Chapter 109: Deep Dive
Chapter 109: Deep Dive
“Huh, this isn’t something you see every day.”
Despite Rayleigh’s relatively calm tone, Luffy could tell even he was surprised as he watched the Discovery preparing to dive. Admittedly, Jinbe’s nearly-popping-out-of-his-head-eyes were funnier, but Luffy took a bit more perverse pride in surprising the Dark King of all people. Not that he could exactly blame them. Not when Luffy had decided, after getting a personal promise of silence from both of them, to reveal Dis. Both men had been genuinely startled when Dis’s ‘dryad’ form, which had previously been hiding and inactive, showed up and started talking to them. A living ship was a new one to both of them, let alone one that could casually take on a form that let it talk with its crew.
Of course, that had only been the first of several blows to their world views, which had resulted in such visible surprise from Jinbe, and at least a considerable amount of feeling of surprise from even Rayleigh. Luffy had very carefully considered the pros and cons, even running his thoughts by several other members of the crew, but had ultimately decided these two were both trustworthy and that there was too much to gain to leave them ignorant. Which is why, even as the two men watched in fascination, Dis was openly growing the Treasure Tree Wood shell that they used to turn the ship into a submersible. Revealing their ‘source’ of Adam Wood might be a bit of a risk in some ways…but there was a pointed reason to do it.
“I think you can see now why we want someone to teach us ship-coating, rather than just applying the coating, yes? Dis can grow the Yarukiman Mangroves needed to produce the resin used, which means we could apply the coating essentially anywhere. While the wooden shell is sufficient that we could probably make it all the way down to Fishman Island even without a coating, it would attract attention that we don’t really want.”
Jinbe was still at a loss for words, but Rayleigh was once again proving just how used to complete and utter bullshit his life had left him. Luffy, disappointingly, could feel him already moving past ‘surprise’ and into contemplation. Thankfully, he also nodded at Luffy’s half-question, half-observation.
“Yes, I can see the reasons now. I admit, I had wondered just how you escaped the Archipelago so easily. Even with the distraction of events at Marineford, they whipped up a manhunt for you after events there. Albeit a weak one initially, since your other members sunk most of the local Marine ships. Some of the God’s Knights actually descended to look for you, but couldn’t find anything. I take it the Discovery was already underwater and out to sea when the Princess retrieved you?”
Luffy nodded, even as he filed away Rayleigh’s mention of that particular group. He still didn’t know anything about these ‘God’s Knights.’ If Rayleigh did, he would need to see about getting the information out of the old man. The fact that Garp, of all people, thought they were dangerous enough to cut a deal with the WG over? One intended to temporarily protect him and his crew? That said they were a group to be very wary of.
Jinbe finally shook his shock off enough to join the conversation a moment later.
“Not revealing your source of Adam Wood, or the amount of it you can lay hands on, is also quite understandable. It would make you an even larger target than you already are. I will not forget my word to keep this too myself.”
Luffy nodded his thanks, glad he could feel the sincerity in the older man’s emotions. So far, he had a very positive impression of Jinbe, but it had admittedly been a bit risky to reveal this to him. Rayleigh was at least predicable in being against the WG, whereas Fishman Island had a significant and recent history of trying to become a member of it. Something like a limitless amount of Adam might well be a large enough chip to bribe the Celestial Dragons into actually seriously considering that, rather than just toying with the Fishmen and Neptune Royal Family.
Which, so far as Luffy could tell, is what had been happening with the effort. It wasn’t like petitions were legitimately going to move arrogant sociopaths like the Celestial Twats into changing their mind, after all. Doubly so when it would make it harder to get Mermaid slaves, which were a favorite ‘exotic’ they liked collecting. Why anyone in their Royal Family had thought that would work, Luffy wasn’t sure. Naivete, he supposed. Or perhaps a degree of ignorance? Neither were exactly something you wanted to see in people in power, but Luffy was trying hard not to allow that thought to color his opinion of the Neptunes before he even met them.
“Well, I suppose I should talk to you and Dis about the process of coating, then. It’s a bit more of an art than a science, but with plenty of resin to waste, I should be able to teach you the trick of it without too much effort. The ability to produce more of it, mid-journey, if something happens to the bubble, will help you a lot as well.”
