An Unexpected Interruption!

The Three Guards!

The crew was brimming with confidence as the island came into sight. Everybody was on the deck of the ship, except Enma and Sage who were both strangely absent. It was a modest island that barely peeked up over and ocean. The temperature had already dropped. The entire crew had dressed up and prepared for such dangerous weather. They were all currently dressed in heavy coats, except for Zesiro who chose to remain dressed in his regular clothing, but with a shirt added. Enma had warned him about the dangers of frost bite and the rest of it, but Zesiro ignored him for the most part. It seemed to the rest of the crew that his burning ambition for the fights were keeping him warm enough as is. Like a regular shark, he seemed drawn to the blood.

Maria seemed to be in a similar mood. She had never once returned to the Underground Rally Arena ever since she had arms and legs replaced. It seemed like a fitting reunion between a fighter and the arena. There was no reason for a fighter to go to an arena unless she had absolutely every desire to fight in it once more. It was almost like returning home for her. She was itching for the moment she would step back into the ring and prove herself as the strongest amongst dozens of spectators who were looking for a blood-bath. This right here would be one of her proudest moments as a fighter.

They were so close to the island that they could smell the dozens of concession stands already bursting with business for the huge draw of the fight. Rumors of the newly infamous Infinity Pirates were probably a reason for that, but knowing the island it probably had another reason for this impressive draw. The island was an expert at drawing large crowds with its rumors of blood, battles, and deaths. It was probably growing from that as well.

Suddenly the ship came to a grinding halt. The entire hull of the ship froze in the water as if stopped by some force. "What's up!" complained Ridley as he paraded about on deck and up to the wheel, "Hiro-Shu! Did you drive us into a reef or something!"

Hiro-Shu shook his head. There wasn't any reefs around this island. Trevor specifically used some of the funds of the Underground Rally Arena to remove the reefs and make sure that any ship could get to the island regardless of size or navigator's skill. It was Trevor's way of accommodating the travelers. The more travelers that come the more money he makes after all. But with all that...they were no more reefs in place, so what could've halted their ships in their tracks?

They were nearing a winter island. It was possible that they came across a chunk of ice, but the sea around them didn't even look like it was even slightly frozen. The sea was still blue. It was possible that is was an iceberg, even small icebergs had been reported to stop ships. But Hiro-Shu was sure he didn't see any icebergs when he was steering. He was sure they didn't crash into that, but then what did they hit?

"Hu hu hu," laughed a voice. The crew looked around frantically as they tried to find the source of the voice. "Poor punks...weren't expecting to run into an obstacle already. Let me guess...expecting smooth sailing, right? WRONG!" The crew rushed to the sides of the ship and looked down off the edges of the ship, they didn't see a single thing.

"Who are you?" shouted Rosa, drawing her sword preparing for battle. She shifted her attention from the ground to the sky, looking for a hint that they were about somewhere. Her only response was the same deep-throated laughter.

"We are the three Underground Rally Arena Expert Ambushers," chuckled the voice. "We await big wig ships to sail by and then we attack them and loot them. Their precious cargo becomes ours! Most ships are either merchant ships coming to enjoy some bloodshed or pirate ships. Best of all, most of the powerful fighters are resting up for their fight in the arena, so we ambush them while they are at their ABSOLUTE WEAKEST!" The water began to bubble on both the sides and in the front. Three fishmen jumped into the air.

"I am the first, Ichi, a Flying Fish Fishman!" He came bursting up from the left side. He landed on the side in between Ridley and Maria. He had a bright smile on his face as he landed on the ship. His mouth was large enough and he also had two huge fins sticking out his sides. He was wearing a skintight suit, probably to protect him from the freezing waters.

"I am the second, Nito, a Swordfish Fishman!" He slammed onto the ground, launching a downwards punch into the ship. He knocked wooden floorboards up into the air as he made his entrance. He was away from the entire crew. He had darker skin then most Fishman. He had an incredibly long nose with multiples spikes sticking out of it. His entire body was slicked back and had a shiny luster to it. On top of the skintight suit his partners were wearing he also had on a pair of goggles.

"I am the third, Sanada, a Catfish Wotan!" The final Fishman exploded from the water in front of the ship, rather then jumping onto the ship he remained in the water in front of the ship. He was a hybrid of both a Fishman and a giant. He remained stationed in front of them as he looked downwards at them. He was also in a skintight suit to protect even his huge body from the impossibly cold waters. He had two long whiskers that due to his immense size were as long as the ship's mast.

"Huge!" shouted the crew as they stepped back in awe o the huge beast that stood in front of them. The three fishmen all smiled in response as they shared a look.

"That's right!" shouted Nito, the Swordfish Fishman, as he stepped forward and towards the pirate group. "You see, if we wanted to we could smash this ship with one slap of our buddies' almighty arm. "That's the kind of power we possess. We would all survive, since we are all Fishman pirates, but you guys on the other hand would be helpless and all drown. Even if you don't, once you are in our native element...me and Ichi would all be more then capable to take you down."

"That's right!" agreed Ichi as he looked around at the crew. His eyes fell on Zesiro. He froze for a second. "Holy crap! Brothers! They were actually four of us that decided to ambush this pirate ship! We are Ichi, Nito, Sanada, and...Shiro! The four Underground Rally Arena Expert Ambushers!"

