"Zeimaru!" Shaska exclaimed.
"Zeimaru…?" asked Schwarz. "I take it he's-"
"My son, yes," Shaska interrupted, blowing smoke. "What do you want?"
"I'm surprised you didn't call me 'brat,'" said Zeimaru. "I'm here to bring you in."
"I don't want to fight you, Zeimaru. In fact…" Shaska said, standing up.
She walked over to her son, and gave him a hug.
"I wanted to apologize for how awful I was as a mother. After my fight with Zeiko, I-"
"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" Zeimaru shouted, breaking free of his mother's embrace. "You think 'I'm sorry' and a hug is enough after what you put me and my sister through?!"
He forcefully pushed her away.
"No, no nononono. NO. You're not getting off that easily! Especially after what you did in the Mazurka Kingdom!"
"Please tell me you don't belie-" Shaska tried to say.
"If it makes you money, you'll do it! That's your whole philosophy!" Zeimaru exclaimed. "I'm sure there was a profit you turned from massacring those thousands of people!"
Zeimaru threw his cigarette on the ground and snuffed it by stomping on it.
"I don't care if the World Government still tolerates the enslavement of our people! No, I'm dedicated to bringing in crooked business people like you who think they're above the law and can get away without paying their fair share!"
"So you want MY berries to keep funding massacres like the Mazurka Kingdom? Because it was a twisted Marine who did that, not me," Shaska explained.
"And why should I believe you, mother?" Zeimaru asked, coating the last word with as much venom as he possibly could.
"Because no matter how I treated you as a kid, I wasn't violent was I?!" Shaska said. "I reserved my beatings for the bounties I brought in!"
"And you think that was a suitable environment for a child to grow up in? No father, neglected by my mother, and constantly being threatened by pirates? At least you didn't beat us physically!"
Shaska began to seethe, while the other members of Worldwide Smoke became more and more visibly uncomfortable at the scene unfolding in front of them.
"Y'know, I may not have been the best mother, but you try getting knocked up at seventeen by a serial predator! I did my best to provide fo-"
"Your best wasn't good enough!" Zeimaru interrupted. "You know what it's like having to hunt for your own food before you're even ten years old because your so-called provider is too busy with her own work?!"
"Yes, actually, but I doubt that'd calm you down," Shaska replied, flicking ash off her cigar.
"You're damn right it won't calm me down! No, you're coming with me! I'm bringing you in to be tried at Enies Lobby before you get thrown in Impel Down!"
"And I said I don't want to fight you!" Shaska exclaimed.
Nineteen-year-old Shaska looked up from her work as infant Zeimaru took his first steps.
"Oh, good, you're finally walking, kid," Shaska said. She couldn't help but smile, which caused Zeimaru to smile, too.
"Don't get too happy, brat," Shaska said, crouching down and blowing smoke in the infant's face, causing him to start coughing. "You and your sister still got a loooong road ahead before you start making me money."
Zeimaru looked confused. Zeiko started crying.
"Oh for the love of… you little clowns hungry again? Ugh."
Shaska snapped back to the present and thought "wow, I really don't have a lot of happy memories with them, do I?"
"Hehehe… You really don't understand, do you, mom?" Zeimaru asked. "You're basically the holy grail for Cipher Pol W2. Crooked business lady with a mountain of debt and a mountain of corpses in her wake? We'd give anything to bring you in!"
"And you're going to attempt to fight me in front of my entire crew? Get real, brat," Shaska said, losing any and all sense of maternal love she had previously had.
"That's the mother I know," said Zeimaru. "No, I saw what you did to Zeiko. She had to get her hands replaced after what you did to her."
"I'll have you know she attacked first," Shaska said, blowing smoke. "I acted in self defense. And I let her live. As any good mother would."
Zeimaru started fuming at that last remark. He raised his fists… but then lowered them again.
"You're an awful mother. More than anything else, I want to see you in chains. But I wasn't expecting you to have all of your subordinates here, too. Frankly, I'm surprised you could find people desperate enough to work for you," said Zeimaru, lighting up another cigarette. "No, I'm gonna go back to the Kemurchant HQ and wait for you. You want your company back. Even though you're a wanted woman now."
"Your point, brat?" Shaska asked.
"My point is that I'm gonna get a fight out of you, like it or not. And I'll win while I have all your little employees distracted with their own fights," Zeimaru explained.
"What part of 'I don't want to fight you' did you not understand?" Shaska asked indignantly.
Zeimaru turned to leave, "you can't always get what you want, mother. Your company's not going to be officially recognized by the government if you're at the helm again. Meaning you won't be able to legally do business or get supplies again."
"It's cute that you think I haven't thought of a way around that," Shaska bluffed. "Get out of here, brat."
Zeimaru gave one last look over his shoulder, puffed on his cigarette, and shook his head. He then Shaved away.
The rest of Worldwide Smoke sat there, confused. Puerco had finished his dinner while this was going on.
"What… What just happened?" asked Ren.
"It's looking like we'll have to modify our plans a bit," said Shaska. "They know we're coming."
