Chapter 37 - 37: The Admiral!

The crew had been sailing for about three days now since they arrived back on the Blue Sea. Luffy was currently standing in the front of the ship wearing a black slim fit dress suit pants with a pair of pretty expensive looking dress shoes which looked to be made from some kind of animal skin which allowed it to shine in the sunlight. He also had on a black form-fitting silk button-up shirt with the two buttons undone exposing his lightning bolt necklace and hanging from his shoulders was his captain's coat billowing in the wind. The most notable difference about Luffy was the fact that he did not have his sword strapped to his waist like he normally does but instead he had a golden staff in his right hand which he got from Enel.

The crew was currently scattered all over the ship doing their own thing. Sanji was in the kitchen preparing lunch, Robin was in the kitchen with him, but she was reading a book. Usopp was on the rear deck sitting on the floor with his tools and some dials trying to incorporate them into Nami's clima tact, Chopper was sitting not that far from Usopp making medicine to restock his supply. Zoro was also on the rear deck with the two of them but he was training by swinging around a large weight. Nami was sitting on the main deck on a lawn chair reading a newspaper while Nojiko was up in the crow's nest keeping a lookout.

"Land Hoo!" Nojiko yelled up from the crow's nest while holding up a pair of binoculars. Her voice got the attention of everyone on board the ship who all stopped what they were doing to come and see the island.

"It's still pretty far away," Luffy said as he leaned against his staff. "I can barely see it," he added as some of the crew joined him at the front of the ship.

"There seems to be fog surrounding it," Nojiko said causing her sister to worry slightly.

"Chopper! Go man the rudder just in case we come across trouble," Nami said to the little reindeer causing him to transform into his heavy point and run off to the rudder.

"It's still pretty far and it will take us a while to get there with this wind," Luffy said as he turned and looked at the sails. The Going Merry sailed forward slowly for about two and a half hours before they arrived at the edge of the fog surrounding the island. As they sailed through the fog the entire crew was slightly on edge due to a strange ship, they came across earlier that had no sails or flag and only had five people on board. When the Merry finally made it through the fog and arrived at the island there was nothing but grass and trees as far as the eye can see.

"It seems to be uninhabited," Robin commented as she looked out at the island.

"It's nothing but grass and trees as far as the eye can see," Luffy noted as he stared out at the beautiful sight. "It's like a blank slate, completely untouched by man," he added.

"What are we standing around for?" Usopp asked as he got up onto the side of the ship. "Let's go!" he yelled before leaping off the ship with Chopper following behind him.

"Hey! Don't just jump off like that!" Nami scolded but the duo paid no attention to her. "They have no sense of danger," she said with a sigh as she shook her head.

"You worry too much, Ms. Navigator," Robin said before she hopped off. Luffy just chuckled before he too hopped off the Merry. When Luffy landed on the island his attention was immediately drawn to his right where he saw a white bear walking upright, but the only difference was this bear was extremely long.

"What the hell?" Luffy asked himself as he stared at the bear walk across the meadow.

"Hey, Luffy!" Usopp yelled while holding up a red fruit with a bite taken out of it. "Check out how long this apple is," he said surprising his captain.

"What a strange place," Luffy commented before he walked forward to one of the trees and used a small bolt of lightning to knock an apple off the long trees. Chopper, Usopp, and Nojiko went off in the distance to examine a house they saw leaving Luffy, Nami, Zoro, Sanji, and Robin behind. Luffy just knocked a few apples off the tree again before sitting down at the base of the tree eating them while staring at the strange animals that were on this island.

"This is truly a bizarre place," Nami commented as she Sanji hopped off the Merry followed by Zoro.

"How long are we going to stay here, Captain?" Nami asked as she walked towards Luffy.

"Don't know," Luffy replied calmly as he continued to eat the long apples. "We'll figure it out," he added with a chuckle causing Nami to growl.

"Captain, we have company," Robin suddenly said causing Luffy to look over at her. When he looked over, he saw a large galleon sailing up behind the Merry with a large jolly roger on its mast. The ship stopped directly behind the Merry and shot off two large claws which acted as anchors allowing it to completely box the Merry in.

