Hello, everyone! Here's another chapter for you all!
This is another chapter that has plagued me from the get go. I couldn't really decide on what I should do at first, and even when I did, I realized that the New Fishman Pirates' personalities were so... dull. Racist, self-absorbed, zealots don't have much of a personality, and it's hard to capture any character trait aside from villain. I mean, I changed Arlong for the worse, but he at least showed an interest in Nami. With these guys? They don't care about anything aside from themselves and killing humans, so they're rather boring characters and I would much prefer to not do anything with them aside from beat them down.
If that's TL;DR or whatever, then it's basically me blaming the Fishman pirates for being boring.
Hope you enjoy!
I do not own One Piece as that belongs to Eiichiro Oda, Toei, and whoever else that owns it.
"Stop the palace!"
"Evacuate the city!"
"Who's responsible for this!?"
The cries of the palace guards continued as they did the best they could on such short notice. The giant bubble that had surrounded the palace was too strong for most things to handle, but the enormous seaking had ripped through it with ease.
Now the royal guard of the Ryugu Palace had to defend their home against their own castle.
"Where are the Straw Hats? I believe that they're in more immediate danger." Fukaboshi, the eldest son asked some of the guards. It wasn't that he cared more about the humans, but he felt that they, the hosts, were responsible for the well being of their guests as well as their subjects.
The guards had not been able to answer the prince and he had to return to his father for more information.
"Father!" The King, Neptune, had been overseeing the movement of the palace while his sons attended to other, important tasks.
The water pressure didn't directly affect the palace or most of its inhabitants. The seakings that attacked it had broken off pieces of the palace, and the size of those pieces ranged from small rooms to chunks as large as half of Ryugu Palace's famed gardens.
"We have some seabeasts moving the palace pieces to avoid the main land of Fishman Island. My brothers are busy with evacuation and containment of the seakings."
"If containment is impossible, either lure them away or destroy them." The King looked to his son, "Have you found the Straw Hats?"
"No, not yet."
"If you do, take them to their ship, or to the forest. It wouldn't do any good having them in a city that might be destroyed."
"How would taking them to their ship be better?"
"We can use the air tank to temporarily coat their ship. We have already used it for the largest palace piece, but it's too risky using it more than necessary."
"Yes, Father." Neptune was about to leave his son to his responsibilities, but he grabbed his arm when something caught his eye.
"That piece there." He pointed with his other hand, "Is that a bubble?"
Fukaboshi looked and saw what his father had noticed. A large and unstable bubble was narrowly avoiding chunks of the palace as it struggled to make the journey to Fishman Island.
"Take this." Fukaboshi accepted the the bubble coral that his father handed him and swam to the bubble.
When the prince reached the bubble, he found the Straw Hats in a cramped and dangerous situation. He didn't question how they were in a bubble, as that could wait, and he provided a better one with the bubble coral.
The humans, reindeer, and skeleton all took deep breaths as their own bubble collapsed as the stronger one formed around them.
"Th...Thank you." Robin squeaked out as she could finally rest. She had to use some hands to keep certain body parts of her family from popping the bubble and to avoid the larger pieces of rubble from the palace.
"You're welcome. How did you manage to form a bubble down here?"
"That would be us..." Usopp raised his hand and pointed at himself and Franky. Though the bubble was still crowded, it was much better than the previous one, and everyone could actually read.
"We had some of Sabody's resin, and it was what we used to make that awful thing..."
"But bubbles from Sabody can only exist in its atmosphere. It shouldn't be capable of forming anywhere else."
"I still remember the conditions from the archipelago." Nami spoke up, showing her Clima-Tact, "I was able to make it similar, but it wasn't as good as it could have been. It's hard when certain atmospheric elements aren't available, but thankfully, Usopp here has plants that contain certain gasses...and it doesn't matter. Thanks for saving us!"
"...Impressive. I'm glad that you have survived, but I don't see "Straw Hat" Luffy here. The Princess was also missing. Do you know anything about this?"
