Luffy and Dorry were busy eating to their heart's content, and Nami and Vivi were simply busy watching them; they were in some kind of competition, which both were clearly enjoying. Vivi wondered where that amount of meat was even going; at the end of the day, Luffy was human! Right?
In her mind, he shouldn't be able to eat more than the giant, yet, in front of her eyes, she could see Luffy biting a massive chunk of meat, swallowing down immediately, not bothering to chew on it, before grabbing another bone with meat around, the aroma of the meat was quite pleasant, followed with booze, green fruits, and vegetables. Still, it seemed they were too focused on eating as much as possible, especially Luffy.
A giggle escaped from Nami; seeing her captain like this was always amusing, but despite their competition, none of them tried to take food from their plates, something Vivi immensely appreciated; her companion Karoo was hiding behind her, using her as some kind of shield afraid that at this mental state neither the giant nor Luffy would notice that he wasn't food...
"Gegyagyagyagyagyagy," Dorry laughed out loud before swallowing more meat; he had to admit he was quite surprised by the little men; it had been a long time since they had visitors, the last time a ship arrived on their little island, whoever were they died before either Dorry or Broggy could talk with them, all they found was their ship completely deserted, the ship itself was heavily damaged in critical areas essential to sail in the first place.
With that thought out of the way, Dorry swallowed before following it with some good booze. "This booze is amazing little pirates; it has been some time since I have tasted booze of this quality," he said with another laugh, looking down at the ladies who weren't exactly hungry and the little duck who paled when his giant eyes made contact with his, hiding more behind the lady with blue hair.
"I have seen that kind of duck before; they come from Alabasta! What is he doing here?" Dorry asked, confused, pointing at the duck with his giant finger; it had been a long time since he had seen other animals that didn't live in Little Garden.
"Oh, well, Vivi is the Princess of Alabasta, and Karoo is her companion," the captain straw hat explained, after swallowing more food, his eyes turning to look up at the giant who started coughing when he heard that.
Vivi took a step back, wondering if the giant had anything against her, but Nami grabbed her hand, ensuring there was nothing wrong here; the princess wondered how she knew.
Stopping his coughing, he wiped off the wine from his lips before surprisingly bowing his head respectfully towards the princess. "Is quite something to meet royalty, the last time I met royalty was back at home, but that was a lord time ago. Don't be afraid of me. I won't hurt you, and neither will Broggy," Dorry informed her with a grin, easing the worries of the princess, especially the poor duck behind her who almost fell to his knees, the color on his face returning.
"What are you two doing here?" Luffy finally asked; his stomach was full, so now he could get to know his new friend a little better.
The giant laughed at the question, amused. "Believe it or not, we are not exactly sure. Me and Broggy have been here for a century by now," he announced, earning a gasp from the princess, the duck, and the navigator; they were quite shocked to hear that they had been here for a century; Luffy simply whistled in surprise, his way of showing that he was surprised.
Taking back her composure, Vivi straightens up, wanting to ask the million berry question...
"Why would you be here for a century? Are you stuck here?" Vivi asked, her voice seeping with curiosity, almost convinced that they couldn't leave the island because they lacked a good ship to sail away.
The giant shook his head, crumbling her theory; the two other straw hats were quite curios, except Luffy, who narrowed his eyes slightly, feeling that someone was far away from them; he could feel four of them, and two of them were familiar.
Are they really here to annoy us? Again?? Luffy wondered, thinking that perhaps he should force them to come out or just wait for them to make their move first.
"Nah, we are not stuck. In Elbaf, where I come from, there's an old custom that if two giants have some kind of dispute with each other, neither of them refuses to back down. In that case, we leave it to our god. They fight until the one who's right wins," he said before laughing out loud again.
"But we have been at this for a century now, Gegyagyagyagyagyagy," he laughed, taking a drink from the barrel with booze.
"A Century?!!" Vivi whispered, completely shocked; she couldn't comprehend what kind of hatred could cause someone to fight someone else for a century.
Nami was shocked as well but for a completely different reason. "A century! Don't you think that's a bit too Long" Nami asked sarcastically at the end; she didn't know much about giants; perhaps their life span was much longer than theirs.
"Gegyagyagyagyagyagy, a century is nothing to us, little lady. We giants can live for three centuries," Dorry answered, his mouth smelling of booze, pulling down the barrel after emptying it, a constant grin on his face.
"Why?" Vivi suddenly asked out loud, looking down at the grass before her eyes looking up at the giant, hoping she could somehow help them with just words. Luffy frowned slightly, knowing what she was probably thinking.
"Viv" "What makes you hate each other so much! Sure is not something to make it worth it? Right??" Vivi asked; the level of her voice grew with each word she uttered
Nami walked up to her before placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, knowing for a princess like her, talking things through was a much better version rather than fighting; while that was true, not every problem in life could be solved by simply saying some words. Arlong, for example, wouldn't simply leave them alone if they just talked; monsters like him understood only pain and violence.
