Chapter 34
In the deepest oceanic canyon beneath Fish-Man Island, shadows shifted through claustrophobic ruins that had once sheltered the remnants of Hody Jones' rebellion. Here, the defeated New Fish-Man Pirates licked their wounds and whispered of vengeance delayed, not denied.
Their numbers were depleted, their fiery cause now embers...but hatred yet smoldered in their hearts. And for true zealots, the smallest sparks sufficed. Let the soft-hearted citizens whisper of peace and forgiveness - they would nurse rebellion's flame until the day of flaming retribution dawned.
For now, they must recover their strength and avoid notice. The humans' champion, Straw Hat Luffy, had departed again for more glorious crusades. And the people of the island, their will broken by conflict, were all too eager to forget old divisions now that false stability had returned under Neptune's soft reign.
These ruins, eroded by Patient Time's tides, would shelter the remnants of Fish-Man Pride from prying eyes. Here, their rage could-
"Knock, knock, gentleman. I've come fishing, and you're the catch of the day."
A sonorous baritone echoed off the chambers' crumbling coral walls. Hody Jones whirled, eyes wild, as a familiar silhouette darkened the main cavern's entrance. Dark finery and a gleaming trident crest marked the newcomer unmistakably as one of humanity's most infamous butchers.
"No...it can't be! We cut a deal with your mistress to overlook the factory!" Desperation tinged the fallen warlord's screech. "She gave us her word not to interfere in our revolution!"
"Revolution?" The smooth voice radiated sardonic contempt. "All I saw was the impotent thrashing of a dying movement...one that put a sizable dent in our profit margins before expiring."
The elegant pirate commander paced closer, features still obscured by shadow. Only the smoldering tip of his cigar was visible, glowing like a malevolent cyclops' eye.
"Big Mom is not known for mercy towards those who disrupt her enterprises. Consider our presence here a...final accounting, long overdue."
With the shriek of drawn steel, New Fish-Man zealots erupted from the ruins' crevasses and sub-caverns, their initial fear swallowed by seething fury. Nearly a hundred hardened killers, armed to the teeth and boiling with outrage.
Against the lone invader, victory seemed assured. Yet the infamous marauder merely chuckled, a rich baritone laden with mocking contempt.
"Such excellent prey you've gathered here. And after I gift you all to my wives' tender mercies, not a single sinner shall remain to oppose our rule."
With a sound like cracking stone, the cavern's very gravitational essence warped. A visible shockwave of compressed gravity burst outward from the lone pirate, shattering coral formations to powder and driving the charging horde to its knees in agony. Blood trickled from the rebels' eyes and gills at the abrupt pressure forcing its way into their bodies.
"Witness now the power you so foolishly thought to defy." The quiet words carried sinister portent.
From the darkness stepped Sanjul Rahmuro, gravity incarnate made flesh. Ancient eyes like black holes regarded the groaning fish-men, their arrogance and bluster stripped away with their strength. No trace of mercy shone in their fathomless depths.
He gestured idly behind him without shifting that terrible gaze. "Come, friends. Feast to your hearts' delight."
At some unseen signal, chaos erupted, sealing the rebels' fates. Butchery on a scale unseen even during Straw Hat Luffy's rampages descended upon the caverns. This was conquest's fury given form and function.
Smoothie, a goddess of war in minimal crimson armor, descended with fluid strikes from Orobashi - the serpentine monstrosity forever bonded to her essence by the twisted miracle of her Devil Fruit. Twenty fanatical fish-men fell in as many seconds, crushed and broken beneath that sinuous bulk. Their defiant war cries gurgled into whimpers, then silence.
Pekoms, fury incarnate wreathed in seething flames, unleashed punishing salvos of flaming arrows into the packed ranks of rebels. His endless barrage granted them no respite from searing agony and despair. The remnants of Hordy's officer corps, once proud giants amongst minnows, became so much smoldering ash beneath that scathing retribution.
And presiding over the carnage stood the architect of their extermination: Sanjul Rahmuro. Gravity bowed only to his indomitable will now. With negligent flicks of the wrist, he reduced once-proud zealots to crimson smears against the uncaring walls of their tomb. To him, their deaths were but payment of an outstanding debt, long overdue.
