Ultimate Fruit

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Chapter 76: Invitation to Ryugu Palace

“I’m sorry, Nami-san...I was disciplining Usopp-san and wasn’t able to look after Luna-chan…”

Kaya lowered her head apologetically when she heard what happened. Hearing what she said, Lucas looked at Usopp out of curiosity and found his skin to be as pale as snow! Moreover, his eyes seemed to be out of focus and Lucas could hear him muttering something…

“Kaya scary...Kaya scary...Kaya scary...Kaya scary…”

“...”

...Just what kind of disciplining did Kaya do!?

Everyone was incredibly curious but no one had the courage to ask. It was as if the question itself was Pandora’s Box. Opening it would only lead to horrors being unleashed...only, there doesn’t seem to be hope in it as well…

Nami smiled wryly and waved her hands.

“It’s fine, anyway, Luna is safe and sound. Actually, I’m not too worried about Luna herself. I just worry that Fishman Island would experience a catastrophe if anything happens…”

Lucas snapped out from being terrified with Kaya and picked up on what Nami said.

“Nami...Luna’s powers...do you know about it?”

“Yes...well, no...it’s hard to explain. I only know a bit…”

Nami sighed and stroked at Luna’s hair while carrying her in her arms.

“This isn’t a place to talk about it, let’s head inside first.”

Lucas nodded and walked back to the Mermaid Cafe. Shyarly seemed to be intrigued as well and led them to one of the VIP rooms and sat down with them.

Luffy asked.

“What’s this about Luna having powers? Is she a devil fruit user too?”

“No, from what I can tell, she has had these...abilities since she was born. And she is also fine when in contact with seawater or sea stone. I know because I tested it already.”

Nami shook her head and started to explain from the beginning.

“When Luna was born, the entire sky was filled with lightning and thunder. Even the weather experts of Weatheria cannot explain why the weather suddenly changed...and they are already the leading experts of weather in the Grand Line.”

Everyone got curious.

Weather? Are her powers related to the weather?

“After Luna was born and stopped crying, her smile cleared the skies in an instant as if the lightning and thunder didn’t even exist. That time, we all thought it was just a coincidence...but whenever Luna cries, disaster always follows.”

“...”

Everyone was dumbfounded.

Once was a coincidence. Twice, an accident. But more than that...is already an indisputable...fact!

If what Nami said was true...then it was as if Luna is God’s favored child! Her cries equate to Heaven's fury!

“Hearing about this, you would think that it is better if I leave her alone in the sky island and it was better not to bring her right?”

“Right...I always wondered why you would bring a kid. You know we are pirates, right? In fact, no one here would blame you if you retired.”

Usopp spoke worriedly and Lucas also nodded.

“That’s right. You know I wouldn’t think less of you if you chose not to continue being a pirate right? At worst, I will also retire with you and we can simply live normal lives…”

Nami smiled and shook her head.

“Thank you for that. To be honest, I had indeed thought about retiring and taking care of Luna...but…”

Nami looked at Luna who was playing with the Medaka quintuplets again and chasing each other around the room.

“One time, when I brought her with me to an island to go shopping, I discovered another talent of Luna!”

“Really? What is it?”

Lucas asked curiously.

For a talent to be so good that Nami would not mind bringing a kid...just what on earth can it be!?

Nami grinned and made a sign with her fingers. Her index finger and thumb were pressed together while the rest of her fingers were stretched up.

“She’s skilled at pickpocketing!”

“I see...wait, WHAT!?”

Lucas and everyone did a double-take.

Pickpocket!? You actually taught a 2-year-old to pick pockets!? Rather, THAT’S the reason why you wanted to bring her along!?

Nami laughed.

“Hehe, just thinking about it makes me so proud! We easily took at least 10 million Beli for each town we stopped by! Moreover, we can even pull off all kinds of con on people! After all, people tend to lower their guards with children!”

“...”

No one was able to refute at all...no, they actually have so many things to say that they didn’t know where to start!

They could only open their mouth and close them without words coming out…

Lucas’ head started to hurt.

I was too late! If only I can return back in time 2 years ago...I would definitely not let Nami raise Luna!

As if to prove her point, Luna came over and tossed a few things on the table.

It was everyone’s wallets…

…

What the hell!? When did she take those!?

