So...I'm back? I've been wanting to write this chapter and get it over with, but finals in college are very demanding. I've actually had this chapter done two weeks ago, but only the first half and I didn't want to half it so I gave you guys the entire Laboon arc. I really hope you guys enjoy this chapter since I put a lot of work into it! This might be the longest chapter I have ever written... I also have some questions I want to ask you guys at the end of the chapter, but now..
To my reviewers:
L E A F: You don't know how much that means to me! Thanks!
Alina Arkhip: Well then, get ready for more because I'd hate to disappoint!
Alina31: Get ready for some more, cause I ain't done!
The Going Merry was rushing down Reverse Mountain, passing through a cloud on the way down, enveloping everything in a fog.
"Woah! This is great!" Sanji says, hanging from the ropes of the mast as the boat continues to sail through the fog. Luffy sat atop of the Going Merry's figurehead, Usopp held on to the mast with a smile on his face, Lyson sat in front of the groves of tangerines, and Nami and Zoro were on the railing of the upper deck. Suddenly, the sound of the wind whipping through their ears was mixed in by a very low rumbling noise.
"Hey, did you hear that?" Zoro asks
"Huh, what did you say?" Nami picks up, her hair being blown back by the wind.
"I said, did you hear that strange noise?" Zoro repeats, getting his message across to the navigator.
"Isn't it just the wind?" Nami brushes off, "I bet there are dozens of new kinds of landforms here!"
The boat continues to rush down the current until a figure peeks from the fog of the clouds and another rumble, louder than the first, rings out. Out in the distance, a large silhouette begins to appear.
"Nami-san! I can see a mountain up ahead!" Sanji says from his higher vantage point.
"A mountain? That can't be!" Nami yells back.
"It sure looks like a mountain to me!" Lyson points out, looking through the binoculars.
"It's really there!"
"Who cares!?" Luffy hollers, "Let's just go!"
The dark outline of the mountain becomes clearer and clearer as the fog disperses and reveals to be a large black wall, blocking the exit of the Twin Capes.
"Oh crap!"
"That's not a mountain!"
"It's a black wall!"
"No, it's not!"
"Then what is it?!"
"I-I-I-It's a whale!"
The crew watches as the enormous whale lets out a bellow that rattles them to their bones. They begin to panic and rattle off different ideas on what to do until Sanji points out that the whale can't see them.
"We need to do something or we're done for!" Zoro orders as he jumps down to the lower deck. "Make a turn to the left! Hard to port!"
"We can't!" Usopp's voice rings out from the lounge. "The rudder is broken!"
Nami and Lyson stand on the front of the ship when Luffy says he has an idea and rushes below deck. Lyson uses his two hands to form a rectangle and looks through it before shaking his head.
"We can't maneuver in time!" he yells, panic laced in his voice.
"What?" Nami snaps her head to him before looking forward once again, dread on her face. "Is this the end...?"
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The clear sound of a cannon blares out, severely slowing down the ship, and the ongoing momentum of the boat knocks Nami and Lyson to the ground. The boat slows down considerably until it slowly bumps into the whale with enough force to break the figurehead and send it flying. Nami and Lyson are laying on the ground, terror carved in their faces as the Going Merry figurehead flings itself over them and onto the deck.
"We're...screwed..." Nami whispers to herself
"Completely and utterly screwed..." Lyson says to no one in particular.
A tense moment comes by as everyone is waiting for some sort of reaction from the giant whale until Zoro runs into the lower deck and grabs two oars, "Let's get out of here before it notices us!" Sanji and Usopp join him as they furiously begin to paddle away from the whale.
"What the heck is going on?!"
"Did it not notice us because its body is so huge!?"
"Who cares? Let's just get out of here!"
Nami and Lyson get up from the floor to see Luffy staring intently at the whale, more specifically, the lone eye staring out in the ocean.
"Luffy..." Nami starts.
"He's not going to do what I think, is he...?" Lyson states, eyes widening.
"You...! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO MY FAVORITE SEAT!" Luffy hollers as he swings his arm and launches it at the whale's huge eye, earning a terrified look from everyone on board.
"Dumbass!"
A moment passes as Luffy's arm whips back as the whale's eye suddenly looks down at the ship, alerting the crew that the whale has noticed them.
