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Chapter Text

            It was another day on the Going Merry . They’d docked on an island known for its markets to restock and to take a slight break. Marines didn’t bother much with the island, since the rich people running the whole thing paid off any that came by. So, it was a safe enough place to set down for a while and have a little relaxation. Nami’d given each of the boys an allowance for the day and set them free. They’d already bought most of the essentials, so they could spend the money on whatever they wanted.

            She came back early, having known precisely what she would buy, and was sitting amongst the tangerine trees on deck, finishing a map of the island. Right as she was almost finished, she heard footsteps hit the deck. She looked up and saw Luffy, with something yellow cupped in his hands. Something yellow that let out a soft peep .

            “Luffy,” Nami started. “What do you have?”

            He looked between her and his hands before happily exclaiming, “A duckling!”

            “WHAT?!”

            “Oh, did you not hear me?” he asked, before moving closer and speaking louder, “IT’S A DUCKLING.” He then spotted the map Nami was finishing. “Wow! That’s amazing!”

            She just sighed. “Thank you, but we can’t keep the duck.”

            “What?! Why not?” he pouted.

            “This is a ship, Luffy. That is a baby animal. You have to go return them to their mother.”

            “But, he doesn’t have one,” Luffy said sadly. “I looked all over, and he doesn’t have a family. Can we keep him? Pleaseeeee?”

            The face he pulled was hard to say no to, but she had to. “I’m sorry buddy. We don’t even know how to take care of a duck. Try to see if any of the townsfolk will take him in.”

            He pouted the whole way off the ship and throughout the day. She felt bad, but they were five teens barely taking care of themselves. The four boys were in and out the rest of the day, storing things they’d bought and going out to resume their adventures. Once it got late enough, they set off and went back out to sea. Luffy was barely seen the rest of the day, and Nami figured he was moping in the kitchen or something. 

            The sun was setting, and everyone was waiting for dinner. Nami was still at the helm, and finally she saw the captain again. Always impatient with food, he was just pacing every inch of the ship. She thought his hat was sitting a little higher than usual, but figured it was just the light or something. Her focus turned back to the sea, until she heard a familiar peep come from Luffy’s direction.

            “Luffy,” she turned on him. “What the hell was that?”

            “What do you mean?” he said with an unconvincing innocent look. Made more unconvincing by another peep coming from his infamous straw hat.

            “Luffy. Take off the hat.”

            “Why?”

            “We both know what’s under there.”

            “My head?”

            She groaned, and quick as a flash, pulled the hat down to his back. Revealing the same duckling from the morning. “Luffy, we fucking talked about this. We have no idea what to do wit-”

            “Don’t worry, Nami! One of the villagers gave us a guide and helped us find all the supplies the duckling would need! I even made him a little home in the closet by the kitchen!”

            “What the hell,” Nami said heatedly. “Do you mean by ‘us’ Luffy?”

            “Oh, Usopp helped me! He carried supplies and made a lil pond, too!”

            She whipped around on Usopp, who’d come up to wait for dinner. He started sweating, and shakily said, “Uh, he’s lying?”

            Nami chased the sharpshooter around deck, with the latter running and screaming for his life. Luffy took the duckling in his hands as they watched the race unfolding before them. “You’re gonna love it, Gilbert.” He whispered with a smile. “This is the best crew out there.” Usopp screamed again. “They’ll be fine.” Gilbert responded wisely with a peep peep , watching the spectacle with his captain.

            Zoro and Sanji were both in the kitchen, and were soundly confused as to why their captain pulled up another chair. The stretchy teen added a box and placed Gilbert on top. Sanji stared in shock, while Zoro just sighed.

            They all sat down, and Luffy asked, “Hey Sanji, can Gilbert have some of the rice please?” The chef quickly put the name to the duck, and smiled as he slid a small dish of plain rice mixed with some corn in front of the duck, who immediately started devouring it. Everyone saw the duckling as another, smaller Luffy. “Gil says thank you!” Luffy chirped.

