121
It was nighttime when Smoker and his navy ship came back to Logue town. Nothing really happened, but when the morning came… problems arised. This wasn't what he was expecting.
"So, you are telling me, someone stole our whole Sea Stone Shipment along with emptying our base treasury. And we only found this out now?" Smoker said, rubbing his forehead. he already had two cigers in his mouth, but now he needed a third.
"Yes, Hina is telling you that." The woman nodded, "After Officer Tashigi left the sea stones in the storage, some unknown individual came and looted the place. Luckily no one was seriously injured, but Officer Tashigi is still knocked out, she was found frozen with a nasty wound on her shoulder, so we don't have any info. The rest of the marines have been heavily drugged so we don't know what happened."
"Did anyone see who it was?" Smoker asked, rubbing his forehead.
"No, whoever the thief was, he or she was really fast. Upset, Hina is Upset." She said. "And Hina is also worried about Tashigi."
Tashigi was found frozen in ice, luckily her heart wasn't frozen and she didn't have any nasty frostbite, still… whoever the thief was, she could easily overpower an officer like Tashigi meant they weren't dealing with any normal thieves.
Smoker sighed. "I can't get a break. Did you check if the local gangs were up to this."
"Of course, Hina did. But they were too scared and said otherwise." The woman grumbled, "And why is he here anyways?"
Anchor who was sitting near Hina and almost dozing off woke up.
"Well, he might not be a marine anymore, but he has nothing better to do." Smoker shrugged. "Might as well help us in the investigation."
Anchor yawned and nodded, before going back to dozing off. "Don't mind me, pinky."
"Hina doesn't like him."
Suddenly the door to the office opened and it was Tashigi. "Captain Hina, Captain Smoker!" she said, holding her head winching from her headache. Her head was bandaged, and there was a small sword wound on her hand, though it would heal, leaving behind a minor scar.
"Hey, be careful. You should take it slowly." Smoker said, standing up from his chair, while Hina supported the girl to her chair. Even Anchor was fully woken up now. But it was for other reason.
"I have to tell you something." She said. "I saw her… it was her. Kuina, the White Lady and she looks exactly like me."
Anchor forwned, she looked just like Kuina and that cracked him up. "And I'm guessing she was the one who stole from the storage." He laughed. "Those straw hats really have some guts… hahaha."
"This is no laughing matter… so you mean to tell me she impersonated as you and gained access from inside the bunker. So that's the reason why we didn't hear about anything." Hina said. But then she was wide-eyed remembering something.
"Tashigi… you didn't happen to wear any white kimono while on duty yesterday? Did you?" she asked, a bit hesitant.
The girl shook her head. "No… I can't use my swords… don't tell me, you have met Kuina and she also fooled you. That pirate!"
Hina didn't say anything just looked down on shame. Anchor laughed, while Smoker was getting an headache.
"Wait… does that mean all the Straw Hats are here?" Smoker narrowed his eyes. "Shit… so they mislead us. They didn't leave for the Grandline, but stayed here."
"But they looked exactly alike," Hina mumbled to herself.
Smoker sighed. "I met a woman myself when my visit to Sakura Island… even I would mistake her for Tashigi… so don't worry about it. But first, send the news to undercover marines to look for any of the Straw Hat pirates. If they are here in Logue Town, as a marine I have to complete my duty."
Anchor snorted. "Yeah, not that it would work. But be my guest."
Smoker also questioned the possibility of succeeding in capturing Luffy, but he couldn't back down. "Anchor, I gave them a chance… now they stole from me. And I in no good consequence can let that slide. They might not be like other criminals, but they are criminals."
Anchor sighed. "You know, as a non-marine, I won't participate in it. And they are technically my potential customer… but hey, if you get knocked out on the sea, I might do you a favor and catch you. That's all the help you will get."
"Hina doesn't see why we are worried about a rookie pirate. Hina is certain we can take them down."
"Yes, Tashigi agress… I mean I agree."
Both Smoker and Anchro looked at them and said nothing.
.
Luffy was now a lot happy after some good trained doctors checked over his crewmates. They came the previous day, at night and even made an effort to check all the crewmate's condition.
Gin's condition was way better now, now he wasn't coughing bloody all the time.
The doctors were quite surprised to see that their leader actually had a son. And one that was gaining fame no less. So, they took extra steps as well, even giving out pre-meds in case they suddenly suffered from sickness during their journey.
Honestly, it was quite a lot. And also it made Luffy remember about a certain incident. So, Luffy asked them for any good medicine as they might visit Little Garden on the way.
Honestly, the doctors were surprised about Luffy's knowledge about the pre-historic island. And gave some medicine in case they visited there. One of them included a bug repelling spray.
Other stuff happened, and Koala left with the doctors, leaving Sabo for the rest of the journey. Sabo would also be returning to the revolutonary, but for the upcoming six months, he was on a long break.
Also, Luffy also got back his invisible device. The thing now had a charger, so now he wouldn't have to worry about it running out. Just needed to protect it from any heavy damage.
To hide Sabo's idently, the blonde chose to wear a plague mask, and it went quite well with his dress up. He looked quite menacing. Though, Sabo pointed out he would not be fighting most of the times as to not bring him any attention. Still, Luffy and Sabo both knew it wouldn't be the case.
122
Morning soon came, and Luffy wanted to leave for the journey. But they didn't.
You see the Revolutionaries were a bit concerned about getting found out. So they wanted Luffy and his crew to create a distraction so they could leave without gaining any attention. And so Luffy complied.
So, when noon arrived the Going Marry started to get pulled by Momoo yet again.
"It's time right?" Luffy asked, while Sabo nodded. The Going Marry started getting out of the back of the Island into the open sea.
But when the Going Marry came out of the back of Logue Town Island, five whole marine ships surrounded them. Luffy smirked. Luffy actually knew that the Marines had surrounded them for about an hour now.
But they didn't attack. It seems that Smoker didn't want the fight to be around the Island. He really was a good guy.
"We have you sorrounded, Straw Hat Luffy. Resistance is unwise." Smoker said from the first ship, holding a Megaphone.
Luffy just smiled. "Well, well, well, if it isn't captain Smoker of the Marines. What do I owe the pleasure." He shouted back.
"Don't act smart, I know you have the stolen goods, hand them over if you know what's better for you."
"Don't know what you are talking about," Luffy shouted back.
Smoker who had a binoculars in hand, spoke through his megaphone. "I can see them behind you, you idiot."
Luffy blinked and looked back. And sure enough there was a gun power barrel that had the marine logo painted on it. Suddenly Usopp came out of one of the ship's room. "Oops sorry, I will be taking that, for it actually.." And with that, he dragged the stuff in the room.
So Luffy looked back. "See, there's nothing there." He shouted.
"Ugh! Do you find me as a fool" Smoker grunted smashing the megaphone. "And why am I even reasoning with you. Marines attack!"
He was a fool to let them leave, a pirate was a pirate. Even if he was better than most of the pirates… and marines.
Mainly Smoker was pissed that Luffy stole from him, if he didn't, Smoker wouldn't have minded turning a blind eye to him again. But this crosses the line.
The marine ships hauled their canons and shot at the Going Marry. Momoo dived down into the sea to not get hit, still pulling the ship forward.
Seeing the multitude of cannon balls flying from the sky, Luffy spoke.
"It reminds me of when gramps used to play throw the canon ball at us." Luffy mumbled.
"Yeah, the old man didn't pull any punches when throwing cannon balls." Sabo snickered. "I remember Ace and me using you as a bounce pad to throw them back."
"Oh, great, now there's two of them." Nami shook her head, behind the steering wheel looking at her captain and Sabo. "I can already imagine how training is going to be."
