Wishfull-star: (≧◡≦)
They made it out of the bubble elevator and were back on land. "Oh, I gotta discharge," Luffy said. It had just appeared, so it would be smaller. They were far from the bubble, and the blasts/shockwaves/explosions didn't harm the bubble.
"I remember what happened at Sabaody!" Luffy nodded, and said it was what made him lose his arm's feelings.
"But I'm fine with it like this," he said. They were walking, Caimie in a bubble floaty. "It reminds me that I'm not invincible, and blood isn't a fix for everything."
Usopp said, "If that happened to me, I'd want it fixed." They all knew most people would. "You're weird like that." Luffy laughed and agreed, putting his arm behind his head. "Neh, can we get yummy food?!"
"Yeah, I wanna taste food from Fishman Island!" Chopper agreed. Caimie was more than happy to take them all to the best restaurants, after she got the clams to Pappag. When they got to the coral street, a main street, Chopper asked for them to get him some take out while he went to check on Sanji.
"Sure, we'll get you the best of them," Luffy vowed. Chopper hurried off to Sanji. Caimie brought them to mermaid cafe, though the dorms were far from the actual place. "Ooh, food!"
"It's a cafe, not a restaurant."
"They have food, like cakes and baked goods," Caimie said. They went inside, Luffy wanting meat, not baked treats. But he didn't smell any meat inside! "Oh, people here don't eat meat or fish." Luffy's jaw dropped in horror. But he was confused about eating Takoyaki with Hachi, then.
"That means the only meat on the island is on the Sunny?!" Caimie said sometimes meat was eaten at the palace, but otherwise, no meat or fish. "Not even sea kings?"
"Well, nobody hunts sea kings here. Those in the deep are less aggressive and don't come here often, but those that do are too big for anyone to kill," the mermaid explained. Luffy's whole body seemed to droop in disappointment. "The rich fishmen can have meat, though! But the food here is really tasty! And we have clams and shellfish and scallops," she added, wanting to pick up Luffy's mood.
Usopp said he could last a day without meat, sounding exasperated. He smelled Brook nearby, and listened, knowing he was inside instantly. It looked like he'd gone in through another entrance, as the front doors didn't smell like him. They walked inside, and saw him and Pappag together, Brook surrounded by beautiful mermaids.
"Caimie-san! Oh, and Luffy-san!" Luffy frowned and asked where Zoro had gone. "He got lost." Luffy pouted and crossed his arms like a little kid. "I'm sure you can meet up with him later," Brook added.
Luffy had missed him so much for two years and now they couldn't even go around Fishman Island alone together. He wanted to go look for him. Brook and Pappag were having a great time, and the starfish was glad to see the other two. "I've missed you all so much! You sure changed a lot, Hatty!" he said, addressing Luffy. Usopp was Nosey.
The captain said he went through all sorts of training with a smile. "I'm gonna go look for Zoro," Luffy announced. "I don't want to see everything and then know about Zoro." Usopp asked if that was a good idea. He could get lost, too. He'd said the scents were different here. After all, there was no wind to bring them to him.
"Well, I'll be fine," Luffy replied. "And I'll just follow my scent back here and then to you guys," he added. Usopp nodded, and Brook told him to be careful in the more rural areas. That's where they'd washed up. Luffy left, and wandered around, looking and listening for Zoro. He looked to the side and saw a wanted poster for who Brook said was a ghost. Vander Decken. Luffy wondered why he was wanted. But he was looking for Zoro. He wandered around, but had nothing helpful.
He pouted, wondering where he went in irritation. He was about to climb a large coral wall to look from above, but then was stopped by the calls of his crew he'd just been with. They were on a whale with a big man on top. "Luffy! You won't find Zoro here, he's at the palace!"
"What?!" Luffy asked in shock. And slight disappointment. He went to the palace without Luffy. They said they were all going now, and were being picked up to visit because they saved that shark from Surume before. Well, if all his friends were going, then he should go, too. He jumped onto the whale, and they all raised up in the air with the whale in a bubble.
"Where are we going, old man?" Luffy wondered casually.
"Luffy-chin, show some respect!" Caimie said in worry.
"We're going to the palace! Because you saved that shark."
