Credit to Hachi, it was only a couple more minutes before our food was ready, and once we cleaned up the mess from Sandersonia's little… dive into the liquor cabinet, we kicked out the snake-Zoan and decamped to the Sunny's pavilion to eat.
What? We all wanted to eat together, and if we tried to pack all of our crews into Takoyaki 8, we'd probably blow the roof off the place sooner rather than later. Probably not even on purpose. We'd take a lot more care on board our own boat, which was more sturdy anyway. Hachi had been grateful… right up until Nami insisted that the Takoyaki 8 staff join us.
Verbally, Nami said that she just thought it was fair that Takoyaki 8's crew all take a load off and share in the feast they'd prepared. And honestly? She did mean that statement. In regard to Camie and Pappug, anyway. The glare that our navigator directed at the fishmen, however, said in no uncertain terms, 'You made me stay in hell at your side when I was an inch from death, now suck it up and do the same.'
And so it was that what would have been a return to our casual everyday insanity instead became a delicious feast with two of the relevant parties silently resenting each other's presence and giving the whole thing a tense (though thankfully hidden, so the affair wasn't quite as awkward as it could have been) undertone. And with Brook preoccupied with his favourite food and unable to provide the soothing undertones to help ease the tension, I think Nami was fully aware that something was going to give, and it wasn't going to be pretty. And I'm pretty sure that's exactly what she wanted: a round two, with at minimum two of the fishmen, and a chance to personally hand them their leathery asses on a silver platter.
Still, for now, most everyone else was blissfully oblivious of the weight hanging heavy in the atmosphere and Nami and the non-standard Takoyaki employees glaring at one another, and Tashigi and I were doing our damnedest to pretend it wasn't there. It wasn't really working.
"…So, uh…" I hid a quick grimace in my cup before addressing the Marine sitting across from me. "Tashigi, how's work going?"
"Er…" Tashigi took one glance at the line of soon-to-be-real lightning that was coursing between Nami and Kuroobi before turning back to me. "W-Well enough. Right now, the fleet's been working with a task force from Headquarters. We've been working on sorting out the remnants of the Golden Lion Pirates."
"Huh?" Luffy looked over and tilted his head in innocent, ignorant confusion. "You're still taking care of those guys? But wasn't that weeks ago?"
The lieutenant snapped a flat glare at our captain. "Well, the delays in prosecution might have something to do with our Judicial Island—no matter how bloody and unscrupulous it was revealed to be—being burned to the ground in a raging storm of hellfire."
"Eh?" Luffy's head tilted further, his expression becoming doubly confused. "But you guys did that yourselves."
Tashigi snarled to herself, the takoyaki stick in her hand snapping into splinters. "Must not punch, must not—!"
"Oh, no, go right ahead, it's very therapeutic," I interrupted.
"Wait, wha—?" THWACK! "MMPH!" Luffy mumbled through his heavily puckered face.
"…wow, that was therapeutic!" Tashigi whistled appreciatively as she opened and closed her fist. "Anyway, yeah, processing has been a little slow lately, and there are a lot of them, so we've been pitching in to offer some space as everyone's shuffled around. Not exactly the safest or easiest job, as you can imagine, but we're putting a steady stream of them through the Court Ships, so we should be done in about, oh, a week or two? Thereabouts. Honestly, I couldn't care less what we do about those degenerates…" The lieutenant sank into her seat with a blissful, euphoric sigh. "Because there are other parts of this process that I am enamoured with…"
Well, it didn't take a genius to put those toddler-aged puzzle pieces together. "Found some Grade Swords, I take it?" I politely inquired.
"Seven Skillfuls and two Greats so far!" Tashigi outright squeed, clasping her hands and wiggling in her seat like she was talking about her crush… which, admittedly, wasn't that far off.
"Oh? That so?" I leaned forward, an eager grin on my face. That was actually pretty impressive! "Any particularly interesting ones in the—?"
Then the glorious moment came crashing down with a single noise.
"Tch."
With that single scoff, the whole deck went still, and the heavy air I'd been so close to successfully ignoring cranked up to new heights.
I slowly turned in my seat to give Chew a perfectly flat look. "Something you want to say, chum?"
The smelt-whiting scoffed and turned up his nose (and lips). "Nothing for you if you don't see it already, idiot."
My eyes narrowed slightly. "You lost the right to call anybody an idiot the day Arlong Park fell."
He blinked and then glared. "Why, because we made the mistake of challenging your crew?"
"No, because you fell for Usopp's 'Rubber-Band-of-Doom-flinch-and-run' trick."
Chew went crimson, and several others graced him with looks as painfully flat as mine. Including Kuroobi.
"I thought you said he used another smoke bomb," the ray growled, condescension and rage dripping from every syllable.
"And you're taking his word over mine!?" Chew snapped.
"USOPP RUBBER BAND OF DOOOOM!"
"GAH!" The fishman snapped his arms over his head with a panicked flinch. After about a second, he lowered them, expression thunderous and pointed anywhere but at Kuroobi and Soundbite. "I hate you, snail."
"HEEHEEHEEhoohoohoo!"
"Honestly, Chew, I expected that from Hatchan, but you?" Nami asked, a sadistic teasing hint in her voice. It helped that Hachi was once again covering his face with all six of his hands to hide a blush. Or maybe that was a sextuple facepalm. Hard to tell.
Everyone else was still busy trying to stifle their snickers, and for a minute, I thought that that might be the end of the trouble.
SMASH!
And then Kuroobi put his fist through the barrel he and Chew had been using as a table, and we were right back to square one.
"The reason he scoffed was because of the blatant, unashamed hypocrisy you're showing right now, Jeremiah Cross," Kuroobi stated in a tone of utter hatred, glaring me dead in the eye.
…he went there. They actually went there. They were actually going to try and—?
Well. Alright, then. On their heads be it.
Moving slowly and calmly, I got out of my seat, slipped Soundbite off my shoulder, and firmly planted him on the table, my eyes never moving from the fishmen. "Would you care to say that to my face, sir?"
"With pleasure," Kuroobi snarled as he and Chew stood up. Slowly, we each took a step towards each other, then another.
"This isn't your fight, Cross!" Nami hissed in my ear, even though she was glaring at me from across the deck.
"It wasn't my fight when this was about your past with them!" I snarled back through grit teeth, and a quick sweep of my eyes to the side passed that message to the rest of the crew. "This? This is an entirely different beast, and it and they are MINE."
That prompted the crewmates who'd been gearing up for a fight to let go of their weapons and marginally relax, aside from the ones who silently (though not without force) prevented Hachi from stopping his friends. Billy, for his part, had draped his wings over Nami and was holding them there, I assumed at her request to keep her from lashing out. Meaning it was now just me… and them.
