This is it, the end of the Fishman Island Arc, and hopefully the seeds I've sown up to this point and in this chapter will sprout some interesting developments down the road. There will be more notes at the end because I have several things I want to mention, but that can wait. First, as usual, a big Thank You to my Patrons:

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Without further ado, on to the chapter!

Chapter 26:

Of Destiny and Greatness

Nico Robin smiled, Zoro noted.

That in and of itself wasn't uncommon, Robin smiled all the time, but this smile wasn't a muscle-memory instinct meant to hide one's insecurities. This smile was the kind of smile that crinkled the sides of one's eyes, making them squint, and hurt the cheekbones with that wonderful burn one learns to associate to time spent with friends. Her musical laughter danced through the air, mixed with all the other laughs from pirates and locals alike.

Zoro scowled, hiding his face behind his mug, allowing the river of alcohol to carve its regular, burning path down his throat. Maybe then the haze that drowned out some of the voices of his past could also make the nagging taunts of Hyouzou disappear, too. Robin was not his mate. Woman. Whatever. It was a stupid assumption by a stupid enemy, so why did his stupid words keep bouncing around Zoro's head?

And why did they get worse when she held Nami and Luffy's brat?

He shook the most recent round of questions away, managing to not spill his drink from years of practice, before locking such thoughts away in the deep recesses of his mind. It would bring nothing but trouble if Luffy or, Goda forbid, the Shit Chef managed to hear them with their Observation. Hell, Coby might be confident enough now to say something, and he had the strongest affinity for Observation Haki out of all of them. To save both his pride and maintain their status quo, no one could ever know the images that came unbidden to the verdet's thoughts.

Unbeknownst to Zoro, Coby would have heard his musings then and there if not for a certain distraction that held him by the shirt, making up for lost time in the corner. Amy and Sanji were purposefully not looking in that direction lest they suffer conniptions for their own reasons.

"Has anyone seen Luffy?" Usopp questioned, pulling attention at the table to himself. If one had asked, he'd say he already had their attentions after his riveting story about the time he rescued Kaya from the ravenous jaws of a mountain cat 50-feet tall, but the way their eyes turned on him after the question told a different story. "I mean, usually he'd be with Chopper doing the chopstick dance or hounding Sanji for more meat, but I haven't seen or heard him for the last ten minutes."

"You needn't muse about such," Robin responded, Ace sitting in her lap with his orange hat hanging down by a band as Luffy would do with his own. The woman held in her arms before him a children's book she had translated into Poneglyphic, the boy gushing over the pretty pictures Grace had drawn to match the story. "They are still in the vicinity, by certain definitions of the word. At the very least, they are still within the palace"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sanji blinked. "You make it sound like they're..."

Robin turned an eye on the chef, the gleam therein causing the blond's face to drain of color.

"No…"

"Oh, indeed," Robin said. "I must say, I'm nearly envious of our navigator, but I do enjoy the show."

"I always knew you were a voyeur, Robin," Amy commented.

"That lucky bastard," Sanji hissed, careful to keep his voice low enough that the child could not hear. "What does he have that I don't?"

"Do you want an actual answer?" Sanji jumped as Merry metaphorically materialized beside him, the metal flower that contained the growing soul of the Thousand Sunny in her hands. The flower glowed slightly, its light pulsing in time with the music that Brook and the orchestra played. "I can give you an actual answer."

Sanji grit his teeth, the end of his cigarette brightening as he sucked in a hard breath. "You know full well that was a rhetorical question, Merry."

"I know," the ship spirit grinned before leaning back dramatically, one hand rising to rest above her forehead. "I just can't help it. Zoro's influence is too strong. I can't resist. Must… tease… the prince!"

Sanji's visible eye dropped, the corners of his mouth turning downward. He blinked slowly.

"Really?"

"Come on, I'm curious," Merry said. "Everyone talked to me about their wants, desires, and insecurities while I was a ship. Zoro told me about his late rival Kuina" —Zoro sputtered into his drink— "Robin mentioned her mentors, Chopper talked about his adoptive father Hiriluk, Uncle Usopp talked about his mother Branchina and Kaya, Amy and Grace talked about Green Bank, Gin told me about his father, and even Coby opened up to me about the raid that killed his parents and how he ended up on the ship of the pirate Alvida, but you never mentioned your family. The closest you ever got was when you said something about missing your sister one day. I thought they were dead in that shipwreck you talked about."

