Dud stood at the very tip of the bow, gripping the railing hard enough to turn his knuckles white, his heart beating wildly, a near manic grin stretched across his face as Herbie fought against the current dragging them into the red line.
They were close; they could see the point where the currents impossibly rode up the mountain, but they had to be careful and choose the right current or they were going to crash into the redline.
"SOMEONE IS EXCITED!" yelled Reiju, making herself heard despite the storm.
"OF COURSE I AM! CAN'T YOU FEEL IT? THERE IS SOMETHING ABOUT THIS MOUNTAIN THAT IS MAKING ME GO ALL WEIRD!" Dud responded in kind.
"I AM GOING BACK IN! YOU MANIACS CAN ENJOY THE STORM!" Fredric informed the enhanced humans before trying to go back in only to be caught by Dud.
"YOU ARE NOT MISSING THIS! FULL SPEED AHEAD! LET US RIDE THE IMPOSSIBLE!!!" Dud declared getting a very excited beep from Herbie, who had finished lining up and shot towards the entrance while hydroplaning, lifting up the humans higher, making Dud laugh louder, Reiju hold on in a death grip, and Fredric curse.
They rode up the mountain, breaking through the cloud cover, and soon they reached the top where the 4 blues collided and were thrown into the air and automatically landed on the only current that carried them down, Dud and Reiju were yelling in excitement like one does when riding a roller-coaster and Fredric was yelling in fright like one does when strapped to a barrel and thrown down a water fall.
They were halfway down the mountain when Dud noticed an wailing Island whale blocking the exit and if the continued riding down they would crash into it, his crew mates noticed that to cause the started yelling in fright.
"HERBIE FLIGHT MODE!!!!!" Yelled Dud, forgetting he could have opened a portal and avoided the sail block entirely.
The thruster integrated into the Herbie's hull activated and Herbie was thrown up from the stream and he positioned himself in a way that let him bleed the momentum of their decent and soon Herbie came to a stop a few feet above the whale with a goofy jolly roger.
"I thought I was going to die" said Fredric as he lay on the fore deck.
"Me too" said his crew mates agreeing with the first mate.
Dud got up and leaned past the railing and saw the back of the Island whale and his eyes gained an iridescent sheen.
"Herbie get us into the water please, I know you don't like being in the air." Dud commanded receiving an affirmative beep.
"Do you guys here that?" asked Reiju cupping her ears to listen better, Dud was about to ask her to explain but something crashed behind them making Dud turn summoning his blood sword, Reiju unshackle her book and Fredric to take out his gun from his bag.
"ShiShiShiShiShi" came the laugh of the teen that had crashed on to the ship and Dud dismissed his sword and relaxed much to the confusion of his crew mates who got out of their combat stance but did not put away their weapons.
"You have a cool ship!" said Luffy as he eyed the humans.
Dud smiled, his eyes sparkled with something and his voice filled with pride as he said,
"Yeah Herbie is cool and you should apologize considering you dented him." Dud said as he looked down and saw the light dent on the deck making him loose most of his cheer.
"Oh, Sorry!" Luffy said giving a light bow to Dud.
"Not to me, apologize to Herbie!" Dud nearly yelled his eyes nearly loosing the iridescent sheen.
(Warning beep)
At Herbies warning Dud spun around coming face to head to giga whale.
"YOU!" He growled making the straw hat wearing teen tense. "DON'T BLOCK THE EXIT! PEOPLE ARE GOING TO CRASH INTO YOU AND DIE!" Dud yelled at the whale as Herbie deployed legs as he landed on the outcropping near the light house.
"*ShiShiShi*, You are funny." Luffy declared.
Dud turned to face Luffy and his rage drained as the iridescent sheen grew in his eye.
"And you are intruding," he said with a huff, "Who are you?" Dud asked as his crew mates exchanged worried glances with each other this was not how he acted towards things that posed even the slightest threat to Herbie.
"I am Luffy, it's nice to meet you." he replied with a smile.
"It's nice to meet you too, I am Dud, this is Rei" he said pointing at the barely disguised Vinsmoke, "That is Fredric" he said gesturing at his First mate who was now staring at him as if he were some sort of alien, "and this is Vorstin don't eat her" said Dud from behind Luffy making him turn and stare at the other Dud.
Luffy did a double take pointing at both Duds, "There are two of you! Guys you need to see this! There are two of the same person here!" He yelled at his crew mates ignoring the scared fowl.
Dud let go of the fowl who immediately flew to her nest as the navigator of the straw hats yelled,
"Luffy get back here!"
"Coming" Luffy yelled and jumped.
