Chapter 200

So, that friend of yours..." I remarked, unable to contain my curiosity as I turned to Iceburg as we arrived on Water Seven's Scrap island, looking for said friend/shipwright.

Iceburg has been adamantly vague regarding his mysterious shipwright friend, telling us to wait and see for our own eyes once we met the shipwright and only revealing the shipwright's gender so far.

"We're almost there. You should be able to hear some muttering from over there..." Iceburg replied with a shrug, gesturing ahead, and sure enough, I could hear someone muttering.

"No. No... it's wrong. It's all wrong."

The sound of soft, rapid footsteps accompanied the muttering.

"Why can't I make it work?!"

The muttering turned into a frustrated exclamation as we arrived at our destination, finally getting our first look at the mysterious shipwright.

He was tall, roughly 2.5 meters, I would say. He wore a red Hawaiian shirt, decorated with white flower patterns, unbuttoned to reveal his muscular abdomen and chest.

However, his three most distinguishing features were his yellow skin, his face that was a mixture of an eel, and a human, and the blue electric arcs, fizzing through his golden hair as he paced around a miniature ship model, still muttering.

"It shouldn't be like this. It should be more durable!" The fish-man shipwright exclaimed, smacking the ship model with his muscular arm and turning it into nothing but scrap wood.

He suddenly stopped pacing, a frown of concentration on his face as the electric current in his hair visibly intensified. He reached with his two hands, floating them over the scrap wood that was a ship model a second ago, the electricity transferring over to them.

"Liquify!"

With the fish-man's exclamation, the electricity engulfed the scrap wood, turning into a thick, brown liquid that wreathed on the ground.

"Enhance!"

With another exclamation from the Fishman, the brown liquid converged into his hands, electricity engulfing it once more, making it glow in a visible wooden brown sheen.

"Shape!"

And with one final exclamation, the liquid slipped from the Fishman's hands, falling to the ground and wreathing as it quickly took the ship of the same ship model he destroyed earlier.

The electricity returned to the Fisman's hair as he pensively looked at the ship model for a second, only to smack it again with a meaty fist.

The ship model survived this time around.

"Better..." the Fishman said, seemingly satisfied with the result. "But still not good enough!" he exclaimed in frustration, smacking the ship model even more forcefully and sighing as it collapsed, failing to endure his might.

The Fishman sighed again, scratching his head as he looked around, seemingly searching for inspiration, and that's when he finally noticed our presence.

"Oh, Iceburg," The Fisman greeted with a nod of his head, turning to us with his eyes flickering as they alternated between my sword, Elly's rifle, and Wilson's scowl.

"If you wanted me to leave, you just had to say, you know?" the Fishman remarked after giving us a once over. "I'll leave on my own. You don't need to hire people to chase me out," he added, likely jumping to conclusions.

"I'm not here to chase you out, Elvis," Iceburg said with twitching eyes, drawing a sigh of annoyance. "These people are pirates, and they're looking for a shipwright," he added, waving a hand to the side.

"Hmm?" the Fishman, Elvis, hummed thoughtfully, tilting his head to the side as he looked at my face. "Aha! I knew I recognized you from somewhere," he added, snapping his fingers.

"Aren't you the rookie pirate who killed some king a while ago?" the Fishman asked, and I would say it was a rhetorical question, based on his tone and expression.

"I did beat a king half dead a while ago, but I'm afraid his own people did the final honors..." I replied with a chuckle. "Not that I didn't wanna put that waste of air out of everyone's misery, mind you," I concluded, shaking my head.

"I see. I suppose it doesn't matter either way," Elvis said with a nod of his head. "So, you're looking for a shipwright...?" he asked in a somber tone, appraisingly looking at me.

I was about to reply when suddenly the sound of ringing came from Iceburg's direction, prompting him to take out his transponder snail.

"What is it, Paulie? Someone's causing trouble again...? They what?! I'm on my way!"

And with that, Iceburg hung up the call, turning to us with an apologetic expression.

"Something came up on Shipbuilding Island, and I need to see to it personally," he apologetically said. "You guys keep talking and work things out... but don't forget to tell how things turn out," he added, turning to leave.

"Sure thing. Give me a call if you need help with whatever is going on..." I said, shrugging my shoulder as I watched Iceburg leave.

"Will do. But it's probably nothing my shipwrights can't handle," Iceburg replied, waving us goodbye as he kept walking.

"So, you don't mind having a Fishman on your crew it seems, considering you aren't leaving or screaming for me to get away before I give you disease already now that Iceburg is gone..." Elvis said, crossing his arms in front of his chest as I turned to face him again after Iceburg left.

"And you didn't seem surprised either. Did Iceburg tell you about me already?" he asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Fishman or human, they all bleed the same red blood... besides, can't say I'm entirely human myself..." I replied, shaking my head as I detached my left prosthetic hand, showing him the grenade launcher inside.

Elvis looked at my prosthetic arm, noticing it for the first time as it was under my long coat, and his eyes glinted in curiosity, which he didn't bother hiding.

"The stuff is all over my insides," I added with a shrug as I reattached my left hand. "But I'm definitely surprised. I never expected to see a Fishman so far away from Fishman island..." I added with a smile.

"And a devil fruit user at that," I concluded, raising an eyebrow as I turned to look at where the ship model was before Elivs obliterated it.

"It's a long story," Elvis replied, shaking his head. "I get that you have no prejudice against Fishmen, but what about your crewmates? Do they?" he asked, turning to Elly and Wilson, who shrugged and laughed in amusement, respectively.

"You'll hardly stand out in our crew, considering we have a talking bear, a talking four-armed-gorilla, and a regular old horse, all be it a little oversized, on the crew," I replied, chuckling as I gestured towards Wilson.

Wilson got the message and grinned as he turned into his four-armed hybrid gorilla form, flexing his arms with a low growl.

"A gorilla zoan...?" Elvis remarked, looking Wilson up and down, his eyes lingering on the latter's four muscular arms and the third eye, which became apparent for all to see as Wilson removed the bandana on his forehead.

"Nah. A human zoan," Wilson replied with a smirk as he reverted back to his human form, tiring the bandana over his forehead again. "I'm a four-armed silver gorilla who ate the human-human fruit, becoming a human gorilla," he added with a wide smirk.