The Logia Brothers Chapter 61 (Patreon)

Hey friends and fans! Kairomaru is bringing you another chapter of The Logia Brothers! The Straw Hats return to the Blue Sea! Though even with the Octo-Balloon, it was a bit of a rough landing. Where have the Straw Hats ended up now? Who will they meet? What’s the next adventure for the (now filthy rich) Straw Hat Pirates?

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So, without further delay, please enjoy.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Chapter 61 – Blue Sea Once More, Long Ring Long Land

-Jaya ~ Mock Town-

“N-No way… What’s he doing here?!” One pirate asked, he was shaking and sweating in terror.

“D-Donquixote Do-Doflamingo!” Another pirate trembled from just seeing the Warlord of the Sea.

Several pirates in the crowd were already slowly backing away, knowing that nothing good was about to happen.

“He’s got a 300,000,000 Beri bounty…” A female pirate said in a hushed tone, though everyone close to her in the crowd heard it.

Doflamingo wore a darkly amused smile on his face as he twitched his fingers around like a puppeteer.

“Please, stop! Why are you doing this?!” Sarquiss cried out, his massive kukri knife in both hands. “I’m begging you!”

Around him lay the injured and bleeding bodies of his crewmates. Bellamy was the last one standing since the ‘punishment’ had begun not even two minutes ago.

“What’s going on?!”

“Why is Sarquiss begging to stop? He’s the one that attacked them…”

Doflamingo’s smile widened as he held his fingers steady. “Why? Why, you ask? Sarquiss… Bellamy…” He placed his right hand on a copy of his Jolly Roger that was on the wall. “Because you disgraced this. My flag. What else is there? Heh heh heh heh heh!” The mocking laughter that filled the air form the Warlord’s mouth made everyone else shiver.

The crowd was practically rooted in place now. Only those that had fled immediately had managed to leave the area. Now, no one else even dared to move, for fear of attracting the Warlord’s attention.

“Is there a sky island… Or isn’t there?” Doflamingo asked with an uncaring drawl. “Is El Dorado an illusion… Or not?” He shrugged without concern, looking at the Bellamy Pirates like they were bugs. “None of that matters, does it Bellamy? Use their differing opinions and force them to their knees!” Bellamy and Sarquiss both flinched. “I don’t need small-time hoods under my command, you punks!” With that, he bent the fingers of his left hand.

“Waugh… Damn it! My body’s moving on its own!” Sarquiss was clearly shaking as he tried to resist whatever force was affecting him. “That’s enough! Give me a break! I can’t take this!” But his body moved forward and swung his giant kukri knife across the still injured Bellamy, sending the Spring-Spring Fruit user to hit the planks with a harsh thump as blood flew through the air.

Bellamy coughed out more blood as he lay on the wooden planks that made up the ground in this part of Mock Town. He still wasn’t even close to recovered from the single punch that Straw Hat Luffy had hit him with a few days back. He’d just been able to get out of bed and walk on his own today after waking up almost a day and a half after being beaten.

“Give me one… One more chance!” Bellamy begged as he pushed himself up and prostrated himself before Doflamingo. “I… We’ll… We’ll follow you!”

“Bellamy!” Sarquiss called out to his friend. Seeing Bellamy beg wasn’t something any of his crew had ever seen before. It further shattered their worldview that they were a big-time rookie pirate crew. After Luffy had dealt with Bellamy with a single punch, that view of themselves was already shaken and fractured.

Bellamy forced himself up to his knees. “I lost, but… I never meant to disobey your orders! I swear on the flag!” He was breathing heavily as blood dripped from his injuries and onto the planks below. “It’s just… This is how I do things!” Bellamy looked straight into the colored shades that covered Doflamingo’s eyes. “If I start by eliminating the weak… Someday, I’ll make it to your level!”

“Oh!” Doflamingo looked amused by Bellamy’s words, like an adult might be amused by something outlandish a child had said. “Such loyalty! You’re gonna make me cry here.” Doflamingo stood up from the barrel that he was sitting on and turned his back on the beaten and bleeding Bellamy. “Good ol’ Bellamy. That’s what I like about you! Heh heh heh heh heh heh! The new era is almost upon us. Go on and do whatever you like. But…” He rolled the fingers on his left hand, flexing them all in turn. “I don’t need you on my crew.”

“Doflamin…!” Bellamy reached out towards the Warlord’s back with wide eyes.

“Bellamy!” Sarquiss yelled out a warning as his body was forced to move again. His huge blade sliced into Bellamy’s unguarded back throwing more blood into the air.

A split second later and the Bellamy Pirates were all bound by something that was almost invisible to the eye. Their clothes and bodies bulging around something thin and tightly wrapped around them. It was only as the, now bound, Sarquiss hit the planks that the final part of Doflamingo’s attack became apparent.

Crack

Splash

The planks beneath the Bellamy Pirates fell apart, as if cut with the sharpest of blades. The bleeding and broken crew fell into the ocean water beneath the planks. Several of them tried to struggle, attempting to free themselves from whatever was tying them up. It was seemingly futile and they could only try and keep their heads above water.

“H-Hey!”

“I can’t move!”

“Help!”

“S-Somebody!”

“Pull us up!”

“Bellamy!”

