Fish-Man Island

Walking through Fish-Man Island, Cifer marveled at the scenery and its residents. More importantly, the mermaids were universally gorgeous. Was that a racial advantage?

Though he had no intention of becoming a pirate, finding a beautiful mermaid companion to look after him did not seem bad either. Traveling freely alone would be far too boring.

"A mermaid café? I might as well meet that woman." Lost in thought, Cifer happened to stop before a storefront. Under the watchful eyes of the gathered merfolk, he pushed open the door and entered.

"Hello, sir. This is the Mermaid Café. What would you like to order?" A short-haired mermaid came up to greet him. Cifer recognized her at once as Camie, King Luffy's future friend.

"A coffee. Also, I'd like to see Madame Shyarly." Cifer casually found himself a seat and sat down, giving the order as though he owned the place.

"Huh?" It was Camie's first time seeing a human who had specifically come to the Mermaid Café to see Madame Shyarly. He looked a little strange, but he did not seem like a bad person.

Still, whether Madame Shyarly wanted to see him was not for her to decide. She could only go ask in the back.

Cifer picked up the coffee another mermaid waitress had brought him and watched Camie leave.

"A strange-looking human wants to see me?" Madame Shyarly removed her pipe from her mouth and exhaled a fragrant cloud of smoke.

Did he know about her ability and want her to divine his future? It was better not to know about the future. What a boring human.

"Camie, go tell him I haven't been around lately..."

"No need. I'm already here." Before Madame Shyarly could finish speaking, the over-three-meter-tall Cifer was standing behind Camie. Even Madame Shyarly had not seen how he got in.

"Ah!" Camie turned at his words. Seeing the cold-faced Cifer, who was twice her height, standing before her, she jumped in fright and hid behind Madame Shyarly.

"What a rude human. So, what business do you have with me?" Shyarly did not panic and instead asked Cifer his purpose.

"What a beautiful mermaid lady. Would you be interested in becoming my companion?" After thinking it over, Cifer extended his right hand as Whitebeard had done. "I'm not a pirate, merely a traveler journeying on a whim."

Madame Shyarly, forcing herself to remain calm, took a steady puff from her pipe and slowly exhaled. "A traveler? I'm afraid I have no intention of going out to sea."

So his first recruitment attempt had failed! When he watched Pirate King in his previous life, he had always felt that Luffy recruited crew members easily, and his very first one had even been an SSR-tier character. He had not expected his own first attempt to be ruthlessly rejected.

"What a pity. Still, I came here for another important matter. I heard Madame Shyarly possesses the ability to divine the future. Please divine what will become of the Whitebeard Pirates."

Cifer had not the slightest interest in his own future. What fun was there in life if he could see its end at a glance? The unknown was the best! Many people felt lost because they could not see the future, but only seeing the end would bring despair. The unknown was the finest medicine for living on with vitality and hope.

However, the Whitebeard Pirates were the first pirate crew he had encountered since crossing over, and they were also a warm-hearted crew. He still wanted to see whether his warning had made any difference.

"The Whitebeard Pirates? Are you a member of the Whitebeard Pirates?" Madame Shyarly could no longer remain composed. After all, Fish-Man Island was still flying the Whitebeard Pirates' flag.

"We're friends," Cifer answered simply.

Madame Shyarly stared at Cifer with deep, solemn eyes. After a moment, she took out the Divination Crystal and gazed quietly into it, trying to peer into the Whitebeard Pirates' future.

Suddenly, as if she had seen something, Madame Shyarly's brows knitted tightly. Clutching her head with both hands, she let out a pained groan. "How is this possible? That's the Whitebeard Pirates!"

"Madame Shyarly!" Camie hurriedly supported Madame Shyarly to keep her from collapsing to the floor.

Clearly, the result of this divination was unbelievable to Shyarly and would also be a crushing blow to Fish-Man Island.

"Seems it isn't a pleasant future. I think I already know the answer. Farewell, Madame Shyarly." Cifer moved to leave the Mermaid Café through the back door.

Before Madame Shyarly could reveal the result of her divination, Cifer already knew. Nothing had changed. His warning had had no effect whatsoever on the Whitebeard Pirates' future course.

That made sense. Even if Whitebeard himself became more cautious, Blackbeard only needed to act before Thatch told Whitebeard. What a troublesome situation. It seemed Thatch's life was in grave danger.

Cifer was someone who intended to wander everywhere, so naturally he could not stay with the Whitebeard Pirates forever as their babysitter. Everything depended on them now.

"Stop!"

Just as Cifer opened the back door and was about to take his first step outside, five voices rang out in unison. He looked closely. Weren't these Camie's friends, the quintuplet Hogback Sisters? Five adorable little mermaids, like tiny angels.

"Ichijo, Nijo, Sanjo, Yonjo, Yonjo II, why are you here?" Supporting Madame Shyarly, Camie looked at them in surprise.

The five little mermaids puffed out their cheeks and pointed at Cifer as they spoke in unison. "We all saw it just now! He drank coffee and didn't pay!"

The air fell silent in that instant. From their brief interaction, Madame Shyarly could sense the terrifying aura surrounding Cifer. She desperately wanted him gone as soon as possible, yet he had been stopped. She hurriedly tried to think of something to smooth things over.

Meanwhile, Cifer seemed frozen in place because he truly was frozen in place. Stricken by overwhelming embarrassment, his feet had already cracked the floor of Madame Shyarly's room.

How had he forgotten? He had crossed over here—where would he get One Piece world currency? For the past few days, he had eaten, drunk, and lived aboard the Whitebeard Pirates' ship, so he had never needed money. When watching the anime in his previous life, he rarely saw anyone pay for anything either. He had completely forgotten about it and had even imitated others by ordering coffee!

"Look, he even broke Madame Shyarly's floor!" Sanjo shouted, pointing at the cracked ground beneath Cifer's feet.

A bead of cold sweat slid down his forehead. At that moment, the Hogback Sisters looked like demons in Cifer's eyes, and he did not want to remain another second.

"I'll compensate you, Madame Shyarly, but not now." After forcing out those words through his embarrassment, Cifer quickly left the Mermaid Café. Then, with a Sound Step, he vanished from their sight.

"Could this be..." The Hogback Sisters stared at the vanished Cifer in silence for a moment, then swam over to Camie and grabbed her. "He skipped out on the bill, Camie!"

By then, Cifer had already teleported near Ryugu Palace. He had thought of a way to make money. He disdained stealing and robbing, and working was impossible—he would never work in this life. So he could only earn some extra money from Neptune and the others to support himself.

"Who are you? This is Ryugu Palace. Idle people and fish are not allowed to approach!" The guards of Ryugu Palace spotted Cifer and stepped forward to urge him away.

"Please inform King Neptune that my name is Ulquiorra Cifer. I'm Whitebeard's friend, and I've come to help him resolve Princess Shirahoshi's matter."

Upon hearing this, the mermaid guards immediately arranged for one of their colleagues to report to King Neptune, then apologized to Cifer and asked him to wait patiently.

What a polite race. If only there were no rotten apples among them. Cifer could not help thinking of Arlong's group and Hody's group.

They were nothing but experience fodder for King Luffy. As for Hody, since he liked enslaving human pirates, Cifer would let him be. Cifer already detested most pirates anyway, so King Luffy could deal with him two years later.

"Mr. Cifer! King Neptune requests your presence!" The mermaid guards were highly efficient. In the time it took Cifer to space out, they had already delivered the message.

"Thank you for your trouble."

Following several guards, Cifer began his visit to Ryugu Palace.