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Chapter 13: The Stage Resets
"ACE?! Where are you!"
"He's not here?" Luffy gasped, joining his wife's frantic search.
"Who?" Sanji blinked, looking to Chopper for answers as the other Straw Hats became just as panicked as the navigator.
"Her and Luffy's son," the doctor explained, apparently deciding that 'ripping the bandage off' would be the best course of action here. Sanji seemed to turn to glass, an almost audible shattering of his heart echoing.
"THEIR WHAT?"
"Our son!" Nami answered, tears streaming down her face. "And he's not here!"
"But if he's not here," Coby began. "That means..."
"Yeah," Grace nodded, cold anger in her voice. "Hody fucked up."
Sanji did not know how to process what he had just heard, and the constant, distracting beauty of the Mermaid Princess did nothing to help matters. The fact that his stupid, charismatic, younger dunce of a captain had had a child was shocking enough, but that that child was with his Nami-swan, a woman of pure perfection and beauty in the eyes of the chef, simply did not equate. Yes, the stupid, rubber-brained captain and the beautiful navigator were – as much as he still hated to admit it – married, but surely, if this child existed, he would have met them by now. The crew lived together on a ship considered small for these oceans and the crew considered each other like family. It would be impossible for him to miss something as obvious as a new child on board. Surely news of any progeny of 'Straw Hat' Luffy, of a new member of the Monkey D. line that caused so much chaos, would make headline news and be spread across the world. Logic failed in the Grand Line, but Sanji still did not believe this madness to be true.
Besides, wasn't Nami-swan still on the path to realizing that Luffy was inferior in manliness to the chef of her dreams? Surely, surely, she would do nothing like have a child with someone of inferior genes. No, such a child could not possibly exist. He must have misheard everything from the moment he stepped into the room. This must be a lingering effect of his temporary memory loss.
As the thoughts chased each other through Sanji's head, each sounding more and more beautiful and logical to the poor soul, the chef defaulted to the first stage of grief: denial.
"What?" the blond blinked, a pinkie digging into his ear even as the rest of his crewmates were already trying to rouse the gondola eel from its unconsciousness. "I'm sorry, Chopper. I must have water in my ear. Did my darling angel Nami-Swan just say she had a son?"
"That's exactly what we said," Chopper answered.
Again, the truth was placed before him, and again Sanji tried to deny it, a smile now strained across his lips. His breaths came faster and deeper, evidenced by the thickness and speed of his regular puffs of cigarette smoke.
"O-Oh, I get it. You all are trying to prank me. Is this because of the concussion and memory loss? I know I must have worried you all, but I swear I didn't mean to. You can drop this j-joke now. It's not funny."
"Concussion?" Chopper demanded, wholly unaware of Sanji's mental gymnastics to reaffirm the least-painful beliefs he could. "Memory loss?!"
"I'm afraid this is no joke, Sanji," Robin stated, placing herself beside the man and out of the way of her more emotional crewmates. Make no mistake, she was just as angry and worried as the rest of them, but she also had a much colder and lasting form of anger that would only be relieved with the breaking of Hody Jones' bones one by one in multiple places. "Little Ace-chan is quite adorable and intelligent. His grasp of the Poneglyphic language in a mere day already outstrips my progress by two weeks when I was first learning. Granted, I have been teaching him when I had no tutor myself, but the fact stands."
"N-Not you too, Robin-chwan," Sanji pleaded, one tear showing how much he truly wanted to hang on to his personal worldview. "Y-You're beautiful while tormenting me, b-but please…"
"Stop straining yourself!" Chopper ordered. "You're going to give yourself an aneurism at this rate and I don't have the proper supplies with me to deal with internal brain hemorrhaging!"
"Might it be better to knock him unconscious?" Robin suggested. "I'd rather not have to force Zoro to drag him around while Sanji struggles all the while."
"As if the Mosshead could do that," Sanji sniffed, a piece of his normal self shining through at the insinuation that Zoro could overpower him. "There's no way a musclebrain like that blade-obsessed moron could ever drag me around…" Sanji devolved into muttering, focusing fully on the one thing he could fully comprehend in the moment: his rivalry with Zoro. Such was just another stage of denial called avoidance, Chopper noted, causing the reindeer to add Mental Health Counseling to his list of treatments for the chef.