The pirates realized that Fukaboshi still had not moved them closer to the island. In fact, he looked ready to abandon them here if he so much as suspected them of kidnapping the princess.
"I believe you know why the seakings attacked the palace." Robin spoke up, though the others didn't know what she was planning. It was a gamble, but she had seen a mermaid rush out of the room Luffy had entered, and the shockwave before the seakings had attacked might have come from the mermaid.
The prince stared at the humans in the bubble, until he turned and started carrying it back to Fishman Island.
"I do. I cannot simply say that your captain kidnapped my sister, but please understand that there will be swift and just retribution if "Straw Hat" Luffy has harmed her."
"It's Luffy! She'll be fine!" Usopp waved the prince's concerns off, but when he took a look at the merman, he flinched as he was glared at.
"You speak of the man whom we think will destroy our home. There is also the issue of a pirate named Decken who can attack the princess from anywhere."
Usopp started to pale as he forgot about Fishman Island's prediction about his captain.
"...Does Decken throw axes with roses on them?"
"Yes."
"Oh my..." Robin sighed as she remembered the axe that started all of this.
"What is it? Where have you seen one of his weapons?"
"It's...nothing, but Luffy will protect the princess." The historian didn't want to add that the princess had attacked Luffy first, and the rubberman doesn't respond to physical threats very well.
"He's not the type of person who would fight someone weaker than himself."
"...Do not underestimate my sister. I will believe your word, for now, as you know him better than we do." He started to take them away from the palace, "But make no mistake. If he harms my sister, no force in this world will protect you from the deep sea."
Fukaboshi took the Straw Hats to their ship, and he told them that they would coat their ship in a bubble, but someone started talking through the city, using Den Den Mushi to make an announcement.
"Citizens of Fishman Island!" From the voice, it was hard to tell who it was, but to Nami, the man sounded eerily like Arlong, "As you can see, Ryugu Palace has been destroyed! I, Hody, have taken the princes hostage, and will execute them unless the King brings his useless self to Gyoncorde Plaza! After the princes die, and he still hasn't shown his cowardly self, we will slowly execute the citizens!"
"My brothers...!" Fukaboshi grasped his trident in worry, "I'm afraid that we must part here. It seems that a group of insurgents would dare take advantage of our panic..."
"It's alright, Prince-san. You have helped us greatly, which we won't soon forget." Brook called out as the prince left.
"Until you remember that you wanted to see if mermaids had panties."
"Yohohoho..."Brook coughed a bit in embarrassment, as Nami was right.
"Hey, Sanji is still in big trouble!" The others turned to Chopper as he held the limp cook in his hooves.
"Then let us pay our last respects before he passes."
"Stop that! This is pretty serious! He's already lost too much blood!"
"Eh...he kinda bled all over us in that bubble..."
"Not you too, Franky...!"
"That's why I said for us to finally let him rest! How pathetic is that, to die from seeing these two half naked?!"
The swordsman gave emphasis to his statement by pointing at Nami and Robin, who were still only very little clothing.
"I don't know whether to be insulted or to agree with you..." Nami muttered as she dropped Zoro with a punch.
"You've already hit me! What the hell!"
"Robin? What do you think we should do?"
The Straw Hats looked to Robin, who was analyzing the damage done to her nightgown, for answers.
"...That's a rather difficult question." She pondered for a moment before coming to a conclusion.
"We should split up for now. Our objectives are to find help for Sanji, make sure that Sunny-chan can take us out if we need to escape, and to help Fishman Island with their coup problem."
"Why should we help them? They're only a small step away from being hostile to us."
"Gaining their favor would do us no harm, Zoro. It will also ensure that we have a way out if we're not able to escape. As the prince stated, there's nothing to protect us from the ocean other than them."
"Hm...alright. I agree. But there's no way in hell that I'll help that shitty cook recover."
"Usopp-san and Robin-san are universal donors, aren't they? Are you two able to help him?"
"I wish I could, but I have the wrong type. Robin's the universal one."
"...It's best if I don't give him my blood. He might explode."
