LW: Don't know if this is or isn't, but it certainly feels like one of my shorter chapters. However, it's mostly because we have to set up for the Straw Hat/ New Fishman Pirates brawl next chapter, so bear with me, please.

Rubber King and Mirror Master - New World Chaos: Prelude to Devastation

Sea Forest

"There's something every citizen of the Ryugu Kingdom needs to know. This will be destroyed and quickly, we'll rebuild it from scratch but with a new King. Like ME!" Hody relays, the straw hats and Jinbe watching on stone-faced, while Shirahoshi frets, worried about what Hody's declaration means for her father "I will usher in a new era for Fishman Island, grounded in a strict code of discipline. For starters, we'll cease ALL friendly relations with humans, so if you like 'em, GET OUT! Yes, Fishmen are far superior to those filthy apes, it's time those weaklings learn their place, they don't deserve our help. In place of those human lovers, those loyal to the cause will move in from the Fishman district, they hate humans too and will do whatever it takes to rid our beautiful country of them, so treat them with respect."

"You still love her, don't you? Otohime, our most cherished Queen. She was truly selfless and worked tirelessly to build a bridge between our people and the humans on the surface. I do respect her spirit…..but do you forget the end of her tale? She was killed by the very humans she loved! Even if you approach them with pure heart and clean intentions, they'll just take advantage of you, and leave you in the dirt! We have to WAKE UP! Can't you see? Sorry, but the royal family's been doping you all for years, and if we continue to follow them we march toward our extinction. As long as humans exist, this goal of harmony is unattainable, it's a pipe dream that the royal family refuses to see reason to and let die. See for yourself!" Hody shouts as the camera shuffles sideways, to show Neptune one more in chains.

"Father! No!" Shirahoshi cries, Jinbe's jaw clenching in anger.

"King Neptune got old, it happens to all of us eventually. The only way to advance is to eliminate the Old Guard so they won't be able to hold back the march of progress anymore"

"You know, this might all be our fault. If we hadn't shown up the king would be fine" Nami wonders aloud "Though in the end, it is Zoro's fault for turning the incident into a hostage situation in the first place" she mutters that last part.

"Or us not being there means nothing, and Hody still infiltrates the palace and shackles Neptune, but he'd also have the 3 princes AND Shirahoshi" Valentina argues "Hody had an entire large-scale takeover planned, he must have had something in reserve to deal with the King and the rest of the royals"

"What did you idiots do back at the palace?" Jinbe shouts in anger and panic, while Camie and Hachi try to calm him down

"I dunno, we kind of bounced our way to Shirahoshi and missed all the good stuff it seems" Luffy shrugs, to which Kaos nods.

Nami sighed, of course she had to tell him "Neptune's men attacked us because of missing mermaids and a fortune teller, we defended ourselves, Neptune put his back out just before fighting Zoro and everyone was tied up already when Hody's goons opened the gate and let him in" she summarises as best she could.

"I'm, even more confused now" Jinbe groans, his head in his hands.

"Citizens of Fishman Island, the old Ryugu Kingdom has more than worn out its welcome, time to say goodbye. In 3 hrs, in the Conch Court Plaza, the weak and worthless former King Neptune, will be put to Death!" Hody declares, drawing everyone's attention back to him, as Shirahoshi whimpers "The so-called Great Pirate Era began when the Navy executed a human, Gold Roger, the King of the Pirates. That era has been riddled with countless atrocities done to our people by the vile humans, it's only natural, that this Great Fishman Era, begins with the execution of Neptune! One in which WE reign over humans. As you may have figured out by now, I am at the Ryugu Palace, and there's something else I want to show you" the camera follows Hody as one of his men hands him a page "This letter, from the World Nobles, which Queen Otohime risked so much to obtain. If I destroy it now, this dream will finally die, they won't send another letter, that's for sure. And also, to my left, we have a box, filled with the names of every human-loving traitor to Fishman Supremacy. Just being here and seeing how many there are sickens me, who in their right mind wants to be friends with humans. The only good humans are DEAD ones. There is one positive to this though, I now know exactly who I need to remove from my great kingdom in order for it to prosper. No more stepping on pictures, it's too easy to fake your hatred, every name in this box, will soon be dealt with, starting with…." he ruffles through the box and pulls out a name "... Togari of Coral Hill. Gotan of Waterwheel town. Luca from Mermaid Cove. Gengetsu from Central Plaza. Garsha from Fishbelly Hills. 5 down, thousands to go, Jahahahaha!"

