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Chapter 15:
Pirates to the Rescue
(The Marine Shopping District)
"Didcha think I was alone?" Gin grinned, letting out a long, loud whistle.
"…"
Nothing moved for a few seconds, the pirates' new spokesfish putting on a cocky smirk.
"Was that supposed to scare us, human? You-"
And then Gin received his answer, a roar bubbling up from below the ocean. Water exploded upward as the Thousand Sunny burst through the surface. She hung there for a split second before tilting forward, splashing down with a spray of white foam. Ropes shot out before the pirates could comprehend what happened, said ropes wrapping around the floating Sea King. One large lion battled another, but only one had the advantage of surprise.
"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, fishfolk of all ages!" Franky's voice called from the deck of the ship. "Allow me to introduce you to the greatest ship to ever sail in the Grand Line, a masterpiece of every shipwright of Water 7, and the ship of the future Pirate King, the ssssssuuuuupppperrrrrr Thousand Sunny!"
"Take this!" As if to punctuate her entrance, Sunny let out a yell and slammed the Sea King into the ground, the concrete cracking and cratering under the force of the beast. Citizens goggled as the great creature struggled, gasping for breath. "Only one lion! Me!"
"Thatta girl, Sunny!" Franky cheered, the ship using the now-probably-concussed sea creature like a makeshift flail.
"Get in the water!" a pirate yelled. "Overwhelm that ship!"
"Ya really think I'll let ya get that far?" Gin questioned, a bolt of lightning charring the pavement at the pirate's feet. "We ain't got th' time or patience ta deal with all y'all, so let's get this over with."
Like spectators at a wrestling match or sports game, the citizens in the Marine Shopping District rallied behind the pirates who fought against those who had tried to oppress and coerce them. Children cheered on the living ship, the cool robot, and the lightning guy in equal measure, the young not quite old enough to fully understand the stakes of the battle they were witness to. Those who were older did more, beating New Fishman Pirates from behind whenever they were given a free chance before dragging them into the crowd where they could be thrashed from all sides.
"He's just one human!" a pirate shouted, rallying four of his fellows into a charge against Gin. The native of Virgio stepped back into a low stance, stretching his weighted tonfa to each side where they crackled with electricity.
"Thunder Shock!" Gin announced as they drew closer, smashing the ends of his tonfa together. A wave of electric particles raced forward with the BOOM of a thunderclap, pressurized air from the shockwave blasting the goons back to whence they'd come, convulsing all the while.
"I've got you now!" a voice behind Gin shouted, his sword already cleaving through the monk from shoulder to hip. Gin froze just long enough for the pirate to let out a victory laugh before the sparking edges of Gin's insides knitted back together. The pirate gasped, horrified, as the inhuman human spun, tonfa blowing the offending fishman away.
"Y-You're a monster!" another group of the New Fishmen cried.
"Now that ain't nice," Gin chuckled, cracking his neck just for the fear factor it would cause. Based on the fishmen's flinch, it worked. Gin left his head tilted, almost literally staring down on them. "Ya mean ta tell me ya've never seen a Logia b'fore? Iffin ya wanna kill all th' humans, you'll have ta fight dozens of us. Sand, ice, magma, light itself, an' more. Ya can't even hit us without Armament Haki. This's a battle ya just can't win."
At his words, the fishmen staring at him threw down their weapons and surrendered. That last attack had shown them that they really had no way of beating this Devil Fruit user and their loyalty to, and fear of, Hody Jones did not extend to the death if he wasn't actively watching them. Gin purposely did not mention that sea water might be effective, but clearly none of these guys knew Fishman Karate or water-based attacks like the Arlong Pirate officers had so long ago.
'I will grant that your little speech there was sufficiently threatening' Rum remarked within Gin's head. 'Equal parts condescending and superior. Now if only you would get rid of your ridiculous accent.'
As he did to most of Rum's quips about his choices, Gin ignored the comment, giving away no indication of the voice's presence in his mind to the outside world. A group of citizens came forward, Gin's shown power empowering them to restrain the xenophobic pirates. With them out of the picture, Gin turned to another group yet to be dealt with.
Meanwhile, Sunny was having the time of her life, her roaring laughter echoing over the waters.
"Raahahaha!" Though her vocabulary was limited, stunted like her growth by the crew's separation, her exuberance for battle was not. Ropes flailed in what seemed to be random patterns with barrels, pirates, and the by-now-concussed Sea Lion as makeshift mauls. "Raaahahaha!"
"Watch it, Sunny!" Franky cried as the Sea Lion's tail ripped through the top of a store, the rubble crashing down on group of pirates in was what clearly a calculated move. "We super don't want a lotta property damage!"
"Sorry, Maker!" the ship answered. Franky sighed, not exactly a fan of the moniker Sunny had given him. Yes, it was more accurate than Merry calling Usopp her uncle, but Franky was just Franky. Otherwise, she'd likely call Iceberg 'Maker' as well, meaning the title wasn't unique to the cyborg. It's bad enough that Merry now called Tom's other pupal 'Boss Iceberg' now…
"Don't count us out!" a fishman yelled, jumping toward Sunny with his hammer raised. "We won't lose to some stupid boat!"
"I'm a ship!" Sunny shot back, one of her paw-shaped anchors launching out to swing around, batting the fishman from the air the same way a cat bats away a rat. The man coughed blood, his body ragdolling through the air before slashing into the ocean. "Get it right!"
"Exactly as planned," Zeo nodded from the top of a store, his arms laden with shopping bags of stolen goods. Counter to his words, this was not exactly as planned. In truth, he was shocked by the strength of the humans and had not expected them to show up with the courage to fight the New Fishman pirates for any reason, much less expect to win and proceed to do so. "Now, I'll slip away while they're distracted."
'We're missing one,' Rum announced as Gin finished his latest fight with a thud and a whiff of ozone. 'The leader of these weaklings is running away.'
'Where?' Gin silently questioned.
'Now where's the fun in answering that?' Rum laughed. 'He's working on something to make himself and his crewmates stronger. Fighting them at that level will only improve our body.'
'My body.'
'Our body.'
"Oi, Gin!"
'So you ain't gonna tell me?' Gin mentally sighed.
'Hmm…' Rum made a mental show of pretending to consider the inquiry. 'No.'
'Piss off, bastard.'
"Gin!" The Logia jumped, spinning around with his tonfa. They stopped a scant centimeter from Franky's raised arm, the cyborg having moved to defend against his jumpy attack.
"Sorry, Franky," Gin muttered, ignoring the silent laughter of his unwanted, metaphysical alter ego. "Ya spooked me."
"You ok, Bro?" Franky asked. "Something bothering you?"
"I… yeah," Gin nodded, figuring there was no point in lying about it. "Rum's just bein' an asshole. Don't worry 'bout 'im. Our big problem is that apparently th' leader o' these guys ran off an' is workin' on some new stengthenin' thing."