Bellamy, as a Devil Fruit user, wasn’t able to struggle like the others in his crew. Not only was he weakened by being submerged in the sea, he was still heavily injured from the blow to the head he’d taken form Luffy and the lacerations all over his body from Sarquiss’s kukri. Being tied up only further hastened how fast his head disappeared below the waves.

Not a single person moved to help them.

Doflamingo was still present, walking down the street. No one would move until he left out of sheer terror that they’d provoke his wrath if they did.

The splashing below continued, as did the pleas for help.

“Heh heh heh! It’s finally starting. Hurry! Hurry and make preparations! The time has come where only real pirates will survive!” Doflamingo laughed loudly, throwing his arms out wide. “Those without power had better run while they can! Like an unstoppable wave, a new age of unmatched power is coming! Heh heh heh heh heh!”

-Going Merry-

On a rather picturesque day, by Grand Line standards especially, white clouds drifted through the sky and a breeze blew across the ocean.

“aaaaaaaaahhhhhhh…”

A sound, as if from far away, was heard.

“Aaaaahhhhhh…”

It got louder.

“AAAAAHHHHH!!!”

The sound turned out to be the screaming of the Straw Hat Pirates as the Going Merry fell out of the sky!

SPLASH

The large caravel slammed into the sea and threw up a huge spray of water as its weight and size displaced tons of water.

Thankfully, even being loaded to the brim with gold, the ship’s buoyancy countered and the Going Merry bobbed on the surface amid the rough waves for a minute or two before settling down.

“Gwah…”

“Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch!”

“Ow!”

“It’s cold!”

“Bwah!”

“Robin! Nami! Mikita! Vivi! Are you alright?!” Sanji asked the second that he got his bearings, looking over the women of the crew.

Luffy sat up and extended his right arm out.

Splat

The Balloon Octopus landed on Luffy’s arm safely, instead of hitting the deck. It looked like a mix of a regular octopus and a deflated balloon now.

“That was crazy!” Mikita coughed out.

“The octopus suddenly lost its lift in a hurry.” Nami agreed as she stood up, her clothing completely soaked, just like everyone else’s.

“What happened?” Zoro questioned as he rubbed his head that he’d knocked against the deck when they’d crashed.

Robin stood up, flicking the water off of her hands. “Maybe it sprung a leak?”

Luffy chuckled, already back on his feet and seemingly unperturbed by their crash landing. “In any case, we made it back without dying! So, thanks, Octo-pal!” He smiled at the deflated Balloon Octopus.

The octopus raised two of its tentacles, almost as if it was waving off Luffy’s thanks. A third tentacle pointed out towards the ocean. Luffy got the gist of what the creature wanted and gently dropped it over the edge of the ship, watching it swim away until it disappeared among the waves.

“The ocean…it’s blue.” Usopp muttered out as he looked over the edge of the ship. It had only been a few days, but he’d started getting used to the White Sea up in the clouds.

“Is everyone okay?” Chopper asked, wanting to make sure that no one was injured.

Sanji pulled out his pack of cigarettes and was happy to find that they weren’t all ruined. He held one with his lips and put the others away, pulling out his lighter he managed to get a flame and took a short drag from the cigarette. “Phew…” Sanji exhaled a small smoke cloud. “We really went to an extraordinary place, didn’t we?”

Robin looked up at the white clouds high above. “It seems even farther after having fallen from it.”

“It’s like we were dreaming.” Vivi smiled up at the clouds.

“Well, it was a country of dreams.” Chopper declared with a smile, the excitement of their trip to Skypiea still fresh. “Think we’ll be able to go again someday?”

Zoro looked over at Chopper with a grin. “We’ll be able to go when we die, right? Or close enough.”

“Zoro… You think you’re gonna make it into heaven?” Usopp looked at the swordsman in disbelief.

“All right!” Luffy was already back to normal. “Drop the sails! We’re going to the next island!”

Mikita rolled her eyes and flicked his cheek. “Hang on a minute, Luffy. Let us rest for a minute. At least let us change out of our soaked clothes!”

“Don’t tell me you’ve gone soft?” Nami looked down from the upper deck with a grin. “Just because we’re back on the Blue Sea doesn’t mean things are gonna be any easier! I’ve got a bad feeling about these waves…”

Indeed, the Going Merry was starting to rock unsteadily.

“Easy for you to say.” Usopp deadpanned at the navigator.

“Okay, everybody, port the helm!” Nami ignored Usopp’s words and gave the first instruction.

“Aye-aye, Nami sweet!” Sanji ran to change their heading on the rudder.

Nami looked over her shoulder. “See? Here it comes!”

“Waauugghh!!!” Chopper’s eyes bugged out and his mouth dropped open.

“FULL SPEED AHEAD!!!” Usopp bellowed as he ran for the rigging.

Behind the Going Merry was a tidal wave large enough to swallow up a ship MUCH larger than the caravel.

“It’s a giant wave!” Vivi cried out as she rushed to follow Nami’s instructions.

“There’s something in the wave! Inside it!” Zoro pointed out the large monkey-like faces within the massive wave.

“Sea monkeys!” Luffy laughed loudly at the three huge creatures.

-Later-

“Peace at last.” Mikita sighed happily, enjoying the lack of crazy weather or dangerous sea beasts.

“Still, we can’t let our guard down.” Robin seemed all too amused by their return to the Grand Line and it’s unpredictability.

Sanji looked down from the upper deck as Usopp pulled a waterlogged Luffy back onto the ship. “I told you impossible things are impossible.”

