Chapter 82: Human Greed Knows No Bounds
In the southeastern region of Fish-Man Island, there is a bustling and lively port town where mermaids and Fish-Men have opened a large number of shops, providing unique products and services of Fish-Man Island. The name of this port town is Coral Hill, and it is the most prosperous street district of Fish-Man Island.
There are not only a large number of mermaids and Fish-Men living here, but also a considerable number of humans mingling in the streets and alleys. Some are Pirates, some are Merchants, and there are quite a few Adventurers.
Yes,
In this Pirate Era, the ancient profession of Adventurer is still not lacking. In Coral Hill, there are quite a few Adventurers who have dived deep into the seabed out of longing for the beautiful and enchanting mermaids and pursuing the romantic sentiments in storybooks. Such people are already rare in other places, but who can say otherwise—after all, this is Fish-Man Island!
In human culture, the term mermaid itself is imbued with a thick romantic atmosphere.
So,
Adventurers, who are no longer seen in other places, are still commonly found here on Fish-Man Island.
“It’s been a long time since I last came to Fish-Man Island. The last time I was here… the atmosphere was much worse. Mermaids and Fish-Men hated and glared at humans. Walking on the street, you had to endure hostile gazes at every moment. The current situation is truly rare.”
A man wearing a deep green coat sat by the window in the Mermaid Coffee Shop, looking at the scenery outside through the window.
“Mister.”
The young man with brilliant golden hair sitting opposite looked around uneasily and said softly, “This place is too conspicuous. We’d better leave quickly.” If their identities were recognized—no, mainly if the identity of the Mister opposite was exposed—it would undoubtedly attract unnecessary trouble.
“Sabo, don’t you think the mermaid girls here are very beautiful?”
The Mister picked up the cup and took a sip of the unique sparkling wine of Fish-Man Island. Well, although this is a coffee shop, it sells more alcohol and food.
“……They are very beautiful, huh?”
Sabo turned his head to look at the cute mermaids swaying their tails as they moved through the aisles, subconsciously nodding, but then he reacted and showed a bitter expression. “Wait, Mister, this isn’t the time to talk about that, is it?”
“Sabo, you’re too nervous.” The Mister smiled. Although the bright red tattoo on his face made the smile look rather unfriendly, he continued, “The more nervous you are, the more attention you attract. Relax a bit. It’s rare to come to Fish-Man Island once—don’t end up seeing nothing. The scenery here is very beautiful! It would be a pity not to appreciate it properly.”
That’s easy to say but hard to do. Who can just stop being nervous on command?
They were doing something big enough to cost them their heads.
Of course they were afraid of exposing their whereabouts. Even though this was Fish-Man Island, ten thousand meters deep in the seabed, that ten thousand meters wasn’t really all that insurmountable. If the World Government and Navy really wanted to come down, it wouldn’t be difficult at all—they could easily send down those monster Generals.
But since the Mister had said so, Sabo pursed his lips tightly and stayed silent, just sipping the sparkling wine little by little. Due to his amnesia, he didn’t know his exact age anyway, so he just started drinking in a daze like that.
The fine wine of Fish-Man Island was full of flavor. Sabo drank a large glass and gradually felt more comfortable.
The tension unknowingly faded away, his eyes started darting around, secretly glancing at the graceful, alluring beautiful mermaid waitresses. Young men all shared this common hobby— their bodies instinctively directed their gazes toward beautiful members of the opposite sex.
A weirdo like that certain national beauty who remained completely unmoved, the Rubber Human, was just an occasional exception.
“Sabo, what are you looking at?”
An ice-cold voice came from behind.
The girl’s smile was cold as frost, her black gem-like bright and clear eyes reflecting Sabo’s bewildered expression as he turned around. She glared at him fiercely, then casually lifted her foot and kicked his right ankle, before stomping heavily past him and sitting down beside the Mister opposite.
“That really hurts, Koala.”
Sabo cried out in pain. While rubbing his kicked ankle with one hand, he shifted his butt to make room for Hachi coming from behind.
“Hmph! Serves you right.”
“Huh? What the hell?”
Sabo was baffled.
The Mister opposite watched the kids bickering with a cheerful smile.
