The Thunder Demon Straw Hat Luffy
Chapter 36 - 36: Hell's Company and The Return to the Blue Sea!
Luffy was currently standing on the rear deck with a glass of whiskey in his hand. One day had passed since he killed Enel. The straw hats, Shandorians, and the Skypieans had thrown a large feast in celebration of Enel's defeat. The previous evening was filled with loud singing, dancing, and a whole lot of drinking. A lot of the participants of the party were currently still sleeping while some of them were already awake and exploring the upper Yard for the first time. As for the Straw hats, most of them were awake with the only ones who were still asleep was Usopp and Chopper. Sanji was in the kitchen with Nami and Robin making breakfast, Zoro was off to the side of the Going Merry training, and Nojiko sitting on the main deck with Conis and her father talking. After eating a delicious breakfast that Sanji prepared the crew and the now awaken Skypieans and Shandorians all decided to go exploring the island in their own way.
Usopp went to a group of Skypieans and Shandorians and began trying to trade them all sorts of items from the Blue Sea world for the dials found here on a sky island, Nami, Nojiko, and Chopper went off to search for gold along with Conis, Pagaya, and a few Skypieans, Zoro went off to continue his training alone, and Sanji went off to find some cooks from Skypiea to exchange some recipe with. With everyone gone their own separate ways, only Luffy and Robin remained on board the ship. The two of them were currently standing on the main deck look off into the giant forest.
"Shall we go see this bell?" Luffy asked as he looked over at Robin casing her to smile before she nodded. The two of them then hopped off the Going Merry and began walking through the forest in the direction of where the bell was. The two of them walked for about 20 minutes before arriving at the location of the giant bell only find that there was a large crowd of people there, both Shandorians and Skypieans. At the head of the crowd was Gan Fall and the chief of the Shandorians, they were all staring at the Poneglyph attached to the bell.
"Chief, what does it say?" a Shandorian warrior asked as Luffy and Robin made their way through the crowd.
"It is an ancient text," The chief replied as he stared at the Poneglyph. "It is impossible to read," he added in an apologetic voice. As soon as he uttered those words Robin spoke up and began reading the words etched into the stone.
"We shall know the true meaning and utter it to no one," Robin said as she and Luffy walked out of the crowd and made their way to the Poneglyph. The chief's eyes widen in shock as he heard what Robin was saying. "It is our legacy to be the inheritors of history and our duty to protect it with the sounding of the Grand Belfry," Robin continued while Luffy just smiled.
"Those words..." the chief said in a shocked voice. "How do you know them?" the chief asked as he stared at Robin.
"Those words were described on a wall in one of the ruins of Shandora," she replied as she and Luffy stopped in front of the Poneglyph. "Long ago, your people were entrusted to be its guardian, correct?" she asked as she continued to stare at the giant stone.
"You can actually read those texts?" the chief asked but he got no reply. Luffy stared up at the giant Poneglyph as he began to hear a small voice inside of his head.
"It talks about one of the ancient weapons doesn't it?" Luffy suddenly asked taking Robin and everyone else by surprise.
"Ancient weapon?" a Shandorian asked in surprise.
"Why would it have that on there?" another asked.
"You can read what it says?" Robin asked as she turned her attention to her captain.
"Not exactly," Luffy replied as he took off his straw hat and ran his hand through his hair. "More like I heard it tell me what was on there," he said confusing everyone who was there. "It's hard to explain. All I know is that it talks about a great weapon," he said with a sigh.
"It talks about the ancient weapon Poseidon, a weapon named after a god," Robin said as she read through the Poneglyph. "It even tells its location," she said.
"I already know where Poseidon is," Luffy said surprising her once more. "You could even say I've seen it already," he added casually causing her eyes to widen in shock.
"Hey look," a Shandorian warrior said while pointing off to the side of the Poneglyph. "There is some more stuff engraved on the side," he said causing everyone to look over.
"Gol. D Roger," Robin whispered out in surprise getting Luffy's attention. The two of them walked over to the side and cleared some of the vines that were around it before robin began reading what the writings said. "'I have come here and will lead this passage to the farthest ends of the world.'" she recited in a surprised voice. "What did the pirate king mean by that and how could he write the ancient text?" Robin asked herself.
"He couldn't write it," Luffy suddenly said as he places his hat back on his head. "He had someone on his crew who could," he added causing Robin's eyes to widen.
"Who?" Robin asked as she stood up and stared at Luffy with hopeful eyes of finding someone else like her who could read the ancient text.
"A man named Kozuki Oden," he said surprising her. "He's dead now but he was the one who wrote that statement," he said as he stared at her before he started chuckling. "Don't worry," he said as he patted her head. "When we get to the New World, I'll take you to Wano Country...the land where the Poneglyphs was made," he said causing her eyes to widen to the size of dinner plates.
"The land where Poneglyphs are made..." Robin said in an astonished voice causing Luffy to chuckle at her reaction. She looked like a kid who just heard that they are going to be taking a tour of the place where they make all the chocolate in the world. Before anyone could say anything else Nojiko came running out of the forest looking for Luffy.
"Luffy!" she yelled out getting everyone's attention.
"What is it?" Luffy asked in a serious voice. "Is something wrong?" he asked slightly worried that something happened to one of them.
"No, nothing like that," Nojiko replied as she tried to catch her breath. "We found Enel's ship," she said causing Luffy to raise his eyebrow at her wondering why the hell a ship was so important. "It's made of gold," he added causing his eyes to widen.
"This I got to see," he said before he turned to Robin. "You going to be okay here?" he asked to which she nodded. He then walked off towards Nojiko while at the same time summoning his thundercloud. When the cloud arrived the two of them hopped onto it and flew off in the direction where Nojiko and the gang found the ship. They arrived outside of a cave with a curtain with the kanji for 'GOD' written on it. the duo walked through the curtain and into the cave where they saw a giant ark with large oars on the side along with propellers. The thing that caught Luffy's attention however was the giant face made of gold on the main deck. There were both Shandorians and Skypians there as well staring up at the behemoth of a ship.
"Luffy, look at all that gold!" Said an overly excited Nami as she ran towards Luffy with Chopper following behind. "Can we take it?" she asked.
"I don't see why not," Luffy replied before walked out and stood directly in front of the ark. "Is there anyone on the ship?" he asked to which they all shook their heads. Luffy then smiled before his entire right hand was covered in lightning.
"El Thor!" Luffy yelled out as he punched his hand forward causing a giant beam of lightning to fire out and engulfed the ark. Luffy held the beam of lightning there for about thirty seconds before the beam vanished and the ark along with it. Those looking on had a surprised look on their faces when they saw that the giant ship that was previously there was gone and replaced with 20 square blocks of gold. Each block was about 5 ft wide and 5 ft high.
"Find some way to get them on the ship and we'll take them with us," Luffy said as he dusted off his hand before walking back towards them.
"How are we supposed to take all of them back to the ship?" Nojiko asked as he looked between the gold and Luffy.
"Get the Skypieans and the Shandorians to help," Luffy said with a shrug. "Tell Zoro that it will make him stronger to carry them back," he suggested. "Ask Sanji, I'm sure he'll go crazy if the two of you ask him," Luffy said giving them multiple options on how to deal with the problem of getting the gold to the ship. "Has the log reset?" he asked his navigator.
"No, not yet," Nami replied as she glanced down at her log pose.
"Well then, I'm headed to Angel Beach," Luffy said as he began walking towards the exit of the cave. "I didn't come to Sky island to stay on dry land the entire time. I came here to relax on a cloud," he said as he walked out of the cave. "You know where to find me if you need me," he added before he left the cave.
"He has the right idea," Nami said as she watched Luffy walk out of the cave.
**One Day Later**
*purupurupuru* *purupurupuru* *purupurupuru*
Luffy's eyebrow twitched as the sound of his transponder snail ringing.
"How the hell am I even getting a signal all the way up here," he asked himself in a frustrated voice before he looked over to his left where his trusty thundercloud was. He reached in and pulled out a small c.h.e.s.t where the sound of the ringing was coming from. Luffy opened the rest reveling it filled with transponder snails before he stuck his hand in and image around trying to find the snail that if ringing. He then pulled out a small transponder snail with an eyepatch over its left eye. When Luffy saw the which snail, it was he smiled slightly before he answered it.
"Paul my old friend," He said into the microphone of the snail. "To what do I owe the p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e of this call?" he asked as he closed the c.h.e.s.t and took the snail that he was using over to his right and sat it down next to the bottle of wine.
