Arrival at Fish-Man Island, The Terrified Fish-Men
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Finally, they reached the dark zone of the sea. The deeper they went, the less light there was.
The warship had to turn on its searchlights to see where they were going, even though the lights might attract creatures from the deep.
They managed to avoid the dangerous area around the underwater volcanoes and made it to the entrance of Fish-Man Island.
This island was deep down, about 10,000 meters below the surface, in a huge hole that went right under the Red Line at the bottom of a deep ocean trench.
But at the entrance, they ran into the kind of trouble that scared the marines the most.
Three huge Sea Kings were guarding the first entrance. Brontes looked at them, his mind flashing back to what he saw in the anime when Saint Mjosgard's ship was attacked by Sea Kings, and he was the only survivor.
He remembered how close he had come to dying at the hands of the fish-men on Fish-Man Island, and how Queen Otohime had to step in to save him.
"Sir, they're blocking our way. What do we do? Should we turn back?" One of the navigators asked, his voice shaking a little with fear.
"No, keep going." Brontes replied in a steady voice.
"What?!"
"Y-Yes, sir!"
The navigators were surprised and a bit frightened, but they followed Brontes's orders.
As the warship moved closer, the Sea Kings noticed and got ready to attack.
Suddenly, as the Sea Kings charged, they were stopped by a powerful force. It was as if an invisible giant hand held them back.
They were frozen, unable to do anything but watch as the warship boldly sailed past them.
When they got to the entrance, it was like a huge funnel, pulling them in with a strong force. The ship shook hard.
"Watch out!"
The navigator shouted. He told everyone to hold on tight to the ship so they wouldn't be thrown into the sea.
Everyone except Brontes grabbed onto something, ready for the rough ride.
The Sea Kings just watched as the ship left. They weren't very smart, but they could sense that there was something very scary on that ship.
After the warship went through the gate, the Sea Kings seemed to think for a moment and then decided to leave.
When the soldiers looked again, they saw that everything around them was bright.
"Is this Fish-Man Island?" Brontes's assistant wondered out loud.
"Yes, we've made it to Fish-Man Island." One of the navigators said, giving a full explanation: "The light up there comes from the Sunlight Tree Eve. Its roots are under Fish-Man Island, and the main part of the tree is up on the Sabaody Archipelago."
"Above the Sabaody Archipelago?! But we're ten thousand meters under the sea here, and if you add the height of the Sabaody Archipelago..." The soldiers were amazed and couldn't believe it.
"Yes, the roots of the Sunlight Tree Eve stretch over ten thousand meters, bringing the sunlight from above down to Fish-Man Island." The navigator explained.
"This is nothing short of a miracle." The marine soldiers said, filled with wonder at the explanation.
"We have to go through the gate. If we try to get in from anywhere else, the warship's protective coating will be torn off by the huge bubble layer around the island. Since half of Fish-Man Island is underwater, we'd be drowned and crushed by the sea. The entrance is the only way in." The navigator continued.
"Mm." Brontes agreed, listening from the side.
As the warship approached the second entrance, the Fish-Man guards saw the marine warship and looked worried.
The relationship between Fish-Man Island and the World Government was strained, and even though Jinbe had been trying to help, the sight of a Marine warship made the royal guards anxious.
"Stop! State your purpose for coming to the Fish-Man Island?" A Fish-Man soldier called out, blocking their way.
"We're from the World Government. We need to get into Fish-Man Island. Please let us through." One of the navigators quickly stepped up to talk to the soldier.
"What's your business here on Fish-Man Island?" The Fish-Man soldier asked.
"Tell King Neptune that Fleet-Admiral Brontes wants to meet with him." The navigator looked at Brontes and then called out to the Fish-Man soldier.
"W-What?!" The soldier was shocked and said: "Okay, I'll tell the king right away. Please wait here."
The soldier hurried off to use a Den Den Mushi to contact the Ryugu Palace.
