Could it be... that their only option was to ask the Whitebeard Pirates for help?
But Neptune knew full well that getting involved with pirates was by no means a long-term solution for Fish-Man Island.
Seeing her husband looking as though he faced a formidable enemy, Queen Otohime gently patted Neptune's enormous finger and reassured him softly, "It's all right, Your Majesty. Lord Saint Dio is a good man. We've already reached an agreement."
Only then did Neptune's anxious heart slowly settle. He let out a long sigh of relief, gently set Queen Otohime back on the ground, then turned and bowed deeply to Saint Dio.
As his enormous, twelve-meter-tall body bent in a bow, it blocked the sunlight overhead and cast a shadow below. He apologized, "Please forgive my earlier offenses, Lord Saint Dio."
Saint Dio waved a hand and said casually, "It's fine."
The surrounding residents and Neptune Army soldiers exchanged glances at the sight, their eyes filled with surprise.
They had been locked in a fierce battle just moments ago, yet now His Majesty Neptune was apologizing to that human boy with such deference?
Still, since His Majesty Neptune had made the decision himself, he must have had his reasons.
As his subjects, all they needed to do was trust his judgment.
Seeing that the battle was over, Sandersonia and Marigold also reverted from their snake-human forms to their human appearances. They put away their naginatas and quietly took their places behind Saint Dio.
Afterward, with Neptune and Queen Otohime personally accompanying them, Saint Dio's party received a grand welcome into Ryugu Palace.
Located in the deepest part of Fish-Man Island, the magnificent palace was built from enormous coral and shells. Crystal-clear and shimmering with color, every part of it displayed the splendor and mystery of the undersea kingdom.
After entering the palace's main hall, Queen Otohime summoned her three sons-her eldest, Fukaboshi, her second son, Ryuboshi, and her youngest, Manboshi.
The three princes stood in a row and, at their mother's signal, respectfully bowed and greeted Saint Dio.
Saint Dio swept an indifferent gaze over them and gave a slight nod in acknowledgment.
Neptune then expressed his hope that Saint Dio would stay at Ryugu Palace for several more days, promising to entertain their distinguished guest with Fish-Man Island's highest honors.
Saint Dio did not refuse. He had already intended to spend a few more days exploring this wondrous undersea nation.
Next, Queen Otohime and Neptune returned to the inner hall for a private conversation.
Queen Otohime explained to her husband, in full detail, the conditions Saint Dio had proposed and the benefits he had promised to bring Fish-Man Island.
Meanwhile, Saint Dio took Stussy for a leisurely stroll through the palace corridors, admiring the unique scenery of the undersea palace.
As they walked through a palace gallery, Stussy finally could no longer contain her confusion. She asked quietly, "Master, I still don't understand. How did that Queen Otohime know why we came? I hadn't said anything."
Saint Dio kept walking, his gaze straight ahead, and explained calmly, "She was born with a special kind of Observation Haki that lets her read other people's thoughts. The words you speak are no different from the words she reads in your mind."
Stussy's steps faltered slightly before understanding dawned on her.
No wonder she had felt so frustrated back then. In the other woman's eyes, she had been completely transparent, every thought in her mind laid bare.
She could not help giving a wry laugh. "That really is... It looks like I should spend less time around her, lest she even dig up how many times I wet the bed as a child."
The corners of Saint Dio's mouth lifted slightly, but he said nothing.
Still, Stussy was not wrong. For someone like him, whose entire being was full of secrets, Queen Otohime's ability to read minds directly was indeed something he needed to guard against at all times.
Fortunately, he had already found a way to deal with it.
As long as he remained the same inside and out, with his thoughts matching his words exactly, her mind-reading ability could not take effect. In front of Queen Otohime, Saint Dio had exposed his ambitions without concealing anything.
Chapter 57: Hody Jones, Just Some Roadside Small Fry
After they had walked a little farther, Saint Dio suddenly asked, "Where are the others?"
Stussy immediately understood that he meant Hancock, Mumei, and the others. She replied, "Hancock and the others are putting in extra training. The battle with Neptune seems to have made them realize that their strength still isn't enough. They're training with everything they have right now."
Saint Dio nodded without saying anything more and continued forward.
