LW: Welcome back everyone, we finally make it to Fishman Island…. Later in the chapter, still have some stuff to do before then. Enjoy
Rubber King and Mirror Master - New World Chaos: Drowning Our Time Away! Hello Fishman Island!
"Dead men tell no tales, deadmen have no means. I pluck the rings right off their hands, within these shadowy seas" an ominous voice chants from the depths of the Flying Dutchman "Dead men have no regrets, and no more tears to weep. I'll pluck the crowns right off their heads, within this cold, black, deep"
"Hey Brook, is anything he just said true?" Kaos asks their own resident dead man, who just shrugs
"I have plenty of tales to tell, and you've seen me cry and know my deepest regrets, so no" the musician replies
"Sunken treasure's free for the taking, a king of pirates in the making, I leave my enemies weeping and shaking. Vander Decken is my name, these long lost riches I do claim!" the now named Vander Decken bellows
"Wow….. the Flying Dutchman's kind of a crapsack, which honestly explains why the last sighting of it was 120 years ago" Valentina muses while Nami, Ussop, and Chopper panic, unhead by the aformentioned trio
"Plus, it's easier to loot from a sunken ship, much like those salvagers we met back in Jaya" Robin adds, pausing from her sketch of the ghost ship to retort
"So, who wants to bet Fishmen as the logical explanation for this 'ghost ship', because the last one was Devil fruit bullshit, and also Brook's ship, and Thriller Bark probably also counted" Freaky wonders/asks the non-screaming members of the crew
"Oh there be Devil Fruit bullshit involved too Franky, it's just not the only thing on that ship" Kaos replies "But yeah 10,000 beri on Fishmen"
"10,000? What are we betting now?" Nami asks, snapping out of her panic attack
"What's really going on over there, my money's on it being Fishmen and Kaos agrees, though he also admits Devil fruit shenanigans are involved in some way he's not too sure about yet also" Franky explains
"Um, guys" Kaya squeaks in "Not to interrupt the crisis some of you are having, or the debate the rest of you are, but, is it supposed to be getting hotter, again?" she asks
"No, it shouldn't be, which is a very bad sign" Nami answers,
"Listen here, I'm not fishing the treasure out of your stomachs so don't eat the ship, just give it a good knock" Vander orders, the giant Fishman nods and raises his fist with a yell
"Well, we're fucked" Artemis deadpans "And I was having such a nice day too" she sighs, stopping her painting of some of the wildlife they'd passed by earlier
"Val on the steering wheel, Franky launch a Coup De Burst, now!" Nami screams
"I can't we're out of fuel, never mind the air bubble we don't have enough cola to make a jump" Franky argues back "We're stuck until I can restock"
"Any chance you can make a giant hand to block his fist?" Victor asks, getting a thoughtful expression from Robin.
Not that it matters, as just before Wadatsumi could strike the Sunny, he himself was struck by a massive yellow tentacle square in the jaw, sending him tumbling backwards
"That, was the Kraken" Ussop squeaks
"Oncle Oncle! Oncle!" Medusa jr cheers, seeing not only the Kraken, but the bubble containing Sanji, Zoro, and Luffy, all 3 none the worse for wear
"That wasn't on my bingo card, but YAY they're ok!" Alvida cheers, hugging Vivi who was smiling just as wide
"You big bully" Wadatsumi whines, before the Kraken performs it's version of Gum gum Gatling, only using its many arms to form a blindingly fast barrage of punches/strikes
"Alright, that's enough, I think he's learned not to try messing with my ship anymore" Luffy commands and the giant octopus complies, no longer beating the giant blowfish-man, who crumples to the seafloor, meanwhile the trio made their way back to the Sunny
"He did it, he actually tamed the Kraken" Vivi sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose "I don't know why I ever doubt you anymore Luffy"
"Because I say a lot of dumb shit, even if this time it worked out and now we have Surume here to get us safely to Fishman Island" Luffy answers with a laugh, before pulling both his girls into a hug
"I hope he's our new guide because our sea-monster friend appears to have decided the Thousand Sunny makes a fetching hat" Brook states half-jokingly as Surume begins to shuffle along the seafloor until a loud rumble draws all eyes, the blazing red glow nearby helping with determining the direction
"I, right now most of all, really hate being right" Nami whines
"Um, explanations for those of us who didn't know this was going to happen," Ussop asks, frantically
"Undersea Volcano. It's active, and about to erupt" Nami states "Luffy, tell that sea-beast to book it, as far away from the eruption, as fast as it possibly can, understand?"
