Hey everyone and welcome back to Desire Cruise!
Slightly smaller chapter today, because we're FINALLY entering a multi chapter arc, with Little Garden being split up a bit.
Hope you'll enjoy!
As the Going Merry sailed on towards its destination… it suddenly stopped.
"Again?" Lumen said with a raised eyebrow as he looked at the sail.
"This is probably the third time today. And when we're in such a hurry too." Nami said with a sigh.
"And while we sit here idle…" Vivi trailed off with a sad look.
"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll make it in time." Nami told her reassuringly.
"I'll transform into OOO and pull the ship if I have to." Lumen added.
Vivi smiled slightly, nodding in thanks to the two of them.
"Alright, let's fish while we wait!" Luffy said suddenly, with Carue quacking in agreement.
"Might as well do something useful." Sanji said with a nod as he went to look for the bait… only to come back a few minutes later with an empty bucket "Alright, anybody knows what happened?"
"What's wrong?" Usopp asked as he came to check, and gaped as he saw the empty bucket "The hell? Didn't we still have plenty of those?"
"Uh? What's in the bucket guys?" Luffy asked he came to check, and blinked, before grinning "Oh hey, there was one left." he said and picked up a mealworm from the bucket, the last one left at that… and stuck it in his mouth, eating it.
Sanji and Usopp gaped at him, before shouting "What the hell man! You don't eat that stuff!"
"Huh? You mean I'm not supposed to?" Luffy questioned in confusion.
"Of course the idiot captain doesn't know eating worms is stupid." Lumen sighed as he hung his head.
"Now what do we use for bait?" Usopp groaned.
"How about this?" Luffy suggested as he took out a coconut from his pocket.
"No you moron, and why do you even have that anyway?" Sanji asked in exasperation.
"Uh… can't remember." Luffy shrugged, before pointing at Carue "How about him though?"
"Well…" Sanji mused as he looked at the duck, who suddenly stepped back and looked nervous.
Before the two could even TRY chasing it around, they both got hit in the back of the head, sending them to the ground, revealing Lumen and Usopp each holding a hammer "Don't use the duck as bait."
"Is Luffy being a moron again?" Zoro groused as he cracked an eye open.
"As usual." Usopp said with a groan.
"It's a bit hard to believe he's worth 30 million Berries." Vivi said unsurely.
"You don't have to be smart to be wanted for a high price. Just destructive and/or pissed off the wrong guy," Lumen shrugged, knowing the REAL reason for Luffy's starting bounty.
"Well, partly that second one, and partly because he defeated Arlong, Don Krieg, Buggy the Clown, and although no one will ever know it, Captain Kuro." Nami added on.
"He also beat that jerkass marine that had an axe for a hand." Zoro chimed in.
"Ah, Axe-Hand Morgan, explains why he's locked up now." Nami said, having seen the news recently.
Luffy chuckled as he got up "Reminds me of Coby, I wonder if he's still training hard?"
"Who's Coby?" Usopp asked with a raised eyebrow.
"My friend, he's training hard to become a Marine Admiral." Luffy said with a laugh.
"Huh, a Pirate being friends with a Marine...eh, could have been worse," Lumen shrugged.
After that, they continued sailing on once the wind picked back up, a few hours passing, with Usopp practicing some sort of speech, before Zoro called him an idiot, while Vivi was teaching Nami about some of the dangers of the Grand Line.
As for Luffy, he was bugging Lumen about something.
"So, how come you haven't used that bike yet again?" Luffy asked as he layed spread eagle on Merry's head, looking at Lumen while upside down.
"Because we've encountered mostly water?" Lumen pointed out a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, but can't you just go on the water with it?" Luffy asked.
Lumen looked at him dully "Luffy… that is one of the stupidest things you've ever said."
"But you said those can things could do lots of things right? What if one can make it float on water?" Luffy pointed out.
Lumen opened his mouth to refute that, before pausing as he DID have an unknown can, taking the Shachi can out of his pocket, weighing his options, until he sighed "Alright, let's see what this can do."
With that in mind, and a bit of coordination, the Ride Vendor was brought out on deck, while he had the Shachi Candroid ready. "Okay, everyone stand back. There's no telling what this thing might do, so better safe than sorry," Lumen said.
