"Innocent mermaid ladies! I can already smell the sweet scent of so many young mermaid beauties!"
On the bow deck of the *Freewill*, Sanji and the members of the First Division stood at the front of the ship. With their eyes turning into heart shapes, they all leaned against the railing with lovestruck expressions.
"I never expected that besides cooking skills, being a lovestruck fool could also be 'taught' to others."
Nami stared speechlessly at the group of lovestruck fools on the deck.
There wasn't a single soul in the bay, yet Sanji could somehow smell the scent of young mermaid women. But what was even more bizarre...
Not a single person on the ship doubted his words!
This kind of sensory perception was so bizarre it defied description. Perhaps it could only be attributed to genetics.
...
Before long, the *Freewill* slowly docked at the shore.
"Strange? Something's wrong, something is very wrong."
Jumping onto the shore, Sanji furrowed his brows tightly. He held his chin and said solemnly,
"The unique scent of young women is clearly lingering in the air, so how can there be no one here..."
"Let me see, there's the elegant floral scent of roses and jasmine, the cool woody scent of cedar, the fresh scent of lemon..."
Sanji twitched his nose, closed his eyes, and sniffed the air. He suddenly opened his eyes and declared firmly,
"I'm absolutely right! Just five minutes ago, there must have been a lot of young mermaid beauties right here!"
*Thwack!*
Nami jumped down from behind and viciously smashed her fist onto his head, glaring at him while rolling her eyes.
"Don't use your abilities for such weird things!"
"Hahaha, just let him be, Nami. This sense of smell that's better than a dog's might actually come in handy someday," Allen laughed mockingly. With a cigar clamped between his teeth and his hands in his pockets, he walked up from behind, his black cape fluttering gently.
At that moment, a tall, sexy figure floated over from a short distance away.
"Hehehe, this young man has a very keen sense of smell. It seems he knows a lot about perfume."
Madam Shyarly looked at Sanji with a chuckle as she floated over while sitting on a bubble ring, her fish tail resting to one side.
Even though she didn't have legs, she somehow gave off the impression of sitting with her legs crossed.
The moment they laid eyes on her, many of the crew members' pupils dilated with excitement.
"There really are mermaids!"
"I'm not seeing things, am I..."
"So this is a female mermaid! So sexy!"
"Heaven! This place is absolutely heaven!"
Sanji was so excited that his eyes went straight. With hearts popping out of his eyes, he stared fixedly at Madam Shyarly, looking like he was just a second away from drooling with his mouth wide open.
"Ahaha, this young man is quite cute."
Madam Shyarly laughed softly and reached out to stroke Sanji's cheek. She took a drag from her pipe and slowly exhaled a cloud of smoke.
Then, Madam Shyarly turned to look at Allen and the others beside him, smiling with a hint of politeness.
"My name is Shyarly, the owner of the Mermaid Cafe. If I'm not mistaken, you all must be the Warlord of the Sea's Demon Lion Pirates."
"Ah, hello."
Nami responded with a similar smile, saying,
"I thought this place would be very xenophobic, but it seems pretty okay. I'm the navigator, Nami. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Mhm. If I may be so bold to ask, if I remember correctly, all the Warlords of the Sea were supposed to participate in the war at Marineford. Did you all come from there?"
Madam Shyarly asked casually.
Nami didn't answer directly, but instead looked up at Allen beside her.
"Yeah. Whitebeard is dead. The division commanders and his subordinate pirate captains suffered varying degrees of injuries, and Ace was rescued by them."
Allen summarized the final outcome of the war in the briefest terms possible.
"Is that so..."
Hearing of Whitebeard's death in battle, Madam Shyarly didn't seem very surprised. A trace of sorrow quietly flashed through her eyes, but she quickly showed a look of relief.
"The Marines' execution of Ace actually failed. That is somewhat beyond my expectations."
Shyarly pursed her lips, looked up at Allen, and chuckled softly.
"Thank you for sharing this news. If you'd like, you are welcome to visit my Mermaid Cafe. My shop is a major attraction on Fish-Man Island, you know."
"Hahaha, I want to go!"
"The legendary cafe where all the staff are beautiful mermaids?!"
"Me too! Me too!"
Hearing the name of the shop, Sanji and the Nyaban Brothers immediately took the lead in cheering and jumping for joy, while the crew members behind them followed suit with excited uproar.
However, right at that moment.
Allen seemed to catch a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head to look up at the sky and saw three figures flying over from a distance.
A blue-haired shark merman, a red-haired oarfish merman, and another one that Allen couldn't recognize.
"That's the First Prince Fukaboshi, the Second Prince Ryuboshi, and the Third Prince Manboshi. They are the three princes of the Fish-Man Island royal family."
Seeing them heading this way, Madam Shyarly took the initiative to introduce them to Allen and the others in advance, just in case any unnecessary misunderstandings occurred later.
"Greetings, members of the Demon Lion Pirates. I am the First Prince of Ryugu Palace. Please just call me Fukaboshi."
Arriving above the coast, Fukaboshi introduced himself proactively, his gaze sweeping over the crowd.
Finally, his eyes landed on Allen, who was surrounded by the crowd and exuded a faintly dominant and conspicuous aura. He said,
"You must be the Warlord of the Sea, Allen. Under our royal father's orders, we three brothers have come to invite you all to be guests at Ryugu Palace."
