Chapter 497: Friends of Friends, Are They Friends?
Dragon Palace City, banquet hall.
Inside the spacious banquet hall, Neptune, who was about 10 meters tall, and Whitebeard, who was 6.66 meters tall, sat opposite each other. The two huge men clinked their glasses with oversized wine bowls and talked and laughed loudly.
Jinbei, who is over three meters tall, looks inconspicuous in front of these two people .
Whitebeard and Neptune have been friends for a long time. At that time, Neptune did not know Princess Otohime yet, and he was still fighting invaders with a trident in his hand as a "great knight".
The reason why Whitebeard protects Fish-man Island is simply because of his friendship with Neptune. Although he declares that Fish-man Island is his territory, the treatment is different from other territories, and Fish-man Island usually does not need to pay anything.
It is precisely because of this that Jinbe, who believes in benevolence and righteousness, is grateful and visits the Whitebeard Pirates every few days to see if they need any service. And when facing Whitebeard, he calls him "Dad" just like the captains of his pirate groups.
After Princess Otohime sat with the three of them for a while, she stood up and moved among the captains in the banquet hall, serving wine or asking about things happening on the sea.
However, she left the stage not long after - she sprained her ankle because she walked too fast. Princess Otohime's body was still very fragile, and slapping someone would result in a fracture of her own hand.
So the three brothers Shark Star, Emperor Star and Rollover Star persuaded Yiji to leave, and the three of them entertained the guests on behalf of their mother.
Shirahoshi has grown a lot in the past year or so, and has studied fish-man judo and mermaid karate with Neptune and Jinbe for a long time. However, the improvement in her fighting ability does not seem to have changed her somewhat shy personality.
Shirahoshi felt she should learn from her brothers. She picked up a large wine jug, feeling somewhat bewildered. After a moment's hesitation, she chose the one who looked the kindest and best, and swam over.
It is difficult for mermaids to walk in places without water, but they can use bubbles to "swim" in the air.
Izo, dressed as a geisha, said to Shirahoshi with some joy, "You are Princess Shirahoshi, right? You are so cute."
"Hey?" Shirahoshi was startled. She covered half of her face with the huge wine jug and asked cautiously, "Big Onee... No, Big Brother... You, you are..."
Bai Xing's mind was a little confused because he didn't know what to call her, and tears welled up in his eyes.
"Hahaha, Yi Zang, you're mistaken for a woman again!" The others were gloating. When they drank too much, they wanted to see some fun, especially the fun of their own people.
Izo smiled helplessly and said, "Excuse me, Princess Shirahoshi. I am indeed a man, but I am the heir of the Hualiu School and have been dressed like this since I was a child."
As the captain of the 16th Division of the Whitebeard Pirates, Izo should be the most handsome among the fifteen captains, but his appearance is a bit off.
There are only fifteen captains in the sixteen divisions because after Kozuki Oden left, the captaincy of the second division has been vacant.
Shirahoshi didn't know what "flower-willow style" meant, nor did she know what a geisha was, but Izo's dress caused a huge shock to her young mind.
After three rounds of drinks, Neptune and Whitebeard got down to business: "Although I'm happy that you're staying here, after being away for so long, is there any problem in the New World? I heard that the battles between the Four Emperors are very fierce."
Whitebeard and the captains gathered at Fishman Island. The island was now safer than ever before, and Neptune was happy to continue like this, but he was worried that Whitebeard's rear would be left empty and someone would take advantage of the situation.
He would feel bad if his friend suffered loss while helping him.
"Gulalala... I still have many children left in the New World, it's okay!" In addition to the sixteen divisions, the Whitebeard Pirates have more than thirty affiliated pirate groups, totaling more than thirty thousand people, and this number is still increasing.
Moreover, it is still more than eight years since the beginning of the story. Although Whitebeard's health is indeed getting worse year by year, he is not yet to the point where he needs four nurses in leopard-print socks to keep giving him IV drips.
Today, Whitebeard is truly the strongest man in the world, and the Whitebeard Pirates are indeed the strongest pirate group.
Even someone as stubborn as Kaido wouldn't go to Whitebeard's head for no reason. He would even rather go to the Marine Headquarters to get beaten.
As for Big Mom, she is currently pregnant with a little human child, who is expected to be born in the second half of this year. However, with her body type, it is hard to describe how she can be pregnant with a little human.
Anyway, Charlotte Linlin is just eating and drinking, and she orders her children to look for some rare species. She is not in the mood to cause trouble for the time being, let alone go to war with Whitebeard.
Red Hair has been on a roll recently, but given his personality, even if he wanted to provoke, he wouldn't do it when White Beard is away.
Now he is traveling around the world with his cadres. His main job is visiting relatives and friends and holding banquets, and his side job is fighting, robbing and recruiting followers, highlighting his freedom.
Apart from these few people, if anyone else causes trouble in Whitebeard's territory, the pirate groups under his command can deal with them, so Whitebeard can come to Fishman Island with confidence.
On the one hand, he'd heard about the recent events on the island from Jinbe, but he was busy at the time and had finally found some time. On the other hand, there had been a surge of newcomers entering the New World recently, along with many veterans returning to Paradise. Considering the pressure on Fishman Island was immense, a single flag might not be enough to control the situation, so he came to take a look in person.
Neptune was relieved after listening to Whitebeard and Jinbe's explanation of the situation in the New World.
At this moment, the Right Minister of Ryugu Castle, a seahorse mermaid, swam up to Neptune's ear and whispered, "Your Majesty, we've received a call from the entrance guards that Tatsuya-san and his men have just arrived at Fish-Man Island."
"Really?" Neptune didn't realize why the Right Minister was so careful to tell him this. He said in surprise, "Then why don't you just invite them over? It would be great if we could all come together..."
"Your Majesty!" The right minister interrupted quickly.
Whitebeard and Jinbe gave them a strange look and put down their glasses.
The Right Minister felt immense pressure and could only bite the bullet and continue to whisper in Neptune's ear, "We're still unclear about Mr. Tatsuya's and his men's positions, but there's no doubt they're our benefactors. What would you do if they came into conflict with the Whitebeard Pirates?"
"..." Neptune fell into deep thought. This was something he had not considered. His first reaction was that both sides were his friends, so they could just sit together and drink. Where did the conflict come from?
But after the Right Minister’s reminder, it seems that a friend of a friend may not necessarily be a friend?
Whitebeard saw Neptune's troubled expression and thought he was in some trouble. He asked, "Is there something troubling you?"
Neptune thought about it and decided to tell the truth. Both sides were reasonable people, so there shouldn't be any problem, right?
