Cherreads

Chapter 39 - Chapter 19; Part 2

"Yeah, we know," Luffy said as he talked with Sanji over the phone just after the fight with the Giants ended. He had apparently found a house made of wax in the jungle and had called him to warn him that there were others on the island. Luffy briefly explained that they already knew, told him about their log pose situation and asked him to see if he could find any eternal poses at the hideout.

Just as he was about to cut the call, a transponder snail started ringing on Sanji's side and Luffy listened silently as Sanji received that call to find it was Mr. 0 himself.

Luffy chuckled as he remained on call, hearing Sanji pretending to be Mr. 3, telling Crocodile that he had killed Vivi and the Strawhats, Crocodile telling him that he did a good job and finally, that he had sent an eternal pose to Alabasta to them through the Unluckies.

"Shishi good job, Sanji."

"Heh… I guess that solves our log pose situation. What the hell did he mean by unluckies though?"

"Oh, they are more agents - Miss Friday and Mr. 13. It's an otter and vulture pair. Get it from them and come meet us. We've lit a fire, so follow the smoke."

"Ah, the animals you met back in Whisky Peak, huh? Yeah, alright. I'll get it from them. See ya soon."

Meanwhile, the rest were gathered around a fire and explaining their situation with Alabasta and the Baroque Works agents to the two Giants while roasting dinosaur meat.

"GABABABABABA You should have just said so in the beginning!" Broggy guffawed and so did Dorry.

"GEGYAGYAGYAGYA Yes! If you had just told us, we wouldn't have tried to kill you!"

The crew sweat-dropped at their words before Nami blew up. "You almost killed us because of a misunderstanding?! How stupid are you?!"

Luffy came back to their side and started devouring the dinosaur meat (which was still uncooked as he couldn't wait) without paying them much mind.

"Luffy, how can you act like nothing happened?! Look at what they did to you!" Nami said as she stared at his wounds with concern. "I think this is the first time I've even seen you bleed like this…"

"Eh, let bygones be bygones," Luffy shrugged as the Giants laughed.

"Why are you all covered in moss and algae anyway? You reek too."

"Fell in a swamp while we were fighting… Shishi it was fun! It wasn't deep but I still almost drowned in it when Dorry kept trying to stomp me while I was in there!"

"Not something to laugh about, idiot…" Nami sighed exasperatedly.

"This is all my fault!" Vivi suddenly piped up with a guilty expression on her face. "This all happened because the agents came after me in the first place… I'm so sorry for causing trouble!"

"Don't say that," Nami said pinching her cheek. "It's not your fault."

"Yeah, Vivi," Luffy said in between bites. "It's those jerks who are responsible, not you."

"See?" Nami pointed with a smile. "No one here blames you."

"But still…"

"Yes, don't worry, little human. They were probably after our bounties too!"

"You guys have bounties? How much?" Usopp asked excited.

"One hundred million each!" they both said with a flourish, but they noticed that the humans didn't seem that impressed.

"What?! You think one hundred million is too little?!" Dorry yelled offended.

"Ah no no… Luffy here has a forty-five million bounty and we have just started our journey on the Grand Line. Just expected more from century-old giants, that's all…" Nami placated.

"You have a forty-five million bounty?!" Broggy said astonished. "No wonder you are strong! That was a good fight!"

"Yes!" Dorry also excitedly added. "It's been such a long time since we last fought anyone strong other than each other!"

"Shishishi yeah. You guys are strong too! If you had your weapons and weren't already hurt from fighting each other, I don't think I couldn't lasted against you both for very long!" Luffy grinned up at them. "Besides, that bounty was issued a hundred years ago, right? Don't know how much the currency has inflated or how the standards have changed after Roger, so it would probably be more now if they calculate it."

"Ahh, I see! We are probably worth much more now! GEGYAGYAGYA!"

"Yes! That's right! GABABABABA!"

"Umm, sorry to interrupt," Vivi hesitantly said looking at everyone. "But what are we going to do about our log pose situation? We can't wait for a year here…"

"Ah, don't worry. Sanji called earlier. He should be here with some good news."

