Haunt 6: Deadly District
The Great Pirate Era.
These were words which described the chaos which had erupted all over the world from Roger's final words.
Men and women of all races, islands, affiliations and beliefs taking sail to reach where only the King of the Pirates and his crew had.
Behind this, the Marines were almost desperately hunting down said crew in order to silence them and censure their story like they had done for the Void Century as well as for Rocks D. Xebec and his crew, but the die had already been cast.
There had been a notice regarding the arrest of Shiki the 'Golden Lion' after his enraged assault on Marine Headquarters over the capture and execution of Gol D. Rogers, his 'Rival' whom he respected as much as he hated. This further elevated the status of the Marines due to them succeeding in 'taking down' two of the strongest pirates in the world in quick succession.
As for the reasonably isolated Fish-Man Island, not much had yet to truly change from this new era.
A grand wedding and celebration had been held for the marriage of King Neptune to the newly crowned Queen, Otohime.
It had been an event of joy and laughter throughout the island, one even larger than Neptune's coronation, especially with the news of an heir to the throne also being on the way, filling the people with glee over the security of their royalty soon being secured.
Adam was still trying to work out how the logistics of the latter announcement worked.
He had a very good understanding of fish-man and merfolk anatomy and biology, but it still made little sense when it came to how Neptune had even done the deed with Otohime. The fact that all her children in canon were at least three times her sizes, with all of them being larger than her before they were 5, didn't bother him much since he now knew that the rapid growth occurred after the birth, but it still confused him as to how the royal couple even got to that step in the first place.
But speaking of heights, both Adam and Shyarly had been going through quite the growths spurts over the last two years.
Shyarly being genetically predisposed to being taller and larger than most mermaids wasn't surprising as she had grown to a length of 17'1'' (520cm) in canon. At the moment, thanks to remarkably healthy and nutritious living as a member of the Lion Acupuncture household, she was already over 6' in length, something Adam reasoned was due to the Sea King meat he got to bring home to ensure his diet could permit the insane training he was continually undertaking.
Adam on the other hand was just shy of 5' at the age of 5, with his body already showing defined muscles. This was partially because of his training and the massive amounts of nutrition found in Sea King meat, but he also believed genetics had something to do with since Oden was said to almost resemble a full grown man by 13.
This kind of development wasn't something odd to the people of Fish-Man Island, with Tami not even thinking about it because their own genetics were so varied to begin with and any child had the potential to just grow into a giant depending on what kind of Fish-Man or Merfolk they ended up being born as.
It was part of their race.
Adam had even received a prophecy that he would meet what he interpreted as crew members for his future journeys from his best friend.
So things were going well for the Island in general.
Until the Pirates of the New Age reached them, and then everything changed.
Greedy and lustful humans from all over the world started to use the undersea island as a means of crossing into the New World.
At first, they were welcomed.
Fish-Man Island was used to having Sailors of all kind come down to it along their journeys, usually bringing trade and tourism, with the Ryugu Kingdom protecting everyone with its army.
The problem was that they soon began to be overwhelmed by the number of Pirates.
Troops were stretched too thin over the island, forcing them to start looking for more recruits and aid amongst the citizens to maintain order and stop the sudden upsurge in kidnappings occurring all over Fish-Man Island. A minor issue being that most Pirates who had reached the Island held at least a decent degree of strength, with some being clear outliers and near unstoppable to the vast majority of the army, even with Fish-men and Merfolks' naturally superior strengths.
This wasn't unfixable, but the core of the matter was that most inhabitants of Fish-Man Island did not have the hearts of warriors. In fact, many wanted nothing more than to live peaceful lives away from any kind of conflict or persecution. As a result, incredibly few like Jinbe, who had joined the military after they asked for recruits, King Neptune, who personally went to protect his people, and members of the Dojo did any true training to take advantage of their naturally superhuman abilities.
It was why you rarely saw Fish-Men or Merfolk with Haki. They didn't have the necessary spirit or will to attain any of them.
And this was why Fish-Man Island was losing its struggles against the unceasing waves of Pirates, slavers and scum aiming for its very people.
The Kingdom had already lost full control over the Fish-Man District, it being turned into prime hunting grounds for Pirates to capture new 'products' to sell at the glittering hell of Sabaody. A situation which was devolving at a rapid pace with the gates to Fish-Man Island becoming incredibly fortified and strict in allowing anyone into the Kingdom.
It was the only way for them to keep control of the Island as going through the outer bubbles was suicide, unless one is part of the Strawhat Pirates anyway.
Tensions grew over the Island as a result, with many growing distrustful and even hateful towards humans due to not wanting to only fear them. Tami was even getting stricter regarding Adam and Shyarly travelling alone, especially Shyarly due to being a young mermaid, requiring her to at least have Adam while she goes to the café.
The Island itself might be 'safer', but that didn't mean anything in the face of human greed. All it took was one person blinded by lust for gold and Shyarly would be consigned to a fate worst than death. This not being an exaggeration since Tami had already put down two attempts on her and Adam had beaten up three crews who tried something on Shyarly on their way back from the café.
Luckily, most of them fell in front of his Conqueror's Haki, leaving him only a few subpar foes to defeat before the guards showed up. Over two years of practice certainly allowed him to gain great control over it, even if it hadn't grown nearly at the same rate as his other 'colors' due to not having anyone on Fish-Man island to clash wills with.
