Apis was real. That was already clear to Luffy when he found that they were exiting the storm, and Nami told him that it would take a couple more days for them to reach Reverse Mountain. And when he found the kid herself, unconscious in a boat on the sea, he had to accept the fact that Dragons in East Blue were a thing in his reality.
"Luffy! Save me!" Apis giggled as she jumped on his back, and Usopp soon came running after her, the two playing a game of tag.
It had already been a day since they found her at sea, and after breaking down her guard, she had taken a liking to pretty much everyone on the crew. She had also cooked dinner for them and Luffy was the only one who still had a good stomach after eating the abomination that she had concocted. She was barred from cooking after that but when she still insisted she wanted to cook for them, Sanji supervised the next time she was in the kitchen and it didn't turn out to be that much of a disaster.
As for her story, Apis had told them that she had escaped from the Marines and the crew had decided to escort her back home to Warship Island. As to why she was kidnapped by the Marines in the first place, she didn't say.
Luffy didn't remember much about the Warship Island Arc other than the fact that an island called Lost Island pops out of the sea and Grandpa Ryu, the Dragon, dies on said island so that he could be reborn again. A flock of Millennial Dragons also come to the resurfaced Lost Island and he was excited to witness the spectacle.
"Alright alright," Luffy patted Apis' head before putting her down. He then suddenly said, "You're it!" before running away.
"Ahh! No fair! Come back!" Apis yelled as she chased after Luffy and Usopp who laughed as they ran around on deck.
Zoro was snoring away on deck when Usopp mistakenly stepped on him as he ran, which woke the swordsman up and he angrily started chasing after Usopp. Sanji, who was supposed to be on the lookout, laughed at him. That made Zoro snap at him, which in turn made the cook snap back and before long Zoro, Sanji and Usopp were fighting on the deck while Luffy and Apis watched them while laughing their asses off.
"A bunch of kids…" Nami said shaking her head with a small giggle while she attended to her tangerine trees and watched the show.
BOOM!
A sudden boom followed by the unmistakable sound of a cannonball whistling through the air brought the playful atmosphere to an abrupt end. More than one cannonball had been launched towards them and they all landed around the Merry, making the ship lurch, but none landed directly on them.
"GYAAH! Marines! It's a Fleet!" Usopp screamed.
"Why are so many ships coming after us?!" Nami screeched.
"Obviously because of me," Luffy answered eyeing the seven battleships that were coming towards them. '8' was painted on the sails and each ship had three front-facing long-range cannons that were all pointed at them.
"Apis, what's wrong?" Sanji asked holding onto her and Luffy noticed that she was looking at the ships in fear.
"T-those are ships from Branch 8! I escaped from them!… what am I gonna do now?!"
"So these are the Marines that kidnapped you?" Sanji clarified and she nodded.
"So they're after you huh?" Luffy said just as the Marines began broadcasting.
"Attention Pirates! Those were just warning shots. Stop the ship immediately or the next volley will hit and sink you!"
"There's no way we would stop!" Usopp muttered holding onto the Merry.
"So what should we do, Luffy?" Zoro asked rhetorically as he got ready to fight.
"We'll just fight 'em."
"Hey! W-wait a sec! Why are you always like this?!" Usopp snapped. "There's a Fleet in front of us!"
"What's wrong? It's just a few ships." Zoro said nonchalantly.
"It's not just a few ships! They'll la-"
"It's not like you have to come," Zoro grumbled picking his ear. "Just back us up by using the cannons here."
"Oh… If it's just that, then yes, I can do that!" He declared confidently. "Okay, then! You guys go beat them up!"
"Don't be an idiot!" Nami snapped. "We're on the sea and we're outnumbered! They'll sink us if they all simultaneously attack!"
Usopp's legs trembled and he quickly changed sides, agreeing with Nami. "Yes! Nami's right! We need to ru-"
"Weren't you experimenting with those Buggy balls, Usopp?" Luffy cut in. "This is a good time to test them, you know."
"That's…" Usopp began to protest, but paused, getting a thoughtful look on his face before slowly nodding. "…actually a good idea."
"Load the cannon then," Sanji said patting his back and he quickly got to work, loading his improved cannonball into the cannon.
"Usopp! Don't get pulled into their pace!" Nami yelled but Usopp was concentrating on the cannon and she slumped down in defeat. "Ugh… am I the only sane one on this crew?"
"You're sane?" Zoro scoffed.
"Maybe there's treasure on those ships we can take?" Luffy suggested, and Nami did a complete 180 as she stood up, staring confidently at the Marine ships.
"Alright! Let's go defeat them and then take all their treasure! Usopp, shoot them!"
"Oh, greedy Nami-swan is also beautiful~"
Zoro and Luffy chuckled, getting ready to fight, while Apis was having something of a culture shock. If one see a Fleet of Marine ships coming at you, it was common sense to run away as fast as they could. And yet, the people in front of her, who were on a small ship, were actually talking about not only attacking the Fleet but also wanting to steal their treasure.
"Surrender now or we will start firing!" The Marines gave another warning.
"Why don't they just fire?"
"They obviously want Apis alive…"
"Right right. Usopp, you done?"
Usopp finished loading the cannonball and got a proper aim at the ships. "Yep!"
"HEYY! WE WON'T SURRENDER! WE'RE RETURNING FIRE!"
"Why did you have to tell them that, Luffy?"
"It's common courtesy, witch."
SMACK!
"Ahahaha!"
"Fire!"
BOOM!
The cannonball whistled through the air and drilled through the main ship, then travelled to a second ship behind it and drilled through it too, before splashing in the sea near a third ship, and then exploded, causing a massive curtain of water to rise up that violently shook the third ship.
Jaws hung on the floor, of the Marines and also the Strawhats, as they watched the destruction unfold. The first two ships were basically blown apart and the third ship danced on its edge for a few seconds before ultimately capsizing.
"…Wow…" Apis was the first to speak.
"That's one hell of a destructive cannon," Sanji said blowing out a wisp of smoke. "That clown guy we saw back in Loguetown made this?"
"Yeah… I forgot how destructive those Buggy Balls really were…" Nami trailed off remembering the time she had seen a single cannonball destroying rows of houses back in Orange Town.
"Yeah…" Zoro blankly nodded. "If they were lined up, I'm pretty sure at least 10 ships could be taken out by a single cannonball."
"No wonder Buggy thought he could conquer the Grand Line with these," Luffy added. "Paradise, at least."
"Ahaha… AHAHAHA! TREMBLE BEFORE MY MIGHT!" Usopp yelled before turning to the rest. "HEY! I improved upon those Buggy Balls! They were way too destructive that a normal cannon wouldn't have been able to handle it. I changed the chemical mixture to make it more stable so that it wouldn't blow up in the cannon itself while also making it more explosive!"
"Shishi good job, Usopp!"
"Heh, guess you're not all talk huh, Liar?" Sanji smirked.
"I'm the Sniper! Not the Liar!"
"You can be both."
"Whatever…" Usopp rolled his eyes at him before resting them on his mighty creation. "I shall call these the Mighty Usopp Bal-"
Nami and Sanji instantly put a hand on Usopp's shoulders, cutting him off.
"You call it that and I'll rip your actual balls out," Nami intoned with a sweet, but threatening, smile.
"And I'll cook them. And then feed it to you," Sanji added, also with a sweet but threatening smile.
"And I'll help," Zoro also chimed in with a click of his sword.
"O-Okay…" Usopp gulped. "I-I'll decide on the name later…"
"Good."
"Hahahaha!" Apis laughed.
"Shishi anyway, Nami, take us closer."
"Aye aye."
The Marines on the still surviving four ships were rescuing the ones from the destroyed ships and with their main ship destroyed, they had fallen into chaos. When they saw that the pirate ship was coming close to them, they actually panicked and started yelling "Please don't hurt us!"
"…I actually feel bad for them," Nami sighed.
"Yeah, let's just leave. I don't think they'll have treasure or anything," Usopp said feeling responsible.
"Hell no!"
"Have some compassion, witch," Zoro muttered earning himself a smack on the head, which was followed by Sanji insulting him for insulting Nami, which resulted in a fight.
"Well, I gotta steal some documents too. I'll go check it out," Luffy jumped off the ship and landed in the debris of the sinking main ship.
"Don't attack and we won't attack either!" Nami announced through a loudspeaker to the other four ships while Luffy went through the slowly sinking ship.
"YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!" Someone on one of the surviving ships tried to attack but before they even got a chance to aim their cannons, Usopp launched another cannonball - a normal one this time - which landed accurately on their cannon deck and blew them up. Another normal shot broke their hull which resulted in making it sink, and that shut down any protests from everyone on the other three surviving ships.
Meanwhile, Luffy searched through the main ship, while also rescuing people who were trapped under wood or other things and threw them out into the sea, from where they could swim their way to the surviving ships. He managed to collect only a few documents and put them in his sling bag to look through later.
He went to the other ships too, including the surviving ones, and no one stopped him as he went about his business. He finally came back to the Merry only to find his crew facing off against a purple-haired man.
"YOU BASTARDS! GIVE THAT GIRL TO ME!" The man growled.
"And why the hell are the Marines kidnapping little girls?" Nami asked sternly while Apis hid behind Sanji.
"None of your business!" The man spat before showing off his hands which had very long fingernails. "I ate the Sickle-Sickle Fruit and can create wind slashes! If you don't give that girl to me right now, I'll cut all of you into little pieces!"
