XX-level Hokage

[Name: Hody Jones]

Gender: Male Age: 34

Race: Mermaid; Faction: Pirate

Three types of Haki: Armament Haki, Observation Haki

Devil Fruit: None Height: 331cm Luck Value: 45 Recognition Level: 01

“I already know about Hody Jones. Just have him keep an eye on Fishman Backstreet and limit the New Fishman Pirates’ movements. The main reason I called you here today is about Lord Mashiro,” Neptune said.

Hearing that you didn't understand the implied meaning, Jinbe turned to Hody Jones and said, "You should go back now, Jones." Hody Jones was also curious about the conversation between Jinbe and the others.

But he was also well aware of the gap between himself and Jinbe, so he wisely turned and left. "Can we speak now, Your Majesty?" Jinbe asked.

“You will accompany me and Lord Mashiro to the Hardshell Tower to meet Princess Shirahoshi,” Neptune said. Upon hearing this, Jinbe showed a hint of surprise.

You see, he was very aware of Neptune's feelings for Princess Shirahoshi.

Even the most powerful minister in Ryugu Castle could not meet with Princess Shirahoshi for more than five minutes; it had been several years since he last saw her. Jinbe looked at Shirahoshi's face and nodded, saying, "I understand."

Then Neptune walked to the dining table and said to his three sons and Minister Seahorse, "Shark Star, Royal Star, Overturning Star, and Seahorse, I'm going to the Hard Shell Tower with that distinguished guest. You all take care of these four distinguished guests."

“Hard-Shell Tower?! But Father, Hard-Shell Tower…” Shark Star was about to say something when Neptune interrupted him. “I have my reasons.” He then walked away.

Soon, Neptune, Mashiro, and Jinbe arrived at the Hard Shell Tower aboard a giant fish covered in massive foam.

Inside the hard-shell tower, Shirahoshi was diligently memorizing the lines Mashiro had prepared for her. "Knock knock knock."

A knock sounded, followed by Neptune's voice. "Hundred Stars, it's me, Father."

"Hand over to the master? Okay, okay." Bai Xing hurriedly stopped memorizing her lines and went back to bed.

Neptune then led Mashiro and Jinbe into the tower.

Once inside the tower, Mashiro glanced at Shirahoshi and exchanged a few soft glances. Shirahoshi, who had been stealing glances at Mashiro, noticed Mashiro's movements and nervously flicked her tail a few times.

“Shirahoshi, two strangers have come to see you today. You should remember this one, Lord Jinbe, the guardian of the fish-men, and this one is a human from the land, named Mashiro,” Neptune introduced.

"Princess Baixing, haven't I seen you somewhere before?" Zhenzi suddenly asked with a smile.

“Me too, I also feel like I’ve seen Lady Mashiro somewhere before,” Shirahoshi said softly.

Upon hearing this, Neptune was momentarily stunned. He looked at Mashiro and then at Shirahoshi, now completely believing what Mashiro had just said.

Keep in mind that Shirahoshi has been in the Hard-Shell Tower for over nine years and hasn't seen a single human, let alone a new Shichibukai. (Author's Note)

If you'd like to see how Mashiro plays tricks on Shirahoshi, feel free to give me your suggestions!

I really like Shirahoshi and the Empress; there are more scenes featuring them.

Chapter 104: Tiger's Death

At this moment, Mashiro suddenly turned to Neptune and said, "Your Majesty Neptune, I have a request that I hope you will grant."

“Your Excellency Mashiro, please don’t stand on ceremony. What is it?” Now that he had confirmed Mashiro was Shirahoshi’s guide, Neptune’s attitude became extremely polite. “I would like to spend a day with Princess Shirahoshi on Fish-Man Island. I hope you will agree,” Mashiro said with a light laugh.

“This…” Neptune looked somewhat helpless. Logically, he should have refused decisively, but after confirming Mashiro’s identity, he didn’t want to say the words of refusal.

"As a Shichibukai, His Majesty Neptune should be very clear about my strength. With Princess Shirahoshi by my side, that Vander Decken will no longer have the opportunity to harm Princess Shirahoshi. If he dares to come over, I dare to make him stay."

"Of course, if Neptune is really worried, he can have Jinbe come with us," Shinichi continued.

Upon hearing this, Neptune realized that Shirahoshi was making a concession, and his expression hardened. He said, "I understand. I will ask Shirahoshi's opinion next! If she agrees, I will agree to this."

“Of course, no problem. I was just about to ask Princess Shirahoshi for her permission,” Mashiro said with a light laugh.

"Shirahoshi, you must have heard our conversation. Would you like to go out of the tower with Lord Mashiro?" Neptune asked Shirahoshi earnestly.

Shirahoshi was silent for a moment, then said with a determined tone, "Father, I am willing to go out with Lady Mashiro. I haven't left this tower for nine years, and this is also a..."

