Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

There was something eerie about being under the water like this. I didn’t know if that was a me thing, or a growlithe thing, or both, but it left me slightly unsettled despite the excitement of the crew as they pointed at all the fish going by.

How Law could choose a submarine for his ship, I would never understand. Even with all the space we had, I felt claustrophobic. Ace didn’t seem to share any of my reservations, happily enjoying the sight with the others, lamenting about all the good food that kept swimming past.

Our descent was fast enough that soon we’d lose any sunlight penetrating down from the surface of the water. Rayleigh had recommended getting some battery powered lanterns that the crew had picked up for us. While Ace and I could provide light, fire consumed oxygen at a fast rate, not a good thing when oxygen was now a limited resource.

“Hey, Skull,” Ace said, wiping at some drool as he watched a large school of fish swim away, “think we can find those currents Rayleigh talked about? The sooner we can get in them, the better.”

“Sure, but I’m going to need some coffee and something for this headache.”

“I told you not to drink too much,” Masked Deuce retorted, crossing his arms. “You knew we’d be leaving this morning.”

“I know,” Skull griped, waving a hand. “But, it was worth it, I got a lot of good information off the guy I was drinking with. Things that’ll be good to know in the New World. Besides, the rum that bar had was the good stuff.”

Chuckling, Ace clapped Skull on the shoulder. “It’s breakfast time anyways. I’ll whip something up to go with a pot of coffee while you figure out our course. Captain and I are just getting the hang of navigating above water, we’re not much help now that we’re under it.”

Not completely true, Rayleigh had given us some good tips, but he’d also passed those on to Skull when he’d realized who our main and most experienced navigator was.

I wasn’t in the mood to join Ace in the kitchen, so I settled in the middle of the deck, watching as the water around us darkened and the crew brought out the lanterns. We needed the light, but it also made me feel like we stuck out, like one of those angler fish luring in their prey, except we were much more vulnerable, and would prefer not to attract anything to us at all.

If I kept my observation haki—that now felt somehow off or less now that it wasn’t tangled with my sense for fire—active, well, I doubted any of the crew would complain. Not when it would allow me to warn them about the monsters lurking in the dark around us.

Chapter Text

“What do you think Fishman Island looks like?” Cornelia asked, squinting to try and see out into the darkness.

“Who cares about the island? I’m more interested in getting to meet a mermaid,” Aggie 68 said, taking a sip of his coffee. Like Skull, he was nursing a hangover from all the drinking they’d done at the bar. “I hear there’s no one prettier in the whole world than the mermaid princess.”

“But isn’t Boa Hancock the most beautiful woman in the world?” Saber asked, stabbing a forkful of eggs from the plate he’d brought outside. “I remember seeing her picture in the paper when she became a warlord of the sea, and even years ago she was a stunning beauty.”

Aggie 68 hummed in deep thought. “Well, yeah. But are pretty and beautiful the same thing? Maybe the mermaid princess has that innocent and pure thing going for her while Boa Hancock is a lady no man would cross for her beauty.”

“Pretty and beautiful are synonyms, but they have nuanced differences,” Mihar said, drumming his fingers thoughtfully against his bicep. “Pretty is used to describe someone attractive, but beautiful is more often used to describe someone who is striking or lovely.”

“So the mermaid princess can be the prettiest, and Boa Hancock can be the most beautiful.”

Getting tired of the whole discussion as it devolved from there, I abandoned the deck. Inside the galley, Masked Deuce was helping Ace wash up the dishes from breakfast. If I didn’t think about it too much, it was easier to ignore that we were underwater in here.

Tugging on Ace’s fire, I mimicked a yawn when he looked over in my direction. It had been a long night, and I was feeling a bit mentally worn down as well, having stretched myself a bit against the marines earlier. Observation haki, fire sense, and fire manipulation, especially distant fire manipulation, all had mental aspects to them, ones that I needed more practice combining together all at once.

The unease I couldn’t shake being under the water like this didn’t help matters. Sleeping through it would be better, though how deep of a sleep I’d get was a different story.

“Yeah,” Ace said, cracking a real yawn of his own. “I’ll join you in a bit. Not much exciting going on right now. I’d rather sleep now and be awake when we get to Fishman Island.”

“Just go sleep now,” Masked Deuce said. “Doctor’s orders. You had two short narcoleptic attacks during breakfast. I know it’s the wrong time of day, but your body needs sleep.”

Sleep, and to get back on his regular routine. Multiple all-nighters weren’t good for Ace. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a few more narcoleptic attacks over the next couple days as we got him re-adjusted.

“Fine, but wake us up if anything changes,” Ace said, taking off his apron and hanging it up. Sometimes, I wished we could take a picture of Ace wearing it and send it back to Makino. I knew it would make her smile. “C’mon, Captain. I know you’re going to want your fur brushed out first from being in the water earlier.”

My tail wagged a slow rhythm as I followed Ace. A brushing would be nice.

Chapter Text

“Hey, Captain,” Ace said as he ran the brush through my fur. “That thing you did earlier, do you think you could teach me?”

I cracked an eye open, both having fallen shut to the rhythm of the brush in my fur, and looked up at Ace. I thought about it for a moment. I both did and didn’t understand what I’d done, but I was sure I could do it again, so I didn’t see why I couldn’t help Ace learn it too.

Ace gave me a wan smile when I nodded, taking a moment to carefully brush out a stubborn knot in my fur. “You know, I know your control over fire comes from years of practice, and I’ve only had my devil fruit for a few short months, but sometimes I can’t help but be jealous of what you can do with it.”

I angled my head so I could lick Ace’s knee.

|| You—will—get—there—too—with—practice ||

“Yeah, I know, and I am. I just want to be able to do all the cool stuff you do already.” With a thoughtful frown, Ace started brushing through my tail fur. “I could kind of feel it, you know, the way you were calling and coaxing the fire back there. Is that how you always work with your fire, like you’re speaking to it?”

I shook my head. There were moments, glimpses in my life where I could remember feeling far more in-tune and at one with my own fire, and where I was more sensitive to fire that wasn’t mine. But, those moments were the exception, not the norm. I was working on changing that. In some ways, it reminded me of learning to talk to Stripey and the tiger lord. I understood the basics of fire’s language, but now I needed to learn to speak it back. It felt like I knew little phrases, but if I could become fluent in fire?

Then I would be the monster I’d decided I’d become.

“Could you do it right now?”

I watched embers from Ace’s hands trail through my tail, red and orange standing out starkly against the off-white cream, lighting the room more than they normally would since no light could come through the window.

There was no distance to speak of here, but Ace’s fire was different than regular fire. Ace’s fire was Ace, and when it wasn’t Ace, it was still connected to him, carried an echo of his essence with it until Ace let it go completely. I’d been able to tug on Ace’s fire since shortly after he’d gotten his powers, but to actually command Ace’s fire was something else entirely.

But if I didn’t try to command it? Just gave it suggestions for Ace to pick up on? Maybe I could. Maybe I couldn’t. Either way, this wasn’t the time or place to experiment.

|| Later ||

“Fine,” Ace huffed and then yawned. With a big stretch, he tossed my brush to the side and flopped back on the bed, patting the spot next to him. I took it in an instant, and Ace curled up around me, getting comfy. “Feeling better?”

A quiet whine was my answer. I was still a bit uneasy, but I was doing better than before. At least my fur was clean again, short of taking a bath.

“Sleep,” Ace murmured, settling a hand over my chest where he could feel my heart beating away. “Then you don’t have to worry about it. We’ll be at Fishman Island before you know it.”

I huffed. Maybe it was a good thing I was so tired. Sleeping away the rest of this part of the trip actually sounded quite nice.

Chapter Text

I was rudely woken by the ship jerking sideways.

In an instant I was on my feet, paws braced against the bed, hackles raised. With my observation haki, I felt out as far as I could, straining it as far as I could. I wasn’t sure what had caused the ship to shudder and jerk, but there was something huge out there. It seemed a bit too far away though.

“Easy,” Ace said, resting a hand on my back. “Nothing’s near the ship. Let’s go see what’s up.”

“Told ya it would wake them up!” Skull called out as Ace and I walked out onto the deck. “Just changing currents, nothing to worry about!”

“The bubble holding up okay?” Ace asked. It was hard too see much with how dark it was down here. The few little lights that were out did little beyond make the deck traversable. How deep in the ocean were we now? Forget just not being able to breath, we’d probably die instantly from the pressure if our bubble popped at this point.

“Everything’s fine,” Masked Deuce said, looking up from where he was sitting by one of the lamps, writing away in his adventure journal. “Best as we can tell anyways.”

“The ship is fine,” Saber chimed in. He was playing a game of checkers on a barrel against Mihar, which was rare.

“Not being able to see beyond the ship is starting to give me the heebie-jeebies,” Cornelia muttered. He was watching the checkers game.

“Ah, then you probably don’t want to hear about the huge thing out there,” Ace said with a smirk.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and jerked their heads to stare at Ace in eerie synchronicity.

“You better not be tryin’ to scare us,” Saber said, looking a bit pale. “Cause if you are, it’s not funny.”

“Nah, there’s something out there, right Captain?”

I nodded when everyone’s eyes shifted to me instead. Someone let out a faint whimper.

|| Whatever it is, it’s not moving, but it’s there. || I jerked my head in the direction I could feel the large creature. Hopefully, it would continue to be happy way over there and leave us alone. I didn’t have any desire to deal with krakens, or sea monsters, or whatever else may be down here. Unlike Luffy, Ace couldn’t tame whatever it was, still unable to call on his conqueror’s haki at will.

