Devil Fruits are sometimes all about fate. Some people end up eating a Devil Fruit without realizing it and can’t even explain where their powers came from, and in places with little information, they might even be treated as monsters.
On the other hand, some spend their entire lives and still never manage to get the specific Devil Fruit they want.
After hearing that Jack wanted to find a Devil Fruit of his own, Arlong and the others generously said that if they found one, they would definitely give it to Jack.
However, at this point, Arlong had yet to realize that he had never actually seen a single Devil Fruit in his life.
“Nyuuuuu, Boss Arlong, that newcomer looks pretty strong.”
This was only a temporary gathering before their departure. Most of those preparing to leave still needed to say goodbye to their relatives.
After Jack left, Hachi came over to Arlong and helped him toward the resting area. Taking those two punches had not exactly been easy for Arlong.
If this had been the Arlong from the original timeline, he probably would not have been able to get back up after the first punch.
“Yeah. Let’s go.”
Arlong wiped the corner of his mouth. No one noticed him quietly slipping several teeth into his pocket.
They had been knocked out during the spar, but to Arlong, it was no big deal.
As a shark Fish-Man, he possessed extremely powerful tooth regeneration. He did not even need to drink milk before rapidly growing a brand-new set of sharp, pearly white teeth.
Precisely because of this regenerative ability, shark Fish-Men’s teeth were actually more prone to falling out. However, with their regeneration, it hardly mattered.
Arlong had originally wanted to visit Shyarly’s café to support her business, but the place mainly sold coffee, Dials, and exquisite snacks like clam meat. Its primary clientele consisted of Merfolk.
Arlong did not have much of an experience there, and on top of that, people kept referring to him as Shyarly’s brother. After visiting a few times, he stopped going.
The others were doing similar things. Hachi even went to Shakuyaku’s Rip-off Bar on the Sabaody Archipelago for a while. Ever since he had rescued Rayleigh from a shipwreck that year, Hachi had become somewhat acquainted with the two of them.
Some time later, Arlong and his group departed from Fishman Island, crossed the Calm Belt, and headed in the direction of East Blue.
At the same time, a newly formed pirate group appeared on the seas of the New World. Every member was a Giant, and their leader was Loki, known as the Accursed Prince.
Back then, Harald had been controlled by Imu and attempted to eat the Nidhoggr Fruit in order to obtain even greater power. To stop Harald, the soldiers of Elbaf’s royal capital had paid a considerable price.
Those soldiers, aside from Jarul and Loki, were also the only people who knew the true cause of Harald’s death.
Every one of them followed Loki away from Elbaf.
On this matter, Loki did not obey Harald’s final wish. He did not reveal the truth to the people of Elbaf, and so, in the eyes of the Giants, Loki remained a traitor who had killed his own father.
Without Elbaf’s recognition, these people naturally could not bear the name Giant Warrior Pirates. However, Loki had not left merely to cause destruction.
On this day, the World Government and the Marines once again found themselves facing a monster who specifically hunted them down. With the forces of Whitebeard, Kaido, and others continuing to expand, the Marines also began withdrawing their military presence in the New World.
Their missions gradually shifted toward defensive operations centered around their bases. Aside from necessary reconnaissance ships, they no longer actively ventured deep into pirate-controlled territory.
Loki’s travels were not confined to the New World. After Shanks passed through Fishman Island, Loki also arrived there, intending to head for the Florian Triangle in the first half of the Grand Line.
Loki wanted to see for himself what exactly lay in the waters where Harald had once been active.
Aside from that, Loki also shared the same idea as Shanks: he intended to meet Nereus in Ryugu Palace.
Although Harald had lived to the age of 144 and was much older than both Nereus and Rocks, in Loki’s mind, the three had always belonged to the same generation.
When Loki was young, he had once seen the Rocks Pirates when they came to Elbaf, and it was at that time that he had met both Rocks and Nereus.
Loki had once wanted to join Rocks, only to be rejected by him.
Now, Rocks had died at the hands of the World Government, and his own father had likewise died because of the World Government. In Loki’s heart, the World Government had long since become an enemy with whom reconciliation was absolutely impossible.
As the strongest survivor of that era, Nereus was someone from whom Loki wanted answers to certain questions.
Because of the Sunlight Tree Eve, Fishman Island likewise experienced the changes between day and night. Loki did not arrive in broad daylight and go through the official procedures like Shanks had.
Instead, he reached the Sea Forest at night and released his Haki there. Loki believed that if it was Nereus, he would be able to sense all of this.
……
Loki’s eyes were still wrapped in bandages. Although it was publicly claimed that he suffered from an eye disease, the truth was simply that his eyes were somewhat unusual—or rather, terrifying.
After seeing those eyes, even his biological mother refused to acknowledge him as her son. Coupled with the frequent natural and man-made disasters that plagued Elbaf in those years, Loki also came to be known as the Cursed Child.
After his biological mother died, rumors likewise claimed that Loki’s curse had killed her. From then on, Loki covered his eyes, and after so many years, he had long grown accustomed to it.
“Visiting this late at night may be somewhat impolite, but for a ‘vampire,’ this should be noon, shouldn’t it?”
“If you want to talk about Harald, I already know.”
“Shanks told you, right? I also learned some things about what happened back then from him, such as the cause of Rocks’ death.
But there are some things Shanks doesn’t know.
That person controlled my father, but that control worked both ways. During the brief few minutes when my father regained consciousness, he sensed the other party’s thoughts.
The vermin of the World Government wanted to grant him even greater power and an immortal body on top of the strength he already possessed. Even in the eyes of the World Government, if my father had possessed immortality, he would have been considered a monster.
But if you think about it carefully, someone with strength comparable to my father’s and an immortal body… isn’t there already someone like that right here?”
Although Nereus was not an Ancient Giant warrior, in the deep sea, the power Fish-Man warriors could display was something neither Giants nor Ancient Giants could compare with.
“I came bearing sincerity. The cause of my father’s death has not yet been made public, because now is not the time. But the World Government is destined to become an enemy that Elbaf can never forgive.
As Elbaf’s strongest warrior, I swear upon the honor of a warrior that I will use this strength to make them pay.
So let me ask you, King of the Ryugu Kingdom: are you willing to take this common enemy as our target and enter into an alliance with me—one that, for the time being, cannot yet be made public?”
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