After a long year, Desire Cruise FINALLY makes a return!
The reason for such a long break?
We kind of felt... apprehensive since this chapter is a movie chapter, ALREADY.
And yes, that means early One Piece movies, don't worry though, it got adapted to fit into canon properly.
Which one is it?
Clockwork Island Adventure.
Hope you enjoy!
"Wow, I just joined and ALREADY I get a vacation? This crew must be paradise," Lumen joked.
He was currently wearing a pair of red, yellow and green swimming trunks as he stood on the beach of a new island they had moved to.
They had stayed on the one he ended up on for a few days, enough for him to get a proper understanding of the area, and they'd ended up draining the island of most resources… which they sold as soon as they reached THIS island, and Nami had been VERY happy.
At least 100 Million Berries apparently for all the minerals.
Which may be why she was, in her own words, allowing him to put sunscreen on her back.
Honestly… he wasn't complaining.
"I don't have all day you know?" Nami said from where she lay on a long chair, lying flat on her stomach and the back of her bikini undone.
"Right away your highness." Lumen said in a joking tone before he grabbed the bottle and started applying it to her back.
While that was happening, they noticed the other Straw Hats simply enjoying the vacation in their own way, like Zoro who was doing one handed push ups...with a bunch of weighted sacks on his back, Usopp who had a floatation device to help enjoy the sea, Sanji who was roasting some corn they found growing not far away...while shooting Lumen some jealous looks every now and then, and finally Luffy who was…
"Hey guys! I found something awesome!" he shouted...not that any of them were really paying attention since the last two time he'd done it it was something...incredibly mundane, or only mildly interesting. That changed of course when… "Hey look! Merry is so awesome!"
"...why is Luffy talking about the ship?" Lumen mused.
"No idea. Luffy, the Merry is docked. What could be so interesting?" Nami grumbled.
"But it's right there, sailing by itself!" Luffy grinned excitedly.
It took a few moments for his words to sink in… before they all shot up with a loud "WHAT?!"
"What the hell do you mean it's sailing by itself?!" Sanji said as they all rushed to the edge of the water, and watched dumbfounded as their ship was just sailing away.
"Isn't Merry just awesome?" Luffy said in wonder.
"Our ship can't move by itself you idiot!" Zoro raged.
"She's being stolen!" Usopp added.
"WHAT?! STOLEN?!" Luffy suddenly cried out in shock.
"You're so fucking slow!" Lumen shouted in aggravation.
"This is what we have to deal with everyday." Nami said in annoyance as she finished reattaching her top while Luffy wound up his arm.
"Get back here you thief!" he shouted as he stretched his arm out towards the Going Merry, and everyone started to grin… before his arm snapped back just a few inches away from grabbing on to the railing.
"Of course, NOW you can't reach it," Lumen groaned. "Now what do we do?"
"How long has it been again?" Usopp groaned.
"One whole week." Lumen groaned back.
"I feel antsy without my sword dammit." Zoro muttered.
It had been exactly one week since they had lost Merry, and the crew was currently grouped up together in a tiny little swan boat.
They also had to find some new clothes, but the only thing available on the island they had been resting on was a wedding store, so they had no choice but to get their clothes from there.
Zoro, Sanji and Usopp were stuck wearing priest robes, though Sanji was pissed they didn't have any shoes so he was stuck in sandals, while Lumen and Nami both got saddled with dressing as the groom and the bride.
"If only they had something a bit faster than this little boat," Lumen groaned. That and he wished he'd picked the Shauta Combo as one of his starters (even if it meant he'd have been knocked out cold for a little while). He'd have gotten the Going Merry back by now if he had. However, his train of thought was cut short when they heard cries for help, and saw what appeared to be a kid drowning. "H-Hey! Are you okay?" he asked in worry.
"Hold on kid, we'll help you!" Usopp added as he steered the boat towards the kid. However…
"Thanks for falling for it," the kid grinned, before they found themselves caught in a net, when a mechanism rose out of the water.
"Hey!" What the hell?!" "Who's touching my butt?!" "Sorry!"
"Good work Akisu." a voice said, making them turn to see a man standing on a ship that was moving out from behind the rocks, wearing a long green coat and a pair of goggles.
"Meh, it was a piece of cake big bro." the kid said as he climbed onto the ship. "Idiots like them are easy to trick anyway." he added as he grinned towards the captured pirates.
"Why you little brat!" Usopp shouted in outrage.
"So, we're being mugged then huh?" Lumen mused… before grinning widely "I feel much less sorry about this then." he said as he took out the OOO Driver and strapped it to his waist before pulling out three medals and inserting them, grabbing the scanner and sliding it across "Henshin!" "TAKA! KAMAKIRI! CHEETAH!" and with a quick flick of the kamakiri blades, the net was sliced open, the crew landing on the small ship of the would be muggers, who suddenly looked a LOT more worried as they looked at OOO. "Alright, we've just gone through the worst week we've had in a while, and right now we are NOT in the mood for this kind of rubbish, so I DARE you to try anything," OOO said dangerously. "Please do, I'm hankering for some hurting right now."
"S-sorry!" both of them squeaked, before soon going into a crouch and begging for mercy.
"Jeez, you two are as bad as Usopp." Sanji said dryly.
"Yea- Hey wait a minute!" Usopp started to agree before snapping towards Sanji.
"ANY way, who the heck are you guys?" OOO asked.
"Who are we?" the older man said before suddenly getting up and looking proud. "Those sailing the seas in search of a mountain of treasure! We are, the Thief Brothers!" the two of them said in synch and finished with a pose. "Borodo and Akisu!"
"...at least it wasn't the Team Rocket motto," Lumen grumbled as he detransformed.
"They look more like idiots than proper thieves." Zoro said, and suddenly the mountain of loot the two had climbed up on fell down.
"What's all this stuff?" Luffy wondered as he stood up and looked at the treasure boxes. Opening one of them, what he found was...mainly junk.
"...you sure you're thieves or just scavengers?" Lumen deadpanned.
"Hey, don't underestimate us! Big Brother Borodo is gonna steal the Diamond Clock from Clockwork Island and become the greatest thief in the world!" Akisu said.
"You mean the famous Diamond Clock?!" Nami said in surprise and excitement.
"What's that?" Usopp asked.
"Only the finest jewel and greatest artifact ever crafted! It's literally the most valuable clock in the world!" Nami said.