The three of us met up in the middle of the lawn, standing barely two feet apart from one another. The fishmen each towered two heads above me and used that to glare down at me like I was a particularly repugnant insect. Of course, I matched them ire for ire, so the effect was diminished just a tad.
"If you would be so kind as to repeat and elaborate on your statement, please," I 'requested'.
"I called you a hypocrite, Jeremiah Cross, because of your blatant fraternizing with a Marine when you've made it your life's mission to tear them down," Kuroobi sneered. "How do you think your adoring public would feel to find your words are as worthless as you are?"
I withheld my urge to roll my eyes at the ludicrously weak blow, and simply settled for crossing my arms and giving him a patiently unimpressed stare. "I hear what you're saying. You know nothing of my work and clearly wouldn't know nuance if it slapped you in your face.
My stance has always been that the majority of the Navy's ranks are rotten and corrupt, and that there's a sizeable minority of just Marines who actually follow the ideals the organization was founded on. I've met the bastards you describe, but I also know Lieutenant Tashigi, who is a true and honest soldier of Justice. Simply put…" I tightened my grip on my forearms and laid down the gauntlet. "There are all kinds of Marines, good and bad. To dismiss the prior because of the existence of the latter is either stupidity or malice."
"Chew," Chew derisively spat to the side. "You're delusional. Bad is bad, and good is good. That's all there is. All there'll ever be."
I allowed myself a slight scowl. "That so? Well then…" I pivoted to the side and pointed my thumb at Koala, who was staring at the two with naked hostility. "What's your take on her, then, hm?"
Now that caught them off guard, effectively putting them on the back foot. "Th-That's—!" Kuroobi started to protest.
"An exception?" I queried oh-so-innocently, nodding in agreement. "Aye, true enough, but here's the thing: You make an exception for her, you open up the floodgates so that not only can the whole of humanity be regarded with the rule…" I stepped up and jabbed the ray fishman in his chest, forcing him to take a step back. "But you allow for this rule to be reflected back on yourself. J'accuse, asshat."
"She's an exception because she knows the pain of the fishmen firsthand," Kuroobi retorted with depressing speed. I guess that his bigotry was as good a mental insulator as my indignant temerity. "She's not the only one who does, I admit that…" He raised his chin pompously. "But you are most certainly not in that group."
I waved him off impatiently. "I'm not, and I admitted as much before the world. But that sure as hell doesn't mean it's impossible for me to sympathize with the cause."
"Or, you know," Koala interjected coldly. "The rest of the very much human soldiers of the Revolutionary Army who respect my karate instructor Hack, who's a brocade perch fishman, and who are always pushing for us to set up a field office on Fishman Island. Just, you know, as an example."
I was grateful for Koala's comment, because the shocked and stricken looks the fishmen shot her way were the perfect opening for me. "As has been oh-so-nicely demonstrated, good and bad, however you define it, exist in all places and people, regardless of species. Folks like Hachi and Hack are perfect examples of the goodness in the fishman species…" I scowled as my grip on my temper started to fray. "Whereas there are still more bastards who serve as examples of everything wrong with your people. Bastards like you two."
"Bastards like Arlong," Nami snarled from the sidelines, the clouds around her crackling on the edge between cloud and raw electricity. And I'd bet a thousand beri that it was only Billy absorbing some of the voltage that kept it from tipping over that edge.
Chew and Kuroobi tried to glare at her, but the display of meteorological superiority made them decide to refocus their ire on me. And with the current subject at a standstill, I decided to backtrack a bit.
"Since I had to make that clear to you in the first place, I'm guessing that you didn't catch much of the SBS while you were in the slammer?"
Both of them glowered more.
"Everything Arlong and we did was justified by you damned humans, chew!" Chew snapped, slamming a threatening stomp down in my direction. "The abuse, the slavery—!"
"Ahem?"
The long-lipped fishman was cut off as all attention turned to Camie, who was staring down her co-workers (a classification I suspect she had serious doubts about by this point). "Considering what your old friends, the Macros, were planning to do to me and have done in the past, and how Mister Cross reacted to that, you have less of a leg to stand on than I do."
"Or," I butted in as Kuroobi started to open his mouth. "When you take into account the shit you bastards were involved in back on Conomi!"
As you can expect, by this point, both of them were red in the face with indignant fury, but it wasn't like I was much better either. I was used to fighting ignorance and bigotry via one-sided conversations and tirades. Facing bigotry head-on, face-to-face? This was a whole other ballpark, and if it hadn't been for my friends backing me up, I don't think I would have been able to handle it. As it was, though, I was already getting dangerously—!
"You've shown the evidence of how humans can be themselves, Jeremiah Cross!" Oh, hey, there was Kuroobi stomping on the accelerator! "We may not have heard everything that happened in Enies Lobby, but we've heard enough! All of those operations, all of those assassins—!"
"Primarily committed against humans!" I cut in, but the ray-man summarily ignored me and plowed on.
"And I think the biggest proof you gave was the one in charge of it all. What was it, Spandam?"
"Oh, piss off!" I swung my hand out, my exasperation rapidly mounting. "Not even you can be stupid enough to think all humans are as bad as that walking waste of dust!"
"There are enough who are, chew," Chew responded, visibly trembling with outrage. "Enough that both of the most respected heroes of our race died at their hands! Big Bro Tiger, and Queen Otohime!"
…It might have just been the fact that my newly refreshed memories allowed me to see the late queen of Ryugu in all of her benevolence. Or maybe it was the memory of the hatred that tore her away from the world, or maybe it was the pain of the only person in the world who knew that secret. Frankly, it didn't matter which.
"You bastards are the ones who burned the petition for the Reverie!" Chew all but spat in my face, slamming his finger in my chest hard enough that I was almost definitely going to bruise. "You're the ones who assassinated Queen Otohime!"
I swear I felt a few wires short-circuit in my brain at the mere thought of being associated with that fucking tragedy, and I showed as much when I split my lips with a snarl. "That's a lie!"
I was vaguely aware of a clatter coming from where Koala was sitting, and I noted her hastily shoving herself to her feet. "Ah, Cross—!" she tried to intervene.
"Don't even try and deny it, scum!" Kuroobi shoved his roaring face in mine, Chew matching the motion as the pair cocked their shoulders back, undoubtedly in preparation to rush me. "Hody captured the—!"
ALRIGHT, THAT FUCKING TEARS IT, YOU WANT TO PLAY—! "THAT LYING BASTARD HODY JONES WAS THE ONE WHO SHOT OTOHIME IN COLD BLOOD!" I roared at the top of my—!