His Armament was moving along monstrously like his body and martial arts, having inherited that talent from his father, while Observation was now in constant use as Adam could look on at entire districts with ease thanks to his mother actually being predisposed to this kind of Haki from her hyper-awareness of her surroundings and throwing arts.
Adam wasn't as talented in Observation, but he made up for it using his in-born gift and unceasing determination to improve it.
An interesting fact about his Observation was that instead of being more developed for wide ranges, as his innate understanding of the sea and water would suggest, Adam's personality actually allowed him to specialize it to 'feel' and 'see' within a person. He uses the 'water' in others to understand how they move and form an image of their entire biology using his knowledge and what he could feel, allowing him to then compound his Observation Haki to create what he dubbed the 'Transparent World' as an homage to what it reminded him of.
This specialization permitted Adam to understand body language to an almost unprecedented degree, allowing him to tell when people would move and which places are the best to strike depending on the position and future positions of his foes. And with training, he began being able to guess more possible actions based on what he saw and increased his learning speed even further.
Grandmaster Anguin could regularly be found fondly smiling while muttering about his little monster of a disciple because of it, while Jinbe actually had a small competitive fire lit beneath him as he began increasing his own training to not be surpassed by his Junior.
The fact that said Junior was aiming to create his own style of swordsmanship actually made the Fish-Man ponder his own path actually. Jinbe meditated quite intensively to see what his goal was in continuing to push his martial arts further, finding his answer by deciding that he wanted to hone them further than any other.
Jinbe found a piece missing in his drive to grow strong, looking beyond not wanting to be weak in face of the things he had witnessed and experienced as someone from Fish-Man District, discovering a greater goal to push towards: to be the greatest practitioner of Fish-Man Martial Arts ever.
Just like his Junior Brother wanted to etch his mark in this Island of theres, Jinbe would not allow himself to be easily outdone. Actually seeming somewhat brighter and more spirited as a result of these newfound revelations about himself too.
But then, when Adam was in the middle of is sixth year after being reborn, almost a year into the Great Pirate era, Master Anguin suddenly said that he needed to experience true combat to help him improve further.
Adam actually agreed.
There was a limit to how much he could apply his past life's experience to this new one.
He was a lot stronger, faster, durable and smaller for one.
Used different means of attacking, styles and weapons for a second reason.
Lacked non-one sided battles which actually tested him and could threaten his life, something which the Dojo and taking care of random ruffians couldn't offer.
The opponents of this world weren't nearly as limited in their means of combat as his old one.
And he needed to face up against some of what the world had to offer to understand more about his own goals, with testing his fists and blade against others being a perfect way to achieve all of the above.
Only issue was to make sure Adam's mother wouldn't try to kill the Grandmaster for suggesting it, which ended up being by promising Jinbe's presence whenever Adam was to go out for 'experience'. Although the older student was instructed to only intervene in dire situations, Adam thought it was a good idea since the Jinbe had grown up in the district and knew a lot about it and the people there.
So, at the age of 6, Kozuki Adam stepped out of Fish-Man Island for the first time in order to gain experience with Soaring Sun at his hip.
"Jinbe-senpai, what can you tell me about the District? To help me understand it better from the point of view of a local." Adam asked as the two swam at speeds most would only see blurs.
"Hmm. Although rough, you must understand that those born and raised in Fish-Man district are incredibly tight-nit." Jinbe thoughtfully answered. "They must work together to survive against the elements those on the Island proper simply do not face, necessitating one to abandon morals when facing outsiders to survive."
"I heard that it is located in and around the Great Ship of Promise, are there any rules regarding going in it that I should be aware?" The young Fish-Man hybrid asked as he was curious in regards to what was the largest ship showcased in One Piece.
A part of the Promise from Joyboy himself.
"I would advise against it. Although your Observation Haki would be able to guide you, the inhabitants know the ship better than you do your home town and as such could ambush you with ease if you are not cautious enough." Was the warning he received.
"Understood." Adam seriously nodded. "What about the locals themselves? Will they have... issues with me being a half?"
"Unlikely, but there are some who will not be able to separate who you are from what made you, thus they might see you as outlets for their anger and grudges. I advise to always keep your Haki active while there to not be caught off-guard by ill intent." Jinbe cautioned his Junior, earning another nod. "Also, be aware that sentiments might have escalated since last I visited.
Raiding humans and the Kingdom loosing control outside of the bubbles would have caused them all to be tense and on high alert. And without Boss Tiger to take charge, things might have returned to being chaotic."
"Boss Tiger?" Adam curiously asked, even if he knew quite a lot about the man, just not if he had been captured yet.
"Yes. The Boss is the leader of the district. A man who United it under himself and improved the lives of those within." Jinbe informed his Junior with great admiration. "Unfortunately, he went out on a journey to discover the world and has not returned, likely not knowing of these tumultuous times the District is facing."
"Hm. I'd like to meet him... and fight him." The boy stated with a growing grin.
"Haha! The Boss is stronger than myself, at least in terms of experience and his body, so try and grow a bit more first." The Whale-Shark Fish-Man laughed at his junior's predictable behavior.