"That's our knowledgeable Nami!" Sanji said with his usual hearts in his eyes.
"I'm guessing stealing it is REALLY hard then," Lumen mused. "So makes sense that stealing it would earn you a title like that."
"So he's just like me then." Luffy said with a grin.
"How am I just like you?" Borodo asked, not liking the idea of being compared to what was obviously an idiot.
"You want to be the greatest thief in the world, and I want to be the greatest pirate in the world, the Pirate King!" Luffy exclaimed.
"P-pirate king… with that dingy thing?!" Borodo asked in shock as he looked at the swan boat.
"Hell no!" Luffy and Usopp said together.
"Our ship got stolen recently," Sanji said with a sigh. At that Borodo seemed to have a look of realization. "Your ship...did it have a straw hat symbol on it?" he asked, looking towards Luffy.
"Yeah, that's the one," Lumen nodded. "Unless there are other pirates who use a straw hat as a symbol anyway."
"Well...that's gonna be a problem. The ones who stole it were the Trump Siblings," Borodo sighed.
"Never heard of them." Zoro said simply.
"Advertising isn't their main thing, strangely enough. Their a group of pirates that have a stronghold on Clockwork Island, using it as a base of operations to terrorize the surrounding area." Borodo explained as he withdrew some wanted posters from his jacket.
The group looked through the posters of the clearly playing card themed group. "They don't look so strong," Zoro and Sanji said at the same time before they soon began arguing over who said it first. Luffy meanwhile seemed to think Bear King was cool, while Nami, Usopp, and Lumen watched them with deadpan expressions.
"What are you so happy about?! They stole your ship!" Borodo said. "You're supposed to be pissed!"
"Eh, we'll just get it back first chance we get, and probably beat up whoever gets in the way," Lumen shrugged, knowing how these kinds of things usually went.
"Borodo, look over there!" Akisu said in alarm, pointing at a direction. The group looked towards it, and blinked in surprise.
"Those are the Trump Siblings!" Borodo said in alarm as they saw the flag… and the fleet of ships… and the bear head figurehead of the main ship...and a naked woman bathing in the figurehead….wait, what was that last one?
"Put some clothes on dammit!" Lumen shouted, averting his eyes, while having a large blush on his face.
"Someone has the proper reaction at least." Nami muttered as she looked at Lumen, before glancing at Sanji who was happily ogling the woman, Usopp was trying not to look by hiding his eyes behind his fingers… but was looking through the cracks… and the rest didn't care it seemed.
"Hm? What do you all want?" the woman asked, not the least bit concerned about her nudity.
"Give us back the ship you stole from us!" Nami demanded.
"Your ship? Never seen it," the woman said, before seemingly noticing Nami...and the smirk she gained wasn't a comforting one.
"What?" Nami asked a little apprehensively. At that point, a pig like person suddenly jumped forward.
"Now then, time for a riddle!" the man said.
"Well this just got a bit weirder," Lumen groaned, still pointedly trying to avoid looking at the naked woman.
"One: Who will become the greatest pirate in the world, the king of pirates?" the man asked.
"Boo Jack, that's way too easy," the woman chuckled.
"That depends on who you're asking," Lumen deadpanned, already having a good idea what the answer was. However…
"Me!" Luffy said simply, to which Lumen sighed, knowing that no doubt the answer Boo Jack had in mind was their own captain.
"Wrong! The answer is our captain, the mighty Bear King!" Boo jack said as if chiding a child, confirming Lumen's thoughts.
"No, you're wrong," Luffy said, clearly not getting it. "I guess it's not common knowledge yet," he shrugged.
"Besides, what kind of riddle is that? That was a flat out question," Sanji sighed.
"Just as I thought, these guys aren't anything special," Zoro snorted.
"Mocking the Trump Pirates, eh?" Boo Jack growled.
"Well then, it seems we'll have to explain it to them, the woman said, before snapping her fingers, and suddenly a veritable army emerged from the ships.
"...where the heck were they hiding?" Lumen deadpanned before strapping on the OOO Driver and inserting the medals. "Henshin!"
"TAKA! TORA! BATTA! TA-TO-BA! TATOBA, TATOBA!"
"Let's see if you got enough luck to win this." OOO said as he cracked his knuckles and activated the Tora claws.
"And here they come," Sanji said as the pirates poured out of their ship and soon began jumping onto the small boat.
"Hold this for me," Luffy said, putting his hat on Nami's head.
"I'll leave it to you guys," Borodo said before he and Akisu stepped back, while the four of them jumped forward and met the charge head on.
The fight that followed was...okay it was a slaughter. The Trump Pirates had quantity, but the four of them were matching with quality, and before long...the attacking pirates were thrown overboard, or groaning on the ground.
"These guys really are strong!" Borodo couldn't help but grin. However…
"Oh...so they CAN fight," the woman mused, before Boo Jack jumped forward.
"My turn then!" he grinned, before rolling into a ball...with spikes, and proceeded to…
"He knows the Spin Dash?!" OOO demanded when they were forced to avoid getting run over by the spiked ball, which destroyed the main mast of the small ship, before bouncin back up to the bigger ship.
"That's my Boo Jack!" the woman chuckled.
"Well that guy sure is something isn't he?" Sanji scoffed in annoyance.
"Time for my secret technique then!" Usopp said as he quickly grabbed the rudder of the boat "My famous 'Escape is Winning' master plan!" he shouted as he started rowing like a maniac, throwing everyone down as the boat started moving quickly.
"You're running away?!" the others all asked incredulously while the Trump Pirates all stared dumbfounded.
"Why the hell are we running?!" OOO demanded as they all grabbed hold. "They only got ONE shot in! We were literally mowing them down!"
"Because that was scary!" Usopp supplied.
"A LOT of things are scary when you're a pirate, and that didn't stop you from being one!" OOO countered. Before the argument could go further, OOO noticed something fall off the boat, a small box. The moment it did, Akisu gasped, and promptly smashed Usopp in the head to make him stop pedalling like mad. Once the boat stopped, Borodo jumped into the ocean and swam to the object, managing to retrieve it.
"Its safe!" Borodo said, causing Akisu to sigh in relief. However, that was when they heard something in the water, and someone jumped into the air...before several bombs were dropped onto the ship.
"...well fuck," OOO deadpanned, before the ship exploded.
