Chapter 21: The First Challenge. Laboon, the sperm whale with a human heart!
"Okay, let's see if I understand everything..." Rachel began, after having calmed down and Nami giving her another set of clothes (without charging her, which is rare). "You are Monkey D. Luffy, captain of the Straw Hat Pirates, these four are your entire crew..."
"Yep," Luffy said simply.
"Composed by Roronoa Zoro, the Pirate Hunter..."
"Yes," Zoro said.
"Usopp, the shooter and liar..."
"Oi, who are you calling liars?!" Usopp yelled offended.
"You," the gods said monotonously while the demigods laughed.
"Sanji, the cook who kicks everyone except women..."
"That's right, Rachel-chwan, my love! As long as you're here, I'll take care to protect you!" Sanji was already practically mad with love much to the exception of Nami and her company.
"And lastly, Nami, equally talented navigator and thief."
"Be careful or you'll owe me 200,000 Belis for the clothes, cutie!" Nami mischievously reminded the Oracle who just looked at her as she continued the summary.
"And now we are heading to the most dangerous sea in this world for you to be the King of the Pirates, facing off against big pirates, the Navy... ONLY with four other people on a ship as small as this, WITH NO plan at all." to stand still and with the risk of dying with every breath of air..."
"Yep."
"DON'T SAY IT LIKE THAT, IDIOT!" Nami and Usopp yelled at him.
"The very definition of 'suicide', yes," Dionysus replied, not interested in knowing how the Oracle of Delphi is in the East Blue.
Rachel thought for a few moments until I spoke: "To be honest, this isn't the first time in a situation like this. And it definitely won't be the last."
"Really? You look like a girl to me...Arrgh!" Zoro can't finish when Rachel kicks him in the shin.
"Don't call me girl again... I've seen things that would drive you crazy. Anyway..."
Rachel turns to Luffy.
"I want to know how you can see Percy and the gods so well! Were you born with the power to see through the Mists like me?"
"Hey, what are you talking about?" Luffy asks surprised.
"Would you mind explaining to the rest?" asks the navigator annoyed by this situation.
Although Rachel didn't like Nami's tone, she decides to explain it as best as possible.
"The Mist is a supernatural force controlled by the goddess Hecate, whose main purpose is to cause mortals to be unable to see mythical things clearly, and instead see things their minds can understand. Only some people can use it like me."
"That sounds like a Devil Fruit!" Usopp replies scared.
"Believe me, your 'almighty' Devil Fruits are nothing before the gods."
"I don't know Rachel, we haven't been in this world long, but from what we've seen, they're very rare." said the son of Poseidon to his friend.
"So I'm weird?" Luffy asked no one in particular.
"The rarest of all." They all answered without exception.
"So, Luffy is...talking...to the gods of your world...right now?" Nami asked cautiously.
"Now that I think about it, in Loguetown, Luffy mentioned a certain Percy and 'an old man from lightning' while we were running away," Sanji remembered.
"It's over, I won't allow you little mortals to despise the King of Olympus!" Zeus bellowed, unleashing lightning and thunder.
"HIAAAAH! WE HAVE ANGRY THE GODS!" the terrified navigator and shooter shouted.
"Wh-what?!" Sanji asked surprised.
"Interesting..." Zoro started to smile, he wanted to know if there were fighting gods.
"Brother?" asks Hades dryly.
"We haven't gotten around to dating and now we're having one of your dramatic fits…he's getting really upset," Hera told him, bored with so much drama from her husband.
"Never mind... because we're finally going to the Grand Line!" yells Luffy.
"You haven't heard anything about what's going on?!" all the Straw Hats yell at him.
"Nope, I haven't heard much of anything. Shishishi!"
The faces of disbelief were seen even in the gods.
Rachel just sighed in defeat.
After the talk, the Straw Hats and the Olympians enjoyed the breakneck ride up Reverse Mountain, the wind blowing past them as they continued to pick up speed as they went, the water splashing everywhere creating more mist. All of her memories were screaming with joy, obviously loving every minute of it.
"I can't believe everything is going so fast!" Amphetite yelled happily.
"I reckon that ship is tough. Not bad," said Hephaestus happy for the ship.
They sped down, almost as if they were on a waterslide, breaking through the clouds so they couldn't see anything but the white mist ahead of them. The five of them were laughing, sounding like they didn't give a care in the world…but then, Zoro was yelling, "Did you just hear something?"
"Uh, what's that?" Nami yelled at him when the gods and demigods stopped laughing long enough to hear them.
"He's right, he's kind of a whimper!" Rachel yelled, "Aren't you guys listening?!"
"It was probably just the wind!" Nami dismissed it as they started to go even faster, "At this speed, everything sounds distorted!"
But then they heard it, a distant wail that sounded like a foghorn had broken through the clouds.
"What's that?" Artemis yelled as Usopp started looking through her glasses to try and find that answer as well.
"Nami!" Sanji yelled from the mast, "I see a mountain up ahead!"
"Another mountain?" repeated Posedon in surprise. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think there's anything but ocean once you get over Reverse Mountain."
"Not a stone mountain anywhere," Themis stated casually.
"WHAT?! THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!" Nami yelled at him in a panic.
"But it's right there!" Sanji yelled as he pointed in front of them, "I can see it!"
"Who cares!?" Luffy yelled from Merry's head, and it was obvious that he couldn't care less what happened. "COME ON!"
"YOU'RE CRAZY!" The Oracle yells at him completely terrified and incredulous.
