Chapters · Fish-Man Island › Fish-Man Island

Chapter 610: Madam Sharley, Fortune-Teller

Arc: Fish-Man Island · Saga: Fish-Man Island · Released: 2010

Summary

At Coral Hill in the Ryugu Kingdom, Sanji recovers from near-total blood loss after the New Fish-Man Pirates fight — fish-men refused to give blood to humans, so the donors had to be found at a tavern (the twin pirates Splash and Splatta). Chopper discovers Luffy was secretly poisoned by Hyouzou’s venom but survived because his blood already carries antibodies from Magellan’s Impel Down poison. The crew is welcomed at the Mermaid Café, owned by the mako-shark mermaid Madam Sharley, a renowned fortune-teller who has given up prognostication because her visions — Marineford, Whitebeard’s death — always come true. Camie shows Luffy, Usopp and Chopper around the island: they learn about the cursed “Bandit of the Seas” Vander Decken IX who terrorizes the mermaid princess with weekly marriage proposals, mermaid biology (tails split into legs at 30, like Kokoro), and that Fish-Man Island is now protected by the Emperor Big Mom (Charlotte Linlin) in exchange for sweets, having lost Whitebeard’s protection after the war. The chapter ends as Sharley collapses with a fresh vision: Straw Hat Luffy will bring ruin to Fish-Man Island.

New reveals

• Madam Sharley — owner of the Mermaid Café (Coral Hill), a mako-shark mermaid and renowned fortune-teller who quit reading futures because her visions always come true.
• Sharley foresaw the Battle of Marineford and Whitebeard’s death before they happened — establishing her prophecies as reliable.
• Big Mom (Charlotte Linlin), one of the Four Emperors, now protects Fish-Man Island in exchange for monthly sweets (the island’s candy factory exists for this tribute). Before the war the island was under Whitebeard’s protection.
• King Neptune, the Sea God, rules the Ryugu Kingdom; he has four children — three princes and the youngest, the mermaid princess (named “Shirahoshi” only in this chapter’s SBS letter signature, p. 16).
• Vander Decken IX — the cursed “Bandit of the Seas,” descendant of the original Vander Decken who died on Fish-Man Island; sends the mermaid princess a marriage-demand love letter every week. Sails the legendary ghost ship the Flying Dutchman.
• Hyouzou, hitman of the New Fish-Man Pirates (a blue-ringed octopus merman), poisoned Luffy during the earlier fight; Luffy survived unknowingly because of antibodies from Magellan’s poison (Impel Down).
• Mermaid biology: a mermaid’s tailfin splits into two legs around age 30 (as with Granny Kokoro); a fish-man/merfolk couple’s children can be born fish-man, mermaid, or merman, in any color or size.
• Mermaids don’t eat sea fish (only seaweed/kelp dishes); fish-men do.

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

• Characters: Luffy, Sanji, Usopp, Tony Tony Chopper, Brook, Camie, Pappag, Madam Sharley (first appearance), Hyouzou (first appearance), Vander Decken IX (named; wanted poster p. 10), King Neptune , Shirahoshi (mermaid princess; named in SBS p. 16), Ishilly (mermaid), Splash and Splatta (blood-donor twin pirates), Big Mom / Charlotte Linlin (via flag), Whitebeard (referenced), Kokoro (referenced)
• Locations: Fish-Man Island, Ryugu Kingdom, Coral Hill, Mermaid Café, Fishaway Hills (rich district)
• Groups / crews: New Fish-Man Pirates, Four Emperors (Yonko), Fish-Men
• Ships: Flying Dutchman (legendary ghost ship)

Notable panels

• Page 1 (cover): Request illustration — “Vivi scrubbing the palace floors while supervised by some Siamese cats” (by Akira Jean-Baptiste Hattori); flag reads “Bride Training.” One-off reader-request art, not a serialized cover story.
• Page 2: Location splash — “Coral Hill, Port Town, Ryugu Kingdom.” Establishing shot of the coral-reef port town.
• Page 5: Hyouzou named in caption — “Hyouzou, Hit Man, New Fish-Man Pirates (Blue-Ringed Octopus Merman).”
• Page 6: Madam Sharley introduced — “Owner of the Mermaid Café (Mako Shark Mermaid).”
• Page 13: Big Mom’s jolly roger over the candy factory; “the flag of Charlotte Linlin of the New World.”
• Page 15-16: Sharley’s collapse and ruin-prophecy splash — “He will bring ruin… to Fish-Man Island!”
• Page 16 (SBS Question Corner): Oda canonizes the three admirals’ fruits — Akainu = Mag-Mag Fruit (Magma Human), Aokiji = Chilly-Chilly Fruit (Ice Human), Kizaru = Glint-Glint Fruit (Light Human). Also: Luffy’s chest scar is from the Paramount War “two years ago” — Akainu punched through Jimbei’s left shoulder into Luffy’s chest; Garp’s punch hurting Luffy was “love.”

Open questions raised

• What ruin will Luffy actually bring to Fish-Man Island — and is the prophecy literal or misread?
• Who leads the New Fish-Man Pirates, and what is their goal? (Hyouzou is only the hitman.)
• Why is Vander Decken IX cursed, and what fruit/power lets him track the mermaid princess?
• Why does the mermaid princess inspire weekly marriage demands — what makes her so significant?
• Is Big Mom’s “protection” genuinely safe, or a slow predation?