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Now, on to the chapter!

Chapter 5:

The Deep Down Dark Deep Down

The ex-agent tossed the sponge into the air before swinging his head and neck like a baseball bat, hitting the sponge with the force needed to push past the bubble.

Almost instantly, the sponge started to grow, expanding until it was twice as tall as the Sunny yet hollow with a sort of mesh structure. Through it, the trio watched the cow and perusing ship try to turn and fail to stop, slamming into the unexpected obstacle.

"Bye-bye, bitches! Baaahahaha!" Merry laughed, waving. "I'm surprised you had something like that in your bag, Grace."

"You'd be shocked how often I've needed one. And Kaku, I could have done that myself."

"I need to be useful somehow," Kaku shrugged.

"Downward Current!" Nami warned from the bow only seconds before the ship tipped, the Sunny descending down an underwater waterfall current.

Having lost the pursuing Bullwinkle for the time being, retrieved winter coats for everyone but Chopper on account of the sudden cold, and stabilized Sanji's health after his latest bout of "concentrated deadly sexiness overdose" as the doctor called it, the crew took a minute to catch their bearings in this new, darker setting. It wasn't horribly dark, but it was clear that less sunlight reached this point.

"That," Luffy began, eyeing what little he could see beyond the bounds of the Sunny, "was awesome! Let's go again!"

"We will at some point," Nami commented, placating her husband without giving any time frame for such a ride. Luffy, trusting the navigator without any doubts, grinned. She continued, stepping over to him and wrapping her arms around his waist as she whispered in his ear. "Speaking of again, why don't you go check on Ace? I want to make sure none of those bumps on the way down knocked him out of bed. Can you do that for me?"

"Of course I can!"

"Hey, Nami," Usopp called as Luffy vanished up the stairs, the long-nosed man admiring the outside world from the railing. "How deep are we right now?"

"I'd say about 5,000 meters," Nami answered, causing the sniper to back away from the edge of the ship. "We're maybe halfway to Fishman Island and the coating's holding up well. That's good news."

"Indeed," Robin agreed. "I'm pretty sure we'll be one of the 25 percent that actually makes it to Fishman Island."

"Don't say stuff like that!" Chopper whined with his arms waving. "Now I'm scared!"

"Me too!" Usopp muttered, both cowards hugging each other for comfort.

"So much for no longer being a coward," Grace laughed, checking over her sketches from both the surface and earlier in their dive for any damage. "You're evil, Robin, but it does give you a scope of the world. How many pirates are out there if there are estimates like that cutting the numbers so much?"

"It really is something to think about," Coby nodded. "It didn't occur to me since we always pulled through, but there are a lot of pirates that don't make it to Sabaody. A good number who do, about half, get caught there and arrested or sold. Those who leave, Robin just gave us that number. That means only one out of eight crews that make it to Sabaody make it to Fishman Island, and that doesn't even include the crews that disappear somewhere in the first half from things like Reverse Mountain, the stretch to the first island, the Florian Triangle, and anything else we missed."

"I suppose we both made it and didn't," Brook thought aloud. "I certainly didn't, but with Kuma breaking us up, that means we didn't make it past Sabaody the first time. Our crew was given a rare opportunity."

"My firs' crew did't make it," Gin agreed. "I mean, we ran inta Mihawk right out tha gate, so that's a bit o' an outlier, but we wouldn't o' made it much further under Kreig."

"Speaking of crews, where's our idiot captain?" Amy asked, looking up from where she had been suspiciously eyeing some of the Sea Kings getting closer to the ship.

"Nami sent him up to get Ace," Robin answered. "I'm guessing she was concerned that that lengthy underwaterfall may have disturbed his nap."

"Knowing my son," Nami offered, directing Franky to make a slight adjustment to their course, "it didn't."

"No one could've slept through that," Zoro stated, the entirety of the crew on deck sans Kaku giving him incredulous stares. "What?"

"You really think that was bad enough to wake up anyone and everyone?" Merry questioned. "I wasn't even totally alive on our trip to Whiskey Peak, and I still remember panicking, but you slept through the whole thing."

"She's got ya there, Zoro," Gin laughed.

"Shut up," the swordsman muttered, turning away so the crew couldn't see his embarrassment.

"Ace sleeps like a rock," Nami offered. "Only being well-rested or hungry wakes him up. He's just like Luffy in that regard."

"Soooo," Coby jumped in. "We've been back together for a couple hours now and Sanji still doesn't know that Ace exists or that Kaku is here. When are we gonna tell him?"

"When he's not knockin' on Death's door, probably," Kaku shrugged. "Let him sleep. I don't know where he was, but obviously it was somewhere terrible to mess him up worse'n a possum on moonshine."

"Serves him right, the perverted lump," Zoro snickered, only for Robin to bloom an arm to smack him upside the head.