"We should join them," said Dud his eyes not leaving the teen as he jumped after the un-awakened icon of liberation leaving behind his crew and the clone in charge of Vorstin.
"What is wrong with you?" Fredric asked the clone who did not answer for a moment and then shrugged.
"You guys should come meet them they are interesting" said the clone as he returned to his duties.
"Okay, some thing is wrong." Fredric told the Flame mage.
"Did his eyes always have that rainbow sheen to them?" she asked the sniper after a moment.
"Maybe?" he said hesitantly.
They both looked at each other for a moment and jumped after their captain who was absolutely ripping into the straw hat wearing kid while gesturing heavily at the mast-less ship while a clone of him and a long nosed teen were fixing it.
"What is going on here?" Reiju asked the blond enjoying the show. Sanji who heard a woman turned to her and froze and Reiju running into her long run away brother smiled some of the mask returning.
"What are you doing here?" Sanji asked his sister.
"You aren't the only one who can ran away little brother." She said freely.
"How are you alive?" he asked pretty sure that Judge had some way to ensure his greatest works never betray him.
"You met my captain, did he show you his ability yet?" she asked and Sanji chuckled.
"You aren't here are you?" he asked rhetorically.
"I am here." she answered much to the surprise of the blond.
"Did you find them?" she asked quietly after a moment of silence.
"I did." He answered equally quietly with vulnerability that surprised even him.
"Good." She said. "We should probably stop our captains before they do something crazy" she added in her normal voice as she spotted Dud and Luffy talking animatedly about something.
Reiju walked to them and Sanji followed after a moment.
"Yellow fire tart followed by 3 pearl chocolate pudding is just heavenly you should try it sometimes," recommended recalling the absolute killer of a desert he had on they day he recruited Fredric.
"That does sound delicious," Luffy agreed, "If you ever go to Nami's island you should try the Ham Melons! It's fruit that feels and tastes like meat!" Luffy recommended.
Dud blinked, "That sounds like course fruit, I have a bunch but they are poisonous if you don't prepare them right."
Luffy's eyes widened further and his already wide grin seemed to stretch further he was about to ask for some when he spotted his cook.
"SANJI!HeKnowsDelisiousFoodAndIWantToEatThem!MakeThem!" Luffy demanded, his face uncomfortable close.
"Too close" the cook said, pushing the linchpin of fate away from his face.
Dud chuckled at Luffy's behavior, "Is this the miracle cook you were talking about?" Dud asked his iridescent eyes scanning the estranged Vinsmoke.
"Dudda Shaughnessy. You can call me Dud." Dud introduced himself extending his hand.
"I am Sanji, Cook of the straw hat pirates." replied Sanji shaking his hand.
"We should probably head to the galley, Me and Usoop are halfway done fixing Merry and its almost time for lunch." suggested Dud and led them into Herbie.
"This is an amazing kitchen." Sanji remarked examining the galley.
"Thank you, Please be careful with the ingredients in the corner shelf, it is full of various poisons/venoms." Dud warned the cook.
"...Why do you have a shelf of poisons?" Sanji asked after a moment.
"It's for Reiju, She likes eating them." Dud said much to Sanji's disbelief.
"YOU HAVE A ROBOT!?" came Luffy's yell from deeper in the ship interrupting Sanji and making Dud chuckle.
"I will leave the kitchen to you while I give your a captain a tour, I look forward to what you can make" Dud informed the siblings and went to entertain the nascent liberator.
"So you like to eat poisons?" Sanji asked his sister.
"Botulinum Extract I is my favorite." Reiju told her little brother who just shook is head before asking her preferences.
Back in the bowels of the going Merry.
"Do you really think that Merry will sink?" Usoop asked after his fear induced anger had cooled a bit.
"Yes. The [Celestial Bronze] reinforcements will help her last longer but if even a fraction of what I heard about the Grand line is true then..." Dud trailed off when he realized something.
"Is Merry a gift from your lover?" Dud asked his voice gaining a easing tone. Usoop spluttered with a blush not able to say anything.
"Oh my god! She is isn't she?" Dud asked rhetorically with a huge grin on his face his eyes practically glowing like iridescent flashlights.
"You have a lover back home~ Is she waiting on the shore~ For the treasure of her heart to fulfill his growth?~" Dud sang horribly.
"Please Stop!" Usoop whispered harshly covering Dud's mouth to stop the teasing and the horrible singing.
"Alright" Dud said removing the skinny teens hand from his mouth.
"On a more serious note, What would she want you to do?" Dud asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Would she want you to stick to Merry and die with her or come back home safely with all your friends?" Dud asked softly and seriously.
