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The Storm Pirates Chapter 22 (Little Garden)
🕑 Added 2022-05-01 17:26:04 +0000 UTCLuffy
The ship was smoothly sailing towards Little Garden; the crew didn't know what to expect on the next island they were sailing towards; Miss All Sunday had warned them that it was a dangerous island; even Vivi's words about the island weren't exactly uplifting.
"Vivi, what do you know about Little Garden?" Nami suddenly asked as they were eating breakfast; Luffy was busy shoving his face with meat but was paying attention to her answer, Sanji was preparing some spaghetti covered with spicy, Usopp wanted to know more about this mysterious island, while Nojiko was writing something in a red book of hers.
"Can't say much; I have never been there, but I have read and even heard from people that no one ever returned from that place," Vivi gravely said. Usopp paled slightly; he wanted to suggest that perhaps they should change direction, but knowing Luffy, he knew his plead would fall on deaf ears.
While Usopp was clearly disturbed but the others didn't seem to care, especially Luffy, who swallowed a huge chunk of meat before standing up.
"Well, that's where we are going, and Princess Vivi, since you will be with us until Alabasta is saved, You will train with the rest of us," Luffy stated firmly, not wanting to hear a 'No' for an answer.
Vivi shuddered slightly at the thought of training, she had seen with her own eyes what they called training, and that was a nightmare, to say the least.
Eventually, she reluctantly nodded her head, and Luffy smiled brightly.
"Is decided then, once you're done eating, we will start," Luffy exclaimed with a raised fist. Nami giggled at the enthusiasm of her lover; he always took things a bit too lightly, while Vivi was already regretting her decision.
Soon the crew finished their breakfast and walked outside; Luffy didn't waste time and explained everything about Haki to Vivi, who was quite surprised to hear it.
She wondered why her kingdom hadn't already known about such a thing as Haki. It would have been quite beneficial, especially if every soldier of the Kingdom knew about Haki.
Starting with Observation Haki, instead of Luffy sending voltage at the Princess, Nami decided to take charge.
Vivi started by meditating of all things; Nami was slowly circling around her, like a wolf hunting her prey, a staff in her hand preparing to strike the princess, but not hard enough actually to hurt her.
Vivi felt nervous, she knew the navigator wasn't someone who took pleasure in causing harm, but the 'innocent' grin she sent towards Vivi before the latter closed her eyes wasn't exactly reassuring. The princess suddenly winced in pain when a strike hit her shoulder before rubbing the part where it hurt, she tried to open her eyes, but she felt a hand blocking her eyes.
"No opening your eyes until you manage to dodge at least one attack," Nami ordered her before pulling her hand away; the princess could tell from her tone that she was enjoying this torture session. Vivi wanted to say something, to protest, when another strike hit her elbow.
"Eyes closed," Nami ordered with a higher tone, Vivi knew she was in a world of trouble, and she felt that the navigator was quite enjoying what she was doing.
On the other side of the ship, Luffy had covered his eyes with a blindfold, moving his head around while Zoro and Sanji desperately tried to land a hit. Thus far, they had successfully landed four hits, but they both knew Luffy could have perhaps dodged them if he was more serious at the time.
Usopp was busy doing push-ups, sit-ups, and drinking plenty of juice. Nojiko was meditating with Vivi; she was using her observation Haki to dodge Nami's attack; while not at the same level as her sister, she was able to avoid several of her attacks; Nojiko had felt that Nami's attacks didn't really hurt anymore, her skin would usually turn red after getting hit; she wondered if her sister was going easier on her or she was getting stronger and more durable. Nojiko hoped it was the latter.
The Straw Hat crew spent the whole day like that, training and resting only once or twice. Near dusk, Luffy decided to train Nami.
"Alright, Nami," Luffy called her, stretching out his arms and legs and preparing for the fight.
Nami stood ten feet away from her lover/captain; she nodded reluctantly before transforming her arms into wings with scales; they looked made of gold, and her wings looked like diamonds made of gold attached together, creating a wing shining brightly from the light of the sun, her legs just turned to gold but didn't transform into anything, the red fire was dancing around her wings, shining brighter than the sun in the sky. Everyone around could feel the heat coming from Nami; it wasn't bothering anyone, more like a calming fire.
Sanji had golden hearts in his eyes, drooling from his mouth like a dog; Zoro rolled his eyes at his stupidity.
Nami tried to transform further, knowing from Luffy's explanation that her devil fruit was nothing to take lightly; she had just scratched the tip of the iceberg.
