Chapter 276: Princess Shirahoshi

"So, how was the King? He seemed to be giving you some trouble." Asked Diddy with a faint smirk as he glanced at Mael, who glanced at his wounds before clicking his tongue.

"He was pretty strong; if he were in the water, it would've been a much harder fight." Replied Mael lightly with a shake of his head as he looked at Scar and Pekoms, causing Diddy to nod before faintly smirking.

"Hehe, yeah, aren't Fishman stronger when in the water? I need to fight Jinbe in the water next time I see him then; that'll really be an interesting fight." Said Diddy with a feral smirk as he licked his fangs while imagining such a fight, only to shake his head before suddenly kicking Mael in the head, knocking him to the ground.

"Tch, the hell was that for, Captain!?" Asked Mael angrily as he rubbed his head while glaring at Diddy, who chuckled before kicking once more, forcing him to dodge.

"You better get used to dodging, Mael; your devil fruit is powerful and can potentially destroy the world. However, you saw what Whitebeard was capable of at Marineford; even without using his devil fruit, he could push back two Admirals with his haki alone." Stated Diddy with a smirk as he lowered his foot while watching Mael stand upright, causing him to frown intently.

"So, you're saying Haki is superior to devil fruits?" Asked Mael solemnly as he stared at Diddy, who shrugged his shoulders while laughing.

"I don't know, not yet, at least. All I know is that I'd be warier of an experienced haki user than an experienced devil fruit user." Replied Diddy lightly with a feral grin, his words causing Mael to show a thoughtful expression as he rubbed his chin.

"What about both?" Asked Mael with a faint smirk, his words causing Diddy to merely laugh as he headed towards Sebas, who was standing beside the throne room's entrance.

Scar's opponent was rather pissed at me for killing Tamago, as he kept trying to lunge at me, yet Scar wasn't letting him leave so easily; even though he was outclassed, heavily injured, and exhausted, he seemed dead set on fighting to his last breath, something I found rather amusing since I could tell he wasn't like me, who lived for the thrill of a good fight.

'Either way, fighting strong opponents is the best way to improve oneself.' Thought Diddy as he glanced at Scar and Pekoms before looking at Sebas, who constantly winced.

"Ohh, that's definitely going to take some time to heal." Muttered Sebas with a slight wince as he watched Scar receive a powerful slash to his chest, ripping open his skin and causing blood to spew everywhere.

"Where's Shirahoshi's room?" Asked Diddy curiously as he looked at Sebas, who glanced at him before waving his hand and opening the throne room doors.

"Her room is down the hall, up three flights of stairs, and in the far left corner of the palace behind two massive doors with numerous weapons embedded into them; it'll be hard to miss, Captain." Replied Sebas lightly as he pointed outside the doors, causing Diddy to nod as he started walking away, only for him to turn around and grab his bo-staff, which was floating in the air.

"I'm taking Fukaboshi with me as well." Said Diddy as he holstered Naga-sa onto his back before grabbing Fukaboshi by the neck with his tail, only to drag him across the floor.

"Hoho, be warned, he is a feisty one, Captain. Ouch, he'll need to have Grand look at that wound." Remarked Sebas with a faint chuckle, only to wince as he looked at Scar, who was flung across the room.

Dissmively waving my hand at whatever Sebas said, the doors were promptly closed once I left the throne room, and the instant that happened, Fukaboshi violently bit my tail, though his teeth had shattered as I coated it in haki, having already seen what he was going to do half-a-second in the future.

After that, he intended to throw water droplets at me, but before I allowed him to do that, I tightened my grasp around his neck and lifted him in the air before violently slamming him onto the ground; however, just to be sure he knew trying to escape was pointless, I slammed him a few times.

"Be a good fish and just lay there; I'm not that interested in fighting you." Said Diddy lightly as he yawned while glancing at Fukaboshi, who was bleeding from his orifices, though he was still glaring at him.

He was definitely angry with me, but I didn't care so long as he wasn't annoying, and he must've gotten the message since he stopped trying to escape, which was good, as I wanted to keep him in a relatively good condition until we met his sister. After all, he could be used as a good convincing tool if she doesn't want to summon a whole bunch of sea kings for me to fight.

