Chapter 220: Kings of Seas and Skies, Reunion and Guests

Chapter 220: Kings of Seas and Skies, Reunion and Guests

_________ POV Narration _________

The Palace was about as grand as one would expect from a royal family.

It certainly had the grand architecture and golden look of a regular royal palace, its decor was more sea-oriented. But that much was to be expected.

The throne room itself was quite extravagant and large as well. Pieces of furniture made out of shells and decorated with shells littered the grand halls of the Palace.

The Royal Family and its servants seemed to be scrambling a bit to put together some sort of welcome for the Emperor that had visited them abruptly.

It wasn't exactly a surprise for Enel, as he could feel them scrambling from the moment he announced his identity.

The other patrols must've reported his presence directly to Neptune while he was sightseeing with Prince Fukaboshi.

But Enel wasn't the only man being guided towards the royal palace, though he did arrive before the other guests, namely the Straw Hats, who were being led by the other two princes, Ryuboshi and Manboshi, the second and third.

Enel had to look quite far up to meet King Neptune's gaze, the Seafolk King looked even bigger than the Emperor remembered him to be.

He was even significantly bigger than the likes of Kaido and Big Mom, and Big Mom was almost a giant herself...

Neptune was a giant-sized and muscular merman. A man with a downward's pointing red nose, small eyes, and long thick orange curly hair and beard.

He was hairy in general, and he seemed to dislike wearing shirts if possible, he only wore a large jewelled golden crown and a pair of golden bracelets. He had no need for pants, as his lower body only consisted of his deep blue fishtail.

His gigantic golden trident sat by the side of his throne, where his pet Whale, Hoe, was currently sleeping.

The King slowly stood up from his throne, floating towards the Emperor as if in water, with the use of a bubble ring that wrapped around his lower body.

Around them were plenty of mermaids, all bowing towards the king and the Emperor.

It was not that grand of an opening, all things considered, the King didn't throw a banquet or anything, but he did bring out some people to make things more respectful.

The First Prince seemed to be a bit taken aback by the greeting and probably hadn't been informed of the preparations that were being made.

But he was able to roll with it, going off to his father's side and bowing a bit. Before whispering something about going to collect his sister and leaving.

Neptune nodded to his son before turning back to Enel.

"It is rare for me to greet one such as yourself in my castle. An emperor and an ally of our Island." Neptune bowed slightly, his back arching a bit while his head still angled downwards to meet the Emperor's gaze.

"I am glad you consider me an ally already. I'm guessing it's because of my relationship with Whitebeard, correct?" Enel nodded towards the king, signalling him to straighten his old back.

"Indeed. Any friend of old Whitebeard is a friend of mine." Neptune closed his eyes and nodded, his tone melancholic.

He didn't dwell on it for too long however, he opened his eyes and looked at the Emperor once more.

"We owe a lot to him, many owe him a lot. You befriended at least half of the New World by saving him and Ace back then. You certainly befriended those in his territories."

Neptune's voice was loud but gentle. The King spoke in a respectful tone, but he was also quite blunt. He didn't seem that uptight about the Emperor's presence.

'I guess there are a lot of people that respect Whitebeard... Quite the stark contrast when compared with Shiki, they're from the same generation, and the Golden Lion is mostly forgotten...

Though he may have been able to go under the radar because the World Government were trying to hide the fact that he escaped prison in order to save face. Regardless... Doesn't matter anymore...'

"Has Whitebeard contacted you at all recently?" Enel crossed his arms while Neptune clapped his hands together, commanding some merfolk servants to bring a few drinks and an appetizer.

They brought a huge golden chalice for Neptune and a regular-sized one for Enel. Regular sized for Fishmen just so happened to be about the perfect size for Enel too.

"Whitebeard is always busy, and news from the outside world has somewhat stopped in the past year. My scouts told me of scary things, Sky King...

Fishman Island is far too removed to help out the other kingdoms, unfortunately...

So I don't blame him for the lack of contact. He is old and sick at the end of the day, still, we benefit from his protection."

Enel nodded, realizing that Whitebeard's crew had likely not contacted them regarding Kaido's attack previously.

If they had, then Neptune would most likely be aware of what had happened that day.

