Understanding the Enemy
The next chapter of the Return to Fishman Island Arc is out everyone. Enjoy and leave a review behind.
Vivi, the princess of Alabasta Kingdom. She was a nakama of the Straw Hats who saved her kingdom from the criminal organization known as Baroque Works lead by the ex Shichbukai Crocodile. Through the efforts of the Straw Hats, Crocodile was defeated and his organization fell. Peace returned to Alabasta and Vivi despite not being a member of the crew was still their nakama. They had to leave her since she had to remain behind because of her duties as princess but now at least for the time being, she was back with the crew, back with her friends.
"I'm happy to be back everyone," said Vivi to the Straw Hats.
"It's great to have you back Vivi," Usopp replied back.
"Oh Vivi-chan I'm so happy that your back with us. You have no idea what it's been like day in and day out with these shitheads," said Sanji right next to Vivi.
"Anyway glad you could come with us," said Franky.
"I'm sure I would Franky-san," said Vivi.
"Yohohoho an extra lady who could show me her panties, wonderful," said Brook who was suddenly hit on the head by Nami.
"Don't go asking ladies around for their panties," said Nami angrily.
"Damn it, it's the same thing all the time with you guys," huffed Nami.
"Yohohohoho then perhaps you could show me yours then Nami-san?" asked Brook.
"No way you perverted skeleton!" shouted Nami.
"Um Nami-san, will he be alright?" said a concerned Vivi with a sweatdrop.
"Oh don't mind him he's fine, well at least as fine as he could get," said Nami.
Suddenly everyone heard a loud cry down the hallway.
"Everyone," the voice cried out.
The voice belonged to Shirahoshi who swam towards the Straw Hats at high speed. She was wearing a bubble coating around her waist since the entire place was covered in bubble to allow the Straw Hats to breath.
"Shirahoshi," called out Nami, Ussop and Chopper.
"Shirahoshi-chwan, my beautiful mermaid princess, it's me your Knight," said Sanji twirling around Shirahoshi.
"Everyone you came back," said Shirahoshi in a tearful voice full of happiness.
"Yeah we did, we had a reason to come back," said Franky.
"My mermaid princess, look at you, you've changed a lot since last time. Before I remember you were a giant mermaid princess looking down at all of us …" said Brook who then stopped his sentence as a thought came to the minds of each of the Straw Hats.
"Ehhh why is Shirahoshi small!" shouted each of the Straw Hats with comical faces.
"I guess that reaction was to be expected," said the minister of the left.
"Shirahoshi what happened, last I checked you were a giant mermaid?" asked Franky.
"Um well actually it's like …" said Shirahoshi before the Minister of the Right interrupted.
"It was a side effect from prolonged use of the size changing pills," said the Minister of the Right.
"Size changing Pills," said Sanji.
"As its name implies, it's pills that can change the size of a person," said the Minister of the Right.
"I see but why would you need that?" asked Franky.
"We don't need it actually but it is just really convenient. You see it is well known that relations between humans and fishmen were bad. The differences in appearance made it hard for humans to accept our kind. Our large size and strange appearance made it difficult for humans to get along with us. So these pills were created mainly for that purpose," said Neptune.
"You see even though we can't do anything about our appearance we can at least change our size. Humans are rather intimidated by the larger appearance of fishmen and mermen. This makes it even harder for us to get along. But with these pills we can change our size to that of a regular human. It was hoped that being the same size as a human would help make it easier for our races to get along," said Fukaboshi.
"That does make sense. Even I have to admit that the large size of mermen and fishmen can intimidate people. So changing into their size would make things easier," said Robin.
"Exactly moonfish shake shake," said Manoboshi.
"So those pills are the reason that Shirahoshi is the size of a regular mermaid," said Zoro.
"Not quite, you see those pills were meant to be only temporary. After a while, the effects would wear off and the fishman and merman would return to their regular size," said the Minister of the Left.
"If they're only temporary then why's she still the same size?" asked Nami.
"We believe it was from prolonged use. You see during the Reverie Event, we all decided to take the pills, particularly myself and Shirahoshi since we're both giant size. However I would only take it during the day and at night I would return to my regular size. Shirahoshi however was taking it all the time," said Neptune.
"You see I met Vivi-sama and I wanted to be with her all the time. So I was taking the size changing pills all the time so that I could be her size and stay with her. I could have even slept on the same bed as her since we were the same size," said Shirahoshi.