"Asura," a deep voice sounded out through the snail. "I'm just calling to confirm from requests I received recently," the man named Paul said.
"What kind of requests?" Luffy asked before taking a sip of his wine.
"I received multiple requests from individuals in the four seas and one from here in the Grand Line to build bases," he said causing Luffy to nod when he heard that. "They all claimed that Asura told them to call me. One group here in the Grand Line came to tell me in person even," he added.
"Names and location," Luffy said in a serious voice.
"Ms. Valentine in the South?" Paul asked.
"One of mine," Luff replied.
"Ms. Merry Christmas in the North?" he asked.
"Mine," Luffy replied.
"The Bounty duo in the East?" he asked causing Luffy to raise his eyebrow at the codenames that Johnny and Yosaku chose.
"Mine," Luffy replied.
"And a woman named Paula came to see me personally a couple of days ago," he said.
"Yeah, I sent her to you. She is going to be running the Hino Branch," Luffy said into the snail. "She said she found an uninhabited island to set up base. I want you to check it out and see if it meets our requirements for the plans, we have for the head of the Hino branch," Luffy said.
"Same plan we came up with?" Paul asked.
"Yeah, the very same," Luffy said before finishing his glass of wine and began pouring himself a new glass.
"Very well, I will contact my people in those oceans and have them begin construction," Paul said causing Luffy to nod. "Hell's Company already has rooted itself in al the world's ocean in such a short amount of time. Don't you think you are moving a bit too fast, Asura?" Paul asked in a curious tone.
"No, I know the Navy are probably already aware of Hell's Company's existence, but they can never truly grasp the true size and magnitude of Hell's reach. By the time they try to do something about it, I would have already sunk my claws so deep into this world that it would be impossible for them to take me out," Luffy said in a serious tone before he finished with a deep chuckle.
"Nice to know Paradise hasn't mellowed you out," Paul said with a chuckle.
"How are things in Alabasta?" he asked.
"Things are progressing pretty smoothly here. We finished with the second level of the bas.e.m.e.nt a couple of days ago and are currently working on the first level which should be done in three days. After that, we just need to start building the main floor and the docking ports. I got about 150 people working here so it should take another two weeks to finish everything," Paul said causing Luffy to smile.
"That is wonderful news," Luffy said before taking a sip of his drink.
"Yeah, the princess comes by every couple of days to check how things are going and I hired a few of the locals to help with construction. I might hire some more to speed things up but if we continue at this current pace, we will be finished in two weeks," Paul said proudly. Luffy smiled when he heard Vivi was checking in regularly.
"What about the marines?" Luff suddenly asked. "Any trouble?" he asked.
"There was a marine captain that showed up here with his ship demanding to know what we were building and who we are building it for but the king got rid of him right before I was about to send him and his ship down to the seafloor," Paul said causing Luffy chuckle. "But other than that, there has been no trouble," he said causing Luffy to nod.
"Make sure to give me a call after you inspect the island that Paula found," Luffy said.
"Will do boss," Paul replied before the two of them hung up the phone. Luffy then put the transponder snail back into the c.h.e.s.t and was about to close it but as he was closing it he sighed and pulled out a different snail and pushed the button that was on top of it.
"Asura," came the voice of Isaac through the transponder.
"Isaac, how are things there in the West?" Luffy asked with a smirk.
"Everything is great, business is starting to pick up. Made our first big weapon sale a couple of days ago to a group of rebels fighting a civil war," Isaac said causing Luffy to smile.
"Did you try selling to the kingdom they are fighting against as well?" Luffy asked.
"I already sent some people to go talk to the king," Isaac said causing both him and Luffy to start laughing.
"We truly are the sc.u.m of the earth," Luffy said with a chuckle.
"We wouldn't be pirates if we were anything else," Isaac replied with a laugh.
"True, anything else you have to report?" Luffy asked before taking another sip of his wine.
"Well, a few hospitals here in the West Blue who we spread the word to that the famous Drum Kingdom medicines can only be acquired through has started putting in requests for the medicine. I sent a ship back into the Grand Line to go deliver the requests to the Kingdom and bring it back but I received word that the kingdom only now began medical production again," he said causing Luffy to nod his head.
"I'll give the king a call after I'm done talking to you to see what's going on," Luffy said into the snail.
"Why did you call me anyway?" Isaac asked reminding Luffy of the reason he called one his generals.
"That's right, I called to tell you to distance yourself from Hell's Company," Luffy said confusing Isaac.
"Why?" Isaac asked.
Because you are already known for sailing under my flag. I don't want people to find out that I am Asura so soon," Luffy said causing Isaac to understand. "Let Jiro be the face of things there in the West Blue while you oversee everything from the shadows," Luffy said.
"Roger that, captain!" Isaac said. "Anything, in particular, you want me to do from the shadows here in the West?" he asked in an excited voice causing Luffy to smirk.
"I want you to build up my fleet there in the West," Luffy said with a smirk. "Bring more pirates under my flag, promise new up and coming rookies and weaklings my protection if they sail under my flag," Luffy said causing Isaac to chuckle.
"Tell them that you can grantee their safety if they ever decide to enter the Grand Line," Isaac said in an excited tone causing both him and Luffy to chuckle deeply.
"That's it," Luffy said with a chuckle.
"I'll get right on that, see you later boss!" Isaac said before he hung up the phone causing Luffy to shake his head and put the transponder snail back into the c.h.e.s.t.
"Might as well get all of this out of the way now so I can relax," Luffy said before he reached back into the c.h.e.s.t and pulled out a larger transponder snail. He dialed a number into it and waited for the other party to pick up.
*purupurupuru* *purupurupuru* *purupurupuru**Cachack*
"Hello," a man answered politely.
"Hello, Dalton, how are you?" Luffy asked the new King of the Drum Kingdom.
"Luffy?" Dalton asked.
"The one and only," Luffy replied as he swirled the wine in his glass around. "How are things in the kingdom?" he asked.
"Everything has been going great. The people are finally happy, and things seem to be picking up," Dalton replied happily. "Also, we renamed the kingdom. It is no longer called the Drum Kingdom, but the Sakura Kingdom now," he informed Luffy causing him to nod.
"That is good to know," Luffy replied through the snail. "Make sure to let all of my people who come there know to tell their customers," he added.
"We are already doing that," Dalton said as Luffy heard began rummage around some papers. "We are getting a lot of requests from all over the world for medicines, we can't seem to keep up the orders," Dalton said in an apologetic voice.
"Don't sweat it, Dalton," Luffy said with a smile. "Whatever it is you need just ask my people and they will get it for you. If you need more workers, I am sure they can find some for you. If you need facilities built just tell one of my people to send a message to Paula and she will put in touch with my personal architect," Luffy explained causing the new king to relax slightly.
"Thanks, Luffy," he said in a grateful voice. "You have been a real help to the people of this country," he added.
"The Sakura Kingdom is one of my territories, it is only right for me to tack care of it and its people," Luffy said before taking a sip of his wine.
"We will forever be grateful to you and your crew," Dalton said through the transponder snail. "By the way, how is that little reindeer that you took with you?" he asked causing Luffy to smile.
"He is just great," Luffy replied with a slight smile. "He is a great doctor and one hell of a pirate," he said with a chuckle.
"I'm sure Dr. Kureha will be happy to hear that," Dalton said causing Luffy to nod his head.
"Give me a call if you ever need me, Dalton," Luffy said.
"Will do," Dalton replied before the two of them hung up. Luffy placed the transponder snail back into the c.h.e.s.t before staring at the transponder snails in the c.h.e.s.t as if trying to decide whether to call someone else. he ultimately decided not to and closed the c.h.e.s.t causing it to sink back into the cloud.
"That's enough work for one day," he said with a smirk before he poured himself another glass of this exquisite Skypiean wine and leaned back in the comfortable lounge chair.
**One Week Later**
An entire week had passed since Luffy spoke to his subordinates in Hell's Company. He was currently standing on the rear deck of the Going Merry wearing a pair of black beach shorts and an unbuttoned red-flowered shirt showing off his necklace with a lightning bolt, his chiseled abs and well-toned muscles along with the tattoo of the jolly roger of the Red-Haired pirates in the left side of his abdomen. The log pose had finally reset, and the crew was getting ready to set sail. Usopp, Sanji, and Chopper were loading some supplies onto the ship, Nami and Nojiko were talking to Conis and her father about how they were going to get back down to the Blue Sea, Robin was sitting on the main deck reading a book, and Zoro was standing next to Luffy looking out at the island. A large group of the Skypieans had come to see the crew off. They were all waving and cheering at Luffy who for the most part ignored all of them.