"He mentioned somethin' 'bout bein' in Hell," Gin offered. "And he was shoutin' 'bout seein' 'real, actual women' on ev'ry Grove we went through."

"So he was somewhere where there were no women," Coby concluded, refusing to let his mind wander to the women of Sabaody. "That would be Hell for a lot of guys, especially ones like Sanji, Franky, or Brook."

"That ain't nice, Dino-Bro," Franky sighed.

"But it's true," Grace commented.

"Again? Why are you pickin' on me, Paint-Sis?"

"Because I know what you did, Bolt-brain. Da Vinci has spies almost everywhere now, and one of them heard Vegapunk lamenting the loss of a lot of potential he hadn't gotten back to yet. I figured I'd give you a little grief."

"Choo-choo!" Luffy's voice echoed over the ship, the bubbling laughter of Ace in accompaniment. The crew turned to see their captain running around the upper decks with Ace on his shoulders, making train sounds all the while. Nami could feel her heart melt as the two most important boys in her life reveled in playing together.

"Ne, Daddy," Ace asked, tapping his father's scalp. "Why's the light weird out here? It was sunny earlier. Is it night?" He paused, a horrified look coming to his face. "Did I miss dinner?!"

Never let it be said the Monkey D genes were hard to spot. Even young, their appetites showed without exception.

"You didn't miss dinner," Luffy responded, spinning them in a circle so Ace could see the world outside the ship. "It's all dark 'cause we're deep deep underwater, and water is dark and stuff. I know Na… Mommy could explain it better, but this bubble is keeping us safe from the bad, dark water. Isn't that cool, Ace?"

"Cool! It's like Mommy's cloud bubbles, but with the dark outside!"

"Cloud bubbles?" Luffy wasn't the only one with that query, most of the crew turning their gaze on the navigator.

"It's a specialty from Weatheria," Nami answered with a shrug. "They can cultivate bubbles similar to those found on Sabaody and form specific weather patterns inside. The most dangerous ones can have miniature thunderstorms, but Ace has only ever played with regular rain."

"Rain makes bath time fun!" Ace giggled. Luffy's mind drifted, thinking of another definition for 'bath time fun.'

"You can make weather… inside bubbles?" Usopp blinked. "I… You know, I shouldn't be surprised by this point."

"We've all got some secrets, Uncle Usopp," Merry commented. "I know I've learned a lot more than I've showed. You gotta wait to wow the crowd."

"Lil' Sis has a point," Franky nodded. He tapped one of his forearms, the metal clanking. "I've got a lot stored in me that you all haven't seen yet."

"If even half the stuff Rayleigh mentioned to me in passing about Luffy's training is true, I think he'll have us all beat one-on-one," Coby grinned. "Even so, I'm sure any of us could now take on Crocodile alone. I can feel everyone's strength with my Observation."

"Well, maybe as he was in Alabasta," Grace thought aloud. "I saw reports of him floating around in the New World after the breakout, so we might run into him again, and he'll be stronger than last time."

"Stronger than last time?!" Chopper gaped. "No way!"

"We ain't tha only ones gettin' stronger, Chopper," the only Logia of the crew pointed out.

"Nami!" Luffy called, interrupting the flow of the conversation before anyone could fully digest the reality of Gin's comment. "How much longer to Fishman Island?"

"I'd say about an hour," the mother answered. "We're approaching another underwaterfall that should take us into the deepest depths."

Unfortunately, the playtime, conversation, and question had distracted the navigator and crew, allowing the Sunny to bump into a large, orange piece of coral. At least, so they thought. The ship rocked as something massive moved off to starboard, what they thought had been a piece of coral now revealed to be a massive octopus. Several cracked and broken ships were trapped in its grip as it turned a glare on the pirates.

"Kraken!" Usopp screamed.

"Wah!" Billy panicked.

"Big fishy!" Ace laughed. "I wanna pet it!"

"That's dangerous!" Nami warned.

"Ah, that's three out of seven," Robin nodded. "Four more sunken ships and we should be safe, statistically."

"Huh, no bones," Brook commented. "He's the opposite of me. I wonder if he makes no-skull jokes."

"I seriously doubt it, bone-brain," Amy muttered.

"Ah, but I no longer have a brain," Brook countered. "Yohoho!"

"Big problems, first!" Chopper yelled, waving his arms. "That thing is gonna kill us!"

"It kind of reminds me of that octopus from Shiki's floating islands," Grace blinked. "Except, you know, massive."

"Oh, Nami, I have a great idea!" Shivers ran down the spines of the crew at Luffy's words. "Let's tame the Kraken and keep it! We can have it pull the ship!"

"How the heck are you going to get out there when we're underwater?" Nami demanded, censoring herself for Ace's sake. "It's not like you can just leave the bubble and come back."

