After leaving Loguetown, they easily made it up Reverse Mountain and into the Grand Line. This time Laboon was not a surprise and they were able to stop before Luffy's 'special seat' got broken off.
"So, this is Laboon." Nami asked in awe. "He really is huge."
The navigator was more than a little intimidated by the island whale's size, but Luffy's words about his friendliness settled her.
"Shishishi, yeah." Luffy laughed, glad to see his friend again. He just wished that Brook was here. "Hey Laboon! Eat us!"
"WHAT?!" His entire crew shouted in shock.
He had mentioned Crocus, but failed to explain that the old doctor was looking after Laboon from the inside.
The whale, intelligent beyond a mere animal, understood the request and saw no issue with it. The Going Merry was quickly swallowed.
After a period of terrified, confused screaming from everyone except Luffy, who laughed the whole way down to the stomach, they arrived in Laboon's painted insides.
"Are we dead?" Nami and Usopp sobbed.
"It must be a dream." Zoro opined with authority.
"That makes sense." Sanji hummed in agreement.
Then they were ambushed by a giant squid, which got killed before they needed to do anything themselves.
"Hey, Old Man Crocus!" Luffy yelled at the doctor.
"Huh, you know me, youngster?" Crocus asked, frowning in confusion. He was quite sure he hadn't met this man before, although that straw hat did look very familiar…
"I'm Monkey D. Luffy and I'm going to be the Pirate King." Luffy replied.
That jogged Crocus' memory, as he recalled another reckless fool wearing that same straw hat before he passed it on to an easygoing redheaded apprentice.
He chuckled in amusement, privately wondering if this was the one that Roger had been waiting for. "Is that so? Well, I wish you the best of luck. What can I do for you?"
"Can we have a Log Pose?" Luffy asked shamelessly.
"What's a Log Pose?" Nami and Usopp asked.
"You came to the Grand Line without one?" Crocus sputtered, then shook his head with a sigh. "Of course you did. Sure, I can give you one."
"Just like that?" Usopp asked incredulously.
"What is a Log Pose?" Nami repeated her question, more irritably.
"It's something you need to navigate this treacherous sea. Normal compases don't work on the Grand Line." Crocus explained.
"Why didn't you mention this when we were in Loguetown, Luffy?!" Nami demanded, smacking her captain over the head.
"I forgot."
Before further violence could be visited upon the rubber man's person, Laboon began smashing his head against the Red Line. Crocus went up to sedate him, and a particular pair of Baroque Works agents showed up.
"One, two, three, baby!" They chorused and fired their portable cannons.
Because Luffy hadn't been bouncing around Laboon's insides, he hadn't knocked Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday into the sea of gastric acid. Crocus was still on the ladder and in a poor position to intercept the cannonballs.
Luffy, however, was quick on the ball and stretched to catch the projectiles before they could hit the sides of the whale's stomach. Then he stretched again to grab hold of the troublemakers.
"This is the one you told us about?" Zoro asked, staring at the blue-haired Miss Wednesday.
"What a beautiful lady!" Sanji made his opinion known.
"So, this is a princess…" Usopp pondered sagely.
"She's rich, right?" Nami asked the important questions.
"W-what, do you want with me?" The undercover princess stammered, deeply troubled at the thought that she had been discovered and targeted.
"Yes, just because I wear a crown does not make Miss Wednesday a princess." Mr. 9 completely misread the situation.
"Shut up." Luffy ordered and punched him unconscious. "Vivi, join our crew."
"I will not!" Vivi sputtered in shock.
"Too late, it's already happened." Usopp told her sympathetically.
"It'll be nice to have another girl on board." Nami was already thinking ahead.
"I will serve you hand and foot!" Sanji swore.
"No use fighting it, you belong to the crew now." Zoro stated.
Needless to say, Vivi was getting some very mixed messages here. Calling upon the diplomacy thought to her as the heir to her father's throne, she tried to refuse politely. "I appreciate your offer, but I cannot accept it."
"We'll help you kick Crocodile's ass." Luffy said, completely derailing her thoughts once again.
"W-what?" She stuttered. "You know about Crocodile? What he's planning?"
Watching this happen from the ladder, Crocus shook his head and resumed climbing so he could sedate Laboon. "It's like Roger all over again."
XXXXX
Whiskey Peak was a town of bounty hunters set up by Baroque Works as a revenue stream for their operations. They specialized in tricking pirates by throwing a party for them, waiting for them to pass out, and then calling the Marines to pick them up. It was a simple ploy that was nonetheless quite effective.
When they saw another pirate crew sailing towards them with their agent Miss Wednesday as part of their crew, they quickly referenced the wanted posters to check which pirate this was. The thirty million beli bounty had them very eager, as it was a larger one than most.
That was about the point where things started going weird.
"Okay, listen up, Baroque Works!" The Straw Hat Luffy demanded, shocking the disguised bounty hunters into silence. "Gives us your food and we won't kick your ass!"
