Chapter - 55

Neptune wasted no time regrouping with his great white.

"Good boy." He said petting the shark on nose before continuing, "We have to hurry and protect the kingdom, hurry my friend!"

The two raced their way down into the depths heading for the underwater paradise.

Neptune turned around to realize his friend was lagging behind breathing a little heavy, he could telepathically sense his friend's distress.

"Hey come here. What's wrong boy?" He asked petting it's nose.

The shark began violently thrashing around spouting blood from its eyes, mouth, and nose. He was desperately begging for his help.

"H-Hey stay with me buddy your okay!" Neptune stammered not sure how to relieve his friend of his pain. He could sense the distress coming from the sharks stomach.

"Okay, Okay let me see." The king said flipping the shark on its side to see its stomach. Neptune gasped in terror as he seen a hellfire blade protrude through the shark's lower stomach before slicing it to its neck.

The ocean was painted in red as two hands grabbed the incinerated flaps of skin on the shark. The hands violently tore open his pet's stomach spilling its intestines on Neptune causing him to nearly vomit. The God of the Sea could only shrink back in fear barley holding onto his trident.

Out of the shark's stomach emerged the high councilor virtually unscathed. The King's pet's guts stained Luffy, as he finished tearing the shark in half with a sickening rip. A cold chill went down Neptune's back barley registering what happened in front of him.

He thought it was a total victory and now here the devil stood caked with in his friend's blood.

"W-what kind of monster are you?" Neptune fearfully asked holding his trident up defensively. Luffy just kept approaching him not stopping to care as the trident pierced his stomach once more until it couldn't go any further.

"M-my God." Neptune said completely mortified.

This brought a small smile to the high councilor's features.

"No, Its no god. I have the will of 'D', I'm the natural enemy of the gods." He replied coldly stabbing the king through his heart, incinerating it in seconds, killing him instantly.

Luffy watched the King's lifeless body descend into the depths. Now he knew there was no going back in his plan. Fishman Island wouldn't bow to him willingly and he had no desire destroy it. He wasted no time joining the rest of his council flying through the water hundreds of meters in seconds.

The high councilor reached the Fishman Island and Ryugu Palace in minutes. The royal family battled with his comrades. Princess Shirahoshi floated near the battle crying around like he expected. He quickly went over to her to stop her tears.

When he approached her she shrieked back in fear at the sight of his form.

"It's me Princess." The voice sounded familiar to her.

"L-Luffy? Is that you?" She asked wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Yeah its me. Don't worry it'll be alright." He spoke trying to calm her down.

The princess expected Luffy to be accompanying her father to try and stop the men from battling her family.

"Luffy where is my father?" She asked hoping he would say on his way or he's just fine. He wasn't going to lie to her, she was the queen now—it was time for her to act like it.

"He's dead Shirahoshi, I killed him, it was either me or him." Luffy said with an even tone. The princess was now even crying harder than ever and it pissed him off—he was running out of time.

"Listen! Listen to me Shirahoshi!" The high councilor demanded trying to get her tears to stop.

Sighing audibly he knew there was no way of consoling her—so he spoke his truth.

"Princess I'm sorry for your loss." He said softly causing her to look up at him. "Your old man knew what he was getting into, he went down fighting like a great warrior of the sea. I know your pain, losing someone very precious too you hurts now, but in time, it will make you stronger than you've ever imagined. You were a crybaby when I met you and you're a crybaby now. It's because of your father's isolationism your that way, it's not your fault—you're sheltered. I give you the chance to be free, make you and your people strong, to see the open oceans on land. I can make your mother's dream come true by integrating Fishman Island with the surface world." Luffy said hoping she would understand him.

"How did you know that?" She asked bangs hiding her eyes. "How did know about my mother's dream?"

"Your father told me during our fight. He said he didn't get revenge on her killer to keep her ideals alive, yet he kept you guys isolated from the rest of the world. You can change that Shirahoshi, I can allow you fulfill your mother's dream." Luffy said trying his best to bring her to his side.

"Then just what the hell do you want?! You kill my father and ask me to join you, I should take your head!" She screamed with rage.

For the first time in a long while Luffy showed a grin.

There she was, Queen of the Fishman Island and Ruler of the Kyugu palace. "Your pain already made you stronger princess, never let it go and if truly hate me, you can try and kill me if you want. I'd rather not leave the Fishman Island in the hands of a human though, you or your people would never accept that—we both know that." The rubber man said folding his arms.

"You still haven't told me what you want?" She asked death glaring at him.

"I want dominion over the Sea Kings and when the time comes I need them to fight Kaido alongside me." Luffy said.

"So you did all this—" Shirahoshi started.

Luffy cut her off. "I owe you this princess. Before your father died in battle he asked me what would I gain from ruling—he was wrong. I'm not doing this to rule, I'm doing this to protect. I couldn't protect my loved ones and I lost them her before my eyes without a goodbye. I'm doing this to make the world a better place, so something like that never happens again." Luffy spoke trying to gauge a reaction from the princess.