Coby and the other members nervously chuckled. But hey they couldn't complain, it brought results.
The pouring of Canon balls came, came to a stop by a certain green shield that protected the Going Marry. Smoker blinked and squinted his eyes and grumbled when he saw who was on the ship. "Even that idiot joined the crew…"
Bartolomeo panted, but smiled. This was the strongest use of his ability. It drained away a lot of stamina, but it was worth it. He would prove that he wasn't useless.
"Your shield is quite strong, Barto." Luffy grinned. "You will be the perfect shield of the Straw Hat pirates." The new pirate cheered.
"Bullseye!" Usopp cheered, as one of the ship's sails suddenly caught fire. "This baby rocks flames!" he said kissing his oversized slingshot.
"Flames, you say, well, see this then," Sanji said, as he jumped upwards spinning as his feet caught fire and shot a flamed tempest kick to one of the ships.
One of the navy ship shook violently because of the impact, many of the marines jumped out of the way. But there wasn't any significant damage… sure the whole thing was now on flames but it could be put out. Until another flaming wind slashed and attacked the ship's mest, destroying it completely. It was now a ship without a sail.
"You were saying," Zoro smirked, putting Nozarashi on his shoulder. Still had flames on it, but it didn't damage him one bit.
"You wanna say something Mosshead." Sanji clicked his tongue while his legs were on flames.
"Hey!" Bartolomeo complained, his hair was also green.
"Not you chore boy." Sanji shot back.
"Don't mind him, chore boy." Zoro said, holding eye contact with Sanji.
"B-But… when did I become a chore boy?" The new recruit became depressed, drawing circles in the corner.
"Now… now… Sanji and Zoro, be nice to the chore boy." Gin said.
And Bartolomeo fell even more depressed, but Usopp and Coby patted his back.
"Hey, stop bullying the chore boy." Usopp said, while Coby deadpanned.
Bartolomeo now jumped up. "Not you too Usopp-senpai."
The long nose just snickered.
123
"Anyway, where were we?" Sanji said, before looking at Zoro. "Oh, yeah, you wanna fight, Mosshead."
"Yeah, maybe I do."
"Stop it you too… and look," Gin said interrupting their fight, pointing at their Captian and Sabo.
Luffy went first and with one swing of his naginata, the top half of Smoker's ship was sliced apart. "See a clean cut." Luffy said. He also made a point so that no marines were hurt by the attack.
"I sometimes prefer the fastness of a bullet to the sharpness of a knife," Sabo said, as he threw a small silver bolt, the size of a quarter, up in the air, before hitting it with his metal pipe like a bat. The bot shot off like a speeding bullet, breaking the sound barrier a few times.
No one in the crew except the observation haki users could follow the speed of it.
The shot, went right through one of the marine ship, cleanly coming out from the other side. But rather than being a small-sized hole, it created a hole big enough for the ship to start sinking immediately. It almost looked like a chunk of the ship had gone missing cause of the bullet.
"Ugh! We have been hit." One of the marines from the ship called out. "Wait, what hit us."
"It ain't important, the ship, it's sinking." the other one said.
This was the ship where Captain Hina was. And she seemed to be pissed that her ship was sinking.
"Sometimes, you have to do some things yourselves. Tashigi you are in charge now." Smoker said, his lower body transforming into smoke as he jumped off his ship towards the Going Marry. With the Nanashaku Jitte in hand, he flew to his target. The smoke around him made large ball of gas that he was about to send toward the Going Marry, but Luffy appeared.
"Shishishi… you are Smoker aren't you?" Luffy said attacking Smoker with haki clad blade which the marine counted with his sea prism weapon.
"And you are Luffy." Smoker said, "You know I gave you a chance to get away… but it seems that was a mi…"
"Okay, I get it. Anyway, wanna join my crew." Luffy asked as they were in a power-struggle mid-air. "We have a good pension policy. And if Nami feels generous she might even add health care into it."
Smoker had a tick mark on his forehead but didn't say anything.
On the other hand, Hina for part also jumped off from her ship with Geppo and wanted to get on the Going Marry, but someone was there to stop her.
"You!" Hina was wide-eyed. "You fooled me."
It was Kuina. And she seemed to be quite amused.
"Well, I felt actually bad for that… look I even came here to apologize," Kuina said, politely smiling. Along with Hina she was also in the air, using Geppo, stopping the female marine from getting on the Going Marry.
And Hina was surprised to see Kuina use the same move as her. "You… you can use Geppo? How did you learn one of the Rokushiki techniques."
Kuina just smiled, "Well, I was always very fast on my feet and it wouldn't be so hard figuring it out." She said, being ambiguous. But then again, even Luffy was using it. So the marines might suspect that some of the members of the Staw hat have access to the secret techniques.
Not that it mattered of course. But she didn't want her captain to be in trouble because of her.
"Well, it doesn't matter. Hina will capture you." Hina said, "Kimono Sleeve Cage." Dark cage-like bars extended out of her hands as she swiped crossway trying to capture Kuina who used his speed to avoid it.
Training all the while with Sanji boosted Kuina's speed a lot. Now she was almost able to use both Geppo effectively. Though, she still got sore feet after using it too much.
"Frosting Wind!" Kuina slashed with ice-cold wind slash coming out her sword.
"Cage defense!"
Both of them clashed. Creating a small shockwave and cold air.
On another marine ship, another girl who looked identical to Kuina looked out from her binoculars. "That's her…" she said, biting her lips. Remembering her words about not being good enough as a swordswoman. "Marines shoot her when she's away from Captain Hina!" she ordered, while some of the marines aimed their rifels at Kuina.
They took the shot when Kuina and Hina separated for a bit.
They fired, but all of their shots were burned by none other than the cook Sanji. He was on air with Geppo himself. "Hey, that's cheating, miss." he said, before turning back to the fight with Kuina and Hina.
Tashigi was almost awed at the casual display of Sanji's speed, the man just outran the bullets to protect his crewmate. Not that Kuina needed any, but as a gental man Sanji couldn't let Kuina get hurt.
"Miss Hina is so beautiful when she fights," Sanji said, eyes swirling with heart signs, doing his odd noodle dance. "And Kuina is so cooolll!"
"Stop simping you, idiot. Nami ordered us to clear the sky of cannonballs. Chore boy, is having a hard time doing it all by himself."
"Fuck you Marimo!"
While the navy ships weren't able to chase after the Going Marry, they did shoot out canon balls, which was quite annoying. And Bartolomeo was getting quite drained from his usage of his powers. So some got really close to the ship.
The green-haired man, well, spiky green-haired man always viewed his powers as a drawback and wasn't used to using them. So he was getting quite tired from his continued use of his shield powers.
"Guys, my shields are down." Bartolomeo said, panicked, but he was too tired to do another shield.
"Don't worry about I got this," Usopp said, firing off a large shot from his large slingshot, that stretched out as a net capturing all the canon balls before they could hit the ship.
Some got past his net trap, but the sniper used his dual revolvers to shoot the canon balls down with his new and improved explosive bullets.
"Wow, you are so cool. Usopp-senpai." Bartolomeo said, his eyes sparkling. All of the members of the straw hats were strong. And it made him want to be strong himself.
With the Going Marry going further and further, Kuina was the first one to retreat.
"Fall back, I will handle them." Luffy said, while Kuina nodded, backing away. While Luffy stayed for a bit, holding out both Hina and Smoker at once. It wasn't too hard for him.
"Shishsishi… two against one. That seems quite unfair for you, why not bring Akainu next time." Luffy jocked. "But then again, I'm sure that dog is too busy licking some World Nobles Ass… speaking of ass. Did you ever wonder if he has a stick up his ass? That would explain a lot of his un-hero-like behavior." he winked at the gaped Hina.
