The Fishman Island, Docks.

There were ten ships, the Kuja Fleet's secondary vessel was similar to the traditional model except that this one was made out of strong steel instead of wood, and there were also two Yuda serpents pulling it just like before. There were ten vessels of such and they arrived on Fishman Island after passing the protective layer, intimidating everyone.

It was not every day they saw such a massive fleet, but this one in particular they were already used to.

'The beauties!'

That's what the fishmen called them, a fleet of more than a hundred women, not a single man among them, most of them were gorgeous beyond measure. They had become famous after passing by the island once or twice, but... something was not right, there was a ship missing but they also had two extra ships.

There were two Celestial Dragon vessels among them, one of them was wrecked, clearly having suffered a lot of stress. Mihawk and Primrose reached the coast first together with the Jimbei from the Sun Pirates. The rest of the Sun Pirates and even the Red Hair Pirates chased soon after.

"Celestial Dragons..."

That was their reaction to seeing the infamous ships, shock. Not one but two of them... to the fishmen they were like the supreme royalty that shouldn't be touched. While the Sun Pirates watched that ship with utter anger and disgust, it was Fisher Tiger who stopped them from marching forward to wreck the hell out of it.

"Two ships?" Mihawk was confused, as far as they knew there was one Tribute Ship, how come there were two of them now?

Compared to the Kuja Pirate's vessel, the celestial dragon ship was at least ten times bigger and more regal in design, clearly, those bastards had all the budget in the world but since the ship was made out of wood, the difference was obvious.

A group of Kuja ladies departed their docked ships and approached the coast where they met Mihawk and Primrose. In front of them was the beautiful giantess, Aphelandra.

"Elder, Boss..." They saluted their tribe elder and the wife and mother of their god. To them, Mihawk was the 'boss'. Although she wasn't the Hebihime or elder of Amazon Lily, they'd still follow anything she said to the tee in the odd case she did feel like giving orders.

"Girls, what is going on, why are there two celestial dragon vessels?" Primrose asked.

Aphelandra went on to explain that when they were coming to the fishman island they happened to find this wrecked ship making its way down. It was not a profit they could let go of and thus, they invaded the ship and found several interesting things.

The girls pulled a man who looked like a celestial dragon with green hair, he was tied up together with a bunch of other subordinates but unlike them, his face was all swollen.

When the Sun Pirates looked at him they were even more forced to take action, this bastard was their owner when they were still slaves in Marie Geoise!

"I will kill that bastard right now!".

"Let me do it!"

Fisher Tiger and Jimbei had to stop everyone else from charging straight up at him, recalling the years of terror this bastard had subjected them to.

"You b*tches, let me go- HAA!" It didn't help that the man was cursing out loud at Aphelandra, but alas.

SLAP!!!

"..."

Silence reigned the whole dock when a slapping sound resonated, although it was as merciless as a fist. The fishmen all saw justice first-hand.

He got slapped by Aphelandra so badly that a few of his teeth scattered on the sand, shocking the staring fishmen. Isn't it a sin to hit a celestial dragon!?

"Are you going to shut up now or not? If you keep talking I'm going to slit your disgusting throat" The 'cute' girl spoke so coldly that even Primrose and Mihawk were left flabbergasted. She couldn't recall why, but in her heart, there was a lot of enmity against the celestial dragons. They were already holding back on not killing him there and then, and the little b*tch still felt entitled.

After that slap, he didn't dare talk anymore. For the Fishmen, it was like utter justice that felt better served by a third party than their own. Aphelandra threw the man on the ground and stepped on him with a sigh.

"As you can see, he's quite bad-mouthed. There were several servants in his ship and a lot of treasures, we have taken all of them prisoners. We don't know what we're going to do with them yet, if you have any orders please state them, Elder".

"Girls you really don't fear consequences..."

They heard a boat in the distance, another docking ship, a speedboat and aboard it was a gorgeous white-haired lady with tiger ears whom Primrose and Mihawk groaned to see. In a sense, she was another one of the 'mommies' whom their husband was quite acquainted with. But she was not a 'wife' she was a 'mistress'.

Admiral Shironeko and Veyron's relationship was complicated, but he'd not hide any details of his romantic life with them. For all intents and purposes, they were lovers, only... that love would usually get in between Gion's responsibilities as an Admiral and hence why their relationship was 'secret'.

