I - The Auction House! Seeing A Old Friend?

The atmosphere in the auction room is stifling, reeking of hypocrisy and snobbery, cruelty and contempt. Once I get over the shock, I realize what is happening. She looks terrified. Poor thing. When that jerk announced it, time seemed to stand still as the curtain that had been hiding her fell away. A mermaid. A real mermaid. People would kill to own one. "Owe". That verb makes me want to vomit. Taking it upon myself, I swallow my hate, my rage, my indignation. I am here for a reason. I have been able to turn a blind eye to their atrocities for more than ten years now, I must not break down today, it would be to jeopardize everything that has been achieved so far.

I can't stand her horrified look so I turn my eyes away from the stage. The room is packed, with the top brass in attendance, including three celestial dragons. I also spot a few familiar pirates. Eustass Kidd and his first mate: Killer. Trafalgar Law. I know what's going on on this island right now, the Sabaody archipelago is home to eleven heads worth over 100 million. There has been unparalleled tension all day as the skirmishes escalate. I also spot a few faces that belong to Straw Hat Luffy's crew. They look furious.

Then everything happens in a flash. The Celestial Dragon, Saint Charlos bought her for 500 million. A living being has been just bought, handcuffed and terrified, for 500 million berries. My breath goes out, my vision blurs with tears, my throat tightens. What inhumanity. These are the people who rise above the common man when they are the very image of all that is not human. His greasy, satisfied laughter scratches my ears while the presenter, Mr. Disco, like the rest of the audience, is speechless with surprise. The mermaid shakes in her jar, bangs her fists on the glass, and even sheds a few tears.

Move. Do something.

I clench my fists and my jaw, as usual, my fingers clenching around the purse that contains a few savings. It's far from 500 million. I was supposed to use it for something else. I can't do anything about it. I must not do anything about it. However, I feel the fury rising in me, a tear finally rolling silently down my cheek. Be quiet. Endure. Just wait.

It doesn't take much listening to hear the words of the crowd of Straw Hat crew. They want to save the mermaid no matter what. Despite myself, I start to think of a way to get her back too. For a few seconds, I imagine myself intervening before shaking my head. What am I thinking? The three hammer blows seal the fate of the girl. The moment Mr. Disco puts down his hammer and thunders "Sold", the auction room shatters! My eyes widen as I realize who has just entered the room: Straw Hat Luffy. Bounty: 300 million berries.

I see him rush up the stairs, driven only by his desire to save her. I suppress a smile. He thinks he can solve the situation by running into the crowd, that idiot. My blood runs cold when I see that the one trying to hold him back and reason him is a fish-man. Oh, this is going to end badly. I hear the audience shouting at him and booing him loudly. I bite my lip.

I don't even have time to see the Celestial Dragon Charlos draw his weapon when the shot has already been fired and the fish-man collapses on the steps, leaving a trail of blood behind him. The satisfied laughter of his executioner rings in my ears. He wriggles with pleasure, hopping over the body of the one he has just slaughtered. My fingernails dig into my palms, I feel a little blood flowing.

Don't do anything.

I know. I know what's going to happen. I can see it in his eyes. Luffy burns with hatred as he slowly makes his way up each step that leads him to the body of his friend and to the level of the one who is satisfied with having performed an act of purely free violence, motivated by a base of dirty and unhealthy discrimination. The fish-man, a man called Hachi if I have followed correctly, tries to hold him back once more. But nothing can stop him now. Whatever he says to him, Luffy is already determined and Hachi's speech only strengthens his desire for revenge. He resumes his march towards the Celestial Dragon, dodges the bullets he shoots at him, clenches his fist, and takes off.

As he hits Charlos, time stops for a second time. The Celestial Dragon flies across the room to crash a few meters away, unconscious. I am ashamed to admit it, but there is something very satisfying about that punch. The whole room is in shock. I am also slowly realizing what might happen now, hitting a Celestial Dragon means that an admiral will certainly land on the archipelago's ground without delay.

Then it's chaos, the Straw Hat crew starts to confront the guards in the room under the horrified cries of the population who, in a panic, rush towards the exit. The movement of the crowd is insane. Each of the crew's fighters is amazing and they defend themselves tooth and nail, under the black eyes of Saint Roswald. Their integrity makes me smile, especially as they are strong and are likely to win this fight. They do not weaken, do not back down in the face of the enemy. Each of them relies on his companions and one feels that a strong bond unites them all. I am not moving. Because I came for a reason. And because I want to see how this will end. The other two pirates I had spotted also stay in their places and finally, in the auction house, only the three pirate crews, the soldiers guarding the slaves, the mermaid, and the announcer, two Celestial Dragons, remain. And me.