"No problem, we'll stay out of the way," Usopp said...from on top of the main mast.
"...this is a helper robot, not a bomb ya goof troop reject," Lumen deadpanned. Sighing, he popped the top, and released it.
The can folded open, till it had the general shape of a miniaturised killer whale, which started floating around in the air, until it spotted the Ride Vendor and floated towards it… and then started growing, while the front wheel of the Ride Vendor split open and relocated to the back, as the Candroid shifted some pieces of it around before attaching to the front of the Ride Vendor, making the top look vaguely like the head of a killer whale, while the rest of the body formed some sort of flotation device around the bike.
Lumen blinked at it a few times, before grinning "Well, what do you know, I have a jet ski option… I think I'll call it the ShaRide Vendor."
Sanji took a closer look at the new machine and whistled a little. "Well, this is definitely going to be useful, especially if we're stuck fighting on the ocean...or if a certain someone goes overboard," he added the last bit with a mild deadpan, everyone looking at Luffy at that.
"Well...since this is here, might as well take it for a ride," Lumen mused. "Especially since the ship's going kinda slowly anyway…" he sighed.
"You sure this thing can actually pull the entire ship?" Zoro blinked.
"No clue honestly, but won't know until we try," Lumen shrugged, before popping a pair of Batta Candroids, and giving one to Nami. "I'll pull, you navigate and tell me where to go," he said.
"Right," Nami nodded, understanding where he was going, and quickly getting to the front of the Merry. It wasn't long before he was once again in the armor of OOO, on top of the ShaRide Vendor, and was now in the water, the crew having tied the Merry to the Ride Vendor with a good amount of strong rope.
"Ready everyone?" he asked, to which everyone gave sounds of agreement, while hanging on to various parts of the Merry just in case. "Okay, then let's go!" he said before gunning the engine, the ShaRide Vendor soon actually towing the Merry. This actually went on for a while...before a warning appeared over the Vendor. "Low on energy?" OOO frowned...before he noticed the slot right under the warning that had appeared...seeing as it was literally holographic somehow. Blinking, he pulled out a Cell Medal, and inserted it, to which the energy was full again. "...you're joking…" he deadpanned. "I'm riding a kiddie ride on steroids?" he asked incredulously. Shaking his head, he took out he Batta Candroid. "Are we still on course?" he asked.
"Just a bit towards starboard. Oh, and the News Coo arrived while you weren't looking, Luffy's Marine Friend is apparently at Marine Headquarters now." Nami informed him
"That so? Good for him then… weird that I'm saying that even though he'll probably chase us one day." he said with a chuckle as he turned towards starboard.
The ride continued for a while more, and before long they could see the next island.
OOO had to wonder why it was called Little Garden, considering they could see what appeared to be two gigantic mountains covered in moss on them, along with a few volcanoes. Seeing as they were close enough, he stopped the engine, and soon got back on the Merry and untransformed… JUST in time to hear Zoro ask the exact question on his mind.
"This place doesn't exactly fit its cute name," Nami said in response, before noticing a river opening.
"Guess that's our way in," Lumen mused.
"This place is like some sort of lost island looking place." Usopp said with a slight shiver as they entered the river and observed the thick trees, hiding most of the land from view.
"I'm still worried about what Ms. All-Sunday said, about how we'd never reach Alabasta because of this island." Vivi said in worry.
"Well, assuming she's right, then I'm guessing something about this island is dangerous, and for whatever reason, we're gonna be stuck here long enough for it to be able to do us in...at least that's what SHE thinks," Lumen mused.
"And we can't exactly skip it either," Sanji frowned, remembering how the Log Pose worked.
"And not to mention… look at the plants. They're like nothing I've ever seen," Nami frowned.
"You know... I feel like I've seen those before…" Lumen frowned.
"You have? Cool, where did you see it?" Luffy asked.
"Uh...I think it was in a book," Lumen frowned again. "But it's been so long that I can't seem to remember what it was about…" he sighed.
"Well, it'll probably come back to you eventually." Zoro shrugged.
Suddenly, they heard a loud, almost bird-like screech come from the air, with Nami and Usopp both hiding behind Lumen with a flinch.
"Ok… really you two?" he said in deadpan.
"There's no need to fear Nami, I'm sure it was just some sort of bird." Sanji said with a grin.
