Chapter 116: Flying Fish!

Chapter 120:

Fish can Fly!

"Mermaids," Sanji sighed dreamily, blood trickling from his nose. "Mermaids~!"

"Oh no, I'm so sorry!" the mermaid above him apologized. "You're not hurt are you? Please say something!" As their unintended guest tried to get more than one word out of the cook, Billy the gigafowl waddled over and gently sniffed her, though she didn't seem to notice.

"So, uh," Coby tried. "Mermaids look exactly like the myths say...?"

"We've never met a mermaid before," Gin muttered with some reverence.

"Sure you have," Franky countered with a wave. "Didn't you know Granny Kokoro is a mermaid?"

"Objection!" several of the male crewmembers replied, some of them turning to start taking the rabbit Sea King apart and avoid the mental image of the old woman in stereotypical mermaid clothing.

"Hi!" Merry greeted, skipping up to the merfolk on top of the chef. "I'm Merry! What's your name?" Surprised, the mermaid turned to the Klabautermann, the pirates behind her coming into view.

"There's a lot of humans!" the mermaid screamed, surprised.

"More or less," Merry answered nonchalantly, giving a small wave. "Not everyone's a human. Chopper's a reindeer, Big Bro Franky is a cyborg, Brook's a skeleton, Billy here is a lightning duck, and I'm a Wood Fairy. Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm Camie," the mermaid responded, shaking Merry's outstretched hand. "Where am I?"

"You're on the Thousand Sunny, the ship of the Straw Hat Pirates," Nami said, stepping over. "We killed the Sea King that ate you."

"Ah! Pirates!"

"Yohoho!" Brook laughed, stepping forward to bend down in front of the mermaid. "If it's not too much trouble, Miss Camie, would you be so kind as to show me your panties?"

"Mermaids don't wear panties, you moron!" Merry shouted, headbutting the skeleton in the chin, causing his skull to pop off. Camie screamed, prompting Sanji to calm her down while yelling at Brook. Merry continued, "If you're going to ask someone, at least do it right!"

"That reminds me," Luffy spoke. "Sanji, lunch!"

"What about that made you think of lunch?" Usopp demanded, smacking the back of the captain's head.

"Shut up, Shitty Rubber!" the cook shouted. "Can't you see I'm living a man's romance!" His eyes turned into hearts. "Oh sweet Camie, I never want to move, but if you wish, I would happily carry you anywhere!"

"I don't see the big deal about mermaids," Luffy pouted, crossing his arms, miffed at being denied instant food. "Yeah, they're cool, but Nami's prettier and she doesn't need carried around."

"You're sweet, Luffy," Nami smiled, patting his cheek before turning a stink eye on the chef. Luffy blinked, picking up on his wife's mood shift.

"Should I kick his ass for you?" he asked.

Meanwhile, Grace had taken an interest in the starfish that had landed only a couple steps away, poking it with a dry brush.

"Hey, stop that," the starfish complained. "That tickles."

"I've never met a starfish that could talk."

"So?"

"What do you have over here, sis?" Amy asked, bending over beside her sister. "I don't think most starfish have faces."

"Excuse you," said creature sniffed indignantly. "I'm Paupagu, the premier fashion designer for Crimin brand clothing!"

"Ah think tha Donna has sev'ral shirts o' that brand," Gin thought aloud, cutting through the Sea King with a dagger.

"Yeah," the blonde agreed. "I do too. It's good stuff. Really comfortable, if a bit pricey."

"Why thank you!" Paupagu smiled, puffing up. "I take great pride in my work. Now," turning around, the starfish walked over to the green-haired mermaid and tugged at her arm. "Camie, we need to get going. We were supposed to be back at Takoyaki 8 yesterday."

"Ah! You're right! Oh, we need to call Hachin to tell him we're ok!"

"Would you like to borrow our transponder snail?" Robin offered.

"I've got one," Camie waved off, pulling a white den-den from her backpack and dialing in a number. The snail rung for a few seconds as Camie hopped off Sanji (much to his disappointment) and over to the mast's bench. The call connected with a soft CLICK. "Hey, Hachin! It's me, Camie! Paupagu and I are ok. We got eaten by a Sea King again, but we're fine. Where should we meet you?" There was silence on the other end. "Uh, Hachin?"

"This ain't Hachi, sweetheart," a masculine voice growled from the other end. "You're talkin' to Macro of the Dumb Macro Gang... Wait, I shouldn't say that about myself."

"That's not good," Coby muttered.

"Where is Hachin?" the mermaid demanded.

"We've got 'im tied up right here. And we're plannin' on selling him pretty soon. Octopus Fishmen go for a decent price on today's market."