So Enel decided to give him a summary of what had happened. He had read Francsico's reports on the situation after all, and he felt that the Neptune Family was deserving of such knowledge.

Needless to say, Neptune was quite surprised by what he had heard.

Although old and sick, Whitebeard had held back Kaido for a long time, leaving him with plenty of injuries before eventually defeating him with help.

Kaido, the King of Beasts, was now assumed dead. And no major news source had even attempted to write a story about it... The world was truly in the dark.

It was a scary concept to Neptune, to live in a second void century... It made him grit his teeth. But there was nothing he could do.

At least Enel brought good news.

Besides the death of Kaido, Whitebeard was back to his youth thanks to someone in Enel's army.

For clothing, he only wore a blue hat and a yellow sash.

"Father! We're back with the guests! They are the ones that rescued Megalo!"

Behind them, riding a huge black shark with a bubble ring wrapped around its body, were the Straw Hats.

Well, most of them anyway, Sanji was incapacitated somewhere at the shores of the island due to blood loss, unfortunately.

'It's better that he doesn't see the Princess... He may actually die...' Enel shook his head as he remembered the cracking marble under the princess's 'weigh'.

"Oh, perfect! Everyone is here it seems!" Neptune smiled as he looked at the newcomers.

The Strawhats immediately got off the shark, which rushed over to Shirahoshi, gently twirling around her in the air.

'So that was Megalo...' The emperor mused as he scratched his chin.

Meanwhile, the Strawhats were taking in the views of the Royal palace, before they finally noticed his presence.

"E-Enel!" Ussop and Luffy were the first to notice him, both looking at him in surprise, then the rest of the crew mimicked their reaction with the exception of Zoro and Robin.

Zoro just raised an eyebrow, looking at the Emperor with a confused gaze.

'Did he get lost? How did he get here before us?'

Meanwhile, Robin smiled warmly when seeing him, a smile which he returned.

"Straw Hats! Great to see you've all made it to the Fishman Islands." Enel turned around completely to greet them, spreading his hands out and smiling at all of them.

Shirahoshi also clapped a few times, thanking them profusely for saving her pet gigantic shark.

"How come you're here?!" Luffy was the first, and loudest one, to respond. He pointed at Enel with wide eyes.

"I felt like paying a visit to the Neptune Family, have some matters to discuss still. But now that we're all gathered here, we may as well celebrate our reunion, right?"

"Shishishi, you weren't even gone for that long!" Luffy chuckled at the Emperor's proposition, but it was impossible for him to refuse.

Free Meat was free meat.

And the part started almost right away, Shirahoshi seemed to cling to Enel like an octopus, constantly asking him to tell her stories about his adventures.

The Sky King relented most times, especially since he didn't have anything better to do.

Robin noticed the two of them spending a lot of time together, but she didn't mind. She trusted Enel and knew that their connection was rather special.

She continued hanging out with Nami, not wanting to leave her alone in an unfamiliar place. From time to time, the Emperor would scoot over and they would exchange a few words.

She didn't ask about the strange thunderous sounds that had engulfed the New World, she only cared that he was safe.

Nami also seemed quite keen on making the two of them spend time together, even trying to set them up to dance during the party.

It was clear that the cat burglar was trying to play matchmaker, which was slightly adorable.

Unfortunately, the celebrations didn't last long.

As Enel felt a large object, a two-headed axe, whizzing towards them, spinning towards the throne room... Headed straight for one particular person.

Shirahoshi.

Her eyes widened as her head turned towards a window, which broke that very moment. She put her hands on her head as she cried out.

"N-noo!"

Luffy also noticed that, and was about to enter second gear and help her, before he noticed that Enel was already near her.

She was not in danger, however. Before the axe even touched her, Enel appeared in front of it and simply reached out for its blade, his hand turning black.

The axe stopped in an instant, unable to press on for even an inch.

It trembled, struggling, as if it still wanted to go forward, to reach its target. Enel just sighed and grasped it harder, cracking it and breaking the blade of the axe completely.

Shirahoshi had barely managed to react to what had happened before Enel spoke out.

"... It seems we have even more guests..." Enel's voice rang out coldly as the music in the hall stopped.

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Hope you liked the chapter! Finally got around to writing an all that :)))

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