Dorry blinked at her words as if he didn't hear correctly, his smile still on his face, understanding where the princess was coming from.
"Hate? I don't hate him; he's my oldest friend. We have been friends for a very long time, Gegyagyagyagyagyagy," he stated before laughing again, much to the shock of the princess.
Now things made even less sense to her; She couldn't comprehend what made them fight. She would somehow understand if it was simple hatred, but they were both old friends, according to him.
"What kind of dispute would make it worth fighting each other for a century?" Vivi asked, still wanting to understand their reasons for fighting for so long.
Dorry lost his smile for the first time since they met him; Nami tensed slightly, wondering if Vivi had offended him or their customs.
"We don't really know! We have been at this for so long that we had forgotten what the dispute was all about," Dorry answered before a bright grin was on his face again; Nami relaxed, while Luffy seemed to be entirely focused elsewhere.
Vivi didn't seem to want to give up on her attempt to make them stop through words; she opened her mouth, ready to say something else...
"Vivi, enough. This is not something you can stop by simply saying some words; they have been at this for a century now. You can't say anything that would make them even consider it," Luffy stated with a firm tone, almost commanding her to not speak of this issue again; Vivi turned to look at Luffy and was ready to argue when they heard the loud cry of a dinosaur far away, everyone turned to look at the direction before the cry suddenly stopped, Dorry quirked an eyebrow at that, he knew it couldn't be Broggy, he wouldn't get this close unless it were their time to fight, and if he were simply hunting, he would do it on his own territory.
"That's just Zoro, my crewmate, don't worry about it. He and my ship's chef are in a competition on who can bring the largest prey on the ship," Luffy explained, knowing Sanji was also nearby. Still, unlike Zoro, who was going around in circles without direction, Sanji was actually going somewhere, much to Luffy's interest, knowing where he was going.
Dorry's eyes twitched slightly, and his face suddenly brightened up before punching the side of his head, before laughing yet again. "Now, I remember why Broggy and I have been fighting; when we first arrived here, we both hunt down prey. Long story short, the dispute was who hunted the bigger prey," He revealed with another laughter, holding his stomach with his hands.
Vivi was even more shocked now that she knew why they had been fighting for so long; at first, she thought perhaps it was because of some issue that involved their families but to hear they were at this for so long simply because of who hunted the bigger prey...!!
"They're crazy," The princess concluded, earning a giggle from Nami. The navigator didn't know what the dispute had been, but she wasn't exactly surprised; since she joined Luffy, she had come to understand that certain things made no sense whatsoever.
Suddenly the ground started shaking again, and they all saw the volcano erupting again; Dorry stood up, grabbed his sword and shield, making his way towards their fighting place.
"What is happening now?" Vivi asked out loud, looking at the giant who kept walking towards the volcano.
"The erupting of that volcano is the signal of the start of our fight, every time it erupts; we fight, it doesn't matter if it is twice a day or once a month, or once a year," Dorry revealed as he walked towards his destination, each footsteps shaking the ground beneath him, making almost every animal run away in fear.
From far away, Zoro just looked at the giant with an arched eyebrow before returning to his business; it didn't matter to him what the giant was doing as long as it didn't involve him or his crew.
Nojiko
The duo left to guard the ship could only gasp, seeing the two giants exchanging blow after blow, but the most mesmerized one seemed to be Usopp, whose mouth was hanging open, looking at them with admiration.
Both still exchanging blows, but none of them actually landed; it was either their shields or their helmet that blocked the blow, but not once did their weapon injure the other giant.
"Don't you want to go home?" Dorry asked as he swung his sword towards his friend; the other dodged the deadly attack before bringing his ax down, only to be blocked by his shield, both of them grinning at each other as their blood was pumping through their bodies in a way that only happens when they fought.
"All the more reason to defeat you," Broggy replied with a taunting smirk before attacking again; their weapons made contact, causing a shock wave to be felt around them, and many trees around started to fall from sudden cuts around them.
Usopp and Nojiko gasped; despite being so far away, they still felt the shock wave, but thankfully they weren't injured.
"They're both crazy," Nojiko stated in both amazement and fear, she had seen how powerful their captain was, but looking at these giants, wondering how their crew could go on, Grand Line was full of powerful people and creatures like them. For a long time, she had been convinced that Arlong was one of the strongest creatures on the planet; these giants made him look like an ant under her feet; how can we ever become so strong? How can I?? but she quickly shook away that thought, they would get stronger, and she would become the strongest female pirate on the sea.
"This is nothing but Amazing; to them, this fight is more important than life itself. Is everything to them," Usopp stated with a bright smile and not actually showing fear in his eyes, something Nojiko was quite taken aback. She understood that much; after all, they had been in this fight for a century. Fight after fight, blow after blow, not once giving up.
