Sanji, Zoro, and Luffy walked onto the sea horse with the rest of Guts group. They got a few odd looks from the sailors because of how odd they looked but since they had seen much stranger they ignored it for the most part. Isidro walked with them and Farnese walked behind them with Casca. Schierke walked off on her own underneath the deck.
"Nice ship." Sanji said tapping the deck with his foot. "You called it the Sea horse?"
"Not just nice it's the best damn ship on the high seas." Rodrick stated coming up from the side in work clothes while wiping some sort of oil off his hands.
"No way." Luffy said. "The Sunny is way better."
"Luffy, different world, remember?" Zoro said tapping him on the head with the handle of his sword.
"Oh yeah. Well our ship is number one in this world then." Luffy stated with a nod.
"Different world?" Rodrick said looking over at the rest of the group who nodded in agreement. "Well then… I've seen stranger on this journey."
"Hey who are these people?" Isma called out flying out of the water and holding herself against the railing. Sanji looked over and his cigar dropped out of his mouth and blood rushed to his face and he was force to turn his head before something bad happened. So did the rest of the straw hats
"Why is that girl not wearing a top!?" He demanded. Isidro had a drop of blood go down from his nose.
"She's a merrow. A mermaid." Farnese said covering Isma with her cape as she turned back into a human.
"Yeah." Isma said with a smile. "I'm only half though. So I can turn back and forth from my mermaid form."
"Good now let's take you down to get some clothes on." Farnese said moving her along with Casca.
As they walked down under the deck Guts walked up without any armor on only his black sleeveless shirt and some white pants. His bare arms being covered in scars all types. He looked at the Straw Hats and walked towards the front of the ship. His metal finger flopping loosely as they dangled off his metal arm. Isidro took Zoro on a tour, Serpico went up to where the wheel of the ship was with Sanji; Luffy walked to the front of the ship and stood next to Guts.
Guts sat on a barrel and stared out across the water. The waves seeming to move in perfect synch with his shoulder as they rose and fell with the tide. He looked over at Luffy who looked out as well but with an almost sickening smile on his face. Guts ignored him and continued to look out for no reason other than he wanted to kill some time. After a minute Luffy began to tap his foot over and over again. Ten seconds later and he leaned over the edge of the ship with a huff.
"Bored…" Luffy said. "Don't you ever talk? This is boring."
"I like be left alone sometimes." Guts told him. "If you fall in I'm not diving after you, you know that right?"
"Whatever." Luffy said pushing back on the railing. "So. What's your name again?"
"Guts." Guts answered. "What do you want."
"Just to talk. I haven't met anyone from another world before. What's your world like?" Luffy asked. Guts looked at him for a moment then looked back out across the endless waves.
"Hell." Guts answered.
"Well I bet you can handle it." Luffy said slapping Guts on the back hard.
Guts's body stiffened up on the impact as Luffy had hit one of the points on his body where his astral body was also damaged. He collapsed forward and fell into the water. He felt the darkness of the ocean pull him in deeper and deeper as he couldn't move a single part of his body. He reached towards the surface of the water with his metal hand. The salt stung every part of his body as he had wounds all over. To Guts it wasn't enough pain… this wasn't even close to the amount of pain he needed to feel in order to allow himself to die.
A hand wrapped around his metal hand and he was yanked back towards the surface. He flew out of the water and ten feet into the air as an extended arm connected onto him. It stretched down to Luffy before he yanked him back and he landed on the deck. The other Straw hats looked over as Guts group came over as well. Guts breathed hard before gritting his teeth together.
"What happened?" Schierke asked running over.
"I don't know." Luffy said shaking the sea water off his arm. "I just slapped him on the back and he blacked out and fell into the ocean."
"You must have hit a part of his damaged astral body." She told him. "It still hasn't fully repaired."
"Astral body?" Zoro said running over.
"Yes." The young witch told him. "When it is damaged it would cause a normal person to go deep into trauma. Guts has had it damaged several times. Each time though he managed to just push through it. Your captain hit a point on Guts body where his astral body is at its weakest."
"Okay what can we do?" Sanji asked.
"Nothing. I need to move him to his bed and get to work." Schierke said. Guts's eye opened and he pushed himself off the deck and spat water off to the side and got to a knee before another wave of pain hit him and he couldn't stand.
"Okay big guy." Zoro said throwing him over his shoulder. "I've got you. Little girl, show me to his bed."
"This way."
Together they took Guts below deck as he complained about having to be carried. Shierke told him just to sleep and she got to work resealing his astral body. Isidro glared at Luffy and pointed at him.
"You're not allowed to touch Guts again. Like ever. Now get off this ship before I make you." Isidro demanded grabbing hold of his fire dagger.
"I didn't mean to." Luffy said with a sorry look on his face.
"Go." Isidro demanded drawing his dagger and it shined in the darkness with an orange glow. Zoro put a hand on Luffy's shoulder and gestured that it was time to go. They went back to the deck with Sanji falling behind.
"I heard there was a healing spring towards the hill off of the west part of town. If he's up to it; bring your friend up there and we'll pay for it." Sanji told them. And with that they left.