Seeing that her body wasn't transforming further, her eyes went to her captain, preparing to fight; Luffy noticed a new feature, her eyes now had changed color. Her eyes had turned from her deep brown to red like blood; her pupil looked smaller, while her eye color had expanded, almost covering the entire eye.
"Ready when you are," Luffy said as Nami rushed at him by jumping high in the sky, moving her arms, sending a wind wave towards Luffy, who stood in his place, not moving.
Vivi gasped, recognizing that move from before; the last time Nami used that, she killed the unluckiest, and now she was using the same move against her captain.
"Luffy get away," she shouted in concern, but her warning fell on deaf ears as the attack hit Luffy straight in the chest but didn't do the slightest bit of damage; Vivi sighed in relief seeing the captain wasn't harmed. Still, it was short-lived when Nami rushed towards Luffy from above, her golden leg making contact with Luffy's arm before the captain smirked.
"Good one, Nami," he complimented before moving her leg away, followed closely by a fist in the stomach which sent her crashing against the wooden wall of the ship.
"You shitty Captain, How dare You Attack Nami..." Sanji didn't finish his words when Luffy gave him a glare that made him stop; the straw hat captain had noticed something when his fist made contact.
Nami stood up, and to the surprise of everyone, her stomach had turned gold with scales, but that wasn't everything; Zoro noticed that her stomach almost looked like armor.
I see; Nami knew she didn't have time to dodge me but instead moved her golden form from her left arm to her stomach to act as armor, Luffy thought, noticing that Nami's arm had turned to normal.
Nami was breathing heavily, she felt good to figure out this new technique, but she disliked that it went to the cost of making her arm useless; she wondered if there was a way to use her armor but without the need to turn one of her arms back to normal.
"You did good, Nami; it seems you're slowly progressing," Luffy complimented with a smile. Nami felt her cheek blush; Nojiko felt good for her sister.
The day went on with Luffy fighting Zoro, Sanji, and Nami simultaneously; Usopp was to train Nojiko and Vivi's Observation Haki.
Several days later, The crew saw the unknown island slowly appearing in front of them.
Smoker
It had been almost three weeks since Straw Hat Luffy had escaped from his grasp. Smoker had wasted no time requesting a new captain to come and take his place while he chased The Straw Hat.
Much to his annoyance, he couldn't really leave Logue Town until the captain arrived, which took two weeks.
After his arrival, Smoker prepared a small crew, including Tashigi, who surprisingly looked more eager than him to start this journey.
Smoker didn't really pay her attention, his mind was already full of the information that apparently Dragon, the revolutionary, was the son of The Hero of The Marine, and if that wasn't enough, his son was someone who claimed where Gold Roger had been executed that he would become the King of The Pirates.
Smoker had seen that grin before, the same grin the pirate king had moments before his death.
Smoker wondered if there was any connection but soon dropped the idea; it made no sense.
For a while, Smoker wondered if he should tell anyone about Dragon's full name but decided otherwise. It is not that like that piece of information would change anything.
Smoker looked at the wanted poster of Dragon, and unlike his son, in the poster only wrote 'Dragon,' with no mention of his full name.
Smoker knew that perhaps Admiral Sengoku had perhaps pulled a few strings here and there for that to happen.
As he smoked his cigarettes, his mind went to Monkey D. Luffy; while he had waited in Logue Town for the new captain, Smoker had done a bit of digging to see what crimes This pirate had done thus far, even sending some marines to some of the towns that he had been.
Smoker had been quite surprised to hear the report that the pirate had not done anything terrible but apparently somehow good, first Captain Morgan, who apparently was feared by everyone in the town, while Smoker would have preferred if the pirate had left the corrupted marine captain alive so he could beat him into a pulp, Smoker didn't shed tears for him.
Next was the town terrorized by Buggy the Clown, same story, the same pirates.
Smoker couldn't help but think that this pirate had a good head on his shoulders, despite having the pirates' flag.
He could have become an excellent marine! Smoker found himself thinking before the door of his office opened.
Smoker moved the newspaper away from his face to see who dared to walk in without knocking, but he knew one that would do that without hesitating.
"How many times do I have to teach you this lesson, young lady?" Smoker grumbled with annoyance, but he was already used to her. In a way, he liked her carefree attitude; it was an excellent reminder not to take everything too seriously.
"Captain Smoker, we are getting closer to the Red Line," she informed him, completely ignoring the captain's words.
Smoker pulled the newspaper into the desk in front of him.
