thefictionvixens Chapter 99 Failed Divination
Chapter 99 Failed Divination
Chapter 99 Failed Divination
"that...
'
Miss Mermaid hesitated for a moment, but finally mustered her courage and asked, "Excuse me, are you Admiral Norton?"
Norton raised an eyebrow.
Do you know me?
"It really is you!"
The mermaid's eyes lit up immediately.
"Your bounty was sent to the island a few days ago; everyone in our shop has seen it. As for the Sabaody Archipelago incident, although news travels slowly, some people have already heard about it..."
She paused, then lowered her voice and asked, "I heard you rescued all the slaves from the human trafficking camps in Chambord, is that true?"
Norton didn't answer, he just looked at her quietly.
The mermaid felt a little uneasy under that gaze and quickly waved her hands, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked."
"It's true."
"?"
"It's true." Norton picked up his coffee and took another sip. "If you want to confirm this."
The mermaid stood there, mouth agape, unable to utter a word for a long time. After a while, she took a deep breath and smiled somewhat embarrassedly.
"Actually, my sister... was also once arrested."
Her voice lowered, "But that was many years ago. We still don't know where she was sold to, or whether she's alive or dead."
Norton remained silent.
"So when I heard you rescued those slaves, I couldn't help but ask," the mermaid looked up, a hint of longing on her face, "How are they now? Are they free?"
"You're free," Norton said. "Those who want to stay can stay, and those who want to go home will be sent home."
The mermaid's eyes lit up.
"That's wonderful...that's wonderful..."
'
She stood there, seemingly wanting to say something, but in the end she simply bowed to Norton, turned and hurriedly left.
Perhaps she was afraid of losing her composure.
At this moment, the mermaid ladies in the coffee shop seemed to have noticed the commotion.
A few of the bolder ones gathered around and started asking about Chambord.
"Admiral Norton, I heard you caused quite a ruckus in Sabaody, is that true?"
"What happened to those Celestial Dragons afterward? Didn't they cause you any trouble?"
"How did you rescue those slaves back then?"
Norton, feeling a bit overwhelmed by the questions, waved his hand and said, "One at a time, don't argue."
The mermaids quieted down, but their eyes still shone with curiosity.
For the rest of the time, Norton sipped his coffee and answered the mermaid ladies' questions in a casual, perfunctory manner.
It has to be said that being surrounded by a group of beautiful mermaids does indeed improve one's mood.
If Sanji came here, he'd probably bleed to death on the spot.
However, Norton did not forget his true purpose for coming here.
"Is Mrs. Shirley here?"
"Are you looking for Mrs. Shirley?"
The mermaid blinked. "She's usually in the back room, but whether she sees guests depends on her mood."
"How can I get her to see me?"
"Well..." The mermaid looked troubled. "Madam Shirley's divination is very accurate, so many people want to have their fortunes told by her. Sometimes she only sees one person a day, and sometimes she doesn't see anyone at all."
"
Norton paused for a moment, then pulled out a stack of peggs from his pocket.
Is that enough?
The mermaid ladies stared wide-eyed at the stack of banknotes.
That's no small sum; enough to live comfortably on Fishman Island for a year.
"I...I'll go ask!"
The pink-haired mermaid took the money and quickly swam to the back of the coffee shop.
Not long after, she returned, her face beaming with joy.
"Mrs. Shirley agrees to see you. Please come with me."
Norton stood up and followed her through the café lobby into a corridor made of coral. At the end of the corridor, a door inlaid with mother-of-pearl was half-open.
"Mrs. Shirley is inside," the mermaid said softly. "I won't go in."
Norton nodded, pushed open the door, and went inside. The room wasn't large, and the light was dimmer than outside.
In the very center stood a round table with a crystal ball on it and several candles lit beside it. The candlelight flickered in the water, making the whole room appear mysterious and serene.
A woman was sitting behind the round table.
No, it should be called a mermaid.
She had long, dark blue hair that draped lazily over her shoulders, and a pipe dangling from her mouth as she slowly exhaled a puff of smoke.
"Please sit down."
Mrs. Shirley's voice was lower than expected, carrying a hint of languor and aloofness.
Norton sat down opposite her.
"You're the Norton who caused such a commotion in Chambord?" Mrs. Shirley looked Norton up and down, her gaze lingering on his signature silver hair for a moment.
