Otohime

Queen Otohime (オトヒメ王妃) was a goldfish mermaid and was the late queen of Ryugu Kingdom, the wife of Neptune, and the mother of Fukaboshi, Ryuboshi, Manboshi and Shirahoshi.

Appearance
Unlike her husband and daughter, Otohime was a normal human-sized mermaid. Her golden blonde hair was partially held up in two loops, much like her daughter Shirahoshi, only shorter. She also had green eyes, thick eyelashes, and wore lipstick.

She was usually seen wearing a very long kimono with a carp-scale design and a cloth around her shoulders that floated behind her head much like her children.

Going by the fact that her tail was already split by the time she died, Otohime was at least in her thirties.

Personality
She appeared to be open-minded as she tried to promote friendship between fishmen and humans. She stated how despite having different morphology, they share the same sun. She claimed that fishmen and merfolk shouldn't judge all humans by the few that come to Fishman Island, kidnap and sell them to slavery. Due to her Kenbunshoku Haki abilities, she believed that distance was the closure of a person's heart and so long as distance separates the person's heart from others there will always be a barrier between them and the humans. But this same barrier was not just between humans and themselves, but between their own people also. This is why she preferred to visit the people directly and speak to them face-to-face, rather then have a speech prepared ahead and have it relayed to the people on her behalf, to prevent a distance between the royal family and their subjects.

She was very devoted to the welfare of her people since she disregarded her own injuries (as she was weaker than normal fishmen/mermaids) while acting for the greater good, personally taking care of a simple matter of stopping a burglar, despite her subjects claiming that they had it under control. Her devotion made her popular with the Fishman Island citizens. She was also very encouraging and influential, as she told a burglar that she believed he could turn his life around, prompting him to turn over a new leaf and surrendering to the authorities. Despite all this, it was not enough to get many citizens to sign her petition for inter-species relationship improvement.

Even though she hardly had any success, she remained persistent and would never stop believing in co-existence. She was also very bold, accompanying a World Noble to the surface in order to prove to her people that the surface shouldn't be feared, despite the Noble that showed extreme cruelty and ungratefulness.

She appeared to be very moody, going from being angry, to sorrowful, to hopeful in just a matter of minutes. She was also somewhat compulsive and peculiar, as she thought that a child should never have snot hanging from one nostril, going as far as slapping the said child for it and then apologizing, but that it is perfectly acceptable if snot is hanging from both. However, this did not seem to apply to her own children, at least not Shirahoshi (though she was just a baby at the time).

As part of her immense desire to strengthen the bonds between humanity and fish folks, Otohime was also very merciful and kind, and did not hate anyone despite whatever offense they have made. She further tried to have others to let go of their hatred, believing that it should not be passed onto the next generation; while she understood the Sun Pirates for hating Mjosgard, she tried to persuade them to forgive him and not let the children around inherit such hatred. Even when she was shot by Hody Jones, she did not hate him and pleaded her children to not hate him either.

Family
Otohime loved her family. While her husband, Neptune, didn't take an active role in her campaign for integration, he strongly supported her. All she had ever wanted was a bright future for her children and the rest of Fishman Island.

Upon Otohime's assassination, Neptune was torn between his desires for revenge and to preserve his wife's ideals. After her death, her whole family worked hard to restart her campaign and gather the signatures all over again.

Fishman Island
Otohime was very devoted to the welfare of Fishman Island and its citizens, personally stopping a simple burglar and preached to the burglar that what he did was wrong, and should turn over a new leaf. She tried to remove the barrier between the people by personally appearing to make her speeches, in order to improve interpersonal relationships. Even after death, her ideals continue to affect the people, and they refused to step on her fumi-e when the New Fishman Pirates forced them. When the citizens gave in to the New Fishman Pirates' demands, they felt great remorse and regret.

Abilities and Powers
Otohime appeared to have had incredible speed and reflexes since she was able to dodge gunshots and subdue a thief with ease, as well as mermaids being naturally the fastest swimmers. However, her body was weaker than an average person's body as her hand was badly bruised and suffered a complex fracture after slapping the thief. Despite this the thief was visibly harmed, and even with her hands severely injured she continued to slap the thief and defeat him, demonstrating relatively great will and pain tolerance.

