"What are you really doing here? And who are these fishmen to you?" Pen asked point blank while Anandi grappled with his previous proposal; as far as she could see in her shocked state, he wasn't regarding her and the group with suspicion or disgust. If anything, he seemed mildly curious, though perhaps he was just better at keeping his poker face.

"Doc, stand back."

Anandi jumped in her skin; Arlong had moved in the blink of an eye. Pen didn't even have time to react himself as he was pinned against the side of the building, a webbed hand held tight over almost his whole face, and a knife to his throat. His cool gaze was fearful; Kuroobi and Hatchan stood up to their full height as well, their frames along with Arlong's serving to hide Pen from sight of anyone outside the alley. Anandi was pushed over slightly from the sudden motion, but regained her balance to stand at Arlong's side.

"That's enough questions out of you." Kuroobi snarled quietly and took a step forward; Hatchan glared down at Pen, whose own wide eyes switched between them all, clearly taken aback by the sudden attack.

"Captain-!"

"Doc, I don't want to hear another word. We tried it your way." Arlong leered at his captive and pressed the knife down further; his grin grew at Pen's muffled yell. "This is our way."

"Mfmm-gmrhmmm!"

"He's trying to tell us something!" Anandi grabbed Arlong's arm with both hands.

"Nyuu maybe he's a lying sneak who's gonna turn us in!" Hatchan pulled Anandi back. "It's too risky to let him live."

"Captain, please listen!" Anandi implored as quietly as she could. "Maybe he can help us!"

"This shrimp couldn't care less about our kind. Doc, if you don't want to see this, then close your eyes and shut up." Arlong's turned his glare on her. "Unless you think you can order me around? Do you think the dumb brute fishman is being mean? Check to see where your loyalties lie."

"Maybe I don't want to see someone killed, but you don't care at all! If he can be useful to us, you'd be willing to throw that away just to kill a human." Anandi surmised coldly. "He knows the layout of this area, he's familiar with the auction. If he helps us, then we'll be able to save those fishmen and the merpeople with a better chance."

"And how the hell do we know he won't betray us?" Kuroobi set his scowl on Anandi.

"He said he knew something was up with us beforehand." she walked up to him with a hard look. "If his plan was to turn us in, why did he walk us all the way here? Why didn't he just blow the whistle on us? There were plenty of people around; he even could have just refused to give us directions."

Hatchan's brow furrowed. "But then why make a show about you cutting him money?"

"What does it matter?!" Arlong barked at them all and his grip on Pen's pale face tightened. "We'll figure out where the captives are ourselves. We kill this shrimp, and there's no loose ends."

"Mmmmphmm."

They looked at Pen; he still looked fearful, but he seemed calm enough to make hand gestures, almost like he was trying to sign something.

"Captain, what if we don't find them? What if we get lost, what if we end up right in front of the authorities or god forbid a real noble who could see right through me?" Anandi sighed to calm herself down as she stared up at Arlong. "If he crosses us, we kill him. If he helps, then he helps and we save a bunch of innocent people."

Hatchan and Kuroobi looked at each other and then at Arlong uncertainly. Pen was looking up at him, silently pleading; with a low curse, Arlong let his hand drop, but not the knife still pressed into his skin.

"Fine then. Either way, you help us, unless you want your throat slit."

"I-I do know where they're taking them. On Grove 1 there's a way to the back of the auction house where they hold the people. It's not too much farther from here, but it's located in a sort of forest clearing. If you're not careful, you'll stick out like sore thumbs." Pen gasped lightly and tried to catch his breath as Arlong's slowly took a step back; he looked ready to collapse, but he was able to stand and speak evenly. "It's still a bit early, we might even be able to catch them before they put on the collars."

"Collars?" Anandi asked.

"Yeah. Once they get locked up, they put on collars that are hard as hell to break. Even fish folk like you wouldn't be able to pry them open, not without a key. If you try, the wearer gets blown to kingdom come." Pen told them. "Your best bet is to get to your buddies before they get chained up."

"How do you knows so much?" Hatchan asked suspiciously.