“Seriously…” Usopp grunted as he pulled Luffy’ over the edge and dropped him on the deck.

Luffy coughed once and then moped on the deck, not even bothering to get up. “Even if I couldn’t do it in the White Sea… I thought maybe I could in this one.”

Chopper patted Luffy’s back gently. “I can’t do it either, so you’re not alone.” He commiserated with Luffy’s desire, and yet inability, to control the Waver.

“So, even in this ocean, Nami is the only one capable of riding it, huh?” Usopp lamented not having the balance necessary to control the fast craft.

“Yoohoo, Nami!” Sanji waved at the orangette with heart-shaped eyes. “Be careful!”

Nami, in her white, light blue, and navy blue bikini, was blasting across the water on the Waver that Pagaya had completely restored and given to them. “Alright! I can use this on this ocean too!” She cheered loudly as she was able to use the speed of the Jet Dial to easily circle around the Going Merry.

“No fair…” Luffy pouted, watching Nami have fun on the Waver.

“Don’t be sad, Luffy.” Vivi consoled him with a kiss on the cheek and a smile. “Nami’s just really good at reading the waves, so she’s the best when it comes to riding the Waver.”

A while later and Nami had her fill of fun for now. “Chopper, haul ‘er up!” She smiled at the reindeer. She took a towel from Mikita and started drying off her soaked hair. For all that the Waver was fast, it threw up quite the spray of water compared to the White Sea. Nami was soaked once more and shot Mikita a wink when she saw the blonde eyeing her up.

Chopper transformed into his Heavy Point and began to pull the rope tied to the Waver, lifting it out of the water and pulling it back onto the ship. “You’re amazing, Nami!”

On the deck, wherever there was space that wasn’t filled with crates and boxes filled with gold and strapped down, the rest of the crew was taking some time to relax as the weather stayed calm.

Usopp had several Dials spread out on a thick white cloth he was using as his workspace. “All of the Dials work, but the Milky Dial really doesn’t last very long.” He demonstrated by releasing a stream of the clouds. The water-like clouds hung in the air for several seconds before thinning into a thick fog, and then into a wispy mist that dispersed completely.

“It’s probably the difference in pressure and altitude.” Robin surmised as she saw how fast the Milky Dial clouds faded away. “The fact that they work at all is still a good thing.”

“The other ones are pretty rare too, right?” Zoro munched on some bread crusts as he watched Usopp go through the various Dials. They’d taken as many as they could from the weird ark ship. It was best if they’d gotten a good haul of rare and useful Dials.

“Ah! Lucky! Bread crusts!” Luffy pointed at what Zoro was snacking on. “Hey, Sanji! I want some too!”

Nami looked over the various Dials and saw the three pieces of her Climatact spread out on one side of the thick cloth. “You think you’ll be able to upgrade the Climatact, Usopp?”

Usopp scratched his head as he moved a Milky Dial, a Ball Dial, a Thunder Dial, a Water Dial, a Heat Dial, and the lone Eisen Dial next to Nami’s Climatact. “I need to figure out the natural mechanism behind each Dial to figure out how I can shape them to fit into the Climatact.” He said as he pointed out the different shapes of the various Dials. “Pagaya gave me some tips and notes,” Usopp tapped a paper he was looking over as he went through the Dials. “But it might still take a bit.”

“I really want the Cloud Dials installed.” Nami mentioned with an innocent look. “But I have total faith that you’ll figure it out by the time we get to the next island, Usopp.” She gave him a thumbs up with an unrelenting gleam in her eyes.

“Stop putting a deadline on me!” Usopp demanded, his teeth suddenly sharp in his mouth as he glared at Nami. “It was enough of a problem getting the Eisen Dial out of that weird sword hilt that Vivi brought back.” He’d spent the better part of the second night of the three-day party carefully taking apart the hilt so that iron cloud wouldn’t blast out haphazardly.

Zoro scoffed under his breath. “Better used for the witch’s staff than as a sword.”

He’d given it a try when Vivi had presented it to the crew. But the way the blade rarely maintained its shape was frustrating. Zoro couldn’t use a sword that he didn’t trust, and the malleable nature of former vassal Ohm’s Eisen sword was not a good fit for his Santōryū.

A bit later, after Nami had changed out of her bikini and into a pair of white jeans with a black tank top with the world ‘GOLD’ printed on it in gold-colored letters, she grinned brightly as she motioned to the various crates and boxes of gold all over the Going Merry. “Now, it’s the time we’ve all been waiting for!” She beamed brightly at the crew. “Time to divvy up the loot!”

“Woohoo!” Usopp cheered, already making a mental list of the tings that he wanted to buy.

“About time!” Luffy threw his arms into the air with a huge smile. “I’m totally gonna buy a bronze statute! It’ll look so cool!”

“Can I buy books?!” Chopper asked with one hand in the air.

Sanji was writing down a list of things and their average prices onto a clipboard. “New pots and pans… Frying pans… Dishware… A giant mouse trap…” The trap was meant for something far bigger than any rodent though.

“Don’t forget bakeware and extra ingredients.” Mikita mentioned as she looked over Sanji’s list. “What I could make with a full set of bakeware, ingredients, and a good oven…” The chocolatier had a smile on her face and her eyes were sparkling.

Robin smiled at the excitement among the crew. “I wouldn’t mind buying a few books and replacing a few instruments.” Several of her archaeological instruments and tools could definitely stand to be replaced by now.

