Chapter Text
“There’s the castle up ahead, Captain!”
Luffy squinted his eyes and popped his head out of the cocoon he’d formed with his coat to peek ahead at what Usopp pointed at. He burst into laughter as soon as he saw it. “It’s flexing at us!” The roof of the palace morphed into a giant statue at the top that imitated its stern faced ruler.
King Elizabello II’s castle was one of the strangest yet most entertaining ones he’d ever seen. And Luffy had seen his fair share of castles. Being a dragon rider meant that he got the joys of traveling around a lot. He supposed he could settle down if he wanted to, but why would he? He and his crew loved being in the sky, sailing above the rest of the world and reaching new heights. Flying was the best.
Except maybe when it was raining. Which it was. Heavily.
It hadn’t taken long after they crossed the border for the rain to start up, and none of them had been pleased to see it. His dragon Leon almost turned around when he noticed it, and Luffy had to bribe him with a full rub down to get him to keep going. They had a job to do after all, and loathe as he was to continue through the downpour, they needed to finish it.
Besides, they’d all be happy to have a roof over their heads for the night. Even Leon, once he got done pouting over the state of his fur.
They were visiting the Prodence Kingdom on behalf of another king, Riku Doldo III of Dressrosa. They were giving his granddaughter Rebecca a lift, and transporting some supplies for him as well. Mostly local exports that couldn’t be found in other places that he wanted to send to the other king as a sign of their ongoing friendship.
There was another reason for them passing through however, and that was the Summit meeting that was to take place in two days' time. It was being held in Sabaody that year, and Prodence made a good rest stop.
“Oh, Leon, please fly as fast as you can to get us there,” Nami groaned loudly from her spot huddled against Robin and Rebecca.
Leon grunted, the sound sending a faint reverberation through the wide saddle that they rode on. Probably wanted to save his breath for flying. His wings pumped faster, and they put on a burst of speed towards the castle. The wind and the rain pelted them hard, but they held strong. They’d been in worse weather before, in even worse conditions. They could suck it up and deal with it for a little longer if it meant getting to shelter sooner.
“ Unidentified Rider, this is Prodence Command- what is your call sign? ” the den den mushi stuck to the saddle by Luffy squeaked out.
He leaned down to yell at it exuberantly, “This is Thousand Sunny, escorting Princess Rebecca of Dressrosa. We’re coming in hot for landing!”
Already he could barely make out the little specks of people rushing around the courtyard, preparing for their arrival. They had sent word ahead as soon as King Riku asked them, but it was tough predicting the correct time of their arrival. Particularly with such touchy weather.
Luffy let out a loud whoop that was lost in the roar of the wind as they swooped toward the castle’s courtyard.
Servants scrambled out of the way of Leon’s massive frame, although he landed with such grace it made them look comical to dive away. There were two other dragons and their crews unloading as well. Even some more people that looked like they were part of other crews, although no more dragons were in sight. Looked like the Straw Hats weren’t the only ones making a pit stop there before heading to the Summit.
Both dragons were considerably smaller than Leon, but that was hardly unusual. He was in the larger class range, so he was often towering over others of his own kind. He took up almost a tenth of the sizeable courtyard as it was. And he was still growing! Maybe someday he’d take up the whole courtyard.
Well, okay, based on the typical size of his species, probably not. But it was cool to imagine.
Luffy didn’t recognize either of the dragons or their crews, but that was hardly unusual either. Since the Summit was open to all Riders, there were always new faces. New Riders were always popping up, as well as Riders who simply hadn’t bothered going before. Hell, Luffy didn’t go back when he still rode Merry, and it was only because he’d gotten so involved with certain kingdoms and the World Government that he went with Leon.
“Man, I can’t wait to take a nice, hot bath,” Usopp sighed, stretching out his limbs as he unbuckled his harness from the saddle.
Luffy followed suit, but he scrunched his nose up at the thought of a bath. He didn’t particularly care for them, but he could use a good drying off. Maybe he could just set himself up with a blazing fireplace and call it a night.
As if he knew exactly what he was thinking, Leon turned his great head around to glare at him. “Don’t forget, you promised to rub me down properly,” he rumbled out.