"I noticed Shirahoshi taking those pills frequently. I understood that she wanted to be the same size as me since it would help us get along better and that we could stay together. But I was worried that she was taking too many of them," said Vivi.
"Vivi-sama even scolded me for it," said Shirahoshi whined.
"But you didn't know what the side effects were and you were taking too many of them. You could have gotten hurt," said Vivi.
"I know but I didn't. And I just wanted to stay smaller longer so that I could spend more time with you Vivi-sama," said Shirahoshi.
"I know I know, but still you need to be aware of the consequences of your actions Shirahoshi-chan. Those pills could have had negative side effects and you wouldn't have known," said Vivi.
"I'm sorry Vivi-sama," apologized Shirahoshi like a scolded kitten.
"That's alright," replied Vivi.
"I guess Vivi really wasn't kidding when she said that Shirahoshi was like a little sister to her. She's really acting like a big sister," said Ussop.
Vivi began laughing sheepishly at Ussop's remark.
"Well that's true I did say that," said Vivi with an embarrassed smile.
"We believe that because Shirahoshi took them so much that she became stuck in this size," said Ryuboshi.
"It's not really that big or bad a side effect," said Manoboshi.
"Honestly I'm happy to be a regular size mermaid. I could now better get along with all the people of Ryuuga Kingdom," said Shirahoshi.
"A fishmen's size was never really much of an issue on Ryuuga Kingdom. However it can be a major inconvenience at times," said Neptune.
"For Shirahoshi it was a welcomed side effect. If father or one of us were stuck in a smaller form it would be bad since we would be weaker as a result. And as soldiers we have to remain strong to defend the kingdom. But for Shirahoshi it isn't a problem," said Fukaboshi.
"By the way do those size changing pills have any other side effects," said Chopper in doctor mode.
He as a doctor was aware that prolonged use of drugs could have harmful side effects. And even though the size changing pills didn't seem to have any adverse effects on Shirahoshi, he just wanted to be sure.
"Not that we're aware of. Other than change of size, nothing about the person changes. Personality, mermories, looks everything remains the same. Also there's no fevers, headaches or anything. In fact the person feels completely normal except for the change in size," said the Minister of the Left.
"I see, so there's no real side effects from them excepting perhaps being stuck in a particular size," said Chopper.
"That's right," replied the Minister of the Left.
"But how come you aren't really aware of the effects of those size changing pills. Even though they aren't dangerous you actually sound as if you weren't really aware of their effects," said Chopper.
"We don't have too many records of their consumption and with the few that we actually have, there have been no side effects whatsoever. The thing is that people of this island don't really take them so we haven't really had a chance to examine any of their effects," said the Minister of the Right.
"Really so why don't the people take them?" asked Chopper.
"Well the first is because there is really no need. The citizens are already used to the differences in sizes amongst the people so there's no need for any of them to take the pills since size would really make no difference," said the Minister of the Right.
"And the second reason was mainly due to the persecution of fishmen. You see those pills were really meant to promote bonds between humans and fishmen. Taking those pills would allow large fishmen to be the same size as regular humans and thus help foster better relations. But current relations were so bad that fishmen themselves didn't really want to get along with humans so they refused to take the pills," said the Minister of the Right.
"I see," said Chopper who was always uncomfortable talking about these things.
"But that's changed a lot ever since you all saved this kingdom. Well, there's not really much of a reason to take the pills but the people of this kingdom are now more open and trusting of humans," said the Minister of the Right.
"Anyway the pills don't seem to have any adverse effects and the only long term effect is being permanently smaller which seems to be specific to Shirahoshi. And that's only because she was taking them a lot. But she doesn't seem to mind, in fact she seems happier so there's no problem," said Manoboshi.
"Anyway Straw Hats while I'm very happy to see you all again I would still like to know what your purpose for returning was," said Neptune finally getting to the matter at hand.
"That's right, I recall you said that you wanted to see father and Shirahoshi about something important," said Fukaboshi.
The Straw Hats stopped their chatter and silence reigned among them. With all the excitement over seeing Vivi again along with Shirahoshi's change of size they almost forgot their reason for coming back to Fishman Island in the first place. Had the circumstances not been the way they were then they would have had a really great time.
