A/N: Next chapter not quite written yet, but still hoping to have another update within a week or so. Feeling good! Thanks for reading!
Ch. 39 - Queen to Queen
The Shipyard Queen didn't waste time. The moment it saw it had not one, but two sacrifices for its next meal, it lunged with both its scythes at the ready.
"This zhouldn't take long…" Ramzeez hummed to himself, knowing Wallaz wouldn't be able to hear him unless he shouted. Not over the combined buzzing of the three bees. They hovered a safe distance away from the ensuing fight. More guilt shot through him as he watched what he knew would be the end of both of young Kuina's parents.
Helena used her own shin to block the scythes bearing down on herself and her unconscious husband. –clearly it was a move of desperation, and while she did stop the attack, blood spurted across the rocky beach and giant roots around her. A deep wound gaped on her leg beneath the newly formed tear in her blue jeans.
What she likely didn't realize yet was that this creature, while formidable for its size alone, had also eaten a Zoan fruit. Bug bug fruit, model orchid mantis. In its current form, half its true shape as a wasp, half mantis, it was at its most powerful.
Then again, it should have taken off her leg entirely with that strike. Perhaps there was more to this woman than met the eye. Perhaps they should be concerned.
There was a reason they always served the insectoid queen her meals drugged. Not only would it make her sleepy for a few days, they otherwise ran the risk of one of the more powerful pirates fighting back, possibly defeating her. Then they'd have a monster bigger than she was to deal with.
To be fair, Ramzeez couldn't help but wonder if they wouldn't be better off with one of the Straw Hats. The Shipyard Queen's reign had already been a bloody one.
The denizens of Ryuuboku Island had grown accustomed to their life now, but it hadn't always been this way. The Shipyard Queen had taken up residence a few years ago; before then they'd simply not offered their rescue services to pirates. After a long Calm, such ships would sometimes wash ashore, all occupants by then deceased or close to it. They'd be stripped of any resources and sunk into the harbor with whatever remained of their despicable crews.
Ramzeez had just begun his position as Head of Search and Rescue back then. He'd taken pride in his job, providing hope and medical attention to those non-pirates who needed it, then towing them to Ryuuboku to replenish their supplies. He and his squadron of bee riders had rescued hundreds of marines, merchants, even the odd cruise ship, you name it.
But then the Queen came. – flown in from a nearby island. No one knew how she'd gotten there, but it didn't take long for her to establish the rules. If they kept her fed, she'd leave them alone. If not, it wasn't long before she'd start feeding herself. Once she'd consumed a pirate called Kamakarus, she'd become even more powerful, gaining the man's mantis abilities. By then no man or bee was safe from her scythe or sting. She could cut into homes with ease and take whomever she pleased.
Mr. Induztry, soon elected mayor for his brilliant handling of a difficult situation, had suggested capturing pirates stuck in the Calm, offering them to the Queen to keep her appeased, and then collecting on the bounties. Induztry and his twelve daughters kept a collection of the ships' figureheads as proof of their conquests, turning in jolly rogers, snail photographs, or personal belongings as proof of the kill.
In that sense, Ryuuboku had been financially thriving. And the bees certainly enjoyed getting to nibble on various kinds of wood as they sampled different ships. Ramzeez had stopped finding joy in his work, however. Today especially. This had been the first crew he'd encountered with a young family on board. A family of pirates, yes, but a very human band to be sure. Nothing vicious or cutthroat about a single member of that ship.
They didn't deserve this. Kuina's parents didn't deserve this. Kuina definitely didn't deserve this.
Helena hobbled upright where the strike had thrown her, lifting her fists in defense and screaming something out at her attacker. Over the buzz of his bee, Ramzeez thought he caught something like, "WHY IS IT ALWAYS GIANT BUGS?!" and then, "ZORO, GET UP YOU LAYABOUT! BEFORE YOU GET EATEN AGAIN!"
The giant wasp would only eat live sacrifices; something the denizens of Ryuuboku discovered early on. But she didn't seem to mind if they were unconscious. Roronoa Zoro didn't stir as the Shipyard Queen of Ryuuboku bore down on him, readying its sharp mandibles for a tasty mouthful.
