A/N: ZareEraz here! I have the next chapter! Yay! G-8 is one of those arcs that lets you get into the head of the Navy and it's really interesting because we're cheering for the bad guys when we watch One Piece! It's genius! So this arc is interesting in that (in my opinion) as much as we cheer for the Straw Hats and want them to escape the base, I still have to respect the efforts of the Marines because technically they are the "good guys" and they have their job to do as well. It's quite fascinating. And with that, I'm done talking. Enjoy and don't forget to review! :3
Chapter 17: Gone Fishing
Nothing Short of a Miracle
Luffy had landed himself in another fine mess.
The Merry had fallen out of the clouds after Skypiea and had landed in a place known as Navarone, a heavily armed Marine base surrounded by cliffs with only one way out. But that hadn't bothered him in the least bit, not even when his crew got separated; he knew that they were smart and that they'd all find each other eventually. It would all work out! He'd even found Sanji, they found disguises, and they'd been in the kitchen for forever (and he'd been eating for forever because Sanj's cooking was so good). The cook had gotten very popular with chefs and soldiers alike! But in the guise of doing at least a little work (that might get him some more food), Luffy took an order that the pretty Head Chef Lady had handed him and ran over to wherever table eight was, pushing open the doors and walking inside without a care in the world. He waltzed right up to the man at the lone table and set the plate of meatballs and veggies down, a huge smile on his face. The guy looked important – he had his own table and all – but that didn't matter as long as Luffy could steal some food.
"Eat up!" he said cheerfully, smiling like an idiot.
"Thank you," the man with the big mustache replied. "You're dismissed." Even as an idiot, Luffy still figured out that this guy was really important and saluted like a good Marine would do.
"Right! Aye, aye, sir!" He walked back all the way to the door but still didn't leave. The man at the table started eating, humming when he tasted the food.
"Outstanding!" he nodded. "It was everything the men said it was. This has surpassed my expectations." Luffy hummed too, chewing on a meatball.
"Mine too," the rubber man added. The man at the table put his fork down and it hit the plate, half of his lunch gone already. He looked up, observing the young man in front of him, his cheeks as big as a chipmunk's, and raised an eyebrow at him. He looked down at his food again and went to get another meatball, but before he could, it was whisked off his plate unexpectedly. And so was the next one, and the next one, and the next one, until he caught the hand that was stealing his food. His fork pinned the meat to the plate, and with it, Luffy's hand as it grabbed at the food. Since he wouldn't let go, Luffy struggled to get his snack, but the fork was in the way!
"I just want a meatball, you selfish jerk!" he shouted with his mouth still full of food. The man, who Luffy was finally figuring out was the base commander, stood up and smiled, having sighted his prey.
"I see you've finally decided to show your face," Commander Jonathan said, noting Luffy's stretchy arm. The rubber man finally snagged the meatball and hurtled it towards his mouth. He nearly ate his own hand in the process as the force of the recoil sent him tumbling comically onto his back. He sat up and chewed happily.
The man walked up to the pirate and introduced himself. "Welcome, Straw Hat Luffy. I am Commander Jonathan, Chief Officer of G-8 and your sworn enemy." He folded his arms and loomed over the younger man, staring him down. Luffy just looked up and him and continued chewing. "Straw Hat Luffy, I would rather not resort to violence in the dining hall, so please, be civil. Just answer me one question, if you would be so kind."
"If I answer it can I split that food with you?" Luffy asked in return. Commander Jonathan looked back at his plate, noting that the teen had already eaten most of it anyway.
"If you answer the question, you can have all of it," he replied. Out of the corner of his eye, Jonathan saw a rubbery hand shoot past and grab the plate.
"Really? You've got a deal! I'm sorry I called you a jerk!" Luffy laughed.
"No matter how hard I try, I just can't figure out your purpose here," the commander continued as the pirate scarfed down his newly acquired food. "I am certain that Captain Smoker is the one who defeated Crocodile and your shenanigans in Alabasta resulted in no discernible fame – they acquired you no fame or fortune. Your motives remain a mystery and I want to know why you came to Navarone of all places."
"That's easy!" Luffy remarked, popping the last meatball in his mouth. "We fell from the sky! This is just where we landed!"
"Hm?!" Jonathan was actually surprised that this was all just coincidence if the pirate was telling the truth.
"In the Grand Line, it's just one crazy thing after another!" Luffy set the plate down and stood up. "I gotta say, I'm really starting to like this fortress! The food here is great!" Jonathan laughed, half out of amusement and half out of surprise. What a weird kid! He mulled Straw Hat Luffy around in his mind for a moment and found that even if the pirate appeared simple, he was turning out to be complex prey.
"You should know that even with the power of the Devil Fruit, one would find escape from our charming little fortress impossible. It would take nothing short of a miracle," the commander remarked.
Luffy laughed good-naturedly in his enemy's face. "I'll leave when I'm good and ready, Mr. Commander."
"I doubt you'll talk so tough when you hear that we've captured Zoro," Jonathan informed, smiling in satisfaction when Luffy's smile dropped off of his face.
"Huh? Zoro?" Luffy tried to process what he'd just heard. He stood up all the way and leveled his gaze with Jonathan's. He remained calm in the face of knowing that Zoro was in trouble, but his chest tightened at the thought of his boyfriend in the hands of the commander. "Alright, Fortress Guy," he stated seriously, "Where's Zoro?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Why do you think? So I can find him and rescue my boyfriend! I'm not gonna let you have him!" He had shouted that last bit, getting mad now. Zoro needed his help and he was going to save him no matter what!
"Boyfriend?" Commander Jonathan said, curious as he mulled over Luffy's words. It didn't matter though, just another piece of information to file away for later. Right now, he had a bigger issue: he needed to capture Straw Hat and throw him in jail with his comrade. "Don't be hasty. You'll be joining the swordsman soon; I'll make sure of that." Jonathan took a step forward, and Luffy squared off against him before suddenly being grabbed by the collar and dragged backward through the doors. It was Sanji!
"We've blown our cover! We'd better get out of here!" Sanji started yanking his captain away but they found themselves surrounded by the cooks of Navarone, Head Chef Jessica included. Commander Jonathan slammed the doors to his private room open and now they were really in trouble.
Out of options, surrounded, and probably going to get captured, Luffy and Sanji stood back to back as both sides closed in on them. That is until a miracle happened: the next groups of soldiers coming to eat burst through the doors and flowing into the dining room, pushing the pirates along with them, cutting off the commander and the cooks completely. Luffy and Sanji ran for it, making the most of their stroke of good luck.
"No! We almost had them!" Jessica shouted.
"Staw Hat!' Commander Jonathan shouted.
"See you around, Fortress Guy!" Luffy called back, escaping into the hallway and running after Sanji. They were free and now they had to go free Zoro and get the hell out of here! The pair of pirates ran just long enough to find a place to throw off their disguises before they were on their way again. Wait for me, Zoro! I'm coming to get you! Luffy thought as he ran down the monotonous corridors of Navarone. However, despite the current little setback of one imprisoned boyfriend, he was still quite sure that everything would work out.
