【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

Chapter 485 Visiting the Dragon Palace

Lucci sat somewhat listlessly in the fish taxi, observing the crowds below while casually listening to Camie introduce Luffy and the others to the basic information about Fishman Island.

For example, Neptune's three princes and the mermaid princess, as well as Vander Gayken, who keeps scaring the mermaid princess, are now on their way to the home of the starfish named Papagu.

"Okay, we're here!"

The group got out of the fish taxi and looked in surprise at the house, which was much larger than the apartment where Kemi lived. However, the house seemed to be a combination of shops and living rooms, because as soon as they got close, they could hear noise coming from the shops on the first floor, and they could even hear Nami bargaining with the shop owner outside the door.

Usopp, watching Nami haggling over the price, couldn't help but remark, "So it really is you complaining, Nami."

"Hey, Luffy..." Nami turned to look at the group of people at the door, and upon seeing the familiar mermaid, exclaimed in surprise, "Camie!"

"Nami, is anyone else with you?" Lucci asked.

"Yes, Nami, do you know where the others went?" Luffy asked Nami.

"Frankie said he was going to find Mr. Tom's relatives, Robin said he was going to find some important history, Ace said he was going to find a restaurant... Everyone went their separate ways."

“That guy…” Lucci couldn’t help but complain, but he also relaxed. He hadn’t been able to get through to Ace’s Den Den Mushi before.

"Oh, I knew they were alright." Luffy grinned.

After learning that the shop belonged to Papagu, Nami immediately demanded that all the clothes in the shop be sold to her at a discount. After receiving the offer of a free purchase, Nami immediately led everyone to sweep up all the clothes in the shop. Even Lucci, who had been standing by watching, had a bag stuffed into his hand by Nami.

Lucci looked at the package in his hand and the packages on Luffy and the others' backs with some surprise. Were they sweeping through so fast?

"You guys really show no mercy!" Papagu exclaimed in shock as he looked at the empty shop.

Just then, a commotion arose outside, sounding as if some important figure had arrived. Lucci followed Luffy and the others to the shop entrance, squinting at King Neptune, who was wearing a glittering golden crown.

"Who are you, old man?" Luffy looked up at the bearded old man sitting on the whale and asked.

"What a huge male mermaid..." Usopp exclaimed.

"Female mermaids are better!" Brooke exclaimed.

“It’s Neptune, the king of Fishman Island,” Lucci calmly introduced. “It’s probably because we declined the invitation to the palace while we were at the café.”

"So he got angry and came to arrest us himself?" Usopp said in horror.

Are you sure it's him?

A shark wearing clothes swam out from behind Neptune and nodded at Luffy.

"Hey! You bunch of humans in straw hats, come visit the Dragon Palace!" Neptune immediately extended an invitation to them.

"They're not here to arrest us." Usopp breathed a sigh of relief.

"Is there any meat?!" Luffy looked at the mermaid uncle expectantly; he was hungry.

"Hehehe! I have as many as you want!"

"Yo! Onward to the meat!!"

……

"W-Can we take you to the Dragon Palace too?" Cammy asked nervously, sitting on the shark.

“He said I could bring friends, so it’s fine,” Usopp reassured him with a smile.

“There’s something I forgot to mention. One of your companions has already entered the city,” Neptune said suddenly, as if remembering something. “He just started drinking right away. I told him that a feast is only enjoyable when everyone is together, but he’s such a stubborn man!”

"It's Zoro, isn't it?"

"It's Solly!"

"It's Zoro!" Nami and Usopp corrected each other.

"The soldiers will find your other comrades soon, don't worry."

"By the way, grandpa!" Nami punched Papagu, who was yelling and biting her on the head, and then continued with her question, "This is 10,000 meters deep in the ocean, so why is Fishman Island the only bright spot?"

“Rather than saying that the location of Fishman Island is bright, it’s more accurate to say that Fishman Island settled here because it’s bright,” Neptune explained. “Because there is a large tree here called the Sun Tree Eve, which can transmit sunlight from the ground directly to the seabed, and its roots grow here.”

"Sunlight? So this tree has glowing roots that are over 10,000 meters long?" Nami exclaimed in surprise.

“That’s true…and the roots of this tree can transmit air to the seabed…” Neptune explained.

Luffy was standing in front of the shark, feeling the wind blowing. He had no interest in the trees and such that the mermaid uncle had mentioned. Luffy rubbed his stomach. He was so hungry. Did Lucci have any food? Thinking of this, he suddenly realized that Lucci hadn't said a word since he boarded the shark's back.

Luffy turned around in confusion and immediately saw Lucci sleeping against the shark's dorsal fin. Luffy frowned in bewilderment and said, "Hey, Lucci."

"Are you asleep?" Luffy squatted down in front of the sleeping Lucci, puzzled, and poked Lucci's cheek, but he didn't wake up, just slapped Luffy's hand away and continued to sleep.

“The Lucci brothers fell asleep not long after they came up,” Brooke explained softly, sitting on the side of the shark’s dorsal fin.

Luffy scratched his head in confusion, wondering why Lucci suddenly liked to sleep like Zoro. Was he very tired?

"Hohoho, we've arrived. This is the entrance."

Luffy immediately shifted his attention to the fishman uncle, catching a small piece of coral that the uncle tossed to him. "What's this?"

"It's bubble coral, a tool that can easily create bubbles," Kemi explained with a smile.

“Because the city is basically filled with seawater, you’ll need to wear soap bubbles,” Neptune explained.

Upon hearing the explanation, Nami and Luffy simultaneously pressed the Coral Button. The next second, two soap bubbles appeared instantly, merging together to envelop them on the shark's back. Then, the shark and Neptune led them into a pipe.

"Wow, that's fast!" Luffy excitedly felt the shark's speed. Although they couldn't feel the rapid flow of water inside the bubbles, the speed still excited him.

"Here we are, right here."

"Wow! That's awesome!" Luffy exclaimed, looking at the brightly colored, beautiful, and enormous castle in front of him.

“The Papagu brothers’ little house looks like a flea,” Brooke said, looking at the huge building in front of him.

“Look at my height!” Papagu immediately exclaimed in dissatisfaction.

"The king is back! Open the door!"

"The castle has everything, it looks really fun!" Luffy exclaimed excitedly.

"What a beautiful castle!" Nami exclaimed.

"This is my castle, please enjoy your visit!"

Luffy looked excitedly at the door that was about to open, feeling thrilled about the upcoming banquet. Everything inside the castle was great, but why was that old man being yelled at as soon as he entered the gate?