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Chapter 65: Crocus
"Don't worry, it won't harm us."
Seeing the three busy, Ganyu smiled and said calmly.
She could feel the whale's emotions had completely stabilized.
It kept staring at their ship, actually to say goodbye to her.
Hearing this, everyone stopped rowing.
After a while.
"Is it really just staring at us out of curiosity?" Usopp carefully poked his head out, carefully observing Laboon.
"Looking closely, this big guy is actually quite cute." Nami leaned on the ship's rail, gazing at Laboon's round head.
"But it's really big, almost as big as an island." Sanji lit a cigarette, tone full of amazement.
"The Grand Line is indeed different from the East Blue; even a random whale here is this big," Zoro said, shaking his head, arms crossed.
Most people on the ship had thick skin; after confirming safety, they developed a strong interest in discussing this peculiar whale.
Luffy uncharacteristically didn't participate in the discussion. He stared at Ganyu, frowning slightly: "Ganyu, did you hear something just now?"
"Ah?"
Hearing this, Ganyu was somewhat surprised, but he quickly remembered one of his unique abilities in the original work - hearing the Voice of All Things.
People with this ability could hear voices of Sea Kings, certain ancient creatures, and even voices engraved in Poneglyphs.
"It felt like we were having a conversation. I first heard a strange voice, then your voice. I didn't hear wrong, did I?"
"That's right, you didn't hear wrong." Ganyu thought for a moment, then frankly admitted: "I was indeed talking to that whale just now."
She detailedly told Luffy the story of Laboon waiting for fifty years, and those pirates who never returned.
"I see."
Luffy nodded, a rare hint of melancholy appearing on his face.
He raised his head, gazing at that mountain-like whale, falling into deep thought.
A long time later.
Under the crew's astonished gazes, he leapt to the top of the mast, standing at the highest point of the Going Merry, shouting at the top of his lungs:
"Hey, big guy, can you hear me talking?!"
The crowd below was stunned.
They exchanged a glance, all seeing fear in each other's eyes.
"Is this guy provoking the whale?" Usopp muttered to himself.
Everyone nodded in agreement, feeling it was very likely.
"Oh no! Stop him!"
Just as everyone was preparing to stop this guy from doing stupid things, Luffy's voice rang out again:
"You guys are really big. With such a huge body size, you can't sail together on the Grand Line, right?"
What on earth is this guy talking about?!
The Straw Hat crew was somewhat puzzled. Did Luffy know this whale? Why would he say these strange things?
"You should still have a long way to go, right? A few years? Decades? Or centuries?"
"Let's make a deal, everyone!"
"If you haven't met those people, then wait for us to come back and see you after circling the Grand Line once!"
"You absolutely can't leave early, otherwise you'll die!"
As Luffy's shouts resounded through the sea, the Straw Hat Pirates members' expressions gradually softened from initial confusion, smiles involuntarily appearing on their faces.
They vaguely sensed why Luffy suddenly made a deal with this whale.
Laboon let out a loud whale call, echoing on the sea surface, Luffy laughed loudly, excitedly shouting downwards:
"Sail!"
Just then, an old but resonant voice suddenly came from behind Laboon:
"Wait a minute!"
Immediately after, an old man with full white hair walked out from Laboon's back, looking seventy or eighty years old, but exceptionally robust.
"Eh? He... he... he climbed out of the whale's body!"
To everyone's surprise, the old man jumped off the whale's back, elegantly tumbling onto the Going Merry's deck, completing a near-perfect dive.
His stunning entrance almost dumbfounded everyone.
They watched helplessly as the old man fell from the sky, landing heavily headfirst on their deck, powerless to do anything.
Click!
A large crater was blasted into the deck. The old man's eyes were glazed over, blood streaming from where his head contacted the deck, seeping into a large patch of the hull's wooden planks.
"What?! My ship!" Luffy exclaimed, eyes wide open.
"Is this old man really going to die?! Who is he? Why did he jump from such a high place?!"
The ship was instantly in chaos.
Sanji and Usopp quickly helped up the old man who fell from the sky and checked his injuries.
"Oh no, his head is bleeding a lot, we don't have a doctor on our ship, what should we do!"
Is there a doctor nearby?
"Yes..." Unexpectedly, the old man slowly opened his eyes, pointing at himself, saying with a strange pride:
"I am the only doctor in Twin Cape Town."
"I see..."
Everyone was first stunned, then shouted angrily: "Damn it! You're a doctor, so you're done for!"
"It doesn't matter," the old man smiled weakly, pointing at Laboon not far away, "As long as I enter Laboon's body and take out my medical kit, I can cure my injury myself."
Laboon seemed to notice the old man was injured, leaning close, glancing at that ship.
"Laboon? You mean this whale?"
"Enter its body? Does that mean going in through its mouth? Once inside, can you really come out?"
"Why would your medical kit be in a whale's stomach? No, it seems you climbed out of this whale's body."
The Straw Hat Pirates members gathered together, discussing how to deal with this old man.
Ultimate.
Finally, Ganyu couldn't stand this farce anymore, flicking a finger.
An ice stream hit the old man's head wound, the next moment, the wound began to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Except for Zoro, this was the first time Straw Hat Pirates members saw Ganyu use this ability.
They exclaimed, asking Ganyu how he did it.
Ganyu simply explained it was the effect of her own ice.
Sanji seemed to suddenly realize something, looking at Zoro's chest.
He finally understood why Zoro's injuries recovered so quickly back then - turns out he had received Ganyu's treatment before.
Thinking of this, Sanji couldn't help touching his chin, thinking if he should also find a chance to get heavily injured next time, so Miss Ganyu could treat him with her ice.
"Thank you, little girl."
After recovering from injuries, the white-haired old man sat on the deck, looking deeply at Ganyu, saying: "After entering the Grand Line, you'd better not easily show this ability to others, otherwise, many extraordinary people will be interested in you."
"Yes, I understand." Ganyu nodded in thanks, she understood the old man meant well.
After the chaos ended.
Everyone looked at that old man.
"Hey, you strange old man, who are you? What are you doing jumping onto our ship?" Sanji asked rudely.
Perhaps because he had been oppressed by Zeff at Baratie restaurant for many years, his tone wasn't very good when facing old men.
"My name is Crocus, I am the lighthouse keeper of Twin Cape Lighthouse."
Crocus pointed at the two lighthouses at the foot of the mountain not far away, then said seriously:
"I came to thank you. Although I don't know how you did it, your appearance really calmed Laboon down a lot. This is the first time in fifty years I've seen it so peaceful..."
The Straw Hat Pirates members gradually quieted down, listening to the old man tell stories about pirates and whales.