Jail Break
"Someone came out!" Luffy whispered loudly, after which, Sanji slapped a hand over his mouth to shut him up before they were caught. They were hiding out by the Marine base jail and were trying to find a way inside. Apparently, Zoro and now Usopp were trapped inside, having been captured by the Marines and they were going to break them out! The entrance was bolted to the side of the rocky cliffs of Navarone and across a small chasm from where they were hiding, the only entrance a regular, green door at the top of a long set of metal stairs. An old man in an orange jumpsuit was walking down the stairs, having been let out by a few Marines. He soon disappeared from sight as he walked back into the base, but now the pair of pirates had to figure out what to do.
"I don't like this," Sanji muttered, chewing on his cigarette. "Something definitely seems fishy about that place."
However, Luffy had already made up his mind that they were going to spring their friends, so that's what they were going to do. "Well, let's do it!"
Sanji immediately protested. "Hold on, let's just take a minute to think this through." The blond glanced back at the steel bridge that they'd crossed to get here and Luffy followed suit, trying to seem focused. "The path we took to get here was completely unguarded. It's like they're showing us where to go. That can only mean one thing…"
"I know!" Luffy piped up seriously. "The boss of this fortress is a really nice guy!" Sanji whipped his left leg up elegantly to smack the rubber man's stupid face with his heel and crush him against the rock wall next to them.
"They're planning to ambush us!" he hissed as his captain slid to the ground in a heap. "If anything, it saves time for those bastards; we'd literally be walking into a jail cell."
The rubber man got to his feet again, his face swollen with bruises. "What are we waiting for? So it's a trap, big deal. We won't get any rescuing done if we don't go in there."
"Are you saying that you want us to run headlong into a trap?!" Sanji glared at his idiot captain's face, but then his expression became thoughtful as he thought out the matter some more. Barging into a Marine jail is never a good idea but it's better than doing nothing at all. I'm also worried about Nami and Robin…
Luffy waited patiently for a few moments before speaking up again. "Sanji, it's not such a bad idea."
"Yes, it is!" And with that retort, the cook burst into a sprint.
"But you like it, huh?" Luffy chuckled, following his friend down and around the cliff paths until they made it to the metal stairs leading up to the jail.
"No, I don't! But we have to save Usopp and that idiot boyfriend of yours!" The blond paused to look up at the gunman turrets, but there weren't any personnel stationed there. That most definitely meant that this was a trap. The rubber man passed him as he looked at their surroundings, and went up the stairs first. Sanji then followed close behind. Luffy opened the door and peered inside.
"Uh, there's nothing in here," he said, looking into the empty hallway. It seemed to lead into the cliff face, and there weren't any guards around here either.
"Just get moving, alright?" Sanji sighed, knowing that they were bound to run into a lot of trouble the further they went in.
"Can do!" Luffy leaped up the last few steps and bolted down the hallway with his cook at his heels. They ran through the long hallway and down several sets of stairs, the uniform walls of the Marine base slowly being overtaken by rock here and there until they were headed underground with rock walls all around them. When Luffy started yelling for Zoro and Usopp, Sanji let him. It didn't matter if the Marines knew that they were coming or not: they were rats in a trap already. After several yells, Usopp answered back with a "Hey! Luffy! We're down here!" and then a "No! Turn back!" a few moments later. Clearly, he was quite conflicted as to whether he wanted to be rescued or not. A "Rescue us if you want to!" followed shortly thereafter, clearly having been the result of talking with Zoro.
"This way!" Luffy yelled, literally jumping down twenty steps at a time as the stairs wound deeper into the jail. Then they were in a long room with a lot of cells lit by regularly spaced lanterns.
"Uh oh, they're here now!" Usopp gasped. "Please be careful, Luffy!"
Luffy skidded to a stop in front of the cell Zoro and Usopp were in, and Zoro couldn't deny that he was really happy to see that dumb face. The rubber man smiled as he caught sight of his crewmates. "Found them! Hold on! We'll get you out of heeeerrrrrreeee…." Once he'd regained his footing, the rubber man placed his hands on the bars and immediately lost all of his energy and drive, sinking to the floor in exhaustion. The bars of the cell were made of Sea Prism Stone and Usopp gasped as much when Luffy collapsed on the floor. But the general panic for Luffy's well-being was interrupted by the arrival of the Marines.
"We've been waiting for you," a deep voice boomed. An officer with massive sideburns appeared with at least twenty other Marines, swords already drawn to attack. "Surrender peacefully and I might let you live." Since the captain was indisposed, Sanji had to be the one to give the soldiers a dirty glare.
"You're kidding me, right?" he huffed, smiling devilishly. "Do you really think that this is enough to stop us?"
"Is this enough for you?" Another voice spoke behind the cook, causing him to turn. He was just in time to see another officer with his own twenty or so Marines draw their guns and get ready to fire. Luffy rolled his head back and forth between the two groups, so tired and nauseous to think of anything, too weak to even lift his hands away from the bars of the cell. Zoro sat there and sighed at the fact that they'd all been yanked into this situation and now his boyfriend was lying on the floor like a slug, looking really sick and exhausted. And they still had to figure out how to get out of this mess with guns and swords pointed at all of them.
"Now I'm shaking in my boots," Sanji huffed at the Marines again, despite all the weapons trained on him and his friends. After a moment, the cook whirled around and kicked the bars of the cell, surprising the Marines. They taunted him a bit as he tried to break the bars again and one of the Marines stated that it would take nothing short of a cannon to break the bars.
That's when Usopp had a brilliant idea, but then screwed it up. He told Sanji that he had an Impact Dial in his pocket, and to grab it (because, handcuffs) so that he could blast the bars away. Only the dial that he had the cook use was a Tone Dial, which greatly confused the Marines as a voice came from the shell talking about a well-mannered snake, and made all three of the coherent Straw Hats blush in embarrassment. Zoro also called Usopp a dumbass. When Sanji huffily got another dial out of Usopp's other pocket, well, the results were just as disastrous. Apparently, someone had stored farts in Usopp's Flavor Dial and when the apex of the shell was pressed, everyone in the chamber was engulfed in a stinky, brown cloud. Sanji and Zoro instantly knew who did it and cursed. It was the rankest smell that anyone had ever smelled up until that point in their lives and it had almost everyone in tears.
"What kind of juvenile barbarian would store farts in my Flavor Dial?!" Usopp choked out. Not surprisingly, Luffy spoke up.
"I thought…it would be funny…" He was still dead on the floor, still holding onto the Sea Prism Stone bars of the cell, and Zoro would've totally ripped him a new one if the teen hadn't looked so pathetic and if he himself wasn't in handcuffs. Well, at least they weren't the only ones suffering; the Marines were all plugging their noses, their eyes watery due to the horrible smell. Some were even openly crying as they struggled to breathe, which gave the swordsman great satisfaction.
"I'm going to beat your ass when we get out of here!" Sanji coughed. "Especially since it's your ass that's causing problems!"
"That's it Luffy! I'm not touching you for a week!" Zoro sputtered, choking on the noxious gas. The double meaning was lost on the Marines (who were still choking on Luffy's farts worse than the Straw Hats), but it was not lost on the crewmates nor the captain.
"Aw…come on…" the rubber man wheezed. "I didn't mean…for it to turn out like this…" Before the conversation could continue (or any more threats of violence), Sanji noticed that the lantern above them had started sparking, its flame becoming volatile very quickly as it reacted to the gas.
