Chapter 612: Taken by the Shark They Saved

Arc: Fish-Man Island Arc · Saga: Fish-Man Island Saga · Released: 2010-12-13

Summary

A few hours earlier at Mermaid Inlet, the smuggler Caribou bursts out of a sealed barrel the mermaids were trying to open, reveals himself as a Swamp-Swamp Fruit (Numa Numa no Mi) user, and uses his bottomless mud-swamp to abduct mermaids to sell at auction — thanking the Straw Hats for getting him onto Fish-Man Island without customs. In the present, citizens at Coral Hill debate whether the Straw Hats kidnapped the mermaids, while fortune-teller Madam Sharley confirms to Prince Fukaboshi her vision that the Straw Hats will bring destruction to Fish-Man Island. Meanwhile King Neptune, the giant merman ruler of the Ryugu Kingdom, personally ferries Luffy, Nami, Brook and Pappag to Ryugu Castle aboard Megalo — his daughter’s pet shark, whom the crew saved from the Kraken — explaining en route that the island is lit 30,000 feet underwater by the roots of the giant Sun Tree Eve. At the castle Neptune is scolded by his Ministers of the Left and Right for wandering off, and Luffy slips away following the smell of food, blunders into a dark chamber, and steps on the colossal sleeping form of Princess Shirahoshi, the Mermaid Princess — ending on a startled “BA-BUMP” first meeting.

New reveals

• Fish-Man Island is 30,000 feet (≈10,000 m) below the surface and is the only place where sunlight reaches the ocean floor (p. 10–11).
• The light is carried down by the roots of the giant Sun Tree Eve, a “mystical tree that emits light from the surface” — likened to a bigger Yarukiman Mangrove and possibly linked to the Jewel/Treasure Tree Adam that the Thousand Sunny was built from (p. 10–11).
• King Neptune is the giant merman king of the Ryugu Kingdom; he came in person to fetch the crew because Megalo, the shark the Straw Hats saved from the Kraken, is his daughter’s beloved pet (p. 8–9).
• Madam Sharley, a renowned mermaid fortune-teller, has foreseen that the Straw Hats will destroy Fish-Man Island — “there is no denying it” — and wants precautions taken against them (p. 7).
• Caribou is a Numa Numa no Mi (Swamp-Swamp Fruit) user — a bottomless mud-swamp body — who smuggled himself onto the island in a barrel to traffic mermaids (worth 70 million berries each at auction) (p. 4–5).
• Princess Shirahoshi, the Ryugu Kingdom royal princess, is a giant smelt-whiting mermaid (p. 14 named, p. 18 shown).
• Franky is searching the island for the family of Tom (the late shipwright of Water Seven); Robin is hunting “some sort of historical thing” (p. 10).

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Mentions / appearances

• Characters (present): Luffy, Nami, Brook, Pappag, Caribou, King Neptune, Shirahoshi, Fukaboshi, Madam Sharley, Megalo, Minister of the Left, Minister of the Right
• Characters (mentioned, off-page): Nico Robin (hunting a “historical thing”), Franky (seeking Tom’s family), Zoro (“Zolo,” already at the castle, drinking), Camie (her friends defend the crew), Tom (Water Seven shipwright, his family sought on the island)
• Groups / crews: Straw Hat Pirates, Fish-Men, Merfolk
• Locations: Fish-Man Island, Ryugu Kingdom, Ryugu Castle, Mermaid Inlet, Coral Hill (Port Town), Fishverly Hills, Fish-Man District (mentioned), the Divine Sanctuary (mentioned), Sabaody Archipelago (Yarukiman Mangrove ref), Water Seven (Tom ref)
• Lore / items: Numa Numa no Mi (Swamp-Swamp Fruit), Sun Tree Eve, Treasure Tree Adam (Jewel Tree Adam), Yarukiman Mangrove, the Kraken (mentioned)

Notable panels

• p. 1–2 — Opening double-page title spread “Taken by the Shark They Saved”: a montage of Luffy, Robin, Franky and a shark (Megalo); the chapter heading reads “Chapter 612: TAKEN BY” across to “THE SHARK THEY SAVED.”
• p. 4–5 — Caribou’s swamp-body reveal; full-bleed “GLOOP!!” as mermaids sink into his bottomless mud.
• p. 8–9 — King Neptune riding Megalo; caption “MEGALO (PET SHARK OF THE MERMAID PRINCESS).”
• p. 12 — Establishing splash of Ryugu Castle, Palace of King Neptune.
• p. 15 — Character-caption introductions of the Minister of the Left (catfish merman) and Minister of the Right (seahorse merman).
• p. 18 — Reveal splash of the giant Princess Shirahoshi; caption “PRINCESS SHIRAHOSHI, RYUGU KINGDOM ROYAL PRINCESS (GIANT SMELT MERMAID PRINCESS).”
• p. 20 — Near-empty page broken by the dramatic full-width “BA-BUMP!!!” of Luffy and Shirahoshi’s first meeting.
• p. 21 — Title page of the next chapter (Ch. 613, “Mermaid Princess of Shell Tower”) captured as spillover; it opens Limited Cover Series No. 19: “Decks of the World, Vol. 1 — News Coo Across the Seas.” (Chapter 612 itself carries no cover story.)

Open questions raised

• Why is Shirahoshi hidden away in a sealed, heavily-walled tower and kept under guard — what is she being protected from (or what about her must be guarded)?
• Will Madam Sharley’s vision of the Straw Hats destroying Fish-Man Island come true, and in what twisted sense?
• Is the Sun Tree Eve connected to the Jewel Tree Adam — are these mythic trees part of a single ancient lineage?
• What “historical thing” is Robin searching for on Fish-Man Island, and what is Franky’s interest in Tom’s family here?