Shaska and Samudra made their way to the big top. Unfortunately, they found all the security guards had already been defeated.

Schwarz wiped the blood off his sword and resheathed it, while Ruth relaxed from her bo staff configuration and coiled around Zinnia again.

"Aaaah… I was hoping to kick some butt," Shaska whined, blowing some smoke.

"Well, we still have a boss to take out," said Schwarz.

"Yes, Mr. Andre should still be in his office somewhere," Zinnia added.

"Snake girl. Who are you?" Shaska asked.

Zinnia began to explain who she was and the details of how she got to Zaba World, but Shaska cut her off.

"So, you're an escaped slave and this whole amusement park is a front for a slave trade? Dammit, I can't stand slavers. Damn the government for allowing this to continue.

"But more importantly, you can fight and navigate? You're hired! We need a navigator and some extra muscle. We're gonna be stopping a civil war soon!"

Shaska held out her hand. "Name's Shaska, business and bounty hunter extraordinaire! Surely my name precedes me?"

"I apologize, ma'am, but I have never heard of you. Amazon Lily is quite isolated."

She started petting Ruth's face.

"And while I have never fought in a war, I will gladly follow you to the ends of the world, Miss Shaska," Zinnia said with a bow. Ruth bowed her head, too.

"That's what I like to hear!" Shaska exclaimed, mildly annoyed Zinnia didn't shake her hand.

"Where is this 'Mr. Andre'?" Samudra asked.

"His office is behind the Potato Coaster," replied Zinnia. "It is a rather plain building, but it is the only one like it in the park. It would be hard to miss."

Shaska cracked her knuckles again.

"Let's go put the hurt on him, then. I don't take too kindly to slavers."

"Please, allow me to join, ma'am," said Zinnia, bowing again. "He may have saved me from my previous owner, but I was still forced to be a circus performer. And poor Ruth was kept in the most inhumane conditions."

Ruth stiffened up into her staff form, and Zinnia spun her around before sticking her tail in the ground.

"There is no one who wants Mr. Andre to face justice more than me… except…"

"As a slaver, he probably has ties to the government and the World Nobles, right?" said Shaska, puffing on her cigar. "I don't care. Even if they raise my bounty for this, I'm still kicking his ass.

"Snake girl, prince, we're gonna put an end to this. Pretty boys, stay back and protect the slaves and the happy couple. Never know when more security will show up."

"As you wish, Miss Shaska!" said Lulupo, still holding several slavers in his hair.

"Actually… let those guys go real quick. I wanna give my fists a warm up."

Lulupo obliged and let the goons go. They tried to get away, but Shaska was too fast, and she proceeded to beat them within an inch of their lives as she held them in her tentacles.

As blood dripped from her knuckles, Shaska took another puff on her cigar. "Ah, nothing quite like putting criminal scum in their place. Alright, now let's go lay the smackdown on this Andre creep."

Zinnia couldn't help but blush at the raw display of power. In her culture, strength and beauty were one and the same.

—-

On the deck of the Humo Robinson, Puerco was milling about while Ren made notes of all the other nicks and scratches besides the massive gash in the side.

"So, Ren, was it? How come you don't wanna join our crew?"

Ren smacked her head and turned to Puerco with a surly expression on her face.

"Ah thought ah told you t'leave me be whahle ah was workin'."

"It's a simple question. We could really use an on-board shipwright, is all. And Shaska, as bitchy as she is, pays well, too."

"Fahne. Ah'll tell ya exactly what ah told everyone else." She crossed her arms. "Ah got deep roots here. Ah got mah own business. Ah gotta protect this town from pahrates." She tapped the side of her head. "Any o' that makin' sense to ya?"

"I guess," Puerco responded. "It's a wide world out there, though. Full of all sorts of wonders! (And babes!) Don't you want to see it?"

"Please, just let me work."

Ren wandered around a bit more, making more notes, before Puerco piped up again.

"Hey, so, where are your parents anyway? You look awfully young to have your own busi-"

"Ah ain't got no parents!" Ren shouted at him. She threw down her notepad in a fit of anger.

"M-mom? D-d-dad?" stammered a fifteen-year-old Ren, trying to move the rubble from her parents' corpses.

"That's it, ya Worldwahde Smoke gahs're on yer own! Ah'm goin' back to the shipyard!"

She started to storm off, but Puerco ran after her and grabbed her hand. She swiveled around, drew one of her guns, and pointed it right in Puerco's face.

"Let go of me raht now or ah'm gonna blow yer brains out," she growled.

Puerco did as he was told. "Please, listen! I know what you might be going through!"

"How could ya know, ya annoyin' perv?!"

"I'm an orphan, too!"

Ren lowered her gun. Her expression softened a bit, and her eyebrow was cocked.

"Ah'm listening."