"Yeah yeah," Nami rolled her eyes as she brought her shock staff out. She was going to finish the fight then and there but Apis suddenly spoke up.
"There's a wind coming…"
"Apis?" Sanji looked at her curiously.
"Hm?" Nami looked questioningly at Apis who was intently looking at a few seagulls that had perched upon the Merry. "What?"
"He says a strong wind is coming…"
Nami looked confused for a second before she actually felt the change in atmosphere. "There is one coming…" 'But how did Apis know…?'
"STOP IGNORING ME!" The enemy Marine, named Eric, yelled getting their attention. "You're pirates, aren't you? Let's make a deal. Sell me that girl. I'll pay you a hefty price."
Nami felt the wind coming just then and got ready to attack. A very fierce wind suddenly swept over them causing Merry to jerk. The sails weren't positioned to catch the winds, but the wind was strong enough to shake the ship a bit. Eric lost his balance as he was standing on the railing and his guard was down for just a second, during which Nami pressed a button on the side of her shock staff that launched a steel wire from a sort of grappling hook mechanism that was attached to the top of her staff.
The wire hit and encircled his right leg, but after getting his balance back, Eric just stared at it and laughed. "Hahaha! You think you can pull and make me fall like this?!"
Nami just smiled as she extended the shock staff, exposing the iron rods before she casually tilted it so that the iron rods touched the wire.
"Bye!" She cheerily waved before she turned the dial up. Ten seconds later, Eric lost consciousness and fell into the sea after getting thoroughly electrocuted, and Luffy landed back on deck while thinking about Nami's weapon.
Her current weapon was strong sure and she had even gotten some modifications done already, but the climatact was a much better weapon suited to her as she could play around with pressure and humidity to create mirages, clouds and so much more. And judging by the way things were going, it looked like it wouldn't be created. So, he decided to intervene later to make sure that it got created and maybe even be improved by incorporating the designs and functions of the shock staff into it.
"Hehe, the changes are great, Usopp!" Nami grinned happily. "I'll need some more modifications though."
"Sure! The Great Inventor Usopp can do anything!"
"Who was that by the way?" Luffy asked.
"Some guy called Eric," Sanji answered.
"Forget him. Did you get any treasure?!"
"Zilch. They had some money, but it wasn't much, so didn't feel like taking it either."
"Aww…" Nami whined but wasn't expecting much anyway. "Alright then, let's just go to Warship Island."
Apis, who was watching them in astonishment until then, finally exploded. "THAT WAS AMAZING! YOU'RE ALL SO STRONG!"
She jumped around in excitement as she animatedly praised Usopp and Nami, who smiled at the kid, and pretty soon, Usopp began telling her even more tall tales of his achievements. Luffy grinned as he watched Apis and the rest of his crew mingling with her. He didn't know what it was, but something about Apis struck a chord with every single one of them and they wanted to protect and help her.
"By the way, Apis, how did you know that the wind was coming?" Nami finally asked as they began going towards her home.
"I-umm…" Apis got visibly uncomfortable as she tried to come up with a reason.
"It's okay, Apis. You don't have to say anything if you don't want to," Sanji said gently patting her head. The others readily agreed too and much to Apis' surprise, dropped the topic immediately.
As they sailed away, a sudden cannonball was fired at them from one of the still surviving ships. Luffy instantly jumped into its path when he saw it coming right at them, inflated his body and bounced the cannonball right back at them, destroying their mast.
"He's a devil fruit user?!" Eric, who had been fished out of the sea by the other Marines and who looked like he was barely able to stand, yelled furiously. He began hysterically shouting and threatening them again, saying how someone called Commander Nelson would be after them, but Luffy had had enough. He jumped high into the sky, stretched his leg high above him, and then brought it down on their ship, cleaving it into two halves.
That pretty much broke any will or plans of retaliation from any of the remaining Marines and Luffy landed back on the deck of the Merry, where everyone except Zoro were gawking at him in shock.
"Did… Did you just… inflate your body?" Nami asked bewildered.
"And stretch?!" Usopp shrieked.
"You're a devil fruit user, Luffy?!" Apis asked shocked.
"Oh! Devil fruit!"
"That's your devil fruit? A stretchy fruit or something?" Sanji guessed.
"Close enough! I ate the Gum-Gum fruit. I'm a rubber man!"
"…"
Nami slowly reached out, grabbed his right cheek, used way more force than usual to pull, and was astonished to find his cheeks stretching unnaturally. "So that's why you're so chewy… you're made of rubber… This is so strange…"
"Chewy?" Apis repeated before pinching the skin on his forearm and then without warning, bit into it before nodding vigorously. "He ish cheewy!"
"And how the hell did you know that Luffy is chewy?" Zoro asked Nami with a smirk.
"I wanted to smack him," Nami hastily defended herself, "but my hands weren't free, so I bit him instead! That's how I found out!"
"You got bit by Nami-swan, you lucky bastard!" Sanji growled shaking Luffy.
"Ah! That's how you always win at thumb wars too!" Usopp gasped in realization. "You stretch your thumb when you go for the attack!"
"Oh, so that's how…" Zoro nodded in understanding too.
"Shishi yep!"
"So that's your devil fruit ability huh…" Nami trailed off with a bit of an unimpressed hum. "Anyone else kinda disappointed?"
"Yeah." Zoro, Usopp and Sanji instantly said in unison.
"What?!"
"I mean, you were building it up so much… We were expecting something… I don't know… something more amazing, I guess…"
"Like transforming into a strong animal like a tiger!" Usopp chimed in.
"Or something to do with lightning," Sanji said remembering the lightning show in Loguetown.
"Or some voice-based sonic fruit or something," Nami added. "And it turns out you're just made of rubber… how utterly lame…"
"My fruit is the best in the world!"
"You can stretch and bounce things back… that's all, right? Sure, cleaving the ship with your stretchy leg was impressive but you could do the same even without using your devil fruit… so all you got was range I guess…"
"He can slingshot himself too," Zoro added. "That's what he did in Loguetown."
"Oh… still, it's pretty lame."
"Yeah, shitty captain! Building up such a lame power into something amazing." Sanji grunted.
"Yeah, it's convenient sure, but…" Usopp trailed off before making a face. "Meh."
"Agreed." The other three nodded.
"Well," Luffy just smirked. "One day, you'll be taking those words back."
"Yeah, sure we will," Nami scoffed before sighing. "Guess no one wins the bet…"
"You had bets on this?"
"Yeah. And everyone had guessed some epic powers…" Sanji trailed off with a sigh.
"I think it's cool, Luffy!" Apis piped up stretching Luffy's hands and playing with it.
"Shishi thanks, kiddo."
"Wait," Nami said with a furrowed brow. "That still doesn't explain some things. Your changing voice?"
"Modifying the shape of my larynx to get DIFFERENT voicES," Luffy said demonstrating his ability.
"Wow! That's so cool!" Apis cheered while the rest nodded in understanding.
"And why did Moodie react like that?" Usopp asked thinking back… before realization dawned on him. It dawned on Zoro and Nami at the same time too and all three lowered their gazes to his crotch before Nami went, "Oh."
"Moodie? How did she react?" Sanji, the only one who wasn't there at the time, asked.
"Hush. There's a kid on board," Luffy whispered with a smirk as Apis played knots with his stretchy fingers. The topic was soon dropped, them not wanting to talk about such topics in front of a kid… or rather, not wanting to talk about it, period.
"Anyway, it's time for stories! Who wants to hear about the Fourth Holy Grail War?"
"Nope!" / "No." / "I'm going to sunbathe, so hush!" / "Spar with me instead."
"Aw…"
Luffy spent the majority of the journey to Apis' home sparring with Zoro. After he was done with him, he called Makino to let her know that they would soon be leaving East Blue, while also asking about how she was doing, and found that she had become the de-facto leader of Clockwork Island. She apparently didn't want to and kept asking Silk to take over, but Silk spent the majority of her time in the lab with Chrissy and Lestrade.
The scientists had also wizened up from being enslaved under a pirate for so long and knew that weapons to protect themselves were a must. And thus, new and improved traps and defences were already being set up at the base of their island. Garp's name had deterred almost all pirates from attacking, thus giving them plenty of freedom. Overall, it looked like Clockwork Island was shaping up to be a powerful island.
———
A few hours later, after arriving on Warship Island and meeting the locals including Apis' grandfather - Bokuden, Apis herself took them all to a cave on a mountain to meet Grandpa Ryu.
"A Dragon!" Luffy's eyes shined as he instantly glomped the old creature.
The rest, however, were gawking at him, having a hard time accepting the fact that such creatures were real.
"I-I can't believe this…" Nami muttered in a shaky voice.
"I thought Dragons only existed in myths…" Sanji mumbled, his cigarette falling out his mouth.
"…The closer we get to the Grand Line, the stranger things become huh?" Zoro noted.
Usopp was trembling while hiding behind Zoro with his jaw and eyes wide open. "T-t-t-that's… Hey guys, I think I have the I-can't-meet-a-Dragon disease…"
"Everyone, this is Grandpa Ryu!" Apis happily introduced them. "And Grandpa Ryu, these are amazing pirates I met! They helped me out when the Marines kidnapped me."
"Hmmm… Is this food?" Luffy heard Ryu say and before he could process the fact that he could hear Dragons too, Ryu's jaws closed on him.
GLOMP!
