"Yahoo~"
Luffy let out an excited shout. Everyone else wore expectant smiles too.
Once they crossed this mountain, they would enter the Grand Line!
Driven by the current, the Going Merry kept surging upward and soon reached the summit. Then, after a brief flight, it landed in the descending canal.
The descent was even faster than the climb, sending up bigger splashes. That made it even more thrilling!
"Woooo~~~"
Suddenly, a strange sound reached them. Xia Chen couldn't help looking up ahead. He murmured, "Laboon?"
Aside from Xia Chen, Zoro was the only one aboard who noticed the sound. Curious, he asked the others, "Did you hear something?"
"It's the wind!" Nami answered confidently.
She was now a navigator who had seen the world. She couldn't make a fuss over every little thing at sea. Wouldn't that be embarrassing?
The sound was admittedly a little strange, but this was the Grand Line, after all, the most incredible sea in the world. A little strange wind noise was perfectly normal!
"Could it be a whale?" Xia Chen asked with a faint, knowing smile.
"Xia Chen, what are you talking about? How could a whale be that loud? If that really was a whale, just how big would it have to... be?"
Before Sanji could finish, he saw a black mountain ahead. Once they got a little closer, he realized it wasn't a mountain at all, but an enormous whale.
!!!
"Ah!!"
Everyone aboard panicked.
"H-how can a whale be that huge?"
"It's a kind of Island Whale from the West Blue. They can grow as big as an entire island, so this size is perfectly normal!"
"Oh, I see!" Everyone stood there and clapped their hands in unison.
But a moment later...
"No, Xia Chen! The problem right now isn't calmly discussing what species of whale it is! We're going to crash into it!!!"
"Relax, relax! I've got a plan!" Xia Chen said casually.
✧.٩(ˊωˋ*)و✧!
"What plan?" everyone asked in unison.
"The plan is..."
Xia Chen jumped onto the figurehead and swept his right foot sharply forward.
"Rankyaku!"
A slashing wave flew out and struck Laboon.
"Mooo~"
Laboon let out a cry of pain, then opened his mouth and sucked in all the surrounding seawater. Naturally, Xia Chen and the others' ship wasn't spared either.
And just like that, the entire ship entered Laboon's belly.
???
‼(•'╻'• )꒳ᵒ꒳ᵎᵎᵎ
(σ;Д)σ Death penalty!
"So your damn plan to keep us from crashing was to get us swallowed?!"
"Just tell me whether we crashed," Xia Chen said, spreading his hands.
"Well, we didn't~"
"But we're getting eaten!"
"Isn't this even worse than crashing?!"
Luffy and the others gripped Xia Chen's neck tightly, shaking him as they roared.
"You guys... are you asking for a beating?!"
Bang, bang, bang, bang!
"Tch, people these days won't even let you call them out when they do something wrong!" Luffy scoffed, his face covered in bruises and red marks.
"Exactly! The guy in the wrong even dares to throw the first punch. What kind of logic is that?"
"The world's going downhill. People aren't what they used to be!"
Zoro and Sanji each chimed in.
For some reason, their words made Xia Chen's fists itch again. But after thinking it over, he let it go. Bullying these weaklings all the time was no fun.
Xia Chen said casually, "If I dared to let a whale swallow us like that, it proves we're absolutely fine!"
"Quit your whining and just watch!"
A few minutes later, after a dizzying tumble, the Going Merry landed steadily on a green sea.
The blue sky, white clouds, and flying birds left everyone stunned.
"Weren't we swallowed by a whale? What... is going on?" Nami stammered.
"We are indeed inside the whale's belly!" A cup of coffee had appeared in Xia Chen's hand at some point. He took a small sip before speaking casually.
"Huh?"
"That's right. Look, those clouds and birds aren't moving. They're painted on!" Usopp said, pointing at the sky.
"So that means... the sea below us is stomach acid?" Sanji's expression changed drastically.
"Exactly!"
"Who... are you?"
While everyone was still marveling at why the inside of the whale's belly looked like this, an elderly voice rang out beside them.
At that, everyone's gaze involuntarily turned toward the voice.
"Whoa! A chrysanthemum is walking toward us!!!" Luffy shouted in terror.
"Hmph! What chrysanthemum? How rude!"
"The chrysanthemum can talk!" Luffy looked even more terrified.
"Idiot, that's obviously a person!" Zoro said, somewhat speechless, though he was a little puzzled too.
Why is there a little island inside the whale's belly?
With that thought, Zoro couldn't help asking him, "Old man, who are you? Why are you inside a whale's belly?"
"Shouldn't you introduce yourself before asking someone else?"
"Uh... fair enough!"
"I'm Roronoa..."
"I'm Crocus, the lighthouse keeper at Twin Cape. I'm seventy-one years old, my sign is Gemini, and my blood type is AB!"
Clang! Wado Ichimonji left its sheath.
"Don't hold me back! I'm going to cut him down!"
"Calm down, calm down!" Sanji held him back with all his strength.
"You want to fight? I'd advise against it. Someone could die!" A cold glint flashed in Crocus's eyes as he spoke ominously.
"Hm?" Everyone's expression hardened at his words. They stared intently at the old man before them.
Sanji took a drag on his cigarette. Blowing out smoke rings, he said, "Then let's see who dies!"
He didn't believe an old man in his seventies could have much fighting ability.
"What nonsense are you talking about? Isn't it obvious who would die? Me, of course!" Crocus declared with absolute conviction.
⁽⁽ƪ(•̩̩̩̩＿•̩̩̩̩)ʃ⁾⁾ᵒᵐᵍᵎᵎ
"So you meant yourself!!!"
"Anyway, what exactly are you doing here? You're not planning to harm this whale, are you?" As he said this, Crocus stared fixedly at the group opposite him.
"Of course not. We just got swallowed by Laboon by accident!" Xia Chen said, stepping up to the bow.
"Oh~ I see!" Crocus nodded.
But suddenly, he seemed to realize something. He looked at Xia Chen in shock and asked, stressing every word, "Why do you know this whale's name?"
A mysterious smile appeared on Xia Chen's face.
"Well, about that..."