Chapter 86: Chapter 85: Mysterious Elephant...
One Week later.
At the Revolutionary Army's HQ in Baltigo, Koala is making her way to Dragon's office. As she did, she saw that an agent was already reporting to him.
" It's all around the world, Dragon. " said the agent, " Rebel forces are emerging victorious."
" So I've noticed. " said Dragon, holding some documents, " The fall of the Donquixote Pirates had wide-reaching effects. Just look at how many nations were involved in weapons smuggling. No wonder things have changed, now. Still...warn them not to rest easy on their victory. The World Government won't take such a thing lying down. Cipher Pol has been augmented in recent years! We must remain vigilant. "
" What about the Reverie? It will commence in next month, so should we..." He tried to say something but Dragon stopped him, " No, it's not the time yet. You can leave now. "
" Yes, sir! " the agent saluted before he turned and walked out.
" Ah, Koala. " Dragon acknowledge, " You're back. How was your mission? "
" Well, we found something interesting, Dragon. " Koala answered, " The weapons we brought from Dressrosa appear to include a special kind of metal. "
" Special metal, you say? " Dragon inquired.
" Yes. " Koala replied, " Are you familiar with the name 'Shrunken Iron Ore'? " Koala asked, "Only a small number of countries can produce it, so we might be able to identify who's creating the weapons. "
" That's excellent news. " Dragon said, " Not only that, but we had regained our lost comrades from Dressrosa. Your operation was a resounding success. "
Koala said, blushing bashfully, " I couldn't have done it without Luffy! "
Suddenly Koala asked, " But...aren't you going to ask about Luffy? "
Dragon sighed at this.
" I've heard enough about my son as it is. Besides that idiot can take care of himself. " he said.
" Oh, I see." Koala said, " I guess Sabo just wouldn't stop going on and on about him, huh? "
A pause...but then they both chuckled at this, while outside, Sabo was seen, showing off his new Devil Fruit powers to his friends watched from a safe distance.
.....
Currently The Sea Empress rowed closer towards the legs of a gigantic elephant, with loads of greenery all over it. Clouds circled around the giant beast as if it were its own continent.
As they did, Nami blinked, spotting something through the mist. At first, it didn't seem like she could make it out...but then, as they got closer, she gasped.
" Look! A ship..." she exclaimed as she pointed forward...and sure enough, there was a ship Moored to the leg of the elephant..completely intact!
" A Big Mom Pirates ship. " Luffy said with a smirk.
Yamato shouted excitedly, " A new adventure, hurry up let's climb this giant elephant. "
Robin smiled, " This island is known as Zou.
Zou is the name of a place that flourished on the back of an elephant. "
" It's on the move all the time," said Luffy, " It's a mysterious, elusive land that never stays in one place...mostly because it isn't actually land. Therefore, it can't be tracked with a Log Pose. "
" Hold on, my friend! " Yamato spoke up, " I've heard that Zou is home to a man-hating species. "
" That's right. " said Luffy, " They're called the Mink Tribe. They've been keeping humankind away from their home for nearly a thousand years, I hear. "
" Then why is this ship being docked here? " Nami asked pointing at the ship.
Luffy shrugged, " Who knows? Okay forgot about that, just get ready. " Then Luffy made his ship fly and they flew towards the island on the top.
....
The Devil Dragons were walking through a thick forest, after arriving at the top of the Elephant.
" Remind me again why we're here Luffy? " Nami spoke walking hesitantly through the jungle, trying to avoid bugs.
Luffy, unlike Nami was looking forward to the journey to the Mink village and was leading the way proudly, " Well we're not here to see anyone in particular. I wanted to get some rest before setting off towards Big Mom's territory and... well..to see the Mink Village! "
" So you're telling me we're navigating a thick jungle just to go sight-seeing!? " Nami exclaimed rather irritated.
" D-don't forget about the food too Nami. " Responded Kaya timidly.
Nami just grumbled after Nojiko's words as they continued to navigate the intense and thick jungle. Eventually the small group came across a small clearing in the trees.
" Reiju, can you fly up and look around about the structure of our path. " Luffy asked.
With a nod she flew up to take a look around. When looking around Reiju could see forest in each direction for as far as the eye could see. However, she then spotted a giant tree not very far away. Flying back down to her group she retracted her wings and began her report.
" So there's a giant tree about 1 and a half kilometres from here, if that's what you're looking for Luffy. " She explained.
Luffy thought for a second, " Not exactly but let's go check it out! " He was only interested in Mink tribe women, everything else was worthless in his eyes.
