The Whale Laboon

Though the Going Merry had been following the lighthouse, they had lost the beacon in the storm. Nami reassured everyone that she would be able to guide them through it. She called them all into the kitchen, laying out a map on the table. Showing the entrance to the Grand Line. This map was the result of one of her proudest loots. She had taken it from Buggy after he stole it from a marine headquarters.

"The entrance to the Grand Line is a mountain!"

While Sakura looked at this earth as a different planet, she could still be taken by surprise. She was capable of reading maps, but she was second-guessing if she had done it right.

Something like this which might have seemed small truly showed Sakura how much she had lost in this world. Not just access to her friends family and home, but the knowledge she had proudly accumulated over the years such as history had become ruins, archived in the back of her mind as she made way for new information.

Starters were the Grand Line that she was sailing towards with a group of pirates she had befriended.

"I couldn't believe it at first. The light of guidance was directly pointing at Reverse Mountain located right here on the Red Line."

"That's a waterway, leading up a mountain?" Sakura curled her lip, lifting her eyes in confusion. It crossed her mind that they might have misread the map, or that this was a fake. However, Nami assured her that what they were seeing was accurate. How it was a possibility, was the confusing part. "So any idea how we're supposed to get up this mountain? Last time I checked boats don't fly….right?"

Nami ran her fingers through her hair, "I'm not so sure. There are rumors and these drawings just confirm it. The entrance to the Grand Line is definitely this mountain. It has small canals, so we might have to go up and over it,"

Zoro frowned, "Even if there are canals, a ship can't climb up a mountain,"

"Well, that's what the map says,"

Sanji chided, huffing at Zoro. "That's right, if Nami says so then it's true!"

"Don't forget you stole that map from Buggy, so can we even trust it?" Zoro asked, "Why do we even have to enter directly through the entrance in the first place? Couldn't we just head south and still enter?"

"No, we can't!" Luffy exclaimed, pouting accusingly at Zoro. He looked like a child ready to throw a fit.

"That's right and there's a good reason for that," said Nami but Luffy was determined to voice his conclusion.

"It's much cooler to go in using the real entrance!"

"That's not it!" Nami hit Luffy on the back of his head for the comment.

In the commotion that started, no one noticed that the light above had stopped swinging, or the that the floorboards weren't creaking and the wind had fallen silent. Usopp went to the window, exclaiming that the storm had ceased.

It wasn't that the wind had calmed it had completely vanished, the storm was left behind the boat, the clouds hovering and drifting further as if there was a barrier keeping them from crossing. The air was warm, but it was uncomfortably silent, even the seas had gone mute.

'Was this normal?'

Nami screamed, "OH NO!"

With a little misstep, Sakura came down the stairs looking out into the calm ocean.

"What's wrong Nami?"

"We've entered the Calm Belt!"

As an interloper, Sakura didn't realize the reason for Nami's distress but the rest of the crew were just as stumped as she was. They were watching as Nami clambered around, telling the boys to get out the oars and start paddling back into the storm.

Though the Going Merry was a sailboat that drifted with the wind, however, Sakura felt that there wasn't a single breeze.

"Why are the seas so….eerie? There's no wind," Usually the oceans always came with winds, pushing and pulling the waves but nothing of the sort was happening right now.

"We just drifted South as Zoro suggested,"

"Oh so are we in the Grand Line?" The moss head asked, glancing out with a carefree expression that simply further irritated Nami.

"The Grand Line is surrounded by two ocean belts. Those two windless belts, the Clam Belts, are where we're stuck right now,"

"So what's the point?"

Nami screamed, "THE POINT IS-

There was no need for her to explain any further as the ocean began to tremble and the boat shook from the force and waves and rocked them around. But it wasn't coming from a sudden wind. Down below, shadows began to come through the murky water and onto the surface, sprouting proudly. Heads of creatures resembling animals yet morphed to take on a more monstrous impression and with scaly skin, fins, and gills, any semblance of sea dwellers.

The Going Merry was no longer on the sea but had been lifted on the snout of one of these creatures who seemed oblivious as they weren't in its line of sight despite being on the tip of the nose.

Sakura sunk to her knees, glancing over the side of the ship, "Oh…."

Nami was clinging to the mass crying, while Usopp had nearly passed out foaming at the mouth from fear, Sanji, Zoro, and Luffy gave silent screams and were already holding the oars.

"The Calm Belt…is a den for sea kings…." Nami whimpered, her legs becoming noodles as she held onto the ship.

