"Vander Decken is going after Shirahoshi!" Neptune started sobbing as soon as the fishman had left, fat drops of tears dropping down his face and onto the soldiers.

"I beg you-jamon, you people! I'll give you anything you want! Let me go after Decken!" the king begged straining against the chains holding him.

"You can take silver, gold and jewels or my soldiers' lives or anything! He's gonna catch Shirahoshi! My treasure Shirahoshi!" the king continued sobbing.

Hordy laughed bringing the attention to him "How pathetic Neptune, i never thought that the hateful Straw Hats would help us conquer the Ryugu Palace" he said.

"Jimbei told me there was something going on in the Fish-Man District, i can't believe you, a former proud soldier of Neptune's army, are the ringleader, shame on you Hordy!" the seahorse merman yelled at him.

Hordy laughed at that "Shame? I'd feel shame id had felt any real pride to be in Neptune's army, the only reason i joined the army was to learn fighting skills in actual combat and that's all, I became stronger thanks to you" he said.

"What do you mean?" the seahorse merman asked.

"You all have failed to notice what's been going on in the island, since i was a child i've seen Fish-Men oppressed at the hands of irrational humans, i admired Arlong's ambition to take the arrogance out of them! We're going to restore his dream! We're the New Fish-Man Pirates!" Hordy declared.

"I was training myself to become Arlong's right-hand man one day, when he set out to conquer the world from the East Blue as he planned but unfortunately he was stopped by some humans" he said walking over to a side of the wall.

"So these Fish-Men are followers of Arlong?" Usopp asked.

"Seems so" Nicole said and took a glance at Nami who didn't quite seem herself.

"What? Arlong?! Just kidding! I've never had Arlong before" Brook laughed before Usopp kicked him.

"Ouch! Hey Usopp-san, why did you kick me?" the skeletal man asked.

"Just shut up for now" the long nosed sniper told him.

"Enough with chit-chatting and let's get down to business, stay away" Hordy told his men as he touched the wall and started gripping it braking it almost entirely with brute strength alone.

The cracks caused seawater to start flowing in "Oh damn! It's a flood!" Zoro said.

"Oh this is no good! Especially for me! I'm gonna drown!" Brook started freaking out about it while Hordy laughed, then with his hands wet he took a familiar pose and started tossing the water which formed into sharp arrows.

"Those water drops are becoming arrows!" Zoro exclaimed as the water arrows traveled towards them, however before they even got close to the soldiers Nicole had sliced up the water arrows and continued slicing them even as Hordy threw more.

"Why are you defending my men?" Neptune asked shocked.

"We promised none of you would get hurt did we not?" Nicole retorted even as she continued slicing the water arrows with both her swords, even as it was clear she was struggling to do so.

Zoro glanced back at his girlfriend before stepping forward drawing Hordy's attention making the fishman stop for a moment.

"One Sword Style! Bird Dance!" Zoro called as he drew Shusui sending a flying attack which Hordy blocked with one of his own men.

"That bastard! He shielded himself with his own man!" Usopp said with Brook clinging to his back.

"Hey guys untie the soldiers" Zoro told them.

"What?" Usopp asked surprised.

"Nicole won't be able to keep this up, we've been able to keep our word so far thanks to her but if this goes on" Zoro trailed off.

"Alright i got it" Usopp said straightening himself out causing Brook to slip.

"Oh my foot is in the water, i'm losing my strength! Help me Nami-san! Oh? Where is Nami-san?" the skeletal man wondered looking around as Nicole joined at their side.

Seemingly worse for wear, as she was out of breath and unusually pale even though the water arrows shouldn't have taken that much out of her, only Zoro seemed to notice at the moment though.

"Huh? Nami is gone?" Usopp asked.

"Where did she go? Camie is missing too!" Pappagu said.

"Man, first Luffy and now Nami? But we have to untie them first" Usopp said already untying the soldiers "Hang for a minute Brook" he told the skeletal man.

