Hello Friends! Sorry for the little delay but I might be just doing bi-weekly updates now? Maybe? Not really sure. Anyways, this chapter was graciously edited by the best Guest on FFN and I say thank you my friend! On to the chapter!

Warnings at end of chapter.

Under The New World

"So what kind of place do you have down here?" I asked Fellini as we stood near the bow of the ship.

Fellini thought for a moment. "I am unsure of how our home differs from others in the world but my people have spent a great deal of time building up our home. The majority of our city is in the great cavern, which is where we are going now."

"Is it all underwater?"

"Partially. However, the technology we use to light our home does now interact well with water so we have had to build above the Umi's surface. There have been a few unfortunate accidents of people being electrocuted in their homes."

I nodded. "I can see that. But that's still rather…" I trailed off as we finally entered the main cavern.

I struggled to keep my jaw from dropping as I took in the massive metallic and glass structures built inside the cavern. There were several buildings rising out of the water, all illuminated by soft blue lights. Small metal ships weaved between the buildings before diving under the surface of the water. Looking down I could see that there were even more buildings built under the water's surface.

"How in the hell does this place exist?" I heard someone ask from next to me. I shrugged but couldn't tear my eyes away from the sprawling underwater city.

It's almost like a hybrid of Fishman Island and Water 7…

As we continued to sail through the city, many people stopped to stare on their sweeping walkways overhead and along the water's surface. Much like Fellini, they all had softly glowing bioluminescent skin and many had extra antena-like appendages that floated delicately around them.

"Gorgeous." I said as I continued to take in the city. "It's like Water 7 but… but better."

But how is that even possible because Water 7 is the single greatest island to ever exist?

"Thank you." Fellini said with pride. "It has taken countless generations to achieve this."

"Yeah I can see that, but what do you need our help with? Looks to me like you are doing more than alright." Beckman said walking over to where we stood near the bow of the ship.

Fellini sighed, "Our home is impressive yes, but we are building beyond our means. If we do not change then we will have no way to continue to live here. We will be forced to leave."

"Then just stop building."

"Do not mock me, outsider. A horrible man has come to power and is destroying our home. He forces us to expand beyond our means. We have tried to reason with him but he refuses to listen."

"So you want us to take him out?"

Fellini shook her head and said, "I want you to show the elders that there is more to this world than what we have here. If we could simply-"

"Fellini! FLEE!" A voice ripped through the air.

Fellini's head whipped around to the bow of the ship and cried, "That's Gillian's voice!"

"What's happening?" Shanks asked as he casually strolled towards our little group.

"I don't know! He went ahead to tell the elders of- Oh no."

"Oh no what?"

"He got caught."

On the balcony of one of the buildings before us stood a group of fishmen, and Gillian. Gillian was being restrained by the fishmen around him and another stood in front, clearly the leader. "I'm disappointed in you Fellini. I thought you would have known better."

"Let him go Werdna!"

"And why would I do that? You have betrayed our home and he helped you do it!"

"You know he-" Fellini screamed as the leader pulled what looked like a pistol from his hip and fired in at Gillian.

As the shot rang out I watched as Gillian's body immediately exploded into a cloud of ash. Fellini shrieked and fell to her knees.

"You should not have come here outsiders! THIS IS MY CITY!" Werdna screamed.

"Boss we got a problem here." Yasopp said as the rest of the crew readied their weapons.

I took a step away from the railing and ended up with my back to Alden and Guy. Guy pulled out his sword, Alden raised his fists, and I dropped into a fighting stance, all of us ready to attack as countless fishmen sprung from the water and landed on the deck of the ship. The moment they touched our ship the deck was crushed by Shanks' Haki.

"We came here peacefully and you attack my crew?" He said in a low voice. "Fine then."

Beckman raised his rifle and snapped, "Fellini. Talk. What the hell is going on here?"

Fellini's head fell and through her sobs she managed to say, "I am sorry. I thought we might be able to resolve this peacefully but Werdna learned of our plan."

"So you need to get rid of the dictator then?"

"Yes. We will never recover while Werdna remains in power."

