Shyarly stared blankly at Chiga's Rinnegan until he frowned and asked,
"How long are you planning to stare?"
Shyarly snapped back to her senses. Seeing Chiga's displeased expression, she quickly explained,
"My apologies—please don't be upset, Admiral Kirin. My name is Shyarly, and I'm a fortune teller. I once saw your eyes during a divination, so I couldn't help but look. I'm truly sorry!"
Hearing that she had seen his eyes in a vision, Chiga's interest was piqued.
"Is that so? What did you see?"
Shyarly looked at Chiga with reverence and said seriously,
"I saw you bringing unimaginable change to Fish-Man Island. In the vision, Admiral Kirin appeared like a god."
Her words stunned everyone. Neptune and Jinbe exchanged glances, reading the same hope in each other's eyes.
They understood: if Shyarly's vision was true, Chiga's arrival would bring great benefits to Fish-Man Island.
After all, Shyarly had described Chiga as a god, not a devil.
The more Neptune thought about it, the more excited he became. Eagerly, he asked,
"Shyarly, what kind of changes exactly?"
Shyarly bowed toward Neptune and replied solemnly,
"Your Majesty, I only saw sunlight descending on Fish-Man Island. When I tried to divine further, the crystal ball shattered. The last thing I saw… was Admiral Kirin's eyes."
As she spoke, Shyarly once again gazed at Chiga's Rinnegan. Mysterious and beautiful, they were even more dazzling than in her vision.
Yet among everyone present, Chiga remained the calmest—he was never fond of fortune telling to begin with.
After Shyarly finished, he even joked,
"So your crystal ball broke because of me?"
"No, no! I was the one who presumptuously spied on Admiral Kirin. As long as you're not angry, that's all that matters!"
"Actually, Arlong…"
"Boss Jinbe has already told me. He got what was coming to him. He can't blame anyone else."
"…Alright."
Sensing the atmosphere grow a little tense, Jinbe stepped in quickly,
"Everyone, let's stop standing around. Let's eat!"
But no one responded. All their eyes instinctively turned toward Chiga. Jinbe froze, his face flushed with awkwardness.
Chiga saw Jinbe's blue-tinged, embarrassed face and couldn't help but chuckle.
Just then, Chiga felt a tug on his clothes. He turned and saw Shirahoshi holding her stomach and looking at him pitifully.
He understood—Shirahoshi was hungry. She'd cried more than once that day, and after finally returning to Ryugu Palace, the sight of the grand feast had made her stomach growl.
Without delay, Chiga addressed the group,
"Alright, let's eat."
Everyone agreed readily, as if Chiga was the true master of Ryugu Palace. Even Neptune found it completely natural.
In his mind, if Chiga was willing to look after Fish-Man Island, then why not let him be king?
During dinner, a small scene unfolded—Shirahoshi insisted on sitting beside Chiga, making Neptune, her father, feel like crying.
He felt like his precious daughter was slipping away to Chiga!
To this, Chiga silently felt Neptune was being overly dramatic. Look at Kaido's daughter Yamato—she was also a precious girl, but a dangerous one too.
Far away at Marine Headquarters, Yamato, who was training under Zephyr, suddenly sneezed. Rubbing her nose, she muttered,
"That's weird… Is Master thinking of me?"
…
Meanwhile, in the Fish-Man District—
Inside a damp, shadowy room, Hody Jones and his cadres, carried back by a group of fish-men, lay motionless on beds, wrapped in bandages like broken wrecks.
Several fish-men with minor medical training frantically applied ointment to their injuries.
Their bodies had been wrecked by Chiga's Conqueror's Haki, especially their internal organs.
Hody had fared slightly better, but his weaker subordinates were still vomiting blood—sometimes mixed with fragments of organs.
And this damage came from just a casual release of Chiga's Conqueror's Haki. Even using just a bit of it, he could have dismantled the New Fish-Man Pirates on the spot.
Hody Jones lay on the bed like a corpse, his shark-like eyes blankly staring at the ceiling.
The emotional trauma was far worse than the physical.
He hated humans. To him, they were weak, filthy, and unworthy of existence. He believed the fish-men were superior—and destined to rule the world.
He had long resented Fish-Man Island being protected by Whitebeard, and now hearing that Neptune and Jinbe had welcomed a human Marine admiral? That was the final insult.
So he acted—leading his New Fish-Man Pirates to blend in with the crowd welcoming Chiga, planning to cause chaos.
In his wildest hopes, he wanted to assassinate the admiral, just as he had once murdered Queen Otohime.
But reality was cruel. Chiga had merely glanced at him, and the overwhelming pressure had instantly crushed him to his knees. His army was obliterated.
That humiliation was worse than death.
Anyone else would have had their spirit shattered.
But Hody Jones was already a madman—twisted and fanatical. This only pushed him deeper into insanity.
His emotions flared. His body trembled, and blood began to seep through his bandages again, causing the terrified amateur medics to frantically wrap him in even more gauze.
Before long, Hody resembled a giant, absurd zongzi.
Yet he couldn't stop moving. He bit into his lip, blood dripping, and screamed hoarsely,
"Get me the Energy Steroids!!!"
At those words, the fish-men in the room froze in fear. Dos, one of the New Fish-Man Pirate cadres, stammered,
"Boss Hody, that drug hasn't—"
"I said bring it! I'll make that damn human witness the wrath of fish-men!!!"
---