[Fish-Man Island, Ryugu Kingdom]
The news of Queen Otohime's disappearance was initially blocked by Neptune.
After that, Neptune began to search for Otohime in secret, while also contacting the Whitebeard Pirates and the World Government.
Ever since the start of the Great Pirate Era, pirates had rapidly expanded, and more and more pirates came to Fish-Man Island every day.
To protect the ordinary merfolk and fish-men of Fish-Man Island, Neptune chose to reach out to the Whitebeard Pirates. He was an old friend of Whitebeard, and they quickly reached an agreement: by paying a certain fee every year, they would raise the Whitebeard Pirates' flag over the territory of Fish-Man Island.
As long as any pirate dared to cause trouble on Fish-Man Island, the Whitebeard Pirates would provide assistance.
In other words, Fish-Man Island was protected by the Whitebeard Pirates, and Ryugu Kingdom was also a member nation of the World Government, one could say it played both black and white sides.
But even in this situation, someone still dared to abduct the queen. How could this not make him furious?
However—
Despite searching for many days and locking down the entire Fish-Man Island for so long, even now, they still hadn't found her.
"King Neptune," Marco from the Whitebeard Pirates, who had come to help, entered the palace. His expression looked slightly grim, but he remained polite toward Neptune.
Neptune was from the same era as Whitebeard. When Whitebeard was young, he had even been cared for by Neptune. The entire Whitebeard Pirates held great respect for Neptune.
"Did you find Otohime? Any news?", Neptune looked a little haggard. The sudden disappearance of the queen on Fish-Man Island, and especially in the most chaotic area, Fish-Man District, had made him anxious these past few days.
He had only temporarily suppressed the news.
But as Otohime's disappearance dragged on, a big problem would eventually arise.
Otohime had extremely high prestige among the merfolk, especially among female mermaids.
If the mermaids found out that Otohime had disappeared in the Fish-Man District, it could very likely spark direct conflict between the two races.
Fortunately, the Whitebeard Pirates reacted quickly and promptly sent two captains to assist. This was his only comfort.
Of course, the World Government also sent personnel. It was the CP3 chief and his subordinates, which showed they took the matter seriously.
But Neptune didn't trust the World Government and dared not let them take any action.
Otherwise, who knew whether these people were here to help or to capture mermaids?
One had to know, the big shots of the World Government had a special obsession with female mermaids.
"There's indeed news, but it's not good news," Marco looked strangely at Neptune, unsure if he should say it.
For any man, this kind of news was simply too explosive.
Even though Neptune was a male merfolk and reproduction relied on external transfer with no physical contact, it was still cruel.
"What news? Please tell me," Neptune bent his large body forward, his massive frame pressing down in front of Marco.
Even just one of his eyes was the size of Marco's entire head.
But Marco didn't feel any pressure. On the contrary, he looked at Neptune with sympathy.
"We received word of Queen Otohime. It's a carefully planned elopement."
"What? Elopement?", Neptune widened his eyes, struck as if by lightning, staring at Marco in disbelief.
"How could that be? Otohime loves me so much, how could she possibly betray me," Neptune said angrily.
Anyone faced with being cuckolded would find it hard to accept.
'Elopement? What a joke!'
"This news has already spread throughout Fish-Man Island. It first came from Fish-Man District. The fish-men there have more contact with the outside world. They say a Fish-Man saw Queen Otohime appear on a World Government warship," Marco explained.
He had received second-hand information, passed to him by his subordinate pirates who had inquired in Fish-Man District. He came to Neptune as soon as he got it.
Pirates had limited intelligence-gathering channels, far less than underground forces.
It was either through the black market or newspapers, only a few pirates could establish intelligence networks.
"A World Government warship? Then what does that have to do with elopement?", Neptune didn't understand.
"That was a Celestial Dragon's ship. Someone saw Otohime and a Celestial Dragon talking and laughing happily, even...", Marco found it hard to speak, but he knew that a quick cut was better than dragging it out. He gritted his teeth and said, "A Fish-Man said he saw the two acting intimately, hugging, embracing, they had already been completely accepted."
"What?", Neptune's entire body swayed, unable to believe the news was true.
He suddenly stretched out his hand, grabbed Marco, and shouted angrily, "Marco, you're lying to me, aren't you? A Celestial Dragon? How could Otohime be with a Celestial Dragon?"
"I have no reason to lie to you. This is the rumor spreading in Fish-Man District. They're the ones calling it an elopement, and it's probably spread all over Fish-Man Island by now," Marco frowned, instantly broke free, and took two steps back.
'What does this have to do with me?'
He had kindly come to deliver the news, and now Neptune was accusing him. If it had been an ordinary pirate, that grip just now might have injured him, he felt a little annoyed.
"Your Majesty!", Suddenly, a flurry of commotion came from outside.
Soon, the palace guards of Ryugu Kingdom rushed in.
"The queen... the queen, outside they're saying..."
With a dark face, Neptune heard the same news again.
This time, even if he didn't want to believe it, he had to treat it seriously.
Even if the matter was fake, if the rumor spread enough, it would cause public outrage.
The entire Ryugu Kingdom would be labeled with shame because of this.
"Otohime, why would you do this? What secret pain are you hiding?"
Even though he still had some doubts in his heart, Neptune still felt a sting.
There's no smoke without fire.
If there were no such event, no one would spread this kind of rumor.
"MARCO, SOMETHING BIG HAPPENED!"
At this moment, Vista's loud voice suddenly rang out from outside.
As pirates, they usually spoke their minds.
Marco had some restraint, Vista had absolutely none.
Apparently sensing Marco with Observation Haki, he shouted loudly:
"Queen Otohime really is with that Celestial Dragon. I pried open those fish-men's mouths, you'll never believe it, they even took photos. Tsk tsk, from how happy they looked, maybe it really is true love."
With that sentence, silence fell over the palace.
The guards were completely stunned, Marco looked apologetically at Neptune, and Neptune himself was like an active volcano, ready to erupt at any moment.
'Being loud is one thing, but this is Neptune's royal palace. Are you an idiot?'
'With evidence like that, can't we just look at it in private and laugh together?', In his heart, Marco was furiously blaming Vista.
He felt that if they stayed any longer, Neptune might really go berserk and start killing.
Luckily, Neptune's strength was about the same as his. If he and Vista teamed up, they could still leave safely.
[T/N: I came to know, via Patreon, that you can't find the new novels I annouce, in my account. The thing is, WebNovel allows maximum 20 WebNovels to be published by an account. Due to which, I can't post anymore novels through this account. So, I had to create another account(Ambitious_Guy) to continue publishing novels. So, when I am annoucing new novels, you can search them by their name and read it, or just check my other account(Ambitious_Guy). I hope it clarifies.]
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