"A strengthening thing?" the cyborg blinked. "Really?"
"Rum won't say any more, th' stupid Haki-grubbin' freeloader," Gin shrugged.
'I despise you, too, my dear barbaric oaf.'
"Right…" Franky sighed. "Anyway, I guess Rum didn't give you a direction or anything?"
"Nope. I figure our best bet is ta go find Don Luffy. Hody'll find him, an' where Hody is, we'll find the guy who ran."
"You said Luffy went to the Gyoncord Plaza," Franky recalled, rubbing his chin with a tiny hand that came out of his giant hand. "I haven't been yet, but you said it was landlocked. How do we get Sunny there?"
As one, both pirates turned to see their living ship playing with the Sea Lion like a child plays with a doll, the poor creature moaning in pain the whole while. Gin blinked, a nearly-forgotten memory of another Sea King bubbling to the surface from the time when he had just joined Luffy and the others.
Unlike that Cow Sea King, this Sea King had the tools needed to fly.
"I think I've got somethin'."
(The Fishman Cultural Building)
"I've got you now, human!" the cookie cutter yelled, coming into biting distance. Grace spun with all the elegance of her namesake, the whip condensing into an orb of softly-glowing purple in her palm.
"Neon Argon!"
Daruma gasped as the swirling orb of gas dug into his back. He kicked out, his foot catching Grace in the arm, throwing her off just long enough for the cookie cutter to reach the ground. He didn't land, falling jaws first into the concrete. He disappeared into a new hole, gone into the ground.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the small plaza, Amy glared at the gorilla-fish that had her in its clutches. While she would have preferred for Grace to do something about it, the officer in charge of this group had other plans. That meant that Amy would need to make other plans of her own. It was just unfortunate that said plans could have some collateral damage.
"Hey!" Amy yelled, directing her voice to any citizens that could hear her. "Everyone, get away from here! This is gonna be messy!" She turned back to the monster that was slowly dragging her toward puckered lips. She smirked, instantly increasing her mass to 20,000 kilos, twice what had been her limit before the crew separated.
The sudden weight caught the gorilla-fish by surprise, Amy dragging the creature down. It had been perched on the top of the cultural building, so the force caused it to pivot around the approximate area of its shoulder, crashing the Sea King into the ground upside down. Its fin opened, Amy rolling out and onto her feet.
"That sucked," the kilo-woman grunted, wiping fish mucus off her dress as best she could. Movement caught the corner of her eye, the blonde turning to where the rest of Daruma's men stood with their swords at the ready. "Oh, good. I was hoping for some more victims. That pervy fish-monkey just wasn't enough. Kyahahaha!"
The war cries of Amy's new opponents and the following screams and feminine laughter were cathartic to Grace's worries. Not that she was particularly concerned for her adoptive sister's safety against those thugs, but she had long-since accepted that emotions hardly cared for logic.
Shaking her head to clear it of such thoughts, Grace focused back on trying to find her own opponent, the cookie cutter shark fishman still playing the very convincing role of an actual land-shark. Her eyes would be of no help while her foe was still underground, so she would need to use her other senses.
The Mood Painter closed her eyes, slowing her breathing as the world faded, simplifying into the basest of concepts for her to follow. Malevolence, hate, and pain wafted into the air from the hole Daruma had dived into when he retreated from her Neon Argon, but he was long gone from that point. Those same feelings oozed from the earth, shifting and turning, more potent in areas where Daruma's digging had been closer to the surface. She waited, focusing for the moment when the concepts would strengthen as they got closer to her feet.
There! Grace jumped, Daruma popping out of the ground right where she had stood only a moment before. His jaws snapped shut on the air that had taken the place of her calves; the attack would have severed her leg if she had not moved.
"Argon Whip!" Purple-tinted gas lashed forward, cracking the same ground where Daruma had been.
"Too slow, girlie!" Daruma taunted, jumping from spot to spot as the artist continued her mid-range assault. "You're pretty flexible, though. Your muscles and bones are gonna be tasty!"
"Ew," Grace muttered, her face contorting in disgust. Daruma took that as a moment of weakness, instantly shifting direction and charging the human full-force. Within range in half a second, the shark lunged for her throat.
Grace smirked, her Argon Whip crystallizing into a weapon the size of a knife sticking up from her knuckles. Daruma clamped his teeth down on the weapon to avoid having his tongue be split in two, said weapon holding its form just long enough to halt his momentum before shattering into purple fractals that turned to mist. He hopped backward, dodging the thrust Grace put forward with her offhand.
The crystalized weapon in Grace's hand appeared to be held and secured in the same manner as brass knuckles, but what was where the similarities stopped. It sported a knife-like blade that sprouted in line from the knuckles and two poles that ran parallel down the length of the arm nearly to the elbow. As Daruma watched, the matching blade he had broken with his teeth reformed from the air itself as the argon Grace favored solidified once more, giving her a matched pair.
"The Hell are those, kya?" Daruma demanded, having never seen a weapon of that sort.
"These are called katar," Grace answered easily, relishing the Fear she could sense (and almost smell) coming off of the diminutive fishman. The sensation of others' Fear had become euphoric over the last couple years and Grace nearly wondered if all the years without her Devil Fruit were merely a lackluster dream. Causing emotions and seeing the effects were one thing but sensing them was a whole new level of satisfaction. "I discovered the design while taking an Inuzan-Raphael from a prince in the East Blue. He used them to hunt tigers and crocodiles to prove his bravery and I took a liking to them for when I need to get close."
"They're definitely as ugly as you humans are, kyakya!"
"Like you're one to talk," the young woman shot back. "Come on. I want to go see Coby again, so let's keep this short."
"Keep this short?!" Daruma echoed. "You bitch! Was that a comment about my height?"
His anger flaring anew, the Cookiecutter Shark Fishman dove into the earth and began burrowing toward the artist. Grace closed her eyes again, her shoes sliding over the earth as she began an intricate dance, shifting her weight from leg to leg as Daruma snapped at her ankles. His Rage was palpable to her Concept Vision, as Mr. 6 had called it during her time in Da Vinci.
In return, however, Daruma was just too small and quick for Grace to land a decisive hit with her katar, the blades scraping over his scales or shattering under the force of his teeth.
"Kyakya!" Daruma laughed. "I've got you on the back foot now, human!"
"Is that what you think this is?" Grace asked, her hand shooting out to spear Daruma's hat with her right katar. The fishman yipped, abandoning the hat as he put distance between himself and the other pirate.
A crash sounded to Grace's left, whatever force made it causing the ground to shake. Cracks and fissures formed as the shaking causing the tunnels Daruma had made to collapse in on themselves.
Grace jumped as one crack made its way under her. She kicked, gunpowder exploding under her foot with enough force to send her into an aerial backflip onto more solid ground. She tuned, finding Amy floating over the body-strewn rubble with citizens staring at her, the blonde laughing.