            They all knew Gilbert was there to stay. As the boy had said, an empty closet near the kitchen had been turned into the duckling’s home. A nest fashioned from a spare blanket sat in one corner, and another held a barrel cut in half to form a pond. It was strung like the beds, so it wouldn’t tip and spill, and had a ramp leading into it. Everyone smiled as they watched their newest little member fall asleep in his nest.

            And if a few days later Nami had stitched Gil a mini straw hat? Well, no one said anything while Luffy proudly marched around with his duck perched on his head.

Chapter Text

            The Strawhats were docked on a nearly uninhabited island, only having one small village. They’d stopped there as a storm blew in, and said storm was currently still. Well, for the moment. It would clearly be dropping another sheet of water on all of them before the day ended. Everyone went straight to the deck once the storm stopped, the wind a beautiful relief from the heat that’d been following them for days. Luffy, naturally, went off to explore the island after being told to return at the first drop of rain.

            The four remaining crew members lounged on deck, having a casual game of cards. Or, as casual as it can be with their resident gambler and thief playing. Nami was winning, naturally. She gathered the cards to deal another round when she spotted the classic hat walking towards the ship. However, she wasn’t the one who realized he was carrying something.

            “Luffy, what the hell is that thing?” Sanji startled.

            They all turned around and, sure enough, their captain had picked up another creature. It was much bigger than a small dog, but size was the only similarity. This thing was scaled, and covered in an armor of plates and spikes. Its color ranged from golden brown to a pale green. Its tail was more of a hammer than anything, probably capable of breaking shins. The only way to describe its expression was the angriest you could see on anything not human: eyes narrowed, mouth shaped in a furious frown.

            “Oh, this is a baby ankylo!” Luffy beamed. 

            “Ok, yes, but why is it here?” Usopp said. 

            “I found them!” Upon the confused faces, he continued. “They were hiding in the bushes near their dead parent. They were kinda angry at being picked up.”

            “Yeah, no shit,” Zoro deadpanned.

            “So! I brought them back here!” He adjusted his grip on the baby as it squirmed slightly.

            “Luffy, those things grow to be huge,” Sanji sighed. “They’d sink the ship when they get older, not to mention-”

            “Actually this particular kind doesn't! Their parent was fully grown and wasn’t much bigger than a dog. Apparently, they only live here and aren’t boy or girl. Isn’t that cool! Can we keep them? C’mon, please?” They all hesitated. “It even looks like Zoro!”

            “Spiky exterior?” Usopp said.

            “Permanent scowl?” Nami added.

            “Nope. Here look!” Luffy held out the ankylo for the others to see, and stretched his finger to point along their chest. “They and Zoro are scar buddies!” Sure enough, the creature had a scar strikingly similar to the swordsman’s. “It probably came from whatever killed their parent,” he said as he held the baby close to his chest.

            The crew sighed, knowing they had no chance of getting rid of the little one. “Alright, they can stay,” Sanji said. “What’s their name?”

            “Oh, I don’t know! I wanted Zoro to name them!”

            “What, why me?”

            “Come onnnnnnn, they look just like you, and they’re a warrior too!” The stretchy boy held the ankylo out to his first mate, a prompt for the green haired man to hold them. He caved, taking the baby into his hands.

            He inspected the creature thoughtfully, even looking them dead in the eyes, silent for a stretch of time. Eventually, he held them to his chest and announced, “Bodil. That’s their name.”

            Luffy whooped, and went about having ‘proper introductions’ with the newly named Bodil. The rest followed along when he insisted the others introduce themselves, too. Even Zoro introduced himself, still carrying the lil ankylo. Who he continued to carry as they went below deck once the storm started again.

            Bodil seemed to eat whatever leafy green was set in front of them. Thankfully the village had a large amount of lettuce fields, so it’d be easy enough to buy the lil one more food before they left. They also thoroughly enjoyed most of the fruit offered, but refused to touch the mango Luffy gave them. Bodil even tried to sneak some of Gilbert’s rice, before they were gently corrected. Not that it mattered much, as Zoro slipped them some of his rice anyway.