"Well yeah, the Robinson is docked out there for all to see," said Puerco, stuffing his face with seconds. "It'd be weirder if they didn't know we were here."
"We can't wait any longer, though," said Schwarz. "Didn't we agree on a six month time limit? Who knows what that king guy's been getting up to while we've been gone?"
"It's not like we haven't been getting the papers, darling," said Lulupo. "His influence has been spreading pretty far and wide."
He pulled out a newspaper and continued with "according to today's issue, Minus World militants have started to be spotted even in the East Blue, only to be cut down by that up and comer, Red-Haired Shanks."
"Focus, people. We can go after Shanks after we take down the king," said Shaska, sitting back down. "We'll start planning at dawn. Right now, let's just eat and… forget that happened."
—
The crew finished their dinner and turned in for the night. The next morning, as usual, they were awoken at the crack of dawn by the dojo's sea roosters. Outside the dojo, the newly trained crew gathered in a rectangular formation with the officers up front. They were changed out of their gis and back into the clothes they came with. Shaska stood before them, arms crossed.
"Alright, maggots!" Shaska exclaimed, blowing smoke. "Today's the day we march on Kemurchant HQ!"
Puerco yawned. "Can we at least get some coffee first…?"
"Why? So you can ogle girls at Mermaid Café?" Ren asked, rolling her eyes. "We've been doing this for six months now, you should be used to this."
"…yeah…" Puerco said, wiping away a tiny trickle of blood from his nose.
Shaska snapped her fingers twice. "Focus, people! Everyone know what the plan is?"
The members of Worldwide Smoke looked around amongst themselves, before Zinnia held up her hand and said "Miss Shaska, you did not tell us what the plan was." Ruth let out an agreeing hiss.
Shaska flicked ash off her cigar and said "alright, let's go over the plan then."
She pulled out a large scroll of paper, unrolled it, and laid it on the ground before the crew.
"I grabbed this map of Kemurchant HQ from the Robinson before sunrise today."
The officers gathered closest around the map, while the rank and file employees did their best to look over the officers' shoulders.
"So, the HQ complex is one of the biggest on Fishman Island, standing eleven floors high" Shaska began. "It's staffed by around two hundred Kemurchant bounty hunters, and three hundred plainclothes civilians who handle the accounting and Fishman Resources and stuff.
"On the top floor is the office of that snake, Miwagyo. More likely than not, my son will be with her. I'm gonna need at least one of you to help me. I can take her or Zeimaru by myself, but not both."
Shaska flicked the ash off her cigar, then continued.
"The highest concentration of bounty hunters is on the fifth floor; that's where the armory is. I'm not sure how that snake Miwagyo is running the place, but when I was in charge, there were usually fifty Kemurchants patrolling that area at any given time."
"Could you please stop referring to this Miwagyo as a 'snake'?" Zinnia asked. "Ruth finds it offensive."
"I'll call her what I want, snake girl," Shaska replied coldly. Zinnia gave a blank stare; Ruth glared.
"There's bound to be quite a few Kemurchants around the perimeter of the building as well; more than usual since I'm on the island," Shaska said.
"Two hundred bounty hunters, huh? We're pretty much outnumbered four to one, then," said Roxanne.
"That's not counting the officers of the company either. They should be gathered in the boardroom on the tenth floor," Shaska added.
"And they know we're coming today…" Schwarz said. "How are we supposed to surprise them?"
"Heh heh heh… that's where you come in, Pretty Boy Schwarz. How far can those portals of yours go?"
"I'm not entirely sure, myself…" Schwarz said. "As long as I know where something is relative to me and I'm not trying to spawn on sea-prism stone or underwater, I guess I can put a hole pretty much anywhere."
Schwarz spawned a hole next to himself and stuck his hand through it, then pulled out a frilly cup of coffee and took a sip.
"My coffee!" called a voice on the other end of the portal.
"Hm. The Mermaid Café makes okay enough coffee," said Schwarz.
"People don't go for the coffee," said Shaska, thinking back to her time as a waitress there. She clapped her hands and added "point is! You can teleport us into the building without us having to fight through security!"
Schwarz put the coffee back and closed the hole, then rubbed his chin.
"I guess we could do that; I don't know where Kemurchant HQ is though. Only reason I could grab that coffee is because we passed that café on the way over here," he said.
"You guess? It's an order!" Shaska exclaimed.
Shaska blew some smoke, then continued.
"So, everyone get the gist now? We're gonna use Schwarz to infiltrate the top floor of HQ. One of you is gonna join me to fight that snake Miwagyo and my son. The rest of you are going to descend from the top and start clearing out the lower floors so I don't have any distractions."
"I'll do it," said Roxanne.
Shaska looked up, somewhat surprised. "Are you sure? That snake Miwagyo and my son are both pretty strong."
"If I can't beat them, I can't beat that creepy princess," Roxanne replied bluntly. "This will be the perfect test of my strength."
"Fair enough," Shaska said, blowing smoke.
"What happened to 'break their will without fighting'?" Puerco asked.
"Sometimes, certain people just need a beating," Shaska answered, cracking her knuckles.