"My brothers and I grew up extremely impoverished. It's a miracle that I was able to get my hands on the medical textbooks necessary to become a doctor. When I was seven, burglars broke into our house… and they did unspeakable things to my mother and forced my brothers and father to watch, guns at our heads. They forced us to dig through the house for what little valuables we had…"

"P-please! Let my m-m-mommy and d-daddy go!" sobbed a young Puerco, holding out a gold necklace.

"Heh heh… you kids are gonna wanna watch this," sneered one of the burglars, snatching the necklace.

"…and then they killed my parents, execution-style. Bullet to the backs of their heads. The burglars eventually got gunned down by Marines later that night. But we didn't even get our valuables back due to corruption in the force. My brothers had no options but to turn to a life of crime to provide for me."

"Oh my god…" Ren said, hand over her mouth, tears forming in her eyes.

"It's fine. I mean, it's NOT fine, but that was thirteen years ago. I tell you all this because I want you to trust me. We're not bad guys despite our captain's bounty."

Puerco held out his hand. "We could really use a shipwright, Ren. It could be the adventure of a lifetime."

Ren fought back the tears and gritted her teeth. After a second, she shook her head.

"Ah can't. Przytan needs me… Mah company needs me. Fer openin' up to me lahk that, sure, ah'll continue t'fix yer ship… but ah just can't…"

"Hm. I see…"

"Ahm gonna go now. Ah need to go check on th'other ships at th'shipyard. Ah made good notes o'what needs t'be fixed, and ah'll probably get t'it tomorrow afternoon."

She turned around and started to disembark, before turning back around again.

"Ah'm… sorry ah snapped at ya lahk that, doc," she said before turning around again.

—

Shaska, Samudra, and Zinnia stood in front of the Potato Coaster, and subsequently Mr. Andre's office as well.

"There it is," said Zinnia, raising Ruth up to a fighting stance.

"Should we knock, or-" Samudra began.

Shaska had a different strategy, opting to just punch down the door and some of its surrounding wall.

She was greeted by five security guards pointing guns at her, along with a huge security guard with a big, bushy beard standing around nine feet tall.

"I am Security Chief Dreyfuss," boomed the huge man. "I see you have Mrs. Kite with you, meaning you have seen far too much of our operation. You will die where you stand before meeting Mr. Andre."

"How cute, you think this is my first time staring down a firing squad," said Shaska, blowing smoke and cracking her knuckles. "Do you know who you're dealing with?"

"Famed bounty hunter Shaska, the Squeeze, yes," Dreyfuss replied, holding up his arm. "I will enjoy this. FIRE!"

Shaska jumped high, faster than the eye could track, the instant she heard the word, as did Zinnia. Samudra just stood there, letting the bullets pass right through his steam body.

"Hm. Interesting," Dreyfuss mumbled.

Shaska and Zinnia landed on the roof of the building, leaving Samudra by himself.

Shaska looked back down and called out to him.

"You got this, prince?!"

"Indeed, Lady Shaska, I am more than capable of handling myself in a fight," he replied, brandishing his spear.

"What are your orders, ma'am?" Zinnia asked.

"We let the prince deal with those guys while looking for this Andre creep by ourselves."

"And how will we do that from up here?"

Shaska jumped forward, flipped, and slammed her tentacle-foot down, breaking a hole in the ceiling. She looked through it, but saw no signs of the boss.

"Not in here."

"I see. I will follow you," Zinnia replied, once again blushing at Shaska's strength.

Shaska and Zinnia dropped through the hole to explore the building more properly. They were greeted by more gun-toting guards.

Meanwhile, the security guards at the front kept firing at Samudra, to no avail. Dreyfuss began to shapeshift into a half-man, half-crocodile form, matching Samudra's height. He charged Samudra with his jaws open revealing a set of razor sharp teeth.

Samudra just stood there as Dreyfuss ran right through him.

"AAAAAAGH!" Dreyfuss cried, burning himself on the steam.

"You are an utter fool if you think you can defeat me with your lowly Zoan powers," Samudra said acridly. "I am a Logia. I am nigh indestructible."

Samudra picked up Dreyfuss, still reeling from his burns, and held him up in front of the shooting guards, using him as a crocodile shield. Dreyfuss screamed some more as he was peppered with gunfire.

"STOP, YOU IDIOTS!"

The guards did as they were told, and Samudra dropped their boss. Dreyfuss hacked up blood, then turned around and glared at Samudra.

"You…"

"My name is Samudra, prince of the Panipuri Kingdom," he said, raising his spear. "Be sure to remember that in your next life."

—-

At the big top, Andy finally came to. He was still chained up and under Lulupo's hair.

"Huh…? Where am…?" Andy asked. He saw his wife on the ground with a bomb collar around her neck. "Roxie…?"

He noticed the collar around his neck and started to panic.

"What? Wh-what's this?!" he cried, scrambling to remove it. Lulupo smacked him.