"He's driving my bones too hard, why don't you run now" Brook said using his cane sword to cut the ropes before he started swaying "Please untie the others i have no energy left" Brook said.

Nicole was also using her swords to cut the ropes from the soldiers.

"Don't let them do a damn thing! Destroy all of Neptune's army and the Straw Hats!" Hordy called and his men started the attack.

"Special Attack, Green star! Rafflesia!" Usopp called shooting a seed from his slingshot which popped open into a giant rafflesia flower which emitted its famously foul stench.

"How's that?!" the long nosed sniper taunted.

"I can't take it anymore" Brook said being carried around by a couple soldiers due to loosing his strength from the sea water.

"Zoro! Nicole! The water is rising!" Usopp called over to the pair of swordsmen that had gone over to the king, with Nicole leaning heavily on her boyfriend.

Zoro didn't seem bothered by it at all however as he cut the chains freeing Neptune.

"I have a favor to ask! Let those three get out of here!" the swordsman said referring to his crewmates still there.

"What about you?" Neptune asked.

"No one can get away with that guy chasing after them" Zoro said.

"Good luck" Nicole smiled weakly and he nodded in return before taking a deep breath and diving in to fight Hordy.

~

"Listen soldiers!" Neptune called for attention.

"Yes sir! We'll get rid of Hordy and his crew immediately" one soldier said.

"No-jamon, since i can't fight at full power you'd be sacrificing your lives for nothing, we shall give up the palace for now and meet up with Fukaboshi and the others and wait for a chance to fight back!" the king declared.

"Give up the palace? Are you serious Neptune-sama?" one soldier asked.

"Damn Zoro, he thinks he can beat a Fish-Man in the water?" Usopp asked as he, Brook and Nicole held onto the chains that had been once holding down the king.

"He can!" Nicole argued with a sharp glare despite her seemingly sudden lack of energy.

"Geez, alright" the long nosed sniper sighed.

"Usopp-san, i keep losing my strength and i'm going to drown soon" Brook said.

"You're dead already" Usopp pointed out before taking a deep breath and diving down to take a look at the fight, before going back up as he ran out of air.

"Usopp, how is it looking down there?" Nicole asked.

"Not good" the sniper replied before taking another breath of air and going back down just in time to see Zoro had landed a solid blow on Hordy.

~

"What's this? I sense a great deal of madness" Neptune said just as Usopp resurfaced.

"Zoro!" the long nosed sniper called.

Nicole could only bite her lip worriedly as she held onto Neptune.

"Zoro, is he okay? He's not surfacing" Usopp said while holding onto Brook.

"I can't take it, i'm losing my strength and i can't take it!" the skeletal man said.

"What's going on?" Usopp wondered but a few moments later Zoro finally resurfaced.

Nicole sighed in relief.

"Zoro!" Usopp called.

"This place is going to be filled with water, you have to hang onto me too" Neptune told him just as one of the soldiers was pulled down and killed while Zoro swam over.

"Here! Secure some air with this-jamon" Neptune said tossing the Straw Hats a Bubbly Coral.

"Oh thanks" Usopp said catching it.

"Hang onto my body very tightly-jamon" the king said.

"Got it" the long nosed snipper replied and created a bubble over himself and Brook before tossing the coral to Nicole who also used it to make a bubble over herself.

"Zoro this way! Hang onto the old man!" Usopp called as the swordsman swam over.

"I hope my strained back can take it" Neptune said more to himself before diving in, Zoro managed to grab on but was left without a bubble or a proper breath.

"Zoro use this!" Nicole called tossing him the Bubbly Coral but as Neptune was moving around he missed it.

"Shit" she said and using whatever strength she had left climbed across the kings beard over to the swordsman which was easier now as Neptune was passing out after using his move to let the soldiers escape.

"Hey old man! Don't pass out please!" Usopp called.

Nicole reached Zoro and pulled him close, Zoro gasped once the bubble was over his head as well, it was a tight fit but at least there was air, not that it would matter since they couldn't escape with their ride passing out.