"You heard her Surume, we need to book it!" Luffy bellows, the Kraken understands and the scuttling hastens
"He has terrible form" Robin notes as she peers over the side of the Sunny
"To be fair, it's probably difficult to maneuver all those tentacles, after all, these kinds of animals usually wriggle their way through the water rather than actually 'walk' along the seafloor" Kaya argues
"Plus we're kind of in a hurry, speed, and urgency take priority over grace and form at times like this" Franky adds in the Kraken's defense.
KABOOM
"Well shit, it really is a volcano….. How the Hell does that happen underwater?" Alvida shouts to the deck
"Mostly the lava being too hot to solidify into stone once it comes out, so it behaves like a normal eruption….. At least for a while" Nami tries to explain, though grimaces as the lava continues to flow behind them, despite Surume's increased speed across the seafloor "I think I have a plan, but it's risky"
"So is doing nothing with the lava lapping at our heels and the big guys' tentacles" Val argues "Do we even still have a heading to aim for?"
"Yes, it's still forward, we need to hold our position for a little longer…. There! Surume, jump in the trench!" Nami orders, the Kraken following the command as the rest of the crew realize… they had been running out of ground to scuttle across
"We're all gonna die!" Ussop and Chopper scream, only to get a double fist slam to the noggin from Robin, who was trying to keep Medusa calm, the child picking up on the rest of the crew's worries and was getting very fidgety and antsy
"Honestly, it makes sense, we do still have what, another 3000m or so downward to get to Fishman Island? There had to be another drop somewhere" Kaos says with a shrug, tail wrapped around Robin's waist in order to keep HER calm.
"Ok, so we're dropping again, and the volcano is way above us" Vivi sighs "New problem though…. The eruption caused a rockslide, and some of those boulders look larger than the ship!" she frets
"Surume, dodge the debris!" Luffy orders
"I'm gonna go cut them, need to do something more than just stand around and wait to die" Zoro grunts, moving to the side of the deck, only to get grabbed by Robin's blooms, and Kaos' arms on his shoulders "What's the big idea?"
"Don't be an idiot, we don't need to cut the rocks, just avoid them" Kaos states
"Plus, more importantly, we're approximately 8000m down, you go out there, the water pressure will crush you like a bug in a matter of moments" Robin states flatly
"Exactly, all we need to do is avoid the rocks until we can drift away from the cliff face" Nami explains
"Then I have a way to help with this endeavor" Ussop boasts, before rushing to the back of the Sunny "Green Star: Sargasso" he cries, launching a pellet out into the ocean, which as it hits one of the falling rocks practically exploded into a web of seaweed which ensnares all the cross it's path as far as falling rocks were concerned
"Long nose got the upgrade, nice work!" Alvida grins, while Luffy gushes over his crewmate's awesomeness as he often does
"It's not going to hold for long, we need to get away from the cliff face, and out of the line of fire" Ussop declares "Come on Surume, swim out into the abyss…. I can't believe I just said that" the sniper whines the last part as the Kraken pushes forward, away from the avalanche and into the gloom
"We survived!" the straw hats cheered, as well as thanking Surume for getting them out of danger…. Until one of the stray rocks slipped out of the seaweed, and landed right between the Kraken's eyes, knocking the poor beast out cold, and sending fish and ship plummeting into the deep.
