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One Piece PETs: Tiny Elephants
(I do not, nor will I EVER, own One Piece. This long-running series belongs to Ze Great Eiichiro Oda.)
The Straw Hats had docked at yet another interesting island. They had heard rumors about herds of tiny elephants living around here.
"I can't wait to see them!" Aika piped up. "I bet they're gonna be so kawaii~!!"
"Perhaps," Robin spoke, "the adults range to the size of a small dog, like a Corgi, according to the brochure."
"Cool." Kumi wagged her tail, intrigued.
"Well, I'm ready!" Luffy exclaimed, carrying his backpack. "Sanji packed up my lunchbox for me, so I won't get hungry while we look for those elephants!"
"Is your stomach all you ever think about?" Blizzard asked.
"No, I think about other things," Luffy answered.
"Like what?" Blizzard queried.
"You guys, duh," Luffy answered.
"Fair enough," Blizzard muttered.
Zoro let out a lazy yawn. "Let's just get going," he spoke.
That's what the Straw Hats did.
They walked through the jungle, looking for any sign of the elephants.
"Hey~!" Luffy called out. "Where are you, little elephants?!"
"Luffy, lower your voice," Usopp told him, "you might scare them off."
"You know Luffy," Sanji chimed in, "Subtlety's not his thing."
"Nope." Brook concurred. "He's more of a man of action."
"Nothing wrong with that, really." Robin added.
"I'm not complaining," Nami piped up, "sometimes a little action is good." 'Especially in bed,' she thought.
As they trekked through the jungle, loud trumpeting could be heard.
"I hear them!" Aika exclaimed. "We must be getting close!"
"I hear them, too!" Nami added.
"All right!" Luffy cheered. "We get to see some little elephants!"
As they got closer, the trumpeting grew louder. Soon, as they broke through the bushes, standing before them were the little orange elephants that inhabited the island.
"Wow!" Aika exclaimed.
One of them even flew right toward the crew.
"Well hello there," Nami greeted, "Aren't you just the cutest?"
The little elephant trumpeted in response.
"Shishishi!" Luffy laughed.
Soon, the rest of the herd flocked to the Straw Hats.
"Wow! Look at 'em all!" Usopp exclaimed.
"They certainly are adorable," Robin noted, "Especially the babies."
The baby elephants made high-pitched trumpets in response.
"This might be a good place for a picnic," Sanji suggested.
"Ooh, yeah!" Aika concurred.
"Sounds good to me," Luffy spoke, rubbing his stomach, "I could eat."
*Gluuuuuuuurrgh!*
"Yeah, yeah," Sanji replied, "I heard you...and your stomach."
Luffy's stomach growled as if to say "Thanks.", while Sanji only rolled his eyes.
***Short timeskip brought to you by Naruto eating ramen (A Naruto reference)***
"Haaa..." Luffy sighed as he patted his gut. "Man, am I stuffed!"
One of the small elephants landed on his bloated belly.
"Oh, hey," Luffy greeted, "how are you, little guy?"
"Not too bad, I reckon," the elephant answered, "what about you?"
"Can't complain," Luffy answered, "especially because I just ate and all."
"I noticed." the elephant eyed Luffy's gut.
Aika giggled. Soon, a baby elephant landed on her head. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "Hi!"
"Hello," the baby elephant greeted.
"I'm Aika!" Aika introduced herself. "Nice to meet you!"
"Likewise." replied the baby elephant.
"Shishishi!" Aika giggled. "You're cute."
"Thank you." the little elephant smiled, "I'm Emily."
"Hi, Emily," Aika smiled.
Anyhoo, Nami looked up at a tree and saw a nest full of baby elephants. "Aww~!" she cooed. "Hello, cuties!"
One baby elephant let out a small toot from his trunk.
"Oh, that's adorable!!" Nami exclaimed.
One of them flew up to her and landed on her shoulder. Nami responded by tickling his chin.
"Hehe!" the little one giggled. "That tickles!"
Nami smiled at the little elephant.
"Hey, look!" Usopp spoke up. "I think one of them's trying to fly!"
The Straw Hats glanced over at Usopp's direction as he pointed at an elephant trying to fly. However, as soon as he jumped out of the nest...he started plummeting towards the ground.
"Oh, no!" Aika cried, running to his aid. "I got him, I got him!" Thankfully, she caught the little elephant. "There," she sighed, relieved, "are you all right?"