"Do you know the next island that the log pose is pointing to?" Zoro asked getting Luffy's attention.
"Not a clue," Luffy replied before he turned and walked over to his throne. "It wouldn't be fun knowing where we are going all the time," he added as he sat down. He then looked over to the main deck to see Sanji, Usopp, and Chopper loading the last of the supplies on the ship. "Go get Nami and Nojiko," Luffy said to Zoro causing him to nod his head before he walked to the side of the ship and yelled for them. While he was doing that Luffy turned and spoke to Sanji. "Are we all set, Sanji?" he asked.
"Aye, Captain," Sanji replied as he looked up at Luffy. "It was a tight fit considering all the gold that is stored below deck, but we got everything," he said causing Luffy to nod.
"Alright then," Luffy said as he saw Nami and Nojiko walk onto the ship. "Raise the anchor and prepare to set sail for Cloud End!" he ordered. causing Chopper to walk over to the front of the ship and pull up the anchor while Usopp and Sanji released the sails. Nojiko made her way to the rudder to take charge of steering while Nami and Zoro moved to stand on either side of Luffy.
"Conis and her father will be escorting us to Cloud End," Nami said causing Luffy to nod his head. Soon the sails of the ship caught a little bit of wind but thanks to the extra weight on board it was not enough to move the ship.
"It would appear as though we have a problem," Luffy said as he raised one eyebrow and stared at the sails.
"Don't worry!" Usopp shouted out getting everyone's attention. "Captain Usopp shall save the day!" he declared before rummaging around in his bag for a bit before pulling out two dials that he got from the people here on Skypiea. He then walked up the upper deck and stood directly behind the main mast and pointed the two dials at the sails. He then pushed the button that was on the backs of both dials causing a gust of wind to blow out of the shells. As soon as the wind hit the sails the ship jerked forward and began sailing out of the port at Angel Island.
"So cool!" Chopper yelled out with stars in his eyes.
"Nice one, Usopp," Nami said with a smile.
"I'm impressed," Luffy said with a smirk. Usopp started to laugh proudly with all the compliments he was getting. As the ship was sailing away the people of Skypiea waved goodbye and shouted praises to their heroes as they watch them sail away. Off to the side of the Going Merry traveling in a waver were Conis and her father scoring Luffy and the crew towards Cloud End. The straw hats said on the White-White Sea for about one hour before the place known as Cloud End came into view.
"That's Cloud End!" Conis shouted while pointing at the upcoming structure. It was a gate like the one they saw when they entered Skypiea. The only difference was that this one lacked the golden gates and was not as big as the one at the entrance of Skypiea. It did have a beautiful rainbow forming a large arch just above the gate. Conis and her father increased their speed and got ahead of the Going Merry to dock their waver off to the side at one of the walkways at the gate. As they Merry sailed through the gate the father-daughter duo began running beside the ship shouting their goodbyes.
"This as far as we can go!" Pagaya shouted.
"Take care, you guys!" Conis yelled as she waved goodbye.
"Thanks for everything!" Nami shouted back as she waved.
"We'll miss you!" Nojiko yelled as they sailed further through the gate.
"Conis! Don't forget me, angel!" Sanji yelled with hearts in his eyes.
"Now take care of yourselves and hold on tight!" Pagaya shouted to the crew. "You're in for a bumpy ride!" he said causing them to nod. The ship then said through a tunnel with an obvious downslope at the end of it. The crew all held onto the ship preparing for just an equally rough ride down as it was getting up here.
"Hold on and do try not to fall off the ship," Luffy said calmly as he crossed his legs on his throne and sat there without a care in the world. She then said down the slide and began picking up speed.
"You guys hold on tight! the free fall is about to begin!" Conis shouted just as the Going Merry sailed off the slide and began falling towards the blue sea.
'Freefall?' the straw hats all thought to themselves with a horrified look on each of their faces. Even Luffy's eyes widened slightly when the ship began falling from 10 thousand meters up. The ship fell about 500 ft in about 10 seconds before a giant octopus shot out from the cloud and wrapped itself around the shop.
"What the hell?" Zoro said as he prepared to cut the octopus but was stopped when the ship stopped descending so fast and began slowing down dramatically to a point where it was as if it was floating.
"Well, this is new," Luffy said as he looked up at the giant octopus that acted like a balloon.
"It's a balloon," Chopper said in amazement as he stared at up at the creature.
"We're not falling," Nami commented. Before anyone else could say something else the entire straw hat crew heard the beautiful sound of the giant golden bell tolling.
"At this speed, it is probably going to take us a while to get back down to the Blue Sea," Luffy said as he stood up from his throne. "I suggest you all get comfortable," he added before he walked towards his personal quarters.
**Navy H.Q.**
Currently, inside of the office of the Fleet Admiral of the Navy, there was a small meeting taking place between a few of the high-ranking officers in the Marines. Sitting inside of the rather large room was Vice-Admiral Garp, Vice-Admiral Tsuru, and of course, there was the Fleet Admiral himself, Sengoku. It was a regular meeting scheduled to discuss the current affairs in the world.
"When will this great pirate era end?" Sengoku said as he let out a tired sigh from behind his desk.
"Who says it has an end?" Garp asked as he munches on rice crackers. "Sooner or later someone will find that treasure then they will die, and the cycle will start all over again," he added between bites.
"You just had to go and make my day even worse didn't you, Garp," Sengoku said.
"Bahahaha!" Garp laughed out. "yes, I did!" he added happily causing the fleet admiral to groan.
"What are we waiting for anyway?" Tsuru asked as she looked at her two oldest friends bickering with each other.
"We're waiting for Gion to bring the scouting reports for this week," Sengoku replied as he leaned back in his chair. Just as he finished speaking there was a knock on the door. "Enter!" Sengoku said loudly. Soon the doors to the office were pushed open and in walked marine captain Gion carrying a clipboard.
"Good morning, Fleet Admiral, Vice-Admiral Tsuru, and Vice-Admiral Garp," Gion said respectfully with a slight bow. "This week's scouting reports are in from the scouting division," she said as she handed the clipboard to Sengoku who looked at the papers on the clipboard before passing some of them to Tsuru and Garp and some back to Gion.
"Anything major to report?" Tsuru asked as she looked at the young marine captain.
"Nothing too major," Gion said as she looked at the papers. "A civil war has broken out in the Black Raven kingdom in the West Blue," she said causing the three marine officers to nod their heads.
"The world sure is a turbulent place," Garp commented as he read through the report. "One conflict after the next," he added before hitting down on a rice cracker.
"The Drum Kingdom has a new king and has decided to change the name of the kingdom to the Sakura Kingdom," Gion said causing them to raise an eyebrow.
"Who is the new king?" Tsuru asked.
"A man named Dalton," Gion said as she turned her attention to the female vice-admiral. "He was a former royal guard under the old king," she added.
"Is the old king dead?" Sengoku asked.
"We don't know," Gion replied in an apologetic tone. "We do know that Vice-Admiral Garp's grandson, the Thunder Demon was responsible for the demise of the old king," she said surprising everyone in the room. "The new Sakura Kingdom is now also flying the Thunder Demon's Flag around their country signifying that they are under his protection," she said causing Garp to choke on his rice cracker.
"What!?" the three of them yelled out in surprise.
"When did this happen and why weren't we informed of it sooner?" Sengoku asked he stood up from behind his desk.
"Apparently, this had happened long before the Straw Hats had even arrived in Alabasta. We're only finding out about it now because in the past couple of weeks the kingdom has been quite active," Gion explained.
"Active by doing what exactly?" Garp asked as he narrowed his eyes wondering what kind of trouble his grandson was causing now.
"It doesn't seem to be anything bad," Gion said calming everyone down. "They have just been ordering a lot of supplies to produce medicine once again," she said causing them to raise an eyebrow.
"They are world-famous for their doctors and medicine production," Tsuru noted with a nod. "And there hasn't been that much being produced from the old Drum Kingdom in recent years so this may be a good sign," she said causing everyone else to nod their heads.
"So, the Thunder Demon already has two countries under his control," Sengoku commented as he sat back down in his chair.
"That is correct, Sir," Gion said with a nod. "It was also reported that there was an incident between the Thunder Demon and Bellamy the Hyena back on Jaya a week ago," she added getting all their attention.
