Chapter 80: Miss Wednesday
Ken thought that avoiding the whale would be good for their part and be safe but there was one thing he had forgotten. Out of nowhere Laboon decided that it would talk and thus its 'talk' came out in the form of a loud call. The call was so loud then even Ken had to use his hands to keep his ears shut.
Everyone seemed to be in pain as they put their hands over their ears. It was too loud and too close and everybody felt their ears ringing. Luffy was visibly angry and was ready to punch at Laboon. Ken shuddered seeing that and he came and stopped Luffy.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"This guy attacked us. So I am attacking it."
"Don't even think about it." Sanji and Usopp came and kicked at Luffy.
Laboon didn't seem to have noticed their presence and slowly dove down in the ocean. Everyone sighed in relief seeing that. They had seen how massive the body of Laboon was and for the first time they were in awe of the Grand Line. Their first entry to the Grand Line was welcomed by such a huge whale.
This was such a wake up call for them and made them realize that the Grand Line was more dangerous than they could have imagined. Luffy still looked pissed but he didn't go down to confront Laboon as he still couldn't swim.
While Luffy and others were busy talking about the huge whale, Ken turned his head and looked at the lighthouse. He could already feel that there was someone near the lighthouse. This person was probably Crocus, the ship doctor of the Roger Pirates.
"Luffy, let's anchor near the lighthouse."
"Here? Why? I don't want to stay near this whale. Oye Luffy.. I have a disease called I-will-die-if-I-stop-here."
"I don't want to stop here. What if the whale comes and eats us?" Nami too protested.
"We just entered the Grand Line and there is a lighthouse keeper here. We can talk to him and gather more information."
"There is someone here?" Sanji was confused about why a person was here when there was a gigantic whale nearby.
"Yes. There is a person in that direction." Zoro said as he pointed his finger near the lighthouse.
"Yosh! Let's ask this person about the Grand Line."
With that said, Merry was anchored quite a bit far from the place where Laboon was and approached the keeper of the Lighthouse. When they came forward they finally got to see Crocus. He looked old and had a weird head cap on over his hair. Right now he was resting on the bench and soaking in the sun. His eyes were closed as it seemed like he was sleeping.
"Yo ossan.. Wake up.. ossan.." Luffy was the first to shout and be disrespectful. Sometimes Ken wondered how could Luffy be so disrespectful and still garner the love of everyone. If he was in his own previous world he would have surely been beaten up quite a few times.
"Who is calling me in my sleep?"
"Yo.. I am Luffy.. We are here to ask information about the Grand.." before he could finish his words Luffy was kicked by Nami and apologised for the ride behaviour of Luffy and asked for advice on the Grand Line. Crocus looked surprised by their weird behavior but he welcomed them.
Sanji, in order to butter up Crocus, came and cooked food. It was there Nami came to know about the new compass they needed to set sail in the Grand Line. Ken had already known about this and didn't bother to join this conversation. He was rather keeping an eye for Miss Wednesday and her partner.
Miss Wednesday a.k.a. Nefertari Vivi, the princess of Alabasta. The one who had infiltrated the Baroque works in order to know the truth behind the evil organisation. They should be here according to the timeline in order to kill Laboon.
While they were talking, there was a sudden earthquake.
"What the hell?"
"What happened?"
Crocus looked scared and he instantly jumped into the sea.
"Ossan.. Where are you going? Ossan wait."
One moment before he talked about the whale which had come from West Blue and the next moment he jumped into the sea after the earthquake.
"The whale is trying to smash the Red Line." Ken said as he could already 'see' what Laboon was doing and Crocus had gone to stop this huge guy.
"Then why did Crocus jump in the sea?"
"Probably to stop the whale from hurting itself." Ken was particularly concerned about Crocus. Laboon was a friend of his and he wouldn't hurt Crocus. As expected the small shocks of the earthquake stopped after a few minutes and Laboon resurfaced above the water.
From a small door on top of Laboon, Crocus came out. Drenched in water.
"Ossan!! Sugoi. There is a door on the whale. Why is there a door on the whale?" Luffy was confused like others and they wanted to know. It was there Crocus spoke of the history of Laboon and how it had ended up here. The more they heard, the more they were surprised.
As Crocus was busy narrating the life of Laboon, they heard two cannons being shot. The sound came from a little far and two huge cannon balls were cruising towards the big whale. Ken had been expecting this as he had already sensed that two people had entered his Observation Haki range.
Ken took two kunai and threw it with immense speed towards the cannon balls, making them burst in mid air.
"They are here again?" Crocus looked visibly annoyed by what just happened but he was more surprised by Ken's move.
"What happened? Why did someone shoot at Laboon?" Nami and others too were a little perplexed about why someone would try to kill Laboon.
Ken didn't care much and just flew away to the small boat. Vivi and her partner didn't expect that a person would fly towards them and weren't ready. And before both of them could even respond, Ken punched both of them on their head making them unconscious.
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