Luffy breathed a sigh of relief at Rayleigh’s agreement. It would likely mean a few days longer to reach Fishman Island, but the hurry wasn’t that critical yet. They’d made good time reaching where they were, which was roughly a day out of Sabaody itself, following a Vivre Card of Shaaky in Rayleigh’s possession. They’d make the rest of the trip underwater, then coat the ship in a hidden dock Rayleigh knew of in the Archipelago. That way, they could make the dive down the Fishman Island without revealing Dis’s abilities…
… … …
Between the size of the Discovery, her unusual shape, and the fact that Rayleigh was teaching as he went, it ended up taking almost five days after reaching the Archipelago to finish the coating process. Luffy felt that he at least got the basics down, and Jinbe promised that the Bubble Craftsmen of Fishman Island would help him finish learning. At least, assuming that King Neptune agreed to the Alliance that had been worked out.
The Knight of the Sea seemed extremely confident that the King would agree, and Luffy couldn’t blame him. By now, Jozu would have long-since crossed through to return to the New World and informed the King that the Whitebeard’s Sons had agreed to the deal. Which meant that King Neptune would be in a very awkward position if he didn’t agree to it. An awkward position that stood to annoy several major groups, from the Whitebeard’s Sons to the Albastian Alliance, and possibly even including the Revolutionary Army. Frankly, the Strawhats themselves were likely the least problematic to annoy of those involved, despite Vivi’s Devil Fruit abilities being the lynchpin making the entre thing possible.
King Neptune would be even less likely to disagree, Luffy thought, considering that Boa herself would be in attendance for the meeting. Via Vivi Express, of course. Both to prove that the ability worked, and because arriving that way had allowed Hancock to stay behind and see to some additional defenses now being installed on Amazon Lily. With the first transfer of Dial-Enhanced guns from Alabasta, and the first of Amazon Lily’s trainers off to Alabasta in exchange, the Empress didn’t want to be away from the island longer than necessary at the moment. Technically, even if the Fishman portion of the Alliance fell through, the agreements between Amazon Lily, Alabasta, and the Strawhats had already been cast in proverbial stone.
That wasn’t the focus for the moment, however. First they had to actually get to Fishman Island. Thankfully, while Rayleigh had departed before they dove, they had the best possible guide with them still. Jinbe had, with Luffy and Nami’s permission, taken over the helm, and was now explaining the path he was guiding them on to everyone as they stared out in fascination at the dimming waters around them and the odd fish within it. The view was much more spectacular without the wooden shell they used previously in the way.
“Fishman island rests 32,000 feet under the surface, and the only way to reach it is by traversing a downwelling current. The vast majority of ships use the main current, the one publicly known to exist, but the reality is that there are several such in the vicinity around Fishman Island. The extreme cold of the section of the Red Line directly over Fishman Island helps create them, since it conflicts with Fishman Island’s own Summer Island nature. While few realize it, the Red Line can really be likened to an entire series of linked Islands. Each of which have their own climate, which interact with that of Fishman Island. All of which creates the currents we are using. The path we are taking is to one of the lesser-known currents, which can’t be used without a Fishman guide to read the currents for you.”
Luffy nodded along with that, even if he only partially understood. Still, there was an obvious question.
“Why not take the main current? It’s the path that most ships use, right?”
Jinbe nodded without hesitation.
“It is. However, that also means that arrivals via that current, which ends near the port that allows entry into the Fishman Island bubble, is watched. Even if they don’t openly interfere, the World Government keeps an eye on who passes through Fishman Island when they can. Likewise, several other major groups, including dissident groups of Fishman that disagree with some of King Neptune’s policies, keep an eye on the main approach. By using a lesser-known current, we can arrive at Fishman Island without complications.”
Ah. This was something that Luffy still knew about from his first life. He had watched the Fishman Island Arc, the last gasp of the original show he’d seen before losing interest and only picking bits and pieces up from others.
“Hody Jones and the New Fishman Pirates?”
Jinbe looked almost as surprised at Luffy producing those names as he had at Dis, it taking the Fishman several seconds to stop staring.
