It was the night before the wedding,
One that didn't just bind two people in love,
But would serve to mend the ancient rift between man and fishman,
Even if it was just on one tiny little island in the North Blue sea,
For about a week the whole island had pitched in, fixing up buildings, putting up decorations, and preparing for the big day. Many people worked without sleep for several nights in a row, but the night before was one of rest for the entire island.
Exhausted, most of the island slept peacefully under the moonlight, only some small torches still lighting up the town's main streets.
Hammie stayed in one of the cabins of his new ship, even if it only barely qualified as such. There was little furniture, mostly spare stools, benches, and other leftovers from the hasty construction. Nevertheless, he wouldn't be sleeping tonight. Instead, he obsessed over the text in a book of marriage vows, reciting the script over and over in hope that it would somehow make his duties tomorrow easier. It was too late to back out of officiating now, not that he would.
Most of the buildings were dark except for the bar which still had a few low-lit lanterns. The bartender had gone home for the day. Boys his age needed their rest. Doc tended the bar for the time being, a feeling he relished since most sane bartenders knew better than to let someone like him have free access to the merchandise. The only other two were his companions: Michael, who rambled on loudly about something Doc had long since stopped paying attention to, and Takashi, who sat still and rigidly on his bar stool, so much so that in the dim lighting he could have been mistaken for a decoration if not for the occasional raising of a cup of sake to his lips. If Michael's antics bothered the swordsman, he gave no indication as such. This was a familiar scene to the three of them, although normally they'd be sharing drinks like this just after 'leaving' an old crew and just before 'recruiting themselves' onto a new one.
A fourth soul soon joined them, whose brightly colored red and gold suit only shone even more in the low-lit bar. Jude carefully analyzed his reflection in a nearby wall mirror, making sure his hair was stylized perfectly, his white collar was ruffled correctly, and his mask was aligned properly. The only half of his face that ever showed smiled in appreciation at what hard work, good grooming, and a healthy investment in one's appearance could accomplish.
Nevertheless, he sighed, "My last outfit. Everything else is ruined."
Michael raised his glass, slurring his speech slightly more than usual, "And it only burns me eyes slightly less than when ye were naked."
"If you're worried about getting your clothes wet, you're in the wrong line of work," Doc chuckled.
Jude shrugged and responded, "It is a necessary sacrifice for my art. I suppose it is for the best, though. Although they were my finest suits, one's wardrobe should be constantly changing like autumn leaves."
"Yer damn straight ye need new clothes," Michael laughed, "Ye look like a colorblind, retarded peacock!"
"And just what does your 'art' have to do with pirating?" Doc asked as he refilled his glass with a small assortment of hard liquors and topped them off with a few capsules from his pocket that made the drink fizzle madly, "I thought you were a stage actor."
"Ah, but is not the world a stage? Is not life one grand play, and we all but the actors performing it?" Jude boldly and proudly resounded.
Doc sipped his clearly poisonous beverage, smacking his lips, "That's one hell of a cast."
"Clearly, but remember the majority of the cast are but extras. We are the main characters and have the responsibility to give our audience the performance of a lifetime."
Doc smacked his lips and added another, different-colored capsule to his drink which changed its color to a deep dark brown, "Never really considered myself a main character."
"No, you wouldn't," Jude pondered thoughtfully as he pointed and analyzed the three, "You'd be more suited to the role of the Drunken Porter. A comedy relief bit along with your friends the Fool and the…" Jude's finger paused at Takashi as he thought of a suitable role, "Scenery."
Michael swiveled around on his barstool to face the actor, "Hey, ye ain't earned the right to call me anythin' but sir, ye pompous fruitcake!"
"And he plays the part so well," Jude grinned as he spoke directly to Doc instead, "Though even if he were the rabid dog he claims to be he really should bark less."
Although the insult ate at him as well, what really set off Michael was being ignored. "Watch it, pansy! Me Boomers are fully loaded now and I ain't afraid of usin' 'em," his hands steadied over his twin pistols, still deciding whether or not they'd see some action.
Doc stepped in before the two could go at it, "Easy now, you're not supposed to get into drunken brawls until the reception. Otherwise, you'll ruin the booze." Michael didn't like backing down, but he couldn't argue with the possibility of wasting alcohol.
But it was Takashi who actually acted first, ritually setting his cup onto the table, walking around Michael and the Doc, and staring Jude in the eye.
