SailorStar9: With Chapter 174 uploaded, I present Chapter 175 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 EiichirÅ-sensei. Me, on the other hand, own absolutely nothing, except my OC, the pairing and the fic idea.
Chapter 175: Arc 12: Hurry up, Rescue Team! Shirahoshi's Life in Jeopardy!
"Where do you think you are going, Shirahoshi?" Decken laughed on board the Noah. "There's no place for you to run. Shirahoshi!"
"I have to make it out to the sea and pull the Noah off the bubble." Shirahoshi decided. "It'll be awful if the bubble is damaged more than it has been already. But it's too far to make it to the main gate. Sasha-sama and her friends must have been the last people to leave Ryugu Palace, so maybe they left the connecting channel open."
"That insane backstabbing Decken." Hody cursed, climbing up the chain. "But I've still got a use for him."
"This sure is a huge chain." Luffy noted, the rescue party were now hanging onto a chain. "So, this is between two layers of bubble."
"Hody!" Ace hissed, spying the Fish-Man on another chain. "He's just below the first bubble. Those guys..." he blinked when a group of Merfolk swam up to one of the chains and started pulling.
"Are you guys for real?" Hody mocked. "There's no way it'll move a single inch. Wasting your energy like this. Shark Arrow!"
"Flame Commandment: Flame Barrier!" Ace was already on the move, evaporating the water bullet with a wall of flames. "Don't even bother; your attack will only get evaporated."
"You little piece of filth." Hody spat.
"I must hurry." Shirahoshi sped up. "As I thought," she closed in on the still opened tunnel. "The entrance to the Ryugu Palace was left open."
"What is she planning to do?" Ace frowned, seeing Shirahoshi swim into the connecting tunnel. "She couldn't be planning to... oh no!" he realized what Shirahoshi was about to do. "Luffy!" abandoning the fight with Hody, he hurried back to the younger 'D'.
"Wait up, chain!" slightly tossed about in the water, Luffy blew up an air bubble using the Bubbly Coral.
"Boy, you humans really are handicapped." Hody mocked, looming over Luffy. "You act all high and mighty on land, but in the sea, you couldn't even put a decent fight against a Fish-Man child. This is really the limit of human strength. I'll make you regret ever opposing me."
"Hody!" Luffy roared, turning to punch the Fish-Man.
"Luffy, stop!" inside his own air bubble, Ace hurried to prevent Luffy from making a mistake. "Idiot." he muttered, seeing Luffy let loose a series of punches and kicks at Hody who merely dodged the attack. "Luffy, we're leaving." he merged his air bubble with Luffy's and pulled his younger brother off. "We're both Devil Fruit users and Hody has too much of an advantage in the ocean. We need to fight him on the Noah."
"And where do you two think you are going?" Hody swam after the brothers. "Compared to a human who becomes weaker in water, this is the ideal place for a Fish-Man like me to show off my true strength. Shirahoshi fleeing out into the open sea makes things far easier for me. "Shark Arrows!" he bombarded the air bubble with his attack, popping it.
"Damn it!" Ace winced, seeing both their Bubbly Corals drop into the sea.
"In the ocean, a Devil Fruit user is as weak as a normal human." Hody mocked. "Maybe even weaker. It is really ironic, Fire-fist, Straw Hat." he tsked as both brothers dropped to the ocean. "Disgraced and powerless: the state you are in shows how worthless the two of you truly are. It doesn't matter how much you brag. You're both humans who can't even breathe underwater. Someone like you can never become King of the Seas. Repent and beg for mercy!" he swam in after the falling siblings. "But I guess you lack the strength to even do that, you inferior trash! So die!" he tossed his trident at the two brothers, only to have Fukaboshi knock the weapon away. "Why you..." he glared, Fukaboshi snatched the two falling Bubbly Corals and blew up one of them, encasing the two 'D' brothers in an air bubble.
"Are you two okay?" Fukaboshi asked.
"Fukaboshi, is that you?" Ace coughed out the water he had swallowed. "Sorry, you saved me again."
