Laboon and Log Pose

"Usopp is an idiot~"

"Haa? Did you just call me an idiot again, Luffy?"

"Mhh? No, I didn't, Usopp."

"Nonsense, I clearly heard you call me that!"

"But I didn't say anything!"

"Haa!? Are you calling me a liar!?"

"..."

"..."

"Well, okay, I kind of am a liar... BUT THAT'S BESIDES THE POINT!!!"

Miss Wednesday, the blue-haired woman Luffy previously fished out of the air, was currently utterly dumbfounded by pretty much everything that was happening around her.

By now, she had realized that she was on a pirate vessel and even identified the vessel's Captain while simultaneously remembering the bounty he had.

The moment that realization came, she wanted to pull out her weapons and fight back, but before she could do so, Yuna gently pushed down her shoulders, resulting in Miss Wednesday sitting down on a chair she didn't even know was there before.

'Where did this come from? It looks like it is made of ice, but it isn't cold at all. Huh!? Wait a moment! Since when have I been sitting at a table!?'

Seemingly unaware of Miss Wednesday's increasing confusion, Yuna sat opposite of her as the door inside the ship opened, revealing Sanji carrying two trails.

He quickly put both of them on the table Yuna and Miss Wednesday were sitting on and presented both of them with an assortment of snacks and fruits, followed by him pouring both of them a cup of tea.

"Thanks, like always, for the good service, Sanji."

"It's only natural, Yuna-chwan~"

Meanwhile, Mister 9, Miss Wednesday's partner, was equally dumbfounded by the situation unfolding before him. Just like Miss Wednesday, he quickly realized that he had somehow landed on a pirate ship and prepared himself for combat, but after seeing how his partner was treated, he was too confused to make a move.

"YOU TWO!!! I WON'T ALLOW YOU TO LAY A SINGLE FINGER ON LABOON!!!"

Suddenly, Crocus returned and immediately yelled at the duo, telling them that he wouldn't allow them to harm Laboon.

Hearing Crosus yelling at them, Miss Wednesday and Mister 9 managed to get out of their daze, allowing them to remember their mission, resulting in them pulling out two bazookas and pointing them at the insides of the whale's stomach.

"Hehe, we are inside the whale now!"

"Hahaha, that's right. It's too bad, old man. Now that we are inside the whale's stomach, it will be easy to blast a hole into it!"

Both of them pulled the trigger simultaneously, resulting in two cannonballs being shot at the inside of Laboon's stomach, but before they could fly far, two hands snatched the cannonballs out of the air while instantly freezing them at the same time to prevent them from exploding.

"Now, now, no need to get rowdy, is there?"

Miss Wednesday and Mister 9 both were dumbfounded due to what they had just witnessed. They had heard about people being capable of dodging and even deflecting cannonballs, but they had never heard about someone straight up catching them. Additionally, the cannonballs were frozen as well. Considering what they had just witnessed, the duo quickly came to a conclusion: A Devil Fruit!

Seeing that Miss Wednesday and Mister 9 were apparently no longer planning to continue attacking, Crocus sighed in relief, and moments later, he boarded the Going Merry.

"These two have been bothering me for a while now."

Hearing Crosus's words, Yuna simply nodded her head, not really paying much attention to his words. After all, the only reason she stopped the two cannon balls was that she was pretty certain that the whale they were currently inside of would go on a rampage if it got wounded from the inside. Frankly, Yuna would rather not be covered in the whale's stomach acids after it started thrashing around.

"You stubborn old man, hand the whale over already!"

"That's right; we need its meat for our island!"

Hearing the duo's words, Crocus only snorted in disdain as he answered them.

"You'll only get a piece of Laboon over my dead body, so forget about it!"

Obviously, Miss Wednesday and Mister Prince weren't happy about Crocus's words, but considering the person who had just casually caught two cannonballs was on his side, they decided to stay obedient and not bother the old man any further.

Following that little conversation, everyone used the gate Crocus somehow had managed to install within Laboon's stomach to get out of the whale, ultimately resulting in a small gathering at Crocus's lighthouse.