"Well, I probably could," Merry thought aloud. "I can get back thanks to Moonwalk. Maybe Billy, too."

The Kraken let loose a mighty roar, only for the Sunny to return one in kind. The intelligent sea creature reeled, surprised. He'd never been yelled at by a ship before.

"I remember hearing somethin' about bubble suits on the Archipelago," Kaku offered.

"They exist," Coby nodded. "They're called Flutter Kick Coatings. It's like a ship's bubble but can only hold one or two people."

Getting over its shock, the gigantic octopus struck, his tentacles moving to slap the Sunny. The resident cyborg moved to counter, one of his giant shoulders opening to reveal three rockets.

"Franky Rocket Launcher!"

"So cool!" Luffy, Usopp, Chopper, and Ace yelled, stars in their eyes. The missiles pushed their way out of the bubble just in time to explode, keeping the monster at bay. Another tentacle came up from the other side.

"You dare?" Nami asked, her eyes shaded as Chopper jumped to block the attack with his Guard Point, which was now the same size Merry had been as a ship. The Sunny spun from the force of the impact, but managed to avoid any damage. "Billy, come."

Nami stepped toward the Kraken, her faithful Gigafowl at her side. The navigator pulled out her Perfect Clima-tact with a small flourish and rubbed it over Billy's tail, a noticeable static charge making the crew's hair stand on end. A dark cloud formed above the angered mother, tiny flashes of lightning lighting up the surroundings.

Ace clung to his father's head, his face all but hidden in Luffy's hair. "Mommy's scary when she's mad."

"How dare you threaten the life of my child!" Nami yelled, swinging her weapon. The cloud over her shifted, moving to and phasing through the bubble until there was an entire thunderstorm underwater inside its own personal shell. "No one will lay a hand, tentacle, or other appendage on Ace as long as I have anything to say about it! Mother Nature's Wrath!"

Her declaration finished, the bubble surrounding the storm popped, releasing it into the ocean. The flash was blinding, a virtual sonic boom echoing with the screams of the Kraken. Fish and smaller Sea Kings that had been caught in the attack were flash-cooked, now floating upside down outside the ship. The Kraken appeared as the light died, his whole body burnt and his eyes rolled back into his head.

"That's what I thought," Nami nodded, flipping her hair. Luffy felt a small stream of blood drip from his nose before he quickly wiped it away.

A shark wearing a Crimin-brand shirt drifted from one of the Kraken's breathing tubes, shaking off the electricity. The inside of the invertebrate must have been better insulated than the outside, an incredibly lucky turn of Fate for the large carnivore.

"Sha! Sha!" Apparently thanking them and bowing, the giant shark, which was about the size of the Sunny, swam off, smacking the Kraken with his tail on the way past.

"Woah, Donna," Gin blinked. "That was badass."

"Badass! Badass!" Ace echoed. The crew's eyes snapped to Gin whose deeply-tanned skin rapidly paled.

"Gin," Nami said, her sweet smile and musical voice completely at odds with the dark aura surrounding her. The aura was not entirely metaphysical either, a small storm brewing with just enough force to make the crew's clothes flutter. "What did you just teach my son?"

"Hey, y'all!" Kaku called. "The Kraken's moving."

Everyone ignored him.

"I... uh... N-Now hold on a second, Donna. I did't mean... I did't think-!"

"That's right," Nami nodded, taking a slow step toward the scared monk. "You didn't think. Robin, take Ace inside. Luffy, hold Gin so he can't use his powers to escape."

"Uh, y'all!" Kaku yelled, louder.

"Don, Donna, wait!" Gin tried, Luffy wrapping his rubber arms around Gin's so he couldn't get away. "It was an accident!"

"Aren't you monks all about atonement? You taught my son a bad word. Time to atone, Gin."

"Y'all!" Kaku screamed.

"What?!" Nami demanded, rounding on the ex-agent who pointed toward the south.

"Underwaterfall!"

"Oh," Coby blinked, the Sunny beginning to pick up speed as she was caught in the current. The roasted Kraken drifted past, his larger body being sucked down into the depths. "I forgot about that."

"I feel like forgetting something so important is going to bite us in the butt someday," Merry agreed.

With that, the whole crew save three screamed. Sanji bounced around the medbay while Luffy and Ace laughed to their hearts' content.

"Ugh," Coby groaned on his back, Grace on his chest where he'd grabbed her in the chaos. Their surroundings were nothing but darkness, no sunlight reaching through all the water above them. "Ow. It feels like I went through the Grove 12 Debacle again."

"What happened?" Merry muttered from somewhere nearby. "To us, I mean."

"Are you ok, Merry?" Usopp fretted from somewhere above, probably stuck in the sails.

"That underwaterfall shook us like a maraca," Kaku offered from where he'd been thrown.

