-1The air was heavy around the Going Merry. It was heaviest near the surface of the ocean due to surface tension and gravity, but it felt the worst around the captain of the small vessel. His straw hat had concealed his eyes dutifully for the past two days, leaving his world feeling estranged and alienated (not to mention leaving his head itchy and malodorous). The world didn't enjoy this treatment, of course, and had rebelled by making the weather as miserable for the boy as it could possibly have been for the past few hours.

The rain dripped off the straw matting, slid over the ribbon, and soaked hair that looked like it hadn't been combed in eons. Waves invaded over the siding, taking a few barrels for an underwater ride. Despite the rocking of the boat, pun intended, the somewhat unintelligent Paramecian didn't budge an inch, causing his nakama no end of trouble.

"Shitty captain! HEY! Get off the frikkin' deck!" came the cook's voice, as irritable as it had been for a while now. In his defense, this was his third time shouting the same phrase. The fact that his friend hadn't been answering him left him agitated. It was a rare occasion that the captain was TOLERATED in the galley, let alone invited into it.

The chef had been both insulted an alarmed by Luffy's recent behavior. The rubber man hadn't eaten. Well, he had, but not in the usual heaping portions that should have been donated to feed an entire country. Even two days of this had caused the poor kid to look emaciated. The helpings he had denied were of Sanji's creation, too. The captain himself had boasted that his cook was the best. Why the hell wouldn't he be hungry?!

Sanji knew the answer to that, too. It didn't make him happier, but he knew that the marimo was to blame. Luffy wouldn't admit it aloud, but he was worried. More worried than he should be for the beef-headed swordsman. How else could the death-grip he had on Wadou be explained? There was another way for it to be explained, as a note, but as it was highly unlikely and involved a body switch, Sanji didn't even bother mentally listing it.

A lighter was soon lifted in Sanji's fingers, flicking a small flame into a short existence to ignite an old and detrimental habit.

"Luffy! Come on!" urged a rather tousled sniper, rings under his eyes. He was wearing his goggles, but that was only to protect against the ongoing volley of raindrops. Vigilance had become his new middle name, both in his actions and the amusing stories he'd told to a young reindeer and a bemused captain. Compensation always had a price, however, and he was paying it with denying himself even more precious sleep.

"LUFFY!" echoed a small reindeer, hooves twitching nervously. The young Zoan knew the consequences of the waves swirling around those sandaled feet quite well. Why was he even doing that to himself? What was he so fixated on that he would do such a thing?!

Sanji grunted, having had enough of this. When the next wave came to try it's luck, he found himself barreling towards the red-vested pirate, aiming a swift kick at his mid-section.

Luffy was airborne for a few seconds before slamming through the open doorway, plowing into an unsuspecting Ussop. The was a scream, a clatter, and a crash. Somewhere in the kitchen, a glass broke. Then, for a moment, there was silence, accompanied by the sound of a page turning.

"Someone haul their butt in here and help me with the helm!" Nami shouted from another location on the ship. Sanji immediately started, but was halted by a spontaneously-spawned female hand.

"I'll get it, cook-san." she said simply, putting her book down on the table beside the twitching sniper.

"Robinchwan is so helpful!" he crooned for a second, eyeing her with adoration as she left the room. Once her absence was noted, though, his expression quickly fell again. Something had to be done about the captain. The attitude he was showing was not adequate, and Sanji was sick of picking up the slack. Pausing, he took a quick puff of his cancer-stick to prepare him for the job ahead. He slowly turned around to witness his leader flat on his back, sleeping like a baby with Wadou cradled in his arms.

The dartboard-esque eyebrow furrowed, confused. On cue, Chopper was examining the sleeping figure.

"I think he's been asleep for a while." the miniature doctor commented, propping up a rubber eyelid to examine the eye beneath before snapping it back on. The snoozing Luffy made a quick, garbling protest, and wiggled around to sleep the other way, water dripping off him.

Very carefully, Chopper poked some of the water with his left hoof, bringing it to his tongue. A quick lick of the substance caused him to swoon a little, Sanji catching him before he fell.

