Jinbe came out of the ship onto the deck looking a bit ruffled, having been woken up from his nap by spontaneous barrel rolls.
"Your music can even reach the hearts of these whales. Impressive." Jinbe praised Brook, though the skeleton didn't seem to hear his words. Brook was too focused on trying to sing whilst sobbing at the same time.
Jinbe heard Cherry shouting something into the dark waters to the starboard side of the ship. "Takako, no! You can't eat the whales, they're friends not food!"
Curious who Takako was supposed to be, Jinbe searched the sea with his eyes and was startled to see a deep blue colored kraken giving Cherry an aggrieved look.
"For how long was I asleep?" Jinbe wondered aloud. He hadn't yet seen Cherry's method of storing the kraken, so he naturally assumed she must have picked it up during his nap.
"Not too long, sleepy-head. You'll have to get used to the rapid developments and shenanigans, because I'm afraid that we're the only adults on this ship." Robin helpfully informed him.
"Hey, I'm an adult too!" Cherry protested.
"I distinctly remember you telling me that you had a chronic case of If-I-act-like-an-adult-I'll-die disease?" Robin raised a questioning eyebrow.
"It only flares up when I have an allergic reaction to responsibilities." Cherry answered shamelessly.
There was a great lurch from the ship as one of the island whales came up underneath and started lifting the ship towards the surface. Chopper translated their whale song to say that they would help them reach the surface.
Cherry received feelings of discomfort from Takako as they ascended so Cherry slurped her back up.
"..." Jinbe was rendered speechless by the sight and elected to ignore it for the sake of retaining his sanity.
"Takako said the water is getting hotter, uncomfortably so. Which means that whatever is going on up there is probably boiling the sea at the least. Keep that in mind before you decide to go for a swim." Cherry warned.
"Oh no! Will the Laboons, I mean, will the island whales be okay?!" Brook said in distress.
"They should be fine for a brief period. They wouldn't surface here if it was dangerous for them." Jinbe assuaged.
"Is it too late to go back down? I don't want to go somewhere hot…" Chopper bemoaned.
"Maybe Franky can whip up some sort of refrigerated suit for you." Sanji suggested offhandedly as he thought about cold desserts he could serve to the ladies.
"Really?! Could you do that, Franky?!" Chopper asked with excited, hopeful eyes shining at Franky.
"Hmmmmmm… Hmmmmmmmm…" Franky seemed to be in deep thought, adding to the building tension.
"If I cannibalized the refrigerator, maybe I could do something for you. Otherwise, you'd have to wait for me to get my hands on more materials." Franky answered practically.
"You can't touch my fridge." Sanji stated with finality.
"Cheer up, Chopper. If the island is that hot, any people that live there will definitely have the things Franky needs, right?" Usopp patted the little reindeer's hat.
"Y-you're right, Usopp! I'm sure we can get what we need from the people on the island!" Chopper said, doing his best to lift his own mood and optimism.
The ship breached the surface with the island whale pod. The short time they were suspended in the air afforded them a good look at the island before them. It was nothing but a sea of flame and a burning wasteland as far as they could see. Volcanoes erupted constantly in the distance.
The water around them was filled with the burnt corpses of thousands of fish. Sanji acted decisively to save what he could from their large catch before it too was burned black.
While Luffy was mourning the loss of his precious meat and others were panicking about finding themselves next to a dangerous island that the log pose didn't even point to, the ship's den den mushi started to wail.
"What wrong little, guy? Did you want meat too?" Luffy asked the snail with a look of sympathy.
"Don't be stupid, that's a distress call." Sanji said.
"Oh, then I'll ask them what's wrong-" Luffy said, reaching for the receiver.
"Luffy! Distress calls are more often than not traps set by the marines or other pirates!" Robin warned quickly.
"That's true, Luffy. However, it could also be a genuine call for help." Jinbe advised, ready to accept whatever his decision may be.
Cherry swooped in and grabbed the den den mushi before Luffy could answer it thoughtlessly.
"Hey!" Luffy shouted in annoyance, giving chase.
"It seems to originate from the island. Trap or not, it may offer valuable insight." Cherry said after feeling out the connection.
Cherry held the den den mushi out for Luffy to answer, which he did so immediately.
"This is Luffy, future Pirate King." Luffy said seriously.
"He's gonna kill us all! You gotta help us, boss!" Said the voice.
"I"m not your boss! Who's going to kill you, where are you?!" Luffy asked forcefully.
"The samurai… oh god, he's right BEHIND ME! I'm on an island called PUNK- GAAAAAH-!" The den den mushi went quiet.
The others discussed the incident, but Cherry's focus lay elsewhere. She had detected another signal latch onto the distress call and followed it back to its origin.
Far, far away a marine ship labeled G-5 was anchored near an island with constant lightning falling like rain.
"Sir Smoker, was that…?" Captain Tashigi asked.
"Just what route is Straw Hat taking…?" Vice Admiral Smoker wondered aloud.
The black den den mushi they were just using to listen in on the distress call swiveled around in place to look at them, unnoticed by anyone.
They discussed the circumstances behind the island of Punk Hazard. How an incident had destroyed all life on the island four years prior, as well as the duel between Aokiji and Akainu.
"That's our only lead, though, so we'll go with that. Set sail for Punk Hazard!" Smoker ordered, shouting at anyone who complained.
"Congratulations on the promotions." A woman's voice spoke behind them.
This immediately put them on guard as Tashigi was supposedly the only woman on this ship. When they spun around to face an unknown threat they found… nothing.
"Where are you looking? I'm down here." Said the black den den mushi.
This unnerved Tashigi and the rough looking G-5 marines. Black den den mushi weren't meant for two way communication. Even Smoker felt uneasy.
"Who are you?!" Tashigi interrogated, brandishing her sword and looking around with caution filled eyes.
"I'm hurt! Even though we compared swords back at Alabasta, you've already forgotten me!" The woman said with false sorrow.
The crew suppressed lewd giggles when Smoker glared at them.
"Harpin D. Cherry?!" Tashigi spoke after a moment of thought.
"If you're coming over, I'll let you see my sword again. I named it Sakura Tengoku, by the way. It's made of lightning, cool right? I see you're still using the same sword. I guess your quest to take all the Meito out of the hands of pirates isn't going so great?" Cherry rattled off.
"Where are you hiding?!" Smoker suddenly shouted, twisting around every which way looking for her.
Tashigi was the first to understand that Cherry could see them, as she had mentioned her using the same sword.
"Silly, I'm not hiding anywhere. I can see you just fine from right here." Cherry said, then the den den mushi winked at them.
*SMASH*
Smoker crushed the poor den den mushi with his fist.
"Good thing we have a spare…" The G-5 quartermaster muttered.
"What are you gawking at! I told you to set sail!" Smoker shouted, prompting them to move swiftly into action.
"How…?" Tashigi asked under her breath.
"I don't know, but we'll need to be more careful with the den den mushi from now on. Damn it, I suppose I'll need to write a report about this…" Smoker took a long drag on his cigar, trying to calm his nerves.