"Stop talking about ass!" Hina grunted, panting.
"Well, of course. Not that you have any."
"Why you!"
While Luffy just laughed.
Smoker and Hina were both winded, while Luffy still looked fresh. It was obvious that he was playing with them.
"My offer still stands Smoker. Join my crew, not only will I be the king of pirates. I will be the strongest. Don't regret it later." Luffy said, taking out both his Naginata. "For now, you guys should sleep."
With that both the marine captains were wide-eyed as Luffy took out two of his naginatas, and did a cross-slash.
A few moments later, Smoker and Hina both crushed into one of the Marine ships. The same ship where Tashigi was.
"Smoker-san! Hina-san!" Tashigi came running seeing both of them knocked out. Though, one thing was odd that, they both didn't have any slash wounds on their body. A swordsman can cut whatever he likes, and a good one can not cut whatever he likes.
Anchor who was also on the marine ship sighed. "I told you it would end up this way. But hey, no one listens to reason these days…" He said, going back to reading the newspaper.
With this, the Going Marry and the Straw Hats were out of the Island. Their destination, the reverse mountain.
124
As the ship continued riding the wind from the storm in a southwest direction, Nami was looking down at the map she acquired from the Buggy pirates. It was raining outside so most of the crew were in quarters, while some enjoyed the rain, like Hatchan.
A day had passed with Momoo pulling they would be on the grandline in a few hours, with the additional boost of the sea king they crossed three days journey in one day. Nami could feel her excitement boiling in her blood. And yet there was a tinge of nervousness to it.
While Nami was looking through the map, she was thinking. This was rather troubling. At this rate, it'll be exactly as the rumors say… but how was this possible? But Luffy did say, the grandline is full of weird things.
"Hm… you look quite cute when you are all thinking and stuff." Luffy mused leaning on the table, making Nami get spooked a little.
"Stop playing Luffy… this is serious." The girl snorted, trying to hide her light blush. "Call everyone. This is important."
Luffy pouted a little but did what she said, "Oi, Nami's calling guys!"
Sabo who was seeing the whole interaction rubbed his chin thoughtfully. It seems it wasn't only him who had fallen for a lady. It seems that both brothers had a thing for orange-haired women. Huh, quite neat.
Everyone gathered, waiting as Nami stepped out of the Navigating room, Luffy following behind.
"The entrance to Grand Line is a mountain," Nami said. "And I have to be honest… I don't know how that works. A few of you have already gone to the grandline or the other blues, so I'm basically fishing for info here." She said mostly looking at Kuina, Gin and Hatchan. And Lastly Sabo.
But Luffy crossed his arms. "Nope!" He said, "Sabo don't tell us anything… it will spoil the fun. Shishishi" Sabo shrugged, but nodded, he will be sitting this one out. It was his brother's adventure after all.
Nami shot a look at the captain, but Luffy didn't budge, so she just sighed. Luffy was always reliable and he did know quite a lot about the grandline. So she found it assuring that, Luffy wasn't panicking like her. It meant the reverse mountain shouldn't be something dangerous. Still, she had to take steps to be careful.
Usopp was also all wide-mouthed at the seemingly ridiculous idea. He was more confused than afraid though. Same for almost the rest of the crew. So they looked back at the members who had gone out of the east blue.
Hatchan rubbed the back of his head. "Well, uh, we didn't need to go from here… we just swim under the calm belt to go back to Fishman Island and the other blues. The sea kings there don't mind us that much. But I did hear rumors that the reverse mountains were quite dangerous." Nami nodded before looking towards Kuina.
"I did cross the Reverse Mountain either… There are merchant ships that are associated with bounty hunters. They were kind enough to let me board their ship when they used the reverse mountain to cross to another blue, but I don't remember anything noteworthy. Sorry." Kuina said. While Marines were organized, and pirates had non-organization whatsoever, the bounty hunter's association was just in the middle.
They were an independent organization, free from the influence of Navy, that gave out licenses to good bounty hunters for some perks. Though in honest truth, the World Government had also control over them. But Kuina and most bounty hunters didn't know that. In that way, World government could keep an eye on bounty hunters that were talented.
Nami then looked at Gin for answers.
"We did cross the Reverse mountain, but we just mostly got lucky." It was Gin who spoke. "A few our ships didn't make it back then. I had a hard time believing it myself, but the map was directly pointing at the reverse mountain located right here on the Red Line. We were kind of lucky, that six of our ships made it… we didn't have skilled navigators so it was just luck."
"Well, if it comes to navigating skills, I'm sure Nami-swan can handle it." Sanji said, "She's the best navigator out there." The others nodded.
"Yeah, don't sweat it, Nami. We will cross the reverse mountain with ease." Luffy said, smiling carefreely. "And we do have Mommo pulling us. I'm sure we can get on without a hitch."
The sea king in question mooed, happy that he got mentioned.
"You guys don't get it, do you?" Nami shook her head, "look at the wind. There's a storm coming. And the sea will be chaos when we reach the reverse mountain. I'm just worried that we might end up on the calm belt. Even with Mommo pulling us, it will be tough for us to make it."
Luffy blinked. But then remembered that the original straw hats also encountered some rough wind along the journey. But it was a storm, so it could be bad. Hm… didn't they end up in the calm belt.
Luffy looked to the side and saw a calm sea, where there was no wave and even with Momoo pulling straight, they were kind of being led there by wave.
Luffy looked at Sparky, and gave him a gesture. The six-armed monkey did a quick three-handed salute and jumped off from Zoro's shoulder and onto the sky, shooting slow rays onto the sea, slowing down the Going Marry pull towards the calm belt.
"Wait… what's Sparky doing?" Nami blinked seeing the odd monkey use his powers on the water.
"Nami, that part of the ocean looks sunny and calm…" Luffy said, musing as the girl went pale.
Nami turned pale and frantically stood up and rushed to the stearing wheel. Pushing the rudder, the ship changed its course, and shouted for Mommo to pull the other way, away from the calm waters.
The rest of the crew except a few blinked and looked back and forth from Nami, Luffy and Sparky. Wondering what was going on.
"Thanks for the quick call, Luffy." Nami sighed, color returning to her face. "We almost went into the calm belt!"
"The calm belt?"
Nami explained, "The Grand Line is surrounded by two ocean belts. And those windless belts are known as the calm belts."
Zoro nodded in understanding. Putting his right fist on his left palm. "I see. It would be tiring to row our way into the Grand Line I guess?"
"It's not just that! The calm belt is a nesting place for Sea Kings! Huge monsters with the size of hills and mountains! Momoo would look in comparison to them."
Usopp, Johnny, Yosaku and Bartolomeo stare at her wide-mouthed. Their eyes additionally grew forward. Shivering a bit. Even Momoo looked scary to them, and an mountain-sized one… they didn't even want to know.
"Oh, yeah, calm belt." Luffy said fondly. "Gramps one time made me and Sparky camp in one of the islands in the calm belt. We stayed there for a month, met a lot of giant animals, and saw some weird ass looking sea kings, but yeah, they are big. I have to say… it's quite the advantage. Best meat I have ever ate… That was also where Sparky got his fruit."
Sabo and the rest of the crew blinked.
"Wait… you went out of east blue?" Sabo was the one to ask.
"Well, technically, Gramps just dragged me and Sparky there and told us to survive. We didn't have a choice."
"Yeah… for some reason I can see that happening." Sabo laughed. "The calm belt is quite the dangerous place… and same for the islands that are located there. You guys should not to avoid them if possible. But the islands in the calm belt have quite strong animals, we usually take recruits their to get strong… the animals there are no joke. And yes, you can get some high-quality meat off them as well."