"Good news?"

"You'll see."

Before they could ask more, Sanji came out of the forest humming to himself and his eyes fell on the ladies.

"Ahhh~ Nami-swan, Vivi-chwan, I'm so glad you're safe!" he sang before noticing the Giants. "Whoa! The heck is that?! Are you Mr.3?"

"That's not him… Wait, you know about Mr.3?" Nami asked and Sanji laid his eyes on her topless self and swooned more.

"Yeah," Sanji nodded before putting his jacket over her and then kneeled down in front of Vivi. "This is a present for the beautiful princess!" He declared, presenting an eternal pose to Alabasta to her.

"You found one?!" Vivi exclaimed before happily wrapping her arms around him and thanking him while he enjoyed the hug with hearts in his eyes.

"Oi cook," Zoro called out, interrupting his sweet moment and he looked at him irritably. Zoro casually stood up, used Soru to get close to him, then casually turned around and used it again to get back to his original spot beside Luffy and sat down. He then looked up at him and smirked.

"YOU CRAP-SWORD SHOW-OFF!" Sanji roared. "I'LL CATCH UP IN NO TIME! DON'T LOOK SO PLEASED! WIPE THAT SMIRK OFF YOUR STUPID FACE!"

"Heh… you'll still be number two…" Zoro smirked again and Sanji lunged at him before the two devolved into a fight.

"GEGYAGYAGYA! Those two have a relationship like ours, eh Broggy?"

"Looks like it! GABABABABA!"

Luffy laughed with the Giants before his eyes fell on Nami, and he gasped when he saw that she was wearing just a bra and a jacket as her top. "Nami! I told you to cover up! Why did you strip?!"

"I didn't strip, idiot! It burnt off… And you're only noticing it now?"

"Ah damn it! Button up at least, will you?" Luffy sighed as he studied her skin for any bites before buttoning the blazer for her, while she let him do it with a roll of her eyes. At least, her legs were fine as the jeans were still intact.

"Vivi, you too?!" Luffy gasped noticing that her situation was the opposite - her shirt was mostly fine but her pants had burnt off up to her knees.

"It also got burnt off…"

"Zoro, strip."

"Wha?! The hell do I have to give my pants?! You do it!"

"Mine don't cover the entire leg. Yours does. So strip!"

Zoro grumbled but complied in the end and he was left with just boxers while Vivi put on Zoro's pants, which were obviously too big for her, and tied it to her waist with a belt.

"Is this fine, Dad?" Vivi asked irritably.

Luffy blinked for a second before gently patting her head and completely got into the role. "Yes, honey. You might hate me, but know that I'm doing this for your own good."

"Stop it!" Vivi snapped, swatting his arm away. "And what about you, huh?! Your jacket is gone and your arms are exposed! And now, Zoro's legs are exposed too!"

Luffy just shrugged. "We didn't really need it in the first place. We just wore it for courtesy's sake."

"Huh?"

"I've never gotten sick in my life," Zoro interjected.

"Me neither," Sanji and Usopp added.

"Yeah. We're monsters," Luffy finished and the two girls gaped at him and the rest, wanting to refute that it didn't work like that but knew it would be a futile attempt to convince them otherwise.

"Anyway," Nami chose to ignore that line of conversation. "From where did you get the eternal pose?"

Sanji then sat down and began telling them about how he had tricked Crocodile, which left Vivi extremely happy and very generous with her hugs.

"Alright then, our problem is solved! Luffy, eat fast. We should leave soon."

"Right. One last thing," He turned towards the Giants who were enjoying the meal and with hopeful eyes asked. "Do you guys happen to know how to make Semla?"

"Semla?!" Both Giants exclaimed before a huge smile spread across their faces and they licked their lips.

"Now that's a word I haven't heard in a long time!"

"Yes, it's been so long since I tasted one!"

"Wait wait," Sanji piped up. "These guys know what Semla is?"

"Yeah, they have a festival back on their home island where they eat it a lot."

