The Going Merry continued to sail as it headed to the next island. The weather was fairly calm as the clouds drifted in the sky, the winds blowing the sails. Luffy was sitting on the railings of the ship, looking out into the sea. "No snow, too bad." Luffy sighed a little disappointed, hoping that it would snow again. Zoro looked up at him in confusion.
"It snows in this climate?" the swordsman asked.
"Sure, why not? Already happened once, you just missed it cause you were asleep." Luffy said then turned to Vivi. "Hey, what about you, do you think it's gonna snow?"
"I wouldn't rule anything out, but the sea that we were in when the first time it snowed was special. The sudden magnetic fields that emit from Reverse Mountain tend to make things particularly chaotic. But that doesn't mean that you should relax your guard while sailing these waters. The odds of it being as wild as the first storm are really small, but still these waters aren't normal, and they certainly have surprises of their own. Remember, never underestimate the sea." She explained. Sanji came out of the kitchen, carrying a tray filled with drinks.
"Hey, guys. Any one care to sample my special drink?" Luffy and Zoro hopped down joining the cook, along with Usopp, L, Ichi and Karoo, each taking one. Sanji sat one down next to the bird as they drank.
"Hey, you guys want to get out the fishing gear?" Luffy asked.
"Fishing? Hell yeah, I'm in!" Zoro smiled.
"Sounds good to me. I'll even lend you one of my custom fishing rods, you'll love it!" Usopp said.
"It goes like this." Sanji fixed the straw to make it easier for Vivi's bird companion to drink. Karoo guzzled down the entire drink in one sip. "Someone's sure thirsty, have another!" Sanji placed another glass down. Luffy, Zoro, Usopp, Sanji along with Ichi and L watched in amusement, jeering Karoo as the bird continued to suck down one drink after another.
"Look at him go!" Usopp shouted. Vivi frowned, watching the crew goofing off.
"They're acting like idiots!" Aya walked over to her, sipping out of her drink.
"You know, it's okay to relax once in a while after what we've experienced." She told her.
"Maybe this will help?" Nami held out a drink to the princess, smiling. "Just relax. These boys may go through their goofy phases but when things get rough, they get to live. Trust me, I should know."
"Sorry, I really don't know what wrong with me. I'm getting worked up over nothing." Vivi told them.
"This ship will put you at ease! You'll cheer up in no time!" Nami said. The three girls looked down at the rest of the crew, seeing Karoo flop on the deck, from drinking too much. Vivi laughed.
"Yeah, f-funny." She smiled not used to this sort of thing.
"Hey, look it's a dolphin! Pirates' best friend!" Sanji exclaimed. Everyone saw a large dolphin shoot out of the water then dived back in again.
"Whoa, beautiful!" Nami shouted. Then the sea creature jumped out of the water, making everyone's face drop, seeing how large it was as it leaped over the ship.
"IT'S HUGE!" Ichi shouted. The dolphin crashed back into the sea, creating a large tidal wave in it's path, heading towards the ship. Luffy laughed.
"LET'S GO!" He shouted. Vivi watched in shock as she saw everyone began to secure and brace the ship for the wave.
"She was right." She murmured.
"Hurry, let's move!" Luffy shouted. The dolphin jumped out of the water once again, crashing down behind the ship, sending another giant wave.
"GET READY, IT'S GONNA BE A BIG ONE!" Luffy grinned. The waves gave the ship a boost, sailing faster. Luffy looked up at Nami. "Nami, which direction now?"
"Give me a second, I'll check! Point side, full!" Nami looked at the log pose, seeing the needle point to the island. The crew turned the ship, heading towards it. "There's no mistake. The cactus island and this one here are definitely pulling against each other. This is our next stop!"
"This is it! The second island in the Grand Line!" Luffy shouted. The ship sailed getting closer to the island with large trees and strange plants, looking more like a jungle the deeper it went in. "I can see why they call this place Little Garden."
"I can't. What's little about it?" Zoro asked.
"Yeah, this island looks pretty harsh if you ask me. Why the cute name?" Nami questioned.
"Y-Yeah, it looks like a jungle out there. Maybe we be better off skipping this one!" Usopp said, nervously.
"We need to be careful. I can't help but remember the warning Miss All Sunday gave us." Vivi warned.
"So, what? We might be attacked by giant monsters?" Usopp asked.
"Who knows?" Luffy shrugged.
"Listen, I'm sure we can make it to the next island without going to shore on this one!" Usopp insisted.
"The only way to reset the log pose is to go ashore." Nami explained.
