth, eating the Going Merry whole—the ship spinning as if it was going down the drain. However… it was almost anti-climatic when it was over.
Just then, Luffy had been able to climb up to the head, breathing heavily as if he had run for hours. As he attempted to catch his breath, he had anger and fear on his face as he looked around, wondering what to do.
"Ah man…?" Luffy stated, barely controlling his panic. "Everyone was swallowed whole! HEY!" he screamed as he started punching the rubbery skin under him, yelling that he spit them all at once. With each hit, Luffy shifted between some of his heavy hitter forms such as a Grizzly bear, an Elephant Man, and a tiger hybrid. Seemingly ignoring the, for all intent and purpose, zoo hitting it's hide, the whale stared to submerge. "Where do you think you're going you jerk?!" Luffy demanded, sounding more and more angry with each second. "Listen you big whale I'm not gonna ask again! Stop sinking! I mean it! My friends and me are on an important adventure! I can't lose them!"
Luffy seemed to be going nuts as he took his Chimera form and roared out, "GIVE THEM BAAAAAACCCCCCCK!"
Meanwhile, the whale was continuing to go down and it would only be a matter of seconds before Luffy would sink along with it. The water was rising up quickly and as he stared around looking for where he should swim off to and thinking of any form that could do any damage to the whale, Luffy noticed something embedded in the whale's head.
Luffy noticed it looked like a hatch for a submarine and, without thinking, he ran over to it and opened it so that he could jump in. He managed to close the door just as the entire area was submerged into the water. While he could have turned into any number of sea creatures, Luffy didn't want to lose track of the whale and by extension his crew. Despite the whale's size, Luffy didn't want to risk it.
"I might not know what kind of whale this is," Luffy said to himself after he got a good look around and found himself to be standing in an iron hallway with light hanging every few feet, "But I'm pretty sure most animals don't have doors and lighted hallways in them. What kinda whale is this?"
The chimera boy started to walk down the hallway, but then something else happened—the room seemed to tilt and Luffy was knocked off his feet so that he went tumbling down. Luffy was bouncing around like a rubber ball down the hallway until he ended up in a large tunnel with metal walkways on either side of a river. He was going so fast that he couldn't even concentrate properly to get into a form that would prevent his fast descent. Luffy bounced around violently and landing with a painful thudding sound on the walkway. Gasping for breath, Luffy raised his head and stared around.
"Hey that's weird… the whale's got a river inside it too?" he gasped as the room began to shake again and was tilted up one way.
Luffy tried to hold on so that he wouldn't go sliding down again, but it was too steep for him. He slipped and fell. Despite all the constant rocking back and forth, after a few minutes, Luffy had been able to straighten up enough so that he was now running down the hall, looking like he wanted nothing more than to get out of this place. He was waving his arms around in panic, trying to stop himself, but before he could, he looked up in time to see two people standing in front large of a large, metal door. The two were a strange looking duo… there was a middle aged man with a large crown on the top of his long hair and the numbers 9 written on each of his cheeks. The second was a young woman with long, wavy blue hair tied in a tight ponytail and a bit of a stuck-up expression.
The duo didn't see pleased to see Luffy. They looked scared stiff at seeing someone come running at them, screaming at the top of his lungs, before he slammed right into them with such force that the doors were forced open and they were flying through the air.
It was a bit of a shock to find that they were back under a blue sky and clouds—along with a small island, complete with a coconut tree and shack with the Merry right alongside it.
"Luffy?" Zoro's voice came from the ship, and he saw the four of them standing on deck as they watched Luffy and the other two go flying by.
"Zoro! Is everyone okay?!" Luffy yelled in relief before he realized that there wasn't much to stand on and he was falling fast. "So ah… I can use a hand!" he yelled before the three of them hit the digestive juice.
Later, the crew had just fished Luffy and the other two out and were all on deck—and the constant shaking had stopped and there was a deep, almost humming sound that they could hear echoing off the whale's, whose name turned out to be Laboon, stomach walls.
"I don't claim to speak whale," Nami said, going to the railing and looking around, "But it seems to have calmed down a bit."
"Seems that way," Zoro said, looking at woman and the man. "Now, we saved your lives for the time being," he told them irritably, "you better talk and make it quick."
Sanji was right up next to woman and was almost drooling when he saw her. She looked at him with a mixture of apprehension and repugnance as she moved closer to her partner. They then heard her whisper, "Mr. 9… these heathens are pirates."
Mr. 9 looked to her and they heard him whisper back, "Yes, that's painfully obvious Miss Wednesday. But if we speak to their humanity and compassion, they should understand our plight! Maybe…?"
"You know… we can hear every word they're saying," Usopp said, all of them shaking their heads at this.
"Well, I noticed that some people do tend to think that pirates are stupid," Nami proclaimed. And she admitted that when you met people like Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp… she could understand why.
"You parasites are still here?!" yelled an aged voice from above them, and they looked up to see an old man standing up on a small iron platform next to the enormous gate that they had come charging out of. He had a rather stocky and muscular body, with a bald patch on the top of his head, but with white hair with yellow flower petal-like things.
The man, Crocus, declared loudly, "I grow weary of this and for the last time! As long as I draw breath you will not lay a single harmful finger on Laboon!"
"He's back again," Usopp said as Luffy looked to them and asked who he was.
Suddenly, the two weirdos were laughing. "You can't bully us into abandoning our mission!" Miss. Wednesday said in a conceited voice as she picked up one of two bazookas that they had been carrying with them.
"We were sent here to hunt this whale and that's exactly what we're gonna do!" Mr. 9 yelled in agreement as he also picked up one, "And this time we won't let you interfere!" They held up the guns as Luffy looked on. "WE'RE ABOUT TO GIVE THIS WHALE A NEW BLOWHOLE! FIRE BABY!"
As they launched the two cannonballs at the walls of Laboon's stomach, Crocus jumped right into the line of fire—protecting the whale from the weapons. Crocus, burnt and injured, fell into the pool of acid as the Straw Hats all gasped at what he had done.
The woman let out an annoying laugh and proclaimed, "Your defiance is pointless!"
"Go ahead! Waste your time!" Mr. 9 yelled and Miss. Wednesday continued to laugh, "But make no mistake! That hulking beast will provide food for our town!" With Crocus now trying to stay afloat in the acid, the two continued to cackle and Luffy seemed to lose his patience. He slammed their heads so hard that he knocked them out.
"Ah… what was that for?" Usopp asked him.
"I just…" Luffy said looking up in aggravation, "Wanted to hit them!"
After they fished Crocus out and tied the two up, the old doctor invited them over to the island—which was actually a ship with an iron bottom so it could float here without worry of dissolving. "I thank you for saving my life," Crocus said gratefully once he made himself comfortable in a lawn chair, "Though I must ask, why did you do it?"
"I wasn't trying to save you," Luffy answered bluntly as he started to climb the tree, "There was just something about those two I didn't like."
"Ok, I think it's about time we got some answers," Nami said in annoyance as Usopp tried to pull Luffy back down the tree. "Who are these guys?" she asked, pointing to Ms. Wednesday and Mr. 9. "And how did you end up inside this whale?!"
"These two are thugs from a nearby town looking for whale meat," Crocus answered grumpily, "If they caught him, Laboon could feed the townspeople for at least two or three years easy. All they're concerned with is feeding their fat, greedy bellies."