"Seems like they are looking for a fight," Zoro said as he places his hands on his swords.

"We are the notorious Foxy Pirates!" someone on board the ship yelled out. "We want more than just a fight from you! We want a showdown!" they said causing Luffy to raise an eyebrow at them.

"Why must idiots throw their lives away so foolishly," Luffy said with a sigh as he continued to sit under the tree with a bored expression on his face.

"Fuehfehfehfeh!" someone laughed off to Luffy's left getting his attention. "I Foxy, captain of the Foxy Pirates hereby challenge you pirate to a Davy Back Fight!" a short man with a weird hairstyle said causing Luffy to raise an eyebrow.

"Who the hell are you?" Luffy asked as he looked at the man.

"Y-you don't know who I am?" the man asked sounding slightly hurt to which Luffy shook his head.

"Not a clue," Luffy replied while shaking his head causing the man to drop down on his hands and knees and start to sulk.

"He doesn't know who I am," he said in a disturbed voice while the three crew members standing beside him trying to comfort him.

"What is this Davy back fight?" Nami asked with a confused look on her face.

"It is basically a sporting competition between pirate crews where pirates poach desirable members from other pirate crews," Robin said enlightening those who did not know.

"A pirate crew with only 8 members," Foxy said as he stood up. "What a bunch of weaklings," he said smugly causing Luffy to raise an eyebrow at him before he stood up from his sitting position.

"Umm, captain!" a member of Foxy crew yelled out getting his captain's attention. "That's the Thunder Demon!" the man shouted causing a lot of people to gasp out in shock. "He is the guy who beat Crocodile!" he continued. After hearing this a slightly scared look appeared on Foxy's face.

"Doesn't matter!" Foxy said as he cleared his throat trying to hide the fact that he was intimated by Luffy. "I will still claim victor over you and your pitiful crew!" he declared causing Luffy to sigh and shake his head. Before anyone could say anything else Nojiko's voice got everyone's attention.

"Hey! Captain!" she called out getting all of their attention. When they looked over, they saw Nojiko, Usopp, and Chopper walking towards them, but the thing that caught everyone's attention was what Nojiko had in her hands. She was holding two severed heads which judging from the strange mask they had around their eyes they belonged to the Foxy Pirates. "These guys attacked a nice old man who we just met so we kill them," she said nonchalantly as she tossed the two heads forward.

"T-they killed Capote and Pickles!" the crew onboard the ship yelled out in horror as they stared at the severed heads of their comrades. Luffy just looked back at Foxy and channeled some lightning to his golden staff changing its shape into a trident before he spoke.

"Well, that is a shame," Luffy said in a bored tone as he turned his attention to Foxy. Panicking, the captain of the Foxy pirates launched an attack at Luffy before he had a chance to attack him.

"Slow Slow Beam!" Foxy shouted firing a purple beam of energy towards Luffy who just stood there and let the beam engulfed him.

"Was that it?" Luffy asked feeling neither pain nor missing any body parts. "Time to die I guess," he said as he took a step forward only to see that his normal movements have been slowed down dramatically.

"Ha! that is the power of my Slow-Slow fruit!" Foxy declared proudly. Luffy just smirked before he turned his body into lightning and dashed forward at blinding speed surprising Foxy and his entire crew. Luffy then appeared in front of Foxy and stepped his golden trident into the pirate's c.h.e.s.t while looking directly into his eyes with a cold stare.

"Some advice," Luffy said in a chilling whisper. "Lightning is still pretty fast even when you slow it down," he said before shoving the trident further into Foxy's c.h.e.s.t until it came out his back.

"Captain!" Foxy's crew yelled out in horror. The three crew members who were standing next to Foxy immediately tried to attack Luffy in anger, but before they had a chance to, they were all intercepted by Nojiko, Zoro, and Sanji.

"Snatch!" Nojiko yelled as she appeared behind Foxy with her three-section staff reared back intercepting the girl who was about to attack Luffy. She then swung her arm forward in a whip-like motion. When the top section of the staff was about 1 ft away from the girl, the tip opened, and a metal spike extended out and pierced right through the girl's heart. Nojiko then pulled back on her staff ripping the girl's heart right out of her c.h.e.s.t causing her to fall forward with a lifeless look on her face.

