Chapter 84: What A Waste Not To Rebel
The Mermaid Coffee Shop on Fish-Man Island is very famous, not because of the owner who is a fortune teller with accurate prophecies, but because of this group of vibrant and charming beautiful mermaids. It goes without saying that men, and even women, are often unable to resist their curiosity and come for a glimpse of what kind of beautiful scenery it is.
After seeing it, most people leave satisfied, feeling it was worth the trip. As for the few… there will always be people who nitpick, and it’s something that cannot be helped.
“What do I call you? Mister Most Dangerous Criminal?” Prince Elus walked into the coffee shop, rejected the service from a mermaid who swam up to him, and, as if he had an appointment, familiarized himself with a table by the window and sat down across from the person without politeness.
Fran did not follow him but stopped at a neighboring table, sitting with Sabo and Koala.
The surrounding seats were almost entirely occupied by Revolutionary Army officers of Fish-Man origin, led by Hachi. They formed an invisible wall, shielding Dragon in the middle, both to cover for him and prevent anyone from getting too close and overhearing any important words.
“I’ll have the Kelp Caramel Pudding, Eel Pie, and Coffee Milk,” Prince Elus said, looking at the menu above the counter, ordering two snacks and a drink, all special gourmet foods of Fish-Man Island.
From the names alone, one could guess that the Kelp Caramel Pudding and Eel Pie were definitely seafood. As for the Coffee Milk… the coffee was bought from human merchants, but the milk was genuine seafood, sea cow’s milk.
This is a coffee shop, not a restaurant. The snacks and light meals are prepared in advance, so a waiter quickly brought what Prince Elus ordered.
When the beautiful and charming mermaid waitress with her swaying slender waist left—
“Monkey D. Dragon, you can just call me by my name, Prince Elus.” With an opening as plain and tasteless as boiled water, Dragon controlled his voice and introduced himself to Elus.
“Mister Dragon?”
Elus tried calling out.
Dragon nodded lightly in response.
“Fish-Man Island has nice scenery. Have you visited much, Mister Dragon?”
“I came for you, Prince Elus.” The words were extremely direct, with no intention of making small talk with Elus.
Being told that, Elus dismissed the thought of pleasantries and small talk. His mind raced as he seriously considered what Dragon wanted.
“I was originally planning to go to Paradise, but when I reached the edge of the Red Line, I learned you would be coming to Fish-Man Island, so I changed my route to come and meet the famous Black Prince.”
Dragon looked at the silent Elus and spoke with great ease, as if they were old friends who hadn’t seen each other in years.
Elus felt a bit helpless.
He still hadn’t figured out why Dragon had come to find him.
Honestly, he didn’t want any entanglement with the Revolutionary Army at this time. While the Revolutionary Army aimed to overthrow the Celestial Dragons’ rule, and in that sense, their aspirations aligned with Elus’s, Elus was not yet prepared to break with the World Government. Furthermore, the Revolutionary Army had its own system, and strictly speaking, they were not comrades with the same ideals as Elus, but rather fellow travelers who happened to share a common goal.
“Mister Dragon, if you appear before me like this, aren’t you afraid I’ll take you to the Holy Land to claim merit?” Elus gripped the knife and fork on his food tray.
He raised the dinner knife, adopting a threatening posture.
Immediately, the sound of chairs scraping against the floor echoed around them. The Revolutionary Army officers were all on high alert, some with their hands on gun grips, others on sword hilts, ready to fight if Elus made any rash move.
It wasn’t that they were timid and thought a mere dinner knife could make them so wary, but rather because the one holding that small dinner knife was the Black Prince.
In the distance, the mermaid waitresses noticed the tense atmosphere. They dared not approach and sent someone to find the shop owner, who was out. They could only watch from afar with worried and fearful eyes, secretly praying that no major incident would occur and wishing Madam Shirley would return quickly.
Dragon waved his hand gently, halting the agitation of his companions.
He met Elus’s gaze without fear and said in a deep voice:
“There’s no need to be afraid. We are all fellow travelers with the same aspirations, so what is there to fear? If you truly captured me and handed me over to the Celestial Dragons, it would bring you no benefit, so why do something that is exhausting and yields little reward? Moreover, I am not fish on a chopping block to be easily slaughtered.”
