Baha

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 some 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 some 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 me!" the old man shouted, chomping his teeth near the arms of the crewmen 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 me a pipe and some 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 men 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 me 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 some introductions first?"

"Trafalgar Law," Law begrudgingly acquiesced.

The old man nodded, still not looking at Law. "Me name 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 seemed undisturbed by the threat. "I used to be the cap'n o' a merchant vessel."

"That's a bit of an understatement. 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 something dark hidden beneath the surface. "Me first encounter with that damned beast lost me almost everythin', and many o' me longtime 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 confirmed.

"Both? BOTH?! You came back for a second time?!" Usopp's voice went up an octave.

"Three times, actually," Baha said, and Usopp looked at him like he had grown a second head. "Me first attempt to find the beast again was a colossal waste o' time and money. Took me a year and a half to raise the funds fer this second expedition."

"What do you mean it wasn't a sea king?" Zoro asked.

"I mean 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 times without encounterin' it, and even failed to find it on purpose once!"

"I'm afraid you're already marked," Baha said. "From the moment ye scooped me out o' the water, you had doomed yerselves."

"What do you mean?" Robin asked with a furrowed brow.

"I've looked that beast in the eye twice now. He remembered me the second time, I could see the recognition in that inky black orb. He wants me 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 something caught his eye.

It was just a quick moment, easily missed and in fact all but Usopp and Baha had missed it. Something 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 me, 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 some 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 comes 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 met two. That fact also spoke to the whale's intelligence, since krakens are near or perhaps even equal to humans in the brain department.

"I hope we get a chance to see it up close," Robin said. "I wonder if it's really from ancient times, like Zunesha? Or if it's just Baha blowing smoke?"