"Big Sis," Grace muttered, shaking her head. "You look like a villain. Couldn't you have taken them down without breaking the ground?"
"I didn't know it was so weak," Amy responded. "Besides, there were tunnels based on the pattern of the collapse. I got to do a lot of studying about architecture while building candy houses and unexpected tunnels are murder on support."
"Candy houses?" Grace blinked as her sister landed next to her, gently coming to rest like a bird on a jutting piece of concrete. "That's just as weird as apes falling in love with you."
"W-What?" Daruma gasped. "You beat them all so fast?"
"Kyahaha!" the Weightless Woman laughed, keeping her voice soft and mocking. "Of course. Those men of yours were nothing compared to the humans of the New World. They might survive the first part of Paradise, but that's about it."
"You'll regret this," Daruma swore. "Captain Hody and Zeo might have the Energy Steroids with them at the moment, but when we meet again, your power will be nothing compared to us!"
With his threat given, Daruma dove into the earth, only a tiny shift in the earth above a sign of his underground passing until he was too far gone to be seen.
"Well," Grace muttered with a tut, "he got away for now, but we'll see him again within the hour."
"Th-Thank you," the Eel Mermaid from before stuttered, crawling forward since her bubble had broken. "You saved us. Humans like you are the reason Queen Otohime believed in peace."
"I wouldn't say us specifically," Amy responded, "but I get what you mean. Still, Hody called us out; we're just calling his bluff. You're lucky this means we're going to get rid of him for you. Kyahahaha!"
(Fishverly Hills)
"Hii?" Ikaros blinked. "Wait, I know you, ch! You're one of the Straw Hats, ch!"
"Oh great," Usopp moaned, having flashbacks to another fishman he fought with an annoying verbal tick. "What's with you fishman pirates and ending your sentences with something stupid? First it was that Chew guy with his name and now you going 'Ch!' every time!"
"Are you making fun of me, ch?" Ikaros demanded. "Men, kill them, ch!"
"Kaku, get them!" Usopp yelled, only to see his companion with stars in his eyes. The suited Zoan was staring at the Sea Giraffe, a mad, obsessive grin widening across his face. "No, wait-"
And then he was gone, Shaving and Moonwalking into the air above the Sea King where he brought a transformed hoof down on the creature's skull, sending the monster into the rubble of the bell tower, stone and pirates flying in all directions.
"Sea Giraffe!" Hammond cried, worried for his favorite mount. "You bastard!"
"…Crap," Usopp hissed, nocking a Pop Green into Kabato. "Well, I guess I just have to win on my own so I can brag to Ace and Merry. I'll be the coolest if I win. And that means I…" He paused, a flame of determination sparking in his eyes. "I will be the favorite uncle!"
Ikaros blinked. "…What?"
Ikaros did not understand how only one human with a slingshot (not even a gun!) that screamed at every pirate that came his way was managing to keep them at bay. Every time the human launched another pellet from his slingshot with a cry of "Green Star!", some new, horrifying monster of plants sprouted from the ground too quickly to stop. Already half of his forces were wrapped up, either fighting plant wolves whose noses exploded with concussive force, unconscious from a foul-smelling flower, being eaten by the massive love-child between a Venus fly-trap and a Parana Plant, or literally wrapped in vines. Another quarter of his men were trying – and failing – to interpose themselves into the aerial battle between the Sea Giraffe and the Zoan giraffe (which could fly by jumping off the Goda-dammed air?!).
For maybe the first time, Ikaros lamented the stupidity of the human World Government and their naming conventions. Several pirates were named for personal looks rather than any of their abilities, which did nothing to tell what such individuals could do or how to fight them. What use did the moniker 'Long-Nose' have when the pirate in question was growing a flower-lion right in front of him– holy shit!
The Giant Squid Fishman leapt backward, one of his left squid spears stabbing into the massive bio-flora. The plant-creature let out a roar as his weapon pulled the moisture from inside it, the plant shriveling as quickly as it had bloomed, leaving naught but a dried husk. Ikaros had no time to celebrate his victory over the photosynthetic leo, an inferno and the source of the roar he'd attributed to the lion racing toward him from over the shell.
"HIII!" Ikaros cried, his instinctive backbend once more saving his life, or so he believed with his pyrophobia. That Usopp's classic Firebird Star did not burn hot enough to kill any normal-sized individual was information Ikaros neither knew nor would have believed with his disposition against said base element. "Stop with the fire, ch! I'll turn you into dried squid, ch!"
"I'm not a squid!" Usopp rebuffed, a chain of caltrops raining down on a quartet of fishmen that had been trying to force their way into the building Usopp stood on. "And I like being hydrated, thank you!"
"You morons, ch!" the Giant Squid shouted. "Break the building until there's nothing left, ch! That human is looking down on us like all the humans before, ch! Drag him down to our level, literally, ch!"
"Yes, Boss!" the fishmen called, a group wielding hammers spreading out to focus on each other the structural supports. Too far apart for Usopp to get each one, it only took moments for the aquatic humanoids to shatter all but one of the front supports.
"Woah!" Usopp gasped as the roof under his feet shifted. The building began to crack under its own weight, the fishmen below scurrying away even though they were tough enough to survive a collapse. They leered up at the human steadily getting closer, malevolent grins widening into smirks as they foresaw his death at their hands. "Sh-Shave!"
Thought Usopp's voice came out as a squeak, his feet flowed with the muscle memory he'd trained for throughout his two years of separation on the Boin Isles. Yes, he'd tried to learn it to be cooler in the eyes of his adoptive "niece" and yes, that plan had gone up in smoke as soon as Merry mentioned having already learned Shave as well as the other five of the Six Powers, but that disappointment meant nothing in the here and now.
Before the eyes of the fishmen below, Usopp blurred into nonexistence, only his afterimage crashing into the road.
"Where'd he go, ch?" Ikaros demanded, his body contorting every which way in an attempt to locate the human. "Find him now, ch! Find that damned human fire-user, ch!"
The familiar, warm tingle of nearby fire tickled at the back of Ikaros' neck, inciting that backbend he could not fight. Unfortunately for him, this time Usopp anticipated the move and compensated accordingly. His Firebird Star impacted Ikaros' face directly, the Giant Squid Fishman screaming for Goda as he felt the flames burn his flesh and catch fire to his beard. The latter was especially troubling for the eight-armed being.
"HIIIIII!" Ikaros screamed, his person fleeing as quickly as his legs would carry him. In a matter of seconds, the New Fishman Pirates' officer was little more than a speck in the distance lost in a cloud of dust headed for another part of the island. Usopp and the man's subordinates simply stared in surprise as the sudden retreat, the cry still echoing through the air.
"Uh…" Usopp blinked, having not expected a reaction quite so extreme as running away in terror. "I didn't do that."