Shanks continued to exude crushing Haki as his face turned dark and he said, "Fine. I don't give a damn about your little power struggle but that fool attacked my people. I will not let that go. His head is mine."

Without another word Shanks lept from the deck of the ship to the walkway in front of the building Werdna was still shouting at us from. The rest of the crew was quick to follow, as was I.

Guess we're fighting now.

As the last of us landed and began to make our way into the building Shanks turned back to look at the ship and called out, "Gunther! Stay with the ship!"

"Give 'em hell Shanks!" Gunther yelled back.

Fellini led us into the building and said, "Werdna will be at the top and will send as many of his men to stop us as possible."

"I'd like to see him try."

The interior of the building was decorated in much the same way as the outside with tall metal beams and massive windows. There were also screens mounted on the walls that seemed to be showing various parts of the city. However, I didn't see any projection den den mushi's around.

As we continued running through the entryway to the building I heard Roux call for me, "Addie! Get up here!"

I speed up and when I get up to the front of the charge between Roux and Alden he says, "You're an unarmed fighter right? Stay up front with us."

"Yes! We shall show these degenerates why they ought not cross us!" Alden said as Monstar clung to his shoulders.

As we came to a massive, sealed door the three of us moved in unison to throw a single punch with enough Haki behind it to shatter the door. As the door fell we were met with a horde of fishmen ready to attack us. They charged towards us with their swords raised. But as they ran I noticed electricity shooting off their blades.

Are those electrically charged? What the hell?

My thoughts were cut off by a sword very nearly slicing into my neck. A hand grabbed the back of my shirt and pulled me out of the way just in time for Roux to jump in front of me and punch the fishman across the room.

"You must pay attention Ariadne!" Alden shouted while jumping to knee another fishman in the jaw.

I followed him and kicked my own while shouting, "I know! But water and electricity don't exactly work well together!"

The three of us worked together to deal with the majority of the basic sword fighters before the rest of the crew caught up and entered the room. Once they did they were quick to deal with the few stragglers that remained. Then we headed towards the grand staircase on the other side of the room. As we ran we fell into the same rough formation of me, Roux and Alden up front with Andre, Max, Doc, Rand, and Guy scattered behind us. Shanks, Beckamn, and Yasopp covered our backs and made sure that no one was left behind as well as ensuring that no enemies could sneak up on us. The result was a highly effective battering ram that the attacking fishmen had little hope of defeating. It was with this strategy that we quickly made our way up the opulent tower and into the room where Werdna was waiting. Roux, Alden, and I beat down the door just as easily as the last one, but rather than charging in like the last time Roux motioned for me and Alden to step back as Shanks made his way to the front.

"Hello there, Werdna was it?" He said as he casually made his way across the room to where the fishman dictator was cowering.

"H-how did you get past them all? You are primitive surface dwellers! There is no way you could have defeated all my soldiers!"

Shanks lazily brought his sword up to rest on his shoulder and said, "I really don't think that is your biggest concern at the moment."

"Why are you even doing this? Did that fool Fellini tell you to do this? You have no idea what I am doing for this place! You don't-"

"What I don't know is why you're still talking. I don't care what you are doing on this island. All I care about is the fact that you attacked my crew."

"No! No please don't do this! I'll give you anything you want!" Werdna said as he fell to his knees and started crying.

"You'll give me silence." Shanks said before bringing his sword down and slicing Werdna's head clean off.

Fellini froze in the doorway before she fell to her knees once again. "You did it… Do you have any idea what you have just done for this place?"

Yasopp shrugged and shouldered his gun. "Nope. But you're still going to repair our ship right?"

Fellini laughed as tears streamed down her face. "Yes! Yes of course!"

"Great! Let's head back to the ship boys." He said as he turned on his heel and headed for the door.

Well that was interesting. I guess interesting is a word that could be applied to this situation? Did we seriously just liberate a country from a dictator just to get our- the ship repaired?