            As everyone went to bed, Bodil was trying to climb into the hammock with Zoro. Usopp took pity on them, and quickly fashioned a mini hammock just for them. It was strung up right next to Zoro’s, and they seemed rather content with it. After everyone else was asleep, the swordsman leaned over and shared his blanket with his new bunkmate.

            The next day, Sanji went shopping, returning with a variety of greens and a piece of black cloth. Ten minutes later, Sanji had fashioned a headband just like Zoro’s from the cloth and put it on the newest crewmate. Bodil marched around the ship, proudly displaying their new accessory. Gilbert, hat donned, quickly joined his new friend. Once the duckling climbed on Bodil’s back to hitch a ride? Well, Nami and Usopp had a drawing of the moment finished by sunset.

Chapter Text

            Another day, another island. They’d been sailing for weeks straight and everyone was dying to dock. So, they found a jungle island with a decent flea market and set down for a while. Bodil was grateful to have more space to roam, and followed Zoro as he marched straight to the nearest bar. As usual, each of them got some money to spend before they set out.

            Sanji was hanging around the ship, opting to do a quick stock check for the kitchen and to buy supplies later. For the moment, he was laid out on deck, enjoying the sun’s warmth. He soaked up the heat until he heard a familiar set of footsteps accompanied by the peep peep of their new duckling member. He opened one eye to see Luffy, Gilbert on his hat, carrying a massive glass tank.

            “Hey, Luffy. Where’d you find that?” the cook asked.

            “Someone at the market was selling it for super cheap!” Luffy exclaimed.

            “Ok yeah, but like, why did you buy it?”

            “Oh! Well, the jungles here have a bunch of Atlas beetles, so I was thinking we could make them a terrarium.” He smiled and his hat buddy seemed to mirror it.

            Sanji already knew he had no chance of denying the captain, and figured that the tank wouldn’t take up too much space. “Alright, have fun then.” He closed his eyes and started drifting back off.

            “Actually, I was hoping we could all go find them! Have crew bonding!”

            Sanji sighed, because of course he would. “If you can convince everyone else, then I’m in.” He figured not many people would want to collect bugs. And then he remembered exactly who he was talking to, and that the captain would have everyone on board by the afternoon.

            “Great!” Luffy said as he ran into town, leaving his tank behind.

            Sure enough, he had everyone back and in on the idea in an hour. They all folded easily, none of them could deny Luffy. So, they grabbed the tank and headed into the jungle. It was more humid than the rest of the island, but pretty shaded. None of them knew exactly what they were looking for, so Luffy found an example. It was a metallic black that showed its iridescence in the right light. The three horns were what set it apart beside their coloring.

            “These are what we’re looking for! They’re my favorite, I collected them all the time back home. So just find as many as we can fit in the tank! Also, if someone could fill it with dirt and plants and sticks, that would be great!”

            Usopp took to decorating the tank, meticulously layering dirt and placing flora around it. Nami and Luffy stuck close together, with Luffy going on a massive infodump rant and Nami listening patiently. Sanji and Zoro collected near each other, before it turned into a huge competition between the two. Bodil was interested in the bugs, but mostly just followed them around while carrying Gilbert with them.

            After an hour or two, there were about twenty or so Atlas beetles crawling around in the tank. They shone in a multitude of metallic colors, including black, green, blue and even orange. Everyone took in the beauty of the bugs as they crawled around their new home. Even Zoro had to admit that they were cool. Gilbert chased one of the beetles as it moved, waddling around the glass walls with his hat bobbing with him. Bodil watched sleepily, ready for a nap after their long day.

            It was getting late, so they decided to call it a day. They had the swordsmen carry the now full tank as they trekked back to the ship. It was set in the dorm, strung like the beds and Gil’s pond. Late into the night, Luffy sat admiring the beetles. He watched them glint and gleam in the lantern light, as Gilbert snuggled into the space between his shoulder and neck. When the sun rose the next morning, they saw Luffy asleep sitting up, snoring in time with his duckling.

Chapter Text

            They’d landed on another island, having docked to avoid a passing Marine ship in the area. The island was apparently known for their many superstitions. It wasn’t uncommon to come across patches of salt on the ground, having been thrown over shoulders. Multiple stalls in their market sold talismans and trinkets meant to bring good luck.

