One Piece : The Blood Emperor

Luke and Zoro arrived at Going Merry.

Liz and Billy the duck received Luke with enthusiasm when they saw him well and healthy.

Billy started to rub it's head on Luke as it also danced around, expressing it's happy mood.

"How's Sanji's condition?" Luke turned to Liz.

"He's still in the state of coma, but most of his fractured bones are connected now. It won't be long until he fully recovers and wake up." Liz was also surprised by the tenacious healing ability of Sanji.

"That's good to hear- Hm? Why are you back so soon? Did you get anything?" Luke noticed Nami sitting on his favorite chair at a corner of Going Merry while drinking coffee.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I just wanted to test my traveling skill to reach here and spread the good news." Nami replied with a poker face. Her initial intention was to ransack the castle for treasures, but she changed her mind for a reason that the people of the kingdom needs it more than her.

"Where did you get these swords?" Zoro saw that Nami had two samurai swords beside her.

"I bought it in a certain store in this kingdom. Here, take it. It's yours." Nami smiled as she passed the swords to Zoro.

The eyes of Zoro light up. He immediately examined the swords. However, his expression returned to normal when he found out the swords are low in quality. But it'll do for now since he's missing two swords.

"That'll be two million berries. Thanks for the deal!" Nami smiled sweetly as her scheme succeeded.

"Wha- How- What do you mean two million?" Zoro twitched his face a couple of times when he finally realized he got scammed by Nami.

"It is what it is. You bought the product I sold. Right now, you owe me two million and five hundred thousand berries." Nami got elated when her income got multiplied. She just picked two random swords in the castle when she recalled Zoro. After all, she can't have the valuable treasures in there.

"You damnable woman! You set me up!"

"When we arrive at Alabasta, I want you to pay me in full. Otherwise, I'll put ten percent interest on it every passing day."

"There's no way I can pay you the moment we arrive there! Where can I find so much money? Ten percent? That's two hundred fifty thousand berries per day you damn witch! I'll return these back to you!"

"No return no exchange.."

Zoro started to bicker with Nami while Luke and others are enjoying the show.

...

On the way to the castle using the ropeway...

Luffy stared at Chopper with shining eyes. Not because the latter was unique, but he accidentally heard Dr. Kureha that Chopper knows medicine. He's more eager to recruit the latter to his team for sure.

Vivi and other Strawhats helped move the things together with the few soldiers.

Usopp sat on a corner while minding his own business on some gadgets.

Vivi conversed with Dalton about the matters regarding the kingdom.

While Dalton was unwilling to rule a kingdom at first, he has no choice since everyone around was on favor of him. Plus, he can't just let this place be a nameless kingdom or it will incur confusion and mess to the people.

Dr. Kureha examined the Strawhats. She wanted to make sure that she won't regret her decision on letting Chopper go to roam the world.

It didn't take long for Luffy to recruit Chopper to join his crew after Dr. Kureha settled in the castle.

Chopper placed the jolly roger of Hiriluk on the top of the castle. It is his symbol of hope to never give up in order to achieve his dream.

His dream is to cure any illness in the world. His dream is in line with Hiriluk that no illness in the world is incurable.

Perhaps Chopper already knew the kingdom was sick and dying because of a tyrant ruler. And now the tyrant is gone, he hope for it's healing through Dalton.

...

Midnight...

Chopper was chased out by Dr. Kureha using various kinds of weapon since he intended to venture the sea with the Strawhats.

Dr. Kureha also chased away the Strawhats out of anger. She doesn't like bidding farewells so this is her method on sending them away.

She stood at the peak watching Chopper and the Strawhats running away. She felt emotional since she treated Chopper as her own son.

In the distance, Chopper was also on the brink of crying. He held it down and steeled his emotiond to further pursue his dreams and explore the wonders of the world.

"Everyone! Watch this!" Usopp grinned as he aimed at the top of the castle using his slingshot. Although the top was miles away, he was confident of his ability.

"More More Speed : 50 Times! More More Size : 50 Times!" He then fired an explosive dark marble which contained a chemical solution inside.

Luke especially mentioned that before going back, this chemical solution must be fired at the top of the castle.

SWOOSH!! BOOM!!

Chopper's mind went blank when he saw the giant Drum Mountain turned into a cherry blossom tree. He then started to wail like a little child after remembering his past experience with Hiriluk.

Dr. Kureha paused when she saw the snow turned into pink. She knew this effect but she never expect the Strawhats to pull such a trick and gave her a surprise. She clearly sealed those bunch of finished chemical solutions to safety.

Then, she recalled Luke after she noticed him staring at the sealed pouch. She didn't know how he got some and multiplied it's quantity in a short period of time but she was glad about it.

"That man sure is mysterious.."

She muttered while staring back at Chopper in the distance. She saw the poor blue-nosed raindeer crying in the snow. Tears also flowed down from her eyes.