As she spoke, Bai Xing's voice grew softer and softer until it was barely audible.

Although Shirahoshi didn't finish her sentence, Neptune understood what she meant.

He had always felt immense guilt towards the daughter he had "imprisoned" out of selfishness. "Okay, I understand." Neptune's expression suddenly relaxed.

Reaching the entrance of the Hard-Shelled Tower, he pushed it open abruptly and laughed, "Remember to come back when you've had your fun." "Thank you, Father."

Shirahoshi's tone was incredibly confident, and her tail kept swishing.

Neptune then walked over to Jinbe and whispered in his ear, "Jinbe, Shirahoshi is in your hands now. Remember, never let her get hurt, or there will be very serious consequences."

Jinbe, realizing the seriousness of the situation, nodded and whispered, "Don't worry, I understand."

A bustling square, with Bai Xing hovering in the air above, curiously looking around.

Jinbe swam beside Shirahoshi, constantly on guard against a sudden attack. As for Mashiro, she lay on Shirahoshi's chest, nestled in soft warmth.

"Lady Mashiro, is this Geelong Korde Square? I seem to remember it. If I remember correctly, my mother was here..." As she spoke, Shirahoshi's tone became extremely sorrowful, and tears kept falling.

"Don't cry, Shirahoshi. Your mother wouldn't want to see your tears," Mashiro said, blowing away Shirahoshi's tears with a gust of wind. "Princess Otohime," Jinbe's expression also changed upon hearing Shirahoshi's words.

Otohime is a mermaid born in the Ryugu Kingdom on Fish-Man Island. She is a goldfish mermaid of the Mermaid Clan and the wife of King Neptune of the Dragon Kingdom. She is the Queen of the Ryugu Kingdom and is affectionately known as Lady Otohime by the people.

Sixteen years ago, in order to get closer to and understand humans and promote peaceful coexistence between humans and fish-men, Otohime organized a petition drive among the residents of Fish-Man Island to relocate to the mainland, preparing to present her demands for relocation to the mainland at the World Conference.

He also set an example of living in harmony with humans through his own actions. In addition to leading soldiers to rescue people on the shipwrecked ship, he also personally taught the children of Fishman Island about land.

Queen Otohime put a lot of effort into the future of the fish-men and mermaids, but to no avail.

Later, when Queen Otohime learned that the Celestial Dragons' ship was in distress and requested to enter the Fish-Man Island, she was shot and wounded by the islanders while trying to protect the Celestial Dragons because she did not want the Fish-Man race's hatred of humans to continue. She eventually died from her injuries.

Jinbe has always held Queen Otohime in the highest esteem, and even his most respected boss, Fisher Tiger, has always been a supporter of Queen Otohime.

But things never go as planned. After news of their leader Tiger's death because of humans reached Fishman Island, the island's inhabitants, influenced by the news of Tiger's death, demanded that Otohime return their signatures, ultimately causing the signing event organized by Queen Otohime to fail.

Thinking of Tiger, Jinbe felt a surge of excitement. After hesitating for a long time, he finally asked, "Lord Izumi, since you are still alive, then is Tiger the boss..."

“No, Jinbe, Tiger is dead. You should know that perfectly well,” Mashiro said calmly, shattering Jinbe’s last hope.

“That’s true, even Tiger doesn’t have the power of someone like you, Izumi-sama,” Jinbe sighed, a hint of self-deprecation in his voice. “Jinbe, do you hate me?” Mashiro suddenly asked.

Jinbe gently shook his head and said with a long expression, "Lord Izumi, although I really want to hate you, if you hadn't left back then, if you had been by Tiger's side at that time, Tiger wouldn't have died, but there are no ifs."

Shortly after you left, a letter suddenly appeared in Tiger's hands. The letter contained...

I am Izumi. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, I will be leaving for a long time. During my absence, apart from Tiger, Jinbe, and Arlong, no one else in this world will know or remember my existence.

All information about me will be destroyed, and all my deeds will be erased. Therefore, please do not try to spread anything about me. If all goes well, we will meet again in the future.

We initially thought it was a joke, but suddenly a beam of light struck us, followed by a wave of dizziness.

Once we recovered from the dizziness, the whole world changed, and even the letter was gone. But everything was just as described in the letter: you no longer existed in the world.

When Jinbe was on his deathbed, he specifically sought out me and Arlong.

He told us that although he would no longer love humanity, he would always respect and cherish you.

"Because you saved him more than once, because you proposed forming the Sun Pirates, because you gave him the ambition for the rest of his life. Because of these words, Arlong and I have never hated you."

“Tiger, he really is an idiot,” Mashiro said with a somewhat complicated tone.