"They aren't," Sanji sighed. "It would've been worldwide news if Germa sunk. It'd be better for the world if they would, though. They're deplorable."

"Except your sister?"

"That's…" Sanji closed his visible eye as he chewed on the butt of his cigarette. "It's been more than a decade since I saw any of them. She's probably just as much a monster as the rest of them now."

"5,000 Beri says we'll run inta this Germa group," Gin said, the monk leaning against the other side of the table with a large saucer of sake. "I mean, th' Donna's gotta map th' whole world, so we'll get there eventually."

"Germa isn't a static 'there'," the runaway prince responded, missing the way the rest of his nearby crewmembers leaned in. "The Vinsmokes were driven from their home in the North Blue because of their war crimes, causing Germa to become a floating, mercenary country of science and violence. I didn't buy into it and managed to run away during one of their invasions. I got on a ship, started learning how be a cook, the ship sank, and Zeff saved me. The rest in history."

"Much like my own, I fear your history will seek us out," Robin commented, turning a page to give Ace another piece of artwork to admire and more words for him to attempt to decipher. "I'm certain you recall the trouble our crew partook in when I foolishly attempted to surrender myself. I would be remiss if I did not suggest the likelihood of history remanifesting in such a permutation focused on you."

"What does that even mean?" Zoro questioned.

"See, Sunny?" Merry cooed into the flower. "Robin's the smart one and Zoro's the grumpy, dumb one."

"What was that, you two-bit fishing boat?"

"Now, Zoro," Robin chided. "Curb your anger. We needn't scare little Ace-chan nor sour relations with the kingdom because of your temper."

"Now look, Sunny," Merry whispered without actually whispering. "Zoro gets mad at something and Robin pulls him back. It happens with Mrs. Nami and Captain Luffy, too, and they're mates. That's part of the human mating ritual."

"We aren't mates!" Zoro yelled, his words garbled as Sanji cried, "Like Hell I'd let that happen!"

"Like Hell!" Ace parroted. Sanji froze, his face turning white as Zoro exploded into laughter.

"It wasn't me this time," Gin assured himself, bowing his head in prayer to whatever deity would listen that Nami knew it wasn't him. "Wasn't me… Wasn't me.."

"ǂ ɶøʛ ʑæɻʁɛɶ ʐʑæ… no, ʐʁæɻɭʎʛ ǂ ʁæχ" the boy read, going back to his book. "That right, Auntie Robin-Sensei?"

"ɭɛʐ ʉ̈æɻɭ ʛøøɶ Ace," Robin complemented, ruffling the boy's hair. He grinned in response, turning the page himself.

"Aren't you worried Garp is going to catch you teaching Ace that language?" Merry asked, her cheeks puffed out. The glowing of the metal flower in her hand shifted to the side slightly, something making Merry's cheeks color. "No, Sunny. I'm not annoyed that the 2-year-old is getting ahead of me in language lessons or that you'll be able to learn through osmosis. Shut up."

"I do not believe you need to worry yourself, Merry," Robin said. "Remember, Nami mentioned that little Ace-chan is likely to have inherited a genius-level intellect to rival Dragon 'the Revolutionary'. He is also at a stage wherein learning languages is infinitely more instinctive as his brain is not fully developed. You simply have more barriers to overcome but are still learning more quickly than I can claim."

"Well then…" Merry leaned back slightly, her chest puffing out. "When you put it like that, I suppose I'm mollified."

"Fricken' brainiacs," Zoro muttered to himself.

"Say," Sanji put in, the blond looking around the room. "Have any of you seen the princess? It looks like she's disappeared somewhere."

"The princes, too," Amy added.

"Rum's tryin' ta say they're gettin' kidnapped, but I can tell he's lyin'," Gin said.

'You can't hear what I hear, Gin-kun~'

"Oh, all of them stepped out onto the balcony," Merry answered. "Not that they can step since they all have tails. Baahaha!" Her crewmates groaned at the joke. "Anyway, I passed them on the way over. Overheard one of them talking about Shirahoshi needing some space away from the crowd. She's not use to it after being cooped up for the last decade."

"The poor, maiden princess locked in a tower all her life, hiding her beauty from the world," Sanji wept, one hand curling into a fist. "It's a tale as old as time itself. If only I'd arrived sooner, I could have become her knight in shining armor, freeing her from her prison!"