No quarter or mercy infected this systematic slaughter. Each of the Big Mom Pirates had seen erstwhile comrades fall before Hordy's poisonous demagoguery - the senseless waste of life now demanded balancing with cold interest. None here would be spared.
When the last gurgling death rattle at last echoed into stillness, Sanjul gazed around with satisfaction at a task completed. By his rough tally, nearly fifty thousand now floated lifeless in these chambers. A dark tithing rendered unto Caesar...
"Pekoms, signal the reserve forces to move in and sanitize the rest," he ordered calmly. "No more stragglers lurking beneath the sands. I want this cancer eradicated for good."
The towering lion gave a crisp salute before loosing a piercing whistle. Moments later, an army of lesser Big Mom officers and crew swarmed into the charnel pits, ruthlessly dispatching any survivors or fugitives they uncovered. It was slaughter on an industrial scale, extermination without passion or prejudice. Sanjul's gaze never wavered.
Smoothie slithered up beside him atop Oroboshi's crest, idly wiping the last streaks of ichor from her long blade. No trace of exertion marked her pristine features or disheveled her mane of wild locks. If anything, she seemed radiant, exalted by dealing death with such peerless efficiency.
"All threats neutralized, my lord," she confirmed formally, though her gaze smoldered. "Shall we celebrate this triumph properly...after our troops have disembarked again?"
Sanjul's answering smile was feral with anticipation. His nod sent Smoothie's heart racing faster than the throes of battle. Much sweeter delights yet awaited this day...
But for now, duty remained. Sanjul turned and began casually stomping towards the caverns' crumbling entrance, grinding fluid and fragments of bone alike beneath his boots. The harsh scrape of his trident dragged behind like an executioner's axe in need of whetting.
The same path Straw Hat Luffy had taken not long ago upon departing Fish-Man Island after its liberation now bore the mark of far less merciful conquerors.
Let the citizens learn from these shattered remnants the price of defiance, of threatening what the strong ruled by divine right. Hody's treasonous antics were now but fading screams in history's wake, powerless as breath upon the tide.
Yet the man himself remained, Sanjul knew. Crippled and bereft, perhaps...but such beasts possessed enduring spite until properly gutted. An object lesson still awaited somewhere above, if his intuition proved right.
Sure enough, the central square before Ryugu Palace still bore crackling scars of titanic battle when Sanjul emerged from the ravaged caverns. And chained beneath the great monument where Otohime had spoken her naive dreams now languished the broken form of Hody Jones.
Once the revolutionary who had dared dream of rallying armies strong enough to challenge Big Mom herself. Now, a crumpled husk reduced to abject ruin by forces beyond his reckoning. The ignominious fate reserved for all who flew too near destiny's hottest flames.
"Well, well. It seems some detritus yet lingers." Sanjul's amused rumble raised fresh panic in the fallen warlord's eyes as he approached. "I'm amazed the rabble even bother keeping your worthless carcass around, truly."
He leaned down, smile utterly devoid of pity or remorse. "Waste not, want not, I suppose. No reason not to wring some last droplets of use from a drained fruit."
Hody opened his mouth, perhaps to spit threats or desperate appeals... but only a damp gurgle emerged. Sanjul's casual backhanded blow had crushed his windpipe utterly. Bulging eyes now regarded the executioner through a veil of pain, incomprehension...and burgeoning terror.
Sanjul knelt down, his own eyes agleam with patient malice. "All that rhetoric of proving your kind equal to humanity through blood. You never understood the simple truth." His smile was indulgent, as an adult humoring a ignorant pup. "In this world's order, might alone dictates right."
Slowly, almost lovingly, his gauntleted fingers wrapped around the broken revolutionary's throat and began to squeeze. Ragged choking sounds emerged along with popping veins. Through it all, Sanjul kept his voice soft, polite...even sympathetic.
"You sought to make proud rhetoric reality through force...but were too weak after all. Now look at you - groveling and mewling, for all your proud boasts." Gravity intensified around them both, agonizingly prolonged. "This is how your reign ends, Hody Jones...not with defiant shouts or banners waving...but whimpering oblivion."
When he finally stood again, dusting off his gloves, Hody's ruptured form lay in a viscous puddle, his one defiant eye forever dimmed. Sanjul regarded the corpse a moment longer, then turned away. Flesh and folly alike faded swiftly in time's flow...but power endured eternally.
