Wendy watched with horror, the fight filtered through the wall of water like a particularly violent movie. At this point she could only barely stand as she walked over to Takashi. The swordsman seemed to be alive despite the large, deep gash in his torso that made it seem he should fall into two pieces at any second. Takashi himself showed no emotion or even sign of consciousness as he lay on the ocean floor. Wendy's hopes sank deeper. Everyone in some way was trying to protect her and getting terribly injured. She could only wonder about the others' fates...

As if on cue, a loud crash sounded from the beached ship. Wendy turned to see one of the windows explode off along with the frame and several feet of wall around it. A cart full of immobile bodies followed by a very exhausted Michael tumbled out of the hole in the wall and onto the ocean floor. After hitting the ground face-first, Michael stood up and dusted himself off all the while letting off a string of curses Wendy had never even heard of before.

She hobbled to them as fast as she could to note that the cart of bodies were in fact the Doc as well as two of the fishmen, the jellyfishman Mambo and a bandage-wrapped snail woman. Wendy looked over Doc with concern, circumstances making it awkward to address the two fishmen, "Are you all right?"

Doc rolled his head so he could face Wendy and smiled reassuringly, "I'm fine, really. I'm just a little numb from the neck down. Say, would you mind just taking a small, metal flask from my left pocket and bringing it to my lips for me?"

"Oh, no ye don't!" Michael shot to his feet, still sore and exhausted from carting everyone around, and snapped up the flask from Doc before anyone else could touch it, "Ye already paralyzed yerself. I'm officially cuttin' ye off." Michael opened the flask and took a deep swig before spitting it out, "What the hell is this? Tastes like friggin' poison!"

"Nice guess! Cyanide's one of the ingredients at least. Gives it a nice, rich almondy-taste. It's a real pain to prepare it so it doesn't instantly kill you though. I wouldn't recommend any for you, at least not without a stomach pump nearby."

"Blech," Michael tossed the flask aside, Doc quietly weeping in response, "This is why we don't let ye bartend, Doc. Anyway," Michael turned to Wendy, fuming, "Where the bloody hell is that scumbag fish-boyfriend of yers, anyway? Bastard made me cart the lot of 'em here on me own!"

"He's fighting Kitsushi! Please, you have to help him somehow!" Seemingly ignoring the context and tone of Michael's question, Wendy pointed over to beyond the veil of water to where Kitsushi and Brody were trading blows.

Michael took a glance over at the two fishmen exchanging blows, thought about his chances against either at the moment since both of his pistols were out of commission, and crossed his arms pouting, "I'll wait."

Wendy facefell as Michael's eyes wandered over to Takashi, "Hey, ye doin' all right there?" The swordsman gave no response.

"He got that way fighting Kitsushi!" Wendy tried to drum up some concern from Michael, or anyone, with little success.

Michael glared down at the swordsman disapprovingly, "Get up ye friggin' pansy, I ain't carryin' ye as well!"

"I… lost…" were the only weak words to escape Takashi's lips.

"He's bleeding out!" Wendy shouted, before turning to the still paralyzed Doc, "Can you fix him up?"

Doc rolled his head over, looking at Michael and Takashi, "Hey, Mike! Administer his medication for me, will ya?"

Michael grinned, "Aye aye, Doc!" Wendy was more confused at the fact that Michael was willing to take a command from anyone, until Michael kicked Takashi in the ribs, "Ye gonna let a lil' scratch like this keep ye down, ye wuss?" Wendy stood flabbergasted.

A moment passed, and slowly Takashi sat up despite his wounds, this time turning Wendy completely white, "I… won't fall here…"

"Are you nuts? He shouldn't be moving around in his condition!" Wendy exclaimed.

"Hey, who's the doctor here?" chided Doc, "Besides, Takashi's an all-natural kind of guy. Refuses any form of modern medicine. Some spiritual belief or something that, as his doctor, I'm morally obligated to follow. Don't worry, he'll be fine," As Doc reassured Wendy, Takashi was slowly getting to his feet, only to collapse to his knees again, blood pouring out of the massive gash in his torso, "Then again, that cut is pretty deep. Maybe you could help bandage him up some." Wendy quickly complied.