"Or you could have had a nosebleed and died," Zoro grunted. "Honestly, I think that would've been the better outcome."

"You wanna say that again, Moss Head?"

"I'll say it as many times as I want, Ero Cook!"

The two stood, slamming their foreheads into each other.

"Brothers," Gin sighed, standing. "Now ain't th' time for violence. This is a time o—"

"Stay out of this, Battery!" both men yelled. One of Gin's eyes twitched at the nickname, his hands reaching into his sleeves for his tonfa.

"I ain't a battery, morons!" The monk lunged forward, tackling the pair and initiating a three-way battle the rest of the crew expected to become a regular occurrence. Ace read his book without looking up, too engrossed in the pictures.

As the fight raged in that section of the party, a trio of figures stood on a balcony. They stared off into the dark abyss of the ocean, the dancing lights of dusk from the Light Tree Eve above shimmering in the waters.

"Beri for your thoughts, Little Sister?" Manboshi asked, breaking their tentative silence. Shirahoshi did not immediately answer, the girl's blue eyes still staring off into the distance.

"Is it my fault?" she finally questioned, unshed tears beginning to form at the corners of her eyes. Her hands gripped the railings sized for their father, her delicate fingers turning white from the strain. "Am I to blame for Big Brother's injuries?"

"Of course not, la-ti-do~" Ryuboshi answered a little too fast. "The one to blame is that deplorable Vander Decken. He's the one who caused the mess you and Brother Fukaboshi got wrapped up in. But you don't have to worry. Doctor Goldie, Namur, and Madam Finwaters will find a way to bring him back, and when they do, he'll tell you the exact same thing. It's not your fault."

"But…" A single, massive tear slid down her cheek. "My heart hurts, Big Brothers. Why? Why do I have this curse?"

"It's not a curse," Manboshi insisted, placing one hand on Shirahoshi's side. "Just like Big Brother's Dauntless Dragon, Poseidon is a tool you inherited from our ancestors."

"It doesn't feel like a tool," she sniffed. "I don't want it and I can't get rid of it. I don't…" She trailed off, her eyes turning to a spot in the distance where she could barely make out moving shadows. She leaned forward, trance-like, before pushing off the floor and swimming away.

"Shirahoshi!" her brothers yelled, the two taking to the water as well in chase. They barely kept up, unable to see their sister's face as she pushed forward toward something they could neither see nor hear. They swam in silence for several minutes, the palace becoming little more than a speck before Shirahoshi slowed to a stop.

"Sister, where are we?" Manboshi questioned. His words went without answer, shapes swirling forward from the darkness around. The brothers drew closer to their sister, falling back into stances for Merman Combat for lack of their regular weapons.

The shapes slowly coalesced from the sea, forming Sea Kings of different sizes and shapes, each overshadowing even Shirahoshi and each looking down on the trio with intelligent eyes. Though Ryuboshi and Manboshi eyed the creatures, Shirahoshi watched them with awe.

"Swim away, Shirahoshi!" Ryuboshi warned. "Manboshi and I will hold them off!"

"No," the princess told them. "They feel… peaceful."

"But Sister—"

"Your Highness, we welcome you," the largest Sea King said, all of the massive animals bowing before the princess. The princes gaped at the sight. "We have waited many years for your foretold coming."

"Foretold?" Shirahoshi parroted. Her brothers jumped at the sound of her voice, but she could not have guessed why. It sounded to her the same as it always has. "What do you mean?"

"Many years ago, near the start of your father's reign over the Island of the Sea Dwellers, a group of humans came. Two of them could hear us singing, could understand the Voice of the World, remining ourselves of what we knew would come. They went to the island and spoke to the young ruler. Do you know of what we speak?"

"Father mentioned it," the rosette realized. "Roger, he called him. Roger and another of his crewmates told Father of what they heard, so they all went to Madam Sharley, who was very young at the time. Father said she told him he would have a daughter, but he would say nothing else about what she said."

"You are destined for greatness," a frog-like Sea King with a more feminine voice offered. "The danger of a great destiny, however, lay in its possibility. Heroes perform acts of greatness, but villains create great catastrophes. As a destined child, you will have one or both of these paths, for there is no middle."

"We are yours to call and control, Lady Poseidon," another Sea King said. "Whether that is for peace or for war, through will or through force, we will follow you to the end of the world. It is up to you if that is metaphorical or literal."

