"UWAAAAHHH!!"
"GYAAAHHH—!!"
"DAMMIT!!"
Faythe wiped her forehead with glistening sweat glittering in the air, "Ah~! What a refreshing workout!" She sighed in content, with multiple bodies underneath her talons.
"I'm throwing them overboard....!" Wyper called out casually as he hefted up some unconscious marines like a sack of potatoes.
"How evil can you be?" Faythe asked with a smirk.
Wyper raised a brow at her as he dusted his hands after throwing the last of the masses, "What? Like that guy over there?" He jutted a thumb over his shoulder at a specific cyborg at the moment.
"UHAHAHAHAHAHA—!!" Not heroic was term that fit Franky's description perfectly. Sir, looked like he got some of that villain juice pumping through his veins as he blew out his smoking cannon built wrist with a tongue sticking out of his mouth. His sunglasses covering his eyes, but not enough to hide his cruel smirk, "Sorry, marines!!! We'll use this ship for our escape!!!"
Faythe deadpanned at the sight, "What the fuck?"
Wyper released a hearty chuckle, "He's got the whole pirate act down, alright!"
Faythe sighed and playfully slapped his shoulder, "Don't be mean."
Franky finished his little villainess montage and turned to the rest of the group present, "Now, we're finally done with spring-cleaning. This convoy ship is now our escape ship!!"
Robin smiled, "Yes."
"All we have to do now is wait for the Strawhats!!" Franky leaned against the rails with a smirk.
"They'll probably be here any moment now." Wyper crossed his arms as he stood beside Robin and Faythe.
"Donnnnnn't—" A muffled and gargled voice came from below.
Franky noticed first and peered over the rails, "What...?" In mere seconds, a massive looking mermaid lady rocketed out of the sea with the most brightest of smiles.
"—DIEEEEE~!!!!" It was Kokoro!?
Franky leaped back at the massive jump scare, "GYAAAAAHHHH!!"
Faythe's eyes widened when she noticed the entirety of her crew being dragged behind her, "GUYS!?"
"Oh. That's where they were." Wyper hummed.
Everyone was sprawled out across the deck with baffled and in shock looks.
"WHAT IS THAT THING—???" Wyper shrieked in dismay, his wings fluttering anxiously at the sight of the morphed old lady, "I NEED TO BLEACH MY EYES—!!"
"A naked old hag." Franky snorted at the Shandorian's reaction.
"Are they dead...???" Faythe gasped and rushed over to Nami, Chimney, and Chopper first. Not caring about the boys because she knew they were a lot more stronger.
"It must be a miracle....!! I bet they experienced severe shock somewhere." Franky looked at the crew with a maniac smile, "Since they've all reached a state of apparent death, they didn't swallow much water.
"Ngagagagaga—!!" Kokoro laughed drunkenly, "I wonder wut caused lere apparent death..."
"It was you." Franky gave the old woman a thumbs up.
Kokoro turned to see Robin, "It's you, right? The Nakama that Pirate King brat came to rescue... I met you at the shift station. I remember you." She then started to pull up her pants and adjust her belt, "I didn't imagine... That you would cause something like this..."
Franky interrupted midway because he couldn't take how long this lady was gonna keep flashing them, "GET DRESSED ALREADY, OLD HAG!!"
—At all....! I laughed at his idea of becoming the Pirate King, but... Maybe it'll come true after all.. NGAGAGAGA—!!!"
Robin melted into a soft chuckle at the woman's beliefs, "Mhm..."
"COUGH—!!! BWEEHHH!!"
"—HA-!!!"
"BWAHH!! IS... Is... Is Nami-San alright!??"
Franky watched Zoro, Sniper King, and Sanji cough up all the water from their clogged lungs, "You guys are really tough."
Kokoro chuckled at the boys, "I'm glad you're alive."
Sniper King glanced up from his hunched position, "GYAAAAHHH, IT'S REALITY!!! MERMAIDS DONT EXIST!!!"
Zoro gasped, "The legend about Dugongs being mistaken for mermaids was true, after all."
Sanji whipped towards Zoro, "Idiot!! She hasn't said she's a mermaid yet!! Don't give up on your dream!!!"
Kokoro only laughed, "I'm a 'Shirauo' mermaid." (Icefish/ white fish.)
"—NOOOOOO~!!!"
