Chapter - 64
East Blue – Calm Belt
“Shit, shit, shit, shit”, Nami begins murmuring, trying to keep her voice low after using her Observation Haki and realizing many Sea Kings were swimming nearby.
She then rushes back to the kitchen and whispers, “Tie the sails and grab the oars, we need to get back to the storm as quickly as possible.”
“Why go back there? We just left the storm, and why are you whispering?”, Usopp asks, confused by Nami’s sudden change in behavior.
“That’s the problem, the storm was supposed to st until the entrance to the Grand Line, we’ve strayed off course, the sea is completely still, and there’s no wind out there. We accidentally entered the Calm Belt, now stop wasting time and grab the oars, we need to get out of here fast”, Nami says, whispering urgently.
“WHAAAAAT? WE’RE DEAD, WE’RE GOING TO DIEEEEEEEE!!!!!”, Usopp screams desperately, running from one side to the other.
“Stop screaming, you idiot, there are a bunch of Sea Kings swimming nearby and they haven’t noticed us yet. If you keep yelling, you’re going to draw their attention”, Nami says angrily, unable to keep her voice down.
And while Usopp covered his mouth in fear of making any sound, Luffy started ughing openly without bothering to lower his voice, “Shishishishishishishishi, it took you twenty seconds to realize something was wrong, and you only noticed because someone told you. The best navigator in the East Blue wrong the way!!”
"Stop ughing, Luffy, and speak quietly. And if you already knew, why didn't you warn me?", Nami whispers, blushing and irritated.
“I didn’t say anything because it would be more fun to tease you ter”, Luffy says with a grin, not caring about lowering his voice.
"Shut up, Luffy, for once. If you keep talking loudly, they'll hear us", Usopp whispers, practically begging Luffy to be quiet.
Suddenly, the Straw Hat Pirates feel the ship shake violently, leaving everyone stunned, except for Luffy, who simply smiles joyfully without a care in the world, and Sabo, who remains indifferent to the situation.
They all rush to the deck to see what’s happening, only to find the ship surrounded by colossal Sea Kings, who are just looking around confused, trying to find something.
“Shit”, is all Nami, in shock, could say.
Usopp was wide-eyed, paralyzed with fear, and as pale as a ghost.
Chouchou began to growl, preparing to protect his friends.
Zoro was already with his three swords drawn and ready for battle.
Sanji simply lit a cigarette and took a drag, also ready for battle.
Kaya, despite being scared, was determined to help wherever needed.
And finally, we have Nojiko, who quickly grabbed her shield and axe, getting ready for the csh.
“Wow, these guys are way bigger than Chico”, Luffy comments with a radiant smile on his face.
“Let’s go, everyone, we need to get out of here before they notice us”, Nami whispers urgently, getting everyone to work.
"Hey, big guys, we entered the Calm Belt by accident. Can you give us a little hand and take us back to that storm over there?", Luffy shouts, trying to get the Sea Kings' attention while pointing to the storm on the horizon.
“We’re going to dieeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!”, Usopp says, crying, about to shit his pants.
“Hey, come on, guys, I’m right here, I can understand you, so give me some attention here”, Luffy continues shouting, waving his arms, this time managing to grab the Sea Kings’ attention.
“Luffyyyyyyy, why are you trying to kill us?”, Nami asks desperately, starting to cry.
“Rex, Nami, remember I told you I have a Sea King friend? They’re cool, I’m just asking for a little help from them, I’ll give you a cuddle ter as compensation”, Luffy says, trying and failing to calm Nami down.
He then notices one of the Sea Kings charging toward them with a clear intent to attack.
“Aww man, are you guys seriously going to keep ignoring me? Alright, I don’t like saying this, but it’s going to have to be this way, do any of you know Joy Boy?”, Luffy says, a little frustrated.
As soon as Luffy mentions Joy Boy, the rgest of the Sea Kings present, which looked like a spotted bck and white eel, shoots forward and attacks the smaller Sea King that was advancing towards the Merry, stopping it and knocking it away.
Then, it roars at all the Sea Kings, which Luffy understood as it saying, "Back off, you idiots, I want to hear what this little human is trying to say", before turning its attention back to Luffy on the Merry.
"Why did you mention that name, boy? And where did you hear about it?", the Sea King growls, asking, making the Merry tremble slightly from the vibration of its grunts.
“Well, I mentioned it because I thought you guys would give me some attention, and I ate the same Akuma no Mi that Joy Boy once ate, so when I awaken my fruit, I’ll kind of become Joy Boy, and a few years ago I had a conversation through time via a Poneglyph with Joy Boy”, Luffy says trying to be brief in his expnation, also not wanting to tell about his meta-knowledge to a stranger.
