Summary:
The chapter opens with Zoro having just cut Hody Jones. The New Fish-Man Pirates are shocked. They can’t believe that a human could actually defeat a fish man in water and wonder who exactly Zoro was. One of the pirates yells not to let Zoro escape and power up with energy steroids. Neptune then wonders why he feels such a strange confusion around him. Zoro resurfaces, gasping for air. Neptune tells the Straw Hats that they must get out of the palace once it is completely flooded. He then commands Zoro to catch him. Zoro does so and they go down. Neptune then put his hands on his right side and seemed to take hold of the water, knowing that what he was about to do would seriously injure his back. He tells the Straw Hats that he is creating an escape route for them so they don’t have to fight. The pirates in front of Neptune are curious to see what Neptune will do. Neptune uses her attack, Merman Combat: Ultramarine, and launches what is essentially a water pressure beam at the fish man in front of her. The explosion sends the fishmen flying in all directions. Neptune, while holding his wounded back, tells the soldiers to go. Among the other soldiers, the Minister of the Right can be seen speeding through the gap Neptune made for them. Fishman frantically swims to the unconscious Hody Jones and tells him to do something. He then puts an Energy Steroid pill in his captain’s mouth. Meanwhile, the soldiers got out of the palace. Someone gives the order to keep moving and head inland to Fish-Man Island.
Neptune is lying on his back as Usopp and Brook (who is wearing air bubbles) try to get him to get up. Neptune tells them that he is too old to do such things and that his body will not move. Several guards notice the king in need of help, and apparently Jones as well. The hoe arrives just in time. Neptune grabs a rope around the whale and Hoe begins to carry it out of the palace. Neptune thanks Hoe and tells him he owes him. Meanwhile, Zoro begins to run out of breath. Neptune then feels something stop him and jerks back. Jones caught him by the fin. The guards are surprised to see Jones up and moving, thinking he was incapacitated. They try to help, but Neptune turns them down and tells the guards to go find Fukaboshi and his men. The soldiers are reluctant at first, but the minister of the right tells them to obey the king. Zoro is out of breath, Usopp raises his hands in surrender, and Brook appears to be limping, and they are captured by the New Fish-Man Pirates.
The scene changes to the Sea Forest where Luffy remarks how beautiful it is. Shirahoshi is in tears as she thanks Luffy for bringing her there. Chopper decides it is safe for him to attend to Hatchan’s wounds. Luffy then sees the Thousand Sunny and Franky and calls out to him. Franky notices Luffy and asks him what he’s been doing since he seems to have brought a pin-up girl (Shirahoshi) with him. Luffy introduces Franky to Scaredy-Cat, who then correctly introduces herself as Shirahoshi. Franky then tells Luffy that Robin came too. She said she was looking for something and went to the coral forest to find him. Luffy looks curious, but then Jinbe calls out to him, happy to see him after two years, commenting that he hardly recognized him. Luffy is surprised and happy to see Jinbe as he thought he wouldn’t see his friend since he heard Jinbe wasn’t around. This confuses Jinbe as he thought Luffy came to the forest for his message. Shirahoshi is also happy to see Jinbe, who comments that Luffy came with a princess he hadn’t heard from in forever. Jinbe then realizes that Shirahoshi is in the Sea Forest and not in his tower. He is so shocked that his eyes pop out of his head. While asking why he is in the Sea Forest, Chopper tells Franky that he is going to launch Hatchan down from Megalo and he should be ready to catch him. Seeing the injured Hatchan, Jinbe’s eyes bug out again and asks him how he got injured. She then asks him what he is doing on Fish-Man Island since he heard that Hatchan was captured along with the rest of the Arlong Pirates. Hatchan, still weak from his injury, asks if Jinbe is the one he hears.
Meanwhile, Sanji is completely smitten with Shirahoshi. He then launches into a poetic metaphor where he is a painter who fails to capture the beauty of Shirahoshi as he dances around her. Chopper is pleased with Sanji’s reaction to Shirahoshi as he acts like he normally does around a woman and says that he is back to his weird self. Den then asks Shirahoshi why she is in the Sea Forest. Before he can answer, Luffy asks Den who he is and what he’s doing to Sunny. Franky then introduces Luffy to Den, saying that he agreed to the ship’s coat as well as his relationship with his old master Tom. Luffy was surprised and asked Franky if his brother was really the paint master (having only heard snippets of Den’s introduction). Franky tells him it’s close enough. Jinbe then talks to Shirahoshi and says that he understands her reasons for coming, but she must not leave her tower. Both Luffy and Jinbe then notice something in the air. Luffy jumps up and kicks the giant ax meant to kill Shirahoshi, redirecting it into the ground. Luffy then comments on how persistent Vander Decken IX is. Jinbe then asks Luffy why he brought the princess with him. Instead of answering him, Luffy turns to Shirahoshi and tells her that everything is fine and he’s here. Shirahoshi casually answers well. Jinbe is amazed at how carefree Luffy is..
While everyone hangs around Sunny, Luffy points to Otohime’s grave and asks if it was the grave Shirahoshi was talking about, saying that she was long before it. Jinbe explains to Luffy that Shirahoshi’s mother rests in the grave. He goes on to say that Shirahoshi had a poorly timed encounter with Vander Decken IX’s poison fang ten years ago. She couldn’t even go to her mother’s funeral because she had to stay in the tower. Shirahoshi prays in front of the grave. Jinbe said there would be so many things she wanted to tell her mother. Just then, Nami calls out to Luffy. She and Camie arrived. Camie is surprised to see him with Shirahoshi. Luffy asks Nami if the feast has started yet while Sanji is excited to see her and Chopper states that Sanji is fully healed. Nami tells them that Hody Jones is now free. Jinbe is amazed that the Ryugu Palace could be in such a crisis. Luffy asks what happened to the rest of the crew. Nami tells him that she doesn’t know because she planned to return after finding Luffy and Jinbe. Shirahoshi begins to cry over her father’s capture while Camie asks Hatchan what happened to him. Jinbe apologizes and says that the Straw Hats got involved before he even realized it. He asks if he can explain quickly, saying that it’s hard to tell Luffy now and it would have been even harder to tell him two years ago. He tells them that the Arlong pirates were rampaging all over East Blue until a group of humans stopped them. He adds that he is extremely grateful for those people and thanks the Straw Hats. Hatchan adds that he would also like to take this opportunity to apologize. Jinbe then reveals that he was the one who freed Arlong in East Blue, much to Nami’s surprise.