"What was the incident?" Sengoku asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"From what we gathered, Bellamy took one of the members of the Thunder Demon's crew hostage as a way to get back at him for an earlier beating," he explained causing the three officers to nod their heads. "What followed next was the complete slaughtering of Bellamy's crew with Bellamy being the only survivor," she said causing their eyes to widen slightly. "There is a detailed eye-witnessed report on page 7," she added causing all of them to turn to page 7 and read through the eye-witnessed report.
"There is no way Bellamy is powerful enough to survive Luffy," Garp noted as he read through the report.
"Oh no, it wasn't that he survived. It was more like your grandson left him alive as punishment," Gion said causing the three of them to understand.
"Do we know why he was there on Jaya?" Tsuru asked with a curious look on her face.
"Reports say he was there to gather information on a Sky island," she said surprising everyone in the room.
"Do we know where he is now?" Garp asked.
"There have been no sightings of the Thunder Demon for the past week," She said causing the vice-admiral to chuckle.
"Guess he found the information he was looking for," Garp said while the other two officers nodded in agreement.
"While we are talking about the Vice-Admiral's grandson," Gion suddenly said getting all their attention once more. "It should be noted that the Angle of Death, Franklin D. Isaac has been spotted in the West Blue. I only bring it up because it was reported recently that Isaac now sails under the Thunder Demon's flag," she said causing a puzzled look to appear on all of their faces.
"Why would a powerful pirate from the New World suddenly go to one of the four blues?" Tsuru asked with a curious expression on her face.
"We don't know," Gion said with a sigh. "All we know is that he was spotted there," she added.
"Keep an eye on that," Sengoku said seriously. "I doubt he is there on his own accord. It more like he was sent there," he noted as he narrowed his eyes.
"Yes, sir!" Gion said as she made a note to tell the scouting division to keep up on this.
"Anything else to report?" Tsuru asked.
"What about that organization you told us about last time?" Garp suddenly asked causing the other two officers to remember.
"Yes, Hell's Company," Gion said as she flipped through a few pages to find the report on it.
"Some Cipher Pol agents managed to infiltrate their operations in the North Blue," She said causing a slightly excited look to appear on the faces of the two vice-admirals and Fleet Admiral. "However, they were unable to gather any information on who their leader, the mysterious Asura, truly is," she said with a sigh causing a disappointed look to take the place of the previously excited faces of the occupants of the room.
"You said the North Blue, what about the other Blues and the Grand Line?" Tsuru asked.
"Agents were not able to join," Gion said causing everyone to raise an eyebrow. "The branches in the other oceans don't seem to be taking in anyone who offers their services. It's more like they scout out who they want to hire and then offer them a job," she said causing everyone to sigh.
"Do we know anything new about this organization?" Sengoku asked.
"Well, it seems as though they secured a deal with the new Sakura Kingdom to be the only distributors of their medicines," Gion said surprising the three older marine officers. "There are reports that hospitals from all four blues are placing orders through this organization for the world-renowned medicine from the Sakura Kingdom," she said causing everyone to nod their heads.
"That's all well and fine, however, is there any intel on the illegal smuggling done by this organization?" Sengoku asked.
"Only rumors, Sir," Gion replied with another sigh. "Nothing concrete," she added.
"Let's hear these rumors then," Garp said as he sat up straight. Gion nodded before she read through the papers for a few seconds before she spoke again.
"It is rumored that that Hell's Company is the one who supplied weapons to the rebels in the Black Raven Kingdom which kick-started the civil war," she said before she looked up at the fleet admiral. "However, this is yet to be confirmed whether or not it is true," she added causing them to nod.
"I don't like this," Sengoku said with a sigh.
"Neither do I," Tsuru added as she placed the papers down and folded her arms. "It is already known to the government that the Underworld is well established in the New World, but was always the thought that their reach didn't extend to Paradise and if it did, it wasn't as elaborate as the New World," she said causing the two men in the room to nod in agreement.
"I think we all start preparing to deal with an all-out war," Garp suddenly said getting everyone's attention.
"And why the hell should we do that, you old fool," Tsuru barked out at Garp.
"There are no signs of a war about to happen," Sengoku said as he stood up from behind his desk.
"Think about it," Garp said in a serious voice. "The Underworld is already well established, and the people who run the Underworld are all likely very powerful in their own right," he said as he narrowed his eyes. "This Asura is new and he is expanding at an extremely fast rate. I don't think people are going to like the fact that he is taking business away from them," Garp said causing everyone to understand why he suggested they should prepare for war.
"It will be a war for control over certain parts of the Underworld if not the entire Underworld giving the number of pots this Asura has his hand in," Tsuru said as a thoughtful look appeared on her face.
"And a war like that is not one that can be contained," Sengoku said with a sigh.
"We could also use this to our advantage," Tsuru said getting everyone's attention. "We can use the war to infiltrate the Underworld in order to get a better understanding of it," she said.
"Let's not get too ahead of ourselves," Sengoku said as he sat back down. "For now, we should just gather more information," he said causing everyone to nod. "Anything else to report, Gion?" he asked as he turned his attention to the marine captain standing in the middle of the room.
"No, sir!" Gion said.
"Very well, dismissed!" Sengoku said causing Gion to bow salute before making her way out of the room. "Why can't this job ever be easy," he said as he let out a tired sigh and leaned back into his chair.
"What are you talking about?" Garp asked with a large smile on his face. "It is easy! Bahahaha!" he said loudly causing Sengoku and Tsuru to groan.
"That's because you don't do anything!" the two of them yelled.
**With the Straw Hats**
The sun had already set, and the straw hats were all lounging around on deck bored out of their minds. Luffy had transformed his throne into a lounge chair and was laying back staring up at the octopus balloon. Even he had to admit that it bores just sitting there waiting for the ship to reach the bottom.
"I did not think it would take this long," Robin said from her position on the ground.
"Can't this thing go any faster?" Nami asked as she let out a frustrated sigh.
"Is it just me or does the balloon look smaller?" Sanji suddenly asked as he stared up at the octopus. Luffy narrowed his eyes and looked at the octopus before his eyes widen slightly.
"The balloon is shrinking!" he said loudly for everyone to hear before he got up from his throne.
"I guess it does look smaller than before," Nojiko noted.
"Why do I have a bad feeling about this," Usopp said in a scared voice. Just as he said that the octopus balloon deflated some more causing the ship decent faster.
"We are going too fast!" Nami yelled out as she and everyone else held on to something. Luffy anchored himself down before he spread his arms out wide causing sparks of lightning to dance around his fingertips. Soon an extremely large thunder cloud came down from the sky faster than the ship was defending and position itself directly under the Going Merry. The Going Merry impacted the cloud but continued to defend just as fast as before. Luffy then clenched his tightly and proceeded to take up a lifting motion with his body as though he was trying to lift the ship.
"AHHHHHHHHHH!" Luffy yelled as he began to feel the weight of the ship. The ship started to slow down, but it was still going too fast.
"We're slowing down!" Chopper said in excitement.
"But we are stilling going too fast," Nami said in a panic as she leaned over the side of the ship and stared down. "At this rate, we will hit the sea so hard we will sink to the bottom!" she yelled.
"That is if the ship doesn't shatter first," Robin said causing Usopp's head to shoot up.
"Not on my watch," Usopp said as he pulled out the grappling hook from his belt and attach it to the side of the ship before jumping off surprising everyone. Usopp then went under the giant thunder cloud and attached some wind dials onto it. The wind dials activated and slowed the ship down drastically. However, do the extra weight they were carrying the speed at which they were defending was still too great.
"Everyone, hold onto something!" Luffy yelled out as he began pushing him further while the crew pulled Usopp back in and braced themself for an impact. The going Merry impacted the water hard, destroying the thundercloud Luffy had made while at the same time creating huge waves that splashed over the side of the ship. As the ship impacted the water sound of stuff breaking on the ship could be heard by everyone, but they were all too caught up in trying to stay alive to really pay attention. The ship rocked back and forth in the now rough water while the crew tried to pick themselves up off the ground.
"Is everyone alright?" Nojiko asked as she held her head and slowly stood up.
"Yeah, just a bit shook up," Nami replied as she stood up. When everyone got up and looked at Luffy, they all saw him still breathing heavily while kneeling on the ground with sweat dripping from his face.
"You okay there, captain?" Zoro asked to which he only received a nod. Luffy then uses the little strength he had left to stand himself up before reaching into his coat and pulled out a bottle of whiskey and took a drank straight from the bottle until it was empty.
"I'm fine," Luffy said as he tossed the bottle aside. "Usopp, Chopper, you two check below deck for damage to the ship," he ordered in a tired voice.
"Aye Captain!" Usopp yelled back with a salute.
"You can count on us!" Chopper said while in his little reindeer form.
