"Ah ah ah! Prince Shark Star!"
"The exotic prince is always so charming! Your Highness Shark Star! Look at me!!"
In the neon-lit hall, from middle-aged women to young girls, they all crazily shouted in obsession at Shark Star who appeared in the center of the stage. Even if he just walked around the stage, there would be people sending a large amount of gifts.
Wealthy ladies pretended to grasp something with their hands, like clutching a wire ball, using their eyes to furiously scan Shark Star's fishtail, wanting to scrape off all his scales.
Penniless young girls, their eyes sparkling, obsessively stared at Shark Star's extraordinarily handsome face, exchanging their savings for alcohol gifts that are cheap outside but extremely expensive here.
This place, situated on O'hara Entertainment Street, is the Pampered Slave Whitehorse Club, a top-notch male model club, especially after the appearance of Prince of Merfolk, elevating the place into a holy land in the hearts of women.
Every night, a large number of women come to admire the bravery and beauty of Prince Shark Star, but due to financial reasons, they can't afford Shark Star's company, although the other male models at the club are of quite high quality.
As for Prince Shark Star, each night he only accompanies one guest, whoever bids the highest!
In a way, this is a disguised form of 'slave trade,' but Shark Star doesn't feel that way, instead, he believes he is working, exchanging labor for his value.
After swimming around the stage, Shark Star returned to the backstage amid cheers, but before he entered his room, Yoshiro, dressed like a noble from Wano Country, was already waiting there.
"Your clansmen are looking for you, unfortunately, it's a Fishman, not a Mermaid... otherwise they could work here," Yoshiro said with regret.
He had thought about recruiting more Mermaids to work here, opening another 'Prince of Merfolk' branch to attract more popularity.
But except for Shark Star, other Merfolk seem unwilling to work here; they prefer to stay in the seawater, obeying the Governor's orders.
Regarding the Governor, he absolutely couldn't say anything against him, fortunately, Shark Star hadn't thought of leaving, and Yoshiro kept improving Shark Star's treatment, hoping to keep him tied to this club.
"Clansmen?"
Shark Star slightly furrowed his brows, but didn't wait to ponder, as he entered, he saw a Fishman bowing in salute.
Shark Fishman.
"Your Highness..."
The Fishman was about to speak, but Shark Star stopped him first, then said to Yoshiro next to him: "Lord Yoshiro, could you please excuse us?"
"Take your time to chat."
Yoshiro retreated with a smile, closing the door without eavesdropping, standing at the exit while lighting a cigarette.
Yet there was some worry between his brows.
Clansmen like this had come to seek Shark Star many times recently, every time they appeared, Shark Star's expression would turn gloomy, which made Yoshiro very concerned.
Besides worrying he might leave and affect business, through their interactions during this period, they had become friends; both pursued dreams and livelihoods from far-off lands, if Shark Star faced difficulty, he wanted to help.
Being King of Cowherd is his dream, but it doesn't mean he's not a Samurai.
"Your Highness, another clansman was captured."
The Shark Fishman, seeing the room door closed, directly said: "Though we've rescued them, we can no longer stay on that island, the humans and us have created a rift, we must leave."
Shark Star sighed, "The Governor is managing it, at least they have no issues with us; suddenly coming ashore makes humans uncomfortable, and us too, everyone needs patience, with time, we can surely achieve harmony with humans."
The fishman capture incidents weren't rare.
Some Fishmen rely on their strength to bully ordinary people and face legal consequences.
And some humans, greedy, wanting to capture Fishmen for money, or simply enslave them.
No matter the aspect, the Governor is unbiased, punishing whoever is at fault.
Yet the rift caused cannot be erased by punishment.
Shark Star has spent time in human society, increasingly realizing past radical ideas won't work; it's rare for someone influential and willing to accept them, so petty issues, it's better to bear them.
Maybe decades later, Fishman Island will fully integrate into O'hara, allowing locals to accept their existence, becoming a custom, so they're not fearing being expelled due to Sage's eventual death, but truly becoming part of O'hara.
Thus, some sacrifices are destined; he cannot abandon living in O'hara because of clansman's plight, this should present their best chance to establish themselves above sea.
"Your Highness, I don't mean not to endure, we know your intentions, you've lowered yourself to come here, but, but..."
The Shark Fishman bit his lip, showing a face of grievance.
