The next couple of days seemed to fly by and before Iris knew it she could see Baratie coming up on the horizon. It was a large boat that looked like a fish with a dock on the front for customers. Iris could smell the food as they got closer and felt her stomach rumble. The food smelled delicious, though she wasn't sure how she was going to pay for a meal since all of her money had been stolen by the Black Cat Pirates before they had left that island.
"AHHH!" Usopp screamed and pointed at a ship with his legs shaking violently beneath him. She looked to the boat that he was pointing at and saw a large sail with a Marine emblem on it. She felt her blood pressure start to boil knowing that it was the navy and was ready to rip apart everyone on that ship. It must have been obvious how angry she suddenly became because she felt Luffy's hand on her shoulder for a moment before he walked in front of her to look at the ship.
A cocky looking man was out on the deck of the boat staring them down. He introduced himself the Lieutenant Ironfist Fullbody and Iris was using every ounce of strength in her body to maintain her composure. Everything in her wanted to tear up the cocky lieutenant and beat out of him any information he might have about where her father was. This was the first time she had met anybody from the navy and he was as awful seeming as she had imagined.
She realized that she had been so fixated on what she wanted to do to the lieutenant that she had missed out on the conversation that had been happening between Luffy and the navy officer. She came back to reality just in time to see Johnny and Yosaku trying to prove they were big time bounty hunters by trying to take down Luffy, but the failed miserably as Luffy knocked them both down in one hit. They looked like they had each taken a lot of damage from the single hit; those two were a whole lot weaker than they let themselves believe.
The navy boat started to dock at the restaurant and Iris noticed that a cannon was aiming straight for their ship. "Guys..." she said as she pointed to the cannon. Everybody looked to where she was pointing just in time to see the cannon fire at them.
"He fired!" Usopp screamed in a panic. Luffy jumped up on the railing of the boat and inhaled air to inflate his body like he had to deflect the cannon against the Buggy Pirates. The cannon ball was deflected, but it was sent straight into the Baratie restaurant. Iris' eyebrow twitched slightly at the sight and wondered what the consequences for that would be.
They docked their ship and were immediately greeted by angry workers of the restaurant looking for whoever had fired the cannonball into the restaurant. Luffy owned up to it without hesitation and they took him away. "He's too honest for his own good..." Iris observed out loud and the others nodded their heads in agreement with a unanimous sigh. Iris appreciated his honesty, and it was one of the things that had made her trust him so quickly, but he could have easily blamed the navy for shooting at them first.
After waiting for awhile for Luffy to come back the group started getting impatient and wondered what Luffy would have to do to make up for the damage he caused. Iris knew that physical labor was the only thing that Luffy had to offer, but she didn't see him doing that for very long. While she hadn't been around Luffy for long, she was fully aware that he had a short attention span and was kind of klutzy.
"Well, if they're gonna make him work to pay them back maybe I'll see if they let me waitress in the meantime.. I could stand to make some money since those stupid pirates stole my money..." Iris said. She was a hard worker and figured being a waitress couldn't be any more difficult than being a bar tender.
"Why work when you could steal money and be a petty thief like Nami?" Usopp asked. Iris laughed as Nami became angry at Usopp's comment and smacked him upside the head. He screamed about her being an abusive witch and Iris laughed louder.
"I'm not a thief. I'd have to beat somebody up and threaten them to get their money. It'll be easier to go see if they need any extra help... Besides, if they make Luffy work they'll definitely need extra people to clean up whatever mess he makes," Iris explained.
Iris suddenly heard a shot and looked over the side of the boat to see a beat up looking man holding a gun and a man in a navy outfit crumpled on the ground in front of him. The gun was still smoking, and the man walked over the body lying in the entryway and into the restaurant. Iris was beyond curious about what was going on, but figured she probably didn't need to get involved. If she went down there and got involved then she would definitely end up dealing with those Marines in whatever manner she thought would be the most painful.
After it sounded like commotion in the restaurant had died down and she watched the arrogant lieutenant leave she hopped over the railing of the boat and landed on the dock. There was a dull pain that shot up her back as she landed, but her back had started to heal and it wasn't hurting nearly as bad as it had been a few days ago when she had gotten the injury.
"I'm gonna go inside," she shouted up to the others. Zoro, Usopp, and Nami made their way off the boat and followed her into the restaurant. They were seated at a table and water was brought out to them with some menus. Iris looked at the menu briefly, but she knew she wouldn't be able to buy anything. As she sat at the table she overheard some waiters talking about the new errand boy and how the head chef had said the errand boy would have to work a year to pay off his debt for the damage he had caused, but the waiters hoped that the head chef would forgive the boy before then because he was a walking disaster in the kitchen.