"How was that?" Luffy taunts the behemoth of a whale, "Bring it on you bastard!" but gets knocked down by Zoro and Usopp who yell at him to shut up. When Luffy's on the floor, Lyson reaches out and grabs his rubbery neck, and throttles him.
"What the hell did you do that for!?" Lyson yells at him. His rant is cut short when the whale brings out another bellow before opening its mouth, revealing the row of sharp teeth it kept hidden. The Going Merry slowly begins to gravitate towards the whale as it's being sucked in by the whale's mouth. As the ship buckles down from the force, Lyson's grip on Luffy's neck disappears as the rubber captain is flung off the boat. Luckily, Luffy was able to latch on to one of the whale's teeth as everyone else was sucked into the dark cavern that is the whale.
Inside the whale, the boat comes to a halt as the crew, minus Luffy comes to a strange sight.
"What do you think...?" Nami asks.
"What do I think...?" Zoro answers back.
"How should I think...?" Sanji continues.
"This is...I want to say strange, but I'll go with weird." Lyson states.
"H-H-How...?" Usopp stutters.
"I was pretty sure we got swallowed by the whale..." Sanji points out as they look forward. The boat is floating on some green fluid, but there was an island right in front of them and even a blue sky with clouds. On the island was a small cottage complete with a clothesline and a lounger right below a palm tree.
"Are we dreaming?"
"Maybe."
"Then what are the house and the island doing here?" Nami questions.
"Must be some kind of illusion." Zoro offers.
The water(?) in front of the boat begins to bubble as a large mass emerges from the water, kicking it up in revealing a large pink sea creature with several limbs and beady green eyes. A Great King Squid. As Nami and Usopp duck for cover, Sanji raises a leg, Zoro starts to unsheath his blade, and Lyson reaches for his whip. However, they never got a chance when suddenly the doors to the cottage open and a trio of spears fly out, impaling the squid, killing it instantly. The three on the deck watch the ropes attached to the spears and where it leads.
"Looks like there's at least someone here." Zoro says.
"I hope it's really a person." Sanji adds.
"Whoever they are, they can obviously handle themselves." Lyson observed.
"I've had enough." Nami whined on the floor, "I wanna go home."
"Luffy went somewhere else too. What's gonna happen to us?" Usopp sobbed.
"Wait, where's Luffy?"
Nami's question was left unanswered as a figure begins to exit the cottage. Usopp's idea of shooting the cannon was shut down as the figure left the darkness of the house and came to light. The figure seemed to be pulling on the ropes that were attached to the spears and when he was visible, the figure appeared to be an old man wearing a pink-yellow-green shirt and blue shorts, round glasses, and a series of what seems to be flower petals around his head.
"A flower?" Zoro says thinking aloud.
"No, it's a person." Sanji corrects.
"He was able to kill a Great King Squid with only one attack..." Nami mutters in disbelief.
"Was he saving us or just fishing?"
The old man ties the rope end to his home and then proceeds to walk over to the other side of the island, glaring at everyone on the ship, causing unease among them. After a suffocating moment, the old man stops, takes a seat,...
...and proceeds to read the newspaper.
"Just say something you jerk!" Sanji yells.
The old man takes a moment to look away from his paper to look at the ship just as Usopp threatens the old man, telling him we won't be afraid to fight and that they have cannons. That detail sparks something within the old man as his glare intensifies ten-fold as he says, "You'd better not, or someone will die."
"Oh? And who's going to be the one that's dying?" Sanji asks.
"Me." The old man simply replies.
"YOU!? Why you..."
"Hey, calm down, cook." Zoro pulls Sanji back and asks, "Hey old man! Tell us who you are and where we are."
The old man's gaze intensifies again as he replies, "When asking someone a question, isn't it proper manner to give your name first?"
Zoro is taken back a bit as he says, "Hm? Oh, good point. Sorry. My name is Roronoa-
"My name is Crocus." the old man interrupts, "I'm the lighthouse keeper of the Twin Capes. I'm 71 years old and a Gemini. My blood type is AB"
"CAN I CUT HIM?!" Zoro says enraged.
"Now, now, calm down." Sanji says, a smirk on his face.
Crocus continues, "As for where we are-"
"We're inside the whale, aren't we?" Lyson picks up. The old man stops and peers at him behind his round glasses.
"We really got eaten by that whale. Are you sure?" Nami asks.
Lyson first points to the sky and says, "Those clouds have been in the same spot since we got here." He then points to the dead squid in the green water, "And also the ends of the squid tentacles are being digested as we speak."