"I have noticed you look... excited, any reason in particular?" Smoker asked with curiosity, wondering what was going through her head, especially since she had started training like a madwoman, wanting to get stronger according to her.
While Smoker fully supported her desire, he knew something was missing, something he didn't know yet.
Tashigi was startled by his question before her eyes found her captain again.
"He's there, Captain. I still need to beat him," Tashigi said with precise determination in her eyes and voice.
"He?"
"Roronoa Zoro,"
Smoker quirked an eyebrow; this was news to him since when his student had taken an interest in a guy, in a pirate nonetheless.
"Is he your secret boyfriend?" Smoker asked bluntly; Tashigi's face went red like a tomato.
"He's Not My Boyfriend," she screamed with shark teeth towards him, who was more confused now.
"You don't need to scream; it makes sense now that you're so eager to catch up with the Straw Hat pirates, but falling in love with a pirate is not a good idea, but Love is blind after all," Smoker teased with a little smile much to Tashigi's horror who kept denying that she had any feelings for the filthy pirate.
Straw Hat Crew
Zoro suddenly sneezed, wondering if someone was talking about him, before rubbing his eyes, the sun's light telling him that it was time to wake the fuck up.
The crew was getting closer and closer to Little Garden; Luffy was bouncing up and down, excited to see what this second island had; since he started his journey, Luffy had one adventure after another, and he wondered what this island would bring.
From a distance, the island looked pretty normal to Nami, who started wondering what was so dangerous about this particular island; she glanced at her crew and noticed that only Usopp and Vivi were nervous about what they would counter on this new island.
"Princess Vivi, what exactly do you know about this place?" Luffy asked, turning around to face her; while he was sure he could face whatever lived on this island, he didn't want to underestimate this place.
"Not much, Luffy; as I said, no one has come out of this place alive; not much is known except that it is very dangerous," Vivi said; she had read books about this place when she was little, but all of them were just filled with wild theories.
Luffy simply nodded before turning to Usopp, "See, what is in front of us?" He ordered; his gunman didn't need to be told twice before climbing up to the crow's nest of the ship.
Using binoculars, he looked around the island; one thing he noticed immediately was the sheer size of literally everything around the island.
"Everything is gigantic; oh Crap, I can see a Large Tiger," Usopp screamed with tears, he really didn't want to stop in this place, let alone set foot on it and explore, but knowing his captain, his words would only make him more excited for the new adventure.
Hearing about a giant tiger caused Luffy's eyes to turn to meat, drooling from his mouth at the thought of eating a beast like that. Nami giggled at her captain's antics while Zoro was wondering if there was any beast on that island powerful enough to be a good enough fight.
Soon they sailed deeper into the island; Usopp was still looking around, not that it was that much necessary; Sanji was smoking a cigarette looking at everything with curiosity.
Nojiko had walked over to the bow of the ship, close to Luffy, looking at the different plants; she wondered if any of them could be good for making any kind of medicine.
Suddenly they heard a growl around them; now that they were there, the crew was wondering why this place was even called Little Garden; everything here was massive; even the leaves of the trees looked bigger than a human.
Hearing movements to their right, Luffy saw a Tiger looking at them with a hungry expression on his face. Usopp paled at the dangerous predator, but before Luffy could torch him with thunder, something jumped on the tiger; they could hardly see through the many trees around them.
When the Tiger came out again, but this time, his body was lying on the grass, with a massive gash across his stomach, making everyone wonder what could have caused something like this to a dangerous animal such as him. Their answers quickly came in the form of a bird.
A bird flew from the trees, with his claws holding the entire Tiger; at first, it looked like a normal bird, but giving it a second look, everyone noticed the sharp teeth on his beak, not to mention it was quite large for a bird.
"He's carrying the Tiger," Usopp all but screamed in both amazement and fear; a whistle was heard from Luffy, who was looking at the bird, using his hand on his forehead to block the sun from his eyes and see clearly.
"What kind of bird is that?" Sanji wondered out loud; he had never seen one before, not even in the books he had read when he was little.
"A flying lizard!!" Luffy shouted in awe; he wondered what it tasted like, probably like chicken.
Suddenly a loud sound echoed throughout the jungle, and many birds suddenly flew away from the sudden noise, even shaking the river they were sailing along with the ship; Usopp almost fell from the crow's nest if it wasn't for him holding tightly on the railing of the nest.
"I hope it wasn't a volcanic eruption; red rocks might fall from the sky and sink us," Nojiko said with fear seeping into her voice, peering around to see whether an eruption's debris might start pouring down on their heads.
