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Chapter 41 - The King's Doctor and His Patient! 2

"Ah, she'll be fine," I said, waving my hand dismissively. "We've been in worse situations than this."

"WHAT ELSE COULD POSSIBLY BE WORSE THAN THIS!?" Nami roared, tic-pulsing.

"Sh-Shoot it!" Usopp ordered. "Blast the cannon at the island!"

"No, hang on a second," soothed Sanji. "Someone's coming out,"

A man stepped out of the shadows of the house, and my eyes lit up in sparkles. The old guy dragged in the whale and came fully into the light, allowing me to see him clearly. He wore a reddish/pink shirt with a green, leafy middle, and had a scraggly green fur necklace. His hair and mustache were white, and he had some weird hat that looked like the petals of a flower. Two Log Poses were strapped onto his arm, as well as a bunch of rings. He also wore glasses.

I was so excited I couldn't speak.

"It's a flower!" gasped Sanji.

"A flower?" Zoro retorted. "That's definitely a man."

"He shot that squid down..." Nami said in a small voice.

Our cook frowned and eyed the man. "Was he fishing or saving us?"

I turned to the crew and waved excitedly.

Usopp raised his eyebrow. "I think Yuril's trying to tell us something." I nodded in confirmation, then pointed to my lips and shook my head. "She... can't speak." I nodded again. "Okay, can you tell us in another way? Like, say, charades?"

I thought about that, then nodded. I held up a finger.

"Okay, first word," Usopp said. I pointed at Nami, then scrambled up the main mast to the crow's nest and pulled out a belli. Nami narrowed her eyes suspiciously, but I ignored her and pretended to get sparkles in my eyes. Usopp pounded his palm.

"Money!" he guessed. I shook my head. "Uh, belli? Gold?" I nodded. "Okay, gold," Usopp said. "The first word's gold ." Meanwhile, the rest of the crew had started to talk to Crocus, who was doing his running gag thing.

I nodded and held up two fingers.

"Second word."

I saluted.

"Um... 'aye-aye?' 'Yes, sir?' 'Roger?'"

I nodded and grinned.

"Okay, second word's roger."

I scrambled down the mast and pointed to each of the crew in turn. Then I waved my hands in a circle and pointed to the Jolly Roger on our sail. Usopp rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Er... nakama? Pirates? Pirate crew?"

I nodded excitedly, pointed to Crocus, and the sniper's jaw dropped.

"EH? That ossan was a part of Gold Roger's pirate crew?!"

"I'M GONNA KILL HIM!" howled Zoro angrily, thumbing upon his sword while Sanji tried to calm him down. I snickered. Crocus sure knew how to push that dude's buttons. "OI, Yuril! DON'T JUST LAUGH WHEN YOU CAN'T EVEN TALK!" He took out his frustration by whacking me with the still-sheathed Wado Ichimonji.

I was knocked to the ground, but when I got up, I tic-pulsed and yelled, "Bastard! Why did you just randomly hit me!?" I face-faulted. "Oh, hey, I can talk again! Thanks, Zoro!"

He sweatdropped. "You're bipolar, I swear."

Nami nodded her agreement. "Tell me about it."

On the beach, Crocus suddenly glared at me, making me freeze. "Previously-mute kid!" he called. There was a moment where none of us said anything, and he narrowed his eyes. I raised my eyebrow at my friends' tension. "You're right. I was a part of Roger's crew. How did you know that?" He glared at me again.

"I'm a psychic," I explained. "Can I have your autograph?"

The tension on the Merry grew, and I frowned at my crew's antics.

"Sure," said Crocus.

"THAT'S IT!?" Zoro roared, so ticked it off it was actually kinda funny. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, OSSAN!?"

"Haven't you heard of a running gag?" the old man huffed indignantly.

"THAT WAS A GAG?!" everyone except me shouted, tic-pulsing. I just laughed like a maniac.

"See? The kid gets it."

"YEAH, WELL, SHE'S A MORON!"

"Oi," I complained, drawing my hand across my chin.

"Who are you people?" Crocus growled. "You come into my one-man resort and shout rude things at me. Do you think you're inside a rat's stomach?"

