Chapter 69: Gathering

DISCORD LINK: https://discord.gg/r7kcKke

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 69: Gathering

For a moment, Lucas just looked at the mermaid Kiirahoshi in shock.

She did look like Shirahoshi with only the hair being different and the size was like a norman human kid….but Lucas didn’t think that Shirahoshi would actually have a little sister now.

Seems like King Neptune and Otohime had a lot more time to make a new child now that she’s alive…

While Lucas was warmly welcomed by King Neptune and the others, above the sea, there was a strange stillness in the air...as if it was the calm before the storm.

Everyone seemed to be waiting for something to happen as they could feel that a huge change was about to come.

On a certain floating island, a straw hat was placed on top of a unique rock. Currently, the floating island had entered a winter climate and snow had accumulated on top of the straw hat.

A beautiful woman with long black hair and a curvaceous body called out.

“Luffy!”

“Yeah, I’m coming!”

A black-haired man wearing a long-sleeved red vest approached the hat as he rested it on his head.

“Has it really been two years already?”

“Stop dilly-dallying and get going already.”

A cold voice rang out from behind him.

Luffy turned around and saw a tall man wearing a white top hat with a pigeon resting on his shoulder.

Luffy laughed.

“Shishishi, Lucci, you seem to be even more excited than me!”

“Hmph! Don’t be ridiculous. I simply don’t want to remain here with you any longer.”

As if to make his point, Lucci’s feet blurred and the next moment, he disappeared from where he stood.

2 years ago, when Rayleigh took him to this floating island which was supposedly Lucas’ main base, he met Lucci once more.

That time, Lucci had said that Lucas left him an instruction. That instruction being to train with Luffy and at the same time, compete against each other.

This meant that within these 2 years, not only was he being trained by Rayleigh harshly, Lucci was there to make it even harder for him!

Luffy was actually able to learn Haki in a single year, the other year was spent with him and Lucci in constant battle. Day in and day out…!

Remembering the past couple of years, Luffy shook his head.

“That guy, always using Soru whenever he can…”

“Don’t mind him, Luffy. Let’s go, the others are already waiting!”

“Un! Let’s go, Hancock! To Sabaody Archipelago!”

Grand Line, Sabaody Archipelago.

The pirates who have survived the first half of the Grand Line have begun to gather here once again in droves.

Everyone still remembered the events that occurred 2 years ago where a World Noble was killed in front of a Marine Admiral. As such, when the people began to notice the number of pirates increasing, everyone grew tense.

In fact, there was even a weird rumor going around.

The Straw Hat Pirates...are recruiting!

“I can’t believe it! After 2 long years with no news about them, they suddenly showed up here and started recruiting!?”

“They’re planning to expand their crew and go wild in the New World!”

“The thought gives me chills! Maybe I’ll see about joining up myself!”

“But is this news even real?”

“Should be. Even that Soul King Brook is confirmed to be here already.”

“But...isn’t he doing a concert?”

“He’s probably retired from the Pirate life already.”

Listening to their conversation, an orange-haired woman holding a child smiled.

“Mommy! Are we going to watch Uncle Brook?”

“Luna, it’s very noisy in the stadium. But don’t worry, later, we can ask Uncle Brook to sing for us on the ship, okay?”

“Yay!”

Nami smiled at the little Luna sweetly.

She bent down and grabbed Luna by the waist to carry her and settle her down on a floating bubble bike she had bought.

Right, she actually bought it instead of renting it…

The reason was simple. Luna wanted it and refused to rent…

Actually, Nami was really confused. As her child, she had obviously thought Luna to become a money-grubber so despite being almost 2 years old, Luna already knows how to use money well.

But for her to still want to buy a bubble bike here in Sabaody despite Nami explaining numerous times that she can’t play with it outside the island, Luna still insisted on it.

When Luna tried to pull a teary eye on her, Nami conceded defeat and bought the damn thing.

She must’ve gotten this unreasonableness from that idiot Lucas! If he’s still alive, he owes me 1000 Beli!

Nami grudgingly thought in her mind.

Back in Ryugu Palace, Lucas sneezed all of a sudden.

