---
And thus the crew set their way to Alabasta. Somehow, Luffy managed to convince the reindeer to join.
He wondered how the fuck this happened.
Vivi was still studying Haki, at least the basic application of it.
Kairo meanwhile was trying to nap.
Key word here... trying.
"Who ate all of the meat?!" Sanji shouted out.
Luffy acted all innocent.
"What meat?" He was really bad at lying, and even with Kairo's eyes closed he could faintly see what kind of face Luffy had on—and even then, that shit did not seem convincing in the slightest.
"Crazy of you to say that, considering you were last seen near the kitchen!"
"Me... near the kitchen? That wasn't me."
Goddamn, could he be any less convincing?
"Hopefully, the best meat was saved," Sanji said, laying down his bait as if it was the easiest thing in the world.
"Wait, there was a special meat? How did I miss it..." Luffy froze when he realized what he said.
"You *missed* it, huh?" Sanji said, looking quite pissed off.
Luffy looked away as if he hadn't just given himself up like that.
He 100% did not eat that meat. Like, come on, did you expect Luffy to be the one who ate the meat?
He was better than that.
Speaking of which—
Kairo tossed a blunt kunai at Sanji.
The cook dodged the attack, catching the kunai with his hand.
"Look where the hell you're throwing your weapon! You trying to kill me?!" How the fuck did his head get so big and his teeth so sharp?
"It's a seal, cook. Inside it, there are a lot of supplies. If I remember correctly, there should be several dinosaurs' worth."
Luffy's eyes turned into meat size.
Something told Kairo Luffy would try and get that, and like he expected...
Luffy took the paper from Sanji and bit it.
Even munched on it.
Before spitting it out.
"Hey, you liar, this doesn't taste like meat at all!"
Sanji picked the seal up from the floor and said,
"It's a seal, dumbass. It needs Haki to open."
"I put a light lock on it, so whoever opens it first... will be the only one able to open it..."
...
He wondered why Luffy seemed so interested in learning Haki now.
Like, damn.
His main reason whenever asked was meat. The guy just wanted the meat and nothing more than that.
He was quite a simple man, whose only wish was to taste that dino meat.
Kairo meanwhile thought about Dorry and Broggy.
They were his mentors, and he wanted to know how they were doing.
They were probably on Elbaf right now, drinking and fighting, learning the warrior way.
Fun.
He tried to tune out all the noise, but Luffy and Sanji were going at it.
Usopp in the background was trying to make them stop, but he was having a lot of issues.
Zoro meanwhile could be seen lifting 30-ton weights and swinging them around.
He took a deep breath and continued to do so over and over again.
Vivi was somewhere in her study room, trying her damn hardest to get the basics done.
Nami of course was doing her job navigating. They would reach Alabasta soon enough, she assumed.
Probably in a few days and nothing more—if Kairo used his water jutsu, they could probably get there in a day and a half.
Speaking of that, Chopper was trying to understand how the hell this chaotic crew even managed to stick together.
Let's see... they had a captain who was a crackhead.
A second-in-command swordsman who only thought of the sword.
A navigator who would rob you blind if the chance arose.
A princess of a nation in war.
A goddamn ninja who, from what he could gather, wasn't a Devil Fruit user.
Why, you may ask?
"Kairo, the winds are slowing down," Nami said.
A second or so later, the sound of someone jumping in the water could be heard before—
Chopper's body was slammed into the ship as the ship's speed quintupled instantly, going from a cruising 20 mph to something more like 90 to 300 mph. Like, goddamn. And if you were wondering how the fuck they were moving so fast...
Well, you see, said ninja was using a ninjutsu to push the boat faster. As to why he needed to be in the water—apparently, it was way easier when he was surrounded by water than when he was on the ship.
Don't know how much of a difference that makes, considering even on the ship they were surrounded by water, but oh well.
The excuse could fly for now.
"So cool!" Luffy's eyes had stars in them. He had not once regretted pestering—he meant recruiting—this ninja into his crew.
Now all he was missing was, like, a musician or something like that.
Maybe a shipwright too. And an archaeologists.
Full crew.
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A/N