Chapter 144 - The straw-hats reach Zou!

[A/N: I just want to say one thing! I suck at retelling things that had already happened. I find it easier when I go off cannon just like I usually do with Ian!]

The remaining straw hats had spent the day climbing up Zou. And now they were finally there. There was Luffy, Zoro, Usopp, Nojiko, and Franky.

There were also other people with them.

The first was Law. Next to him was Kin'emon and Kanjuro.

And when they had all reached the top, they had not found any guards or whatsoever, so in a typical fashion, just like usual, Luffy jumped up ahead of the rest into the guard post and from there jumped inside the forest and had gotten lost.

"OI! Luffy, wait up!" Usopp yelled after Luffy. He was about to run after him when he felt a chill go up his spine.

Turning around robotically, he found a rather beautiful girl cleaning her Gun with a cloth as she smiled sweetly at him.

This was Nojiko.

She had become prettier than before. Her hair was longer and her hourglass became more pronounced just like her sister Nami.

She was holding two guns at her waist, along with the rifle she was cleaning.

"Gulp!" Usopp settled back into staying with the group quietly.

Meanwhile, Franky couldn't help but tell him.

"Even so you call yourself a man?" He spoke as he took a pose.

But the same chill went up his spine so he quickly added.

"You should at the least apologies!" He said.

And then the both of them said they were sorry towards Nojiko.

While Zoro and Law just shook their heads at their antics.

They had been walking and were about to pass the gate.

Then all of a sudden both Law and Zoro tensed up as they put their hands on their swords.

From the bushes, two minks jumped up at them already holding their swords.

"Who are you, people? And what is your plan here?" the first one, a horse mink, questioned them.

The second one, a fox mink just glared at them, keeping silent.

Everyone there had already heard that the minks were a bloodthirsty race, so they prepared to fight.

But.

Nojiko being the kind-hearted person she is raised her hands in surrender as she spoke up.

"Wait, wait, we are not here to fight! We are just searching for our friends!" She spoke up.

"Friends?" The horse mink turned to look at his friend for a bit before he turned towards them again.

"Who are these friends of yours?" He asked her.

Nojiko gave a nod.

"Our crewmates. We are pirates! And our crew's name is the straw-hats!" She said proudly.

At that, the guards visibly relaxed.

"So you are friends with Nami and the rest, you should have just said so." The horse mink sheathed his sword as he came a bit forward.

His friend nodded.

"Now that I think about it, they did say their crewmates were going to be coming soon!" He said.

Zoro and Law both relaxed their guards, but they were still alert for anything out of the normal.

Seeing that the straw-hats and co were still wary a bit, he told them.

"Since I can see that you are still wary of us, we'll lead you to your friends and they will explain everything to you!" He said.

"You would? Thank you so much!" Nojiko replied happily to them.

Even though they were still wary of them they decided that they would follow for now and stay alert.

Meanwhile from the side of the minks, they had wanted to lead them so that no confusion can be made as opposed to if they had gone alone were they would have been called intruders.

Then one of them the horse mink jumped up to the watchtower, meanwhile, the second started leading through the forest. As he was giving them a brief description of the mink people and the Kingdome.

After a while of walking, shouts and warning sounds were heard.

The guard couldn't hear what the shouts were saying so he started running to get closer faster.

The straw-hats and the rest shared looks before they sprinted after them. They knew it would most definitely be related to their captain.

After a while, the guard stopped when the shouts became apparent.

"Intruder… Intruder…"

The guard then looked at Zoro's group in question. Silently asking them if this was related to them.

"Cough… that would be our idiotic captain!" Nojiko was the one to reply. Saving the others the trouble.

"Oh?" The mink person asked them.

"He had jumped to explore before you came up!" She explained to him.

"In that case, there is nothing to worry about!" He replied.

He smiled at her and then started running again.

When they reached the city, they were finally able to see the buildings and the various mink people.

There were a lot of people and they were all gathering around a few people.

One of them they recognized as Luffy.

The second one who was hugging him, they immediately saw that it was Nami.

Then they also saw Sanji, Chopper, and Brook. They were all surrounding Luffy and talking with him.

There was also a huge dog mink person standing there with who they knew to be Ian, but since they saw Nami and the rest there chatting happily they ignored them and went to the talk with their friends.

Zoro did smile at Ian before he joined the rest, however.

Another thing was how Law's crewmates joined him as soon as they noticed the commotion and saw him.

And just like that, the straw-hats were now fully present, and everything can finally start.

Ian watched as the straw-hats hugged each other and linked arms in the case of the guys.

He was happy for them.

Still, with this, it meant that now everything can finally start working.

Of course, they would be given a few days to accustom to everything. Where thing would be explained to them about everything that happened so far.

But after that Ian was going to call them and discuss things with them.

At some point in time, Ian had noted the presence of Nekomamushi who was moving in towards them. Since this was day time he didn't think the cat would be here. This meant that the two were bound to fight when they see each other. Although they had been united when Jack came up, there was no threat to the country now.

Ian then noticed that Momo who was in his dragon form was there standing next to Kin'emon and Kanjuro.

They were happily chatting among themselves with them having been worried about him all the while. But it appeared that all that worrying had not been necessary.

At that, he understood that Nekomamushi had been alerted just like Inuarashi to the presence of samurais.

Then all of a sudden, Nekomamushi jumped up towards them!

And at that Ian knew that the peaceful quiet was done.

There was no way those two would stop their fighting. Unless…

Unless things happened just like in the anime, where Momo had told them to stop fighting.

Well, Ian was not sure about it though, so many things had already been changed already…