"Ok, who turned on the sun?" Valentina groans, wishing light sensitivity hadn't been one of the side effects of her curse mark
"We're so far down, it shouldn't be possible" Robin agrees, but here they were, bathed in light as the Sunny rests on Surume's back
"Maybe the Mangroves have Lightroots?" Artemis guesses as the rest of the crew come to
"Are we dead, they always say go to the light when you're dead?" Brook asks jokingly
"No, I think we're here. Are we here Nami?" Luffy asks though the grin seemed to suggest he already knew
"According to the Log Pose….. We finally made it guys!" Nami announces "Right over there, is Fishman Island" She points out in front of them, to what appears to be a giant bubble a little way in front of and above them "That's actually kind of cool, I think I see clouds even from here, the bubble essentially has its own self-sustained climate, interesting" she coos "Hey Luffy, if Surume is awake tell him to get us over to the island, there has to be some actual entrance on the surface of the bubble after all" she states, getting a nod from the rubber boy, just before trouble comes knocking
"Ah crap, seems we woke more than just the Kraken with our landing" Zoor grimaces
"The local wildlife is… very strange" Kaos notes, seeing a Sea- Rhinoceros, Giraffe, Elephant, Gorilla, and Lion all coming their way
"So cool, wait a minute, they're not just sea beasts….. They're mounts!" Luffy gasps as he notices fishmen on the creature's backs
"Why would you allow these pathetic humans to tell you what to do, Kraken?" Asks/sneers a giraffe-with-a-beak looking Fishman, which was unfortunately enough to scare Surume enough that he fled, leaving the Straw Hats at a lurch, and once more freefalling through the water, before settling on the seafloor.
"Everyone still alive?" Val calls once the Sunny stops shaking
"We're good, Surume was just a dick for running off like that" Luffy whines
"You're the Straw Hat pirates aren't you?" Giraffe fish asks them directly
"Yeah, we are, what's your point? Also who are you, besides the guy riding a giant monster fish?" the rubber boy responds
Rather than answer, he just monologues "Of course, your reputation precedes you even down here. We know what you did, destroying Arlong's dream and then killing him like the filthy humans you are! Not even punching a Celestial Dragon washes away your sins, so we're just going to sink you now, and ensure you never cause my people strife again, just like your brother"
"Your family seems to cause headaches wherever they go, is this going to be a recurring thing in the New World?" Vivi sighs
"Franky, get a Coup De Burst ready, use all the air we have if you need to, if these guys are anything like Arlong's crew, they're not going to back down, we need to book it asap" Nami whispers to the cyborg who nods and slips away into the lower decks
"What did Ace do now?" Kaos asks with a sigh, a little curious as to what would piss off this guy that much he added him to the 'I'm a gonna kill you now' speech
"Polluting our beautiful island with his filthy human blood, and having the gal to knock me out without even touching me!" Hammond bellows
"Ah, so you're a racist asshole, who Ace Conqueror'd for pissing him off. Thanks!" Kaos nods with a grin and a finger snap "Anything you want to say Luffy?"
"If these guys are as strong as Arlong, it explains why they needed to jump us while in a bubble, they're too weak to fight a human anywhere else Shishishi!" Luffy laughs, which just pisses the New Fishman pirates off even more
"I'm going to enjoy watching you drown, filthy human scum. Sea-Lion, destroy that ship!" Hammond commands
"We're filled up and ready to go" Franky confirms "Fire when ready"
"Hold onto your butts everyone" Valentina calls as she grins maniacally "Coup De Burst!"
As Sunny rockets towards Fishman Island, there was a moment of amusement at the looks of shock on the Fishmen's faces before reality sets in, and the bubble starts to decompress rapidly, pressing down on the straw hats as all the air is pushed out of it
"I'm being squished" Chopper whines and wriggles
"Not our best plan" Kaya coughs, their logia forms at least meant she and Vivi only had to worry about suffocation rather than compression
'Just a little further'
Sweet relief came when the Sunny pierced the surface of the bubble containing Fishman Island, the coating dissipating with an influx of fresh air on its outer layer. The problem came from the fact there was nothing but air in this bubble, almost like a barrier between the sea and Fishman Island, so if the ship falters…. They were screwed.