The young hybrid loved to clash against those stronger than himself, if they were amiable to it anyway. So to hear about a man uniting the 'lawless' area of the Ryugu Kingdom was sure to make his blood desire to face him.
"Not much point in challenging those weaker than one's self after all." Adam shrugged. "Well, except if they could inspire you along your path regardless."
Jinbe simply hummed with some agreement as they arrived at the district.
For Adam, the sight of Noah, the Ship of Promise, was almost humbling in how vast it simply was.
A ship half the size of the entirety of Fish-Man Island.
Who could fully understand the scope of such a thing without witnessing it?
But feeling a nudge, Adam looked at Jinbe who gestured to the side of the ship where they could spot a somewhat dilapidated town built into the giant remains of clam shells and the ocean floor or corals. The absence of light from the Mother Tree Eve not being much of an issue for us thanks to Fish-men having long since adapted to these depths.
Approaching it, Adam could finally see the poverty and life quality of those before him being significantly worse than the Island. He obviously expected it, especially since they had to simply fight to survive day by day, but to see the poor clothing, old or likely stolen weapons, mishmashed attires, broken buildings and the state of a lot of their bodies due to injuries or malnutrition certainly wasn't the greatest thing to see after half a decade in a tranquil 'paradise'.
He had seen such scenes in his past life, and much worst as well, but it was never something he would, or wanted, to become accustomed to.
"Hey look! It's Jinbe! He's back! And he brought someone!" A Fish-Man announced, causing the surroundings to become active, as if someone kicked a beehive.
Having felt them all in the buildings, Adam hadn't been surprised, but it was still a new sight to see so many Fish-men swimming all at once as they came to welcome one who could be described as a hometown hero.
Taking his time to greet those who came to see him, Jinbe calmly moved forward as I followed while he explained their purpose here.
"We will helping guard the District in these troubled times. Adam here, is my Junior Disciple under Grandmaster Anguin, underestimate him at your own risks." The older student grinned slightly as he gestured his young tag-along.
Not wanting to look weak, Adam stepped forward while coating himself with a layer of Conqueror's Haki, a trick he learnt to intimidate instead of faint others by layering his will and an intent, then allowing it to radiate from himself instead of engulfing others.
"Like Jinbe-Senpai said, I am Adam. I look forward to doing what I can to help against the scum wishing to sell us into slavery." He introduced himself as he rested his hand on his blade, earning quite a few approving looks from those around.
"You brought a kid to fight for us? Talk about condescending Jinbe!" A voice barked as a tall and well muscled fish-man with blue skin, wearing an unbuttoned green shirt with blue shirts, long and wild black hair, shape teeth and saw-like nose.
"'Arlong.'" Adam thought and Jinbe simply nodded towards. "Adam is likely stronger than everyone here beside myself."
The certainty in his voice stunned the adolescent fish-man as he looked intently at the fish-boy.
"He's not even a full fish-man." Arlong then hissed accusingly, causing some hostility to form around us.
"This does not matter." Jinbe clearly stated. "He was born on Fish-Man Island. Has only known Fish-Man Island. Has been accepted by Grandmaster Anguin and myself as a fellow practitioner of our martial arts.
Adam is as much a Fish-Man as you or I, and has perhaps even more to face in this world as he would not only be targeted by humans and reviled, but also meets rejection from those here.
Are we to simply become as vile as those who oppress us? Against a child who was simply born? Or are we better than them?"
Jinbe's challenging gaze and charismatic words magnificently snuffed out a great majority of the crowd's hostility towards Adam, even if a few more poisonous individuals held on to it while simply hiding it, but it was greatly appreciated by the young boy as he sent a grateful smile towards his senior.
So without too much trouble, Adam began to effectively patrol the district starting that day. Spending at least a few hours with Jinbe over there, often times sparring against one another to pass the time, killing the more 'impressive' pirates the Fish-Men in the district couldn't put down on their own due to various factors like numbers or tactics used.
At least they could bring captured or killed pirates to the army and have them take care of matters to receive bounties for a fee. This way Adam could actually start building up some savings and help out his mother some more.
Killing wasn't exactly new or difficult for him either, a military career followed by what was essentially privateering certainly made that a non-issue.
Facing bullets and canon balls with a sword or his body on the other hand, that took some getting used to.
Few pirates were stupid enough try and take on groups of Fish-Men in close quarters, so most used their ships as shooting platforms and fired from above before swooping down to capture those they could. They also tended to perform 'aerial bombardements' using their canons to scatter groups and cripple potential slaves.
Obviously, Adam could just use his Haki to defend himself, avoiding, deflecting or straight up blocking and catching some bullets or cannon balls, but doing something he knew would work just wasn't enough for him.
So the kid began practicing his reflexes and swordsmanship by slicing all the bullets in his range, being thorough when in front of areas other Fish-Men resided in, and using the minimal amounts of effort and action on his part by shifting his body or just angling his blade when not. He also made sure to practice Fish-Man karate and Jujutsu methods of blocking bullets and then canon balls using water or vibrations, his Tekkai to improve his current level of skill with the technique, feeling just shy of being able to combine it with Seimei Kikan to permit being able to move while still having the technique active to some level or have it only be in effect in certain parts of his body similarly to Armament Haki.