“Yes. Along with one other who is a particular annoyance to the Royal Family. I have to ask, how did you know about him? He has largely been a problem only for those approaching Fishman Island, and none of your crew have ever been.”
Luffy hummed, deciding how to answer that, since it was really meta-knowledge at work. Still, assuming Hody had been operating the same way that he witnessed in the arc of the anime…
“He occasionally spares humans specifically to spread word about him. I imagine he’s done more harm to the idea of peace between Fishman and humans than anyone else alive. Even the World Government are more dismissive of the idea than anything. Also, there are the persistent rumors that he’s been known to brag about being the one to kill Queen Otohime. Though I don’t know if those are true or not.”
Luffy did, in fact, know. At least…probably. There had been things different between his meta knowledge and this reality, after all. Even if they were usually butterfly effects influenced, not all of them were. Still, he doubted this was one such case, as Hody had blatantly and openly bragged about it in the Fishman Island arc. Luffy just didn’t have any way to prove that to Jinbe and could, in fact, feel his disbelief. Which is why he’d phrased it carefully. Best to plant the seed of the idea, without outright insisting it was true.
“I…cannot believe he would go so far. I know he truly hates humans, but Queen Otohime was wildly beloved. No, it is beyond belief that it was a Fishman who killed her.”
Jinbe…it felt like he wanted to believe that, but that there was a seed of dark doubt haunting him. Which is really all Luffy wanted. If they were going to be allies, better Jinbe be on the lookout for the trouble Hody was brewing up. If there was a way to cut that trouble short while they were visiting the island, Luffy was all for it. Yet, he suspected they might not be so lucky. Vander Decken was likely a problem they could help deal with more easily, but until Hody revealed the depths of his plans, it might be viewed poorly by the common Fishman for an outsider to deal with him. At least some of them hated humans enough to support the psycho, after all, and Luffy had very little concept of how much of the population that was.
Whatever the truth was, Jinbe shrugged off the dark thoughts after a few moments and pointed outside the bubble at…a waterfall? No, that must be the downwelling current they were here for, though it looked very much like a spectacular waterfall under the sea. Luffy felt himself grinning hugely. The Grand Line was so cool.
“There’s the current. I’ll bring us in at an angle so it’s not too rough a transition. I must say, the Discovery is a delightful ship to helm. Normally, you need to tame a sea-beast or hire Fishman-assistance to move so easily under the waves as her engines allow.”
Luffy couldn’t help but puff up with pride a bit at that, even as Dis, hovering around Jinbe in dryad-form, blushed a bit at the praise. There was no time to say anything before Jinbe brought them into line with the deep plume, though. Despite saying he’d make it a ‘gentle’ transition, the abrupt rush of movement still stole everyone’s attention as they were yanked into the current. They were pulled into a steep downward dive, more extreme than anything since their final, barely controlled descent from Wind’s Home. The speed of it caught everyone but Jinbe off guard, while the Fishman himself calmly adjusted the ship to ride the very center of the current.
As they descended, what little light had still been coming from the surface began to fade entirely. Unlike most ships, however, the Discovery was well equipped for the Deep Sea. Floodlights, some from her original design and some Luffy had added only after first developing the ability for the ship to submerge, flickered on. Powered by the potent turbines, themselves powered by the Goro Goro no Mi, the floodlights were more than strong enough to illuminate a sizable sphere around the ship. Something which allowed them to see the increasingly weird sea life that either got caught up in, or was deliberately riding, the current with them.
“Truly, this is a remarkable ship. Even I have rarely seen the Deep Sea so well lit before, outside of the area around Fishman island itself, of course. As you can see, the complete lack of light down here has caused many of its inhabitants to forgo eyes as they developed, with such being normally quite useless down here.”
Even as various members of the crew ooh and aahed over the strange aquatic creatures, many of which Jinbe calmly identified for them, Nami was frowning out at…smoke? She pointed out to what looked like smoke under the water, raising her voice to ask Jinbe about it.
“Are those undersea volcanoes? Those thermal vents looked awfully active to me.”
Jinbe nodded, still calm thankfully.