"Shirahoshi!" Decken chuckled. "Are you enjoying your freedom? The walls of the Hard Shell Tower kept you safe for ten years, but they can't help you here. Will you die from blood loss?" he readied two handful of knives. "Or will you be smashed by this behemoth first?" I'll give you one last chance, Shirahoshi. Say yes, and I'll spare your life. It's still not too late."
"I'm terribly sorry, Decker-sama, but..." Shirahoshi voiced.
"Marry me!" Decken insisted.
"You're just not my type!" Shirahoshi shouted.
"I see." Decken muttered. "Well then, die!" he threw his knives. "Die and live on in my heart! Have eternal life as my wife!"
"You think we'd let you marry her?" Manboshi retorted as he and Ryuboshi deflected the knives.
"We won't let you put a finger on our only sister, Decken." Ryuboshi promised.
"Ryuboshi-nii-sama, Manboshi-nii-sama." Shirahoshi gasped. "Hoe-sama."
"Wha?" Decken exclaimed. "Onii-sama tachi!"
"We're not your brothers!" Ryuboshi and Manboshi snapped.
"Onii-sama, everyone in the plaza tried to..." Shirahoshi sobbed.
"Shirahoshi, save the crying for later." Ryuboshi chided.
"Are onii-sama angry?" Shirahoshi sniffled.
"We're not angry." Manboshi protested.
"Father said that the Noah is an important ship, we can't allow it to get a single scratch." Ryuboshi explained. "That means we have to return it to the sea floor without damaging it. Here it comes!" he warned as the ark closed in.
"Damn it." Manboshi cursed as the Noah crashed into a stone spike. "In any case, we can't swim near the underwater mountains or ravines. That would damage the Noah."
"So, where do I escape to, Manboshi-nii-sama?" Shirahoshi asked.
"Up!" Manboshi replied. "There are too many obstacles on the sea floor."
"We're get Decken." Ryuboshi looked at his younger brother as Shirahoshi took off upwards.
"From the Noah and my endless love, you will never be able to escape, Shirahoshi." Decken grinned.
"Fukaboshi, that wound you got from Hody, is it alright?" Ace asked, the two brothers hitching a ride on the eldest Prince's back.
"The Royal Family, the soldiers and many of the citizens have been injured." Fukaboshi admitted. "Even Shirahoshi is trying to save the Ryugu Kingdom, despite being injured. That's why, I don't have the time to worry about a wound like this."
"We may have a problem." Ace noted, turning back to see Hody speeding behind them.
"You may be a member of the merman race who pride themselves on being the world's fastest swimmers." Hody was increasing his speed. "But compared to me, it's like you're not even moving. Shark Cutter!" he closed the distance in one shot.
"Fukaboshi, are you alright?" Ace winced, the merman dodging the incoming blade assault.
"We can't let that hit us." Luffy realized, seeing the sliced up fish that resulted from Hody's water blades.
"I'll cut the three of you up and feed you to the fishes." Hody promised as Fukaboshi took off.
"Hold on tight." Fukaboshi warned and dived.
"Oi, oi, seriously?" Ace muttered, seeing the cut down stone spikes that resulted from Hody's blade. "Fukaboshi, we can't just keep running." he reminded, Fukaboshi swimming into the stirred up slit to escape from Hody.
"The Noah?" Fukaboshi gaped, seeing the ark above them. "Shirahoshi!" he spotted his sister.
"Fukaboshi, we have to get to the Noah's deck." Ace requested.
"But why you want to board the ship?" Fukaboshi asked.
"It's like Jinbe-sensei said, since Decken is a Devil Fruit user himself, there should be air for him to breathe." Ace replied. "It should be easier for us to fight him there."
"I promised Yowahoshi that I would protect her when I took her out of the tower." Luffy asked.
"A promise, you say..." Fukaboshi mused. "We've made a promise too. His strength is nothing more than a mockery borrowed from the Energy Steroids. It's pitiful to think that I couldn't stand up to that rouge."
"Is there something you want on the deck?" Hody grinned, shooting past Fukaboshi to head towards the Noah to finish off Decken.
SailorStar9: Any OOC-nes is regretted. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Reviews are much appreciated.
