Uh... hey guys.
Sorry it's been so long since we last gave something for this story, but we're back now, and it's a triple feature, this is just the first of three chapters today, so hope you'll enjoy.
"Where are those two? They should have been back by now," a man said with a frown as he tapped his fingers on the arm of a chair...which for some reason seemed to be made of wax. He was rather...odd looking. His clothing was normal at the very least, consisting of a sleeveless striped shirt with a bow tie and simple pants, he even had a Log Pose on his wrist. No, what was weird was his head, which had some small glasses that had the top portion of the rim almost look like a 3 on it's side, while his hair… was actually styled to look like the number 3.
"Maybe a dinosaur ate them." commented a teenage girl that was dressed in a cloud patterned shirt with a black t-shirt beneath it, a red skirt at her waist and a pair of striped socks that reached all the way under her skirt, which itself went to her knees. A wide rimmed pink hat sat on top of her head, while her hair was done in twin pigtails.
"They're stupid, but they're not THAT stupid," the man frowned, before sighing and getting up. "It seems we have no choice. Let's go Ms. Goldenweek, looks like we'll have to clean up whatever mess those two made."
Ms. Goldenweek just nodded before getting up and following him out of the house. However, they didn't get 3 steps out before the sound of screaming was heard...and Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine landed right in front of them, looking a bit singed. "...care to explain?" the man said dryly.
"Sure...just as soon I stop seeing three Mr. 3s," Ms. Valentine said looking very dizzy.
Eventually the two got over their daze, and explained what happened and needless to say… Mr. 3 was less than pleased.
"To think that you two would let yourselves be found so easily." Mr. 3 sniffed "I suppose it was too much to ask from a pair of weaklings like you."
"Easy for you to say, you haven't fought them before, especially not that multi-colored bastard," Mr. 5 growled.
"We shall see, even if he's strong as you say, not even he can defeat my power," Mr. 3 said confidently. "However, assuming they've warned the Giants, this is not going to be easy," he frowned.
"What do you plan to do?" Ms. Goldenweek asked with her usual tone.
"Direct combat is suicide, but at least these two can be still of us," Mr. 3 frowned. "As for the giants, I'm going to need your help for this one, Ms. Goldenweek. While I'm confident they won't be able to break my wax, I'd rather we not have to fight two angry giants at once."
"Understood," Ms. Goldenweek nodded. She'd worked with him long enough to know his thought process.
Meanwhile, the Strawhats and the giants were gathered, with the giants ready to go on a warpath save one thing…
"Before you go stomping towards your very much justified retribution, do you even KNOW where they might be hiding on this island?" Lumen pointed out.
Dorry and Brogy both paused at that, looking to each other for a moment, before looking back down and sighing "No, we don't."
"Right, so we need to figure out where they could be." Nami mused.
"The thing is, they could be anywhere." Usopp frowned.
"True, but at the same time they probably won't let go of a bounty so easily, so they might plan something else," Lumen frowned.
"Hm...are there any places that would be easy to fight but easy enough to reach if you cleared out the trees, and say went on a rampage?" Nami spoke up.
"What do you have in mind?" Usopp asked.
"We'll search for them AND have them come to us," Nami said, before outlying her plan. The goal was to use the giants both as a first strike and as bait (and Luffy, since he wanted to have first dibs too), while the others were hidden to keep a lookout for the enemy, and try to catch them by surprise.
"Hm...this could work, though it really depends on who else is here. I don't think just Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine would be here for something like this. It could very well be some of the higher ups are present too," Vivi said.
"Then we'll be counting on you to let us know who it is and what they can do when we see them," Lumen said, earning a nod from her.
"If that's the plan, then let's kick their butts!" Luffy said, earning two roars of agreement from the giants, before they started basically bulldozing their way through the forest...and more than a few dinosaurs.
"It seems the giants are quite keen on finding us," Mr. 3 frowned, as even from here they could hear the sound of destruction. "You all know what to do."
"Right right, we know," Ms. Valentine sighed, before she and Mr. 5 broke off, leaving Mr. 3 and Ms. Goldenweek.
"Since they're so intent on coming to us, let's make this a bit easier," he mused with a chuckle before they moved closer towards the sound of destruction, and once they were near another clearing, Mr. 3 proceeded to turn his body parts into wax and release a small torrent, making for a white colored floor.