While some of them were glad that they avoided the calm belt, people like Zoro, Kuina and Sanji were a bit disappointed that they avoided it. Especially, when they heard there were strong animals there.
"Forgot the calm belt, reverse mountain is much cooler!" Luffy exclaimed. They all agreed, but it would seem not for the same reason as Luffy. The reverse mountain was the safer way, they all concluded.
.
"I see the mountain!" Luffy exclaimed.
"So that's the red line? I can't even see the top because of the clouds!" Bartolomeo remarked.
"I can't believe it… The ocean is really going up the mountain!" Usopp said as he scoped the reverse mountain using a binocular.
The straw hats kept the ship steady up the mountain along the current, with Momoo pulling them, it wasn't much of a problem. Nami also was glad when they safely crossed it.
But their problems were far from being over.
125
In the Marineford,
"So the Straw Hats Pirates not only stayed in Logue Town under the nose of all those marines, but they even wiped the treasury clean…" Said one of the marines to his fellow mate, while they sat in the cafeteria reading the recent newspaper. "That's quite the news. I heard that he is going to get his bounty raised."
The other marine nodded, he had a bit of a thin build for a man and had a scarf covering his face. He was one of the well-known marines on the headquarters, Captain Shu was his name.
"To get away under Smoker's nose… man, must be pissed. But didn't he try to stop the Straw Hats with six of the Marines ships there? I heard Captain Hina was there as well?" As a fellow Marine Captain, he knew both of them, so he felt a bit of pity about their failure.
"Well, Bill… there are some enemies that are just too strong." Captain Shu said, pitying both of them. He knew both Smoker and Hina personally, and by age they were his seniors, so he felt a bit bad for them. "The straw hats are making some wild news in the headquarters… it's quite worrying what they might do next. Still, it's good knowing that none of the soldiers or anyone died fighting him… that Luffy kid might not be a hero anymore, but the fact that he didn't kill any marines so far is making quite the news."
Bill nodded, "Yeah, I have seen many marines speak of it. The kid could have been a great marine if he didn't… you know."
Captain Shu looked around, "I don't think it's that easy Bill. If so I'm sure Vice Admiral Garp would have made the boy join here if that was the case."
The other marine nodded, "I was there on the report when the straw hats saved a marine vessel that was going to Logue Town. They were apparently attacked by a group of random pirates and the marine vessel would have been deep under if not for their help. He saved a lot of lives for a pirate. We might not admit it, but he does live up to his reputation as the grandson of the marine hero."
"Well, he is very popular among the young recruits… some even questioned why the government labeled him as a pirate. We all know Nezumi ain't one of our best." Shu said, though only a few knew about the truth about the situation. The reason behind Luffy's bounty and fall to fame was from the World Government taking steps, not the marines, so only some people were ranked high in the Marines or had connections knew the truth.
Still, the fact that even without knowing the truth young marines were idolizing a pirate was quite concerning for some, while it was quite amusing for others.
"Hey, keep it down," Bill whispered, as he looked around there were barely anyone in the cafeteria, still there were always Marines who followed Absolute Justice or even worse those that worked in close relation with the World Government, if they heard Shu's words he would be in trouble.
Shu smirked, "Unlike you, I've already unlocked Observation Haki a few days ago. So don't worry about it. No ones here."
Bill felt a pang of jealousy, with Shu's rust-rust fruit and now his observation haki, he was any swordsman's worst nightmare. Even though both of them got selected to be trained by former admiral Zephyr, Shu's skills were a league above his.
The only other that had more skill in their batch was a woman that on her way to becoming a Commodore. But then again she was someone who was after the current second division commander of the Whitebeard pirates. So that much skill was necessary.
"Also, did you hear that Straw Hats might have the Rokushiki techniques?"
Now Bill was wide-eyed, "You are kidding me…" he then leaned in towards his fellow Captain. "I thought the kid had some kind of wind-based devil fruit…"
"Well, that we aren't sure of either, he does mostly use his naginata. But at one of his crewmates, had shown the ability to use Geppo. While another one showed a similar technique to the tempest kick. And so there are some suspicion on it, they might have the full set of techniques."
Bill was surprised. The Rokushiki techniques were quite powerful and important for the Marines. And yet it was no secret, with the marine organization being more than eight hundred years old, the secret techniques were not so secret anymore.
With many corrupt marines selling secrets to the pirates, or some of them even switching sides, one can easily get access to the techniques in the black market. Though, pirates tend to not use those techniques because of pride or the difficulty of it, but it seems it wasn't the case for Luffy and his crew.
While some might suspect that Vice Admiral Garp, people like Shu or Bill didn't. They knew that the old hero wasn't that kind of guy. Still, they were quite surprised at how the young pirate that didn't even set foot on the grandline got access to those techniques.
That meant the boy had some connections and used that to get those techniques.
Similar to Bill and Shu, many marines in the headquarters or outside were discussing about the Logue Town incident. None of the marines were proud that a pirate escaped from six battleships alone, and yet all of them were glad it was someone like Luffy who faced them.
Other pirates would not mind creating a slaughter in the sea. In a way, marines that had a strong sense of moral justice really had a good impression on Luffy. And yet the straw hat boy knew nothing about it.
.
On Marījoa,
A world noble was saying something to a certain man clad in a black suit. One could easily tell from the black suit the man was wearing that the man was an agent of Cipher Pol.
The world noble had a long face with a pronounced bluish nose and thick lips. He has long black hair, which sticks up on top, a typical style seen among his noble class.
"You will gain your freedom if you do your job correctly," The world noble said. "You can also consider your debt forgiven."
"Yes, Camael-sama." The black-suited man said, dropping down and picking up the cylinder-shaped capsule from the floor. The man was a bit nervous as he carefully picked up the capsule. The capsule had a pink liquid inside, where a dark pink colored egg-shaped thing swam in the liquid.
Of course, he would be careful because it might not look like it, but it was one of the Dyna stones that were known for their destruction.
"Don't you fail me! Do your job by any means, even if it kills you!" The black-suited man nodded again, nervousness on his face. "Also, before doing the mission, remind that green fool that the only reason why he's alive is because of me… he failed his task! Saint Camael's task!" he rubbed his head, "There will be no second time. Or else, I will have his head."
The agent nodded again.
While the bounty hunter Aramaki did bidding for World Nobles, most of the tasks he has done was from Saint Camael. From killing high-ranking marines who stepped out of line, to kidnapping beauties or animals from different islands. He has done it all, for the sake of money. He had never failed once, and with his skills, there were rumors that he could compete with Yonko Commanders.
That was why Saint Camael gave him the task of killing the newbie pirate. But just to be sure, he had sent one of the agents along with him. Not for help, no because he wanted to watch the show on how Aramaki humiliates the boy before killing him. And with den-den mushi broadcast it was possible.
He always liked fights, more so when it was a one sided beating. A taste that he picked up from his father. So he wanted to see how the young boy begs for his life, before Aramaki kills him.
But not only did the bounty hunter fail, no, he almost lost his life. The Cipher Pol agent had to save him from the sea, or he would have drowned to death.
With all of this Saint Camael was not pleased.
"Why are you standing there then? Go!" Camael said, as the man scrambled out of the room. The world noble sighed when the man left, and he glanced back at his armored bodyguards.
"Make sure that my involvement here doesn't reach the ears of the elders, like the last time. I don't want them barking at my door, unlike the old fools I take action."
The two bodyguards wearing armor nodded and said nothing.