"Watch out! It's gonna blow! Get down!" he shouted, but it was in vain. The hallway exploded, proving that farts could outsmart the Marines.
The explosion started at one lantern, the blow breaking the rock wall in between two cells, but it quickly moved to the surrounding lanterns, causing a chain reaction. The whole hallway rumbled and shook like an earthquake and it was a miracle that the roof hadn't come down on them all. The explosion had destroyed several cells and an alarm began sounding outside after that whole section of the base shook. Miraculously, all the Stawhats were still alive by the end of it.
"Hey! You guys okay?!" Sanji shouted, pushing a set of broken bars and several rocks off his body.
Usopp was barely conscious under his rubble, but managed to get out a shaky "Mission…accomplished…"
"Yeah, I guess you could say that," Zoro replied, trying to comprehend the ridiculousness of the whole situation. His lover's farts had saved them all, truly one for the history books. Quick to get back on their feet, Zoro shook off his now broken handcuffs and Sanji smashed Usopp's with his heel. He also crushed the sniper's hands in the process, but it was payback for all the embarrassment of the last few minutes. Zoro grabbed their confiscated equipment from the next cell over and tossed Usopp his bag while he put his swords back at his hip. A pathetic "Help…me…!" came from the floor where Luffy was now being crushed by the bars of the cell and Sanji rolled his eyes at yet another predicament his captain had gotten into, but kicked them up and over onto their other side. Once the bars were off, Luffy jumped up with all of his usual energy. The boys dusted themselves off and got ready to run.
"Let's go, Luffy!" Zoro called, starting to run down the hall back towards the stairs.
"Right! EVERYBODY RUUUUUUUNNNNNN!" he hollered as they all bolted down the hallway, leaving the Marines far behind. Zoro was at the front of the pack, followed by Luffy, then Sanji, and finally Usopp. It was only after running down two hallways and up several sets of stairs that another huge problem was pointed out.
"Hey! Don't let Zoro lead! He'll get us lost!" Usopp exclaimed, trying his damndest to keep up with the other freaks.
A cross vein bulged out of the swordsman's forehead as he was insulted. "Oh, would you shut up!?" he grumped. Luffy just laughed, happy that all of them were together again.
Unbeknownst to the pirates, the Marines had survived the gas explosion and were up and running towards the entrance to the brig, determined to stop the pirates and sandwich them between the Marines inside the jail and the reserves that were quickly gathering outside. However, when Officer Sideburns threw open the outside door he was shocked to see dozens of guns pointed at his position but no pirates in sight! Where had they gone?!
"I told you! Now we're lost!" Usopp complained as Zoro continued to lead them around the base. They were certainly not going in the direction of the exit, that much was for sure, but none of the boys knew where they were now.
"Yeah, where are we?!" Sanji asked.
"How do you get lost going to the front door!?" the sniper continued. "That's almost impossible!"
"I said SHUT UP!" the green-haired idiot shouted back. His complete lack of direction had saved their asses without any of them even knowing it.
"It's okay, Zoro!" Luffy called, "We'll figure it out even if you're lost!" The swordsman was blushing now, having been called out twice.
"WOULD ALL OF YOU SHUT YOUR TRAPS?!"
"Uh oh, we made Moss Head mad," Sanji snickered.
"I'm going to cut you from stem to stern next time I get the chance!" Zoro snarled, still running ahead of the pack.
"Just try it," Sanji challenged. "I'll cave your skull in!" The cook caught up with the swordsman and they got into each other's faces as they continued to run, more occupied with their fight than escaping.
"Can we please not fight right now!?" Usopp pleaded. "The Marines could catch up to us any minute now!"
"Yeah, let's go!" Luffy smiled hugely as he dashed up to his fighting friends and grabbed his boyfriend's hand. He yanked Zoro away from Sanji and chuckled as the force almost caused Zoro to lose his footing. But despite the trouble, it was nice to hold the rubber man's hand, even if they were running for their lives…again.
"You're smiling like a dumbass!" Sanji teased, maliciously laughing at Zoro's idiot face.
"Shut the hell up!" The green-haired man kicked out at the cook and sent him tumbling to the floor, letting out his own malicious laugh. Sanji leaped to his feet and sprinted back towards the group, hell-bent on revenge as he kicked at the swordsman's legs.
"You'll pay for that!"
"You deserve it, pervert!"
"I'm going to kick your ass!"
"Just try it!" And he did. Zoro jumped and dodged all while holding onto Luffy until it became too difficult, so he picked Luffy up, tossed him into the air, and let the rubber man figure out how he wanted to attach himself to his boyfriend. Luffy went for his usual backpack approach and fell behind Zoro enough to get his arms thrown around the man's neck and his legs wrapped around his waist. During all of this, Sanji was still kicking at Zoro, so it was quite impressive that no one managed to fall. The bickering continued as Usopp labored to keep up with the freaks.
The sniper sighed, "Would you both stop it, already?" The insulting and fighting continued until a happy Luffy interrupted with a purely joyful laugh. The pause in the fighting also revealed the sounds of the Marines in pursuit, and they knew that things were going to get hairy in a minute.
However, Luffy didn't mind at all. "This is fun!" he chuckled, hugging his lover tightly. The crewmates smiled knowingly and rolled their eyes at their captain.
"Whatever you say, Luffy. Whatever you say."
Before things got out of hand again, Zoro took a moment to thank his captain. "Thanks for coming to get us," he said, comforted by the warmth of his beloved's body pressed against his. Luffy kissed him on the cheek and then rested his head on the swordsman's shoulder.
"Of course! I would never leave you guys behind!" And that's really all there was to it: if his friends needed him, he would come.
As sweet as the little display was, Sanji could not resist teasing them. "You're lovey-dovey shit is making me sick. Keep it to a minimum okay? We still have to get out of here." The Marines could be heard getting closer now, their voices echoing in the halls. A vein popped out of Zoro's forehead and he was about ready to feed the cook to the Marines.
"I said SHUT UP!" The outburst caused Luffy to laugh again, and Usopp just hoped that Zoro and Sanji wouldn't kill each other before the Marines caught up.
Hostage Situation
"I'm going to rip off your nose if you sent us in the wrong direction!" Zoro threatened, running ahead of Usopp, Luffy, and Sanji, back inside the main base after having broken out of the hold and fought their way across the bridge back to the middle island of Navarone. They were looking for the Merry now, trying to get to her before the Marines found them again.
"Don't worry! We're definitely going the right way!" Usopp assured him, wanting to keep his nose. "Just keep moving! Hurry! Yeah, yeah! I recognize that wall! Merry's docked just around that corner!"
Something's wrong, Zoro thought, turning the corner. This is way too easy.
"Everybody stay alert! No one's going to stop us from stealing our ship!" Luffy shouted, jumping off of Zoro's back and hopping in front of him. The swordsman let him in front, grabbing his blades in anticipation of a fight. "GAAAAAHHHH!" Luffy skidded to a stop along with the rest of the boys, staring wide-eyed at the hoard of Marines between them and their ship. There had to have been hundreds of them, all crowded onto the dock and up on the catwalks that the shipwrights used to get to sails and masts on ships. Guns were trained on the four men; the Straw Hats were in trouble.
"We're busted," Sanji said, taking a fighting stance.
"I knew it was an ambush," Zoro hissed, his grip tightening on the Wado Ichimonji.