There were shouts and some tossing around, and Luffy almost drowning were it not for Zoro grabbing him in time, as the group held onto the hull of the boat, though…
"Second riddle," Boo Jack, who was floating in the water, said. "What does he want the most?" he asked, and they noticed someone was missing.
"Nami!" Sanji and OOO gasped when they realized it, and true enough, Nami was in the arms of the woman (thankfully clothed now), standing on top of Boo Jack's back.
"Correct, we'll be taking her with us." Boo Jack grinned "She'll make a fine souvenir for our captain."
"It'll be fun to see him do this and that to her." the woman said tauntingly, licking her lips as she pictured… something that was definitely NSFW.
"This and that?" most of the people asked...saved OOO who already knew what they had in mind.
"UNHAND OUR FRIEND YOU SICK SICK BASTARDS!" OOO roared as he jumped onto the wood and used the Batta legs to jump after them.
Boo Jack tossed a bomb at him...only for it to be sliced apart by the Tora claws, and OOO pounced on them. What followed was an almost comical smoke cloud, before Nami came out of it, landing on the wood they'd all clung on, while the woman and Boo Jack went flying away.
"Outta luck you bastards!" OOO shouted at their flying forms, before swimming back towards the wreck as Nami came to from her brief state of unconsciousness.
"The hell just happened?" she asked with a groan as she sat up.
"Newbie just saved your ass from getting raped." Zoro grunted, having gotten the meaning of the words only a second after Lumen.
Nami shivered a bit at the mental image his bluntness brought on, but nodded towards OOO as he grabbed on to the wood, giving him a grateful smile "Thanks Lumen."
"I'd be a bastard if I let that kind of stuff happen to a friend." he said with a shrug and a smile. "Now let's get out of here before they come back. Everyone grab on or get on," he said, before switching to the Cheetah legs. Once everyone was secured (and Luffy got his hat back), he began kicking his legs and they were soon rocketing away like a speed boat. "Where to next?" he shouted over his kicking. "Point the way and I'll get us that way as fast as I can!"
"You doing ok?" Luffy asked as Lumen was lying down on his back on their makeshift raft, while Borodo was directing them with a wind catcher.
"Yeah, just tired out a bit, two quick henshins like that and using up so much energy with Cheetah is still new to me after all… I'm REALLY not looking forward to using a full combo." Lumen admitted with a sigh as he rested.
"But...are we really getting to Clockwork Island like this?" Zoro asked.
"Be quiet, Borodo is a genius at manipulating and using the wind and waves," Akisu said.
"So once we get to Clockwork Island, what next?" Lumen asked.
"I'm gonna go steal the Diamond Clock," Borodo said proudly. "And since the Trump Pirates are using the island as a base, odds are you will find your ship there."
"Sounds good to me," Nami nodded.
"Though...I'm curious," Usopp started. "What's so important about that music box that you had us stop?"
"This…" Akisu frowned.
"That music box is the only thing Akisu has of his home town," Borodo explained. "I found Akisu drifting at sea while he was a baby. Seems his parents sent him adrift to keep him safe from some pirates, and that music box was all there was in there," he said, before smiling slightly. "Whenever he was upset, that music box always calmed him down and made him happy. It's VERY important to him."
"So you two aren't blood related then?" Luffy mused, before smiling "Kinda reminds me of my own brother." he said with a chuckle.
"You have a brother?" Usopp asked, trying not to shiver as he thought of his idiot captain having family besides the grandfather he mentioned a little while back.
"Yeahp! Me and him drank sake together as kids, so that makes us brothers!" Luffy explained with a grin.
"...not even gonna comment on the problem with that picture," Lumen deadpanned.
"Meh, sake's hard alcohol, but it takes more than a single cup to get a person drunk." Zoro said.
"Yeah, it takes some stronger stuff to knock a kid on their ass in a single drink." Nami agreed.
"I REALLY don't want to know." Lumen said with a twitching eyebrow.
Eventually they approached and reached Clockwork Island…
"...okay, how the hell does that even WORK?" Lumen deadpanned at the sight of the island. It was...a small patch of sand and dirt, with a single stone column...one that stretched up and up and up into the sky and ended in a MASSIVE landmass that was clearly larger than the mass underneath it.
"I… I honestly don't know how this is even POSSIBLE." Nami said incredulously.
"It's like the island decided to bend physics over and make it it's bitch." Lumen added.
"Well… they made this to defend against enemies. If anyone tries to climb the stairs, they'll be killed before they reach the top," Borodo said.
"...REALLY wishing I had the red combo right now," Lumen sighed, knowing that Tajadol would let him fly, backlash be damned. "So I guess we'll have to walk?"
"No, when they come to leave or enter, a secret elevator will open up. If we wait, we should be able to find and-" Borodo started, before realizing that Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji were already walking up the stairs. "What the hell are you doing?! Those stairs are dangerous you idiots!"
"We'll just tackle them one at a time," Sanji said almost dismissively.
"They're always like this, aren't they?" Lumen deadpanned.
"Yes…" Nami and Usopp let out long suffering sighs as they were all forced to join the climb.
The first trap they encountered ended up being a classic one, as the stairs flipped down into a ramp, with Lumen grabbing onto the railing and Nami clinging to him to avoid slipping back down.
Then the water came and sent everyone back down a while… then they heard shouts about spikes… and then some boulders came rolling down… and THEN the floor got all broken up and the water just fell through the cracks.
"Well… quick thinking on your part." Nami said as she patted Lumen on the shoulder.
"I almost feel bad for the others though." He said with a sweatdrop.
Eventually the others caught back up with them and the group continued rushing up the stairs, breaking any trap they came across and rising up further on the long tower, taking them at least an hour of running to reach the top.
"Japanese temples...eat your heart out," Lumen groaned as this had to be the largest set of stairs he'd EVER seen. That aside, he finally could see where they'd ended up and… "Huh, this is a pretty nice place…" The island on the top was quite a sight. All the way up in the sky yet it appeared to be a quaint town with hills of green and a large castle up top. "I'm guessing the Trump Siblings are holed up in that castle."
"And there is your ship," Borodo said, as he pointed at the Going Merry which was parked among a bunch of other ships. Of course…
"... how the heck did it even get up here… and how do we get it down for that matter?" Lumen pointed out. "I don't think that secret door they mention could be big enough for a whole ship like some of these…"
"We'll figure it out." Luffy said with a laugh.
