Shanks' arm
"It's time to eat."
Mr. Maylie's shout came from the kitchen, and a strong fragrance wafted over.
Mr. Mayley, wearing gloves, walked towards the dining table carrying a steaming copper pot.
"Wow! It smells so good." Meli came over smelling the fragrance.
"The waves brought in a lot of seafood this time, so we're having seafood risotto today."
The two Melis sat down on both sides of the dining table. There was a large pot of seafood risotto in the copper pot, which was attractive in color and fragrant.
Merry clasped his hands together and said playfully, "Thank you for the gift from the sea!"
"Hahaha..." Mr. Merry laughed out loud, then suddenly remembered something and stopped holding the wooden spoon to scoop rice. "Oh, by the way, Merry, can you eat seafood? I, ahem, this is my first time seeing a real mermaid, so I'm not very clear."
"Sure. My stomach is about the same as yours." Merry leaned closer to the pot and sniffed. "Besides, this rice smells so good."
"I'm glad you like it." Mr. Maylie filled a large bowl and handed it over.
"I'm ready to eat." Meili happily took the bowl and immediately took a big bite. "Mmm, delicious!"
"If it tastes good, eat more."
"Hehe, I'll eat them all."
......
A large dark cloud floated in the sky, and it seemed that a heavy rain was about to fall.
Sure enough, bean-sized raindrops began to fall, making crackling sounds.
Mr. Maylie rushed into the room and rolled up the open window.
Meli followed slowly in and accidentally saw the design drawings on the desk that were blown loudly.
"This..." Meili's eyes were completely attracted by the blueprint. She picked up the design with surprise in her eyes, "Did Mr. Meili draw this?"
The familiar sheep-head prow, with its curly horns, round eyes and silly smile, looked exactly like Mr. Meli.
"Yes, this is the blueprint of the sailboat I designed. I've always wanted to build a sailboat since I was a child. Now I'm trying to save money to buy keel wood. It should be ready soon..."
Before Mr. Meili finished speaking, Meili had already rushed over excitedly.
"Mei, Meili-chan?" Mr. Meili was caught off guard and stumbled back a step when she pounced on him.
The pink octopus tentacles excitedly wrapped around Mr. Meili's body.
The two tufts of hair on Meli's head stood up straight with a "whoosh", and her voice was full of joy and excitement.
"It's you!"
Go ahead, builder of the Merry!
In human terms, that means she is...father?
"Hmm?" Mr. Maylie looked confused. "...What's wrong?"
"Nothing..." Merry released the tentacle and pointed at the blueprint excitedly, "This ship is really, really, really great! You must build it!"
"Well, thank you. This boat has been my dream since I was a child." Mr. Meili's ears turned red at the praise. "As long as I continue to work hard for a few more years, I can gather all the materials."
Hearing this, Meli's heart moved and she puffed out her cheeks.
"Boo——"
A large pearl came out of Meli's gag, crystal clear and sparkling.
She wiped her saliva on the pearls before putting them into Mr. Meili's hands: "This is for you."
The weight in his palm sank slightly, and Mr. Meili waved his hand hurriedly: "No, this is too expensive!"
"Take it," Meli raised several tentacles together and wrapped around Mr. Meli's hand.
"I found this in the sea. To me, it's just a smooth stone. There's no use keeping it. But if you exchange it for money, you can build your boat sooner."
Mr. Meili looked into Meili's clear eyes, lowered his eyes, and his Adam's apple moved.
He really hopes to build such a sailboat as soon as possible.
"I will try my best to build the Merry as soon as possible!" Mr. Merry finally closed his fingers and held the pearl in his palm.
"Just name it after us, okay?"
"good!"
Meli cheered and pounced forward again with his entire octopus body.
"Hahaha, do all you mermaids like to cling to people so much?"
"Not really, it's just that I'm so happy right now! I really hope to see the Merry soon!"
"Okay, tomorrow I'll go to the next town, exchange the pearls for money, and buy dragon bones."
“It’s really great!”
......
Merry stayed in Sirob Village for several days and also went to meet Usopp.
When Usopp first saw Merry, his eyes lit up, and he was so excited that he thought his father had returned as well.
When he saw that only Merry came over, his smile became much more forced.
"Ah, it's Merry-chan, why are you alone?"
"I was blown here by a tornado."
"What? You were caught in a tornado? You weren't hurt?"
"Nothing has happened now."
"I'm glad you're okay. By the way, I'm telling you, I'm now practicing shooting and I can hit the target six out of ten times."
......
Building a ship takes a lot of time and effort. Merry promised Gulisha to go back early, so she could only say goodbye to Mr. Merry and Usopp.
Along the way, Meli did not encounter any more accidents and returned to Windmill Village safely.
