Chapter 150: The Most Beautiful Woman in the World

Who is the most beautiful woman in the world, and what does she look like? These are topics that almost every man finds deeply fascinating.

Among the strongest contenders for this title is the Pirate Empress, Boa Hancock.

Years later, a certain famous swirly-browed blond pervert in the gentleman’s circle described her thusly: "It is said that the Pirate Empress possesses a beauty rivaling even that of the Mermaid Princess."

In all manner of human fantasies, daydreams, and delusions, the identity of the Mermaid Princess frequently overlaps with the concept of "ultimate beauty." Indeed, throughout history, every Mermaid Princess has possessed peerless features, far surpassing the level of mere eye-candy.

Although the current young princess is still just a little brat, she represents the strongest "potential stock" in the entire world.

Just imagine: if those four words—Mermaid Princess—were simply placed on Doflamingo's auction block, how high would her value soar?

No one knows, and no one could ever possibly accomplish such a feat.

And that value would stem solely from her beauty and status, completely independent of her power.

Recorded in the Poneglyphs are three ancient weapons from antiquity possessing the titles of "gods," capable of destroying the world: Pluton, Uranus, and Poseidon.

Pluton and Poseidon have long belonged to the Fish-men; the former because the Fish-men retained Pluton’s blueprints, and the latter because Poseidon the Sea King is the Mermaid Princess herself.

Moreover, the name Poseidon is entirely well-deserved. The moniker of Pirate King largely represents the freedom to roam the oceans at will, yet the only person in this world truly capable of "dominating" the ocean is none other than the Mermaid Princess.

The power to command all Sea Kings—regular Sea Kings, giant Sea Kings, super-giant Sea Kings, and ultra-super-giant Sea Kings—these supreme overlords of the deep is entirely dependent upon the scepter of Poseidon.

The Mermaid Princess is truly a living "weapon"… Anyone who had never laid eyes on her would undoubtedly think so.

Qiubai, Ain, and Monet returned from the depths of the Sea Forest shortly afterward. Though the matter was of great significance, the task itself was quite straightforward: if the Poneglyph of the Sea Forest was not among the "samples" they had already collected, it needed to be recorded; and if it was already among them, they had to determine which specific text it was. Only through such cross-referencing could the fragments of information Qiubai held truly become useful.

Meanwhile, the duo of Trafalgar Law and Bepo proved even more efficient than Qiubai’s group. By the time Qiubai returned to the ship, Law and Bepo had already found a coating artisan.

While Bepo busied himself helping the artisan work on the ship, Qiubai sidled up to Law and asked, "That mermaid looks just like a loach. Is he reliable?"

Mermaids tend to harbor either hostility or indifference toward humans, making Qiubai slightly uneasy about whether this artisan might deliberately sabotage them. If the coating were to fail the moment they left Fish-Man Island, who could he turn to for recourse?

"How rude. He is an Oriental Wolffish merman..." Despite saying this, Law had to admit that Qiubai’s description was quite accurate; the artisan did indeed resemble a loach more than anything else. "That man is a scholar of Fish-Man Island, and coating ships is merely a sideline for him. He is interested in the history of the Mink Tribe and Bepo’s homeland of Zou. Knowledge in that area was his condition for agreeing to help us coat the ship."

It seemed sending Bepo to handle the matter was the right choice. No wonder Bepo was currently buzzing around the artisan, talking nonstop!

"Besides, mermaids who don't judge all of humanity by the actions of a few are exceedingly rare. Finding this one is already a great stroke of luck. If you're still worried, then... take this." With that, Law shoved a pink object into Qiubai's hand.

"What is this?" Qiubai asked, puzzled.

"Coral used for making bubbles. Just in case the ship's coating really does rupture during the ascent, you can use this to escape in an emergency."

Would this thing actually work under a water pressure of ten thousand meters? Qiubai deeply doubted it, but he pocketed the bubble-maker anyway.