"We probably will yeah." Zoro admitted with a nod, before looking at Borodo "Though, how can you see it so well from this distance?"
"Oh? Well, I guess I just have better eyesight." Borodo answered easily, while Zoro continued to look at him for a moment.
"I think he's right though, I can just about make out our mark on the sail." Nami said as she squinted while looking at the top of the tower.
"Yeah, and I think I can see the figurehead." Usopp added.
"And there's the prize you two are after," Lumen noted, seeing the large clock that had clearly been made out of jewels, or rather, Diamond, if the name was literal. "But first things first before we get to the castle and get the ship back…"
"Food! Meat!" Luffy grinned...only to get dope slapped by an irate Lumen.
"No, unlike you, WE actually need a change of clothes," he growled.
"Sorry about heaping the bill on you, Borodo. We'll be sure to pay you back," Lumen said as they walked out with a new set of clothes. He was wearing black pants, along with a checkered green and yellow button up shirt that was left open, over a red t-shirt that had a hawk printed on it (a lucky find for him honestly) and he still has his sandals in his feet.
Sanji was wearing a sea green shirt, kept buttoned up, over a simple grey t-shirt, wearing dark purple pants and some somewhat cheap looking brown steel toed boots, though he didn't expect them to last too long personally.
Nami was wearing a simple white shirt with the word GOLD written on it in, well, gold, and some dark red pants with simple heeled sandals, nothing too high though so she could still run… she may also have discreetly stolen a broom and broken off the head to get a makeshift bo staff.
Zoro was one of the luckier ones of the group, still having his pants and own shoes at least, though he was now wearing an open navy blue jacket with a white scarf just hanging off his neck, exposing the scar on his chest.
And finally, Usopp was wearing a simple orange jacket with greyish green slacks, having a bought a cheap slingshot and some makeshift ammo for now so he'd at least be able to do SOMETHING.
"Like hell we're gonna use our treasure for that!" Nami objected.
"Then use the money we got from selling MY minerals!" Lumen shot back. "We're having Borodo pay for these, so it's only right we pay him back, and seeing as I'm the one who showed you where the minerals are, that money technically belongs to me, so I say we use it to pay him back."
Nami stared at him for a long moment, narrowing her eyes, before clicking her teeth "Dammit, fine. You weren't TECHNICALLY an official crew member when you showed it to us since we'd only just met… but any money you personally find, I want AT LEAST a 30% cut of from now on, alright!?" she told him.
"Fair enough." Lumen said with a nod, and the two shook on it.
"Anyways, next we'll have to go to the castle one way or another but…" he trailed off, looking at their crew. "Question is, how?" he sighed. "Also, has anyone seen Luffy?"
The group all looked to where Luffy had been a few seconds ago. Unsurprisingly he was gone. "...of course," they all deadpanned.
The group went looking for their wayward captain, and found him looking at a home with a variety of clockwork toys in the window. "Hey guys, clockwork island is really fun!" Luffy grinned, as he opened the door to look inside.
"Only strangers would say that," came a voice from inside the house, the group walking in to see what appeared to be a couple sitting on the second floor, while Lumen was smacking Luffy in the background, berating him for just barging into someone's home.
The couple appeared to be researchers, or maybe doctors, judging by the lab coats, both of them had hair shaped like a corkscrew, the woman having lavender hair, and a pair of glasses, while the man had brown hair and a goatee.
"I'm guessing this is due to the Trump Pirates that are in the castle?" Nami guessed.
The couple nodded sadly. "Ever since the Trump Pirates took over, this island hasn't been the same," the woman nodded.
"They've forced our people to make them their weapons of mass destruction, while holding the entire island hostage," the man continued.
"How can they take an entire island hostage?" Lumen blinked.
"The castle they're in is the site of the main key of the island. If that's destroyed, the whole Island will fall and take everyone with it," the woman sighed, before wistfully looking towards a picture.
"Hey, that's the Diamond Clock!" Akisu said, seeing where she was looking.
"Yes, we built it to commemorate the birth of our son. The whole island praised us for our work." the man said with a forlorn sigh.
"So you made it yourselves then?" Zoro mused, glancing back at all the various toys and knick-knacks in the window "Well, I can see where you got the skill."
"Yes, however… ever since the Trump Pirates settled onto this island years ago, we've been living through hell every day." the woman said somberly "Now we only make tools for killing, and if we rebel, Bear King will destroy the island."
"That's… that's just so cruel!" Akisu said in anger.
"The kind of shit that makes your blood boil." Lumen added with a growl, while Nami had a sympathetic look towards the couple.
"Don't worry, these guys are strong. I'm sure they can help with the pirate problem," Borodo said, to which Zoro gave him a suspicious look.
"Heh, you just want the Trump Pirates gone so you can help yourself to the Diamond Clock," Usopp said with a knowing smirk.
"Eh? You want to steal the Diamond Clock?" the man blinked.
"Yeah? What of it? Borodo is gonna steal the clock and become the King of Thieves!" Akisu said.
"Well if you can, then go ahead," the woman sighed. "That clock is just full of painful reminders for us now…"
"Though, anyone who's ever tried to steal it has been met with death." the man added gravely.
"Well, that's because none of them were Borodo, he's gonna be the greatest thief in the world." Akisu said matter of factly.
"You just don't understand how terrible the Trump Pirates are, so please, if you want to live, just leave this island." the woman said sadly.
"Well, that's a problem right there, because we can't just leave." Sanji said as he took a drag of his cigarette.
"We have… a conflict of interest with the Trump Pirates, you could say." Lumen added.
"If you do that, you'll die! Death creates no futures for you!" the woman begged.
"But if you don't stake your life on something, you can't create any future," Luffy suddenly said, his expression in a rare show of seriousness, catching everyone's attention, before he grinned. "Right?"
"Couldn't agree more, captain," Lumen smirked, something shared by all of them.
"Let's go!" Luffy said as he burst out the door and they were soon on their way to the castle.
"Hey, wait for us!" Akisu said as he ran out after them and tripped, Borodo running out and lifting him up.
"Let's not waste time!" he said, with Akisu nodding and following after him.
"Wait!" the women tried to call out to them as she ran out, before her eyes fell the ground.
"This…" she said softly, her eyes widening as she picked up Akisu's music box.
