Dusk, on the beach of an unknown island. The lovestruck cook, having returned from escorting the ladies, was checking the harvest of the gathering trio.
"Oi, Mosshead, what is this stuff you picked?" Sanji looked at the large basket of strangely shaped fruit Zoro had gathered, his curly eyebrows twitching repeatedly.
"Can you really eat fruit with such bright colors?"
"What's wrong? These fruits look delicious." The green-haired swordsman acted as if it were a matter of course.
The blond cook rolled his eyes. "Sigh... I really can't win against an idiot with no common sense like you. Don't you know that the more colorful a plant is, the more likely it is to be highly poisonous?"
"Sanji, I picked a lot of mushrooms, too."
The blue-nosed little reindeer held up a small basket filled with colorful mushrooms high in the air, as if presenting a treasure. "Don't worry, I checked all these mushrooms carefully. They're all edible."
"Plus, I gathered a lot of medicinal herbs."
"Oh, good job, Chopper!" Sanji chuckled and gave the little reindeer a thumbs-up.
"By the way, Sanji, I also gathered quite a few super delicious ingredients." Usopp mysteriously handed over a basket covered with a lid.
"Oh? Super delicious ingredients?" Sanji took the basket with a puzzled look. When he opened it and took a look, his pupils instantly contracted to the size of pinholes, and his whole body began to tremble violently.
Usopp didn't seem to notice the change in Sanji's expression and continued talking to himself. "I remember when I was little, I used to go into the mountains to catch spiders to roast and eat. That taste... Oi, Sanji, what's wrong?"
The Long-Nose looked at the lovestruck cook, who had unknowingly shrunk his entire body behind a distant rock, feeling very puzzled.
"Bas... Bastard! Hurry up and throw those disgusting things away!" Peeking half his head out cautiously from behind the rock, this was the first time Sanji had shown such a terrified expression.
"How can you eat such disgusting things!!!"
"But, roasted spiders are really delicious..." Usopp seemed to want to argue on the basis of reason.
"Shut up!!!! Get that basket out of my sight immediately!!!!" The curly-browed cook, already terrified witless by the spiders, roared hysterically with sharp teeth.
"(⊙o⊙)... Sanji is actually that afraid of spiders?!" Chopper's small, fuzzy face was full of astonishment; clearly, he was quite surprised by this new discovery.
"Tch, that idiot Curly-Brows." Zoro curled his lip, looking disdainful.
On the other side, Sherlock was holding up Nami's "spoils of war" from today, examining them carefully.
"Nami, this sea chart, did you really just draw it?" Sherlock looked at the exquisite chart in his hand and pushed up his glasses.
Regarding chart making, the Sorcerer had dabbled a bit back in the East Blue. Generally speaking, it is a skill easy to learn but hard to master. Judging by this chart, the Navigator Miss's chart-making skill points and talent points had obviously been maxed out.
After all, to draw such a precise and detailed chart in such a short time is something even experienced cartographers can rarely achieve.
"Yeah, how is it? Sherlock, my drawing is passable, right?" The orange-haired girl smiled radiantly, proudly puffing out her rather ample chest, wearing a cute expression that said 'hurry up and praise me.'
"It's truly amazing!" Sherlock nodded solemnly and praised, "If it were a few years ago, I definitely would have recruited a talent like you into the Goldglint Trading Company."
"I believe you will definitely draw a map of the world, Nami."
"Haha, naturally! That is my dream, after all." Nami narrowed her eyes in enjoyment, clearly very pleased with the Sorcerer's words of praise.
"So, Nami." Sherlock gently pushed up his glasses, the clear lenses reflecting two stunning glints of light:
"Could you draw me a chart of Sandy Island and Drum Island? With your drawing skills, it should be very easy, right?"
Hearing Sherlock's request, the Navigator Miss, who was in a very good mood, agreed almost without thinking. "Hmph, naturally. I've collected data on both those islands. I can draw them for you in a few days."
"That is truly appreciated." Sherlock smiled faintly and bowed elegantly to express his thanks.
(Actually, after talking for so long, those two charts were your main objective, right, Sherlock...)
A certain charming woman, who seemed to be lying quietly on a beach chair reading a book but was actually pricking up her ears to eavesdrop, sighed silently in her heart upon hearing this.
(After all, if you asked for charts normally, given the Navigator Miss's personality, she probably would have demanded an exorbitant price again.)
After living together for a few days, Robin had completely figured out the personalities of the Straw Hat crew.
However, just then, a commotion suddenly came from the primitive jungle not far away, and it was getting more and more intense.
"What happened?"
Sanji, Nami, and the others changed their expressions slightly. Zoro, looking serious, placed his hand on the hilt of Wado Ichimonji.
"Jigu, jigu, jigu..." With a series of strange cries, droves of monkeys ran out of the jungle, surrounding the Straw Hats on the beach so tightly not even water could leak through.