Shark Star feels good within the club, but those Fishmen who ventured out early know what the club is; their Eldest Prince, future kingdom heir, actually being watched like a pet and insulted with money.
This already stirred resentment among them, regardless of how King Neptune explains, or how Prince Shark Star believes he's rightly working, they still view it as humiliation.
Moreover, incidents lately have been too frequent.
Why differentiate?
Why can other people do business with the local humans, while they are not only feared but also enslaved?
"This time it's really too much!"
The shark fishman shouted, "Water is just a bit hot-tempered, he didn't intend to do that, why are we fishmen being singled out!"
The fishman called Water was recently influenced by the initial thousand fishmen's advocacy, coming up from Fishman Island to the surface, and is one of the fishmen wanting to live together with humans.
Hot-tempered, not to say he hates humans, but he definitely has no good feelings towards them.
The lower districts of Fishman Island are all like this, due to early propaganda and often hearing about their people being taken away, they definitely have no good feelings toward humans.
Sage's appearance only mitigates this attitude, but can't completely eliminate it.
This led some fishmen, like Water, to come ashore with a defensive mindset.
The kind of people like this must receive treatment exceeding that of regular people to feel warmth and gradually lower their guard, then they can understand, accept, and finally integrate into human society.
But the key is, Sage doesn't care at all, so Lily's orders are impartial, plus the people under the natural disaster's command are somewhat different, since they've just dealt with the local rulers, they're nominally only loyal to Sage, hence they naturally have people who can't suppress their instincts when meeting fishmen.
Fishmen dislike humans, but humans also dislike fishmen.
Want to buy something?
No sale.
Want to eat?
No service.
Fishmen are savages of the sea, they can go eat fish or whatever, human food is only for humans.
Some hot-tempered fishmen with a defensive attitude are ignited by this attitude, Water is a typical example, and as a fishman, his power naturally exceeds that of ordinary humans.
Then...
Then he was executed.
After paying the price of a village's destruction and several deaths.
This incident led to a serious rift between that island and the fishmen, with everyone believing they were right.
Humans think fishmen are disgusting, fishmen think humans are disgusting, this matter has no end and is hard to resolve.
Those fishmen summoned by Sage's side, after learning about this, also have no solution.
Finally, a fellow struck upon an idea, imitating the Fur Race, simply becoming household servants for the governor, this way they have an identity, and won't be discriminated against.
Of course, this also arouses strong opposition from some fishmen.
They came to the surface to enjoy life, not to serve anyone, even the lower districts of Fishman Island don't obey Neptune, why would they obey a human?
Now this shark fishman is a representative, although he belongs to the moderate faction and still recognizes the royal family, so he came to consult with Fukaboshi.
"Your Highness, many fishmen are waiting for you to make a decision," the shark fishman said, "hoping you..."
"Waiting for me to make what decision?"
Before he finished speaking, Fukaboshi interrupted, "Waiting for me to call upon all fishmen to defy Sage's orders and attack O'hara Royal Palace? Or waiting for me to decide to become Sage's household servant so you have a pretext to organize personnel and attack O'hara Royal Palace yourselves?"
Fukaboshi sighed deeply, "You've come to me time and again, every time complaining. Why can't you understand, O'hara is not ours, it belongs to Sage. We are merely allowed to enter O'hara, he needs our strength, but it doesn't mean we are the masters of O'hara."
"O'hara has only one master, and that is Sage."
The shark fishman looked at him, "I really don't want to see my kind become corpses, your ideas are useless."
He patted the shoulder of the fishman, "Finding a place that accepts us is not easy, don't act rashly. If it really comes to that point, then I can only clear you out in advance."
To die by one's own kind's hands is at least more bearable; if Sage orders a purge, their situation would be even harder to integrate.
Knock knock knock...
Just as he finished speaking, outside there was first a knock on the door, before the knocking grew louder, then suddenly the door was pushed open. Yoshiro rushed in, looking frantic and excited, holding a Radio Snail in his hand.
"G-g-governor...it's the governor! The governor is on the line, Shark Star, the governor wants to see you!"
"Understood."
Fukaboshi nodded heavily, then let out a long breath, "It seems the time has come where a decision must be made, this is also caused by you. Originally, I didn't need to choose. I don't want to become a household servant, but now...there's no choice."