"Well you see the thing is that Shirahoshi is in grave danger," announced Zoro not sugarcoating anything.
Neptune and his sons and two ministers as well all had surprised and concerned looks.
"Danger, how?" asked Neptune.
"She's in danger of being captured by the revolutionary army," said Zoro.
"The revolutionary army wants to capture her. Why?" asked Neptune.
"For her powers," answered Robin.
"But how did they find out? No one on Fishman Island would actually tell anyone about it," asked Neptune.
"Wet Haired Caribou, that pirate that tried to capture Shirahoshi was eavesdropping on us when we were talking about her being the ancient weapon Poseidon," said Robin.
"So it's as I feared, her powers have been known to the world. And now the revolutionary army is now coming after her," said Neptune.
"Yes that's right," said Robin.
"So I going to assume that pirate told someone in the revolutionary army about her powers and that they are coming for her," said Fukaboshi.
"Correct," said Robin.
"We wouldn't let them take Shirahoshi. We promised mother that we would become great knights and that we would protect her," said Ryuboshi seriously.
"I don't care that they were able to overthrow the world government. We wouldn't let them take our sister," said Manoboshi equally serious.
"There's more to it than that. The situation is even graver than you all think. That's why we came back, to protect her," said Nami.
"Could you explain?" asked Fukaboshi.
"I think the best way to explain is to tell you about what happened after we found out about the overthrow of the world government," said Robin.
"You see when we read about the invasion of Mariejois in the papers we found out that Luffy joined the revolutionary army. We decided that we should find him and convince him to return to us," started Robin.
"I don't wish to make things worse but from what I saw of him, I don't think he'll return," said Fukaboshi.
"That's certainly true, we knew that there was a good chance that Luffy might not want to return but we decided that we should at least try and convince him. Even if he still wouldn't return we had to at least try," said Robin.
"Anyway before we could convince him we had to find him first. So that became the main priority of the crew. Eventually we reached a place called Kaien Kingdom which was one of Blackbeard's territories. We decided that getting involved with him would be the best way to find Luffy," said Robin.
"How would getting involved with the only remaining Yonkou help you find Luffy-kun," asked Neptune.
"I'm sure you heard about the deaths of Red Hair, Kaido and Big Mom," said Robin.
"Yes we have and it is was shocking to say the least. The death of just one Yonko was world changing as evidenced by my old friend Whitebeard's death. Yet three of them died and it was in such a short time. Why would you, wait you don't think that the revolutionary army is responsible for their deaths do you?" asked Neptune.
"They are, it was confirmed since a revolutionary commander actually told us this," said Robin.
"So the revolutionary army not only overthrow the world government, but also killed three of the Yonko as well, just how strong are they?" said a awed yet concerned Fukaboshi.
"We thought so ourselves. Originally when we heard about their deaths, we speculated that the revolutionary army was responsible for their deaths. You see even if they overthrew the world government, the Yonko would still oppose them," explained Robin.
"I see, I guess that would explain why they would want the Yonko dead though that still wouldn't explain why Blackbeard still lives," said Neptune.
"Well it was only speculation on our part but it was the best that we could go on at the time. We thought that if the revolutionary army was targeting the Yonko then they would come after Blackbeard as well. So we thought that if we went to one of his territories, then we might find Blackbeard and by extension the revolutionary army. Furthermore Blackbeard was the one who captured Luffy's older brother Portgas D Ace so if the revolutionary army wanted him dead, chances are they would send Luffy since he does have a grudge against him," said Robin.
"I see," said Neptune.
"Anyway when we got on Kaien kingdom we found out that there was a slave concentration camp there," said Robin.
"A slave concentration camp, how horrible, that Blackbeard is really a terrible person. First he kills his own crewmate, then captures another one and then kills his own captain and then he engages in something as heinous as slavery. That man is truly evil," said Vivi angrily.
Vivi remembered Ace explaining why he was in Alabasta at the time of their reunion. He was hunting down a traitor who killed his own crewmate. Then she read in the papers that the same Blackbeard character actually defeated and captured Ace thus becoming a Shichbukai which itself was shocking since she saw knew how strong Ace was, both from seeing him destroy several Baroque Works ships and the fact that he was Luffy's older brother. Then she read about the war where Blackbeard was able to kill Whitebeard and conquered all his lands eventually taking his position as Yonko.