"I'm sorry," Namur finally said, blinking slowly. "Luffy has a son? Named Ace?"
"Indeed, that is correct," Robin nodded. "Little Ace-chan is nearly a year-and-a-half in age, but one would never suspect such based on his looks or mannerisms. The Monkey family has exceptional genes where power and growth are concerned. Nami is quite lucky in many ways."
"Ace…" Namur whispered, a far-off look showing that his eyes did not see the room, but flashes of memories from years before. His hand reached down, taking the orange hat from Sanji's limp hand to hold it up in his own. He stared at the buttons, the faces almost mocking him in the way Ace would during their spars and drinking contests. "You son of a bitch, did you really find a way like you told him…? Is it really you?"
"Yeah, the Marimo would look better with a broken nose…" Sanji continued to ramble.
"Ah, excellent," Robin smiled, plucking the old cowboy hat from the fishman's hand. The familiar weight brought back memories of her first meetings with her crew, an appropriate time stamp for their first encounter with said hat if their logbook was to be believed. "Luffy bequeathed this to little Ace-chan on the voyage here. I'm certain he wishes for its safe return."
"Sanji, get over here!" Nami roared, the crew beside her working together to lift the gondola eel and rotate it toward the entrance. "This eel is heavy!"
Moving to answer the call of a beautiful woman, his own emotions unimportant in such a thing, Sanji began making his way over to the eel the crew was moving. He settled in beside another tall individual, their nose sticking out in his peripheral vision.
"What's with the outfit change, Usopp?"
"What?" the sniper in question asked, his voice coming from the other side of the eel. "They're soaked, but I haven't changed clothes."
Sanji blinked, his head whipping around in a double take as the squareness of the nose finally registered.
"Wha- you!" he yelled, one finger pointing at Kaku even as his legs worked to help lift the eel. "You're one of the CP9 guys!"
Kaku opened his mouth to answer but closed it slowly. With his arms occupied, he could not respond even if Sanji understood Thieves Cant. Unable to vocalize his response, Kaku nudged Merry beside him with a leg.
"Oh, yeah," Merry realized, the Klabautermann leaning back to see Sanji around the ex-agent. "Kaku got caught and had to run, so he's with us for a while."
"Why didn't anyone tell me?" Sanji demanded, his eyes narrowing. He didn't like the lack of space between the Zoan and the Klabautermann, nor their familiarity. "And why did he have you answer, Merry?"
"He can't talk right now!" Usopp offered from the other side, Kaku nodding along. "A woman we were getting information from stole his voice."
"Madam Finwaters!" Amy called from further down. "That bitch wants entertainment!"
"Yeah, that," Merry finished. "And with us on a crusade to get Ace back, I bet she's gonna get all the entertainment she could ever ask for."
"Madam Finwaters…" Sanji sighed, his mind glossing over the name of the child in favor of an image of a beautiful mermaid. The image first appeared with the woman using her lips to steal the Zoan's voice before shifting to a first-person viewpoint of the beautiful siren leaning down to take his own. Another trickle of blood dripped from the chef's nose as he giggled.
Knowing what Madam Finwaters looked like, Kaku's nose and lips crinkled in disgust. He couldn't correct Sanji's dream image, nor did he wish to.
"Excuse me," King Neptune put in. "Though I thank you for rescuing myself and my daughter, I must ask how you got ahold of the royal gondola eel that my sons were using, jamon."
"Your Majesty, I'm so very sorry!" Pappagu apologized, prostrating himself before the king. "The Straw Hats were ignorant of the princes' goals when we met them and put them to sleep with a lullaby. I promise they aren't harmed! And the Straw Hats will apologize on their own when the child in question is retrieved and Hody dealt with!"
That last statement was not directed at the king but at the crew. Coby seemed to pick up on the starfish's implication, the endoderm referencing their conversation on the way here about the Straw Hats' reputation.
"Oh," Coby blinked. "Well… Actually, now isn't the time for that. Suffice to say, King Neptune, the Straw Hat Pirates do not wish to destroy Fishman Island or take any hostages. Right now, our only fight is with Hody Jones because he picked one with us. I'm afraid to say that there will be some collateral damage as we beat those guys into the ground."
"You sound awfully confident, jamon," the king noted, raising himself to his full height once more and crossing his arms. "You held your own quite well with your limitations, jamon."