Now, seeing Laboon from a better angle, Yuna couldn't help but frown when she saw the massive whale's head filled with hundreds of large and small scars.

After asking how that had happened, Crocus told the Strawhat Crew how Laboon was brought here by a pirate group a long time ago and how the crew left him here due to the Grand Line being too dangerous for a, at that time, little whale.

The pirate crew promised Laboon to return to him after they had conquered the Grand Line, but unfortunately, the crew never returned, resulting in Laboon meeting to smash through the Red Line with its head.

Hearing that the crew left fifty years ago, Yuna could only shake her head. Even if they didn't run into some kind of danger and died, by now, most of them would have died of old age anyway.

She briefly pondered whether she should do something about Laboon's self-destructive tendencies when she saw something from the corner of her eyes that almost made her eyes pop out.

Hearing Laboon's story, some weird lever seemed to have clicked within Luffy's head, and he was currently back on the Going Merry and hugging the ship's mast. Initially, Yun had no idea what he was planning, but she quickly realized that Luffy was trying to rip the mast of the ship.

'The f*ck!?'

She had no idea what Luffy was planning, but before he could do any damage to the ship, Yuna quickly appeared next to him and smashed her fist onto the back of his head.

"It hurts! Why does it hurt!?"

"A pervert's fists penetrate all defenses, but that's beside the point. Why the hell were you trying to break the mast!?"#

Meanwhile, the rest of the crew wondered what Luffy and Yuna were doing, but when they heard what Luffy was about to do, everyone started glaring at him, wondering what was going on in his head.

Luffy, seemingly unaware of the glares he was receiving, was carefully rubbing the bump on his head while glaring at Yuna.

"I need a huge weapon!"

"..."

"..."

Following Luffy's statement, silence covered the Going Merry, as everyone wondered what the hell Luffy was trying to do.

Obviously, Yuna had no clue either, so she did the only thing that seemed adequate in the current situation: She gave Luffy what he wanted to see what kind of chaos he'd cause.

Moments later, Luffy was equipped with a mast-sized pole entirely made out of ice, and before Yuna could question what he was planning to do with it, Luffy had already jumped off the Going Merry toward Laboon, stabbing the giant ice pole into the massive whale's body.

"""" WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!!!""""

Naturally, everyone watching him shouted at Luffy in anger due to his actions, while Laboon roared in pain due to Luffy piercing the giant ice pole into his body.

Naturally, a giant creature like Laboon wouldn't just take a beating one-sidedely, so moments later, Laboon moved his head, smashing Luffy into the ground.

However, Luffy wasn't done yet, and after stretching back his fist, he punched Laboon straight in the eye, angering the giant whale even further.

The two continued fighting each other for a while longer while the rest of the Straw Hats only looked at the fight utterly dumbfounded.

Yuna, on the other hand, could roughly guess what Luffy was trying to do and could only shake her head with a wry smile on her face.

'What a rough method to establish a bond.'

[Hisoka mentioned the talk-no-jutsu, I wonder what this is~]

'It's the beat-yo-ass-no-jutsu.'

Luffy and Laboon continued fighting a while longer before Luffy stopped the fight with a grin on his face, declaring it a draw while telling Laboon that they would continue the fight after Luffy crossed the Grand Line while claiming that Luffy was now Laboon's rival.

Well, overall, it was a rather rough method to establish a connection, but considering that Laboon has been waiting for his friends for fifty years, getting more and more desperate every day, he accepted Luffy's words. So, with an eardrum-shattering roar, Laboon accepted Luffy as his rival, causing the rest of the Straw Hats and Crocus to smile in amusement.

Following that, Luffy drew his Jolly Roger on Laboon's head to make sure he would stop bashing his head against the Red Line before confirming yet again that they were now rivals and friends. Unfortunately, Luffy's artistic talent wasn't that great, so his Jolly Roger looked rather messed up, but that couldn't be helped, and no one commented on that.

A while later, everyone sat down to get some food, as Sanji had apparently managed to buy some rare fish while he was shopping in Louge Town. However, while everyone was enjoying the food, Nami suddenly exclaimed in surprise.

