Pain.
That was the first thing Giovanni properly felt once the shock of the cold water wore off.
Pain in his ribs.
Pain in his shoulders.
Pain in his wrists where the chains bit into him.
Pain in the side of his face where someone had clearly not been gentle while he was unconscious.
He sat chained against a damp stone wall in a crude cell, arms bound wide enough to be uncomfortable and low enough to be insulting. The air smelled of salt, rust, and old hatred.
Across from him stood two figures he recognized instantly.
Arlong.
Hody Jones.
Giovanni blinked once through wet hair hanging in his face, then let out a slow breath through his nose.
'Of course it's these two.'
Even like this. Even chained up, bruised, half-soaked, and waking in a dungeon-like cell beneath the rougher side of Fish-Man Island. He recognized them immediately.
Arlong was younger than he would later be when he terrorized the East Blue, but the arrogance was already there. That same saw-nosed face. That same look in his eyes, like the very existence of humans was a personal insult.
And Hody Jones…
Giovanni's eyes narrowed slightly.
'So this is him before he fully loses his mind.'
There was something colder about Hody than Arlong. Less openly explosive. More empty. More rotten. The kind of hatred that did not need reason because it had built itself into a home long ago.
Arlong noticed Giovanni looking.
"What?" Arlong sneered. "You got something to say, human?"
Giovanni spat blood to the side and lifted his head properly.
"Yeah," he said. "You're uglier up close."
Arlong's lip curled.
Then he punched him.
Hard.
Giovanni's head snapped to the side, chains rattling violently against the wall. Pain burst across his jaw and cheek.
Hody Jones smiled.
"Still talking."
Giovanni slowly turned his head back.
"You fish bastards better enjoy this."
Arlong grabbed him by the front of his shirt and yanked him forward against the chains.
"Enjoy what?"
Giovanni grinned despite the blood at the corner of his mouth.
"The only reason you're touching me."
Arlong frowned.
"These chains."
He leaned his head back against the wall as much as the restraints allowed and stared at them both with open hostility.
"Because if I get out of these…"
His voice sharpened.
"I'm going to kill you."
The room went still for half a second.
Then Arlong laughed.
A harsh, ugly laugh.
Hody Jones didn't laugh.
He just watched Giovanni with that same empty, hateful expression.
Arlong let go of Giovanni and stepped back.
"You hear that, Hody?" he said. "The chained human thinks he's dangerous."
Hody stepped forward this time.
Unlike Arlong, he didn't swing wildly.
He struck with cold precision.
A knee to the stomach.
Giovanni folded forward as much as the chains allowed, the air leaving his lungs in one violent burst.
Then Hody grabbed his hair and forced his head back up.
"You people are all the same," Hody said quietly. "Even when you're weak… even when you're trapped… you still talk like the world belongs to you."
Giovanni coughed once, twice, and then smiled again.
"You're giving me a speech while I'm chained up."
His grin widened.
"That's not exactly helping your case."
Hody's eyes darkened.
Arlong smirked.
"Maybe we should carve him up a little more," Arlong suggested. "He's still too lively."
Hody released Giovanni's hair, then stepped back and drew a blade.
The sound of metal leaving its sheath rang lightly in the room.
Giovanni saw it.
Saw the intent too.
Real intent.
Hody was done playing.
Giovanni's eyes hardened.
He pulled once against the chains.
Then again.
They held.
'Damn it.'
Hody raised the blade.
"If you have any last words," he said, "make them quick."
Giovanni bared his teeth.
"Yeah."
He glared at them both.
"You bastards better pray I die here."
Hody lifted the blade higher—
Then the door burst open.
"STOP!"
The voice hit the room before the figure fully entered it.
All three turned.
Queen Otohime stood there, breathing just slightly harder than usual, as if she had hurried to arrive. Her eyes swept the room in one instant. Chains, bruises, blood, blade.
And they sharpened immediately.
Arlong's face changed first.
Then Hody's.
Not into guilt.
Into caution.
"Queen Otohime," Arlong said quickly, lowering his posture.
Hody lowered his weapon too, though more reluctantly.
"My queen," he said.
Otohime's eyes did not leave Giovanni for long before cutting back to the two fish-men.
"What is this?"
Arlong was the first to answer.
"This human," he said, forcing urgency into his tone, "was caught trespassing on the island. He was violent. Hostile. We were only questioning him."
Hody added without missing a beat, "He threatened us. He spoke with hatred. We were trying to protect the kingdom."
Giovanni stared at them through blood and bruises.
Then blinked slowly.
'Wow.'
'They are shameless.'
Queen Otohime listened.
Watched.
And then closed her eyes for the briefest moment.
Observation Haki.
Not in the crude sense of feeling movement or predicting attacks.
