"Oh, if it isn't Harpin D. Cherry! Long time no see!" A starfish wearing a rastacap said to Cherry as he walked over on his little legs.
"Who are you?" Cherry asked, turning her attention away from the distant Ryugu palace.
"It's me! Pappag! How can you not remember me?!" Pappag felt aggrieved.
"I think I'd remember a talking starfish." Cherry spoke bluntly.
"You'd think so, wouldn't you?!" Pappag said, getting a little angry. "I was with Caimie and Hachi when you went to Sabaody Archipelago two years ago!"
"I know. I'm just blowing off some steam by grating your nerves." Cherry admitted.
"Well, I'd appreciate it if you didn't do that. I have more nerves than the average starfish, you know?" Pappag harrumphed.
"So why are you here? I thought you were Camie's pet?" Cherry asked.
"I am, but I'm also a super successful fashion designer as you know! Naturally I live in my own mansion and act independently as I please." Pappag bragged.
"Oh, I thought that was a joke…" Cherry said, stabbing Pappag with a metaphorical spear through his body.
"Come with me! I'll have you acknowledge my superior fashion skills!" Pappag demanded.
Cherry's first instinct was to refuse, but she relented in the end. She didn't have the means to gain an audience with the king, and barging into the palace would get the others into trouble as well. She wasn't a thoughtless fool like Luffy. Besides, if Pappag was truly as important as his massive ego implies, then perhaps he would be able to get her that audience, or at least know someone who can.
"Fine then, lead the way." Cherry said.
"Yeah, that's the spirit! It's not everyday that a famous fashion designer offers a personal makeover to you after all!" Pappag exclaimed, leading the way somewhere.
Cherry suddenly had to suppress her fight or flight instincts.
'This isn't what I signed up for!' Cherry shouted in her mind, even as her legs mechanically dragged her forward.
Pappag hailed some sort of fish taxi service which they both boarded.
"Not to brag, but I'm also acquainted with Princess Shirahoshi, you know. I'm in all the important social circles~" Pappag chattered away.
"That's Whitebeard's flag over there, isn't it?" Cherry asked.
"That it is! As far as pirates go, Whitebeard has claim on fishman island as his territory. That was enough to keep the pirates who visit in line, at least up until two years ago. After the war at Marineford, a bunch of idiots actually dared to cause trouble here. As I've heard it, every crew that did that and went to the New World got annihilated without mercy. Things got a lot quieter after the rumors started to make the rounds." Pappag explained.
Cherry wondered how the old man was doing. He ought to be better than he was before they met at least. Cherry reckoned he could have gotten as much as ten more years of life from her vital energy boost.
Soon enough they arrived at their destination in front of a clothing store. Pappag led the way inside and greeted the employees before leading Cherry to a particular section.
"See anything you like?" Pappag grinned smugly.
Cherry gulped.
"I was inspired by your appearance last we met to make this fashion line. It's a bit niche, but for the people who like this sort of thing, they've never been disappointed." Pappag praised his own work.
Before her eyes were various martial arts inspired outfits. Some were dark and cool like a ninja, others were colorful and gave off the feeling of natural elements, and all of them were-
"Cute~" Cherry exclaimed and rushed over.
For the first time in both of her lives, Cherry felt like a normal girl out shopping for clothes.
After a while of trying on different outfits with Pappag's advice for what worked best for her, they heard an argument start to get heated with the manager of the store.
Peeking over the clothing racks, they spotted Nami 'haggling' with the poor fishman.
"There's no way I can sell these to you for only a quarter of the listed price, miss!" He said exasperatedly.
"6,000 Beri, final offer!" Nami said shamelessly.
"That's still less than a third, miss!" He tried to reason with her.
"Alright you got me. Exactly one third, then!" Nami nodded as if the deal was already struck.
"I can't do th- OH, Monsieur Pappag, please help me with this witch- ahem, customer!" The fishman said.
"Pappag! We're friends, right~? Help me out with this stubborn man~!" Nami said, trying to look cute.
"He's just a starfish, not a starfish-man, Nami. You can't seduce him." Cherry said.
"That's right!" Pappag rubbed his face where his nose would be if he had one.