Sniper King gapped at the old lady, "But then! I've never heard a mermaid with legs..!!!"
Sanji was on his fours, banging a sobbing fist into the wooden deck, "OBJECTION—!! Mermaids are... like... Mermaids are... you know...!!!" He wailed pathetically.
Kokoro only smiled as she put her conductor hat back on her head, "...Mermaids' tail fins split into two when we reach the age of 30. And this we're able to live a life on land. We're a mystical tribe. You'll see for yourself if you reach the Fishman Island one day."
'Fishman Island...?' Faythe perked up at the island name.
Sniper King seemed to remember something at the term, 'mystical tribe', "Oh! I know! I heard that the tail of a 100-year-old cat will split and the cat will turn into a 'monster'!!"
Sanji gasped at that and placed his fist into his palm, "Ah, you mean the 'goblin cat.'"
"WE'RE NOT THE SAME!!" Kokoro snapped at the duo, "Why don't you express your gratitude a little!?"
The boys immediately fell forward, "Kokoro-San, thank you very much."
"NGAGAGAGAGAGAGA—!! No worries!!"
Sanji looked across the deck to see Faythe, Robin, and Wyper already there. But he was more set on Robin, "NNNNNROOOOBBBINNN—CHANNN—!!" He flew across the deck towards her with open arms.
But he was seconds too late as Robin was tackled out of the way by both Nami and Chopper.
"ROBIN!!"
"ROBIN!"
Sanji landed face first into a mast.
Both Faythe and Wyper sucked in a harsh breath at the scene, "Ow...!"
"That's so embarrassing." Wyper shook his head and looked away from the scene.
Nami started sobbing with her arms wrapped around the woman, "I'm glad we made it, Robin!!! You're safe!!" Chopper was holding onto Nami's neck with rivers of tears falling down his cheeks, "BOBINNN—!!"
"Yes... Thanks to you...!" Robin hugged them back, "It's all okay now..." Which incites more blubbering from the two crybabies.
"Are we gonna ignore that Sanji is still stuck in the mast with his head...?" Faythe muttered before looking up at Wyper expectantly.
Wyper tried to keep his eyes from wavering, but one glance at Faythe's look, had his resolve shattering. He uncrossed his arms with a groan, "Fine...! I'll go help the idiot..." He trudged over towards the blonde and pulled him out easily by the ankle. Holding him up in the air.
"Oi—!! Put me down!!" Sanji barked out almost instantly, but then he realized he was yelling at Wyper instead of Zoro, "Oh it's just you."
"Be careful next time. You could've hurt the ladies with that swan dive." He dropped the chef ungraciously, before trudging back to stand by Faythe's side.
"Uagh!" Sanji muttered a few curses under his breath before watching the Shandorian's back. His white wings fluttering aggravated by the tension, "Absolute brute of an Angel."
"Whoa, Grandma!! You're a mermaid!?" Chimney shouted with sparkling eyes, "I thought you were a little different because you have fins and scales and all."
Franky grew exasperated by this ongoing conversation, "YOU SHOULD'VE FIGURED IT OUT, GRANDDAUGHTER!!"
Chopper felt his limbs lock up as he somehow started to slip from Nami's neck. He tried flailing his hooves out to grab anything to catch himself but he couldn't feel them, "Wait—!" He felt something slip underneath him and slowly levitate him to the ground softly. He blinked confused, "I can't move..." He glanced to the side and noticed a large soft feather underneath him, "Faythe...?"
Zoro also noticed the strange new feather ability, but had no time to question it as he saw Faythe already flying in her parrot form, towards the top of the stairway, towards the Bridge of Hesitation, "Understandable. I'll tell you when this all ends." He commented to Chopper about his condition, before following after Faythe's trail of feathers.
Making it up, Zoro saw Faythe standing at the edge of the stairway, her arms crossed. Wyper standing with his Bazooka leaning against his side, just a few steps behind the red head—keeping vigilante.
Zoro made it over and stood beside Faythe with his arms crossed, "This is pure chaos."
"It's something far more than we could ever imagine.." Faythe muttered, her eyes keeping locked on a specific area in front of them.
Zoro didn't need to look—not because he couldn't—but because he knew who she was looking out for, "I see you got those shitty cuffs off." He huffed.
