Here's the next chapter now folks, which will have a few surprises for you guys, hope you'll find them interesting.
Also, if any of you guys got the Spyro Reignited Trilogy, let me know what you think of it so far, I'm having a blast, just finished Spyro 1 at 120%!
Anyway, let's get on with the show!
"...I know you said it, but seriously. How did we go from sunny to snowy?!" Nami couldn't help but say as she looked out the window at the snow that was falling all around, Luffy and Usopp playing in it like a pair of big kids and were soon going into a snowball fight.
"Hey, its like me and Crocus said. Logic is dead in the Grand Line," Lumen shrugged. "At least this is the enjoyably cold kind of snow rather than the blistering cold that has us all huddled for warmth and freezing to death."
"Yeah, good call on using that sake to wake Zoro up when he went to sleep again by the way, I probably would have kicked his ass if he slept through this weird weather." Nami said with a sigh.
"And I would have helped, seriously, that moron sleeps too much." Lumen added with a shake of his head.
"WAY too much. Anyway, I've been meaning to ask, but what do the Candroids do? You mentioned them before I think?" Nami asked him.
"Well… think of them like little helper robots in the shape of animals, Taka is essentially a scout, same for Tako, though that one is also good when you have it in large numbers. Batta is essentially like a Transponder Snail, and can be perfect for trickery if you leave one in an area and use it to mess with your enemy. Denki Unagi is, much like Tako, better in a group, and can shock enemies it grabs onto. Gorilla is a sort of radar that, if I'm right, the Marines would have attuned to detect Cell Medals, meaning it could be also be used as a radar for Yummies." Lumen explained. "I think there were other models too, but I'm pretty sure those were the most common."
"And what other models are there?" Nami asked.
"Well, I heard there's a Tora Candroid, but the Vendor doesn't have it. And then there's the Kujaku Medal which can be used to transport small items, and probably works about the same as the Taka," he said, before putting the Candroid he'd purchased earlier on the table for emphasis. "And the last Candroid in the machine is this, the Shachi Candroid if I'm reading the label right. No idea what it does, but it probably has something to do with being used in the water," he hazarded a guess.
"That could be useful," Nami nodded.
"Speaking of which, be sure to keep checking the Log Pose. If there was one thing Dad drilled into my head about traveling the Grand Line. ALWAYS check the Log Pose, and only follow it," Lumen said, a bit of white lie in that it was his sister that had told him that, but Nami didn't need to know that.
"But I just checked the heading. We were…" Nami trailed off...and gasped when she saw where the needle was pointing now.
"Yeah...the Grand Line is THAT insane. Even if something seems calm, there's no guarantee its as it seems…" Lumen sighed as Nami burst out of the door and told everyone to turn the ship around, Lumen quickly grabbing the now repaired helm.
The frantic attempt to turn the ship around was soon made more difficult when the weather suddenly changed, going from snowy, to stormy, then suddenly sunny.
"What the heck is wrong with this ocean?!" Nami shouted frantically.
"This isn't even the hard part yet!" Lumen called from inside.
"THIS is the EASY part?!" Usopp demanded.
"This is the start of the first half of the Line! A half that is called 'Paradise' of all names!" Lumen shot back.
Usopp and Nami both paled considerably at that "This is 'Paradise'?" Nami muttered.
"He's not lying." Ms. Wednesday said from where she was put to work "The reason the entrance of the Grand Line is so hectic is because of the magnetic pulls of the various starting islands each interfering with each other enough that it makes the weather completely unpredictable, after that though, sailing through this area is Paradise… and then you pass the Red Line into what is known as the New World." she said nervously.
"...I'm afraid to ask, but how bad is the New World?" Nami asked flatly.
"They call this stretch 'Paradise'. That should give you a good enough estimate on how bad the New World is to this half," Ms. Wednesday said just as flatly.
"We're all gonna die!" Usopp wailed.
"Somebody put a sock in him dammit." Zoro grumbled as he came up from below deck.
"Iceberg approaching!" Luffy's voice brought them back to the situation at hand, and they all turned with their eyes wide at the incoming iceberg.
"Shit! Zoro, take over for me!" Lumen said as he ran up to the front of the ship, surprising Zoro who hurried back to the helm.
"What's he planning?" Mr. 9 muttered with a raised eyebrow.
"Something good, that much we're sure of." Nami said, her worries dying down a bit.
Lumen pulled out the Medajalibur and loaded a single Cell Medal into it, figuring that it should be enough for an iceberg, before he passed the scanner over it.
"SINGLE SCANNING CHARGE!"
Raising the sword up a bit as it glowed, he waited just a moment, before bringing it down, seeing the attack start and naming it quickly "OOO Beamer!" and a blade of energy flew from the sword and at the iceberg. The blade of energy struck true, but seemingly vanished.
"...that didn't seem right," Lumen blinked...before a light was seen from the iceberg which promptly split in half and crumbled in on itself. "THAT's more like it," he chuckled. Right as a fog rolled in.
"The weather is trying to kill us!" Usopp shouted.
"EVERYTHING is trying to kill you in the Grand Line!" Ms. Wednesday shot back.
"Just be glad I managed to take out the iceberg or we'd be in DEEP trouble!" Lumen said as he went back to helping keep the ship steady.
Suddenly, Nami perked up "There's a strong wind coming… unfurl the sails!"
"Roger!" Usopp shouted as he had Luffy help him bring down the sails so they could catch the wind and get out faster.
"Everyone! Eat up, we gotta keep up our strength! Sanji called as he brought out a huge plate of rice balls.
"Oi! The sail is tearing!" Zoro noticed quickly.
"Forget that, there's a leak in the hull!" Ms. Wednesday shouted as she came up from below deck.
"Shit! Zoro, take my spot!" Usopp shouted as he ran to grab his hammer and some wood.
"Goddamn freak weather!" Zoro said in aggravation as he started helping Luffy close the sails up, finally managing to do it after a bit more effort.
"This is insane!" Lumen shouted, before putting on the Driver and scanning the medals.
"TAKA! UNAGI! CHEETAH!"
With that, OOO was soon zipping all over the Merry, helping wherever he could, and using the parts he'd picked for higher mobility. The weather became worse and worse, and before long they were literally fighting through a storm….
"Is it finally over?" Usopp groaned pitifully.
"I think so…" Sanji said.
"If this is normal, then we might be in trouble…" Nami groaned.
"I'm not even able to fall back asleep right now." Zoro said with an annoyed growl.
"That should be the least of your worries." OOO said in deadpan. "How much further to Whiskey Peak?" even with the armor on this was pretty tiring.
"I think I see it." Luffy said from his special seat, squinting as he looked through the light fog.
