Where's My Chopper?

"What are you talking about? How could I possibly get any on me?" Reiner snapped irritably.

He really couldn't understand it. The Bomb-Bomb Fruit could even detonate the air one breathed out, so why had Buggy decided to develop it in the direction of boogers?

If that didn't work, he could have trained something like hair needles. Why did he have to make it so disgusting?

Reiner looked around but didn't see Luffy. He casually scooped up a cup of liquor and chugged it, the spills from the corner of his mouth dripping onto his shirt and soaking it.

"Luffy hasn't come back yet?" he asked casually as he put down the cup.

Nami took the cup, filled it again, and handed it back to him. "Luffy hasn't returned yet. Just in case, Reiner, go take a look."

"You really like ordering people around."

He took the cup and drained it, then turned toward the Tyrannosaurus Rex. "Come on, I'll take you out for some fun."

"Roar!" The Tyrannosaurus Rex swiftly came before him and lowered itself into a crouch.

Man and dinosaur headed straight into the forest. Reiner summoned the Blue Ogre and used Observation Haki to search the area, but he didn't find Luffy's presence.

"Seriously, did he go that far away?"

He sighed. With Luffy's strength, fighting Mr. 3 shouldn't have been this difficult. He had probably gotten playful after seeing the guy's candle-shaping abilities.

Hm, what was that?

Through the dense shadows of the trees, Reiner spotted a white house.

"Let's check that place out."

"Roar!"

As they approached the white house, they faintly heard a familiar voice coming from inside.

"In any case, once you've dealt with the Straw Hat Crew, come directly to Alabasta. To prevent the Marines from listening in on our plans, this will be the last time we use the Transponder Snail."

"Understood, Boss. That's it, then. I'm hanging up."

Sanji?

Reiner recognized one of the voices. The white house looked like it had been made from Mr. 3's wax, and there was no door.

He walked straight in. Sure enough, Sanji was inside, dressed in a black suit and lounging on a white sofa with a Transponder Snail still in his hand.

"Reiner?"

"Sanji, what's going on here?"

Seeing two figures lying on the ground, Reiner couldn't help asking, "And what the hell are these? Sea otters wearing clothes?"

"Well, they seem to be called Unluckies or something."

Sanji gave him a rough explanation. Earlier, while hunting, he had accidentally wandered over here. Curious, he had gone inside and discovered that the Transponder Snail was ringing.

After answering it, he learned that the caller was the boss of Baroque Works. Sanji had pretended to be Mr. 3 and talked nonsense with him for a while.

"So these things are the Unluckies?"

Reiner crouched down to inspect the sea otter and vulture on the ground. They looked vaguely familiar, though he couldn't quite place them. Then he picked up a small hourglass-shaped object from the floor.

"This should be the Eternal Pose they brought, right?"

"Yeah. With an Eternal Pose for Alabasta, if we want to get there fast, we can go straight there."

"Mm. We'll see what Luffy says about the route." Reiner put away the pose, handed Sanji a cigarette, and the two left the room.

After Reiner briefly explained the attack they had encountered on the island, Sanji immediately declared that he was going to protect Nami and Vivi.

"Heh, are you really going there to protect them?"

Reiner rolled his eyes, mounted the Tyrannosaurus Rex, and left.

After making a huge detour, he finally spotted the bedraggled Luffy.

"Hey, Luffy!"

"Ah, it's Rein—wait a second!"

Luffy answered when he saw Reiner, but then he seemed to spot something unbelievable and froze on the spot.

"It's a Tyrannosaurus Rex!!!"

"Wahahaha!!"

Luffy's eyes lit up as he rushed forward, leaped high into the air, and landed on the Tyrannosaurus Rex's back. "Hehehe, let's go, Tyrannosaurus Rex. We're heading back."

Reiner was speechless. If he wanted one so badly, couldn't he catch one himself?

Whatever. He was only having a little fun. If he wanted one later, he could make one whenever he pleased.