"I don't want to end the world." Shirahoshi's voice cracked, her hands holding each other before her heart. "I don't even want to lead. I don't know how."

"That is what makes your heart pure," yet another Sea King responded.

"What are they saying?" Manboshi hissed to his brother.

"I've no idea," Ryuboshi hissed back. "It just sounds like noise to me."

"We have come to warn you, Lady Poseidon," a Sea King with a long beak and what appeared to be periodic and regular massive tufts of white hair said. Shirahoshi and the princes recognized it as one of those that had fallen into her thrall earlier that day. "The outcome of your eldest brother's health will set you on a path that will be difficult to change."

"Should he pass or fail to awaken," a brown Sea King with a deep voice rumbled, "there is a good chance your destiny will turn toward that of a dark queen. Calypso incarnate, bringing madness, danger, and death to all on the surface. Under your dark rule and our protection, Fishman Island will live unimpeded by any. It would be a harsh but ultimately safe age, so the World sings."

"Should your brother awaken," the frog Sea King picked up, "the future will look brighter but fraught with more danger. Enemies will lurk in every shadow, unexpunged by averted dark paranoia. The line between friend and foe will blur. The war to come may destroy your home along with that for which you care. You may not save them all and plunge toward the dark anyway."

"But how do I avoid that?" Shirahoshi demanded. Though her brothers could not understand her words, the stress and desperation in her voice still stood out. "Is there no way to save everything?"

"Not all can be saved," the last Sea King intoned. "To save the most, you must find the others who the World calls for greatness, the ones for whom their time has not yet come. Form bonds with them. Change hearts if you can. Only with a united front can the losses be shrunk." The Sea Kings started to pull away one by one, fading into the blackness of the ocean from whence they'd come.

"Wait!" Shirahoshi cried, her hands reaching for the creatures that overshadowed even her. "Wait! Please!"

Something flashed, the princess' eyes glittering that sapphire glow for a long moment. The Sea King with the beak stiffened, its eyes matching the sparkling sign of Poseidon's power. It turned back.

"Yes?"

"I don't know what to do! What… How…" Tears glittered in the corners of her eyes. "What can I do?"

Another moment passed, as if the monster considered how to answer the rosette's question. Finally, it did.

"Your best."

And then it was gone, disappearing into the obscure waters like the rest of its brethren. Shirahoshi stared off into the distance where they'd vanished.

"—ter! Sister! Little Sister!"

Something pulled on her finger, the girl looking down to see her brothers pulling on her digits while calling out to her.

"Brother Ryu…" she whispered. "Brother Man…"

"What was that about, Sister?" Manboshi demanded. "Did you just talk to them? What did they say?"

"I… I need to talk to Father." Her voice hitched, the weight of the world settling on her shoulders. The last day had radically changed her life, the scope of everything shifting from the only room she'd known for ten years to some great destiny that would affect the future of the world. "I don't know what to do."

"Come," Ryuboshi insisted. "Let's return to the palace. Vander Decken is still on the loose. It is not safe for you here."

"Blast it all!" Vander Decken hissed, punching a wall in his little hidey hole. The small cave he'd found nestled within a coral outcropping was now filled with air courtesy of his Bubble Coral, but his weakness to the water was only a minor part of his current rage. "That damn Hody couldn't do one thing right! All I asked for was a simple distraction big enough to waylay the princes, something that should have been trivial with all his men, and he goes and gets himself killed‽ Goda damn it!"

He seethed, the aching in his knuckles a reminder of his weakness. He'd done so much, sacrificed so much, and for what? Because of the day's events, his crew were lost, his ancestors' ship destroyed, and Shirahoshi was as far outside his grasp as ever. Even more so now if her family kept brainwashing her into not believing in his True Love. He had gambled everything and lost.

"Damn it! Damn it all! How am I to save my love from the clutches of her family if all my allies are so incompetent?" He paused, his eyes widening as his mind answered the question. His voice dropped to a whisper. "Of course. How could I have been so foolish? I had to rely on my crew and Hody Jones because I am weak. That is why Neptune and her brothers will not give me their blessing. They do not believe I can protect my beautiful flower from the dangers of the world."

