"This is the greatest sea in the world." Luffy excitedly spoke as he raised both of his hands while sitting on top of Merry.
"Let's go!"
Booooo!
"Hmm…. Did you hear something?" Zoro asked.
"Don't worry about it. Let's go!" Luffy didn't lose his excitement.
"It must be wind. Zack did say that the condition of Grandline is very extreme." Nami smiled as she responded to Zoro.
"Nami, I am pretty sure I also heard the sound." Zack who knew what was coming for them tried to act as naturally as he could.
"Do you know what it is?" Zoro and Nami looked at him and asked.
"How would know..... Shit! Don't tell me it's that?" Zack made an exaggerated expression as he shouted.
"Nami-San, there is a massive mountain in front of us," Sanji spoke while standing in front of the cabin.
"Mountain? It's impossible. There shouldn't be any mountain in front of us." Nami looked at him with confusion but then suddenly looked at Zack.
"What is it?"
Zack didn't say but rather raised his hand toward the giant wall.
"Ahhhhhhh! IT'S A WHALE."
Usopp screamed.
"What are we going to do? Fight?"
"Idiot, there is a path from the side. Turn the rudder, turn the rudder!" Zack slapped Luffy's head and rushed toward the cabin.
Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp quickly followed Zack to change the direction of the ship.
"Ah! I've got an idiot." Luffy suddenly went to the front room of the ship where there was a cannon and put the cannonball in it. Finally, he fired the cannon and the cannonball shot at the whale released a powerful force that slowed down the Merry.
"Cannon?" Nami broke down in tears when she saw the cannon ball striking the whale.
"Yay! The ship has finally stopped moving." Luffy cheered happily. But just when he turned around, he saw the head of the Merry falling on the deck.
"My special seat!"
At this moment, Zack was thinking.
'Is it really okay? Because of me, many things have changed. Let's just put my faith in Luffy. He has the goddamn plot armor on him. He won't die.'
Thinking so, Zack didn't interrupt when Luffy punched the whale's eye. The next moment, the whale swallowed a large amount of water including their ship.
Luffy didn't enter the whale's belly but rather stayed on the top.
The journey inside the whale's belly was quite confusing. It wasn't chaotic at all. They silently sailed to the whale's stomach and eventually stopped in front of an island.
"So, what do guys think?"
"I am pretty sure that we were swallowed by the whale."
"So, this must be a dream."
"Then, what about the house and the island?"
"Maybe an illusion."
Splash!
"Then, what about this squid?"
"Ahhhhhh!"
Finally, the conversation ended with Nami and Usopp screaming and running away from the Giant Squid. Zack, Zoro, and Sanji instantly got ready to fight but suddenly, three sharp harpoons struck the squid and ended its life.
Three of the stopped as they noticed a figure coming out of the house.
"Something is coming out."
"Not something but someone… a flower?"
"Flower?"
"No, I was wrong. It is a person."
"It seems like he was the one who killed the Giant Squid."
"Was he trying to save us or just killing it for food?"
While they were discussing, the old man with the flower on his head sat on the chair while reading a newspaper.
"Let me ask him something!" Zack took a step forward and shouted.
"Hello, Mister! My name is Zack. How are you? Why is there an island inside a whale? And, can we go out?"
Crocus raised his eyebrows and this time, there was no gag. He simply spoke.
"My name is Crocus. I am seventy-one years old. I am the lighthouse keeper of Twin Capes. I live inside this whale and yes, the exit is right over there."
"We can go out?" Nami and Usopp excitedly asked.
"By the way, where is Luffy?" Usopp suddenly remembered his captain and asked.
....
Somewhere inside the whale, Luffy rubbed his head and tilted.
"Why is there a hallway inside a whale?"
But suddenly, the whale moved and Luffy slide down the hallway. His speed increased as he tried to run instead of falling. Eventually, he came across two weird people and collided against them.
"Ahhhhhhh!"
Three of them fell out of the hallway. At the same time, the old man Crocus was climbing the stairs to that hallway.
"Ahh, Zack!" Luffy realized the ship was inside and saw Zack at the front.
"Help me!
Splash!