Before she could ask any more questions, another noise from the ship caught her attention, this one the sound of metal cutting through metal. She turned to see a deep gash in the side of the ship appear and water starting to leak out of one of the few water pockets left on the ship. Two more quick gashes left a triangle in the side of the ship as a cleanly cut hole burst open and water flooded out. Fortunately there wasn't nearly enough water spilling out to even reach Wendy and the rest. Instead, she saw a proud Jude striking a pose as he surfed something out of the ship. Upon closer inspection, she saw that Jude was surfing on top of a floating fishman body. Xiphias slowly drifted along the spilling water until he dragged to a stop, Jude maintaining his pose for a few moments even after the unconscious Xiphias lay prone in the sand, everyone who could watching him in awkward silence.

Finally, Jude broke the pose, looking annoyed, "What, no applause?"

"I'm paralyzed," Doc offered.

"I don't bloody give a damn," Michael scoffed.

Jude's eyes turned to Wendy, who, unsure of how to respond, slowly started softly clapping, prompting Jude to bow, "Thank you, thank you!" Michael booed, but Jude ignored him as he gracefully leapt off Xiphias's body and landed gracefully on the sand, "So, where do we stand?"

"At the bottom of the ocean," Doc replied without missing a beat, "I know. I'm trying not to think about it either."

"I take it swimming to the surface isn't an option at this point?" Jude asked.

"Doubt it. Brody and the big guy are going at it in the water. Doesn't matter where you swim, if you're in the water, you're likely to get caught in the crossfire," Doc reasoned.

"I see. How droll," Jude sighed, "I suppose all we can do is enjoy the show as we wait for the next scene then."

Michael shook his head disapprovingly at everything Jude did and was, "How do ye live with yerself?"

The actor smiled coldly in response, "The secret is bathing regularly. I know you've never tried it before, but trust me, it does wonders."

As the two traded quips and bickered, Wendy started praying for another miracle. This one wasn't working out so well.

Fourteen months ago,

"W-what?" Wendy jumped as if a spider had suddenly attacked her.

Now Brody was embarrassed, this wasn't the reaction he was hoping for, "I didn't think it was that outrageous. I mean everyone already thinks we're together, I just thought it might be a good idea to make it official."

"Brody…"

"We already spend most of our time together at is. We don't piss each other off. And I'm pretty sure we're both single and have been so for a while," Brody continued to desperately defend his stance.

Wendy shook her head in response, "Everyone on the island is at our throats for spending time together already. You want to give them more of a reason to hate us?"

"Forget what other people think!" Brody shouted, "The villagers are cowards and my crew are idiots. They shouldn't get a say in this."

Wendy turned away, "It's impossible."

"Why?"

"Look, it's just impossible!" Wendy suddenly exploded, "It's one thing for fishmen and humans to get along with one another, but date? How would that even work? How could you even kiss me without biting my face off with those razor sharp teeth? It's not a matter of love, it's a matter of biology!" When she finally paused, the silence deafened the room, "I'm sorry… I really am. You're my best friend in the world, but something like that couldn't possibly happen," Wendy fled in a hurry, embarrassed by her words.

Brody was the first to break free from the rising mushroom cloud of sand and debris from the ocean floor, quickly darting a safe distance away and waiting for the dust to settle. He knew better than to assume any amount of damage on the part of his opponent. With Kitsushi as his opponent, that maneuver could have failed completely or it could have meant the end of the fight.

He was right to be defensive, as Kitsushi burst through the cloud straight towards Brody, his eyes having converted to slits as his animalistic rage was much more prevalent now.

"RISING THRUST FOXTAIL KICK!" Brody brought his arms up to block, but there was no blocking a full-powered kick from Kitsushi's oversized, well-honed legs. Kitsushi's leg shot up like a ballista, breaking Brody's guard with ease and shattering at least one bone in his forearm. But that was just the beginning, as Kitsushi quickly spun around, his leg striking Brody from above, "FLAMING AX FOXTAIL KICK!" Kitsushi gave new meaning to the name of the attack as it felt like an axe was set on fire then imbedded deep in Brody's spine. Blood poured from both wounds as Kitsushi's leg slammed him straight into the ocean floor.

