NOTE: Welcome back to another adventure! Our gang travels towards Spino, and Luffy and Nami have to get used to the fact that they're in a whole new world. I wonder how things will turn out.
Enjoy and Review!
Chapter 4: Brand New Adventure
"An entire world that is mostly water…it's sort of hard to believe." Rao spoke as he drove the car through the desert lands. With the rising of the new day's sun, the two pirates have spent some time explaining their world to their new friends. Well...more like Nami explained with Luffy adding whatever he thought was important and Nami had to give context to whatever Luffy ended up saying.
"It's strange to even think about! Beings from a world that's split into four seas, where people travel by ship and nothing else! I'd say it's prosperous if I was ignorant to the idea of traveling to other worlds." Thief said.
Beelzebub, regardless of how he felt about the two, couldn't stop the excited grin on his face. "Pirates, Marines, a sea in the sky, and a treasure that nobody knows?! That sounds like one hell of an adventure!"
"Shishishishi! You bet it is, Bees!"
"Don't call me that."
Luffy ignored him completely. "Adventures are endless when you're a pirate!"
"Hmph! Maybe I should be a pirate then?" Beelzebub suggested.
"I'm not sure your Father would approve, Prince." Thief sighed.
"Pirates are also criminals, Prince. I know you're a demon, but becoming an outlaw is still something you should avoid." Rao added.
"No way! Being a criminal fits right in with being evil! And being evil is what we demons are all about!" Beelzebub bragged.
"You could join my crew! You were fun to fight, Bees, so I know you'd be fun to have on our crew!" Luffy leaned over to look at his new friend. The demon gave him a flat stare, then pushed his rubbery face away.
"Tch! As if I'd want to join your crew! I'll form my own and find the One Piece myself! Nobody better to become the King of Pirates other than the Fiend Prince!"
"No way! I'm gonna become the King of the Pirates!" Luffy argued back. "Besides, my crew is super awesome!"
"Oh yeah? Prove it."
Luffy started listing his friends off. "We have Zoro, Sanji, Robin, Nami, Usopp-"
"Luffy, he doesn't know who most of those people are. It would've been different if you told him that Franky is a cyborg."
"A cyborg?!" Beelzebub jumped up, turning around to stare at the pirates. "No way! That sounds awesome!" Luffy nodded his head in agreement that Franky was awesome. "Way better than some rubbery idiot."
"Yup!" Luffy continued nodding his head.
…
…
…
"So…is he going to realize?" Thief asked Nami.
"Give it a second."
…
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…
"HEY!" Luffy tried to strangle the young demon, but Beelzebub dodged out of the way. Beelzebub ended up stepping on Thief's head to avoid one of Luffy's grabs, which ended up causing his arm to smack into Thief. The older demon would've fallen out of the car if Rao hadn't reached over to grab him.
"Hey! Prince! Luffy! All of this roughhousing is gonna cause the car to fall over!" Rao yelled. Unfortunately, the two refused to listen to him and continued to fight one another, which led to the car almost running into a sand pit. The cart attached to the car, where Nami's treasure was being kept, was also jostling around roughly. Nami's eyes widened when she saw that one of her gains was about to go flying off. She grabbed it in time and sighed in relief that nothing else seemed to be in risk of going awol. Then, Beelzebub's foot ended up stepping on the top of her head, and the navigator lost her patience.
"CAN YOU TWO BEHAVE?!" Nami's fists smashed into the childish duo, which sent them flying out of the car. It was another case of misfortune when the two were sent flying right into a pack of raptors that were minding their own business.
Beelzebub crashed into one, bouncing off of the small one, and flying face-first into a boulder. He let out a startled cry before slowly sliding down its surface.
Luffy ended up right into the biggest of the pack, a large raptor with teeth as sharp as Zoro's swords and as large as Franky's arms. The rubber captain laughed loudly as he laid on top of the dinosaur's head. He shook off his pain from Nami's punch to admire the creature he was now riding on. "Cool! This one's pretty big! I'm sure he'll be tasty!"
Clearly having understood the pirate's intentions, the Alpha roared loudly, calling out to its pack to attack the intruders. The captain was confused until the Alpha swung its head at a large boulder, crushing the pirate between himself and the rock.
Rao's eyes widened at the poor chain of events that just transpired. "Damn! That's an Alpha Raptor!"
"Alpha Raptor?! That big thing is the leader, huh?!" Nami cried out.