“I’ll be swimming in booze!” Zoro laughed as he only really had one thing that he wanted at the moment.

Vivi looked over all of the boxes filled with pure gold and couldn’t help but smile as she thought of how much her share of such riches could help Alabasta. “We’ll need to get to an island with a World Postal Office.”

Nami smiled and nodded at everyone’s ideas and excitement. “First off, eighty percent will go to my secret stash.” She said as she started picking out which crates and boxes would be hers.

“Wait a minute…” Everyone, except Robin, held up a hand and deadpanned at Nami.

“Just kidding!” Nami stuck out her tongue and winked at her friends.

“Obviously!” They all retorted.

“What we should really do is put a good amount of money into the Going Merry.” Nami said with a smile as she patted the railing of the ship.

Luffy looked thoughtful for a moment. “You want to spend money on repairs for Merry?”

“That’s a great idea!” Usopp declared, giving Nami a bright smile.

“Big repairs for the Going Merry!” Luffy and Chopper declared together.

Usopp turned his huge smile onto them. “I’m all for that!”

“But…” Nami held up her hands. “We don’t know how much that’ll cost yet, so let’s wait to divvy up the treasure until then.”

The group headed into the helm/kitchen cabin and sat down to enjoy lunch. Two large platters of sandwiches had been made by Sanji (which explained where the bread crusts that Zoro and Luffy had been snacking on came from) and the chef had a smile on his face as he watched his friends enjoy them.

“I guess even Usopp’s patchwork repairs can only go so far.” Zoro continued the discussion after taking a bite of his first sandwich.

“I’m a Gunman, not a Handyman.” Usopp narrowed his eyes at Zoro.

Sanji agreed with Usopp. “He’s right. We should get the ship to a real shipyard and have professional shipwrights do the repairs.”

“There’s people even better than Usopp at fixing things?” Chopper seemed shocked at the idea. Though, to be fair, he’d only really seen Usopp making the small repairs and patches that the Going Merry needed from the Grand Line’s brutal and sudden weather ever since he’d joined the Straw Hats.

Vivi giggled at Chopper’s innocent naivete as she sipped her tea.

“There’s all types, Chopper.” Mikita laughed lightly before finishing off her first sandwich.

Usopp shrugged and washed down his previous bite of food with some tea. “Come to think of it, on this voyage, this ship has carried us all the way from my village in the East Blue.” He picked up another triangular cut sandwich. “If we don’t reward her properly sometimes, we’ll deserve whatever trouble we get.”

“In that case,” Luffy stood up and placed his hands on the table with a big smile. “Let’s add a shipwright to our crew! We’ll be voyaging for a good long time yet! It’s a skill we’ll need anyway! The Going Merry is our home and our life! Let’s find a shipwright that’ll protect our ship!” He sat back down with a smile (and added five more sandwiches to his plate) while not even noticing the silence in the cabin.

Nami leaned over and kissed Luffy’s cheek with a smile.

Vivi kissed his opposite cheek with a smile of her own.

Mikita tilted his head back and stole a quick kiss from his lips, a warm grin on her lips afterwards.

“When he’s right, he’s right…” Sanji had to give this one to Luffy.

“Once in a blue moon, he really hits the nail on the head…” Zoro actually agreed with Sanji.

“Fufufu…” Robin giggled softly, looking at Luffy with interest. ‘Every now and then, you let some intelligence show, don’t you, Luffy?’ He was no scholar, but Luffy wasn’t a complete fool either, and he definitely had his moments of truly moving words. Though his actions often spoke far more to his character.

Usopp grinned at Luffy and slap his hand on the table. “Well of course that’d be best! I was about to suggest that very idea myself!”

“Then it’s settled!” Luffy took another sandwich from the platter.

“I hope we find a really good guy!” Chopper beamed at the idea of a new nakama.

Luffy looked thoughtful after finishing off his newest sandwich. “You know… We could also use a Musician…”

Most of the crew deadpanned at Luffy this time.

“Let’s shelve that idea for now.” Nami said with a playful roll of her eyes.

-Marine Headquarters-

“Vice Admiral! He’s really isn’t there!”

“I need more than ‘He isn’t there’! Where’d he go?! That man?!”

“His bicycle is gone, so probably the ocean…?”

“Hurry and contact the Five Elders!”

-Pangea Castle ~ Room of Authority-

A Transponder Snail went back to sleep as one of the old men that made up the Five Elder Stars hung up the receiver.

“He’s at it again, hm?” The Elder with the dreadlocks and the thick, gnarled walking cane spoke. “He’s probably just sightseeing.”

“Why won’t he take his rank seriously?” The Elder with the large handlebar mustache and bald head questioned. “We can’t have him moving around whenever the whim strikes him.” He gave an annoyed grunt. “Admiral Aokiji is one of the three greatest powers within the Marines.”

-On the Ocean-

A dolphin surfaced as a line of ice blocked its path.

Ching Ching

A bicycle bell was rung as a tall man in a white suite literally rode it across the waves, a thin trail of ice beneath the tires and extending down into the seawater for a few meters to stabilize it.

“Whoops! Sorry about that.” Admiral Aokiji apologized to the dolphin as he passed by. He continued riding, freezing a thin line of the ocean in front of him the whole way with barely a thought as he pulled out a Wanted Poster. “Hah… Not an honest fellow in the whole family.”

