Chapter 119: Celestial Dragons and Rip-Off Bars

Chapter 123:

Celestial Dragons and Rip-Off Bars

The Ferris wheel was massive, making it look closer than it should have been, because after a half-hour of travel through the scattered streets of Sabaody, the group of six had yet to reach the amusement park. Nami, Amy, and Grace didn't seem to mind since they decided to drag their companions off course upon finding the mall on Grove 30. Luffy followed the girls inside, wrapped around Nami's finger like he was, while Coby and Gin chose to stay outside. Coby gave the excuse that the IQ was making his powers act up, making his sense of smell more powerful and thereby making the perfumes and smells inside too strong for him, which was a total lie. Gin didn't have an excuse; he was just slowly giving in to his nicotine addiction and the sign on the door forbid smoking inside.

Given he started smoking after Alabasta and was only now openly giving into his cravings, he'd fought a hard battle.

"So Ah'm one o' these Supernova guys?" Gin muttered around his smoke, leaning against the outside of the building with Coby.

"Yeah," the Zoan nodded. "From what I could gather, the Supernovas are also called the leaders of the Worst Generation. You just slipped by with your 100-million to become the twelfth, but that also means we have a disproportionate number compared to the others. That paints a big target on our backs, not only to the Marines, but to other pirates and bounty hunters as well."

"Ah, whatever," Gin waved off, dropping his half-gone cigarette and stomping it into the concrete. Coby glared at him. "We'll fight 'em off if they come. Why ya glarin' at me?"

"I don't care if we're pirates, I expect you to not litter."

"But Ah've seen-"

"No buts, Gin."

Gin rolled his eyes and sighed, not feeling like he was supposed to be one of these super-powerful Supernova guys while a 16-year-old forced him to pick up his crushed cigarette. Luckily for his ego, a quick flare of his Logia powers left the stick as nothing but tiny ashes drifting away.

"What's takin' 'em so long?" Gin all but whined.

"Have you ever been shopping with Nami or Amy? Now put them together and let Amy dote on Grace."

"Yeah, 'spose ya got me there." The lightning-man shrugged. "Anyway, Ah'm gettin' bored out here. Ah'll go 'n' check on 'em." He didn't wait for an answer before pushing off the wall and shoving the mall's door open. Coby let out a tired sign and shuffled into a more comfortable position.

Several minutes passed, the Zoan's eyes slowly drooping until a ruckus caused his mind to blow into overdrive. Without thinking, the young pirate took off toward the street.

"Help me!" a man in the center of the road cried as Coby skidded to a halt, the man's words buffeting the poor woman in his hand. "Help me please!"

He was a large man wearing the tattered remains of a pirate captain's coat and an old pair of dark pants. His tanned skin complemented his angular face, but the look of dawning terror and the tears freely flowing from his eyes ruined any looks he had. This was not helped by his ridiculous hairstyle, his long black hair split into two curved sections like a jester's hat. Finally, a tattoo of some design stretched across his chest and a metal collar was locked around his neck.

"Hey man!" someone from the watching crowd yelled. "Let her go! She's got nothing to do with this!" The man with the collar seemed to realize they were right, throwing the woman away as the collar began ticking.

"Please someone help me!" he begged, tugging at the accessory with no success. "I'm done! I don't want to be a pirate anymore! I just want to go home to my family! I've got a wife and son! I left when he was a baby! He doesn't even know what I look like! Please!"

The crowd didn't respond, several turning away in an attempt to ignore the scene. The ticking sped up.

"It must be a runaway," someone in the crowd whispered.

"His owner will be here soon," another responded.

"Help!" the man continued to wail. "HELP ME PLEASE!"

"Watch your hands!"

Shocked by the sudden command, the collared man stopped his fruitless attempts. His blinked, almost missing the pink-and-green blur that flew past.

"Unseen Disaster: Lost Meteor!"