I knew I'd fucked up the second the words left my mouth, but by that point, considering how the entire damn deck froze, it was a little 'too little too late' on that front. I vaguely heard the crashes of anyone carrying anything dropping it, and I barely noticed Camie, Hachi, and Koala all gaping at me from out the corner of my eye, but the two giants towering over me, paralyzed from pure shock, held my attention. For however long that shock lasted.
I slowly clenched my eyes shut with a tortured groan. "Oh, checkmate."
I braced for the inevitable and… I'll be frank, probably deserved by this point, beatdown that was coming my way—
SLAM!
Only for a not-insignificant impact to shake the lawn (though not the boat) beneath me as something heavy dropped onto it.
"I trust, Jeremiah Cross, that you have strong evidence to support such an accusation?"
My eyes snapped open at the unfamiliar but very stern and very powerful voice that had just rumbled above me. And considering that Kuroobi and Chew looked, if anything, even more stunned…
"…That was Jinbe landing right behind me, wasn't it?" I inquired tersely.
The pair of them slowly inclined their heads.
"…he's been here the entire time, hasn't he?"
"Most of it, but I thought you were on a DECENT ROLL…" Soundbite informed me regretfully before gulping audibly. "DIDN'T SEE THE CRIT COMING…"
I slammed my hand to my face and raked my iron-coated fingers down in despair. "Soundbite, my dear partner in crime… someday—possibly today—you withholding knowledge from me is going to get me killed. And I promise you that if it does…" I cast a sidelong snarl his way. "It will only be after I kill you first."
"Noted," the snail whimpered.
"I am waiting, 'Voice of Anarchy' Jeremiah Cross. Waiting and recalling the not insignificant size of your bounty."
I took a deep breath, very slowly and deliberately, and let it hiss out. Then I repeated the process, taking full advantage of the fact that Jinbe was a reasonable fishman to get my thoughts back in order. Then, when I'd managed to banish the majority of my panic from my mind and get half an idea of what I was going to say, I turned my back on the two bigots and eyed the infinitely more dangerous individual who was currently pissed with me.
The first thing that caught my eye was an orange-and-red kimono with flame patterns dotted all over it, secured by an emerald-green obi. The arms were crossed, pale blue fists on the ends of the sleeves, and my eyes darted down to see matching feet in a pair of geta. Then, with as much boldness as I could manage, I raised my eyes to look him in the eye.
…Let me make one thing perfectly clear: I may have been reckless to the point of seeming suicidal, willing to taunt friends and enemies alike to my possible peril. But don't think for a second that I'm not still rightfully intimidated when I'm staring up at someone that I knew had at least a chance of taking on our entire crew and winning, most likely without even a scratch. Especially when someone was four feet taller than me, outweighed me by what I'm pretty sure was a literal metric ton of pure muscle, was one of the strongest people on the face of the damn planet, and was currently occupied with glaring at me.
And worst of all, more pressing than any threats to my life possibly could have been… was that a bad first impression, specifically one as bad as this one was shaping up to be, could kill any chance of one of our future crewmates joining our ranks! And that just wasn't an acceptable outcome.
And so, with a not-insignificant amount of difficulty, I regathered the strength of will I'd previously mustered and set my jaw. I was still scared out of my wits, but I'd been scared when I'd faced down Eneru, and just like back then, I knew exactly what to say. I opened my mouth—
And then another thought struck me, and I snapped my head away from Jinbe to look at my captain instead. "Luffy…" I groaned desperately. Because while I wouldn't if he didn't want me to, I really, really, really wanted to! And practically needed to, at this—
"Say whatever you think you need to, Cross."
Luffy's response was so fast and sure that it brought me up short. Looking at him, I saw that he had his serious face on. Then, after a moment, he gave me a reassuring smile. Sighing in relief, I smiled back and then returned my gaze to the Warlord, staring straight into his eyes.
"With all due respect, sir…" I started in a cool tone. "What's more likely? That Otohime just so happened to get shot by a human the same day someone set fire to the petition box, and Hody was so overcome with rage he forgot his orders not to show the shooter…" I glanced aside to run the scene over in my head one more time. "Or that he put the box to the torch like he and the rest of his cronies had been torching other petitioners' houses and set the whole thing up?"
I could see the hesitation come into Jinbe's eyes, eclipsing the rage. I made to say something, and then another thought came to mind. Glancing at my partner, I whispered a few words. It would be a long time before he could look back and laugh at the reference:
"Search your feelings. You know it to be true," Soundbite rumbled in James Earl Jones' voice.
I nodded in innocent agreement. "The snail has a point. Bluntly worded, but a point."
"Bastard!" Soundbite hissed incredulously in my ear.
"Bite me!" I sniped back, but I hastily refocused on the Warlord at hand, taking a defiant step forward. "Again, a point: Jinbe, this isn't a surprise to you. You've known Hody for years, and for years you've known there's something wrong with him. And not like Arlong, either. Arlong started off good, relatively anyways, but circumstances pushed him over the edge and that's tragic." I shook my head. "But not Hody. From the start, he's always given you a bad feeling, and something always felt off about that day, about how everything went down. Think back, Jinbe! Remember the truth… or better yet—!" I snapped my fingers and pointed at the whale shark-fishman.
Thankfully, my message was well received, and before anyone could react, Popora had dashed over from halfway across the deck, leapfrogged off my head, and cracked his mallet down on Jinbe's head, and—!
~o~
"A human came into our kingdom! AND KILLED OUR QUEEN!"
~o~
—And left us all reeling from the surge of images and emotions that had just slammed us, Jinbe in particular clutching his skull with a groan.
"What the hell—?" he started, but I pressed the advantage before he could get any further.
"Look at him, Jinbe!" I demanded, cementing the image of the 'shooter' Hody was holding in my mind. "Come on, you've been a Warlord for nearly a decade now, you've seen plenty of humans! Does he look anywhere near right to you!?"
"Actually… he looks pretty damn familiar to me!" Sanji spoke up, his eyes blazing furiously. "Atrophied muscles, gaunt skin tone, sunken eyes? Yeah, that's something I recognize all too well. That man was the textbook definition of starved! If he ate anything over the week before that day, it was gruel! Thin gruel! He was a day from keeling over dead, easy!"
"Hrm, let's see…" Chopper hummed. "Extreme undernourishment. A slew of symptoms, including extreme weight loss, a bulging belly from edema, skin rashes from vitamin deficiencies, and inability to concentrate!
"Wait, can't concentrate?!" Usopp squawked incredulously. "But you all must have been nearly a half-mile away from her, maybe even more! A shot like that, you don't make it by chance! It needs precision, timing, and concentration! A crack shot! That guy? He'd have been lucky to hit the broadside of a decrepit sea king!"
"And that's discounting the biggest issue of all: motive," Vivi said. "What did a total stranger like him gain from killing the queen?"
"He didn't need a reason."