"Luffy!"
"Shishishishi" Luffy just laughed. There was no real strength in his jaws though, so it wasn't like he was actually trying to eat him.
"Ah, Grandpa Ryu is a bit senile. He thinks everything is food sometimes, but he doesn't eat people, don't worry!" Apis explained as Ryu let Luffy go.
"…Home… I want to go home…"
"Home huh? Okay, we'll take you home," Luffy nodded with a smile.
"Luffy?" Apis muttered shocked. "You can understand Grandpa Ryu?!"
"Yep."
"Wait what?" Nami said confused. "You both can understand the Dragon?"
"Ah yes, I'm a devil fruit user too," Apis finally confessed. "I ate the Whisper-Whisper fruit which lets me hear animals."
"Oh! You were hearing the seagulls back on the ship then!" Nami clarified and she nodded.
Apis then went on to reveal why Ryu was being hunted by the Marines and she herself was kidnapped too. Someone called Commander Nelson was after Ryu because he believed that Ryu's body could be the key to immortality, and thus, she had gotten involved in the whole situation when she made Ryu her friend. Apis' main goal was to get Ryu to Lost Island, which was his home, but she had no idea where the island even was.
"So, basically, you want to take Ryu home, right?" Zoro summarized bluntly.
"Yes… but I don't know how to… you destroyed those Marine ships, but Commander Nelson is still out there. He's the one who sent those ships… He'll come after Grandpa Ryu again…"
"We just gotta blow them away too!" Usopp declared, full of bravado.
"Wh-what?! You'll help me?"
"Of course, we will," Sanji said with a grin.
"Yes, Apis, don't worry. We'll help you find this Lost Island!"
"Not that I'm disagreeing," Nami interjected, "but how exactly will we find an island that's lost?"
"Well…" Luffy tried to remember anything from the story but drew a blank. "We'll manage somehow."
Nami smacked him for that comment while Luffy grinned.
"How come you can hear the Dragon though?" Usopp asked Luffy.
"It's just something I can do. It's a power called the Voice of All Things."
"Voice of All Things?" Nami parroted before narrowing her eyes at him accusingly. "Is this one of your stupid stories again?"
"It's real."
"How did you get it?" Sanji asked.
"I honestly have no idea. I don't know much about it other than the fact that I have it."
The answer was, of course, unsatisfactory and they inquired more but Luffy didn't know much himself, so he couldn't explain anything other than the fact that he could just hear the voice of creatures somehow.
"By the way, Apis, can you hear Sea Kings too?" Luffy asked curiously. If she was able to hear Sea Kings too, then she would be part of a very exclusive club that had the same privilege.
But fortunately or unfortunately, Apis shook her head. "No, I can't hear Sea Kings… or any sea creatures. Not even fishes…"
"Oh…" 'Guess that's that then… wonder why?'
Sometime later, they built a cart, put Ryu on it, rolled down the mountain from the cave where Ryu was to the shore where their ship was, and set off to find Lost Island.
———
LOGUETOWN
Moodie sat at a cafe with a newspaper opened to page 3 on her table as she slowly sipped a black coffee. Life had been a bit exciting for her recently. And it was all because of the rubber-man she had met by chance.
She was born into a noble family. A low-class noble family who were barely qualified to hold that title and also looked down on by other nobles… but still a noble nonetheless. Her parents were obsessed with moving up in the noble society and all their hopes were pinned on a young Moodie. As far back as she could remember about her childhood, she was forced to learn 'bridal' etiquette so that she would be a good marriage prospect when she grew up. And at fourteen, her marriage partner had already been decided for her.
She hated every moment of it. The etiquette, the lack of freedom, the fake laughs, decisions that were being made for her…
The only thing she did like about being a noble was that she could receive education about any topic she wanted. As long as she performed well in bridal etiquette lessons and didn't do anything to ruin her physical appearance, her parents allowed her to learn whatever she wanted. And writing and human behavioural psychology were her favourite subjects she chose to learn.
At eighteen, her family fixed her wedding day where she would get married to a twenty-five-year-old spoiled brat who she hated just as much.
Just days before the wedding though, her family's house burned to the ground. Their money burned and when the fire died out and debris was cleared, they found out that all the gold and other expensive gems that were kept in safes had all been stolen.
They became poor, the wedding got cancelled, they got kicked out of noble society, and her parents kicked her out of the house too saying they didn't want to waste money on taking care of her. And Moodie had never been happier.
She built a career in writing and journalism, fought corruption anywhere she could, failed miserably though, but she hadn't given up yet. She agreed to a date with Lieutenant Fullbody to extract any information from him and when that also looked like a failure, she ran into Luffy.
After parting with him, she had gone back to her house and locked herself inside for three days straight. She compiled all the information from all the files she had gotten from Luffy, turned it into a readable article format which was provocative, demanded answers from the Marines, riled up and called out good Marines for their inaction, all the while seeming to come from a concerned citizen rather than someone who hated the Marines, or the Revolutionaries.
A day after she was done, she got a call from someone who was Luffy's friend. A meeting date was set and thus, she sat in a cafe in Loguetown with the newspaper opened to page 3 so that the Revolutionary could spot her.
And it wasn't long before an orange-haired young woman with a drink in hand sat across from her.
"You must be Moodie," Koala greeted with a smile.
"Yes," Moodie returned the smile. "Hello."
"Before we proceed any further, I got a few questions."
"Go ahead."
"You're from the Gieupese Family, correct?"
Moodie tensed up slightly. "I didn't know I was being investigated."
"If this was a one-time thing, then we wouldn't have bothered," Koala answered cooly sipping her drink. "But Luffy said that you wanted to join us. So a little background check was needed."
"I see…" Moodie nodded before answering her question. "Yes, I was born into that family. You must already know that we fell from nobility though. I was kicked out after that and I've never once used that name or seen my parents since."
"Relax," Koala chuckled. "I'm not judging you or anything. A friend of mine is also nobility who ran away from home. I know that just because you're born into something doesn't mean you reflect their values."
Moodie relaxed and nodded.
"What I wanted to ask," Koala continued leaning forward, "is whether the fire that burned down your family's house was started by you."
Moodie stared back at her for a few tense moments before slowly nodding. "Yes."
"And all the gold and treasure that were in safes?"
"I hired some thieves to steal it."
"Why? If you just wanted to get away, you could have stolen some things, packed up and left. Why bother starting a fire and making sure your family fell? Was it revenge? You wanted to get back at your parents?"
"…Not really. I didn't hate them specifically or anything…" She sighed deeply, gathering her thoughts before continuing. "Just hated the culture, I guess. Getting more power, looking down on everyone not as rich as them, the titles, the prestige… Those kinds of things drove my parents mad… it's the fault of that culture more than anything. They were born into it, their parents drilled it into their heads and they tried to drill it into me too. I was able to break free from it but they were too brainwashed… so I decided to just decided to take that away from them. I made them forcibly lose the noble title and… well," She paused and chuckled darkly. "Eighteen-year-old me thought that that was a good option and we would grow closer as a family. But they were far too gone. The first thing they did when they got poor was kick me out."
"I see," Koala nodded with a smile, understanding what kind of person Moodie was and liking her. "The name's Koala."
"Koala? Is that a codename? You do have cute roun-"
"No, it's my real name!" Koala snapped. "And one comment on me being cute or cuddly, and I will eviscerate you! Just having Luffy tease me drove me mad, not having you join him too!"
"Noted," Moodie said with a giggle, feeling a desire to tease her more.
"Anyway, Luffy mentioned you had a present for us?"
"Yeah," Moodie nodded as she opened up her bag and showed her a ton of documents in it. "We need some privacy if we're gonna go through them."
"Sure."
Two hours later, Moodie sat in an underground office across from Koala as she finished giving a detailed explanation of what Luffy had gathered, and showed her how she had compiled all the information and also the article.
"Wow…" Koala breathed out happily. "Moodie, you're gonna be a good asset. This is impressive."
"Thank you."
"So you want to publish this in the papers?"
"That's what Luffy and I talked about. He said that I should ask you Revolutionaries if this was a good idea or not."
"Wait, let me call that idiot," Koala said as she reached over the desk to first connect a transponder snail to a white transponder snail before calling Luffy.
"What's new, morning brew?"
"Wow, so lame…"
"Oh hey, Cuddly! Sorry, thought it was Silk."
"Pfffhehe!" Moodie laughed at the nickname.
"I'll kill you!"
"Was that Moodie's laugh I just heard?"
"Yes. Hey, Luffy. And who's this Silk? Should I be jealous?"
"Shishishi feeling left out? Let's see… Oh! What's cookin', good lookin'?"
"Hehehe that's good."
"Are you seriously flirting right now?!" Nami's shout came through. "We're facing a Fleet of fifteen ships right now and they're blocking our path with iron chains!"
"Oh, looks like you're in the middle of something?" Koala asked calming down.
"Nah, don't worry about it… So, what's up? You met up with Moodie-" CRASH! BOOM! BOOM! CRACK! BOOM! "-I'm assuming Moodie finished the article too and you're now thinking about publishing the article?"
"Pretty much, yeah. It seems like a good idea. Just wanted to know of the consequences."
"I have- Usopp, three 'o clock!"
BOOM!
"Zoro, that ship! Up you go, hup…"
"DON'T THROW ME, YA BASTARD!"
BOOM!
"-no idea of the consequences."