Just then Luffy walked up to them with an apron tied around his waist. "What?! You guys are sitting her enjoying yourselves while I'm being forced to work? I'm hungry too... I wanna eat!" he complained loudly.
Iris ignored Luffy's whining and started looking around for somebody that might work here and have some authority so that could ask about working for pay while Luffy worked off his debt to the owner. The place seemed short staffed from what she could see, and she figured they could use an extra set of hands.
Then a tall and slender blonde man with strange spiral eyebrows walked up to their table and started professing his love for both Iris and Nami. Iris felt her face go red at the unwanted attention and her automatic reaction was to glare at him. "Do you find this errand boy to be an eye sore? Is that why you're glaring, my lovely lady? Let me remove him for you" the blonde asked and she could feel her face turn a deeper shade of red.
"I'm fine with him... It's you that's making me uncomfortable..." she mumbled and he continued complimenting her as if he hadn't heard her say that he was the one upsetting her. Nami, on the other hand, seemed to be eating up the compliments that the man was doling out.
"This is your chance to leave, Sanji. Go be a pirate. All you do here is cause a ruckus and hit on the female customers. Look how uncomfortable you're making that girl. I'm done with you," a man in chefs clothing and a peg leg said out of nowhere. Sanji whipped around and the two got into a fight. The chef kicked Sanji into their table and Iris chose this as her opportunity to try and get some work at the restaurant.
"Excuse me..." she said as she stood up and walked over to the chef. "I noticed you're short on staff. If you need a waitress while my captain pays off his debt to you I'd be more than happy to help out. For pay though. I'm not helping him pay off his debt," she stated and Luffy yelled something in the background about it not being fair that she wasn't gonna help him out.
"Are you as accident prone and clueless as him?" the chef asked skeptically.
"Nope. I ran a bar in my hometown until it was destroyed by pirates a week ago, so I've got experience in the service industry," she replied.
"Can you hold your own against pirates and other rowdy customers?" he asked and she nodded.
"I won't pay you much," the man grumbled and she grinned. She knew how to behave to get tips out of men that would more than make up for lousy pay. She could alter her clothing slightly to show some more skin; men were an easy breed to manipulate if she wanted to. She felt it was somewhat dishonest and shameful to try and use sex appeal to get what she wanted, but if it worked it worked. She thanked him and he started to take her to the back to show her the kitchen, but Sanji stepped in and protested.
"We can't let a lady work!" he called out, but the chef and Iris ignored him. "Seriously! What kind of man would I be if a lady felt the need to work in my presence? Women should be pampered! Let me work for you," he cooed as he followed behind them.
He continued to go on about how men should work instead of ladies, and before Iris knew it she couldn't contain her frustration towards him any longer. As soon as he was close enough she stuck her leg out behind her and kicked him square in the jaw.
"I don't need you telling me that I'm some delicate little flower because I am a woman!" she shouted at him.
"I like you. You'll fit in here just fine," the chef said with a laugh as Sanji fell to the ground.
"My face!" he cried out as he put his hands to his jaw where her foot had impacted him. "Her lovely foot touched my face! Oh, I am so lucky!" he continued and Iris wasn't sure what to think. Did he have some sort of strange fetish? She knew one thing though, and that was that she wanted to get away from him quickly. He had to be some strange pervert to act like he did.
She followed him off the restaurant floor and he handed her an apron. "The name is Zeff, and I'm the head chef. Keep an eye on that clumsy captain of yours, and be quick about taking accurate orders and delivering them to the tables," he instructed and she nodded her head. He pointed her towards the kitchen and she walk through the swinging doors.
"I'm helping out as a waitress today... Are there any order pads back here?" she asked and was handed a pad of paper and pointed to a map of tables so that she could get a better picture of how things were set up and which sections had which tables. She walked back out and made a few adjustments to her shirt before heading out to the main floor. She took a corner of her shirt and tied it into a knot at the bottom of her rib cage, and pulled on the neckline to show off her cleavage. She also rolled down the waist band of her pants to reveal more of her hips. Her face turned red as she realized how ridiculous she was being, and she was embarrassed to be displaying her body to make money. Unfortunately for her this would be the easiest way to get money out of the male customers though.