"Of course, he's not worried," Artemis sighed, "I bet he'd still be laughing even if he was a mountain."
"But what are they talking about...?" Hades started when Nami started yelling that they should be home free after passing the Twin Capes. But then that wailing wail rang once more, louder than ever so that no one could deny that they didn't hear it.
Luffy was now trying to squint through the thick mist, trying to make out something. At that moment, they broke through the white sheet, and all that could be seen was a vast navy blue, almost black, causing the five Straw Hats, the Olympians, and the demigods to scream in shock.
"It's a black wall!" Luffy screamed in fear.
"No, it's not…!" Nami cried out in horror as she grabbed the railing, tears welling in her eyes.
"Then what is that!?" Zoro yelled before he could finish.
"It can't be possible..." the Messenger God spoke in astonishment.
"It's a…" Hestia exclaimed, her eyes widening as she heard the words behind her wailing.
"It's a whale!" Usopp yelled.
"That... That...! IS THAT A WHALE?!" Rachel cried out, unable to believe her eyes as her hands trembled as she stared at the whale, though the size of it was unrecognizable. To say that this whale was huge would be the understatement of the century… in front of them was a magnificent creature that was so large that it seemed that it could swallow an entire island in one bite. The whale's huge mouth opened a bit so they could see the row of sharp teeth, and a single tooth the size of the Merry, if not bigger... and its great head was also covered in dozens of scars, both old like new.
"It's a monster..." Dionysus said with surprising astonishment.
"Don't you dare say that! That poor little creature... what happened to it to have so many injuries?" said the Goddess of the Hunt disconsolately.
The whale moaned once more, the loudest yet, which made the entire mountain tremble. Everyone covered their ears, the noise was going through their brains and their eardrums felt like they were about to burst.
"Argh, my ears! Make him shut up!" Ares yelled, holding his hands over his ears until they were crushed.
"That thing will knock us deaf!" Zeus yelled, cursing in his mind at the explosion.
"HOW HAS IT GOT SO BIG!" Thalia cried out in shock.
"It's incredible," called Anfetite, looking at him fascinated.
"But why is he so scared?" Percy said worriedly
The Straw Hats, however, were all screaming in panic.
"W…what…what are we going to do!?" Usopp yelled, looking faint as he looked at them all, desperate that one of them had a plan here.
"Should we fight?" Luffy quickly suggested.
"That's her answer to everything. Unfortunately, fighting doesn't solve all of our problems," Hestia said as Nami started yelling at her.
"Idiot, how are we supposed to fight a HUNDRED TON WHALE?" Nami demanded hysterically.
"Well, do something!" Usopp yelled at them both. "Our path is blocked! How do we escape?!"
"Calm down," Sanji yelled, though he too sounded about to lose his mind in blind fear, "If this creature looks like a giant wall to us, we must be a speck!"
"Good point," Hephaestus said as they closed in on Laboon with every second, "I mean... this ship is puny! About half the size of most common ships. I wouldn't be at all surprised to guess that he doesn't even have you noticed yet."
"Even if that's true, it won't do much good if they don't do something to stop it," Demeter reminded him coldly.
Zoro noticed that too and yelled that it wouldn't matter if they were small for him because they were going to crash into him unless they changed course. "To watch!" then he yelled, pointing to the whale's side where there was an opening, "We can go left! Port! Hard port!"
"The rudder is broken!" Usopp reminded him out loud.
"Man, just getting to the Grand Line equals dying, right?" Groover commented casually.
"Well... The East Blue, being the weak sea, is also the easiest when it comes to going to the Grand Line." Themis replied, cocking her head.
"It just happened to be one bit of bad luck followed by another," Junior said with mild amusement. "Most would find it difficult to take after a while."
"We got used to it," Percy informed him with a shrug at how similar the situation was to 'Jackson's Luck'.
"Do something, dammit!" Zoro yelled, and it was strange to see him lose control of his calm like that, "Anything!"
"Wait! I know!" Luffy yelled as he jumped off the figurehead and headed straight for the hull. "This will work, it has to work!"
"What is he doing here?" Hestia asked as Nami yelled after that very question, but she didn't stick around to answer as she disappeared out the front of the ship. The gods and demigods stayed on the deck while the three men went and tried to pull what was left of the tiller to the left.
"This is useless!" Usopp yelled as the other two cursed, "The ship won't turn!"
Just as they had almost reached Laboon, below decks there was a huge explosion that could only mean one thing...
"THE CANON?!" they heard the others scream.
"It's not possible..."
"Deny it if it makes you happy," Annabeth said with a shrug.
The shock of an explosion pushed the ship back slightly and it exploded in front of them once it hit the whale. Artemis, who had not taken her gaze from the whale, screamed in horror at what she saw.
"The whale!" she cried herself, thinking that such a creature had been injured.
"Relax, Arty!" Apollo yelled at her. "I don't think he even felt it."
"That was smart actually," Athena said as everyone tried to regain their balance. The cannon had prevented them from crashing into the enormus animal and being destroyed, but it wasn't enough to stop them completely. The ship had slowed considerably, but when it collided with the whale, it ended up breaking Merry's figurehead. The sheep's head broke open with a loud CRACK and went flying over his head so that when he hit the deck they could hear Luffy's scream of horror, "HEY! THAT WAS MY SPECIAL SEAT!"
Aphrodite and Hestia were taking that hard and Merry's head lay sadly on its side. But once everyone caught their breath and immersed themselves in what happened, the pirates broke the oars and were now trying to slip off the whale without him noticing a thing.
