The sea water kept rushing in through the cracked wall, flooding to your knees. Black spots were slowly showing up in your vision and you stumbled a bit, losing your balance.
"Y/n-chan!! Please take my hand we have to get you out of here!" Keimi yelled, outstretching her hand to you.
You were about to reach for it, your hand ready to grasp hers, but before you could Hody threw water arrows at you.
It was condensed sea water, sharpened at its tips to be as sharp as arrows. More than a few pierced through your skin, the fact that it was sea water made it worse, blood spurting out of your new wounds.
"Ah!" I gasped, feeling the pain travel through my body.
Unlike with normal items, it didn't pass through you, it pierced right through, blood leaking profusely. It didn't take much for you to completely lose balance and fall into the water.
"Someone get Y/n!" Nami yelled, staying away from the fight. Keimi was about to charge in to swim towards you, but the water arrows stopped her from swimming closer to you.
Zoro sighed and cut the restraints from King Neptune. Usopp and Brook had already freed all of the Neptune Army, who was caring Brook since he was losing his energy.
"Let these two go free," Zoro demanded of the King who was looking at the swordsman curiously.
"What about you?" Neptune inquired.
"I've got to deal with the uninvited guests...and catch an old hag." He said, before diving into the water, all three of his swords out of their hiding.
He placed one in his mouth and immediately spotted you sinking down to the palace floor.
Trying his best to sink faster, he started to swim towards your unconscious form. He stopped midway when an arrow whizzed past his nose.
Zoro turned around and looked at Hody who was smirking.
"If you think you, a human, can win against a fishman underwater you are nothing but mistaken. And if you think you can reach that Meredith dweller before me, you will face death."
Zoro grit his teeth against the hilt of his sword and sent a quick attack to the fishman. Hody easily dodged it, but it bought Zoro time to make his way towards you.
He outstretched his arms and brought your weak body to his chest. Immediately he felt that your heart was beating, but very slowly, and started to panicked.
Hody laughed like a maniac and sent waves of arrows towards you two. Zoro tried his best to dodge the hits, but few skimmed his arms. This made Zoro lose his breath and also his grip on you.He couldn't hear what Hody said, but some of his men swam towards your sinking body. Zoro tried his best to fight them off, but his attention had to be turned over to the leader.
"My men are here for two things, to capture Ryugu Palace and for that girl," Hody moved from his place, meters away from Zoro, and appeared in front of your lifeless body.
"Give up you human, this will be your final battle!!" Body yelled confidently, going in with his trident, aiming directly for the swordsman.
Zoro was preparing for the fishmen to charge towards him, simultaneously keeping a watchful eye on you, waiting for the right moment to strike.
It was all over in a mere second. Hody, who was holding your body, went charging in straight for Zoro who was already ready to cut the fish in half. Zoro's sword met the skin of his stomach, leaving blood to seep through and eventually dissipate in the water.
While the New Fishmen Pirates stayed still from the shock of their captain getting hurt, Zoro grabbed your body and swam to the surface immediately. He had been holding his breath for too long and if he didn't catch fresh air soon, he would surely pass out.
"Everyone take an energy steroid, we can't let them get away!!" A fishman yelled, holding a small black and red capsule in his hand. Simultaneously, he and everyone else took the pill and swallowed it.
The effects of the pill took effect on them very quickly. Their muscles bulking as their eyes turned more bloodthirsty.
"Zoro!! Y/n!!" Usopp yelled when he saw you two resurfacing. Your hat was now lost, as your hair was spewed everywhere.
But Usopp's happiness soon died down when he saw Zoro soon go back under the water.
Zoro let out a surprised gasp as he felt the familiar feeling of water surrounding him come again. Your body floated away from his, but he couldn't go after you right now. He would take care of these guys first and then go back to you. You would be fine anyway, right?
It seemed like this time the fishmen hoarding him weren't going easy. A different look could be seen in their eyes, but Zoro tried keeping a calm composure and didn't let his guard down as he battled more than one at a time.
Your lifeless and floating body started to sink more and more towards the palace grounds. Small bubbles passed through your agape mouth as the roots of your hair began turning white.
****************
"I can feel it happening!" One yelled, distressed and clutching their forehead.
"Wake up Y/n!! This isn't the time to sleep!!" Another yelled, almost sounding angry at the female for being unconscious.