            Most of the crew weren’t interested in exploring, seeing as it was a short docking. Luffy, of course, immediately asked for some money to spend in the town. They sighed, but of course forked over some money. He was gone for less than an hour, before he came back with what appeared to be a massive bird cage, holding what seemed to be a white bird.

            “Again?” Zoro sighed.

            “What do you mean ‘again’?” Luffy said, as Gilbert cheeped from the captain’s shoulder and Bodil curled around Zoro’s feet.

            “Do I wanna ask why?”

            “Yeah!”

            “.... Fine, why did you bring another bird back?”

            “I’m glad you asked!” he chirped. “So apparently, the island has a thing against light colored ravens. Like, normal ravens they’re fine with but they think white ones are like backstabbing demons or something. So, some lady was selling pet birds and apparently no one has bought her or even shown interest in her for months. She was begging people to take her, but they thought the bird would bring them bad luck or steal from them.”

            All of them felt their wills crumbling, already knowing the raven was coming with them.

            “And the lady was really sad, since she’s raised her since she hatched. She even knows all sorts of tricks, like retrieving pointed out objects! I thought that was cool, but apparently nobody else there does.” His face fell as he finished. “Lady even named her Ameena, which apparently means ‘trustworthy’ and ‘faithful’. And still nobody wanted her!” He looked upset, waltzing towards tear land and a touch angry.

            Nami approached the cage, peering at the raven inside. “Well, ravens are actually used a lot for navigation.” His face lit up at learning a new animal fact. “And, well, I won’t turn down any help. Wanna teach me what kinds of things Ameena can do?”

            Luffy lit up like a lighthouse, and the pair headed towards her room. They weren’t seen for a few hours, with Luffy spilling all the raven’s tricks and Nami explaining their navigational prowess. They left after, and they often saw their navigator with her new bird companion, seemingly doing training of some sort.

            They landed on the next island a week or so later, and they set out to stock up. Nami and Ameena chose to supervise Luffy and Gil. The birds were perched on their respective person, Gilbert with his little hat chilling in his captain’s hands, while Ameena stood proudly on the navigator’s shoulder. The two were chatting, talking about what they were picking up and just cool things they’d seen, when a man stopped in front of them.

            He was massive, towering over both of them. The man was built like a brick wall, and was clearly wealthy. The suit he wore was made of some absurd, expensive fabric. A gold chain hung from his neck, and his pocket watch was a matching gold encrusted with jewels. In addition, everyone fled his intended path, so he likely had power. Luffy bumped into the man, having been too deep in his spiel about the shenanigans Gilbert had gotten into lately to notice him in time. 

            “Oh, I didn’t see you there, I’m sorry!” the stretchy boy said apologetically.

            “And what the hell makes you think you can even stand in my way?! You’re just a boy with a ratty, shitty hat,” the man boomed.

            “Hey!” Luffy retaliated. “It’s not a shitty hat! It’s special and my fri-”

            “I don’t give a fuck, boy! It’s just as worthless and undesirable as you!!”

            Luffy went silent, and his face morphed into the saddest Nami had ever seen. Apparently the man had touched some deep issue, and her little brother was unnaturally still, tears in his eyes. The rich asshole scoffed, and resumed walking. Nami wrapped an arm around his shoulders as he continued staring into the dirt, straight past his favorite and visibly concerned duckling.

            “Hey, Luff, are you okay?”

            He finally pulled his eyes from the ground and pulled the fakest smile she’d seen her whole life, and she’d seen a lot . “Yeah. Yeah it’s fine. Let’s just buy the stuff and go home.”

            Nami was fucking furious that someone made the boy so upset. So, she leaned near her bird, and while making a subtle motion, whispered, “Ameena, snatch.” She took off in a flash of white feathers. The two siblings, plus Gilbert, bought the few things they were still missing. As they approached the ship, Ameena returned. Carrying a familiar, overly fancy pocket watch.

            Luffy watched as the raven dropped the clearly expensive watch into Nami’s palm with wonder. “Woah! Where’d she get that?!”