She pulled her hair back into a ponytail and walked out onto the restaurant floor. Sanji immediately turned his attention back to her, but she to ignore him. She looked back over to her friends and saw that they seemed content enough sitting around the table chit chatting and eating. She had no ideas which tables had been helped so far, so she figured that she would jump in and ask people if they had been helped yet or needed anything.
She started taking orders from customers and taking the orders back to the kitchen. When orders were ready she took them out to the tables and turned up the charm as she interacted with the male customers. There was one particular table full of rowdy pirates who wanted to get handsy with her, but she quickly put them in their place when one of them tried to slap her butt and she punched them man in the face hard enough that he was sent flying out of his chair. "I expect a large tip from you idiots... Unless you all want to get beat up too," she sneered at them.
The next couple of days went by quickly enough as she worked during the day at Baratie. Between taking and delivering orders she was dealing with unruly customers, trying to chase off Sanji, and watching over Luffy to make sure he didn't mess up too badly. She made some pretty good tips from the customers in addition to the money she was paid at the end of each day for her shift.
During the nights when the restaurant was shut down she would return to the Going Merry and stash away her money from the day, get some sleep, and even fit some training in. She hadn't attempted to do much training on their journey over here after leaving Usopp's home island because of her injury, but now she was well enough to start getting back into a routine.
The third day that they were there Iris got up, got dressed, and got down from their ship to go into the restaurant to start her day. When she walked into the restaurant Sanji was standing there with a large plate of breakfast for her. She was tempted to turn the food down because she didn't like him, but he was a rather good cook. She thanked him for the food and scarfed it down before getting to work.
She walked into the kitchen to grab an apron and to start work, but noticed a large amount of dishes piled up. "Where's Luffy? Why didn't he do these dishes?" she asked somewhat annoyed.
"The errand boy? I dunno... But it's probably better if he doesn't touch them since he seems to break everything..." one of the cooks answered. She looked at the large pile of dishes and started washing them. When she finished washing the dishes that Luffy had neglected she grabbed an order pad and headed towards the exit of the kitchen. She noticed that at some point while she had been washing dishes that a good amount of the cooks must have left as the kitchen was mostly empty now.
She put her hands on the doors and pushed them open and she could hear that there was a bunch of screaming and commotion going on in the restaurant. She ran to the main floor and saw a large man with gold colored armor standing near the entrance. Zeff was standing in front of the armored man with a large bag of food in between them, and all the cooks that had left the kitchen were standing behind Zeff. Iris looked around and saw that the only people still in the room were the cooks, Luffy, Zoro, Usopp, the guy in armor, and another guy that appeared to be with armored guy. All of the customers that should have been in the restaurant weren't there, so whatever was happening must have scared them off.
Iris walked over to the table that Zoro and Usopp were at and asked what was going on. Usopp explained in a frightened tone that the armored man was the strongest pirate in the East Blue known as Don Krieg. Don Krieg was trying to steal the restaurant because his boat had been destroyed in the Grand Line. Usopp mumbled off a few other details, but they didn't seem overly important. Iris had heard of Don Krieg before; he was a big name in the East Blue. She was pretty sure he was an even bigger dirt bag than Kuro was.
"Hmm... He's definitely going to be our cook!" Luffy suddenly said looking at Sanji and Iris jumped. When had Luffy appeared behind her like that? When she had walked into the room he had been standing next to Sanji.
"Why him?" Iris asked with a groan and Luffy just stood there with a grin on his face. He had obviously made his mind up about the matter, and Iris had a feeling that she wouldn't be able to talk him out of it. Sanji might be a good cook, but his personality left much to be desired in her opinion.
"We should really go now guys..." Usopp said in a quivering voice.
"Nah, I have to fight him. If he's strong we'd end up fighting eventually, so I might as well get it out of the way," Luffy stated. He looked excited at the thought of getting to fight somebody strong, and Iris hoped that he'd be able to win against somebody like Don Krieg. From the rumors that Iris had heard Kuro would look like nothing standing next to Krieg.
Krieg left with the bag of food telling everybody that if they valued their lives that they should leave the restaurant now. Anybody who was still there when he got back would be killed on the spot and thrown into the ocean to become fish food.
Something was then said about a hawk-eyed man who had destroyed all 50 ships that Don Krieg had taken into the Grand Line. Zeff thought that the only man capable of annihilating the entire Krieg fleet was the hawk-eyed man. Apparently Krieg's ship was the only one that had gotten away in a fleet of around 50 ships, and that had been sheer luck because of a storm that came through and pulled his boat away. At the mention of a hawk-eyed man Iris noticed Zoro sit up a bit straighter and start paying better attention.