As we exited the tower we were met with a mob of angry elderly fishmen. They were shouting at us and one old woman in particular stepped forward. The elderly woman was tiny, she probably would have only come up to my chest if she were standing in front of me. Her skin was light blue and her entire body seemed to glow. But despite her shriveled appearance and shaking hands she charged towards us while leaning heavily on her cane.

"LEAVE!" She screeched. "YOU HAVE BROUGHT US ENOUGH PAIN! You should never have come to this place!"

Fellini rushed forward to intercept the old woman and said, "These outsiders are not the cause of our suffering! Werdna is to blame! He brought this misery upon us! These outsiders agreed to help us and Werdna attacked them!"

"Why would these outsiders help us? They are not of our pod, they owe us nothing."

Shanks stepped forward then and said, "We don't owe you anything no. But we want to get something out of you. We're pirates, you can always trust us to serve our own self interests and right not those are best served by helping out you fine folks. So we both do our part for the other and we'll be on our merry way."

The old woman started at Shanks and sneered as she said, "And how do we know you won't turn on us like our own did."

"How are we supposed to take advantage of you if we kill you?" Shanks said with a smirk, causing the rest of the crew to chuckle.

Little on the nose there Bo- Shanks.

"I do not like you." The old woman said as her face somehow managed to wrinkle even more.

"That's fine. Give us what we came for and we'll leave you be."

"Fine." The old woman said, still shaking with rage. "But that still leaves our people without a leader."

Fellini stepped forward again. "We will think of a solution later, elder. Our people are better served by an empty office than a mad man."

"So be it. I suppose it is beneficial that Werdna is gone." The old woman finally said.

As if her words had flipped a switch in the people we could hear cheers ring out throughout the entire city.

"You know this has got to be the weirdest way to get a ship repaired." Beckman said from his spot next to me.

"What?" I asked, "You've never gone on an adventure before?"

"I've been on plenty of adventures, just never liberated a country in exchange for repairs before."

"Well maybe you've got a point there." I smiled.

As we were talking Shanks walked over and shouted, "Come on you two! Our new friends are throwing us a party!"

"I thought the whole point in all that was because they were running out of resources and were going to die?"

"They are. Which is why we are going to share what we have on the ship." Shanks said with a smile.

Beckman blew out a lungful of smoke before saying, "You do realize we need those supplies to keep our own people alive right?"

"Obviously, but it'll be fine. We'll just stop by an island when we get back to the surface. Come on Beckman, it's a party!" Shanks walked away then and rejoined the group of fishmen and pirates.

"A party he says." Beckman shook his head and said, "Well come on Ads let's go party. Captain's orders."

"Oh my Captain now is he?" I said with a smirk and an eye roll.

"Maybe. If you play your cards right."

Wait what? Is he being serious? Did he just-

"Addie! Come on!" Guy shouted, waving his arms over his head.

I couldn't keep the smile from my face as I waved back and jogged over towards the crew. Someone clapped me on the back as a tankard was passed to me.

This is what friends are like… I want to stay…

I wish I could...

As my head started to spin I decided to take a breather before I got too far into the bottle. I walked over to a large window and leaned on the railing in front of it. I was standing there letting my head clear while staring off into the deep sea when Shanks walked over and stood next to me. I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye but when he didn't say anything right away I went back to watching the fish swim past. We stood in silence for a while before he said, "I don't think I properly thanked you yet. So thank you Ariadne."

I paused and looked at him out of the corner of my eye.

Is he being serious? I mean, there's no real reason for him not to be but still...

I shrugged. "You don't need to thank me, I just did what I had to."

"No you didn't. You aren't a member of my crew. You could have just jumped ship and saved yourself. But instead you choose to do everything you could to save us. Then you could have left again but you instead chose to stay and help me win the trust of these people. So thank you Ariadne, I mean it."

Not knowing what to say I looked down at my hands.

"I'll take it you aren't too familiar with people appreciating what you do for them."

I laughed suddenly. "I think that's the first time that anyone has ever genuinely thanked me in… Years. People are usually quick to take whatever they can from me. Use me for as long as possible. So to have someone actually be grateful is… different."

"You saved not only my life but the lives of my entire crew when I was powerless to do the same. Why the hell wouldn't I be grateful?"

