272. Reunions

Cocoyashi Village, the place where Nami grew up and was conquered by Arlong Pirates. It's now a peaceful and happy place where the villagers live happily even though they are not wealthy. But it all suddenly changes when Nami returns.

They arrive in the village and as usual the villagers are welcoming them very nicely. Nami's sister, Nojiko has a teary reunion with Nami. An old man with big scars in his face even cries like a kid when he sees that Nami is fine.

When they have a good reunion, Jinbe suddenly walks up and kneels to the villagers. He apologizes to them for everything that Arlong Pirates had done here and says they can punish him in Arlong's place.

The villagers don't know what to do with this even though they still hold grudges and seem afraid of him as he is a Fishman like Arlong. But then they look at Nami and knows that Jinbe is nothing like Arlong. Both of them are Fishmen, but they are different and Jinbe shouldn't be responsible for something that someone else did.

The villagers them say that they won't punish or hate Jinbe because of Arlong. He is also Nami's friend and they trust in Nami's judgment. If she befriends him, then he must be a good person and they won't hurt Nami's friend.

They also know that it's wrong to blame and hate all Fishmen just because of Arlong. Jinbe is really glad that they don't hate Fishmen even after everything that had happened and he thanks them for it. The crew is happy seeing this resolved peacefully.

Then suddenly, out of the blue, Nami gives the old man 2 black cases, saying it's for the village. The old man is confused, but the Straw Hats have their jaws dropped to the ground. After all, they never expect Nami to give 200 million Belly to others.

The shock doesn't end there because when they go to Nami's & Nojiko's house, she gives another black case filled with 100 million cash and also a big box full of treasures to Nojiko. Nami giving away money and treasures is the wildest thing they've seen in their whole journey.

"H-hey, is she alright?"

"I don't know man, she looks fine from outside."

"She must be possessed."

"Or she is under the influence of some strange power like hypnosis. I just hope it isn't a drug."

"Maybe it's actually us who have a problem like being under an illusion or we are just dreaming."

"Yeah, that makes more sense than Nami giving money to others."

The crew is so shocked they start doubting their sanity. Nami obviously hears their conversation and it makes her pissed, so she knocks all of them.

"You should have woken up by now if this is a dream."

Now they get even more scared because this isn't a dream and Nami really gives away her money to others. This is something more historical than them finding One Piece. It's just too unbelievable, after all.

And it's actually not just them who think like that. The whole village also thinks the same when they find out that Nami the money lover is giving so much money to them. 200 million isn't a small amount and Nami just gives it to them as if she's giving some candies.

Anyway, they stay there for 2 weeks because Nami wants to take care of her family's orange garden. The crew explores Conomi Islands while they stay there. Also, Nami asks Franky to renovate her house and she surprisingly pays him.

She also asks Jon to demolish and rebuild the villagers houses with his Wood House Jutsu because their houses are worn out. Jon can build houses much faster than Franky, but the quality of the house he made is lower because Jon doesn't have much knowledge in carpentry like Franky.

The only advantage of his jutsu is he can build houses in a short time and the wood made of his jutsu is durable. But he lacks the basic fundamentals and artistry. That's why even Franky uses the wood made of Jon's jutsu to rebuild Nami's house.

Just like with Franky, Nami also pays Jon for the work he does. The whole time they stay in Cocoyashi Village is the most shocking time in their entire journey. Nami giving away money and even paying people fairly is crazier than Luffy being the Pirate King.

But this craziness finally ends as they finally leave Cocoyashi Village after 2 weeks. Now they are going to Shimotsuki Village where Zoro grew and trained his basic swordsmanship. Jon has been here before when he was in the Revolutionary Army, so there isn't much surprise for him here.

When Zoro visits the dojo though, he suddenly gets swarmed by kids. They are idolizing him and want to be a powerful swordsman like him. Some of them even imitate his 3-sword style, but they are really bad with it.

Zoro then has a long talk with Kuina's dad when they visit Kuina's grave. The other crew members just go around Shimotsuki village. They already know Shimotsuki family's comnection with Wano, so they aren't that curious about the family and just curious with the village.

There aren't that many things they can do in the village and Zoro also wants to leave quickly. He only wants to remind himself of his goal to be the Strongest Swordsman by coming here. So he doesn't want to stay for too long.

After leaving Shimotsuki Village, the crew starts exploring East Blue. May as well do it while they are here because it will be a hassle to return for an exploration in the future. Besides, they can go around the whole sea at a high speed with their ship's speed.

But it still takes them 6 months to finish exploring East Blue. The Blue seas are actually wider than Grandline even though they aren't as dangerous. There are many more places to visit too, that's why it takes a while to visit all those places.

The Straw Hat Pirates finally leave East Blue and return to Grandline through Reverse Mountain. It's finally time for Brook to fulfill his promise with Laboon. He is very excited to see the giant whale after so many years.

They arrive at the Twin Cape and the members from Easy Blue are relieved to not see the whale blocking the entrance to Grandline. So they go to find the old man Crocus at the light tower. They find him sleeping on the beach chair with a newspaper covering his face.

They wake him up and he is very surprised to see them. But he's the most surprised to see Brook. Crocus has speculated that Brook is the Brook he knew and now he finally can confirm it. It makes him very happy because finding Brook's crew was his reason for joining Roger Pirates in the past.

"I'm very glad that at least you are still alive, Brook."

Crocus & Brook are hugging while crying. Then Crocus goes to the shore and calls Laboon. A while later, a giant whale with badly-drawn Straw Hat Pirates jolly roger on its head shows up. Laboon looks at the Straw Hats and cries happily because he can see them again.

Brook silently cries on the side as he finally can see Laboon again after so many years. But as everyone thought, Laboon doesn't recognize Brook. Well, no one who knew him as a human will recognize him as a skeleton if they don't know what happened to him.

Even after Brook calls Laboon's name and explains who he is, Laboon still doesn't recognize him even though Laboon thinks his afro hair is familiar. So as planned, Brook starts playing the music his previous crew always played for Laboon.

As everyone thought, Laboon remembers the song and Brook's voice. The whale finally knows who Brook is and tears start coming out of its eyes. Then it starts crying and singing while dancing happily because the one it had been waiting for for years has finally come as promised.