While following Sebas's instructions, I happened to come across some more guards, which were all easily dealt with; their armor wasn't capable of protecting them from a shigan to the chest. Along the way, Fukaboshi grabbed a trident from one of the dead guards, though he was smart enough not to immediately attack me.

After several minutes of walking, we finally arrived at the destination Sebas was talking about; standing before me was a massive door with hundreds of weapons embedded into it, causing me to tilt my head in confusion, but I eventually shrugged my shoulders and forgot about it.

Approaching the door, I promptly opened it, and when I did, a feminine scent engulfed my nose, along with a sweet voice echoing within my ears.

"Brothers, Father, is that you?" Asked Shirahoshi softly as she glanced at the door while lying on her bed which was covered in stuffed animals.

"Nope, it's unfortunately not. Well, sort of, actually." Said Diddy lightly as he fully opened the door and looked up at Shirahoshi.

The painting of Shirahoshi didn't do her justice; she was much more beautiful than what I was led to believe; hell, I'm confident, given a decade or so, she'd be a worthy contender for the most beautiful woman in the world.

'It also didn't fully display her sheer size. She's fucking massive, roughly as big as the King.' Mused Diddy with a raised eyebrow as he gazed upon Shirahoshi, who was doing the same to him.

"Um, excuse me, but who are you, and how did you get to my room?" Asked Shirahoshi softly as she warily looked at Diddy, who was about to answer, but before he could, Fukaboshi interrupted him.

"DIE!!" Yelled Fukaboshi loudly with a bloodthirsty expression as he broke free from Diddy's tail before aggressively stabbing him with a trident.

Rolling my eyes, I leaped into the air, evading Fukaboshi's attack, only to land on the shaft of the trident as I gave him a bored look.

"Are you stupid or what? Don't yell when trying to sneak attack someone; it's not nearly as effective." Said Diddy lightly as he glanced at Fukaboshi, who tried to attack him, but before he could, he was violently kicked, causing him to be flung into a nearby wall.

"F-Fukaboshi!" Yelled Shirahoshi in concern as she quickly moved toward Fukaboshi, who was embedded into the wall.

"Oh, calm down, he's still breathing." Said Diddy lazily as he landed on the ground and approached the brother-sister duo.

"P-Please, don't hurt my brother; we'll do whatever you want; just please leave him alone." Said Shirahoshi with a teary-eyed expression as she looked at Diddy while trying to protect Fukaboshi with her body.

Smirking at how easy dealing with Shirahoshi was, I was about to tell her to summon a whole bunch of sea kings, mainly so I could see if she could do so, and if she did, I was planning on fighting them. However, before I could do that, I turned and looked outside with a frown, only for a flying sword to suddenly appear several seconds later, heading right for Shirahoshi.

"SHIRAHOSHI!" Yelled Fukaboshi as he tried to protect Shirahoshi, though he was too slow to stop the flying sword.

Quickly leaping in the air between Shirahoshi and the sword, I twisted my body, evading it, before grabbing its hilt and kicking the air behind me, stopping the sword dead in its tracks as I held it in my hands.

'Huh, weird, though I suppose that explains that flying axe from earlier.' Mused Diddy with a weird expression as he intently looked at the sword before shrugging his shoulder and breaking it in half, tossing it out of the room.

Landing on the ground, I glanced back at Shirahoshi before smirking as I pointed at her.

"You can summon Sea kings, correct?" Asked Diddy with a grin as he looked at Shirahoshi, who tilted her head in confusion.

"W-What are you talking about?" Asked Shirahoshi softly as she looked at Diddy, who frowned before glancing at Fukaboshi.

"Can she summon Sea kings or not? If she can't, I'm killing both of you and beating Sebas for wasting my time." Asked Diddy with an annoyed expression as he eyed Fukaboshi, who gritted his teeth and glanced at Shirahoshi, only to lower his head while sighing in defeat.

"She… She can." Muttered Fukaboshi with a defeated expression as he kept his head down, his words causing Shirahoshi to be shocked while Diddy grinned.