Camael then walked to his table where the bounty picture of Luffy and Dragon was. He gritted his teeth as he looked at the picture of Revolutionary Dragon, as he rubbed the scar on his chest, right over his heart. "If I can't kill you… I will make you suffer in other ways, bastard."
Camael didn't like failures, he didn't like it when the hit job on straw hat Luffy failed. But sending a barbarian to do an assassin's job was a mistake. But this time he sent a better one, one of the agents from cipher pol that he had to buy from another Celestial Dragon. While he might not be anything noteworthy in terms of strength, he was quite stealthy due to his powers.
All he needed to do was put it on their ship and get out before blowing it up. Camael didn't care if the agent had to sacrifice himself to complete the mission, he wanted results.
And with the Dyna stone, he was sure killing the young boy shouldn't be a problem. The Dyna Stones are weapons of mass destruction, capable of destroying islands. He was sure killing a new-time pirate with it shouldn't be a problem.
"I will have my revenge! Mark my words, I will make you suffer!" he spat at Dragon's bounty poster, before leaving the room, his bodyguards following behind him. "Call some of those winged whores, I have some stress to release."
126
Their first sight of the Grand Line was shrouded in fog, the layer of white hiding the base of the mountain from them as the Merry gained speed.
"Woo!" Luffy cheered, standing tall on the mast of the ship, the wind was a bit thin out here. The ship was moving forward because of the waves, so the sea king in front didn't need to pull much; rather tried to correct the ship's route with Hatchan's guidance, "This is the best!" Sabo smiled seeing the place, it was quite the moment when he first crossed here.
Still most of the time they didn't use this route, too predictable and risky.
BWOOOOOO
"Did you hear that?" Nami screamed, her voice being ripped away in the wind.
"What?" Usopp yelled back, clinging to the railing.
"Was it the sound of my love?!" Sanji swooned, releasing his hold on the ship. The wind pressure launched him backwards, slamming him into the wall by the kitchen's door and pinning him there.
BWOOOOOOOO
"Hey, I hear that too." Bartolomeo said, while Johnny and Yosaku agreed holding each other and gulping, they didn't like the sound of that.
"I think its just Momoo," Kuina said. She didn't know why they were panicking about some wild sounds.
"No, that!" the navigator yelled as the sound echoed over the mountain. "You heard it that time, right?!"
"I heard something!" Coby offered. "Was it a foghorn?"
"What's a foghorn?" Luffy asked, smiling.
"Oh shit!" Gin yelled, remembering something. "It's surfaced from the bottom of the mountain. We are going to crash!"
"What's surfaced?" Nami demanded.
"Tha Island Whale!"
Even Hatchan looked back to Gin if he was hearing right. "What!? How did one get up here?"
"A whale!?" Coby demanded. "Running into one of those at this speed could crush the Merry!"
"Shishishi… nah. It won't be that bad." Luffy said, "But just to be safe… Usopp! Coby! Sanji! Get to the rudder! Hatchan, untie Momoo's rope and swim out of the way. Barto, make a shield that surrounds the ship! Sparky slow the ship down as much as you can!"
"Aye, Aye Captain!" All of the crewmates scrambled to get on with their task, while Luffy smiled carefree on the head of the Going Merry, seeing the large whale as it surfaced.
"We're getting closer!" Zoro yelled. While Hatchan and Momoo went under the water to avoid getting smashed, or worse, getting eaten by the Island Whale.
"The rudder broke!" Usopp panicked.
"Why didn't you mention the whale before?!" Nami shouted at Gin. While Sabo just laughed… "Nothing's funny. Stop Laughing! We are gonna die!"
"Noooo!" Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku hugged Barto, as the shield man was sweating bullets making the large shield around the Going Merry. Bartolomeo's powers worked like summoning shield energy that he can morph to different shapes, and while he did summon the shield, shaping it around the Going Merry like a bubble, and it was taking a lot out of him.
"It was still sunk last time!" Gin said in horror while the Whale was getting larger and larger. And then, the whale opened its mouth.
While the Going Merry stopped getting near the whale it didn't stop it from swallowing the ship whole.
Everyone except Luffy and Sabo laughed as they were getting swallowed alive.
"Why are you laughing?" Sabo asked curiously as to why his brother wasn't shitting his pants like the rest of the crew. Sabo, being a revolutionary, knew of the whale, so he wasn't that concerned, and he wasn't a devil fruit user either, but the same couldn't be said for Luffy.
"Don't know? You?" Luffy answered carefree as the whale's mouth opened as it cried in pain, sucking in hundreds of millions of gallons of water, and the Going Merry along with it.
Hatchan and Momoo, who barely survived from being eaten alive, had their jaws dropped after seeing this scene. "Shit!"
The Straw Hats had just been eaten by a whale.
The ride down the whale's gut was anything but fun, the Merry bumping into the walls and being tossed to and fro from the waves sending everyone in the crew flying. Well, everyone except a few.
Yet the ship remained undamaged because of the effort of Bartolomeo and his powers. Though he was getting quite seasick due to the uneven sea ride. The only reason why he wasn't getting tossed like the rest of the crew was because of Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku holding him down.
"Don't give up, Barto. The ride will be over in a minute." Luffy said, enjoying the ride. And after a few risky moments, the Going Merry was again in calm waters. Though the water looked oddly greenish.
Barto dropped down the shield, falling onto the ship along with Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku. The passengers in the ship groaned, some emptying their stomachs while others were grateful for surviving through whatever that was.
"Wait… why is there a sky here?" Gin questioned.
"I should be asking you that?" Nami said.
"Hey, I don't know everything about the grandline, mind I remind you that I failed last time."
"Maybe we got pooped out from the other side?" Luffy suggested.
"Now isn't the time for jokes, Captain," Coby whined along with a few others.
"No, he has a point." Zoro nodded along with Sparky who was over his shoulder. But everyone ignored him.
All of them looked around trying to guess where they were.
They seemed to be on a yellow-green sea. Fluffy white clouds hung in an azure sky. Birds could be seen soaring through them, but their calls were nowhere to be heard. A tiny island seemed to bob in the water, a tiny house atop it.
"Where are we?" Usopp wondered, taking in the still sky. "I can't hear or see the mystery current at all."
"There isn't any wind either," Nami added.
"And what's that weird smell?" Coby said, as due to his fruit his senses were sharp so he could pick up the acidic smell in the air. "Is that why the water's not blue?"
"Well, water's colorless, anyways." Sabo pointed out.
"Didn't we get eaten?" Zoro questioned, "so what's with this place?"
"That's ridiculous," Coby laughed, denying reality. "We… We didn't… Did we?!"
"Nah, we did." Luffy said, carefreely.
"Yup." Sabo nodded.
"Would you guys take it seriously, already!?" Nami shrieked, her blood pressure was already going up just thinking about their situation.
"Maybe whoever lives in that house can give us some answers?" Sanji suggested, only for their view of the island to vanish behind a giant, pink beast.
"Giant squid!" Nami, Usopp, Bartolomeo, Johnny and Yosaku screamed, the latter two grabbing each other in fear and the former grabbing the captain.
The monster trio (Kuina, Sanji and Zoro) smirked, ready for a fight. But… three harpoons sprouted from its head in three spurts of blood before the squid fell backwards, dead. Following the lines from the projectiles, the crew found a man in the doorway of the house.
127
"Could it be?" Gin muttered before the man stepped into the light. He was an older man who was balding, but his lack of hair was augmented by the purple-and-yellow petals that made up a plume-like thing on the back of his head. A Hawaiian shirt and purple shorts covered his form, and a round pair of glasses sat on his face. "It is. It's Old Man Crocus."
"You know this guy?" Zoro asked, eyeing the stranger warily. Something about him told him that there was more to this man.
