"So what do we know about Sun Jewel?" Shantae asked.
"Well, apparently it's split between two classes: the Wealthy and the Laborers." 9S said, pulling up a screen.
"So it's that kind of place." Ace muttered, clenching his right arm.
"There's a reason for that. It's a mining planet that's home to a wide variety of valuable metals. But only so many find them, causing the split." Adora said.
"Of all the planets for Valkyrie to be on, why there?" Witch asked.
"Hopefully we'll find out why." Elisabeth said.
And so the course was set for Sun Jewel. But there was a road bump along the way.
"What the heck?!" Eddy said as they saw fish swimming out in space.
"Space fish?!" Papelne asked.
"Ah. The school of fish is from the Aoi Cosmos." Jet said.
"So they're from the Aoi Cosmos?" Kendo asked.
"Yeah. Like I said, this grand cosmos is made of four other cosmos: the Sakura Cosmos, the Aoi Cosmos, the Kaede Cosmos and the Yukino Cosmos." Jet said.
"Wait, the Aoi Cosmos is the one that has water flowing on its stream, right?" Francisca asked.
"Yeah. That's right." Jet said.
"And it is because of that that the Aoi Cosmos is said to be home to many different kinds of aquatic life." Mayumi said.
"Yeah…though we shouldn't try going there right now." Jet said. "Considering our group, we'll end up pissing off the empire there."
"Good idea." David said.
"Hey guys, there's someone out there." Al said.
"Please. No way…" Jet said as they saw someone in a suit holding a steering wheel. "Holy crap, there really is someone out there!"
"Let's get him inside." Hyde said.
The group rescued the man from the void of space and brought him inside the Edens Zero. He was a portly man with a white mustache.
"You have my thanks, Whippersnappers." the man said. "You may call me Captain Connor. I'm the captain of this ship."
"What ship? You're basically holding the only thing left of it." Ragna said.
"Well I lost my ship in a horrific accident, and being the captain, I held onto the wheel and never let go." Captain Connor said. "Before I knew it, I was out there, surrounded by weird fish."
"It's a miracle you were able to survive that long out there." Peni said.
Connor was then treated to some food in the Edens Zeros cafe. It was then he revealed where exactly he came from.
"Wow, you drifted all the way here from the Aoi Cosmos?" Hagakure asked.
"That's right. I must've drifted into this Cosmos after the shipwreck." Connor said finishing his food. "Tell me, who might be the captain of this and that other ship?"
"Uh…guess we're the co-captains of the Galaxy King but Shiki and Ace captain this ship." Jexi said.
"Hmm. The crew of this ship is all over the place. Very well." Connor said. "I humbly accept the post of captain of this ship!"
"Whoa whoa whoa." Al said. "You can't just go assuming you have the position when these two are already the captains."
It didn't take long for Captain Connor to start having his run.
"Geez…that guy is strange." Ajna said as she and the girls were in the Spa of Edens.
"Still…the Aoi Cosmos…wonder what it's like." Rebecca said.
"If it has all those fish out there, I bet it's really exciting!" Leilani said with stars in her eyes.
"I bet you wanna catch a whole bunch of them so you can find out how to cook 'em." Baozhai said.
"Well, I have to help come up with a bunch of new dishes with the fellow cooks." Leilani said.
"The women there are extremely beautiful. But…women from the Sakura Cosmos are just as nice." a voice said as the girls saw Connor bathing with them. "Must say, this mixed bath is incredible."
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Most of the girls screamed.
Connor continued to have his way from then on, whether the others liked it or not. He used the dress factory to make his captain outfit.
"This suits me nice." Connor said.
"Who said you could dress like that?!" Weisz said.
And with Pino….
"**** you." he said.
"Fax you too." Pino said.
"No. It's **** you." Connor said.
"That is so inappropriate!" Leviathan said.
The only person Connor did get along with was Shiki. But it was only a matter of time before the rest of the Edens Crew and Spirit Force had enough of him.
"So, new guy's getting pretty unbearable, huh?" Hope asked over telecommunications.
"What do you think?" Saki asked.
