Hiding the Truth (One Piece)

Chapter 40 - Fishman Island

To all those who have waited patiently, thank you for still showing love and support to both me and this book.

Hope you enjoy :)

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"It looks like we lost them" 

We all sighed at the hopelessness of our 'Monster Trio' and began searching the dark waters of the Deep Sea for them. We had just been sucked into the current of the Downward Plume and the many presences lurking around the ship didn't go unnoticed by the crew, the more anxious members of the crew watching the creatures with fear and unease. The large, dark sea creatures that now surrounded us were a stark difference to the brightly coloured marine life we'd saw from a few hours before.

My Observation Haki was still limited to a small region, and I silently cursed myself at how useful it would have been in our current situation with dumb, dumber and dumbest missing.  In those two years of training, I had mostly focused on progressing my Devils Fruit ability, with little focus to the recently awoken Haki from Thriller Bark, something I was internally kicking myself for.

"It seems Pirate-San has escaped" Brook stated, holding up the loose ropes we'd used to restrain the pirate man for the rest of us to see. Despite how useless my Haki was for finding our missing crewmates, it was still strong enough for me to spot the perverted pirate hiding out in a stray barrel, close to the stairs that lead up to the upper deck.

"Franky, could you come over here for a minute?" I called for the cyborg with a wave of my hand, keeping my tone light as to not arouse suspicion from the pirate. He trudged over to where I was standing, leaning down so he was closer, seeing as his large figure would have made it difficult for us to have a quiet conversation.

"The pirate we'd picked up earlier, he's hiding in that barrel over there," I nodded discreetly in the barrel's general direction, trying to remain inconspicuous, "Could you do something about it?" I asked gently, him agreeing just as quietly to my request. He casually walked by the barrel, the both of us spotting the pirate peeking through the lid. Franky waited until he was noticed by the man, before nailing the lid to the barrel, his loud protests and shouts audible from across the deck. Reinforcing the constraints with hammered metal plates for good measure, we continued to look for the other three idiots, knowing one issue was resolved.

"Hey, what's wrong Chopper?" I asked noticing the uncomfortable expression the reindeer had, quietly whining as he fiddled with his helmet. I bent down to pick up the small reindeer, pulling him into my arms as he flopped heavily against my shoulder. 

"It's too hot!" His squeaked complaints were nothing short of cute, causing an endearing smile to pull at my lips. Usopp's was quick to agree with Chopper's sentiments to the change in temperature, which brought our attention to the rising heat, our attention drawn to the dark and heavy clouds we were sailing into.

"Nami, what's going on?" I asked her, slight worriment beginning to spread at the confused look she had. She turned her full attention to the weird sight, regarding the plumes of clouds and small sparks of red magma for a moment before her eyes widened.

"You guys! We're going into a field of underwater volcanoes! If they erupt, we're going to be in big trouble!" Chopper and Usopp began panicking, crying in worry at the erupting natural disaster we were so close to. Franky steered the ship away from the incoming volcanoes, and with my help of manipulating the currents, we manage to move as far away as possible, whilst still staying on course. 

Several things seemed to happen all at once after that. A large sea creature was just about to gobble us whole when it was punched away by a sea giant. What was even more fascinating was the sight of the supposed cursed ship from legend, the Flying Dutchman, with its crew attempting to rob us.