"I don't know it's just weird for me is all."

"Well I don't know if you've noticed but weirdness is definitely not a rarity on my ship."

"Yeah I noticed that." I said.

He laughed and turned to walk away. As I watched him go I felt my smile falter.

He turned to look back at me and said, "Well aren't you comin?"

Can I?

I paused. "If you'll let me."

He smirked and waved me over.

Well the party might not be for me but this is still the best way I could think of celebrating my birthday. Well, happy 18th birthday Aria- Addie.

After the party that followed our arrival in the city, Fellini set to work gathering mechanics to repair the ship. While they might not have had wood they certainly had a good deal of metal as well as highly advanced technology. Not only did they repair the shattered masts on the ship but they also managed to integrate a propeller system so that we could travel even without wind. Then before we knew it, it was time for us to leave.

"I am saddened to see you leave so soon." Fellini said as we readied the ship to set sail. "But we will forever be in your debt for all the aid you have offered us."

Shanks laughed. "No you're not in anyone's debt. You help us out too, remember? We're even now."

"True, but should you ever need our aid then please return to this place."

"Will do." He said before boarding the ship and turning to us. "Alright, are we ready to set sail men? Addie you know what you need to do?"

I nodded. "Of course I do."

"Good. Then get us back to the Blue Sea."

I nodded again before stepping up towards the bow of the ship and using my fruit to create a current underneath the ship. I lazily waved my arms to the sides and in front of me to keep the ship in motion as we made our way from the main cavern back into the tunnel that we had taken to get here. After a few minutes we made it back to the smaller cavern that we had surfaced in and I allowed the current to dissipate and the ship to coast to a stop.

"Alright. Everyone ready? I'm not exactly sure how this is gonna go." I called out.

There were scattered responses of varying degrees of enthusiasm. Guy called out, "Please don't kill us Ads. I don't wanna drown."

"It's better to drown than to await to be hung!" I sang out as I stepped up and stomped on the deck in order to split the water in front of the ship.

I felt my arms strain under the pressure of splitting the sea open but didn't let that distract me.

Ok you can do this Ariadne. You got this. Just don't let them die.

Once there was a large enough hole in the water in front of us I quickly ran two steps forward and threw myself into a front flip. As I was about to land I brought my fist forward and slapped it down on the deck of the ship. The ship shuddered as it tipped forward and started to fall down into the hole I had created. As the ship went careening down through the tunnel I had formed in the water I made sure to keep the tunnel expanding in front of us so that we could continue to essentially fall through the ocean. Once we had cleared the cavern I allowed the bottom of the ship to fall back into the water and felt the ship shudder as the propeller system kicked on. As we began our ascent I felt the full weight of the ocean settle on my body and will and had to fight not to fall to my knees.

Fuck! Why is this so much harder than going down?

I groaned and strained but held strong.

Ok- ok just hold on a little longer! You can make it!

.-

"FREEDOM!" The crew shouted in unison as we finally breached the surface of the water.

I put my hands on my knees and tried to catch my breath.

"Ugh I never thought I'd miss the sun so much!"

Shanks patted my shoulder as he walked past and shouted for Andre. "Hey Andre! Get us to the nearest stable island! We need to restock and I wouldn't mind seeing what these fancy new upgrades can do."

"On it Boss!"

I flopped down onto the deck and rolled over onto my back to try and catch my breath. As I stared up at the blue sky and panted I felt a smile begin to creep onto my face.

I actually did that.

I punched my fist up towards the sky and started to laugh. "I am the baddest bitch alive! Holy fuck I can't belive I just did that!"

I heard the others laugh as Guy walked over and pulled me to my feet. He smiled and said, "You know, you are actually pretty terrifying. Just do you know."

"Damn straight." I said as my cheeks started to strain from how wide my smile had grown. I turned my face up towards the sky and felt the sun gently warm my skin. I took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh.

Today was worth living for.