Usopp gulped. "So we really were swallowed by that whale? But then why is its stomach lit up and why is there a sky?"

"What's gonna happen to us!?" shrieked Nami. "I don't wanna be digested!"

The old man glared, and like before, everyone except me tensed up. There was an awkward silence until it was broken by the other Straw Hats, who yelled, "CAN YOU JUST STOP IT WITH THAT GAG ALREADY!?"

"Fine. There's a door over there." He pointed behind our ship to a wooden door with a steel outline that I hadn't noticed before.

"WE CAN LEAVE!?" everyone shouted.

Nami stared at the door in shock. "Wait a minute. What's an exit doing inside a whale's stomach? And why is that door built into the sky?"

"Oi, look carefully," Usopp told us. "The sky, the clouds, even the bird... it's all a painting! It's all painted on the inside of the whale's stomach?"

"EH?"

"I like having fun," the ex-Roger Pirate explained.

The sniper's eyes popped out of his head and he yelled in exasperation, "JUST WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!?"

"It's okay, just leave him alone," Zoro advised—ironic as he'd been the one screaming at the old man just a minute ago.

"Now what?" asked Sanji. "Nami-san, there's the exit right over there. Let's just get outta here."

"What?" I moaned. "But I haven't gotten my autograph yet!"

Suddenly the ship started shaking wildly and the stomach acid bulged up in tremendous waves. It was all we could do to keep our balance on the Merry. I tried not to bite my tongue while belli spilled out of my money bag up above, and Nami glared at me.

"Where's all this money coming from?" she growled. "Yuril! You haven't been holding out on me, have you?"

I tic-pulsed. "I won those belli in a martial arts contest at Loguetown! I worked my ass off for it, too, and since you did nothing, you don't get a single coin of it! It's all mine!"

Her face twitched. "Is that so?"

"YES, IT IS!"

"What's happening now?" Zoro grumbled, looking around.

"What? What's up with that island?" Usopp asked, leaning over the railing and pointing to Crocus's 'one-man resort'. "It's got an iron bottom!"

Luckily, that drew Nami's attention away from my secret stash. "That's not an island," she realized. "It's a ship!"

"That must be to protect it from the stomach acid ocean."

Sanji frowned. "If this ocean really is stomach acid, then if we stay here too long, our ship will get digested and so will we."

"It's started," muttered Crocus.

Usopp cupped his mouth. "Oi! Started what?"

I slid into view at the front of the Merry, waving. "I know this! The whale, Laboon, is hitting its head against the Grand Line in an attempt to get his nakama back! See, he followed a pirate crew here to the Twin Capes but they left him because it was too dangerous for him. They promised him to come back some day, but died in the Florian Triangle. All but one of them, who is still lost in the Triangle, though he is trying to find a way out so he can see his last friend once more."

"What!?" Usopp gasped. "How terrible!"

Nami frowned. "Come to think of it, there are huge scars on its head. Poor thing. It must be hurting because of Crocus, and the fact that its been waiting for its friends must be just as painful."

I glared at her. "Crocus is trying to help it, not hurt it!"

She raised her eyebrow. "Eh? Then why did he build a door into its stomach? And did you say his name is Crocus?"

"One, to help it, because with a whale this size, it would be nearly impossible to treat it from the outside; so he's doing it from the inside. Two, to help anybody who accidentally got swallowed by Laboon (like us) escape."

"That's right," Crocus said. "But they didn't die in the Florian Triangle. They fled the Grand Line and never returned."

"Who's the psychic here?" I reminded him. "Plus, what proof do you have that they didn't die?"

Nami frowned. "If they fled the Grand Line, then they might not have made it through the Calm Belt anyway. Do you know whether they did or not?"

But he didn't answer her because he'd jumped into the stomach acid-ocean.

Usopp's jaw dropped. "Does he want to be digested!?"

"Hey, everyone!" our navigator said, frowning at the whale in concern. "This poor creature is already in pain from losing its nakama. That Crocus dude might be doing something even worse to it! I think he's killing it from the inside!"