"Ahh, the Winter Solstice festival…" Both said with reminiscent smiles. "I miss it a lot!"

"Do you know the recipe?!" Sanji asked, looking hopeful.

"Yes!" Broggy answered causing Sanji and Luffy to whoop in joy.

"Tell me!" Sanji demanded taking out a pen and soon with a reminiscent smile, Broggy explained the process of how to make Semla.

"What's this about?" Vivi asked curiously while Sanji wrote down the recipe.

"Oh, a friend of ours wanted to taste Semla, but we didn't know the recipe. So we promised her that we would one day make it and feed it to her."

"Ah, I see," Vivi just nodded, not knowing that the 'friend' was a Dragon. Nami told her later though and she was shocked to not only learn that Dragons were real but also that they had befriended them too. For now though, she just looked at Dorry's and Broggy's happy smiles and felt like she should do something about their stupid duel.

"Don't you guys miss your home?" Vivi yelled up at the Giants once Broggy finished telling the recipe, getting everyone's attention. "You talk so fondly about your home… Don't you want to go back? Are you really going to fight until one of you dies?" Vivi trailed off sadly while Luffy glanced at her. She seemed to be trying to play the peacemaker between the two. 'Hmm…' His eyes gained a glint as he looked back up at the Giants.

"Yes! It is our law!" Both Giants declared in unison without any hesitation.

"But it has been a hundred years already! Isn't there some other law that sets a time limit or something? I mean, if a fight has gone on for one hundred years and a victor still hasn't been decided, then perhaps your God finds you both to be righteous?"

"Hmm…" Both hummed for a while before Dorry shrugged. "Perhaps. But we don't remember the reason for our duel. So there is no way we can come to a conclusion other than one of us winning!"

"… I can't comprehend that stupid line of reasoning…" Vivi groaned defeated.

"Don't you want to go home though? I'm sure everyone back home misses you," Nami tried to persuade them too.

"We were co-captains of the Giant Warrior Pirates back in the day. I do think about what happened to them sometimes…" Broggy said in a reminiscent tone.

"After you two left, your crew was hunted down by the World Government and eventually captured," Luffy answered their question, surprising the Giants.

"They were captured?!" Usopp gasped.

"They're imprisoned?!" Dorry and Broggy demanded.

"No. They were all given death sentences and were about to be executed. But a certain human stopped them, saying that executing them would start a war between giants and humans. So the execution was cancelled and they were sent back to Elbaf."

Dorry and Broggy went wide-eyed, clearly not expecting such a story.

"I see…" Dorry said sadly. "So they basically disbanded…"

"Whoever that human is, I thank them," Broggy added solemnly.

Luffy had to bite his tongue and force himself to not say anything while the Giants came to terms with the disbandment of their crew.

"Do you happen to know Captains Jarul and Jorul?" Dorry asked in anticipation.

"Yeah. Co-captains of the crew before you guys…"

"Yes! Do you know what they're doing now?!"

"Umm, I always get the two confused. Who's the one with the waterfall beard?"

"That would be Captain Jorul," Dorry said with a fond smile.

Luffy felt bad for being the one to break the news. "I'm sorry, but he died around 60 years ago."

The two Giants' eyes widened. "What?!" / "How?!"

"He was killed."

"Who dared to kill a Mighty warrior of Elbaf?!"

"Uhh, you won't believe me…"

"Who?!" Both demanded.

"J-Just tell them!" Nami hissed.

"… Okay, just keep in mind that Jorul was old by that point. Age had caught up to him an-"

"Who?!"

"A human child."

"Lies!" Both roared, standing up and looking like they were ready to continue the fight. Zoro and Sanji got ready to grab the others, who had become paralyzed in fear, and run, but Luffy sighed and held his hands up.

"You're probably imagining him in his prime but remember that he was old and frail at the time of his death. And that child wasn't someone ordinary. She's a Conqueror."

That managed to calm the two down and they went into silent contemplation before silently plopping back down.

"A Conqueror?" Zoro questioned while the rest sighed in relief.

"Someone with Conqueror's Haki."