The crowd gasped as the person reappeared, spinning in place before flinging something in their hand into the air. The collar ticked twice before rupturing into a cloud of fire and smoke in the air above, shockwaves shaking the buildings and people nearby.

The people gaped at the scene, the figure still as a statue. A delayed wind mixed with the shockwave, blowing the figure's fedora away to reveal distinctive pink hair. The tattered ex-pirate captain took several shaky steps toward his savior before falling to his knees.

"Thank you," he whispered, bowing. "THANK YOU!"

"Don't thank me," the green-dressed man responded. "Go now. Leave. Don't look back."

"Yes!" With no dignity to lose, the crying ex-captain fled down the street, the crowd parting to avoid him as if he were the bearer of some unspeakable terror. Once he was out of sight, the crowd quickly turned to the young man who had cut the collar.

"What?" Coby snapped. "Did I do something wrong?"

No one answered the pirate directly, but the volume of the crowd did begin to rise.

"Wait a second. Pink hair and two swords?"

"That sounds familiar. You don't think-?"

Too late, Coby realized his mistake. A look of panic coming to him, Coby Shaved into a nearby alleyway, away from the crowd. This time he was quick enough, a band of marines flooding into the street from another alley. The people seemed to realize this was a forewarning, everyone stopping to watch before slowly lowering themselves to their knees. Coby watched from the shadows.

The first new creature to come into view was a dog. Its face looked like it was supposed to be a pug, but its legs were long and thin. A bubble was also wrapped around its head. It looked around, sniffing, though Coby suspected smell did not pass through the bubble. Yapping, the dog ran in a couple circles before hopping over to one of the civilians, a baker by his clothing, and raised one leg to pee on him.

"Oh don't be so vulgar, Saru," a female voice said, her voice dripping with disgust. "Those peasants aren't worth your urine." Frowning, Coby eased one eye around the corner to see the speaker.

He wished he hadn't, rage making his eyesight go red. It took every ounce of willpower Zoro had beaten into him to keep the Zoan rooted in place behind the wall, his fingers digging into the building. The woman was dressed in a full bodysuit of mostly white with colorful decorations lining the outside. Her suit was pressurized on the inside, completely hiding her figure. Like her dog, she wore a bubble around her head, but her bubble was much larger to account for her tall, brown hair styled so it stuck upward and had a curl at the very top. The clothing and hair of a Celestial Dragon.

"You needn't say anything," the man beside her stated. He was dressed much the same as the woman, hairstyle and all, but was taller than her and had a well-kept beard shifting to grey. In his hand was one end of an iron chain connected to the collar of a half-giant slave traveling in their wake with two men in suits. "He won't listen. Besides, the peasant should thank you for allowing Saru to use them." She did not respond, but her eyes moved to the poor baker. They locked eyes for a moment before the man laid himself out, bowing.

"Th-Thank you, Your Grace! I'm honored to be your dog's toilet! It's a story I'll tell my grandchildren with pride!"

"Good," the woman sniffed. "That explosion came from somewhere around here, yes?"

"Yes, ma'am," one of the Suits answered. "The explosion came from high up. Perhaps someone threw the slave to not damage their building."

"It's such a shame he ran," the man sighed. "I keep telling you to take better care of them and to be more careful. This is the fourth one I've given you that has gotten away. You're burning through my pirate captain collection."

"Daddy, next time I want a half-giant so it can carry me around."

"Yes, yes, alright," the man waved off, his voice clearly showing he couldn't care less. "Now let's find the body of the last one. You there!" He pointed to a woman in a floral dress. "Where is the slave that was here a minute ago?"

"H-H-He ran off, My Lord," she answered. "A s-swordsman cut his collar off before it c-could explode and threw it into th-the air."

The man frowned. "A swordsman who could cut iron? What of him do you know?"

"He moved t-too fast for us to see. We d-don't know what he looked like."

"You saw nothing of his appearance?"