Haki
She was born with Kenbunshoku Haki, like Aisa. Otohime seemingly predicted the paths of bullets fired at her and dodged them (aided with her speed and reflexes) with her eyes closed. However despite this she was killed by a gunshot in the confusion when her petition pages were being burned; she claimed that it was because she was caught off guard since she was so happy that everyone was signing her petitions, leading her to lose concentration.

The Pirate and the Queen
In the past, she was one of the two people who took a stand against the discrimination towards fishmen, the other being Fisher Tiger. While Tiger believed that fishmen and humans should remain separate, Otohime wished for the coexistence of the two races.



She was first seen charging at a thief and subduing him by slapping him, bruising her hand in the process. After knocking down the thief, she started to preach him about the error of his ways. Her words convinced the thief to turn over a new leaf.

During her time, she would descend down to the island to preach to her people about forming a bond with humans. She would also asked the citizens to sign a petition to promote co-existence. When she's done, she returned to the palace and met with a warm greeting from her children.

When Tiger had a meeting with the royal family after what seemed to be an adventure, Neptune asked Tiger about what he saw during his adventures. Tiger answered with one word, "humans". Otohime then began shedding tears. After news of Tiger's rampage in Mariejois reached the palace, Otohime told Neptune about the voice she heard from his heart, a voice raising a battle cry. While the Sun Pirates were roaming the Grand Line, Otohime continued asking for signatures only to be met with refusal.

After Tiger's death, Otohime became more determined than ever. She continued preaching to her people only to be shunned. Day after day, Otohime rescued humans from shipwrecks, teaching the children of Fishman Island about the surface world, giving speeches in the streets, and asking for signatures.

After five years, she managed to get a thousand signatures. However, over time, the people withdrew their signatures until there were none. One day, while intoxicated, she gave a heart-wrenching speech to the Fishman Island citizens through a broadcast radio.

The Hope of Fishman Island
After the Sun Pirates split into three factions, a giant wrecked ship carrying World Nobles arrived at the Fishman Island main entrance and the ship was in need of an emergency entrance. Otohime then rushed to the scene.



She arrived just in time to keep some of the Sun Pirates from killing a World Noble named Mjosgard, who also happened to be their former owner. She saved the noble from a fired bullet, getting grazed in the arm in the process. When asked why she protected him, Otohime pointed out the that children are watching and while she understand how they felt, they shouldn't pass on their hatred for humans to the children. This managed to calm the crowd, but Mjosgard grabbed her and threatened to shoot her. Otohime was saved when her daughter, Shirahoshi, called out to her and cried, unknowingly summoning Sea Kings to the area, which causes Mjosgard to faint from shock. Otohime and everyone else present were stunned by this revelation. Regardless of the noble's action, she asked Aladdin to heal him.

Some weeks later, Mjosgard was healed and allowed to leave (albeit very ungrateful for their mercy). Otohime decided to go with him much to the shock and disapproval of her subjects and family. She asked them to trust her and humanity, which everyone reluctantly complied with. After one week, she returned to the island having somehow negotiated with the World Nobles and holding a paper said to be "The Hope of Fishman Island".

From the day she began her campaign to the day she returned with the World Nobles' support, it has been seven years of hard work, and Otohime has finally reached out the island and all the citizens start giving their signatures on her request. Otohime was deeply overjoyed. Back at Ryugu Palace, Otohime explained to her sons about Shirahoshi's ability which is related to a legend. Otohime told her sons to be strong warriors and protect Shirahoshi.



One day in Gyoncorde Plaza, the box holding all the collected signatures suddenly caught fire. In the ensuing confusion, Otohime was shot. As she fell to the ground, her sons immediately came to her side. Fukaboshi swore revenge, but Otohime told him not to be angry for her. Otohime reminded her sons on their promise to protect Shirahoshi. As she passed away, she touched pinky fingers with her children for the last time. Her daylight assassination led to an uproar throughout Fishman Island.