"Like you?" Nami asked.

"Yeah."

"I've never actually seen you use that," Sanji interjected. "How does it work?"

"Some other time," Luffy said as the Giants took a few more moments before sighing in acceptance.

"I guess age catches up to everyone in the end…" Dorry lamented.

"Yes… I hope he had a good life." Broggy said solemnly. "What exactly happened though? Even if the child was a Conqueror and Captain was old, I still can't believe it…"

Luffy thought for a few seconds before beginning. "Okay, a little bit of history first. The human who pleaded with the Marines that the Giant Warrior Pirates shouldn't be executed was called Mother Carmel. She ran an orphanage taking in abandoned children from everywhere and was known as the Holy Mother. Because of what she did for the Giants, all of them deeply respect her. Even Jarul and Jorul. To the point that they even let her stay in Elbaf and run her orphanage there."

"Wow, she sounds like a goddess!" Sanji swooned.

Luffy paused and stared at him, trying to hold his tongue… but ultimately blurted out, "No. She was an evil scumbag."

That immediately made everyone's curiosity rise and seeing the serious look on his face, Sanji didn't even argue and just lit a cigarette, choosing to listen.

"Why do you say that, human?" Dorry asked. "She saved our brethren, so how can she be scum?"

Luffy sighed, cursing his tongue, before going on a tangent. "Well, that was how she was on the outside. But in reality, she was a child trafficker who would find children and sell them to the Marines to become members or spies or agents. To her core, she was an evil businesswoman who didn't give a shit about the children and just saw them as products… Her plea for saving the Giants was nothing but a scripted act between her and the Government so that the Giants would be indebted to her. When they allowed her to stay in Elbaf, she only got access to stronger children."

"That's horrible…" Vivi stated the obvious.

Luffy gave them a moment to process everything before warning them. "If I go to Elbaf and say something bad about Carmel, every Giant will immediately try to kill me. So, don't mention this to anyone… I have no proof of this and Carmel's been dead for a long time so there's not much point in bringing that up with the Giants either."

"Wow…" Usopp sighed. "That's messed up."

Dorry and Broggy looked like they were contemplating something. "So our side was tricked? How do you know the truth?"

"Got it from a reliable source. Again, you don't have to believe me as I have no proof and it doesn't matter anymore as it's been a long time since it happened…"

The two nodded, satisfied with that answer.

"Now, back to the original topic. The child I talked about was an orphan. Even as a five-year-old, she was about three times taller than me. She has issues with hunger and gets these intense cravings every now and then, where she goes on a rampage, destroying everything in sight until she eats enough food. Her parents abandoned her because she was too much trouble and that's when Carmel took her in, thinking she would fit right in with the Giants because she was huge and it worked for a while. During one Winter Solstice festival… umm, you guys fast for… 7 days?"

"12 days," Dorry answered, intently listening to the tale.

"Right. So the child also participated in the fasting. She couldn't control herself though and before the 12 days were up, she went on a hunger rampage, demanding to eat Semla. Many Giants tried to calm her down, including Jorul, and well, by the end, she had destroyed an entire village, killed many adult Giants and fatally wounded Jorul."

"She was that strong as a child?" Nami breathed in awe.

"Pretty much… She was eventually calmed by the others feeding her lots of semla and she just fell asleep. With his dying breath, Jorul asked the other Giants to avenge him… Jarul tried to kill the sleeping child, but Carmel interjected and pleaded with him to spare her life as she was just a child and didn't know what she was doing. Jarul's deep respect for her won in the end and he let the child live and just banished her… Don't know what Jarul is doing now though…"

"… And if what you say is true, they let that child go because of a manipulating human witch," Dorry spat with irritation.

"Well, if it's any consolation, Carmel was eventually killed by the same child. She had seen the child take down Giants when she was so young, so there was no way she would allow her to be killed. Thus, she pleaded with Jarul to spare her life. Eventually, just before she was about to sell the child, the child went on another hunger rampage and Carmel was killed…"

"Karma, I guess…" Nami sighed.