A familiar voice shouted out orders. "Sniper Team 7 to the front!" Officer Sideburns was here to get in their way again! A group of men walked to the front of the soldier and knelt, leveling their rifles at the pirates. "Shooters, take aim!"
"No! Don't aim!" Usopp had started crying, scared out of his wits. Zoro and Sanji were both moving, ready to attack when Luffy decided to do something about the threat.
"Gum-Gum…" he started.
"FIRE!" the Marine commander called.
"BALLOON!" Luffy expanded in a blink of an eye, shielding Usopp who had started falling back and sent both Zoro and Sanji tumbling to the ground on their respective sides where they had started flanking him. That hadn't sat well with either of them.
After the bullets had ricocheted back towards the Marines the pair leaped to their feet and started yelling at their captain. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Luffy just laughed.
"Cannon Team 12 to the front!" Officer Sideburns ordered and another round of Marines with bazookas came to the front, knelt, and aimed.
"Great. Bazookas," Zoro huffed.
"Fire!" Three bazookas shot their payload at the pirates, the projectiles flying into the ground at their feet, smoke drifting up but with no explosion to accompany it.
"Duds?" Luffy questioned, looking down. And then the explosion happened, sending a bright light and a cloud of gas into the air and blinding everyone who hadn't shut their eyes. Sanji coughed and blinked his stinging eyes, trying to see, knowing that the Marines were going to attack in all the cover they'd just given themselves.
"Ah! My eyes! What is this!?" the cook groaned.
"The burning! Oh, the burning!" Luffy wailed, slapping his hands to his face teary.
"Those were flash bombs!" Usopp supplied, but in the smoke, Luffy couldn't figure out exactly where he was.
"Sword Unit, to the front! Attack!" The commander's voice rose over Luffy's wailing and the pirates tensed as footsteps marched their way towards them. Sanji got hit first, dodging two slashes from different directions while still coughing. He flipped himself around on one hand and kicked down his attackers.
"Bastards!" The next attack came from behind but he was too slow to move! Suddenly, an explosion hit the Marine and Sanji whirled to see Usopp with a heroic look on his face.
"No worries!" the sniper called.
"Nice equipment you got there," Sanji commented, noting that Usopp had flipped down his goggles before the flash bombs went off and saved his eyes some agony.
"You can borrow these!" Usopp threw his old goggles at the cook and Sanji caught them, slipping them on to protect his eyes.
"Thanks." On the other end of the battlefield, Zoro was doing just fine. He'd closed his eyes before being blinded and was now running through the smoke, relying on his other senses to lead him to his prey. Swords up, arms crossed, he skipped through the haze and found his target.
"Dragon…Twister!" The swordsman slashed, sending up a swirling gust of wind and blades that threw his opponents into the air and out of commission. "Blinders don't work on me, unlike some lovesick moron." Sanji heard his insult and growled viciously. And right in the thick of things in spite of his aching eyes, Luffy was holding his own.
"Gum-Gum…Gatling!" He pummeled a whole unit of swordsmen and sent them flying, readying his next attack as his arms recoiled. "And…Whip!" He shouted, throwing his right leg sideways and sweeping the smoke and the Marines away, as well as Zoro and Sanji! "Shishishi! Now that was fun!" The rubber man smiled as he looked around, finding that his allies were suddenly cut in half as well as his enemies as well as his allies. "Where are the guys?"
"You whipped them along with everyone else!" Usopp shouted, pointing over to the pile of Marines, garnished with a Zoro and a Sanji.
"Sorry!" the young man called, happy to see that his friends were still conscious.
"You! Think next time!" Sanji snapped, slipping Usopp's goggles down around his neck. "Alright, you dim-witted moron!" he growled, turning on Zoro who was sitting next to him. "What'd you say to me!?" Zoro turned and growled back at him.
"Exactly what you think I said!" The pair leaped up and started fighting each other instead of the enemy, just like they always did.
"Have you forgotten that there's still an army here!?" Usopp snapped. Luffy just laughed. Distracted by each other, the Straw Hat men didn't see the next attack coming.
"Fire!" Officer Sideburns shouted, alerting the crew to the attack, but it was too late. A Marine fired at Luffy and the rubber man was suddenly caught and thrown to the ground, tangled in a net, and rolled until he hit the wall. The sound of his surprised shout caused Zoro and Sanji to look over, their fight ending as they noticed their friend trapped in the net. Luffy was all balled up and struggling to get free but he was having issues doing anything about his predicament.
"Luffy!" Usopp called, starting to rush over to his friend.
"Stay right where you are!" Officer Sideburns commanded. "It says 'Dead or Alive' on your wanted posters. Here at G-8, we tend to lean towards 'Alive,' however, if you insist on meeting us with further resistance, I'll be forced to amend that policy."
"Luffy, you've got to try harder!" Usopp said, trying to get his friend to break out faster. It shouldn't be that hard! "We're in real trouble here!" Luffy continued to struggle, but then he felt all the strength he had disappear and he was really tired all of a sudden.
"I'm trying! But it's no use; it won't budge and I'm all worn out," he said lazily.
"Sea Prism Stone…?" Zoro deduced, recognizing the symptoms.
"Precisely," Officer Sideburns was talking again. "A specially designed prison net bomb. So Straw Hat, what do you think?" Now they were in deep shit.
"Not good!" Usopp was trembling again and stepped back by Luffy. The Marines took several steps forward in formation, leveling their guns at the pirates at a much closer range.
"Look at this," Sanji huffed. "There's a sea of them left even after all of the ones we took out." It was disappointing. There were only four of them and the Marines had hundreds of men for backup; it just wasn't fair sometimes.
"Now make this easy and give up." Officer Sideburns continued. "Escaping from here alive is impossible. Positions!" The Marines stepped closer, ready to fire.
"Damn, we've got no choice," Zoro growled. With Luffy out of commission and basically helpless, the swordsman's first priority was protecting his idiot captain's ass and the rest of the crew, and if that meant surrendering – no matter how much he hated the idea – then so be it. As long as they were alive and had a chance to escape, he'd take it. Escape really was impossible this time, and it would've stayed impossible until a surprise burst out of the corridor behind the pirates.
Two screaming women careened into Usopp with a rolling stretcher, sending him flying and startling everyone else in the room as they came to a noisy stop. Usopp landed on the floor heavily, unconscious and wounded. It was Nami and Chopper and some other woman! Sanji saw Nami in her pink nurse's dress and nearly went ballistic and Zoro just stared at the group, utterly shocked by their entrance.
"What the hell!?" the navigator gasped, seeing all the Marines and the rest of the crew. Chopper, seeing Usopp broken on the floor from under the sheet he'd been hiding in suddenly grew huge and leaped off the cart to cradle his injured friend.
"Usopp! Look what they've done to him! He's injured!" the huge human reindeer said, shocked and mortified. "He could die! It's all because of those soldiers!" His shouts of surprise morphed into anger, completely missing the fact that it was him and Nami and that other woman who'd hurt Usopp.
"Slow down, Chopper!" Zoro and Sanji whispered as he jumped to conclusions. But the Marines were just as shocked by the appearance of three more people that they forgot to attack.
