Sandra sat in her office. It was dark, but she didn't need to see. The crew desperately tried to survive outside, but she only heard their cries. She didn't move, and she didn't think. The rainbow snail on her desk ate a salad given to it by Jorge. It needed to eat a healthy meal once a day or they couldn't hear from Mary D. Read.

"Bedeh bedeh bedeh bedeh bedeh," the snail rang. It couldn't continue its meal. "Bedeh bed-" Sandra took the call. She didn't say a word.

"Sandra," said Mary D. Read through the phone. The snail matched the jovial tone of voice. "It's been way too long. How have you been?"

Sandra didn't answer.

"Straight to business. I like your style. I need a progress report. Did you find Ciara yet?"

"Yes." Her response was robotic.

The snail frowned a little. "Do you have her?"

"No."

"Tell me everything that happened."

"We made it to the Grand Line. We met a group of pirates whose jolly roger had a straw hat."

"Wait. Did you say straw hat?" The snail furrowed its brows.

"Yes. I've come to find out that they have Dymon D. Ciara in their possession."

"Then why didn't you attack them? None of you can die, it should be easy."

"They were stronger than all of us. A lowly servant was able to destroy my door. We were able to repair it quickly after leaving the island." Dolores, the girl, was able to recall the man saying something about cooking for a woman. It was clear they weren't an important member.

"Strength shouldn't be an issue. Didn't you get the shipment yet?" She sounded slightly peeved. The snail reflected it.

"Not yet. We'll return to our persuit once we get the appropriate tools. We'll have Dymon D. Ciara back in no time."

The snail turned happy. "Thank you, and I hope I don't need to remind you what would happen to her if you fail."

"No. I know what will happen."

"Then there's no need to mention it." The snail smiled as the other caller did. "But remember, life is defined by our connections." She hung up. The snail lost all expression, and continued eating its salad.

Sandra put the microphone back on the snail. She sat in her office, not a single thought running through her mind.

Side Story 3: Special Delivery!

Jorge

There was a large crate in the middle of the deck. It had a red sun with a decapitated human in the middle of it. There was a line going through the human. I couldn't tell if it hated humans or decapitation, it was unclear. The package was delivered at night. It had a single paper nailed onto it.

The crew was standing around it. They didn't go near it.

I walked to it. "What is this," I asked the crowd around me.

"We don't know," said Dolores. "We were waiting for you." That's what I get for sleeping in. Helping to repair that door took a lot out of me.

I picked up the paper and opened it. It read, 'For Sandra. Make these last this time. Love- Mary D. Read.' I almost wanted to throw it overboard. Nothing good could come out of those two.

"Don't touch it. It's for the captain." I put the note back. "I'll go get her."

I walked to the back of the ship and up the stairs, pulling out the key and opening the captain's quarters. I walked in. "You got a package," I said.

"Thank you," said the captain. It wasn't genuine. Like she said it to seem human. She got up and walked out of her room. I gave a glance to see if the snail was ok, it was, and I closed the door.

The captain walked down to the crate, she read the note on it. "Crowbar," she said with a hand out. It took five minutes for someone to find it. She didn't mo e a muscle while waiting.

She took the crowbar, wedged it under a board on the top of the crate, and pushed down on the top of it. The nails holding the board in gave way and the whole thing came out. She repeated it for the rest of the top of the crate.

It was filled to the brim with pills. They were hard, running my hand through them reminded me of uncooked rice or corn. Each of the pills were red and black with a checkerboard pattern. I picked one up and gave it a closer look. It wasn't a capsule. It was a solid drug, but unlike other pills, it was smooth. Not a powder that dissolved in your mouth.

"What is this?" I couldn't make heads or tales of it. It didn't make any sense. It wasn't like we needed any medicine, or even a doctor. My neck injury proved that much.

"It's an Energy Steroid. On of Fish-man Island's greatest treasures, and secrets," said Sandra. She swallowed one. "My mother found pit about them when her old crew passed through Fish-man Island, but that's another story." She picked up another pill and swallowed it.

"Why are you taking so many," I asked.