"He's completely overstepping himself over here." Zebei said. "Going wherever and doing whatever he wants. The worst part is, Pino's actually learning curse words from him."
"I'm told you are to say **** you in that situation." Pino said.
"And it's sticking…." Shantae said, face planted on the table.
"We can't keep this guy. We gotta kick him off." Lea said.
Just then an alarm went off on the Edens Zero.
"Oh now what?!" Marino said, annoyed.
"Your so-called "captain" is in the Pilot house." Ragna said.
"What?! Not even we're allowed to go in there!" Al said.
"He just decided to steer our ship just cause he wanted?!" Weisz said.
"Gaaaaah!" Saki screamed as she tugged at her pigtails.
"Okay…enough is enough." Sanji said.
They marched right up to the pilothouse.
"Okay, gramps. Listen. We…what the…" Jet said seeing Sun Jewel in the distance. "But…the debris belt…this should have taken 3 days."
"I heard from some of your friends. In Spirit Force was it? You were headed to Sun Jewel. You're right, it would've taken you three days to venture here." Connor said. "However, I just got you all there in one."
"He may be a piece of work, but you guys have to admit one thing." David said. "He knows how to pilot a ship."
"Yes, he certainly does." Spade said.
"But how did he get us there so fast? Don't tell me… did he go straight into the debris field?" Sakura asked.
"I'll bet you didn't know there was a shortcut there." Connor said as he got up. "Well, I'll be taking a much-deserved rest." he said walking off.
"Wait a minute. Who are you?" Jet asked.
"I told you. I'm the captain." Connor said as the doors shut behind him as he walked down the hall. "The Edens Zero…seems like some bizarre twist of fate." he said, removing his glove for a bit with the words Edens One on it. "After being the captain of the Edens One." he said to himself.
The group soon disembarked on Sun Jewel as they started their search in Gold Palace, a wealthy city on Sun Jewel.
"Did Weisz not want to come with us?" Ginseng asked.
"He had a pretty good reason. He was starting work on a new project." Makoto said.
"As for Baril, she needs time to recover after what she went through." Spade said. "Even though she is a Shadow Knight, she's younger than the rest of us."
"Weisz probably also wanted to stay behind to look after her and the Shining Stars while he works on this new weapon." Kaibara said. "Anyway…where do we start?"
"We'll try the casino. Those are usually a wellspring of info." Nami said.
"Man, this gold isn't easy on the eyes." Duran said.
"Yeah, tell me about it." Hope said. "Being here brings back some bad memories."
"Yeah…we sailed right into Gran Tesoro and…" Vector said as they heard gunfire behind them.
"Everyone on the ground!" said some masked men as they fired their guns.
"We got jumped by robbers." Vector said.
"That's… not how I remember it." Erica said.
"I think he's referring to right now, mademoiselle." Ash said.
"Looks like a casino robbery." Kendo said. "Let's put a stop to it."
"Looks like Shiki and Homura are already way ahead of us." Xion noticed as the two of them were quickly dispatching the robbers.
"Hmm…now that I think of it…last time, there was also something…" Vector said as a large red light surrounded the robbers. "Like that."
"Wait! No! Spare us! Please spare…" one of the robbers begged before an intense light shined down, turning all of the robbers into a large stain on the ground as the patrons simply cheered.
"W-What just happened?" Ginseng asked.
"I believe a satellite just turned those robbers into paste." Maki said.
"Yes. There's no need to worry with Madame Kurenai protecting all of the Golden Palace." one patron said.
"Madame Kurenai?" Homura asked in curiosity.
"She must run things around here. Whatever she says goes, and whoever acts up ends up like them." Fuyuhiko said.
"That is correct." some androids said. "However, we must now punish the associate criminals."
"Uh…associates?" Natsu asked.
"We are referring to these two!" they said pointing to Shiki and Homura. "Violence of any kind is prohibited in the Gold Palace."
Two rays of light surrounded the two.
"You are sentenced…to 100000 metals!" the androids said as Shiki and Homura vanished.
"No! How could…" Jexi said.
"Worry not. Those two are not dead. They were sent to a labor camp to work off their dues." the androids assured the group before flying off.