"Somewhat," Coby nodded, his crewmates getting the head of the gondola eel back into the waters outside. He stepped away to talk to the king properly, the weight he had been lifting falling on Usopp who wheezed under the extra strain. "We are all very confident that we can beat Hody and his crew with little effort. Mostly, and if you'll excuse my language, Your Majesty, we're absolutely pissed. No amount of begging or pleading will earn any of the New Fishman Pirates any mercy as True Justice comes down on them for their transgressions against you and ourselves."
"Then I ask you as your captain does not seem the type to remember; please rescue as many of my soldiers as you can. I know the chances and numbers may be slim, but I am not the warrior I use to be. I have begun to grow old and weak, and my back is prone to giving out on me, jamon."
"Father…" Shirahoshi whispered, resting one hand on his arm.
"We will, Your Majesty," Coby said, giving a shallow bow. "Rayleigh-Sensei said you were a powerful leader worthy of respect, and we intend to remain on good terms with you. We will save every one of your men that we can."
"Rayleigh, jamon?" Neptune questioned, head tilting as the name rang a bell. "Where have I heard that one before? …Jamon… Jamon… Jamon!" Recognition lit up the large royal's face, the memory of the last time Rayleigh came coming to the king. "Do you mean the Dark King!? He's still alive, jamon?"
"He is. He has been training me these past couple years."
"F-Father," Shirahoshi muttered, inserting herself into the conversation. "How do you know that person?"
"Well, over 20 years ago, his capt-"
"Coby!" Luffy yelled from across the room, cutting the king off without his knowledge. "Time to go!"
Before the roset could respond, a rubber arm wrapped around his torso. The Zoan looked down at the arm for a second before raising his eyes to the ceiling, as if lifting up all his unwanted surprise, nostalgia, and acceptance of the situation. His eyes turned back to the king for only a moment, the formal speech of his childhood allowing him one line in this time.
"By your leave, Sire."
The arm retracted and Coby cursed.
"Hi! I'm Ace! My Daddy's gonna be King of the Pirates! Gihihi!"
Carefree as a summer breeze, Ace didn't seem to fear the group of fishman officers staring down at him, even with his life in the nonexistent hands of a bubble provided by this enemy. The human had one baby hand outstretched, as if waiting for a handshake that would never come. The fishmen blinked, looking to each other for guidance.
"Zeo," Dosun began, the hammerhead turning to the wobbegong as the pirates continued toward the island proper, "This is the worst idea you've ever had, dosun."
"To be fair," Zeo responded, holding Ace out from himself as far away as his arms allowed, "this is not the response I was expecting. I was ready for more screaming, yelling, and crying. Otherwise, this was my plan all along."
[Editor's note: It was not, in fact, his plan all along.]
"Can I eat him?" Daruma questioned, chomping his sharp teeth together. "I could go for a little snack. Kyakya!"
"You can't eat him, ch," Ikaros grunted, side-eyeing the tiny human. "He is a valuable hostage. With his life in our hands, we should be able to keep Straw Hat and the rest of his crew at bay, ch."
"Maybe," Hyouzou warbled, trying to keep himself from swaying even as he ingested more alcohol. "Those humans kinda *hic* …kinda ripped through your men, though."
"Ne ne, Octoguy!" Ace grinned, his eyes having followed the speakers. "You wemind me of Uncle Zowo! He's got a sword and juice, too!"
"…What?"
"I'd take that as a complement if I were you," Caribou suggested, his head free of the statuary visage Gin's lightning had trapped him in. He, Coribou, and Vander Decken IX shared a bubble begrudgingly protected from the strong current by a contingent of lesser members. Though his head was free, Caribou had left the rest of his body solid for ease of transportation, even if his brother's tears showed he thought it was permanent. Whatever that moron thought didn't matter; it certainly mattered less than all the weapons he had to leave behind. "I would have been able to defeat the Pirate Hunter if given enough time, but he is incredibly strong and has impressive observational skills."
"Nah," Ace denied easily. "No one could beat Uncle Zowo! 'Cept maybe Daddy, or Mommy, or Uncle Gin, or Uncle Sanji. Mommy always said Uncle Zowo and Uncle Sanji didn't like each other, but I haven't met Uncle Sanji yet."
"Shut up!" Daruma demanded, snapping at the boy. "Kya! You're so annoying!"
