201 Meeting King Neptune

"Are those our bounty posters?" Usopp asked Prince Fukaboshi.

"Yes, they are. Do you want to see them?" Prince Fukaboshi handed them over.

This drew the attention of Luffy and Sanji, who both wanted to see if theirs had changed at all.

Sanji was disappointed as his bounty hadn't changed, but more so that he was still behind "the mosshead" and that it still held that terrible drawing. Contrarily, Usopp was relieved that his bounty didn't change at all.

"Bahahaha! 500 million Beri!" Luffy laughed when he saw his bounty.

Seeing Cherry's bounty, though, they were all a bit stunned.

"Why are you surprised, Luffy? Rayleigh talked about it right in front of you two years ago." Cherry said.

Luffy picked at his nose and said "I wasn't paying attention."

"It's rather unusual for a crew member to have a bounty exceeding their captain's own bounty." Prince Fukaboshi said, finding it curious.

"Is it? I guess I've never heard of something like that before…" Usopp said.

Prince Fukaboshi nodded. "Pirate captain's tend to have inflated bounties compared to their crews. This is because a captain's capture or death most often results in the crew being disbanded, thus making it easier to deal with the divided remnants. A desirable outcome for the world government as you can imagine."

"Cherry-swan is on her way to becoming the world's most desirable woman!" Sanji practically sang as he pranced about.

"Wanted and desirable aren't quite the same in this context…" Usopp muttered under his breath.

Soon they approached the passageway that separated the Ryugu palace's bubble from the larger bubble of fishman island.

"What's the point in this entrance anyways? Couldn't you just drop into the palace from above through the bubble?" Cherry asked.

"The palace's bubble is much thicker and much denser than fishman island's bubble. Even fishman island's bubble is normally impossible to push through. A credit to your ship that it was able to do so, and from below where gravity would work against it no less." Prince Fukaboshi explained. "Although, the palace's bubble has been breached frequently over the past few years by that fiend Vander Decken and his cursed devil fruit."

Before anyone could ask what sort of devil fruit Vander Decken had, the gondola was allowed entrance into the palace and they were quickly guided to a chamber where King Neptune was said to be waiting to receive them.

Cherry did a scan of the palace with Life Sense now that she was inside. To her great relief, she found that Borke and Slenk were indeed still alive, somewhere in the lower levels where the dungeons presumably were. They even seemed to be in good health.

Something else caught Cherry's attention though. Two potent life forces dwelled in this palace, the smaller of which was in the direction they were headed so that must be the king.

The other was so rich with vital energy that even giants paled in comparison. It burned so bright, she almost didn't notice the mark left behind by a devil fruit.

Cherry caught Luffy by the ear as he almost slipped away unnoticed. Luffy's ear stretched and stretched until it started to drag on him too much to keep ignoring.

"Stop snooping and sniffing around, Luffy. There'll be food this way." Cherry shook her head in exasperation.

They entered into a grand dining hall. The long coral decorated table was covered from end to end with many dishes of a wide variety.

Luffy paid no mind to the big merman wearing a crown that greeted them and rushed to the table to start stuffing his face.

"Welcome! I am King Neptune! I must personally thank you for saving poor Megalo's life from the kraken! Jamon!" King Neptune said heartily. "Hopefully your other friends will be found and invited swiftly so we can enjoy the festivities together."

Cherry waltzed straight over to King Neptune, which instantly put the guards on edge. She stopped several steps away and looked up at him with squinted eyes as she rubbed her chin in thought.

King Neptune looked back at her unflinchingly and soon discovered the same thing as his sons had earlier, that she was the mysterious pair of eyes that had seemed to gaze upon them so coldly.

Cherry spoke before he did. "I believe you have sentenced my two innocent brothers to death for daring to defend themselves."

A silence permeated the room, even Luffy stopped eating to look over at them.

"How dare-!" A seahorse merman started.

Cherry turned her eyes on him and the words caught in his throat. He even felt as if the words were choking him.

"I was not speaking to you." Cherry stated calmly.

"I believe there has been a misunderstanding!" A catfish merman in a fine purple robe said.

"Umu, indeed there has. If you are referring to the two human swordsmen, Borke and Slenk, their sentences have not been carried out nor did I have any intention of doing so. Jamon." King Neptune said, not losing any composure.

The seahorse merman was released from the pressure Cherry put on him with her conqueror's haki and he gasped to catch his breath.

"Anti-human sentiments have been on the rise in this kingdom, despite my sons' best efforts to the contrary. There was no solid evidence to absolve them of the accusation, but given their previous actions I did not believe they were likely to be true. However, many have called for their punishment and would not accept a simple banishment, they wanted blood. Their sentence was purely lip service and I intended to keep them hidden until such time that I could smuggle them back to the surface." King Neptune explained.

"Politics, disgusting." Cherry sneered. The royals in the room seemed to agree with her.

"I do apologize for causing you to worry about your brothers." King Neptune said sincerely.

Cherry found it difficult to stay angry at the merman, which was annoying because she wasn't ready to stop being angry yet.

"Would you be able to pardon them with a sufficient service rendered?" Cherry asked.

"Perhaps, what do you have in mind?" King Neptune had his interest piqued. He would certainly prefer to clear the two's names rather than using such a clandestine method as his plan.

"Your son, Fuckboy-shi, mentioned that Vander Decken often breached your palace's security. I can put a stop to that." Cherry said.

Prince Fukaboshi did a very satisfying spit take with his glass of wine whilst his two brothers could barely contain their snickering. The seahorse merman also did a spit take, only with his own blood as a result of his rage.

King Neptune was momentarily stunned silent until he registered the last part of what she said. "Truly?! Can you lift that miscreant's curse from my daughter?!"

'So that giant life force is his daughter. Damn. I love a tall woman but she must be something else entirely.' Cherry thought to herself. "His mark is on your daughter, hm? Yes, I can get rid of it."

"Your majesty! We cannot simply take this rude woman's word at face value! She's a pirate, they lie as easily as they breathe!" The seahorse merman tried to reason.

"Hmmm, they may be the case, my Minister of the Right, but how can I pass up this chance for my daughter to be free after ten long years of that beast's marriage proposals and assassination attempts?!" King Neptune said anxiously.

Cherry thought that something sounded off about that. "Ten years? How old is your daughter?"

"The princess is 16 years old." The catfish merman answered as King Neptune was a bit too riled up.

Cherry turned around and looked Sanji in the eye. A wordless agreement was made between them in that brief moment.

Vander Decken would die.