"Laboon?" Nami repeated in confusion.
"That's the whale's name," Crocus answered gruffly, "He a unique and magnificent creature. An Island Whale, a rare species that can only be found in the West Blue. I won't allow them to slaughter him for food." None of them noticed Luffy's ears perking up as he stored that tidbit of information away for later.
"But if these whales are found only in the West Blue… how did we end up meeting them in the Grand Line?" Usopp asked in confusion.
"You saw how big they were, I guess that even an entire West Blue sea isn't big enough all the time," Sanji answered, "I mean, it's not that hard to think that such a large pod of whales don't visit the Grand Line from time to time. They're bigger than some Sea Kings and I'm sure they can take care of themselves."
"It's a shame he's stuck here so far from his domain," Crocus went on with sigh, "You see there's a reason he keeps hitting his head against the Red Line and hollering at Reverse Mountain."
"There is?" Nami asked a little quietly.
"Yes," Crocus answered looking at them, "To put it one way, inside Laboon's body beats the heart of a human. He has most impatiently awaited and is eternally devoted to a certain band of pirates." He paused and added, "Going on fifty long years now.
"All who have seen Laboon ask the same questions," Crocus went on, "Why does he continuously strike his body against the Red Line? Why does he keep howling at Reverse Mountain? Listen closely and I will reveal Laboon's tragic story."
Crocus sighed and began, "One fine, sunny day… while I was fulfilling my duties as Lighthouse Keeper… some good-natured pirates came down from Reverse Mountain. They were followed by a baby whale, spry and chipper, who I would soon come to know as the one and only, Laboon."
And so he told them the whole story. How these pirates had met up with a baby whale while they had sailed the West Blue, and Laboon had traveled with them for most of their journey. But knowing how dangerous the Grand Line was, they had decided that it was in Laboon's best interest to leave him behind where he would be safe. But Laboon had followed after them anyway because he had come to see these pirates as his family.
The damaged that their ship had taken just getting to the Grand Line however was very extensive so they decided to stay here for several months to sing with Laboon until repairs were made. After about three months, and their ship finally repaired, they had asked Crocus to take care of Laboon for them until they came back. They had promised that when they finished sailing around the world, they would come back for him and that the whale would then come with them on their future adventures.
Crocus sighed and finished his tale by saying, "That was fifty long years ago."
"Fifty years?" Sanji repeated as they all stared at him.
"So Laboon has been waiting here all this time for his friends to return?" Usopp whispered, his eyes wide and his jaw falling open at hearing that.
"No wonder he's upset," Nami said, looking up at the whale with new sympathy, "That kind of wait would drive anyone crazy."
They could hear Laboon's voice crying out once again as the Straw Hats climbed up on the ship and had Crocus lead them out through the door and through a long canal inside Laboon's body.
"This is some canal," Zoro suddenly said. "Amazing this whale's still alive with a hole like this in its body."
"I suppose you're responsible for this?" Sanji asked Crocus, as the little island boat went sailing alongside them. Crocus was reading the paper and didn't look up as he answered.
"Just a doctor's playful mind," he stated causally, as if telling them what day it was.
"Doctor?" Usopp repeated in surprise.
"That's right," he answered, "Legally certified. I also ran a clinic on the Grand Line once upon a time. Before that I served as a ship's doctor."
"Really?" Luffy said eagerly, as he sat up on the broke Merry's head. "That's great! Then join us! We need a doctor!"
"Don't be ridiculous!" he called back, stopping near a ladder and started to climb, "I no longer have that kind of energy! Exploring the seas is a young man's job!"
Sanji asked what kind of doctor would hallow out a whale's insides.
"Maybe it's part of the treatment?" Nami suggested as Crocus reached the top of the ladder and stood on a platform.
"The girl is right," he answered, looking back at them, "With a creature of this size is it's virtually impossible to treat it from the outside. Therefore I devised a more drastic solution. Here's the exit!" he added as he then turned a wheel and the large door opened up and they could see the sky… the real sky.
"Don't you think fifty years is a bit extreme?" Usopp suddenly asked, "Those pirates sure know how to test someone's patience."
"Idiot, don't you get it? This is the Grand Line!" Sanji yelled at him as they moved the Merry's head onto the upper deck. "His friends are dead!" he blew out smoke from his cigarette and added, "That whale can wait forever, they won't be back."
Nami folded her arms and said, "Sad to say, but it's probably true. Back in the day when those guys traveled the Grand Line it was an uncharted sea. A thousand times more treacherous than it is now."
Usopp gave a grunt of anger and ran over to them, yelling, "Why are you all being so pessimistic? You don't know that they're dead! They could still come back for him! Come on, have some sympathy would ya? I thought it was very touching! I mean a whale still believing a promise that his friends made to him despite all these years?! That's a true bond! Right pops?"
"Indeed," Crocus agreed, but he leaned his hand against the coconut tree and answered, "But the lesson here is that reality is cruel. Laboon's cohorts aren't dead. The truth is that they abandoned their quest!"
And then told them that he learned that the pirates turned and left the Grand Line through the Calm Belt. He couldn't claim to know exactly what happened to them, but he doubted that they would ever return for him here.
"So if I got this straight," Sanji said, now sounding angry, "These pirates were a bunch of cowards who cared more about saving their own asses than keeping a promise to a friend?!"
Usopp's voice rang out in outraged. "Why would anyone abandon such a loyal creature?! Just look at him! It's cruelty on a grand scale!"
"But if you've known all this, why haven't you told him?" Nami asked Crocus, "Laboon can obviously communicate with you. He seems to understand humans quite well for a whale."
"I did tell him," Crocus admitted, "Down to the last miserable detail." He sighed as he said, "That was the day Laboon began to howl at Reverse Mountain. Soon after he started slamming his body against the Red Line. It's as if he believes that wall is what keeps his friends away. And that by breaking it, he can clear the path for their return."
"He refuses to believe me because then he'll have to admit that it's over," Crocus said grimly, "And that though terrifies him more than anything. There's no way for him to go back to the West Blue so what we have here is a paradox of tragic proportions. Laboon is a lost soul dying to live with his friends, but won't stop killing himself to reach them."
"Tragedy," Sanji stated, "But still, despite all the grief those pirates put him through they did the same thing to you by saddling you with their burden." He pulled out his cigarette and asked what he was going to do—and added that he had done enough for Laboon.
"The scars on his hide are deep," Crocus answered simply, "Those in his heart are even deeper. He needs someone to tend his wounds and I'm all he's got. For years he's battered himself and I patched him up. A strange friendship but it works."
Their attention was brought out of the story as, with a loud cry, Luffy flew high up into the air on eagle's wings.
They all watched in shock as Luffy reached Laboon's head, and found a place that was already bleeding; most likely where he had slammed his head against the Red Line earlier. This was the opening that Luffy needed, and transformed his body into that of a swordfish. The pointed tip of the fish was propelled by gravity right into the wound, causing blood to gush everywhere.
This time, Laboon felt the pain and his eyes watered up in pain as he let out a loud howl of agony. Luffy, having transformed his body back into human form, gripped onto the whale's front tightly. If one were to look closely, they would notice the octopus suction cups that had sprouted along his arms. Between thrashes, Luffy would unstick one of his arms and deliver a powerful punch to the open wound. Laboon was now angry as he jumped right out of the sea and slammed Luffy right into the Red Line with his body. The waves that the whale was creating almost ended up capsizing their ship, and with the size of the waves, there wasn't anything the Straw Hats could do but hold on for dear life.
