Chapter Text
Grand Line-
The Straw Hat crew had been busy patching up Merry for the last few days. The Ship had worn out since its fall from Sky Island. Merry had to be in the best condition to carry that much gold to their next destination. The solid gold pillar gifted to them by the Skypieans was bisected into three equal halves and carefully tied up to the ship and covered in cloth to ward off unnecessary attention.
Zoro was in the crow’s nest, meditating as well as keeping an eye out. Ussop was tinkering with all the dials that he had collected in Skypiea. Sanji was busy cooking up some snacks for Robin and Nami. Nami was keeping watch of the Grand Line’s treacherously turbulent weather carefully with the help of her log pose and navigating the ship as usual. Robin was busy reading a book. Chopper was reading one of Robin’s books. And Luffy was bored.
“I’m BOREDDDD!!!” The Straw Hat Captain yelled out loud.
“Practice your Mantra!” The crew chorused in perfectly practiced unison.
Luffy immediately went into a meditative state to practice mantra. This was their new sacred word. Ever since Luffy awoke his mantra in Sky Island, he’s been ‘hearing’ things from the world. Luffy being just as terrible with directions as Zoro is, he had quickly gotten lost in the sound. It kept the troublesome Captain from jumping on about the ship like a child who is high on sugar for the better part of an hour, so it was a win-win for the crew.
They now had three mantra users in the crew, Robin was by far the best at it. Luffy was a close second, and finally Zoro, who trained non-stop, dead-set on being the best.
The calm lasted for about ten minutes before Luffy once again stood up, jumping about the ship, “Hey Zoro, do you see anything?”
The swordsman opened his eyes, and replied lazily, “Yeah, I saw an island a while ago.”
“Why the hell didn’t you say so?!” Ussop yelled.
“Land ho…!” The hyperactive Captain yelled and the crew sighed collectively.
Luffy had jumped off the ship the moment it came to a halt and bounced away in excitement. Ussop and Chopper had gone with their dumb captain just to make sure that he didn’t get lost or get in any trouble.
They had hope. The island was a long and endless plain, it didn’t even look like it had people. Which means there was no way Luffy would get in trouble. And they were positive that their crew’s doctor and sniper would guide Luffy back to the ship if he did get lost.
“Nami-san, I think you should come and see this…” Sanji’s voice broke the silence on deck. Even Zoro looked curious as Sanji’s voice wasn’t one of his lovey-dovey tone, it was serious.
Nami walked towards her orange groves to see Sanji staring at the fruits with a bowl in his hand. She followed her perverted crewmate’s gaze and she was dumbstruck to see a blue fruit hanging on one of her groves. The fruit was larger than her orange, it had swirls to it. It was no ordinary fruit.
“Is that what I think it is?” A voice came from behind them. They turned to see Zoro and Robin standing there staring at them.
“I think it is…” Nami agreed.
Robin came closer to inspect it and then she turned on her heels, “I’ll get the Devil Fruit Encyclopaedia.”
“We have one of those?” Sanji asked in shock.
“Crocodile had one, an outdated version of the Encyclopaedia stolen by one of the billions from a marine base. I brought it with me.” Robin answered briefly.
A few minutes later, Robin was referring to the large book and inspecting the fruit hanging on the grove. The archaeologist stood up and addressed the crew, “It is definitely a logia type Devil fruit. Elemental class. I think it might be Enel’s Devil Fruit. Enel is the only logia type devil fruit user to die in the vicinity of the ship. It’s the only logical explanation.”
Nami’s eyes turned shape near-instantly into the Berry symbol, she grinned happily, “Let’s sell it!”
Sanji went back to his love mode near instantly, as Zoro sighed, while Robin smiled, “That’s not your decision to make.” Zoro chimed in, “It’s Luffy’s.”
“Why not?!” Nami screeched baring her teeth at the swordsman, “They say these fruits go for over a hundred million berrys. You do know that we’re broke right?”
A tic mark erupted on Zoro’s forehead as he yelled back, “We have enough gold here that’s worth over one billion berries according to you!”
“That’s my personal savings!” The navigator retorted.
Zoro yelled back, “Your savings? It belongs to everyone in the crew!”
“Fine! I’ll give you five percent.”