"Something in the water, eh?" Sanji asked a little blearily. Relief flooded through him now that he knew his difficult task was unnecessary.

"Uh…yeah." Chopper answered, sleepy. He fell asleep quickly in the cook's gentle grasp until Sanji realized something.

"RobinCHWAN!" he quickly shouted, dropping an unconscious Chopper on the wooden floor like a rock, forgotten. Whatever was going on was sapping the devil-fruit users of their strength, and there was a third such person on the ship. A female someone, actually. In Sanji's mind, that gave her priority. As stupid as it was, he left three helpless nakama unconscious on the galley floor while he charged out to check on his beloved historian and navigator.

"SANJI-KUN!" yelled a very frightened Nami-swan, adding velocity to his adrenaline rush. He flew down the stairs, in fact.

After an intense sprint to the helm, the blonde male dropped his cigarette out of his mouth. His two precious women were fine. No, they were pointing behind him, where the window on their door was.

At first, it had been hard to make it out through the rain. He had been too focused on the girls to notice the black-sailed pirate fleet looming close to the vulnerable Merry. Aside from that, the rain had only reduced the visibility. He hoped it would be the same for the group of ships approaching, but knew otherwise when a latern was blinked, burning a signal from the fore of the lead ship. It was a huge lantern, and there was probably about four men holding it, but it was blinked for him.

"Oi! Marim-Wait, LUFFY! …Oh, yeah…Ussop! Chopper!" Of course, no one came to the young man's aid, what with the being unconscious and all. If those pirates outside were competent at all, they were screwed. Well, that's how you would simply put their true situation, which was 'altogether helpless and without any sort of hope in the case of aggression from an opposing force that probably was beyond the strength of the semi-perverted gentleman of a chef'. So, yes, they were very screwed. Very screwed, indeed.

Somewhere below the ship, a small fish was eaten by a bigger fish.

"Damn."

"What the hell?!" Hart shouted, his outburst sounding loud enough to be a roar. Before he knew what he was doing, the merman swept his strong hands around the unfortunate pirate's shirt. Soon, he was shaking Zoro by the scruff of his neck like a rag doll. He didn't even know what questions he was asking the man, then, but they were important, and vital to his continued survival.

The swordsman didn't even bother lifting a hand to defend himself. He could take whatever that beast dished out. Even so, he did wonder what the burlish creature was shouting at him. All he heard was incoherent babbling(though he did pick up phrases that sounded very remotely like a song he'd once heard about a budgie-breeder).

The silent partner of the out-of-control merman finally stepped in, looking more embarrassed than someone with her assumed level of brainwave activity should. Gingerly at first, her right index finger began tapping the rampaging Hart's shoulder. When the was ineffective, it slowly increased in pressure until it turned into a full-blown blow.

"Ow. Hey!" Hart groaned, his tirade silenced by his human partner. He dropped Zoro and rubbed his shoulder. That kinda hurt… He scowled at her, and some sort of nonverbal communication once again commenced. It was quite vivacious, too. His body language insinuated that whatever she was telling him through her stare was a very, very bad idea.

"Gaaah! FINE!" Hart finally relented, throwing his hands up in the air. His human gave a triumphant smile, and the infamous Roronoa Zoro looked on, waiting for the results of the outcome.

Hart opened his mouth to speak, but not after turning to voice his plea silently to the girl one more time. The shoulder-dropping that followed indicated the futility of the merman's situation.

"We're not kicking you off the ship, pirate." Hart grudgingly muttered, his voice slightly dangerous. "-and we're taking you to F."

"F?" Zoro asked again, peering from the smiling human to her partner suspiciously. "..What is F?"

"The island with the smelters." Hart replied quickly.

"Smelters?" Zoro pressed on, expecting to find his nakama on the island. He needed to know the surroundings to know where to find them. If it was a pirate town, he'd guess whatever restaurant was the biggest, or wherever there was cheap meat. If it was a marine base, he'd check the cell block. Nothing quite prepared him for the answer.

"-Oh, yeah. The sea-stone smelters."