"Hold on." Usopp groaned as he got up to join Luffy at the front, pulling his goggles down "Hey, you two. Is Whiskey Peak an island with gigantic cacti?"
"Cactus Rocks actually, but yes, that is correct." Mr. 9 said as he sat up.
"I hate the early parts of the Grand Line, this is why I wasn't too happy about getting that job." Ms. Wednesday muttered as she got up, blinking as Sanji was offering her his hand to help her to her feet completely, and accepting it after a moment "Thank you."
"I am always at your service, mademoiselle." Sanji said with a bow.
"Well, glad to see we made it then… still though, I feel like I heard those names of yours when I think about it more." Zoro said as he rounded on Mr. 9 and Ms. Wednesday, who both started looking pale "It wasn't those exact names, but I'm sure I've heard something similar to it before." he said, before turning, giving them one last look over his shoulder and grinning savagely "I wonder where this'll lead?"
That freaked them out enough that in a moment of fight or flight, they practically flew off the rails and looked ready to dive into the ocean… or they would have if not for OOO catching them by the midsection. "Ehhh...Nope. You two aren't getting away THAT easily."
"We still need to discuss your payment for riding on OUR ship after all." Nami added as she clapped the two on their shoulders with a smile that LOOKED kind… but they all knew better.
Mr. 9 and Ms. Wednesday looked at the face she was giving them...and slumped over in defeat. They weren't getting out of this at all.
Slowly, the ship entered Whiskey Peak through a canal, the fog still covering the area around them.
Usopp shivered as he looked around "Jeez, it almost feels like a monster could jump out at any moment."
"Well, we can just leave if there are any." Luffy said with a grin.
"We can't though, we need to wait for the Log to set remember?" Nami said, before looking down at their two… 'guests', whom were still wrapped by OOO's whips "Speaking of which, how long does it take for the Log to set here?"
"Just a day." Ms. Wednesday said in defeat.
"Well, that's not too bad." Zoro shrugged.
"Still though, I think I may have developed 'Can't-go-on-that-island-itis'." Usopp said, trying to act sick, not that anybody bought it.
"Whatever you say Usopp." OOO said in deadpan as he looked at the sniper, before looking through the fog, getting a clearer view thanks to the Taka helmet "I can see houses, and a few people starting to come out of them, seems most of them just woke up. Their just noticing us it seems."
"Are they acting hostile?" Sanji asked, ready to fight if need be.
"Doesn't look like it, their just watching right now, some have binoculars, they probably noticed we have a Jolly Roger because they seem to be spreading the word." OOO continued on.
"Anything we should worry about? Or should we give you some shock therapy?" Nami asked nonchalantly towards the two still tied up by whips.
The two paled a bit, before shaking their heads "Nothing at all, we swear!" Mr. 9 said nervously.
"Whiskey Peak welcomes pirates with open arms, it was made by outlaws you see." Ms. Wednesday added.
"That so?" Nami mused, before stepping up to the front of the ship and calling out into the fog "Hey! We caught two idiots from this town who tried to scam us and not pay for the free ride, so don't shoot us because we have them tied up!" she said, receiving a slightly hesitant "U-understood." a few seconds later "There, potential problem solved."
After she said that, the fog started to slowly lift, letting them see the town properly, letting them see all the townspeople, they looked a bit unsure, but still rather welcoming.
"Guess the welcoming committee is a bit confused." Zoro said with an amused look at the people.
"Welco-" a voice started, before clearing their throat, making them look to the shore to see a man with an interesting hairstyle, which looked less like actual hair and more like a big version of a powdered wig that judges would wear. The man was eyeing OOO for a moment, before he started speaking again "Ma-ma-ma~" scratch that, doing a vocal test "Welcome to Whiskey Peak, Pirates. You'll have to excuse our surprise, we didn't expect to see two of our friends tied up like such. But, nonetheless, I am Igarappoi, the mayor of this town. Might I ask what exactly happened between you and those two?"
"These two asked us to take them here, and there was the condition of payment, so Mr.9 said, and I quote 'Name your price!'. From there, our navigator has been holding it over their heads that they essentially agreed to whatever amount of money, jewels, gold or whatever she wants." OOO explained nonchalantly, but you could heard the smirk in his voice.
"Ah...well, I hope you will go easy on him. Until then, please feel free to join us in celebration. I am certain the people of this town would love to hear the many tales of your exploits," Igarappoi said with a slight sweat drop and friendly smile. Though inwardly he was thinking 'Goddammit, Mr. 9!'
"We would-" he continued but cut off when he coughed and cleared his throat. "Ma-ma-ma~" he intoned again, before continuing. "We would be delighted to hear all about them and share in our town's rich festivities."
"Well...that's very…" OOO started but…
"OUR PLEASURE!" Luffy, Usopp, and Sanji cut him off.
"...three stooges…" Nami deadpanned as the three hopped away in excitement.
"Uh...can you let us go now?" Ms. Wednesday asked...to which OOO retracted the whips, but in the process caused them to spin around like tops a little.
"Whoops. Sorry," OOO said sheepishly.
He didn't get a response, as Mr. 9 and Ms. Wednesday stumbled off of Merry dizzily, being helped by some of the others from town.
"I expect my payment by tomorrow morning by the way, at least 10 Million Berries!" Nami called after Mr. 9.
"That's too much!" he shouted in shock, before fainting in fear.
Zoro snorted as he walked off while muttering "Money hungry witch."
Nami glared at his back, before grinning "Can't wait to inform him of his debt."
"That's gonna be fun to watch." Lumen chuckled as he undid his transformation.
"Well… let's start the party I guess." she sighed, a somewhat reluctant smile on her face.
The party that was soon thrown was...lively. There was food, drink, and all around a merry atmosphere.
"Please enjoy this. It's our finest wine made from the grapes we grow here," Igarappoi said as he offered several tankards of the drink.
"The food is great!" came Luffy's voice as he was unsurprisingly stuffing himself at a nearby table.
And of course Sanji was having fun flirting with all the pretty girls around, while Usopp was regalling everyone with tales of his 'courageous exploits'. All in all...it was a good party. Then came the drinking contest that Lumen wisely decided to stay out of...and he couldn't help but gawk a bit when Nami ended up outlasting quite a few of the other contestants, Zoro included. Leaving that bit of info alone, he moved to take some food and a drink (it WAS light alcohol), and sat down to enjoy the party (Luffy was still eating like crazy). What he didn't expect, was Ms. Wednesday suddenly sitting down next to him.
He looked at her in confusion as he stopped halfway from eating a chicken leg "Why are you sitting with me?"
"Something wrong with that?" she shot back simply.
