Holding her pipe, she exuded a cold, aloof beauty.
This mermaid was Shyarly, the owner of the luxurious Mermaid Cafe, a blue shark mermaid and Arlong's younger half sister. She was also a fortune-teller.
Her predictions were said to be one hundred percent accurate, and the residents of Fish-Man Island respectfully called her Madame Shyarly.
"Hm?"
Just as Shyarly was about to smoke, she suddenly felt her heart flutter.
The sensation was both familiar and unfamiliar.
Familiar because she had felt it many times over the decades of her life.
Unfamiliar because it had been years since the last time.
"What could it be?"
Shyarly sat up, raised her pipe, and took a deep drag. She looked up at the crystal ball resting on a huge, scepter-like pedestal in the middle of the room.
Her eyes held both curiosity and reluctance.
When she had first gained this ability as a child, she had loved it. But as she grew older, most of the scenes she saw in her divinations were misfortunes, and she gradually grew tired of fortune-telling. In recent years, she had rarely even touched the crystal ball.
But remembering the future she had predicted the last time her heart fluttered, she put down her pipe, rose, and walked over to the crystal ball.
After a moment's hesitation, her resolve hardened.
She reached out with both hands, clasped the crystal ball on either side, and leaned forward, her pupils shrinking to pinpoints as she stared into it.
At that moment, time seemed to stop around her. All she could hear was her own heartbeat.
Gradually, images only she could see appeared in the crystal ball before her.
Countless roars.
"Hm! This is the Fish-Man District."
Then her eyes widened, and sweat began to bead on her face.
A figure