"The brat's right, did you all think you were in a rat's belly? How dare you invade my private resort?" Crocus says in an accusatory tone before letting out another piercing glare.
"Would you cut that out?!" Everyone on the ship yells.
"Haven't you ever heard of the 'repeating gag'?"
"That was a gag!?"
Crocus raises a hand and points behind them, "The exit's over there." he says as everyone's eyes follow his finger. Behind the ship was a large set of metal doors that seemed to be attached to the inner wall of the stomach.
"We can get out!?"
"Wait," Nami says, "If this place is really the stomach of a whale, then how is there a door?"
"Call it a doctor's playful mind." Crocus answers.
"You bastard! What the hell are you doing here!?" Usopp cries out, but Zoro grabs his shoulder to calm him before turning to Nami.
"Nami! There's an exit, so let's get out of here already."
"Okay." Nami answers, but suddenly the boat rocks violently as waves of digestive fluid shakes within the whale's stomach. Everyone on the ship holds on for dear life as not to be thrown in. As they're rocking back and forth, Nami points out Crocus's island and its lower exterior. The island ends up being a boat itself, but the bottom of it is coated with iron.
"Of course." Usopp says, "It's because this sea is made of gastric acid!"
"So that means that wooden ships would melt if left here for too long." Sanji points out.
"Most definitely." Lyson explains, "The cellulose in wood can even be digested by humans and since this is a whale stomach, the acid must be at a higher intensity than a normal human's. I say we have about 3 hours until this boat is reduced to mush."
"DON'T SAY SUCH SCARY THINGS!" Nami and Usopp scream in fright.
"Hey! What's going on!?" Usopp yells at Crocus.
The doctor looks up at the fake sky and answers, "The whale has...Laboon has started hitting his head against the Red Line." The moment he says that the area shakes once again.
"What!?"
"Seriously?"
"Come to think about it," Nami says, "that whale had an awful amount of scars on its head and it was howling at the mountain."
"What does that mean?" Usopp asks as the boat is rocked again.
"This whale is suffering!" Nami concludes.
"I see, so that's this old man's plan!"
"It's most likely that he's trying to kill this whale from the inside!" Nami states.
"So vicious..."
"Okay that mystery is solved, but we need to get out of here!" Zoro orders.
"Yeah, so what is he wants to kill this whale? It's not our problem."
"Is it solved?"
Everyone turns to Lyson as he stares at the old doctor with calculating eyes.
"What do you mean? This old geezer is trying to kill this whale." Sanji says, "He probably wants to sell the meat for a profit."
"Then why has he put so much time into this whale? He painted a fake sky inside the stomach of a whale, somehow installed a door, and made specialty boats that are made to stand the stomach acids of the whale. Those actions sound like someone who plans to stay here for a long time." Lyson explains.
"Now that you mention it..." Usopp starts.
"But he could also just be waiting for this whale to reach peak size and then kill it and sell it." Lyson finishes but soon gets his head smacked by an angry Nami.
"DON'T GIVE US A REASON AND THEN IMMEDIATELY DEBUNK IT!" She yells, teeth sharp.
"Hey!" Lyson rubs the back of his head, "I'm just thinking about all the possibilities."
"Anyway, it doesn't matter what that old man does, let's just get out of here!"
Everyone on the boat tries to fight off the waves of stomach acid in an attempt to reach the door, but it was proving rather difficult. As they are scrambling to get the oars, Crocus takes a dive from his island and plunges into the sea of stomach acid.
"That old man just jumped in!" Nami cried out pointing to the now empty island.
"Huh? What is he planning to do? To get digested?" Zoro questions, as the boat is rocked again by another shake.
Usopp then looks out at the giant metal door and says, "Hey! The geezer came out!" He points drawing everyone's attention to the doctor climbing up a ladder on the door.
"I guess he got out before digestion caught up to him." Lyson states.
"Forget about him." Zoro says, pointing at the metal doors, "More importantly, let's figure out how to open those doors."
Suddenly, the doorway at the top of the ladder Crocus was climbing burst open with three figures flying out. One figure was a man in a green suit, a woman with long aqua hair, and Luffy. They fly off the platform, right above the sea of gastric acid, screaming all the way.
"Huh?"
"Wha.!"
"Luffy?"