"It happened because we got sucked in sideways," Nami said from Luffy's arms, the captain deflating from a Gum-Gum Balloon by the sound of it. "Ace, are you ok?"

"I have him," Robin answered. "It's ok, Ace. Auntie Robin-sensei's got you."

"Badass!" Ace laughed.

"Giiiiin!"

"Is everyone else super?" Franky asked.

"Here," Zoro grunted.

"Iffin I say I'm dead, will I live?" Gin rumbled.

"I'm great," Grace responded, refusing to move.

"Sanji!" Chopper cried.

"I'm alive!" Amy called.

"I'm not! Yohoho!" Brook laughed as Chopper followed his nose toward the medbay. "I'd heard plenty about the currents, but that surpassed all my expectations. That rattled my bones!"

"That was so much fun!" Luffy smirked. "Shishishi!"

"Fun, fun!" Ace mimicked. "Gihihi! Bad-!"

"Aha!" Franky said. "Found it!"

He flipped a switch, the lights mounted around the rigging coming to life all at once from where they were strategically hidden for just such an occasion of darkness. The Sunny's nightlights buzzed as they illuminated the deck, but the pirates could see little past the bubble that protected them save for the periodic flash of some electric Deep-Sea King. Another flip turned on Sunny's front lights, the beams coming from the eyes of the figurehead. Those beams remained forward for a second before sweeping right, the ship rumbling as she shifted her vision to see through her figurehead. The lights there almost seemed to get brighter with the spirit's focus, though if that were true and the scientific specifics behind such remained in question.

"This is crazy!" Luffy laughed as a giant anglerfish swam past, only to be swallowed by a massive albino eel. "The world has so many cool things in it!"

"Cool! Cool!" Ace echoed from Robin's arms. "Ne, Daddy! I wanna go find Sarume!"

"Sarume?" Luffy and Nami parroted, both turning to their son.

"Sarume! That's his name!"

"Whose name?" Robin questioned.

"The big, big fish thingy!" Ace answered, as if the adults not knowing who he meant by that was a ridiculous thought. Clearly, they should know which "big, big fish thingy" he meant out of all the big fishes and big things around them. Adults were stupid sometimes. "I'm naming him Sarume! Can we keep him?"

"Who is Sarume?" Coby asked.

"Sarume is Sarume!" the toddler answered simply. "Ya know, the one Mommy zapped, but Mommy says sometimes Daddy punches someone and they get nice 'cause he punches the mean out or sommin'." He paused, feeling Robin's grip shift. "Something," he amended.

"Thank you," Robin nodded, satisfied with his corrected vocabulary. No apprentice of hers would use anything less than proper grammar, no matter what age they were, thank you very much.

"That's not…" Usopp trailed off. "Well, it worked on Amy, Franky, and Kaku, so I guess there's a chance Nami's lightning could scare him into submission."

"Captain Luffy never actually landed a hit on me," Kaku pointed out. "Also, not part of the crew."

"It would be cool," Luffy whispered, he and Ace turning pleading eyes on Nami. She crossed her arms.

"You can have him drag us to Fishman Island and back up if we find him, but we will not take the Sunny to go looking. And we're not keeping it!"

"But-!" Luffy began, only for Ace to burst into tears. Though a young kid, he was well aware of the words "no" and "not" and, like all kids his age, hated them. Luffy and Nami swooped closer to their crying child while Robin held him out to avoid his swinging limbs.

"Want Sarume! Wanna keep Sarume!"

"Ace," Nami cooed, trying to calm him.

"No! Mommy's being mean!"

"But Ace-"

"Nooooo! Wanna keep Sarume!"

Nami sighed. Ace's temper was rare considering she'd managed to raise him without too many negative attributes to copy from the other crewmembers, like Luffy's penchant for running headlong into danger or Usopp's lies, but when his temper did flare, it mimicked her own. That is to say, Ace could get very angry very quickly if he did not get his way, but it could calm just as quickly with enough distraction, just like Luffy. Speaking of her spouse, Nami turned to the captain.

"Luffy, I know you only learned a little bit ago, but this is your time to be a parent."

"How am I supposed to do that?" he questioned, having to raise his voice a little to be heard over Ace's wailing. "You're a lot like Makino, so I bet you're not gonna let me punch Ace like Gramps and Dadan did with me and my older brothers."

"That's not how a parent should act!" Nami yelled, enraged by the very thought of such a thing. The irony that she and Garp both punched Luffy for his stupidity was not lost on her. He should be old enough to know better, whereas Ace was still a child. She paused. "Brothers? As in plural?"

"Oh, I had two brothers when I was little," Luffy responded, shocking everyone but Robin and Ace, the former occupied with the latter. "Not by blood, though. We all adopted each other once they warmed up to me. Dadan wasn't too happy when Ace and me brought Sabo home."