Usoop opened his mouth to answer but Dud stopped him with a raised hand.
"Think about it and decide on what to do." Dud said and Usoop nodded.
"Now shall we continue? We still have a lot to do you know?" Dud said before they continued to reinforce the kneel.
Meanwhile outside the light house.
"What are you doing?" Nami asked Dud holding on to her maps.
"Oh, I have a ghost swordsman that is haunting me and Zoro is trying to challenge it" Dud said with delight as he watched Zoro swing around blindly while SC dodged and smacked Zoro with the pommel of his blade.
Nami looked at him disbelievingly, Dud turned his iridescent eyes at her with a knowing look and had SC give her a head pat making her shriek.
"I... will... MAPS" she ran to the table trying to forget the fact that ghosts are apparently real.
"You have an interesting companion." Crocus told Fredric as his eyes tracked the Stand.
"...You know Haki," Fredric said out loud as he looked at the doctor in a new light.
"Oh? You know it?" Crocus asked the first mate of... I really need to come up with a proper name for the crew.
"We know about it." Fredric confirmed. "Any tips on awakening them?"
"Hm..." contemplated Crocus. "Try to see your ghost companion without looking," said the Pirate King's Doctor cryptically making Fredric stare at him incredulously.
"AHHHHHHHHH!" Shrieked Nami having just noticed her compass go hey wire.
"What's wrong?" Dud asked going over to her.
"The Compass! It's broken and pointing all over the place!" she cried and Dud seeing the perfect opportunity to mess with her brought out his own compass (which was broken and pointing at a fixed direction) and made a puzzled face.
"What are you talking about? mine is fine." Dud said showing her the broken compass.
"Can you give it to me?" she asked coyishly.
"Sure, on the condition that you won't get mad at me" Dud said as he handed her the broken compass.
"Thanks" she said taking it from him and then glaring at Dud when she realized the compass was broken.
"Remember our deal young lady you can't get mad at me." Dud reminded her wagging his finger at her with a shit eating grin on his face.
"Nami-san~♡ could you remove your maps? It's time for lunch." Sanji requested as he and Dud brought food.
"Crocus you should join us too." Reiju invited the Light house keeper.
"What are you doing?" Usoop asked the chaos gacha user.
"Hm? Oh, I eat a lot so if there are any special dishes I take like to keep my part separate so I don't eat it completely" Dud explained as he smacked Luffy's hand that was reaching for the elephant tuna.
"We should do that for Luffy too" Sanji realized and got started splitting the elephant tuna.
"Sanji I want the trunk" Luffy demanded.
"It appears that you have come here without knowing anything. Did you come here to throw your lives away?" Crocus asked the Straw hats before moving on to explain the dangers of the grand line, Dud who knew about it was watching in amusement as Luffy stole food from every one's plates.
"...and the name of the very last island one can reach in the grand line is Laugh Tale." Crocus said getting the attention of Dud and his crew.
"The only ones who have ever confirmed it's existence in history were the Pirate King and his crew. It is an island of legends." Crocus finished.
"Does that mean that the One Piece is on that island?" Usoop asked.
"Who knows...""LUFFY IS DYING!" interrupted Zorro holding Luffy whose mouth was foaming and his skin was sickly green.
Reiju looked at her plate and found a the remainder of her lunch missing and sighed.
"Allow me." She said taking Luffy and kissing him turning most of the straw hats into a stuttering mess and Sanji frown before anyone could say anything tho, Luffy woke up dazed.
"What happened?" he asked and an explosion answered him mixed with the screams of two people.
Sanji hearing the scream of a woman jumped into the sea to rescue the female whale poacher while Usoop returned to merry to finish the reinforcement having finished his lunch.
"Where am I going to find a Log Pose?" Nami asked out loud.
"What's a Log Pose?" asked the fully recovered glutton.
"Its a mystery compass that is very important if you want to survive the grand line" answered Dud.
"You mean like this one?" Luffy said showing the Log pose he picked up.
"Yep. It is good that you guys have one, you would have died without it."
"How do you have one!?" demanded Nami snatching it from Luffy with a punch that surprisingly sent the rubber boy flying into the sea.
"Isn't your captain a devil fruit user?" Fredric asked.
"Yeah, why?" answered Nami as she examined the Log Pose.
"Won't he drown if he falls into sea water?" Fredric asked as he received a log pose from Dud who decided everyone of his crew mates needed to have one.
Nami looked up in alarm and ran to the cliff face where she had seen Luffy fall off and sighed in relief when she saw Mr.9 drag the incapacitated straw hat on to the rocky outcrop.
