Ascending the Elephant

After hearing about Zou's age, Luffy was utterly shocked. The others, however, were worried, because Luo had just said that the Mink Tribe was extremely xenophobic.

"Franky! Luffy! Ming!" Edward waved his hands excitedly, looking incredibly thrilled.

"Edward!" Luffy was just as delighted. He leaped straight over to Edward. "It's been a long time, Edward!"

"Edward, has there been any problem with your body lately..." As a mechanic, Franky's first concern was whether there was anything wrong with him.

"It's nothing! Nami's navigation skills are especially good, so I'm completely fine!" Edward said excitedly.

"Where are Sanji and the others?" Li Ziming wondered why Edward was the only one here.

"Sanji..." Edward suddenly fell silent. For some reason, he looked terribly... afraid and sorrowful.

"Edward, just tell us what happened. We'll all help solve it together..." Luffy pressed a hand on Edward's head.

"Yeah!" Edward nodded and sniffled. "Big Brother Sanji was taken away!"

"By who?" Although Luffy appeared calm, everyone could feel the volcanic fury beneath that calm, ready to erupt.

"Calm down, Luffy..." Li Ziming held Luffy's shoulder. "Edward, what about the others...?"

"The others are all fine. Big Brother Sanji left with that gang leader in order to protect us!" Edward haltingly recounted the journey he and the others had gone through these past days.

"Big Mom!" A flash of Conqueror's Haki flickered across Luffy's body.

"Luffy, if things are really as Edward said, then Sanji must be fine..." Li Ziming comforted him. "But first, we need to meet up with Nami and the others!"

"I know..." Luffy let out a long breath. "But I'm definitely going to send Big Mom flying!"

"You'll get that chance..." Li Ziming nodded. "But this time, we'll be fighting Big Mom. I need to plan a few things first..."

"Ming, I'm