20 Chapter 1

Everyone made sure to grip the ship tightly as it began to accelerate rapidly down reverse mountain toward the entrance to the Grand Line. Luffy was laughing like a madman with his hands waving in the air. As they descended the mountain they all heard a loud, "BUUUOOOOOHHHH!"

Markus smiled, Laboon! His knowledge of the story during the first half of the Grand Line was a bit better than his knowledge of the East Blue. Everyone looked around and Zoro asked the group in general, "Anyone else here that?"

Nami just waved a dismissive hand, "Probably just the wind. The terrain here is quite odd after all."

Luffy kept laughing, "Who cares?"

Usopp pulled down one of his goggles and looked through it while Sanji called down from where he'd taken a seat on the mast, "Nami! There's a mountain ahead!"

As their ship got closer and closer to Laboon, Markus's eyes widened. Once again the difference between the show and reality came crashing home. Laboon was so massive that he really did look like a mountain sticking up out of the water. Laboon called out once again while Nami screamed, "That's no mountain! That's a whale!"

The whole crew started to panic. Zoro saw a tiny gap between Laboon, the whale, and the cliffside, "Turn portside!"

The always panicking Usopp shouted, "The rudder is still broken!"

Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp all ran to the broken rudder and grabbed the stump to try and turn it. Between having no leverage and the current, it was futile. Luffy shouted, "I've got a plan!"

He ran inside of the ship confusing the entire crew. A few moments later the cannon at the bow of the ship fired. Despite how physics should work, the blast slowed the ship just enough that it didn't get completely destroyed when it crashed into Laboon. Instead, only the figurehead on the ship was broken off. When Luffy came back up to the main deck and saw that, he was furious! He glared at the giant whale and shouted, "How dare you break my favorite seat!"

Without even thinking of the consequences, he cocked his hand back and fired a punch directly into the whale's eyes, to very little effect. Still, it got the whale's attention as its eyes turned to look at them. Just its eye alone was bigger than their ship! The whale let out a deafening cry as it lowered itself from its previous vertical position to a horizontal one. Markus knew what was about to happen and he wasn't the least bit excited!

Laboon opened its mouth and started swallowing enormous amounts of water. The crew had absolutely no control over the ship and were helplessly pulled toward the whale. As they were being sucked in, Luffy lost his balance and fell off the ship and out of sight of the rest of the crew. The turbulence lasted for a while as their ship was pulled into Laboon. When it came to a stop everyone was shocked by what they could see.

The inside of Laboon was filled with bright light, blue skies, fluffy white clouds, and an island with a house on it. Everyone stared, dumbfounded, at the sight in front of them. As they were trying to decide if it was an illusion or a dream, a giant squid surfaced from the gastric acid sea they were floating in between them and the island. As Markus, Zoro, and Sanji all prepared to attack, the door to the house on the small island opened up.

Three harpoons were launched from the house and skewered the giant squid, killing it instantly. Zoro stared at the open doorway with caution while Sanji looked a little put off from all the recent events. Zoro spoke first, "Looks like there's a person on that island."

Sanji followed with, "Let's hope it actually is a person."

Nami and Usopp were having mental breakdowns while hugging the mast and each other. Markus just watched the scene unfold. He didn't remember much about the events happening here but he did remember two big details. One, the guy on the island was a member of Gol D. Roger's crew, the doctor, in fact. And the second was that this would be their first meeting with Princess Vivi. She would become the impetus for the trip to Alabasta and the confrontation with Crocodile. Just thinking about fighting Crocodile made Markus grin. He was one of the Shichibukai, pirates that worked for the world government and marines.

While he was thinking about giving Crocodile a surprise punch to the face, the lines attached to the harpoons were slowly being pulled. The carcass of the giant squid was tugged closer to the house on the small island. As everyone watched, a shadow could be seen moving toward the door of the house. As the outline of the shadow became slightly clearer, Sanji pointed at it, "Ah! It's a flower!"

Seconds later an old man stepped out of the shadows and into the light. Sanji blinked, "Oh, it's a man."

Usopp looked at the old man. Despite his apparent age, the old man still looked to be in good health with a robust body. He wore khaki-colored shorts and a bright shirt, similar to something an old person might wear on vacation. Usopp commented, "What's with him? He took out that giant squid in one blow. Was he helping us or just fishing?"

