Tom saw that the unconscious, water-blue-haired woman hooked on his line also had a barrel strapped to her back. He was wondering what she did when he heard Luffy's voice: "Hurry and extend your fishing rod! Then I won't fall!"
Hearing it was Luffy, Tom instinctively extended the fishing rod in his hands. Then he reacted—why was Luffy here?
Luffy had indeed managed to get inside the whale. After entering earlier, he had followed the passage forward.
As he walked, the whale violently rammed the Red Line again. Walking inside the passage, Luffy felt the world shake and sway, unable to keep his footing.
Then Luffy tumbled all the way into the whale's stomach, crashing into and sending two other people who were trying to sneak in here flying out. He fell into a brief unconsciousness.
Luffy, who had crashed through a door and flown out from above the whale's stomach, saw he was about to fall into the stomach acid sea below. Spotting Tom standing by the ship's rail, he immediately asked Tom to help pull him aboard.
Tom's view ahead was blocked by the blue-haired woman dangling from the hook. He was just about to lower his head to see the situation when the blue-haired woman woke up.
As this woman's fine eyebrows twitched slightly and she slowly opened her eyes, before she could even gather her thoughts, she felt something hit her from behind. Immediately after, a man's face filled her pupils, growing larger and clearer.
Before Tom could even see where Luffy was, the blue-haired woman hooked on the line screamed and crashed toward him.
"Get out of the way!"
Seeing the blue-haired woman flying at him like a cannonball, Tom was so shocked his eyes nearly popped out. Just as he was about to use the fishing rod to fling the woman away, he was sent flying backward.
The smooth, clean forehead of the blue-haired woman with the long ponytail crashed right into Tom's head. As Tom fell backward, she spun halfway in the air, landing behind Tom. Their heads happened to touch, and her water-blue long ponytail spilled across Tom's face.
The two of them fell onto the deck in a straight line—one seeing stars, the other with spinning eyes, both looking half-dead, unable to speak for a moment.
"If it weren't for you, I would've fallen into the sea below. You really helped me out."
Luffy, clutching Tom's extended fishing rod, landed safely back on the Going Merry. He didn't forget to laugh and thank Tom, whom he had thoroughly screwed over.
Tom's vision was filled with a sheet of blue, like the ocean, and he could faintly smell a light fragrance of hair. He pushed the soft blue hair covering his face away. Right now, he had only one thought...
Zoro and the others were surprised to see Luffy suddenly appear with two unfamiliar people, one of whom had directly fallen into the stomach acid sea. They fired questions at Luffy.
Everything happened too fast. By the time Nami regained her composure, Tom—who had been so enthusiastic about fishing in the whale's stomach—now looked like a dead fish. Seeing Tom had only bumped into the blue-haired woman and nothing serious happened, she was about to go wake him when a cry for help came from not far away: "Help!"
"Ah! That's Mr. 9's voice!"
The blue-haired woman, whose eyes were still spinning, struggled to sit up the moment she heard the cry for help. She shook her head a few times to clear it. Her long ponytail swayed back and forth with her constantly shaking head, brushing against Tom's face behind her again and again, making Tom's nose itch.
"Achoo!"
Tom sneezed loudly, feeling much more alert. He reached out and grabbed the long, water-blue ponytail swishing across his face. "Stop moving around, you... broom!"
"This... this is my hair..."
The blue-haired woman, suddenly hearing a man's voice from behind, was startled. She turned her head slightly and saw Tom, who was holding her long ponytail.
"Of course I know it's your hair. It's like a broom."
Tom casually tossed the blue ponytail he was holding aside, rubbing his head where it had been hit and was aching slightly. He then added, "I really feel like cutting off that troublesome long hair of yours to use as a mop. Though a blue mop is a bit..."
Hearing Tom's words, the blue-haired woman was instantly shocked into a petrified state, her delicate pointed chin nearly hitting the deck.
"You idiot! No one says things like that about someone's hair!"
Nami knocked Tom on the head and shot a sympathetic glance at the blue-haired woman, who looked deeply shattered and had now turned her neck to the side.
Tom felt he was just stating the truth and was about to properly argue with Nami when he heard Luffy and the others on the other side shouting about a monster. His attention was immediately grabbed.
"Where's the monster?!"
Tom hurried over to Luffy and the others. In the distance, on the stomach acid sea, a man wearing a crown was desperately swimming forward. Chasing him was a rather strange-looking creature with multi-colored skin, scaring him into constant screaming.
"It's a Banana Gator."
Tom tightened his grip on his fishing rod and said to Luffy and the others, "This thing has a long, sharp, hard shell on its back. They're usually over twenty meters long. The reason it can survive so long in the whale's stomach is because it can retract its soft, octopus-like tentacles and body into its hard shell."
