'Chopper! Robin! Franky! Brook! Just wait a little longer guys!' Luffy thought. 'We'll meet each other again soon. And I'm bringing more friends with me! This time, we'll see our dreams through to the end!'
BUUOOOOH
"You guys hear that?" Zoro asked.
"Hear what?" Alvida asked.
BUUOOOOH
"You mean that?!" Nojiko asked.
"Sounded like a foghorn!" Sanji said.
'That's no foghorn!' Luffy thought with a smile as they sailed through the clouds. They finally got lower than the clouds before they all flipped out. "There's a giant mountain in front of us!" Sanji yelled.
"What?! There shouldn't be anything past the Twin Capes!" Nami yelled back.
"Then what is that thing?!" Zoro yelled.
"It's not a wall!" Yosaku yelled.
"It's a giant whale!" Johnny shrieked. 'Laboon!" Luffy screamed in his head. "THAT WASN'T THERE BEFORE!" Gin yelled.
"It's there now!" Usopp hollered with tears in his eyes. "What do we do?!"
"Calm down!" Sanji said, though he was also close to losing it. "It probably hasn't noticed us since it's that big!"
"Doesn't matter, CAUSE WE'RE GONNA CRASH INTO IT!" Zoro shouted before pointing to a small opening to the left Laboon. "Look! An opening to the left! Steer that way!"
"The rudder's broke!" Usopp reminded them all. Luffy surprised them all again as he jumped off the Merry's head and hung onto her neck as they kept sliding down the mountain.
"What's he doing now?!" Alvida shouted, clearly not understanding why the Captain would jump off the ship when he couldn't swim.
"Don't know! Right now we gotta turn the ship!" Zoro shouted before he and all the other Straw Hat men tried to turn the broken rudder with no luck. Alvida started to sweat as Nojiko closed her eyes and braced for the worst. Nami just stared in horror at the scene.
"Too late." she said before the whole ship lurched. All the men were thrown about while the three woman lost their balance as they fell toward the bow of the deck, but were stopped thanks to the railing on the ship. They looked down to see Luffy kicking the air while keeping his hands on the Merry's neck, slowing the ship down until they completely stopped.
"Phew." Luffy said before he realized he was falling and stretched his arm out to grab the railing and pull himself back up on deck, leaving two slight hand prints into the wood under the Merry's figurehead. 'Glad I kept the Merry from getting hit this time.' he thought. Everyone slowly came back out to the deck before staring up at Laboon until Zoro found his voice.
"R-RUN! RUN AWAY!" he shouted before they all started rowing towards Laboon's right.
"That thing is bigger up close!" Johnny yelled.
"How'd it not notice us?" Yosaku asked.
"Who cares?!" Gin shouted as they all were near Laboon's eye before he started wailing again. "AGGHHHH! MY EARS!" Sanji shouted.
"KEEP ROWING!" Usopp shouted. Nami looked up to see Luffy was now staring up at Laboon with a smile.
"Hi whale!" Luffy yelled as he waved at it.
"What is he doing?!" Alvida shouted.
"Whale!" Luffy shouted again.
"Luffy will you stop that?!" Zoro shouted at him. Luffy just got an annoyed look. He knew his crew would kill him, but this was something he had to do.
"I'M TALKING TO YOU!" Luffy shouted before socking Laboon in the eye.
"YOU MORON!" they all shouted at him with tears in their eyes. Everyone waited as Luffy's arm retracted before Laboon looked down at them. "IT SEES US!" "Hiya Whale!" Luffy yelled as he waved at Laboon. "I'm Luffy. What's your na-"
"STOP TALKING TO THE WHALE!" Zoro, Usopp, and Gin shouted as they kicked Luffy away. It didn't help since Laboon groaned angrily before opening it's large mouth as the water seemed to flow into it's mouth like a black hole.
"Please...no." Nami said as tears started rolling down her face. Soon the ship was caught in the current as it started heading toward Laboon's mouth. As they did, Luffy got knocked overboard but used his moonstep to stay out of the water as Laboon closed his mouth.
"Alright then." Luffy said as he was hopping in the air and looking around on Laboon. "Where's that hatch?" He looked around a bit more before he saw the hatch he used last time before jumping down to it, opening it, jumping inside, and sealing it shut. "There we go. Now, to join the others." ()()()()
"We got eaten by a whale, right?" Usopp asked. Everyone was staring around in a surprisingly calm fashion.
"No doubt about it big bro Usopp." Johnny said.
"If that's so," Gin asked as he looked up and saw the sky. "Why are we back outside?"
"In one way, out the other?" Yosaku said, earning a fist from the female Straw Hats.