A big thank you to Ill Douchey Musclelini and Lampalot7 for beta-reading. Sherlock, too, for checking it out when you had a moment.
And thank you all for your patience. This one took a minute to fix up haha. March is still young, though. More to come. Again, unless otherwise stated none of my stories are dead. I'm just slow and there's a lot to do.
As always, the biggest of thanks to everyone supporting me on pa treon. All y'all help to keep these chapters coming out semi-regularly. My authorishnesses (not a word probably) would be dying in a ditch somewhere without you. Speaking of which, the illustration poll for this chap will be up soon. I promise I haven't forgotten
Don't forget to check this story out on AO3 as it's being updated! It has a nice workskin there along with updated illustrations.
X
"How unusual of you to call me yourself."
Hawk Eyes Mihawk sheathed his monolithic blade with practised ease. He was sure to hold his tiny transponder snail in his free hand with some level of mindfulness so as not to harm it.
"This is important," the Fleet Admiral barked, his voice resonating from the mouth of the creature. "I want Straw Hat Luffy dealt with."
The man was as curt with him as ever.
"Hm?" Mihawk tried to think of where it was, exactly, that he'd heard that name before.
Ah. That's right.
"He's not much of a problem," he remarked.
"I want him dealt with before he becomes one."
The swordsman remained quiet for a moment. He hummed as though thinking it over.
"I suppose that makes sense."
"I'm glad you think so," the snail relayed, conveying a tone that frankly didn't sound very glad at all. Mihawk thought the Fleet Admiral could try to be a little more appreciative.
He sighed. Though he was indeed a Warlord of the Sea—a pirate employed by the very body sworn to destroy his kind—not many things could move him to do something he deemed to be an inconvenience.
This was without a doubt an inconvenience.
"I'll see what is to be done," he relented. "For a price."
"Good."
Sengoku hung up on him abruptly. Perhaps he was feeling petty for all the times Mihawk had done that to the man, or perhaps it was simply a matter of the man not thinking that anything needed to be discussed further. He'd be getting his due compensation one way or the other for this favour. Both of them knew this.
He stepped over the corpses and jumped over the side of the sinking galleon. He landed gracefully in the tiny coffin-boat, staring at the other vessel with some level of apathy as the ocean swallowed it whole.
It had been a fun chase while it lasted, though there was little that these pirates could do to escape from him. Following them all the way here was a bit of a chore, but it was nothing less than what they deserved.
Maybe it was his own fault for making himself available.
X
"Arlong-san!"
The mighty pirate in question put his piña colada to the side and sat up in his sunlounger to get a better look at the crewmate calling out to him. He lifted his sunglasses and quirked a brow.
"Something wrong?" he asked. The crewmate in question, a carp fishman dressed in swimming trunks and strappy sandals, looked quite tense.
"There's a pirate crew coming. Some of the guys spotted them about a half-hour out from the northeastern shore. Like, near that last town you cleaned out."
Giving it a moment's thought, Arlong sank back down into his chair and allowed the sunglasses to flop back down over his saw-shaped nose.
"What's the problem? Just sink 'em."
A bounty poster was presented to him; he flicked the sunglasses to the side, completely this time, once he realised whose bounty he was looking at.
He grabbed it and frowned gravely at the carp fishman.
"Are you saying this is who's coming our way?"
"Yes, Cap'n. I'm sure the number's some sort of mistake, but…"
He clutched the paper so tightly that the whole thing started to crinkle up.
Monkey D. Luffy. The largest bounty ever to have been given to a pirate sailing the East Blue.
Why? What business did he have in the Conomi Archipelago? Arlong didn't want to make uninformed guesses about his strength or his intent, but the World Government didn't give out such ludicrous bounties in the Blues. If anything, stronger pirates had lower bounties outside of the Grand Line since they weren't getting in the way of what the Marines really cared about.
What was here? Nothing but a bunch of worthless villages brimming with less than worthless scum.
That, and his resort.
"Tell Hachi to greet them upon their arrival. Let's make a… good first impression."
"...Sir!"
X
"Shanks is super cool!"
"No, he isn't!"
"Yes, he is!"
"He's a buffoon and a thief!"
"Nuh-uh!"
"A traitor!"
"No way! You're just jealous!"
"I'm—!? I'm not jealous!"
"Uh-huh!"
"Nuh-uh!"
"Uh-huh!"
"Nuh—"
"Would you two cut it out already?" Zoro glowered, grabbing Big Nose's head right out of my hands. The head started yelling at him, but Zoro didn't look like he cared. "Is there anything else you want to ask him, or are we done here?"
I was still pouting because Big Nose was being an asshole, but I put that aside for now. Was there anything else I wanted to ask him?