Jude returned the glare with a grin as change, "Oh? Does your part actually have a line in this scene?"
"You fought the fishmens' swordsman, correct?" the swordsman asked emotionlessly.
"In a brilliant performance, if I do say so myself," Jude boasted.
Takashi's gaze swept over Jude a few times, though neither made any move for their blade, "When you fully recover from your injuries, we shall cross swords. Only one of us can be superior."
"Is that important to you? Being superior? In what, might I ask: swordplay or cooking?"
"You speak as if there is truly a difference," were Takashi's last calm words as he walked out of the bar.
Michael grinned and relaxed his muscles as he turned to follow the swordsman, "Well, looks like Takashi's takin' a shine to ye. He doesn't like it much when I play with his toys, so ye get to enjoy yer drink a bit longer."
"And exit the clown and his silent foil," Jude remarked as he watched the two leave.
Doc on the other hand, still had perfectly good booze to consume, "There's one thing I don't get about you."
"Only one?" Jude frowned, "I must work on my air of mystery."
"If you like the spotlight so much, how come you made your brother be captain?"
Jude's frown morphed into a cheshire cat grin, "Oh, I have my reasons. Let us just say that one with my experience on the stage has earned the right to choose his roles with scrutiny."
"It just seems to me that the best role would be the captain," Doc reasoned.
"Only to one so foolish as to assume they know the script," Jude chided in response.
Doc was forced to pause between sips, "You know, talking to Takashi or Michael is like talking to a wall. Talking to you is like talking to a wall with a playbill posted on it."
In the tiny, half disassembled shack on the other side of the island, the soon-to-be married couple lay under the sheets in each other's arms.
"I thought we weren't supposed to do this until after the wedding," Brody remarked.
"We've waited too long already," Wendy smiled as she snuggled in closer, only to hear a brief sigh of worry from Brody's chest, "What's wrong? Does your mouth still hurt?"
Brody sighed, "No, it's not that. I'm just thinking."
"You were thinking about Hammie, right?"
Brody stared at Wendy in shock, "What? No, I'd never! Why would you think-"
"You know what I mean, dummy!" Wendy giggled.
"Oh…" Brody calmed down, "Yeah, a little bit."
"Penny for your thoughts?" Wendy asked.
Brody sighed, "Hammie's probably going to leave for the Grand Line soon. Now that he has a ship and all."
"That was the idea, yeah," Wendy agreed.
"I don't know if he even stands a chance at surviving. He barely made it to this island in one piece and not without sinking two ships in the process. He doesn't even have a navigator."
"Does he really need one?" Wendy asked.
"You need a top-notch navigator just to enter the Grand Line. The whole region is extremely dangerous, but most of the fatalities happen at the entrance," Brody explained.
"Why? What's at the entrance?"
"Reverse Mountain," Brody continued, "Currents from all four major seas meet at a single point of land mass. The current there is so powerful that it actually flows up the mountain. It's pretty much impossible to steer once you're in the current, and when you reach the top you have to make a sharp turn to the one downward current on the mountain. Slide down the mountain and you're in the Grand Line.
"Wow…" Wendy marveled in amazement at Brody's descriptions.
"That's not all. Once you're there, compasses won't work and the weather constantly changes from everything from storms to blizzards to heat waves. The currents are very deceiving too, and if you don't check your course constantly you'll go way off course in no time."
"So how do you navigate around the Grand Line?" Wendy asked.
"You'd need a Log Pose. They're hard to find outside the Grand Line, but instead of pointing north they lock onto the magnetic field of a particular island and guide you there. Then once you're at that island for a particular period of time, the Log Pose will lock onto the magnetic field of the next island."
"Sounds difficult," Wendy commented.
"And that's just the generic stuff, not even including island-specific stuff. It takes an experienced navigator just to survive."
"You could do it, couldn't you?" Wendy offered.
Brody paused in surprise, "Well, yeah, but… I can't."
"Why not?"
Brody locked eyes with his fiancé who laid her head on his chest, "You realize what you're asking right? It's not like you could come with us. I don't know if I could protect you from everything there, and I can't worry about you getting hurt."
Wendy sighed as if she was missing out on someone's birthday party, "I figured. I don't want to be holding everyone back. But that doesn't mean you couldn't go."
"What about… us?" Brody said worriedly.
