Posting another two chapters today because I'm still ahead. It be that way.
Enjoy!
"Slow us down, hurry!" Nami shouted.
"How do we do that?!" Usopp demanded. "We're going way to fast to avoid it!"
"There's an opening to the left!" Nojiko shouted, hoping everyone could hear her over the chaos. "Send us to the left!"
"The rudder broke!" Zoro shouted from the cabin. "I can't steer it!"
"I'll help you, Big Bro!" Johnny shouted, Yosaku close behind him. Despite the three's best attempts, the Going Merry was not going far enough left to avoid the wall. This was it, they were really going to die here. Nojiko figured they would have made it further than this!
"Oh, I got it!" Luffy shouted, also disappearing. The ship continued to barrel along without a car in the world, right towards disaster. After a few more seconds, Nojiko's eyes widened as a loud long moan pierced the air around them, drowning out the sound of the sea.
"What was that?!" Usopp shouted. "Now some monster is on top of us!"
"I don't think it was some kind of monster," Nami said as she looked forward. "I think it was our obstacle here!" Nojiko looked forward in surprise at this, scanning the wall. It was true that it looked fleshy, but was it seriously a creature. Higher above them, she could see scars all over the wall. And now that they were a little bit more left, she could also see the sea behind it.
And the giant eye that was there as well. It was only then Nojiko realised what was happening.
"This isn't a wall!" She shouted. "It's a whale!"
"Why's a whale blocking our path?!" Sanji demanded.
"He probably doesn't even know were here!" Nami replied. "It doesn't change what we have to do! If we don't slow down we'll-!"
The Navigator was cut off as the Merry's front facing cannon went off, a cannonball flying towards the whale. The impact didn't seem to bother the whale much, but the ship did so considerably from the recoil. Another blast went off, and then another. Before long the ship had finally slowed down enough for them to survive. That being said, the figurehead was not so lucky. Once they got to close, the sheep-shaped figurehead was bent upwards and snapped, unable to go further because of the whale.
"W-We're alive..." Usopp managed from the ground. "W-What happened?"
"I shot the cannon!" Luffy said proudly as he reemerged from the ship. "I figured it would slow us down and- what the hell?!" Ignoring his crews varying states of dismay over the near death experience, Luffy rushed towards the snapped figurehead. "You bastard! That was my seat you know!"
"Forget the stupid seat!" Nami shouted as she slapped the back of Luffy's head. "Let's get the hell out of here before he eats us!" The whale let out another cry, this one so loud Nojiko felt she might go deaf.
"Just get us past the stupid thing!" She cried out. "Use the paddles and-!"
She was cut off as Luffy attacked the whale's open eye. She felt her stomach sinking as the whale recoiled a bit from the strike.
"You want a piece of me?!" The Captain asked. "Come at me whale, I'll kick your ass!"
"Don't be stupid!" Nami shouted, hitting him again. "It's a whale for God sake, you can't just-!" She was cut off as the whale cried out again, now opening it's massive mouth. Just as the crew had feared, the whale was now eating them. Nojiko braced herself against the ship as Merry was sucked inside by the tide, flying into the mouth without any resistance. It became very dark, and for a while all she could hear around her was the sloshing of water and people, namely Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku screaming their heads off. Soon enough a blinding light came for them, and the Merry sloshed down and was still. Taking a deep breath, she stood shakily and looked around, trying to figure out what the hell had just happened.
From what she could tell, it was like they had entered another world. The 'stomach' of the whale didn't look like a stomach at all, but some sort of tropical resort.
"Is this real?" She asked as everyone else recovered.
"W-We're dead, we must be," Usopp hissed, face down on the deck.
"We got eaten by a giant whale," Sanji said as he lit a new cigarette. "That's all I know."
"So where are we, then?" Yosaku asked, looking up at the skyline above them. "Because this sure as hell doesn't look like a stomach."
"Where's Big Bro Luffy?!" Johnny shouted, looking around. Now that it was mentioned, their Captain was missing. a quick search proved he was nowhere on board, and this made things even more stressful.
"I've barely been on this crew for a week and already I'm stressed out," Nojiko said as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. What exactly had she signed up for?
"It'll get better, I hope." Nami said in a vain attempt to console her sister. "Now, we should try and find a way out of here."
"And how do we do that?" Zoro asked. "Wait for him to shoot us out the other way?"
"I am not waiting for that!" Nami shouted. "I refuse to let us escape like that!"
