Shaska drifted listlessly on the waves between the greenhouse ship and the Señora Pomodoro, huffing and puffing, having doused the flames on the burning ship with her rising water technique. This was fortunate, as the waves had caused the greenhouse ship and the merchant ship which had Schwarz, Johnson, and Puerco on it to collide.
"Shaska!" Ren called out, looking over the deck of the Pomodoro.
"Hey, shipwright girl…!" Shaska said, trying to stay conscious as she breathed heavily in the freezing water.
Shaska lay there and thought "that Dear Leader was really strong… but I felt that king guy's power… and he was even stronger than that… dammit, I might actually have to train for the first time in forever."
She sat up in the water and grabbed her shoulders as the freezing rain continued to pour. "Geez, it's cold!"
"Shaska!" Schwarz called out. He, Johnson, and Puerco had made their way to the edge of the greenhouse ship to check on her after her big stunt.
"Oh, pretty boy, mind helping me out here…? I'm a bit too… almost dead to climb up by myself," Shaska said.
Schwarz obliged, spawning one hole right above Shaska, and one right over the edge of the deck. He grabbed Shaska's hand and pulled her up, after which she climbed onto the deck and grabbed her shoulders, shivering in the winter storm.
"A-Any of you g-g-guys got a blanket…?" Shaska asked, teeth chattering. She was still only in her bra and skirt with nothing to offer protection from the cold.
"We should… probably head back to the Robinson," said Puerco, rubbing the back of his head. "You guys hurt?"
He was met with a collective deadpan "yes."
—-
As the last collective ship left, the Humo Robinson remained in its original location. The crew teleported to the deck using a pair of Schwarz's holes. As they entered the galley to escape from the storm, they remembered part of the massive gash left on the ship so long ago was there too. To their surprise, they found Roxanne and Lulupo there… beating up a cat.
"I honestly didn't think they were the type to pound p-" Puerco began.
"Don't even finish that sentence," Ren interrupted, clamping Puerco's lips shut with her fingers while still clutching her bleeding stomach.
As Lulupo held the cat with his hair, Roxanne was punching the poor thing while it yowled in pain.
"I promise it's not what it looks like!" Roxanne exclaimed. "This cat is a Minus World assassin, and I'm trying to extract information out of him by beating him like a speed bag!"
"Still only the second-weirdest adventure I've been on…" Shaska thought.
"Aren't ya gahs cold in this weather? The gash is raht there." Ren asked.
"Oh, extremely," Roxanne said. "But beating this assassin is a good way to keep warm!"
"We came here for a post-workout snack when we found him here, darling. Then he tried to kill us, and, well, here we are," Lulupo explained, toasty warm with his body hair extended.
"Let's… go to the infirmary and get you all patched up," said Puerco. "It's on the other side of the ship, so we should be nice and warm there."
—
The whole crew gathered in the infirmary. Ren and Zinnia were up first because of their bullet wounds. As Puerco washed his hands for surgery, Ruth curled up next to her owner's unconscious body as the anesthesia took effect. Shaska sat on another bed and inspected her broken legs, which didn't affect her as badly when they were in their tentacle form.
"Hey, doctor kid, two questions," she said.
"Shoot," Puerco responded.
"I don't have a gun, kid," she replied. Puerco stared at her blankly, then she continued with "since when do we have anesthesia? You didn't use any on me when I got my back stitched up a while back!"
"We only have a limited supply. I didn't want to waste it just to stitch you up."
"And I'm the boss, why do snake and shipwright girls go first?"
"Ever hear of 'triage'?" Puerco asked. "Zinnia here has been shot three times and is losing blood fast! Not to mention her head wound from being slammed into the floor head-first…"
Puerco looked over at everyone in the infirmary. Everyone but him and Lulupo had been seriously injured to some degree during their excursion to the Mercury Collective.
"You guys better hope we don't get into any fights for the next while," said Puerco.
"The Sabaody Archipelago is our next stop. The place is crawling with pirates heading to the New World, as well as Marines," Shaska explained. "But I know a place where we can rest. There's these really strong friends of mine who'll protect us while the guy coats our ship for our descent to Fishman Island."
Puerco contained his nosebleed as he pulled off Zinnia's floral shirt and long pants to get better access to her bullet wounds, and got to work.
"Hey, Puerc, shouldn't a doctor not get nosebleeds upon seeing a woman in her underwear? That seems kinda weird," Schwarz asked, relaxing on one of the beds with his reacquired sword.
