At that moment, two fish-men in ministerial robes stepped forward. They were the Catfish Minister of the Left and the Seahorse Minister of the Right. Both of them stopped King Neptune, their eyes flashing with anger.
The Minister of the Right shouted loudly, "Your Majesty, you ran out on your own again! Don't you realize how unstable things are outside? If anything were to happen to you, what would become of Fish-Man Island?".
The Minister of the Left immediately backed him up. "Your Majesty, you really are so careless! Don't you know that your own safety is the most important thing? This is not the first time! Please try to think more about Fish-Man Island!".
Neptune did not dare to argue and simply bowed his head, accepting the scolding.
The Straw Hat Crew found the sight strange, though they knew it wasn't unheard of for a king to be reprimanded.
Luffy, already driven by hunger, let out a loud stomach growl and immediately yelled, "Hey, Uncle! Has the banquet started? I'm starving to death! I want to eat meat!".
Zoro joined the complaint. "Is there any good sake? Bring us a bunch!".
Sanji and Brook cheered on their own. "Let the maids serve us sake! I bet they have lots of beautiful maids!".
The Straw Hats' loud demands finally made the Ministers of the Left and Right stop scolding King Neptune. The crew's behavior was actually very rude, but the two Ministers knew that the Straw Hats were a Five Emperors crew. They dared not get angry. Moreover, they understood the King's purpose in personally welcoming the Straw Hats, so they knew they had to cooperate with him.
The Minister of the Left immediately raised his voice. "The banquet is prepared! Please, come to the table!".
The Minister of the Right also announced loudly, "The maids are ready to serve!".
Neptune personally escorted Luffy and the others to the dining hall. As a line of beautiful mermaid maids entered with platters of enormous amounts of food, Luffy began to drool uncontrollably. Without waiting for the maids to even set down the meat, Luffy stretched out his Armament Haki-enhanced hand to grab a large chunk of meat and quickly stuffed it into his mouth. He looked almost like a starved ghost reincarnated.
The banquet quickly became lively. King Neptune personally served sake, and the Ministers of the Left and Right entertained them warmly. Jinbe also sat with the Straw Hats, laughing and chatting with them.
Everyone soon found a common topic: the Whitebeard Pirates. The entire crew had a good impression of the Whitebeard Pirates. Because of their relationship with Ace, they had even become friends with them back in Water Seven. Although they were still rivals for the title of Pirate King, that didn't stop the two crews from being friendly.
When Neptune spoke of his history with Whitebeard, he became emotional. Carl, Zoro, Law, Robin, and the others began to realize the King's true meaning. Because Whitebeard was old, he could pass away at any moment, and Neptune was deeply worried about the safety of Fish-Man Island.
He urgently needed to find a new patron. Without Whitebeard, the Whitebeard Pirates would likely not be able to maintain a world-class rank and would no longer be able to protect Fish-Man Island. However, Neptune did not want to find just any protector, as he didn't want to betray the memory of Whitebeard. Switching protectors immediately after Whitebeard's death would feel like a betrayal. Therefore, the Straw Hats were the ideal choice for Neptune.
Having figured out Neptune's thoughts, Carl and the others kept silent. Ultimately, it was up to Luffy to decide whether or not to place his flag over Fish-Man Island, not the crew.
However, Carl knew the importance of forging a strong friendship with Fish-Man Island. The island housed Poseidon , and if they ever had to truly fight the World Government, Poseidon would be absolutely indispensable. If possible, Carl planned to persuade Luffy to fly the Straw Hat flag over Fish-Man Island in the future, establishing a common front.
Luffy, unfortunately, was focused solely on eating and cared about nothing else. Zoro, Law, and the others were also unaware of Poseidon's existence. Carl had no choice but to keep the concern to himself.
"By the way, King Neptune, you must have children," Carl said, pretending to ask a casual question. "Why don't we see the Princes and Princesses?".
"Ah, our three Princes—Fukaboshi, Ryuboshi, and Manboshi—are currently out on patrol," the Minister of the Left quickly explained. "Fish-Man Island hasn't been very stable recently, and we must ensure the safety of our citizens!".
"And the Princesses? As your guests, we should greet the hostess of the Ryugu Palace," Carl pressed.
The Minister of the Left fell silent, and the Minister of the Right exchanged a look of dismay with him. Even Jinbe could only look at Neptune without saying much.
Neptune sighed. "I'm sorry. My wife, Queen Otohime, passed away eight years ago. As for my daughter, Princess Shirahoshi, she is currently confined to the Hard-Shell Tower and dare not come out, so she cannot meet with guests.".
Dare not come out? The Straw Hat Crew grew curious.
Sanji immediately adopted a gentlemanly posture and asked, "Your Majesty, is your daughter a mermaid princess? Why can't she come out? Is she perhaps shy or introverted? There's no need to worry about that. As a true gentleman, I would never frighten the mermaid princess; I would even offer to escort her!".
He sounded serious, but everyone saw through his true intentions: he just wanted to get close to the mermaid princess.
Neptune sighed again and began to explain the difficult situation. He explained that Princess Shirahoshi was harassed from a very young age by a man named Vander Decken IX. Because Vander Decken IX ate the Target-Target Fruit (Mato Mato no Mi), he constantly used its power to send things to Shirahoshi. At first, they were just letters, but later they became dangerous weapons. To protect Princess Shirahoshi, many people were injured. The kind Princess Shirahoshi chose to imprison herself in the Hard-Shell Tower so that no one else would get hurt. Unfortunately, this meant she had to hide alone in the tower, unable to gather with her family or walk freely around Fish-Man Island.
Upon hearing this, Sanji became furious. "Who is this bastard Vander Decken IX? I'm going to kill him!".
Brook was also outraged. "How dare he treat Princess Shirahoshi like this! Such a scoundrel deserves to die! Your Majesty, please tell us where that man is, and we will help you defeat him!".
Nami and Tashigi also felt pity for Princess Shirahoshi and urged Neptune to let them help defeat Vander Decken IX.
Neptune shook his head helplessly. "It would be wonderful if we knew where he was. That man hides himself well; we haven't been able to find him after searching for a long time. Furthermore, because of his special Devil Fruit ability, he can throw weapons at Shirahoshi without even showing his face. There's nothing we can do!".
The Target-Target Fruit allows the user to designate a person they have touched as a target, and any object thrown will follow them until they hit that target. Carl had to admit that this was a truly effective Devil Fruit power. It was just a shame, in Carl's opinion, that such a good ability was wasted on Vander Decken IX.
"Why don't you kill Vander Decken IX and let Dragon and the others get the fruit?" Carl thought to himself. "It would be a great help to the Revolutionary Army.". If used correctly, the fruit could have miraculous effects. For example, if the Revolutionary Army needed to transport goods, they could set up human targets at the destination and throw the supplies at them. This would save significant manpower, resources, and time.
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