The royal Ryugu Palace where King Ryuji and Prince Neptune lived was situated in a separate bubble above Fishman Island. While Ryuji was known as a wise and noble king, something was wrong if there was an active slavery ring running out of the Fishman District. The bubble was virtually impenetrable, with only one entrance: a steel door guarded by merman soldiers.

Shaska floated up to the top of the bubble the main kingdom was in on a bubbly coral bubble, carrying a tied-up Rackham and his cronies on a separate bubble, while the freed mermaids floated up behind them. They were stopped by the guards.

"Who goes there?!" the first guard shouted.

"Name's Shaska. I'm a 'concerned citizen' who'd like to have some words with the king."

"And why do you have a bunch of guys tied up behind you?" asked the second.

"They're what I'm concerned about," Shaska replied. "There's been a slavery ring running out of the Fishman District for at least eight years and I personally put a stop to it."

She pointed at the mermaids behind her.

"See those girls there? They were about to be sold as pets to some nobles on the surface."

The mermaid girls held their hands up and said "yo" in unison.

"What I'm trying to say is that the king's got some 'splainin' to do," Shaska said.

The guards crossed their spears. The first one said "what goes on in the Fishman District is none of the king's concern."

"We'll take the pirates, but you'll have to leave, girl," said the second.

Shaska let go of the pirates for a second to crack her knuckles.

"See, I beg to disagree. Fishman District is still as much part of the kingdom as any other. And it's a lawless hellhole. I wanna talk to the king about cleaning up that place. So, unless you want me to do to you what I did to these pirates here, you'll let me in."

The guards began to sweat as Shaska cracked her knuckles again.

"And don't worry, I can pry that door open with my bare hands. I'm pretty freakin' strong."

The guards looked at each other nervously.

"What'll it be, fellas?" Shaska asked, looking at her nails.

The first guard hit a button near the door, and an alarm sounded. Soon, Shaska and the freed mermaids were surrounded on all sides by merman soldiers pointing spears at them.

"Ah, crap," Shaska said, putting her hands up.

—-

Shaska soon found herself in a jail cell in the palace with the mermaids. The crab pirates were thankfully placed in another cell. They woke up and started hurling insults at Shaska.

"Kaaararara! You see what your heroism gets you, girl?!" Rackham shouted.

"Hope you get guillotined, you big bitch!" shouted another pirate.

Shaska rolled her eyes and turned her attention to the jailer.

"Hey, is this any way to treat a teenager?" she asked. "A pregnant teenager?"

"It is when you threaten to force your way into the palace to have 'words' with the king," the jailer responded. "Not our fault you got knocked up, either."

"Mrrrrr…" Shaska growled.

"What am I doing?" she thought. "I could easily bend those bars and walk out with my tentacles... but…"

She rubbed her belly. "I don't wanna have to give birth in jail. DAMN THAT GYORO!"

Tears began to stream down her face.

"Dammit! I coulda easily beat up those guards! But… I don't want to be in any more trouble than I already am…"

It was then that a massive muscular merman standing forty feet tall descended into the jail with a bubble around his tail. He had bushy orange hair and a huge orange beard, and carried an equally large, ornate trident.

The jailer saluted him. "P-Prince Neptune, sir! What brings you here?"

"I heard there were some young girls who were trying to break into the palace. Seems a bit out of the ordinary, so I thought I'd look into it myself," said Neptune. "As captain of the royal guard, I feel entitled to know about who comes in and out of the jail."

"Sir, these girls were threatening violence in order to try and see your father, the king," said the jailer.

"Why, there's nothing wrong with requesting a public audience with the king," Neptune began, "but I do disagree with the method."

He floated over to Shaska.

"You there, girl. Are you the ringleader of this operation?"

"I guess you could call me that. Name's Shaska, and I just cleaned up that lawless hellhole you call the Fishman District."

"Put her away for life!" shouted one of the crab pirates.

"Quiet!" Neptune responded. "What is your trouble, young Shaska?"

"I'm dead broke, out of a job, knocked up by a serial predator at seventeen, and, oh yeah, your dad was letting those pirates over there sell defenseless mermaids to slavers on the surface!"

"My father would never allow such barbarity!" Neptune declared. "Although… the police and military don't go there… I suppose it's not impossible."

"Yeah, God can't see us in the Fishman District," Shaska replied. "Look, prince, if you don't clean up the Fishman District, I wager something big's gonna come of it and threaten the whole kingdom."

"The kingdom will deal with that when the time comes, then. As prince, it is not my place to order my father to do anything," said Neptune.

Shaska leaned forward and slid her arms through the bars of her cell.

"Listen, prince, you gotta get me out of here. Or, if not me, then these girls back here gotta get out of here. They did nothing wrong."