"Yahooo!" Luffy grinned as they were currently all standing inside what could be best described as a hot air balloon basket, albeit missing the hot air balloon. Instead they were using a parachute of sorts to catch the wind, and once again Borodo was 'driving' so to speak.
"Sweet! We've got a bird's eye view of the place!" Usopp grinned as they were ascending at a controlled pace, headed towards Trump Castle.
"Don't get too carried away! There's a field of landmines under there, so if we fall, we're finished!" Borodo warned them, causing the more...sane...members to avoid hanging over the edge. However, Luffy kept looking down and noticed something.
"Hey, those windmills," he said, taking out the wind-up windmill toy he'd gotten his hands on earlier. "They look just like this thing," he commented.
"Well, you did find it on a beach. Maybe it came from here," Nami suggested, earning a small nod from Luffy, before he tried to turn the key...but it wouldn't budge.
"Huh? Is it broken?" he said as he kept trying to turn it.
"Let me have a look." Akisu said and Luffy handed it over to him, Akisu also trying to turn the key, seeing it was stuck, and taking out a screwdriver from his pocket and starting to loosen a few pieces, removing the top and then taking out more screwdrivers as he went to work on the toy.
"Woah, you're pretty slick." Usopp said with a grin.
"Akisu's always had a way with machinery, he's never even had to practice." Borodo said proudly.
Akisu continued to work on the toy, before putting it back together and winding up the key, the blades of the windmill turning mechanically.
"Awesome! You fixed it!" Luffy and Usopp cheered together, while Akisu grinned a bit.
"Oh my, so you're all still alive. A pitty," came a familiar voice. It echoed a bit, but it was unmistakable as to who it belonged to. The group looked around for the voice, before from a pipe, a mass of some kind of substance burst out, it was somewhat liquid in nature, and quickly solidified into a familiar form, the form of the woman from before, Honey Queen. Oh, and she was naked again.
"Again with the streaking?!" Lumen groaned in annoyance, looking away, while Sanji had to be held back before he fell off the basket.
"Well she ain't a normal human!" Zoro growled.
"She's a Devil Fruit user like Luffy!" Nami said in alarm.
"Bingo! Correct!" came Boo Jack's voice as he rode in on a unicycle and tossed some clothes which Honey Queen quickly slipped into.
"That's right, it's the Jelly-Jelly Fruit to be precise," she said as she was fully dressed again. "Boo Jack, reward them."
At that, Boo Jack jumped up off of a nearby windmill and was soon near the balloon basket.
"Yes! Reward me!" Sanji said, before getting serious "Like hell." he said as he jumped off the basket.
Boo Jack grinned, before tossing a ball towards Sanji, who scoffed and prepared to kick it back, only raising an eyebrow and readjusting his foot slightly when he saw spikes come out of it, using the tip of the steel toed boot to send it flying back right into Boo Jack's face. Boo Jack barely had time to be surprised before the spikes hit him, knocking him out of the air...and right down into the minefield. Unsurprisingly that ended with a 'Boom!'.
"Is it just me, or is there something strangely comedic about someone being beaten by their own minefield?" Lumen couldn't help but ask with a chuckle.
"Sweet catharsis and all that yeah." Usopp said with a grin.
"Especially when the someone in question is a moron." Zoro added with a smirk.
"Not bad, but your guard is down!" Honey Queen said as she jumped upward, her arms shifting to liquid and she looked ready to strike.
Lumen gasped and quickly inserted a new medal into the head section, having kept the driver and base medals on him in case he needed a quick change, and scanned it, forgoing even the 'Henshin'. "LION! TORA! BATTA!" "Liodias!" he shouted as his helmet started to shine.
Honey Queen threw her arms forward, but before she could release a torrent of jelly, she was hit face first with a blinding blast. The light hurt her eyes, while she felt the liquid her body turned into start to boil, causing her to shout in pain as she retracted her body...and soon realized she'd lost momentum...after the pinwheels stopped appearing in her eyes and by then...she was already almost at the ground. "Bas-!" she barely managed to say before she was hit with an exploding mine.
"Zoro was right, these guys ARE idiots," OOO deadpanned.
"Yeah, total idiots." Luffy nodded.
"Nothing else needs to be said." Nami deadpanned, because if even Luffy called someone an idiot… well, it wasn't fun to be called an idiot by HIM.
Not long after, Trump Castle…
"What the heck happened to you two?" the large nosed man in an aviator-esque outfit, Skunk One, asked in bewilderment as Honey Queen and Boo Jack came back...looking like they'd taken a jog through the minefield, something he voiced.
"Maybe because we DID just go through one, though not by choice," Honey Queen fumed. "Those kids are stronger than we thought."
"But we won't underestimate them next time!" Boo Jack added.
"See to it that you don't," the large man, Bear King, said with a frown. "Our moment of triumph is upon us as soon the King Cannon will be complete, and when it is, a new era may begin! One where I rule the seas as Pirate King!"
However, just as he said that, the castle shook. "What was that?!" he demanded.
One of their men came up, dressed like any other of their grunts, though the most notable feature was his slicked back brown hair. "Intruders! Intruders are attacking the castle!" he reported.
"What?!" Bear King growled as the Trump Siblings moved to see over the balcony...and soon saw the Straw Hats storming the castle entrance. "They're proving to be quite the nuisance…" he growled, before he gasped a bit.
"Huh? Is something wrong?" the lanky and thin man, Pin Joker, asked.
"N-No. It's nothing," Bear King shook his head, wondering where the heck that came from, none of them noticing something crawling through a way down the floors.
"Somebody stop this thing!" They all heard Skunk One shout, before he shot up into the air, a trail of gas behind him while he seemed to have something puncturing the gas bag on his back and causing the leak to send him all over the place. As a result, the gas was dropping all over the outside...and inside of the castle, hitting his own allies with it.
They coughed and gagged as the Devil Gas hit them, slowing them down, while outside, OOO had shifted to the Taka head and Cheetah Legs, and attached some of the materials Borodo still had on him, before having Sanji and Zoro hoist him up...and start kicking, creating makeshift fans that blew the gas away, allowing them to continue unimpeded.
"Dammit!" Bear King gasped as the remaining Trump Siblings (Skunk One was still flying uncontrollably in the air) fought to get away from the gas. "They're moving faster than we thought!" Fortunately for him, at that moment a mechanism appeared out of the floor, revealing something large covered in a cloth. "Perfect timing!" he grinned, as he pulled the cloth off to unveil the King Cannon. "Now we can't lose!" he grinned.