“If it’s not an issue, did you have to tell us about it?” Masked Deuce asked, fidgeting with his pen.

“Ignorance is bliss,” Mihar said, returning to the checkers game and getting one of his pieces all the way across the board with a triple jump. “But down here, it’s also dangerous.”

“Even if it does become a problem, how do we deal with it?” Aggie 68 asked, scratching at his head.

All the attention was on Ace and I again, like we’d somehow have the answers. Well, we did, and the answer was nothing. Maybe now they’d understand part of why I didn’t care for our current situation.

Ace just shrugged. “Rayleigh said getting to Fishman Island was mostly skill, but also a little bit of luck. If we’ve managed to safely shift currents, we’re already doing better than a lot of people who miss the shift and get stuck being pulled along the slower ocean floor currents until they die or crash into underwater rock formations.”

A somber moment passed over the crew.

Just how many wrecked ships were we sailing passed down here unknowingly, unable to see their watery graves out there in the dark? Probably a lot. While ships disappeared all over the place, this had to be one of the most common spots in the whole world.

“Hey, Captain,” Masked Deuce said softly after several long seconds had passed. “I know you’re trying to avoid using your fire right now, but do you think you could heat things up a bit? I’ve got the chills now.” Murmurs of agreement came from the others, so I settled on a spot in the middle of them all and allowed the temperature to slowly rise.

I breathed a bit easier when we finally sailed far enough away from whatever the huge thing was that I could no longer sense it with my haki. Now, I could only hope that we’d soon see signs of Fishman Island being near.

Chapter Text

I might have spoken a bit too soon. We left behind one huge thing in the dark only to find ourselves sailing amongst many huge things in the dark. Why was everything down here so big?

“What the hell just swam past us?” Aggie 68 asked. “This stuff makes Sobek look like he was a tiny baby bananawani.” He wasn’t wrong. Sobek, who had made a grand feast for us, would be little more than a morsel for these creatures.

“I don’t wanna know.” Masked Deuce muttered, Cornelia nodding in agreement, looking extra pale.

“I can’t decide if I’m glad we can’t see much, or not.” Skull said with a frown as he squinted out at the darkness. Some of the fish down here seemed to produce some sort of glow, allowing us to faintly see at least parts of them.

“We’ll be fine,” Ace said gently rubbing one of my ears. I wasn’t sure if he was saying that for my benefit, the crew’s, or both. “We’ve made it this far. We’ve just got to find that deep sea trench Rayleigh talked about and descend one more time to the very bottom of the ocean.”

“Easier said than done,” Saber said, taking off his hat to wipe at his brow. “Hey, Captain, could you turn down the heat a bit? It’s starting to get really hot.”

I blinked. It certainly had gotten much warmer within the span of a couple of minutes, but that wasn’t because of me.

|| The—extra—heat—is—not—my—doing ||

I got a few confused looks, but Ace grinned. “I bet that means we’re near the underwater volcanoes then. The trench should be close.”

Close was a relative term down here. Rayleigh had mentioned the hydrothermal area near the trench stretched for miles upon miles. We’d have to be careful while we searched for it, but following the log pose should help us find it sooner than later.

“Even if they aren’t erupting, the vented steam and water could be dangerous,” Mihar said, looking at me. “You wouldn’t happen to be able to sense the pockets of heat, would you?”

I shook my head. Heat wasn’t fire, and neither was magma, or lava, whichever one was which when it came to volcanoes. I never could remember, and I didn’t care to think about it too much because it inevitably made me think of Akainu, and that just made me angry and upset. Ace gave my ear a little tug, sending me a questioning look. Ah, I was starting to silently snarl. Stupid Akainu.

|| Fire—may—give—off—heat—but—that—is—not—what—allows—me—to—sense—it—so—I—am—no—help—with—this ||

Mihar nodded.

“Guess this is one time we can’t use Captain to cheat,” Saber said with a sigh, making most of the crew chuckle.

|| Using—resources—is—not—cheating—it—is—strategizing ||

“Nah, pretty sure your abilities are cheating,” Masked Deuce chimed in with a grin. “It’s kinda funny, really. Ace is our captain, and you, Captain, are our ace.”

Everyone laughed, and between snickers, Skull said, “Maybe you two should switch names.”

Ace and I shared a look. We weren’t going to switch names, and while the captain joke had been around longer than the crew, I’d never thought about the ace part before. Luckily, there were no hard feelings between us.

“One day,” Ace said softly to me while the rest of the crew cracked jokes about the confusion our names and roles caused, “I’ll be captain and ace. I was stronger than you once, and I’ll get there again.”

I nuzzled his hand. He could try, but I wasn’t going to make it easy for him.

Chapter Text

I was honestly beginning to wonder how anyone ever made it down to Fishman Island as another steam vent released near us, the steam from it causing fluctuations in the water that rippled against our bubble coating.

Beneath us, glowing hot spots could be seen, our only warning to where the next steam release might come from. The crew was helping watch for the hot spots, complaining about the heat all the while. Skull, who seemed the worst with the heat, had taken to holding the magic ice to try and offset the heat after I’d informed them that I could produce heat, but I couldn’t take it away.

“I think there’s something weird up ahead, “Masked Deuce said, squinting at the darkness. The steam is moving strangely, like it’s being pulled ahead and then down.

“Probably a downward current,” Skull said, joining Masked Deuce. “It might just be what we’re looking for.”

“Well, we’re about to find out,” Aggie 68 called out from the helm as the ship shuddered slightly. “Whatever the current is, we’re stuck in it, no getting out.”

“Then aim for the middle of the current,” Ace said. “That should be better for us and the ship, less turbulent than the sides.”

“Trying,” Aggie 68 grunted. “Not much steering I can do right now.”

“Are we sure that’s where we want to be going?” Cornelia asked. “It looks even darker.”

“Well, we are headed for the very bottom of the ocean, so darker is a given,” Mihar hummed. “Fishman Island is said to be 10,000 meters under the surface.”

“And how is anything or anyone supposed to live down here?” Saber asked.

No one had time to try and answer him as the current swept us along and suddenly we found ourselves dropping rapidly. For a moment, it felt like I was floating, my stomach in my throat. What little light we’d gotten from the volcano fields and the glowing fish was gone. Without our little lamps, we’d be in the darkest of dark places.

Down and down we went, the feeling of falling never fading away. I’d liked the trip up and down Reverse Mountain a lot better than this.

Someone muttered something about feeling sick at some point, but eventually, the downward feeling eased off, like reaching the bottom of a long steep slide, as our movement became more forward in nature.

“Can’t be far now,” Ace said, holding up his wrist with the logpose on it, using a few small flickering flames to help illuminate it better. We all looked at it together. The needle which had been pointing down ever since Ochre Island had finally leveled out. We’d finally reached the bottom of the ocean.

Chapter Text

“Is it just me, or is it getting a little less dark around here?” Saber asked.

“Well, it’s that, or our eyes have finally adjusted to the dark,” Cornelia muttered.

“Human eyes can’t adjust to the level of darkness we’ve been sailing through,” Masked Deuce countered. “The rods in our eyes are for low-light, not no-light situations.”

Ace jerked away from looking out into the gloom. “Wait, we have rods in our eyes? But how?”

“It’s probably not like whatever you’re thinking,” Masked Deuce said with a sigh. “If you really want to know, I’ll find a picture of an eyeball in one of my medical books and show you. We can see light because of things in our eyes called rods, and we can see colors because of things called cones.”

“Is it a drawing or a real picture? I’m not sure I wanna look inside a real eyeball,” Aggie 68 said while pulling a face.

“Oh, you can hunt animals all day, but can’t stand to look at the inside of a real eyeball?” Skull teased.

“Shut it,” Aggie 68 scowled. “I never touched the eyes when I hunted. Didn’t want to feel them squish under my hand. One of the guys I hunted with wore contacts, and I couldn't watch when he went to take them in or out.”

“Eyeballs are less squishy than you’d think,” Mihar chimed in.

“They’ve got the consistency of a hard boiled egg when you bite into them,” Ace said thoughtfully, nodding in agreement with Mihar. That earned him deadpan stares from the entire crew.

“Of course you’ve eaten eyeballs,” Masked Deuce said, seeming resigned. “And I suppose that means you have too?” he said more than asked, looking in my direction. I nodded. No wasting food. That’s what Garp and the bandits taught us, though, the bandits often cried when they got stuck with the less desirable parts in the fights over dinner. Tripe was no one’s favorite.

“I can fry some up for you next time if you want to try one?” Ace offered.

“No thanks.”

Ace shrugged. “You’re not missing much. They’re one of the worst tasting parts in my opinion. Only the brain tastes worse if you ask me.” I made a face next to Ace. Brains were the worst.

“Hold up, you’ve eaten brains?” Saber looked appalled. “I thought only zombies did that.”

“Zombies aren’t real.”

Oh Mihar, how wrong you are. Zombies are real, and there were a whole bunch of them on an island-ship somewhere in the Florian Triangle. Granted, they weren’t naturally occurring, having been made by the doctor with the annoying laugh and Gecko Moria, but still.

“Pretty sure the cannibals ate brains too,” Skull teased, ducking when Masked Deuce threw his pen at him.

“I don’t eat human brains.” Ace made a face.

“I don’t know,” Cornelia said with a mischievous smirk. “Eating human brains sounds like something Lord Satan would do.”