"I built up a high tolerance. I need more to become strong again." She took another pill. "This drig is designed to make a fish-man twice as strong for a limited time, with adverse effects." Another pill. "Mostly growing older. Except for when a human takes one of them, something different happens. They die instantly." Another pill.

"Uh, if those kill humans. Then how are you alive." I prayed for her to say she wasn't human. It would explain so much. I didn't know what exactly, but I could take everything weird she does and explain it as, 'hey, she isn't human, so it makes total sense.'

"I'll get to that." Sandra took another pill and swallowed it. "The natural immunity that fish-men have to the drugs in these pills make it so it doesn't kill them, but it also weakens the effects." One more pill. "I've had multiple surgeries meant to get rid of all the negative effects. I get all the strength, but none of the aging or instant death." She swallowed another pill.

"If they're temporary," I pointed out. "Wouldn't you want to swallow them when you need to be strong? Why are you eating them like candy."

"What do you mean?" She swallowed a pill. I disregarded it, I couldn't begin to understand her.

"Doesn't matter. What's the plan with these?"

"We use them to destroy the Straw Hats." I should've figured. There were so many of them we'd never run out.

"I get that they have Ciara, and that they're really strong. But wouldn't killing her friends alienate her further? How about you try using your words."

"Their crew kept me from her twice. Killing them would be much easier than getting to her. Besides, whoever does the killing won't be around for her to recognize when we do get her back." She swallowed a pill.

"What do you mean by that?"

The captain ran her hand through the pills. It sounded like multiple tiny rocks hitting eachother in a barrel. "Set sail for Ciara. We're ready for the attack. Go towards any ship we come across." She walked back to her room, I followed. "Come get me when you see it." She closed the door, and I locked it.

I turned to the crew. "You heard her! Hoist the anchor, unfurl the sail!" I took out the vivre card. I let it move a little on my hand. "Ten degrees starboard!" I remembered that the helmsman was gone and got to the wheel. I prayed we wouldn't run into anyone.

It got cold extremely fast. I was barely able to get my Winter clothes before freezing to death. It was a fur coat and pants with boots. I had a limited range of motion and couldn't run. It wasn't so cold I could get hypothermia, but without a coat, I would be too cold to move.

It's been a short few days since the crate arrived. We hadn't seen much of the captain, she came out for a few meals, took a jar of pills, and disappeared into her room the rest of the time.

Most of the crew was quietly contemplating mutiny. They knew they would never act on it. It was a pitiful idea that didn't gain traction. I didn't bother to go to those meetings, they were mostly complaining. I couldn't handle all the negativity. I was mildy sure that the captain knew about it. She just knew they wouldn't do a thing and did nothing about it.

The captain was wearing multiple layers of clothing. I found her in her room, shivering so mich that her teeth sounded like an earthquake. I was able to put together the old captain's clothes to make her warmer. The crew didn't want me to, but I reminded them of Mary D. Read and they didn't say another word. I did it because letting someone else die would've been a weight on my mind.

After Jacob died, I started to have terrible nightmares. I saw my mom dying more than a few times. 'Why did you do this to me?' She asked. I didn't want to see anyone else in those dreams. I learned something that day. Never let someone die when you could prevent it.

"There's a man on the water," yelled someone in the crow's nest. I looked out with my own telescope.

There was a strange man who looked like an oval. He wore a purple and green Winter coat. He had a bow on his back with arrows in a quiver. I turned the ship to go his way.

It was strange to see a man walking on water, but it wasn't the strangest thing I've seen. There was hail with ice the shape of knives, a rainbow that was a full circle, and, strangest of all, a group of turtles with colorful masks. One of them broke its skull open ramming into the ship.

We made it to the man and I walked down the stairs to meet him. He was still on the water, so I had to yell down to them. "Excuse me! Do you need some assistance?"

"I'm good," he yelled back. "It's pretty cold, isn't it!"

"Yeah, you could say that!"

In the very next second, the entire ship was launched upwards. I had to hold onto the railing to avoid falling. It crashed into the ocean, and I was splayed into the floor. I hit my side hard, but I was focused on what came out of the water.

It was a massive ship with a hippo figurehead. It had a jolly roger that looked like a peanut with crown. It reminded me vaguely of our flag. I was awestuck by it.