Shortly after the assassination, Hody Jones caught and killed a human pirate. Hody claimed that the pirate was the shooter and revealed it to the citizens despite Jinbe's request to keep it quiet to preserve Otohime's hard work. This demoralized the citizens' desire to integrate their society with humans, but during Otohime's funeral, her children mustered the strength to regain the citizens' confidence, and started to collect more signatures.



Even after death, her ideals lived on. She was given a burial in the Sea Forest. Her daughter missed her funeral due to being imprisoned in Hard-Shell Tower to protect her from Vander Decken IX. During her ten years in that tower, Shirahoshi desired to pay her respects, while she lived with the knowledge that there were so many unspoken words between them.

Fishman Island Arc
Jinbe was visiting her grave at the Sea Forest, two years after the Battle of Marineford. When Shirahoshi arrives at the Sea Forest with Luffy and his friends, she pays her respects to her deceased mother.

To quash those who sympathize with her co-existing beliefs, the New Fishman Pirates are forcing the people of the kingdom to step on her fumi-e, or face banishment or death. The citizens, fearing for their lives, stepped on it reluctantly, while apologizing inside their minds.

After the entire royal family along with Jinbe and Megalo are captured and brought to the plaza, Hody reveals to everyone that he was the one who truly assassinated Otohime and used the human pirate as a scapegoat. This stuns Neptune, the princes, Jinbe, the citizens, and the lower rank subordinates. The officers and Shirahoshi already knew about it, the latter having been told by Megalo, who was the only witness to the truth.

Legacy
Through Otohime's efforts, the people of Fishman Island were motivated to strive to co-exist with humans under the same sun. With the help of her family, the people were able to once again gain enough signatures to attend the Reverie after her death ten years later. However not all agreed with her co-existing beliefs. On the eve of the Reverie, the New Fishman Pirates took over various parts of Fishman Island. As an act of defiance against Otohime's beliefs, they forced the people of the kingdom to step on a fumi-e of her image else they face worse. Regardless of what they did however, they still planned on killing everyone who gave their signatures to Otohime's cause. Fortunately though, they were stopped thanks to the Straw Hat Pirates. With Fishman Island saved, the effort and lessons that Otohime gave were saved as well.

Furthermore, Otohime's daughter managed to carry out her mother's final wish of not hating the one who assassinated the queen and spreading the hatred, despite knowing the truth, by not telling anyone else.

Trivia

 * She shares her name with the goddess Otohime, daughter of the Japanese sea god Ryūjin. This is in line with her husband, who shares his name with Neptune, the Roman god of the sea.
 * The shawl that Otohime wears around her shoulders (which her children also wear) may be a khata, a traditional ceremonial scarf common in Tibetan and Mongolian culture. It is usually made of silk and symbolizes purity and compassion, which are Otohime's most defining traits. Tibetan khatas are usually white, symbolizing the pure heart of the giver, though it is quite common to find yellow/gold khatas as well. Mongolian khatas are usually blue, symbolizing the sky.
 * Floating shawls are common in Oriental depictions of celestial beings, such as the goddess Otohime shares her name with. It is a visual presentation of their holiness and freedom from "earthly" forces (such as gravity).
 * In China, tigers have always been a fiercely bitter rival to the dragon. In the original folklore, Queen Otohime's namesake sea-goddess turned into a dragon after giving birth to her son. While Otohime and Tiger both wanted peace and don't seem to be particularly resentful towards each other, their different views on how that peace should be made somewhat mirrors that of their animals: tigers are usually depicted as lunging ahead to bulldoze through their opponents while dragons are revered for fighting using their patience and wisdom.
 * The problems of Fishman Island and the racism that the inhabitants suffer from closely parallel that of African Americans in the early 1900s. Otohime's beliefs followed those of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who famously dreamed of peaceful coexistence, as well as his use of public speeches, while Fisher Tiger's belief that fishmen and merfolk should stay separated from humans and use any necessary means of self-defense paralleled that of Malcolm X. All four died prematurely. Both King and Otohime were assassinated in broad daylight.

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