"And what is that child doing now?" Sanji asked, concern evident in his voice.

"She's currently one of the strongest people on the planet - Charlotte Linlin."

"Big Mom?! You were talking about Big Mom?!" Vivi gasped loudly.

"Who's that?"

"She's a Yonko, one of the four strongest pirates in the World."

"And the Ruler of Tottoland!" Vivi added, thinking Luffy was being way too casual in describing her.

"Oh wow…"

"And the other Elbaf warriors let her do whatever she wants?" Broggy asked in disbelief.

"She killed Jorul, many Giants, and someone even saw her killing Carmel and spread the news, so they all hate her with a passion… Actually, it gets way more complicated," He chuckled. "First off, you guys have a new prince called Loki. So, congratulations. I don't know for sure but rumours say that he's a deeply respected individual in Elbaf."

"Prince Loki!" both parroted in reverence.

"Well, Loki fell in love with one of Big Mom's daughters and proposed to her."

Everyone blinked dumbly at the sudden plot twist.

"What the hell?!" Sanji laughed. "A love story came out of nowhere!"

"Shishi remember that all the Carmel thing happened over 60 years ago. A lot of things have changed since then…"

They nodded in understanding before Vivi eagerly asked. "So? Did they marry?"

"Nope. The daughter didn't reciprocate his feelings and ran away to find her true love. She had a twin too, so Big Mom tried to trick Loki into marrying the twin, but they saw through the deception and the wedding was cancelled. Which further soured the relationship between Big Mom and the Giants."

Everyone chuckled at the soap opera like ending.

"Looks like we've missed a lot, eh Broggy?" Dorry sighed with a wistful smile.

"Yes Dorry, we sure have!"

Vivi tried again. "At least now will you stop the fighting? You should go meet your Prince and see how the others are doing!"

"GABABABABA/GEGYAGYAGYA OF COURSE NOT!" they both laughed and Vivi slumped in defeat. "Prince Loki and the others will take care of Elbaf. We cannot give up the duel. We don't even remember the reason, so our pride won't allow us to return to Elbaf without having concluded this duel!"

"At least you tried Vivi…" Nami consoled her.

Luffy opened his mouth again, wondering if he could change their fates. "Those houses you live in… They're so huge…"

Everyone was confused by the random non-sequitur and looked at him questioningly while Dorry and Broggy nodded in agreement.

"Our houses? Yes, they are big and majestic, aren't they?"

"They don't seem like mountains though…"

"Hm? I guess not. They are unique structures… Hmm…" Broggy trailed off with a hum.

"I don't think they were there when we came to the island though…?" Dorry also hummed, as if thinking hard about something.

"…"

"…"

Luffy waited as he munched on dino meat and soon, as if a lightbulb had gone off in their heads, they simultaneously turned to each other and yelled, "THAT'S IT!"

"W-What?"

"I remember now! The reason for our duel! We both had hunted a Sea King!" Dorry began.

"Then that small human girl asked us which one was bigger!" Broggy continued. "I, of course, said mine was bigger!"

"And I said mine was bigger!"

"So we laid down both Sea Kings side-by-side right here on this island…"

"But we couldn't agree on who's was bigger…"

"And since neither of us backed down…"

"We began the duel!" They both finished in unison, laughing like maniacs, while the rest's jaws dropped.

"THAT'S IT?!" Everyone, even Zoro, screamed at them incredulously.

"A hundred-year-long duel… was just a dick-measuring contest between two men…?" Nami muttered like she just couldn't believe her ears.

"I feel dizzy…" Vivi's head spun. She thought that it must have been a deep reason like one killing the other's family member or something along those lines, but… a hunting contest?!

"My respect… it's crumbling…" Usopp mumbled as he almost lost his respect for them but somehow managed to brainwash himself. "No no… it's still pride they're fighting for… but the reason… That doesn't matter! It's all about pride!"

Sanji and Zoro looked extremely annoyed that a hundred-year duel started because of a hunting competition, just like theirs, while Luffy and the Giants laughed.