“You understand me, you really are Joy Boy”, the Sea King says, its eyes glowing like stars.
"Urgh, as I told my other Sea King friend Chico, Joy Boy is at most a title given to someone who ate and awakened the same fruit I did, and I’d rather be known just as Luffy", Luffy says, compining, because he didn't like people thinking he was someone else other than himself.
“My God, my God, my God, I’m in front of Joy Boy, someone pinch me, this has to be a dream!”, the Sea King grunts, radiating joy, looking like a fan who just met their idol.
"Rex, man, my name is Monkey D. Luffy, nice to meet you, I’d prefer if you just called me Luffy, not by a title that I don’t even really know what it means. Changing the subject, why did that Sea King attack us even after I mentioned the name Joy Boy?", Luffy asks, confused.
“Well, you kind of got lucky, Joy B... I mean Luffy, none of these guys understand human nguage. I’m the only one here who understands your nguage”, the Sea King says, sounding like grunts to everyone except Luffy and Chouchou, who understand him perfectly.
“Yeah, we really got lucky. I thought you all understood what I was saying. Anyway, let me ask you something. Do you know what happened during the Void Century? It happened about nine or eight hundred years ago”, Luffy asks, changing the subject.
“No, sorry, I wasn’t alive back then. I’ve only heard about Joy Boy, the Promise, and things like that. I think you’ll have better luck asking the Ancient Sea Kings on Fish-Man Isnd. If I’m not mistaken, they were alive back then”, the Sea King says, apologizing for not having that information.
“It’s fine, thanks anyway. By the way, can you give us a little hand and blow us back to the storm?”, Luffy asks, pointing to the storm in the distance.
“Sure, leave it to me”, the Sea King says, nodding.
“Great, by the way, what’s your name? I forgot to ask earlier”, Luffy asks curiously.
“My species doesn’t usually give names, so I don’t have one.”
“Hmmm, are you male or female?”, Luffy asks, trying to think of a cool name.
“Female, why?”, the Sea King asks, confused.
“Hmmm, I’ll call you Roberta”, Luffy says with a smile on his face.
“Oh my God, oh my God, I just got a name from Joy Boy!”, Roberta excims happily.
"Shishishishi, alright everyone, Roberta here is going to blow us back to the storm, so raise the sails again so she can do that", Luffy says, giving orders to his crew, who looked both incredulous and relieved at the same time.
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(AN: 1,337 Words)
Chapter - 65
East Blue
Back in the Storm
After returning to the storm with Roberta's help, who had blown the Merry all the way there, and saying their goodbyes to her, Nami, Usopp, and Kaya colpse on the ground, sweating heavily, while the others let out a sigh of relief.
"What the hell just happened?", Nojiko asks, a little stunned by what just occurred.
"Luffy, you're grounded. From now on, you're the one who will clean the ship, and believe me, I'm still easy on you. I almost died from the scare", Nami says, putting Luffy on punishment for the stress he caused them.
"Aww, why? I already said before that I can talk to animals, it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone anymore. Besides, it's already bad enough that the fridge door is locked up with a bunch of padlocks, which, just to be clear, I only don't break because I don't want to hurt your feelings, and now you want to punish me again", Luffy says, upset.
"No discussion, young man, this is because you gave us that scare", Nami says like an irritated mother.
“Urghhh, fine. But nobody’s going to stop me from using Soru to get it done faster”, Luffy grumbled like a sulking child.
“Phew! Dude, knowing you can understand animals is one thing, but seeing you have a full-blown conversation with a colossal Sea King that could easily use the Merry as a toothpick? That’s a whole other level”, Usopp says, whistling, pcing a hand on his chest and feeling his frantic heart slowly calm down.
“Well, the important thing is that everything worked out, and if they had actually attacked us, I would’ve beaten them up. Trust me, guys, everything’s under control”, Luffy says with a smile, pcing his hands on his hips.
"No matter how much resistance I develop, it seems like you always find a way to surprise me, Luffy", Nami says as she stands up.
"Yeah, I’m just good at what I do. Anyway, how long until we reach Reverse Mountain?", Luffy asks, pondering whether or not he should dry himself off.
“About thirty more minutes and we’ll be there”, Nami replied, heading to the helm to ensure they were headed in the right direction.
“Luffy, what was that about Joy Boy that you were talking about with the Sea King?”, Usopp suddenly asked, finally calming his racing heart.