"I'll always be yours, stupid," Wendy said with a kiss, "But what other choice is there? Let Hammie go get killed on his own? After everything he's done for us? I couldn't live with myself if something happened to him, something you might've been able to prevent if you were there. You know you couldn't either."
"Wendy…"
"I'll be here waiting for you. I'll be patient. Besides, we probably have a few nights before they leave. We'll just make the most of it," she reassured.
Brody resigned himself to his fiancé's way of thinking, "I'll be back as soon as I know Hammie can survive without me. I love you.
Wendy smiled satisfyingly as she cuddled in closer to Brody, "I know."
The next day, the sun shone brightly as the entire island was ready to see the fruition of its hard work. Everyone gathered in the main street of Amity Village, standing in unison and waiting for the ceremony. Unfortunately, there weren't enough chairs left for everyone since most of them had been disassembled for spare wood. That hadn't stopped people from trying to decorate the place, however, as a hastily constructed archway of spare wood had been cobbled together over the boarding ramp to the Patchwork Princess, the ship matching its style in craftsmanship. Wildflowers wrapped around the archway and decorated the buildings on either side, and someone had scraped together enough paper to put up streamers between all of the buildings.
Off to the side, Charlie Sunkissed sat at an old piano that had been wheeled out of the saloon, since there was no church organ available, still wearing a thick uncomfortable iron neck brace, the only part of the cannon they had yet to be able to remove. Or at least that's what both doctors told him when Charlie mentioned it would be impossible for him to sing with the weight on his throat.
The music started playing and the crowd parted to form an aisle for the bride and groom to walk down. Although he sang like a strangled seagull, Charlie could still play the piano with a decent amount of skill. Jude accompanied him on a violin one of the villagers had scavenged from one of the previously "forbidden" buildings.
Brody and Wendy strode arm-in-arm ceremoniously down the aisle as the music played, some of the villagers spreading flower petals in their wake. Brody wore his usual "captain's uniform," that being the torn leather jacket. He would justify to himself that this jacket bore the battle scars of all of his years with his crew, and was more like a soldier's uniform and medals so he had to wear it. Of course the real reason was that there weren't any tuxedoes on the island large enough to fit a brute like Brody. Nevertheless it was Wendy's dress that drew the attention. Unlike everything else at the ceremony, the dress looked like an expensive designer model, with beautiful pastel blue and green patterns criss-crossing all across the gown. Not a single stray seam was showing and there were just enough flowers and ribbon to accentuate the dress's aesthetics rather than seem tacky or gaudy. Anyone would assume the dress had taken months' to design and craft to perfection, not sewn in a week by a certain zealous actor.
Standing at the archway and boarding ramp that would serve as the altar for the wedding were the best man and the officiant. Since Hammie was technically on the ship and was captain of it, this satisfied traditional requirements for a wedding ceremony. No one could find any formal clothes in Kitsushi's size, so he too was stuck wearing his usual attire, and the best anyone could find for Hammie was a black cloak reminiscent of a judge or priest.
Fashion faux pas were the last thing on anyone's mind, though with one exception. No one in the crowd really understood why Hammie wore a blindfold, especially while holding the book with the ceremony in it. No one said anything and the ceremony continued with Brody and Wendy walking up to the altar as the music came to a close.
After a minute or so of silence, Kitsushi nudged Hammie with his elbow. Hammie startled and quickly began the service, "Dearly beloved, we gather here today to join Brody Martin…"
"Um, Hammie, I'm over here," Brody whispered as Hammie had motioned to where the bride was standing when he said Brody's name. There was a brief pause of silence with a snicker coming from Michael in the audience.
"We gather here today," Hammie started again, "to join Brody Martin and Wendy Watterman in loving matrimony."
Then for a while the ceremony continued without any shenanigans. Despite being blindfolded, Hammie had the words memorized and had little difficulty.
"Now, please present the rings."
"Um, Hammie…" Wendy whispered, "Brody's already got his on."
Hammie paused for a second, "Huh?"
"Well, it's kind of a complicated process and all, putting a ring on a webbed hand, so we did that earlier."
Hammie hesitated again, trying to process that particular image, "How does a fishman put on a ring anyway?"
"With a scalpel, a good doctor with a steady hand, some precise stitching, and lots of pain medication," Brody answered, flinching from the recent memory.
"Oh…" A few moments of awkward silence passed again as Hammie started sweating nervously, "Um, where was I?"
"Oh, for Poseidon's sake!" said Brody as he reached forward and ripped off the blindfold.