"Ace and I," Robin idly corrected before she returned to cooing at baby Ace in an attempt to get him to stop crying, but Ace stubbornly refused to forget about the Kraken or how mean his Mommy was being for not letting him go find and adopt the big, big octopus.

"Right, well," Nami blinked. "Take Ace and calm him down. Maybe the Kra..." She sighed, closing her eyes. "Maybe Sarume is around here somewhere. You and Ace can look for him while the rest of us guide the ship toward Fishman Island."

"Good idea!" Smiling, Luffy took Ace from Robin, and set him on his shoulder. "Hey, Ace! Wanna go try to find Sarume with me?"

"Yeah, Daddy!" As Nami had predicted, the child's tears dried instantly at the suggestion, the boy's small arms wrapping around Luffy's head.

"Alright, Ace! Hold on, I..." Luffy seemed to choke for a moment before his grin widened. "Daddy's gonna go real fast!"

One arm holding onto the back of Ace's shirt, his other stretched toward the crow's nest, grabbing the railing.

"Wait! That's not-!" Nami's words fell on deaf ears as the captain and their son rocketed upward, disappearing through the revolving windows Franky had installed so long ago. The young mother's hand didn't move, her whole body frozen, as she comprehended what just happened. Luffy, the one who could not take any blunt damage, had just carried their son at insanely-high speeds in a short trip fraught with potential blunt danger. The fact that neither was screaming was a cold comfort. "...safe. ...Billy, please go keep an eye on them."

"Wah!" The duck saluted before taking flight.

"I'm sure they're fine," Zoro shrugged with a yawn. The navigator turned on him, her Perfect Clima-tact bared, but the door to the medbay crashed open. The crew turned, Sanji stepping out of the room with an unlit cigarette. Unlike the last time, all of the women were dressed in heavy winter coats, hiding all of the things that had put him into such a desperate state.

"You better not start bleeding again!" Chopper warned, jumping up onto the railing beside the chef. "Your blood type is super rare! We're lucky Merry getting our best aspects included your blood type and that it doesn't de-manifest when she does or you could have died!"

"You're welcome!" the fairy boasted, a hint of smug satisfaction in her tone. Kaku seemed to vanish, blending into the shadows with ne'er a whisper. He still wasn't sure if he was wanted and didn't want to press his welcome.

"Oi, Reindeer-Bro!" Franky called. "Wanna explain what you mean when you say Chef-Bro's got super rare blood since this seems like a problem?" He paused. "And, uhh, dumb it down for us non-medics."

"I'd surmise that you're an adequate surgeon, Franky, considering you reconstructed yourself and remained alive afterward," Robin offered. "I'd also like to know, however."

"Sanji's blood type is SRH Negative, which is probably the rarest blood type in the world," Chopper explained, slipping into something of a teaching voice. "It's also known as the Universal Donor because all other blood types can accept it. Unfortunately, people with SRH- can only get their own blood type in transfusions, which is why Merry managing to have the same type as him is so beneficial. I know everyone's blood types, well almost everyone, and we're lucky we cover all of them between us."

"That's actually pretty interesting," Grace admitted. "Assuming we cover them all, you would think Merry's blood type would be a universal receiver since that would be most helpful to her, but rather it's the type that's most helpful for the crew."

"Exactly as planned!" Merry boasted.

"You got to pick that sort of stuff?" Amy blinked.

"Well, yes, but also no," the Klabautermann answered. "I didn't get to choose much about my own aspects, but there were a few where I could have gone with something different. See, I did get to pick to have Sanji's blood because his and Zoro's were the most common ones on my deck because of their brawls, so I could have had either. I didn't know which was which, though, so that was a lucky guess when I was forming a more permanent body after Enies Lobby."

"That's not something you needed before then?" Coby wondered.

"Nope. The more focused my soul became in my Heart, the more material my manifestation was until I needed stuff like blood. Boss Iceberg" –Franky balked at the name– "managed to work out that there's a ratio between the density of our soul and the solidity of our manifestations. He called it the Law of Metaphysical Manifesting and wrote a paper on it. Got an award, too. He wanted to put my name on it, but, you know, wanted."

"What else did you get to pick?" Usopp asked.

"Well, I suppose I chose your handiwork since I needed to fix myself back in Skypia, but it wasn't as simple as saying 'I want that one'. I had to focus on nothing but all the times I could remember you fixing me and how you moved, and it only took a few hours because Wood Fairies have an innate sense when it comes to sailing and repairs. The only other skill I stole was some hand-to-hand combat from various people. Well, there is one other thing, but I didn't work that out until recently. That's a secret."

"So, theoretically," Nami began, "you could steal any of our skills?"

"Only up to how good you were at Enies Lobby," Merry explained. "And only stuff you did while sailing. I couldn't learn to read Poneglyphs that way because I've never seen Robin do that, but I could get enough navigational know-how from you to sail through Paradise."

