Chapter 247: Philistines
Jinbe felt remarkably comfortable on the Straw Hat crew. He had been worried there would be some tension between the earlier members and himself, especially after learning how his actions had indirectly and quite negatively impacted Nami's life.
Contrary to his worries, he had been accepted quite easily. Even Nami was warming up to him slowly, no doubt thanks to his immediate taking of responsibility for his mistakes in the past. He still felt guilty about Arlong's reign of terror in East Blue.
Jinbe was a tad surprised how eventful his short time with the crew has been. He joined up less than a week ago and they were already in an alliance with a Shichibukai against another Shichibukai and later one of the four emperors. Luffy certainly didn't do things by half measures.
"Jinbe-dono, what is that beneath the water? Some manner of sea beast?" The boy sitting on Jinbe's broad shoulder asked.
Momonosuke had taken a liking to the whale shark fishman. His familiar clothing, calm demeanor, and imposing stature seemed to set the boy's heart at ease. As for what had set his nerves on edge to begin with, neither the boy or his father had deigned to tell anyone. It did strike Jinbe as odd that the boy felt could relax more easily in his presence than in his own father's, though.
Jinbe turned his gaze towards where the boy was pointing in the water next to the ship. His eyes widened in surprise and he hurriedly set Momonosuke back on the deck.
"Submarine to starboard!" Jinbe called out, drawing the attention of Nami, Brook, Chopper, and Merry.
Nami was quick to move, her newly improved Clima-Tact spinning in her hands. A massive pitch black cloud formed over the ocean to their starboard side, grumbling like an angry god.
When the submarines breached the surface, Doflamingo's jolly roger was clearly seen painted on the side. This was more than enough reason for Nami to attack, but she waited to make absolutely sure they were dealing with an enemy.
The door on the tiny deck of the submarine burst open and a flamboyant woman stepped out onto it.
"Board them! Capture them! For the young master!" She cried out orders for her crew.
The woman, Giolla, didn't know that speaking such words would seal her fate.
*KRAKRAKRAKRAKRAKRAKOOM!
Sky splitting bolts of lightning fell like rain upon the submarine. Giolla and her crew were fairly insulated from the electricity standing on the wooden deck, but they still caught some of it themselves. The surging waves of electricity instantly fried the electronics in the submarine in a catastrophic failure and began to sink.
Those aboard the Thousand Sunny recovered from the shocking sight and cheered.
"Nami, you're so strong now!" Chopper praised.
"That really got my blood pumping! Or it would have, if I had any! Yohohohoho!" Brook exclaimed.
"Ah, y-yeah. I mean, yes of course, I meant to do that!" Nami declared, making a mental note to be a little more precise instead of just going all out in the future.
Unbeknownst to them, before the water reached her, Giolla miraculously recovered enough to leap over to the Thousand Sunny. She was enraged, how dare these philistines treat her this way! She would show them what real art looked like!
Giolla formed a swelling cloud of swirling colors over her head, imagining more perfect and beautiful forms for the impudent fools before her. "Ohohohoho! I have seen your better selves! Be thankful to me for bestowing upon you my tasteful vision! Then I shall follow the young master's orders and kidnap this Momonosuke-!"
*WHACK*
Giolla slumped to the ground unconscious. Jinbe stood behind her wondering if this was really all she had. "Nami's lightning must have softened her up quite a bit, she does look a bit singed."
"My my, Jinbe. Just because she was old and ugly doesn't mean you should be so rough on a lady." Brook said.
Nami slapped Brook on the back of the head. "You don't have any place to talk Mr. Dusty Bones!"
A single tear dripped from Brook's empty eye socket and he sniffled nonexistent snot.
"I do not regret being 'too rough' on a woman trying to harm a child." Jinbe spoke plainly. "Besides, she was using an unknown devil fruit ability, and in my experience it's best to put them down before they can show off what they can do."
"Mm! Luffy-dono has chosen his vassals well! Both strong and wise!" Momonosuke nodded sternly.
"Maybe the Doflamingo pirates are that strong after all? Fights have to be easy sometimes right?" Nami guessed hopefully.
At that moment a rock as big as a warship fell from the sky in a great streak of flame followed by a resounding boom as it landed on the other side of Dressrosa, right about where Green Bit should be.
"Perhaps we should go back up Law-san?" Jinbe suggested solemnly.
"Hey, Nami. What kind of cloud is that?" Chopper pointed at the horizon on the ocean.
Nami didn't know what it was, but it most certainly wasn't a natural cloud. It looked more like a pillar of steam that sometimes occurred with underwater volcanic activity, only it was much too thin for that. Nami climbed up to the crow's nest to get a better look. When she squinted her eyes, she saw a dark shape crest over the horizon that looked an awful lot like a metal ship. There was an unusual amount of heat coming off of it as well.
"Jinbe, bring us to Green Bit. I don't know what that thing is, but I don't want to stick around to find out." Nami called out.
"Mm." Jinbe concurred, Nami's instincts on open water were strong and he would trust them more than his own even if he didn't have a bad feeling as well.
…
A massive pit was all that remained of the beach where Admiral Fujitora's meteor strike hit. Three pillars of dirt and sand stood tall with it and the three individuals standing on them were untouched.
Law had had barely enough time to protect himself from the meteor and frantically searched for Cabernet, but she was nowhere to be found. Cabernet was perhaps his most important card in this situation and he had lost her!
"What the hell is your problem?! The new fleet admiral didn't teach you any manners?!" Doflamingo raged at Fujitora.
Law frantically dialed his den den mushi to contact Nami on the Thousand Sunny for an emergency evacuation. When he saw Fujitora starting to make another move he wondered if he'd even last long enough for them to reach him.
*BOOM* *CRUMBLE*
Fujitora lost his focus and his footing at once when his pillars cracked and collapsed beneath his feet. He drew his blade and blocked a flaming uppercut from a silver haired, black winged woman. Suddenly Cabernet shot back down into the pit much faster than she would naturally be able to fall, all without Fujitora making a noticeable move against her.
The rocks beneath Fujitora's feet rose back up and held him aloft. "You are strong, but much too sloppy, too predictable. Even all that strength can't resist the force of the planet itself, though."
*flap Flap FLAP*
It turns out that Cabernet COULD resist the force of the world itself, albeit somewhat slowly, as she flapped her wings with great effort.
"Uh oh." Fujitora said, pushing his rock platform away horizontally as Cabernet came barreling past his previous position uncontrollably.
Law took notice of the fact that Cabernet sped up when Fujitora dodged. Perhaps Fujitora's devil fruit ability required constant focus? That was a weakness he could exploit.
Law expanded his room and vanished into the tree line just in time for Doflamingo's strings to rip apart his own pillar of sand.
Up above, the light of a second sun was growing larger. Fujitora was bringing down another meteor strike. Law wondered if he would even be able to exploit an opening in this scenario, as it seemed rather unlikely he'd have the leeway.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone