Sanji's all-out attack didn't even scratch the whale's skin. Everyone was stunned when they saw it.
Sanji hadn't fought much while traveling with them, but he had defeated Upper Rank Two, so they had all recognized his strength.
And this whale wasn't just huge. Its head was covered in countless scars. Even stranger were its eyes. Each eye seemed to have three pupils, with a line running from front to back like a scar.
Seeing this, they thought they had run into another demon. After all, even among the bizarre Sea Kings, there shouldn't be a monster this strange, right?
At that moment, the monster was swallowing them into its body. Just falling from its mouth into its stomach took an incredibly long time, almost like taking a long journey.
Along the way, the Going Merry was tossed around by the seawater pouring into the whale. Even Luffy and Zoro, who had been sleeping soundly inside, were shaken awake. They smashed through a door and were thrown out as the ship tilted.
Zoro woke up before Luffy. The moment he opened his eyes, he realized what was happening. He grabbed one of the ship's posts with one hand and held himself steady.
Luffy, meanwhile, didn't open his eyes until he was almost thrown overboard. By the time he realized what was happening, it was already too late. He quickly stretched out his arm and grabbed the railing, but the rushing seawater submerged half his body.
His strength disappeared at once. If Usopp hadn't been nearby to grab his hand, he would have sunk beneath the water.
The seawater kept rushing past them, and the Going Merry was tossed back and forth. Usopp couldn't pull Luffy back up.
"Ripjaws!"
Seeing what was happening, Ben Tennyson quickly transformed. This time, he became a fish-like monster. Ripjaws had sharp claws and pointed teeth, and then he suddenly jumped off the ship.
He was using the Omnitrix rather than a Devil Fruit power, so he wasn't afraid of the so-called curse of the sea. After jumping into the water, Ripjaws's feet changed into a tail fin, and he quickly swam toward Luffy.
Ben Tennyson could transform into all kinds of creatures and adapt to almost any situation. Even the ocean couldn't stop him. Of course, this wasn't actually the open sea. They were inside the whale's stomach.
Just as Ben grabbed Luffy, a huge whirlpool suddenly appeared in the area around them. The two of them and the Going Merry were all pulled into it. Down they went, deeper and deeper...
Humans could hardly fight against natural disasters. Even pirates who had set out on the Grand Line were no exception. Even someone at the level of a Four Emperor—like Luffy after defeating Kaido—could nearly lose his entire crew to a sudden disaster at sea.
In short, humans were extremely fragile in the face of the ocean. Under the force of the whirlpool, the members of the Straw Hat Pirates became dizzy and disoriented before finally being swallowed up completely.
Nami was still in the best condition among them. As a demon, she didn't need to sleep, and any injuries she suffered healed quickly. Sunlight was normally a demon's greatest weakness, but Nami had even overcome that, allowing her to endure almost any natural disaster.
She wasn't as monstrously resilient as Muzan Kibutsuji, with his five brains and seven hearts, but she could still remain conscious inside the whirlpool. She tried to control the water and calm it down, but her power was far weaker than that of whoever had created the whirlpool.
All she could do was watch helplessly as everyone was dragged into a pitch-black world.
No one knew how much time had passed when the world suddenly grew bright. It was strange to see light inside a whale's stomach. Nami forced herself to stand steady, but just then, something was pressed against the back of her head.
"Don't move."
The ship slowly settled down. Nami raised both hands in surrender. Even a demon would die if her head were blown apart. A demon on Kokushibo's level might be able to regenerate after losing its head, but that required more than just strength. It also required an incredibly strong will.
They were now on the Grand Line, and Nami had no idea how powerful the other person's gun was. So she raised her hands immediately. More importantly, she couldn't sense any killing intent from him.
Only then did she notice that the Going Merry was floating on an ocean again. There was actually an ocean inside the whale's stomach, large enough for people to live in?
It was as wide as the sea outside. There were even several islands floating in it, making Nami wonder whether they had somehow left the whale's stomach and returned to the outside world.
The reason there was sunlight in this world was that every island had a huge lighthouse. Together, all the lighthouses lit up the entire sea.
"Who are you people?"
Seeing Nami raise her hands, the man behind her asked in a deep voice.
Nami quickly replied, "We came from the East Blue. We accidentally ran into Mr. Whale while he was drinking water. We mean no harm."
"Pirates from the East Blue?" the man asked again.
"Uh... yes, we're pirates, but we're different from other pirates. We're—"
Nami was still explaining when she heard the man behind her speak again.
"I can tell. Your ship is poor enough."
A few dark lines appeared on Nami's forehead. Unfortunately, it was true. They really didn't have much money.
Thinking about it made her heart ache. Gato's company had been loaded with money. She had even gone there herself, but she had arrived too late. Buggy the Clown had taken every last bit of it!
That had made Nami furious, which was why she had rushed to the Grand Line, eager to leave that painful place behind.
Now she silently cursed the others aboard the ship. Every one of them claimed to be some kind of expert, but when it really mattered, none of them could move. In the end, a weak young woman like her had to deal with all the pressure.
She forced a smile. "Old man, we can talk things over slowly. There's no need to point a gun at me, is there?"
She called him "old man" because, although his voice was strong, she could still hear the roughness of age in it.
The old man thought for a moment, then actually lowered his gun.
"It's clear you aren't with the Carleth people. Those people wouldn't be this polite."
Nami turned around and saw that the person behind her really was an old man—and a very strange one at that.
She looked at the old man standing in front of her with his gun lowered and twitched the corner of her mouth.