"Oh, from Surume?" Luffy wondered. The king, Neptune, said it was amazing that he tamed the kraken. "Yeah, he's not too scary if you get to know him! In another way than him killing you, shishishi."
Usopp muttered, "He was scary most of the time…" Nami nodded in agreement. Luffy jumped onto the shark, Megalo, who was apparently the princess's shark. Nami said there were some things he missed out on knowing when he left.
"First of all is that Vander Decken. He doesn't matter much to our safety, but he's been after the princess for a long time, with a power to send things to her from far away."
"Heh, sounds like a useless ability."
"Now the princess has to hide." Luffy said that really sucks. "Then it's a bit about the yonko, Big Mom. She's protecting this island as long as they give her sweets."
"Another yonko, huh? I wonder what kind of person she is? Shanks and Whitebeard were good guys. I want to meet her," Luffy mused, looking up at the bubble's ceiling they were approaching. Luffy asked the king if he had meat at the palace.
"We shall have a feast for the people who saved my daughters precious pet," Neptune said.
"Shishishi, you're a nice old man!" Luffy said, too casually for Caimie and Pappag's taste. Usopp bluntly said Luffy isn't the kind of person to respect his elders. Luffy didn't argue this, and they didn't mention how he yelled and then fought alongside their previous protector. "It's good Sanji won't go here soon! The mermaid princess is supposed to be pretty. Sanji nearly died from a nosebleed when he was with the mermaids!"
Nami sighed. "I heard. That idiot," she muttered. "Wasting precious blood like that." Neptune looked at her in a thoughtful way for what she'd said. Luffy pointed out the donors were more than happy to help him.
"But he was totally ungrateful!"
"Since when do you care about being grateful, Luffy-san?" Brook asked lightly.
"I'm grateful to those who helped me in the war, and then Rayleigh! He helped me get so much stronger, so I'm really grateful to him!"
"So you're grateful to a handful of people." Luffy nodded. "Well, that's more than I expected, I guess," Nami said. They were getting higher and higher when Zoro was mentioned. Apparently he was having a good time drinking all the booze he could get his hands on. "He was told we'd all be here soon, he didn't go off without you," Nami said, patting Luffy's back. Luffy nodded. Well, he should be happy when they got there.
And Neptune said they'd have a huge feast! Luffy was excited for different types of foods. He'd get lots of meat no doubt. He said they'd find the other Straw Hats soon. Franky went to look for the ship and Robin went off to do history stuff. "Ooh, a poneglyph do you think?" Luffy wondered. "Neh, old man, do you have any red rocks down here? Bright red cryals?" The king said they didn't have any of those. Not much stone was down there. They used coral for most of the things. But stone wasn't used as much.
"Heh…" Luffy said in disappointment. Neptune asked curiously about all of Luffy's tattoos. He was young to have so many, at least in his opinion. Luffy looked at his arm and stomach. Nami answered for him. He had gotten too much money once and decided to get tattoos. Luffy laughed, and nodded with that funny explanation.
The bubble surface sure was high. He wondered how the shark and whale were living outside the water, but didn't ask. "I'm bummed I didn't get to go on a date with Zoro."
"Well, we're going to a party, right?" Brook asked. Luffy replied that it wasn't the same to be with a bunch of people, too. Nami asked Neptune how light shone down from 10,000 meters below the surface.
"It's thanks to the sunlight tree. It didn't shine down on Fishman Island, it's just that fishmen moved here due to the sunlight, and that was the origin of the island! The mangrove trees let down the light. Scientists and scholars have made up many explanations, but none are yet proven," he explained. Nami was in awe.
They spoke of the "sunlight tree Eve" which sounded like the "treasure tree Adam" that Sunny was made of. Luffy thought it was really cool, to have day and night in a place at the bottom of the ocean.
"Wait! I have a question. Fishman stay away from the red rocks and aren't allowed there, right? They give off a bad feeling," Luffy said, remembering the words from somebody… he couldn't remember who. Was it Caimie and Pappag? He assumed it was one of them two years ago.
Neptune knocked on the entrance to the second, much smaller bubble where the palace was. "There is red rock that is forbidden to touch, but we haven't seen them in many, many years. In some places, they were once there, but no longer." Luffy cocked his head. So they could disappear? It was weird.
