(I know it's belated, but time zone differences do have an influence of when submissions are uploaded. There is a reason for why Jimbei is featured, but it's disclosed in  TheAnnonymousKat's upload of the submission itself. So check it out when you can.)

(The following contains some story spoilers for One Piece. If you are starting out and/or haven't reached a certain chapter/episode yet, turn away now and try to catch up. Thank you for reading the warning.)

April 2nd was the birthday of Jimbei. Knight of the Sea, and eventually the helmsman of the Straw Hat Pirates. And Kat and I had a surprise for him since he was underwater for the occasion.

You see? We have our own way of being able to stay underwater for long periods of time compared to if we were to normally diver underwater. I have a merman form, which means I'm able to swim and fight underwater as if I was fighting regularly on dry land. Kat's surprise is the Zora Mask he borrowed from Link, the Hero of Time. Said mask is magical and contains the spirit of a Zora champion. And when it's placed over the wearer's face, allows them to change into a Zora form of their own. Granting them the abilities of a Zora as well. (I'll admit I didn't know about the mask until Kat showed me, but does make me curious about what I'd look like as a Zora.)

Once we hit the water, we changed into our respective forms and dived underwater to look for whale shark Fish-Man himself. Luckily we knew what he looked like, so it eventually didn't take long before we found and surprised him! No doubt especially because of our forms, as it took longer for him to recognise Kat compared to me.

Once we explained not only how we were able to traverse underwater, how we obtained these forms and why we came to see him, his surprise soon turned to joy as he let out a laugh. Looks like he appreciated our gesture, as he soon brought the both of us in each arm close to him for a hug!

Makes me glad we were able to do something nice for him, even if it was a small gesture combined with the both of us hugging him back. Plus who knows? Being able to traverse and breath underwater brings up more possible things to do as well.

Happy birthday Jimbei! Glad the two of us were able to bring a huge smile on you face!

Ben Fuller (Merman form) & short story to  BenBandicoot

Kat (Zora form) & art by  TheAnnonymousKat

Jimbei to One Piece

Link (Mentioned) & the Zora race to the Legend of Zelda franchise