"The Hell you didn't!" the fishmen around shouted, every single one turning on the sniper. This was all the distraction said sniper's companion needed, the giant body of the Sea Giraffe swinging through their ranks. By the Sea Giraffe's head stood Kaku in his Mad-Beast Form, his arms and swords held at such an angle around the Sea King's neck to use him as a fleshy hammer. Of the fishmen that were there, only three remained conscious, that trio quickly and quietly backing away to regroup.
"That was amazing, Kaku!" Usopp laughed, the adrenaline from the fight still pulsing through his veins. "With skills like that, you just might be worthy of joining the Usopp Pirates."
Kaku blinked in confusion, unable to respond what with his stolen voice still missing. Instead he shook his head and began petting the Sea Giraffe, the sad creature with swirls in place of its eyes at the moment. Usopp noticed this and could not help but comment.
"Man, you have a serious problem," the East Blue native sighed. "You know Nami won't let you keep him."
Unable to vocalize a response, the professional assassin petting a dazed giraffe-like sea monster blew a razzberry at the long-nosed sniper. That such a statement was odd enough on its own without mention of the destroyed surroundings or the excessive depth at which it took place became another notch of many for how weird the Straw Hats' adventure on the Grand Line has been.
"Come on," Usopp muttered, eyeing where some of the pirates were still stuck in combat against his plants. "Let's get out of here. We have to meet up with the others and that stupid squid guy got away."
Kaku nodded, planting his feet with a grunt of exertion. The Sea Giraffe gave a moan as the Zoan started dragging it along by the neck.
"Leave that here, you moron!"
(Sake Town)
"I think we found our guy," Zoro grunted. "He's not a real swordsman, though. No true swordsman would try to stab someone from behind."
"Not a real swordsman?" Hyouzou blinked as if the words didn't make sense through the haze of his drunkenness. "You're not a swordsman?"
"That's not what I said at all, dumbass!" Zoro yelled, pushing Hyouzou away with a burst of strength. The merman slid backward, his tentacles helping him keep his balance even as his torso tilted with inhuman flexibility. "You aren't a true swordsman. You're a shame to the swords you wield."
The drunken blush on Hyouzou's face drained instantly, his eyes narrowing in rage. The fishman's whole demeanor changed, becoming more angry, aggressive, and alert.
"How dare you," the New Fishman's hired hand growled. "I am a professional assassin and Fishman Island's best swordsman, wielder of the Eight-Sword Style. Before this, I was just after you for the money because it's what my employer told me to do. But now? At least now I can take pleasure in killing you."
"You can try," Zoro replied, "not that you'll win. My swords carry the weight of my ambition, which makes them stronger than your money-grubbing clubs."
"Oh dear," Robin commented, unaffected by the staredown between the swordsmen. "He has twice as many swords as you do, Zoro."
"The Hell is wrong with your math?" the human male blinked, glancing back at his companion for only a moment.
"I was not only referring to your steel." Both Zoro and Hyouzou blanched at the insinuation the woman was making, Hyouzou took that as an insult despite the fact that octopi – and thus octopus mermen as well – did not have the equipment she was referring to in the traditional sense.
"Now is not the time for that!" Zoro shouted.
"You bitch!" Hyouzou yelled, Zoro instantly turning his attention back to the fishman.
"What did you just call my crewmate?" he questioned, his voice low. "I'll turn you into bad sushi!"
"Come at me!" the Blue-Ringed Octopus Merman declared, charging forward with his blades. "I'll kill you and your woman, human!"
"She's not my woman!" Zoro rebuffed, spinning into a diagonal slash with all three of his blades. The force of his attack caused two of Hyouzou's swords to crack, a development both swordsmen noted. The merman lashed out with two blades from each side. Disconnecting, Zoro moved Kitetsu III and Shusui to block the incoming weapons with a double clang. "Besides, this is a fight between us."
"Your swords are a better make than mine," Hyouzou commented, his sober gaze studying the swords in Zoro's grip. "They have names, don't they? I've seen a few named blades in my time, but none with a target. I think I'll take them from you after I kill you. Then I'll use them to collect five more to complete my set!"
"Better fighters than you have tried," Zoro scoffed. "You're a hundred years too early to even come close."
"That can't be true!" Hyouzou snarled. "You're lying! I am Fishman Island's best-"
"You're just the best of what's left," Zoro interrupted, launching a 36 Caliber Phoenix at the multi-appendaged swordsman. Hyouzou moved to parry instinctively, the sword he used to do so getting split at the base. That the human could launch bladed gusts of air was a surprise that the merman did not find pleasant. "All the ones who had any real skill left to test themselves against the fighters of the Grand Line years ago."
"I chose not to travel!" Hyouzou growled. "Arlong wanted me on his crew but wasn't willing to cough up the money."
"At least Arlong had the guts to travel and fought for his own ideals. You don't even have that."
It seemed Zoro had struck another nerve, the Octopus Merman's face twisting in rage. Green liquid steaming slightly dripped from the ends of his tentacles and down the length of his remaining swords.
"I advise caution, Zoro," Robin offered. "It appears this man has the qualities of a blue-ringed octopus, one of the most venomous octopi in the world, though he is much larger than that species."
"Your woman is correct, swordsman," Hyouzou grinned, ignoring Zoro's claim that, once again, Robin was not his woman. "I can secrete a deadly toxin that can kill you with only a few cuts. I wonder if your single eye can keep up with all of my swords at once."
Like a wave, Hyouzou thundered forward, venom dribbling from his weapons and steaming upon the ground in his wake. Zoro shifted his stance in response, preparing to face the oncoming assault.
"Green Tsunami!"
"Tiger Trap!"
The two swordsmen passed each other, both seeming to have done nothing to their adversary. All was still for a second before Zoro clicked his swords into their sheaths. The blades Hyouzou held shattered with the silence, a cut tearing its way up his shoulder in a splash of crimson blood.
"This…" Zoro muttered, his lone eye never moving from his foe, "is boring."
"How…?" Hyouzou muttered, shellshocked at the speed with which the human had rendered him weaponless. Adding insult to injury was the woman softly giggling at him behind the other swordsman. When had she moved? "How could you beat me? Me? Fishman Island's best swordsman?"
"Actually," Robin interjected though a small smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, "Fishman Island is rather peaceful compared to much of the rest of the Grand Line. It only stands to reason, then, that one who has traveled the Grand Line for multiple years would have greater power as well as a vast amount of experience that one who has not would lack. In Layman's terms, Zoro has simply fought more fights than you."
"I just can't accept that!" Hyouzou snarled. "Relish your small victory now! When we meet again, I'll show you the power of the Eight-Sword Style!"
"Should we go after him?" Zoro questioned as the now-weaponless swordsman wiggled off, fleeing from his obvious loss.