"Stop this at once Hody" Neptune demands, actually stopping Hody at the old man's sheer gal "I won't let you terrorize my people while I still draw breath"

"Well, it seems the preview has been cut short, but don't worry, in 3 hours I'll get to everyone else. Also, before I go…Straw Hat. I know you're there, listening to me. I have something that may be of interest to you" The scene flicks over to Zoro, Ussop, Kaya, Brook, and Carue all trapped in a cage, jaws clenching and eyes narrow at the sight "As you watch from whatever hole you hide in, I want you to know, this is just the beginning of my revenge for what you did to Arlong. Enjoy!"

"Well shit, if he caught Moss-head, he might actually be strong" Sanji grimaces

"They're all still alive, for now" Viv sighs, internally annoyed she even had to add that caveat.

Spoke too soon as Hody reveals the extra step to his plan, raising the cage, before starting to flood the chamber with water "By the time Neptune has been executed, that room will be completely flooded. You lowly humans can't survive for long underwater, in fact I've heard you think drowning is one of the worst ways to go" Hody taunts, before pulling out Luffy's bounty "450 million beri! Your head, and those of your crew, will be the perfect warning to any human who thinks they can stand up to the might of the Great Fishman Era! But for now, we're tearing down the old Ryugu Kingdom! We're done with the failures of the past, this is the time for Revolution. 3 hours, that's all we need, Fishman Island will be reborn in 3 hours!"

Ca-Lick

"So we have motive, a target, and a deadline. Let's kill some shit!" Kaos snarls Hebi already morphed into a jagged-looking naginata

"No…" Jinbe begins but Luffy waves him off.

"We already had this discussion Jinbe. I don't care about your politicking, they kidnapped my niece and my crew, I'm kicking his ass" Luffy states

"He's a filthy slaver, Tiger would gut him on principle" Valentina adds "And don't tell me he wouldn't"

"Luffy" everyone turns as Shirahoshi whispers his name "Please…. Save my father!"

"Hey shark, you can get me to the palace right?" Luffy asks, getting a bark and a nod from Megalo "Cool. I'll be back later, don't wait up, keep the princess alive. Buh Bye!" he grins and prepares to bounce onto the shark.

"No, I forbid it. This isn't your fight Luffy, and even if you win, it will just continue the cycle of hatred!" Jinbe shouts, getting in Luffy's way, until hands, and claws ensnared his limbs

"Try not to hurt him, he's just worried Hordy's gonna wreck the place" Luffy calls out as the former warlord is death glared by several members of the crew, most notably Robin, Kaos, and Artemis, before Luffy bounces onto Megalo's head.

"You didn't really think you'd get in the way of rescuing my daughter did you, Son of the Sea?" Robin asks, her voice cold as the depths "This whole island can drown if it means I am reunited with her"

"That's exactly the problem, you're going to rush in and make things worse, not thinking about the consequences of your actions!" Jinbe bellows, breaking free of the blooms, just in time to dodge a wave of sand from Vivi.

"Then maybe you should have dealt with Hody before it got this bad" Kaos scowls, forgoing Hebi in favor of hand-to-hand, which Jinbe manages to block and counter with his Fishman Karate, though it was doing less damage than he'd hoped against the Straw Hat's 1st mate.

If this was a one-on-one fight, Jinbe would have probably won, and not just because the taller one was handicapping himself, however, it wasn't one, it was a free-for-all, as he was reminded when an earsplitting shriek nearly brought him to his knees.