"Yes, and it's incredibly dangerous! We need to grab the Prince and Luffy and escape!" Rao started turning the wheel to make towards their companions.
"I think we should worry about them first, sheriff!" Thief exclaimed. He pointed at the herd of smaller raptors that were coming right for them.
"Those things have us outnumbered! Should I-" Nami started reaching for her Clima-tact, but Rao stopped her with a raised hand.
"We shouldn't risk you using your weapon again. We could risk drawing some unwanted attention at the moment. We're pretty close to outposts that junkers enjoy hanging around at. Luckily, a friend of ours equipped this car with some nice offensive capabilities!" Rao pressed a button on the dashboard. The steering wheel retracted inside to switch to a double-handed steering system with buttons on the handles. Nami saw that the guns stationed on the outsides of the cart activated and pointed at the oncoming raptors. "Fire!"
The guns unleashed hell upon the raptors, filling them with bullets faster than the creatures could react. Nami watched amazed at the precision and skill shown by Rao as he simultaneously kept the vehicle moving and shot each raptor without missing a single shot. Within seconds the horde of raptors was reduced to a pile of corpses left to rot in the sun.
Nami had to admit that she was impressed by both the old sheriff and the technology of this world. "Woah…! Where did you learn to drive and shoot like that?"
Rao gave a small smirk. "I was in the army when I was younger."
At the same time that they were dealing with the raptors, Luffy stared up at the looming Alpha. Unconcerned with its heated glare, the captain smiled at it. "So, are you ready to become my breakfast?"
The Alpha's response was opening its mouth, flames ready to burst and melt the rubber idiot into a pile of goo. Luffy's eyes turned into bright stars, still completely unconcerned at his impending 'doom'. "Cool! You can shoot fire too?!"
Right before the Alpha could fire, Beelzebub drop kicked it in the jaw, causing the fireball to sail over Luffy's head harmlessly. The prince landed next to Luffy and glared at the straw hat pirate. "Are you dumb?! You're just gonna stand there and get roasted?!"
"Nah, I wasn't worried. I could've stopped it, plus I knew you'd hit it." Luffy smiled, making Beelzebub stumble.
"The hell? You're a weird guy."
"Thanks!"
"Not a compliment."
"ROAAAAA!" The Alpha's roar got their attention. Luffy and Beelzebub watched as the Alpha charged up another shot to burn the intruders to a crisp.
"Heh! I'm hungry for dinosaurs for breakfast? How about you, Bee?" Luffy asked his friend.
"Don't call me that, and yeah…" Beelzebub agreed with him for once. "I could go for some roasted dino meat this morning!"
Luffy stretched back his arm as the prince sprinted towards the Alpha. The fireball raced towards him, scorching the sand as it did so, but Beelzebub wasn't concerned about the pathetic attack. He jumped over the fireball and descended upon the Alpha with a raised leg that he brought down for an axe-kick against its skull. The Alpha cried out in pain, but that pain was short lived as a more painful one rattled its brain even more.
"Gum-Gum Pistol!" Luffy's fist smashed into its skull, blasting the dinosaur into the group of rocks and boulders behind it. The creature laid in the wreckage with a dazed expression, and the last thing it saw was Beelzebub's demonic face crashing down with a powerful punch into its cranium.
"There! All done!" Beelzebub huffed. "Usually, this thing is much more stubborn to take down." Beelzebub did consider the fact that Rao usually instructs him to fight the Alphas inside their tank just to avoid potential injuries. But he and Luffy together were physically too much for the Alpha to handle.
"Alright! Time to eat!" Luffy declared as he walked over.
"HOLD IT!"
"Huh?" He and Beelzebub looked over to see the rest of their group driving over. Nami poked her head out to glare at her captain. "We're not taking that thing with us, Luffy!"
"HUH?!" Luffy looked like he was just told that the One Piece wasn't real. "Why not?!"
"It's too big to fit in the cart and it would just slow us down." Rao explained. "The best we can do is take some of its meat back with us to Spino. Someone there can keep it refrigerated and it can be sold for a good price too."
"A good price?!" Nami's eyes turned into Beli signs. "Okay, Luffy, Beel, it's time to start taking that thing apart!"
"Why should I do it?" Beelzebub huffed.
"Because I asked nicely." Nami made a cute face.
Beelzebub stared at her for a moment. "Aren't you an adult? Stop acting like you're some cute teenager."
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Luffy laughed hysterically as Nami sent Beelzebub flying into a boulder for his rude comment. Rao and Thief just sighed at the prince for failing to learn his lesson by this point.