"It does make sense," Sanji said. "After all, I'm sure he'll digest us after a while, and after that we can-"
"La la la la I can't hear you!" Nami said. "Seriously, help me look for a way out!" Just as the crew was about to do that, the water underneath the Merry rippled. Out of the depths burst a giant squid, ready to wrap it's arm around the ship without remorse. Just as everyone was screaming in shock, the monster squid was impaled by a bunch of harpoons, killing it immediately and causing it to drop unceremoniously to the waters surface.
"What the hell just happened?" Zoro asked, still ready to slice someone up if need be.
"Over there!" Yosaku shouted. "There's someone over there!" All eyes turned in the direction he pointed, and they all spotted a small island with a house on it. The front of door of said house was wide open, which proved what direction the harpoons had come from. the squid was pulled backwards and through the door, silence coming over the crew. Before long a figure appeared in the doorway, one of a man. Nojiko watched as he stepped out and stared at them all, making her reach for one of her pistols on reflex. She watched as the man walked slowly out of his house, and towards the smaller island connected to his house. Without saying a word he sat down in the beach chair there, and opened up a newspaper.
"At least say something you weirdo!" Sanji shouted. The man regarded the crew coldly, not saying a word. Nojiko couldn't lie, he gave off an incredibly intimidating aura.
"Y-You want to fight?!" Usopp asked, legs shaking. "We have a cannon, you know! I, the great Captain Usopp, will take you down!"
"If you do that," The man said, finally speaking. "Someone's going to die." This line sent chills down Nojiko's spine, her hands beginning to sweat. This guy was dangerous after all.
"Oh?" Sanji asked with a smirk. "Who's gonna die, old man?" There was a other bout of silence before the man looked back down at the newspaper.
"Me," he answered simply.
"What?!" The cook demanded, looking livid.
"Oh chill out," Zoro said as he stood in between the cook and the old man. "Who're you? Can you tell us where we are?" Sanji was still grumbling under his breath as he asked this, but the swordsman ignored him. The man watched them warily for a moment.
"Shouldn't you introduce yourselves before asking such questions?" He asked. Zoro managed a smile.
"Of course," he replied. "I-"
"My name is Crocus, I'm 71 years old, I'm a Pisces, AB blood type, I'm a lighthouse caretaker."
"Can I just kill him?!" Zoro demanded.
"I'll do it myself," Nojiko hissed, drawing her pistol. She was way too stressed out for this.
"Calm down, the two of you." Nami said, forcing both of their arms down.
"Why bother asking me where you are?" Crocus asked. "You obviously got swallowed by the giant whale and taken to by one man resort. Did you think this was a rat's stomach?"
"So we did get swallowed," Usopp said as he looked around.
"What do we do?" Nami asked weakly. "I don't want to get digested!"
"There's an exit over there," Crocus said, pointing over to the wall. A quick look over revealed a door on the open skyline, clearly signalling a way out.
"He's even got an exit..." Johnny said weakly.
"What exactly is this guy even doing down here?" Yosaku asked.
"Good question!" Usopp said as he whirled on Crocus. "What are you doing in here?!"
"Ignore him before you try and kill him too," Zoro said as he put a hand on the snipers shoulder. Before anyone could do anything, the entire area around them began to rumble violently. Nojiko collapsed to her knees out of surprise, looking around.
"What now?" She asked.
"Look at the old bastards island!" Sanji shouted. "It's made of iron!"
"That's how he hasn't been digested yet!" Nami said. "Old man! What's going on?!" Crocus looked up at the fake sky wistfully for a second, before he sighed.
"The whale's begun to headbutt the Red Line," he replied. Nojiko made a face at this. Why the hell would the whale be headbutting the Red Line That didn't really make much sense to her. Was he mad at it or something?
"Come to think of it, I saw a bunch of scars on his head." She said, recalling the vicious scars the whale had.
"He was crying a bunch too," Nami said, a hand on her chin. "The whale must be upset about something. So, what exactly is this old guy up to?"
"Is he going to kill the whale from inside?" Yosaku asked.
"Heartless bastard!" Johnny shouted.
"Ignore it," Zoro said. "We don't have time to worry about what he's doing. If we don't hurry, we'll get digested." The crew quickly agreed, and moved about in a hurry to get to the exit. However, that proved easier said than done. The more the whale trashed about, the more their ship did the same in the gastric acid. There was no way they were going to reach the exit like this.