"Just because I'm a doctor doesn't mean I can't also have… an appreciation… for the female form," Puerco replied as he pulled the bullet out of Zinnia's gut and began to stitch up the hole. "And honestly, I'm not really the type who cares for snotty comments while I'm saving lives."
Roxanne sat on another bed, nursing her shoulder wound as Lulupo held onto Setzer tight. She took notice of Johnson, who was holding an ice pack on his head.
"Aren't you one of those Marines we ran into at Salt Town and the Panipuri Kingdom?" she asked. "What are you doing here with a bunch of criminals?"
Johnson explained his and Franco's situations after the events of the Panipuri Kingdom.
"Wow, that sounds like it all happened so fast!" Roxanne said.
"My court martial was basically a show trial. They didn't even give me a lawyer," said Johnson. "Balthasar von Esens shows up, I turn tail, and I'm out on my ass the next day. I'd been sailing all alone for a week before I ran into you guys again."
Roxanne said nothing. "Has it…? Has it really already been a week since…?"
A few tears left her eyes, but she calmed herself.
"So you're joining Worldwide Smoke, darling?" Lulupo asked.
"I don't really have any other options," Johnson replied.
"Don't say it like that, bird kid!" Shaska exclaimed. "Think of it as a new opportunity for adventure! A new career to boot! Being a bounty hunter is the life!"
"But… but you have a bounty yourself…" Johnson said. "A pretty substantial one at that…"
"Not for long, bird kid. Once we bring the king and his creepy sister's heads to Marie Jois, the government will have no choice but to realize we shouldn't be messed with," Shaska said.
"And what about that massacre they framed you for?" Johnson asked. "The government's not gonna cave so easily."
"They don't have any Marines actively seeking Whitebeard, or Kaido, or Big Mom, so as long as we show it's too much of a risk to actually try and expend manpower for us, we should be fine," she replied.
Shaska reclined on the bed, then said "ten thousand berries to the first one who brings me a new cigar and a light." She reflexively reached for her wads of cash… then realized she had left her jacket to burn in the greenhouse during the fight with Mandy.
"My… my money…" she stammered. Tears began to form in her eyes.
"WAAAAAAAAAAH!" Shaska began sobbing uncontrollably. "MILLIONS OF BERRIES! UP IN SMOKE!"
The rest of Worldwide Smoke just sat and stood there, unsure of what to do as the infirmary began to flood with Shaska's tears.
"MY MONEY! MY PRECIOUS, PRECIOUS MONEY! I DIDN'T EVEN GET TO INVEST IT! WAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
"Sh-Shaska…? Are you…?" Ren tried to say.
Shaska calmed down a bit. "*sniff* My money… and my favorite jacket too… and all the cigars I had with me… *sniff* lost in the fire…"
"Shaska, you're forty-eight years old. Isn't this a bit much…?" Schwarz asked.
Tears still streamed down Shaska's face as she looked at Schwarz. She couldn't be mad right now, even if she didn't like his tone. She sighed and said "It's fine I guess… even if I did just literally burn millions of berries away, I'm still the richest non-Celestial Dragon in the world. I've got plenty more stashed in the vault in my room."
"How… how rich are ya exactly…?" Ren asked.
"Rich enough," Shaska said, wiping tears from her eyes.
"You guys are lucky I'm a professional. I could've seriously hurt Zinnia right now after all that noise," Puerco snarked.
Shaska sobered up completely and said "seriously, someone get me a cigar, I'm dying here."
"It's really not a good idea to smoke while someone's performing surgery, boss," Puerco said. "At least take it outside."
"In this weather? I don't think so!"
"Well, you're not smoking in my infirmary," Puerco said, pulling out another bullet.
Shaska crossed her arms and huffed. "Forget it. I'm just gonna chill until it's my turn to get patched up."
—
Eventually, Puerco tended to everyone's wounds, and they all gathered together in Shaska's room. Schwarz and Lulupo had to move her to her bed as her legs were in casts and she couldn't revert them back to their tentacle form to move about, lest her human legs take even longer to heal. Setzer was still bound by Lulupo's hair. Shaska finally had a new cigar to smoke and had on a new shirt.
"What's the plan from here out, Shaska, darling?" Lulupo asked.
"Well, snake girl is gonna raise the anchor and get us out of here, for starters. The next stop is Sabaody. We can get there by following the pose to Fishman Island," Shaska replied. "Like I said earlier, I got a friend there who can coat the ship and give us a place to hide while we lick our wounds from our fight with 'Dear Leader'."
She clenched her fists and blew smoke.
"There's a slavery ring there, too… but it'd be a really bad idea to try and disrupt it while we're still healing. That'd also draw the ire of the Marine base there. Not helping is the fact that the Celestial Dragons like to poke their ugly heads around there all the time."