It was at that moment that Luffy looked up, seeing a large shadow descending on them "Hey, is that some kind of lizard?"
Everybody looked up, and noticed the huge creature descending on the ship, before Sanji frowned and jumped up, kicking it in the head and sending it away, the creature flying away after righting itself.
"Some kind of big lizard bird thing." Sanji rectified Luffy's words as he landed back on the deck.
"Oh crap…" Lumen muttered while pale "That was an archaeopteryx… And I recognise those plants now, their prehistoric."
"Prehistoric? You mean…?" Nami trailed off fearfully as she gripped his shirt nervously.
Suddenly, they heard a growl come from the woods, seeing a tiger walk out… before collapsing to the ground, blood falling out of it's stomach.
"AAAGGGHHH! That Tiger is huge!" Usopp screamed in fear.
"Correction, Saber-Tooth Tiger." Lumen said as he pointed out the large teeth of the tiger before turning to Vivi "So… prehistoric islands are a thing?"
Vivi swallowed nervously "It would seem so."
"What does prehistoric mean?" Luffy asked cluelessly.
"It means lots of dinosaurs." Zoro answered dryly.
Luffy, quite obviously, got a gigantic grin at that.
"Can we not set foot on this island?" Usopp asked nervously, clinging to Lumen's leg, with the blonde trying to shake him off.
"Agreed, let's just wait on Merry for the log to set, we gotta hurry to Alabasta after all." Nami said with a nervous laugh.
"As much as I want to call you two cowards, I'm inclined to agree, I have a bad feeling about a dinosaur island, and it has to do with OOO." Lumen said with a frown.
"Do we want to know?" Zoro asked.
"I'd rather not talk about THOSE things unless it's absolutely necessary." Lumen shot back, earning a nod from Zoro.
Though, knowing their luck, Lumen WOULD be talking about it soon.
"Hey Sanji, make a lunchbox!" Luffy said with a grin.
"Lunchbox? What kind?" Sanji asked curiously.
"Pirate lunchbox obviously." Luffy said with a laugh, before looking out at the jungle "I can smell adventure!"
"Well...can't argue with that one," Lumen smiled wryly. The closest thing they could get to a real Jurassic Park? What could that be OTHER than adventure.
"W-wait just a second! Where do you think you're going?!" Nami asked Luffy, trying to stop him.
"On an adventure duh! Wanna come along?" Luffy asked with a big grin.
Nami sighed sadly as she realised it was too late to stop him.
Vivi looked pensive, before turning to Luffy "May I come with you?"
"Sure! Sanji, make that two Pirate Lunchboxes!" Luffy said with a grin.
"Alright you rubber idiot, just give me a minute." Sanji said with a chuckle as he went into the kitchen.
"Why are you going with him?!" Nami asked the princess incredulously.
"Well, I figured I could use this chance to take my mind off of things, make sure I don't kill myself over worrying about Alabasta." Vivi replied easily "So I'll just explore until the log sets."
"Well, I mean, ok, maybe, but you don't know Luffy like we do! Something really dumb is going to happen, and it's gonna be his fault!" Nami argued.
"Can confirm for the month I've been on the crew, when something dumb happens, it's usually his fault." Lumen said with a nod.
"Well, I'll be fine, Carue will be with me after all." Vivi said with a smile, while Carue's bill dropped open and he stared at his owner with eyes that were screaming 'Are you insane?!'.
"Hey Sanji! Make a drink for the duck!" Lumen shouted to the cabin, the cook flashing a thumbs up from the door.
Minutes later, Luffy had his lunchbox and jumped off the ship, followed by Carue who was carrying Vivi "We'll be back soon!" the princess said, before they ran off into the jungle.
"Well, if they're going to be out exploring and there's nothing going on, I think I'll go for a walk," Zoro said.
"Hey, if you're going out for a walk, we're running low on supplies. If you see any animals that look edible, bring them back for us will ya," Sanji said.
"Sure. I'll be sure to bring back any animals you'd never be able to kill yourself," Zoro said simply. Unfortunately...that was a trigger. Before long, Sanji had challenged Zoro to a hunting contest, and now the two of them were going into the forest, to compete and see who could bring back the most kilograms of meat.
"Why does everyone on this ship have to be like that…" Nami said with tears of despair.