"Hm…" Prince Neptune pondered for a moment.

"Jailer, let all the mermaids in that cell out," he ordered.

"Even the big one, your highness?" the jailer asked.

"Especially her! She's the one who brought these pirates in, right?"

"Well, yes, sir, but she-" the jailer tried to explain.

"But nothing! This girl is a hero!" Neptune exclaimed. "Let her out at once!"

The jailer did as he was told, and the mermaids were free to go. They were given pieces of bubbly coral so they could float, and all except Shaska were escorted out of the palace by soldiers. Shaska stayed behind to talk more with the prince.

"What is it, young Shaska? Why aren't you-"

"Prince, why were those crab guys in the Fishman District in the first place?"

She explained the fateful day where Korla was kidnapped, and how the crab pirates showed up basically out of nowhere. She also told him about how her childhood was basically ruined by the anti-tobacco law.

"Kararara! You and me both, sister!" Rackham laughed. "I was a smoke shop employee before that law came down! Then I realized the mermaid trade is much more lucrative! Kaaaaaararara!"

"How could you sell your own people for profit like that?!" Neptune shouted. "You monster!"

"Couldn't hack it as a pirate on the surface. Lotta crazy shit up there. After three years trying to sail the New World, I decided it'd just be easier to… 'manage the population' down here," Rackham said with a crooked smile.

"Can we just go, prince? I can't promise I won't beat the crap outta this guy again if he keeps running his mouth," Shaska said.

—

Shaska and Prince Neptune floated together through the halls of the palace.

"Yeah, so as I was saying, that anti-tobacco law ruined my family's life and turned my dad into an alcoholic wife and child beater," Shaska explained.

"I was against the law myself. I truly believe in the peoples' right to choose what they do to themselves," said Neptune. "But my father does not."

"So he'd keep alcohol, which has destroyed my family, legal, while outlawing tobacco, which is much more benign. That… doesn't make any sense," Shaska said, puzzled.

"My father has been getting on in years. Even I have to question his decisions at times. But the alcohol we brew here is a huge berry maker, so we keep it legal."

"Hmm… berry makers…" Shaska mused.

She thought for a second about how her father was originally a very wealthy, self-made businessman. She thought about her own experience hocking black market cigars. She thought about how much fun she had bringing Rackham in, and how many other deadbeat pirates were lurking in the seas above.

Her eyes turned into berry signs, and coins started pouring out of her mouth accompanied by a loud "cha-ching!" sound; she had a billion berry idea for a business. The prince, on the other hand, was confused by how she was producing money out of nothing.

"Is… something on your mind, young Shaska?" Prince Neptune asked.

Shaska's eyes promptly turned back to normal and she cleaned up the coins by sticking them in her pockets.

"Prince, I got a favor to ask," she said, turning to him with a wide grin on her face.

"What is it? After your heroism, anything is on the table," he responded.

"I need a small loan of a hundred million berries."

The prince was shocked. "A hundred million berries?! That's… nothing compared to our royal treasury, but why so much?"

"I got an idea for a business. And I bet you I can return that loan a hundred, no, a thousand times over!"

"A business, you say?" Neptune asked, intrigued. "Well, if you want official funding, we shall go before my father. You can explain it to him."

Shaska nodded, and she followed Neptune to the throne room.

—

Neptune threw open the doors of the throne room, and at the end of the long, ornately decorated hall, was a tiny merman with poofy, slightly orange but mostly gray hair sitting on a massive throne. He was wearing a golden crown that was too big for his tiny head, and he was flanked on either side by his ministers, a catfish merman on the left, and a seahorse merman on the right.

"Father! I bring before you the heroine who single-handedly destroyed a slavery ring running out of the Fishman District! She has a proposition for you!" Neptune declared.

"The what in the where now…?" King Ryuji asked, leaking forward with his hand to his ear.

Neptune and Shaska floated forward, and Neptune reiterated what he had just said, much louder.

"Oooooh… the Fishman District," Ryuji replied, nodding.

"Yes, king, I have a business proposal for you!" Shaska said, holding up her index finger. "Think about how many ships there are up there on the surface that need a resupply. Think about how many pirates up there that need an ass-whooping! I say I can combine the two! Make a floating mega mart that also beats up pirate scum while selling goods to the good people!"

"The what up on the surface…?" Ryuji asked.

Shaska smacked her forehead, then reiterated her pitch, much louder.

"Oooooh… mega mart," the king replied, nodding.

"All I need is a small loan of a hundred million berries. I can swim to the surface and procure the supplies I need there," Shaska said.

"The surface? You know what they do to us fish people up there, right?" Ryuji asked. "They kill the men and commit unspeakable horrors on the women! Slavery was outlawed out there a long time ago, but their nobles still do it anyway!"