I looked to the rest of my crew to see if I was missing anything. Usopp looked pretty grossed out for some reason, Nami had been barely paying attention to begin with, Koby was up in the crow's nest so I couldn't really see him, and Zoro—
"Wait!" Big Nose shouted.
Hm?
He was looking at me with a super serious look on his face.
"You asked me how I knew Red-Hair. I might not have seen much of him since we were cabin boys, but I told you what I know. It's only fair that you answer a question of mine in turn—hey!"
Big Nose was struggling against the cloth that Zoro was trying to shove in his mouth.
"Sure," I agreed. "What do you wanna know?"
Zoro pulled the cloth away.
"What are you and Red Hair up to?"
I felt Nami's eyes on me. Zoro's too.
I was confused, though. I tilted my head and crossed my arms.
"Hm? Whaddya mean?"
"Don't play dumb!" Big Nose spat out. "You're a New World pirate. You don't have any business here. You belong on the Grand Line."
New World? He was right about the Grand Line part at least.
"I agree."
"Then why are you here, bastard!? How do you know Red Hair? How do you know Kaido? What the hell does a brat like you have to do with two Emperors of the Sea?"
Usopp was spinning his head back and forth. "Wha—" he stumbled over his words. "What's going on here? What're you people talking about?"
Everyone ignored him for now. Nami was back to looking at me all suspicious-like. What was happening?
Before I could say anything, Koby poked his head over the edge of the crow's nest.
"I see Conomi!" he yelled down at us. "It won't be long until we arrive!"
Nami tore her eyes away from me and marched off to the front of the ship.
"Make sure we stay on course," she told us as she passed. "If we anchor ourselves in the wrong waters, Arlong will attack us. We have to be sure we're at the harbour he leaves open for his allies… though even that's a gamble now."
She pointed up at our sail, and I smiled.
Usopp had painted our jolly roger on the sails for us. It looked really good! I'd thought the one that I made was fine, but his was way better. I liked our new flag a lot.
Speaking of Usopp…
"Whaaaa…" he fell to his knees. "Seriously? We're already here? Are you sure—uh… we should leave someone behind right? To look after the ship!"
I laughed at him.
"You're such a scaredy cat! You shouldn't have come if you weren't ready to go fight Nami's fish guys."
"You didn't tell me until after I was already here!" he screeched back at me.
I laughed even harder.
X
Sanji leaned over the side of the boat, taking a long drag of his cigarette before sighing.
"Hm? What's that?" asked his impromptu sailing partner from over his shoulder.
"A cigarette," he answered without looking back.
"Is it tasty?"
"No."
"Then why are you eating it?"
"I'm not eating it."
"It looks like you're eating it."
Calmly, he took another drag.
When she had first, for all intents and purposes, stolen him from his job, he liked to think that he had been understandably upset. Still, he had tried his best to be accommodating: it was only right for a man to offer his aid when a lady asks it of him, after all. What else could he do? Start a fight?
The mere thought of resorting to violence with a woman left a sour taste in his mouth. This would only take a day; he could pretend this whole thing never happened when he got back to the restaurant. Hopefully Owner Zeff wouldn't be too angry at him.
"What kind of fish is that? It's as big as… two salmon!" she asked again with wonder in her tone, leaning over the side of the boat so far he was almost scared of it tipping over. "Maybe three!"
"A whale fish," he told her between puffs from his nearly spent cig. He reached into the pocket of his jacket to get his next smoke ready. "They're pretty friendly, usually. They don't bother humans."
She was a total chatterbox, always bringing up whatever came to mind: the colour of the water, the tailoring of his suit, or whichever passing fish that caught her fancy. As time went on, it became almost pleasant; she was like a kid out at sea for the first time. Despite her appearance, it was clear to him now that she was pretty sheltered. He was happy to humour her, if only for the time being.
He held back a chuckle. Getting angry at a pretty lady just wasn't in his nature.
"Would you mind answering a question of mine?" he finally asked.
She blinked owlishly.
"Hm? Sure."
The woman sat down before him, her massive frame causing their vessel to seesaw from side to side.
The man turned around and sat to face her. Keeping a watchful eye on their route wasn't so important anymore; they weren't far from their destination now. "Why are you so desperate to get to the Conomi Islands? Is there some sort of family emergency?"
He really didn't know much about the place. For all he knew, the islands were full of freakishly tall, horned… people.
She shook her head.
"Nope! I've never been there either. I'm meeting my captain there is all."
Sanji paused as he tinkered with his lighter.
"Captain? Are you a sailor?"
"I'm a pirate."
The next flick had enough spark to get his cig going; he brought it to his lips and took a puff.
