"Boss! I see something at two o'clock!" shouted the lookout at the top of the mast of the Going Luffy. "There's a mountain or a monster..."
"I hope there's no monster that can be mistaken for a mountain!" sweatdropped Bartolomeo.
"It looks like it's moving..." Yukiko said looking through a spyglass.
"If it's a mountain that moves, let's go!" cheered Luffy.
"N-No, idiot!" the sniper interjected, grabbing Luffy's cheeks and tugging on them. "Anyway, what we gotta do now is get out of this foggy maze as soon as possible! Or, we'll hit a reef and capsize!"
"Wait, God" stated Law, earning a blush from Usopp who turned to him with sparkles around him.
"Did you call me 'God'? I'm flattered! I'm a man of 200 million and I'm flattered!" he said, oblivious to the pissed aura of Franky right behind him.
"I'm sure the Marine Admirals are aware of you now. But Look. The Vivre Card is pointing towards that"
"Tra-guy? Is Zou literally an elephant?" Yukiko questioned, staring at the dark mass in the fog.
"Indeed. Why?"
"Then there's no need to search longer...
It's right ahead of us!" She finished.
The fog dissipated a little to reveal the huge form of an elephant walking slowly in the ocean. Attached to one of its legs was the Thousand Sunny, drifting along the waves with the beast.
This earned shocked looks from the pirates, who gazed at this gigantic entity that seemed out of this world.
Even Yukiko was shocked, as this elephant has to be around the same size as Groudon in his Primal Form!
"I-I-Is it alive?!" asked Usopp.
"It keeps moving so it'll never be at the same location; a Phantom Island. It's not actually an island so Log Poses won't track it. I've never been here before either" told Law. "From the looks of it, Black Foot and the others already got here."
"So we were chasing an elephant that was walking away" mused Robin, staring up at the elephant.
"We can't anchor, so we have to attack ourselves to the elephant." Yukiko said.
"Get ready to make landfall. Can you give us some food?" the surgeon demanded to Bartolomeo who scowled at him.
"For you?!" he pointed accusingly.
"Can you give Straw Hat-ya some food?"
"TAKE EVERYTHING IN THE FOOD STORAGE!" the fanboy's persona did a 180 at the mention of Luffy.
'Oh dear...' Yukiko thought.
"So this is Zou?! There are such unusual things outside our country!" breathed in shock Kin'emon. "I wonder if Momonosuke is okay"
"I heard there is a tribe that hates humans, so we cant be sure." stated Kanjuro.
"Yes, it's the Mink Tribe. They hold off humans and people say the history of their country goes back nearly a thousand years." answered Law.
"A thousand years?!" cried out Luffy. "On the elephant's back?! Does that mean that elephant has been alive for a thousand years?!"
"I'm not that surprised. There are ancient and legendary Pokémon that lived longer than that." Yukiko said making Luffy amazed.
"Speaking of which, Beast-ya, do you know of the Legendary Beasts?"
"Oh, you mean Raikou, Entei and Suicune? Yes. Are they important to Zou?"
"Yes, and there is more. There have been murals of them depicted associated with Zou, meaning the people here see them as their gods." Law said.
"If you are wondering if they are with me, yes. They are my friends. You want me to show we mean no harm with them?" Yukiko asked.
"Yes."
Yukiko nodded as she got her PC for a little change.
Bartolomeo used his Devil Fruit to built a staircase that led to the Thousand Sunny, and your crew along with Law, Kin'emon and Kanjuro crossed it to get on the other side. Next came the food that Barto Club generously gave with all their love poured in it. You questioned if it was still edible after that.
"Is there anything else we can do?"
"No, we're fine!" answered Franky. "Luffy, we're ready"
"All right! Let's go!"
"Barto, thank you and and your crew for getting us here, we are grateful." Yukiko smiled.
Barto almost had a heart attack from happiness.
"Yukiko-senpai is grateful........"