"Not really, more like I thought you would be still ticked at me considering what happened earlier." Lumen said with a shrug, not really caring either way.
Ms. Wednesday looked away at that "Yes well… business IS business I suppose."
"Fair enough." Lumen said with a shrug as he started eating, not minding that she was sitting next to him.
"So… how did you join the crew?" She asked after a moment, making him raise an eyebrow at her attempting small talk, but figured it couldn't hurt.
"They found me on a deserted island after I'd recovered some old artefacts, but my boat was dragged away by some dolphins, along with some scriptures I had found, so now that stuff is swimming somewhere at sea." he said with a shrug, using his cover story "When I showed off the armor, Luffy asked me to join, and honestly, I didn't have anything better to do, and figured sailing with pirates was a good chance at uncovering ruins or the like."
"So you're some kind of...archeologist?" Ms. Wednesday seemed a little surprised.
"Eh...in a sense. I'm more of an amateur really. Plus I've been focused mainly on the legends regarding the Multi-King," Lumen said.
"The Multi-King? Then...those items you have were objects from the fabled kingdom?" she asked in surprised.
"Oh? You know he's real? My friends thought he was a myth when we first met." Lumen asked in surprise.
"I've… heard there's some interesting stories about him in the kingdom of Alabasta." she said hesitantly.
"That's… a desert kingdom, right?" Lumen asked, thinking back on what his sister told him.
Ms. Wednesday simply nodded.
"Huh… neat." Lumen said, before shrugging "Might be nice to visit the place then, ask them for anything they know, maybe even ask if I could see any ruins in the area."
"Well...if you'd like maybe we could take you there," she offered.
"Huh… might just take you up on that offer… AFTER my friends are done of course. Where I go, they go and vice versa," he nodded with a grin.
That made Ms. Wednesday stiffen a little, but she nodded, before moving away a bit… and seemed to pull the mayor aside for something.
"Maybe he's her uncle or something and she's telling him?" he muttered, before shrugging "Meh, whatever." he said before going to sit next to Nami, who was about to drink against a nun "Yo, just got pointed to a nice place that might have ruins on OOO, it's called Alabasta."
"That so? Sounds interesting, I think I've heard of the place before, some sort of desert kingdom." Nami said, looking just a tiny bit tipsy.
Lumen gave her a long look, before looking at the nun… who was rather tall and if he was right seemed muscular "Someone gave her alcohol didn't they?"
The nun glanced away "We may have ran out of the non alcoholic beverages." she spoke, and her soft voice compared to her build made Lumen blink a few times.
"I see… well, don't kill your liver Nami, we wouldn't want to lose the best navigator in the world." Lumen said with a chuckle as he stood up and patted the redhead on the shoulder.
"No promises, but thanks for caring." Nami said with a laugh as she slapped him on the back.
The party continued on for hours and before long, everyone was pretty much passed out from a mix of exhaustion, the party atmosphere...and maybe a couple of food comas. With the crew seemingly all out, the people from the party started slowly shuffling about, careful not to wake them.
After a few minutes, Zoro twitched a bit, and soon opened his eyes. Looking around, he noticed that he wasn't the only one who was rousing. Nami wiped her eyes a bit, while Lumen got some kinks out of his neck.
"Guess I wasn't the only one who thought something seemed...off," Lumen mused.
"Well, they WERE adding more alcohol as we went," Nami commented.
"Though...looks like we're the only ones who caught on," Zoro said flatly, before looking to the side...where the three stooges were out like lights.
"So...any ideas on how to get ourselves out of this fine little mess, or do we just go for the standard bashing heads in until we get out?" Lumen asked flatly.
"Mind if I have a go at this? I have an idea of what's going on." Zoro requested as he cracked his neck "Plus, I still gotta test out my new swords." he added with a savage grin.
"Fine, whatever you musclehead, Lumen and I will start looting the place dry." Nami said and waved him off.
"And while we're at it, we might as well bring these three back to the Merry and get ready to hightail it out of here ASAP," Lumen added.
"Fair enough, I heard you mention something about an Alabasta earlier as well?" Zoro checked.
"Right, we should look and see if Ms. Wednesday was serious about that." Lumen nodded.
"I'm sure we can convince her." Nami said with a smirk.
"Heh, well, I'll leave that to you two. Make sure to get these three out before the 'fun' starts," Zoro smirked.
"We'll be sure to do that considering your idea of fun," Lumen sweat dropped, and with that said, Zoro snuck outside, while Lumen and Nami started quietly dragging Sanji, Usopp and the overstuffed Luffy back to the ship (Lumen might be complaining slightly about dragging Luffy, but he supposed the idiot was too heavy for Nami in his current state).
Looting the place wasn't THAT difficult...especially when they had Nami. The only hassle was making sure they weren't seen by anyone who hadn't emptied out the place.
Dragging the three out was...more annoying than difficult. The hardest was really dragging Luffy's overstuffed form, and worse, he couldn't use the OOO armor, seeing as the Driver didn't have a 'mute' button on it. Any attempt to transform would attract everyone nearby.
"You know, why DOES that thing shout out your every form and combination?" Nami couldn't help but ask as she hefted a bag over her shoulders...while dragging Usopp along.
"Beats me, but trust me, I've heard worse." Lumen said, thinking of Fourze, Wizard, and Build specifically, those drivers were pretty noisy compared to his. "I'm just glad Zoro is drawing their attention," Lumen sighed...before a hapless bounty hunter was sent flying and landed in a nearby barrel, completely unconscious. "...though I feel like I should be sorry for these guys even when they tried to ambush us…" he sweat dropped.
The two of them continued onward, grabbing a few things they could while dragging the STILL unconscious trio along, until they entered a seemingly empty street. Or it WAS empty before a curtain curly haired 'mayor' and a blue haired woman entered the street. Normally this would have been cause for alarm, but the immediate sense of danger was slightly dampened by…
"...is that a giant duck?" Lumen deadpanned, noticing the large, big enough for someone to ride on, duck that was following them.
Ms. Wednesday blinked in surprise at seeing them, before sighing in relief "So that's where you were, good to see you were alright, we had wondered why you weren't in the house anymore."
"You're relieved to see us ok?" Nami asked in confusion.
Igarappoi stepped forward. "I know you have no reason to trust us, but please listen to me when I say we are not your enemies...or rather we have no desire to be so," he said.
"You're right. We don't have a reason to trust you. So start talking. Fast," Lumen glared, already loading 3 Cell Medals into the Medajalibur. Sure he wasn't going to actually use the OOO Bash on people but well...still good for a bluff.
"Alright. The truth is, both of us are spies infiltrating this organization, Baroque Works," Ms. Wednesday said.