Zeff said that he thought the hawk-eyed man they were talking about was probably "that hawk-eyed man", and Iris had no idea what they were talking about. There was muttering going on about a hawk-eyed man that had been the the restaurant, but that turned out not to be the man that Zeff was talking about.
"It looks like my goal is tied in with the Grand Line then..." Zoro murmured.
"You're looking for this man?" Iris asked and Zoro nodded his head.
"You people seem like the kind of people who are going to die early. You're all idiots. Except for Iris and Nami of course; I will make sure that they are protected as a gentleman should!" Sanji shouted.
"Yeah, no thanks. I can protect myself," Iris responded as she noticed that Nami wasn't part of the group this morning. She must have decided to sleep in or count her treasure or something. The two prior days she had spent her time in the restaurant flirting with Sanji to get free food out of him.
"You have no right to call me an idiot. I made up my mind when I decided to become the strongest swordsman that I would give up my attachment to life," Zoro said as he glared at Sanji. Luffy chimed in by saying he agreed with Zoro and Sanji continued to look at the boys like they were idiots. Iris glanced to Zoro who hadn't missed a heartbeat when saying that he had problem giving up his life reach his goal, and she knew that she would protect his life as well as she could along with Luffy. Their goals were more important to them than life itself, which meant that they needed other people that were willing to look out for them along the way. They didn't seem to realize that if they died along the way that their goals were meaningless. If they died they wouldn't become the strongest swordsman or the Pirate King.
"You idiots! Haven't you realized the gravity of the situation we're in? You can continue your pointless conversation after we've dealt with the situation at hand," a cook shouted at them. Iris looked to the man saw that it was the cook that was named Patty. She couldn't stand Patty; he was arrogant, crude, and stupid. She even preferred Sanji to him.
"Hey ugly... That's no way to talk to us," she called out to him. His face turned red from anger and she smirked. She couldn't stand people like him that thought they were better than others. She was about to hurl another insult at Patty, but there was a big commotion outside suddenly. Iris looked towards and could see pirates rushing towards them.
She took a step towards the door to go and fight off the pirates, but before she was able to take another step she could see the large ship that Don Krieg had arrived on was seemingly sliced in half. She looked on in awe as she wondered what kind of weapon and power could put on such a magnificently terrible display. The ocean became instantly unsettled and waves were crashing about and the restaurant was thrashing about on the now rough waters.
Iris ran for the front door to go look and see if the Going Merry had been caught in whatever had just happened and didn't see it where they had left it when she had gotten outside. There was some splashing just off the dock of the restaurant and Iris saw Johnny and Yosaku trying to stay above the waves crashing around them.
"Big Bro Zoro! She... She took all the treasure and the boat!" they shouted.
"What?!" Iris yelled back at them thinking she must have misheard them. They repeated that Nami had taken everything and sailed away. "That bitch!" Iris screamed as she dove into the water and helped Johnny and Yosaku get onto the deck. They were having a hard time managing to keep their heads above the raging waves and it would be safest for her to help them rather than wait for them to get close enough to the dock to climb up.
She hadn't trusted Nami, but this was beyond even what Iris had thought Nami was capable of doing. That bitch had betrayed them and Iris knew that she would never be able to forgive Nami. Nami's pretending to enjoy their company was just that, pretend.
Zoro reached out his hand to help pull Iris back into the boat and she grabbed onto him. She got back up on the boat and wasn't hiding her anger at the situation in the least. Johnny explained how Nami had tricked them into lowering their guards by asking them to turn around so she could change her clothes. Iris couldn't contain her anger at their stupidity and the situation and slapped both Johnny and Yosaku across their faces.
"You two really are the epitome of stupid! There are plenty of places she could have changed in private! Men are so stupid!" she yelled at them. They looked back at her with tears in their eyes and apologized profusely to them.
"I never trusted that stupid girl... I can't believe I let me guard down enough for this to happen!" Zoro growled.
"Look, you can still see the ship!" Luffy said and pointed away from the chaos going on in front of them. "You guys go after her! Yosaku and Johnny, where is your boat?" Luffy asked them. Nami had cut the rope that they had used to tie their boat to the Going Merry when she took off and so their boat was still right there.
"Why go after it? That girl isn't worth going after," Zoro growled back at Luffy.
"The boat is worth going after! It's important!" Usopp shouted over all the noise.
"But I've decided that Nami is going to be our navigator!" Luffy protested.