"Wait, I think I have read about this kind of island before," Nami said with a finger on her chin; everyone's attention turned to her as she rushed to the ship's library, soon walking out holding a book in her hand. Soon she found what she was looking for.
"I knew it; we are on an ancient island; it's untouched by time, so much that animals that were thought extinct might still exist on this island." Usopp gasped at the information; fear started to creep in like a wild sea wave.
"Ancient Island?!! Are you saying There are Dinosaurs on This Island" Usopp all but shouted, looking pleadingly at Nami for denying something as frightening as that.
Nami simply shook her head; in a way, she would most likely freak out at the thought of being on such a dangerous island, but she had her captain to protect her, not to mention she knew that now she could fight herself, to protect people she considered family.
Usopp was about to tell Luffy to change direction probably, but Nami spoke before he could. "Don't worry, Usopp, if anything threatens our ship, we are more than prepared for it," Nami said with an encouraging smile.
"That's right," Luffy shouted before putting his arm around her waist, holding her closer to him; Nami quite liked his hand around her; before pushing herself against his chest, Luffy immediately felt her breasts against his chest as she held him close in purpose for him to feel her assets.
Sanji was growling loudly, like an animal, biting his cigarette in half in the process; Zoro was unfazed by what his captain was doing, but seeing the pervert like that, with a look of pure despair and sadness, made it more than worth it.
"Everyone, we are here to get supplies as well. Sanji, I want to try some of that Dinosaur meat. That is a priority," Luffy exclaimed, looking at his chef still holding Nami close, much to the delight of Nojiko, who giggled.
The navigator hummed to herself, let it to someone like Luffy, stating that having dinosaur meat for dinner was more important than everything else in their situation.
"Yeh, yeh, that won't be a problem," Sanji said tiredly; he might as well let out his frustration by kicking every dinosaur on his way.
"Luffy, are you sure about this? Didn't you see what happened to that Tiger, that bird, or dragon, whatever it was, grabbed him as if he was nothing" Usopp cried out, pointing at the place where the tiger had been; the only thing left was the grass mixed with blood.
"Nah, I have seen far worse animals back at home; sometimes grandpa would purposely lead us to dangerous parts of the forest just to be in front of the most dangerous animal our island could offer," Luffy explained with a melancholy smile on his face, remembering his grandpa literally throwing him to the mouth of a sea creature as if he was some snack.
Vivi shuddered slightly at the thought of that kind of training, frowning, wondering what kind of grandpa does that to his nephew.
Luffy jumped first, followed by Vivi, who knew that staying with the captain was the safest she could get, not to mention she quite liked his company.
Turning to look at the rest of his crew. "Who wants to come?" Luffy grinned broadly as he gazed at his Nakama.
"I might as well; I can't let you alone with a defenseless princess; who knows what you will do to her~" Nami teased, making Vivi blush before looking away, knowing what her friend was saying.
"I'll stay here and protect the ship." Nojiko offered as she sat down lazily in a chair, holding a book in her hand.
"I'm not going to sit around and wait." Zoro stretched and yawned. He followed Luffy, Nami, and Vivi off the ship with a yawn. "I'm going for a stroll."
"Wait a second, Zoro!" The swordsman came to a halt as Sanji called out. "We need to attempt to restock our food supplies. Bring whatever tasty you find out in the wild back here."
"Even better then," Zoro said, putting an unsheathed sword over his shoulder with a grin. "I will bring a big animal that you can never kill."
"What Did You Say!" Sanji shouted before slamming his leg on the ground, creating a small crater; "Do you really think you can hunt down an animal bigger than mine??" Sanji challenged as he pointed a finger at Zoro, whose smirk grew.
"Of course," With a grin on his face, Zoro stood there.
"Then it's a challenge between us," Sanji proclaimed with a fist raised in the air before running in a direction, while Zoro ran in the exact opposite direction.
Seeing her captain and sister walking away, Nojiko left out a sigh. "It seems to be just the two of us now." Nojiko chuckled as she sat back in her lounge chair. Usopp gulped, knowing they were all alone on a dangerous island.
*****
As they walked through the forest, the trees were so numerous in some parts that there were more trees than ground to walk. Carue suddenly quacked loudly before hiding behind Vivi and Nami.
They suddenly heard the ground shaking; despite the tall trees around them, they could clearly see the tall neck of a dinosaur eating leaves from a nearby tree. Luffy gazes at it with amazement, his eyes suddenly turning to stars, rushing towards it like a kid in a kindergarten.
