Chapter 176: The Fish-man’s Children
Aoxi: “?”
Kaido: “…”
Aoxi: “?!”
Kaido: “…”
Aoxi: “↑↓”
Kaido: “┗(￢￢)┛”
Aoxi: “(￣へ￣)”
“Then I’ll leave this matter to you.”
“Alright…”
“But I can’t guarantee it’ll be a success~”
“It doesn’t matter, it’s better if it succeeds, and there’s no loss if it doesn’t.”
Kaido patted Aoxi’s shoulder, then stood up and left directly.
He never once looked directly at the fish-man children training.
…
“Hey, Aoxi. What did Boss Kaido want with you?”
“So secretive.”
Seeing that Kaido had already walked far away, Burufaruto also leaned closer to Aoxi and asked in a low voice.
“Sigh~”
“It’s nothing, just told me to cause some trouble at the ceremony, preferably find a suitable reason to beat up a few of Big Mom’s sons.”
“Ah?!”
“Why would you do that?”
Their Beasts Pirates and Big Mom Pirates actually have a good relationship, especially since with the increasing production of new pistols at the weapon factory, Whole Cake Island has also begun to procure them in large quantities.
The two sides can be considered relatively important trade partners.
“To use them as stepping stones~”
Aoxi pouted.
“Calling ‘Linlin~ Linlin~’ so affectionately from one side, and then wanting to cause trouble on their most important day…”
“Boss Kaido, this guy… tsk tsk tsk~”
“Pity me, such an honest and upright person, with a clumsy tongue, to go and pick a fight… Don’t you think this is making things difficult for me, Oubei?”
“I don’t even know how I’ll open my mouth then.”
Aoxi walked with her hands behind her back, shaking her head and sighing.
As if accepting this task was a great injustice to her, a great stain on her reputation.
“Heh heh… Just keep your mouth in check when the time comes.”
Burufaruto chuckled, while thinking to himself.
As expected of Boss Kaido, he really knows people!
If this matter were handed to Ra or Obei, those two would probably ignore it and instead be lectured.
Only Aoxi, this brat with her loose tongue, is the most suitable.
It’s just a pity for Big Mom’s sons.
“Hmph~”
Aoxi glanced at Burufaruto, ignored him, and simply walked back, humming a tune.
“I wield a steel whip~ to beat you~~, beat you to death, you live turtle~”
…
During the break, the fish-man children who had been practicing Fish-Man Karate all morning sat in twos and threes on the training ground and started chatting.
This was their first time in the world above the sea surface, and they were full of curiosity.
“Boss Jinbe, the human world isn’t that great either~ not as beautiful as Fish-Man Island.”
“But the food is good.”
“Hachi, don’t you think so?”
The speaker was a shark fish-man who looked about Aoxi’s age but had a mouth full of sharp teeth.
He was currently lying on the ground, legs crossed, with a toothpick in his mouth, exuding a somewhat nonchalant air.
This child was named Arlong, a fish-man orphan brought to Fenrir Island by Burufaruto a few weeks ago, one of the earlier arrivals.
Upon arrival, these children were first given their first full meal since they could remember, then spent their days training with Burufaruto, and were forced to read and write in the evenings.
“Hmph! You brat.”
“You used to sneak up to the sea surface from Fish-Man District every now and then to peek at the human world, and now you’re not impressed?”
“And here you have food, a bed, and can learn skills like Fish-Man Karate, what more do you want?”
Before the octopus fish-man child named ‘Hachi’ could speak, another whale shark fish-man sitting next to him, diligently studying a literacy booklet, raised his head to lecture.
He was a bit older than Arlong, around fourteen or fifteen years old, and appeared large and burly, acting as a leader among these children.
“Hahaha~ Don’t be angry, Boss Jinbe, I’m just saying.”
Arlong chuckled when he saw his older brother like this.
“I wonder where Brother Tiger is traveling now, if there’s a chance to meet him.”
“Since we’ve also come to land, there will be opportunities to meet.”
Jinbe thought of the legendary figure who, after conquering Fish-Man District, set off to travel the land, and couldn’t help but yearn for him.
Unfortunately, his strength was insufficient now to travel alone in human countries like he did.
“By the way, Boss Jinbe, do you know that beautiful human girl and that tall, horned monster we just saw?”
Aoxi and Kaido, who had already left, had left a deep impression on Arlong, who had never seen much of the world.
Whether it was Aoxi’s face, which was a hundred times more exquisite than any mermaid’s, or Kaido’s terrifying presence that surpassed that of Great Knight King Neptune, it had severely impacted this young fish-man’s fragile worldview.
So, outside of Fish-Man District, outside of Fish-Man Island, there were such beings on the sea.
Generally speaking, aesthetics are quite subjective, and the gap in aesthetics between mermaids and humans is even greater.
But there was no helping it, Aoxi was objectively beautiful.
Her face, initially created by human hands and refined by divine power, hit the aesthetic sweet spot of almost all creatures.
This was the instinctual yearning of ordinary beings for perfect beings.
“Human girl? Horned monster?”
Hearing him mention this, Jinbe closed his booklet and said seriously:
“These two are no ordinary people.”
“Boss Burufaruto told me that the girl, like him, is a core executive of the Beasts Pirates, and her strength is even greater than his.”
“Stronger than Boss Burufaruto?! How is that possible?!”
“Isn’t she just an ordinary human child about my age?”
Arlong was so shocked that he sat up straight. As a fish-man himself, he knew Burufaruto’s strength better than anyone.
He was an extremely strong monster that few on the entire Fish-Man Island could match.
“It’s true, Boss Burufaruto told me himself.”
“And she’s no ordinary human girl. She seems to be some kind of Egyptian God Card or mythical beast clan, definitely not human.”
“Boss Burufaruto said that none of the captain or core executives of the Beasts Pirates are pure humans.”
“Not human…”
Arlong nodded and lay back down.
“Then what about the horned monster? Is he also a core executive?”
“No, that person is the captain of the Beasts Pirates, or rather, the Governor-General—Beasts Kaido!”
Recalling the aura Kaido had unconsciously released, Jinbe felt a chill down his spine.
He had once experienced that terrifying momentum, where a mere glance could make one too afraid to move.
It was at the Fish-Man Island festival a few years ago, when Jinbe was mingling in the crowd, hoping to grab some food during the chaos.
Then he saw the man walking with King Neptune, that great pirate who was like a demon god, protecting the entire Fish-Man Island with just a few words—Edward Newgate.
“Arlong, you’d better behave yourself here and don’t be as lawless as you were in Fish-Man District.”
“On this Great Sea, there are too many people that even our entire Fish-Man Island cannot afford to offend.”
Jinbe sternly admonished his subordinate, who had some personality issues.
“Got it, got it.”
Arlong replied around his toothpick, but he couldn’t help but think of how Kaido completely disregarded them.
Core executive, Governor-General…
Just you wait, one day I, Arlong, will also become strong enough for you to look me in the eye.