"And your booze." Zoro added.
"And your treasure." Nami added.
"And your ladies!" Sanji added.
"We're not bringing a dozen women on the ship for you to perv on!" Nami shouted at him demonically, smashing him over the head. "That would be too expensive!"
"Oi, are you sure your priorities are in order?" Usopp deadpanned.
Miss Monday, a large, muscular woman dressed as a nun, noticed that her supposed comrade Miss Wednesday was standing with the pirates currently threatening them and jumped to conclusions. "Miss Wednesday, you traitor!"
And that set off a brawl, a very one-sided brawl that saw the entire town of bounty hunters curbstomped.
"Would you like that food and drink now?" The battered bounty hunters asked meekly.
"YES!" Luffy roared in approval, raising his fists in the air.
XXXXX
Observing from a hidden spot some distance away from the town, a very bemused Nico Robin wasn't sure what to make of this development.
XXXXX
Vivi was still very uncertain about the story that this crew – apparently her crew now – of pirates had told her. Time travel? It sounded ridiculous.
Still, there was no denying that their captain had information that he would be hard pressed to find and he didn't exactly come across as a mastermind or sleuth. Unless he was just really good at hiding it…
Vivi took a suspicious glance at him, seeing him devour a plate of food… and accidentally swallow the plate as well, leading to an episode of choking until he managed to spit it out.
… Probably not.
Leaving the wrecked town behind, she walked with Igaram and Karue to their ship. Igaram had initially intended to go out as a decoy, but the Straw Hat captain had bluntly told him that he was coming along. It worried her, why he didn't want the captain of Alabasta's royal guard leaving his sight.
Then she suddenly had a whole new set of worries.
"Miss All Sunday!" Vivi exclaimed as the mysterious woman suddenly appeared on the ship just after they left Whiskey Peak.
"Miss All Sunday?" Nami echoed in concern. "Who is she partnered with?"
"Mr. 0, the boss!" Vivi hissed. "I found out about his identity by following her."
"Correction: I allowed you to follow me." Miss All Sunday said with a smile.
"Ah, Robin, you're here. Good." Straw Hat Luffy suddenly interjected and for the first time ever, Vivi saw the eternally cool and mysterious Miss All Sunday stumble. Her smile dropped and she suddenly looked very tense.
"How do you know that name?" She demanded.
"You're part of my crew, of course I know your name." Luffy said an outrageous thing.
Vivi was glad that she wasn't the only one to be incredulous. The entire crew was shocked… except for the blond cook, who was celebrating the addition of another beautiful lady.
"I don't recall joining your crew." Miss All Sunday was a lot more restrained, but it was clear that she was also incredulous.
"I know, it sucks." Luffy whined. "But it's fine, you're here now so it's all good."
Miss All Sunday burst into laughter. "Just like that? You think you can recruit me so easily even though I am your enemy?"
Vivi hated to agree with the high ranking Baroque Works agent, but the other woman had a point.
"You're a good person, Robin, and I know you're only helping the stupid sand croc because you want to know the true history." Luffy replied.
Once again, Vivi got the pleasure of watching Miss All Sunday be rattled. Even more so than when the rubber captain revealed that he knew her name.
"Oh? You really are well informed." Still, she managed to keep her voice steady. "It makes me wonder what else you know."
"The Poneglyph under the palace doesn't say anything about the true history. All it says is the location of some ancient weapon." Luffy revealed further.
… What was this about a Poneglyph under the palace? Something her father hadn't told her yet?
That seemed to strike Miss All Sunday deep. The woman who had always seemed so perfectly poised and in control wilted like a dying flower. "Sure of that, are you?"
"Yes." With no doubt or hesitation, the rubber man crushed Miss All Sunday's obvious hopes. "But it's fine. You can learn the true history with our crew. It's on Raftel."
"Dangling my desires in front of me like that to make me join you… you're quite the devil, aren't you?" Miss All Sunday regained some of her cool demeanor as she teased. "How is it that you know all this, anyway?"
"That's because I'm a-!" And then he was interrupted by a punch to the head by Nami.
"DON'T TELL THAT TO EVERYONE YOU MEET!" The orange-haired woman yelled at him. "She hasn't agreed to join us yet!"
"But she has!" Luffy whined, holding his head.
"A secret?" Miss All Sunday mused. "I've always liked secrets… and you all seem convinced that I'm going to join your crew despite being so shocked at your captain's invitation."
"It wasn't an invitation, he said you're already part of the crew." Mr. Bushido grunted.
"Damn straight!" Luffy yelled, throwing his fists in the air.
"Look, I don't know you and you seem dangerous, but if Luffy says you're part of the crew then it's too late to say no." Usopp explained.
"You can't be too bad if he wants you with us." Nami shrugged, leaving Vivi feeling a bit betrayed.