"This is a pointless fight, no matter how strong Jinbe is, he can't beat everyone all by himself" Nami sighs as Valentina unloads more Sonic Release barrages on Jinbe, before having to take to the air to avoid his counterattack of Fishman Jujitsu "All he's doing, is ensuring fewer people are ready when we fight Hody and his men"

"That's pride for you" Sanji scoffs "This is HIS mess to clean up, you heard him say it, and he feels bad for not doing anything sooner, for Hody, or Arlong. We already dealt with one of those, and he can't let us do both"

"Enough of this foolishness!" Jinbe shouts, his Arabesque Brick Fist shattering Vivi's prosthetic at the knee and sending her flying into Alvida, though once more victory was stolen from him as a spear to his throat and an arm around his neck stop him in his tracks "This is exactly the problem, violence will only set us back, your way will only bwaaa…"

'Deux Fleur, Stiletto'

"Robin!" Chopper shrieked as the archeologist grew tired of Jinbe standing in their way, so jammed her bloomed fingers in his gill slits, staring him right in the eye and his gasps and writhed, Kaos and Artemis actually letting him drop to avoid any additional injuries being sustained by his struggling.

"I don't want to kill you Jinbe, you seem like a nice guy and Luffy views you as a friend, but I have no problem doing so if you continue to Stand. In. My. Way!" Robin states flatly, her blooms dissipating as the Fishman lay on the ground, panting heavily, blood leaking from his neck "And as you can see, it would be pitifully easy to do so, be it the gill, or simply grabbing your heart and squeezing"

"You seem to think we'll make everything worse win or lose, but you're forgetting a few things, sometimes things get worse before they get better, this isn't a strictly human problem, Hody and Arlong are proof Fishmen are just as much a bunch of racist thugs as the Celestial Dragons, and, Hody needs to be put in the ground, before his desire to fight everything that isn't a follower of his bullshit, finally kills him, and leaves Fishman Island a steaming crater when they're done with him and his poor attempt at a revolution" Kaos adds, temper still high but TRYING to make Jinbe see reason, and given his skin tone turned as close to grey as a blue man could, he had a feeling he was getting through to him "You figured it out, didn't you?"

"He couldn't, even Hody's not that stupid!" Jinbe cries in fear.

"Anyone going to fill in the blanks for the rest of us?" Alvida asks curiously.

"It's Big Mom isn't it, breaking her factory and turning her sights on the kingdom?" Luffy asks/explains.

"Close enough. Picking a fight with a Yonko, we saw what you needed to even try back in Marineford, and if Hody or even Fishman Island, in general, had that amount of firepower they wouldn't have needed Whitebeard or Big Mom's protection" Kaos clarifies "Hody doesn't care about anything besides hurting humans, he's going to piss off at least one Yonko, maybe even all 4 of them, and this entire island will be wiped off the map. You think about that, I need to check something" he mutters, before forming a bubble of reflective material, which spun and flattened into a proper mirror shape, then fused to his fingertips "Kaya!"

Ryugu Palace

"I really don't like this plan" Carue grumbles as she looks from a worried Ussop, fretting Kaya, sleeping Zoro, and finally the dead to the world, souless Brook "But it's either that or drowning, so it's the best worst plan we've got it seems. Speaking of, is the other thing working?" she asks the blond beside her.

"Sort of, my syrup can't find a way out, but it is doing its job of joining the links together so we can raise the cage, which also means I have to support the weight of the cage with my powers" Kaya admits with a sigh, Brook can't get back fast enough.

"It'll do for now, also you're bubbling" Zoro grunts, the medic looks down, as the other 2 look over, and he was right her stomach had reverted to its honey-yellow syrup form, and was bubbling as if coming to a boil "Think it's one of the others with those mirrors of there's?"

"Oh, crap, you're right!" Kaya squeaks as her body spat out the mirror, placing her hand over it to establish the link "Sorry, forgot I had it in me, I think the others left there's on the ship" she chuckles awkwardly, getting an embarrassed nod from Ussop, a normal one from Zoro, and a blank look from Carue as she hadn't been given one yet.

