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"Vander Decken is here to propose?" Neptune was utterly dumbfounded.
He knew of this man—a descendant of the original Vander Decken, a Bullhead Shark Fish-man, and a Devil Fruit user cursed by the sea. More importantly, his family had been obsessed with marrying a Mermaid Princess for generations, though they had never once succeeded.
The news that Princess Shirahoshi was to be personally taken away by the Thunder Emperor was known only to those present and the recently departed Jinbe. Vander Decken was clearly in the dark.
'Does the man have a death wish, being this bold?' Neptune wondered.
Queen Otohime nervously glanced at Arthur's expression. Finding him more curious than angry, she let out a small sigh of relief and returned to softly humming a lullaby, soothing the sleeping Shirahoshi to keep the nightmares at bay.
"Lord Thunder Emperor, you see..."
"If someone is this determined to seek their own grave, of course I should meet them!" Arthur sat at the table drinking, a strange, inscrutable glint in his eyes. "Bring him up!"
Jinbe, Arlong, and Hody Jones had left because they saw no hope for revenge and refused to serve under their enemy. They had parted ways to pursue their own paths. But what kind of trump card did Vander Decken have to walk into Ryugu Palace with such confidence?
At Arthur's word and Neptune's nod, the Left Minister immediately hurried out to deliver the message.
..............
A moment later...
"Ahahahahahaha!"
A wild, bizarre laugh echoed from outside the palace, drawing everyone's attention. Vander Decken IX sauntered in on his four legs, his twin mustaches twitching as he entered with jubilant strides. He was hideously ugly, but since Fish-man males were often grotesque, no one in the room batted an eye at his appearance.
The moment Decken entered and saw the six-year-old Princess Shirahoshi—already several meters tall—his eyes bulged with greed. Shirahoshi was asleep from sheer exhaustion, her eyelids flickering as she struggled against a nightmare despite her mother's singing. Even as a child, her porcelain-doll features already hinted at a beauty that would one day rival the Pirate Empress herself.
"AHAHAHA!! PRINCESS SHIRAHOSHI!" Decken's eyes practically glowed. Ignoring everyone else in the room, he sprinted straight toward the sleeping girl.
"Hmph! To dare act so insolently before Lord Arthur is an unforgivable sin!" Hancock was instantly livid. She stepped into his path, her slender leg snapping out in a ferocious kick.
"You—!"
Lost in his fantasy of claiming the ultimate power of Poseidon, Decken was caught completely off guard. He instinctively raised his hands to block the sudden strike.
BAAAANG!!
The gloves on his hands were instantly petrified by an invisible force, then shattered into fine powder that drifted to the floor.
"Lowly reptile, how dare you eye what belongs to Lord Arthur!" Hancock hissed. "Unforgivable!"
..............
Vander Decken trembled with rage and turned to retaliate, but the moment he locked eyes with Arthur—who was watching with a mocking half-smile—and saw Shiryu standing nearby with the Seven-Star Sword, his eyes cold and murderous, he felt like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over his head. His fanatical heat vanished instantly.
His ancestral obsession had made him lose his mind for a moment, making him forget that a peerless terror was standing right there.
"Thunder Emperor!!"
"Vander Decken," Arthur said playfully. "What exactly gave you the courage to try and snatch something I've claimed? Was it your Target-Target Fruit?"
With Shiryu and Hancock watching him like predators and Neptune and Otohime glaring in fury, the immense pressure caused Decken to break into a cold sweat.
"Let me guess," Arthur continued. "When a pirate is faced with an irresistible temptation, they tend to forget how fragile their life truly is. They throw everything aside, risking death like moths to a flame. It's a common disease among the arrogant..."
Treasures, fame, dreams—there is always something that makes a pirate willing to throw their life away.
"You..." Decken's fervor had cooled into dread. "Fish-Man Island is already under the Thunder God Pirates' banner. It's just one Mermaid Princess... giving her to me wouldn't be a loss, right?"
He was still gambling. He prayed that the Thunder Emperor was unaware of the secret that Shirahoshi could command the Sea Kings.
"Heh... hahahahaha! You really are audaciously bold," Arthur laughed. "You pitiful thing. Do you really think I'd bother taking over Fish-Man Island for no reason, without knowing about the Ancient Weapon, Poseidon?"
"HOW DO YOU KNOW??" Decken gasped. A secret was only a secret if no one else knew it. He struggled internally, weighing his ancestral dream against his own life. Finally, self-preservation won. "Since you got there first, Thunder Emperor... I'll take my leave!"
He figured as long as he stayed alive, there was a chance. Plus, the mark he had already placed on Shirahoshi meant he could "propose" from a distance.
"Leaving so soon?" Arthur's face turned suddenly cold. "I don't allow anyone to touch what I have claimed. Did you think I didn't know how your fruit works? Shiryu..."
"Right," Shiryu grunted, understanding the order perfectly. He slowly unsheathed his blade and walked forward. The sheer aura of bloodlust and sharp sword-intent felt like it was cleaving Decken in two before the blade even moved.
..............
Neptune immediately scooped up Shirahoshi and retreated with Otohime. He was strong, but he knew he was outclassed here.
"WADATSUMI!!"
Cornered by the threat of death, Decken turned pale and screamed for his companion.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!
A thunderous explosion rocked Ryugu Palace. The building shook as if hit by a massive earthquake. The thick, reinforced walls were struck by a colossal force and collapsed inward with a roar. Through the jagged breach, an enormous silhouette blotted out the sky above the palace.
"There's actually another giant in this world comparable to Sanjuan Wolf?" Shiryu spat out his cigar, a rare look of genuine astonishment on his face.
Peering through the hole, the giant had a wild black beard, a bare torso covered in thick hair, and fins on his back. His hands were webbed, and his gaping mouth was massive with sparse teeth.
It was Wadatsumi, the "Giant Monk!"
His size was only slightly smaller than Wolf's, but having inhaled a massive amount of air to crush the palace walls, his body had expanded to a gargantuan scale.
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