The Pirate Princess Becomes Queen

The twelve-meter-tall King Neptune stood at the palace gates to greet his old friend.

"Ho ho ho ho! Newgate! It's been so many years, you've really aged, Neptune!"

"Gurararararararar! You idiot, do you even consider me a friend? You didn't tell me you were in trouble?" The white-bearded man was very happy to see his old friend. He glanced to the side and saw the naive and sweet-looking girl, Shirahoshi: "Is that your daughter? She doesn't look like you at all, you reckless guy, huh?"

Whitebeard glanced at Vivi.

Vivi suddenly felt an immense pressure pressing down on her. If Akainu's pressure on her was 10, then Whitebeard's casual glance now felt like a pressure of 50.

Her domineering aura instinctively tried to resist, but the other party moved away as soon as they touched her. Her domineering aura lost its target and was not used at all. Her body lurched forward uncontrollably, and she almost fell over.

The white-bearded man laughed loudly: "Gurarararararar—what a bunch of children! A bunch of brats!"

Ace sneered over from the side, his face full of barely suppressed laughter as he looked at Vivi: "What? You want to spar with your old man?"

"I'm not that crazy!" Weiwei rolled her eyes at him and didn't say anything.

Faced with these old monsters, she felt immense pressure and immediately began to act as if she were invisible.

The banquet began quickly, and the old king Neptune drank with Whitebeard. Marco, the ship's doctor and captain of the first division, kept advising him, repeating over and over again, "Father, you're not well," "Father, you should drink less," and "Father, don't drink anymore." Occasionally, he would add, "Father, you always drink other people's wine, and you're always so happy when you drink other people's wine, but you never treat anyone."

This put King Neptune in an awkward position; he was holding a wine glass, seemingly unsure whether to drink or not.

Whitebeard doesn't care, I'll drink even if you don't try to persuade me!

He drank while giving Marco a perfunctory answer.

"How can you recover your health if you don't drink alcohol?"

"I only have fighting power when I'm drinking. I still have to go fight that Nine-Life Merman later!"

Ace was drinking with Vivi and talking about Wano Country.

"How's Yamato doing? Did you see Kaido after I left? Did you fight him?"

Vivi was a little embarrassed; her glorious history of "seeing" Kaido while hiding under the bed was really hard to talk about and hard to hear.

How should I put it? She thought for a moment: "Well, to be precise, I did 'see' Kaido..."

Chapter 178 The Banquet

Ace's eyes lit up. Although he had given up his dreams of becoming one of the Four Emperors and the Pirate King, he was still very interested in the strongmen of the sea. He asked, "How skilled is Kaido?"

He lowered his voice and asked, "How do you think he is compared to my old man?"

Lowering your voice won't help at all; Whitebeard has Observation Haki... Vivi scratched her head a little.

She barely managed to suppress the urge to retort, "You call Whitebeard 'Dad' and Garp 'Grandpa,' have you considered how they feel?" Logically, she shouldn't know about the relationship between Garp and Ace. She was more worried that if she let slip, Whitebeard would storm Marineford to settle scores with Garp.

Seeing that Whitebeard was still drinking and completely ignoring the juniors' comments about her, she thought about it honestly for a moment before saying, "I only saw Kaido from afar and didn't fight him, but I feel... Kaido is probably a little weaker than your father. I can't say exactly why, maybe it's his aura. Kaido looks rough, but he's actually too calculating, which makes him a bit inferior."

The white-bearded man in the distance was somewhat displeased with the way these juniors were commenting on their senior. Although they were praising him, he still snorted.

The banquet had just begun when the chubby knight Jinbe walked up to Vivi.

"Your Highness, thank you for your news. If it weren't for you, I would have had no idea that such a despicable thing had happened in the Dragon Palace Kingdom!" Jinbe's voice was deep and powerful, and his strong body was full of strength.

This powerful whale shark man exuded an air of mastery simply by standing there.

If we disregard Devil Fruit abilities, Jinbe in front of us could take on three Crocodiles.

There is a huge difference in physical skills between the two. Both are very tough. Although Jinbe and Jack the Drought seem to have similar fighting styles, they are actually very different. Jack is all about hot-bloodedness and recklessness, while Jinbe's every move shows superb martial arts skills. This guy has turned fighting techniques into his body instincts. The last person Vivi saw at this level was the swordsman Shimotsuki Ryuma.

She answered very politely.

"Shirahoshi is also my friend, and I'm happy to be able to help her."

