Instead of floating up to the surface in a stream of bubbles, her breath filled one bubble which grew, and grew, and grew. It enveloped Wendy, Takashi, and Torteau, who were tossed around by the swirling winds inside the bubble. Eventually the bubble completely enveloped the pagoda which crashed onto the ocean floor, water flooding out of every orifice. Even still the bubble grew until a large air-filled dome occupied the bottom of the bay. Wendy fell to the ground, prone and exhausted. "That's it, guys… That's all I can do…" Wendy couldn't stand up, she was too exhausted, but she couldn't sleep either. All she could do was watch as the events unfolded, "I just hope it's enough…"

"Flaming Ax Kick!" Brody kicked Natalie back down to the bottom of the flooded room as she burst through to the floor below.

"Then you're too late," she quietly replied.


Brody quickly turned to see Michael slowly sinking into this floor from the room above. Even if he still had any life in him, the entire ship was now completely submerged, with no possible air to revive him.

When the ship flooded as it submerged, it was like being hit by a tidal wave. But the sudden force surging throughout the now beached fortress was more akin to a hurricane sweeping through the halls. Doors were ripped off their hinges and furniture was tossed about if not completely destroyed.

In the galley, one floor below the engineering room, Brody and Natalie, who had used all their strength fighting the insane currents, slowly stood back up, dizzy and wracked with pain from the ordeal, neither one entirely sure what just happened.

Slowly they both regained their senses. Brody noticed he was breathing with lungs, not gills, and for a second he thought the ship had suddenly surfaced. A quick glance out the window revealed a wall of water on the ocean floor, suggesting otherwise. It wasn't the first time he'd seem this sort of phenomenon, but the usual cause of it was long dead.

"L-Linda? It can't be…" Natalie gasped out. Though there was a weak bit of hope in her voice, it was soon crushed by the logic of the situation, as Natalie as well as Brody quickly figured out the only possible cause of breathing air on the ocean floor, "That human girl. She did this! She did this with what she stole from Linda! I'll kill her!" Natalie flew into a rage again and launched herself for the exit only for her path to be obstructed by Brody once more.

"You won't," Brody took no fighting stance, but he blocked the one exit from the galley, "No one will, not while I can help it."

"Get out of my way, or I'll…" Natalie threatened.

"Go ahead," Brody stoically dared.

"Cement Slime!" Natalie threw a glob of gray slime at Brody which covered his body and solidified, "You won't be able to block or dodge with this binding you. Cement Slime Dagger!" Natalie formed another small gray blob, this staying in her hand and sculpting itself into a blade, "HERE I COME!" Natalie charged forward, dagger in hand, but Brody stood motionless.


"Hey! Hey, Natalie!" yelled a voice just outside a teenage Natalie's window.

"Huh?" Linda and a still sobbing Natalie went to the window.

On the street below was Brody and several other muscular fishmen, all surrounding a skinny, beat-up little teenager, "Oh geez, not again…"Linda shook her head in shame.

Natalie watched in confusion as Brody elbowed the battered, skinny little man. He got pushed forward, at which point he looked up and slowly spoke, "I-I'm really sorry about earlier, Natalie. I'm such a jerk. I'd beg for your forgiveness, but I know I'm unworthy of it because I'm a no good sleaze-ball. Also, you're the most beautiful woman I've ever met," When he was done, the little man turned to Brody and cowardly squeaked, "There, can I go now?"

"That's enough, Brody. You can't just go around beating up and threatening everyone, even if they are jerks," Linda scolded.

Brody crossed his arms as he looked down on the little man, "I don't know. Natalie, want me to rough this guy up a little more?"

Natalie sniffed, "Maybe just a little…"

"Nattie!"

Brody grinned wide, baring his large shark teeth for the little man to cower at even more, "All right, Jonny, it's your lucky day! We're having a special on knuckle sandwiches!"


"What do you mean you want me to be a navigator?" An older Natalie was interrupted from her book by Brody who was standing on the deck of this old pagoda-esque ship.

"I really don't know how to explain it more plainly than that," replied Brody.

"On that old rust bucket? No thanks."

"Hey, watch your language! This baby's a war veteran!" Brody lovingly polished the wood of the deck. It took him weeks and lot of help from friends to restore this ship.

"It has to survive a war in order to be considered a veteran of it," said Natalie cynically.

"Aw, come on, Nattie," Linda hopped up and sat on the deck rails, "It won't be the same otherwise unless all our friends come with. Besides, if you don't come, then Brody will have to navigate and then we'll be asking every fish we come across for directions." Brody opened his mouth to protest, but Linda quietly slapped his wrist without looking. Brody remained quiet.

Although Natalie did her best to appear disinterested, she blushed a little bit at the thought of actually being praised for something. "Tch, fine. If only because otherwise you'd never let me hear the end of it." Natalie made her way onto the rickety old ship as Brody, Linda, and the other fishmen on board cheered.


