A bit of clarification: What I meant when saying that even with devil fruits the Straw Hats are like normal humans in Atlantis, what I meant was that a gods (or goddesses) power is stronger than any of the powers the Straw Hats possess at the moment. But the fact that they still have Devil Fruit abilities still applies fully (meaning Luffy's still rubber, Zetsumei can still do her pressure point thing, Brook is still alive, etc.) Make sense? Good! Onto the chapter!
After the match had been abruptly stopped by the goddess Aphrodite, the Straw Hats had been taken back to the palace where Chopper proceeded to take care of Zetsumei's injuries (Despoina and Arion had gone home). Although, Zetsumei was reluctant at first, but after Chopper, Usopp, and Nami scolded her, she decided refusing a second time would pose too much of a hassle. But what posed more of a hassle to Zetsumei more than anything was the talking chef that continued to hug her, constantly repeating how happy he was that she was safe and sound. He also kept saying how much he was going to beat up Ares if he ever saw him again.
"Ow!" Zetsumei winced, pulling away from Chopper when he pressed too hard against her cheek.
"Oh, sorry, Zetsumei," Chopper said with a nervous smile. He then applied the Band-Aid to Zetsumei's cheek gently, then pulled away to look at his progress. "All done!"
"How are you feeling?" Aphrodite asked, leaning in closely next to the girl. "I know my husband could pack quite the punch."
Zetsumei flexed her jaw a bit. "Still feels like my jaw is getting hit with a hammer… But I'll be fine."
Aphrodite searched through her small purse before pulling out a small vile of blue liquid and handing it to Zetsumei. "Here, this will help get rid of the pain and bring down the swelling."
Zetsumei took the vile reluctantly and stared at it for a moment before downing the whole thing quickly. It seemed to be fast acting, so she felt the effects rather quickly. She soon felt like she had never been punched in the first place.
"I apologize again for my husband," Aphrodite said, looking towards the others. "Ares can be very…conceded…when he gets into a competition."
"I think we're just lucky you stepped in when you did, Aphrodite-san," Nami said, smiling to the older woman. "Thank you."
"Oh it was nothing," Aphrodite said, smiling kindly. She soon latched onto Zetsumei, making the former marines face fall straight into her chest. Zetsumei struggled, but was unable to get away from the goddess and her killer grip that was beginning to pop her back. "I just couldn't allow such a lovely blossom to get harmed! Especially one who has such a fascinating love ahead of her!"
"Uh…" Usopp stuttered, trying to find the right words he wanted to say, but he wasn't able to say anything because Aphrodite had suddenly jumped to her feet and began clapping gleefully.
"Oh, I know!" Aphrodite said, clasping her hands together. "To make it up to all of you, why don't all of you join my siblings and I for dinner this evening? Hm?"
"Have dinner with the gods?" Robin questioned, looking a bit surprised. "That's quite an honor."
"It's the least we can do after what happened," Aphrodite said with a polite smile.
"We would love to join you for dinner, Aphrodite-sama!" Sanji shouted, hearts in his eyes as he spun around in affection for the goddess. At this, most of his friends rolled their eyes and sighed, knowing that he was all for this idea. But it wasn't his decision, it was Luffy's.
"What do you think, Luffy?" Nami asked, looking towards her captain. For the past few minutes he had been oddly fascinated with this statue of armor who he swore had moved when they all walked in.
"Sure," Luffy said, turning around and smiling, "I don't see any reason not to. Plus it's free food!"
"Oh, joy!" Aphrodite said, jumping up and down. "Dinner starts in two hours, but before then…" Aphrodite pointed to the three girls, who had all gathered together. "You three need to get changed into something more appropriate!" Aphrodite tapped her chin, smiling. "And I have just the things that could work."
"And what about us, Aphrodite-san?" Brook asked.
Aphrodite turned around and looked over the boys, humming thoughtfully to herself. "I'll let Dionysus deal with you." Aphrodite soon grabbed the three girls, ushering them out of the room. "All right boys, stay here until I send Dionysus. We'll meet you in the Dining room!" Aphrodite then left, slamming the door behind her and the three female Straw Hats.