"it's me."
"I heard you rescued all the slaves from the human trafficking camp."
"Yes."
Mrs. Shirley was silent for a moment, then exhaled a puff of smoke.
"Well done."
Norton paused for a moment, then laughed.
"I thought you would be scared, after all, I'm a villain who dares to provoke even the world government."
"Scared?" Madam Shirley raised an eyebrow. "I've never had much affection for humans. But you're different from ordinary humans. People who dare to directly attack the Celestial Dragons' territory are rare these days."
That makes sense.
"Speak, what brings you here? It can't just be for chatting." Mrs. Shirley's gaze fell on Norton. "Those mermaid girls said you paid a lot of money to have me do a fortune telling."
"That's right."
"What do you want to have divined?"
Norton thought for a moment and said, "The future."
"The future?" Mrs. Shirley chuckled, smoke billowing from the corner of her mouth. "That's too broad a scope."
The future can take many forms; which aspect would you like to know about?
"Whatever," Norton leaned back in his chair. "Let's see what you can see."
Norton had heard of Mrs. Shirley's ability to predict the future. Although he wasn't particularly eager to know what the future held, he figured it would be interesting to give it a try since he was already there.
Mrs. Shirley stared at him for a moment, and finally nodded.
She put the pipe aside, placed her hands on the crystal ball, and closed her eyes.
The room fell silent, with only the faint flickering of the candlelight remaining.
Time passed second by second, and Mrs. Shirley's brows gradually furrowed. After a while, fine beads of sweat began to appear on her forehead.
Norton looked at her silently without saying a word.
Five minutes later, Mrs. Shirley suddenly opened her eyes, flung her hands off the crystal ball, leaned back, and gasped for breath.
"What's wrong?"
Mrs. Shirley did not answer immediately, but stared intently at Norton with her purple eyes, her gaze filled with disbelief.
"Can't see it!"
"What?"
"I can't see your future!" Mrs. Shirley's voice was hoarse. "There's nothing in the crystal ball, just a blank space!"
Norton frowned.
"Did the divination fail?"
"It's not a failure..."
'
Mrs. Shirley shook her head, picked up her pipe, and took a deep drag, as if trying to calm herself.
"When a divination fails, the crystal ball becomes chaotic and blurry, making it impossible to see anything. But just now—"
—
She paused, her purple eyes appearing exceptionally deep in the candlelight.
"The crystal ball was completely empty just now! Just like... you don't exist in this world at all, so there are no prophecies about you!"
Norton remained silent. The room was so quiet that the faint sound of a candle burning could be heard.
After a long while, Mrs. Shirley finally spoke.
"I started fortune telling when I was six years old, and it has been more than 30 years now."
"In the past thirty years, I have seen the future of countless people—some will die, some will become rich, some will find true love, and some will encounter disaster. There has never been a single person that I could not foresee."
She stared at Norton with a scrutinizing gaze, and also with a hint of deeply hidden apprehension.
"Who exactly are you?"
Norton didn't answer the question; instead, he asked, "Really, you can't see anything at all? Not even a little bit?"
Mrs. Shirley shook her head.
"I can't see anything. Your past, your present, your future, it's all a blank. It's like..." she carefully chose her words, "...like you're a fog, not belonging to any thread of fate in this world."
Norton was silent for a moment, then suddenly smiled.
"That saves me some trouble."
"Easy to worry about?"
"If even your subordinates can't see my future, then no one else can either." Norton stood up. "That's good, it saves me from having to scheme against you every day."
The Im who sits on the Red Line possesses mysterious abilities, and Norton has no intention of attacking the Red Line until he obtains enough clues to deal with those abilities.
It's good to be a little mysterious now.
Anyway, thank you.
Norton turned and walked towards the door, then stopped after a couple of steps. "By the way, is that enough money? I can add more if not."
"That's enough," Mrs. Shirley's voice came from behind. "But I have something to remind you."
"explain."
"Although I can't see your future, I can see something else."
Norton turned around.
Mrs. Shirley stared at the crystal ball, her expression somewhat complicated.
"When I was doing the divination for you just now, although you were a blank slate, I saw many images around that blank slate."
"What scene?"
"This island!"
