Summary:
The chapter begins with a flashback that introduces Jinbe’s narration. It takes place sixteen years ago. Someone shouts at the thief. The thief in question escapes with a gun in hand and grabs a mermaid from the crowd to serve as a hostage. A short distance away, Queen Otohime sees the commotion. The guards who accompany her urge her to think about what she is doing, and it is not her job to get involved in people’s problems, but rather theirs. The robber sees the queen approaching but does not recognize her. They shoot at her, but the queen dodges the shots quickly and easily, surprising the robbers. The queen then slaps the thief at very high speed. Unfortunately, Otohime injured her hand when she slapped him and cried out in pain. The queen is then formally introduced as a goldfish mermaid, as the doctor is called. The doctor examines her arm and discovers that it is a compound fracture. Queen Otohime tells the Doctor to keep his opinions to himself as he runs to the thief, who is surprised to realize that it was actually the Queen who slapped him. She angrily asks him why he would resort to something as low as stealing. The thief angrily tells her to back off, saying that a royal like her would have no idea why. The man explains that he has ten children at home who are starving. Otohime slaps him again, saying that this is all the more reason for him to be punished. The Minister of the Right begs Otohime to stop hitting him because her body is weaker than that of an average person. Otohime replies that she doesn’t care because she would break her arm to teach the man a lesson. She angrily yells at the man, asking him if his children would really be happy if they were raised on stolen money and goods, and he has to show his children that they have to live their lives. She then becomes less aggressive and says she would like to apologize. She starts crying and says there is no way she can empathize with this man. The pain of a man’s heart “the voice pierces her chest”, how he has experienced so much out of despair.
At this point, the man begins to cry and says that he never wanted it to be this way. The man then explains that there was nothing he could do. Someone burned his shop to the ground and ran off with all his money. As a result, he is out of work, up to his neck in debt, and unable to provide for his starving children. Otohime hits him again, saying that this is no excuse for him to resort to a life of crime. Stealing from others after being robbed himself would only shift the cycle of suffering onto someone else. She then says that she is still sorry because she is part of the royal family that people trust so she has to take responsibility as well. The man then exclaims that he is not worthy of her kind words. He then brightens and promises to change and be a better man, even if he is not worthy of her pity. She tells the man that she believes in him. This is met with tears and applause from all the people who witnessed the meeting. Fishman comments that they are lucky to have a royal family that would leave the palace just to walk around the city, while the other two comment on how a single citizen would bring her to tears and how her practices are somewhat unorthodox. Another man comments on how popular she is with people and points out how popular she is with children. Several children are then seen happily running towards Otohime. The one on his forehead has a rather large snot hanging from his nose. Once he gets close enough to Otohime, he slaps him for it, blinding him completely, saying that he’s doing it for his own good. She then tells him that he looks stupid with snot hanging out of only one nostril, and that in the future he should have snot hanging out of both nostrils so he doesn’t look stupid. He is holding a child who has started to cry. An onlooker comments on how touching it is, and the guy next to him asks if he meant it.
Jinbe then narrates and says that Otohime often came down from the palace to address the people. Otohime then states that the Ryugu Kingdom is going to the surface. He says the humans look different, but he can’t wait until they understand the fish people and merfolk. The Kingdom of Ryugu must take the first step towards equality. As he continues, Jinbe is seen off to the side with two other guards. Otohime goes on to say that even though pirates are the only type of people that come to the island, they only make up a fraction of all the people. Humanity is still a great unknown to the people under the sea, even though the same sun shines on them. Holding a document, he says Levely has opened up to them and their intention to migrate can be told to the world. He then asks everyone to sign a petition for Ryugu Kingdom to enter Levela. People politely decline, even though he seems to keep asking. Jinbe mutters that her campaign is going nowhere because history has already spoken for the people.