Zoro, Usopp, and Sanji were yelling at each other about what just happened. "Dammit, let's get out of here before it's too late!" Zoro started.
"Would someone care to tell me what the hell is going on?!" Usopp yelled back, looking ready to cry.
"It's so big that the cannonball didn't even knock it back!" Sanji yelled as they worked hard to row, "That, or his reaction time is too slow!"
"Who cares!?" Zoro yelled at him, "At least we're alive!"
"I don't remember seeing all of you freaking out like that," Tyson said as he looked at Nami, who was lying there as if she was in shock.
"Well, they didn't expect a giant whale to be the first to greet them on the Grand Line," his brother told him. "And they almost died here."
"If I'm being honest, neither do I." commented the Goddess of Wisdom.
Once again, the whale howled, feeling like his voice was a shock wave, all the Straw Hats and Olympians were trying to block out the sound and just focused on rowing past him.
Artemis tried to listen to what Laboon was saying, but they kept rowing until they passed right under Laboon's eye, which was easily more than four times the size of the small ship.
At that moment, Luffy returned to the deck, looking furious.
"Luffy?" Nami whispered, wondering what she was going to do now.
"You think you can break my special seat and get away with it?!" Luffy yelled as he clenched his fist as punched Laboon right in the eye. "TAKE THIS!"
Everyone was surprised and gasped at the reckless action of the rubber pirate.
"Luffy! What are you doing? How could you do that to the poor thing?!" Amphetite yelled angrily as Ares, Hermes, and Apollo laughed.
"He never thinks before acting," Zeus reminded her, exhausted.
"Moron!" all the Straw Hats yelled, and each one of them had tears of fear in their eyes. For a second, time seemed to freeze because there was nothing to be heard but the sound of the waves hitting the ship... but then the whale's huge eye suddenly looked up at them and they cried out in terror.
"He sees us!" they yelled and seemed ready to start rowing like mad away from there.
Luffy naturally stood his ground. "I'm not done with you! There's a lot more where that came from!"
But before they knew it Rachel had punched her in the face.
"YOU ARE JUST AS CRAZY AS PERCY!" at that moment she grabs him by the neck and begins to shake him, scared to death. "WHO WOULD YOU PUNCH IN THE EYE OF A WHALE THE SIZE OF A SKYSCRAPER?! WE ARE DEAD WITH YOU IN COMMAND!"
"Stop moving so much!" Luffy complained as both Zoro and Usopp kicked Luffy in the head, yelling at him that he could make them all get killed.
"...No comment," Percy said when he felt that his friends and girlfriend nodded at the oracle's words.
The whale wailed angrily before slowly opening its huge mouth to him, revealing the large teeth once more.
"Please…don't," Nami croaked, now crying hard. But the torrent of water entering Laboon's mouth was like a current and his little boat had no chance as he was quickly drawn in. It acted like a black hole…they were pulled right into the mouth of the huge animal and there was nothing they could do but hold on tight and hope for the best.
Luffy managed to stumble off the ship, and before he hit the water, he reached out for the whale's teeth and then launched himself at the whale's head. As he ascended, his crew was sucked in until the whale closed its mouth unceremoniously.
Gods and demigods blinked.
"...Okay, now what?" Clarisse asked.
Luffy took a breath over the whale's head but soon became angry, slapping the creature's blubber and demanding that it spit out his friends.
As the whale began to plunge into the water, Luffy resorted to stomping his feet, yelling that he and his friends were supposed to go on adventures together... until he noticed a hatch attached to the whale.
"Well, well, finally we see something interesting!" said the God of the Forge intrigued.
"...Wait, is it a submarine?" Percy asked as Tyson and Artemis felt a little better at the thought of it not being real.
"Why the hell would a submarine need a mouth?" Clarisse rolled her eyes.
"Stop saying my name like I'm a dirty word!" Hades expressed annoyed.
"And isn't it?" Demeter replied innocently.
"Are they committed to the part about the whales?" Thalia suggested.
Clarisse slapped herself across the face.
Although the Going Merry was swallowed by the whale, the crew found themselves facing an island, surrounded by sky, much to their confusion.
...
"...W-What?" Hera vocalized everyone's confusion.
Zoro thought they were in a dream while Nami wondered what the island and the house were doing there.
Soon, a giant squid appeared from the water.
"Oh come on, give them a break!" Amphetite complained'.
Usopp and Nami ran as Zoro and Sanji prepared to fight, but before the battle could begin, three harpoons came out of the house and stabbed into the giant squid, killing it.
The demigods let out cries of surprise when Artemis was impressed with the man's mastery of the hour.
Sanji and Zoro hoped that it was a person who did this, as Usopp and Nami feared for their lives until they wondered what happened to Luffy.
Now, with Luffy, it's another story. He seemed to be in some passageway, wondering why all this is on a whale.
"So wait, the whale is a giant submarine?" asked Hermes, absolutely flabbergasted by all of this.
"If so, I would like to know how they built it!" exclaimed Hephaestus surprisingly excited.
Back with the rest of the crew, they saw an old man in a flower headdress come out of the house. After the eye catches, the old man pulled the strings and appeared in the light. They don't know if the man is here just to fish or to save them.
They looked at him as the man stared back at them intently. At that moment, the gods sensed that the old man knew they were there and sent them the same intense look. The tension could be cut with a knife... until the old man sat in his chair and began to read the newspaper.