Hammie instantly turned several shades of white as his eyes opened wide and stayed that way, unblinking at the crowd assembled before him. Now he was completely silent. Finally his mouth started slightly moving, though no sound came out. Slowly Hammie brought the book out to cover his face.
"Brody, I think you broke him," Wendy said worriedly, "Hammie? You okay?" There was a slight mumbling noise, and everyone leaned in closer.
Eventually Brody, Wendy, and Kitsushi could make out a word or two every couple sentences, "…marriage…vows…bride…"
"He's still technically performing the ceremony," Brody realized.
"Yeah, but I can't hear a thing," Wendy said, "What do we do now?"
The crowd stood awkwardly, but not nearly as much as the bridge, groom, and best man who tried to figure out the best way to 'fix' Hammie for several minutes.
Suddenly, a distant shout came from the back of the crowd, "Marine ship spotted!" The entire crowd turned to look. Sure enough, circling around the island some distance away was a navy ship. With everyone at the wedding, there was no one to keep watch or spot it sooner. The crowd panicked and soon broke, most hiding, but some taking to potential battle stations, just in case. After all, the only ship docked at their harbor still flew a pirate flag.
"Scuse me, I have to start the celebrations, a lil' early," Michael grinned as he split off from the crowd and skipped off.
Hammie's eyes suddenly snapped back into focus, the eyes of the crowd no longer on him, as he grabbed Brody and Wendy by the collar, "Quickly! Brody, do you?"
"Wha… Do I what?" Brody asked, still disoriented from the unfolding events.
"Do you want to marry her or not?"
"Yeah, of course I do!"
"Wendy, do you?"
"I do?" Wendy offered.
"Good! You're married! Kiss her! I'm out of here!" Hammie threw off his official robe and rushed onto the ship, hurriedly getting the Patchwork Princess ready to sail. Jude, Takashi, and the Doc leapt from the crowd after him, not wanting to get left behind.
"Don't worry, I'll go distract them!" said Kitsushi as he dove into the ocean and swam in the direction of the marine ship, leaving the two standing at the altar, just married even in this chaos.
Brody looked into his new wife's eyes sorrowfully. He'd thought he'd at least get a night or two, "Wendy…"
Tears welled up in Wendy's eyes, but she smiled and held them back, "I know. You better hurry, or they'll leave you behind."
"But I can't just…" Brody tried to object, words failing him, "What about us?"
Wendy shook her head, "I'll be fine here. You're needed somewhere else. We can put off the honeymoon until later. Besides, isn't that the norm? The pirate goes out on the high seas and the wife stays home and waits for his return? Kind of romantic ain't it?"
"Wendy…" Before Brody could stall longer, Wendy pulled him in for a long, deep kiss, as both of them shed streaming tears. The moment seemed to last forever, and both wished it would, but it was Wendy who had to break off as she pushed Brody further across the loading plank across the ship.
"Now get going, you big lug or you'll get left behind!" Even as she yelled out her farewells, the ship's anchor was raised as the Patchwork Princess drifted away from the shore, the loading dock falling into the water.
Brody stood on the rail of the deck and yelled back, "I'll come back for you! I promise!"
Wendy widely smiled as she waved back, "If you don't, I'll come get you myself! I promise that!" The ship was on its way though, and soon they'd be too far to even yell, as Wendy wiped some stray tears on the sleeve of her wedding dress, "Big, dumb husband of mine…"
"Is it time for the next action scene already?"
"Let them come and taste steel…"
"You're sure we can get away with this scrapheap?"
Jude, Takashi, and Doc respectively stood on the deck of the brand new scrapheap of a ship, the latter testing rails and floorboards looking for a single spot that didn't seem like it'd fall apart at a moment's notice. He couldn't find one.
"It's all we've got, so it'll have to do!" Hammie yelled as he single-handedly pulled up the anchor and did a quick head count, "All right, all five of us are here, let's shove… Wait, Brody?" Hammie did a double-take at the presence of the fishman.
Brody gave a respectful salute, "Reporting for duty, captain!"
Hammie stared perplexed, "Didn't I just have you married? What the hell are you doing here?"
"You aren't going to get far without a decent navigator, so here I am," Brody responded.
"But what about-?"
Brody interrupted, "Wendy and I already talked it over. This is a temporary arrangement until you can make it on your own. Then I'm going back for my wife. Still feels weird saying that," he commented aside to himself, "Anyway, we don't have time to argue."