"I know how you feel, Nami. Don't cry, at least I'm by your side," Usopp said in equal despair.
"Hey, what am I? Chopped liver?" Lumen said in mild amusement, currently sitting on a deck chair he pulled out and taking the daily paper. He figured he might as well read while waiting for the others to come back. However, that was when he'd noticed something interesting. Namely one of the articles. "What… what the hell?!"
Nami flinched "Yeah… I saw it too."
"And why didn't you tell Vivi?" he asked incredulously.
"What are you talking about?" Usopp asked.
"Things in Alabasta are getting worse." Lumen said as he went and gave the newspaper to Usopp, who read the article, his eyes slowly growing wider by the moment.
"Before either of you say anything, I didn't speak because I didn't want to stress Vivi out, she's already super worried about her home, how do you think it would get if she knew about THAT?" Nami asked as she pointed at the article.
Lumen and Usopp both frowned in thought at that, before sighing "You make a good point." Lumen said.
"So… what do we do?" Usopp asked in worry.
"We don't tell her, not yet at least, and we make sure we get to Alabasta ASAP." Nami answered seriously, earning nods from the other two.
"Now if only the Log would set already," Lumen sighed. "I hope this doesn't become a common issue…"
His musings were interrupted, as he heard a loud crack behind him, turning around as Nami and Usopp paled at the sight, seeing a large shadow looming over the ship "What… the hell?"
The shadow seemed to look down at them, and Lumen prepared himself for a fight… until the shadow let out a loud, booming, and distinct laugh that sounded like "Gabababababa!", and then it crouched down, revealing it's face, and Lumen could see it appeared to be a middle aged man, dressed up like a viking, with a an axe shaped beard… oh, and he was clearly a giant.
"Well, been a while since humans came onto Little Garden, not since that Louis Arnote fellow a while ago who gave the island a name. So, do you have any rum?" the giant asked with an honestly friendly grin.
Not that Nami and Usopp really noticed since they were busy being scared shitless. Lumen on the other hand…
"I'm pretty sure we have a bit still. Not sure how much that would be for you though," he said, sounding a little apologetic, seeing as he was PRETTY sure the amount of Rum they had would be like a shot cup at best for a giant.
Usopp and Nami looked at him like he'd grown a second head.
"Oh, so you do have some," The giant laughed heartily "Well, good to hear, how much would you be willing to part with?"
"Well… depends on Zoro really, the idiot likes getting drunk, so we need to keep a few… how does 6 sound?" Lumen mused.
"Sounds perfect, just enough for my friend and I." the giant laughed...before he suddenly shouted, scaring Nami and Usopp, while Lumen jumped in surprise...until the giant turned around to reveal that a dinosaur had decided to...rather comically...bite him in the butt. It took all the restraint in him to NOT laugh at the comical sight of a T-Rex or something sinking its teeth into the giant's butt in a way that looked like a dog biting someone in the butt in a comedy cartoon.
The giant grumbled, before grabbing axe from beneath his cape and swinging it at the T-Rex, chopping off its head.
While Nami and Usopp screamed in fright at how strong the giant was to just so easily kill a dinosaur, the KING of dinosaurs at that, Lumen just whistled, honestly impressed.
What? He'd played video games and watched plenty of anime, seeing a giant beheading a dinosaur wasn't that weird when you compared it to things like a marsupial that likes to break boxes and a dragon that has a thing for roasting sheep.
"I'm Brogy! Gababababa! I am Elbaf's strongest warrior!" he roared as he lifted his axe in victory and held the severed head of the dinosaur. Once that was done, he plopped the head near the Merry and grinned again. "Now that I've got some meat, let me welcome you as my guest."
"Cool. Never had dinosaur before," Lumen said cheerfully, while Nami and Usopp were busy playing dead.
"Well, the meat looks almost done." Lumen said with a grin as he looked at the huge chunk of meat cooking "Ah, by the way, you might know this Brogy, but how long does it take a Log Pose to set?"
"Hmm? Oh, it takes a full year, rather troublesome for you humans obviously." Brogy answered, looking at Lumen for a moment, before turning to fanning the flames… by blowing on them.
Lumen winced at that, glancing at Nami who's face had turn white in despair "At least I didn't ask to be Wizard, that would be instant Phantom." he muttered to himself.