Then exhaled.
"I see," he answered.
A pirate. He had been kidnapped by a pirate. There were certainly worse-looking pirates to be kidnapped by, but—
That wasn't the point.
The reality of his predicament came crashing down on him. He had been kidnapped. He could pretend to be fine with it all he wanted, but just because she was easy on the eyes didn't mean that he could just ditch the restaurant like this!
"You look angry," she remarked.
"That so?" he shot back flippantly, trying not to show the extent of what he felt.
Her excited expression morphed into something more remorseful.
"I'm sorry. What I did was wrong."
"I'm happy to hear you recognise at least that much."
"We've been out for so long that I've made you skip a meal. Would you like me to catch us a fish? Ah. You'll have to tell me which ones taste good, though."
That's not at all why you should be sorry!
He bit back a sigh.
"Don't worry about it," he insisted, pinching the bridge of his nose.
She clapped her hands together loudly; he almost jumped. "I know!" she exclaimed. "I'll treat you to a meal once we get there! I've still got some of Makino's pocket money, should be enough for a decent—"
"That won't be necessary!"
"Of course it is!"
He wouldn't press the issue. It was probably best to change the subject for now.
"Why did you split from your captain anyway?" he tried.
"Oh? Uh, it was an accident. We both fell into a whirlpool or something—"
"And you survived!?"
"Right. So… we got split up and I've been spending the past little while on Smoker-san's ship until I found out where he was heading!"
Smoker-san. Was she talking about that marine captain?
Hold on…
That hair… those horns…
"Are you… some sort of shapeshifter?" he had to ask, though it came out a little uneasy to his own ears.
Again, she batted her eyes at him, as large as they were empty of thought. It was clear to him now that they were not operating on the same baseline of logic or reason.
He craned his neck back and stared blankly at the grouping of islands growing rapidly in the distance.
Every aching bone in his body thanked whichever higher power that they were nearly there.
X
Finally! We were here.
Before anyone could drop the anchor, I ran to the front of our new ship and jumped off the figurehead. I think someone was yelling at me about something or other, but I doubt it mattered all that much.
I braced my knees as my feet touched the sand. Looking around me, I noticed that everything looked super tropical. Neat! There were people coming toward us, too. I wondered if they were locals.
"Smooth ride," Zoro said. He jumped down right beside me once the ship was secured.
Usopp set a foot on top of the Going Merry's rail.
"Of course it is!" he shouted proudly, hands on his hips. "This is no ordinary caravel!"
I was shocked.
"Seriously? What kind of caravel is it, then?"
He stammered.
"Uh…"
Before he could tell me our new ship's secrets, Nami pushed past him and threw down a rope ladder; she climbed down with Koby following shortly after her.
Zoro rubbed his neck and yawned.
"Well, then. Shall we get this over with?" he asked.
"Sounds good to me," I agreed. I looked to Nami to see what she thought, but…
Her head was down. She was grabbing her arm really hard, for some reason. I wasn't the only one who noticed.
"Nami?" I called out to her. She jumped a little.
"H-huh?"
I frowned.
"We're gonna go to Ardong now." I reminded her. "Can you take us there?"
For a second or two, her face was totally blank. Then she gave me a shaky smile.
"Oh! Right! Actually, maybe we should wait a bit?"
Huh? We were already here, though.
"Hah?" Zoro breathed out. He stared her down with a sneer. "Getting cold feet now?"
"Zoro-san!" Koby scolded him. He stepped between Nami and Zoro, but Zoro pushed past him and got closer.
Nami bared her teeth at him.
"Of course not!" she barked.
Usopp was still up on the ship. He didn't look like he knew what was going on down here. Koby looked at me, silently asking me to do something.
For now, I didn't.
I noticed the way that Nami was trembling.
"Hoh! Nami-san! Is that you?"
We turned around and faced the nearby trees; three strange-looking people showed up. The one who spoke looked like some sort of squid with a starfish for a head.
Nami took several steps back; she looked super shocked. Koby did too, and Usopp threw himself to the ground up on the ship so I couldn't really see him anymore. Zoro didn't react much, but he had a hand on his white sword.
I didn't get it. I didn't have the mystery squares anymore… this was a little strange, actually. Usually they'd tell me stuff about these guys.
"Starfish Guy!" I called out to the one in front. They kept looking at each other as if they didn't know who I was talking about for some reason until I pointed at him.
"M-me?" Starfish Guy asked, wide-eyed.
"Mm."
"I'm not a starfish."
"...Squid Guy."
"I'm not a squid either!" Mystery Fish Guy snapped at me. Anyway.
"How do you know Nami?" I asked him.
He smiled brightly and scratched the back of his starfish hair with one of his hands.