"Identify yourselves!" Officer Sideburns shouted, needing to confirm whether or not the newcomers were pirates or not. Nami didn't know what to do and drew a blank, but the woman she was with – Dr. Kobato – knew exactly what she needed to do to help her friends. She took a deep breath and let out an ear-splitting scream, incapacitating everyone within earshot as her voice reached an inhuman pitch.
"What's the matter with you!?" Nami howled as the scream ended, but Dr. Kobato was shouting again.
"We've been taken hostage! We're gonna die! Please, save us! It wasn't our fault!" She shrieked, turning her head to wink at her new friend. "We were forced here against our will!"
"Kobato?"Chopper raised an eyebrow at his fellow doctor. Nami understood and started screaming with her, confusing the hell out of everyone else.
"AHHHHH! This giant is one of the pirates!" they screamed, wailing like children.
"Get a hold of yourself!" Chopper tried to calm the women down.
"Did I miss something?" Sanji asked, still confused. "Uh, who's that other girl?"
"How should I know?" Zoro replied. The screaming and yelling were only interrupted when the crew heard one of the Marines talking to his commander.
"We can't afford to go in blasting, not with the hostages there."
"Curse those cowardly vermin! This is precisely why I hate pirates!" Officer Sideburns hissed.
"Sir! This means that that giant must be the unidentified doctor! He has to be! Look! He's carrying his crewmate!" another soldier realized. Chopper had put Usopp on his shoulder to safeguard him, and now it was coming in handy. Thinking quickly, the doctor whirled around and used his sheet as a cape, throwing it around himself to be menacing.
"That's right! I'm a rough and tough member of the Straw Hats!" he howled. "Even crying babies shut their traps when they get a load of me!" Having never seen Chopper like this before, Zoro was very impressed as the reindeer bluffed his way through his mean act, and the swordsman clapped smugly in appreciation of his acting. "Better do what I say or these hostages are DEEEEAAAADDD!" On cue, Dr. Kobato and Nami started screaming and wailing again. "Alright! Order your buffoons to stand down and let us board our ship!"
"Now I get it!" Zoro whispered with a huge smile on his face. Chopper and Nami had just given them their ticket out of here.
"Interesting," Sanji added, also impressed by how wonderfully horrible and bad the sweet, little reindeer was acting.
"Do it!" the reindeer's voice got deeper and more ferocious. "Double time or I'll snap these girl's necks like twigs and their blood will be on your hands!" And that's when Zoro started hamming it up as well, trying to force the point home to the Marines and seal the deal.
"I'd do as he says guys," he smirked, hooking a thumb behind him towards Chopper. "He's serious. If you haven't seen the neck-snap thing it's pretty messy." The commander started to growl, completely trapped by the situation at hand, his frustration getting the better of him.
"And how would it look if you, the righteous arm of justice, let two women die?" Sanji sneered.
"Chopper, what are you doing?" Luffy lolled, not getting the plan at all. "That's not helping."
"Shut it, you idiot!" Nami hissed before her captain's big mouth could derail the whole plan. But the Marine officer hadn't said anything yet, but he was close to breaking, they could tell. Chopper growled as if to get ready to really snap some necks.
"He's gonna kill us!" Dr. Kobato screamed.
"Do what he says! I can't die before I'm married!" Nami screamed as well.
"Um, Commander?" a Marine asked as his superior officer almost lost his shit, worried for the hostages.
"Fine! You win!" Officer Sideburns shouted. "Lower your weapons and withdraw. Stand down now!" The Marines looked at their commander, shocked at his decision, but the lives of the hostages were too high of the price to pay for destroying the pirates. "I said withdraw!"
"Please…sir!" several Marines started, but they were cut off.
"We can't risk it!" Officer Sideburns shot back. They stepped back and their weapons came down.
"Wow, they actually complied," Sanji whispered.
"Let's hope so," Zoro whispered back, still wary of their position right now. He walked over to Luffy crumpled into a ball by the wall, trying to tiredly shift in the Sea Prism Stone net. He drew the Wado Ichimonji and brought it down across the net, hovering it mere inches above Luffy. The net split, freeing the rubber man.
"Thanks, Zoro," Luffy groaned, his limbs sprawling out limply after the net fell away. "I owe you one."
"Yeah, you do," he sighed, reaching down to grab Luffy's wrist and pull it over his shoulder, getting the captain onto his feet even if he was about to fall over anyway. Due to Luffy's short height, Zoro had to lean over partially to keep him upright. He would've just scooped the man up but he'd probably need his hands if things went south again. Luffy would forgive him if the swordsman let him sink to his knees if he needed to grab his swords, but the teen would probably get mad if Zoro outright dropped him on his ass, so Zoro just wrapped his free arm around Luffy's waist and held him up. They walked up to the front of the group as the Marines shuffled around creating a path to the Merry with their commanding officer in the front.
"We have complied with your demands!" the officer shouted. "Now release the hostages!"
"It worked! We did it!" Nami whispered happily, still standing next to Dr. Kobato. When nothing else happened, she put on a scowl and elbowed Chopper discretely, prompting him to keep talking. "Chopper! Speak!"
"Listen!" Chopper roared, getting back into his bad guy role. "You don't give the orders here! These women will be released only after we escape!"
"You spineless-" the officer with the weird sideburns hissed, but he stopped to whisper something to the man behind him, something that Zoro couldn't make out. It was unsettling. Something was wrong. Then the officer was shouting again. "We won't try to stop you! You're free to go!"
"Very accommodating, but is it true?" Zoro asked. Despite his suspicions, the swordsman was smiling at how well their slapdash plan was working so far. Luffy sagged in his exhaustion, the arm across Zoro's shoulders starting to stretch. The rubber man began to sink to the floor, still groggy and out of energy. "Hey! Would you hold it together?!" Zoro hissed, half worried and half agitated that Luffy's lethargy could mess things up if they had to move quickly.
The Straw Hats started moving forward with Luffy and Zoro in the front, the "hostages" Dr. Kobato and Nami in the middle, and the back was flanked by Sanji and Chopper who still carried Usopp. As they strolled into the sea of Marines untouched, Zoro smirked at Officer Sideburns and got a furious glare in return. With the atmosphere this tense, the swordsman kept his eye on the crowd, looking for movement of any sort, wary that the Marines would try to pull something. It looked like they were: two men were moving through the crowd, following the crew on either side. Zoro's eyes followed them and he whispered to his crewmates.
"Nami...Chopper…Lover Boy…" He breathed, the first two paying attention and the last one glaring at him. "Run to the ship on my signal," Zoro ordered quietly, coming up with a plan since their captain was out of commission for the moment (not that Luffy could plan anyway). "Luffy, I need your help to get us out of this. You've got to stretch your arms and get everyone on board."
"Ooooo…kay." he groaned. Luffy was still not looking good, all droopy and listless, his feet stumbling every few steps. While getting him on the ship might not be the solution to all of their problems, at least Zoro could defend the smaller area with the rest of the crew until Luffy was back to his old self, unlike right now as they were walking through the huge dock surrounded by their enemies.
"I get it," Sanji whispered back, seeing the two men moving on either side of them as well. Zoro's eyes narrowed, keeping his gaze on one side while Sanji took the other, staring down the threat to their crew, ship, and captain. If this didn't work, they were all dead.
Then tension snapped when a grunt dropped his rifle, startling Zoro and Sanji out of their focus as their heads snapped around to see the culprit.