"Oni Giri!" Zoro yelled as he appeared to Luffy's right intercepting another one of Foxy's crew who was about to attack Luffy. He swung all three of his swords simultaneously across his c.h.e.s.t resulting in two deep slashes to appear on the man's c.h.e.s.t and one across his throat. The man then took two steps forward before blood gushed out from his wounds like a fountain and he fell back into a pool of his own blood staring up to the sky as he felt his life leave his body.

"Collier!" Sanji yelled as he appeared to Luffy's left intercepting another poor soul who tried to attack Luffy. He pivoted on his left leg and delivered a roundhouse kick to the man's neck causing the sickening sound of the man's neck being broken to be heard before he too fell face first with a lifeless look on his face.

"Nicely handled," Luffy said with a nod as he stared at the four dead bodies around him. He then turned his attention to the large ship filled with the Foxy Pirates who were all staring at Luffy with a look of absolute terror on their face.

"They're all demons!" A random member of the Foxy Pirates yelled out causing Luffy to smirk.

"Now why would you say something like that," Luffy said before he snapped his fingers. *Snap* Just as the sound of his fingers clicked a beam of lightning came down from the sky and engulfed the pirate ship. The beam lasted for five seconds before it vanished and the pirate ship with it.

"Judgement!" Luffy said lowly as the beam disappeared. He then summoned his thundercloud and pulled out a fruit basket from inside of it. The crew watched on in surprise and confusion as multiple fruits in the basket began changing into weirdly shaped and colored fruits with swirls on them.

"Did they just become devil fruits?" Nami asked as she stared at the newly formed devil fruits in the basket.

"It is one of the things that is only known by a handful of the people in the world," Luffy replied as he picked up one of the devil fruits from the basket. "When a devil fruit user dies, their devil fruit regenerates into a fruit similar it," he explained as he tossed the fruit up and down in his right hand.

"Wow, I never heard about anything like that in all the years that I've been on the sea," Robin commented as she stared at Luffy.

"It's kept on the down-low by the government and some pretty powerful people," Luffy said as he began tucking all the new devil fruits into the thundercloud. "It may cause a lot of chaos if a lot of people discover that little fact," he added causing everyone to nod in agreement. "Anyway, there is nothing for us to do on this island," he said everything sank back into the cloud. "Let's move on," he said causing everyone to nod before making their way back to the ship. The crew then raised anchor and began sailing away from the island. They sailed for a couple of hours before another island came into view.

"I see an island!" Nami yelled out as she looked through a telescope. "It seems to be uninhabited," she added as she examined the island from afar.

"Let's head over there and check it out," Luffy commented causing Nami and Nojiko to nod before making their way to the rudder. "Sanji how do we stand on supplies?" Luffy asked as he looked at his cook.

"We are not low on supplies, but I would like to have more than what we currently got," Sanji replied causing Luffy to nod his head.

"Hopefully we can find some on that island," Luffy said as he stared at the island they were quickly approaching. It took about another thirty minutes for the Going Merry to reach the island. Once it reached the shore, they dropped anchor and proceeded to explore the island. The crew walked into the jungle that was on the island gathering supplies as they went.

"Chopper, did you manage to find any new herbs?" Usopp asked while holding on to a bag filled with supplies.

"Yeah, this place has a lot of rare herbs that I can use to make medicine," Chopper replied while also holding on to a bag with herbs. "I got a good stock, but I am still looking in case I missed something," he added with a smile while looking around. "Which reminds me, I noticed something weird a second ago," Chopper said as he looked down at the ground. "There is a little grove along the trail here. I wonder what it is?" he asked while looking down at the ground. Everyone looked down at the ground at the grove in the ground as they continued to walk.

"Hmm, you're right, that is weird," Usopp said while looking at the grove in the trail. "It looks as though a bicycle came through here," he added causing Luffy and Robin's eyes to narrow.

"Come on, that doesn't make any sense," Sanji commented as he turned to look at Usopp. "There isn't anyone else on the island, why would there be a bicycle," he said causing Usopp to chuckle.