All eyes turned back to Kuroobi and Chew, the former of whom was shivering with rage. "He was a human, he—!"
"Are you going to try to turn this back on racism?" Vivi cut in. "Because there's a big problem with that if what Cross is saying about Hody is true. Recall that we've already proven that all individuals, regardless of species or organization, can have their morality range from positive to negative. But because the 'shooter' was killed upon capture, we'll never know where on the spectrum he fell. This Hody Jones character, however? From what I've gathered from this conversation, his stance has been clear for years."
She raised her palms, level, weighing the options in each hand. "All that's left at this point is to apply Occam's Razor: who killed the queen, the human with neither the ability nor a clear motive, or the infamous criminal with more than enough capacity and every possible motive? The answer is clear if you ask me."
I took a moment to bask in just how gloriously on the ball all my crewmates were before picking up the torch to drive things home. Given how tortured Jinbe looked, I honestly didn't want to. But fuck it, if it meant I could make Hody suffer even one second sooner than when we'd plant our boots up his ass, then I'd take it!
"Jinbe," I spoke up, drawing his attention back down to me. "I know this hurts you like nothing else, and I'm sorry I blurted it out without warning… but you can't deny the truth. You can't deny what was missed all those years ago, and you can't deny what you've always known about him. The truth is plain for all here to see: Hody Jones was the one who killed Queen Otohime."
Painful silence descended on the deck. Then, all at once, every denizen of the deep (and one denizen adjacent) onboard opened their mouths, the same question echoed six times in their expressions, but before they could voice it-
SPLOOSH!
"WAAAGH!"
They were all interrupted as something breached the surface next to the Sunny, the resulting waves knocking about half of us on our asses. Before anyone could ask what the heck had just happened, a different, and far more pressing question was asked. And in a deep, attention-grabbing, and most importantly, familiar Australian accent at that:
"H-How in the name of Oceanus do y'know who killed Queen Otohime!?"
In the time it took us to turn and identify the speaker, he asked another question:
"Wha—and how am I talking!? Wait...oh, no, I'm talking!"
I identified the original owner of the voice just as I identified who'd spoken, and both facts threw me for a loop, leaving me dazed on my feet and gaping like an idiot. "…OK, couple of things," I choked out, raising my hand to knead my forehead. "First, Soundbite, how the fuck? Second, however, the fuck, you've grossly misjudged the person you're giving Bruce's voice to. And third, and most importantly, this is getting ridiculous; things cannot possibly line up this well for me! I blurt out one of the biggest secrets of the century, and who else is here to hear me but not only the individual best suited for taking Hody Jones out of the picture, but also the only one who saw it happen!?"
And indeed, it was before my very shocked eyes that none other than… well, the royal megalodon, Megalo, was floating alongside the Thousand Sunny and staring at us in horror, his fins clamped over his titanic maw.
"ALRIGHT, WHO'S THE JACKASS BOTHERING OUR SEA KINGS!?"
The moment was a bit ruined by Barto's hollering from the deck of the Cannibal, but it was a short ruining.
"A VIP from Fishman Island popping up for a visit for some reason," I informed him. I hoped Barto would realize he had absolutely no reason to yell…
"WELL, DOES HE HAVE TO BE HERE!?"
But hey, dreams were made to be dashed.
"Seeing as he's a key piece to an impromptu plan I've only just stumbled into, yes!"
"...DAMN. ALRIGHT, JUST KEEP HIM AWAY FROM OUR GUYS, WILL YA!?"
"Will do." I shot Barto a parting thumbs-up before getting my head back in the game and voicing the first question that came to mind. "And getting back on topic, I'd very much like to reiterate my first point: Soundbite, how!?" I gestured from the snail to Megalo. "He's a fish! I thought—!?"
"I've been practicing FOR MONTHS, and I've been on the same ship as a vocal aquidae for THE LAST FEW HOURS," Soundbite answered, a little snappishly. "AND BESIDES, it's like LABOON; heck of a lot EASIER when they grow up surrounded by people WHO SPEAK HUMAN. DON'T QUITE HAVE THE LINGO FOR ANYFISH, but domestics are fine for now."
"?(°Д°≡°Д°)?" Gif queried, snapping her eyestalks back and forth between me and the gigashark.
"I'm with the heli-snail. Who is this, and why should we care?" Su asked with a raised brow… as much as she ever raised them, anyway.
"That's Megalo," Pappug announced, hopping on the railing. "He's Princess Shirahoshi's pet, a retainer for the royal family, and one of my high-end customers. What brings you up here, Megalo? Need a new shirt?"
"Ah-I-ah…" the shark stammered. He shook his head, which seemed to break through whatever block he'd had. "I… I came here to see Hachi, but—!"
"NYUUUU!/GYAAAA! WE FORGOT!"
Everyone jumped as a pair of panicked howls rang out across the deck, and we all turned to see Hachi and Camie in the process of completely flipping out.
"THE ROYAL FAMILY'S MONTHLY BANQUET!" the pair wailed.
That comment broke through the gravity of the situation for me; I whistled in awe, leaning towards Pappug. "Wow, you guys have been catering to the Ryugu royal family?"
"Mm-hm!" the starfish nodded proudly. "And we've even got you lot to thank for it! One of the royal guards stopped by to eat and listen to the SBS while he was on break, he took some leftovers back with him for later, and… well, one thing led to another. It's been quite beneficial for us, let me tell you. Although…" He grimaced as he watched his co-workers panic. "There are still a few… barnacles to work out, so to speak?"
"IN ALL THE CONFUSION, WE FORGOT TO PREPARE IT!" Hachi hollered in dismay.
"AND BECAUSE OF THE MARINES' ORDER, WE'RE OUT OF FRESH INGREDIENTS AND THE FAMILY'S FAVORITE TOPPINGS!" Camie wailed.
"What are those ingredients?"
Both fishman and mermaid paused in their panic long enough to stare at Sanji and the dugongs.
"What are those ingredients?" Boss repeated. "We may not be as fast as a mermaid, but we can cover a lot more ground with six of us, regardless."
"And I'll help you on the griddle," Sanji declared, rolling up his sleeves. "You'll probably have to make the sauce yourself, though, I probably won't be able to resist stealing it."
"Y-You're guests!" Hachi protested. "I-I couldn't—!"
"Octopus," Sanji interrupted. "I'm a chef. I know about rushes. I couldn't call myself a chef if I let you face that alone."
"And it'll endear him to Camie," Zoro added.
"And it'll endear me to—DAMMIT, MOSSHEAD!"
"As for us, the Flying Fish Riders clearly showed us that we need to work on our underwater speed," Boss picked up as Zoro and Sanji butted heads again, irritably grinding his cigar between his teeth. "This'll be a good first step."