            Nami just smirked. “Oh, I had her take something close to equal value to your hat, that’s all. But, I’d still take your hat over this thing.”

            Watching his face light up was worth more than the pocket watch itself. She handed the watch over to him and looked on fondly as he hurried to tell Sanji and Usopp the story of their afternoon. The sharpshooter and captain disappeared back into the market, and came back twenty minutes later. By nightfall, Ameena had a replica of Nami’s tattoo on her back in animal safe orange dye, courtesy of Luffy and Usopp.

Chapter Text

            The island they were docked at was a necessity. There were multiple reports of water spouts in the area, and you didn’t mess with those. So, they’d landed. Of course, they went to explore some and learned that the island’s main business was lumber. The streets were filled with wooden items, from furniture made in bulk to hand carved figures. Usopp immediately bought some of the lumber for future ship repairs.

            Somehow, they lost Luffy. Why they’d taken their eyes off him, they didn’t know. But they were already dreading the trouble he would bring back. He wasn’t gone long, but came back with two other people. One man was helping the other walk, as he groaned and limped. The captain helped clear the way, stretching his hands to move people out of their path.

            “Yeesh, what happened to him?” Usopp asked.

            “Well, it sounds like he cut down a tree that some massive spiders were living in. Apparently, they can shoot hairs off their body! Isn’t that cool?!”

            While three of them exchanged grimaces, Usopp looked intrigued. “Luffy, can you lead me to where this happened?”

            So, ten minutes later they were neck deep in the woods going to see huge spiders. None of them really knew what was happening or what to expect. “Sooo,” Sanji started. “What kind of things did those spiders do?”

            “Oh, you should have seen the guy up close! You could see the hairs sticking out of him and it was baddddd. From what I heard, one of them causes a huge rash and the other are like really awful splinters. They’re really long but they’re so thin you can barely see them! It’s so cool!”

            Everyone disagreed, except Usopp, who usually fled at the mention of danger. “Hmm. My guess is that they’re a species of giant tarantula. The regular species have those hairs, but they usually release in tiny clouds. The giant kind can be more precise and selective with their shooting. It is pretty cool, you’re not wrong.”

            The other three looked up, expecting to see a red sky and the eclipse signaling the end of time. But nope, just the normal blue holding the bright sun. “So, why exactly are we walking towards the spiders of pain?” Zoro asked first. “And why are you so okay about this? You run from your own shadow.”

            “Wow, okay, rude.”

            “I heard you scream when you didn’t realize a mirror was next to you.”

            “Yeah, touchè.”

            “So? Why aren’t you running to the ship?”

            “Well, giant tarantulas are used as companions by a few sharpshooters! A woman came through Syrup Village when I was a kid, best shooter there was except for yours truly. And she had a giant tarantula. It came with her everywhere, and when she got into a bar fight? I saw some of the usual bar ruffians walk out with some nasty rashes from its spines.”

            “And you’re willing to risk what sounds like immense pain to get some pets?”

            “Is Bodil a pet?”

            Zoro looked offended at the very idea. “Of course not, they’re a crewmate.” It was true, they had even helped Zoro with an asshole. Turns out, running is hard when a tiny ankylo breaks your shin.

            “Well then, there you go! Trust me, I got the woman to tell me how to befriend them.”

            Luffy was the only one really on board with the idea. Nami seemed to be reconsidering life choices and Sanji looked like he was determining whether the rest of the day was worth experiencing. Zoro just shrugged. “Your doctor’s visit.”

            The sharpshooter scoffed as the clearing arrived. Sure enough, there were two ginormous spiders standing over a tree stump, front legs raised defensively. One was a light tan, the other a deep brown. Apparently, the tan one caused the rashes while the brown one left splinters. While both were easily the size of a person’s torso, their spines were different. The tan one had short, thick spines, designed to prick and fall away or be pulled out. The brown had long, thin ones, made to stick painfully into skin with little chance of being pulled out without aid.