"Nami-san's our friend! I was just surprised to see her with you. We weren't expecting that! We're the Arlong Pirates, you see: Arlong-san heard that you were coming so he sent us to greet you. Though if Nami brought you to us herself, I'm sure there's a great reason!"
I turned around to Nami. We were all looking at her now, but she wasn't saying anything until she noticed.
"O-oh! Yeah. Hey, Hatchan."
She kept looking at me. She wanted me to do something.
"...Oh. You guys are fishmen," I noticed. They worked for Arlomb, right?
"Obviously!" almost everyone yelled at me.
"You're Monkey D. Luffy?" Mystery Fish Man asked me. He put out a hand for me to shake, which I did without thinking too much about it. "Would you like to follow us back to the resort? I'm sure Arlong-san would love to do business with you."
Business? I didn't have a clue what he was talking about.
He was a pretty nice guy, I decided. If he wasn't being a jerk to me then I didn't see a reason to be a jerk to him. I didn't know much about the other guys he brought with him, though. They were just standing there silently with big frowny faces.
My crew was strangely quiet this whole time, I noticed.
Nami brought me here to beat their captain up.
This guy was nice though, wasn't he?
"Sure," I answered easily.
I could feel how surprised everyone else was.
Nami especially. For a moment, it was just us two staring at each other. She looked like she wanted to scream, but I was totally blank-faced.
Mystery Fish Man clapped.
"Great!" he cheered. "Just follow me! Come on."
That was easy enough.
I locked my hands behind my head and did just that. Zoro was the first to follow, then Koby.
It took Nami the longest, but soon enough she caught up to us and acted like nothing was wrong. I had my eyes on her the whole time.
She was bad at pretending that she wasn't super angry at me.
"Long Nose!" Zoro yelled. "Come on!"
Usopp stumbled around and fell off the boat.
"R-right!"
We walked through the forest for a little while. Surprisingly enough, there was a nice dirt path for us to follow.
After a little while longer, we reached a village; I almost stumbled over my feet once I was close enough to notice the condition this place was in.
The fishmen noticed that we had slowed down. They turned back to see what was wrong.
All of us were staring at… It was a mess. All the houses that weren't completely destroyed were flipped upside-down. The village was empty: deserted, or… I wasn't sure. There weren't any people left here. I could feel that.
"What…" Usopp gulped, then asked in a small voice, "What happened here?"
One of the fishmen puffed his chest out.
"Oh, this? Arlong-san did it himself!" he boasted.
Zoro's jaw was clenched shut so that he didn't say anything he wasn't supposed to. Koby and Usopp had their jaws hanging by their knees. Nami still looked just as angry as she did earlier. No more, no less.
I could tell that wasn't really true, though. She was definitely way more angry.
"Arlong-san gets pretty angry when someone disobeys him, ya see!" Mystery Fish Man explained to us in a cheerful voice. "They didn't pay their taxes on time, so Arlong-san had to punish them. He wiped out the village single-handedly to send a message! The captain said an example had to be made of them. There hasn't been a missed payment from any of the other villages since then. Arlong-san understands how business works much better than I do! Isn't it impressive?"
Nami was hurting a lot. Because of all of this. Because of these guys.
"Let's not dilly-dally, though," another fishman said. "We wouldn't want to keep him waiting."
"Seriously?" Zoro grumbled under his breath. "They're gonna say that and then pretend that nothing happened?"
I see.
"Captain!" Nami whispered angrily in a voice low enough that only us two could hear. She tugged on my vest stealthily. As much as she was trying to keep herself together, she was clearly about to burst. "Why are we—"
She cut herself off. She must've seen how super pissed off I was.
"Nami," I called out to her in a loud enough voice for everyone to hear us. My crew and the fishmen all turned to us. "I'm sorry. I was wrong. Forgive me."
Her hand let go of my vest. It didn't look like she understood what I was talking about.
"Something the matter?" Mystery Fish Man asked me with a tilt of his head. By now, though, I wasn't really listening to him anymore.
I had already made up my mind.
Before anyone could react, I grabbed the two other fishmen by the head and slammed them together. They passed out instantly.
Zoro was the first to react: he flicked one of his swords out of its sheath and dropped into a fighting stance. Mystery Fish Man looked at his unconscious friends for a moment—not understanding what just happened—then at me with about as much anger as I was feeling.
"You!" he shouted, drawing a bunch of swords; he pointed them all at me. "How dare you! You betrayed our goodwill! You spat on our hospitality! You—"
"I'm totally gonna kick Arlong's ass!"
I screamed so loudly that the fish guy forgot what he was saying halfway through. Zoro re-sheathed his sword.
