She looked shocked and a bit afraid, but then she realized she was going flying along with Ars, so she would be safe.
He then looked at her and informed her of the date planned for the trip.
"We are going on day 8 of this month, at sunrise."
She nodded then stooped to look at him, and exclaimed angrily.
"That's tomorrow!!"
Then she realized she was being rude and she changed the topic, clearing her throat and asked.
"Can my little girl come along?"
He nodded and left, leaving Gluppy planning for the next day.
By the next morning both of the mermaids were awaiting Ars with Tom by their side. Tom had a letter with him and when Ars got in front of them he requested Ars help.
"Your majesty, I would like to ask if it was possible to deliver this letter to my brother too. His name is Den."
Ars thought about it, and accepted the request.
Ars then looked at the 2 very nervous mermaids and asked with a happy smile.
"Are you ready?"
They nodded, and Ars quickly transformed into his dragon form, they slowly climbed on his back with Tom help, and once they were done, Ars took off flying in the direction of sabaody.
Ars thought about it, and even though he could just fly over a calm belt and dive straight at fishman island, he decided he wanted to go through the sabaody archipelago, to experience the descent like everyone else did, because he wanted to live it.
After a few hours of flying they got to sabaody archipelago. Both of the mermaids were visibly scared, but not for long.
Some slavers decided to try and kidnap them just for Ars to politely ask them for them to donate a ship if they had one.
They didn't so Ars quickly squeezed the slaver head he was grabbing, and once done, he just threw it aside like a used soda can.
The other slavers seeing this tried to run, but they were out of luck, and Ars quickly removed them from the gene pool.
After that Ars found a group of pirates who had their ship already coated, and went to 'negotiate' with the captain.
"Do you think I can join the descent to fishman island?"
The captain, shocked, screamed.
"Who the hell are you?"
Ars smiled kindly, and introduced himself.
"I'm Ars, now about that request."
The captain was going to say no but Ars decided to be very persuasive and freeze a few of his crew members in front of him. Before explaining.
"I can always kill you and force the rest of your crew to obey me."
Ars, seeing he wasn't getting a positive answer instantly, was going to remove the captain, but the captain, realizing he was about to die suddenly became very enthusiastic about giving Ars a ride.
"My friend! Of course we can!! Please, just tell us when you want to depart, we will do our best to make the descent as comfortable as possible."
Ars nodded, then thought about it, and said calmly.
"In a few hours, by the way, if you dare to run, I will chase you to hell if needed just to kill you."
The captain, now scared for his life, asked politely.
"Do you give me your word you wont kill me if i take you there?"
Ars nodded with a straight face before adding.
"As long as you don't do anything stupid, and speak of stupid… I need to go kill a few idiots."
The captain started nodding without stooping until Ars left. He commented depressedly.
"Well i guess, we are going to fishman island ahead of what we intended, but at least we get to live… I hope. And take these frozen popsicles and put them in water, to see if they survive."
The captain went outside, and started looking around until he saw a few hundred corpses leading towards different ships from different pirate crews. And a pirate kneeling in front of his guest.
"Please, those weren't from our crew, we have nothing to do with those idiots who provoked you."
"Then, have I killed all of the parties involved?"
"Yes… It was only those 3 crews… Even then not everyone was involved…"
"Huh?"
"Nothing!"
The captain looked at that and got cold sweat pouring down his back. So he decided to go back inside and just stay there and ignore what happened outside, waiting until Ars came back to start going down.
Ars on the other hand decided to collect the bounty of all of the dead pirates.
The 2 mermaids were finally realizing that with Ars here they didn't need to worry too much.
He was violent enough that everyone that had any dangerous ideas quickly changed them to ideas of hiding in a hole and not coming out until Ars was gone.
Ars arrived at the marine branch shortly, where the marine officer couldn't help but comment about his cargo.
"Those are a lot of heads."
Ars wore a very happy smile and said calmly.
"You can start counting!"
The marine eyes started twitching but he did start calculating the amount of money he had to give Ars.
Both the mermaids stood there with interesting faces. The older one was looking at the marine with an awkward apologetic smile, the daughter was looking at Ars like he was an idol.
When he got his 378.420.000 berries from the bounty, he decided he needed to go to Shakky's Rip-off Bar, and meet those 2, Shakuyaku and Rayleigh.
It didn't take long to find the infamous bar, and because of his previous display of dragging a few hundred heads around on a small boat, everyone stayed clear of his path.
Gluppy was amazed that nobody bothered her, even if she wasn't even trying to hide her tail. For the first time she started to see the allure of strength and the safety it could provide if used right.
All her life she lived in fear of strength and brutality, she somehow had associated those with evil, but now seeing Ars brutal display and the deterrence for people around, she started changing her mind.
Yes she still associated strength with pirates and her people suffering, but now she started to associate it with survival and safety too.
She finally opened her mouth and commented.
"I always thought of brutality and monsters as something good people shouldn't do but I was wrong, I guess…"
Ars smiled and gave her his opinion.