“Huh? Are you sick, Lucas-sama?”

“Hm? Ah, I’m fine. Someone’s probably praising me somewhere.”

“...”

Grove 33, Sabaody Archipelago’s Concert Arena. Sabadome.

“Brook! Brook!”

“Soul King!”

Thousands of people filled the arena as they all shouted and cheered for Brook.

Special effects exploded and smoke filled the stage. When it dissipated, a skeleton with an afro lifted the mike to his mouth as he pointed to the crowd.

“HELLOOOOOO!!! LET’S MAKE TODAY, THE BEST ANNIVERSARY EVER!!!”

“BROOK-SAMA!!!”

Brook pointed his boney finger to the skies.

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! BONE TO BE WILD!!!”

“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

The cheering couldn’t be stopped and could even be heard from all across the archipelago!

Behind the stage, Blueno looked at the crowd and sighed.

Finally...this is the last one...

Grove 44, the beach.

A blonde-haired man with curly eyebrows stood on the beach with a serious expression on his face as he lit a cigarette.

Looking at the passing people in front of him, his eyes locked onto certain people...women.

“A woman!”

Sanji’s eyes turned to hearts as he looked at all the women passing by!

Beside him, Fukurou was similarly the same!

“Huhu...to think I will be this affected by women…!”

“Fukurou, let’s go get the ladies!”

“Chapapapa! Let’s go!”

“...”

Behind them, the people from the Kamabakka Kingdom looked at the two with half-closed eyes.

“As if anyone would go out with those creeps…”

“Sanji-kyun~! Fuku-kyun~! Don’t worry~ Even if you are creeps, we still like you~”

““GO TO HELL! AND NEVER COME BACK!””

Both Sanji and Fukurou shouted at them with their middle fingers pointed to the sky.

As for what happened to them on that island...it was better left unsaid…

A certain bar.

Nami took Luna along to the bar to have a bite and for her to drink and relieve some of her painful memories which resurfaced.

Naturally, it was because he was reminded of Lucas...the other reason is that her expenses had doubled after having a kid. It was mostly because of the latter.

“Kid’s meal for the kid. And give me your strongest beer.”

“Coming right up.”

Soon, Luna was busy gorging on her meal while Nami was chugging on her own drink.

There was a ruckus from the seats on the corner which made Nami frown.

“Huh!? Did I mishear you!? A 55 million bounty!?”

*Bang!*

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out and the person who was shot immediately fell to the ground covered in his own blood.

The man who shot the guy was a rather large man with a strange straw hat and wearing a red vest.

“Go back and read the flier. I specified at least 70 million bounty. I won’t deal with any Captain lower than that...I can’t believe you had the gall to set foot here.”

Beside him was an orange-haired woman with an elongated face, a thin guy with a blue hair, and a large man with a long nose...though on closer inspection, the long nose looked to have been taped on his real nose…

Together, they are ‘Strawhat Luffy’, ‘Cat Burglar Nami’, ‘Cyborg Franky’, and ‘Long Nose Shooter’.

‘Luffy’ looked at the man he shot and sneered.

“Go home, you piece of shit! I am the son of Dragon the Revolutionary!”

“We have no use for people who’ll just slow us down. We are the chosen pirates. We’re on a whole other level! We can’t just let anyone join our crew!”

Looking at the situation, the others clicked their tongues in secret but didn’t dare to speak up. Instead, they engaged in quiet discussions on their own tables.

“That Strawhat Luffy...sure is merciless!”

“What do you expect? They’ve accomplished a lot.”

Nami looked at them and sighed. She no longer bothered and simply concentrated on drinking.

Beside her, Luna also saw what happened and asked Nami.

“Mommy, is that Uncle Luffy?”

“Haha, no no. Don’t pay attention to those guys, they’re nothing.”

Who knows whether she spoke too loud or the others had a better sense of hearing. But the instant she said that, the whole bar went quiet.

‘Luffy’ also heard what she said and asked angrily.

“Oi, that chick over there. Just who are you calling nothing?”

“Maybe you don’t recognize our Captain! You are speaking to the one and only Strawhat Luffy!”