Luffy got right back up and was now grinning cockily at Laboon. The whale was now seriously ticked off and went to smash him with his tail, which did end up hitting him.
Luffy then grew in size to that of an elephant and dug his tusks into the whale's side, but Laboon retaliated by slamming him into the lighthouse. This continued on until Laboon had actually managed to lift a part of his body onto land to try and go at him again… but then Luffy suddenly screamed out, "It's a draw!"
Those words shocked Laboon so much that he stopped. Luffy looked up, dirty and bruised, but was smiling. "I'm stronger than I look! But I had a feeling you knew that."
Laboon just looked back, and even those who didn't understand whale could tell that he was completely lost here to what was going on.
"I can always tell when someone's itching for a fight," Luffy told him as he looked up. "Well, if you wanna battle I'll give you one! Your shipmates used to spare with you didn't they and you miss it? Well, I can rival anything they threw at ya! Tell you what. After me and my friends travel the Grand Line, we'll come back here and find you."
Tears were forming in Laboon's giant eyes as Luffy finished, "Then you better be ready for a rematch!"
Tears were now falling from the whale's eyes—the anger and madness that had been there only seconds before seemed to fade as he let out another howl. But this time, it wasn't of sadness… it was the thrill of another fight.
After a while later, after they had retrieved the mast off Laboon's head, Luffy had gotten some paint and had managed to do a very poorly drawn version of their Jolly Roger on the whale's head where the scars were. It looked just like Luffy's first attempt to draw their flag before… and it just looked so funny painted there that they all laughed a little at it.
"Hey, not bad," Luffy commented as he looked back to admire his work, also covered in paint. "Consider this a symbol of my promise to come do battle with you!" he told him, "Course, it's a rushed paint job, so you'll have to be careful and avoid hitting your head or you'll rub it off! Understand?"
Laboon grunted in acknowledgment. "Good whale," Luffy stated happily.
Nami told Luffy to clean himself up as she tried to work out a plan for the Grand Line journey. Luffy looked annoyed, but did what she said. However, as he got back to the deck he spotted two things different here.
First off, Ms. Wednesday and Mr. 9 were gone… and second, he spotted what looked to be a cross between a compass and an hour glass rolling around on the deck. "What's this thing?" Luffy said to himself as he picked it up. But then the crew heard Nami screaming and the noise startled Laboon so that he dove under the water.
"You mind?!" Luffy yelled back as Sanji and Usopp climbed up to talk with her—Sanji bearing plates of food, "Keep it down!"
"You idiots!" Nami's voice yelled, "The compass is broken!"
Looking surprised, Luffy put the strange device into his pocket and they followed him up so that they were sitting at a small table outside the lighthouse with the other three already gathered around it. Nami was there with the map and her compass in front of her, the little needle was spinning around and round… never stopping. "The needle just spins! It won't stop!" she told them all.
As they all talked amongst themselves about it; Crocus, who had been standing close by, turned to look at them. "It is sadly apparent that none of you possess the slightest knowledge to how things work here," he said, "Did you all come here to die?"
As they all looked to Crocus and he explained, with Sanji warning Luffy not to eat all the food, "There is nothing wrong with your compass. The Grand Line has little regards for the rules of the sea. Common sense is useless in this place."
"The needle," Nami asked slowly, "Why does it spin?"
And so Crocus told them the reason why normal compasses don't work on the Grand Line was because of the nature of the island's magnetic fields. In order to navigate the Grand Line, a special compass called a 'Log Pose' must be used. The Log Pose works by locking on to one island's magnetic field and then locking on to another island's magnetic field. Luffy pulled out the device, which happened to be a Log Pose, that he found earlier and Nami ended up punching him for not telling them about it. He argued back that he found it on deck and assumed that those two must've dropped it when they escaped as Nami took it from him. Crocus then finished up his explanation by telling them that there were a total of seven different routes that diverge from Reverse Mountain and travel east before merging again to the last island… Raftel. An island that's existence was only confirmed by Roger himself.
"Raftel…" Nami repeated softly.
"That's it!" Usopp yelled excitedly, a big grin on his face. "That must be where the One Piece is hidden!"
"That's the most promising theory," Crocus said, "But no one has been able to set foot on Raftel Island since then."
Luffy, who was chewing on some of the bones of the meal, grinned, "Don't worry. We'll know soon enough." Crocus was looking at him with new surprise as Luffy finished the food and everyone began yelling at him for not leaving anything for them. Sanji, especially, was furious and beat him up for it… however ended up breaking the Log Pose in the process.
Nami kicked both men into the sea, screaming that she was going to kill them if they didn't get out of her face. Fortunately, Crocus had one and he gave it to them as a thank you for helping Laboon. Laboon then came out of the water with both Sanji and Luffy, but also brought up Miss. Wednesday and Mr. 9. Since they lost their Log Pose, they needed a ride back.
This brings us to Luffy sitting up on the table with Vivi and Mr. 9 on their knees.
"Whiskey Peak?" repeated Luffy in puzzlement, "Huh, that's a funny name."
"So what it is?" Usopp asked.
"It's where we live!" Mr. 9 snapped, before he added more respectfully, "Sir…"
As Nami asked them what happened to their ship, Vivi answered nervously that it was destroyed.
"Asking us for a ride is pushing it Mr. 9," Nami said slyly, "Especially after you tried to kill the whale!"
But when they tried to get some real answers out of them, the two refused to answer. Miss. Wednesday and Mr. 9 were now begging, telling them that they couldn't tell them anything, because of their line of business. They told them that the only thing they wanted was to just get home.
"We have confidence in your character, can't you grant us the same courtesy?" Miss. Wednesday asked.
"Please, we're begging you, show some mercy!" Mr. 9 added.
"Don't do it," Crocus advised them at once, "These two fools are dishonest to the core! They can't be trusted!"
Nami held up the broken Log Pose still on her wrist and told them that they didn't have another one and asked if they still wanted to ride with them.
The reaction was hilarious as they began yelling at her for trying to trick them. But Nami merely smiled devilishly and said in a fake innocent voice that fooled no one, "Oh, sorry! I forgot! Crocus gave us his so…!"
And as soon as they heard that, they got back to their knees and began begging for pity again.
Mr. 9's face was twitching horribly, as if he was biting back what he really wanted to say. But to their surprise, Luffy said that it was alright for them to ride with them.
"Why?" Usopp demanded, pointing an accusing finger at them, "These two are obviously pretty shady characters! Why would we take them anywhere?!"
"It's fine," Luffy repeated, "Don't sweat the small stuff. It'll be alright."
"Choose your route carefully," Crocus warned him seriously from behind him, "Once you head out from here, you'll be committed to that course."
"It's ok!" Luffy said happily. "If we don't like it, we'll try a different route next time."
Crocus smiled at Luffy's words, admiring the younger man's youthful spirit.
"Okay, it's time we get going!" Luffy declared as he jumped to his feet and looked to the rest of his crew, "Now that me and Laboon have an understanding, I can leave with a clear conscious!"
"Just who in the world do you think you are anyway?" Ms. Wednesday asked as Luffy stretched out his stiff body.
