Cherry was about to grab whoever she could and bring them to the surface, when she happened to lock eyes with a group of rmaids that were passing by.
One of the rmaids was familiar to her. It was Camie, whom she had t two years ago.
"Ahhhhh! I forgot to escort them here! I thought it was next month?!" Camie panicked, dropping her groceries.
"Are those illegal immigrants friends of yours, Camie? Should we help them? It looks like they're about to drown..." Another rmaid said.
"Of course, please help save them, girls!" Camie rushed over to grab Luffy.
"I'll take you sowhere dry, okay?" A rmaid spoke to Cherry.
"I'm fine, thanks. You can help one of the others." Cherry answered clearly.
"Huh? Are you part fishman? You speak so clearly underwater..." The rmaid said, before turning her attention to Chopper and swimming away with him.
Everyone was brought back to Camie's ho, with the exception of Franky who was a bit too big. He was able to get along underwater just fine without assistance, so he went off on his own for now.
Only Cherry, Robin, Zoro, Nami, and Brook were conscious in Camie's ho at the mont. Luffy, Chopper, rry, Sanji, Usopp, and Cabernet were sleeping soundly in a big clamshell.
"I'm so sorry for not being there to et you. I'm such a scatterbrain sotis." Camie smiled awkwardly, scratching the back of her head.
"That's alright, Camie. We made it here just fine." Nami said, drying off with a towel.
"Sothing is missing..." Cherry said, looking at each person in the room.
"Franky went off on his own," Camie said.
"No, no not him." Cherry said, rubbing her chin in thought. Then she snapped her fingers and looked enlightened. "Where's our barrel creep?"
"Barrel creep?" Camie asked, confused.
"Right, Caribou. You should tell your friends to be on the lookout for him. An ugly guy stuffed into a barrel with just his head poking out. Who knows what he'll do if he gets let out." Nami warned.
"Probably kidnap rmaids, he seed the type." Robin said, having caught her breath.
"Okay, I'll go spread the word. rmaid traffickers are the last thing we need right now." Camie said, jumping back into the pool she used as an entrance.
"Look how scary she is!" "She's scary!" "No she isn't!" "I think she's scary?" "So what if she's scary?" Five tiny rmaids poked their little heads inside from the pool entrance.
Naturally they were talking about Cherry.
"Surely you have scarier fishn here? With sharks and eels and what not?" Cherry asked.
"Nope, not even close! "Not even close!" "Very close!" "I think it's not close?" "So what if it's not close?" They answered.
"Do you do that every ti you talk?" Cherry asked. "Or are you just ssing with us?" They all look to their top right and whistle nonchalantly like they didn't hear the question. Camie ca up from the entrance and grabbed one of her bubbles to float on.
"Would you like sothing to eat? I can have sothing whipped up in about half an hour." Camie offered.
"I want to look around, seeing if they have swords here." Zoro answered.
"I want to see what they have to offer for sale as well." Nami said.
"I will go with Zoro to make sure he doesn't get lost." Brook said.
"I want to see the historical sites." Robin said.
"I'll probably go looking for trouble." Cherry answered, earning a glare from Nami.
"No you won't! Anyways, Luffy will probably be happy if you had sothing to eat for when they wake up, Camie. Thanks in advance." Nami said.
"Alright then. I'll show you how to use the bubbles to get around." Camie said.
After a brief rundown on how the bubbles work, they were off on their own.
Cherry wasn't necessarily looking for trouble like she said, but she expected that she might find so in her current task. That was to find out what happened to Slenk and Borke. After asking around, Cherry learned that a good place to get information on fishman island was to ask Mada Shirley who ran the rmaid Cafe. Tourists and locals both frequented the establishnt, so a lot of news and rumors ca through as well.
*Ding ding*
Cherry opened the door which rang a bell overhead and confidently strode inside. "Welco~! Would you like a table or a booth?" A beautiful rmaid waitress asked. "A booth please. Would it be possible to et with Mada Shirley?" Cherry asked. "Mada Shirley is very busy at the mont. May I inquire about the reason for your desire to et her?" The rmaid waitress asked. Most wouldn't notice that her tone and posture shifted to a more defensive nature, but Cherry did.
"I just had so questions, maybe you can answer them." Cherry said, not minding the change in deanor.
Seeing the rmaid waitress nod, Cherry asked away. "Do you know about two human swordsn who ca here about a year ago by the nas of Slenk and Borke?"
The rmaid waitress's deanor shifted again, though Cherry couldn't quite read it this ti.
"They were regulars a while back. A couple of months ago they were arrested for murder." She answered.
Cherry seed calm on the inside, but inside she was burning up like a volcano. "What was their sentence?"
"...Death..." The rmaid waitress answered, a single tear rolling down her face.
She had been personally saved from traffickers by those two. Their unfair fate was sothing that haunted her dreams since the verdict ca from the palace.
"I see. Thank you, here's sothing for the trouble." Cherry said, putting down several bills on the table.
As Cherry was walking away she stopped. Without turning around she asked "Do you know how I might gain an audience with the king?"
"I-I don't know. You could ask a patrolling royal guard, maybe?" The rmaid waitress
answered.
"Okay." Cherry left the restaurant.
...
In the Ryugu Palace, the royal family minus the princess was eating lunch.
"Father, I heard there was a case of illegal immigration by a group of pirates earlier. From the sounds of it, it might be the Straw Hats. Should we deliver Jimbe's ssage about where they can et him after lunch?" Prince Fukaboshi asked.
"I see. I suppose it is better to deliver it personally since it's Jimbe, jamon." King Neptune
answered.
Prince Fukaboshi responded. "Of course, Fa-"
They all froze in place. The air around them suddenly felt ten tis heavier than the water
outside fishman island.
The guards in the room had directly fallen unconscious.
"What is this Haki, jamon?!" Neptune wondered aloud.
He and the three princes turned in the direction of its source. Each of them saw an illusion
appear in their mind's eye.
Two hawk-like red eyes burned into their minds. A cold fury dwelt in those eyes as they
seed to judge them.
Then the pressure was gone.
"W-what was that, Father? So la ti do..." Prince Ryuboshi asked.
"Why do I feel so guilty, Akkamanbo..." Prince Manboshi spoke. The other three knew what he
ant by that.
"Those eyes... Did we do sothing to upset Hawkeye, jamon?" King Neptune wondered. Hawkeye was the only one he could think of with eyes like that, that could also pressure them
so much.
The minister of the right rushed inside with more guards. "Your Majesties, are you alright?!" "We're fine, tend to the guards that passed out." Prince Fukaboshi said.
"Send so royal guards to look for the Shichibukai Hawkeye and invite him to the palace, jamon. Perhaps we can avoid violence, but if not then it's better to face him here where civilians won't be hurt in the battle, jamon." King Neptune ordered.
The Minister of the Right wanted to argue but held his tongue. His majesty was right, a man
like Hawkeye couldn't be underestimated. "Yes, your majesty!"
...
anwhile, inside the Ryugu Palace's dungeon.
"Hey Borke, did you just feel like Cherry was really angry at us for so reason?" Slenk asked.
Borke shrugged his shoulders.
"Did I just imagine it?" Slenk wondered aloud.
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