Journey to One Piece

324. I can take you inside

"We don't have any connections with that old bone Shiki. Our ship can fly due to the technology we used," answered Ken, who had appeared. He wasn't agitated or intimidated; he spoke with a smile on his face.

This made them calm down a bit, but their guards were still up. By this time, everyone had slowly walked out of the ship and stood behind Ken. Trafalgar looked around and said, "I am here to meet Bepo. He is my friend."

"Bepo? You are the one who kidnapped him to the ship?" Pedro, one of the Guardians of Zou and the one Ken knew the most about, inquired.

"No, he had joined my crew long ago, and I didn't kidnap him." Law was a bit offended when Pedro accused him of kidnapping. Pedro took a deep look at Law and said, "You are the Captain of the ship, and this is the rest of the crew?" Law denied and mentioned that Luffy was the Captain of the Straw Hats. Pedro looked at his hat and the goofy smile, then ordered the other guardians to calm down, as he didn't believe they were enemies.

The hat, too, reminded him of his past, so his instincts told him that this was fine.

"Come with us and don't stray away," Pedro demanded, and they were led through the gates of Zou.

The landscape of Zou was a breathtaking sight, with lush vegetation covering the vast expanse of the elephant's back. Towering trees, vibrant flowers, and cascading waterfalls created a mesmerizing environment for the people around who lived on the back of Zunesha. 

The architecture of the Mink Tribe reflected their unique lifestyle. Treehouse villages were suspended from the massive branches of Zou, and various platforms and bridges connected different parts of the island. The Mink Tribe themselves were a diverse and colorful community, with anthropomorphic animal features, making them resemble different species of animals.

One notable location on Zou was the Whale Forest, a dense and enchanting forest filled with gigantic whale-shaped trees. This served as a crucial part of the island's ecosystem and also housed the Mink Tribe's primary settlement, known as the Whale Forest City. And they had soon reached that place.

Momo, who had been silent since Kanjuro's betrayal, finally showed wonder in his eyes as he looked around. After Kanjuro's betrayal, he even stopped clinging to Nami and Robin for a bit, revealing how deeply affected Momo was by the incident.

Kin'mon and Momo stepped forward, directly asking for Inuarashi and Nekomamushi. Pedro and others immediately went on guard again.

"How do you know them?" Pedro asked.

"Because they are the retainers of the Kozuki family," Kin'mon declared, revealing the Kozuki family tattoo on his bareback. This made Pedro and others fall silent, and one of the Guardians quickly ran to inform about the arrivals. Within minutes, Inuarashi had arrived.

Seeing Momo again, he cried tears and bowed down to him. "Momonuske-sama, I am sorry for being useless and not being able to save you," Inuarashi said. Momo went forward and ordered him to get up. Soon, Nekomamushi showed up, followed by Raizo. Raizo was almost in tears as he saw Kin'mon again. There was a sense of joy as they got together.

But the happiness didn't last long as they learned about Kanjuro's betrayal. This made all of them furious.

"Where is the bastard? Let me ease my anger-nya."

"Grr.. I want to send him to hell and bring him back just to send him to hell again."

The retainers were furious, and Nami had to show them how Kanjuro was being held. He was tied to a cross and chained, with bruises all over his body and his face swollen at weird angles. Nami and others didn't hold back at all. Ken hated traitors, and he was the one to inflict the maximum damage.

Seeing his pathetic condition brought peace to their souls. They talked more, and soon they were inside the tree where the Red Poneglyph was stored. There, Robin and others learned that to reach the island holding the One Piece, one needed to decipher all the Red Poneglyphs, which were held by the Yonko. They needed to get to Kaido and Big Mom to obtain the Road Poneglyph. This revelation made the Straw Hats realize why reaching Laughtale was nearly impossible for most people.

"So, there are four of these? One is with Big Mom, one is in the territory ruled by Kaido, and where is the remaining one?" Law asked, and subconsciously, the Straw Hats looked at Ken.

"What? I don't know the location of the last one," Ken said.

"C'mon, Ken, I am sure if you use your abilities, you will know," Sanji said.

"What do you think my abilities are? Some kind of apples that fall every day?" Ken complained.

"I thought both were the same; your Devil fruit had always been a great help in the journey," Zoro said. Ken didn't expect that the rest of the crew thought of him as some kind of ATM machine; only in this case, the ATM machine would vomit information.

"Anyways, we need to get the one from Big Mom," Luffy knew what he needed to do. "Let's go and take the Road Poneglyph," Luffy said, and the moment he said that, Nami, Chopper, and Usopp punched Luffy on the head.

"If you want to die, don't drag us."

"Yes... yes... Don't drag us."

"Do you even know what you are talking about? This is Big Mom, one of the Yonko. Have you forgotten how powerful Whitebeard was, and that too when he was super old?"

"So what do you want us to do? We need the Road Poneglyph." Luffy shouted back. And thus the argument between 1 vs 3 started. While the rest of the crew started to think deep of how to take the Poneglyph and also avoid Big Mom, if possible. 

"We might be able to avoid Big Mom, I know the ways inside." Pedro said as he came forward.