Eventually, after another hour of travel, the group finally arrived at their long-awaited destination. After Rao parked the car outside of the large gates of Spino, Nami ordered Luffy and Beelzebub to carry the treasure and meat out of the cart. Once that was handled, Rao returned the car back into its capsule. "Welp, here's our destination. Luckily without any more incidents." Rao said.
"I only wonder who's fault that could've been…" Thief hums.
"Hey! It wasn't my fault!" Beelzebub hissed at his fellow demon.
"It was though." Nami retorted.
"Shishishishi!"
"Tch! Shut up!" Beelzebub hissed at Luffy, but the pirate just kept laughing.
"Regardless of who's fault it is, it's a good thing we finally made it back. Let's hurry and get these two situated and check in with the mayor." Rao said.
"Are you sure this place will have somewhere we can sell this stuff?" Nami asked.
"Nami! We're not selling my meat!"
"Shut up! You want a bed, shower, and new clothes, don't you?!"
"I want meat!"
"And I want a nice place to sleep! So, shut up or I'm chucking that meat down a pit!" Luffy sucked in his lips after that threat, knowing Nami would follow through with that threat. "Besides, we're not selling all of it anyway. Just the bunch that'll cost the most."
When the group finally managed to settle down, Rao opened the doors to the town, leading the group inside. Luffy and Nami gasped at their new (And hopefully temporary) place of residence. Nami could understand what that peddler and Rao meant when they explained Spino wasn't necessarily a huge or rich town. The place wasn't rundown or anything, but it definitely could use some improvements here and there. However, it was in a state where living was clearly manageable.
"I see you guys are finally back." A female voice called out to them. Nami and Luffy turned to see a teenage girl approaching them. She was a beautiful young woman with light brown braided hair that reached her shoulders. She's dressed in a dark blue crop top with a red scarf around her neck, and a pretty multi-ruby necklace. Underneath a red skirt tied around her waist is a pair of dark blue denim shorts, and her feet are covered by a pair of dark brown boots. "Took you guys a bit long, huh? And…I see you've made some new friends too." The girl eyed Luffy and Nami, along with the huge bags of meat and treasure.
"Ann, it's nice to see you." Rao nodded at the girl.
"I suppose you didn't get bored without us around, have you?" Thief chuckled.
"Pssh! As if! I've been tinkering around the garage to whip up some new weapons and bots for you guys to use." Ann bragged.
"New bots?! Cool!" Beelzebub exclaimed.
"Yeah! Really cool!" Luffy joined in, much to Ann's confusion.
"Uh…? Mind telling me your name?" Ann asked.
"I'm sorry about him! He's an idiot!" Nami apologized. "I'm Nami and this is Luffy, we're…" She didn't know if the truth should be shared with this girl even though Beelzebub and the others seemed to know her well.
"We're pirates!" Luffy exclaimed before Nami could continue.
"Pirates?" Ann blinked. "What are pirates doing in Sand Land?"
Rao intervened before Luffy could shout anything else. "I think it's best if we head to the garage to explain everything." He turned to the pirates. "Don't worry, Ann's a good friend of ours, you can trust her to know everything."
Luffy smiled. "Alright, then! A friend of yours is a friend of ours!"
After the short walk towards the garage, Rao and Nami explained everything to Ann, who was shocked by the revelation. "Seriously?! Like, is travel to other worlds actually possible?!"
Thief stroked his beard. "Of course, it is. The King Lucifer has traveled to other worlds many times before."
"Dad has told me some stories of his travels when I was younger." Beelzebub added.
"I should've expected demons to know about other world travel." Ann sighed. "Can't you guys be surprised like us for once?"
"Hmph! Sorry you humans are that far behind!" Beelzebub smirked.
"Remind me who builds your bots again?"
"T-tch…!" Beelzebub turned away with a blush.
Nami looked down at Thief with a hopeful look. "If your king has traveled to other worlds before, then couldn't you ask him to take us back home?"
"Nope." Beelzebub and Luffy said together.
"E-eh?! Luffy, what are you-"
"Not without everyone else." Luffy's words silenced her. "If we're here, then the rest of our crew is too. We're not leaving without them and Sunny."
Her exasperation turned into understanding. "I also want to find our friends first, Luffy, but I at least want to guarantee that we have a way back home first." She reassured her captain, then turned to Beelzebub. "Why did you say 'no'?"
