The atmosphere on the Polar Tang was tense, and that tension remained over the next few hours without dissipating in the slightest. If anything, it only grew with the quiet.
Even Zoro was feeling it, albeit less so than the others. Whether the blip on the sonar had been a creature or a vessel, he had so confidence in sinking it. What he didn't have any confidence in was protecting the submarine from whatever it was; and if that was destroyed, they were all dead.
They would need to surface soon. The submarine needed fresh air for the crew to survive and there was no way for them to get it beneath the waves.
Suddenly, there was a clatter and so shouting coming from the sick bay.
"What's going on?" Law entered the room to find two of his crew holding down the old man who wriggled and wrestled in an attempt to get himself free.
"Unhand !" the old man shouted, chomping his teeth near the arms of the crewn as if to bite them.
"Let him go," Law ordered with a placid look, gripping his sword by the sheath in his left hand.
His crewmates released the old man as they were bade. The old man promptly stopped making such a fuss as he brushed off his ragged clothing and straightened the creases, not that it helped him look much more presentable.
"I want to know how your ship sank," Law asked, but his tone suggested it was more of a command.
"Do ye now?" the old man asked back. "Why don'cha get a pipe and so tobacco, and I might be feelin' a bit more chatty?"
Law frowned. "You're awfully audacious for a man all alone on a pirate ship."
"I be a man all alone on a ship full o' dead n who don't know they're dead yet," the old man countered cryptically.
"If we die, it'll be your death too!" Usopp yelled.
"Aye, but I've made peace with death years ago," the old man's smile didn't reach his eyes. "So, how 'bout that pipe?"
...
After Law volunteered Shachi's stash, as he was the only one who smoked a pipe instead of cigarettes on the ship, they went to the top deck to let the old man have his way.
"Cheap stuff," the old man muttered.
"Shut it! If you don't want it, then give it back!" Shachi jabbed a finger in the old man's direction.
The old man didn't pay him any mind and kept on smoking.
"Out with it then, old man," Law crossed his arms and leaned against the doorway.
"Younguns are so rude these days," the old man said without looking at Law. "How 'bout so introductions first?"
"Trafalgar Law," Law begrudgingly acquiesced.
The old man nodded, still not looking at Law. " na is Baha."
"Tell us your story, Baha," Law once again all but demanded. "Before my patience runs out and I toss you into the water."
"Right," Baha seed undisturbed by the threat. "I used to be the cap'n o' a rchant vessel."
"That's a bit of an understatent. There was hardly anything left of her," Franky chipped in. "We would try to sail through these waters on purpose, ye see. Not the easiest thing, what with how difficult navigation is on the ol' Grand Line as it were; but when we managed it, it was smooth sailin' fer a few days," Baha said, his eyes gazing off into nothing, or perhaps they were gazing into the past.
"That is certainly a luxury on a treacherous ocean," Robin said, to which Baha nodded. "Aye, it was... until it wasn't," Baha spoke with sothing dark hidden beneath the surface. " first encounter with that damned beast lost almost everythin', and many o' longti friends their very lives."
"So it was a sea king that destroyed your ship?" Law asked.
"That thing be no sea king, but aye. Both o' them," Baha confird.
"Both? BOTH?! You ca back for a second ti?!" Usopp's voice went up an octave.
"Three tis, actually," Baha said, and Usopp looked at him like he had grown a second head. " first attempt to find the beast again was a colossal waste o' ti and money. Took a year and a half to raise the funds fer this second expedition."
"What do you an it wasn't a sea king?" Zoro asked.
"I an just that. 'Twas a whale; a great white whale whose eyes held a depth of evil I've never beheld in a man, let alone a beast," Baha words were spoken with such coldness that they sent shivers down their spines.
"Like an island whale?" Zoro asked.
"I wish it were so, but no. Island whales are gentle giants. I suspect this whale is a survivor o' the ancient world, a beast that preys on even the legendary kraken," Baha said.
"In any case, we have nothing to worry about, right?" Usopp said. "You passed through this area many tis without encounterin' it, and even failed to find it on purpose once!"
"I'm afraid you're already marked," Baha said. "From the mont ye scooped out o' the water, you had dood yerselves."
"What do you an?" Robin asked with a furrowed brow.
"I've looked that beast in the eye twice now. He rembered the second ti, I could see the recognition in that inky black orb. He wants dead just as much as I want 'im dead," Baha insisted, a certain madness leaking into his voice.
"That's just crazy talk..." Usopp tried to dismiss it, but sothing caught his eye.
It was just a quick mont, easily missed and in fact all but Usopp and Baha had missed it. Sothing massive and white surfaced on the distant horizon where Baha was staring out to sea, directly in the Polar Tang's path. As quickly as it had appeared, it disappeared beneath
the surface once more.
"AAHHHHHH?!?!!? I saw it, I saw it!" Usopp jumped into Zoro's less than welcoming arms.
Zoro promptly dropped him to the ground.
"Aye. He's out there, schemin' against us," Baha puffed on his pipe. "Only way to survive is to kill 'im, so what do ye say? Help an old man get his revenge?"
"It's just a whale," Zoro said.
"That 'just' be doin' a lot o' heavy liftin'," Baha retorted. "He be smart, smarter than you fer certain. Smarter than , I'm loath to admit. He'll watch us, waitin' and lurkin' out o' sight until he's out of mind, too. That's when he'll strike."
"We'll get out of here, with or without killing the whale. We aren't a bunch of amateur whalers biting off more than we can chew," Law declared, inspiring so confidence in his
crew.
"I hope fer both our sakes that yer bravado isn't unfounded, youngun," Baha said no more. "Zoro, you can just slice and dice the whale, right? Right?" Usopp almost begged his sword wielding companion.
"Only if it cos close," Zoro said, which didn't exactly assuage Usopp's fears. "If it's big enough to hunt kraken, well, you know how big kraken are."
They did know how big kraken are, given that they've t two. That fact also spoke to the whale's intelligence, since krakens are near or perhaps even equal to humans in the brain
departnt.
"I hope we get a chance to see it up close," Robin said. "I wonder if it's really from ancient tis, like Zunesha? Or if it's just Baha blowing smoke?"
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