“Hehe~ Mommy, did I do good?”

“Yup~ As expected of my little girl~”

“...”

Watching this mother-daughter duo counting everyone’s money finally snapped everyone.

Usopp quickly shouted.

“Hey! That’s my wallet! I haven’t even bought anything in Fishman Island yet!”

“Hm? Why are there so few? Didn’t I already hand everyone an allowance of 100 thousand Beli?”

Nami frowned.

As someone who was sensitive to numbers, she was confused as to why Usopp’s money had already decreased to a mere 1 thousand Beli. It hasn’t even been a day since they arrived to Fishman Island…

Hearing that, Usopp froze and started to sweat bullets.

“Ah...hahaha! I forgot! I actually bought a lot of stuff already!”

“Hm? Usopp-san, didn’t you give the beautiful mermaids 10 thousand each earlier?”

Brook asked Usopp in confusion. Before Kaya took him away, Usopp had been with Brook and he hadn't seen him buy anything else.

So he was confused as to why Usopp said what he said.

However, Usopp was clearly lying which Brook didn’t manage to pick up. The reason why he hid the fact was because…

“Ara, you gave everyone 10 thousand Beli...is that right, Usopp-san?

“K-K-K-K-K-Kaya! T-this...I can explain!”

“Ara ara, I’ll listen to your ‘explanation’ then.”

“Wait! Didn’t you say you'll listen!? Why are you dragging me outside! Noooo! Help meeeeeee!!!”

“...”

Everyone only watched on with sympathy in their eyes.

They all saw the look in Kaya’s face. Who would stand up for you in the face of that!?

Lucas stared at them dumbfoundedly before snapping out of it and shaking his head.

“We’re getting off topic here! Is this really the only reason why you brought Luna with you!?”

Nami’s smile faded and she turned to look at Luna again.

“...Actually, I don’t know why but she has always believed...that you were alive...Maybe a part of me started to believe in her too...so I decided, if you were really alive...maybe you’d stop hiding and look for us if I take her out to the sea…”

“...”

“I know...it was stupid...if things really get dangerous, I would have still retired...seeing you now...I still wonder if I’m dreaming...and that when I wake up, you won’t be there anymore...”

Luna felt a drop of tear fall on her cheeks. She looked up and saw Nami smiling at her with tears at the corner of her eyes.

“Mommy? Don’t be sad! Look, Daddy is here!”

“...Yes...he is, isn’t he? This isn’t a dream…”

“Un!”

Lucas sighed deeply and hugged the two of them.

“I’m sorry...for leaving you two behind…”

Watching this scene, Brook started to tear up.

“My eyes are overflowing with tears! Ah, but I don’t have eyes! Yohohoho!”

Robin smiled as well and wiped a tear that fell on the corner of her eyes.

Hancock started blushing while pulling onto Luffy’s sleeve.

“L-Luffy...I...I want one too!”

“Hm? Oh! That’s a good idea! Let’s ask Franky to build us a kid too! I want one that shoots lasers in his eyes! He will be named LH01!”

“...”

Lucas nearly stumbled when he heard what Luffy said.

This damn captain...really knows how to ruin a good mood!

What’s worse was...he didn’t seem to be joking at all!

Lucas asked Nami.

“...Is it time we give Luffy ‘that’ talk?”

“...What are you, his father?”

No but can you really imagine Dragon or Garp teaching Luffy about the ‘birds’ and ‘bees’?

…Actually, I kinda want to see that…

Lucas shook his head with the ridiculous thoughts and chose to ignore Luffy.

After that, they started to talk about their past experiences in the past 2 years.

A few hours passed, Ussopp and Kaya finally came back.

Usopp’s snow white paleness and distant eyes creeped everyone out and all sorts of imaginations appeared in their heads as they tried to guess what Kaya did.

Unfortunately, no one still dared to ask as everyone had different levels of imagination and grew more scared with Kaya instead.

Suddenly, they all heard a commotion outside.

Looking out the window, they saw a large merman holding a trident while riding a whale.

Seeing who it was, Lucas laughed.

“Ah, King Neptune’s here. Everyone, let’s go out to meet him.”

“Eh!? King Neptune!? Why is he here to meet us!?”

Nami asked in fright.

Generally, don’t royalty try to avoid pirates!?