Nami chuckled in amusement, already used to her captain, while Vivi, on the other hand, was horrified seeing what Luffy was doing. "Luffy, be careful. Who knows what it will do?" She shouted, her eyes wide as a plate, seeing Luffy on top of the dinosaur's head, bouncing up and down as if he was riding the giant creature.
"Calm down, Princess, don't worry about Luffy; he can handle a dinosaur," Nami said, nudging her friend. Vivi relaxed slightly; maybe she was overreacting a little bit; she had already seen how strong these people were; she should have more trust in them.
Luffy suddenly jumped very high in the air when the dinosaur jerked his head up, trying to make him trip, but both Luffy and Nami felt the upcoming attack.
Nami suddenly turned her right arm into gold, her eyes turning red in the process while pushing Vivi behind her with her left hand. Luffy appeared in front of Nami as he carefully looked at their new guest.
The giant dinosaur's head was severed from its neck in a single strike in a blaze of steel. Vivi gasped at the sight; her knees suddenly felt weak, almost falling on her knees; her duck was in no better state. Nami narrowed her eyes at the giant in front of them.
"Gegyagyagyagya! Today I got an excellent one!" As he laid his blade over his shoulder, the giant chuckled. He had a lengthy, black beard that hung down to his navel. He was dressed in a combat helmet, tan trousers, and leather boots with a belly warmer. He was dressed in a dark purple cape. The enormous longsword with a straight blade that rested on his shoulder overshadowed the Going Merry totally.
"Wow, you're a Giant!" Luffy shouted, eyeing him up and down, not having the feeling he was dangerous; Nami relaxed, knowing her captain wouldn't be so cheerful in front of a possible enemy. "Do you want to join my crew?"
Vivi face palmed while Nami shook her head in amusement. Despite hearing him with her ears, Vivi couldn't quite believe she just heard Luffy asking a Giant who was larger than Going Merry to join his crew.
"Gegyagyagyagya! My name is Dorry. I'm a giant; I'm the greatest Fighter of Elbaf," he burst out laughing before looking at the boy with the straw hat, already knowing he was the one in charge of this little group.
"How about you join me? Ehh, Let's have a Feast. I haven't had guests for a long time. Now," Dorry exclaimed with another burst of laughter.
Usopp and Nojiko
At first, this island looked peaceful; Nojiko had been busy reading a book with Usopp standing on guard with a gun, only for a giant to come out of the trees, greeting them with the most terrifying grin they had ever seen.
"Do you have anything to drink? Rum? Perhaps some booze? Little folks, can you hear me?" Usopp and Nojiko were shocked when the big, bearded behemoth questioned them.
"Well, Nojiko, you're the doctor of the crew, how should we proceed?" Usopp said softly to Nojiko, his gaze never leaving the giant.
"Why would a doctor know how to deal with him?" Nojiko asked with a grunt, same as Usopp, not looking away.
"Well, if you want to drink we have barrels ready for you" Nojiko said with the biggest smile she could muster.
"That's your genius plan, Doctor?" Usopp interrogated her, his eyes still fixed on the giant.
"You have a better idea?" Nojiko retorted, a glare from the corner of her eye directed towards Usopp.
"Gabababababa! You're such a witty bunch of people!" The chubby giant guffawed. He wore a dark-red shirt with white fur ruffs on the top and bottom hem and a large, blonde beard that flared out from his chin. He wore different leather armor components, burned orange pants with vertical black stripes, and a navy-blue cloak, and his legs were covered by burnt orange trousers with vertical black stripes. He had a big smile on his lips and a red horned helmet on his head. "GababaARGH!"
When the giant bellowed loudly, Usopp and Nojiko almost screamed in fright. They both turned around to see a big Tyrannosaurus gnawing at the giant's rump! The giant's eyes were obscured by his helmet as he twisted his head. The monster whirled around in an almost imperceptible movement, and his gigantic axe sliced the Tyrannosaurus' head off in a flash.
"Aaaaahhhhh!" Both Usopp and Nojiko screamed at how easily he killed that dinosaur.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" In celebration of his victory, the giant hoisted his axe. "Behold, tiny people, I am Elbaf's most powerful fighter! Broggy!" Broggy's voice reverberated across the forest like thunder. In his left hand, he held the Tyrannosaur's beheaded head. "We've got lots of meat, and you've got Rum!" Broggy greeted the two of them with a broad smile. "Let's eat a feast together! Gabababababa!"