"The Coup De Burst just needs to get us to the other layer and we're golden. Come on Sunny, don't let us down now" Franky cries as he rushed back on deck
It held… but the next bubble, at least where the Sunny hit it, was full of water, the impact and currents knocking everyone free and adrift, the Devil Fruit users the worst affected, as you might expect.
MUCH LATER
"Owww. I officially hate water" Kaos groans as he comes to, Luffy poking at his face not helping matters
"Join the club, I thought that applied to all you fruit users" Sanji muses, getting a shrug from Luffy and a 'kind of' from Chopper
"Ah good, now everyone is awake" came a voice, turning the guy's attention to the largest of the mermaids in the room, though this one was normal-sized, the others were just somewhere between doll and child size
"Yeah, thanks for saving us by the way Camie, we totally could have died out there without you" Luffy thanks as he bounces off the bed, still grinning at the green-haired mermaid
"So that's what happened" Kaos hums
"Yeah, we all got knocked off the Sunny when we hit the water bubble, and probably would have drowned, you guys quicker than the rest of us, if we hadn't been rescued by a…. Shoal?... of mermaids" Ussop explains
"Ah, makes sense. But, there are only 5 of us here, where's everyone else?" the researcher asks
Chopper visibly deflates "We got separated in the current, so we don't know where they are"
"I'm sorry, I tried to reach them before I blacked out, but they all shot off in different directions, a part of me is surprised we all ended up together" Sanji admits
"It's fine, we'll reunite again eventually" Luffy handwaves with a grin "Our crewmates don't die that easily"
"Your clothes are dry"
"They might be dry"
"They're not dry"
"Who cares if they're dry"
Chorused the mini mermaids as they carried a sack of clothes over to the straw hats, which was actually the moment Kaos noticed he wasn't wearing his waistcoat
"You dried our clothes too, awesome!" Luffy cheers as he hands out the garments to the rest of the crew, grinning like a loon as he changes
"Hey Mr, where'd you get the ink?" One of the minis asks, to the researcher's surprise, also drawing the attention of the other guys
"You got a tattoo? Without me?" Luffy whines
"Was it sanitary? Let me see, let me see?" Chopper pipes in, halfway between concern and curiosity.
Ussop sighs "We don't exactly have anywhere specific to go to find the others, we could spare a few minutes on this I guess"
"Is it something cute, sexy, or macabre, because I bet only Robin would want to see the latter" Sanji mutters
Kaos chuckles as Camie and the quintuplets stare at him, the purplette moving to leave his waistcoat off to explain the tattoos "Well, the 1st one was….. Unintentional is the best way to put it. This" he points to the gnarled tree, its branches spreading across his right ribs "is because of an incident while I was with the Demon Eye, a side effect of dealing with a very old and very powerful threat"
"Me!" Lily chirps, popping out of a silver ripple in his shoulder "Hi" she waves with her leaves, then sinks back down
"Yeah, that" Kaos deadpans, unsure if he likes social Lily more or less than Homicidal Lily "The others though, yeah they were 100% intentional, and yes they were done safely by a professional with a Doctor's approval" he adds the last part because he knows Chopper would fret, before showing both of the insignias on the small of his back
"Wait a minute, that's the Whitebeard Flag!" Camie shrieks
"The original version, thanks to an alliance flag still hung in the Demon Eye headquarters" he chuckles, referring to the fact instead of the bone cross, the whitebeard skull was framed by a manji "It's also why the eye is different in the aforementioned Demon Eye's Roger than the usual Malice eye" Kaos adds, though unsure if anyone besides Valentina would recognize that one, given the scroll she gave him, also had a RinneSharringan on it.
"Least you left space for a Straw Hat later" Luffy teases, though he didn't really mind whether or not the flag was on his skin or not, they were a crew and family no matter what after all.