"I hate getting old, i can't move even a millimeter-jamon" Neptune said.

"What?! Hey hey what should we do?" Usopp asked noticing the fishmen gathering around them.

"This is the end-jamon" the king said closing his eyes and it really seemed like the end would come until Hoe, his pet whale, came swimming in and they made their escape.

They were stopped however by Hordy grabbing onto Neptune and pulling him back.

"What was that? What's going on?" Usopp asked  climbing the beard to have a look and freaked seeing Hordy.

"Tsk, not deep enough" Zoro muttered irritated.

"No, it was he's somehow recovered quicker though" Nicole said.

Neptune let Hoe, the whale, go and the whale swam over to the soldiers still at the gates waiting on their king.

"Oh no, king-sama's been caught by Hordy!" one soldier exclaimed.

"Hordy has been severely wounded hasn't he?" another asked.

"Minister of the Right-sama, let's go back if nothing is done the king will" a third soldier trailed off.

"No, don't turn back-jamon, you have to keep going and bring Fukaboshi and the others" Neptune told his men.

"There's no time to lose! Do as he said!" the seahorse merman ordered.

"Yes sir!" the soldiers replied and left.

"Boss Hordy, should we go after them?" one of his men asked.

"No, just let them go, soldiers who abandon their king can't amount to much, anyway tie the stupid king up!" Hordy said.

"Yes sir!" his men replied.

"I'm sorry, you guys but i'm not going to let you down!" Neptune said as the New Fish-Men Pirates captured the Straw Hat Pirates, all except for Brook who was mistaken for a dead skeleton.

~

The Straw Hats, namely Usopp, Brook, Zoro and Nicole, were tossed into a cage and locked up with no way out, or so they would let the fishmen think.

"Oh? Oh? Oh? What's going on?" Brook asked as the cage was lifted, freaking out along with Usopp.

"Th-this is so high!" Brook exclaimed once the cage came to a stop, then the room started filling with water and the skeletal man and the long nosed snipper freaked out again.

"Damn, the water level keeps rising!" Usopp said.

"Usopp-san, i just got dry, i don't wanna soak in sea water again" Brook whined a little bit.

"Me either! Do something Zoro-kun! Nicole-chan!" Usopp begged the calmer duo with tears streaming down his eyes.

"Alright, then untie me" Zoro said.

"Got it! I feel it! I feel my psychic power! Chains come off, chains come off!" Usopp chanted wiggling his nose around but of course that didn't do anything.

"Hey, hey, did you see it? The look on those Fish-Men's faces when i moved, oh i can't stop laughing just thinking about it" Brook laughed.

"We go caught because of you!" Usopp, Zoro and Nicole yelled at him

"Help! They're gonna kill me!" the skeletal man called "Oh i'm already dead" he then laughed at his own joke.

"Well at least Nami and the others got away, they can bring Luffy and the others here" Zoro said.

"What if they don't come?!" Usopp yelled at him "Robin would say "I hope Nami hasn't been eaten by a deep-sea fish"" the long nosed snipper said taking on an impression of the archeologist.

"Sounds exactly like her!" Brook laughed.

"That sounded nothing like her!" Nicole yelled hitting the skeletal man with her foot, shutting him up.

"Oh yeah, Nicole i was meaning to ask, did you somehow get worse at swimming or something?" Usopp asked, he remembered her being a rather good swimmer, she could have easily helped Zoro out earlier.

"Hm? Oh that, yeah something like that" Nicole said vaguely, she wanted to surprise everyone at once so she hadn't told anyone, except Zoro whom she had told when they reunited at Sabaody.

~

"People called me the Submarine of the East Blue when i was a kid, i can easily swim even an 82-foot pool" Usopp bragged.

"I can run that far, i can't swim but i can run" Brook said.

"Then Brook, let's see which one of us is faster sometime soon" Usopp said.

"You can't beat me, i'm going to run beyond the horizon" Brook said, then the both of them laughed.

