Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 221 UNDER THE RED LINE

The current pulled us forward, only increasing in speed. The giant Kraken tried to latch onto the cavern wall as it was pulled down. Casting another jutsu I hit it again, adding my own strength to the current. It finally gave up and was sent on down to the depths as we were jostled this way and that. 

Eventually the current spat us out into a black abyss. Still there but less powerful, the current kept us going forward to some unseen destination. The area around us mostly black it was finally illuminated as Franky turned on new lights all around the ship. 

“I decided to add these after the Florian Triangle,” he said proudly as the light became more powerful. 

“Woahhh,” we said collectively as the ocean depths were revealed. Far overhead was a rock ceiling where large glowing eels shot out from to attack prey. We were moving underneath the Red Line. 

“Holy cow,” Chopper said. “Look at all the glowing fish.” He was right, the ocean floor was alive now as we continued to shine lights all around us. More glowing eels stuck up from the ground like blades of grass. Pink glowing fish with huge heads swam by. Large lights flickered off in the distance. 

“Don’t you think we should be careful?” Nami asked, shivering. Her breath was misting from her mouth. I frowned, I knew it was supposed to be cold so far under the water, but I didn’t feel anything. I expelled my breath, it misted, but I felt normal. 

Annoyed by how I hadn’t been feeling hot or cold lately I knew it was related to my quirk, but not how or why. Was it related to my Forge Evolution? Pushing the thought away for later I reminded myself to head to MHA next. Heating up the area around me she let out a sigh. 

“Nope,” Luffy said. “We need to draw in the danger. I’m bored!” He yelled for all to hear. 

“What?!” Nami yelled. “We are almost 30,000 feet under the ocean.”

“She’s right, captain,” I said. “This isn’t the time to do something dangerous.”

“This is exactly the time!” Luffy yelled. “How many other underwater islands are there?” 

“None that I know of,” I admitted. 

“Exactly. This is the one time that I get to explore. I want to have fun,” he admitted, putting on an angry pout. 

“Fuck,” I mumbled. Not at him, but myself. “Captain’s right.” Luffy was a much better adventurer than I was. “Nami, you heard the man.” 

“Fine,” she grumbled. Heading into the cabin she came out with 3 thin metal hoops. “Rayleigh also gave us these. Who all wants to go out there?” 

“Yosh,” Luffy said. 

“I’m starting to feel better,” Sanji said, getting up from the deck. 

“Sounds fun,” Zoro said. Nami walked to the railing and pushed the hoop against the bubble. When the bubble around our ship latched onto it she pulled it back. The hoop now had the shiny sheen of a bubble between it. She repeated it for the other 2. 

Tossing them on the grass deck she said, “Step on.” Zoro, Sanji, and Luffy did so. Nami grabbed the hoop under Luffy and pulled it up. He was encased in a bubble. She moved it back down to his waist and held it there for a moment. Then pulled it back down. “And out.” Luffy stepped out and the bubble stayed on him. It mostly clung to him at his legs and arms, but there was a distinct bubble around his torso. She did the same for Zoro and Sanji. 

“You can go out there now,” Nami informed them. “But be careful. Too much damage can break the bubble. And if you use up all your air, you’ll suffocate.”

“Whatever, thanks Nami,” Luffy said with a laugh. Jumping to the railing he didn’t hesitate to jump at the bubble around us. His own bubble fused to it then reformed with him as he passed through. I wasn’t sure about Oda’s magic but Luffy wasn’t getting crushed, so that was good enough. Zoro and Sanji soon joined. The bubbles allowed them to float in the water but they could kick and swim to move around. 

“I want to do it,” Chopper said as he and Usopp watched them have fun. At least until a giant fish came up and swallowed all 3. It wasn’t long until the fish was cut in half though and the trio was swimming off into the dark depths. 

“Nevermind,” Usopp and Chopper said as they seemed happy to just look around. 

“Franky! What other cool things can you do?!” Chopper asked in child-like glee. 

“You should see the cool upgrades I made to our mini-boats,” Franky said and walked them below deck. I moved to my spot near the helm. 

“What’s up?” Nami asked as she held onto it. She had been touching the Log Pose that hung from her wrist idly. Having missed it over such a long time away. 

“Nothin,” I said. 

“You lie,” she said. “I can feel it.” 

“Me too,” Robin said. “Whatever you did to us. I can feel that you’re nervous.”

“Well shit,” I said, deciding that the Link might have been more trouble than I realized. “Nothing, just expecting something to happen.”

“Like what? We get blown away for another 2 years?” Nami asked. 

I laughed, shaking my head. “I don’t think that will happen again. No, just the next island. There should be dumb stuff going on there as well.”

“Liiiike,” Nami said slowly but firmly. 

“Like drama with the royal family,” I said. “They have a poneglyph there too.” 

“Really?” Robin asked, intrigued. 

“Yep, and the royal mermaid princess is like some ancient weapon like you were trying to find back in Alabasta,” I said. 

“She’s an ancient weapon? Like those plans Franky was supposed to have?” Robin asked, confused. 

“No idea,” I admitted. “What I know is we should be running into a guy that is obsessed with her, but we aren’t.” I remembered Vander Decken appeared soon after the kraken. But I wasn’t seeing anything. Straight ahead was darkness, slowly illuminated as we drew closer and closer. 

“We will just have to wait and see, I guess,” Nami said confidently as she maneuvered us around a large boulder. 