Hammie briefly hesitated, but nodded in agreement. He could recognize stubbornness and Brody was right. He didn't have time or the resources to be able to refuse Brody's help, "All right, welcome aboard. But if you're here, then…" Hammie did a brief recount. Still only five people, which meant someone was missing, "Where's Michael?"
But before long the familiar smell of alcohol-soaked gunpowder presented itself just as the Michael clumsily climbed on board, "Don't worry, ye pretty lil' lasses, I'm here. Just had to put me affairs in order."
Brody glared suspiciously, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
Michael leered back and scowled, "The hell is Fishstick doing here? I didn't think we were takin' sushi to go."
"Well, someone has to fill the eyebrow quota on the crew since you're lacking," Brody didn't miss a beat, "Not to mention covering up the stink."
"Bite me, guppie!" Michael barked as he helped himself over the railing and stood on the deck.
"Don't tempt me, worm!"
"GUYS!" Hammie interjected, "We've got a ship to flee in!"
"Keep yer pants on, Hammie, I was just lightin' the fuse," Michael said mischievously.
"Wait, what fuse?" Right on cue, a large series of loud booms echoed from the distance. Fearing cannonfire, both Hammie and Brody ducked before they turned to see the source. Michael just turned to gaze at his masterpiece as a storm of fireballs arced off of the island and rained down all around the marine ship. The explosions and whistles of fireworks continued in furious displays of colored flames showering the ship and everything around it in napalm.
Michael beamed with pride, "That should buy us some time, eh?"
"You were going to set that off at my wedding reception?" Brody turned to Michael in rage, "That would have incinerated everything and everyone on the island!"
Hammie put a hand on Brody's shoulder to stop him from wringing Michael's neck right then and there, "Look at the bright side, Brody. That's that much gunpowder he can't sink our ship with later."
Meanwhile, aboard the marine ship…
"Captain, the fires are everywhere!"
"Stay calm, men!" If the sight of Captain Douglas, Mr. January for the Official Navy 'Handsome Marine Hunks' calendar, with his chest exposed and his officer's jacket blowing in the wind could've been any more impressive, it would've been right this very moment, when everything around him was on fire. Even with a minor bandage on his head that his first mate insisted he wore ever since he slipped on the rail and hit his head on the deck of his old ship, Captain Douglas was a sight to behold, his eyes steeled and his confident smile rigid even in the face of incineration, "Take your stations! Get those fires out immediately!"
His overzealous cabin boy, Chapa, was running across the ship to keep up with the flames, outpacing the rest of the marines as he did so, "Sir, the bombardment seems to be coming from the island! Should we retaliate?"
Douglas just confidently smiled, the light from the flames glaring off his smile, "No, Chapa my boy. This island isn't going anywhere. That ship with the pirate flag, however, is making a break for it. Besides, it was less likely the islanders attacking us and more likely a cunning trap set up by the very pirates we're pursuing. Investigate the island now and we'll lose them to Reverse Mountain for sure. Vezzali, what's the status on the target!"
On cue, first mate Valentina Vezzali, clad in full fencing uniform, ignored the flames and spied on their target pirate ship with a telescope, "It's different ship from before. I don't recognize the make, but on first sight it appears to be of poor quality. We should have no trouble catching up to it. Wait…" As Vezzali spoke, the ship that should've moved at a snail's pace suddenly picked up speed, going much farther than even this marine ship could hope to match at top speed, "Captain, they've picked up a huge burst of speed!"
"What? How?"
Vezzali shook her head, "I don't know, sir, it's as if a sudden windstorm suddenly filled their sails, but we're not picking up anything of the sort!"
Douglas pondered the situation, thoughtfully stroking his chin as Chapa put out two more small fires nearby, "Anything on the island?"
"I'm… I'm not sure…"
"Report on anything unusual you see!" Douglas confidently ordered, "We don't know if there are Devil Fruit users among them."
Vezzali briefly paused, "There's a girl in a wedding dress standing on the cape. It appears she's blowing in their direction."
Douglas raised one of his thick eyebrows, "Come again?"
"In all fairness, sir, you did say to report on anything unusual."
Douglas nodded thoughtfully, "I understand. There are reports of many shipwrecks in the area…" In a sudden flash of insight, Douglas pointed to the heavens and boldly declared his conclusion, "That must be the spirit of a bride lost at sea, filling their sails with the power of LOVE!"
