New World.
Using the Vivre Card Beckman gave them, the Straw Hat crew finally found Zunesha, the giant elephant that never stops walking.
At that moment, all of them stared with wide eyes, like their eyeballs were about to fall out, completely stunned.
"Whoa!!"
"It's huge! And it's still alive!"
"But Kuro, how are we supposed to get up there?"
"It's way too high. Climbing it is harder than reaching the sky. And none of us can fly…"
"Even the Sunny's Coup de Burst won't work…"
Everyone stared at the giant elephant's massive body and suddenly felt stuck. Figuring out how to get on its back and find the legendary Zou island became a problem they had to solve right away.
For now, they could only put their hopes on Kuro.
All at once, everyone turned to Kuro, who stood there calmly. They all knew—if anyone had a way to get them up there, it would be him.
Kuro finally spoke. He looked sharply at Luffy and said seriously, "If we want to get onto Zunesha's back, we need you, Luffy. Only you can do it."
"Eh?"
"Me?" Luffy pointed to himself, eyes full of confusion.
The others were just as surprised.
"That's right!"
"Luffy, only you can take us up there. Or more accurately, only you can get the elephant to carry us up!" Kuro said firmly, no hesitation in his tone.
"Zunesha!!"
Everyone cried out in shock.
Kuro just said Luffy could get Zunesha to carry them? They were totally confused.
"Luffy, Beckman told me—your Devil Fruit's Gear Fifth is the same power that the first pirate on the seas, Joy Boy, once used!"
"And the elephant in front of us used to be Joy Boy's companion. If you activate Gear Fifth and speak to it, ask it to carry us, I believe it will listen!" Kuro said, staring seriously at Luffy.
"Gear Fifth?"
"Joy Boy? Who's that?" Luffy scratched his head, clearly confused. He didn't understand how Gear Fifth had anything to do with getting on the elephant.
"This isn't the time for questions, Luffy. Just use Gear Fifth and ask Zunesha to help us get on its back. I'll explain everything later," Kuro said. He knew there wasn't time to talk right now.
If he started explaining, who knew how long it would take for everyone on the ship to understand—and they didn't have that kind of time.
"Oh\~"
"Alright then." Luffy saw that Kuro didn't want to explain now, so he just dropped it without another word.
Then—
He immediately used his Gear Fifth ability.
"So this is Luffy's new power? It looks really strange," Usopp said as he walked up curiously and touched Luffy's odd-looking form.
The others also felt something was off.
"Hey, Kuro, if I call it now, will it take us up there?" After using Gear Fifth, Luffy looked at Kuro with a serious expression that had never appeared on his face before.
"That's right!"
"Beckman told me exactly that!" Kuro put away his shock and answered firmly.
"Okay, got it." Luffy nodded.
Meanwhile, Kuro exchanged quick, subtle glances with Zoro and Sanji. All three of them could see the same shock in each other's eyes, but none of them said a word.
"Hey!"
"Zunesha! Hurry up and take us up there!" Luffy stood with his hands on his hips and shouted seriously at the giant elephant.
Hearing Luffy's voice, Zunesha suddenly stopped. Its huge legs froze, and its giant, dark eyes seemed to react. It was clearly excited.
"Joy Boy! Is that really you? You've finally come back!"
"Joy Boy? Who's that?"
"It's you! You're Joy Boy!"
"Me? But my name isn't Joy Boy. I'm Luffy—the guy who's going to become the King of the Pirates!"
...
The rest of the Straw Hats looked at Luffy talking to himself and felt very confused. Was he really talking to the elephant? Only Kuro seemed to have a vague idea of what might be going on.
But what happened next shocked them all again.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!"
"Look at Zunesha's trunk!" Usopp pointed at it in disbelief and shouted.
The others' faces were also filled with shock. Zunesha's massive trunk was quickly reaching down toward the bottom of the Sunny!
And then...
Everyone suddenly felt a jolt, and the Thousand Sunny—along with all of them—was lifted high into the air by Zunesha's huge trunk!
"Ahhh!!!"
"Help!!!"
In an instant, everyone started screaming. Chopper and Usopp, the most scared ones, were yelling for help, and the others grabbed onto the railings tightly. Zunesha was just moving way too fast!
"Hey!"
"Look over there!"
"There's really an island up there! We've found Zou!" Franky pointed excitedly in one direction and shouted.
They had already been flung onto Zunesha's back by its trunk!
"Yeah!"
"We made it to Zou!"
Everyone was thrilled.
"Hey, hey, hey!"
"Guys... are we... falling now?" Usopp suddenly asked.
"Oh no!"
"Franky! Quick, Wind Cannon!" Kuro shouted as his face turned pale.
"Got it!" Franky instantly started the prep.
Zoro and Sanji exchanged a glance, then both nodded seriously, as if they had made up their minds. Then the two of them each grabbed one of Luffy's arms—one on the left, one on the right.
"Hey???"
"Zoro, Sanji, what are you guys doing?" Luffy asked, confused.
"Luffy, whether the Sunny and all of us land safely is up to you now. Make sure you catch the Sunny down below!"
"Go!" As soon as Sanji finished speaking to Zoro, he threw Luffy down.
"Ahhhhhhh!!"
In an instant, Luffy's ear-piercing scream echoed through the sky.
"Gomu Gomu no…"
"Rubber Balloon!"
"Coup de Burst!"
The next moment, everyone saw the Thousand Sunny fire up its Coup de Burst and shoot straight toward the giant rubber balloon below.
Crocus, Zoro, and Sanji all breathed a sigh of relief.
"Good, good… Luffy's not *that* dumb…" Sanji said, still shaken.
A few seconds later, the Sunny crashed into Luffy's balloon-like body, bounced a bit, then landed right in front of the gates of the Mokomo Dukedom.
---
You can read 10 Chapters ahead on my
pat reon.com/GMadman