One Piece: Mandala Swordsman

Chapter 155 Believe me, my heart is aching beyond repair.

This pink mermaid is named Melissa.

She has a pretty face and a ditzy personality.

Because life with Hassan was really tough, and she was currently in a weak state, Roman offered to take her to Mermaid Island himself.

Otherwise, given her absent-minded nature, there's a high chance she'll be caught again.

However, Roman had his own plans.

At this moment, she is sleeping peacefully in her cabin on the ship.

Before that, she had eaten some bread and fruit and soon became tired.

"Doesn't it hurt your conscience, sir, to use such a confused person?"

"Believe me, I am in unbearable pain right now."

The four of them adopted a "I don't believe it" expression.

The pirate ship's coating was quite good. They passed through giant sea kings without incident and successfully reached a depth of 10,000 meters in the deep sea.

At the border, the most eye-catching thing is the white-bearded flag.

This is a form of deterrence, telling other pirates that this is Whitebeard's protected territory, and they'd better think twice before causing trouble.

In terms of effectiveness, it is indeed quite good.

Although some people dare to traffic people, they do it secretly. If anyone dares to do it openly, then they are not taking their own lives seriously.

Roman did the same when dealing with Hassan, only daring to show his true face under a mask, and even throwing mud at Kaido.

"Alright, we've arrived at our destination. Slye, be a gentleman and help our lovely mermaid down. Without bubbles, moving around on land is quite troublesome for her."

"This is incredible! There's sunlight, air, and land 10,000 meters below the sea! Sir, am I dreaming? My eyes aren't deceiving me, are they? I think I even saw a rainbow, and the buildings and people here are almost identical!" Grant shouted excitedly.

Because sunlight cannot penetrate deep into the ocean, she thought it would be pitch black.

"Don't you all know?"

"Has the officer been here? How would he know?"

"It's easy to deduce. If it were really pitch black, Miss Melissa's eyes would have almost no light-sensitive cells. But her eyes are very bright, and her pupils react just like ours, focusing in response to light. This means that she has lived in a place with light for a long time. Biological knowledge is also necessary."

Sly: "What cells, light-sensitive cells?"

Grant: "What is pupillary response?"

LaVine: "Isn't focusing only used in cameras?"

Patch: "What is biology?"

Roman: "..."

"Alright, alright, let's skip that topic. Anyway, here we are. What should we do if we don't want to cause a commotion?" Roman began to consider the rest.

“There’s nothing wrong with going straight in, right? Whitebeard is the emperor of the pirates, but we’re the Marines, aren’t we? There’s no need to give Whitebeard face, is there?” Sly asked, lifting Melissa up with both hands.

"What you said makes sense. Okay, let's get straight to the point. Aren't there people over there?"

At the border, people who appeared to be fish-men soldiers were looking around somewhat nervously, after all, the pirate flag was still very conspicuous.

"Excuse me for interrupting, but we found a mermaid on land. She's very weak, so we've taken the liberty of bringing her back. May we go in?" Roman asked loudly.

"They clearly wanted to take advantage of me, but they made it sound so nice."

"The officer's heart is as black as ever."

"That's really scary."

I can hear everything!

Several "wells" appeared above Roman's head.

Soldier 1: "They don't seem to have any ill intentions. They're just here to return our lost mermaids."

Soldier 2: "They didn't force their way in, and it seems like we can communicate, but they're still human, so we have to be careful. Sigh, they seem to be just a child."

Soldier 3: "Even so, we can't let our guard down. We still need to report to the palace. If they can really wait patiently, perhaps we can let them in."

……

They seemed to be discussing it.

Waiting is indeed troublesome.

Roman had considered going straight in, but her plan needed to be based on a good image.

They need to present themselves as naval personnel in stark contrast to pirates in order to gain the trust of the royal family.

Whitebeard has already protected the Mermaid Kingdom with his authority, so if Roman can't seize this opportunity, the Mermaid Island may become even more dissatisfied.

……

The Mermaid Palace.

News that a human had brought back the lost mermaid had spread throughout the royal palace.

Queen Otohime, ignoring the advice of others, excitedly insisted on going to see.

"Please calm down. You are pregnant, aren't you?" the Left Minister hurriedly advised.

“Since someone has such good intentions, we absolutely cannot turn them away. I will go to greet them myself.” Otohime’s attitude was resolute.

Although physically frail, her will was truly unbreakable.

So the large group of people set off for the border.