...
At the Ryugu Palace, King Neptune and Queen Otohime were in an urgent meeting because of what had happened to Saint Mjosgard, who had been unconscious for some time.
Queen Otohime had already spoken with him, and they had come to an agreement. She had decided to go to Mariejois herself to talk to the World Nobles, but Neptune and the ministers thought it was too risky for her to go.
Queen Otohime was trying to convince Neptune to let her go with Mjosgard to Mariejois.
"It's too dangerous, you absolutely cannot go..." Neptune said, looking at his wife with concern.
"Your Majesty, there's bad news!" A soldier burst in, out of breath and kneeling before Neptune.
"What is it?" Neptune asked, annoyed by the interruption.
"Your Majesty, a Marine warship is outside Fish-Man Island, and they say Fleet-Admiral Ragnarok is leading them." The soldier said anxiously, clearly he was very nervous.
"What?!" Everyone in the palace turned to look at the soldier in surprise.
"It seems to be true. Fleet-Admiral Ragnarok is with the World Government, so he must be here for Saint Mjosgard. This is not good." Neptune said, looking worried.
"What do we do now?" The left minister asked, sounding even more anxious.
"Quickly, we can't keep Fleet-Admiral Ragnarok waiting outside." Queen Otohime said, giving orders to the soldier.
"But Your Highness, Fleet-Admiral Ragnarok's arrival could mean the World Government is ready to take action against us because of Saint Mjosgard." The right minister said, his voice filled with worry.
King Neptune closed his eyes and let out a heavy sigh, his face was showing the weight of their grave situation: "We have no choice. If we don't let them in, they might force their way through, and the damage to Fish-Man Island could be beyond our worst fears."
"What should we do, Your Majesty?" Both ministers looked to Neptune.
"Go and welcome Fleet-Admiral Ragnarok. We'll meet him at the dock. And inform Jinbe; he's here on the island. As a Shichibukai, he might have some influence on Ragnarok..." Neptune thought for a moment before giving his orders.
"Yes, Your Majesty, I'll go at once." The right minister responded.
Neptune quickly organized a group, and he set out with Queen Otohime and the Great Knight of the Shark Star was leading the way.
The right minister hurried to the Fish-Man District and found Jinbe, the leader of the Sun Pirates.
The island was still in turmoil over the arrival of a World Noble, the same class of people who had once enslaved them, and the desire for revenge was strong.
...
"Jinbe, have you forgotten how our captain died?" Arlong glared at Jinbe, his voice was thick with anger.
"I haven't forgotten Fisher Tiger's death, but we can't lay a finger on Saint Mjosgard. If we do, there's no turning back for Fish-Man Island. We could be destroyed just to appease the World Nobles." Jinbe replied solemnly.
"You're a coward, Jinbe! Nothing but a coward!" Arlong shouted angrily, his eyes burning with resentment.
While the argument raged on in the Fish-Man District, the right minister arrived, breathless.
"Jinbe, there's a big problem. King Neptune needs you at the dock right now!" The right minister's voice was urgent, his face etched with panic.
"What's happened?" Jinbe stood up, alarmed.
The other Fish-Men looked on, puzzled by the king's envoy's distress.
"The World Government has come, led by Fleet-Admiral Ragnarok himself." The right minister informed him quickly.
"What?!" Jinbe's face showed both shock and a trace of relief that the World Noble was still unharmed.
"Fleet-Admiral Ragnarok, that man..." Arlong remembered Brontes from the incident at Impel Down, and the mention of the Fleet-Admiral made him lose his composure.
He had been easily captured by a Marine Commodore before, and the thought of facing Fleet-Admiral Ragnarok made him wary of causing any trouble.
"Let's go, we can't make Brontes-dono wait." Jinbe urged, knowing from past encounters how ruthless Brontes could be to his enemies.
Fish-Man Island couldn't risk antagonizing such a powerful figure.