From Caged Marines to Whitebeard Pirates

by Kanra Nakura

When Blackbeard was caught in the action of stabbing Thatch, a fight ensues, causing Marco to be thrown to the sea in his Phoenix Form, hearing the laughter of the traitor and the cries of his siblings as he submerged. Locked in a cage and kept as a pet bird for the Tenryuubito for months, Marco was saved by Marines under Monkey D. Luffy. Full Summary in the First Chapter. FemLuffy

8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Neptune is having a whirlwind of emotion right now, especially with him and his sons (who he wished weren't there) being crucified and displayed in the plaza for their whole people to see. But he knows one emotion that is overwhelming the rest of them and that is the relief of knowing that his precious daughter, Shirahoshi, is safe and sound, away from this whole mess that Hody created.

While he didn't trust the humans, the marines, for the safety of his daughter, it's better that she's with them rather than here. Besides, Jimbei might be with the Marines seeing that he was grabbed by that orange-haired woman, though… he can't help but think about the marines that were left in his palace to drown to death. If they did die, then his daughter might be in danger should they ever decided to get revenge for the death of their crew. Neptune closed his in regret, he might lose his daughter in the end.

"Father…" Fukaboshi started. "I apologize… we couldn't do anything against Hody and his crew."

"It's not your fault-Jamon," Neptune said looking at his sons before glancing at their kin. "These pirates are dependent on the energy steroids, granting them false strength." Hearing that statement the crew rage, demanding the immediate execution of the royal family but their Hody merely sneered.

"Not yet, we don't know the status of the Princess. She's the one that we need the most for our plan."

"Leave Shirahoshi alone! She doesn't have anything that got to do with you!" Manboshi shouted which made the Former Elite Soldier scoff and laughed.

"Oh, she has something. I knew her secret, after all, the one you and your family hid." This made them flinch while Neptune tensed and would have struggled against his chains if a pirate hadn't called out for Hody.

"Captain!"

"Hmmm?" Hody glance in the direction where the voice was coming from, grinning darkly when he saw a huge mermaid figure headed towards them before they were drop-down at the middle of the plaza.

"We caught Princess Shirahoshi and Jimbei!"

"Shirahoshi/Princess Shirahoshi!"

"Boss Jimbei!"

"Ahahahahahha!" Hody laughs as he stood up and declared to the whole plaza. "With everyone here, the only people missing are the Marines!" He licked his lips, looking in the direction of the Palace. "They might have gone to the palace to rescue their friends, blindly searching for them… only to find out that they are already dead… then they'll be angry and will seek revenge…" He then glanced at the cave behind him where his captured humans were hiding.

"When they come here, we're fully prepared to launch a counterattack!" As if on cue, rattling chains and footsteps could be heard. Everyone looked at the cave with fear as more Fishmen Pirates came out, dragging humans that were battered, collared, and chained like slaves. Everyone watched in horror and shock as thousands of humans walk out of the caves they were in.

"Just a month, on this sea, we had acquired thirty thousand human slaves." Hody smugly told them. "Seventy thousand weapon-wielding fishmen. From the locked down Fishman District, they have emigrated. In total, a hundred thousand of outlaws!" The Royal was in shock, they didn't know that this was the number of people Hody got under a month, and it happens right under their noses! How could they miss that? Were they that ignorant of was has been happening outside Fishman Island?

Every New Fishman Pirate cheered, some even raised their weapons as they screamed for their Captains name. The Executive Officer of the said Pirate crew grins. Everyone either froze in horror or gasp in shock at what Hody had planned to do to them, especially to those who won't be joining them. That was when Madam Shyarly spoke up, appearing in front of the crowd.

"You're getting carried away, Hody Jones."

"There's a nostalgic face. What are you doing here, bitch?" Hody sneered.

"While you're trying to pretend to be smart, I wanted to let you know one thing. A person will come here to Fishman Island and destroy this place. That is my prediction." Shyarly stated as Hody became smug and said.

"It's possible that everything will be destroyed. Was it me that you saw?"

"No." Inwardly, Shyarly felt delighted when the smug appearance Hody had disappeared and was already frowning.

"What?"

"It's one of the Rear-Admiral of the Marines. The Torikku Meiden, Luffy!" She shouted as she remembered the image she saw with her orb. The Rear Admiral, wearing a long sleeve red cardigan, a straw hat on her head, that was tilted to the side, hiding one eye in the shadow of the hat, while the other is seen glaring at them.

"Hmm?"

"What that Rear Admiral will come to do here, I do not know."

"What are you saying?!"

"I am certain. The one who grips the fate of the island, Hody, it is not you." Obviously, Hody didn't like this, because the next thing everyone in the plaza knows, is him attacking Shyarly with a water shot, letting her fall from her bubble and into the ground. Everyone screams, some rushing to help the fallen sharkmaid

"Ridiculous!" Hody snarled. "What are you insinuating, Shyarly? Revenge? I am not your brother!"

"Well, when I was a child, everyone in the Fishman District longed to be like your brother Arlong. But, then we began to obtain influence. In reality, the name 'Arlong Crew' is nothing more than a hollow symbol that unites us. Now, the name Arlong is no longer needed. Right now, there is only one who can smash this country to its core and rebuild anew! Only I, who have the power, can do this!" He shouted, gloated, as his crew cheered on for him. He then told everyone about his plan and how it was put into action by admitting… the assassination of their Queen.

"The one who killed Otohime was… me!" Hody grinned in delight, seeing the horror and shock expression he is seeing around the plaza, how some of them fall to their knees in shock, what he likes the most however is the faces the Royal Family has, especially Jimbei's, the realization that they didn't really bring justice to the death of the Queen.

"What did you say?!"

"The human was merely a scapegoat, a person I hired to burn the names for the Revelry, before shooting her in the heart. By making the human a scapegoat, I also manage to demoralize all of you! All of you were fooled! Hahaaahaha" He laughed as the King trembled in anger before the Pirate Captain went and shot him with water shots. Everyone screamed, while his children cried out for him.

"She was always in the way, right Shirahoshi?" Hody said as he turned to look at the princess, who was looking at the ground with her face covered by her hair. "She said that revenge against humans was bad and she encourages everyone across the island to get along with humans. As she materializes her vision she became an increasingly unpleasant sight. No, just killing her wasn't satisfying at all. For me, your mother's death was simply the right thing to do."

"Stop it! Don't say that to the Princess!" A random Fishman shouted.

"Then, I decided to use her death to better my own hand. Once more, I could call forth Fishman Island's hatred for humans, and destroy the idiotic dreams of Otohime and all of the citizens! All at the same time, I'll crush everything in a single instant! That said, humans killed Otohime. Since it is because of humans, islanders will once again come to hate humans the fire will grow again! You've all brilliantly played the roles that I wanted you to play." Hody chuckled as he gloated more and more, showing his kin his true self, right in front of their eyes. "Truly, killing her was a good thing, right, Shirahoshi? Your mother's killer wasn't a human, it was someone of the same species, it was me! Now, before your eyes, it was me who killed her!" Hody then stopped, waiting for the Princess to rage and call upon the sea kings just as she has done years ago. But that wasn't what Shirahoshi did, instead, all she said was.

"I know." She said rather tearfully, shocking her family and people, especially Hody.

"What do you mean that you knew I killed your Mother, Shirahoshi?!" Hody questioned as the King grunted in pain and tried to stay awake and looked at his daughter.

"Two years after it happens, Megalo told me secretly." Said Shark merely snarled at him, in anger. While the Princess had a short flashback when she finds out the truth and how she cried in pain. "Megalo was owned by the army back then and he saw everything that day."

"Why didn't you told us, Shirahoshi?" Fukaboshi asked, to which the Princess turned to look at her brothers.

"If I told anyone…!" She shouted tearfully. "Someone would hold a grudge against Hody-sama, I thought." This shocked them as she finished. "And that is not what Okaa-sama wanted!"

"That was the last promise we made with her…" Tears fell to her tail. "She told us that no matter who did it to her, we should not get angry or hate anybody!"

Fukasboshi flinched as he remembered the last thing his mother told them, as they all realize that after all these years, their youngest sister did everything their mother said years ago and been keeping it to herself all this time, alone in the tower. This amazed Jimbei more than anyone, that the princess was an obedient and admirable girl. This made him wonder, who else could do such things? Are there others like the princess?

Suddenly, Hody laughed in delight, which made Jimbei growl at him and demands him to stop laughing, but instead of doing so, Hody continued to laugh and even called out Megalo, saying that he could have prevented this all from happening if only he told everyone else as well if only he and the princess told everybody! Then as if to set an example on what could have been prevented if the Princess and her pet told everyone, Hody hits the King and the Princes with water shots, gravely wounding them much to their horror.

"Outo-sama! Onii-sama!" Shirahoshi screamed as the Fishman Pirate rapidly attacking them, ignoring how his fellow kin begged him to stop. The Princess then cried loudly when her family fell to the seafloor, as well as few citizens, who couldn't bear to see such cruelty.

"Great warriors?! Pathetic! They're barely alive now!" Daruma shouted as he and the rest of their crew grinned in delight.

"It's because Captain Hody is so strong-ch! They can't make it until the time of execution-ch!" Ikaros stated as Hody tsk-ed, hearing what he said and agreeing as well.

"That's not good, they must be executed by beheading." He laughed then as he demanded a sword. "Our only concern was Jimbei and Shirahoshi, and we got them now." The aforementioned people tense as he was handed a sword and then slowly raised it, twisting it enough that Neptune's reflection would appear on the side. "There is no reason for us to wait until the appointed time… I'm going to execute these worthless creatures… of the royal family!" His declaration made his people cheer and gave words of encouragement, while the citizens cried and fear their island and the royal family. Shirahoshi bit her lips as if she was trying to stop herself from screaming. Jimbei was tense and could only twist his wrist but he knew that they need to move soon or else the King and the Princes would be killed.

'Hurry up!' he thought, while Shyarly grunted in pain and tried to look at the cliff but was called out by a group of three kids, which made her look at them and blink at the sight of their teary eyes and runny noses.

"Children…"

"Tell me! When will the human, the marine with a hat, come to destroy the island?!" The question blurted out by them shocked her because out of all the possible questions that the children should be asking, this is not one of those questions she was expecting.

"Eh…"

"Tell me! When it will be!"

"I don't know. All I know is what will happen in the future." She admitted, looking at the ground. "It could be tomorrow or a year from now…"

"I want them to come now." Now… that admittance shocked her a lot more than the question did, she looked at them and saw their eyes, while desperate and afraid, was determine and hoping. "If they create havoc here now, we might be in trouble but those villains would be too, right?"

"I want them to come now, too! I don't want them to kill the King!" The girl Fishman declared, agreeing, and so did the last one. Shyarly didn't know how to react, she could only lower her eyes and listen as the children cried.

"You're right, children." A hand suddenly patted their head, which made them look up and saw adults smiling at them teary, agreeing with them.

"It's better if they came now."

"Yes, yes…" And with all the bravely he could muster he went to the edge of the cliff, inhaled, and yelled. Arlong's Sister could only watch him with furrowed eyebrows confuse, but her eyes were slightly glinting knowingly.

"Hey! Torikku Meiden Luffy!" This made everyone to stopped and look in his direction. "If you want to destroy the island, why don't you do it now?! Do your worst! Right here, right now!"

"Yeah! Can you hear us, Torikku Meiden?!" Another adult shouted, followed by another, and then another until all of the Citizens are shouting Luffy's epithet.

"If you're hiding somewhere on the island, come here now!"

"Torikku Meiden! Torikku Meiden! Torikku Meiden!" Shyarly could only gape slightly in shock as they all cheered for Luffy to appear. Hody, however, didn't like it as he suddenly said.

"How pathetic! They're literally clutching at straws! Shyarly's prevision was always accurate but this time, it's bullshit!" He then continued to ignore their ruckus as he went towards the king, his sword ready and thirsty for blood.

"Those fools must be out of their minds. Let's bring them to their senses." He then grabs Neptune's hair tightly, stopping the people from shouting Luffy's name. "Listen, you stupid citizens! I'm going to proceed with the execution of the former king, Neptune – now!" Shirahoshi gasped in fear as her older brother, Fukaboshi, moved and called out for the King.

"Watch very closely! As I cut former king Neptune's head off!" Jimbei trembled in anger, his eyes filled with fury, but he didn't make any noises. "Then, this half-assed king without a drop of racial pride will be gone forever and the new kingdom of Fishmen will rise, which will dominate the pathetic humans!"

"I'll put an end to the shameless Ryugu Kingdom! How regrettable… Farewell." Shirahoshi watched as the pirate cheered, as the citizens scream for Jody to stop, as her brothers struggled. She could only watch and listen to Hody laugh, as her Father struggled and looked at Hody… and then… in slow motion the sword swing down towards her father's head… towards his neck. Seeing that made her gasp as she flinched away, tears falling from her eyes.

'Luffy-sama…'

'I'll protect you!' The sword was getting closer.

'Luffy-sama!'

'As long as my crew and I are here, we will protect you.' A tear fell and then…

"PLEASE SAVE AND PROTECT MY OUTO-SAMA, TOO!" She cried, screamed, to the sky, for all of the people to hear. "LUFFY-SAMA!"

Just as Hody was about to land the blow, he froze, hearing a noise he didn't hear before and glance at Megalo, who was acting weird as if something was hurting him from the inside, as the Shark's skin stretched. Shirahoshi had her eyes closed as if she was in pain herself. Megalo had saliva coming out of his mouth, a snot from his nose, and tears from his eyes as he struggled to keep his mouth shut. But whatever it was that was in his mouth didn't want to be kept inside, because then Megalo pukes out a huge amount of Saliva with a shadowy figure rolling on the ground, Hody turns fully towards the Shark, blinking in shock when that shadowy figure he saw was no longer there, he narrowed his eyes but then the next thing he knew was a pain in his gut and then flying to the other side of the plaza, buried deep into the wall, nearly breaking it in half.

The citizens blinked before their jaw dropped, eyes bulging as the very person they were shouting for, the very person their princess screamed for, as the Torikku Meiden stood at the place where Hody was before, one leg stretched out before it was gracefully lowered down, crouching slightly.

"Wh-what!?"

"Th-that's… Torikku Meiden Luffy!" Said Marine had her eyes narrowed as she straightened up, body steaming slightly before it was gone when she flicked her hair behind her, and then set her glaring eyes towards the direction where she kicked Hody to. "She really showed up!"

"Hey, did you see that? He saved King Neptune!" One citizen said.

"Yeah, and right before that, Princess Shirahoshi cried for her help!" And as if to prove a point Shirahoshi cried out again.

"Luffy-sama!"

"Did he come out of the shark?!" Zeo asked out loud, dumbfounded.

"Was he hiding in its stomach?! But why?!" Daruma shouted.

"You're out already… But I guess you had no choice." Jimbei grunted before yelling. "Hurry up, you all!"

And then much to everyone's shock and confusion, they heard a female voice started stalking followed by a swirling noise of something being spin. Looking at the direction of the voice, they could make out a blurry image of a woman spinning a bo staff, before it cleared up, revealing an orange-haired marine beauty.

"Don't worry! We were ready from the beginning! Because while we trust our Rear Admiral, we knew that she would never follow nor would she sit tight as we had planned, especially if one of our Nakama cried or is in danger." Nami swings her staff to the side and smirked. "Mirage, release!"

Much to everyone shocked, Nami was standing few feet away from Luffy's back. She then took out a paper and showed it in Jimbei's direction. "Is this it, Jimbei-chan? The Letter from the Celestial Dragons?"

"That's it! Good job!" As some of the Fishman pirates wondered how and when did Nami took the letter, she also added, rather casually, that she had the key given to Robin, who was standing beside Shirahoshi the whole time. The chains and locks that were wrapped around the members of the royal family and Jimbei suddenly fell to the ground, Robin smiled as she just finished releasing them with the help of her devil fruit.

"Robin-sama?" Shirahoshi asked. Said Marine looked at her and smiled before looking at Jimbei and said.

"And while our Rear Admiral doesn't follow through the plan… her timing is quite meticulous." Jimbei blink before hearing one of the people asked a question that made them look up.

"Hey, look up! What's that?!"

"Is this…" The King started but then his eldest was already there asking him questions.

"Father! Are you all right?" Neptune didn't reply, his eyes focus on the oncoming ship and whale. The ship then suddenly fired a beam in the direction where Hody flew to, creating shock waves. As some of the Fishman Pirates flew from the spot, the whale cried out before heading towards his King and Princes.

"Hoe?" Fukaboshi blinked in shock at the sight of the whale, before glancing towards Jimbei who had shouted at him.

"Princes! Take the King and go!" Said Princes flinched before immediately agreeing and ride the whale's back, with their father laying on it. Of course, the Fishman Pirates didn't like that idea as Dosun, the pink-haired hammerhead shark Fishman went towards them with his mallet and jumped them, only to arrive too late as Hoe took the King and Princes away from the plaza.

"Oh no, it took the King and the Princes!" One of the Fishman shouted.

"Damn! Give us back the royal family-gaban!" Dosun demanded. The princes could only watch below as they were taken away from the plaza wondering what had happened.

"I think Jimbei hatched a plan with the Marines." Fukaboshi panted, and the King could only hope that those Marines won't harm his people and beloved daughter. At the plaza, the Fishman pirates that were surrounding Jimbei and Shirahoshi ran away as the Marine Ship grew closer and landed meters away from the mermaid princess.

"I can't believe that she really came…" One of the citizens said as they all looked at the ship.

"Hey look! That's…" One of them pointed as Chopper walk towards the rails of the ship, followed by Usopp.

"Wow! Look how many people there are!"

"Oh no, are they all our enemies?!"

"I think so. It looks like there are 70,000 or 80,000… No, 100,000 of them, maybe." Sanji mumbled as Brook laughed.

"Yohohoho! That's a little tough!"

"You can go take a nap or something if you want. I'll take care of them." Zoro grinned, which made Sanji angry at him, not liking his implication.

"What do you mean, you fool?!"

"I can't wait! Let's go wild, guys!" Franky laughed as Peter shakes his head and said.

"Pretty sure the one that should be giving us the permission to go wild is down at the ship."

"Hahahaha! Let's Franky have his fun! They would be Team Leaders of the base soon as well." Mina said while Hana nodded. Yu and Gray merely grinned at the numbers of their enemies that they would be fighting.

"This would be fun…"

"A lot of fun than Enies Lobby?" Gray snorted.

"I thought Enies Lobby was for training." Gin smirked as he twirled his tonfa.

"We all know that's not true."

"Look, the members of the Marines are coming out of the ship!" One Fishman shouted as all of the Vendetta Marina, the soon-to-be Operation Team Leaders, and the members of the crew that went with them jumped down from their ship. Upon touching the ground, they all walk forward, towards the direction of the Rear Admiral that was also heading towards them, Robin and Nami joined them on their way.

"Hey! Torikku Meiden!" One male Fishman shouted. "Are you really going to destroy the island?!"

