Lara's POV;

Thankfully the rest of our underwater trip went relatively uneventful. The most troublesome encounter was a school of young sea kings that had found our ship and were taking a look at it. Nami got all freaked out by the ten ship-sized sea dwellers.

They were harmless and only wanted to take a look. One or two also tried to take a bite but were firmly rebuffed with a weak attack. We didn't want to kill them, we didn't know if the blood attracts larger hunters.

Anyway, we followed our Log Pose and finally arrived over the large bubble that encompassed the whole Fishman Island. It was a beautiful sight, sun rays somehow still shone brightly unto the underwater island.

The majority of the actual island was outside of the bubble. There was a whole town behind the bubble. And even I, who has significantly worse eyesight than Lia, could see the gargantuan form of the Arc, resting in the background.

“Fishman Island is as beautiful as Jimbei described,” muttered Lia while hugging into my side. I nodded in agreement, the colours that were reflected by the multitude of fish were amazing. And the large underwater city in the background gave it an even greater feeling of a Fantasy World.

“I think we can get entrance through the main door. There shouldn't be any Marines who would try to block us,” informed Nojiko while steering the ship towards the massive gates. Ships four times our size could go through the gates with ease.

The anime wasn't able to project the sheer size of the island. Sure, it filled their vision, but seeing this for real was again something totally different. This was a kingdom, a nation of its own. There was not only a single town or a marketplace, there were dozens. There were hundreds of thousands of Fishman living inside and around the island.

Other ships were coming in with us. Mostly pirate ships but also merchants. There was no piracy this close to the entrance. The nations army would prevent any such attempts with a swift and hard hand, their presence a constant reminder.

It seems as if the New Fishman Pirate crew has not yet gained its momentum. At the end of the two years, this stream of ships would decline down to a trickle.

“Most of them are relatively weak. There are a few with a bounty close to a hundred million and a couple with a higher bounty.” Lia gave me a bounty poster of each ship she has spotted. It really looked as if we are quite a bit above the rest in terms of bounties.

Lia nudged me and pointed over to a group of soldiers. They were in a heated discussion and looking at us every then and now. Then one of them swam over to us on his pet sea king. He stopped right next to our ship and matched our speed.

Jo and Nojiko approached him. “What are your intentions by visiting our island, pirates?” The last part was not spoken with hate or loathing, distaste yes, but no real sermon. It was more a declaration of our status. He also looked quite a bit paler than what should be normal and his eyes were swiftly moving between me and Lia.

“We are here as tourists and to cross the Red Line,” answered Jo in a cordial tone. He too has noticed that the soldier was not accusing us of anything.

“Line in on the left side then, please.” Ordered the solider.

He was about to leave when Fiara asked something she has noticed. “But there are three lines of ships. Both are shorter than ours, why do we have to use the long line on the left?” Her question sounded innocent enough and would have been if Fiara wasn't by now known for burning her enemies alive, I'm so proud!

The soldier stopped instantly in his tracks, looked first at Fiara and then quickly at me. He was perfectly aware that I was listening in. With a shaky breath, he showed backbone and didn't give us special rights. “The two other lines are reserved for merchants and citizens,” he explained. Fiara nodded and thanked him for explaining.

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The soldier looked stunned for a moment, not having expected us to not demand preferential treatment. Then again at me, waiting for my reaction, before moving his sea king away from our ship, when I nodded at him to leave.

Nojiko looked back at me, silently asking if we will really follow his orders, the third line was quite long after all. Still, this was Jimbei's island. “You've heard him. We'll be guests in the home town of Jimbei, behave as such.” I still remember the time I spent with Jimbei on the ship of the Sun Pirates. He always was fun and he gave me his chicken. Some things must be repaid.

Nojiko shrugged and steered the ship into the front half of the line. Just because we were following the rules of the island does not mean that we have to be cordial to other pirates. Quite a few grumbled but none of them tried to complain. Well, a few merchants did but were then reminded by their hired crew who we were.

“Lara, before I forget, here this is my newest invention,” I turned away from the line of ships and looked down at Fiara. She was holding a dial in her hands. “This should allow you to form bubbles under the water. They can be used as mobile air supplies. You just have to push this button and a bubble will form around you. It is made out of the Yarukiman Mangrove resin and can withstand some damage before it pops. Each dial can be used four times and holds enough air for half an hour.”

At the end of her explanation, I had one of the dials in my hand and was marvelling at Fiara's invention. This would allow any Devil Fruit user to survive falling into the sea, even if only for a brief time.