"What's that? Me?" Luffy asked looking back at her before he said confidently, "Well, I'm the man who'll be King of the Pirates!"
Crocus smiled widely at that, as if remembering something from a long time ago. But Miss. Wednesday and Mr. 9 covered their mouths as they fought back the laughs.
With the sun setting they all climbed onboard the repaired ship with Crocus letting them know that their Log should be pointing directly to Whiskey Peak and they finished saying their goodbyes.
Luffy looked to Laboon. "I'm off, Laboon!" he said, "Be ready to fight when I get back!"
Laboon gave a surprisingly soft, almost purring sound as the ship pulled away. "Next stop?" Luffy cried out, "Whiskey Peak! Ready gang? Let's set sail!"
They all cheered as Laboon let out noises of farewell, the crew waving goodbye to him and Crocus.
The crew and their passengers were surprised a few days later to find the Merry with a thick layer of snow on deck. Sanji was shoveling it all off—but each shovel full that he threw overboard was replaced quickly as the snow continued to fall. Luffy and Usopp meanwhile were fighting over snowmen when they heard Nami screaming in horror from inside the cabin.
"What's wrong?" Usopp yelled as he and Luffy were stopped in the middle of their snowball fight.
"Sounds mad!" Luffy said knowingly as Sanji declared that he would save Nami from whatever the problem was. Nami, dressed in a warm coat, came out of the cabin, staring at the Log Pose in horror.
"No way!" Nami screamed before she cried out, "Make a hard turn 180 degrees, hurry!"
"A one eighty?" Usopp repeated, baffled as he dropped his handful of snow, "Why would you want us to turn back?!"
"Did you forget something?" Luffy asked curiously.
"The ship has turned around! We're sailing in the wrong direction!" she yelled at them, still looking at the Log Pose. "I only took my eyes off the Log Pose for a second!" she looked up at the sky and said, "I thought the waves were calm!"
Just then, Miss. Wednesday asked from inside the cabin in that same conceited way, "You're not a very good navigator are you?"
"You can't trust anything here. Not the wind, sky, waves, clouds… nothing is what it seems in the sea. The only way to get reliable direction on the Grand Line is with the Log Pose. Everyone knows that," Miss. Wednesday finished with a satisfied smirk.
But the woman had finally gone too far and Nami kicked her and her partner outside. "SHUT YOUR CONDENSATING MOUTHS AND DO SOMETHING USEFUL AROUND HERE!" she screamed as she took charge. "Brace the yard! Force the wind starboard! Turn the ship one hundred and eighty degrees to the left! Usopp man the lateen sails! Sanji take the helm!" when they went running off she then barked orders at the two, "WORK YOU TWO!"
"This girl's crazy!" Mr. 9 stated as they began pulling ropes.
All except Zoro were working desperately, as he was sleeping against the side of the boat, covered in snow. "Hey wait! Looks like the wind changed!" Usopp yelled, getting their attention, and he was right. It changed rapidly from freezing cold to a springtime gale.
And that was how it went. The winds would constantly change, waves would become violent or calm when you least expect it, once they almost hit an iceberg as a fog came pouring in. Although they had managed to turn just in time, the helm was damaged and Usopp went off to fix the leak. Dark clouds came pouring in and they were battling the fierce wind right after that as Sanji was forced to keep bringing food for them to keep their strength up… the winds were tearing the sails apart and water was filling the bottom of the ship… it was chaos.
Thankfully, the horrible weather had finally calmed down enough that they could all rest on deck—trying to catch their breath. But true to form, Zoro had finally woken up and was telling them all that they shouldn't be so lazy just because the weather was nice. He didn't notice the evil eyes that Nami, Sanji, and Usopp were giving him as he finally noticed the two newcomers on deck. He went on to ask what they were doing there and Luffy explained the whole thing about taking them home.
Grinning evilly, Zoro bent down to look at them. "So tell me… what are your strange names again? Cause I don't think you two can be trusted."
"I… my name is Mr. 9," Mr. 9 croaked out.
"I'm called Miss Wednesday," the woman added nervously, her eyes twitching a little fearfully.
"Right," Zoro said skeptically, his thumb under his chin, "You know those names sound familiar and that's what's bothering me. In fact, the more I think about the more I'm sure I've heard them somewhere before!"
The two were looking terrified just as Nami hit Zoro over the head from behind and began to tell him that he was lucky that they didn't throw him overboard for sleeping when they did all the work. But as he glared back, looking ready to tell her off, she hit him three times over the head so that he was on the deck defeated, nursing his wounds.
Nami stood up in front of them all and declared, "Listen up everyone! There's no way to know what's gonna happen next! During the terror that most of us just experienced…" she shot Zoro another evil look before continuing, "I came to an understanding why this sea was named the Grand Line." She held up her fist and finished, "My navigation skills are useless here! Anything can happen! But mark my words I will guide us through!"
She then pointed through the mist and yelled out, "We're here! Our first journey on the Grand Line comes to an end!"
And through the thick mist, they could see the outlines strange, cactus-shaped mountains with several buildings set up on either side of the river that they were travelling on.
Luffy was crying out in joy at the idea of visiting another island. As he and the rest of the crew talked in excited voices, Miss. Wednesday and Mr. 9 both jumped to the railing. They both said their thanks and goodbyes and chuckled darkly.
"Bye Bye baby," they finally finished speaking together before jumped overboard.
"That was a quick exit," Nami said.
"I guess we'll never learn what those nut-jobs are up to," Usopp added darkly, looking over the edge to try and see where they went.
"Who cares?" Luffy asked, turning back to the matter at hand, "We're landing!"
The pirates had received a surprisingly warm welcome from the villagers. They even threw a giant party in the pirates' honor. This turned out to be a setup, however, as the town was actually a den of bounty hunters working for an organization called Baroque Works who hoped to capture the Straw Hats when they were out cold from the party. This didn't go according to plan for them though, as Zoro had only faked being drunk and was able to take on the small army of bounty hunters, easily tearing through their ranks. Soon, most of the buildings were mostly destroyed… there was rubble and broken boards cast every few feet along with giant shards of broken glass and the walls around them looked close to crumbling away.
The damage, however, was not all caused by the fighting between Zoro and the Baroque Works…
Luffy and Zoro—bloodlust in both their eyes—came bursting through a wall and were going at each other. Zoro's blades clashed against Luffy's arms, which had transformed into the bladed pincers of a pray mantis.
As it turns out, the Chimera Man had woken up later in the night and, seeing the beaten bounty hunters thought that the swordsman was attacking their hosts for no reason. As a result, the captain wanted to fight him over it.
So caught up in their fight that they didn't even notice the two figures who were pulling themselves out of some of the rubble—a man and woman. The woman had short blond hair was wearing a yellow dress with a lemon-like pattern and with two lemon earrings dangling from her ears. The man with her was a tall, dark-skinned man with black hair in short spiky dreadlocks. He also wore a brown trench coat with the number 5 printed on along with dark sunglasses.
These two were Mr. 5 and his partner Miss Valentine's. Two of Baroque Works agents.
Miss. Wednesday was also there, riding a duck that size of a horse. She looked different from before—she looked a little beat up as well and her long hair was let down… but she was still staring at Zoro and Luffy with terror on her face.
