Chapter 11: Human Bait
From the deck of the Marine warship Ace had boarded, a deafening roar echoed across the water. "Flame Emperor: Pillar of Fire!"
A colossal geyser of orange and white flame erupted from the vessel's core, tearing through its structure and painting the sky with fire and splintered wood. The entire ship was instantly transformed into a floating funeral pyre. A figure wreathed in flames leaped from the inferno, soaring through the air before landing gracefully back on the deck of the Spade Pirates' ship.
The remaining Marine warship, having witnessed the swift and brutal destruction of its two sisters, finally broke off its pursuit, turning to rescue the countless soldiers now floundering in the water.
"Good work back there, Roy!" Ace slung a friendly, soot-streaked arm around Roy's shoulders, his grin wide and infectious.
"I'm just surprised they went down so easily," Roy replied, sheathing Shiroi with a soft click.
"Easily? Roy, you cut a warship in half!" Joseph interjected, shaking his head in awe. "I've never seen a swordsman do something like that."
"Don't let it get to your head," Roy said with a humble smile. "There are monsters on this ocean who could do that in their sleep. I just got lucky."
"Alright, men!" Ace announced, pumping a fist in the air. "A victory banquet! We've earned it!"
The celebration was cut short before it could even begin. The ship's cook, a burly man named Arthur, emerged from the galley, his face a thundercloud and a heavy spoon gripped like a club in his hand.
"Captain," he said, his voice dangerously low. "A banquet. A wonderful idea. Perhaps you'd like to explain what, exactly, we're going to eat? You and the new guy polished off every last scrap of provisions last night. All that's left is a single sack of rice. Breakfast was a handful of crumbs. We are, for all intents and purposes, a floating famine."
Ace had the decency to look thoroughly chastised. "Uh... right. So... what's the plan?"
"The plan," said Jerry the helmsman, stepping in, "is to find an island. Quickly."
"Then full speed ahead to the next island!" Ace declared, trying to salvage his captainly authority.
And so, the Spade Pirates, a crew that had just humiliated a Marine fleet, spent the afternoon not celebrating, but sitting listlessly along the gunwales, holding fishing rods over the vast, uncooperative sea.
Snnnnnnrk... snnnnrk...
"The captain's asleep again," Slott muttered, staring at his motionless fishing line.
"Let him sleep," Joseph sighed. "If he wakes up hungry, he'll just be more of a handful."
"Same with Roy," another crewmember added, pointing to where their new swordsman was also dozing, his head resting against a coil of rope. "Those two are a menace. They eat us into poverty and then nap through the consequences."
By nightfall, the dire situation could no longer be slept through. Roy and Ace both woke to the gnawing, hollow agony of empty stomachs. They looked at each other, their usual energy completely sapped.
"Joseph..." Ace moaned, slumped against the mast. "Any fish...?"
"Nothing big enough to feed a seagull," Joseph replied gloomily. He rummaged in a small crate and produced two withered apples, tossing one to Ace and one to Roy. "This is it. The last of the fruit."
"Fruit? I need meat!" Ace wailed, grabbing his fishing rod and shaking it with a sudden, frantic energy, as if he could intimidate a fish into biting.
"Captain, with that kind of technique, you're more likely to scare them all the way to the Calm Belt," Slott said weakly.
"Just you watch!" Ace insisted, his pride on the line.
An hour later, the line remained stubbornly still.
"Hey, Joseph," Roy asked, an idea slowly forming as he watched Ace's futile efforts. "Do we have any fishing nets?"
"Fishing nets? Sure," Joseph said. "But they're useless out here in the deep sea. No islands around, the bottom is hundreds of meters down. The fish are all deep."
Roy's eyes glinted. "I've got a net. And I need to borrow Ace."
Ace perked up. "Huh? What do you need me for?"
Five minutes later, the entire crew was gathered on deck, watching a scene of pure absurdity.
"ROY, YOU TRAITOR! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Ace's wails echoed across the water.
"I'M GOING TO DIE! DON'T SELL ME OUT TO THE MARINES! THERE'S TREASURE IN THE CABIN, I SWEAR! AHHH, THE WATER'S TOUCHING MY FEET!"
Roy, standing firmly on deck, held the end of a thick rope tied to a fishing rod. The other end was knotted securely around Ace's torso, suspending him just a few feet above the dark, swirling ocean.
"If you want to eat meat, stop squawking and do your job!" Roy barked down at him, not unkindly.
"He's right, Captain!" Joseph yelled, hefting a large fishing net. He had one foot up on the railing, poised to strike. "Just hold still! This is a great plan!"
The "plan" was simple, if unorthodox. Ace, dangling over the side, held his hands up, a soft, pale green light—"Firefly"—glowing from his palms. The light wasn't hot, but it was a perfect mimic of the bioluminescence that attracted plankton from the deep.
"It's working!" Roy called out, peering into the water. "I see them! The plankton are rising!"
Small, shimmering specks of light began to gather in the water below Ace, drawn to the gentle warmth. Where there was plankton, small fish would soon follow. And where there were small fish...
"Joseph, get ready!" Roy instructed, tightening his grip on the rod.
"I'm gonna fall in! Joseph, hurry up!" Ace yelled, trying to hold perfectly still.
A school of silvery, arm-length fish darted into the glowing area. Joseph took aim, ready to cast the net.
Suddenly, the sea beneath Ace erupted.
A massive, dark shape, larger than their ship, breached the surface. It was a Sea King, its mouth a cavern lined with teeth. With a single, effortless gulp, it swallowed the entire school of fish.
And the glowing, fiery bait dangling above them.
"ACE!" Roy screamed, his heart leaping into his throat.
"CAPTAIN!" the entire crew shouted in unison, frozen in horror.
Roy's hand flew to Shiroi's hilt, his body coiling to unleash a desperate slash. But before he could draw, the Sea King let out a gargled, pained roar. A faint orange glow emanated from its gullet, growing rapidly brighter.
FWOOOOM!
A jet of fire shot out from between the beast's teeth, followed by a muffled but distinct shout from deep within its stomach.
"FIRE FIST!"
The Sea King's head seemed to bulge from the inside out before it exploded in a shower of scorched meat and steam, its decapitated body slumping back into the sea. Standing triumphantly on a piece of floating wreckage, covered in monster gunk but otherwise unharmed, was Portgas D. Ace, a single, cooked fish in his hand.
He took a bite. "Tastes a bit... acidic."
########
I Wonder What a Sea King Would Taste like? Fishy and beefy?
Stones or else a Sea King will spawn on top of you?