One Piece : Safety second

When they reached the bottom of the mountain, the Whisker pirates saw a huge a whale looking at them.

Looking at the painting on the top of its head, Tom started laughing.

"Nyahahaha, that's an ugly looking whale!"

*BWOOOO*

As if it understood that the whale let out a cry. The four pirates covered their ears as the cry rang out.

After seeing the whale had closed its mouth, Tom scratched his ears and said.

"Damn, it's so loud."

As Tom thought about how to mess with the whale, Tyke came over and showed him a compass.

"It's not working."

Looking at the compass, which was spinning wildly, Tom dug into his pocket and took out a log pose.

"Normal compass won't work here, use this."

Seeing the small globe-like compass, Tyke turned it around and noticed that it always pointed towards one direction and frowned.

Seeing Tyke frowning, Tom patted his shoulder and said.

"It's doesn't point north. It points straight to an island though."

"Hmm."

"Let's get the ship moving, I'll explain on the way."

Nodding at Tom's suggestion, Tyke went up to the wheel while the rest checked for any damages and unfurled the sails and set sail.

When they started to sail, Tom looked back at the whale while leaning on the side of the deck and thought.

'Those idiots made it, huh?'

Tom went back to his chair after taking one last look at the whale and lied down. Of course he couldn't lie down for long as the ship started going through a hailstorm and he had to get up to help around.

When they finally thought they got out of the hailstorm, they noticed they were sailing right into a storm. Tyke looked at the compass, which was tied to his wrist and looked at the storm in front and decided to go around it.

Squinting his eyes through his fingers at the sun that was beating down on them, Yuuki exclaimed after glancing at the storm that they were going around.

"What the hell is up with the weather?"

"It's always like this in these parts, better get used to it."

Yuuki nodded with a solemn expression when he heard his captain state that.

The tense atmosphere that was building up was soon broken up though, when Jerry came over.

"Tom-san, I'm hungry."

Looking at Jerry, Tom shook his head and glanced at Tyke. Seeing that Tyke had everything under control for now, Tom let out a smile and started going towards the kitchen.

With Yuuki's stomach starting to growl, he thought of grabbing a quick bite and went in.

Cooking a lot of food, which went into his gluttonous vice captain mostly, Tom came out with a few dishes in his hands as Jerry and Yuuki were eating. Going towards the wheel, he handed Tyke the food and told him to eat.

As Tyke hesitated on whether to leave the wheel, Tom snickered.

"If you don't eat now, there won't be any left."

Understanding Tom's intentions, Tyke left the wheel to Tom and ate his fill. Getting back on his feet after finishing, he took the wheel from Tom while checking the log pose.

Going back into the kitchen, Tom saw Jerry and Yuuki had finished eating and made them wash the dishes as he made himself a meal.

As night fell, they decided to rotate and keep watch, with Tom at first, Yuuki next and finally Tyke very early in the morning. Jerry was exempted as Tom had complete trust in his vice captain dozing off.

When the next day came, Tom woke up to see Tyke back at the wheel. Glancing at Yuuki, who had fallen asleep after being relieved of his shift, Tom stretched his muscles as he leaned back on his chair.

When he was looking up, Tom happened to see a bird flying around in the air and whistled.

As if it had been waiting for that, the bird came down and landed next to Tom.

Looking at the news coo, Tom took out some money from his wallet and tried handing it over for a newspaper, only for it to be refused. Frowing at the bird, Tom asked.

"What? You're not selling?"

Shaking its head at those words, the news coo pointed at Jerry before putting up its wing and bending it in a way to show two.

As Tom's eyebrow twitched in annoyance at the news coo, he asked.

"You're asking me to pay double because of that idiot?"

Seeing the news coo nod, Tom's anger just grew as he threatened.

"Hehe, do you know why he was trying to shoot you birds down? Should I feed you to him, huh!?"

Gulping down at the threat, the news coo then took out a note from its pouch and handed it to Tom.

Reading it, he understood that he would be banned from getting newspapers via news coo if he went and followed through on his threat.

Understanding the disadvantages they might face without a source of information, Tom grit his teeth and with great agony he took out the money.

But before he handed it over, Tom asked.

"This is only a one time thing, right?"

Seeing the news coo hand him another note, Tom saw the number ten on it and understood they were gonna rip him off nine more times.

Vowing to have his vengeance, Tom shoved the money into the news coo's wings and took the paper.

Watching the bird fly away after counting the money, Tom walked over to the sleeping Jerry. Watching his vice captain sleep soundly with a dumb smile on his face and drool on the side of his mouth, Tom felt irritated.

Using the paper in his hands, Tom whacked Jerry on his head.

Startled awake, Jerry woke up, fully alert, only to see that it was Tom who hit him with a paper. Rubbing where he had been hit, Jerry asked.

"Why'd you hit me?"

"Hmph, just felt like it."

"What?! You're unreasonable!"

Ignoring Jerry's complaining, Tom went back to his chair and unfolded the paper.

It took a few days of sailing for them to see their destination. As Tom looked at the island through a spyglass, Jerry started pulling Tom's sleeve.

"Lemme take a look too!"

Giving the spyglass to Jerry, Tom walked back to his chair as his vice captain looked at the island.

"Whoa! Nihihihi, it looks like a big rock!"

The Whisker pirates had reached their first island in Grand line.

The Bedrock island.