"You still want to sail with that stupid bitch?! She betrayed us and left us with nothing Luffy! I won't forgive her!" Iris screamed at her captain not able to contain her fury. He looked at her with a determined expression and she knew he wasn't going to budge on the subject.
"Whatever. I don't know why I agreed to follow such a troublesome guy, but come on Iris, Usopp. We're going to go after her," Zoro instructed. Iris didn't budge and had no desire to go after Nami. "Let's go Iris. Don't you at least want to get that boat back?" he asked and she begrudgingly followed him. He looked at Luffy and asked what he was going to do, and Luffy said that he was going to stay and pay off his debt to the owner. "Okay, but be careful. Things are kind of chaotic here," Zoro said and Luffy nodded.
Iris was about to hop into the boat when she noticed that Zoro had become distracted and was staring at somebody. "That's him..." Zoro mumbled and Iris stared at the man that had appeared on the ocean in front of them. He had an intimidating aura about him, and Iris knew this man was strong. She could hear Zeff and the other cooks talking about the man and turned her attention to them. Zeff mentioned that it was Dracule Mihawk, the strongest swordsman alive.
She had heard that name before; Dracule Mihawk was one of the Seven Warlords. His talents as a swordsman were renowned worldwide and he was considered the strongest swordsman by the world, and currently there was nobody that could hold a candle to his talents. She turned her attention back to Zoro who was intensely staring at Mihawk. The man he wanted to challenge was a Warlord? That seemed like a suicide mission.
She could see that the Krieg pirate were having a conversation with Mihawk and some or the pirates had their guns drawn. The pirates fired and Mihawk drew his sword and deflected the bullets in a movement so fast that her eyes were barely able to follow the large sword. Did Zoro really think he could go against that man?
She turned to look back at Zoro, but he wasn't standing next to her any longer. She started looking around for him and saw that he was now behind the pirates that had shot at Mihawk. She had no idea how he moved so quickly and quietly to get over there without her noticing, but sure enough he was over standing on part of Krieg's boat that had been sliced into pieces.
Iris' heart was racing thinking about how this could go. Zoro was strong, but she didn't think he would be able to stand against Mihawk. She could see Zoro and Mihawk having a conversation, but she couldn't make out what was being said. She could, however, hear the pirates that were around Zoro realizing that Zoro was the famed Pirate Hunter and making a big deal about it. These idiots were afraid of Zoro, and they still thought they had a chance to defend themselves against a Warlord?
When Zoro untied the bandanna that was tied around his arm and tied it around his head Iris felt her heart drop. "Stop this, Zoro!" she shouted at him, but she knew that he wouldn't hear her with how focused he was on Mihawk. Mihawk tried to talk Zoro out of starting a fight by telling Zoro how outclassed he was, but Zoro didn't care and continued to challenge Mihawk to a dual.
Johnny and Yosaku were cheering on Zoro and confident that Zoro would not fall to anybody, and Iris wished that she held that same confidence. She had never seen Mihawk in person before, but she knew of the man and his reputation. After her father had been taken she had done as much research on the navy and the World Government as she could possibly do in hopes that she would find something helpful in her search. She had come across the Seven Warlords in her research of the World Government, and she knew how fearsome of pirates that they were.
Mihawk finally pulled out a small dagger and complained about it being a shame he didn't have something smaller. Zoro put one of swords in his mouth and held the other two, and swung at Mihawk looking confident. Mihawk extended his arm and was able to stop Zoro's attack instantly with his dagger. He was trying to push his swords forward towards Mihawk, but they weren't budging. So instead he pulled back his swords and started swinging at Mihawk.
She could see in Zoro's body language that he was growing frustrated and she imagined that was the first time that he had come across somebody stronger than himself in a long time. He had to have known at least to some extent how strong Mihawk was if he was actively seeking the Warlord out; so why was he so surprised there was a big difference in strength? Or had Zoro just heard of the Warlord in passing somewhere and decided that he would pursue Mihawk on a whim?
Iris listened intently as Mihawk lectured Zoro on the difference in their strengths and about how the East Blue was considered to be the weakest sea. Iris had no idea that the East Blue was a weak sea, let alone the weakest of all the seas. If that was the case the would people like Kuro or Krieg be considered weaklings elsewhere? That was somewhat mind boggling to her; she had thought there were plenty of strong pirates that sailed the East Blue.
Zoro and Mihawk continued fighting, and it was clear that there was no competition over who would finish on top of this duel. Johnny and Yosaku were about to jump into the ocean to go help Zoro, but Luffy stopped them. She understand that they wanted to help, but Luffy was right in stopping them. She wanted to go and stop the fight too, and to bring Zoro away from Mihawk, but this was not her fight. Zoro would no doubt never forgive her for getting involved if she did, and so she stayed where she was watching and praying that Mihawk would not kill Zoro.