"Law, let me ask you something. Using your Devil Fruit power, what is the maximum distance you can instantly teleport?" Putting aside the matter of the coating—which they could only entrust to this scholar for now—Qiubai abruptly posed this question to Law.

"As long as it's within the range of my ROOM, anything goes. Though I've never tested my absolute limit, a thousand meters shouldn't be a problem. However, maintaining a spatial domain of that size consumes a massive amount of my stamina, so I'd likely only be able to manage such a long-range movement once at a time." Though he had no idea what scheme Qiubai was cooking up this time, Law answered truthfully.

Law's spatial domain could only be deployed in a spherical or hemispherical shape, which was a considerable inconvenience.

"A thousand meters? That should be enough." After pondering for a moment, Qiubai decided that distance would suffice.

"Do you have another 'plan' up your sleeve?"

"I wouldn't call it a plan per se, but I want you to send me to a specific place." Qiubai pointed straight up toward the ceiling of Fish-Man Island. "Right there."

Law narrowed his eyes, the glaring light causing him mild discomfort, but he immediately realized what place Qiubai was pointing to:

"Hey, what are you planning to do?! Isn't that Ryuuguu Palace?"

"To go sight-seeing, of course. What else would I do besides sight-seeing?" Qiubai hurriedly motioned for him to keep his voice down and stop shouting. What was there to be so shocked about?

They had already visited Whitebeard; was visiting King Neptune, the God of the Sea, really that unusual?

"Not right now. Let's wait until the ship's coating is mostly finished."

However, after Qiubai added that caveat, Law became convinced that his desire to visit Ryuuguu Palace was by no means mere sightseeing. This sounded entirely like the sort of rhythm where one "visits" and then immediately plans to run for their life!

Qiubai glanced around. Fortunately, the mermaid artisan hadn't noticed Law's exclamation; otherwise, how could they keep playing this game?

Wait, did something seem missing? Where had Cavendish gone?

***

Three days later, an inconspicuous little bubble floated up from the Sea Forest, wobbling erratically as it ascended directly toward the upper tier of Fish-Man Island.

Ryuuguu Palace served as the royal castle of this nation and possessed relatively comprehensive security measures: the entire palace was enclosed by a thick curtain of water. Unless one used the special connecting corridors, it was utterly impossible for a human to infiltrate.

Yet using Law's power, such a feat became quite simple... The thickness of the outer water barrier surrounding Ryuuguu Palace wasn't a誇張ed one thousand meters.

"This height should be about right. Any higher, and there's a strong chance the guards of Ryuuguu Palace will spot us." Qiubai looked back down at Fish-Man Island below, which had already grown quite hazy.

"Drop me into Ryuuguu Palace, and you can head back."

"I take zero responsibility for whatever consequences you trigger!" Law felt an intensely ominous premonition.

"ROOM!"

A portion of the spherical spatial domain slightly overlapped with the inner perimeter of Ryuuguu Palace, and in the next instant, Qiubai vanished from within the bubble... Infiltrating Ryuuguu Palace was just that simple.

Dashing aside to take cover and observing that no one had noticed his arrival, Qiubai let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Naturally, he wasn't familiar with the architecture of Ryuuguu Palace, but it didn't matter—he could just search slowly... In this completely alien environment, Qiubai's spirits remained quite light. Wandering aimlessly about, he began hunting for a structure known as the "Hard-Shell Tower" while softly humming a little tune.

"Princess, princess, princess,
Like you, like you, I love you so much,
Princess, princess,
Shining brightly all around.
As long as you and everyone are here,
I am absolutely invincible!
Princess, princess, princess,
Like you, like you, I love you so much,
Princess, princess,
Shining brightly all around.
Grow up fast even if magic has been cast,
You're still the princess, still the princess, still the princess!"

So, with a princess already in hand, who needs anything else?

Yet this princess no longer needed to grow any larger, because the princess Qiubai was looking for was somewhat different from ordinary princesses...

The saying goes: "A princess at six or seven stands eight or nine meters tall." That pretty much summed it up.