"You know exactly what you to do."
At the sight of Doflamingo's brazen behavior, Queen Otohime's face twisted with visible fury.
Her whole body trembled from rising blood pressure as she glared at him, seething with rage.
"Doflamingo, you're humiliating me! You're humiliating the royal bloodline of Fish-Man Island that's lasted 800 years!!"
She yelled, her voice shaking with anger, and turned toward the door, ready to walk out right then and there.
What did Doflamingo take her for?
She was Queen Otohime, consort of Neptune—
Not some courtesan to be toyed with!
"Fufufufufu~"
Otohime's fiery reaction only made Doflamingo more excited, even his loins twitched at the thrill.
The more she resisted now, the sweeter it would feel to break her.
Hands folded behind his head, he gazed up at the ceiling and spoke playfully.
"You're free to leave. The door's not locked."
"But starting tomorrow..."
"Every single resident of Fish-Man Island up here on Sky Island—whether mermaid or fish-man—will be stripped of their rights and turned into slaves."
At those words, Otohime froze mid-step, her fury deepening.
She knew full well that with Doflamingo's grip on Sky Island, he absolutely had the power to do it.
She turned back, outraged.
"I'll tell the people the truth. I'll expose who's really behind all this!"
"Fufufufu~ Otohime, you really are just like my late father—naïve to the core."
Doflamingo grinned, savoring the sight of her hate-filled expression.
That fury—mixed with desperation—had its own kind of allure.
"Even if you've got that heartstring-tugging Observation Haki... how many will believe the former queen of Fish-Man Island?"
"And how many will instead trust me—the human king who gave them free sunshine and homes?"
Otohime's face went pale. Life on Sky Island had been good.
If not for Neptune's fate and the disaster back on Fish-Man Island, she might never have woken up from the dream.
Even she once believed this was the future of their people—how could ordinary citizens not believe it?
After all, she was only Fish-Man Island's queen. She was never Sky Island's queen.
Otohime fell silent.
Doflamingo did not.
He sat up, watching the stiff expression on her face, and kindly added the rest of his plan.
"By the way, slaves won't be allowed to reproduce."
"Fish-Man Island will disappear into the ocean floor, permanently."
"And your last son—Manboshi—will be minced into meat... and I'll hand-feed him to you."
As he spoke, threads unfurled from Doflamingo's fingers, floating in the air of the grand hall to vividly reenact the scene he described.
"Ugh!" Just the thought of such a brutal future made Otohime's vision spin. The color drained from her world.
She clutched her thigh and gagged, stomach heaving.
But Doflamingo wasn't finished.
"You, Otohime, will be the only mermaid left with human rights."
"You'll be the last. After you, mermaids and fish-men will pass into legend."
"Of course, such a truth is too cruel. So let's give it a prettier ending:'Because merfolk cannot live long away from seawater, they eventually turned into foam and vanished.'"
"Beautiful, isn't it? Tragic, but poetic."
Otohime's empathy cursed her with a vivid imagination. She could already see it— And the despair it brought crushed her. Tears spilled down her cheeks.
She let out a bleak sigh. Her shoulders slumped, as if life itself had left her.
She raised her head to meet those scarlet eyes, her voice cracked with pain.
"Heavenly Yaksha... what do you really want? Are the people of Fish-Man Island really so worthless to you? They're people too!!!"
"What I want? Isn't it obvious?"
Doflamingo shifted his hips, smirking as he lay back again.
"Of course they're people. But even if you added up every single mermaid and fish-man, they still wouldn't be worth half of you, Otohime!"
Five million fish-men—and only Jinbe and Fisher Tiger ever amounted to anything.
But now? He didn't need that kind of power anymore.
Pacifistas. One laser. Entire mobs wiped clean.
The only thing that mattered now—was Poseidon.
These words might've sounded like twisted affection.
But to Otohime, they were ice-cold. Sickening. Her despair had become a bottomless pit.
"You walk out of here—everything becomes real."
"You stay here—and you, me, merfolk, fish-men, even humans—we all stay safe."
"It's your choice. Everything's in your hands."
Shirahoshi, wait for Daddy.
I'll create you very soon.
...
Silence wrapped around the royal palace like a shroud.
Doflamingo wasn't worried at all. A saint? He had this saint right where he wanted her.
Time passed.
...
Step... step...
Otohime, empty-eyed and utterly broken, dragged herself slowly toward the throne.
She used up all her strength just to move.
She could die.
But Manboshi was still a child—the last trace Neptune left behind.
And the people of Fish-Man Island... they were innocent.
This disaster began because she brought them here to Sky Island.
She would bear the burden of that sin.
A wave of warmth...
Doflamingo opened his eyes with satisfaction. Once he took in the sight before him, his eyes lit up with delight.
He never would've guessed that plain-looking Otohime had hidden such mountainous assets.
His hands gripped the protruding rocks.
With Seimei Kikan activated, he adjusted his climbing gear to match the shape, locking it in place with precision.
His climbing partner, Otohime, wasn't built for endurance.
As fierce gales howled around them, she let out a muffled groan.
One misstep—
A slip of the foot—
Some snow dislodged.
She nearly fell into the abyss.
Thankfully, Doflamingo caught her just in time, steadying her with his strong arms.
But the storm was relentless. The wind howled louder and louder.
With no other option, Doflamingo held Otohime in his embrace.
Clinging to the cliff wall, the two of them inched forward, warding off the deadly wind.
Minute by minute, they climbed higher and higher—nearly reaching the summit of this grueling ascent.
The freezing air painted their faces red.
But Otohime's body was far too frail.
Even with Doflamingo holding her weak spot...
At ten thousand meters in the air, caught off guard—
Her feet slipped again, and she fell into the void.
"~Ah!"
...
Outside the palace.
Scarlett stood beneath the crescent moon, listening to the intense struggle echoing from within.
She let out a quiet sigh.
Wasn't Otohime now exactly who she had been, just a few years ago?
...
Meanwhile—
Inside the mental health ward, the previously sleeping Manboshi
Suddenly jolted awake, crying out with a heartbreaking wail.
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Fanfic is finished 527 chapters in total on p@treon/tambeerg