【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

"Ace!!" Luffy jumped up and down in anger.

"Mr. Luffy, please don't move." Shirahoshi struggled to untie the rope; Luffy's previous actions had caused her to fail again.

"It's the Whitebeard Pirates! Our princess is saved!" The fishmen who hadn't fallen down cheered instantly when they saw the symbol on Ace's back.

"But that white-bearded pirate seems to have a good relationship with the pirate who kidnapped the princess..." a fishman muttered quietly.

"Who is this guy?" Lucci asked, looking at the four-legged fishman lying unconscious on the ground. This guy was obviously the enemy that Luffy and his crew had defeated, but he looked familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere before.

"That's the axe he threw at Cowardly Star!" Luffy turned around angrily, then his eyes lit up instantly when he saw the roasted meat in Lucci's hand. "Meat!!"

Lucci tossed the roasted meat to Luffy, just as the mermaid princess untied his rope. Lucci picked up Vander Decken from the ground and said, "Let's take him to Jinbe. Jinbe should really like this gift."

……

Sea Forest

"What a beautiful place!" Luffy exclaimed, watching the school of fish swimming past.

"It's really beautiful, like a dreamlike underwater world." Qi exclaimed as he looked at the scene before them. A huge white whale swam slowly above the giant coral, and schools of fish of various colors swam among the colorful corals and the wreckage of a sailboat covered with seaweed. It was as beautiful as a fantastic dream.

"It's the Sunny!" Luffy exclaimed in surprise, looking at the ship anchored below. "Hey, Franky, so you were here!!"

"Oh, it's Luffy!" Franky looked up in surprise, staring at the mermaid on the shark's back. "What?! You brought a stunning beauty with you!"

"Let me introduce you, this guy is a coward!" After Luffy got off the shark, he immediately pointed at Shirahoshi and grinned as he introduced her to everyone.

"Oh, so you're a coward. Well, you'd better be strong, big sister," Franky greeted with a smile.

"Excuse me, my name is Shirahoshi."

"Frankie, have you seen Robin?" Franky asked, as Robin was nowhere to be found.

"She ran into that huge coral forest, saying she was looking for something," Franky said, pointing to the coral reefs behind him.

"Yo, Jinbe." Ace saw Jinbe walking over and greeted him with a grin.

"Oh, Ace brothers!" Jinbe looked at Ace in shock, then at Lucci and Luffy. "Hey, Lucci brothers? What are you doing on Fishman Island with Luffy brothers!?"

"Jinbe!!" Luffy shouted excitedly, "It's been so long!"

"Brother Luffy, it's been a long time since I've seen you. You've grown so much, I almost didn't recognize you!" Jinbe said with a smile.

"Master Jinbe!" Shirahoshi greeted him with a smile.

"Oh dear, Princess Shirahoshi is here too. It's been so long since I've greeted her..." Jinbe smiled at Shirahoshi, but his voice stopped abruptly. He then stared wide-eyed in shock and cried out in panic, "Princess... Princess Shirahoshi!? What are you doing here!?"

"Hey, Franky, I'm going to put Hachi down now, catch him." Chopper reminded Franky, who was standing under the shark, while supporting Hachi.

"How did this octopus get so badly injured?" Franky caught Hachi, whom Chopper had put down, and looked at the wounds on Hachi's back covered in bandages with some surprise.

"Hachi!?" Jinbe exclaimed in shock again as he watched Hachi being lowered from the shark's back. He quickly walked over to Hachi, looking at the injuries on Hachi's body in disbelief, and said, "How did you get so badly hurt!? Weren't you captured with Arlong? How did you end up on Fishman Island?"

Lucci and Ace, who had watched the whole thing, exchanged a glance and laughed. It was the first time they had ever seen Jinbe with so many expressions on his face. Luffy had brought Jinbe many surprises since they met again.

"Then this gift of mine shouldn't surprise Jinbe anymore, right?" Lucci said with a smile, looking at the fish-man at his feet.

"We'll find out soon enough," Ace said with a smile. "After all, this guy is a fishman that Jinbe and Neptune have been hunting for a long time."

“Yeah, I didn’t expect to see him here,” Lucci said with a smile. He remembered Luffy’s identity when Luffy said that this was the guy who threw the axe at Princess Shirahoshi.

“Princess Shirahoshi, although I know your purpose, it is still too dangerous for you to leave the Hard Shell Tower.” Jinbe looked at Shirahoshi seriously and said.

"Is it because of him?" After hearing what Jinbe said to Shirahoshi, Lucci grinned and kicked the fishman who was tied up at his feet in front of Jinbe.

Jinbe looked down at the fishman Lucci had kicked over, stared at his exposed face, and after a moment shouted in shock, "Vander Deikun!!"

Jinbe stared incredulously at Vander Decken, then looked up at Lucci who was smiling at him, and asked in shock, "You've captured him!?"

Lucci raised an eyebrow at the disbelief in Jinbe's voice. "Obviously."

"It seems Jinbe really likes this gift!" Ace put his arm around Lucci's shoulder, mocking the disbelief on Jinbe's face.

"I owe you a favor," Jinbe said earnestly to Lucci and Ace. "Please hand him over to me, and I will be eternally grateful!"

"Luffy did it, I just helped tie him up." Lucci shrugged. "But to make things permanent, I suggest you do it completely..."

Ace patted Lucci on the shoulder; they shouldn't interfere with how the fishmen were treated.

After noticing Ace's actions, Lucci stopped talking. He understood what Ace meant; they really shouldn't interfere in the fish-men's affairs. "Jinbe, do whatever you want with that guy, but if you want to thank someone, thank Luffy."

"Thank you, thank you, Brother Luffy," Jinbe said with a smile. "This is someone we've always wanted to get rid of."

Upon hearing Jinbe call him, Luffy, who had just met the master who coated Franky's brother, turned around and laughed, "Hehehe, you're welcome, Jinbe, we're friends!"

Qi breathed a sigh of relief as he watched Sanji leap off the shark's back and spin around praising the mermaid princess. The kid had finally returned to normal. After Sanji's series of nosebleed incidents, Qi suddenly realized that he still preferred Sanji's infatuated look, at least he didn't get nosebleeds so easily.

"Is this the grave that guy was talking about?" Luffy said, looking at Shirahoshi sitting in front of the tombstone. "She's been sitting like that for a long time."

"This is the final resting place of her mother, Queen Otohime. It was also at that time that the princess accidentally received the mark of Vander Deiken, and his persistent courtship began from that moment."

"The princess has been living in the hard-shelled tower since then, and she couldn't even attend her mother's funeral." Jinbe looked at Shirahoshi with some heartache. "The princess must have accumulated so much to say to her mother..."

"Luffy!!"

"Oh dear, Princess Shirahoshi is here too..."

"Nami! Camie! Has the party started?" Luffy excitedly waved to Nami and Camie in the bus tunnel.