章 184: Fish-Man Conspiracy
Several months later, Fish-Man Island.
"Hah hah hah… Did we lose them, Slenk?" Borke said, trying to catch his breath.
"I don't know, Borke. There are waterways everywhere here, you know how fast they are in the water." Slenk answered, his eyes darting around in search of their pursuers.
Not finding the ones that were chasing them, they carefully moved as quietly as they could further into the alleyway they had ducked into.
"Are we close?" Borke asked.
"Yeah, this is a shortcut. I've used it a few times already." Slenk said, hastening his footsteps.
*Crash!*
A hulking figure dropped down from the adjacent building's rooftop and blocked their path. Slenk and Borke turned to run, but several more figures blocked that way as well.
So they tried going up, bouncing off the walls to reach the rooftops. Only to be struck back down from yet more awaiting ambushers.
"Look at the scared little humans trying to run away. You won't slip away this time, though. We've prepared for you this time, we knew you'd come this way again. Dosun!" The hulking figure said.
He was a Hammerhead Shark Fish-Man that stood over four meters tall and had long, pink hair. In his right hand he held a massive hammer over his shoulder.
"What the hell is your problem?! You've attacked us several times now and we've never done anything to you!" Slenk complained, seeing there was no escape.
"Never done anything to us? You don't have to do anything to us. Your presence here is enough offense. Humans don't belong here. Dosun!" The hammerhead said. The other fish-men agreed loudly and wholeheartedly.
"We're not bad humans! We even stopped several mermaid kidnapping attempts!" Borke defended himself.
"We don't care about that. You're human and you've invaded our home. That's enough! Dosun!" The hammerhead insisted.
No more words were exchanged. The hammerhead and his fish-man goons charged at Slenk and Borke who drew their swords.
Slenk and Borke had made sure not to seriously harm any of the fish-men who previously attacked them. It would have been a bad look and they had the strength to avoid it. Now, however, they didn't see how they would get out of this without bloodshed, and so they fought.
The fight was short, but that didn't make it any less violent. Rather, it was all the more bloody because of it.
The half dozen fish-men on the ground were swiftly cut down, with the exception of the hammerhead fish-man.
They hadn't anticipated this level of ferocity from these two humans, as they hadn't taken any casualties from their previous encounters. A fatal mistake resulting from their arrogant misunderstanding of their mercy.
In fact, if not for the presence of the hammerhead fish-man, Dosun, then they wouldn't have stood a chance.
*WHISTLE*
The sounds of the battle had attracted the attention of some nearby royal guards. Though they weren't on duty at the moment, they didn't hesitate to involve themselves in the disturbance of the peace.
"Damn it! Dosun!" Dosun signaled his gunmen on the rooftops to scatter and made to leave himself.
The two humans may have been losing, but he couldn't finish them off before the guards arrived.
Slenk and Borke were in rough shape, but not in danger of dying. They did not have the energy left over to flee after facing Dosun, especially not with Slenk's broken leg that was hit by Dosun's hammer.
The royal guards appeared in the alleyway only a moment after Dosun turned a nearby corner in his escape.
Seeing the dead and soon to be dead fish-man in pools of their own blood next to two human swordsmen, they assumed the worst. Luckily for Slenk and Borke, they were perfectly willing to take them into custody instead of finishing them off right there and then.
"You're both under arrest on suspicion of murder! Do not resist!" One of the royal guards exclaimed, a glint of hate in his eye.
Slenk and Borke tossed their swords away. Even if they had the strength to fight them, they wouldn't harm the innocent to save their own necks.
Slenk and Borke had their hands tied with ropes and they were led out of the alleyway, Slenk hopping on one leg, with tridents pointed at their backs.
Once out into the streets, a number of fish-men and merpeople watched them and whispered amongst themselves.
Slenk and Borke had built a bit of a reputation for themselves in the Ryugu Kingdom for their acts of stopping a few incidents of mermaid trafficking. Most pirates didn't dare to pull such a stunt in Whitebeard's protected territory, but they've become more common in the last two years.
The people who recognised the two of them were thus quite confused to see these local heroes of theirs getting hauled away by the royal guards, and severely beaten no less.
Unfortunately, Dosun's goons from the rooftops had already started to spread rumors about how the two supposed heroes had slaughtered a half dozen defenseless fish-men in cold blood.
This event would prove to be a huge headache for the Ryugu kingdom's King Neptune.
…
Outside of fish-man island, in the Fish-Man District slums.