Fish guy made a strange, frustrated noise and turned his head to Nami, who was frozen stiff. "What's going on, Nami-san? You're loyal to Arlong, aren't you? You trick other pirates! You betray them and rob them blind for our sake! This… That's what you're doing now, isn't it? It's just a trick! It must be!"
Zoro reacted instantly. He drew his white sword and held it at Nami's neck. Usopp and Koby gasped.
Nami wasn't fast enough to react before it actually happened. With the blade touching her skin, she slowly turned her head to look at all the eyes that were on her.
She was panicking.
"Captain!" she pleaded with me. "He's—That's not what's going on! We made a promise, and—"
"Zoro," I commanded him. "Let her go."
He clicked his tongue but did just that. Now the rest of the crew was looking at him nervously: each for their own reasons.
Whatever Nami had to say didn't matter.
"Starfish-squid," I called out to the fishman calmly.
He snapped his head back to me.
"That's not—"
"Tell Arlong that I'm coming."
He didn't answer. Instead, he lunged, swinging all of his swords down against my forearm.
"Luffy-san!"
"Luffy!"
I could hear my crew's worried shouts when the blades touched my body. Starfish-Squid Man saw what happened before they did and his eyes shot open.
Hm. That was a lot of swords.
One, two, three, four, five, six…
"How's that… possible?" Starfish-Squid Man croaked.
He couldn't believe that none of his swords were able to pierce my skin, and I didn't give him any more time to think about that. My leg swung out to kick him in the side; it sent him flying right back toward the shore—however far that was—and I could kind of hear the sound of him crashing into water.
I looked down at the unconscious fish guys.
That settled that, then.
None of us spoke for a second or two before Nami broke the silence.
"I'm not going to betray you," she insisted, touching her neck.
"I know," I agreed.
Her mouth snapped shut again. I couldn't really tell what she was thinking now. Not that I was great at that to begin with.
Zoro burst out laughing. The others were looking at him strangely, but I started laughing with him because he looked funny when he laughed.
"Well, Captain?" he asked me. "What's next? You've declared war on the fishmen. They'll be preparing for us once they find out."
Prepare for us?
I nodded seriously.
"Mm. I didn't think of that part."
"..."
Zoro's smile dropped into a flat look.
Usopp gulped. "Y- Hey! Maybe you could have, uh, just knocked them all out here? Instead of, you know, punting that one guy somewhere else? If he gets up from that, he'll swim back to his fish friends and tell them everything."
I nodded, understanding what he was trying to say.
"He'll definitely get up," I told him. "I didn't hit him that hard."
"We could try to find him before he does," Zoro suggested.
"No way!" I shot the idea down. Obviously I couldn't do that. Zoro said so himself: it wouldn't have been a declaration of war otherwise.
"The ship!" Koby suddenly shouted, hands holding his head. "They know where it is! We can't leave it there, can we?"
Ah. He was right.
"Let's go back to the ship then," I told them. "We can sail to…" I trailed off, noticing that Nami was panicking again. "Nami?"
Her skin looked pale and clammy. Nervous sweat dripped down her brow.
"I think—" she stopped herself. Almost like she thought she wasn't allowed to say what she wanted to. "Arlong knows that I've betrayed him, now. Or at least, he will soon, once Hatchan tells him. The first thing he'll do is attack my village.
She was scared even to tell me that much. And even then, that was all she did. There was an underlying suggestion, there: a hope that we'd react in the way she wanted without her having to speak up. Although, she also sounded resigned, like she had accepted that there was no other way if we didn't.
Why won't she just say it?
I squished her cheeks between my hands. She froze.
"Nami! You're allowed to ask for help, you know!"
Her eyes widened more and more. "I—"
She didn't know what to say, but I wasn't going to let her get out of this one.
Usopp tried to say something, but Zoro placed a hand on his shoulder to shush him before he could. I was thankful for that.
I could feel every deep breath that Nami took to try to calm herself.
"Captain… could you…" she closed her eyes, trying to keep herself under control. Tears streamed down her face; she looked super scared. And frustrated. She was fighting against herself. "Please… help me keep my village safe! I said I'd join your crew if you got rid of Arlong. This wasn't part of the deal—I know that, and there's other stuff that I can do to make up for it—but… please."
I let go of her cheeks and pulled her into a tight hug. Her breath hitched.
"Of course I will! You're our friend."
"...Oh," was all she could think to say.
The rest of the crew looked happy; Usopp was tearing up a little, even.
I laughed out loud at such a silly response. She just stayed there. Not hugging me back, but not moving away.
I could feel it: there was still something that wasn't quite right. Something wasn't getting through to her. She was pretty stubborn that way.