He sighed. “Yeah, yeah, I did. Don’t worry, I’ll do it.”
Leon let out a disgruntled huff, smoke billowing from his nostrils. He was in a touchy mood because of the rain and some lingering aches from a run in they had with a wild dragon last week. The spot about five feet up from the tip of his tail was especially sensitive from the other dragon sinking her teeth into it.
Really, he’d been a real pill lately, but Luffy couldn’t blame him much. It was hard to stay mad at his dragon for anything, much less an injury.
“Thanks again for the ride, Captain Luffy,” Rebecca said, lowering her head in the slightest bow. “I’ve never ridden such a long time before, and even with the rain at the end, it was exhilarating. Leon really is amazing.” Her eyes sparkled as she smiled at Leon, and the dragon puffed out his chest a bit at the praise.
“No problem, Rebecca. We’re always glad to help a friend out, aren’t we?” He gave Leon a few hardy pats on his foreleg. Leon dipped his head once and then went back to staring imperiously over the rest of the courtyard.
Dragons. Such funny, proud things.
The rest of his crew were busy unloading cargo and unsaddling Leon while the he and Rebecca talked some more. He would have normally helped them, but he was still waiting for someone to come officially welcome them to the castle. Protocol and all that nonsense. Sadly, as Captain, that meant the duty of sorting their lodging usually fell to him. Nami or Robin would have been perfectly happy to do it instead, but officials were tricky. A lot of them made a big fuss about having to speak with the captain to approve anything. It was easier just to let Luffy handle it instead of trying to convince the officials otherwise.
As he mused over this, he spotted someone in ostentatious red robes approaching with a gaggle of other servants. He looked like the type of person who always looked vaguely stressed. Luffy pulled away from Rebecca to meet the man halfway.
“Captain Luffy, we’re honored by your presence,” he said, bowing stiffly at the waist. The other Riders and their crews stopped to stare and whisper among themselves. “Thank you for delivering the princess to us safely. We will tell King Riku of the excellence of your service.”
Luffy rolled his eyes. “Uh huh. So where are you sticking us?”
He peered at the mountain face that rose at the far end to create one wall of the courtyard. Various caves and indents peppered its uneven surface. Even through the rain he could see how massive some of the holes were. No doubt that was where the dragons would be staying. It could have been the rain, but he thought he saw a flicker of movement in one of the larger caves. Normally the idea of seeing more dragons was a joy, but with Leon’s prickly attitude of late, he worried that it could cause….disturbances.
Maybe they’d luck out and Leon wouldn’t have to talk to anyone besides the crew. That would be safe enough. Probably. Maybe. If they could just get out of the rain, give him a good cleaning, and stick him in one of those big caves before anyone had the chance to annoy him then maybe everything would be fine.
Yeah, that was a good plan. He waved Zoro over with the intention of sharing his fantastic plan with his first mate, but of course, that was when disaster struck.
Someone from another crew rushed by with a box of who knew what, and he slipped, sending the box straight into Leon. Franky and Usopp both dove to intercept it, but ended up smacking into each other instead and missing the box.
And because their luck was apparently just that shitty that day, it hit right on the tender spot of Leon’s tail.
The resulting snarl had everyone in the courtyard cowering in fright, and there were more than a few terrified screams as Leon’s teeth snapped threateningly at the man who had carried the box. The official looked like he was about to faint, and some of his junior assistants were openly weeping as they clung to him.
Luffy felt bad for them, he really did, but he also sort of thought they were going to need to grow stronger spines if they planned on working long term in a royal court. It was no secret that sovereignties often worked with dragons and their riders, or that said dragons could have volatile tempers.
That being said, he still couldn’t let Leon actually bite someone’s head off right now. Imagine the uproar at the Summit.
“Hey!” he shouted, running back to his great furry pain in the ass’s side.
He was about to yell something about not biting and calming down, but everything else in the courtyard was quickly drowned out by a deafening roar. He swore the ground shook with the force of it.
More screaming and crying broke out when a gigantic shadow hurled itself down from the mountain to perch menacingly on the castle’s roof. And he meant the whole roof. Well, like one whole wing of it anyway. He sure hoped Elizabello’s ceilings were well enforced.