“Well, that’s a complicated topic. It’s about a figure from the Void Century who fought against what’s now known as the World Government. Expining everything to you guys now would be too dangerous. If you guys accidentally let it slip in a conversation and the World Government found out, we’d have the entire world coming after us. I don’t know if I’d be able to protect everyone if that happened. So, it’s better to wait until you’re all stronger before I expin everything”, Luffy said, feeling a little powerless as he spoke.
The feeling of powerlessness, however, was much stronger in his crew. They felt terrible seeing their captain carry such a heavy burden just because they were too weak to help share the load.
All this feeling of helplessness, however, only served as fuel to turn their determination to catch up to Luffy into a bzing inferno.
=Scene Break=
“Nami, Nami! I think the Merry’s being pulled! And I can see the Red Line too!”, Luffy shouted from his seat on the Merry’s figurehead, calling out to Nami.
Rushing to the helm, Nami, wearing a raincoat, used binocurs to locate the entrance to Reverse Mountain amidst the dense fog before adjusting the Merry’s course.
“The helm’s stiff as hell, the current is too strong, at this rate it’s going to be hard to steer the Merry", Nami says, noticing the difficulty in adjusting the direction, not because she cks the strength to do it, because she does, but because the wheel seems like it will break at any moment.
“It’ll have to work”, Luffy said, shrugging.
At that moment, everyone came out onto the deck to see Reverse Mountain.
“Whoa, it’s huge! And the sea is actually climbing the mountain. That’s insane! Why does that happen?”, Kaya asked, using binocurs to see the entrance to Reverse Mountain through the mist.
“It happens because it’s a magical mountain”, Luffy said, as if it were obvious, feeling very smart for arriving at that conclusion.
"Ehh, no, this happens because the ocean currents from the four Blues converge at a single point in Reverse Mountain, and they come with such force that they end up rising the mountain through the four channels, flowing into the fifth channel that leads to the Grand Line. The current is so strong that the Merry is being pulled toward it. The problem is, if we miss the entrance to Reverse Mountain, we'll be crushed against the walls of the Red Line", Nami says, expining why this happens
“Then we better not miss the entrance. Nami, a little more to starboard”, Luffy said, guiding Nami, who was at the helm.
"Don't worry, I already saw", Nami says, slowly turning the helm, being careful because she was afraid it would break due to the tension.
At that moment, one of the ropes connected to the helm snapped, causing Nami to lose control of the Merry.
"Shit, shit, shit, we lost the helm, Luffy, the rope snapped, we’ve got no control, we're going to crash!!!!", Nami says desperately as she sees that Merry is on a collision course with one of the pilrs at the entrance of the canal.
"Leave it to me", Luffy shouts before jumping off the ship, sucking in a rge amount of air as he thinks, 'Gomu Gomu no Fusen.'
Infting like a balloon, Luffy wedged himself between the Merry and the pilr it was about to collide with, causing the ship to bounce off his body, redirecting its course correctly and preventing any damage.
Luffy quickly stretched out his arm, grabbed the Merry, and returned to the deck, dashing back to his seat on the figurehead, eager to feel like he was flying when they reached the summit.
Ascending the mountain quickly, the Merry leaped as it reached the peak, unching everyone into the air for a few seconds before nding in the channel leading to the Grand Line, rushing downward.
“HAHAHAHAHAHA! WE DID IT! THE GRAND LINE! THE BIGGEST OCEAN IN THE WORLD, RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! THIS IS WHERE IT ALL BEGINS!”, Luffy shouted, ughing heartily as he admired the view from the summit.
As they descended through the channel, they suddenly heard a sound coming from below.
“Buuooooo!!!!”
“Did you hear that? What was that sound?”, Usopp asked, confused.
“Must’ve been the wind. Things are pretty weird on the Grand Line”, Nami said, not too concerned.
“Buuooooo!!!!”
“No, I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the wind”, Zoro said, crossing his arms.
“Buuooooo!!!!”
“Hmm? What’s that?”, Usopp asked, using his sharpshooter goggles to try to see something.
“Buuooooooo!!!”
"Hmm, Miss Nami, there's a mountain ahead", Sanji warns, using binocurs from the top of the mast.
“What? A mountain? There shouldn’t be any mountains after the Twin Capes”, Nami said, growing worried and grabbing a telescope to see what it was.
“Buuooooooo!!!”
While the crew debated, Luffy had a sad smile, and Chouchou seemed downcast, as both understood what the sound was saying.
“I miss you guys!!!!”
“I want to sing with you guys again!!!!”
“Why haven’t you guys come back yet?!!!!”
“I know you guys haven’t abandoned me!!!”
“I just wanted to hear your song one more time!!!!”
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(AN: 1,263 Words)
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