Proposal

The color spread continues in full color: the Straw Hats are caught mid-celebration amid lanterns, food stalls, costumes, and a dense festival crowd. The scene emphasizes the whole crew together, smiling, eating, posing, and moving through a bright public celebration. It is an atmospheric chapter image rather than a plot page, with no readable story dialogue.

Panic erupts in the plaza as the people cry, "Shirahoshi is being kidnapped right now!!!" Luffy, still treating the giant mermaid princess like a troublesome friend, snaps, "Crybaby!! Why did you get out of the shark?!" Shirahoshi immediately breaks down: "I... I'm so sorry, Luffy-sama! Please don't get angry with me... Uwaaahhhh!" The crowd takes the tears as proof of Luffy's wickedness: "He made the princess cry!! This pirate is pure evil!!!" Nearby, Chopper desperately blocks Sanji from looking back. "Don't do it, Sanji!! Don't you dare turn around!!" Sanji, hearing everyone say "princess," realizes what might be behind him: "Everyone keeps saying \"princess\"... you don't mean..." The others warn him, "That's right! She's right there! So don't turn around, Sanji, no matter what!" Sanji trembles at the idea: "You'd better not be saying that the mermaid princess is standing right behind me!!!" Chopper reminds him, "An ordinary mermaid was enough to nearly kill you... If you see the mermaid princess, you'll be dead for sure!!!" But Sanji's dream overwhelms his self-preservation. "The mermaid princess... that most wondrous of all mermaids, said to rival even the pirate empress, the world's finest beauty... is standing right behind my back...?!! How could I bear to live knowing that I let such a chance slip through my fingers?!" With tragic resolve, he declares, "Chopper... I choose to fulfill my dream, and go to my death!!!!" Chopper can only yell back, "I thought your dream was to find all blue!!"

Chopper screams, "Don't do it, Sanji!!!!!!!!!" Sanji turns anyway, and the sight of Shirahoshi strikes him like a revelation. In his mind, he whispers, "Ah... Even my wildest imaginings pale in comparison... She is... magnificent...! No work of art could hope to compare... This is... ...true beauty...!!!" The shock does not produce a normal nosebleed this time: he stiffens into stone while hearts and impact marks burst around him. Chopper cries, "He turned to stone eeeee!!!" In the confusion, Luffy turns back toward Hatchan: "Anyway, Hachi!! Who the heck did this to you?! Tell me!!!" Hatchan only groans, "Nyu-uu..." Shirahoshi, frightened by the shouting and the crowd, asks, "L... Luffy-sama... What should I...? Uwaaah hhh!" Chopper, examining Sanji's bizarre condition, panics over the cause: "This is a totally new symptom! Is it because of the Okama blood in his system?!"

The islanders close in. "We've got you now!!!" they shout. "Straw Hat Pirates!!! Your villainy ends here!!! Don't take the people of Fishman Island lightly!!!" Luffy, annoyed rather than frightened, demands, "Hey!! What are you playing at?!!" Someone recognizes Hatchan and accuses him too: "I remember you too, now!! You're one of those fiends from Arlong's lot!!" Shirahoshi tries to explain through tears, "E - excuse me... It isn't like that... Luffy-sama was only..." But the crowd keeps speaking over her: "It's all right, princess!! We'll see that these fiends are all executed..." Luffy notices something incoming: "Hm?" The bystanders shout, "Hey, you guys!! Something's flying right this way!!" Others dismiss it: "What?! There's no point trying to distract us with ridiculous lies!!" Shirahoshi confirms the danger: "Huh?! Th - there really is something flying this way!!" The plaza looks up in alarm: "Ehh?!"

The flying figure resolves into the man who has tormented the princess from afar. The crowd gasps, "C... could that be... Vander Decken?!" Vander Decken descends with a crazed grin, yelling, "I've found you noooo!!! I know it!!! Bahohhohoh!!! Shirahoshiiiiiiii!!!" Shirahoshi recognizes him at once: "Vander Decken-sama...!!!" The people panic at his return: "He's finally shown himself here on Fishman Island!! After all this time in hiding..." They urge the princess to escape. "Princess, you have to flee!! We'll take care of him!!!"