This had taken even Sakura by surprise. Some of these creatures were the size of the largest summoning animals. But summoning animals were able to communicate with them

Zoro was in a cold sweat, grasping the oar, "As soon as this thing dives back down row your damn arms off,"

"Aye Aye!"

They weren't that fortunate as the creature rumbled, a vibration shook the boat, and its nostrils flared and pulled in the air before releasing a loud sneeze that blew them through the sky like a stone ready to skip along the ocean.

For a moment, everyone was air born but managed to keep themselves lined with the ship floor. Another sea king spotted them and might have mistaken the ship for a fly as the creature itself resembled a frog and was able to leap at such a distance. Sakura kept her feet on the ground with chakra, but it seemed that she was just holding steady on the side of the ship.

"Usopp!"

Luffy had to pull Usopp to safety and though they were sent far into the air it wasn't long before they were falling and landed on a clear spot on the sea.

"Let's get out of here!" Sanji called and they started rowing the boat straight back into the storm that was thankfully still in sight.

..

..

It was only after the Going Merry was able to catch the wind on the rough seas that they were able to take a breath of relief. The sea kings and calm belt far in the distance, never had they been so relieved to be back in a raging storm threatening to capsize them.

'So there are giant animals in this world too,' Sakura breathed. That didn't turn into a fight at least. After her first attempt to swim, Sakura knew she was at a disadvantage at sea. She may be able to walk on water, but if she ever went under there would be no way to get herself out of that situation.

'Curse of the sea, they say,'

They were back in the kitchen looking over the map once more trying to figure out another way to enter the Grand Line. Usopp was at the rudder trying to keep the ship on the course so they didn't have another accident and wander into the Calm Belt again.

"So what if we go North?" Nami backhanded Zoro on his head for that one.

"Don't be an idiot!"

"How are we supposed to be climbing a mountain?!"

"Someone help me with the rudder!" Usopp exclaimed. Sakura came up to him and started pulling on the rudder to redirect the ship, but she felt resistance. Usopp was already red in the face.

"Doesn't this current seem a bit too strong!?"

"Yeah I'm feeling it here, too," Though she hadn't sailed a boat herself, Sakura didn't think it was supposed to be this hard to steer. They would have to put a great deal of strength behind this to move the rudder, and she was afraid if she put too much strength something might break.

Usopp's comment didn't go unnoticed and gave Nami an epiphany, "That's it! We do go up the mountain,"

"Oh come on are you still saying that?" asked Zoro.

"Just think," Nami pointed to the canals drawn on the map, "See these canals? If major currents from four oceans all flow toward this mountain. The four currents would go up to the top and collide before coming down and then flow into the Grand Line. Reverse mountain is a winter island so the current that collides with the Red line will plummet from the surface into the depths."

Sakura swallowed heavily, she understood immediately what Nami was implying and she had seen the map, "In other words, the currents on the Red Line will push the ship up the mountain but if we miss the canals, we're going to crash into that mountain and sink before we even reach the Grand Line,"

"WHAT?" Usopp huffed. His nerves hitting max for being the one at the rudder right now.

"AWESOME!" Luffy cheered.

"I've never heard about a ship going over a mountain,"

"I've heard stories," Sanji refuted Zoro.

"About a mystery mountain?" Luffy asked giddily.

"No, I heard that half of everyone who comes to the Grand Line dies before they can enter it,"

"Reassuring," Sakura muttered holding the rudder, adjusting it though the strength of the current didn't want her pulling the Going Merry in any different direction right now.

"Don't worry Sakura-chan I'll protect you!"

"When we're shipwrecked?"

..

..

When Nami saw they were getting closer, she instructed the sails to be raised and for everyone to prepare for the worst. Of course, she didn't appreciate Sakura pointing out that the worst would be the ship crashing into the mountain and all of them drowning. Since there wasn't land for miles and the two of them wouldn't be able to swim even if they weren't going against the current.

Luffy was raising the sail when he saw the Red Line in the distance and called the other's attention. It was a wall with no end vertically or horizontally, there was nothing but red stone that reached far up into the storm clouds.

It was an entirely new sight for everyone including Sakura.

"Get a good grip on the rudder so we don't get dragged out to sea,"

Sakura and Usopp were at the rudder, combating the seas and their current strength that was sucking them in with greater speed. Sanji came up to the rudder as well, holding his hands over Sakuras.

"Keep heading straight," Nami had spotted a crack in the cliff from the distance and she was certain that was the entrance.

Eventually, they were all able to see it from the crashing waves, the canal leading straight up towards a line of gates.

"We've gotta make it through those water gates just right!" Nami screamed at them over the wind.

