Chapter 36

Jinbei

"Law-kun. I'm afraid I have bad news. The Navy's here." Jinbei saw no reason to mince words. The Navy ships were fast approaching the Sunny. Fortunately, for the moment, their focus appeared to be completely on the island and the Straw Hat ship, with no signs that they'd noticed their tail. Excellent. Jinbei and the Heart Pirates would be able to put their plan into action.

As the Heart Pirates had promised, there were three ships, two fairly standard Navy vessels sailing on either side of a third. The third vessel was possibly the largest Navy ship Jinbei had ever seen. On its deck it sported the huge long-range cannon. Fortunately, this close to the island, all three ships had been bombarding the facility with their smaller standard cannons.

"Jinbei-ya…" The Fishman could hear the worry in Law's voice.

"Your crew and I have a plan. We'll be able to buy you all some time, but you need to hurry! Get to the ship as quickly as you can!" Jinbei called out, before hanging up the Transponder Snail and rushing to the railing. Barely pausing for a moment, the fishman leapt overboard, landing with a splash in the ocean below.

Over on the decks of the Navy ships, he could see some excitement as some of the Marines on board pointed at him. He had their attention. Good.

"Fishman Karate!" he called out, "Spear Wave!"

The attack hit the center ship, the one with the long-range cannon that had been assaulting the island with Jinbei's new captain and crew still inside, while the fishman had been forced to watch helplessly. No longer. Boards broke apart along the ship's hull, but to Jinbei's disappointment, though not to his surprise, the ship stayed mostly intact. Doubtless, this was one of the ships lined with Seastone for passing the Calm Belt. The other two ships were forced away from the center ship by the force of the waves the attack left in its wake, but unfortunately, didn't suffer any damage. What did change was that their typical short range cannons, previously assisting with the assault on the island, were now focused squarely on Jinbei.

"Oh, crap!" the helmsman uttered, trying to sink as fast as he could as the two ships opened fire on him. No time to think, only dodge as the heavy cannon balls hit the water with bone-crushing force. He heard a few solid clunks and knew a few of the cannon balls had hit the Sunny. No help for it now but to hope that the Adam Wood and Franky's engineering would hold. But in the meantime, Jinbei surfaced several yards away from the Sunny, swimming rapidly, but making sure the Navy ships could see him. Based on the way the cannons swiveled, they doubtless had.

"Damn it, Bepo! Hurry!" Jinbei growled as he dashed in a zigzag in the sea. He tried to aim another attack, but the cannon balls came so rapidly, he couldn't. It was all he could do to dodge.

Then he realized that the center ship was holding back, allowing the other two to pass it. At first he thought he might have done more damage than he'd previously realized—until the huge long-range cannon began turning directly for the island.

"No! No!" Jinbei cried out, trying to dodge the others two ships' attacks, but it was impossible. There were simply too many cannons! If one of the ships were taken out, Jinbei might have a chance, but…

Suddenly, the Polar Tang surfaced, practically underneath the more outboard of the two Navy ships. The metal submarine managed to punch a small hole in the Navy ship's wooden hull, not enough to sink it, but certainly enough to founder it. Quickly submerging again, the Polar Tang disappeared under the waves, but it was enough of a distraction for Jinbei. He dashed forward, propelling himself through the sea as only a fishman could. As he went, he prepared his next attack, until he was near the hull of the center ship.

"Fishman Karate secret Technique: Vegabond Drill!" he cried out, hurling a massive water shock wave against the center ship's hull. The already weakened hull groaned before its wooden planks began snapping and splintering. In the distance, Jinbei could hear the Polar Tang's cluster of torpedo cannons firing at the Navy ship they had already damaged. Above him, he could just make out the panicked voices and screams as the Marines onboard tried to organize some kind of damage control.

Suddenly, Jinbei could hear someone calling him. Startled, the fishman surfaced, just in time to see a rapidly moving skeleton rush by him.