Helena threw some black pellets hard at her husband's noggin, perhaps trying to wake him? They exploded, and even from that distance Ramzeez could smell the gingery, pepperminty, lemony smell from before.
The wasp balked, backing away from its unconscious target. It turned all its attention on Helena, which had clearly been her hope all along
Adrenaline must have kept her moving as quickly as she was with that deep leg wound. The bone in her shin had to be cracked at the very least, but she darted and dodged around the swiping thing with grace to put the bee dancers to shame.
"SERIOUSLY, ZORO! WAKE UP!" she yelled for all the good it would do her. No one woke from a draught of the Juliet Flower. Not without an antidote. It wasn't poison persay, but it did put those who drank it into an eternally comatose state until they died of thirst or starvation. Medicinally speaking it was great for inducing comas if one had the means to provide life support; not that they'd be doing so for the pirates.
"HEY ZORO," she shouted again, this time with a singsongy lilt to her desperate shouting. "GUESS WHAT! I'M PREGNANT!"
Ramzeez gasped. Had he heard her right? Whelp, that revelation had done nothing to ease his conscience. Just to be sure, Ramzeez pushed up his goggles, putting his Xray abilities to good effect. From this distance, he could only just confirm her claim. No wonder he had missed it before: she must only be a few months along. Now that she mentioned it, he remembered how the woman had been experiencing hyperemesis gravidarum; she must have thrown up the Juliet Flower nectar. That also meant that whatever type of fighting strength she normally possessed wouldn't hold up for long now.
"YOUR PREGNANT WIFE AND UNBORN CHILD NEED YOU, LAZY BUTT! FOR THE LOVE OF ZEUS, WAKE UP BEFORE WE'RE ALL KILLED!"
Roronoa Zoro did not stir. Perhaps the man held no love for Zeus. – But he certainly cared about his wife. Ramzeez had seen that in countless small ways during his short stay on the Sunny.
The Shipyard Queen jumped into the air, her mighty mantis legs strong as metal springs. With a buzz that tore the night, sharp and sinister over the hum of the more docile carpenter bees, it sped down at its prey, its stinger prepped and ready for the kill. It had backed Helena up against a tall root. She faltered on her injured leg. There was nowhere for her to dodge now.
Ramzeez moved his goggles back into position and closed his eyes, turning his head away. He didn't want to see the killing blow. But then Wallaz let out a loud whoop, and Ramzeez had to look.
Helena had caught the four foot stinger in her bare hands.
"Think, Helena," she growled to herself as she strained to keep the giant stinger from piercing her through the chest. "You're still a swordsman, even without your swords. THINK."
She had to say it aloud to fight down the voices inside saying just the opposite. – Reminding her that she without a kingdom now fought a tyrant queen. – That she without her swords fought a three sword beast. –That she without Zoro's help right now could never hope to save him, or save herself, or her child, or the crew.
"I've saved Zoro from beasties and bugs before," she reminded herself through gritted teeth at the thing angrily clicked its mandibles at her. "I can save him again."
"Can you?" a soft alto voice put in.
Uh oh. She knew that voice.
She couldn't look away from the hideous creature now trying to swipe at her with one of its scythes, keeping the other grounded so it had the leverage to continue trying to skewer her with its stinger. A huge drop of poison started to form at the point of said stinger. That couldn't be good.
"Shut up, Hades," Helena snarled. "You're not taking me right now."
"Ah, you are near enough to death to hear me, but it's not you I'm here for first," Hades went on.
Helena screamed as a sharp pain pierced her abdomen. She doubled up, barely redirecting the stinger into the root beside her as she went. The wasp curled around her and it's temporarily stuck stinger, sinking its mandibles into her shoulder.
Helena screamed again. The scream became words: "No!" She cried. "You can't have my child."
"You can rest assured that none of you will end up feeding this beast." Hades calmly insisted. "Before that happens, I will take your bodies to the Underworld. Starting with the smallest."
Helena grappled with the shipyard queen's unsettlingly smooth face, trying to force it off of her. "No…" she gasped.
The giant wasp used its clamped jaws on her shoulder to toss her into the air. It's mouth wasn't big enough to swallow a human whole. It had to tear them to pieces. It lifted its two scythes, like a skilled sashimi chef prepared to filet here with flare midair.