Luffy said they'd seen some on the ocean floor, and the creatures around it all shared characteristics despite being different species. "Well, I have no answer or explanation for that. None have been seen since I became king."
"Wow, that's a long time. Hmm," Luffy mumbled, his thumb to his chin. He was disappointed to get no real answers. He wondered if the underwater ones were actually made of blood if they could erode in water completely. The one on sky island had been there a long time, tons of vines wrapped around it.
It was a mystery. Looks like they'd get no significant answers there. Well, they would find some in the New World, hopefully. When they entered the palace bubble, it was all water, at least for the most part, so they had a bubble around them to give them air. Luffy poked at the bubble. It really was so cool. He wished he could make them like regular blowing bubbles away from the mangrove trees.
When the palace came into view clearly, they were amazed by how pretty it was. So complicated with the decorations. A big dragon decoration wrapped around it. He wished he could swim and explore it all. While he wasn't sure if he could drown easily, he couldn't swim with a devil fruit.
The huge doors were opened for them, calls for the king being there reaching their ears. "It's weird I can hear fishman speak through the water, but not anything else. And we all heard that guy talk to us, it wasn't just me! So how does that work?"
Neptune said fishmen and Merfolk had voices that cut through water. So the water doesn't affect any speech, even to humans in the water or not. "Wow. Cool!" Luffy said. "This castle looks so fun! We should play hide and seek!"
Nami asked if he was a kid. "I'm adventurous," he said proudly.
"Well, I can't disagree with that. But this castle is beautiful! It looks like it took a long time to make."
"This palace was here long before I was. Creating the bubble that is Fishman Island is not documented as it was so long ago. It must have been quite the undertaking, but it is our home, now. A place where all fishmen and merfolk are welcome."
Usopp said, "It was terrible two years ago when we saw the World Noble shoot Hachi. I agree with Luffy punching him," he added sourly.
Neptune had heard of it in the papers, and Nami asked how he got news of the world from there. "The newscoo has someone coat the paper, and it drifts down. Unhindered by any sea monsters interested in eating paper, it always makes it down, though we don't always get them in time.
"Sadly, good old Whitebeard had died many days before we found out. We learned of it officially from the crew when they fled back into the New World. Madame Sharley had predicted it, but we had all hoped she was wrong for once," Neptune said sadly. "He had been a friend of mine for quite some time."
"Well, it's good you have protection still, even if it isn't from Whitebeard," Usopp said. Neptune agreed that any protection was good protection, even though Big Mom was not as kind or involved as Whitebeard had been.
When they got into the lobby of a sort, the king immediately was scolded for wordlessly going down without a guard. Luffy didn't pay much attention to them when he smelled delicious food. He could smell it coming down a hallway that branched off, and he ran towards it. He wanted instant gratification, and didn't want to wait for anything. He also didn't smell Zoro anywhere near, so he went for food first.
He found the food's smell was cut off, and he stood in front of two huge doors. They must have the food inside! The doors were reminding him of the metal reinforced doors of Impel Down. He pressed his ear inside, and heard loud breathing. Maybe some sort of animal? He looked around before he opened it to the dark room, the smell of food fresh and delicious. And there was a lot.
He ran to the food, jumping on jiggly things. They were squishy, but Luffy could smell it was a huge person! Did this food belong to them? He was bummed, and stood on the squishy part, staring at the food. Well, maybe they would stay asleep and he could just eat the yummy food quietly.
But she woke up, and turned the lights on, revealing that the person was a mermaid, and was very, very big! Similar to Neptune's size. "Whoa! You're big!"
"Who are you?! How could you touch someone else like that?!"
"Oh, the bouncy things were boobs. Sorry! I didn't know that." She started to demand if he was there to kill her. "I'm just hungry, and there was all this food asking for me to eat it! Look at that! Can you smell that?!" She was angry at him being there, but her eyes were watering. She wasn't angry, she was scared. Well, she was much bigger than Luffy and he wasn't letting out his scary presence.
"Look, I'm sorry about touching you there, but I didn't know," Luffy insisted. She tried to convince him she wasn't scared, but then started crying and begging for her family to help her. "Hey, hey, I'm not doing anything!" he said, over her loud wailing and sobbing. He put his hands over his ears, her wailing really loud. "Stop yelling!" he said.