"Neither of those matter! We're tied up and locked in a cage with water rapidly approaching!" Nicole yelled at them sending them both panicking.

"Shut up!" Zoro yelled at them.

"What's your problem? How can you be so calm?" Usopp asked.

"Yeah, do you have any ideas?" Brook asked.

"Nope" Zoro said simply.

"Don't be so honest!" Usopp yelled at him.

"That's so clear, i like it, yeah" Brook said with a laugh.

"If only i had my sword" Zoro said.

"Sword but?" Usopp asked trailing off.

"He can cut the cage" Nicole simply replied, of course she could too and more delicately but she'll let him have this one.

"I have no choice, i have to do it in front of you three" Brook said.

"What is "it" ?" Usopp asked.

Brook started chanting bone before something flew out of his mouth "I'm out!" the ghost exclaimed, surprising all the others in the cage.

"What?!" Usopp exclaimed in shock.

"Okay, see you!" the ghost of Brook said before floating off.

"Hey wait! You got some explaining to do" Usopp told him.

"You can do something like that now?" Zoro asked.

"Yes, i can make my soul leave my body" Ghost Brook explained.

"That's just like a real dead person" Usopp said.

"Yes, you're right, it happened when i was on my world tour as Soul King, i was in quite a slump at that time for a while, sales of TDs (tone dials) and concert tickets were dropping and i didn't know what to do, since i got this ability i noticed what's missing in my songs, i found a way out of my slump" Brook told them.

"What was it?" Usopp asked.

"Well, if you had the ability to pass undetected through walls, any able-bodied male understands the potential right?" Ghost Brook laughed, somehow getting a nose bleed.

Nicole kicked the skeleton's head at that while glaring at the ghost "Do that on the ship and i will cut you" she warned.

"How scary!" Brook exclaimed, genually frightened.

"Just go already, the water's rising quickly" Zoro told him.

"Right right" Brook said and left to find one of either Nicole's or Zoro's swords for either of the swordsmen to use and someone to actually get them as he could not as a ghost.

 ~

"I found it! The ray of hope! Those fishmen that we saw earlier are all gone and nobody is here in the palace but they left Pappagu-san behind" Brook said, after coming back from his search.

"Alright then Brook, ask Pappagu to find the key to unchain us, and the keys to this cage and this room ..." Usopp said.

"Wait a minute fool" Zoro said cutting off the long nosed snipper.

"Huh?" Usopp asked.

"One of my swords is enough, just bring my sword, i'll cut them all" Zoro said.

"Wow you're so reliable" Usopp said.

"Alright, i'll go ask Pappagu-san" Ghost Brook laughed as he left yet again.

Nicole huffed and pouted a bit "I could cut it all too" she said.

"Well Brook already left so" Zoro shrugged.

Nicole huffed again turning away from him.

"Are you mad at me? For taking this one?" he asked.

"Yes" Nicole simply replied.

"You won't be for long" Zoro said.

"Yes" Nicole sighed.

"Please don't flirt or argue while we're in the cage" Usopp pleaded with a sweatdrop.

~

The water was creeping up to the bottom of the cage " The water is here finally! What are you doing Brook? It's too late!" Usopp yelled at the dead skeleton freaked out.

"Sorry to keep you waiting" Ghost of Brook said once he had finally returned.

"Oh, welcome back" Usopp greeted.

Pappagu surfaced from the water carrying all five of Nicole's and Zoro's swords "Here, your sword!" he said tossing Wado Ichimonji to Zoro.

The swordsman caught it in his mouth and with a single swing the swordsman cut the chains, the cage and the room they were held in.

The water started rushing out of the room.

"Good job Zoro-san" Brook said.

"Alright Zoro, let's get out of here!" Usopp said.

But then Zoro went overboard and started flooding the room once again, Pappagu helped Usopp and Brook swim out while Zoro helped Nicole but they got swept away by the current and started loosing strength but then Chopper, Franky and Sanji showed up on the Sunny.