Two Dreams, One Adventure

Fresh New Faces

When he woke up from his recovery nap, the ship was anchored, and he saw the reason. They were in front of the other side of the Red Line. They wanted him to see it when they arrived. Damn it! He missed their reactions from being asleep. He looked up at the familiar, imposing wall, though this time it wasn't storming violently.

They'd come this far. Half of their journey through the Grand Line for the first time was nearly over. It made him... sad. When Robin saw his expression, sitting in her lawn chair with a book from the packed library, she smiled. "Even after we make it to the last island, we're still pirates. Plenty of islands we haven't been, too," she said lightly.

Luffy smiled. That was right! They only traveled one of the seven paths in the Grand Line, and there had to be a ton of islands in the New World! Their adventure across the most dangerous sea wasn't nearly over. Not nearly! The thought made him feel happy. He went inside to where he heard everyone and showed he was awake.

"Time to go to Fishman Island!" he cheered. They were out of the Florian Triangle, too, so he could use his senses just as good as before. Damn that fog was annoying. But they'd gotten Brook there, so he didn't hate their time in that place completely. They had an interesting adventure, at least.

They smiled at seeing him and his sparkling eyes. Sanji handed him a hot chocolate that everyone else had, as it was chilly outside, and said Mary Geoise was near. Marine headquarters was as well. They had to be careful.

Luffy scowled at thinking of World Nobles. The Celestial Dragons up on the Red Line. He hated them. They took away his brother. Luffy never wanted to see a bubble head. "Well, we'll be careful," Nami said, glaring at Zoro and Luffy. "So, how did the training go? You slept for over an hour."

"Yeah! It was really weak, too. I can't force it. And I haven't found any pattern either!" Luffy said in frustration, drinking his hot chocolate too fast, it being too hot. He spit it out on Franky across the table. He sat there with warm hot chocolate on his face. "Oops. Sorry, Franky."

"You're disgusting," Sanji said, and handed Franky a napkin. He wiped his face, not seeming that bothered. Then he changed the subject, and told Luffy he finished the backpack and would show him once they started sailing again. "Don't guzzle it! It's still hot!" Sanji said, and Luffy nodded, blowing on it first.

Luffy was happy and excited to see the backpack. "Wait, that can wait for later. We have to get down to Fishman Island, right? We should use the shark submerge to search for it. We don't know where the entrance is, and the Red Line is really long," Nami explained. Luffy raised his hand, wanting to go.

It ended up being him, Robin and Brook. He was the one to drive it as they dove and searched the Red Line. Luffy couldn't hear or smell anything underwater, or through the submarine, so they could only rely on sight. They found nothing, and watched how deep they went. Franky said the sub would implode if it passed 5,000 meters.

However, it was easy to see a huge monster coming after them. It also couldn't sense Luffy, it seemed, and tried to attack regardless of his presence inside. The shark submerge barely got out of the way of it's huge mouth and bite. They searched only a bit more, and found nothing that would clue them in onto where Fishman Island was.

When they surfaced, the news of not finding anything helpful was a dampener on Nami's mood. They went as deep as possible, but were nowhere near the bottom of the sea where the island was. Nami sighed, regretting not asking Lola more. "Maybe we'll drift down in a giant bubble!" Chopper said.

Usopp pointed out they had no way to make a huge bubble. And bubbles didn't sink, they rose. Chopper frowned. Luffy wondered if they should move along the Red Line more.