"He m-may have been wearing yellow, sir," the woman lied. "A-And his hat blew off f-from his speed." Slowly she pointed to the west. "The slave ran th-that way," she lied again.

"Very well," the man frowned again. "Come along. We have places to be. I'm sure he'll be killed before he reaches the docks. Stupid slave. You should have broken him better."

"Tch," the female Celestial Dragon hissed. "Come along, Saru! Come!" She stomped forward, kicking a man and woman in her way. Her dog and the rest of her group trailed behind. Not soon enough, they and the marines with them were nothing but a spot in the distance.

Double checking they were truly gone, Coby finally stepped out of the alley only to be confronted by a half-dozen civilians.

"Are you mad?" the baker from before yelled. "Freeing a slave in full view of dozens of people! They would have killed you in an instant!"

"Never in my life," an older woman grumbled. "The suicidal youth these days."

"You better be grateful, you moron!" the woman who lied growled, poking Coby in the chest. "We didn't know you were still here, but they could have had the whole archipelago scoured for you! You owe me!"

"Nyuu~ What the Hell did I tell you!" a familiar voice cried, Hachi towering over the humans. Coby wasn't sure how long he had been there, but he didn't exactly care. The members of the crew with him, Camie, and Paupagu watched from just outside the crowd, some holding onto various purchases in bubble-balloons. "I told you to not mess with the Celestial Dragons or any of their stuff and you go and do this!"

"What did you want me to do?" Coby roared, his shifting vocal cords and the scales slowly forming around his eyes and fists causing the civilians to back away in fear. "Should I have watched as that man blew up without doing anything? Should I have not helped when he was screaming about going home to his family?! If the Navy supports this, then I'm ashamed I ever wanted to join them!" Coby panted, how in his full Hybrid form.

"Coby-chin," Camie said with a worried voice. "That's not what we're saying."

"That's exactly what you're saying!"

"Is it?!" she cried, doubting herself.

"Coby!" Chopper cried, pushing his way to the front of the crowd. "Please calm down! You're losing control of your powers and lashing out!"

"Chopper," he growled, glaring down at the doctor. "I am this close to going Slasher Mode and chasing those pieces of shit down."

"Unless you have the power to face down an Admiral right here, right now," Usopp piped up. "Stop!"

"Listen, Coby," Merry announced, jumping on Chopper's shoulders and glaring back with enough force to have impressed Nami had she been there. "I know where you're coming from. Believe me, I do. Refusing to do anything felt wrong to me, but we can't risk bringing the Marines here. We just aren't strong enough. Not yet."

"But-"

"We. Aren't. There." Merry cut him off. "You said your dream is to right every wrong you see. This might be the worst thing we find, but we can't stop it right now. Wait until Luffy becomes the King, then we can storm Meris-whatever-the-Hell up there and send those Dragons into a Hell they deserve."

"Mariejois," Paupagu offered.

"Yeah, that."

Coby frowned, slowly shrinking back to his human form.

"Should I do nothing?" he asked. "I-"

"Coby," Robin interrupted. "I recommend inaction, lest you want to be melted, frozen, and/or pierced into nonexistence whilst the rest of us watch or die in equally-terrifying ways, our dying screams echoing across the island in ways that will haunt the nightmares of the civilians and marines alike."

"Fine," he bit out without so much as a shudder. He fished through his pocket, pulling a few hundred Beris out and shoving them into the hand of the woman that had lied for him. She seemed surprised as he vanished, disappearing in a Shave. Merry sighed, jumping off the shivering reindeer doctor before turning to Hachi, her crew-based Mantra telling her which way their angry crewmate went.

"He's gone back to the mall where Captain Luffy, Mrs. Nami, Amy, Grace, and Gin are," she told him.

"Yohoho, that was a terrifying description, Robin," Brook chuckled mirthlessly, Usopp and Chopper clinging to each other from her words. "I thought my heart was going to beat out of my throat, not that I have a heart or throat anymore. Yohoho!"