"Explode?!" Some of them jumped from that picture.
"Yes, he might explode violently."
"That image was completely unnecessary..." Usopp muttered, but walked over to Chopper and hoisted the cook on his shoulders, "I'll help Chopper find a donor! Good luck with the fighting!"
"You sure you'll be okay? There might be a ton of those man-eating seakings out there."
Usopp's leg shook for only a fraction of a second before he straightened up.
"That's fine! Chopper and I are a lot stronger than some seakings! Right, Chopper?"
"Uuu...I really don't want to fight seakings, but we'll be okay!"
Zoro thought the two had really grown since he had last seen them, and he looked to Franky as he tried to ignore Robin giving Chopper a comforting hug.
"What about the ship? Is there any way for it to get a coating?"
"Unfortunately, I don't know how to apply it and I don't have the materials. The most I can do is move the Thousand Sunny to help with the fighting, so I'll stay here and wait for a signal."
"Signal?"
"Ah, I can handle that." Robin spoke after she was finished seeing Usopp, Sanji, and Chopper off, "I'll give you a signal when you can move Sunny-chan."
"The rest of us will go help the king?" Nami sighed, "I really wish we were doing this for profit. Maybe we can get some sort of reward for our services?"
"Ufufufu...helping out for a reward isn't actually helping."
"We're pirates! Of course we wouldn't do anything if we didn't want to do! A reward is only natural in a situation like this."
"I don't care about a reward. I only hope that there's a challenge over there."
"Yohohoho...perhaps we can learn and teach each other a few things, Zoro-san?"
"Oh? Sounds interesting!"
Zoro, Nami, Robin, and Brook left Franky to adjust the Thousand Sunny's position for when he could launch the ship.
"Ah, we need to change. We'll only take a second."
"What?! Hurry the hell up!"
"I wouldn't mind if you two remained the way you were..."
The two ladies changed, while the two men followed behind, albeit a little slower since they were hit by Nami.
They did run into a few seakings, but they were quickly decimated. Nami allowed the other three to take care of them, while she did send a few lighting bolts herself to roast some.
"So, when should we help them? Do we rush in, or...?"
"We should wait until they need our help, and then rush in to save them!"
"Wait a minute...you witch! You've done that before!"
"What? When have I done such a thing?"
"D-Don't give me those innocent eyes! Back on Whiskey Peak, you waited until Vivi needed our help before you agreed to do anything!"
"They still owe us a billion belli."
"Um...Robin-san?" The other two listened in on the argument as they kept running, "Do you know what they're talking about?"
"No idea."
"Ah, okay." He didn't notice the lie.
"But I do think that Nami-chan is right. We should wait until it appears that they need help. Otherwise, we may just be getting in the way."
The three agreed, and they made their way to where Robin said the royalty were. It seemed as though civilians were also there as Robin stated that there were many signatures surrounding a certain area.
The historian frowned as they approached.
"It seems as though we don't have to wait. It'd be best if we were to arrive as quickly as possible."
"What do you mean? Is it that dangerous?"
"You'll see."
The Straw Hats saw many, if not, most of the inhabitants of Fishman Island surrounding a large hole in the ground, and inside the hole was where the royalty were.
Tied to crosses made of iron and bleeding heavily, were the members of the royal family. The King was strung up in the center of his sons as a bunch of fishmen stood before them, spears in their hands.
"See?! This is how weak Neptune and his sons were! This is how Fishman Island was represented to the world, and they take advantage of us! The humans think that they are stronger than us! No longer! From this day forward, Neptune and his family are dethroned-!"
The large, shark fishman was set flying back, along with his comrades, as Zoro stood before the king and his sons.
"Jeez, you're really full of yourself..."
"R-Roronoa...Z-" The King, who recognized the Straw Hat, was shocked at the pirate's appearance, but even more so when the other three joined him.
"You shouldn't talk too much. I'm no doctor, but I believe your wounds are grievous." Brook freed the fishmen from their posts, using a set of keys that had already been taken from their captors, "Of course, I appear to know a lot about deadly wounds, seeing as how I've already had first hand experience! Yohohohoho!"