The three of them fly past the Going Merry as Luffy turns to notice them. "Hey! Is everybody okay?" he yelled at the crew. "In any case, save me!" The three of them soon fall into the sea with three huge splashes.
"Aside from Luffy...there are two weirdos with him?" Usopp says.
"Hey! The old man disappeared!" Nami shouted as Crocus leaves the area through where Luffy shot out from.
"Don't worry about him, we need to save Luffy!" Zoro shouts before diving into the sea himself to grab Luffy.
Once Zoro fishes out the rubber captain, the two strangers also climbed up on board to avoid getting digested. After a moment, the harsh motion inside the whale seems to finally stop.
"It's calm down I think the whale stopped." Nami says, enjoying the stillness of the boat.
"Seems like it." Zoro agrees before turning to the strangers, "Now...we did save you guys for the time being, but who are you?"
The woman shuffles back at Sanji's ogling and loudly whispers, "Mr. 9, they're pirates."
"I know Ms. Wednesday.." the man whispers back, "But if we talk to them, they should understand! Perhaps..."
"Are you thugs still here!?" Everyone on the ship looks towards the voice as Crocus stands back on the platform at the gate. "Don't make me say this again! I won't let you lay a finger on Laboon as long as I'm alive."
"He's back." Usopp states.
"Who's that pops?" Luffy asks.
"He's apparently the lightkeeper of the mountain." Lyson answers as the two strangers begin to chuckle. Out of nowhere, they each pull out an arm cannon and point it at the whale's inner stomach, and shoot. The two cannonballs soar through the air and head straight for the inner lining of the whale's stomach, intending to blow a hole inside the whale. Before the cannonballs could reach their target, Crocus runs up and leaps in front of them, saving the whale, but also injuring himself in the explosion.
The crew watches as Crocus falls from his spot and lands in the acidic fluid. "That pops just took a bullet for the whale!" Usopp cried out in horror.
"Could it be...that he protected the whale?" Sanji questions.
"I guess he wants to protect this thing." Lyson mutters softly as he glares at the two laughing strangers mocking Crocus. Before anyone could properly react to it, Luffy appears in front of them and punches them so hard on each side that they get knocked into each other.
"Luffy..."
Luffy looks up at everyone with an annoyed expression, "I...felt like hitting them." He says simply.
Crocus watches the exchange as he swims back to his island. The rest of the crew then drive the boat closer to the island and makes their way on it. Luffy tries to climb the palm tree on the island, trying to reach the fruit above it while Usopp tries to stop him. Zoro grabs a length of rope from the lower deck and uses it to tie up the two thugs. Crocus swatches them silently before laying down on his folding chair.
"I thank you for saving me, but why?" Crocus asks. Luffy, still trying to climb the tree, answers, "I didn't do it to save you, I just felt like hitting them for no reason."
"Say," Nami turns to Crocus, "Who are those two? And what are you doing inside this whale?"
"They're thugs from a nearby town." The doctor answers, "What they were after is simple, whale meat."
"Whale meat?" Sanji repeats.
"If they harvested all of the meat from this whale," Lyson observes, "They could feed a town for at least 2 years."
"Yes, but they won't lay a finger on Laboon."
"Laboon?" Nami asks.
"It's the name of the whale. It comes from a species known as Island Whales that originates from West Blue." Crocus explains until his voice gets darker, "I won't let them take him as food. There is a reason he keeps bashing himself on the Red Line and howling at Reverse Mountain."
"A reason?"
"Yes. He's a whale with a human heart." Crocus then explains the story behind Laboon, a stray Island Whale from West Blue that followed a pirate crew until they reached Reverse Mountain with a damaged ship. The crew stayed with Crocus for several months as their ship was getting fixed. Once it was repaired, the pirate crew decided to leave Laboon with Crocus to keep him safe and promised to return for him in 2-3 years.
It's been 50 years since that day.
"It's been 50 years..." Usopp says incredibly, "Those pirates sure are making him wait a long time."
Crocus has thankfully opened up the gate from Laboon's stomach and led them back to the open sea. There the crew digested the tale the old doctor told them and voiced their thoughts.
"Idiot, this is the Grand Line." Sanji states. "They're dead. That won't change no matter how long he waits."
"Yeah, 50 years in a place as chaotic as the Grand Line that wasn't properly charted. They didn't have a chance." Nami agrees.
