First Blood

A few minutes earlier.

"Poison is only an illusion. A true swordsman can only live and die by the blade." Zoro said mysteriously.

"You're just delirious from the poison running rampant through your body, idiot!" Chopper admonished him as he plugged a syringe into Zoro's arm with a broad spectrum antidote he had developed during the last two years.

"I don't need it!" Zoro shouted and attempted to cut off the arm Chopper just injected the antidote into.

Robin held him down in time with many of her bloomed arms. Thankfully Zoro wasn't wholly aware so he didn't really fight back, though Robin did wonder whether she could beat the swordsman as she was now. She shook those thoughts out of her head, she didn't want to become like Cherry with her battle hungriness.

Once he calmed down, Robin gave him a bit of refined vital energy to help him recover from his poison-addled state. She didn't have the skill to do this for weaker individuals, but Zoro was tough enough to handle the strain.

"Cherry sent the coordinates! Get ready for a Coup De Burst!" Franky called out.

"I can't wait to show off my new moves!" Usopp said with some excitement.

"Baaah!" Merry bleated in concurrence.

"I've got some new moves to show off too!" Chopper exclaimed proudly.

"Wait until you see my SUPER mech!" Franky said.

They turned to look at Robin in expectation.

She only gave them a smile.

"Alright, then. Keep your secrets." Usopp chuckled. "Do you think Zoro is going to miss the action, Chopper?"

"He might be able to fight some towards the end depending on how long it takes." Chopper sighed.

Zoro immediately shot up to his feet and looked around in confusion before seeming to get his bearings. He looked down at Chopper who had squealed a little in his surprise.

"Sorry, Chopper. Did you fix me up?" Zoro worked his arms and legs to check his condition.

"Yes, but you should really take it easy for now, Zoro. That poison did a number on you, so maybe sit this one out?" Chopper suggested.

"I feel fine, I'm not dropping out of a fight. That moronis chef will never let me live it down if I do." Zoro said, leaving no room for argument.

Franky was finished with his preparations and brought the den den mushi to Robin.

"Hey babe!" The snail mimicking Cherry's appearance winked at her. "You look like you're in a good mood, did you find a poneglyph?"

"I did, actually. It was very interesting, but as always I have more questions than I started with." Robin explained.

"Wait, what do you mean 'look'? Are you watching us right now?" Usopp asked, looking around in suspicion.

"I'm looking through the den den mushi's eyes of course." Cherry said as the eyes of the snail turned towards him.

"You're just messing with me, right? No way you can actually do that?" Usopp said, making a funny face at the den den mushi trying to prove his point.

"I'll make that stupid expression permanent if you don't want to believe me." Cherry said.

Usopp stiffened and the others chuckled at him.

"Anyways, the New Fishman Pirates are about a hundred thousand strong I'd estimate. No big deal. More importantly, I met this smoking hot mermaid. She is a fortune teller or something, so that's a downside, but otherwise she's a solid 9 out of 10." Cherry chatted away.

Usopp felt an old sickness bubbling up in his guts, the I'll-Die-If-I-Don't-Run-Away disease. He swiftly pushed down that cowardly feeling though and mentally prepared himself for the "disadvantageous" battle ahead of him.

Robin contrarily focused on the latter half of what Cherry said. She raised an eyebrow at the snail with a frown in false displeasure.

"My little birdy is the only 10 out of 10 in my heart, of course~" Cherry said playfully.

It was a strange experience seeing the den den mushi mimic Cherry's trademark flirtatious smirk. Robin couldn't help but laugh at the odd sight.

Suddenly the Thousand Sunny lurched forward and shot through the water towards Fishman Island. Franky hadn't bothered to warn them so they were caught a bit off guard and had to steady their stance.

They breached through the first layer and the coating that Den had painstakingly put on the ship was stripped away in an instant. They breached the second soon after and the ship landed in the water of the main inner sea of Fishman Island.

The first thing they saw was Luffy launching himself from a rooftop over towards a floating platform on which the royal family was chained up. His haki coated rifle punch slammed into Hody's face and sent him skipping across the water several times before slowing down enough to sink.

The nearby crowd of civilians cheered for the seemingly easy defeat of Hody, whilst his army of fishmen had their morale take a massive blow.

Luffy turned to Jinbe first and tried to break his restraints, but didn't have much success. These were made of a high quality metal alloy and were quite thick to boot. Luffy's brute strength alone wouldn't be enough.

"Luffy! We'll need the keys to release the restraints, and you also shouldn't be out here on the water!" Jinbe warned.

Hody's officers were surprised, but undeterred by the attack on Hody. They approached the platform swiftly in the water intending on drowning the foolish human pirate captain.

Some keys oddly dropped right in front of them. Luffy didn't question it as he quickly opened the cuffs, but Jinbe looked up and saw Nami riding on Cabernet's back, appearing from a mirage that hid them from sight.

"Princess Shirahoshi, my love!" A creepy voice came from amongst the mooks on the shore. "Marry me!"

Exclaims of the man's name, Vander Decken, revealed the voice's identity.

"You're not my type!" Shirahoshi brutally rejected his obviously 'pure-hearted love confession'.

Vander Decken looked utterly shocked, as if it was unthinkable that he'd be rejected. He recovered quickly though "Then die for me!"

Vander Decken threw a large axe in Shirahoshi's direction, but he was confused why it changed directions to fly straight back at him. He scrambled aside causing the axe to barely miss him. 'Is this Shirahoshi a fake?' he thought.

"Oh my goodness! Vander Decken, you shouldn't have! An axe is exactly what I wanted~" Cherry cooed from behind like a maiden in love.

Vander Decken didn't understand. The axe flew at this strange woman instead of Shirahoshi? How was that possible? Did he accidentally touch her with his right hand, or maybe she stealthily touched the hand herself?

At that conclusion he was enraged. How long had he had that target on Shirahoshi? Ten years! All down the drain!

He didn't think much further than that as a flaming kick caved in his skull. Cherry was a tad surprised that Sanji had taken the initiative like that to kill a guy, but she supposed that he had threatened to kill other men who hurt women before. She had just thought it was all talk and he wouldn't actually follow through.

Well, it wasn't a big deal. It wasn't like Luffy's distaste for killing was a moral choice. He just didn't like the finality of it. Heck, he never had a problem being friendly with people who've killed before, some of whom he had even invited to join his crew like Zoro, Robin, and Cherry herself of course.

"Good riddance, trash." Sanji took a puff on his cigarette, looking pretty cool if he said so himself.

The giant tiger blowfish-man, Wadatsumi didn't take his captain's death very well though. "Captain Decken?!"

He turned red with rage and went on a rampage. Of course, Cherry and Sanji simply hopped through the air out of his reach whilst he tore through the New Fishman Pirates' ranks.