"And it'll get us away from Cross's latest zany scheme!" Leo added, accompanied by a trio of nods. Hey, I… wasn't that bad!
"Ah… r-right, right…" Hachi muttered, counting on his fingers. "Right… okay, this can work! Dugongs! Follow Camie's orders to a T! We don't want any poisoned customers!" Hachi ordered with half of his no-longer-flailing hands, while his other half gestured back at Takoyaki 8. "I'll fire up the grill and give Sanji a crash-course with what ingredients we have! GOGOGO!"
And with that, everyone involved leapt overboard, frantic to cook a feast literally fit for a king and his family. The rest of us watched in bemusement as they all but flew either back into Takoyaki 8 or overboard, slamming the doors and into the surf at breakneck speeds, and that bemusement lingered for a good few seconds.
Then I returned everyone's attention to the matter at hand with a conspicuous cough. Megalo froze under the sidelong glance I gave him, caught halfway to slipping into the surf. "You are not going anywhere, blubber-ass," I informed him. "You're the one who honked that foghorn, and believe you me, that's something you cannot take back. Now say it for the audience."
"H-H-How—!?" he stammered, in far more hesitant a tone than I think the original owner of his voice ever took.
"Not relevant and not something I want leaking beyond what's necessary, and stop trying to change the damn subject," I ordered.
And then I grimaced and glanced aside uncomfortably as I remembered why this was only coming up now. And as much as it killed me, I also knew how to break his vow of silence… maybe… hopefully? C'mon, bullshit, don't fail me now.
Acting based on my gut, I jabbed my elbow, right, he wouldn't notice that… I jabbed my fist in Jinbe's side and pointed out the megalodon. "Help me with this logjam, would you?"
The whale-shark-man glanced incredulously down at me, but he went along with it and cleared his throat, eyeing the real shark warily. "Megalo… all these years, you knew?"
"I… I…" Megalo curled in on himself with a tearful whimper, shaking his head miserably. "I saw everything… the whole thing…"
"And you didn't say anything!?" the Knight of the Sea suddenly roared. "Do you have any idea—!?"
"Ahem?" I coughed, eyeing him intently. "He did tell someone. Which is the exact problem?"
I flinched under Jinbe's gaze, but it was a short-lived gaze. I could all but see the gears grinding in his head as he made the relevant connections: Megalo to Shirahoshi, and from there the crybaby princess to—!
The titanic Warlord loosed a massively tired groan, apparently overcome with an onset of overwhelming exhaustion. He sank into a sitting position on the lawn, miserably gripping the bridge of his nose. "Oh, damn it, Princess…" he lamented.
"A little exposition for those of us who aren't Cross would be nice," Merry cut in.
"I'll tell you all later," Koala replied. I shot her a look of gratitude, and the look I got in response made it clear that she was expecting me to fill in the blanks that she couldn't, which had me waving her off now. After all, at the moment I had bigger fish to—er, you get the idea.
"Megalo," I said, drawing the shark's tearful gaze. "I understand why Shirahoshi told you to do what you did, and I even respect it; it's taken more strength and responsibility than anyone her age should bear to stay silent…" I heaved a sigh of defeat. "But it also doesn't change the fact that she was wrong."
"HEY!" Megalo barked at full volume, snarling and displaying more aggression than I think I'd ever seen him show, be it in this life or my prior one. "PRINCESS SHIRAHOSHI WAS FOLLOWING HER MOTHER'S FINAL WISHES!"
"To the detriment of the Ryugu Kingdom!" I countered just as heatedly, emphasizing the point with a slap of my palm on the railing. "Look, I'm not insulting Shirahoshi, Megalo, nor the late queen! Otohime's last wishes were noble, and it's incredible that Shirahoshi's followed them all this time, but both actions were undertaken under the wrong context!"
Fury gave way to confusion, which I took as a sign to continue.
Or at least, I would have if Jinbe's rumbling growl didn't cut me off. "If Otohime's assassination had been a mere one-off. A lone, crazed gunman acting out of his own personal hatred, then letting him fade into anonymity, while ultimately undesirable, would be… Acceptable. Barely, but acceptable… Except…" He looked at me with a sad expression. "Except that this isn't that, is it?"
I shook my head in confirmation of the denial. "Not with Hody. Hody's hatred neither started nor ended with Otohime. Rather, she was an obstacle. He…" I hissed out a sigh, dragging my fingers through my hair. "In his own words, as Arlong proclaimed himself to be the rage of the fishmen, Hody Jones has literally become the incarnation of their hatred, the hatred they all hold towards humankind. His only reason for… for literally anything in life is to inflict pain on humanity. And he will stop at nothing to achieve that goal; all costs are acceptable. Even other fishmen, sympathizer or detractor alike. Queen Otohime wasn't a milestone for him, but a stepping stone. And he'll step on a hundred more, a thousand more, a million… as many as it takes, so long as it ultimately gets him what he wants. Mark my words: Hody Jones will not stop until he sees the human world set aflame… even if he needs to reduce Fishman Island to ashes to do it."
I leaned forward and stared Megalo dead in the eye. "Trying to stop new hatred from being born won't work, Megalo. Not when we're still trying to fight the original strain from all those years ago! So please, please…!"
The titanic shark grimaced, visibly tortured by the decision I was forcing on it, and I was honestly a bit regretful for having to force it on him. But, well, to reiterate, I had to force it on him, for everyone's good.
And finally, Megalo curled in on himself with a tortured groan that I was most thankful for (and damn did it hurt that I was thankful for another sapient's pain, but desperate times and all that…).
"I-I… a-all these years, and it still d-doesn't feel real…" he said. "I-I was going for a swim when I heard about the fire, s-so, of course, I hurried to the plaza as fast as I could. When I got there, though…" He shook his head. "I-I didn't know! He was a guard, he was in uniform, I thought he was putting up a perimeter, I thought…"
Megalo went silent for a moment before croaking on. "It was all so fast. I heard the bang, I heard the screams, I looked for the shooter…" His eyes snapped shut, massive tears dribbling down his cheeks. "And… there it was. A gun, in his hands, barrel smoking." The shark raised his nose and gazed into the heavens. "Then a hole opened up in the ground behind him, and that human was spat out. The guard shot him, picked him up and…" He concluded the tale with a massively tired sigh. "And then he showed him to the crowd, and everything went straight to Charybdis. That's when I ran."
If Jinbe hadn't already been sitting down, I'm fairly certain his legs would have given out from that confirmation. Silence fell across the deck as the truth sank in; the masquerade made to engender hate was torn away, revealing the truth beneath. The anguish in the whale shark fishman's expression was plain to see; faced with Megalo's testimony, he could no longer deny the truth.
