"This is awesome! *clap clap clap-clap-clap* This is awesome!"

Shaska stood at the edge of the ring. To her left was Schwarz, to her right, Lulupo, neither of whom looked to be in any condition to fight anymore.

"What do I have to gain from this anyway?" she thought, adjusting her tie. "Can't bring these guys in for their bounties; can't even make someone else do it, considering the Marines will know damn well that I'm the one who beat them. Probably should've thought this through more, but…"

She got a good look at Fernandez, who, despite the blood running down his face, was having a blast.

"If the Marines can't stop this guy, this weirdo revolutionary… somebody has to. And more importantly," she clenched her fists. "He scratched my freakin' boat!!"

"Hey!" she shouted. "I'm the one your boss there said you need to pin!!"

Despite her own injuries, she turned around, stuck her butt out, and smacked it mockingly.

"Come get some!"

Hexagon and Star Man were enraged and slightly aroused by this, and turned their attention away from their original opponents. El Oso Gigante was still struggling to break free from Lulupo's hair.

Shaska turned back around, held her left palm out and her right fist back, then shot it out like a bullet at Star Man. "Arabesque Brick Fist!" The shockwave created in the air's water vapor knocked Star Man out of the ring and into the audience. Pirates booed. Everyone else cheered. Puerco was too focused on his brothers fighting to care.

"Hooo… That move needs a lot of force; can't just toss those out for free, but I can't really fight like normal with my leg all messed up like this," Shaska thought. "This would be a lot easier if I was underwater… wait."

Shaska ducked back out of the ring, much to Schwarz's and Lulupo's dismay. "SHASKA! WE ARE DYING IN HERE!!" Schwarz cried as Hexagon turned back toward him.

Shaska hobbled as fast as she could over to the dunk tank that had been set up next to Andy and Roxanne's concession stand. "Moving the whole thing would take too long," she thought before diving in. She came out almost immediately, but completely drenched.

"This should work," she said. Her wet clothes heavily accentuated her ample chest, which only made her more popular with the audience. Andy whistled at her, only to be smacked by his wife. Though to be fair, Roxanne could also only hope she keeps her looks into her late 40's as well as Shaska had.

Shaska hobbled back to the ring, soaking wet. However, no water dripped from her; instead, it was all being drawn to her hands through her mermaid powers. She missed the days when she could rely on having a tub full of water at all times.

Hexagon had Schwarz on the mat again. This time, Hexagon was sitting on Schwarz's back while he lay prone. Hexagon grabbed Schwarz's arm and pulled it back so it was sticking straight up. The crowd cheered; they knew what was coming. Schwarz was too tired to just make another hole, and Lulupo was too tired AND too busy with El Oso to help him.

"He's doing it! Hexagon is going for his trademark Arm Breaker submission hold!!" cried Kogeki.

"Water Shot," Shaska casually said. She flung her water-covered hand in Hexagon's direction, spraying water at him with enough force to make it feel like he was being hit with a barrage of gunfire.

Hexagon fell backward, and a pool of blood started to form around him; some of the water had pierced right through him.

A hush fell over the pirates. Everyone else cheered. Schwarz struggled to climb on top of Hexagon's seemingly lifeless body, but managed it as the referee ran over and counted.

"Hexagon Junior has been eliminated."

The pirates stayed silent as Star Man reentered the arena, along with Abelard, who was still clutching his gaping shoulder wound.

"Hey! Hair guy! Drop the big guy!" Shaska said to Lulupo. "I'm gonna finish this now. I've got enough water to rout this stable."

"No need to tell me twice, darling," he replied, letting go of El Oso before sitting down.

All of Shaska's water, including off her clothes, began to form into an orb in her hands. It began spinning faster and faster. "Step right up, boys! There's just enough for everyone!"

Abelard and Star Man froze in place. El Oso made another grab at Lulupo. They didn't realize they were already lined up perfectly for Shaska's final attack.

"AZURE TRIDENT!!"