"I don't think so," Robin shrugged. "It seems he caused quite a bit of damage to the surrounding area here, but not all of it. There is still a contingent of fishman pirates rampaging nearby. Should we provide aide, I'm certain the grateful townsfolk would not be adverse to you taking a few casks of spirits. Apropos of that, I would like to do more than act as your sense of direction."
"My sense of direction-!" Zoro began, but Robin did not stay to listen. Her attention had shifted to a group of buildings in the distance where the sounds of fighting and the trumpetuous bellowing of an elephant could be heard. She started walking, glancing back just enough to see Zoro over her shoulder.
"Come along, Zoro," she called. "It wouldn't do for you to lose your way and return to the palace by accident before earning a reward, now would it?"
"I don't get lost," Zoro grumbled, nevertheless following the mischievous archeologist.
(Mermaid Cove)
"I have found my All Blue," Sanji swore, his legs turning to noodles and his eyes turning to hearts as they do. "Fear not! 'Black Leg' Sanji of the Straw Hat Pirates is here to defend you all! Under my watch, not one hair on any of your heads will be harmed!"
Another group of mermaids swooned, and Merry started to wonder if some of the more questionable rumors about mermaids actually had some basis in fact. She had thought Mina's flirtatious behavior had been a one-off, but her fellow mermaids, though not as direct, were showing themselves to be very open about their interests. She knew Sanji would welcome such interest, but such a thing with his injuries could prove… bad.
"That's the Ghost Ship," Caribou muttered to himself, eyeing the female pirate from his hiding spot. "The first recorded Wood Fairy would certainly fetch a high price. And it's not like I didn't plan on taking all of the Straw Hats anyway. I suppose this is a great start."
"Alright, come on out!" Merry called, her voice echoing through Mermaid Cove. "We know you're here! Don't make me come looking for you!"
'She doesn't know where I am!' Caribou thought. 'I have quite a bit to do and need to be ready to leave fast if Hody actually manages to beat the Straw Hats, but I think I have some time for a game of Cat-and-Mouse with a cute little sheep. Kukuku!'
"We know you're here!" Merry echoed, her voice carrying over the waves. "Come on out! Ollie-ollie-oxen-free! Come take your beating like a true pirate!"
"I love noble pirates," one of the mermaids swooned. Merry seemed to bask in the attention, a remnant of Sanji's influence during her creation, no doubt. "Oh, there have been so many, but the noble ones are the best!"
"Do you remember that one that came through years ago?" another asked. "The knight in shining armor? What was his name?"
"The short one?" the first mermaid blinked.
"No no. He was rather tall. He mentioned having gone to space before."
"Did he have that friend who kept saying he was a bear?" a third questioned.
"And the crewmate that could animate things?" offered a fourth, their queries receiving a nod in response. "That noble pirate's name was Duros!"
"Yes, that's the one!" the second mermaid answered. "Oh, it's a good thing we're in the water right now. I'd be embarrassed if I were on land."
"Yes," Mina agreed, though she was too young to remember that grew from near the start of the Great Pirate Era. She blushed at the thought of the Wood Fairy defending them and silently thanked the world that she, too, was in the water. "But now it will be Merry-chan that will protect us from wrongdoers."
"That's right!" Merry agreed, flipping her hair to show off her horns. "Whichever bad guy is here, he's gonna get a headbutt to remember! Or not, since I might concuss him! Baahahaha!"
On another section of the cove, several mermaids had helped Sanji put together a makeshift outdoor kitchen, the chef putting together a delightful meal for the mermaids under Chopper's watchful eye. Aware of Sanji's current plight through the doctor, the mermaids were careful not to go too overboard with their teasing, but the blond was still perpetually red-faced and heart-eyed as he showed off his skills.
"Tahana-chan~! Gonia-chan~! Umamu-chan~! I've prepared your food and seasoned it with love from the bottom of my heart~!"
"You're such a doll, Sanji-kun," Tahana commented as Sanji set the platter on the table between her and her friends, the three of them having been the quickest on the uptake to realize the male pirate was a chef and order a special dish. Sanji had, as one would expect of him, jumped at the chance to serve the beautiful mermaids. "This looks just as good as you do." She blew her fellow blond a kiss and a wink.
Sanji's heartbeat seemed to echo for all of a moment, his heart all but bursting from his chest.
"Stop it!" Chopper begged, not for the first time. "Sanji's blood type is rare! He can't afford another nosebleed or I might not be able to save him!"
"Relax, Chopper-chan," another mermaid giggled, her tail splashing the water while she sat on the edge where the land met the sea. "You all being here may deter whoever you came looking for. And if not, we know you three will protect us." She leaned toward him, one finger at the corner of her mouth as if to emphasize how plump they were. "You will protect us, won't you?"
"Of course!" Chopper answered, unphased by the mermaid's posture. She was, after all, similar enough to a human that he felt no attraction as a reindeer. "Just because the New Fishman Pirates want to fight us doesn't mean you all need to get caught up in it!"
"You're so cute!" the mermaid squealed, pulling Chopper into a hug that buried his blue nose and soft face into her equally soft chest. Were Chopper of the same disposition as Sanji, he may have perished then and there.
"Kukuku!" a slimy voice chuckled, the sound washing over everyone present like a film of mucus. "So, you all aren't actually cowards. That makes this catch a little more interesting!"
"Show yourself, you coward!" Merry called, turning to make her way toward there the voice had come from. "You won't impress any mermaid by hiding in the background!"
"I don't care for my impression, Ghost Ship," the voice replied from another origin, this one from the opposite direction. "I only care about grabbing what I want and getting away."
"And what do you want?" Merry questioned, turning to the new origin but with more skepticism. True to her thought, the next words of the voice came from another area deeper inland.
"All of you Straw Hats, dead or in chains," the voice giggled. "My only question is who I'll give you all to. The dead go to the government, obviously, but would I get more money for you if I take the live ones to the Auction House? Ah, and I've got a few mermaids too, so I'll make a stop there anyway. Kukuku!"
"You bastard!" Sanji yelled. "Once I get you under my feet, you'll wish you'd run away when we got here!"
"Now now, Black Leg, you're almost safe. After all, who would believe it's you with your wanted poster the way it is." Sanji felt his curly eyebrow twitch violently at the reminder of the horrible drawing that sat over his moniker around the world. "Oh dear, did I strike a nerve there?"
"Merry?" Sanji bit out, the embers on the end of his cigarette threatening to catch fire. "You said you know Moonwalk now?"
"Yeah?" the Klabautermann answered, "Why?"
"Chopper, stay down here and protect the mermaids. Merry, you and I are going up."
"That's what I'm talking about!" Merry grinned, jumping into and off the air as Kaku had taught her to. "Moonwalk!"
"Sky Walk!" Sanji called on the other side, taking to the air in a similar fashion. The two crossed paths as they went, Merry flipping over the chef just because she could.
"They can fly!" Umamu gasped from her seat at the table, clapping in wonder. "Amazing!"