Vander Decken turns the plaza into a stage for his obsession. "Answer me this, Shirahoshi!!! Say \"yes\", and you won't have to die!!! Bahohoh!! My dear Shirahoshi...!! Marry meeee!!!" The people recoil at the absurdity of it: "The man who's tried to take the princess' life countless times is brazenly proposing to her!!" Shirahoshi answers with blunt honesty: "You're not my type...!!" The crowd cannot help reacting to the understatement: "Is that the issue here?!"

Shirahoshi's rejection shatters Vander Decken's theatrical affection into murder. "How dare you trample all over my ten years of longing...?!!!" he screams. "If you will not love me... then your very existence is an insult!! You would choose another... over me?!! Die, Shirahoshi!!!" The crowd pleads, "Princess Shirahoshi!!! You have to flee!!!" But Luffy stops her with a command that sounds reckless until the reason follows: "Don't run away, crybaby!! Stay right where you are!!!" The islanders turn on him: "What the heck are you talking about?! Are you one of Decken's cronies?! Are you telling the princess to die?!!" Luffy answers plainly, "If you go too far away... I won't be able to protect you!!!"

Shirahoshi trusts Luffy and stops. "A... All right!! I won't run!!" someone cries, "Princess...!!" Vander Decken lunges in with a howl, "Hyaa aahh hhh!!!" The people still misread Luffy's intent and shout, "How dare you threaten the princess?!!" Luffy apologizes without slowing down: "Sorry, guys... I don't have anything against you, but... You're in the way." With meat still in hand and his body coiled for action, he blasts through the people blocking his path so he can reach Shirahoshi and Vander Decken.

Luffy's strike scatters the obstruction in a violent burst: "Guaa argh hh!!!" The force clears the path around Shirahoshi and Megalo, turning the crowd's attempt to restrain him into another display of how dangerous he is even tied up. Vander Decken is stunned that Luffy can move like that while still bound. "Wh... whoa... without even breaking free of his ropes..." Then his jealousy refocuses on Shirahoshi. "This is between me and my beloved Shirahoshi!! Why must you interfere?!!"

Vander Decken accuses Luffy: "Was it you who abducted her from the palace?!!!" Luffy ignores the accusation and asks the question that matters to him: "Are you the one who's been throwing all that stuff at her?!" Decken mutters, "Hmm?!" His answer is enough. Luffy declares, "That's it!!! I'm taking both of your lives!!! I'll stack you up neatly and slice you into four!!!" Luffy launches his counterattack: "Gomu Gomu no...!!" Decken dares him, "Go ahead and try!" Luffy's bound legs swing through with a brutal "Jet Hammer!!!" and Decken is smashed away, choking out, "BLGH ERHHH HHH!!!"

The crowd stares at the aftermath. "He just... took out Vander Decken...!!" someone says, then sees the chance: "...He's still moving but this is our chance to capture him!!" Luffy turns to Megalo: "C'mon, shark!! Wake up!!!" Sanji, still overwhelmed, groans, "Uuu ...rr hh..." Luffy asks, "Sanji, what happened to you?!" The explanation is grimly comic: "He turned into stone for a bit... and now he's drowning in happiness. ...But he's still conscious!!" Shirahoshi answers Luffy's urgency with nervous politeness: "Y... yes, of course... But please, could you stop speaking so loudly...? It makes me nervous..." Luffy snaps her back into motion: "Hurry up, crybaby!! It looks like we're not very popular on this island! We'd better get outta here!!"