"You have no idea," said Nami softly to Vivi's remark about Blackbeard.
"At first we thought that the slave camp belonged to Blackbeard but it in fact belonged to the revolutionary army," said Robin.
Shock was apparent on all the faces of everyone except the Straw Hats.
"A slave camp was owned by the revolutionary army!" said a flabbergasted Neptune.
"And the revolutionary army owns a slave camp on one of Blackbeard's territories of all people," said an equally shocked Fukaboshi.
"Robin-san, Luffy-san's father is the leader of the revolutionary army and Luffy-san himself is part of it. For you to say actually say that, that just seems so, so," said Vivi who couldn't find words.
"We know it's shocking to believe but it's the truth. We were told this by none other than Donquixito Doflamingo," said Robin.
"Wait Donquixito Doflamingo as in the Shichbukai, what is he doing with the revolutionary army on one of Blackbeard's territories?" asked Neptune.
"Blackbeard, the revolutionary army and Doflamingo, you're really beginning to confuse me with all this Robin-san," said Vivi.
"Just what is the connection with the Yonko Blackbeard, the revolutionary Dragon and the Shichbukai Doflamingo?" asked Fukaboshi.
"Well you see Blackbeard and Dragon are actually in an alliance," said Robin.
"Blackbeard and Dragon are in an alliance," reiterated a perplexed Neptune.
"An alliance between those two, but why?" asked Fukaboshi.
"Blackbeard would allow the revolutionary army to construct revolutionary bases which are actually slave camps on his territories. In addition Blackbeard would allow the revolutionary army unlimited access to his lands and resources. Blackbeard would also supply Dragon an unlimited amount of pirate slaves. In exchange Dragon would help Blackbeard become Pirate King," said Robin.
"I see so that's what it is. The two most powerful men in the world allying with each other. They really are unstoppable if it's like that," said Neptune.
"Truly an unholy alliance indeed," said Fukaboshi.
"Anyway the revolutionary army is only taking pirates as slaves. They aren't taking civilians," said Robin.
"They aren't, but why not?" asked Vivi.
"Well you see the revolutionary army is now pretty much the ruler of the world. So naturally as rulers they have to protect the people. So they accomplish that by ruthlessly capturing all pirates and putting them to work on the slave camps. By doing so they're making themselves to be heroes of the people since they're capturing them a lot more efficiently than the marines did. The civilians as a result are more accepting of the revolutionary army as the new rulers of the world and thus less likely to rebel," explained Robin.
"That's so horrible. Taking others as slaves and using it to gain fame among the people. Even if they're pirates they don't have the right to do that. What they're doing is no different from what Crocodile did," said Vivi angrily.
The Straw Hats remembered Crocodile and how he caught pirates in Alabasta kingdom to potray himself as a hero among the citizens. This was all done so that they wouldn't suspect him of actually plotting a hostile takeover. The revolutionary army was doing the same thing, capturing pirates and making them work on revolutionary bases to make themselves popular among the people so that they would never suspect their true nature. What the revolutionary army was doing was really very similar to what Crocodile was doing in Alabasta though the revolutionary army was doing it on a much larger scale.
"Anyway I understand the connection between Dragon and Blackbeard but how does Doflamingo fit into all this?" asked Neptune.
"Well as it turned out, Doflamingo himself was actually a revolutionary commander," said Robin.
"Doflamingo was a revolutionary commander. But I thought that he was a Shichbukai?" asked Neptune.
"He is, but he is also a revolutionary commander. In fact he joined the Shichbukai upon Dragon's orders. You see among others things, having a revolutionary commander as a Shichbukai would allow the revolutionary army to gain a spy in the world government as well as undermine their power," said Robin.
"I see I guess that makes sense. But it's really frightening that the revolutionary army has connections in both the Yonko and the Shichbukai," said Neptune.
"Not to mention that the fact that someone like Doflamingo is a part of the revolutionary army means that they have some extremely powerful members amongst their ranks," deduced Fukaboshi.
"You have no idea," muttered Sanji.
"They have both extremely powerful warriors and major connections. It turns out that the powerful Supernovas X Drake, Basil Hawkins and Trafalgar Law were all revolutionary commanders posing as pirates," said Robin.
"I heard about all three of them. Each of them is an infamous and fearsome pirate. Are you saying that all three are actually revolutionaries?" asked Neptune.