“Mister.”
Hachi, who spoke up, stopped Koala and Sabo’s squabbling.
Hachi was a Fish-Man, a big red sea bream Fish-Man. He wore a snow-white dojo uniform with a black belt around his waist—such attire was very common on Fish-Man Island. Basically, all dojos teaching Fish-Man Karate wore such clothing.
Although many customers in the coffee shop were curious about this Fish-Man mingling with humans, no one caused trouble. This was Coral Hill, not the chaotic Fish-Man District.
“Prince Shirohoshi went out to greet him. King Neptune personally came out of the palace gates and has already welcomed that Black Prince into Ryugu Palace.”
Hachi and Koala had gone out to gather intelligence.
As a Fish-Man, Fish-Man Island was Hachi’s home turf. Gathering intelligence here was far easier for him than for humans. Koala was human, but the young girl was beautiful and sweet-talking—her looks were not much inferior to the mermaids, making it easier for her than a man like Sabo to get familiar with the mermaids.
The two separately recounted the intelligence they had gathered.
Everything they said revolved around the Black Prince. Although there were some differences, they basically all emphasized the extraordinary importance Ryugu Kingdom placed on Prince Elus, and it didn’t feel like it was just because of Elus’s martial power standing at the peak of the New World.
“King Neptune personally welcoming him? It seems the matter is more complicated than expected!”
The Mister—or rather, Monkey D. Dragon, the most dangerous criminal wanted by the World Government—held his wine glass, a somewhat scary smile on his face.
He was preparing to go to Paradise. Halfway there, he received intelligence from the cadre stationed at Sabaody Archipelago saying that the Black Prince was coating a warship, seemingly preparing to go to Fish-Man Island. Dragon thus had a whim and, instead of taking the original route through Red Port, went to the trouble of sneaking into Fish-Man Island.
He wanted to meet this Fifth Overlord of the New World.
“What is Ryugu Kingdom trying to do?” Sabo asked quietly. “With Whitebeard’s flag providing protection, there’s no need to cozy up to the Black Prince too, right? This kind of playing both sides will ultimately lead to displeasing both! ” His gaze turned to Hachi beside him as he spoke.
“How would I know what His Majesty the King is up to?” Hachi shook his head.
He was just an ordinary Fish-Man. The only unusual thing was that he was a Revolutionary Army Officer. As for Ryugu Kingdom matters, this Fish-Man who had been traveling year-round knew no more than Dragon or Sabo.
“It’s not that simple.”
Dragon shook his head lightly.
“Don’t forget, the Black Prince’s Seven Warlord was snatched from the Sea Knight’s position. Normally, even if Fish-Man Island couldn’t refuse to host the Black Prince due to his martial power, they wouldn’t be this enthusiastic…… It’s almost like Elus did some great deed worthy of heavy thanks from Ryugu Kingdom.”
Everyone was focused on Elus, who had become a Seven Warlord, but few turned their eyes to Sea Knight Jinbe, who had lost his Seven Warlord position—especially since Jinbe had proactively announced his resignation via newspaper.
Behind the change in Seven Warlords, there seemed to be an invisible trade.
“So, Mister, what should we do next?”
Koala asked the question the other two also wanted to ask.
“Wait a bit.”
Dragon said unhurriedly.
“Wait for that Black Prince to come out of Ryugu Palace, then invite him to meet.” He said it so casually, but the girl beside him and the two opposite all showed bitter expressions. They had business in Paradise. Taking Red Port was fast and convenient, but detouring through Fish-Man Island was already wasting time. Waiting like this—who knew how much longer it would take to set off again.
Noticing his companions’ expressions, Dragon laughed. “Don’t worry, I’ve already notified Betty to go ahead and take charge of the situation. Being a few days late won’t matter.”
The three had nothing to say.
Since Dragon had made arrangements, they naturally had no objections.
————
Ryugu Palace.
The banquet was in full swing, the atmosphere heated.
Strictly speaking, the only guest qualified to sit at the main seat was Elus alone. Fran was just a maid, but this wasn’t a human kingdom—this was Ryugu Kingdom, territory of mermaids and Fish-Men. Elus had never thought Fran had to stand behind him all the time.
