Chapter 273: Ryugu Palace
With Sebas restraining the three princes of the Ryugu Kingdom, Mael and Scar took care of their guards as I was too bored to deal with a bunch of weaklings, and it seemed the Fishman princes weren't exactly weak as I noticed Sebas was forced to focus somewhat to keep them constrained.
"C'mon, finish them already, what's taking you guys so long?" Asked Diddy in annoyance as he scratched his head while eyeing Mael and Scar, who both rolled their eyes.
A few moments later, Scar finished off the last guard, causing me to grunt as I walked past the bloody and ashy ground, stepping over several Fishman corpses, which were all Scar's victims since Mael burned every Fishman unfortunate enough to face him into ash. With those groups of guards having been taken care of, we easily continued through the empty city as we made our way toward the Palace in the distance, and after several more minutes, we finally arrived just outside the Palace's gates.
"Prince Fukaboshi, Prince Ryuboshi, Prince Manboshi!" Yelled several royal guards as they noticed the approaching group, yet before they could make a move, a horizontal blade of air sliced right through their armor and cut them in half.
"Is that fast enough, Captain?" Asked Scar lightly as he lowered his leg and glanced at Diddy, who chuckled before nodding.
"Hehe, Freyja's attitude seems to be rubbing off on you." Said Diddy with a smirk as he eyed Scar, who once again rolled his eyes while silently walking beside Sebas.
Mael walked through the closed gates first, his body phasing right through the small gaps while melting all the iron he touched, creating a path for us to easily enter; along the way towards the palace, several more guards headed our way, but Mael and Scar easily handled them. However, when we entered the actual palace, using the same method as before, the number of guards exponentially increased; though, just because there were more weaklings didn't mean they were any more difficult to deal with; they were merely more tedious.
While walking through the palace, heading towards the throne room, where I sensed three people through my observation haki, we passed by several large portraits of what I pressured to be the royal family.
"Woah, how the hell did your dad even impregnate your mom? She's the size of his finger?" Asked Diddy curiously as he gazed at the portrait of the King and Queen of the Ryugu Kingdom before looking at the three Princes.
"To my knowledge, Captain, most fish inseminate the egg externally, so that could be how the late Queen Otohime gave birth to her four children." Remarked Sebas lightly with a raised eyebrow as he gazed at the several portraits before glancing at the three Princes, who were intensely glaring at him.
"Must be; I can't imagine how she managed to give birth to Shirahoshi. That is Shirahoshi, right?" Said Scar lightly while nodding in agreement as he gestured to the picture of a large mermaid, only to glance at Sebas, who nodded.
"She's large." Muttered Mael with a raised eyebrow while eyeing Shirahoshi.
"Heh, yeah, in more ways than one; you sure she's only 14, Sebas?" Asked Diddy curiously as he closely observed Shirahoshi before looking at Sebas, who chuckled while nodding.
"Yes, she's 14, Captain." Replied Sebas, his words causing Diddy to nod as he thoughtfully rubbed his chin while gazing at Shirahoshi.
"What are you thinking, Captain?" Asked Mael as he glanced at Diddy, who narrowed his eyes before shaking his head and looking away.
"If she were smaller, I would take her with us; having a hot mermaid slave that can also summon powerful sea kings for me to constantly fight against? How could I not want such a person? She literally checks all the right marks." Remarked Diddy with a faint smirk as he continued walking down the halls while Mael, Scar and Sebas followed along, his words causing them to all nod in agreement.
"True, she is quite hot." "Hoho, is my daughter not enough for you, Captain?" "I feel like your so-called 'marks' are simply to be strong." Said Mael, Sebas, and Scar, respectively, only for the latter two to freeze while eyeing the former.
"What? Tsk, are we fucking pirates or not? Besides, I never said I was going to do anything; you saw her, even for me, she's way too big." Remarked Mael with a raised eyebrow as he glanced at Diddy, Scar, and Sebas, who were all eyeing him, only for him to scoff while sporting an annoyed expression.
"Hmm, I don't know about that one, Mael. I've killed many people, but I've never called a little girl hot." Said Scar lightly as he defensively raised his arms into the air, causing Mael to grunt in annoyance before turning around and ignoring them.
