Chapter 48: Giant Whale Laboon

"It seems there is someone in the house," said Zoro while looking at the man with narrowed eyes.

"I think we should fire our cannons over there!" Usopp said while pointing at the man.

"No, wait a moment," said Sanji while keeping his guard up. When Luffy saw the man, he knew immediately who he was, having heard about him from Shanks, but Luffy wouldn't say anything.

He wanted to see what his crew would do. They all looked at the old man as he walked out of the house without taking their eyes off the crew while he made his way to the lawn chair.

The tension builds up, and Luffy can see some of the crew are starting to sweat a little. Everyone was expecting the man to lash out or something, but instead, he just stared at them as he walked over to the chair, which made them all nervous before he plopped down on the lawn chair and started reading the paper.

"Don't you want to say something?" Sanji shouted at the old man.

"Hey, if you want to fight, we can fight," Usopp said from inside the cabin, causing Luffy to sweat.

'Looks like he's back to his old self,' thought Luffy in an even tone.

"We've got cannons here, you bastards!" Usopp shouted once more from inside the cabin, pointing at the old man. The old man's eyes narrowed slightly as he glanced at them one more time, which caused the tension to rise again, making everyone sweat. while Luffy tried to hide his amused smile.

"If you do that, someone will die," said the old man in a serious voice, causing Usopp to scream a bit while Zoro and Sanji narrowed their eyes and prepared to attack with Nojiko right behind them while Nami ran into the cabin with Usopp.

"Yes, and who is it?" he asked.

"Me, of course," said the old man, causing Luffy to start laughing.

"Crocus, can you stop scaring the kids?" Luffy said with a laugh before he took a step forward.

"Who are you and why are you interrupting my joke?" Crocus said in an irritated voice.

"I'm a friend of red-haired Shanks and Rayleigh," said Luffy, making everyone wonder who Rayleigh was. Luffy saw Crocus' eyes widen before he chuckled.

"Oh, ho, it's been a while since I heard those names," he said as he put down the newspaper in his hand. "How are they doing?" "It's been a while since I've seen any of them," he said.

"They're fine; I can tell you all about them if you tell me where we are and how we can get back to the outside world," said Luffy.

"I think that's pretty obvious considering you've been eaten by a giant whale," he said, causing the crew's eyes to widen. "And the exit is over there," he said, pointing to the side so that everyone turned and saw two giant metal doors in the whale's stomach.

"Okay, I'm not a whale specialist, but I bet they don't usually have giant metal doors on the sides of their bellies," Yosaku said as he leaned back into his bisento. Before anyone could reply, the entire place shook as if it were an earthquake, causing the still waters to become agitated.

"What happened!?" screamed Nojiko as he and everyone on board tried to keep their balance on the ship as it swayed against the rough waters.

"It's started," Crocus said, causing Luffy to look at him strangely, wondering what had started.

"LOOK!" Nami shouted to get everyone's attention when he pointed at the island. "It's not an island; it's some kind of ship!" He shouted as he pointed at Crocus Island, which caused them all to turn around and see that the bottom of the island was made of iron.

"Yes, of course, because we are now floating in a sea of stomach acid," said Usopp, looking

"That means the wooden ship won't survive if we stay here too long," said Sanji.

"What's wrong with this strange whale, old man!?" Yosaku shouted at Crocus. Crocus got up from his chair and looked up at the fake sky before he answered.

"He's very angry," Crocus said in a sad tone. "This earthquake was the result of him hitting his head against the Red Line," he said, shocking the crew except for Luffy, who already knew that.

"That explains why he has so many scars on his forehead," said Nami as she clung to the side of the boat. "And not to mention all the howling he let out," he added.

"But why did he do it?" he asked.

"That's because he's suffering," said Luffy as he leaned against the cabin.

"And what's with the old man?" Nojiko asked.

"He most likely tried to kill this whale from the inside," said Nami causing everyone except Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji to give horrified expressions.

"What a despicable thing to do," said Usopp.

"Okay, we figured out the mystery of this whale; now how about we find a way out of its stomach before it digests us?" Zoro said while looking back at the rest of the crew.

"We have no right to judge the old man, nor do we need to save the whale." What we need to do is focus on how to get out of here," Sanji said as he and Zoro started walking towards Luffy. Just when Luffy was about to say something, Crocus did something that surprised everyone. He jumped into stomach acid.

"Is he crazy?" "The acid will eat him alive," said Luffy while looking at the place where he jumped.

"Luffy, we have to get out of here!" shouted Nami.

"We can't," Luffy said, causing their eyes to widen. "The whale is most likely underwater now; when we open those doors, we will sink to the bottom of the Grand Line," he said, startling them even more.

"So we stay here and die?" Yosaku asked.

"Don't be an idiot; the whale will have to come up for air sooner or later," he said, causing them to relax and nod. Two minutes later, the old man reappeared next to two giant doors and started up the stairs that were right next to them.

As he climbed the stairs, the smaller doors that were at the top of the stairs opened, and from there, two individuals came out with weapons in their hands. They pointed their guns at Crocus and pulled the trigger.