"Yes. That should give you an idea as to the kinds of connections they have in the pirate world," said Robin.
"To think that such high profile pirates are actual revolutionaries. That along with being allied with a Yonko means that they practically rule the entire pirate world now that the other three Yonko are dead," said Neptune.
"Yes and X Drake was also on Kaien Kingdom. He revealed that the revolutionary army are the ones who took out the three Yonko. Drake himself became Kaido's subordinate upon Dragon's orders in order to gain knowledge and insight into his territories as well as enough connections to allow the army to kill him," explained Robin.
Everyone present continued to listen to Robin.
"And Doflamingo revealed that Luffy was the one who killed Big Mom," revealed Robin.
"We're aware of that. Luffy-kun himself told us that he kill her," said Fukaboshi.
"Anyway according to Drake, several spies were placed in Big Mom's territories in order to allow someone to enter her lands and assassinate her. Of course that someone who killed her was revealed to have been Luffy himself," said Robin.
"And as for Red Hair Shanks, he is the only Yonko to have not been killed directly by the army. He was killed by Blackbeard himself," said Robin.
The group continued to listen to Robin.
"Blackbeard wasn't a subordinate of Dragon so he couldn't order him to kill him. However Doflamingo revealed that there were issues between the two which was why Blackbeard killed him," said Robin.
The group continued to remain silent as they took all this in. The revolutionary army was capable of not only taking down the world government which included the powerful admirals, but also take down the Yonko. In addition the revolutionary army had several subordinates who were all high level pirates, one actually being a Shichbukai. In addition they were allied with a Yonko. The revolutionary army was indeed the most powerful force in the world, even more powerful than the original world government.
"Luffy-kun must have really grown strong to have taken down Big Mom. I knew he was strong but I didn't think he was capable of taking down a Yonko so soon. It has only been a month ever since we saw him," said Neptune.
"Well Luffy has some new powers," said Robin.
"New powers," said Neptune questionably.
"Yes new powers. His father apparently trained him to use something called, the power of D which has made Luffy strong enough to take down a Yonko along with fleet admiral Akainu," said Robin.
"He took down the fleet admiral as well," said Vivi in shock.
"Yes," said Robin.
"To think that in only a month he became strong enough to take down a Yonko and the fleet admiral. That power of D must be something extremely powerful," noted Fukaboshi.
"Power of D, does that mean that it's exclusive only to the D?" asked Neptune.
"Yes and that brings me to how Shirahoshi is in danger. You see the revolutionary army has thirteen powerful warriors known as the Knights of D all of whom has this power. And one of them is coming here for Shirahoshi," said Robin revealing why Shirahoshi is in danger.
"So there are thirteen extremely strong revolutionaries in the army who have this mysterious power. And one of them is coming here to abduct Shirahoshi for her power," said Neptune.
"That's correct. Doflamingo told us this himself," said Robin.
"That's why we came back. Because we know that she's in danger and whoever is coming after her is bound to be extraordinarily powerful. Far too strong for anyone on Fishman Island to handle," said Zoro.
"I suppose that those Knights were the ones who took out the admirals, vice admirals and other powerful fighters during the invasion along with the Yonko," said Neptune.
"We believe so since they definitely have the power to do so," said Robin.
Neptune held his head in worry.
"This is really bad. The revolutionary army has those thirteen Knights along with many other powerful fighters. It's unlikely that we'll be able to hold them off for long," said Neptune.
"That's why we're here. To protect her from that Knight," said Chopper.
"You said that these Knights all have that power of D. Does that mean that Luffy-kun is one of them?" asked Fukaboshi.
"Yes he is, Doflamingo said so himself," said Robin.
Hachi, Keimi, and Pappug looked down in sadness. However they're sadness was nothing compared to Vivi's or Shirahoshi's,
"Luffy, how could you. How could you side with people like this," thought Vivi sadly with tears in her eyes.
"Why Luffy-sama, why," thought Shirahoshi who too was crying.
It was an extremely devastating blow to both Vivi and Shirahoshi. Both of them held Luffy in high regard, admired him and even loved him. He was their hero who saved them and their kingdoms. His leaving the crew, joining the army and giving up his dream of becoming pirate king hurt them both a lot. But now they found out that Luffy left his friends to join a dangerous group who care only about world domination, who engaged in slavery, who killed anyone who got in their way and who is now targeting one of them. They thought they couldn't get anymore hurt by his decision than they already have but they did. They couldn't believe that he'd join a group that now wanted to capture one of them.