"He was a slave for those celestial dragons and probably saw them raping a whole bunch of little girls, so it might've rubbed off on him a little; who knows. Anyways, I don't really care." Stated Diddy lightly with a thoughtful expression as he eyed Mael's back, his words causing Sebas to nod, only for him to shrug his shoulders in indifference while walking down the hall.
After Mael's awkward statement, we continued down the halls, killing the remaining guards before eventually arriving in front of the throne room; Mael must've been quite annoyed since he wasted no time and burned a hole through the door with his body.
Entering inside after Mael, I completely ignored the King and focused entirely on the two pirates belonging to the Big Mom pirates: one of them was a man with long legs and a half-cracked egg around his waist; he wore a pink suit along with a teacup hat, and a cane. His partner was a Mink, just like me, though he didn't resemble a monkey and instead looked like a lion; he also wore a pink suit.
"Who ar-" Asked Neptune with a frown, only to freeze when he saw his sons being held captive, causing him to grab his large golden trident while sporting a furious expression.
"Release my sons!" Yelled Neptune angrily as he pointed his trident at the group, causing the two Big Mom pirates to frown before turning around and eyeing the group.
"Chaos Kong?" Muttered Tamago with a slight frown as he eyed Diddy, who was staring right back at him.
"Hehe, Mael, deal with the King. I'll handle these two." Said Diddy with a feral expression as he cracked his neck while approaching Tamago and Pekoms.
While approaching the two pirates, Scar suddenly appeared beside me, causing me to glance at him with a raised eyebrow, and just when I was about to open my mouth, I stopped myself and simply grinned. I could tell from his body language that he knew the opponents before him were out of his league, yet he didn't try to stay back while I dealt with them. Instead, he faced them, causing me to smirk.
'Hehe, that's my disciple.' Thought Diddy with a faint smirk as he glanced at Scar.
"Hehe, I'll take the weird dude. Have fun with that Mink." Said Diddy with a grin, only to glance at Mael, who was clashing with Neptune, their might causing the throne room to shake violently.
Neither of these two were quite strong enough to give me a good fight, but they weren't exactly weak either, so I couldn't just dismiss them.
"Diddy D. Kong. Bounty, 600,000,000 Beri's. Only Dead." Said Pekoms with a slight frown as he shuffled through several wanted posters he kept stored in his coat jacket.
"Chaos Kong. I don't know what you're doing, but we're from the Big Mom Pirates; unless you wish to become enemies with us, I suggest you leave." Stated Tamago sternly as he tapped his cane on the ground while eyeing Diddy, only for him to suddenly snap his fingers.
"No. You've got a bounty of 600,000,000 Beri's, and you've yet to enter the New World. You've faced Whitebeard and lived to tell the tale and escaped from Impel Down; I'm sure Momma will love to have a powerful underlying like you. You may even become one of the four Sweet Commanders in the future." Added Tamago with a faint nod as he took a sip from his teacup while glancing at Diddy, whose smile only grew.
"Hehe, are you asking me to join the Big Mom pirates?" Asked Diddy with a feral grin as he eyed Tamago, who frowned before shaking his head.
"No. I'm ordering you to join us. You haven't entered the New World Yet, but let me give you a little bit of advice; in the New World, young pirates like yourselves either submit yourselves to powerful pirates or get killed. It's as simple as that." Remarked Tamago lightly as he narrowed his eyes at Diddy, his words causing Scar to sigh while shaking his head.
"Hehehe, you just ordered me? Hehehe, I'm going to kill you." Stated Diddy with a bloodthirsty expression as he lowered his stance while eyeing Tamago, who deeply frowned, yet he quickly dodged to the left before he could say anything.
"Hehe, I'm taking your head next." Said Diddy with a ferocious smile as he waved his hand, flinging the blood off his nails while eyeing Tamago, who had five scratches along his neck.
"TAMAGO!" Yelled Pekoms angrily as he lunged at Diddy, only a sharp blade of wind to stop him in his tracks.
"If you wish to get to Captain, you have to go through me first." Said Scar solemnly as he landed in front of Pekoms, preventing him from assisting Tamago