166 The decent begins

His spread-eagled form was found amidst the groaning bodies of his crew, all in their own respective forms of exaggerated pain.

Fawkes could almost swear that he had pulled something, what with the tedious and downright stupid idea of hacking at a wave of water. Yet, here he was, having done exactly that and now groaning like an old man stretched too far past his capabilities.

Terrick sat at the side, nursing his paining sides with one hand as he used the other to bandage a surface cut that he had received.

As soon as the marine assault had concluded, the weather had begun to clear. The sleets of rain reduced to a petty and tame drizzle, after which even that ceased to give way for a sunny and pleasant morning that Fawkes had not seen coming.

The only ones on their feet, were the monstrous captain and the equally monstrous doctor. Sorren walked between the collapsed figures with a small flask of an unnamed concoction that he dubbed 'energy malt'.

Over the course of their previous trip into Sphinx, he had finally managed to recover from the temporary weakening he had suffered on Barts' island. At least enough for him to prioritize the health of the rest of the crew over his own recovery. (Not that he ever neglected one for the other)

As Fawkes stared at the cloudless sky, he could not help but grimace. He could smell the faint whiff of the algae that grew on the walls of the Red Line. They were close to it, the heights of human despotism within the known world.

The wind curled through the ship's half open sails, much more docilly then it had ever in the past few days.

"Gang, prepare for the dive! We'll be waiting up here till you guys gather your breath, then we're diving under the Red Line! From what I've heard we'll be going straight into fishman territory, so buckle up.

We'll simply be passing through, Marco did assure us that the royal family wouldn't make things too hard for us, what with Whitebeard's writ of passage and all. Best to be gone quick though, we don't know which school of these guys we end up offending if we stay here too long! I've heard it's almost as bad as Sabaody." The captain called out from his position at the wheel.

His voice easily traveling over the silent winds as he turned towards us.

With a slight moan at the effort Fawkes began to rise, his upper body caked with sweat as he began to get to work. He was almost completely sure that his face looked more zombie like then human, what with the listless expression and eyes that screamed with agony.

"HALF SAIL!" Angella called out from her position at the forefront. Her nimble fingers found the small crevices between the firmly tied rope as she switched into the tightly coiled figure.

"Now guys. I know most of you were paying attention when Marco was explaining how the resin worked. (here he looked pointedly at Sorren who had been innocently observing his nails in the corner)

That being the case, I still need to make it clear. When we are down there, oxygen is going to be relatively scarce. So no off the top movements, and no fighting. That includes over the top training too, we don't want to put the crew at risk so you can stay on point with your regime. Get it?" He barked.

Fawkes had noticed that after the incidents of Sphinx the captain had gotten stricter in matters that pertained to the crew. Where once he would let the crew mates figure things out on their own, now he took an active role in teaching them and keeping them in line. (though the latter rarely if ever came into the fore) Fawkes was still undecided on weather this was a good thing or not…

Within seconds the ship had been raised to full sail, with it cruising safely over the water currents. Then, began the decent.

Fawkes did not know how the other crews on the Grandline did it but on this ship, the captain had come up with a smart way to make the ship sink easily and efficiently. (Wow it felt weird to say that out loud)

From the sides of the ships where the cannons were, small weights were dropped, each weighing a sizable load. Then when the ship began to suffer some turbulence of sorts, the sail that was at full sail would be reduced a smidgen, reinforcing the decent by gathering the ship downwards.

So, it went, the ship sailing forward at first before slowly entering the calm sea that had until moments ago been baying to swallow them up. It was almost like they were giving it what it wanted.

Seeing the water begin to rise above the sides of the ship, Fawkes was again led to questioning the sanity of the entire enterprise. Sailors where always taught to fear the sea, maybe give it the respect one would give a wild beast but never to embrace it like they were now.

Then, the water rose further and Fawkes went from imagining such thought provoking things like the dichotomy of the sea to actively shuddering as thoughts of eldritch abominations such as the one in his father's stories began to swarm his mind.

As the water rose above his head and the last rays of clear light faded from his view, Fawkes realized, within the bowels of the sea, that all his strength, amounted to a little more then nothing.