"SAY SOMETHING, YOU DAMN OLD MAN!" Ares bellowed along with Sanji with a comical face of anger.
The demigods laughed at the funny part.
"Geez, calm down, Sanji." Thaila chuckled, shaking her head.
"You know, dad, you should calm down too," she calls out to her daughter before the God of War gives her a look.
In the back, Usopp threatened, "You know we're dangerous! They've put a price on our heads!"
"And may I know why you say that like a coward in the back of the boat?" Rachel replies with a drop of sweat on her head.
At this, the old man's eyes flashed, staring at them while there were dramatic angles.
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
"Don't even think about messing with me, it would be fatal." said the old man fearlessly at Usopp's statement.
Usopp and Nami were terrified and Rachel was on her guard when Sanji asked who was going to die...
"Me."
The giggles turned more into giggles at that.
"W-What is this?" Aphrodite laughed, with the laughter of Hermes and Apollo.
Zoro told him to calm down, but Sanji thought the old man was making fun of them. The swordsman asked where they are and who he is.
Once again the man looked at them intimately as there were more dramatic angles (although I believe they are the same).
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
The old man told him that he should introduce himself before asking questions. Zoro agreed, trying to be polite, but when he tried, the old man, Crocus, made the introduction in his place, telling them his name, his occupation, his age, and his star sign, his blood type.
"Can I cut it!?"
That laugh had turned into full-blown laughter.
"How long will this last?" Percy asked though he doesn't complain.
"I hope a lot!" Junior said cracking up with laughter.
Crocus thought it was rude of him to barge into his private resort and ask if they looked like they were in the belly of a rat.
"Wait, is it a whale?" Rachel said confused as the laughter trailed off. "How is it possible?!"
"But what about the sky?!" Athena added to that confusion.
Nami didn't want to be digested, which caused Crocus stared them down with dramatic angle shots once again.
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
"Would you cut that out?!"
"Haven't you guys heard of the 'repeating gag'?"
"That was a gag?!"
Laughter returned.
"Wait, I thought that was a bad thing," Hecate said.
"But there is the rule of three," Demeter remembered her with a bit of a smile.
Crocus pointed towards the exit, which looks like a floating door. Nami asked why there is even an exit in the belly of a whale, or why the door is in the sky.
"I mean, is it the door or the other way around," Apollo said as the others tried to figure out a gate in the sky.
"Don't be gross!" Aphrodite yelled at the Sun God, hitting her arm.
Usopp told him to look carefully, seeing how everything is painted inside the whale's stomach. Crocus simply calls it 'the doctor's playful mind'.
"You must have a long time to paint a whale's stomach," Poseidon said.
"This makes what Michelangelo did in the Sistine Chapel child's play!" commented Athena impressed. "How is it possible to paint the stomach of a whale of this size!?"
"And he's very confident since that means he's floating on stomach acid," added Artemis.
"But how is it so well lit?" Dionysus questioned. "This is supposed to be completely dark."
"Oi, you twelve-robed ones and the other brats."
The gods turned to Crocus, no longer so surprised that anyone saw them, but still enough to draw their attention.
"Don't you like this place?"
"Umm... You see..." Percy started.
"NO." Poseidon, Hade, Hera, Demeter, and Hestia said to the one.
"They were swallowed by our father," Zeus said simply, he also remembered it well earning a look from the old man, although he didn't seem so impressed.
"Well, I'm sorry but it was you who entered my house."
"Insolent mortal...!"
"Another one that speaks to the air! So, it's true that the gods..." Nami said fearfully and looked around her.
"Luffy wasn't lying; he can talk to the gods! Come to think of it, he was also talking about a certain Percy..."
"You mean...THAT RUBBER IDIOT CAN SEE REAL GODDESSES! LUFFY DAMN YOU!" Sanji shouted jealous and about to explode.
Zoro didn't say since he had mixed thoughts; he did not believe in the gods and even less that there were people who could talk to them. But Luffy said it with total confidence and there was also the fact that Mihawk could see and interact with them.
The crew plans to get out of there, but the waters suddenly began to churn violently. Crocus noted that "it" started when Nami was able to see that her island is a ship made of iron, reminding them that the Going Merry will melt in gastric acid.
Usopp demanded an answer, and Crocus told them that the whale, Laboon, had started to bang its head against the Red Line.
The Olympians, especially Hestia, let out a gasp of surprise upon seeing Laboon do this.
"W-Why is he doing that?" Hestia's eyes filled with tears as she watched the whale abuse herself.
Nami remembered Laboon's terrible scars and his howls, realizing that she was in pain. She and Usopp thought that the old man was trying to kill the whale from the inside.
Artemis was already looking at the old man with anger, while Themis only looks at the "sky" solemnly.
"I already said."
"Lady Themis?" Annabeth asked, puzzled.
"I think the whale suffers, but not because of Crocus-san."
"What are you saying?"
Zoro told them that they should get out before they were digested, as Sanji believed that they had no say in his whaling nor were they under any obligation to save the whale.
"He's right, we're either leaving or the ship will break up!" shouted the God of the Forge.
Suddenly, the old man swam into the gastric acid.
"What are you doing, old man?" Clarisse can't help but ask.
Usopp saw Crocus get out of the water and go up the metal ladder, but Zoro is more focused on how they opened the doors.
Suddenly, Luffy comes out of a door, with two other strangers. They made an odd-looking duo… there was a middle-aged man with a large crown on top of his long hair and the number 9 written on each of his cheeks. The second was a young woman with long wavy blue hair tied up in a tight ponytail and a slightly smug expression.
