They started to go down the canal at full speed while enjoying that they would finally be able to reach the Grand Line until suddenly they heard a loud noise.
"Did you hear that?" Zoro asked.
"Huh? What?!" Nami asked him, shouting.
Between them all, they couldn't hear each other very well because of the speed they were going; the wind was making a loud noise.
"I heard a strange noise!" Zoro told them.
"It has to be the wind! There are a ton of strange rocks that could cause it," Nami told him.
Right then, that noise was heard again.
'First the Sea Kings and now seeing Laboon, I really think I got Thalassophobia' Oliver thought, nervous to see it.
"What is that?" Usopp asked, trying to see with his goggles.
"Nami-san! I see a mountain ahead!" Sanji shouted from the top of the ship.
"A mountain?! Impossible! After the Twin Capes there shouldn't be anything but the ocean!" she shouted back.
"That's not a mountain," Oliver said.
Something could be seen through the clouds until they passed them and saw a gigantic whale.
"IT'S A WHALE!!" Usopp shouted, scared.
The whale let out a loud cry, which made them tremble.
"W-w-w-what are we going to do?!" Usopp shouted, worried.
"Let's fight it!!" Luffy offered an option.
"IDIOT! We can't fight something like that!" Nami scolded him.
"T-t-the current is taking us towards it! What are we going to do?!" Usopp asked while holding onto a railing of the ship.
"Start praying, it's the only thing you can do right now," Oliver recommended to him.
"DON'T SAY THAT!!" Usopp shouted, even more scared.
"And what do you want me to say?!" Oliver shouted back at him.
"Wait a second, we're getting closer, but it still looks like a wall!! Where are its eyes?!" Sanji asked.
"He's right. It doesn't necessarily have to have detected us yet," Nami said, a little hopeful.
"If we keep going straight, we'll crash into it! We can get out by going left!! Grab the helm!" Zoro said, pointing to their possible salvation.
"The helm is broken!" Usopp shouted, reminding him.
"We have to do something! I'll give you a hand!" Zoro said, going over to Usopp.
"I hope this works," Oliver said, also going to help with the helm.
"Okay! I have a great idea!!" Luffy said, heading onto the ship's deck.
"What are you doing, Luffy?!!" Nami asked him.
The four of them were at the helm trying to move it while Luffy was on the deck. They pushed with all their might without being able to move it until the cannon was heard activating, hitting the whale directly and stopping the Going Merry.
The ship kept moving at a much lower speed, causing Luffy's seat to crash against the whale, destroying it and sending the Going Merry's figurehead flying straight at Nami, who was barely able to dodge it.
"My favorite seat!!" Luffy shouted upon seeing the Merry's head.
At that moment, the whale opened its eyes, sensing something.
"Let's run, right now!" Zoro shouted.
"What's wrong with it?! Didn't it notice the cannonball?! Is it stupid?!" Sanji said.
"Who cares, we just have to get out of here!" Zoro shouted at him.
"Keep rowing! You can ask questions later!" Oliver shouted, trying to get away from Laboon.
Everyone got into position and started rowing to get out of there until the whale made a loud noise that made them stop in pain.
Luffy, angry about his favorite seat, came out from the deck and looked at the whale.
"What the hell did you do..." Luffy shouted, stretching his arm to land a punch on the whale's eye. "...TO MY FAVORITE SEAT?!"
"IDIOT!!" everyone shouted at him together upon seeing what he did.
"IT'S LOOKING AT US!!" Nami shouted, seeing how Laboon was staring at them.
"COME HERE, YOU BASTARD!" Luffy shouted at it, ready to fight the whale.
"SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH FOR ONCE!!" Zoro and Usopp shouted at him, kicking him in the head.
Laboon opened its mouth and started swallowing all the surrounding water, causing a kind of whirlpool that began to suck in the Going Merry, but Luffy grabbed onto one of the whale's teeth so as not to let himself get eaten by it.
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Now everyone was standing calmly on the Going Merry as they looked around as if they were outside and not like they had been swallowed by a whale.
"What do you guys think?" Nami asked.
"What do we think?" Zoro asked.
"What do I think, you say. It doesn't matter what I think. We've been swallowed by the whale," Sanji told her.
In front of them, there was a small island with a house, which seemed even stranger to them.
"This could be considered somewhat fun," Oliver said, less worried, looking all around.
"How can you consider this fun?!" Nami shouted at him.
"Is this a dream?" Usopp asked.
"Yeah. Probably, it's a dream," Zoro said.
"Ah. Then, what is that house on that island?" Nami asked.
"An illusion," Zoro answered her.
A giant squid emerged from the water in front of the ship, but before it could do anything, multiple harpoons shot out from the house, piercing the squid and killing it in the process.
"Seems like someone is in there," Zoro said, looking at the house.
"Thank goodness it's a person," Sanji said, more relieved.
"B-by the way, where is Luffy?" Usopp asked, crying.
"I don't care, I want to go back home," Nami said, in the same state.
"There, there, calm down. Try to find the humor in the situation," Oliver said.