"Do you want to kill the royal family too?!" As they all shouted, Luffy realize that they didn't shout about her kidnapping the Princess, so it's either they weren't told or they thought it wasn't real because from the looks of things now, it would seem that Hody was the one who kidnapped the Princess.

"Hey! Answer us!"

"Are you people friends or foes to the Fishman Island?!"

"Answer, Torikku Meiden!" As people shouted, demanding answers, Jimbei stood up, flicked, and rubs his wrist. Watching as the Marines stood in line in front of him and the Princess, forming a protective line, while Luffy, who was facing her crew, slowly turned and looked at the people of Fishman Island, stating.

"Friends or foes? That's something…" The whole crew grinned, smirked, and cheered at her last statement. "…you'll have to decide on your own!"

Luffy's answered made them mutter and mumble as they all thought that she would answer that she's a friend. Zoro, Yu, Sanji, and Gray went to stand behind Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji on the right, while the other two were on the left.

"Silly Torikku Meiden! I can't believe she was hiding in the shark's mouth!" Daruma stated.

"I thought that Skeleton and the others were captive in the Ryugu Palace," Zeo told them, which made them wonder how did the people they trapped in a cage manage to escape.

"We've been waiting for you, Torikku Meiden!"

"S-she really came!"

"Madam Shyarly! The Marines just showed up!" This of course shocked Shyarly as she tried to crawl towards the cliff.

"He saved the King and the Princes!"

"Torikku Meiden…" She mumbled as she remembered what she saw in her crystal. Of burning fire and Luffy standing there, glaring. Luffy sighed before smiling at Jimbei.

"Well… it's didn't went as planned but… well at least we stopped something terrible from happening." She stated, as Jimbei sighed and smiled at her in defeat, remembering the plan they discussed hours ago at the Sea Forest.

~Three hours ago, Sea Forest~

Jimbei wiped the tears that were falling from his eyes, using the handkerchief that Nami gave to him, and listened as the marines planned ways to save his kin. Though he had to force himself to stop reacting every time they come up with a plan that was immediately rejected because it would make them looked like a savage human.

"It's good that you are avoiding plans that would portray you badly, after all… if nothing else, it would be better that they saw you as the heroes of the island." Jimbei toled them, but blink when every marine flinched and slowly turned to look at him with wide eyes, eyes that were filled with horror as if he just did or said something horrible.

"NO!" They all shouted, Luffy even went as far as puffing her cheek. "No hero!"

"WHAT?!" Jimbei shouted in shock while the rest of his kin gape.

"Eh? Why not Luffy-chin?" Camie asked.

"Hero is people who are being worshipped." Hana started as her twin continued.

"We're marines, and you know what Marines are? Marines are nothing but corrupted bastard who followed the orders of the World Government!"

"Who are also people that want power and more!" Peter added.

"Marines like us aren't to be worshipped like heroes!" The trio finished, while the rest blink at them.

"Sometimes I really wonder if they're triplets that were separated by fate," Nami mumbled as Yu snorted.

"If I wasn't there when we met Peter and how the twins stowed away on the ship ages ago, I would think so as well."

"Still… that doesn't really answer why?" Den asked as Luffy frowned.

"I love heroes but I don't wanna be one!" She shouted, Yu and Gray, nodded with her. "Do you know what heroes are?" Jimbei braced himself, expecting her to give him a good one but he obviously didn't know or heard a lot of things about Luffy and her crew (Can't blame him, no one really know who Luffy is, her crew included. They still have a lot of things to learn about their tight-lipped Captain).

"Say there is a chunk of meat—"

"Or a barrel of booze," Yu butted in.

"Everyone will have a banquet and eat it, but heroes will share it with other people."

"We want all of the booze and meat." Gray finished, each and every one of their crew, excluding their Operation Team Leaders, nodded in agreement.

"Is that your definition of HERO?!" Nami asked, astound. The twins turned to look at her, eyes wide and shocked, as if they couldn't believe that she's missing their point. Well, in a sense they did, the Operation Team Leaders weren't with them whenever they were declared as a hero of a town or island. It made them shiver every time they remember how the people praise them, chased them so that they could praise them, how they all went and grab and stole the things they use or took a scoop of the meal they're eating and put it to their plate. It was a nightmare for Luffy as every time she grabs a piece of meat from a plate it was gone before she could take another, same could be said for Yu and Gray… they never really enjoyed booze on a town or island that declared them as a hero. They will never, ever, ever, want to be heroes again… No more!

"How about we will let you have all of the meat and booze you want in exchange for being a hero?" Jimbei asked, wondering if they can really do something about this.

"Still a no. You can't bribe us with that. We will plan ways to rescue the King and Princes but we won't be labeled as heroes." Yu told him, making him sigh in defeat when after minutes of staring at each other, resulted in nothing but fierce defiance.

"I understand…"

"Still, how can we make it look like that we aren't your enemies?" Peter mumbled. They were all silent for a while before Luffy sighed.

"Yu, do you remember the west blue incident?" She asked her left-hand man, who blinked and looked at her.

"Which West Blue incident?"

"The one that involves your treasure." At that statement, Yu suddenly frowned in anger, as his hand immediately went to the hilt of his sword.

"Oh, that…" He growled before blinking and looked at Luffy, warily. "You don't mean…"

"It worked before, why won't it work now?"

"Still…" The Marines and Fishman and Merfolk blink in confusion, though a few Marines seems to know what they are talking about as they all moan or grumbled.

"Not to interlude but… what are you two talking about?" Gin asked, as Yu sighed and looked at him.

"In the simplest terms, Jimbei will call for our help, to which we will respond and act immediately."

"Help?" Hana asked as Mina hummed. Luckily, for Yu and Luffy, Jimbei is smart and thus he had an idea of what they are planning.

"Are you saying that I need to be caught voluntarily, enter the plaza, and get their attention?"

"Yup!" Luffy chirped rather happily. "Though Megalo needs to come to as we need to in his stomach so that we won't get caught…" At this Megalo, who was peacefully listening, flinched in fear and cried as he remembered the feeling of having the Princess in his mouth.

"Nami will then sneak out of him as she can make herself disappear, steal the keys that are tied around the King and Princes, as well as the letter from the Celestial Dragons." Luffy looked at her navigator and archaeologist as she said it. "She then will give the keys to Robin and they will free the Royal Family."

"I'm fine with it!" Nami smiled as Robin nodded in agreement.

"Great. Once you free the King, Jimbei will call for the Rear Admira's help." Yu said as Luffy puffed her cheek at his slight glare because the two of them knew that she won't do any part of the plan that isn't mentioned or stated. "And once the Rear Admiral emerges gallantly, out of Megalo's body, people will notice that she and Jimbei are working together, hopefully."

It was silence before chaos erupted around them. They never doubted Luffy or Yu's leadership, it's just that… the two of them never really come up with a plan that is good as this. So, to heard about this plan and that they have done it before… well… you can imagine how shock they are.

"What about the princess?" Mina asked as Luffy looked at Shirahoshi.

"She needs to wait somewhere completely safe outside of the plaza, fleeing immediately once she has the letter, with her father and brothers."

"Sounds like a plan." Gray grinned as Yu turned and headed to their ship.

"The rest of us needs to get to the Palace though, we need to save Zoro and the others," Yu said, before stopping and looked over his shoulder to look at his Rear Admiral. "We'll be meeting you at the Plaza along with them."

Luffy smiled before turning to looked at Jimbei and asked.

"Is this plan okay with you?" The Whale-shark Fishman looked at her in the eyes, before nodding and then softly told them.

"Thank you."

"Well… we are doing this because of our friends, and that includes you, Jimbei," Luffy told him as she went towards Megalo, Nami, and Robin following soon after. "It'll be uncomfortable to have people cheering on us."

"True… while we are Marines, we are still a crew that isn't used to that treatment. Being a secret of the World Government and all." Nami said, smiling. "Every good thing and achievement we made, we always have Smoker, Admiral Aokiji, or Vice-Admiral Tsuru to take responsibility for it."

"I'd fight the king of the devils himself if the Mermaids-chan cheered for me!" Sanji stated, spinning around in front of Shirahoshi.

"That settles it!" Robin said, as everyone cheered and started the preparation for their plan, Gin hummed as he gripped his chin.

"Is there something wrong?" Peter asked as he passed by him.

"Should we pick a codename for this operation?" The Former Pirate asked.

"NO!"

"Alright! Let's hurry up!" Luffy cheered.

~End of Flashback~

~Current time, Plaza~

Jimbei then found himself smiling in relief upon seeing the captured members of the G6 Crew free and with the rest of their crew. As they all gathered together, they manage to ignore the whispers his kins is making, though from the corner of his eyes he did notice that some of them seemed to cheer them on. Hody's crew didn't seem to like the way the fishmen and merfolk cheering for Luffy and her crew as Zeo said.

"They love you so much. But you only saved the King temporarily, so don't push your luck! You're just a human pirate!"

"Mermaid Princess-san, you're so beautiful!" Brook said making Jimbei blinked and looked at the skeleton, who was then hit by their Navigator after he asked the princess a question to which Jimbei didn't bother to register. Flesh meets bones again when Brook asked Nami instead, angering her. Luffy merely laughed, stating they were all together again, completely ignoring Zeo. The Marines continued to even ignore the pirates as Sanji twirled around Nami, while the Vendetta Marina, gathered around Luffy telling her how they manage to rescue Zoro and the others. At the end of the story, Luffy seemingly paled and turned to look at Zoro with wide, slightly furious, eyes. Zoro seeing that flinched and gulped.

"YOU DID WHAT TO THE PALACE?!"

"Luffy-chwan~! You're so beautiful even though you're angry!"

"I don't see any way out!"

"ZORO!"

As Luffy went and scold Zoro for destroying a part of the Palace, which she said they need to fix now, Chopper went and looked around and commented.

"Those guys got their captain beaten by Luffy. How come they don't seem worried?"

"You're right. That's odd." Robin agreed, which made Luffy to stopped shaking Zoro back and forth. Said swordsman merely go along with it, as the Hana and Mina tried to calm their raging Rear Admiral.

"Hmm…" She hummed letting go of Zoro's clothes as she went closer to Robin while Nami went and hand it the letter of the Celestial Dragons to the Mermaid Princess, which then remind her of something, she then looked at Jimbei, who was coincidently standing beside Robin. "We should send the Princess away from the plaza, it's not safe for her to be here."

"Mm-hm, her capture was not a part of our plan." Jimbei agreed but then added. "Neither was asking her to escape on her own." Shirahoshi turned her head towards them and blinked as they seemed to try to think of ways to let her escaped.

"Um… I'm sorry," She started, making them look at her. "I caused you trouble because I kept it a secret." Luffy smiled.

"It's okay, I like you just the way you are now," Jimbei said as Luffy chuckled.

"At least you're not a coward." She stated, making the giant mermaid blink. "Yeah, it's not like I know everything but you're not as timid as I thought you were."

"Eh?"

"It's understandable why someone would hate those who they think wronged them." Robin started as she walked closer to the Princess. "That man who insulted you… That's exactly what he's doing." She then looked in the direction where Hody was.

"But a coward couldn't have been so strong and borne such hardship on her own for this long."

"She is right." Jimbei nodded at what Nami just said. "Princess Shirahoshi, it must have been hard for you through the years. But there is no need to pass on the hatred to the next generation. That's what those brave heroes were trying to teach us." He added as he remembered the last of word of Fisher tiger and Queen Otohime gave to them.

"Don't tell the people on the island anything!"

"Don't let resentment or hatred get the better of you for my sake."

"There is a small 'sprout' that bloomed in your heart. If all people on the island share it and think the same way as you do one day, there will be no more fighting and the conflict between Fishmen and humans will be over. I don't think the years you suffered through were meaningless. You must have been trying so hard to protect… that small 'sprout' single-handedly, day after day." Shirahoshi's eyes began to tear up at Jimbei's word, but no one saw how hard Luffy had her fist clenched, thinking of what-if's, before exhaling slowly and let her rage go and focused on what's happening in the now, rather than in the past or the future.

"But let us protect it for you this time." Jimbei declared as all Marine smiled or smirked, Luffy even going as far as to wink at her. Shirahoshi then cry as a thank you, which made her comment.

"She may not be a coward but she is sure is a crybaby."

BOOM!

The sudden noise made the Marines tense and looked to the side, eyes narrowing, upon finding out that Hody was standing there, saying.

"Vander Decken was so useless! I needed him to get rid of Shirahoshi."

"CAPTAIN HODY!"

"The energy steroid is still working as I thought," Zeo stated. "No wonder. He took a lot of them."

"She's the legendary Mermaid Princess with that troublesome power." The Pirate Captain said as he walked back to his crew. "So, I needed to take out Shirahoshi as soon as possible, but…tsk… you people duped me completely."

As Hody went on and insulted Jimbei for siding with humans while his role model, mainly, Fisher Tiger and Arlong were beaten by them, they never noticed how Luffy's eyes went around the vicinity as if searching for something, nor did they notice something orange with swift passed behind her. Hody even told them of their plan, admitting that they originally planned to commence the attack weeks before the next Revelry but with the presence of the Favored Marine, who was also rumored to be strong as the Admirals, they couldn't seemingly resist the temptation of capturing her and have Luffy as a human slave as well, of course hearing this made all the crew tense at the thought that their beloved Rear Admiral would be treated as a slave when she is already suffering enough.

Hody even went as far as saying that he wouldn't care about the Marines declaring war on Fishman Island, because Marines are weak humans as well, and they would hesitate to fire if they ever see their favored Marine fighting them or holding them hostage. Luffy raised an eyebrow at that, not believing that he could think of something like that. Though when Hody mentioned killing the Kings present in the Revelry and dragging humans down to the ocean and making them his slaves, this made her narrow her eyes, thinking about Vivi and her Father. But there is one trigger that strikes a nerve with Luffy…

"You all will be like the humans behind me, Torikku Meiden, a slave! I'll be the one who becomes the Pirate King!"

"You're just a band of nearly 30 half-assed Marines. You can't do anything!" Hody laughed as the marines frowned and glared at him. "We have 100,000 on our side!"

"Kill them all, New Fish-Man Pirates!" Hody declared as his crew shouted and run towards the Marines.

"Here comes 100,000 enemies! How can we fight them?!" Chopper cried as he hugged Gin's leg, said Marine merely smiled at him. "It's impossible!"

"Before we fight, we could get squashed," Robin commented as she crossed her arms above her chest.

"Squash?! NO!" Usopp shouted.

"100,000 enemies?! I'm so stunned – my eyes will pop out!" Brook commented as he looked around. "But I don't have eyes to pop out! Yohohohohoho!"

"100,000 is nothing! Let's do this!" Nami declared, having herself surround by Yu, Gray, and Peter's back.

"Don't hide behind us while you say that," Peter mumbled, sighing as his Leaders merely chuckled darkly at the sight of multiple enemies coming towards them.

"My time has come! Super Armored ME!" Franky said as Hana mumbled.

"Does this mean we have to beat at least 4,000 of them?"

"Maybe… If our boys aren't that bloodthirsty." Mina sighed as Zoro and Sanji began to quarrel again. Luffy goes forward, breaking between Zoro and Sanji, who stopped and looked on unimpressed as their Rear Admiral went towards their charging enemies.

"Hey, Luffy!"

"T-Torikku!" Jimbei shouted as they all watched her go.

"Luffy-sama?" Shirahoshi blinked.

"The glory to defeat the favored marine is mine!"

"No, mine!"

"No way!" Luffy ignored all of the noise, all of the fishmen that began to surround her at all of her sides. She merely continued walking and walking until she reached what seems to be the center of the area and then…

WHAM!

Everyone gaped, eyes bulging out, as 50,000 New Fishman Pirates went down without her even lifting a finger. They don't know how their fellow crew members were knocked down, they only felt something covering them like a wave and everyone went down.

Yu smirked as Gray grinned at the stunned looked of the people surrounding, most especially their soon-to-be Operation Team Leaders, because out of all their crew members? They are the only ones that didn't know that Luffy could do this… well… it's not they are at fault, Luffy was hiding this pretty well, but when something trigger's her? Oh, shit is about to go down. And that's a fact.

"She's so strong. That Torikku Meiden girl…" Shyarly commented, smiling as the children, who heard her, cheered more for Luffy.

"That was Haki!" Robin announced.

"Haoshoku Haki for that matter!" Jimbei said.

"That was Haoshoku Haki?" Sanji mumbled before dancing in delight as he said. "As expected of Luffy-chwan~!"

"And here I thought she already showed us everything she has," Zoro said. Yu snort.

"She has Haki as far as I can remember, you just need something to trigger her so that she can use it." He added.

"She was using it to others earlier at the Sea Forest," Gray added, this of course shocked them as they never thought the Rear Admiral had that kind of control with Haki.

"We thought it's her devil fruit!" Nami said.

"While her devil fruit can also do that," Hana started as her twin finished.

"Haoshoku Haki is more intimidating."

"Amazing…" Gin muttered while Shirahoshi agreed as well.

"You're Hody, right? I guess I have to kick your ass. With the threat, you just declared… we can't really let you go scout free."

'You can become king of whatever you want in any country…'

"Your plans to kill not only the Royal Family of the Fishman Island but one of my friends, Princess Shirahoshi, as well as my friends that will attend in the Revelry… we'll be forfeited by us!"

'But there can only be one Pirate King!'

As some Pirates started to back away, Zeo butted and began to rally the troops, which for some reason worked, even declaring Luffy as a weak human despite what she just showed them. Jinbei wondered if his kin was always this blind or single-minded because they really shouldn't get carried by Zeo's words, Luffy is obviously more than capable of fighting them. Though it's also quite surprising to know that the Rear Admiral has the ability to use the Haoshoku Haki and none of her crew knew about it, maybe the World Government also told her to hide things from her crew, just like how they were unknown to the world aside from those who personally knew them.

"I wish you left more than 50,000 of them for me, Rear Admiral." Zoro casually commented tying a black handkerchief around his head.

"Oh, sorry," Luffy said, not really sorry despite her words.

"Luffy-chwan~ You shouldn't use your Haki~ I can defeat them for you~!" Sanji declared, noodle dancing around Luffy, who merely laughed. "But I won't let your usage of haki go to waste, I can defeat the remaining 30,000, while the Marimo can handle the remaining 20,000!"

"Shut up, Mr, Nosebleed," Zoro grumbled, making Sanji twitched, and turned to look at him.

"Huh?" All the while, one of the Fishman that Luffy had knocked over with haki was slowly standing up and was able to raise his weapon before Sanji kicked his head, knocking him out again. Seeing their seemingly relaxed posture and how the lower ranking marines were talking to Jimbei and Shirahoshi, despite the two of them kept on glancing back and forth between the marines and the pirates, obviously worried and nervous, the pirates knew that they weren't listening to what Zeo is saying, to which they also pointed to which Zeo replied that he had only whispered it.