"They can fly?!" Caribou gasped, his eyes popping out of his skull at the sight. His intel said neither of these pirates had a Devil Fruit! He brought his emotions back into check quickly with a deep breath, his back to the plateau he was hiding behind. "No, even if they can fly, I doubt any of them can touch me. And Coribou should be back soon. There's no way the three of them could possibly take us both on."
"There you are," Merry grinned, her voice – and its proximity – sending a shiver down Caribou's spine. Slowly, the Swamp-man turned his gaze upward, the Klabautermann's blood-thirsty eyes and battle-hungry grin staring down on him. "I recognize you now. You bought a ship a few months ago. I knew it looked familiar. So you're just as much of a sleazebag as I thought you were. I hope you treat that ship better than you do people."
"Oh, you've found me," Caribou chuckled. "That's fine, though. Dirty Geyser!"
Merry flashed backward with a quick Shave as the rival pirate all but exploded into an eruption of mud and swamp muck. The brown goop coated a good section of the cove from the origin, dripping down the sides of the plateau like dark candle wax.
"Shit, he's a Logia," Merry cursed. "And a nasty one at that. Well, that's fine."
"Fine, you say?" Caribou questioned, his face forming in the muck. The edges began to recede, pulling inward as his body rose from the semi-solid. "Don't underestimate me, girl. They call me 'Wet Hair' Caribou, and I have a bounty of 210-million. You, Black Leg, and the Monster Doctor don't come close to me."
"Yeah, maybe," Merry conceded, "but our bounties haven't gone up in over two years. You could say they're a little out of date. Ah, not that you would know about dates with that creepy aura you've got."
"Insult me all you want, Ghost Ship. I'll be selling you off to Celestial Dragons soon enough."
"Sakura Hoof!" Chopper announced, appearing before Caribou in his Arm Point. The Logia barely had time to react even if he was worried about the blow. The force of Chopper's attack splattered him over the stone once more, leaving only his feet and shins intact. "That won't keep him down for long."
"How troublesome," Coribou sighed, though his head was little but another cluster in the muck. "This would be easier with my weapon stash, but for a payout this big, I don't mind putting in a little more effort. Swamp Arena!"
A wave of muck raced out from the man's feet, covering the ground in a thick soup that stank of rot and decay. Merry grabbed Chopper under the arms and jumped away as the land they'd been standing on was swallowed by the growing bog.
"I don't really think Hody Jones can beat Straw Hat," Caribou announced, reforming once more, "but I really don't care, either, so here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to swallow you three, then all those mermaids behind you. After that, I'll lie low until the New Fishman Pirates and the rest of the Straw Hats have worn each other out before swooping in and absorbing them all. I'll be rich enough from the proceeds to fund my whole journey through the New World until I become the King of the Pirates. How's that sound?"
"I think it sounds stupid," Sanji commented, appearing above the man so his steel-toed boot could splatter Coribou's head clean off his shoulders. As a Logia, however, the pirates knew this was only a mild inconvenience for the man. Sanji returned to his original position, apparently having simply wanted to show off his speed.
A BOOM sounded in the distance, Merry turning her head at the sound. Her arm shot up on instinct, slowing and stopping the cannonball that had been racing for the island. It hovered in the air beside her, the girl studying the Bullwinkle bobbing in the water a ways out.
"You know," she began, never turning to look at the reforming Swamp-man, "I was one of the shipwrights that helped build that ship. Now I guess it's my job to unbuild it. The Franky Family will be so proud."
She reared back her arm, pulling the cannonball into her hand before launching it forward the way Garp had when trying to capture them after Water 7. Where the aged Vice-Admiral had been able to use brute strength, however, Merry had a combination of strength and Klabautermann ship power. The ball came close to breaking the sound barrier before it crashed into the side of the ship, those aboard scrambling to deal with the damage wrought.
"Leave this bastard to me," Sanji stated, lighting a new cigarette. "He wouldn't make anything tasty, but I'll deep-fry him anyway."
Merry nodded, casting a look back at Sanji and Chopper before diving into the ocean to swim toward the ship in the distance.
"You think you can take me on?" Caribou grinned, a dribble of brown dripping down his face like sweat. "Even if you can, the Ghost Ship won't beat my crew. My brother 'Blood Splatter' Coribou has a bounty of 190-million, and she just ran off to fight him all alone!"
"I trust Merry," Sanji stated, taking a deep drag on his cigarette. "That said, I'd like to finish you off quickly so I can serve those lovely women dessert. Let's go."
"Right!" Shifting into his Walk Point, the reindeer doctor followed the chef into battle, the pair racing toward the swampy battlefield.
"Chopper!" Sanji called. "He mentioned something about absorbing people, so we need to be careful not to touch whatever the Hell that is."
"Got it," Chopper nodded, once more growing into a new form. "Jump Point!"
"Sky Walk!" Together, Sanji and Chopper leapt into the air over Caribou's swamp.
"Don't think I'm some weakling!" Caribou yelled, raising his sleeve-covered hands. "Mud Spike Wonderland!"
The swamp churned, mud condensing in points where, a moment later, lances of densely-packed mud rose upward. Sanji summersaulted away, using Sky Walk to dodge the deadly spears. Chopper had no such ability, but his feet were capped with tough hooves, the doctor carefully positioning himself to jump from point to point before Caribou could capitalize on the contact.
"Haha!" the pirate captain laughed. "So you'll actually make this interesting for me? Dance for my amusement!" The spikes rose and fell, all at different speeds and for different lengths, causing the air above them to become more dangerous for fighters who did not have true flight. Sanji kicked a spike, blasting its pieces across the battlefield, but it reformed in less than a second, attempting to spear him in the gut.
"Kyaaa!" a woman cried, the pirates turning to find a mermaid being pulled into the swamp, the same one who had spoken to Chopper only a minute ago. She reached for them as her plea was silenced by a tendril of mud, her body pulled into the swamp completely in moments.
"You bastard!" Sanji raged, his body instantly covered in fire. Both Caribou and Chopper jumped at the sudden unexpected surge of light and heat. "I'll force you to free every last mermaid you've abducted, you creep! Hell Memories!"
"Oh, shit," Caribou whispered as the spike he'd sent to stab the chef was kicked away, this time dried and solidified into useless chucks he could not reform. Sanji sped up, destroying each of the spikes in turn as he drew closer the Caribou's main body. "You're scary, Black Leg, but you need to catch me first! Swamp Double!"
The rendition of Caribou collapsed into the muck, only for six new ones to rise, each moving on their own. They laughed in stereo, each directing a group of spikes to assault the chef from different directions.
With all of their opponent's attention on Sanji, Chopper took the chance to back away from the swamp and shrink into his Brain Point, focusing the copies between his arm-hooves.
"Analyze," Chopper muttered, studying the fighters as Sanji beat away at the copies with his burning legs. There had to be something, some important detail the blond was missing in his rage.