"There! It's all cooked, so eat up!" Brogy grinned as he gave them a well cooked chunk of meat on a bone, one that might even take LUFFY a few minutes to eat up...or maybe 10 seconds if he was hungry enough.
"Thanks, this looks great," Lumen grinned, filing away the problem for now, as he took a bite, wincing a bit at the heat, but ultimately enjoying it. "Hey guys, you should try some. It's really good," he said to Nami and Usopp who seemed VERY nervous. Probably cause of the human skeletons nearby.
"W-we're not hungry," they said nervously.
Lumen sweatdropped at them "You two do know that giants are technically overgrown humans with triple the lifespan right? To them, eating a human would be akin to eating a giant baby, a big no no."
"Wait, those two thought I was gonna eat them?! But that's disgusting!" Brogy said in shock.
"See what I mean?" Lumen said, hooking his thumb at Brogy, before turning to said giant. "You'll have to excuse them. They're both from East Blue, and well...let's just say that Blue isn't the most privy to info on other races. Doesn't help most of the news is just what the World Government thinks is important, so...yeah. Giants not exactly common knowledge," Lumen said apologetically.
"Ah, it's fine, I know how much of a pain they can be, they put those bounties on my friend and I years ago after all." Brogy waved it off now that he understood.
Usopp perked up at hearing that "Wait, you're a pirate?"
Brogy grinned proudly "That's right, you're looking at Brogy the Red Ogre, co-captain of the Giant Pirates along with my good friend Dorry the Blue Ogre, who keeps saying he's the strongest of Elbaf when he's not!" Brogy said the last part louder, looking in another direction, and received a shout "I totally am and you know it!"
"Holy shit. It's a giant version of Zoro and Sanji," Lumen sweat dropped. "Only a bit more cordial."
At that moment, said two sneezed, both grumbling about who was talking about them… though Sanji started hoping it was Nami or Vivi.
"Wait, so, this Elbaf place is your home?" Usopp asked, getting more interested.
"That's right, a land of warriors! It's where we giants live! Last time I heard information about the place though was when some kid apparently threw a huge tantrum and broke some houses and even hurt one of the elders… I think her name was Linlin or whatever." Brogy mused.
Lumen blinked at that, thinking back on the big names his sister had told him about, before looking up at Brogy "By any chance, do you mean Charlotte Linlin?"
"Yeah! That's the one! You know her?" Brogy asked with a grin.
"I know OF her. She's one of the Four Emperors, Charlotte Linlin, AKA, Big Mom, a woman with a pirate crew made up of her 50+ children and her in-laws, she's on par with people of the likes of Whitebeard, Red Hair Shanks, and Kaido the Beast, the four strongest pirates in the New World." Lumen explained. "Unfortunately I hear she's more like Kaido than the other two. Stereotype pirate, if you know what I mean. I hear she's destroyed countries in her own territory just because they couldn't pay their tribute on time."
"Yeesh, and I thought the news I heard was bad," Brogy frowned.
"She'd destroy her own territory...just because they didn't pay on time?!" Nami gasped in horror.
"It gets better. She doesn't care if there's a very reasonable and uncontrollable explanation for the lateness. Either you do EXACTLY as she tells you or its curtains," Lumen said taking another bite. "Oh, and the tribute is usually in sweets of some kind, so say your oven is broken, and you're short of the agreed amount, well...start running. You MIGHT be able to survive. And don't get me started on the 'parties' she throws. If you get an invitation, you'd better show up even if you're just a head and spine, or she'll have someone you care for beheaded and the severed head sent to you gift wrapped. Bottom line if you were to look up the word 'bitch', you'd find Charlotte Linlin's picture right next to the word."
Nami and Usopp both had horrified and sick looks… which was followed by dawning realization "Oh dear Oda Luffy's gonna piss her off somehow and we'll have to fight her won't we?" Nami said fearfully.
Lumen sighed, going over to pat her on the back "It's highly likely, seeing as she's also gunning for the 'Pirate King' title. Sorry."
"I'm too young and pretty to die!" Nami wailed as she hugged him, needing a lifeline of some sort at the moment.
