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Ch 7

A Slave Among Friends

"MORGAN! YOUR NOT SMILELING!" Ablong looked down at Morgan who was sitting at his feet watching the other Fish-men.

"Master Ablong!" Morgan said in a forced sweet voice, "My collar is so tight!" Morgan tugged on the collar she was forced to wear along with along with a black skin tight shirt and a black skirt/tutu thing. "Do you think you could loosen it?"

"ONLY WHEN YOU DO SOMETHING I LIKE!" Ablong tightened his grip on her chain. "I LOOSENED IT TWICE LAST NIGHT!" he raised his bandaged arm with the newly reattached hand. (Amazing Fish-man healing abilities! POW!)

"YOU! I mean… Yes Master Ablong!" Morgan forced a smile.

By the end of the first week Morgan's collar was almost loose enough to slip over her head, almost.

By day she sat at Ablong's feet leaning against his legs, which he liked her to do, as he played with her hair. Yes, she had grown accustomed to the smell of them. She had even begun to pity Ablong. He was obviously trying to live up to his father's reputation and earn the other's respect. Everyday he was challenged. Sometimes he almost lost.

"Ablong! Why don't you just beat them all up!" Morgan bandaged Ablong's arm.

"BECAUSE THEY HAVE NOT CHALLANGED ME!" Ablong watched Morgan shake her head. "IT IS NOT RIGHT TO HARM A BROTHER WHO DOESN'T WANT TO FIGHT!"

"But their going to challenge you eventually," Morgan tied the bandage off.

"PERHAPS, BUT THEY DIDN'T WANT TO FIGHT," Ablong tugged on Morgan's hair. His eyes fell on the bruises that were on her neck. "DO THEY STILL HURT?"

"These?" She touched her neck, "Eh, they twinge sometimes." She shrugged.

"I'M SORRY"

"Don't say that it takes away from your image!" Morgan smiled slightly.

"HAHA!" Ablong laughed and grabbed Morgan's shoulders, "YOU ARE A STRANGE ONE!" He picked her up and set her on his knee.

"Always have been…" She rolled the remainder of the bandages into to a neat roll.

"TOO BAD ALL PEWMANS AREN'T LIKE YOU!" Ablong pulled Morgan into a sort of hug.

"Some of them are, we're like Fish-men! Each of us are different," Morgan didn't push Ablong away nor did she hug him back.

"YES, WELL TOO BAD THEY DON'T SHOW IT!" Ablong said angrily.

"Calm down," Morgan turned to look at him. "You need to control your temper."

"IT'S TRUE!" Ablong tightened his grip on Morgan.

"That might be so, but still its no wonder people are afraid of Fish-men, if you already have a preconceived image of us," Morgan patted Ablong's cheek.

"YOU ARE INSOLENT," Ablong smiled his sick smile again. "PERHAPS I SHOULD PUNISH YOU…" Ablong fell back onto the bed.

At the end of the second week, on the WarHammer.

Justin sat at the front of the ship looking out in the direction of Arlong Park. He had sulked here for the past two weeks. The entire crew was rather quiet as they recovered and trained. Amanda and Katie were developing a special weapon for Amanda. It was the wheel of the ship, but they detached it from the ship. The spokes of the wheel were equipped with retractable blades. They made it light weight so Amanda could throw it but strong so if it was hit it wouldn't break.

Bry was developing a drink that would heal wounds. Jossy was sharpening the edge of her telescope making it into a razor sharp edge. Mei-Ling and Sarah took all of the old food they had and added food poisoning to them just incase they lost and the Fish-Men ate their food they would die as well. Sean was strengthening his punch. Death used a gun from the Baratie as her weapon.

Arlong Park

Morgan walked among the Fish-men who parted for her respectfully. She looked ahead at her target, she started to walk faster then she was trotting, then she broke into a flat out run. She crouched low to the ground and sprang up flipping in midair and diving into the cold clear water. Her body froze in the water. Ablong who had been sitting in his chair, stood and watched her.

"HACHI! GET HER OUT OF THERE!" Ablong shook his head.

Hachi dove into the water and dragged Morgan out of it.

"Ablong you Jerk! You left me in there long enough!" Morgan glared at Ablong.

"HA HA! WHY DID YOU DO THAT ANYWAY?" Ablong picked Morgan up by her upper arm.

"I wanted to feel the water again," Morgan shook the water from her eyes.

"YOU ATE THE DEVIL FRUIT! YOU CANNOT SWIM!" Ablong laughed.

"Yes, well watching all of you swim was torturing me," Morgan looked up at Ablong and smiled slightly.

A grudging friendship had developed between the Fish-man and the Pirate-Captain. She made him laugh with her strange human ways. He showed her that, though fish-men were vicious to humans, it was only because the humans were vicious to them.

The Fish-men ate their food raw. Morgan cooked her food to perfection and ate neatly. The Fish-men would laugh madly and imitate her.

Ablong would severely punish any Fish-Man who moved to hurt Morgan. And Morgan reminded Ablong that if any human was hurt by any of his fish-men she would personally kill them all. Ablong would laugh and pat Morgan's head.

That night Morgan sat on Ablong's chair. All of the Fish-men were asleep around her, she felt like a queen among thieves. She was watching the full moon. Ablong trusted Morgan enough to take the collar off. She wouldn't run. It meant risking her friends life's. even if she had grown to like maybe even grudgingly love, the Fish-men, she would have left in a heartbeat, if life's weren't at stake. She had a hard time remembering her crew. Her head ached each time she tried the think of who she was protecting. She recited their names over and over in her head. She drew their faces on the ground. Thinking that she must remember these people.

