One Piece: Starting by Refusing Shanks

The cafe owner Cathy mentioned, who could perform divination, was a mermaid named Shyarly. She was much larger than most mermaids, towering over almost everyone.

Takumi immediately guessed who Cathy was talking about upon hearing her description.

Shyarly's predictions were extremely accurate, with almost no deviation. Every result she divined inevitably came to pass.

Although Takumi wasn't particularly interested in using divination to predict the future, Enel seemed intrigued. "Divination? Even more accurate than that card guy?"

"Card guy?" Cathy looked puzzled, curious about whom Enel was referring to.

Takumi understood right away who Enel meant, and answered calmly, "They're different."

"Different how?" Enel asked, frowning in confusion. "Aren't they both about predicting the future?"

"No." Takumi thought for a moment, then took the rare initiative to explain, "One predicts the future with complete certainty, while the other calculates the probability of events happening. Not quite the same."

Upon hearing Takumi's explanation, Enel suddenly understood. "I see! Sounds like this cafe owner has some real skills."

Although Cathy didn't know who else Takumi and Enel were talking about, she was certain Shyarly was indeed very talented. On Fish-Man Island, no one doubted the accuracy of Shyarly's divinations.

"Perfect!" Enel grinned broadly. "I have a few things I want to know. Cathy, take us to the cafe."

"I can take you there, but you can't force Lady Shyarly to perform a reading for you," Cathy said, leading the way. "Lady Shyarly has a lot of respect on the island. If you upset her, no matter what happens, everyone here will side with her and fight against you."

"Hmph." Enel scoffed. "Do you think I'd be afraid?"

Cathy smiled awkwardly. "It's not about fear. Even if you're strong, this place is still ten thousand meters under the sea. If you make enemies of everyone on the island, there will be no one willing to coat your ship in protective film when you need to leave. It's best to stay on good terms. Lady Shyarly is actually quite easygoing. As long as you speak to her politely, I'm sure she'll agree to perform a reading at least once."

Enel said nothing further.

"Haha, let's go! Caimie must be worried about me by now. The sooner we go, the sooner we can come back," Cathy said, leading the way with an easy smile.

Takumi and Enel followed her.

Soon, they reached the edge of a long, rapid waterway.

At the waterway's edge was a small station-like building. In the open space in front of the station lay a few large fish with bubble capsules strapped to their backs.

Unlike the large shark boats used by Prince Fukaboshi, these fish looked relatively normal, and weren't particularly big. The bubble capsules they carried could fit seven or eight people at most.

"These are Fish Buses," Cathy explained briefly. "It'd take almost half an hour to walk to Coral Hill, but it only takes a few minutes by Fish Bus, and it's really cheap."

As she spoke, Cathy paid the fare to the Fish Bus keeper.

Then she gestured for Takumi and Enel to follow her. "Alright, let's get on the bus."

Takumi and Enel entered the bubble capsule without hesitation.

When Cathy got inside, the fish leaped into the rapid waterway and quickly swam toward Coral Hill.

Just as Cathy had said, it took less than five minutes for them to reach the bustling coral town.

The town was full of long, water-filled pipes made of bubbles, leading everywhere. These pipes served the everyday needs of the merfolk, the fastest swimmers in the world.

It was the afternoon—the perfect time for people to go out for a walk.

There were many merfolk, fish-men, and even humans on the streets of Coral Hill. Some of them recognized Cathy and greeted her warmly.

Cathy greeted her friends politely, though normally she would have chatted for a while. But today was different—Takumi and Enel were with her.

So after exchanging some quick farewells, Cathy brought Takumi and Enel to the entrance of a fancy-looking cafe.

"Here we are!" Cathy said with a smile. "Not sure if Lady Shyarly is in the shop. Let's go inside—coffee's on me!"

"What's coffee?" Enel suddenly asked.

Even though he'd been on the Blue Sea for some time, he'd always bought the same few things when they went shopping, as Kaku often pointed out. Plus, no one on their ship had ever bought coffee, so he truly didn't know what it was.

"Huh?" Cathy was surprised. "You don't know what coffee is?"

"So what if I don't?" Enel said dismissively.

"No, nothing..." Cathy smiled. "But you should try it. I personally think it's pretty good."

As soon as Cathy finished speaking, Takumi said bluntly, "I'm not drinking it."

After that, he walked around the cafe without further explanation.

Seeing Takumi leave, Cathy asked hastily, "Where are you going?"

Takumi ignored her.

Enel, however, lazily called out, "Captain, should I come find you later, or will you come find me?"

Takumi kept walking as he replied casually, "You come to me."

"Got it."

After Enel responded, Takumi suddenly stopped and looked back at him. "Don't cause trouble."

"I know, I know," Enel said, waving him off. "I've got it under control."

Takumi nodded slightly before continuing on his way.

His purpose for leaving was very simple.

"Huh? Not coming with us?" Cathy asked, her voice small as she looked at Takumi's back.

"You'd better not worry about him," Enel urged. "Didn't you say you were treating me to coffee? Let's go!"

Cathy snapped out of it and laughed. "Oh, right, sorry! Let's head inside."

When Cathy brought Enel into the cafe, it was filled with customers enjoying afternoon tea.

A mermaid waitress in uniform greeted them warmly, "Would you like to have some afternoon tea? We've just introduced a new coffee blend—would you like to try it?"

Cathy turned to Enel. "Want to try it?"

Enel shrugged nonchalantly. "Sure. But you'd better not be lying to me—if this stuff doesn't taste good, I'll make sure you regret it."

Hearing this, Cathy suddenly felt nervous. Remembering the three fish-men that Enel had electrocuted earlier, she couldn't help but feel a shiver down her spine. "Well... everyone has different tastes. I can't guarantee you'll like it... Please don't scare me..."