"Whoops! How clumsy of me!" the man said, reaching down to pick up his gun.
"Pay attention! You scared us half to death!" Nami said, her voice trembling. Dr. Kobato was just as jumpy so the redhead didn't look out of place getting mad at the Marine because her life was theoretically in danger as she played the part of a hostage, and any disturbance could mean the end of that theoretical hostage life. While the crew was distracted, a single Marine snuck up behind Dr. Kobato and snagged her, dragging her back behind the wall of Marines to safety as she screamed into his hand. This alerted the crew to what was going on. They were trying to save the hostages and turn on them! Nami whirled first, seeing a Marine trying to grab her too, and screamed, punching him in the face.
"STUPID GIRL! WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Officer Sideburns shouted as Nami ruined his plan.
"Crap! Nami!" Sanji exclaimed.
"Run to the ship!"Zoro ordered, and for once, no one complained and just ran. "You're on, Captain." Zoro turned to Luffy and hoisted his body up into a straighter position.
"Fall in, men! Bring me those pirates!" Officer Sideburns ordered.
"Come on! This is it!" Zoro encouraged Luffy harshly as the rubber man tiredly lifted his free arm to do as he was told. The Marines all had their weapons out, ready to capture and kill them at any second. The swordsman's heart was beating rapidly as they started to run out of time but he trusted his captain to get the job done and Luffy was not one to disappoint. He stretched his arm backward as fast as he could and Zoro just had to smile, knowing that his lover wouldn't let them down. Everything descended into pandemonium and screaming as the Marines started descending but so did the Merry! Freed from the dock by some miracle, the Merry started to tip backward towards the water, surprising everyone. And that seemed to be the boost that Luffy needed, seeing the Merry free putting a smile on his face.
"Alright! All aboard!" He whipped his arm forward, catching the rest of his crew in the back, and drove them onto the ship haphazardly before grabbing onto the rail as it started to recoil.
"Are they still alive?" Zoro asked as the screams faded. Luffy tightened his arm around Zoro's neck, having perfect access to it by the way the green-haired man was holding him, grinning almost evilly.
"Good question! Let's find out!" he snickered. And that's when Zoro figured out what he was doing and his face dropped in horror as their feet left the ground at breakneck speeds. Zoro screamed as Luffy shot them towards the Merry, pulling his arm in so fast that the rubber man didn't have time to aim properly and crashed their heads into the outside of the ship. Their momentum flipped them over and onto the deck and despite their brain damage, they were at least still conscious. The Merry slid into the water, sending up waves and soaking the whole crew. Luffy managed to crawl up the rail and hang onto his hat, laughing at the stupid Marines behind them.
"DON'T LET THEM ESCAPE!" Officer Sideburns shouted. "ALL UNITS OPEN FIRE!"
"Sir, they're still holding a hostage!" a soldier called and Luffy laughed again as the Marines backed down a bit.
The order changed. "WARNING SHOTS!"
"It worked! We did it!" Luffy laughed as bullets rained down into the waters next to the ship. And then he got a nasty surprise. Nami whipped his head sideways when her Climatact crashed into his jaw and Sanji smashed his heel down onto his skull, pinning his squished face to the railing.
"You'll have to forgive me, Captain, but my gratitude is lacking right now," Sanji hissed.
"Give a girl some warning next time!" Nami growled, pissed as well. And then she smartly turned heel and walked away, giving orders like a captain herself, getting the ship underway for escape. Sanji let Luffy bonelessly sink to the floor right next to Zoro, nursing two new injuries along with his aching head. Zoro took the opportunity to lightly punch him in the head too, mad but not surprised at how roughly Luffy had handled them.
"Owwww…" Luffy groaned at all three of them.
"That's the understatement of the year," Zoro grumbled, standing up and rubbing his throbbing head from where Luffy had cracked it. "But you did a good job," he murmured, acknowledging Luffy's efforts even when sedated by the Sea Prism Stone.
"Yay! Zoro's happy with me!" Luffy cheered, jumping up and leaping on Zoro with all his usual energy again and planting a wet kiss on his lips.
"I'm not happy with you! And don't kiss me in front of the Marines!" Zoro pried the younger man off of him and set to work following Nami's orders because they weren't out of the woods yet.
"That…" one of the soldiers started commenting to Officer Sideburns, "Is not something you see every day."
"What? Pirates escaping or two of them kissing each other!? Because I don't care which it is! I WANT THEM CAPTURED!" Officer Sideburns roared.
"Yes, sir!" The Chief Petty Officer saluted and started to get to work as the Merry sailed off, free once again.
The Great Escape
They were really cornered this time and it was getting annoying. The crew had just all gotten back together, they'd stolen their gold back, and now they were trapped yet again. The ship was stuck near the Sea Gate, all the water having flowed out at low tide and leaving them stranded and run aground. There was a huge hole in the bottom of the ship (much to the dismay of the crew) and Luffy had fallen overboard but he hadn't drowned since there wasn't any water to drown in (the crew did not dismay about him much). However, when Chopper, Usopp, Sanji, and Zoro stuck their heads out of the hole in Merry's hull, the rubber man wasn't very happy that they were going to let him drown, so instead of following them back up on deck to discuss the deep shit they were in, he instead pouted in a puddle because of their insensitivity. "If you can't save your captain from drowning then you can at least feed him some dinner!" he'd roared, thoroughly disappointed with his crew.
"On the bright side, the water's so low that we don't have to worry about the ship sinking until the next high tide," Robin noted, standing on the back deck with Nami and ignoring her moody captain. The lights of Navarone were behind them, lighting up the night.
"That's true, but we can't escape either," the navigator replied. Commander Jonathan then interrupted their conversation as his men trained the searchlights on the Going Merry. The countless cannons of the base leveled their barrels at the crew and Luffy snapped out of his pout, standing up as the Old Fortress Guy gave him an ultimatum through the speaker system of the base: they had nowhere to run and they were surrounded, so it was time to give up. He also said that he'd have to turn Luffy and Zoro over to Navy Headquarters because they had bounties on their heads, but that the rest of his crew could go free if they cooperated. As good of a deal as that sounded to everyone except Zoro and Luffy in this situation, the captain of the Straw Hats wasn't going to give up, that's just the way he rolled. He may not be super smart, but his crew was, and they'd figure a way out of this mess just like they always did. And that's how the crew started their meeting, sitting on the Merry's main deck.
"Hey, guys!" Usopp shouted happily. "I think I have the solution to our problems and it's right in my hand!" The sniper held up a flat, pink, swirled shell for all to see. "Tada! This Impact Dial! While escaping from the fortress, I kept using it to absorb impacts when those troopers tried to stop us. There's so many inside that I bet you we could blast the Merry out of here!"
"Oh!" Chopper said, sitting on Usopp's left.
"Super!" Nami interjected, sitting on Chopper's left. "And if it could just get us over the cliff, we could reach open water!"
"Yeah, but out of the frying pan and into the fire," Sanji interrupted, sitting on her left. "With that big hole, we'd sink right away."
"What if we could make that octopus balloon fly again?" Robin suggested on Sanji's left, referring to the creature that had floated them most of the way down from Skypiea.
"Hey, that's a good idea," Zoro agreed, sitting on Robin's left.