"What the hell...". Ares let out a breath.
"That boy is crazy," Rachel said monotonously.
"You are saying it."
Nami saw Crocus disappear through the door, but Zoro wanted to focus on Luffy first.
Suddenly, the whale calms down, but they have to deal with the two, demanding who they are. The woman introduced herself as Miss Wednesday and the man as Mr. 9; both could see that they are pirates. At first, they thought that simply talking to them would work, but Crocus appeared and told the two that he won't let them lay a finger on Laboon as long as he was alive.
The Straw Hats and the Olympians were confused when Mr. 9 revealed that they wanted to take down the whale, aiming their guns at the walls. Cannonballs flew out, but before they hit the wall, Crocus jumped up and took the hit.
"Old man!" "Mr. Flower!"
"H-He protected Laboon," Tyson said softly.
From this selfless action, the Straw Hats and the gods understood that he was trying to protect the whale all along.
The two told them that there is no point in resisting, that they will turn the whale into food for their people.
"Fishing is not enough?" Thalia yelled at the two as the cyclops let out a startled squawk.
Luffy banged their heads together...because he felt like hitting them.
The demigods cheered as Artemis smiled sweetly.
"Thank you, Luffy." Hestia let out a sigh of relief.
Later, when Crocus returned to his island, he thanks Luffy, but asked him why he did it. Luffy simply stated that he just doesn't like the duo.
"I'm not surprised, they are very unpleasant," Annabeth said giving them dirty looks.
"I wish I could have taught them a lesson." said her boyfriend.
As Usopp tried to throw Luffy down the tree, Nami asked who these people were and what Crocus was doing inside the whale. Crocus said the two were thugs from a nearby town looking for whale meat. If they had killed the whale, they would have fed the townspeople for at least 2-3 years.
"Well, it's a big whale." Poseidon shrugged.
"It's almost like the Titanic." commented his wife.
"But that doesn't make it okay to eat it!" Tyson yelled at him with Percy nodding.
Crocus claimed that Laboon is an island whale, the largest whale in the world that only lives in West Blue. There's a reason he keeps hitting the Red Line and howling towards Reverse Mountain, and that's because Laboon is a whale with a human heart, and he's been devoutly waiting for a certain group of pirates for 50 long years.
"50 years?" Groover's jaw dropped.
"Noooooo! It's going to be another sad animal story!" Aphrodite yelled as the Goddess of the Hearth paled a bit.
Crocus decided to tell them the story of Laboon.
50 years ago, Crocus was on his duty as a lighthouse keeper as usual when one day, some pirates came down Reverse Mountain and entered the Grand Line. With them was a small whale and that was Laboon.
The teenage girls and some goddesses were amazed and cooed to see little Laboon squeak.
Crocus explained that the pirates had been traveling with Laboon, but planned to drop him off at the West Blue as the Grand Line is extremely dangerous. Still, the whale followed them.
Island whales often travel together in groups, but Crocus suspected that Laboon felt as if he were a member of that pirate crew.
Since his ship had broken down, they stayed at the cape for several months, whereupon Crocus and the pirates became good friends. Therefore, on the day of his departure, his captain asked him to take care of Laboon for 2-3 years. He was sure that they would go around the world and come back here, and he asked Laboon to wait for them since the Grand Line is dangerous.
Laboon tried to follow them, but at the captain's call, he remembered his promise.
The Straw Hats and the Olympians can't believe Laboon has been waiting 50 years for just that one team. Nami asked if that's why he kept hitting himself on the Red Line, to which Crocus said yes.
"No! Why did he have to have a sad backstory too!?" Tyson yelled.
The Straw Hats (with the Olympians following) sailed down the canal in Laboon's body, which surprises Zoro that Laboon is still alive. Sanji wondered if he too is past his 'playful mind', but Crocus corrected him that it is the 'playful mind of a doctor' since he is a doctor and ran a clinic on the cape long ago. Although it was only a few years, he was also a ship's doctor.
'Interesting.' thought Athena.
Luffy asked if Crocus could be his ship's doctor, but Crocus told them that he doesn't have the energy to do reckless things anymore.
"Maybe it's part of the treatment?" Rachel suggested as Crocus reached the top of the stairs and stood on a platform.
"The girl is right," she replied, looking at them, "With a creature of this size it is practically impossible to treat it from the outside. Therefore, I devised a more drastic solution. Here is the way out!" she added as she turned a wheel and the big door opened and they could see the sky… the real sky.
"Treatment?" repeated Hermes confused and some of them looked at each other.
"Don't you think fifty years is a bit extreme?" Usopp suddenly asked, "Those pirates know how to test someone's patience."
"What were you thinking?" Rachel said, "Do you think they would make him wait fifty years?"
Usopp shrugged.
"Idiot, it´s just Rachel-chan said! Don't you get it? This is Grand Line!" Sanji yelled at him as they moved Merry's head to the upper deck. "His friends of his are dead!" he blew cigarette smoke from him and added: "That whale can wait forever, they won't come back."
Nami crossed her arms and said, "Sad to say, but it's probably true. Back in the days when those guys traveled the Grand Line, it was an unknown sea. A thousand times more treacherous than it is now."
'A thousand times more treacherous than now? Now I HAVE to be there.' thought the God of War.
'This has gotten much more complicated than expected.' Athena began to think everything she could and she didn't like it.