As expected, eventually the giants (and Luffy) reached the spot, and saw Mr. 3 and Ms. Goldenweek. "I was wondering when you'd arrive," Mr. 3 smirked.
"Are you the one intending to interfere with our duel of honor?!" Dorry growled.
"Well, it seems there's no point in hiding it now. Yes indeed, we were aiming to get our hands on the bounty on your heads. It's just a shame our initial ploy failed," Mr. 3 mused. "Ah, where are my manners, I am Mr. 3, a sculptor, and this is my assistant, Ms. Goldenweek, a painter."
"You have some nerve then, sculptor," Broggy said. "But now you will know the penalty of attempting to tarnish our honor!"
However…
"That's what I like about giants, so much brawn, so little brain," Mr. 3 chuckled, as the two giants couldn't move, looking down to see their feet and lower legs encased in a strange white substance. "Don't bother, my wax is as strong as steel. You won't break out of it THAT easily."
His gloating however was suddenly cut off as a stretchy punch slammed into his head, courtesy of Luffy, whom, while he had his feet stuck… well, that didn't affect him too much.
Mr. 3 adjusted his cracked glasses and glared. "This way it is then," he said, before he made what appeared to be a tower of wax with ignited wicks on top...which stood well taller than even the giants, which began to spin, and…
"Hey, what's this white stuff?" Luffy blinked.
"That is my Candle Service special, the wax mist will coat you all and turn you into wax figures of a likeness that not even my powers can recreate!" Mr. 3 laughed.
"Yeah…no, not happening," came Lumen's voice...before Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine were thrown into the clearing, both of them KO'd, followed by a figure jumping through the trees, well towards the candles...and with a fast slash, the wicks all fell to the ground below, completely severed, stopping the flow of mist. The figure soon landed to reveal OOO using the Taka, Kamakiri, and Batta medals.
"Somehow I should have known those two would be useless, but I'm shocked you found us this easily." Mr. 3 frowned as the flames from his wax sculpture started spreading around the area, and melted the wax trapped Luffy and the giants.
"You're not the only one who can make plans, we're more than just brawn on our side." OOO grinned beneath his helmet as the giants were finally free and were about to attack… before suddenly sitting down and starting to have tea of all things.
"Uh… what are you guys doing?" Luffy asked, confused.
"That would be Ms. Goldenweek's doing," Mr. 3 smirked, as true enough, the group noticed the odd green symbols painted on their clothes. "With her paint, she can control peoples' emotions."
"...gee, thanks for telling us that," OOO said dryly. "Now we know to watch out for her paint."
Mr. 3 gaped at that, a part of his mind wondering why he just told them that.
"Guys! See if you can handle her!" OOO called out to Usopp, Nami and Vivi as they emerged from the trees.
"We'll handle 3-guy." Luffy grinned, cracking his knuckles.
"Tch! It seems I can't take you lightly," Mr. 3 frowned, before wax started to form around him before it took the shape of…
"...is that supposed to be a mech suit?" OOO blinked.
"THAT'S SO COOL!" Luffy shouted… because obviously.
"Behold my Candle Champion! Feel honored that I've chosen to use this on you!" Mr. 3 laughed.
"...that's your best?" OOO asked flatly.
"With this armor I've defeated someone with a bounty of 42 Milli-!" Mr. 3 didn't get far as OOO switched to Gorilla and Cheetah, before promptly running down and socking him in his exposed face.
"What kind of idiot makes power armor that covers everything but the face without some kind of protection?" OOO said dryly, Mr. 3 staggering back, in surprise. "Let's go send him flying, Luffy."
"This is gonna suck for you." Luffy grinned at Mr. 3, knowing it was going to be REALLY fun for the two of them though.
"It can be even better though." OOO said, before whispering something to Luffy… and the fact his grin widened and his eyes practically glowed… Mr. 3 was very afraid.
Which he had every right to be, because…
"ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!"
"ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!"
… sadly for Mr. 3, Lumen just so happened to be a fan of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure… and he decided to rope Luffy intro screwing over copyright laws while they both constantly landed a flurry of blows on him, Luffy using his Gum Gum Gatling, and OOO just transfering the speed of the Cheetah medal into his arms… though to do that he had to avoid moving his legs completely, but, still, the result was…
"ORA ORA ORA ORA!"