"Up! Up!" the higher-pitched voice of the Sunny warned, turning the crew's heads up toward where an absolutely massive anglerfish Deep-Sea King had snuck up on them while they were engaged in conversation.

"Shit!" Merry yelped, diving for a lever by the wheel. "Chicken Voyage!"

Sunny's mane spun, propelling the ship backwards. Unfortunately, the sudden motion was too sudden for a portion of their air supply, the anglerfish biting down on the bubble Sunny left behind. The Sea King blinked as if confused before continuing to amble along.

"Damn it, Franky!" Nami huffed. "You're supposed to be avoiding stuff like that."

"Cut me some slack, Sis," Franky responded, passing off the wheel to Merry. "As a shipwright, how could I not be super interested in the ins and outs of Klabautermann? Sue me."

"Don't tempt her," Brook chuckled.

"Thank Goda their eyesight sucks," Coby breathed, eyeing the Deep-Sea Kings ambling along around them with more worry than before. "Can we please focus on sailing now?"

"I agree with Dino-Bro," Franky seconded.

"Take us slow to keep the bubble intact," Nami ordered, eyeing where the tips of the masts pressed against the top of the bubble. "Shift 27 degrees to port and follow that direction."

"Aye Aye, Mrs. Nami!" The navigator's directions were followed to the letter, all of the crew scrambling for something to do. That being said, between Merry and Sunny being able to control most of the rigging themselves, there wasn't much the rest of the crew could do without being redundant. Sanji watched from a chair, having been ordered to rest by Chopper since his blood was still on the low side because of his nosebleeds.

"Oh, Sanji," Amy called from up in the rigging where she was on watch for any more monsters. "I sort of made a mess in your kitchen since you were out."

"You did?" the chef gasped, torn between anger at her messing his kitchen up and wanting to always follow his path of treating all women like queens.

"Yeah, everyone was hungry. But you'll forgive me, right?" Amy pouted, batting her eyelashes. Sanji's heart audibly thumped, the blond quickly grabbing his nose and closing his visible eye.

"I'll g-go and clean th-that up," he muttered, stiffly marching to the kitchen.

"And eat something!" Chopper ordered.

"I've still got it! Kyahaha!" Amy laughed, rolling through the air. It was always nice when she got someone else to clean up her messes. That was what Homies and Sanji were for.

"Hey, Nami!" Luffy yelled from the crow's nest. "Is everything ok down there?"

"We're fine, Luffy!" Nami responded. "It was just a big Sea King! How's Ace?"

"He's at the other window still looking for Sarume! He's- Ace!" Luffy turned, lunging back into the crow's nest. He was too slow, Ace on the other side over-balancing and falling out the window.

"Ace!" Nami cried, running for her falling son despite knowing she wouldn't make it in time. She wasn't the only one, Chopper running in from the other way and Coby already halfway into a Shave. The mother pulled out her weapon in a mere moment, a thick cloud growing from its end. Coby and Chopper slammed into it like it was a giant pillow. A blur of yellow, red, and green streaked across the rigging, Billy flying under Ace to catch him in seconds, proving all the fuss below to have been unnecessary.

"Gihihi!" the child giggled, the Gigafowl and the rest of the crew letting out a hard breath in tandem. "Again! Again!"

"I feel like I just lost a few years," Usopp huffed, leaning on the railing while clutching his heart.

"I felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest," Brook muttered. "Not that I have a heart anymore. Yohoho! Skull Joke!"

"Skull Joke! Skull Joke!" Ace parroted. "Gihihi!"

"Young Master Ace is gonna be tha death of us," Gin sighed.

"That depends," Zoro yawned, his thumb pointing to a hulking shadow ahead of the Sunny. "Is whatever that is gonna kill us first?"

"Holy shi-!" Nami covered her mouth to keep from finishing the swear as the Sunny's lights illuminated one of the biggest Sea Kings the crew had ever seen. It was a sort of anglerfish and its teeth were each taller than the Sunny. Its eyes were also clearly trained on the ship, the giant fish actually licking its lips.

"Do we have any Flutter Kick Coatings?" Kaku swallowed. "We could really use one right now."

"That would take too long," Coby responded, pulling out his swords.

"What are you gonna do?" Amy demanded. "You can't attack or you'll cut the bubble!"

"I've got this!" Franky insisted, rushing to the wheel. "A Coup de Burst should get us out of here!" Franky set to work, punching all the buttons and pulling all the levers needed for their quickest escape. The anglerfish grew closer, its mouth ready to swallow them whole.

And then it stopped, whimpering. Behind it stood an even larger creature, humanoid in appearance with pink skin and a hairy chest. It stood almost three times taller than the fish it had just punched in the top of the head, and the larger creature opened its mouth to speak.

