Meanwhile, inside Ryugu Palace, Chloe was feeding the “pets.”
What she fed them was not food in the conventional sense, but things such as ores and iron ingots.
Accompanied by a series of crunching sounds, the chunks of minerals were reduced to a little powder. Some were swallowed whole, leaving nothing behind.
“So they… they’re alive?”
Yamato stood nearby, looking as though she had discovered something novel. She had already been on Fishman Island for quite some time, and she knew that two large stones had always stood at the entrance to Ryugu Palace.
They were covered in writing she could not understand and were supposedly Poneglyphs, but she had never noticed that these two stones were “alive.”
“It’s ancient technology that can give inanimate objects the powers of Devil Fruits. Dad fed each of them a Zoan-type Fruit.
They’re just rather lazy and rarely move, so it’s only natural that you never noticed.”
“Uh… if they were stones to begin with, do they even need to eat?”
“I don’t know. They eat sometimes, anyway. Maybe the moment they gained Devil Fruit powers, they became living Fruits instead of ordinary inanimate objects.”
Chloe had never studied this branch of technology. She could not understand that stuff and had no desire to delve into it.
Wobbegong and his son Zeo spent every day in the laboratory researching all sorts of things and replicating ancient documents, yet there were some things whose underlying principles even they had not figured out.
“Wait. Did you just say ancient technology?”
“Yeah. Supposedly, long ago, before the World Government even existed, the world’s technology was far more advanced than it is now.
These so-called future islands were commonplace back then, but that enormous, protracted war even sank the continental shelves, leaving the world as it is today.
Studying ancient technology is much easier than innovating.
I remember you were there when we covered this in history class too… Oh, you were asleep.”
There was no need to hold separate classes for subjects like that, so they merely sat in on the general lectures together. Chloe carefully searched her memory.
Although Yamato had seemed very interested at first, it had not taken long for her to fall asleep.
As far as Yamato was concerned, all academic classes that required her to sit and listen were much the same. The teachers’ words seemed to possess some sort of magic that, when combined with a desk, produced a powerful hypnotic effect.
If any class could keep Yamato alert, it was politics class. After all, Fishman Island’s politics inevitably involved some of Nereus’s views, making it one of the few academic classes capable of capturing Yamato’s interest.
“By the way, where did Mr. Nereus go?”
Yamato showed no reaction whatsoever to being called out, seemingly having long since accepted it as normal, and changed the subject by asking another question.
“He went to the New World. Every year around this time, that freak Bullet comes looking for Dad and asks Dad to beat him up.
Then, for the following year, he obeys Dad’s arrangements and carries out all sorts of missions. Who knows what kind of strange hobby he has?”
In Chloe’s eyes, what Bullet considered a challenge was simply asking to be abused—and doing so with tireless persistence. Even though Kaido often talked about challenging Nereus, he did not do it nearly as frequently.
As an apprentice back then, Kaido understood very well that the outcome would not change until his strength underwent a qualitative leap.
And while Kaido often talked about wanting to kill himself, he would never do anything guaranteed to get himself killed, so naturally he would not periodically show up asking for a beating.
His thoughts were similar to Bullet’s, yet fundamentally different.
“Do you think there’s a possibility that he’s also a fan of Mr. Nereus, but just isn’t good at expressing himself?”
Chloe responded by pressing the back of her hand against Yamato’s forehead.
“You don’t have a fever, so why are you suddenly spouting nonsense…?”
“I’m merely proposing a possibility. It’s a reasonable deduction, so how can you call it nonsense?”
Their argument over the subject was interrupted by a burst of singing. Ever since Nanamo had brought Uta back, this had happened from time to time.
In the past, it had always been Nanamo practicing her singing alone. Now, different voices could be heard singing during different time slots, and overall, they sounded rather pleasant.
Moreover, because the singing always began on time, Yamato even used it as an alarm clock.
“Uta has started practicing? Looks like it’s almost time for afternoon tea.”
“You remember that clearly enough… Sister has high hopes for her and thinks she’ll be able to make a fortune from her in the future.
I remember Sister saying that she planned to have Pappag announce the new concert at the same time as the new product launch.”
Nanamo had not broken her promise. Uta lived in safety and was well cared for, but that did not prevent Nanamo from devising her grand money-making scheme.
No one on these seas would come asking for a share of her profits, and she could even ask Laboon to provide the venue. An Island Whale’s body was large enough to serve as a mobile concert hall.
Rounding things off, it was effectively a business requiring no capital whatsoever.
“Sister Nanamo really does love money.”
“Of course. Supposedly, Sister and Mom once had a plan to cash in on their identities as Lunarians through the World Government, but they never ended up putting it into action.”
Yamato’s eyes lit up upon hearing this plan, and she seemed to be wondering whether Kaido could also be used to extract money from the World Government.
Unlike Yamato, who rarely made the news, Kaido’s personality meant that his name frequently appeared in the newspapers.
Whether it was clashing with Whitebeard or Big Mom, or attacking Marine transport ships, his bounty had gradually continued to rise. But after thinking it through carefully, the plan did not seem very realistic and would be difficult to carry out.
At the same time, on an island in the New World, Bullet had once again finished his latest bout of asking for a beating, exactly as Chloe had said.
Not only had the outcome remained unchanged, but even the process had been remarkably similar.
“Do you… have no limit?”
Bullet was certain that he grew stronger every year, yet the opponent he challenged displayed even more absurd power each year and utterly crushed him.
“Some things should never have limits in the first place. How can you be talking about limits at your current level? You still have a long road ahead of you.
Take a look at this.”
Nereus tossed Bullet something resembling a scroll. Bullet caught it and began reading it carefully.
“Joker? You actually remember a nobody like him? Want me to kill him?”
It contained information about recent changes in the Underworld. Ever since Doflamingo entered the Grand Line, the name of the broker known as Joker had gradually begun to spread.
Doflamingo possessed a certain degree of strength, special connections, and his own methods, allowing him to flourish in the first half of the Grand Line.
The Marines could not even completely eradicate the darkness concealed throughout the Four Seas, much less the Grand Line. Instead, these chaotic waters gave Doflamingo ample room to operate.
However, when Bullet saw the words “human trafficking” and “slave trading” in the intelligence report, he knew that the man using a clown as his codename was already doomed.
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