"ORA ORA ORA ORA!"
VERY fun.
With one last 'ORA!', Mr. 3 was sent screaming through the air till he became a twinkle in the sky...though not before he sailed past an odd trio with two of them wearing a red R on their clothes and what looked like a cat with a gold plate on its head.
"Glad that's taken care of," OOO said, before turning to where the others were...and found Nami tying up Ms. Goldenweek to a tree, the seemingly younger girl pouting, while Usopp was busy wiping off the paint from Dory and Brogy. Though Nami, Vivi and Usopp all had splatters of paint on them, likely from the girl managing to get some traps on them before they smeared them off.
"While you boys had fun, we had to deal with our bodies not wanting to do what they wanted." Nami sighed as she tried to wipe off some paint she had stuck on her face.
Luffy laughed a bit as he looked at them "You guys look like you got in a fight with a paint can!"
Usopp snorted "For once, the idiot isn't wrong."
"I suppose we do look rather amusing." Vivi admitted as Nami swatted some kind of bug that bit her leg.
"Well, as much as we would have loved to take care of this ourselves, you have our thanks." Dorry said as enough of the paint was removed from him and Brogy they had control of themselves again.
"Indeed… though I think we can still take some form of revenge." Brogy grinned… before spitting on the unconscious form of Mr. 5… and the result was gross considering how big he was.
Dorry laughed "Agreed old friend!" he said, before spitting on Ms. Valentine, having the same result as Brogy.
"Oh that is disgusting." Lumen said with a grimace, having untransformed.
"Hey, what happened here?" came Sanji's voice, making everyone turn to see him arriving, with Zoro following him with a scowl.
"Why the heck do I have to follow you swirly?" he growled.
"Because your sense of direction is shit, moss head, now shut up." Sanji said nonchalantly.
"Oh, hey guys, you just missed out on beating up the Baroque Works guys." Luffy grinned as he waved at them.
Zoro and Sanji glanced at each other at that, before looking back to them "Well, that sucks, but we DID beat up an otter and a vulture though… and swirly here managed to trick that Crocodile guy." Zoro said.
"Wait, what?" Vivi immediately rounded on them.
"A snail was ringing in this weird wax house, so we went in and I picked up, I'm pretty damn sure that was Crocodile, he asked us for a status report, was probably thinking we were one of the guys you beat up, so I played along, made him think we were all dead, it almost got hairy since the animals showed up while I was talking to him but moss head shut them up with minimal noise, so I was able to play off that a dinosaur tried to snack on us. Anyway, now we're completely under the radar, and… I got this." Sanji said, before reaching into his coat and pulling out…
"An Eternal Pose!" Vivi realised with a bright smile as she snatched it out of his hands "And it's for Alabasta as well!"
"Aren't those the Poses that point to a single island forever?" Lumen asked, wanting to make sure he got his facts straight.
"Yes, they're extremely useful for if you need to return to a particular island regularly," Vivi nodded. "Now we don't need to wait a whole year for the log to reset."
"Then we should get ready to go immediately then," Nami said.
"Yeah! We're setting sail!" Luffy cheered.
"I see, busy little buggers aren't you?" Brogy laughed.
"Well then, we hope you make it to your destination quickly." Dorry added with a grin.
"Thanks, and we'll hope you're able to finally find a winner to your duel without either of you having to die." Lumen smiled.
"One can hope I suppose." Brogy chuckled.
"And I'll make sure to go Elbaf one day, and I hope to see you both there!" Usopp added.
Dorry laughed as well "We'll be waiting then, little warrior."
"I keep telling you, my lizard is clearly bigger." Sanji growled at Zoro as he stood on top of a dead Tyranosaurus.
"Oh god that sounded so wrong." Lumen muttered, while Usopp snorted.
"And I keep telling YOU, you blind idiot cook, mine is clearly the meatiest." Zoro shot back.
"Those two clearly don't know the word 'innuendo' do they?" Vivi asked as she covered her red face with her hands while Carue facewinged.
"Just shut up you two, we can't even carry that much meat anyway, just cut off what we can take from them and leave it there." Nami sighed in annoyance.