"I've lived on this place for a while; you hear a lot of things if you know who to listen to. Don't get me wrong, I've been involved in some illegal money making scams, but I'm no slave trader." he seemed to direct this to Anandi, who was looking at him in mild disgust. "Didn't you guys think to do any research beforehand?"

"Watch your mouth." Kuroobi said. "If it were up to me, your corpse would be stuffed in between the bricks of this wall."

"Wouldn't doing that take up even more time?" Anandi asked.

"You watch it too human, just because the Boss is willing to listen to your stupid ideas, doesn't mean I'm on board. I'm only following his lead."

Anandi sighed heavily and turned to Arlong. "So, how are we going to go about this?"

He sent her and Pen looks but withdrew his knife back into his pants. "Shrimp, you show us where to go. Do this and you get to keep living your filthy existence."

"Hey, maybe I'm broke, but I clean myself bait breath."

"Doc….if this shrimp says one more goddamn word, I'll kill him and then I'll tie you to the mast of our ship, where you won't eat for a week!"

"Pen, please refrain from getting me in trouble with my captain."

"Ow!" Pen grabbed his head where Anandi had jammed her fist down. "He started it!"

Hatchan put a finger to his lips. "Nyuuu, shut up you dumb human! If you don't keep it down, there's no point keeping you alive if you'll just get us captured!"

"But you're talking loud too!"

"Both of you shut up!" Kuroobi commanded in a low snarl; he grabbed them both by the backs of their necks harshly, veins popping out from his forehead with a vengeance.

"He calls me a dumb human, but you're the dumbasses who didn't think to look into the security measures or directions!"

Arlong growled unintelligibly, but Anandi stepped forward and put her hands to his chest.

"Captain, there's people just outside this alley." she glared at Pen. "And you, stop insulting my crew mates."

"Oh, so they can insult me all they want and it's cool? Just 'cause some humans like those Celestial Dragons treat them like scum, doesn't mean they have the right to look down their noses at me."

"You mean like the vast majority of your kind has done to us for centuries? Don't talk to me about fairness boy." Arlong spat. "You said it yourself, you fear us right? What right do you have to look at us like monsters?"

"Well when you do act like a monster don't be angry if you get seen like one!"

Arlong raised his hand, but Anandi grabbed it; actually, she was hanging from it, her feet dangling off the ground as she ushered him to calm down.

"Anandi-chan! Arlong-san, lower her before someone sees!" Hatchan looked behind him at the alley entrance, but no one seemed to notice or care about their skirmish. An old man passed by, leading a few battered human men along by their wrists encircled with heavy, thick chains. They looked close to death and Anandi supposed they were depending on who bought them. She looked away and bit her lip.

"Captain, that could be them. You guys can fight all you want later, but now you need to let it go so we can save them!"

Arlong's shoulders were shaking so hard, Anandi was sure he was just barely able to hold back his fists from sailing into someone's face. Pen stood his ground but his eyes weren't as hard as before.

"Anandi right? For now, keep pretending these guys are your slaves; I'll lead you to the right path."

"Alright. Captain, I need to retie your wrists."

"Whatever, just move it along." Arlong scowled as she tied the rope and held his arms behind his back. "Damn it all. Once this is over-"

"We'll rescue them, okay? So don't worry."

He felt Anandi squeeze his hands once in a reassuring gesture; Hatchan and Kuroobi took their places behind him, still eyeing Pen with some distaste as he went to the front. Anandi smoothed down her hair and tried to push the image of the slaves from her mind. It wasn't the time to lose her nerve, not when the tension was high enough; they didn't need her having a breakdown.

"Pen, how much farther?"

"Maybe another fifteen minutes. The auction doesn't start for another half hour; in a short while, we'll be crossing paths with other traders, so you guys keep your eyes peeled. Despite the price fishmen cost, most people find them unsightly, so they might have their faces or heads covered like you three have." Pen explained quietly; sure enough, more people were slowly trickling into sight as they came to an area with more plains of grass and trees. The bubbles softly floated around in the air and the scenery became more dense with green plants;t the setting was completely unfitting for such grim circumstances.

"Boss," Kuroobi muttered. "Look to your left, a bit up ahead."