Ace went silent for a moment, his eyes filling with tears at the harsh words. Daruma's own eyes widened as the human boy sniffled, biting is lip to keep from crying. Mommy said big boys on big adventures don't stop to cry. The fishmen around flinched against their will, the mere idea of making a child of any species cry causing something instinctive inside them to feel shame, save for one.
"N-No, you!" Ace tried to rebuff, the stutter and tears causing his response to land with a flop. "You're a mean fish guy!"
"Like I would care about what my food thinks!" Daruma grunted. "It doesn't matter how old one is, all humans are the same."
"Nu-uh! Daddy punches all the mean guys like you until they stop! That's why Daddy and Mommy and my family are the bestest ever! Better than you, meanie!" Ace stuck his tongue out, blowing a razzberry at the cookie cutter shark. Daruma chomped his teeth in response, the two smaller beings growling at each other.
"Daruma, you are arguing with a human child, ch," Ikaros pointed out, embarrassed for his long-time friend. "Besides, we have more important matters to worry about, ch."
"Captain Hody swam ahead," Zeo reminded them, unnecessarily. "He told us to attack the important areas of the island to spread the Ryugu army thin. If the Straw Hats ally with the kingdom, then we need to be on our toes. It's almost a certainty now that we have one of their number."
"That's your fault, Zeo, dosun," Dosun put in.
"But they don't know that," Zeo rebuffed. "If we split up, they won't be able to tell which of us has him and will be forced to split up to find him. Their panic will breed mistakes, and we should be able to take them down one-by-one."
"Let's not forget we have one more prisoner, ch," Ikaros offered. "That disgrace we have locked up in the Fishman District. He has some connection to the Straw Hats. I'll show him off to make sure the humans split up, ch. Even if they don't, that just shows that they choose humans over fishmen like we knew they would, ch."
"Kyakya!" Daruma laughed. "It's about time that failure found some use."
"What about all of the soldiers, dosun?" the hammerhead of their number asked. "We picked up almost 20 of them on our way out. Knowing Neptune, he won't just sit back and let us keep them, dosun."
"Then we will all have some captives along with the civilians," Zeo nodded. "If soldiers or the princes come knocking, we can use the prisoners as shields or hostages. The longer we can keep them at a standstill, the more time there is for Captain Hody to kill the royal family and fulfill the plan. Any questions?"
Seeing and hearing none, Zeo moved on to giving proper instructions.
"Alright, we'll split up and hit the important places like Captain Hody said to. Dosun, you head to Waterwheel Town."
"On it, dosun!"
"Ikaros, I know you want a crack at Gyoverly Hills, so head there and cause some chaos."
"Ch!"
"Hyouzou, get over to Sake Factory, the town made to honor Moby Dick's protection. We won't need it once Captain Hody's in charge."
"My favorite place," the Octopus Merman nodded.
"Daruma, you'll be attacking the Cultural Center. Warn the men was have waiting outside the bubble. The attack starts in 15 minutes. Break the border crossing if you need to."
"What about you, Zeo?" the littlest fishman questioned. "And the humans, too?"
"I will head to the Marine Shopping District. While there, I should be able to steal some things I need to make the Energy Steroids even more powerful. I fear we might need them."
"I must go back for my dear Shirahoshi!" Vander Decken insisted.
"Alone?" Zeo blinked.
"I will grab my ship and invade the palace once more," the captain of the Flying Dutchman answered. "You can do what you want to the island, I don't care either way. I just want my bride."
"Such love," Coribou sniffed slowly, a tear coming to his eye. "Much beautiful."
"Shut up, Coribou," Caribou ordered before turning his head around to face the fishmen. "I will take my brother and attack the area around the Mermaid Cove. That's far enough away from you all to need another group of Straw Hats, right?"
Zeo did not want to agree with the human but had to admit he had a decent point. Their whole plan hinged on a "divide and conquer" strategy and the more they could divide, then the more conquering they could do.
"Fine," the wobbegong grunted, turning to address the others of his species. "Once you've won and forced the residents of your areas into submission, we are to meet at the Gyoncorde Plaza to help Captain Hody. If something goes wrong, get there. Be careful. We are ushering in a new-"
"What's 'ushering' mean?"