"Umm is this really okay?" Moodie asked concerned. "He sounds like he's in the middle of a war right now…"
"It's fine, it's fine. So Leo didn't know about this?" Koala asked indirectly asking if this happened in the story.
"Nope! So, do what you want. Let it blow up-"
"AHH! LUFFY! SAVE THE DRAGON!"
"Give me a second."
"AHHH! RUN! RUN! STRAWHAT'S COMING THIS WAY! SAIL AWAY! FORGET THE DRAGON!"
"…Did someone just say Dragon?" Moodie asked incredulously.
"Yeah, I thought I heard wrong at first. Guess there are Dragons in East Blue too…"
"Wait, Dragons are real?!" Moodie asked, even more shocked.
"Oh, they're real alright," Koala chuckled. "But that's a story for another day."
Moodie blankly nodded and after a few more seconds of chaos and mayhem unfolding, things quietened down on Luffy's end. "Okay, I'm back. What were we talking about?"
"Publishing the article."
"Yeah, I thought it was a good idea. But you guys know politics more, so I'll leave it up to you."
"Betty should know more about East Blue politics, so we'll get her opinion too. But I think the straightforward approach is the best."
"I think so too," Moodie agreed.
"Alright, good then. Wait, is talking like this alright? Won't the Marines intercept this?"
"Don't worry. I'm using an encryptor snail right now."
"Ah okay… But still, shouldn't we come up with codenames in case we don't have encryptor snails in the future?"
"Yeah, guess so," Koala agreed. "We already use it. Mine's-"
"Yours is Cuddly and there's nothing in this world that will make me change my mind to call you something different."
"Grr… I'll dance on your grave one day, Luffy!"
"What about me, Luffy?" Moodie asked amused.
"Hmmm… Not fitting your personality but how about Moody? Like mood, Moody… It's a good play on words."
Moodie frowned. "You call me that and yours will be MEP."
"MEP?" Koala questioned.
"My Erotica's Protagonist."
"NO!"
"Ooh, what's this about?" Koala asked grinning eagerly.
"Yes, what does that mean?" A sudden new voice interrupted from behind them and Moodie turned around to see a man at the doorway staring down at her. His face was illuminated by the light of the lantern and it only took a moment for her to recognize who the man was.
"D-D-Dragon…?" She stuttered, panicking on the inside when he suddenly showed up out of nowhere… But more than that, she somehow got a feeling that the Most Wanted Man in the World was glaring down at her for some reason.
"What does that mean?" Dragon repeated the question… and given the lighting on his face which made him look menacing and the demanding tone he used, Moodie promptly lost consciousness.
"…"
"What happened?"
"Umm… she fainted when Dragon showed up," Koala answered. "What did she mean by that protagonist thing?"
"Oh would you look at that! There's another Marine ship left! Gotta go! Bye!"
KA-CHAK!
"…"
"Ah sir, take a look at this. She's really good at writing," Koala said handing him the article Moodie wrote.
Dragon nodded taking it. "I'll go through it. Also, we'll leave for Baltigo in the morning…" he informed and started walking away, but paused after a couple of steps and turned back. "…Once she wakes up, ask her what she meant."
"…Yessir," Koala said, barely able to hold her laughter back.
———
Lost Island, East Blue
"Fantastic!" Luffy exclaimed as he watched a flock of Dragons drop out of the sky and land all around them on the newly risen Lost Island. The island had apparently been right next to Warship Island all along. Only, it was on the sea floor. It was an island that rose up to the surface every one thousand years, so no one was able to find it until then.
At the same time the island rose, a flock of Dragons had also shown up and Nami theorized that they were like migratory birds that visited the island every thousand years when it came up.
Commander Nelson had also shown up with multiple battleships and they even formed a blockade, but Usopp's marksmanship destroyed a couple of main ships, Luffy threw Zoro and Sanji onto the ships, where they wreaked havoc, and he himself had cleaved multiple ships in two (while talking on the transponder snail with Koala) using his stretchy legs to quickly take care of them as he was getting impatient to meet the Dragons and then head to Grand Line.
Grandpa Ryu did die after finding the island and it was a tearful goodbye where he told Apis that the past year he had spent with her was his happiest memory and thanked her. He also told them that Millennial Dragons are reborn when they die on the island and just as he said, once he passed away peacefully, a nearby egg broke and a baby dragon popped out. Apis made peace with his death too and was just happily looking at the baby dragon.
Apart from the enemies being taken care of easily, things progressed as in the story itself and the crew decided to explore the island while Apis explained the situation to the villagers on Warship Island.
Luffy had tried to talk to Ryu to ask him of his life, but he was too senile to give any sort of answers. So, looking at the tens of Dragons before, he decided to talk to them. And that's when he made a weird and strange new connection to someone that didn't exist in the story.
Luffy split off from the others as he ran around to many dragons to try to talk to them, but they mostly just ignored him. If he got persistent, they flew away from him muttering things like 'Annoying human.'
It's not like they were mindless as he could clearly hear them talking amongst themselves. One was telling another that a particular fossilized stone dragon had been his mentor and another was complaining that he didn't like the island and wanted to go back home - wherever that was. But they just didn't seem to want to talk to Luffy. Or rather, they didn't seem to understand him.
Luffy stopped after some time and just surveyed the area with his eyes with a thoughtful look on his face. It only took him a few moments to figure out what was happening. The Voice of All Things let him hear Sea Kings and other intelligent species sure, but he couldn't use it to talk back. So anything he said with his mouth would sound gibberish to the other creature. The only reason he could communicate with Roxanne was because she understood the human tongue.
That's what had happened with Zunesha too where he only heard the elephant but when he tried to talk back, Zunesha couldn't hear him or rather understand him. He could transmit messages to Momo though but he theorized it was because Momo had the Voice too and was able to pick up on his voice. He didn't know if he just couldn't do it or if he just had to get better at it but that was a problem for another day.
As he scanned the area, he found one particular Dragon looking right back at him. He grinned as he ran to that dragon and that dragon also seemed excited to see him coming towards them.
"Yo!" Luffy waved.
The Dragon nodded in acknowledgement. "Hello."
"Ah good, you understand the human tongue. My name is Monkey D. Luffy. Nice to meetcha!"
"I am known as Hori."
"Hori huh…"
The Dragon smiled, at least that's what Luffy thought she did. "So you do understand me. I was wondering whether you were someone with the power to hear us and looks like I was right!"
"You've met others like me before?!" 'What the hell?! Roger?! Or someone who had the Voice before too?!'
"Yes. I once met a human who had the power to hear me. Said he ate a devil fruit that let him hear the voices of animals and beasts."
"Oh…" 'Someone like Apis then…' "So that's why you know the human tongue? You had a human friend?"
"Yes."
"I see. That's good… So Hori huh? Sounds like a Japanese name, or a Wano name here I guess. Ryu is also a Japanese name now that I think about it… Are you guys from Wano?"
"I do not know what that is."
"Oh well. You guys are not well-known for being thousand-year-old creatures that apparently fly from place to place. How do you hide so well?"
"Ah, we usually follow a Sky Island. That is our home. We only come to this island," Hori emphasized by stomping on the ground, "when it rises out of the sea to get the newborns."
"A Dragon Sky Island?!" Luffy gasped in excitement, imagining a scene out of a fantasy show while his shining eyes scanned the sky to see if he could spot it. "Is it somewhere near?! I want to see it!"
"Haha… you are a human, so you need Kelsey's permission to set foot on our island."
"Kelsey?" Luffy repeated while wondering why a non-Wano name popped up. "Is that your King or something?"
"No, we have no need for such titles… But Kelsey needs to approve of you."
"Okay, and how do I get their approval?"
"Maybe I can put in a good word…" Hori said slyly.
Luffy chuckled understanding that she was trying to make a deal with him. "Okay, what do you want in return?"
Hori became excited as she demanded, "Bring me some Semla!"
Luffy blinked at hearing a totally unexpected word. "Semla? The sweet?"
"Yes!" Hori nodded enthusiastically with drool building up in her mouth. "I ate it on a daily basis when I had a human friend and it was so tasty! Once the human died, I have been looking for someone who I could ask for so long! And now, I finally have a chance! Please give me Semla if you have it! Even just one is fine!"
"I understand your pain," Luffy nodded sagely, completely understanding her peril of not having a chance to eat something. "I haven't had any Semla in my life either, but I've heard it's really tasty too! Wait, let me get my cook!"
Luffy instantly ran around the island, with Hori excitedly following right behind him, and found Sanji and the rest of his crew inspecting some fossilized remains.
"Sanji! Sanji!" He came barreling in and grabbed him.
"Oi! Calm down! Wh-"
"Make Semla!"
"What?"
Hori landed right next to them with an excited glint in her eyes, nodding eagerly.
"Hori here says that she wants to eat some Semla. I do too! So make us some!"
Sanji eyed the drooling Dragon, whose name was apparently Hori, and the drooling human in front of him and gulped. "…What's Semla?"
And just like that, Luffy and Hori's heart broke and they slumped down to the ground simultaneously with tears in their eyes.
"Hey, hey! Just tell me what it is and I'll make it!" Sanji yelled shaking Luffy.
"I-I don't know…" Luffy muttered before turning to Hori. "Do you happen to know the recipe or how it's made?"
Hori shook her head sadly. "I only ate…"
As a cook, Sanji felt like he was failing. "Describe it for me!"
