Removing Decken's Curse

Cherry placed her hand on Princess Shirahoshi's arm. She could feel the mark much more clearly now and admired its structure for a moment.

Rather than destroy the mark, which would be easy enough, she instead moved it into herself.

"The Princess is now free of Vander Decken's curse. I've moved it to myself so that you can confirm it the next time he tries to target her." Cherry explained.

King Neptune nodded his head. Certainly it would take time to truly be sure that Princess Shirahoshi was free if the mark was simply destroyed. This way they could see with their own eyes the next time he sent something and it went to Cherry instead.

"What? Won't that mean that Vander Decken-sama's attacks will target you instead, Cherry-sama?" Princess Shirahoshi asked with concern.

"I can handle anything he throws at me, Princess." Cherry spoke reassuringly.

Princess Shirahoshi still looked unsure, but nodded her head. She would rather that this interesting new person wasn't in danger at all, though.

"Does this mean I can go see Okaa-sama's grave, Otou-sama?" Princess Shirahoshi asked hopefully.

"Of course, my daughter. As soon as we're sure it's safe, I'll take you there myself! Jamon!" King Neptune felt that his heart was lighter than it had been in a decade.

Stepping out of the princess' room and shutting the door, King Neptune and his men couldn't help but start tearing up again.

"You know, I didn't expect to see you cry so much after hearing about what a great warrior you are." Cherry commented. "It's kind of endearing though, I suppose."

"Hahahahaha! My wife once said that as well in our early years together." King Neptune said, wiping away a tear.

"Well, I'm not going to be your second wife. Just so we're clear." Cherry said.

"Hahahaha!" King Neptune laughed.

The atmosphere between Cherry and King Neptune lost all the previous tension, creating a jovial feeling in the air.

"Now you'll uphold your end of the bargain, yes?" Cherry asked.

"Of course! This is just the excuse I needed to let those two go. Even among the citizens that aren't fond of humans, they won't think it to be a bad deal. Only extremists like Hody's group will have any complaints." King Neptune said.

"Hody?" Cherry asked. She hadn't been there when Prince Fukaboshi gave Jinbe's message to Luffy.

"The captain of the New Fishmen Pirates. It was his men that your two brothers fought against. He might as well be the leader of the anti-human sentiments in my kingdom as well." King Neptune explained solemnly.

Cherry already didn't like the man, and it wasn't long before she realized she could take out her frustrations with this whole ordeal out on him. This Hody was the real culprit after all.

King Neptune was oblivious to her inner thoughts as they arrived back at the dining room. When they opened the door, they were greeted with an unexpected sight. A standoff between the Straw Hat pirates and the three princes and their men. Several royal guards were on the ground unconscious.

"What's going on, Jamon?!" King Neptune was confused and angry.

"Your majesty!" The Minister of the Right bowed and reported dutifully. "We received word from Madam Shyarly. She had a vision that a man in a straw hat would destroy fishman island!"

"I tried to dissuade him, your majesty." The Minister of the Left said. "But before I could reason that there is more than just one straw hat in the world, he ordered the guards to capture them."

"What?!" The Minister of the Right felt betrayed by his counterpart.

"Enough!" King Neptune pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "Why did you not simply wait for my return before jumping into action?"

The Minister of the Right deflated a bit. He had indeed overreacted. He thought that they might have brought someone dangerous into the palace.

"Madam Shyarly said that though? That doesn't bode well, but she was also wrong about Whitebeard's death." King Neptune muttered.

"Who is Madam Shyarly? Why is she telling lies about us?!" Usopp demanded.

"Madam Shyarly can see visions of the future. She had never once been wrong up until she predicted that Whitebeard would die at Marineford." Prince Fukaboshi explained.

"So she's an unreliable quack." Cherry scoffed.

Chopper twitched a bit at that comment. "Quacks aren't all that bad…"

Cherry continued "Fate isn't set in stone. You can always change it. It might kick you in the teeth when you do, but every choice in life has consequences so how's that any different? How many of Madam Shyarly's predictions could have been changed if you just put in the effort?"

Madam Shyarly was well respected on Fishman Island, but Cherry spoke with such conviction that it was hard to refute her.

"Nobody is gonna tell me what to do! I'll kick Fate's ass!" Luffy shouted with a crab leg hanging from his mouth.

"Damn straight." Sanji concurred, lighting up a cigarette. Inside his head he wondered if Cherry and Cabernet thought he looked cool right now.

Things settle down somewhat after that, leaving the royals with something to think about.

…

In an alley on Fishman Island.

"Who's this guy?" Zoro asked Brook.

"No idea." Brook answered.

Hammond was incensed by their casual dismissal. "You don't need to remember! Get 'em boys!"

Brook was suddenly behind the charging fishmen, his sword cane slightly drawn from its sheath. "I don't even need my new techniques against you ruffians, Yohohoho!"

*Click*

Brook sheathed the sword and the fishmen fell to the ground with cuts across their torsos.

"*burp* Not bad…" The blue-ringed octopus merman, Hyouzou, said. He drew out his own swords.

Hammond was already backing away. He didn't expect his men to be taken out quite so easily and he definitely didn't want to get between Hyouzou and the other two human swordsmen.

"I'll handle this one, Brook. You go after the other idiot." Zoro said, stepping forward placing Wado Ichimonji in his mouth.

"Ah, you're not allowed to make a mess, Zoro. Nami will be angry, you know." Brook said, before bounding away.

Hyouzou tried to intercept Brook in the air, but Zoro intercepted him in turn.

"Tch, I don't want that greedy woman getting on my case. Guess I'll have to be a little discreet." Zoro muttered through his teeth and the sword between them.

Hammond meanwhile was terrified of the undead swordsman chasing after him. However, as he got closer to the populated streets, he had a brilliant idea.

"HELP! MURDERER! I'M GOING TO BE MURDERED!" Hammond started shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Uh oh, that's bad." Brook said, speeding up.

Brook reached him before Hammond could reach the streets and slashed him across the back faster than the eye could see. He swiftly caught Hammond as he was falling to the ground and placed him over his shoulder. Footsteps could be heard approaching with haste.

"HELP! THIS MAN NEEDS HELP!" Brook shouted, dragging Hammond out into the street.

"What's going on here?!" A patrolling guard asked. "Geh?! What the hell-"

"My new friend here was slashed across the back by a drunken octopus merman! Our other friends are holding him off, but the octopus merman had already cut several of them!" Brook said with very convincing despair in his tone.

The guard decided to ignore the issue of the walking talking skeleton for now since others were in danger. He took out his den den mushi and made a call with it. "I need backup on Reef street! A slasher is killing people, the suspect is possibly Hyouzou from the description given by a witness!"

"C-copy! Back up will be there shortly!" A somewhat panicked voice answered through the snail.

'This Hyouzou must be quite the trouble maker if they know him so well.' Brook thought. 'Now Zoro just needs to beat him and we'll be on our merry way, Yohohoho!'