“Don’t even start,” Ace said, pointing a finger at him, but it was too late.

“Really? I figured Lord Satan would be more of a drink his enemies blood out of their own skulls kind of guy,” Skull said.

“Well, unless he’s drinking around the brain, he’d have to have eaten it first,” Cornelia argued back.

“Or he could have fed it to his loyal hellhound.”

Oh no. I preferred to stay away from brains, thank-you-very-much. I always avoided them, or dropped them on some unfortunate bandit’s plate instead.

“As riveting as this is,” Masked Deuce said, retrieving his pen, “the water really is gaining light, and I’m starting to see shapes out there. It kinda looks like weird trees.”

He was right, but those shapes weren’t strange trees. They were broken and tattered masts of dozens upon dozens, if not hundreds, of ships, all dragged down here to the seafloor by the downward current. Even if this wasn’t where these particular ships and crews had met their fates, it was where they would rest forever.

The current was a lot slower moving now, less strong than the pull that dragged us down, allowing us to maneuver more easily among the rock formations and ship remains, following after the needle on the logpose. As we sailed the light grew more and more until it was as bright as if we were under the noonday sun.

“Whoa!”

“I don’t believe it!”

“Is that really it? Did we finally make it?”

Exclamations rose from everyone as we adjusted to the new brightness and the absolutely enormous bubble dead ahead. Nestled among the roots of the mangrove trees, the same ones we’d stood on at Sabaody, and granted light by that same tree for a reason I couldn’t remember, was Fishman Island in all of its colorful glory.

Chapter Text

The strange door in the bubble surrounding Fishman Island closed behind us, allowing us to sail into a small interior harbor where fishmen in uniforms kept a careful eye on us. Soldiers. It made sense. Better to head off any unsavory types rather than risk all the citizens; especially with such a chokepoint entry to make things easier.

Though…hadn’t Luffy’s crew entered through somewhere not here? It was why the Thousand Sunny ended up in that place with the poneglyph, right? It might be neat to try and find that place. I’m not sure when else we would get a chance to see a poneglyph. I cocked my head to the side, trying to remember more, but the details were fuzzy. I remembered a lot more about the crybaby princess, the giant ship called the Noah, and all the crew’s power-ups.

“Welcome to Ryugu Kingdom,” one of the soldiers said after we dropped anchor, “state your intentions for visiting.”

“Intentions?” Ace asked, fixing his hat on his head. “We just want to look around, eat some good food, and head for the New World. Know any good restaurants? I’d love to try out some local specialties, the kind with a home-cooked feel to them.”

The soldier seemed a bit surprised by Ace’s easy candor, but collected himself quickly. “There’s plenty of restaurants like that in the lower district. Fishverly Hills is much fancier, so probably not what you’re looking for. There is also the Mermaid Cafe that is quite popular. But, know that if you cause any trouble while you’re here, you will be arrested and thrown into prison.”

“Thanks for the information,” Ace said with a bow. “It’s much appreciated.”

“Where can we find the Mermaid Cafe?” Saber asked. The soldier slowly pulled his gaze away from Ace, like he couldn’t believe that Ace had manners, or perhaps it was that Ace was a human willing to politely bow to a fishman?

While Saber got directions, I joined Ace, looking up at another bubble sitting up high with many tubes leading to it and a castle inside. I doubted we’d get to go there. In fact, I didn’t want to go there. That meant getting caught up in a Luffy-level adventure.

“Um, excuse me,” said one of the other soldiers, approaching Ace and I. “I was just wondering, but is that a dog you have there? A real surface-dwelling dog?”

“Yeah,” Ace replied with a grin, resting a hand on my head. “This is Captain.”

“Is he friendly?”

I answered that myself with a soft bark, trotting up to the fishman, sitting down, and holding up a paw for him to shake. Eyes wide, the fishman crouched down, carefully reaching out a webbed hand to take my paw, his thumb rubbing back and forth across the back of my paw to feel the fur before lifting my paw up a bit to spread it and gently touch my paw pads with a face of awe.

“I’ve never touched a dog from the surface before, or seen one up close like this. I can’t wait to tell the wife and kids about this.”

“Is it really that rare of a thing?” Ace asked.

“Oh, um, yes,” the soldier said, coming back to himself and letting go of my paw to straighten back up. “Travel to the surface is dangerous, and the human crews that do make it here don’t usually keep pets. If you take him into town with you there will probably be lots of curious adults and children.” The soldier hesitated for a moment.

“He won’t bite any curious kids that run up and try to pet him, will he?”

“Nah. Captain won’t harm a kid.”

No, I wouldn’t, but it was also nice to have a heads up about what might happen, rather than just being unknowingly mobbed. I guess it made sense that animals from the surface would be a rare sight down here.

“Hey, Ace, Captain, we’re heading to the Mermaid Cafe,” Skull called out. “You coming?”

Chapter Text

“So beautiful, and so many colors,” Masked Deuce murmured, pen scratching furiously against the page in his adventure journal as we walked. “I don’t even have the words to describe it all.”

He wasn’t wrong, Fishman Island was something else. Buildings made of coral and shells in traditional and odd shapes. Many of the buildings were tall, the top levels of them basking in the light provided by the tree while the lower levels and shorter buildings were cast into shadow. The paths beneath our feet were made of smooth sand, shells, and rocks.

We passed mermaids and mermen using bubbles like we’d seen up on Sabaody to get around, sitting on them or sporting them around their torsos while fishmen and fishwomen walked by. I couldn’t even begin to name all of the different fish they reminded me of, and many shared features of fish I didn’t know at all.

But as much as we were staring at them, we were getting our fair share of stares back, or at least I was, for those that noticed me. Many took one look at our group, saw the humans, and looked away, but the shorter ones, or the ones that looked down and caught sight of me often stopped and stared.

A gaggle of children had started following us at a distance, their whispers telling me they were curious but too nervous or scared to get closer because of the guys. It was still years before Luffy would be here and the issues with the fishmen troublemakers would boil over, but the distrust and hatred of humans had been going on for a lot longer than that.

Ace gave me a fond smile, slowing his steps a bit to let the others, sans Masked Deuce, who he stopped from walking into a pole, to get several paces ahead of us.

“Thanks, Ace,” Masked Deuce said, realizing what he’d almost done. “Guess I shouldn’t really walk and write at the same time.”

“It’s fine. The others have left us behind though. You can catch up with them, or stay with us.”

Masked Deuce closed his adventure journal and tucked it away in his pocket. “That makes it sound like you two are doing something else.”

Ace chuckled and jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Captain’s got some tiny admirers, and we’re more interested in food than mermaids unlike the rest of the guys, so we’re not in as much of a hurry.” Looking behind Ace, Masked Deuce smiled and nodded.

“Should have guessed that. You attract kids most places we go, it seems like. Both of you. I don’t mind waiting. I’d rather not get lost around here by myself.”

Chapter Text

“Can we really pet him?” asked a fishman boy who looked to be part hammerhead shark. He’d been shoved forward as the spokesperson once Ace had gently coaxed the kids over. Masked Deuce was off to the side, watching in amusement.

Grinning, Ace crouched down and placed a hand on the top of my head. “Why don’t you ask Captain directly? He can answer you.”

“Really?! I didn’t know dogs from the surface could talk!”

“Me either!”

“So cool!”

I huffed while Ace and Masked Deuce both started laughing. “Not like that,” Ace said, wiping a tear from his eye he’d laughed so hard. “Captain is special, and can use fire to write letters in the air. If you can read, he can talk to you, or he can nod yes and no. Most dogs can’t do that.”

“Fire?!”

“That sounds so awesome!”

“I wanna see! I wanna see!”

“I can read! My teacher says I’m really good with my letters!”

“No fair! I haven’t learned letters yet!”

As the kids all jostled closer in their excitement, Ace backed off a bit, leaving me to get mobbed in a dogpile. Fishpile? Eh, either way I had a bunch of kids flopped all on top of me. This wasn’t exactly what I’d had in mind. I’d been thinking more of one or two at a time for a pawshake or a head pat, but I guess this worked.

“Hey, Captain.” I poked my head out of the pile of kids, planning on giving Ace a glare for abandoning me, but was met with the sight of him holding a little fishgirl who seemed to be the youngest of the bunch close to my head. Tears were running down her cheeks, and I could only guess that she’d been shoved away by the bigger kids.

“Doggy!” With a delighted squeal, she reached out and roughly patted the top of my head, pulling the fur there a bit in the process. Another of the smaller kids was now tugging on Masked Deuce’s pant leg and pointing at the girl in Ace’s arms. It didn’t take him long to give in.

“His fur is so soft!”

“This is the coolest thing ever!”

“I wish I could have a dog.”

“I want to go to the surface someday and get my own dog.”

“I’m going to get a better dog than you! Mine will be purple!”

I wasn’t going to discount that such a thing as a purple dog could exist in this world, but I certainly wasn’t going to count on it either.

I let the kids crawl all over me for another minute before getting up and gently tumbling them to the ground. Well, the ones that weren’t floating with the help of bubble rings around their waists, that is, they just kinda floated backwards a bit.

“Show us the fire!”

“Yeah, the fire!”

“I wanna see!”

Making sure none of the kids were going to try and jump me again, I let a few small flames curl off my ear and into the air.

|| Hello, my name is Captain. It’s nice to meet you. ||

Chapter Text

Kids were curious. Too curious. I swear I hadn’t answered that many questions since Luffy had learned I could write with my fire and started asking me everything and anything under the sun for several weeks straight just because he could. By the time we managed to convince the kids we had places to be, Ace and I were starving.

