"You... you actually lied to me!"
Gölz's eyes were wide with fury as she glared at the four Mermaids standing beside Jondy—Seli and her companions—who looked unbearably smug. Deception was the one thing she loathed most in this life.
Perched atop the giant fish, Jondy looked down at the three adults and one child surrounded below and let out a triumphant, eerie laugh:
"Shahaha! They never lied; they really did go searching—except they couldn't find that nonexistent 'Granny Qi'!"
"Being noticed by Lord Jondy is the blessing of your lifetimes!" Seli cooed, clinging to Jondy's thick arm, her voice laced with twisted worship and pride.
"Exactly! Surrender quietly! Lord Jondy will treat you just as 'well' as he treated every previous 'Lucy'!"
Nelly stared at Charlotte Linlin's breathtaking face, jealousy practically dripping from her words.
Jondy rubbed his chin, pretending to study Charlotte Linlin carefully, then shook his head in disgust.
"Tch—up close, this woman doesn't look like my Lucy at all! But no matter—boys! Move in! Seize them all and throw them into the dungeons!"
He flailed his arms, his voice suddenly rising, fierce and vengeful:
"Humans dare to sell our noble Fishmen and Mermaid kin as Slaves; today we'll repay them in kind—sell them off as Slaves too!"
"Really? Wonderful!" The four Mermaids squealed in delight.
It meant that, for a long time to come, no new 'Lucy' would compete for Lord Jondy's 'affection'!
"So that's how it is... wearing the skin of devotion while trafficking Slaves."
Charlotte Linlin's gaze turned utterly cold, like ancient ice. She stared at Jondy, her voice the calm before the storm:
"In this life or the last, the lowest scum I despise most is traffickers."
Worse, this fish-faced thing dared to treat her as someone's stand-in? An added offense!
Her eyes swept the bizarre-looking Fishman thugs clutching weapons and eager to pounce; her contempt rang clear:
"Seems every pirate who came here aimed for the higher-priced Mermaids, letting you bottom-feeders thrive in the shadows?"
"Bastard! Who are you calling bottom-feeders!" A Fishman squad-leader brandishing a harpoon jumped forward and roared:
"We are the great Fishmen! Born with ten times the strength of you lowly humans!"
"Ten times the strength?" Charlotte Linlin looked as if she'd heard the grandest joke. She shook her head slightly, pity and disdain flashing in her eyes:
"Hiding ten thousand meters beneath the sea must've crushed your brains along with the pressure—lost all sense of your own worth. A frog in a well daring to speak of greatness?"
Before her words faded—
Boom!
An invisible, mighty pink shockwave burst from Charlotte Linlin, sweeping the entire area like a tangible blast!
Conqueror's Haki!
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Like scythed wheat, the hundreds of Fishmen surrounding them toppled without a cry, eyes rolling back as they collapsed unconscious.
Those still standing were her own companions and, deliberately spared, Jondy—who now lay sprawled—and the four Mermaids beside him, their faces drained of color, bodies rigid with terror.
Even the huge horned sea-bass beneath Jondy couldn't endure the soul-deep dread; it wailed and crumpled.
Jondy himself was flung from its back as if struck by an invisible hammer, crashing with a thud beside Lao Ba.
He looked up in horror, shark pupils shrunk to pinpoints, watching the Empress-like figure stride steadily toward him.
Charlotte Linlin tapped Jondy's fear-twisted shark face with the flat of her cold blade, each light slap sounding like a blow to his heart.
"Honestly," her voice was icy and oppressive,
"I'm curious—what laughable basis gave you the conceit that 'Fishmen are born stronger than humans'?"
Was it your grotesque appearance and crushing inferiority that forged this self-soothing lie?
A bunch that hides in the deep, gaining a pathetic sense of existence only by bullying weaker kin and deceiving outsiders... trash."
Whether Mermaids hated humans, Charlotte Linlin couldn't yet tell; but Jondy and his Fishmen clearly loathed humans.
Yet the reason for that hatred puzzled her—possessing an almost unbeatable home-field advantage in the ocean, how had their kin still been captured as Slaves?
That contradiction couldn't be explained away by mere human cunning.
Most pirates passing through sought only safe passage to the New World, not trouble.
Kidnapping Mermaids carried huge risk, inviting Fish-Man Island's savage revenge and leaving ships unable to coat or even sunk.
If Ryugu Kingdom simply stationed enough underwater powerhouses at key ports as deterrents, most trafficking could be stopped.
In Charlotte Linlin's memory, one Jinbe could suppress a former Emperor underwater.
If they trained two or three Fishman masters of water manipulation, their combat strength underwater would rival a Navy Vice Admiral.
Handling a group of Supernovas who couldn't even beat Pacifistas would be effortless.
Surely Ryugu Kingdom wasn't so useless it couldn't stand firm—or so stupid as to drive away its own fighters?
That's what Charlotte Linlin, still unfamiliar with the pirate world, wondered.
Just then a white streak flashed overhead. Gloriosa in pegasus form arrived with Vina.
They had sensed Charlotte Linlin's Conqueror's Haki burst and followed it.
Seeing them, Charlotte Linlin recalled the glare-glare fruit's memory-viewing power.
At her signal, Vina stepped forward, eyes locking onto the limp Jondy.
"Mind Peek – Memory Projection!"
Vina's eyes glowed, fixing on Jondy.
The next instant, vivid scenes floated above his head for every conscious onlooker to see.
First appeared the 'Lucy' Jondy had pined for—a young Mermaid with pale-pink tail, sea-blue hair, a shy and pure smile, eyes full of beautiful Yearning for love.
She had been drawn by Jondy's feigned devotion, strength, and so-called sense of justice in protecting his kin, her gaze brimming with innocent love and trust.
Then the images twisted, revealing Jondy's hideous true face...
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