"Nuuu~" a new voice cut in. "Don't come here, Camie! I'll be fine. I let my guard down, but I'll get out of here, so don't come to save me!"

"Shut up, Suckerface," Macro growled, the sound of him punching Hachin passing through the snail. "Anyway, we've got your friend about 13 miles east of the Sabaody Archipelago. Did I mention that's the base of the Flying Fish Riders, the group we've teamed up with to beat Hachi? Because it is. See ya in a bit. Now, how'd'ya turn this thing off? ...This?" The snail started beeping. "That's not it. Ah ha!" CA-CHA. The snail went to sleep as the call ended.

"Oh no, Paupagu," Camie fretted. "What are we going to do?"

"I don't know," the starfish responded, crossing his... arms? "I'm guessing Hachi went looking for us since we're always getting caught by the Macro Gang, but ended up getting caught himself."

"Captain Luffy, I demand that we help!" The pirates and their guests turned toward their pink-haired member, some of them blinking in surprise as Coby continued. "From the sound of it, those guys are slavers, and I don't care if they're selling humans or fishmen, pirates or civilians, slavery is nothing but wrong! I won't stand for it!"

Luffy grinned. "Well, ok! I guess we have to help now!"

"That was well said, Shrimp," Zoro complemented, ruffling the boy's hair.

"Even Crocodile wouldn't stoop to slavery," Amy agreed. "Let's crush these bastards."

"Nami, set a course east!" Luffy cheered. "We've got a slave trade to break!"

"Sure thing, Sweetheart!" the navigator responded, jumping on Billy and directing him toward the wheel. "Let's get moving, everyone!"

"I suppose I should tell you about what you're getting yourselves into," Paupagu said as the Sunny began her eastward course. "See, human and fishman trafficking is big business around here. There are crews like the Macro Gang and the Flying Fish Riders all over these parts. The Macro Gang has been after Camie for a while now."

"Yeah!" Camie put in. "They've caught me over 30 times!"

"That's..." Franky struggled with his words. "That's not something to super brag about!"

"You mentioned a Hachin guy before?" Zoro pointed out. "And who are the Flying Fish Riders?"

"Hachin's a friend of mine," Camie answered, "and my boss. I work at his floating Takoyaki stand."

"Tha fish guys said he was a' octopus fishman," Gin muttered, scratching the stubble on his chin. "Sounds kinda familiar ta me."

Nami shivered, prompting Luffy to wrap her in a comforting hug. She snuggled into his protective embrace. "I doubt it, but if it is him, he'd probably be the best of the group," she whispered.

"What do you mean, Nami?" Luffy answered, equally quiet.

"Arlong and most of his crew were assholes, but Hachi was always nice to me. He was mostly just along for the ride, I guess. I'll never be his friend, but..."

"Who was Hachi, again?"

Nami couldn't resist the small smile that graced her lips at Luffy's forgetfulness. Helping her had been so instinctual that he didn't even remember who they fought besides Arlong himself. "He was the pink guy Zoro fought."

"That makes sense," Coby mused from nearby, his sensitive ears picking up Nami's voice. "Zoro-sensei said something about fighting an octopus fishman back in Cocoyashi. I never encountered the fishmen, so I can't say anything about them, but what are the odds that it's the same guy?"

"Knowing us?" Grace put in. "One hundred percent."

"Ah'll believe it when Ah see it," Gin waved off. "What about those Flyin' Fish guys?"

"They're a kidnapping gang," Paupagu frowned. "Their leader Duval wears this huge iron mask. No one knows what his face looks like, but they're good at what they do. It's said that if they set their sights on you, you're good as gone."

"We've got a problem!" Usopp yelled from the wheel. "Fish incoming! Look up at two o'clock!"

Following Usopp's directions, the crew looked skyward to see a trio of men riding giant, blue fish through the air, each fish outfitted with a set of motorcycle handlebars.

"Hell yes!" Merry cheered, running to Billy and throwing his saddle on. "Time for me to show off!"

"Language, Merry!" Usopp cried.

"Let's go!" the ship-girl exclaimed, mounting the gigafowl and pointing upward. Billy let out a "WAH!" and took off, Merry using her powers to trail a trio of cannonballs behind them.

"What are you doing?!" Merry's surrogate uncle fretted from the ship.

"I can't let her have all the fun," Amy said, readying herself to join the aerial battle, but Robin stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "Robin?"

"Let her do this," the archaeologist advised. "She needs more battle experience than we do."

Up above, Flying Fish Riders 1, 17, and 28 split off with cries of alarm. The bird flew through the air they'd just occupied.

"Baahahaha!" Merry taunted from Billy's back. "You think you have the advantage? Give me a break! You've got nothing on us! Cannonball Barrage!"