Mrs. Shirley looked up, her purple eyes reflecting the candlelight. "I see the future of this island, and it has a deep connection to you."
Norton raised an eyebrow.
"What's the relationship?"
"I don't know." Mrs. Shirley shook her head. "The image was too blurry; I could only make out fragments. There were flames, a huge ship, sea kings, and another..."
'
She stopped abruptly halfway through her sentence.
"And what else?"
Mrs. Shirley remained silent for a long time before finally speaking.
"A huge, dark figure stood amidst the flames. The figure held a sword in its hand, the sword stained with blood."
Norton listened quietly, his face expressionless.
Who is that dark figure?
"I don't know." Mrs. Shirley took a deep breath. "But I feel... that shadowy figure is related to you!"
Silence fell in the room once again.
The candle flame flickered slightly, casting a swaying shadow on the wall.
After a long while, Norton finally spoke.
"That's all?"
That's all.
"That's alright." Norton smiled. "Who can say for sure what the future holds?"
After saying that, he pushed open the door and walked out without looking back.
Mrs. Shirley sat in her seat, watching the door slowly close, without moving for a long time.
After a long while, she picked up her pipe again and took a deep drag.
Smoke curled up in the candlelight, drifting towards the ceiling of the room before finally dissipating in the dim light.
The sun was shining brightly when I came out of the Mermaid Cafe.
Norton stood at the doorway and looked up at the seawater above, separated by the bubble wrap.
Sunlight streamed down from above, breaking through the sea surface before penetrating and falling onto the rooftops of the coral buildings, the cobblestone streets, and the mermaids and fishmen, like a never-ending golden drizzle.
The streets were bustling.
Several young mermaid children swam past Norton, laughing and chasing a glowing bubble fish.
Their tail fins shimmered with iridescent light in the sunlight. The youngest, probably only five or six years old, swam while turning back to make faces at his companions, almost bumping into Norton.
"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry!"
The little guy quickly stopped, looked up at Norton, and when he realized that Norton was a stranger he had never seen before, a hint of fear flashed across his face, and then he swam away quickly.
Norton didn't pay any attention and continued walking.
The closer you get to the port, the more bustling the streets become.
The shops on both sides are lined up one after another, selling coral ornaments, deep-sea pearls, and all kinds of dried seafood that I can't name.
Some shop owners sat inside their shops, while others simply floated at the entrance, using various accents to attract passing customers.
An elderly mermaid woman was haggling with her neighbor, a fish-man man, over the price of a basket of sea grapes.
The two argued heatedly, each sticking to their own version of events, but if you listened carefully, you would find that they weren't arguing about the price at all, but rather about who borrowed a jar of salt from whom ten years ago and hadn't returned it.
Norton walked past them, a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth.
This is Fishman Island.
It's not much different from islands inhabited by humans; it has the everyday life of a city, the mundane details, and the lively atmosphere of daily life.
As he walked, Norton recalled the information he had read before.
Merfolk are different from fish-men. Fish-men are born with fish heads and human bodies, while merfolk have human upper bodies and fish lower bodies.
But the most interesting thing is that after the age of thirty, the tail fin of the mermaids will split into two legs, and from then on they can walk freely on land.
In other words, these elegant mermaid ladies swimming on the streets now may all transform into real human form in a few years.
Just then, the crowd in front of them suddenly stirred.
Norton looked up and saw an orange figure rushing toward him from the end of the street.
It's Nami.
Her face was pale. She struggled to move her legs, weaving through the terrified crowd, and rushed to Norton in one breath. She put her hands on her knees and gasped for breath.
Norton...
'
"Take your time."
"Something terrible has happened... Something terrible has happened..." Nami looked up, her face pale. "The thugs from Fishman Town... attacked our people..."
'
Norton's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Were there any casualties?"
"Three are dead," Nami's voice trembled. "More than a dozen were injured. They were the original crew of the Krieg Pirates. They stayed on the ship to guard the supplies, but a group of Fishman Town thugs suddenly rushed over, saying they wanted to teach these arrogant humans a lesson..."
'
Norton remained silent.
"Ah Jin happened to be nearby at the time. When he heard the commotion and rushed over, three people had already been killed."
Nami took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. "He...he killed the thug who attacked him. He beat him to death on the spot, with one blow."