“They are. If we were taking the Great Plume down, we’d have to worry about possible eruptions. Their heat, contrasting so sharply with the arctic chill from this section of the Red Line, is what creates the main Plume. Occasional eruptions are a serious risk and, combined with Deep Sea monsters and occasional attacks by the New Fishman Pirates, are part of why only thirty percent of all ships that attempt this trip actually reach Fishman Island.”
Usopp and Chopper both paled at that. Neither were exactly cowards, as Luffy remembered them from a screen in his past life. But they weren’t overly fond of hearing things like that either. Nami, who would have made up the final member of the original ‘coward trio’ in another life, barely even blinked. Instead, she only hummed, cocking her head for a moment before nodding and addressing their guide.
“I’m guessing the biggest chunk are those who don’t consider how to properly move around down here. Without the Discovery’s engines, they’d need to either read the currents perfectly, or else tame a sea-beast like you mentioned earlier. Is the current-reading what Fishman guides do for ships that hire them?”
Jinbe smiled broadly as he nodded at Nami.
“Quite! While seventy percent of all ships that attempt the trip fail…that number changes to nearly ninety percent success if you include only those that have a Fishman Guide with them. The Guides Guild is only open to legitimate merchant shipping, and helps maintain vaguely stable trade with the surface. Even the New Fishman Pirates don’t bother ships with one of their guides aboard, so they only have to worry about unlucky eruptions or particularly nasty sea life, such as the Kraken.”
Luffy nearly laughed as Chopper and Usopp breathed a visible sigh of relief. He’d known about all of those risks already, but dismissed most of them easily. Conqueror’s Haki could easily scare off anything that decided they looked like food, and the Discovery was far tougher than most ships. Add in Jinbe of all people as a guide? There had probably never been a safer descent to Fishman Island.
“Ah, we’re nearly at the end of the current. We’ll hit the Deep Current we want in just a few moments…”
Jinbe had steered them to the side of the failing downwelling current, and the ship slowed abruptly as he smoothly transitioned them to another current that was running more calmly along the ocean floor. So calmly, in fact, that it was only the Discovery’s engines that kept them moving at more than a few knots.
“We’ve reached the first shelf, roughly 20,000 feet under the ocean. We’ll need to travel a short way to where the shelf falls off, then descend farther down to Fishman Island. Since the island itself is a Summer Island, the downwelling currents don’t carry us that far. Normally, it’s the most dangerous part of the descent for humans, as the Deep Currents are quite slow and leave them open to running out of air or being targeted by foes during this leg. Yet your ship won’t have that problem. At worst, we might need to scare off a monster or two. The pirates won’t bother any ship I’m on. Not even Hody, who disagrees with my stance on things. Nor is this a well-traveled route that they’d keep an eye on anyway.”
Even the less courageous of the crew settled down at that, and Sanji broke up the quiet as they all watched the sea life with questions about how some of it tasted. Jinbe seemed surprised by that at first, before cheerfully pointing out some Fishman and Mermaid staples and delicacies. Some sounded delicious…other a bit suspect, causing Luffy to wonder just how different Fishman tastebuds were…
… … …
Ultimately, after a plunge another 12,000 feet down to the bottom of the trench Fishman Island resided in, they did have to run off a couple of larger Sea Beasts with brief bursts of Conqueror’s Haki. Aside from that, the remaining trip had been otherwise uneventful. Not eventful, that was, until a far greater light began to radiate in the water and they were all left marveling at their first sight of Fishman Island itself. It was now above them, a vast sphere of the same sort of Bubble that surrounded their ship. Luffy scratched his head at that, not having considered before just how it was doing that. After all, the whole point in the Bubble Coating was to make a ship sink to the bottom. When he asked that, Jinbe surprised him with a laugh.
“You know, I think you’re the first human I’ve ever heard ask that? Not that it is secret, mind you. Most are simply too overwhelmed by the other impossible things by this point to ask, I suspect. The answer, however, is part of the defenses. Fishman Island isn’t surrounded by a single Bubble, but two layered Bubbles. This both keeps it from being accidentally popped…and makes it nearly impossible for ships to enter without going through one of the locks. The space between those layers is filled with air, you see, so a ship can’t just sail through without falling. The air keeps the island itself buoyant as well, resulting in it resting at the center of the current here, rather than on the ocean floor itself!”