As Luffy urges, "Get moving, shark!!!" the people realize the princess is leaving with him even though his ropes are still around him. "P... P... Princess!! Why are you untying his ropes?!!" Shirahoshi apologizes to everyone: "I'm very sorry, everyone!!! I will be back in time for dinner!!" The plaza erupts: "Ehh!?" Megalo surges forward with a rough "RRRR RLUDG HHH!!!" and the crowd cries, "AAAAHHH!! Princess Shirahoshi?!!" Vander Decken, battered but not done, pants and vows, "*Pant*... *Pant*... Don't let 'em get away..." As pursuers and debris close in, Luffy clears space again, yelling, "Outta my way, trash!!"

Megalo carries Luffy and Shirahoshi away through the water while Decken's weaponized sea beasts and thrown objects chase them. Luffy calls, "Gomu Gomu no ...!!!" and smashes the incoming threat with "Jet Pistol!!!" The impact knocks the danger aside, leaving witnesses shouting in surprise. Decken fumes from behind them, yelling after the wadatsumi-sized threat and the pursuers: "...Wadatsu-miiiiii!!! RRAAAAA GHHHH HHHH!! Take those suckers down!!!" One of the attackers protests, "I... It's oonyuu-dou!!!" and another roars, "Awrighty den!!! Haaa ahhhh!!!" Amid the chaos, Shirahoshi answers Luffy's destination: "Right!!" Luffy says, "Let's go, crybaby!! To the ocean forest!!" Then, with comic pain after the clash, he complains, "My toof!!! He broke my toof!!" Someone mutters, "That good for nothing ...!"

At Ryuuguu Palace, a report arrives: "Reporting in, boss!!" The messenger says, "Two women, a pirate and a mermaid... ...have escaped from the palace!!" Jinbe, calm but grim, decides, "Let them run..." Meanwhile, Nami and Camie speed through the water with a mermaid companion. Nami asks, "Are you sure about this, Nami-chin?! Leaving the others behind..." Nami answers with confidence in her crew: "Don't worry. There's never been a situation those guys couldn't handle. I know that your crew are all strong, but still... Hacchan warned me about Hordy. He's really strong too, and his mind works in dangerous ways..." She then asks Camie, "Caimie, could you tell me a little about the former Shichibukai Jinbei?" Camie replies, "Huh? Well, um... Boss Jinbei is... he's a pirate, but he's trusted enough to be able to visit the palace freely..."

As Nami and Camie continue racing away, Nami connects the warning about Hody to Jinbe's message. Camie says, "I see... But he was in the same crew as Arlong once, right?!" Nami adds, "And that man, Hordy... He thinks of himself as Arlong's successor..." Then she admits what is bothering her: "I'm just thinking about Jimbei's message for Luffy, 'Do not fight with Hordy'... I think I might know why he said that." Camie asks, "Eh? Is it not just because he's dangerous?" Nami answers, "He said he was waiting in the ocean forest, right?! There's more to this incident than meets the eye... and I get the feeling he knows exactly what's going on...!!!" She worries about the crew left behind: "I just hope Zoro and the others don't end up angering Hordy too badly as a result of this incident... At any rate... I have to meet Jimbei!" With urgency rising, she tells Camie, "Caimie... Take me to the ocean forest!" and then shouts, "And hurry!!!"

Within the palace, the situation has already become exactly what Nami feared. A guard commands, "Listen well, men!!! Of course, your majesty!! We will go after Hordy and his crew at -" but Neptune stops them: "You shall not!!" The king chooses surrender over a doomed fight: "Now that I am in no shape to fight, attempting to do battle with them would only result in meaningless sacrifices. We will surrender the palace for now, regroup with the princes, and await the right opportunity to counterattack!!" The guards are stunned: "Surrender the palace?!! Your majesty, are you quite certain?!!" In the water nearby, Usopp watches in horror as Zoro attacks Hody directly. "What does Zoro think he's doing?! Fighting a fishman in the water is suicide...!" He gasps, "Usopp-san... I... can't..." while someone chokes, "MBLP HH?!" Zoro nevertheless meets Hody underwater, blade drawn, as the guards cry, "Boss!!! Boss!!!"

No description for this page.