"Yay! Dinosaur meat!" Luffy cheered.
Minutes later, the crew was sailing down the river, ready to leave the island and the short adventure behind them "Alright, we're going to come out on the island's western side if we keep going from here." Nami said as she looked at the map and her compass along with the Eternal Pose.
"And after that it's a straight shot from here to Alabasta." Lumen nodded grimly, knowing they had to hurry, remembering the article they were currently hiding from Vivi.
"Hey guys! Look! The giants came to see us off!" Luffy pointed as they were reaching the coast.
"Wait, really? Awesome!" Usopp said as he looked up from finishing puting the purple Core Medal they had found earlier in a VERY tightly locked chest.
"Take care guys!" Lumen said, waving.
"You as well," Dorry said. "Don't worry, we shall ensure that your flag of pride will not be tarnished!"
"Trust in us and sail only straight ahead! No matter what happens sail only straight ahead!" Broggy said.
"...I'm not liking the sound of that, but I think we should obey," Lumen said, frowning at that.
"Yeah! Sail straight ahead!" Luffy said.
"We're gonna hate this." Zoro said with a grimace.
"Uh… guys… something's happening." Nami said with wide eyes as she looked out at the ocean… which seemed to be rising… with a fin popping out of the top.
"So you've come, island eater." Dorry grinned.
"In the name of Elbaf, we vow to clear a path for our new friends." Brogy added with his own grin as the surface tension of the water finally broke, revealing…
"Is that a giant Koi?!" Lumen shouted incredulously.
"More like a giant goldfish! I was just bullshitting that old story to Kaya though!" Usopp shouted fearfully.
"Usopp! Grab the helm, we need to change course!" Nami shouted at him, breaking him out of his fear.
"I… I won't! We're going straight ahead… just like they said!" he said, gritting his teeth.
"Are you crazy?! This is different from Laboon you idiot!" Nami shouted incredulously as the gargantuan fish opened its mouth to swallow them.
"I don't think you'll be able to change anyone's mind Nami." Lumen said, patting the redhead on the shoulder while Nami cried at the other morons ignoring her.
"Hey Luffy! You really trust those giants?" Sanji asked their captain.
"You bet!" Luffy said with a determined grin, and that was good enough for the blonde cook.
"You can't be serious?! Are we really going to sail into that monster?!" Vivi asked incredulously.
"It's already too late!" Nami wailed as they were already entering it's maw.
And then it snapped its mouth closed.
"It's over… it's all over…" Nami muttered as she clung to the railing while down on her knees, Lumen sitting next to her and trying to cheer her back up.
"Keep going straight ahead." Usopp muttered as he dug his fingers into the railing, trying his best to stay calm.
A beat passed… and then suddenly a hole was blown through the giant fish and they were back outside.
"The Grandline, always finds new ways to take us by surprise," Lumen blinked. Even if he was expecting it somewhat...this was still impressive as heck.
"I can't believe that actually happened!" Vivi gasped, while Usopp was just too impressed and captivated by what had just happened. Truly it seemed the giants of Elbaf had become one of his new goals.
"Jeez… after all that excitement I'm feeling exhausted." Nami sighed as she leaned against the mast. "Here Vivi, you look after the Pose for a bit." Nami said, handing the Eternal Pose to the princess.
"After all that, I can't blame you," Vivi chuckled lightly, taking the Pose.
The crew continued to relax for a little while after that, Luffy and Usopp fishing, Sanji cooking some snacks, Zoro training, Lumen looking through the books on the ship, specifically the ones that were even mildly related to the Multi-King, and Vivi and Nami both resting by the mast.
And then…
"Everyone! It's an emergency! Nami's got an extremely high fever!" Vivi's voice broke through the calm like an arrow.
Nami was soon in her room and under the sheets as they put a wet cloth on her forehead. "What's wrong with her? She seemed fine before," Lumen frowned.
"It could be the sudden climate change," Vivi mused. "One obstacle many encounter in the grandline is sicknesses caused by the sudden shift in climates. Hopefully if that's the case, she should get better by herself…"
"But what if she doesn't?" Lumen asked.
"Then…" Vivi trailed off, before asking. "Who here has medical knowledge?" she asked...and at that Luffy and Usopp who were in the room with them pointed at Nami, while Sanji was in his own little world of worry.