            The crew watched as their resident coward walked right up to the two tarantulas. At the distance they were, they couldn’t quite see or hear what he was doing. It seemed like he was speaking softly, maybe offering them something. Slowly, the spiders lowered their legs. After a few more minutes the spiders had crawled onto the teen, one on his back and one on his front. The crew watched, dumbfounded, as the usually cowardly man stroked the heads of the massive spiders with a small smile.

            “So! Meet our new friends Jadis and Jalyn,” he said while gesturing to the tan and brown spiders respectively.

            Luffy, of course, had no reservations. “Hi Jadis, hi Jalyn! I’m Luffy! We’re gonna be good friends,” he said while petting both tarantulas safely on their heads. With much convincing, the two boys got the other three to pat the two invertebrates. Both gave contented hums as they were stroked, and the crew immediately had soft spots for these two newcomers. Right next to Gilbert, Bodil, Ameena and the beetles.

Chapter Text

            They’d stopped on an industrial looking island. One of the factories had spilled a ton of oil into the waters, making it less than ideal to sail through. As always, Luffy grabbed his island allowance and set out to explore the shops. Everything sold on the island was some sort of manufactured good. It was great for Usopp, who could get anything he wanted for his experiments, but Sanji strongly disliked it. The only thing he would have any interest in were the kitchen supplies, and their kitchen was already well off. So, Sanji volunteered to stay with the ship.

            When he saw the infamous strawhat bobbing towards the ship, he became extremely concerned of what the boy had bought. And then once Luffy came fully into view, it was clear the concern shouldn’t be what he bought. The boy was covered in black oil up to his shins, and was holding some black, moving blob.

            “Luffy, what the hell did you do?!”

            “This little guy was struggling in the oil, I couldn’t leave him,” the captain replied. “Will you help me clean him, please?”

            Of course, Sanji folded pretty quick. So five minutes later, their bathtub was filled with an obscene amount of soap, Luffy and the thing he’d brought home. After some intense scrubbing, the creature looked much more like itself: a teenaged sea otter. It became harder to clean the boy and the otter, since the otter was determined to clean himself and Luffy was trying to play with him. It took forever, but both of them were finally oil-free.

            Predictively, Luffy looked at his cook and asked, “Can we keep him? Please?”

            The sea otter was already wrapped around Sanji’s ankle, seemingly trying to climb up his leg. He sighed inwardly. In truth, he wanted to keep the little guy. Otters were known for being clean, smart creatures. They naturally used tools and were easy to train. Besides, he was getting tired of constantly restocking their dried seaweed supply since someone kept eating their stock as a midnight snack.

            “Yeah, alright. Maybe I can train him to help around the kitchen.”

            “Yay!! What are you gonna name him?”

            He peered down at the otter, who was looking right back at him. “I’m gonna call him Zahir.”

            Luffy had a mini celebration, before Sanji shooed him out of the galley. The cook started training his new companion right away. By nightfall, the little helper knew how to wash his hands, how to act around hot surfaces and was starting to learn object retrieval. 

            The crew were not surprised by the appearance of yet another animal. They just asked where Luffy had gotten him from this time. Each of them took turns meeting the otter, who was enamored with all of his new friends. He met the animal crew members as well, and took an immediate liking to Gilbert. It was common to see the two swimming together in the closet pond.

            After a few talks with their resident handyman, Usopp made adjustments to allow Zahir access to the kitchen counters and appliances. In the next week, Sanji spent any time he wasn’t cooking training his new helper. By the time they left, the otter was great at object retrieval, knew the names of several foods to grab and could even stir a pot. Once they got to open, cleaner seas, he was taught to gather oceanic foods like seaweed, clams and other things. 

            Zahir came across a rock he chose as his, and began carrying it with him. The otter only allowed Sanji to touch it, who used the privilege to show the otter how to clean it and use it to open shellfish. The cook was so smitten with his helper he made the lil guy a sort of kelp bed, so it would be like how he slept in the wild but with fabric strips instead of kelp. Well, that was where he slept if he wasn’t sleeping in Gilbert’s pond with the duckling nestled on top of him.