Zeo nearly froze, his swimming thrown off rhythm by the sudden question from the child still in his hands. The sudden confusion caused the officer to miss the rapidly-approaching end of the water bridge, the man passing through it while his eyes still stared at the tiny human. Air replaced water in a moment just before gravity reasserted itself. Those who were ready each pulled out a handheld Bubble Coral, creating their own bubble to float on, a luxury one of their number lacked.
"Zeo!" the other officers yelled, the purple-and-blue of their number letting out a surprised scream as he fell. Ace, falling at a slower rate due to his smaller mass, laughed as he fell. Seeing the potential loss of a needed leverage piece, Caribou broke one of his arms free and sent out a wave of mud to catch the child. Ace's laughter continued to bubble as Zeo fell.
"He's going to be fine, right, dosun?" Dosun questioned as more and more of their subordinates created bubbles to float on. Down below, Zeo's cry ended with a powerful thump.
"Eh, probably," Hyouzou shrugged, taking another sip of his sake.
"Again again!" Ace cheered, unconcerned with the safety of the fishman or the dirtying of his clothes. Mommy said clothes sometimes get dirty on adventures, so this is a real adventure!
"Hah," Dosun sighed, one hand coming to the bridge between his eyes. "Human, give me the child. Zeo can't use his camouflage with him, Daruma would eat him, and Hyouzou is drunk. I'll keep him guarded, dosun."
"Doesn't matter to me," Caribou shrugged, his mud carrying the child to the hammerhead. "We better move if we don't want the army to catch up to us."
"I agree!" Vander Decken nodded, placing his uncovered hand on Caribou's shoulder. "I expect to see you all at my wedding!" The Devil-Fruit-using fishman dove from the bubble holding himself and the two adult humans, the man falling toward the buildings below so he could begin making his way to his ship.
"…We can all agree that's not happening, right?" Caribou questioned, turning his head to side-eye the humanoids. "Him and the princess?"
"Nope."
"Absolutely not, dosun."
"For once, I agree with a human, ch."
"Glad we're all on the same page," Caribou nodded. "And remember, I want those Straw Hats' bodies, or at least whatever's left."
"And you'll get it, dosun. We sure as Hell don't want to keep them. Now get going, human. Now."
"Can't this overgrown fish go any faster?" Nami demanded, as far forward as the gondola eel's bubble would allow as if that would realistically help her find Ace sooner. Her foot tapped restlessly, her arms pressing into her stomach and her nails causing indents as they pressed into the other sides' bicep. Though the others were also wound up, none were as obvious or vocal as the navigator was. Her stance shifted from leg to leg, restless, causing her longer hair to sway to each side. "Damn it! I never should have let him out of my sight! I should have known that fishmen would-"
"That they'd what?" Luffy interrupted, his wife turning a scathing glare on him. Much of the rest of the crew flinched, but Luffy didn't seem phased, stepping forward to wrap the woman in his arms. Nami visibly relaxed, leaning into his touch until her nose was buried in the crook of his neck. Tears of worry and frustration rolled down her cheeks, soaking into her husband's cardigan as her hands rose to pull him closer. Luffy held her gently. "You can't put this on Fishmen, Nami. That's not fair."
"I'm so scared, Luffy," Nami admitted with a whisper, her words somewhat muffled by his shoulder. "It's just… Arlong took so much from me because I was human. I don't want his legacy to take mine. I don't want Ace to suffer at the hands of fishmen like I did. He's too young to know all the horrors of the world. I don't want him to learn them. Not like this."
"Ace is going on this adventure with us," Luffy responded. "You know how much trouble we get in sometimes. If Ace is anything like me or my brothers were, he's gonna get into some stuff. We can't stop him from running off some-"
"He didn't just run off, though!" Nami yelled, pushing Luffy back a step. "Those pirates took him!"
"And we're gonna get him back," Luffy insisted. "We can't wrap him up and protect him from everything forever. Gramps wasn't the best parent – not Dadan and the mountain bandits, either – but they taught me something. You can't protect someone forever. Ace will have to get strong enough to protect himself until we can get there, but we will get there. We're gonna get him back. I promise."
"He's not even two," Nami whispered, grabbing Luffy's shirt again. "He's just a baby."
"They won't kill him," Luffy muttered, holding her cheeks with his hands to wipe the tears away. "He's more valuable to them alive and, down on that island, we won't be stuck in a bubble." His eyes hardened, the pirate captain turning his gaze from his wife's face to the little blip of orange light on the edge of his Haki he'd come to recognize as his son. He was moving at a decent pace to the north-east. "He'll be fine, but those bastards that had the gall to take him from us are gonna pay."