Arlong blinked and raised his head slightly; two men were dragging along at least ten fishmen; there were another two men behind them with guns pointing at the fishmen, who plodded along like cattle. There were two women among them, each cradled a child; they had smaller versions of the manacles around their wrists and legs.

"Captain, wasn't there supposed to be more? And where are the merpeople?" Anandi whispered softly.

"We heard it was more...they might have already been taken."

"Hold on," Pen said suddenly. "Anandi, if anyone asks, I'm your local advisor, got it? Just look fancy and aloof."

"I-Pen!" Anandi whispered harshly, but he was already strolling over to the men, pushing back his bangs with an easy smile.

"Good afternoon gentlemen."

One of the men turned only slightly to look at Pen. "Good afternoon. You want something?"

"I was wondering, my info tells me that a large batch of fishmen were coming in for sale today and a couple merpeople at that." Pen assumed a look of friendly interest. "My mistress asked me to scope out your merchandise, but it seems you only have a fraction of the amount we heard."

"Well, we did have more, but twenty of those freaks ran off and escaped while some idiots weren't paying attention." the man spoke and gave his companion a dirty look. "As for the merpeople, that was a harder loss. Unfortunately, you can't get a bellie for a corpse, so we just threw them back in the ocean."

"Corpse? What, did they die?" Pen asked. "I thought they could breath on the surface."

"Nah, kid, they killed themselves. Two young ones, female; would've made us a fortune." he sighed sadly and shook his head. "One of them strangled by the other, and the remaining girl slit her throat with a shell she was wearing. The water in the tank we used to store them turned so red, we could hardly see their bodies."

"We should've kept the tails, I bet they might've fetched something." one of the men with the guns piped up.

"It's a hassle enough getting these freaks here, let alone take a side trip to have the tails ready and cleaned. Besides, the fun of having a mermaid for these nobles is to keep them alive."

"Aw, my condolences to your loss. Still, the remaining merchandise looks a bit weathered…" Pen looked over the fishmen, scared, dead eyed, and worn from their journey. "My mistress has three she's kept in excellent condition; I would say two of yours are worth one of hers. Would you be interested in a trade?"

"Are you serious?!" The first man looked over at Arlong, Hatchan, and Kuroobi; they kept their eyes averted to the ground all three grinding their teeth in anger. Anandi gulped down a lump in her throat.

"They killed themselves..…"

Pen chatted up the men and held back his disgust as their grins grew wide and their eyes lit up with unveiled greed. Arlong looked out from under his hood; the other traders had gone forward already, and soon they and the four men would be left with no witnesses to what was going to happen. But first, he needed to wait for them to come closer, to drop their guard; if those two men had trigger fingers, there could be problems. The firearms were much more powerful, likely kept to use on the fishmen if necessary.

"I'll rip them to shreds and throw their carcasses to the water. Slam their heads into the rocks and leave their corpses to hang in the trees!" Arlong could hardly suppress himself as Pen and the men spoke of pricing and the quality value of their 'slaves'. "They deserve it, ugly, rotten, stinking human trash."

Arlong shut his eyes tight; he knew if he lost himself now, he would be the one to blame if their plan went awry. He pictured something better, tried to block out the men's eager voices as they worked out a deal; some of the fishman had escaped with their lives already, the one still in chains, his brothers and sisters would be freed, the traders wouldn't even know what hit them. He could already see it and it was a savage sort of comfort to imagine their faces contorted in terror, their mouths ripped open in hoarse screams, the warmth of her hand squeezing his, her eyes, just as scared, but unwavering-

"Boss, they're coming over." Kuroobi muttered discreetly from the corner of his mouth.

"Captain," Anandi spoke lowly and turned to face him so the men wouldn't see or hear her clearly. "When you're ready, make your move. If you can disarm one of them, I'll use my posion."

"Anandi-chan," Hatchan whispered as his gaze slid over to Pen and the traders coming closer; he sent them a wink and a grim smile. "After that, try to lead the captives away while we take them out."