That dragon made Leon look almost shrimpy in comparison.
It glared down at them, eyes landing on the man who had dropped the box as a pair of crew members in matching boiler suits scrambled to haul him away from Leon. It let out another ear shattering roar, and Leon answered in kind. Because, you know, why admit that this was all a simple misunderstanding instead of starting a fight for no reason?
Luffy was no stranger to starting dumb fights, but for once he agreed with Nami- now really wasn’t the time for this.
Leon was already hurt, so getting more injuries was a downright terrible idea.
Merry wouldn’t have put them through this nonsense. Of course, Merry had been a lot sweeter and slower to anger than Leon. Not that Leon wasn’t normally sweet either. He just expressed it differently than she had. Plus, he was kind of an asshole when he wanted to be. Luffy said this with love.
Luffy finally made it back to Leon’s side and started yelling at him to cut it out or he wouldn’t get his rub down. Unfortunately, his dumb dragon wasn’t paying any attention to him and continued his face off with the newcomer. The rest of the Straw Hats were either trying to help calm him down or assisting the poor bystanders with evacuating the court yard. The crew wearing boiler suits were all trying to get the other dragon’s attention, but it paid them as much mind as Leon did the Straw Hats.
Dragons really were too proud sometimes.
The other dragon leapt down from the roof into the courtyard, rooftiles crashing to the ground where they’d been scraped off by its claws.
Up close, he could see that its scales were black as night, with a red and white fin cresting its spine, and wings to match. It looked familiar. It really was a magnificent creature, but he wished it had stayed in its damn cave.
Its crew rushed to its side, pounding at its legs and shouting at it to calm down. No such luck. Leon barreled straight past the Straw Hats and let out another loud growl, white hot flames licking at the edges of his teeth.
The other one flared open its wings and reared back, opening its maw to reveal rows of pointed teeth almost as long as Luffy’s arm. Red sparks flickered in its mouth, and a high keening noise rang through the air. An extra bad sign. This other dragon breathed something other than fire. The crew at its feet were pleading with it frantically now.
Dragon fights were always dangerous. Fights between ones with Riders were even worse. Luffy prepared himself for a huge headache. He just hoped neither of them would get injured too badly. Also, if they could keep the property damage to a minimum, that would be cool too.
He shielded his face when Leon’s fire billowed out. The other dragon threw itself protectively over its crew and returned his fire with a blast of pure lightning.
The collision threw him straight off his feet, and he landed twenty feet away from where he’d previously been standing. His ears rang, his skin stung, and he had to roll to put out the fire that had caught on his shorts. Anyone who had stuck around in the courtyard immediately decided it was high time to get the hell out of there. Even the Straw Hats and the other crew stumbled to safer ground. Better not to get in the way. If any of them got injured and the dragons noticed, it would only add fuel to the flames.
The one mercy was that both dragons would need some time to recharge before letting out another blast. The downside was that this sadly didn’t mean they couldn’t try and tear each other apart with claws or teeth instead.
They prowled around the charred courtyard, teeth bared and hackles raised.
Leon looked slightly more wary now that the fight had begun. Regretting his rash behavior hopefully. Maybe if the other dragon backed off, they could all forget this ever happened.
Unlikely, judging by the swarms of guards that flooded the hallways that surrounded the courtyard. They wisely kept inside the roofed walkways. They were probably more there to make people feel better than to actually confront the dragons. Even now, they left plenty of space around the two smaller dragons that had squeezed into the corners of the courtyard.
Still, maybe there was a chance.
Luffy pushed his beloved hat into Usopp’s hands, told him to keep it safe, and ran back towards Leon. His crew’s protests were drowned out by the snarl the dragons let out at the sight of him.
“Don’t growl at me, Leon, you great big dummy!” he yelled, sprinting to his side. “Quit fighting, so we can all go to bed already! It was an accident, and you know it!”
He punctuated his statement by punching him in the leg, although it would hardly be more than a nuisance to the dragon.