The old man's hair looked like a saffron flower. Its "petals" were purple and yellow, while his hair, eyebrows, and beard were white. He wore glasses, but they didn't make him look refined because he had an extremely muscular build.
He wore a pink shirt with yellow and green patterns across the middle, along with light-blue shorts and sandals. There was a scar on his left arm, and he wore a bracelet set with green gemstones.
No matter how she looked at him, the old man's appearance could only be described as "cutting-edge." Unfortunately, he was so cutting-edge that Nami couldn't understand the fashion at all.
"My name is Nami. I'm the navigator of this pirate crew. Who are you, Grandpa, and why are you—"
"Inside the whale's stomach, you mean?" the old man finished.
"Uh... yes." Nami asked curiously, "And what is this Carleth you mentioned?"
Since they had arrived somewhere new, there was no harm in asking questions.
"Just call me Crocus. It's been a long time since anyone besides Laboon talked to me."
Crocus found a place to sit on the ship. He looked up at the dark "sky" and continued, "As for Carleth... I believe you really did just come from the East Blue. After all, there aren't many pirates on the Grand Line who haven't heard of that organization."
"Uh..." Nami felt as if he were calling her clueless, but she didn't really mind. She continued asking questions. "So what's the deal? Is Carleth really that powerful?"
"Of course." Crocus raised his eyebrows slightly. "Even the World Government is struggling because of them. Many World Government member nations on the Grand Line are under attack by Carleth. They've already occupied more than half of some of those countries' territory."
"They're that powerful?" Nami took a deep breath in surprise. "What about the Marines? Don't they do anything?"
"How would I know?" Crocus snapped. "I'm not Carleth's leader, and I'm not one of the Five Elders. How would I know everything that's going on?"
"That makes sense..." Nami nodded awkwardly, then quickly changed the subject. "Is Laboon the whale's name?"
When she mentioned Laboon, the old man called Crocus relaxed a little. He nodded while sitting down.
"Yeah. Laboon has been on edge lately. When you suddenly appeared, it mistook you for enemies. Otherwise, it would usually be up in the sky by now."
"In the sky?" Nami was even more surprised. Only then did she remember the strange sound she had heard earlier. It had come from above. Could it be...?
She couldn't help asking, "Can Laboon fly?"
That was ridiculous. It was one thing for a whale to be huge, but could it really fly too?
"It only learned how in the last few years." Crocus didn't say much more, because he didn't actually know why it had happened either.
Crocus had originally been the doctor at Twin Cape. Later, he became the ship's doctor aboard Roger's pirate crew and helped ease Roger's pain. After Roger was captured and the crew disbanded, Crocus returned to Twin Cape.
All of this was because of Laboon. Laboon had originally been left at Reverse Mountain by the Rumbar Pirates, but the Rumbar Pirates never returned. During its long wait, Laboon kept ramming its head against the Red Line. Unable to bear watching this, Crocus set out with Roger. One reason was to ease Roger's suffering, and the other was to search for the Rumbar Pirates.
A few years after returning to Twin Cape, Crocus noticed that Laboon had begun to change. It grew larger and larger, and in the past two years it had even learned to...
Fly?
Yes, it was unbelievable. A whale that had lived in the ocean all its life had somehow learned to fly one day.
Crocus believed Laboon missed the Rumbar Pirates so badly that its feelings had moved the heavens, which had granted it the ability to fly. However, because its body was so huge, it could only fly at a very low altitude.
Even after learning to fly, Laboon still couldn't rise high enough to cross the Red Line. So it kept training, hoping that one day it could become a giant beast soaring through the sky and cross the Red Line to search for the Rumbar Pirates.
Crocus was amazed by Laboon's changes, but he was even happier for it.
Until...
Recently.
Thinking about the unpleasant things that had happened lately, Crocus stood up and checked the companions of the beautiful woman in front of him.
"Hmm, they're all fine. Laboon went a little too far, but your companions are all in very good shape. They should wake up before long."
When Crocus saw that Nami hadn't even fainted, he realized that this group of pirates was far from ordinary. After growing larger and larger, Laboon had become completely different from before. Crocus believed Laboon might even grow as terrifying as Zunesha in the New World.
No...
It might become even more terrifying than Zunesha. Just think about it. Laboon might not only grow to Zunesha's size, but it could also fly. A flying Zunesha wouldn't even need to do anything. It could simply fly over an enemy's territory and drop straight down, destroying everything beneath it.
After hearing this, Nami relaxed slightly. In truth, she wasn't too worried about the others getting hurt. At worst, she could sacrifice a little and give them some of her blood. Once they became demons, wouldn't all their problems be solved?
No, no, no. She wanted to become human again! Why did it feel as if she had been relying more and more on her demon powers lately?
Nami spaced out for a moment. She had even started thinking about turning her companions into demons.
Would the old Nami ever have considered something like that?
"Wait! Luffy and Ben!"
Nami forced herself to focus on something else. She suddenly remembered that Luffy and Ben weren't aboard the Going Merry. Ben had transformed into something that could move freely through the ocean, but his transformation only lasted ten minutes!
And Luffy was a complete landlubber...
Nami hurriedly said, "Sorry, Uncle Crocus, but two of my companions are still in the water. I have to go find them!"
With that, she jumped straight into the ocean.
Crocus smiled when she demoted him from Grandpa to Uncle.
"Young people really are full of energy."
"Laboon! Please take us to Base One! Igaram needs medical treatment too!"
His voice echoed across the vast world. It was tiny compared with the ocean, but Laboon could hear every word he said.
In response, Laboon pushed the Going Merry forward with the waves inside its body. Before long, they reached an island.
----
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