"Hope that's not a warning, I'm afraid of needles" Ussop whimpers as they all finish dressing "Also, where are we Camie?"
"You're in the girl's dorm of the famous Mermaid Cafe" Camie answers, getting surprised looks from the Straw hats, and Sanji have a reflexive twitch as well as pinches his nose just in case
"Cafe! That means food right?" Luffy asks, mouth already watering
"Yes Luffy, Cafe's have food" Ussop nods "Are you sure it would be ok for us to go there Camie?"
"Of course, I want you to meet all my friends" Camie chirps, then calls them transport…. Which in this case is the 'sea turtle elevator', mostly consisting of the guys getting in a bubble on the back of the aforementioned sea turtle.
"And we've arrived" Camie cheers as the turtle breaches the surface
"Who owes Nami money this time, she was right about the clouds and internal climate" Kaos wonders aloud as the 5 of them look up in wonder and confusion at the fact it looked relatively similar to the actual surface of the ocean, despite being 10000m below sea level in a bubble thing.
"Hello there, are you Camie's pirate friends" A voice purrs seductively behind them, causing the crew to turn and see a group of mermaids on the rocks like the legends proclaimed, all looking curious and a little eager to meet actual human pirates
"You're not as scary as we expected"
"They're actually kind of cute"
"Camie has all the luck"
"Wait….. They're the ones from Marineford"
"And like that, we've ruined the moment" Kaos sighs while Luffy giggles "At least they're all kind of adorable"
"Try sexy, Gods these fish babes are stacked" Sanji gushes
"Time for introductions! Sorry it's only 5 of them, the actual crew is like 20 or something" Camie announces as she settles into a spot in front of the other mermaids "The one with the hat is Luffy-chin, he's the captain, the really tall one in the cape is Kaos-chin, Sanji-chin really likes how pretty this place is, the guy with the long nose is Ussop-chin, and the raccoon is Chopper-chin" she lists off, Kaos grabbing Chopper before the reindeer could maul the stupid mermaid.
Elsewhere
Anzen sōchi
Luckily the coral was empty at the time, as otherwise they would A) have been blinded by the sun-level flash of light, and B) potentially crushed as 5 people drop on their heads
"Pain, so much pain" Artemis wheezes as she forces herself to sit up "Let's see, Auntie Val, Vivi, Alvida, Uncle Victor…. Shit where's Mom?"
"SUPER! Entrance!" was bellowed as Franky leaps out of the air, Nami and Kaya over his shoulders and Robin against his barrel chest, Medusa Jr, huddled between her mother and the friendly cyborg "Hey guys, got worried for a second seeing that flash of light there, what the Hell happened?"
"An experiment, one I was hoping to test before having to use it in real life" Artemis groans, before pushing up her shirt to show a set of glyphs running down her torso "At least I know it works, even if it hurts like an electrical burn, and luckily it grabbed everyone around me, rather than the personal teleport I was trying to design, but hey everyone's alive, right?" she says with a shaky smile
"Almost" Franky hums as he sets the girls down and does a quick headcount "Missing, honestly all the guys beside me and Vic, as well as Vivi's duck Carue"
"I'm sure they'll be fine" Valentina croaks as she stands, the rest getting to their feet slowly "The guys are tough as nails, even if half of them are like us, they'll find a way, or Jashin will for them"
"I'm not putting my husband's life in the hands of a God known for sacrificing people. Any chance we can go look for them, like now?" Vivi asks, already dry due to her Sand fruit drinking in all the moisture
"Well excuse me, Princess, I'll worship who I chose, we don't all have a pantheon to choose from. Anyway, does anyone have Observation haki good enough to scan for the others?" Valentina huffs
"No, most of my training went into Armament" Alvida admits