Leon let out another warning growl in answer, but his hackles started to lower just a bit. They promptly raised again when the other dragon shifted, and he snarled at the movement. Flames began to sprout in his mouth once more, and Luffy shouted incoherently as he tried to climb up his leg. Maybe if he climbed all the way up to his head, he could shut his mouth.
Not a good plan, but it was the only one he had.
That high keening began again, and Luffy scrambled to Leon’s shoulders, clinging for dear life at his mane. He really didn’t want to get thrown off Leon’s back by another one of those blasts.
“ ACHILLES!”
He peeked around Leon’s neck just in time to see a metal crutch hit the other dragon’s face.
The keening stopped, and the dragon shrank back, looking concerned. It let out a low whine as it quickly slunk over to the opposite end of the courtyard Luffy had run from, towards a tall man that limped along with another crutch, a furious expression on his face.
“Law, what are you doing up? You’re supposed to be resting- you’re not well!” it said plaintively, voice as deep and rolling as thunder. It hovered over its rider protectively, reaching out to scoop him up.
The guy did look awfully pale, though it was kind of hard to see properly through the still pouring rain. When he saw the white patches and black tattoos spread across his skin, he realized who he was, and who the dragon must be.
Trafalgar Law- or Torao, as Luffy liked to call him. Fellow Rider, and fellow member of the Worst Generation- according to the World Government. Also, incidentally, the man that had saved Luffy’s life two years ago at the battle of Marineford.
“How am I supposed to fucking rest when you’re causing such a ruckus?” Torao snapped, smacking him on the nose with his remaining crutch.
Achilles looked contrite at that. If the day hadn’t been so stressful, Luffy would have laughed. The sight of a massive dragon being scolded by someone whose head was smaller than his eyeball was hilarious. “Sorry,” he muttered. “You really shouldn’t be up though. Especially not with your leg like that!” he scolded, cradling him against his chest.
“Gee, thanks. I really needed you to tell me that. Again, what the hell else were you expecting me to do when you come careening off the mountain to terrorize the castle? You can’t lecture me about my health when you’re the whole reason I came out here! Now put me down before I hurl all over you.”
He whacked Achilles on the nose again, making him grumble as he carefully set him back on his feet. Their crew rushed forward to help steady him, and Luffy took the chance to slide off Leon.
Achilles let out another low whine, head sinking to the ground so that he was on eye level with his Rider. “I don’t like being so far apart from you. What if something happens?”
“I’ll be fine, you worrywart,” he replied, brushing off a crewmate’s attempts to lead him back inside. “This is hardly the first time we’ve had to spend the night apart. We’ve been together for years- you’ve got to get used to it eventually.” The words were said with fond exasperation, and he finally stopped hitting him with his crutch to rub his snout affectionately. “But if you really hate it that much, I’ll stay with you up in that nook.”
“But Captain, you’re sick!” one of his men protested.
Torao rolled his eyes and took back the crutch that another one proffered. “I’m not that sick. I’ll be fine, Shachi.”
Shachi and the rest of his crew continued to fret anyway. There was a fluffy white mink that Luffy recognized but couldn’t remember the name of, and he began issuing instructions for them all to gather up supplies. Evidently, their solution was to take the whole crew up the mountain to monitor the pair better.
Luffy turned away from the scene and whacked Leon on the leg to get his attention. “Hey, you better apologize too. This is kind of your fault, you know.”
Leon turned his nose up, a disgruntled little growl rumbling from his chest. The noise drew the focus of Achilles and Torao, the former narrowing his eyes dangerously at him. Fortunately, he seemed more inclined to obey Torao than the rest of the crew and didn’t start anything again.
Stretching his arm to reach Leon’s ear, he gave it a hard tug and ignored the warning growl he got in return. “I mean it!”
Because he was petty, Leon squished him beneath a massive paw in retribution. But he did apologize over Luffy’s muffled complaints, so at least there was that. “I’m sorry,” he said sincerely. “I let my temper get the best of me. Please accept my apology.”
Torao tapped Achille’s foot with one of his crutches and gave him a meaningful look. Achilles looked like he wanted to follow in Leon’s footsteps and smother his rider with one of his own feet, but Torao’s current condition stopped him.