“It’s not a negotiation!”
Zoro and Nami shot back and forth, Nami still trying to haggle a percentage while the swordsman yelled in utter determination. Sanji sweat-dropped, while Robin once again smiled carelessly.
But then Robin’s expressions became serious, “I too think it is unwise, Nami-san." That immediately earned the attention of everyone on deck.
"Normal paramecia type devil fruits are sold for hundreds of millions of berries. A zoan type is rare, it could be sold for several hundred million, perhaps even a billion.” Nami looked as if Christmas had come early, giggling devilishly every few seconds, but Robin continued, “A logia type is rarer still, it could easily fetch us over a billion berries.” By now, Nami was glowing, as if she was ready to fly away.
And then, Robin’s explanation took a dark turn, “However, it comes with a risk. The moment the black-market dealers get word that someone out there is trying to sell a logia type devil fruit, they will sniff us out, every bounty hunter in the immediate area would come after us, not to mention the marines. If the marines try to buy it, we could be arrested at the meet-up, and even if we manage to evade them after the sale is completed, the fruit will most likely end up in the hands of one of the Vice-Admirals or one of the Cypher Pol agents. And it would be disastrous if one of the Vice-Admirals started chasing us with Lightning logia type prowess.”
Nami’s hopes at a sale was dashed by Robin’s assessment, as she cried. Her hysteria was interrupted when Zoro announced, “Pipe down! We have company.”
A giant pirate ship with a Jolly Roger with the name FOXY spelled on it arrived, trapping Merry from sailing.
Luffy was pissed off, he didn’t care who this clown was, he was going to send him flying. They shot Sherry, the old man Tonjit’s horse, the horse that had waited ten years for the old man to come down from the bamboo stilts, he will never forgive this foxy guy for that.
And he did. Luffy was pissed, he didn’t listen to what the foxy guy had to say at all. The punch had sent the foxy guy flying off into the sky until he disappeared in a sparkling star. Luffy chased the guy’s crew all the way to the shore, to Merry, only to see the large ship and its crew pulling out the foxy guy out of the water.
“AHHH!!!” He was still pissed, “Let me at em’!”
Bodies were laid out all around Merry. Sanji, Zoro and Robin had done their job. The Foxy pirates crew was freaking out.
Then he heard a sudden yell, “How dare you hit me! I am Foxy the Silver Fox, Captain of the Foxy Pirates!”
“I don’t care who the hell you are! I don’t even know who you are!” That sent the captain of the Foxy pirates into an immediate depression. Zoro, Sanji and Nami sweat-dropped, while Robin giggled at the exchange.
Foxy stood up again at the beckoning of his combatant Porche, “I will defeat you!”
“Oh yeah? Take this…” Luffy lunged, “Gomu Gomu no…”
“Noro Noro Beam!”
Luffy slowed down in mid-air as Foxy used the thirty seconds window to deliver a barrage of blows on Luffy’s body. When the beam’s effect wore off, Luffy was sent flying with bruises of the punch.
Luffy jumped right back on his feet and was about to lunge back when Robin yelled out, “Luffy, do not fall to his bait. Calm down. Use your Mantra.”
The word ‘mantra’ had the desired effect on Luffy, because the Straw-Hat captain looked up, his eyes screaming ‘awesome’. He took a deep breath and remembered Gan Fall’s words. And then he calmed himself down. Focusing on his mantra, he took a running start again. This time the Straw-Hat crew wasn’t worried, as his entire crew watched with a smirk.
Foxy laughed arrogantly, “Noro Noro Beam!”
This time Luffy predicted the beam’s direction and stamped his feet on the ground to jump higher within a split second and evaded above it. Foxy adjusted his aim and shot another Noro Noro Beam at him, but he saw this one coming as well. His arms elongated and punched into the ground, as he pulled himself down to the ground before propelling forward in full speed. Before Foxy could shoot another beam, Luffy was on him, one arm stretched behind him as he brought it on Foxy, “Gomu Gomu no Bullet!!”
The punch connected right on Foxy’s nose, sending him flying away into the sea. Foxy skidded on the water a few times like a rock skipping of a pond and then went into the sea with an explosive ‘splash’. The Foxy crew jumped in to rescue their boss once again.