Hammie walked forward, each step a huge chore due to exhaustion and the fact he was tied at the waist to a giant, wooden mast, until he collapsed face-down in the sand. "A little help here?" was what Hammie meant to say as one of his arms flailed impotently, but the sand only allowed muffled noise.

Fortunately, this wasn't the first unintelligible patient face-down in the dirt for Doc and he was fluent in half-smothered mumble. He rushed to Hammie's side, leaving Michael and Wendy to stare in shock. Doc flipped Hammie onto his back, finding the half-drowned man a lot heavier than he looked. As soon as he was on his back, Hammie started gasping for air.

"No broken bones. No water in the lungs. Some bruising around the waist. Everything looks fine to me," Doc sat back perplexed.

"Of course he's fine!" Jude snapped, "There's no way something like that would even be an obstacle for Hammie."

"Hey, you were just as worried about him as the rest of us," Doc retorted.

Jude scoffed, "I wasn't worried about Hammie, you pinhead! All of my best clothes are still on the ship!" Jude ran into the water, still in his birthday suit, "Maybe there's still time to salvage some." He dove into the ocean and furiously swam towards the wreckage of the ship.

Meanwhile, Michael had managed to hop over to a nearer tree, "Well, not that we're not all very impressed and giddy bout yer continued existence, but could someone please explain to me what the bloody hell happened?"

"Don't know…" Hammie still gasped for air, but at least was able to talk between breaths, "One minute… fixing the ship… Next… Ship's sinking…"

"So ye swam to shore?"

"Walked," Hammie's breathing started to relax.

"Why the bloody hell would ye do that?"

Finally, Hammie could speak in full sentences, "When the ship went down, I was still working on the mast, so I was tied down to it. This is a very sturdy kind of rope, so much so that when it gets wet, it's virtually unbreakable. I can't very well swim with a giant wooden mast tied to my waist now can I?"

"So ye walked."

"Yes."

"Underwater."

"Yes."

"With a mast tied to ye."

"It broke off before the rope would, so yes."

Michael twitched. "Is there any way that could be more ridiculous?"

Hammie slowly sat up, "Well, if you want to get technical, I was walking to shore, so I was on an incline…"

"T'HAT'S A LOAD O BLOODY-Hey, me leg's better," And just like that, the issue was dropped as Michael tested out his apparently healed foot.

Hammie reached into his still sopping tool belt and pulled out a lighter. "Thank goodness for waterproof pouches." He set to work with a couple small rocks, lighting a small fire to gradually dry out enough of the rope that it could at least be cut.

"In that case…" Doc stood back up and walked over to Wendy who was calm for the moment, offering her a handkerchief from his coat pocket, "I think we deserve an explanation. What happened here?"

"It's a long story, and Brody thought you'd be safer if you didn't know, but I guess now there's no point," Wendy wiped her tears with the handkerchief and took a few deep breaths, "Jaggerjaw Island is close to the Grand Line, so for a long time, this would be the last stop for pirates on the way. We're a small, self-sufficient island but we're defenseless and isolated from any nearby island who could help us. For as long as anyone in the village could remember, we've had to hide away food and supplies just to survive all the pirate raids on the island.

"Then, five years ago, a bunch of fishmen came to our island: the Tiburones Gemelos Pirates. At first, we thought they would pillage our island like the rest of the pirates, or worse, since everyone knows how much fishmen hate humans. But the whole island was surprised to find out that they weren't here to attack us. They wanted to use this island as a base of operations, and in exchange for providing them with supplies, they'd protect us from pirates and corrupt marines and the like.

"That was the first time I met Brody. He was captain of the Tiburones Gemelos back then, even though he was younger than most of the other fishmen. I think it was because he's a great white shark fishman. There's like an unwritten rule that the shark fishmen lead or something. Everything was great for awhile, and for five years, we didn't receive any visitors. Any pirates or marines who'd try to attack us would get sunk by Brody and his gang. But then…" Unable to hold back anymore, Wendy buried her face in the handkerchief, bawling uncontrollably, her calm somber story turning growing hysterical, "It's all my fault. If I hadn't… If he hadn't had to stick up for me, maybe he wouldn't have been kicked out. Maybe we wouldn't have been exiled. Maybe if I had just let them kill me, they wouldn't have taken Brody…"

"That's enough," Hammie stood up, and Wendy's rambling stopped.

"Hey, show some sympathy will ya?" Doc protested.

"Brody's been taken, right?"

"Y-yes," Wendy whimpered.

"And they'll probably kill him, right?" Wendy silently nodded. "Then we can't waste any more time. Don't get me wrong. I'm sure there's a long, depressing story behind you and Brody and Jaggerjaw Island. I'm sure if I knew the story I'd understand things a bit better.

"Brody helped us. Now he's in danger. And the same guys who have him are the same who owe me a ship," Hammie cracked his knuckles. "I'm sorry, Wendy, but I can't be a shoulder to cry on right now. I'm too damn pissed off."

That moment, Jude emerged from the water hauling a large trunk. Despite his exhaustion, Jude immediately flung open the trunk and started flinging out a pile of soaked colorful clothes, "My suits! My jackets! My robes! My tuxedoes! My specially-tailored kimono! All ruined!" He slammed the trunk shut, "Someone will pay dearly for this."

"We're all payin' for it. Get a bloody fig leaf or somethin'!" Michael yelled from the peanut gallery.

"Don't worry about it, Jude," The fire finally dried out part of the rope as it snapped apart, freeing Hammie from its bonds. Hammie coiled up the rest of the rope and straightened his tool belt, "I'll go take care of this."