Back with the strawhats, the crew, plus Borodo and Akisu were quickly making their way up the castle, things made easier now that Zoro had… 'borrowed' a trio of swords from some of the grunts they encountered.
"These guys are pretty damn weak honestly." Nami grunted as she used her makeshift staff to send a mook tumbling down the stairs.
"You think that's weird? I feel VERY confident right now." Usopp said dryly as he fired pellets at the grunts, adding in some throwing knives to pin them to the walls by their clothes (Lumen showed him how to hold a throwing knife, and knowing that, it just gave him more arsenal to use).
"I don't think they looked hard for these guys honestly." OOO, currently in Kuwagata, Tora, Cheetah configuration, commented as he electrocuted a small group of mooks with the lightning from his horns.
The group kept running through the castle, and before long they reached a room with what appeared to be a large...screw or something, behind glass.
"What's this?" Luffy blinked.
"That's the island's main key. It's what keeps the island in one piece," Borodo explained.
"Well, we'd better hurry then. Before that Bear King guy decides to destroy it to stop us or something," Sanji commented, earning a few nods, but before they could go, Akisu was sent flying after some of the grunts got behind him and hit him in the head.
"Akisu!" Borodo said in alarm before punching the two grunts away...only for a metal door to come down, sealing them into the room.
"...this room was a trap, wasn't it?" OOO deadpanned.
"Looks like it." Nami said with a frown, before they all stumbled slightly as the floor beneath them shifted… and started to rise up, while the roof stayed in place.
"Their trying to crush us dammit!" Sanji gasped in realization before he, Luffy, Zoro and OOO all started using all their strength to hold up the ceiling and floor from squishing them, Borodo giving them a hand once he was sure Akisu was fine, while Usopp and Nami were trying to find a way to stop the mechanism.
"Cheap bastards, trying to kill us this way instead of a straight up fight." Luffy grunted, feeling angry at being cheated out of a possibly good fight. He wasn't a maniac like Zoro, but always liked a good rumble.
"I'm surprised you aren't running though, weren't you just using us to get the Diamond Clock?" Zoro shot at Borodo, his now revealed mechanical left hand hissing and steaming as it tried to fight the pressure.
"That was never my reason." Borodo grunted with a frown, not surprised he was eventually found out "I stole your ship to lure you here, so you'd defeat the Trump Siblings."
"You wanted to overthrow them or something?" OOO asked with a light groan.
"Close. This is Akisu's home island." Borodo answered simply.
"I see, so you wanted to bring him back home to a happy family without a threat looming over them." Sanji understood, frowning a bit, but not really able to say Borodo's idea was stupid.
"Yeah… I wanted to see him finally be truly happy." Borodo said with a smile as he looked at his little brother in all but blood.
"Well, you could have just asked," Luffy said with a grin.
Borodo chuckled at that "Thank you."
"Don't thanks us yet, we still have to figure out how to stop this damn trap." Nami said as she tried using her makeshift staff to stop the mechanism, only for the tip to break up a bit.
"There will be none of that," came another voice as a door opened at the other side of the room, revealing Pin Joker.
"Tch. Are you controlling this trap?" Zoro glared.
"Roronoa Zoro, it has been quite a while," Pin Joker said.
"Huh? You know this guy, Zoro?" Usopp asked.
Zoro looked at Pin Joker for a moment, thinking about it before… "Nope. Not a clue. Who are you again?" he said, causing him to face fault.
"What? You don't remember?! You gave me this scar right here on my face!" Pin Joker roared in anger.
"...nope, doesn't ring any bells," Zoro said. "I don't etch weaklings in my memory."
"Buuurn!" OOO couldn't help but laugh at that one despite the situation.
Pin Joker however didn't take that well. "Then I'll make you feel it! The price for putting your hand in your mouth!"
The group looked at him weirdly and as one said "Don't you mean foot?" everyone (minus Luffy) corrected...at the same time.
Pin Joker lost some of the wind in his sails from the mass correction, but quickly glared. "Silence! Take my special attack!"
"Hold on for a bit guys," Zoro growled.
"Don't take too long!" the others responded, before Zoro let go of bracing the roof, and drew the stolen swords, before dashing forward.
"Needle-Needle Sting!" Pin Joker called out, throwing a barrage of feathers...only for all of them to be deflected when Zoro used the swords to defend against them, and right before Pin Joker could react, he dashed forward more and slashed him, creating several fresh cuts. Pin Joker gasped, and fell to the ground unconscious.
"Awesome! Way to go Zoro! Now we can just use that ele- oh those bastards!" Usopp started to cheer, before the elevator door slammed shut and started to rise up after a few moments.
"Well, looks like we're gonna have to think of something or at least one of us is gonna be a pancake," OOO said.
"Maybe we can break this!" Luffy suggested.
"We'd need more power than…" OOO started, before Luffy started bracing harder, and his strength actually caused the mechanism to groan and a few cracks to form from the rocks. And from one of the cracks, OOO noticed something. "Is that…?!" he gasped. "Borodo, get whatever is in that crack!"
"Alright," Borodo nodded, not fully understanding, but complying. He moved and reached into the crack, and with a bit of effort...pulled out what appeared to be a grey medal with a gold rim, the medal depicting the face of a gorilla.
"Hey, isn't that?!" Nami gasped when she saw it.
"It is! Guys, hold on for a bit longer. We're about to get out of here!" OOO grinned, before he stopped bracing and took the medal from Borodo.
"So this is one of the coins you use in your belt?" Borodo blinked as OOO replaced the medals in the OOO Driver, and scanned it. "TAKA! GORILLA! BATTA!"
The head and leg pieces switched out for his basic ones, but his arms were different, with grey colored shoulder pads that were larger than normal, the forearms covered in large grey gauntlets, while his chest depicted the face of a gorilla in the middle section.
"Alright, everybody be ready, we're heading on up." OOO said as he cracked his knuckles before winding up his fist.
"That bastard." Pin Joker groaned as he got up, clutching at his bandaged wounds.
"Those damn brats just keep stopping us all the fucking time!" Honey Queen hissed in anger.
"They just keep getting lucky is all! Now their in that trap, and they have no way of escaping alive!" Boo Jack said with a grin, picturing the strawhats getting squished to death.