"There's no way Father would agree to aid humans, especially if it's for traveling to different worlds. A request from me wouldn't change anything either, or he'll probably assume I'm doing it to skip out on chores." Beelzebub explained.
"You do skip out on your chores a lot, Prince."
"Shut up, Thief!"
Nami wallowed in despair. "So, we're gonna be stuck here forever?!"
"Shishishishi! We'll find a way, Nami! There's no point in giving up without giving everything a try!" Luffy's optimism filled her with some hope.
"I guess you're right, Luffy. We'll just have to try and find some way back." Nami said.
"And find that bastard that stuck us here in the first place!" Luffy punched his palm. "I'm totally gonna kick his ass when we find him!"
Nami turned to their new friends. "I know you guys have already done a lot for us at this point, but do you think you could help us find our friends?"
Rao hummed in thought. "I'd like to, but we also have our own quest to worry about."
Nami remembered their conversation back in the cave. "Right. You did say you were searching for this Legendary Spring."
"Legendary Spit?" Luffy tilted his head.
"It's the 'Legendary Spring', moron! How did you manage to screw that up?!" Beelzebub yelled.
"Is he that dumb?" Ann looked at Thief.
"Dumb, but as strong as the Prince."
"Eh?! Really?!"
"Until we find that spring, I'm not sure we'll be able to help you. It was by luck that the Prince managed to sniff out Luffy, but your friends could be all over Sand Land or even a different country, like Forest Land." Ann flinched at the mention of the neighboring country, but nobody seemed to notice. "Who knows how long it'll take to find them." Rao finished.
"So?" Luffy shrugged. "We'll just tag along with you guys, then! We can find this Legendary Sprig and find our crew at the same time! It'll be an adventure!"
Nami wasn't opposed to the idea, since this quest to find the spring could allow them a better shot at finding their missing friends and ship. "I'm all for the idea if you guys are fine with it."
"Sure." Beelzebub was the first to agree.
"Really, Prince?" Thief asked.
"Luffy may be an idiot, but he's strong. There's no way I'm passing up the chance to fight him again! Plus, his crew has a cyborg on it! I totally want to meet him!" Beelzebub explained his reasons.
"Well, if the Prince is fine with it then I am as well." Thief agreed.
Rao crossed his arms with a kind look on his face. "Since those two are in agreement, then I'll go along with it as well. Usually, I wouldn't team up with outlaws but it's not my jurisdiction to try and arrest criminals from another world. I'm thankful to have more helpful hands to find the spring and bring water back to the country."
"And!" Ann got their attention. "Since you two will be joining my friends in their quest, feel free to drop by later today or tomorrow, so I can help you get to know about the different kinds of bots we have. I'll build 'em up and fix 'em up whenever you need!"
"Cool! I want a bot now!"
"Is there a price?" Nami asked, pushing Luffy out of the way.
"These parts don't come cheap, so yeah."
"How much?" Nami was then shown how much certain parts would cost. The navigator wasn't pleased in the slightest by the high cost. Welp, she had haggling skills for a reason. "Fine, but your skills better be able to match our shipwright."
Luffy stretched his arms, wrapping everyone up in a hug (And also freaking out Ann). "If that's settled! Then let's party!"
"Luffy! We still need to sell some treasure!"
"Let go of me, you rubber weirdo!"
"How is he doing this?!"
"We…forgot to explain that part."
"Oh well, one of many headaches I'm sure we'll have."
"Shishishishi! Alright, Sand Land! HERE WE COME!" Luffy declared loudly and proudly.
Chapter End
NOTE: Originally, I was going to spend some more time on Luffy and Nami exploring Spino, but figured it was about time I got the story moving. There will be some short chapters of them (And the other Straw Hats) interacting with the town here and there. It's about time we start looking for the spring and find the rest of the crew, right? I hope the other Straw Hats haven't gotten into any trouble during this time. Oh, who am I kidding, of course they have.
This chapter was mostly to actually get to Spino and have our two groups decide to work together. The Straw Hats usually make friends quickly, especially Luffy.
From what I've seen in Sand Land the Demons aren't the biggest fans of humans, especially since humans are the reason Sand Land is basically a dying country when the story begins. King Lucifer, Beelzebub's father, wouldn't help humans regardless of if they came from another world without a good reason. Best chance is that he'd either turn Luffy and Nami away or try to kill them. Beelzebub and Thief help Rao because he's a good person who is trying to return water to Sand Land.
Have a great day!