"Well, both of those are true, but get yourself together would you?" Lumen said with a roll of his eyes. "First of all, she's all the way in the New World, which thankfully, is still a long way to come. Second, we're on a cruise with the future Pirate King. I'd be surprised if we DIDN'T end up having to fight an Emperor or two," he sighed. "Luffy's not the first and not the last who'll be gunning for the title, so that's literally an unavoidable conflict right there."
She hung her head at this words, before standing up, grabbing his shirt, and looking at him with a mild glare "I both hate and love the fact you're one of the most sensible persons on our damned crew."
"I figured as much. But hey, look at this this way, at least that means you can vent to me about the others being morons." He said with a shrug.
She looked at him for a long moment, before sighing "I DO need to do that sometimes."
"Anyway, enough about evil pirates we'll have to deal with in the future. Try some of this dinosaur meat. Tastes just like pork," Lumen said, taking another bite...before he felt something hard. "Ouch…" he groaned as he pulled out the thing in question...and well… "Seriously? Another one. Talk about luck," he blinked as he realized he'd found another Core Medal. Of course, when he turned it around and also got the meat off so he could see the color...the color on his face drained away. "Shit shit shit shit shit!" Lumen gasped, dropping the medal and practically backpedalling away from it.
"What's wrong?" Usopp asked with a worried frown as he picked up the medal, only for Lumen to slap it out of his hand "Hey!"
"Don't touch it! It's dangerous!" he said, and Usopp meekly nodded at the pissed off face Lumen was giving him.
"Lumen… what's wrong with that medal?." Nami asked apprehensively.
Lumen swallowed thickly, before picking up the medal with the sleeve of his shirt, wanting to avoid touching it as much as possible, letting them see the purple medal depicting the face of a T-Rex "This is one of the Purple Core Medals… and they are special in a bad way."
"Well, this sounds like an interesting tale… I think I've heard the word Core Medal before though." Brogy mused.
"If you've heard the story of the Multi-King, then you have heard the word before. But this Medal right here… it's the antithesis of desire, it's void, nothingness, emotionless, pure destruction."
"Wait...what are you trying to say?" Nami gulped.
"The Purple Medals embody the absence of desire, absence of everything that is life. Your dream to draw a map of the world, Zoro's dream to be the greatest swordsman, heck, even Luffy's dream to be Pirate King. The Purple Medals have the power to destroy those dreams, leaving them just shells of their former self. If the other Core Medals are embodiments of Desire, of the will that allows people to live and keep going through hardships, then the Purple Medals are that which kill all desire to even live," Lumen explained grimly.
The horrified silence that descended spoke volumes.
"Sh-should we get rid of this thing then? Maybe you could even destroy it?" Usopp offered with a quivering voice.
"I agree! Give it to me so I can crush it into dust!" Brogy said, glaring daggers at the small purple medal.
Lumen sighed "You're welcome to try, but Core Medals can't be destroyed… unless it's by the Purple Medals." he said, putting it on the ground so Brogy could try and break it.
"Well, it's never tasted the axe of a giant before." he said, and swung his axe down on the medal… but it didn't budge. It wasn't even driven into the ground, it just took on the attack, and didn't react.
Brogy glared at it, and tried again, and again, and after the fourth time even he couldn't deny Lumen's words. His axe which had felled the mightiest of creatures...was utterly useless against this evil thing.
"...now what do we do?" Nami frowned.
"...as much as I hate to say it…" Lumen sighed, before he gingerly picked up the Tyranno Medal with his sleeve, and soon wrapped it up in some cloth. "It'd be even LESS safe to just leave it lying around. We'll have to take it with us…" he said, his face just screaming 'this is gonna suck'.
"We're putting it in a treasure chest as soon as we get back to the Merry." Nami said seriously.
"And I'm gonna try to seal it up with as many steel sheets as possible." Usopp added.
"Good call, we REALLY don't want this getting out." Lumen nodded in approval. Once they said that though, the sound of the volcano erupting interrupted any further thoughts.
"Well, there's the signal," Brogy grinned.
"Signal for what?" Lumen blinked.
"Forgot when we did it, but when that volcano erupts, it's the signal for the 100 year long battle between me and Dorry," Brogy smirked as he got up, his axe in hand.
"Wait, hold on, why though?" Usopp asked.
"The laws of our home, when a feud is started, it's only settled in one way, we have to leave Elbaf, and be judged by our god in battle. The rightful victor of the duel is the only one allowed to return home… and the only one allowed to live." Brogy explained.