"Be careful. Behind the Banana Gator's dozen or so tentacles is an extremely hard mouth. Its parrot-beak-like keratinous bill has powerful biting force. If it bites you once, you're finished."
Tom said all this in one breath. But Luffy and the others just leaned on the ship's railing, watching the Banana Gator—which was using its octopus-like head to spray water and chase the crowned man—and said, "So it's a weird creature that chases things backward."
"You guys completely missed the point of what I said!"
Tom's mouth corners twitched as he looked at Luffy and the others.
Right now, the Banana Gator was indeed chasing Mr. 9 backward, head toward its rear. It continuously spewed large amounts of foam from its mouth, acting like a propeller to speed forward. The long, sharp hard shell on its back pointed straight at Mr. 9's back like a spear, almost piercing him, scaring him so badly his face turned green.
"Please, save Mr. 9! If he dies, I won't be able to live either."
The blue-haired woman, seeing Mr. 9 about to be caught by the Banana Gator in the stomach acid sea, spoke anxiously to Luffy and the others.
"When did such a beautiful, lovely lady appear on the ship? And so full of mystery... utterly enchanting!"
The moment Sanji saw the blue-haired woman, his eyes immediately turned into hearts. He walked over very gentlemanly and asked, "Might I ask your name?"
"I am... Miss Wednesday."
The blue-haired woman hesitated for a moment before giving her name.
"Miss Wednesday... What a pleasant-sounding name!"
The moment Sanji said this, Tom almost threw up: You call such a weird name 'lovely'? Your brain really is filled with abnormal things.
Zoro, arms crossed, watched Mr. 9, who was being chased until his face turned pale by the Banana Gator in the stomach acid sea. "If we're going to save that guy, it has to be now. The whale seems to have calmed down. This is a good chance to leave."
The stomach acid sea was indeed calm and peaceful now, no longer the roaring waves and violent turbulence from before. This was because Crocus, who had left the whale's stomach, had injected it with a sedative.
"Hey, stinky fisherman! Are you listening? We need to leave here ASAP. Isn't it your job to go deal with that snail-thing?"
Sanji yelled at Tom.
"Why should I listen to a pervert cook like you?"
"Are your ears stuffed with salted fish?! Didn't you hear it's a request from the beautiful Miss Wednesday? If you don't deal with that snail, how do we save anyone?!"
Tom and Sanji, unable to agree, immediately started arguing.
"What are you two still arguing about?! He's about to be eaten!"
Nami, seeing Mr. 9 was almost too tired to swim anymore, said to Tom and Sanji with a thick black line on her forehead.
"Just catch it! I've never eaten such a big snail before."
Luffy said to Tom, drooling.
"Fine then. I wanted to enjoy hunting in a big fish's stomach once before leaving anyway."
Tom grinned and stopped messing with Sanji.
"Hurry up! That... snail-thing is some distance away. Our ship needs to keep heading for the exit. Can you get back to the ship?"
Usopp saw Mr. 9 had swum all the way to the other end, while their ship was in the completely opposite direction. From such a distance, he was really a bit worried Tom wouldn't make it back.
"Don't worry. Watch this!"
Tom propped his fishing rod upright on the deck and said to Usopp.
"What does he think he's doing?"
Miss Wednesday saw Tom was still very far away from Mr. 9, and he was still on the ship. It didn't look like he could save anyone in time. She murmured softly to herself.
"Be careful."
Nami couldn't help but remind Tom. "Don't ruin your clothes. You don't have any more to change into."
"You could always mend them for me."
As Tom said this to Nami, he attached the attachment containing the soft-flow particles to the tail end of his fishing rod. Then he lowered the long rod and used the bent fishing rod to launch himself forward like a rocket toward Mr. 9. As he flew, he used the line launcher on his right wrist to shoot a line, pulling the rod he'd left standing on the ship toward him, catching it in his hand.
"I can't... I'm too tired to swim anymore..."
Mr. 9 was panting heavily, his face pale with purplish discoloration. He saw the Banana Gator's long, sharp hard shell behind him was about to pierce through his body and despairingly closed his eyes.
Just as Mr. 9 closed his eyes waiting for death, at the critical moment, Tom—who had launched himself using his fishing rod—arrived above him. Using the line launcher on his left wrist, he shot a line, pulling Mr. 9 out of the stomach acid sea and forcefully flung him upward.
The Banana Gator in the stomach acid sea below sensed its prey was gone. It let out a loud wailing sound, like a child crying loudly. But Tom knew perfectly well it was angry. "Being angry is useless. Your role has changed. You're no longer the hunter. Now you're my prey!"
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T/N :
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