He could do all this because he simply was that much of a monster at his very young age, even to those who had 'conquered Paradise' as most of the powerful ones didn't bother with Fish-Men and Merfolk beyond using the Island as a way to get around the Red Line and resupply before the New World, possessing much grander dreams than selling some folks.
The only reason they couldn't defend themselves properly in the first place was due to numbers, the unceasing nature of the attacks at any time, and the advantage of having a 'floating' ship capable of bombarding others and having more weapons. It was trickery and dishonor which struck at Fish-men, and no matter how much Adam and Jinbe tried alongside the District, they couldn't protect everyone.
They lost people every week from sneaky raids or collateral.
And it angered a lot of people, something Adam could easily tell, but this wasn't something he could fix without basically overhauling the District's organizational structure.
So after about half a year, when Adam was close to turning 7, he approached his senior.
"Jinbe-senpai, I don't care about getting experience. We need to change the situation or we will just keep on losing people." Adam suddenly said one day as he looked down at the District.
He had taken to using the supplies from plundered ships they captured or sunk to help the District as best he could. Distributing food which could be consumed and kept underwater, clothing, weapons, general supplies and the likes, even belly amongst those just trying to live out here.
Wanting to do more than just show up and fight, then leave them at the mercy of pirates who came in their absence.
"Like what? They won't listen to you even if many are grateful for your actions. They won't act like an army either, that's for certain." Jinbe replied as he puffed at a bubble pipe to relax. "Only the boss could make them listen, but even he can't order everyone."
"I know." He frustratingly groaned.
The people of Fish-Man district were incredibly resistant to any sort of change or seeming 'authority' after being 'allowed' to essentially be self-governing. It was honestly far too much like a small reprisal of how the American Colonies felt about the English Empire anytime it tried to assert its control after the prior had been almost self-governing for too long.
They would not listen to someone like Adam, wanting them to give up the 'freedoms' they had to better secure and organize themselves.
"But at least I can make them think they had some ideas to improve their odds." Adam mysteriously said as he sat down.
"What do you have in mind?" The senior student asked with a raised eyebrow.
-two weeks or so later
"Careful with the canons and gunpowder barrels! We want to make sure it all stays dry!" A burly fish-man with orange-ish skin and short brown hair shouted as he hauled two barrels himself.
"Did they set up the giant bubbly corals properly yet?" A light grey fish-woman with ray-like fins on her arms asked.
"Yeah! Set up on Noah's deck!" The man answered with a bloodthirsty grin. "We're gonna turn the weapons of those damn humans against them!"
"Have you guys seen any of the sails and rigging around?" A younger fish-man with an almost silvery streamlined body asked.
"I think I see a few of the younger kids coloring a sail over there. But I don't know about the rigging." The woman answered. "Maybe asked the guys who took the masts for the bubble poppers."
"Got it!" The younger man said as he quickly swam away.
"What do they want the sail for?" The orange fish-man curiously questioned.
"Someone suggested using them to set up traps and camouflage them and some ambush points instead of just waiting for those scum attacking us all the time!" She answered while going over to the Sea Beast coral they had been setting up using the stripped ships homes for them.
As Fish-men, they always had an intrinsic bond with sea creatures and monsters, being capable of taming them and inducing primal rage if necessary.
And while talking to the hybrid kid, well the little monster who Jinbe introduced to everyone, she just had the idea to get some to help out.
He's was a sweet kid, even if he scared the living crap out of most of them with the way he splits ships in half with his sword or causes entire crews to faint with just his presence.
A curious little thing though, asking a lot about the different people living in the district and their innate abilities like the sea creature stuff which had inspired her to actually organize a round up after the kid asked why they didn't have any to fight with them.
Kid's apparently really smart and devious too, cause many had heard the younger ones bragging about all the traps they had set, which caused the adults to ask about that and take notice when they actually found a ship full of drowned pirates.
And ever since he and Jinbe started coming around, things had seemed to be getting a bit better, especially lately with how active and even hopeful many looked as they did their bests to prepare to turn their homes humans treat as hunting grounds, into hells they would never escape.
Smiling slightly, the fish-woman shook off unnecessary thoughts and went back to work, needing to take care of her new Sea Bear.
"I can't believe what I'm seeing." Jinbe softly said as he looked down at the hive of activity from a coral hill.
"I'm just happy it all worked out pretty well." Adam smiled brightly. "They might be somewhat amateurish, but I think this'll help in the long run."
"Help? You might have started to turn the District into a fortress!" The older fish-man exclaimed in disbelief. "And you made them think it was their idea."
"Well... it's not like the people here are exactly intellectuals." The little hybrid shrugged playfully. "But I'm glad that they found some of their fire again."
"*Sigh* You did good with this Adam. Thank you for helping my home." Jinbe gratefully bowed. "Even if they never say it, I want you to know that I will not forget your efforts."
"Hahaha! Come on Senpai! No need to be so stiff! We're all fish-men, plus i made quite a few friends down there, and every one of them deserves to live without fearing some random scumbag would come and ruin their lives for profit." Adam cheerfully waved the matter away, simply happy to have seen a marked improvement in the District's abilities to repel raids and attacks, especially for when they weren't there.
He knew full well that to create permanent solutions, it had to come from within.
