Go! Set Sail!

Sol finally takes his attention from his mother Shari and tilts his head towards Jasmine behind him. "Go ahead, start filling the secret base with water."

"Leave it to me." His voice comes out smooth and full of confidence, lacking any of the uncertainty he ever had as a woman. His body full of lean muscle, a slight smile hangs on his face as he cracks his neck in preparation.

In this year of training, their bodies have been pumped with growth hormones and reached new levels.

Soon, they'll be turned back into women as their muscles have already developed.

Jasmine looks at the monitors and raises his hands. His hair bursts into flames as he connects to the wall. Small openings melt in the wax walls and water begins pouring in.

"Janet get ready." Sol turns towards Janet in the command chair.

Leaving Janet on Vigner island would be a waste. From Themyscira, she can better oversee and command the organization in safety. A door links this room to the one next door. Inside are the agents she trained to receive and sort information.

The room is filled with computers and Den Den Mushi of different types. A lot of effort was spent to find them all. Some are used to transmit images instead of voice, some record videos, and the rarest white and black snails can encrypt and intercept calls.

"Leave it to me." Janet smiles. "Be ready to activate stabilizers and keep an eye on buoyancy, we need to take in the right amount of water to maintain depth!"

"Yes!" One of the girls' answers, adjusting the values on the console to make sure everything is working.

Water slowly fills the room and Themyscira begins to float. The girl toggles a lever forward, staring intently at the indicators so she doesn't make a mistake. Themyscira begins absorbing water into its tanks.

The ship begins sinking a little faster than it rises. Everyone held their breath until the ship was completely submerged and stable.

"Everything is looking good!" The girl turns to Janet and reports.

The corners of Sol's lips rise as he sees his efforts paying off. "Dissolve the wax."

The intensity of the flame increases as the wax room melts completely. The images on the screen change from white walls to the vast open sea.

The ship looks small next to the massive continental shelf, like an ant next to a hill. The small hole that drills up to the castle is barely noticeable among the rolling currents.

Janet glances at Sol who nods his head.

"Start the engines and head toward the World Pirates!! We need to intercept them before they reach Upside Down Mountain." Janet points towards the girl sitting at the very front.

"Starting engines!" The girl turns a knob, sending a signal to the very bottom of the ship.

The turbines at the back of the ship start to spin and the ship creeps forward. "Themyscira is moving forward, maintaining a depth of five kilometers and steady."

It starts off moving slowly, crawling along. After a few seconds pass, it starts picking up speed until it's darting through the water.

"Systems are normal on my end."

"No problem here, everything holding steady."

"All indicators are green for life support."

Everyone begins reporting normal system operations.

Janet breathes a sigh of relief and turns towards Sol. "At our current speed, we'll intercept the World Pirates in two weeks."

Sol shakes his head. "I'll leave Themyscira's operations to you. How's the infiltration of West Blue?"

"After you personally flew a hundred girls over the red line, they've slowly dispersed themselves to different islands. It's only been a month, so some are still on the move."

"Those girls are the most experienced with years of training. After reaching location, they joined the local organization on the island. Slowly building connections as they help out impoverished girls and train loyal helpers for the future."

"Good, let me know if anything comes up." Sol nods before turning to leave. The guys follow him as he leaves the room.

Leaving the control room, they enter a spherical hall carved from stone. Doors leading to other rooms and a spiral staircase leading to three more floors give the room a simple look.

In the center of the hall is a single throne carved from a block of wood. Sol walks to the throne and takes his seat.

"Eula, Krista, and Diana have already made a name for themselves. Captain Eula of the Dread Pirates, bounty of 23 million. Captain of the Vandal Pirates, bounty 29 million. Captain of Stinger Pirates, Bounty of 37 million."

Sol taps his finger as he speaks, sensing their fighting spirit raging with every word that leaves his lips. "Even Julian has worked his way up to an officer, attaining the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade."

"It's time for us to leave our marks on the world."

"We've been ready for a long time!" Vivian clenches his fist with excitement.

"Captain, what's our goal after the World pirates? Will we stay in South Blue for a while or head for the Grand Line?" Jasmine glances at Vivian's excited look before turning to Sol.

"After taking out the World Pirates we'll begin attacking every pirate crew and Marine Base in South Blue. The weak will be killed and the strong assimilated."

"Won't Marine HQ send support if we act so unscrupulously?" Nora can't help but chime in.

The corners of Sol's lips rise when he hears Nora's concern. "Unless they send multiple Vice Admirals or an Admiral I have nothing to fear."

"Don't worry Nora." Eileen shakes his head. "They can't catch us even if they do come." His thumb points downward and his eyes sweep the room.

"We aren't invincible under the water." Jasmine shakes his head. "There's a way for ships to dive in the Grand Line." 

Sol waves his hand and ends the conversation. "No point in discussing this for now."

"If I want to build an empire on this sea, my name must strike fear into people's hearts. We won't leave until South Blue is forever stained with my name."