"Gion".

"Mihawk, Primrose... Please, just this once... make things easier for me could you?" Gion wasn't particularly friendly with Mihawk and Primrose and it was exactly for the same reason, they were all in the same age range.

Mihawk lazily pointed at the celestial dragon with a swollen face and missing teeth, Admiral Gion covered her face and realised it was already too late.

"You stole the national tribute... you also have a celestial dragon as a hostage, Donquixote Mjosgard... you girls are really adamant about undertaking the world's gravest sins all at once!".

"We aren't holding him hostage, Shironeko... *cough* we only saved him and took all his treasures as compensation" Aphelandra declared, followed by all of her nodding crew.

'The shamelessness' All the onlookers thought simultaneously.

When the admiral was about to curse out loud, another group of newcomers arrived, and the fishmen all gaped and made way for them.

"The royal family is here!".

"Gion!"

"Veyron..." The Admiral blushed a bit, they hadn't seen each other in a long time, not precisely because she didn't want to, but because both had their responsibilities and rarely coincided. 

Just then the young man arrived, eyebrows twitched because he was standing on the mermaid princess' joint palms as she carried him, she was still all bandaged, and behind them were Neptune and Otohime. The latter upon seeing celestial dragons, it was as if she saw a chance but she then thought about the conversation she had earlier with Veyron and decided to stay her hand.

"You're with another girl... as always" Gion's eyebrows twitched upon seeing the young yet breathtaking mermaid princess carrying him all too happy, even when covered in bandages she was still beautiful.

Shirahoshi put Veyron down.

"Long time no see... you too girls!".

"My god, it is lovely to meet you!" The Kuja Pirates greeted their god and boasted the treasures and hostages they had brought with them, hoping for some praise. Veyron regarded them and thought something was not right, something was missing.

"I think this is not the right place to have this conversation. Prim, could you prepare some quarters for the girls to sleep in? They must be tired after this long journey. Aphelandra, what is your next step?".

He wasn't the captain of the Kuja Pirates they were free to take their own decisions. This question thought struck a nerve in Aphelandra that left her momentarily frozen, what was the next step? she didn't know, but she recalled something very important.

"Oh... w-we were supposed to be waiting for the main vessel".

"Main vessel?".

His eyes then widened, recalling there was indeed one ship left from the Kuja Fleet that hadn't arrived. The same happened with Primrose and Mihawk who started to recall one by one the members that were missing from this convoy... they didn't now all the names, but they knew who the top ranks of the fleet were, and they weren't all here.

'How could I have forgotten that...?!'.

Veyron questioned himself, 'No, that's the point... I would have never forgotten... lately, I feel as if I'm forgetting a lot of things. I have a photographic memory, even if I were to forget things... there wouldn't be these many!'

The three of them were about to voice out their concerns, but someone else did first.

"I'm telling you she's not here!".

"Eh?".

A group of yells called for everyone's attention, it was Fisher Tiger who had been discussing with Arlong and Jimbei.

"What do you mean, brother?" Arlong had just asked him a question which prompted this answer.

"The women that saved us, they're not here! I can't remember them... no, I can't remember HER, the one that turned him into stone. I don't know why I can't remember her but she's not here!".

"What are you talking about, Tiger?" Shanks interjected, he hadn't seen him this altered in a long time.

"One year ago we went to Paradise our journey with little Koala was over, we found her home island and intended to deliver her back to her parents. We did so and dropped her amidst tears, but when we were leaving... there was a vice admiral ship stationed in our way, they attacked us. We were surrounded and they were stronger than us".

'What is he saying...?' Veyron flinched, not recalling any of this from the manga.

"That was when they appeared, the Kuja Fleet! That woman... she turned the vice admiral into stone and saved us I must remember her name, she told me..." Fisher Tiger was even sobbing and crying as he recalled what for him was a deep encounter that he'd never forget. Just the fact that he seemed to be forgetting it caused him endless pain.

"She told me that her gratitude to me was incommensurable, that back then when I climbed up the red line, I had saved her and her sisters... they hugged me and thanked me for that. The feeling of pride I felt at that time when I realised that I not only had saved fishmen but humans too and that among them... *sob* three of them grew up to be such gorgeous and powerful women. I COULD NEVER FORGET THAT! I REFUSE TO FORGET IT!".

***

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