"Ah, Jinbei-san! There you are!" Brook called, running in rapid circles around the helmsman. "Most of us are back on the Sunny. We need to get it ready to set sail!"

"Aye! Then we'd better head back!" Jinbei agreed, already rapidly swimming back to the ship, which, he was pleased to note with some pride, didn't seem to have suffered any ill effects from the cannon balls.

Robin

Law teleported the seven of them back to the Sunny, then proceeded to pass out on the Sunny's grassy deck. As Robin glanced at the island and quickly calculated the sheer size of the room Law would have had to have created—not to mention forcing it through the strange walls of the Ambience Lab and the mountain itself- she wasn't surprised when the man collapsed in exhaustion. But she didn't have time to worry about him now.

Sprouting several eyes around the ship, the archeologist spotted their missing helmsman near one of the three Navy ships. The Heart Pirates' ship was near another, but they seemed to be handling themselves well enough for the moment at least. Allowing the extra sets of eyes to dissipate in little flurries of petals, Robin turned to Brook.

"Brook!" She pointed towards the center Navy ship. "Jinbei's out there!"

"Aye, Robin-san!" Brook answered, leaping off the rail. "Yohohohoho!"

"Usopp! To the Gaon Cannon! Franky, cola room! Prepare for a Coup de Burst! Robin, help me get the Sunny ready to sail!" The Straw Hats' navigator rapidly fired off her orders. Without waiting to be asked, Chopper changed into his Heavy Point form and scooped up Law, rushing the pirate captain to the infirmary. Robin couldn't help but smile at the little doctor's initiative.

With Nami busy at the helm, Robin used her powers, creating arms that released the lines from the bollards on the dock and unfurling the sails. Over on the island, she could hear sounds of destruction as Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji continued their assault. With the Navy looming ahead of them, Robin had no time to worry about those three either. Cannonballs were coming as Nami tried desperately to make the Sunny avoid them. Deep dents on the grass deck stood as testament to where the Navy had successfully hit the ship earlier.

"Yohohohoho! Soul Slash!" Brook cried out, leaping up and cutting two of the cannonballs into halves. Cresting the top of a huge wave of water, Jinbei grabbed onto the railing and leapt onto the deck, punching another cannon ball into the sea before rushing towards the helm.

Quickly, Robin recreated her eyes, ears, and mouth in various locations throughout the ship.

"Nami, Franky says that five barrels of cola are ready for the Gaon Cannon to fire but it'll take him at least a minute to discharge those and get fresh ones in for the Coup de Burst. Usopp's ready at the Gaon Cannon controls. Jinbei, Nami says to turn the ship five degrees to port. Nami, Chopper says he has Tra-guy secured in the infirmary and is on his way out…" Robin kept a continuous running commentary on everything that was going on throughout the ship. The red-haired navigator looked at her, eyes wide in wonder.

"That's amazing, Robin! It's like you're a whole communication system!" Nami gushed. Robin smiled politely.

"Just get us out of here quickly, Nami. I'm afraid I can't keep this up for long," Robin replied, a bit of sweat beading her forehead. After attempting this maneuver earlier, the archeologist was certain she was going to have a headache later. She'd have to see Chopper about that once they were all safe.

"Right!" Nami turned back towards the deck. "Chopper, help Brook with the sails! And take care of any cannonballs that come your way!"

"Usopp says he has a clear shot of the center Navy ship!" Robin called out. Nami put a finger to her chin, thinking for a moment.

"Tell him to ignore it. Does he have a shot of the outboard one?" Nami asked instead.

"He says yes, but wants to know if you're crazy," Robin replied. The navigator growled.

"Jinbei already damaged it! It won't be chasing us and they're still focused on the island. If they destroy it, all to the better!"

"The others are worried about Luffy and the other two," Robin passed.

"Tell them not to be," Nami said with a smirk. "Have faith in our captain. There's no way those three aren't getting away first. But we need to focus on securing an escape route."

