Sealing the Mark
"Shirahoshi, your father has come to see you." Neptune stopped a few steps away from the bed, his voice so soft it was as if he were afraid of shattering something.
The huddled figure stirred slightly.
The gauze curtain was carefully lifted slightly, revealing a face streaked with tears.
Her eyes were large, with the kind of pure, almost transparent pupils unique to deep-sea creatures. At this moment, they were looking at the two unfamiliar figures behind her father with a mixture of confusion and fear.
Quan gently released Natsu's hand and took a few steps forward.
She moved slowly and silently, approaching Shirahoshi with a mixture of wariness and curiosity, and looked at her eye to eye as she lay on the bed.
"Your name is Shirahoshi, right?" Izumi's voice was gentle and warm, as if she were talking to a frightened little animal. "My name is Uchiha Izumi. Those pirates who were bullying people outside have all been wiped out by Natsu. Those bad guys who threw weapons at us will be caught soon too. You don't have to be afraid anymore."
Shirahoshi listened blankly, her large eyes gradually welling up with tears.
Natsu stood by the door, her hands behind her back, and did not step forward.
He detected a very faint energy signature fluctuation on Shirahoshi —the residual power of the Mark-Mark Fruit. That tracking mark had been etched into her body for years, which explained why Vander Decken was able to repeatedly pinpoint her location from a distance.
He tilted his head and whispered to Neptune to confirm, Neptune sighed and said that they had consulted countless people but could not find the root of the problem.
Natsu didn't explain much, only telling Neptune and Shirahoshi that this wasn't an illness, but rather the power mark of the Mark-Mark Fruit, and that the Uchiha Clan's Sealing Jutsu could try to remove it.
Upon hearing this, Neptune's expression changed drastically, followed by an overwhelming surge of excitement that made his voice tremble slightly.
Shirahoshi looked timidly at her father, then at the boy standing at the door.
She didn't understand Sealing Jutsu, but she saw the light burning in her father's eyes.
She hesitated for a moment, then asked softly, "Is it really okay?"
Quan turned and glanced at Natsu, giving him a slight smile.
Natsu lowered her hands from behind her back, walked to Shirahoshi, and squatted down.
"Remove the mark first. That bastard who's been throwing weapons at you for years, I'll make sure he doesn't even have a chance to regret it." He said this in a rather calm tone, not particularly impassioned, but the undeniable weight of his words was more reassuring than any grand promise.
Shirahoshi stared blankly at the boy who was about the same age as her but had a commanding presence. Tears finally welled up in her eyes, but she nodded vigorously.
Natsu extended her right hand, a soft, crimson-gold Chakra aura emanating from her palm, gently covering her shoulder, and the Sealing Jutsu pattern slowly unfolded in the void.
Outside the Hard-Shell Tower, the deep sea remained silent, but a sliver of light finally pierced through the tower that had been sealed off for many years.
Natsu raised her right hand, her palm hovering three inches above Shirahoshi's shoulder.
A crimson-gold Chakra aura emanated from his fingertips, enveloping her entire body like a thin mist.
He closed his eyes, and the power of his Mangekyō Sharingan penetrated through flesh and bone, clearly detecting the Mark-Mark Fruit mark hidden within her body—
A dark red energy clung tightly to her life force like a parasite, wriggling slightly with her breath.
It was this mark that allowed Vander Decken IX to pinpoint her location over a period of several years.
"Found it." Natsu said calmly, as if she were commenting on the nice weather.
With his left hand, he formed a hand Hand Seals, his five fingers flying across the paper to create a complex sealing formation.
The formation was only the size of a palm, yet it was densely covered with intricate, hair-thin magical patterns, which slowly rotated at his fingertips.
He gently pressed the sealing array onto Shirahoshi's shoulder. The dark red mark suddenly burst forth the moment it touched the sealing array, attempting to put up a stubborn resistance, but it was firmly suppressed by the crimson-gold Chakra aura and could not move.
He then began to peel away layer by layer, slowly and deliberately—first severing the mark's connection with the outside world, then using Sealing Jutsu to completely remove it from the life force of the Shirahoshi, and finally kneading the dark red energy into a ball and sealing it into a blank Sealing Talismans he took out from his sleeve.
The whole process only took a few minutes.
Natsu withdrew her right hand, folded the talisman and casually stuffed it into her sleeve. She stood up and said in a normal tone that the mark on the Mark-Mark Fruit had been removed. From now on, Vander Decken IX would no longer be able to locate her, and there was no need to stay in this Hard-Shell Tower any longer.
Shirahoshi looked down at her hands, feeling the binding force that had plagued her for years completely disappear. Large tears rolled down her cheeks, splashing onto the bed and leaving a dark, damp stain.
Neptune rushed forward and embraced his daughter tightly, his massive body trembling slightly, as he repeatedly thanked Natsu.
Natsu nodded slightly, holding the Sealing Talismans in her sleeve between her fingers, sensing the faint, struggling dark red energy within it.
With this mark as a medium, the whereabouts of Vander Decken IX were no longer a secret to him.
He looked up at the unfathomable sea beyond the Hard-Shell Tower, and said calmly, "Next, it's time to wrap things up."
Quan walked to his side, said nothing, and simply gently took his wrist.
She recognized that expression—he was thinking about his next move, and she was ready.
Southeast of Fish-Man Island lies a Shipwreck Graveyard hidden on the edge of a deep-sea rift.
A massive, rusty shipwreck has been converted into a makeshift shelter, its shattered hull creaking and groaning under the relentless currents.
Vander Decken IX sat on his dilapidated "throne," polishing his massive axe, stained with dark red blood, with a piece of sharkskin.
He's in a good mood tonight.
The sword thrown at the Ryugu Palace was a carefully chosen appetizer. He enjoyed seeing Neptune panic, and he also wanted the little princess hiding in the Hard-Shell Tower to know that he had never left.
As long as the mark remains, she is his property.
Then that connection was severed.
Without any warning or indication.
Vander Decken's axe-sharpening motion suddenly froze, and the sharkskin slipped from his fingers, drifting into the murky seawater.
He opened his eyes wide and subconsciously activated the power of the Mark-Mark Fruit again to sense the mark.
There was no response.
I tried again, but still nothing.
He abruptly stood up from the throne, frantically activating his Devil Fruit power, attempting to recapture the aura he had imprinted on him for years.
There was nothing there.
The mark that had always been wrapped around Shirahoshi's body seemed to have been completely erased from its source by some force in an instant, leaving not even a trace.