"This is dumb," Nojiko hissed. "Hey, old man! How do we-?!" Nojiko gasped in surprise as she watched Crocus dive into the acid, disappearing. "What the hell is that?! Is he trying to die?!"
"Who cares?!" Usopp asked. "He's probably escaping like we are!"
"Speaking of which, it seems he's calmed down a bit." Zoro said. That much was true. The thrashing had paused, giving them a perfect opening to escape. Rowing as fast as they could, the crew had just barely reached the exit when a smaller door adjacent to the exit burst open. Coming out of the door were two people Nojiko didn't recognise, but she did recognise her Captain as he flailed through the air. One of the others, a woman, had bright blue hair and a white coat on. The other, a man, had a green suit on, accompanied by some sort of crown on his brown hair. Overall he looked ridiculous.
"Big Bro Luffy, you're okay!" Johnny shouted happily. Luffy looked over at them at this, smiling.
"So you guys are safe?" He asked. "Cool! Now, please save me." Without a warning Johnny and Yosaku both flung themselves out as far as they could from the ship, holding onto Merry as they outstretched their hands for Luffy. Stretching to them, the Captain captured the other two people on his way, making sure they didn't get hurt either. All three hit the deck hard, Luffy laughing.
"What's so funny?" Zoro asked with his arms crossed.
"I got flung down such a long hallway!" Luffy said as he laughed. "It was so much fun, you guys should try it!"
"I'll pass," Usopp muttered.
"Hey!" The crew was alerted to another voice as it called out. Looking back up towards the door, they spotted Crocus standing where Luffy and his mystery companions had appeared from. "As long as I'm alive, I won't let anyone harm this whale! Is that clear?"
"What does he mean by that?" Sanji asked. Before the crew could offer him a response, the two mystery people laughed as they stood.
"But, Mr. Crocus," The woman said. "We're inside the whale now."
"And that means," The man said. "We can destroy him from the inside!" With this the two drew massive rocket launchers, aiming them squarely at the whale's stomach. The pair fired, and a pair of cannonballs flew. Nojiko watched as the Crocus threw himself in front of them, taking the hit himself.
"Did he just eat those himself?!" Usopp asked.
"What a manly man!" Yosaku cried. The duo just laughed again.
"You can't stop us, Crocus!" The man shouted. "This whale has to be food for our own people!"
"W-Why did he do that?" Nami asked. "What's going on?" Growling, Nojiko took action. She walked towards the pair, drawing both of her pistols.
"Fire again," she threatened as she cocked both hammers back. "And see what happens." The pair watched her with fear in their eyes, slowly dropping their weapons and raising their hands above their heads.
"Someone get some rope," Luffy said as he walked up to the pair and eyed them without a hint of emotion on his face. "We'll make sure they can't hurt the old guy any more."
Once the pair of assassins had been tied up and all weapons taken from them, Crocus allowed the crew on his tiny island. After patching himself up he sat down on his chair and sighed.
"This whale here is Laboon," he said. "He's a Continental Whale that hails from the West Blue. And these people," he said as he gestured to the two mystery people, "are hooligans. They've come from an island near here. They're after Laboon because they think his meat can sustain their town for two or three years."
"I suppose they could have a worse reason," Zoro said as he watched the dubious pair. Crocus nodded.
"Sure." He replied. "Even so, I won't let them do that."
Nojiko listened intently as Crocus spoke. He spoke of a pirate crew that had passed by years ago, carrying a baby whale with them whom she assumed was Laboon. He spoke of how the crew viewed Laboon as one of their own, talking and playing with him regularly. But, as they entered the Grand Line, they realised how dangerous such a mission would be for such a tiny whale. So they had entrusted him to Crocus, saying that they would return for him after travelling the entire Grand Line. He said that, too this day, Laboon believed the pirates words, and bashed his head against the Red Line in a vain attempt to break through and find them.
"So he just wants to find his friends?" Nami asked. Crocus nodded.
"Indeed," he said. But that was fifty years ago." The crew collectively recoiled at this news, surprised by the passage of time Crocus mentioned. "To this day, he refuses to believe that they aren't coming back."
"That's so sad..." Nojiko murmured, crossing her arms.
"Big Bro Laboon!" Johnny shouted, tears flowing down his face as Yosaku cried next to him. "You're such a loyal whale! You don't deserve to be in such pain!"
"Big Bro Laboon?" Zoro demanded, but was promptly ignored by his crying students.
"What I wouldn't give to assist you!" Yosaku shouted. "You poor thing!"
