I have a slight case of writer's block. For you, this means short chapters which are not written as well as they might have been, and you're not meeting the spirit of the Baratie until next week. I also changed the colour-scheme of the Baratie from white-green-orange to just white-orange, because green and orange is a terrible colour scheme. This is probably the scale of any universe alteration you will see in this series though.


The ship that appeared before them was unlike anything Merry had ever imagined. More than a ship, it looked like a cross between a fancy building, a tiered cake and a fish. It also managed to be both bright orange and classy, somehow. Really, anything that managed to stay classy with a giant fish head sticking out of its side deserved respect. Unfortunately, as she was distracted by the floating restaurant, she only noticed the other ship when her crew did. The marine ship. The one that was currently very much within firing distance.

The seagull had told her about marine ships. That they were practically mass-produced and had enough turnover of crew to never get properly attached. That their lives led to them being loyal, yet empty ships, rarely with well-developed souls. Nothing she had been told could have prepared her for the spirit standing at the bow of that ship.

It was definitely female, if remarkably masculine. She was tall, muscular and had short, mousy hair. She wore a camo suit more reminiscent of military than navy uniforms, and was armed with more guns than Merry had seen in her life, one of which was pointed straight at Merry's crew. Still, the firepower managed not to be the scariest thing about her. The scariest thing was her expression. Her face was blank, emotionless. When the seagull said empty, Merry had imagined ships without spirits at all, but that might have been better. This spirit was empty. There was only a sliver of a soul peeking out from behind those eyes.

In her arms, Merry still held Lucille. Now she let go and the little spirit snapped back to her own body. A marine who introduced himself as lieutenant Fullbody appeared, and Merry trembled slightly. She had no time to hesitate, no time to be scared. Her job as a pirate ship included protecting her crew from monsters, and if this did not count as a monster, she did not want to see what did.

Merry watched the proceedings carefully. Not once did the creature posing as a ship drop her aim. Not during the lieutenant's introduction. Not when the bounty hunter duo attacked, nor when they were effortlessly knocked back. Not even when Fullbody was dragged away by a pretty woman and claimed to have more important things to deal with. Merry was not surprised when he ordered his men to fire seconds later.

The creature pulled the trigger.

Tense as she was, the next few moments seemed to pass in slow motion. The cannon fired. The crew gasped in fright as roughly eight kilos of iron flew towards them with explosive force, but Luffy, quick as his animal namesake, jumped onto the railing in its path. He inflated, Fullbody nearly choked, and the cannonball was harmlessly bounced back. It flew in a lazy arc right past the intended target.

Right through the roof of the restaurant.

|Oh seas,| Merry swore to herself.

She had thought the soulless military ship would be the scariest thing she would see that day. Looking into the eyes of the very angry, very scary spirit of a very silly-looking restaurant, she realized she had been wrong.


Look, I don't want to be begging for reviews, But I need feedback. I currently have only one regular reviewer (you're a great person Zuzu) but I know around forty people read each chapter, I need to know what you think! What am I doing well? What can I do better? What do you want? I'm pretty sure milestone reviewers (50th 100th etc.) might get special chapters dedicated, just because. Aside from all that though, just a "Hi, I like your story." or "I like that character." means a lot to me personally. Granted, just knowing someone's still reading at chapter 12 means a lot, but a review is that little extra, you know? I love you all either way. See you next week!