"Hello Kaya, you guys haven't been too badly hurt fighting Hody and his men?" Kaos asks, his expression cold but his eyes concerned.

"Honestly, it was the water that did most of us in, but from what Ussop told us, Hody's roid rage probably meant even if we'd been on dry land it wouldn't have gone well" Kaya nods sadly "We're all still alive though, and mid-way through a plan, provided Brook's soul can find Papagu and in turn keys to the cage"

"Did you say Brook's Soul!?" Luffy shouts off-screen.

"Interesting, I expected that from the Soru, not the Yomi. Maybe Brook and I will need to have a conversation about weapons after all" Victor mutters, only audible due to how close Kaos had been to the bomber.

"Alright, so besides the rising tide, you guys are all ok, right?"

"We've been better, but we've also been a lot worse" Ussop answers, the chains not helping his discomfort and various aches and pains from the Fishmen's manhandling.

"Great, we'll be seeing you all real soon. Just need to run the plan by you guys first, k?"

Flying Dutchman

"Oh Shirahoshi, my heart aches for you, how could you reject me so cruelly?" Vander wails as the moment plays in his head on a loop "But even more than that, my whole body aches because of that bastard with the sword" he snarls, tearing open his shirt, revealing a spiderweb of ghastly green veins branching out from the stab wound just above his navel.

"That doesn't look good boss" one of the fishmen fretted "What happened to you, is it poison, or infected?"

"It's not poi…. Wait a minute! He said it wasn't poisoned, but what if he was lying? He was already stealing my precious love away what's a little white lie after that unforgivable sin?" Vander bellows

"He could have just been being a smart-arse Vander Decken, sir. An injected toxin is usually referred to as venom rather than simply poison" Fishman B notes.

"That does fit his personality I suspect. Not that it matters, I'm still going to kill him! Look at what he did!" Vander cries, waving his heavily bandaged, but still barely held together right hand "He destroyed my Shirahoshi loving hand! That is a crime punishable by death! That is the only thing that will satisfy my honor!"

"You don't have honor" one of his men points out, to Vender's embarrassment

"You're right!" he shrieks, then stops and grins maniacly "Which means I should have no issues with this" he waddles over to the imposing side of the Noah "You fucked up kid, letting me touch you during our fight. I may have lost the power to throw things at Shirahoshi because of you, but it's clear she's keeping close to you, and with what I'm about to do next, there's no way she won't be caught in the splash zone! Bahohohoho!" he cackles, before slapping the side of the ancient vessel, energy rippling across its frame, before with a loud rumble, it begins to move.

Conch Court Plaza - 2hrs later

It was, quite frankly, a mess. Neptune's remaining soldiers had been taken out handily by Hody's Seabeasts, while the 3 princes were able to take them out, they were unable to defeat his lieutenants due to the Energy Steroids amping up their physical might and aggression levels.

This was the setting Megalo arrived at, everything destroyed, and Hody standing in front of bound Neptune, Fukaboshi, Ryuboshi, and Mamboshi, ready for the birth of his era. It was also the sight that understandably had them dropping their guard in shock, allowing Megalo to be blasted out of the sky, himself, Shirahoshi, and Jinbe landing roughing in the middle of the plaza.

"Well, what do you know, good things do come to those who deserve it. Jahahahahaha!" Hody laughs, before ordering his men to chain up the last remaining royal, as well as Jinbe "And now all the guests have arrived, we can get this execution underway. The only thing missing is Straw Hat, but I'm sure he and his crew are a little 'preoccupied', trying to figure out a way into the Palace, so I won't judge him too harshly for being tardy. Doesn't matter too much though, when they do arrive, we'll be more than ready" he boasts, just as the reason for his confidence arrived.

"What a sight to behold, 30,000 slaves I've captured this month, all human too. Add that to the 70,000 well-trained and eager-to-fight Fishmen, and I have the largest and most powerful army the world has ever seen. Not even Straw Hat could stand against this overwhelming force! Jahahaha!"

