Warm Memories and Brotherly Bonds

Chapter 23: The Sand Trap and Re-Enter Fire-Fist Ace

Chopper seemed to be too happy to speak. They all were sitting on the ground and watched as he lay back in the soft dirt and smiling with his eyes closed. As if he was dreaming of pleasant things.

"You glad that you got to see home again Chopper?" Nami asked with a smile as bright as his.

"Yep," Chopper giggled to himself. "But I loved watching those memories even more! It brought everything back! Like the reason I wanted to go out to sea in the first place! It's great!"

"And look at how far you've come since then," she told him as he jumped back up and began jumping around happily. The rest of the crew laughed a little at how cheerful and carefree Chopper was acting here.

"Yow! What a SUPER thing to see first-hand!" Franky called, jumping back to his feet with a clunking noise. "I can't begin to describe it!"

"I know what you mean! Yohohoho!" Brook said, his voice filled with awe. "Such an amazing will it would've taken to get up that mountain! I was freezing to the bone just watching! Course that's easy for me as I am already all bone! Yohohoho!"

"What about you two?" Usopp suddenly asked Nami and Sanji, and they looked at him in confusion until he added, "About seeing him... go through all that? I mean... you ok with it?"

They both looked down at the ground, neither one said anything until Sanji sighed, leaning up with his back to the tree trunk, lighting up another cigarette. "I should've guessed that he would do something like that," he said, as he put away his lighter. "I mean, when I woke up and saw him all bandaged up, you'd think I'd realized what might've happened."

"I think we all knew," Robin offered, "After all, it wouldn't be the first time that he put himself on the line for a friends. And I think it's safe to say that it won't be the last. He can be very protective of us all. So is it really that surprising that he would risk his health in such a way?"

No one could think of anything to say to that as they all rested and thought it over. As amazing and touching as it was, everyone also felt disturbed and anxiety in the pits of their stomachs and spread to their souls. This had been very painful to witness... to see a friend struggling so hard for the sake of their lives... and even harder to think about the pain and damage that Luffy was willing to put himself through for all that.

It was cruel, and a bit of twisted irony that felt like it could rip the ground from their feet. It felt like a bad dream, in reality. It only made the fact that they've failed to find this creature after all this even more pathetic. Around them, the familiar memory shift came back and they were back on the deck of the Merry.

The small band of pirates within the memory were gathered around each other. But what really got their attention was the fact that another man—at least they thought it was a man—was there with them. Dripping wet and gasping for breath, he was a very tall, male ballerina with heavy makeup, and a pair of swan heads on the back of his pink coat.

"BON CLAY!" Chopper and Usopp both cried out happily.

"Who?" Brook asked in confusion as he and Franky both looked at him with expressions of disbelief on their faces.

"That would be Mr. 2: Bon Clay," Robin answered.

"Wait, so he's the enemy?" Franky said in revelation.

"He was!" Usopp said quickly, "But he was our friend!"

"We owe him big time," Sanji sighed. And he explained that after they were able to beat Crocodile and put a stop to the rebellion, ballerina boy hid their ship from the Marines when they were looking all over for them. And how he had even disguised himself and his men as themselves in order to draw away the Marines pursuing them.