"I don't know which is scarier," Coby whispered to Grace as the rest of the crew and their three fishfolk companions watched the exchange. The Ryugu army had sworn to join them soon, but had some important preparations to make, resulting in the Straw Hats, Camie, Pappagu, and Namur being the advance squad. "The implication of what Luffy will do to them or that he's using words like 'valuable' and 'gall'. Rayleigh-Sensei wasn't around him that much."
"The world is falling apart," Grace agreed.
"That's the wonders of fatherhood," Usopp nodded.
"Like you would know, Usopp," Amy put in, rolling her eyes.
"Being an uncle is like being a father!"
"Considering you were an uncle to me and that I was fully capable of caring for myself physically, socially, and violently before I had a physical body," Merry chuckled, "I'd say it's not the same."
"Should we be concerned that Merry felt so strongly about violence that she included it as a sub-section of self-care?" Chopper questioned. The way that the others traded glances at his inquiry was not reassuring to his professional opinion of their collective mental health. That he could understand why she believed such after only a moment of thought caused him to question his own mental health.
"Is she wrong?" Zoro asked, his eyes still closed from where the others thought he was napping. "In fact, I think I could go for some violent self-care right about now."
"Is that right?" Robin grinned from her seat next to him. "Have you grown so attached to little Ace-chan that you feel an instinctive need to protect him? Maybe considering the idea of having one yourself?"
"Shut up," the man grunted, doing his best to prevent his face turning pink at the suggestion. "Ace is one of us, and I know I don't want to see the storm the witch'll make if something serious happens to him. She'd blow up the island, and possibly us along with it. And Luffy would help her."
"I think I speak fer all of us when I say we'd all help 'er raze th' island ta th' bedrock," Gin commented. "I mean… We'd try ta get tha innocent gone first… Prob'bly."
"The island needn't die for that," Robin put in. "We'd simply sever each of Hody's appendages one-by-one, castrate him as well, cauterize the wounds to prevent his untimely demise via external hemorrhaging, remove both of his eyes and all of his teeth with the use of an oxidized spoon, and hang him by the docks under a recreation of our flag to demonstrate to everyone and sundry what fate awaits them if they go too far."
Silence fell as certain members of the crew covered their lips in an attempt to keep down whatever their last meal was at the gruesomely-detailed scene their archeologist painted with her words, the small smile she always had never leaving her face. Namur outright stared at the woman in shock as Camie stuck her head out of the bubble to throw up.
"…Holy shit, Robin," Coby gaped. "I thought we were just going to beat him up, not turn him into a bloody decoration!"
"Yohoho," Brook chuckled. "What a frightening description. It nearly made me empty my stomach. Ah, not that I have a stomach anymore. Skull joke!"
"As much as I would like to keep listening to all of Robin's suggestions," Nami interrupted, no hint of sarcasm in her voice at the statement, "Luffy's Haki is picking up something we need to talk about before we reach the island."
"It's about the New Fishman Pirates splitting up, isn't it?" Coby asked, turning eyes on him.
"You can feel it too, huh?" Luffy grinned. "That's awesome, Coby! Rayleigh said your Observation was better than mine, so I'm not that surprised!"
"And you didn't mention it before?" Nami questioned, her glare threatening to turn Coby to stone.
"You and Captain Luffy were having a moment," the prehistoric Zoan defended, his hands raised in the universal sign for peaceful surrender.
"I will… accept that," the navigator grunted, dropping the issue. "Fine, so you can sense them too, and apparently even better than Luffy can. How far? What's the situation?"
"When I'm focusing my Observation," Coby began, "I can feel an area of about two kilometers in each direction. That's not quite the size of the island and I have to focus to get that far. Normally, it's limited to only half-a-kilometer, though in greater detail. Right now, Ace and the officer holding him are heading north-east to a smaller town that way. The others are moving to the north, east, south, north-west, and south-east, and each has some type of monster – probably a Sea King of some sort – in their small army, too. There's also a huge mass of hate moving onto the island like a wave from the south-west, too many bodies to count from here and more every second."