Finally, Chopper found it, a single tentacle with an eyeball attached watching from the opposite side of the swamp. Sanji wouldn't find the original because the whole swamp was was the original!
"Sanji!" the doctor called, the chef turning just enough to glance at him as his leg carved through another simulacrum. "You need to harden the whole swamp all at once!"
"I see," Sanji muttered, trusting that his crewmate knew something he did not. Sanji kicked the air, rising over battlefield. Once he had the entirety of the swamp in his sights, Sanji reignited his right leg with a more potent fire before launching himself downward into a spin. "Get a taste of this! Concassé!"
Fire raced out from the point of impact, the mud steaming as the heat dried it out, turning the dark brown into more of a pale, cracked earth color. Caribou cursed, just barely separating himself and leaving a double behind before the heat reached him. He slunk away, cutting his losses after a devastating attack like that.
"This isn't over, Black Leg," he swore, slithering away into the shadows. His swamp stores were lost and he needed to find more he could claim control over if he wanted to complete his plan.
Back on the battlefield, Sanji rose and drove another ax kick into the now-solid swamp. It cracked and shattered, ten different mermaids crying out of fear and surprise as they were freed from their hammerspace captivity by the force to land on the hard broken clay.
Mermaids around the cove cheered and clapped as if they'd just watched a play or a sports match, blowing kisses and whistles at the surprised pirates.
"Your praise doesn't make me happy, you jerks!" Chopper danced, Sanji basking in the limelight the same way Merry had only minutes before. Off in the distance, the Bullwinkle erupted in an explosion.
"And that," Merry began, hovering over the Mermaid Cove with use of Moonwalk, "is why the Straw Hat Pirates are the best!"
(Waterwheel Town)
"Mommy says to not break things," Ace suggested, the pitch of his voice implying that such should have been obvious. "See, I broke dis train once and got real sad when it didn't work no more, and Mommy sayed it was 'cause I was too strong an' rough on it. And when the old wizard guys Mommy worked with broke something, they got real sad 'cause it's harder to make things than to break them, 'cause when making things you gotta be real careful where everything goes. But when breaking things, you don't care where the pieces go, right? So stop breaking things 'cause the guys that do care and gotta put them together again are gonna have a lotta trouble!"
"You tell them, Ace!" a woman's voice cheered, turning attention to the sky where a woman with long orange hair and a young man with pink hair rode a large, yellow duck.
"Mommy!" Ace grinned, trying to wave only to remember that his arms were being held down. "Hi, Mommy! Hi, Uncle Coby! Hi Billy!"
The young man and bird waved, the human more than the flying duck for obvious reasons.
"Sea Leopard!" Dosun roared, getting the attention of the cat-like fish monster that had been lounging nearby. It perked up at his voice, smart enough to know that not doing so would have painful consequences. "Eat them!"
"Graa!" the Sea Leopard yelled, lunging for the airborne trio. Nami patted the side of Billy's head before she and Coby hopped off, the two seeming to slide down an invisible surface to the ground. Now lightened of his riders, Billy rose higher into the air, leading the cat-fish on an aerial game of cat-and-bird with a secret, electrical ending.
A glance confirming that her mount could handle the overgrown Sea King and another seeing Coby ready to take on the cannon fodder, Nami turned back to Dosun and the subordinate holding her child captive. Her Clima-tact spun in her hand, a cloud billowing from its end to form a dense fog that rolled over the streets with her and Coby at the origin.
"Now then," Nami stated, her tone providing no room for argument, "you better give me back my son, or I'm going to have to show you what happens when you make Mommy mad."
"Mommy! Mommy!" Ace called. "Hammer guy thinks you and Daddy are the bad guys! Isn't that funny?"
"You sure have raised a disrespectful brat, dosun," the Hammerhead growled. "I shouldn't be surprised; you humans are all the same, dosun."
"I can't say that fishmen have a positive reputation with me, either," Nami shot back. "Not after what Arlong did to me all those years ago. At least I have the maturity to know not every fishman is as evil as he was."
"Arlong, evil?" the officer blinked. "What a joke, dosun! I don't know how you knew Arlong or why your captain saw fit to challenge him, but I don't care either, dosun! For a long time, Arlong's name was a rallying cry for the New Fishman Pirates, a reminder of the danger humans pose to Fishmen, but we don't need him anymore, dosun. Once Captain Hody takes over this country, the surface will be next, dosun! Arlong always wanted a Fishman empire in the light of the sun, but he was too weak to do it. Captain Hody, though? He will, dosun! We'll make him Emperor Hody, dosun!"
"Giihihihi!" Ace laughed, sucking the wind out of Dosun's sails. The officer turned, bearing his hammer at the terrified Octopus Fishman holding the child.
"What's so funny, dosun?"
"My daddy's gonna be King of the Pirates!" Ace answered, the phrase as true and natural to him as the sky being blue and humans breathing air. "That's way cooler than whatever you said! And 'cause you're fighting us, you're gonna lose! Giihihihi!"
A vein pulsed between Dosun's eyes, his muscles tensing in rage as his hammer shook with the force of his clenched fist. How dare he? How dare that tiny human child insult all the work the New Fishman Pirates have done, all the sacrifices they've had to make their whole lives?
"Strangle that brat, dosun!" Dosun ordered. "Kill him for his insults, dosun!"
"Ye-!" The subordinate's response was cut short, his eyes rolling back in his head as he began to fall over. With his loss of consciousness, his hold on Ace broke, the boy starting to fall. One slender arm, however, reached out of empty air to catch the child, tucking him against a form that could not be seen until the air rippled, clearing to reveal Ace's mother even as her image by Coby faded away.
"Don't you worry, Ace," Nami cooed softly, the boy held against her side while her other hand spun her Perfect Clima-Tact. "It's ok. Mommy's got you."
"What?!" each and every one of Dosun's other subordinates gasped. "How the Hell did she get there?!"
"Oh, Ace?" Nami questioned, ignoring the dumbfounded fishmen. "Do you want to say it?"
"Yeah, Mommy!" Ace cheered. "Mirage Tempo!"
"Very good, Ace!"
"Aww," Coby and several of the hostages grinned, the flash of a visual snail showing that the roset had taken a picture of the cute moment. "Captain Luffy's gonna love this."
"Quit standing around, dosun!" the Hammerhead yelled, leveling his hammer at the mother and son. "Kill them, dosun!"
"Coby, you can take the small fry," Nami called, spinning her Clima-Tact over her head. A cylinder of air around her seemed to shimmer like glass, four different swords stopping in midair where the shimmer was.
"Air Wall!" Ace grinned, not consciously aware that Nami had developed said technique to keep him out of rooms with sensitive equipment. Coby took another picture, this one with the confused fishmen that had tried to attack the pair.