"Ankuro, you know better than that!" the humanoid creature chastised in a higher-pitch voice. "You're not allowed to eat ships! Captain Vander Decken doesn't like that!"

"Hrrrmmmm," the fish whimpered.

"Did that thing just save us?" Nami asked, letting out a hard breath. Sweat tickled the back of her neck, but it wasn't the cold sweat of fear. Another breath told her the temperature around them was starting to rise and, with Sanji sequestered in the kitchen, it was safe for her to shed her coat. There was smog in the ocean outside, which led the navigator to suspect there were volcanic vents nearby. Ace, still riding Billy next to her, bounced happily, clapping.

"Big huge fish guy is really strong!" He stuck out his tongue. "But Daddy's stronger! Daddy's gonna be king!"

"Wah!" Billy affirmed.

"Awe, thanks!" Luffy laughed, jumping to the deck.

"How is he so adorable?" Amy asked herself.

"Yohoho! Best not to question it, Amy," Brook laughed. "I'm sure Nami does not want us to spoil him, even if he is adorable." Motion began on the Sunny once more, but it fizzled as a shape in the darkness grew more distinct. It was a tattered ship, its hull covered in barnacles and its sails little but rags with the words FLYING DUTCHMAN stamped across them. Both Sunny and Merry shivered as it grew closer.

"What's wrong?" Gin asked, hands in his sleeves to ready his tonfa, even as Luffy marveled at the boat. "D'ya feel somethin' bad?"

"That ship," Merry answered. "He's old and powerful. He's seen many captains, and each has made him smarter. Even beaten up, that ship could probably take on Sunny. The Flying Dutchman."

"I thought as much," Robin interrupted. "The legends say the captain of the Flying Dutchman went mad one night during a storm and threw his crew overboard one by one before cursing all the gods. In response, the gods punished him with a curse of his own, that he could never set foot on land and would sail the seas forever. I do hope we don't fall victim to such a curse, forced to become oceanic monstrosities and serve on his crew for eternity, doomed to leave our dreams unfulfilled as we yet live."

"Aaahhhhh!" Nami, Usopp, and Chopper wailed, the former grabbing Ace and running into her husband's arms.

"I don't think it's anything like that," Amy waved off, much to Usopp and Chopper's relief. "Remember, I trained in the New World, and several of the crews I've talked to mentioned the Flying Dutchman. It's nothing scary. It's just-" A voice, raspy and artificially strained, interrupted her, echoing through the water.

"Dead men tell no tales,

and dead men have no sleep.

I pluck the rings right off their hands

beneath these shadowy seas.

Dead men have no regrets

and no tears left to weep.

I'll pluck the crowns right off their heads

within this cold, black deep.

Sunken treasures, free for the taking!

A king of pirates in the making!

I leave my enemies weeping and shaking!

Vander Decken is my name

and these long-lost riches I do claim!"

A beat of silence followed the end of the poem before the Coward Trio renewed their screaming. Brook tipped his skull, playing an eerie series of notes on his guitar, an action that did not help those afraid of the ominous poem.

"Yohoho, scary! Not that those words ring true for me, because-"

"You're a skeleton who cries and tells tales, right?" Grace interrupted. The ruined Skull Joke dropped the musician into a depression. Grace and Amy shared a high-five.

"Heh, rude," Kaku chortled in the shadows.

"Ankuro, Wadatsumi, you know what to do," the voice ordered. "Break the bubble on that ship."

"Yes, Captain!" the giant humanoid answered before turning back to the Thousand Sunny. Ace, either completely unaware of the threat or simply confident they would get out fine, wiggled in his mother's arms.

"Mommy," he whined. "It's hot!"

"Is that really the biggest problem right now?" Chopper demanded. "That big guy is about to kill us!"

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Amy put in, reaching into her purse and pulling out a rock about the size of her fist. She sucked in a breath before blowing directly into it, repeating this process several times. Wadatsumi drew closer, his fist raised to punch the ship.

"Whatever you're about to do, do it fast!" Usopp called, clinging to Chopper.

"Hard Rock Bullet!" Amy yelled. The rock was only there for a moment before Amy spun, the projectile breaking the sound barrier as it left her hand. It slammed into Wadatsumi's eye, the hulking figure cutting off his attack with a scream.

"My eye!" he wailed. "My eye! My eye!"

"Eyes are always a weak spot," Amy preened, clearly satisfied with herself.

"Why do you get to show off," Coby pouted, noting that this was the second time that the blonde had stopped an attack on the Sunny since the crew had reconvened.

"Because I can do long-range without breaking our bubble, Pinkie."

"Big Sis, we talked about this," Grace muttered.

"Guys, we need to get out of here," Nami called, interrupting their little argument. "There are volcanic vents nearby, and I think they're about to blow!"

"Cool!" Luffy grinned. "Lava underwater!"