"In a way, they have their own flags, proudly showing it to the whole world to see. This is what my dream is. This is a fight between men, between warriors. This is what I envision myself to be. A great warrior of the sea, someone who can look death straight in the eye and fight, not back down like a coward, but fight until the End," Usopp announced loudly with his hands raised, tears rolling down his cheek as he passionately said each word with all his heart.
Nojiko looked at Usopp, completely mesmerized; for the very first, he didn't look like a coward at the first sign of a fight, but the one who stood proudly, with no Fear in his eyes.
Luffy
Dorry soon returned from the battle, and it seemed to have gone the same way it had gone the last perhaps thousandths time.
Dorry sat down, breathing heavily, his fingers aching; he was just about to drink when Luffy decided he couldn't wait any longer.
"Stop" he shouted, causing lightning bolts all around the sky, Nami and Vivi were on their feet, wondering what was happening to make Luffy serious all of a sudden, but the thunder was also an alarm to the rest of the crew that something wasn't right.
Zoro, from far away, dropped the dead beast he was carrying over his shoulder; hearing the thunder, he knew his captain needed his help.
Sanji was busy drinking tea in a house somewhere, a cigarette in his mouth; he inhaled on it just as a Transponder Snail started ringing; the chef smirked as he grabbed the snail.
"Hello There"
Luffy
Back at Luffy, Dorry was looking at the little pirate captain in confusion but wary as well; from that thunder alone, he knew Luffy wasn't someone to take lightly.
"What is it, Straw Hat Captain, if-" "Someone else is on this island, I feel four other presences, and that booze is poisoned," Luffy declared with a new cold look that Dorry saw for the first time, but what he heard made his blood boil, rising to his feet, he roared in anger.
"Who dares to do that?? I will show them the might of Warriors of Elbaf," Dorry screamed at the top of his lung, his weapon high in the air, his voice alone causing a small shock wave, Vivi stumbled to her feet, but Nami was quick to support her with an arm around her waist.
"Did you two have bounties back in the day?" Luffy asked with a firm tone, already knowing the reason why someone would target them.
Dorry simply nodded; Luffy decided to just deal with this problem as soon as possible.
Later
Dorry and Broggy met again where they had fought for a century, but this time Dorry raised his hands.
"Broggy, my brother, it seems this time we can't fight; someone on this island tried to poison my booze so that he could collect our bounties," He explained; the other giant's face went red with anger at the very thought of someone going between their battle.
"WHATT?" He roared in anger. "Who dares to interrupt our fight. We will both show them the full might of Elbaf," Broggy roared, earning a nod from his friend.
"You're right, brother, first we-" whatever he was about to say was interrupted by an approaching man who, in their eyes, desperately needed new clothes and, most importantly, a new hairstyle, the one he had was horrendous.
The man was a black-haired man wearing a blue and white, vertical-striped shirt, and his hair looked like a ridiculous number 3 with a bit of fire at the top.
"Who the hell are you?" Broggy asked, with a threatening look on his face, aiming his weapon at the intruder, who didn't look fazed by their threat; instead, he giggled...
"Your prison," he shouted with a smirk, ready to throw waves of wax at them, to imprison them both, but before he could even attack, a sudden kick engulfed in lightning hit him in the face.
Sending him crashing against a large tree, the tree itself fell down from the force; mister three was lying unconscious, blood leaking out of his mouth and ears, and the bones around his face were broken.
Luffy stood as Mister Three was knocked unconscious by a single kick, he didn't even need to look up to know that Miss Valentine was falling at his location, but Luffy didn't even move an inch to dodge her attempt to crush him.
Miss Valentine grinned in triumph, seeing that the captain of Straw Hats did not attempt to dodge her, thinking she was going to catch him off guard, but before she could reach him, a sudden flash of light blocked her eyes; it was so bright that she closed her eyes, and the warmth caused her skin to scream in pain despite not making contact with it.
The sudden flash of light was soon revealed to be Nami; her body changed; with an aimed kick right at her face, she hit Miss Valentine, whose eyes were still closed due to the amount of light right in front of her.
Now, a normal kick wouldn't be too damaging, but the moment, Nami used her devil fruit, her legs and arms would look like gold because they turned to gold which in itself is one of the heaviest metals in the world.
A kick like that could easily break the bones of someone unprepared, not to mention her body would spread heat the moment she turned her body into gold; the more her body turned to gold, the more heat her body produced.
Miss Valentine hit the earth so hard that it fell like a small meteor; the debris flew everywhere. A small crater formed where she was. Not moving anymore. Nami landed right beside Luffy, giving him a quick wink.
Suddenly another person tried to attack the pirates from behind who was none other than Mister Five, who had a small bullet between his index fingers, aiming at the navigator; he prepared to kill her when a certain Swordsman showed up right in front of him.