"Ah!!! So many monkeys!" Usopp screamed, then immediately fell to the ground, held his breath, closed his eyes tight, and simultaneously crushed a paint ball containing red liquid, seemingly playing dead.
"Idiot, these are monkeys, not bears. What use is playing dead..." Sanji blew a smoke ring and retorted.
Robin calmly closed the book in her hand and looked at the monkey troop surrounding them. She was surprised to find that these monkeys were holding food in their hands to varying degrees—some had fruit, some had fresh fish, and a few monkeys were working together to carry a rather large wooden barrel, contents unknown.
"These monkeys don't seem hostile..."
Just then, the monkey troop suddenly made way. Accompanied by thundering footsteps, a giant ape with a bruised and swollen face walked over slowly. On top of this giant beast's head, a certain idiot wearing a straw hat was laughing heartlessly, extremely happy.
"Luffy!!!!!" Everyone was shocked.
(Did this idiot give up on being the Pirate King to become the "Monkey King" instead?) Sherlock looked at the dim-witted captain sitting cross-legged on the giant ape's head like the king of the monkeys, and sighed lightly.
With the little reindeer's translation, everyone finally understood the cause and effect of the matter.
First, Luffy stumbled into the monkeys' territory by mistake, then shouted nonsensically in confusion, making the monkeys think he was there to challenge for the throne of the Monkey King.
Then, the dim-witted captain confusedly beat the giant ape black and blue. Finally, Luffy, this barbarian, confusedly became the new "Monkey King."
As for the food in the monkeys' hands, it was a gift for their new king.
"Hahahaha, everyone, these monkeys are so funny." Patting the giant ape's head beneath him, Luffy grinned broadly.
"Hou~ Hou~" The giant ape made extremely fawning whimpering sounds under Luffy's stroking, a complete change from the ferocity and wildness it showed toward Luffy earlier.
(Uh... Why does Luffy staying in a pile of monkeys feel completely natural? Could it be that compared to humans, this guy is more like a monkey?)
Nami and the others looked at the dim-witted captain laughing happily among the monkeys, silent retorts running through their minds with dark lines on their faces.
"However..." Sanji lit another cigarette and turned to look at the mountain of food on the beach. "These monkeys really are cute. Now we don't have to worry about food."
Thinking that he could finally stuff the Going Merry's refrigerator full, the curly-browed cook, who had a mysterious obsession with full fridges, felt incredibly refreshed.
"So what..." Zoro heard this, glanced at Luffy, then secretly glanced at the calm-looking Sorcerer, and rolled his eyes. "It'll all be eaten up in a few days anyway."
Hearing this, the lovestruck cook, who was usually at odds with Zoro, rarely didn't refute him. Instead, he nodded in agreement and smiled bitterly, "Uh, that's true..."
"Really, couldn't these monkeys bring some treasure to pay tribute to their new king?" A certain greedy navigator looked indignant. "Doesn't it say in books that monkeys love collecting treasure the most?"
"Nami, the ones who like collecting treasure shouldn't be monkeys, but giant dragons..." Sherlock pushed up his glasses, retorting calmly.
"Now, now, don't mind these details. Those who mind the details are idiots, Sherlock."
Usopp wiped the sweat from his forehead, then his expression changed as he forcibly started bragging: "To think he recruited so many monkeys as subordinates..."
"This posture of being surrounded by followers reminds me of the 8,000 brave and battle-hardened subordinates I, Captain Usopp, had back in the day!"
"Wow, Usopp is so amazing!" A certain innocent blue-nosed reindeer believed it to be true once again.
"Oi! Everyone!" Just then, Luffy suddenly shouted at his partners, attracting the full attention of Sherlock and the others.
"I've decided..." The dim-witted captain jumped down from the giant ape's head, walked to everyone's side, and grinned:
"...I'm going to make these monkeys our partners!"
"..............."
A mysterious silence ensued. Everyone was stunned by Luffy's extremely whimsical idea.
A moment later...
"Idiot!"
"Don't invite strange creatures onto the ship at random!"
"The Going Merry can't fit all these monkeys!!"
Nami, Zoro, and Sanji roared with sharp teeth in exasperation. Then, they rained fists (and feet) upon the rubber idiot who had absolutely no self-awareness as a captain, as if by doing so, the idiot captain would learn his lesson.
Crack, smack, punch, kick, a scene of chaos.
"..." The monkeys looked at their new "Monkey King" who was getting beaten up, their eyes wide and jaws almost dropping to the ground.
"Hahaha..." Seeing this scene, Nico Robin, whose expression had always been very calm, actually laughed out loud. Her smile was as beautiful as a flower, cheeks flushed like rosy clouds, truly beautiful.
(I seem to understand what you meant back then, Sherlock.)
(These people are truly too interesting...)
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