"Lord Link, thank you for your help!"
In the reception hall of the Ryugu Kingdom, Link and Neptune were speaking alone.
The twelve-meter-tall Neptune bowed to the one-meter-ninety Link, his expression grateful.
Looking at the bowing Neptune, Link smiled playfully, "I heard you shared sake with Whitebeard. I thought you would resist with all your might."
"If I were not a king, I would certainly resist with all my might. But I am the king of Fish-Man Island, and that position does not allow me to do so," Neptune said honestly.
"Not bad, you're quite sensible."
Link nodded in satisfaction. "From now on, you can use my flag freely. If anyone dares to disregard it, you can call me. I will teach them a lesson."
"Thank you very much."
Neptune bowed again and then asked, "I wonder, what price must I pay?"
"I don't need money. I only want one person."
Link didn't beat around the bush and stated his purpose directly: "I want your daughter, the famous Princess Shirahoshi, to become my 19th crewmate."
"Shirahoshi?!"
Neptune's expression changed, and he immediately shook his head. "No, I cannot let you take Shirahoshi."
"King Neptune, you need to understand one thing..."
With Carina and the other girls not around, Link didn't show his gentle side and said forcefully, "I am informing you, not negotiating with you."
Neptune's face stiffened. He struggled, "No, I am not willing. For certain reasons, Shirahoshi cannot leave the Hard-Shell Tower. Even I, her father, and her brothers can hardly see her."
"Oh?"
Link asked, feigning ignorance, "The reason?"
Neptune answered truthfully, "There is a fish-man who ate the Paramecia Target-Target Fruit. He has been threatening me to make Shirahoshi marry him, or he will kill her."
"I don't know when, but he left a mark on Shirahoshi."
"With his fruit's ability, he can throw a weapon from anywhere, and it will fly towards Shirahoshi."
"Because we could never find his location, I have kept Shirahoshi in that shelter all these years."
"So Shirahoshi cannot go out. Otherwise, if that person finds out, he will stop at nothing to kill her."
"...So that's how it is."
Link pretended to understand.
But the next second, he sneered, "I know about the Target-Target Fruit. That ability is indeed unsolvable in some ways, but if it's just ordinary weapons, it's impossible for them to fly from the surface to Fish-Man Island, ten thousand meters below."
"This means that fish-man isn't on the sea ten thousand meters above. He should be in the dark deep-sea zone, perhaps not even far from Fish-Man Island."
Neptune gave a bitter smile, "I also analyzed that. I've gone out to search for him more than once, but the deep-sea zone is too vast. Finding one person in the dark deep sea is simply too difficult."
"A small problem."
Link smiled confidently. "Do you have his photo? I'll go and take care of him for you. That way, you can rest assured and let Princess Shirahoshi go to sea with me."
"...Alright."
Neptune hesitated for only a few seconds before nodding.
He didn't know if Link could find Vander Decken IX.
But he knew that if Link wanted to take Shirahoshi, he was completely powerless to stop him.
Rather than resisting and having her taken away, possibly turning Shirahoshi from a crewmate into a slave, it was better to let her leave with Link as a crewmate and a companion.
Compared to staying in the Hard-Shell Tower forever, letting Shirahoshi go out and see the world might be a good thing.
As long as Shirahoshi's secret is not exposed, she won't be in danger, and no one can snatch her from Link's hands.
"...Alright. That guy's corpse will soon appear before you."
After getting a photo of Vander Decken IX from Neptune, Link immediately created a Wood Clone and sent it to find and eliminate Vander Decken IX. Then he said to Neptune, "Where is Princess Shirahoshi? Let me see her."
After speaking, Link added, "Don't worry, I won't take Princess Shirahoshi out of here before I've dealt with that guy."
"If I fail to deal with him, I won't take Princess Shirahoshi, and you can use my flag for free."
Seeing Link go this far, Neptune naturally had no reason to refuse.
"Shirahoshi is in the Hard-Shell Tower. I'll have someone take you there."
Led by a guard, Link soon arrived in front of the Hard-Shell Tower.
The two doors, over ten meters high, were covered in marks left by cold weapons, a clear sign that Vander Decken IX threw a weapon at it every so often.
But that guy would soon have no more chances to throw weapons.
Finding a person in the dark deep-sea zone was like finding a needle in a haystack.
The Paramecia Glare-Glare Fruit's clairvoyance has a range of four thousand kilometers, but if there's no light source near Vander Decken IX, it would still be difficult to lock onto his position.
Even Nami's unique level of Observation Haki would be helpless.
With one exception... Link.
That being said, although the Sensing Technique wasn't as versatile or had as many functions as Observation Haki...
...its sensory range completely crushed Observation Haki.
With the Hashirama Senju template unlocked to 80%, the range Link's Sensing Technique could now cover was incredibly vast.
In the original story, Tobirama Senju could sense the chakra and life force of enemies thousands of miles away just by touching the ground with his index and middle fingers.
Link's Wood Clone similarly only needed to touch the seawater to sense the physical energy and Haki intensity of beings within a radius of thousands of kilometers.
Although there were countless creatures in the deep sea, as long as it compared Vander Decken IX's physical energy with that of the fish-men on Fish-Man Island, the Wood Clone could quickly lock onto his position.
From the moment the Wood Clone began to act, the countdown to Vander Decken IX's life began.
Entering the Hard-Shell Tower through the crack in the doors, Link quickly saw Shirahoshi, who was only fourteen this year and also the most suitable host for the Artificial Mythical Zoan, Azure Dragon Form.
That's right, the host Link had chosen for the Artificial Mythical Zoan, Azure Dragon Form, was Shirahoshi.
The sixteen-year-old Shirahoshi would be 11.87 meters tall, possessing a physique comparable to that of an average giant. As a Giant Whiting Mermaid, both her hair color and the color of her fish tail were a perfect match for the pink color of the Artificial Mythical Zoan, Azure Dragon Form.
As long as Shirahoshi ate the Artificial Mythical Zoan, Azure Dragon Form, she would be like the legend of the fish leaping over the dragon gate, directly transforming from a fish into a dragon.
A complete dragon!
Once she awakened the power of the Sea King Poseidon, she would be the true Strongest Creature in the World.
Therefore, no one was more suitable for this pink Artificial Mythical Zoan, Azure Dragon Form, than Shirahoshi.
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