"We'll meet again someday, my child..."

...

Drum Kingdom Marine base...

Bang read the wanted poster of Strawhat Luffy. He was puzzled though. Upon confronting the brat earlier, he can estimate the latter's bounty to be at least five hundred million berries.

"Twenty two million berries? It's quite low, but it's also a reasonable bounty to such a place like East Blue." He muttered in silence. He will keep Luffy's matter in secret for the sake of his old friend, Garp.

"Garou finally joined a pirate group. However unlike Luffy, Garou personally dealt with our men, killing few in the process." Bomb commented with a deep frown.

"I'm going after him. Tell the HQ I'm heading out to fetch Garou." Bang stood up preparing to move out to the sea.

"Then I'm going too. I already quit being a marine. However, I still love seeking adventure with you, little brother." Bomb smiled.

"Let's do this then." Bang nodded in agreement. Maybe after capturing Garou, he'll probably retire being a marine to enjoy the remaining days of his life.

...

The next day...

The Strawhats finally sailed to the direction of Alabasta. The crew forgot to resupply the ship of daily necessities.

After they celebrated last night for gaining a new nakama, the food supply reduced to bare minimum.

Sanji also showed a sign of waking up since all of his bones fully reconnected. He also received health tonics from Chopper.

Meanwhile, Luke already set the second Devil Fruit ring. It was the Bomb Bomb Fruit of Mr. 5 that Laffitte delivered with some other Devil Fruits.

He especially focused his adjustments on this Devil Fruit ring because it's a part of the ammo of his Special Gun Homie. An amazing ammo that can heal on it's own and can be used with unlimited tries.

Not only that, the ring contains a compressed air pressure. If this thing explodes, it will decimate everything on it's path.

Basically, he created a weapon for mass destruction that's enough to wipe a kingdom clean and spotless.

However, the downside is that, he can use it after it collects enough air pressure which lasted for at least six hours. He can only use it once or twice a day.

This Devil Fruit ring can actually rival his ultimate skill, the Blood Phoenix.

It took him a whole day modifying and adjusting his second Devil Fruit ring.

As the day ended, Sanji woke up which caused the Strawhats to celebrate.

Sanji didn't know exactly what happened. At that time, he was dealing with two animals, a volture and a giant mole rat. After that, he lost consciousness for some reason.

The Strawhats told Sanji that he got severely injured by two unnamed enemies. They also told their encounter with these people.

After a little stretching, Sanji is back to business. He was puzzled though.

"Is this our emergency food?" He then pointed at Chopper. He felt rusty and wanted to cook something. He couldn't believe he actually slept for a week.

Chopper was so scared that he ran around in panic.

The Strawhats laughed and they told Sanji that Chopper is their ship doctor.

Sanji expressed his amazement and praised the little blue-nosed raindeer.

Chopper let out bunch of curses while his body wiggled in happiness for the praises.

This discovery made the Strawhats laughed out loud. This fake indenial of Chopper gave them much entertainment.

In the following days, Zoro never stopped his training while others took a break, causing a mess around Going Merry.

Zoro was eager to discover more now that he successfully Imbue his swords with Armament Haki. He was a training maniac nothing can persuade him to relax even for a bit.

His goal is to be the Strongest Swordsman in the world. Even if he's at the peak, he will not stop his training. It's already a part of him ever since he was a kid.

Luke also made a big part of Zoro's training. He gave the latter some tricky challenges like slashing a yarn string but not cutting it, slashing metal without any boost like Haki. It's all to train about harnessing sword intent.

...

Luke also finished his second Special Homie.

It was a Spear with the attributes of lightning.

After having the Soul Soul power, he can manipulate any types of elements. This time, he has two sources of lightning, Nami and Billy the duck.

Of course Nami didn't want to work for free. She wanted a hefty compensation.

Luke finally gave in and told her a location where there are mountains of gold around Jaya Island.

Basically, he was referring to Sky Island up in the cloud.

This Special Golden Spear Homie of Luke doesn't function like Zeus that attacks with thunder. Instead, it's function is to neutralize enemy with one touch.

He made this Special Homie for the strong individuals like Kaido. But it won't roast enemy, just have a very strong neutralize effect.

The Golden Spear Homie don't even produces lightning sparks. It's only a fancy looking golden spear with bright blue patterns like circuits.

His blood ability can neutralize enemies too, even wider scale than the golden spear. However, it will cost him his lifespan especially when facing powerful foes like Ulquiorra.

He needed an alternative way on subduing enemies without spending his own lifespan.

There's also people that can resist the Golden Spear's neutralizing effect like Billy the duck, Luffy and Nami. Their bodies are made to counter lightning.

After finishing the second Special Homie, Luke prepared for the third one.

He's going to create his own version of 'Misery'.

However, before he could even start, a new event is happening. His eyes shone seeing the sea steam in the distance. He muttered,

"This is Bon Clay's entry.."