"I hate to imagine what it had been like to sail these seas in those days," Hestia added helpfully to Themis. "It must have been terrible."
"Well, it was far from easy," Themis said, finally beginning to look thoughtfully up at the sky. She took out an amphora of wine from Lemnos and added: "Nothing in this sea makes sense... logic, reason, judgment... all of that is almost useless here. Unless you knew how it was done, you wouldn't you would have the opportunity to do it sailing here. Believe me when I tell you that at some moments I thought I was in "that" place."
At that moment, the place started to get a little cold and Percy and Annabeth started to breathe heavily as they held their hands trying to keep in touch with each other. Luffy noticed this but didn't say anything. He was thinking of other things.
Usopp let out an angry growl and ran toward them, yelling, "Why is everyone so pessimistic? They don't know they're dead! They might still come back for him! Come on, have some sympathy. Yeah? I thought it was very touching! I mean a whale still believes in a promise his friends made him despite all these years?! That's a true bond! Right, pops?"
"Certainly," Crocus agreed, but leaning his hand against the coconut tree, he replied, "But the lesson here is that reality is cruel. Laboon's cohorts are not dead. The truth is, they gave up their quest!"
And then he told them that he found out that the pirates turned and left the Grand Line through the Calm Belt. He couldn't claim to know exactly what happened to them, but he doubted they'd ever come back here for him.
"So if I got this right," Sanji said, now sounding angry, "were these pirates a bunch of cowards who cared more about saving their asses than keeping a promise to a friend?!"
Some goddesses became very sad. Poseidon stood his ground even though he felt true regret for such a noble animal. Dionysus sighed annoyed, he couldn't believe that he appeared as a whale.
But before he could tell them more, Usopp's voice rang out indignantly. "Why would someone abandon such a loyal creature?! Just look at him! It's cruelty on a grand scale!"
"But if you knew all this, why didn't you tell him?" Nami asked Crocus, "Laboon can communicate with you. He seems to understand humans pretty well for a whale."
"And he is more human than some humans," Annabeth said, trying to get over her shock.
"I told him," Crocus admitted, "every last wretched detail." He sighed and said, "That was the day Laboon started howling on Reverse Mountain. Soon after, he started to slam his body against the Red Line. It's like he thinks that wall is what keeps his friends away. And that By breaking it, he can clear the way for his return."
"You mean…?" Apollo began as he slowly began to understand what was happening here. "So... Laboon has those scars...? Why... why...?"
"Because he wants to see his friends again," the God of the Underworld said, completely surprised as he admired Laboon's dedication. "How did he do it…?"
"He refuses to believe me because then he'll have to admit it's over," Crocus said grimly, "and that terrifies him more than anything. There's no way he's going back to West Blue, so what we have here is a paradox of tragic proportions." Laboon is a lost soul who is dying to live with his friends, but keeps killing himself to reach them."
The most sentimental wanted to disconnect from everything; he didn't want to listen anymore, but he kept listening. They were the least they could do; this creature had the tenacity of Odysseus and the strength of Heracles in his hero days.
"Tragedy," Sanji said, "But still, despite all the pain those pirates put him through, they did the same to you by saddling you with his cargo." He took the cigarette out of him and asked what he was going to do, adding that he had done enough for Laboon.
"The scars on his skin run deep," Crocus answered simply, "Those on his heart are even deeper. He needs someone to tend to his wounds and I'm all he's got. For years he's been abusing himself and I'm keeping him cured. A strange friendship but it works."
"Thank you, Crocus," Groover said through tears, touched by such friendship.
"Don't cry, don't cry..." the daughter of Ares said to herself, but she failed
"Everything will be fine," Hestia said softly. "I know".
"Hi, guys?" Annabeth suddenly asked as she watched Luffy tear off Merry's mast and head towards Laboon. "Why did Luffy just break part of the ship?"
"Uh oh...I think I get the idea." Percy said, thinking of Luffy's idea. "He's crazy."
"Hey?" Thalia asked as they all turned to look.
"Gomu Gomu no..." Luffy plunged the mast right into Laboon's bleeding wound. "...ikebana!"
"Sweet Olympus!" "Luffy!" "Straw hat!" "Are you trying to kill him?!" "He's suffered enough already!" "Don't put him out of his misery!"
Of course, Hestia cried horribly at this, utterly confused as to why Luffy would do this to the whale.
"We take our eyes off him for five minutes and he does this!" Hephaestus informed everyone, shaking his head. Although she understood why Luffy did it, it was no fun trying to fix it.
"This is why he needs to be accompanied everywhere," Hera added grimly.
This time Laboon felt the pain and his eyes filled with tears of pain as he let out a loud howl of agony. Luffy held on tightly to the mast as Laboon tried to throw it away. Laboon was now angry as he jumped straight out of the sea and smacked Luffy against the Red Line with his body. The waves the whale was creating nearly capsized their ship, and with the sails still on Laboon's head, there was nothing the pi could do but hold on for dear life.
Crocus was worried that Luffy might have been killed, but Nami tried to reassure him that he couldn't be crushed to death.
"If it were like that, I wouldn't have so many headaches," I speak the King of the Gods.
Luffy was getting up and now he was smirking at Laboon. The whale was now seriously angry and went to smash him with his tail, which ended up hitting him. "Nami messed up here..." Junior finished, "this was fixed in the end with a fight."
Luffy then punched him in the eye again, but Laboon retaliated by throwing him against the lighthouse. This continued until Laboon managed to lift a part of his body towards the ground to try and attack him again... but then Luffy suddenly yelled, "It's a draw!"