“Forget the Mermaid Cafe,” Ace groaned, holding a hand over his stomach. “I’ll go for the nearest place that sells food.”

Lifting my head I sniffed around. I could pick up on several food smells, all of them reminding me of shellfish. Giving a soft bark to get Ace and Masked Deuce’s attention, I started walking down the street.

The place we found was a restaurant tucked in the shadows of a large, towering residential district that was carved out of coral in a pattern that seemed similar to the inside of a beehive. All of the lowest levels seemed to have a little business of some sort tucked away. The restaurant was a humble place, but the faint scent of food drifting from it had smelled better than any of the others.

The waitress, who seemed to be some sort of eel mermaid, gave a double take at seeing me before offering Ace and Masked Deuce seats at the counter. I took a seat between their stools, facing the room so I could keep an eye on the rest of the customers. Many of them were subtly or not so subtly staring, the waitress having drawn attention to me, but there was one who was staring intently at Ace’s back instead.

I couldn’t say what kind of fish the merman was with his long tail that started as a light brown at his waist and tapered into a dark brown, but he was well built and seemed like he would be quite tall. He sported a goatee and long black hair that was pulled into a high ponytail. The most striking thing about his appearance though was a bright red mark visible on his lower left abdomen thanks to his open vest.

I knew that mark. This merman was a member of the sun pirates. Something about him seemed to tickle my brain. …Was this guy Jinbei’s first mate? I wasn’t positive, but maybe. I wasn’t sure why else the merman would seem familiar. It’s not like there’d been a big focus on Jinbei’s crew.

The merman slowly lowered his gaze from Ace’s back, freezing when his gaze met mine since I was still staring at him. He stared back at me, so I kept staring at him. I was just hoping that maybe we’d have a good staring contest when he blinked and shook his head with a small frown. Boring. I doubted it would ever happen, but I’d really love to visit Crocus again just to have a staring contest. That had been the best staring contest ever.

“Here you go, Captain,” Ace said, holding a bowl under the counter for me. I carefully took the bowl between my teeth and lowered it to the floor, making sure I didn’t spill anything before digging in.

Fifteen bowls later, the door to the restaurant swung open. I looked up from what I was eating and paused. For some reason, my brain had been convinced we weren’t supposed to meet him until later, and on land at that, but there he was in all of his big blue glory.

Jinbei, First Son of the Sea, member of the seven warlords, and future Strawhat Pirate—if I didn’t somehow do something to mess up that last part—was heading straight for us.

Chapter Text

“Jinbei,” the merman called out, not loudly, but loud enough for us to hear. Masked Deuce started choking on his drink, fist thumping against his sternum. Ace reached over and gave him a good thwack on the back that I wasn’t entirely sure was helpful while slurping up something from his bowl.

“Another one?” Masked Deuce asked hoarsely, wiping at his mouth and looking hopeless as he half turned in his seat to stare at Jinbei who had stopped advancing towards us at the merman’s call, turning to him instead.

“Another what?” Ace asked between bites. “Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention. Another round? This dish is really good. You should try it.”

“Can you think with your head and not your stomach for a minute,” Masked Deuce hissed. “Jinbei the warlord just walked in here.”

“Another one?” Ace asked with a frown, quickly finishing off his bowl even as Masked Deuce made a ‘that’s what I just said’ face at him. “You know, for there only being seven of them in the whole world, we sure are running into a lot of them.”

“That’s because they all spend most of their time in the Grand Line,” Masked Deuce said, keeping his voice low. “This is still getting a bit ridiculous though, but Jinbei at least makes sense. He’s from here. This is just bad luck on our part, maybe. He seemed like he was coming right over here until that guy called out to him.”

Picking up my empty bowl, I bumped it against Ace’s leg until he took it and placed it on the counter. Then I pawed at the pocket he had his money in. We couldn’t leave until we got our hands on some weird floating wooden block things Rayleigh had mentioned, so we needed to avoid accidentally dining and dashing, especially with Jinbei being right there. Not to mention any restocking we’d still need to do, though we’d made sure to fill up plenty on Sabaody. Shakky had warned us that the prices down here were often as bad as or worse than hers.

“Yeah, yeah, I got it,” Ace said, leaving plenty of money for our food on the counter. “We going to have trouble?” he asked me in a low voice. I paused for a moment and then shook my head, having been eavesdropping on Jinbei’s conversation with the merman. He was worried about us being a threat beyond what the guards and military could handle, and wanted to keep his eyes on us until we left the island, or deal with us himself if he had to.

Grinning, Ace clapped Masked Deuce on the shoulder. “It’ll be fine, Deuce. Captain says so.”

When Masked Deuce looked down at me in question, I deliberately flicked an ear. Realizing what I meant, he relaxed a bit. “Oh good. I’d like to enjoy this island instead of running for our lives while being chased for once.”

I huffed. It’s not like we got chased off every island, just most of them, and more than half of those times it was just me and Ace, the rest of the crew already safe and out at sea on the ship. Still, I could understand the sentiment.

“Well, since he’s not here to cause trouble,” Ace said, spinning around on his stool to face the rest of the room, “should we go say hi?”

Chapter Text

“My name is Portgas D. Ace, and this is Captain. It’s nice to meet you.”

Whatever Jinbei had been expecting of us when he barged in here, I knew it wasn’t Ace and I using all the manners Makino had taught us to politely bow and introduce ourselves to him and his friend. Masked Deuce was still at the counter behind us, head buried in his hands as he gave up on the situation.

Still, Makino was right in saying that manners could get you far. While he seemed shocked and disgruntled, Jinbei quickly gathered himself, roughly clearing his throat before speaking.

“I am aware of who you are. I am Jinbei, First Son of Sea, Captain of the Sun Pirates, and one of the seven warlords. What business do you have with me, Fire Fist?”

“Geez, can’t a guy just say hi?” Ace asked, straightening up and fixing his hat. “Besides, it seemed like you’re the one who had business with me first before your friend here called you out.”

“Ah, allow me to introduce myself,” the merman said. “I’m Aladine, Jinbei’s first mate.”

Nodding in his direction in greeting, Ace turned his attention back to Jinbei. “So, was I wrong?”

The look on Jinbei’s face was a bit scary, frowning so seriously like that with his two large fangs jutting up from his lower lip. I was so glad all my fangs fit in my mouth. Having any of them stick out like that just seemed uncomfortable to me, but I guess it was normal for him.

“You’re more dangerous and powerful than many of the pirates that pass through this island on their way to the New World. I came to warn you that I won’t allow you to harm the good folks who live here, and if you do, and somehow manage to get past or kill me like you did Hanafuda, the emperor of the sea, Whitebeard, won’t stand idly by. This island is under his protection.”

I blinked. Was Ace really seen as enough of a threat for Jinbei to personally come and warn him to behave while we were here? That’s not something I’d ever expected. Was it because we’d killed Hanafuda?

Ace frowned and crossed his arms. “Listen, my crew isn’t going to hurt anyone here, and Hanafuda had it coming to him. And how does Whitebeard protect you guys all the way down here? I thought he sailed the New World?”

“He does,” Jinbei said gruffly, “but the Good Old Man will sail to any of the islands under his protection if needed, and will send his crew after any troublemakers. You won’t know peace until you die if you cause trouble here.”

“And I just said we weren’t looking to cause trouble,” Ace huffed. “Wouldn’t say no to a spar though, if you’re interested.”

Jinbei seemed a bit taken aback. “A spar?”

Behind us, Masked Deuce groaned and muttered something under his breath that sounded like not again.

“Yeah, you know, a friendly fight? I’m always down for one, Captain too.”

I nodded and wagged my tail slowly when Jinbei glanced my way. Sparring Jinbei sounded like fun.

Chapter Text

Jinbei was boring. And stubborn. And didn’t want to spar. I thought a guy like him wouldn’t mind a spar, but he seemed more wary of us than I’d thought he’d be.

“I see no reason to entertain you.”

“Oh, come on. It’ll be fun,” Ace said with a grin. “What if I buy you food first?”

Jinbei scowled at Ace. “Are you trying to bribe me into sparring with food?”

“Is it working?”

“No. I don’t accept bribes of any kind.”

Ace slumped into a seat at the table. “Ugh, it worked last time, but I can respect that. Still a shame about the spar though, but, if we’re just going to keep talking, I’m getting more food.”

Aladine seemed a bit taken aback. “But you’ve already had fifteen servings?” I stared at him suspiciously. I knew he’d apparently recognized Ace and been keeping an eye on us since we’d come in, but he’d counted every dish we were served?

“Yeah,” Ace said, perking back up. “They were great, but there’s still several dishes on the menu I haven’t tried yet, and I want to try them all.”

I continued to stare at Aladine until he finally couldn’t ignore me anymore and looked down at me. I stared at him, and stared, and stared. Partially breaking eye contact, Aladine shifted uncomfortably. “Is there a reason your dog keeps staring at me like that?”

Ace spared me a glance and snorted, waving a hand. “Ask Captain, not me.”

“Ask…the dog?” Aladine was completely bewildered at this point, and while I didn’t look away from him, I could feel Jinbei now staring at me too. Hesitantly, Aladine spoke to me. “Uh…why are you staring at me?”

|| Because it is my job to keep an eye on you, first mate to first mate. ||

“First mate to first mate?” Aladine mumbled before jerking back in shock. “Wait a minute! The dog can spell with fire? But,” he said, pointing at Ace, “you’re Fire Fist, right? So, how…?”

At the bar, Masked Deuce wasn’t doing much to hide his laughter. “This never gets old,” I heard him chuckle under his breath. “The guys are gonna be pissed they missed this, and with a warlord no less.” What can I say? Sometimes our crew was a bunch of trolls who loved being on the inside of the neverending joke that was Ace and I.

“I’m Fire Fist, alright,” Ace said, letting his hand light up for a moment. Jinbei and Aladine were looking between the two of us repeatedly.

“A mythical zoan devil fruit user?” Jinbei asked, finally settling on staring at me. “I know of others that have gained fire powers along with their animal forms.”

A certain blue firebird came to mind. Jinbei would be familiar with Marco if nothing else, what with his relationship with the Whitebeard Pirates.

Pulling my attention away from Aladine, who’d stopped squirming under my stare after my fire had distracted him, I gave Jinbei an unimpressed look.

|| Wrong. Guess again. ||

Frowning, Jinbei looked between Ace and I again. “Either you’re bluffing, or you’ve trained your dog exceptionally well to help you play practical jokes on people.”

Ace’s laughter filled the restaurant, and it sounded like Masked Deuce was going to die from laughing too hard, having nearly fallen off his barstool.

“You—you hear that, Captain?” Ace gasped, clutching at his sides. “He—he thinks I trained you to do this, for—for a prank.”

“I fail to see what is so funny about this,” Jinbei harrumphed, which just set Ace off on a fresh round of trying to breathe while he laughed. Sometimes, I really, really wished that we had a camera.

I gave Jinbei and Aladine a sharp grin full of mischief. Sometimes messing with others was just too much fun.

Chapter Text

“Are you going to explain?” Jinbei asked irritably once Ace had calmed down and waved over a waitress to order more food. We’d even convinced Masked Deuce to come join us, though he seemed a bit uncomfortable, so I made sure to sit between him and Ace, pressing reassuringly against his leg.

“I kinda thought you might already know,” Ace said. “Guess you warlords don’t talk to each other much. Why should I tell you?”

“It’s hard to talk to a deadman,” Jinbei scowled, “and most of us warlords prefer to stay out of each other’s way. That many bold personalities tend to not get along.”

Ace made a thoughtful humming noise. “Yeah, I can see that, having met three of you now.”

“Three?” Jinbei glanced at Aladine who gave a tiny shake of his head. “Who was the third?”

Ace gave a cheeky grin. “You.”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.” Jinbei’s fist came down with a light thud on the table. Masked Deuce tensed up, so I leaned harder against him, feeling him press back. I’d honestly expected Jinbei to be more cool about everything, but he was staying fairly level headed despite Ace’s teasing, and I could smell the frustration and worry coming off him. “You’ve met me, and you killed Hanafuda. Who else did you meet? I can’t imagine it was Doflamingo or Hancock.”

“Why should I tell you? And why are you so hung up on the thing with Hanafuda?”

“Because as much as I didn’t like him, Hanafuda wasn’t weak, and it shows you’re willing to kill. A pirate on the Paradise side of the Red Line with the strength to take out a warlord is unprecedented, and the marines aren’t happy with you right now. Fleet Admiral Sengoku is calling for you to be brought in before you can grow into a bigger threat than you already are. It was specifically discussed at the last summons meeting I just came back from.”

Immediately the atmosphere around us changed. The whole restaurant seemed to feel it, the place falling quiet and still. “And are you,” Ace asked in a low voice, “going to try and bring me in? Cause we’ll be doing more than sparring if you try.”

“Is that a threat?”

“A promise.”

The two stared each other down, the tension in the air growing thicker by the second. I could feel Masked Deuce’s leg quivering against me. I wasn’t surprised, but also didn’t appreciate that Sengoku had basically given a blanket order to the warlords to bring Ace in.

Crocodile, Moria, and Hancock were all on the Paradise side, so I wasn’t worried about them. Hanafuda was dead, with no replacement yet, but I was pretty sure I knew who would fill his spot. Kuma still wasn’t a warlord after all. For now, that left Jinbei who was right in front of us, Doflamingo who tended to stick to his areas of influence, and Mihawk who wouldn’t do anything unless we ran into him first. I didn’t want to think about Kuma being told to chase us down once he became a warlord.

Finally, Jinbei broke the silence. “And if I said I won’t try to bring you in?”

“Then we’d be good,” Ace replied evenly, relaxing just a bit. Jinbei took several moments to think.

“I have one more question for you,” he said. When Ace nodded, Jinbei continued. “Did you kill Hanafuda simply because he tried to bring you in on the Fleet Admiral’s orders?”

“We killed him,” Ace said, reaching down to place a hand on my head, “because he hurt people under our protection, took them hostage against us, and planned to sell them into slavery once we’d played into his hand and been given over for our bounties.”

Like a bubble popping, the tense atmosphere melted away as Jinbei leaned back in his seat and gave Ace an odd look.

“You’re not what I expected.”

Ace smirked. “Good. Being predictable is no fun.”

For the first time, Jinbei was the one who laughed.

Chapter Text

|| Are there any places you would recommend visiting while we are here? ||

Aladine stroked his goatee thoughtfully. After having learned that Ace wasn’t quite the threat he thought he was, Jinbei had left, stating he had other business to attend to. What that business was, I didn’t know, but it hadn’t involved Aladine who’d stuck around, so I didn’t think it was Sun Pirate business.

“I suppose that depends on what you like to do.”

“Eat,” said Ace, finishing off his twenty-second plate. A few more and he’d have tried everything the restaurant had to offer.

“See cool places and check out bookstores,” Masked Deuce answered at the same time.

|| Eat and explore. ||

Aladine chuckled. “Well, that narrows things down quite a bit. Bookstores aren’t much of a thing here. Books and paper are hard to come by, and the ones we do have are expensive.”

“That makes sense, being so far under the ocean like this,” Masked Deuce said with a nod. “And all the water around here would make it easy for them to get damaged.”

“Exactly. As for food…” Aladine gave Ace a bemused look. “I think you’ve already got that one under control. Though, I still don’t know where you’re putting all of that.”

Ace grinned. “I was taught to eat as much as I could when I was on land because food has to be rationed at sea. It’s nice to be able to eat until I’m full.”

“You still eat more than the rest of us,” Masked Deuce said with a small frown. “Well, except for Captain. He eats pretty much like you do. I didn’t realize you were holding back so much though.”

Ace waved away Masked Deuce’s concerns, tossing a piece of food my way that I snapped out of the air. “It’s fine. It’s not like we go hungry. There’s just a difference between not being hungry and being full.” I nodded in agreement. We also weren’t burning energy on the ship the same way we had when we lived on Dawn Island. Sure, we trained a lot, but we weren’t running all over the place, and sparring was much more limited. It made it a bit easier to not eat as much.

“Wise words,” Aladine said. “There's a lot of restaurants and cafes on the island for you to choose from, but you’ve already stumbled on one of my favorites by coming here. Most humans that make it down here head for the Mermaid Cafe.”

“The rest of the crew is there,” Masked Deuce said since Ace had his mouth full. “We got separated from them earlier, and ended up here instead.”

“I see. I could help you reunite with them if you like.”

“It’s fine,” Ace piped in, setting his final dish aside. “We can find them later.”

|| What about places to explore? ||

“Well, if you want to explore, you should stay away from the Fishman District. It’s basically a death sentence for humans to go there.”

“I think Hack mentioned something about that,” Masked Deuce said, looking thoughtful. “He told me a bit about the late queen and how she tried to change relations between your kind and humans before being killed.”

“That’s correct, but you know Hack?” Aladine suddenly seemed far more interested than he had been.

“Uh, yeah.” Masked Deuce glanced at Ace, seeming a bit unsure.

“He’s a friend of my brother,” Ace filled in. “They sailed with us for a bit. Why?”

“Hack and Jinbei are good friends. They both have the same dream of achieving friendship between humans and fishmen, but while Jinbei prefers a diplomatic approach, Hack wants to do it through his fists.”

Guess that makes sense why Hack joined up with the revolutionaries then. Plenty of chances to put his fists to use helping fight wars across the world.

“Is he doing well? It’s been a long time since Jinbei has met up with him.”

“Yeah, he’s doing great.”

“That’s good.” Aladine gave us a big smile. “Jinbei will be happy to hear it.”

“So, this Fishman District place is no good to visit because of bad blood or whatever,” Ace said, leaning back in his chair.

“To put it lightly, yes. The Fishman District is the slums of Fishman Island, and the fishmen raised there have been raised with great hatred and violence towards humans. You’d be much better off heading the other direction and exploring near the Sea Forest if wandering around town doesn’t appeal to you.”

“A forest under the sea?” Ace smirked. “Now that sounds interesting.”

Chapter Text

“Look at that,” Masked Deuce said in quiet awe.

I had forgotten that the Sea Forest wasn’t only an impressive collection of fauna, trees, and fish, but also a ship graveyard. Wrecked and sunken ships that had been here so long that coral and other plant life had grown around and in them.

The only downside to the sight of ships and trees was just how aware I was made again of the bubble we were in. Fish, whales, and other creatures were swimming over our heads and it made that sensation of wrongness I’d felt our whole trip down here rear its head again. I’d never missed the sky and the sun so much in my life. And to think that there were probably many down here that never got the chance to see what I took for granted. A shiver ran down my spine.