"Wahahahaha," laughed someone on the ship. "What's wrong, did our underwater shop, the Tin Tyrant, surprise you?"

A moment later, I heard Dolores scream. She was near the mast, being held at gunpoint by four people. Everyone on the ship had at least three people on them.

When I turned back, there was a large, fat man who looked like a hippo on the railing next to me. He had a metal jaw and was eating a knife.

"I don't know who you are," I said with apprehension. "But I advise you to leave before it gets messy." I didn't try to sound rude.

"Is that a threat?" He glared at me.

"No, I just don't want you to get hurt." I wanted it to be over before the captain found out. "Leave or something bad will happen."

"Wahahahaha! Something bad will happen if you don't do as I say." Well, I tried.

"What do you need?"

"I'll keep it simple. My men want to go to Drum Island. Do you happen to have an eternal pose or a log pose we could use?" I didn't know what those were.

"What are talking about? I haven't heard of those before."

"Wahahahaha," he laughed in my face. It annoyed me a little. "You expect me to believe you survived in the Grand Line without a log pose?"

"You seem to be alright yourself. Why don't you use your own stuff." I wiped his spit off. It was disgusting.

"My navigator came down with a case of a missing neck. He was executed for throwing out all the navigation equipment. Now I want to go home to my giant castle."

"I'm sorry. I can't help you."

"I guess it can't be helped. I'll settle for some treasure and this ship." He touched his stomach. "In fact, I'm a little hungry right now."

His mouth grew to the size of his torse as he but into the railing. He broke off a piece and chewed it up, swallowing it. It was pure nightmare fuel. I didn't know what to do.

A knocking came from the captain's door. There was someone trying to get inside, one of the grunts with a gun. "Your majesty, there's someone in there! They seem to be the captain!"

"Get them out of there! I'm sure they'll be more agreeable than this loser," he said while looking at me with a sneer.

They broke the door open and dragged the captain out. She was holding her pills, taking one every couple minutes. She had heavy Winter clothing on. A large jacket and pants. "What do you want," she asked. No emotion present on her face or in her voice.

"I am King Wapol. Give me all of your treasure or my men will punch yours full of holes." I started sweating despite how cold it was.

"Go ahead," she said while swallowing a pill. "We'll never give this ship up."

I whispered to her. "Are you sure this is a good idea? What if they could somehow kill us. Also, getting shot hurts. I assume." I was never shot before.

"Your feelings are irrelevant," she said coldly. She took another pill.

"What are those pills," asked the fatty. "Are they valuable?"

"Only ones above the sea. Shipped directly from the New Fish-Man Pirates." She held one to him. "You want a hit? They make humans ten times stronger."

He took it. "Wahahaha! You just gave me one? That was so stupid!" He swallowed it.

The effects were near instantaneous. He grew around three times his size, muscles bulging, stretching his skin to the limit. "Wahaha," he was barely able to laugh for half a second. He started grunting as his body kept shifting. At the very end, he let out a giant scream, and keeled over. There was no use checking, he was dead.

"That's dealt with." Ciara swallowed a pill. She looked at me. "Get a refill of supplies from them." She gestured to the body. "And deal with this before it smells. It's impossible to get out." She walked back to her room, nobody intersected her. Everyone was in shock.

"The king is dead!" "What do we do!" "Fire!"

Gunshots rang out. We were all shot at least once. I was hit twice. Once in the stomach, again in the arm. I hit the ground. I spit out the bullet in my stomach a second later.

I got up a minute later. I felt a lot of pain, but if I could die, I would've already. I stared at the guy who shot me. He was shivering now, he didn't expect to see a dead man walking.

"You heard me. Leave before it gets messy. And bring us some of your food. Your fatass captain must've been eating most of it anyway." They gave us as much food as we could hold and dragged off their king's corpse. They were gone in less than a minute.

Predictably, there were no casualties. We did have to remove multiple bullets, and use most of our bandages, but we got off easy.

"Look on the bright side," I said. We were talking about this right before we met Mary D. Read. We were trying to find a better name. "We could officially call ourselves the Kingslayer Pirates."

TO BE CONTINUED...