Helena didn't have time or energy to pinpoint Hades' location. She used her haki to dodge through the mantis's flailing blades instead as she fell. Curling around her womb as though doing so could somehow protect her unborn child further, she hit the rocky soil of the beach. Miraculously unharmed by the blades, but definitely the worse for having hit the earth at high speed, she groaned as her womb contracted again in pain.
Hades sounded closer now. "Don't be a fool. If you let me take the child your strength will return," the calm alto reiterated, "You can't save him, but if you let him go you can save your Love."
Still curled in a ball, she lifted her head and saw Lord Death floating inches from her on the rocky beach, now standing between her and the wasp-mantis. The confused bug took a few swipes at Hades' misty form but couldn't touch him.
"Him?" Helena rasped. "I'm having a boy?"
Somehow knowing this one small, humanizing detail of her child made him that much more real to her.
Energy exploded out of her, knocking the Shipyard Queen onto its back with a chittering shriek. The rooth that still held its stinger captive shattered, but the beast lay among the splinters, temporarily stunned.
It barely affected Hades, who stood still with his black robe flapping in the gale of energy spiraling around him. Conqueror's Haki could not conquer this god.
"You can't have another one of my sons," she snarled at Hades. "I won't let you."
She hadn't managed a Haki coating during the course of the battle. If what Mihawk had taught her was correct, she needed to value Helena du Helena to do that. But something Helena knew she did value more than her own life or comfort was that of the little life force inside her.
The collared shirt she'd borrowed from Robin had lost a few of its lower buttons. Thus, Helena could see as well as feel a solid black coat of armament Haki flow over her lower torso. It went more than skin deep, forming a barrier around the child, giving him more of her energy, protecting him from any further outside impacts.- encouraging him not to give up just yet.
Hades cocked his head in fascination, the ivory mask otherwise belaying no expression as he faded away into the night. "Ho hum, your mother tried that with you on that fateful day. But I doubt you can keep this up for as long as she did…"
"I'll keep it up for as long as it takes," she snarled, getting shakily to her feet.
The armament haki took a lot of energy to maintain. Sweat poured down her brow. She looked up slowly, knowing by sense more than sight that the Shipyard Queen had worked her way upright again. She could hear and feel its wing beats above her, stirring her hair and clothes.
Helena made eye contact with the beastie, insectoid expression as unfathomable as Hades'. The swordswoman didn't blink as the thing brought its scythes down on either side of her, burying them into the hard soil to ground itself so it could swing its stinger at her.
Helena crouched and sprung, shifting just enough that the striped abdomen swung past her as she spun in the air. With one strong leg helicoptering around her, her bare foot made contact at the base of the stinger, snapping it clean off.
By the time the beastie realized it was in pain, Helena held its stinger before her in a fencer's stance. Venom oozed from both ends of her new sword, leaving a mild chemical burn on her hand.
It didn't matter. She didn't need to hold onto it for long. "Crossing the Rubicon!" she cried, cutting a line in the sand with her hard won sword.
The enraged insect swung around, screeching as it flailed its scythes at her. Helena ducked, dodged, parried, and found her opening. Timing a jump just right, she landed on the flat of one of the scythes. She sprung upward and landed two quick blows to the creatures eyes as she passed its head:
"Deimos! Phobos!" she cried, blinding an eye with each upward swipe. Higher she flew above the beast, then she turned a flip and brought the stinger down hard, "Ares Spear!"
The stinger passed through its thorax with a satisfying crunch. Pinioned like it had been added backwards to a collection, the creature shivered and convulsed in agony.
But it wasn't dead.
Helena had used everything she had in that attack. The thing's thrashing blades caught her about the middle as it screeched. Her somehow still Haki coated center saved her from bisection, but she flew hard into the huge tree root she'd propped Zoro up against.
The man didn't stir. And soon neither did she as her strength gave out completely and she sank into oblivion, her head resting on his shoulder.
More bee riders had started to assemble, watching what they had been sure would turn into a bloodbath below.