Despite their difficult first meeting, she'd thought that they were friends! Why were they getting so chummy with Crocodile's partner?!
"I'll never turn down a beautiful lady!" Sanji added his own voice to things.
"I'm going to have to think about what you told me, so I'll be leaving now." Miss All Sunday said, swinging herself off the ship and onto a big turtle that served as her transport.
"Sure." Luffy didn't object, much to Vivi's surprise. "See you later, Robin!"
The easy acceptance seemed to be another thing that rattled the so-called Robin, but she said no more and simply left.
"What the hell?!" Vivi finally gave voice to her frustrations.
Unseen by them, Robin almost absently broke the necks of the Unluckies, knowing that no good would come of having any reports of what had happened reach Crocodile.
XXXXX
The path to Little Garden was characterized by Vivi and Igaram protesting Luffy's decision to make Robin, or Miss All Sunday as they referred to her, part of the crew. That ended once Luffy put his foot down on the matter, but the Alabastan princess was still not happy with it.
Not that it ended up mattering.
Luffy remembered Nami getting sick, but he hadn't remembered any of the details and there was no accounting for the behavior of disease-carrying insects.
With Robin killing the Unluckies to hide her conversation with Luffy, they did not get a chance to report to Crocodile, which in turn meant that Mr.3 and Miss Goldenweek were not sent to Little Garden to eliminate them. That in turn meant no Eternal Pose to Alabasta, since Robin had been too rattled by their conversation to offer one.
The Straw Hats were forced to stay on Little Garden longer. More and different people contracted Kestia and, without access to a doctor on the level of Kureha, died.
Worse still, Luffy hadn't really paid attention to how they even got off Little Garden the first time around, and thus had no idea that Sanji had tricked Baroque Works into providing the way. The others couldn't help much.
The crew met their end there several times as Luffy tried to figure out how to get past this new hurdle. It was particularly annoying since he felt that they couldn't just bypass the prehistoric island. Dorry and Broggy were really cool and had given clearer shape to Usopp's dream.
He tried several times to stubbornly find a way ahead, before eventually giving up and trying to recreate the steps of his first run.
Thus began the days of woe.
XXXXX
"But why would we waste time on Little Garden when we have an Eternal Pose to Alabasta?" Vivi demanded in distress after hearing of Luffy's plan despite not crushing the Eternal Pose that Robin had given them.
"Because it's important we go there and we need to pick up Chopper before getting to Alabasta." Luffy tried to explain, something he was notoriously bad at.
"I know this Chopper fellow is your crewmate, but you can go get him after we save my country. I'm sure we have an Eternal Pose to Drum Kingdom." Vivi insisted. "I can't agree to delay my return even if that is how you did it before."
And Vivi was far from convinced about the time travel.
In the end, Luffy was unable to convince her and Vivi decided to return to Alabasta with Igaram, which ended poorly.
XXXXX
The next time, Luffy destroyed the Eternal Pose, leaving the crew no choice but to go to Little Garden. Vivi and Igaram were displeased, but managed to convince themselves that the Eternal Pose was probably a trap by Baroque Works anyway.
While on Little Garden. Both of them and Zoro contracted Kestia. The swordsman's powerful constitution and stubbornness saw him enduring the disease, but the two Alabastans didn't make it to Kureha.
XXXXX
Luffy tried several more variations, but he could not predict who would and would not get sick. Several bug repelling remedies were attempted, with limited success.
The greatest hurdle remained actually getting off Little Garden. He figured out quick enough that he couldn't accept the Eternal Pose from Robin without Vivi insisting on a straight path to Alabasta. He knew that his crew couldn't make it off Little Garden by themselves.
Eventually, they did stumble upon the wax house Mr. 3 made in the jungle and they did see the Den Den Mushi. Several times, poor timing made them miss the call from Crocodile, which made the canny warlord assume that his agents had been defeated.
This left them stranded.
It took a good dozen resets before a significantly fed up Luffy sat sulking in the wax house and happened to be there to take the call. This… did not go well.
"Mr. 3. Report." A cold voice demanded.
"Crocodile!" Luffy yelled into the poor snail. "Come over here so I can kick your ass!"
Needless to say, Crocodile did no such thing, and the Straw Hats found themselves stranded once more.
XXXXX
With the knowledge that Crocodile would be calling his agents, and the brainpower of people other than Luffy, the planets finally aligned.
Usopp and Nami, the crew's most proficient liars, were able to impersonate the defeated agents and asked the boss to deliver an Eternal Pose to Little Garden. The Unluckies, not suspecting any trouble, fell into the trap and got their asses kicked.
Nobody was infected with Kestia, because the crew had stocked up on a countermeasure in Loguetown. This countermeasure was a truly vile substance that repelled all bugs, along with everything else that had a sense of smell.
Of course, since none of them were sick, Vivi once again insisted on going straight for Alabasta, instead of detouring to Drum.
Luffy was not amused at being back to square one in this problem.