Summary:
The chapter begins with a return to Mermaid Cove a few hours before the current story. Ihilly pries the metal grips from Caribou’s barrel with a crowbar, wondering what’s inside. They think the casks are sealed so tightly because they contain expensive alcohol. He gets some delay, enough for Caribou to break free. When Caribou breaks out, he thanks the mermaids. The frightened mermaids scream and Caribou tells them not to go anywhere. Ihilly yells for everyone to go into the water, but Caribou says it’s too late and transforms his diaphragm into his Logia, thanking Ihilly for freeing him once more. One mermaid screams that her body is sinking, while another realizes that it is a swamp and asks why there is a swamp in the middle of the rocks. Caribou says they are in a bottomless swamp from which there is no escape. He tells them he is a “swamp man” who ate Numa Numa no Mi. He then tells them that fighting will make them sink further and that they shouldn’t scream or worry because it won’t kill them. Ihilly tries to call for help, but Caribou covers her mouth with one hand in swamp form and calls her naughty for not doing as she was told. Another mermaid calls out to Ihilly, but Caribou does the same to her, telling her she needs to “get some sleep” for a while. The last things seen above the swamp are the sinking hands of one of the mermaids. Caribou then reverts back to his human form, talking about how his body is infinite and forgetting how much mermaids cost. He remembers that they would sell for around 70,000,000 Beli at the Human Auctioning House, and is excited when he realizes how much he could get with three of them. Then he realizes that he owes it all to the Straw Hat Pirates. Their illegal entry made it possible for him not to be subjected to any immigration control. Now he can hunt as many mermaids as he wants, he calls it “treasure island” and then laughs happily.
Back in the present, in Coral Hill, many people gathered in front of the Mermaid Cafe. The Straw Hat Pirates are believed to be behind the kidnappings in Mermaid Cove. Hiramera tells the crowd that she never specifically stated that they were the culprits and that they were nice people and friends of Camie. A voice in the crowd suggests that they have been threatened. The crew’s wanted posters are spread, and the Ammunition Knight says that the only truth they know is that the only people in the bay besides the mermaids were the Ammunition Knights, defeated by the New Fish-Man Pirates and the Straw Hats. Another knight adds that people always have a reason to kidnap mermaids and mentions their high value on the slave market. The man says they can’t suspect the Straw Hats solely like this. Another knight asks him if he has any idea how many pirates look innocent enough to get close to the mermaids and then kidnap them. Meanwhile, Fukaboshi asks Madam Shyarly if she really had a vision of Luffy destroying Fish-Man Island. A mermaid brings her a cup of water. When she calms down, she tells Fukaboshi that her vision was true. Fukaboshi tells Shyarly that the accuracy of her predictions is evident even to those living in Ryugu Palace. This complicates their plans to get in touch with the Straw Hats, whom they owe for saving their sister’s pet, but due to the prediction, the pirates cannot be left free and must “deal” with the pirates now.
In Gyoverly Hills, the residents still look up to the sky in awe as the Straw Hats ascend with King Neptune to the Ryugu Palace. The Straw Hats, Camie, and Pappag ride the Megalo while Neptune rides the Hoe as he calls out to them not to fall. Luffy asks why the old guy is yelling so loudly. Pappag is horrified and tells Luffy to be more considerate, and Pappag is now afraid of Luffy. Neptune explains that Megalo is his daughter’s beloved pet. She couldn’t stop crying about Megalo not coming home, that Neptune didn’t know what to do with her. He thinks about how dangerous fighting the Kraken must have been and thanks them for their great work. Luffy tells him it was just a coincidence, but he was happy to help. Pappag thinks about the mermaid princess and Brook asks him if he was right when he remembered that Pappag was once the princess’s best friend. Pappag gives him a long “ssshhh” and Brook realizes it was a lie. Camie asks Usopp if he was sure it was okay for her to go to the palace with Pappago as well. Usopp says Neptune told them to bring their company so it was fine. Neptune tells them that he sent his sons to get them, but when they didn’t return, he left on his own. He says he was excited about the banquet menu and wanted to get started as soon as possible. He then remembers that one of the Straw Hats was already in the palace. He had already started drinking and didn’t listen when Neptune suggested that it would be more fun for everyone to drink together. Usopp asks if it was Zoro. Nami claims it was Zoro. King Neptune then says that he thought her name was Zori and gets corrected with the correct name.