"But what if they make it out?" Skunk one asked nervously.
"They won't." Bear King said surely "And even if they do, we still have the King Cannon."
The others all nodded at that, calming down a bit "You're right, of course, I mean, what are the odds they have someone strong enough to hold up the ceiling for that long, right?" Honey Queen asked with a laugh.
Oh she would regret those words. True enough, exactly 2 seconds after she said that, the floor suddenly rose up a bit...and promptly exploded upward as the entire press system and several floors was blown upward, causing their balcony room to explode, and causing several ships up above to teeter around.
The expressions of the Trump Pirates could be best described as a mix of angry, incredulous, and downright about to shit their pants.
"Knock knock!" OOO grinned as he and the Straw Hats climbed out of the hole they'd just made. "Special delivery for the Trump Siblings. One knuckle pizza with an extra side of butt kicking."
"Why won't you all just die?!" Honey Queen asked in anger.
"I dunno, maybe cause we just don't like people like you," Nami shot back. These guys really were the types of pirates she hated. The type who did as they pleased without giving a damn about who they hurt in the process.
"What do you want?!" Bear King growled.
"What we want is you all off this island, never to come back!" Borodo glared at them.
"Not happening!" Bear King said dangerously, as the Trump Siblings stood together.
"The pig is mine," Sanji smirked.
"Fine by me, I'll deal with the clown," Zoro added.
"I'll take the streaker. Lumen, care to help me?" Nami said.
"Not a problem," OOO nodded.
"Dibs on the big guy!" Luffy grinned.
"Well, guess that leaves me with the stink guy," Usopp shrugged.
"I'll deal with that thing behind them." Borodo said lowly so only the Strawhats heard him.
"Kill them!" Bear King roared as the Trump Siblings charged forward, and soon the fight was on. Each Straw Hat went for their respective enemy, keeping them busy while Borodo and Akisu snuck around the chaos.
During the fight, the first thing Usopp did after catching Skunk One's attention was to maneuver to the balcony...and soon scrambled up the side to reach the ships up top, Skunk One giving chase, quite intent on paying him back for the earlier dagger. However, Usopp moved faster and managed to get on the Going Merry quickly, and when Skunk One pursued… "Egg Star!" Usopp called out as he hit Skunk One in the face with a rotten egg.
"Gah! A rotten egg! I hate things that stink!" Skunk One shouted.
"You don't get to say stuff like that," Usopp deadpanned, before grabbing Zoro's katana, along with Nami's staff and Sanji's shoes and tossed them overboard, calling out to his friends.
Down below, Nami saw the falling objects and the shout, before quickly catching the stuff, and with a shout, tossed them to their respective owners.
"About damn time!" Zoro grinned as he got the Wado back, and with a quick slash, caught Pin Joker in the arm, before slashing him at the chest, causing him to fall over from the strike, once again unconscious.
"These were a decent substitute, but nothing like my own shoes," Sanji grinned as he replaced the current shoes he was using with his own...and promptly played soccer with Boo Jack, using him, in his spike armor, as a ball.
"This one...doesn't help much…" Nami sighed as her staff went through Honey Queen...before OOO switched to the Lion Medal and bombarded her with a blast of heat and light again.
"Dammit!" Honey Queen grit her teeth… before she saw Skunk One hit the ground of the Balcony, singed and unconscious… and she made her decision. "This is bad… later!" she said before she turned into her liquid form, dropping her clothes again and flowing into the pipes, making her escape.
"She got away," OOO frowned.
"But we got pretty much everyone else," Usopp said as he got down again, before they all focused on Luffy… who was having a bit of a harder time against Bear King.
"You can't hurt me! My Hard-Hard Fruit makes me impossible to hurt!" he laughed.
"Tough talk from the guy who just lost all his allies," Zoro said with a smirk.
"Doesn't matter, I'll take you ALL on!" he grinned.
"Oh shit!" everyone heard, making the fighting stop as they turned towards the source of the voice, seeing Borodo backing up from the cannon, which had the tarp pulled off to reveal it, and gnawing on the cannon was…
"A Yummy!" OOO gasped as he saw the white, mummy like being.
"What's yummy? Where's the food?" Luffy asked while looking around everywhere.
OOO gave his captain a long look at that "No Luffy, that mummy thing over there, it's called a Yummy."
Luffy looked at the mummy for a long moment "That's a stupid name."
"No arguments here," OOO deadpanned. "But still… what's a Yummy doing here?" he frowned, worried that if a Yummy was here… did that mean Greeed were around? Judging by what he was seeing, then it was likely made by Uva. As if to confirm his thoughts the Yummy suddenly looked a bit bloated, before it seemed to molt, revealing a new form underneath. It looked like a sickly green human/praying mantis hybrid, with blades attached to the knuckles of its hands. "Kamakiri Yummy… that clinches it, Uva is around here." OOO said with a frown as he looked at his opponent.
"All of you… you have such wonderful desires… I'll drag you to the master… let him create more of my kind from you…" the Yummy hissed as it looked over the crew slowly, before his eyes fell on OOO "OOO… you persist in existing." it hissed in anger.
"Oi! What the hell do you want you stupid bug?!" Bear King demanded angrily as he stomped up to the Yummy.
"Destruction… just like you…" the Yummy hissed, making Bear King pause in his tracks, before he was suddenly flung out of the room and onto the balcony by the Yummy.
"Luffy, go deal with the fat idiot, I'll handle this thing." OOO told his captain.
"Got it, be careful though, it looks strong." Luffy said, before rushing out to the balcony to attack Bear King before he could get up.
"Want a hand with it?" Sanji asked.
"Naw, I'll be fine, you go help out Luffy, he'll probably need help with the big idiot." OOO told him, receiving a nod from the others as they went to help their captain.
"Standing alone… it will be your downfall…" the Yummy hissed out.
"So says the lonely bug." OOO shot back as he switched out his medals "TAKA! TORA! BATTA! TA-TO-BA! TATOBA, TATOBA!" and he was back in his base form, the Tora claws flipped out quickly. "Let's see how lucky you are!"