Gin, Gray, and Yu, the only three marines who seemed to pay at least a little bit of attention towards their enemies snorted. Yeah, they can do a monologue, speak some nonsense, or do whatever they want, but there is no way in hell will they listen to their enemies, who had nothing but arrogance and pride to back them up. Of course, if they started to trash talk their Rear Admiral, then that's a different matter. Because while to others Luffy may seem selfish, to her crew she is the most selfless person they knew, she hardly ever got angry on her behalf, it was her crew and the people who knew about her who had to do it, to get angry on her behalf. The crew themselves were also the ones who had to make sure that no physical attack would reach Luffy as she doesn't bother to defend herself against anyone unless of course, the reason she's fighting them is it's a battle (except for that one time in Mock Town, to which the crew had already handled, properly). For her crew, her Nakama, however… well, Luffy might be known as Angel in Mariejois, but to her enemies who had harm those she holds dear? Luffy would be a Wrathful Goddess.

"I wonder if we'll fight an enemy that won't bother monologuing or even had an arrogance that could rival the height of Mariejois?" Gin asked, looking at Yu and Gray.

"I've been with the Rear Admiral for months, much longer than Zoro, and there isn't a single one of them that didn't do that," Gray stated as Yu snorted.

"You can think that we will encounter an enemy like that Gin but it still doesn't change the fact that it will probably not happen."

"…Damn."

"Kill them!" Hody ordered then his crew went and attacked. Luffy and her crew watched them before she said.

"Let's go!" She then jumped up, grabs three metal bars from her back, and assembled them into a bo staff. She spins them above her head before slamming her chosen weapon to the ground, creating a huge shockwave, making the pirates to flew and dust particles floating into the air, slightly damaging the ground.

"Alright, let's go join her," Jimbei stated though not that much energy considering he suddenly went into shock upon finding out the damage the Rear-Admiral could create with just a staff.

"She didn't wait for us again," Zoro grumbled slightly, wondering slightly if he can quench his thirst for battle every time Luffy went and attack first without them. Probably not. Sanji was doing his noodles dance upon seeing his Rear Admiral fighting, though he did stop upon seeing the awed expression of the Mermaid Princess.

"I've got to do this, after seeing tears in Shirahoshi-chan's eyes. Men who can't wipe away the tears from women's eyes aren't real men… Let's wreck these guys!" Hana and Mina raised an eyebrow at Sanji's statement before looking at each other knowingly and mentally counted three to one.

"When this is over, let's have a drink at the Mermaid Café, Shirahoshi-chan~!" The twins and those lower-ranking marines around them facepalm. For once… can't their Head Chef stay serious, like his Sue Chef? Oh well… maybe that's why Gin is like that, to balance Sanji's sudden change of personality.

"Drop dead!" One pirate shouted, making Sanji snapped and immediately jumped, landing on that Pirate's face before kicking the others away.

"Collier Shoot!"

"I won't let you destroy this mermaid paradise!" Zoro looked away from Luffy fighting the pirates, not because he's worried, okay maybe a little bit, but because he wants to see how strong his Rear Admiral had become since this is the first time he will see her fight again after months of separation. Looks like he needs a lot to catch up if Luffy can use the Haoshoku Haki.

"They'll either give up or be wiped out." He muttered, before putting one of his swords in his mouth.

"108 Pound Phoenix!" The next thing the charging fishermen knew is a horizontal whirlwind heading towards them, making them fly as they receive some scratches. Robin watched as her crew fight but never moving away from her spot near the Mermaid Princess.

"What are you looking at, woman?!" Robin then focused on the standing Pirates in front of her.

"There are some important historical resources here on the Fishman Island. You can't just rampage around destroying things!" Peter had to wince at Robin's tone, because whether the fishmen like it or not, they are being lectured by their Archeologist, a historian, who is very scary when it comes to their crew being hurt or things that are related to history being destroyed, especially the Poneglyphs. And seeing her raising her arms and crossing it above her chest, he flinched, and went to search for a spot where he can fight far away from the Sadistic Woman… he can still imagine the pain Franky had when his balls were nearly crushed by Robin.

"Whether it's the citizens or the kingdom or the history. Trienta Fleurs…" And then a pair of arms began to appear on each shoulder of the pirates that were surrounding her. "Clutch!" And then they were down. When it was Brook's turn, Shirahoshi and Jimbei had to blink when it seems that the Skeleton was humming and dancing, not only that each movement is being copied by the attacking Pirates that were attacking the skeleton.

"Everybody say 'HO!'" Brook said.

"HO!" This of course made Shirahoshi laughed, but then the next thing the pirates know is something passing them in a flash and then being thrown away from their spots.

"Today's audience is awesome!" Brook laughed. Seeing them fight made Shirahoshi smile and hope that maybe, perhaps, everything would be okay. As they all fought, Jimbei couldn't help but notice that the crew aren't using any guns. They mostly used swords, bo staff, their own fist, or a slingshot like Usopp, but never a gun. Which made him wonder why wouldn't that be a disadvantage? And he wasn't the only one who noticed it, Shirahoshi, and the New Fishman Pirates did as well. Their enemies didn't even hesitate in taking advantage of this, as one marine has three pirates surrounding him and when one is down, another one replaced them immediately. Jimbei saw one Pirate sneaking behind the said Marines back with a sword raised above him, just as he was about to use some of his water shot when suddenly there's a shadow flying over them and then landed on that Pirate's back.

Jimbei blinks and gaped as Luffy stood on the Fishman's back casually whistling gaining Marine's attention. As the Marine turned to look at them, Jimbei couldn't help but look at the previous location where she was before, which is, to be honest quite far, and then back to her current position.

"Re-Rear Admiral!" Luffy merely raised an eyebrow and smirk slightly making him pale and bow. "I'm sorry! I'll make sure to be on guard all the time."

"Make sure that you do," Yu said suddenly appearing beside Luffy, who merely raised an eyebrow at him. Yu merely sighed before reaching in his pocket and took out a baby den-den mushi and dialed on it.

Purupurupuru

*Gacha*

"If by any chance, all of you let your guard down, we will be upping your training the moment we arrived at the base," Yu muttered as soon as someone answered, which is basically every marine in the area as they all stopped and looked at the den-den mushi they had on their wrist.

"E-eh?"

"Don't worry! Yu will not be the one that will be upping the training… Ray-chan and Iva-chan will! With a few routines from me!" Luffy declared but this made all of the Marines, excluding the Vendetta Marina and the Soon-to-be Operation Team Leaders, pale.

"H-hai!" Everyone started before they suddenly run and began to form a pair of grouping and then fought their enemies with their life as if they were told that they will be trained by the devil himself and not by the Legendary First Mate of the Pirate King and an Okama. Jimbei blinked at the mention of Rayleigh but before any question could be asked Luffy was already gone and Yu was already walking towards the direction his Rear Admiral went to at a leisure pace but made sure to at least knocked out some of their enemies as he walked past them.

"You are all amazing!" Shirahoshi stated but her statement gained Hody's attention, making him sneer.

"Try and save the giant Mermaid in the middle of the plaza, if you can!" He declared and fired a water shot towards the Princess, Luffy, who was fighting some pirates and having the time of her life it seems, felt the upcoming attacked, stopped and turned in anger, reaching behind her for one of her fans but then another water shot stopped it, meters away from hitting the Princess but near enough for her to feel the slight shockwave the two water shots created.

"Oh…" Luffy muttered, removing her hand from her fan and put the end of her bo staff on the ground, put a hand on her hips and leaned half of her weight on one of her legs, and smirked. "I forgot that I didn't have to worry too much, shishishishi." She chuckled as Jimbei stood in front of the Princess, showing them his own water shots.

"I don't know how you've attained that much power but your Fishman Karate is very unskilled!" Jimbei declared as the surrounding Fishman commented that he's a monster as well as the first Fishman to join the Shichibuka, the bounty he previously had. This, of course, irritated the Shichibukai as he went and shouted. "Shut up and bring it on! You have to kill us all in order to kill the Princess!"

They all hesitated for a while before Hody went and told them that they have nowhere to run, they suddenly gained courage and charged towards the Marines, Jimbei, and the Mermaid Princess. On the other side of the plaza, Zoro was fighting Fishman that were wielding swords, cutting their swords in half, and commented that he's bored. Zeo didn't like the way the swordsman dismissed them, as he commented how rude Zoro is, few Pirates step forwards holding some shields.

"Oi," Zoro called out, making the lower Marines, who fighting near his area and basically ignoring him as he fought his battle, looked at him before looking at the Fishman that was declared as the first line of defense for the pirates. Seeing the shield that the pirates carried, they were all on alert as they fought their enemies, having a feeling that, those shields hurt like hell. Zoro didn't need to say anything, knowing that they were trained by Luffy on the few months they got separated, maybe a bit earlier, and because of that knowledge, he trusts that they will be able to defend themselves from any attack coming from the pirates. Unlike him and the other To-be Operation Team Leaders, who were too arrogant, who got defeated and lose… who got separated from their Rear Admiral for nearly 6 months, who saw their beloved, precious, treasured, Rear Admiral kneeling, bleeding, begging, and screaming. Remembering that, Zoro swore to himself and he's sure the others as well that they will never lose again! That they will be stronger! That their Rear Admiral will not suffer again, and they will destroy anything that will stand in their way, anything that will harm their Captain, their Luffy, will be destroyed from the face of the earth. Maybe not immediately, but once they do… oh it will be so satisfying and they will start with the Gorosei, especially Rokudo.

The first line of the Iron Shell Squad, as Zeo called them, separated from the group and charged towards him without any hesitation. Those who stayed behind slammed the handles of their swords at their shields.

"Three-Sword Style!" He then raised his swords to the side, said swords glinting, covered by Busoshoku Haki. "Black Rope Dragon Twister!"

And then with a swing, a huge tornado is spinning behind Zoro, and inside it is the fishmen carrying shields and swords as well, the Fishman around him gaped upon seeing the shields getting destroyed or split in half, some even run away when they created storm seemed to go after them.

"It'll chase you to hell's end!" Zoro casually commented making some of the pirates cried in crocodile tears, some Marines merely jumped to the side, as far as they can from the tornado, sweat dropping as how the Pirates, who were acting all high and mighty before, now runs away all because of their Marine Captain's tornado.

Some fishmen seems to have some brain as they went and use a bubble coral and used it to float up. Swimming directly towards Shirahoshi, who flinched. Meanwhile, Sanji, who just lit up a smoke, looked up at the sky and commented the pirates for being sneaky, using the sky to get towards the Mermaid Princess. Hearing pained noises though, Sanji looked down and frowned upon seeing fishmen covered their backs with armor filled with spikes as if they were sea urchins.

"We'll impale you all!" Harisenbon said.

"It's the Sea Urchin Spike Unit led by Commander Harisenbon!" One Fishman declared as said commander crossed his arms and suddenly gained some spike around his body.

"Sanji-san, watch out! How can you act so relaxed?! Hey!" Brooked said before jumping away when a Fishman when to strike him. Sanji merely looked at the sky as he remembered the island he was on for training, running away from dozens and dozens of okama, remembering the pain in his heart when he remembered the face and the blood running out from his beloved Luffy-schwan.

"Go to hell, kick-fighting guy!" Harisenbon said as he and the troupe run towards Sanji, who remembered how his Rear Admiral demanded him to stop as she bleeds on the ground, the Vendetta Marina beaten up and tied on the ground.

"Stop! SANJI!"

"SANJI!"

'Did I forget what happened at Sabaody, already?!' When the squad jump towards Sanji, not even looking, pretty sure and confident with themselves that they would be able to impale the blond. But they were wrong because the next thing the squad knows is pain as blood spurt out of their own bodies and not Sanji's. Looking up, Sanji is seen jumping up in the sky, walking, running, flying!

"Sky… walk!" He shouted. Luffy blinked before looking up at the sky and smiled widely, chuckling, while Yu blink before shaking his head. Gray merely laughed as he crossed his arms behind his head.

"Cool! Sanji is in the air!" Luffy shouted, earning Sanji's attention and made him looked at her, making her wave. Hearts then formed in his eyes, before shaking his head so that he can focus on protecting the Mermaid Princess, continuing to walk towards Shirahoshi and stopping the mermen from reaching her.

"Looks like Sanji has a different version of Geppo," Gray commented, making Gin, who was just standing behind him snort.

"Of course… looks like my boss beat me with new abilities he managed to gain." He commented, making them looked at him with a raised eyebrows, he just smirked secretly and went to fight back the Pirates again. He still has time to show off the new things he learned. Robin chuckled before snapping the neck of the pirates she had in possession.

"Hey, you guys!" Sanji commented, shocking the Fishman that was heading towards the Pink-haired Princess.

"What?!"

"He's flying!"

"If you wanna talk to Shirahoshi-chan, you need to talk to me first!" Sanji declared, making the Princess smile. "I'm the Notorious Knight… here to protect you!" Suddenly, the blond's serious face turned into a goofy one.

"Sanji-chin-sama!" Shirahoshi said.

"Don't push your luck too far!" One merman said before they all went and charged towards Sanji, booing.

"Let's cook these small fries!" Sanji declared spinning mid-air, turning his leg on fire. "Diable Jambe… Poele a Fire… Spectre!" Said leg was lifted before it was brought down on the Fishman rapidly, seemingly piercing them, before they all went and fall to the ground. As this was happening, Hody was glaring darkly, getting impatient and annoyed at what was happening, while Luffy smiled at her crew, before turning to face Hody, her smile falling as she faced her foe seriously.

"Hey, you…" She called out. "It's gonna be over soon, so just stay still!" She declared, running towards Hody, her Vendetta Marine blocking any pirates that tried to stop her.

"Doesn't matter if there are 100,000 or 1,000,000! We'll just beat them all!" Luffy shouted as Hody grinned. Waves after waves, fishmen pirate kept on coming and coming, but that's no problem because Luffy, her crew, and Jimbei made sure to keep up with them. After all, the pirates relayed on their strength in number and while had some experience in battle, the crew is more experienced than them all. And thus, every wave that charged at them, the Marines made sure their strength or their own offense and defense attacks will be able to knock out plenty of outlaws. Lower Ranking Marines made sure to be in group two or three and made sure their chosen weapons knocked out many pirates, a few of them even add Busoshoku Haki on their weapons.

The Vendetta Marina, made sure to cover the back of their Rear Admiral, knocking those who were getting up. Peter and Mina gritted their teeth though because really, they prepare to use their preferred weapons which are guns, but their weapons are at the base being repaired, and while they can use the standard ones, they aren't comfortable with it and neither are the members of their crew who uses guns as well. Because being a part of G6 means you got your customized weapon, and using something different and new, will probably disorient them, and thus some are stuck with using slingshots, swords, or their own fist.

'Good thing Luffy ensures that we are familiar with every skill there is.' Mina thought, kicking a Pirate away from her. Her twin Hana was blocking any swords that headed towards their way, while Yu and Gray made sure that they aren't more than a few meters away from Luffy. Though Sanji and Zoro are a bit near her, the two of them immediately got distracted when they are in each other's space. Sometimes, Mina wished that those two would kiss already so that they can avoid each other like plague and then bicker again days after… maybe she should do it? Hmmm…

The rest of the to-be Operation Team Leaders were doing great, but she couldn't see where Franky, Chopper, Usopp, and Nami is. Though knowing those guys, they will probably return with a bang. Luffy jumped up, twisting in the air, disassembling her bo staff, puts it on her belt, before grabbing her fans mid-air. Landing on the ground, she flicked the fans open and closed her eyes, as Pirates jumped attacked her, there seems to be a spark on her fans before a buzzing noise of electricity was heard. Luffy snapped her eyes open and use her weapon to block the swords that were coming down upon her, with a smirk, she shouted.

"RAKURAI!" Right after that lightning bolt then suddenly rains down upon her enemies that she's blocking swords with. Once her enemies were fried to a crisp and fainted due to shock, she stood straight and looked around her. The Pirates that were determined to fight her were backing up slowly, her crew doing quite well, except for Sanji and Zoro, who both decided to have a competition with each other, which made sure her snicker. Upon seeing Jimbei's dumbfounded expression (a very accurate WTF?! Expression) upon seeing her swordman and chef antics, she laughed out loud.

"Why are they competing with each other?" Jimbei asked out loud, shocked and confuse about the two antics as well as unsure what to do with them. Of course, he knew that the Rear Admiral was laughing at him, hard not to seeing that they are meters away, and he shouldn't have asked about it but… they're in the middle of a battle! Come on!

Due to the shock Jimbei is currently experiencing, he forgot that he is also in the middle of the battle, and his enemies weren't eager to wait for him to gain back his senses, so one idiotic pirate decided to attack him from behind only to have multiple arms appearing in his body, grabbing him, making him immobile. The noise that the Fishman created snapped the Shichibukai back to the present, alert and aware of everything, he turned and just in time to see their enemy faint after having their bones break. Behind the fallen enemy stood Robin, who smiled at him as she walks towards the Whale Shark Fishman and said.

"Don't mind them. They're always like this." At that, the Captain of the Sun Pirates slumps in defeat.

"Honestly… In that aspect, they haven't matured at all." Nami mumbled upon seeing what was happening at the field while standing on the deck of their ship. Franky merely snickered as he went below deck, followed by the crew's Coward Trio. Gin, who was following after Sanji and Zoro, merely closed his eyes in pain and groaned.

"Why am I stuck with the Head Chef who wants to compete with our First Mate every single time?" He moaned out, before striking an attacking pirate with his tonfa. Peter, who was with him, merely raised an eyebrow, landing a backhand punch on the pirate that was attacking him from behind.

"Didn't you say and I quote 'I want to repay the Commodore for helping me and letting me live… what better way than be one of her chefs that is taught by the very person she decided to her head chef?' unquote." He snickered as the Former Pirate face-palmed.

"I should have just found a better way to repay the Rear Admiral."

"Cut it out already, you freaks!" One Fishman shouted, running towards the competing duo, only to be kicked and sliced in the chest, making him fly towards Hody.

"Shut the hell up!"

"Wooo! They finally agreed on something!" Hana sarcastically shouted, making Luffy, who had finished laughing minutes ago and was fighting their enemies, giggle before throwing one of her fans to the side. Said fan twirled and spin above the heads of their enemies, breaking their weapon before pausing and spins back towards Luffy, hitting the pirate's head, who was trying to process what and why were their weapons broken, knocking them out. Raising her hand, she caught the fan before blinking and looked at the area where Hody is frowning when he grabbed the face of his own crew rather tightly.

"It seems they are having a bit of a fallout," Yu mentioned, landing beside his Rear Admiral after jumping on multiple heads of Fishmen.

"So it may seem…" She mumbled and watched as Hody threw that Fishman away, while the other members of his crew trembled in fear. "Where are Franky and the others?" She asked, turning to Yu

"Probably at the ship, preparing the vehicles," Yu answered, as their eyes went towards Brook who was playing some music to distract the bombing squad of the pirates. "Probably for the best, our gunners left their own customize weapons at the base for repairs as well as thinking that we would only be on a vacation."