Jinbe hadn't drunk any alcohol. He politely took his leave from the group and strode out of the Dragon Palace to settle accounts with Vander Decken IX, who had thrown the axe eight hundred miles away.

None of them stopped them, including Whitebeard. They were all land-dwelling humans, and no matter how strong or fierce they were on land, they were greatly limited in the deep sea. They could only use 30% of their full strength.

Jinbe, the fish-man, is different. He can unleash his full potential in the sea, and he is also a master of martial arts. In addition, he has great prestige among the fish-men, so finding Vander Decken IX, who secretly threw the axe, would be no problem for him.

Vivi and the others continued drinking and chatting. Midway through, Shirahoshi, like a timid little rabbit, expressed her gratitude to Whitebeard and Ace for their long journey to help her. After all, they came to help her, and Shirahoshi always behaved very politely.

"Thank you, thank you for coming to help me..." Shirahoshi's enormous body contrasted sharply with her timid appearance.

Whitebeard glanced at Shirahoshi and casually asked, "What happened to your hand? Who hit you?"

Bai Xing quickly put her hand, which had been slapped red, behind her back and stammered, "N-nothing... no one... hit me, it's all my fault for being clumsy..."

Ace whispered to Vivi, "Who on earth hit this mermaid princess? They're so cruel."

Karu the duck covered his mouth and chuckled, while Vivi looked up at the sky and said, "If I said it was Crocodile who hit me, would you believe me?"

Whitebeard and Ace weren't interested in Shirahoshi. They exchanged a few casual words and then continued drinking. The naive and innocent girl lay next to Vivi, listening to their idle chatter like a curious child, occasionally taking a sip of the juice that Whitebeard had specially brought for her.

"I heard Kaido has returned to Onigashima. Be careful when you go to rescue Yamato." As he spoke, Ace brought Vivi some not-so-good news.

"Huh?! What! Kai... Kaido has already returned to the island...?" Vivi's heart sank. Her battle with the swordsman Shimotsuki Ryuma had greatly improved her strength, but she still lacked confidence in facing Kaido.

This is not something that Ace can solve with a casual "be careful"; being more careful won't help.

Kidnapping Kaido's daughter right in front of him? That's incredibly difficult. Forget Kaido, even if any one of the Three Disasters could hold her off, her numerous subordinates could swarm her and give her a run for her money.

The best way is to use a feint to lure Kaido and the Three Disasters away, then she can happily sneak into Onigashima and quietly take them away.

Now that the Golden Lion isn't performing well, where can we find someone else to provoke hatred like this? Crocodile? There's no reason for that...

She looked worried and couldn't think of a good solution for the time being, so she could only improvise when the time came.

While a banquet was being held in the Dragon Palace, Jinbe, the knight of the sea, went out to gather information.

Jinbe's prestige on Fishman Island actually surpasses that of King Neptune.

Vander Deiken IX was indeed hiding far away, but as long as a person is alive, he will always leave some traces. No one was looking for him before, but if someone wanted to, they would definitely be able to find him.

Jinbe sent out his friends and acquaintances to search for clues, and soon they discovered Vander Decken IX's pirate ship behind a hidden coral reef.

What happened after that was unremarkable.

Jinbe rushed over and, without saying a word, pinned Vander Decken IX to the ground and beat him mercilessly. Despite having been a pirate, Jinbe was generally inclined towards the lawful side. He wanted to take the man back to Fish-Man Island and hand him over to the king for punishment.

Jinbe smashed the air bubbles on Vander Decken IX's body that were used to block seawater, and then put the guy in sea stone handcuffs.

He pulled the exhausted Vander Decken IX back to Fishman Island.

Along the way, Vander Decken IX first begged for mercy, and then made repeated promises, trying to lull Jinbe into a false sense of security so that he could escape.

Unfortunately, Jinbe, despite his chubby appearance, was actually very cautious and meticulous in his actions, leaving no room for error and giving him no chance at all.

When Jinbe brought Vander Decken IX back to the Dragon Palace, the banquet was just in its middle stages, and much of the wine was still steaming.

Seeing the culprit captured, King Neptune was even happier and repeatedly toasted Jinbe, saying, "Let's keep drinking! We won't leave until we're drunk!"

"Shirahoshi, I love you! Marry me!" Vander Decken IX was skinny and bony. He had been beaten up by Jinbe earlier, and his face was bruised and swollen. He looked like a stick-like body with a pig's head on top.

