Screw It, I'm Going Out to Find It!

Chapter XXXIV: Prison Break!

Neptune surged across the floor as a puddle. The plan had been simple and he had done well before now, but that wasn't his current situation. Hell had broken loose after the marines spotted a mass of moving water. One of their first instincts had been to open fire, surprising him. He couldn't fathom why they would aim their guns at the deck of their ship on the lowest level, but they did. Yet, it was surreal having bullets tear through him and do nothing.

Once they noticed this, their tactics changed. Soon, one brave marine charged him with a mop, and Neptune ran for his life. At this point, stealth was a lost cause, so he shifted back to a human form. The shouts of the marines behind him intensified, but didn't sound particularly shocked.

He kept running through the halls, taking turns without thought. There was no time for worrying over which way to go when he had an entire ship at his heel. If he didn't hurry, some of the stronger marines would show up.

At this point, he was searching for either the keys or where their weapons were stored — which would likely also require the keys. He was so lost in thought wondering what the hell he was going to do when he ran into someone. As he tangled into the person, he cursed. He had been so focused on who was behind him that he was hardly paying attention to what was ahead of him. Not the smartest move when he was on an enemy ship.

Neptune felt something help him up — several somethings. They weren't hands, though they acted like them. To Neptune's bewilderment, he was met with a crowd of sea animals. In almost an instant, he recognized the person he had run into. Leading the pack was a boy with black hair and a uniform that loosely followed the marine's protocol.

"Hey, you're one of those good pirates, right? Where's your captain? I'm looking for him." Neptune gawked like a fish at the barrage of questions. Then, the sound of stomping growing closer brought him back to reality.

"Oh, maybe they know," Luffy said, brushing past him. The little army of sea animals followed him, parting around Neptune as they went. Briefly, Neptune glanced back to see what would happen. However, the need to hurry set back in and he was off down the halls once more.

***

Ruby wasn't ashamed to say that she screamed. Her playful joke to Zwei had not gone as intended. Instead of doing nothing or just making an adorable face at her, his body began shifting and morphing in an almost grotesque fashion. Zwei's hind legs grew out into long, muscular, human legs with very human feet. His front legs grew out into arms, his paws turning into hands. His chest broadened as he rose to a height much taller than Ruby. In moments, her dog had turned into a body building with the small head of a dog.

Zwei posed confidently and yipped at her. That was something she would never be able to scrub from her mind. Zwei approached the bars, his tongue lolling out of the side of his mouth as he panted. He reached forward to grab them, then he was back to being a normal dog in an instant. Whining, he scuttled back to Ruby.

"How?" Ruby breathed out. Then it clicked in her mind that the bars were seastone. "When — did you eat a devil fruit, Zwei? How? When?"

She shook her head. Despite what she just saw, Zwei's adorable little face looking up at her wasn't going to answer any questions. He certainly didn't seem interested in responding now, having taken to curling up by her foot.

There was a snapping sound across the hall. It sounded like two joints being popped in rapid succession. Ruby looked up to see the second most astonishing thing she had seen that day. Whitley had done it. Not once had she ever seen him make progress, so she had always assumed it was a lost cause. Yet, now in his hand was a large section of one of the bars to his cell. He gave her a thumbs up, as if to thank her for believing in him the whole time. She hadn't.