She inclined her chin just barely and turned back to face forward. "Gentlemen, good afternoon. Boy, have you told them of my wares? I'm sure they'll find them more than satisfactory for a trade." she sent the men her most convincing fake smile. "It looks like these ones have given you some grief."

"Yes ma'am, but if you're willing, we'll trade you two of the males for one of yours. We'd be foolish to give up the women, and the children will make decent pets for the buyers."

"Pets huh?"

One of the men with a gun sneered at Arlong. "I don't think I heard your mistress give you permission to speak."

"Captain, did you hear that?" Anandi chuckled lightly at Arlong's disturbed expression. "He thinks you're my pet. I mean, you're cute in your own way, but I think I'd prefer a puppy."

"Real funny Doc." Arlong cast away his cloak, sparing her a dirty look for her impromptu teasing; Hatchan and Kuroobi followed suit and they all easily broke their rope binds with a loud snap. The other fishmen were staring, mouth gaped and bodies frozen as they stared at the pirates and Anandi.

"Y-you bitch! You tricked us!" One of the men pulled out his gun; Anandi's hand went right to her syringe as soon as Pen jabbed his fingers in the man's eyes from behind and twisted. While blood fell from the gouged out sockets, the gun fell to the ground with a bang; Pen stepped aside and grabbed it.

"Anandi, behind you!"

The man who lunged from behind was grabbed at once by Hatchan's arms; he held him high in the air, a triumphant grin on his face.

"Hey octopus, if you hold him higher, I can get in a good shot." Pen aimed his rifle; Hatchan blinked and did as Pen suggested, so surprised he didn't even register the insulting nickname. The man was cursing and flinging about, but three bullets shot through his abdomen, chest, and head. All the sound he could make now was a soft gurgling as Hatchan tossed his body aside.

"Here," Pen handed him the gun and turned to the fishmen still in shock; Kuroobi was breaking their chains and manacles like lightning with his bare hands. "Anandi, come on, I know a shortcut where we can leave unnoticed!"

"Hold on!" she saw Arlong, who was beating down one of the gunmen with ease, if not with ; he was enjoying himself so thoroughly, he didn't hear the other man running from behind.

"Gotcha freak-AH!" The man smacked a hand to his neck, the small syringe jammed in a prominent vein. Before he could say more, Kuroobi was dragging his already limp and barely conscious body away, throwing him effortlessly headfirst into the nearest hard oak. Anandi winced at the loud crack; she knew a broken bone when she heard it, though she never really heard a skull break.

"Kuroobi-san, see, I can handle myself." she said as he continued to unlock the last fishman.

"What are you talking about? I killed him."

"But I knocked him out first."

"Uh, is this really the time?" Pen snapped; he crouched down to one of the children. "Hey, don't be scared, we're here to get you home."

"We?" It was Arlong who voiced the skeptical remark, but there was a hint of vague curiosity in it. "He says he afraid of our kind, yet he's helping us...what's his game?"

"Yeah, unless you all don't want me to show you the shortcut. Which way are you guys docked?"

"The east side, near the park area, but it's a ways away." Hatchan answered as he helped two fishmen who were having trouble standing. Arlong heaved one over his shoulder and began telling the captives how to proceed.

"Your shackles have been broken thanks to the Arlong Pirates. You will board our ship and we can take you closer to the Fishman Island; until then, we don't break ranks." his narrowed eyes scanned them all.

"Who are they?" One of the women asked timidly, her large eyes swiveling to Anandi and Pen as she held her child close.

Arlong's reassuring smile thinned. "The woman is our crew's doctor; she's here to prove her worth to us. The boy is a shrimp."

"Hey, I just disarmed and killed two of those scumbags." Pen reminded dully; his frown faltered as he felt his shirttail being tugged out. The other child was trying to get his attention.

"Are you a good guy?"

Pen shrugged his shoulders and grinned. "Usually."

"Now's not the time for chatting, we need to move before someone comes across these humans." Kuroobi looked at the dead bodies coldly.