The Wanted Poster in question was for Monkey D. Luffy.

-Going Merry ~ The Next Day-

Splash

Three large, and rather familiar, Sea Monkeys rose up from the ocean behind the Going Merry. Luffy looked at them, imitating their faces as best as he could, while the three large sea beasts looked at the caravel with amused eyes. The three Sea Monkeys shot beneath the water, and less than a minute later, a large tidal wave was chasing the Merry, the three Sea Monkeys once more riding inside the wave.

“It’s the Sea Monkeys again!” Usopp cried out.

“Did they follow us?!” Chopper cried out in shock.

“Not good! There’s no wind!” Vivi called out, noticing their limp sails.

Nami quickly started calling out instructions. “Furl the sails! We have to row for it!”

The sails were quickly pulled up as Robin bloomed dozens of copies of her arms to change the rigging. The men grabbed the large oars and began to paddle for their lives, speeding the Going Merry along at a fast enough speed to stay ahead of the wave.

“Ship sighted ahead!” Mikita called out from the crow’s nest.

“What? Is it an enemy?” Luffy called out as he continued to row.

Sanji grimaced, also continuing to row. “At a time like this?!”

“I don’t think so?” Mikita was honestly confused. “It’s got no flag, no sail! I don’t know what kind of ship it is!”

“They’re not flying any colors?!” Luffy had never heard of that before. “What are they on the ocean for then?!”

Mikita shook her head. “I have no idea…” She looked through the scope again. The larger ship had a frog head with sharp teeth as the figurehead. “Wait! I see the crew… But there’s so few of them…and they all look down in the dumps. I don’t think they’ve even noticed us yet.”

“What’s this about?” Nami questioned as she kept their course steady. “Is their ship okay?”

“They’re going to get swallowed by the wave if they keep going like that!” Vivi called out, easily seeing the path the other ship was taking.

Luffy continued to row but inhaled deeply before calling out to the other vessel. “HEY!!! You guys have a wave and giant Sea Monkeys coming at you! Turn your helm, hard!”

The men left on the ship finally seemed to snap out of their funk and become aware of their surroundings again.

“Oh!”

“It’s a ship!”

“Hey! It’s a pirate ship!”

The men began to scramble around the deck.

“Men! Get ahold of yourselves! It’s an enemy ship! Take their treasure!”

“Wait, there’s a big wave coming! We need to avoid it first!”

“That ship will get away!”

“Ready the cannons!”

“Hey, who’re you bossing around?!”

“You do it!”

“The helm! Helm! Helm!”

“Hey, don’t just act on your own!”

The Straw Hats could only look on in confusion had how disorganized the crew of the other ship was.

“They’re talking about taking our treasure, so they’re enemies! Just leave ‘em!” Sanji kept rowing as hard as he could to stay ahead of the tidal wave behind them.

On the other ship, things continued to rapidly deteriorate.

“Where’s the helm?!”

“I don’t know!”

“Somebody give orders! Navigator!”

“He’s gone!”

“Captain!”

“Not here!”

“It’s no good! We’ll be swallowed up!”

BOOM

A cannon was fired, seemingly at random.

“Who was that?! Who just fired a cannon?!”

“None of you people are good for anything!”

“That goes for you too!”

“Can’t we even ride out one wave?!”

The other ship rode up the wave partially, reaching about the halfway point where the ship was almost vertical. Before the wave overpowered it and sent it falling backwards, capsizing the larger vessel.

As the tidal wave sank the other ship the three Sea Monkey let out cries that almost sounded like laughter.

“Eek! Eek!”

“Ook!”

The three Sea Monkeys clapped their pectoral fins together, happy with their mischief and the ship it had got them. The three large sea beast swam in circles around the sinking ship, waiting for just long enough before they tore into it to find the food within. They had long associated ships as being filled with food, after all.

A short time later the Straw Hats stopped rowing for their lives and noticed that the area was calm once more. The skies were filled with white clouds and the sounds of seagulls.

“It looks like its calmed down.” Nami felt out the weather now that they weren’t being chased.

“So that big wave was just a Sea Monkey prank?” Luffy asked curiously.

Nami took in everything that she could about the current atmosphere before she spoke up. “Temperature and humidity have stabilized considerably, so I think we’ve entered the next island’s climate zone.”

“Hey, Robin, can you see anything?!” Usopp called up to the crow’s nest.

Robin looked out before speaking. “Just the island that’s been in front of us for a while.”

“Well, say that would you?!” Luffy and Usopp both deadpanned at her.

Usopp shook his head. “You’re not doing it right! Listen up! When you see and island, this is what you say!” Usopp inhaled deeply to fill his lungs. “LAAANNNDDD HOOOOO!!!”

“Now you try!” Luffy declared, pointing up at Robin.

“The fog is pretty thick.” Robin said instead.

“Fog, huh? That’s dangerous.” Nami mentioned with a giggle at Robin messing with Luffy and Usopp. “Chopper, Vivi, could you two watch our course so that we don’t run aground?”

“Aye-aye, ma’am!” Chopper gave a little salute.

Vivi smiled and gave Nami a warm hug. “Sure thing, Nami.”

Luffy was still trying to reason with Robin about proper land spotting technique. “Come on, Robin! Do you have any idea how much we’ve all been looking forward to this island?! Make it count!”

“Fufufu…” Robin smiled down at Luffy. “I’m sorry. I’ll be more excited next time.”