Saying such words aloud, even where only he could hear, cemented them within his own psyche. It made sense. So much sense! That's what the battle was about, the strongest brother testing his defenses to the maximum of his ability! And Decken had been found wanting…

"I relied too much on others," Vander Decken hissed to himself. One hand leaned his weight on the wall while the other nursed one of his thighs were a splintered piece of the lost Flying Dutchman was lodged. He'd dared not remove it yet, afraid that to do so too early would cause him to bleed out. Now, however, enough time outside the water should have passed to clot most of the punctured blood vessels. He ripped off the bottom couple inches of his shirt before gritting his teeth and pulling the wood from his limb.

A muffled grunt of pain worked its way through his defenses, but purpose drove him forward. Crimson liquid rolled down his leg, the captain without crew or ship quickly stuffing a handful of sea moss from the wall into the hole before wrapping the whole thing in his makeshift bandage. The sliver itself became the centerpiece of his tourniquet, playing a role in healing the wound it had caused.

"Just watch," Decken hissed, the burning pain in his leg driving him further. "Wait for me, my sweet Shirahoshi. I'm not strong enough to protect you now, not like your brothers can. Not yet. Wait, my darling, wait, and I'll return for you one day. I'll travel this Grand Line in this great age of pirates and fight my way to the top. I will come back, strong enough to save you from your imprisonment.

"Until that time, I shall protect you from all threats I can see before they reach you. I will grow powerful enough that even the Marines will cower at my mention. I will prove to your family that I have what it takes to become your husband."

His eyes widened, the mad gleam in them dancing in a light of irrationality backed by an unyielding determination. He grinned, pointed teeth cracked, chipped, and discolored from years of poor care bared themselves in this pocket of air. Black smoke twisted into being around his hands as his glove-covered fingers dug into the tunnel wall, but the man did not notice this in the darkness around.

"I will return as the King of the Pirates, for what other man could be worthy of the hand of a princess? What other dowery would do for the most beautiful mermaid in the world than the One Piece itself? Baahohoho! Baaaaaaaahohoho!"

"How are we doing on food?" Franky called from the Deck of the Thousand Sunny. The dock below swarmed with people, pirates and commoners alike working together to get crates of gifted food and valuable knickknacks within range of the ship's ropes. Sunny worked from there, her ropes hauling most of the boxes and barrels to the deck where the heavy lifters of the crew could sort them into their proper places. Merry would have helped, but she, Robin, and Ace had gone with the king's children to the Sea Forest to see the Poneglyph there. They were due back any time now.

"Looks like we've loaded almost 300 pounds," Amy answered, doublechecking her math on a clipboard she held. "30% of it is meat, so that should hold Luffy for ten days or so, assuming Ace doesn't take after him in every regard."

"Based on my calculations," Nami put in, "the sellable stuff we have should net us at least ten-million Beris, but I intend to sell it for more than that. Also, Ace will eat a quarter of what Luffy does right now."

"We have a week's worth of food, sparingly," the chocolatier decided.

"What happened to Garp?" Kaku questioned. "I haven't seen 'im since the party last night."

"I had the cooks put as many sleeping drugs in his breakfast as they had," Nami answered. "We didn't need him doing anything. I don't know what he would have done, but I know it would have been trouble, stupid, or both."

"You know, fair point. Maybe that's for the best."

"Hey, Nami!" Grace called, pulling the navigator out of the money dream she'd been sinking into. "The minister guy and the king want to talk to you!"

"I'll leave this to you all." Nami hopped off the Sunny's railing, her Air Walls forming slanted platforms under her. She slid down, coming to stand before Neptune and his Minister. "You called?"

"We have something for you, jamon," the king nodded, his advisor offering their gift. Nami took it, finding a new Log Pose in her hand. Unlike the one she'd been using, this bracelet had three bulbs rather than one, each with their own needle pointing a separate direction. The needle in the middle wavered while the others were still.

"Thanks, but why are there three needles? And they're pointing different ways. Is this broken?"

"No, miss," the Seahorse Fishman replied. "The weather in the New World is more unstable than in the first half, but even the magnetic fields of its islands can waver or even disappear entirely. By having the Log Pose like this, you may track three separate islands, so if one vanishes, you'll still have two more options."

"That's good to know, but why is one moving?"

"Typically," the king rumbled, "the more the needle moves, the more dangerous the island, jamon. Navigators like yourself should be able to deduce where to go based on such information, jamon."

