Chapter 91: Treacherous Minister?
A super-sized fireball bringing light and warmth to the world hung in the eastern sky, the deep blue sea waves draped in shimmering golden light, the cold sea breeze whistling over the sea, the deep blue national flag embroidered with a golden coffee tree gently fluttering in the wind.
The Bald Sea Monster Watatsumi had most of his body submerged below the surface, only that round pancake-like big face floating above the sea, observing this world completely different from the seabed with panicked and uneasy eyes. Having left the deep sea, he no longer needed to tow the ship, but he still closely followed beside the fleet.
His shifting gaze would glance every four or five seconds at Isca, who was practicing swordsmanship on the flagship’s deck, just like a child afraid his mother would suddenly disappear.
Contrary to his enormous physique, Watatsumi’s intelligence level was indeed at a child’s level, and unlike Princess Shirahoshi, who had received a good education, Watatsumi had never received any instruction. Vander Decken had only used him as a tool, never teaching him knowledge.
Moreover, his living environment had always been limited to the outer edges of Fish-Man Island and even more distant seabed ruins. Besides Vander Decken, there were no other mermaids or Fish-Men around for interaction, so even his common sense was only at the level from before he was driven out of the Fish-Man District for being too big.
He knew the meanings of good and bad, but couldn’t distinguish what was good and what was bad; he easily trusted others, and his naive personality led him to be deceived and used by Vander Decken, the villain who disguised himself as a good person; he was very afraid of loneliness, terrified of being abandoned, and when he learned Vander Decken would abandon him, he started crying, but when Gio lied to him saying he heard wrong, he stopped being sad; yet his nature remained kind, knowing to apologize after making a mistake.
In short, it was thoroughly childish thinking!
After learning that Captain Vander Decken had been imprisoned on Fish-Man Island for committing crimes, and realizing he had also committed a mistake, he obediently apologized to Princess Shirahoshi. Then he was told he had become a subordinate of Prince Elus, and that human who had hit his head painfully with a sword scabbard was his direct superior······
He became like this now.
Except when going out to hunt sea beasts to replenish food, he stayed by the flagship’s side at all times, afraid of being abandoned again.
Flagship, on the deck,
“Miss Isca, how’s the scenery of the New World?” Fran came out from the cabin, looking at Isca who was maintaining her sword, and walked over to greet her.
“It looks no different from Paradise.”
Isca focused intently on maintaining her sword.
This sword could be considered a famous sword. Though not a Great Grade Sword or Good Grade Sword, such historic artifacts, it was still a fine product forged by a famous master craftsman trained by the World Government today. If she weren’t a Second Lieutenant at Navy Headquarters, she might not have been able to obtain this famous sword.
“Haha! If only this sea were as calm as Paradise.” Fran looked at the sparkling sea and laughed, not knowing how long such fine scenery would last.
The New World’s climate was far more harsh than Paradise’s. Except for areas near islands with relatively stable weather, venturing deep into the sea would reveal how fickle the climate here was. Every year, at least one-third of the pirates rushing from Paradise into the New World were defeated by its harsh climate.
To survive in the New World, one needed not only sufficient strength but also a highly skilled navigator.
“What is Your Highness doing?”
Isca had no interest in boring topics like the weather. Seeing no third person around, she immediately lowered her voice to ask about Prince Elus’s whereabouts. “Don’t say His Highness is in his room; my Observation Haki noticed he left earlier.”
“There’s an island nearby; His Highness went to the island for some business.”
Fran answered calmly.
She knew Prince Elus’s movements couldn’t fool Isca’s attention, but there was no need to deliberately conceal it from Isca. After all, unlike the marines borrowed from the Navy on the warship who needed to be returned, Isca was family, a member of the Eckmond Kingdom.
“That island is a World Government research base. An accident happened on the island, and the Navy and researchers have all evacuated, but it seems they didn’t clean up thoroughly. His Highness went to see if he could take advantage of anything.” She said “take advantage” very smoothly, without any embarrassment.