The crew backed up from the map, and Shaska rolled it back up. Johnson held up one of his robot hands.
"Yes, bird?" Shaska asked.
"You said there's several hundred civilians, right?" Johnson wondered. "What happens if the bounty hunters use them as human, er, fishman shields?"
"They're not gonna do that," she replied. "Anyone caught hurting civilians gets terminated on the spot. Kemurchants aren't pirates. Then again… things might be different with that snake Miwagyo at the helm…"
Shaska bowed her head in thought for a moment, smoke billowing out of her mouth.
"Just try not to hurt any civilians, okay? I don't want to have to call any family members to tell them their family died in a literal hostile takeover."
She stood up and asked "any more questions? Anyone?"
Lulupo formed his hair into a hand and held it up. "Shaska, darling, don't you need the board of directors to vote you back in? Surely just storming in and beating everyone up won't convince them."
"Oh, it will," Shaska responded. "And don't call me-"
"None of that!" Johnson interrupted.
"Point is, we just need to put the hurt on them to the point they're forced to re-elect me as CEO. Even if I am a wanted criminal who allegedly slaughtered a city. This is about something more than money. This is about getting the military might to take on that king guy!"
She punched her palm, then turned around and crossed her arms.
"No more questions! Men, women, Lulupo! Let's march on Kemurchant HQ!"
"Right!" Worldwide Smoke shouted in unison.
—
Worldwide Smoke gathered at the highest point of Coral Hill. In the very far distance, Fishverly Hills could be seen. Schwarz stood at the front of the group, next to Shaska, looking through a telescope.
"So, which one is it?" Schwarz asked.
"It's the tall one with my face on it, you can't miss it," Shaska responded, blowing smoke.
"Well, I see a tall building alright, but it's got someone else's face on it."
"Give me that!"
Shaska forcibly took the telescope from Schwarz and scanned the horizon with it. She locked onto Kemurchant HQ, and sure enough, her face wasn't on the building. Instead, it was Miwagyo.
"That snake!" Shaska growled, her cigar burning entirely to ash. She quickly pulled out and lit another one.
"Pretty Boy Schwarz!" she declared. "Make a portal right above the building. Let's roll!"
"You got it, boss," Schwarz responded, holding his hands out. After a moment's concentration, a massive hole opened up above Kemurchant HQ, and another one right in front of the crew.
Shaska jumped through without a word, quickly followed by the rest of the officers. Except Puerco, who had to check one last time he had all his medical supplies before jumping. He adjusted his backpack and jumped. The Mercury Collective survivors, i.e. the new rank and file showed some trepidation, but Freddie jumped forward. The rest followed soon after.
The crew landed on the roof of Kemurchant HQ, some more smoothly than others. Once all the members had gathered, Schwarz closed the portal.
A gentle breeze washed over them, and they all turned to Shaska, who stood there puffing on her cigar. After a prolonged silence, Zinnia spoke up.
"Miss Shaska…? What is our next course of action? Will we go through the roof entrance?"
"Nah," Shaska replied, cracking her knuckles and looking down with a smile. "I got a much more fun idea."
She raised her fist, then called out "ONE THOUSAND BRICK FIST!" Everyone else's eyes shot open as Shaska brought her fist down on the roof they were standing on, shattering it. The rest of the crew couldn't help but scream as they fell, with the exception of Lulupo, who promptly shot out hair tendrils from his head and wrapped everyone but Shaska up as the rest of his hair served as a parachute.
Shaska landed in the rubble of the former roof with a thud, while Lulupo floated down like a feather and gingerly placed the rest of the crew down, unwrapping them as he did so. They were in Miwagyo's office. And just as Shaska had predicted, Zeimaru was there, as well.
…along with a squad of diverse Kemurchants (as in, a mix of humans and fishmen), all of whom had guns drawn and trained on Worldwide Smoke.
"You're paying for that, Shaska," Miwagyo said, leaning forward at her desk with all of her hands tented.
"Hello again, mother," said Zeimaru.
"Hello, brat," said Shaska. "And hello, snake," she added, turning toward Miwagyo.
"Ooh, such a cold welcome, Shaska," Miwagyo responded. "Come, pull up a chair, let's talk business."
"Oh, we'll talk business, alright," said Shaska, flicking ash off her cigar. "Let's start with how you and the board conspired against me to take over the company I built from the ground up."
"Your name was PR poison after your book cooking got out," said Miwagyo.
"And just who leaked that info to the press?"
"Fufufu… I have no idea…" Miwagyo responded with a sly smile and puff of smoke, to which Shaska glared at her.
"Roxanne!" Shaska exclaimed. "You and me! Let's go!"
"Right!" Roxanne replied.
"Everyone else, take out the trash and head downstairs."
"Miss Miwagyo said whoever takes out Shaska gets a ten million berry bonus," said one of the Kemurchants.
"And that's on top of our new union salaries," said another.
Shaska's eyes shot open in horror at that, and she quickly swiveled around to face the Kemurchant who just spoke.
"SHE LET YOU UNIONIZE?!" Shaska shouted in disbelief.
TO BE CONTINUED