"Hey, Nami!" Luffy yelled, jumping from the ship to land beside his wife. She paled as his arms wrapped around her waist, his head resting on her shoulder where he could study the new Log Pose. "I heard the king say something about options and danger, right? Well, as captain, I think we should go to that middle island. It looks the most fun."

"You shut up!" Nami roared, rounding on the young father. She grabbed his face, stretching his cheeks. "I am the navigator, so I'll choose our course, the course I think will be safest for our child!"

"But safe is boring!" Luffy argued. "We can't take Ace's childhood fun away from him! I mean, if he wants to be strong like us, he needs to wrestle crocodiles and tigers like I did with my brothers! That was the highlight of my childhood!"

"That's exactly what he shouldn't do!"

"I'm the captain, and I say we're taking the fun-est route!"

"Leave that choice up to me since I'm the navigator! I direct the ship! I don't try to be the captain, so don't try to take my job!"

"You try to be the captain all the time!"

"Ah, young love," the king sighed, fondly remembering all the times he lost arguments to his late wife. 'Lost arguments' and not 'argued with' because the latter would imply he won even once.

"We're gonna die," Usopp and Chopper cried, resigning themselves to Luffy's dangerous game.

"We're all set to go!" Coby called, his voice loud enough to pause the married couple's squabbling. "We're just waiting for the others to come back and we'll be clear!"

"I don't want to leave!" Sanji whined, the chef dancing as his one visible eye turned into a heart. The mermaids he'd helped save from Caribou called to him from the dock, begging him to come back. The way they bounced as they waved threatened the chef's health. "I'll return one day, my mellorines! You're all I dream about!"

"So much for the All Blue," Zoro smirked behind him. The blond rounding on him.

"You shut your slanderous mouth, Moss head!"

"Oh, busting out the big words. How noble of you, Swirly Brow."

"That doesn't even make sense!"

"It will once I carve it into you!"

Gin stepped between them, his hooded eyes turning from one to the other and back. "I thought after beatin' th' crap outta you two last night, we wouldn't have ta listen ta this again 'til we hit th' surface."

"Clearly my foot gave you a concussion, because I remember knocking you senseless, Holy Man," Sanji retorted.

"You only had to hit him because you couldn't hit me," Zoro sniped.

"Clearly my lightnin' fried yer memory, ya heretics!"

"The people I look up to are children," Coby sighed, pulling a hat from a closet for the sole reason of pulling it low over his eyes. Luckily for him, the ship rocked as three entities breeched the surface of the water. The first and second were the mermaid princess and her escort Megalo the shark, each receiving a warm welcome from the citizenry. The last was a Turtle Taxi, the bubble on its back containing the pirates and princes. Sunny greeted them with a happy roar, the ropes that weren't busy forming a bridge for them to board her.

"My thanks, Sunny," Robin said, the woman carrying Ace across without fear of the woven structure's integrity. Merry, ever more showmanship-prone than the older woman, threw a rope of her own from her sleeve and swung across the sea, letting out an explorer's cry. Those who had lived through the debacle in Skypea recognized it.

"That's everyone!" Usopp called, his voice hitching. "Do we have to leave, though? You know, it's really, really, super safe right here and definitely not hurtling straight toward death."

Shirahoshi seemed to start at his words, a far-off look coming to her eyes. Luffy and Nami climbed the rope stairs Sunny made for them, the two still arguing over which way to go.

"For the last time, Luffy, no! I love you and I'll be married to you until the day you die because we both know you're going to get yourself killed first, but I want that to happen years from now, not tomorrow!"

"Why don't we let Ace pick our route, then?" the captain argued. "I don't mind random chance."

Nami all but squeaked. That was the worst thing Luffy could have said because she did not have a clear argument for it. The whole basis of her side was trying to keep Ace safe by not taking the dangerous route just because Luffy did. Their son, however, would absolutely pick the moving needle.

"Ugh," the navigator whined, ever part of her wanting to curse but unable to because of her child's listening ears. "Fine! We'll go to the dangerous one! But if anything happens to Ace, it's on your head and I will have my pounds of flesh out of your hide!"

"No you won't," Luffy laughed. "If something happens to Ace, they'll have had to go through me first, and I'll never stop until I'm King of the Pirates with you and my queen, Ace as the prince, and all of our crew as the royal quart."

"That's royal court, captain," Coby corrected.