(Play: Regret Nothing ~Tighten Up~)
The two fighters charged forward, the Yummy's blades meeting the Tora claws in a shower of sparks as the two fought. Catching the blades again, the two were soon in a deadlock, before OOO kicked the Yummy in the waist, sending it stumbling back, before slashing it with the Tora claws, causing Cell Medals to fly through the air from where they were dislodged, and when the Yummy tried to retaliate, OOO quickly used the Batta legs to jump over the attack, and land a strong kick on the Yummy's back, sending it tumbling forward.
"Hold still!" the Yummy growled as its blades flashed and it threw a pair of energy blades forward, hitting OOO, causing him to skid back. The Yummy soon took the small advantage it had, but OOO quickly recovered and blocked with his claws, and kicked it back again, before stabbing it in the chest with his claws, causing it to tumble back.
"Game over," OOO said as he pulled out the scanner and ran it through. "SCANNING CHARGE!" OOO's legs became like that of a grasshopper, before he jumped upward, his Taka eyes now seeing the world in slow motion, before he soon came down, going through three rings or energy, each generating an aura, first red wings, then large yellow claws, and finally large green grasshopper legs, calling out "Tatoba Kick!" right as he crashed into the Yummy, the three rings of OOO appearing for a moment before the Yummy exploded into a shower of Cell Medals "You're out of luck."
(End song)
OOO stood, the claws receding and his legs returning to normal, as he grabbed one of the Cell Medals out of the air, looking at it, before looking out the window "I think everything just get a hell of a lot more complicated." he mused, before turning to look at the other fight… and saw Luffy stretching his arm back while it was wound up tight, looking like it was gonna hurt like hell.
"Gum-Gum Rifle!" Luffy shouted as he sent his fist straight into Bear King's gut, sending the man flying into his cannon.
"D-Dammit." the man grunted, before climbing into the seat of his cannon "I'll show you not to mess with me!"
"Shut up!" Luffy shouted as he jumped up and stretched his leg upwards through the roof while Bear King primed his cannon "Gum-Gum Axe!" he called as he brought his leg back down, right on the cannon… and bent the muzzle, putting it at an odd angle.
Bear King stared at his cannon for a moment, and swallowed heavily as he couldn't stop the firing mechanism anymore "Oh no." he said, and suddenly the cannon exploded, the floor crumbling beneath it as he fell down with it down the shaft in the middle of the castle.
"Well...that's that I guess," OOO blinked...right before an explosion occured where Bear King fell. "...that doesn't bode well…"
The tremors could be felt all through the island, even all the way into town as the people looked at the castle which had several explosions, while the key had been damaged in the explosion and was soon falling over.
"Huh? Why is everything shaking?" Luffy asked.
"I think that last explosion damaged the main key," Nami gulped.
"You mean the key that's holding the entire island up?!" Usopp panicked.
"We'd better get out of here then," Sanji said. However before they could make any moves a sound filled the air. A beautiful chiming sound, drawing everyone's attention to the Diamond Clock.
"It's... chiming?" OOO said, and it was a beautiful sound.
"Hey... isn't that the same song as Akisu's music box?" Usopp pointed out.
"It is... then... could it be…? Were those two…?" Akisu gasped, realizing the implications. That the two who'd made that clock...were his parents. However...the beautiful song didn't last, as it soon stopped and the island began to crumble.
"Well, that's our cue to leave!" OOO quickly said. "Let's go!"
The crew quickly climbed up to the top of the castle to get to the Merry, while Akisu grabbed onto Borodo and the two parachuted down, the strawhats pulling a similar maneuver as they grabbed a large tarp and attached it to the railing of Going Merry, letting the wind catch in and slow their descent.
OOO breathed out in relief as he undid his transformation, glancing back at the bag of Cell Medals he had quickly gathered up "Well… I got a good haul… but still, if that Yummy was here, than Uva passed through, and if he's here… I'll have to worry about Kazari, Mezool, Gamel, and possibly even Giru… but… worst of all… I'll have to fight Ankh." he said with a sigh.
"What even happened back there with that… Yummy thing though?" Sanji asked as he came up next to him.
"A monster that feeds on the desire of the one it was spawned from, quite obviously, it was made from Bear King, as it wanted nothing more than to destroy and rampage. The more it feeds, the stronger, and more filled it becomes." Lumen explained.
"Filled? You mean like, it actually LITERALLY feeds on desire?" Sanji asked with a blink.
Lumen smiled tightly "It's a bit more complicated than that. Don't worry, I'll explain later." he said, and Sanji nodded in acceptance. "Now then...what happens now? The Trump Siblings are gone, but the island is in pieces…" he sighed as they soon landed on the ocean.
"Well… I honestly don't know. Originally I had hoped that once the Trump Siblings were gone, Akisu and his people could live in peace on their island but…" Borodo sighed as he and Akisu landed on the ship.
"Well, from the looks of it, at least the people got away," Zoro said, pointing at several ships that were not too far away.
"We'd better talk to them about this. We kinda owe them for destroying the island…" Sanji sighed.
When they reached the ships that held the former inhabitants of the island, they were expecting some less than kind words, but what they got...
"Don't worry," Akisu's mother said. "We can always build a new island. Perhaps it's better this way. That island was full of painful memories."
"Thank you for freeing us from the Trump Siblings," Akisu's father said. "Now we can finally live in peace.
"Yeah, this is the future we opened by staking our lives," Akisu grinned up at Borodo who smiled back, before nudging him towards his parents.
"Go ahead," he said with a knowing smile.
"Um… right." Akisu nodded after a moment, shuffling his feet awkwardly, before he moved over to the other ship "So, um… you're my mom… right?" he asked the lavender haired woman.
She smiled at him "Well, if you figured that out as well, then I suppose I am."
Akisu chuckled a bit "So… uh… I don't really know how this is supposed to work." he admitted.
His mother simply smiled, before pulling him into a hug, while his father patted his head "I think this is a good start, wouldn't you?"
Akisu nodded after a moment, returning the hug "Y-yeah… it is."
As the whole exchange was happening, the Straw Hats watched with smiles on their faces Maybe this wasn't a perfect win, but it was still a good one.
Ta-Da!
Pretty interesting chapter right?
So, yeah, first, Gorilla Medal Get!
Second, unlike the movie, the Strawhats were a hell of a lot more prepared for the Trump Pirates.
Third, Honey Queen escaped yes.
What does this mean?
You'll see eventually.
Fourth... yeah... a Yummy... Lumen's life just got a hell of a lot more complicated, since he knows the Greeed are around.
This high seas adventure is going to be more hectic than it should.