Vezzali stayed quiet, knowing better than to try and correct the captain's judgment, but the cabin boy Chapa gazed at his captain with admiration, "That's amazing, sir! How will we ever compete with that?"
"In order to combat the power of love, we'll have to use something equally powerful, and what we have as marines is PRIDE!" Douglas boldly shouted to his troops, "Come, marines! Put out those fires with your manly spirit and fill our sails with PRIDE!"
"YEAH!" Chapa and all of the marines cheered with a newfound spirit as the troops worked harder and faster than before to put out the flames. Vezzali, used to such antics from her fellow marines, just sort of went along with it all.
"I won't let you leave this place!" echoed a voice suddenly as something shot out of the water and crashed onto the deck.
Chapa pointed at the big, blue monster that leapt onto the deck, "Captain! What is that thing?"
Kitsushi assumed his fighting stance, ready to take on the entire crew of marines should it be necessary, "I am Captain Kitsushi of the Tiburones Gemelos, and I will not let you-"
"Clearly it is another spirit, one of VENGEANCE!" said Captain Douglas boldly before the intruder could finish his introduction.
"Really?" Chapa asked excitedly.
Kitsushi stayed ready, but confused, "What are you going on about?"
"It must be what's haunting the island and trapping all the other spirits! The only course of action is to exorcise its presence," Douglas proudly stepped forward.
Chapa was still trying to figure out the whole spirit concept, "How do we do that?"
Douglas pointed in challenge to the giant fishman, "Emotion must fight emotion, which is why I'll fight it with the power of my MANLY FIGHTING SPIRIT!"
"Of course!" It all seemed so obvious to Chapa once his captain explained it.
Kitsushi blinked in disbelief, "You're all looney." Still, he reasoned, If I can manage to take out their captain quickly, maybe I can get the rest to surrender. So I'd better go all out and take him out in one strike. "Fishman Karate Secret Technique…" As Kitsushi began the maneuver, the water of the ocean gathered up behind him.
"Your presence isn't welcome here, spirit! Feel the mighty justice burning in my fist!" Douglas challenged.
Kitsushi ignored the captain as his leg raised to strike, "Foxtail…" The water spiraled behind him into a whirlpool, and finally formed a dragon out of the swirling currents which enveloped his entire body, "Water Dragon…" Kitsushi and the water dragon launched forward simultaneously, Kitsushi's powerful kick combined with the force of the strongest blast of water he could muster into a single point, "Spear!"
Douglas stared down the attack the size of a Sea King, and only confidently smiled as he met it straight on, charging forward and rearing back his fist, "DOUGLAS PUNCH!" His arm launched forward, his and Kitsushi's attack meeting at both of their epicenters. The contact alone unleashed a shockwave of pure force powerful enough to crack the deck from one end of the deck to the other.
But it was the water dragon that gave in, exploding into a harmless shower that doused the remainder of the flames.
Kitsushi was stunned, not able to remember a time when the force of his kick was outright stopped, "W-what the…?"
But that wasn't all as Douglas kept pushing, "Begone spirit!" A few sharp cracks and searing pain told Kitsushi about the broken cartilage in his leg as it was forced back by Douglas's fist, until his entire body was lifted off the ground and sent flying back to the island before Kitsushi could discern just how much he was outclassed. The crew cheered at the picturesque scene of their beloved captain having slain the dragon and the spirit in vengeance in one manly spirit filled punch, "See! The flames of its rage have been quelled! Now, let's catch up to those pirates!" And so the marines set off to catch up to their pirate prey with new fire in their hearts.
To be continued…
Author's Notes: I'm hoping to wrap this arc up next chapter, which means it'll be a doozy. For those of you that remember Captain Douglas and his crew earlier on, next chapter you get to see how he really fights. And for those of you wondering how Chapa single-handedly took on several of the pirate crew at once, you'll get an answer to that next time too.
Heh, looks like I got some people wondering with Hammie's father. Like I said, there's a good chance at least someone will figure it out after next chapter. Just so no one's tearing their hair out trying to figure this out, I'll say it's not a character in any of the One Piece canon or filler, nor is it a character from any other fanfics here (as far as I know anyway). I will say as a hint to remember the One Piece tradition of naming/modeling important characters in One Piece after actual historical figures.
Next chapter will be a doozy and will take a while, but hopefully it'll be worth it.