So he laid down options, planting seeds of ideas, planting them in as many minds as he could until one of them could germinate the idea after the right conversations and questions.
It was a good thing the people of this world were much less intelligent on average than his old one too. Made them think less about matters.
That's why they were now turning the very elevated Noah into an artillery tower. Why there was now a full on creature/monster corral with riders. Why traps, ambush and lookout points, even getting territorial sea slugs as warning systems were now things.
In just two weeks, Adam had managed to get people to think by triggering ideas in their heads, and now they simply had to keep the ball rolling.
Now he just had to get them to be a little less enthusiastic regarding drowning ALL the people on those pirate or slaver ships, including prisonniers or slaves.
He thought about maybe having the Grandmaster put a request in to form a reward for freed slaves, possibly having Jinbe ask officers in the army about something similar as well. Such a move could really allow Fish-Men and Merfolk to slowly start gaining a better reputation if they managed to be seen a liberators of slaves and more than just monsters if the liberated could spread the word.
It would be a good start since he wasn't really going to bet on the residents of the District marking differences between a free and enslaved human after they had just started getting a taste of success against pirates and slavers themselves.
Adam though of possibly bringing it up to Queen Otohime.
She desperately wanted to have human-merfolk relations bloom beautifully, so he thought that she could bring this matter to the very top to help spread her message to humans in various seas. Allow them to hear that Fish-Men are more than just violant and barbarous monsters people should fear by freeing their friends and family, building up good will for the Kingdom at the very least.
So the young halfbreed thought of approaching her when she would tour the Island or went to give speeches about bringing it to the surface. She would at least listen... hopefully.
But while he pondered on such things, he suddenly felt powerful sources of greed, lust and... fear, anger, reluctance, humiliation.
Telltale signs of pirates and their victims as Adam saw a ship approach in the distance.
"I'll just go take care of them." He simply said as he stood up and stretched a bit.
"Your Haki just seems to grow without end. I have not felt them yet." Jinbe wryly sighed. "It seems I must increase my training."
"Don't feel down senpai. You put much greater efforts in your skills while I focus more on my Haki because my body might be limited but my will is not." Adam comforted him with a pat on his large back.
"That simply means I must refine my own mind and spirit." Sternly stated the fish-man.
"We can train together then!" The younger of the two happily declared, earning a nod of acceptance as he shifted his stance. "See you in a bit then! Pirates to take down, slaves to free!"
With a powerful burst, Adam blurred forward as speeds only Mermaids could match in the ocean as he used is hands and feet to not so much swim but to kick and strike the water to propel himself ever faster, copying Sanji's Blue Walk and combining it with his heritage to improve it.
Zooming along, he used his Observation Haki to locate all the pirates, especially the strongest ones before positioning himself at the right angle and flying into the ship's coating with a burst of Conqueror's, knocking out the majority of the crew.
With a hand on his blade, he drew it...
"Deep Sea Style: Suichū!" Adam called out as it flashed and cleaved the head of the captain and the three around him thanks to the water extending the range of the attack around the primary target.
Looking around, he found a another pirate still conscious, which was a bit of a surprise until the man's disbelief turned into rage and fear colliding at the sight of everyone fainting and his captain dying.
He had shaggy brown hair, skin a bit too green to be healthy among humans, quite the amount of muscles and a large stature letting him stand around 9'. He was dressed simply in a pair of brown pants and with something strapped to his back.
The most interesting part was that the man suddenly grew outwards as his face elongated, forming a flat mouth with uneven teeth, green scales covering his body defensively, a large and powerful reptilian tail erupted from the man's pants, lizard-like claws replaced his hands and feet, hissing in rage before grabbing a large war hammer from his back and charging.
A devil fruit user.
Possibly an Ancient Zoan one too depending on how one classifies a crocodile considering species of them have been around since the dinosaurs.
He was certainly much faster than most pirates thanks to his enhanced physical attributes, but Adam easily dodged him due to being able to see his every move before his body even outwardly begins to show any signs of them, his superior speed and martial prowess.
The Zoan user was not trained in any sort of martial arts, but he was reasonably experienced with his hammer, being capable of twirling the heavy weapon with ease.
Adam was actually curious about the strength of the Captain of this man since he would have undoubtably been stronger, but his Conqueror's Haki had caused him to stiffen as he attacked, allowing Adam to kill him without a fight.
"*Hiss* Fight me Demon!" He roared as Adam quirked an eyebrow.
'Aren't you the one looking like a monster and attacking what looks like a child after enslaving people and going for more?' He thought as this man really lacked any self-awareness.
With that thought, Adam slipped under a horizontal swing of the hammer, sliced the man's tail in one smooth motion as he used the stump to jump, then brought down the pummel of his sword onto the top of the crocodile-man's head...
"Deep Sea Style: Shizumeru."
BANG CRRRRACK!!!!*
The powerful pommel strike utilizing Fish-Man Karate striking principals trough the Haki reinforced point, slammed the man's head through the deck and into the holding cells with perfect accuracy.
Landing perfectly, Adam sheathed his blade as he looked down the hole, feeling a few figures cautiously approach the un-crocodile'd man bleeding quite a bit from his head after the blow he received and going through two floors.
He then went over to the captain's headless body, finding a set of keys that all captain's of ships like these held, then hopped down the hole he created without pausing.