"Not to mention, we're in dire need of restocking our food supply. We didn't get so much as a sack of flour in the last town." Sanji pointed out.
"Guys, there's our ticket in." Zoro pointed out to a narrow ravine, leading straight through the island.
"Think they'll have a barbecue restaurant here?" Luffy asked.
"We didn't come all this way for barbecue!" Sanji shouted.
"I thought the point of this visit was to get food?" Luffy asked.
"Food and supplies that we need to cook with." Sanji pointed out.
"I don't know. Usopp might be right about this one. Just take a look at the gargantuan plant life here. I've never seen anything like it, not even in books." Nami explained. Suddenly, a loud screeched echoed in the air, startling everyone. Nami squeaked, covering her head.
"What was that?!" She cried out.
"You're so adorable!" Sanji smiled.
"Thank you!" Usopp smirked, winking at him.
"That's not funny! I was talking to Nami!" Sanji growled.
"What was that screeching?" Nami asked, worried.
"It's alright, love. It's only a bird. It's just like this jungle, nothing to worry about." Sanji smiled. Then something came through the thick treetops and started to descend towards the ship, heading for Sanji. A very large green bird. Sanji's smile dropped a little in confusion as he saw everyone's eyes go wide.
"What's wrong?"
Aya quickly made a quick dash towards the cook.
"Aya, my love! You want a hug; you only need to ask!" He shouted happily, holding his arms out for an embrace. Aya tackled into Sanji, the two falling on the deck. "Duck, you idiot!" She pushed Sanji's head down and everyone quickly ducked down for cover as well as the bird's large claws swooped down then flew away. Sanji got up noticing the bird that nearly grabbed him.
"WHAT THE HELL"S THE MATTER WITH YOU, YOU DAMN BIRD!?" The cook shouted, enraged, shaking his fist.
"Ooh, it's big. Could be tasty." Luffy grinned. Suddenly, a loud noise that sounded like an explosion shook the entire island.
"Hear that? Is that the kind of noise you expect to hear in a normal jungle?" Nami questioned.
"That sounded like a volcano erupting! We're all going to die!" Usopp shouted.
"Look over there." Aya pointed out to the side of the river, and everyone looked to see an abnormally large tiger eye them as it stalked them.
"I-It's a tiger!" Nami cried out.
"He's gigantic!" Ichi exclaimed in awe. Suddenly, the tiger stopped dead in its tracks then fell on the ground, dead.
"What?! Luffy, what just happened?! I know normal but that was definitely not it! Can someone explain to me how a large tiger just keel over covered in blood!?" Nami exclaimed.
"Maybe it got into a fight with another large animal?" L pointed out.
"Log pose and food be damned! We're not setting foot on that island and that's final!" Usopp shouted.
"We can still reset the readings on the ship. We'll just sit tight until then." Nami said.
"Right!" Usopp agreed.
"When that's done, we'll leave and never look back." Nami continued.
"Right!"
"Y-Yeah, right! We'll all just stay here." She smiled, nervously. The straw hats docked the ship, away from the riverbeds, waiting. Luffy's body trembled excitedly with a wide grin on his face.
"Sanji, go make lunch!" Luffy shouted.
Sanji's raised his eyebrows, looking at Luffy confused.
"You want lunch?" Luffy nodded, grinning.
"Yep! And one more thing, make it a great big pirate lunch with lots of meat and no veggies. I'm going to need some raw energy!"
"Energy for what? What are doing?! You're not leaving here!" Nami shouted at him.
"You know! Do you want to come along?!" Luffy beamed at her.
Nami sighed, defeated. "It's useless. I can't stop him. He's too enthusiastic!"
Usopp gulped nervously. "Is he crazy? Somewhere out there there's a monster big enough to grind that tiger into paste!"
"Sanji! I'm starving!" Luffy shouted, again.
"Right. Be patient, I'll have it to you as soon as I can." Sanji told him.
"Say, Luffy. Would it be alright if I come along with you?" Vivi asked the straw hat captain.
"Sure, sounds great!" Luffy nodded.
"No! Vivi, you can't be serious!?" Nami exclaimed.
"Yeah. I'd rather not sit here with nothing to do but worry about my troubles. This will keep me busy while the log resets." Vivi told her.
"Out of the question, seriously! It's way too dangerous for you out there!" Nami shook her head.
"I'll be fine. Besides, I'll have Karoo with me." Vivi assured her. Everyone noticed that the bird looked a little pale, turning a little green.
