It was as if they were in front of another mountain, except this one was blue. But they knew it wasn't a mountain. No mountain would ever just emerge from the sea, so this could only be a whale. A whale so big that people could mistake it for a mountain.
"So many magical creatures exist in this world. This must be one of the biggest," said Lucien as he simply couldn't imagine another creature that large. Just swimming to the surface had sent their boat quite a distance back.
"Alright, let's get going. We can't keep staying here, who knows what might happen next. Let's go around it, we should be able to squeeze by," said Lucien as he turned back to Idris and Law, who were still staring at the giant whale.
Even his shout did nothing as the two just continued to stare, their eyes growing wider and wider, almost popping out of their sockets. Before Lucien could remind them again, their entire boat was covered in shadow.
He looked up to see sharp white teeth coming straight at them as the whale sucked the boat towards its stomach. Lucien could only squat down before launching himself straight up, coating his arm with Armament Haki and punching the roof of the whale's mouth, stopping it from closing shut.
It seemed to pain the whale as it let out an eardrum-shattering screech. The three of them covered their ears as they were pulled into the dark stomach of the giant creature. Landing back on the ship, Lucien grabbed Law with one hand and held onto the mast with the other.
The darkness went on for a while until they found themselves floating on a sea, a green sea, and all three looked up to see open sky directly above them. Law tugged at Lucien's coat and asked to be pinched.
Lucien raised his hand and slapped him on the back of the head instead, sending him tumbling right to the edge of the ship. Catching the absolute edge of the railing, Law slowly pulled himself back from near death and stared down at the green sea beneath their ship.
"Didn't we just get swallowed by a whale? I am sure we did. Where are we? Is this a hallucination?" murmured Law as he created a bubble around himself and tried to search for any drugs that could have entered his system.
"Well, we'll know where we are if we go there," said Lucien as he pointed towards an island in the near distance with a house sitting on top of it. It could not even be called an island. The space was just enough to fit the small house.
"There's a house?" murmured Idris as he slowly steered the boat towards it, but there was no wind in the place, and in the end they had to row to the island. Just as they reached it, the front door opened and a man with a large flower growing out of his bald head walked out with swagger.
He glanced at them with an intense stare before moving to the side, lying down on his resting chair and taking a nap. He completely ignored the large ship and the three of them.
As soon as they were close enough, Lucien jumped onto the island and walked up to the man before asking, "Are we still inside the large whale?"
The old man opened his eyes and looked up at Lucien for a long moment before saying, "It's quite rude to ask someone a question without properly introducing yourself first. Coming to my private resort and disturbing me like this, and on top of that asking a dumb question."
"Oh. My name is Lucien."
"I am Crocus," said both of them at the same time, before Crocus continued on his own.
"I am the lighthouse keeper at the Twin Cape lighthouse. I am 56 years old and a Gemini. My blood type is AB."
Lucien didn't interrupt him and just let him continue with a smile. Crocus went on, "You asked me a question when you already knew the answer. Isn't that a bit dumb? You were after all just eaten by Laboon. If not for his stomach, where else would you be?"
"Oh, so the guy we met out there has a name. Laboon, huh. And did you paint all of this? The sky, the clouds, even those seagulls over there. It must have taken quite some time," commented Lucien as he looked around. Something had felt off about it all, and after taking a long careful look, he finally understood why.
"Oh, you have quite the eye, young man. Call it a doctor's playful mindset." But just as he finished his sentence, everything around them started to move. The waves became erratic and sounds began closing in from all directions.
"What's happening?" asked Lucien as he watched the man stand up and turn serious.
"Laboon has started hitting his head against the Red Line," said Crocus.
"Lucien, we need to get out of here fast. We are sitting in gastric acid. Our ship isn't protected like the one he's standing on. It would get destroyed just from staying here," shouted Idris as he noticed the iron coating beneath the island Lucien was standing on.
"Boy, you look fit. If you want this rattling to stop quickly, take me to the ladder over there. I am sure you are strong enough to hold me," said Crocus as he pointed at the large iron doors ahead of them and the ladder beside it.
Lucien nodded, took Crocus by the hand, and launched himself with full strength towards the door, catching one of the ladder rungs.
"I have to say, you are quite a heavy old man. Any heavier and both of us would have fallen into the gastric acid and died."
"Oh, it isn't dangerous to fall in for a short while. I was simply curious whether that large build of yours could actually hold me," replied Crocus as both of them climbed to the top of the ladder.
Lucien found all of it remarkable. Metal structures built inside a whale. He couldn't even tell at this point whether this was actually a living creature or some kind of enormous machine. He followed Crocus into a room filled with barrels and a large syringe.
"Alright, help me load a barrel into the syringe. Time for old Laboon's medicine," said Crocus. The two of them loaded a barrel's worth and Crocus injected it into Laboon. The thrashing and noise faded, and everything became peaceful.