"The only thing I know is how to treat scurvy and that chicken soup is great for colds." Lumen added with a frown.
"Would she get better if she eats a lot?" Luffy asked.
"I doubt she even has the energy to do that you idiot." Usopp admonished him.
"Oh no! Her fever rose again! It's at 40 degrees!" Vivi gasped.
"Oh crap!" Lumen hissed "We need to find a doctor and stat! Would Alabasta have any good ones?" he asked Vivi.
"Some of the best yes, but there's still a week before we reach it… we… we'd never make it in time…" she trailed off fearfully, and of course, that set off the three idiots who started wailing at Nami possibly dying.
"Calm down you idiots! You'll only aggravate things!" Lumen told them and kicked them all into the wall. Once they shut up, he turned to Vivi again. "Okay, do we have alternatives? Can we stop by any of the islands along the way since we have the Eternal Pose and hopefully find a doctor?"
"No, we can't take a detour," Nami spoke up, albeit weakly. "You...remember why," she added.
Lumen growled a bit at that. He'd honestly forgotten.
"Lumen, what's Nami talking about?" Vivi asked.
"...sorry we were hiding it. We didn't want you to worry more…" Lumen sighed, before showing her the newspaper article. Needless to say, the urgency to reach Alabasta had only increased for Vivi.
"More than half of the royal army has defected…" Vivi read with wide eyes.
"Whatever the rebels are fighting for, its gotta be one heck of a motive if so many people are siding with them...that or Crocodile is just that good at adding fuel to the flames," Lumen frowned.
"Sorry we were...hiding this…" Nami sighed. "But that's why...we can't afford to stop…" she said before getting up, but Lumen stopped her.
"Whoa there, even if you want to say it's nothing, you're obviously not in any condition to get up right now. Let me take care of navigating for a bit. I can at least make sure we're on course," Lumen said, before helping her back down, and soon going up the stairs.
"Well, I guess I can rest a bit if needs be," Nami sighed, a small smile on her face until…
"ARE YOU A FUCKING IDIOT, GRASS HEAD?!"
"...on second thought I should probably be up there too…" Nami amended, and soon was going up with Usopp and Sanji helping support her, Luffy following up as well due to simply being curious.
What they came to was… "Clouds move and change shape fucking sword for brains! You're supposed to use the Eternal Pose, which we left RIGHT in front of your dumbass face to orient us! A monkey could literally do this! But no! You just had to be a fucking idiot about this and go with your gut! No wonder Sanji calls you Moss Head! I'm inclined to agree with him!"
That was Lumen as he was shouting right in Zoro's face, with the swordsman looking rather sour as Lumen wasn't even letting him get a word in.
"Jeez… didn't think anybody could get more pissed off than Nami… though Lumen's anger is even hotter." Usopp muttered, because seriously, Nami's rage almost felt like a spring breeze compared to this.
Lumen just walked past them with the Eternal Pose in hand and was soon steering the ship back on course...until Nami suddenly called for a change in course, something while some pointed out the sky seemed clear, they knew better than to argue with her for more than a second opinion check. That was when Vivi came out, saying that she wanted to head to Alabasta as fast as possible...and saying they should find an island with a doctor, since the only way they would be able to go as fast as possible was if everyone was at full health.
"Well, no arguing there, we'll get there faster with Nami in top shape." Lumen sighed with a rueful smile.
"Totally!" Luffy grinned.
"You sure about this though? There's like a million people in Alabasta, right?" Usopp asked.
"Positive, although I want to save my people… I don't want my friends to be hurt at the same time." she said with so much conviction they were actually shocked at her readily calling them friends like that.
"Well said Vivi." Sanji grinned.
"I like your guts." Zoro smirked.
Vivi smiled, before turning to Nami "I'm sorry for making you worry, but, please! Don't overexert yourself Nami."
Nami looked at her slowly, her face even redder from her fever while she panted "Sorry… Vivi… But I think… I'm really…"
However, before she could finish, Luffy suddenly shouted while pointing behind them, making them turn to see…
"Holy shit! That's a massive cyclone!" Lumen screamed, actually afraid a bit considering how gigantic it was.