"Not on the level we need for something like this, we'd have needed Pops to land here with us for that" Artemis adds
"Didn't learn haki" Nami and Franky both admit with a shrug
"I can try to use my blooms, but we might as well just walk around and search normally given the unfamiliar landscape" Robin suggests
"That's…. a fair point, the easiest option would just to explore, and find either more people to ask about if they've seen them, or find them ourselves" Kaya agrees
"Plus, we do need to find the Sunny if we ever want to LEAVE again, so some local help would be nice, given I doubt our entrance was, subtle" Franky chuckles, getting nods of agreement from basically everyone
Back with the mermaids
"Dreams really do come true!" Sanji cries as he leaps at the crowd of busty mermaids
"Sanji! Oh dear!" Chopper frets, while Luffy giggles
"Honestly, we probably should have seen that coming" Ussop mutters, pinching the bridge of his nose
"He may try to maintain control, but he's still Sanji in the end" Kaos smirks "This was always going to happen"
"Lucky cook, getting to swim with mermaids, I wanna swim" Luffy whines
"Oh you can, we just need to get you a bubble, they'd have you done lickity split in town" Camie assures him
"Oh, sounds fun" Luffy grins "Hey Camie, if it's not too much trouble, there's someone down here I want to see, besides Hachi to see how he's doing of course"
"The mermaid princess I presume, biggest draw on the island" the mermaid winks
"Nope, though I'm sure Sanji and Kaos will" Luffy hums "But I wanna see Jinbe again"
"You know, they call him Boss down here" Camie corrects
"Wait a minute Luffy, you're not talking about the former Warlord, are you? That Jinbe?"
"The one we teamed up with to rescue Ace? Yes" Kaos answers, appearing behind Ussop and causing the sniper to yelp and fall into the water "He's a nice guy on a good day, both from what I saw at Marineford, and what Ace has said about him since"
"So Jinbe and the Pirate Empress, you guys make the weirdest friends when we're not around" Ussop mutters as he scrambles back onto land
"Vivi made friends with vampires, Zoro got with a ghost and a marine, so it's not just us who made weird friends while off training" Luffy pouts then perks up again "I can't wait to see Jinbe again" he cheers "I wonder how much stronger he's gotten in 2 years too. Anyway, you know where we can find him?"
"Yeah, but it's a bit far out, Boss Jinbe isn't allowed to live in the main city after resigning from the Warlords, as we have to treat him like any other pirate. It's a little out of the way, but we can swing by there later if you really want to" Camie explains as best she could
Aw man, that sucks, Jinbe's such a cool guy, that doesn't seem fair" Luffy whines
"I know, but no matter what people want to believe, the War of the Best affected everyone, even all the way down here" Camie sighs "Plus, it's not like this is Whitebeard's land anymore" she mutters
"Camie! Camie! Camie! Camie!" cried the chorus of mini mermaids from earlier "A big ship is coming this way! It looks like the one from the Palace"
"Did you see who was on it?" Camie asks
"No, but it was for sure the royal family's ship, no question"
"Wonder why they're here, they don't usually come out this far"
"Maybe they're gonna arrest Luffy and friends for entering the City wrong"
"Who cares if they do that?"
Camie winces "That's, a possibility. You guys better hide before they spot you, or we might all end up in trouble" she lightly orders, the foursome slink away, while Sanji is lightly pulled into a more secluded part of the water, not that he has any issues with that "Crap, that IS the royal gondola"
"Even so, it's not like any of the royal family would be riding on it, this place is too out of the way for that kind of thing" one of the mermaids hum
The trumpet lead announcement killed that idea swiftly, as not only were there royals on the gondola, but all 3 of the princes were on the ship and about to disembark.
