"Huh? Why's it so hot all of a sudden?"
As they sailed deeper and deeper, the crew no longer felt the bone-chilling cold. What replaced it was a terrifying heat. Kurokamu was doing a bit better than the rest—he was already used to this kind of temperature.
"If I'm not mistaken, this kind of heat can only be coming from a volcano."
Kurokamu spoke up. He recognized the heat because it felt exactly like the heat he'd lived with for years at a volcanic crater.
"Volcano?" The moment those words left his mouth, several of the more timid crew members panicked.
Just then, they spotted a faint red glow flickering across the seafloor.
"Yeah, that's definitely an undersea volcano." Mor took one look and said with complete certainty.
"You can't be serious. If that thing erupts, we're done for."
Jora said fearfully. At the bottom of the sea, if a volcano erupted, there was nothing they could do.
"Relax. Undersea volcanoes don't erupt that easily."
Mor said with total confidence. But the instant the words left his mouth—boom!
A burst of red light flashed behind them.
"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me. Since when is your jinx mouth this accurate?"
After hearing that sound, no matter how dense they were, they all knew what had happened. The volcano had erupted.
At the same time, they felt the ship's speed surge. The Sea King pulling them had clearly sensed the danger and kicked its pace up a notch.
"As expected, only in the face of danger can one break through their own limits."
Shirakawa remarked in an eerily calm tone.
"Hey, Captain! Is now really the time for that? We should be figuring out how to get out of here alive!"
That first eruption was like a spark to a powder keg, setting off several more craters in succession. The force of the explosions—Shirakawa figured it could sink an island, no problem.
"Relax."
Right now, Shirakawa was the only person on board who could keep a straight face. Everyone else wore expressions of varying degrees of grimness.
At sea, they had virtually no combat ability. The moment the bubble membrane around the ship burst, they'd all be dead.
"Hey, Captain, look! There's a trench up ahead!"
Mor shouted in a panic. Volcanoes behind them, and up ahead, a trench they couldn't possibly cross.
"Just dive down. It might be our only way out."
Yuristin said, looking at the scene before them. If they turned back now, death was certain.
But there was no need for Yuristin to give the order at all. The Sea King pulling the Silver had spotted the trench and grown even more eager.
It yanked them straight down without giving some of the crew a chance to react, sending a few of them flying up off the deck.
If not for the protective bubble membrane, some of them would have gone flying right out.
And Taeyeon had been held in Shirakawa's arms the whole time. From start to finish, Shirakawa stood in that same spot at the bow, not moving an inch.
Fortunately, there was a Logia-type Devil Fruit user on board. In that moment, they used wind to steady everyone in place.
"Huh? Why is there light down below?"
Since the bow was pointed downward, everyone could clearly see they were getting closer and closer to the light.
"That should be Fish-Man Island up ahead."
Then, their pirate ship suddenly burst into the light, and in an instant, an unimaginable sight unfolded before them.
"Where... is this place?"
Adara asked, puzzled.
But the moment she finished speaking, Mor's excited voice rang out.
"Look! Up there! That's Fish-Man Island, right?"
Above them, a massive island hovered, completely enveloped in a bubble membrane.
"Yeah. That's Fish-Man Island, no doubt about it."
Shirakawa had been here once before. It was back when he was with the Roger Pirates, when Roger had passed through Fish-Man Island on his way from the New World back to the Grand Line.
And the king of Fish-Man Island, Neptune, was a very good friend of Roger's.
Everyone was stunned by the beauty before them. They'd never imagined they'd see such a magnificent sight at the bottom of the sea.
"Captain, how come you're not surprised at all?"
Logically speaking, no one could look at scenery like this and not be amazed.
"Because I've been here once before. This is my second time seeing it, so I'm well past the point of being surprised."
Back when Shirakawa first came here, his expression had been pretty much the same as theirs.
Buggy and Shanks had mocked him back then for being a country bumpkin. But now, it was his turn to mock his own crew.
"What? Captain, you've actually been here?"
Jora said loudly. If he'd been here before, then he should've known the ropes. So why did he just let them go through such a dangerous situation back there?
Look—the Sea King that had been pulling them was now collapsed on the seafloor, exhausted, not moving a muscle.
"Yeah. It's just that last time I came, the journey wasn't nearly this harrowing. Guess our luck this time around isn't so great."
"But either way, we made it to Fish-Man Island safe and sound."
"Let's circle around first. We need to find the entrance."
"Aye, Captain."
Abro spun the helm, guiding the ship in a loop around Fish-Man Island, and quickly located the entrance.
"That one, Captain?"
Abro asked Shirakawa. After all, he'd never been here before either, so he couldn't be sure.
"That's the one."
Shirakawa remembered entering through there last time.
"Then let's move! To Fish-Man Island!" Adara shouted excitedly.
"There should be tons of mermaid beauties inside, right?"
Wende suddenly broke into a lecherous grin.
"Ew~ Wende. Didn't think you were that kind of guy."
Adara shot Wende a sideways glance, then inched away from him in disgust.
"Heh, all men are like that. Go ask Saral if he's interested in mermaids or not."
"Hmph! My Saral would never be into those mermaids. Right, Saral?"
Adara looked at Saral with expectant, trusting eyes.
"Uh..." Saral awkwardly turned his head away, avoiding Adara's gaze—the one so full of faith.
"Heh. Told you so."
Seeing Saral's expression, Wende knew he'd been right.
"Hmph. Men are all trash."
That comment made Jora and the others feel mighty awkward. Didn't that drag them into it too?
"Captain, do you like mermaids too?"
Taeyeon tugged at the hem of Shirakawa's clothes and asked.
"No. I'm not interested in mermaids. No matter how pretty they are, it's still a fish tail below the waist."
Shirakawa honestly didn't get why so many people were into mermaids. Was there a shortage of beautiful human women? How could anyone fall for a fish?
"Heh heh, Captain, that's a feeling you just don't understand."
Wende had somehow slipped over to Shirakawa's ear.
"Like you'd understand it?"
"I don't get it either." Wende had never actually seen a mermaid himself. Everything he was imagining was pure fantasy.
/-\
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