For now, though, this was fine.
"Where's your village?" I asked, finally letting her go.
She quickly rubbed her eyes and tried her best to act like nothing had happened.
"There's a cape on the southernmost point of the island," she told us. "It's just on the other side of that, west of where we left the Going Merry."
I nodded along. I didn't understand.
"Koby! Usopp!" They both stood at attention. "You two know boat stuff, right?"
They looked at each other uneasily.
"I guess?" Usopp confirmed.
I clapped my hands together.
"Great! You two go and bring our ship to the cloak—"
"The cape," Nami corrected.
"—the cape. We'll meet you there."
"Will they be fine on their own?" Zoro asked.
No idea!
"Koby, Usopp, and Zoro then," I said. "Nami and I will meet you there."
They all seemed fine with it, except Koby looked a little nervous and Usopp was totally shaking at the knees. I gave them a thumbs up.
"Okay!" I cheered suddenly.
Nami squeaked as I grabbed her by the hand and started running off. She was forced to keep up.
"Other way!" she yelled at me.
I laughed and turned around.
"Don't get lost!" I heard Zoro warning us from over my shoulder.
X
Their boat finally reached the shore; Sanji stuck out a foot and hooked his heel on a rock to stop them from floating away.
"Can you grab the line?" he asked his companion. She did so promptly; with the two of them, they were quick to moor their vessel.
The well-dressed blonde let out a relieved sigh and wiped his brow.
"Well, here we are," he remarked uselessly, offering a deep bow for the sake of theatrics. "Welcome to the Conomi Islands. I'm afraid I wouldn't know where to find your captain, unfortunately."
The shopping boat shook violently as it was relieved of the burden of her massive weight. The certainly-not-human woman stretched her arms over her head before throwing her leather jacket back on.
"Thanks a bunch, Mister Chef!"
Despite himself, he smirked.
"It wasn't too much of a bother," he answered humbly, reaching out to untie the boat. "Now if you'd excuse me—wha—!? Hey!"
She lifted him clean off his feet and started dragging him off.
"What are you talking about?" the woman asked light-heartedly. She kept a steady saunter as she moved further and further away from the water, almost as if she didn't notice him struggling against her grip at all.
"I told you, didn't I? I owe you a meal!"
Ah. A pretty lady wanted to treat him to a meal. That sounded really nice. Maybe he—no! He was almost led astray. How dangerous. His own desires couldn't trample on his commitments to the Baratie and Owner Zeff.
"And I said—you don't—have to!"
"Aw… don't be like that, Mister Chef! We haven't eaten in so long!"
His stomach chose the worst time to growl. He sighed. "Are we even close to a town?" he tried. "For all we know, we're on one of the uninhabited islands."
"But that looks like some kind of town, right?"
Her words made him look up: there was a large gate surrounding some sort of equally large property. From over its walls, he could make out the tips of palm trees and an exotically-designed pagoda with a piscine logo that he didn't recognize.
"It looks like a resort," he remarked. "Or maybe some sort of amusement park."
She gasped. "Amusement park? That sounds like so much fun! I've never been to either one of those things before. Do you think they have food?"
He was right about her being sheltered, it would seem.
"I mean, maybe, but usually you'd need tickets for—hey!"
She ignored him. The horned woman dragged him by the arm as she walked right up to the giant metal gates and pried them open as though they were regular doors.
"Hello?" she asked the wind as she stepped in.
He groaned, knowing all decision-making had been taken out of his hands.
Sanji froze.
He was right about this being a resort, but clearly, it wasn't a place for humans. A crowd of fishmen, dressed in all kinds of bathing suits and summer wear, gathered around them with glares of annoyance and suspicion.
There was a settlement of fishmen in the East Blue? That was news to him!
…Were there any mermaids here, perchance?
"You have a lot of balls showing up here after what you did to Hachi," one of the fishmen sneered. He had a bit of a surfer aesthetic to him, only he was blue and had a set of lips that stuck out half an arm's length from his face. This one, along with most of the others, was particularly preoccupied with his companion's supernatural appearance.
"You have a death wish? Arlong will have your heads!" another fishman threatened.
That name rang a bell, to Sanji's dismay. The logo that he hadn't recognised at the top of the pagoda was certainly one that he should have recognised, in the end.
Arlong. Captain of a dangerous band of fishman outlaws sailing the East Blue.
This wasn't a resort: it was the base of operations for a pirate crew.
"We have to get out of here," he tried to whisper.
"Mister Chef!" She looked down at him sadly. "What did we do? I think we made the locals angry!"
He stared at her incredulously. She didn't seriously think that these were just normal, grumpy villagers, did she?