Zoro continued to attack and Mihawk countered by shoving the small dagger into Zoro's chest where his heart would be. "ZORO!" she screamed out, but she didn't budge. Not only would it make Zoro angry if she interfered, Mihawk might be angered with somebody else interfering and kill Zoro on the spot. So instead she stood and watched hoping that Mihawk would let Zoro walk away from the fight alive.
"Why don't you move? I could easily pierce your heart and kill you," Mihawk asked.
"I don't really know... But I feel that if I pulled back now that I would lose something important to me. I think that's why I can't step back," Zoro answered.
"Even if it means death?" Mihawk asked.
"Yes. I'd rather die!" Zoro shouted with a smirk.
Mihawk stepped back and pulled the dagger out of Zoro's chest. Iris hoped that this meant that the fight was over. Perhaps Mihawk had felt some respect for Zoro's intense will to become the best? She was wrong though; Mihawk pulled out the large sword he carried on his back and she watched on in horror as Zoro moved towards Mihawk. Mihawk easily won the duel, and one of Zoro's swords was shattered in the process. Things then took an even worse turn as Iris watched Zoro stand in front of Mihawk with his arms spread wide. Iris felt as though her heart had stopped.
"A wound on one's back is the shame of a swordsman!" Zoro shouted with pride. Mihawk took his sword and slashed it across Zoro's chest and Zoro fell into the ocean. Iris jumped into the water without hesitation and swam straight to Zoro's body that was sinking into the ocean. He was bleeding profusely and looked to be unconscious.
She brought his body back up to the surface of the water and was relieved when she saw that he was still breathing by some miracle. She looked for Johnny and Yosaku's boat and swam over to it. "One of you get his swords that fell into the ocean; he'll be pissed off if he wakes up and their gone. Somebody get some medical supplies," she instructed as she got him into the boat.
"You idiot..." she said trying to hold back tears. Blood was oozing out of his chest and soaking through his shirt, and also coming out from his mouth. "If you die right now I won't ever forgive you..." she said quietly. Usopp came out of the small room in the middle of the boat holding some bandages and some antiseptic. She knew that his shirt would have to come off to bandage him up and she hesitated a moment before ripping the shirt. She knew it was necessary and that didn't figure he would care, but because of her crush on him she couldn't help but feel somewhat sheepish about ripping his shirt off of him.
"ZORO!" she heard Luffy yell and looked to where Luffy had been standing, but he was gone. She looked around and saw that Luffy was now over near Mihawk and new sense or terror washed over her. Was Luffy going to try and take on Mihawk too? She wasn't ready to deal with that; if something were to happen to both Luffy and Zoro she didn't know what she would do. She couldn't sail by herself with just Usopp.
She was about to call back to Luffy that Zoro was at least still alive, but before she was able to open her mouth Mihawk called out to Zoro. "Do not be so quick to die young, Roronoa! Become strong! No matter how long it takes, I will be standing here at the top of the world waiting for you! So forge ahead with that strong conviction of yours, and come for me! I will be waiting. Surpass me, Roronoa!" Mihawk yelled out.
Iris was shocked to hear the best swordsman in the world and a Warlord say such a thing. Whatever Zoro had said or done had left quite the impression on Mihawk. "Iris! Usopp! Is Zoro really okay?" Luffy called out to them from his spot next to Mihawk.
"Like he'd be alright after that!" Usopp yelled.
"He's alive at least," Iris called out to Luffy as she grabbed the bandages from Usopp. Johnny and Yosaku were crying and begging for Zoro to answer them, and Iris couldn't help but be somewhat annoyed by them. "Why don't you idiots have time to whine then help me with him!" she growled at them.
Iris was about to rip Zoro's shirt in half so that she could put the antiseptic on his wound and bandage him up when his arm moved to grab one of his swords. He stuck the sword up in the air as he opened his eyes and had tears streaming down his face. "You're awake," she said and wasn't able to stop the tears from falling from her eyes.
"Luffy! Can you hear me?" Zoro called out in a weak and stumbling voice.
"Yeah..." Luffy replied.
