Italics indicate thinking

Bold is for attacks

Steve's POV

"Ugh…" I groaned sitting up on the sand "How long was I out?"

My head was still pounding and ringing, fighting Smoothie was hard enough, it didn't help that I had burned out using Life Return like that.

I looked across the desolate deserted island and saw the gigantic Longleg was out cold on the sand as well, at least I wouldn't have to deal with her for a while.

"I gotta get back to the ship somehow." I thought shifting forms to grow my devil wings "I don't know my way around this place at all but I kinda remember the map so if I can find a landmark it'll be a start."

I needed to conserve as much energy as possible, it wasn't gonna be an easy flight and I was exhausted but I needed to find the Sunny. I charged up some heat in my hands and finally blasted up using the flames to jet higher and get a good over view of the area, I could see a few islands in the distance along with what looked like smoke and ships fighting.

"I'd say that's a good place to start looking." I smiled.

Using my flight speed crossing the water wasn't too bad, I stopped on a couple shorelines to rest for a couple minutes before taking off again, fortunately it seemed whatever was going on at those other islands had diverted most of the forces from the others islands leaving them open for me to catch my breath on. After about three island to island flights I started coming into view of the Sunny.

"It's still in one piece…for the most part." I looked at it.

The ship was certainly battered and had a few clear breaks and cracks in it, most notably to the roof of the main indoor area.

"RAAH!" I flew in front of the ship while dragging my arm back and leaving a burst of purple flames.

"Steve!"

"There's our smokescreen!" I said "Is Luffy back yet."

"They just got here!" Nami yelled "Sanji too!"

"Then we're leaving." I told her landing on the deck "Quickly before they put their focus back on us. Everyone still in one piece?"

"Barely, Sunny unfortunately took the brunt of the damage." Wyper said pulling up spare wood "I can make some spot repairs to keep us floating but without Franky to do a real fix we're not gonna be handling the sea well."

"Just keep us afloat we'll manage the rest." I told him.

I leaned on the nearby railing, my overexertion was already catching up with me again, if anyone made another attack on this ship, I wasn't sure I'd be able to fight back much.

"You look like crap." I nodded down at Luffy.

"So do you." He sighed and looked ready to fall asleep.

Our reunion was cut short when the water next to the ship was rocked by a cannonball hitting the water.

"They don't give up." I saw the various Big Mom ships in pursuit.

The Germa ship swooped in and provided covering fire, I think they wanted us to get Sanji out of here but I wasn't gonna ask questions.

"We're being surrounded." Carrot warned.

"They're at the front too! It's a pincer maneuver." Monet glared "We're running out of room, if we're gonna do something it needs to be now."

"Wyper will the ship hold together with a Coup De Burst?" I asked.

"She's barely holding together as is if you fire the Burst, I think she's gonna shatter." He warned.

The front bow was skimmed by a high-pressure blast of purple liquid that nearly cut the figurehead clean off.

"She got back up?" I looked off to the side and saw Smoothie was prone on the front of one of the ships taking potshots at us.

Dammit she's gonna rip this ship full of holes, we're surrounded, I can't believe all this work is gonna be for nothing.

Before I could panic anymore the sea rose up from under us, at first it seemed like a Knock-up stream but then the water stopped and it was a giant, person.

"It's that huge guy from Fishman Island!" Chopper said.

The rest of the water bubbled up to reveal the Fishman Pirates, specifically the ones that worked for Jinbei.

"So, it was them who stole the detection snails." Jinbei said "They've been keeping trouble off our backs for a while now."

"I can see why you like them so much." Luffy smiled.

"Yes…" Jinbei sighed as they cleared a path for us.

"Turn the sail and go full speed the ship will have to hold." I told Wyper.

"Your call!" he spun the wheel.

We barely finished the first turn before the sea itself began steaming.

"They're trying to sweat us out?" I said "They just won't give up."

"That big ship is gonna fire!" Wyper warned "The main cannon!"

I pulled the wrappings off my arm, by this point they were so worn I thought they'd fall apart into dust, I wanted to blow that blast up before it hit us but my flames were so tired and weak, I could see the blackened skin that had been hiding in the flames for years.

"I don't have the strength left." I hissed.

"Switch them now Wadatsumi!"

The Sunny suddenly got pulled under the water just as the other ship fired, slipping our position with one of the Sun Pirate's ships. That oversized Fishman used the underwater current to pull us farther away from the main fight.

"It's getting hot in here." Monet fanned herself.

"Oven won't let us leave; he's trying to heat the ocean to get Wadatsumi to surface." Jinbei warned.

Eventually the heat was too much even inside his mouth and we had to surface.

"Go Jinbei we'll cover you."

"Wyper, we need to go now you have to fire the burst, we'll have to trust Sunny to hold together for us." I told him.

"It's your call but I don't think it'll stay together!" he said "I can't even keep the pump running fast enough to drain the hold!"

"If you stop and repair the ship it will still take you hours to flee." Jinbei told us "Catch the wind and finish repairing the hole in the hull then get going as fast as you can."

"You keep telling me what to do, rather than saying what we'll do." I stepped down.

"Jinbei…"

"I can't just abandon them." He explained.

"Then we can-."

"I'll guard you're escape." The fishman said "Escaping while the main fleet ships pursue you will be impossible, please allow me to hold this line. I'll do this and come back alive."

I looked at Luffy.

"Sounds fair to me." I shrugged "I don't mind."

"Ok." Luffy nodded "But don't forget, we're your captain now."

"Hehehe!" I couldn't help but laugh "Since when did you get so serious, that's my thing. We have a place to be Jinbei."

"We'll be waiting in Wano." Luffy and I said "Don't be late."

"I'm in your debt." He bowed.

"Then we need to get going." I looked back "That old hag will be after us in no time but let her chase me, next time she gets in our way I'll be taking her down."

"The fishmen can manipulate the currents." Jinbei explained "Nami follow the path and go as far as you can."

"Right." She nodded.

Jinbei leapt off the ship and grabbed the water, using his Fishman Karate and Jujitsu he pulled the water into a current to send us speeding forward. For once it finally felt like I had a second to breathe, I sat on the steps and just laid back.

"We survived taking on an Emperor." I closed my eyes "Heh…That was a short fight just to get Sanji, what the hell is waiting in Wano if we try and take on Kaido."

I looked at my arms, my bandages were worn and dirty looking, I could see little wisps of flames trying to leak out the thinner parts of the wrapping. I had no idea where these even came from in the first place, Vegapunk's lab put them on me back in Impel down and I've had the same pair since, whatever made them I needed a new set. Aside from all that, the fight with Smoothie proved that I'm still no strong enough. All these problems were weighing on me.

"Robin…Lil." I let my head fall back as I passed out on the stairs "I need you."

AN

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Pick Up- Chapter 903

Till Next Time!