Suddenly, three flying fish break through the roof and land on the last members of the Straw Hat crew. One of them, Usopp the sniper, violently crushes Saint Roswald in his fall, knocking out the second of the Celestial Dragons. I repress a second sly smile. A smile immediately fades when the pirate Trafalgar Law speaks up to explain that the Navy is already around the auction house. Damn, I was still hoping to get out quietly.

A click stops the movement. The last of the Celestial Dragons, Sharlia, has grabbed a stepladder and is holding the mermaid whose jar was sawed off in the confrontation at gunpoint. She seriously intends to shoot her. Disco tries to convince her to give up the idea but she is determined. I see the bodies of all the Straw Hat pirates tense up, their eyes widen, the starfish screams her friend's name, the fish-man struggles to intervene. The young woman's finger presses the trigger a little more every second.

MOVE.

I focus on her, I make her the only enemy in this room. And I act. I feel the energy of my Haki emanating from me, spreading out into space. In a slow movement, the Celestial Dragon loses consciousness and collapses to the ground. Within seconds, she is nothing but an unconscious body on the auction house stage. In the movement of her fall, the back of the stage opens up to let in a giant, preceded by a stooped figure I know all too well. I tap my arms in annoyance, it was worth it if he was going to come in now. I'm relieved though, I was right to think I'd find him here. Relieved AND annoyed.

"I told you so, my good giant, there was some trouble and, as you can see, the sale is over. Well, I stole a nice little nest egg and well, I'm going to use it... I'm going to go back to the casino right now and gamble my money away."

"You're a strange scoundrel, old man," remarked the giant, "you came here to steal money?"

"Yes, among other things, I also intended to rob the person who would have bought me, well, anyway, nobody would have bought me." He is about to raise a flask to his lips before sadly remembering that it is empty. "I understand them," he continues, "I put myself in their place, I wouldn't pay a berry to invest in an old piece of junk like me."

The old man who is in front of the giant concludes his sentence by bursting out with a loud laugh under the stunned and dismayed looks of those in the room.

"Well, well," he continues, "I see that my appearance has not gone unnoticed."

This is too much for me. I slowly make my way down the steps leading to the stage, my every step echoing in the room. I also start to applaud.

"What a spectacular entrance," I wryly say out loud. "With a giant as a bonus, no less..."

I can feel all the stares that are weighing on my progress. When I arrive on the wooden platform, the one I have come for recognizes me and smiles radiantly, preparing to welcome me cheerfully, but I don't give him the opportunity and strike him a violent blow on the back of the head. Surprised, he staggers and I grab him by the collar of his coat before shaking him energetically.

"So that's where you've been hiding, you vicious man! 6 months! 6 MONTHS! You got away without saying anything, all for booze and money, you old wreck. But you know who does all the work when you're not around? It's me, you moron! And let me tell you that it's not easy to put on dozens of boats a week ALONE AND IN ANONYMAT! I don't know what's keeping me from choking you right now! Rayleigh!"

At these words, I shake him harder while he just laughs out loud. He's getting on my nerves.

"You talk about anonymity," he replies, "but your hood is coming off, princess."

Indeed, as I fidget, the fabric slips off my shoulders and releases long blue hair, revealing my face and clothes. I shake my head in annoyance, at where we are after all. All the events that have taken place in the last few minutes have put my nerves to the test and I've decided to make him my outlet so cloak or no cloak I'm going to let off steam.

Then he calmly puts his hands on mine to get out of my grip. I know he let himself go, if he wanted to get rid of me he would have done it long ago.

"I'm sorry," he apologizes, the same smile on his face.

"You bet..." I grumble, "for my trouble, I get 30% more on all future jobs."

"Wait, you can't do that, how am I going to pay for my liquor?"

"You're on your own", I say, "after six months of solo work that's all you deserve".

Without paying attention to me, the guards in the room focus on Rayleigh and the giant:

"They were supposed to be sold today, I wonder how they managed to get out of their cage... wait... Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah look", exclaims one of the guards, "he doesn't have his collar around his neck anymore! Neither does the giant! How is that possible?"

"Rayleigh..." breathes Hachi, apparently relieved when he recognizes his friend.

Rayleigh's eyes light up at the sight of his companion before frowning at the blood still dripping down the steps. His gaze travels around the auction room to understand what has just happened. He looks at the mermaid, the fish-man on the ground, the two Celestial Dragons who were knocked out by the pirates, the Straw Hat crew, and the other Celestial Dragon who lies staring blankly with a gun in his hand. He finishes his little trick by looking at me.