"More pirates living in the Fishman District," Namur offered, much more experienced with the topography of Fishman Island than any of the visitors. "It's where I come from, too. The Fishman District is known for being the poor quarter off the island and is Hody's base of operations."
"That makes sense but doesn't help us," Grace commented, Coby still focusing his Haki at her side. Any more details he could perceive would give them another hint they could use to plan. "What can you tell us about the New Fishman Pirates, since it seems like you know quite a bit."
"Back when people like Hody and I were young, we were the subjects of a lot of racism," Namur began, his voice heavy. "The start of the Great Pirate Era was one of the darkest times for Fishman Island. Swaths of pirates started arriving on the island, and those looking to make a beautiful Beri started kidnapping anyone they could get their hands on. They focused on the Fishman District and the outlying coves, places that were poor or away from the main bulk of the army. Fishmen and mermaids went missing by the dozens and the kingdom was powerless to stop them.
"And then Fisher Tiger appeared, defending the Fishman District from the pirates with his own fists and grit. He was a legend made flesh, an idol for Fishmen and Merfolk everywhere. Once word of his power reached the surface, the attacks lessened, but a number of pirates came with the intention of capturing Tiger and making him the slave to be sold. He killed them all."
The pirates were listening with rapt attention, even Nami and Luffy silent as they listened to this story. Fisher Tiger was a name that Arlong had mentioned once or twice while the navigator was in his employ, but the story finally started to fill in the blanks Arlong refused to tell.
"Driven to anger over the treatment of his people, Tiger took to the surface. He did the impossible, scaling the Red Line to Marejois. He went on a rampage, freeing all the slaves he could, leaving burning buildings in his wake. From there, he founded the Sun Pirates, and each of their members bore a sun tattoo designed to cover the brand of the Celestial Dragons, so that there could be no differentiation between who had been a slave and who had not."
Nami's pupils shrank, her mind taking her back to the times before she knew Luffy. New details, details she never thought about, suddenly stood out. Nearly every member of Arlong's crew, including Arlong himself, had a tattoo of the sun. Arlong's had poked out from under his shirt, Hachi's was on his forehead, Kuroobi's had been on the left side of his chest, and Chew… Actually, Nami wasn't sure she ever saw Chew's sun tattoo. It must have been hidden under his clothing.
'Were… Were they slaves?' she wondered. 'Is that why they hated humans?'
"It was around that time that Whitebeard came to the island," Namur continued, oblivious to Nami's history or the questions that caused her to reconsider her own 'slavery' at the hands of Arlong. "Kids like me who were too young or too unskilled to join Tiger jumped at the chance to join the one who finally brought peace to our shores. Straw Hat, you know what kind of man Pops was; he welcomed us with open arms. Even so, some chose to strike out on their own, refusing to join a human. Some earned decent fame and bounties like Willy, Jube, and Girain, but most of them aren't around anymore."
"Wow…" Usopp whispered. "So Hody was one of Tiger's-"
"Not in the slightest," Namur growled, interrupting the sniper. "Hody was too young to join Tiger and would never have joined Pops, but he didn't leave either. He idolized someone else. Someone I was told warped Tiger's views of reconciliation with humans into a hatred of them."
"Arlong," Nami whispered, her voice like a gunshot in the silence. Those of the crew who knew the name flinched, the vitriol in her tone unmistakable. "Hody mentioned him before. Arlong was his role model. His inspiration."
"He was like a big brother to Hody," Namur agreed. "When Arlong left to join Tiger and the Sun Pirates, Hody was proud of him. Even when word of Tiger's death reached Fishman Island with those who chose to leave piracy behind, Hody was glad to hear that Arlong was striking out with his own group."
'Left,' Nami noted silently. 'Arlong at least wasn't a slave.'
"Why didn't he leave?" Merry asked. "If he was so proud of Arlong, why didn't he go to join the Arlong Pirates?"
"Hody saw himself as the protector Tiger and Arlong had been," the fishman explained, "the one keeping kidnappings from the Fishman District as low as they could be. Our flag could only dissuade so many. He used to be part of the Ryugu army before returning to the Fishman District again, and every kidnapping attempt he stopped only solidified his belief that humans were nothing but rotten. That's what happens when you only ever meet one type of human. Someone pulled strings to get Arlong and his crew out of prison after they were captured, but before Hody could leave to join them, Arlong was defeated."