"Okay… Okay, fine!" Vivi took in deep breaths while mumbling to herself, "Respect other people and cultures even if you can't understand it…" before looking up at the Giants. "So? No matter how absurd the reason, now that you know, can you please make up and end the duel?"

"Only if he agrees that mine was bigger!" Dorry said pointing at Broggy.

"No way in hell were you able to bag a bigger Sea King than me! Mine was clearly bigger!" Broggy declared, growing angry.

"No, there's no way in hell that you bagged a bigger Sea King! Mine was clearly bigger!"

"No!"

"B-But the Sea Kings have been reduced to bones…" Vivi desperately interrupted. "What are you even arguing over…?"

"My pride won't allow me to concede that his was bigger!"

"No, mine was bigger!"

"Gosh… if you ignore the context, the innuendos write themselves…" Nami giggled, not caring much about what the two Giant idiots would do.

They devolved into fighting causing Vivi to get extremely pissed. Luffy watched with amusement as her face became redder and redder as she glared at the two idiots… before finally throwing her hands up yelling, "I GIVE UP! Go kill each other for all I care! Ugh, I can't believe I wasted my brain cells on this!… Father did tell me that it would be much harder to deal with stupid people rather than smart people… I finally understand!"

Nami consoled her while Luffy laughed, but he too was disappointed. He had gone on the long history lesson to see if he could maybe make them curious about their home and tempt them into wanting to leave the island, but looked like their stubbornness was too strong. He still had a few arguments left though.

"Hey!" He yelled getting their attention. "The ones who killed those Sea Kings are your past selves, right? What's the point of fighting now, one hundred years later, when your strength level is obviously different from your past selves?"

"Yes! Yes!" New life shone in Vivi's eyes as she jumped in excitedly, understanding Luffy's train of thought. "That's right! The reason for the duel itself has become void because you are not at the same strength level as your past selves! Shouldn't you go out and hunt another pair of Sea Kings to compare again?" She yelled before grumbling under her breath, "Hopefully this time, there will be a clear winner…"

The two seemed taken aback by the fairly reasonable logic and exchanged a glance. Luffy excitedly watched as they crossed their arms and began thinking, much like he himself used to do before his death. The gears seemed to creak a lot in their heads as everyone watched in anticipation, but ultimately, they shook their heads.

"Doesn't matter!" Dorry adamantly denied. "Sure, we will have another hunting competition now but Broggy first needs to concede that my Sea King was bigger!"

"Hell no!"

'Okay, that failed. Let's try this…'

"You both fought me, so who's stronger, me or those Sea Kings?"

"You are stronger, human." Both agreed.

"Right. So, you clearly recognize that size doesn't matter when it comes to strength. So, what's the point of arguing as to which Sea King was bigger? Even if one of yours was bigger than the other, it doesn't prove that the Sea King itself was stronger."

The two again thought but rejected the reasoning. "It's different between species. For Sea Kings, the bigger they are, the stronger they are. So, Dorry has to concede that mine was bigger!"

"No! No! No!" Vivi blew up. "That's a stupid line of logic! Some Sea Kings have claws, some have thicker skin, some have strong jaws while some don't! Of course, bigger is stronger is wrong!"

But the Giants adamantly argued that the parameters of their duel was who's Sea King was bigger, so that was the only thing they cared about and nothing else mattered.

"Nom de dieu de putain de bordel de merde de saloperie de connard d'enculé de ta mère!" Vivi screamed while Nami and Sanji held her back.

'… Okay that failed too… and looks like Vivi's losing it…'

He tried a couple more arguments but nothing worked as they just remained adamant that the other had to concede.

"Give up, Luffy," Vivi said coldly. "They're hopeless…"

"Yeah, looks like I met my match in stubbornness…" Luffy sighed as he stared at the Giants. There was one last line of argument he had- Something he had noticed during their fight… But he needed someone who Dorry and Broggy knew from their pirating days for the argument to work properly. Someone like Oimo and Kashi.

"Okay, if we find some Elbaf law that sets a time limit or some other law that will end this duel, would you accept it then?"

