Evil Alliance, Fish-Man Turmoil
"What?! Princess Shirahoshi is missing!?"
A few minutes later, the entire Ryugu Palace erupted in shock and chaos. Meanwhile, the Straw Hat crew:
"I knew it..."
"It must be..."
"Tsk!"
Everyone clutched their foreheads in silence. This familiar scenario, this familiar style of 'incidents' appearing immediately upon arriving at each location—it was undoubtedly:
"What is Luffy now?"
In response to Nami's hushed question, Roman calmly patted her hand gently, indicating that he would take care of everything. Then he turned to look at the tall King Neptune:
"King Neptune, is there anything we can do to help?"
"This... my daughter is missing... How could this be? She hasn't left the house in ten years..."
The Straw Hat crew exchanged glances. It's all settled! This kind of problem, which hasn't had a problem in years, must be Luffy's doing.
"Hmm, why don't we help look for it too?"
"We can talk about the banquet after 'everything' is over."
After speaking, Roman turned and walked outside, with the rest of the Straw Hat crew following closely behind. Judging from Roman's demeanor, he clearly knew where Luffy was. —In reality, given Roman's reconnaissance abilities, it would be strange if he didn't know.
"I'll show you the way,"
As the eldest prince, Hoshigaki immediately followed, whether he was 'leading the way' or 'monitoring' was a matter of opinion.
"Okay, in this direction—"
Roman wasn't worried about arousing suspicion, since everyone in the Straw Hat crew except himself was completely unaware. They didn't have any malicious intentions, and besides:
It's about time that Hody Jones and Vander Decken IX teamed up.
The grand show is about to begin, so how can we not take the initiative to prepare a stage for the other party?
Next to Fish-Man Island, there is a huge ship.
This ship, named 'Noah', is truly enormous: it's half the size of Fish-Man Island!
Perhaps this description isn't vivid enough, but if the Straw Hat crew's 'Sunny Merry' is like a toy in front of the North Sea Kraken, then the North Sea Kraken is like a toy in front of 'Noah'.
After all, this is a giant ship planned to be used to relocate the entire Fish-Man Island, and the population of Fish-Man Island is in the millions!
Unfortunately, this ship has never been used since it was built eight hundred years ago.
All that remained was a piece of 'Joy Boy's' 'apology letter' for failing to keep his promise to the Mermaid Princess, lying coldly in the sea.
Noah is now merely a gathering place for Fish-Man. The enormous ship is called 'Fish-Man District' on Fish-Man Island, and unlike the peaceful mermaids, most Fish-Man are rather violent, rude, bloodthirsty, and belligerent! Meanwhile:
And her looks... are really disappointing.
Meanwhile, in Noah's cabin, the two greatest 'evil forces' of the sea are plotting to deal with Fish-Man Island.
"We benefit from each other's actions and share the same goal!"
Hody Jones: A tall (3.3 meters) Great White Fish-Man Race with long, curly black hair, a tuft of which remains on his left cheek, and sharp teeth. He wears a flat cap with a trident pattern, a wolfskin scarf around his neck, and has extensive tattoos on his left arm.
His muscles bulged; he was clearly a tough guy. —Although Roman dismissively called him a 'small fry,' this guy actually had some skill.
Fish-Man's natural physique, their skillful use of Fish-Man Karate, the stimulation of their potential and depletion of their life force by the Energy Steroids, and the advantages of their marine species—the fact that they could Luffy already demonstrates their extraordinary nature.
At the same time, this guy also has a bounty; 190 million Beli is more or less enough to make him a 'master'!
The other guy who shook hands with him was... even more bizarre.
Vander Decken IX, a striped tiger Fish-Man. A user of the 'Mark-Mark Fruit', he wears a small top hat, has spiky hair and a beard, wears multiple necklaces, and has four legs.
Because he is an ability user, he needs to apply a water-repellent coating to his body as a protective measure.
"Crush the Royal Army, which has no dignity,"
"Take the head of Great Knight Neptune,"
"Once it's done, Fish-Man Island is yours—"
"That little girl Shirahoshi, is yours—"
"Pleasure doing business with you!" X2
Two ambitious individuals with ulterior motives clasped hands! Under normal circumstances, with their abilities, they could indeed achieve their goals. However:
A white fish calmly watched this scene. Although the Vivre Card was impervious to seawater and even had a swimming coating, Roman could only control a handful with his current abilities. But that was enough.
Come on, come on.
The stage is ready. I've 'kindly' taken away the Dragon Palace's eldest prince and half of the army. It's time for you 'villains' to make your appearance.
Luffy doesn't want to be a hero, but sometimes "not wanting" isn't enough. When the time comes to be "Yellow Robe Ascension," can Luffy really just shirk his responsibilities?
Of course, it's not Roman who's pushing Luffy to become a 'hero' right now, but the 'honest guy' Jinbe!
Roman was merely going with the flow.
Why are you all wearing such long faces?
On the ribbonfish boat, Roman looked at the silent Straw Hat crew members and tried to comfort them.
"Don't panic. Luffy may be a bit silly sometimes, but his strength is undoubtedly very strong. If you encounter any difficulties, just punch through them."
"No, we're not worried about Luffy."
Zoro glanced at Hoshigaki, the eldest prince of the Ryugu Palace, who was pretending to be calm but was actually full of worry, and then looked at Roman in a low voice.
"Roman, are you plotting something again?"
"... And you guys?"
"Mmm," X7
?!
"Am I so easily controlled?"
Nami sighed as she watched Roman stroke his chin in deep thought.
"Roman, who do you think we are?"
