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Chapter's Events:
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"Let's execute them all, Captain Hody!!"
"Burn them at the stake!!"
"No, skewer them!!" Seeing the king and the three princes tied up side by side after their defeat, Hody's followers got excited, eager to watch them executed.
"Give the worthless royal family the horrible deaths they deserve!!"
"Give the people watching a show they'll never forget!!!" Hody's men kept suggesting methods of execution one after another.
"..." Meanwhile, the ordinary citizens watched helplessly.
"Silence…" Hody ordered.
"Aarghh!!" This scared his followers.
"I have not yet received word from Decken's men of Shirahoshi's death…" Hody was still uneasy about that potential threat.
"If we cannot lure out the princess, there is no meaning to any of this." he added.
"Don't you dare harm our sister, Hody!!!" shouted Manboshi in fury.
"She's no warrior!! What threat is she to you?!!"
"Prince Manboshi, do you really think that I am not aware of her power?"
"That legendary mermaid is the greatest threat of all!!" Hody approached the prince with a mocking grin.
"CAPTAIN HODY!!!" At that moment, a loud voice was heard, followed by a shocking scene—two figures and a shark were thrown into the plaza.
"Princess Shirahoshi and Jimbei… have fallen for our trap!!!"
"AAAHHH!!"
"Unnghhh…"
"Shirahoshi!!" cried Neptune and the three princes in anguish.
"…Father… My brothers…!!!" she exclaimed.
"… Now, this is more like it!!! Jahahahahahaha!!!" Hody laughed madly upon seeing the scene.
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Hody Jones felt chills running through him as he watched, unable to believe how incredibly lucky his counterpart had been at this moment.
Seeing how he and his gang had easily toppled the king, princes, ministers, and the kingdom's army without many losses aside from the tamed Sea Monsters—and then, afterward, Shirahoshi and Jimbei were captured so easily—he felt as if he were dreaming. Could it really be possible to bring down a kingdom this easily?
Even Jimbei furrowed his brow in puzzlement…
He had his suspicions but kept them to himself. After all, it was impossible for even him to fall into such a foolish trap, even when with a silly child like Shirahoshi, let alone his more experienced and powerful counterpart.
Even Arlong shook his head regretfully, sighing at his little friend's foolishness.
"It seems as though fate wants you to be king, Hody…" Tiger smiled as he said this.
"I don't dare harbor such thoughts, elder brother Tiger…"
Hody couldn't bring himself to look Fisher Tiger directly in the eyes… especially after witnessing the rest of the chapter's events.
When one hundred thousand outlaw Fishmen entered the plaza, he felt the atmosphere shift sharply against him… but up to that point, everything was still under control. At least until three thousand human slaves appeared.
The entire mood soured completely. A suffocating silence fell upon the Art Store, as if someone had turned the sound all the way down.
You could hear even a pin drop in the store… none of the Fishmen ever imagined they would one day see their own kind enslaving humans—and in such great numbers.
What is a slave?
A slave is one stripped of his identity, thoughts, and dreams, reduced to nothing more than a tool to be used at his master's whim… the lowest rung in the hierarchy of all sentient beings.
Only one who has truly felt what it means to be a slave can understand its reality. A slave.
Fisher Tiger clenched his fist so tightly that the red skin of his hand almost lost its color.
"What is this nonsense!"
Tiger slammed the table so hard that his hand hurt. Unfortunately, items of the Art Store could not be destroyed, but their power could not be canceled either—they would simply return to their owner.
"It seems your vision has been blinded by hatred, Hody… Don't lie, don't put on that confused and shocked face! I hate hypocrites more than anything!!!"
"You like what your counterpart is doing, don't you?"
Hody Jones, standing only a few meters away from Tiger's group, suddenly felt as though he were cornered by a fierce tiger ready to rip him apart if he took a single step back.
Sweat drenched his back, and beads rolled down his forehead.
"I… I… that's right, I hate humans! Enslaving three thousand humans! What an accomplishment! I am truly proud of my counterpart! I'm happy about it—I wish I could achieve something like that in the future!"
After being pushed to the edge, he finally stopped pretending and unleashed all the true feelings he had hidden until now.
Seeing this, Arlong sighed and shook his head…
Jimbei felt deep regret and sorrow.
"Nyuu~ Hody…"
Even Hatchi felt saddened by the scene.
Every Fishman from Fishman District stared at Hody in shock—even those who would one day become members of his pirate crew: Zeo, Dosun, Ikaros Much, and others.
"So that's how it is…"
At that moment, Hody Jones felt a hand rest on his shoulder.
He turned quickly to find a human, smiling as if he were a friend, resting a hand on him.
"Confessing your sins is a virtue, you know?" Rob said with a gentle smile.
"S-s-sky sword!!?" Hody stammered, unable to properly say the name from the sheer terror and shock he felt in that moment.
"Confessing hatred toward a race is no sin—you have your reasons to hate humans, and you have your reasons to hate me, since I am human… I understand that."
That kind smile on Rob's face froze the blood in Hody Jones' body.
"I… already know… that my counterpart is nothing more than a whetstone for the protagonist of the story, Monkey D. Luffy… a human…"
"That only made me angrier… why? Why must the Fishman race always be the whetstone for humans?"
Somehow, Hody Jones put aside his instinctive fear of Rob and voiced what he truly felt. He wasn't stupid—he knew all the events so far had merely been paving the way for Luffy's entrance and another rescue of a princess and her kingdom, just as in Alabasta and elsewhere.
His eyes fell upon a manga volume lying open on the floor at a certain page.
Madame Shyarly was telling his counterpart that he was not the one who would destroy Fishman Island, but that the man who would was Monkey D. Luffy. In other words… the man who would destroy him was Monkey D. Luffy.
"Does that enrage you so much?" Rob asked, as if asking a friend.
"It's frustrating indeed, yes…" Hody answered, as though speaking to a friend.
"Why don't you keep reading to the end?" Rob suggested.
"I really want to… I'm curious how it all unfolds." Hody replied.
"Well then, pick up your volume and go to that empty table." Rob pointed to a spot not far away, and Hody did just that.
Rob then turned to Fisher Tiger and the others with a smile, "What are you waiting for? Continue reading as well… One Piece manga is not a manga that plants grievances between people—its role is to heal them."
"Even the most wicked villains of this world can be undermined again."
Tiger felt relief and nodded with a smile toward Rob—a thank you without words.
Jimbei, Arlong, and Hatchi did the same.
Rob nodded, turned, and walked away—heading to Neptune's side.
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Upcoming chapter titles (spoilers):
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Chapter 956: Hody is the Hatred of the Fish-Man Race Accumulated Across Generations.
Chapter 957: The Destruction of Fishman Island?
Chapter 958: The Straw Hat Crew's Entrance.
Chapter 959: Contributions of a True Friend.
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