Sir Crocodile, Alabasta's Hero:
-x-
"And suddenly... A GIANT SAND DRAGON BURST OUT OF THE SAND AND ATTACKED US!" Usopp screamed as he stood on the main deck later that same day and told another of his farfetched stories to the crew. Y/N, Zoro, Sanji, Vivi, Mana, and Mr. 5 were sitting around in a circle playing cards.
"Uh-huh, a sand dragon," Y/N repeated distractedly before he put down his cards. "Read 'em and weep." There was a collective groan from the other card players.
"Damn it!" Mr. 5 complained, not even bothering to listen to Usopp's story, "That's the fifth hand in a row!"
"Sorry," Y/N apologized, "I've been winning card games all my life. It's not exactly something I can turn on and off. If it'll make you feel better I'll start throwing more hands."
"I say we get Miss. Nami back out here," Sanji suggested, "at least she can keep him in check."
"Yeah but between the two of them none of us would stand a chance," Zoro pointed out. "Our only hope would be them abandoning the game to attack each other."
"Nami's still in her room framing Y/N's money on her wall," Vivi informed them, "her laughter was starting to get unsettling, that's why I came out here."
"Y/N, you should hit a casino," Mana advised, "with your luck you could make a fortune."
"One of my old Nakama and I used to do that all the time," Y/N admitted, "but I always preferred bars with drunken pirates over casinos with rigged games."
"And that's when we realized that there were TWO SAND DRAGONS!" Usopp called out.
"Two sand dragons?" Y/N questioned casually, "really?"
"Really!" Usopp insisted, "Look! We have pictures!" Usopp pointed to Ms. Goldenweek who was standing beside him holding a canvas. It depicted a muscular Usopp with a long blue cape and a staff-like slingshot that was about as tall as he was standing in between two big purple lizard-like dragons.
"Those actually look remarkably like Sandora Dragons," Vivi remarked as she looked at the painting and then gave the artist a hard look, "How did you know w hat they looked like?"
"I didn't," Ms. Goldenweek admitted, "I just painted what he told me to. His stories are a little farfetched but they make interesting artwork. I painted this one for him too..." Ms. Goldenweek pulled another canvas out from behind the first one, it depicted the muscular Usopp with the blue cape riding on the back of a giant condor while using his staff-sized slingshot to lasso the giant bird's neck.
"Just don't show those to Chopper," Y/N warned her, "or someone will actually start to believe Usopp's tall-tales."
The reindeer in question was up on the front deck with Luffy and Carue staring out ahead of the ship as they continued their course towards Alabasta. Luffy was in his special seat on the figure head while Chopper and Carue were behind the front railing on either side of him. They were all sporting big giddy smiles.
"This is amazing Luffy!" Chopper commented, "The sea seems to go on forever!"
"Yeah, it's huge," Luffy agreed, "And pirates are the ones that get to have great adventures on it all the time!"
"Incredible!" Chopper gushed, "Being a pirate must be really great!" A shadow suddenly fell overhead and the three of them looked up to see a bird flying over the ship. "What is that thing?"
"It's a seagull," Luffy decided.
"THAT'S NOT A SEAGULL!" Mana yelled, as they all stared up at the bird that was easily a third of the size of their ship. "IT'S A GIANT... con... dor..." As one, everyone on the main deck turned and stared at Ms. Goldenweek's painting of Usopp and the condor.