"You have to do something, you are the only who can control her."
"I'll try my best, but I don't know if I can control her, its gonna be even harder now since she's in water."
"You don't have to control her, just wake her up. She'll know what to do, trust her." The last voice says making everyone in the darkroom feel a bit more assured.
***********
Usopp tried seeing past the ripples of water, but he couldn't get a clear image. He could only see a bunch of people and one astray, getting farther and farther from the surface.
But the stray that was floating away was noticeably changing. It left Usopp confused and fearful for his crewmate.
"Is that...Y/n?" Usopp said speechless from the sight he saw.
It was you...but it didn't look like you. There were obvious similarities to you and the person he saw, but there was such a big difference he could've been fooled.
Your natural (h/c) was now replaced with fill pure white hair and you weren't wearing the clothes you were before. Instead of your pirate clothes, you were wearing a black, feathered dress with a deep v-neck drop. Your natural (e/c) was now switched to bloodthirsty red. Your hair grew immensely, letting the pure white locks to float freely in the water.
"Guys there's something wrong with Y/n!!" Usopp yelled frantically as he dives underwater. He had to warn Zoro or else what could happen to him. The person floating next to him was definitely not you, from their appearance to the sadistic smirk on their face.
"Zoro!" He tried to yell, but only for a mouthful of saltwater to enter his wide mouth. It seemed there was no chance of reaching his friend.
Usopp resurfaced worrying about his friend who was still occupied with the rabid fishman. All he could do was watch silently as Zoro and this mysterious girl floated in the water - one fighting for his life.
Zoro didn't glance at you once since he was all too busy to even glance to his right. Unknown to him you began moving in the water. First, you were coughing up bubbles, but it seemed like you snapped out of it and you created a barrier around yourself, draining all of the excess water out.
'Y/n! I need you to wake up! This isn't napping time!' A male voice shouted in your head, but it sounded so distant. 'You and I both know I can't keep this form forever!' They shouted again and this time you tried peeking your eyes open.
It was like you were sitting in a dark room watching a transmitter snail in front of you, but you could recognize the setting that this image was in. You were looking through the eyes of you, but you weren't the one controlling your actions.
'I said wake up dammit! I'm gonna pass out from all this power I'm exerting!' He yelled once again and you could finally feel the fatigue of your own body through the scream.
You closes your eyes and blocked out all the outside noises and imagined the crew fighting off the fishman, you couldn't just leave them defenseless and from what you saw, it seemed like Zoro was having a bit of trouble fending for himself. Fighting alone, in the water...what an idiot. But you had to save that idiot.
It started with the wiggling of your fingers that he started to realize you were finally waking up and he could put his aching head to rest. The power you could wield was beginning to put his life at stake.
'It's about time you bitch!' He thought, a smirk plastered on his human form, outside of the mental realm.
'Yeah, yeah,' You snarkily replied back, feeling the blood rush back to your head and limbs, 'I can take over now you lazy ass.'
He chuckled, but before he could go back to his physical form in god knows where you sent him one last message for him to deliver.
'Thank you, keep them safe and tell them I will find them, okay, Holum?' With a whisper of his name, he began giggling.
'You can count on me, Queen Y/n!!' he shouted before really leaving, making you a grinning mess at his childish voice.
You looked around, breathing in the clean air protected by the shell around you. Holum took the time to create something that was of your power and you know that must've drained him to the brink of death.
"Okay, let's get to work Y/n, you've been napping long enough," You say to yourself, clenching your fist. From what you could see, Zoro was having trouble fighting off the fishman, who were obviously on something to make them stronger. It was obvious in their eyes and bodies, they were altering their strength.
Taking in a deep breath, you clutched the water outside your bubble and accumulated as much water as possible.
"Zoro, move out of the fucking way you idiot!!"
The swordsman didn't register your words since your awakening had surprised him, so he along with the other fishman got a taste of large wave crashing down their way.
"You idiot!" You yelled once you realized he was caught in the wave with the others. You outstretched you hand, feeling for his familiar blood. With the mixture of blood and water, you were able to manipulate his body and bring him closer to you. You opened the bubble briefly, pulling him inside with you.
His body was pushed against yours, but you were too weak of power to create another one for him. So you were going to have to suffer being cramped up against this stupid swordsmen.