"A valuable demonstration for you, I hope?" he remarked to the empty square. His words echoed back from silent facades all around. Before the distant palace gates, he spotted a small contingent of guards gazing upon the scene, faces taut with wary unease.
Sanjul smiled and beckoned them over with a magnanimous wave. "Come, good citizens! Let us speak together of your renewed prosperity." His eyes glittered, utterly unperturbed at having just executed their island's infamous scourge. "With old divisions healed and order restored, a magnificent future awaits."
The guards approached hesitantly, unable to disguise their apprehension. But Sanjul's approving gaze and warm exhortations soon soothed away the worst of their doubts. What did justice or ethics matter in this world, compared to strength's solid assurances and the profits they brought?
Truly, he reflected later while strolling back beneath the waves, power's creed remained universally sacrosanct. Those who grasped its subtleties endured. Those following idealistic phantoms blazed brief and bright...before darkness claimed them forevermore.
Fish-Man and human nature mattered not when primordial might held dominion. But to transform mere power into lasting authority required strategic vision - the rarest commodity of all.
Idly, Sanjul brushed a speck of dried blood from the back of his hand - the sole remaining evidence of rebellion's end here. Strength and knowledge together decreed the fate of thrones. Never again would their ascendancy be threatened upon these shores.
An age of wisdom and prosperity dawned for those clever enough to embrace it.
XXX
The sleek stealth ship cut through the inky depths like a silver bullet, its engines purring with barely a whisper to give away its presence. Within its luxurious confines, however, discretion was the last concern on anyone's mind.
"Sweet Neptune's trident, where are my manners?" Sanjul's deep baritone rumbled with exaggerated shame as he shamelessly palmed Galette's pert backside. "A gentleman should never manhandle a lady so brazenly."
Galette arched an eyebrow over her shoulder, sardonic grin tugging at full lips. "Is that what you're calling it? I thought we were well past the niceties stage, beloved."
Smoothie lounged nearby, lazily observing her husband's antics with a cat-like smirk. "My sweet Sanjul, always such the genteel diplomat - at least when clothes are involved."
Sanjul sent her a theatrically wounded glare before turning his attention back to Galette's generous curves. Propriety clearly wasn't a major concern for the next three blissful days at sea. "Can you blame a man for being utterly bewitched by the bounty before him?"
With a playful shove, Galette spun to face him fully, robes parting to reveal toned, creamy expanses of flesh - all now well-mapped territory for her insatiable spouse. "You're positively incorrigible, darling. Is everything always about our bountiful assets?"
Low laughter rumbled from deep within Sanjul's broad chest as covetous hands roamed freely along the promised land before him. "When one has spent a lifetime starving, can you fault a man for gluttonous indulgence once the feast is finally spread?"
Galette rolled her eyes in mock exasperation, even as tingles raced across her skin wherever his calloused digits strayed. Six months as husband and wife, yet Sanjul's ardor showed no signs of abating - much to her endless delight. A woman could get used to this...
With a wicked gleam, he suddenly seized her hips in a vice-like grip, yanking her flush against his powerful frame. Galette's shocked gasp melted into a breathless murmur at the blazing heat now searing her from so intimate a proximity. Between the steel in those unyielding hands and ravenous promise in onyx eyes, resistance proved futile.
"Whyever should I apologize for savoring the most luscious delicacies in all the seas?" Sanjul growled low against her throat, tongue flicking in a teasing graze. "I'll have you know I'm a devoted gourmand through and through..."
His wicked smirk preceded a firm squeeze along the generous curves now captive in his clutches. "And you two represent the most mouth-watering fare imaginable to me."
"You sweet-talking cad," Galette gasped through a dizzy haze of want. "Since when were you such a glib flatterer?"
"Mmm...since I finally wised up enough to appreciate the most exquisite ambrosia life can offer," Sanjul hummed, uncaring if his ardor sounded too flowery. Far better to live in sin than die of thirst for lack of poetry.
"Well said, my ravenous beast." Smoothie's throaty purr preceded her fluid rise from the chaise lounge to slink up behind him. Powerful coils slithered about both their forms in a loose yet possessive spiral, drawing them into her towering embrace. "Now allow me to truly whet your appetites..."