"I'm not one of you guys!" shouted Zesiro bearing his three rows of sharp teeth at the intruders. "And my name is Zesiro, not Shiro."

Nito, Ichi, and Sanada all looked at each other quizzically for a brief moment. "Are you sure?" asked Ichi as he looked at Zesiro. "I mean, you said it yourself your name is Ze-shi-ro. That's exactly like our brother's name."

"I told you my name is ZESIRO!" shouted Zesiro as he charged forward and brought his sword upwards and into the air aiming to slice Ichi straight down the middle and split him in two. Zesiro's eyes widened as he felt his sword slice through nothing, but air. He stopped his slice and looked around him. The Fishman was nowhere to be seen! "Where the hell did he go?"

"Flying Fish, remember?" said Ichi as he came crashing back down on top of Zesiro slamming him into the ship. "I'm a Flying Fish fishman. In other words the power of a Flying Fish have been instilled in me from the very moment of my birth. I can pretty much fly into the sky and come soaring back down with incredible force and power."

"Zesiro!" shouted Maria as she started to run over to her fallen comrade to help him out. She swung at Ichi, but once more he evaded into the air to avoid the punch.

"Hu hu hu! Shark Lance!" shouted Nito as he dashed forward. His entire body came sliding across the ship. His incredibly long nose came first slicing at Maria with a thrust. Maria quickly turned around hearing him cut through the air as he moved forward. She barely managed to avoid a full-on thrust from him. Once more though, Ichi came flying down from the air and landed on top of Maria as well knocking her to the ground.

"Just as I thought a couple of weak pirates," muttered Melanie as she walked up to Ichi and Nito with her sword already drawn. "I guess two Fishmen and one Wotan are almost good enough to count as a warm-up for me." Melanie stepped forward. Nito didn't allow her to get any closer as he charged forward, once more thrusting his long nose at her. Melanie swung her sword inwards and brought the back of her blade into his nose. Nito was knocked off balance and sent crashing into the floorboards of the ship.

"Don't take your eyes off of me!" shouted Ichi as he charged at Melanie's back with his arm prepared for a punch already. Melanie stepped to the side and watched the punch glide right past her. Melanie chuckled as she stepped into Ichi's chest and brought her sword hilt around and into Ichi's gut. Ichi dropped his jaw as he doubled over in pain. Melanie didn't stop there, she brought her hand back around and twisted the sword around, plunging the blade into her opponent's back. Ichi's blood splattered onto the floor.

"SANADA JUST SINK THE SHIP AND LET THEM ALL DROWN!" shouted Ichi and Nito through gasps of breath as they tried to recover from Melanie's vicious attacks. Sanada nodded and lifted his entire arm into the air. He brought his open palm down, toward their ship.

"Stop," sung Melanie. Sanada's hand stopped in midair. He was frozen in the air as he looked down at the crew. "Now, for the finishing blow." Melanie jumped off of her ship and sent her body flying up at the giant. She quickly landed on the giants' body. "Life me up to your head," Melanie continued to sing. The giant froze as he lifted his hand up underneath Melanie and then slowly picked her up. He stopped as soon as Melanie was on eye level. "Thank you," she said. She drew her blade as she swung her blade around and into the giant's eye. Melanie jumped off of the giant and landed on the ship and watched as the giant roared and fell backwards into the cold waters.

"Sanada!" shouted Nito as he got up and rushed to the front of the ship alongside Ichi. "You bastards! How dare you do such a disrespectful thing to him! You are a bunch of child murderers! Especially you Zeshiro, to betray and kill your own brother! Have you no shame!"

Zesiro brought his elbow into Nito's face, knocking him to the ground. "For the last time, I'm not related to you guys at all. And what do you mean little brother? That guy was the size of a building or two! There is no way that guy was little!"

"Giants and Wotans have exceptionally long lives! So, even though Sanada was actually thirty years in comparison to giants' lives...he was more like ten!" shouted Ichi standing up for them as he looked down at Nito and Sanada, "congratulations you beat up three helpless orphans! We never did anything to you!"

"You were the ones that attacked us!" shouted Ridley as he swung his guitar around and into the face of the Ichi, knocking him back. Nito and Ichi both flinched backwards away from him.

"Oh, well, we are almost at the Underground Rally Arena," muttered Zesiro as he looked back over at the island. Once the giant Fishman got knocked out, the ship managed to regain it speed and was sailing again. "So, if you three want you can hang out with us until we get there and then have your wounds treated at THEIR infirmary." Zesiro emphasized the words 'their' in order to make sure they didn't they were going to treat.

"THANK YOU!" howled Nito and Ichi as they recovered from their daze long enough to bow to them. "I have no idea about how we are ever going to repay you...oh, wait! I know! We'll make all you guys our honorary brothers! First off, we have Ze-shi-ro..." Once more Zesiro responded by smashing his elbow into Nito's face.

Entrance Forms!

The Three Groups!

OKAY! I know...I used some pretty high ball humor in this chapter, right? Most of you probably didn't get, right? Well, here's the reason to Ze-shi-ro. Ichi is Japanese for one, Ni (NIto) for two, and San (SANada) for three. Shi is Japanese for four and incidentally death...bet that didn't pan out that well for them. Also, the next chapter will be them arriving at the Underground Rally Arena (which I am going to shorten to U.R.A. from here on out).