"We wouldn't let them take her," said Nami in a determined voice.
"That's right, there's no way I would let them take the beautiful mermaid princess away," said Sanji.
"We'll protect her," said Robin.
"Yeah count on us," said Usopp.
"Thank you, all of you," said Neptune.
"Neptune-sama!" shouted one of the soldiers just entering.
"What is it?" asked Neptune.
The soldier then told the king what the issue was.
"What, let's go there immediately," said Neptune frantically.
"Right," said the three princes.
"We'll come to," said Nami.
"I want to come to," said Shirahoshi.
"Shirahoshi-chan maybe you shouldn't," said a concerned Sanji.
"I must, I have to see this," said Shirahoshi.
"Okay let's go," said Neptune.
Everyone then proceeded to follow the soldier who led them away.
In another location, the corpses of several fishmen littered the ground. These fishmen were non other than the New Fishman Pirates, the radical all fishman pirate crew that recently attempted to take over Ryuuga Kingdom. This radical group of fishmen believed deeply in the concept that fishmen were the supreme species and that humans were an inferior race. Furthermore they absolutely loathed humans to the point of wanting to take over the kingdom in order to destroy humanity. They even brutally murdered their own kind simply for sympathizing with humans. They firmly believed that fishmen should either makes humans slaves or should destroy them. The New Fishman Pirates was an extremely barbaric crew led by the most radical fishman Hody Jones. Hody himself was the personification of fishmen's hatred towards humanity and even attempted to destroy the entire island and his own people for their wanting to get along with humans. However constant overdosing of energy steroids resulted in him and his crew being nothing but harmless crippled old men.
They were not the only fishmen corpses around. The Arlong Pirates except for Hachi were there as well. The Arlong Pirates were a crew led by another human hating fishman know as Arlong. This crew was the one that inspired the New Fishman Pirates and Arlong himself was Hody's idol. This crew like the New Fishman pirates believed that fishmen were also the dominate race and that humans were inferior and deserved to suffer and die. Although not as brutal or cruel as their successors, they were still extremely cruel to humans.
The corpses of the Arlong and New Fishman Pirates completely covered the floor, they're bodies horribly mutilated and literally ripped apart. Blood was oozing from their brutally mangled bodies. It was an extremely gruesome sight capable of making even the most battle hardened warriors sick to their stomach. Whoever did this was not aiming for a simple murder. They were sending a powerful message with the ferocity and brutality of the murder.
And a far distance away was an extremely large and hulking individual. He wore black clothes covered by a long dark green cloak. He had the hood of the cloak covering his face. The face was revealed to not be a human's, but surprisingly a fishman's specifically the fishman of the Knights of D.
Isonade D Sanbi.
The Knight of D that is coming after Shirahoshi has been revealed, Isonade D Sanbi the only fishman amongst the Knights. And he makes his debut in a violent way, massacring the Arlong and New Fishman Pirates.
In the chapter "Breakout," I did hint that it was Sanbi. Sabo mentioned that he didn't think that Sanbi was the best choice due to the nature of the mission. Well you can understand that now. I mean Sanbi is almost of the same race as Shirahoshi (Sanbi is a fishman while Shirahoshi is a mermaid) so there was a chance that Sanbi would be sympathetic towards Shirahoshi because of this.
Also Dragon said that this was Sanbi's greatest mission and ultimate test of loyalty. This mission involves his own people, so it would indeed be his greatest test of loyalty. If Sanbi can kidnap one of his own kind and attack others that attempt to stop him, then he is truly loyal to Dragon.
Those of you who don't like Arlong or Hody, you guys should be happy with this. Arlong, Hody and their respective crew have died extremely gruesome deaths and at the hands of a fishman. So if you think that both were scum and deserved to die, then your wish came true.
Arlong and Hody are both dead so they will not be showing up anytime in the story except for flashbacks.
Several people are asking if Vivi and Shirahoshi will find out why Luffy left the crew. The answer is unlikely as I don't know if they'll even care. They might have cared before but now they stopped caring about why he left. For them, Luffy joining the revolutionary army which they now know is a truly dark organization is so frightening, that they don't care why he left the crew, they just want him to come back, or at least leave the army. Also they're concern over his dark personality completely overshadows they're curiosity as to why he left his crew in the first place.