With an almost contemptuous flick of one wrist, clothing disintegrated from their bodies like gossamer threads in a maelstrom's path. Sanjul groaned low in his chest as living silk enveloped him, his every bronzed inch engulfed in Smoothie's boundless fullness and Galette's lithe perfection. Suddenly, their playful banter seemed the merest shadow-boxing before the main event.
Powerful contractions rippled through the mighty coils imprisoning them at Smoothie's silent command. Sanjul growled between gritted teeth at the maddening friction, flesh melding with flesh in such achingly exquisite torture. Little wonder his wife's bounty made her the terror of maritime civilization - her smallest caresses packed world-shattering ecstasy.
Every nerve ending blazed with need as Smoothie squeezed fractionally tighter. Their perspiring bodies slid in sensuous glide, dancing together to a rhythm older than the seas themselves. Sanjul gripped Galette's plush rump in two iron fists, steadying himself as their cores melded hungrily.
"Yes, feast upon us to your most depraved cravings," Smoothie crooned, rich tones drenched in honeyed sin. "Drink deep of pleasures mere mortals can only dream of..."
A strangled roar tore from deep within Sanjul's chest. Resistance proved deliciously futile against such carnal temptation. Bucking furiously into Galette's molten depths even as Smoothie squeezed him to near-rapture, he surrendered utterly to their lurid wiles.
Pleasure coursed alongside perspiration to soak the plush cabin environs. Desperate grunts, wordless cries of ecstasy, and wet flesh smacking in steady crescendo filled the intimate space. The world beyond this hidden sanctuary ceased to matter at all. Nothing existed outside this blessed delirium.
When the shared tempest at last subsided, all three pirates sprawled in an amusingly disheveled heap along the rumpled bedding. Chests heaved with exertion, skin aglow from righteous indulgence. Gradually, satisfied grins and lingering caresses replaced the former passions.
Utterly shameless now, Sanjul groped one palmful of each wife's bounty, growling in smug contentment. "Well, how's that for a taste of the main course? My sweet little delicacies look rather..." He eyed them up and down with a wicked leer. "...thoroughly sampled."
Galette swatted his roving hand with an arch giggle. "Oh, hush already, you dreadful reprobate. Did you slake your appetites for once?"
Sanjul affected a thoughtful look. "For the moment, perhaps..." Without warning, he pounced on her again, pinning the squealing ginger beneath his bulk and raining playful nips along her neck and shoulders. "But my hungers are utterly insatiable when it comes to you two. I suspect repeat tastings will be required."
"That sounds dreadfully gluttonous, my love," Smoothie murmured, emerald eyes glinting with wicked promise. Powerful whip-like strands instantly wrapped their limbs in silken prisons, binding them chest-to-chest and hip-to-hip. "Allow me to ensure you're properly stuffed..."
And so their torrid indulgences continued unabated through the sultry nights at sea. In the isolated privacy of their cloaked vessel, all masks eroded away to reveal the rapacious decadence beneath. Smoothie, Sanjul, and Galette surrendered to every primordial hunger without reservation or remorse.
By the time the Whole Cake Island shores loomed on the horizon, barely a square inch of plush bedding remained unstained with the fruit of their shared indulgences. Satiety seemed far more a hollow fiction than reality for that voracious trio.
All agreed, however, that their personal buffet of delights beggared any mere sugar or sweets crafted by human ingenuity. No delicacies in all the seas could match the intoxicating bliss they sampled with such shameless abandon in those halcyon hours...
"Sweet babies, give your papa more of that sweet sugar!" Sanjul crowed one evening while greedily pawing his nubile partners' fleshy assets. His boisterous chuckles echoed through the dimly lit cabin as both lovers rolled their eyes indulgently.
A soft chime from Sanjul's personal Den Den Mushi preceded a new voice through the haze of sin and sweat. "Good lord, I hope you three harlots are finally winding down over there. Some of us still have work awaiting when we dock."
Pekom's annoyed grumbling only elicited louder guffaws from the trio. Sanjul waved a dismissive hand, clearly unconcerned as to whether his leonine lieutenant overheard their lurid antics. Propriety sailed long ago from this particular ship.
"Peace, you stuffy prig. A man's gotta seize his appetites where and whenever he can in life. Or are you going to lecture me as I stuff Linlin's daughters holes?"
Pekoms just grumbled and let Sanjul have his peace before leaving. Much to Sanjul's delight who proceeded to grab his wives again.