"Of course!" Both readily agreed. "If it's in the law, we'll gladly accept!"

"Okay, good. Keep this transponder snail close. I'll call you in a few months." He said giving Dorry the transponder snail that Sanji had brought back from the wax hideout. They couldn't exactly operate the little buttons on the snail, given their Giant hands, but nudging or even shaking the receiver off when it receives a call was doable.

"Are you going to Elbaf to see the laws?" Broggy asked bewildered.

"Are we?!" Usopp jumped up in excitement.

"One day, definitely," Luffy nodded and Usopp whooped in joy. "But I was actually thinking of Oimo and Kashi."

"Oimo?! Kashi?!" / "You know them too?!"

"Yeah. And they're in Paradise itself. So, when we meet them, I'll call you."

He didn't know if Enies Lobby would happen or not, but he would get in touch with them either way.

"Ah! That would be great!"

———

After saying goodbyes to the Giants, they started making their way to the ship when they came across a T-Rex. Luffy beat it into submission, and was riding on its head, along with Vivi and Zoro.

"I'm riding a T-Rex!" Vivi exclaimed happily. "Today sure was exciting! I did and learned so many new things!"

"You're back to being happy?" Zoro said surprised. "You were pretty pissed until just now while arguing with the Giants."

Vivi's eye imperceptibly twitched but the smile on her face didn't fade. "Hmm? What do you mean? What argument?"

"…"

"Looks like she erased the memory from her mind…" Luffy whispered to Zoro, who nodded in agreement.

"You sure were trying hard to change their mind," Sanji commented as he and Usopp walked, while Nami rode on Carue right below them. "Any reason for that?"

"Nothing major. Just imagine it. If they do change their mind and they left this island, the Giant Warrior Pirates could be born again! Don't you want to see a crew full of Dorrys and Broggys out on the seas with us?!"

Usopp shivered in excitement just picturing it. "Yes, that will be awesome! And I shall be their leader - The Brave Warrior Usopp!"

"Alright, alright, enough talking," Nami sighed. "Let's just leave this island already. It's so hot and humid here… and I have to wear these clothes…"

"Just a little more, Nami. Then you can strip all you want."

"Don't say it like that!" She snapped kicking the poor dinosaur in the leg as she couldn't reach him. The T-Rex looked back and softly growled at her, but Nami just glared back challengingly and scowled, "Did you just growl at me?!"

The T-Rex instantly turned its head forward again with a shiver and increased its pace while Luffy, Zoro and Vivi stared at the whole scene in dumbfounded silence before eyeing each other.

"She certainly adapts fast…" Vivi commented softly. "Just earlier, she was scared shitless but now she's taunting them…"

"Yeah…" Luffy nodded.

"That's because you spoil her too much, Luffy," Zoro said with a shake of his head. "She knows you'll always be there to clean up any of her messes, so she runs wild… She especially runs wild with the debt thing…"

"That is true…" Vivi agreed. "You do spoil her a bit too much."

"Oh? Are you feeling left out?" Luffy smirked patting her head. "Don't worry, your father won't forget you and spoil you too. Here, have a rice cracker."

"Stop it!" Vivi swatted away his hand with a flushed face while Luffy and Zoro snickered. "How do you know so much anyway?" She changed the topic. "About Big Mom, Carmel, Prince Loki, and even the reason for their duel…"

"Leo told me."

"Leo?"

A quick explanation of Leo followed, which only included that he was a musician and liked to read about history. Vivi just accepted the answer when she learned that he was already dead and didn't want to pry too much.

They finally made it back to the shore, and Luffy patted the T-Rex lovingly and let it go (It ran as fast as it could) while the rest readied the ship.

"Oi, Marimo, don't forget our hunting competition." Sanji smirked pulling a dead dinosaur in.

"Of course I didn't!" Zoro taunted as he pulled his dead dinosaur and they both put it side by side.

"Ha! I win!"

"Open your eyes, ero-cook! Mine's bigg-"

Slap! Slap!