Landing in the cells, Adam found something he had become far too familiar with: slaves.
Most of which were women of various states and ages, but all at least somewhat young and attractive, with some relatively fit young men and even some children.
Not really paying them much attention after making sure none of them were in any sort of immediate danger, Adam went to the cell door and unlocked it, then proceeding to do the same for the shackles holding the slaves to the walls.
"Please do head on up to the top deck while I free everyone else. Be aware that the majority of the pirates are simply unconscious at the moment." He instructed simply as he moved on.
Didn't have the time to baby them while others were still shackled and getting them to the Island would be the best for them to recover.
Going through each cell, Adam freed them all, having the ones he knew had been taken for labour make sure to keep an eye on the fainted pirates while he finished up.
But soon, Adam reached the most heavily protected room in the ship, knowing that the 'treasures' of this crew laid beyond, including two young beings.
The problem was that this door didn't have a key but a code. The fact that it was made of relatively thick steel didn't matter though.
Grasping his sword, Adam swung twice, sheathed it and then gave it a light push to cause it to fall.
Inside he found the predictable stacks of belly, gold and jewelry, some eternal proses, items which could be valuable, and two young girls.
Both were remarkably cute, thus were obviously kept apart due to the immense value they could bring with their future potential alone.
The younger one seemed to be a year or two younger than Adam, with longe crimson hair and eyes visible due to her bangs having been cut just above them and long lashes which accentuated them brilliantly, a cute face filled with caution while wearing a simple but rough short beige dress.
She was hugging the second captive as they seemed to be trying to protect each other, a girl appearing a bit older than Adam. She had smooth olive skin with short spiky blonde hair, ocean green eyes framed by her blonde lashes, and a cold expressionless face.
She was wearing an identical outfit to the first girl.
The more interesting aspect was that she appeared to be like him, a fish-man hybrid with her mildly webbed hands, gills visible around her neck and shoulders, and likely a retractable fin on her back.
"Well, long story short, I beat and/or killed the pirates holding you captive, freed all the other slaves and now I'm bringing you all to Fish-man Island so you could all be sent home." Adam summarized as he slowly approached the girls with the keys, deciding to just toss them over when they appeared to grow distrustful of him. "Just come up when you've unshackled yourselves."
Leaving them be, he returned to the top, finding the freed slaves warily looking at Jinbe as he calmly puffed on his pipe.
"Hey senpai. I'm all done." The boy informed him. "Going to bring them into the Island and organize the usual."
This earned a nod from the older Fish-Man, causing him to take the wheel with practiced ease since his Junior was too small to do so.
As they sailed, most slaves being weary of the Fish-Man and even their savior, the two girls carefully joined up, finding the slaves in one group and the duo likely responsible for saving them in another. They decided to observe before choosing to be near the Fish-Men, not liking the cowardice of the other option, even if the former option was two 'men'.
Looking at them, Adam brightly smiled before jumping high onto the mizzenmast, setting his stance into Fish-Man Karate's firmest one, and started to punch.
Most were confused until great gust began blowing from every repetition, hastening their journey considerably as they soon reached the sunlight of the Mother Tree and caught sight of the jewel known as Fish-Man Island.
Quickly making their way to the inspection gate, the guards noticed the duo which had been garnishing quite a bit of fame over the last months for their efforts in Fish-Man District, the number of bounties they had collected, slaves freed and generosity they had displayed by using the treasures obtained from the pirates defeated in order to help those less fortunate around the Island.
It was something Jinbe hadn't really thought about at first due to his disinterest in money, but using the wealth of scummy humans to better the lives of fellow fish-men and merfolk was certainly something he could get behind. Being able to repay the kindness Master Anguin had showed them both by purchasing new training equipment and forming a fund for the Dojo was also very much approved of by the stoic man.
Having arrived, Adam jumped down from his position and greeted the guards with a friendly smile as they took care of the captured and killed pirates, giving them the forms stating the number of arrests/kills, that they would receive notices regarding bounties and whatnot.
Standard stuff for the two and the guards, so they didn't really spend much time going over more than the necessary formalities.
Making their way to Mermaid Cove from there, the duo knew to expect some members of the army to wait for them, ready to take care of the slaves and slavers through the Kingdom's administrations. So when it came to disembarking, Adam simply left with the ship manifest to ensure nothing was 'lost', wanting to meet up with Shyarly after finishing his day's work.
But on his way, he noticed something odd as he was being followed.
He easily felt that it was the final two girls he had freed, which was strange since they didn't seem fond of him earlier that day.
Allowing them to follow him, Adam simply continued on his way to the café, being welcomed as warmly as always by the girls before sitting with Shyarly who had a nice little booth set up with decorative pillows and fabric.
"How was business today?" He asked, plopping down beside her.
"A bit slow... but i had a prediction about you!" She answered, catching his interest.
"Oh? What's it about?" Adam followed up.
"I saw you finding the person you would teach your sword style to! And then you were traveling with this powerful person with wings of flames around their legs! It was really cool." Shyarly excitedly explained as Adam's two followers cautiously entered the café, earning the attention of the mermaids over two different young children coming in on their own, causing them to go and check up on them, but when they spotted Adam the little duo headed straight for him.