"And you're doing that why?" Nami frowned.
"Because they are stoking a civil war in our home country!" Ms. Wednesday said. "We had to pretend to be part of the organization, even work our way up the ranks, all so we could uncover the identity of the leader of Baroque Works and with it, hopefully end the civil war they started before things reach a point of no return."
"Then… you haven't heard about the stories of OOO from Alabasta, you ARE from Alabasta, aren't you?" Lumen realised.
"You are correct. Allow me to re-introduce myself. My name is Igaram. I am the captain of the royal guards of Alabasta," Igaram said. "And this is Princess Nefertari Vivi, heir to the throne of Alabasta," he said, gesturing to Ms. Wednesday, or rather Vivi.
"...okay...that just escalated…" Lumen blinked in surprise. "Though...legends aside, why DID you want our, or rather, my help?"
"Well...the truth is...our Kingdom has a bit of history with that armor. The wielder of that armor was a great ally to our Kingdom in the past, and I had hoped that perhaps it could be so again," Vivi admitted.
"Well...looks like we just got more reasons to go to Alabasta," Lumen blinked.
"No kidding, if that wasn't a clue to the truth of OOO, then I don't know what is," Nami blinked as well. However, before there could be any further conversation…
A rather… annoyingly distinct… laugh caught their attention, to which they turned to see a pair of figures standing on a nearby roof.
One was a man wearing a dark coat with the number 5 on it, his frizzy hair all over the place while shades covered his eyes, while the other was a woman wearing a short dress with lemons printed on it, a hat that looked like a lemon, and was holding a white parasol in her hands, she had short blonde hair peeking out from underneath her hat, and was likely the one that had laughed.
"Well, thanks for confirming to us who our targets are." the man said.
The woman laughed again "No kidding, who would have thought you'd just blab about it like that!"
"Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine!" Vivi gasped in shock.
"More members of the organization?" Lumen checked, already going for the Driver.
"And looks like a few rats are here too," Mr. 5 mused.
"How unfortunate for them, guess we'll have to eliminate them too!" Ms. Valentine laughed.
"Guess there's no choice," Lumen frowned, strapping the OOO Driver on. "So much for our clean escape. Henshin!"
"TAKA! TORA! BATTA! TA-TO-BA! TATOBA, TATOBA!"
"Hope you two are ready for a chimera, because I doubt you're lucky enough." OOO said as he flipped out the Tora claws.
"You honestly think you can beat us? Don't be ridiculous!" Ms. Valentine laughed, before she literally started floating up into the air with her parasol.
"Don't think some fancy armor can help you beat us," Mr. 5 agreed, before...picking his nose.
"Seriously?" OOO deadpanned...until Mr. 5 flicked the booger at him, to which he quickly dodged, cause he'd learned by now. In the Grand Line, do NOT assume anything is as it looked. True enough, the booger exploded where it hit. "Okay, first, ewww… and second, Devil Fruit?"
"Heh, someone's smart. That's right. I ate the Bomb-Bomb Fruit! I can make any part of my body into a bomb!" Mr. 5 smirked.
"And don't forget about me!" Ms. Valentine smirked as she closed her parasol...and came crashing down on the ground, forcing him to roll out of the way before she left a crater there. "Like it? Its my Kilo-Kilo Fruit! I can increase and decrease my weight by Kilos at will!" she laughed.
"Geee...thanks for telling me everything you can do," OOO smirked, inwardly thanking the anime-character habit of literally telling their enemy everything they can do.
Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine both stopped at that, before their faces morphed into mixtures of anger, annoyance, and 'oh shit I just fucked up didn't I?'.
"Now then…" OOO smirked before switching medals. "TAKA! GORILLA! CHEETAH!"
The moment the shift finished, OOO zoomed forward, delivering a strong punch onto Mr. 5, who barely had time to react before he was flung back, though he DID manage to cause an explosion, which pushed OOO back, but the sturdy Gorilla arms protected him well enough.
"Bastard!" Ms. Valentine growled, going for a drop kick...only to be blocked by the Gorilla arms again.
"Got a better idea?" OOO smirked.
Ms. Valentine gulped a bit, before she floated away, well out of reach. "Well, I'd like to see you get me here!" she smirked.
"Okay, you asked for it! Bagoon Pressure!" he shouted while pointing his arms at her… and then the gauntlets literally flew off towards her like rockets.
Gasping in shock, Ms. Valentine suddenly dropped, causing the attack to sail right over her head, and all the way up to Cactus Rock. The impact was visible from where they were standing, resulting in a HUGE sweat drop from Ms. Valentine, QUITE glad that didn't hit her.
"Well...that was...unpleasant," came Mr. 5's voice as he painfully picked himself up from where he'd ended up. "But looks like you just threw your weapons away," he smirked.
"Did you SERIOUSLY think I'd have done that if that was it?" OOO deadpanned, before something could be heard flying back, and soon reattached to his arms...and OOO felt something extra in his hand. "...oh you guys are in a ton of trouble," he smirked when he opened his hand, to find a dark grey Core Medal depicting the face of an elephant. Not wasting any time, he switched out the Cheetah Medal for the Zou medal, and at the same time switched the Taka Medal with the Kuwagata Medal and scanned. "KUWAGATA! GORILLA! ZOU!" The new legs were a dark grey in color, almost black in fact, and depicted elephant faces on the knees, with the feet themselves being somewhat heavily armored.
OOO lifted a foot, and began stomping about, causing the entire island to shake from the earthquakes being generated.
"He can do THAT?!" Mr. 5 shouted, as he tried to maintain balance, but being so close to the source of the Earthquakes...yeah...not happening. It was so bad he couldn't even turn any of his body parts into bombs of fear of triggering them incorrectly.
"Good thing I'm not affected!" Ms. Valentine smirked as she was flying again...only to be hit by a lightning bolt from the Kuwagata head, causing her to light up like a christmas tree and fall back to the ground.
"Now then, let's not prolong this more than necessary," OOO said, before scanning the medals again. "SCANNING CHARGE!"
OOO stood still as he slowly levitated upwards, before coming down with a crash, causing the ground to break and travel towards the two. When it reached them, they found themselves trapped in the ground. Once they were secured, lightning danced from the Kuwagata head, and permeated the arms. Charing forward, OOO went straight for the two hapless agents, his arms covered in lightning. "Lightning Lariat!" OOO called out as he caught both of them by the chest, using his right arm, knocking the wind out of their lungs, and sending them flying into the air...to which they were soon a twinkle in the night sky.
"Huh… bit stronger than I thought… that or their weaker than the armor… bit of both maybe." OOO mused.