"Yeah, king, I know. But it's a massive untapped market!" Shaska replied. "My dad made billions selling cigars down here, just think of how much could be made on the infinite seas of the surface world!"

Shaska paused, rubbing her chin, then said "speaking of, you should repeal that anti-tobacco law. It basically destroyed my life when I was a kid."

"The what law…?" Ryuji asked, leaning forward with his hand to his ear.

Shaska grabbed the king by the ear and shouted into it. "THE TOBACCO LAW! YOUR HEROINE WANTS IT REPEALED!"

Neptune and the ministers were not pleased with this. "Shaska! Manners!" Neptune shouted.

"Hmmm…" the king mused, deep in thought. "You can have your money, but the law stays. A hundred million is a pittance compared to the kingdom's weal-"

"What? Why?!" Shaska asked.

"My wife, the late queen, lost her life to smoking those death sticks. As long as I remain king, it shall remain outlawed on Fishman Island," Ryuji said.

"Mrrrr…" Shaska growled. "All you've done is make a black market for… y'know what? Fine. I doubt you got even five years left in you, old man."

Neptune and the ministers were once again shocked by her brashness. "Shaska! You are in the presence of royalty!" Neptune shouted at her.

"One more thing!" Shaska added. "Why the hell were there pirates roaming around the Fishman District, kidnapping girls to be sold as slaves on the surface?!"

Once again, King Ryuji had a hard time hearing her. "The what in the Fishman District…?"

Shaska once again grabbed him by the ear and shouted, "THE FISHMAN DISTRICT HAS A CRIME PROBLEM!"

Neptune had to come and drag Shaska away from the king.

"Hmmm… yes, crime in the Fishman District," King Ryuji said. "This is not the kingdom's concern."

"Why is it not the kingdom's concern?!" Shaska stressed.

"The light of the Sunlight Tree Eve does not reach there. Besides, it's not worth the manpower to completely clean the area up. The poor need a place to live, too."

"So, you'll just let them kill, and steal from, and enslave each other?" Shaska asked, nonplussed.

"What's that?" Ryuji asked, leaning forward, cupping his hand to his ear.

"Y'know what? Forget it. Let's go, prince. Show me to your treasure room so I can get the hundred mil," Shaska said, head in her hand.

"Right this way, Shaska," Neptune replied.

"Don't say I didn't warn you about the Fishman District, though."

—-

Roxanne sat on Shaska's bed, spellbound.

"And that's how Kemurchant Enterprises started. Got a loan from the king after beating up some pirates," Shaska said, blowing smoke.

"The king died the next year, so I was able to start smoking cigars again. Love these things. This was after I had my twins. Not easy taking care of rugrats while you're also beating up pirates and trying to run a business as a single, teenage mother."

"What… What happened to Gyoro?" Roxanne asked.

"Oh, that bastard?" Shaska asked dryly. She flicked the ash off her cigar and said, "they ran him out of town after those mermaids I saved told on him. When I got back to Coral Hill, they were outside the café with picket signs. And eventually the other women he abused spoke up, too. The pressure became so great that he had to resign in shame. Don't know where he is now, but that doesn't matter, really."

Shaska started to tear up.

"A few months later, I returned home from a voyage on the surface… and those mermaids decided to throw me a baby shower. It was… probably the nicest thing anyone had done for me. But still… looking at those kids I had… I know it's wrong… but I could only ever see Gyoro when I looked at them."

She thought back to the fight she had with Zeiko at the Panipuri Kingdom, then wiped away her tears.

"I screwed those kids up something fierce… and now they'll stop at nothing to have me thrown in Impel Down."

Shaska took another puff, then blew some smoke again.

"Listen… Roxanne, why don't you go talk to the bald guy about your Devil Fruit? I got some… stuff to deal with, kay?"

Roxanne nodded, and started to leave, before Shaska called out to her.

"One last thing…" she said.

"Yes?" Roxanne asked.

"I'm… sorry your husband died. It's partially my fault for signing you two up for this little adventure. So, I understand if you're still mad at me."

"And I am. Don't get me wrong, Shaska, I appreciate you giving me the fruit and telling me your story… but I'm going to miss Andy for a very long time. Our relationship is strictly business," Roxanne replied, somewhat coldly.

Shaska nodded somberly and said "I figured."

Roxanne left, and Shaska reached into the end table where she found the key to unlock the box the fruit was in. She pulled out two pictures: one of her at age five with Korla and her parents, and another with her at age twenty-five, with her young children holding a freshly-caught bounty with big smiles on their faces. She thought about how she mistreated her children… and began to silently weep.

TO BE CONTINUED