“It’s alright. Keep trying!” Luffy encouraged her with a big smile.

“Kyahahaha!” Mikita couldn’t hold back her laughter anymore at the back and forth between the two.

Usopp looked at Sanji and Zoro and finally asked the question that had been on his mind since they’d come across the ship earlier. “Isn’t anybody curious about that ship back there?” Luffy looked over at Usopp curiously. “No Captain, no navigator, no flag, no sail, no energy, no teamwork… That’s not how you form a pirate crew!”

Zoro shrugged it off. “They must’ve gotten into a battle at sea and lost their Captain. Probably got raided during it and had all of their stuff taken too.”

“No, no, see? I took a good look at their ship. I didn’t see any signs of a battle!” Usopp shook his head. “There was something wrong about the crew. They didn’t have that spark that all pirates do!”

“Then they probably weren’t pirates, forget it.” Sanji took a drag from his cigarette without concern.

“Hmm… No matter how you look at it, something about it was strange.” Usopp mused for a long moment. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this…”

Sanji chuckled at Usopp’s worry. “As you do about everything.”

Luffy hopped up to the upper deck with excitement for a new island building up. “You think they’ll have a shipyard here? Maybe we can get a shipwright sooner than we thought?”

“Luffy, we don’t know anything about this island, we shouldn’t go ashore right away.” Nami cautioned him, since the islands of the Grand Line had proven themselves to be dangerous multiple times before.

“Do you think a nice shipwright will join the crew?” Chopper asked Luffy with a hopeful look.

“I can see the shore! Ready the anchor!” Luffy ordered with a big grin.

“Aye-aye…” Sanji went to prepare the anchor.

Usopp held a hand out to the others. “Agh, come on, listen to me!”

Vivi smiled at Usopp and decided to tease the gunman a bit. “Chopper, Usopp has ‘Can’t set foot on the island’ fever.”

“I can’t cure that.” Chopper shook his head with a small laugh.

Usopp flinched at Chopper’s words. “Ugh!”

“I can see the island!” Mikita called out from the bow.

The fog started to clear and the island came into view, the crew looked out to take in the place only to see…

Nothing.

The entire island, as far as the eye could see, was just a grassland with long, tall, skinny trees.

“There’s nothing here!” Luffy exclaimed at not seeing anything around at all.

Sanji didn’t look impressed. “What a boring island…”

“I wonder if anyone lives here?” Robin didn’t see any hints of previous structures at all. But that didn’t mean that no one lived on this island currently.

Luffy, Chopper, and Usopp jumped off the ship and onto the shore with a collective cheer. They were quick to start exploring the place and trying to find something interesting.

“You guys!” Nami called out fruitlessly. “Seriously, we don’t know the first thing about this place and they run off instantly.”

“If we can see this far, there’s probably nothing to worry about.” Zoro looked across the open grassland, not seeing anything of note or interest.

The group of Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper had run a good way and stopped when they saw their first creature on this island.

“Whoa!” Chopper blinked and craned his neck to look upward.

“Huh?!” Usopp gaped at the beast.

Luffy had a big grin on his face as he looked at the animal. “What a weird bear!”

Indeed, it was a bear. But not like a normal bear. This one walked upright on its back legs, similar to a human, but was noticeably…long. It was much like the trees, thin and tall, and it’s four limbs were all equally stretched out as well.

“That bear’s long!” Usopp exclaimed in surprise.

“Are we sure that’s not a person?” Chopper tilted his head, familiar with bears from his home island.

Luffy pointed at the bear. “No human is that hairy!” His logic was sound, sort of…

Usopp looked up at the trees scattered across the prairie. “You know… All of these trees are long and skinny too.”

Luffy picked up tow red things from the base of one of the trees. “Hey look, it’s an apple!” He quickly bit into one of them. “They’re long too!”

“Don’t eat that!” Usopp dope slapped Luffy for just eating random fruit off the ground.

“Hey, I think there’s something over there.” Chopper pointed into the distance a far way.

Usopp pulled down one of his goggle lenses and adjusted it to try and bring the thing into focus. “It’s some kind of house!”

“Really? I wonder if anyone lives there?” Luffy tossed the two apple cores away, having already finished off both fruits.

The three headed towards the house, only to goggle at the animals they passed on the way.

EVERYTHING WAS LONG!

Weasels, deer, birds, dogs…everything was stretched out to ridiculous lengths on this island.

“Why is everything so long?!” Chopper asked, completely confused by the everything here.

“It feels like we’ll get longer just by looking at them!” Usopp waved his arms and legs in wide arcs.

Luffy knocked on the door twice, waited five seconds, and then opened it. “Hello? Coming in!”

“Luffy!” Usopp grabbed the back of Luffy’s red vest to stop him from entering the yurt. “Do you never stop to think before you act?!”

“No one’s here.” Luffy pointed out after looking around the room. “I thought I heard a ‘voice’ though.”

“Usopp! Luffy! I found a giraffe!” Chopper called out from outside.

Both Usopp and Luffy walked back out of the house to see the giraffe that Chopper claimed to have found.

“Wow!” Luffy looked up at the long-necked animal.

Usopp shook his head. “It’s neck and its legs are long, but that’s a horse!”

“Neigh!” The long horse leaned its head down to gently nuzzle Chopper.

