Smoker was intrigued.
"Girl?" he asked.
"Yeah, she ate a Devil's Fruit when she was small. Pitiful thing couldn't swim to save her life, so I had to do that for her." Mouse laughed again.
"What girl?" Smoker pushed.
"Uh... Lu-something." Mouse tried to remember. "Luffy! Yep. Miss Luffy," he said. Then he turned away.
"Well, good meeting you, Smoker. I'll be going now." He waved. Smoker stood and grabbed Mouse by his head.
"You're not going anywhere," the marine said. "Tell me where... Luffy... went." Smoker put a strain on her name, not used to using the first name of his enemy.
"Anything to skip school." Mouse smiled.
Meanwhile...
It had been about a day since Smoker led his team into the whirlpool, and on that day, it was Chopper's turn to keep watch.
"Any sign of, well... anyone?" Usopp called.
"No," Chopper said sadly. Usopp sighed. Suddenly, the middle of the deck began to glow. Franky pulled off his working mask to look.
"Wow! That is one super light there!" He jumped up.
"Yohohoho!" Brook cried, running to hide behind the tree. The four began screaming and shouting at each other and panicking.
Up in the crow's nest, Robin glanced out and saw the boys on the deck running around a glowing light in a panic.
"What's going on?" She stood, getting Nami's attention.
"What?" Nami stood and looked out the window at the deck. Sure enough, the light started taking a form. "Let's go." Nami and Robin raced down the stairs and onto the deck. The boys had moved to a side of the deck.
"How peculiar..." Robin smirked as the light took the shape of a person. The person was unconscious, lying on the deck now. The crew all took a single step closer, feeling a bit insecure without the monster trio around. It was a man. He had white hair and was wearing a torn-up black butler's suit. He was battered and bruised, dried blood on his wounds.
"H-hey!" Usopp got closer.
"Is he alright?" Nami knelt next to him.
"Yohoho! It seems he's been in a fight!" Brook announced. Chopper came up the closest. He examined him.
"He's hurt, but he's breathing. Franky, can you bring him to my office?" Franky nodded, hoisting the man up and setting him down in the doctor's office.
For the next couple hours, the crew awaited news on the man's condition. Chopper swung the door open.
"He's waking up!" he said. The crew all came to the room. The man sat up, a large bandaged wrapped around his chest and head.
"What? Where am I?" He gripped his head.
"This is the Thousand Sunny." Robin smiled at him. The man nodded.
"I see... that sneaky bastard." The man swung his legs off the bed and rested his elbows on his legs and his head in his hands.
"Uh, who?" Usopp asked. There was no answer. "Let me rephrase that. Who are you?" Usopp asked. The man brought up his white haired head.
"My name is Zyuu," he said. The crew jumped back.
"Zyuu!?" they all yelled.
After some fighting, Zyuu found himself in a cage.
"There's no need for this. I'm actually quite harmless at the moment." Zyuu leaned against the back of the cage.
"We're not asking again! Where's Luffy?!" Nami growled, pointing her Clima-Tact menacingly at the white-haired king. Zyuu put up his hands submissively.
"Whoa, whoa! Settle down! The truth is, Luffy could be anywhere right now," he said.
"Explain." Robin glared slightly.
"I mean, I lost the fight for her hand in marriage. For all I know her and Ryuu got married and those friends of yours were executed." Zyuu shrugged.
"WHAT!?" Usopp and Chopper screamed.
"Again! I don't know!" Zyuu said nervously. "In reality, I'm the 'good guy'! I was planning on bringing your friends back here."
"Why would you do that? Aren't you Ryuu's brother?" Nami asked.
"Sit down, I'll tell you my tale." He motioned for the Straw Hats to sit.
"Go on," Brook said when Zyuu was silent.
"Oh! Of course. Well, I guess it all started at Lougetown. See, I lived there with my mom and younger sister. And my mom loved fairy tales. So -"
"What does this have to do with anything?" Nami cut him off, annoyed.