"Hey, dipshit wake up! I don't want you passing out now," you punched his stomach once and he was immediately coughing at the contact. Water came out of his mouth as he fell to lean against the bubble.
"You," hicc, "bitch." You chuckled at his wording, unsheathing your sword to hold it against his neck.
"Careful, just because I saved you doesn't mean I can't kill you." Although you were merely lying, your words worked and he shut up in an instant (not without glaring at you). "Now let me handle this."
Trying to overpower the fishmen in their own environment was hard enough, but you thought you could handle it. You ignored the raging headache, you were still underwater so you were heavily affected. Zoro was watching with attentive eyes as he sees you collapse onto the bubble.
"Hey, take us up to air, I'll handle it from here." He commands in a gruff voice.
"No, I have to get this don-" You're interrupted by one of Hody's shark arrows piercing right through the bubble, going straight through your shoulder. He had barely missed your heart.
Zoro grabs you by your underarms, glaring at the fishman with dark eyes.
"You'll pay for that." was all he said before he tells you once again to take both of you to the surface. Weakly nodding, you command the bubble to the surface, gasping for air as Zoro hands you to Usopp.
"We can't win, not while we're restricted like this." You breathed out, holding onto Usopp for dear life. "Is Brook okay?"
"NO!!" the shriek from the skeleton makes you chuckle weakly, waving your hand dismissively to him.
******
You tried your best. You really had, but it was too suffocating to fight against the fishmen when you were surrounded by water. One of the fishmen had thrown you into a cell, shackles surrounding your neck, ankles, and hands as they covered your mouth with a metal muzzle.
They had thrown you onto the cold surface ground and you heard shuffling behind you.
"Those bastards!" You hear the familiar voice of Holum ring through your ears as you weakly lift your head up. You don't even attempt in speaking, now it will just result in you sounding muffled. Sharla caresses your head, apologizing profusely as you shake your head, trying to show that it wasn't her fault.
"I'm gonna kill those who hurt you, I swear."
After moving into their protective and warm embrace, your head shoots up when you hear the opening of the door to the room. Someone walks in with a transmitter snail and turns it on to film you. You can hear the booming of Hody's voice, your anxiety growing when you piece together that he's talking to Luffy. You knew Luffy and you knew he would end up doing the stupidest of things if he saw you injured like this. So you quickly rose to your feet, grabbing the bars only to collapse when you figured out they were sea stone.
"Observe!" Hody exclaims from the other room. "You disgraces of fishmen that looked up to these Meredith people! They will have a planned execution and we'll be broadcasting that across the nation. You were mistaken to trust such weak and foul-minded people."
You look at the camera, shaking your head as you tried yelling for Luffy to not act on his feelings.
"-uffy! -uffy! D-n't -ist-n!!" You tried speaking, but it only came out muffled and distorted. You could only hope he understood what you meant.
Meanwhile, in the Sea Forest, Luffy watched with a stoic expression. Sanji was seething next to him, seeing a woman in such a state only fueled his anger. Nami watched in shock at your vulnerable state, never thinking they would ever see you like that - again. Chopper watched with light tears at the whole predicament, worried for all of you in the castle. Jinbei's eyes darkened at the sight, wishing he could help you out right now but his feet stayed planted on the ground out of shock.
"Hey," Luffy said seriously, that is before his expression turned into a goofy grin, stars sparkling around him, "he said I was worth 400 million Beri when did they raise that?"
Nami automatically slapped him on the backside of his head, "It's not the time for that! And besides, Y/n has a higher bounty than you!"
"Luffy, she's in a muzzle and chained up in a room, why are you being so carefree?!" Sanji yelled, shaking his captain back and forth by his redshirt. "Did you hear them? They're gonna execute her!"
Suddenly, like a switch went off, Luffy's expression turned serious. "I'm going then."
Sanji ran a hand through his hair, "Were you even listening? seriously, Luffy..."
"No, you can't," Jimbei protested immediately, "she can handle herself. Trust me, I've seen her grow."
"She's vulnerable now and it doesn't matter how much you've seen her grow. I have to go and protect her." Luffy declared in a strong voice. "I'm going there to rescue her, my friends, and all the innocent people in that palace. She could be dying right now. They're all in trouble if I don't get there."
"I forgot, you're that man's brother," Jimbei said with an indifferent tone, standing straight. "Alright then, you leave me no choice, Luffy."
sup guys :) apologies for any typos