Friend or Foe

At Gyoncord Plaza, Hody cannot believe Shirahoshi knew the truth. He asks, "You knew I murdered your mother...? What nonsense is this, Shirahoshi...?!!" Shirahoshi explains that a few years after the incident, Megalo told her everything that happened. He had once been a pet of the Neptune Army and had witnessed it all. The others are stunned and ask why she never told them. Shirahoshi answers that she thought telling others would only cause them to hate Hody deeply, and that was something her mother would never have wished for. Even with her father bleeding and bound before her, she says, "Father! You must be strong...!!!"

Shirahoshi reveals the promise that shaped her silence. Through tears, she says, "It was the final promise... that I made to my mother...!!!" No matter who the culprit might be, they must not give in to hatred. Otohime's last wish echoes in her memory: "I would never wish for you to be consumed by anger and hatred on my account..." The people realize what Shirahoshi carried alone. For ten long years she protected her mother's wishes by bearing that knowledge alone, concealing the truth in her own heart while locked away in Shell Tower. The revelation leaves Jinbe, Neptune, and the princes shaken by the burden she endured.

Jinbe says that to bear no hatred for the killer of one's own mother should be almost impossible, even if it was her mother's final dying wish. He admits, "Never have I met such a pure and honest girl...!!! Not one among us can compare." Hody only laughs. He mocks Shirahoshi for choosing to reveal her secret only to Megalo, saying that if she had told anyone else, his plan would have been ruined. Then he twists her mercy into an accusation: "Listen to me, Shirahoshi!! Your decision was nothing but stupidity!!!" Because she refused to hate him, Hody says, the entire kingdom will fall, and her father, brothers, and all loyal subjects will die.

Jinbe roars at the princes not to listen to Hody, calling him a fiend and saying their decision was no mistake. Hody laughs, "Like hell it wasn't!!" and immediately attacks. With "Yabusame!!!" he sends a storm of water arrows through the bound royal family. Neptune and the princes are struck while the crowd screams, "King Neptune!!! The princes!!!" and Shirahoshi can only watch in horror. Hody's answer to Shirahoshi's mercy is not logic, but public cruelty: he tries to prove her promise meaningless by spilling the blood of everyone she loves.

The water arrows tear into Neptune and the princes, leaving them bleeding and slumped in their restraints. The crowd calls, "Your Majesty!!!" while Shirahoshi cries, "Father!!!" and "My brothers!!!" Hody's followers laugh at how pathetic the royals look. The page lingers on Shirahoshi's helplessness: the promise not to hate does not protect her from pain, and Hody is trying to force that pain into despair. The royal family's bodies hang before the entire plaza as trophies of Hody's cruelty.

The people panic over the prophecy and the execution. They ask Madame Shyarly when the pirate is going to destroy the island, and she admits, "I'm afraid I cannot say... My talent only allows me... to witness events that are to come..." It could happen tomorrow or a year from now, but she says, "I hope... it happens right now!!" Children and citizens agree, saying that if Luffy comes and smashes up the island now, it will be bad for them but far worse for Hody. As the great warrior Neptune seems ready to be killed and Hody has a hundred thousand men, the people begin to wish for the very destruction they feared if it means stopping him.

The crowd begins calling for Straw Hat Luffy. Some say, "I agree with the kids...!!" and "I think they're right, too...!!" Then voices rise across the plaza: "Are you listening, Straw Hat Luffy?!!!" "...If you're going to destroy this island someday... come and do it now!!!" "If you're hiding somewhere on the island, then come and show yourself!!!" and "Come and tear this whole place apart!!!" The same prophecy that made them fear Luffy now makes them plead for him. Hody calls their screams hollow and empty, insisting that Shyarly's prediction cannot be true just from this one crisis.

