You Have My Gratitude

In the chaos after Queen Otohime is shot, the guards report that they have taken out the sniper. They declare, "This is the culprit, no doubt about it!!!" Hody appears with the dead body and, when someone calls out "Jinbe-san!!!" and asks who the fiend is, orders them to hide the body. The people are horrified at the cruelty of ruining all of Otohime's efforts. Hody stands before the crowd as if delivering the truth, but the page frames his arrival as the beginning of a lie being planted.

Hody tells everyone to stop, insisting that the dead man was no mere pirate and that "this is... the truth." He raises the corpse and announces that "this human... has murdered... our queen!!!!" Jinbe tries to stop him, shouting "Hody!!!" but the accusation is already spreading. The dead sniper is presented to the wounded, grieving crowd as proof that a human killed Otohime, and Hody's eyes burn with satisfaction as he turns private murder into public hatred.

The accusation takes hold. The crowd cries that the man who murdered Queen Otohime was human, asking what they did to deserve this and saying humans have shattered their efforts to live together in peace. Others say humans stole the life of the person they loved above all else. Rage turns into despair: "Damn human!!! Your death won't bring Queen Otohime back to us!!!" Even as some ask whether there is no god and call it too cruel, the image of the dead human lets the crowd's grief harden into the exact hatred Otohime feared.

At Ryugu Palace's Shell Tower, Neptune locks himself away. He orders the door locked tight and not opened until his murderous desires have passed. The Minister of the Left explains that the culprit was wielding a gun, so soldiers fired on the human, and says that if the culprit had been unarmed, Neptune would have murdered him. Neptune understands Otohime's words in his head, but his heart still refuses them. He says no one knows where the chain of hatred begins; children merely become part of it with each new act of murder, their eyes growing dry and cold.

Neptune admits the contradiction inside himself. He has avenged many comrades on the battlefield and taken the lives of humans who made themselves his enemy, so why must innocent Otohime die while he lives on? His heart refuses to accept being denied the chance to kill the murderer of his wife. Yet he knows he has no right to continue what she began while full of contradictions. The words around him state the central truth of the chapter: both fish-men and humans are filled with contradictions, and there are some things only a warrior can protect.

A new incident interrupts the mourning. A love letter addressed to Shirahoshi appears, declaring, "I have fallen in love with you. I know it is scary me! Vander Decken." This is already the fifth letter, and the letters keep following Shirahoshi wherever she goes. Neptune orders that the children not be taken to the funeral because the assassin may still have accomplices nearby, and also commands that Vander Decken be captured at once. The threat around Shirahoshi begins almost immediately after Otohime's death.

At the Ocean Forest, Fish-Man Island gathers for Otohime's funeral beneath her portrait. The people stand in mourning while the monitor crackles: "People of Fishman Island..." Neptune, still away from the crowd, listens as the image of his dead wife presides over a sea of grieving citizens. The funeral is public and massive, but the royal family is fractured by danger, with Shirahoshi and her brothers kept away because of the assassin and Vander Decken's threat.

Prince Fukaboshi addresses the funeral through the monitor. He says his mother told him they could still reach the light of the sun, but their scars may run too deep to heal before the next Reverie, only two years away. Another Reverie will come in six years, and another in ten. Fukaboshi speaks not as a child giving up, but as an heir accepting the long burden Otohime left behind. The people listen as he begins turning grief into a promise rather than revenge.

Fukaboshi declares that he, Ryuboshi, and Manboshi will fulfill their mother's final wish, even if it takes their entire lives. He says they will cast aside the signatures that survived the fire for now, because using them immediately would sway too many people's hearts while the wound is raw. One day, when the scars in their hearts have healed, they will start again from the beginning. He asks the island to join them once more in their dream of the sun.

Ten years pass. Fukaboshi, Ryuboshi, and Manboshi have never wavered, while Neptune and Shirahoshi continue addressing the kingdom through monitors. The people have again submitted a great number of signatures. Back in the present at the Ocean Forest, Jinbe explains to Nami that Arlong, the man who tormented her homeland, was also part of the tale of the fishman pirates. Arlong was once Jinbe's comrade in arms, and Jinbe says he feels responsible for Arlong's actions.

Jinbe says he always intended to seek Arlong out and stop him if he ever went too far, but Arlong used bribes to keep news of his misdeeds from reaching Marine HQ. Sanji loses his temper, saying forgiveness will not be enough for Nami but at least it will help her feel better if he cuts Jinbe's stomach open. Nami stops him. Jinbe says he will submit to whatever punishment she sees fit, but Nami answers that it is Arlong she hates, not Jinbe. She is glad the rumors that Jinbe was the mastermind behind Arlong's crew were not true.

Nami says she will not deny that Arlong and his crew did terrible things to her, but because of that suffering she was able to find wonderful friends. There is no point resenting her past now; it is part of who she is. She will not hate Jinbe just for being a fishman, and asks him not to start apologizing for what happened to her. Jinbe bows deeply and says these are kind words, words he has done nothing to deserve, while Nami smiles and admits she has had good times too and is happy with how things turned out.

Jinbe lowers his head and says, "You have my eternal gratitude...!!!" Franky cries loudly that Jinbe is a real man and that he loves him and all fish guys, while Nami notices that Tiger and Otohime must have suffered terribly too. Luffy wakes up as if only now catching the thread of the conversation, while Sanji kicks him awake and asks how long he intends to sleep. The heavy history briefly gives way to the Straw Hats' familiar chaos.

The conversation shifts back to the present crisis. Luffy asks what happened to the thief who captured Crybaby, and Sanji scolds him for sleeping through the whole story. Nami and Chopper introduce themselves properly to Shirahoshi, and Shirahoshi apologizes because memories of her mother are bringing tears to her eyes. Nami says Otohime sounds like an incredible woman, and Shirahoshi says it feels strange that she already feels like friends with Nami even though they have just met, perhaps because they grew up in similar circumstances.

Jinbe apologizes for the distraction and turns to the immediate matter. He confirms that Hody and his crew are occupying the Royal Palace, while Neptune, his soldiers, and Brook, Zoro, Usopp, and Pappug are still unaccounted for. If Hody's scheme is proceeding as planned, something even more terrible must be happening across the island. Jinbe asks Hachi, who spent time in the Fishman District, whether he knows the details of Hody's plan. Hachi says he always suspected Hody was up to no good after leaving the army, but never uncovered what he was planning.

Hachi explains that Hody is different from Arlong in one important way. Arlong hated humans but had a great respect for his own kind and would never lift a finger against a fellow fishman. Hody, however, hates humans even more than Arlong ever did and thinks nothing of victimizing fellow fish-men if they show sympathy toward humans. This year is the Reverie, when Neptune should finally be able to declare the people's intent to move Fish-Man Island to the surface, and Hody means to stop it. But Hachi warns that Hody's plans are much bigger than that.

A giant Den-Den Mushi emerges from the forest and activates a monitor. The image appears, and Hody Jones addresses the island: "People of Fishman Island... Can you hear me...? I am the captain of the New Fishman Pirates, from the Fishman District... My name is Hordy Jones...!!!" Luffy and the others stare at the broadcast. After all the history of Otohime's dream and the long battle against inherited hatred, Hody now steps forward to seize the island's future by force.

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