"Yeah! We could use the Flame and Breath Dials to re-inflate it!" Nami reasoned, things finally looking up for them.
"It would have more hot air than Luffy!" Chopper joked. The whole crew laughed as their captain finally jumped on board, poking his head in between Zoro and Usopp as their laughter faded away on a sour note.
"Too bad we lost it," Usopp said grumpily.
"Uh-huh," Chopper agreed.
"I'll say!" Nami's eyes started tearing up as she spoke, all her dreams of gold vanishing in the face of capture.
"Where'd it go?" Sanji grumbled.
"The octopus?" Robin clarified.
"Yeah," Zoro muttered angrily, pissed that even with a plan, they were missing the most vital piece of it.
"I have it," Luffy answered.
"Luffy has it," Usopp said.
"He does?" Chopper asked.
"That's what he said," Nami answered.
"Who has it?" Sanji asked.
"Luffy," Robin replied.
"He does," Zoro added.
There was a pregnant pause.
"Yep! Sure do!" Luffy finished up.
"WHAT?!" The crew leaped to their feet in shock as their captain was being useful for something besides pummeling their enemies for once. "WHERE?!" The rubber man stood up shoved his hands down his pants (it's not as sexy as it sounds), rummaging around in there for something that was hopefully the octopus. Thankfully, he did pull out the pink and purple-spotted octopus instead of something else that only Zoro would be interested in.
"Right here!" he proudly displayed the creature for all to see. Usopp made a shocked face that made him look like a fish and Zoro made a disgusted one.
"DO YOU MIND TELLING US WHY THAT THING IS IN YOUR PANTS!?" Nami shouted, completely grossed out by the display.
"He helped us out when we fell out of the sky, so I wanted to keep him safe!" Luffy answered honestly. And honestly, the octopus hadn't minded being in his pants from what Luffy could tell.
"Wasn't that gross?" Zoro asked, a little leery of Luffy's pants now. With this and the fart incident, he was really concerned about Luffy's thought processes.
"For him or the octopus?" Sanji asked.
"Gross how?" Luffy asked. Robin laughed at the funny man.
"Have fun in there next time, Moss-head." Sanji teased. Zoro growled at the cook and was about to punch him in the face when Robin spoke up again.
"Now that he's back in the fresh air, we should inflate the octopus again. Right, Long-Nose?" She looked at Usopp.
"Sure." And then he made another face, another problem popping up after they'd just solved one. "Now, if only I could find my Flame Dial. Somehow, it's gone missing." A purplish shell was pushed into his face and Luffy pressed the button on the apex of the shell, causing flames to shoot out of it and singe the sniper's hair.
"I was playing with it in the kitchen," he admitted. "It's spiffy!"
"Stop it!" Usopp ducked before the flames could do more damage and placed the Impact Dial on Luffy's exposed stomach (due to several buttons from his vest had gone missing over the course of their adventure). "Or I'll give you a taste of this Impact Dial! Speaking of which, who's going to fire it?" He looked at his crew. Everyone's faces had gone dark except Chopper's, eyes glinting evilly and without mercy, smug laughter on their lips. They all knew the risks of firing the Impact Dial and they decided that none of them were going to use it, all silently, of course.
"Guys…what gives?" Usopp asked in trepidation.
"Who does the Impact Dial belong to?" Luffy asked, his voice sending shivers crawling up Usopp's spine.
"It's Usopp's," Zoro answered.
"Right, Long-Nose?" Robin asked.
"Then it's only fair that we let the owner do it," Sanji reasoned.
"You're the best, Usopp," Nami said, her voice smooth and low but with a hint of evil that was all hers.
"Good luck, Usopp!" Chopper added.
"Hey," Zoro started, his voice deepening even more. "Don't worry, old buddy. We'll give you a hand."
"It's decided then!" Luffy affirmed, and everyone knew that when Luffy had decided something, there was no turning back.
"NOOOOOOOOO!" Usopp finished up, knowing that he was royally screwed.
"Everything's set up here!" Chopper called down to Nami and Robin about five minutes later after he'd furled the sails. The girls were down on the deck by the open trap door with the octopus and Nami called back a "Roger!" before kneeling down and yelling down below decks.
"Everything's ready! It's all up to you guys now!" she shouted. The four boys downstairs heard her loud and clear. Usopp had the Impact Dial strapped to his hand, holding it out of the hole in the Merry's hull. But he technically wasn't holding it out as Zoro and Sanji were forcing him to. The sniper had the cook on his right arm and shoulder, the swordsman on his left, and the captain holding under his armpits so he couldn't run away…and Usopp wanted to run away so badly! The young man started struggling, trying to get Luffy to let him go and to tear his wrist out of Sanji's and Zoro's monster grips, but all of them were just too strong for him!
"No! I don't want to do it!" he wailed, tears falling from his eyes as the coward was forced to face his new job. "Using this thing is going to hurt like crazy!" The monster trio didn't care and held him still after a few moments of wriggling. Sanji and Zoro both shoved their free hands on his head, immobilizing him as they started the countdown.
"Three!" Sanji called.
"Two!" Zoro answered.
"One!" Luffy finished and Usopp pushed the Dial despite his feeling of impending doom.
"And liftoff!" everyone except Usopp shouted as the Dial started releasing its pent-up energy. The Merry rocked on the ground and then started moving forward, hitting a few rocks and leaping into the sky as the force of the Dial sent her flying. And she wasn't the only thing that was sent flying! Usopp, Zoro, Luffy, and Sanji were thrown backward by the force of the impact at exponential speeds – Usopp falling into Sanji falling into Zoro all sandwiching Luffy into the wall. Good thing he was made of rubber, otherwise, Luffy would've been a bunch of broken bones underneath his crew. But the Merry was flying, and that's all that mattered. Until she was falling again, back into the sea that was going to sink her before they'd even gotten out of the base. Luffy was the first to see it, having stood up with just a few scratches after the impact and looking out of the hole that was nearing the sea again.
"I don't know how to put this…but…" he started, but Chopper's yells from the crow's nest interrupted him.
"Robin! Hurry! Now!" the small reindeer shrieked.
"Well, let's do it!" Nami turned to her partner and smiled. Robin crossed her arms and activated her Devil Fruit powers, hands sprouting from the bottom of the ship until they'd wrapped all the way around. Each end hand on each line of arms grabbed a tentacle of the octopus, pulling him taut so that they could inflate him. Nami held up her Breath Dial and started to inflate the creature with the stored wind, but as he grew, he only slowed the ship from falling and was barely keeping them above water as they floated. Robin let go of the octopus when he had a hold on the ship and held up a second Breath Dial as well, doubling their wind, but it didn't do much.
"We're still falling!" Luffy said, poking his head out of the trap door.
"Luffy! The Flame Dial!" Nami said back, knowing that the heat from the Dial would increase their chances of success.
"Gotcha!" Luffy nodded, leaping out of the floor and holding up his Dial. "Inflate!" And the octopus did just that, doubling his size, but he was designed to only slowly float things down from the sky, not pull them into it. They were sunk unless they got more lift…and that came in the form of Usopp's Impact Dial.
"Come on, Usopp." Zoro groaned, hauling his and the sniper's aching bodies up from the floor, envying Luffy's quick recovery and rubber bones as he forced himself upright. Usopp was still crying, but out of pain this time. His whole arm felt like it was going to fall off.