"Oh, that makes sense. I always wondered why kings needed wet things with their thrones."

"I don't understand," Amy lamented. "He's so smart, so charismatic, but also so freaking stupid."

"You're telling me," Nami sighed. "And I'm—"

"The one married to him," the whole rest of the crew deadpanned. "We know."

"Umm… Excuse me?" The crew turned to see the tall face of the Mermaid Princess staring at them from just over the railing. Sanji, predictably, went into a frenzy but was held back through the combined efforts of Zoro, Gin, and Coby. "Mr. Straw Hat? Are you ever going to come back?"

"Sure I will." Luffy responded with a wide grin, the captain picking up his son as the boy ran over to him. "Once I'm the King of the Pirates, I'll be able to go anywhere. We've got friends on this island, so we'll be back."

The princess' shoulders relaxed at the news, but the worry in her blue eyes stayed.

"Uh… I… I need your help," the princess said, her voice almost a whisper. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes, but that was nothing new. "Last night, I learned… I learned that something bad is going to happen. Something bad for the whole world. Can… Can we be friends?"

"Sure!" Luffy stepped forward, giving the rosette a beaming smile. "If you need anything, we'll give you our den-den number so you can call us. Keep us updated on your brother, too. We didn't get to talk much, but he's a good guy."

"Then promise me." Shirahoshi reached forward with her pinky, the lone digit taller and wider than Luffy's whole body.

"Oh, a pinky pwomise!" Ace realized in his father's arms.

"You know about them?" the princess blinked. "I thought they were special to Fishman Island."

"Nah, Auntie Grace taught me when we got here! You can never break a pinky pwomise! Never ever forever!"

"That's right," Shirahoshi nodded, holding back a sniffle. "Never ever forever. Will you promise that we'll always be friends?"

"OK!" Ace leaned in, offering his pinky first. Luffy followed in his son's example, his stretchy digit wrapping around Shirahoshi's several times. Nami followed suit. One by one, every Straw Hat —Sunny included thanks to a rope— was in on this promise, even if Zoro needed to be coerced. Kaku, however, refrained, citing his non-membership.

"Luffy! Thank Goda you're still here!"

The pirates turned, Namur hunched over and breathing hard on their deck. Bandages still ran the length of his torso and his left arm hung in a sling. Other patches of bandages covered his various bruises and cuts that had not healed yet.

"Namur!" Chopper cried. "What are you doing out of bed? You need to rest if you ever want to heal!"

"I've had worse," the New Whitebeard waved off. "Goldie's gonna scold me later for coming, but I couldn't let you leave without giving you Captain Moby's gifts."

Reaching into his pants, Namur pulled out a couple pieces of paper. One contained a den-den number with the New Whitebeard flag —a recreation of the original with a whale in the backdrop— while the other had the name Moby Dick written in elegant cursive.

"That's our number," Namu continued. "We're allies now, assuming you'll have us. You were already family because of Ace. Your brother, I mean, but Captain Moby has been impatient for you to cross into the New World. The other is Captain's Vivre Card. Follow it, and you'll always find us. Join us for a party some time. I'm sure the others would love to meet your crew and son. Captain Moby specifically wants to meet Ace and Merry."

"Thanks, Namur," Luffy grinned, taking the pages. He passed the Vivre Card to Nami, trusting that she would keep it safer than he could since she already had one from that one pirate from Thriller Bark whose name he didn't remember, before handing the number to Usopp since he was the one that cared for the ship's adult den-den mushi. "Just remember; this is our journey. My brother Ace and I didn't want to rely on each other, that's why we left at different times. If we call for your help, things have gone bad. Real bad."

"How bad are we talking?" the fishman questioned. "Like War-of-the-Best-bad?"

"Robin, list words that mean bad!"

"Suboptimal," the raven-haired woman offered. "Catastrophic. Tragic. Debauched. Askew. Horrific. Disastrous. Grim. Cataclysmic. Bleak. Mal. Terrorífico. Pavorosa. χɻæʛɭʁ."

"No, the one you and Coby don't like."

"Ah. FUBAR."

"Yeah, that one!" Luffy turned back to the fishman pirate. "We can handle all those other things, but we'll call if things go FUBOT."

"FUBAR, Captain."

"Yeah, that!"

Namur barked out a laugh, every one of his sharp teeth meeting the air from the size of his smile. Nodding to the crew, he made his way back to the railing.

