Shyarly

Madam Shirley (マダム・シャーリー) is a shortfin mako shark mermaid. She is a fortune teller living on Fishman Island, the proprietor of the Mermaid Cafe, and Arlong's younger sister. Madam Shyarly accurately predicted the dawning of the Great Age of Pirates, as well as the outcome of the Battle of Marineford and Whitebeard's death.

Appearance


Madam Shirley is a very large mermaid with purple nails, red lipstick, sharp teeth, and blue eyes with slanted pupils that resemble shark eyes. When angry, her eyes take on an ominous appearance. She has short black hair that covers over the right side of her face. Her tail is dark blue with a dorsal fin on her lower back where her human and fish halves meet, a white patch below the dorsal fin, smaller fins on the lower front and back, and a lunate caudal fin.

She wears a hooded purple blouse that is only buttoned in the middle, revealing her cleavage and stomach and has a belly-chain around her waist. She is often seen smoking a pipe.

As a child, she wore a light-colored hooded dress with a stripe down the side.

Personality


Madam Shirley is a very kind woman, as she lent the Straw Hat Pirates a room in which they could take care of Sanji, even though said crew defeated her brother. She also gave Keimi the rest of the day off so that she could spend time with her friends. She apparently doesn't like rudeness or vulgarity as she became very angry when Luffy asked if mermaids poop. However, her anger seems to be shortlived, as she calmed down and returned to her normal self almost instantly after Luffy apologized.

Even though she is a fortune teller, Madam Shirley regards her gift as a burden, since most of her visions are of bad things. As a consequence, she thinks that the future is better left unknown. However, even though she said that she quit fortune telling, she was still curious enough to look into Luffy's future. When she had a vision of a man in a straw hat who will be responsible for the destruction of Fishman Island, she went into a state of panic screaming that Luffy should be banished from Fishman Island, which showed how terrified she was. However, this changed when the New Fishman Pirates started taking over the island and Shirley calmly told their captain, Hody Jones, that Monkey D. Luffy will be the one to destroy Fishman Island and not Hody himself, showing that she is willing to believe her own fortune telling over any other apparent predicaments. After the civil war ended, she destroyed her crystal ball, claiming that she will never look into the future again and that she would be very happy if her last prediction didn't become true.

Unlike her brother, Arlong, Shirley isn't prejudiced against all humans as she even encouraged the Fishman Island children to see with their own eyes instead of just listening to the opinions of others.

Abilities and Powers
As the proprietor of the Mermaid Cafe, she has complete control of the restaurant.

Being a mermaid, she has several abilities unique to her race. It is not yet shown but she may have the ability to talk to fish and call out to them using sonar waves, which is one of basic ability found in all mermaids. Apart from the ability to breathe underwater, as a mermaid she also has the ability to swim very quickly at speeds much faster than the flying fish used by the Flying Fish Riders. However, like any mermaid, she is vulnerable on land.

Scrying
As a fortune teller, she has the ability to see the future. She seems to use a crystal ball as a medium to look into the future. Since it was seen on a giant clam, it is unknown if it is an actual crystal ball or a giant pearl used as one. The one drawback to her power is that she cannot predict the exact time period when her predictions will happen, but only that they will happen.

She is also very accurate in her predictions as she predicted the Great Age of Pirates as well as Whitebeard's death. She recently made a prediction that a man in a straw hat, who she presumes to be Luffy, will destroy Fishman Island. However, Luffy left Fishman Island without destroying it so that prediction hasn't come to pass. But since events that Shirley foresaw can happen anytime from a day to a year later, there is still a possibility that Shirley's prediction isn't wrong yet. By breaking her own crystal ball, Shirley has given up on her scrying abilities.

Past
In her younger years, she made a prediction about the coming of the Great Age of Pirates and many pirates indeed came to the island one year later. At some point, she listened to Hatchan's story about Silvers Rayleigh. Before the Whitebeard War, Shirley predicted Whitebeard's death and he indeed met his end.

The Straw Hats and a Grave Prediction
She is first seen when the Straw Hat Pirates are in the back of the Mermaid Cafe, taking care of Sanji. She was the one who allowed them to use the back room. She asked Keimi about Sanji's recovery status. After Keimi's report, Keimi asked her not to go back and check on Sanji, as her beauty could be harmful to him, and to not let him know they are in the back of the Mermaid Cafe for the same reason.



When Luffy and Usopp found her crystal ball, Shirley told them not to touch it. She went on to say that she had quit fortune telling, as the future was best left unknown. When Luffy asked if mermaids pooped, Shirley became furious at him, but was immediately quelled when Luffy apologized at the urging of Keimi. She then said that Keimi could take the rest of the day off, saying the cafe had enough staff so that it would not be a problem. After Keimi remembered she had to bring a clam to Pappug, Shyarly told her that he was in the cafe, making quite a ruckus with an old friend of his.