-------
Aside from Raikou, Entei and Suicune, Yukiko decided to bring Reshiram and Zekrom too for everyone to ride up to Zou.
"I wonder how Sanji and the others climbed this" said Luffy. "Kin'emon, Kanjuro. Come to think of it, why do you wanna go to Zou?"
"After everything you did for us, we must tell you everything eventually. But first, we need to make sure the others are safe." responded the samurai.
"Zou was always our destination since leaving the Land of Wano" Kanjuro said. "We want to see if Momonosuke is okay and if another friend we were separated from at sea - Raizo, a ninja, has arrived here safely."
All men on board whipped their heads toward both samurais, eyes wide like saucers with their interest piqued. Yukiko and Robin, on the other hand, gave a curious look.
"A ninja?!...I wanna meet him!" said Luffy with stars in his eyes.
"I wanna see a shuriken" enriched Zoro in all his seriousness.
"Does he sit under a waterfall to meditate?" inquired Usopp.
"Can he really use supernatural ninja powers?" Law asked, truly uncharacteristic coming from him.
"Can he disappear in an instant like they say?" said Franky.
"What are you guys..." began Robin, gazing at the guys.
"They're boys Robin." Yukiko said patting her back. "But if it helps, I've met some ninjas before joining the crew. One was the Shadow Triad and they had the ability to immobilize people without Pokémon."
"Wow!" Luffy exclaimed.
----------
As they made it to the top of the elephant, Yukiko was amazed to see an entire Civilization there.
Although they lost Luffy in the process, they found themselves at doors.....
Or What was left of the doors that held the gate together were now laying on the ground, completely destroyed. Judging by the cracks that marked the concrete and the walls around the entrance, something massive pushed its way through.
"This is some pretty serious destruction!" Franky said. "And it's still fresh. Are Sanji and the others alright?!"
"Hm. Let's proceed with caution" smirked Zoro, unsheathing one sword as Yukiko got a Pokéball out.
"What?! We don't really know the residents here and we have other enemies?!" cried out the sniper in panic.
"But still, if what Law said is true, we can have one of the Legendary Beasts help." Yukiko said.
Suddenly, Pachi growled at somewhere catching Yukiko's attention.
something came out of the bushes. It was faster than what you first expected, but Zoro was quick on his feet too. He swung his sword forward to slice down the foe, but it suddenly jumped in midair and above the man with a surprising agility.
Now that you had a good look of the opponent, you saw that it was some sort of female, bipedal rabbit. Her dark eyes glared at Zoro but before she shot her fist forward, Raikou came out on his own will with a thunderous roar.
"Ah! Wha?What?! The Thunder Beast?!" The rabbit woman said.
"Wait! Stop, Carrot!!!" a woman's voice echoed all around the forest, stopping the rabbit dead in her tracks with a gasp.
Right behind them, the wall exploded to reveal some kind of beast. Sitting on top of it, a female dog woman wearing a familiar bikini top and a blue cloak around her shoulders. She tugged on the leash that moved her beast, bringing her attention on the rabbit girl, although she was shocked to see Raikou:
"Forget about them-teia! More importantly, we have an invader in the Whale Forest!"
"Talking animals?!" shouted in surprise Usopp.
"They're the Mink Tribe!" informed Law.
"What is that weapon?!" Zoro grunted.
"We have an invader in the Whale Forest?!" the rabbit girl asked in disbelief, ignoring the swordsman's question.
"Yes! We are in trouble. The Guardians will be mad!" the dog woman sweated.
"Wait that outfit....It's Nami's! What have you done to her?!" the sniper questioned furiously.
"Are they a cannibal tribe?" Robin wondered heavily, causing Usopp to scream in horror.
"DON'T SAY SUCH A SCARY THING!"
"For some reason, I think the intruder is Luffy...." Yukiko muttered with a sweatdrop. "Miss, you're wearing something that belongs to a friend of ours. Where is she?" Yukiko asked.
"We don't have time to transport you-teia guys! Do as I say: go through the Rightrump Forest to your right and turn left at a deep dark swamp! You'll find the corpse of your-teia friend there!"