He didn't even have time to register what was happening before Zoro attacked. "Two Sword Style"
The man was thrown into the air with two new wounds across his chest before falling back to the ground.
"Good Job, Zoro," Luffy complimented his teammate, who smiled, Nami wondered what Luffy would say to her, but Luffy instead swooped her in his arms before giving her a quick kiss on the lips; Zoro just looked the other way, pretending he couldn't see them.
The three were soon joined by the giants, who saw that the fight was over before it even began, they knew the Straw Hat boy was good, but this was beyond their expectations.
"You're good, kid, but is it just me, or did you use Haki?" Broggy questioned with a raised eyebrow; it had been a long time since any of them had seen any human use Haki. Everyone else who had arrived before them was never good enough to use Haki.
Luffy turned to them before nodding his head, his fist turning black just to show them. Both giants grinned before raising their own fists, and much to the surprise of everyone except Luffy, their fists turned black with Haki.
"Impressive," Zoro commented, knowing the secret agents stood no chance against the giants even if they didn't intervene.
Soon the agents were tightened behind trees with rope one by one by Usopp; the giants were keeping an eye on them just in case they woke up. The little girl in appearance gave up after Luffy warned her to come out, she looked young, but Luffy and the giants could tell that something was off with her.
They discussed what they should do; the giants suggested that they would send them off somewhere.
"Perhaps the time has come for us to leave this place as well," Broggy suddenly said, much to the surprise of everyone. His friend soon agreed with him; it had been 100 years after all. Shortly someone else approached.
"Sanji, where were you?" Nami asked, seeing the chef of their ship walking towards them. The fun was already over.
"I found this in their little home," Sanji simply said, carrying an Eternal Pose that led to Alabasta.
"Is an Eternal Pose; this will lead us directly to Alabasta," Vivi exclaimed, holding the item as if it was a treasure. The others smiled at her. Relived that they didn't need to stay on this island that much longer.
Sanji and Zoro were carrying the animals they killed inside the ship; while they were doing that, both giants looked at them with new looks before both of their eyes widened, laughing loudly.
The Island Eater was later slain by Luffy, who used a giant lightning strike in a shape of a dragon, bringing his hand down; the strike hit the Sea King, causing a massive hole in the center of his body.
Vivi's eyes were wide as plates, "Is he even human" she exclaimed, not believing her own eyes, she knew Luffy was strong, but this was beyond anything she had ever expected. The massive attack caught even the giants off guard. When Luffy told them he could deal with the Sea King, they thought he was only joking, but it seemed the pirate had the power to back it up.
"Set sail!" As the sails of the Going Merry were dropped and caught the wind, Luffy pointed straight forward. Little Garden was left behind as the ship sailed away.
As he turned to wave farewell to the two giants, Luffy brightened up. "Dorry! Broggy! It was fantastic meeting you!" To the two waving giants, Luffy screamed back. "Take the fresh Sea King as a farewell gift!" Luffy had overheard the two giants discussing Sea King meat, knowing how much they missed the flavor. He was well aware of their desire to taste Sea King Meat once again.
"Gegyagyagyagya! Broggy, what intriguing individuals have been born in the hundred years we've been imprisoned here?" Dorry chuckled as he looked at the fresh Sea King meat.
"Gyababababababa! Yes, Dorry, there are some extremely intriguing things that we've missed!" Broggy and his pal both burst out laughing.
Going Merry
"It was an interesting trip," Luffy said; everyone except Nojiko was eating dinner from Zoro's prey; almost everyone nodded in agreement, except Vivi, who didn't look like she wanted to repeat that adventure.
"Shishishishi, I hope Alabasta is as interesting as Little Garden, Vivi," Luffy said, shoving more meat into his mouth. Vivi giggled at him.
"Well, we don't really have giants and sea kings, but we do have great food," Vivi answered with a smile, knowing what Luffy liked the most to hear.
Luffy's eyes suddenly turned to stars, shining more than a fire hearing about the food. Now he couldn't wait until they arrived in Alabasta.
"To Alabasta, we Go," he shouted with meat in his mouth, making everyone except Nami laugh, who was looking at the door that led inside the room.
"Vivi, why isn't Nojiko coming?" Nami suddenly asked, turning towards the princess. She and Nojiko were the last to be in the woman's quarters after Nami left to join the others.
Vivi remembered that Nojiko said she could go on ahead; she needed to check something.
"I don't know; she was supposed only to check something," Vivi answered, not thinking something bad was happening.
Nojiko
Rolling her shirt up, she looked anxiously at the big red mark, her skin swelling; she could already feel that something was wrong, her breathing heavy, her throat dryer than the deserts of Alabasta, and her eyes were red and burning.
Is nothing, Nothing, nothing to Worry abou...