Chapter 28

After a while, the food was finally prepared and they sat down at the dinner table.

While they were eating, Otohime began to talk excitedly about her dream.

"We have made much greater progress with the paper I received from the Celestial Dragons. We will finally take the first step to the surface soon!" Otohime said with a smile.

At that time, her husband and children were looking at her with a smile. After all, as long as she was happy, they were happy too.

Ragna wanted to laugh at her foolish effort, but of course, he wouldn't. After all, he wouldn't do like openly mock someone's dream.

But he still couldn't help but say a few words, "Have you ever thought about the possible side effects of what you're going to do?"

"Huh? How so?" Otohime said curiously. Also, the others were wondering what Ragna would say.

"Have you thought about the problems that may arise when you go up? For example, some people will want to capture merfolks and sell them as slaves. There aren't that many cases right now as it's very difficult to land here now. But what about when you get to an easily accessible place? Lots of merfolks will be caught and sold every day." Ragna said and looking at Otohime added, "Can you protect your people?"

Otohime bowed her head thoughtfully. Neptune was about to say something to Ragna when he saw his wife's expression.

But at that moment, Otohime lifted her head and said confidently, "Yes, we can deal with them. We also have the support of Celestial Dragons. It will be easier with their support."

This time Ragna couldn't contain his laugh, "Hahaha! Queen Otohime, I hear you've been to Mary Geoise. Did you come across any fishman or merfolk slave while you were there? Do you think they will release them? Or for example, what would you do if one day your daughter wanted to be taken as a slave by a Celestial Dragon? Will you oppose them?"

Otohime was silent. He hadn't seen any fishman slaves when she was there, but from what she had heard from Fisher Tiger, she knew there could be a lot of fishman slaves. After all, Fisher Tiger was only able to release some of them.

"If one of them sees Shirahoshi, they will want her, after all, she is quite special and they especially like special people. Then will you oppose them? Can you do something like that for the peace of all Fishman Island's people?" Ragna cornered her even more. Because he could only imagine the turmoil that would ensue in that situation.

Everyone would want to catch this race, which is very valuable as a slave. All pirates would attack there.

At that moment, Neptune slammed his trident into the ground and harshly responded, "Enough! Ragna-san, don't talk anymore."

After a short silence, Ragna looked at Neptune and said, "Neptune-san, you know better what could happen, right? After all, you have witnessed the evil of humans many times before. You also realize that from what Fisher Tiger said, you can't trust them."

Neptune, of course, knew what was on the surface better than his wife. Because he had protected his island from humans many times. But he still believed that his wife would one day realize her dream.

Ragna stood up to go and then said, "I don't want to be misunderstood. Like you, I want the fishman race to come back to the surface. But I don't think you can handle it yet. I just wouldn't recommend making a hasty decision."

Later, Ragna and Law left. Jimbei, on the other hand, stayed there, confused by what had happened, but then quickly got up and followed them.

Law glanced at Ragna as he walked behind. He was trying to guess why Ragna was acting this way.

Neptune said quickly after they were gone, "Don't worry, Otohime. We'll get through this together. He doesn't know exactly what he's talking about."

Their children also went to support them.

Otohime had a sad expression. After a short while, she shook her head twice to collect herself. And then she said, "No, he's right. I was so locked into my goal that I did not pay much attention to the problems that may occur later. How can we succeed above when we cannot ensure the safety of our people even now? Yes, we should wait a little longer. We need to get stronger to protect our people."

At that moment, Otohime's face was more confident than before.

Neptune was happy inside. Because he knew this for a long time. But he did not dare to tell these things to Otohime. He couldn't forgive himself if he ever broke her dream. That's why he was grateful to Ragna.

But Otohime was also afraid of something else. It came to her mind when Ragna told her about Shirahoshi. What if the Celestial Dragons find out that Shirahoshi is the Ancient Weapon Poseidon? What would happen then? What would he do if they wanted to take her little daughter?

After Ragna left the palace, he began to think about what he had said. He didn't know yet if what he was doing there would cause anything good or bad. But he had to do this, otherwise, there was a possibility that Poseidon might fall into their hands in the future.

Even the thought of Poseidon being on their side made him nervous. So whatever he did, he had to pull her to his side. Since Poseidon was a little kid, now was the best opportunity.

At that moment, Ragna thought of himself as the villain. He was manipulating little kids and pulling them to his side.

Ragna thought, 'Also, Luffy is a child right now. I wonder if I should take him as my cabin boy? Anyway, I don't want an idiot like him in my crew. And of course, there's also that his monster grandfather. I don't want someone like him after me right now.'