"Nami," Luffy said getting her attention.
"Take us to the next island," he said causing her to nod. Luffy then walked back to his throne and plopped himself down on his throne. "I really need to get a ship that could fly," he said with a sigh as he landed on his throne and closed his eyes.
**Chapter End**
That's another chapter for you! I hope you guys enjoyed it.
**Author's note: I WILL NOT BE DOING THE DAVY BACK FIGHT ARC!***
Please leave a review!
Usopp went to a group of Skypieans and Shandorians and began trying to trade them all sorts of items from the Blue Sea world for the dials found here on a sky island, Nami, Nojiko, and Chopper went off to search for gold along with Conis, Pagaya, and a few Skypieans, Zoro went off to continue his training alone, and Sanji went off to find some cooks from Skypiea to exchange some recipe with. With everyone gone their own separate ways, only Luffy and Robin remained on board the ship. The two of them were currently standing on the main deck look off into the giant forest.
"Shall we go see this bell?" Luffy asked as he looked over at Robin casing her to smile before she nodded. The two of them then hopped off the Going Merry and began walking through the forest in the direction of where the bell was. The two of them walked for about 20 minutes before arriving at the location of the giant bell only find that there was a large crowd of people there, both Shandorians and Skypieans. At the head of the crowd was Gan Fall and the chief of the Shandorians, they were all staring at the Poneglyph attached to the bell.
"Chief, what does it say?" a Shandorian warrior asked as Luffy and Robin made their way through the crowd.
"It is an ancient text," The chief replied as he stared at the Poneglyph. "It is impossible to read," he added in an apologetic voice. As soon as he uttered those words Robin spoke up and began reading the words etched into the stone.
"We shall know the true meaning and utter it to no one," Robin said as she and Luffy walked out of the crowd and made their way to the Poneglyph. The chief's eyes widen in shock as he heard what Robin was saying. "It is our legacy to be the inheritors of history and our duty to protect it with the sounding of the Grand Belfry," Robin continued while Luffy just smiled.
"Those words..." the chief said in a shocked voice. "How do you know them?" the chief asked as he stared at Robin.
"Those words were described on a wall in one of the ruins of Shandora," she replied as she and Luffy stopped in front of the Poneglyph. "Long ago, your people were entrusted to be its guardian, correct?" she asked as she continued to stare at the giant stone.
"You can actually read those texts?" the chief asked but he got no reply. Luffy stared up at the giant Poneglyph as he began to hear a small voice inside of his head.
"It talks about one of the ancient weapons doesn't it?" Luffy suddenly asked taking Robin and everyone else by surprise.
"Ancient weapon?" a Shandorian asked in surprise.
"Why would it have that on there?" another asked.
"You can read what it says?" Robin asked as she turned her attention to her captain.
"Not exactly," Luffy replied as he took off his straw hat and ran his hand through his hair. "More like I heard it tell me what was on there," he said confusing everyone who was there. "It's hard to explain. All I know is that it talks about a great weapon," he said with a sigh.
"It talks about the ancient weapon Poseidon, a weapon named after a god," Robin said as she read through the Poneglyph. "It even tells its location," she said.
"I already know where Poseidon is," Luffy said surprising her once more. "You could even say I've seen it already," he added casually causing her eyes to widen in shock.
"Hey look," a Shandorian warrior said while pointing off to the side of the Poneglyph. "There is some more stuff engraved on the side," he said causing everyone to look over.
"Gol. D Roger," Robin whispered out in surprise getting Luffy's attention. The two of them walked over to the side and cleared some of the vines that were around it before robin began reading what the writings said. "'I have come here and will lead this passage to the farthest ends of the world.'" she recited in a surprised voice. "What did the pirate king mean by that and how could he write the ancient text?" Robin asked herself.
"He couldn't write it," Luffy suddenly said as he places his hat back on his head. "He had someone on his crew who could," he added causing Robin's eyes to widen.
"Who?" Robin asked as she stood up and stared at Luffy with hopeful eyes of finding someone else like her who could read the ancient text.
"A man named Kozuki Oden," he said surprising her. "He's dead now but he was the one who wrote that statement," he said as he stared at her before he started chuckling. "Don't worry," he said as he patted her head. "When we get to the New World, I'll take you to Wano Country...the land where the Poneglyphs was made," he said causing her eyes to widen to the size of dinner plates.
"The land where Poneglyphs are made..." Robin said in an astonished voice causing Luffy to chuckle at her reaction. She looked like a kid who just heard that they are going to be taking a tour of the place where they make all the chocolate in the world. Before anyone could say anything else Nojiko came running out of the forest looking for Luffy.
"Luffy!" she yelled out getting everyone's attention.
"What is it?" Luffy asked in a serious voice. "Is something wrong?" he asked slightly worried that something happened to one of them.
"No, nothing like that," Nojiko replied as she tried to catch her breath. "We found Enel's ship," she said causing Luffy to raise his eyebrow at her wondering why the hell a ship was so important. "It's made of gold," he added causing his eyes to widen.
"This I got to see," he said before he turned to Robin. "You going to be okay here?" he asked to which she nodded. He then walked off towards Nojiko while at the same time summoning his thundercloud. When the cloud arrived the two of them hopped onto it and flew off in the direction where Nojiko and the gang found the ship. They arrived outside of a cave with a curtain with the kanji for 'GOD' written on it. the duo walked through the curtain and into the cave where they saw a giant ark with large oars on the side along with propellers. The thing that caught Luffy's attention however was the giant face made of gold on the main deck. There were both Shandorians and Skypians there as well staring up at the behemoth of a ship.
"Luffy, look at all that gold!" Said an overly excited Nami as she ran towards Luffy with Chopper following behind. "Can we take it?" she asked.
"I don't see why not," Luffy replied before walked out and stood directly in front of the ark. "Is there anyone on the ship?" he asked to which they all shook their heads. Luffy then smiled before his entire right hand was covered in lightning.
"El Thor!" Luffy yelled out as he punched his hand forward causing a giant beam of lightning to fire out and engulfed the ark. Luffy held the beam of lightning there for about thirty seconds before the beam vanished and the ark along with it. Those looking on had a surprised look on their faces when they saw that the giant ship that was previously there was gone and replaced with 20 square blocks of gold. Each block was about 5 ft wide and 5 ft high.
"Find some way to get them on the ship and we'll take them with us," Luffy said as he dusted off his hand before walking back towards them.
"How are we supposed to take all of them back to the ship?" Nojiko asked as he looked between the gold and Luffy.
"Get the Skypieans and the Shandorians to help," Luffy said with a shrug. "Tell Zoro that it will make him stronger to carry them back," he suggested. "Ask Sanji, I'm sure he'll go crazy if the two of you ask him," Luffy said giving them multiple options on how to deal with the problem of getting the gold to the ship. "Has the log reset?" he asked his navigator.
"No, not yet," Nami replied as she glanced down at her log pose.
"Well then, I'm headed to Angel Beach," Luffy said as he began walking towards the exit of the cave. "I didn't come to Sky island to stay on dry land the entire time. I came here to relax on a cloud," he said as he walked out of the cave. "You know where to find me if you need me," he added before he left the cave.
"He has the right idea," Nami said as she watched Luffy walk out of the cave.
**One Day Later**
*purupurupuru* *purupurupuru* *purupurupuru*
Luffy's eyebrow twitched as the sound of his transponder snail ringing.
"How the hell am I even getting a signal all the way up here," he asked himself in a frustrated voice before he looked over to his left where his trusty thundercloud was. He reached in and pulled out a small c.h.e.s.t where the sound of the ringing was coming from. Luffy opened the rest reveling it filled with transponder snails before he stuck his hand in and image around trying to find the snail that if ringing. He then pulled out a small transponder snail with an eyepatch over its left eye. When Luffy saw the which snail, it was he smiled slightly before he answered it.
"Paul my old friend," He said into the microphone of the snail. "To what do I owe the p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e of this call?" he asked as he closed the c.h.e.s.t and took the snail that he was using over to his right and sat it down next to the bottle of wine.
"Asura," a deep voice sounded out through the snail. "I'm just calling to confirm from requests I received recently," the man named Paul said.
"What kind of requests?" Luffy asked before taking a sip of his wine.
"I received multiple requests from individuals in the four seas and one from here in the Grand Line to build bases," he said causing Luffy to nod when he heard that. "They all claimed that Asura told them to call me. One group here in the Grand Line came to tell me in person even," he added.
"Names and location," Luffy said in a serious voice.
"Ms. Valentine in the South?" Paul asked.