Robin felt herself smile before she passed the message onto the rest of the ship. There was silence for a moment before the Gaon Cannon suddenly fired, grazing the outboard Navy ship the Heart Pirates had already damaged and then hitting the hull of the previously undamaged second ship, the one closest to land. The outboard Navy ship began listing horribly to the side while the other ship began slowly sinking. Robin's mouth lowered in awe—Usopp had seen a rare chance to take out two of the ships in one blow and had taken it.

"What the hell, Usopp?!" Nami shrieked as Brook and Chopper cheered in joy and shouted how cool Usopp was for the incredibly skilled shot. "You need to warn me first!"

Robin smiled again, but before she could pass on Nami's message, the sniper gave her an urgent warning. She gasped aloud. "Nami, Usopp says there are more Navy ships out on the horizon directly ahead of us. An armada!"

Nami froze for a long moment, her eyes as wide as saucers.

"Jinbei! Hard port! Get past that foundered ship and we'll use the Coup de Burst! Chopper, get on the Transponder Snail and tell the Heart Pirates to submerge and get out of here!" Nami shouted, her voice steady as she gave orders. "Franky, is the Coup de Burst ready?"

"Just a few seconds. He wants to know if Luffy and the others are back." Robin reported.

"Not yet. But tell him to have it ready anyways." Nami replied.

As the Sunny finally began passing the foundered Navy ship, Robin heard an explosion on the island behind them. Panicked, she turned, expecting that the long range cannon had finally destroyed the place. But to her surprise, while the island was in fact a large ball of flame, she realized that the cannon was giving no signs of having recently been fired. In fact, the sailors onboard appeared to be still loading the thing but had paused to look over at the fireball the island had become. Silhouetted within the flames, the facility collapsed with a loud groan, a large cloud of dust and smoke rising from the remains. Then Robin realized she was hearing another sound amongst all the noise- a familiar, unmistakable laugh.

"Shishishi!"

And with the laugh, the sound of two baritone voices shouting, cursing, and in general protesting mightily. All three voices were steadily getting louder. Glancing up, Robin noticed a hand grabbing onto the rigging with a long arm stretched out from it towards the remains of the island. Nami seemed to notice it as well.

"Those idiots," she said with a quiet sigh for Luffy's favorite travel method. Then she turned to Robin. "Can Usopp check the horizon in this direction and see if it looks clear?"

Robin paused a moment, passing the question along to the sniper. She nodded and answered, "Yes, he sees no signs of Navy ships this way."

"Good. Tell Franky to have that Coup de Burst ready. As soon as those three get aboard, we're out of here!" Nami stated. Another explosion sounded from the island as the sounds of their captain's laughter and Zoro and Sanji's protests, getting progressively louder and louder, carried on the wind.

Author's Notes: Alright! A Naval battle on the high seas! Which…One Piece surprisingly has very little of. There's the one after Water 7 against Garp and them running away after Return to Saboady. Beyond that, the rest have been against the Big Mom Pirates (The Curly Hat Pirates and then the end of Whole Cake Island).

-I was originally going to have this chapter be just Jinbei so it reflected his chapter at the beginning of the story. But then I realized I had only given Robin one POV chapter! (That small section she had in Chopper's I wasn't going to count.) So I ended up having Jinbei start the battle with his plan with the Heart Pirates. Then I had Robin's POV take over since she could communicate with various parts of the ship all at once. Robin has such a crazy yet cool power and yet I can't help wondering what it's like to see out of multiple sets of eyes all at once. Or hear out of multiple ears. It's gotta be crazy.

-Thanks again to the One Piece wiki for listing the character's attacks. I definitely used it for Jinbei's in this chapter, Usopp's arsenal, and Sanji's French-themed attacks. I think the only one whose attacks I named but didn't have to look up were Franky's because they're all in extremely basic English.