…If only his former crewmates were of a similar mind. But no, much to my chagrin, Kuroobi and Chew's hatred was ingrained too deeply in them for them to accept such a blow to their worldview without exhausting every possibility first. And so began the chain of events that would eventually lead to what, in the future, my crewmates would affectionately refer to as 'The Verbal Blitz.'
"Th-The snail must be changing the words up, chew! He's lying! He must be!"
I could hear the desperation in Chew's voice, and the fact that he himself doubted his own words helped soften my rage, but only from 'apocalyptic' to 'infernal'. And I wasn't the only directing their anger towards the two remnants of the Arlong Empire, like, say, everyone on deck. One individual's ire was particularly pertinent.
"No."
"Who—?" Kuroobi started.
"I said no," Pappug repeated, waddling right up to the fishmen, his coworkers, and glaring them dead in the eye. "You may not be able to understand Megalo without Soundbite's translation, but I can. And I can tell you that all the snail was doing was echoing what Megalo was saying. No matter what you say, I'll take the word of a retainer to the royal family any day."
"…You… you sympathize with them, you could just be saying that to—"
Chew fell silent as Pappug, much like Megalo a couple of minutes ago, adopted a look fiercer than I ever imagined possible on his face.
"Don't you DARE. To insult my loyalty to my kingdom!" he snapped, jabbing his own chest with one of his arms. "I respect the Straw Hats to hell and back, yes, but I would never disgrace the memory of Queen Otohime by helping them lie about her demise!"
Chew's voice died. Kuroobi picked up the bargaining with a slightly less anger-inducing argument: "But he—! But this—! Jinbe, you can't believe them! They're talking about Hody! They don't know him as we do; they don't know what they're talking about!"
"No…"
The pair were stunned into silence by the solemn reply, and they could only gape as the whale-shark fishman slowly rose to his feet, turning to Kuroobi and Chew with a look that was more tired than angry.
"No," he repeated. "The only ones who don't know what they're talking about are you."
"Huh!?" they chorused.
Jinbe snarled, flashing his fangs. "Let me be clear to both of you: You weren't there. You haven't been back to the kingdom in over a decade, so you have no idea what it's become like down there." The Warlord let out a sad huff. "You don't know Hody, not like me. You haven't seen what he's done, the monster he's turned into. You weren't at Gyoncorde Plaza; you didn't see his eyes that day. You didn't see the hate."
"Jinbe…" they pleaded desperately. Jinbe turned his back to them… and his face to me.
"Jeremiah Cross. In recent years, pirate ships have been disappearing en route to the island. Initially, I thought it was just the Flying Dutchman and its crew getting up to its old tricks, but now…"
"…if Hody hasn't reached some kind of agreement with Vander Decken yet?" I responded, my tone dark and quiet; I was still struggling to keep my anger under control. "Then yeah, I'd say it's most likely him. New 'recruits' for the New Fishman Pirates. After all, you can't fight a revolution without an army."
"You have a better word than 'recruits', don't you?" Sandersonia murmured, glowering at me over the lip of her mug.
"Yeah. 'Slaves'," I grinned madly as I spread my arms wide. "But hey, it's alright! Let's forget all about the generations of blood and tears that weigh down those chains and pick 'em right on up! After all…" my mad grin rotted into a scowl. "They're just humans."
That was the extent to which their bigoted pride could blind them. The ray and smelt-whiting swayed, nearly falling over as horror and disgust wracked their frames. Words fell from their lips that I don't think they were fully conscious of…
"Why… why would he—!?"
That was the last thing I heard before everything got… blurry.
-o-
Luffy observed the goings-on between his crew, his old enemies, and the Warlord who seemed to be in the middle of it all with some reluctance. This was Cross's sort of thing, not his, but he knew that he couldn't say that. Not anymore. Even as he attempted to focus on the current situation, his mind wandered to how things had changed.
Cross had been almost a spur-of-the-moment choice for Luffy way back in the East Blue; he and Soundbite were awesome, sure, and they had become even more awesome since then, but Luffy hadn't planned on inviting anyone else to join his crew before they left for the Grand Line. But when he saw the state that Cross was in, it was easy for him to put the pieces together, thanks to his life on Mt. Corvo: whether he was shipwrecked or a runaway, he was lost. And Luffy had seen hope in his eyes when he met him, a hope that felt familiar thanks to his brothers. So he had extended the invitation, despite his crew's objections, and the conversation that followed confirmed to Luffy that he had made the right choice.
It was only a few weeks later that he learned exactly what was behind the hope in Cross's eyes. Luffy had known Cross was smart, but the whole 'other world' thing put everything in a new perspective. Learning the adventure ahead of time still repulsed him, so he was quick to keep Cross from telling them anything that wasn't really important. Maybe there would be something, but he didn't need to think about it too hard, right?
And then he found out that Sabo was alive, and Ace would have died. Even after all of this time, the revelations about the two most important people to him before he found his crew shook Luffy to the core. And then he lost to Crocodile and almost died. Twice. He won the third time, but it stuck in his mind how far Crocodile pushed him. And then Vivi had been given a bounty for trying to save her country, and by the same bastards that killed—no… almost killed Sabo. He knew his journey to become the Pirate King wouldn't be easy, but he had trusted that everything would work out all right.
But Alabasta shook him. He was strong enough to protect his friends from anyone who tried to hurt them with weapons or fists, but only barely; he had almost died three times. He needed to get stronger. And even then, he couldn't hurt the ones who hurt Vivi. But Cross could. The mystery bastard gave Cross the key to using his mystery knowledge to shake the entire world in retaliation. Luffy had let him. He had kept letting him, ignoring whatever spoilers he shared with Zoro, Nami, and Vivi, so that he could do what Luffy couldn't. And at that time, Luffy truly understood just how much power Cross's knowledge gave him.
And then Cross started bringing others into the crew. Luffy had always planned on having a small crew, only about ten people, but that had changed along with everything else; his crew doubled in size when they left Alabasta and grew further with every island they visited, either in crewmates or allies. Luffy was never mad about it; every single person or animal who joined was awesome, but in the aftermath of Alabasta, he'd had to re-evaluate his plans. He had assigned Cross to make the plans because he was smarter, and while Luffy's stance on that hadn't changed since Whiskey Peak, his outlook had. The journey was going to be harder and more out of control than he thought, and he needed to be stronger… and not just in body.
He took Cross's advice and started practicing with his Devil Fruit before they left for the Sky Island. Thanks to that, he was able to save Conis and Su from Enel, which soon led them to join his crew. That was proof enough that getting smarter was good despite the headaches thinking too much produced, but he got it hammered home after Navarone, when Cross matched wits with a Vice Admiral and won. Luffy had vowed to himself that day that he would actively try to be smarter… just so that he could potentially pay his grandpa back for all of the hell he put them through. He was a Vice Admiral too, so that would work, right?