I hit her over the head, making her glare like a demoness at me. "Don't be stupid!" I shot back, though I shied away from her angry gaze. "He's not trying to harm Laboon. Crocus is just trying to calm him down and heal him, like I said earlier! No ex-member of Gold Roger's crew would do something as terrible as kill such a loyal beast! Not even Buggy! He may be an idiot and a clown, but he wouldn't do something like this!"

"He almost killed Lucy." Usopp deadpanned.

"True. But only because she pissed him off... Why the hell am I sticking up for a clown?"

Zoro shrugged. "Ya got me. Anyway, now that we've solved the mystery of the whale, let's get out of here. We don't want our ship to be digested. This whale's business doesn't bother us."

"Maybe not right now," I put in, "but it definitely will be when we meet the last member of the pirate Laboon followed."

"We'll meet him?" Usopp asked, raising an eyebrow. "Weird."

"Say, what's that old man doing, anyway?" Sanji asked. "He jumped into the stomach acid and swam to that door over there. Now he's climbing up a ladder."

The ocean got even rougher and the local long-nose cursed. "Shit! The waves are too huge! Unless you do something, Yuril, we'll never be able to make it out of here!"

I shrugged. "No need for me to do anything. Crocus is going to give Laboon sedatives right now."

"Laboon is the name of the whale, then?" Sanji inferred.

"Hai!"

"Let's get out now," Nami told us. "We have to find out what happened to Lucy and see if she's alright."

"I saw her get thrown up to the side of the whale's mouth," said Zoro. "Now let's figure out how to open the door, okay?"

"He'll do that for us," I said.

"Who?"

"Crocus."

"But isn't he getting digested right now?"

"Nope, he'll be fine."

As if on cue, Usopp, who'd been peering around the whale's stomach, suddenly gasped and pointed at a ladder along the side of the door, leading from the acid ocean to an iron platform. "Look," he reported. "That Crocus dude is coming up!"

The retired pirate climbed the ladder, but when he was about three-quarters of the way up, there was a high-pitched, very girly scream, followed by two others: A deeper but still girly scream, and a high man's voice. Three people burst out of the passageway that opened to the platform. One of them was Lucy, who had a hand on her straw hat and was looking like she wasn't sure whether to be terrified or to have fun. There was another girl with blue hair and a heart-shaped face, as well as brightly colored clothes, but I couldn't see much more of her from this far away. Accompanying them was a loudly dressed man wearing a crown.

"Yuril!" Lucy called, falling through the air. "Everyone! You're alright!"

I waved. "Oi, Luce! Yeah, I'm fine! Nearly got digested in stomach acid, but fine!"

"That's cool, but can you save me? I'm gonna drown in a few seconds." She had a look on her face like she fell into enormous vats of stomach acid all the time.

Usopp adjusted the new sniper goggles that he'd got in Loguetown. "Oi," he said. "Lucy has caught up with us, and she's brought a couple of weirdos with her."

"Hey, the jiisan's gone!" Nami told us.

Zoro snorted. "Who cares? The most important thing now is that we save Lucy and those two." I shrugged at the swordsman, and we dived into the stomach acid together. This time, though, I pulled a thin layer of water from the acid and wrapped it around my body to protect myself.

Marimo got the two weirdos and I got Lucy, whose stomach was so huge from swallowing... stomach acid that she resembled a hot air balloon. When we came up, the sea was calmer again, more like a normal ocean. Nami seemed surprised by this. We climbed onto the Merry and Lucy, after I'd drawn the stomach acid out of her belly, sat herself on the figurehead. The two weirdos, who I knew to be Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday, more commonly known as Vivi, had collapsed underneath her.

"Mr. 9," Vivi hissed quietly, scooting away from Sanji, who was squatting beside her and staring at her with hearts floating around his head. He looked like a love sick puppy... or mutt. "These guys are pirate."

"I can see that, Miss Wednesday," said Mr. 9, who I could now see had his number tattooed onto his cheeks. "But I think we can convince them... probably..."

"Are you two scoundrels still here!?" Crocus yelled from the tunnel on the platform. Everyone blinked and looked at him. "Don't make me repeat myself! You won't lay a single finger on Laboon!"

Usopp stared at him blankly. "Oh. He's back."

"Who's the ossan?" wondered Lucy.

I jumped in. "He was the doctor of Gol D. Roger!"

"Really!? Wow, cool!"