The first two were both beat up, covered in bruises and cuts all over their faces; looking at them, they didn't have to think hard to what must've happened. The two went charging at the fighting crewmates, convinced that they could win. But they picked the wrong people to fight.
"You can't beat us!" Mr. 5 yelled. "Prepare to die at the hands of Baroque Works officer agents!"
Both Luffy and Zoro stopped their fight and glared murderously at the agents, stopping them all dead in their tracks. The two looked truly terrifying. Their faces were covered in bloody scratches, while their eyes were devoid of any sympathy or benevolence. There was nothing but cold rage that was so strong that they could all feel chills going up their spines. Luffy's were like looking into the eyes of a rabid lion while Zoro's held all the ferocity of a demon.
"Shut up and go away!" they both yelled, raising their fists. "You're interfering…" and together they sent the two flying with such force that one might have felt sympathy for the two poor fools. "…WITH OUR FIGHT!" the two finished screaming out—a trace of evil flashing there.
They were sent crashing into the side of the buildings until they were both out cold for good this time.
Zoro grumbled to himself, "Stupid pests…"
"Messing with our fight," Luffy growled in agreement as Miss. Wednesday was staring at them in amazement as they both went back to glaring at each other.
Zoro glared at Luffy, now looking completely insane here. "Shall we… continue?" he demanded.
"Yeah," Luffy snapped back, looking just as demented as Zoro at that moment. With a crack of his arms, the became the burly clawed arms of a black bear.
But as the two moved in for another round, their muscles bulging and the energy they were releasing seemed to bend the air itself as they clashed like sparks between them. However, before these two powerhouses could collide, Nami appeared out of nowhere and punched them both so hard in the faces that they were sent flying—knocked right out of their frenzy mode.
"You two, what the heck do you think you're doing here!?" Nami yelled at them both as they lay there—looking stunned at what just hit them. "It's lucky for you that you managed to keep the girl safe! You almost lost us a billion beri's!" She picked them both up by the scruffs of their necks, like how a babysitter would to two brothers who just didn't want to get along and yelled, "You understand?"
Miss. Wednesday was staring at her, not understanding what she was talking about, as Luffy and Zoro were continuing to fight by pulling each other's faces and small punches like little kids.
"What do you mean?" the other woman asked anxiously, "What beri's? I don't understand! Why did you save me?"
As the two continued to fight where they hung in Nami's grasp, Nami smiled and said to her, "About that, I think we need to have a little chat. You see you and I have to work out a contract for a reward!" She frowned at the two before she finally slammed them into the ground to stop them fighting for good. "KNOCK IT OFF!" she screamed.
Later, the trio and Miss. Wednesday, or rather her real name Vivi, were all seated in an alleyway. Luffy was sitting up on a barrel and was laughing his head off. "Oh!" he said in new understanding, "They were all bounty hunters?! Why didn't you just say so, Zoro?!"
"I did! Like twelve times!" Zoro yelled back furiously at him.
"What a funny mix up!" Luffy laughed before Nami snarled at them to shut up, which they did at once.
"Would you drop it?" Zoro demanded as Nami turned to Vivi and offered to take her home for one billion beri's. Apparently, Vivi was a princess of the kingdom of Alabasta who had been undercover at Baroque Works for two years with her body guard Igaram, codenamed Mr. 8. However, her cover had been blown and Mr. 5 and Miss. Valentine had been sent to deal with her before they ran into the two monsters. Igaram had begged Nami, who like Zoro faked being unconscious, into helping the princess. Nami agreed, though she blackmailed the man into paying a billion beri's to do so.
"No, I can't!" Vivi said sharply and Nami blinked in surprise. "But I appreciate the help you've given me so far."
"Why not?" Nami demanded at once, "You're a princess aren't you? So aren't you rich?"
"Do you know much about Alabasta Kingdom?" Vivi asked sadly. And so she went into details about her home and how they were now in the middle of a civil war. The people are revolting and the entire kingdom was on the verge of self-destructing so she had decided to take matters into her own hands when she discovered that someone was now behind this war. So she and her companion Igaram infiltrated Baroque Works to find out who was behind it all for the last two years.
"You've got some guts considering you're a princess," Zoro said in an impressed tone, "So… were you able to find out what their plan was?"
She nodded just as Nami answered, "To create an ideal nation." Vivi looked up at her in surprise and she explained, "Anyway, that's what Igaram said it was. Is that what you found out?"
Vivi looked back down at her knees and admitted, "It's not. That was only a cover story the boss was using. It's a lie to cover their tracks!" Her eyes darkened and she finished, "Their true goal is to take over Alabasta Kingdom!" They all just looked at her as she said that she now had to get back home and warn everyone what was really happening before it was too late.
She looked ready to cry and Nami sighed. "Ok, I get it," she said in annoyance, "I see how it is. Yeah, it's all starting to make sense now. I suppose you wouldn't have much money laying around during a civil war."
"Hey," Luffy said eagerly, "So did you find out who's in charge?"
Vivi looked horrified at the suggestion. "WHAT?!" she screamed, causing everyone to become startled at her sudden change in tone, "THE BOSS'S IDENITY?! YOU SHOULDN'T ASK THAT!"
"But you know don't you?" Luffy asked calmly.
"ASK ME ANYTHING BUT THAT!" she yelled, waving her hands around, "IF I TELL YOU, YOUR LIVES WILL BE IN DANGER TOO!"
"Yeah, I'll pass!" Nami added with a nervous laugh, clearly letting them know that she was happy not knowing. "This guy is trying to take over an entire country after all! I wouldn't want someone like that chasing after me, thank you."
"No, you don't!" Vivi said loudly, "I don't care how strong you people are, you wouldn't stand a chance against one of the Warlords of the Sea! Against Crocodile!"
Silence…
"Who now?" Luffy asked, and Vivi turned white as she realized what she said and covered her mouth when Nami's jaw fell open in horror.
"You had to say it," Zoro said darkly before they felt like they were being watched. They looked up and they saw a strange sight… there was an otter in a white one piece cloth with purple polka dots and a vulture with a flowered swim cap—both with thick sunglasses. They all looked up at the duo for a moment before the otter jumped up on the vulture's back and they took off.
It turns out the two animals were Mr. 13 and Miss Friday… they served as Crocodile's messengers and were also in charge of executing any Baroque Works agents that fail their missions.
Nami then grabbed hold of Vivi's front and began to shake her as she screamed at her, with Vivi telling her how sorry she was. The men on the other hand were looking excited at the thought.
"Hey, a Warlord?! That's cool!" Luffy yelled out, his eyes shining.
"Not too bad," Zoro agreed.
Luffy began to laugh wildly as Nami continued to yell at Vivi before she began to cry. "Being hunted by a Warlord in the Grand Line? That's more than I can handle!" she cried, covering her face.
"So when do we get to see this guy?" Zoro asked conversationally.
"I wonder what he's like?!" Luffy added as Nami yelled out, "SHUT UP YOU!"
She then turned and began heading down the road. "It's been nice knowing you idiots! Thanks for everything!" she yelled at them.
"Where're you going!?" Luffy called after her.
"They don't know what I look like yet!" she yelled back, "I'm leaving!"
And no sooner had she said that did the otter show up with three very detailed drawings of Luffy, Zoro, and Nami.