"You got here so fast. At least give us some time to rest and regroup."
Allen spread his hands and smiled playfully. "After all, we aren't going to do anything weird."
"Apologies, that was inconsiderate of us. If you all need to rest for a while first, we will simply wait here,"
Fukaboshi corrected himself, speaking neither haughtily nor humbly, maintaining a polite attitude as he finally added,
"Alternatively, we three brothers could accompany you for a stroll around the island, so we can introduce some of Fish-Man Island's specialties to you."
"Alright, alright, you just want to keep an eye on us."
Allen waved his hand impatiently.
Fukaboshi naturally denied it outright, shaking his head.
"I have no such intentions."
He put up a good front, but Allen wasn't buying it. However, he didn't care what kind of act the other party put on, saying dismissively,
"Forget it. Those who want to go have fun can stay here. The rest of you, come with me to the royal palace."
"Hehehe, then we're heading to the Mermaid Cafe, Boss."
"Whatever."
...
In the end, aside from Killer who stayed to guard the ship, Sanji and the Nyaban Brothers took the other crew members and stayed in town. With them in charge, the subordinates wouldn't cause any trouble.
Allen, meanwhile, brought Nami, Gin, Robin, and Perona along, following Fukaboshi and his brothers to Ryugu Palace.
Starting from the bubble entrance passage, the terrain of Fish-Man Island gradually elevated the deeper one went, and Ryugu Palace was located at the very deepest and highest point.
The vehicle Allen's group rode was an oarfish equipped with a bubble ring that allowed it to fly through the air, with seats installed on its back for carrying passengers.
Starting from the commoner towns at the lowest elevation, they passed through the affluent districts and commercial streets in the middle, finally arriving at Ryugu Palace at the top, where the royal family and state ministers resided.
The exquisitely constructed royal palace came into everyone's view, surrounded by functional buildings like the Prison Tower and the Hard-Shell Tower.
Behind the building complex, a long, dragon-shaped passageway coiled halfway around and rested atop Ryugu Palace, revealing a magnificent and imposing grandeur.
Along the way, Nami and the others were constantly amazed by the various unique buildings and the prevalent bubble craftsmanship here, and Fukaboshi's trio enthusiastically introduced everything to them.
Hearing their various praises for Fish-Man Island, the three Fukaboshi brothers clearly showed happy smiles on their faces, and even their initial wariness dropped significantly.
However, Allen hardly listened to them. After arriving at Ryugu Palace, his gaze remained fixed on the pirate flag belonging to Whitebeard that hung above the palace.
Fukaboshi seemed to notice this as well and smiled.
"You must be curious as to why that pirate flag is hanging above the royal palace. Perhaps you've already recognized it. That's right, it's Whitebeard's flag."
"The reason it hangs there is because he has always used that flag to protect us. It is precisely because of that flag that Fish-Man Island has been spared from the frantic pillaging and slaughter by pirates and slave traders."
Speaking of this topic, the smiles gradually faded from the faces of the three brothers.
"Fish-Man Island before this... it truly was an unspeakably dark period of history..."
Fukaboshi lamented, his voice low and hoarse.
Although Nami didn't know the history of Fish-Man Island, she had previously heard Robin talk a lot about slave auctions and the racial conflicts between the Fish-Man Tribe and humans back at the Sabaody Archipelago.
Thus, she could roughly imagine what it was like.
And at this moment.
"That guy Whitebeard was quite kind-hearted, even though he was a pirate. It's a pity that..."
Allen stood up from the back of the oarfish, turned his head to glance at Fukaboshi, and smirked.
"He's already dead. He won't be able to protect Fish-Man Island anymore."
Hearing this, the three brothers looked stunned for a moment, then immediately thought of Madam Shyarly's previous prophecy.
Although the news came a bit abruptly, they had mentally prepared themselves for this outcome. They just hadn't expected Allen to be so blunt about it.
Before Fukaboshi could say anything, in the very next second, Allen bent his knees and leaped out, launching himself toward the top of Ryugu Palace's tower.
Under everyone's horrified and astonished gazes, Allen reached out and pulled up the flag representing the Whitebeard Pirates!
"Hey! Wait a minute!"
"What do you think you're doing?!"
When a faint suspicion arose in his heart, Fukaboshi hurriedly shouted at Allen, his tone filled with anxiety and a hint of anger.
Watching Allen's actions, Nami immediately felt a sense of dread. She tightly covered her mouth with both hands, her pupils dilating, so terrified that tears were almost squeezing out of the corners of her eyes.
"You didn't think I came here just to drink tea, did you? With Whitebeard dead, the New World is short one Emperor of the Sea, and the person who will seize that position..."
Allen curled his lips into a grin. At this moment, his smile looked as terrifying as a devil's in Nami's eyes as he sneered,
"Is undoubtedly me, of course. The battle for territory in the New World might as well start with Fish-Man Island."
With that said, Allen raised his knee and simultaneously grabbed the flag with both hands, smashing it down forcefully!
*Crack—!!*
A crisp sound rang out from the flagpole. That flag, symbolizing the supreme overlord of the sea, Whitebeard, under everyone's horrified gazes...
Was snapped in half right then and there in Allen's hands!!