After a few weeks of sailing we finally made it to the next island. Things had gotten a bit dicey with our supplies given how much we had given to Fellini and her people. But with my fruit I had been able to create fresh water as well as gather fish from the sea. So while we were growing rather tired of fish we were still in good spirits when we finally made landfall. Once we docked everyone was eager to get off the ship and so rather than splitting up into groups like usual, we all wandered into the main town together. As we were walking down the dock we were met with a wall of people in various service worker uniforms.

"Welcome travelers!" The staff said in unison as they all bowed.

Shanks laughed. "While I won't begrudge a warm welcome, you do know we're pirates right?"

One of the men who looked to be the manager stepped forward and with a smile said, "So long as you pay, you are welcome on our humble little island! We aren't allied with the Marines and we try to maintain as neutral a position in the world as possible. All are welcome here!"

"Well alright then." He said before looking at us over his shoulder and saying, "Guess we can have some fun here."

The rest of the crew shared a few words before splitting off and going their separate ways. I decided to wander the town and see if it would be possible to get my own clothes. The hand-me-downs that the crew had given me were fine, but I still missed having clothes that fit properly (not to mention weren't covered in tacky floral patterns).

As I walked through the town I was met with countless smiles. It seemed like every person I came across was either incredibly happy to see me or were just incredibly happy in general.

Wow this island sure is in a good mood.

A kindly old woman waved to me before handing me a flower.

Oh yeah this place is definitely a slavers hot spot. 100% the whole island is in on it.

"Thank you!" I said with the sweetest smile possible pasted on my face. The old woman smiled back before going on her way.

Well at least I don't have to worry about Shanks and the others getting caught up in anything. They aren't as stupid as-

I sighed and felt my hands ball themselves into fists.

Has it really been almost half a year already? I guess it has been… Feels like it was just yesterday…

I sighed again before turning and walking into a clothing boutique. Walking in I saw that there were still a great deal of light, floral patterns but there was also a large display of dark, almost leather looking clothing.

Why can I not escape the damn flowers lately? What is going on?

Looking around the boutique for a minute I spotted a woman standing near a table straightening up the display. I walked over to her and said, "Do you have any jeans?"

She glared at me and said, "No of course not! Jeans are so outdated. Sea King leather is what's in now."

"Can you even make clothing out of Sea King skin?"

Isn't it all incredibly thick? Not to mention scaly? How would that even work?

She rolled her eyes and dramatically waved her hand at the rest of the shop. "Um, obviously. How else would we have enough product to stock an entire store."

I picked up one of the pairs of pants on a nearby table and looked at them closer. "There is no way this is Sea King. I don't know-"

"Exactly." She snapped, cutting me off. "You don't know what you're talking about. But buy something if you want, I don't care. Feel free to not call me if you have any more questions." She said before turning and stomping back behind the counter. She sat down and started filing her nails.

Well damn someone's in a pissy mood today.

I shrugged and went back to looking at the not Sea King leather pants. While they clearly weren't made of Sea King leather they were still made of some sort of animal skin. I picked up a few of the sturdy looking pants and held them up to myself.

These should fit right? Well I certainly don't want to deal with miss bitchy over there to try them on so I guess we're just going to have to hope for the best as always.

I picked up a few of the dark brown, almost black, leather pants as well as a few of the more bearable floral print blouses before glancing back at the sales woman. She was still deeply engrossed in whatever she was doing to her nails so I simply shrugged and walked out.

She said not to bother her, so I don't mind if I do.

I walked briskly down the main road of the town towards the docks. The locals continued to smile and wave at me at every step and I smiled back politely while internally wondering how many of these people were bounty hunters or slavers.

This place is seriously giving me the creeps. Hopefully we won't be here for long and we can just move on.

Before too long I made it back to the ship. But before I could make it up the gangplank I heard Shanks call out to me.

He was standing down on the beach with a few other members of the crew as well as a large group of who I assumed to be locals.

"Hey Addie come down here! We're throwing a party!"

Of course we are.

Warnings:

No chapter warnings apply.

Well that was a dumpster fire and a half. Sorry this chapter was such a shit show but it has seriously been fighting me for months now and I just had to get it out so we can move on. I am really happy with how the next few chapters are coming along and they are already written or half written!