"What about the people of th'Mercury Collective we saved?" asked Ren.
"Hm. The archipelago's economy probably won't be able to handle a sudden influx of new residents on that scale…" Shaska said. She paused and thought about it for a second.
"Y'know, normally I'd try to recruit them for a new business… but since I'm a wanted criminal now, accused of leveling a city… I'm kind of a walking PR disaster."
She looked at her casted up legs and flicked ash off her cigar.
"Well, not that I'm walking right now, but you get the point. Anyway, I was thinking that eight people is kinda lonely to be sailing the Grand Line with. Back when the Robinson was Kemurchant Enterprises' flagship, we had over fifty people onboard at any given time."
"What are you saying, Miss Shaska…?" Zinnia asked.
"I'm saying we get some more labor on board. I'm rich enough to hire a good chunk of those people and give them enough food so that they're not skin and bones anymore. Let's hire a couple dozen of those guys, if only so the Robinson doesn't feel so empty anymore! It's a pretty damn big ship, y'know?"
She blew smoke and continued.
"Honestly, thinking back now, I coulda hired doctor kid's brothers and their gangs back at Salt Town instead of just throwing money at 'em. They probably turned back to their old ways after the whole Mazurka Kingdom incident happened and my name became mud for real."
"Shaska? Can I ask something?" Roxanne asked.
"Go for it, Message in a Bot-"
"No. We've been over this. You and I both know you know my name. It's Roxanne. And he's Puerco, not 'doctor kid'. I think we've all shown our worth to you by now. It's high time you start addressing us as… well, not your equals, per se, but as if we actually matter to you."
Shaska's eyes shot open at this.
"Heh. One heart to heart conversation with me and you think you can call the shots?" she asked. "You're cute, bar girl. Real cute."
Roxanne became quite cross and turned around in a huff to leave.
"Wait. Roxanne, stop," Shaska said. "I was kidding."
She looked around at her subordinates, none of whom were too impressed with her right now.
Shaska sighed and said "fine. If it's that important to you guys, I'll try to call you all by your real names from now on. Emphasis on 'try.'"
She rested her hand on her fist and blew smoke, then looked at Setzer, still in his cat form, still bound in Lulupo's hair. "Now, as to what to do with you, cat."
Setzer began to sweat through his fur.
"You're gonna spill what you know about Minus World. Or little miss Roxanne there is gonna keep you as a punching bag for a while."
She cracked her knuckles, then said "I might get a few hits in, too. And trust me, I hit a lot harder than she does."
"I live for Dear Leader! I only talk if she says ta-" Setzer hissed, but Shaska held up a finger.
"Shshshshsh… listen, cat. You do realize I cleaned your Dear Leader's clock right? Absolutely washed her. Kinda literally, now that I think about it. Anyway, you don't have a Dear Leader any more. You're cut off from Minus World entirely. And soon, you're gonna be cut off from breathing if you don't tell me what I want to know."
She leaned forward toward Setzer, getting as close to his face as she possibly could.
"What do you know about Balthasar von Esens?" she growled.
"I swear, not that much!" Setzer said, terror in his voice.
"Alright, who wants to take the first whack?" Shaska asked. She held out her arm and pointed at a random member of Worldwide Smoke. "Eh… bird kid… I mean, Johnson. Why don't you give him a little zap with those weird robot hands of yours?"
"As you wish," Johnson said. He activated the JHH-42, and one of the hands popped out, crackling with electricity. He simply poked Setzer with a finger, and the latter howled in pain as he was shocked with what was basically a lightning bolt's worth of electricity. Thankfully, hair isn't a conductor of electricity, so Lulupo was fine.
"Wanna keep going?" Shaska asked.
"I swear! On my life I swear that the only one who had any regular contact with von Esens was Dear Leader Mandy! I only know what was reported in the news, about how he killed that family of Celestial Dragons, then fell off the face of the earth!"
"Tell me, where does he operate from? Where's his base of operations?"
"I don't-" Setzer tried to answer before he was shocked again. "The New World! A place called the Twilight Kingdom in the New World!"
"Hm…" Shaska began, stroking her chin. "Any idea what the hell he was doing in the first half of the Grand Line, then? Surely there are places in the New World he could have made his grand debut at."
"Don't ask me! I don't know how that guy's mind works!" Setzer desperately tried to explain. "He just wants equality!"
"Why did Minus World have its own sub-cult anyway?" Roxanne asked.
"For the last time, it's not a cult, it's a-"
"That's exactly what a cultist would say," Worldwide Smoke interrupted in unison.