"Yeah," the former-Krieg pirate answered. "He greeted us the last time I entered the Grand Line and gave us a log pose."
"Hi!" Luffy waved. "That was really cool, but can you tell us where we are?"
"Isn't it obvious?" the other man asked. "You were just swallowed by an Island Whale."
"We were eaten?!" Usopp panicked, again. "We're all gonna die! I should have told Kaya about my feelings!"
"Well, I do have Merry's number, so you can give them a call." Luffy said, taking out the transponder snail out of Sparky's backpack, making the long nose blink and forget his worries.
"I-I… isn't it too soon. I don't even know… if she feels the same." Usopp said, fidgeting like a school girl and all blushed up.
The rest of the crew would have found this scene very funny, if there wasn't literal death looming over their heads.
"Now isn't the time Luffy!" Coby cried.
"Oh, calm down, boy," Crocus placated. "I can get you out easy enough, but-"
Boom!
An explosion blew the doors off a hatch somewhere up above, dragging attention to a pair of eccentrically-dressed figures, a man and a woman, on a metal balcony, both armed with rocket launchers.
The man had medium-length ginger hair, a dark green vest with a red ascot, and a crown on his head. Two marks like the number nine were painted on his cheeks, one under each eye and he also had green disco pants and shiny, black boots.
The woman had long, light blue hair in a single ponytail and pale skin. She was dressed in a purple and pale-blue zigzag crop top that accentuated her assets, a light green coat, and white shorts. She also wore heeled boots to make her the same height as her apparent partner.
As the Straw Hats and Crocus watched, the man of the pair posed, one hand touching his forehead with the weapon resting on his shoulder.
"We are claiming this whale!" he declared. "Its meat will be our saving grace!"
"To protect our town from hunger, we will take it to our living place!"
"To deny us is folly! It shan't work, so-!"
"We are all set! Rockets, go!" the woman finished, the pair firing their weapons only for it to be blown up before it even reached the stomach wall. The duo blinked and looked back at what had just happened.
"Did you seriously throw your booger at the rocket?" Sabo's face twisted in disgust of what he had just witnessed, before shifting an unbelieving gaze unto his brother.
"That's so cool, captain!" Bartolomeo said with sparkles around his eyes.
"It seems that wasn't enough, Ms. Wednesday," the man commented, nonchalant.
"Indeed not, Mr. 9," Ms. Wednesday agreed. The pair prepped their weapons again, but they hadn't taken into account the people in their surroundings.
"Yo!" Luffy said, dropping in between them and scaring the duo, as they turned to look at the straw hat.
Both of them were wide-eyed and jaw dropped seeing him.
"Y-You… you are Mario!" Mr. 9 said.
Seeing he was in a good mood, Luffy shrugged. "Yup, it's a me Mario!" he announced, even swinging his arm with a goofy grin.
Ms. Wednesday, or Vivi, was shocked for other reasons. Unlike her partner she wasn't scared… okay maybe a bit. But she was more awed at seeing the young man, when he heard of Mario. She was expecting a brute, even the bounty picture didn't do justice to him.
The pirate wasn't just good-looking… the goofy smile, the charming face, and that amazing body… God… she could already feel her face heat up.
'How can someone call such a handsome man a pirate…' But then again wasn't the pirate in front of her called a hero… could he help her…
Nami, who was on the ship, narrowed her eyes. Her senses tingled for some reason. Must… must be the wind of the grandline or something.
Mr 9 looked at Luffy then back to the Going Merry, seeing the full crew his face got even paler. Even though Luffy was a former bounty hunter turned pirate… they didn't know if he would help them or beat them. "What are people doing here?"
"You aren't in any position to ask that," Nami told him, jumping out of the ship and landing on the metal balcony. Which, in all things considered, was very impressive, jumping three stories of height in one jump.
What? She had also been training since joining the crew, acrobatics like this was quite easy for her.
"The Mr. 9 pair," Crocus commented from the island, relaxing his stance. "That's what these morons call themselves. They've been trying to kill Laboon for the past few months."
"Laboon?" Usopp asked.
"The whale," Crocus explained, hopping onto the Merry with a single leap and directing them toward a metal hatch in the side of the Whale's stomach. "Some pirates left Laboon with me many years ago, but they haven't returned since."
"So you guys are the bad guys." Luffy asked with a raised eyebrow. Vivi and Mr. 9 gulped when the smile fell from Luffy's face. "Hm… you guys need to sleep then." And with a small wave of Conqueror's haki they were out, but Luffy didn't let the princess fall on the ground like the other one. That would have been not-gentleman-like.
Sabo, and Crocus were both surprised to see the small show of haki. That was quite good control. "Oi, catch them," Luffy threw Vivi first then softly kicked the man, throwing them aboard.
All the while ignoring the death stare he was receiving from a certain orange-headed female.
"Gotchu!" Sabo said, catching Vivi.
"No, why him…" While Sanji cried blood when he got Mr 9 on him, before throwing it toward Gin. Why couldn't he get the girl?
"The faq did you throw him to me for." Gin growled, removing the agent off of him. He wanted to throw the man abroad but stopped when Luffy said otherwise.
"Let's keep them here after we listen to the old man's story. Also, Sparky tie them up, we don't want them to slip away." the monkey nodded doing his task. "Come on old man, tell us the story. I wanna know the big guy."
128
"Come on old man, tell us the story. I wanna know the big guy."
Crocus nodded, he recognized Luffy now. Mainly because of his straw hat. The redhead had called him a few weeks ago on how someone with their former captain's straw hat might come. And so he was quite surprised to see that it was Luffy.
He almost found it funny how Garp's grandkid was wearing that hat. But he didn't say anything. He on the other hand guided the straw hats out of the whale. Many of the crewmates were glad to get out, while Luffy whined wanting to explore the whale's insides.
Crocus shook his head, almost pitying the crew, it seemed that Luffy was similar to Roger in some ways.
"That's a hatch," Usopp gaped as the Merry sailed the short distance between Laboon and a little plateau connected to the Red Line where Crocus had another small house. "Is that… Does that hurt the whale?"
As Usopp questioned the morality of hollowing out a living whale, Crocus told the crew of his bond with Laboon and how he came to be the whale's caretaker.
That was over 50 years ago and Laboon had been hitting his head on the Red Line for all that time, convinced that his friends, the Rumbar Pirates, were still alive and traveling.
"I keep telling him they're gone," Crocus sighed, Laboon wailing in the distance, "but he won't listen to me. I only heard rumors that they fled into the Calm Belt."
"Hm… they might have also been killed at the sea." Luffy suggested, making the old man and the rest of them blink.
"That was quite dark, Luffy." Nami said, while Luffy just shrugged.
"Yes, that's also a possibility, the sea shows no mercy for the weak." Crocus said, "But it would be better if Laboon understood that."
"I know!" Luffy putting his right fist on his left palm. "I'll cheer him up! And beat some sense in him." With that he jumped out of the ship, sky walking to the crying whale. Seeing Luffy use a marine's technique he was a bit surprised, but more so when he punched the whale out of crying.
"Now, why is he fighting a whale?!" Nami cried again.
Crocus didn't say anything, the punch was quite strong, but it wasn't aimed to hurt the whale, more to shock it.
"The boy is well trained… so his muscles aren't just for show," He said, rubbing his beard. As a physician, he could appreciate how well-developed Luffy's muscles were. All of them looked solid and dense, having power in them.
He then looked at his overgrown gut, it wasn't a lot. But he should start exercising a bit, Rayleigh or even Roger would make fun of him if they saw him now. The old man was in his own head while Luffy struggled with the whale trying to talk to it, while punching some sense in.
