129 Chapter 129

129

"Hey, I know we didn't have the best first impression, but please untie us." Mr 9 asked. "We aren't the bad guys here. We just need the whale meat to feed our people."

Mrs Wednesday took charge. "We are sorry, we didn't know that the whale there was your friend… but could you please untie us."

"Well, we wouldn't call him a friend," Nami said before turning to see Luffy was now sitting on the top of the whale and explaining stuff to it with Sparky also helping. "Okay, never mind. He's a friend now."

Somehow and for some reason she tended to stop questioning logic when it came to Luffy. She just accepted it.

"So can you please untie us?" Vivi asked, with a pleading look. Using her best puppy dog eyes.

Sanji felt as if he was shot in the chest by an arrow and he was knocked out completely.

"Wait, what happened to big bro Sanji?" Bartolomeo kneeled down and held the cook, shaking him. "Snap out of it."

Gin shook his head. "He couldn't stand that level of cuteness, it seems." He said wearing black glasses. "I'm only unharmed because of these glasses." It would have sounded cool, if it wasn't for the fact that he was looking to the side, completely blind from his new shades.

Bartolomeo was wide-eyed, quickly making a hand sign as green round shields that looked similar to green-sunglasses appeared in front of him. "Now, I'm safe as well!"

Johnny and Yosaku followed along and put their own glasses on, but unlike Gin they weren't blind. "Yeah! We are too."

Nami and Vivi looked at them, but couldn't say anything.

"Heh… men right?" It was Usopp, standing by the side, his back against the wall, also wearing his shooting goggles. Nami and Vivi were beginning to feel a headache now.

"Don't overthink it, you will kill some of your brain cells. Trust me, it's not worth it." Kuina said, as she was formally cleaning her blade. Some water got stuck to it from the wild sea, so she was drying the blade.

"That I can agree on." Sabo agreed, now wearing his plague mask as unknown individuals were on the ship. He was also with Kuina, cleaning his own weapon, his trusty metal pipe.

Nami was about to say something but stopped when the large whale made its way towards them with Luffy and Sparky on top of it. She could barely see them, but Luffy seemed to be pointing at them for some reason, and the whale was coming here. She also noticed that the whale wasn't crying anymore… no it looked quite curious.

Seeing the large whale, Momoo made a run for it. As Island Whales were natural predators of sea kings Momoo's size. Actually, the reason Laboon ate the Going Merry in the first place was to catch Momoo for a meal, but it seems that he failed, and accidentally swallowed the ship instead.

Luffy jumped off of the huge whale along with Sparky. And Luffy appeared to be proud of something. "Guys, meet my new friend, Laboon."

All of the crewmates looked at Nami, she really could read the captain well.

Crocus was curious about what Luffy said to the whale to calm him down this much. But he didn't ask. As long as the whale didn't damage himself any further he was okay with any lie the boy told him.

After Luffy came back, he took out some paint from the ship's storage and drew the iconic Straw hat flag on the top of Laboon's head.

"Remember, I better not see any new scars when I come back, okay?" Luffy said, patting the large whale. Who seemed a bit happy.

Both Vivi and Mr 9 questioned how the boy was so friendly with the whale he was just fighting moments before.

In a short time, Luffy became quite fond of the large beast. Heck, he would be willing to take the beast on the journey along with them, if it was ever possible. But for now, it wasn't.

Luffy made a promise to Laboon, he would try to find his lost friends at the sea for this year, and come back with at least one of his friends. Which in all honesty wouldn't be that hard.

When Brook joins the crew, Luffy knew he would be thrilled to meet Laboon. So he would make them meet up somehow. And that was a promise.

.

"Now what should we do about you guys?" Nami thought, while Luffy hummed.

"Make them walk the plank?" Luffy suggested.

The tied-up duo panicked, as all colors were drained from their faces. They looked horrified at Luffy.

"You… aren't you supposed to be a hero!?" Mr 9 asked, horrified. "Heroes don't kill, right?"

"Well, I'm a hero that saves the princess and kills the croc," Luffy said, winking at Vivi who was wide-eyed. Was that a coincidence?

But Luffy got smacked in the head by none other than Sabo. Luffy blinked, he didn't expect this.

"Stop teasing them," Sabo said.

"Wait! How were you able to hit Luffy?" Nami asked. "Doesn't he have that observation haki thingy?"

Sabo mused looking to his brother and then back to Nami. "Well, I also have that observation haki thingy… and mine's better than his. His haki is like a party trick compared to mine, so he wasn't able to react fast enough."

"So… I will be able to hit Luffy after learning this Observation haki thingy," Nami concluded.

And Sabo nodded, which made Nami give a motivated grin looking at Luffy and cocking her arm. Luffy gulped, unconsciously taking a step back.

"Brother! This is betrayal. Betrayal, I say!" Luffy cried, giving a dirty look toward Sabo who, under the mask, was smiling. "And Nami… you would never hit me right? I'm the captain."

"Of course not~" Nami said, almost cooing, "I would never hit my captain… but as the navigator, I might need to use brute strength to steer you the right way."

The others in the crew almost felt pity for Luffy, if not for the fact that they were sure, Luffy would still be avoiding Nami's punch in some way or another.

After all that stuff was over, Crocus even helped Nami by explaining about the Log pose. But it seemed that it was unneeded, the crew captain had already explained it to her. And they had bought a few of them when they were in Logue Town.

It made Crocus impressed. A boy that could use haki and was well informed about things, he could see the boy making a name for himself in the grandline.

So as time passed, after a big dinner, the straw hats left. Crocus saw their ship sail and silently prayed for their safety, in his age, he saw many young bloods die to the cruel sea. He hoped Luffy wasn't one of them.

"Let's just hope that this time your new friends keep their promise, ey Laboon?"

The whale whined a bit, but its eyes never left the Going Merry. He hoped this time his new friend would keep his promise.