“Are you a horse?” Chopper laughed and petted the friendly animal. “Sorry about that! You’re a very pretty horse!” He complimented the horse.

“It’s got a saddle on.” Usopp noticed the saddle on the horse’s back and the reins as well. “I guess that means people really do live here.”

“She.” Chopper smiled at Usopp. “She says her name is Sherry!”

Luffy stared at two lone stalks of bamboo with narrowed eyes.

“What’s wrong, Luffy?” Usopp asked, wondering what had Luffy looking so suspicious.

“I’ve been hearing a small ‘voice’ sense we got here.” Luffy mentioned as he stared at the two bamboo stalks. “Watch the bamboo.”

Usopp looked at the two stalks, craning his neck to look upwards. “That’s tall! I can’t even see the top!” One of the stalks suddenly jerked and moved almost three meters in the opposite direction! “It moved?!”

“Hup!” Luffy moved forward and broke both stalks with a strong kick. “Hey, the ‘voice’ got louder!” He looked up and squinted his eyes. Luffy vanished in a spark.

“Eh?!” An old man with a scruffy white beard, a black hat, and yellow robe-like clothing cried out as he was snatched form the air mid-fall by Luffy.

“Sorry about that, old timer!” Luffy laughed and the two reappeared on the ground with a spark. “Hey guys, I found an old man!” He patted the old man on the back with a laugh.

Chopper and Sherry came around the yurt to see what was going on, only for the long horse to perk up and immediately run towards the old man.

“Sherry?” The old man’s eyes widened in surprise. “Sherry! Is that really you, girl?!” He quickly hugged Sherry’s head as she nuzzled him affectionately. “To think you were waiting for me all this time! It’s been ten years!”

“TEN YEARS?!” Usopp, Chopper, and Luffy cried out in shock.

Usopp recovered from his shock first. “Um…who are you anyway, old man?”

The old man wiped his eyes form the tearful ruin with his animal companion and gave the three of them a bow. “My name is Tonjit, I’m a nomad. My people live here on Long Ring Long Land.”

-Going Merry-

A massive galleon had sailed straight up the Going Merry. It had a large fox head as it’s figure head, and a paw on either side. The paws were revealed to be specialized anchors as they were launched onto the shore where the claws sunk in deeply, securing the ship to the island, but also blocking in the smaller Going Merry, preventing the Straw Hats from sailing away.

“What’s with you people?!” Zoro questioned the other ship, not seeing any crew.

Robin said nothing, but her sharp eyes were quickly taking in the Jolly Roger on the other ship, the style and look of the galleon, and she was going through her extensive memory to see if she could match up the Jolly Roger with the pirate crew that sailed under it.

“If you’re gonna fight, come on down!” Sanji called out, his cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth.

“Where do you get off, blocking our ship in, huh?!” Mikita punched her right fist into her left palm.

“What do they want?” Nami narrowed her eyes, ready to fight to protect the ship, her nakama, and especially the vast amount of gold on board.

Vivi looked at the massive, thick chains connected to each of the paw-shaped anchors. “They don’t want us leaving, that’s obvious.” She shifted into sand beneath her clothing and along both arms, but maintained her normal shape, just in case they were attacked suddenly.

“We are the Foxy Pirates!” A voice came over a loudspeaker. “Don’t be hasty! What we want, is a duel!”

-Tonjit’s House-

“Hahaha! It’s so nice to ride together again, isn’t it, Sherry?!” Tonjit laughed as he rode on Sherry’s back across the vast prairie.

“Neigh!” Sherry was clearly delighted as she galloped across the grassland.

Chopper was beaming at seeing the two friends reunited and laughing together. Being able to understand both human and animal speech, it was doubly emotional for him.

“They’re really having fun, huh?” Usopp chuckled at Tonjit and Sherry’s excitement.

“He’s a funny old man, I like him!” Luffy laughed brightly.

Tonjit was a bit dumb, like Luffy himself, but the man was genuine and kind. He’d explained his situation, that he’d gotten stuck up on the bamboo stilts for the last ten years, surviving off of tree fruit and that his nomadic tribe had left him behind. Every year, for a few hours, the tide would go out and reveal Long Ring Long Land’s true shape as a ring-shaped island with ten high hills, each topped with an expansive prairie. Now that Tonjit was down from his stilts and Sherry had waited for him, he could pack up his home and chase after his tribe…even if it would likely take him five years to catch up.

“Hm?” Luffy perked up as three ‘voices’ entered the passive range of his Observation. He vanished in a spark without warning.

Bang

A gunshot rang out through the prairie.

Luffy’s hand snatched the bullet out of the air before it could hit Sherry. He looked directly at the three people behind a bush a good distance away. “Who the hell are you?!”

“Fueh fueh fueh!” The three stood up with an annoying laugh coming from the man in the center. “Who am I, you ask? Don’t tell me you don’t recognize my face?!”

He was a stout man with rather skinny arms and legs. He had an almost cleft lip-like mouth and a unique hairstyle, with his hair split into two spikes pointing upwards. He had thick, triangular eyebrows, and a wide grin on his face. His nose is red-colored, and it was almost as long as Usopp’s. He very vaguely resembled a fox. The strange man was wearing yellow-orange pants, held up by suspenders, with large, rotund buckles on the edges, tucked inside of black boots. Under his pants he had on some sort of strange garment circling his waist, which was light-green with leaf-like motifs on it. In front of this, threaded in his pants, the man carried a short wooden sword. He had an elaborate necklace hanging on his chest, with many circular orange and yellow pendants, and a blue, bigger and more elaborate central one, with ears on it resembling those of a fox. He also wore a fur-lined, purple coat, with a large collar and big buttons on the right side.

