Banquet

Natsu glanced at her, then at Neptune, whose face was indeed filled with gratitude but had nowhere to vent it. She raised an eyebrow slightly, then turned back to Neptune, her tone still calm. "I've seen the tax returns for the Fish-Man Island trade route this year."

The port's throughput has tripled compared to last year. You've managed things well over the past six months. This stability is something you've earned yourself; don't take all the blame from me."

Neptune paused for a moment, then a barely concealed excitement of being recognized suddenly surfaced on his honest, large face.

He quickly raised his glass again, his voice trembling slightly, to express his gratitude on behalf of all his subjects for their recognition.

Quan looked at the mermaid king's slightly red eyes, then glanced at Natsu beside him who was still drinking tea with a blank expression, and chuckled softly, muttering to himself, "He's clearly praising someone, but he insists on making it sound like he's issuing an official document."

Natsu glanced at her sideways, gently pushed away the chopsticks that she was about to reach for the dessert, and said that it was too cold and she should eat it later.

Quan puffed out his cheeks, but still obediently put his chopsticks back.

In the corner, the three princes exchanged glances and shoved each other for a while. Finally, the youngest one mustered up the courage to hold a beautifully packaged box and walk up to Natsu. He said it was deep-sea pearl powder left by his mother Queen Otohime, and he was giving it to Izumi to thank her for protecting Fish-Man Island.

Quan took the box, bent down to look the little prince in the eye, thanked him gently, and told him that his mother must love him very much.

The little guy blushed and ran back behind his brothers, peeking out with only half an eye showing.

Quan smiled and tucked the box into his sleeve. Turning his head, he saw Natsu looking at him with a faint smile in her eyes. She asked him what he was looking at.

He didn't answer, but instead put another piece of fluorescent eel into her bowl and said, "Eat more."

The atmosphere in the banquet hall was at its peak. The mermaid dancer's tail created the final ripples in the central pool, and the musicians, having finished playing a melodious ancient deep-sea tune, were preparing to change to the next piece.

Neptune, holding a wine glass with a slightly tipsy and satisfied expression, was discussing the escort arrangements for tomorrow's merchant ships with the eldest prince in a low voice.

Natsu put down her chopsticks.

His movements were light; the chopsticks made only a very slight sound as they rested on the coral chopstick rest. But Izumi, sitting beside him, stopped what he was doing almost simultaneously.

She was all too familiar with this subtle signal— Natsu only ever stopped eating abruptly when she sensed something was wrong.

His Observation Haki perception range far exceeds that of ordinary people. This momentary pause means that his consciousness has left the banquet hall and is spreading towards some inconspicuous corner of Fish-Man Island.

After a brief silence, Natsu picked up a napkin, slowly wiped her mouth, then placed the napkin on the table. She looked up, her gaze passing over the exquisite dishes and sparkling crystal glasses on the long table, and landing on Neptune's face at the head of the table.

His tone remained unhurried, as if he were commenting on the pleasant weather. "To the southeast, near the warehouse area of Port No. 2, there are several disturbances. They're probably pirates, capturing Fish-Man."

Neptune's glass suddenly tilted, and the azure liquid nearly spilled onto the table.

He stood up abruptly, his face, which had just been full of gratitude and satisfaction, instantly drained of all color.

The No. 2 Port Warehouse Area is one of the settlements of ordinary people on Fish-Man Island. This time of year is the peak period when fishermen bring their nets back to port and fishmongers gather to trade.

Almost instinctively, he shouted towards the outside of the palace, ordering his personal guards to depart immediately.

The three princes stood up at the same time, and the eldest, Fukaboshi, reached out to take the trident leaning against the pillar.

Natsu raised her hand and casually pressed it down, signaling them to calm down.

"No need to make a fuss. You all stay here, I'm going to do something." He said this in the same tone as when he told Izumi to eat less sweets, as if he were just going next door to pick up something, rather than dealing with a group of pirates who were committing atrocities.

Neptune opened his mouth as if to say something, but was stopped by Natsu's calm gaze.

Quan gently squeezed Natsu's wrist, his eyes showing no worry, and simply whispered, "Go quickly and come back quickly."

She knew better than anyone that there were very few people on this ocean who could harm him, and those pirates who ran rampant on Fish-Man Island were nothing more than ants in his eyes.

Natsu nodded slightly to her, then turned and walked out of the banquet hall.

The Night Owl Guard tried to follow, but he froze in place with a single glance from them.

"Stay and continue eating." The tone left no room for argument, and the guard could only stand back in his place, watching his master's figure disappear at the end of the Ryugu Palace corridor.

Neptune stood there, watching the young figure disappear into the depths of the corridor, then glanced down at the fluorescent eel on the table that Natsu had praised, his heart filled with mixed emotions.

This sir could have simply stayed here and continued enjoying the banquet, letting his subordinates or the guards of the Ryugu Palace handle the matter, but instead he insisted on making the trip himself.

He probably just found it convenient, but in Neptune's view, this "convenience" contained precisely what Queen Otohime had longed for in her lifetime—

It wasn't pity, nor charity, but rather treating the mermaids and Fish-Man as beings worthy of protection, just like all the commoners under his rule.

In the No. 2 port warehouse area, shrill laughter and terrified screams mingled together, turning this civilian settlement, which should have returned to tranquility at dusk, into a scene of purgatory.

Dozens of pirates were scattered in various corners of the warehouse area. Some were kicking open the wooden crates where fishermen stored their goods and searching for valuables. Others were waving scimitars and torches to drive away the burly Fish-Man who tried to resist. Still others were hunting down the mermaids and Fish-Man who had not managed to escape in groups of three or five.

Their movements were brutal yet practiced—they were repeat offenders, slave hunters who specialized in plundering and pillaging along deep-sea shipping routes.

A middle-aged Fish-Man was cornered in a dead end of a warehouse by three pirates.

He parried the scimitar with his bare hands, but was struck hard on the back of the head by the hilt of another blade, causing him to stagger and fall to his knees.

The pirates laughed and used a specially made slave-catching rope to lasso his neck and wrists. The rope was inlaid with fine Seastone fragments, and the Fish-Man's strength was drained the moment it touched the Seastone.

He struggled to lift his head and yelled at his wife, who was holding their child in the corner, to run.

His wife—a young mermaid woman, whose scales on her tail still bore the dullness of childbirth—was desperately swimming toward the alleyway, clutching her infant.

She swam fast, but the footsteps behind her were even faster. A hand reached out from the darkness, grabbed her hair, and yanked her to the ground.

The baby slipped from her arms and landed on the stone ground a few meters away, letting out a faint cry.