Alex was caught in the middle of a rapidly spinning whirlpool. The powerful tearing force of the current felt like it was going to rip his body apart, leaving him in unbearable pain.
To make matters worse, he was soaked in seawater, completely drained of strength. Against a whirlpool this fierce—something no human could fight—Alex was utterly helpless.
The only small consolation was that the whirlpool had kept him from sinking to the ocean floor. Instead, it spun him in dizzying circles, leaving him disoriented and nauseated.
Back on the fishing boat, Luffy was beside himself with anxiety. He had tried several times to stretch out his arms and grab Alex, but the latter was spinning too fast inside the vortex, making it impossible to catch him.
If this kept up, not only would Alex be doomed, but Luffy would go down with him. That much was clear to Luffy.
"Why is this happening? The weather was perfectly fine today. Who would've thought a massive whirlpool would show up on such a clear day—and even pull Alex into danger ? I'm totally shocked..."
Realizing he couldn't save Alex immediately, Luffy forced himself to stay calm. Rubbing his chin, he muttered to himself while trying to figure a way out of the crisis.
Damn it! Shocked your ass! If you hadn't tossed me into the ocean, I wouldn't be caught in this mess in the first place!
Spinning helplessly around the whirlpool, Alex gritted his teeth. Hearing Luffy's dramatic monologue made him want to slap the rubber idiot senseless. Seriously? Now's the time for philosophical whining? This guy's clueless to the extreme!
"Wish I could call for help, but there's no one around..."
Luffy looked around the empty sea. Not a soul in sight. He sighed helplessly. "If the boat sinks and we both die here... well, that's just how it is. Besides, I can't even swim."
When Alex heard that, he couldn't believe how casually Luffy was talking about dying. The guy was facing death with an insane level of calm. If I make it out of this alive, I'm framing the word 'respect' just for you, Alex thought sarcastically.
But as the whirlpool pulled him deeper, he accidentally swallowed a few mouthfuls of seawater. His discomfort grew, and now, he didn't even have the strength to yell.
Could it be... that because I went to sea with Luffy, I changed the original timeline of One Piece—and now both of us are destined to die here?
Just as that disturbing thought crept into Alex's mind, Luffy, who had been racking his brain on the fishing boat, suddenly lit up with inspiration.
"Wait... In a situation , maybe knowing how to swim doesn't matter at all!"
"Alex! Hang in there—we're getting out of this!"
As Luffy shouted, he stretched his arm and grabbed the massive treasure chest filled with gold, which had been sitting in the corner of the boat. Without hesitation, he dumped all the gold into the whirlpool.
Hearing this, Alex thought Luffy had actually come up with a solid plan and felt a glimmer of hope—until he was suddenly struck on the head. Hard.
It felt like something heavy had nailed him, almost knocking him out cold.
Then he realized the objects pummeling his skull were... glittering pieces of gold. And they looked awfully familiar.
What the hell?! Aren't these from the treasure chest on our boat?!
Wait... did Luffy just throw all the gold away—and it happened to land on my head?!
Unfortunately, Alex was right. Both he and Luffy had been sucked into the whirlpool, but since Alex's position was slightly lower in the current, Luffy's gold toss had very unfortunately landed squarely on Alex's head.
It didn't take a genius to understand what had happened—Luffy, the meat-obsessed lunatic, couldn't bear to part with their stash of food. He had chosen to sacrifice the gold just to save the meat. Classic foodie logic.
Fine, dump the gold—but why the hell on my head?!
Alex was now full of resentment. He felt like even beating Luffy to a pulp a hundred times wouldn't be enough to vent his anger.
But things were only getting worse.
"Gomu Gomu no... Rocket!"
After tossing the now-empty treasure chest into the sea, Luffy stretched his arms back and launched them forward like a slingshot—smashing the chest at full speed.
The empty chest flew like a missile straight toward Alex.
The chest slammed into the water right beside Alex with frightening accuracy. The impact stirred up just enough waves to eject Alex from the whirlpool.
Before he could even process what just happened, Luffy extended his arms again, caught Alex mid-air, and shoved him—yes, shoved him—into the empty treasure chest.
Inside the box, Alex's head repeatedly smacked against the hard lid.
Having already been battered by the whirlpool, slapped by treasure, and smashed by a rubber-powered attack, Alex felt like every bone in his body had been taken apart piece by piece.
He couldn't take it anymore. As the lid of the chest slammed shut, Alex finally passed out.
And just before he lost consciousness, one final, seething thought echoed in his head:
"I swear, I'm going to kill him." Get full chapters from novęlfire.net