After pulling the squid close enough, the silent old man started walking along his island. Sanji and Zoro stared at him and tension mounted. Both men were sweating while Markus was fighting to hold in his laughter. He knew the old man was a good guy, even if he couldn't remember his name at the moment. He'd help the crew out quite a bit soon enough. The old man continued to stare at Sanji and Zoro as he walked over to a lawn chair where he sat down and pulled out a newspaper to read. Sanji lost it and shouted, "Say something!"

A panicky Usopp yelled out, "I-i-If it's a fight you want, t-then you've got one! We have a cannon on our side!"

Of course, Usopp shouted that while hiding inside of the main room of the ship. The old man stared back and spoke in a calm, serious tone, "Don't do that or someone will get hurt..."

Sanji, still sweating and tense asked, "Oh? And who might that be?"

"Me," the old man answered without missing a beat.

"YOU?!" Sanji lost it and screamed.

Zoro smiled a little and moved toward the old man while talking to Sanji, "Don't get so worked up." He turned to the old man and spoke, "Old man, would you mind telling us who you are and where we might be?"

The old man stared back silently for a few moments before replying, "It's common courtesy to introduce yourself before asking any questions."

"Oh Right, sorry about that. My name is Z..."

The old man cut Zoro off, "My name is Crocus, the lighthouse keeper of Twin Capes. I'm 71 years old, a Gemini and my blood type is AB."

Zoro erupted and grabbed the handle of one of his new swords while saying, "Nobody minds if I kill him right?!"

Markus finally couldn't take it anymore. He suddenly burst out laughing. His whole body shook and he nearly lost his balance. He had to wrap his arms around his body to hold himself together. He laughed so hard his jaw hurt and he thought he might break a rib! Crocus was just too goddamned funny!

Everyone gave Markus awkward looks. Usopp chimed in, "Do you think he finally snapped?"

Markus couldn't pay much attention as Crocus continued to talk like Markus wasn't even there. He explained where they were and that they could leave through a giant door off to the side. As they were taking, the gastric sea suddenly became violent. Crocus gave a sigh, "He's starting again."

As the gastric sea sloshed around, the group noticed that Crocus's island was really an iron bottomed boat. It needed to be made of iron to have more protection against the gastric sea. If they stayed too long their ship would be digested by the whale. Crocus explained how Laboon, the whale, was bashing its head against the red line. Nami immediately associated that information with the terrible scars that covered the front of Laboon's head. The rest of the crew got the impression that Crocus was trying to kill Laboon from within, they couldn't be more wrong.

While the others were discussing their situation, Crocus dove into the gastric sea and swam over to the giant doors that would lead them outside of Laboon. As Crocus reached a ladder leading up to a platform on the doors, a smaller door built into the bigger doors burst open. Three people came flying out of it and continued to fly through the air. One of the three people was Luffy!

As he flew through the air, Luffy looked over at everyone on the Going Merry, "Oh! You guys are alright! In any case, HELP ME!"

Markus held his hand out, "Just stretch your arm out, you idiot!"

"Oh, right!" Luffy threw his arm toward the ship where Markus caught it and pulled him on board.

The other two were not so lucky, they fell into the gastric sea. Markus looked at the others, "Should we save the other two that came out with Luffy?"

Everyone looked at each other before shrugging their shoulders. Some lines were tossed out and the other two were saved. A man and a woman were pulled on board of the Going Merry. Markus immediately recognized one of them, the woman. She was Nefertari Vivi, the princess of Alabasta. She was an attractive young woman with pale skin and long blue hair. The moment Sanji saw her he had hearts in his eyes and was waiting for her every command.

The other person they rescued was a man that Markus had zero impression of. He must not have been very important. He had tattoos on each of his cheeks that looked like nines and a crown on his head. Markus assumed he was probably called Mr. Nine. All the male leaders of Baroque Works had numbered codenames while the women were named after days of the week or holidays.

As everyone was looking at the two strangers, Crocus appeared on and shouted from the platform attached to the big doors, "I'll never let you hurt Laboon for as long as I live!"

The two started to laugh as they picked up their bazooka like cannons, "But we're inside the whale now... It'll only be too easy... TO BLOW A HOLE IN ITS STOMACH!"

They both fired their small cannons at the same time. Everyone watched as Crocus charged into the line of fire and blocked the two explosive shots with his own body. The two started getting cocky and mouthing off about killing Laboon for food. Luffy didn't like that so he unceremoniously knocked the both of them out cold.

A short time later, Crocus led the group through the passage inside of Laboon that led outside. As they moved he explained Laboon and his past. Laboon was an Island Whale, the largest species of whale in the world and only found in the West Blue. Laboon had followed a group of pirates through reverse mountain and into the Grand Line. Laboon considered the pirates his family and the pirates cared about him in return. They feared for the much younger and much smaller Laboon so they convinced him to stay behind with a promise that they would return. They never did.

