>> The following chapter is more likely to be devoted to villains. But there is also a little reunion with Luffy. ;) <<

“Kegegegege!” The captain's strange laugh echoed for a long time over the pirate ship in the snake design and everyone of the crew who heard it was urged to work even more quickly. They knew their captain and therefore knew how to interpret the laughter: He only laughed when he was looking forward to destroying someone else's life again soon. But they also knew that in such a situation he liked to get himself in the mood with his own people, if they were just a tad too slow for him or if they were negative in some other way, where usually a little something was enough. Nobody on the team wanted to be used for such a * foreplay *, hence the reason to hurry.
The captain himself was still standing at the railing, but had stopped laughing. Instead, he raised his fingers towards his mouth and let out a loud whistle. When the whistling sound was over, he observed the crow's nest very closely, from which suddenly a small shadow jumped down, then slowly slid down around the mast and finally landed on his shoulder. The shadow was a flying iguana, a rare species of lizard that had a leather flap of skin between the front and rear feet on each side, with the help of which they could travel long distances in the air. "Well, my sweet Flinch, how are you doing?", The captain asked the animal, lovingly scratching its chin. Flinch let out a satisfied hiss and then lisped something in the man's ear. "Well, that's nice. I have a little job for you, my darling." He rummaged in his coat pocket and pulled out the picture of the wanted poster, which he then showed the iguana. "Do you see this man? Yes, memorize his face exactly, my little one and now fly off and look for him and when you have found him you come back immediately and tell me where he is!"Flinch fixed his eyes sharply on the wanted poster for a few minutes. Then suddenly he spread his skin flaps and fluttered away somewhat awkwardly until he finally caught a gust of wind and was able to slide gracefully away while riding on it. He was replaced by Smoney, who carefully approached his captain, who was watching the iguana.
"I still don't understand how he manages to find someone," puzzled Smoney. "I mean, he has no lead to follow, does he?"
"Of course he has a lead, you ignorant good-for-nothing! It's enough for him if he sees something. He can then track it down, no matter where it is or how far away it should be. Flinch just has a built-in, natural one Radar! But it was already clear to me that you don't get it! ", The captain scoffed and smirked at Smoney. Then he put on a rather thoughtful expression. "Actually, it is taking me far too long to wait until the good Flinch returns." He turned away from Smoney and turned back towards the ocean. He whistled again, but this time in a slightly different key. Then he waits with an expectant expression on his face.
After a short while the ship began to wobble as the huge head of a sea king rose from the waters. The sunlight broke on the blue scales of the sea snake and, together with the droplets of water that ran off, created a small rainbow. The monster inflated its nostrils and sniffed around until it finally looked down and fixed the captain with its deep red eyes. He was still standing there, unmoved, while the rest of the crew on deck (including Smoney) had withdrawn fearfully. Growling, it bowed its head and let the captain pat its snout.
"Yes, that's good, Krater," said the captain gently. "I knew you'd wait for me all these years, my big boy.And now please swim to the bow, I have a little task for you too. "When Krater did as ordered by his master, the captain of his crew ordered the monster to put on a kind of harness, as it is normally used for horses. Only this was much larger, since it was made for a sea king and the latter a whole He was supposed to pull a ship and not a carriage. When his men were done with this work, which he thought was far too slow, he turned back lovingly to Krater: "You still know your friend Flinch, don't you? And of course I know that you can smell him from afar, so please do me a favor and pick up his trail and follow him. "
Krater hissed an answer, shook himself a little until the dishes were more comfortable and then started moving. He chose the same direction as Flinch had before. He pulled the ship behind him and was able to increase its speed.
When the captain saw his crew standing on deck staring at the sea king with open mouths, he became furious. "What are you gawking so stupidly ?! Please get moving again, you lazy pack!" He glared at them, whereupon they hastily got back to work.
"Aye, aye, Captain Dragan!"

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While Dragan was sailing above sea level with his ship, Nami, Sanji and Franky drove around underwater in the shark sinker. The Usopp and Chopper who remained on board the Sunny had released the small submarine with the three on board and now they searched the seabed for their missing captain. They had kept their eyes open for hours, but there was no trace of Luffy, which is why the pirates began to despair.
"Man, that might be annoying!" Complained Nami. She had already got up at the beginning of the dive so that she could see better from the nearest porthole, but after such a long time standing had become very uncomfortable.That and the missing trace of Luffy were getting on her a lot. "Where can this hollow skull be? Have the sharks already eaten him? And damn it, Sanji, please stop staring at me!" Grumbling angrily, she grabbed the cook by the back of the head and turned his face to the opposite window before she slammed his head against the pane with full force.
"Ouch! Namilein, that hurts!", Sanji complained and rubbed his forehead, which was throbbing with pain. A slight bump indicated a bump. “It's not my fault that Luffy is nowhere to be found and that you look so good!” He approached here, with the result that he received a painful reprimand.
"Can't you both just rest?" Grumbled Franky, who was driving the vehicle and hadn't seen anything of Luffy either. Finally he let out a loud sigh. "I think there is no point. I'll do one last lap and then come back up before you kill yourselves!" He turned the submarine in the opposite direction and hummed * We Are * to ease the mood .

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Meanwhile, there wasn't much exciting going on on board the Thousand Sunny. Chopper had withdrawn into the hospital room under the pretext of wanting to make more rumble balls. Usopp had inspected the ship for possible damage and was delighted to find that it was completely intact. Now he had climbed up to the crow's nest and was watching his surroundings to see if he might find a trace of Luffy, but no. Sighing, he wanted to get back down when he noticed a shadow that flew towards them, circled them for a while and then disappeared again in the same direction from which it had come. "What was that?" Asked the gunner himself.He pondered it feverishly. "It was probably just a seagull anyway.", He finally decided and started the descent to pay Chopper a visit and see what he was up to on his own.

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Zorro and Robin had followed the footprints from the beach into the deep and dense jungle and there was still no end of the trail in sight. The advance was extremely difficult and in places Zorro even had to help a little with his swords and cut up some undergrowth that was in the way. "I doubt our captain was here," Robin remarked after a while. She answered Zorro's questioning look. "The tracks are dead straight. Whoever made them knew where he was going. In addition, Luffy would have deviated from the straight line a long time ago to take a closer look at everything possible here." With a nod, Zorro agreed Robins too.
"I suggest we go on anyway," said Zorro. "Maybe Luffy was kidnapped, after all, it would be nothing new to get into such situations. Besides, we have nothing better to do anyway." Now Robin nodded in agreement and they went on. On the way he picked up a broken, forked branch, but after looking at it for a long time he found nothing unusual about it and therefore threw it away again.
"Look over there! There's a hut with smoke rising from its chimney!" Robin suddenly shouted. She excitedly pointed to a distant wooden house that looked more derelict than inhabited. But the smoking chimney proved otherwise. Immediately she ran towards it with a stumbling Zorro.

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Luffy slowly regained consciousness. Groaning and still with his eyes closed, he tried to feel his surroundings. He had to lie on something soft. It felt like a mattress, so he must have been lying in a bed.Had his friends found him and brought him back to the ship? Slowly he stretched an arm to one side and soon touched a wall that felt like it was made of wood. This also indicated a cabin on the Sunny. Finally he decided to open his eyes to finally have certainty. He had to get used to the sudden brightness first, which is why he hardly saw anything and had to blink. But what he could see was the outline of a figure bent over him and slowly reaching an arm to his face.