"Who...?" The woman that had lied for Coby swallowed nervously, clutching her handful of cash. "Who are you people?"

"Who, us?" Merry responded quickly, sending the woman a bright peace sign. "We're just the crew of the next Pirate King!"

Back with the Sunny, one of the ship's guards had decided he was finished sleeping and needed a walk.

"Where do you think you're going, Mosshead?" Sanji demanded from the grass deck, stopping Zoro down on the not-island. "You'll get totally lost!"

"Wah!" Billy echoed. "Wah!"

"I won't get lost, Shit Chef!" the swordsman yelled back. "The island is made of trees and each tree has a number. I just need to remember what number our ship is docked at and I'll be fine."

Sanji blinked. "You actually put thought into that!" he cried, udderly blown away.

"I'm not a moron!" Zoro shouted, offended.

"Alright, have fun!" Sanji waved, silently wishing for the green-haired man to lose his way.

"Bastard," Zoro grumbled, looking up to the tree. "I just have to remember the number painted on that tree trunk." He paused a second, reading the label behind a particularly shiny bubble. "And that number is one."

"I can't believe him," Usopp grumbled from the seat of a bubble-bike, Merry, Robin, and Chopper riding with him. His legs were starting to burn from the distance they had covered, but the bikes were a surprisingly efficient mode of transportation. "Actually, I can. Coby's always had a strong sense of justice, but he's never been so..." He trailed off, waving his arm.

"Outspoken?" Robin offered, turning a page in her book. "Disgusted? Aggressive?"

"S'mad," Merry spoke up, Robin throwing her an unimpressed glance for the simplistic word. "What? You mean you couldn't feel the emotions rolling off him?"

"At least offer a word like 'disgruntled' or 'malcontent'," Robin rebuffed. "There are pieces of me inside you, small though they may be, and my pride demands you use them."

"Whatever it was, it was scary," Paupagu responded from Hachi's shoulder, the fish-people and Brook riding another bike. "I thought he was going to chase the Celestial Dragons down."

"It's a good thing he didn't," Hachi said. "Coating a ship the size of yours takes at least a day, even for the best in the business. Two or three more likely. That's time you all wouldn't have if he attacked them. Ah, we're here." The sudden shift surprised the pirates as they crested a root. Before them sat a squat building of wood, moss slowly creeping up its sides. A lopsided sign was nailed over the door, naming the place Shakky's Rip-Off Bar.

"That doesn't exactly inspire confidence," Merry commented. "Entering an establishment proclaiming itself a rip-off makes me theorize we're going to get swindled."

"Thank you, Merry," Robin smiled.

"Yeah, anyway I'm hungry. Uncle Usopp, let's get food!" The group disembarked on the side of a root-hill, climbing its side to the music of Merry and Usopp's stomachs. As they reached the top, the door of the bar opened, a large man stumbling out and falling to the ground. A woman followed him out, holding another man off the ground by the throat. She seemed young with shorter jet-black hair and a slender figure. Hard eyes roved over the approaching group until they landed on Hachi, lighting up.

"Well, well," she smiled. "Look what the Sea Kings dragged in. Hachi, it's been a while. Ten years of I'm not mistaken."

"Yeah, Shakky," the octopus fishman responded sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "I've been gone a while. Do you mind us coming in for a few drinks?"

"Yeah, sure," the woman waved off, shaking the man in her grip. "Just let me collect some money these guys don't owe me." The woman, Shakky, proceeded to rifle through the men's pockets, taken several notes from them before tossing them down the "hill" and waving for the pirates to enter.

"Remember me saying it felt like we were going to get swindled?" Merry asked. "For some reason, that feeling hasn't gone away."

"I know what you mean," Usopp responded. "I think I've got Don'tGoIntoTheShadyBar-itis."

"Oh no!" Chopper panicked, grabbing Usopp's legs. "I don't have a cure for that!"