"Hey! Why are you guys talking so hopelessly?" Usopp whines, "You don't know. They could come back and bring an end to this touching story! A whale, believing the promise made by friends...right old man?"
"Yeah, reality can be cruel sometimes." Crocus says, pinching the bridge of his nose, "But according to a reliable source, it seems that they fled the Grand Line."
"Didn't you try and tell Laboon that?" Nami asked, "It seems he can understand human speech, right?"
Crocus sighs, "That is the first thing I tried ever since I obtained this information, but Laboon... he refuses it to be true. Ever since then, he howls at Reverse Mountain and bashed his head on the Red Line, begging the sea to bring them back. If he ever accepts what I said, then all of his greatest fears will come true. I've stood by this whale for 50 years, and I won't let him keep hurting himself."
"Humph!" Luffy suddenly springs up from his spot and starts making his way up the whale, screaming all the way.
"What's that idiot doing?"
"We look away for one second..."
"Is he pretending that he's climbing a mountain or something?"
Luffy continues to run up Laboon with what seemingly looks like the mast of the boat (Much to Usopp's horror) and yells,
"Gomu-Gomu no: Flower Arrangement!"
while shoving the mast directly into the still-bleeding wound on Laboon's head. The huge whale's eyes begin to water as it thrashes around in the water, creating giant waves in the sea, pushing the boat around.
While everyone on the boat is yelling at Luffy for doing something idiotic, Lyson winces at the borderline stabbing. 'Ugh, I can imagine the amount of splintering that's gonna cause...'
Laboon is still thrashing about in the water before he torpedoes himself out of the water and onto the shore, bringing Luffy down with him.
"Wha-hey kid!" Crocus says in alarm, thinking that Laboon just crushed Luffy to death.
"Don't worry, he can't die by being crushed!" Nami assures him.
"That doesn't mean he can get pierced by a jagged piece of rock..." Lyson mentions.
"OH, WHO ASKED YOU!?" Everyone on the crew barks at him.
Luffy manages to exchange blows with Laboon, hitting his bleeding spot, his eye, and other places, but Laboon keeps up and manages to keep Luffy on the ropes. Right before Laboon retaliates and goes for a head smash on the rubber caption, Luffy gets up and simply declares this fight a draw. Luffy begins to talk to Laboon and states that since this battle ended with a draw, then he could come back to settle the score, getting Laboon to cry out in happiness.
Lyson watches the exchange in confusion, "I don't get it," he admits, "Luffy threw a few punches and then promised a rematch, why would that make Laboon happy all of a sudden? I would be pissed if I went through what that whale did."
"Seriously, Luffy just made a promise to him and he won't break it." Usopp states.
"You don't know that." Lyson counters, "What happens if you all die in some way and never make it back? You would be giving Laboon more heartache than needed."
"If you don't get it, you don't get it. End of story" Zoro says with an edge in his voice, giving Lyson a side-eye glance.
One speech and a couple of gallons of paint later, Luffy, covered in paint, stands proudly at his work on Laboon. Almost all of Laboon's scars were covered up by a poor recreation of the Straw Hat Jolly Roger.
"Okay, don't go bashing your head again or you'll take off the paint!" Luffy announced. Meanwhile, on the ship, Usopp is repairing the mast that Luffy tore off, Nami and Sanji watch Luffy from the deck, and Lyson and Zoro sit on the lower deck, the former reading his book and the latter sleeping.
"Okay, I'm off drawing the maps for the next island!" Nami says, holding a rolled-up piece of map paper, an ink pen, and a standard compass. At the sight of the compass, Lyson raises an eyebrow at her equipment.
'Is she really using a normal compass for the Grand Line? Don't they have a log pose?' Lyson thinks as he consciously pats the inside of his coat pocket, feeling a small round object inside.
Usopp comes over to the broken mast with some sheets of metal and a hammer and begins to hammer in the sheets to reconnect the mast to the ship. "Damn." he grumbles under his breath, "How dare Luffy break the ship." He then turns to a sleeping Zoro and shouts, "Hey Zoro! Lyson! Help me out here! I'm not a proper shipwright!"
Lyson shakes his head, but before he could say anything, a shrill cry comes from the lighthouse. Sanji darts out of the kitchen, plates of food in his hand.
