73 Fishmen Island XIII

(A/N: Do post comments on parts with any grammar mistakes, as I haven't had the time to look it through yet. Enjoy the long due chapters.)

Shinobu had moved around a lot, saving whoever wanted to leave, taking down whoeven bothered her.

This went on for a while now and the numbers of rebels and evacuees didn't seem to become less at all.

'This is going nowhere...'

Looking around her to try and spot her crew, she instead saw someone else. If she remembered correctly, this man should be the leader. She had heard Akane describe the man, so it wasn't hard to recognise him.

Standing on one of the platforms, surrounded by his companions, Hody Jones was glaring a lot as he fumed in anger at one of his compatriots, a tall and thin fishman with wavy blue and purple stripes across his body.

"How long until you have mass produced it? You said it would be done in a few days, but I see nothing as a result. Answer me Zeo!."

Hody said as he slammed down on the table in anger.

"I am at the final step. At the end of today, we will have a box filled with it."

"I don't have that much time! Neptune has brought his army and is about to attack us! I want them within the hour! We need to take the imperial family down if we want to free ourselves from this pacifistic regime Neptune has created."

Hody yelled, after which the tall fishman, Zeo, left in a hurry.

The other fishmen surrounding Hody remained, as they continued to discuss their plans.

Shinobu stayed close.

'If I can take them down, then there is no need for a battle. The only question is how I am going to take them down on my own...'

Shinobu continued to observe the remaining six fishmen, waiting for an opening through which she could exploit their weaknesses.

"I see you have found the leader. Well done, Shinobu-san."

From behind Shinobu, Soren and Lafitte had appeared. Both of them looked calmly at the situation happening in front of them.

"Have you discovered their strengths and weaknessess yet, Shinobu?"

Lafitte asked, as he glanced at the surroundings.

"No, they have only spoken about the current state of the rebellion, but no other things have been mentioned. No points of their deployment, no weaknesses in their ranks. Only that the man called Zeo, a tall fishmen is producing something that should give them an edge in battle. He needs to finish it in about.... forty six minutes."

Lafitte nodded and left soon after, no doubt finding the fishmen Shinobu had mentioned, Zeo.

He had seen a drawing of the mentioned fishmen, so it shouldn't be hard to find and dispose of him.

Shinobu followed after Lafitte, no doubt interested in what this weapon might be, while Soren remained intending to come up with a plan to fracture the hierarchy within this pirate group. The easiest way to do that, was to cause some mayhem and make them split up. If that happened, each member of the crew could take down an enemy, leaving the leader to his captain of course.

***

Ban had moved around a lot, but so far there hadn't been any fishmen that wanted his help. The thing he did manage to do was getting chased around by a bunch of radical followers of this Hody Jones.

They were easily taken down, but that only caused more of them to swarm after him.

Truly annoying.

He couldn't kill these guys and neither did they want to be helped. So all he could do right now was give them the slip and try again until he managed to hit gold.

Ah, not literally though, even if he wouldn't mind getting some.

Having run around for a while now, Ban finally left his pursuers in the dust, but by now he was clearly lost.

"I'm sure I will get chewed out for this. I usually don't get lost that easily."

Murmuring to himself, Ban chose some random alleys to pass through, only to stumble into a person and his companions. He had blue skin, was kind of chubby but well defined in muscles and wore a simple kimono. On his chest was the symbol of the sun, one shared amongst the man's fellow fishmen.

What amazed Ban the most was the fact the man had a face like an oni, a demon from ancient times. At least, from what Akane had shown him in some funny picture books.

"You really look damn good man."

Ban exclaimed, eyeing the man up and down once more, seeing a similarity to the illusion Akane had put over him.

"Fuck me twice! You're that Jimbei dude everyone is talking about. I really should have chosen something else if I knew this."

(A/N: The english version spells his name as Jimbei, while Oda put the name as Jinbei on his wanted poster. I like the former more, so I'll stick with that.)

Ruffling his hair backwards, Ban sighed, not really into this whole disguise thing anymore. It was too much of a hassle.

"You aren't a fishmen. What are you doing here?"

Jimbei asked, looking inquisitively at Ban. Even if Ban had the appearance of a fishmen, Jimbei knew better. This disguise may fool a lot of them, but not him and those trained for battle. The way Ban carried himself was not that of a fishmen. The way he carried himself was nothing like their aquatic species at all.

"Well shucks, found out at first glance~ Would you belief me if I said we were asked to help?"

Jimbei glanced at the lackadaisical way Ban carried himself, not seeing an ounce of deception in him, but there wasn't any ounce of being truthful either.

"That needs to be seen. I have somewhere to be. I will get back on this later."

Jimbei said as he left soon after with his group, walking to the direction Ban had just come from.

Not seeing any other option at the moment, Ban followed a little behind Jimbei. He had a inkling that Jimbei was going to the square where the rebellion was centered. That was just the place where he needed to be, so why not just follow the big guy when he knows the way?