"I think... I'm beginning to understand..." he murmurs, stroking his beard. "Hachi, my boy, you got yourself into a mess and these guys came to help you out, right?"

"Yes, Rayleigh," admits the octopus.

Rayleigh pays no attention to him and turns to me without looking at me:

"The woman was your job?"

I nod:

"I couldn't take on the whole room... too risky."

Rayleigh smiles:

"In that case..."

Calmly, he folds his eyelids and all the guards collapse with blank stares and open mouths. I sigh with relief before remembering how bad the situation had gotten and the imminent arrival of an admiral. I put a hand to my forehead in disappointment.

"Misery, misery... we're in trouble..."

Rayleigh stares at the straw hat pirate without picking up on what I just said.

"I must say that this straw hat is a good look for brave men like you. I've been looking forward to seeing you, Monkey D. Luffy."

I raise an eyebrow:

"Seriously, that's your first instinct?"

He looks at me dumbfounded. I sigh in disappointment:

"Alright, a little update for the old man who didn't follow anything because he was too busy ogling his booze and pretty faces. There are 11 pirates with bounties higher than your life expectancy on this island and more precisely at more than 100 million berries, of which 5 are in this room. I have the honor of telling you that the sum of all these pretty faces gathered here currently amounts to more than one billion berries."

"You included?"

"No, not including me. Let me finish! Anyway, then as you can see the nobility got a kick out of it today, not that they didn't deserve it, that's not the point, but in any case, it means that an admiral is going to come and say hello to us soon and, as you can imagine, I'm not particularly looking forward to meeting him and seeing my head at the end of a spike if you know what I mean!!! SO YOU GET A MOVE ON!"

"Dirty story..." Rayleigh mumbles thoughtfully.

"IS THAT ALL YOU HAVE TO ANSWER?!"

With a gesture of my chin, I point to the mermaid who is still trapped in her collar which threatens to explode if we move her away from the room.

"Oh... yes! I let you in charge of the reception?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah..."

Calmly, he approaches her and explains that he's going to get this off her without a hitch. Then, as he places a finger on the metal, the tinkle of the countdown clock sounds in an agonizing countdown. The Straw Hat crew screams out in terror at such an irrational act.

"Stop it, she's going to die!" exclaims the starfish, in despair.

I sigh again:

"Hurry up, in case you STILL need me to refresh your memory, we've got the Navy on our ass..."

He doesn't answer, concentrating on his task as the countdown increases in intensity. That noise is ringing in my ears. The second the collar threatens to explode, it is ripped from the siren's neck and the explosion sounds behind me, where Rayleigh has just thrown the explosive. With my left hand stretched out to my side, my arm takes on the consistency of water and muffles the blast.

"There, you're free now..."

I glanced around the room, all those still present could not believe their eyes. A small puff of pride takes hold of me and a smile stretches my face. I then decide to face the room completely and stare into the eyes of the pirate in front of me. I give a sincere smile and wave my hand.

"Hi Luffy, it's been a while."

I see him frowning, then his eyes light up, his smile eats his face and he throws himself around my neck, clutching my chest with all his might and shouting with joy:

"YYYYYYYYYYY/NNNNNNN! So you've been here all this time!"

I laughed as I returned his embrace. I had missed him. He places his forehead affectionately on mine, his smile lights up my field of vision, warms my heart. He finally let go of me and I immediately feel that a new tension has appeared in the room. Of course, now they have my name and my face. I can't get away from it anymore, so I stand up straight, my head held high, my eyes cold. Ready to defend me.

"Tell me this is a joke..." Eustass Kid whispers from the back of the room.

"So finally all legends have a basis in reality," comments Trafalgar Law, slumped in his seat, an unhealthy smile on his face.

"It's unbelievable," murmurs Nico Robin, his eyes wide.

Rayleigh bursts out laughing beside me:

"My, my- what a celebrity, you're making quite an impression!"

"Says the guy who took out a wall with a giant and just knocked out three-quarters of the audience," I mutter.

Out of the corner of my eye I see Kid walking into the light, a crumpled bounty poster in his hand, looking at me hard, a mixture of fear and admiration in his pupils.

"Hey, is that you? This isn't a joke? Is it you? The Sea Siren Y/N with a 500 million berry bounty?!"

"500 MILLION ???" screams Luffy in my ears.

I grimace.

"First of all, I just lost at least fifty percent of my hearing, thank you. Secondly, yes, that's me."

The Straw Hat crew's navigator, Nami, suffocates:

"500 million ??? But she's a monster..."