"You're going off course more to the right!"

Sakura, Sanji, and Usopp gave a yank on the rudder when the resistance was heavier than before, perhaps it had been a pull too strong, and unfortunately, the wood of the rudder staff splintered, split, and broke apart. They tumbled over each other with the force. Smashing into the kitchen table, none of them cared about injury or embarrassment. As a more dreadful fact came to light.

"THE RUDDER!"

The ship didn't stop and went further off course with the heavy winds and waves, heading straight for the pillar of the water gate. Before they could crash though, Luffy got in front of the ship, inflating his body using his gum-gum powers and acting as a cushion to avoid impact, and was able to put the ship back on course. Zoro caught him before he fell into the ocean and pulled him back on board.

"Nice one Luffy!"

Sakura came out with Nami letting out a breath of relief when she saw that they were back on the right course. Entering through the water gates, the ship shifted upwards as the hill steepened.

"Now it's just a straight shot to the summit!"

They were heading so far up that eventually the rain had ceased, and everyone's disposition became cheerful as they continued to ride into the clouds. The scene changed from foggy and cold to warm and bright as they passed through the clouds and were now above them. Finally able to see the tip of the mountain. A spray of the combined seas released from the top as if to welcome them openly to the Grand Line.

Breaking through, the water turned to ice and scattered like crystals when the Going Merry crossed the summit and was air born again.

Then they began sliding down on the other side. Anxious and excited to see what the Grand Line had in store for them.

Back down through the clouds, they laughed at the feeling. Sakura noticed an unusual groaning that couldn't place but the clouds blocked her vision of anything else, the majestic scenery forgotten as she tried to sharpen her ears to hear it again.

"Did you guys hear that?" asked Zoro.

"I thought it was just me," Sakura said, glancing around.

"What are you talking about?" Nami asked.

"That groaning," Zoro pointed out.

"Huh? It's probably just the wind, there must be a lot of unusual landforms,"

It would have been a thought in the back of their head except Sanji said he spotted something from the netting, a mountain up ahead. That wasn't possible thought or at least it shouldn't have been.

When they broke through the clouds it was clearer to see the black mass right in front of the twin capes.

"That's not a mountain,"

"It's a black wall!" exclaimed Luffy

"Not it's not," Said Nami

"Then what is it?" asked Zoro.

"IT'S A WHALE," Screamed Usopp.

The creature was the size of an island, with only its head sticking out of the sea, it stood in front of their path, teeth bared. It dawned on them that if they didn't find a way to get across this obstacle then this would be the end of their journey.

"WHAT DO WE DO?" Usopp cried, clutching his cheeks in horror.

"We're gonna crash!" exclaimed Nami.

Zoro noticed an opening on the left of the whale and called to turn to port, however, the rudder had just been destroyed and they were coming in fast.

"Crap, crap!" Sakura rushed to the rudder to help Sanji, Usopp, and Zoro turn while Luffy ran inside with an idea of his own.

Sakura pushed with her strength, but the effort only allowed for a slight shift in the rudder that refused to hold still she knew that if she put too much force behind it like last time and battled against the kinetic energy that the sloping mountain and waves were creating for the ship, then likely what was left of the rudder would be destroyed and then they wouldn't be able to steer the ship at all.

'But if I don't give it more of a push then we might not make it,' At the way, they were slanting it wasn't enough of a turn to make it and they were still going to crash!

An explosion went off and the ship gave a heavy jerk, they realized someone had fired a cannon to slow the ship's momentum but they still knocked into the whale, however with their speed it only destroyed the sheep head of the Going Merry. But it was better than the entire caravel.

"Let's get out of here!" Zoro exclaimed.

They moved to the oars and started rowing, even when the whale let out another loud cry that rattled their ears and shook their entire bodies so that their bones vibrated.

"That's loud!" Sakura hissed, covering her ears as the drums began to ache.

Just as they were crossing along its head on the side, Luffy came out and was glaring at the creature.

"You! What the hell did you do to my special seat!" Luffy extended his arm and delivered a punch straight into the whale's eye that made his crew's hearts drop to their stomachs.

"YOU MORON,"

The iris of the whale looked down and they realized they were no longer out of its line of sight. Luffy didn't care though and continued to angrily call out to the whale for its attention, threatening to do more harm, until Zoro and Sanji gave him a hard kick to the heads.

