"Haa, please tell me you thought of something, Trenza; I'm rather exhausted after that fight." Said Scar, littered with wounds and out of breath as he sheathed his bloody dagger and approached Trenza while Grand did the same.

"Haha, yeah, fighting that Fish-man was quite the workout; his strength and technique were impressive, but it still wasn't enough to claim victory over the mighty Atlas of the Frenzy Pirates!" Declared Grand with a grin as he flexed his muscles, his shirt bulging at the seams and ready to tear, though he stopped playing around when he felt the arena tremble once more.

"Urgh, great, we've only got three minutes left, and no, I haven't figured out a way to escape; there is nothing we can use. Maybe if the arena wasn't shrinking, we might've been able to do something, but now, we are too isolated from anything in this room." Replied Trenza with a grunt as she and Kane stepped forward, approaching Grand and Scar, who both gave Kane a scrutinizing look.

"Um, Trenza, who is that?" Asked Scar with a raised eyebrow while eyeing Kane, who hid behind Trenza, trembling in fear.

"Eh, I'll tell you about him later, but he's not a threat; right now, we need to figure out how to escape." Stated Trenza with a slight frown as she glanced at the frightened Kane and gently rubbed his head, calming him down before focusing back on the problem at hand.

With that, the two didn't bother pressing the matter as we all started thinking and formulating ways to escape, but no matter what we came up with, nothing would work; creating a feasible plan was hard enough, let alone an actual plan. Most of our plans started based on Grand throwing us anywhere in the room, but the problem was there was nothing for us to latch onto, not to mention we wouldn't even be able to get Grand to safety.

Before we knew it, it came down to the final minute with the four of us huddled together in the small arena as we overlooked the water beneath us, occasionally seeing the silhouette of the massive shark that would eat us when he inevitably fell.

"There is no way out; just accept it. If three of you die, at least one will get to live; sometimes sacrifices are needed." Said Mirage calmly while overlooking the four, though all her words did was anger them.

"Tch, no way in hell, you crazy bitch of a woman! We're family; if we're going down, we're going down together!" Yelled Trenza passionately in anger as she pointed Sunaipu to where Mirage's face was previously displayed.

"Haha, that's right; you tell'em, Trenza, if we go down, we go down fighting together!" Said Grand with a boisterous laugh as he cracked his neck, preparing for the fight while fearlessly looking down at the water.

"Besides, who said we must die? To survive, all we need to do is kill your pet shark; between the three of us, I'm confident we can do it." Stated Scar with confidence as he unsheathed his dagger, his eyes radiating the will to live.

"Yeah, you said it, Scar! At the end of the day, it's just a slightly bigger shark; if Captain can hunt Sea Kings like they're nothing, we can at least manage to kill an overgrown shark!" Declared Trenza with a large, ferocious grin as she readied her two pistols, though all of a sudden, she felt someone grab her while a cold, sharp object was pressed against her neck.

"K-Kane, w-what a-are you doing!?" Exclaimed Trenza in shock and anger as she looked down and saw a small blade pressed up against her neck.

"Dammit! Bastard, let Trenza go!" Said Scar and Grand, respectively, as they glared at Kane while slowly approaching, though they were forced to stop.

"Don't move! Take one more step, and I'll slit her neck!" Yelled Kane with an unnerving look in his eyes as he tightened his hold on Trenza, drawing blood in the process.

"Good, n-now, if you want her to live, the two of you will both jump off the arena right now." Added Kane while constantly glancing between them with a slightly crazy glint, though neither moved at his threat.

"K-Kane, why are you doing this!? D-Do you think killing me w-will solve anything? Y-You think that crazy bitch, will allow you to leave freely?" Questioned Trenza angrily as she tried to free herself, though any slight movements only caused Kane to deepen the blade on her neck.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"I-I don't know, b-but, I-I refuse to be at anyone's mercy anymore! T-This is my life, and I-I'll dictate how I-I'll live, and when I die; I-I can't expect people to save me in my times of need. J-Just like the Sun's Angel said, d-don't rely on anyone other than yourself, y-you'll only e-end up getting killed or betrayed!" Stated Kane with eyes full of madness and zeal as he looked at Scar and Grand, threatening them once more.

"J-Jump off right now, or I'm killing her!" Said Kane, though his threats didn't seem to move either of them as they calmly stood still.