"Darling, don't mess with that! It's a bomb that'll explode if not handled properly!"

"Huh…? Where am…?" Roxanne asked, finally coming to as well. She looked up at her husband, seeing the bomb collar around his neck. "Andy…?"

She noticed the collar around her own neck.

"What? What is-"

Andy pulled her close. "Calm down, sweetie. You need to be calm. We have bombs around our necks that'll kill us if not handled properly."

Roxanne was starting to regret her decision to go on a grand adventure.

Lulupo and Schwarz explained the true nature of Zaba World and how the couple were almost sold into slavery.

"Y'know, if I had five berries for every time I was almost sold into slavery, I'd have ten berries. Which isn't a lot, but…" said Andy.

"It shouldn't have happened twice!" Roxanne finished.

"What I want to know is how this slave ring was able to operate unnoticed for so long," Schwarz wondered.

One of the slaves, a young man, stepped forward to explain.

"Przystan is busy port. Many people come and go without being detected. Zaba World has many annual visitors."

"But… wouldn't the jig be up if someone from the town went missing at the park?" Andy asked.

The young man shook his head.

"Przystan police have investigated park many times, as have royal authorities and Marines. Zaba World always remains open."

"I see… so that means everyone sent to investigate is on the take from these slavers," said Schwarz.

"That is most likely solution," said the youth. "Przystan locals have learned to avoid Zaba World for most part. For most part, it is literal tourist trap."

He looked at one of the headless corpses and started to weep.

"Woman there was my wife. We left kids with babysitter for romantic day to ourselves at amusement park. We believed rumors were just urban legend."

"Don't worry, darling," Lulupo reassured him. "We can't bring your wife back, but our boss and our associates are on their way to get the key to your collars so you can get home to your kids!"

Lulupo retracted his hair, no longer sensing any danger.

"So, what should we do while we wait for Miss Shaska?" he asked.

—-

Mr. Andre was sitting at his desk, polishing his bald head and trimming his big, bushy mustache, when his transponder snail started to ring.

Purupurupuru

Purupurupuru

Purupurupurucaaaalick

"Yes, this is Mr. Andre speaking."

"SIR! Our forces are being wiped out one by one! It's Shaska the Sq-"

The call abruptly ended.

"Oh me oh my," Andre said with an odd calmness in his voice. "Shaska the Squeeze, eh?"

He glanced over at an old newspaper whose headline showed how she got her business and bounty hunting licenses revoked. "Well, it's not like she can bring me in anyway. I have no bounty, and she's not a hunter anymore. Surely she'd realize going after someone connected with the World Nobles is suicidal…"

He paused for a moment and leaned back in his chair.

"Though… if she's on her way here, that means she probably took out Dreyfuss…"

He reached into his desk and pulled out a gun. "Just to err on the side of caution…"

Just then, the door broke off its hinges with a loud crash and a guard flew in, cracking his skull on Andre's desk.

Shaska stood where the door used to be, cracking her knuckles.

"I love doing that," she said, taking another puff.

"Ah… Shaska the Squeeze… to what do I owe the pleasure? Have you come to make a busi-" Andre started.

"Can it!" she shouted.

Zinnia poked out from behind Shaska.

"Hello, uh, M-Mr. Andre… sir…"

"Ah, Zinnia. I see you and your snake friend have reunited," he replied with a smile. "Did you enjoy perf-"

"Snake girl! Stop being so polite to him!" Shaska declared, pulling on Zinnia's ear. "You're not a slave anymore, remember? Give him a piece of your mind!"

"Well, uh…"

"Oh, it's alright. I can always capture more," Andre said, raising his gun.

He shot at Shaska, but Zinnia deflected it with a swing of Ruth, the bullet ricocheting off the snake's helmet.

"Hm."

Andre pulled out a key. "I assume you're looking for this?"

"Yes!" Zinnia responded. "Please, hand it over!"

Andre said nothing, and instead swallowed the key. Zinnia gasped.

"Oh no… the other slaves…!"

Shaska simply walked forward and grabbed Andre by the throat. She blew smoke in his face, and her mouth widened into a very sinister smile.

"Honestly, you just made this process a lot more painful than it needed to be," she said, right before slamming him face first into the desk, snapping it in two.

—-

Samudra made his way through the walls of the office building, following Shaska and Zinnia's trail of carnage, all while having to crawl on his hands and knees due to his height.

He was stopped in his tracks by blood curdling screams from up ahead. After the shock passed, he bolted forward as fast as he could.

Samudra was soon greeted by Zinnia, content smile on her and Ruth's faces, and Shaska, casually strolling while whistling. She had her cigar in one hand, and was tossing the key up and down in her other; both hands were completely drenched in blood.

"Lady Shaska! Are you-"

"All taken care of, prince," she said, smiling.

TO BE CONTINUED