Nami clapped as she saw them, "Wow, that's so lifelike!" And that was when they took off, their silhouette against the bright moon. Nami turned back to them and yelled, "No use in leaving now!"
"I'm really sorry," Vivi said again quietly but Luffy said that she'll get over it.
"Where's she planning on going anyway?" Zoro asked, as a twisted grin appeared on his face, "Well then, it looks like the three of us will be sitting right on top of Baroque Works' hit list."
Luffy chuckled to himself, "That's so awesome!"
Nami however, was now sulking in a curled up ball on the ground with Vivi trying to think of something to say to cheer her up.
"You have nothing to fear!" someone suddenly yelled.
The Straw Hats turned to see a fairly tall, muscular man standing there with three stuff dummies and stared intensely at the group of pirates. Though it was clear he was a man, he was dressed in clothes similar to Vivi's, and with thick tube-like hair had been done up in a ponytail, and even wearing lipstick…
"It's…" the man, who turned out to be Igaram, coughed. He started to hum scales before he went on to say, "It's gonna be alright princess, I've come up with a plan!"
"Igaram!" Vivi exclaimed, coming over to him. "What are you…?"
"That's a really funny outfit old guy," Luffy said as he looked over the outfit.
"An entire parade of idiots," Nami whispered where she huddled.
Igaram began to tell them his plan. Since Baroque Works had learned who Vivi really was, agents would be sent after her to try and kill her. So he came up with the plan to disguise himself as her and try to draw their attention to give them time to escape.
"So these things are us?" Luffy asked as he poked one of the dummies.
"A decoy…" Zoro summed up for them.
"While Baroque Works is busy chasing after me," Igaram finished up. "The rest of you will head with Vivi straight for Alabasta Kingdom along a less direct route."
"Hold on! Just a second!" Nami screamed, finally getting back to her feet. "Who said we were gonna take her with us?!" They looked to her and she finished, "We still haven't discussed the matter of payment."
"Payment for what?" Luffy asked as he stared at Vivi. "Take her where?"
"Where've you been, Luffy?" Zoro asked impatiently as he stood up and jerked his thumb to Igaram. "The old man here wants us to take the princess back home to her kingdom."
"Oh, is that what all this yelling is about?" Luffy said, getting it and Vivi looked to him in surprise as he finished by saying, "Sure thing."
Nami completely lost her cool and screamed out, "CROCODILE MAY ALREADY BE AFTER US!"
"Is this Crocodile guy really that dangerous?" Luffy asked Igaram curiously. Igaram looked back and explained about how he was one of the Seven Warlords, and because of that, there wasn't a bounty on his head. However, once upon a time, his bounty had once been over eighty million.
"EIGHTY MILLION? THAT'S FOUR TIMES ARLONG'S BOUNTY!" Nami screamed out, "THERE'S NO WAY!"
"Sure," Luffy answered with a confident smile as memory Nami looked like she was about to burst into tears again. "It sounds like it'll be fun."
"We are forever grateful," Igaram said, and they could hear the gratitude in his voice as he lead them to a small ship and put the dummies on board before he turned back and spoke in a much higher voice, "Now then, I, Vivi, will leave from here."
Luffy began to laugh, "Great imitation old guy!"
"Imitation of who?" Zoro asked, looking at Igaram like he thought that he was insane. But Igaram didn't pay any attention to them as he asked Vivi for the Eternal Pose and she handed it over, looking like she was doing this against her will.
They could all see the sadness in her eyes; the truth was that she didn't want this, but there wasn't anything she could do about it.
"What's an Eternal Pose?" Nami suddenly asked and Igaram looked at her in surprise.
"You've never heard of it?" he asked her. "You can say it's sorta like a permanent version of the Log Pose," Igaram answered, holding up the little compass. It looked a great deal like the one Nami wore, only this one was made to look a little more like an hourglass shape with only one orb in the middle with needle floating inside it and the name Alabasta was printed on the top. "Whereas a Log Pose will always lead sailors to the next island on the course, an Eternal Pose will forever remember the magnetic energy of the island stored inside it. So it will always point to that island and no other. And this Eternal Pose is set to Alabasta Kingdom."
"And you're going to use this to set your course to home?" Vivi asked him worriedly.
"Princess Vivi, please take the indirect island hopping route to Alabasta," Igaram told her softly, silently letting her know that he knew the dangers, but he was ready to take them. "I have never gone that way myself, but you should only need to pass two or three island to get there." He turned his attention towards Luffy. "Please, take care of the princess in my absence."
"Yeah," Luffy said cheerfully.
"Igaram…" Vivi started to say something, but her words died on her lips, unable to come out and say what she really wanted.
"I expect that your journey will be a difficult one," he said with a gentle voice and an encouraging smile, "Please, be careful."
Vivi still didn't look happy about it, but she forced a smile and took his hand as they promised that they would see each other again soon. They watched as Igaram set sail, all of them saying goodbye. But before he got too far away, there was a bright light and, to their horror, the ship exploded apart. The blinding light and force of the shockwave created a great wind and blew back at them, everyone looking stunned.
The ship went up in flames, burning everything until there wasn't anything but a pile of burnt wood on the water.
"They're already after us?!" Nami exclaimed fearfully, once she got over the shock. "That's impossible!?"
Luffy said nothing as he turned around and walked over a few feet to where his hat, that had been blown off by the shockwave before, and put it back on his head. He let out a loud yell, and looked ready to charge. Now was the time that they had to hurry and leave before they were killed as well. Zoro was right behind him as he yelled at Nami about the Log.
She quickly checked and let him know that it was set, they could leave.
"Get the girl!" he yelled back as he turned back to run with Luffy, "Come on! Let's go!"
As Nami tried to pull Vivi away from the horrible sight, Zoro told Luffy that he'll get the ship ready and that he should get the other two.
"Right," Luffy answered, "I'm on it!"
He sprinted back down the street to the building where they had been staying. He broke down the door in his haste and looked wildly around the room for the cook and sniper. It was clear that there had been a party here… the whole place was a mess, and the two were both passed out on the floor, snoring loudly. Luffy grab hold of Usopp's nose and Sanji's leg, waking them up… but not soon enough…
"COME ON!" Luffy shouted as he ran out the door, which was only big enough for him, and so he pulled his two crewmates out through either side of the walls, both of them yelling in pain and confusion to what was going on. Sanji was cursing at him to stop it and Usopp was screaming that his nose was gonna fall off.
Luffy didn't stop until they reached where the ship was docked, and Zoro was just finishing up pulling up the anchor.
"Hey, I got them!" Luffy screamed up, holding them up.
"Bring 'em up! We're ready to go!" Zoro told him.
Luffy turned around to check and saw Usopp and Sanji were both out cold. "What? They're still asleep?" He shrugged and dragged them onto the Going Merry.
Suddenly, they heard arguing and, they looked behind them to see that Nami brought Vivi here and she was yelling at her, "We don't have time to look for him!"
"I'm not just gonna leave him here!" Vivi yelled back.
"But listen!" Nami screamed, looking close to slapping her.
Zoro yelled out asking what was the problem down at them.
"Apparently her duck's gone missing!" Nami screamed up at him. "And now she's refusing to leave without him!"
"This duck?" he asked, pointing to the duck that was standing next to him.
"HE'S HERE?!" both women yelled in fury.
"Yeah, he was there when I climbed on board," Zoro stated.