"That's Nami-chan! She must be crying out in hunger!" Sanji cries out in alarm before making his way up the ladder to the lighthouse, balancing plates of food on his head and hands. Usopp follows, hoping for some time to eat lunch, and Lyson watches them leave and gets up to follow them. When he passes by Zoro, he swiftly smacks the spine of his book to the top of Zoro's head, waking up the swordsman with a jolt.
"Oi! What the hell was that for!?" Zoro yells angrily at the scientist. Lyson spares him a glance as he makes his way off the boat and climbs up the ladder to the lighthouse, only saying, "You might want to hear this, Sleepy."
"Who are you calling Sleepy, Bison?" Zoro retorts, smirking, following Lyson up the ladder. A vein bulges on Lyson's head as he stops on the ladder for a moment, blocking Zoro from passing.
"Hey, what's the deal? Move your ass, Bis-Gah!" A foot cuts Zoro off as it crashes into his face, knocking him down to the bottom of the ridge. Lyson smirks as he continues to climb, hearing a distressed Nami cry out, "Our compass is broken!"
Lyson makes his way to the top of the ridge and sees Luffy, Nami, Usopp, and Sanji crowding around a table with a map and a compass. Lyson gets up, but hears grunting so he looks down the ladder to see a very pissed-off Zoro climbing up the ladder with a sword between his teeth. Lyson quickly joins the group at the table and sees the problem. The compass Nami has been using is spinning constantly, not pointing to a defined point like a normal compass.
"Looks like you guys came here completely unprepared." The group looks up to see Crocus peering over them, "For heaven's sake! Did you come here to die?"
"What?"
"I believe I told you that common sense has no place in the Grand Line." Crocus explains, "The fact is, that your compass is not broken."
"Wait, if it's not broken, then the magnetic fields are..."
"Abnormal," Lyson answers, drawing everyone's attention. "Compasses uses the natural polarity of the world to discern north's direction, but in the Grand Line, each island is rich in minerals that give off their own magnetic fields, effectively making a normal compass point to every island in its vicinity, making it practically worthless."
"Correct, the winds and currents in the Grand Line are affected by those fields, making navigating here impossible without the proper equipment." Crocus agrees.
"Oh..." Nami says disappointed, but her attitude turns around, "Well, I guess it's my bad!"
'Hey! That's a bad thing!" Usopp cried out.
"Hey, this fish is pretty yummy!" Luffy devours the dish Sanji brought from the ship.
"Quiet down all of you!" Nami snaps at the boys.
"But the nose of the Elephant Bluefin Tuna tastes so good!" Luffy argues, mouth full of seafood.
"You need a log pose to travel the Grand Line." Crocus explains.
"Log pose? I've never heard of it..."
"Seriously?" Lyson sneers at the crew as Zoro makes it to the top of the ridge, "You say you want to journey to the Grand Line, but you don't even have the proper equipment!"
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Usopp retorts.
"I mean is, you guys are not prepared at all! I've taken months to get ready to journey to the Grand Line and you people don't even know what a log pose even is!" Lyson reaches into his coat and pulls out a ring with a chain attached to it. At the end of that chain lies a glass globe with a needle inside. "This is a log pose. It records the magnetic field generated by islands and points to them without fail, allowing one to traverse the sea island by island." he explains.
"So something like this?" Luffy holds up a small globe attached to a bracelet.
"Yes, Just like that." Crocus agrees.
"I see..."Nami takes a moment to digest that piece of information, "Wait a sec, Luffy?"
"Yeah?"
"HOW COME YOU HAVE ONE!?" Nami cries out, slugging Luffy in the face.
"It's something those two weirdos dropped on the ship?" Luffy explains after getting knocked down.
"Did they?"
"Yeah, why'd you hit me?"
"Just going with the flow." Nami takes the log pose from Luffy and takes a closer look at it. "So this is a log pose. There's no dial face."
"That's right." Lyson puts his log pose back in his coat and approaches Nami. He points to the needle inside the glass, "That needle will point to an island and once you stay on that island for a set period of time, the needle will point to the next island and so on and so on."
Crocus nods, "Yes, the rule is that there is a magnetic link between each island and by recording the magnetism of one island, it will point to the other. Here on Reverse Mountain, there are seven different magnetic fields to start your path. While each path is different, they all lead to the same end destination, Raftel, the last island to be discovered on the Grand Line, found by the King of the Pirates himself."
"Raftel..."
"Wait, that's where the One Piece is?"
"That is the theory, but no one has been able to confirm it." Crocus answers
"Wow, this conversation just got really weird really fast." Zoro says, tilting his head.