“Thank you, Fiara. They will be really useful.” Fiara beamed up at me with a red face, her smile quite a bit larger than my own. She stuttered some quick denials before pushing a second one into Lia's hands and giving Jo a dial as well.

Jo then pointed out for her that each of us could need one, not only the Devil Fruit users. She made a large O mouth and then raced inside to fetch a couple more. We all had a Bubble Dial with us before we anchored.

We only had to pay a few Berry to get the permit for a week-long stay. They gave us advice to where we could dock our ship and then allowed us to pass. A few words with the locals confirmed that the advised resting place for our ship was indeed a good one and we were off of our ship. The automatic defence would keep most off of our ship.

“So who is doing what?” I asked while we waited for one of the flying fish buses. We were waiting inside a large hall with multiple anchor points for the large bus like fishes. Their bodies had bubbles strapped on and inside those were benches. It was the main hub of these transport fishes.

“Noa, Jonny and I will take a look at the local bars,” informed Yosaku us. The other two were nodding in agreement, large grins on their faces.

“Fiara, Inari, Nami and I will hit the shopping district. Dresses can be worn by mermaids and us.” Both Nojiko and Nami were looking very eager for their shopping spree. While Inari looked more interested and Fiara was hyper for the food that she hopes to find.

“I'm going to visit a friend of mine, he is a local doctor,” spoke Jo next, which left me and Lia.

“Lia and I will take a stroll through the Sea Forest, we have heard it is one of the most beautiful places in the world,” I declared. It was an obvious date for the two of us and the rest knew that.

“Have fun then, maybe we could all meet up in the Mermaid Cafe, I have heard great things about it,” suggested Jo. None of us had anything against it, so it was decided to meet there for dinner.

Half an hour later I was waving at Jo from inside a fish bus. “See you later!” He was the only one left to wait for his. Satisfied that we were now alone I turned back around and hugged Lia tighter into me. The front to us was one large bubble with a great view of the surrounding sea.

There was only a single passenger on board of the fish bus, an older mermaid. She was sitting a few rows away from us, reading the local news.

“What do you think the language on the Porneglyhp will look like?” Asked Lia excitedly. She found the picture of the shown Porneglyhp in the manga was one of the best-drawn ones in the whole series. I somewhat agreed. The large stone inside the Sea Forest had the potential to look breathtaking.

“Like any other written word I don't know, gibberish. I want to test if I can damage the stone. It is said to be indestructible, but that's impossible.” She hummed and gave me a kiss on the cheek, before leaning into me. We watched the colourful fish and blueish sea ground for the remaining ride.

The name forest is well earned. This place was filled with green and plants. All water-based, but still greenery wherever you look. Multicoloured fishes and corrals were adding a touch of diverseness to the green field of seagrass.

Destroyed shipwrecks of different sizes were used as corral reeves and had swarms of fishes around them. “Come, let's follow this path,” urged Lia while grabbing my hand. I followed along and together we strode through the serene underwater forest.

The path we took led us through most parts of the forest and we were already a good few hours on our way when we came upon a clearing that was different from the others.

A large block of black stone stood in the middle of the clearing. Moss was growing on its sides, but the words written into its stone were still easily seen. Easily readable if you understood the words. We walked in front of it and looked at the words. “Can't make out anything,” I said after a moment.

“Yup, just some scribbles for me,” agreed Lia. We stepped closer and I tried to write something into the stone with a vibrating finger, yet I couldn't penetrate the stone, not even a little bit.

“But this here looks different than the rest,” noted Lia suddenly and pointed out some more lines on the far lower-left corner. I took a look and didn't know what to say.

This I could read. “Has anyone seen Origin? We seem to have lost her.” For a moment neither of us said anything before we both fell into laughter. None of us did really expect to read a single word, and yet we seemingly found a missing note.

“I'm agreeable for a picnic, did you pack the roasted chicken?” I asked after we have calmed down. Lia nodded and pulled a basket out of her inventory, the smell of chicken soon drifted into my nose.

We ate and watched the fishes swim by, it was serene. The rest of our trip we stayed there, cuddling and savouring the nature around us. It couldn't be any better. Lia at my side, roasted chicken to eat and beautiful scenery to look at.

Still, at some point, we had to leave and it was getting dark. We left the Sea Forest as leisurely as we came and took one of the fish buses towards the Coral Hills district of Fish Man Island.