Vivi, who actually looked pretty in blue hair (who knew such a strange hair color would actually look good in real life?), chuckled and stood up, one hand clutching her bazooka. At least, I thought it was a bazooka. I wasn't too sharp in the weapons department. "No matter what you say, we won't leave." she began.

Mr. 9 stood up, too, also holding a bazooka. He finished for her. "Killing this whale is our mission. We won't let you interfere with our whaling anymore! We'll rip a hole in its stomach!" They pointed their bazookas at the stomach-turned-sky.

I frowned. Vivi was acting like a bitch, and it didn't suit her.

"Let 'er rip, baby!"

BAM!

The two bazookas were fired, releasing two cannonballs that sailed toward the wall of Laboon's stomach. Crocus cursed them and took a running leap off of the platform, soaring through the air and intercepting the cannonballs ! I winced and my eye twitched. That had to hurt. Then again, maybe being part of Gold Roger's crew would make him strong enough that getting hit by a few cannonballs simply didn't do much.

"He... just... intercepted the cannonballs!" Usopp shrieked.

My mouth was an o of shock.

Vivi—-er, Miss Wednesday—cackled. "Cease your pathetic resistance! If you want to protect it that badly, just try that again!"

"This whale is going to feed our town!" Mr. 9 added.

Nami had never looked more confused in the entire time I'd been living with her. "What's going on...?" she complained.

"Oi, don't hurt Laboon!" I admonished them, pouting. "He's waiting for his nakama!"

The blue haired princess hesitated a little, but before she could make another move, Lucy punched her and her partner's faces together. They fell to the ground in a bundle. The female captain of the Straw Hats was frowning angrily, her eye twitching as badly as mine. I wondered if everyone on this crew had caught Tourette's Syndrome from me or something. Was it contagious?

Usopp sweatdropped. "Er—Lucy?"

She glared unsympathetically. "Dunno why. Just had to hit 'em."

My eye twitched. "So who's gonna save Crocus from getting digested?"

Lucy stretched her hand out and pulled the old man out of the water, much to the shock of Vivi and Mr. 9. They stared at her with such a surprised expression that I wondered if they were frozen like that eternally. Probably, I decided.

"You helped me immensely," said the doctor. We were all gathered on his miniature island... boat... ah, screw it. One-man resort. "Why?"

The rubber girl shrugged. "I dunno. Didn't really mean to. Just didn't want to see that." She was trying to climb the resort's single tree, and Usopp was trying to get her to come down by pulling at her... though thankfully steering clear of her butt. That would have been a bit awkward.

"What the hell's going on here?" Nami asked.

The old man glared at Vivi and Mr. 9, who were still unconscious/frozen in shock. "These two scoundrels are from a nearby town," he explained. "They're trying to capture Laboon, this Island Whale, so they can feed him to their villagers. His meat could feed their town for at least two or three years. I'm stopping them. I'm sure your psychic over there has told you the rest, but Island Whales are a breed that normally inhabit the West Blue and are some of the biggest of their species in the world. How could I let him become food?"

"So Laboon's nakama died in the Grand Line, then?" Sanji asked. "Why are you taking care of him? And haven't you told him this already?"

"Very well." Crocus sighed. "You see, this whale has the heart of a person, and as I'm sure your friend told you, he is attempting to break through the Red Line because he believes it is the only thing stopping his friends from coming to see him once more."

"That's dumb," I huffed. "If they were alive, they'd just go through Reverse Mountain again."

"Perhaps. But I'm nearly one hundred percent positive that they are, and they haven't done so. For fifty years he's been waiting... fifty long, hard years."

I stared. Fifty years? I'd head this before, in the anime, but hearing it in real life was totally different. I couldn't even imagine waiting fifty years to see someone again. I'd probably die of boredom, if the Marines didn't already kill me by then because I'm a pirate 'n' all.

"That's one loyal whale..." I murmured, staring in awe at the walls of Laboon's stomach. I frowned. I was gonna make sure Brook came back to see Laboon. And I was also gonna make sure Laboon knew that Brook was still alive... well, I guess he is dead, just reincarnated or something.

It was the only way the scars in Laboon's heart could ever be fully healed.

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