Hiding the Truth (One Piece)

Chapter 40 - Fishman Island

The sea giant, apparently under the Flying Dutchman's command, swung its fists at us, ready to burst our coating and smash our boat into pieces. As everyone ducked away to avoid the incoming collision, I forced a large section of seawater to solidify into a huge mass of ice, intercepting the blow that would have completely demolished the Sunny. The giants pained yells could be heard as it hopped around, cradling his hand, which was heavily bruised and bleeding. 

"That saved us Lana!" Chopper, Nami and Usopp shouted in relief, and I only nodded, wearily watching the creature to observe its next move. Out of nowhere, the Kraken from earlier literally punched the sea giant in the face with its tentacle, and continued to beat the crap out of him, leaving to watch the ordeal with gapping mouths.

"Surume, that's enough!" A shout ordered, I'm assuming was the name of the Kraken as it heeded to order, slowly moving away from the unconscious giant. Before us, Luffy, Zoro and Sanji appeared, all squashed together in one bubble. Manipulating the currents, I pulled them closer until their bubble merged with our coating, the three tumbling over each other as they were thrown onto the deck.

"You idiots, we wouldn't have lost you if you hadn't taken off the lifelines" I chided the three with crossed arms, which they only waved their hands in half-hearted agreement. Suddenly, a deafening boom resounded across the area, causing us to turn our attention to the large volcanic explosion, a little way away from us. There was an immediate rush to escape from the erupting volcano, with our unwanted company running away just as fast as they appeared.

Luffy ordered the giant octopus to carry us away; but yet again, we were faced with another predicament, the deep dark abyss that lay ahead of us, blocking our escape from the rolling magma that was quickly approaching.

"What are we going to do?! We're either going to fall to our deaths, or get burned to a crisp by the magma!" Usopp screamed, and I had to slap him away as he chose to yell his worries right in my ear.

"You screaming like a weakling isn't helping!" I shouted at his slumped figure, having been knocked out by my hit. Surume at that moment decided to jump, leaping head first into the abyss, with us along with it. Due to our accelerating decent, the speed we were falling at caused us to rise from the grass-covered deck, our bodies hovering in space as we plummeted into the darkness, our screams echoing around us. 

An arm was quick to wrap around my waist, pulling me towards the person, as they gripped onto the railing for leverage. The harsh landing at the bottom of the trench jostled us in our dishevelled state, leaving us in the dark not being able to see anything. Reaching up, I gripped onto the person holding me by the shoulders with a groan, trying to lift myself from the ground as my back ached from the fall. My attempt at an escape only caused the person's arms to tighten around my body, their weight to press down onto me.

"Zoro?" I whispered, trying to identify the person hovering over me. The short muffled groan beside my ear only confirmed it to be him, and I nudged him in an effort to stand. He hauled himself up, pulling me with him as the dull light around us began to get brighter, allowing our eyes to adjust to the darkness.

There before us, where the light happened to be emanating from, in all its glory, was our destination, Fishman Island. With all the crews' fascination fixated on the glowing island, knowing our luck, I knew our momentary happiness wasn't going to last long. Low and behold, not a moment later, we were approached by a group of pirate fishmen, who were trying to recruit us into their crew. With Luffy's downright refusal, the Sunny's Coup de Burst shot us right at the island, the quickly approaching island throwing into a panic as it seemed we would be smashing straight through the borders of the island.

"You guys! I'm sure we're entering the island illegally!" I screamed as we were blasted through the first layer of bubble surrounding the island. Of course, not having calculated anything correctly, the collision caused our coating to explode, leaving us to drown in the water, as the deep currents sucked the Sunny further down into its depths. The speed at which everything unfolded left the crew unprepared; the corners of my vision fading as I was left with the image of the others unconscious states being the last thing I see.