Freddie and his section of the crew returned to the Humo Robinson, figurative (and literal) boatload of food and supplies in tow. He boarded the ship and found Shaska relaxing on her favorite deck chair with the newspaper and a large glass of wine. There were also numerous grunts swabbing the decks and washing the windows.

"Uh, boss, isn't it a bit early to be drinking?" Freddie asked.

Shaska took a sip of her wine and said "isn't it a bit early to be asking dumb questions?" She puffed on her cigar and followed with "you got any change for me, kid?"

Freddie pulled out a stack of cash and handed it to Shaska, who greedily snatched it and counted it up before shoving it in her jacket. Shaska paused for a moment, then pulled out a ten thousand berry bill and handed it back to Freddie.

"Good work, kid," she said with the slightest smile and a puff of smoke.

"Oh, wow, thanks, boss!" Freddie said, taking the money and putting it in his pocket.

"Don't mention it," Shaska responded, sipping her wine one last time before standing up and stretching.

She turned to the grunts cleaning the ship and exclaimed "alright, maggots! We got our supplies! Put 'em away and we can get this show on the road!"

Zinnia was about to speak, but Ren quickly reached up and covered her mouth.

"Any grunts who were on the kitchen staff start whipping us up some breakfast!" Shaska ordered, punching her palm. "Go find Roxanne and Lulupo to help. We got a LOT of mouths to feed!"

She flicked ash off her cigar and continued with "unfurl the sail! Raise the anchor! All that good shit! Let's sail! To Vicks Davis Island!"

She pumped her fist in the air… and no one responded. After a brief pause, she muttered "this is where you cheer."

The grunts half-heartedly cheered and headed off to their assigned duties. Shaska chugged the rest of her wine and gingerly sat the glass down on the small table next to her chair.

The Humo Robinson sailed toward the gate that marked the exit from Coral Hill and back to the depths of the sea. It was then that Funagyoshi, Masagyoshi, and Sogyon dove into the water and began to swim over to the ship at top speed.

"You're just going to leave without saying goodbye?!" Funagyoshi shouted as he swam alongside the Robinson.

Shaska walked over to the edge of the ship and flicked ash over it. "Sorry, Funagyoshi! We're kinda on a time crunch here!"

"Fine! But just remember to apply what I taught you! Okay?!"

"I think she already forgot!" Johnson called. "We're not exactly going for a sneak attack!"

"Stuff it, bird!" Shaska growled. "We'll be fine! And there better be a big party for us when we get back!"

"I'll see if the king and queen are amenable to that! Now go!" Funagyoshi called.

Shaska threw up a peace sign as the Robinson drew closer and closer to the gate, which promptly opened.

"I'm gonna miss the mermaids…" said a dejected Puerco.

"What about the new recruit you're constantly making googly eyes at?" Schwarz asked, resting his elbow on Puerco's shoulder.

"One plus one equals two, Schwarz."

"…what?"

"And two plus one equals three!"

"I—"

"Isha's drop dead gorgeous, alright, but she's not an entire cove's worth of mermaids! We didn't even get to go to the Mermaid Café!"

Schwarz rolled his eyes and pulled his arm back, saying "you need to get your priorities in order, Puerc…"

The soap resin around the Robinson began to inflate again as it exited through the other side of the gate and into the waters of the New World. As this happened, Johnson walked up to Isha.

"So, you're not a fighter, eh?" he asked.

"First rule: do no harm," Isha casually responded.

"What happens if we all have to fight then? I get that attacking medics is a war crime and all but we're going up against people who are already criminals to begin with."

Isha reached into her lab coat and pulled out a flintlock-style revolver, causing Johnson's eyes to shoot open.

"That rule goes out the window if someone messes with me. It's not much, but I need something."

She put the gun away and took a bite out of her lollipop, crunching on the candy as she pulled out another one, unwrapped it, and stuck it in her mouth.

"Besides, I did enough fighting as a kid, growing up a street rat in the Fishman District. I had to do a lot of… questionable things to get ahead. So believe me, I know how to use a gun."

Fifteen years ago in the Fishman District, a seventeen-year-old Isha swam for her life, clothes tattered and tears pouring down her face. In her hand was a stack of cash.

She swam into a dark alley, where she was greeted by a large hammerhead shark merman in a purple coat and feathered hat carrying an ornate cane.

"Hey, girl! You got my berries?!" the shark man barked.

Isha sheepishly held out the stack of cash, which the merman snatched from her and began counting.

"You're SHORT!" the merman angrily shouted as he whacked Isha across the face with his cane.

"D-Daddy Crabbe! Please! The last two guys d-didn't pay up and t-t-tried to get it f-for f—"

"I don't care, bitch!" Crabbe roared. He reached into his coat and pulled out the same flintlock revolver Isha would possess fifteen years later. Isha's life flashed before her eyes: after being abandoned as a baby, she bounced from foster home to foster home before finally running away at the age of fourteen. She encountered Crabbe by chance, who took her in… and put her to "work" after only about a month.

