What are you talking about! How could I possibly get touched by that stuff?! Rainer snapped, clearly annoyed.
He really couldn't understand it—such a solid Devil Fruit, the Bomb-Bomb Fruit, with explosions that could ignite even the air… and yet its user developed it into something as disgusting as nose-pick bombs.
If it were him, he'd have at least trained some needle-like hair projectiles. Why the hell go with snot?
Rainer glanced around but didn't see any sign of Luffy. He grabbed a cup of sake, downed it in one shot, and let the excess spill down onto his shirt, soaking it.
"Luffy's still not back?" he asked casually, setting the cup down.
Nami refilled it and passed it back to him. "Not yet. Just in case, Rainer—you should go check on him."
"You really know how to boss people around," he muttered, but drained the cup anyway. Turning, he waved at the Tyrannosaurus. "Come on, I'll take you for a spin."
"ROAR!" The T. rex eagerly crouched low before him.
Man and dinosaur headed into the forest. Rainer summoned Ao Oni to sweep the area with Observation Haki, but found no trace of Luffy.
"Tch. Did he really fight all the way out there?"
He sighed. With Luffy's strength, there was no way Mr. 3 could give him such trouble. More likely, Luffy got distracted by all those wax sculptures and started playing around.
Hm? What's that?
Through the trees, Rainer spotted a strange white house.
"Let's check that out."
The T. rex charged forward with a low growl.
As they drew closer, Rainer could hear faint voices inside.
"In short, once you take care of the Straw Hats, head straight to Alabasta. This will be the last call—we can't risk the Marines listening in on us."
"I understand, Boss. That's it then. Hanging up."
…Sanji?
Rainer immediately recognized the voice. The "house" looked to be made entirely of wax, probably by Mr. 3. No door, of course.
He stepped inside. Sure enough, there was Sanji, lounging on a white sofa, a Den Den Mushi still in hand.
"Rainer?"
"Sanji, what's going on here?"
On the ground nearby lay two strange creatures. Rainer squinted. "What the hell are those? Dressed-up sea weasels?"
"Eh~ they called themselves the Unluckies or something," Sanji said casually.
He quickly explained: while hunting, he had stumbled onto this place, heard the Den Den Mushi ringing, and—on a whim—picked it up. Turns out, it was Baroque Works' boss. So Sanji had just pretended to be Mr. 3 and bullshitted his way through the call.
"So these 'Unluckies' are them?"
Rainer crouched to look at the sea otter and vulture, then picked up a sandglass-shaped object from the floor.
"This must be the Eternal Pose they delivered."
"Yeah. With this, if we want to, we can head straight to Alabasta," Sanji said.
"We'll see what Luffy decides," Rainer pocketed it, handing Sanji a cigarette as the two left.
After explaining the situation to the others, Sanji immediately insisted on going back to protect Nami and Vivi.
"Heh, 'protect,' huh?" Rainer gave him a side-eye, then mounted the T. rex again and rode off.
After circling the forest for a while, he finally spotted Luffy, beaten and bruised.
"Hey! Luffy!"
"Ah, Rainer—wait a sec!!"
Luffy started to wave but then froze, eyes bulging as he saw what Rainer was riding.
"A T. rex!!!"
"Wahahaha!!"
His eyes sparkled as he leapt onto the dinosaur's back. "Hehehe, let's go, dino! Back to the others!"
Rainer sighed. Wouldn't it have been faster if Luffy just caught one himself? Oh well. He'd be able to recreate one later anyway.
"You're a mess. Did you deal with the enemy?"
"Yeah, taken care of," Luffy grinned.
"Everyone! Giants! We're back!"
"Gahahaha! Looks like everything's settled."
Rainer hopped off the T-Rex, quickly absorbed its template, then turned to the laughing giant.
"Yeah, it all went smoothly. Thanks to you two being so strong, old man."
"Gahahaha, of course!"
"Hey, Rainer! You bastard! You took a ton of my booze!"
A familiar voice came charging out. Rainer blinked—it was Zoro?!
"How the hell are you here?"
"Eh~ bagged myself a nice catch," Zoro said smugly, swigging from his bottle and nodding toward a triceratops lying nearby. "Was dragging it back to the ship, then somehow ended up here."
"Hah! You actually made it without getting lost?" Rainer smirked.
"What'd you say, bastard?! I'll cut you down!"
"Luffy, are you okay?"
Vivi rushed forward, hands over her heart as she took in Luffy's injuries. Her face was full of guilt. "I'm sorry. This is all my fault for drawing these enemies to you. If not for me—ow ow ow!"
Nami tugged her cheeks with a huff. "On this ship, we never say stuff like 'it's my fault' or 'I'm to blame.'"
"Yeah, crybaby. Don't worry—none of us would blame you," Rainer added, pinching her other cheek.
Soft. Very soft.
By then, it was noon. Luckily, Sanji was already here to handle the cooking.
Rainer had his undead fetch kitchen tools from the ship. Zoro, stingy as always, refused to share his triceratops meat, saying it was for competition only. So the undead dragged back a bunch of beasts from the forest instead.
"Itadakimasu!!" ×9
"Quack!"
The entire crew, the two giants, and even Karoo the duck sat down on the grass for a feast.
"Delicious! Gahahaha! Curly-browed kid, you're one hell of a chef!"
"Damn giants! Strip the bones clean before tossing them!"
"Gahahaha, sorry, little man."
The two towering warriors, chided like children, sheepishly picked their bones clean. The sight made everyone laugh.
After eating their fill, they lay back to rest. Nami then casually asked:
"By the way, uncle, how long does it take for the Log Pose here to reset?"
"Here? One year," one of the giants replied.
"NANI?!"
Everyone was stunned. Even Rainer was floored—seriously? A whole year?!
Luffy immediately pouted. "No way! I've waited ten years just to finally set sail! Uncle, think of something!"
"Idiot kid, what can we possibly do about that?"
"Wait, no. Sanji found this in the forest."
Rainer pulled out the hourglass-shaped device.
"Ohh~ an Eternal Pose!" Brogy exclaimed.
"Eternal Pose?"
It was Nami's first time hearing of it, so Vivi explained: a special compass that always points to a single island.
"So this means… we can head straight to Alabasta?"
"But doesn't that mean we'll miss out on other islands?" Luffy mumbled, disappointed.
Rainer was more shaken than he was. Where's my Chopper? Where's my future ship doctor?!
"Wait, Nami—did you bring your Grand Line chart?"
He quickly borrowed it from her. (She had stolen it from Buggy back in the East Blue.)
Scanning the route from Little Garden to Alabasta, he saw that Drum Island was right off the direct line. Only then did he breathe easier. He could easily make up an excuse to detour there when the time came.
After a while, once they had all rested, the Straw Hats prepared to leave.
The two giants, Dorry and Brogy, exchanged a knowing smile.
"Come, Dorry. It's time we saw our friends off."
"Yeah. Our old companions would be honored."
With a rusted sword and axe in hand, the two giants strode toward the shore.
For a hundred years, they had fought here. They were the last witnesses to that eternal duel. Now, with their weapons nearly falling apart, it seemed the end was at hand.