“Research base······ No wonder!”
Isca blinked her eyes.
Though young, she had adventured in Paradise long enough to earn the ruthless nickname “Nail Hand,” and she had experience. She knew the World Government and its member nations were far from harmonious, with countless overt and covert struggles.
The Navy, as the World Government’s direct armed force, had often been given the cold shoulder by various kingdoms.
Isca had encountered something similar in Paradise: a World Government member nation had raised a group of pirates for shady dealings, and Isca caught them red-handed. She had planned to wipe them out, but during the pursuit, she entered the kingdom’s territorial waters, was blocked by the kingdom’s navy, and could only watch the pirates escape.
The incident hit Isca hard, leaving her in a bad mood for a long time.
She wasn’t surprised at all by Prince Elus taking advantage of the World Government; she fully understood why his movements were so secretive—it was to avoid exposing himself to the World Government and Navy.
Fran subtly observed Isca’s expression changes and saw no signs of resistance or disgust. She breathed a sigh of relief inwardly, a bit worried Isca might disapprove of His Highness’s actions, given her Navy background. If she still had lingering attachments, it would be trouble.
Of course, this was just her little thought.
When she told His Highness about this concern, he mocked her twice, saying she was too suspicious······ Maybe so! But even then, Fran planned to continue observing Isca for a while.
“Since His Highness won’t return for a while, why not stop here? Otherwise, if we go too far, it won’t be easy for him to catch up.” Isca suddenly asked again.
“No need to worry about that; His Highness has my Life Card. As long as he doesn’t lose direction, he can catch up.”
Fran explained with a smile.
Isca nodded and said no more.
————
Punk Hazard.
This was a Spring Island, with a warm climate like eternal spring giving the island high vegetation coverage, lush and pleasing to the eye. But that was in the past. In just one night, the pervasive poison gas not only killed the humans in the research institute but also caused massive damage to the animals and plants in the forest.
Deep purple poison gas spread wildly across the island. From above, one could see corpses of humans and animals in areas without tree cover.
Elus’s luck wasn’t bad.
The spot where the fleet emerged from the sea wasn’t far from Punk Hazard. Though the island wasn’t visible from the ship, Elus’s ‘Neuro-Scan’ spread to its maximum range detected clustered life signatures—soul fluctuations uniquely human, distinct from marine life.
After instructing Fran to cover for him, he spread his wings, flew out the open window, flapped his wings at extreme speed to leave the warship—so fast that the lookouts on each ship didn’t notice his departure.
Flying along the position sensed by the Neuro-Scan, he smoothly found Punk Hazard.
The research gate on the island had a Punk Hazard sign, huge and visible from afar. But compared to the sign, the poison gas permeating the island was more conspicuous. Elus didn’t dare set foot on the island’s ground easily.
He wasn’t sure how potent the poison gas was.
Even with the Hogyoku’s protection, Elus had no intention of testing it on himself.
He flew in the air, maximizing his distance to avoid direct contact with the poison gas, circling above the island. His spread ‘Neuro-Scan’ locked onto surviving life signatures. Previously too far for clarity, now close, he discovered quite a few living presences on the island.
Roughly calculating, over a hundred people were still alive, not killed by the poison gas.
However, ninety-nine percent of the life signatures clustered in one place. Looking down from above and observing carefully, Elus recognized it as likely a prison. He pondered and guessed it was built sturdy to prevent escapes, and this gas leak had ironically saved these prisoners’ lives.
As for why a research base had a prison, it wasn’t strange at all. Human experiments, using criminals as waste— no one would cry about human rights equality in this world ruled by kingdoms and nobles, where human rights had no place.
Elus had no interest in the prisoners; his attention was fully on that one life signature moving through the poison-gas-filled research institute.
“Looks like my luck is indeed good!”