"Umm, it's like a round-shaped bread, and filled with… cream I think?"
Hori nodded. "It's so sweet and delicious. It has some white powder that's sweet on it too…"
Luffy relayed what Hori said and Sanji massaged his forehead in annoyance. "That's nothing…"
"I know…" / "I know…"
"Wait, wait, do you know where it is made? Which Blue or island speciality is it? I'll see if I can find it in any cookbook I have."
"It's made in Elbaf as far as I know…"
Sanji sighed, never even having heard of such a place in any book he had read.
"Where did you eat it, Hori?" Luffy asked hopefully.
"The human friend I had made it for me. I do not know any specific place where it is made… Where is this Elbaf?"
"New World." Luffy answered and when Hori didn't seem to get it, added, "Second half of the Grand Line."
"Oh…" Hori hung her head low. "That's a dangerous part of the world… I can't even fly normally there without getting dragged into a lightning storm…"
Luffy nodded sadly. "I'm sorry, Hori…"
"Hori-san!" Sanji got on one knee in front of the Dragon. "I am sorry I have failed you. But I promise you this on my life and my pride as a cook - I don't care if I have to travel the whole world! I don't care if I have to dive into the deepest ocean or climb the highest mountain! I don't even care if I have to go to the depths of Hell itself! I will find the recipe for this Semla and make it for you! I PROMISE YOU, HORI-SAN! I WILL FEED SEMLA TO YOU!"
"Waah Sanji!" / "Waah human!"
Luffy glomped Sanji while Hori tried to wrap her wings around them, but that only resulted in her falling in them, as she and Luffy both cried in joy, and Sanji nodded with fiery resolution.
The rest of the crew just watched blankly.
"Are they really causing so much drama for some bread?" Zoro said in a monotone.
"Dragons were terrifying mythical creatures in my mind," Usopp said in a flat tone. "At least until just now…"
"Can't believe I'm saying this but… that dragon is an idiot," Nami said before all three walked away.
———
It was another hour before the Strawhats decided to leave. After Sanji made the promise, Luffy plucked a feather off of Hori to see if he could get a Vivre card made out of it so that he could meet her again. Luffy didn't bring up the topic of the sky island or whoever Kelsey was as he hadn't been able to satisfy her request, but he was excited to visit a Dragon Sky Island one day.
Lost Island was apparently going to stay up for a whole year, so the dragons would also stay for just as long. Apis and Hori also became friends after Apis was told about the promise and Hori was surprised to find that there was another person who could understand her.
After a happy farewell, Apis, Hori and the rest of the villagers on Warship Island waved to the Strawhats as they finally set off to the Grand Line.
———o——o——o———
"Yesss! We're back in the storm!" Luffy cheered sitting on the figurehead as their ship entered the storm that would lead them to Reverse Mountain. He looked around for the light of the lighthouse but didn't find it, so got Nami's attention. "Nami, the light isn't there anymore!"
"Don't worry, it's only a lighthouse. They turn it off sometimes," she said as she studied a map intently. "I have the general direction, so I'll get us there."
"Shishi you're the best."
"Yeah, yeah," She rolled her eyes but her lips were stretching slightly upwards. "Anyway, can you please get off from there? It's fine when it's normal, but we're in the middle of a storm here."
"This is my spot! You can't have it."
"Who said I wanted it?!" She snapped but her eyes didn't leave the map as she studied it with confusion.
"What's wrong?"
"Hm?" Nami finally raised her troubled eyes from the map. "This is a bit confusing… Gather everyone in the kitchen."
Five minutes later, everyone was in the kitchen and Nami spread open a map on the table for them to see. "The entrance to the Grand Line is up a mountain." She stated matter-of-factly.
"Up a mountain?" Usopp questioned.
"Yes, I know it's hard to believe but look," She pointed at the centre of the map depicting Reverse Mountain. "The Guiding light was directly pointing at Reverse Mountain on the Red Line."
"So what? We crash through the mountain?" Zoro asked.
"No no, see these lines that run here," she said pointing at lines that crisscrossed over Reverse Mountain on the map. "These are waterways."
"Waterways?! You can't be serious!" Usopp said bewildered. "Even if there is a waterway, how could a ship possibly sail up them?!"
"But that's what the map says," Nami insisted, a bit confused herself.
"Hey!" Sanji interjected. "Whatever Nami-san says must be right!"
"This is the map we got from Buggy, right?" Zoro pointed out, ignoring the cook. "Are we even sure it's accurate? Besides, why do we even have to go through the Mountain? Can't we just travel south and enter the Grand Line that way? Looks clear to me…"
"If it was that easy, everyone would do it! There's a reason it's not possible."
"Wait guys," Sanji interrupted while looking around. "You all do know that we actually have someone that's been to the Grand Line before, right?"
The rest blinked before they started looking around too, but noticed that their captain was missing.
"Where's that idiot?" Nami sighed and a second later, had her answer when a loud bellowing voice came from outside.
"ROXXXAAANNNEEE!" Luffy roared but the way he said the name seemed like he was singing it.
They all winced at the loud voice before Usopp went to the porthole to see where he was, but didn't spot him on deck.
"ROXXXAAANNEEE!"
"Who's Roxanne?"
"No idea…" Nami mumbled darkly before heading out to the deck and found that Luffy was in the crow's nest. "Luffy! We're having an important conversation here!"
"Two minutes. You guys continue!" Luffy said in his normal voice before adjusting his vocal cords and bellowed again. "ROXXAAANNNEE!"
"He's… singing?" Sanji guessed, noticing that Luffy was bobbing his head to some rhythm.
"Look like it, yeah…" Usopp trailed off with an exasperated sigh.
Luffy was singing Roxanne by The Police - just the 'Roxanne' part aloud though while the rest he sang in his head.
"ROOOXAAAAANNE!" 'Put on the red light' "ROOXAAANNNNEEE!"
"Why are you singing?!"Usopo yelled.
"Felt like it. ROXXAAANNNE!"
"Who knows what goes on in that idiot rubber brain of his?" Nami facepalmed before sighing exasperatedly and yelled up at him. "Luffy, can you at least tell us how the hell you went up a mountain when you went to the Grand Line?"
Luffy paused. "I'm not sure how I entered the first time. I was unconscious at the time… ROXANNNE!… But I went through the Calm Belt to get to South Blue and also while coming back to East Blue."
"Don't be an idiot. How could you have possibly traversed the Calm Belt?"
"What's that?" Usopp asked and Nami pointed at the map in her hand as she explained.
"The Grand Line is sandwiched between two windless belts of sea called the Calm Belt-"
"Five minutes… ROXAAANNNEE!"
"So we can just enter the same way," Zoro said as if all problems were solved.
"Listen to me completely first!" Nami snapped. "The Calm Belt is a dangerous part of the sea. There's absolutely no wind-"
"ROXANNNEE!"
Nami's eye twitched as she kept being interrupted but she swallowed her anger down and continued. "No wind for the entire stretch. We'll have to row the ship till the end and it'll take weeks to get through. And that's not even the major reason why we can't travel through it."
"And that reason is?"
"Six minutes… ROXXAAANNNEEE!"
"The hell are you counting?!" Nami finally snapped.
"Uh Nami-san," Sanji said as he looked around. "What you described just now… no winds… calm sea… I'm looking at it…"
"Oh yeah, the storm stopped some time ago, huh?" Usopp nodded looking up at the clear blue skies.
Nami became confused as she looked around - saw the calm blue sea, saw that their sails were catching absolutely no wind… and paled. "OH NO!"
"Shishishi, took you over six minutes to notice it, Nami. Tch tch tch, you should have realized it right away… ROXXXAAANNE!"
Nami blushed in embarrassment and anger. "IT'S BECAUSE YOU WERE DISTRACTING ME! IT'S YOUR DAMN FAULT!"
"Another shot!" Luffy and Zoro chorused.
"IDIOTS! NOW'S NOT THE TIME! LUFFY, IF YOU KNOW WHERE WE ARE, THEN WHY ARE YOU SHOUTING?! WE SHOULD BE ROWING AWAY RIGHT NOW!"
"So we're in the Calm Belt?" Zoro inferred looking around. "Yeah, there's no wind, huh."
"ROXXAAANNE!"
"AGGH! You all!" she turned to the others hurriedly. "Get the paddles out and start rowing!"
"Yes, Nami-swan~" Sanji readily agreed and went to get the paddles.
"Hurry!" Nami spat as she paced around with a terrified look on her face.
"Nami, I get that there aren't winds and we'll have to row, but why do you look so scared?" Zoro asked, his hands resting on his swords.
"Yeah, it's not like it's been long. See there," Usopp pointed in a direction where they could still see the storm they were in minutes ago. "We just have to go in that direction. It's not like we'll get lost."
"You don-"
"ROXANNNEEE!"
"LUFFY! STOP SHOUTING! YOU'LL ATTRACT THEM!"
"Attract who?"
Sanji stepped out on deck just then with the paddles in hand… but missed a step when the ship suddenly lurched.
"Nooo…" Nami paled knowing it was too late.
"What the hell? Why did it feel like an earthquake just passed?"
Nami held onto the main mast tightly as she cried, "Is this it? Am I gonna die here?"
"Nami! What are yo-" Zoro demanded with his swords out when the sea all around them started erupting. Their faces paled when huge monstrous Sea Kings emerged and their faces paled even further when they realized that they were rising in the air. They didn't want to accept it but when they did look over the railing, they saw that they were on the snout of a humongous black-and-white Sea King and let out a silent scream of terror.