“I overreacted as well. The fault lies with both of us. You have my apology as well,” he replied.
Luffy managed to squirm out from under Leon’s paw and bounced back to his feet. “Great! Glad that’s settled. Hey, Torao! You guys headed to the Summit too?” He bounded over to the other captain’s side. He hadn’t seen him since he got patched up on Amazon Lily after Marineford, but he couldn’t help liking Torao. What could he say? A man saves your life, and it endears him to you.
“Yeah. I’ve heard rumors that something big is supposed to be decided. Apparently, most of the Shichibukai are coming this year. Kuma threatened to send me there by force if I didn’t go,” Torao grumbled.
“Really? Huh. That’s weird.” Attendance was hardly mandatory, even if you were a Shichibukai like Torao.
“Luffy, I told you that like a hundred times,” Nami sighed, coming up behind him. She had her raincoat clutched tight around her, but shivered up a storm. “Don’t you listen to anything I say?”
“Sure. When it’s important.”
She got this look on her face like she was restraining herself from pummeling him. “Unbelievable,” she muttered. “Fine. Whatever. Will you please just go talk to that official, so we can finally get our lodgings settled?”
Oh, right. He totally forgot about that. But he wasn’t done talking to Torao yet. Hmm.
“HEY, TALK TO MY NAVIGATOR ABOUT OUR ROOMS!” he yelled across the courtyard to the nervous looking official, pointing at Nami. He turned back to her and grinned. “There!”
Her eye twitched, but she stalked off to go speak with the official.
Torao raised an eyebrow as he watched them. “That’s one way to handle that, I guess. He might just give you our rooms instead, since we’re joining Achilles now.”
“Sounds fun! I think if I tried that with my crew, Nami would kill me though.” He frowned after her, scratching at the side of his nose. “You gonna be okay if you’re sick?”
He gave Luffy a withering look. “I’m fine. I’m not that fragile.”
“If you say so. What happened to your leg?”
“Just a little run in with another captain.” He said it so casually, but Achilles let out a low rumble that made the ground vibrate gently beneath their feet. Torao glared up at him. “It was nothing.”
Achilles sniffed haughtily. “You say that, but if I see him at the Summit, I’m biting off his head.”
Torao pinched the bridge of his nose and mumbled something uncharitable under his breath that Luffy couldn’t quite make out. He was pretty sure he heard the words “stupid”, “dragon”, and “redheaded asshole”.
“Just ignore him,” he told Luffy. It was pretty hard to ignore a giant dragon that could swallow him whole, but okay.
“Yo, Luffy!” Zoro shouted. “You coming with us, or are you going with Leon?”
Leon lay on the ground, but his ears perked up at hearing his name. He turned his head in Luffy’s direction and gave him his best baby dragon look. Clearly, he still remembered Luffy’s promise for a rub down, but was unsure if he’d still get one after his little spat with Achilles.
Luffy sighed and shook his head a little. “I’ll go with Leon,” he called back. His big furry menace thumped the ground happily with his tail.
“Captain, we’re ready to head up now,” Torao’s crewmate said with an apologetic glance at Luffy.
Boy, that was fast. Torao’s crew was twice the size of Luffy’s, but that was still a lot of work to get everything packed up and a dragon saddled- all while it was still pouring cats and dogs.
“Thanks, Penguin. Nice talking to you, Straw Hat-ya. I’ll see you later, I suppose.” Torao nodded goodbye and let Achilles carefully pick him up and place him in the saddle on his back.
Luffy had to run back to Leon’s side to give the larger dragon space to lift off. Well, he guessed he could have stayed put, but the downdraft from Achilles’ wings would have flattened him like a pancake. Much more preferrable to take shelter under Leon’s frame instead.
Leon curled around him protectively until Achilles was high enough that his wingbeats didn’t hit the courtyard anymore. Luffy scratched under his chin in thanks, and he purred in appreciation.
“Alright, buddy. We should head up too. Let me just get your brush, and we can pick out a nice cave for you to sleep in.”
As Torao suspected, they did see each other again. The very next day, in fact. Luffy had been half worried that the Heart Pirates would leave in the middle of the night without Luffy getting to talk to Torao again. That would have been a bummer, even if they had the chance to see each other at the Summit.