"Cool cool!" Ace, again, echoed. "Sub-a-qua-tic phe-no-mi-na!" he added, sounding out the multisyllabic words.

"Aww, that's right, sweetie," Nami cooed. "The friction of aquatic pressurization causes enough heat and force to prevent molecular state changes, even when lava touches water! Yes, it does. Yes, it does~!"

"Does anyone else find that weird?" Gin questioned, indicating where Nami was spouting meteorological jargon in that sort of voice adults use on babies. "Jus' me? Ok."

"Nami!" Usopp yelled. "Teach later, run now!"

"Oh, yeah," the mother blinked, leaving Ace in Billy's care. "Right. Zoro, Coby, turn us around and row like our lives depend on it!" The two swordsmen nodded, reaching for the special long paddles they use when Sunny's paddleboat function is on the fritz. Unlike so long ago when Coby and Zoro failed to paddle a tiny dingy in the East Blue, this time their coordinated strokes moved the Sunny away from her newest threat. "Franky, prep a Coup de Burst just in case! Chopper, lock Sanji in the kitchen! We don't need him bleeding out just because it's getting hotter! Everyone else, defend!"

Activity exploded across the Thousand Sunny, every member of the crew jumping into their roles. Nami herself stayed by Billy and the wheel as the Sunny started to turn, Gin and Kaku grabbing the other paddles to make their escape.

"Wadatsumi!" Vander Decken's voice yelled. "They're getting away!"

"I'll get them, Captain!" the large fishman insisted, a new black eye still closed as he took a step toward the half-turned Sunny, only for another increased-mass pebble to slam into his face. The seafloor rocked as the massive creature staggered, giving the pirates what little time they needed to start gaining momentum.

"Wadatsumi! You better-!" The order of the Flying Dutchman's captain was silenced by the explosive boom of Nami's prediction coming true. Lava from the underwater volcano nearby tinted the water red in its molten glow as the liquid rock began flowing over the seafloor. "RUN! RUN, YOU FOOL! PULL US AND RUN!"

"Now, Franky!" Nami yelled.

"Right!" the cyborg answered, pulling the final lever. "Let's go, Sunny! Coup de Burst!"

The Thousand Sunny rocketed forward, the force blowing the bubble of air left behind into bits that slammed into Wadatsumi and the Flying Dutchman, delaying them that much longer. The coating around the Straw Hats' ship now touched the top of the third floor and was pulled tightly against the figurehead. Zoro, Coby, Gin, and Kaku kept rowing, the glow behind them getting brighter alongside a myriad of panicked screams from the crew of the Flying Dutchman.

"Look, Mommy!" Ace called, tugging on her belt and pointing out off the starboard railing.

"Not now, sweetheart," Nami muttered, eyes studying the shifting currents they were rowing into.

"But Mommy! Sarume!"

"Hey, Ace is right!" Luffy laughed. To the starboard side of the ship, tromping alongside the Sunny, was the Kraken from before, a panicked look on his face. "Oi, Kraken! Carry us and we won't eat you! Also, your name is Sarume now!"

"Graaa-!" The newly-named Sarume froze, its defiant call halted by the glare of the woman that had fried him into unconsciousness in seconds and caused his presence so far down in the depths in the first place. Guided by fear, the massive octopus scooped up the pirate ship, both parties contributing to their escape from the underwater eruption.

"Nami!" Usopp yelled, his voice shaking. "We're headed straight for a trench!"

"Fishman Island is down there!" the navigator replied, doublechecking her Log Pose to confirm the direction. "Sarume, jump down!"

Reaching the precipice, the Kraken paused for only a moment before the rumble of the undersea volcano shook away any lingering hesitation. Sarume jumped, carrying the Thousand Sunny deeper into the abyss and closer to their destination.

"We made it!" Usopp huffed as the cliffs rose above them, Sarume's weight helping to increase their downward speed. "That was the scariest part of the trip so far. Good thing we've got Sarume now."

As if in response to the sniper's relief, a wave of lava poured over the cliff. It was too far away to do anything to the Sunny other than heat the air in the bubble around them, but the water currents were a different matter. The sudden heat shifted the natural flow of water, a new current buffeting the cephalopod underneath them. Whether through force or choice, the massive octopus let go, the water pulling him in a different direction. Ace jumped off Billy's back and raced to the railing, one hand outstretched toward the disappearing Kraken.

"Sarumeeeeeeee!"

As Ace wept for the loss of his supposed pet, Coby turned a deadpan glare on the Sniper.

"You just had to say something."

End of Chapter 5

I hope you all enjoyed some of the silliness in this chapter! A lot of it is just establishing how the crew interacts with each other now that things have changed while learning more about each others' skills. That and Ace making his own place in the crew. We shan't forget such an important detail. Anyway, you all can expect the next chapter in two weeks! And, as always,

Read and Review!

-SwordOfTheGods