"Took a bit strategizing... And running from a certain leopard." Faythe scoffed, her fingers unconsciously fiddling with her golden band bracelet, "But I did what I had to."
Zoro glanced at her straight and unreadable look, "You killed them."
"I did what I had to do." Faythe frowned, her brows furrowing, "To survive."
Zoro hummed at that, his hands gripping his swords idly, "To survive, huh?"
Wyper dragged a smoke from a cigarette he borrowed from Sanji's pack, "If I had any say in it, the lady had it coming."
Zoro grinned at that, "Then I won't question it anymore." He leaned on a foot, gazing out into the growing flames.
"Zoro!"
Wyper glanced back to see Sniper King huffing and puffing from running up all those stairs. He rolled his eyes at the sight of him.
"Zoro. I mean, Zoro-Kun!!" Sniper King hurried over and noticed Faythe and Wyper, "Ah! Wyper-San, Fae—Faythe-San."
"Come look at this." Zoro said without looking back, "Hard to believe that it's the island we were just at."
Sniper King finally turned to look at the carnage, "—What's this attack about!!? It turned into a blazing inferno!!"
"There was an order." Faythe finally spoke up, her eyes washing in the intense color of yellow and red, "Not to kill Robin."
"It's just as the psycho bird lady says." Franky joined them from behind, "We heard it from the bridge."
Sniper King jumped, "So... That's why the bridge hasn't been attacked."
Zoro was contemplating things as Faythe noticed his eyes grow distant.
"Whatcha thinkin' Vice-Captain?" She asked with a side glance.
He hummed, glancing over at her before taking a deep breath, trying to gather as much info as possible about their current situation, "If they don't want to kill her, that means they're planning to get her back, huh?"
Franky nodded, "Once they've completely demolished Enies Lobby, they'll probably come to get Nico Robin in close combat."
"Like we'd let that happen." Wyper dragged another smoke.
"Everyone's all worn out, but there are still so many strong ones on the ships, right!?" Sniper King interjected, "Where's Luffy now!?" He turned to Faythe who hadn't moved her gaze from a certain direction.
Feeling Sniper King's burning gaze, she answered with a flat, "I see smoke from their battle, it should be from the top of the bridge's first prop."
"His opponent is that Pigeon Guy, Rob Lucci, last time I saw them." Wyper informed.
"They're close. Why don't we lend a hand?" Sniper King suggested.
"Don't even try." Faythe stopped the Sniper in his tracks, "That man is on an entirely different level of skill."
"Faythe's right. It's a terrible idea to get involved in their fight and get separated." Zoro grounded them, "We must keep our escape route open, even if the fleet of enemy warships come at us, we must wait for Luffy right here!! That's what we should do." He ordered them, his face showing no other way of changing his mind, "The 'Storm' is about to come!!!"
Sniper King jumped at Zoro's ferociousness, "—Okay!!"
Sanji's shoes could be heard growing closer towards the group, "Franky... Your Nakama..."
Franky barked out a hearty laugh, "Idiot! They really have the devil's luck!! They'll get away alright!!"
Faythe frowned at his positive optimism, "We'll see." She hummed with an unreadable look.
Wyper glanced at Faythe with an almost worried look crossing his face. He reached out a hand to place on her shoulder—his right wing unfurling to curl around her, but her rigid posture grew only more as a form of guarding herself. He in the end decided to let his hand fall to his side—his wings drooping behind him like a curtain.
"Let's just hope." He whispered to himself.
/:/~***~/:/
I actually don't know how to describe Wyper and Sanji's relationship, even with Zoro view thrown it as well. They all look at women differently.
Sure Sanji worships woman and puts them on a pedestal above himself, but Zoro doesn't.
Wyper worshipped Faythe like Sanji did in a more admiration or hope filled kind of way, instead of romantically. It's hard to describe it.
Zoro respects woman, knowing just how strong a woman is by her skills alone, but their bodies are a lot more fragile than a man's. So it's like that in a sense.
Wyper soon stopped worshipping Faythe as this god like figure but still recognizes her as a stronger being than himself. Afterall, she embodies the will and drive as the savior of his own people. How can he not follow her around like a lost puppy?
I just find interesting to see three different ways to respect woman but also protect them as men.
It's cool to think about.
Sorry for the rant.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Word Count:(2215)