"The Calm Belts are nesting ground for Sea Kings…" Nami whimpered pitifully.
Usopp foamed at the mouth like he had experienced Conqueror's, Zoro and Sanji gaped at the sight while Luffy searched for his friend in the mass of Sea Kings.
"W-what are we supposed to do now?" Sanji whisper-hissed gritting his teeth.
"L-let's stay silent for now. No one move," Zoro hissed. "They'll go back into the sea eventually and when they do, we'll paddle away as fast as we can."
"ARE YOU BEING SERIO-" Usopp whined when Nami lunged at him and clamped his mouth shut.
"Don't yell, idiot!"
"ROOXXANNNE!"
"SHUT UP!" Nami, Zoro and Sanji roared in unison.
"Shishi don't worry," Luffy grinned. "A friend of mine should be coming soon."
"WHAT KIND OF FRIEND CAN HELP US GE-"
CROAK!
All eyes snapped towards the sound and they panicked when they saw a frog-like Sea King eyeing them. They screamed in horror when it jumped at them but were left baffled when another Sea King, which looked a bit like an otter, came barreling into the frog-like Sea King and body-slammed it, shoving it away.
At the same time, the Sea King the Merry was perched upon was about to let out a sneeze, which would have launched their ship back into the East Blue. But it got surprised by the sudden Sea King fight and reflexively turned its head towards the fight just before it sneezed, thus resulting in their ship being launched further deep into the Calm Belt.
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Everyone except Luffy screamed as the ship flew over the sea. They all held onto the ship for dear life as they soared through the air, bracing themselves for the eventual crash when Luffy went into action not wanting Merry to get damaged. He threw his hat to Zoro, who caught it even in the middle of such a situation, and then jumped over the railing. He quickly crawled to the underside of the ship and just as the Merry began her downward arc, sucked in large volumes of air and blew up like a balloon to basically form a cushion under the ship.
The ship landed and bounced a couple of times with Luffy's body cushioning most of the impact before splashing safely into the sea with way less damage. It was unfortunate for Luffy though as he got submerged in the sea, lost all his energy and lost the grip on the underside of the ship.
Only Zoro had kept an eye on Luffy, leaning over the railing to see what he did and noticed that he had drowned. "Shit! Luffy's drowning!"
Before he could even act, a huge shadow appeared right below the ship, making him reel back in shock. A second later, the same otter-like Sea King emerged from the sea right next to them. This one wasn't as big as the humongous ones they saw a bit earlier, but it was still big enough to easily swallow about ten big ships at once. The crew was confused as it had looked like it had saved them earlier and their confusion only grew when they saw their captain on the Sea King's head, coughing and wheezing while taking in large gulps of air.
"W-W-what's h-happening?" Usopp stuttered.
"I have no clue!" Nami hissed.
They just watched as Luffy got his breathing in control on top of the Sea King's head before he stood up and looked at the Sea King curiously.
"Hey, I don't recognize you. You a friend of Roxanne?" Luffy wheezed as he took in the appearance of the new Sea King.
"Ship has skull face with a hat on top… I'm pretty sure this is the ship Roxanne was talking about."
Luffy jumped back to Merry and watched the new Sea King without saying anything, adding to his crew's confusion.
"Luffy," Zoro whispered as he set the hat back on his head. "What's happening?"
"Hm? I'm trying to talk to it… Hey! You a friend of Roxanne?"
"I think I just heard the human say Roxanne… okay, this is the ship Roxanne told us to keep an eye out for."
"Yeah! Can you understand me?"
The Sea King didn't say anything as it looked around and another Sea King with a very long snout showed up.
"Skull with a hat on top. This is the ship Roxanne told us about."
"Yes, I think I heard one of the humans say Roxanne too."
"Good then, let's go."
"Hey wait!"
The two Sea Kings just submerged underwater leaving a thoughtful Luffy behind. 'Yeah, unless the Sea King or creature understands the human tongue, I can't communicate with them…'
SMACK!
Only after getting hit did he pay attention to his surroundings and saw a huffing Nami breathing down his neck with an angry expression. "…sup?"
SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!
"Okay okay," Luffy sighed catching her hands. "Stop already…"
"YOU GODDAMN IDIOT! WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?"
"I told you. I have a friend here. Those two knew her and helped us."
"…"
"Luffy," Sanji sighed. "That makes absolutely no sense. You're friends with someone who can order around Sea Kings?"
"She just asked for a favour. Not order them around…"
"…So your friend can talk to Sea Kings?"
"Yeah."
"Okay wait!" Usopp interjected, "So your friend li-"
His words died in his throat when another Sea King popped out, this one a menacing reptile-like Sea King that was just as big as the earlier ones with extremely razor-sharp teeth that were sticking out of its jaw.
"Roxanne!" Luffy jumped and wrapped his rubbery hands around her.
"Luffy! You finally came!" Roxanne cheered (growled for the others) showing off her razor-sharp teeth as she rubbed her cheeks against him.
"Yeah! And I can hear you completely now!"
"That's good! Don't have to talk in broken sentences anymore."
"Yeah, guess that was annoying. Anyway, who were those two others? They were calling you Roxanne."
"Yes. I had asked a few others to keep an eye out for your Jolly Roger and let me know if they saw you. And yes, I introduce myself as Roxanne now."
"Shishi glad you like the name. The otter-looking one saved our lives, so thank them for me. I tried to talk to them, but they couldn't hear me. Guess I can't use my Voice to talk to you guys yet."
"True. I hope you can learn how and meet the Queen soon."
"Yeah, it'll take me more than a couple of years to meet her though."
"That's nothing for us."
"Shishi yeah. Anyway, meet my crew!" Luffy jumped back to the ship and gestured to the rest who were gawking at the two with astonishment.
"Joyboy's crew…" Roxanne stared in excitement at the rest. For them though, it was a massive Sea King glaring down on them while showing off massive teeth, which made their legs weak.
"This is Zoro, Nami, Usopp and Sanji," he introduced pointing to each of them before pointing to Roxanne while looking at his crew, "and guys, meet Roxanne. She's a friend!"
"Greetings!"
The crew saw the Sea King slightly tilt her head forward as if giving a bow and became dumbfounded.
"…You have a Sea King as a friend." Zoro, the first to regain some level of composure, calmly stated as he bowed back to the Sea King. The rest quickly followed his lead and bowed back, not wanting to seem rude to the literal monstrosity that could eat them.
"I won't be able to remember those names. Tell me easier ones."
Luffy thought for a moment before pointing at Zoro. "Sword?"
Roxanne nodded. "Yes."
Pointing at Nami said, "Tangerine?"
"Yes."
Pointing at Sanji said, "Cigarette?"
Roxanne got closer, making Sanji flinch, sniffed and nodded. "Yes."
Pointing at Usopp said, "Long nose."
Roxanne shook her head. "Won't be able to see such minute difference…" she trailed off before staring at Usopp and changed her mind. "Never mind. It is long enough for me to see."
"Shishi yeah, it is pretty long!"
"THE HELL ARE YOU SAYING ABOUT MY NOSE?!" Usopp reflexively yelled before realizing what he had done and promptly collapsed on deck, pretending to have fainted and hoping that the Sea King wouldn't eat him.
"Coward."
"Yeah, he's a bit of a coward."
"Um… Luffy… what's happening?" Nami asked keeping a cautious eye on Roxanne.
"Oh, Sea Kings in general aren't good with names. So she wanted me to assign some easier ones she could remember."
"…O-kay…" Nami sweat-dropped. "…She's speaking to you? We can't hear anything…"
"Just like the Dragons again?" Sanji sighed. "You can just talk to Sea Kings too?"
"Basically, yeah. Voice of All Things."
"Sure…" Nami drawled, clearly not believing him.
It actually was Luffy's fault for their disbelief. He usually told a lot of stories from Leo's world, which were obviously too unbelievable to them, so sometimes, when he did talk about actual facts like the Voice of All Things like he was doing currently, they thought it was more of his unbelievable made-up stories.
Luffy knew it too and thought about how to answer when Pappug popped into his mind. He internally chuckled and gave a similar reason as to what Pappug gave whenever someone asked how he spoke the human tongue.
"Okay, okay, you caught me. The truth is that I was raised by Sea Kings and I thought I was a Sea King too when I was younger. By the time I realized that I wasn't a Sea King but a human, I had already learned the Sea King language."
"…"
"…"
"…Then how were you able to understand Dragons?" Zoro asked flatly.
"Dragons were like my uncles and aunts… We were a big family." Luffy delivered with a straight face.
"…"
"…"
"Besides, it's a similar language… Right, Rox?"
Roxanne nodded along, understanding that Luffy was pulling a prank.
"I-I see…"
When the Sea King agreed too, they didn't want to argue anymore even though they knew that Luffy was joking.
"I'll blow on the sails. You need to get back to the storm, right?"
"Yeah, thanks. Nami, Rox is gonna blow on the sails to serve as wind. Can you navigate?"
Nami's eyes widened with shock as she gaped at Roxanne and Luffy alternatively for a few seconds… before controlling her nerves and taking a deep breath to calm herself. "Of course, I can do that… But this is just too surreal…"
She took command of the steering while Roxanne began blowing on the sails and they began moving. Usopp opened one eye when he felt the ship moving, saw the Sea King's maw when it sucked in air and pretended to faint again.