"Greetings Ladies of the Cove. I was wondering if you could answer an inquiry of mine" one of the prince's calls down from the vessel
"The princes are talking to us!" one of the mermaids squeals
'I'm gonna take that as a yes' the eldest, Fukaboshi, thinks before beginning his inquiry "I've received word that we had an illiegal entry into our land. Have you by any chance seen these intruders?" he asks, the other 2 being dumbasses so even he tuned them out
"I'm sorry, nobody has come through that could match that description"
"They sound like riffraff and thugs, are they really that big a deal the royal family themselves are looking into this?" the mermaids answer and respond
Fukuboshi nods "That is possible, though we won't know for sure until these interlopers have at least been identified if not during capture" he continues
"He doesn't kno-la-te-da!" Ryuboshi sings
"Who cares? Let's dance, yay!" Manboshi cheers, already swaying to music only he can hear
'I really should have gone myself' Fukuboshi thinks with an internal sigh "Thank you anyway for taking the time to answer our inquiry, we won't take anymore than necessary, and continue our search. Please, don't hesitate to contact if you do happen to see those intruders ok?" the prince requests, getting nods and waves from the mermaids and they re-enter the ship and it drifts away using it's bubbles
"They're leaving, we're in the clear" Ussop says, heaving a sigh of relief
"I won't be too sure, mostly due to…. That" Kaos pinches the bridge of his nose while pointing behind him with his other hand, or more importantly the billowing steam
"Sanji?" Luffy asks
"Sanji" Chopper nods, facepalming into his hooves "I suppose it was too much to ask for him to not explode from all these girls around him"
Unfortunately for everyone, the steam cloud did catch the prince's eyes, causing them to order the ship be turned so they could investigate.
"Well, at least we know why he passed out and started boiling, 2nd time he's met a mermaid and the 2nd time it's happened" Kaos cackles as he and Ussop release Sanji from the mermaid who'd tried to help him hide "His one true weakness: A face full of mermaid titties, Zesesese!"
"I'm sorry, I was holding trying to help hide him, I guess I squeezed too hard" the mermaid Ishilly winces and squirms "This is all my fault"
"No, this was probably going to happen eventually, you just had the bad luck to be giving him an eyeful of the goods when he finally reached his limit" Luffy assures her "Right now, we have bigger issues to face"
"You can't be serious Luffy-chin! The princes are some of the best fighters in King Neptune's army" Camie squeals
"So, is it good or bad that they're sending other guys to deal with us instead?" Ussop asks as the Amonights drop from the ship onto the reef, tridents ready for battle
"There you bastards are!" cried Hammond as he leaps over the coral with his 2 goons "Seems you get a stay of execution after all, Hody Jones wants to kill you himself, or at least Straw Hat and Mirror Demon"
"Great, this guy again" Ussop groans, then turns to see Luffy and Kaos playing Rock-Paper-Scissors "Is now really the time?"
"I lost, thanks a lot Long Nose!" Kaos pouts as Luffy cheers "Have fun Lu"
"I don't need more than a minute for these dumbasses. Gear Second" Luffy boasts as he ativates his gears, dodging the fishman's net gun, then with 3 consecutive Jet Pistol took out all 3 Fishman Pirates in one shot each.
"Luffy behind you!" Chopper cries as the beast/mount they'd brought with them attacked…. Only to be pacified with a momentary burst of Conqueror's
"You're getting a lot better at that, as well as more precise" Kaos grins "For one, it's still conscious"
"And another, it was only him" Luffy agrees, before petting the seabeast
"Quite impressive, especially for your age" Fukiboshi compliments "Also, it seems, we've gotten off on, the wrong foot, at least now we've been able to confirm you to be the Straw Hat pirates. Your method of entry was, unorthodox, but at worst it would be a small fine payable when you leave for the New World, but what we actually wanted to do, was pass on a message from Jinbe" the prince explains
"Oh, opps. Maybe don't send the royal guards at us next time" Kaos chuckles
"I'm just glad you didn't attack them, then we'd all be screwwed" Chopper muses, side eyeing the researcher who just grins down at the reindeer.
TBC
LW: And, scene! So, as you can see, Sanji's NOT in the process of dying due to blood loss in this universe, as his time in Kamabaka was a lot more productive and less, torturous, so while he's still been without female contact for 2 years, he's not a shaken bottle of cola waiting to explode. Instead he just caused a steam cloud and passed out from, as Kaos said, mermaid boobies. He'll be fine….. Next chapter, whenever he comes to.