Pen led them this time through the forest; it surrounded most of the town area. The group passed through tall trees nearly blocking out the sky. In no time it would soon be dark and Arlong hoped their guide wouldn't lead them astray; the night time coverage was useful, but they needed to be able to see the ship. The fishmen were huddled particularly close together; one of the women wept silently, steadily, her arms wrapped around her body. Anandi had already questioned them all for injuries, and most of them were suffering from fatigue and lack of food, none had been seriously harmed. She slowly made her way back to the group where the woman couldn't seem to hold in her trembling anymore.

"Ma'am, are you hurt?"

She started and looked away quickly with a deep frown. "Don't speak to me."

"I need to treat you if you're hurt."

"Why? This has nothing to do with you. Haven't your kind interfered with us enough?"

Anandi kept her expression passive. "Human or not, I'm the doctor here. If you're ill, then once we're back at the ship, I can have one of the others give you medicine if it's that much of an issue."

The woman kept silent, haunted gaze blank; she really didn't look much different from a human woman, with her soft figure and fine featured face. The only thing that gave it away was her body covered in silver scales, the gills peering out from her shirt collar, and her webbed hands and feet; her exposed arms and neck shone and flashed against the many bubbles reflection. If her conduct wasn't so hostile, Anandi might have asked her name, but it was unlikely she would receive an answer.

"If you wanted to help so bad, then why weren't you here earlier?"

Anandi looked at the fishmen's eyes; they were slowly pooling with tears.

"We saw them kill themselves. They didn't want to, but a life of slavery, being forced to do whatever those humans want...I can hardly bear to even think…" she chuckled thickly through her clogged throat. "You might as well be dead."

Anandi closed her eyes briefly and tried to put a hand on her shoulder, but it was shrugged away; she didn't look so angry now though. Just lost, confused.

"I'm sorry we couldn't have gotten to you sooner." Anandi said softly, but there was no further reply, she walked back up the front with Arlong, who kept his eyes roaming for enemies, and Pen, who cast her a glance but said nothing. Another ten minutes later, they were near the docks; Pisaro, Chew, and Shioyaki were practically hanging over the edge of the ship looking for them. The second Arlong was a foot away, the steps were lowered and the anchor pulled up; they would wait a while longer before rolling out their flag.

One by one Anandi examined and looked over the small bruises and the places the manacles had rubbed their skin raw. The children were fascinated with her tools, but moreso with Pen, who was cleaning the gun he had stolen off the other man.

"Mister, how can you shoot like that?"

"Like what?"

The younger child, a girl, giggled. "You took out the bad man so quick!"

"Yeah, my Papa can't aim that fast and he's a fishman!" the boy said loudly. "You're just a human!"

"Well, if you have hands and eyes, you can shoot." Pen grumbled half heartedly, but he rubbed his knuckles lightly on the boy's head just the same.

"Nyuu, I gotta say, for a shrimp, I wasn't expecting you to be so ruthless." Hatchan was busy handing out blankets and snacks for the fishmen to nibble on until Shioyaki and Pisaro finished dinner.

Pen blew his bangs out of his eye. "Thanks fishman."

"Come on, where'd you learn to fight like that?" Hatchan wanted to know.

"I've sort of lived around on my own for a long time. You've got to learn to defend yourself; unfortunately, I fell in with some guys who i thought I could get protection from. On the plus side, they taught me about this." Pen gave a half smile as he poked the gun's barrel.

"Don't tell me you're a pirate?" Kuroobi raised an eyebrow; Arlong and he were on deck and discussing the best route to let them go where it was unlikely they'd be captured again.

"No, just a gang of punks in one of the towns I stayed in for a bit. They mostly kept me around to run my scams for them to make dough."

Chew rubbed his chin. "Oh, that stacking power. That's pretty dumb, but I guess if you wanted to make quick money, it's perfect."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Pen chuckled. "So, I was wondering-"

A loud boom made everyone go quiet; Arlong stood to the side of the railway and scanned the ocean, but there were no other ships in sight and Sabaody was getting farther away. The explosion happened again, but this time they all had time to see it's source.

"Get down! The marines must have tracked us!' Anandi came up from her office; she was in the middle of getting more ointment for the chaffing when she heard the bombs. She dove down on the deck, but to her surprise, everyone else were still in their spots and staring at her.

