A/N: Hey :) Happy Lunar New Year!

Chapter is not betaed. Betaed chapter will be posted when available.

Chapter Seventeen

Sea King

Greg left Harry alone after his introduction, so Harry served the fish fillets on plates and filled bowls with rice before leaving the kitchen to find Spaz.

Spaz was just exiting Laboon – and how weird did that sound? – splattered with sky blue paint.

"Hey, Spaz!"

Spaz looked up from lifting paint buckets out of the door on top of the whale.

"Harry! Wow, Harry, it's really neat in there, you should really go see, I painted the stomach of a whale and Doctor Crocus said I'm really good at painting seagulls, it was really fun!"

"Maybe I'll take a look after lunch if that's alright with the doctor. For now, can you help me fetch a barrel of pickled vegetables from storage?"

"Yes sirree, Harry, I can do that, no problem!"

Lunch was pleasant, with Shanks and Crocus seated together, recalling stories of when they were a part of the Pirate King's crew, attended to by the avid audience that was Spaz.

The pirates ate with their usual gusto, and cheered when Harry brought out the tarts. The first slice went to Crocus, of course.

"How surprising. Did you visit a tropical Summer Island recently, Shanks?"

"I haven't; brings back memories though. Do you remember that one time we landed at one and thought it was deserted?"

"Thought it was deserted. Don't you mean you thought it was deserted, and then because Buggy thought it was inhabited by cannibals, you ran ahead into the forest to try and prove him wrong?"

"Dahahahahah! That was some adventure! Who would've thought we'd find pastry chefs?"

"Made some fine tarts," Crocus added, patting some crumbs off his beard. "Course, in the end, they might as well have been cannibals, considering how they wanted to sacrifice us to their gods and eat our livers."

"Oh," Harry recalled, "that's right."

He went to the kitchen and fetched the pate he made earlier.

"Pate. I hope you don't mind that the rest of your fish is being salted, but the liver I'd like for you to have."

Spaz looked a little queasy and Crocus gave a Harry a strange look.

"This is fish liver, right?"

Harry smiled. "It's quite good with crackers or bread."

"Liver is a good source of vitamins too. Doctors treated a lot of ship sicknesses with liver," Crocus added, slipping the jar into his pant pocket.

"I think I've heard that before," Harry replied. "Are there any other foods good for keeping sailors healthy?" An hour later, he'd wish he had never asked.

Harry learned more than he could possibly remember from Crocus who, once started on the values of nutrition, kept talking slowly but steadily until finally Harry begged off on account of needing to clear the table as all the pirates had long since finished eating and left.

After the dishes were done, Spaz dragged Harry to see the inside of Laboon. Harry had to admit, it looked impressively surreal down there, what with the gastric juices making a rather convincing looking ocean below the painted sky.

Eventually Shanks called them back to help bring ashore everything for the barbeque that night. Greg and Yassop had slaughtered a pig for the event, and everyone was to help bring up barrels of sake and beer and salted meat, or help Crocus prepare the net-full of smaller fish to be spit roasted.

"Oi, Kid!"

Harry looked up from fish on a stick he was roasting to see Shanks waving a tankard of beer in his direction.

"Rematch?"

Harry smiled and, biting into his fish with relish, answered, "you're on!"

Shanks wouldn't know what hit him.

"Urg."

"Com'on, Shanks, up you go," said Harry, as he and Beckmann lugged Shanks up into the ship. "Didn't you say we'd set sail after dinner? Can't do that if even the captain is knocked out cold."

"I dun' get it," Shanks slurred, awkwardly hoisting himself off the rope ladder over the ship railing, tumbling onto the deck. "Why're you sounding so sober?"

"I cheated," Harry admitted, handing Shanks a glass of water. Technically, magic was cheating, though he'd likely never tell anyone the details about that particular trick.

Shanks stared stupidly a bit, before finally laughing.

"Dahahahahaha! You bastard, cheating a pirate! Man!"

Shanks swung himself to his feet and staggered to the front of the ship.

"Is the rest of the crew onboard?"

"Not yet, Captain," Beckmann replied, jumping back onto the beach to fetch the next man.

"Just about, Shanks," Harry reassured from his position on the rope ladder, "though I doubt any of them are in any condition to sail the ship."

"Not to worry," Shanks called back, "we just need to sail to the edge of the northern Calm Belt and I'll figure out the rest."

"Calm Belt?"

"Oh, hey Spaz," Harry called down to Spaz who was sitting half-conscious on the beach, too drunk to help move people, but not so smashed that he wasn't awake enough to talk. "How many more?"

"Three or four, and Doctor Crocus says good-bye but he says he won't be seeing us off since we'll probably be back in a year like usual, but, the Calm Belt? Why are we sailing there?"

"You'll see, Boy!"

Harry wasn't sure he liked that tone of voice Shanks was using, and Spaz most certainly did not look reassured by Shanks' reply in the least. Beckmann, who had returned with another crew member, merely smiled in acceptance of his captain's decision.

Now, Harry had only read about the Calm Belts in a brief description on the dangers of the Grand Line, but the term "Sea King" certainly sounded frightening enough. Going into a nest of monsters was usually not something one does for fun, but it seems Shanks thought differently.

"Good thing it's a clear night," Shanks grinned at his crew. Well, what crew he had that was still conscious. More than half of them were sleeping off their alcohol consumption. Only Harry, Spaz, Beckman, and Shanks himself seemed in any condition to do more than just stay standing, and Harry knew nothing about sailing.