"I'm happy to have found an ally here who shares our goals. The delivery of the goods will arrive in a few weeks time which will ensure that even if your own plan fails, we'll be the victors in the end." An electric eel fish-man in black uniform spoke.
"Jahahaha! I'm happy too! Soon the bottom of the ocean will be inhospitable to those damned humans, as it should be! Let's drink to our new partnership! Jahahahaha!" The great white shark fish-man laughed.
A cookie-cutter shark fish-man nearby nursed his two black eyes that he had received by the electric eel fish-man. He was annoyed that he wasn't allowed to attack him again in revenge, but if his boss said not to there was nothing he could do about it.
Dosun entered the bar soon after with what remained of his goons.
"Dosun! You're back, tell me how you dealt with those two humans!" The great white shark fish-man said in a jolly mood, standing up to greet him.
"Um, well, that's the thing, Hody… they were stronger than we thought they were. We lost six men before the royal guard intervened, but my guys have spread some rumors to make everyone believe they were at fault. Dosun…" Dosun said.
"Oh, I see!" Hody said understandingly.
*BOOM*
Dosun felt a crushing pressure on his chest and before he understood what happened, he was floating outside the bar with what's left of the wall Hody punched him through.
"Don't come back until they're dead. Nobody is allowed to help him, you get me?" Hody spoke darkly.
"Yes, Boss!" The fish-men answered without hesitation, lest they be the next poor fool to suffer his wrath.
The electric eel fish-man wasn't part of their group, so he paid no mind to it at all. So long as his goals here were not threatened, then he wouldn't interfere in Hody's affairs.
…
The time for the Straw Hat pirates to gather was soon to arrive.
Cherry and Robin decided it would be best to pick up Zoro on the way as he had a tendency to get lost.
There was no telling where the fool would wander off to without a chaperone. Maybe he'd stumble upon the final island and find the One Piece by pure accident, and not even realize where he was before wandering off again.
Cherry wasn't really looking forward to meeting Hawkeye again, that deadbeat. Unfortunately, Robin used one of her favors to make her do a father-daughter activity with him for her own sick and twisted amusement.
"I wonder how much stronger Zoro is now. Would Hawkeye teach him seriously knowing that Zoro is after his head?" Robin wondered aloud.
"That guy only thinks about swords all day, every day. So of course he would." Perona added her two cents.
"We'll find out soon enough." Cherry said non-committedly.
章 185: Sword Hermit
Cabernet landed near the seemingly abandoned castle that Hawkeye lived in, allowing the ladies to disembark before taking her Lunarian form.
Cherry led the way through the castle and entered the dining room where Hawkeye was eating his evening meal at the head of the dining table. In front of him he had an extravagant meal with a multitude of delicious dishes.
At the other end of the table sat an unfamiliar man. His long hair was disheveled and extended past his shoulders, and his beard was much the same. His clothes contrasted with Hawkeye's fancy clothes in their raggedness. In front of him was a small bowl of broth, though it had so little substance to it that you might as well call it a bowl of water. Despite the clear difference in the quality of their meals, the man consumed the broth one small spoonful at a time without complaint.
Robin was about to ask where Zoro was, as she was eager to see him again after so long, but she stopped when she saw the swords on the beggar's waist. Looking at the green colored hair of the beggar, she was shocked to realize that the disheveled man was Zoro himself.
Cherry burst out laughing at the sorry sight of him. She knew why he looked like this. It seemed that his desire for power had finally surpassed his reservations about the words she had passed onto him back at Alabasta.
It was only a matter of time. After all, what swordsman could ignore the mad ramblings of the strongest and most eccentric sword immortal in the Myriad Realms, the infamous Sword Hermit?
Zoro brought another spoonful of broth to his mouth. His hand was perfectly steady, even as his arm trembled with barely contained frustration as he tried to ignore her laughter.
"Hehehe! What's up with the new look, Zoro? You've got all those swords but no shaving razor?" Cherry mocked.
Zoro clenched his teeth so hard he directly bit the head off the spoon and started chewing it up.
Hawkeye was watching quietly with curiosity. Zoro had been acting very strangely for these two years, dedicating his whole self to the way of the sword. It was admirable, but also a bit unnerving how a man could deny himself the slightest pleasure or comfort for so long. Now seeing how angry he was getting and the knowing look that Cherry was giving him, he thought that she must have something to do with it all.
Cabernet shifted into her figurehead form and opened her chest up like a cupboard. Cherry reached in and pulled out a large bottle of very expensive sake.
