"It's... so beautiful!"
On the beach of Angel Island, Shirahoshi gazed at the pure white sea of clouds, the only words of praise she could utter being just those few.
Today was, without a doubt, the happiest day for the mermaid princess since she was born.
Not only did she see the sky and the sun, and get rescued by the knight from her fairy tales, she could now even see the islands in the sky.
I believe that even decades later, Shirahoshi's memory of this day would still be extremely clear.
"There are even more beautiful places. Let's go take a look."
Yami, who had turned into a ten-plus-meter giant, held Shirahoshi like one would hold a small child, and flew with her towards Upper Yard.
Unlike with Hancock, Yami couldn't take Shirahoshi to Angel Island's "Lovely Street".
Otherwise, the commotion Shirahoshi would cause would definitely be greater than Hancock's.
Unlike Hancock, Shirahoshi's size simply couldn't be disguised.
Without the help of a Coral Bubble, it was difficult for Shirahoshi to move on land.
So, before helping Shirahoshi's fishtail transform, Yami either had to become giant-sized to carry her, or create a base and use his Fuwa Fuwa no Mi ability to support her.
In fact, Yami could go to Lovely Street right now to buy a Cloud Dial, create a cloud, control it with his Fuwa Fuwa no Mi, and then carry Shirahoshi around to sightsee.
But Yami didn't do that, because this was the time to raise her affection.
Holding Shirahoshi and flying slowly through the air, Yami let her carefully observe Angel Island, taking a long time before reaching Upper Yard.
At this moment, Yami suddenly looked down at Shirahoshi and said: "Shirahoshi, close your eyes."
"Okay, Lord Yami."
Shirahoshi, who was completely obedient to Yami, didn't ask why and obediently closed her beautiful eyes.
Boom—
Along with the roar of an invisible shockwave, a black dome of light suddenly expanded from Yami's body, quickly enveloping all of Upper Yard.
In an instant, the God's Guards who had moved back to Upper Yard from Angel Island all had their eyes roll back as they fainted to the ground.
But the animals of Upper Yard were not affected at all.
"Alright, you can open your eyes now."
Only after knocking out all the humans on Upper Yard did Yami speak to Shirahoshi.
"Lord Yami, is this a land island?"
Shirahoshi opened her eyes, looked at Upper Yard where they had arrived, and finally noticed a key point. She couldn't help but ask: "Why is there a land island in the sky?"
"Because this island was sent up here by the great power of nature."
"How amazing... The surface world is truly incredible!"
Shirahoshi said, in awe without fully understanding.
Flying into the forests of Upper Yard, Shirahoshi's gaze was quickly drawn again by the towering giant trees and the cloud paths built within the forest.
When she saw the various strange animals whose ancestors had mutated over hundreds of years due to the Sky Island environment, she let out continuous sounds of amazement.
Especially the giant python known as the Master of the Sky, which made Shirahoshi show a mix of fear and curiosity.
Immediately after, Yami took Shirahoshi up the Giant Jack, looking over the island from a higher place, and even saw the Golden Bell hidden atop the Giant Jack.
Shirahoshi had no concept of gold, but that didn't stop her from thinking the Golden Bell was very beautiful.
After taking Shirahoshi sightseeing in Upper Yard for a while, Yami used teleportation to bring her to the Sea Forest on Fish-Man Island, fulfilling the girl's wish to pay respects to her mother.
While Shirahoshi was paying respects to her mother in the Sea Forest, the Ryugu Kingdom was in an uproar.
Because when Megalo woke up, he quickly discovered his master was missing.
Thus, he immediately went out looking for people with an anxious face, quickly alerting Neptune, the three Neptune brothers, and Jinbe, who was on Fish-Man Island.
Right now, the entire Ryugu Kingdom and Jinbe were searching for Shirahoshi's whereabouts on Fish-Man Island, extremely anxious.
After all, in their understanding, Vander Decken IX was not dead.
If Shirahoshi had really snuck out, and Vander Decken IX happened to throw a weapon at that exact time, Shirahoshi would be in danger.
Therefore, they had to find Shirahoshi, who was in an unknown location, before Vander Decken IX could throw a weapon.
The search couldn't be too overt, lest Vander Decken IX had informants on Fish-Man Island, which would alert him.
The first place the three Neptune brothers and Jinbe searched was, coincidentally, the Sea Forest.
Because they all knew that one of Shirahoshi's wishes was to pay respects to Queen Otohime.
If Shirahoshi had really snuck out, she would definitely come here.
When the three Neptune brothers and Jinbe arrived at the Sea Forest, they didn't find Shirahoshi, but next to the Poneglyph, they saw Vander Decken IX's corpse.
After confirming the corpse was indeed Vander Decken IX, the three Neptune brothers and Jinbe all breathed a sigh of relief.
Although they didn'T know who killed this person, as long as this Mato Mato no Mi user was dead, they no longer had to fear Shirahoshi being killed by a flying unknown object.
But soon, they felt Vander Decken IX's death was too coincidental.
The body hadn't started to stink or decompose, meaning he hadn't been dead for long, perhaps he had only died today.
Could it be that Shirahoshi didn't sneak out alone, but was taken away by the person who killed Vander Decken IX?
Thinking of this, the three Neptune brothers and Jinbe immediately intensified their search.
Before long, Jinbe found Shirahoshi with his Observation Haki.
However, there was no trace of joy on the Shichibukai's face; instead, it was filled with solemnity.
Because in his perception, next to Princess Shirahoshi, there was an extremely powerful presence.
"Shirahoshi!"
At this time, the three Neptune brothers also found Shirahoshi.
Looking at Shirahoshi sitting on the ground, hands pressed together in a prayer gesture, the three Neptune brothers first breathed a sigh of relief, then shouted their sister's name loudly.
"My royal brothers!"
Hearing the familiar voices, Shirahoshi immediately opened her beautiful eyes. Seeing her three older brothers riding flying sea beasts, she waved with a pleasantly surprised face: "My royal brothers, it's been a long time!"
Although using "it's been a long time" for close family members felt very out of place...
...it was a fact that the four siblings hadn't seen each other in a long time!
The three Neptune brothers only had eyes for their sister and didn't notice the tiny Yami.
Jinbe only had eyes for Yami.
Looking at Yami, who had canceled his giant form and was standing next to Shirahoshi, Jinbe recognized this major figure at a glance. His expression became solemn, his eyes filled with wariness as he said: "Black Hole Yami, why has Your Excellency appeared here?"
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