"Anyone else really confused?" Usopp asked, scratching his cheek. His fellow friends all nodded in agreement, staring at the door that had just shut.
Diner:
"Where the hell are they?" Zoro grumbled, rubbing his head. He and the others had been sitting at the round, marble, table with Poseidon and the other gods and goddesses, waiting for their three friends and Aphrodite to return, for almost half an hour now. Sure, it wasn't that long, but considering he and the others were forced to wear the same garments as everyone else in the city, it was a bit embarrassing. Let's just say they didn't like feeling like they were wearing really long dresses.
"Maybe something went wrong?" Chopper questioned, looking to Usopp who was sitting right next to him. Next to Usopp was an empty chair, and next to that was Luffy, of course, who sat next to Poseidon. On Poseidon's left was another blank chair that was for Aphrodite, and next to that was Ares, Eros, Triton (Poseidon's son, and prince of Atlantis), Zeus, Hermes, another empty seat, Zoro, Sanji, yet another empty seat, Brook, Hera, Hades, and Hestia who was on the other side of Chopper.
"I wouldn't worry too much about it," Hestia had spoken up, over hearing the concerned pirates. "Aphrodite does this quite often. It shouldn't be long before they all return."
"I'm a bit worried though," Sanji said, crossing his arms and trying to settle himself from all the worrying he was doing. "Maybe we should go look for them?" As soon as Sanji had suggested that, the door to the dining room opened and the missing girls had walk in.
"Apologies!" Aphrodite said with a smile as she ushered the three transformed females into the room. "It took a bit longer than I expected."
Poseidon stood to his feet and smiled at the three new women. "Welcome! You must be the three we've been waiting for."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Your Highness," Robin said, giving a small (simi-sarcastic) bow as she introduced herself. Robin was wearing a beautiful silk dress that was the color of a light purple (her favorite) with her hair still down and draped over her shoulders. She had a silver necklace that was around her neck and that reached, almost, down to her cleavage, with silver earrings to match. Her lips were coated in a purple gloss and her eye lids coated in a dark purple to bring out her eyes, much like Nami and Zetsumei's lip-glosses and eye-shadows were to match their dresses.
Nami was the next to introduce herself to Atlantis's king. She was wearing a similar style dress as Robin's (a silk dress that dressed one shoulder and left the other bare) that is in a light orange. Her hair was pulled back into a bun, allowing the ruby buds on her ears to show, and allowed the flower pinning her dress together to show on her shoulder. It also allowed the boys to see her yellow eye-shadow and lip-gloss clearly, which made her facial features stand out considerable.
"And I'm Zetsumei, it's a pleasure to meet you, Sea King." Zetsumei seemed to be the one who had went through the most change, surprising most of her friends by her feminine features. She wore a gold dress with a red ribbon tide under her breasts, allowing they're large size to be seen clearly, and she had a sapphire pined to her left shoulder (to hold the dress together). Around her neck she had a white choker and dangling from her ears were silver earrings like Robin's that were allowed to be seen from her black hair being in a high ponytail, having the hair curled and falling down for the tips to touch her neck while her bangs were brushed to the side. Her eyes seemed to stand out more due to the dark gray eye shadow and her lips seemed even fuller with the clear gloss coating them.
"Please, take your seats," Poseidon said, holding out a chair for Nami, who smiled gratefully and took it.
Robin smiled politely at Hermes who had held out the chair next to himself for her, while Zetsumei took the empty chair next to Sanji and Brook. As soon as Zetsumei had reached her chair, and was about to pull it out herself, but was startled when Sanji suddenly jumped to his feet (having finally broken from his thoughts and shock) and pulled out the chair for her.
"Mademoiselle," Sanji said, bowing slightly as he motioned for Zetsumei to sit down.
Zetsumei stared at Sanji for a moment, looking him over because of the strange outfit he had to wear, and she soon began holding back a laugh. This surprised the chef a bit.