"Scatter!" Rider 1 ordered, flying away with a cannonball on his tail.

"You can't get away from me! Go, Billy!" Urging her mount on, Merry gave chase to the apparent leader. The two danced through the air, the fish flying with long, swinging movements.

"She's on my tail!"

"Dive!" Rider 17 called, prompting Rider 1 to go into a nosedive. Billy pulled up, the splash from Rider 1 entering the sea getting him and Merry wet. Shaking the water off, both ship-girl and gigafowl were surprised to see the two remaining fish riders coming for them from opposite sides "We've got you now, girl!"

"Try again!" Merry responded as they got closer, jumping up and away from Billy. "Now!"

"Wah!" With a cry, Billy released some of the electricity stored in his body, arcs branching away from him and shocking the riders. The shock knocked said riders from their mounts with twin shouts of alarm, crashing into the water as Billy caught Merry again. A sound alerted them to Rider 1 emerging from the water behind them.

"Cannonball Barrage!" Merry yelled, pulling one of the cannonballs from before to her hand and throwing it like a baseball. She manipulated its momentum as it flew, striking the tailfin of the flying fish just before the rider could answer an incoming call on his transponder snail. Screaming, the rider could do nothing as his fish spun like a downed plane, a sound like a sputtering engine coming from its lips. Lifting Riders 17 and 28 on the remaining two cannonballs, Merry urged Billy toward where Rider 1 would surface, smirking down at him as he did.

"Now, why don't you come aboard and take us to your leader? Baahahaha!"

After 10 minutes and a soothing tune from Brook, the Straw Hats had set a course for another rescue mission.

"Master Duval, we've got some bad news."

"Bad news?" The man who answered was much taller than the normal person, boasting a height of over nine feet when standing straight. His most notable feature was a metal helmet with three cross-shaped holes in the visor. They looked cool, but could not be considered practical.

"The flying fish have returned, sir, but their riders are missing. They haven't answered our calls. It seems like the pirates got them."

"In that case, prepare the usual. These pirates have that mermaid with them and probably want the octopus. They can't have them without a fight. Have you heard which crew it is?"

"No, sir! Like I said, they won't, or can't, answer their snails."

"Try one more ti-" Duval began, but his order was cut off by the ringing of the transponder snail in the jacket of his lackey. His eyes narrowed. "Answer that."

"Hello?" the lackey asked, doing as he was told.

"Oh, hello," a voice on the other end responded, the snail smirking. The voice faded a little. "Are you sure you want me to do the bit?"

"Why are you asking that now?" a female voice muttered from the background. "Just do it. I want to hear them pissed off."

"Anything for you, dearest~!" The male voice cleared his throat. "Hello, you've reached the Crap Cafe, would you like to place an order?"

Tied up behind Macro and his two minions, Hachi stiffened. Duval's lackeys didn't seem to notice, staring at the snail with dumbfounded looks.

"Uh, but you called us..." the lackey on the snail answered.

"I wouldn't mind some sushi," one of the Macro Gang members sighed, drool dripping from his lips.

"Shut up!" Macro ordered, smacking the stupid fishman and grabbing the snail. "Who is this?"

"Me?" the voice asked. "You can call me Mr. Prince. Next to me is the lovely Ms. Valentine. We will be your servers this evening. Catering should arrive around three this afternoon. Please have the payment of one captured fishman ready to deliver upon our arrival."

"Uhh, I don't get it," the majority of the lackeys muttered together.

"Kyahaha! Listen up, maggots! We're going to reach your base by three o'clock today. Either give us Camie's friend willingly or we're going to take him from you by force, kicking your asses in the process. You have an hour to decide. I hope you make the right choice, for your friends' sakes."

"Oh yeah?" the human lackey questioned, snatching his snail back. "And who should we say is calling?"

"Weren't you listening? I'm Ms. Valentine and by partner is-"

"Sanji, I'm hungry!" a new voice interrupted. "Make me some food! I want octopus!"

"Godadammit, Luffy!" the woman yelled. "You ruined our threat! Go ask your wife for a tangerine or something!"

"But Nami's working on maps right now, and you know how she gets if someone disturbs her then!"

"We're still here," Duval growled, grabbing the snail. "Ah know who y'all're, Straaw Haats. If ya come ta mah baase, I'll keeel ya like I've aalways wunted, Black-Leg Sanji."

"Shishishi," Luffy laughed. "I don't know what you did to piss that guy off, Sanji, but he talks stupid!" The snail clicked suddenly, ending the call and going to sleep. Duval's anger was almost palpable as he threw the poor snail back to its keeper.

"We've got an hour!" he yelled. "What're y'all waitin' around fer? Move!"

End of Chapter 120

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-SwordOfTheGods