But Kitsushi wasn't finished yet. Darting down to Brody who still reeled from the impact, the larger fishman spun around as he sank to Brody's level, "BUTTERFLY FOXTAIL KICK!" Both of Kitsushi's legs together struck with all the force and momentum Kitsushi had built up, crushing Brody's jaw against the ocean floor with far more force than any of Kitsushi's other attacks, Brody's teeth shattering into ivory flecks in the water.

One year ago, today,

Upon seeing Brody, Wendy dropped the jug of water she was carrying, "B-Brody? What happened?"

Blood was streaming from Brody's mouth, and his entire jaw was bruised, bleeding, and sore. Even though it hurt like hell, he still smiled. "It's okay, really."

Wendy quickly rushed over to see if she could tend to Brody's pain, "It's not okay, you look like you went to a smoothie shop run by vampires! Who'd you get into a fight with this time?"

Brody shook his head calmly, "No, there wasn't any fight. Trust me. It only looks bad now because it's still healing, but this was something I decided."

"What?" Wendy asked confused.

"You said that we couldn't be together because my shark teeth would be a hazard. Well, you were right," Brody grinned as wide as he could, revealing that his normally sharp, dagger-like shark teeth were filed to square, more human-esque shapes, "So I filed them down flat," It looked completely unnatural on a shark fishman like him, and his gums were puffy and sore.

"You… you did that for me?" Wendy's eyes filled with tears.

"Yup. Ow…" Brody flinched at seemingly nothing, "Still hurts to smile."

"You… you big, stupid lug!" Wendy cried as she pounded on his chest.

"So, can we be together now?"

Wendy bawled and continued punching Brody in the chest, "Of course, you dumb pinhead! I have to, or else you'll just find some other way to mutilate yourself! I love you too much to watch you try to do more stupid things to yourself over me!"

"You… love me?" Brody hadn't expected that much of a response.

"Of course I love you! You've been there for me and protecting me even when I made things miserable for you! You stood up for me when no one else would! How could I not love you?"

"I… love you too," Brody smiled even wider than before, oblivious to the pain as the two hugged each other tightly.

Wendy continued sobbing. When she did speak, despite her confession of love, there was still doubt in her mind, "Are you sure it's okay to be with someone like me? What about Linda?"

"That's in the past. It's time for us now," Brody reassured her.

"I'm not sure if this is the right thing to do, but somehow I think this is what Linda would have wanted. I know I'll never measure up to you, but, at least for once, I'll be grateful for what I have, and what I have is you," Try as she might, Wendy couldn't help but cry tears of joy, as this was the only good to happen in her life for the past year.

Brody slowly pulled himself up, bone shards floating in the water, his vision turning red, and not just from his bleeding mouth. The smell of blood flooded his senses as the red mist filtered his vision into a sea of crimson.

"You're finally rid of those hideous, disgusting teeth," Kitsushi's voice was slowly being warped by Brody's blurring senses, "Now you can die with the superior jaws that nature blessed us with."

Brody could still see the bone shards in the water. He could see where the teeth had broken off and where its natural edges were. He could see where he personally filed down each tooth into a smooth harmless surface. It summoned a beast within him as a new set of teeth involuntarily protruded from his mouth, this set jagged and sharp like they were so long ago, not the filed down human-esque teeth that floated away in pieces.

Kitsushi calmly floated in place several feet away, even as Brody's pupils morphed into bestial slits and he bared the entire set of fresh teeth at Kitsushi, "Finally, you can bare some proper fangs like a true shark."

The enraged shark fishman launched at Kitsushi, teeth first. There was no rational thought left in him, only he and an enemy in his sights. His ferocity showed in his increased strength and speed as his arms and teeth launched in a flurry at the larger fishman.