Luckily, the remaining pirates, including Lucky Roo, Yasopp, and a few pirates Harry didn't know yet, were willing and able to at least hoist anchor and help release the sails.

"Northward boys!"

"Aye-aye, Captain!"

"Why is it good that it's a clear night?" Harry asked, following Spaz and Beckman up the rigging the release the uppermost sail. "If anything, Shanks seemed happiest when we were tossing about in the storm earlier today."

"It's important," Spaz chirped, "since we need the stars to keep our heading north."

"So it's true that compasses don't work here?"

"Not the compasses we use on the Blues," Beckman explained, "and logposes don't tell us which direction we're sailing, just where the next island is."

"I see. H'up I go!" Harry swung himself onto the wooden beam holding the sail.

"So what do I do here?" Harry asked, referring the sail.

"Untie that knot over there," directed Beckman, "but keep hold of the sail until I say so. You too," Beckman told Spaz, pointing to another knot on the other side of the beam. "You handle that one."

"Yes sirree, leave it to me!"

"The wind stopped Captain!" called Yassop.

"Great!" called back Shanks. "Everyone hold on!"

"Eh?"

SPLASH

A loud rumble followed the crash of waves, and then a series of bumps and curses as everyone aboard the ship except Shanks found themselves falling to the floor as a result of the ship's violent swaying.

"What the?" Harry groaned, one hand pushing himself upright, the other instinctively grasping for his glasses before remembering he didn't wear them anymore. Blinking rapidly, Harry saw a gigantic yellow and black striped creature, like a dragon but larger than even the Hungarian Horntail towering over a fourteen-year old boy, its fins dripping water onto the deck as it loomed above.

"What the bleeding fuck is that?" Harry swore, scrambling to his feet and hoisting Spaz up while he was at it.

"S-ss, s – sea king!" Spaz stuttered, eyes wide, mouth gaping.

"Dahahahahaha!"

"Captain!" cried a voice, one of the pirates Harry didn't know, "why didn't you scare them off first?"

"Iiii-diot! If I used my Haki like I usually do, I'd be left with even less of you. How am I supposed to sail a ship then?"

After this confusing, at least, confusing to Harry, explanation, Shanks looked up at the sea king that was currently eyeing them like a tasty morsel.

"You."

Harry sharply sucked in a breath. The power in that single word. Was this the Haki known as the Color of the Conquering King?

"Down."

As the sea king lowering itself into the water until its eyes were level with Shanks' with an almost puppy-like whimper, Harry understood Shanks' previous statement. This Haki had an incredible pressure unlike the two Harry experienced before. If released without a purpose or target, it had the potential to knock-out anyone of weak will.

"That's a good boy!" Shanks praised, walking over to the creature and giving it firm pats on the nose. "Who's a good boy? You're a good boy," Shanks gushed, "and you'd be willing to do me a favor, yes?"

"Um, Captain?" came a tentative query.

Harry wasn't feeling nearly as polite.

"Shanks, you crazy bastard, just what in Merlin's name do you intend to do with that monster?"

"Do you know about the Isle of Women?"

Harry blinked at the abrupt question.

"Er, no."

"I've heard of it," Spaz spoke up, shaking off his shock at seeing the sea king wag its tail under Shanks' attention. "It's an island in the Clam Belt inhabited by only women." Realization dawned on Spaz's face. "You don't mean – ?"

"I've heard that of the Seven Warlords of the sea, Boa Hancock uses sea kings to travel from her island, so I wanted to try it. I mean, sea kings pulling ships across the Calm Belt! Isn't that cool?"

Harry could practically see the stars dancing in Shanks' eyes.

"So," Harry said, "I see you've already picked one. How do you plan on making it pull our ship? It's huge! If we just tie a rope around its neck – which is already pretty impossible as it's neck is several times larger than the ship, the rest of its body will be underneath us, which not only might damage the bottom of the ship, but also hinder its ability to swim."

…

Harry stared pointedly at the pirate captain, one of the four Emperors, infamous around the globe, who, for several minutes, offered no answer other than a thoughtful expression.

Harry sighed.

"Well, how does this Boa Hancock person do it?" Harry prompted.

"I've never met her, or seen her ship, so I wouldn't know," Shanks replied, "but I think she probably uses smaller ones, huh?"

"She's pretty new to her position as a warlord, but I've heard lots of rumors," Spaz offered, "like that she doesn't actually use sea kings, but Yuda, traveling snakes. Since their smaller, ropes tied to the necks of a pair of them draws their ship, and since they have poisonous venom, their smaller size doesn't tempt the attack of larger sea kings."

"Well, there aren't any traveling snakes here otherwise the sea kings wouldn't be here. Maybe we can just ride it?" Shanks pondered.

"Think you can carry the ship, boy?" Shanks asked the sea king.

"H-hey, wait a min –" Harry tried to call out, but it was too late. With a happy squeal, the gigantic creature slipped his head under the ship, and lifted the entire boat into the air, resting precariously on its snout. Splashing its tail in the water, the sea king took off across the Calm Belt at a speed that nearly tore the sails.

"Bugger."

A/N: Sorry if it was a bit hard to follow. This chapter was kinda jumpy between scenes, but I really wanted to move the story along a bit. There's more cursing now and stuff, and later, we'll really get into the angst :P

Anouncement! I need a new beta. RedValentino has real world issues to deal with for the foreseeable future, so I'll need someone to read, edit, and suggest ideas for chapters from 16 onwards. Just shoot me a review, or pm if you're interested. Thanks :)

It's February 3, 2011, and I have 237 reviews.

~ Cool