Vivi stared with wide eyes at OOO, unable to believe what she just saw "He… he just… sent Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine flying… like they were nothing…"
"So, judging by how those two were sent to eliminate you… the lower the number, the stronger they are?" Nami ventured a guess, earning a nod from Igaram.
"Correct, the princess and myself were a bit low on the list, even if we were in the single digits." he answered, looking at the sky where Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine had disappeared.
"But to think...we knew the legendary armor was powerful, but to make people like them seem almost like insects in comparison…" Vivi still seemed to be in mild shock.
"Well...it helped they told me what they could do, and I had the Medals to counter them. Heck, I didn't think I'd find ANOTHER Medal here of all places," OOO chuckled as he reverted to Lumen. "Question is...what do we do now? These three are STILL asleep, and Zoro is busy…" he trailed off as a small storm kicked up, and several bounty hunters were sent flying a ways away. "...he's busy making mince meat out of your other members," he finished with a deadpan tone.
"Yes, well… honestly we were only friends with Ms. Monday and Mr. 9, and I'm sure those two will be smart enough to stay down, so we aren't worrying." Igaram stated "For now-" he said, before clearing his throat "Ma ma ma! For now we should get your friends back to your ship while we await the arrival of the swordsman."
"Highly doubtful," came a familiar voice.
"Oh no…" Lumen groaned, as they all turned to the source of the voice and saw Uva sitting on a roof a few feet away from them. Snapping his fingers, an army of what appeared to be dirty Yummies walked up behind him and out from the alleys, their bodies covered in dark brown cloth, and a single glassy looking eye in the middle of their faces.
"W-what are these creatures?!" Igaram said in alarm.
"Trash Yummies," Lumen frowned, before looking at Uva. "Pretty daring of you to use this many Cell Medals at once."
"A small price to pay if it lets me make an army of Yummies from the bounty hunters on this island!" Uva laughed.
"I don't fully understand, but I can tell you have evil intentions. I will stop them! Igarappappa!" he called out, pulling on his necktie strings to reveal guns in his hair, which fired at an insane rate, completely covering the Trash Yummies in gunfire. The smoke covered the area for a moment...before the Yummies walked out, completely fine. "Impossible…!" Igaram gasped.
"Trash Yummies are weak, but they're durable," Lumen growled, before he quickly scanned the OOO Driver which was still on his waist. "KUWAGATA! GORILLA! ZOU!"
"I knew you'd do that, hence why I had something special ready," Uva smirked, before throwing several Cell Medals, which glowed green for a moment before he threw them at the shambling Yummies. Several Trash Yummies absorbed them, to which they soon started to shift, standing more upright, and even gaining familiar arm and chest armor. "Now then...get him," Uva said simply, to which the Trash Yummies charged forward.
"Get back to the ship! These aren't enemies we can fight just like that!" OOO warned.
"But we can't leave you to fight them all alone!" Vivi said, before reaching into her clothes and pulling out what appeared to be a pair of sharp jewels on wires, which she soon spun around after hooking them on her pinky fingers, making for a rather sharp weapon. These were her Peacock Slashers. "Let's go, Carue!" she called out, the duck letting out a loud quack as it jumped into the fray with her. However...they soon found the problems with this 'plan', namely how the slasher failed to pierce the skin of the Yummies, and even when Carue kicked them hard, they bounced back from the blows.
"Okay...maybe that wasn't such a smart idea…" Vivi admitted.
"Ya think?" OOO growled as he was in the fray, knocking Trash Yummies after Trash Yummies aside, but they kept getting back up.
"You can't SERIOUSLY want to fight all these by yourself!" Nami shouted as she knocked a Trash Yummy with her staff. It only flinched a bit, but soon got back to lumbering towards her.
"She's right, OOO! Give it up, you can't win!" Uva laughed, before he jumped down, and started to shift, now his chest gaining the insect armor along with his arms.
OOO saw that and gulped a bit. Yeah, this was getting dire. At this rate, they'd need an army to fight back. THAT was when it hit him.
"Welp… time for a dumb thing that'll save our asses." OOO said, a bit of reluctance in his voice as he grabbed two medals from the holder on his belt.
"You have an idea?" Nami asked hopefully.
"A really stupid one… fight an army with an army." he said as he took out the Gorilla and Zou medals, switching them out for Kamakiri and Batta, the trio of green medals glowing a bit as they were all in the Driver together. Grabbing the scanner, he only hesitated for a moment, before passing it over the medals. "KUWAGATA! KAMAKIRI! BATTA! GA~TA-GATA-GATA-KIRI, BA! GATAKIRIBA!"
(Play: Got to Keep it Real)
OOO let out a roar as he let out a small burst of energy, feeling like his entire being was stronger than it had ever been. Was this what it felt like to use a Full Combo? If yes then he could see why they were so hard to control. Wasting no time, he looked towards Uva and his army and ran forward, energy crackling over him before he split into 2, which then split into 4, then 8, and so on till an entire army of OOOs were present.
"This is… amazing…" Vivi said in awe as she watched the army of OOO run towards the Trash Yummies and Uva.
"The armor is truly as powerful as the stories say." Igaram added, feeling just as much awe as the princess.
"Yeah… but… I remember him saying a Full Combo would tire him out faster than a Random Combo… I hope he doesn't do anything too stupid." Nami said with a frown, before she looked at their new allies "We should get the crew back to the Merry now, while we have the chance, he should be able to take care of himself."
"Very well, I just hope you're not wrong." Vivi said with a frown, before they loaded Sanji onto Carue, while she and Nami dragged Usopp and Igaram handled Luffy.
Back with the fight, OOO was...greatly pushing back the Trash Yummies. They may have been durable, but against a Full Combo, the normal ones didn't stand a chance as they were cut apart or blasted with electricity.
Uva growled. "You...so you had three of my medals this whole time!" he growled, recognizing the power as what should be his.
"Yeahp. Sucks to be you," OOO smirked a bit, before they all began to cut through the army, the regular Trash Yummies being decimated, leaving a few left and most of the stronger ones , but overall it seemed that they just didn't have the power to take on an army of Full Combos.
Uva however didn't sit still and fought as well, managing to knock several of the OOOs back, but more kept coming and before long, Uva found himself being overwhelmed, the OOOs slashing away the Greeed, causing Cell Medals to fly out of him. Eventually…
"Time to end this!" OOO declared as they all scanned their drivers. "SCANNING CHARGE!"
The OOO as a whole jumped into the air, and started raining down on the Greeed with a combined shout of "Gatakiriba Kick!". However, at the last minute, the remaining Yummies converged and blocked their master, taking the brunt of the hit and exploding into a shower of broken Cell Medals.