Fran was currently mixed in with a group of beautiful mermaids, laughing and playing happily, having a great time!
Compared to the increasingly heated atmosphere on the women’s side, after three rounds of drinks here, Elus put down his wine glass and refused the toasts from King Neptune and the three Princes. He hadn’t come to Ryugu Palace to get drunk.
He had spoken with King Neptune several times over Den Den Mushi, but you couldn’t make any major decisions over Den Den Mushi.
For matters involving the future of Ryugu Kingdom and Fish-Man Island, face-to-face discussion was more appropriate.
“King Neptune, I’ve had about enough to drink. Now…… it’s time to talk business.” Elus set down his empty wine glass and looked up at the massive coelacanth mermaid over ten meters tall beside him.
“Talk now?”
King Neptune lowered his head and asked, somewhat surprised.
Since Elus had only arrived at Fish-Man Island today, he had originally planned to let Elus rest a day and start formal talks tomorrow.
“No need to dawdle and waste time. With my constitution, I don’t need rest at all. Or…… does King Neptune need to make some preparations?”
“No need for that. Since Prince Elus says so, then…… you said you would work hard to eliminate the estrangement between humans and Fish-Men. Could you explain in detail?” King Neptune gently waved his hand, and the surrounding mermaid maids and Sea King Army guards quietly withdrew, leaving only Neptune and the three Princes.
The banquet continued. Fran and the mermaid girls were still excitedly playing on the other side of the banquet hall. Fortunately, the hall was large enough that the noise from there didn’t affect the conversation here.
Speaking of which,
King Neptune was very straightforward.
As soon as Elus brought up the topic, this massive Fish-Man directly cut to the core of the issue.
Compared to other issues, resolving the conflicts between humans and Fish-Men was what concerned Neptune most. He didn’t doubt Elus’s ability to protect Fish-Man Island, but resolving conflicts between humans and Fish-Men…… wasn’t something that could be solved just by having big fists.
“The conflicts between Fish-Men and humans are longstanding. To be honest, I don’t have any brilliant plan to solve this problem. But if it’s just Eckmond Kingdom, peaceful exchanges with Fish-Man Island can be achieved. I want to slowly break down the ice wall between Fish-Men and humans through cultural exchanges, letting humans realize that Fish-Men are not cold-blooded monsters—they’re just special humans, like the Longarm Tribe or Snape Tribe.”
Elus spoke sincerely.
To be honest, there was no reproductive isolation between mermaids and humans. Calling them special humans wasn’t an exaggeration at all.
“Of course, this kind of thing is destined to be easier said than done. In practice, there will definitely be many problems. But standing still without moving forward means you won’t even qualify to solve the problem. The conflicts between humans and Fish-Men aren’t one-sided responsibility, so eliminating them naturally can’t be achieved by one-sided effort.”
Elus looked up at Neptune and said earnestly, “King Neptune, no matter how much I say here, it’s still just talk on paper. To show my sincerity…… I heard there is also a Fish-Man Princess?”
“Prince Elus, what are you going to do?”
Mentioning his most beloved youngest daughter, Neptune looked at Elus a bit nervously.
“King Neptune, before coming to Fish-Man Island, the intelligence I investigated said the Fish-Man Princess hasn’t appeared in public for six or seven years.” As Elus spoke, he pulled out a bounty poster from his pocket. This wasn’t issued by the World Government or Navy, but by Ryugu Kingdom.
The wanted person was a Fish-Man named Vander Decken.
This bounty poster had been taken at a speed unnoticed by Prince Shirohoshi and the Sea King Army from a bulletin board on the way to Ryugu Kingdom.
“Prince Elus, are you saying you intend to……”
“Yes, to show my sincerity, I will deal with this pervert harassing the Fish-Man Princess.” Elus pressed the empty wine glass onto the bounty poster.
He was going to such lengths not just to bring Fish-Man Island—this vital transit station connecting the New World and Paradise—under his control. Dealing with Vander Decken was for the legendary Ancient Weapon “Poseidon.” Having already obtained the Pluton Blueprint, the insatiable Elus had his eyes set on Poseidon.
Whether it succeeded or not in the end, Elus wanted to give it a try.