She heard a rustling in the bushes just outside Arlong Park's ruined walls. She stood, her nails growing defensively. Then Bry tumbled out of the bushes.

Ch 8

Goodbye to you

"Captain!" Bry hissed then she leapt over the sleeping fish-men and into Morgan's arms "Your alive! Are you hurt?"

"Bry what are you doing here?" Morgan caught the girl and stared amazed at her.

"We've come to rescue you!" Bry smiled happily.

"I don't need…wait…WE?" Morgan looked up to see the rest of her crew creeping among the Fish-Men. "Damn!"

"What's Wrong?" Bry asked worriedly.

Just then Hachi, the fish-man that had rescued her from the water, rolled over sleepily. Opening his eyes a little then he jumped up.

"PEWMANS! THE PEWMAN'S ARE INVADEING!" the cry awoke the other Fish-men including Ablong who had fallen asleep to the side of his chair. (Morgan and Ablong had been up late talking)

"MORGAN DO YOU AIM TO BETRAY ME!" Ablong yelled wrenching Morgan away Bry.

"No! I have nothing to do with this!" Morgan cried

"We've come to rescue our Captain!" Sean pointed at Ablong defiantly.

"FIRST TO SPEAK, FIRST TO DIE!" And with the speed of chain lightning Ablong threw Morgan aside and charged Sean.

Morgan landed on her side. She watched as Ablong dodged Sean's punch and his kick. She watched Ablong grab Sean's hair and his chin twisting Sean's head and snapping the smaller figures neck.

"NOOOOO!" Someone cried out. It was an anguished cry that hung in the air and came crashing down all around them. It was a cry that was full of sorrow, pain, and loss. Only when the echoes of the cry came back to her did she realize that she, Morgan, had cried out.

She stood. Her nails grew, long and sharp. Her body was rigid. She looked up with eyes that didn't shine or reflect any light.

"ABLONG!" The Fish-man turned to look at her. "I told you… I told you that, if any of my friends or any of the villagers get hurt, I'm going to kill you all!" She looked up at him, "Personally!"

"MORGAN," Ablong smiled his sick smile and ran at Morgan, who charged him as well.

They met in the middle of Arlong Park. While they were locked in a vicious battle of their own, around them the Fish-men fought the Itai pirates.

Morgan's nails continued to grow as she fought Ablong, making it nearly impossible to avoid her attacks. Once she caught the Fish-man in a cage, meaning to make the cage of her steel nails smaller until it sliced him to pieces. But Ablong saw what she meant to do and attacked her directly.

"MORGAN, YOU CAN NOT BEAT ME!" Ablong caught Morgan's arm and spun her around until her back was to him. Pulling her against his body, he took her chin in one hand and the top of her head in the other. "I'LL GIVE YOU ONE MORE CHANCE! STOP FIGHTING AND STAY WITH ME!"

"You killed my friend, If I stayed I would never forgive you." A single tear fell down Morgan's cheek. It settled on Ablong's webbed thumb.

Ablong's hands left Morgan's head. The tear shined on the jewel that was on his thumb. It was the only jewel on his teal skin. He stared at the small, yet incredibly moving, tear that slowly slid off his finger.

"MORGAN…" Ablong, instead of moving to kill her, as her guard was down and he could have done so easily, he wrapped his large arms around her.

"Breath your last breaths with me, Sweet Ablong, your life is to be cut short…" Morgan, this time turned and hugged her Fish-man friend back.

"DON'T FORGET ME…" Ablong released her.

"I will forget… I always forget… Already Sean is fading from my memory. And you will too… in time all I will forget all of you…" Morgan smiled sadly and placed a nail against Ablong's throat. "Find peace." With that she dragged her nail across Ablong's neck.

Ch 9

The Fallen Two

As Ablong fell away from her it was then that Morgan became aware of the din around her. The Itai Pirates were fending off the enraged Fish-men. They had seen their leader fall.

"Victory!" Morgan leapt to join her crew. "Fight and victory will be ours!

Her crew rallied around her. They fended off the Fish-Men left and right. Soon all of them, the Fish-Men, were dead. Many in Morgan's Crew shook, either from excitement or fear.

"It's over…" Morgan walked over to Ablong's chair and sat down. Just as rain started to fall. she looked out at her crew and the fallen Fish-men.

Death put her umbrella up and went to stand over Bry, who was administering her healing drink to Amanda.

After a little while Morgan stood and led her crew out of Arlong Park. Leaving Sean to be burned with the Fish-Men the next day. Morgan looked back just as the sun peaked out from behind the stormy clouds. A rainbow formed over the battle sight.

"Good bye Ablong, Good Friend," Then she turned again and led the way back to Coco Village.

That night they had a celebration. Near the end of the celebration, Morgan raised her cup.

"Friends! Tonight we have feasted, but let us now raise out glasses in honor of two fallen friends!"

"Two?" Bry asked.

"Yes two. One we all knew. Sean, though he could be a royal pain in the rear end. He was a good friend, most of the time. May he rest in peace. The other only I knew. Ablong. Though in the beginning we were not bosom friends, we grew to like each other. Let us know that all Fish-men are not all that bad." Morgan said in a voice that was almost choked with tears. Around her, her crew raised their cups and said together.

"To Sean and Ablong, the Fallen Two!" they clinked glasses and drank.