In her eyes, Tiger was originally just an ordinary pawn, but after hearing Jinbe's story, her impression of him changed.

"Jinbe, how did Tiger die?" Mashiro suddenly asked.

"After you left, Boss continued to uphold the principles of the Sun Pirates. In the West Blue, we organized a slave ship and found a slave girl named Koala on the ship. Then, Boss helped the local residents escort Koala, who had been a slave, back to her hometown."

While at sea, the leader saw that Kerra remained subservient out of fear, so he took her to a room and removed the stigmata from her. After several weeks, we arrived at Kerra's hometown, the island of Forchart.

However, after completing the escort mission, they were betrayed by local residents and the Sun Pirates were ambushed by the Navy who had been lying in wait. On the island, their leader was also attacked by the Navy Rear Admiral Stobelli's forces.

The leader was seriously wounded in the battle and was rescued by us and taken to a warship we had seized from the navy.

Because the only blood stored on human warships was human blood, and because of the betrayal, the leader became extremely disgusted with human blood, refused blood transfusions, and ultimately died.

Before he died, he told me and Arlong about you, and then pointed out that Queen Otohime's peace policy was the fundamental solution to the future of fish-men and humans. He believed that only by ensuring that the ignorant next generation was not influenced by hatred and discrimination could humans and fish-men truly achieve reconciliation and coexistence.

Finally, to protect the leader's reputation and to cover up the fact that he had been a slave, Arlong claimed to the fishmen that the leader died of blood loss because the humans refused to give him a blood transfusion.

"And I acquiesced to it because of my hatred for humans, but that led to the leader's death becoming one of the reasons why fish-men are hostile to humans," Jinbe replied.

Chapter 105: Noah

"That really suits Tiger's death." Mashiro said softly after listening to Jinbe's account.

Upon hearing this, Jinbe was taken aback at first, but then instantly understood what Mashiro meant and nodded self-deprecatingly.

Shirahoshi had been silently observing the plaza. She didn't understand the meaning of Mashiro and the god's conversation, so she didn't interrupt.

"Um, Mashiro-sama, Jinbe-sama, let's go to the next place. A lot of people are looking at me, and I'm a little scared," Shirahoshi said timidly after Mashiro and Jinbe finished talking.

Mashiro looked down and saw that most of the fish-men and mermaids in the square were looking up at them with excited eyes.

"Looks like Shirahoshi-chan is really popular," Mashiro said with a light laugh. "No, no, don't tease me, Mashiro-sama," Shirahoshi said shyly. "Alright, let's go to the next place."

Soon the three arrived at a huge network of pipes.

"Where is this place? It's so strange." Looking at the sprawling, overlapping giant celestial pipes ahead, Shirahoshi asked curiously. "I don't know either. Let Jinbe answer that," Mashiro said, shrugging.

"This pipe system is called WATERROAD. It was specially built by the bubble craftsmen on Fishman Island. It's an extra-large transparent pipe filled with seawater, allowing fishmen, mermaids, and sea creatures to travel between different areas," Jinbe explained to the two.

"Using the same pipes in different ways is really novel. I'd love to ride one," Shirahoshi said with a smile. "Given your size, Shirahoshi, it's probably difficult, no, impossible," Mashiro poured cold water on the idea.

"Of course I know that, Mashiro-sama is so annoying." Shirahoshi snorted and puffed out her cheeks.

Bai Xing has always been troubled by her body shape, because she was unable to snuggle in her mother's arms when she was very young.

As she grew older, she had almost no other friends; for an ordinary mermaid, her size made her too vulnerable to danger. "No, it's not impossible," Mashiro suddenly remembered something and whispered.

"Hmm? What is Mashiro-sama saying?" Shirahoshi asked. "Nothing," Mashiro shook his head.

After circling Waterroad once, the three continued towards their next destination. Soon, they arrived near an apartment building.

This is where mermaids live. Although it is a deep-sea area, you can still see blue skies, sunshine, and white clouds.

"This place is so beautiful!" Bai Xing exclaimed, gazing at the sky. "This seems to be the mermaids' apartment building," she added.

"That's right, this place is called Mermaid Bay, a place where mermaids live. Although it is a deep-sea area, after several modifications by the mermaids, coupled with its special geographical location, it is now possible to see blue skies, sunshine, and white clouds. It is as dreamy as a fairy tale world."

"To be honest, I really longed to live here when I was a kid," Jinbe said with a light laugh. "So Jinbe has this side to him too?" Mashiro laughed as well.

“Fish-men were quite vain when they were young.” Jinbe just smiled at this. “Alright, let’s continue.”

The three of them then visited several places.

Located in the first-class area of ​​the Ryugu Kingdom, and also the most luxurious area on Fishman Island, is an incredibly huge private mansion, Fishfoli Manor, a town with many fishmen and a giant waterwheel.