Before long, crisp metallic clashes rang out from an open space ahead.
It was the ringing of weapons colliding, coming in rapid succession. They seemed to be training quite hard.
They passed through a coral archway, and the view suddenly opened up.
In a spacious clearing behind the palace, Sandersonia and Marigold were sparring intensely, putting their full strength into their naginatas.
Their movements were swift and fierce. Sparks flew where their blades met, and every collision carried enough force to split rock.
A ring of palace guards surrounded them, all watching with their necks drawn in, afraid that one careless moment might turn them into victims of those blades.
On the other side of the clearing, Hancock was teaching Mumei the fundamentals of Haki.
She stood behind Mumei with a stick in hand, explaining the key points of Haki.
Mumei's eyes were covered, and she studied earnestly, her small face filled with concentration.
It seemed that she was learning Observation Haki.
Just then, one of the watching guards caught sight of Saint Dio out of the corner of his eye and hurriedly elbowed the companion beside him.
The group immediately reacted, turning in unison and bowing to Saint Dio as they called, "Lord Saint Dio!"
Saint Dio gave a slight nod in acknowledgment.
It seemed Neptune had already briefed his subordinates, making sure everyone remembered this Celestial Dragon's face to prevent another conflict arising from a misunderstanding.
After all, if they offended him again, Neptune could not guarantee that this Celestial Dragon would forgive them as generously as he had last time.
Just then, Mumei seemed to sense something and stopped what she was doing.
With her free hand, she pushed aside the pink blindfold covering her eyes and looked past Hancock's shoulder, straight toward the group of watching guards nearby.
Her gaze swept through the crowd before settling on one fish-man guard, whom she stared at without blinking.
Thwack!
At that moment, Hancock's training stick landed squarely on Mumei's head with a crisp sound.
"Ow!" Mumei immediately crouched down, clutching her head. She looked up at Hancock with tearful, aggrieved eyes.
Hancock withdrew the training stick and folded her arms, looking down at her helplessly. "Why didn't you dodge? If you lose focus during training, aren't you just asking to get hit?"
Pouting, Mumei rubbed the sore spot on top of her head and protested, "I didn't mean to... I just sensed some hostility coming from over there."
As she spoke, she jutted her chin toward the guards.
"Hostility?" Hancock frowned, glanced toward the guards Mumei had indicated, then looked down at her again and said skeptically, "You can even sense hostility? Even basic applications of Observation Haki only let you sense an attack's direction and intent. Isn't that a little far-fetched?"
Hancock almost thought Mumei had made up an excuse to avoid getting hit.
At that point, Saint Dio walked over. Seeing Mumei crouching on the ground with her hands over her head, he casually asked, "What happened?"
Mumei looked up and repeated what she had just said. "I sensed hostility coming from over there. It was very strong."
Rather than doubting her as Hancock had, Saint Dio looked in the direction Mumei indicated and asked, "Who?"
Mumei stretched out her hand and openly pointed at a fish-man among the guards. "Him."
She made no attempt to conceal her gesture. The surrounding guards followed her finger, their gazes converging on the fish-man she had singled out.
Whispers immediately rose from the crowd:
"Isn't that Hody Jones?"
"Why is that lady suddenly pointing at him?"
"Could he have done something wrong...?"
Saint Dio's gaze fell on the fish-man.
He was a burly great white shark fish-man with thick, unruly black hair, a fierce face, and a faint sneer at the corner of his mouth. A hostile gleam flickered in his triangular eyes.
Although he was currently wearing a Neptune Army uniform and standing among the guards, Saint Dio recognized him at a glance-Hody Jones, the final boss of the original story's Fish-Man Island arc.
At this point, he was probably still hiding among Neptune's subordinates, secretly building his strength and waiting for his opportunity.
Hody Jones noticed that the white-haired human boy was looking at him. His heart tightened, and he instinctively gripped his trident.
Mumei quietly tugged Saint Dio's sleeve and whispered, "His hostility... just got stronger."
Saint Dio smiled faintly without saying anything more. He simply withdrew his gaze as though nothing had happened, turned, and called to Stussy, "Let's go."
Then he left Hancock and Mumei with another remark. "Keep training."
