“Just to correct you, I was the one who was originally supposed to come here. You were the one who insisted on tagging along.”
Before Amphitrite could speak, Chloe refuted Yamato’s claim.
Flowers blooming in a greenhouse could not withstand wind and rain, and fledglings raised in cages could hardly soar through the sky. No matter how exceptional one’s talent was, growth was an indispensable part of the process.
Progressing from simply honing one’s skills on a training ground to gaining experience out in the world was a very common path on the seas.
The powerful figures of the current era had all experienced venturing out alone in their youth. Someone like Chloe could at least grow up in a relatively safe environment under the protection of her father’s generation, which was already quite fortunate.
As Chloe grew older, she also began to be assigned certain tasks. This trip to Alabasta was one such trial meant to temper her.
It was not merely physical training, but also a chance to familiarize herself with some of Ryugu Kingdom’s affairs.
“I won’t cause trouble for you! You have to trust me! We’ve known each other for quite a while, haven’t we?”
Yamato had only rushed over after hearing that Chloe was going out. Under normal circumstances, outsiders would not be brought along for this sort of business, but Yamato’s situation was somewhat special, so they simply allowed her to come along and gain some experience as well.
Kaido might not have minded his child becoming a violent brute who knew nothing except fighting, but since Nereus had agreed to train her in his stead, he naturally would not teach her that way.
If word of that spread in the future, it would damage his reputation. Nereus had no desire to find himself ranked on some list of incompetent teachers years later.
“It’s precisely because I know you so well that I find your words even less credible.”
They had known each other for quite some time, so Chloe naturally understood Yamato’s personality. If she had to give a simple evaluation…
“Just an idiot who gets carried away easily.”
In a sense, Yamato handled many problems in much the same way as Kaido. The only difference was that Kaido’s strength was sufficient to solve them, so he had no need to engage his brain.
Yamato, meanwhile, had inherited only his physical attributes, not his intelligence.
Chloe said nothing more and merely stared silently at Yamato. After a while, her gaze actually began to make Yamato lose confidence.
“Dance Powder.”
It was at that moment that Amphitrite calmly uttered a term.
“What’s that?”
“A mysterious powder native to Alabasta. If it is scattered directly over the clouds, or burned so that its smoke drifts high into the sky, it will create a vast expanse of rain clouds.
Because Alabasta is a desert kingdom, rain is a precious resource here. Whenever it rains, the residents often dance for joy, which is why it is called Dance Powder.”
“I get it!”
Yamato suddenly clapped her hands together, seemingly having thought of something special.
“During that unprecedented great liberation, torrential rain suddenly poured down over Mariejois. Mr. Nereus used Dance Powder back then, didn’t he?!”
It was not Amphitrite who answered Yamato, but Chloe’s utterly astonished stare.
Chloe found it difficult to understand why Yamato’s thinking had suddenly become so sharp. The fact that she had immediately connected it to that incident did not fit her established character at all.
“Just what did Uncle Wobbegong write in Dad’s biography…?”
Chloe suspected that Wobbegong had fabricated too many things, causing Yamato to make certain associations. Many misunderstandings arose in exactly this way.
It was fortunate that Wobbegong had not fabricated Nereus’s appearance as well. Otherwise, there was no telling what the rumors outside might have described Nereus as.
“Dance Powder is contraband in Alabasta, not an ordinary commodity. Strictly speaking, what we are doing this time is not trade between nations, but a smuggling operation.”
“Why ban something like that? Isn’t making it rain here a good thing?”
“Because the rain produced by Dance Powder does not appear out of nowhere. It is stolen from the surrounding areas. The price of one region gaining abundant moisture is that the surrounding regions fall into drought.
In Alabasta, it is contraband. But to Ryugu Kingdom, stormy weather allows its soldiers to display their strength more effectively. That makes it a strategic resource.”
Yamato did not ask why Ryugu Kingdom did not produce the stuff itself. In her view, since Alabasta could manufacture it, there was surely no problem with coming here to purchase it.
But Ryugu Kingdom had actually tried. Wobbegong had even analyzed the composition of Dance Powder.
The reason Ryugu Kingdom did not produce it was not because its technology was inadequate, nor because the pollution was too severe. It was simply because the manufacturing of Dance Powder possessed a strange “geographical dependency.”
Like the bubbles of the Sabaody Archipelago, this substance could only be produced in this desert kingdom.
With the same formula, the same production process, and even the same temperature and environmental conditions, it still could not be manufactured anywhere else.
Wobbegong did not know what secrets lay beneath Alabasta’s soil, nor did Nereus. Neither of them was a professional archaeologist.
There were already plenty of geographically dependent things on the seas, so it simply became a matter of making regular purchases.
In any case, Dance Powder had an extremely long shelf life. The stock in the warehouses was enough for their needs, and they only had to replenish it periodically to ensure they maintained an adequate supply.
Ryugu Kingdom’s orders had actually provided livelihoods for quite a few people in Alabasta. Since the country covered a vast area and was filled with desert, Alabasta’s actual zones of control were limited to its cities. They had no idea what happened out in the desert.
Fishman Island only bought Dance Powder and never used it there. As long as they were careful, Alabasta’s royal family would never notice, making it a stable source of income.
…
Nanohana, a port town southeast of Alabasta, was where most of the country’s foreign trade took place. It was also Chloe and the others’ destination.
Under normal circumstances, this would have been a very simple mission: find the contact, hand over the money, and receive the goods.
This time, however, the situation was a little different.
“This is the Dance Powder you requested.”
“There’s no problem with the quantity, but… are you planning to double-cross us? Who’s that person hiding behind you?”
Yamato was pointing toward a distant sand dune. Observation Haki could, to a certain extent, sense how threatening a living being was. After training for so many years, both Yamato and Chloe had naturally already gained a basic grasp of Dual-Colored Haki.
Compared to the ordinary people standing before them, there was clearly someone far more dangerous behind the dune.
But Yamato’s words only left the people conducting the transaction confused.
“Behind us? It’s just the few of us. There’s no one back there.”
“Something’s moving over there? Could it be Sandora Lizards…?”
These people did not act like underground merchants who had spent years in the smuggling business. They seemed more like ordinary people secretly reselling contraband goods.
The questioned men showed no intention of fighting. Instead, they pocketed the Berries from the transaction and immediately tried to leave this dangerous place.
Although they had no intention of double-crossing anyone, it was obvious that whoever had been watching them had followed them here…
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