The weather was much better that day though. No rain in sight. Just blue sky and fluffy white clouds and sunshine.
Luffy spent the night with Leon in the cave because he didn’t feel like going back down after brushing him. There was more than enough room for him in the cave, and Leon gave off plenty of heat to keep him from freezing to death, even after getting soaked in the rain. Granted, he smelled like wet cat, but there were worse things.
Leon dropped him off in the courtyard before flying off to find his own breakfast. He couldn’t remember where to find his crew, but fortunately there was a servant nearby that gave him directions.
He was barely in the room before Nami shoved him towards the bathroom with orders to shower. According to her, smelling like wet cat was a much greater offense than she could put up with. She said if he didn’t come out of the bathroom smelling like a nice, clean human being that used the strawberry shampoo she gave him, she was going to chain him to the sink, and he would miss breakfast.
Obviously, he would die if that happened, so he cleaned himself as quickly and thoroughly as he could. Thank the gods he passed muster, and she let him come with them to get food. He was starving.
They ate breakfast at the edge of the courtyard along with Leon, who munched away on a boar that he’d caught.
The servants must have tried to clean up some time last night or that morning. The broken roof tiles were gone, all that was left of the dragon’s quarrel were clumps of upturned grass and dirt from claws, and the sizeable patch of charred earth where they’d tried to incinerate each other.
It looked like some of the other crews there had the same idea as the Straw Hats, and each one had a little pocket of the courtyard to eat with their dragons. Even Achilles was down there with the Heart Pirates, although everyone else besides the Straw Hats gave him a wide berth. Whether they were afraid he’d attack them or if they were just concerned about getting smushed by accident, he wasn’t sure. both were possible. One time Leon broke Zoro’s arm when he sat down without looking.
“Morning, Torao! Hi, Achilles!” He plopped himself on the grass right beside the other captain and tucked in to his breakfast. He was glad that Elizabello knew the Straw Hats already- the king had warned his kitchen staff ahead of time just how much Luffy could eat, so there was plenty to go around. He piled his plate high with eggs and bacon and sausage and fresh baked bread, and it was heavenly.
The Heart Pirates gave him and his crew funny looks for joining them, and eyed Leon nervously when he dropped onto his belly right across from Achilles, but none of them said anything about it.
Achilles and Torao didn’t seem to mind. The dragon was folded up neatly into his section of the courtyard, picking at the remains of what looked like a couple of deer, and barely spared them a glance. “Morning to you too,” was all Torao said.
“You guys heading to the Summit today or tomorrow?” Zoro asked. He took a sausage off his plate and lobbed it high in the air for Leon to catch in his mouth.
“We’re leaving as soon as we’re finished eating,” Torao said. Instantly, his crew let out a litany of complaints for why they still thought it was a bad idea.
“Still sick?” Luffy asked through a mouthful of scrambled eggs. He must have been. The only things Torao had was a bowl of half-eaten oatmeal, a bowl of untouched fruit, and a mug of steaming tea. Those were classic sick people foods in his opinion. He didn’t even have any fun toppings in his oatmeal.
Torao didn’t answer, but the unhappy looks on his crew’s faces was enough.
Achilles nudged his colossal snout against Torao’s side and opened his mouth wide for his Rider to toss in a handful of fruit. He let out a pleased little purr that Luffy could feel through the ground. Usopp ever so surreptitiously inched away from the dragon when he saw how easily he could fit inside Achilles’ mouth.
Luffy turned to Leon and pointed at some of the neatly cut fruit on Robin’s plate. “Did you want some?”
He scrunched his nose up, entirely disgusted at the suggestion. “Fruit’s gross. Meat is much better. I’d rather have more of that sausage.”
Luffy laughed, grabbing a couple links off his plate and throwing them in the air for him. “You’re right- meat’s the best!”
“Must be the lion in you,” Franky said with a grin as he patted Leon’s paw.
“I am not a lion.”
