Poor Laboon got beaten black and even more blue!
(AN: Hey everyone! This might sound strange but people have posted cute pouts for not getting another chapter so I changed my mind and wrote another one. It's a one time thing because I find it funny. The potential fight scene which isn't really a fight scene turned out like this because it wouldn't really even be a fight. This chapter is a bit slow paced but for the next ones I was thinking of increasing the pace at which the story progresses a little. I hope you enjoy!)
"..."
Silence. After Crocus' revealing his secret and even showed some old logs as proof, no one knew how to react. Just a moment ago they were threatening a former member of the late pirate king's crew to kill him to protect my identity as the late pirate king's son. What a funny coincidence.
Sabo was the first one to break the silence that reigned in the living room.
"Hahahaha. That was kind of unexpected. I'd say all is well that ends well since this was a misunderstanding so I hope you won't be hold grudges."
Crocus just laughed it off together with Sabo. The others might still need a bit of time to adjust to the newly revealed secret. Meanwhile we continued to talk.
"Was it father who told you about mom?"
"No it wasn't him. Gaban once went to see him after our crew was disbanded and later told us the news. It was quite the surprise for us to hear that our captain, the man who conquered the Grand Line, quietly settled down with a woman he fell for."
"Wait a minute. Your crew was disbanded? I thought you were caught after Roger's execution."
Robin was the first to notice such details. Obviously I know what actually happened but still let Crocus tell them. Once it came down to questions regarding the One Piece or the void century things got a bit heated but surprisingly Crocus didn't say anything.
"I could tell you the answer to your question if you insist. At least the answer we found but I honestly believe it is better to see for yourself. This is an advice from an old man but if you decide to listen to it, I promise you, you will not regret it once you see it yourself."
It wasn't the same, Rayleigh told Luffy and the others in the show, but we decided to follow his advice.
"By the way Crocus-san, what't it with the huge whale outside?"
"Oh you mean Laboon. In a way you could say he is the reason why I joined Roger on board of his ship. Listen there was this group I went out and looked for..."
Next he actually told us the story of Laboon and his lost friends. Even though I knew before hearing it, it still got me emotionally. I expected Kuina to be emotionally touched the most but it was Bepo who cried the hardest.
We actually had to stay here for a few days. The log pose we bought was brought from outside the Grand Line so we had to wait until would decide our next destination. During this time Crocus was our host and he played the role to the best of his abilities.
It was Law, who didn't get along with Crocus at the beginning, who benefited the most of our stay. Having access to old medical books and some self-written recipes of Crocus, as well as notes of his experiences he made during the travel, was a huge thing for Law, who is a young doctor. The fact that he was allowed to copy and take them even more so.
Augur did some shooting practices from time to time, at birds even I couldn't see from here. Even crazier is that they were so far away that I couldn't even sense them with my haki and yet he was shooting them down while they were flying.
Robin, as usual was reading most of the time, while Kuina continued her spartan way of training. The rest of us played with Laboon or helped around the house, after all we couldn't leave everything to Crocus. Having found a strange black box while helping the others I asked Crocus, who explained that it was a music box and gifted it to me. Apparently it is similar to a record dial in function but combined with modern technology it could save and play up to 400 songs. Obviously the first thing we did was to test the max volume and damn it was loud. I bet it is loud enough to even be heard on a big battlefield.
Sadly we also got to witness how Laboon would tackle the reverse mountain from time to time. I thought about imitating Luffy and having a boxing match with this whale but then decided against it.
Instead I tried talking to Laboon hoping to somehow make him stop hurting himself but to no avail. That was to be expected after all Crocus talked to him for decades without achieving anything.
After staying for a few days, our course was finally set and we would depart the next morning. In the end I still decided to have a showdown with Laboon. Just leaving him on his own somehow didn't sit right with me. The fight began and since I am not made out of rubber tanking close to 100 tons rushing at you didn't sound too pleasant.
I was sure that I could somehow do it, or maybe I was overestimating myself but I really didn't feel like testing it out. Instead I dodged using geppo and soru and hit him with haki until he was exhausted and had to listen to what I had to say.
"...I know that at least one of them is still alive and trying to come back to you! At least one has to be since they promised you. But what good does them coming back do, if you might kill yourself before that?!"
...is what I told him. For a moment I thought about recruiting Brook but I didn't make any promises on bringing anyone back. Instead I promised him that I would sail and survive the Grand Line and some day I would return and take him along with me to search together.
Ultimately I don't know whether what I said had any effect on him but he at least didn't rebel like he usually does.
The next day we said our goodbyes and departed. Everyone was excited and curious about what will be the first island we step onto on the Grand Line.
We were on sea for the next two weeks straight, the weather changing daily more often then a supermodel changes her outfit during a fashion show. On the first day of the third week I suddenly sensed a change.
'!...Could this be...?!'
(AN: Could this be a cliffhanger-kun?!)