“Ahem, what are you doing? This is an office, you know. Don’t be so direct next time, Hermes!”
A small hand made of clouds stretched out from beneath the table and swept away all the gold coins at lightning speed.
“You run your bar, he works as a coating craftsman, that’s all fine. Our rules won’t make things difficult for you. But that Rip-Off Bar of yours, surely you wouldn’t still have that rule that says no entry if you fight, would you?”
Hearing Nanamo ask that, Shakuyaku shook her head. This wasn’t Fullalead Island, after all, and she didn’t intend to continue roaming the seas under her old reputation either. She was just a retired bar owner living in seclusion now.
“Very good. We don’t take money for nothing, either. If anyone causes trouble, we’ll deal with them.
“The small fry from Paradise aren’t a threat to the two of you, but personally, I hope you fleece them hard. Ideally, make them so angry they smash up your store.
“That way I can reasonably turn them into bounty money.”
Shakuyaku covered her face. She realized she had overcomplicated things. The person before her only had a desire for money and no strange ulterior motives at all.
“What’s wrong? This is the office of the Ryugu Kingdom, not Fullalead Island.
“The money you paid for that bar already included property transaction tax. How could I possibly hold a grudge against you just because you stole business from my family’s pub back then and caused our revenue over those years to drop by 23%?”
Nanamo spoke as though she didn’t care at all, yet the precise number she quoted seemed to show that she still remembered what happened over a decade ago.
But this attitude actually made Shakuyaku feel things would be easy to handle. She wasn’t afraid of people with clear goals like this. What she feared were the reckless hotheads who stubbornly charged down a single path without caring about consequences.
“I understand what you mean now. Don’t worry, you will earn back the losses from those years sooner or later.”
“I hope so. Oh right, as for that Dark King over there, let me warn you in advance, I’m only filling in here temporarily. Uncle Barbell went on vacation, so if you need to handle business here in the future, you’d better not come personally.
“If things get too noisy and end up angering Dad, it won’t be good for anyone.”
As the former public enemy of pirates, Barbell still held some resentment toward Rayleigh. If they started fighting here, the consequences would become quite troublesome.
Rayleigh didn’t say anything, merely nodded. He truly had no intention of causing too much trouble.
After settling the permits and various other procedures, the two of them returned to the location of the old bar. In this unnoticed corner, the once famous across the seas, Rip-Off Bar quietly reopened.
Nanamo was still filling in at the office, but the crazed influx of pirates had not yet flooded into the Sabaody Archipelago. In the eyes of the world, Roger was still a “living person.”
Rumors were spreading everywhere that Roger had obtained an indescribable treasure and had named it the One Piece. Many pirates were also searching for Roger’s whereabouts, hoping to kill him and seize his treasure.
But Roger’s location was currently unknown, leaving those people to search aimlessly everywhere. Excluding that portion of pirates, there were actually fewer pirates crossing over to the New World in pursuit of the final island.
Those who still wanted to reach the final island did so to prove they were not inferior to Roger. As for those who no longer wished to go, they believed Roger had already taken all the treasures. Rather than heading to an empty island, they preferred searching for Roger himself.
“This job… is pretty boring.”
Several days later, Nanamo leaned back in a rocking chair transformed from Hermes while listening to reports from the people nearby. The predicted pirate tide still had not appeared, and the Sabaody Archipelago remained relatively stable.
Most of Nanamo’s time was spent slacking off. Only in very rare situations did she need to personally handle problems, but she disliked this boring state of affairs. After all, if nobody caused trouble, she had no extra income.
“How did Uncle Barbell endure this kind of thing all the time?”
“As for Lord Barbell, he usually meditates and chants scriptures here. Sometimes he also does scalp care treatments.”
The nearby clerk answered Nanamo’s question. Ever since the incident involving the kill order back then, the office at Sabaody Archipelago had remained fairly peaceful.
As long as someone strong was stationed here, nothing major had happened.
“Oh right, Uncle Barbell is a monk. I almost forgot about that.”
Barbell’s image always made Nanamo forget that this hot-tempered uncle’s profession was actually that of a monk. Traditional monks usually weren’t constantly thinking about releasing souls from suffering.
“You seem pretty relaxed.”
“Hm? Dad?”
“Sister!”
Just as Nanamo had Hermes adjust the rocking chair’s swaying angle, a familiar male voice suddenly sounded beside her ear. The child in his arms was Chloe, while Amphitrite followed beside him—it was none other than Nereus himself.
“Dad, why did you come out here? Doing an inspection?”
“I brought your little sister out for a walk. Somehow, someone brought Bubble Park flyers to Fish-Man Island, and after Chloe saw them, she kept saying she wanted to go play.”
“So I came to bring you along too. Your shift ends in thirty minutes anyway.”
The office of the Ryugu Kingdom followed strict working hours. Once work ended, the employees would all return to Fish-Man Island, so there was no need to keep guards stationed here afterward.
Because Bubble Park was an entertainment venue, it operated all night long, meaning they had plenty of time to enjoy themselves.
For Nereus, this was nothing more than a simple sightseeing trip. Going to an amusement park was merely accompanying his child to play.
But in the eyes of others, it was an entirely different matter.
“Report! Nereus has been spotted at the Sabaody Archipelago! Motive unknown!!”
Nereus made no effort whatsoever to conceal his outing. He openly arrived at the Sabaody Archipelago without the slightest disguise. He himself didn’t care, but others certainly did.
The Marine branch stationed at the Sabaody Archipelago had already descended into chaos. All soldiers were on high alert. Although it was useless, this was a matter of dignity for them.
After some quick compilation, this information would be reported directly to Marine Headquarters.
Even though Nereus now held the status of a king, the Marines still did not dare lower their guard against him. The reason they monitored him wasn’t because they intended to stop him if he tried anything.
Marine Headquarters understood the gap in strength very clearly. Not even a single Admiral could accomplish such a thing unless two Admirals were assigned to watch him constantly.
This surveillance existed so they could know what Nereus intended to do and mentally prepare themselves, avoiding being caught completely off guard.
“Report! The target has already arrived at Bubble Park. He is currently… riding the Ferris wheel with the others…”
The Marine soldier sounded hesitant, as though he could hardly believe what he was seeing.
“Watch the surroundings carefully. Deal with anyone who might provoke him ahead of time. Don’t let that madman… go berserk in the Sabaody Archipelago.”
Notice: Hey guys, ill be busy with my brother’s wedding from 10-12. So ill be posting 2 chapters daily for the four days.
You can read ahead upto 45 chapters on my patreon and I’ve also activated (date to date) subscription model on my patreon.