"And you've been doing this for a 100 years?!" Nami asked incredulously.
"Giants do have at least triple the lifespan of a human." Lumen pointed out.
"Still…" Nami trailed off.
"It's a cultural thing," Lumen sighed. "Can't say I like the idea of how it sounds, but who are we to judge their way of life," he said.
"But what's the point of fighting when you don't even remember the reason?" Nami sighed, shaking her head.
Lumen smirked at the question "Because at this point, that's not what it's about anymore."
"He's right." Usopp said as he looked at Brogy advancing, seeing another giant visible in the distance "At this point… it's about honor!"
"Though, honor or not…" Lumen mused, right as the two giants clashed, and a random tree landed not far from them. "We should probably relocate to a...safer...distance."
"I want to watch… but yeah, I guess I can step back a bit." Usopp said, glancing aside for a moment, seeing the logic in his words. Once they were at a safe distance, Usopp was soon enraptured by the battle waging on, and Lumen could see the admiration in Usopp's eyes as he watched the battle.
"Well, while Usopp does his thing, how about we go find the others?" Nami suggested "Maybe even head back to the ship and lock up that medal ASAP."
Lumen was about to agree, before hearing something faint carried on the wind, turning to the general direction, and just barely managing to see a splotch of yellow fall down into the trees "Belay that Nami, looks like the lemon bitch and her explosive pal found us."
Though she laughed a bit at the nicknames, she quickly sobered up "Right then, think their after Vivi?"
"Possibly, but they seemed awfully close to us, either their gunning for me due to revenge… or their after something else around here." Lumen mused.
"Whichever it is, think we should wait them out? Or head for them?" Nami mused.
"Honestly...I'm not sure," Lumen frowned. "On one hand, we know we can take them. But...who's to say they're coming alone?"
"That's a good point," Nami frowned. "So stay here?"
"Considering we SHOULD be able to, if worst come to worst, ask Brogy for help, though no, I don't want that to be a choice we need to take if we can help it, it's probably safer to stick around here...for now," Lumen said...before a thought crossed his mind. "Wait...didn't Brogy say he and Dorry have bounties on their heads?"
"He did, why?" Nami blinked.
"Well...think about it. An idiot like Luffy can be worth 30 million. How much do you think a pair of giant warriors would be worth? Assuming they're not petty enough to come to THIS island for revenge…what do you think is more likely they're after? Us? Or the Giants?"
Nami considered it for a moment, before nodding "It makes sense, twin captains would probably be worth a lot of money, so they'd try to take them down for funds, just like the operation in Whiskey Peak."
"Thing is, they can't do it directly, because these ARE giants we're talking about." Lumen added.
"Right, so they'd go for trickery and deceit." Nami nodded, seeing where he was going.
"But thing is...what can you do...how do you hurt something that could probably shrug off most things?" Lumen frowned, looking at the giants...before it hit him. "They'd attack somewhere they can't defend. Somewhere they could reach without being seen…" he frowned, thinking about the abilities he DID know about, hoping that was going to be key...and realized the likely answer. "They're going to use Mr. 5's bomb abilities."
"But...a bomb wouldn't hurt the giants," Nami pointed out.
"Yeah...if it was used outside," Lumen said.
Nami gained a horrified look at what Lumen was implying. "But...how would they possibly get a bomb…" she turned green as she continued. "...inside of a giant?"
"Remember, he said he turns his body, and whatever he touches, into an explosive, so what if he touches food or a drink?" Lumen suggested.
"Then...they could use anything the giants might be eating...or…" then it hit her. "The rum…!" she gasped. "They'd use the rum to get to them. Even if it doesn't kill them, well...they DID get it from us…" she gulped. "They could easily just pin it on us."
"Right, then we'd better make sure the rum isn't tampered with," Lumen said with a nod. With that, he went for where he knew the barrels had been left, but not before quickly transforming into OOO, just in case a fight was coming, and for good measure, he picked Unagi and Cheetah for mobility. Good thing too, as when he used the cheetah and taka powers, he could move faster and he saw...lo and behold, Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine, with Mr. 5 about to turn one of the barrels of rum into explosives. "Hold it right there!" he growled, lashing out with the unagi whip, which caught Mr. 5 by surprise, and promptly electrocuted him.
