Hiss.
All of Ryugu Palace drew a sharp breath.
Silence crashed over the hall. People stood rooted to the tiles, eyes round, staring at the figure in the center who had done the unthinkable.
Rakuya had flattened the entire Spider Pirates with a single slap, as casually as squashing an ant. Tongues stalled. Minds blanked.
A full minute ticked by and still no one had recovered. Rakuya, meanwhile, calmly shrank his arm back to normal size and waved a basin of water over with a flick, rinsing his hands as if he had only dusted a tabletop.
The palm print he left behind filled half the floor, tens of meters across and five deep, a crater glazed with blood. Inside it the Spider Pirates were nothing but pulp. Even their captain had died wide-eyed, disbelief frozen on his face. He had always prided himself on a body as tough as iron. Against Rakuya he had not survived a single strike.
"I… what did I just see? An entire pirate crew wiped out with one slap?" a fish-man stammered.
"How strong is this human."
"How did a crew that fierce get crushed that easily…" another soldier said, legs shaking.
"He is so handsome."
"One slap to level a whole crew. That is dominance."
"Oh no, my girlish heart is acting up again."
From the shadows, mermaids peeked and whispered, eyes bright with awe and shy delight. In a breath, the nameless stranger had become the only thing anyone could look at. Alongside the shock and worship was a sober thread of fear. Power like that could erase Fish-Man Island just as easily as it had erased the intruders. Was this a blessing or a calamity?
Rakuya lifted a hand in a lazy little wave. "No need for those looks. On Fish-Man Island I am interested only in your treasures. I did not come to take your lives. Go on living as you always have. I will not meddle."
The words rolled through the hall like a royal decree.
For a beat everything held still. Then the palace exploded with cheers.
"Yeah."
A roar surged up. Merfolk and fish-men leapt and whooped, joy flooding their faces. Money lost can be earned again, but lives, dignity, a homeland once taken are gone for good. By that measure, his terms were merciful.
King Neptune tried to make himself heard over the celebration. "Untie me. Do not start celebrating yet. Quickly, untie me."
He shouted himself hoarse to no effect. In the end, the king of Fish-Man Island was quite literally forgotten in his own hall.
"Our hero."
"Hero."
"Hero, I am coming."
"Back off or I will sit on you."
The crowd surged. A flock of young mermaids swam Rakuya's way. In the jealous gaze of a hundred male onlookers, delicate hands hoisted him high. They tossed him, caught him, tossed him again, laughter rising like surf.
"Hero."
"Our hero."
"So soft."
"So smooth."
"So happy."
Rakuya let himself drift in that fragrant sea of flowers until, ten minutes later, they finally set him down. Judging by the dazed smile on his face, a number of fair chests had been enthusiastically introduced to his elbows along the way.
Momousagi had been squeezed to the edge of the throng. She was laughing despite herself. Maybe it was an illusion, but for a moment Rakuya did not seem quite as awful as she had painted him.
"Bah. Scoundrel. As if you could ever not be awful," she muttered anyway, though the bite had gone out of her voice.
Only then did someone remember the monarch. By the time they cut his ropes, the most exalted soul on Fish-Man Island was practically crying himself dizzy in the wings.
When Neptune reached the front, the crowd opened a neat path without being asked. He loomed at Rakuya's side, a giant among merfolk, the very picture of a coelacanth merman king.
"Sir, you have saved us. I, Neptune, have no words."
"Spare me the speech. I have only two conditions."
"Please, name them."
"First, I want the treasure you have hoarded over the years."
"No problem."
Neptune answered at once. As long as this man did not harm civilians, he would meet his price. Refuse, and if another slap fell and the island vanished, the sin would be his to bear.
"Second, I want the sap that flows from the Sunlight Tree Eve."
"Sap?" Neptune frowned.
That sap was a key ingredient for Fish-Man Island's famed sweets. In a good year they could bring in nearly a billion belli. It was one of the pillars of the kingdom's economy. Handing all of it over would saw off that pillar, doom the bakeries, and leave families without bread.
"Sir, we cannot give you the sap."
"Why not."
Rakuya had expected a quick agreement. The refusal drew his brows together.
"The sap of the Sunlight Tree Eve is one of our main raw ingredients. Without it our sweets cannot be made, and without sweets one of our principal sources of revenue vanishes. Our people would not survive."
"I see."
Rakuya touched his chin, thinking. Taking it all would gut the island for his benefit. Too ugly, even by his standards.
"Then half. I will take half the sap from the Sunlight Tree Eve. How about that."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Don't forget to add this story to your Library, drop a review, and leave a Power Stone if you enjoyed it!
"Want to stay ahead of the game? Advanced chapters are up on my Patron. If you're enjoying the ride, swing by and check them out."
[email protected]/_theon
Change @ to "a"