"Look, Zoro! I brought you some sake, your favorite!" Cherry teased.
She uncorked the bottle and wafted the scent in Zoro's direction.
"Smells good, doesn't it?" Cherry said and poured out a few cups.
Cherry pushed one of the cups over to Zoro and loudly slurped the sake from her own.
"Mm mm mm! Delicious! What's wrong, Zoro? You don't want any?" Cherry was enjoying every second of his internal struggle which looked to be quickly becoming an outer struggle.
Even with his eye practically burning with desire at the cup, Zoro didn't make any movements to take it.
Cherry was impressed with how this drunkard could resist fine alcohol after not having any at all for some time. She decided to show some mercy and give him a bit of advice. She placed the bottle in front of him and leaned in to whisper in his ear.
"You know, Zoro, I only passed those words onto you to serve as inspiration. If you want to reach your true potential, you can't follow another man's path to the top," Cherry said, patting his shoulder. "I'm sure you've gleaned enough from those words and from Hawkeye's tutelage. It's time to blaze your own trail, hm?"
Zoro snatched up the bottle and chugged it down in seconds, a remarkable feat given that it wouldn't empty that fast even if you poured it out.
"AHHHH…" Zoro let out a long and satisfied sigh.
"So did that deadbeat cut your eye or were you just being stupid?" Cherry asked, peering at the scar over his left eye. "Should I beat him up for you?"
Hawkeye almost choked on a bite of steak, but just barely managed to retain his dignity in front of his daughter.
"None of your business," Zoro said. "I don't need you fighting my battles for me, either. What did you come here for?"
"Cherry thought that Mr. Swordsman would get lost on the way to Sabaody Archipelago, so we came to pick you up," Robin said.
"Hmph. I wouldn't have gotten lost." Zoro finished off the bowl of broth in one gulp and stood up. "But… thanks I guess."
They shared a warm and quiet moment, savoring this moment of reunion.
Robin gave Cherry a nudge and glanced at Hawkeye, as if to say 'Get on with it, then.'
Cherry heaved a sigh and marched herself over to Hawkeye who tensed up slightly at her approach, much to Robin's amusement.
"Do you want to… do a father daughter activity together?" Cherry spoke as if she was forced to give an apology she didn't mean at all.
"... I admit I have no idea what that would entail…" Hawkeye said, caught slightly off guard at the proposition.
"Well, neither do I so we can just forget-" Cherry began, attempting to capitalize on the opportunity to escape.
"We could go on a walk together, perhaps? Have a chat?" Hawkeye interrupted her.
"... Alright." Cherry grumbled.
Hawkeye wiped his mouth with a napkin and stood up. He thought for a moment, then extended his arm to Cherry like he was a gentleman.
Cherry could feel Robin's gaze burning into the back of her head, so she took the arm and let Hawkeye guide her out of the room for their father daughter bonding time.
Perona found Cherry's awkwardness to be amusing, but only Robin knew just how bad it was. Cherry was in reality several hundred years older than Hawkeye after all and she barely knew the man. She didn't really see Grandma Angela as a parental figure either, but at the least they had a familial bond of sorts.
"Ah! He's alive?!" Perona shouted, whilst reading a newspaper she picked up from the table.
"Who?" Cabernet asked, glancing over her shoulder.
"Moria-sama!" Perona exclaimed, her voice choking up as she cried tears of joy.
Robin looked at the newspaper as well, reading the headline.
[ Gecko Moria's undead legions attack the Neo Marine fleet! ]
[ The former Shichibukai, Gecko Moria, launched an attack on a branch of the Neo Marine fleet with his undead minions in the New World only days ago. He appeared to have freed one of his known crewmates, Absolom, from their custody and made a hasty retreat. For readers who are unaware, the Neo Marines are a new group in the New World that exists outside of World Government oversight. They make use of methods to deal with pirates that are frowned upon as too extreme for the World Government's marines. Continued on page 7. ]
Perona looked extremely conflicted at this moment.
Her first instinct was to run off in search of Moria, as he was her captain and even a surrogate father figure to her.
Sure, Moria was a terrible person, but he was kind to her and that was all that really mattered to her as she wasn't a great person herself.
What made her hesitate was Cabernet.
Perhaps it was just infatuation in the beginning, a fleeting attraction to a different kind of cuteness that she wanted to explore. However, it was more than that now, it meant something.
Perona looked into Cabernet's eyes and held her gaze for several silent moments.
Cabernet's face formed into a smile that was beautiful and just a little sad, like a sunset.
Perona made her decision.
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