Chương 199: Plans in Motion
"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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