"Damn, what is this!? The compass seems to be broken!"

Hearing Naomi suddenly exclaiming in surprise, everyone's eyes landed on her, and she instantly noticed that the compass she was holding was spinning like crazy.

Seeing that, Crocus shook his head while chuckling in amusement.

"Seems like you came here rather unprepared. Within the Grand Line, a regular compass is completely useless. If you want to navigate the Grand Line, you'll need a Log Pose."

How could Nami not be shocked after Crocus finished explaining how a compass would no longer be useful? After all, she had been using a compass to navigate all her life, so being in a place where a compass was of no use put a bit of a dent in her confidence.

"What exactly is a Log Pose?"

"Is it a weird-looking compass?"

"Mhh? Yeah, I guess you could describe it like that."

"Oh, okay, is this a Log Pose?"

"Yes, that is a Log Pose."

"..."

"..."

""" WHERE DID YOU GET THAT FROM!?"""

Obviously, Naomi wanted to know what a Log Pose was, but after asking about it, Yuna intervened, wondering what a Log Pose looked like. After Crocus confirmed what it looked like, she casually pulled out something she had been carrying around for a while now, not really knowing what it was.

So, after Crocus took a look at what Yuna showed him, he only confirmed that Yuna was indeed holding a Log Pose, instantly shocking the rest of the Straw Hats while causing Yuna to chuckle in amusement.

"Well, you remember how I plundered that Marine Base in Louge Town? I found this thing in a hidden safe and had no idea what it was, but since it was packed away rather secured, I thought that whatever it was was probably somewhat expensive, so I decided to take it with me. Well, it turns out it was something that would allow us to navigate the Grand Line, hahaha!"

Stars appeared in Nami's eyes as she quickly approached Yuna and snatched the Log Pose out of her hand, looking at it with admiration.

"Hahaha, very good, Yuna. As expected, you are the only reliable one in this crew."

"""Oioi!"""

"Nami-swan~ So harsh~"

While Nami was casually dissing the rest of the crew, Yuna chuckled in amusement as her gaze landed on Crocus.

"So, how does this Log Pose thing work? It looks like it's just a simple compass needle, but it doesn't appear to be pointing north."

Hearing Yuna's question, Crucus nodded his head while raising his hand, showing Yuna another Log Pose.

"It's actually pretty simple. The Log Pose's needle can record the magnetic field of an island in the Grand Line and will always port toward it no matter where you are. As soon as you have boarded the island, the recorded magnetic field will slowly be replaced by the one from the next islands. The time that takes is different from island to island, but generally, it takes a few days or weeks."

After Nami finished listening to Crocus's explanation, she simply nodded her head. She didn't expect navigating the Grand Line to be as easy as simply sailing toward where the Log Pose's needle points, but for now, it was a good start.

Following that, Yuna planned to get some more information about the Grand Line from Crocus; after all, she doubted that a random old man could survive in a place that pirates had to pass to enter the Grand Line. Frankly, Yuna was rather certain that Crocus had quite a deep backstory.

Unfortunately, Luffy was throwing a tantrum before Yuna could get any worthwhile questions out, as he wanted to experience the Grand Line "Spoiler-Free". Anyway, since that was what Luffy wanted, Yuna only shrugged her shoulders and didn't bother Crocus any further.

Anyway, the crew was just about to set sail again when they were approached by Miss Wednesday and Mister Prince. Apparently, they had lost their ship and no longer had any method to return to their hometown, so they were hoping that they could travel with the Straw Hats until they reached the next island.

Since Usopp was the only one who was protesting against taking the duo with them while Sanji was already preparing some more snacks for Miss Wednesday, Luffy only shrugged his shoulders and agreed to take the duo with him.

Additionally, this would also help Crocus since taking the duo away would prevent them from causing any more trouble for Laboon.

When the duo heard that Luffy agreed to take them with him, a sinister smile briefly appeared on their faces, which Yuna noticed but didn't care about. Frankly, she was looking forward to see what kind of trap these two had prepared for the Straw Hats.

'Guess this is the real start of the journey. I'm looking forward to what the Grand Line has to offer~'