Shaska clapped her hands. The water shot out of the orb in three separate directions, forming into long spear-like projections that shot right through Shaska's three opponents, Abelard and Star Man through the chest and El Oso through the gut.

The three of them collapsed onto the mat. As she was technically only a legal target and not a legal fighter, Shaska dragged Schwarz and Lulupo on top of them so it counted as a pin.

"One! Two! Three!"

"Star Man, El Oso Gigante, and Commodore Abelard have all been eliminated."

Shaska held up her hands to the boos of the pirates and the cheers of the rest of the audience.

"And just like that, Shaska has risen from the ashes to claim the title for her crew!" said Kogeki. "Or she would have, if not for the two guys still fighting outside the ring!"

Shaska looked over to see Chancho and Cerdo still fighting. "Oh, for the love of…"

"Hey! You two!!" she shouted at them. "Why don't you finish your fight up here??"

The two agreed and climbed into the ring. As they stood back up upon entering the ring, though, Shaska promptly knocked their heads together with her monstrous strength and left both of them unconscious. She then moved Schwarz and Lulupo on top of them for the final pin.

"Chancho and Cerdo have been eliminated."

The bell still didn't ring. Shaska put Lulupo on top of Schwarz for the final, final pin.

"Johann Schwarz has been eliminated."

The bell rang. Shaska held up Lulupo's hand as he stood up, barely conscious. The crowd roared with both applause and boos. Fernandez's slimy smirk was replaced with abject horror at the fact his toughest luchadors had been defeated, some possibly dead.

"This is it!" said Santana. "Your new Heavenly Showdown champion!! CHAAAAAAAAAAAARLES LULUPOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

"For the first time ever," Kogeki began. "Someone who's not a member of the Squared Circle pirates claims the championship title!!"

"This is unprecedented, man. I don't know how the captain's going to react," Hodgkin added.

Fernandez bolted back to his office and started furiously dialing his transponder snail.

"Yes, vhat is it?" said a deep voice on the other line.

"Sir! Mr. Balthasar! It's Gil Fernandez! My mission has been compromised! I'm about to be-"

"Silence," he interrupted. "Vhat do you mean, you've been 'compromised'?"

"My luchadors! They've all been defeated!"

"And you're coming to me because you sink zat-"

"I vanna talk to him! I vanna talk to him!" said a childlike (but still clearly adult) voice on the other line.

"Not now, Rusila. Vhat vould you even have to say?"

"MR. BALTHASAR!" Fernandez exclaimed in a panic.

"Fernandez. You knew vhat ze price of failure vas vhen you became a pirate. Doubly so vhen you joined my cause. Sank you for notifying me of your failure, but you must understand zat my price for failure iss death.

"I cannot rescue every one of my subordinates who gets into trouble; I simply do not have enough resources for zat. Besides, you and I agree zat veakness is counter-revolutionary, no?"

"But!"

"You vill eizer die at ze hands of your enemies, or die by my sword next time you show your face in front of me."

"Or option number three," said Franco, casually twirling a pair of sea-prism stone handcuffs as he stood with Johnson in the office's doorway. "Spend the rest of your days in a prison cell in Impel Down."

"Who is zat?! Ze Marines?! Zis conversation never happened!!"

The transponder snail immediately hung up.

"That was awesome! *clap clap clap-clap-clap* That was awesome!" the crowd cheered.

Shortly after, chaos erupted as the Marines in the audience went to arrest the pirates, and what few wrestlers remained started fighting back. Gang members also started shooting at and stabbing each other now that the distraction was gone and there was no winner between their leaders. Puerco ran into the ring with his medical bag to check on his brothers.

"Guys!! Are you okay?!" said Puerco as he got his tools out to tend to the wounds they had sustained in their fight.

The both of them still lay unconscious.

"You must be that doctor kid my crew mentioned," Shaska said. "How about you join us? We could use a doctor."

"And like I told your crew earlier, I ain't leaving! Much as I want to escape this hellhole and voyage the high seas, my brothers won't stop trying to kill each other! Fix that, and we'll talk."