"I'll let you all get on your way. My mission here is done, you all have a positive relationship with Fishman Island, and Hody Jones is gone, so I'm gonna return to the Ahab Renewed when Doctor Goldie gives me the go-ahead. I look forward to meeting you all again in the New World." His piece said, Namur dropped to the docks. Shirahoshi took that as her cue as well, the proto-giant mermaid backing away from the Thousand Sunny.

"Everyone wave!" Franky advised as he pulled various levers. "We're talking off, and it's gonna be one super trip up!"

Taking his advice, the crew (and Kaku) lined themselves along the railing, waving to those they knew by name.

"Bye-bye, Merry-chan, Chopper-kun, and Sanji-kun!" a certain gaggle of mermaid called. "Come back some time!"

"Good luck, Luffy!" Namur yelled, his unbroken hand in movement. "I'll see you on the surface!"

"Thank you for all your help!" the princes shouted. "You're heroes to us!"

"Farewell, darling!" Madam Finwaters waved with a lick of her lips, the words sending a shiver down Kaku's spine. "Come visit my girls and me again some time!"

"I'm never coming back," Kaku vowed, Amy and Usopp beside him cracking up at his expense.

Within a minute, however, the Thousand Sunny had vanished into the island double-bubble's artificial port, the Straw Hat Pirates leaving the country's borders after a wild couple of days. Slowly, the fishfolk that has come to see them off dispersed back to their lives, lives that continued as they were only because of the heroes who had just left. The king and his three youngest children remained a while longer, each allowing their mind to wander to what they had learned and what the future may hold.

"Your Majesty!" a voice shouted, the king turning to see one of the runners in his employ. For him to be here must mean something of urgence had happened at the palace. "Your Majesty, have the Straw Hats left already?"

"They have, jamon," the king answered. "Why? What has happened?"

"We were going through the treasure vault as you requested and found something odd. A letter, addressed to the pirates who just left."

"Why would a letter addressed to the Straw Hats by in our vault, so-la-ti-do~?" Ryuboshi blinked.

"Who's it from?" Manboshi added.

"That's another part of the mystery, Highness," the runner answered. "We do not know and did not wish to open it."

"Manboshi, open it, jamon," Neptune commanded, for his fingers were far too big to work with paper of such a small scale. His youngest son nodded, accepting the envelope before cutting it open with the point of his sword. "Well? Who is the sender? That may answer how it came to be in our possession without our knowledge, jamon."

"It appears to be from a friend of Luffy's," Manboshi said, Ryuboshi and Namur reading over his shoulders. "This says he fought with Luffy in the war (in case you forgot, Luffy) and that he plans on meeting with the crew in the New world. Thing is, I don't recognize the name at all, and Luffy's fight was worldwide news. You were there, Namur. Do you know him?"

"Afraid not," the pirate answered. "That's weird though. I knew every pirate at the war, personally or second-hand, but I don't know that name."

"Who is it, jamon?"

"I'm not sure. Some guy named Jinbei."

End of Chapter 26

Dun Dun Duuuuun!

I think some folks picked up on that little nugget earlier, but there's a real reason he never showed up in this arc! The New Whitebeards have had a lot of impact on the situation in the New Word, and this is one of those butterflies. Where might Jinbei be now?

Next, the arc after this will cover One Piece Film Z. Interactions between Z and Coby? Absolutely! What crewmembers will be knocked back 12 years? How annoying is writing "mosa mosa~!" ten bajillion times going to be? What has become of the now-female Admiral Kizaru?

In other news, I've started a new pet project that I like too much to throw into my Unused Armory collection of plot bunnies. It's a crossover between My Hero Academia and Assassin's Creed.

See, I recently bought the Assassin's Creed Ezio Collection for Switch and I love the societal dynamics and shadow war (I just recently started ACIV: Black Flag after playing all the other games in order). AC has been a personal favorite for Crossovers, but there just aren't many. I decided to write something to see if someone would pick it up, but I like it too much to give it away, so I'll be working on that when the mood hits and I need a day or two away from One Piece. Maybe that will be my next big project after Film Gold after Wano, but we'll see where the manga is when we hit that milestone.

Anyway, I'm ranting. Let me hear what you think about everything; the chapter, the next arc, and your thoughts on if you'd read that crossover at some point. All in all:

Read and Review!

-SwordOfTheGods