SailorStar9: With Chapter 160 uploaded, I present Chapter 161 this fic. For everyone who put this fic on your favorited and followed lists and/or story alerts, thank you, but remember everyone, a lot of authors (myself included) sustain on readers' reviews.

Pairings: Ace/Sasha, sibling Luffy/Sasha and Sabo/Sasha, Background Protector!Law/Sasha

Disclaimers: One Piece belongs to Oda Eiichirō-sensei. Me, on the other hand, own absolutely nothing, except my OC, the pairing and the fic idea.

Chapter 161: Arc 12: The Battle in the Ryugu Palace! Sasha and Zoro vs. Hody!


"Vander Decken is going after Shirahoshi!" King Neptune wailed. "He's gonna catch Shirahoshi! My treasure: Shirahoshi."

"How pathetic, Neptune." Hody mocked. "I never thought that the hateful Straw Hats would help us conquer the Ryugu Palace."

He's got Arlong's mark too. Nami recognized the tattoo on Hody's forearm.

"Jinbe told me there was something going on in the Fish-Man District." the Minister of the Right remarked. "I can't believe you, a former proud soldier of Neptune's army, is the ringleader. Shame on you, Hody!"

"Shame?" Hody taunted. "I'd feel shame if I had felt any real pride to be in Neptune's army. The only reason why I joined the army was to learn fighting skills in actual combat. And that's all. I became stronger thanks to you. You all of you have failed to notice what's been going on on the island. Since I was a child, I've seen Fish-Men being suppressed at the hands of irrational humans. I admired Arlong's ambition to take the arrogance out of them. We're gonna restore his dream. We're the New Fish-Men Pirates. I was training myself to become Arlong's right-hand man one day when he set out to conquer the world from the East Blue as he had planned. But, unfortunately, he was stopped by some humans."

"So, these Fish-Men are followers of Arlong?" Usopp hissed.

"Enough with chitchatting and let's go down to business." Hody declared and placed. a hand on one of the palace walls. "Shark Grip." tightening his grip on the wall, he shattered the pillar and causing the water around the palace to gush in.

"Oh damn, it's a flood." Zoro cursed.

"This is no good!" Brook panicked. "Especially for me! I'm gonna drown!" he jumped onto Usopp.

"Shark Arrows!" Hody fired off his rain of water bullets, his hand was now drenched with seawater.

"Ex-quip: Zora Hydromancer Robe." Sasha swapped out her ice elemental armor with the armor suited for underwater battle. The 'Paragon Ice Blade' was also exchanged with the 'Seaslayer' kris blade.

In response, Zoro had also pulled out one of his swords, the two sword users deflecting the hail of water bullets with the hilts of their weapons.

"You bastard!" King Neptune snapped, using his body as a shield to defend the soldiers as Hody continued his assault. "How dare you shoot my soldiers at random? Stop it, you fool!"

"What an idiot." Hody mocked. "What kind of king becomes a shield for his men? You don't have what it takes to be king."

"It's awful." Usopp hissed, Hody's bullets were taking down the soldiers one by one. "And he's way stronger than Arlong."

"One Sword Style," Zoro stepped forward. "Bird Dance!"

Grabbing a nearby Fish-Men, Hody let him take the attack.

"That bastard." Usopp snapped. "He shielded himself with his own men."

"Don't let them do a damn thing!" Hody ordered his troops. "Destroy all of Neptune's army and the Straw Hats. Bring the Dragon Empress to me!"

"Special Attack: Green Star 'Rafflesia'!" Usopp fired his seed pod at the charging Fish-Men and a giant Rafflesia flower bloomed in the air. "Take it. He grinned, the overwhelming smell of the flower rendering the the attacking Fish-Men unable to attack. "Oi, Sasha, Zoro, the water is rising!" he warned.

"Neptune," Sasha voiced, her Haki rising. "Get those two out of here."

"How about you, Selena-sama?" King Neptune asked.

"No one can get away with that guy chasing after them." Zoro reasoned.

"Zoro, here." Sasha tossed a rune-stone to the swordsman. "It's a respiratory rune-stone; it converts the oxygen in the water into breathable air. With that, you won't have to worry about running out of air underwater."

"Right." Zoro tucked the rune-stone into his haramaki. "What about you?"

"Why do you think I swapped into the 'Zora Hydromancer Robe'?"" Sasha grinned and the two swords users dived into the rising water.

"Don't stand in my way of conquering this country." Hody warned. "Good job seeing my arrows earlier." he noted, after clashing with the two humans. "Is it because you've seen Arlong's? If you've learned to see them for the second time, that's impressive. But no matter how skillful you are, no one can beat a Fishman in the sea." he shot past the two humans who dodged him. Returning to parry with the two humans, the three met in a stalemate as their weapons clashed.

A swipe from Zoro's sword embedded Hody's trident into a nearby wall.

"You can't deflect them in the water." Hody taunted, firing off his 'Shark Arrows' at the sword-wielding pair as a dust cloud covered their visibility.

"Aqua Cyclone." Sasha intoned.

"Three-Sword Style: Dragon Twister!" Zoro churned the pillar of water upwards, forming a barrier of water that absorbed the water bullets.

"Seems like I can have some fun." Hody grinned.


SailorStar9: Any OOC-nes is regretted. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Reviews are much appreciated.