His fishman karate was gone, these were all feral, animalistic swipes and attacks. For Kitsushi, it's not that they were hard to block or counter, it was that Brody's increased strength and speed was difficult to keep up with. But Kitsushi had his next attack planned, even before Brody grew his teeth back. He calmly waited, parrying each attack as it came. Without the focus of a martial art behind them, Brody lacked the subtlety and discipline to do anything but blindly attack, even as Kitsushi managed to grab and immobilize both of his arms. This, however, meant that Kitsushi had no way to stop the enraged fishman from sinking his teeth deep into Kitsushi's shoulder.

Still, Kitsushi kept from wincing, even as he let the pain flood his senses, his own eyes turning into feral slits like Brody's, "And now we come to the real difference between us, Brody. It's not simply our size or our difference in technique," Instantly, Kitsushi's leg shot straight up, jabbing Brody in the neck, forcing his jaws to let go. He let go of Brody's arms, but before he could react, both of Kitsushi's arms launched forward in a vicious strike at Brody's gut, thrusting him away, "But the fact that I can focus and direct my rage, where you still let them reduce you to a mindless beast!"

Six months ago,

Brody stood before his fellow captain, who sat grimacing, glaring back at him, "What's this about, Kitsushi?" The rest of his crew eyed him warily from the edges of the room

It wasn't Kitsushi who responded, but the first mate Xiphias, who responded, "Some details regarding Linda's death have come to light."

"Such as?" Brody's eyes never broke contact with Kitsushi. Although Xiphias was his voice, these were Kitsushi's words, and if he was having Xiphias say them for him, Kitsushi must have not trused himself to be able to speak. Since they weren't in public, Brody knew this only meant Kitsushi was pissed off enough to snap at any moment. The staredown was just as much a confrontation as this meeting, but on a primal level only understood by the two sharkmens' instincts.

Xiphias nonchalantly continued, "According to Dr. Mambo's findings, the plague was most likely caused by a devil fruit user, which made it more easily treatable with seawater and seastone. As such, according to Mambo, while we can't be positive, there's a chance that no fishman was ever in danger or even capable of getting sick from the plague in the first place. This makes the circumstances of Linda's death questionable at best."

"Questionable?" Brody knew what was coming, and the insinuation brought out the beast in him as he instinctively destroyed a nearby chair with one arm, "I saw the syringe in her hand!"

"According to Dr. Mambo," Xiphias continued without even flinching even as a splintered leg zoomed past his head, "who saw the same thing you did, you saw Linda with an empty syringe in her hand and the human girl over her body."

Brody turned to the jellyfishman, eyeing him with a betrayed anger, "Mambo, how could you?"

Mambo averted his eyes in shame, "I never accused anyone, mon, I just present de medical facts."

"If Linda really was fatally ill, then we could accept that she might have taken her life early in order to save others. But if she truly was healthy, then that means foul play is a more likely scenario," Xiphias said.

"But Linda said she was sick beforehand! Mambo, tell them!"

"I could never confirm dat. Linda never came to me for a diagnosis," Mambo tried to appear calm and impartial, but his tensed muscles gave away both his fear and his shame, "All I can say for certain is if she was sick, she wanted to be a donor, and that circumstances might have made her hysterical."

"Not to mention, the human girl and many of her fellow villagers would have died without a healthy donor. That gives her motive and opportunity. Place her at the scene of the crime and a lack of a written will or suicide note by Linda counts as evidence. That's enough for at least an investigation and a trial," Xiphias stated.

The rest of the crew shouted in agreement, "Yeah, a trial!" "Bring her to court!" "We'll find out the truth!"

"I REFUSE!" Brody's roar silenced the crowd, his pupils turned to full feral slits.

This time it was Kitsushi who responded, though the rage he was holding back was apparent, "This is the will of the crew and myself, Brody. You can't go against it."

"Well, I'm captain too! And you don't want a trial, you want a lynching! So I'm using my position as captain and vetoing this load of crap right now! Anyone who wants to object has to bring it up with me personally!" Brody glanced around the room. No one was willing to step forward, not even Kitsushi. They were willing to accuse, but not to fight him yet. Satisfied that no one would follow through on their accusations, Brody silently stormed out of the ship.