"Didn't you hear it? Those are bombs!" she heard another one that seemed to be even closer.

"Uh, Anandi, you might want to get up and take a look." Pen pulled her to her feet; she was just about to slap his hands away until she saw the explosions of colors coming from the island.

"Wait, what?"

"Anandi-chan, haven't you seen fireworks?" Hatchan and Chew were laughing so hard they were leaning on each other; Kuroobi was even smirking at her and trying to hold in a chuckle. The rest of the fishmen seemed to cheer up slightly at her blunder, but Anandi was still confused.

"So, they won't hurt us?"

Arlong rolled his eyes. "Doc, surely on that little rock you call an island they have fireworks?"

She might've said some remark back, but she was too surprised to now; Arlong blinked as Anandi went over to the rail slowly, her hands gripping them as she watched the display with a furrowed brow.

Pen strolled over to watch. "They set them off sometimes at night; they're harmless, unless you get too close. You really haven't seen them?"

"No…"

Even as far as they were sailing from Sabaody, Anandi could clearly make out the shapes and colors; some of them turned to pinwheels, others exploded into peres that turned to little dots, some shot up in spirals, and when they disappeared, they faded slowly into what she assumed were embers. The colors were as varied as the shapes; red, yellow, pink, blue, green, purple. The one that made her gasp was gold; the sparks didn't just explode into a circle, but they cascaded down in long, gracefully sweeps.

"It's like it's raining fire. How…?"

Pen blinked. "Why are you crying?"

Anandi clamped her mouth shut and quickly rubbed the tears that began escaping. "I'm sorry. It's been one difficult day...we saved them and I know I should feel good, but…"

Anandi was thinking of her parents. How easy would it had been to have saved their lives with the right medicine and treatment; but she was too young and her town didn't have the resources. She thought of the merpeople; how easily they could have rescued them, but they just weren't fast enough, they couldn't locate them. People died in such excruciating ways, was what she had thought and known for a long time, but the worst part was when it was entirely avoidable.

Pen sighed and patted her shoulder before leaning on the railway. "It's tough to just choke down huh?"

"Yes, but I can't afford to get this way now. Honestly, I'm supposed to be a professional." Anandi laughed and shook her head wearily. "What would my parents say if they saw me as an adult crying like a baby?"

"They'd say just shut up and open your eyes."

Anandi felt a familiar hand on the back of her head, forcing her face upward; she glanced at Arlong out of the corner of her eyes. He put his hand down and looked out to the island that was slowly becoming smaller and smaller; it occurred to her that someday, this would be just a memory.

"You're one of us now. Look back once and never do so again Doc, not if you want to keep being our doctor. I know you're not some whiney shrimp."

"He's talking about me, isn't he…?" Pen kept his gaze ahead to the fireworks. "But he's trying to cheer her up? What a weird group."

Anandi found herself staring, eyes glued to the fireworks; for now she would soak in everything, the sights, the sounds, the smells, and everything she felt in that moment. She would remember it and keep it close to her heart in the journey to come.

But for now, they could afford to be at peace; the fishmen were alive and would soon be home again. The fishmen crew were serving up dinner as they watched the fading fireworks display, all of them swapping stories and news of their travels and what their plans were next. Normalcy was returning to them and someday, this scene would also be a far off memory. When they arrived back to Fishman Island, they would tell their story about their struggle and their liberation by the Arlong Pirates and the two humans they called allies.

Hatchan beamed as he stuffed down another hunk of roasted lamb. "Everyone's okay now. This feels like a new beginning for us….maybe I can start doing things to help...maybe we all can change, just a little bit."

He looked around at his crew and their guests; his eyes landed on Arlong for a second, but he soon did a double take.

That night, throughout the rest of the fireworks show he would watch on and off as Anandi stayed leaning on the side of the ship, gazing at them and the magical beauty of Sabaody Island in sheer awe and wonder, not unlike like they themselves had done so many times in their youth.

With a mixture of concern and mild shock, Hatchan observed the shadow of that look in his captain's narrow eyes, an oddly familiar yet unrecognizable gaze that never wavered from the face of their new doctor.