“That’s unlike you,” I said. “You’re usually more…adamant for answers.”

“What can I say? I’m super strong now,” she said flexing her almost existent muscle. 

“I believe it,” I said with a laugh. “Interested in becoming stronger?” 

“How’s that?” She asked, intrigued. 

“There is this thing called Nen,” I said. “It’s really your life force but-” I stopped as a huge volcano exploded ahead of us. The fiery red lava spewed out causing everyone to run to the fore to watch. “Damn, never seen that before.” 

“So cool,” Usopp mumbled. 

“So dangerous,” Nami said. “Can’t go that way.” She moved to turn us but was caught up in a current as the lava spewed closer and closer to us. “Uh guys, I’m losing control.”

“What?” I asked, my eyes still drawn to the volcano going off. Luffy was right, this was the experience of a lifetime. 

“I’m losing control!” Nami said. “We are getting swept into another strong current. We need to get the others.” 

“Fuck,” I said. Closing my eyes I pushed my chakra out to around us. Forcefully slowing the water down. “Start yelling for them or something.” 

“Luffy! Zoro! Sanji!” The others started to yell off in the direction they had swam in. I was able to slow the current down but it was only moments of it. As I slowed some down, new water swept in to replace it. I redoubled my efforts pouring more and more chakra out. I couldn’t summon a turtle so far underwater, and I couldn’t push us with my water because I might inadvertently pop us. I was stuck with trying to slow us down for now. 

“Hurry up, can’t hold us forever!” I said. 

“I will go find them,” Robin said as she moved for one of the rings. As she did we heard a familiar yell. 

“Guys!” We heard from the darkness. “I got us a ride!”

It took time for them to appear in the dim light around us, but as they did we looked up and up. The bottom part had been the many orange tentacles of the kraken, then at the top of the huge beast sat Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji in 1 shared bubble. 

“We fought for a bit, but he decided to give us a ride,” Luffy said happily. “Right, Surume?” The Kraken nodded then gingerly picked the 3 up off it’s head then pushed them into our bubble. “Take us to Fishman Island!” Luffy yelled to the beast that was much larger than I thought. It had to be at least 200 feet tall. 

The kraken nodded and we were jostled around as we were set upon it’s head. The kraken then began to swim with the current. The lava had moved closer, but we far exceeded it’s pace as the water drove us on to our destination. The current dragged us on again, and no drama happened. More giant fish passed us by. Luffy talked about his fun fight with the kraken. And I became more and more nervous. 

I had told Jimbei about Hordy Jones. Hoping that they would take care of the problem themselves. But Vander Decken should have still been an issue. I had been hoping to get a quest to defeat him then cut off his hand so we didn’t have to deal with the drama of him throwing Noah’s Ark or whatever the hell it was called. But we hadn’t run into either in the canon. I was getting worried. 

As the sea floor turned into fine sand we noticed light begin to illuminate ahead of us. We all stayed on deck, watching as the area became more and more bright. Not as many giant sea monsters or huge boulders around the area smoothed out until the large bubble appeared. 

Fishman Island looked like a giant round fishbowl. In my eyes, it basically was. Fishfolk and Merpeople could live in the water and air. Their island was surrounded by 2 giant bubbles for added protection. The gap between the 2 bubbles simply had air in it, but the inner bubble held all the fun stuff. A large landmass on one half of the bubble, there was a big body of water that covered the other. This was where most all the fishmen lived. There were rich and poor areas of course, but the royal family lived above it all. 

Another large bubble above the island itself, it held the royal family’s palace. For some reason I thought the royal palace was filled with water, so I wasn’t sure why it needed a bubble. I decided to find that out later. 

Surume dragged us closer and closer to the island and…nothing happened. “Fuck,” I whispered, chewing my lip. We were supposed to be stopped by Hordy Jones’ people and threatened to join his crew. I tapped my foot nervously. 

“Starting to freak me out,” Nami hissed.

“Sorry,” I said. “Just…not what I expected,” I added through gritted teeth. 

“So cool,” the others said as Surume carried us closer. We came to a large gate at the center of the bubble. There was a sign at the top that read:

WELCOME TO FISHMAN ISLAND

No one in line we were the first ones there. A seahorse woman smiled widely at us as we approached. “Welcome to Fishman Island, is this trip for business or pleasure?” 

“Uh both,” I said. “Is there a toll?” 

“Not today,” the woman said. “It is the princess’s wedding day. All attendance is free.”

“Wedding?!” I barked, getting more nervous. “To who?!”

“I don’t know him, sorry,” the lady said, still wearing a smile. “Please make your way inside though. Your sea king will have to wait outside. No pets.”

“What about Chopper?” Usopp asked as he laughed. Chopper hit him on the head. 

“See you, Surume. Thanks for the ride!” Luffy yelled. The kraken released us and swam away while a new current formed and pushed the Sunny into the bubble of the island. We were pushed through and our protective coating disappeared. Pushed through the 2nd layer we were on the body of water of the island. Land ahead I didn’t know what the hell to do. 

“Where do we go?” Nami asked me. 

“No idea,” I admitted. “There should have been a graveyard… or something?” I asked. Too reliant on the canon, we weren’t supposed to get in this way. “There are ships over there. Just park us. We need to go.”

“Where?” Luffy asked. 

“I don’t know. I think we need to crash a wedding,” I said as I bit my nail.