"I should train them to always bring at least some backup." Luffy face palmed before they both jump to the side avoiding the swords that were about to slice them.

"Maybe you should!" Yu shouted before turning and sliced the enemy behind him, while Luffy twirled and kick the Pirate in the head.

"Mil Fleur, Gigantesco Mano, Stamp!" Robin shouted and soon they heard loud booming around the area followed by some screams. Luffy throws one of her fans towards the Pirate that was heading directly to the Mermaid Princess, hitting them directly in the head and caught her fan back. Luffy smirked, before freezing and looked at the ship just as Franky shouted.

"Channel Four!" Soon enough a motorcycle shaped with a Rhino came out from the side of her ship with Franky riding on it.

"The Black Rhino FR-U 4!" One of the Lower Ranking Marines shouted as they raised their hands. "Go! Operation Team Leader Franky!" Just as Franky stopped beside Robin a Fishman with a massive spike ball and chain stood in front of him and spun the weapon above his head declaring.

"I'm gonna flatten you!" Just as he was about to bring it down, a cannon exploded, hitting his chosen weapon. Hearing that noise, Jimbei turned to look at its source blinking when he saw a mini tank on the field.

"Well, at least we have that," Peter mumbled as he stood beside the Shichibukai, who looked at him in confusion. "Yeah, we normally have guns but…" Here the ensigned rub the back of his neck sheepishly. "Most of us left it on our base because it needs to repair or upgrades… the rest… didn't bring it because we thought we won't be fighting anyone here."

"A mistake on our part," Mina mumbled, pouting. "So now, we'll be relying on Black Rhino and Brachio Tank… we'll try our best to avoid giving grievous injuries to your kin." Jimbei nodded in thanks.

"Still… Franky is building weapons… he's supposed to be a shipwright… isn't he?" Gin asked, making Hana who was with him laughed.

"As long as it will help us, I won't ask anything." This made Gin to sighed before knocking one of the Pirates out. Meanwhile, the surrounding citizens of Fishman Island watched in amazement as the group was able to fend off Hody's forces despite having been outnumbered, those who cheered on the Marines earlier, cheered them again, especially the children. Of course, the cheers had some consequences as this made Hody irritated, a lot more than he's currently is.

"They're all getting carried away." He stated, before standing up from his throne-like chair that he was sitting on since Zoro and Sanji started to compete with one another.

"Show yourself, Kraken!" Hody shouted, making Luffy pause and looked at Hody then at the area he was looking at with a bit of confusion and apprehension. Soon enough, a large and familiar tentacle showed up, followed by another and then another, until a gigantic Kraken is seen looking down at the plaza. All of the Marines and Jimbei turned to look at the newcomer blinking upon seeing a familiar face before they all looked at each other and blinked again.

"They're just thirty people, flatten them!" Hody ordered. "That'll be the end of it!"

Said Beat followed his order, immediately heading towards the plaza, while the citizens run away as the pirate cheered about the Kraken being Hody's slaves and that the marines had no match to it. Unnoticed by the pirates the Marines were slowly raising their eyebrows, because they are sure, so sure, on who that Kraken is and they can't wait to see their enemy's reaction once they realize that no matter what, the Lady of Fate will always side their Rear Admiral… sometimes.

"What are you doing?" Hody growled out, as the Kraken paused and then looked at him. "Don't hesitate. I brought you here from the North Pole! You're my slave! Serve your master!"

Seeing the angered expression of Hody made the Kraken scared especially right after he asked.

"You can do it, can't you?"

Closing his eyes as if in pain, the Kraken then opened them and jump towards the plaza, landing in the middle and a few meters in front of Luffy. Brook and the mini tank run away when the Kraken tentacles began to run wild in the area.

"Hey, wasn't he…" Nami trailed off, as she watched the Kraken inside the mini-tank while Usopp drives away.

"There can't be more than one giant beast like that!" The Sniper commented.

"I never expected that this would be the place we saw you again," Robin said, watching the Kraken. Yu and Gray face-palmed and sighed in defeat.

"Honestly…" Jimbei was tense but upon seeing the Marines, relaxed, albeit slightly, and with defeated expression, he couldn't help but wonder what's wrong with them.

"SURUME!" Luffy shouted, making the Shichibukai blink, and looked at the Rear Admiral, who was waving her hands at the Kraken, who paused and looked down.

"Surume! Hi! It's me! Surume!" When the Kraken didn't seem to recognize her, Luffy pouted as she put her hands on her waist.

"You forgot about me? You're just hopeless! I made you my pet earlier. We're friends, right?" At the bright grin that appeared on her face, the Kraken then remembered something.

~Flashback~

They were nearing a ship that was shining brightly, a ship that was about to be attacked by an Umibouzu, of course, knowing that ship belongs to his friend, the Kraken went and punched the creature away from the ship.

"Hey, that's enough! Cut it out!" He stopped, right after beating the guy into a pulp. "You did great!"

Wow… no one had praised him like that before… so he couldn't help but rub his head, sheepishly.

"Unbelievable! You actually tamed it?! That Monstrous Octopus?!"

"That's right! I'm using him to travel like a pro! Isn't that right, Surume?"

~End of Flashback~

"Let me ride you again!" Luffy declared, laughing. Jimbei's eyes widen, he couldn't believe the guts nor the naivety of this Marine because he is pretty sure that Hody shouted that Kraken flattens them, and here she is demanding a ride from the said creature as if… they… we're… friends?

"What…?" He trailed off, shoulders slumped in defeat as the sleeves of his Kimono slide down from his shoulders, Hana and Gin, who were with him chuckled. The Kraken lifted his body and slammed a tentacle towards Luffy, who didn't bother to move and still smiling. While the pirates were happy, about to celebrate in fact, the marines merely grinned and waited for the dust to settle.

"Luffy-sama!" Shirahoshi shouted, covering her mouth as she thought that the Kraken did kill her friend. Jimbei tensed but seeing the marines still relaxed, grinning, and excited, he decided to continue looking instead of reacting so soon. After a few seconds of silence, the Pirates' jaw dropped when they heard laughter in the direction of the Kraken.

"That tickles! C-cut it out, Surume!" And right there, between the two tentacles of the Kraken was Luffy, being tickled by said Kraken. Shirahoshi smiled, gasping in relief, while Jimbei slowly turned to look at the laughing Marines, who were having the time of their life when they saw the reaction of the gaping people in the plaza. Gin, who saw his dumbfounded expression, demanding an explanation, laughed more and bend over.

"S-sorry! Hahahaha! Just expect the unexpected when it comes to our Rear Admiral, hahaha!" He suggested, which didn't really help Jimbei a lot as he slowly turned to look at Luffy with a defeated expression that appeared on his face when the Sue Chef wasn't going to provide him more accurate information.

"Alright… Surume! Let's get going!" Luffy shouted after he was put on the Kraken's head by the said creature. Surume was more than too happy to follow the order as he went and turned to face Hody, smiling and happy. The Pirates screamed about how the monster betrayed them, the marines shook their heads, smiling or smirking, some in defeat at the sudden turn of events. Gin patted Jimbei's back before jumping to the fray. Said Fishman shakes his head and just hopes that someone will explain things to him once everything is over.

"I can't believe they're friends with the Kraken." He mumbled sweat dropping as some Marines snickered.

Hody growled in anger as his 'slave' sided with their enemy, more so it was doing it willingly and happily. Some of the crew shouted for his help but he ignored them as he eyes the Rear-Admiral that was riding on his Kraken's head.

'That bitch…' He growled inwardly, watching as the beast crawled and stop near Shirahoshi, towering over the princess and tentacles nearly wrapped around her protectively.

"Listen up, Surume. You stay here and protect Princess Shirahoshi, okay?" Luffy smiled at her pet, who smiled and nodded.

"Uhm… I'm very pleased to meet you, Surume-sama." Shirahoshi stated, touching one of the tentacles, making the said creature blush. Luffy chuckled as she took a few steps forwards, grabbing both of her fans, flipping one open, flapping gently it in front of her mouth, hiding the smirked that was in her face.

"Looks like there's still a few more left." She said as her crew started to gather behind her again, except for Nami, Usopp, and Chopper, the trio decided to stay in the mini-tank. "Right! Let's do this!"

And then the battle began a new, some pirates heading directly towards Luffy and her crew, others went towards Shirahoshi and Jimbei, all of them got their ass knocked out, or swat away. Chopper did notice though that they were avoided by the pirates which made Usopp decide that they should take advantage of it and attack the enemy's Captain. But just as he was about to fire, the ground they were on suddenly trembled, and then slowly the mini tank fell to one of the pitfalls made by Daruma, who disappeared sometime after the new wave of battle began and decided to burrow on the underground using his teeth.

Seeing the mini-tank go down the hole, Franky went towards them but accidentally drives his vehicle into the same pitfall. And while this is Franky's fault, he couldn't help but be ignored that one of them made two of his SUUUPPPPEEERRR vehicles fall on a hole. The Cyborg then throws the passengers of his Mini-tank out of the hole, making them land on the ground rather painfully. Of course, Nami didn't like it and thus was about to ask the reason when suddenly Franky merges his motorcycle and the mini-tank, creating the Iron Marine: General Franky.

Some of the Marine boys become excited, while the girls didn't really find it entertaining or exciting, Luffy may be a fan of mecha before but due to the marines, she lost the love for it, although she did appreciate the designs or it's usages. Giggling, Luffy jumped, and with a flicked of her wrist, she sends her fan flying between the enemies, who sidestep to avoid, not even noticing a speck nearly transparent purple mist landing on their clothes. They didn't return to their previous spot, seeing that the fan acted like a boomerang, so they keep one eye on it and the other on Luffy, who merely smirked at them and didn't even bother to attack them, merely waited for her fan to come back.

The moment she had her fan in her hand, she closed it and pointed it towards the pirates, and whispered.

"Kamikorosu." The pirates blink and then suddenly they cried out in pain, feeling multiple blunt weapons their bodies in multiple areas, some coughed out blood before they fall to the ground, others were immediately knocked out. The Rear Admiral giggled before looking around for her crew, she saw a pirate sneaking behind Nami which made her wince because attacking Nami doesn't result in anything good.

Luffy watched as Nami blocked the sword with her staff, the newest one. The raven-haired girl trusted her crew, especially her Coward Trio, she really did, but no one can blame her if she had these instincts to always check on them and defend them, she doesn't want another repeat of the Fuusha Village incident nor the one in Sabaody.

"How dare you say I'm weak! I'm just a chicken!" Nami shouted, making Luffy blink as she watched her disassemble her staff and then point one of its parts to the pirate that was attacking her.

"Sorcery Climate Baton! Gust Sword!" Right after a blast of gust came out of it, knocking the pirate out. This made Luffy slightly relaxed and more so when the Fishmen that were charging towards Ussop got thrown into the sky when he uses his Pop greens and a bunch of bamboos shoots up beneath them. Not seeing Chopper around, Luffy inhaled before exhaling and used her Kenbunshoku Haki to sense where her doctor is, blinking slightly when she senses him digging on the ground beneath them, copying Daruma, who was burrowing underground as well. Soon enough, the said Pirate was blown out of the ground, followed by Chopper, who was in his humanoid body and with two large horns on his head. Seeing that, Luffy's eyes widen and while she lost her avid love for mecha, she still loves insects, specifically beetles, and thus she said.

"Amazing Chopper! You can turn into a stag beetle now?!" Chopper slightly sweat drops when he saw the starry eyes of his Rear Admiral, though he did like it.

"It's not a stag beetle!" He shouted, before blushing slightly and did a noodle dance. "And praising me doesn't make me happy, ya bastard!"

Luffy giggled and watched as Chopper went and attack Daruma, before she went back towards looking at Hody and headed towards his direction, ignoring the noises the citizens are creating. Though she couldn't help but agree mentally that they are waiting to fight people for so long, after all, Marines don't usually allow battles, and sparring doesn't count. After taking a few steps forward, Luffy paused and looked ahead with narrowed eyes, pursing her lips.

"Luffy?" Yu asked, stopping beside his Rear Admiral, who then looked over her shoulder then back at Hody.

"I see." She whispered, which made her Left-hand man blink before deciding that she was probably listening to the voice. Right after she said that Surume seemed to flinched as Hody shouted for him.

"Kraken! Good job, considering it was you." Surume sweats heavily, eyes on Hody as every pirate and marine looked at them. "You gained their favor so slickly and caught Shirahoshi. Now, squeeze her to death!" The Kraken winced and shakily looked at the back of the mermaid princess, that was when Hody decided to strike where it hurts.

"Your brother at the North Pole… I know exactly where he is." This made the creature to snapped his eyes towards Hody. "We can just go there and kill him whenever we want."

Hearing that Luffy gritted her teeth, lowering her head as her nails turned sharp and slowly growing. She clenched her fist and used the pain she had, no matter how small that pain is, to ground her and waited for the bastard to stop talking.

"You brothers are mythical creatures. Even dead, I can sell you for a good price." Hody stood up, impatient when his slave didn't do anything. "Don't tell me that's what you want, Kraken?"

"I can't believe this! He was obeying Hody because his brother was taken as a hostage!" Jimbei started, Gin, who was fighting beside him, gritted his teeth after knocking out the pirate attacking him.

"The Rear Admiral will surely beat him to death."

"Huh?" The Shichibukai hummed, looking at the former pirate, who had his eyes on Luffy.

"Luffy… hates it when someone threatens to take the treasures of those around her. Once Luffy is angered, she'll be unstoppable." Slowly, Luffy lifted her head with a tilt and revealed one, cold, furious blue eye, glaring at Hody, who shouted.

"I'll tell you one last time! Squeeze Shirahoshi to death!" Luffy slowly turned to look in the direction where her pet and friend are, watching as Surume, slowly surrounds the Mermaid Princess with her tentacle, face in pain and tears.

"Surume-sama, y-you're hurting me!" Shirahoshi shouted as the tentacle clenched around her. Hody grinned as if he was already winning.

"Surume!" Luffy shouted, making the Kraken to stopped and looked at the Rear Admiral, that was facing him sideways.

"So you were doing everything he says in order to save your brother's life?" She asked rather gently, remembering her own brothers and the things she did to make sure they were safe. Veins appeared on Surume's face as he nodded, bottom lip bitten. Seeing that, she slightly giggled.

"I know how you feel." And wasn't that the truth. "Is it your younger brother or older brother?" Surume didn't answer as Luffy turned to him and smiled rather happily, eyes closed, hiding the pain in them.

"Brothers or sisters are really annoying sometimes and sometimes we need to save their asses once in a while… but we won't replace them for anything in the world." The Kraken eyes widen when a single tear slide down from the young teenage girl's eye as she finished. "That's why… let me try to save and protect his life too!"

The Kraken gasped and gaped as the youngest Rear Admiral of the Marines turned her back towards him and walk towards Hody again.

"Did you forget?" Luffy asked softly, grinning.

"I'm your friend!" This statement, this one single statement, made the pain etched on Surume's face disappear as tears that he tried stopping slowly fell from his eyes. He then let go of the Mermaid Princess, who blinked and looked at the Kraken gratefully. Hody tsk-ed upon realizing that the Marine, once more, manage to put the battle to their favor again. The grin on Luffy's face slowly fell and in its place is a furious expression.

The pirates in front of her merely grinned and tried to charge at her but were stopped by their commanding officers, Ikaros Much and Dosun, both commenting that they are no match for her and that they will handle it. Luffy continues to walk towards them, with no hesitation in her eyes, only fury about what they did to her friends and how they remind her of her situation and what she had to do to make sure her own brothers were safe.

"Torikku Meiden!"

"We won't let you come any closer to our captain-ch!"

"DROP DEAD!" Just as the weapons were brought down to Luffy, two people jump towards them from the side, so fast that it was only a blur for a moment and then it was revealed that Zoro had blocked Dosun's weapon, while Sanji kicked Ikaros Much in the face.

"We won't let you guys…" Zoro started as Sanji finished.

"… Get in her way!" This made the two slightly gigantic Fishman back down as Zoro and Sanji stood in front of them.

"Stop the Rear Admiral!" Hody ordered, which his men followed as they went and attack Luffy, who merely continued to walk, undeterred by them, and then suddenly, in a flash, she disappeared before their eyes.

"What?!" Hody, looked around him, searching for the Rear Admiral, who appeared in front of him, and swiftly kicked his face, her feet covered with Busoshoku Haki, breaking his nose, and making him flew towards the wall, again. Luffy eyes, were no longer the warm brown eyes, instead, they were cold blue, showing only how furious they are as they glared at the spot where Hody is.

"You'll regret this, Hody!" She shouted. Unknown to Luffy, a gigantic ship moving towards the island, a ship that wasn't supposed to be moved until "The Day that Must Come". Though the Rear Admiral is ignorant of the oncoming ship, she couldn't help but not ignore the voices that she's hearing coming from the citizens nor the voice of all things. Thus, while Hody tried to get up from the wall, Luffy looked up, eyes slowly widening, turning back to their original color, upon seeing a ship.

"Wha…?"

"Not yet… not ready… stop it… stop…" Luffy blinks at that before snapping her eyes immediately towards where Hody is, but she made sure to at least keep track of the ship. Said Pirate Captain used his strength to separate two boulders that he's trapped on and glared at her.

"Torikku…" He glared. Luffy merely looked at him, hands heading towards her bo staff, and grasps it. Surume was sweating, eyeing the back of his friend, who managed to knock his soon-to-be former master with just a single kick.

"Shirahoshi is over here!"

"Time to die!" Hearing the noises the pirates are creating the Kraken looked down, angry when the words were spoken were directed towards his temporary charge and because of that anger, the mythical creature put the Mermaid Princess on top of his tentacles before beating the pirates that were around them to the ground. Luffy, who was side looking at them and temporarily forgot about the pirate captain, again, grinned and raise a fist.

"Surume!" She shouted, said creature waved one of his tentacles at her, smiling happily and gratefully. The young teen did giggle when the Kraken blushed after Shirahoshi talked to him. "Take care of the Princess for me!"

As per usual of Luffy's enemies, they didn't like to be ignored, and thus with a growled, Hody went and attacked her with Fish-Man Karate, successfully taking her head off… or so it seems, because the moment the head was gone, Luffy disappeared.

"Not to brag…" Luffy said, appearing a few feet behind Hody, leaning on one foot, head down. Hody turned behind him, shocked as Luffy lifted her head and grinned at him rather happily. "But your attacks won't work on me. Pretty sure it won't itch compared to Shichibukai Jimbei's attack."

"That's right! It's because you rely on fake power!" Jimbei immediately backed Luffy with her claim, though it made him wonder just how she manages to come up with that kind of thought. This angered Hody before he called out his Steel Shell Squadron, and immediately a few fishmen were standing before him, holding their own Iron Shells.

Meanwhile, Luffy kicked the ground and immediately headed towards Hody, with a quick twist and twirled, she managed to damage the shells and kicked the fishmen away with her leg covered with Busoshoku Haki. This, of course, shocked the Fishmen that were watching them as they were expecting her leg to be broken. Dust began to spread around, slightly covering the area, and then Hody was suddenly behind her, aiming to kick her head.