She stopped for a second, and he took his hands away from his ears. "You're gonna blow my eardrums if you keep yellin' like that," he said in irritation. He didn't need added damage to the left one, too.
"...Waaaaaah! Father! Fukaboshi-oniisama! Help me, someone is trying to take my life in my room!" she wailed. Her voice was incredibly loud. As if she was screaming at the top of her lungs. It shouldn't be this bad, though. She was a mermaid, and shouldn't have such a loud voice, even if she was big. Right?
He heard guards fussing about the noise, the crying. Nobody was there to tend to her right now. "Stop it!" he shouted. His damaged left ear started to ring and hurt. When he pulled his hand away, both he and the princess saw a small amount of blood. "Now, look!" Luffy said angrily. She suddenly looked really bothered.
"Help me! He's gonna kill meeeee!" she cried. Luffy wanted to knock her out with haki, but he felt that wasn't a good idea, though his ear was hurting. One of them was just fine, but the other was hurting.
"All I wanted was food! I'm not gonna hurt you!" But now guards were coming. Man, he was gonna get in trouble, wasn't he? But then he sensed something hurtling towards the room, through the open door. He jumped in front of it, a twisting axe that tried impaling the mermaid princess. "Nggggg!" and he redirected it to slam into the wall behind her. "The hell was that!? Where'd that come from?"
Guards came rushing down the hall, calling the princess's name, Shirahoshi. Her door wasn't supposed to be open, apparently. Was it always closed? Well, Nami did say she had to hide from a weirdo guy in there. Maybe he was the one that sent the axe. Man, he had good aim if it was him!
Then the mermaid princess grabbed him around the middle and put him behind her back. He thrashed around, not liking this at all. It didn't hurt as he was made of rubber and she wasn't squeezing him, but it was weird being trapped in a huge hand. Made him uncomfortable.
"Princess, are you alright?!" a guard asked, as there were many here now. "We were so worried when we heard your cries! Who opened the door?!" He sounded accusatory to someone, but not the princess. "Was there an intruder?" They were really worried, huh? She didn't seem like Vivi so far, even though they were both princesses.
Vivi would not cry like that, she was strong and brave. Not like this coward princess. Luffy told her to let him go, but she moved her large pink to press over his mouth. "I- I'm sorry for worrying everyone," she said, voice shaking with how bad she was at lying, though none of them expected it. "It was nothing, really! I think I must have had a bad dream, that was all!" she stuttered out.
"I see," that same guard from before said. "Well, if that was all it was, that's a relief to hear." His voice was tinged with suspicion, but he didn't say anything to doubt the princess's words. "Ah, yes. There is something else I must tell you! It regards the pirate, Straw Hat Luffy, who was responsible for saving Megalo. The situation has become rather complicated, I must say." Huh? They were talking about him? Maybe because he ran off before the banquet had started. Hmm, should he go back? He'd get in trouble about being in here and upsetting the princess, though now she was covering for him.
The blood from the damaged ear had stopped flowing. It had been damaged multiple times after the war. It was more sensitive to sounds. Law had said he would have a hearing impairment. Haki definitely made up for that in the short term. While he didn't like how one ear was better than the other, one enhanced one was more than enough to put him above other humans.
The guy continued, and started to slander his crew, which was confusing. Was the banquet all a ploy to capture them? The guards were convinced that he and his crew were kidnapping mermaids. Where would they hide them? The ship was missing. Sanji would die before he kidnapped a woman, Zoro was gay, Brook… well, he was more honorable than kidnapping.
What the hell? Luffy narrowed his eyes when he heard Zoro was apprehended just like the others who had come with him. Zoro… that dummy. How could he get caught by anybody, let alone palace guards. There were hundreds of them. Quantity didn't equate to quality. Zoro was super strong!
Luffy was about to protest when his name came up, as he ran away once he realized they were caught onto. As if they did the crime in the first place! She pressed her finger on his mouth firmer and gripped him tighter, trying to keep him quiet even as he was described as a kidnapper. He was angry. No banquet, then!?