These words startled Laboon so much that he stopped. Luffy looked up, dirty and bruised, but he was smiling. "I'm stronger than I look! But I had a feeling you knew that."
Laboon simply looked back, and even those who didn't understand the whale could tell that he was completely lost here of what he was going through.
"Luffy?" Artemis said quietly. "What are you doing?"
"Giving Laboon something to look forward to," Athena replied with an impressed smile. "Though he does it unusually, he gets things done. He gave Laboon another reason to go on living."
The gods looked at her in confusion until Luffy continued speaking.
"I always know when someone is itching to fight," Luffy told him as he looked up. "Well, if you want to fight, I'll give you one! Your companions used to share with you, didn't they, and you missed it? Well, I can rival anything thrown at you! I'll tell you what. After I and my friends travel the Grand Line, we'll come back here and find you."
Tears were forming in Laboon's giant eyes as Luffy finished, "Then you better be ready for a rematch!"
"So that's what he was doing!" Clarisse yelled, now getting it. Tears fell from the whale's eyes now: the anger and madness that had been there only seconds before seemed to melt away as she let out another howl. But this time, it wasn't sadness… it was the excitement of another fight.
The gods now fully understood why Luffy had bothered to fight him. He wanted to give Laboon hope for the future... that, to give Laboon a renewed sense of hope, he fought and then promised Laboon that she would see him again, under the guise of wanting a rematch.
"Luffy, thank you." Annabeth smiled, happy to have given her hope.
"Though we don't appreciate you nearly stabbing him in the brain!" Tyson quickly added with the others nodding.
"Logic that only makes sense to that rubber brain," Dionysus said with a half smile.
Luffy then did something else which brought, if that was possible, more tears to his eyes. After a while, after they got the mast back from Laboon's head, Luffy got some paint and managed to make a very poorly drawn version of his Jolly Roger on the whale's head where the scars were. It looked like Luffy's first attempt at drawing the flag of him before...and it looked so funny painted there that everyone got a little laugh.
"Hey, not bad," Luffy commented as he looked back to admire his handiwork, also covered in paint. "Consider this a symbol of my promise to come to fight with you!" he told him, "Of course, it's a rushed paint job, so you'll have to be careful and avoid hitting your head or you'll rub it off! Got it?"
"Smart…" Athena said in an impressed tone, "Not everyone would think of such a thing. Now, this will ensure that Laboon doesn't continue to risk his health by crashing into the Red Line."
"Hey, I admit it, he may not be very smart, but when he wants to, he comes up with great ideas," commented Zeus impressed.
"Yes, the truth is yes". Percy said seconding his uncle.
"Though the artistic vision of him is hideous! Look at that sad imitation of his flag!" the Goddess of Love disowned as Apollo, Hermes, Ares, Clarisse, and Thalia laughed.
"And you say that, that your weaving skills are the same as Luffy's painting skills," Athena added innocently.
"What did you say, Owl Face?!"
Laboon responded with a growl and Artemis excitedly said, "He said he understood and he'll make sure he doesn't do anything to erase it!"
"Good whale," Luffy said happily.
"Thank you..." Amphetite said, her hand on her jaw as more tears fell, but these were tears of hope... just like the ones Laboon had cried moments before. "Luffy...thank you."
Nami told Luffy to clean up while he tried to come up with a plan for the trip to the Grand Line. Luffy seemed upset, but he did as she said. However, when she returned to the deck and Usopp was finishing reattaching the mast, they saw two different things here.
Firstly, Vivi and Mr. 9 were gone... and secondly, they saw a Log Pose rolling across the deck. "What is this thing?" Luffy said to himself as he picked it up. But Hephaestus had moved to examine Usopp's handiwork.
"His hammer skills stink even here," he said, "What? Just iron plates? Those won't last! You have to..."
They then heard Nami's screams and the noise scared Laboon into diving underwater.
"Do you mind?!" Luffy yelled as Sanji and Usopp went upstairs to talk to her, Sanji carrying plates of food, "Don't!"
"Idiots!" Nami's voice yelled, "The compass is broken!"
Looking surprised, Luffy put the Log Pose in his pocket and they followed him until they sat at a small table outside the lighthouse with the other three already gathered around. Nami was there with her map and compass in front of her, the little needle going round and round... without stopping. "The needle just spins! It won't stop!" she told everyone.
While everyone was talking among themselves about it; Crocus, who had been nearby, turned to look at them. "It is sadly evident that none of you have the slightest knowledge of how things work here," he said, "Did you all come here to die?"
"Hard way of saying it," Thalia swallowed.
"And to think that Pops was tough..." spoke the sun god remembering his time as Lester
As they all looked at Crocus and he explained, with Sanji warning Luffy not to eat all the food, "There's nothing wrong with your compass. Grand Line has little respect for the rules of the sea. Common sense is useless in this place."
"Here at sea, never doubt the Log Pose," Themis nodded, "This is the only unspoken law here on the Grand Line. Without it, we are hopeless."
"The needle," Nami asked slowly, "why does it spin?"
