"Shirahoshi?!"
"Why are you here? Go back quickly!"
When Neptune and the princes saw Shirahoshi's face, their minds went almost completely blank.
If it were the Whitebeard Pirates here, it would be one thing. But among the people sitting here was a terrifying existence directly labeled "Nation-Destroyer"! Judging from that horrifying, chilling face, if someone said that person ate people, Neptune and the others wouldn't have the slightest doubt.
Because of their inadvertent oversight, Shirahoshi had appeared before such a dangerous person. How could they not be agitated?
However, their urgent words seemed to startle the already very uneasy Shirahoshi, and tears gradually welled up in her blue eyes. Shirahoshi tried to suppress her emotions and once again showed them the axe in her hand. "But... that person threw this at me."
Seeing this, Neptune and the others froze. Then, emotions of fear, anger, and dread erupted in an instant.
"That bastard!!"
"Isn't it enough that he's being hunted? This time he even threw a weapon! Is he trying to kill Shirahoshi?!"
In an instant, this second terrible event made the already foul mood of Neptune and his sons even worse as they gritted their teeth.
Seeing the expressions of her father and brothers, Shirahoshi gradually lost control of her emotions. The tears in her eyes blurred her vision, and she was on the verge of crying out loud.
Louis shifted his gaze to the giant axe in Shirahoshi's hand, a thoughtful look on his face. "Van der Decken?"
Beside him, the moment Uta saw Shirahoshi, a flash of amazement crossed her amethyst-like eyes. It was the first time she had met an existence whose "beauty" was on par with her own after eating the Siren Fruit, and with Louis's natural masculine beauty. When she had heard the mermaids talking earlier, Uta had thought they just had a strong filter for their own country's princess. It wasn't until she saw her with her own eyes that she discovered that the princess called Shirahoshi, although young, was indeed unbelievably beautiful.
The next second, a smile bloomed on Uta's face. With a flick of her fishtail and wing-fins, she left her seat. Before Neptune and the others could react, she had instantly appeared before Princess Shirahoshi.
The sudden appearance of the beautiful figure in front of her made the originally-about-to-cry Shirahoshi freeze instantly.
"!!"
"When did she get here?"
"So fast!"
Uta's sudden appearance between them and Shirahoshi made Neptune and the others look horrified. They subconsciously wanted to reach out and stop her. But the next moment, the scene that unfolded before them made their outstretched hands freeze in place.
Uta was flicking her fishtail, hovering in front of Shirahoshi. Her amethyst-like eyes met the large, tear-filled ones.
"Your name is Shirahoshi, right?"
The sudden appearance of the stunningly beautiful mermaid left Shirahoshi at a loss for a moment. She stopped crying and nodded numbly. "Y-yes—"
Hearing this, a bewitching smile curled at the corner of Uta's lips. She introduced herself in a voice that was intoxicating. "My name is Uta! I'm the musician of the Archangel Pirates!"
Shirahoshi looked at the fishtail beneath Uta, which was extremely similar to her own, and then felt the sincere emotion from within Uta's heart. A different kind of anticipation grew within her.
"L-Lady Uta, is there something you need?" Shirahoshi's gentle, soft voice asked, the gloom in her eyes dissipating somewhat.
To this, Uta did not answer immediately. Instead, she raised a hand to gently touch her chin, and with a flick of her fishtail and wing-fins, she swam two circles around Shirahoshi, looking her up and down.
"I feel that Princess Shirahoshi is very similar to me~" After circling her a few times, Uta let out a light sigh with a smile.
"I-is that so?" Shirahoshi replied timidly, but a mysterious light shone in her eyes.
This scene made Neptune and his several princes look as if they had seen a ghost again.
"This child... she can move on land without wearing a bubble—"
"She's even swimming in the air?!"
On the other side, Jinbe's heart became even more certain that Uta was a Devil Fruit user. Soon, as if he'd remembered something, he quickly turned to face Louis and said without the slightest fear, "I apologize, Lord Louis. The princess of the Ryugu Kingdom has been attacked, and King Neptune still needs to deal with this matter. From here, allow me to guide you on a tour of the palace."
He felt that Neptune currently needed to spend time dealing with what had happened to Princess Shirahoshi and to conduct a more rigorous hunt for Van der Decken. Although he could handle it himself if he went personally, the pressure from Louis and his group was too great. He couldn't leave the king and the princes alone with them. Therefore, having himself take Louis and the others away was the best choice.
However, before Louis and the others could reply, the sound of laughter from behind him made Jinbe's face become strange.
"That's Princess Shirahoshi's laughter!"
Ever since the successive events of Queen Otohime's assassination and Van der Decken's long-distance harassment, Princess Shirahoshi had rarely smiled in front of people. Not to mention, she had just been attacked by Van der Decken. With her timid and fearful personality, she should have been scared to tears.
And yet, now, Jinbe heard her laughter. This made his mind a mess for a moment, and he subconsciously turned to look in the direction of the laughter.
In front of the main gate, Shirahoshi, whose massive body exuded a sense of fragility and whose entire being gave off a gentle and delicate aura, was sitting with her fishtail coiled. Her delicate, fair hands were cupped together, carefully holding the petite, yet exquisitely beautiful and faintly alluring mermaid in her palms.
The negative emotions on the face of the originally soft, teary-eyed Princess Shirahoshi had been swept away at some unknown point, replaced by a faint, serene, and gentle smile.
At this moment, the Sea King and the Siren, Shirahoshi and Uta, two mermaids of city-overthrowing beauty, seemed to have become friends not long after their first meeting.
Jinbe was stunned, still not understanding what had happened. He shifted his gaze to Neptune and the princes, only to find that the few who had witnessed the entire event were in no better state than he was, all looking as if they had been petrified by shock.
In the end, a thought appeared in Jinbe's mind. "Has Princess Shirahoshi... been bewitched?"
Behind them, Louis and Yelena looked at each other.
Yelena put her gas mask back on her face, turned sideways, and asked in a low voice, "What's with Uta? Why did she leave the two of us for the mermaid princess the first time she met her? Was she bewitched by the princess?"
The baffled Yelena found this incredible, even proposing the fallacy of a Siren being bewitched by a mermaid.
"I don't know. We'll just ask Uta later." Louis, who had also reached the limits of his knowledge, couldn't figure out why things had turned out this way either.
❃❃❃
⤑ Show your support with Power Stones!
⤑ Unlock a Bonus Chapter every time we hit 400 Power Stones!
❃❃❃
♕ Get early access to 30+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
🔗 https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to open the link!)
💬 Enjoying the story? Drop a review!
Your support really helps the series grow—thank you!