"Nami, hang in there!" Vivi suddenly said in worry as she caught Nami just as the redhead collapsed before looking back at the cyclone "Wait… that direction…" she realised with a gasp.
"It's where we were headed just a few minutes ago!" Sanji realised at the same time.
"We'd have crashed into it if we kept going!" Usopp added.
"Talk about a close call!" Luffy said, relief evident in his voice.
"Yeah...seriously, times like this make me realize we'd be sunk...literally...without Nami navigating for us," Lumen gulped. It was like the girl could tell the weather in ways that could only be called borderline psychic.
A day soon passed and well… "If this is someone up there's idea of a sick joke, well its not funny!" Lumen shouted to the sky...which was snowing. They had a sick person on board and the world decides to throw a snow storm at them. REAL nice. At the very least, they had plenty of blankets and he knew how to make an impromptu heater from Usopp's pile of junk parts he kept in the hold (he actually got some wiring back in Loguetown). Now if only they could find an island, hopefully one with a good medic.
His musing was cut short when Zoro asked...a strange question. "Hey guys, can a person stand on top of an ocean?"
"...da heck are you talking about? Unless they're standing on something JUST under the surface, that's impossible," Lumen said.
"Yeah? Well look in front of the ship." Zoro said, and Lumen, Luffy and Usopp did just that… and were staring at a man in a green and mint checkered coat standing right on top of the water.
"... is that Jesus's second coming or something?" Lumen muttered incredulously.
The ship slowly got closer to the man, who spoke up. "Quite cold today, isn't it?" he said.
"...well, it IS snowing, so it'd be strange if it wasn't cold," Lumen said dryly, Luffy and Usopp agreed.
"Is that so?" the man mused, followed by an awkward pause...before the day got weird, seeing as suddenly the sea started to shift, the man suddenly rising up…and something emerged from the water, revealing the man had been standing on a ship's lookout mast with some kind of metal...dome...under it with said mast sticking out from the top.
"What the heck is that?!" Lumen asked incredulously.
"A watermelon?" Luffy guessed, earning him a dope slap from the rider.
"Some kind of ship maybe?" Zoro asked.
After he said that, the object opened, the metal parts of the dome retracting, while a figure head in the shape of a hippo head wearing a crown rose up from the water.
"Looks like it." Usopp said as he rubbed his head after the sudden waves from the thing rising had knocked him back into the railing.
"It...looks like some kind of convertible ship…" Lumen frowned. That was the only way he could describe the retractable cover. That was when the crew showed up, a veritable army coming out of the ship and suddenly all but swarmed the ship...seriously, how did this many people suddenly come out and swarm their ship all of a minute at most…and from the looks of it still have a lot to spare.
Right after that, Sanji finally came up, and paused as he noticed the situation, lighting his cigarette "So… what's going on up here?"
"We were ambushed." Luffy answered matter of factly as everyone had guns pointed at their heads.
"Yeah… that's what I figured." Sanji said with a sigh.
"We're in a hurry you know?" Lumen told the invaders, looking rather nonplussed at having a gun at his head.
With them seemingly subdued, being at gunpoint and all that, it seemed the captain of the ship was finally….scratch that, he wasn't fully sure if that was the captain or not seeing how...stupid...this guy looked.
"So, that makes 5 people now." the man said, munching on a piece of meat stuck to a knife as he walked onto Merry's deck. He was rather rotund, with a chin that looked like it was made of metal and purple hair underneath a cloak that seemed to have come from some kind of furry hippo, while he wore a metal jacket over his torso, along with standard winter gear "I doubt there's ONLY 5 people though." he added, before… biting into the knife itself and eating it along with the meat.
"The hell, who eats a knife?" Luffy asked, sticking his tongue out, thinking that was gross, while Zoro's hand tightened on his katana from instinct, and Usopp winced in pain just from watching.
"Jeez, you must have an iron stomach." Lumen said, discreetly slipping the Driver on beneath his coat.
"You'll have to excuse my younger brother." came another voice as a second man came up from behind the short one, this one was tall, with pink hair in a cut that made his head look like a mushroom thanks to how long his chin was, sporting a beard, wearing a red cloak on his shoulders, along with some kind of scarf made from a dead animal, himself wearing a sturdy coat beneath, but clearly not made from metal, along with a pair of bright orange pants "Wapol doesn't have the best table manners."