"We'll be the ones to find it." Luffy declares, munching on the fish bones. "Well then, I'm done eating, so let's go!"
"DID YOU EAT ALL OF THE FOOD? I MADE THAT FOOD FOR NAMI-SAN YOU DAMN RUBBER MAN!" Sanji angrily shouts before delivering a devastating kick at Luffy, blowing him back so hard that when he flew past Nami, the drag was strong enough to shatter the log pose.
"You've got to be kidding me..." Lyson scratches his head in disbelief.
"Sanji?" Nami asks darkly.
"Yes, Nami-san! What do you ne-"
"Both of you cool your heads off!" Nami cries as she kicks both of them off the mountain and into the sea.
"Did they break something that important?"
"Our precious log pose..." Nami swiftly turns to Lyson, tears in her eyes, "Can we please use yours?"
"Pleaseeeeeeeee?" Usopp joins her.
Lyson shakes his head immediately, "If I give you mine, then how am I supposed to travel?"
"Don't panic, I'll give you mine." Crocus offers, "Think of it as thanks for helping Laboon."
Not a moment sooner Crocus said that Laboon suddenly emerges from the water, throwing up four figures, Luffy, Sanji, and the man and woman duo that attacked Laboon. Sanji is the first to recover and immediately walks over to the woman and offers to help her up. The man gets up next and faces the rest of them and states,
"We have a favor to ask."
"Whiskey Peak? That's a weird name." Luffy asks. The man and woman introduce themselves as Mr. 9 and Ms. Wednesday and ask for help returning them to their island.
"What is that place exactly?" Usopp questions, in which Mr. 9 answers, "It's where we live...Ummm, sir."
"Don't you guys have your own ship?"
"It's busted."
Nami gets up and close with Mr. 9 and asks, "Isn't that asking a bit too much Mr. 9, after all, you just tried to kill the whale?"
"So who are you guys exactly?"
"I'm a king." Mr. 9 answers, but Nami grabs the side of his face, "Liar." she accuses.
"We can't tell you!" Ms. Wednesday bows down in front of them.
"But we need to get back into that town!" Mr. 9 pleads, joining Ms. Wednesday in her bowing.
"I wouldn't trust them," Crocus says, venom dripping from his voice, "They're dishonest people after all."
"By the way.." Nami mentions, "We don't have a log pose because we kinda broke it. Do you still want to ride with us?"
"What?! You broke it?! That's mine y'know!"
"How dare you act stuck up just because we're being humble?! You guys can't go anywhere either!"
"About that, this guy over here has a personal one," Nami coyly jerks her thumb at Lyson, "and we also have the one Crocus generously gave us."
"We beg you people of such character!" The two of them went back to groveling some more.
"You can ride with us."
Everyone turns over to Luffy as he stares blankly at Mr. 9 and Ms. Wednesday
"You said it was called Whiskey Peak? Let's go there."
"Are you serious, Luffy? Why should we trouble ourselves taking shady people like them?" Usopp asks in disbelief. Both Nami and Sanji look at Luffy like he's insane, Lyson raises an eyebrow, and Zoro doesn't look surprised in the least.
"What's the problem? Don't sweat the small things." Luffy brushes off their concerns. Crocus then reminds Luffy that once they pick an island to begin at, the route will already be chosen.
"If we don't like it, we can just go around and try again!" Luffy says, carefree. "Now, should we all get going? Now that I've made my promise with this whale, I'm ready to set sail!"
"Who on earth are you?" Ms. Wednesday asks Luffy.
"Me? I'm the man who will become King of the Pirates!"
Crocus called Nami and Lyson over to the lighthouse to receive the lop pose from him. When entering the lighthouse, both of them is assaulted by the strong smell of rubbing alcohol and fish. Inside the lighthouse looks like a cross between a doctor's office and a fishing store. On the desks laid bottles of fluids, scalpels, and bandages while fishing rods, spears, and stuffed fish littered the walls.
"Let me grab it from upstairs, give me a moment." Crocus says walking up a flight of stairs and disappearing to the next floor. As soon as he is out of sight, Nami begins to walk around to his desk and poke around in it.
"Do I even want to know what you're doing?" Lyson asks the navigator currently rummaging through Crocus's desk. She moves aside some syringes and pulls out some papers.