"Busoshoku Kouka," Luffy stated, looking at Hody from the corner of her eyes, and then her arms were covered with the said Haki, to which she immediately used to blocked Hody's leg from making contact with her head, digging slightly to the skin and injuring the leg. Next, Luffy had her leg covered with Haki again, immediately flips and smashed Hody's head to the ground.

Just as Luffy landed on the ground, Hody slowly stood up. When the Pirate Captain manages to raise himself upon his hand and knees, he immediately rapidly fires water shots at the Rear Admiral. But the Torikku Meiden manage to dodge them rather easily, shocking everyone that was watching the battle.

"You're amazing, Luffy-sama!" Shirahoshi shouted from her perch in Surume's tentacle, said Kraken eyes were wide as if he couldn't believe that his friend manages to dodge all of it.

"That's the Kenbunshoku Haki!" Jimbei declared, amazed. True, there were hints from her crew about how she has the same haki the Former Queen has, as well as, the Voice of All Things, but to see it personally is a different matter. And seeing this, Jimbei's glad that they have the Marines helping them.

"Luffy-schwan~!" Sanji shouted as he watched his captain seemingly dance from the attacks launched at her. Said Rear Admiral, walk towards Hody as she dodged the attacks before jumping towards him and immediately punched Hody in the gut, with her fist covered with Busoshoku Haki, sending him back to the wall, this time a different one.

"Luffy-sama… how strong are you?" Shirahoshi asked, her face being cradled by her hands as Surume trembled and sweatdrop. Luffy took out her bo staff as the citizens cheered for her, but as she twirled her staff, her eyes were directed above them and soon everyone was looking up as well for they immediately noticed that everything was dark. Looking up, everyone, excluding the Marines, screamed and panicked upon seeing the Noah Ship heading straight for the plaza and threatening to break the bubble surrounding the island, which will kill both fishmen and human inhabitants.

Luffy pursed her lips, trying to focus on the voice that matters most, not the noises the people around her are creating, though she did try to keep up with the voices of her crew when suddenly something falls from the ship, which soon revealed to be Wadatsumi, a crew member of Vander Decken, which means…

"Rear Admiral?" Yu asked, landing beside Luffy, who sighed and pinched her nose, silently asking a question, and both of them ignoring the noises the pirates are creating, trusting their crew to handle them. Zoro, right after Yu, landed soon after, watching them.

"This is someone we didn't bother to remember or acknowledge of… Vander Decken, the Fishman that was sending weapons to Shirahoshi for the past years." She answered, trying to think what to do with this new player in the game, a player that has a troublesome devil fruit, and should they proceed with the plan.

"How is he still standing?" Gray suddenly asked as he walks towards his Leaders, his eyes and questioned aimed at Hody, who stood up from the gravel he was buried in. "Luffy even used her Busoshoku haki."

"Ahem… Gray…" Hana butted in as she walks towards them as well.

"Ah, shit…" Said Vice face-palmed remembering the rule of calling Luffy by her title in public.

"It's not like it matters," Robin stated as she walks towards her beloved leaders. "The people are more concern about running away and avoiding the ocean of being painted red with our blood." She giggled as the crew sweat drops. Gin snickered, walking towards them, twirling a handcuff in his finger.

"Well… do we change our plans or not? I really want to try something." He asked, looking at Luffy, who was deep in thought, but before she could do any actions or say something, laughter rang out.

"Shirahoshi!" Decken shouted, using a den-den mushi as a speaker. "Accept… my love!"

"Don't tell me…" Jimbei started looking at the ship. "Decken threw the Noah at her, just like all those letters and axes?!"

The Leaders of G6 Marines looked at the Shichibukai from the corner of their eyes, before at each other and then shrugging. Normally, the moment something appears out of nowhere and your enemy knows nothing of it and neither do you, you should immediately assume that there's a third party, which is what Luffy did. It's quite shocking that Jimbei didn't realize it immediately but it could be because he's overwhelmed with what's going on… so there's that.

"I've thought of you the past years, ever since you were a little kid!" Decken started, and for some reason that made the Marines shivers and screams in their mind.

'PEDOOOO!'

"Even if you searched the whole world, you'd never find anyone else who loves you as much as I do! My Love! My Love! M.Y. LOVE! Why won't you accept it?!"

"Is he delusional?" Sanji muttered, lighting up a cigarette and not even doing his best to impress or distract the Princess with his antics due to the ridiculousness of what the Fishman is saying at the moment. Luffy shakes her head as Decken continued to speak.

"I'm 99% sure he is… reminds me of someone too." She mumbled as her crew looked at her blankly. "At least that one is being discreet and smart about it."

"Right…"

"And then die, along with all of Fishman Island, Shirahoshi!"

"Ah, shit…" Luffy mumbled at Decken's final statement, eyes on the mermaid princess just as Decken declared what will happen to his crew.

"SHIT!" Luffy cursed before jumping making the crew blink and followed where she is heading, at the same time the fishmen and Surume had realized that the person Decken is speaking of is no longer with them.

"Hey… hey…" Ussop whispered as Jimbei searched around for the Princess.

"Princess Shirahoshi! Rear Admiral! What are you two doing?!" Peter shouted, looking up, making everyone, excluding his crew as they already did so, look up. And there, they saw Shirahoshi standing in front of the ship, while Luffy was using geppo to head towards her. All of the members of G6 Marines tense at the sight of their Rear Admiral leaving them, they couldn't really use geppo, not without straining their muscles.

"What is Shirahoshi doing there?!" Nami asked before she was hinted by Jimbei about her being the ship's target. Luffy paused slightly from using geppo, eyes following the ship and Shirahoshi movement already calculating what to do next or what needs to be done to avoid the ship from crashing and getting damage (obviously it's important to the voice, though they are not giving her a proper answer) and how to avoid Shirahoshi from getting injured, though the Young Rear Admiral did feel annoyed when the Princess did this immediately, she can't help but slightly agree with Shirahoshi's action. Because Luffy would do the same thing if she was on Shirahoshi's spot.

Luffy patted her pockets, checking if she had the bubble coral Yu slipped in earlier before nodding to herself and continued to geppo up to the Princess.

"Oh, how completely beautiful you are, Shirahoshi! Even your heart shines with it! You're trying to avert this disaster and save your country all by yourself, Shirahoshi?!" Vander Decken said, earning a snarl from Luffy, who then shouted.

"Oh, shut up, you damn Pedo! The Princess is not alone!" And with an extra boost on her legs, Luffy is already clinging to Shirahoshi's tail, before climbing up until her shoulders.

"Luffy-sama!" Shirahoshi panted out, looking at Luffy, who simply nodded at her while pulling out a den-den mushi.

"Luffy." Zoro's voice rang out just after the first ring.

"Zoro, Yu… The two of you take the lead and take care of the plaza." Luffy immediately orders, eyes on the fuming Mato Mato no Mi user. "Shirahoshi and I will do something about this."

"How?" Yu voice's snapped, making her smile.

"We'll lead the Ship away from the island and then I will handle Vander Decken right after… just leave things to me."

"But the ship is underwater…" Robin said eyeing the ship.

"Do you think there's water inside the ship too, Jimbei?" Luffy asked, making the said Fishman blink, wondering how she knew that he was eavesdropping and standing behind her crew when she's thousands of feet above them.

"I'm not sure, but Decken is a devil fruit user… so we can assume that there must be air in there somewhere since he can make the ship move," Jimbei answered, eyeing the ship.

"That's enough for me! If there isn't then I can survive being in the sea for at least a minute or two, I also have a bubble coral with me, so there is that as well." Luffy stated eyes closed thinking of the time she spends at the cabin back in the woods of Marineford.

"Luffy…" Chopper whined, worried as he bit his bottom lips.

"Don't worry… Everything will be okay." With that, she opens her eyes and ended the call, just in time too as there are two knives thrown in their way, one towards the mermaid princess, the other towards the Rear Admiral.

"LUFFY!" Her crew shouted from below, but the Rear Admiral merely threw both of her fans away, which then deflect the knives from hitting them.

"PROTECT THE CITIZENS AND HANDLE THE PIRATES!" Luffy shouted back, lips pursed when it seems her crew hesitated before Zoro went and did her order, followed by Yu and slowly the rest of the crew as well. Gin immediately tied some of the Pirates together without their knowledge. Luffy nodded her head satisfied before looking towards the Princess.

"Head to the entrance! We need to lead the ship away from the island." Luffy said, catching her fans that were coming back to her, and focused on the fuming Decken, glaring and daring.

"Hai!" Shirahoshi said, swimming away in the direction Luffy pointed.

"Honestly… I told you to stay close to me…" Luffy mumbled, making the Princess wince and bowed, mumbling a silent sorry. Luffy sighed with her eyes closed, before popping them open and looked behind her.

"Shit… I nearly forgot about Hody!" She hissed, mentally smacking and kicking herself. She got distracted with Surume's and Shirahoshi's situation and sacrifices (which is nearly the same as hers… why?) that she missed Hody jumping to one of the chains connected to the bottom of the Noah. Gritting her teeth, Luffy looked at Hody, before looking over her shoulder and eyes Vander Decken.

"Luffy-sama! I'm too far away from the entrance to reach the ocean!" Shirahoshi stated as she continued to swim away.

"Head towards the palace entrance and then swim back to the east again once we're in the connecting channel!" Luffy said, blocking any weapons Decken throws at her or Hody's water shot.

"Hai!" Shirahoshi answered, before swimming. "But why are we heading east right after?"

"This ship is under Vander Decken's control. If something happens to him due to one of my attacks or Hody's, and the ship is directly above the island then swimming away is pointless!"

"Understood!" Shirahoshi bit her lips as her people cried out for her. Luffy gritted her teeth before pausing from throwing her fans away as she watched some merfolk swimming and grabbing one of the ship's chains.

"What are they doing?!" Luffy shouted. Shirahoshi paused and looked over her shoulder to see what the Rear Admiral is talking about, blinking when she saw the same thing.

"Everyone!" She shouted.

"Swim faster Shirahoshi!" Luffy shouted, the Princess, flinched before doing what she said before Luffy bite her bottom lip in frustration before standing up straight as Hody raised his arm.

"Hey! Stop it!" While it's pointless, Luffy couldn't help but shout at Hody because the way he raised his arm is like the way he did when firing his water shot. And he did, multiple water shots were raining down on the merfolk, some hitting the chain, but most of it manages to hit some of them. The young ravenette gritted her teeth before raising her left hand across her chest, making the fan she was holding stop at the side of her face. Closing her eyes, Luffy focused, ignoring the screams of pain the merfolk are making, soon a spark appeared on the fan, followed by another, and soon enough the whole fan was covered with light purple flames. Snapping her eyes open, Luffy's cold blue eyes glared at Hody, and then when both she and Shirahoshi heard a buzzing noise, she immediately flicks her wrist and threw her fan away.

"Ventilatori Elettricità Viola!" Luffy shouted and immediately her fan was flying in the direction between Hody and the Merfolk, while waiting for the fan to reach its destination, Luffy flicks two of her fingers up and added.

"Cento!" Soon, multiple fans were heading towards the merfolk instead of one. Hody was so distracted in degrading his kin that he didn't notice the fans their way, he only noticed when one fan blocked the water shot he fired to the civilians clinging to the chains. He growled before he looked in the direction of the fans and glared upon seeing Luffy looking at him, he turned and tried to fire again, only for it to be blocked again when the fans blocked it again.

'This bitch and her boomerang-like fan.' He growled before rapidly firing once more. Meanwhile, the citizens, who were watching the fans with wonder and awe, looked at Luffy in relief, gratitude, and admiration before they continued to pushed the chains, as more and more merfolk join them. Luffy pursed her lips before looking over her shoulder slightly relaxing when she saw that they were nearing the entrance for the palace.

But she didn't relax for far too long because soon after she heard the screams of pain from the merfolk, which means Hody fired plenty of water shots that her fan couldn't block. Soon enough, her fan was back in her hand and the merfolk were all at the ground, wounded. Putting her fans back in her belt, she cupped her free hands in front of her mouth and whispered.

"Yasashī shiroi hotaru." And with a soft kiss thousands of small white balls appeared in her hands, and then, a blow after, they dispersed and headed towards the merfolk, Jimbei, and her crew. After that she spins around to look at the front, eyes turning back to warm chocolate, just in time to see that they were nearing the entrance. Grabbing a lock of Shirahoshi's hair, Luffy made a bubble around her, right on time as Shirahoshi immediately entered the entrance for the connecting channel. Soon enough they were out to the sea and then immediately, the mermaid swims to the east just as Luffy instructed, said Rear Admiral flinched slightly at the seawater that slightly touched her hand, before she focused behind them, only to cursed when she saw Hody swimming fast towards them.

"Continue swimming, Shirahoshi!" Luffy shouted, letting go of the hair she's grabbing on, before taking hold of her bo staff, assembling it as quickly as she can, pushing it out of the bubble, and twirled it in front of her, just in time to block the water shocks Hody fired at them.

Meanwhile, Shirahoshi paused before nodding and then continued swimming, though tears are slowly slipping down from her eyes when she remembered the cries of her people, followed by the vision of Luffy's back facing her, all of them protecting her. Luffy continued to twirl the staff in front of her, as she looked at Shirahoshi before looking back at the front, eyes widening when suddenly Hody was in front of her.

"This is where you will see how much of a weak human you are, Torikku!" Luffy gaped before raising her staff above her, blocking the swing of Hody's trident, though she was successful, Luffy's bubble burst. Without hesitation, she kicked the water in front of her, though weak, and tried to create a new bubble but the moment the bubble coral was out, Hody fired some water shot, making her lost grip of it. She eyed the coral for a few seconds, then at Hody, before turning and swam down.

'Isn't she a devil fruit user?' Hody thought, frowning and seething inwardly, while externally he was grinning. 'No matter… she's just a weak human!'

"DIE!" Firing another set of water shots at her, Hody watched as the Rear Admiral turned and blocked his attacks with her bo staff, which he really wants to destroy to the pits of hell, albeit slowly. Luffy winced at the water shots that manage to graze her shoulders while her chosen weapon manages to block the ones that we're aiming for her body.

'Shit!' She thought, wincing slightly in pain as she slowly starts to lost air and strength. 'I need to get the coral!'

Hody grinned liked a blood-thirsty shark before shooting forward, looking and following after the human girl's swimming body.

"Repent and beg for Mercy! Torikku Meiden Luffy!" He declared, throwing his trident. Luffy, who is already feeling the effects of a devil fruit user being submerged in the water, turned and watched as the weapon got nearer and nearer, she was already waiting for the pain when, something, no someone, deflected it for her. Her eyes weakly followed the person that helped her before closing them. The Eldest Prince of the Ryuugu Palace swam towards Luffy, grabbing her, her staff and, then her bubble coral, before immediately swimming away from Hody's vicinity, all the while creating a bubble for the fallen marine.

"Why you…" Hody gritted out, glaring at the prince. Said Prince watched as Luffy inhaled deeply right after having her head surrounded with bubbles, followed by a small cough.

"Are you okay, Rear Admiral?" Fukaboshi asked, making Luffy blink and looked at him.

"Prince Fukaboshi?" She asked rather weakly, before shaking her head slightly, trying to gather her bearings. Using her Haki, Luffy could feel the Mermaid Princess still swimming away from the ship, her two remaining older brothers protecting her from any knives Vander Decken is throwing. She did frown slightly when she felt the Princess going up instead of the direction they planned earlier. Wanting to find out why, she extended her Kenbunshoku Haki a bit further, and the frowned she had slowly melted away, realizing that they were trying to avoid the gigantic underwater rocks around that area, thus preventing damage to the ship. Getting an idea that the ship is important Luffy decided to let them handle it, while she, and maybe the oldest prince, focused on Hody.

"That half-dead fool shouldn't have interfered…" Hody growled before uncovering a blade fin, laughing darkly. "But I won't let you get away, Torikku!"

Fukaboshi growled before immediately swimming away, as soon as they were far away, they immediately tried to blend as much as they can with the fish that they both saw, no matter how pointless it may seem.

"Thank you for saving me, your highness!" Luffy said, expanding her bubble bigger so that her whole body would be safe from the water while making sure to have a tight grip on Fukaboshi's dorsal fin. "The wounds you got from Hody, do they still bother you?"

"I don't have time to worry about a wound like this! My family, soldiers, and the citizens have been injured… yet despite that, they are fighting to save the Kingdom, the island! I won't hesitate to do the same!" Fukaboshi panted, making her smirk lightly.

'Stubborn brothers…' she thought, before looking over her shoulder and cursed. Hearing the Rear Admiral cursed, the Shark Merman looked over his shoulder as well, before growling when they saw Hody swimming towards them. Swimming as fast as he can, the Prince managed to barely dodge Hody, who was nearly as fast as merfolk due to the steroids he took, and his blade fin. Luffy narrowed when the Pirate Captain manages to create what seems to be an air blade just by spinning slightly, and the result was terrible as it manages to slice the fishes that were in the way.

"That's bad…" Luffy mumbled, Fukaboshi agreed with her by immediately swimming away.

"Ahahahaha! Do you really think that you can swim away from me?! The thought of having the Favored Marine and the Prince of the Ryuugu Kingdom as Prisoners is enough to make me proud more than ever!" Hody shouted, before swimming after them.

'Even though it's a fake strength, he still has amazing speed!' Fukaboshi thinks while Luffy watched their enemy with a pursed-lip, fingering her fan, wondering if it's enough to defeat Hody if they stayed in the water, or does she really need to go to the ship?

"Hold on tight!" The blue-haired prince said, making Luffy do so before they swim between the gigantic underwater rocks in front of them. However, Hody, as if wanting to install fear on his prey, used his blade to cut through the rocks, chasing them with a blood-thirsty grin. Luffy watched behind them as the rocks fell. As she watched the Great White Shark Fishman, Luffy watched the blade on the Dorsal Fin Hody has, looking for any weakness or blindspot… or at least something to stop this crazy Fishman!

Fukaboshi tried his best to lost Hody by swimming through the silt that was floating around the area where the cut of rocks fell. Which seems to be pointless as Hody just went and created a small tornado around by spinning, successfully removing the silt around them with the few shock waves which appeared once he had it dispersed, this of course made the prince stop swimming and try to protect himself from the waves. The three of them had a stare-off, before glancing to the side, eyes widening when the Noah swam up mere feet away.

"The Noah!" Fukaboshi shouted, adding his sister's name a moment later after hearing Decken shouting. "Shirahoshi!"

"Your highness, get me onto the ship's deck!" Luffy demanded, albeit politely. Fukaboshi immediately did so, swimming right after the Noah, though he couldn't help but asked why. Luffy glanced at him then at Hody, before going back to the Prince.