The next island only added to his growing proof. Luffy's anger had been kindled from the moment that he met Foxy, and he chose to beat him at his own game. Wits and traps had allowed a weakling to push Luffy almost as far as Crocodile did in their last match. And then came Admiral Aokiji. Cross's knowledge was the only thing that actually hurt the admiral, and the admiral's parting words hurt his crew more than the beatdown he had given them ever could. That had been the final straw; seeing what a few choice words from an enemy did to his crew, seeing the despair in Robin's eyes, he did the only thing he could to prepare them against that in the future, and put his trust in Cross to forewarn them.
Even with all of that, he almost died in his next big fight. He couldn't lose… but he did. The words of his friends and crewmates, the reminder that Lucci would hurt the ones he had vowed to protect, spurred him on and allowed him to win, but it had exhausted him to an extent that he hadn't known since Porchemy's interrogation. Then there was Merry. Cross had bargained for a miracle to save her, and he got it, but it shouldn't have come to that in the first place. Cross had done everything he could to forewarn them and protect her, and it hadn't been enough. Even knowing the future didn't guarantee he could change it. Thriller Bark was more proof of that; Cross's plan went perfectly, and then everything went wrong. Luffy exhausted himself against Moria, leaving him out cold and unable to protect his crew when another Warlord showed up.
Luffy couldn't hold anything against Zoro, or Nami for that matter; it had sunk in that all of them would give their lives for each other, even though they wouldn't have to, because they would keep getting stronger and stronger. This time, like the previous times, Luffy's anger at what had happened and what his crew had to do was swallowed up in the relief that they still won, and they were all still alive. Even after all of this time, he still had that trust that everything would work out all right. Even when he came up against Shiki, someone who fought Roger himself, that was still the case.
But it was only now, seeing Cross's memory refreshed as he saw what Luffy somehow knew to be Ace dying, seeing Cross brought to tears by the memory, that he made the connection in his mind: Cross felt even more of a burden than he did. Luffy's job as captain was to protect his crew, and to do that, he was the strongest of them all. He knew he could protect them from anyone who tried to hurt them. Cross didn't, and yet because of how much he knew about them and their future, he still felt like he had to… and his burden wasn't limited to just the Straw Hat Pirates, either.
And that was what broke through Luffy's mind once and for all. He knew there were still things Cross could do that he couldn't, and he knew he told only a select few of the crew his plans because they were good at keeping secrets. But if Luffy being ignorant was forcing an even heavier burden than his on Cross and those crewmates, then he was done with it. He knew well by now that Cross couldn't spoil the fun of the adventure by telling them about it ahead of time, and if that was the case, then he had no excuse to keep closing his eyes and plugging his ears.
So he watched, and he listened as Cross fought and everyone reacted. He saw a Warlord come on board and heard him threaten his crewmate. He gave his consent for Cross to say whatever he had to without a second thought. He saw Cross slowly wear down their old enemies. He heard the ones who weren't on his crew help Cross until their old enemies could no longer deny the horrible truth. He saw them sink to their knees, broken, and heard them speak words that were hardly coherent.
"Why… why would he—!?"
"Why…"
And then he saw and heard as, for the second time in all the time that he'd known him, Cross well and truly snapped.
"Why… why!? WHYYY!?"
Acting on his instincts and way too much experience with Ace (though this was the first time it actually worked), Luffy snapped his arm out and snagged his tactician by his collar. And not a second too soon either, as literally a second later, Cross roared in primal fury and lunged at the bastard fishmen on the deck, honest-to-goodness murder in every inch of his frame and his gauntlets still reaching for their throats. At the same time, he saw Zoro and Conis silently putting themselves in front of Lassoo and Funkfreed before they could go to their partner's aid.
Not that they really needed to, seeing as the weapon-Zoans (and how cool was that? Living weapons! His crew was just the best!) weren't doing anything more serious than just growling and pawing at the deck; they'd probably be a lot harder to stop if Cross actually called them…
"WHY THE HELL DO YOU THINK, YOU BASTARDS!?"
Except there wasn't any chance of that happening because Cross was still out of his mind. Like, seriously out of it, white eyes and… was that—? Yeah, foam, just a bit, out of the corner of his mouth. Eesh, Luffy didn't think he'd ever seen Ace…? Oh, no, no, now he remembered, it was that time one of the nobles just literally walked over him while they were sneaking through Goa. It didn't hurt or anything, but that didn't stop Ace from almost ripping the guy's—
"Woops!" Luffy cursed under his breath and hastily resecured his grip on Cross's shirt instead of his jacket, on account of Cross almost slipping free of his outer layer. Deciding to avoid any more near misses, Luffy pulled his head out of his memories of the good old days and refocused on the good old present.
"YOU'RE THE ONES WHO FUCKING TOLD HIM TO!" Cross was raging, spittle flying without care or control. "YOU TOLD ALL OF THEM! HODY, DOSUN, ZEO, DARUMA, IKAROS! YOU PREACHED SCRIPTURE AT THEM AND THEY FUCKING FOLLOWED IT TO A T!"
"W-We never told them to—!" the ray-guy tried to protest, reeling back from the human half his size in terror.
"YOU DIDN'T NEED TO!" Cross cut him off, swinging his arms wildly as he did his best to get at their necks. "YOU SPENT THEIR MOST MALLEABLE YEARS TELLING AN ENTIRE FUCKING GENERATION THAT HUMANS WERE THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL, THAT THEY WERE TO BE HATED AND DESPISED, NO MATTER THE COST! WHAT THE HELL ELSE DID YOU EXPECT?! THAT THEY WOULD JUST OH-SO-NICELY APPLY FUCKING NUANCE?! CONSIDER ANYTHING OTHER THAN HATE, EVEN IF IT HURTS THEM OR ANY OTHER FISH-OR-MERFOLK IN THE PROCESS?! MERCY, COMPASSION, COMMON-FUCKING-DECENCY! BECAUSE OF YOU, THOSE WORDS MEAN NOTHING TO THEM! THEY'RE NOT EVEN PEOPLE ANYMORE, JUST WALKING CORPSES FILLED WITH HATE! YOUR HATE!"
Wow, talk about a rant. Briefly, Luffy debated whether to stop this. On the one hand, it was going on kinda long time. But on the other hand, Cross probably needed to get this off his chest, and all that talk about 'malleable years' was actually kinda interesting. Something to ask Cross about later?
"BECAUSE OF YOU WORTHLESS SKIDMARKS, HODY AND THE REST HAVE HURT THOUSANDS, WILL HURT THOUSANDS MORE, BUT NOT BEFORE I TEAR OUT YOUR FUCKING TONGUES AND SHOVE THEM—!"
