Chapter 124 Whitebeard's Flag
The Ryugu Castle is a ship used exclusively by the royal family of the Ryugu Kingdom for travel. Considering the large size of Neptune and his children, the cabin is very spacious and Neptune's chair can be used as a bed for Zhang Daye.
As it was their first time visiting Fishman Island, they were in no mood to just sit quietly on the chairs. After a brief chat, they lay down by the window together to look at the scenery.
They stood by the window looking at the scenery, and the people looking at the scenery were looking at them from behind.
The four older children curiously observed the kind human beings their mother talked about, especially Shirahoshi, who timidly stretched out his finger and wanted to poke it, but did not dare to.
Princess Otohime introduced the attractions on Fishman Island one by one: "Over there is the coral hill, over there is the mermaid bay, and there is the mermaid cafe over there... they are all places worth visiting."
Everyone was planning the next route for the tour, but Altria was paying attention to a very conspicuous black flag: "That flag, is it the pirate flag?"
Princess Otohime said, "Yes, that is the flag of the great pirate Whitebeard. Now Fishman Island is under the protection of Whitebeard."
"A country accepts the protection of a pirate?" asked Altria in a low voice.
Neptune heard this and told her the history of Fishman Island:
"Since the Great Pirate Era began ten years ago, countless pirates have poured into the New World from the first half of the Grand Line, which is Paradise. As Fishman Island is a must-pass route for the pirates, the residents are troubled by it.
Looting and kidnapping were common, and Fishman Island was even captured by pirates. It was not until Whitebeard repelled the pirates, left his flag behind, and claimed that Fishman Island was his territory that the situation was alleviated. Otherwise, the scene you see here might not be what it is now. "
So Roger has to take some of the blame, but there is still one more question. Zhang Da also asked:
"Isn't that right? When it comes to underwater combat, who can compare to the fishmen? All you have to do is stay outside the Fishman Island and destroy their coating. Wouldn't it be possible to sink every pirate ship that comes?"
This incident was a shame for Neptune, the Great Knight of the Sea. He explained in a heavy tone:
“If it was just one or two ordinary pirate groups, of course we wouldn’t have to worry, but that time it seemed like many pirate groups had joined forces to act together, and we had limited manpower and not many strong men.
Moreover, bubble wrap is not that fragile. Even if you want to destroy the coating, you have to cut a big enough hole in it or poke enough holes at the same time. This time is enough for them to fight back.
In addition, they later found a way to use bubbles to move and fight briefly on the seabed, which made the situation even more unfavorable for us. Therefore, Fishman Island experienced its darkest period. "
Everyone fell silent for a moment, but Princess Otohime suddenly burst into tears.
She held Altria's hand, sobbing patiently and said: "Please don't blame yourself! I have heard the great regret and pain in your heart. The destruction of the country is not your fault! You have done everything you can do. You are the best king!"
Everyone was stunned for a moment. Was it Neptune who had just expressed his grief for not being able to protect the country? Did the princess shake the wrong hand?
"I'm fine, it's just that similar experiences have brought back some bad memories." Artoria reached out to help Princess Otohime wipe away her tears, "Your ability is really like cheating."
Neptune, his children, and the ministers were all shocked. This little guy was once a king? And according to Princess Otohime, he was a very powerful one?
Rui Mengmeng and Shark Chili were also surprised. All they saw was Altria practicing sword skills and eating every day. She looked like she had no worries at all. They didn't expect that she had such a past.
Of course, Altria would not tell anyone about this kind of thing. Zhang Da also knew something about it but it was not easy for him to tell them about it casually.
Looking at Princess Otohime crying like this now, I really don’t know what kind of pain and despair Altria went through at that time.
Zhang Daye grabbed Tom, who had a confused look on his face, said something in his ear, and then stuffed him into Altria's arms.
"What's wrong?" Altria looked at Zhang Daye and then at Tom, not knowing what they were going to do.
Tom looked back at Zhang Daye innocently, then looked at Altria, and then started to hurt his own head.
For example, stretch the ears, stretch the cheeks, tie the beard into a knot, stick out the tongue to make a face, twist the ears into a braid on the top of the head...
Altria smiled and pinched Tom's head back to its original shape: "Thank you Tom, and your unscrupulous master, I'm fine."
"How amazing! Are all the cats on the sea so powerful?" A small head of considerable size popped over from the side, and Princess Shirahoshi's eyes widened.
"Only Tom is so powerful." Altria didn't want to instill wrong common sense into Shirahoshi, so she explained and put Tom down.
Tom looked at Whitebeard's huge fish tail and couldn't help drooling.
Zhang Da also quickly held Tom down. You can't bite her. If you bite her and she cries, the sea kings will destroy the Fishman Island. The ones she can summon are all super large sea kings with a body size of more than 5,000 meters.
Bai Xing hid behind her brothers timidly. She was still a little shy.
"Oh, by the way, we have prepared some gifts for you." Zhang Da also pointed to the six boxes that had been moved up earlier.
"These are the wines sent to King Neptune. They are some of the more popular ones in the tavern..." Zhang Da also looked at Neptune's body shape and said embarrassedly, "But it seems that there are not enough prepared."
"Hahaha, that's enough, I received your kindness!" Neptune laughed happily. It was rare for him to make human friends other than Whitebeard.
"This necklace is for Princess Otohime." Zhang Da also took out a colorful gemstone necklace. It looked very valuable. It belonged to Tom's former master and was suitable for a noble lady. No one in the tavern had this hobby, so it was a perfect gift.
"Thank you!" Princess Otohime took it happily. Compared to the value of the necklace, she was happier about Zhang Daya's thought.
"And these are for the three princes. I hope you can become powerful warriors." Zhang Da also took out a spear and two swords like a magic trick.
They are all exquisite weapons from the palace where Tom had served as a guard. Now that the three princes are not particularly big, they would be good as toys or collections.
"Thank you for your gift, we will try our best!" The three princes were fascinated by their weapons. After all, were influenced by their father, a great knight, and their wish was to become powerful warriors to protect their sister.
It's not that they have sister complex, but Shirahoshi is too special. Princess Otohime once specifically told them to be excellent brothers and strong warriors and not to let Shirahoshi get hurt or frightened in any way.
Finally, Zhang Da also looked at Shirahoshi. Shirahoshi was hiding behind Princess Otohime, feeling both expectant and afraid. She only dared to step out after Otohime whispered a few words of encouragement to her.
"Then watch carefully, ding ding ding ~" Zhang Da also stretched out his hand, and a tree more than two meters high appeared in the cabin.
It is Tom's Christmas tree, decorated with all kinds of colorful lights and candies.
Compared with the things given away before, this is the lowest value, but it is the most precious to them.
Because there are no trees or forests on Fishman Island, many people have never seen a tree on the ground in their entire lives. The first lesson that Princess Otohime teaches her children about the ground is to tell them what trees look like.
It's strange that the Straw Hat Pirates planted orange trees on their ship, but no one from Fishman Island brought a tree down. Maybe it's unnecessary? Or maybe it's a thankless task?
Anyway, there is no need to worry about this tree. Although it is a Christmas tree planted in a flowerpot, it is produced by Tom's family. It will definitely live for a long time if it is carefully cared for. Zhang Da even suspects that the tree will not die even if he dies, and will not turn yellow even if he turns yellow.
"Hey? Is this the tree?" Shirahoshi came closer to observe in surprise, "It turns out that candies can grow on trees..."