"Ah, put a sock in it Musshuru, they don't care." Wapol waved off his older brother "Now then, we wish to head for the Drum Kingdom so that I may finally reclaim my throne after 6 months out at sea. Do any of you happen to have an Eternal Pose, or a Log Pose set towards it?"
"Sorry, no such luck." Zoro said calmly.
"We've never even heard of the place before." Sanji added.
"Plus I don't know if we'd be inclined to inform you, considering this hostile greeting." Lumen said, slowly slipping Medals into the Driver and tilting it, making sure to be silent.
"We don't care about your opinions or morals." Musshuru sneered.
"Hey, you've asked your questions, now get off our ship!" Luffy told them in annoyance as he stayed sat cross legged on the railing, not at all worried about the rifles pointed at his head… which made sense what with him made of rubber.
"Oh come now, no need to rush through life like that. Well, if you really don't know, I suppose I'll just take your treasures and your ship then… though I AM feeling a bit peckish." Wapol said, glancing down at Merry's railing… before opening his mouth impossibly wide and biting down on it… at least that's what would have happened.
"Henshin!" "KUWAGATA! KAME! CHEETAH!"
Except OOO was suddenly in front of him and holding his mouth open with his brand new arm pieces, orange in color, with shoulder pads bearing turtle shells on them, and half of a turtle shell on each gauntlet, with one of these half turtle shells keeping Wapol's mouth wide open before he could chomp down on Merry "Lightning Defender!" and for good measure, the shield was electrified… which resulted in Wapol quickly becoming charred from the electric shock that went right into his mouth.
Wapol let go of the shield falling back in shock...for more than one reason. "That's impossible!" he gasped. "My Munch-Munch Fruit should let me eat anything!"
"Yeah well, this isn't some everyday armor," OOO smirked.
"Captain!" several of the men gasped, and were about to move...until Luffy moved and knocked a chunk of them flat.
"Get off our ship!" he said.
"We should have just done this immediately and be done with it," Zoro deadpanned, unsheathing his swords.
"We don't have time to deal with you clowns," Sanji agreed, and before long, they started mowing down the soldiers, knocking them off the ship.
"Dear Oda there's so many of them!" Usopp said as he had climbed up to the crow's nest and was sniping down anyone that tried to climb up.
"Those annoying little pieces of-!" Wapol snarled and was about to do something, before his brother put a hand on his shoulder.
"Calm yourself little brother, now is not the time for rash actions. We need to be smart and efficient." Musshuru told him calmingly, Wapol taking a deep breath at that and nodding "Now… observe." he said, before his body released what appeared to be spores onto the Merry.
The moment it hit, the people were paralyzed, falling to the ground unable to move, the spores indiscriminately affecting friend and foe alike...save one.
"You two REALLY don't know when to quit," OOO growled.
"How come it doesn't work on this boron!" Wapol said indignantly, glad he had been behind his brother when that attack was fired.
"Probably the same reason you can't eat his armor." Musshuru realised, stepping back slowly.
"Where do you think you're going?" OOO said in annoyance before switching out a medal "KUWAGATA! GORILLA! CHEETAH!" "Time you learned not to test your luck."
Electricity sparked from his horns which he fired on the two morons, shocking them silly, before running towards them, with his arm at the ready, while now electrifying the gauntlets. "Blitz Lariat!" he called out, before slamming into them at Mach 1 with his right arm, the force hitting them hard their eyes nearly popped out before they were sent flying off of the Merry...and right over their own ship.
Seeing that, the men on the ship panicked, scrambling to get the two before they hit the water, seeing as they no doubt would sink due to obviously being Devil Fruit users. Their panic doubled when OOO gathered up all the fallen men on the Merry...and threw them back at the ship as if they were a big baseball, causing even more chaos, ending with one last screw you. "Have fun assholes!" he smirked, before sending one of his gauntlets flying, breaking a fist sized hole in the hull while also pushing the ship away from the Merry. Needless to say they were scrambling to deal with multiple things and soon drifted away.
With those gone, OOO went back to check on his friends, but by then the spores had dispersed, and they were slowly getting up, albeit a little painfully due to feeling somewhat stiff still. "You guys okay?" he asked.
