Gyoncorde Plaza

Gyoncorde Plaza (ギョンコルド広場) is a notable location within the center of Fishman Island, specifically within the Ryugu Kingdom. It was first named in a flashback in Chapter 626.

Otohime's Speeches
Thirteen years before the start of the series, Gyoncorde Plaza was one of the places Queen Otohime would approach everyday to make her speeches about how humans and fish-folks should be united. She chose to make personal appearances in order to remove the boundaries between herself and the people, in order to increase influence. The signatures for her petition were kept in a box, where people were free to drop them in or retract them.



After returning with a World Noble's support, Otohime managed to get far more signatures than the box could hold, but one day the box was set ablaze. The arson was supposedly committed by a human pirate who was believed to have then shot Otohime in the heart in the midst of the chaos. Hody Jones, then a soldier of the royal army, took the supposed culprit and held him high on a rooftop of the plaza and screamed out loud for the entire community to hear that it was a human who assassinated Otohime.

In truth, Hody paid the pirate to set the box of signatures on fire, and then Hody himself shot the queen, and then the pirate, the latter which he used as a scapegoat.

Fishman Island Arc
When Hody, now a pirate captain, and the New Fishman Pirates took over Ryugu Palace, they declared that in three hours after the takeover, they would execute King Neptune in the plaza in order to cement Hody's position as the new king.

Eventually, when Jinbe, Shirahoshi and Megalo feigned capture, they secretly bought along the Straw Hat Pirates, who then proceed to free the Neptune family, retrieve the World Noble's letter from Hody's grasp, and do battle against the New Fishman Pirates. During the battle, the underground of the plaza has been heavily dug up by Daruma and Tony Tony Chopper.

Halfway through the battle, the great ark Noah approached the plaza and blanketing it in a huge shadow, having been thrown by Vander Decken IX directly at Shirahoshi. The princess, being locked on by Decken's powers, lured the ship away from the plaza and Fishman Island.

Trivia

 * Gyoncorde Plaza is a pun on the Japanese word for fish, gyo (魚) and the Concorde Plaza in Paris, where King Louis XVI was executed.