Seeing his army decimated and he himself badly weakened, Uva spared one last glare at OOO, before he soon jumped away, retreating from the fight.
(theme end)
All of OOO's copies returned to him after that, while he looked at where Uva had ran from, before turning around as he heard someone walk up to him, relaxing when he saw it was Zoro "You're done too?"
"Yeah, looks like I missed one hell of a party over here." Zoro said with a smirk, having barely seen the end of the fight.
"Well, looks like you're still full of energy. That's good," OOO noted.
"Hm? Why is that?" Zoro blinked.
"Because I'm about to fall over in exhaustion in like a few seconds. Drag me back to the ship please," OOO said simply as he undid the transformation, and Lumen promptly fell over, Zoro managing to catch him before he actually hit the ground.
The green haired swordsman blinked several times in confusion "Is… this what it's gonna be like every time he uses a Full Combo?" he said, before sighing as he started on bringing Lumen back to the ship.
Lumen groaned as he… well… he was in a really uncomfortable spot for a guy who should be waking up in their own ship. The answer came to him when he woke up...and found out he was hefted over Zoro's shoulder. "...was I really only out for a minute or two?" he blinked.
"Oh, you're awake. Good, and no, you've been out for nearly an hour," Zoro said.
"Nearly an hour? Why aren't we already on the ship?" Lumen blinked...before he remembered one KEY detail about Zoro's character. "...you DO know where the ship is, right?" he asked flatly.
"Of course, we left it by the water," Zoro nodded.
"...why are we walking towards Cactus Rock then?" Lumen deadpanned.
"Wait what? How'd we get back here again?" Zoro blinked, as this was the third time already he'd walked by this place.
"...hey Zoro, out of morbid curiosity, does the name 'Hibiki Ryoga', ring any bells?" Lumen asked.
"You mean a kid in yellow, carries an umbrella and wears a headband? Oh, and turns into a piglet whenever he gets hit with cold water?" Zoro blinked. "Yeah, I know the guy. Ran into him a few times in the past. Kept shouting about how he wants to kill someone named 'Ranma'," Zoro shrugged. "Why? He a friend of yours?"
"... yeah, let's go with that," Lumen said flatly, face palming when he realized Zoro's lack of direction actually transcended time and space, enough so that he'd actually met ANOTHER character with equally bad direction sense… from another universe altogether. "Just...let me down. I'll get us back to the ship," he sighed, to which Zoro put him down and they started walking to the ship...with Lumen having to pull him along every so often.
When they finally got to the ship…
"Where the hell have you been?! We were worried sick about you idiots!" Nami raged at them, preparing to punch them both, and just about losing faith in Lumen for not being an idiot like the others.
"This idiot got lost while carrying me after I passed out from the Full Combo, and I only woke up five minutes ago." Lumen said dryly as he pointed at Zoro.
"You're forgiven then." Nami told Lumen, before rounding on Zoro "As for you…" she said darkly.
"What the hell is the problem, witch?!" Zoro grunted, not at all fazed by her anger.
"The problem? The problem, is that we need to hightail it to Alabasta this last Sunday! We're getting a princess back home! Oh sure, we're being paid for it, but the situation is bad enough that I'm giving them a discount for what my rates would normally be!" Nami raged at him, while Lumen decided to leave Zoro to his fate and went to check on Vivi, who had changed in the last hour of waiting, now wearing one of Nami's shirts and had relaxed her hair, letting some bangs frame her face.
"So, how's things looking?" He asked her as he sat next to her on the stairs.
"Promising, your cook and sniper are still asleep, but the captain is awake, Ms. Nami had him go do a count of supplies below deck to make sure nothing was taken, though she had to simplify it to just counting the crates and barrels." Vivi answered while Carue was sitting down just a bit in front of her and looking out at the water.
"What about Igaram?" Lumen wondered.
"He said he'd be preparing something to help me escape easier, not believing for a second that Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine are the only ones here." Vivi said, a frown of concern on her face.
"I'm sure he knows what he's doing. You don't become captain of the royal guards by being an idiot, right?" Lumen said encouragingly.
"That's true," Vivi nodded, smiling a little.
"Look, all I'm saying is, what's our obligation to help her?!" Zoro shouted, earning their attention, though Vivi sighed, figuring he was talking about her.
Nami glared at Zoro for a moment longer, before grinning evilly "Well then, I guess you aren't a man able to keep his promise after all."
Zoro bristled at that "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"You owe me Zoro, in Loguetown, I lent you 100 000 for your katana." Nami said matter of factly.
"Yeah, but I gave it all back to you, I got my swords for free." Zoro said, wondering what was wrong with her.
Nami's grin became absolutely devilish at that "Ah, but you see, I have an interest rate, three times the loaned amount."
Zoro looked somewhat annoyed "You never mentioned that."
"I did, I just whispered it so low you didn't hear it." Nami said matter of factly.
"That shouldn't count you damn witch!" Zoro raged at her.
"Then I guess I was right, you can't keep your promises after all." she said with a grand sigh, and Zoro's face was an mixture of rage and 'goddammit that's my weak spot!'.
"If you do what I say, we'll call it even." Nami said with a grin.
"I hope you die a horrible and bloody death." Zoro said through grit teeth.
"Yeahp, I'm going straight to hell." Nami said brightly.
"Dammit!" Zoro shouted as he went into one of the rooms of the Merry to look for his equipment, needing to cool off.
"Whelp, looks like we're going to Alabasta then," Lumen said cheerfully. "The only question is...when do we go? After Igaram gets back?"
As if on cue, "I have returned, your majesty!" came Igaram's voice.
"Oh cool, what were yo- MY EYES!" Lumen suddenly shouted as he fell to the ground, clutching at his eyeballs in agony. "IT BURNS! CAN'T UNSEE THE HORROR!"
"What's the pro- DEAR LORD WHAT IS THAT?!" Zoro shouted as he poked his head back out and pointed at Igaram.
"Hey, what's with all the shou- AHHHH! UGLY MONSTER!" Luffy added in as he came up from below deck (his body had also slimmed down by now).
"I WANT to punch them for shouting… but I can't help but agree with them either." Nami groaned as she covered her eyes.
"Igaram…" Vivi sighed in exasperation "Just… why?"
The reason for all the commotion?
Igaram was dressed just like Vivi was as Miss Wednesday… and it was horrifying to look at honestly.
"Isn't it obvious? It's not safe if you remain here, so while you escape, I will be your body double," Igaram said.
"WHO THE HELL WOULD BE FOOLED BY THAT?!" the conscious crew members (minus Luffy) roared, though none of them were opening their eyes. They did not feel like subjecting themselves to that horror again.