Although Usopp panicked, Yukiko had Raikou follow them.
"By corpse, you mean the skeleton, Brook, right?" Yukiko asked making the dog woman flinch.
"Besides, I can tell you mean no harm, and you were surprised to see Raikou, meaning he has some significance to your people. We came here to help Kanjuro and Kin'emon." Yukiko said.
That made the dog and rabbit girls pause.
"You know of the samurai?" Carrot asked.
"They are our friends but we got separated when we came here. A boy, Momonosuke is here too, isn't he?"
The dog woman looked at Yukiko for a moment, and paused.
"Follow us."
-----------
"Garchu!!" the Minks shouted in unison.
"Welcome Straw Hats!"
"Welcome!!"
"The atmosphere's quite upbeat!" grinned Luffy.
"B-But, this isn't what we heard about!" said Usopp, stunned.
"Who cares? Garchu!!!" shouted the boy, while he didn't know the meaning of the word. "What's 'Garchu'?"
"I think they use that word as a greeting." Yukiko said as she walked with Raikou.
"Is that...?"
"The Thundering Beast! It looks like one of the Gods of Zou!"
"I thought the people of your race hate humans?" Zoro inquired, earning a look from Wanda.
"Race, huh? That's probably what those who don't know other Minks think and get scared of. To us, you-teia guys are just Monkey Minks who have less hair. You're the same Mink Tribe, just a different type" she smiled.
"Oh, I see." Yukiko said.
Some familiar faces pushed through the crowd of Minks, with Chopper running ahead with Nami following in toes. They were both wearing an attire that certainly wasn't theirs. Usopp waved at them with tears in his eyes, clearly relieved that his friends were fine. Though, they were stopped by a mob of Minks who rubbed themselves on the navigator. Said young woman smiled nervously, trying to get rid of them.
"They're very friendly!! That's so different from what I expected!" the sniper yelled, eyes bulged out.
"Guys!!!" both Nami and Chopper yelled in unison as they detached themselves from the Minks.
"I'm so happy to see you again!" smiled Luffy, throwing his arms in the air.
The navigator jumped in Luffy and Yukiko's arms while Chopper went for Usopp. However, Nami's expression turned sad. But Yukiko caught sight of tears threatening to fall, her shoulders shaking. Luffy frowned as he saw it too.
"I'm so sorry..." she whispered. "Sanji-kun is..."
"What? What's wrong?" Luffy and Yukiko demanded.
"S-Sanji-kun is...gone!!!"
"What? What happened?" Yukiko asked.
Then a large lion Mink walked up.
"Greetings, I'm sure you have a lot of questions, we'll explain over the feast." He said.
-------
It was strange for Yukiko to have a feast right after Nami stated those words. But Luffy's hunger surpassed any rational thought, and the juicy meat's smell the Minks prepared didn't really help either.
As Luffy and Yukiko sat together eating, a lot of Minks kept making contact with them.
Yukiko let Raikou, Entei, Suicune, Zekrom and Reshiram out as the Minks marveled at them.
"Please, overlook these cultural differences" smiled Wanda. "Minkship is a friendly gesture to us"
"So you call it minkship" hummed Robin, petting a Mink who was laying across her laps.
Yukiko was a bit surprised at this but Luffy then began pulling Yukiko closer to him as he ate, even offering some meat and fruit to her.
"Oh, are you two mates-rura?" A leopard Mink asked.
"You can say that." Yukiko said.
"E-Everybody!!!! What a relief! I read in the newspaper, and I'm so glad you're all okay!!!"
The skeleton limped a bit, his clothes totally disheveled like he went through hell a moment ago.
"Brook! What happened to you?!" Yukiko yelled.
"I guess some canine Minks got too friendly with him." Robin smiled.
Yukiko winced as being a person of bones, he would have the luck of being perused by dogs.
Anyway, Nami told them about what happened.......