Huh. That was actually extremely clever. Though he admittedly sort of wondered why they’d decided to create an air pocket down here at all, when all their people could breathe water. It seemed like it was quite the risk, given even the World Government would have been hard-pressed to bother them down here if the entire island was under the water pressure that existed 30,000 feet down. He decided not to ask that particular question. He suspected the original answer had long since been lost, and any answer he got now would be as much political as truth.
It also didn’t matter, as for the first time Jinbe really abused the fact that the Discovery had its own potent engines. Instead of guiding them through natural currents that would draw them toward the main entrance of the Bubble, he used that power to curve them up and around the island, hugging the edge of the lighted zone. Doing so resulted in giving them a slow reveal of the island, from what Luffy knew had to be Mermaid Cove to Coral Hill and more. The double-layerd Bubble warped the image they were seeing too much to make out fine detail, but the effect was still beautiful.
Which wasn’t why Jinbe was doing it.
“Dis. Can you flash the signal I asked for please?”
Jinbe had been unfailingly polite to Dis’s construct, once he got over his shock at her existence, addressing her as often for permission as Luffy himself. Some Captain’s might have been annoyed by that, but Luffy was only amused…and a little bit approving, to be honest. Dis was as much a member of the crew as any of them, so asking her permission to make use of her features was only polite. Particularly since Jinbe was an outsider. Of course, Dis still looked to Luffy for approval, but he only nodded. The Fishman had already discussed this with him.
In response to his nod, Dis dimmed most of her lights, but strengthened a single floodlight that would be starkly visible against the inky black of the Deep Sea they were skirting the edges of. Using that floodlight, she flashed a signal in the direction of a second Bubble, one that rested on top of the main Fishman Island Bubble. That smaller Bubble contained the Palace…and also happened to contain one of the only other entrances to Fishman Island. A private dock that was very rarely used. It existed entirely to receive VIPs, either from the likes of the World Government or Whitebeard’s people. Jinbe and the Sun Pirates were likely on the list that might have been received there as well, which explained why he even knew about the dock.
The signal was rather important for a singular reason.
Den Den Mushi are only barely functional down here.
In truth, it’s more accurate to say that they really aren’t. Fishman island relied on creatures called Territorial Sea Slugs as a relay for Den Den Mushi signals. It worked, but it meant that there were a very limited number of Mushi on the island, and they were more vulnerable to both disruption and signal interception. Hopefully, the White Den Den Mushi that they would be providing could at least partially mitigate that issue, but there weren’t any of them on the island yet. Which was part of the reason they didn’t have a formal agreement from King Neptune yet. The King had almost certainly been informed of the Summit results by messages passed via Jozu as the Whitebeard Division Commander passed back through. But, aside from a brief coded message to indicate roughly when they would arrive, there had been no direct contact between Jinbe and the King since the former Warlord left.
The light signal was thus a way of letting them know he was back, and that they needed to discreetly prepare the VIP airlock and dock at the Palace for the arrival of the Discovery. Luffy stared in curiosity, trying to see if there was some sort of return signal, but failed to spot anything of the sort before Jinbe spoke up.
“They say they will be ready for us in fifteen minutes. Prepare yourselves, we will be docking soon. If you wish to change, or make any other preparations before meeting the Royal Family, you should do so now.”
That comment from Jinbe got a rapid blink…then an equally rapid scramble from several female members of the crew. Including both Vivi and Nami, who seized him by an arm each to drag him towards the Captain’s Cabin. Ah, nuts. He was going to have to wear something at least a little formal, wasn’t he?
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A/N 1: The only thing to really say here is that I took the time to describe the descent to Fishman island because...not many fics actually get this far. Previously, with most canon islands, I skipped alot of the approach bits because I assumed everyone has read all the details a dozen times, in addition to reading/watching the originals in the manga/anime. Thus it was wasteful of all our time and the story's word count to spend too much time on description. Fishman Island, though? I can probably count the number of One Piece fics I've heard that have reached that far on one hand, without being in danger of running out of fingers...