"Oh boy, when can we have a banquet? How long do we have to wait?" Usopp wondered outloud.
"My stomach is growling but i don't have a stomach to growl" Brook laughed at his own joke.
"Hey?" Nami asked.
"Yes?" Brook replied.
"It doesn't look like we're having a banquet any time soon" Nami said as the soldiers surrounded them.
"Does this mean that we've landed ourselves in trouble?" Usopp asked.
Nicole sighed "It was bound to happen eventually" she said.
"What should we do?" Camie fretted.
"I'm sorry that you came all the way here but we've just received a call, you Straw Hat people are suspects in two ongoing investigations" the catfish merman said swimming over to them.
"Suspects? What do you mean?" Usopp asked.
"First, for multiple counts of Mermaid kidnapping! Second you people are suspected of being a potential risk to the Fish-Man island due to Madam Sharley's prevision" the catfish merman explained.
Nicole's brow twitched and she narrowed her eyes at the catfish fishman, a growl building up in her throat.
"First, you have no proof! Second, you can't possibly tell if the prevision will actually happen!" she yelled.
"Shut up!" some soldier told her and Nicole pinned them with her glare.
"What's wrong with them?" Nami asked.
"Is this the right thing to do?" Neptune wondered.
"Therefore, we're here to take you people into custody! Catch them at any cost! We have to protect Fish-Man island!" the catfish merman ordered the soldiers to attack, ignoring everything Nicole had said.
Nicole tisked putting a hand on her sword "You guys are pissing me off!" she declared as some of the soldiers attacked but the Straw Hats fought them off.
"Catch them! They're just four humans!" the catfish merman told his soldiers.
"What're you gonna do?" Pappagu asked.
"Guys, if you resist more you're really gonna become criminals!" Camie told them floating above the fight thanks to the bubble around her waist.
"But there is no reason for us to obey them, Camie-san" Brook said
"These guys are set on making us criminals either way" Nicole said.
"I was looking forward to a banquet at the Ryugu Palace" Nami lamented.
"They'll just arrest us if we don't resist, they made an unthinkable accusation against us first!" Usopp said.
"We will fight them forever if that's what they want" Brook said drawing his cane sword.
"They're so strong even without the captain!" one soldier said.
"Can't believe it" another said.
"I don't know what we're gonna do in the future, but you can't arrest us now for things we haven't done" Usopp said.
"The nose guy wasn't ever that remarkable, was he?" Pappagu asked Camie.
"Brook-chin and Nami-chin became stronger than two years ago as well, Nicole-chin seems pretty much the same though" Camie said.
"You haven't seen anything yet" Nicole told her with a smirk.
"See? That's the prologue to the future that has been predicted" the catfish merman said.
"Yeah right! If you guys didn't start it, we wouldn't have to fight back in the first place!" Usopp yelled at him.
"He's right" Neptune said.
"But this is nothing compared to giant insects' all-out attack on the Bowin Islands! Witness the power of my new weapon, Black Kabuto! Bring it on!" Usopp challenged confidentially.
*Wow, the old Usopp would have been shaking in his boots, maybe he really has grown* Nicole thought with a small smile, like a proud sister.
"Neptune-sama, we need your help!" the catfish merman pleaded.
"I wonder if it's fair to arrest somebody based on a prediction, i need some time to think-jamon, thus you need to be in custody for now!" Neptune declared spinning his trident around.
"You're totally contradicting yourself!" Nicole yelled jumping up to deflect the king's strike along with Zoro as he suddenly appeared.
"Zoro!" Nami called.
"I thought you'd been captured" Usopp said.
"I heard the sound of this festival so i let myself out" Zoro simply explained before he and Nicole deflected the trident and jumped back landing back on the ground.
"About time that you did, what you get lost or something?" Nicole teased with a cheeky smirk as she stood side by side with her lover, deadly blades drawn and a killer gleam in the pairs eyes.
"Something like that" Zoro said.
"If you resist we'll have casualties on both sides, surrender with good grace-jamon, Zori, Nocoli" Neptune told them, the Straw Hats had introduced themselves on the ride over.
"It's Zoro! It's Nicole!" the two yelled back.
"You guys! Rupture the bubble around them at once!" the seahorse merman said getting back from wherever he had gone off to.
"Minister of the Right!" the catfish merman said.
"It's better for us to fight them in the water, hurry up!" the seahorse merman said and the soldiers prepared their weapons.