"Made it here before I did!" Zoro informed them.
With the knowledge that her duck was safe and sound, Vivi climbed up the ladder, while giving them all directions to the best way out of here. With the sails opening, the Straw Hats were more than happy to say goodbye to Whiskey Peak and sailed off into a thick fog.
As they got underway, Zoro turned to Vivi. "Hey?" he stated and she looked up in surprise.
"Mr. Bushido?" she asked.
Zoro asked how many people did she think that they were going to send after them. Vivi told them that there were at least two thousand loyal employees and several bases like this one set up in the area. As she told them that, Sanji and Usopp both came to and began screaming that they wanted to stay another night.
"We should've just left them behind," Zoro said irritably as Nami went and punched them both, shutting them up. "Nami?! Will you explain it to them?"
"I just did!" she answered.
"Okay that was fast," he said in surprise.
"I left out the complicated parts!" she added.
By this point, the first rays of light were starting to appear on the horizon and they were clear of the island, though they were now forced to sail very carefully through all the fog and avoid the rocks. One false move, and they could end up sinking right here.
"Finally, it's getting light out," Nami sighed in relief.
"I'm just glad we got away from the people chasing us," a voice said.
"That's for sure," Nami agreed.
"With all this fog, we'll need to be careful to avoid the rocks," the voice spoke again.
"I'll take care of it!" Nami shouted confidently before she realized that she didn't know who had spoken. She looked to Luffy and asked hesitantly, "Wait… did you…?"
Luffy looked at her in confusion, until they heard someone clear their throat behind them. And as everyone looked up they saw a figure sitting comfortably on the upper railings.
The new figure was a woman in her twenties. She was a tall, slender, yet athletic woman with shoulder-length black hair. She has blue eyes, with dark, wide pupils, and she has a long, thin and defined nose. Her skin was lightly tan, and she wore a revealing purple cowgirl outfit, complete with hat.
"It's… it's you!" Vivi stuttered in shock and fear.
"I just happened to run into your dear Mr. 8 a while back," the woman said coldly. "He didn't look so good."
Vivi's eyes turned dark as she yelled, "So you killed Igaram!"
"YOU! What are you doing on my ship and how did you get here?" Luffy demanded of the stranger, "Who are you?!"
"Answer him!" Vivi yelled, "What are you doing here, Miss All-Sunday!?"
"So you know who she is?" Nami questioned. "Which of the numbered guys is she partners with?"
"Her partner is Mr. 0, the Boss," Vivi said gravely.
"She's a bad guy?" Luffy questioned her as Nami screamed in fright.
"She was the only one who knew the Boss' identity," Vivi explained as she continued to glare up at Miss All-Sunday, as if expecting her to start attacking at any moment. "That's how we found out who he actually is! By following her back to him!"
However, Miss All-Sunday said, "To be accurate… I allowed it."
"So she's a good guy then," Luffy said, trying to understand this.
"I know you knew we were there!" Vivi yelled, "You're the one who told the boss what we knew! Weren't you?!"
"That's right," she answered in a bored tone.
"Alright so then she is bad!" Luffy finally concluded, pouting and Zoro told him to cut it out.
"You still haven't told us what it is you're doing here!?" Vivi yelled again and the agent was looking annoyed at the rudeness.
"Oh, right," she said coolly, "You were just so serious about the whole thing I couldn't help myself. A princess doing whatever it took to help her country while making herself an enemy of Baroque Works? The idea was just so… ridiculous."
Vivi was looked enraged as she screamed out at the top of her lungs, "YOU KILLED HHHHHHIIIIIIIMMMMMM!"
The five Straw Hats had leapt into action. Sanji and Usopp were both up on their feet, Usopp with his slingshot loaded on one side, and Sanji on the other with a gun pointed directly at her head. Zoro was below them with Nami, both of them had weapons as well.
Usopp and Sanji exchanged a brief conversation to what was going on, but the woman didn't look worried at all.
"I would really appreciate it if you would…" she said softly, and it all happened so quickly that they all missed what happened as she apparently threw the two off the railing, "Stop pointing those at me?"
"You mean…?" Zoro said gasped,
"She's eaten…" Nami went on before her staff and Zoro's sword were knocked out of their hands. And then Zoro finished, "A Devil Fruit?!"
"But which one? What's her power!?" Nami cried out, now standing farther back with the others in front of her like shields. Sanji looked up to get a good look at her and hearts reappeared.
"Wow!" he gasped, as if he had never seen anything like her before, "now that I get a look… You're beautiful!"
Miss All-Sunday chuckled a little at Sanji's words before she looked back to Vivi. "Now there's no need to get so excited," she informed her, "You can all calm down. I haven't been given any orders to follow you here. I have no reason to fight you."
Holding up her hand, she used her powers to get hold of Luffy's straw hat—spinning it around on her hand in a bored way. "So, you're the captain," she said, looking over at Luffy. "I've heard so much about you… Monkey D. Luffy."
"Give me my hat back!" Luffy yelled enraged, shaking his fists at her. "You don't want me to come up there and take it!"
"You are a bad person! I demand you leave this instant!" Usopp yelled from his hiding place behind the mast.
"Bad luck," the woman corrected as she put Luffy's hat on top of her own before going on, "Picking up a princess who Baroque Works already made up their mind to see eliminated… protected by a mere handful of pirates. But your luck gets even worse. Because of the direction your Log Pose is indicating… you see?"
Nami was looking at their Log in fear as Miss All-Sunday answered, "The name of the next island… is Little Garden."
"We won't even need to lift a finger," she finished up, "You'll all be dead long before you reach Alabasta."
"My hat! Give it to me!" Luffy screamed, obviously not caring about anything she said.
"Leave now evil… doer!" Usopp yelled.
"Evil-doer?" Zoro repeated, rolling his eye, "Seriously?"
"That's all a matter of opinion," the cowgirl answered, not at all offended by it.
"You don't think it's a little foolish allowing yourselves to be wiped out?" she asked as she threw back Luffy's hat and something over to Vivi. When she held it up, they saw that it was an Eternal Pose.
"An Eternal Pose?" Vivi whispered as she looked at it suspiciously.
"Using that, you can just skip right past Little Garden without stopping," All-Sunday answered her a little smugly. She also explained that this one island was near Alabasta and that none of their agents know that course so they shouldn't be followed.
"What? So she's good after all?" Nami suddenly asked as she looked up at her, trying to figure out what was going on.
But the gesture seemed to make Vivi angry as she yelled up, "Why are you giving this to us?"
"It's gotta be a trap," Zoro said firmly, but Vivi was staring at the Pose with a wondering expression and they could tell that she was trying to figure out what to do.
"Oh, does it?" All-Sunday asked as Luffy walked over to Vivi and grabbed the Eternal Pose out of her hands.
"Forget your thingy! We don't need it!" he yelled as he then crushed it until it broke into nothing but shards of glass and wood. Nami and Vivi were both looking horrified at what he had done.
Nami obviously didn't feel that way as she kicked him hard in the face and knocked him to the deck. "YOU JERK!" she screamed out, pointing up at the woman, "SHE JUST WENT OUT OF HER WAY TO SHOW US AN EASIER COURSE TO FOLLOW! MAYBE SHE ACTUALLY IS TRYING TO HELP US GET AWAY!"
