One Piece (Love Story) [Part Two]

Chapter Two Hundred and Ninety Three [Rewritten]

-Chapter Two Hundred and Ninety-Three-

"The Flying Fish just left?" Chopper questioned as a sudden calm now settled over the ship.

"And they were the ones who started the attack, weird..." Franky frowned.

"Maybe something important came up" I suggested.

"Well it did seem like they were sent a message" Robin slowly nodded in agreement. "Maybe it was an order for them to retreat, I can't imagine why though..." she mumbled.

"Those flying fish were cool! I want to ride one!" Luffy was practically sparkling as he excitedly hopped around the ship like a child who's had too much sugar. "It can stay in the air for five minutes, right? That's five minutes of awesome for me!" he grinned, snickering at the thought of riding atop one of those strange fishes.

"We're headed to their base now, so we'll see them again soon enough" Sanji said, taking a drag of his cigarette before blowing out a steady stream of smoke. "We better be careful though, they might not be so easy next time—least we know they can attack from the sea or the air."

"Yeah, that is pretty good information to have" I nodded in agreement.

"Hey, how about lining the deck with cannons?" Usopp suggested as the captain continued to babble on in the background about the flying fish and his eagerness in wanting to ride atop of one. "Sniper Usopp will blow them all out of the sky!" he cockily grinned.

"Good thinking, bro" Franky complimented.

"I'm worried," Camie frowned, "I wonder if Hatchan is okay" she muttered as she lowered her head and rested it against the railing.

"Worry about yourself while you're at it, Camie" the starfish told her. "Marco wants to catch you bad, don't drop your guard" he reminded her.

"Yeah...you're right..." she sadly nodded.

-Later-

"Huh?" Luffy perked up. "Hey! I see something!" he called out to the rest of us as we started to near a bunch of buildings that were halfway surrounded by a wall.

"From the looks of it, that's the Flying Fish Riders base" Franky assumed.

"So Camie's friend Hachi is being held somewhere around here, right?" Luffy asked.

"Hatchan..." Nami muttered, looking to be lost in thought as a rather troubled expression crossed her face the longer she thought over the name—quietly mumbling to herself as she did so.

"Let's go! We got to save those Octopus Fritters!" Luffy exclaimed.

"What? Did you miss your snack time today or something?" Franky asked with a raised brow.

"I pretty sure every minute of every day is his snack time" I said.

"I'll go in there and save him before you know it, beautiful Camie!" Sanji cooed, already spinning around in a flurry of hearts.

"Thanks! You're the best, Sanji-chan!" Camie brightened. "Hold on, guys—before you go, listen up" she suddenly piped up the closer we got to the base as if just remembering something important.

"Huh?" we questioned as we directed our attention towards the mermaid.

"Be careful out there, okay—the Marco Gang has managed to capture me over thirty times already" she admitted, expressing her concerns for our safety while almost confessing something that sounded rather bizarre the longer I thought about it.

"Thirty...thirty times?" I frowned, not knowing whether the absurdly high number was a result of clever traps or stupidity.

"You get captured way too often" Usopp sweat dropped as he lightly struck the back of the mermaid's head. "You get eaten too often too..." he grumbled after a moment's thought.