'It seems the girl was right, Tiger would have killed any Fishman who even thought about taking a slave, just how low has Hody sunk?' Jinbe thinks, scowling deeply as gazes upon Hody's 100,000-strong 'army'.

"Outside are more slaves, mostly women and children. They can't fight, but I'm sure we can, find a use for them" Hody chuckles, a shiver running down the spines of every spectator at that statement "And this is just a taste of what we shall accomplish, once the New Era has begun. Of course, my men will need places to stay, so they'll be taking yours, whether it's because you all flee like cowards or drop dead, it means little difference to me so long as the dead weight is gone!"

"What a classless thug" Shyarly sneers from her perch "All he craves is death and carnage, they might as well be the animals the humans see us as. You should quit while you're ahead Jones, you won't like what's coming for you" she cries out the last sentence, drawing the attention of the now, muscle-bound albino

"Been a long time Shyarly" Hody snarls "Is there a reason you're here?"

"Actually yes, it's to deliver a message, while you're still at the height of your glory. Plus I want to, as the saying goes, 'watch the fireworks' if you don't mind" she hums with a half smile "I recently had a vision of the imminent destruction of our island, a vision brought on by a single man…"

"I suppose, you could call this destruction on the scale you're implying" Hody laughs "So, you came here to tell me about a prophecy you have on me, how sweet"

"No, actually you weren't even in it" Shyarly corrects, causing Hody's smile to drop "The man who will destroy Fishman Island, is Straw Hat Luffy"

"Impossible" Hody growls 'He'll be dead by sundown, her vision must be wrong'

"I'm afraid so, I don't know how, but this island will be devastated by his hand, and there's nothing we can do about it. But the more important matter for you, is that it's not you. The one who holds the fate of our island in their hands, is a little, human, pirate"

"I'll show you who commands fate, when I rip off Straw Hat's fucking head and throw it at your fluke. Then we'll see that I am the one in charge of this island, I am the one who will usher us into the future!" Hody bellows, the urge to kill the mermaid, warring with keeping her alive long enough to rub her face in his victory "This moment has been 10 years in the making, and I'm about to end this day with a Royal Flush. Today, I finally finish what I started when I shot Otohime!" he declares, a moment of silence, not calm, it was too eerie for that, just shock, fell over the entire plaza.

"No"

"That's impossible"

"But, it was a human, they caught him with the rifle and everything"

'I'm starting to hate that girl, because why can't she be wrong?' Jinbe grimaces, though it's shortly lost under rage at Hody from killing Otohime and spitting on her legacy by not even having the balls to stand by his actions, instead using an easy patsy, a human.

"Oh the human had a hand in it, but all he did was burn the papers, I took the kill shot, and then I dealt with the stupid human before he could back out on the agreement. Jahahaha, and that was all it took to fool every one of you, because deep down you all know that humans and Fishmen aren't meant to Co-exist!"

"Hody you bastard, I'll kill you where you stand, once I get out of here you'll wish you'd never been born!" Neptune bellows as he writhes and flails in his chains until Hody shuts him up with a handful of his enhanced Water shot bullets.

But then the pressure came, the plaza began to rumble, and even with the Energy Steroids coursing through their veins, Hody and his men, felt a shiver of fear, because something was here, something primal, something…. Predatory.

"Hody! Jones!" Shirahoshi screams, her eyes bloodshot and pupils contracted into diamonds, even her scales were starting to shift, flecks of black, white, and purple showing up in the salmon pink tail "You won't get away with this! You took my mother from me, I'm gonna take everything from you!" Everyone watched in shock and little horror as the chains shake, creak and finally give way, freeing the giant mermaid princess "Megalo, give it to me" the shark barks, most likely in concern "Now!" she orders, a bone white strand drooping between her eyes.

The shark barks and gags, before spitting out a trident of all things, one which chilled Neptune to the bone 'How? How did she find it? Otohime said it had been lost to history, nobody in her family had been able to locate it!'