"T-Thanks, Black Leg," Zetsumei said, sitting down in the chair, still holding back her laugh until she couldn't any longer. That's when she began chuckling silently to herself.
"Something wrong, Zetsumei-san?" Sanji asked, reclaiming his chair.
"Maybe she's laughing at your retarded outfit," Zoro scoffed from next to him.
Sanji glared at the swordsman. "You're wearing the same thing, Idiot!"
Luckily, this argument between the chef and swordsman didn't last very long because it had nowhere to go from there. Their attention drew from each other and went to the people around them, along with the amazing seafood meal prepared throughout the table.
"Zetsumei," Chopper spoke up, drawing the fighter's attention. Zetsumei looked up and towards the reindeer's smiling, and slightly blushing, face. "You look really pretty in that dress!"
"Yeah," Usopp said, stopping a moment from filling his plate with the wonderful food. "It's the first time we've seen you in a dress."
"She still looks like an idiot to me," Zoro said, taking a bite of his salmon.
Zetsumei's eye flinched. "You say something, Miss Roronoa?"
Zoro's face flushed bright red and he had found himself speechless for once.
"But I do agree with the others," Brook said from beside Zetsumei, drawing her gaze towards him now, "you love ravishing in that dress." Brook looked towards Nami and Robin. "All of you do!"
Nami and Robin smiled at Brook, thanking him, before Nami had to get back to yelling at Luffy about his manners and Robin continued to talk with Hermes, Zeus, and Hera about Atlantis. She seemed so wrapped up in the history of the place, but that was to be expected.
"By the way, Zetsumei-san," Brook said once again, "perhaps later you would allow me to see-"
"In your dreams!" Sanji shouted, reaching behind the chair and shoving Brook away before he could even finish his sentence. After that, he began fawning over Zetsumei like he usually did, which no one really took a mind to. Even Zetsumei had continued to eat in peace, completely ignoring Sanji; however, she did take those few times to speak with him, but that usually started up the heart-throb moments all over again, which made her go silent again.
Aphrodite, however, couldn't stop wondering to herself how he plan had failed. Her matchmaking techniques never failed, until now. She had hoped the chef would have done something after seeing Zetsumei dressed the way she was, considering that Aphrodite had made Zetsumei wear one of her enchanted dresses, but the chef hadn't done anything. In fact, he was acting the same way he did around her or any other female he had met.
"Did your plan not work, Aphrodite?" Poseidon asked, pausing a moment from his meal.
"I don't understand," Aphrodite said, pouting as she watched the two chat with Zetsumei glaring at the chef for his fawning. "He should be head-over-heels for her, swooping her off her feet right now… But…" Aphrodite sighed and turned back to her meal. "Perhaps I've gotten rusty in my matchmaking…" Aphrodite looked to her brother. "The thread says they're destined to be…but…"
"But what, Mother?" Eros asked, looking past his father.
"There are so many tangles in their thread," Aphrodite said, putting a hand to her cheek and looking to her soon, concerned. "Considering how many tangles there are, it's possible their fate with each other will never happen." Aphrodite frowned and looked up towards the ceiling. "And they were so perfect for each other…"
Everyone was suddenly startled from their chatting when the doors to the dining room suddenly barged open, having a guard run through them shouting, "Your Majesty, there's been an incident!"
"Can't this wait?" Poseidon shouted, drawing the Straw Hat crew's attention. "We're in the middle-"
"I'm afraid this can't wait, Your Majesty!" the guard said franticly. "You see…" the guard suddenly bowed. "Your Trident has been stolen!"
The gods and goddesses at the table all froze in shock, a few even noticeably paling at the words. Things had taken a turn for the worse.
Quite a strange chapter, but I do hope you all enjoyed. I do hope everyone had/has a wonderful Thanksgiving. Thank you so much for reading and I'll see you all next chapter!
If you have any further questions or such, just go to my page on Tumblr and I'll be happy to answer them. Love to hear from all of you! See you all next time! Thank you!