"No, please…! Not that! Anything but that!" Sanji stood up with them and grabbed Usopp's other arm, not happy about having to use the Impact Dial again.
"Tell you what, you do this and I'll make you something special for dinner sometime, 'kay?" the cook offered, half bribing and half rewarding their efforts.
"But I won't be allowed to eat it!" the sniper wailed, sure that he was going to die if he used the Dial again.
"Aw crap!" Zoro shouted, taking a staggering step forward towards the hole that was slowly starting to fill with water.
"Water's flowing in!" Sanji added, just as panicked.
"Everyone up there is doing their best to inflate the balloon," Zoro took another staggering step. "And they need a little push. They're counting on us. If you don't do this, we're sunk."
"AAAAOOOWWWW! Fine!" Usopp finally agreed, faced with death yet again in his heroic adventures. "I guess Usopp will take on for the team!" he said with fake bravado, and then his face crumpled and his voice got all quiet and shaky. "Support my shoulders and arms again, okay?"
"You got it."
"Atta boy." Sanji and Zoro replied respectively with a smile, happy that their coward had manned up. They took up their previous positions, minus Luffy, and got ready for the second blow.
"I've just got to think of the Going Merry's pain as my pain!" Usopp coached himself, his arm trembling as he held it out again, Zoro's and Sanji's hands holding it in place and bracing his shoulders. If anyone had seen the duo's banged-up faces and sick, determined smiles, they would've thought the two of them were insane. Perhaps they all were.
"Three!" Sanji started the countdown again.
"Two!" Zoro called.
"One!" Usopp finished, activating the Dial again.
"Fly!" Robin shouted up on the deck.
"Please, fly!" Nami screamed with her.
"Come on!" Chopper pleaded, hanging onto the mast.
"Yeah! Fly!" Luffy yelled as the balloon doubled its size yet again.
"IMPACT!" the three boys downstairs screamed and suddenly the Merry was careening through the sky, the force of the Dial enough to send her flying with her re-inflated balloon. She sent up huge waves of water around them as they all lifted off into the air.
"YEAH! WE DID IT!" Luffy yelled, poking his head out from behind one of the octopus' arms and making faces at the Marines they passed on their way over the cliffs. A cannon was leveled at the ship from the inside of the rock face as they neared the edge of the base. This would've caused the Straw Hats some trouble, but instead of firing, the cannon was attacked by someone else and the projectile hit the cliff, causing a small avalanche. The avalanche sent rocks falling and it destroyed the cannon and any chance it had of stopping the pirates. It was a lucky break!
The Going Merry flew up above Navarone just as the sun was starting to rise in the east, the celestial body bathing the ship in its gentle light as it woke up the rest of the world. The Straw Hats had been up all night, all day, and all night again while in the base, but even as exhausted as they were, the whole crew stood on the front deck together to see the open sea as if for the first time. They were free again! Luffy laughed, glad to be out of that base no matter how fun it had been, and Chopper joined him as Zoro stood quietly behind both of them. Sanji was sitting against the rail on the other side of the Merry's figurehead by Robin, Usopp, and Nami, all leaning over the side by each other. It was one of those peaceful moments that you could only appreciate once (because how many times were they going to fly out of a Marine base with an octopus?). And appreciate it they did.
"I wish I could've seen the looks on those Marines' faces as we flew by," Luffy sighed. "I bet they were funny."
"I'll be happy to never see their faces again!"Nami snorted, but Luffy had moved on.
"Whoa!" he called, his eyes growing large as he looked behind him. "Look at the size of that place!" He pointed back towards G-8, marveling at the huge scale of the island below them.
"I thought it looked big on the inside!" Chopper gaped.
"Well! So long, Old Fortress Guy!" Luffy shouted, waving at the Marine base.
"Adieu, Jessica!" Sanji yelled, saying his goodbyes to the beautiful Head Chef of Navarone.
"Uh, guys, not to complain or anything, but why aren't they shooting at us?" Usopp asked.
"That base was designed to repel an attack by sea," Robin explained, "Its cannons can't target this high."
"Oh, well that's fabulous," the sniper said with a smile, glad to be rid of the base once and for all. The crew dispersed across the ship after that, Zoro sitting against the mast for a nap with Luffy on his lap, Sanji and Chopper on the portside rail looking out over the sea
"This sure is nice!" Chopper sighed happily as he sat on the rail. "I wonder how far we'll fly."
"Well, Zoro?" Luffy asked, looking up at the swordsman's face.
"Who knows? Ask the balloon," the swordsman replied, content.
"Why'd you ask him in the first place?" Nami huffed, miffed that Luffy had passed over his own navigator to ask that moron. "He's constantly lost, has no sense of direction, and can't navigate worth a damn."
"Hey!" Zoro got ready to smack a bitch, but he was weighed down by Luffy leaning back onto him and yawning. Zoro didn't want to move and disturb his boyfriend, kind of like when a cat sits on its owner and they don't want it to leave.
"We should sit back and enjoy the ride," Robin suggested, cutting the fight off before it could start. "Just leave it to fate."
"I just hope it's not another Marine base!" Nami replied.
"I'll go anywhere if Nami and Robin are there!" Sanji added, his eyes turning into hearts as she glanced over at the beautiful ladies. "I'm in paradise!"
"Moron!" Zoro shot off.
"What's that!?" Sanji hissed, whirling on the green-haired man.
"You heard me. Bring it on." the swordsman goaded, only he was in the same position as he had been with Nami, not wanting to move with Luffy starting to fall asleep on him. So he just kept throwing insults instead.
"While you guys beat each other up, I'll patch the hole," Usopp sighed as Zoro and Sanji got into the swing of their argument.
"Hey…" Luffy said, half asleep. His groggy words halted the fight between his cook and boyfriend. "I never got any dinner…Sanji…food…" And then he was asleep, his body falling limp in Zoro's lap.
"You can eat when you wake up, idiot," Sanji replied, smiling and lighting a cigarette.
"And me too, right?" Zoro pointed to his face.
"You can just starve!"
"Sssshhhh," Robin held up a finger to her lips, her voice dropping low. "The captain's sleeping." And to no one's great surprise, so was Zoro, snoring away with his lover like they didn't have a care in the world. Most of the remaining crew decided that a nap was indeed a good idea, following the lead of their captain and first mate. Nami went to her and Robin's room to sleep and Chopper decided that he wasn't moving any further than Luffy's open lap and plopped down there, only to have the rubber man's arms wrap around him subconsciously. He snuggled into Luffy's torso and fell instantly asleep. Sanji chuckled at the duo (leaving out Zoro) and went to take a nap in his hammock below decks, asking Robin if she wanted to sleep instead; he could take watch if she did. The archeologist smiled.
"I want to watch the sunrise for a little while, so you go ahead," the woman replied. "I'll help Usopp with the ship if he needs it." Sanji nodded and headed below decks and Usopp used his grappling belt to haul wood and nails over the side of the ship to patch up the holes. Robin kept an eye on him from up on deck and watched the sunrise quietly. The peace of the morning was only interrupted by the sound of a hammer and a chorus of snoring.
To be Continued...
A/N: And there you go! Don't forget to let me know what you think! See you all later! ;3