Chapter 85: The Lost Dream, Dressrosa
For unknown reasons, a massive cavern exists beneath the Red Line. Compared to the entire Red Line, this cavern is tiny.
However, its space is actually exceptionally vast. This is the only path for pirates to travel to the New World, and Fish-man Island is located on this path.
If not for the magnetic field influence of the Grand Line, Fish-man Island wouldn't be impossible to bypass directly.
However, the characteristic of a Log Pose is that it only records the direction of the nearest island with the strongest magnetic field.
Upon arriving at a new island, one needs to stay there for anywhere from a few hours to several days, or even a year or two, for the Log Pose to fully store the magnetic energy and point to the next island.
And Fish-man Island happens to be the island with the strongest magnetic force in this location.
Bypassing Fish-man Island means sailing aimlessly on the sea without a Log Pose indicating the direction. The danger of this is terrifying.
If they can't find a new island by luck before their supplies run out, they will be trapped and die at sea.
For navigators sailing the Grand Line, no matter what bizarre phenomena they encounter, they must trust the Log Pose in their hands.
Unless one possesses an Eternal Pose for a certain island, storing a new record at Fish-man Island is the safest route.
"Listen up, boys. I suddenly don't want to go to the New World anymore..."
"Eh? Why?!"
"Yeah, Boss! Didn't we endure untold hardships to get here just to go to the New World?!"
"I calculated our expenses today... Our goal in going to the New World was to find more treasure. But now I feel that finding a necessary route back home and collecting tolls there... might be more profitable.
Decided! Let's find a prosperous island and become bandits!"
Although there are quite a few pirates nowadays, without Roger releasing the news of the "One Piece" (Great Treasure), many people's obsession with the New World isn't actually that great.
At least today, a group of pirates seemed to have lost their dreams.
People lose their dreams every day. Meanwhile, the original tax official of Fish-man Island had the door to a new world opened for him. Looking at the skyrocketing transit tax revenue, he felt the world was extremely dreamlike.
Overnight, the Kingdom changed owners. But this didn't affect him much; he was just a worker, it didn't matter who the King was.
Moreover, the new King had a considerable reputation on Fish-man Island.
But he never thought money could come so easily to Fish-man Island, as if doing nothing would make people proactively deliver money to them.
"What are you thinking about? Hurry up and finish the accounts; these are all future military funds!"
"My apologies, Princess, I was spacing out just now..."
The tax official shook his head and refocused on the ledger. If there was anything about the current Fish-man Island that made him feel uneasy, it was Nanamo.
Although this Princess didn't have any tyrannical hobbies, he always felt that the crisis of unemployment had arrived early for him.
Everything was developing step by step. With the advantage brought by the ocean, the batch of combatants led by Rachel was enough to solve most problems. So far, even executives like Sebastian hadn't had much chance to act.
It also happened to be a time for Nereus to train these new recruits. Not all pirates would obediently pay the tax to pass. Battles occurred from time to time, but mostly outside Fish-man Island.
Residents inside Fish-man Island enjoyed a long-lost peace in these past month or two.
Various infrastructure projects were underway. Some idle personnel in the Fish-man District also had proper work to do. From the current situation, Fish-man Island had entered a stage of vigorous development.
And within Fish-man Island, there were also quite a few more prisoners. Most were pirates who didn't follow the rules when passing through. Seeing a certain number accumulated, Nereus was also prepared to cash in on these pirates.
"I'm going to Dressrosa. Anyone want to come with me?"
Taking these pirates to exchange for bounties with the World Government required a middleman no matter what. Compared to those in the Underworld, it was better to find someone he knew.
Due to geographical location, Dressrosa was very close to Fish-man Island. The Fighting Fish under Nereus's command were captured and tamed in the waters near there.
And he himself had a pretty good relationship with the current King of Dressrosa, Riku Dold III. They had some personal friendship.
Fish-man Island needed someone to guard it, so executives capable of water combat like Sebastian were left behind by Nereus.
"Dressrosa? I want to go. I made an appointment with Scarlett last time."
In the end, besides Nanamo, Nereus only brought a few human members under his command, Brook, as well as Amphelite and Luna.
None of them were Fish-men or Merfolk, but they all chose to follow Nereus.
Therefore, for this surface operation, Nereus didn't leave them on Fish-man Island. Even though the Sunlight Tree Eve could bring sunlight, there was still a huge difference in living environment.
...
For islands Nereus visited frequently like Dressrosa and Delta Island, there were always permanent Eternal Poses available. Plus, it was a short trip, so not much preparation was needed, and they set off quickly.
However, by the time they reached Dressrosa, it was already dusk.
"You guys wait here. If you're interested, you can go onto the island to relax a bit. Maybe you'll meet your true love. Dressrosa is the country of 'Love and Passion'."
The title "Country of Toys" was created after Doflamingo arrived and used the Hobby-Hobby Fruit to turn enemies and some citizens into toys.
But before Doflamingo arrived, Dressrosa, as a tropical island, already had similar amorous customs.
Nereus spread his wings himself and flew towards the King's Plateau in the center.
Besides personal friendship, he came here to study the issue of exchanges between countries.
After all, the situation on this sea is very special. Communication between countries usually depends on the friendship between Kings.
Harald did similar things before. The countries willing to communicate with Elbaf were all won over by Harald through his personal friendships and efforts.
If not for Harald's efforts, some giants causing trouble outside would probably have dragged the reputation of the Giant Kingdom down significantly. The Giant Warrior Pirates back then brought panic to the world, not legends of heroism.
"Princess Nanamo? Aren't you following? Didn't you say before coming that you wanted to play with Princess Scarlett?"
Hermes had already transformed into a flying carpet, waiting for Nanamo to get on. But turning around, it found Nanamo had no intention of moving.
"I forgot to bring a gift... Wait a moment, I'll go check the sea to see if there are any good things..."
Saying this, Nanamo jumped directly into the sea, seemingly wanting to find some local specialties from inside. After all, they were all from the bottom of the sea; as long as she didn't say whether they were found in shallow or deep waters, no one should be able to tell.
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