But in the gentler way she used it. Reaching toward emotion, toward intent, toward the truth beneath words.
When she opened her eyes again, her expression had changed.
Not into rage.
Into certainty.
She looked at Giovanni first.
Then back at Arlong and Hody.
"That is enough."
Her voice wasn't loud.
It didn't need to be.
Arlong's jaw tightened.
Hody's eyes narrowed faintly.
Otohime stepped farther into the cell room.
"This human is not evil."
That made Arlong stiffen.
"My queen—"
"I said enough."
This time her tone cut sharper.
Both fish-men went still.
Otohime looked at Giovanni again.
There was pain in him. Anger too. Pride. Recklessness. Hunger. Youth.
But not hatred.
Not the poisoned sort she had learned to feel from others.
Shanks had been right.
He really was like the friend she had been told to wait for.
Another human with a good heart.
Another human who did not carry contempt for fish-men and merfolk at the center of himself.
She turned back to Arlong and Hody.
"Release him."
Both of them looked openly unhappy now.
But even Arlong was not foolish enough to push further against a direct command from the queen herself.
Hody's fingers tightened around the hilt of his blade once before he put it away.
Arlong stepped forward and unlocked the restraints with obvious reluctance.
The chains fell away.
Giovanni nearly dropped forward from the sudden absence of support, but caught himself at the last moment and straightened with visible effort.
He glared at both fish-men as he rubbed feeling back into one wrist.
Neither returned the look kindly.
Otohime stepped between them before anything else could be said.
Then she bowed her head.
Sincerely.
"I apologize," she said. "For what was done to you in my kingdom."
Giovanni blinked.
Queen Otohime straightened and placed one hand lightly over her chest.
"My name is Queen Otohime."
Giovanni stared for just a fraction longer than was natural.
Then he said, "Queen?"
Outwardly, the shock was clear enough.
But inwardly—
'Of course I know who you are.'
He would have known her instantly even without the title.
The queen of Fish-Man Island.
The woman who carried impossible hope in a world that rewarded cynicism.
The one who tried to change everything with nothing but sincerity and courage.
And the one who would one day die for it.
Giovanni pushed that thought aside immediately.
That was not for now.
Right now he just rubbed his wrists once more and gave her a crooked smile.
"…It's nice to meet you."
Otohime smiled warmly.
"Come with me."
She cast one last look at Arlong and Hody.
Neither moved.
Both looked furious.
Both said nothing.
And that silence alone proved they were smart enough not to disobey her directly.
The path to the castle felt very different from the dungeon.
Brighter.
Cleaner.
More alive.
Fish-Man Island opened up around Giovanni as he walked beside Queen Otohime. The streets were more colorful here, the architecture more beautiful, the water-lit glow of the island turning every surface into something half royal, half dreamlike.
Giovanni's bruises still ached, but his mood had improved dramatically for one main reason:
He was no longer in chains.
Also, Queen Otohime was currently leading him toward a castle.
That usually meant good things.
Otohime walked with graceful speed beside him, glancing over every now and then to make sure he was alright.
"I had a feast prepared for you," she said after a while.
Giovanni immediately looked at her.
"A feast?"
Otohime nodded.
"Yes."
His step noticeably quickened.
"Well then," he said, suddenly much more alive, "I forgive a lot of things in the presence of food."
That made Otohime laugh softly.
She studied him for a moment.
Then her expression softened again.
"Still…"
She clasped her hands lightly in front of her as they walked.
"I would ask one more thing of you."
Giovanni glanced sideways.
"What is it?"
Otohime looked ahead.
"Please forgive Arlong and Hody."
That made Giovanni stop dead.
"…What?"
She turned to face him.
"They were wrong," she said gently. "And what they did was terrible. I know that."
Giovanni stared at her.
Then folded his arms.
"Your Majesty, with respect…"
He was about to say:
That's not happening.
He was about to say it very clearly.
Very sincerely.
Very unapologetically.
Then the doors to the banquet hall opened.
And Giovanni's brain stopped working.
Rows.
Actual rows.
Of mermaids.
Beautiful mermaids.
Serving trays in hand.
Smiling softly.
Moving gracefully beneath the palace lights like some divine punishment specifically designed for young men with no discipline.
Giovanni froze mid-breath.
His eyes widened.
Then widened more.
Every intelligent thought in his mind died instantly.
Otohime watched him carefully from the side.
Giovanni slowly turned his head toward her.
His expression had been completely rewritten by fate.
"Don't worry about it, Queen Otohime," he said at once, voice calm and smooth in a way it absolutely had not been a moment ago. "I'm not one to hold grudges."
Otohime blinked once.
Then slowly smiled.
A knowing smile.
A smug one, even.
Internally, she thought.
'Shanks was right.'
'Having the mermaids here was a good choice.'
---
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