Crabbe grabbed the young Isha by the collar and started to swim up to the surface while the poor mermaid struggled for dear life. Eventually, the pair broke the water about a mile up from the depths of the Fishman District, out quite a ways from Coral Hill. There was no one around for miles.

"Consider this a more dignified way to go instead of being sold to humans or letting sea monsters tear you apart," Crabbe growled as he pointed the gun at Isha's temple. "I care about my girls. I want them to have dignified deaths after they're no longer useful to me… you understa—OW!"

Isha interrupted him by biting his hand with her powerful shark teeth, causing him to drop the revolver. She immediately grabbed it and pointed it at Crabbe, who raised his hands in submission.

"I-Isha… girl… we can t—"

BANG!

A single bullet through the head was all it took. Crabbe collapsed into the water face-up, blood pooling all around him. Isha floated in the water, trembling as she held the still-smoking gun. Tears began to stream down her face as she realized what she had done.

Still holding onto the gun, Isha dove into the water and swam as fast as she could as she started to absolutely sob. Even if the man who took her in was an absolute monster… killing him without a trial wasn't justice of any sort. But, given her… "career", she couldn't exactly go to the police with the news of how one of the Fishman District's most notorious gangsters was just killed in self-defense. Instead, she gathered together all the other girls who worked for him and stole his ill-gotten money. After using her own savings and her share of Crabbe's wealth, she bought herself a treasure trove of medical textbooks so she could fulfill her dream of becoming a doctor, eventually being accepted into Fishverly Hills' most prestigious medical school, Kale University.

After graduating top of her class in record time, twenty-two year old Isha was personally scouted out by Shaska to be employed at Kemurchant Enterprises. Shaska approached Isha's place of residence in Fishverly Hills, being supported in her favorite tub by Ichiro, Nisuke, Santaro, and Bob.

"No," Isha bluntly said at Shaska's offer.

"Why not?" Shaska responded, blowing smoke.

"Because…" Isha said, thinking about the blood on her hands. "If I wanted to work as a military doctor, I'd go to King Neptune. I don't want to work for a paramilitary group."

Shaska reached into her blazer and pulled out several large stacks of cash, to which Isha just crossed her arms and exclaimed, "NO! You think… you think I'm just some common whore who can be bought with money?!"

Shaska was taken aback by this and muttered "uh… no? Where did that–"

Tears were welling up in Isha's eyes as she thought back on her past with Crabbe. "I… I used to…" Isha said. She explained to Shaska what had happened in her youth.

"I see… So you were forced to–"

"WE DON'T NEED TO GO OVER EVERYTHING AGAIN!" Isha shouted. "Take your money elsewhere. I'm not doing it."

"Well, damn. If only you hadn't just confessed to murder," Shaska responded with a sly, crooked smile. Isha's blood ran cold.

"Listen, girl. Shaska always gets her target, whether it's a bounty or a potential employee. You got skills, your fancy degree proves it. Now join me before me and the boys rat you out on that cold case."

Isha was positively fuming and growled "where's your proof…?"

"The girls you worked with shouldn't be too hard to track down to corroborate. And I'm pretty damn socially powerful. I can make your life a living hell, girl," Shaska said, stroking Isha's chin with a tentacle while she blew smoke.

Isha clenched her fists and her teeth as tears ran down her face. She reflexively pulled out the revolver and shot at Shaska, who carelessly snatched the bullet out of the air without a second thought.

"Is that a yes, girl?" Shaska said with a smile. "I'll even double your salary compared to the other medics."

Isha snapped back to the present, a single tear rolling down her face. Johnson simply stood there and said "I'm not sure what's going on, but your past must be pretty terrible."

"I hate Shaska. But if what she says is true, we have to stop this Balthasar von Esens character before he wrecks Fishman Island," to which Johnson nodded.

Soon enough, the Robinson was in the waters of the New World. Off the starboard bow was a pod of absolutely titanic whales covered in scars. The whales each dwarfed the Robinson, some being ten times larger than the huge ship.

"Holy crap…" was all Deacon was able to say as he held his wife, Delilah on the deck.

Zinnia stood at the steering wheel on the bridge, taking a moment to notice the whales. After she did, though, her eyes popped out of her head as she realized what was going on: the whales were so large they were creating their own current. She immediately grabbed the bridge's transponder snail and dialed into the frequency of the snail speakers scattered throughout the ship.

"Attention! This is your navigator, Officer Zinnia!" she exclaimed. "This will be what you call a 'bumpy ride'! I humbly request you all lower the sails so that we can safely ride this current!"

The grunts did as they were told, lowering the sails, and they caught on the current. And just as Zinnia had predicted, it was indeed a bumpy ride. Shaska, for her part, anchored herself to the deck with her tentacle feet as everyone else struggled to maintain balance.

"Island whales, colossal New World fauna," she commented. "There's a lone one off at Reverse Mountain. Apparently got separated from its family years and years ago. Pretty sad if you ask me."