"Should we go with them?" Dud asked the poison mage when he noticed that Nami's Log pose and their own pointed to different routes, in fact all their log poses pointed to different islands, they will have to check the large one they had installed in Herbie but Dud had a hunch that it pointed to a different island as well.
"No, He has his adventure and I don't want to intrude on it" she said after a moment.
Dud smiled at her reply, the iridescent light fading significantly from his eyes.
"What about you first mate should we go with them or no?" Dud asked his first mate pretty sure of his answer and received a non comital shrug as expected and Dud nodded deciding not to go with the straw hats.
A few minutes and drama later.
"Hey Luffy!" Dud called catching the Straw Hats attention.
"Hmm?"
"Can we be friends?" Asked a strangely nervous Dud his iridescent eyes danced with uncertainty.
"Aren't we already friends?" Luffy asked with a confused tilt of his head which made Dud laugh and Luffy joined in despite not understanding why Dud was Laughing.
"What's your dream?" asked Luffy after they both calmed down.
"I want to visit ever single island on the planet and see every amazing thing the ocean has to offer that is my dream but my more immediate goal is to reach Laugh Tale" responded Dud, his eyes almost returning to their natural yellow.
"I am going to be the king of pirates!" Luffy said in response to the passion in Dud's voice.
"Do you guys have a den den mushi?" asked Dud.
"No we don't." answered Nami who was nearby charting the route the straw hats were going to take.
"Good thing I have a whole family of them then, want to pick one?" Dud asked her while pointing at Herbie.
"I want to! Let's GO!" said Luffy racing towards Herbie followed by a chuckling Dud and Nami who was asking questioning him about his plans.
"whoa! They are HUGE!" exclaimed Luffy his face pressed against the terrarium staring at the 2 large bean bag sized sleeping Den Den Mushi.
"That's Gran'Pa Gran'Ma. I am not giving them to you." introduced and warned Dud.
Luffy made a disappointed sound but didn't really seem to mind.
"You have quite a lot of Den Den Mushies" Observed Nami eyeing the 8 adult and 11 child Den Den Mushies.
"Thanks! They make great ship pets." said Dud proud of the fact that he had so many, He had bought the entire family from Lvneel reluctant to separate them.
Any further conversation was disturbed by an outraged honk cutesy of Vorstin who was glaring at an orange Den Den Mushi who was laughing at Vorstin even tho no sound came from its mouth. It had the dial and receiver like any normal Den Den but it also had an additional conical shell growing out from behind the receiver like an antenna.
Dud picked up the laughing Den Den and glared at it with exasperation as it blew a raspberry at him.
"What's that?" Luffy asked curiously making the snail turn towards him and they locked eyes and something clicked between the snail and the liberation incarnate.
"Its a special snail, He has a stupidly large range, that reaches the blues without help but he is very active compared to any other Den Den Mushi and likes to prank people." Dud explained to his two companions.
"Join my crew!" Luffy said suddenly with a small laugh. Dud opened his mouth and then closed it realizing Luffy wasn't talking to him.
"Luffy you can't just ask another captain to join your crew!" Nami yelled at her captain.
"Why not?" He asked her turning to her.
"I can be one of your division captains but I think Luffy was talking to Advent" said Dud startling the orange individuals present.
The snail made a thinking pose and then nodded making Luffy laugh and Nami sigh.
Luffy then took the snail from Dud and ran off to show it off to the rest of the crew mates while Dud gave Nami instructions and tools needed to take care of a Den Den Mushi.
"Advent can take care of himself for the most part you just need to be careful so he doesn't end up stuck somewhere because he can't make any sounds if isn't receiving." Dud said as they returned to the outdoor table where everyone was gathered.
Nami nodded and thanked Dud as she left to put away the new things. Dud eyed his crewmates who were looking bored as the watched Luffy and Usoop play charades with Advent.
"I guess its time for us to leave?" Dud asked his crew mates.
"Finally" said Fredric raising from his seat.
"A few minutes Sanji said he had something to give me," said Reiju making Dud shrug and Fredric to plop back down.
A few minutes latter with Herbie relocated into the bay proper.
"Here." Said Sanji giving Reiju a lunch box.
"Thanks" she said receiving it and raising making her crewmates do the same.
"I guess its time we go our separate ways then. See you guys at sea." Dud said opening a portal to Herbie's Bridge making the straw hats gape.
Fredric and Reiju waved and stepped through the portal and Dud closed it just before Luffy could barge into it and Herbie accelerated before Luffy could jump on to the ship as the... I NEED A NAME began their adventure in the grand line.