“You probably saw many shipwrecks on your way here. This is the final destination for any that don’t find themselves lodged somewhere else along the way,” Aladine said. “The currents pull them here, and though the currents carry on, it’s not in a way that the ships can follow. Feel free to explore as you like, but avoid the area over there if you could,” he said, indicating an area in the distance where the sea forest started to develop hills.

“What’s over there?” Masked Deuce asked, looking up from his adventure journal that he’d whipped out and started writing in.

“Our graveyard, and the final resting place of the late queen.”

“Oh.”

“We’ll stay away,” Ace said with a nod. “What about the forest? Is there anything to hunt in there?

“I wouldn’t say so,” Aladine said, giving Ace another considering look. He’d been doing that a lot. “Not unless you want to hunt for some seafloor slugs and the like. It’s not populated in the same way as the forests on the surface are. We don’t have birds and bugs, and most living creatures down here need to be in the water to survive. You might find a crab colony.”

Ace made a face. “No thanks. I only eat slugs when I’m desperate, and crabs are more shell than meat half the time. I’d rather go check out all the ships. Think there’s any cool stuff to find on them?”

“It’s not impossible, but most of them are well picked over from how long they’ve been here.”

“Just means we have to look harder. C’mon, Captain. Bet I can find something cool before you. It’ll be like old times.”

Yes, except old times was digging through junk piles in the terminal, not scouring sunken wrecks on the ocean floor. Still, I gave a bark of agreement and took off, leaving Ace behind. I could use a little challenge to distract me from my unease, and as interesting as the ships might be, there was something else in this sea forest that I was curious to see if I could find. The poneglyph. Sure, I couldn't read it, and we weren't chasing after the One Piece, but I was curious to see one up close, and this was the only place where I knew to find one.

Chapter Text

The Sea Forest was eerie in my opinion. There was no wind blowing through the trees to make the branches move and the leaves rustle. No birds chirping and fluttering between branches. No squirrels, no snakes, no monkeys, no crickets, nothing, no sound at all. The whole place was quiet and still, as if it was dead, but looking around made it obvious that it was very much alive.

Everything smelled of the ocean and minerals, salt being rather prevalent. I did catch a scent of slugs, and crabs, like Aladine had warned, and following them got an angry crab clacking its pincer at me. The sound seemed overly loud in the silence.

I’d left Ace, Masked Deuce, and Aladine behind some time ago, just finding that I had the urge to run. Maybe to get rid of my unease. Maybe to combat the feeling of being cooped up in a bubble. Maybe because I just liked running. Maybe all of the above.

There were no creatures here for me to ask directions. The crabs and slugs here were unable to communicate with me beyond basic emotions. No scents to follow either. For the first time in a long time, I simply got to explore, running freely through the silent trees.

While the Sea Forest was big, it wasn’t that big, and with my speed I’d soon covered much of the area, eventually finding what I had been looking for.

The poneglyph sat as a silent monolith, the very area around it feeling a bit different for its presence. I knew the stones were big, but it really was huge seeing it up close like this. I sat on the ground in front of it, staring up at the strange letters and symbols. None of it made sense to me, and I hadn’t expected it to, but I already knew what this particular poneglyph said, and that it was missing its partner cube that used to sit beside it.

The missing red road poneglyph. If it had still been here in the story I knew, Luffy would have been the first to collect all four of them since Roger. He may still be, but the cube had been taken by someone unknown to an unknown place. Instead, all that remained was the regular poneglyph with Joyboy’s apology to the mermaid princess on it.

It made me think of the crybaby princess locked away in her room right this very minute. Was it wrong to not try and help? Perhaps. The number of places on Luffy’s journey that Ace and I overlapped with weren’t many, but this was the first one where we could really do something to overturn what I knew with more than just words. But, a story and reality were two different things. Getting entangled with the fishman royalty and the powder keg of bad blood on this island wasn’t something to be done easily or lightly.

I sighed and took a minute to scratch behind my ear. Luffy’s journey would be his journey, whether it ended up the way I remembered or not. Our journey was our journey, and probably vastly different than what Ace in the story had experienced. It wasn’t that I didn’t feel bad for the princess’ circumstances, but as he had always been, Ace was my top priority, and poking our noses around this particular issue just didn’t sound like a good idea. Besides, I wouldn’t even know where to start looking for the creepy stalker guy.

“Well, well, what do we have here? Can’t say I’ve ever seen a dog in the Sea Forest before. Looks like my day just got a bit more interesting, don!”

I paused in my scratching, lowering my back leg so I could look over my shoulder.

Don?

Chapter Text

“Of course I can help you with that.”

Den was some sort of eel merman with clovers tattooed on his arms, bushy white hair that was held in check by a brimmed black hat, glasses, and a pointy goatee. He liked to research the Sea Forest which is why he was here, but he was also a shipwright. That, combined with the “don” he liked to add to the end of his sentences helped me put it together.

I only vaguely remembered him even existing, and only that much because I actually met him, but Den had a connection to Franky because he was Tom’s younger brother, and I’m pretty sure he was the one who helped get the Sunny prepared to travel back to the surface.

Considering that I would bet my savings that the rest of the crew was still holed up at the Mermaid Cafe, and our group hadn’t been looking for someone to help us procure what we needed to set sail again either, this was a real stroke of luck. He’d be able to check over our coating and get us the floating wooden blocks we needed.

|| Thank you. ||

“No need for thanks. It’s my job after all, and pirate-dog or not, I’ll do it with a don! As long as I get paid I’m happy,” Den said as we made our way through the Sea Forest.

|| We would never skimp out on paying someone who works on our ship or looks after our crew’s wellbeing. ||

“That’s quite smart of you, don. It doesn’t end well for pirates that try to take advantage of us.”

I looked up at Den curiously. || Is that because of Jinbei or Whitebeard? ||

“Both,” Den said with a laugh. He was a rather cheery individual, always smiling and laughing. “If the guards don’t catch them, Boss Jinbei will, and if not him, Whitebeard’s crew will. I don’t envy them, don. We regular folk owe the two of them a lot for our safety. Whitebeard especially. I still remember the day he put his flag up here and declared our island to be part of his territory. Just thinking about it sends chills down my spine all over again, don. His crew stuck around for a few weeks for word to get around and the other pirates to realize he was serious. Lots of blood was shed in those few weeks, but none of it was fishman blood.”

|| What is he like? ||

“Who? Whitebeard?” Den stroked his goatee thoughtfully and laughed. “I don’t know the man personally, but he’s strong and seems like a well respected captain by his crew. Big fella too, with an impressive mustache, but I’m more interested in the main ship of his fleet. She’s a huge battleship called the Moby Dick, don, and she’s a real beauty. The entire front makes up the figurehead, based on a sperm whale. Impressive, truly. I commend whoever made her, you can tell they did their work with a don!”

It took us some time going at Den’s pace to make it back to the ship graveyard, but we took a much more straightforward path than my original winding one through the forest.

“Hey, Captain, you’re back,” Ace called out with a grin, waving down from the deck of one of the sunken ships. “Have a good run?”

I barked, tail wagging happily. It had been a good run, and an unexpectedly productive one at that.

Chapter Text

“How did you go on a run in a quiet forest and come back with someone who could help us with the ship?” Masked Deuce asked with a sigh while Ace and Aladine talked with Den about the particulars of getting our ship checked over and how long it would take. I was pretty sure Aladine had only involved himself so he could tell Jinbei how long we’d be here.

|| I—also—found—a—really—cool—big—rock—cube—with—weird—writing—on—it ||

“Sounds like I should’ve come with you,” Ace said, coming over and ruffling my fur. “Aladine was right about these ships being picked over.”

“I did warn you,” Aladine said with some amusement.

“Well, it’s not like we can expect every ship we find to be like the Heart of the Ice,” Masked Deuce said. No, that had been a special case, a rarity and a huge stroke of luck all in one. The mystery magic ice that refused to melt was a treasure unlike any other, and that wasn’t even mentioning all the other treasure we’d taken.

“True,” Ace said, jaw cracking with a yawn. The both of us were still behind on our sleep.

Frowning at Ace, Masked Deuce looked up and then over at Aladine and Den. “Do either of you know what time it is? I can’t tell what time it is by looking at the sun down here, and I don’t think the light has changed at all since we got here.”

“That’s because sunlight is constantly supplied by the Eve Tree down here,” Aladine said, folding his arms. “Day is day and night is day here on Fishman Island. And a good thing too. You’d have seen just how dark the ocean gets on your journey down here.”

We all nodded. Being cast into that kind of darkness every day would not be fun.

“It’s early afternoon though, if that helps,” Den added.

“It does actually,” Masked Deuce said, looking at Ace and I. “Where do you two want to settle down?”

Ace and I shared a look. “I vote for here, or maybe wherever you found that cool rock, Captain.” I nodded. Napping near the poneglyph would be fine.

“Lead the way then,” Masked Deuce said. “I’m curious just how cool this rock you found is.” I gave a sharp grin. Masked Deuce had no idea just how cool and important the poneglyph was.

“Can I ask what exactly it is that you’re doing?” Aladine cut in, looking vaguely concerned.

|| Taking a nap. ||

Aladine stared at my words in bewilderment for a long minute until I let them fade away.

“...What?” he asked. Den just laughed.

Chapter Text

Ace and Masked Deuce had been appropriately impressed with the poneglyph, but, for Ace at least, the feeling quickly wore off and somehow led to this.

“What do you think you’re doing?!”

Shifting a bit, Ace settled down more, using me as a pillow. “We already told you, taking a nap.”

