Queen of the Pirates

A Run in with Salvagers

"What? Was there a Neptunian?"

"No, but it looks like somebody beat them up!"

"Beat them up!? Someone's down there?"

"Oh great," I drop my head.

"Those guys," Nami says through gritted teeth.

"Then," the monkey man sounds angry. "Hey, guys!"

"This is bad," Usopp grumbles.

"Be careful!" He sounds genuinely concerned for us. "There are bad people down below!"

I lift my head up in disbelief.

"Hurry up and get the cradle set! We have salvaging to do!" Then he starts waving at us with a big smile on his face.

"He's kind of dense," I say through clenched teeth as I wave back with the others.

"Don't let him see the air pump, Usopp," Nami growls.

"I know, I know," Usopp mumbles back.

"Hey, guys, just pretend their pumpkins and don't get excite-" the monkey-man cuts himself off as he looks back at his crew. "Don't be nervous, guys! There's no reason to be just because we have observers!"

"Aye-aye!" the crew responds.

"They must not have other people watching them if they are nervous right now," I awkwardly chuckle. "I mean, I'm not sure where we are, so maybe people are used to them doing this."

"Or they're trying to impress us," Nami sighs.

"Beware of the mysterious enemy!" the monkey-man calls out as a few off his men in better suits than our boys jump into the sea.

"We can communicate with the boys, so what are we going to do," I look around at Nami, Usopp and Chopper. "I mean, they'll fight anything that moves if they don't know if it is enemy or friend."

"I mean, almost everything is our enemy," Nami says. "That's what we get for deciding to be pirates."

"Would you have rather become a Marine?" Usopp asks.

I chuckle, "Could you imagine any of us following the rules that they put down? We'd go crazy before the end of the first day. We were all made for this life, I just know it."

"What is that!?" Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji's voices burst out of the tubes.

My hands cover up Luffy's tube, while Nami covers Zoro's and Usopp covers Sanji's. Their voice now only muffles as those on the other ship look over at us.

"What is that!?" Usopp repeats as he points at the monkey figurehead of the other ship that is moving away on a crane system. "What's the monkey for!? Why is it moving!?"

"Nice save, Usopp," I run a hand through my hair.

"You have sharp eyes," the monkey-man chuckles. "This is not an ordinary prow. Engage the Barco Grabber!"

The monkey figurehead then dives into the water, most likely heading down for the sunken ship.

"Prepare for inflation!" he screams as his crew starts rushing around once it has been determined that the monkey figurehead has grabbed onto the ship below.

"Hold on, let me get this straight," I hold up my hand as my whole faces scrunches up in disbelief.

"He's going to lift that entire ship up with his breath," Nami says before I can. "That's ridiculous."