"That's not—"
"Let's talk things out!" she suggested, hands held out in front of her placatingly. "I'll stick around and listen to whatever you have to say."
The fishmen started muttering amongst themselves.
"Does this count as a hostage situation?"
"I think so."
"Does Arlong want a hostage?"
"I dunno. He didn't say."
"That's a big-ass hostage, though, I gotta say. If we nab her, it's like we're getting two for the price of one!"
"There are two people there you twit."
"Yeah, but getting three for the price of two doesn't have the same ring to it."
The same surfer fishman from earlier stepped up.
"You two are coming with us," he declared. The woman at fault was shameless enough to look surprised.
"Hold on!" She pointed down at Sanji. "Let him go, at least."
The blonde chef frowned and stepped forward. "I'm not one to let a lady put herself in a tough spot for my sake," he declared with confidence.
"I think we'll take both of you!" the surfer fishman cheered.
Sanji got ready for a fight. Before he could move, however, the woman grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and lifted him clean off the ground.
"Stop doing that!" he snapped at her.
"Sorry!" she whispered into his ear. "Do you have a devil fruit?"
He quirked a brow.
"No, but—"
"That pool-looking thing over there leads into the ocean, I think; I'll throw you in and you swim away while I hold these guys off."
His eyes shot wide open.
That was an awful idea! That didn't make sense at all! Normal people couldn't just "swim away" if you tossed them into the ocean! This lady was completely nuts!
"Don't you dare—"
"I'll find you later!"
Before he—or any of the fishmen—could do anything about it, she tossed him through the air like some sort of handball. He splashed into the ocean a good long ways away and decidedly not in the nearby pool.
X
"Damn it!" one of the fishmen swore. "Go after him!"
That wouldn't be possible. In the blink of an eye, the impossibly-tall woman positioned herself between the lot of them and the open body of water.
"You can try fighting me, or we can talk," she offered sternly as an ultimatum. "I don't want to hurt innocent men, so choose wisely."
Again, the fishmen looked at each other in utter confusion. What the hell was she talking about?
"Hm?" a noise suddenly escaped her lips.
Her gaze found itself planted firmly on the pagoda in the middle of the resort. Her assailants couldn't help but to look over their shoulders out of curiosity.
They were all filled with a burst of confidence.
"Arlong-san!"
"We don't know what happened. She just—"
"We can deal with this, honest!"
Bursting out from the large edifice, marching toward the commotion with angry, thunderous steps, was Arlong the Saw. He dragged along with him an enormous, unwieldy, sword, unbothered as it bounced every time its jagged blades scraped against the pavement.
They all faced him head-on upon noticing his arrival, yet despite being his comrades, even they couldn't help but back up in fear.
"What the hell is going on here!?" he demanded. "An intruder? Don't take us fishmen so lightly!"
"Are you their leader?" the woman asked calmly, not showing any signs of looking for a fight. Despite being so severely outnumbered, she didn't look bothered in the slightest.
Regaining most of his composure, Arlong glared at the person addressing him.
His hand twitched involuntarily, almost making him drop his weapon. It didn't take a genius to figure out that she wasn't a normal human. She looked like…
The sawshark fishman allowed that thought to trail off. None of that now. Still, perhaps it would be best to remain cautious.
"I don't take kindly to people who come to my territory unannounced and uninvited, Miss," he informed her, tone polite through his sneer. "Please state your business… if you would be so kind."
The woman seemed lost in thought, then an amused smirk crossed her lips.
X
They lost Zoro.
Or actually, that made it sound like it was in any way their fault. Zoro wandered off on his own! What the hell was he doing, huh!?
Usopp was panicking internally. He was also panicking externally, but the internal part mattered more because that meant he was panicking-panicking and not just fake-panicking. Not that he ever fake-panicked, but he wasn't one to so easily dismiss facts, no matter how benign.
The long-nosed young man dropped to his knees in despair.
"Usopp-san?" Koby called out to him worriedly. Not that he wasn't already looking worried. And nervous.
"What are we supposed to do now?" Usopp wailed. "Did you see how big those fishmen guys were? We're just normal people! If they find us, we're toast!"
He knew right from the jump that this was all a mistake. Did he want to be a pirate? Sure. Was he thankful that Luffy let him sail with him? Also sure. And he did want to help. Nami seemed nice, and he was under the impression that this was all super important to her. But this wasn't something that he could do.
"We have to do this," Koby insisted.
Usopp just… sat there for a second, not looking up.
"...I don't get it. We're both useless in a fight, aren't we? How can you be so confident?"
Even a twig of a kid half his size was braver than he was. How pathetic.
Koby placed a hand on his shoulder; he felt it trembling. The newest member of Luffy's crew tilted his head up and saw just how not confident Koby was.