She looked up at the bridge and called out "keep her steady, Zinnia!" at the top of her lungs.

"I am doing my best Miss Shaska!" Zinnia called back through the transponder snail.

Following the whales, the Robinson finally came up to the surface in the New World. Sure enough, it was hell on Earth. Now, the sea wasn't on fire or anything, that would be ridiculous. But the waves were choppier and the wind blew harder than anything that Worldwide Smoke had seen in the first half of the Grand Line, save the hurricane-force storms and twisters they had previously encountered.

"So this is the New World," said Schwarz, holding onto the side rail for dear life.

A grunt was struck by a stray bolt of lightning and collapsed, prompting Puerco and Isha to pick him up and bring him to the infirmary.

"Hey, uh, my name's Puerco…" he said, hearts in his eyes.

"I know, dammit."

In the kitchen, the grunts, Roxanne, and Lulupo found themselves struggling to cook breakfast as the ingredients flew everywhere in the storm. Fortunately, Lulupo managed to catch most of the ingredients with his hair. Though, that didn't stop a grunt from being hit with a stray egg.

"Keep it together, darlings! We can't fail our first big meal!" he called out.

—-

Shaska headed up to the bridge to find Zinnia at the steering wheel, desperately trying to keep the Robinson steady as it was tossed around on the waves like a ragdoll.

"I am scared, Miss Shaska!" Zinnia cried.

"We'll be fine! This old salty lady has taken worse!"

"You should not refer to yourself in such a manner, Miss Shaska!" Zinnia responded, to which Shaska shot her a glare.

"Turn the motors on! Let's get to Raijin Island, pronto!" Shaska ordered.

Zinnia did as she was told, and the engines revved, pushing the ship deeper into the storm.

—-

Eventually (after a good hour or so), the storm subsided, and a bright blue sky poured over the Robinson. Within minutes though, an island appeared on the horizon. This island was surrounded by dark clouds, and lightning fell from them like water.

Shaska stood on the bridge, looking through a pair of binoculars, and puffed on her cigar.

"That's it, alright. Raijin Island," she said.

"What shall we do, Miss Shaska?" Zinnia asked, steering the ship. "An eternal lightning storm does not bode well for the Robinson."

Shaska blew smoke and said "we have not one, but two Devil Fruit users who can deal with this. I'll get them."

She grabbed the receiver of the transponder snail and called out "hey! Blonde pretty boy and shipwright girl! Get your asses up to the bridge!"

Within seconds, one of Schwarz's portals opened up on the bridge, and Schwarz and Ren dropped through together, landing on their feet perfectly.

"You two clowns are perfectly equipped to make sure the Robinson doesn't sink before the log change in three days," Shaska explained.

She pointed at Ren and said "you. Use your new glass powers to form a lightning proof barrier around the ship. Glass doesn't conduct electricity very well."

She then pointed at Schwarz and said "you. Throw up some portals in the air so any stray lightning bolts don't even hit the barrier. I don't want anything going wrong while we're docked here."

Schwarz and Ren nodded, and they headed down to the deck via another portal.

"She seemed crabbier than usual, don't you think?" Schwarz asked as he and Ren landed on the deck.

"Eh. I have gotten used to her crabbiness," Ren replied. "I guess she is just nervous for upcoming battle."

—-

In the time between when Shaska gave her orders and the Robinson docked at Raijin Island, Lulupo and Roxanne and their share of kitchen staff grunts finished their breakfast for the two hundred strong crew. Everyone sat and ate in the galley, except Zinnia and Ruth, who had to steer the ship to a place where they could dock, and Shaska, who had her food delivered to her room as she used to before she initially lost her business. The sound of thunder was omnipresent.

After breakfast, the ship docked, and Schwarz and Ren went out to the deck to prepare their defenses for Worldwide Smoke's three day stay on the island. Ren stood in the center of the deck and held her hands up, then closed her eyes in thought for a moment.

"What are you doing?" Schwarz asked as he set up portals in the sky above the Robinson, trying to talk over the sound of the thunder.

"Trying to think of name for technique! That is what Fruit users do, right?"

"I guess. Some of us don't, though. I don't know, just try to think of something that appeals to you. Like, 'Glass Glass'... something."

Ren pondered for a moment, then exclaimed "PANDA DOME!"

Waves of glass shot out of her hands and into the sky under the portals, eventually forming into the shape of a giant panda's head completely surrounding the Robinson.

"'Panda Dome', huh?" Schwarz asked as Ren put the finishing touches on the dome so it wouldn't collapse. "You really like those Pandaman comics."

"You said 'think of something that appeals to me'. And I like Pandaman."

"Well, we got three days to just chill here. What do you want to do now?"

Ren blushed slightly, then said "...well… My birthday happened while we were training on Fishman Island. And you never gave me special birthday concert you told me about…"

Schwarz couldn't help but blush too. "O-Oh… well. Let me go get my guitar, then."

Ren smiled as he headed off toward the dormitories.

"It is going to be good three days…" she thought.

TO BE CONTINUED