...Wait, there was the case of Vivi...nevermind, Vivi is a weird case. Anyway, there shouldn’t be any reason why royalty would want to visit a group of pirates...let alone the King of Fishman Island…

King Netpune saw Lucas and laughed.

“Hohoho! Lucas, are these the Strawhat pirates that you mentioned?”

“Yeah. They just arrived at Fishman Island!”

“Un. It’s good that you are finally able to reunite with them. This calls for a celebration! Come! I hereby invite you all to join me in the Ryugu Palace!”

“Ehhhhhh!?”

Camie, who was with the Strawhats, was badly frightened with what she just heard.

She didn’t think that her human friends...would be invited to the Ryugu Palace!

King Neptune saw Camie and Shyarly were also present and nodded at them.

“The two of you can also join us.”

“Is it okay?”

Shyarly smiled and didn’t seem as tense as Camie.

“Hohoho! It’s not a problem. There’s no need to act so distantly to us Shyarly.”

“Fufu, then I shall accept. Let’s go, Camie.”

“E-eh!? I-i-is it really okay for me too!?”

Camie still can’t believe what was happening. It has been her dream to be able to see Ryugu Palace but she was only a simple mermaid and would never have a chance.

She didn’t think...that she can now go because of her relation with the Strawhats!

Shyarly just smiled.

“It’s fine. The old man already said so too. Just follow.”

“O-okay…”

The crew along with Kind Neptune, Shyarly, and Camie boarded a large shark as it lifted them up to the water tunnel connecting to the Ryugu Palace.

Unlike in the original version, Megalo wasn’t eaten by the kraken and had remained by Shirahoshi’s side. This was mainly because Lucas had kept watch of it and waited for it to be eaten in order to know when the Strawhats would arrive.

However, because of this, Megalo had become insecure with the looks he’s been getting from Lucas and chose to hide in Shirahoshi’s room the whole time…

En, this was because he had accidentally heard Lucas mutter when he was wondering whether shark’s fin was really taken from a shark’s fin or not...and that he said it was delicious…

This time, if King Neptune hadn’t ordered him, he wouldn’t want to meet Lucas again!

It only took a few minutes for them to arrive in front of the palace.

Looking at the artistic and beautiful scenery, everyone was momentarily speechless before finally exclaiming its beauty.

“Here we are! Welcome to my Ryugu Palace!”

“We’re heeeeeere!!! This place is so cool!!!”

Luffy’s eyes started to shine as he looked at the palace. The others were all similarly excited as well.

The doors started to open for them. Just looking at it made Luffy excited once again.

“Uwaaaaah! This looks like a fun castle with lots of stuff in it!”

“Mommy! Daddy! Look look! A dragon!”

“Hehe, it certainly looks cool right, Luna?”

Nami smiled. At this moment, she was glad that she had brought along her daughter.

True, there will be lots of danger ahead of them...but it's these moments that make the journey worthwhile.

After heading inside, the guards prepared a large bubble for them to travel with. Afterward, they were greeted with the three princes and Kirahoshi along with the queen Otohime.

Otohime looked at King Neptune angrily as it seemed that King Neptune had snuck off without permission to grab the Strawhats.

While King Neptune was being scolded by Otohime, Lucas noticed Luffy had already disappeared.

Checking the time, Lucas guessed that it should be time for Shirahoshi’s lunch.

Hm? Hancock’s also gone...she must’ve followed Luffy. She’s probably the only woman who can follow Luffy’s whims without a word…

Lucas sighed and thought for a moment before leaving as well.

He took Luna from Nami and said to her.

“Let me hold on to Luna for a moment. I’ll take her to look around the place. I’ll tell you if we find the treasure room.”

Nami was about to ask him why but when she heard the word ‘treasure’, her eyes turned to Belis and no longer questioned him!

“Have a nice walk~”

“...”

Lucas chuckled and carried Luna as they separated from the group.

Though Lucas said they were going to look around, in truth, he was headed towards Shirahoshi’s room as he was curious about what would happen with Hancock there as well.

Maybe not much would happen...but he still wants to watch whatever drama that unfolds.

It would be interesting to see the so-called ‘most beautiful’ woman and ‘most beautiful’ mermaid meet together.

Oh my, are they going to fight over Luffy!?

...Okay, actually, Lucas just wanted to gossip!