They didn't have much to pack—just a couple of changes of clothes each, plus some gifts.
There hadn't been time to prepare properly, so Zhang Da Ye simply hauled along a few crates of wine as a gesture of goodwill. He also rummaged through his item box for things to give Queen Otohime's children.
Outside the tavern, he hung up a wooden sign: "Out Traveling, Temporarily Closed." Then he sent word to Goodman's family so they wouldn't worry.
With everything ready, the group headed back to the shore, riding the Shark Mecha toward where Queen Otohime and Shark Chili were waiting.
Zhang Da Ye took the driver's seat. To save them some time, Shark Chili had lent them the mecha, and Zhang Da Ye was more than happy to get behind the controls.
If it came down to skill, Artoria was actually the best at piloting. With her Riding Skill, she could handle the machine even better than Shark Chili—though without the ability to switch combat forms.
Tom could probably learn it too if he fiddled with it long enough, but Zhang Da Ye refused to let him. He was too afraid Tom would blow it up by accident. That earned Zhang Da Ye a few minutes of sulky glares from the cat.
The Shark Mecha stopped steadily beside Otohime's ship. Everyone jumped aboard, and the mecha vanished into storage.
"What a marvelous machine," Queen Otohime said in awe. She didn't think it was particularly huge—after all, her husband Neptune was even larger.
Neptune stood 12.2 meters tall. Otohime herself was 2.2.
One of the many unsolved mysteries of One Piece: how exactly did they manage to have children together?
"Well then, is everyone ready? We're about to dive." Otohime pulled down a lever.
At the stern, a strange device began pumping air into the ship's protective bubble. The film swelled outward, engulfing the deck, until it wrapped the ship and everyone on board in a clear sphere.
Once inflated, Otohime ordered the massive fish harnessed beneath the ship to descend. With steady strokes, the creature carried them into the depths.
Normally, after inflating a bubble, ships lost most of their buoyancy and had to shed ballast blocks to sink. But Otohime's ship was simpler—it relied entirely on the tamed sea beast for ascent and descent.
As the vessel sank, the surface grew distant. Sunlight dimmed, fading to a pale patch far above.
"It's beautiful…" Rui Meng Meng and Artoria breathed. Seeing it through a cockpit monitor could never compare to standing on a deck watching the ocean swallow them whole.
Shark Chili was unfazed—he lived underwater half the time anyway.
Tom, on the other hand, was staring intently at schools of fish gliding past the hull. He licked his lips now and then, his intentions painfully obvious.
Zhang Da Ye hugged him tightly. If Tom leapt out chasing fish here, they'd never see him again. Maybe he should look into getting everyone life cards, just in case.
"How about a photo?" Zhang Da Ye suggested, trying to distract the cat.
This world had two kinds of cameras: the Den-Den Mushi type, which snapped a picture with a blink, and the old-fashioned lens-and-shutter type.
Zhang Da Ye carried the latter. Den-Den Mushi were living creatures—you couldn't exactly shove one into an item box.
"I'll take it for you," Otohime offered. Fish-Man Island had cameras too; she knew how to use one.
Click. The first photo froze them mid-journey: Tom in front, paws on hips; Artoria with a dazed expression at her first photo; Shark Chili raising a hand behind them; Zhang Da Ye and Rui Meng Meng at the back flashing peace signs. The backdrop: blue water, darting fish, and a passing sea turtle.
To put it bluntly, they were arranged perfectly by size.
Shark Chili had wanted to throw up a peace sign too, but he'd already burned through his transformation mode for the day—no spare energy for theatrics.
Otohime studied the result. "Feels a little ordinary."
"Then let's change it up," Zhang Da Ye suggested. "I'll sit here. Shark Chili, stand behind me. Put Tom on my head. Artoria, Meng Meng—stand at Shark Chili's sides and make a heart shape."
Click.
"Much better," Otohime agreed.
"Okay, now let's try another…"
They kept at it, changing poses, swapping the center spot, taking duo shots.
"Your Highness, why don't you join us for a few?" Zhang Da Ye invited.
"May I?"
"Of course—something to remember us by!" Zhang Da Ye grinned, then tapped Tom's head. "Quick, make a selfie kit."
In Otohime's astonished gaze, Tom pulled out a hammer, banged together a tripod, and attached a pulley rig. After everyone gathered around the queen, he set the camera on the stand, adjusted the focus, then dashed back and leapt into her arms, tugging the string.
A spoon contraption pressed the shutter. Click.
And then Tom refused to leave her embrace.
He'd discovered she smelled like goldfish. Tom loved goldfish—both from the tank and from the kitchen.
Otohime didn't mind. She gently rubbed his head and scratched under his chin.
Zhang Da Ye sighed and warned Tom not to bite.
As they sank deeper, the water outside grew darker, the silence heavier.
"It's so dark… and cold too," Zhang Da Ye murmured, peering beyond the faint deck lights. Beyond their glow, there was only endless black.
Hearing him, Tom shivered violently. His fur, it turned out, did little against the cold.
"Ah, that's because we're about seven thousand meters deep already," Otohime explained. "No sunlight reaches here, and the temperature drops to just a few degrees. I'll fetch some spare coats from the cabin."
"Thank you." None of them had expected freezing cold—they'd only packed for summer.
Shark Chili estimated the temperature was barely two or three degrees Celsius. It didn't bother him—he was a cyborg, and anyway fish-men never wore clothes year-round.
A few minutes later, everyone but Shark Chili and Otohime had thick coats wrapped around them. Even Tom got one.
Seeing their puzzled looks, Otohime smiled. "We fishfolk are born to survive in the deep sea. This temperature is nothing to us."
"That makes sense. No wonder Camie never brings warm clothes when she visits…" Zhang Da Ye muttered. Come to think of it, wearing winter coats underwater would be pretty pointless. Like swimming with weights.
Shark Chili suddenly frowned. "By the way, Captain… you haven't looked at a Log Pose once this whole time. Are you sure that's okay?"
He'd been studying navigation lately. On the Grand Line, sailing without a Log Pose or vivre cards was unthinkable.
[Please give powerstones if you're enjoying the story.
500 stones = 1 extra chapter
patreon com/GuessMyName33 for advanced chapters]