Rising from his throne, he slowly strides towards the exit. Everyone glances at each other, feeling the majesty leaking from Sol's body sent shiver up their spine.

"We can't fail him again, this isn't the practice round." Jasmine takes a deep breath before following after.

"As far as I can remember, it's you who've failed twice." Vivian smiles as he places his hands behind his head and strides forward.

Eileen and Nora watch them walk and bicker before glancing at each other and following.

The stone building rests in the middle of a sea of trees and plants, looking like a botanical temple.

Every type of fruit tree found in south blue has been planted here. A simplified version of the south blue garden taking up one of the habitats below. With the dome closed, the entire area is illuminated by lights. Making sure the plants have everything needed to grow.

Further out is an open space of grass and stones, leaving room for the garden to expand. The grass transitions into a beach that presses against the mechanical wall that houses the glass dome.

When Paradise Island detaches from Themyscira and rises to the surface, the dome will retract and the wall will lower into the water. This will allow water to surround the island, making it appear like any other.

The entrance to the main body of Themyscira is located in the building behind them. The door behind the throne connects to the 16th deck, from there the entire ship can be accessed. 

Sol arrives at a pavilion built on the north beach. A special screen blocks the sand from blowing inside and ruining the large bed. Outside are chairs and hammocks built for people to relax.

Taking off his sword, he lays in one of the hammocks. The amount of work he put in to get here has left him mentally exhausted. The others move further away and begin their usual training. Taking every moment they can to improve themselves.

The next few days, everyone is making sure everything works perfectly, testing the stress of an extended voyage.

Traveling underwater, Sol can sense many ships passing above. Be it merchant or pirate ships, all of them were filled with weak people.

In order to test their weapons system, all the pirate ships were sunk. On the sides of the ship, a hatch opens, revealing what looks like a missile defense turret. Twenty holes filled with fifty-meter-long harpoons surround a larger barrel in the center.

The turret tilts upward before a massive amount of water is absorbed by the center barrel. The water inside is flash heated, turning into high-pressure steam to fire a harpoon.

The harpoon pierces the bottom of ships, the poorly designed ones are split by the impact. The stronger hulls have the same fate as a fish on a line, slowly being pulled down as their ship fills with water.

None of them even knew who attacked them in the end. With weapons tested, they kept moving.

Sol sensed it the moment they neared their destination. An aura set ablaze like a torch in the night sky. Its strength no weaker than Sengoku when they first met years ago.

The corners of his lips rise, knowing that his body has already surpassed that level; showing the horrors of a mythical Zoan. 

The information he's gathered showed Sengoku only ate the fruit a few months before their confrontation. Found in a town after rescuing it from a pirate attack. Now that he's had more time, he should be a lot stronger than two years ago, but he's catching up fast with his hormone control.

When they reach within 20km, Sol walks into the command room. "Stop Themyscira and raise Paradise."

"Yes sir!" One girl slowly throttles the lever and slows down the ship.

When they come to a stop, two different girls lift a glass cover and press a button in sync.

The very ground vibrates as mechanisms begin to detach. The entire section begins to rise without the sub to weigh it down, but a series of cables prevent it from shooting straight up.

An enormous amount of water is displaced as the dome breaks the surface of the water, like a whale coming up for air.

The center of the dome opens like a camera shutter and lets the first ray of sunlight shine on Paradise Island. The glass walls begin receding into the barrier before the whole thing lowers into the water.

The sea crashes upon the beach and brings a sense of life that the island was missing before. When he sees this through the girls' eyes, he decides to get some small animals from nearby islands or the habitat below.

"Paradise deployed successfully!" The girl seems to cheer as she turns to Sol and reports.

"Nice job, keep the ship here. Have the weapons system at the ready in case something happens." After nodding at the girls, he leaves the control room.

Nora and the rest are already waiting in the central room.

Sol waves his hand and leads them outside. "Let's go."

None of them argue this time, knowing it's not the time to bicker.

Walking to the beach they take a deep breath of sea air. After traveling underwater for two weeks they missed this salty smell.

Nora steps forward as twelve angel wings sprout from his back. All twelve fan forward, releasing a storm of paper feathers that change color in the air. "Origami Boat!"

The feathers begin clustering and folding in the air at rapid speed until it forms a three-mast sailboat. As it falls towards the sea, Jasmine raises his hand.

"Wax coat!" A thin layer of wax shoots from his hand and coats the bottom and sides of the paper boat; Making the boat completely waterproof. 

The boat falls in the water and floats no differently than a normal boat.

When the five of them jump aboard, the sails open automatically and the wind pushes them forward.

The whole thing was completed so smoothly, it shows how much time Jasmine and Nora have spent combining their abilities.

A black flag waves in the wind. A skull with demon horns and wings shrouded in a purple mist makes its first appearance in the world.

Sol stands at the front of the ship with a slight grin, his two fangs exposed as his wings unfurl. "The Deadly Sin Pirates, set sail!"