Savior -Luffy-

-8-

We stepped onto the large fish's back, my steps obviously weary as I knew what was about to happen. Luffy, Nami, Camie, Brook, and Pappag were all next to me, loudly conversing as I stood in silence holding onto the dorsal fin of the fish and watching the entrance to the palace carefully.

"May?" Brook asks, gaining my attention beside me. I look down and hum in response. "You are standing rather seriously. Is everything alright?"

"Betrayal," I mutter. "A lot of it." I swallowed thickly as my fingers gripped tightly to the dorsal fin. "Nami, did you bring my sword?" Nami turns to look at me with a tilt of her head.

"Of course I did," She answers. "Why?"

"I'm going to need it." She hesitates to hand me the weapon but does so nonetheless. I thank her and look over the blade lovingly. This was a gift from Oceania. She made this for me nearly three years ago. Back then, I had no idea what to do in this life other than play my role. Now, I'm seen as the Goddess of Guiding Spirits thanks to her. I gripped the handle a little tighter before bringing it up to my lips.

"Thank you, Ocean," I whisper into the hilt. We reach the entrance and I steady myself on the fish, the sword now by my hip. The entrance opens and I feel the suction of the tunnel that is linked to the palace tugging us in.

"To have a goddess in our presence is such a blessing in itself, Miss Kaneko." The King smiles brightly and does a small happy dance as we enter the palace, making me nervously grin. Before I can speak, I am stopped by another voice.

"King Neptune!" It was one of the King's men, rushing over to scold him."How many times do we have to tell you to not go out without an escort?" Neptune slumps forward in defeat.

"I'm sorry," He mutters sadly. I can't help but cover my mouth to suppress a giggle. As the king is getting scolded, I can sense Luffy sneaking off to find food. I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose and knowing I had to make a quick decision on what side of this fight I would be on. When Luffy is fully out of sight, I decided to stay with the others.

"What's the meaning of this?" Neptune asks with a frown when palace guards surround the bubble we were safely staying in.

"The Straw Hats were seen in Madam Shyarly's vision as the downfall of fishman island," The minister explains. "We already captured Roronoa Zoro." I sigh and rest my hand on my sword.

"Well, I guess it's time, right?" I unsheathe my weapon and grab the back of my dress, slicing through the fabric with ease and shredding my dress for better fighting ability.

"May?" Nami questions. "Why are you drawing your sword?"

"They won't back down, even if we try to reason with them," I warn. "So, Usopp, don't try." The long-nosed man sighs heavily before nodding in defeat. Nami sneaks backward toward the large coral that blew air bubbles while I distracted the guards and king with my absurd show.

"Why is the Goddess wielding a sword?" A Minister asks loudly. I huff and swing my sword as a warm-up exercise.

"I was a pirate long before I was a goddess," I reply.

"Get them!" The guards began swarming in and rushing towards us, but the air bubble grew faster and larger, pressing all the water out of the room. I smiled back at Nami as she shrugged innocently.

"Oops?" She smiles while putting her hands behind her back. I straightened my back and rushed forward, clashing my sword against a trident of a guard.

"Maylene!" Camie shouts. "Don't fight them!"

"They won't back down!" I remind her. The trident snaps out of the merman's hands and he falls backward as I move on to another trident. "Either get out or help!" Usopp, Brook, and Nami each ready themselves to help battle with me. I pushed the guard I fought into two more, knocking them all to the floor. I return to the three and watch carefully for any attack openings. When I see one, I quickly came to the realization that I was now open to others as well. I gasped to try and hold my breath and avoid more pain, but the pain never came from a sword. Instead, I heard the clash of metal.