"We're partners! You have a habit of touching your chin when you're thinking, you like to frown when you're scheming, and you sigh when you encounter a strong enemy... Do you think we can't see these habits?"
Ah, this...
"... You too?"
"Mmm," X7
Oh my god...
Okay, actually it's like this—
As he spoke, Roman glanced at Hoshigaki, the eldest prince of the Dragon Palace, who tactfully swam to the side.
"The North Sea Kraken we encountered earlier was actually controlled by someone behind the scenes to block the descending ocean current. And the mastermind behind this is a group of merman pirates who call themselves the 'New Fish-Man Pirates.' Their leader Hody Jones, is an extreme racist."
Roman began explaining to everyone that this information could be obtained with a little investigation and some twists and turns. But with Roman there, they obtained it directly, of course.
"In short, that guy is planning to attack Fish-Man Island and declare himself king. Then he'll lead the Fish-Man and mermaids to attack the humans above them~~"
Roman couldn't help but laugh as he said this.
Hody Jones actually had the audacity to infiltrate the Reverie and cause trouble! With their meager strength, they'd just be providing the Celestial Dragons with toys and the Navy with sashimi. If Holy Land Mary Geoise were so easy to conquer, how could the Celestial Dragons have dominated the world for eight hundred years?
Ignorance truly breeds fearlessness.
"This is terrible!" Nami bit her lip worriedly. "Keimi... and the bearded king of the Dragon Palace, they're both really nice people..."
"Don't panic," Roman waved his hand casually.
"Everything is under my... no, and also under the control of that 'honest man.' These scoundrels can't cause any trouble. Let's just treat this as a normal vacation."
The moment you open your mouth, you're talking about coups and attacks on humanity...
How can we travel with peace of mind under these circumstances?!
"Oh well, never mind."
Nami and the others were speechless. "Whenever something falls into Luffy's hands, it's all just playful banter; but when something falls into Roman's hands, it's all about scheming and killing."
"I can't even imagine what it would be like for the two of you to go out to sea alone..."
A fool on the sea, a demon king on the sea?
They're all guys I can't trust!
"What are you saying? You're making it sound like I'm the biggest bad guy. — It's clearly the world that's wrong. If this world weren't full of war and conspiracies, why would I be like this?"
After speaking, Roman pointed ahead:
"Look, we've arrived at our destination."
In the sea ahead, a vast underwater forest was bathed in light.
Sea Forest
Located northeast of the giant ship 'Noah' in Fish-Man District, the underwater forest is also known as the "Ship Graveyard" because many shipwrecks in the sea are transported here by the tides.
Brush--
A figure swam rapidly in that direction—it was Hoshigaki, the eldest prince of the Dragon Palace! Because:
Click!
?!
Looking at Sanji, who was completely petrified beside him, Roman stroked his chin.
"I see. It's because Sanji met the Empress and was petrified by her 'Mero Mero no Mi.' So, if he encounters the same stimulus again, he'll easily be petrified again..."
"Isn't this the time for a serious analysis of the situation?!"
Nami pointed to a giant mermaid in the 'Sea Forest': she had flowing, long, pink curly hair, adorned with a taiyaki-shaped hair accessory. She wore seashell-shaped earrings, had bright blue eyes, a beautiful face, a voluptuous figure, and a fishtail of varying shades of pink. She was hailed as a peerless beauty on par with the Empress!
As for whether it's an exaggeration or not, just look at Sanji there, completely petrified.
After being captured by Hoshigaki, the eldest prince of the Ryugu Palace, the giant mermaid, looking utterly panicked, was accompanied by a grinning Luffy and a helpless Jinbe.
"I'm sorry, Prince Hoshigaki."
Jinbe nodded to the eldest prince of the Ryugu Palace, "This Luffy brother means no harm; he just wants to bring Shirahoshi here..."
"I see,"
Before them stood a small tomb, and inside was:
"It is my dereliction of duty as an older brother to prevent my younger sister from even mourning our mother."
"I've already heard from Shirahoshi that Luffy protected my sister from Vander Decken IX the whole way. I'm extremely grateful!"
"That 'Vander Ninth' guy is awful! If I ever find him, I'll beat him to a pulp!"
Luffy looked indignant.
"It's all his fault that 'Little Oars Jr.' hasn't been able to go out and play for ten years~~"
"Mr. Luffy, my name is 'Shirahoshi'..."
Anyway, let's go back first—
"Puff puff puff~~ puff puff puff~~"
?
The serious-looking eldest prince Hoshigaki, took out a Den Den Den Mushi).
"Hey, this is Hoshigaki— "
"Your Highness, something terrible has happened!!"
?!
"A large group of human pirates has suddenly flown into the Dragon Palace! They've opened a passage, and now a massive horde of armed mermaids is attacking the Dragon Palace! Leading them is 'Hody Jones'! Please—"
Click,
"Hey! Hey! What's wrong, Father? What's going on—damn it!"
He had barely left when news arrived that his hometown had been robbed. Prince Hoshigaki abruptly turned around, ready to rush back! But before that:
"Jinbe- sensei,"
As the master of Mermaid Karate, Jinbe is the teacher of most mermaids.
"Please protect Shirahoshi for me. — Let's go!"
After saying that, he immediately led the mermaid warriors who had followed him and flew back! Just as the giant Mermaid Princess 'Shirahoshi' was confused and panicked and about to cry, Luffy interrupted her tears.
"Little Oars Jr., take me back to the Dragon Palace!"
"Uncle with the Hairy Beard is going to treat us, I want to go help him!"
"Okay—yes—"
"Wait a minute!"
Just then, Jinbe stood between the two of them.
"You can't go, Luffy!"