"SHUT UP BEFORE YOU KILL US"

Whether it was deliberate or not, Sakura couldn't tell although she wasn't sure to call coincidence as the ocean shook like there was an earthquake and the whale's jaw expanded, opening wide that it became a vacuum, pulling into the sea and creating a current that the Going Merry was now riding on.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no!" Sakura cried in alarm when she saw that they were gliding along the opening of the whale's mouth and were closing in on its esophagus.

"Luffy!"

Hearing Zoro calling their captain, she saw that Luffy had lost his balance and fallen from the ship. A bad habit of Sakura, with her temperament, made her act without consideration in dire situations that involved another person's life. It was considered a terrible flaw for a kunoichi to act without thinking and had gotten her into many dangerous situations. The fact that she had lost her ability to swim was still not engraved in her, so she ran over to jump in after Luffy. She hadn't even thought about walking on the water because she would have to dive into the ocean if Luffy was fully submerged.

Zoro managed to snag her at the back of her top and roughly threw her back on deck, she bounced off the floorboards.

"Idiot, you can't swim and I am not jumping in for you again!" Zoro said, then looked out at the sea "Luffy's fine look,"

Luffy had managed to grab a hold of the whale's tooth by extending his arm and pulling himself out of its mouth, but that didn't stop the boat from being sucked into the abyss that was its throat.

"It's so dark!" Usopp cried.

It was like an abyss, all they could hear was the water's cries and their own, feeling the force that dragged them with the ship but now they didn't have a chance of directing themselves. not that it would matter when there was only really one way they were going.

At least it was like that for the first few minutes, until a light appeared at the end. Which Sakura immediately found alarming, since there was no way for natural light to ever reach inside any creature.

"What's that?"

"There's no way we've gone through the digestive tract already, especially considering its size" Sakura cringed. They better not be coming out that whales end.

"Well, would you rather be digested?!" Usopp shot back.

But as they came back into the light, it did look as if they had made it to the outside again. The sky was visible once more, the sea, and there was light all around. But it was unusually quiet.

"We were swallowed right?" Sakura asked.

"I'm sure about that," said Sanji.

Zoro turned around, "Then what the hell is this?"

"How should I know!?"

Usopp and Nami were gaping speechless. This looked exactly like the outside, except there was a small island floating in the sea with a house built on it, and laundry hanging out to dry. It didn't stay at the center stage when something burst out of the water right in their line of sight. Its tentacles flew around, threatening to strike and from the shape of its body, it was a giant squid that the whale must have swallowed along with them.

"A GREAT KING SQUID,"

Sanji and Zoro prepared to attack it, but as quickly as it came, the creature was killed by several giant harpoons to the head from behind. The ropes attached to those harpoons lead into the door of the house.

"Looks like there's at least someone there,"

"Not reassuring Zoro," Sakura hissed under her breath.

Usopp started crying, "Giant squids, harpoons, and Luffy's still missing, what's next?"

"Yeah, where is he?" Nami whimpered, unable to keep up with all the madness that was being thrown at them in these short minutes.

"I saw him escape the whale's mouth, but that's for when we get out of it,"

Someone stepped out of the shadows, revealing themselves to the crew. It was an elderly man, who had a stocky silhouette that resembled a flower with the headgear he wore other than that he was casually dressed in shorts and sandals but his expression was grim.

And he continued to hold that look as he made his way across the small island. Glaring at the straw hat crew but then he just plopped himself on a beach chair and unwrapped a newspaper like it was a regular day.

That didn't go well for Sanji, "You gonna say something jerk!"

He just continued to glare at them even when Usopp threatened to release the cannons on him. Though he was hiding in the far back at that point.

"You better not or someone will die,"

"Just who are you saying will die?" Sanji asked, itching to fight.

"Me of course,"

Sakura frowned, "What the heck?"

Zoro attempted to talk to the man next and calm Sanji, "Hey old man. Tell us, where are we and who are you?"

Again he gave that strong glare, "When asking someone a question isn't it proper manners to give your name first?"

"But he doesn't have proper manners," Sakura jabbed. Still feeling the sting of being thrown on the ground.

"You!"

"Well?" The old man called.

"I'm Roro-

"My name is Crocus. I'm the lighthouse keeper of the Twin Capes, I'm 70 years old and a Gemini," The interruption did not go over well with Zoro who had just as short a temper as Sanji. He was ready to draw his swords while Sanji was pulling him back.

"You want to know where you are but you barge in on my private resort?"

"Private resort?" Sakura gestured, "I thought we were swallowed by a whale,"

"That's right, at least one of who is smart enough to know that,"

"WHAT WAS THAT YOU BASTARD," Zoro and Sanji raged.