"It's like Jinbe said… there will be air somewhere on the ship because Decken is a devil fruit user… I can only last for a minute or two in the water, but if I can fight on the ship, safe from the water… then it should be easier to fight there." Luffy whispered and prayed that Hody won't hear her. "I made a promise to Princess Shirahoshi that I would protect her when I took her out of the tower, that would protect her family when she screamed so at the plaza… I also promised to protect Surume's siblings… thus I want to defeat Hody and Decken as soon as I can!"

"A promise you say…" Fukaboshi mumbled, remembering his own promise with his mother during her death. "We've made a promise too. His strength is nothing more than a mockery, borrowed from the Energy Steroids. It's pitiful to think that I couldn't stand up to that rogue."

"Forgive us for… trying to capture your crew member earlier when we heard about the Prediction."

"Oh, there was an order for us to be captured?" Luffy giggled, smiling, making Fukaboshi smile as well despite the situation. "Well, don't worry about it. Just let me go to the deck and then we'll have this settled soon!"

"Is there something you want on the deck?" Hody darkly stated, before swimming past them, as the prince shouted his name, while Luffy could only cursed before looking at the prince. Opening her mouth, Luffy paused when she noticed the serious expression of the eldest prince.

"Your highness…?" She trailed off.

"Fighting in the water is devastatingly favorable for a Fishman like Hody…" He mumbled, before looking at her over her shoulder.

"I have a plan… a plan that will help you greatly." Luffy could only blink. It's taking a while, but Luffy couldn't help but agree with the prince's plan. Soon enough, they were catching up with the rest continuing with their conversation.

"ONII-SAMA!" Shirahoshi shouted, making her looked up, followed by the eldest, two pair of eyes widening upon the sight of Manboshi and Ryuboshi falling to the side, a trail of blood leaving their body as Hody swims towards the mermaid princess, who tried to swim away from the Great White Shark Fishman. Luffy panted slightly when for a second, just a second, it wasn't the princes she saw falling but her own brothers, then she heard Shirahoshi screaming in pain as Hody grabbed hold of her hair, snapping her out of her slight trance. Immediately grabbing one of her fans, Luffy spread it open, slowly but surely, she got covered with a transparent indigo mist, her hair slightly floating as if there was air spinning around her.

"We need to go closer!" She stated but Fukaboshi was only a step further from her as he already swims towards his siblings, ignoring the Rear Admiral. As Luffy waited for them to get closer, the mist that was surrounding her slowly moving towards her fan, losing its transparency. As the gigantic mermaid princess screamed for her brothers and said brother did the same for her, Luffy shouted.

"Hody! Hands off her!" And then with a slight spin, Luffy threw her fan, completely covered with an indigo flame, which was spinning a lot faster than normal despite being in the ocean. "Genjū Mugaia!"

Hody grinned, raised his trident to block it but it was no longer in front of him, instead, he felt pain as the fan dug into his body. Screaming slightly in pain, he moved slightly to the side, making the fan dislodge from him as it continues to fly forward. The Fishman then move back to his spot glaring at Luffy before grunting in pain when the fan hit his back and then the fan was already on the Rear Admiral's hand. Shirahoshi turned slightly behind her, smiling in relief.

"Luffy-sama! Fukaboshi-onii-sama!" She shouted while her remaining older brothers did the same as well.

"Torikku Meiden! Brother!"

"Forgive me! I was unavoidably delayed while I made some preparations!" Fukaboshi stated, veins popping from his face. Luffy looked at the Royal Siblings, then at Hody, before looking at the ship, frowning when she noticed something weird going on with Decken.

"Inferior trash!" Hody shouted, taking away Luffy's attention from the ship, though she couldn't help but be bothered by it. "A mere human doesn't even have a one to ten thousand chance of winning! We're in the deep sea! Everything will be over soon…" A smug smirk, as Hody looked at the ship that was directly above the Fishman island, made the young Rear Admiral shiver.

"Shirahoshi, Fishman Island, and your companions… a weakling like you can't protect any of them!"

*flash* A Marine Captain

*flash* a burning village

*flash* a wooden cabin

*flash* white tiled ceiling, walls, floor

"You're wrong…" Luffy smiled, making the Pirate Captain's smile drop.

*flash* a Haag Streit with straps

*flash* a needle

*flash* pain and fire

"I'll protect them all!" She declared proudly.

*flash* image of her brothers, her crew, and everyone she met including the people of Fishman Island.

"That's what the pain and training I've done for the last three years were for!"

"Protect them all! Don't make me laugh!" Hody mocked. "You sure have a big mouth, Rear Admiral, Torikku." Luffy merely watched him, but then she heard the other two princes talking which made her focused on them.

"Damn that Hody… He's even willing to stab Decken!" Manboshi stated this made Luffy to snapped her head back to the ship once her brain fully registered to the prince's statement. Extending her haki further, Luffy tried to search for Decken and his current status, what she found wasn't favorable for all of them.

"PRINCESS SHIRAHOSHI!" Luffy shouted, turning to look at the Princess that was swimming further and away from them. The noise she created startled all of them, especially the mermaid Princess, who had paused and looked at her.

"SWIM TO THE SIDE!" Luffy's statement shock all of them, including Hody, who immediately got angry upon realizing that the Rear Admiral basically knew about what he had done to Decken, but how…

"Eh?"

"What are you saying Rear Admiral?" Fukaboshi asked, glancing at the marine and Hody back and forth, especially when the Fishman Captain grew angrier with every word that came out with Luffy's mouth.

"HODY STABBED DECKEN WHICH IS SLOWLY KILLING HIM! THE MOMENT DECKEN DIES, HIS CURSE WILL NO LONGER TAKE EFFECT! THE NOAH… WILL FALL… RIGHT ONTO THE ISLAND !" The princes looked at the female Marine with them, at Hody, then at the Noah before looking at the Fishman Island and realized that she was right. At the same moment, Hody snapped and immediately swims towards Luffy, who had her back turned on him.

"SWIM TO THE SIDE-GAAAaaahhh!" Luffy's statement got cuff as her neck was immediately grabbed by Hody, who swim past the distracted prince, making her bubble burst while the Pirate Captain swim and stops few feet away from the Royal Family. Shirahoshi gasped, her friend's statement made her remember what they originally planned before, but the desire of her Father to make sure the ship isn't damage made her forgot about it, and now she had to watch as the Rear Admiral is being chocked by Hody.

"Do what the Rear Admiral says, Shirahoshi!" Fukaboshi shouted, making his dear sister do what was said, crying. The Oldest Prince, however, was cursing internally for getting distracted and letting Hody grab hold of the Rear Admiral, who was glaring at the Pirate, not even panicking even though it seems that she was drowning.

Luffy knew better than to struggle, despite slowly losing air and being choked to death, she knew better to struggle because it will make things worse. Every move she made will make Hody tighten his grip on her throat and her body will feel weak a lot faster. She needs to think about how to get out of Hody's grip and fast. Hody's eyes, however, were no longer on Luffy, instead, they were on Shirahoshi, who was swimming to the side, this made him grit his teeth and tighten the grip on Luffy's neck before throwing her to the side and tried to swim after the mermaid. This movement was enough for Luffy, with a blink of an eye, she's creating a bubble around, the next second she was twirling an indigo silk fabric on the side, said the fabric was covered in indigo flames.

Ryuuboshi and Manboshi tried to go after Hody, while Fukaboshi swim behind Luffy and watched as fabric harden, and the next moment the oldest Prince saw is the Marine throwing the fabric like a chain towards Hody, circling his legs. The moment the fabric loosely wrapped around Hody's leg, Luffy turned slightly to the side and pulled the fabric, causing it to tighten around the Pirate Captain's leg and stopping him from swimming.

"Wha…?" Hody growled, looking at his leg then at the Rear Admiral, glaring.

"TORIKKU!" Hody roared, Luffy merely smirked at him, before pulling harder. Hody tried to resists, even going as far as trying to cut the fabric with his trident but the moment his weapon made contact with Luffy's, it didn't go through… as if the fabric was made out of chain and not out of silk. Hody snarled at her but turned into a smug smirk, and seeing that smirk brought fear to Luffy, not loosening her grip on her fabric, she immediately turned and gasps at the sight of the Noah falling.

"It's falling…" Luffy mumbled.

"The Noah is falling!" Her shout made her allies turned to look at the ship, screaming in despair at the sight of the ship falling to the island and being still in danger. Hody merely laughed in delight, happy that his plan is finally working and that the Fishman island will be destroyed in just a matter of minutes.

"So he finally bought it…" He snarled. "Now Vander Decken's power will stop working and the Noah will crash down onto Fishman Island! Die! G6 Marines! You fools have gotten in the way of my retribution."

"Fishman Island's going to…" Ryuuboshi started while Manboshi finished.

"… Be destroyed." Shirahoshi, cried, seeing the sight of the Noah falling instead of following her. She regretted not swimming to the side, that she just continued to swim up, instead of doing what her human friend had told her. Luffy gritted her teeth in anger, before turning to look at Hody and pulled him towards her. The smug bastard wasn't expecting this and still underestimated Luffy's strength that for a he got off guard and was pulled near Luffy, who immediately kicked him with her leg covered with Busoshoku Haki, piercing through the bubble. The moment Luffy's kick landed, her fabric loosen sending Hody meters away from them. She huffed in annoyance as her kick's effect wasn't that strong as it was on land, while Fukaboshi agreed at what she did before she was put back on his back again and they both swam towards the ship.

"One way or another, we have to stop the ship," Fukaboshi said pausing beside the falling ship. Gritting her teeth in anger, Luffy's eyes looked around, trying to find some ways to stop the ship from falling to the island, though her eyes couldn't help but stop at the chains every time she looks at the ship. What was the purpose of the chains? Why is it there?

"TOOORRRRIIIKKKKUUUU!" Hody shouted swimming straight forward Luffy and Fukaboshi. The former immediately snapped her eyes at him while the latter dodges the Shark Fishman by swimming up. Hody managed to stop in time from hitting the ship and glare at Luffy with anger.

"If you wanna stop the Noah, you have to get past me." He stated, smirking smugly. "You can't save Fishman Island unless you defeat me!"

"That bastard…" Luffy snarled in anger. Fukaboshi growled as well, remembering the words of his father before they left him behind. As Hody spoke, overconfidently, about how Luffy won't be able to stop Noah and defeat him, Luffy couldn't help but think to just destroy the ship, however, she remembered how Prince mentioned that the ship holds the past and future of the Fishman Island, making her hesitate.

"Please wait, Noah!" Shirahoshi suddenly screams, making Luffy snapped her head to looked at the Princess, only to see the said mermaid swimming down towards them. "There are many people on the island who are precious to me!"

Luffy cursed as the brother turned to look at their sister, who started to yell for Decken, begging to have the boat aim at her. Hody tsk in annoyance before attacking the Princess with Gyojin Karate: Umidaiko, fortunately for the Princess, her brother, Manboshi managed to block it, getting injured in the process instead. The Great White Shark Fishman laughs in delight before preparing for another attack again, only for his hand to be grabbed by Luffy's fabric-like chain. Hody glance at the fabric than at Luffy, who was using both hands to restrain him, before grinning and spins, successfully pulling Luffy from Fukaboshi's back and out of her bubble.

The Rear Admiral's eyes widen, and before she could let go of the fabric, she was already near Hody, who immediately punched her in the gut. Luffy grunts, spewing out some air, before receiving a kick in the head and flew directly to one of the rocky mountains near them.

"LUFFY-SAMA!" Shirahoshi shouted before swimming towards the Marine, her oldest brother following soon after, while Ryuuboshi when after their fallen brother. Hody smirked at them, before glancing at the fabric that was slowly disappearing, making him raised an eyebrow before shaking it off.

"While it seems that your fabric is useful, Torikku… it's useless against me! Dahahahahaha!" He laughed before looking back at the ship then at where Luffy is, before grinning darkly and swims towards the ship. Luffy inhaled deeply, coughing out some blood, the moment she was inside another bubble that Fukaboshi created once he reached them. She shakes her head and looked around, seeing the Princess and the Prince, she nodded in thanks. Shirahoshi smiled in relief, while Fukaboshi nodded before the three of them when and turned to look at the ship, gasping in despair, upon seeing Hody slicing the bubble of the ship.

"Oh no!" Luffy said, swimming straight, looking at the ship. "I need a bubble around the ship to take out Hody!" The Young Rear Admiral tried to swim towards the ship but was stopped by Fukaboshi, who was snarling before looking at her younger sister.

"Shirahoshi!"

"Hai!"

"Listen to me very carefully." He stated, Luffy glance between them. "I'm going to leave the Rear Admiral with you."

"Eh?"

"Luffy-sama?" Both teenage girls looked at each other before looking back at the Oldest Prince. "I have a plan remember Rear Admiral? One way or another, I will stop Hody… try at least. No matter what happens, believe in me and do not go far from the Noah. No matter what got it?"

Both girls blink in confusion. Now, normally, Luffy would ignore orders from anybody (unless there's a heavy consequence), but remembering the plan the Prince mentioned to her, she decided to stay put. As for Shirahoshi, she already regretted not following her friend's order earlier (she could swim up and then side once she passes some rocks that weren't that tall), so she will make sure to never ignore her brother's order. With those in mind, the two of them nodded in agreement. Fukaboshi smiled at them before swimming immediately towards Hody.

"HOODDDYY!" Fukaboshi shouted, said Fishman stopped and grinned towards the prince. Meanwhile, Luffy and Shirahoshi immediately went towards the ship, swimming below Hody and Fukaboshi, soon, the mermaid Princess was swimming beside the ship. As the Oldest Sibling fought and tried to get some answer from Hody, though he didn't get any answers insults instead, Shirahoshi and Luffy tried to circle the ship, searching for ways for it to stop. However, hearing Fukaboshi screaming in pain, made the mermaid princess stop and looked, screaming when she saw her older brother injured. Luffy gasped, before narrowing her eyes at the prince to see how badly he was hurt. Suddenly, Hody was blocking her view of the prince, declaring that he'll be attacking them next, making her grunt, before blinking in shock and relief together with Shirahoshi when the oldest prince moved to stand-swim behind the Pirate Captain.

"A fake strength like that can't beat me!" Fukaboshi declared.

"So you managed to survive?" Hody mockingly asked, attack the prince again. Luffy sighed, both in relief and exasperation, before turning to look at the pink-haired mermaid with her.

"Let's continue to search for ways to stop the ship without destroying it, Princess Shirahoshi." For a while, Shirahoshi continued to look at her older brother, before looking at her human friend and nodded. The two of them tried to ignore the fight going above them, though they couldn't really ignore the words being shouted. As the two of them circled the ship, Luffy was really found the chains weird, most especially when they have wheeled like pulley attaching them to the ship. Reviewing the image of the ship, the chains looked like those ropes that were used on some boxes that need to be dragged… what if…

"GAAAAHHH!" Hearing Fukaboshi screams again, Luffy blink, and then when Shirahoshi gasped in fear, she immediately looked up, eyes widening when she saw Hody had his blade fin, buried in Fukaboshi's gut, injuring the prince badly.

"FUKABOSHI-ONII-SAMA!" Hody then throws the oldest brother away from him. Seeing this, Luffy is conflicted, she wants to save the oldest brother as she didn't want her friends to lose their loved ones, she also wants to save her Nakama, which means to stop the ship. For the past years of being a Marine for the World Government, Luffy knew, and experienced, that she couldn't always save both things at the same time by doing it alone, but even with the help of her crew, they couldn't save two things. They must choose one… but choosing is… difficult. However, Shirahoshi, despite being in pain, didn't hesitate and continues to swim beside the ship. Closing her eyes, and ignoring her fallen brother.

"Princess Shirahoshi?!" Luffy cried out, looking at the princess, before falling quiet and gain a sad look upon seeing the pained expression of the mermaid princess. "Princess…"

After a while, Luffy blink, before looking down and reached into one of the pockets of her skirts, pulling out a den-den mushi that belongs to the prince, who gave it to her earlier.

"Rear Admiral Luffy-san. This is the Air Tank… I'm the one you met earlier." Hearing that Luffy blinked.

"Oh… you guys?"

"We've been briefed on this terrible situation. Our sensor has detected the falling Noah. Preparations are proceeding according to plan." The Fishman said, Luffy suddenly gasped, fully remembering the plan they had discussed earlier, a backup plan just in case Hody decided to destroy the bubble. The Rear Admiral couldn't help but slapped her forehead for forgetting this detail before shaking her head and looked at the snail.

"Luffy-sama, whatever shall you do about the Noah? Fukaboshi said that no matter what, you and I should stick together next to Noah." Shirahoshi stated, the raven-haired girl glance at her then at the snail again before inhaling and asked.

"Can you clarify to me how you're gonna give us that air?"

"We will be creating a bubble using the Air Tank, a device we used to transport air around the island. The bubble should be possible to completely enclose the Noah, however, it won't stop the ship from falling."

"Is there a downside to it?"

"… We will only get one shot. We will be using all the air we have to get a bubble big enough to enclose the Noah…"

"Then… if by any chance we missed the timing…"

"…There'll be no second chances."

"It's all or nothing then…" Luffy mumbled, before exhaling softly, closing her eyes for a couple of moments, and opening them after. Eyes darken with determination.

"Yes, ma'am. I wish we could do more, but all we can do is entrust everything to you. We're incredibly sorry for putting you in this position—"

"Don't worry about it!" Luffy said, smiling slightly. "Just make sure to give that air to me! As long as I have air, I'll manage!"

"Roger that. We'll do everything in our power to help you!" The Fishman said, determination glinting in his eyes. "Rear Admiral, we leave Fishman Island to you!"

"Torikku. Shirahoshi." Hody started, swimming directly towards them. "What do you think you'll accomplish by staying with Noah's descent? This is just the sort of idiocy I expect from a human and the Mermaid Princess!"

Luffy and Shirahoshi turned, gasping when Hody was about to attack them with his blade fin. Shirahosi screamed in terror, when Luffy immediately jumped, stopping and blocking Hody from moving forward. As the Pirate asked what she was doing, she merely snarled before flipping over his back and stood behind his Dorsal Fin. With the anger she's feeling, as well as her strength, Luffy broke the blade with both of her hands, pressing them tightly. As soon as the blade broke, Luffy immediately kicks Hody in the gut, covered with Busoshoku Haki, sending him away. Luffy watched him before her eyes widen when Hody, in what seems to be a desperate attempt, ate more energy steroids, turning him into more of a monster than he already is. She back away slowly upon seeing the crazed look he gained after eating the steroids.

"Shit!" Luffy cursed, eyes on Hody, while Shirahoshi cupped the bubble in her hands. "You really don't give up!"

"GIVE UP? YOU'RE THE ONE THAT NEEDS TO GIVE UP HUMAN!" Hody snarled, completely losing his mind. "JUST LOOKING AT YOU MAKES MY SKIN CRAWL. EVEN IF I SHORTEN MY LIFE… NO MATTER HOW MANY BYSTANDERS ARE HURT… I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE ON YOU HUMANS!"