With that, he led Stussy away from the clearing at an unhurried pace along the gallery, leaving Hancock and Mumei to continue their Haki training.
Walking beside Saint Dio, Stussy glanced back at the little figure in the clearing who was still clutching and rubbing her head. She said quietly, "Master, what Mumei just mentioned..."
"Perhaps it's some special kind of Observation Haki," Saint Dio finished calmly.
After experiencing Queen Otohime's Observation Haki, which could read people's minds directly, he had gained a new understanding of the ability's diversity.
If someone could read thoughts, then it was not impossible for someone else to sense hostility.
As for Hody Jones, to be honest, Saint Dio had not remembered him at all at first.
As far as he was concerned, Hody was merely roadside small fry, not worth the effort of remembering.
An extreme fish-man supremacist who harbored a deep hatred of humans, he would one day plot to kill Queen Otohime, seize Fish-Man Island, and ultimately be defeated by Luffy. That was all.
Without what Mumei had just said, he probably would have overlooked the man's existence entirely. But now that he had been pointed out, Saint Dio could not simply ignore him.
At this stage, Queen Otohime was already on his side and formed an important part of his arrangements.
If Queen Otohime died at this point, it would not only affect his cooperation with Fish-Man Island but also disrupt his subsequent plans.
Whether Hody Jones lived or died, however, would not actually have much impact on the original plot.
The central conflict of the Fish-Man Island arc took place two years into the original timeline. By then, Saint Dio's forces should have grown powerful enough to disregard the original plot's course.
So it would be better to dispose of Hody Jones sooner rather than later.
"Stussy." Saint Dio stopped and turned around.
"Yes," Stussy immediately replied with a bow.
"Go take care of that fish-man named Hody Jones. Do it cleanly, and leave no traces."
"Understood." Stussy nodded and was about to leave when Saint Dio called her back.
"Right, after you finish that, look into another fish-man for me." Saint Dio frowned slightly and thought for a moment, realizing that he could not quite remember the name. "He should be an octopus fish-man who ate a Devil Fruit. I don't quite remember his name, but he shouldn't be hard for you to find. Report back to me as soon as you have any news."
"Yes, Master." Stussy committed the key points of her tasks firmly to memory. Then her form flickered, transforming into a swarm of bats that silently melted into the shadows beneath the palace dome and vanished.
Saint Dio continued down the gallery, soon putting the matter of Hody Jones out of his mind.
Small fry of that level did not merit much thought. Leaving Stussy to handle him was enough.
By comparison, the second task he had assigned was what truly deserved his attention.
The Mark-Mark Fruit?
Saint Dio pondered.
Although Fish-Man Island had an entire arc, fewer Devil Fruits appeared there than in some of the smaller arcs.
Still, Saint Dio intended to acquire this particular Devil Fruit. Tracking abilities like this were rare, after all.
Chapter 58: The Mark-Mark Fruit, Saint Dio's Aim
The Mark-Mark Fruit was a Paramecia Devil Fruit with a rather distinctive ability.
By touching a target directly with their palm, its user could place a permanent tracking mark on them.
It was worth noting, however, that this mark could only be placed on living beings.
Once the mark was set, any object the user subsequently threw would automatically track the marked target. No matter where the target fled, the projectile would pursue them as though it had eyes, ignoring terrain obstacles and distance limitations.
In theory, this tracking effect lasted indefinitely.
Unless the projectile successfully struck its target or was destroyed by an outside force, it would continue its relentless pursuit.
Of course, this fruit also had numerous limitations.
First, the user's palm had to touch the target's skin directly to place the mark. Even a layer of clothing would prevent it.
Second, the projectile's flying speed was constrained by the laws of physics; it did not reach its target instantaneously.
In other words, if the target was fast enough or had set up a sturdy barrier in advance, it was possible to evade or block the attack.
Furthermore, to maintain the mark on a particular target, the user had to ensure that the hand used to mark them did not touch any other living creature. Otherwise, the mark would transfer to the newly touched subject.
For that reason, users of the Mark-Mark Fruit usually wore gloves to avoid accidental contact.
When the marked target died, or when the user died or lost consciousness, the tracking ability would automatically deactivate.
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