"Jump off and what, die? Only one person can win this pirate royale or whatever she called it; after we die, you'll kill Trenza next. Instead of foolishly throwing our lives away so Trenza can live for more seconds, why don't I avenge my sister by killing her killer? So go ahead, kill her, just know, the instance you do, your death is next." Declared Scar calmly despite his anger as he glared at Kane, causing Kane to gulp nervously.

"You kill Trenza, and I'm smashing your head like an apple." Said Grand with a feral grin while eyeing Kane and clenching his fist.

"J-J-Jump-" Said Kane while gulping in fear, though he couldn't finish speaking as the arena beneath them started trembling.

"Uh, oh." Muttered Trenza as she, Grand, Scar, and Kane suddenly fell to the ocean along with the last piece of the arena.

While we plunged toward the water below us, I used that chance to strike Kane, headbutting him in the face, causing him to grab his nose in pain, freeing me from his clutches as I pushed off of him. I was about to shoot him, but before I could, I saw a massive shadow form under the water before the large shark leaped out and opened its mouth, looking to swallow all four of us in one gulp. Yet, just when I thought this was where our journey ended, there was a loud boom, followed by a large piece of metal being flung at incredible speeds before it embedded itself deeply into the massive shark, causing it to roar loudly in pain and dive back into the water.

"W-What happened? Pill, what happened!?" Said Mirage angrily in shock as she set down her tea cup and looked at Pill, who was still sitting at the control station, pressing buttons and flipping switches.

"I-I don't know, Madam, I can't fi- the cameras in the trap room have been destroyed; I can't see anything happening." Replied Pill with a frown as he flipped through several cameras, though all he received were black screens.

"Camera's in the trap room? Wait, could it be?" Muttered Trenza with a frown as she overheard Pill before suddenly widening her eyes and looking up at a large gaping hole from the previously sealed chute.

"Tch, who's the fucking idiot who made this unbelievably deep chute? We fell for nearly two full minutes, freaking crazy." Said Diddy with a frown as his figure emerged from the chute with minimal injuries while carrying a heavily wounded and unconscious Sebas on his shoulder.

"I don't know, but it's probably the same person who poisoned the room we were fighting in." Replied Freyja calmly as her figure emerged from the chute after Diddy, flying right beside him while flapping her leathery wings.

While Father's status did worry me, I could tell he was alive, but seeing Captain and Freyja was like a bright light shining at the end of a tunnel; our lives were saved.

"Hahaha, Captain, Freyja! Over here!" Yelled Trenza with glee as she shot her pistols to catch their attention, which worked.

"Hmm, Trenza, Scar, and Grand, the hell are you three doing swimming in a large pool?" Asked Diddy with a raised eyebrow as he approached them while kicking the air to keep him afloat, completely ignoring Kane's presence.

"It's a long story, but could you help us? There is a massive shark in this water, and I don't want to get eaten by it." Replied Trenza with a sigh of relief as she pointed toward the water, prompting Freyja and Diddy to look.

"Is that a Sea king?" Asked Freyja curiously as she watched the massive shark swim through the water with a large piece of metal embedded in the side of him.

"Who cares?" Remarked Diddy with a shake of his head, completely uninterested, before reaching down and grabbing Trenza, pulling her out of the water.

"Urgh, you're one heavy boy, you know that Grand." Said Freyja lightly as she pulled Scar and Grand out of the water, causing one to sigh in relief while the other laughed.

"W-Wait, Miss T-Trenza, w-what about me? You said y-you'd protect me!" Yelled Kane as he swam towards them, only for Trenza to point her pistol at him in anger.

"Tch, don't try that, Kane; maybe if you hadn't tried to kill me, I'd have helped you!" Replied Trenza angrily with a frown while glaring at him, causing him to fall into despair.

"Hmm, that pathetic weakling tried to kill you, Trenza?" Asked Diddy with a raised eyebrow as he glanced at Trenza, who was sitting on his other shoulder.

Huffing in annoyance, I nodded toward Captain and was about to elaborate on what happened, but before I could, I saw him point at Kane before muttering the word, "Shigan," followed by a bloody hole appearing right in between Kane's eyebrow.

"Hmph, if you're going to kill anyone, kill Scar or Grand; Trenza still has her uses as a chef." Remarked Diddy with slight anger as he glanced at the sinking corpse, his words causing the three's expression to twitch.