Shaska took that as a challenge.

She grabbed Chancho and Cerdo by the scruffs of their necks, hobbled over to the dunk tank, and threw them both in. They woke up, and Chancho started freaking out.

"Help! Help! I can't swim!", prompting Cerdo to attempt to drown him. Shaska slapped him, then stuck her hand in the water. "Blue Bind," she said, closing her hand. The water seemed to "tighten" around them, as if the pressure had increased to the point they couldn't move.

"Alright, knuckleheads, listen up," she said, wishing she had a cigar for dramatic effect. "Your little brother there is worried sick about you and won't go on the adventure he dreams of because YOU TWO WON'T STOP FIGHTING. COME THE HELL ON!"

Both were only able to move their heads, but they still tried to bite at each other. Puerco walked up behind Shaska.

"It's not as simple as talking to them. Believe me, I tried."

"Listen, kid, I'm standing here with gaping, bleeding holes in one of my legs, and my crew there can barely stand after the beating they just took. We need a doctor, and we need one now, capisce? I got money, if that's what you're looking for."

"Then why me? Why are you trying to help me? Why not get a doctor from the city for your crew? Because I can fix you guys now."

"Because my crew also heard through the grapevine that you're a miracle worker. You've got a reputation, kid.

"I could hire one of the doctors in the city instead of the slums, but where's the fun in that? My business, my rules."

Puerco thought about it for a second, then said:

"Fine. You wanna know what happened?"

As you can probably tell, we came from a poor family. Not many jobs around here, but my parents managed. When I was only seven, my-

"Got it. I know how to solve your problem." Shaska interrupted.

"Wh-what?"

"You guys need jobs, right? Instead of killing each other or pushing drugs, you guys need real jobs.

"I can front your brothers here a hundred million berries each to start up a restaurant on either side of town. They can compete over sales numbers instead of bodies piled up. They can still be bitter rivals, but not lethally so."

"A hundred million?? Each?? Just how rich are you, lady??"

"Listen up, boys! The two of you are gonna start learning to cook steak!"

The two stopped fighting for a second.

"Huh?" they said in unison.

"I can see it now. Every island in the Grand Line, we'll have a… hey, happy couple, what're your names again?"

"Andy and Roxanne," said Andy.

"I am so gonna say something snarky next time she does this," Roxanne thought.

"Every island in every sea… a Roxandy's. Let's take some of that violent energy and put it toward cooking and running a restaurant," Shaska told the brothers.

"Here's the deal, I'm fronting you a shitload of money for this. You're gonna employ all your little cronies as staff and overnight security so you're not constantly robbed and such. I'm gonna give you my transponder snail numbers so you can report to me every month. I can stay a little while if you need me to if you want me to give you some pointers on running a business. Why are you tearing up?"

"Because all we ever wanted was a way to go straight," said Cerdo.

"Nobody wants to live like this, man," said Chancho.

"You wanna bury the hatchet, bro?" said Cerdo.

"We finally have a way out of this life! Maybe we can even move to the city some day!" said Chancho.

"See? All anyone needs in life is something to work towards," said Shaska, smiling.

"I refuse to believe it was that easy," said Puerco. "You two have been trying to murder each other ever since Jamón died."

"Only because we had nothing better to do than squabble over territory after we couldn't decide who to run the Sharks after his death," said Cerdo.

"I- well- hmmm…" Puerco stammered. "I'll believe it when I see it. Set up your businesses, and then we'll talk."

"Moving goalposts, much?" Shaska thought. "Are you coming or not?" she asked aloud.

"I… I always wanted to see the world… but I was always too poor and weak to do it mysel-"

"Yeah, I figured. That's what the happy couple told me, too."

"Will you stop interrupting me?? I…" Puerco started tearing up. "I'm so grateful… I-I can't b-b-believe it's over." His crying became more intense. "I th-thought they were g-g-gonna kill each other!!"

"Oh. Emotions," Shaska said. "I don't really do emotions."