And then Crocus told them that the reason normal compasses don't work on the Grand Line was because of the nature of the island's magnetic fields. To navigate the Grand Line, a special compass called the 'Log Pose' must be used. Log Pose works by blocking the magnetic field of one island, and then blocking the magnetic field of another island. Luffy took out the Log Pose that he found earlier and Nami ended up hitting him for not telling them about it. He replied that he found it on the deck and assumed that those two must have dropped it when they escaped when Nami took it from him. Crocus explained that by recording the magnetism of two islands pushing against each other, they can find the route to the next island. It's the only thing you can trust. He must choose one of the seven magnetism produced by Reverse Mountain, but no matter which island, that magnetism will eventually face each other and link into a path. The name of the island at the end of the route is... Raftel, and the only one in history who confirmed the island is the King of the Pirates. One theory is that maybe One Piece is there, but no one has been able to get there.
"If that's the case, then I guess it must be quite difficult if no one else has found the island so far," Thalia said.
"It seems to be difficult. I see it as practically impossible. And I am the one who says so!" declared the Messenger God with annoyance.
"Raftel…" Nami repeated in a low voice.
"That is!" Usopp yelled excitedly, a big smile on his face. "That must be where the One Piece is hiding!"
"That's the most promising theory," Crocus said, "but no one has been able to set foot on Raftel Island since."
"Hahaha!" Ares smiled. "So, all you have to do is get to that island, right?"
Luffy, who was munching on some of the food bones, smiled, "Don't worry. We'll find out soon enough." Crocus looked at him with new surprise when Luffy finished the meal and everyone started yelling at him for not leaving them anything. Sanji, especially, was furious and punched him for it... however, he ended up breaking his trunk stance in the process.
There were facepalms everywhere.
"Dammit, we only had that thing for a few minutes!" Clarisse complained.
"The unluckiest and yet the luckiest crew ever." Athena's daughter sighed, shaking her head.
"You said it, Wise Girl."
Nami threw them into the ocean as punishment when Usopp panicked over his most important tool. Fortunately for them, Crocus can give them his as a thank you.
"It's terrifying…" Hephaestus swallowed. Damn… Nami might not be as strong as most of the crew members, but he didn't need to be to scare them all.
"You should see Hera when she gets angry," Zeus muttered.
Laboon was able to bring Luffy, Sanji, Mr. 9, and Miss Wednesday. The two groups noticed each other as Sanji helped the blue-haired woman to her feet.
Mr. 9 called in a favor, and one jump cut later, the crew was told that Whiskey Peak is where the two of them live, and the two were hoping the crew would take them there since their ship was broken.
"I don't know. It looks like it could be a big trap." Clarisse said.
"And you tried to kill Laboon!" Artemis argued quickly, suppressing the urge to pull the bow out of her.
Nami thought they were asking too much since they tried to kill Laboon. Usopp asked what those two are. Mr. 9 claimed that he is a king, but Nami realized that was a lie.
They can't tell who they are, but they want to get back to the city. They don't want to be secretive, but their company motto is "mystery," so they can't tell them anything.
Even at the mention of a favor, Crocus told them not to trust the duo.
"That's pretty obvious," Thalia said.
"But I guess those two are desperate for them to do nothing." Amphetite could only wait.
Nami mentioned that they broke their log pose, causing the two to get mad at them until the navigator also mentioned that they also had one given to them by Crocus. At this, Miss Wednesday and Mr. 9 continued to beg, but then Luffy casually said that they could ride with them.
Usopp asked if they should go to the trouble of taking these shady people away. Luffy told him not to worry about small things, but Crocus reminds them that here they can only choose the route, the starting point. Luffy told them to set sail, but Miss Wednesday asked her name.
"Me? I am... the man who will be the King of the Pirates."
Crocus continued to smile as Miss Wednesday and Mr. 9 tried to hide their laughter from him, thinking that he was just a stupid pirate.
"But it will come true!" Tyson quickly argued.
"Yes, yes, we know." Annabeth laughed.
As the sun sets, Crocus tells Nami that the record must have been stored and asks if it points in the same direction as the map. Nami could see that he was aiming for Whiskey Peak.
They have their thanks and goodbyes as the crew set sail for their destination.
Watching them, Crocus wondered if they are the pirates they have been waiting for all this time, seeing how Luffy can have such a strange air about him.
"And those guys who go with him... The ones who wear robes I don't know, but that boy with the green eyes is just like you and that Luffy... Don't you think so, Roger?"
Shortly after...
"Ahahahahahahaha! What a whale who could imagine that it was so tough!" Luffy spoke happily.
"You are an idiot! How do you know you'll see him again?" Rachel rants incredulously.
"I promised him I would come back."
Rachel sighs in defeat as she turns to look at Nami.
"Does he do it often?"
"More than you can imagine," Nami replies exhausted.
"Come on, come on, Rachel. This isn't the first time you've had to put up with a madman like that. We already have Percy." Clarisse said innocently.
"Ha ha ha, Clarisse. You are incredibly funny." Percy said sarcastically as Annabeth gives him a consoling kiss.
"Ha ha ha!" Percy, you and your friends are very funny." Luffy laughed uncontrollably.
"Luffy...?"
Luffy turned to see his crew... wide-eyed in shock and fear.
"Hey, what's wrong with you?"
Nami just pointed to where Percy and the others were with the gods.
"W-Who...?"
Luffy started looking around until…
"AH! Can you see them?! You see that Percy and his friends were real! Shishishi!"
The Olympians and the demigods were also puzzled when Junior laughed.
"Hehehehe. Well, ladies, gentlemen, gods, and demigods… At last, we welcome you…"
"...To the Grand Line, the most extravagant and legendary sea that has existed in history, where logic and common sense disappear." ends Themis with a smile.
To be continued...