"Something's wrong. Karoo doesn't look too good. Might be in shock." Nami said.
"Vivi, if you're going exploring, you need to eat. I'll pack you a lunch." Sanji said.
"Thanks! While you're at it, can you fix something for Karoo?" Vivi asked him. Sanji nodded.
"Of course! You just leave it to me!" Within a few minutes, Sanji came back out from the kitchen carrying a few box lunches for Vivi, who was riding Karoo, and Luffy and tied a small barrel around Karoo's neck for him to drink out of. "Now you're all set and ready to go. Two pirate lunches for Luffy and Vivi and a special drink for Karoo!"
"Thanks!" Luffy thanked the chef.
"Well, see you guys later!" Everyone watched as they saw two jumped off from the ship, heading into the woods.
"Vivi, what a girl. She's so brave." Usopp murmured.
"And just what would you expect from someone who can infiltrate the enemies ranks." Nami pointed out.
"I'm bored. I'm going to take a walk." Zoro hopped off from the Merry, landing on the other side of the riverbed.
"Take a walk?!" Usopp shouted.
"Hey, mind if I tag along?" L asked.
"Sure, just don't get in my way." Zoro told him. L hopped off from the ship, following the swordsman.
"Hey, Zoro, wait up! You know that we're kind of short on food. If you find any animals that appear edible bring it back!" Sanji yelled out at the swordsman. Zoro smirked.
"Okay, it's easy. I can see why you would want to send me. Because I can bring back something that you couldn't catch yourself."
"WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN!?" Sanji growled, looking down at him. "I won't let that remark go unchallenged. You say that you can catch a bigger game than I can? That my hunting skills are inferior?"
"Yeah, that's right." Zoro taunted.
"Challenge accepted!" Sanji shouted and "Okay, winner brings back the most pounds of meat."
"What do you mean pounds cause I'll bring back tons!" Zoro boasted.
"Why don't you let your hunting do your talking for you?" Sanji smirked.
"Good luck, cook." Zoro grumbled and the two walked off going two different directions to look for some food.
"I will never understand those two. Why do they have to be so competitive?" Nami sighed.
"Don't cry. If it'll make you feel better, I'm just as stumped by their behavior as you." Usopp said. "We're sitting ducks."
"DON'T YOU THINK I ALREADY KNOW THAT!?" Nami hissed. Then her eyes widen, realizing something. "Why didn't I think of that before..." She left Usopp and Aya, heading inside her room.
"Nami?" Aya questioned.
"Hey! Where are you going?! Nami, what's wrong?!" Usopp shouted. The two walked inside the navigator's room, seeing Nami in front of the bookcase, searching through them.
"No, that's not it." She mumbled as she pulled out the books tossing them behind her, looking. "Not this one either." Usopp walked over to her, ducking his head when a book came flying at him and a few more.
"Nami! Whoa! Hey! What the heck are you looking for anyway, huh?!"
"Quiet, I remember reading about it in a book." Nami shushed him.
"Reading about what?" Aya asked her.
"Little Garden."
Luffy and Vivi were exploring the forest of the island when Luffy stopped in his tracks. "Hey, what's the matter?" Vivi asked Luffy when she saw him pull out something from the water of the small creek.
"Over here. Check it out! It's a shellfish that looks like a squid!" Luffy grinned, holding the snail-octopus like creature that looked ancient.
"Strange. It sort of resembles an ammonite." Vivi murmured.
"Cool, huh!?" Luffy said. Suddenly, the two heard booming footsteps as it began to approach them.
Sanji was looking around for anything that looked like food or anything that looked safe to eat. "I got a feeling that someone's been following me for a while, couldn't be it." Sanji murmured. He turned around, seeing Ichi behind him, with a wide grin. "Can't you see I'm busy!?" He shouted, forgetting he agreed to let Ichi come along with him. He had been suspicious of the two mysterious twins, L and Ichi, ever since the two snuck aboard the ship. In fact their names were strange as well almost like code names of some sort. Were they spies or did they secretly work of Baroque works as well? However, the two didn't seem to be a danger to the crew but Sanji didn't like the way the two always seemed to hang around Aya, like they were expecting something. But what? Maybe it was just jealously. Sanji shook the thought from his head. Well, if it made her happy, he will just have to deal with it for now.
"So, what are we looking for?" Ichi blinked. Sanji stared at him as his dropped a little.
"Anything that appears to be edible to eat. But show it to me first, so I can make sure that it's safe." Sanji told him.