"I'm getting to that, if you'd let me speak!" he snapped. Nami glared and huffed, allowing him to continue. "ANYWAY!" Zyuu yelled to regain the crew's attention. "It was one day when this whole thing started. My mom had just finished reading her book -"
Flashback
"- and so, King Ryuu continues to search for a worthy bride to this day. The end." A woman with blonde hair smiled, closing the book.
"I never get tired of that story, Mama!" A little blonde girl pulled her bed blanket up to her nose and giggled.
"Aren't I a bit to old for stories?" A younger version of Zyuu stared at the ceiling.
"Shh! Mama might not read it again, onii-chan!" the girl hissed.
"Alice, I'll never stop reading it to you. It's my favorite story, as well. It's how I came up with your big brother's name." Their mom smiled, kissing their foreheads. Zyuu rolled his eyes and smirked as his mother went to the door. His name was an altered version of Ryuu, since his mother believed they held a resemblance to one another.
"Goodnight." She closed the door behind her.
Alice turned and stared at her older brother, whom she shared a room with.
"Psst! Onii-chan!" she whispered. Zyuu opened one eyes.
"What?" he asked.
"Do you think I could be Ryuu's bride?" she inquired. Zyuu propped himself up on his elbow and faced his little sister.
"He's like, nineteen years old Alice. You're only six," he muttered to her.
"So?"
"So, he's gonna be way older by the time you'd be able to marry him. And he doesn't even exist, at that!"
"He does!"
"No, he doesn't, Alice. He's just a stupid character in a childish story." Zyuu laid back down.
"You're so mean, onii-chan!" Alice stuck our her tongue, slamming herself back into her bed and pulling the blanket over her head.
"Hn." Zyuu rolled away from her and fell asleep.
Over the next few years, Alice was obsessed with proving that Ryuu as real. She was always researching and calculating in every way she knew how. After a few years and the death of their mother, Alice and Zyuu were living by theirselves in their house. One day, Alice was very excited. She ran down the steps and slid into the kitchen.
"Zyuu-ah!" she fell flat on her face. A nineteen-year-old Zyuu stood and rushed over to his seventeen-year-old sister.
"Alice!? What the hell!?" He helped her up.
"I found it! I really did!" she exclaimed, thrusting a rolled-up map at her brother.
"Found what? Don't tell me you're still on that whole Wonderland thing..." Zyuu sighed.
"But I found it! Come on!" Alice shook her brother.
"Fine fine! I'll humor you. Only because I want to get off this island," he said defensively. "Now, where is Wonderland?"
"Somewhere in the New World." Alice smiled. Zyuu's eye twitched.
So the pair set off and sailed into the New World. They managed to avoid monsters, thanks to Zyuu, and they were coming closer to the destination Alice had in mind.
Alice smiled.
"It's here! Look, Zyuu! Welcome to Wonder -" she stopped when she saw nothing. "But... it was supposed to be here..." she muttered.
"Alice..." Zyuu didn't know what to say. "Come on. There's an island close by... maybe they'll know something." He tried.
"Yeah..." Alice nodded. When they docked, they asked around. Getting the same answer each time.
"Wonderland is nothing but a child's story."
It was a few months after, and Zyuu had bought a small house in the forest near the village of the island. It was one night. Everything was quiet. Alice was sitting on the couch and Zyuu was napping in a chair.
"The end..." Alice smiled, putting down 'The Legend Of Wonderland' for almost the hundredth time. She stretched, pulling the ribbon from her blond hair. She smiled at her brother, throwing a blanket over him. "Night, nii-chan." She yawned, walking off to her room.
Later, there was a knock on the door. And another knock. And another one.
"Who!?" Zyuu slurred, falling from the chair. The messy-haired boy stood and stumbled to the door. He pulled it open. It was almost as if he was looking into a mirror. Except in this image, he had black hair. "Me?" he muttered, touching its face.