"Her bounty is higher than Luffy's," Chopper stammers. "It's higher than all the pirates on this island, the pirates of the Worst Generation..."

I see the other members turn pale and take refuge behind those who seem to be the big guys, Roronoa Zoro, Black Leg Sanji... On the side of Kid and Law's crews, they're not doing well either. The looks are suspicious and I even have a few tremors. I raise my eyes to the sky and walk towards Hachi's body lying on the ground after Rayleigh.

"Look," I said, "I'd love to keep staring at each other like this for hours, but we've got other things to do. We need to get out of here."

I've barely finished my sentence when the shouts of the navy soldiers reach us from the front door. I stifle an expletive.

"Hey, hotheads?" I exclaimed. "You're all over a hundred million right, do us a favor and go kick the asses of these troublemakers while we evacuate the wounded."

"I don't take orders from you," Law contests, a bad look on his face.

"You're telling me so... you've got to get out here, right? So do what you do best, hit the soldier and get the hell out of the archipelago before they take you away."

They don't like my directive and incisive tone, I can see that. Only fear and mistrust prevent them from jumping down my throat right now. For once, my exorbitant bounty is serving a purpose. Under my glare, the three captains glare at each other before heading for the entrance to the auction hall, starting to bicker about which of them will be able to defeat the most enemies. I grumble in exasperation. Damn, they changed their minds quickly, a few seconds ago they were refusing to get involved and now they're giving us the best show of their pretentiousness and arrogance. I exchange a desperate look with Rayleigh who looks more than amused by the situation. And to think I was prepared to pay to get him back. I end up smiling despite myself before helping her to carry Hachi on his back. Now we just have to get out of here. On paper, it looks simple after all.

**

When I finally emerge from the auction house, the air is thick with dust and gunpowder. The navy soldiers form a wall in front of the main entrance and, facing them, the three pirate captains who continue to throw spikes at each other.

"What the hell are they playing at?"

Exasperated by this childish behavior, I decided to intervene. Rayleigh holds my arm:

"Are you sure you want to go? They'll probably recognize you."

"These three are getting on my nerves," I mumble as my only justification, "and on top of that they're slow as hell, at this rate we'll still be there tomorrow."

I move forward between them, pushing Kid and Law with my arm to be in the front line. For the first time in years, my face is in plain sight. I can barely hear the protests of the three pirates behind me, who are unhappy with my intervention, thinking I'm going to steal their thunder, and I simply shout:

"Shut up you three, your fight is so testosterone-infused that it makes me want to vomit. You guys can have a contest later on who's got the biggest one, okay?"

I see Law and Kid cross their arms with a displeased look, a bit of provocation in their eyes. Luffy is waiting impatiently, stamping his feet. I laugh and turn back to the Marine group. The soldier's aim, ready to shoot me. Poor naive people. With a quick movement, I stiffen, anchor my feet firmly on the ground, spread my arms, fingers outstretched, picking up every little vibration in the air. Hundreds of drops of water gather around my wrists, spinning at breakneck speed. I gather more and more water, accelerate the speed of their rotation and increase their pressure. And without warning, I swivel to the side and send this quantity of water in a powerful jet at the troops in front of me, who are blown away by the power of the liquid, comparable to a wall of several tons.

"Neptune's spear!"

The moment the water hits the ground, the island shakes and cracks, the water loses its power and bursts into a wave that rises into the sky before falling again on those who were still standing. Satisfied, I stand up.

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW THAT WAS SO AMAZING!!!" exclaims Luffy. "You've gotten even stronger, it's crazy!"

He looks at me with stars in his eyes and I giggle, not a little proud of myself. Without warning, the second line of soldiers fires at me. Raising an eyebrow, I let the bullets pass through me without difficulty before sighing. Then I raise my right hand, palm up to the sky, in the hollow of which I recreate a second aquatic sphere whose temperature I gradually increase.

"Eruption..." I begin.

I smile at my assailants. With a lively gesture, I dash and propel myself above the group of soldiers.

"Of the Sun !" I finish, the glowing ball quivering between my fingers.

"This is going to hurt," Rayleigh comments with a smile.

I dive into the pile and slam the water to the ground, triggering a thermal shock that rises and turns into a tornado of burning water, trapping the soldiers in its center. A few somersaults backward later, I'm back alongside the pirates in front of the room. Disregarding their bewildered looks, almost admiring according to some, I understand that it's time to get out. I exchange a knowing glance with Rayleigh and, without making a bigger splash, I take off with the Straw Hat crew. Luffy grabs my arm and pulls me along behind him, laughing out loud, and the sound is so infectious that I can't help but join in as we run for our lives, the cool wind whipping through us.