"One of mine," Luff replied.
"Ms. Merry Christmas in the North?" he asked.
"Mine," Luffy replied.
"The Bounty duo in the East?" he asked causing Luffy to raise his eyebrow at the codenames that Johnny and Yosaku chose.
"Mine," Luffy replied.
"And a woman named Paula came to see me personally a couple of days ago," he said.
"Yeah, I sent her to you. She is going to be running the Hino Branch," Luffy said into the snail. "She said she found an uninhabited island to set up base. I want you to check it out and see if it meets our requirements for the plans, we have for the head of the Hino branch," Luffy said.
"Same plan we came up with?" Paul asked.
"Yeah, the very same," Luffy said before finishing his glass of wine and began pouring himself a new glass.
"Very well, I will contact my people in those oceans and have them begin construction," Paul said causing Luffy to nod. "Hell's Company already has rooted itself in al the world's ocean in such a short amount of time. Don't you think you are moving a bit too fast, Asura?" Paul asked in a curious tone.
"No, I know the Navy are probably already aware of Hell's Company's existence, but they can never truly grasp the true size and magnitude of Hell's reach. By the time they try to do something about it, I would have already sunk my claws so deep into this world that it would be impossible for them to take me out," Luffy said in a serious tone before he finished with a deep chuckle.
"Nice to know Paradise hasn't mellowed you out," Paul said with a chuckle.
"How are things in Alabasta?" he asked.
"Things are progressing pretty smoothly here. We finished with the second level of the bas.e.m.e.nt a couple of days ago and are currently working on the first level which should be done in three days. After that, we just need to start building the main floor and the docking ports. I got about 150 people working here so it should take another two weeks to finish everything," Paul said causing Luffy to smile.
"That is wonderful news," Luffy said before taking a sip of his drink.
"Yeah, the princess comes by every couple of days to check how things are going and I hired a few of the locals to help with construction. I might hire some more to speed things up but if we continue at this current pace, we will be finished in two weeks," Paul said proudly. Luffy smiled when he heard Vivi was checking in regularly.
"What about the marines?" Luff suddenly asked. "Any trouble?" he asked.
"There was a marine captain that showed up here with his ship demanding to know what we were building and who we are building it for but the king got rid of him right before I was about to send him and his ship down to the seafloor," Paul said causing Luffy chuckle. "But other than that, there has been no trouble," he said causing Luffy to nod.
"Make sure to give me a call after you inspect the island that Paula found," Luffy said.
"Will do boss," Paul replied before the two of them hung up the phone. Luffy then put the transponder snail back into the c.h.e.s.t and was about to close it but as he was closing it he sighed and pulled out a different snail and pushed the button that was on top of it.
"Asura," came the voice of Isaac through the transponder.
"Isaac, how are things there in the West?" Luffy asked with a smirk.
"Everything is great, business is starting to pick up. Made our first big weapon sale a couple of days ago to a group of rebels fighting a civil war," Isaac said causing Luffy to smile.
"Did you try selling to the kingdom they are fighting against as well?" Luffy asked.
"I already sent some people to go talk to the king," Isaac said causing both him and Luffy to start laughing.
"We truly are the sc.u.m of the earth," Luffy said with a chuckle.
"We wouldn't be pirates if we were anything else," Isaac replied with a laugh.
"True, anything else you have to report?" Luffy asked before taking another sip of his wine.
"Well, a few hospitals here in the West Blue who we spread the word to that the famous Drum Kingdom medicines can only be acquired through has started putting in requests for the medicine. I sent a ship back into the Grand Line to go deliver the requests to the Kingdom and bring it back but I received word that the kingdom only now began medical production again," he said causing Luffy to nod his head.
"I'll give the king a call after I'm done talking to you to see what's going on," Luffy said into the snail.
"Why did you call me anyway?" Isaac asked reminding Luffy of the reason he called one his generals.
"That's right, I called to tell you to distance yourself from Hell's Company," Luffy said confusing Isaac.
"Why?" Isaac asked.
Because you are already known for sailing under my flag. I don't want people to find out that I am Asura so soon," Luffy said causing Isaac to understand. "Let Jiro be the face of things there in the West Blue while you oversee everything from the shadows," Luffy said.
"Roger that, captain!" Isaac said. "Anything, in particular, you want me to do from the shadows here in the West?" he asked in an excited voice causing Luffy to smirk.
"I want you to build up my fleet there in the West," Luffy said with a smirk. "Bring more pirates under my flag, promise new up and coming rookies and weaklings my protection if they sail under my flag," Luffy said causing Isaac to chuckle.
"Tell them that you can grantee their safety if they ever decide to enter the Grand Line," Isaac said in an excited tone causing both him and Luffy to chuckle deeply.
"That's it," Luffy said with a chuckle.
"I'll get right on that, see you later boss!" Isaac said before he hung up the phone causing Luffy to shake his head and put the transponder snail back into the c.h.e.s.t.
"Might as well get all of this out of the way now so I can relax," Luffy said before he reached back into the c.h.e.s.t and pulled out a larger transponder snail. He dialed a number into it and waited for the other party to pick up.
*purupurupuru* *purupurupuru* *purupurupuru**Cachack*
"Hello," a man answered politely.
"Hello, Dalton, how are you?" Luffy asked the new King of the Drum Kingdom.
"Luffy?" Dalton asked.
"The one and only," Luffy replied as he swirled the wine in his glass around. "How are things in the kingdom?" he asked.
"Everything has been going great. The people are finally happy, and things seem to be picking up," Dalton replied happily. "Also, we renamed the kingdom. It is no longer called the Drum Kingdom, but the Sakura Kingdom now," he informed Luffy causing him to nod.
"That is good to know," Luffy replied through the snail. "Make sure to let all of my people who come there know to tell their customers," he added.
"We are already doing that," Dalton said as Luffy heard began rummage around some papers. "We are getting a lot of requests from all over the world for medicines, we can't seem to keep up the orders," Dalton said in an apologetic voice.
"Don't sweat it, Dalton," Luffy said with a smile. "Whatever it is you need just ask my people and they will get it for you. If you need more workers, I am sure they can find some for you. If you need facilities built just tell one of my people to send a message to Paula and she will put in touch with my personal architect," Luffy explained causing the new king to relax slightly.
"Thanks, Luffy," he said in a grateful voice. "You have been a real help to the people of this country," he added.
"The Sakura Kingdom is one of my territories, it is only right for me to tack care of it and its people," Luffy said before taking a sip of his wine.
"We will forever be grateful to you and your crew," Dalton said through the transponder snail. "By the way, how is that little reindeer that you took with you?" he asked causing Luffy to smile.
"He is just great," Luffy replied with a slight smile. "He is a great doctor and one hell of a pirate," he said with a chuckle.
"I'm sure Dr. Kureha will be happy to hear that," Dalton said causing Luffy to nod his head.
"Give me a call if you ever need me, Dalton," Luffy said.
"Will do," Dalton replied before the two of them hung up. Luffy placed the transponder snail back into the c.h.e.s.t before staring at the transponder snails in the c.h.e.s.t as if trying to decide whether to call someone else. he ultimately decided not to and closed the c.h.e.s.t causing it to sink back into the cloud.
"That's enough work for one day," he said with a smirk before he poured himself another glass of this exquisite Skypiean wine and leaned back in the comfortable lounge chair.
**One Week Later**
An entire week had passed since Luffy spoke to his subordinates in Hell's Company. He was currently standing on the rear deck of the Going Merry wearing a pair of black beach shorts and an unbuttoned red-flowered shirt showing off his necklace with a lightning bolt, his chiseled abs and well-toned muscles along with the tattoo of the jolly roger of the Red-Haired pirates in the left side of his abdomen. The log pose had finally reset, and the crew was getting ready to set sail. Usopp, Sanji, and Chopper were loading some supplies onto the ship, Nami and Nojiko were talking to Conis and her father about how they were going to get back down to the Blue Sea, Robin was sitting on the main deck reading a book, and Zoro was standing next to Luffy looking out at the island. A large group of the Skypieans had come to see the crew off. They were all waving and cheering at Luffy who for the most part ignored all of them.
"Do you know the next island that the log pose is pointing to?" Zoro asked getting Luffy's attention.
"Not a clue," Luffy replied before he turned and walked over to his throne. "It wouldn't be fun knowing where we are going all the time," he added as he sat down. He then looked over to the main deck to see Sanji, Usopp, and Chopper loading the last of the supplies on the ship. "Go get Nami and Nojiko," Luffy said to Zoro causing him to nod his head before he walked to the side of the ship and yelled for them. While he was doing that Luffy turned and spoke to Sanji. "Are we all set, Sanji?" he asked.