"Still, violence is prohibited in casino grounds, even just to stop a robbery? This place is whack, dude." David said.
"And a labor camp on top of that? I know this planet has to maintain things somehow, but this is just a little too excessive." Kaede said.
"Just be lucky none of us stepped in, or it probably could've been even worse." Francisca said.
"But we're not leaving them there. We need to find a way to the poverty district and bust them out." Pit said.
"Well, this is a civilization with a caste system, right? There's got to be someone that knows how to sneak in there." David said.
"Oh…did you ask for…help?" a voice asked.
"Yeah. We sure could…" Adora said before they all saw it was Labilia. "Oh good god, not you."
"What do you want?" David asked.
"Simple. Just a little collab with Rebecca." she said.
"Yeah, right. You think we're stupid enough to fall for that? We saw the way you act, you degrade her at every turn." Sachiko said.
"Hold on…what would I have to do?" Rebecca asked.
"Ever heard of Wibble Wobble Ruby Bobble?" Labilia asked.
"That's a magical girl anime for children!" Rebecca said.
"You'll cosplay as the main character for me." Labilia said.
"Are you serious? Don't give her the time of day, Rebecca. We'll find somebody else." Sachiko said.
"No…I'll do it." Rebecca said.
It didn't take long before she was all dressed up.
"Ugh…this is beyond embarrassing." Rebecca said.
"You don't have to…" Sunset said as they heard singing from a man with pointed ears and a magical girl t-shirt.
"That song…it's Wibble Wobble Ruby Bobble's 2nd opening. He's good." Rebecca said. "Wait…I think…"
"That's Nino!" Rebecca and Sunset said in shock.
"Only anime can save the world." the man said.
"Well, I'll be damned. That show really does have its fans." Sachiko said.
"Oh. He's more than a fan. Nino has this whole channel where he discusses everything from anime to game content." Sunset said.
"Seriously? Wow. This guy must know his sources." David said.
"You really look like Wibble Wobble Ruby Bobble. This is really the best cosplay I've seen." Nino said.
"Uh…we're trying to record a video here." Labilia said.
"Oh so sorry." Nino said as he backed up a bit.
"Now…this B-cuber cosplayer will say Ruby's catchphrase on the stage!" Labilia said.
"What? Okay, fine. But this is the last thing." Rebecca said as she got on stage. "You leave it to me! I'll Wibble Wobble your heart!" she said as she did a cute pose.
"So cute." Labilia said as the ball above opened as something dropped onto Rebecca as the crowd started laughing.
"Dammit, Should've known." Fuyuhiko said.
"We kept trying to tell Rebecca not to take this…" David said.
"Aw…not her fault she's stupid…or yours that you pretend to know everything." Labilia said.
"Get out of our faces…now." David threatened.
"Nice try. No violence on this…" Labilia said as something was poured on her.
"Oh…so sorry. I accidentally spilled something." Mark said.
Labilia smelled and looked ready to gag. "Gross! What is that?"
"Expired milk…3 months worth of it." Mark said. "Get to a shower and you just might get that smell out." he said as she ran off.
"Not our fault you're such a haughty bitch." David called back. "Phew… Thanks, Mark. Glad you stepped in there, or I would've really regretted it."
"Still, nice insult on her." Ace said to David.
"Still sucks we didn't get any info from…" Mark said as Nino approached them. "Can we help you?" he said as they were handed some paper.
"Madame Kurenai is eavesdropping on anything said here. So don't say a word and suppress your reactions. I know a secret way to the labor camp undetected. So follow me! Only anime can save the universe!" it read.
"Well, guess we should take this guy on his word." David said.
"You sure you aren't saying that cause you two are almost the same when it comes to otaku stuff?" Akane asked.
"Are you even listening to yourself?" David asked. "Magical girl anime is not my scene, but anything is better than that psycho Labilia."
"Uh…not what I…oh well. If it gets us to the mining camp, let's follow this guy." Akane said.
Elsewhere…in the mines of Sun Jewel….
"So…someone's finally come at last." a robotic being said as sparks came from him. "I hope we meet soon…friends of the one called Mega Man." they said.