Leaving Dressrosa

A large group of pirates surrounded a small group of pirates. The smaller of the two groups was split into two sides who stood in a tense standoff.

On one side was Franky, Usopp, and Zoro; on the other was Luffy, Sanji, and… Bartolomeo?

On neither side was a confused Cabernet and an amused Robin.

"It's the fastest way to catch up to the Sunny!" Usopp argued. Some surrounding pirates agreed with the logical assessment.

"I want to sit on my head!" Luffy countered. Bartolomeo and his men nodded furiously in response.

"What if Nami and Chopper are being eaten by cannibals at this very moment? Speed is of the essence." Zoro spoke.

"Nami is a strong, independent woman and I'm sure she's fine; especially with Jinbe there with her. I won't allow a lady to be ridden by a bunch of dirty, sweaty men for your own convenience, moss-head." Sanji remained stalwart.

"Don't be like that! I haven't had a chance to check out Cabernet's ship form in detail and this is the perfect opportunity!" Franky insisted.

"Absolutely not, you pervert!" Sanji angrily shouted.

"Compliments won't sway me, Sanji!" Franky shouted back.

"Robin, help us convince Sanji! He'll listen to you, and Luffy can't be stubborn against us all!" Usopp tried to convince her.

"It's a mutiny! To think my own crew would turn against me this far into our adventure!" Luffy was outraged.

Robin seemed to consider Usopp's request for a moment, then walked over to stand next to Luffy. "Sorry Longnose-kun. It's our captain's decision, so we should abide by it."

"HA!!! Take that, you mutineers! Robin's on OUR side!" Sanji was overjoyed.

Bartolomeo was very nervous. He didn't want the Straw Hats to infight like this, and he most certainly didn't want to be the cause of that schism. On the other hand, though, he had an opportunity to host his heroes on his ship for a time! Who couldn't be excited for something like that?!

"We could just go separately. If Cabernet will take us, then the damned cook will switch sides instantly." Zoro pointed out.

"That's right! You'll take us with or without them, won't you Cabernet?" Usopp asked, desperate for a reasonable answer.

Cabernet scratched her head and scrunched up her face. "I don't mind, but that ship is really cute…"

"Shit! She's on the fence, how do we sway her to our side?!" Usopp whispered conspiratorially with Zoro and Franky.

"We could go part of the way on the Going Luffy and the rest with Cabernet." Robin suggested a compromise.

Sanji's only reason to oppose taking Cabernet was to prevent the men from boarding her, but he couldn't exactly oppose Robin's suggestion or she might hate his rotten guts forever and ever. How vexing for him.

Luffy seemed amenable to this suggestion; after all, he would get what he wanted out of the situation and they'd get where they were going faster than staying on Bartolomeo's ship the whole time.

Cherry was inexplicably standing next to Cabernet eating popcorn when she piped up. "We could have Takako pull the 'Going Luffy'. She might not be as fast as Cabernet, but she's pretty damn fast."

"Takako?" Bartolomeo wondered aloud.

*SPLOOSH*

The sound of water falling back into the sea as the Kraken lifted the Going Luffy into the air above her with two tentacles.

Many jaws dropped among the pirates and many pants were soiled on the spot.

"Bunch of babies… why even come to the New World just to piss your britches…" Don Chinjao grumbled in the crowd.

"Even better! Shishishishishi!" Luffy laughed, stretching his arms and pulling himself up, then firmly planting himself onto the straw hat of his figurehead counterpart.

"Bet you three feel silly now, don't you?" Sanji said, looking awfully smug.

"Drat! This isn't SUPER at all!" Franky was the most disappointed. His shipwright's heart was broken.

"See that, boys? We're going to be sailing with style AND with our heroes!" Bartolomeo cheered, and his men cheered as well.

Takako put the ship back into the water, allowing the supplies that were prepared for the trek to be brought aboard by very nervous looking dock workers.

"Straw Hat! There's something we need to discuss before you set sail!" Sai called out to him for some reason.

"Hm?" Luffy didn't understand what he could want. Sai was Cherry's friend, but he didn't know all that much about him.

Sai and a handful of other pirate leaders, including Bartolomeo, set up some kind of ritual involving sake cups. "We're going to swear our allegiance to you, Straw Hat! You rescued us from a terrible fate, so we'll come to your aid whenever you need us! You just need to drink from the father's cup here and we'll drink from the sons' cups."

"Eh? I don't wanna!" Luffy scrunched up his face, clearly not a fan of the idea.

"You're gonna need a fleet if you want to make it big, you know?" a man known as Orlumbus said.

"A grand fleet would suit you well, Straw Hat!" another man known as Ideo said.

"The man I've sworn the following can't be any less than the future Pirate King. Anything less wouldn't let me shine as I rightfully should! For that you need the military might to conquer the world!" the possessed pretty boy, Cavendish added whilst several young ladies swooned in the background.

"You sound like Crocodile…" Luffy squinted his eyes at him, as if trying to suss out if he was actually Crocodile in disguise.

"A-Are we not good enough, Luffy-senpai?" Bartolomeo looked like he was on the verge of tears.

"It's just not my style! Don't start crying over stupid stuff!" Luffy shouted.

"Ah! So it's like that! You don't want to conquer the world, you just want to be… free?" Bartolomeo had an epiphany.

"Oho? In that case, we should do whatever we want to as well." Sai said with a conspiratorial smile.

The following scene had Cavendish, Bartolomeo, Sai, Ideo, Leo from the Tontatta tribe, Hajrudin the giant, and Orlumbus swear to follow Luffy, much to his annoyance. At some point Zoro slipped in and drank the sake from the father's cup. What that means, if it means anything, who knows?

"Get used to it, Luffy. They did pretty much the same thing with me on Whitebeard's crew. You're getting up in the world and that means people will follow you whether you like it or not." Ace walked over and patted him on the shoulder. "You're gonna need it too if you're going to compete with us. Or do you think I'm a pushover?"

"You could only beat me when we were kids because you were bigger." Luffy said defiantly.

"Ahahaha! That's the spirit!" Ace laughed.

After giving his final goodbyes, Ace left with his own crew to join back up with Whitebeard.

Everyone boarded the Going Luffy, Luffy taking his rightful place atop his likeness' head. "Set sail!"

"Let's goooo!" Bartolomeo and his men cried out in unison.

Almost everyone stumbled as the ship lurched forward with the full might of Takako.

"Are you sure Cabernet is faster than this?" Usopp asked nervously, wrapped around the mast of the ship to support himself.

"By quite a bit, actually. It's a little hard to breathe when she really goes all out." Robin said, standing on the deck without any trouble at all.

"Maybe it was for the best that we didn't take Cabernet…" Usopp shivered.