"I guess you're right," Usopp chuckled out. Luffy then suddenly stopped and bent down to examine the grove causing everyone to stop as well. He ran his finger across it before looking at Robin who was at the back of the group looking at Luffy.

'He couldn't possibly be here on the island,' Luffy thought to himself while looking at Robin. From the look on her face, Luffy could tell that she was thinking about the same thing he was.

"Problem, captain?" Zoro asked as he sensed Luffy's guard go up.

"Problem right now? No," Luffy replied as he stood up. "In the near future? Probably," he said confusing his crew. He did not say anything else inside he continued walking. As the group exited the jungle, they all let out a disappointed sigh.

"There is nothing here but a whole lot of nothing," Nojiko commented as she looked around. At that exact moment, Chopper took off running in the direction of a big rock that seems to have a big mushroom growing out of it.

"Woah! I've never seen a mushroom this big before!" Chopper said excitedly as he ran towards the giant rock. Luffy looked at the so-called mushroom and narrowed his eyes slightly in suspicion.

"I don't think that is a mushroom," Luffy said lowly. Before anyone could ask what, he meant, they all saw Chopper get thrown back from behind the rock causing the little reindeer to fall flat on his backside.

"Chopper!" Zoro and Usopp called out simultaneously as they saw their friend get thrown back.

"There seems to be something behind the rock," Nojiko noted as he took out her three-section staff.

"Let's go!" Sanji said before him and the rest of the crew took off running leaving Luffy standing in the same position looking at his crew charging towards the rock before he let out a sigh.

"So much for a relaxing journey to the next island," Luffy said to himself while shaking his head. He then walking towards his crew who already confronted the individual that was standing behind the rock. When Luffy arrived, he saw Robin on the ground with a terrified look on her face and sweat pouring off her as she stared at the man behind the rock. Luffy looked at her with a slightly sympathetic look on his face before he moved and stood in front of his crew blocking Robin's view of the man.

"Luffy, this guy is an admiral!" Nami said in a slightly panicked voice. "he has Robin scared out of her mind," she added as she stared at her captain's back. The fact that this guy could scare Robin this much really scared her as well because Robin was one of the more strong-willed crew members who never seem to fear anything. If everyone was being honest at this moment, they were all slightly scared due to Robin's reaction to the admiral, or in Usopp's case terrified.

"What re your orders, captain?" Zoro asked while standing to Luffy's right with two of his swords drawn. Robin's reaction may have slightly disturbed him, but he was still ready to jump headfirst into battle at his captain's orders. To Luffy's left was Sanji and Nojiko who were both ready to attack like Zoro. Luffy was slightly impressed by the three of them but at the same time, he found it somewhat amusing.

"Stand down," Luffy said surprising his crew.

"Huh?" they all asked simultaneously with a confused look on their faces.

"Don't be so eager to rush to your death," Luffy said as he stared at the admiral. "He is way out your league," he added surprising them. "Even if all of you attacked him at the same time with all your might, the most you could probably do is force him back two steps," he said causing his crew to stare at the giant of a man with a look of fear on their faces.

"Aren't you flattering me a bit too much, Luffy," the man said in a lazy voice causing Luffy to chuckle.

"You're a long way from Navy H.Q... Kuzan," Luffy said as he narrowed his eyes. Just as he spoke thunderclouds began forming overhead and the wind began to pick up causing Luffy's coat to flutter in the wind.

"And you're a long way from the New World," Kuzan replied calmly as he stared at the Luffy.

"I'm making my way back there now," Luffy said calmly before a slightly excited smirk appears on his face. "You plan on stopping me?" he asked in a dangerous/excited tone as lightning flashed overhead followed by deafening thunder.

**CHAPTER END**

**Author's Note: Hello all, I am back...kinda. I still have writer's block but it is getting better these days. I would like to apologize for the long wait and also thank all of you who stayed and supported me through my struggles with writer's block. I hope you will all continue to support the story as we move forward and hopefully, my writer's block will be fully cured soon. I would like to thank everyone who PM me with suggestions on how to get over my writer's block. I read all of it and am grateful for all the support. **

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