“Rude, aren’t they?” The woman on the man’s left spoke.

She was a slender young woman with dark blue hair, blue eyes, and a long pointed nose. She was wearing a pink jumpsuit with extremely puffed pantlegs, which was unzipped on the top to reveal a bikini top beneath it. Her outfit was adorned by several large, white puff-balls, the most notable one being the large one hanging from her hat. She had on a black eye mask that had a design vaguely reminiscent of the central man’s hair.

“Hehehehe…” The large man on the right snickered behind his hands.

He was a huge gorilla-like human with a large mouth and a small head in proportion. He also wore the same type of mask as the woman and had a striped beanie with eye holes pulled halfway down his face. He had a pair of long-sleeved gloves covering his hands, all the way up to his biceps. He also wore a leopard patterned scarf. His torso was completely bare, and he wore simple navy blue pants with light blue boots.

“Why would I know your face, and who cares?” Luffy demanded, letting his Conqueror’s Haki slowly slip out.

The man collapsed to the ground, but not from Luffy’s Haki. A gloom seemed to come over the man as he put his hands on the ground and whined miserably. “He doesn’t know me…”

“Oh no! Boss! Don’t get depressed!” The woman tried to comfort the man. “He’s lying! I’m sure he knows you and is just pretending he doesn’t!”

“Snrk!” The gorilla-like man snickered, trying to hold in his laughter at the situation.

“Hey! Quit laughing, Hamburg!” The woman shouted at the large man.

“Feh feh feh!” The man with the split hairdo shot back to his feet after some encouragement. “My name is Foxy! I’m a man that gets everything that he wants!” He pointed at Luffy. “And you got in the way of my hunt!”

Luffy took a single step forward and all three of the other pirates flinched back as Luffy’s Conqueror’s Haki brushed against their senses.

“Wait! Straw Hat Luffy!” Foxy held up his hand.

“You know me?” Luffy raised an eyebrow in confusion.

Foxy laughed again. “Feh feh feh! Of course I know you! We investigated you!”

The woman spoke up next. “Straw Hat Monkey D. Luffy, with a 200,000,000 Beri bounty. All total, your crew is worth 438,000,000 Beri! That’s impressive, given that you’re such a small group.”

Luffy felt like that number was too low, but didn’t know why. It would only be later that he realized they hadn’t added Robin’s bounty, since no one knew that she was with them.

“We, the Foxy Pirates, challenge you, the Straw Hat Pirates, to a three-coin Davy Back Fight run by orthodox rules!” Foxy held up three gold coins between his fingers.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Luffy let the pressure of his Conqueror’s Haki increase and the three Foxy Pirates broke out into flop sweats. “If you want to fight, then come at me!”

“N-No, no no!” Foxy shook his head. Still holding up the three coins. “A Davy Back Fight is a traditional duel between two pirate crews! It has rules that must be followed! Any pirate that violates them is shunned by all other pirates!” Foxy seemed to get his nerve back as he explained the Davy Back Fight. “Unless you’re a coward, Straw Hat Luffy, you’ll accept my challenge and we’ll both put our crewmates on the line!”

The pressure in their heads suddenly increased substantially, all three of the Foxy Pirates falling to their knees and staring wide-eyed, unblinking…terrified…at Luffy as his body started to spark.

“Are you threatening my nakama?” Luffy asked with a glint in his eyes. “What’s to stop me from beating your entire crew within an inch of their lives, raiding your ship, and then sinking it with all of you still on it?”

Foxy slumped over entirely, gloom once more hovering over him, but this time, the woman couldn’t give him any emotional support as she stared at Luffy in fear, sweat running down her face. “I…I didn’t think about that…” Foxy admitted, never having run across a pirate crew that didn’t accept his challenge after having their courage and pride called into question.

Luffy glanced over in the direction of the Going Merry, with his Observation range now extended by his Devil Fruit, he could hear hundred of ‘voices’ coming from the area. Focusing, he found the voices of his nakama, still safe, and let out a small sigh of relief. “You three.” The three Foxy Pirates flinched. “We’re going back to my ship, since your ship is right beside it, you’re coming too, understand?”

“Y-Yes…” The woman answered reflexively, not even thinking about it.

Hamburg nodded quickly, despite not being the brightest of men, he knew when his life was in danger.

Foxy nodded slowly, sweat dripping from his face. It suddenly occurred to him that he’d fucked with the wrong pirate, and now he was about to find out what happened next.

-End Chapter-

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The Straw Hats have arrived at Long Ring Long Land!

Tonjit is found and reunited with Sherry! Yay!

Foxy’s attack is thwarted before it can harm the long horse.

The dumb ‘split-head’ thinks that things will go as they always do when he challenges another crew to a Davy Back Fight.

Unfortunately, nothing goes normally when Luffy is involved!

The Foxy Pirates are gonna learn soon enough why you NEVER threaten Luffy’s nakama!

We also see a certain someone taking a bike ride…across the ocean…and heading for somewhere.

Aokiji is coming…and the former student and teacher are about to reunite. Will that end in a fight between to Logia?

Keep reading to find out!

Until I get your reviews, later!