"We're sailing by having a Sea King blow on our sails…" Zoro muttered in disbelief. "Never thought I would see something like this."
"I think I'm gonna discard my common sense and believe you can do anything," Sanji said lighting another cigarette.
"Yeah, it isn't really sinking in right now, but this situation is way too extraordinary." Nami agreed.
"They don't know about Joyboy?"
"Of course not."
Roxanne chuckled but that turned out to be her showing off more of her razor-sharp teeth and air blowing out through her mouth and nose. That terrified the crew for a second, but they soon understood that she was laughing.
"How did you two get to know each other anyway?" Sanji asked, studying the Sea King.
"When I was coming back from South Blue, Sea Kings attacked the ship I was on. I fought them off while the rest of the crew escaped, and well, I said something I shouldn't have to one of the Sea Kings and it tail-whipped me… And hence, I got lost."
"You got lost in the Calm Belt?" Nami said incredulously. "How are you still alive?!"
"Shishi I got lucky, I guess."
"And you really did cross over the Calm Belt? How stupid can you be?"
"Lots of people use it. You just have to have a coating of Sea stone on the underside of the ship and the Sea Kings won't be able to see you from below."
Roxanne nodded, adding validity to his statement.
"Then why didn't we get it?! It would have been easy then!"
"Well, firstly, Sea stone is hella expensive. Secondly, it's rare. Thirdly, its supply is controlled by the Marines mostly and I don't know of any underground markets where we could get it from."
"Oh… okay then."
"And lastly, it's waay cooler to enter the Grand Line through Reverse Mountain!"
The rest shook their heads with a sigh, knowing that the last one was the main reason.
"Anyway, after being trapped here for a while, Rox found me one day, tried to eat me, chased me for a long time, stuff happened, we finally fought, made up and became friends," Luffy explained oversimplifying things way too much.
"…Who won?" Usopp asked, finally sitting up.
"I did."
"He threw me in the air," Roxanne whined as if complaining to the others.
"Well, you tried to eat me." Luffy grinned at her while the crew sweat-dropped, a bit peeved at being able to hear only one side of a conversation.
"But… but… h-how is this even possible?! You're friends with a Sea King!" Usopp shrieked.
Luffy looked at Usopp with amusement. "Me hearing Sea Kings is unique, sure. But many Sea Kings and other huge beasts can understand human speech. So, there are cases where they befriend humans in various circumstances while communicating through gestures like nods and all. You just met Apis who had a Dragon as a friend. And there are many similar cases on the Grand Line too. Sure, it's not the norm, but it's not unique either… So bottom line? Get used to it."
Usopp gaped opening and closing his mouth like a goldfish and he and the rest were finally starting to understand that it wasn't that Luffy was strange… It was the world they lived in that was strange.
"If that's the case, can't we just have Roxanne take us to the Grand Line?" Zoro suggested. "We can tie her to the ship and have he-"
His words died in his throat when Roxanne growled glaring at him and Zoro gulped in fear.
"I'm not like those Sea Serpents that will sell themselves out in exchange for Hancock's safety!"
"Shishi so the Sea serpents do it because she protects them?"
Roxanne nodded vigorously causing Luffy to chuckle. As far as he had seen, the Sea serpents actually liked Hancock and the Kuja, so they helped in pulling the ships and other things. Maybe there was some long history there that he didn't know though. 'Even Sea Kings have prejudice huh?' He thought with amusement.
"Also, you know her by name? Are you terrified of her too?"
Roxanne nodded. "Everyone stays away from Hancock."
"Shishi yeah, she's really strong," Luffy nodded before looking at the others who were totally lost. "Rox doesn't like it. Besides, as I said, Reverse Mountain is a much cooler method!"
The rest nodded with a sigh of relief and Nami smacked Zoro on the head for even suggesting it, while he just grumbled.
"I don't mind carrying you alone, Luffy. But I won't pull a ship."
"Don't worry, I won't ask you to. But what about Noah?"
Her eyes lit up in excitement as she nodded eagerly. "Well, Noah's a different matter! Will you ride on it soon?! Will it rise to the surface once again?!"
"Relax, relax. I have no idea. It'll take around three or more years for me to understand everything."
"I can wait that long!"
"What are you talking about? Noah?" Nami interjected.
"It's this huge ship that lies at the bottom of the sea. There's some history there I don't know yet."
"I see." Nami just let it go, thinking it was just a sunken ship.
"Anyway, let's continue from last time," Luffy said facing Roxanne. "I told you I was tail-whipped by the biggest Sea King, right? It was actually calm at first while I rested on its head. It didn't react much even when I tried to talk to it. Guess it didn't know the human tongue, but when I said the name, it got very excited. I'm pretty sure it was saying something to me, but I wasn't able to hear it. It then slowly lost the excitement and started growling and glaring at me. And then suddenly, it tail-whipped me. What I don't understand is why? I'm sure you all know the name but why did it become so hostile to me?"
"Ah, it probably thought you were tricking it."
"Tricking it, huh? Yeah, I assumed that was the case. Is there a precedent?"
Roxanne nodded. "It was around… six centuries ago, I think? Someone claimed to be Joyboy and tried to order us around. The lie was immediately exposed and since then, many get angry if someone claims to be Joyboy and then fail to understand us…"
"I see… know who that was?"
Roxanne shook her head. "Don't know."
'Maybe someone from the World Government from long ago…' Luffy guessed but didn't delve on it as it didn't matter much.
"What kind of name makes a Sea King angry?" Sanji asked, getting only bits of information from the one-sided conversation he was able to hear.
"It's better if you don't know for now. You slip up and mention it during a drunken rambling and the wrong person hears it? We'll have the force of the entire World Government upon us."
"What?" Sanji and the rest muttered confused.
"Moving on," he turned back to Roxanne without giving them an explanation. "You know what happened during the Void Century?"
"Don't know what that is."
"What's that?" Nami asked.
"Alright, I know you guys have lots of questions, but I'll answer them later." He said to his crew before turning to Roxanne. "900 to 800 years ago."
"Hmm, that's when the previous Joyboy and our Queen were active… I think."
"Yes, they were. And the Ancient Kingdom?"
"Don't know what that is either. We don't care much about human affairs, so I doubt many know. Maybe someone who lived during that time may know…"
"Yeah, thought so. You mentioned someone called Sage? Oldest Sage or something?"
"That's the Eldest Sea King I am aware of. And yes, maybe they know. Should I find them and ask?"
"No no, I just wanted to know if it's common knowledge among you Sea Kings, that's all. Even if you knew, I wouldn't want to hear it. I want to find out myself when I go there."
"I don't get it… find out where?"
"Ah it's a long story, don't worry about it. Now, onto why I am him. If it's because I can hear you, I know for a fact that there are four others like me. One is your Queen, so we can exclude her. Two others are dead and the last one is currently… well, let's just say he's in limbo. I don't know anyone personally, but there's also a clan of people who are said to be able to hear you too if they awaken their powers. So, tell me, why am I him?"
"Are there really so many humans who can hear us? I had no idea…" Roxanne said surprised. "I thought that a person who can hear us would be Joyboy…"
"Hm, I see…"
"But it isn't just being able to hear us. There's more to it… I don't know exactly but something to do with the promise and something about the sound of drums, I think? Sorry, I don't know much. I asked the older ones around here too and they didn't have answers either. The ones near our Queen are the most knowledgeable about this."
"The Drums huh… Yeah well, I can say with a 99.9 per cent guarantee that I am him. Anyway, it's fine. I'll go to your Queen one day, so I can just ask the ones around her then."
"I will also prepare to leave after parting with you here and go there. I want to witness the meeting of the two Rulers!"
"Shishi I don't know for certain if I'm the other Ruler."
"You said you want to become the King though?"
"I want to become the Pirate King. Not your King."
"…I don't know what that signifies."
"Eh well, forget it. Be careful, okay? Are you ready to leave? You need to be strong enough to fight off other Sea Kings and the dangers of the Grand Line, right?"
"I am honoured that you are worrying about me, but I am strong enough!" Roxanne declared confidently.
"Shishi okay. I'll see you there then. Let's set the meeting point near Noah."
"Near Noah. Okay!"
"Good. Speaking of Rulers, you guys somehow knew long back that your Queen and the other Ruler would be born soon. Like over 20 years ago, someone heard a few Sea Kings saying that your Queen will be born in some years, and then after some more years, the two Rulers will meet. They were also saying something like the appointed time will come soon. How exactly do you know that? Is it something the previous you-know-who told you? Or do you guys have someone who can see the future or something?"
"I do not know where it came from. It's something which was told to us, that's all… I will be sure to find out for sure by the next time we meet!"
"Okay…" Luffy nodded, not being too disappointed. As he had already told Roxanne earlier, he just wanted to see if it was common knowledge among Sea Kings. The journey was more fun with unanswered questions and he wanted to earn the answers by going to Laugh Tale. 'Besides, it would be more fun with Robin around.'
"We're here," Roxanne announced and Luffy saw the storm an arm's length away.
"Alright, thanks for everything, Roxanne! See you soon. Take care!"
"Goodbye, Luffy! See you soon!" Roxanne showed her full set of teeth while smiling and used her tail to give one final push to the Merry before waving her tail at him.
They entered the storm again and Luffy finally turned to the others who were all looking like they were just about to blow, even Zoro.
"Questions?"