"I think brutality and many things associated with it are seen as evil, but in the end it's like a weapon, it's the wielder of those that decides how to use it. Even the most cruel display can be seen as a form of deference against enemies and attackers. It's just that most people use it for evil."
Suddenly a new challenger approached, and said with a nasty smile on his face.
"Get lost and leave the mermaids behind…"
Ars very calmly said.
"Give me a few seconds."
Ars decided to turn this idiotic victim into ash. He started increasing the temperature around the unlucky enemy, until he started catching on fire while screaming in agony. After he was done Ars commented.
"Very noisy way to go."
Gluppy shivered, and thanked god that Ars wasn't her enemy.
Shortly after they arrived at their destination, and entered the bar.
There was an old man sitting by the counter drinking some liquor, Ars didn't know what type thought.
On the side a woman was beating the crap out of a group of pirates, and when she saw Ars with a warm smile, she calmly said.
"I'm just finishing over here, I will be with you in a moment."
Ars just laughed and Pecillia started hugging Gluppy more tightly.
Gluppy was also a bit scared, but since Ars seemed relaxed she decided to trust him, but every time Shakky hit an enemy she shivered.
After she was done, she got back behind the counter and asked Ars.
"What do you want to drink?"
Ars thought about it after looking at the drinks price, and ordered a cup of rum.
While waiting, he explained the simple reason behind his visit.
"The reason I came here is to meet 2 legendary pirates."
Gluppy was shocked that these two were famous pirates, but said nothing, after Shakky came back with Ars drink, she looked at the 2 mermaids and commented.
"It's quite rare to see mermaids around here, aren't you afraid they will bring trouble to you?"
Both of the mermaids showed sad expressions, before Ars replied calmly.
"Not really."
Shakky then looked at Ars and asked calmly.
"And what do you need from these 2 retired pirates?"
Ars just smiled and replied quite calmly.
"Nothing, I just wanted to meet you 2 and introduce myself. I am Ars, a king from a small, very young kingdom, and I came here to bring these 2 to visit their friends in fishman island, and decided that since i was already here i would come and introduce myself."
Rayleigh was a bit curious, and asked.
"Then you need coating for your ship?"
Ars laughed and happily rejected.
"Nope, already booked a ride down to fishman island."
Shakky was confused, and asked.
"Booked?"
It was Gluppy who answered.
"He just threatened a few pirates, and they gave in."
Both Shakky and Rayleigh laughed. Ars then said goodbyes to them but before he left, he said.
"If you ever decide to go on a vacation in the north, blue pass by my kingdom."
He then pointed to his island on a map and left with a smile.
Rayleigh seeing him leave commented.
"Intersting young man."
Shakky with an interested smile, agreed with him.
"Indeed. Maybe one day we will make a small trip there to explore this new kingdom."
Ars quickly moved towards his ride down to fishman island. Once he arrived, all of the pirates were already awaiting them in the ship.
Once Ars and the 2 mermaids went in, the pirate crew started preparing for their descent, and shortly after they were starting their trip down to fishman island.
Everyone was amazed by the beautiful sights, with the exception of the 2 mermaids who often saw this view or similar ones.
Gradually the light started fading, and the temperature started to drop, and the pirates around started becoming nervous with the sightings of large fish and even some sea kings.
Suddenly a very large fish locked its sights on the ship, the pirate captain and his crew started panicking. Ars wanted to appreciate the rest of the trip calmly, so he warned the fish, while using his conqueror's haki.
"Get lost, you overgrown sashimi!"
The fish suddenly bolted, leaving every pirate shocked, and idolizing Ars, in their eyes the fish had just listened and obeyed.
Suddenly the pirates were very happy about bringing Ars along, even the ones who were previously frozen by him.
For a while the light had been slowly disappearing, and now it was finally completely dark. Gluppy, seeing that everyone was lost and had no idea how to reach their destination, started giving orders.
"Sail towards starboard, and hurry."
Most of the pirates weren't that satisfied with receiving orders from the mermaids, who they only saw as an accessory for Ars, but the captain realized that she intended to give orders to reach fishman island and was thankful, for both Ars and the mermaids..
While others did not recognize the place, she was feeling that she was back at home, and with Ars as her backing she realized that pirates of this level didn't even dare to talk back to her, so she was enjoying herself giving orders to the unhappy pirates.
The captain just said to his men.
"If you want to reach fishman island just listen to her."
A little bit of time later, the light started recovering and they could now spot fishman island in the distance.
The mermaids, overly excited from being home, jumped in the water, leaving Ars behind speechless. He sighed, took a deep breath and dived after them.
While he wasn't as fast as the mermaids or even the normal fishman, with his ability to breath under water, obtained from the blood samples previously and his strong body, he caught up with them, who were waiting for him inside fishman island with sorry faces.
They realized they shouldn't have left Ars behind in their excitement, Ars dismissed their worries with a hand gesture and said warmly.
"I know you're excited about meeting your friends, so don't worry. And you can start leading the way to their place."