“Yeah, but you look like one,” Zoro pointed out, and Leon glared at him. He was awfully touchy about it, and Luffy wasn’t sure why other than dragon pride. It’s not like it wasn’t true. His dragon looked like a giant lion with an elongated neck and tail, with a pair of feathery wings slapped on his back. In a good way.
Dragons came in all sorts of shapes and sizes, so honestly, he could have looked far stranger. Merry had looked like a weird combination of a sheep crossed with a snake’s tubular body, sharp teeth, and clawed feet instead of hooves. She got much funnier looks than he ever did.
“Lions are tiny, and they don’t have wings like mine,” Leon sniffed.
“You were tiny when you first hatched,” Luffy said. “With itty bitty baby wings. I definitely thought you were a lion at first.”
Leon gave him an incredibly dirty look while Torao chuckled softly. “You thought a lion just hatched out of an egg?”
He shrugged. “I dunno. Weird stuff happens all the time.”
“I’m not a lion!” Leon huffed, the fur on his spine sticking straight up in indignation.
Robin sprouted a line of arms along his back and petted his fur down. “There, there. We know. But there’s nothing wrong with looking similar with them. They are very regal creatures,” she said placatingly.
“I mean, you are named Leon. It’s only one letter away from lion.” Leon swatted Zoro with his tail, toppling the swordsman over into Jinbei’s lap while everyone laughed.
Achilles snickered into his hand, and Torao shot him a wry smile. “I wouldn’t get a big head if I were you. I named you after a fish.”
Achilles let out a scandalized gasp, and Leon roared with ground shaking laughter that had the rest of the courtyard scrambling to stay upright. He wondered if the guards would come running again, or if they were familiar enough with dragons to recognize laughter when they heard it.
“What?! Tell me it’s not true. You made that up just now!” Achilles moved so his eye was right beside Torao’s face.
He patted him consolingly on his scaled cheek. “Why do you think our call sign is Polar Tang? I found your egg on a cold, snowy mountain, and you reminded me of an Achilles tang when you hatched. Simple as that.” He downed the rest of his tea and ignored his dragon’s piteous whining.
“Quit laughing, you- you oversized cat!” Achilles snapped half-heartedly. Leon’s laughter cut off so he could once again defend himself against the indignity of being compared to a lion, their loud bickering filling the courtyard. They weren’t actually angry or in danger of trading blows, so Luffy let them be.
Penguin took Torao’s dishes and bent close to talk quietly with his captain. “Is there another reason you’re so eager to get out of here? The Summit’s not til tomorrow, and it should only take a few hours to fly there. We have time to let you rest more. And none of us want to push you too hard right now.”
Torao pursed his lips as he glanced up at Achilles. “Kidd said he was going to the Summit too. You know as well as I do that he’ll be stopping here before getting to Sabaody, since we came from the same direction. That one,” he said, pointing his thumb at his dragon, “has already made it clear how he feels about seeing him again. We’ve already caused enough grief with last night’s little disagreement. Can you imagine what would happen if he and Victoria were at each other’s throats here?”
He must have, because Penguin turned white as a ghost and immediately started rounding up the rest of the crew to leave.
Victoria and Kidd…. He felt like he should know those names. They sounded kind of familiar. He turned to his friends and was rewarded when it turned out that Sanji had been listening in. He also knew what Luffy wanted to ask without him saying anything, so that was even more helpful.
“Kidd is that redhead guy you call Jaggy. Victoria is his dragon. The one that looks like bones,” he said.
Oh, them. Huh. He guessed that would be bad. They were definitely the fighting type, regardless of who their opponent was. Honestly, it wouldn’t have been surprising, except Torao and Achilles didn’t seem nearly as confrontational. Last night notwithstanding.
“Did you and Jaggy get in a fight or something?”
Torao picked up his crutches and pulled himself to his feet. “Or something.” He whistled sharply to get Achilles’ attention and gestured at their crew, who patiently waited to embark. “See you at the Summit, Straw Hat-ya.”
“See you there, Torao!”
Leon spread his wings over the Straw Hats while Achilles leapt into the sky, his powerful wingbeats pulsing through the air steadily. Luffy swung up onto Leon’s head as soon as he removed his wings, watching until the Heart Pirates were nothing more than a speck in the distance.