Luffy's voyage wasn't difficult, and something seemed to be missing, like the King of the Near Sea that never appeared.
As a small Sea King Type, it evaded Garp's plowing actions in the East Sea but encountered a Gyarados living there. Large Sea King Types generally don't fare well against Gyarados, let alone this little guy.
But their navigation wasn't smooth. In terms of size, Luffy's boat was about the same as Hawkeye's coffin boat, but at least Hawkeye's boat had a sail, and with his sailing skills, it wasn't too hard to navigate with wind.
Luffy's boat, on the other hand, had no sail, only oars, making it 100% manpower-driven.
"Hey, Heracross, give me a hand rowing."
"Heracross!"
Heracross lazily sat on the barrel at the bow, completely ignoring Luffy's request.
"Come on, why are you conserving your strength?"
Having spent enough time together, Luffy could understand what Heracross's calls meant, even though the other people in Windmill Village couldn't. Only Luffy could accurately interpret Heracross's words.
Heracross didn't say anything, just pulled out a slightly yellowed newspaper from beneath itself, pointing to a picture on it, casting a look at Luffy that seemed to express frustration with him.
"Ah, isn't that Uta? You still kept this, huh. By the way, she seems to have become quite a big deal now."
"Heracross!"
Heracross extended a finger, pointing at another Heracross on the newspaper.
Back then, they were just ordinary beetles in Wano Kuni, later assigned to various seas, searching for things that might exist.
It and Uta's Axeborg started on equal footing, but from the looks of the newspaper, Axeborg was living a good life, sparking a Heracross craze, while it stayed in a small village, slacking off with this goofball every day.
Slacking off would be fine, but this goofball happened to have an even more unreliable grandfather. Without it, Luffy might have drowned in the lake years ago.
To prevent him from getting shipwrecked and drowned, it needed to conserve its strength, as this boat didn't look dependable.
Heracross could fly, but wasn't particularly good at it, so flying with someone in dangerous sea conditions required a lot of strength, hence the refusal to help row.
As it turned out, its foresight was justified; Luffy's boat didn't last long on the Four Seas before encountering a terrifying whirlpool.
Even Great Pirates in the New World who could challenge the forces of nature were few, so it was unsurprising when Luffy's boat got caught in it.
As the boat began to sink, Heracross loosened up, planning to grab Luffy and fly away. At that moment, it believed it had everything figured out, but Luffy's little genius suddenly kicked in.
"I have a plan!"
"Heracross?"
Not giving Heracross a chance to respond, Luffy grabbed it and hid inside a barrel on the boat, thereby literally going with the flow.
...
"Whoa, Heracross, let go! Why are you biting me? I saved you!"
"!"
On a completely ordinary passenger ship, Heracross was biting onto Luffy's face and pounding on his head, though due to the Fruit Ability, its punches weren't effective.
"Heracross! Heracross!"
The speech was so wordy that after cutting out most of the harmonious words, it could be summarized as:
"I can fly! Do you know I can fly? We could have just flown away! Do you want me to be buried with you? Do you call this rescuing someone? Is your head empty?"
Giving ground opens broad possibilities; enduring frustrations only deepens annoyance. On reflection, it thought it shouldn't have been greedy for a bite that year and gotten involved with this guy. Thinking of Uta's companion of the same kind, the gap was growing.
The Fruit Ability ensured Luffy wasn't afraid of blunt impacts, so Heracross used biting. The two, man and beetle, dashed around the deck, leaving the pirates looting the ship bewildered.
"What are you two idiots doing!"
The behavior of Luffy and Heracross infuriated the pirates nearby. Iron Rod Alvida, an East Sea pirate with a bounty of five million Belly.
In Wano Kuni, any random pirate or samurai could likely deal with her, but in the East Sea, she managed to throw her weight around.
Her usual hobby was intimidating others into admitting her beauty and confusing her perception with lies.
"Hold on, Big Sister Alvida, that big beetle... seems valuable."
"What did you say?"
"I think I heard it's worth two million Belly in the pet market."
Beetles already had a spot in the pet market, and the Uta-driven Heracross craze made Heracross the rarest species among beetles, with people wanting to acquire them.
Two million Belly wasn't a small amount. Hearing a beetle could sell for two million Belly sparked a greedy glint in Alvida's eyes.
"Hey, kid! Leave your pet beetle with us, and we might just let you go."
"What did you say?"
As soon as the words left her mouth, Luffy suddenly paused, and his expression turned serious.
"Don't you understand? Lady Alvida asked you to hand over your beetle!"
Seeing Luffy not reacting, a few pirates attempted to forcibly take Heracross and surrounded them, but all they saw was Luffy's stretched-out leg.
"Rubber Whip!"
His right leg kicked out, knocking the nearby pirates aside.
"He's not a pet, he's my partner! If you try to take my partner away, you're my enemy! Hope you're prepared."
"What nonsense are you spouting, kid? Who really treats a beetle as a friend?"
The Wolf Fang Club came down on Luffy's head, but it had a vastly different outcome. Thanks to the rubber's rebound, Luffy wasn't affected at all.
"Rubber Pistol!"
The extending arm rebounded, punching Alvida away.
Seeing Luffy's reaction, Heracross nodded aside with an "able to be taught" expression.
This was why it stayed with Luffy all along; otherwise, it would have left this fool long ago. Food alone couldn't hold it back.
Subsequently, Luffy, Heracross, and Coby joined the ship's lifeboat and left, though Nami wasn't on Alvida's ship to steal treasures. She was busy with other tasks at Cocoyasi Village with the villagers.