Later, she is seen shouting in the streets of Coral Hill about an impending doom. She had looked into the future after she felt something about Luffy. She goes on to say that Luffy must leave, as she saw a man wearing a straw hat destroying Fishman Island in her prediction. The three princes of the Neptune Family soon come to visit her. Having calmed down, Shirley tells Prince Fukaboshi about her prediction.

The Battle for Fishman Island


Shirley appears again after the New Fishman Pirates defeated and captured the three princes and placed them beside Neptune in Gyoncorde Plaza. Shirley interrupts Hody Jones as all of his subordinates assemble in the plaza. She calmly and boldly tells him that he will not be the one destroying Fishman Island, and the one to destroy the island would be Straw Hat Luffy, implying to Hody that all of his efforts would be pointless. Out of anger, Hody strikes her with a water shot and she falls down. He then exclaims that he is not like her brother, Arlong. He says that the name Arlong Pirates is nothing more than an empty symbol to unite under and that the New Fishman Pirates have obtained power. Shyarly gets assisted by a nearby mermaid.

Later, while being helped by a doctor, she is approached by some children who ask her when Luffy is supposed to destroy the island. She tells them that she doesn't know since she can't tell exact dates from her predictions and tells them it could be anytime between a day or a year from then. Much to everyone's surprise, the Straw Hat Pirates arrived, saved Neptune and the princes, and started fighting the New Fishman Pirates. She was then seen looking up into the sky as Luffy and Hody took the fight outside Fishman Island.



While Luffy attempts to stop Noah from falling down upon Fishman Island, the rest of the New Fishman Pirates and the Straw Hats continue fighting, with Hody's crew attempting to martyr themselves in the name of spreading their grudge. Shirley convinces a group of children to judge based upon only what they see (forming their own opinions), rather than what they hear, upon the nature of humans.

After the Straw Hats defeat all the leaders of the New Fishman Pirates, Shirley and the other citizens look up into the sky as Luffy tries to destroy Noah. When the Sea Kings appear and stop Noah from falling, saving the ship and the island at the same time, everyone on Fishman Island celebrates.

The Departure of the Straw Hats
The Mermaids working at the Mermaid Cafe tells Shirley that the Straw Hats are leaving the island. Shirley tells them to bid the Straw Hats farewell and the mermaids happily obliged. Now that her usual customers will return, Shirley asks her employees to do their best. Keimi then notices Shirley's broken crystal ball. Shirley reveals to Keimi that she didn't want to predict the future again and that she would be happy if her prediction about Luffy would be wrong. She then asks for forgiveness from Keimi for suspecting her friends and asks if she can trust them. She is then responded with a yes.

Anime and Manga Differences
While the manga shows the silhouette of a man in a straw hat in Shyarly's vision of the future, it does not show Luffy's image, this led some fans to speculate that Luffy might not be the one who actually does destroy the island. In the anime, the clear image of Luffy is seen in her vision.

Translation and Dub Issues


Madam Shyarly's name was first thought out to be Shirley, but this has been changed. In Chapter 610, the romanization Shyarly can be fully seen on her house in the background, but this was initially not noticed. It is shown more clearly in Episode 529.

In the Viz Manga and FUNimation subs, her name is romanized as Sharley.

Errors and Corrections
Shyarly was originally depicted as a young woman during the flashback of Hody's childhood, which suggested that she was older than him. This contradicted the fact that a mermaid's tail split at age 30, which is Hody's present age and yet Shyarly's tail was never shown to be split. This was retconed in Volume 65's release of the chapter, where she was depicted as a prepubescent girl in the flashback.

Trivia

 * As noted, the events of the Fishman Island arc draw many elements from "The Little Mermaid", Shyarly can be considered a parallel with the sea witch in the storyline, whose magic had been responsible for the events within the storyline just as it is Shyarly's prediction that is responsible for elements of the events of the arc. In some cultures, fortune telling is seen as a part of witchcraft and black magic.
 * Shyarly's prophetic ability also has a predescent in Japanese folklore. The Amabie is a mermaid who could prophesize both good and bad fortune, though it seems that she thinks that she is capable of foretelling only bad events.
 * While "madam" is a polite way to address a woman in English meaning "Ms." or "Mrs.", it also can refer to the female owner of a brothel. While Mermaid Cafe is never declared a brothel nor her female staff members ever called "prostitutes", the cafe mimics certain aspects of the brothel style; set up within, young and attractive women bring men to the establishment for their charm and beauty like a hostess club.

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