"I'm sorry I lost. I'm sorry I worried you. I will become the strongest swordsman alive so that I won't embarrass you. I swear that I won't lose again. Until I fight him again and win I won't lose; I swear it! Is that alright with you, Pirate King?" Zoro called out again with tears still streaming out of his eyes. The bleeding in his chest was getting worse and Iris wanted nothing more than to grab the sword out of his hand and force him to put his arm down, but she couldn't make herself do it even if he needed to stop moving.
She sat next to Zoro with an enormous respect for him. His will to reach his goal was strong and unwavering even after losing. He was strong, and now he was having to face that there were swordsmen stronger than him his pride was knocked down a bit. However, instead of becoming angry that he lost it had just given him even more drive to become the best. "And Iris, I heard what you said after you got me in the boat... You won't have to worry about having to forgive me if I die; I won't die," he said quieter.
"Promise?" she asked as she wiped the tears out of her eyes.
"Yeah, I promise," he said.
"That sounds great to me! Now go catch Nami and our boat!" Luffy instructed.
"Did you guys hear him? Let down the sail and let's go," Iris said and turned her attention right back to Zoro. She could tell that he was in immense pain from his expression, and she couldn't imagine what his pain level must be right now. It would be easier for him if he had passed out from the pain, but at the same time it was good for Luffy that Luffy had been able to see that Zoro was going to be okay.
"Be careful Luffy! Don't you dare fall into the sea without any of us here to help you!" she shouted back to him and he agreed with a shout. "I'm gonna have to rip your shirt to get it off you... I hope you don't mind," she said to Zoro as she put her hands on the collar of his shirt.
"That's... Fine..." he mumbled and she ripped the shirt. The wound from Mihawk's sword was even bigger and deeper than she had imagined and it was absolute miracle that he wasn't dead. She poured the antiseptic onto the wound and he groaned from the stinging that it caused, and she then instructed the other boys to hold Zoro in a sitting position so that she could wrap the bandage around him. Once she had wrapped the bandages around his torso and chest the boys laid Zoro back down on the floor of the boat.
He closed his eyes and his breathing was labored, but she thought that he would be okay if nothing else because of how strong willed he was. She grabbed a towel and dipped it in the ocean and then used it to wipe the blood from his face. "I'm alright... You don't need to take care of me..." Zoro quietly said. His voice was strained, but his stubbornness was still functioning just fine.
"Yeah, you're just fine Zoro... You're only bleeding all over, and you nearly got a puncture wound to your heart," she stated. He had to know that he was anything but alright, and he didn't protest her any longer. "It's okay to accept help from your friends you know," she said as she stuck the towel back into the ocean to rinse the blood off it.
When she looked back to Zoro he was trying to sit up and neither Usopp, Johnny, or Yosaku were trying to deter him from doing so. She shot a glare at them and glared at Zoro. "Seriously dude, part of promising you won't die would be to let your wounds heal. Moving around with gaping wounds that need to close up is not how you heal," she said trying not to sound too lecturous. Truth be told Zoro needed to be lectured, but she wasn't his mother and she really didn't want him to start viewing her like that in any way shape or form.
The next few hours she sat on the boat next to Zoro in silence as they sailed. They still hadn't caught up to the Going Merry. Iris had thought that it would quicker if she swam after the boat, but she was worried about Zoro and chose not to leave him. If she left and the other boys weren't paying attention and something happened to him she wouldn't be able to forgive herself.
"Guys... Yosaku and I think we know where Sis Nami is headed..." Johnny said breaking the silence. He explained that before she had pushed them off the Going Merry that she had been staring at the monstrous Fishman Arlong's bounty poster and they were headed in the direction of Arlong Park.
"She's going towards some fishmen?" Iris asked inquisitively and Johnny and Yosaku nodded. They started to explain what a fishman was assuming that she didn't know what one was but she cut them off. "I know what a fishman is. I didn't know there were Fishmen in the East Blue..." she said. Usopp and said that he didn't know what one was, but said they sounded scary. Johnny started to explain again, but she couldn't stand hearing him describe them all as monsters.
"Would you stop making them all sound so evil? I... Umm... Well... I..." she stammered. She had never shared her race with anybody outside of the island she lived on that had already known what she was, and she didn't know where to start. Should she just blurt it out? She wished that she wasn't so nervous about saying something so basic about herself, but no amount of wishing made her nerves settle down.
"Well... If we're headed to a place with other fishmen I should probably tell you... I mean, it'll probably come up eventually anyway... I'm half fishman and half human, and so I'm part of this monster race as you keep calling us. The reason fishmen dislike humans so much is because you all view us strictly as monsters..." she said waiting for them to all freak out and want to not sail with her any longer.