"SEA KINGS HAVE A QUEEN?!" was the first collective question that was screamed at him.
"Okay, first off, a warning," Luffy interrupted with a clap before meeting each person's eyes with unnatural seriousness. "This is extremely sensitive information. I don't mind telling you but you need to be responsible with the information and keep it to yourselves. You let this slip anywhere and the wrong person hears it? You'll be responsible for the deaths of millions of innocent lives."
"M-m-millions?" Usopp gawked.
"Yes, millions. And I'm not exaggerating in the least here… Listen, guys, I happen to know a lot of secrets about this world. Secrets that will have the World Government breathing down our necks, secrets that will get a lot of good people killed, secrets that need to be protected… And I will share it with you all when the need arises but you need to promise me that you'll be responsible. No talking about this in public. No talking about this in front of anyone not on the crew. Do you understand?"
The others were really surprised by his serious attitude and words but understood the gravity of the situation and nodded seriously too.
"How exactly do you know all those secrets?" Zoro asked.
"That's a long story, but let's just say Leo told me."
"Your brother?"
"Yep."
"I forgot to ask but what exactly does Leo do? Is he a pirate too?"
"Leo's dead."
"Oh, I'm sorry…"
"Don't worry about it. Anyway, I hope you understand."
Hearing four sets of 'Yeah!', Luffy came back to his normal smiley self again.
"Good. Do you still wanna know?"
"Yes!"
"Shishi okay. Well, as far as I know, they usually don't have a Queen. The last time they had one was about 800 years ago. The new Queen was born very recently like 13 years ago, I think, and the Sea Kings are waiting for her to grow up and awaken her power."
"Whoa!"
"What will happen once she awakens?! And what's her power?!"
"I have no idea. But something massive, I think."
"You said you were going to meet her?! How?! When?!"
"We'll all meet her, don't worry."
"We will?! No, I don't want to meet her!" Usopp shrieked, holding his head in fear. "Is she terrifying?! How big is she?! If she's the Queen, then she must be humongous, right?! Right?! Is she scary?! I think I have the Can't-meet-the-Sea-King-Queen disease!"
"Shishi well, she's a really cute kid actually… Although, she's a bit of a crybaby. Man, I'm not gonna like her in the beginning, at least." He muttered to himself, while the rest had a hard time picturing a crybaby Sea King. Sanji would have usually kicked and chided him for calling a girl a crybaby, but he was imagining something like a Fish instead of a Mermaid.
"Other questions?"
"What was that talk about Rulers?" Sanji asked. "Seemed like Roxanne called you a Ruler and you denied it? And at the end, it sounded like you were talking about some prophecy?"
"Yeah well, I don't want to call it a prophecy… I don't know enough myself to give you a straight answer. But it's something the Sea Kings were talking amongst themselves and someone overheard them. They were saying stuff like the two Rulers would be born soon and meet soon and all… Guess we'll just have to wait until we meet the Queen and I can talk to the Sea Kings near her to get a clearer picture."
"So one Ruler is the Sea King Queen… and you're the other one?" Zoro asked incredulously.
"There's a good chance, yeah. But I honestly don't know. Not like I want to be a Ruler or anything, so it'll just be an empty title either way…" Luffy said with a nonchalant shrug.
Predictably, none of them could believe it.
"That's just absurd. A human as a Ruler for the Sea Kings?" Usopp said with a shake of his head.
'And I'm also the Sun God,' Luffy added in his mind with a chuckle. It all sounded so absurd and utterly unbelievable, especially for them whose common sense was that of someone that lived in East Blue.
"Are you making up stuff again?" Nami asked him with narrowed eyes. "Is this another one of your stupid stories?"
"Eh forget it," Luffy shrugged getting up. "Anyway, that's all the time we have for now, folks! Hold off on any other questions, cause right now? We are picking up speed and almost capsizing!"
"Ahh!" They all finally came out of their stupor and paid attention to their surroundings. The sky lit up flashes of lightning, the air rippled with the sound of thunder, the rain pelted their skins, the waves made the Merry sway violently… and everybody shot into action.
"The currents have somehow pulled us along!" Nami screeched.
"I can't believe we didn't notice this fierce storm…" Sanji muttered in disbelief.
"Yeah, now's not the time to be talking. We need to stay alive first." Zoro added.
"Yeah…" Nami nodded while examining the currents they were caught in before her face lit up with understanding. "Aha! That's it! I get how we go up a mountain now!"
"You're still on about that?"
"It's because of the sea currents! If the strong sea currents from each of the four Blues head towards the mountain, they'll drive the water up the waterway, and at the very top, the currents will merge and spill into the Grand Line! Since we're already caught in the currents, all we have to do now is steer the ship correctly!" She finished happily having understood it but then another realization hit her. "But we need to be careful. Reverse Mountain is a Winter Island, so the current that hit its edge will travel down to the bottom of the sea. So if we fail to hit the waterway, we'll crash and get dragged down too. Got it?"
"Actually," Luffy perked up. "I understood that perfectly."
"Good!"
"Never heard of a ship going up a mountain before," Zoro grunted, still in disbelief.
"I've heard a bit," Sanji said with a smirk.
"About the mountain?"
"No, but I've heard things about the Grand Line… Supposedly, half the people die just trying to get in. Entering it is no easy task."
"And then here we have someone who calls that place paradise!" Usopp cried terrified.
"Because it is!" Luffy insisted with a grin.
Usopp hurled a couple of curses at him but his voice died down when a huge shadow came into view in the distance. And pretty soon, the gargantuan wall of rock that seemed to stretch to infinity on either side and also upwards into the sky loomed over them.
"Whoa… that's the Red Line?"
"I can't even see the top…"
Nami was also staring at the structure in awe but soon felt the ship moving way too fast for comfort. "Everyone! We're being sucked in!"
"Usopp! Sanji! On the whipstaff!"
"Aye! Leave it to us!" They both quickly ran to the kitchen and grabbed the whipstaff.
Nami pulled out a pair of binoculars and looked through them for a few seconds before her jaw dropped. "Wow…" she breathed.
"What is it?" Zoro asked and Nami handed him the binoculars wordlessly. He too had the same reaction when he spotted what she did through the binoculars. "Wow… I can't believe it. Water really is going up the mountain…"
They didn't have time to admire the view as the currents accelerated the ship at breakneck speeds and they quickly approached the crack in the Red Line that was the entrance to the Grand Line. As a big fuck you to the law of gravity, water effortlessly rushed up the waterway which was adorned by multiple arches.
"Who do you think built those arches?!" Luffy yelled above the roaring currents.
"Who cares?!" Usopp screamed. "We're barely able to keep the rudder straight!"
"Hey! We're a bit off! Move to the right!"
"Right?! You mean Starboard!" Usopp yelled as he and Sanji pushed the whipstaff to change direction.
"Do the semantics matter?!"
"Of course they do!" Nami shot back. "This is a ship and we're travelling on the sea, so we should use nautic-"
SNAP!
Nami, Zoro and Luffy instantly turned back and paled when they saw Sanji and Usopp on the floor with a broken whipstaff in hand.
"THE WHIPSTAFF!" Nami shrieked.
They didn't even have time to think about it as the entrance was coming up fast and they were on course to crash into a stone archway.
"WE'RE GONNA CRASH!"
Luffy sprang into action and first threw his hat to Zoro, who again caught it on reflex, before jumping off the edge of the ship. A quick Gum-Gum-Balloon to act as a bouncing pad between the archway and the ship pushed the ship onto the correct path, and they started sailing up the waterway.
"LUFFY! GRAB ON!" Zoro yelled extending his hand out when he saw Luffy falling towards the sea. Luffy stretched his arm and caught Zoro's arm and snapped back crashing onto the deck. With a smile, Zoro put the hat back on his head and everyone cheered.
"WE MADE IT!"
Sanji and Usopp danced, Nami discarded her coat with a joyous laugh, Zoro was grinning and Luffy stood at the bow of the ship, whooping in joy. The rushing water currents thundered in their ears as they travelled up and it was actually quite a long ride to the top. But no words were exchanged for the entire climb as each person was lost in taking in the impossible sight that surrounded them. They watched in awe as the ship kept going up and up, and soon, they reached the clouds.
Luffy's heart beat in elated excitement as they broke through the clouds and what he saw up there was an absolutely beautiful and surreal sight. As the water of the four Blues converged at the pinnacle, a curtain of mist and foam enveloped the ship before the currents shot the ship into the air. Merry flew in the air again as the currents turned the ship towards the only exit and as they hung suspended at the very top of the world, only one word came to Luffy's mind as he took in the view. Breathtaking.
The thunderous roar of the different seas colliding under them was drowned out for just a moment and at the very top, the mist, the foam, and the spray of water droplets that crystallized into millions of tiny icicles, all played havoc with the tiny amount of sunlight that pierced through the mist to create a beautiful show of rainbows all around them.
"Wow…" he could hear the others breathe out in awe and honestly, no amount of words could ever justify the sight. It was a testament to the awe-inspiring power of the world they lived in, a place where the forces of nature conspired to create beauty beyond human comprehension.
And then the moment passed, gravity did its job, pulling the Merry downward and soon, their ship landed back in the water, facing towards the singular canal that marked the start line of the Grand Line.
Luffy took in a deep breath of the rich, salty air before gleefully throwing his hands up and cheering with unbridled joy. "I'M BACK, GRAND LINE!"