Luffy fell into the water. Zack sighed and threw his upper clothes on the deck. He jumped inside the sea water which also had some level of digestion acid in it.
He saw Luffy drowning in the sea while two weird people swimming on the top. He quickly paddled his legs and rushed toward Luffy. He caught Luffy and turned around.
But, just when he turned around, he saw a strange thing at the top of the whale. He felt corrosive in his eyes so he only got a single view of it. He quickly swims to the surface and gets onto the deck.
Just when he reached there, he quickly rushed toward Usopp and grabbed his goggles.
"Oi, Zack!!!"
Before he could say anything, Zack had already jumped into the water once again. The Straw Hats didn't understand why but Zack didn't come to the surface for a long.
Although that long time was only three minutes. That was the highest he could hold his breath underwater. And, this wasn't normal water. It had digestive acid mixed in it, making it quite corrosive.
Splash!
After three minutes, he finally came to the surface. As soon as he landed on the deck, he was beaming with a smile.
"I have only seen such a smile once."
"Yeah! It was during when he found that."
"So, did you find another?"
Zack raised both of his hands with excitement as he shouted.
"Hell yeah!"
In one of his hands, there was a fruit with weird grey color and strange shapes on it.
"So, what kind of fruit is it?" Zoro asked.
"I don't know. Sanji, do you know?" Zack shook his head and asked.
"I don't know. I haven't seen any Grey Fruits at least I don't remember seeing one." Sanji shook his head.
Zack stared at this fruit for a while. He didn't know whether to eat it or not. After a while, he put the fruit down but he was still holding it.
"Everyone, I am going to take a bet."
Hearing his words, they looked at him for a moment. Zack took a deep breath and said "We got a devil fruit before. It was truly amazing devil fruit. But, I made a mistake for not eating it."
"Then, we lost it. I regret losing it. So, this time I am going to take a bet. If I eat it and it turned out to be a completely useless ability, then I lose. But, if it turns out to be somewhat okay then I win."
"Don't you want to be amazing?" Nami asked.
"I don't want to place my hopes up. I regret losing a devil fruit so much that I just don't want to lose it again." Zack sighed. He truly didn't want to eat this right now.
But, he had already seen what could happen if he just let the devil fruit stay on the ship. Even though it was risky. He was willing to take the risk.
Suddenly, Luffy walked near him and crouched down. He gave Liam a thumbs up and said.
"Don't worry, you will win this bet."
He had a bright smile on his face. A smile that could lighten up everyone. Others also smiled.
"Well, it wouldn't hurt trying. Besides, even if it doesn't work, you can still get stronger physically." Zoro spoke.
"Yeah! And, even if you do lose the power to swim, I will help you out whenever you fall into the sea. Even though you are not a lady." Sanji also gave him a thumbs up.
"From what you have told us, the chances of us encountering devil fruits are incredibly low. We were lucky that we encountered two so far. So, you don't need to hesitate if you really don't mind losing the capability to swim." Usopp also encouraged him.
"Well, I don't want to eat something disgusting. So, you can eat it." Nami shrugged her shoulders and spoke. She actually wanted to sell this devil fruit but she knew Zack was extremely eager to eat one.
"Then, let's take a gamble."
Zack took a deep breath and took a bite. He forcefully swallowed that bite but the next moment, he coughed out.
"Argh! This is so disgusting."
Waak! Gah! Cough!
He instantly ran inside the cabin and came out with a jug filled with water.
Gurgle! Gurgle! Waak!
Gurgle! Gurgle! Waak!
"Hah! Hah! Hah! Sanji, please make something delicious. I felt like I lose my taste bud."
Zack panted as he spoke.
"Wait, aren't you going to eat it completely?" Zoro asked.
Zack shook his head and said, "No, I already got the ability."
"Oh! What's it?"
Zack opened his palm and a deck of the card appeared on his palm. He spread out the cards and shuffled them a few times. Finally, he passed three cards to Zoro and three cards to himself.
He raised his lips as a smirk appeared on his face.
"It's Kake-Kake No-Mi (Gamble-Gamble Fruit)"
Ding!!!
[System activated!!!]