His whole body was trembling. He was biting his lip and his eyes were tearing up. Even still, he held a firm, determined frown in place.
"I'm really scared of doing this alone!" the boy admitted.
Usopp's jaw hung open.
"Then why—"
"Everyone is counting on us to do this one thing. If I can't do this much—if I'm too scared to even try—I think I'd die of shame! Usopp-san. If you want to run away, I won't stop you. I won't even blame you! But I'd like to give this my best shot."
Usopp suddenly sprang to his feet, knocking Koby off balance. The long-nosed man puffed out his chest and let out what might have been a war cry.
"Of course I'm not running away! I was just testing your mettle. The great Captain Usopp will be happy to have your help. You, uh, passed the test!"
Koby looked confused for a moment before smiling brightly and wiping away the tears that were beginning to form.
"Right!"
With renewed confidence—or perhaps bravado, but did the difference really matter?—the pair continued to retrace their steps until they came across the Going Merry.
"There it—hmf!"
Usopp slapped a hand over Koby's mouth; it didn't take the younger boy long to figure out what the problem was.
The Going Merry wasn't the only ship moored here anymore. There was also a considerably larger one that was less of a ship and more of a floating building shaped like a giant wooden fish.
The issue wasn't even the other ship, however. Rather, it was the Marines coming out of it and boarding the Going Merry.
How did the Marines know where they were? Who could've known that this was even a possibility?
"Quiet!" Usopp whispered. "We don't want them to know we're here."
"You two! What are you doing!" a Marine shouted from the Merry's deck.
They knew they were there.
With an audible gulp, Usopp marched forward with as much confidence as he could muster.
"Hey, there! We're, uh… just passing by! We got lost."
The way the Marine narrowed his eyes at the pair didn't inspire confidence, nor did the realisation that more and more eyes were finding them. Usopp and Koby shared a look.
"Is that so?" the Marine muttered with suspicion in his tone.
"Yeah! We're villagers."
"From what village?"
Crap! Uh…
"Cocoyasi village, sir!"
The Marine discussed something or other with one of his comrades-in-arm. After a moment, they backed off to make way for a much larger Marine with an officer's coat.
"Cocoyasi, huh?" the officer mused. He had a super big frame and had a scary face accentuated by the multiple cigars that he was smoking. At once.
A chill ran down both Usopp and Koby's spines in unison the very instant they noticed what the officer was holding: a head.
"That's them!" Buggy screamed. "Those are the flashy bastards I was talking about! They're the pirates! I swear on my momma!"
A talking head.
Crap.
X
Sanji hacked and coughed as he dragged himself onto solid land. How far away was he now? The tide kept pushing him away; it was only thanks to his strength and stamina that he was able to keep himself from drowning.
That lady had the critical thinking skills of an infant! How was tossing someone into the ocean in any way a good idea!?
With a groan, he pushed himself to his feet. He reached for his pack of smokes but only needed a quick look to know that they were wrecked beyond salvation. He clicked his tongue and dropped them to the ground.
"Great. Just great."
Not only did he have to get back to the Baratie, but now he also had to actually find his ship. No way in hell Zeff would let him hear the end of it if he lost the restaurant's shopping boat.
He seemed to be close to civilisation, thankfully. An actual village this time. He was getting a lot of stares, but he did his best to act as dignified as possible regardless. Maybe someone around here could offer some directions…
"Excuse me, sir. Are you all right?"
Hm?
He turned to face the voice, and his heart skipped a beat.
A tanned beauty with short-cropped blue hair that she kept out of her pretty eyes with a red bandana. She was giving him a cautious once-over, showing obvious worry for his well-being.
He smiled stupidly.
"Oh, me? I'm fantastic."
X
Zoro stood in front of a giant open gate with his arms crossed in front of his chest impassively.
Koby and Usopp had run off on their own. Were they stupid? He could only keep his eyes on them if they displayed the bare minimum self-preservation instincts.
Their ship definitely wasn't here, but his curiosity had gotten the better of him. Why was there such a large place in the middle of a forest?
Not bothering to give it a second thought, he stepped inside.
And almost tripped over his feet.
What the hell was going on here? That was definitely Arlong, right? He recognised his face from the posters
The pirate was grouped up with a bunch of his fishman pals in the middle of the park. As unexpected as it was to have stumbled across their hideout like this, what he really wasn't expecting was the woman standing across from them, standing at damn near twice the height of every single fishman present.
Actually… This was ringing a bell, but he couldn't put a finger on why. Such a large woman, horns sticking out of her head…
"I am Kozuki Oden!" she declared boisterously. "I come in peace."
Oh well. He was probably mistaken.