            Within a month of his arrival, Zahir became an extremely proficient kitchen helper. When Sanji spotted Luffy putting a tiny chef’s hat on the otter’s head, he just smiled. And he smiled even more when he watched Zahir store the hat right next to his beloved rock.

Chapter Text

            After many long weeks on the sea, they stopped at an island to stock up some and just to stretch their legs a little. The island had a huge market, sprawling beaches and a huge history and culture. So as soon as they docked, they each started making plans on what they’d do. Sanji needed to stock the kitchen and Zoro decided to help. Luffy wanted to explore, and Nami and Usopp decided to tag along.

            They spent a few hours exploring the market, poking in and out of stalls. Some had tokens, jewelry or talismans coming from the local culture and folklore. There were also a lot of stalls that sold clothing and accessories using some kind of deep blue feathers. Nami bought a shiny piece of jewelry that Ameena had been looking at, who quickly snatched the newly purchased shiny up.

            After the stretchy boy got bored, he wandered outside the market. The other two followed and they explored the rest of the island. About an hour later, they came across what seemed like a huge farm, with pastures fenced with thick, barbed wire fence. Inside the fence was a hoard of tiny penguins, their feathers a dark blue.

            Luffy immediately squealed and ran up to the fence. The other two smiled and followed, but stopped just behind as they took in the area. Their smiles faded as they noted the dull eyes and malnourished bodies of the penguins. Only dry, hard dirt covered the ground and there were no visible water or food containers. Attached to the farm was some kind of factory, spewing smoke constantly. As the sharpshooter and navigator watched on in horror, an older man with tattoos approached.

            “Sad, isn’t it?”

            Luffy whipped his head around. “Is it? But the penguins are so cute!”

            “They are, or used to be. Back when their only use was to be held as sacred by our culture. Now, they’re just a product for that factory.”

            “That color… are their feathers what’s used in all those shops in the markets?” Nami asked.

            The man nodded sadly. “Yes. It takes thousands of penguins to make it all, and they don’t much care for anything that isn’t money.”

            “Wow,” Luffy breathed out. “That must be a lot of molting penguins. How do they collect all those feathers? They gotta be everywhere!”

            “Buddy, that’s not how they get the feathers,” Usopp said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if most of em never see their second molt.”

            The captain's eyes widened with horrible realization, as the native man kept nodding. “Yeah, the only ones that do are the ones they breed, and from what we’ve seen they’re in as bad a shape as these guys. If not worse.”

            Luffy was outraged. “We can’t let them keep doing this! There’s gotta be something we can do!”

            “We’ve tried talking to the governor about it. But, she gets paid by the company so she doesn’t do anything about it.”

            “Well then, guess we’ll do it the hard way.”

            One group gathering later, five pissed pirates, one mini ankylo and two massive spiders started destroying the fucked up farm. Bodil’s tail demolished the fencing, while Jadis and Jalyn took out the guards. The penguins ran through the new holes in the fences, flashes of blue as they fled to freedom. It didn’t take long for the five to get all the penguins out of the barn, and move on to wreck the factory. A crowd of people had gathered around to watch the spectacle, many of whom were other natives.

            An enraged scream rang out across the island as the crew found the butchering rooms. Five minutes later, that area of the building was completely collapsed. The rest of the factory followed quickly after. As the pirate crew came out, carrying a few chicks too small to leave on their own, a massive cheer went up from the crowd. They quickly started assembling a party, full of food and festivities. 

            It seemed that everyone was in attendance, including the penguins. Many of the locals took to feeding the little birds, treating them like the sacred beings their culture believed they were. Naturally, Luffy had an armful of penguins, from full grown to babies. He asked locals if he could keep them, who responded that while they wouldn’t stop any from following them, they weren’t allowed to bring them with. The teen pouted slightly, but ultimately smiled and agreed.

            As they left the next day, a group of people came to see them off, including the older man from before. They were given supplies and plenty of well wishes before they departed. While they sailed out of the local waters, the flock of penguins swam alongside the boat, occasionally jumping out of the water. And as they hit the open water, the blue birds stopped, seemed to say their final goodbyes and swam back to a better life.