Natalie thrust the blade forward and stabbed Brody right in the gut. Even as blood dripped out of the wound, Brody didn't move or flinch. "Why won't you fight back? You'll die if you don't!" Natalie drew her weapon and frantically stabbed Brody again and again, each time drawing more blood, but still each wound was superficial, whether or not she realized it. Tears streamed from Natalie's eyes even as she hysterically continued stabbing Brody.

Despite several gashes in his sides, Brody stood his ground, only barely wincing between attacks, "I don't care. I won't hurt you," At this rate, Natalie's rage outdid her exhaustion, and the dagger plunged towards Brody's heart, Brody still not moving.

"Aye, but I will." Both Brody and Natalie looked up in surprise. At some point, Michael had jumped up onto Natalie's shell and was straddling it, both hands around the trigger of one of his Boomers and pointing it straight at Natalie's face, "Miss me, monster?" Michael grinned as he pulled the trigger. Instead of an explosion, a soft poof signaled a cloud of white powder being blasted into Natalie's face. At first, the white powder which settled on everyone, seemed to be harmless.

"Wh-what?" Suddenly, Natalie clutched her face, screaming in agony as the powder burned away at every inch of her skin.

"Winner: Michael!" Michael merrily hopped down from the shell as Natalie collapsed to the ground in pain, Brody rendered speechless in shock and horror, "I sure got lucky. Found a sealed, waterproof pantry with a clean rag to dry me Boomer. No gunpowder though, so I had to make do with what I could find. Fortunately, fighting a sea slug isn't as bad when you have a few bags of pure salt to throw on it."

"It burns…" Natalie whimpered, covering her face on the floor.

"Natalie!" Brody effortlessly broke through the cement block binding him, shoved Michael aside, and rushed to Natalie's side.

"I'm so ugly… you couldn't even love me… over a human…" Her voice grew weaker as she spoke.

"Sh, Nattie," Brody whispered, "I do love you. Like a sister."

Michael stood up and brushed himself off, indignantly shouting, "Hey there, how about a 'Thanks for saving me life, Michael' or even a 'Good job beatin' the sea monster, Michael?' Too much to ask?"

Brody shot Michael an icy glare that the latter either didn't notice or didn't respond to. He wanted to give Michael a piece of his mind, but there were more important matters at the moment, "Pick up her shell. We need to get her to a doctor, either mine or yours."

Michael crossed his arms obstinately, "An' why would I want to do somethin' like that?"

"Either you help and carry her shell or you carry the burnt, slimy end."

Michael twitched and reluctantly bent over to pick up the shell, larger than he was, "Bloody hate ye," The shell was so large and heavy Michael felt like he was moving heavy machinery, "Oy, what does she have in here, a kitchen sink?"

"I think so actually," The two working together to carry Natalie, they both ran off as fast as they could.


"There's no escape! Fishman Santoryuu: Three Thousand Underwater Worlds!" Jude was engulfed in the center of the vortex taking the full brunt, as it felt like thousands of sharp teeth rended his flesh, until everything finally went dark.

Xiphias eyed the now unmoving human body in the water, and slightly bowed, "You may have been human, and a very annoying one at that, but your swordsmanship, while strange, was admirable. I will give you the honor of a warrior's death."


Xiphias had dug his blade into the floor of the main hall in order to not get swept away by the raging currents. The swirling whirlpool quickly drained out into a cyclone of spinning winds. When the air finally settled, Xiphias slowly stood up, trying to discern his situation.

"Ugh… What was that?" Xiphias grabbed hold of the communication pipe in the wall, "Natalie, status report!"

Silence.

"Natalie! Natalie, are you there? Damn!" Xiphias punched the wall as it collapsed from all the structural damage, "That almost seemed like Linda's power, but that's impossible…" Surveying the scene, Xiphias found the hall to be littered with holes to the outside of the ship. All the wounded fishmen from before were now gone, but Xiphias did notice several of the new holes in the ship to be distinctly fishman-shaped, "Everyone else must have been thrown from the building from that. Without the strength to fight the current it's no wonder they got tossed from the ship. Which is probably for the best. Now instead of being unnecessary casualties, they'll hopefully stay out of the battlefield long enough to heal. Speaking of which," Xiphias turned his eye to the one other soul in the room, the human slowly stood up, covered in cuts and bruises.

Jude sighed, "How annoying. I better get these treated soon. If any of these cuts should leave a scar on my flawless body my fans will never forgive themselves," the actor dusted himself off, picked up his now sheathed rapier and started walking towards the exit.

"I don't know how, but it looks like you still have some life in you yet, human," Xiphias took his fighting stance, eager to finish the duel, "Now draw your weapon so we can finish this!"

"Pass," Jude disinterestedly waved him off.

"Wh-what?" Xiphias stood flabbergasted.