"You think you can fight me princess? This might actually be shorter than your brother's fights combined, Jahahaha!" Hody laughs, until her hand clamps around the hilt, and the entire weapon begins to emit steam 'What the fuck?'

"This is for my mother, now die quickly!" Shirahoshi cries, spinning Abisaruhiru, before tossing it right at Hody, the roided up shark manages to dodge just barely, but the pressure waves and wind managed to slice open his cheek and leave shallow gashes across the left side of his body, and that wasn't even counting the people who got torn to shreds as the trident flew across the plaza, before impacting and embedding itself in the wall.

"You missed!" Came a teasing voice from somewhere in the plaza.

"I can fucking see that!" Shirahoshi wails, pressure waves and steam billowing off her body "And you're both late"

SLAM

Luffy on the other hand…. didn't, as he comes rushing out of Megalo's mouth already in Gear 2nd, and kicked Hody right in his gut wound, sending him flying right into the opposite wall.

"Took your sweet time there Luffy" Jinbe grunts "Now get me out of these chains!"

"Keep your kimono on, we'll get to you in a minute" came a disembodied voice "Mirage release" Nami commands as she appeared in a haze before regaining full visibility on the main platform "I was a little busy getting the Celestial Dragon letter from those idiots over there…." she flicks her thumb sideways to a now panicking trio of Fishmen "... and the key to the chains, but Robin's handling that one"

Click. Clang

"We're free, but how? I didn't see anyone" Mamboshi wonders as the royals are released

"Nico Robin of the Straw Hats, her powers would be quite useful in this situation" Neptune chuckles lowly, as he moves to sit up as best he can in his condition.

"You're welcome, but we're just the vanguard" Robin chuckles from her place on Jinbe's back, to the whale shark's minor annoyance. Before they could ask what she meant, they got the answer: the Thousand Sunny, floating toward the plaza, being led by a whale.

Gao Cannon

Because that wasn't enough of an entrance for someone as SUPER as Franky, he also unleashed the power of Sunny's laser cannon, though all things considered, it was basically a warning shot compared to what was coming. Especially given it was a distraction as well as a way to clear the path for Hoai to swoop in and rescue Neptune.

"So, did we kill anyone with that airdrop?" Valentina asks, peering over the railings.

"Nah, looks like they all got out of the way, which means they at least had like 5 brain cells to rub together" Victor sighs from behind her, as given the numbers in front of them, anything that thins the herd was good for them all.

'So it seems I'll get to see Orochimaru's sister in action after all' an electric eel merman grins as he slips into position alongside Madame Shyarly.

"Don't go starting without me guys, I wanna kick ass too!" Alvida shouts as she hops off the deck into the plaza proper, which had Vivi facepalm as she remains on the ship for the moment.

"There's like 80 to 100 thousand of them, that's plenty for everyone" Sanji argues.

"Not if they're weak, I bet I could take all these chumps myself" Zoro boasts, but given he was the one to injure Hody, he at least had the most experience fighting these guys out of the crew at the moment.

"Should we be worried about Shirahoshi, she looks unwell" Chopper frets, as well as his animal instincts telling him to stay away.

"There's a dark prescience in her aura, but it seems to be harmonizing with her own energy, so it's not a possession, not truly" Artemis notes, her mage sight noticing the dark cloud enveloping the princess, as well as at least metaphysical horns growing from her brows, with an angler lure smack bang between them.

"Here it comes" Kaya shivers, before psyching herself up and releasing her guns from her syrup.

The assembled Merfolk and Fishmen watch as the Straw Hats gather in the centre of the plaza, ready and willing to fight Hody and his men, and they even believe they can beat them.

TBC

LW: We have arrived at the main event, and things are about to get messy XD. In 2 weeks, sorry.

Also, while I know she's aware of Hody's crimes before this moment in canon, she wasn't here, Megalo didn't want to burden her with the truth in the RKMM universe, so kept it to himself. For good reason given she just tried to murder the guy.