"Don't take us lightly!" a voice behind him shouted, the fishman's sword passing through the young man. There was no spray of blood, however, the afterimage that had been left behind by Coby's Shave vanishing in a way not dissimilar to Nami's mirage. Coby, suspended in the air above the fishman only by the force of his jump, tucked the visual snail back into his shirt pocket.
"Well, guess I'll get to work," the Zoan sighed, his body growing and morphing. With his new weight from all the extra plating he'd grown, Coby curled into a ball and crashed down, all but burying the poor pirate that had tried to attack him from behind. That enemy down for the count, Coby bounced back up to land on his feet. "Armor Mode: Cannonball."
"Woah!" Ace blinked, having never seen Coby transform before. "That's so cool, Uncle Coby!"
"It is pretty cool, isn't it, Ace?" the roset grinned as he rubbed his nose with a touch of embarrassment and pride, ignoring or altogether unaware of the other pirate that tried the cut him down from behind. Given Coby's affinity for Observation, it was most likely the former. Either way, the fishman's sword – a sad, old thing that had not been cared for properly – broke off upon contact.
"Wh-What are you?" the pirate stuttered, his eyes darting between his broken sword and the bone-plated Zoan.
"Me?" Coby grinned. "Right now, I'm your worst nightmare."
He turned, eyeing a crowd of New Fishman pirates as they amassed to charge him. Coby tilted his head, considering which action he should take next.
"Should I? …Nah. I'll save that for the bigger fight I'm sure we'll get into. Might as well put on a show for Ace. Slasher Mode." His mind made up, Coby's form shifted, settling into his lankier Slasher Mode. Ace made another noise of awe as Coby swayed to his own rhythm. "Well, what are you all waiting for? Come at me!"
And so, they came at him.
"Uncle Coby's so cool!" Ace gushed, watching the green-and-pink whirlwind that was the self-proclaimed hero. "Ne, Mommy? I wan'a Fruit!"
"You want a Fruit?" Nami echoed in that empathetic way parents do to young children. She spun, dodging a sword only to whip a bolt of lightning at the offending pirate. Nami pouted. "You don't want to go swimming with Mommy anymore?"
"No! I wanna swim with Mommy, but I wanna have a cool power like Daddy and Uncle Coby and Auntie Grace and Auntie Robin-Sensei and Choppy! And I wanna make maps and read the skies like you! And I wanna sword like Uncle Zowo! And cook like Uncle Sanji! And make cool things like Uncle Franky! And make music like Grandpa Brook! And-"
"That's a lot, sweetie," Nami commented, another Air Wall forming to stop a pirate with a hammer. His repeated pounding did nothing to affect the solidified air, but the ringing did annoy the navigator who blasted the window-like defense with a gust of wind, launching it into the pirate and the pirate into a wall with force she could not recreate with her muscles. "You're going to have to work really, really hard to do all of that."
"I know!" Ace nodded, though there was no possibility that he understood just how much work each of his idols had put into their respective fields. "But I will! I'm gonna be strong to make all of you super-duper proud!"
"Oh, Ace!" Nami gushed, his words tugging at her heartstrings.
"As if you're gonna live that long, dosun," the Hammerhead Fishman grunted, breaking into the cute, mid-battle moment between Nami and Ace. His hammer cracked the earth as he brought it down, the fissure growing toward the pair. Nami hopped away as it reached them, but she was no expert in such maneuvers compared to other, stronger fighters on the crew. "I'll smash you both into a paste, that way you'll be together forever, dosun!"
'Damn,' Nami mentally swore as she landed, her balance off due to the sudden jump and Ace's weight. 'I can't fight at my best with only one hand. I should have practiced for this!'
"Nu-uh!" Ace taunted, pulling down one eyelid with a finger and blowing a razzberry at the fishman officer. This, as expected, only served to make Dosun angrier. His rage served to blind him to the majority of the fight, causing him to miss the screeching of one of his men until said man slammed into his side. "Mommy and Uncle Coby are better than you, meanie!"
"You damn brat!" Dosun hissed, lamenting the fact that Zeo and Hody had the Energy Steroids currently. If he could have popped one, the human mother and son would have been little but smears on the pavement by now.
"Incoming!" Coby called, the battlefield shaking a moment later as the great, charred form of the Sea Leopard crashed into the ground. Smoke rolled from its open mouth as Billy alighted on its body, the Gigafowl preening nonchalantly.
"Dosun?" the Hammerhead gasped, only then taking in the sight of all his men on the ground and the bindings of the hostages cut. "Dosun?! What is this? My men, dosun!"
"Oh dear," Nami sighed dramatically, shifting her weight onto one hip, said hip now cocked out to support Ace as well. "You should have checked your forecast for today. It said there's a one-hundred percent chance of total defeat for losers who kidnap children from the Straw Hat Pirates."
"This isn't over, dosun!" the officer claimed, backing away from the crowd of former hostages that was amassing around the pirates. "You think you're so great, but Captain Hody's gonna kill you all. Just you wait, dosun!"
He turned, running the other way.
"Should we go after him?" Coby asked, shrinking back into his Human Mode. "He's not that fast and I can easily feel him with my Observation."
"Nah," the captain's wife answered. "You said yourself that the New Fishman Pirates have way more bodies than just this, and a fight that big just has to be public based on the size alone. We'll humiliate him for a second time there. Isn't that right, Ace?"
"Right, Mommy!"
"I don't think that's the sort of thing Ace should be learning," Coby offered. "I mean..." He fizzled, his words dying under the look Nami gave him.
"Come along, Ace," Nami smiled, her pace with a distinct bounce now that her child was safe. "We have some pirates who picked a fight with us. And what do we do to those kinds of people?"
"We punch 'em and beat 'em and take their money and laugh! Giihihihi!"
"That's right, Ace! Hehehe!"
"Nami, that's not-!" Coby ran after the young mother, Billy hot on his heels, as the woman continued to put questionable ideas into the head of her young and impressionable son.
"Yes, this will do," Captain Vander Decken IX muttered to himself as he stepped onto the Flying Dutchman. Most of his crew had joined the New Fishman Pirates' army for the battle they were preparing, the men wanting nothing more than a good, old-fashioned brawl, leaving Decken alone with the ship of his forefathers. He didn't care about the ship's legacy, however, nor was he concerned about being unable to pilot the ship alone. He knelt, slipping his glove off just long enough the press his palm into the deck. The ship shuttered, seeming to fight against his powers for a moment before the wood creaked and the ship gained a course.
Under the direction of its captain's Mark-Mark Fruit powers, the Flying Dutchman flew toward the Ryugu Palace, straight toward Princess Shirahoshi.
"I'm coming, my love! Just wait for me! Baaahohoho! Baaaaahohohohoho!"
End of Chapter 15
Some fights turned out a little longer than others, but some of the officers were just that weak, and since the Energy Steroids aren't in play quite yet, that's just how the dice landed. Let me know what you think!
Read and Review!
-SwordOfTheGods