“Haha!”
Elus laughed, and the dinner knife in his hand landed on the eel pie on his plate, denying Dragon’s statement, “I am a Seven Warlord, not a rebel like you.”
“Eventually, you will be!”
Dragon said meaningfully.
This statement caused Elus’s brow to furrow. He scrutinizingly examined Dragon’s expression, but could not see through it, leaving him feeling uneasy. Could it be that the Revolutionary Army had already seen through his thoughts?
He didn’t want to waste any more words on this matter and immediately changed the subject.
“…What business do you have with me? I don’t believe I have any conflict with the Revolutionary Army, do I?”
As Elus spoke, he cut into the eel pie with his knife and fork and began to savor the specialty gourmet food of Fish-Man Island with large bites.
While the banquets at Ryugu Palace were undoubtedly more luxurious and high-class, such occasions were not the places for eating. Only a hint of the taste of the alcohol could be discerned. For actual food, one had to come to small establishments like this. It had to be said, this eel pie was indeed delicious!
“Prince Elus, are you interested in joining the Revolutionary Army?”
As soon as this was said, Elus coughed violently.
The sound of coughing instantly filled the entire coffee shop. For a moment, the coffee shop seemed to have turned into a clinic during flu season. However, unlike Elus, who was choking on eel pie, most people were choking on their own saliva.
It wasn’t that they were easily surprised, but rather that Dragon’s words were too astonishing.
Elus made an effort to swallow the unchewed eel pie, picked up his cup, and took a big gulp of coffee milk, soothing his still slightly stinging throat. Hmm… this coffee milk made with sea cow’s milk tasted peculiar, very different from its usual flavor, but it was equally sweet and delicious, possessing a unique charm.
He put down his cup and looked at Dragon with an expression as if he had seen a ghost.
Damn it, from what did he get the impression that he wanted to join the Revolutionary Army?
Elus was completely baffled, feeling as if he were lost in a fog.
He asked himself, he truly had no connection to the Revolutionary Army, never having interacted with them. He couldn’t understand why Dragon would suddenly say something like this. Could it be that his ambition had been seen through?
If it weren’t for the fact that his Neuro-Scan could sense the hidden, suppressed, typhoon-like, powerful, and terrifying strength of the man opposite him, Elus would genuinely suspect that Dragon before him was a fake.
“As I suspected, I was overthinking things!”
Seeing Elus’s reaction, Dragon sighed and said with a gentle smile, “My apologies, Prince Elus. I was presumptuous to utter such foolish and wishful words.”
“Not at all, it’s my honor to be valued by Mister Dragon…” Elus subconsciously said a few humble words, then he sensed something was wrong.
It seemed,
he was being led by the nose.
He immediately put on a stern face and stared at Dragon with eyes as cold as ice, “Mister Dragon, inviting a Seven Warlord to join the Revolutionary Army, do you think I can’t do anything to you today?”
Dragon picked up his cup and took a sip of unsweetened black coffee, which was bitter to his core. He looked at the young prince opposite him eating Eel Pie and still felt regret.
He didn’t invite Elus to join the Revolutionary Army on a whim.
The Revolutionary Army’s ideal is to overthrow the tyrannical rule of the Celestial Dragons and hope to establish a better world than the current one. Over the years, while busy accumulating power to confront the Holy Land, they haven’t forgotten to research how to make the world a better place after overthrowing the Celestial Dragons’ rule.
To this end, Dragon traveled through kingdoms and cities with good reputations. He visited the Alabasta Kingdom and understood the Nefertari Family’s assertion that “the country is the people.” He also visited Water 7, an independent and self-governing city, and studied its voting system, which was different from that of royal nobles… The Eckmond Kingdom was also one of Dragon’s stops.
It was at that time that he noticed Elus, a prince whose style of conduct was very different from ordinary people. Seeing this young Prince Your Highness subtly transforming the entire country, he advised opening schools, increasing the literacy rate of commoners, focusing on research in science and technology, and establishing orphanages and nursing homes in the name of the royal family… A series of measures made the already powerful Eckmond Kingdom even stronger.