"Aye, Captain," Sanji replied as he looked up at Luffy. "It was a tight fit considering all the gold that is stored below deck, but we got everything," he said causing Luffy to nod.
"Alright then," Luffy said as he saw Nami and Nojiko walk onto the ship. "Raise the anchor and prepare to set sail for Cloud End!" he ordered. causing Chopper to walk over to the front of the ship and pull up the anchor while Usopp and Sanji released the sails. Nojiko made her way to the rudder to take charge of steering while Nami and Zoro moved to stand on either side of Luffy.
"Conis and her father will be escorting us to Cloud End," Nami said causing Luffy to nod his head. Soon the sails of the ship caught a little bit of wind but thanks to the extra weight on board it was not enough to move the ship.
"It would appear as though we have a problem," Luffy said as he raised one eyebrow and stared at the sails.
"Don't worry!" Usopp shouted out getting everyone's attention. "Captain Usopp shall save the day!" he declared before rummaging around in his bag for a bit before pulling out two dials that he got from the people here on Skypiea. He then walked up the upper deck and stood directly behind the main mast and pointed the two dials at the sails. He then pushed the button that was on the backs of both dials causing a gust of wind to blow out of the shells. As soon as the wind hit the sails the ship jerked forward and began sailing out of the port at Angel Island.
"So cool!" Chopper yelled out with stars in his eyes.
"Nice one, Usopp," Nami said with a smile.
"I'm impressed," Luffy said with a smirk. Usopp started to laugh proudly with all the compliments he was getting. As the ship was sailing away the people of Skypiea waved goodbye and shouted praises to their heroes as they watch them sail away. Off to the side of the Going Merry traveling in a waver were Conis and her father scoring Luffy and the crew towards Cloud End. The straw hats said on the White-White Sea for about one hour before the place known as Cloud End came into view.
"That's Cloud End!" Conis shouted while pointing at the upcoming structure. It was a gate like the one they saw when they entered Skypiea. The only difference was that this one lacked the golden gates and was not as big as the one at the entrance of Skypiea. It did have a beautiful rainbow forming a large arch just above the gate. Conis and her father increased their speed and got ahead of the Going Merry to dock their waver off to the side at one of the walkways at the gate. As they Merry sailed through the gate the father-daughter duo began running beside the ship shouting their goodbyes.
"This as far as we can go!" Pagaya shouted.
"Take care, you guys!" Conis yelled as she waved goodbye.
"Thanks for everything!" Nami shouted back as she waved.
"We'll miss you!" Nojiko yelled as they sailed further through the gate.
"Conis! Don't forget me, angel!" Sanji yelled with hearts in his eyes.
"Now take care of yourselves and hold on tight!" Pagaya shouted to the crew. "You're in for a bumpy ride!" he said causing them to nod. The ship then said through a tunnel with an obvious downslope at the end of it. The crew all held onto the ship preparing for just an equally rough ride down as it was getting up here.
"Hold on and do try not to fall off the ship," Luffy said calmly as he crossed his legs on his throne and sat there without a care in the world. She then said down the slide and began picking up speed.
"You guys hold on tight! the free fall is about to begin!" Conis shouted just as the Going Merry sailed off the slide and began falling towards the blue sea.
'Freefall?' the straw hats all thought to themselves with a horrified look on each of their faces. Even Luffy's eyes widened slightly when the ship began falling from 10 thousand meters up. The ship fell about 500 ft in about 10 seconds before a giant octopus shot out from the cloud and wrapped itself around the shop.
"What the hell?" Zoro said as he prepared to cut the octopus but was stopped when the ship stopped descending so fast and began slowing down dramatically to a point where it was as if it was floating.
"Well, this is new," Luffy said as he looked up at the giant octopus that acted like a balloon.
"It's a balloon," Chopper said in amazement as he stared at up at the creature.
"We're not falling," Nami commented. Before anyone else could say something else the entire straw hat crew heard the beautiful sound of the giant golden bell tolling.
"At this speed, it is probably going to take us a while to get back down to the Blue Sea," Luffy said as he stood up from his throne. "I suggest you all get comfortable," he added before he walked towards his personal quarters.
**Navy H.Q.**
Currently, inside of the office of the Fleet Admiral of the Navy, there was a small meeting taking place between a few of the high-ranking officers in the Marines. Sitting inside of the rather large room was Vice-Admiral Garp, Vice-Admiral Tsuru, and of course, there was the Fleet Admiral himself, Sengoku. It was a regular meeting scheduled to discuss the current affairs in the world.
"When will this great pirate era end?" Sengoku said as he let out a tired sigh from behind his desk.
"Who says it has an end?" Garp asked as he munches on rice crackers. "Sooner or later someone will find that treasure then they will die, and the cycle will start all over again," he added between bites.
"You just had to go and make my day even worse didn't you, Garp," Sengoku said.
"Bahahaha!" Garp laughed out. "yes, I did!" he added happily causing the fleet admiral to groan.
"What are we waiting for anyway?" Tsuru asked as she looked at her two oldest friends bickering with each other.
"We're waiting for Gion to bring the scouting reports for this week," Sengoku replied as he leaned back in his chair. Just as he finished speaking there was a knock on the door. "Enter!" Sengoku said loudly. Soon the doors to the office were pushed open and in walked marine captain Gion carrying a clipboard.
"Good morning, Fleet Admiral, Vice-Admiral Tsuru, and Vice-Admiral Garp," Gion said respectfully with a slight bow. "This week's scouting reports are in from the scouting division," she said as she handed the clipboard to Sengoku who looked at the papers on the clipboard before passing some of them to Tsuru and Garp and some back to Gion.
"Anything major to report?" Tsuru asked as she looked at the young marine captain.
"Nothing too major," Gion said as she looked at the papers. "A civil war has broken out in the Black Raven kingdom in the West Blue," she said causing the three marine officers to nod their heads.
"The world sure is a turbulent place," Garp commented as he read through the report. "One conflict after the next," he added before hitting down on a rice cracker.
"The Drum Kingdom has a new king and has decided to change the name of the kingdom to the Sakura Kingdom," Gion said causing them to raise an eyebrow.
"Who is the new king?" Tsuru asked.
"A man named Dalton," Gion said as she turned her attention to the female vice-admiral. "He was a former royal guard under the old king," she added.
"Is the old king dead?" Sengoku asked.
"We don't know," Gion replied in an apologetic tone. "We do know that Vice-Admiral Garp's grandson, the Thunder Demon was responsible for the demise of the old king," she said surprising everyone in the room. "The new Sakura Kingdom is now also flying the Thunder Demon's Flag around their country signifying that they are under his protection," she said causing Garp to choke on his rice cracker.
"What!?" the three of them yelled out in surprise.
"When did this happen and why weren't we informed of it sooner?" Sengoku asked he stood up from behind his desk.
"Apparently, this had happened long before the Straw Hats had even arrived in Alabasta. We're only finding out about it now because in the past couple of weeks the kingdom has been quite active," Gion explained.
"Active by doing what exactly?" Garp asked as he narrowed his eyes wondering what kind of trouble his grandson was causing now.
"It doesn't seem to be anything bad," Gion said calming everyone down. "They have just been ordering a lot of supplies to produce medicine once again," she said causing them to raise an eyebrow.
"They are world-famous for their doctors and medicine production," Tsuru noted with a nod. "And there hasn't been that much being produced from the old Drum Kingdom in recent years so this may be a good sign," she said causing everyone else to nod their heads.
"So, the Thunder Demon already has two countries under his control," Sengoku commented as he sat back down in his chair.
"That is correct, Sir," Gion said with a nod. "It was also reported that there was an incident between the Thunder Demon and Bellamy the Hyena back on Jaya a week ago," she added getting all their attention.
"What was the incident?" Sengoku asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"From what we gathered, Bellamy took one of the members of the Thunder Demon's crew hostage as a way to get back at him for an earlier beating," he explained causing the three officers to nod their heads. "What followed next was the complete slaughtering of Bellamy's crew with Bellamy being the only survivor," she said causing their eyes to widen slightly. "There is a detailed eye-witnessed report on page 7," she added causing all of them to turn to page 7 and read through the eye-witnessed report.
"There is no way Bellamy is powerful enough to survive Luffy," Garp noted as he read through the report.
"Oh no, it wasn't that he survived. It was more like your grandson left him alive as punishment," Gion said causing the three of them to understand.
