One Piece: Dream of Immortality

Luffy coughed and sputtered as he and Jinbe reached the surface of whatever body of water they were in.

The floating spheres had been a new experience, even for Jinbe with his long years of sailing the Grand Line. However, it didn't compare to what they were experiencing now.

"Hey, I thought we were floating into the sky," Luffy said once he had more air than water in his lungs. "Why is the water blue, instead of cloudy white?"

"I'm not sure," Jinbe had heard tales of islands in the sky before, but he had never born witness to them personally. "Is it supposed to be white?"

Luffy nodded his head in a jerky motion. "Yeah! It's like clouds with seastone dust in it or something, to make it watery."

"Well, this is just regular water, pretty sure," Jinbe spoke with confidence. "What about that island over there? Is it supposed to look like a normal island?"

Luffy squinted his eyes in the direction of Jinbe's pointing finger. "Maybe? The dirt island in Skypeia got blown up into the sky by a big ass knock up stream. Maybe this one got picked up by the bubbles?"

"Perhaps we can find out. The others are more likely to find us on that island than swimming around at random," Jinbe concluded.

"Full speed ahead, Jinbe!" Luffy made it official, adopting his best captain's pose.

"Aye, aye," Jinbe assented. He wasn't sure if Luffy knew what he was asking for, demanding his 'full speed', but his hoots and hollering when he really started picking up speed at least told him he was having a good time.

…

"This is a hive of scum and villainy if I've ever seen one," Jinbe murmured once they made landfall. He'd seen plenty of such places to know one when he saw it.

"Shishishi, yeah, isn't it amazing?!" Luffy giggled like a schoolboy. He ran straight up to the grumpiest fellow he could see and asked, "Hey, hey, what's this place called?"

The first thing the filthy, unkempt man did was spit at Luffy feet. Then he opened his mouth, revealing less than half of a full set of teeth which looked to be on the verge of rotting out of his head too, and said, "You ain't never been to Tortuga before, boy?"

"No!" Luffy answered cheerfully.

The man harrumphed and gave him a nasty sneer or smile, it wasn't clear which. "Good luck to ye."

With that vague and ominous goodbye, he turned heel and stumbled down the street, losing himself in the crowd.

"Jinbe, have you ever heard of 'Tortuga'?" Luffy bounced back over to his side.

"Not that I remember," Jinbe scratched his chest tattoo. "That's no surprise, though, considering we're in the sky."

"Oh, right! I forgot!" Luffy nodded. "There's only one thing for it, then! Find the nearest tavern!"

That was as good a place as any to start gathering information, Jinbe reckoned.

As they moved through the streets, searching for the first drinking establishment they could find, Jinbe took notice that people were parting to give room for them to pass. The reason was rather obvious, from the way they looked at Jinbe when they got close.

Jinbe was used to such reactions and had long since stopped caring. However, the way that they looked at him struck him as odd. If he were to guess, there was a lack of hatred or fear towards his race in their eyes. He might even go so far to say they looked curious, if cautious, of his presence.

"Oi!" a child stood right in his path. Nobody moved to pull the child away, afraid that the whale shark fishman may eat the poor lad. "Why are your teeth so funny lookin'?"

Jinbe blinked. Luffy glanced back at him and the boy, but apparently decided he could handle it himself as he continued on his way.

"My teeth?" Jinbe mulled over the question. "It's not my skin that stands out most to you?"

"I've seen tattoos before," the boy sniffed. "Never seen nuffink like them chompers, though."

"Ah," Jinbe came to a sudden realization. None of these people know that he's a fishman. Perhaps, they've never even heard of fishmen before. Jinbe was literally their first impression.

"I was born with them," Jinbe said after a moment of thought. "I got them from my great great great great great grandfather."

He didn't bother explaining that he got his everything from his great great great great great grandfather. Fishman genealogy sometimes unnerved humans.

"Really? That's wicked," the boy accepted easily. "I look just like me dad, ugly nose and all."

"I've seen worse," Jinbe said, Arlong's face appearing unbidden in his mind.

That got a laugh out of the kid. "Me name's Brendyll Ben, but folks around here call me 'Cabin Boy' on account of how many ships I've served on. What's yours, then?"

"Jinbe," he answered. "I suppose, back home, people call me 'Knight of the Sea'."

"Like a real knight, or was they just takin' the piss?" Ben asked.

"Some thought it was funny, some thought I had the makings for it," Jinbe shrugged.

"It's a better title than me own, that's for sure. I just hope mine isn't stuck to me 'til I'm wrinkly," Ben scrunched up his face in mock wrinkles.

"I'd better catch up with my captain. He tends to get into trouble that he can get himself out of," Jinbe said, spotting Luffy at a butcher shop trying to barter with his pocket lint.

"You mean 'that he can't get himself out of'?" Ben clarified.

"No," Jinbe denied. "That's the problem."

"Fock off! Yer drivin' me real customers away!" the butcher shouted in Luffy's face, spittle flying off his tongue.

"I'll be around if you and your 'captain' ever need a cabin boy!" Ben scampered off without another word.

Jinbe checked his pockets, just in case, and was pleasantly surprised to find money still present. Perhaps Ben was just a nosy child, and not a pickpocket after all.

Not that Jinbe's money would be any good here. He spied other people using a kind of paper currency he'd never seen before, and he imagined Beri wouldn't be accepted as an alternative.

"Jinbe! You've got money, right?! Pay this guy for me, I'll owe you one!" Luffy's eyes sparkled after he begged.

"I don't suppose you accept Beri for payment?" Jinbe asked the butcher.

The man actually paused to consider. "Depends on how fresh they are."

"Ah, nevermind then. Let's leave the man to his work, Luffy. I'm sure we can find something to eat elsewhere, perhaps in exchange for a favor or two," Jinbe said, without bothering to correct the butcher's misunderstanding.

As they walked off, Luffy asked, "Why does he care when they were printed?"

…

"Welcome to the Twelve Daggers! Ye want anything or are ye broke?" a buxom, middle aged waitress asked the two of them the very moment they stepped foot inside the cantina.

"You'll allow us to stay if we're broke?" Jinbe asked.

"Lots of broke folk come in here, usually with a plan to trick some fool into buying them somethin'," the waitress explained. "So?"

"Broke!" Luffy laughed.

"Don't start any fights or Brick'll sort you out," the waitress was off to attend to someone who actually had money.