How could his crew get trapped like chumps? He extended his hearing, and heard a commotion from down the hall he'd gone through. Oh, so they weren't caught. They were fighting back. Well, then it was okay. He was hungry, he was sure they'd understand if he had some food before he went and helped.
Well… this could be a test to see how strong they were. Though they were up against an army. Hmm, what to do, what to do? "We'll be searching the island for his crew to detain them and get the mermaids back. It pains us to greet Megalo's saviors with a dungeon instead of a party. Oh, it's been five minutes. We should go now."
The large door shut with a resounding thud. She let go of Luffy and he was glad to be free of the giant hand. "I'm sorry about before. Is your ear alright?" she asked in a repentant voice. "And I'm sorry about the rudeness of the guards. Please forgive them. But I didn't think you were the one to save Megalo."
Luffy said he already has issues in that ear, but he was fine. "Your name is Luffy-sama, right?"
"Uh huh!" Luffy said, petting the shark. It wasn't afraid of him and he hadn't needed to tame it. He seemed very friendly and was happy that it was their actions that freed him from Surume's stomach. If it weren't for them then Megalo would be digested and never see the light of day again.
She picked him up and wondered if he was a bad guy for being a pirate. "Well, I dunno. But you can decide that for yourself." He was largely uncensored when he was told his crew was apprehended. "They'll be fine, I know it. They're strong, you know?" Luffy said proudly, lifting one arm and flexing it with a grin.
"But hey, what was with the axe? It came outta nowhere! Why would an axe come to the palace anyways? And why did it nearly hit you?" He had a lot of questions, curious about the homing axe. Like a weapon that followed the person it was shot at.
"That's probably from Vander Decken, someone who holds a grudge against me for not marrying him. Because of that, I'm never allowed to leave Shell Tower since he is believed to have a devil fruit. He can target me anywhere and anytime he wants. I haven't been outside for years. I'm stuck here for my safety."
Luffy cocked his head and wondered why she would be killed if he wanted to marry her. "I don't know. He seems to be obsessed with the thought of marrying him."
"What kinda girl would wanna marry somebody who could kill them," Luffy wondered. He looked to the food, and bluntly said it was getting cold. He grinned when he was told he could have the food. It was in huge servings, the portions being massive. He didn't wait to start eating hungrily. His ear would heal with blood as well as it could, but he didn't have blood and Zoro was busy.
"Don't you get bored and lonely in here?" Luffy asked, eating like a starving man.
"Yes. And father has decided the doors can only be open for five minutes at a time. I rarely get to interact with anybody. All I have to talk to is Megalo," she said sadly. Luffy pitied her situation. He couldn't imagine being trapped in one place without seeing anybody. No, he really could.
He told her that. "When I was little I wasn't allowed to go outside either, and all I had was my grandpa," he said, slurping a huge gulp of her massive lemonade. The straw was thicker than his neck.
"Why is that?"
Luffy pointed to his eyes and marks. "He thought people would dislike me for it all. But my crew accepts everything! They're the best. And you shouldn't feel too bad about my ear. It was damaged already," Luffy explained.
Shirahoshi still looked guilty and asked if there was anything she could do to help. "No more wailing. Man! Your voice was super loud, it was weird." She sniffled at being called weird. "Why are you so loud? Is it cause you're so big?"
"M-Maybe. You sure do eat a lot for a small human," she mused as he ate most of her food. Luffy complained that he was promised a banquet, but it was cancelled!
"And why would we kidnap mermaids? Where would we even put them? I don't get it. So they were calling you princess, right? Why is a princess in a tiny room like this? Shouldn't you have a super big room with fancy stuff?" Luffy wondered.
"Well, even as a princess, Shell Tower is the most secure place in the kingdom. It wouldn't be easy to build a bigger one," she replied sadly. "I don't think you're a bad person after all, Luffy-sama. How can you hold so much food?" she asked, and poked his cheek, making food come out.
"What was that for? I wasted some food!" She started crying. "Hey, I didn't mean to make you cry, stop it! Remember my ears!" he shouted. She stopped instantly. "You sure do cry a lot. Just cause someone gets angry or loud doesn't mean you gotta cry about it."
She was still sniffling, fat tears coming down but not wailing. "I've never been yelled at before!" she lamented.