"You don't look like a fishman," Johnny finally said and she looked at him feeling confused. She looked to Usopp, Yosaku, and Zoro too who were looking at her much less judgemental than she had thought they would be. The only one that looked somewhat upset was Usopp; he looked confused. "I'm only half, and I took after my mom who was a human more than my dad," she continued.
"So how are you different than a normal human?" Zoro asked and she took off her gloves and shoes to show the webbing between her toes and fingers. She also pointed out her teeth and how they were shark teeth and not human teeth, and that she had gills on the base of her neck that allowed her to breath in the water. She could also do a form of martial arts that only fishmen could practice that was called fishman karate, and no human would be able to match her speed in the water.
"I'm not going to hurt you because I'm a fishman, Usopp. I'm the same person that you've been sailing with on the Merry the past few days," she stated when she noticed the boy was still looking at her funny. His confused and somewhat scared eyes made her angry and she took a deep breath to try and contain her temper. She knew he was a coward and it shouldn't be a surprise to her that her being part of an unknown race upset him, but it angered her all the same.
"Y-Y-Yeah, I know that! But why did you keep it a secret?" he asked trying to hide the fear in his voice with a laugh.
"I hid it because humans don't like fishmen, and I've never had friends before you guys, and I didn't want to do anything to jeopardize what I've gained here. I've never felt like I fit in or as accepted, and since I set sail with Luffy I've felt accepted. Then there's also the discrimation against fishmen that I had to watch on a daily basis growing up. My dad is a tiger shark fishman, and there was no hiding it. People were awful and verbally abusive to him constantly. That's why I hid it," she explained as she looked at her hands and the exposed webbing. She hadn't purposely exposed the webbing in front of anybody other than her dad since she was a very small child.
"Those skills seem like they would really come in handy, especially being a pirate and being on the sea. And since Luffy can't swim, I'm sure he'll put your skills to use with as klutzy as he is," Zoro said. She looked back up and looked over to Zoro who was looking at her unquestioningly. If her revelation had surprised him or upset him he didn't show it.
"Thank you..." she said to him.
"For what?" he asked.
"For not calling me a monster. For not looking at me differently now. For looking at the advantages of me being a fishman. I didn't expect for you to accept me so quickly after finding out who I really am," she said quietly.
"Why would I call you a monster or look at you differently? I accepted you as a crew mate the moment you set sail with Luffy and me. You're the same person I've been sailing with the past week or so," he said. Upon hearing Zoro's words Usopp chimed in that he felt the same way and that he had only been pretending to be scared. She hardheartedly smiled at Usopp knowing that he was still skeptical, but he was trying. She needed to not be angry at the scared kid from a small island that had never heard of a fishman before; his reaction to her had been better than what she had expected after all.
"How are you feeling?" she asked Zoro since it had now been a few hours since his duel with Mihawk. He shrugged and said he was fine, but he winced ever so slightly when he shrugged and she knew he was still in a lot of pain.
She wondered how Luffy was doing and knew that somebody needed to go back to Baratie and let him know where they were headed. Iris still had no desire to get Nami back, but she did want to get their boat back and hopefully the money she had earned the past couple days at the restaurant was still on the boat. It would be easiest for her to go back and so she told the others of her plan. She asked Johnny how she would get from Baratie to Arlong park and he explained it as best as he could.
"Don't do anything to push your body too much," she told Zoro and he nodded. She dove into the ocean and felt a peace wash over her as she swam beneath the water's surface. Her confession had gone much better than she had thought it would, and Zoro didn't see her any differently. His opinion was the most important to her of the people that had been with her, and she hoped that Luffy would have a similar reaction.
As she swam she let her mind clear as she took in deep breaths of the salty ocean water. She felt a sense of freedom in knowing that the others knew her secret and that she would no longer have to hide it from them. She might even be able to stop hiding it from the world around her if she had people at her side that accepted her as is.
She thought about how for the first time in her life she now had some friends. She had never really had friends growing up as she never felt fully accepted even by the others on the island that knew her dad and knew of her race. She had always been stronger than the humans around her, and she had always had an aggressive streak that made other children shy away from her. Now she had friends. Luffy and Zoro were even stronger than she was, and being a pirate was a fitting occupation for somebody with an aggressive temper.
When she could see the bottom of Baratie as she swam under the water she picked up her speed and swam straight for the dock. She could still see chunks of Don Krieg's boat floating around, but the waters were calm and it didn't appear that there was still a fight going on. When she reached the dock she pulled herself up and stood on the dock.
"Luffy!" she called out.