Chapter 90: Little East Blue
Chapter 90: Little East Blue
It had only taken a very little consideration to decide to approach the island from underwater. While it was still somewhat true that most people didn’t look up that often, the Discovery was a large ship by almost any standard. Large enough to be easily spotted at lower altitudes. Not to mention the possibility of someone noticing a shadow, since the ship was large enough to cast one if not at extremely high altitude. Overall, this made it the better choice to use a refined version of the submarine form they had used to escape the Sabaody Archipelago. The original, quick and crude design, had been greatly improved upon by Luffy and Dis working together, leading to far greater maneuverability and control. Which, given the reefs they’d had to maneuver around to approach the island, was a relief. It was also something which meant they could, in fact, stay close enough to the surface while maintaining relative plane, for a periscope to work.
Of course, the only reason they bothered with a periscope was so that Vivi could use the magnified image it provided to open a subtle Air Door.
“Alright, Robin. Do your thing.”
Robin nodded, crossing her arms as she used the small Air Door to spread her eyes and ears around the odd East Blue themed village. It was a mild risk that someone on the island might spot Robin’s efforts with Observation Haki, but it wasn’t very likely. Even if the Minotaur pirates had been big names in the West Blue, and might have originated at some point from the New World, the likelihood of a Haki user skilled enough to pick up Robin’s dispersed bits was low. Besides, unlike with Shiki, they weren’t that worried about confronting this crew outright if needed. It was only caution regarding what might happen to the locals if they went in hard and fast that saw them bothering to scout the situation out this way.
For several minutes, the crew did their best to wait patiently while Robin did her thing. Thankfully for those less patient souls among them, it only took those few minutes, rather than needing a prolonged scouting operation like they’d performed with Shiki’s floating islands. Robin opened her eyes and gave a report with a curious frown on her face.
“The pirates have set up shop with the town as a base and seem to be making expeditions into the mountain that makes up much of the island. Quite a few of them were complaining about trying to find the locals. I’m guessing from a comment about the mountain being like a maze, that the handful of locals they are using as slaves were merely unlucky and the rest are in hiding.”
Luffy pursed his lips, considered for a moment, then shrugged.
“That makes this easy, then. Mark the location of each local. Vivi will open Air Doors for us near each of them so we can get to them straight away. Pagaya, you and Perona will stay with Dis. Surface and sink those ships after we all step through into the village. They don’t seem to be anything special, so a shot or two from the railguns will wreck them easily. Just mind what is past them in case the shots over penetrate.”
The older man acknowledged the order, as did Perona. Despite having come quite far in basic conditioning since coming aboard, the ghost girl knew she wasn’t up to being a front-line combatant of the crew just yet and was frankly fine with that. Pagaya simply wasn’t combative by nature and was perfectly content to leave the fighting to others unless given a very good reason not to. Everyone else quickly got themselves ready, even as Robin switched to spying again to talk Vivi through targeting the initial Air Doors…
… … …
Luffy stepped through the Air Door and immediately punched the surprised looking bull-man on the other side in the face. He didn’t hold back much at all, having already been warned that even the weakest of the Minotaurs had what amounted to low-level Zoan durability. That fact didn’t help the one he just cold-cocked, the pirate’s skull caving under Luffy’s fist with casual ease. Hina had known enough about these pirates, and Robin had seen enough to confirm it, that they weren’t bothering with the concept of ‘take prisoners.’ The fact that no male locals had been spotted said unfortunate things, as did Robin’s report of bruises and other abuse visible on the captured women.
So far, it appeared more that they’d been forced into servant roles, rather than something… worse. But that wasn’t certain, and Luffy wasn’t interested in holding back against known-violent pirates. Particularly as they no longer really had a good way of offloading ones they’d captured. They could send less violent offenders to Alabasta for punishment or potential rehabilitation. But asking Alabasta to house the more dangerous and violent flavor of pirates wasn’t something they wanted to burden Vivi’s home with. Any Minotaurs that outright surrendered would be spared and sent either to the desert kingdom or to a deserted island. Those that didn’t so surrender would be dealt with permanently enough for the locals not to fear retaliation.
Speaking of locals, Luffy turned to the shocked looking woman in a tattered dress and addressed her as gently as he could.
“Miss? If you head to the town center, my crew’s two doctors are setting up there while the rest of us clean house. They will see to your injuries.”
The woman gulped, looked at him fearfully, then surprised him by jolting and losing a considerable chunk of her fear when she…saw his hat?
“Wait, are you Straw Hat Luffy?!”
Luffy blinked.
“Yes?”
To his utter surprise, the woman threw herself at him and…hugged him?
“Oh, thank goodness! We’re saved!”
Jaw working soundlessly, Luffy shook his head, even as he drew his revolver to put an armor-piercing crystal round between the eyes of another Minotaur that was trying to charge him. The noise didn’t even make the crying woman flinch, so he decided to simply take the direct approach. Infusing the woman with a bit of his Haki, he moved and was nearly-instantly next to the area where Kaya and Chopper were setting up. The two of them had knocked out a trio of Miontaurs on their own arrival and were busily setting up a basic aid station.