But Luffy didn't react at all for a moment before he turned to look up at All-Sunday and declared that she wasn't the one who decided where the ship goes.
Both Luffy and the woman looked at each other for a few extra long seconds—with All-Sunday just looking at him, as if she was trying to figure out a complicated question, before she smiled. As if she had it answered.
"Well, that's too bad," All-Sunday told them all casually as she walked along the upper deck, looking a little satisfied as she did so. It was as if she was glad that he had decided not to accept her offer.
Nami looked ready to yell again but Luffy answered, "She blew up that funny old man and he was nice so now I hate her."
"I'm sorry to hear that," she stated looking back at him, "And I'm sorry you didn't accept my offer. If you survive… I hope we meet again."
"No," Luffy said childishly and she actually chuckled at that. All-Sunday gave them one last smile before she jumped ship and when they went running off to look, they found her leaving on the back of a giant sea turtle—heading back to Whiskey Peak.
Luffy watched after the turtle with bright eyes as Vivi fell to her knees in defeat. "That woman!" she cried out, "I don't have the slightest idea what's going through her head!"
"Then there's no point in thinking about it is there?" Nami asked irritably.
"There's someone on this boat who's just like that," Zoro added as Usopp demanded to know what was going on and Sanji swooned over Vivi.
After quickly explaining everything that was going on to Sanji and Usopp, their cook sighed and confessed that he was sorry that he missed all the fun. "But it sounds like there'll still be plenty of demand for my skills! No need to worry now that your sleeping prince has awoken my sweet, you'll be safe."
Usopp was stating the opposite. He was glad that he asleep, as Sanji asked if Nami was jealous. She gave him a frosty look and gave him a definite no.
"Excuse me?" Vivi asked hesitantly, and they all looked to her. She was standing there, looking truly terrible that she got them involved in this mess. "I'm sorry but… is it really alright that I'm on your ship? I'm just causing you a lot of trouble."
Nami, meanwhile, looked put out as she came over and started poking Vivi's forehead. "It's a little late for apologizes don't you think? If you didn't want to cause us trouble you shouldn't have told us who you were!"
"Sorry for that," Vivi said.
"Isn't that right Luffy?!" Nami yelled and Luffy cheered, saying that he was hungry too—which didn't do anything to boost Vivi's confidence.
"Well, for now," Zoro said, ending the fight, "At least we know where we're heading to."
"Little Garden, huh?" Sanji said.
"Remember what she said?" Usopp said worriedly, "Are we gonna die?"
Luffy laughed. "Who knows?! Let's go pirates!"
Later they were all standing on the Merry's deck with Sanji passing out fruit drinks to them all and Luffy asking them if they wanted to get out the fishing gear.
"Fishing? Heck yeah, I'm in," Zoro said agreeably.
"Sounds good to me," Usopp said eagerly, "I'll even make you one of my custom fishing rods! You'll love it!"
It was then that the men were all giving the duck, Carue, drink after fruit drink, even cheering him on with each one he took. Nami came out of the cabin with a couple more drinks and Vivi, who was standing up there, looked to her, saying loudly, "They're acting like idiots!"
"Maybe this will help," Nami said, holding out the drink to her and Vivi looked surprised at that. "Just relax," she went on, "These guys may go through their goofy phases but when things get rough, they get to work. Trust me, I should know."
"Sorry," Vivi said, calming down, "I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm getting worked up over nothing."
Nami just smiled. "This ship will put you at ease!" she reassured her, "You'll cheer up in no time!"
As she said that, Carue had drank too much and was looking ready to burst. The others were all laughing around him and even Vivi cracked a smile as Carue lay on his back, a fountain of juice erupting from his mouth. "Yeah," she said, "They're… funny…"
Soon though, Nami's words went to the test. A dolphin, the size of a Sea King had jumped out of the sea, and as if they had this all planned out, they all dropped what they were doing and got to work. Like a well-oiled machine, they got the sails ready and turned around—all of them knowing just what to do without being told. Soon they used the waves that the dolphin created to ride out and go at an amazing speed, all of them even enjoying the ride. Vivi stared at them all in amazement as Luffy asked Nami for direction when the excitement died down.
Nami told them to sail portside and they turned without any other complaints. Just after that, they could see it in the distance. Through a light mist, they could make out a large island that looked like a tropical jungle.
"There's no mistake!" Nami declared as she checked the Log Pose to see that the needle was pointing directly at the island. "Cactus Island and this one are definitely pulling against each other." She pointed at it and cried out, "Our next stop!"
Everyone cheered as they slowly approached. "This is it!" Luffy yelled, jumping up and down with zeal, "Our second island in the Grand Line!"
They followed a little river right into the island, the heat of this humid weather and thick plant life already starting to make them all uncomfortable. But Luffy wasn't deterred at all as he said, "I can see why they call this place Little Garden!"
"I can't, what's little about it?" Zoro asked him darkly
"Yeah, this island looks pretty harsh if you ask me! Why the cute name?" Nami added.
The crew soon found themselves standing next to a shallow creek where Luffy had come running up to with Vivi riding Carue. Luffy had skidded to a stop and went over to the water, something catching his eye.
"Hey, what's the matter?" Vivi asked, wondering why he had stopped.
"Over here! Check it out!" Luffy called out excitedly as he picked up something from the water. "It's a shellfish that looks like a squid!" He held it up to her as she got off her duck to get a closer look, "Shell-squid fish!" he finished proudly.
"How strange," Vivi said, frowning as she looked at it, "It sorta resembles an aminoid…?"
"Cool huh?" Luffy asked and they heard the ground shaking… the sounds of giant footsteps. They all looked around and soon saw what it was with their own eyes.
"That's weird!" Luffy yelled, looking up to see the giant creature overhead, "What's a Sea King doing on land?!"
Vivi screamed out what it was. "A DINOSAUR!"
"AWESOME!" Luffy screamed as Vivi and Carue could only yell in terror.
AN: So here we are again! For those of you who missed my note in Jealous Fox, I'm going to be focusing exclusively on this story for a while until I get it finished, which thanks to the help of RoseDragonWitch, I should do at a fairly decent pace. Keep in mind as I think I mentioned earlier in this story, I plan to only go up to the time skip as I doubt I have the time or patience to write out each and every new arc Oda comes up with, so if someone wants to see this continued please PM me and I'll forward you the rights to make a sequel. Anyway, the reason I chose this story is because, in addition to being one of my first full length stories, I plan on keeping the story fairly close to canon with only Luffy's powers being the big difference (again as I have mentioned earlier in this story). This makes it easier to write out and as such will go a lot faster than one of my original plot stories. Anyway, onto this chapter.
Some of you might wonder why Luffy didn't simply transform into an island whale to either talk to or fight Laboon. The answer is simple: Luffy believes more in action than in words, and he also wanted it to be of a more personal fight with Laboon facing a pirate like his friends of 50 years ago then his own species. Plus, while Luffy could turn into an island whale, he's never done so before and definitely never became an animal that big. Luffy decided to stick to his originals for this fight, though there is no guarantee he won't become a Laboon doppelganger in later chapters. Sorry there wasn't much action this chapter, but this was largely just a transition into the Alabasta Arc. Don't worry, you'll see Luffy get into plenty of more action in the chapters to come! I'd appreciate any feedback or suggestions, and as always READ and REVIEW!