"It's not a cult, though! It's a new way of looking at the world that… prioritizes… equality…" Setzer tried to say… then the gears started turning in his head. "My god, it is a cult. I literally worshiped Dear Leader and von Esens."
"We know it's a cult. Now tell us why 'Dear Leader' had so much authority when that king guy is the big boss," Shaska ordered.
"Well… see… It was Phil who met von Esens first. He was a vagabond from Fishman Island traveling the New World in search of adventure. Then he happened on the Twilight Kingdom. He adopted a wild boar as a pet. And that boar ate a Devil Fruit and became sentient. He was so taken by her beauty that he decided to make her the leader. Anyway, they eventually made it to Die Gleichheit Castle, where King König IV rules."
"Wait, von Esens isn't the leader of his own kingdom?" Shaska asked.
"No, the Twilight Kingdom is just his base of operations. He struck a deal with the king, offering him a spot in the future Heaven on Earth in exchange for protection from the World Government's prying eyes as he prepared for his grand re-entrance to the world stage.
"For the past twenty years, he's been slowly spreading his tendrils out, sending emissaries to foreign kingdoms, spreading the message of equality. He's even gotten into the highest ranks of the World Government and the Marines. I, myself, was a Cipher Pol agent when I learned of the light of equality. Now he's back to take on the World Government with the armies of the nations he hollowed out so that he doesn't have to lift a finger.
"Though, keep in mind, he could easily raze Marine HQ and Marie Jois if he wanted to. Right now, he's showing the government he's already won. That's what the Mercury Collective was: his first attempt at setting up a truly equal society outside the Twilight Kingdom. And he succeeded. Sort of."
"Yeah, 'sort of', everyone was dying of hunger!" Shaska said.
"Only because of Dear Leader Mandy's intentional mismanagement! She was so self obsessed that she made everyone worship her. She… she is not true to the spirit of equality. She weaseled her way into von Esens' good graces by repeating everything he wanted to hear. And as such, she was chosen to be the leader of the collective. Minus World slowly brainwashed the youth of the collective until they rose up and killed the president. And thus, Mandy's rule became absolute."
"This Twilight Kingdom place… is it like the collective?" Shaska asked.
"Even worse," Setzer replied, wincing. "The point is, Mandy was just an avatar of von Esens' will. There are many others like her at this point, keeping the citizens compliant through fear and Happy Happy Grass. The effects of the Happy Happy Grass make one so euphoric they don't notice the oppression."
Shaska sat there and pondered for a moment, before saying "and we destroyed where the grass is made."
Setzer's eyes widened. "You did what?!"
"Well, yeah," Shaska replied.
"Doctor Feelgood is going to be mad when he stops getting shipments. Because he answers directly to von Esens."
"And just who is this 'Doctor Feelgood'?"
"I… I can't say. I honestly have no idea. Unlike von Esens, Doctor Feelgood uses a codename so that no one knows his true identity. All I can tell you is that he resides somewhere in the New World. That is where he refines the grass."
"Hm. Well, you've been surprisingly helpful, cat. Why don't you join Worldwide Smoke then? We're going to be taking out this king guy personally," Shaska said, blowing smoke.
"I… don't want to… personally, I've seen enough fighting for my lifetime. And if you struggled as hard as you did against Mandy… von Esens will squash you like insects. Just leave me at the Sabaody Archipelago, and I'll figure out what to do from there."
"Fine, have it your way," Shaska replied, much to the shock of the rest of the crew.
"What?! But I thought you needed as much muscle as you could get!" said a confused Roxanne.
"If I forced this cat to join, I'd be no better than the king guy. Business is all about the voluntary selling of your labor. He can find employment elsewhere, if that's what he wants."
Johnson was nonplussed. "You… basically gave me an ultimatum to join you back at the collective."
"Do you want to leave?" Shaska asked. "I'da thought you'd want to see the king again after you basically ran away with your tail between your legs. Get a second chance."
"I…" Johnson tried to say.
"Yes or no, bird."
Johnson thought it over and said "I'll stay. If only because I have nowhere else to go. Might as well throw my life away to at least try to stop von Esens."
"That's the spirit, kid. Sort of," Shaska replied, flicking ash off her cigar.
"Everyone clear on what we're doing, then?" she asked. The rest of the crew nodded.
"Put this guy in a cat carrier until we get to our destination. Can't risk him turning on us. Snake girl! I mean, Zinnia! Raise the anchor! We're going to the Sabaody Archipelago!"
"Yes, Miss Shaska!"
TO BE CONTINUED