"Can I help you?" He asked the stoic looking girls.
"Teach us to be strong like you." The older one requested without a change in tone or facial expression.
Giving them a quick look, Adam then focused on their eyes intensely, releasing a bit of Conqueror's Haki as he did so.
"Why should I do that?" He then questioned the two.
"W-we want to be able to do what you did!" The crimson haired girl answered with a small stutter.
"It was beautiful." The blonde said at the same time, a small blush and glimmer of admiration flashing onto her stoic face.
"*Sigh* You're both part of the Kuja tribe aren't you?" The young Fish-Man stated, earning surprised looks with an earnest nod.
"How did you know?" The younger one asked in a bit of childish awe.
"A guess. And I'm also guessing that even if we tried to arrange vessels back to your home, none would be able to reach it and you can't contact your tribe." He then further deduced, again earning nods. "Well, that makes things more difficult."
"Adam! Adam! She's the one!" Shyarly excitedly interrupted while pointing at the olive skinned blonde. "She's the one who learns your style!"
"You're sure about that?" He responded rather seriously.
He had only begun to develop some moves for his style, it still being very much in the experimental stage as he worked out kinks and tested techniques while combining what he continued to learn into it. Even earlier, only Shizumeru had been a properly developed technique built off of Fish-Man Karate Punching Arts, with his quick draw being an on the fly combination.
"100%!" His best friend immediately stated, earning a much more intense gaze from the boy.
"I'm sorry?" The blonde Kuja asked out of confusion.
"I am psychic! I can see the future!" Shyarly pridefully explained. "And I saw you learn Adam's sword style, although you were a lot... older by that time."
The small pause to glance at the Kuja hybrid's chest being ignored by the girls.
""Oh!"" The two kuja exclaimed, looking quite impressed.
"Look, I don't mind teaching my style eventually, to people I trust. But that doesn't mean I'll just do it because you said I would in the future." Adam stated as he knew of her accuracy, but that didn't mean he would just do something because she foresaw it. "I know nothing about them.
Not their names.
Not what they're like.
If they're good people or not.
And certainly not why I would spend my time and efforts to teach them something I put my blood, sweat and tears into developing just because they asked and you predicated it."
His statement certainly caused Shyarly to feel a bit bad because her words did kind of ignore those facts.
Adam might be compassionate, but he was certainly not an idiot and anything which would cost him the opportunity to train himself better be for a good reason. Two girls he just rescued, selfishly requesting him to teach them something so personal for no reason or benefits to him, or guarantees that they wouldn't just leave or use something he cared for in negative ways certainly wasn't enough.
The two Kuja girls also looked down, the younger much more visibly so.
"What if they joined your crew?" The mermaid suggested with a bit of hesitation. "You want to explore the world, so you need a strong crew right?
And the stories say that Kuja amazons are all really strong!"
With a new avenue of 'attack', Shyarly struck, causing the two girls to be impressed as they turned their eyes to the boy and instinctively use one of the deadliest skills little girls had at their disposal: Puppy-Dog eyes.
"I'm not going to just ask two random girls I know nothing about and that know nothing about me to join my crew." Adam adamantly stood firm in front of their psychological assaults.
"Harribel." The expressionless blonde suddenly said. "My name is Harribel."
"I'm Morgiana." The redhead followed a hit shyly.
"Please... teach us to be strong!" Harribel then requested with more emotions than she had displayed the entire time Adam had been aware of her.
"Why?" He responded with a more powerful presence, mimicking the very thing Roger had done to him. "Why do you seek strength?"
"To not fear." His fellow hybrid answered with memories and emotions flashing internally.
Adam could respect that to a degree, so he quietly looked over to the younger one next.
"I...I wanted to see all the places others got to see, but the weak don't get to... so I want to be strong!" She slowly answered as she built up her determination.
A more child-like set of logic, but Adam could understand how it came to be.
"C'mon Adam, please give them a chance!" Shyarly pleaded. "You won't regret. I promise. I'll even convince auntie Tami to let them stay with us."
"You do know we don't have room for that right?" He questioned with a raised eyebrow.
Lion's Acupuncture might be a nice place, but the small family of three did live in the floor above his mother's clinic, with the building only being two stories tall in the first place.
"You have hundreds of millions of belly, don't be stingy." She cheekily deadpanned.
"Oi! You have your own money too!" Adam complained as he wasn't a cheapskate, but if you suggest bringing someone home and making renovations to fit them, you don't volunteer someone else's money.
This devolved into some bickering between the almost-siblings, causing the two Kuja girls to be left observing from the wayside, unsure of what to do.
"Fine! We'll take them home." Adam finally relented at Shyarly's great happiness. "But you're explaining matters to mom and are paying for the extra food expenses and clothing."
"Deal!" She agreed as the two shook on it.
The adults watching this couldn't help but wonder about what kind of kids were economically aware and stable enough to negotiate like this, feeling like even they couldn't just casually agree to renovate/expand a building while taking in two people in. It made many adults feel somewhat embarrassed.
For Harribel and Morgiana however, they were completely lost, with the former being able to conceal it simply due to her naturally stoic facial expression.
"Welcome aboard Harri-chan, Mor-chan!" Cheered the mermaid as Adam internally debated whether she did this to make more friends somehow.
