L.O.J.S.H 227

"Mangrove 41..." I muttered as I undid my invisibility and landed a distance away from the docks, looking at the towering sign hanging on the colossal tree.

Ideally, I would have liked to start from the first 31 mangroves, the lawless area, but they were all the way across the island, and flying around the island would have gotten me a lot of attention.

I wasn't nearly proficient enough in my invisibility technique to keep it active for that long either, leaving me with no option but to start here and make my way towards Shaki's bar the old-fashioned way.

I couldn't help smiling as I looked around, taking in the sights of mangrove 41, which was a part of the tourist area. I wasn't here to sightsee, but Sabaody Archipelago was a beautiful place, despite being a hell hole crawling with scum.

The greenery, the unique buildings, the countless floating bubble, and the towering trees created a beautiful image that was only ruined because I knew the true nature of this place.

However, what fascinated me the most about the archipelago was how the locals adapted to the bubbles, creating many babble-based contraptions. 

Bon Charis, I think they were called. Massive bubbles, big enough to house an adult, and people use them to travel around the place, but that's not all. 

The locals even used the bubbles to create individual hotel rooms, the helmets, the celestials wear, and last but not least, the coating that would allow ships to travel below the sea.

But as fascinating as this place was, I couldn't indulge any more than I already had. I checked the gloves and the cloak hiding my prosthetic arm one last time and covered my head with the hood as I took a deep breath and started walking.

...

'Well, that didn't take long...' 

I winced resolutely, turning and walking away as a fierce-looking middle-aged with a muscular body covered in scars came running in my direction, clutching a metallic collar on his neck that was ominously peeping.

The crowd parted as the man frantically ran towards anyone and everyone, desperately shouting for help, and I took the chance to slip away into a nearby alley and leave the area. 

"DAMN IT ALL."

My wince deepened as I heard a hoarse exclamation of despair that likely reverberated all over the island, followed by a loud explosion, but I didn't turn around and kept moving forward. 

I wasn't one to sympathize with strangers. My past life ensured that. 

Living as a pirate did no favors to soften me either, but I couldn't help feeling bad for the guy, not enough to help him, just enough to sour my mood. 

No one deserved to die like that, and I don't mean by the explosion of the collar, but the despair and helplessness in the man's eyes before he met his end in such an undignified way.

I've seen such eyes countless times before my death and one time here when we were on Spider Miles looking for Law. That's why I wanted to leave that place as soon as possible. 

'I knew I'd come to this conclusion, sooner rather than later... but this place doesn't like so beautiful anymore..'

...

I sighed as I sat on a bench, eating the dumplings I'd just bought while taking the sights of Sabaody Bark. It had been almost an hour since I encountered the run-away slave, and I'd already reached mangrove 33, where the amusement park is located.

Sabaody Bark looked even more beautiful, vibrant and lively than the tourist area, thanks to its famous Ferris wheel ride that attracted people from in and out of the archipelago.

And it's that same Ferris wheel, the bark's main attraction, making this place so off-putting to me, and I don't mean its shape, but what the damned thing represented.

I could see it as nothing but an elaborate deathtrap designed to lure young fish-men to the surface, only to be captured by slavers and be sold to some rich physical or the other, even if that wasn't its intended purpose.

Honestly, I'd be impressed if that was the case. I'd still be put off and disgusted, but I'll be impressed nonetheless. 

Fish-men are treated like common fish here, so they are forced to stay away from the archipelago. But the lure of fulfilling their childhood dreams (if they didn't try to already as children and get captured already) has and would enrapture countless fish-men to seek the Ferris wheel.

And the more I think about it, the more it seems intentional. 

The only place still treating fish-men like animals (despite the world government abolishing such practices when it allied with the fish-men 200 years ago) being on top of the Fish-Man island feels too much of a coincidence.

And if you add the Ferris wheel, which every kid would want to ride once they see it...

'Suddenly, I don't feel like eating anymore...'

...

I smiled as I looked at a warning sign with a marine soldier's skeleton nailed to it while crossing the bridge to mangrove 16 in the lawless area. 

I couldn't help noticing how different this place was from the shopping or bark area. No people were frolicking about other than the occasional thug or seedy-looking bounty hunter, no paved roads, and most of the buildings here were in ruins. 

But despite the lawless area's lack of maintenance, it felt more natural than any other place in the archipelago, and I felt considerably more at ease here. 

How should I put it? The lawless area was precisely how it looked, chaotic and filled with danger, unlike the other districts that looked like shining beacons of civilization despite hellholes under the surface. 

And as my observation haki flared at the several thugs tailing me, my smile deepened as I walked towards the nearest dark alley, feeling refreshed at the thugs' direct approach as they didn't even try to mask their presence or hide their intentions.

I thought about venting on the thugs, but I refrained as I'd have to kill them, and even though I wasn't opposed to that, it would garner attention that I didn't want nor need.

So I made my way into the nearest dark alley, then used Soru to disappear from the area, leaving the bewildered thugs to look for me there.

'It's their lucky day, I guess...'

I shook my head as I resumed my journey. 

...

"That should be the place..." I muttered, my eyes alternating between the towering sign with the number 16 on it and the oval building sitting on the elevated hill at the foot of a mangrove tree with a white set of stairs leading to it. 

I shrugged as I started climbing the stairs, and it didn't take me long to reach the top, impatient as I was already.

I stopped at the top of the stairs as I looked at the building that had a sign with the words Shakky Rip-ff Bar on it. 

I couldn't help but smile at the name, simple and telling, considering that Shakky's made her living by scamming pirates and beating up whoever refused to pay her outrageous prices. 

Taking a deep breath, I nodded after reading the open sign on the door and reached to open it. But my observation haki flared, prompting me to sidestep just in time to dodge a pirate flying out of the bar's entrance, bloodied and squealing in agony.

I chuckled, shaking my head as I walked through the now-open door, and immediately met eyes with a slim, tall, seemingly young woman with short black hair that had two tufts pointing upwards.

"Welcome... what will you be having...?" the woman casually asked as she blankly looked at me, ignoring the presence of the bloodied pirate in her hand that was barely hanging to consciousness by a thread. 

"Anything other than what he's having..."