Jude shrugged, "The audience has left. The show's over. I don't perform for an empty house."

"Show? Do not make light of me, human! I defeated you once, I can do so again!"

"Oh dear, I think there's been a misunderstanding," Jude stopped and calmly explained, "See, I was just doing my job, providing entertainment for my adoring masses. Our performance was a wonderful display of showmanship. The audience was simply swept away," Jude beamed proudly, "Though now that they're literally swept away it wouldn't be much fun to defeat you in private. How unfortunate, the audience left right before the climax," Jude tapped his chin thoughtfully, pondering his performance.

Xiphias was fuming at Jude's insinuations, "Don't think you can pretend it was all a big joke! I had already dealt you the finishing blow!"

"Of course you did," Jude rolled his eyes, having to explain the concept of acting to an amateur, "I told you, at the end of the play, the hero dies. It wouldn't make much narrative sense if I were to easily trounce you here. Besides," Jude smiled coldly at the swordfishman, "Isn't that the type of performance you and your people wanted? One where the human loses to the sea monster?"

"That's it! You will pay for your insolence!" Xiphias retook his fighting stance, "If you will not face me, then you will die a coward's death!" Dipping his bladed nose in the pool of water on the floor, Xiphias spun around as the water mixed with a spiral shockwave and launched forward, the end of which seemed to have the head and jaws of a serpent, "Sea Serpent Strike!"

Jude shook his head and calmly grasped the hilt of his rapier, "You're doing it wrong."

"What?"

"This is how that attack is done," Jude gracefully spun in place, quickly unsheathing his rapier and launching a thin, spiral shockwave to meet Xiphias's attack, "Tempest Dance!" Jude's shockwave effortlessly shattered Xiphias's attack and enveloped the swordfishman, lifting him into the air from the sheer force. Xiphias could feel multiple blades cutting up his body, not randomly, but spiral cuts that ran across his limbs and up his entire body in perfect synchronization. By the time the attack was done, Jude had already sheathed his sword. Xiphias fell limp to the ground, defeated, but Jude only seemed annoyed.

"See? Now, look what you've done. The action scene's done with and there isn't a single audience member to be impressed," he scratched his chin as he thought out loud to himself, "Oh well, I suppose this means I could embellish the story for later. I was planning to do so anyway, this just gives me more creative liberty. A great story about how a swordsman prevails against a crew of vicious, merciless sea monsters and their captain without even a pair of shoes or a shirt on his back, the ultimate underdog tale of the pauper prevailing over his plight," On the ground, Xiphias weakly chuckled, distracting Jude from his thoughts, "Is something humorous? I fail to see the punch line,"

"Your assumption that I'm the captain," came the weak reply.

Jude rolled his eyes, "Well, obviously Brody is, or was, the captain, and from what I gather you're the first mate. At least before, but since Brody's gone that would make you the acting captain, or at least the ringleader of this little operation."

"You are very wrong, human," Jude raised an eyebrow, intrigued, as Xiphias continued, "Tiburones Gemelos means Twin Sharks and, if you were to include Brody, we had two captains before. Now we have just the one…"

Meanwhile, outside the ship in the giant air dome, Takashi stared down his now armless opponent, making sure the crab didn't have any other tricks up his sleeve, even if those sleeves were now separated from his body. Suddenly a great shadow blocked out the sun, and Takashi, Torteau, and Wendy looked up to see a large serpentine shape get closer and closer.

At first, Takashi thought a sea king was about to attack them, which wasn't a far off assumption. When the shape got close enough it erupted through the dome, proving to indeed be a sea king, but instead of launching itself at nearby prey, the sea king collapsed onto the ocean floor, dead.

The metal sheen and long narrow nose gave it away as La Espada, Sword of the Sea, and local terrifying sea monster, at least it was. Holding onto the beast by the tip of the nose was a hulking fishman, far larger than even Brody was, and much more menacing with a constant feral look in his eyes. His hair was badly managed into a spiky mohawk. On his shoulder was a tattoo of the jolly roger for the Tiburones Gemelos, two sharks circling a whirlpool. He didn't wear much, only a ripped leather jacket several sizes too small that on someone even like Hammie or Brody would still only be the size of a large overcoat. The only thing on his legs were tattered blue swim trunks that didn't go past the thigh. It was easy to see why, as on the back of both of his legs the cartilage angled to a point, turning both legs into two giant cartilage blades.

Takashi looked on in interest, easily able to recognize a much worthier opponent than the cowardly crab, who was doing more cowering now than ever. The new arrival surveyed the scene annoyed as Torteau, his entire body shaking in fear, in an attempt to greet the boss, only managed to squeak out his name,

"C-Captain Kitsushi!"

Author's Notes: So I was hoping to make up for lost time by posting three chapters at once, but I'm still on Chapter 14, which is turning out to be so long I'll probably have to split it into two chapters on its own. Expect Chapter 13 to be up soon though!