The First Line of Defense? The Giant Whale Laboon Appears!

As the Straw Hats ride down Reverse Mountain into the Grand Line, a huge whale appears in front of them. With the helm still broken, they are about to crash into it, but Luffy fires a cannon, sufficiently slowing the ship, just breaking Luffy's beloved seat, the ship's sheep figurehead. Infuriated, Luffy punches the whale directly in the eye. The whale swallows the Straw Hats and their ship. Only Luffy falls overboard and gets on the whale. The whale submerges. In the last second, Luffy notices a door on top of the whale. While Luffy winds up in some sort of passageway, his crew finds itself in front of a small island in the middle of green waters, with a clear blue-sky overhead. There they encounter Crocus, the whale's caretaker, who painted the inside of its stomach to look like the sky. Suddenly everything starts to shake as Laboon—which is the name of the whale—rams its head against the Red Line. Crocus leaves to give Laboon a sedative. Meanwhile, Luffy and two individuals, crash into the whale's stomach. As Crocus returns, they shot two cannonballs from their bazookas, to rip a hole in the whale's stomach, but Crocus takes the cannonballs with his own body. Then Luffy knocks them both out. Leading the Straw Hats out of the whale, Crocus explains that Laboon is a whale with a heart like a person, who has been waiting for a certain group of pirates for fifty years.