Wendy waited patiently for Brody on their usual hillside. Soon, she could hear his familiar footsteps approaching, "How'd your meeting go?" she turned to see a despondent Brody, scowling deep in thought, "Brody?"

Brody looked up, "This place really is going downhill. My own crew's not even listening to me anymore,"

"About what?" Wendy asked with dread.

"They," he didn't want to say it, but Wendy would find out sooner or later anyway, "They think Linda couldn't have committed suicide. That someone… killed her,"

"You mean they think I killed her?" Wendy softly deduced.

"Yeah…"

"Well, it's basically true isn't it?" she spoke, not the reaction Brody expected.

"What?"

"I killed her. If it weren't for me she'd still be alive. If I'd died sooner she wouldn't have gotten the chance to try and…" Wendy's voice quickly morphed into a blubbering sob, her guilt over her own life spilling forward.

"Don't talk like that," Brody rushed forward and embraced Wendy before she could collapse, "It ain't your fault, Wendy. Don't you ever think that," Wendy sobbed for a bit before Brody spoke up again, "Let's go away for a while."

"W-what?" Wendy looked up in shock.

"We're not doing much good here. My crew doesn't listen to me anymore, and all the villagers are afraid. If we're gone, the fishmen won't go postal every other day and maybe things will have a chance to go back to normal," Brody reasoned.

"I don't know…" Wendy glanced at the ground. She'd never set foot off the island, never knew anything but her home.

"Come on, Wendy. There's not much left here for us. In fact, day by day there's less. There's a whole world out there to enjoy, let's not waste our time where we're not wanted," Brody encouraged.

Wendy weakly smiled, "Okay, but only because it's with you," she held Brody as tightly as she could, "I don't know what I'd do without you."

Kitsushi proceeded to effortlessly bash Brody around the water, dashing just ahead of wherever Brody was launched to rebound him. If he were fully conscious, Brody might have been able to somehow counter, but in his bestial state, Brody could do nothing as Kitsushi pounded away at him, "But you can't even hear me any more in there, can you? All that's driving you is the violent, primal urge to beat me to a pulp. An urge that can never be fulfilled, because your obsession with the human has made you weak. You tried to leash your proud shark heritage, and now it can do nothing but run rampant, unleashed. For turning your back on your shark heritage, I can never forgive you!"

Kitsushi's legs spun vertically to gain momentum before smashing into Brody's side, knocking him back into the air dome, colliding with the earth and skipping a few yards in the sand. Something small and shiny flew from his person as he hit the ground and landed in front of the human spectators. Kitsushi followed soon after, emerging from the water and slowly walking forward.

"You know, the other fishmen don't understand your actions, but I do. I don't agree with them, but I understand, I really do," his rage subsided, at least for the moment, "You never meant to betray us. You just felt guilty over what happened to Linda. I get it, since the human got part of Linda in that operation, you feel like the human girl is all that's left of Linda, and that it's your job to protect her, since you couldn't protect Linda."

The others watched as the confrontation was seemingly ending. Doc glanced over at Wendy who could do nothing but stare at the sand in sorrow. Likely Kitsushi was voicing her deepest, darkest fears, but there was something else. Something else in Wendy's face as she bent down to pick up a small black box from the ground, one that fell from Brody when he collided with the ground.

"You're wrong," said an unexpectedly confident Brody, who slowly stood up, badly injured and pouring blood everywhere, but in control of his senses again.

One month ago,

"Ergh… I should've known you'd mutiny!"

Kitsushi and the other fishmen gathered around as they just finished tossing Brody to the beach, bound in manacles. He had never seen it coming until he was already in shackles.

"Not a mutiny, an impeachment," Xiphias stepped forward, once again speaking for Kitsushi, "A mutiny would imply the captain being overthrown, but we are still loyal to the true captain of the Tiburones Gemelos."

"True captain?" Brody was insulted, "The Tiburones Gemelos have always had two captains!"

"The crew by majority vote has determined that your judgment has been compromised and that you are no longer fit to lead us. Furthermore, your association with someone suspected of murdering a crew member, your harboring of said suspect, and your refusal to conduct a just investigation and trial, all lead to the bottom line: You've committed treason against the Tiburones Gemelos."