‘Nami’ went over and pointed a gun at her.

Before she could speak again, another figure appeared from the door.

“Hissatsu Midori Boshi...Devil!”

*Boom*

Suddenly, a green pellet shot at ‘Nami’ which exploded and turned into a giant man-eating plant!

“Gah!? What the heck!?”

“W-what is this!?”

“Some sort of plant!?”

Not only did the strange plant attack ‘Nami’, it also stretched its vines to ‘Luffy’ and the rest!

Nami turned to look at the familiar voice and saw a long-nosed man.

“Oh! Usopp! It’s been a while! Look at you! You’ve gotten muscular!”

“Ahaha! This is all thanks to my training! Hm? Why is there a kid in a bar?”

Usopp looked at the kid beside Nami and was confused.

Who would let their kid in a bar here of all places?

...Wait a minute...white hair...and her face seems to resemble Nami as well…

“N-Nami...this kid…”

“Ah! That’s right, you haven’t met her yet! Luna, this is your Uncle Usopp! Usopp, meet Luna! She’s my daughter!”

…

Usopp’s jaw dropped to the ground and for a while, no words could come out of his mouth.

When he finally snapped out of it, a resounding voice rang out from the bar which could be heard outside.

“WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!!!!!!!!!???????????”

Nami already saw that coming and had her fingers covering her ears already while Luna did the same.

When Usopp finally stopped shouting, Nami waver her hand.

“Anyway, what’s that thing? Is that yours?”

“What do you mean ‘anyway’!? Is this something you can just brush off like that!? Oh, yes. That’s my new weapon, Pop Green! I haven’t just been sitting around staring at the ocean for the past 2 years you know.”

And just like that, Usopp was distracted.

“...Not! What the heck!? Explain to me what just happened!?”

...Well, it was worth a shot.

Nami sighed and explained.

“Like I said, she’s my daughter.”

“Who’s the father then? How come I didn’t know you were...seeing someone? And she looks like a 2-year-old already…”

“...It’s Lucas. He’s the father.”

“...”

Usopp calmed down when he heard that. He was immediately reminded of what had happened to Lucas.

He didn’t know that he and Nami were in a relationship...but with him gone, Usopp didn’t need to be a genius to know how painful it was for Nami.

Usopp looked at Luna and seemed to see an image of Lucas overlapping her face. He sighed and patted Luna on the head.

He turned to Nami and asked.

“...What are you going to do now? I mean, you can’t seriously be thinking of bringing her along...you know how dangerous this sea is.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. Anyway, let’s get out of here. This isn’t the place to talk. Also, I’ve got a favor to ask you!”

Nami quickly pulled Luna and Usopp along as they ran out of the bar.

Behind her, small bubbles of dark clouds were forming on the ceiling.

“Wait! You bastards! Who do you think we are!?”

Usopp finally saw what the enemies looked like and was shocked.

“Huh!? Luffy!?”

“Ignore him, let’s go!”

After Nami pulled Luna and Usopp out, a thundering explosion rang out from within the bar!

*BOOM*

“GAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!”

Outside, Usopp looked at the bar which had been reduced to rubbles and charred black as if lightning had struck it from within.

Looking back at Nami, he saw her taking something from Luna. Confused, Usopp walked closer to take a better look.

“Did you get them?”

“Un! I got their money and jewelry mommy!”

“Hehe, good girl~”

“...”

Only one thought was in Usopp’s mind.

She is certainly Nami’s daughter alright...

Imbreak

Next chap will mostly consist of the Strawhats again.

If you think not much has changed with Usopp, hehe, you'll be in for a surprise!

Batman's Little Brother will be posted tomorrow.

Also, thank you Tim West, DemonRight27, and Ryu D for subscribing to my patreon!...Though, like I said, there's not really any benefits at the moment, still, thank you!

See ya next chap!

DISCLAIMER: You are not obligated to donate at all and even if you do donate, it won't mean more chapters. I merely made one just for the sake of making one in case I get fired from my work or I resign and don't have work. For now, donating comes with no benefits at all other than giving me money.

If you still want to donate, here are the links:

Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/imbreak

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/imbreak