"Do we know why he was there on Jaya?" Tsuru asked with a curious look on her face.
"Reports say he was there to gather information on a Sky island," she said surprising everyone in the room.
"Do we know where he is now?" Garp asked.
"There have been no sightings of the Thunder Demon for the past week," She said causing the vice-admiral to chuckle.
"Guess he found the information he was looking for," Garp said while the other two officers nodded in agreement.
"While we are talking about the Vice-Admiral's grandson," Gion suddenly said getting all their attention once more. "It should be noted that the Angle of Death, Franklin D. Isaac has been spotted in the West Blue. I only bring it up because it was reported recently that Isaac now sails under the Thunder Demon's flag," she said causing a puzzled look to appear on all of their faces.
"Why would a powerful pirate from the New World suddenly go to one of the four blues?" Tsuru asked with a curious expression on her face.
"We don't know," Gion said with a sigh. "All we know is that he was spotted there," she added.
"Keep an eye on that," Sengoku said seriously. "I doubt he is there on his own accord. It more like he was sent there," he noted as he narrowed his eyes.
"Yes, sir!" Gion said as she made a note to tell the scouting division to keep up on this.
"Anything else to report?" Tsuru asked.
"What about that organization you told us about last time?" Garp suddenly asked causing the other two officers to remember.
"Yes, Hell's Company," Gion said as she flipped through a few pages to find the report on it.
"Some Cipher Pol agents managed to infiltrate their operations in the North Blue," She said causing a slightly excited look to appear on the faces of the two vice-admirals and Fleet Admiral. "However, they were unable to gather any information on who their leader, the mysterious Asura, truly is," she said with a sigh causing a disappointed look to take the place of the previously excited faces of the occupants of the room.
"You said the North Blue, what about the other Blues and the Grand Line?" Tsuru asked.
"Agents were not able to join," Gion said causing everyone to raise an eyebrow. "The branches in the other oceans don't seem to be taking in anyone who offers their services. It's more like they scout out who they want to hire and then offer them a job," she said causing everyone to sigh.
"Do we know anything new about this organization?" Sengoku asked.
"Well, it seems as though they secured a deal with the new Sakura Kingdom to be the only distributors of their medicines," Gion said surprising the three older marine officers. "There are reports that hospitals from all four blues are placing orders through this organization for the world-renowned medicine from the Sakura Kingdom," she said causing everyone to nod their heads.
"That's all well and fine, however, is there any intel on the illegal smuggling done by this organization?" Sengoku asked.
"Only rumors, Sir," Gion replied with another sigh. "Nothing concrete," she added.
"Let's hear these rumors then," Garp said as he sat up straight. Gion nodded before she read through the papers for a few seconds before she spoke again.
"It is rumored that that Hell's Company is the one who supplied weapons to the rebels in the Black Raven Kingdom which kick-started the civil war," she said before she looked up at the fleet admiral. "However, this is yet to be confirmed whether or not it is true," she added causing them to nod.
"I don't like this," Sengoku said with a sigh.
"Neither do I," Tsuru added as she placed the papers down and folded her arms. "It is already known to the government that the Underworld is well established in the New World, but was always the thought that their reach didn't extend to Paradise and if it did, it wasn't as elaborate as the New World," she said causing the two men in the room to nod in agreement.
"I think we all start preparing to deal with an all-out war," Garp suddenly said getting everyone's attention.
"And why the hell should we do that, you old fool," Tsuru barked out at Garp.
"There are no signs of a war about to happen," Sengoku said as he stood up from behind his desk.
"Think about it," Garp said in a serious voice. "The Underworld is already well established, and the people who run the Underworld are all likely very powerful in their own right," he said as he narrowed his eyes. "This Asura is new and he is expanding at an extremely fast rate. I don't think people are going to like the fact that he is taking business away from them," Garp said causing everyone to understand why he suggested they should prepare for war.
"It will be a war for control over certain parts of the Underworld if not the entire Underworld giving the number of pots this Asura has his hand in," Tsuru said as a thoughtful look appeared on her face.
"And a war like that is not one that can be contained," Sengoku said with a sigh.
"We could also use this to our advantage," Tsuru said getting everyone's attention. "We can use the war to infiltrate the Underworld in order to get a better understanding of it," she said.
"Let's not get too ahead of ourselves," Sengoku said as he sat back down. "For now, we should just gather more information," he said causing everyone to nod. "Anything else to report, Gion?" he asked as he turned his attention to the marine captain standing in the middle of the room.
"No, sir!" Gion said.
"Very well, dismissed!" Sengoku said causing Gion to bow salute before making her way out of the room. "Why can't this job ever be easy," he said as he let out a tired sigh and leaned back into his chair.
"What are you talking about?" Garp asked with a large smile on his face. "It is easy! Bahahaha!" he said loudly causing Sengoku and Tsuru to groan.
"That's because you don't do anything!" the two of them yelled.
**With the Straw Hats**
The sun had already set, and the straw hats were all lounging around on deck bored out of their minds. Luffy had transformed his throne into a lounge chair and was laying back staring up at the octopus balloon. Even he had to admit that it bores just sitting there waiting for the ship to reach the bottom.
"I did not think it would take this long," Robin said from her position on the ground.
"Can't this thing go any faster?" Nami asked as she let out a frustrated sigh.
"Is it just me or does the balloon look smaller?" Sanji suddenly asked as he stared up at the octopus. Luffy narrowed his eyes and looked at the octopus before his eyes widen slightly.
"The balloon is shrinking!" he said loudly for everyone to hear before he got up from his throne.
"I guess it does look smaller than before," Nojiko noted.
"Why do I have a bad feeling about this," Usopp said in a scared voice. Just as he said that the octopus balloon deflated some more causing the ship decent faster.
"We are going too fast!" Nami yelled out as she and everyone else held on to something. Luffy anchored himself down before he spread his arms out wide causing sparks of lightning to dance around his fingertips. Soon an extremely large thunder cloud came down from the sky faster than the ship was defending and position itself directly under the Going Merry. The Going Merry impacted the cloud but continued to defend just as fast as before. Luffy then clenched his tightly and proceeded to take up a lifting motion with his body as though he was trying to lift the ship.
"AHHHHHHHHHH!" Luffy yelled as he began to feel the weight of the ship. The ship started to slow down, but it was still going too fast.
"We're slowing down!" Chopper said in excitement.
"But we are stilling going too fast," Nami said in a panic as she leaned over the side of the ship and stared down. "At this rate, we will hit the sea so hard we will sink to the bottom!" she yelled.
"That is if the ship doesn't shatter first," Robin said causing Usopp's head to shoot up.
"Not on my watch," Usopp said as he pulled out the grappling hook from his belt and attach it to the side of the ship before jumping off surprising everyone. Usopp then went under the giant thunder cloud and attached some wind dials onto it. The wind dials activated and slowed the ship down drastically. However, do the extra weight they were carrying the speed at which they were defending was still too great.
"Everyone, hold onto something!" Luffy yelled out as he began pushing him further while the crew pulled Usopp back in and braced themself for an impact. The going Merry impacted the water hard, destroying the thundercloud Luffy had made while at the same time creating huge waves that splashed over the side of the ship. As the ship impacted the water sound of stuff breaking on the ship could be heard by everyone, but they were all too caught up in trying to stay alive to really pay attention. The ship rocked back and forth in the now rough water while the crew tried to pick themselves up off the ground.
"Is everyone alright?" Nojiko asked as she held her head and slowly stood up.
"Yeah, just a bit shook up," Nami replied as she stood up. When everyone got up and looked at Luffy, they all saw him still breathing heavily while kneeling on the ground with sweat dripping from his face.
"You okay there, captain?" Zoro asked to which he only received a nod. Luffy then uses the little strength he had left to stand himself up before reaching into his coat and pulled out a bottle of whiskey and took a drank straight from the bottle until it was empty.
"I'm fine," Luffy said as he tossed the bottle aside. "Usopp, Chopper, you two check below deck for damage to the ship," he ordered in a tired voice.
"Aye Captain!" Usopp yelled back with a salute.
"You can count on us!" Chopper said while in his little reindeer form.
"Nami," Luffy said getting her attention.
"Take us to the next island," he said causing her to nod. Luffy then walked back to his throne and plopped himself down on his throne. "I really need to get a ship that could fly," he said with a sigh as he landed on his throne and closed his eyes.
**Chapter End**
That's another chapter for you! I hope you guys enjoyed it.
**Author's note: I WILL NOT BE DOING THE DAVY BACK FIGHT ARC!***
Please leave a review!
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