"About as good as a guy suddenly feeling like lead," Sanji groaned. "I hope you sent those guys packing real hard."
"I made sure they were hurting." OOO grinned as he undid the armor, before noticing Vivi standing at the door to the room "Oh, hey Vivi, you just missed me sending some idiots flying."
"No, I saw." she said, looking rather pensive.
The others looked at her for a moment, before shrugging, and deciding to focus on Nami again as she was more important right now.
So it was why, back in the room…
"You think her fever will go down if we dump water on her?" Luffy asked stupidly.
"ARE YOU RETARDED?!" Lumen and Sanji shouted together as they kicked Luffy into a wall.
"Actually, don't bother answering, we know the answer." Lumen growled in annoyance.
"Let's just ignore the moron." Sanji sighed "The sun's already down dammit."
Vivi nodded, knowing what he meant "We'll weigh anchor then, navigating in the night, especially with Nami's help, would be too difficult for us."
"Alright, guess we're taking shifts for lookout, who's first?" Lumen asked.
"I'll do it, still wide awake." Usopp volunteered.
"I'll go after you then." Sanji said, Usopp nodding as he grabbed a coat and went back outside.
In the middle of the night, after Usopp and Sanji switched, Nami awoke blearily, hearing snoring coming from the room, looking to see Luffy, Zoro and Usopp all sprawled on the floor, Carue acting as Zoro's pillow, while Vivi and Lumen were both leaning against the bed.
She looked at them all for a bit, before smiling as she went back under the blankets 'I really have some good friends.'
"It's been cold a lot lately hasn't it?" Sanji asked as he was currently on the look out, while Usopp was busy repairing any damage the Merry had taken in the recent skirmish.
"Huh, now that you mention it it has," Usopp mused.
"Chances are that means we're coming up on a Winter Island if the weather is stabilizing towards cold." Lumen figured as he was reading the news.
"It's cold?" Luffy asked dumbly… before he started shivering in cold "It is!"
"Get a coat moron!" Usopp and Sanji shouted at him in annoyance, Luffy running back in to do just that.
When he got back, they'd continued going, till Sanji saw something in the distance. "Land ho!" he called out, as true enough, it was indeed an island, an island with tall towering mountains...that honestly looked like drums somehow.
"Wooo! Look at all that snow!" Luffy grinned as he came back wearing a coat.
"We're not here for adventure, Luffy. Once we get a doctor and heal Nami, we gotta get going," Sanji reminded...but saw the state Luffy was in. "...he's already in his little world isn't he?" he said dryly.
"You know if its covered in snow, you sure anyone is living there? Maybe there are snow monsters," Usopp gulped, and soon complained about his totally made up disease that was just him too afraid to get on the island.
"Will you grow a pair already?" Lumen groaned in annoyance. "Not to mention we don't HAVE a choice. If we skip this island there's no telling how long before we'll find another one, and by then we might lose Nami AND Vivi's country might be toast," Lumen said. "Besides…" he trailed off, his expression changing a bit, seeming a bit less...focused. "That island is inhabited I guarantee it."
"Well...okay…" Usopp gulped, realizing he had a point. "But what makes you so sure its inhabited?"
"Because that's Drum Island. It...used to be an island with a lot of great doctors...until their loser king ran for his life and never came back, taking most if not all the doctors with him…" Lumen said, and this time they noticed his expression.
Vivi nodded after a moment "I heard about that, it happened roughly half a year ago. If we're lucky, there should still be a few left though."
"Wow, you know a lot, Lumen," Luffy grinned.
"...I'm sorry, did I say something?" Lumen blinked.
"...you literally told us that this was the best place we could have found for a doctor," Zoro said dryly.
"I did?" Lumen asked in surprise. They...decided not to press the issue.
Alright, now that we're back... here's the first thing!
Count The Medals:
Red: Taka
Green: Kuwagata, Kamakiri, Batta
Yellow: Lion, Tora, Cheetah
Grey: Gorilla, Zou
Blue: Unagi
Orange: Kame
Purple: Tyranno
Yeah, was finally time I added this in.
Anyway, as you say, something's up with Lumen, but what is it? You may ask? Well, you'll find out later on, but let's just say it's big.
Anyway, see you in the next chapter.