"The Queen shall see you now."
The doors came open before Kasumi, revealing Queen Otohime, dressed in her regal gown standing in front of her.
Kasumi got down on one knee, "Your Majesty."
"Arise," Otohime said softly, "I apologize for making you wait. It has been a hectic past few days, what with happened at the Holy Land."
Kasumi abided the command, "Of course, your Majesty, I understand. Thank you for seeing me."
"Thank you for your understanding," the Queen smiled, "Now, about your petition, you said you needed my aid with a problem."
"About that business with the Holy Land, well…", Kasumi took a deep breath, "that is the nature of my problem."
Otohime's eyes lit up in surprise.
"I am a slave, your Majesty…among those freed by Fisher Tiger."
"Oh, my…", the Queen's eyes were now filled with sympathy for the young woman.
"But that is not all, you see…I am with child."
Kasumi placed her hand on her stomach solemnly, "The father is…no longer alive."
Tears began streaming down Otohime's eyes, "I am so very sorry."
"He was a Human," inside Kasumi hated lying to her Queen, but, if it meant aid for her baby, she was willing to do whatever it took, "a slave who showed me kindness in my darkest moments. A month before the breakout, he was killed by a Celestial Dragon for a trivial thing."
Otohime cried aloud, "Oh, how terrible!"
Kasumi forced tears out her eyes to continue her ruse, "And no sooner did I arrive back home did my brother run off to join up with Fisher Tiger! Now, I am all alone!"
The fishwoman looked up at the Queen, "Alone, bearing the child of a Human-in the Fishman District! Where hatred for their kind abounds aplenty! Oh, what kind of life would my child live down there?"
Otohime stepped forward and embraced Kasumi, "Say no more! I swear to you that you and your child shall be under the protection of the royal family!"
Taken aback at being touched by the Queen, Kasumi began choking up, "Heaven bless you, Majesty. Bless you…"
…
Meanwhile, the Arlong Pirates had reached Fisher Tiger's ship.
"Hey, Big Bro!" was what they cried when they saw him on board.
Fisher Tiger looked down upon them with a smile and waved them to come closer, "Welcome aboard, fellas!"
Arlong led his crew on board and smirked when he noticed a certain ex-soldier of Neptune's Army was already there, "Hey, Jinbei, funny seeing you among filthy pirates, huh?"
Jinbei huffed at him, "Shut up, welp, I am only here to honor my debt to Brother Ti."
Arlong's good mood soured when he saw Macro and his two buddies were also on board, "What are these scum doing here?!"
The Arlong Pirates, Keiji at the forefront, prepared for a fight.
Macro held his hands up, as did his men, "Calm down, man, we're here to join Brother Tiger like the rest of you."
"Are you kidding me?! After all the help you've given to human scum in kidnapping merfolk?!", Arlong bellowed when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Calm down, Arlong," Fisher Tiger whispered into his ear, "Macro knows that if he sets a toe out of line, I will deal with him."
Reluctantly, Arlong nodded and gestured for his men to lay down their arms.
That crisis averted, Tiger began his speech, "Now then, listen. Know that, from this day forward, all that wish to sail with me must take this brand!"
He held up the branding iron in front of the confused fishmen, "This brand has been marked upon all fishmen and merfolk that I freed from Mariejois!"
Hachi interrupted, "That's true, I saw a symbol like that on Big Sis Kasumi!"
"I did this to cover the brand the Celestial Dragons use on their slaves!", Tiger explained, "Now, I ask all of you to step forward and take the brand yourselves!"
"So that no human can tell whether anyone in the crew was slave or free! That all stand together as brothers!"
Everyone on board cheered in response.
"From now on, it will be us against the world! If you're truly ready for the days ahead, then step up!"