Kaya was quick to spot Luffy’s situation. With her usual personal magic with the injured, she somehow got the woman to let go and sit down for a checkup and treatment. Shaking his head in renewed puzzlement, Luffy pushed aside the matter of the woman’s odd response to being saved by a ‘pirate,’ shifting back into looking for more threats. Sadly, he could already detect Yamato dealing with the only truly dangerous feeling signature among the pirates. It might be traditional for Captains to fight Captains, but Yamato had been itching for ‘a real fight’ for weeks. He wasn’t surprised she’d steered straight for the strongest signature. One that did show signs of primitive Haki use. Though nothing that was likely to give Yamato trouble.
Sighing, Luffy aimed for the nearest pirate that was running around unengaged and used Soru to close the distance in an eyeblink. He supposed, this one time, he could take out the trash while the rest of his crew vented a bit of steam and tried out their new moves. At least these Minotaurs were tough enough not to fold at the slightest effort, even if he didn’t think any of his crew were going to have trouble with them…
… … …
“Nami is the best! Did you see how she picked up that one motherfucker and beat another motherfucker with him?!”
Luffy stared, even as what looked distinctly like a teenage fanboy was cuffed over the head by his mother, who shouted shrilly about his language. Nami herself was clearly just as off put, though that might have had something to do with them finding that shrine with a surprisingly good nude statue of her? This island was weird, and he turned back to its mayor, who was chortling merrily at the scene. Said mayor saw his look and smiled.
It was the day after they’d rooted out the Minotaur Pirates, with the group only managing to put up moderate resistance. They’d been extremely good for a crew of Grand Line rookies, easily strong enough to handle most of Paradise. But that wasn’t nearly good enough to handle Luffy’s crew at this point. Something he was going to have to keep in mind as he looked for ways to challenge his minions so they could grow stronger. Training only took you so far in this reality. Thankfully, he still had a few decent ideas where they could find strong enough challengers to push most of the crew. Possibly not him or Yamato, but the pair of them were still at the point they were learning a lot just from fighting each other anyway. Yamato hadn’t been around long enough for that to hit diminishing returns from familiarity yet. Besides, there was always Rayliegh when they did hit that point, if the old man was willing.
For the moment that was all in the back of his mind, however. He really wanted to know what the fuck was going on here. Yesterday they’d focused entirely on first the pirates, then on making sure all the islanders were okay. Thankfully, despite their initial fears, no one had actually died. The reason the pirates had managed to catch only local women had been luck. Bad luck on the locals part, that was, as the Minotaur pirates had swum ashore and ambushed some of them doing the wash away from the village before hitting the village itself. The rest of the villagers had all managed to flee while the giant beetle, named Boss, had fought off the initial rush of pirates.
Surprisingly, even Boss had lived, despite terrible wounds that had initially led them to think he was dead. Or, well, perhaps not so surprisingly, in truth, since Kaya had confirmed the beetle was SIQ enhanced. Though apparently with an earlier strain that didn’t induce rage. The beetle was some sort of escapee from Shiki, at least according to what Chopper had translated from Boss himself. Said beetle had also been quite pleased that Shiki was dead, though a little sad that the island and all the other enhanced creatures there had been lost.
Getting back on point, though…
“So, Mayor Fabre, now that things are calmer…what the heck is up with this town? And why are you all so calm about a pirate crew saving you?” Luffy gestured to Nami’s ‘fanclub.’ “Clearly, you recognize us. Given what the World Government has been saying about us though, I’d have thought that would make you less likely to welcome us.”
The mayor, who looked quite pleased despite also clearly being tired, was jovial as he responded.
“Ah! But that’s only what the World Government is saying! No one, save for little Yoko whose father was a Marine, really believes anything they say about you. Everyone here on Little East Blue came from the East Blue, you see. Or is at least descended from someone who did! We’ve been following your crew’s exploits since you were still bounty hunters, cleaning up our home ocean! Why, we’ve even heard the truth that Alabasta put out via Big News Morgans about how the World Government slandered you by naming you all pirates! No, we here on Kansorn Island know you’re all good people. Why, you proved it again by rescuing us all!”
Luffy blinked, doing his best to chew through that deluge of information. He’d know vaguely that King Cobra had planned a meeting with Morgans after the Whitebeard War, having held off giving the infamous man a story until past that point of no return. Most of the World News was controlled by the WG, but Morgans was the exception, often defying the censors if a story was thrilling or ‘big’ enough for him. None of the News Coos belonging to the man’s World Economy News Paper had been able to find the Discovery recently, most likely due to their use of air and underwater travel putting them outside whatever method the Coos used to track people. As a result, Luffy hadn’t seen the that article yet, not having even been aware it had been published, even if he knew it had been planned.
He was going to have to make sure to get a copy soon. A quick trip to Alabasta via Vivi Express should enable that.
Still, that part of what the mayor had said was easy enough to process, once Luffy worked through the information for a few moments. It was good to know, as it might mean they got better receptions on some islands than he might have otherwise expected, but it also wasn’t the thing that was currently throwing Luffy for a loop. No, that was…
“Wait. Everyone on the island is from, or descended from, the East Blue?”