Shaska looked over her shoulder away from Puerco's crying to see Fernandez being escorted away in handcuffs by Franco and Johnson. She released her grip on the brothers and hobbled over to them. The three brothers shared a group hug.

"So… I'm right here. You could arrest me at any point, but you haven't. Why?"

"Because we'd lose too many men trying to bring you in," said Franco. "Our superior officer is fighting for his life because of you."

"But you did beat the pirates we couldn't," Johnson added. "We're not gonna let you claim the bounties, but we're also not reporting your involvement to HQ. Consider yourself lucky."

Franco and Johnson walked back to the Marine base, and someone else walked up to Shaska. He was an extremely tall and handsome man, probably around 35 years old and fourteen feet tall, towering over even Shaska, dressed in very ornate clothing with a spear strapped to his back. Shaska felt her heart flutter for a second at the sight of him.

"Good morrow!" he said. "I am Prince Samudra of the Panipuri Kingdom. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lady Shaska." He bowed, then held out his hand for a handshake.

"Samudra…" she muttered while holding out her hand to reciprocate.

"I would like to speak to you and your whole crew, if I may."

Shaska blushed like a lovestruck schoolgirl.

"Hey! Happy couple! Pretty boys! Doctor kid! Get over here!"

Andy, Roxanne, and Puerco immediately came over. Schwarz and Lulupo needed a minute due to their injuries.

"My name is Prince Samudra of the Panipuri Kingdom. I have come seeking powerful warriors to help me in the fight to save my kingdom. In my kingdom, there is a prophecy that in the time of the kingdom's greatest peril, a prince will appear wit-"

"What's a prince doing in the slums?" Puerco interrupted.

Shaska glared at him. "Don't interrupt Prince Samudra, doctor kid!"

Roxanne and Puerco visibly bristled at this.

"If you must know, commoner, my ship went down in a storm and I washed up on the shore on this side of the island. I asked the Marines for help, but they couldn't just give me a ship and a crew to head back home.

"'We're soldiers, not a ferry service!'" he said sarcastically.

"At the moment, my kingdom is on the brink of a civil war between factions led by my uncle and my older brother, the crown prince, after my father, the king, died of an illness several months ago. I was out partying around the world when I read in a newspaper that my uncle's insurgents started bombing villages and are making their way to the capital. I believe this is a sign. The prophecy is true and I am Panipuri's chosen son.

"I cannot go back alone, though. With my crew and ship gone in the storm, I cannot navigate my way back. And even with my spear training and my Steam Steam Fruit, I am not powerful enough to pacify two entire armies. That is why I am turning to you and your mighty warriors for help."

"Awww, we're not that mighty…" said Lulupo, coyly.

"You have a Devil Fruit??" asked a starry-eyed Andy.

"Indeed!" Samudra replied. He held up his hands. Steam shot out. "I can create and become steam."

"That's so cool," said Andy.

"Well, Prince Samudra," Shaska began. She was trying to be in business mode despite the lewd thoughts on her mind regarding Samudra. "I do have a price. And we're not exactly 'above board' anymore thanks to my bounty."

"Yes. I am aware of your current predicament. I read about it in the paper last week. I can pay you handsomely so you can pay back what you owe. I might even be able to pull some strings with the World Government to lower the amount you have to pay back."

"Deal," said Shaska, smiling. "Y'know, prince, this may be the start of a beautiful partnership. I can just feel it."

"Uh… don't you think we're a little small to be a country-saving fighting force?" asked Schwarz. "Half of us can't even fight."

"Armies have jobs besides soldiers. I'll find ways for them to make me money," Shaska replied.

"Does she always talk about people like this?" Puerco whispered to Roxanne, who nodded.

"Let's head back to the ship then. We head for the Panipuri Kingdom!" Shaska exclaimed.

"I'll just leave a hole some place hidden in case we ever want to come back," Schwarz said.

As they walked back, Andy asked "hey, what's our group called, anyway?"

Shaska thought about it for a minute, before coming up with:

"Worldwide Smoke"

TO BE CONTINUED