"Chopper," Robin rolled her eyes, closing her book. "It's not a real disease. I thought you'd outgrown your outlandish claims, Usopp."

"We just watched the woman rob two guys who looked like they could've snapped her in half!" the sniper argued.

"Nah, Shakky's cool," Hachi waved off. "She and I go way back."

"Yohoho, I'm starving!" Brook laughed, leading the group forward, some reluctantly. They stepped into the bar, coming by a homey, pirate-y feeling. It looked like any other bar at first glance with tables and chairs and a counter, but a refrigerator sat in the corner behind the counter with a dozen other machines. One corner of the room was taken by a curved sofa in a maroon color.

"So Hachi," the owner began as the pirates stepped into her bar, the Fishman carrying the mermaid on his shoulder. "Who is this? Your girlfriend?"

"G-G-G-Girlfriend?!" Camie cried. "N-No! I'm far too young to get married!"

"That's not what that means," Paupagu deadpanned from Hachi's other shoulder.

"Sorry, Shakky," Hachi shrugged, noting the woman's disappointment. "Camie works for my takoyaki stand. Nothing more."

"Oh well," Shakky sighed, stepping behind the bar and turning to the pirates. "What can I get you? I've got just about everything."

"May I get a cup of Alabastian Black with two cubes of sugar?" Robin asked, breaking the ice as she took a seat. Shakky smiled, setting a pot of coffee brewing.

"Yohoho," Brook chuckled, sitting next to the archeologist. "Do you have West Blue Teatime, perchance? As well as some milk?"

"I didn't know you lot had a skeleton. Or that skeletons could walk and talk. Haven't had someone order West Blue Teatime in a while either, but I keep some on hand just in case."

"Sorry for my late introduction. My name is Brook, but most just call me the skeleton. Lovely to make your acquaintance. Also, would you be so kind as to show me your panties?"

"Inappropriate!" Camie and Paupagu cried.

Shakky's smile didn't waver, the woman bringing one finger up to her lips. "Showing you would be too much of a hassle. Today is Tuesday, so I'm wearing black lace."

"That's scandalous!" the mermaid and starfish blushed. Brook's bones, impossibly, turned pink, the skeleton falling out of his chair.

"My word! You are the first in a long time! I simply adore this place! Yohoho!"

Shakky turned to the final trio of Straw Hats who were balking at her, pulling out a serving of cotton candy from somewhere. Chopper's eyes sparkled as as she handed it to him, winning over Usopp and Merry in the process.

"That'll be a hundred-thousand Beris."

"B-But I don't have that much," the doctor sniffed, tears welling in his eyes.

"It's just a joke," the bartender assured him, patting the reindeer's hat. Whether it had been a joke or not before, the pirates couldn't tell.

"You've heard of us," Robin noted as her coffee arrived, catching Shakky off guard.

"Oh? What gives you that idea?"

"Chopper didn't ask you for cotton candy, but you gave him some anyway. You know he likes it from his wanted poster."

"Why are you telling her we're wanted?" Usopp hissed.

"You got me," Shakky chuckled, serving Brook his tea. "I'm a bartender. Any bartender around here worth their booze makes it a point to know who's who out of their potential customers. Having even some of the crew with a fourth of the Supernovas is good for business."

"Supernovas?" Chopper asked through his treat, Usopp ordering a bowl of soup and a salad.

"You don't know?" Shakky blinked. "Where have you been lately, living under a rock?"

"Well~!" Merry sang. "Not to brag, but we kicked Shiki the Golden Lion's ass, but it took us a week. Before that we crushed the Warlord Gecko Moria in the Florian Triangle."

"Language," Usopp sighed, slumping into his crossed arms.

"I thought the news about Shiki going down sounded fishy," Shakky smiled. "The world is better off without him, though. Still, that explains it, so I guess I should get to the explaining."

End of Chapter 123

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-SwordOfTheGods