"Ah, we've been driven to the wall" Brook said.
"You're right, this is no good, hey Nami!" Usopp called but she had disappeared off to somewhere as well, just then a huge bubble covered the entire room.
"What? All the water is gone?!" the seahorse merman exclaimed.
"Sorry, i just found this big Bubbly Coral" Nami said standing next to a big piece of coral that was taller then her.
"Wow, that's big!" Usopp exclaimed.
"Now, let's continue where we left off" Zoro said.
"Indeed" Nicole nodded in agreement, the soldiers prepared their weapons again.
"Wait, wait, i'll fight them-jamon" the king declared.
"No! Don't bother Neptune-sama!" the seahorse merman said.
"No, they are both strong and i don't want anyone else to get hurt anymore-jamon" the king said and twirled his trident before clashing with the two swordsmen.
~
"What have you guys done?" Pappagu asked referring to all of the soldiers being beaten, tied up and unconscious.
"No matter how i look at it, this is overkill!" Usopp yelled at Zoro and Nicole.
"He's right! You should regret your actions!" Brook also yelled.
"You guys started this fight! So you're my accomplices you idiots!" Zoro yelled back.
"We were gonna just intimidate them and run" Usopp said.
Nami sighed "I was just enjoying sightseeing and shopping" she lamented.
"What's done is done! Stop complaining" Zoro told Usopp
""What's done is done"?! Stopping by Fish-Man island and occupying the palace accidentally, what are we? Some kind of evil pirates?" Usopp retorted.
"Then we should've allowed ourselves to be beaten?" Zoro asked.
"I told you "Let's wait for a chance and run" many times" Usopp replied.
"I don't know the way out and Luffy is missing" Zoro pointed out.
"That's right, Luffy is missing, where did he go?" Usopp asked turning to Brook.
"Dunno" Brook said "Do you have any idea Nicole-san?" the skeletal man asked turning to her.
"Hmm, i can't seem to pick him up for some reason, i do know he went off following the scent of food" Nicole told him.
"Eh? Why didn't you stop him?" Usopp asked.
"And put myself in the path of a hungry Luffy? No way, that's worse than a mad sea king" Nicole said.
"We really have to go so don't be mean and tell me, where is the treasure chamber?" Nami asked one of the soldiers.
"No!" Usopp yelled at her.
"What? Why?" Nami asked her eyes sparkling acting all innocent.
"Stop pretending you're naïve! Be sensible!" Usopp yelled at her.
Brook struck a cord on his electric guitar that appeared out of nowhere "Hey, everybody! When you're sad, let's sing and be happy! Come on!" he said then sang a little ditty.
"It's gonna be alright! It's gonna be alright! If it's not you're gonna die someday anyway, yeah!" the skeletal man sang and Nicole applauded his song.
"Shut up already, Soul King!" Usopp yelled at him.
"Ah thank you Nicole-san, by the way may i see your panties?" Brook asked ignoring the long nosed sniper.
"You may not" Nicole said smiling pleasantly though the utter essence of death oozing around her made it not so pleasant.
"Hey you bastards! When the three formidable princes of Neptune's army, Fukaboshi, Ryuboshi, Manboshi come back you won't get away with this!" the seahorse merman yelled at them.
"In any case we can't stay here on this island, where's the Sunny? Let's bring everybody together and sail out soon" Zoro said.
"But the coating on the Sunny came off when we entered this island" Usopp told him.
"The Log Pose hasn't been working right for a while toom, it has been unstable since we got here" Nami said checking the needle that just kept spinning around.
"I can't take it! That pose is not good enough to sail across the New World, you ignorant pirates" the catfish merman said.
"What? This is not good enough? What do you mean?" Nami asked.
"I'll tell you if you untie me" the catfish merman said.
Nicole narrowed her eyes at him and pointed her blood red blade right at the tip of his nose "You're the one that accused us in the first place, you'll tell us now or your blood will feed Shodai Kitetsu here" she said.
"Shodai Kitetsu?" Zoro asked turning to her.
"Yeah, i found it while training, i got my very own Supreme Grade sword!" Nicole giddily exclaimed as she literally beamed while showing off the blood red sword to him.
"Nice, i know you've wanted one for ages" Zoro smiled while patting her head.
Nicole smiled happily, though it soon turned to annoyance when the transponder snail rang.