Mayor Fabre’s smile widened, amusement at Luffy’s expense seeming to wipe away some of his tiredness.
“Yes, indeed! We are so remote here that we’ve never had any real immigration from elsewhere, only the few ships that have made it across the Calm Belt from the East Blue!”
Luffy gaped. He couldn’t help it.
“…Across the Calm Belt?!”
The mayor outright laughed at his expression, but he also answered the implied question once he recovered from his good humor.
“Quite! I imagine you’re a mite bit confused how that could have happened, given how most people think of the Calm Belt as uncrossable! The truth is rather different, however. The Calm Belt is uncrossable by anything but chance. Not uncrossable at all! The general rule of thumb is that one in fifty ships trying to cross it will make it intact. Which isn’t exactly wrong, but it isn’t a proper understanding of things, either!”
Luffy frowned. He’d had access to a lot of different navigational knowledge over his time in this world, including delving alongside Nami into everything places like the Royal Library of Alabasta had to say. He would be the first to point out that something about this world’s weather and geography was bullshit in ways that physics most definitely couldn’t explain. Yet, he’d never heard of anything like what the mayor seemed to be implying. Not aside from a few tricks like Marines using seastone or the Amazon’s using those serpents of theirs to scare off the Sea Kings in the Calm Belt.
“You’re saying there is some way to reliably cross the Calm Belts?”
The mayor shook his head immediately, still smiling.
“Oh no, not at all! No, the thing that most people miss is that almost all of the ships that survive come out at a very few specific points. One of which happens to be near Kansorn Island. You see, while the Calm Belt doesn’t have any wind, the idea that it doesn’t have currents is a bit of a lie. The Sea Kings that live in the Belt have migratory patterns and usual territories, you see, and those monsters are large enough that their regular movement causes a sort of current. Traditionally, these currents are too unpredictable to use, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. In fact, the Marines building that utterly ridiculous Tarai Current of theirs actually stabilized the northern belt between the Grand Line and the East Blue somewhat.”
Luffy’s mind was racing at the implications, putting together pieces of what the mayor was saying. Speaking slowly, he voiced his thoughts aloud as he thought he started to understand.
“So…any ship that does survive crossing the Calm Belt from the East Blue, would end up near this island?”
Fabre nodded, grinning as he did.
“Exactly right! None of the ships that have landed on Kansorn from the Calm Belt did so willingly. But there are always at least a few ships a year lost to storms pushing them into the Calm Belt. So, over time, even if only a relative few of those ships survive the disaster that is getting pushed into the Belt? Inevitably enough of them come through somewhat intact that Kansorn has had a decades-long trickle of accidental immigrants! Given the town here only goes back a little over two centuries, we suspect that the completion of the Tarai current shifted the original end point of that against-the-odds arrival. Of course, once a ship makes it through, they aren’t likely to risk trying to go back, and so Little East Blue here came to be!”
That…made a sort of sense. As much as anything in the physics-defying oceans of this world did. All of them. Luffy, having Out of Context understanding of how bodies of water should act, was aware that the Grand Line wasn’t the only weird one. None of the Blues ought to work the way they did either and the Calm Belts should be completely impossible in an entire host of different ways. Even the fact that Giant Sea Kings apparently created a current of sorts with migration patterns was absurdist. But it was the sort of absurdism that seemed to rule in this reality.
“Huh. Well, Nami will be fascinated by all of that, if we can pry her free of her fanclub. As her boyfriend, I should probably smack some of them. But watching her react to them is far too amusing. I’ll probably just steal their statue to tease her with when we leave, instead.”
The mayor laughed, seemingly completely unconcerned with the idea of Luffy stealing the statue. Luffy supposed he was probably just grateful neither he nor Nami had taken stronger exception than that to the perverted teenagers and their antics…
... ... ... ... ... ...
A/N 1: Little East Blue/Kansorn Island is from the movie-tie in episode for Strong World (the movie Shiki was from).
A/N 2: The bit about the Calm Belt is my own reasoning, not canon. It was basically me figuring out how Kansorn Island, a place near the Calm Belt and in the Grand Line, but where EVERYONE is from or descended from the East Blue, could come to be. I think the logic fits reasonably well within One Piece, though. Including explaining why some desperate crews (like the Rumbar Pirates) were willing to risk trying the Calm Belt to get off the Grand Line. If SOME ships, even just one in fifty, occasionally make it through by luck? Then it makes a bit more sense that those desperate enough might try it.
A/N 3: Yes, Nami had a pervert teenage fanclub that carved a nude statue of her on the island, in the tie-in episodes -_-.
A/N 4: Once per release, I remind people that...I have a Page! Nothing I write, fanfiction wise, is ever permanently paywalled. That said, I do have Early Access chapters. There is, in fact, currently roughly another 15,000 words of One Piece - Halfway Broken in Early Access (Chapters 91-94). Also, of course, you also get access to my other Early Access chapters for my other stories. There is typically around 75k+ words of various works in early access at any one time. I always appreciate any support, since it helps me free up more writing time...but most of all I hope you just enjoy the stories!