Nami just facepalmed as she saw her captain run off in the direction of the giant tree, Zoro following closely behind. Shrugging it off as normal he started to jog alongside his crew, unaware of the group that was watching them.
* Hey, kid. Someone is watching you from the shadow. *
' What? How can't i sense them? ' Asked Luffy with bewilderment.
* Idiot, we beast can use surrounding to hide our aura completely. You can also do it, but only in your Dragon form. Besides your so called haki is not strong enough to sense everything around you. *
Luffy frowned but nodded as he had never tried it.
....
A few minutes later.
Nami had been trying to catch up to her overly excited Captain and Yamato but the two of them always seemed to be getting further away from her. Eventually she made her way through one final clearing and saw Luffy and Yamato at the base of the giant tree.
Panting, Nami said, " Jheez, you guys need to slow down. . .just a little bit. "
Soon the rest of the crew also gathered there. Hancock was obviously pounced on Luffy who left her behind a moment ago.
" Hey guys! Look over here! There's an opening in the bottom of the tree! " said Bonney suddenly.
Luffy and Yamato ran over to her and saw what she was referring to. The hole was giant in size, easily being able to fit an average sized boat through it, however, the group didn't know what lied in the cave.
" So what do we do? " Nami asked to no one in particular.
Luffy thought for a second and smiled, " We explore it of course. Come on! " He couldn't remember anything about this island except the fact that it was Carrot's home village and a Road Poneglyph was also here.
The group walked inside the cave and saw that moss was everywhere in sight and it covered branches, roots and the ground itself.
Upon walking a little further down into the cave the group had layed their eyes upon a red surface that was inserted directly into the tree.
The surface was blood red and looked very unnatural compared to what was around it. Upon further inspection, Luffy had noticed that there were odd symbols located all along the surface.
" It's a Road Poneglyph. " Robin said excited and started reading it. Luffy was not interested in it, so he waited her to finish.
" Alright, now that that is concluded let's get a move on. " Luffy proclaimed as he made his way towards the caves entrance but suddenly someone blocked their path.
" You will go no further trespassers! " After a while a leopard mink appeared and yelled at the group.
Luffy also smiled, " So, you have revealed yourself finally. " Hearing this the Leopard mink was stunned. He couldn't believe someone could sense his presence.
Luffy studied the mink for a few seconds, seeing that he was missing his left eye and covered it with blond hair. He also wore a green cape along with green pants and shirt. The mink also stood fairly tall.
Although Luffy couldn't remember his name, he recognised him as the mink who went with Luffy to Whole Cake island.
" Calm down we mean you no harm. We were just looking at this poneglyth here and were about to go and look for the mink village. " Luffy tried to explain.
" Why!? " The mink yelled, readying his sword, "To raid it?!" He continued.
" No, just to look at it. We're on a journey you see an-" Luffy spoke but was quickly interrupted by the mink.
" I don't care! You have trespassed in sacred land and are an enemy of Zou! " He said and launched at Luffy.
Luffy snorted and grabbed the mink by his neck, " Don't get cocky. " he said in a ruthless voice. The mink tried to escape his grip but to no avail, " Yo-- You. "
Luffy dropped him to the ground and said, " Now listen to me clearly. I told you before, I do not seek a fight with you. We are not here to raid or plunder, i want to spend some time here before setting off to defeat Big Mom. "
Upon hearing her name, the mink froze up, "BIG MOM! She is the one who attacked our homeland to see our poneglyth! She ruthlessly had her grunts chop down numerous minks in search of it. " After thinking for a while, he realised Luffy was terribly strong. So if had wanted to, he could have easily kill him. But he didn't, so he finally calmed down.
" I am terribly sorry for acting against you. " The leopard mink spoke as he made a low bow of respect.
Luffy chuckled, " No worries, you were just defending your homeland. "
The leopard continued, " Thank you for understanding. By the way i am Pedro, the leader of guardians. " Then one by one the Devil Dragons introduced themselves.
Suddenly a racoon mink stumbled into the cave and shouted, " Pedro-sama, Big Mom Pirates have returned to the sacred forest! Our guardians are holding back their forces but we have heard that a new enemy has come with them! "
The leopard mink frowned, " Who!? "
" A Sweet-Commodore! " answered the racoon mink.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Your_host_HK
Your_host_HK I am not rushing the chapters, but in Dressrosa there was nothing to spend time for. So don't worry, the pace will vary according to the arc.
Alright now, if you are enjoying this fanfic then drop some POWER STONES as a reward for me.
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