"That is besides the point," Igaram said. "For now I entrust the princess with all of you. Please bring her back to Alabasta safely."
"But what about you, Igaram?! We can't leave you!" Vivi shouted.
"Fear not princess, I will return to Alabasta another way! We will meet again for sure!" he said with a smile.
"I still think the outfit is a dumb idea." Lumen muttered.
"But...before we go, I gotta ask. Who ARE we fighting against? Who is leading Baroque Works?" Nami asked.
"Right, you have a right to know," Igaram nodded. "The leader of Baroque Works is Codenamed Mr. 0, but his real name… is that of one of the seven Warlords of the Sea, Sir. Crocodile!"
"Crocodile… so that's the guy responsible for all this," Lumen frowned… before noticing something. "Hey… are vultures and otters common around these parts?"
Vivi suddenly paled at his question, before looking where he was and seeing an otter in a strange outfit and a vulture with an aviator hat, both of them wearing sunglasses, and the otter sketching something on a notepad, soon revealing to have sketched the faces of Luffy, Zoro, Nami and Lumen, before hopping onto the Vulture and flying away.
"Uh… ok, even I'm confused." Luffy said, tilting his head in confusion.
"Those… those were the Unluckies… Mr. 13 and Ms. Friday… they report directly to Crocodile." Vivi said fearfully.
"So we're on the death list of a Royal Warlord now huh? Should be interesting." Zoro said with a smirk.
"Oh my god we're all gonna die." Nami said somberly as she sulked in a corner, Lumen patting her back consolingly.
"Well...if it wasn't imperative you leave before, then it is now," Igaram frowned.
Vivi frowned, not liking this plan, but as it was, there was no choice. "Alright. We'll go ahead first, but before we do, here," Vivi said as she pulled out what looked like an hourglass of some kind, but the glass in the center was that of a Log Pose, and on the top was the word 'Alabasta'. "Take my Eternal Pose. That way no matter where you are, you can return first chance you get."
"Thank you, Princess. May we see each other again soon," Igaram smiled as he took the Eternal Pose, and soon the Going Merry was sailing away from the port.
"Oi! What's going on?! Why are we leaving?!" Sanji asked as he woke up soon enough.
"Yeah! This island is awesome! Let's stay another day!" Usopp added in as he woke up too.
"Oh great." Nami groused as she was ready to bash their skulls in.
"Hold on." Lumen said and stepped up to the two "This place was a bounty hunter trap and all of the women save for Ms. Wednesday were ugly men in disguise trying to kill us."
"Good riddance to this island." Usopp and Sanji suddenly said at the same time.
"Damn that was easy." Zoro muttered.
Before anything could be said, they all suddenly heard an explosion, rushing to the back of the ship to see flames over the water at the entrance of town.
"That… that was Igaram! The ship was in that area! They're already here!" Vivi shouted in fear and anger.
"Jesus christ they are right on point aren't they?" Lumen muttered with wide eyes.
"We… we have to go save him! He could still be alive!" Vivi said as she tried to jump off of Merry.
"Hold on there princess!" Nami said as she held onto Vivi, preventing her from jumping into the water.
"Let me go! I have to help him!" Vivi tried to struggle free.
"And you know as well as I do he'd want you to get out of here and live!" Nami shot back, Vivi's struggling slowly dying down as they brought her back to the front, where she tried to hold back her tears.
"Let's go, he was a good man, and we won't let his sacrifice be for nothing." Luffy said seriously as his hat shadowed his eyes.
"You got it captain." Lumen and Zoro said, nodding.
"I don't fully get what's going on, but I'm in." Sanji said as he lit a cigarette.
"Same here! Even if that was scary as all hell!" Usopp added, his legs shaking a bit.
The ship continued to sail away from Whiskey Peaks, but as they did, a fog rolled in as dawn approached.
"Well...that's not really helpful," Lumen sighed. "Just glad the Log Pose already realigned."
"Yeah, it was lucky the Log Pose only needed a day to record the magnetic field of the island," Nami nodded.
"And at least with this fog, we should be able to get away," Vivi sighed.
"We also need to be careful not to crash the ship into any of the rocks," a feminine voice said.
"Leave that to me," Nami said with a confident smile...before she stiffened. "Uh...was that you, Luffy?"
"No it was not," Lumen said, already looking to the source of the voice. The others soon followed his gaze...and saw a new person sitting on the railings.
"This is certainly a nice ship," she commented.
The woman had light skin, and piercing brown eyes, wearing a cowgirl style outfit along with a hat, all in purple, her straight black hair falling to her shoulder blades.
"You're…!" Vivi gasped in shock and fear.
The woman smirked a bit at that. "I ran into Mr. 8 earlier, Ms. Wednesday," she said.
The meaning behind that and what they'd seen was pretty obvious. "You killed Igaram!" Vivi glared.
"Who cares about that!" Luffy suddenly said. "What are you doing on this ship?! Who are you?!"
"What are you doing here...Ms. All Sunday!" Vivi demanded.
"That sounds important," Lumen frowned. "Who's she partnered with?"
"Her partner is… Mr. 0, Crocodile himself!" Vivi revealed.
"Wait, what?! The right hand woman is right in front of us?!" he gasped in alarm.
"Is she bad?" Luffy asked. Everyone more or less ignored him on account of being more focused on the massive elephant in the room.
"She's the only person who knew Mr. 0's identity, even the Unluckies report to him through Transponder Snail or mail at best. We found out who he is by trailing her!" Vivi explained.
"More accurately… I allowed you to follow me." Ms. All Sunday said with a smile.
"Smart enemies are always a pain." Lumen muttered with a twitching eyebrow, knowing she wouldn't be easy to take down if she had let Vivi and Igaram tail her and didn't give anything away.
"So, she's a good guy then, right?" Luffy said, but again, no one paid attention to him.
"I'm aware you let us follow you! I suppose you're also the one who told Crocodile we discovered his identity, right?!" Vivi accused.
"Correct." Ms. All Sunday answered nonchalantly.
"So she IS bad then." Luffy muttered with an annoyed look.
"Just shut up you idiot." Zoro told him with a sweat drop.
"What exactly is it you're trying to do?!" Vivi demanded.
Ms. All Sunday frowned a bit at that. "Good question. You were all so serious and intent that I ended up finding myself helping out."
"Great...we got a whimsical enemy. Those are always confusing," Lumen groaned.
"The idea of a princess trying so hard to save her kingdom that she'd infiltrate Baroque Works herself, while also making herself its enemy...it was all so ridiculous you see…" Ms. All Sunday said in amusement.