This guy has no fear whatsoever. As soon as he entered the hall, he saw Bai Xing huddled to the side. He was very outspoken and immediately started proposing.

Chapter 179 Car Crash

"Get out! How dare you insult the princess!" Jinbe roared in anger, and proceeded to punch and kick Vander Decken IX again.

You can tell he was genuinely angry, but not to the point of losing his temper; he acted with great restraint.

The culprit has been found. According to Vivi's idea, this sick guy who throws axes all the time should be killed with one blow. She was still planning to continue playing cards with Shirahoshi.

However, the mermaids inside the Dragon Palace all opposed this.

"The Deikun family is cursed by the sea. The Target-Target Fruit has been passed down in their bloodline from generation to generation. If we kill him, new Target-Target Fruits will appear in his branch. This fruit is too dangerous and poses too great a threat to the royal family." Jinbe was worried that Vivi didn't know the reason, so he patiently explained a few words.

He didn't say more, but as a princess of a country, Vivi could naturally see through many things.

The ruling structure of the Dragon Palace Kingdom is very interesting. Fishmen and mermaids are actually two completely different races. They only came together to live together because of external pressure from humans.

Fishmen have the upper body of a fish and the lower body of a human, while mermaids are the opposite.

If you still don't know how to distinguish them, then it's clearer to look at them according to their literal meaning.

The word "fish-man" has "fish" at the beginning, so their upper body is a fish and their lower body is a human. Arlong from the East Blue, Vander Decken IX in front of us, and even Jinbe, the knight of the sea, are all fish-men with fish heads.

The word "mermaid" means that the upper body of a person is human and the lower body is fish. Among them, King Neptune, Shirahoshi, the three princes, and a large number of royals such as the Left Minister are mermaids.

The Ryugu Kingdom is now ruled by the Mermaid Royal Family, which is somewhat reminiscent of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The political environment of the Ryugu Kingdom can be described as extremely chaotic.

If King Neptune were to execute a prominent merman as the merman king, it would certainly cause a huge political upheaval, which is something he does not want to see.

He was not allowed to kill on a political level, nor was he allowed to do so on a practical level.

Vander Deikun IX was a bachelor and indeed had no children, but he was a fish-man, and fish-men have a far more terrifying fertility rate than humans.

His family has branches, and these branches are very large.

In the world of One Piece, it's impossible to commit the extermination of nine generations of a family. Maybe someone is killed here, and a few days later, a branch of the Deckon family will change their name to Vander Deckon X.

There's a high chance that the Tenth King will seek revenge for the Ninth King. Given their hatred for the Mermaid Royal Family, they'll likely throw axes and spears at them. Whitebeard and Jinbe can only defend against them temporarily, not permanently. The best solution is to lock the Ninth King up somewhere and imprison him for life.

After pondering for a moment and figuring out the reasons, Vivi did not insist on executing Vander Decken IX, but instead began to study his bloodline-inherited Devil Fruit abilities.

This wasn't anything too new for her.

She was very familiar with Jakka and Bell in the Alabasta Guard. The former had the Dog-Dog Fruit in Jackal form, and the latter had the Bird-Bird Fruit in Falcon form. She didn't know what the ancestors of the Nefertari family had done, but although these two Devil Fruits were not inherited through blood, they always appeared within Alabasta and would never go anywhere else.

Those who ate these two Devil Fruits were both loyal subordinates of the Nefertari family. Were they inherently loyal, or did the Devil Fruits alter their minds? This is a chilling thought...

"Take this guy away, I don't want to see him again! Neptune—!" King Neptune was still a bit childish; he ordered his son to take Vander Decken IX away.

The king has three sons. The eldest and second sons have gone out on an inspection tour these past few days, and only the third son, named Fanchexing, is by his side.

According to Vivi's observation, this Third Prince is a bit simple-minded.

"Red car overturned! Red car overturned, overturned!" You're clearly a very fat merman with a pair of ridiculous little eyes and a big mouth. Can't you at least put on a serious face? This thing is like an idiot, always grinning and singing weird nursery rhymes next to Shirahoshi.

Just like this time, Fan Che Xing sang and danced beside Bai Xing, and seeing his sister laughing so hard, he finally escorted Vander Deiken IX to the dungeon with satisfaction.

"Wait!" Vivi ran out as they walked out of the hall and called out to Fanchexing.

She grabbed something that looked like a potted plant from the side and hurled it at Vander Deiken IX over his head.

"You dared to bully Shirahoshi!"

"I told you not to throw the axe!"

I'll beat you to death!