A slight smile appeared on Elus’s face.
He raised his right hand, four fingers folded, only his index finger aimed at a building in the research institute below. Ink-green light gathered at his fingertip.
—Cero!
High-density spiritual pressure shot toward the building below, crumbling it effortlessly like a force of destruction. The surging smoke and dust mixed with poison gas rushed skyward, but before nearing Elus, he waved his hand to disperse it all.
After demolishing one building, Elus didn’t continue but leisurely waited in the air patiently.
As the saying goes, beating the grass startles the snake.
He had beaten the grass; now he waited for the hidden snake to appear.
It didn’t take long. From the building next to the ruins, M. Caesar Clown, draped in a smoky coat, floated out. The mad scientist hovered over the ruins for a few seconds, then slowly ascended into the sky.
“Glad to meet you here, Doctor Caesar.”
Elus greeted first.
Pale-faced Caesar looked at Elus tremblingly. He didn’t dare get too close, maintaining what he considered a safe distance, yet his gaseous body still shuddered. He wailed inwardly: why was the Black Prince here on Punk Hazard? It was downright terrifying!
“Your Highness Prince Elus, may I ask what brings you to Punk Hazard?”
Caesar asked cautiously.
His eyes constantly watched Elus’s expression, fearing to accidentally anger this Fifth Overlord of the New World, who might kill him in a fit of rage.
As a senior researcher in the Navy Science Unit, his status wasn’t as revered as Doctor Vegapunk’s, but aside from Doctor Vegapunk, few in the Science Unit could compare to him. Don’t mind how Doctor Vegapunk called him worthless.
But that was Doctor Vegapunk!
Besides himself, probably no one in the world could match his wisdom.
These words emphasize that Caesar, this timid, bullying, extremely arrogant guy, actually held a high position. He knew much intelligence about the World Government and Navy, and was well-informed about changes on the sea. Like the Navy’s intel on Elus, Caesar had borrowed and studied Elus’s files for Devil Fruit research reasons.
Precisely because he had read Elus’s files,
He clearly knew this Black Prince was a true strong person, a monster standing at the world’s peak like the Four Emperors and Three Admirals—someone he absolutely couldn’t provoke.
“I’m here for you, Doctor Caesar.”
Elus said smilingly, like an unreasonable swordsman who skipped formal bows and went straight for the slash.
Caesar’s eyes nearly popped out—well, they did, turning into two puffs of gas.
“No beating around the bush, Doctor Caesar. The poison gas on the island is your crime. If you had no means to escape this island, you’d soon be caught by the Navy and sent to Impel Down for the rest of your life. I think that’s a waste of your talents, so I came specially to invite you to be my subordinate.”
“By the way, Doctor, I don’t like others rejecting my good intentions.”
Elus added at the end.
After speaking, he stared straight at Caesar, waiting for a reply.
Caesar stuffed his gaseous eyeballs back into their sockets. He looked at Elus blankly: an invitation······ His panic eased slightly. He didn’t think Elus was joking; there was no need. He didn’t believe he could stop Elus from doing anything on Punk Hazard.
Moreover, thinking carefully,
The Black Prince’s words weren’t just intimidation. He was now a trapped beast on the island, unable to escape Punk Hazard, destined for Navy arrest. Better to join the Black Prince than rot in Impel Down forever—with such a solid backer, even the Navy would struggle to trouble him.
He quickly calculated inwardly and found joining the Black Prince was indeed his only way out now.
Besides, Elus clearly left no room for refusal.
So—
“Your Highness Prince Elus, what can I help you with? Do you need large-scale killing weapons? The H2S poison gas below is my work. If needed, I can mass-produce such weapons for you.”
A fawning smile appeared on Caesar’s face. Mustering courage, he floated to Elus’s side and immediately began flattering his new boss eagerly.
Seeing his sycophantic appearance, it was hard to imagine he was a senior researcher in the Navy Science Unit.