"Goodness, Cherry! You look so cute and stylish now~! Since you're already buying some new clothes, why don't you pay for mine too~!" Nami switched targets instantly, accentuating her chest.
"I won't fall to your foul temptations, you seductress!" Cherry hissed, whilst pulling out her wallet at the same time.
"Don't worry about it, ladies!" Pappag interrupted. "I owe you one for saving Camie two years ago anyways, you can just take what you want for free."
Nami seemingly vanished from the place she was just standing.
"You went and did it now, Pappag. I pity you." Cherry said, putting her wallet away.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Pappag looked at her with confusion.
"All done~!" Nami said, drawing their attention.
Looking around, the entire store was cleaned out and stuffed into several giant sacks. Not even the clothes hangers were spared from her looting spree.
"Cherry, be a dear and help me with the bags~?" Nami asked innocently.
"Monsieur Pappag, the store is empty." The fishman manager stated.
"Ah, well, just restock the shelves with what you can from the back." Pappag said, deciding to just let the greedy woman have her victory this time.
"Monsieur Pappag, the customer cleaned out the back as well." The fishman manager said.
If starfish had any blood, Pappag would have spat some just then.
Cherry picked up three bags whilst Nami had the single smallest one. Cherry had one on her back and one in each arm, causing her to be surrounded on all sides by bags.
Fortunately Nami was there to guide her, which combined with Life Sense to avoid running into anyone for an easy enough method to navigate.
"Do you know where the ship is, Cherry? Otherwise we'll have to drop these off at Camie's house temporarily." Nami asked.
"The Sunny was swept away by a current, but Franky has been hanging around somewhere for a while. Maybe he found it." Cherry suggested.
"It's a good place to start. Can you carry this bag too? My poor arms are getting tired~" Nami said.
"If this much is making you tired, then I think it's time I start your training regimen~" Cherry answered.
"Ah, I think I'll be fine after all!" Nami said, suddenly seeming full of vigor.
"That's what I thought." Cherry said.
"Garcelo! How good to see you again!" Hody Jones greeted the electric eel fishman whom he had teamed up with in his endeavor.
"How long before you can enact your plan? I've waited too long for this already." Garcelo responded in an annoyed tone.
Hody didn't outwardly show his anger at the lack of respect he was used to. "We'll be able to do it today. I've finally gotten a hold of and arranged a meeting with Vander Decken. His own goals line up with ours nicely, he'll agree to assist."
"And if he doesn't?" Garcelo asked.
"There's always plan B…" Hody said.
"Plan B is expensive. I'd rather return to the Neo Marines having exceeded expectations, not just having met them." Garcelo countered.
'You won't be returning to anyone.' Hody thought to himself, then said "Don't worry, it'll all work out."
"Boss, Vander Decken is here!" One Of Hody's goons called out.
"Speak of the devil…" Hody spoke.
…
The unconscious members of the Straw Hats had woken up in Camie's house where she explained that their other friends were safe and had wandered off to do their own things.
Hearing that, they decided to tag along with Camie so she could show them around a bit and deliver some fresh clams to Pappag, his favorite food.
Once they reached the surface they were greeted by a number of beautiful mermaids, which caused Sanji to go wild and frolic through the shallow water with them.
Merry and Chopper were very popular with the mermaids as well, most of whom had never seen a land animal with fur before.
"You're just so fluffy and pretty, Merry! I can't get enough of this, what was it called, wool? And the color is so shiny, is it made of real gold?" A mermaid named Kairen said, whilst hugging and petting Merry.
"Baaah~" Merry answered.
"You're not just adorable, but you're a doctor as well? So impressive~!" A mermaid called Adele pinched Chopper's cheeks.
"Quit trying to butter me up, you stupid bastard~!" Chopper spoke harshly, but his body language indicated his delight at the praise.
Cabernet watched the doting of the mermaids to her two furry friends with longing. She missed how Perona would dote on her like that already.
"""""Camie!""""" The tiny quintuplet mermaids called out.
They quickly explained that a royal gondola was headed their way, which was quite rare in these parts. Naturally, the Straw Hats being wanted pirates and illegal immigrants, they hid behind the rocks so as to not be spotted.