Two of Big Mom's underlings along with Capone Gange Bege arrived in Zou.
Bege and his subordinates forced Sanji and the others inside, and held a discussion to a long table. Apparently, the man didn't come for Caesar only. He was also requested to bring back the groom for Big Mom's next tea party - Vinsmoke Sanji.
This left everyone to gape in disbelief while Bege announced that Sanji would marry the 35th daughter of the Charlotte Family, Pudding. But more importantly, they heard for the first time about Sanji's family.
If Sanji became married to her, the crew would end up becoming subordinates to Big Mom. With no room for discussion, Sanji's group was cornered and unable to get out of this situation. So the cook made the sacrifice of sending Nami and the others away from Bege's castle and accepted to go with him. Leaving a simple note before his departure.
"Vinsmoke? I've heard of that name." Law said. "They were a fallen royal family from the North Blue, but in recent years they have been building up strength. They rule the Germa Kingdom, as well as the former dynastic conquerors and rulers of the North Blue. They are also a powerful and infamous family of Underworld mercenaries."
"Mercenaries?! Sanji's from such a family?!" Usopp yelled.
"Robin. Do you know about them?" Yukiko asked.
"About 300 years ago, the Vinsmoke Family established and ruled the Germa Empire after conquering the entire North Blue with their military might. However, after 66 days, they were dethroned, yet they continue to rule over the ocean-going Germa Kingdom, and still possess the authority and privileges of royalty, including the right to attend Levely. Furthermore, their patriarch is powerful enough to directly influence the bounty system, by both increasing bounties and changing their conditions of capture." Robin explained.
"That explains why Sanji's poster had Only Alive." Yukiko said.
"Yosh!" Luffy interrupted. "We don't know what's on his mind so let's go ask him!"
"EHHH?!" exclaimed Chopper, falling from the top of Franky's head.
"Oi, forget it, Luffy!" snarled the swordsman.
"D-Don't tell me we're gonna head for Big Mom!" Usopp cried. "Did you forget that you already picked a fight with her?!"
"Without a strategy or reinforcements, we'll just get beaten and that'll be it!" Franky stated.
"She's an Emperor. She's on a totally different level than any of our past enemies" Robin added in tow.
"Then, we'll go quietly" the young man decided. "We have no choice anyway..."
"HOW DO WE FIND THEM?!"
"Well, there is a way to go after them but..." trailed Chopper.
"Indeed. Sanji-san has gone because of the Big Mom Pirates, but they left something big behind instead" nodded the skeleton.
Yukiko realized what they mean.
-----------
After Jack, one of Kaido's underlings attempted to attack Zou, and the elephant retaliated with permission from Momonosuke, Luffy's crew discussed what to do about Sanji.
As Luffy wanted to bring him back, Yukiko sided with him.
"Besides this isn't our first time..." Yukiko said looking at Nami, Usopp and Robin.
"True." Zoro said.
The group to bring back Sanji consisted of Luffy, Yukiko, Pachi, Nami, Brook, Chopper, a Mink called Pedro, and Pekoms.
Meanwhile, the others would go with Law to Wano to prepare for the battle against Kaido.
"Alright, Luffy-dono, Yukiko-dono! We'll be waiting for you in the Land of Wano" told Kin'emon as the others bid farewell.
"Be careful!" Momonosuke said.
"Let us know if something happens" smiled Robin.
"I'll make a weapon to destroy Kaido!" spoke Franky, striking his pose.
"I'll round up the samurai in the Land of Wano!" smirked Zoro, to which Usopp stared at him white-faced.
As Yukiko had her Dragons take her group back down to the Sunny, their next stop......
Totto Land!
------------
I'm a little at odds of one thing.........
When should I have Luffy finally propose to Yukiko?
I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and saw the Macy's Parade!
I did and saw Luffy's balloon, though it was a little deflated, but I was still happy to see it in the parade, so I'm not complaining too much.
But I think they should do a float with the live cast next year! We need a petition for that!
Plz comment!