Chapter 292
The moment those words left Zaraki's mouth, the harbor seemed to lose all its air.
Aside from the faint rush of water through the distant channels, where schools of fish drifted past, every other sound disappeared.
Neptune's enormous body visibly stiffened.
His grip tightened around the trident until thick veins stood out across his hand, and shock churned behind his eyes alongside something far more difficult to hide.
Hope.
And beneath it, fear.
Behind him, Fukaboshi and Ryuboshi both went pale.
Zaraki had reached past the simple public fact of Shirahoshi's existence and touched the part of her life the royal family guarded most fiercely.
"Princess Shirahoshi is perfectly safe!"
Ryuboshi was the first to lose his composure.
"Her security is none of your concern!"
The denial only made it clearer how accurately Zaraki's words had struck.
He did not bother answering.
His attention remained on Neptune.
The conflict in the king's expression told Zaraki enough.
Neptune looked desperate to break free of the situation surrounding his daughter, yet equally terrified that any attempt to do so might make everything worse.
At last, the king drew a slow breath.
His massive chest rose and fell before he lowered his gaze.
"Your goodwill is appreciated."
His voice had gone hoarse.
"But this is a private matter concerning the royal family. There is no need to trouble an outsider."
He paused, then raised one hand toward the Marine warship.
"Fukaboshi."
The eldest prince straightened.
"Escort our Marine guests off the island."
"Father!"
Fukaboshi turned toward him immediately, anxiety and confusion plain on his face.
"This is an order."
Neptune did not raise his voice.
He did not need to.
Zaraki clicked his tongue inwardly.
'Stubborn old bastard.'
Neptune was tempted. That much was obvious.
But fear still held him back.
"Your Majesty."
Zaraki suddenly chuckled.
The sound felt strangely out of place in the suffocating harbor.
"I'm not asking you to trust me on the spot."
He stepped forward.
Every spear around him shifted at once, cold metal points converging on his body.
Zaraki did not even blink.
"I'm telling you to hear the offer before you throw it away."
His voice remained calm.
"You're not afraid I'll hurt Princess Shirahoshi."
His eyes sharpened slightly.
"You're afraid my arrival will trigger some kind of disaster."
Neptune's head snapped upward.
His pupils contracted.
Before he could respond, a commotion broke out among the guards behind him.
The formation parted.
A path opened through the crowd, and a graceful figure emerged.
She was a slender mermaid with short black hair, striking red lips, and the elegant tail of a blue shark.
A large crystal ball rested in her hands, while her sharp, unusually deep eyes gave the unsettling impression that they looked through people rather than merely at them.
Yamakaji leaned slightly closer to Zaraki.
"Madame Shyarly," he murmured. "Fish-Man Island's most famous fortune-teller."
Zaraki already knew the name from the intelligence files.
"Special Envoy."
Madame Shyarly's voice was cool and steady, revealing almost nothing of what she felt.
"You are correct about one thing."
Her gaze remained fixed on him.
"Fish-Man Island does carry a prophecy of destruction."
Yamakaji's expression stiffened immediately, his hand drifting toward his sword.
A prophecy concerning the island's destruction was hardly reassuring.
Shyarly ignored the reactions around her.
"My divination showed me that one day, a man wearing a straw hat will be connected to the destruction of Fish-Man Island."
The harbor grew even quieter.
"I do not know when that future will come," she continued, her fingers tightening faintly around the crystal ball. "But prophecy does not exist in isolation. One event creates another."
Her gaze moved briefly toward the Marines before returning to Zaraki.
"Your arrival, at a time when the World Government has abruptly accelerated the Reverie and tensions surrounding this island are already rising, is like dropping a stone into still water."
"Ripples are inevitable, and I cannot predict where they will lead."
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"Your presence may accelerate events that were never meant to begin yet."
Shyarly inclined her upper body.
For the first time, a trace of pleading entered her otherwise composed voice.
"For the sake of Fish-Man Island's peace, please leave immediately."
The wording was careful.
She had explained their fears without openly insulting the Marines, while still giving Zaraki enough room to withdraw without turning the situation into a political confrontation.
Zaraki listened until she finished.
Then he scoffed.
"Ridiculous."
The single word cut through the harbor.
He slowly looked around at Neptune, Fukaboshi, Ryuboshi, and every tense fish-man guard surrounding him before returning his attention to Madame Shyarly.
"Your own prophecy doesn't even say I'm the one who destroys this place."
Shyarly's brows drew together.
"No. But that is not what I—"
"So stop treating my arrival like it's the future you saw walking through the front gate."
Shock spread through the harbor.
Some of the guards looked angry.
Others simply stared at him in disbelief.
Zaraki met all of it with a faintly amused smile.
"If I'm standing here..."
His golden eyes sharpened.
"...who exactly is going to destroy this island?"
For the first time, Madame Shyarly's expression shifted.
Even she had not expected that answer.
"Special Envoy, that isn't how prophecy works."
"Maybe."
Zaraki shrugged.
"You probably won't believe me when I say this..."
His voice carried clearly across the harbor.
"...but my fortune-telling is a hell of a lot more accurate than yours."
The moment those words left Zaraki's mouth, the stagnant atmosphere over the harbor seemed to detonate.
"How dare you!"
The first to react was not Madame Shyarly, but Ryuboshi. His expression tightened with anger as he pointed toward Zaraki.
"You have no right to dismiss Madame Shyarly's prophecy so casually! Her predictions have protected this island for years!"
The surrounding guards immediately bristled as well. Their spears shifted several inches closer, cold steel almost brushing Zaraki's throat, while King Neptune's face darkened.
On Fish-Man Island, Madame Shyarly's prophecies were not some roadside fortune-teller's entertainment. For decades, her predictions had carried enormous weight, and Zaraki had just casually declared one of them wrong in front of the royal family.
Only Shyarly herself remained calm after her initial surprise. Her deep eyes studied Zaraki with unsettling intensity, as though trying to understand exactly why he sounded so certain.
"Zaraki."
She slowly shook her head, the crystal ball remaining perfectly steady in her hands.
"Divination is not a game, nor is the future something to be twisted into a joke whenever convenient. I cannot choose when the things I see will happen, nor can I always see the path that leads to them, but the visions themselves have never been something I could simply dismiss."
Yamakaji nearly bit through his cigar.
"This is getting bad..."
He leaned closer to Zaraki and lowered his voice.
"Maybe we pushed this too far. This has gone beyond politics. We're stepping on something these people genuinely believe in."
He glanced toward the growing wall of spearpoints.
"Maybe we should withdraw for now."
Gion gave the slightest nod beside him. She had no objection to fighting when necessary, but this was no longer an ordinary diplomatic dispute. At this rate, they were drifting dangerously close to starting a completely pointless conflict over a prophecy.
Neptune and his sons noticed the hesitation among the Marines, and for the briefest moment the tension in their expressions eased.
If these troublesome Marines chose to leave on their own, that would be ideal.