"The best day of Nami-swan's life what the worst of his," Sanji muttered, breathing out a puff of smoke. "When he heard that Arlong and his crew were beaten by a bunch of humans, it threatened everything he thought he knew. He thought that Arlong was unbeatable, and if that wasn't true, then what else could he believe? That's why he wants us specifically. We did that."
"I mean, I've had better days since," Nami offered. "Like, say… when Ace was born."
"Luffy's brother?"
"No, his son."
Sanji froze, another shattering of his heart nearly audible at the reminder. Merry giggled, poking the chef in the cheek to no reaction. Little bits of foam leaked from around the cigarette between his lips. His eyes went unfocused, comprehending nothing.
"Stop it!" Chopper cried, hopping onto Sanji's legs and waving his arms. "You're gonna kill him at this rate!"
"Sanji will have to get used to it," Grace waved off. "We're setting out to save Ace. We can't have Sanji seize up every time he's even mentioned. This obsession of his will have to be broken or we've lost one of our best fighters."
"Not that we need the perverted lump," Zoro grunted, Robin blooming an arm to smack him upside the head for his comment. "What is your deal, woman? I'm just telling the truth."
"That is a fallacy," Robin countered. "An opinion, not a fact."
"Since when did you become the grammar marine?"
"Ever since I chose little Ace-chan to be my protégée. I'll not have any of you teach him an improper manner of speaking. Such could inhibit his learning of the Poneglyphic language. The translations between Common and Poneglyphic can be shaky without correct diction."
"Maybe that's why I'm having more trouble," Merry muttered.
"What about the mud guy I fought?" Zoro questioned, his attempt to get out of the argument obvious. That he was clearly losing said argument certainly had nothing to do with it. "He sure as Hell was human. I thought Hody hated humans."
"He was at Sabaody." Attention turned to Gin, the monk closing his eyes to remember the image clearly. "He was at th' rally th' fake us were havin'. Maybe he wanted ta join us an' Don Luffy turned 'im down. He might'a joined Hody fer mutual revenge."
"It's… possible," Namur nodded. "They probably have knives at each other's throats, though. Pirates like them, their alliances only end in betrayal."
"But they are allied against us," Amy noted. "We don't have the luxury of them turning on each other until we are gone. At best, the mud guy will flee if we beat Hody, but there is no chance Hody will back down. This is his homeland, and he hates us too much for that."
"But this is Captain Moby's turf and my home, too," Namur put in. "I don't care if Hody thinks he's in the right; I refuse to let him topple the Ryugu Kingdom with his anti-human ideas. The average pirate in the New World could break him without a sweat. I'd let him go if he just chose to leave, but Fishman Island is not his to take."
Kaku tapped Grace on the shoulder, signing to her what he wanted to say.
"Good observation, Spring Wind," Robin interrupted, revealing that she too knew the silent language of thieves, much to his surprise. She had not made any indication that she understood him before. "We are quickly approaching the end of the tunnel and have been informed that our adversaries have divided themselves and amassed more followers that had been in hiding. We must act accordingly."
"I'm going after Ace," Nami declared, no room for argument in her tone. "I'm taking Billy and Coby with me."
"An' iffin it's Hody that has Young Master Ace right now?"
"It's not, Gin," Coby answered. "Hody's spirit is stronger than his officers, his hate more potent. He ran off toward the Fishman District before the rest of the pirates split up. He's outside my range already, but he's clearly preparing something."
"I will go after Hody," Namur announced. "I said this is New Whitebeard turf, and I intend to uphold that. Any pirate causing trouble here is our domain. Our problem to fix. I can't take on all of them alone, but they dragged you all into this. We're forming an alliance anyway, right? Let me handle Hody while you guys take out the crew."
"Alright," Luffy nodded, accepting the help. "Brook and me will go talk to the princes."
"Brook and I," Robin idly corrected.
"Nami, Billy, and Coby are going to get Ace. Zoro and Robin can go north. Grace and Amy will go south. Kaku and Usopp will go east. Merry, Chopper, and Sanji will go north-west. And Gin can head south-east and join up with Franky and Sunny. Beat those assholes and come back soon."
"Yes, Captain!" the crew chorused, grins of malicious intent spreading over each person's lips. The New Fishman Pirates were going to regret messing with them and trying their kidnapping gamble. The Straw Hats would make sure of it.
End of Chapter 13
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-SwordOfTheGods