"We just can't catch a break can we?" Ms. Valentine said with a grit teeth as she watched her partner twitch several times before he slowly got up, glaring bloody murder at OOO.
"When you're fighting me? No, you can't. And I doubt your luck has changed since last time." OOO said, cracking one of the whips for emphasis, making Ms. Valentine flinch. "So here's the deal, get away from the rum, and away from the giants, or I'll send you two flying so far away that finding RAFTEL will be easier than finding you two!" he said, before tossing Mr. 5 aside, making sure to get between them and the rum, deliberately being close. He figured if they HAD turned some into bombs...maybe this might make them trigger it. The explosion would draw attention either way.
Ms. Valentine growled, looking like she WANTED to fight...but she also knew she didn't stand a chance...until Mr. 5 grabbed onto her hand, and smirked up at her. Unfortunately, with the Taka eyes, OOO saw that smirk, and quickly started to move. Just in time too, as right when he started, one of the barrels exploded, something that spread to the other barrels due to the heat and force igniting the alcohol, creating for a ball of fire that seemingly engulfed OOO.
"His loss." Mr. 5 said, smirking.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that!" OOO shouted as he was propelled out of the flames a second later, his whips extended and lashed out at them, grabbing Ms. Valentine by the ankle and electrocuting her at the same time as he spun her around and sent her flying into Mr. 5 "Rule number one of being an assassin, confirm the death by finding the corpse, never assume."
The two of them painfully got up, gritting their teeth in anger. The plan was SUPPOSED to be simple...but now it'd gone to hell. "Guess we don't have much of a choice…" Mr. 5 grunted. Before actually throwing his own leg with a kick, which promptly exploded, causing the area to be covered in smoke...before the two were soon floating away using Ms. Valentine's fruit powers.
OOO looked at them floating away, evidently, Ms. Valentine COULD extend her fruit to another person if they were in contact with her.
"Well, glad you caught that in time." Nami said as she came closer.
"Too bad about the rum though. Oh well, better than someone drinking that," OOO said, before reverting to Lumen. On top of that, it seemed the explosion was...bigger than he'd expected, evident by how Usopp was running towards them, and heck, even Brogy and Dorry had stopped mid-fight, clearly having heard the explosion.
"What happened?!" Usopp gasped.
"A pair of Baroque Works agents came here. They were after Dorry and Brogy," Lumen said, giving the nutshell version.
"Well, they must have been quite desperate to want to go after us," came Brogy's voice, as he and another giant, one with a VERY long beard, wearing a roman style helmet and wielding a sword and a shield, wearing a more gladiator style outfit compared to Brogy's viking style.
"But I can respect their courage to want to fight us," the other giant, Dorry no doubt, said with a laugh.
"What courage? They were gonna turn the rum into a bomb and probably blow it up when one of you drank it," Lumen said flatly. "They no doubt figured if they can't kill you from the outside, they'd do it from the inside.
"They what?!" came the outraged responses from both giants AND Usopp.
"Its true. Lumen managed to stop them, but not before they already turned one of the rum barrels into a bomb. They tried to use the exploding rum to kill him earlier, which is what caused the explosion," Nami said.
The giants glared at that statement, before looking at each other. "Postpone our duel?" Brogy suggested.
"Until those cowards will bother us no longer," Dorry agreed as they shook hands.
"Now we just need to find the others and relay everything to them." Usopp said seriously.
"I believe I may have some of your friends in my camp, a boy with a straw hat and a girl with a large duck." Dorry said.
"Luffy, Vivi and Carue, the only ones missing are Sanji and Zoro." Lumen said with a sigh "Those two will be impossible to find."
"For now, let's focus on regrouping with the ones we know can be brought here, I think we have some covert operatives to sniff out." Nami said seriously.
And there's the chapter!
Short rematch with the 5 duo, 3's plan being COMPLETELY derailed.
And of course, the one you'll comment about, the Tyranno medal.
In a world like One Piece, the purple medals are VERY dangerous.
So Lumen makes sure everyone knows this.
Also, Dorry and Brogy put a halt on their duel because someone had the nerve to try and throw trickery into their battles of honor.
Don't piss off a giant by doing that, you'll regret it.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed, and see you next time!