"Treason? How dare you!" Brody spat, outraged.

"How dare us? You're the one who spends his nights with the human murderer. And don't deny that you were planning to flee the island with her. We know about your little crafts project on the other side of the island. Admit your crimes and you may receive a reduced sentence. You may even be pardoned as long as you agree for the real criminal to be prosecuted."

For them to refer to Wendy in such a manner only enraged Brody even more, but for the time being he suppressed his rage, slowly stood up even with his arms bound behind his back, and calmly replied, "As long as you guarantee Wendy stays out of this, I'll plead guilty to whatever you want."

There were murmurs and soft protests amongst the crew. Apparently, they had expected him to renounce Wendy first, "Brody, how far you've fallen. Very well. The crew is waiting."

Brody purposefully stated, "I, Ex-Captain Brody Martin, plead guilty to the charge of treason against the Tiburones Gemelos," The words hit him in the gut harder than any punch ever could, made him want to vomit, but still he retained his composure.

Kitsushi stepped forward, and some of the fishmen involuntarily flinched, expecting a possible execution of their former captain. What Kitsushi did next surprised everyone. He sank his teeth into Brody's shoulder, where the jolly roger of the Tiburones Gemelos was tattooed, ripping off the emblem and leaving a bloody scar in its place, "I hereby sentence you and the human girl to exile. In order to give you time to secure yourself a vessel, you have one month to leave Jaggerjaw and then never come back. Until then, you will stay away from Jaggerjaw Bay and Amity Village." Kitsushi turned and headed back to the ship. He didn't even need to give the order for the rest of the crew to follow him, leaving Brody on the beach to nurse his bloody shoulder and ponder his fate.

Brody could barely stand at the moment, but even the immense pain couldn't stop him from smiling, "I loved Linda when she was alive. I still love her even now, but she's gone and I can't change that. At first, I blamed Wendy for her death, it's true. At first, I only stuck around Wendy because it was Linda's last wish: for me to protect her. I won't deny that.

"But over time, I'm not sure when it happened, I fell in love with her. Not because part of Linda was inside her. Not out of guilt. Not even because she was the only sane person left on an island full of paranoia and resentment,"

As he spoke, Wendy opened the small box, her eyes widening at the coral and pearl ring inside.

"My love for Wendy is true and genuine, completely separate from what I had with Linda, and if you asked me to explain why I'm in love with her I couldn't tell you, any more than any fool in love throughout the entire world could tell you why they're in love,"

"It might go against my 'shark nature', but I want to spend the rest of my life with Wendy, whether it's on or off the island,"

Brody weakly turned his head to face Wendy, "Wendy, I'm sorry. I wanted to give that to you under different circumstances, but it looks like now will have to do," Linda looked up, tears streaming down her face fiercer than ever before, "What do you say? Could you really love someone like me?"

Before she could answer, Kitsushi snarled, "You'd turn your back on everything we stand for, everything we've worked for? On me? On Linda? On the Tiburones Gemelos? On your heritage as a proud, great white shark fishman?"

Brody snapped back to face Kitsushi, as he and Wendy simultaneously screamed their reply, "I DO!"

Kitsushi's eyes turned completely feral again, this time his rage running rampant, not focused like before as his leg violently shot up, "You… BASTARD!"

Even if Brody had the strength to dodge, he couldn't or else Wendy would be hit, so he stood his ground as his life started flashing before his eyes, both the life he had previously and the life he could have started with Wendy.

But still no one noticed a soft, high-pitched noise quickly growing louder.

"FOXTAIL-" Kitsushi's leg started its descent just as a shadow enveloped Kitsushi's body and the soft sound finally grew audible, "EXECUTIONER!"

"aaaaaAAAAAAAAAA!" Something big crashed directly on top of Kitsushi, halting his attack completely.

When the dust cleared, Kitsushi was face-down in the dirt as something sprawled on top of him slowly stood up, rubbing his head in confused pain.

"Where'd all the water go?" asked a bewildered Hammie.

To be continued…

Author's Notes: Two chapters in one day! Hope this was worth all those flashbacks.