"You bastard… just what have the humans done to you that you are willing to forsake the lives of your kin?!" Luffy asked while Shirahoshi flinched in fear. As the Guards in the Air tank readied themselves to shoot the air bubble toward Noah, Luffy suddenly received a call from Fukaboshi.

"Can you hear me, Rear Admiral?" Said Rear Admiral, turned half of her attention at the snail, while the other focuses on Hody.

"Fukaboshi-onii-sama's voice!"

"You're highness! Are you okay?" Both the Princess and Marine asked, frowning slightly and the pained pant they are hearing from him.

"By some miracle… *pants* I may… *pants* have the answer to your question *pants* Rear Admiral."

"Eh?"

"Listen carefully, about Hody Jones… *pants* I know his true character…"

"What do you know about Hody, Your Highness?!"

"Hody is… a monster who was brought to life by our environment!" Luffy's eyes widen, before looking directly at Hody, having a hint on what the Prince is talking about, and as he explained more, the puzzle about Hody is complete.

"The New Fishman Pirates are a group of monsters created from an ancient grudge!" Shirahoshi gasped before swimming away as Hody turned and chased after them. "The grudge was born from their ancestors in the shadow of the Fishman Island, and they fear that the grudge will be forgotten. That their anger against the humans will be dispelled. That's why they are so impatient. And they want humans to be evil so they can justify themselves for their crusade! They just want to see bloodshed and they don't even want peace for the Fishmen!"

"Then… Hody and his crew are nothing but enemies with an empty will and ambition!" Luffy concluded.

"Ahh… they are empty!" Luffy frowned, keeping quite as Shirahoshi tried to swim as fast as she can to match with the Noah's pace, while the guards at the air tank begged for the bubble to reach the 100% inflation in time for the Noah to passed.

"Hody-sama looks even more terrifying than before!" Shirahoshi said, looking at Hody, who was laughing so darkly at them, chasing them like a Great White Shark he is. Meanwhile, Fukaboshi continues telling Luffy that they were late, as they pushed forward to obtain peace for the island, they had failed to notice the lingering grudge of hatred in the Fishman District due to no contact, with anyone. Resulting the grudge grew out of control and then becoming a threat to the island.

"I filled my mother's shoes and collected signature but I was only dealing with superficial matters. But I thought I was making a progress!" Fukaboshi cried, thinking that in some way or another, he failed his mother, just like how he failed in protecting the island.

"People like them are the ones that my mother feared the most! We should have fought within ourselves first! We should have fought our own feeling towards humans! Mother… Mother was killed by the grudge growing on the island! Maybe she knew it! She made me promise to never get mad, resentment or hatred get the better of us for her sake! But a part of me held that resentment and hated humans for killing my mother! Dead people take their regret to the grave."

"So, a grudge is an illusion that the living creates and they alone cultivate it! Because I hated humans – even a bit, I overlooked the resentment in the Fishman District and when I finally noticed, it had become too powerful and beyond control! If nothing is done, the Fishman Island will… destroy itself through its own hatred toward humans!" Luffy looked at the den-den mushi sadly before snapping her eyes up to looked at the area where she sense Fukaboshi is.

"Rear Admiral Luffy, please!" He cried. "We don't need the past! Reset our history to zero! Wipe out those phantoms who shut the island away from the sun!" Luffy glanced at the side, her sad expression disappearing at the sight of the bubble going directly to the Noah, before smiling happily at the snail soon after Fukaboshi said his desire.

"Bring the Fishmand Island back… to zero!"

"Shut up, Fukaboshi! The Fishmen's grudge will last forever!" Hody laughed.

"Your highness… as long as you let me handle it my way, don't worry." Luffy looked at the side again, her smile turning into a happy grin at the sight of the bubble enveloping the Noah. She giggled as she felt the happy voices of Guards in the air tank, voices she needs to hear and not the hatred or resentment Hody was letting out during this whole time. "Actually, our minds were made up when we arrive at the plaza that, along with Jimbei, we wouldn't let anyone harm the island! So… leave it all up to us, Your Highness! After all, the G6 Crew and me… well, we're friends, right?"

Fukaboshi gaped as tear keeps on sliding down from his face before closing his mouth as his tears of pain turned into happiness. And just like that, the overpowering voices of hatred were replaced with happiness, voice that Luffy let herself be soothed over. Soon enough, Shirahoshi is swimming nearly directly in front of the Noah.

"Luffy-sama! There is air on the Noah now!" Shirahoshi said, smiling at her human friend, who smiled back at her.

"Yeah!" Luffy then stood up, as she turned and watched Hody. "Just stay with me, Princess Shirahoshi! I promise I won't let you be hurt!" The Rear Admiral stated when the Princess got scared at the oncoming Fishman.

"Okay!" Hody blink, wondering why the mermaid princess was swimming backward while showing him the sight of Luffy standing inside the bubble, spinning her bo staff beside her. Soon, the princess let go and swim slightly away as Luffy stayed in her spot, while Hody continues to swim towards her.

"Luffy-sama!" Shirahoshi shouted, said human merely looked at him with determination, spinning her staff faster and faster. At the island, Luffy could feel the voices of her crew, fighting against their enemy. Fighting for the island, for their friends, and her. Letting herself hear only the voice of the happiness the people on the island have, as well as hear the voices of her crew, the Young Rear Admiral is more than determined to defeat the pirate in front of her. "Hody-sama is coming!"

"You wouldn't let anyone harm the island? Give it you best shot!" Hody said swimming directly towards Luffy, whose bo staff slowly got covered with a purple flame, as the Fishman got close towards her, Luffy twirled, before thrusting her staff on Hody's gut.

"Kami… KOROSU!" She shouted, before flinging Hody away, who grunted at the feeling of being punched by someone stronger and not by staff. However, it was not enough, as Luffy continued to spin her staff, Hody, seemingly manage to expel the force Luffy put into the attack, stopping himself from being flown far away from his prey.

"It's not working!" Hody laughed, looking at the two girls.

"L-Luffy-sama!" Shirahoshi shouted in concern while Luffy calmly looked at Hody.

"It's no use, Rear Admiral," Hody said, ignoring how the staff got covered with Busoshoku Haki. "We were granted power from heaven! Dahahahaha! Give it up! You can't stop the Noah now! And you will lose everything!"

"No… I'm going to finish the whole thing that you started, Hody. I will finish it!"

"You can't finish anything, Torikku! It's all over now!" Hody immediately swims towards Luffy.

"I won't let anyone… hurt or destroy the precious things my friend and I hold dear ever again!" Luffy declared, the image of the people in Foosha Village flashing in her eyes. An indigo flame then covered the haki that was covering her staff, which was gathering at both ends of her weapon. Shirahoshi gasped, watching as after an idigo flame, there were suddenly sparks of electricity around it. One spark, and then another, suddenly on the third spark, there were multiple colors playing around each tip. The Mermaid Princess watched in awe at the sight of the united colors playing with each other, though despite her good eye-sight, she really couldn't identify the color as the other colors had less opaque than the purple and indigo.

"Unità della Fiamma…" Luffy started.

"I'll destroy the staff of yours!" Hody declared, while Shirahoshi watched with bated breathe, when Luffy, with the use of geppo, was suddenly above Hody, her staff outside and was folded in half, making both ends meet each other and creating a huge ball of flames, and with a twist of her body, one of the ends of the staff hit Hody in the same place Luffy hit him earlier.

"…Sfondamento Illusorio!" The Rear Admiral finished, the moment her staff meets Hody's body, electricity suddenly surrounds him in huge amount, while an orange flame burst out from behind. Hody puked out some blood, while Luffy gritted her teeth and with a twist, sent him directly to the Noah. Luffy panted, the flames on her staff disappearing. She inhaled deeply before looking at the direction where she sent Hody flying, knees shaking.

'I used too much.' She thought.

"She did it!" The guards in the air tank cheered, making her eyes snapped at the area they were in. Rear Admiral, Torikku Meiden, Luffy-san defeated… Hody, the Captain of the New Fishman Pirates, finally!"

"It's not over yet!" She shouted, before turning to looked at the Mermaid Princess. "Princess Shirahoshi, take me to the Noah!"

"Okay!" Shirahoshi swims towards the ship, while Luffy grabs her hair.

"Swim as fast as you can!"

"Okay!" Not long after, Luffy felt Hody moved, standing up from the place he was buried at, before eating more energy steroids. The Young Rear Admiral's eyes widen before frowning heavily as the Great White Shark Fishman laughs crazily.

"He's as tough as the elite bounties," Luffy mumbled to herself, before wincing in pain and slightly bend over, one of her hands going to her stomach where Hody punched earlier.

"Shit… the bruise should have healed by now." She mumbled, before remembering that when the Fishman punched him, she got soak with seawater. "Damn it."

"Luffy-sama…" Shirahoshi slightly called out, looking at the back of her friend sadly, but the Rear Admiral merely waves her hand at her before she focused on her enemy. Said enemy moved from his spot and then repeats the things he kept on saying since earlier. Luffy merely snarled at him, annoyed at how he seems to repeat everything, but right after, Hody was already charging at her at maximum speed. The raven-haired girl manages to jump away from Hody, arching over him and swings her staff at him, but the moment it made contact, the body dispersed. Luffy landed on the ship and raised her staff across her, looking around her, using her haki to follow Hody's movement.

Sensing Hody stopping behind her, she spins, her staff following her momentum but then the Fishman manages to avoid it, jumping up, and grabs both of her shoulders. Luffy screams slightly when Hody tighten his grip as if he wants to remove her arms off, and due to the pain, Luffy lets go of the staff, though she did manage to step on in immediately to avoid it rolling away from her. However, such actions were pointless as Hody immediately went and kneed her in the stomach, sending her to the wall of the ship, before he stepped on her staff and crushed it. Luffy moved away from the spot she was buried before covering her legs and arms with Busoshoku Haki and then used geppo towards, immediately punching the pirate in the gut with both of her hands, palms open. Hody screamed in slight pain and annoyance before biting Luffy's left arm.

"GAAAAAAHHHH!" She screamed, before stopping herself. Raising one of her hands, fingers slightly curling, Luffy immediately thrust it towards Hody.

"Gosshigan!" She shouted, Hody grunted, opening his mouth as his teeth separated from Luffy, who panted, her arm hanging at the side limply. She watched as another set of teeth grew from Hody's mouth, which then reminds her of how Arlong had done the same.

"My fangs aren't just for show! That's gotta hurt, Torikku!" Luffy then grabs the teeth that were stuck in her arms, mentally kicking herself for not having her body covered with haki. Soon after, she manages to remove them, her arm bleeding heavily. As she willed her body to heal a lot faster and think of ways to defeat Hody, said pirate continued to speak, repeating what he always spoke since the beginning of the fight. She pursed her lips in annoyance, the longer Luffy listens to Hody, the more she is convinced that he's sounding like a broken record. The Young Rear Admiral tried to raise her arm, before grunting when the wound reopens, not having enough time to fully close, and thus more blood drip down from her arm.

Shirahoshi cried at the sight of blood dripping down from her friend's body, while said friend ignores it and instead raised her arms, moving them, as if wanting to get used to the pain. Which she successfully did a few movements later, Luffy was no longer feeling any pain, despite the blood dripping down from her arm. Though she really wished that she hadn't submerged that much in the sea so that her ability to heal wouldn't be that delayed.

"You can't defeat me!" Hody laughs.

"Weren't you listening?" Luffy asked calmly, taking a step forward towards Hody, who was watching her. "I thought I told you… Both Fishman Island… and Shirahoshi… and my promise to my friends… I… will protect them all!"

"Humans don't seem to learn their lesson until they're dead," Hody said. "You're weak, and you don't know your place! So why don't I make you understand?!"

"I don't have time for this… Let's settle this, Hody!"

"GO AHEAD AND TRY!" Hody shouted, before punching the floor underneath him. Luffy gasped as the water came out from the newly created holes.

"Princess Shirahoshi! Get back!" Luffy ordered, which made the mermaid comply and immediately swims away.

"Hai!"

"Gyojin Juujutsu Mizugokoro!" Hody shouted. "Murasame!" Suddenly, he is already firing shark like water shots at Luffy, who grunted before dodging every attacked though, as Hody began to do a rapid fire, Luffy couldn't manage to avoid four water shots directed at her. The moment one water shots hits her, she couldn't help but grunt in pain, and then when more water shots barrage at her, she screamed. Shirahoshi, who was swimming up, turned to look back at the ship to see the Marine being buried under waves and waves of water shots.

"Luffy-sama…" She sobbed out, covering her mouth with her hand as she heard her brother crying out for the Marine as well. Hody laughed and laughed at the sight of the human girl falling towards him and the inner part of the ship, waiting to blast another set of attacks.

"LUFFY-SAMAAAAAA!" Shirahoshi cried out, immediately swimming back to her friend when she saw her falling towards their enemy. Luffy continues to fall, and fall, and then suddenly… her hands were moving up to the side, slowly getting covered with Busoshoku Haki, her fingers curling again. Looking up, Luffy glared at Hody, who was frozen, astonished that she was still able to move despite the wounds she had.

"Just give it up… and die!" Hody tsk, before sending another wave of water shots at Luffy.

"Jugon Ogi!" The Rear Admiral said, before punching the air in front of her. "Kitsune Thrasher!"

And soon, the air the Luffy punches manage to stop and destroy the water shots, and she's not stopping there. With the use of geppo on Luffy's legs, she's suddenly in front of Hody, who flinch back in shock, before receiving multiple barrages of attacks from her.

"Gekko Jusshigan!" And with multiple usages of geppo, Luffy manages to push the Fishman to the walls of Noah. She stopped before she could follow Hody and as the Pirate Captain tried to curse the Fishman island, Luffy got herself covered with indigo-like mist, and with a blink of an eye there were ten tail-like shapes behind, the tips were slightly curled like a ball and covered with haki, When Luffy raised her arms to the side, the tails followed.

"Dieci Code: Palle Gatling!" Luffy shouted before swinging her hands to the front, and then the tails were suddenly punching Hody, beating him up and digging him further and further to the ship. And when Luffy felt that Hody was nearing the other side of the ship, she raised her hands at the sides again.

"Gekko…" Luffy said, her nails elongated as her finger curled to her palms. "Jusshigan!"

And with the help of one of the six techniques of Rokushiki as well as her tails, successfully managed to knock Hody out of the ship and making him lose his consciousness, while she flew slightly back up to the top the ship due to the shockwave she created. Those who were watching her battle gasps in shock at the sight of the Pirate Captain bursting out through the walls, unconscious and bloody.

"She… She did it! This time, she really… beat Hody!" Luffy panted, ignoring the cheering she can hear from the guards in the air tank. She then looked around the ship, knowing that despite Hody being defeated, the ship will continue to fall towards the island, she just removed one problem to continue to the other. Walking towards the top of the ship, Luffy glances as she walks but only she can see are gigantic underwater rocks… gigantic rocks… that's it!

"Luffy-sama!" Shirahoshi shouted, worriedly as her friend continued to walk up while her blood flows freely from her shoulder. Inhaling deeply, Luffy let herself relax sightly, soon her arms were hanging limply beside her and the moment she did, she exhaled deeply and with a shudder, huge waves of Indigo expelled from her body, wave after wave came out from Luffy and each wave went and covered the ship, starting from her location and then heading towards the bottom. Shirahoshi watched in awe as bright indigo soon covered the ship and then with a blink of an huge chain-like tendrils came out, snapped towards the gigantic rocks, some sticking to it like harpoons while others wrapped itself around the rocks.

The Princess smiled in delight and relief when it stops the Noah from falling, but when she looked at Luffy, her smile fell. She could see it from her place, her human friend standing while her bleeding arms were raised at her side, panting as waves of flame continued to expelled from her own body. Shirahoshi can also see her knees struggling to stand up, ignoring the pool of blood gathering at her feet.

"LUFFY-SAMA!" Shirahoshi cried out as she swims as fast as she can towards her friend.

"….no honō – shakkururaisutā…" She heard Luffy mumbled, as she paused just outside the bubble. As soon as she arrived, the mermaid princess screamed in terror, shocking the guards and her brother.

"Lu-Luffy-sama… you're…you're eyes!" Tears of anguish fell from her eyes at what she was seeing. "YOU'RE EYES ARE BLEEDING!"

~Meanwhile at the Plaza~

The G6 Marines were having the time of their life fights with enemies after months of not fighting. Yu did notice small white balls were floating around the plaza, if he knew his Rear Admiral then he is pretty sure these balls are spread everywhere in the island. And in the middle of their fight, the Royal Guards arrived, at first, they thought that they would capture them for the prediction, the destroyed palace, or whatever Zoro and the others did in the palace, but it shocked, and gladden, them that they joined forces with them instead of the being another enemy they need to fight. Though, as much as they were enjoying their fights, they couldn't help but worry about their Luffy, they have faith in her, but they also know how far she is willing to go just to help a friend, that's why hearing the broadcast from the den-den mushi relaxed them slightly, hearing her defeat the pirate captain made them smile and cheer. Hearing the mermaid princess screaming about bleeding eyes, gave them fear.

"Eh?" Hana asked as she froze, ignoring the Fishman that was about to swing his swords at her, luckily a Royal Guard blocked it for her.

"Did… did we hear it right…" Mina walks in dazed towards Yu, whose body was rigid as a stone. While they did hear her screaming in pain earlier, they knew that it wasn't that bad, because they already heard a much, much worst scream than that.

"Luffy's eyes… are bleeding…?" Nami asked Robin, who was frozen beside her.

"LUFFY-SAMA! PLEASE STOP THIS! YOU'RE… YOU'RE BLEEDING HEAVILY!" Hearing that, the G6 Marines moved away from their position. The commanders of the New Fishman Pirates were already defeated by them (They were just about to celebrate when they heard the scream! Why? Why did this happen?!), they can let Royal Guards handle the lower ones. Jimbei watched them as they ran towards the ship.

"Can we launch the ship to where Luffy is, Franky?" Nami shouted, but before she could receive an answer, they could hear their Rear Admiral speaking, making them pause from running as they looked up at the sky with slight relief but a huge amount of terror was overlapping that relief.

"I don't want to…"

"BUT! RIGHT NOW! YOUR FACE IS PAINTED WITH BLOOD!"

"It's just… for a few more seconds Princess Shirahoshi…"

"Eh?"

"Just for a few seconds… and then… we can go back to the plaza… and be with everyone else… just… for a few more seconds…"

"LUFFY-SAMA!"

"LUUUUFFFFYYYY!" The G6 Marines shouted, begging, pleading, praying that what their Luffy said will come true.

~Back at the Noah~

Luffy panted heavily as her knees fell to her blood, cracks around the ship were seen as the flames tighten their hold around the ship as well as the tendrils that were wrapped around the underwater rocks. Right after, she finished telling the princess that she had just a few more seconds, she could feel her crew's anguish, which is what she didn't want, but she needs to do this.

"Luffy-sama!" Shirahoshi shouted again, before looking at the side when she heard the rocks cracking, then at the ship when she heard it creak. She gasped when some parts were completely separated from the ship and fall to the bubble and the island.