"...Please refrain from touching me." The man batted his hand away. "And I do agree. We look similar. How strange." He man stepped past Zyuu.
"Oi, oi!" Zyuu was more awake now. "Don't just walk into my house like that! Who do you think you are?" he snapped.
"I'm Ryuu. King of Wonderland." Zyuu's eye twitched.
"Sure. And I'm Zyuu, king of beating up burglars." He slammed his fist into his opposite palm. Ryuu crossed his arms.
"And how do you plan to defeat me?" he inquired.
"Like this!" Zyuu jetted forward, slamming his fist into Ryuu's face. The surprised man flew into the wall on the other side of the room.
Alice woke up when she hear a loud crash. She crept out her room and down the stairs.
"Hello?" she called, "Zyuu?"
"Stay upstairs, Alice!" Zyuu yelled to the steps.
"Alice?" Ryuu stood, rubbing his face, he turned and saw her. Ryuu stood frozen for a moment, he had never seen such a girl. Wide blue eyes, long blond hair, fair skin and a curious gaze. Zyuu stepped in front of her. Ryuu glared at him.
"Alice. Go upstairs," Zyuu growled.
"Yeah... I'll go." Alice turned and ran up the stairs.
"Ah! Wait!" Ryuu jumped up. Zyuu stepped in front of him again. Ryuu glared. "Let me pass," he growled.
"Like hell I would." Zyuu glared back.
Alice stood in her room, pacing across the floor.
"Who was that guy?" she muttered to herself. After a few minutes, she heard her brother scream in pain. "Zyuu!" The blond girl rushed down the stairs. Zyuu was groaning in a pile of wood from their now-broken wall. "Zyuu!" she yelled again, sliding and kneeling at her brother's side. "Are you okay? What happened?" She shook him, but Zyuu was to out of it to respond.
"Hello, my dear." Alice turned and stared at Ryuu.
"Who... you... you did this!" Alice yelled.
"Please don't be alarmed," Ryuu said. Alice jumped and grabbed a piece of wood from the pile of rubble. She stood in front of Zyuu.
"W-what do you want?" Alice said, her eyes full of fear and her voice squeaking as she stuttered.
"You. Please, come with me to Wonderland." Ryuu bowed. Alice lowered her makeshift weapon.
"W-Wonderland?" she said, dropping the wood.
Ryuu and Alice stared at each other for some time.
"Are... are you serious?" She squinted a bit.
"As serious as ever," Ryuu said.
"O... Okay. I'll come," Alice said. Ryuu smiled.
"That's wonderfu -"
"But Zyuu has to come too!" Ryuu stopped.
"What?"
"Z-Zyuu. He has to come. I won't go without him," Alice said. Ryuu looked back at Zyuu. The white-haired boy was struggling to remain conscious. Ryuu stared at Alice and Alice stared back. Ryuu sighed.
"Very well," Ryuu said. Alice grabbed her brother's arm.
"Come on, Zyuu, you have to stand." She tugged at him. Zyuu winced and stood, leaning on Alice. "Okay, you're alright. Everything's gonna be fine." Alice smiled as she followed Ryuu out of the house into the night.
It was a few years that they lived in Wonderland. No one had aged. Ryuu had requested that Alice marry him. Alice refused.
Alice shook her head.
"I can't... I can't marry you." She looked down. "Sorry, Ryuu..." She turned. "It's been fun here. But I think it's time for us to go home," she said, Ryuu grabbed her arm.
"You can't leave," he said.
"I have to." Alice pulled, but Ryuu's grip was steady.
"Alice?" Zyuu walked into the room. "What's going on?" he asked.
"We're leaving," Alice said.
"It's about time." Zyuu rolled his eyes. Ryuu glared.
"You're not going anywhere," Ryuu snapped at Zyuu.
"Look. Alice doesn't want to marry you." Zyuu grabbed his sister's other arm.
"Then we'll battle," Ryuu said.
"What?" Zyuu raised his eye brow.
"If you win, Alice can go. If I win, Alice stays."