Oops, okay, maybe it was time to stop things—oh, wait, no, that was Koala's hand grabbing Cross's neck. To Luffy's relief, his third mate immediately choked off into a gurgle and slumped over, unconscious. As a quick shake from Luffy confirmed.
"Phew, thanks, Koala!" the rubber man grinned at the new friend.
The blonde shrugged casually as she hefted her unconscious ally onto her shoulder. "Not a problem, that was starting to get inappropriate even for this situation. If it's alright with you, I'm going to take him somewhere quiet, help him cool down before he hurts someone… or himself."
"Oh, yeah, that'd be great!" Luffy's grin extended into outright beaming, and he jabbed his thumb towards the Sunny's rear—er, aft. "Go ahead and use the Aquarium Lounge. I don't think there's anyone in there right now."
"Got it, thanks." And with that, Koala would have set off… if the repeat offenders on deck didn't choose to open their mouths one last time.
"Chew…" Chew audibly sighed in relief, wiping a layer of sweat from his forehead and smiling gratefully at Koala. He then walked forward and made to pat his hand on the Revolutionary's shoulder. "Thanks for that, Koala. For a second there, chew, I was actually worried about the little—!"
SMACK!
And just like that, the tension ratcheted right back up to maximum as Koala batted the smelt-whiting fishman's hand away and fixed him with a chilling look. Not even angry, just cold and emotionless.
"Don't touch me," she ordered, and nearly everyone who heard the words shivered from the sheer level of utter contempt packed into the sentence. Luffy, though, just watched impassively.
"Buh-I-wha—?!" Chew sputtered incredulously, trying and failing to find the words for what had just happened.
Kuroobi, however, had no such problems (or at least fewer). "What the hell, Koala?!" he demanded, stomping towards the Revolutionary. "It's been over a decade since we last saw each other, but now you're snubbing us! Treating us like—like we're—!"
"Like you're what?" Koala inquired in her still-placid tone, meeting his panicked gaze with her calm one. "Like you're enemies? The enemy? Scum of the earth, even? All inaccurate, I assure you. My opinion regarding you two is far below such lofty stations."
"Why are you saying this, chew!?" Chew demanded. "Koala, we're your friends!"
Luffy frowned. Why on earth did they think that? It was pretty obvious that she really didn't like them. The only conclusion he could come to was that they were idiots, so that was at least correctable. As the ambient temperature plummeted even further, he made his move.
"Uh, no, she isn't," he said in disdainful confusion.
"What he said. I have never been friends with you." The words were delivered calmly and clearly, and she weathered the stricken looks the fishmen shot her and aborted any attempt to protest Luffy's declaration. "You appear confused, so allow me to clarify: you see, I was friends with a ray fishman and a smelt-whiting fishman who were also called Kuroobi and Chew, back when I was younger. But they were Sun Pirates. Good pirates. Good people."
She shook her head in slow, disappointed denial. "But they're dead now. They died when Tiger died. And you? You might have their names and their faces, but you're nothing like them. You're Arlong Pirates. I wouldn't be caught dead being friendly with you. And I can't imagine there's a single self-respecting person above or below the seas who would be."
Koala punctuated the lecture's conclusion by repositioning Cross on her shoulder and giving the fishmen a curt nod.
"Have a nice day."
In the silence that resounded following Koala's final statement, the closing of the lounge's door blasted out like a cannonball detonation. Still, awkward as the deck-wide hesitation was, Luffy was actually a little grateful for it. After all, it gave him a chance to catch up with things and actually (ugh) think about everything that had just happened.
"Mm… ngh!" Luffy grimaced as he hastily abandoned that ill-conceived course of action. Seriously, he had no idea why anyone else would do something so dumb, like thinking he'd save using his brain for life-and-death situations, thank you very much!
Tashigi broke the silence after a minute. "Popora, would reviving that many memories at once have amplified the feelings that he felt from them?"
The strange creature (rabbit-wolf! With a hammer! So cool!) folded his arms in contemplation. Then he shrugged and gestured to the door that had just closed.
"'Based on that, apparently," Tashigi translated, sighing and rubbing her forehead. "I shouldn't have used up that mood-lifter so soon."
Luffy's grimace deepened briefly, but he shook it off; he would need to talk to Cross later, but his third mate was in good hands for now. With that problem done, his eyes scanned over the deck, and immediately fell on the only fishman onboard whom he hadn't met, and who seemed to be a good guy.
"Anyway, nice to meet you! I'm Monkey D. Luffy, Captain of the Straw Hat Pirates!" he said, extending a hand to said fishman.
Jinbe blinked, not doing anything, which was fine, because Luffy got that reaction a lot. Then he too broke into a smile and returned Luffy's handshake.
"Jinbe, Captain of the Sun Pirates and Warlord of the Seas. It's... honestly a pleasure to meet you, Luffy."
"Shishishi!" Luffy snickered as his grin extended to its normal, comfortable width. Honestly, all the complicated stuff and big emotions that were flying around could go soak their heads. If the rubber man only knew one thing, it was that today was turning out to be a very good day.
-o-
With everyone's attention diverted to what could easily be defined as the World Government's worst nightmare coming to life, nobody paid much mind to the morally defeated fishmen as they stumbled aside, all but dead on their feet.
"How…" Kuroobi choked, images of someone he had last seen as a future member of their crew clashing with the form of their beloved queen; the smiling slave girl with the cold Revolutionary that scorned them; their sobbing captain as he lay dying, with their laughing captain as he gloated over bringing another human into chains.
"…How could things have gone so wrong?"
Chew was in complete agreement, still unable to see how preaching their message about the past with humans and the way to treat them had carried over to murdering Otohime. Arlong himself would have led a lynching against anyone on their crew who would have dared to kill a fellow fishman, human sympathizer or no. And a threat to their queen? Arlong would have torn their throat out personally.
So… So for it to be someone who'd worshipped Arlong so thoroughly, who'd held onto his every word, who they remembered so clearly…
"I don't know," Chew sighed miserably.
"No?"
Both stiffened at the voice in their ears, and they snapped their heads around to stare at the other, previously neglected half of the Voices of Anarchy.
"You still don't get it? Well, then…" Soundbite swayed his neck side to side, piping in the neck cracks his body lacked the bones to produce naturally. "WELL THEN, LET ME HELP. Because if I need to listen TO CROSS GO THROUGH EMOTIONAL HELL, SO DO YOU. NOW SHUT UP, NUT UP, AND LISTEN TO how badly you fucked up."
Both briefly considered going overboard. That was immediately countered with the fact that Jinbe would catch them if they tried. That almost didn't stop them. Almost. In the end, the two of them decided not to try and were left with no choice but to await whatever the louder of the Voices of Anarchy had in store.