"Hey, I'm just seeing if I can find something useful in here, we don't have a doctor, so maybe some supplies."
"And what happens when you find some money?"
"...don't worry about that."
While Nami is looking through the desk, Lyson takes a look at the stairs where Crocus went up to and gets curious. He slowly ascends the flight of stairs and stumbles upon an open door. Taking a peek inside, Lyson sees Crocus rummaging through something in a trunk. The old doctor didn't seem to notice him so he quietly walks past him. There are only two other doors, one to his right and the other to his left and Lyson stops for a moment before deciding to look at the door on his right. He turns the nob and it's open. With a quiet creak, he opens the door and his eyes widen to what's inside. The room walls are filled with photos and paintings of people and scattered throughout the room were different sets of memorabilia.
In the middle wall of the room hung the largest picture, an oil painting of Crocus at a young age with three children around him. The first child had had blue hair covered by a red beanie, a yellow striped shirt, and a big red nose, the next child was a little girl in a tribal outfit, composed of leather and brown feathers. Her long black hair was tied in a braid and had an exotic flower in it. Her face had one mark on it, red ink that reached from her right shoulder and spiraled to her right eye. The last child had vibrant red hair covered by a straw hat, a white shirt, and a big smile on his face. The boy with the red nose leaned on a sitting Crocus while the girl sat on his lap and the red-haired boy sat on his shoulders. At the bottom of the painting was four different signatures each reading a name. The most surprising thing about it is that one was written in a familiar language.
"Crocus...Buggy...Shanks...and what? Freya?" Lyson reads out loud.
"You can read that, young man?" Lyson's heart drops as he turns his head around and looks up at the doctor, his eyes covered by the gleam of his glasses.
"I-I'm sorry, I was just curious about-"
"I don't like to repeat myself, young man. Can. You. Read. That." Crocus asks again, his voice dark.
Lyson straightens himself and looks back at the painting. "What if I can?" he asks confidently. Crocus doesn't respond but walks past Lyson, picks up the painting, and turns it around. He reaches his hand in the back of the painting and pulls out a single piece of paper and walks back to Lyson. Crocus holds the paper out to the scientist and Lyson carefully plucks it out of his hands and holds it up. On it, four lines of a strange language filled the page.
"If you can, could you please read that to me?" Crocus pulls out a chair and sits in front of Lyson, waiting for a response. Lyson takes a gulp he didn't know he had and begin to read:
"I'm sorry I blamed you for our Captain's death.
I really hope you and Laboon will be reunited with your lost friends.
I hope you can forgive me.
Also, it was me and Shanks who broke your glasses that time, we both just blamed it on Buggy"
"Ghuahahaha!"
Lyson flinches as he finishes reading and looks up to see Crocus laughing for a good minute before it died down.
"C'mon, your friends are waiting outside." Crocus gestures him out the door. Lyson turns to leave the room but stops at the doorway.
"Don't get any wrong ideas, old man, they're just my ride into the Grand Line, nothing more," he says before leaving the room, leaving Crocus alone with his memories.
"It should be okay now. The log pose should be set." Crocus checks with Nami, "Does the log pose match the direction?"
"Uh-huh. It's pointing to Whiskey Peak!" Nami confirms with her new log pose.
"See ya later, flower pops! Thanks for the log pose!" Luffy shouts from the ship.
"Make sure you have a safe trip!" Crocus answers.
"See ya, whale! I'm leaving now!" Luffy bids farewell to Laboon, who lets out a rumbling sound in response.
"To Whiskey Peak..."
"FULL SPEED AHEAD!"
The Going Merry sails forward as Laboon roars for them behind them. Lyson hangs back at the back of the ship and takes one last look at the whale and doctor. He checks if anyone on the ship sees him and when no one can, he gives a wave to Crocus and Laboon, a small smile on his face.
'I have questions I want to ask, but I feel like I already answered yours...'
"I wonder if those pirates will be the ones we've been waiting for..." Crocus says as the ship disappears into the horizon. "That man has such an uncanny air about him and that other one...he's probably your kid, right Freya?"
Again, sorry for the late update, so let's get into it.
I want to ask you guys your opinion on fights, more specifically fights that involved the Strawhats fighting one on one. If Lyson is gonna get involved, should I add a new enemy for him to fight or should he be a supporting character?
That's pretty much what has been stirring in my head. I hoped you enjoy this chapter!
Reviews give me life!