But on that same note, Vivi and Shirahoshi along with the rest of the crew are going to find out a lot of his reasons for joining the army and why Luffy became such a dark character. So a lot of the reasons behind Luffy's dark change will be revealed in this arc. Of course it wouldn't be completely revealed until Luffy himself reappears before the crew.
Why did I have Sanbi of all people be the Knight to capture Shirahoshi? Well among other reasons is that after the Fishman Island Arc, Oda left a lot of openings and loose ends in that arc and that Sanbi being a fishman would be the best person to tie them up. Also the fact that Sanbi is a fishman will allow several issues that fishmen had to come to a close.
I think a lot of people speculated that it would have been Sanbi and you were all right. So for those who correctly guessed that it was Sanbi, then congratulations. Also a lot of people thought that Luffy would be the one to come after Shirahoshi. Well I could have done that but having Sanbi come after her is a better choice because many issues revolving around fishmen would be resolved. Believe me, you would not be disappointed that it was Sanbi instead of Luffy to have been the first of the Knights the Straw Hats face.
Shirahoshi being the size of a regular mermaid: We know that Shirahoshi is suppose to be a giant mermaid but through prolonged used of the size changing pills, she's the size of a regular mermaid, in other words the same size as a regular person. Shirahoshi is going to be part of Luffy's harem and I just thought that it would be impossible for that to happen if she was a giant mermaid. I mean come on, if Shirahoshi is going to be one of Luffy's girlfriends, then she'd have to be the size of a regular mermaid. How are they gonna have kids? So I made her regular size permanently as a side effect of taking too much size changing pills.
Size changing pills: They are just pills that can alter the size of a person, of merfolk as in this particular case. They're really meant for larger fishmen and merfolk because if regular sized fishmen or mermen take them, they'll become too small. Each pill works for a certain amount of time after which the fishman would return back to his regular size. Usually only one is enough for the fishman or merman to be of regular size but Neptune and Shirahoshi have to take a few extra because of how large they are. Someone like Wadatsumi (the giant fishman the Sanji and Jinbe defeated on Fishman Island) would have to take even more to be regular size. They're only temporary though taking too much will leave the person stuck in their smaller size as is the case with Shirahoshi. She doesn't mind being a regular sized mermaid though.
Purpose of the size changing pills: They don't really have any real purpose on Ryuuga Kingdom itself as due to the vast differences in size, the citizens are accustomed to see fishmen and merman of all different sizes. They are really meant for the world above ground that is the human world. Humans can be intimidated by the large appearance and strange looks of fishman and that is part of the reason why relations between humans and fishman are bad. Giants are also big and intimidating but besides they're size, they look completely human (except for Oz). Fishman and mermen don't look human at all. So this makes it hard for humans to understand and get along with them. So by taking the pills, larger fishmen and mermen could change their size to that of a regular person's. That way they wouldn't look as scary and intimidating and hence humans would be more accepting of them.
Shirahoshi's reasons for taking the pills: Originally Shirahoshi took them for the same reason that the rest of her family took them for, to be normal size so that they could get along with the humans there. However when she met Vivi, she became practically glued to her and wanted to stay with her all the time. She even moved out of her family's room and started sleeping in Vivi's. Because she wanted to stay with Vivi she started taking the pills more frequently. She was even taking them before she slept so that she and Vivi could be the same size and sleep on the same bed. And when she woke up she took them again so that she can remain regular size. The difference between Shirahoshi and the rest of her family is that they were only taking it when they had to while Shirahoshi was taking it all the time, solely so that she can stay and better get along with Vivi.
Problems with being a regular size: Being a regular size fishman or mermen isn't really a problem usually but it can be for certain merman. For Shirahoshi it isn't a problem, in fact she's happy to be a normal sized mermaid since she can better get along with the citizens. I mean it's a bit hard to socialize with the people if you're too large. However if Neptune for example was stuck in his small size, then that would be a huge problem. Neptune is a King and former Knight and as such he has to be strong. Part of the reason that he was so strong was because of his large size. If you take that away, then he is left much weaker. And he can't afford to be weak because there will always be some incident that requires his strength so he needs to be strong. The same logic applies to the Neptune brothers, Arlong and Hody. Jinbe doesn't need his size since his strength comes from his mastery of fishman karate so if he takes one of the pills, it wouldn't be so bad.