The old man's thoughts were broken when something else came out of the water.
It was a cow sea king with a fishman on the top of it's head.
"Oh, you guys made it out alive… I thought me and Momoo would need to get in through the back entrance." Hatchan said, shivering a bit, "Good thing we didn't."
Momoo internally sighed. The sea king didn't want to get into a whale, and definitely not through its poop hole.
The sea king wasn't part of the journey with the straw hats for very long. But he quite liked being with them. Not the same with Arlong and his crew, but still enjoyable.
Especially Sanji and Sparky. Sparky 'cause of being friendly to him and understanding him. And Sanji because of his cooking and while he was scared of Sanji, initially, he grew to love the cook, mainly his cooking. So he was willing to go through a few hassles for them.
Luffy was also nice, like Hatchan he could also understand him. And that was the first time he saw a human understand him. So he liked him as well. Still, it wasn't like he was their friend or anything.
"Wait… is he flying?" Mr. 9 who had woken up, and was now tied with his partner, blinked seeing Luffy. "He can fly?"
"That's the question you ask? He's fighting a freaking Island whale!" Vivi shrieked. She could see the young pirate punching the whale out, and even pushing it back. That kind of strength was just illogical.
"The beautiful lady is awake…" Sanji said noodling about.
"I don't know why… but Sparky, go to Luffy before he does something stupid." Nami said, but then saw him fighting the whale. "Well, something stupider…"
The monkey gave a thumbs up. Saying "Uk," before jumping off and skywalking as well.
"Wait, even the monkey can fly?" Vivi asked, now even more surprised. "How many of you can fly actually?"
"Oh, I can as well," Sanji said, his eyes turning to hearts as he also did skywalk. "Kuina-chwan there can do it as well."
"Well, it's nothing special," Zoro grumbled, for his lack of ability to use the technique, he was just on soru, but it won't be long until he can do that as well. After getting his three swords his combat abilities improved a lot.
Mainly because of his three-named blade costing more energy to use than a regular sword. Especially his Nozarashi, the devil fruit ability inside the sword drained quite a lot of Zoro's stamina, when in use. So he was gaining quite a bit of strength, and even though he didn't know it, he wasn't that far from Kuina anymore.
"Sure thing Marimo." Sanji mused with a smug look on his face, doing skywalk tricks to jump in the air at odd angles.
"You wanna go, curly brows?" Zoro asked, with his sword on fire.
Sanji's legs also caught fire. "Bring it, Moosehead."
Vivi and Mr 9 unconsciously crawled back a little seeing fire suddenly appear on them.
Bammm!
Both the cook and the swordsman were now on the deck, with lumps on their heads and Nami dusting her hands. "No using flames on the ship."
"Yes ma'am." Both of the men groaned from the ground.
Mr 9 gulped, what was with this crew? Just how outwardly strong were they?
Vivi was thinking the same. 'So the rumors of him standing against a warlord like Mihawk wasn't false… so that's the power of a man with a Seventy million bounty. Maybe just maybe…'
Crocodile's bounty was eighty million not that far from Luffy… so maybe, he could help her.
But now she wasn't on good terms with the crew. So she had to get on their good side first.
129
"Hey, I know we didn't have the best first impression, but please untie us." Mr 9 asked. "We aren't the bad guys here. We just need the whale meat to feed our people."
Mrs Wednesday took charge. "We are sorry, we didn't know that the whale there was your friend… but could you please untie us."
"Well, we wouldn't call him a friend," Nami said before turning to see Luffy was now sitting on the top of the whale and explaining stuff to it with Sparky also helping. "Okay, never mind. He's a friend now."
Somehow and for some reason she tended to stop questioning logic when it came to Luffy. She just accepted it.
"So can you please untie us?" Vivi asked, with a pleading look. Using her best puppy dog eyes.
Sanji felt as if he was shot in the chest by an arrow and he was knocked out completely.
"Wait, what happened to big bro Sanji?" Bartolomeo kneeled down and held the cook, shaking him. "Snap out of it."
Gin shook his head. "He couldn't stand that level of cuteness, it seems." He said wearing black glasses. "I'm only unharmed because of these glasses." It would have sounded cool, if it wasn't for the fact that he was looking to the side, completely blind from his new shades.
Bartolomeo was wide-eyed, quickly making a hand sign as green round shields that looked similar to green-sunglasses appeared in front of him. "Now, I'm safe as well!"
Johnny and Yosaku followed along and put their own glasses on, but unlike Gin they weren't blind. "Yeah! We are too."
Nami and Vivi looked at them, but couldn't say anything.
"Heh… men right?" It was Usopp, standing by the side, his back against the wall, also wearing his shooting goggles. Nami and Vivi were beginning to feel a headache now.
"Don't overthink it, you will kill some of your brain cells. Trust me, it's not worth it." Kuina said, as she was formally cleaning her blade. Some water got stuck to it from the wild sea, so she was drying the blade.
"That I can agree on." Sabo agreed, now wearing his plague mask as unknown individuals were on the ship. He was also with Kuina, cleaning his own weapon, his trusty metal pipe.
Nami was about to say something but stopped when the large whale made its way towards them with Luffy and Sparky on top of it. She could barely see them, but Luffy seemed to be pointing at them for some reason, and the whale was coming here. She also noticed that the whale wasn't crying anymore… no it looked quite curious.
Seeing the large whale, Momoo made a run for it. As Island Whales were natural predators of sea kings Momoo's size. Actually, the reason Laboon ate the Going Merry in the first place was to catch Momoo for a meal, but it seems that he failed, and accidentally swallowed the ship instead.
Luffy jumped off of the huge whale along with Sparky. And Luffy appeared to be proud of something. "Guys, meet my new friend, Laboon."
All of the crewmates looked at Nami, she really could read the captain well.
Crocus was curious about what Luffy said to the whale to calm him down this much. But he didn't ask. As long as the whale didn't damage himself any further he was okay with any lie the boy told him.
After Luffy came back, he took out some paint from the ship's storage and drew the iconic Straw hat flag on the top of Laboon's head.
"Remember, I better not see any new scars when I come back, okay?" Luffy said, patting the large whale. Who seemed a bit happy.
Both Vivi and Mr 9 questioned how the boy was so friendly with the whale he was just fighting moments before.
In a short time, Luffy became quite fond of the large beast. Heck, he would be willing to take the beast on the journey along with them, if it was ever possible. But for now, it wasn't.
Luffy made a promise to Laboon, he would try to find his lost friends at the sea for this year, and come back with at least one of his friends. Which in all honesty wouldn't be that hard.
When Brook joins the crew, Luffy knew he would be thrilled to meet Laboon. So he would make them meet up somehow. And that was a promise.
.
"Now what should we do about you guys?" Nami thought, while Luffy hummed.
"Make them walk the plank?" Luffy suggested.
The tied-up duo panicked, as all colors were drained from their faces. They looked horrified at Luffy.
"You… aren't you supposed to be a hero!?" Mr 9 asked, horrified. "Heroes don't kill, right?"
"Well, I'm a hero that saves the princess and kills the croc," Luffy said, winking at Vivi who was wide-eyed. Was that a coincidence?
But Luffy got smacked in the head by none other than Sabo. Luffy blinked, he didn't expect this.
"Stop teasing them," Sabo said.
"Wait! How were you able to hit Luffy?" Nami asked. "Doesn't he have that observation haki thingy?"
Sabo mused looking to his brother and then back to Nami. "Well, I also have that observation haki thingy… and mine's better than his. His haki is like a party trick compared to mine, so he wasn't able to react fast enough."