Both men felt a hand on their shoulders, which actually made them jump for an inexplicable reason, before they slowly turned… only to see a benevolently smiling Vivi behind them.

"Ah, Vivi-chwan…" Sanji gulped.

"Hmmmm?" Vivi hummed questioningly as she smiled at them with her eyes closed.

"T-This is j-just…"

"Hm-Hm?" The pressure on their shoulders increased.

"Oi, V-Vivi. This isn't like their du-"

"Hmmm?"

"…"

"…"

"We'll just silently cut it and load it onto the ship."

Vivi finally let go, and opened her eyes. "Good."

———

"No matter what, just trust us and sail straight ahead!"

"Got it! Goodbye, guys!" Luffy and the rest waved when the Giants came to see them off and gave them a warning.

"What was that about?" Nami asked as they sailed farther away from the island. Her question didn't take long to be answered as the sea bulged and the Island Devourer surfaced.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" Nami and Vivi shrieked while Carue squawked and ran, burrowing its head under a table and Usopp gaped, his knees trembling.

Luffy grinned turning to Usopp. "Hey, didn't you once tell me a story of how you defeated a Goldfish that was so big that it ate entire islands? This is the Goldfish, right?"

"Wow, he was actually telling the truth?" Zoro smirked as he saw that Usopp was barely able to stand straight.

"I-I-It's real?!"

"Go on, Usopp," Sanji slapped his back, making him jump in place. "It's an old friend, right? Go say hi."

"T-Th-The o-one I m-met was d-different!" Usopp stuttered. "L-Looks like there's t-two of t-them, huh? Haha-ha! The w-world sure i-is big!"

"IDIOTS! NOW'S NOT THE TIME FOR THIS!" Nami shrieked. "WE SHOULD ROW AWAY! GET THE PADDLES OUT!"

"Nah, it's fine."

"Y-Yes! The Giants said to sail s-straight no matter what!" Usopp declared.

While they panicked, Luffy looked back to see how exactly the Giants would help them, given that he had broken their weapons… and saw that they were holding their shields up.

"HAKKOKU!" Both Giants pulled back their shields, their muscles flexing as they got ready to launch their attack.

"SOVEREIGNTY!"

They actually threw the shields and they flew like discs right over their heads at a very fast pace, creating a massive gust of wind which propelled them ahead, while the shields themselves accurately hit the Island Devourer. The poor Sea King got bashed by the shields and shoved away while the Merry flew right over it.

"WHOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

——o———o———o——​

The next morning, Luffy sat in the crow's nest applying new bandages on all the wounds he had gotten from the fight - mostly over his arms, legs and torso. He felt a little light-headed and dizzy - probably from all the blood loss, he concluded - not paying it much mind. Once done, he sighed, dreading the conversation he was about to have with his crew.

He had prevented Nami from getting sick, so there should be no logical reason for them to take a detour to Drum. The news that three hundred thousand soldiers from the Royal Army had defected to the Rebel side had already come, so it was even more of a priority for them to reach Alabasta as fast as possible.

He stood up letting out another sigh - 'My head's throbbing a lot.' - and jumped down to talk to them, knowing he couldn't put it off any longer. He planned to tell them about Wapol and his plan, passing it off as information Koala had given him, and how he had friends on Drum, so they were gonna go save them.

Vivi would hate him… but that's something he had to deal with.

Unfortunately, he never got a chance to have that talk as the choice to go to Drum was made for them.

He entered the kitchen where only Sanji was present and was about to ask if Vivi was up yet when he sensed despair coming off of someone around him.

He instantly shot out of the kitchen, breaking a floorboard in the process, as he ran to the women's room and hastily opened the hatch to find Nami collapsed at the bottom of the stairs.

"Nami!"

He was quickly by her side and found that she was burning up with her breaths coming out in slow laboured pants.

"Ah, Luffy… you came…" she murmured weakly before pointing towards the bed. "Vivi…"

Luffy's head throbbed violently as he turned and found that Vivi was lying on the bed, looking just as ill as Nami.

'How…?'

More Chapters