Side effects of the size changing pills: There are none actually. No headaches, fevers or any physical ailments, no memory loss, no change in personality and the individual doesn't lose muscles, gain any deformities, nothing. They pills have no side effects. Most pills have some side effects but the size changing pills have none meaning it is one of the safest pills around. The only side effect which was recently known is being stuck in the small size and even then that is it. Besides that there is nothing else. So the pills are safe no matter how much or how long you take it for.
Reason why their side effects were not known until Shirahoshi. The first is because there was no need. On Fishman Island, the fishmen and mermen are of all kinds of different sizes so the citizens of Ryuuga Kingdom are used to seeing fishmen and merfolk that are much larger than usual. To them the size doesn't matter and it wouldn't make a difference to them. So for that the merfolk never really took the pills. Secondly the pills were really designed for humans and fishmen to get along better as humans are intimidated by the size of fishmen and merfolk. The thing is fishman and humans do not get along. In fact relations were so bad that there were little to no fishmen or merfolk (except Otohime) that wanted their kind and humans to get along. Since they don't want to get along with humans then they wouldn't take the pills which were meant to improve relations between the two races. Because of these two factor, the pills were rarely ever taken and even then, because it was only for a short time, the permanent size changing effect was never known until Shirahoshi actually overdosed them and become a permanently regular sized mermaid in the process.
Most of what the Straw Hats talk about we already know. The slave camps, Doflamingo being a commander, the Knights of D etc. The only thing that they don't know is that Blackbeard himself is a Knight. Everyone thinks that Blackbeard is in an alliance with Dragon, not him actually being a Knight.
Unlike Law and Drake, the idea to make Basil Hawkins a revolutionary commander was a recent decision so I had to take down the chapter "Another Commander" and make some minor changes in Drake's explanation to show that Hawkins was a commander. I thought about it and he was cool, mysterious and didn't act like a typical pirate so he fit the profile for a commander. Also it would explain why Drake saved him from the Pacifista on Sabody Archipelago. Note that the profile of the revolutionary army mostly contains OC, and since Drake, Doflamingo and Hawkins were Oda's characters rather than mine, I didn't include them. Dragon, Sabo, Luffy and Blackbeard were included despite not being my characters because they are Knights and hence too important to leave out.
The revolutionary army is now more powerful than the world government. Remember even though the world government were the rulers of the world, they did not really rule the New World. It was the Yonko that ruled the New World. So the world government kind of ruled the New World along with the Yonko. However the revolutionary army killed the Yonko. So unlike the world government, the revolutionary army rules the New World completely unchallenged. This is what really makes the revolutionary army more powerful than the world government. The world government were content with letting the Yonko rule the New World. The revolutionary army isn't so generous. They now rule the New World by killing the Yonko which was something that even the world government couldn't do.
The power of D. It will be revealed later in this arc. As the Straw Hats are going to be facing one of the Knights for the first time, that Knight would explain what the power of D actually is. So against the first of the Knights, it is the perfect time to explain in detail what the power of D is.
The order that the top revolutionaries are going to appear in. Usually villains appear in order of strength so the weaker villains come first and then the stronger villains. That would not be the case with this fic because it is unlikely that the Straw Hats would do any real one on one fighting. The Knights, Special Weapons and commanders are too strong for that. So just because Doflamingo and Drake have been the first revolutionaries that the Straw Hats have faced doesn't mean that they are the weakest. Likewise just because the Straw Hats are facing Sanbi first doesn't mean that he is the weakest of the Knights. The order that the top revolutionaries are going to appear in is based on the storyline, not their strength level.
Shirahoshi and Vivi now taking Luffy's decision even worse. Both of them knew that Luffy left his nakama and joined the revolutionary army. But they were not aware of the revolutionary army's slavery of pirates. They held Luffy in high regard and his defection hurt them a lot. But for him to have defected a group that engages in something as vile as slavery, you can imagine how tormented both of them would be. Nami and Robin were at least aware that the group Luffy joined was dangerous due to what Drake and Doflamingo told them so they at least got used to it. Vivi and Shirahoshi are a different matter however. It's bad enough he left his friends but they now found out that he joined the darkest and most dangerous group in the world.
Well this chapter is finally over. Review it everyone.