Lizzy had joined the much younger and smaller Beatriz on her bee, and, with the rest of Mayor Induztry's daughters, watched as Helena de Zoro nee Cygnus of the line of Prometheus literally pinned the beast that had terrorized their home for years.
This was also the best source of income for the island, something an educated girl versed in her father's dealings would know. She didn't open her mouth to say as much; her sisters already knew, even young Beatriz. Anyway, they wouldn't hear her over the huge squadron of giant blue carpenter bees or the beast's screeching.
The Shipyard Queen wasn't quite dead. In fact there was a real possibility it would work its way free of the stinger holding it down. Perhaps it would be wise to allow the thing to free itself and eat the two unconscious swordsmen…
Beatriz' bee, Bea seemed to think a braver thought. Without urging from its rider, it zipped forward toward the Shipyard Queen, its two riders screaming in alarm.
They weren't the only ones. All twenty two carpenter bees descended with haste on the rocky beach below, dumping their riders safely into the shallows or sand before swarming on the Shipyard Queen.
All they had needed was a chance. The angry carpenter bees had lost as many or more friends to the beast as their human counterparts. They weren't about to let this moment go to waste.
No one could hear themselves think over the buzzing as the bees grabbed the thing and held her down, wings and bodies vibrating in a beautiful, musical hum. Other bees from the island's branches heard the sound and descended to join them, covering every inch of the monster and more in an enormous ball of vibrating blue fuzz.
Soon the thing stopped thrashing. Soon they could no longer hear its screeches. The bees disassembled, leaving a dead wasp in their wake still pinioned to the shore by its own stinger.
The Bee Riderz let out a cheer
Lizzy's own Bizzy returned to her, nuzzling her affectionately, which she returned with a scritch behind the antennae. The bee was warmer than usual. It felt good to snuggle her in the chill night air.
"What…what juzt happened?" She asked no one in particular.
"They cooked the thing to death with their combined vibrationz, bzzz bzzz," Ramzeez replied, his own arm slung appreciatively around Sphinkz. "They zaw their opportunity and went for it."
Beatriz stared in shock beside them, Bea receiving no return affection from her as she stood rooted to the spot.
"What will Papa zay?" She breathed to Lizzy, clearly terrified. "What will happen to uz? The piratez…"
"Don't worry, Beatriz," Ramzeez started, "Theze piratez are dezent folk…"
But the youngest Induztry girl had grabbed a revolver from where she knew her oldest sister kept it strapped to her hip. Before Lizzy could try to stop her, twelve-year-old Beatriz had it pointed at the unconscious swordswoman.
She pulled the trigger, but Ramzeez had drawn his khopesh in time to knock the thing out of her hands, throwing off her aim.
The gunshot drew the attention of all the rest of the bee folk assembled on that beach. Ramzeez put himself between the two unconscious pirates and the lookers on, his khopesh still in hand.
"Thiz woman iz a hero!" He shouted. "Zhe haz ended the Zhipyard Queen'z reign of terror. I don't care if zhe'z a pirate! I will fight anyone who triez to hurt her or her crewmatez!"
Neither man nor bee made a sound at this pronouncement. Lizzy knew the Search and Rescue team would follow Ramzeez anywhere. But her sisters?
She stepped forward, taking a place beside Ramzeez. "I am with Ramzeez. Zizterz, we owe them a great debt."
Again, no response. Everyone stood in a state of utter confusion. "Thankz, Lizzy," Ramzeez murmured to her, then loudly addressed his crew:
"Go revive the otherz on board their zhip. Take thiz man with you," he motioned to the swordsman. "Thiz woman needz medical attention, bzzz bzzz! Sphinkz and I will take her to be treated."
"Howfur muckle dae we tell thaim?" Wallaz asked, preparing to lead the Riderz back to the ship.
"Do not lie to them," Ramzeez said and Lizzy gave a start. "Tell them the truth. Tell them everything."
"Are you zure that'z a good idea?" Lizzy sputtered.
"Good idea or not, we've done damage to their zhip and anyway," he stowed his khopesh, turning to gently lift the unconscious swordswoman. Holding her in a cradle he looked down at her before placing her onto Sphinkz' back, "They ought to know how thiz woman saved them. Zaved uz all."
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