"I think so," the little elephant answered, "thank you."
"You're welcome," Aika smiled. With help from Usopp, Aika put the elephant calf back into the nest. "There you go," she spoke.
"You should be more careful, little guy." Usopp added. "It's easy to fall outta these tall trees."
"I'll remember that." the calf nodded.
As soon as he said this, though, another little elephant calf fell out of his nest, too.
"AH!!" Chopper cried.
"Not again!" Usopp added.
Luckily, this one fell on Blizzard's back.
"Oof!" the calf cried.
"You okay, little guy?" Blizzard asked.
"Yes." the calf answered. "Sorry about that."
"Don't worry about it." Blizzard replied.
"I think these little guys fall outta their nests, a lot," Sanji pointed out.
"How come?" Kumi asked.
"It's like with birds," Luffy spoke up, "There's not enough for all of them, so sometimes, their brothers and sisters push them out by accident."
"Aww," Aika piped up, "I wish we could help them."
Kumi whined, agreeing with the Wolf Girl.
"Hey!" Franky spoke up. "Maybe we can!"
"How?" Aika asked.
"I got an idea!" Franky grinned. "Go back to the ship and bring me some 2X4!"
"Okay," Luffy spoke as he and the others went to go bring back some wood, "I wonder what he needs this stuff for."
You will soon find out.
***Short timeskip brought to you by World Shaking! (A Sailor Moon reference)***
"Oh, so THAT'S what you're doing!" Luffy realized.
"Yep!" Franky answered as he built a little house. "What do ya think?"
"It's so cute!" Aika answered.
"Let's see those elephant calves try and fall out of that." Blizzard added.
"Luffy, you're good at climbing," spoke Franky as he gave Luffy the house, "Put this up for me, huh?"
"Sure." Luffy complied as he climbed the tree and placed the house on the branches. "There we go!"
The baby elephants walked over to the house, immediately impressed with the outer design.
"Wow!" Emily exclaimed. "It looks awesome!"
"Thank you for making this!" another elephant calf added. "It's great!"
"They said thanks," Luffy translated, "They love it."
"It was no problem!" Franky gave the elephants a thumbs up. "All in a day's work for ol' Franky, here!"
At any rate, everyone enjoyed their picnic. Luffy got hungry again, as usual, so he just dug right in.
One of the baby elephants fell out of the nest, and since the Straw Hats were not able to catch him in time, the poor dear hit the ground and hurt his head.
"Ow...!" he whimpered.
"Oh, no!" Aika cried as she ran to help him. She carefully picked the little calf up.
"Is he okay?!" Chopper asked.
"No, he hurt his head!" Aika answered. "See?"
Chopper looked at the little one, who wobbled a bit woozily.
"Ow..."
"I think he might have a concussion," Chopper spoke, "I'll treat him right away."
"Please help him, Chopper," Aika pleaded.
"I'll do what I can." Chopper promised.
"You better hurry, Chopper," spoke Sanji, "Who knows how long until the parents come back!"
"Right," Chopper nodded as he started treating the little elephant, "Don't worry, little guy. You'll be okay."
The calf moaned softly at the reindeer doctor.
"Poor thing," Robin sympathized.
"They really need that house," Blizzard added, "otherwise, the little guys won't make it."
At any rate, Chopper finished treating the small elephant.
"That's better," Chopper spoke.
"Thank goodness." Aika sighed.
"I'll put him back," Luffy piped up.
"No, I'll do it." Nami offered.
"But I can do it," Luffy replied, "my arms can stretch."
"Well, if you're sure," Nami spoke. She gave her hat that held the small elephant to Luffy.
But before Luffy could do it, he heard a loud trumpeting sound.
"Must be their folks," Franky surmised, "You better hurry, Luffy!"
"Okay!" Luffy replied. "Just hang on!"
As Luffy was about to put the little one back into his nest, the mother elephant spotted him, and needless to say, she wasn't happy. "Get away from my baby!" she shouted.
"Uh-oh!" Luffy squeaked.
She charged for the Straw Hat captain, who yelped in terror. "Oh, fuzzy!"
Before Luffy had a chance to get away, the mother elephant slammed into his skull.
"OW!!!" he cried out. "THAT HURTS!!!!"