"Yes..." Crocus said, seeming confused. "Well, there's no reason in confining you here any longer. I apologise for regaling a old mans story to you."
"Don't," Luffy said with a smile. "It was fun to hear about!" After packing themselves and their prisoners back onto the Merry, the crew followed Crocus through his exit and down a well designed water way. Nojiko spared a moment to marvel at the design of it all, being inside of a whale and all.
"This is such an extensive addition," she said to Crocus. "Is he okay with all this inside him?" Crocus huffed at this.
"I'd hope he is," he replied. "After all, I built this to help him. I'm a Doctor after all."
"A Doctor?" Luffy asked. "Hey old man! Wanna be our Doctor?"
"Don't be stupid," Crocus replied. "I'm old and weak these days, I can't keep up with the likes of you."
"So you're helping the whale from inside?" Nami asked as Crocus got off his little boat island to approach a nearby cog.
"Exactly," Crocus replied. "After all, he's far to big to help from outside now. Here, let's get this open." Turing the cog, the nearby door opened up and allowed the Merry back out onto the ocean, the crew cheering as they exited.
"So what do we do with these two?" Zoro asked, looking at the two captives who watched him frightfully.
"Toss em," Nami replied. "We don't need them anymore." With a mighty heave, Johnny and Yosaku obeyed and tossed the two overboard. The two screeched on their way down, splashing down hard.
"Is this gastric acid?!" The woman asked frightfully.
"No, it's just seawater Ms. Wednesday!" The man said.
"Who are you guys anyway?" Luffy asked, hanging his head over the side of the ship.
"It's none of your business!" The man shouted. Nojiko could hear the two spouting off about something, but she wasn't really paying attention. She was more interested in the small spherical object laying on the deck.
"Her name is Ms. Wednesday huh?" Sanji asked with hearts in his eyes. "What a mysterious beauty!"
"What is this thing?" Nojiko asked as she picked up the small strapped object. From the looks of it it was a compass pointer in a glass sphere, but she had no idea what it was supposed to be for.
"Is it okay to let those two go?" Nami asked Crocus. "They might come back." Crocus just shrugged at this.
"And if we kept them here, their allies would come for them and Laboon" He said. "It's fine the way it is." The crew disembarked and sat around some tables set out by Crocus, Luffy stretching his back.
"Hard to believe he's been here fifty years!" The Captain said. "I wonder where they are."
"Isn't it obvious?" Sanji demanded. "This is the Grand Line, and those guys said they'd be back after two or three. They're dead, plain and simple."
"Don't say that!" Usopp said. "Maybe they're just struggling! This poor guy waited for fifty years, don't just trash on his dreams like that!"
"Big Bro Laboon will see them one day!" Johnny shouted as he got involved. "The pirates will come back, I know they will!"
"The trust is more cruel than the dream," Crocus said, speaking up. "I searched the Grand Line already. They're gone."
"Huh?" Usopp asked, him and Johnny looking heartbroken.
"But they'd need to escape through the Calm Belt to do that," Nami said. "And we nearly died spending a few seconds there!"
"You're not wrong," Crocus replied. "I don't know if they're alive or if they escaped, but what I do know is that they're never coming back. No one wants to return to this catastrophic place once they've left."
"What does that mean?" Yosaku asked curiously. Crocus turned to him.
"It means that if you do not meet the Grand Lines challenge, you are weak." He answered. "Those who falter from this sea were not strong enough to enter it to begin with."
"Why don't you tell Laboon that?" Nami asked. "He understands human speech right?"
"I can't." Crocus said. Nojiko listened as the man explained that he had tried to speak to Laboon about the pirates many times before, but he never listened. It was why he always watched the entrance to the Grand Line. He hoped that one day the crew would return down the same entrance to find him again. He told them how Laboon had nothing else but to believe they'd come back for him, so he refused to think they were gone. All that was left now was him, an old man, tending to his wounds.
"What a sad story," she said with a frown, resting her head in her hand. "He refuses to lose faith after all this time."
"AAAAAAHHHHHH!" Nojiko jumped a bit, and turned to Laboon in surprise. she watched as Luffy ran right up the side of the whale, no a care in the world.
"What the hell is he doing?" Zoro asked.
"Is that the mast from our ship?" Usopp asked. Luffy was indeed carrying a mast in his hands.
"I think so," Sanji said. "What the hell is he-?"
The crew watched, disbelief washing over them, as Luffy stabbed Laboon in the forehead with the Going Merry's mast.