"Right. Okay!" Ichi looked around while Sanji continued ahead. The dark-haired teen saw something move within the trees and he ventured forward. Ichi's eyes widen seeing a long lizard like tail, poking out through the opening between the trees.
"This looks edible." Ichi grabbed onto the tail and slung it over his shoulder giving it a hard tug. A low growl made Ichi stop and turn around to a T-rex glaring down at him. Sanji continued walking until he noticed that Ichi was nowhere around and started to call out for him.
"Great. Where'd that idiot go? I swear he's worse than Luffy." Sanji muttered. Then the cook heard thundering footsteps approaching behind him and Sanji turned around to see the large T-rex, as it glared down at him like he was his next meal. Then Sanji's eyes widen as he saw Ichi hanging off from the dinosaur's tail, being failed around like a rag doll.
"Hey Sanji! I got him! How about this?!" Ichi laughed. Sanji jumped up and kicked the dinosaur in its mouth.
Zoro and L crossed paths with another dinosaur, while they were looking for food, that was a triceratops as it stared the two down. "I don't know what you're supposed to be, but I'm guessing your edible." Zoro said, looking at the dinosaur.
Luffy and Vivi ran towards the loud footsteps until the two saw a large creature with a long neck and legs eating some leaves from the trees. "That's weird. What's a sea king doing on land?" Luffy murmured. Vivi's eyes widened in shock.
"A-A DINOSAUR!?" she cried out.
"Awesome!" Luffy shouted.
"No way! This is unreal. Somehow this island has been frozen in time stuck in the age of the dinosaurs! Traveling the Grand Line is so difficult, so no species ever migrated between the islands and their unique ecosystems were preserved! Some of these islands have developed extremely sophisticated cultures both biological and sociological, while others remain in a sort of evolutionary stagnation with little to no progression for several thousand or tens of thousands, in this case even millions of years! I can only assume it's because of the random climates from the Grand Line that makes this possible. What other explanation is there? We're standing on the island that predates mankind!-" Vivi explained before she saw the straw hat captain launching himself towards the long neck dinosaur. "Luffy!"
"Dinosaur!" Luffy shouted before crashing into the creature, who paid him no mind as it continued to eat.
"ARE YOU INSANE!?" Vivi exclaimed.
Back on the ship, Usopp and Aya were on lookout waiting for the others to come back.
"Usopp! Aya!" Nami shouted, running over to the two who were waiting outside on the deck.
"Nami?" Aya asked.
"So did you find your book yet?" Usopp asked her. Nami made a short nod.
"Uh huh."
"You look a little pale. Is everything alright?" Aya asked her. Nami shook her head.
"This island...it's-"
The T-Rex growled turning back towards Ichi who was still latched onto it's tail. It opened it's mouth, preparing to chomp down. Ichi quickly let go, jumping into the air. The dinosaur bit down on it's own tail instead, letting out an painful roar. Sanji and Ichi began to fight against the T-rex as it roared and charged at them, angrily.
"You're a rude son of a bitch!" Sanji jumped up and landed a hard kick on top of the dinosaur's head, planting it into the ground, knocking it out.
Zoro and L stared down the large beast and triceratops glared down the two. "We both use three swords style." Zoro smirked.
Zoro and L charged at the dinosaur swing their swords, slashing at it. The dinosaur fell on the ground with a loud thud.
Back on the ship, Nami tried to explain to Usopp and Aya about the island. "This is bad. This island..." Nami paused.
"What? What's wrong, Nami?!" Usopp shouted.
"Do you guys hear that?" Aya asked. Loud footsteps boomed like thunder as it came towards the ship then a dark shadow casted over it as something tall leered down at the ship. Nami, Usopp, and Aya stopped and slowly turned their heads, looking upwards staring faces to face with a giant! He was dressed in a Norse Viking outfit wearing a horned helmet on his head, and had a large nose revealing his nostrils, and long beard. Nami screamed. Usopp froze in his spot, not moving a muscle. Aya said not a word as her eyes widen as well, staring at the giant in shock and admiration.
"A giant! A real live-!" Usopp slapped his hand on Aya's mouth, whispering at her to be quiet. The giant made a large grin as he spotted the three on the deck of the ship and began to lower himself towards them until he was face to to face with Usopp, Nami and Aya.
"Strange. Why do I get the sense that Nami and Aya needs me?" Sanji murmured.
Nami backed away, dropping the book on the deck.
"To those who reside here and call this island home. It must seem that they have stumbled upon their very own private garden. Thus, I have named this wondrous and terrifying place, Little Garden."
