บท 204: Pardons
"Stop flailing around!" Zoro growled as he blocked a strike from the octopus merman.
He hadn't anticipated having this much difficulty in this fight, but Hyouzou ate some strange pill after a few clashes and got a lot stronger than before.
Not strong enough to actually pose a threat to Zoro, but he was trying to keep collateral damage to a minimum and this bastard kept swinging his swords every which way without any thought. Zoro was forced to block any attacks that would hit the buildings or the unconscious fishmen goons, as well as not hitting them with his own attacks.
The worst part was that Hyouzou figured out he was doing this and started using it against him to gain an advantage in the fight.
It certainly didn't help that Hyouzou's swords were coated in some kind of poison, otherwise he could simply take a wound or two to finish him.
'Wait, between Chopper and Cherry a little bit of poison is no big deal right?' Zoro pondered. 'I can tough it out until I get to one or both of them, they can't be that far away.'
Settled on this somewhat self-destructive plan, Zoro launched into one of his finishing moves that wouldn't damage anything besides his target whilst leaving an intensional opening for Hyouzou to exploit.
"*hic* I've got ya now fool~" Hyouzou slurred and countered in his drunken overconfidence.
Zoro's movements suddenly shifted into something that was hard to follow even with sober eyes. Hyouzou failed to block Zoro's attack and took two slashes across the chest, whilst he only managed to get small cuts on Zoro.
Hyouzou toppled over whilst chuckling to himself. He didn't even feel his wounds due to the alcohol and the energy steroids that he had consumed, but he knew that Zoro was a dead man walking with his poison coursing through his veins.
Zoro sheathed his sword and went to meet back up with Brook. Unfortunately he went in the opposite direction. So when Brook arrived with a host of guards, Zoro was nowhere to be found.
"Where did Zoro go I wonder?" Brook scratched his head in confusion.
"It really was Hyouzou, this is really bad! We need to get all these men to a doctor quickly! Your other friend must have been disoriented by the poison and wandered off, we need to find him before it kills him!" A guard shouted in worry.
Brook wondered if that was really the case or if Zoro just miraculously got lost once again. "I suppose I should look for him just in case.
Zoro meanwhile was starting to feel the effects of the poison and could find Brook anywhere. "Did he get lost? I guess I'll just find Cherry and Chopper on my own."
Zoro saw a group of 'water roads' that the fishpeople and merpeople used to get around fishman island faster. So he picked one at random and used a bubbly coral to make a bubble around himself to breathe.
Next to the water road that he chose, a sign clearly marked its destination as the "Sea Forest".
…
In the dungeon of the Ryugu Palace.
Borke and Slenk heard footsteps coming down the stairs of the dungeon. That was unusual as most of the royal guards were mermen and the royal family was the same.
They both pressed their faces up against the sturdy bars to see what was happening, thinking that perhaps there was another prisoner?
They couldn't believe their eyes when the people coming down the stairs came into view.
At the forefront was a familiar face, their very own troublesome little sister in all but blood, Cherry. She was covered in heavy chains and cuffs and dragged along by two royal guards that flanked her sides. Literally dragged as she was apparently refusing to walk.
Behind them was King Neptune, whom Slenk and Borke had only seen briefly during their sentencing. His face was a mask of barely contained rage and hatred.
The procession stopped as they reached Borke and Slenk's prison cell.
"Your sentences will be carried out in the afternoon, and you'll be taking this beast to hell with you." King Neptune spoke darkly, the faintest tremble heard beneath its commanding tone.
Borke just looked confused since the King had been so friendly before, but Slenk was looking at Cherry in shock with an expression that seemed to ask "What the hell did you do?!"
Cherry answered the unspoken question with a cold smirk. "I killed the three princes to avenge you for this travesty of justice."
King Neptune drove his fist into the back of Cherry's head with a resounding crack. "Silence, you wretched devil!"
King Neptune waved his hand and the guards opened the cell and unceremoniously tossed Cherry's unconscious form inside before locking it shut once more.
Slenk and Borke rushed to her side. They knew this was all their fault that this misunderstanding happened and they felt horrible for it.
Slenk rolled her over, gently cradling her head in his lap. However, Cherry's eyes were unexpectedly open and she was trembling as if trying to fight back laughter.
""Huh???" This was the last expression they expected to see on her face at this moment. It was far too goofy for the serious nature of the situation.
When they looked at the royal guards and King Neptune who hadn't left yet for some reason, they found that their expressions were similar to Cherry's with barely concealed mirth.
Everyone except for the dumbfounded Slenk and Borke burst into laughter and fits of giggles.
Slenk stood up and let Cherry's head smack into the hard floor, a blush of embarrassment turning his face red.
"???" Borke meanwhile still didn;t get it.
"Cherry was fucking with us, you big buffoon!" Slenk exclaimed, knocking on Borke's head as if to check whether it was hollow.
"Hehehe! Neptune, you're quite the actor, you know that? I was worried you wouldn't be able to pull it off, but you were very convincing!" Cherry said as she stood up and let the chains fall off of her.
"Mm, I had to call upon some old memories that aren't very pleasant, but that's the least I can do to assuage your feelings about this unfortunate affair." King Neptune said, stroking his beard.
He had seen many of his comrades fall in battle against humans in the past, so he was no stranger to that kind of hatred. In a strange way, he felt that using those old emotional wounds to make someone smile was something his late wife would have been proud of him for.
"Let's get you out of here, huh?" Cherry said, causing Slenk and Borke to be relieved.
Cherry introduced the two of them to Luffy, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Merry, and Cabernet.
Sanji and Slenk met each other's gaze and immediately clasped their arms together.
"A fellow man of culture, I see!" Slenk said.
"It's always good to meet a comrade and connoisseur of the finest art!" Sanji said.
Borke got into an eating competition with Luffy. He lost even though Luffy has been eating for a while now.
Chopper ensured they were in good health whilst they looked at him funny. Talking animals weren't very common after all, let alone animals that practice medicine.
A dagger came flying through the corridors at odd angles until it reached Cherry where she casually caught it.
"As you can see, Vander Decken's attacks will no longer target your princess, so we should probably get going now, Neptune. Pirates are slippery folk, so it's unlikely that your guards will find the rest of us to bring them here either." Cherry said.
"What about the food?!" Luffy presumably said through his stuffed face.
"Just stuff it into a bag like you normally do, Luffy." Sanji suggested.
"Very well, Jamon. I would like to take my daughter to visit my wife's grave now that she is free to leave the palace." King Neptune said.
"We'll go as well, father!" Prince Fukaboshi said eagerly, his two brothers nodded beside him in affirmation.
"I shall make the announcement of the good news as well as the pardons for mister Borke and mister Slenk, your majesty." The Minister of the Left said with a bow.
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