Giving it a second and closer look without the veil of panic and disbelief, they noticed that the 'clouds' weren't moving and there wasn't a single breeze either, not to mention the birds in the distance hadn't gone anywhere for the last few minutes. It was a giant mural in the whale's stomach.

"Who would do something like this?" Sakura asked.

"Call it a doctor's playful mind,"

"How about a psychos mind? Why would you want to live inside a whale?"

Crocus ignored her concerns as he did with her other crew mates and just pointed to a giant gate that they had missed in all the confusion and chaos. "The exit is over there,"

"Seriously!?"

They couldn't believe that they had missed it, but not wanting to waste any more time sitting in a whale's stomach acid. But before they could make any moves, waves started to form beneath the ship violently rocking it along with Crocus's resort. That's when Nami noticed that the island wasn't entirely an island. Rather it was a kind of ship with iron at the bottom of it.

"Is that iron?" asked Sakura.

"It must be so that the island won't be dissolved by the whale's gastric acid," said Usopp

"If that's the case, a wooden ship isn't going to last long here," said Sanji.

Usopp called out to Crocus, "Hey what's going on?"

The old man looked up, "He's…Laboon has started hitting his head on the Red Line. These aftershocks are a result of that."

When they saw the whale, they noticed visible scars that ran deep along its forehead and nose, those injuries made sense now. If it was doing that continuously then it also explained the wailing and cries. It was suffering but then what was the connection between that and this man living in its stomach and having an exit through it like it was some sort of clay to carve?

"There is something wrong about all of this."

"Yeah, what do you think the geezer's trying to do?" asked Usopp.

Nami looked over at the island, "Likely, he's trying to kill the whale,"

"Doesn't make sense to me," Sakura said, "Why bother making an exit, painting a mural, and living its stomach? That doesn't sound like hunting,"

"I don't know, none of this makes sense, I'm doing the best with what I've got!"

"We don't have time for this!" Zoro snapped. "Let's just get out of here before the Merry ends up dissolved,"

The waves continued to rock the ship, and Zoro told them to take the oars so that they could get to the exit. But their attention was pulled away when they saw Crocus jump into the gastric acid but he didn't stay there long and went to the ladder leading to a giant door.

Another distraction foiled their escape attempt when a human-sized door on the bigger doors suddenly flung open, and three figures were hurdling through the air. One of them being Luffy. But the other two were a man and a woman no one had seen.

"What the hell?" Sakura wondered how was Luffy inside the whale if he escaped and why were there two more people in the animal as well. "This private resort doesn't seem so private,"

Luffy caught sight of his crew, relieved to see that they were okay until he remembered that he was about to crash into a sea of gastric acid and ocean. "Hey, guys you're okay! Help!"

They waited for a minute after he fell in but Sanji and Zoro eventually went after their captain.

..

..

They didn't just pull out Luffy though, they also helped the other two. One was a woman with amazingly long blue hair and the other was an odd lanky man wearing a crown. They were also armed with a bazooka gun that had been pulled up with them.

"We saved you guys for the time being but who are you?" Zoro demanded.

The woman looked at her companion, after turning from Sanji who was eyeing her heartedly, "Mr. 9 they're pirates,"

"Yes, Miss Wednesday,"

"Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday, those are your names?" Sakura asked, propping in front of them, frightening the two.

"Yes, what's it to you!" asked the man.

"That hardly sounds real,"

"Well, they are! They're our cod-

"MR 9," 'Miss Wednday' silenced him.

Unbeknownst to them, Crocus had come back, "You thugs! I won't let you lay a finger on Laboon as long as I'm alive!"

The two stood up looking back at the old man, Miss Wednesday gave an annoying laugh, "Even if you say that we can't leave,"

"Taking down this whale is our mission,"

The two characters grabbed their guns firing what looked like cannon balls from the weapons, it was about to hit the mural of the whale's stomach when Crocus jumped in front of it. Taking the direct hit without hesitation as he cursed the two out.

"He protected the whale!?" Sanji almost bit too hard into his cigarette.

"Stop this pointless resistance," The girl laughed. "If you want to protect the whale that badly go right ahead!"

"We'll turn it into food for our town!"

Sakura leaned over the edge of the boat, seeing Crocus resurface, "Are you alright?"

Luffy came up behind Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday, he gave a heavy hit to their cheeks that they bashed their heads together, with enough force to knock them unconscious and give a strong headache once they woke.

"Luffy why did you do that?"

"I felt like it?"

Yes, things were off to a wonderful start at the very beginning for the Grand Line.

'I regret my decision already,'