The mother elephant huffed at the Monkey Man. "That's what you get!" she shouted.
"Mommy, wait!" the calf cried. "He was helping me!!"
"Yeah, please don't hurt him!" his sister added. "Please, Mommy?!"
Luffy rubbed the lump on his head, grumbling. "Ingrate..." he muttered.
The mother elephant flew over to her child, nuzzling her lovingly.
"Here, Luffy," Nami took the hat with the calf from Luffy, "I'll do it."
"Thanks a lot," Luffy answered.
Nami raised her hat up to the nest, allowing the baby elephant to rejoin his siblings. "There you go, little guy," she spoke.
The small calf looked back at Nami. "Thank you, Miss."
"Sure thing," Nami smiled.
Anyhoo, the Straw Hats decided to take this moment to relax.
"I'm glad we came here," Aika piped up, "It's so nice and peaceful."
"Indeed." Robin concurred as a small elephant was perched on her shoulder. "We should come back here when we get the chance. What do you think, Zoro?"
Zoro was still snoozing away, not really listening to what Robin had said.
"Hm," Robin chuckled as she kissed Zoro on his forehead, "sleep well, tiger."
The mother elephant flew over to Luffy. "I'm sorry I attacked you," she spoke, "please forgive me."
"Nah, no big," Luffy shrugged, "I understand how moms are."
"That's right," Chopper chimed in, "mothers are very protective."
The mother elephant smiled.
"Shishishi!!!" Luffy laughed. "Glad that's settled, then!"
Yes. Anyhoo, back to the picnic. Luffy was using his manners, this time. *UUUURRRP!!* He let out a rather loud burp. "'Scuse me."
"You're excused," Nami replied.
Cut to the rest of the Straw Hats, who were also beginning to relax. Robin scratched behind Zoro's ears, resulting in him purring. "Hm-hmm-hmm..." Robin chuckled.
Kumi patted Sanji with her paw as he was sleeping. "Man, he's out cold," she noted.
"Let him be, Kumi." Blizzard told her. "He needs his sleep."
"Yes, Blizzard." Kumi replied. The little puppy walked away from the snoozing chef. "Sweet dreams, Sanji."
The little elephants continued enjoying their new home.
"They put a pool in here?!" asked one of them. "Awesome!!"
"There's also a mini television!" added another. "I never wanna leave this place!"
"Me, either!" a third piped up. "This place rocks!"
As the younger elephants enjoyed their new home, the Straw Hats proceeded to enjoy their picnic. After a while, they had finished eating. Luffy patted his Buddha belly. "Ahhh..." he sighed. "Good eatin'."
Aika giggled, and she patted her older brother's belly. "I love it when Big Brother's happy," she piped up.
"So do I, Aika." Nami agreed.
"Shishishi!" Luffy laughed. "Thanks!" He then let out a yawn. "I'm beat."
Usopp yawned and stretched his arms. "Same."
"I think this would be a nice spot for a nap," Nami suggested.
"I don't wanna go to sleep, just yet." Luffy added.
"You're kidding, right?" Nami asked. "You were yawning, just a second ago."
"Yeah," Luffy answered, "but that doesn't mean that I'm going to sleep, right now."
"Well, you might wanna tell Aika that," Robin said, "because look."
Aika was already lying on Luffy's stomach.
"Oh," was all Luffy said, "Can't really do anything about that, now can I?"
"Unless you want her to be cranky," Nami answered.
"That's the last thing I want." Luffy admitted.
"Smart choice," Blizzard said.
"Thank you, Blizzard." Luffy replied. On that, he decided to just conk out to sleep, since there was no way Aika was going to leave from her favorite spot.
"Hm," Nami chuckled as she pet her sleeping captain, "Sleep tight."
While they slept, the rest of the Straw Hats proceeded to interact with the elephants.
"So cute...!" Nami squeaked as she pet one of the little elephant calves.
"Thank you." replied the calf. "You're cute, too."
"He says that you're cute, too." Chopper translated.
"Awwww~!" Nami cooed. "Thank you, sweetie!"
"You're welcome," the little elephant smiled.
Emily perched herself onto Aika's head as she slept. "This feels nice," she spoke.
"It does," Blizzard agreed, lying down, "I'm glad we get chances like this to relax."
Indeed.
And on that, the rest of the Straw Hats soon began to fall asleep under the shady trees, along with the little elephants.