As soon as she surfaced, she saw Uta sitting on the edge of the dock, looking a little listless and in a bad mood.
"Uta, you don't look happy. What's wrong? Did you quarrel with Luffy again?"
"Merry, you're back." Uta first showed a surprised smile, then scratched his head, hesitant to speak, "Oh, I don't know how to say it. Have you seen Shanks?"
"Not yet. I just got back, and the first person I saw was you. What happened to Shanks?"
"You'll understand when you meet Shanks." Uta hung his head again, lifeless.
"Ah, okay, where's Shanks?"
"He and Beckman are at Makino's Tavern."
"Are you out drinking again? You all really like drinking. Come on, Uta, let's go find Makino and play together."
"Merry~ I'm really not in the mood to play lately."
"Let's go, let's go. If you're in a bad mood, you need to relax."
Meli dragged Uta and trotted all the way to Makino's tavern.
Before I even entered the pub, I could hear bursts of laughter, it was very lively.
Shanks was sitting at the bar, smiling at Makino. He said something that made Makino laugh.
When Merry saw Shanks for the first time, his eyes widened suddenly and his brain exploded with a buzzing sound.
Shanks' left sleeve was empty, he had a broken arm!
Merry stood at the door of the tavern, staring at Shanks without blinking, his heart full of shock and confusion.
No way! Shanks is so powerful, who on earth could take away one of his arms?
Wuta's gloomy voice drifted from the side: "Now you understand how I feel."
Merry was in a mess and nodded mechanically.
"Merry, you're back." Noqino quickly noticed the two little ones standing at the door. She smiled gently and asked, "Uta is here too. Do you want some juice? We have apple juice today."
Meli was still stunned, standing at the door.
"Ah, have a drink." Uta forced a smile and walked towards the bar.
Makino handed Uta a glass of juice.
Shanks and the others noticed the arrival of Merry and Uta and turned to greet them.
"Hey, Merry is back. Why are you standing at the door like an idiot?"
"You must have been frightened by the boss's miserable state."
"Oh, Merry's reaction was pretty good. Uta and Luffy were crying so hard at that time."
Shanks raised his intact right hand and waved it, with a bright smile on his face: "Hey, Merry, Uta, don't be so depressed, I still have a good arm."
Makino walked up to Meli with juice in his hand and said, "Come on, come in and have a glass of juice first."
"Thank you, Makino." Meli finally came to her senses. She took the juice and crawled towards the bar.
Merry could sense everyone's emotions. Although everyone was laughing, there was always some bitterness and sadness hidden beneath the laughter of others. Only Shanks' smile was truly relieved.
Shanks didn't take the broken arm matter to heart at all.
Merry thought about it carefully. She remembered that Shanks seemed to have become one of the Four Emperors later.
For him, a broken arm is really nothing.
Thinking of this, Merry felt relieved: "Shanks, what's wrong with your arm?"
The atmosphere around them became tense. It seemed that no matter how well everyone pretended, they actually didn't want to discuss this matter.
It was Beckman who spoke first. He briefly explained the whole story to Meli.
It turned out to be the bandits from last time. They kidnapped Luffy and when they were trying to escape by boat, they encountered the King of the Sea. In order to save Luffy, Shanks had his arm bitten off by the King of the Sea...
What! Hearing that it was done by the King of the Near Sea, Merry's face changed.
She had played with the King of the Sea before, and she really misjudged it. She didn't expect it to be a hypocritical sea king!
When she was not in Windmill Village, it actually ate people and bit off Shanks' arm.
If she had driven the King of the Near Sea away in advance, would this accident have avoided happening?
"The situation was too urgent at the time, and it seems the King of the Sea didn't do it on purpose. He's been sending seafood over every day these past few days to apologize."
"Even so, you can't..." Meli still couldn't accept it.
Beckman seemed to understand Merry's thoughts: "Think about it from another angle. If that sea king hadn't swallowed the bandit leader in one gulp, Luffy might have been killed by the bandit leader before we arrived."
"It's nothing, it's just an arm." Shanks suddenly reached out and rubbed Merry's head, still with a relaxed smile on his face, "This is also part of life. No matter what happens, as long as you are still alive, a man must move forward bravely."
Laqiruda responded, "Boss! That's very well said. You're the best!"
Beckman put down his glass and said, "Hahaha, the stupid captain sometimes says something that makes sense."
"Hey, you guys~~" Shanks glared at his friends in mock anger, "Who are you calling an idiot?"
"It's okay, even if you're an idiot, we still love you~"
"Boss! You are my God!"
The friends around him started to make noises, and the atmosphere in the pub became lively again.
"Let's drink to the stupid captain!"
"Cheers! Long live the boss~"
"Cheers, cheers~~"
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