That morning, back at Alabasta, Lucky had a very upset look to her face as Petrian gave her some news. "I know how you feel about her, but we are potentially dealing with an Emperor. We need an admiral." She crossed her arms and pouted, "Yea well why her!?" He sighed, calmly replying, "Claire is the closest. We need one sooner rather than later, and she's only 2 days out." Lucky scoffed, staring off into nothing. 'Why'd it have to be the brat..?' An incoming marine vessel, a huge battleship, headed for Alabasta. An actual 6 year old child with bright magenta pigtails, wearing a small uniform with a equally small admiral cape, was currently yelling at the captain, "Why do I gotta go to some hot ass desert!?" He chuckled nervously, holding his hands up, "I mean, i-is heat even an issue with you, really?" She stared into his eyes with pure hatred, but just scoffed and walked out, muttering to herself, "Whatever, let's just get this over with."
"Alright-" Kiwi started, holding his nose, "The logpose will reset itself in a day, so we leave tomorrow. Till then, we're gonna be stuck here." Julio gagged, "Greaaaat~" The island was flooded with these flowers, all blowing in the slight breeze blowing by. This was a spring weather island, and it felt pretty nice, aside from the horrid stench. The whole island was one big hill, about two miles in radius and practically covered in flowers, save for the top holding a single farm house and a spirling dirt path up.
"Who the hell would live here?" Kasai asked as they walked towards the only place they could, staying on the path out of respect. "You'd think it'd be full of flies and other stink lovers, but there's not a single one anywhere," Minx pointed out. "Wow, actually there are no bugs now that I'm looking for them," Julio noted. Kiwi and Kasai both sighed in relief, and Harmony cleared her throat, informing them, "Now that I can see the flower, I can tell these are Stank Blooms. They deter the pests when around farms." She chuckled, thinking about Cleomoria, where the farms were usually pretty big pest targets. "I always overheard dad talking about them for ours, but the one time he actually got one, he sent it back cuz it was too horrid." They all nodded in agreement on his choice with their noses pinched, making her laugh.
On the other side, another ship similar to Nakama in size pulled up and dropped anchor. It was waving a jolly roger where the skull had puffy cheeks. One fat guy jumped out of the ship, followed by two sisters that had jet black hair and an old man with a cane. "This is it Balloon Animals!" the fat man laughed out. "We found the damn origin of these flowers!" The sisters clapped for him while the old guy fell asleep. "Sisters~ take care of the farmer~" The Size Twins, Mimi and Meg, navigator and tactician of the Blimp Pirates, bounties of 900,500 each, smiled at each other wholesomely before they charged straight ahead toward the house, ignoring the path.
Julio walked up to the house, knocking on its door. "Hello? Anyone in here? The smell kill you yet?" Harmony wacked Julio with her elbow at that last remark, and the huge barn door creaked open. The largest man they'd ever seen, dwarfing even Grump creeped out, still having to bend down to get out. Everyone backed up defensively but Harmony, who stuck out her hand. "Hello sir, my name's Harmony~" The man looked down at her, and carefully took her hand between his fingers. "Hello miss, I'm known as Zakk~" his voice was navely, yet soft and gentle, not even that deep. He definitely was no threat, and everyone eased up.
He invited the pirates inside, and due to the closed door, the smell wasn't as bad. They were chilling in the surprisingly comfy pile of hay. He didn't have horses though, Zakk just genuinely liked sitting in it. "How do you live here man?" Julio asked, and Zakk pointed to his nose, which was absolutely crooked. "I can't smell, so I thought why not?" he shrugged. "I mean it worked! I got to retire early and dye my hair green!~" he pointed up at his short patch of hair on his head that was indeed green. "Retired? But you still sell the flowers?" Minx asked. Zakk chuckled, "I'm big, eat alot, I still need like money cuz of that." Everyone nodded, muttering in agreement. A knock echoes through the barn, and Zakk looked excited. "Ooh, more friends to talk with!?" he opened the door.