“Up there?!”

“Yep.” Plopping his hat over his face, Ace ignored Aladine who was getting more and more worked up.

“You can’t just take a nap on top of the poneglyph! Get down from there!”

“Make us.”

I huffed, yawned, and closed my eyes. There was no way Aladine could make us get down from here. Not without picking a fight, and I doubted he’d do that. Too much risk of damaging the poneglyph, and we were stronger than him.

“This is ridiculous. That can’t even be comfortable. It’s a giant rock. If you have to nap out here, wouldn’t the ground be more comfortable?”

“It’s not bad. Nice and smooth, like sleeping on the floor. Besides, the ground here is sand. Do you know how uncomfortable getting sand in your clothes is?”

I heard Aladine heave a heavy sigh, and could only imagine the exasperated expression he must be wearing right now. As a merman, I wasn’t sure if he did understand the discomfort of getting sand in his clothes, or if something like that didn’t even phase him.

“Can’t you convince them to get down?”

“Don’t look at me,” Masked Deuce replied. Unlike us, he’d chosen to stay on the ground, staring at the strange writing on the poneglyph in fascination. Plus, with how tall and smooth the poneglyph was, he had no way to get up here, unlike Ace and I who had the muscle strength to simply jump up here. “Ace and Captain do what they want. Besides, they’re not hurting anything. They’re literally sleeping.”

“Yes, on a national treasure,” Aladine said with a groan. “I can’t believe this.”

Den’s jolly laughter filled the air. “These two are interesting. They do things their own way with a real don! I like them.”

“Why is this poneglyph thing such a big deal anyways?” Masked Deuce asked. “I mean, it’s cool and all, but…”

“Because it’s a relic of the void century with part of the true history of the world carved into it,” Aladine replied, his voice sounding far more serious. “The World Government has made it illegal to study the writings of the poneglyphs because of that.”

“The World Government?!”

“Kinda makes me want to learn how to read it just to piss them off more,” Ace whispered in a low voice that only I could hear. I cracked one eye open to look at Ace. Well, that would be a difficult thing to do, considering how few people were left in the world with any sort of ability to decipher or read the poneglyphs.

Would Robin even be willing to teach someone how to read the poneglyphs at this point? Something in me didn’t think so. The knowledge to be gained from the poneglyphs was too dangerous. She wouldn’t let that kind of ability get into the hands of just anyone. Maybe I could convince her with my best puppy-dog eyes. If I remembered right, I think she was weak to cute things.

Not that it mattered. She’d be working under Crocodile right now in Alabasta, far away from us and the New World.

Chapter Text

Hours later, after several detours to try more delicious food and hunt down the Mermaid Cafe to grab the rest of the crew, we made it back to the ship.

“You guys really missed out,” Saber said, a light flush of intoxication in his cheeks. “The mermaids at the cafe were amazing.”

“Better for us that they didn’t come,” Skull said, flinging an arm over Saber’s shoulder. “I bet they would have paid Captain more attention than us.”

“Yeah, both captains,” Aggie 68 added in with a serious nod. I’d had enough attention from strangers since arriving at this island thanks to all the children. I didn’t need fully grown mermaids fussing over me too.

“But Ace would have ignored them for the food,” Cornelia mumbled. “Better that only men who could really appreciate their beauty went.”

“I feel like I should feel insulted,” Ace said as the four of them started debating the beauty of the different mermaids they’d met at the cafe. I huffed while Masked Deuce buried his face in his hands with a groan.

“Can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think I’m glad I missed the mermaids and went with you two instead.”

Behind us, Den laughed. “You’ve got a small but lively crew. I like it, don!”

“Thanks,” Ace said, turning back to our guest. “Is there anything we can do to help you with those?” he asked, pointing to the funny floating wood called kuuigosu that Den had gone to pick up and attach to our ship while we wandered around. Aladine had parted ways with us after we left the Sea Forest, saying he had other things to do. I guess Ace and I napping on the poneglyph had been the final straw for him to decide we were strange but not out to start trouble.

“No thanks, but you should probably grab whoever your navigator is so I can explain this to them.”

“Hey, Skull!” Ace called out. “Get over here!”

The four of us spent the next little while getting lectured by Den about how the kuuigosu attached to our foremast worked. It basically boiled down to them being an unbelievably floaty wood that would lift our ship towards the surface. The more wood blocks we let out of the resin bubble, the faster we would rise.

“Do we need to worry about the bends?” Masked Deuce asked when Den was done with his explanation. “Normally, surfacing too fast would cause decompression sickness.”

“Nah, thanks to the resin bubble you don’t need to worry about that, don!” Den said with a smile. “It will keep the pressure you experience even the entire way up. Controlling your ascent speed is more about avoiding sea creatures, and currents you don’t want to get caught in, like the White Strom.”

“White Strom?” Masked Deuce asked.

“It’s a dangerous whirlpool current that appears out of nowhere and sweeps ships away. Most crews are never heard from again,” Den said.

“And how are we supposed to avoid a current that comes out of nowhere?”

Den laughed. “Some skill and mostly luck!”

“Great,” Masked Deuce groaned while Skull patted him on the back.

I wanted to say Luffy’s crew had been caught up in one, but I think they were safe because of whales or something. The details were fuzzy to be honest. We’d just have to hope our luck held and we didn’t run into the White Strom on our way up. We’d have enough waiting for us once we surfaced in the New World.

Chapter Text

The journey back to the surface was just as bad as the trip down to Fishman Island had been. Cold, dark, unsettling, and full of large unknown sea beasts beyond our sights. Luckily, there were no unexpected currents and everything left us alone. All of us were relieved when the faintest of light began to permeate the ocean around us before we finally breached the surface, our resin bubble bursting with an odd, sharp pop.

The disquiet I’d felt since the moment we first submerged at Sabaody finally disappeared, but there was no time to feel relieved because the waters we emerged on were rocky to say the least.

“Man the sails!” Ace shouted, with a grin. “And no going overboard, Captain! That’s an order!”

I huffed. You go overboard during a storm once and they’ll never let you forget it. I took my place at the helm, and soon enough it wasn’t just the waves we were fighting. Winds whipped up as clouds filled the sky. Snow and hail began to pelt us, and worse still were the large bolts of lightning cracking down around us. It felt like our ship was rolling to the boom of the thunder on the whitecaps.

“Since when does lightning happen during a snowstorm?” I heard Saber yell.

“It’s a rare phenomenon called thundersnow!” Mihar shouted back.

“Who cares what it’s called!” Ace called out. “If this is how the New World wants to greet us, let’s show it that a little storm won’t stop us!”

“Only you would call a storm like this little!” Masked Deuce shouted.

“Cyclones forming up ahead!” Skull shouted.

“Ace, stop jinxing us!”

I huffed a laugh and turned the wheel at Skull’s call. This was like leaving behind Crocus at the lighthouse all over again. And considering how wild the magnetic forces of the islands were supposed to be here in the New World compared to Paradise, I could only imagine what sorts of weird weather and sailing we’d run into from now on.

With a lurch our ship jerked into the air along with a bunch of water as all around us large jets and streams of water rose out of the ocean like snakes, arcing and curving before crashing back down into the ocean. Well, that was new, and unexpected. I quickly turned the wheel again to avoid steering us off the edge of the current we were riding on.

“What. The. Hell?!” Most of the crew screamed as one.

“Ace! You’re banned from downplaying the weather ever again!”

“What?! How is this my fault?”

“It just is!”

Chapter Text

“What do you think?” Ace asked as we both looked down at the logpose on his wrist. The middle needle was wiggling back and forth erratically, and neither of the side needles were still either, though their movement was far less. Greater movement meant more unstable magnetic fields, and an island with wild weather or other phenomena. My brain wanted to say the wildly moving middle needle would lead us to an island that constantly rained lightning.

If Rayleigh was to be believed, there was a good chance marines would be waiting for us on route to any of the three islands the logpose was currently locked onto. For all the mystery of the New World, these three islands were the known starter islands so to speak. That’s why he’d told us how to reach two other islands, bypassing these three completely, but following the instructions he’d given was going to be a lot harder than I’d thought when the needles we were supposed to base our movement off of wouldn’t stay still.

Risk getting lost at sea, or risk running into the marines? Neither were great options.

“News Coo is here!” Aggie 68 called out, catching our attention and giving me an epiphany.

Well, now I felt stupid. Why was I worried about getting lost at sea? Worst comes to worst, we had eyes in the sky that we could easily bribe with food and shiny things to help us find our way. In fact, I had something I wanted to ask today’s News Coo that could help Ace and I decide which way to sail.

[Excuse me,] I said, walking up to today’s News Coo. She’d exchanged the traditional News Coo cap for a blue aviator helmet with the newspaper’s logo painted on the sides and goggles. Too bad Caboose was sleeping right now. He’d love to see a hat like this. [Would you mind if I asked you a question?]

[Oh, dearie me, not at all,] the News Coo said, puffing up proudly. [I’m happy to help, but say, aren’t you that famous captain-dog? I’m Earheart, and It’s a real treat to meet you. I’ve heard all about how you, you know. Being a pirate captain as a dog is a real feat. Most impressive. How’d you do it? Getting all these humans to listen to you?]

[I’m not the captain, my name is just Captain. I’m actually the first mate, and I didn’t do anything to make them listen. They just do.]

Earheart narrowed her beady bird eyes and stared at me. I stared back, and it didn’t take long for her to cave with a ruffle of her feathers. [Fine. Keep your secrets then, but you really shouldn’t be so modest. Now, what was it you wanted to ask me?]