Neptune goes on to tell them that his soldiers will find all the other Straw Hats and bring them to the castle. Luffy asks Nami if she knew where the others went. Nami told them that Franky went to look for one of Tom’s relatives and Robin went to look for some important history so the three split up. He tells them that they haven’t really had too much trouble. Nami then asks Neptune a question, calling him Grandpa, causing Pappag to comically bite her head and tell her to call him the god of the sea, Master Neptune. He questions why Fish-Man Island is so bright despite being 10,000 meters below the surface. Neptune tells her that Fish-Man Island was formed when fish-men began to live on the sea floor where there was light. He explained that the roots from a tree called Sunlight Tree Eve reached down to the bottom of the sea and carried light to Fish-Man Island. Scholars have come up with a scientific reason why it works, but it is still considered a mysterious, sacred tree whose roots emit light that it absorbs from the surface. Roots also bring air to the ocean floor through respiration. Usopp takes it to be the boss of the Yarukiman Mangroves in Sabaody. When the sun rises, it will be light on Fish-Man Island, which means it will also be dark at night. Neptune sees the sun as a blessing that many take for granted. Usopp makes notes about this to tell Franky later, as Sunlight Tree Eve could have a connection to Treasure Tree Adam. Nami says the tree’s name while lost in thought. Luffy tells Neptune that he is hungry and calls him grandpa again, which angers Pappagov as they approach the entrance to the palace, giant dark bubbles from the outside. Neptune rings the bell and says it’s him. A stammering voice says they will open the gate immediately. Once they were in the corridor beyond the gate, Neptune excitedly said “let’s go” and shouted his own name as a battle cry. He calls out to Megalo to hold the bubble. Luffy says he is excited to see the palace.
After arriving at the palace, everyone stares at him in awe. Luffy thinks it looks great. Brook says it made Pappago’s mansion look like a flea, prompting Starfish to tell him not to compare them. Nami marvels at his beauty. Camie chattered her teeth as she became speechless. There are rumors that the king has returned. Luffy says it looked like a cool palace with a lot of stuff. Neptune bluntly tells him that of course it would be because it’s his castle. He then tells everyone to enjoy it. Once inside the castle, the two men immediately start berating Neptune for leaving alone. He tells them that he will definitely be more careful in the future. Everyone but Luffy watches this scene and realizes that the king is being yelled at and told off like a child. Luffy on the other hand caught the aroma of something pleasant. Neptune tells the men that he brought the people who saved Megalo from the Kraken. He also asks where his daughter, Princess Shirahoshi, is. The men tell him that it happened again a while ago. Neptune gets angry and tells the men that they didn’t put her in proper guard so she wouldn’t get upset. One of the men retorted that the king’s disappearance at such a critical time would upset the entire castle. Then he bows his head, apologizes, and promises to be more careful next time. The Straw Hats realize they are yelling at him again. The two men who scolded the king are the minister of the right, the seahorse, and the minister of the left, the catfish. The minister of the right apologizes for cursing the king in front of the guests, but they have something important to discuss with him. The Minister of the Left tells them that they got a message from Fukaboshi. As they tell him, the scene switches back to the Straw Hats. Nami wonders where Luffy went. Brook wonders when the feast will start. Usopp says that Luffy was with them just a minute ago and that he can’t take it. Pappag wonders in horror what Luffy could be doing while roaming the sacred land.
Luffy followed his nose but lost the scent. He sees a door that he thought the smell of food was coming from. The double doors in question were huge, made mostly of metal and had two sets of handles, circular knockers high above the ground and then regular handles close to the ground. Embedded in the door were three swords and a double-edged ax. Embedded in the wall around the door was an axe, another sword, and the head of a morning star. Completely ignoring the weapons embedded in the doors and walls, Luffy walks over to the door. He says the rugged look of the walls reminds him of Impel Down. He wonders how good the food could be behind those solid doors. It is pitch black when he walks through the door, but Luffy can see food on the other side of the room, making him wonder if the room was a banquet hall. He then wonders if he found the food safe. Luffy then decides to just take some food as his stomach was at its limit. As he runs across the room, he bumps into something. He thought it was coral which was really soft. When he first touches the coral, he hears a growl, but he thought it was someone outside. He then began jumping on the coral, comparing its consistency to pudding. He then hears someone asking if anyone was in the room. Suddenly a light came on and Luffy suddenly began to fall. He falls next to the huge mermaid, the mermaid princess, Shirahoshi. What he thought was coral was actually the rough material of her top and the softness he felt was actually her breasts. She asks him what he did on someone else’s body and who it was. Luffy is amazed at the size of the princess. She then asks him if he was there to take her life too and that she wasn’t afraid. She tries to hide her fear by saying that she is the daughter of Neptune. But she couldn’t hold back the tears, which were so big that Luffy actually had to dodge the falling drops of water. She then yells at her father and brothers to help her as Luffy pointed out that he was doing nothing to her.