"Y-yes! Thank you for having us!" Morgiana responded, a bit surprised to suddenly be addressed after what they had witnessed.
"Thank you." Harribel followed with a grateful bow.
"*Sigh* Better get home early then. Mom will want that explanation." Adam told the trio of girls, suddenly feeling rather outnumbered.
Shyarly nodded as she quickly packed away her setup before grabbing her Crystal ball and saying goodbye to the café workers.
The little quartet making their way to the jet-stream, with Adam giving Morgiana a bubble for her head as he accompanied her through her first time, Shyarly taking Harribel since she shouldn't have any issues as a hybrid.
It was an experience the Kuja girls certainly found interesting as they curiously looked around. Well, Morgiana did anyway while Harribel felt curious but didn't outwardly show it.
Adam thanked his Observation Haki for the help in understanding the girl or he would think her apathetic to the extreme.
Reaching the building with 'Lion Acupuncture' they entered.
"We're home!" The boy announced.
"Welcome back!" Tami replied from the back, being with a client.
"We brought guests!" Shyarly yelled out.
"Are they Jinbe-san or Master Anguin?" The older mermaid questioned.
"No! New friends!" Was Shyar's excited response.
"That's good dear. Let me finish up and you can introduce them." Tami cheerfully said.
Her son and Shyarly, who was essentially her daughter, didn't really have many real friends, so suddenly having some brought home was quite exciting for her.
After wrapping up smoothly with a regular, she came out front and saw two cute girls, one redhead looking shy and a bit fidgety, and the other surprisingly a hybrid like her son, but with a stoic face.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Tami, Adam's mother and Shyarly's guardian, as well as the owner of this place." She kindly introduced herself to the children.
"N-nice to meet you." Morgiana replied, stumbling over her words from nervousness.
"Thank you for having us." Harribel politely bowed.
"Can they stay with us?" Shyarly suddenly asked, breaking the natural flow of things.
"What?" Tami intelligently responded as her brain mildly short circuited for a few moments.
Author Notes:
We all know how that's gonna go, so not going to be redundant in having to basically jus go over something I just did.
No way Tami would just leave two recently freed slaves the age of her children, one of which is a Fish-Man Hybrid like her own son, alone when they can't get home of contact their families.
The fact that the family can comfortably afford to house them with Shyarly's booth being remarkably successful, which it would have to be if she managed to become the proprietress of the Mermaid Café in canon, a business which would be incredibly expensive to buy, and Adam plundering the plunderers while effectively working as a bounty Hunter with Jinbe during his patrols is incredibly lucrative.
Every pirate crew who reaches Fish-Man Island should have at least a 100'000'000 B total value plus a reasonable amount of funds/treasures/plunder, so even with charitable acts, spreading some around and fees/taxes, Adam would be building up quite the savings.
He stays anonymous thanks to the Administration taking care of collecting the bounties, earning money from a fixed percentage and the taxes, helping the Island and Adam.
A win-win on that end.
But yeah, For the vast majority of people Adam is a little monster.
The Zoan user receiving a beat down is because not only is he a monster physically and with Haki, he's also incredibly well rounded, with just having a Zoan not being nearly enough to match his ridiculous physical states and a Haki infused Grade sword.
That guys captain also had a fruit, but that's pretty useless when your head gets cut off before you can use it.
Adam doesn't really show mercy to slavers or likes risking the lives of innocent people just for a good fight, which is what would happen if he tried to have one. At least one of the pirates would have the 'bright' idea to take a slave hostage and that was an unnecessary risk, so quick end it was.
Basically, think of him as above most supernovas in strength, plus with Haki.
Not overwhelmingly so, but with his Haki he could pretty much beat down any of them, especially in the water.
As for Fish-Man district, Adam decided to actually make a difference.
Noah is incredibly durable and tall, use it as a freaking fort.
Fish-Men and merfolk can basically communicate with sea creatures and monsters, get them to do so and slowly form a mounted force. And yes, I had them use the stripped ships to make homes for them.
Bring in species which can help them protect their homes like the Sea Slugs, possibly a Kraken like Surume if taken to extremes.
Set traps and ambush points. Use giant bubbly corals to cause ships to crash from the sudden loss of water, recycle masts to use as bolts to Pierce coatings and ships, and set up traps using the sea floor to their advantage.
Anything beyond just waiting to be attacked.
Adam knows very well that this was the only way for the District to become safer. Because raiders wouldn't learn unless the attacked broke them.
And finally, yes.
I added Morgiana from Magi and Harribel from Bleach as Kuja tribe members rescued by Adam, set as future crew members.
How they got there will be explained later.
And the reason they followed him was because he showed strength, which is beauty by Kuja standards, but they are young so much of the beliefs from their tribe isn't completely internalized properly resulting in them admiring strength and being weary of any males. Luckily, Adam is very young, so he wouldn't ressemble or act how older Kuja would have told the girls acted.
And yes, Harribel is suitably a Half Fish-Woman. Wouldn't be too out of the park for a Kuja to think a strong Fish-Man would be a suitable mate.
As a heads up, most crew members on Adam's ship will be Canon. I just felt like having these two in and modified them to fit into One Piece.
Hope you still enjoyed as i try to get through Adam's childhood.