"Well, you've been stuck away from people so long, I'm not surprised!" Luffy said, resuming eating. She composed herself fully, and timidly asked him about life as a pirate. If he went on adventures and saw the sun. "Well of course! Pirates go on adventures. And it would be hard to live on the surface and not see the sun. but you can't look at it or it will make you blind, I think, I don't know."
He continued to stuff his face until he couldn't physically eat anymore. "Hah, that was great!" he said in content. "So you've been stuck in here ten years. Why don't we go for a walk! If anything comes flying at us, I'll just send it flying back," Luffy said earnestly. "Even a crybaby like you would be fine if I was there!"
"Luffy-sama, you're mean! But… I do want to go outside. But I can't possibly do that! It would worry my family and I'd get into trouble! I've never gotten into trouble before."
"Just a short walk, and then we'll come back!" Luff insisted. "Where do you want to go?"
She kept refusing. "But you said you're bored! A walk will take care of that! Besides, this place is terrible! The air is stale. And smells. Hey do fishmen and mermaids shower? Do fish smell bad?" He was getting completely off topic. "But anyways, I have to repay you for the food, don't I?" Luffy said.
"It's just unthinkable! It would worry my family and the guards!"
"Then we'll go in secret! Nobody will see you, but we can still go out on a walk," Luffy said brightly. She looked questioning about how that would be possible. "Neehee! Megalo! He can take you out in secret, can't he? Just go in his mouth as a hiding place! Then he could swim along and carry you around."
The plan did not sit well with the shark. He would be quite uncomfortable, but it was worth it to get Shirahoshi some damn fresh air. This place really was stuffy and smelled old. Did mermaids fart? Another question he'd probably get yelled at for. Nobody ever answers his important questions, do they?
"So, if we did that, where would you want to go? Fishman Island is pretty and all, but it's boring, too. So far, at least. There's gotta be somewhere you want to visit, right?" he was sitting by the empty plates, his stomach nice and full. He felt great. His ear was a bit uncomfortable, but it was fine.
"...The ocean forest. But that's just a dream! In truth, I could never do such a thing! It would be wrong, impossible, I can't!" She started crying again. He looked around and found a massive candle. He shoved haki covered fingers into it and put the wax in his ears. The sound of her annoying wailing was gone.
"You should stop crying about every little thing," he said with a frown. "Where is crying gonna get you?" the captain asked. "It's really annoying, too."
"You really are mean!" she cried louder.
"So, the ocean forest, huh? What kind of place is that?" Luffy asked over her crying, ignoring much of what she was saying.
She sighed, more composed but still teary, and explained she had always wanted to go there, but was never able to. It was important to her, but she could never visit it. Luffy didn't press on why she wanted to go. He'd take her there regardless. They heard banging on the door. Must be that creep Vander Decken. Well, he was confident he could keep her safe with his haki and fast reflexes.
He was going to go on a mini adventure and leave the palace issue to his crew. Zoro would get offended if he ran in and saved the day for him. "It's so dangerous. I would be scared."
Luffy beamed. "Don't worry, I'll be there with you! And my plan is foolproof," he said confidently. "I promise I won't let anything happen to you." She gave an uncertain smile, but it had hope in it. She started to cry, and Luffy told her to stop being a crybaby.
"I'm sorry, I'm just so happy," she replied honestly. Luffy beamed, and they turned to the poor shark hiding in the corner. "Megalo, please?"
Luffy nodded along. The shark looked at his owner or friend and her hopeful face, and relented. Even though he was in pain and gagging, the shark let the princess crawl into his mouth, doing his best to not scrape her with his teeth. Luffy cheered him on, and the shark sent a nasty glare at him, no longer favoring him for saving him.
"Shishishi! Now, on to our walk to the ocean forest!" Luffy cheered, and sat on the large shark now stuffed full with a mermaid princess. They exited, Luffy with a bubble around him to breathe. Luffy hadn't smelled anything through the door after it shut completely, harder to smell from the inside than the outside, and didn't notice that it had been people who were hammering on the door.
That was really messed up. Shirahoshi kept her eyes closed as Luffy said, "To the ocean forest!" He heard and saw Brook with a tied up guard. Luffy just waved goodbye to him. Megalo swam with Luffy in the bubble. "Let's go on a walk!" Luffy cheered.