The scene changes to Ryugu’s palace where crying is heard. Otohime links the little fingers of her four children. Otohime lays her head on a large and crying Shirahoshi and says that she was overworked and came back late, and apologizes for it. He then comments that even with Shirahoshi’s nose dripping with snot, she still looks so adorable. Young Fukaboshi excitedly tells his mother that he and his brothers were with Shirahoshi, so she was fine. Ryuboshi and Manboshi reply in unison that she was fine. Otohime thanks her sons. Manboshi then asks if her hand is okay. Otohime then states that she will try to change the future to make the world a better place for her children to live. Elsewhere, Neptune and the Minister of the Left talk about the Queen. The Minister asks why Otohime couldn’t just record the speech. Neptune replies that the Kenbunshoku Haki she’s had since birth won’t let her because he believes “distance makes the heart grow cold” and even he can’t change her mind about that. The Minister of the Left then reminds him that there are a lot of human pirates on the island. He then reminds Neptune of the worst possible scenario for the future of the Ryugu Kingdom where Whitebeard ends his protection. Neptune assures him that Otohime is well aware of what would happen. Neptune then adds that the world his wife dreams of dates back hundreds of years. Their distant ancestors tried to achieve the same, but it was nothing more than a wasted dream that ended in regret and that’s all. The minister of the left is confused by his comment. Before he can ask further, Neptune says he can’t stop his wife from what she’s doing and asks the Minister of the Left to do everything in his power to protect her. Noah can be seen behind him as he says this.
Sometime after that, Otohime is out in public again, only someone is holding her petition. She begs him to return it, saying that many people have signed it. The man says he doesn’t care about the number of signatures. The guard yells at the man to return it, identified by none other than Arlong. Arlong grabbed the guard by the neck and said he wasn’t quite right. Arlong then introduces himself as Captain Arlong of the Arlong Pirates. He starts talking about how humans live alongside human pirates, but at the same time, the Neptunian Army is hunting the pirates. He adds that if the guard is to say anything, he would have to pay Arlong first. Jinbe can be seen a little further away, thoughtfully silent. The guard calls out to Jinbe to help him. Arlong looks surprised when he hears Jinbe’s name. Jinbe then bluntly tells Arlong to let his new recruit go, and that he doesn’t care what’s on the petition, but it’s important to Otohime, and orders him to return it. The citizens are relieved to see Jinbe. Arlong laughs at Jinbe’s title of “Boss” and asks where else he could find a mob-like soldier. Jinbe orders Arlong to return the request to the queen. He then throws the soldier to the floor. Arlong tells Jinbe not to get so upset because they are old friends from the Orphan Village, Fish-Man District. Jinbe tells Arlong not to throw him in that group and asks him if he’s still playing pirate and calls him a scumbag. Arlong jokingly replies that Jinbe knows he’s not scum, to which Jinbe asks if he’s scum. Someone then announces that Fisher Tiger has returned. Arlong and Jinbe forgot about the argument in the excitement of seeing their friend. Tiger comes to them as people behind him cheer. He notes that both Jinbe and Arlong look good. Jinbe comments that Tiger has been gone for a long time. Tiger replies that a lot has happened and that he has business at Ryugu Palace. Arlong invites him to look at his ship.
The narration begins again, explaining that the Fish-Man District was a giant orphanage back then. But corruption soon arrived. The area became a lawless place, attracting the outcasts of Fish-Man Island. At that time, Fisher Tiger, the oldest of the group, left to become an adventurer, Jinbe joined the army, Arlong became a pirate at the bottom of the ocean, and Macro, who was considered the cruelest of the group, became a slave trader and kidnapped fishmen. Everyone went their own way. Then everyone heard that Fisher Tiger had attacked Mary Geois and freed the slaves there. Fisher Tiger gathered his old friends from the Fish-Man District and formed the Sun Pirates, marking the sun sign above the symbol of slavery. The Sun Pirates were very persistent. They sank countless naval ships. Arlong is then seen yelling at Jinbe to leave one marine alone as he is already unconscious. Jinbe mutters to the Marines that they overlook slavery, but consider freeing slaves a crime. He then thinks about Otohime and comments on how people’s “love” is. The chapter ends with the Sun Pirates standing over the defeated Marines.