Surprising the mermaids, the three princes of the kingdom were actually aboard the gondola and not just just the royal guards.
"Excuse me ladies. Did any of you happen to see any illegal immigrants? Or perhaps a scary human swordsman with sharp eyes?" Asked the eldest prince, Fukaboshi.
His eyes scanned the group and stopped on a woman who was clearly not a mermaid or fishwoman. She didn't seem human either though, as she had large black wings on her back and a flame burning on her shoulders.
Most striking were her eyes, however. They looked much the same as the illusory eyes that appeared before him in the palace created by Haki pressure. Only, this woman's eyes only seemed to hold curiosity and not the cold hostility from the illusion.
"Aren't you…?" Fukaboshi brought out a bundle of wanted posters. Flipping through them he found one "Blood Wine" Cabernet wanted for 275 million Beri.
"Damn it, we've been exposed!" Usopp whisper-shouted, giving up his futile effort to drag cabernet in his hiding space before she was seen.
"It's terrible!!!" An alarmed shout from a mermaid as she swam over in a hurry.
The princes shifted their focus away from Cabernet, their noble characters unable to ignore a shout for help.
"What's wrong?! Re-Mi-Fa-So!" Ryuboshi called out to her.
"My princes! I was spreading the word to look out for an ugly human inside a barrel, when I happened upon that greasy creep dragging two mermaids into his nasty, sludge-like body!" She exclaimed, out of breath.
"""What?!""" The three princes were enraged. Certainly mermaid kidnapping wasn't terribly rare, but it was hardly common on Fishman island.
The Straw Hats had been in the process of sneaking away when they heard those words as well. Sanji in particular was so angry that the flames on his back were even bigger and hotter than Cabernet's.
"Where is he?! I'll kill that bastard!" Sanji shouted in his rage.
"I guess it's a little bit our fault he's running amok here. We should probably go catch him before he can do any more damage." Usopp whispered to the others, unheard by the mermaids or the princes and their guards.
"Ah, there are more of you here. If you are so eager to assist, we would be grateful. This man sounds like a devil fruit user as well, he may be tricky to deal with." Prince Fukaboshi turned toward Sanji and the others standing behind him.
Nearby, some New Fishman Pirates were cursing their luck. They had planned to attack the Straw Hats for their previous offenses against them, but now they were teaming up with Neptune's army.
"Why are we waiting? I can cut them up right now. *hic*" The blue-ringed octopus merman, Hyouzou said.
"P-please don't do that, Hyouzou! Neptune's army and the princes are with them!" Hammond, a conger fishman, spoke hurriedly but respectfully.
"You sayin' I can't beat 'em? *hic*" Hyouzou slurred menacingly.
"No, o-of course not, Hyuozou! But if we attack now we might mess up Hody's plans!" Hammond whispered to him desperately.
The mention of Hody seemed to sober up Hyouzou a bit. He'd never admit it, but he was a little bit afraid of Hody. He didn't even fear Arlong back in the day, in fact Arlong was afraid of him!
"*hic* Whatever, Hody isn't gonna be happy about this though." Hyouzou said, taking a swig of rum.
By now the Straw Hats had boarded the royal gondola and were headed to the last known location of Caribou.
"We were actually looking for you specifically, Straw Hat Luffy." Prince Fukaboshi said.
"Really?" Luffy asked, swinging his legs from the edge of the gondola.
"Jinbe left a message with us to deliver to you when you arrived, two in fact." Fukaboshi said. Seeing that Luffy was listening he continued. "First is that he would wait for you at the Sea Forest. The second is that you should not fight Hody Jones."
"Oh, Jinbe huh?! I was looking forward to seeing him again! But… Hotty James? I don't even know who that is…." Luffy tilted his head in confused thought.
"Hody Jones is the captain of the so-called New Fishman Pirates. He's a bit of a menace, seeing that his men attack many of the ships coming through fishman island, which hurts the businesses here somewhat. Akkamanbo!" Prince Manboshi explained.
"Hmmmm, I see… I have a question." Luffy said.
"Go ahead, we'll do our best to answer any questions that you may have. Do-Re-Mi-Fa!" Prince Ryuboshi said.
"Do mermen poop?" Luffy asked shamelessly.
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