[We just arrived in the New World, but we’re looking for a famous pirate named Red-haired Shanks. Do you by chance know which direction we might find him?]

[Is he the fella with bright red hair and three scars over one of his eyes? Missing an arm too, if I remember right?]

[Yes, that’s him.] My tail wagged slowly. Being able to talk to the News Coos made things so much easier.

[I’ve stopped at his ship several times. Really likes to drink, that one does. Odd fella too. Has coconut trees on the back of his ship, like he’s trying to pretend it's an island or something.]

Earheart turned to look out over the ocean, muttering to herself. [Now, was it this way I last saw him? No, no. Maybe, that way? Oh, no-no-no. I think that way was… But the day before that I swear it was over there…]

[Earheart?] I asked as more time passed and her muttering just made me more concerned. [It’s okay if you don’t know.] Her whole body seemed to slump.

[I’m sorry,] she said softly, glancing back at me over her wing. [It’s rather embarrassing to admit really, since I’m a News Coo and all, but I’m pretty lousy with directions. It doesn’t help that the ocean currents are always moving the islands around willy-nilly as they please.]

My ears drooped a bit. That was not how it worked, not even close. I’d just wait for another day and a different News Coo. Taking directions from Earheart sounded just about as bad as getting them from Zoro. For now, Ace and I would just pick a destination and go for it.

Chapter Text

“So, we’re skipping all the islands the logpose is pointing towards?”

“Yep,” Ace said, drawing a card, shifting through his hand and discarding a different one that had Masked Deuce scowling.

“Can’t you ever discard something I actually need?”

“Nope.”

Grumbling, Masked Deuce drew his own card. With a frustrated sigh he discarded after a long moment of contemplation.

“Just what I needed,” Skull said with a grin, plucking the card up. “I’m out.”

“Dammit! I knew I should have discarded the other one.” Masked Deuce slumped in his seat, forehead thunking against the table.

Throwing his cards down, Ace rocked back on his chair and gave my ears a scratch. “I offered to trade you seats.”

“No,” Masked Deuce snapped, turning his head to pout at us. “Because then I have to deal with what Skull discards.” Skull just cackled, looking a bit too gleeful at the misery he could cause.

“Suit yourself,” Ace said with a shrug, checking the logpose on his wrist and then glancing out the open door to the deck to compare the ship’s heading.

“Still good?” Skull asked, gathering up the cards and pushing them towards Masked Deuce to shuffle for the next round. Skull and Ace were banned from shuffling because Masked Deuce accused them of rigging the deck when they did.

Ace hummed. “Mostly. It’s a bit harder to tell this way, but I’ll go take over the wheel from Aggie 68 for a bit after one more hand.”

The sound of cards thwapping against each other as Masked Deuce shuffled was the only sound for a bit. Knocking the cards against the table to straighten them out, Masked Deuce cleared his throat and started dealing out his hand.

“Why did you and Captain choose this route? Not that we don’t trust you, but it just seems a bit risky to not follow the logpose on the most dangerous sea in the world.”

The front legs of Ace’s chair thumped down on the floor as he stopped scratching my ears and snatched up his starting hand for the round. “Rayleigh recommended it, and it sounded fun.” It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the whole truth either. Part of me wondered how long we could keep the crew from getting suspicious about the excessive number of marines that were probably going to be chasing after us from now on. Part of me wondered if it wouldn’t have been better to leave the crew behind in Paradise where they could handle themselves and not get caught up in this. Part of me wondered just how much longer this little crew of ours would even exist now that we sailed on the same sea as Whitebeard.

“Did he say what kind of island it’s going to be?” Skull asked, picking up from the pile.

“Nah. Said he wouldn’t take all the mystery and fun out of it for us.”

“A little heads up would have been nice, maybe,” Masked Deuce said with a pout while rearranging his hand.

“The surprise is half the fun,” Skull countered. “Saber, Aggie 68, and I were thinking of starting up a betting board for what we think we’ll run into now that we’re in the New World. There’s supposed to be all sorts of crazy stuff in this ocean.”

|| What—are—you—betting? ||

“Money and chores.”

Too bad we were skipping the island that rained lightning. I could have won a bunch off of that. Still, this could be fun.

|| I—bet—we—find—man-eating—plants. ||

Chapter Text

Skip the first set of islands the logpose registers Rayleigh said. It will help you avoid the marines he said. Yeah, sure. Avoid the marines and sail right into a completely different kind of trouble that was just as bad in its own way.

“Am I seeing things, or is that ship literally made of food?” Masked Deuce asked, handing the spyglass over to Skull who confirmed it.

“Made of food and flying Big Mom’s flag.”

“You’re joking,” Saber said, snatching the spyglass from Skull. “Lemme see.” He lowered the spyglass a moment later. “You’re not joking.”

“Nope.”

“How can you even make a ship out of food? Wouldn’t it get all soggy and sink?” Aggie 68 asked, scratching at his head. If I didn’t know about Big Mom’s devil fruit, and all the food-based devil fruits her kids had, I’d agree, but I was sure it was some combination of their abilities, and they probably ate and replaced ships on the regular like they did with buildings.

“I never want to get close enough to the Big Mom pirates to learn the answer to that,” Cornelia muttered.

“Tough luck then,” Saber said, looking through the spyglass again. “Because their ship is adjusting their sails and turning this way. I think they’ve spotted us too.”

As one they all turned to Ace and me. Holding out his hand, Ace took the spyglass from Saber, and looked through it for a long moment. “Think it tastes any good?”

“Of course you’d asked that,” Masked Deuce said with a sigh. “What do you two want to do?”

“Normally, I avoid burning food, but I’d make an exception for this,” Ace said, continuing to look over the ship. “Huh, call me crazy, but I think that’s a lion wearing a pink suit.”

What?

Getting Ace’s attention, I had him help me look through the spyglass until I could see what he’d seen. Sure enough, that was the lion guy from Zou. His name was something that started with a P. Oh boy. I couldn’t remember how big of a deal he was since he’d gotten the rough end of things, but he seemed to always accompany someone else from what I could remember, like Bege or that weird egg-chicken guy.

The question was, who was he accompanying this time, and was the confrontation worth it, or should we try to escape?

“I hate to be the bearer of more bad news,” Skull said, taking back the spyglass and taking another look, “but their ship looks to be way bigger than ours. Running might buy us a couple of hours, but unless they have no interest in chasing us, or the weather creates a miracle, they’ll overtake us sooner than later.”

“Guess that just leaves one question then,” Ace said, resting his hand on my head and rubbing at one of my ears. “Are you guys ready to fight part of an Emperor's crew?”

“Hell no,” Masked Deuce said after the crew exchanged quick looks, stepping forward with a frown and locking eyes with me, “but, for you and Captain, we’ll do it anyway. They’re the ones who picked the fight with us, and we’ll either finish the fight they started or die trying.”

Chapter Text

Rip. Tear. Crunch. Tackle. Burn.

Protect the crew. Herd Masked Deuce to an area where Mihar can provide cover fire. Don’t let any of them get singled out and surrounded.

Attack the enemy. Drive back the waves of homies and card soldiers that are threatening to overwhelm Saber and Cornelia and invade our ship.

Set fire to the weird restraints trying to bind Skull and Aggie 68.

Always track Ace, never let anyone or anything come up behind him. Watch for the lion and the egg guy. They’re the real threats here, especially the egg guy.

For every homie and card soldier that fell, another three took their place, but this wasn’t Totto Land. There had to be a limit to them, unless the mirror lady could be connected to a ship this far out and keep feeding soldiers through, but I didn’t think so. Just to be safe, a little more fire never hurt anyone.

“Gaoh! How dare you set our ship on fire! You’re going to pay for that!” The lion-guy roared, lifting up his sunglasses to glare at us with beady little eyes. His whole body was trembling in anger.

The egg guy next to him pulled the tea cup off his head and took a long sip. “Indeed, soir. I didn’t think we’d need to get so involved, but the card soldiers and homies are obviously not enough to deal with you, and we need them to focus on putting the fires out.”

Like I’d let them. This whole ship was creepy and deserved to burn to ash and sink to the bottom of the ocean. Just like Luffy’s power had been far more disturbing in person when I’d first been exposed to it, Big Mom’s ability to anthropomorphize literally anything was disturbing on a whole other level. If Luffy’s power was akin to body horror, the results of Big Mom’s power were an eldritch nightmare.

Doors shouldn’t be able to call out battle advice. Cannonballs shouldn’t literally sing of death and destruction as they fly through the air. Ropes moving of their own accord and laughing gleefully as they tried to strangle the crew was unsettling.

All of it could burn and die. I’d make sure the fire didn’t spread to our own ship. The Hell’s Guardian had suffered its first real damage in this fight, but it was all blunt force and ripped sails. Not a single spark would harm our ship, not on my watch.

“Bon, I’ll deal with Fire Fist,” the egg guy said, putting his teacup back on his head and twirling his cane. “His logia powers are most annoying.”

“Just annoying?” Ace huffed and flexed his fingers. “Guess I’ll have to start putting in some actual effort.”

Egg guy scoffed. “Half-boiled logias. Always so cocksure, soir. It will be your downfall. It’s not too late to hand over your dog and spare the rest of your raw paltry crew.”

Ace grinned, something sharp and wicked as most of his body started to glow with flames. “Not even over my dead body.”

“Bon, we shall see about that.”