Another point was that based on his observations and intelligence research, Dragon concluded that Elus had a very poor opinion of the Celestial Dragons. An informant in the Royal Palace reported that after submitting the Tenryuubito’s Tax, Elus had privately cursed the Celestial Dragons as scum, vowing to make those scums taste the flavor of pain in the future! There were many similar examples…
This made Dragon realize that the Eckmond Kingdom might be a comrade to the Revolutionary Army in the future. However, after Elus made a name for himself, displayed his power at the Peak, and showed his ambition to expand territory, Dragon began to have more thoughts.
If they could recruit Elus, an Overlord of the New World, into the Revolutionary Army, it might help the Revolutionary Army achieve their ideal a few years earlier.
Even though he knew Elus’s chances of agreeing were very small, after all, he was a prince of a country. It made no sense for him to associate with those who were wanted by the World Government and the Navy. Yet, he couldn’t resist the urge to try.
So, he came to Fish-Man Island.
He met Elus here.
Of course, even so, he didn’t actually plan to directly invite Elus to join the Revolutionary Army at this time. He just wanted to build a good relationship beforehand, probe Elus’s views on the Revolutionary Army, and gradually lure this Prince Your Highness into his trap.
But plans do not keep pace with changes. After actually meeting, Dragon, whose Observation Haki had been cultivated to a top-tier level, allowing him to sense the emotional changes and thought waves of others, acutely detected the intention that Elus had deliberately hidden.
It was a rebellious thought.
As the world’s most dangerous criminal wanted by the World Government, he was all too familiar with such emotions and thoughts.
Dragon almost burst out laughing at that moment. The World Government’s new Seven Warlord was actually thinking about how to cast down the Celestial Dragons from their pedestal into the darkest, deepest abyss. It was clear that joining the Seven Warlords was for ulterior motives!
This caused him to change his mind on the spot and directly invite Elus to join the Revolutionary Army and strive tirelessly together for their ideal.
He made the invitation and was, as expected, rejected.
However, it was truly a pity!
Such a good talent, it would be a shame if he didn’t rebel…
“Prince Elus, why not consider it again?” Dragon, at this moment, showed none of the demeanor of the world’s most dangerous criminal. He ignored Elus’s threatening words and, like a housewife buying groceries, bargained with Elus.
“Sorry, there’s no possibility of that.”
Elus refused again.
He stared at Dragon and said directly, “We are on Fish-Man Island today, and this place is too small to fight freely. I don’t want to fight you, but that doesn’t mean I will join the Revolutionary Army. Mister Dragon, please give up hope quickly.”
Dragon could only sigh, then he smiled again, “That’s fine too. Not everyone has to join the Revolutionary Army to overthrow the tyranny of the Celestial Dragons. Your choice might even be better.”
“I am now a Seven Warlord recognized by the World Government. If you say something taboo again, Mister Dragon, I will act without restraint.” Elus rolled his eyes.
He really couldn’t understand why this guy was so convinced that he harbored rebellious intentions… However, if he continued to listen to Dragon say such things, Elus wouldn’t be able to just let them go in one ear and out the other. Having taken on the title of a Seven Warlord, he had to put on some show, especially after denying Dragon’s words just now.
Dragon smiled and changed the subject, “Prince Elus, I wonder if the Eckmond Kingdom is interested in doing some business with the Revolutionary Army?”
“If the hard approach doesn’t work, you resort to the soft one?”
“I won’t say it if I don’t say it. What I’m talking about now is the maritime transport network left by Umit. If possible, I hope to purchase some supplies from your country.” Dragon said very sincerely.
Elus looked at Dragon suspiciously, unsure what trick this leader of the Revolutionary Army was playing.
“Doesn’t the Revolutionary Army have its own transportation channels? Why use outsiders?”
“We do, but it’s ultimately small-scale. It’s not as impressive as the maritime transport network you, Prince Elus, have rebuilt. Transporting large quantities of supplies ourselves takes time and effort. If possible, of course, we hope for your country’s convenience, which would save a lot of manpower and time.”
“If you’re just buying things, feel free.” Elus didn’t refuse this time. He didn’t mind making money from the Revolutionary Army if it was a business transaction.