"So… I will be able to hit Luffy after learning this Observation haki thingy," Nami concluded.
And Sabo nodded, which made Nami give a motivated grin looking at Luffy and cocking her arm. Luffy gulped, unconsciously taking a step back.
"Brother! This is betrayal. Betrayal, I say!" Luffy cried, giving a dirty look toward Sabo who, under the mask, was smiling. "And Nami… you would never hit me right? I'm the captain."
"Of course not~" Nami said, almost cooing, "I would never hit my captain… but as the navigator, I might need to use brute strength to steer you the right way."
The others in the crew almost felt pity for Luffy, if not for the fact that they were sure, Luffy would still be avoiding Nami's punch in some way or another.
After all that stuff was over, Crocus even helped Nami by explaining about the Log pose. But it seemed that it was unneeded, the crew captain had already explained it to her. And they had bought a few of them when they were in Logue Town.
It made Crocus impressed. A boy that could use haki and was well informed about things, he could see the boy making a name for himself in the grandline.
So as time passed, after a big dinner, the straw hats left. Crocus saw their ship sail and silently prayed for their safety, in his age, he saw many young bloods die to the cruel sea. He hoped Luffy wasn't one of them.
"Let's just hope that this time your new friends keep their promise, ey Laboon?"
The whale whined a bit, but its eyes never left the Going Merry. He hoped this time his new friend would keep his promise.
130
The Going Merry left the reverse mountain entering the grandline.
"Hm… so we have yet to decide what we should do with them." Nami said, now freed up Baroque Works agents.
Mr 9 and Ms. Wednesday blinked, didn't they all share a happy meal just moments ago? They thought they were in the clear now. But thinking again, now they were on open waters, they were in a lot of risk if Luffy wanted to just throw them into the sea.
"I still say, we make them walk the plank."
"Don't be so mean, captain." Sanji said, "Wednesday-chan here did nothing wrong, but I can't say the same for this ugly prince."
"Hey! what did I do wrong?"
"Tried to kill our friend Laboon,"
"Tried to sneak away while we were busy."
"Tried to hold Sparky as a hostage… well, that's got to be the most stupid stunt you pulled so far."
Even Vivi glared at her comrade, why couldn't he be less stupid. But she sighed, he did help her many times, and she didn't want him to get in trouble.
"We are sorry… he won't do it again," Vivi said, while Mr 9 quickly nodded. "Also, We need your help!" Vivi said. "Without a ship, we can't get back to our island!"
"And where's that?" Gin asked.
"Oh, it's an Island called Whisky Peak…" But she was cut off when Mr 9 held her mouth, and she was surprised when Gin looked dangerously at her.
"He's the reason why I was trying to get out of this ship… he's the man-demon Gin, his previous crew was destroyed by our organization." He whispered, but then he remembered that most of the job was done by an ex-marine called Anchor, but still.
"So you guys are with Baroque Works?" Gin said, a bit angry at his first unfortunate adventure. "You are their numbered agents aren't you… heard you guys were tough, unlike the rest. Wanna test it out?"
"Calm down, Gin. You are scaring the lady." Sanji said, "And you! Get your hands off of her."
Mr 9 blinked, releasing her from her grip.
Even though Gin was a bit pissed at that particular island, he kind of didn't mind it that much. Anchor was the main reason why Krieg failed, and he held nothing against him. Krieg's failure wasn't anyone's fault but his, so Gin didn't mind it that much.
And with Luffy, Gin was sure his captain wouldn't be stopped on that kind of Island.
"Anyway, if you are going to stay on the ship, we need to know who you guys are. You know, your real names?" Usopp questioned.
"I'm the King," Mr. Nine replied, getting a slap on the head by none other than Sparky, the six-armed monkey didn't like this particular fellow. "Ow! I'm sorry, but we can't tell you that information or our Boss would have our heads! All we ask of you is that you return us to our town of Whiskey Peak!"
"You really believe us to trust you just like that?" Johnny said.
"Yeah, you guys aren't that trustworthy," Yosaku said.
"You guys might try to harm us when we are unguarded or asleep," Bartolomeo said, making Mr 9 sweat profusely.
"I-I would never do that." The agent denied, but with how skittish he looked, one could guess he was planning that.
Coby deadpanned, "Uh-huh."
"They can come," Luffy replied, uninterested in talking about this any longer. The rest of the crew was surprised as just a moment ago he was against it. "If they cause trouble we toss them overboard again."
"Or we can feed them to Momoo. One of them at least" Sabo suggested, making others blink, while Luffy laughed. The sea king in question looked back at the agents and smiled, scaring them even further.
"I like the sounds of that," Zoro said with an evil smirk as the pair shivered. Once that had been decided, the crew didn't bother with them that much, still Gin and Sanji were keeping an eye on them from time to time.
.
It was snowing, and it was dark.
Granted, that didn't seem to stop Luffy. Bartolomeo watched from the upper deck as the Captain built himself a snowman, Usopp doing the same. The new recruit was busy practicing his devil fruit powers, until he couldn't.
Coby, Johnny and Yosaku had been tasked with clearing the snow off of the deck, while Sanji was trying to cook up something new from the large squid-fish they found inside Laboon.
Nami was inside with their two 'guests', while Zoro and Sparky were somehow fast asleep in his normal clothes like nothing was wrong. For a while, everything seemed relatively okay. After all, snow was weird but not impossible to deal with.
That was until a scream from inside the cabin startled everyone, save Zoro and Sparky.
"Momoo, turn us around!" Nami shouted as she burst from the cabin. "We need to do a one-eighty!"
"Why do we need to go back?" Hatchan asked, everyone else staring on in confusion. "Did you forget something?"
"No, we got turned around somehow!" Nami replied. "We need to turn around!"
Understanding enough of the situation, Luffy turned to look at Hatchan.
"You heard her," Gin said. "Turn us around Hatchi."
The six armed fish-man nodded, now with the doctor's help he had fully regrown his limbs, and so he was back to full health. Hatchan knew about the sea of the grandline and how chaotic it was, so he wasn't that surprised.
Momoo turned around, correcting the course of Going Merry. But suddenly the weather changed from snowing to a thunderstorm.
"What the…?" Coby asked. "Thunder?"
"The wind is changing again!" Nami shouted. "Johnny, roll up the sails, they might get lost from the rough wind. Yosaku and Coby, help him tighten them."
"Yes, Ma'am!" Johnny said. The thunderstorm was so much, even for Momoo seeing a couple of meters ahead was getting hard. And yet one could, it was Coby with his enhanced eyesight he was the first one to see.
"Iceberg!" Coby shouted. "Seven o'clock!"
"Then do something!" Nami wailed.
"You don't have to ask me twice, babe…" Luffy said grinning, taking out Horn's edge and pointing it forward, "Dynamic Bull Needle!" and he stabbed it in the air.
And with a boom, a massive air pressure was released, and the Iceberg was completely destroyed, and out of Momoo's way.
But suddenly the weather got foggy.
"Why is it foggy?!" Sanji asked.
"What do you mean?" Vivi asked, having emerged from the cabin. "I heard thunder just a few moments ago."
"Zoro, Sparky wake up!" Nami shouted as the crew scrambled around. "We need you!"
"Eh… why Nami-chwan. I can do everything better than him."
Nami realized. "Oh, yeah I forgot, Sanji do one of your flaming tempest kicks, it should clear out the fog for a bit."
"You don't need tell me twice, Nami-Chwwwaaan!" Sanji said as he jumped offt the the Going Merry, jumping in front, before spinning rapidly, his leg catching a flame before kicking the air. "Barbaque Tempest!"
A large flaming tempest kick flew forward, clearing the path forward, and lighting the sky.