Ever since the day Crocus had told Laboon that they had abandoned him, Laboon had been bashing his head against the red line. The conversation continued until they sailed out of Laboon and back into the real ocean. As they did, they tossed Mr. 9 and Ms. Wednesday overboard. Crocus continued to explain why Laboon was doing what he was doing. If Laboon kept bashing his head against the red line, it would kill him one day. After hearing the entire story from Crocus, Luffy seemed to come to a decision.

Luffy gave a loud shout and started to run up Laboon's back with a mast carried above his head. As he ran he spotted a fresh wound and leaped into the air, "Gomu gomu no FLOWER ARRANGEMENT!"

Luffy slammed the broken and jagged need of the mast into Laboon's open wound. The giant whale seemed confused for a moment before it gave a loud cry of pain and anger.

"Hey, is that a mast?" Zoro asked.

"Yeah, I think it's our mast," Usopp replied.

"Yup, it's our main mast alright," Sanji confirmed.

"Nami is going to murder him," Markus finished.

What followed was a fight between Luffy and Laboon. Laboon kept crushing and throwing Luffy around. Those sorts of attacks merely got Luffy dirty and didn't do any real harm. Just as Laboon was coming at Luffy once again, Luffy shouted, "It's a tie!"

Laboon came to a stop and looked at Luffy from a distance. Luffy climbed to his feet while grinning, "I'm pretty tough eh? Our fight has yet to be settled, so we must fight each other again! Your old friends might be dead but I'm your new rival! Once we sail around the Grand Line we'll be sure to return and see you again. Then we'll duke it out again!"

Markus smiled softly as Laboon gave out a deafening cry of joy with tears in its eyes. Luffy was definitely an annoying idiot, but he had heart. Markus placed his hand over his chest and felt his ever calmly beating heart. He couldn't be like Luffy, it might take being an idiot to be like Luffy and inspire others as he did. He wondered if he could ever be like Luffy and the rest. The problem was, strictly speaking, he was only about two months old. He might have had all the knowledge and information of his past world, but he himself had only really existed for such a short amount of time.

He had a goal but no ambition. He claimed to the others that he wanted to beat Kaido, but that was just a lie so he would fit in a little better with the crew of dreamers. He did want to be strong, that was true. Still... there should be more to life right? After he got his hands on the Goro Goro no Mi, then what? Should he stick around with Luffy and the others? He didn't know. He needed time to think, time to grow as a person and become who he was meant to be.

He stayed lost in thought about himself and his future as Luffy painted a bastardized version of their jolly roger on Laboon's scarred head. A sign of their promise to fight again in the future. As Luffy was complimenting himself another situation broke out. Nami's compass wasn't working. Markus had almost forgotten the need for a Log Pose to travel the Grand Line. In the end, Crocus gave them his Log Pose to use to travel to their first island on the Grand Line.

As the group was discussing what to do, Mr. 9 and Ms. Wednesday came up to them. Mr. 9 spoke, "I have a request. Could you please take us to Whiskey Peak?"

"Whiskey Peak? What's that?" Nami inquired.

Mr. 9 explained, "It's our town."

"So you want us to take you there because you lost your ship? Isn't that a bit much? Especially considering you tried to kill the whale?"

After Nami finished speaking Usopp added, "Just who are you anyway?"

Mr. 9 immediately replied, "I'm a king."

Nami grabbed and pulled on his cheek, "Liar."

Markus snickered off to the side. Whiskey Peak huh? He was looking forward to it. The people there welcomed pirates with open arms then drugged and captured them for their bounties. It was a good way to get money by capturing naive pirates new to the Grand Line. It would be a good spot for him to blow off some steam and beat the crap out of a bunch of Baroque Works bounty hunters. Though the only person on their crew with a bounty at the moment was Luffy.

Luffy randomly decided to let the two misfits join the rest of the misfit crew for the journey to the island. Markus had no complaints about it. Soon they set sail and were on their way to their first island in the Grand Line. Markus looked everything over before finding a nice quiet spot on the ship. He planned to sink into his Image Training for a while. He didn't care about his level so much at the moment, right now he was more concerned with increasing the level of his skills and making them stronger. Though, he wouldn't say no to a few more levels and skill points! He also planned to find the time to work out. He wanted to try and boost his base physical attributes before the real fighting began.