Chapter 94: The Man Who Slid to His Knees, New Target: The Red Line
"You... kneel pretty fast..."
Nereus hadn't paid attention to what Vander Decken VIII actually looked like. Whether Fish-men or Merfolk, the appearance of offspring doesn't necessarily resemble their parents.
Even blood siblings might look completely different; the random nature of fish species can lead to huge differences in appearance.
Of course, there are cases where they look very similar, but it's basically random.
Based on his memory of Vander Decken IX's appearance, he couldn't infer what the VIII looked like at all.
Even the original records in Fish-man Island only documented the pirate ship "Flying Dutchman," so Nereus initially came for the ship.
"Haha... You jest. Who in Fish-man Island doesn't know your prestige? I didn't know that was your ship. If I had known, I wouldn't have robbed their cargo even if you beat me to death.
I'll return those things right now! Please give me a chance. I... I have a secret I can use in exchange!
These are words left by the first Vander Decken. You will definitely be interested..."
Vander Decken VIII appeared to be a Catfish Fish-man. His body structure was similar to Babel, but unlike Babel's muscular build, Vander Decken VIII was purely obese, looking somewhat like Tahm (Tahm Kench).
At this moment, he was extremely humble, showing no intention of resisting.
"Interesting. Is keeping secrets some kind of custom in Fish-man Island? Let's hear it. Since you only robbed the cargo and didn't hurt anyone, I might consider being lenient."
Hearing that Nereus was willing to listen, Vander Decken VIII breathed a sigh of relief. After dismissing his minions on the ship, he brought a chair for Nereus.
"Lord Nereus, please listen to me slowly. Actually, the ancestors of our clan, the first Vander Decken, originally lived on land.
Legends say Captain Vander Decken suddenly went mad, threw all his crew members into the sea, angered the gods, and thus was condemned to wander the seabed for eternity.
But that was just a lie by the First!
The reason he came to the deep sea was because of the 'Mermaid Princess'...
And in these long years, the sea has been constantly rising. This world will eventually be submerged by the ocean! The future world belongs to you! In the ocean, no one will be your opponent!"
Vander Decken VIII told Nereus a long story, from the First generation all the way to the present. The key points were Poseidon (Sea King) and the rising sea level.
According to him, the first Vander Decken had foreseen this long ago, so he started planning generations in advance.
"Lord Nereus, actually I have long wanted to join your command. For the sake of this big secret, please give this lowly one a chance."
"So the ambition of the first Vander Decken has been abandoned by you just like that?"
"Don't joke with me. I still have self-awareness. But Lord Nereus, if it's you, as long as you find Poseidon, then the world really will belong to you.
Worst case scenario, we do nothing and wait for the sea to submerge the world. The army of Sea Kings will leave only a few strong individuals alive in the world, and you will be the strongest in the ocean..."
Nereus felt like Vander Decken VIII was painting him a pie (making empty promises/grandiose claims). Anyway, according to him, getting Poseidon equaled ruling this sea.
"Your secret is useless to me."
"This..."
"But seeing that you are sensible, I'll let you off with a light punishment this time. But if you do it again..."
Seeing VIII's humble and sensible attitude, Nereus could spare him this once.
Even with Pontos back then, if he hadn't insisted on fighting to the death for the throne, Nereus wouldn't have killed him.
Seeing Nereus agree to his request, Vander Decken VIII made a new request.
"Rest assured! News is blocked off here; I didn't know you had become King, otherwise I would have come to surrender long ago. But I have another small request. Could you... pretend that we fought?"
"?"
Faced with this bizarre request, Nereus didn't take it too seriously, only making his movements slightly larger when he left.
But this caused the water in the deep sea to ripple, and the mud and sand on the seabed surged under the sweeping currents, making the already dim sea area even more sunless.
Those driven away by Vander Decken VIII didn't know what happened on the ship either. But after the waters calmed, they discovered that Vander Decken VIII was actually still alive.
"Boss, you... didn't die?"
"Hmph, I pretended to submit to him and attacked when he was unprepared. However, his strength is indeed powerful; even so, I couldn't take him down.
And he was also shocked by my strength (the Great One's strength) and decided to recruit me. Seeing that he is indeed thinking about the future of Fish-man Island, I reluctantly agreed to join his command."
The other Fish-men around looked at each other, their faces written with "I don't believe it." But Vander Decken VIII was indeed alive after the "battle."
Nereus's combat power was unquestionable. These people also grew up in the Fish-man District back then. At this moment, they began to feel that perhaps they had truly underestimated their boss.
The robbed goods were returned to their owners. The merchants were deeply grateful. The news of Fish-man Island's safe trade spread slightly through their channels. For a time, quite a few more people chose to apply for trade licenses.
Many things on Fish-man Island went much smoother. Many documents from the Poneglyphs had also been organized. Using the ability of Kuma's Paw-Paw Fruit, Nereus arrived at the old site of God Valley in the West Blue at extremely high speed.
The two majestic peaks from back then had long disappeared, and even the island had become dilapidated. However, this wasn't Nereus's destination; it was just that Kuma's only marker in the West Blue was here.
After arriving here, Nereus headed to Ohara. The people on the island had no idea what had happened; they only knew that a new scholar brought a lot of documents and joined them.
When all those documents were translated, that scholar joined Ohara's exploration team to set off again, but vanished into thin air on an island near the Grand Line.
That mysterious scholar was naturally Nereus. He had already obtained what he wanted.
The re-verified Poneglyphs corrected some small errors. His insights during battles, and Rocks's feedback on combat—these confirmed one thing for Nereus.
Regardless of what the triggering condition for Imu's black transformation control was, relying on the soul substitution of the River of Death, he was sufficient to evade that effect.
Since the God Valley Incident in 1503, counting the time for sailing and Fish-man Island's development, it was now the year 1505 of the Sea Circle Calendar.
In these two years, the sea had never been calm. Most of those who were once under Rocks's command had already made a name for themselves.
Nereus, who seemed to have lived in the deep sea for a long time playing "house," also had a new target after making full preparations.
The Red Line.
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