Hody tries to drag the plaza back to his execution. "I think it's time someone hauled you delusional fools back to reality!!!" he shouts, telling them to watch and despair because the head of Neptune, former king of the country, is about to fly. Shirahoshi screams, "Luffy-sama!!! Please, protect my father!!!" Megalo suddenly reacts, gagging as if something is forcing its way out of him. The plaza's attention snaps from Neptune's execution to the shark's mouth, where the answer to Shirahoshi's cry is about to appear.

Just as Hody declares, "The shameful kingdom of Ryuguu... is dead!!!" Luffy bursts from Megalo's mouth and drives a kick into Hody before the execution can fall. Hody screams, "NGUOH HH!!!!" as the impact knocks him away. The timing makes the rescue look impossible: Hody's blade is already descending, Neptune is already braced for death, and then Luffy appears from the place no one expected. The attack answers Shirahoshi's plea directly, saving Neptune at the instant Hody tries to turn the plaza into a symbol of defeat.

The plaza erupts. People shout, "Straw Hat Luffy!!!!" and "It's really him!!!" as Luffy lands before them. Hody's men stare in disbelief: he had been inside the shark's mouth, hidden in Megalo all along. Shirahoshi cries, "Luffy-sama!!!" and Luffy steps out into the plaza as the figure everyone had been calling for. His arrival is not framed as a rumor or prophecy anymore. He is physically there, between Hody and the royal family, after answering the princess's cry for help.

Hody's followers shout that Luffy saved King Neptune from Hody, and another says, "Did you hear?!! Princess Shirahoshi cried to him for help!!" Daruma screams that Luffy had been hiding inside the shark's mouth, while Hody's side wonders why he was there and why he is talking to unseen allies. Luffy says, "Hurry up, you guys!!!" and his allies answer, "Don't worry! We took care of things as quickly as we could!" Someone realizes the plan: the circumstances demanded that Luffy show himself sooner than intended, but the chance of him staying hidden exactly as planned was always small.

Nami drops her illusion and appears with the Tenryubito letter in hand. "Mirage Release!" she says, then announces, "This is what you wanted, right, Jimbei-chan?! The Tenryubito letter! And I've given the keys to Robin." Jinbe praises her: "Excellent work!! Well done!!" Hody's men panic as the letter is gone and the keys to the chains vanish as well. Robin uses the keys to release the royal family and their allies, and chains click open with "Ka-chink!!" Across the sky, people spot something else approaching: "Look up in the sky!! What's that?! A whale, and... a lion?!"

The Thousand Sunny enters the plaza from the sky, and Franky fires the "Gaon Cannon!!!" with the command, "Fire!!!" The blast tears into the enemy ranks and the plaza erupts in smoke and water. The crowd shouts, "It's a pirate ship!!!" while the Sunny crashes into the battlefield on the back of the whale and lion forms used to carry it. The arrival is loud, destructive, and unmistakably Straw Hat: Luffy was not alone, and the ship itself has come crashing into Hody's execution ground.

The enemy tries to stop the rescue, shouting, "Hold it, bagon!!! You're not taking the royal family, gyaban!!!" but the Straw Hats are already pulling the prisoners away. Hody's side realizes, "They took back the royals!!!" and Jinbe, watching the chaos, notes that it appears he organized some kind of plan with the Straw Hat Pirates. The Sunny lands hard in the plaza, scattering enemies and sending people flying. The rescue is no longer one man improvising. It is a coordinated Straw Hat operation unfolding in public.

The Straw Hat Pirates assemble in full view of Gyoncord Plaza. Citizens shout, "It's the Straw Hats!!" and "They're all here!!!" then crowd Luffy with questions: "Are you really here to destroy the whole island?!" "Why did you take over the palace?!" "Have you really been kidnapping mermaids?!" and "Are you enemies of Fishman Island?! Or are you our allies?!!" Luffy stands at the center with Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, Franky, Brook, Jinbe, and Shirahoshi around him. He does not answer with a speech. He says, "...You decide that... for yourselves?!!!"

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