"Don't you dare mock me!" Vivi shouted, as everyone was at the ready to fight, Sanji holding a gun to Ms. All Sunday's head, Usopp readying his slingshot, Zoro about to draw his sword, Nami's staff ready, Lumen strapping on his Driver, and Luffy ready to throw a punch.
"Hey, Sanji, you know what you're doing right now, yeah?" Usopp asked while keeping his eyes on Ms. All Sunday.
"Yeah, pains me to do it, but I know I have to." Sanji answered, keeping the gun pointed at her head.
Ms. All Sunday glanced between the two of them, before closing her eyes with a sigh "I'd appreciate if you didn't point those at me." she said, and suddenly the two of them were flipped over and their weapons were tossed aside.
At the same time, Nami had her staff slapped out of her hand by something, the same with Zoro's swords, being sent to the floor.
"A Devil Fruit?!" Vivi gasped in realisation.
"Which one does she have though?" Lumen wondered, at the same time curious as to why she hadn't made him drop the Driver.
Then Ms. All Sunday looked at him, and smiled as she glanced at the Driver "I see… someone finally did something with the legend of the Multi-King. It's certainly interesting to meet the new OOO in the flesh." she said, and suddenly a coin was flipped at him from out of nowhere, catching it at the last second, letting him see it was in fact a Core Medal, orange in color, depicting a turtle on it.
"Kame Medal… how did you find this?" Lumen asked with a frown, keeping a good grip on the medal after he made sure it was the real one.
"I came across it a long time ago, I figured you might make things interesting if you held onto it." she said simply.
"Oookay, thanks for the Medal, but again, why?" Lumen asked.
"I figured it'd make more sense for the one holding the armor to have it. At any rate, no need to be so hasty. I've not received any orders," Ms. All Sunday said simply. "I have no reason to fight you." she added, before Luffy's hat suddenly went flying off his head and into her head "So, you're the straw hat captain I've heard so much about. To think you'd have such an interesting crew as well, a former bounty hunter, and a legend from ages past." she said as her eyes went to both Zoro and Lumen. "Monkey D. Luffy… yours is an interesting family from what little I know of that name."
"Hey! Gimme my hat back! You trying to start a fight?!" Luffy raged, not really paying attention to what she was saying.
"If she WAS aiming for a fight, I think she'd have done more than just disarm us," Lumen pointed out. "But I agree on what DO you want? Unless you came here just to mess with us."
Ms. All Sunday chuckled at that. "Well, I suppose I wanted to take a look before things played out. After all, it's truly unfortunate that you all picked a fight with Baroque Works," she chuckled. "What's even more unfortunate...is the island your Log Pose is pointing to. Without even doing a thing, you've already been wiped out."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Zoro frowned.
"The Island you're heading to next is called 'Little Garden'. You're going to be wiped out before you even reach Alabasta," she chuckled.
"Will not! Give me my hat back!" Luffy shouted.
"You wish! You big dummy!" Usopp shouted from behind the mast.
"What are you, a kid?" Zoro deadpanned at the sniper.
"Don't you think letting yourselves get wiped out is a bit stupid?" Ms. All Sunday chuckled as she tossed Luffy his hat back, and something to Vivi, which revealed to be an Eternal Pose. "The least I can do is offer you an alternative route. That Eternal Pose will bring you to an island not far from Alabasta, 'Nothing At All Island'. At the very least you can avoid Little Garden, and none of our employees know that course, so nobody will chase you," she explained.
Vivi looked down at the Eternal Pose in contemplation for a moment, before looking back at Ms. All Sunday "Why are you doing this?"
"It's obviously a trap." Zoro said.
"What if it isn't though?" Lumen shot back with a frown, looking back at the Kame Medal in his hand.
"I wonder which it is?" Ms. All Sunday said with a smile on her face, not being helpful at all.
Vivi grit her teeth at the words, trying to think about what she should do, not noticing someone was walking towards her till the Eternal Pose was taken out of her hand by Luffy.
"Who gives a crap about that stuff?!" he said, and began to squeeze.
Lumen's eyes widened when he realized what was about to happen. "No Luffy, don't-!" too late as Luffy had crushed the Eternal Pose in his hand. The next thing he knew, he'd buried his fist into Luffy's face, at the same time Nami did with her leg.
"ARE YOU AN IDIOT?!" they both roared. At the same time, though Lumen had more to say. "DO YOU EVER STOP AND THINK MORE THAN ONE STEP AHEAD?! WE COULD HAVE USED THAT AS A BACKUP PLAN!"
"He's right! She just gave us an easier path! What if it was actually NOT a trap!" Nami agreed.
Luffy looked at them for a moment...before looking at Ms. All Sunday. "You're not the one who decides this ship's course!" he said.
Lumen leveled a stare that could dry an ocean at their captain, before turning around and walking away, muttering about how he'd love to punt Luffy to the moon right now for that stunt.
Luffy looked at Ms. All Sunday again. "She blew up the old tube haired guy. I hate her for that," he said, to which Vivi blinked a bit, not QUITE expecting a reaction like that.
Ms. All Sunday looked at him...and chuckled slightly. "Well that's too bad. I don't hate high spirited people," she said as she walked to the edge of the Merry. "If you survive, let's meet again."
"No!" Luffy shot back.
Ms. All Sunday just chuckled and jumped off the railing, landing on a giant turtle. "Let's go, Bunchi!" she said as the turtle soon swam off.
"Now that is one HUGE turtle." Lumen said, blinking a few times, before looking back at his new medal "Is that why she gave me this one?" he said, before looking at Luffy, who was standing in front of him "... if you try to break this I'm throwing you in the ocean."
Luffy just laughed "Naw, just wanted to say sorry if I pissed you off."
Lumen blinked several times at that, before letting out a sigh and smiling "Meh, it's fine Luffy, guess it wouldn't be you if you didn't do anything stupid. Now come on, let's show whatever this Little Garden place has who's boss," he added with a smirk.
"Yeah!" Luffy grinned as the ship continued on to their next destination.
Ta-da!
So, how did you like all those special surprises?
So, yeahp, showing off an actual usage of a Single Scanning Charge, which is a sword beam like in Zelda.
Lumen likes to explore all the available paths to him, and he had plenty of Cells from the two Yummies he's defeated so far, so he can certainly experiment.
We also get to see him utterly destroy Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine, followed by getting the Zou medal, going Gatakiriba for the first time, and then getting the Kame medal.
Why did Robin have that medal you ask?
All will be revealed in time, even if takes a LOT of time.
Also, that joke with Zoro about Ryoga from Ranma, Timeless suggested it, and I couldn't deny how hilarious it would be to have that be a thing even if just for a gag.
So, we put it in.
Anyway, see ya next time!