"You're the only one who finds it fun!" they both shouted at him.
A human figure could be seen coming out of the house.
"Let's shoot him! Let's just blow up the island with the cannon!!" Usopp shouted, frightened.
"Wait, someone is coming out." Sanji said, seeing what looked like a flower. "IT'S A FLOWER!!!"
"A flower?!" Zoro asked.
A man came out of the house with hair resembling a flower, a red shirt with yellow stripes, sandals, and shorts.
"No, it's a man," Sanji said, somewhat shocked.
"What's wrong with that man?" Usopp asked.
The man pulled the squid onto the island and then stared fixedly at Sanji while he started walking, without taking his eyes off Sanji's, making him very nervous until the older man walked over to a beach chair where he sat down to read a newspaper.
"SAY SOMETHING, YOU IDIOT!" Sanji shouted, angry and nervous.
The older man looked toward the ship, scaring Usopp.
"If you want a fight we'll give it to you, idiot! We have a cannon in here!" Usopp shouted while hiding at the bottom of the ship.
Upon hearing that, the older man stared fixedly at the ship, making almost everyone scared except Oliver, who was holding back the urge to laugh.
"NO, Or someone will die."
The moment he said that, almost everyone gulped at his words.
"And who would that be?" Sanji asked nervously.
"Me," the older man replied back.
"YOU?!" Sanji shouted angrily.
"Hey. Don't get mad," Zoro said, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"That old man thinks this is a game..." Sanji said, annoyed.
"Hey. Don't get mad," Zoro said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Old man, tell me. Where are we? And who are you?"
"If you want something from someone, you have to introduce yourself first," the older man told him.
"Yes. You're right. My apologies, my name is Roro..."
Zoro was about to introduce himself, but the older man interrupted him.
"I am Crocus. I am the lighthouse keeper of the Twin Capes. I'm 71 years old, Gemini, Blood Type AB." He started giving them all his personal information, which drove away everyone's nervousness.
"CAN I KILL HIM RIGHT NOW?!" Zoro said angrily, ready to unsheathe his katana.
"Hey, calm down," Sanji told him.
"So you wish to know where you are? You have come to my private resort and started shouting aggressive things at me. You don't think you're in the stomach of a rat, do you?" Crocus told them.
"So we really were swallowed by the whale! But this doesn't look like the inside of a whale," Usopp said.
"Wait! What's going to happen to us?! I don't want to be digested!" Nami said, scared, thinking they would be digested by the whale.
Crocus stared at them fixedly once again.
"STOP DOING THAT!" everyone shouted.
"Are you incapable of appreciating a good joke?" he told them with a smile.
"A JOKE?!" everyone shouted again.
"As for the exit, it's over there," Crocus said, pointing to a giant door.
"WE CAN LEAVE?!" they shouted again.
"HAHAHAHA!!" Oliver laughed, unable to hold back his laughter.
They started to look closely, where they realized that everything was painted.
Right then, all the water started to move very aggressively.
Due to the movement of the water, it could be seen that the island was actually an iron ship that couldn't be melted by the gastric juices.
"Hey! What is going on?! Explain it!" Usopp shouted at Crocus.
"This whale has started headbutting the Red Line!" he told them all, which shocked them.
"That's... The whale had huge scars on its forehead...! And it was looking at the sky... it's suffering in pain!" Nami said, worried about the whale. "So that's the old man's plan! He's trying to kill this whale from inside its stomach."
With that, the whale hit itself harder, so Crocus jumped into the gastric juice, which impressed everyone a bit. Just when they were about to exit the whale, from a platform Luffy came flying out with two unknown people, who fell into the water.
"L-Luffy?!" Zoro asked.
"Hey, what's up? Is everyone safe?" Luffy asked in mid-air before falling into the water.
"How fun all of this is," Oliver said before jumping into the sea to rescue Luffy.
He quickly pulled out Luffy along with the other two people who had also fallen into the sea of gastric juices.
"Thanks," Luffy told him.
"No problem," Oliver said.
With that, all the trembling started to calm down until everything was peaceful.
"The whale calmed down," Nami said, seeing that the water was no longer moving so aggressively.
"Well then? Who are you?" Zoro asked.
"Mr. 9, they are pirates," whispered the woman who had fallen into the sea.
"I-I know, Miss Wednesday. But surely they will understand if we explain the situation," Mr. 9 whispered.
Right then, Crocus was standing in front of the door they came out of.
"As long as I'm alive, you will never lay a finger on Laboon!" Crocus shouted at the two people.
"Heh heh heh," the woman laughed.
"Oh, really? But we are already in its stomach!" the man said.
"THERE IS NOTHING STOPPING US FROM BLOWING A HOLE IN ITS INSIDES!!" they both shouted.
The moment they pulled out two bazookas, Oliver positioned himself behind them, touching their backs.
"I'm sorry."
Using Electro, he paralyzed them both, preventing them from being able to shoot.
'I hope Vivi doesn't suffer any consequences because of this.'
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