"Luffy-san!" The guards shouted seeing the flames tightening around the ship when it tried to descent down.

"She… she managed to somehow postpone the fall of the Noah, but she's bleeding heavily, and as the Noah tried descent, whatever the Rear Admiral is using to hold the ship tighten its grip, destroying some of its parts!" One of them explained, hoping that if the people heard it, they cheer for their savior and their savior could use it for encouragement. And Luffy did, she could hear the people cheering for her, shouting her name, and in the deep of their heart to save the island. Using the voice she heard and what she knew on how to use, Luffy pleaded mentally blood dripped down from her eyes, going deep and deep down into her haki, and called for help.

'Please… I need your help…'

"Call… call for help!" The voices screamed. "Stop the Noah! Call for help!"

'Please… I need your help!'

Luffy suddenly coughed out blood, as the wounds on her arm began to bleed heavily, when the Noah move a bit further down, making the flames tighten their grip on the ship and the rocks.

"Luffy-sama!" Shirahoshi cried, swimming around the Noah, unable to help her friend as every time she tried to go near, tendrils will appear before her and stopped her from going further, without even harming her.

'I need your help!'

"Promise! The Promise needs to be fulfilled! Call for help!"

'I NEED YOUR HELP! STOP THE SHIP!'

…

…

.

"STOP!" Luffy paused slightly, the grip of the flames on the ship and rocks, relaxing.

"Who… who's there?" She panted and then suddenly Shirahoshi was in front of her. "Shirahoshi?"

"You need to stop, Luffy-sama!" Shirahoshi pleaded. "The Noah is already… stopped!"

Luffy panted heavily, looking up and around the ship, eyes widening at the sight of gigantic sea kings, Neptunians, grabbing hold of the chains that were connected to the ship. Her eyes widen even further when she realized that her thought from earlier was right. The chains were build just to drag the ship, and those who would drag the ships… are the Neptunians in front of her. Shirahoshi grabbed her human friend, as she floated on the deck with a bubble-wrapped around her tail.

"Luffy-sama!" Shirahoshi shouted, cupping the human between her hands, tears falling as her friend was covered with her own blood.

"Y-you're bleeding a lot!" And that was an understatement, nearly all of her clothes were dyed with red.

"Well… well… that's good… as long as the ship is stopped." She panted, face already pale, slowly losing consciousness. "I'm glad everybody's… safe…"

"Luffy-sama!" Shirahoshi shouted as she watched her friend lost consciousness in her hands and the indigo flames disappearing.

"She's fine." One of the Neptunian said, their voices echoing on Shirahoshi and Luffy's minds. Shirahoshi gasped as she looked at them.

"Oh, boy… what a human!"

"She is a very strong one, isn't she?"

"If we were late, we could still have saved the island but the Noah would have been destroyed."

Shirahoshi looked at each and every one of the Neptunians that were holding the chains, astonished.

"I'm glad that we made it!"

"I'm glad that the human called us! Well, Princess Shirahoshi did as well, but her voice isn't as loud as the human girl!"

"Eh? But I didn't do anything…" Shirahoshi said because really, she just watched as her friend try her best to destroy the ship to save her island. She then watched and listen as each Neptunians talked one by one, explaining what has happened, continue each other's statements.

"No, you were resonating with the Rear Admiral's strong determination and prayed together with her."

"She wished strongly to help the island, and you wished, just as strong, to help him save the island."

"Our power is your power, and for some reason, as hers as well. So, we helped because you two called us."

~At the Plaza~

The G6 Marines could only watch and prayed as the ship, hovered above the island, waiting for the results, what's happening next, as well as the status of their beloved leader. They waited with bated breath when they could hear statics from the den-den mushi.

"A-All people of the Kingdom. Wh-what just happen here was beyond words but it happened for sure! The Noah is stopped! The ship didn't get destroyed completely, and the Fishman Island has been saved!"

Cheers resounded around the plaza, screams for Luffy's epithet could be heard, gratitude is being resonated all around. But not the G6 Marines, they weren't cheering at all, they weren't because… they didn't know the status of Luffy. They are happy she stopped it but… what happen to her?

"Luffy… What about Luffy?"

"WHAT ABOUT OUR REAR ADMIRAL!?"

~At the Noah~

Shirahoshi looked at the human, unconscious in her hands, with relief and happiness, then at the gigantic sea kings around her.

"Princess Shirahoshi, we have been waiting for you to be born for a long time."

"For me?"

"This ship is designed to be pulled by us."

"Since very early times, the duty has been passed on."

"Is that why the Noah is so big?"

"Yes."

"Once in many centuries, our queen comes into the world in the form of Mermaid. I wonder why."

"I wonder why as well."

"Ever since you were born, you have been our queen."

"Eh?"

"Look, the bubble is getting absorbed by the island."

"The human can't survive in the deep sea."

"You better go and save her."

Shirahoshi gasped and watched as the bubbles around her shrink before she swims away and towards the island and plaza. The Neptunians watched her go, their eyes on the human lying down on her hands.

"Am I imagining things?"

"What?"

"That girl manage to call us and notice our voice."

"I doubt it."

"Something like this happened not so long ago."

"Yes, I remember."

"I wonder why…"

"I wonder why as well."

~At the Plaza~

The Marines paced around their ship, while they did hear the guards saying about how the sea kings went and stopped the ship, there is still no news about Luffy and that's what worries them the most. Jimbei could be seen stopping the slaved humans and Fishman pirates from escaping the plaza, though he was also glancing at them once in a while. There was a ruckus between the citizens of the island, about how they didn't truly trust the Marines because they're all human, and as a dark aura surrounds the fishmen, the princes arrived with a knocked out Hody hanging in their hands, as well as, Vander Decken. Soon enough, the commanders of the Pirates, their Captain, and Decken were all chained up.

The Marines watched them do this, as well as, how the prince reassured their people on how the people chained up won't harm them anymore. That was when they heard the cries of Shirahoshi, who was swimming as fast as she could towards them.

"Please help me!" The Princess shouted, the Marines watched, eyes on her hands that were cradle near her chest. "I cannot stop Luffy-sama's bleeding!"

Hearing that, some of the Lower Ranking Marines as well as Chopper went to their ship and towards their infirmary gathering every necessary material to help their Rear Admiral. Soon, Luffy has gently put to a white sheet that one of the marines threw towards Hana, who, together with her twins, laid it down on the ocean floor. While the rest gathered around them in circles.

"Hey Luffy, stay with us!" Ussop shouted as Nami, wiped the blood on her face, while Robin holds a water basin that was slowly turning into a deep color of red.

"Luffy-sama pushed herself so far to save us!" Shirahoshi cried, tears falling to the ground. Soon enough, Chopper and those who followed him were back at the plaza.

"This is bad!" Chopper said, making them looked at him.

"We don't have blood bags for Luffy's blood type!" Peter declared while Chopper kneeled beside their Rear Admiral and readied the hemostatics.

"EH?!"

"Don't you have blood bags for every type Chopper?" Yu asked.

"…No… Luffy told me that she won't be needing it because she heals fast!"

"Well, obviously we need one! Because her fruit won't heal that fast if she got soaked with water every single moment!" Yu declared, pacing back and forth, while Zoro fingered his hilt.

"Will Luffy-sama be alright?" Shirahoshi asked.

"I can stop the bleeding but he already lost a lot of blood!" Chopper said as Nami moved away with Robin, while Hana and Mina kneeled on the place they were kneeling earlier. They then sterilize the tools they have with them.

"Luffy-schwan is the only one with blood type F among us…" Sanji said, bitting his cigarettes worriedly.

"F is the rarest blood for us humans… but…" Zoro mumbled, before glancing over his shoulder.

"Are they the same?" Gin asked, whispered as Hana and Mina, wiped the blood on her shoulder.

"It doesn't hurt to try," Gray stated before shouting. "Is there someone with blood type F here?!"

"She needs blood!" Franky shouted, watching as the citizens they rescued looked away while the Oldest Prince was looking at them with disappointment.

"Can somebody donate blood?!" Brook asked, before looking at Zoro and Yu, who both tsked.

"Really? Nobody?"

"AH! Donating blood to humans is prohibited in this country!" Chopper shouted, right after cutting the clothes that blocking him from seeing Luffy's injuries.

"Are you serious?!" Ussop asked.

"Ahh…" Gin agreed, clenching his hands.

"What kind of law is that?" Nami asked, kneeling beside Luffy's, holding her right hand.

"I beg you! Luffy is dying!" Mina shouted looking around the citizens.

"We can't lose her! We nearly did before! We don't want it! Please!" Hana shouted, memories of blood on the floor, begging for Luffy to wake up.

"Can someone please help her?!" Robin asked, but all she could see were the eyes of the citizens looking away from them, clearly conflicted. While Shirahoshi tried to donate hers, which is appreciated, it won't be good. That was when they remembered the human pirates but no one step forward.

"At this rate… Luffy is…" Gray mumbled eyes on the Rear Admiral, her pale complexion.

"Damn it! Her devil fruit is still not helping her!" Yu snarled, not knowing that the last ability Luffy used on postponing the ship from falling to the island was dangerous for her.

"Please! Luffy's gonna die! We don't want it!" Usopp begged while the lower-ranking marines shouted for assistance as well. Zoro gritted his teeth, before snapping his head up, looking to the side when he heard some clanking of wooden sandals heading towards them. The rest of them followed as well, eyes widen at the sight.

"Take my blood. It's F, you can have as much as you need." Jimbei said, lowering the sleeves of his kimono. The G6 Crews' face suddenly lifted in happiness, before smiles filled with gratitude were directed at him. Nami immediately runs towards him and hugs him.

"Thank you! Really, thank you! Jimbei-chan!" She cried before moving away and help her crew with the preparation for the procedure.

"But it's against the law…" Chopper said, making the others paused and looked at the Shichibukai.

"I am a pirate! I'm already defying the laws of my country!"

Cheers then resonated across the plaza, then they watched as the shichibukai laid down beside the Rear Admiral. As Hana and Mina stitched Luffy's wound, the marines formed a circle around them, Chopper went and inserted the needles on Jimbei's vein and then to Luffy's.

"Thanks, Jimbei…" Luffy mumbled, smiling, as Jimbei's blood flowed through the tube and then to the bag before hers. "You really don't have to… but thanks."

"Luffy-schwan!"

"Luffy!"

"Rear Admiral!"

"Luffy-sama!"

"Well… you are my friend… so I'm more than happy to help you out… Also, I didn't know that you were awake." Jimbei said, blushing slightly.

"Shishihshi! Well, since we're friends… your more than welcome to give us a call if you're presence is needed in Marineford or want to go to the surface… My crew is more than willing to be there for you." She said, glancing around. "When the Royal Family goes to the next Revelry, then don't hesitate to call us too. G6 Marines are your friends and we are more than willing to fight the world that wishes to bring you harm."

"Thank-Jamon," Neptune said, floating above the plaza.

"Hmm… also… you can visit the islands under my protection… if you guys want to try to live with humans or have fun!" She then gives them a bright smile, making their breath hitched.

"Thank you…" Jimbei and the Royal Family mumbled, as cheers resonated around the plaza once again, this time, no more sad moments. This time, it was full of happiness and celebration.

~End of Flashback~

"The Marines didn't stay long, but they did come back after a couple of months, this time with people, who are on 'vacation' leave," Fukaboshi stated as Jimbei laughed.

"Imagine our shock that the vacation leave was actually an excuse to repair the Noah and the tower they accidentally sliced! Hahahaha!"

"All in all, we owe our lives to the Torikku Meiden and her crew-Jamon." Neptune finished, drinking a tankard of beer, while the Whitebeard tried to process what they just learned. Marco was seen holding the bridge of his nose, massaging it, as he tried to understand what just happen.

"…What?" Ace blurted out. "A Crew of Marines just what?"

Sabo groaned and slapped the back of his older brother's head.

"Keep up with the pace Ace!"

"Shut it 'Bo!"

"What about the humans and the pirates?" Izo asked, ignoring the quarreling siblings behind him.

"Oh, the pirates we turned them into soldiers and live here in the main island because I sealed off the Fishman District, we were able to control them with Jimbei's help as well as my sons. As for the humans, we released them, but they were taken under custody by Rear Admiral Torriku and by Vice-Admiral Tsuru." The Minister of the Left answered, before shuddering when he remembers the fury of the woman that was known for her 'Clean Justice'.

"Did something bad happen?" Haruta asked, seeing the shudder of the Minister and the paling faces of every male that were present that day.

"Ahh…" The Minister of the Right started, before shaking his head. "We received a lot of scolding and we'll just leave it at that."

The Whitebeard Pirates looked at each other, wondering if it was that bad or not. Whitebeard was stroking his chin before asking.

"And the humans we saw today?"

"Oh, it's their turn to fixed the ship, ooohhh, mambo!"

"And it's highly impressive that despite the changes of personnel, the ship getting fixed as if it's a work of one person, mi-fa-so-la-ti-do~"

"Indeed, and some of our citizens are helping them, as well as, learning a few things here and there." Fukaboshi nodded, while Shirahoshi smiled brightly.

"Some of our people were also able to visit Torikku's base! Though they admitted that they were worried about their reaction, the people at the base treated them well, and very much genuine!"

"HOHOHOHO! Soon, if my people are comfortable, they might decide to visit the islands under her protection-Jamon."

"But wait! Aren't you worried it's a trick?" Thatch suddenly asked, eyeing the King, who grew solemn, while Shirahoshi was pouting at him, a bit angry.

"While we did fear that…" Jimbei said. "I already spend a lot of time with the crew and the islands they have, and they were all genuine. If it was a trick… what's the purpose of saving our island, nearly sacrificing their lives, if they are planning something bad?"

"He didn't mean it that way…" Marco said, knowing that Thatch's question seems to upset them. "We're just worried because this happens without us knowing-yoi."

"Well, I'm glad that it happens," Shirahoshi said, blushing. "Because if it didn't then I won't meet my first human friend, and Vander Decken would still hunt for me."

The Royal Family, the ministers, and the guards nodded in agreement, though they would appreciate if there wasn't any life and death situation but yeah, everything's good.

"I'm glad, yoi." Marco smiled, but Whitebeard was confused about something. Throughout the story, they were just calling the Marines that helped them either by epithet or title, don't they know her name?

"I want to know something." He asked, making them looked at him.

"Throughout the story, you just called the Rear Admiral by her title or epithet, do you know their name?" That question seems to wilt the princess as the rest grimace.

"I apologize, my friend." Neptune started. "While we do know her name… we promised to her that we will not tell or mention her name to anyone-Jamon."

"Why, yoi?" Marco asked eyes narrowed.

"That is also not our story to tell…"

"I see…" Whitebeard mumbled. "Well, hopefully, we can meet this Rear Admiral soon so that I can personally thank them for helping a friend in need."

"HOHOHOHO! I hope so my friend, you would like her cheekiness." Neptune grinned, truly excited for Luffy and Whitebeard to meet, it'll be chaotic and wonderful.

"Oh?" Whitebeard hummed as the King laughs again.

"You might even want her a daughter-Jamon!"

"Gurararara!" Whitebeard, if there is someone else who knows him more than his children and Roger, then it would be Neptune, now if Neptune says that he might want the Brat as a daughter, then he will most likely like this girl. "If you put it that way, then I can't wait to have her join my family, Gurararara!"

'Then I'll have three more daughters by the end of the year, gurararara!' Whitebeard thought, not knowing the three daughters he had in his mind, refers to one person only. But well, that person also has people that will follow her to the ends of the earth, so they might as well be his children too.

As everyone thought about meeting this mysterious Torikku Meiden, Marco couldn't help but connect that the person who helped the Fishman Island is Luffy, as it would totally explain the closeness she had with the people in the island as well as the Royal Family, as well as the painting she had in her base. One mysteries solved, but there is still more that he needs to uncover, and he can't wait to discover all of it. The Phoenix licks his lips, delighted on finding out more about his current prey before raising his tankard, and decided to join the celebration that began as soon as everyone decided to just process what they learned the next day.

Ace and Sabo were already eating to their heart contents and as the Mermaid Princess watched them eat, she couldn't help but compare them with Luffy. They were eating as much as she did, though she is more gracefully about it than them. As everyone's thoughts drifted away from the Rear Admiral, and just enjoyed the celebration, they didn't notice one den-den mushi getting a video of their party. They won't know that's it there by morning because, it'll be gone by then, nor would they know that the video is sent to the very Rear Admiral that they were thinking off.

~G6 Base~

Luffy watched at the screen monitor she had hidden in her room as the Whitebeard Pirates partied inside the palace. The moment she received a call from the Marines that were on the island and was informed that the Strongest Pirate Crew was there, she immediately told them what to do, before turning one of the den-den mushi she left behind so that she could watch them, her brothers. And as she watched them partying, noticing how happy her older brothers are, she couldn't stop the tears that fell from her eyes, reaching a hand out to, wanting to touch them in the flesh and what met her fingers were cold screens.

Feeling that, she sobbed and hope, oh Oda, how she hoped that she would be able to touch them soon and have a happy reunion. But she's a marine and their pirates… they probably won't want her ever again… Luffy didn't know how wrong she was, she didn't know that her brothers will always want her as their baby sister, but what did she know after being under the marines for more than three years? If there is something that Luffy knew… is that if she and her brothers ever meet… it'll be chaotic and not in a good kind. And she was right, because when they do meet… there will be blood…

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TBC

A/N: I'm so sorry everyone for not updating for nearly 4 months T-T. I hope this chapter and my side story made up for those misses! I also, hope you like this chapter and enjoyed it.

Status:

Chapter 9: Outline 30%

Chapter 10: No Progress

Reviews:

galdonesgwyndyl: Thanks for the review and waiting! I hope this chapter is something you liked.

KanaeAnne: Awww! Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying this story and I do hope this chapter gave you joy! I do apologize for the wait. Thanks for the review!

SerenaDragneel: You're most welcome! And I'm glad you're enjoying the story ^_^ Hope this one made you happy as well! I hope you will read the bottom of this page because I had a special announcement! Thanks for the Review!

ashleyguyu: It's late but thank you for the greeting! I didn't even realize that a year had passed since I started to post this tory and I'm glad you're happy with this :D I hope you like this chapter too and thanks for the review!

Danix: I'm sooo soorrryyy! Hopefully, this one made up for the wait you had to bear. Thanks for the double review!

: Thank you so much! and yes I will continue the story, updates might be late but I will update it until I finished them. Thanks for the review!

Kate-Kitkat: Aww, I'm glad you love this story! and I know the ship has fewer fics about them but who knows maybe in the future there will be plenty :D Thanks for the story, I hope you like this chapter too!

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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!

A one-side story for From Caged Marines to Whitebeard Pirates is up! Let's give a hand to SerenaDragneel! Information on why is provided in the story, titled 'One Promise Fulfilled', but to sum it up, it's thanks to SerenaDragneel that we have that story, I hope you guys like it! Have Fun!

Thanks again SerenaDragneel!