"How...?!" The fishman leader cried out, seeing that the keys for their restraints had been taken.
"You wish to know?" The cold whisper of a woman next to him had sent shivers down his spine.
"I think a better question would be, how long have we been here?"
A flurry of arms erupted from their bodies and forced them farther back, into the wall of the clearing as two ladies appeared in the middle of their group.
"Typical cowardly humans! Surround and kill them!" One of the fishman commanders, some sort of purple shark fishman, commanded his troops and the rest of the soldiers followed suit.
The soldiers were composed of about 75,000 fishman pirates and 25,000 human slaves that were forced to fight. The time it would take to surround the pirates would take a while, but even with massive numbers, the Straw Hats didn't look threatened.
"Decken...that bastard! He's off fooling around with the princess and his troops aren't here." The leader commented, though he smirked, "It doesn't really matter. We're much stronger than you, humans, and two of you are women! Do you really think you stand a fighting chance?"
"So, there's about two or three shark fishmen, some sort of weird child thing, a frog, and an octopus. Plus, however many bozos are beginning to surround us." Zoro stated as he talked with his friends, ignoring his enemy.
"Alright! Brook, you take the 50,000 on the left, Robin, you take the 50,000 on the right, and I'll take on the idiots in the center."
"Zoro-san, I think that it's a bit uneven. I've developed a rather voracious appetite for stronger opponents, so I also wish to fight their leaders."
"Eh? Is that so?" A predatory glint appeared in Zoro's eyes, "To be honest, they all look so weak, it's almost a chore to take them on, but if you want to fight, I'll agree to that later." He looked to Robin, "Hey, what's wrong? Is 50,000 too much?"
Robin was observing the fishmen with a bored look before glancing at the swordsman.
"...I want all of them."
"Eh?!" Nami and Brook exclaimed while Zoro smirked.
"Even then, I don't think I would be satisfied. I might take you up on that challenge, Zoro."
"You all..." Fukaboshi remarked as he couldn't believe the Straw Hat Pirates.
"Ah, that reminds me! For taking out these guys, you wouldn't mind paying us a billion belli, right?" Nami smiled sweetly at the wounded royalty as she tried to negotiate payment for her friends' deeds.
"Ah...well..." The king muttered lamely as he thought about that amount of money that was being demanded from him and his kingdom.
"Enough! Kill them!"
Nami screamed, " If you haven't noticed, they're behind us as well!"
"Ah, that's a danger zone. Franky will be here soon."
A large shadow began to form above the pirates behind them.
"Franky?"
The Thousand Sunny landed harshly on the pirates behind them, the Gaon Cannon already charged.
"Fire!" They could hear Franky yell excitedly as the Thousand Sunny fired a beam from its figurehead, stopping its forward moment and destroying another side the pirates had occupied.
"Super...!" Franky got out of the Thousand Sunny, landing next to his family, "...Good aim! Nice job, Nico Robin!"
"Ufufufu...I suppose that will make this a bit faster."
The New Fishman Pirates couldn't speak or move, after seeing a little less than half of their army being wiped out in such a short amount of time.
"And with this, I suspect that we'll have even less of a problem." She had her arms crossed and rose petals had been floating within the enemy lines.
"What do you mean by that, Robin?"
"The keys that we took from them, it seems that they're also for the human slaves within their army."
As she was speaking, her hands had already freed half of the human slaves, and it wouldn't take more than a minute to free them all.
"You...Straw Hats are unbelievable!" The King remarked as he saw the human slaves fighting back against the New Fishman Pirates, "With this much strength...if you really wanted to take over this land, you would have done so already!"
"Oh? Believe us when we say we're on your side now?" Zoro asked as he unsheathed his swords, "Looks like the leaders are about to join the fray. It shouldn't be long now before this rabble is taken care of."
The Straw Hats prepared themselves for the fighting, as the other members of their family were elsewhere, in predicaments of their own.
Hope you enjoyed! Let me know what I did wrong!