"Why are you so beat up? Did you deal with the enemy?"

"Yeah, I dealt with them."

"Everyone! Giant uncles, too! We're back!"

"Gahahaha, looks like you all took care of things."

Reiner jumped off the dinosaur, collected its template, then hurried back into the forest. He turned to the grinning giant and said,

"Yeah, it went smoothly. Thanks to you uncles being so strong."

"Gahahaha, of course!"

"Hey, Reiner, you bastard! You actually moved so much of my liquor!"

A figure charged out from the crowd. Reiner looked over and found that it was actually Zoro?!

"Why are you here?"

"Well, I took down some pretty decent prey."

Zoro drank from his cup while raising a hand toward the triceratops lying not far away. "I was about to drag it back to the ship, but somehow I ended up here while walking."

"Heh, and you actually found the right way?" Reiner laughed.

"What are you talking about?! I'll chop you up, bastard!"

"Are you okay, Luffy?"

Seeing Luffy covered in wounds, Vivi stepped forward anxiously with both hands over her chest, guilt written all over her face. "Sorry, it's all my fault for bringing these people here. If not for—ow, ow, that hurts!"

Nami pinched and tugged Vivi's cheek, saying irritably, "No one on this ship talks about whose fault it is or who to blame."

"The little punk cries easily, huh? Don't worry, no one will blame you." Reiner casually pinched Vivi's other cheek.

Mm, very soft.

It was already noon. Since Sanji was here, they could cook a meal right away.

He sent the undead to the ship to fetch the kitchen utensils. Zoro stingily declared that his triceratops had to be saved until after the duel's result and couldn't be eaten, so Reiner had the undead bring back some fierce beasts as well.

"Let's eat!" ×9

"Quack!"

The crew, two giants, and one duck sat down on the grass to eat.

"This is delicious, gahaha! Curly-brow, your cooking is incredible."

"Bastard! Gnaw all the meat off the bones before you throw them away!"

Under Sanji's glare, the two burly men could only scratch their heads awkwardly and pick up the bones from the ground to gnaw on them. Though they were giants, they looked exactly like children who had done something wrong.

The sight made everyone laugh. After eating and drinking their fill, the group rested for a while, and Nami casually asked,

"Uncle, how long does Little Garden's pose take to set?"

"This place? One year."

"What!!!"

Everyone was stunned. Reiner was dumbfounded too. How was that even a thing?

Luffy immediately became unhappy. "I waited ten whole years before I finally got to go out to sea! Uncles, help me think of something."

"You idiot, what can we possibly do about that?"

"No, wait. Sanji found this in the forest." Reiner pulled an hourglass-shaped object from his clothes.

Broggy recognized it at a glance. "Oh, you have an Eternal Pose."

"An Eternal Pose?"

Nami was hearing of it for the first time as well. Vivi explained that it was a special pose that would always point toward a particular island.

"So we can only use this to head straight for Alabasta?"

"Wouldn't that mean we'll miss out on adventures on some islands?" Hearing Nami's words, Luffy became somewhat depressed.

Reiner was even more dumbfounded than him. Where's my Chopper? Wait, what about the ship's doctor I've been looking forward to playing with?

"Wait, Nami, did you bring your sea chart?"

Reiner hurriedly asked Nami for the Grand Line map. She had stolen it from Buggy back in the East Blue.

Looking at the direct route from Little Garden to Alabasta, he saw that Drum Island was not far from the route. Only then did Reiner relax. When the time came, he could just make up some excuse to go there.

After a while, once they had rested enough, the group left. Dorry and Broggy, seated where they were, exchanged smiles.

"Come on, Dorry. It's time to see our friends off."

"Yeah. These two old companions would be honored too."

The two picked up their rust-covered swords and axes, rose to their feet, and headed for the shore.

They were the only witnesses to this century-long duel. Now they too were battered and incomplete, as though they would shatter at any moment.