"Oh, you are not going alone," Jude's eyes burned with rage as he shoot his fist at the heavens, "Now, by the stock and honor of my kin, to strike them dead I hold it not a sin! None shall excuse the injuries that thou hast done me! Turn thee and look upon…"

"He's going to be at that a while," Hammie turned away as Jude continue his monologue and started to walk away when he noticed Michael following him. Hammie glanced over his shoulder and patted his back to make sure Michael hadn't put a sign or bait on his back.

"Somthin' wrong, Cap?" Michael stood relaxed.

"You know… you don't have to follow me just because I'm captain."

"I don't 'have' to do anythin'," Michael replied indignantly, "Jus' so happens that a few fishsticks pissed me off," he twirled his Boomers and reholstered them, "I'd jus' be more comfortable lettin' our dear Cap'n take point while I cover yer back."

"So… I'm the meat shield?" Hammie guessed.

Michael grinned, "Well, hey, what do ye know? Yer right, Doc, he is learnin'!"

"Well," Hammie sighed, "Let's get going then," The trio of Hammie, Michael, and Jude all marched inland, itching for a fight.

Doc shook his head as he stood by Wendy, taking a swig of his flask and counting down on his fingers. "3.. 2.. 1..."

Hammie sheepishly returned with Jude and Michael glaring at him impatiently, "Um, Wendy? Which way did they go?"

After an hour's walk led by a still recovering Wendy, the five arrived at a large, circular bay surrounded by stretches of small, thin coastline except for one opening at the far end. Jutting out of the water were a multitude of sharp rock towers with coral barbs nearly ten feet high each, scattered all throughout the bay. The water was crystal clear; Hammie could clearly see the ocean floor, including several shipwrecks next to the various rock towers.

"This is Jaggerjaw Bay. The bay's unsailable because of the sharp rocks and coral all over it, but it's the closest thing we have to a landmark so that's how the island got its name. If you look at a top-down map of the island you'd see it looks like a fish or more appropriately a shark, with Amity village at the dorsal fin, where we docked at the underbelly, and…"

"Holy crap, girlie!" Michael shouted as Wendy flinched, "If I'da known there'd be a full tour lecture I'd have rather searched on me own!"

"Sorry, I tend to ramble when I'm upset," Wendy reached out and pointed towards what looked like a three-tier pagoda floating in the middle of the bay between the rock towers, "That barge out in the middle of the bay. That's their headquarters. But if you try rowing out there, they'll shoot you out of the water."

"So we'll swim?" Hammie suggested.

"Swim? They're fishmen!" Wendy shouted, "If they catch you in the water, you're dead."

"Yeah, I doubt they'd ever expect one of the villagers to enter their little fort. Much less swim there. And even if they do have a guard posted regularly, Brody's kind of a big deal to them. I doubt any one of them would miss his, um, yeah…" Hammie trailed off as he realized he was entering a sensitive subject territory for Wendy right now. Interrupting himself, he turned to Michael and Doc, "By the way, either of you know where Takashi is?"

Doc shrugged, "He always goes off on his own like this. Meditating or training or something. Once he's gone solo, you don't go after him."

"What if we need him?"

Doc shook his head at Hammie, "Sorry. If he doesn't want to be found, it's best not to go looking. The last guy who tried that, we couldn't even find all the pieces. When Takashi's ready, he'll find us."

"We sure could use him now," Frustrated, Hammie started to draw in the sand, trying to figure out the best way to approach the barge, "How long can you two hold your breath?"

"Me?" Michael scoffed, seeming almost offended, "Worry about yerself! Yer the newbies!"

"I'm used to doing underwater repairs and working around noxious fumes," Hammie replied matter-of-factly.

"I've recited whole ballads without so much as a breath," Jude boasted. Michael glared at Jude in disgust, glancing down, then meeting his eye, feeling queasy just looking at Jude's new 'outfit.'

"Leopard spots? Really?"

Jude proudly displayed the only thing covering his body besides his mask, an orange and black spotted bikini brief, skintight and leaving nothing to the imagination. Despite this, Jude proudly displayed his asset for all to see, "It's the only waterproof clothes I own! The only thing I have to be grateful for is this venture will at least force you to bathe."

"Why ye snot-nosed lil…" Michael started unholstering his weapon as Doc tried to stop the bickering.

Before Hammie could get involved, Wendy ran up and wrapped her arms around Hammie, hugging him as tightly as possible, even though she barely came up to his chest, "Hammie… Be careful," she sobbed into his chest.

Hammie patted the poor girl on the head and smiled warmly, "Any idea where they'd keep Brody?"

Wendy shook her head ashamedly, "No human's ever set foot in there. I have no idea what it's like inside."

"Then we'll just scour the place top to bottom, free Brody, then go from there. You stay here. Find a good place to hide," Wendy silently nodded as Hammie walked back towards the still arguing Jude and Michael.

"All the ladies love me natural masculine musk."

"Oh, and here I thought you only slept with pigs in the figurative sense."

"When I'm done with ye, you'll need a mask fer the other half of yer ugly face."

"I'll forgive you for that if only because you are classless slug with no sense of aesthetics."

Picking up one in each arm, Hammie waded into the water with Doc taking a swig from his flask before following, both hoping that once the two had to hold their breath they would stop trying to kill each other.

Wendy watched the four disappear into the water, silently praying as she looked for a good place to hide. Unknown to her, a pair of eyes watched from the cover of the inland forest, watching and waiting. "Soon, my pet, soon... Uweeheehee.." the crab fishman cackled softly from his hiding spot, grinning in anticipation of his soon-to-be prey.

To be continued…

Author's Notes:

This isn't my favorite chapter, but it does bridge some necessary gaps. Real action next chapter, I promise. Speaking of which, still not sure whether to have the characters name their attacks anime-style or not. Would not mind the readers' opinions on the subject.