Ohara's exploration teams had often been pursued by the Marines. When Clover was young, he had already been imprisoned several times.
Although they were not pirates and wouldn't be thrown into Impel Down if caught—usually they'd just be detained for a while and then released—they still avoided the Marines whenever they were out in the field.
"Calm down. What Marines would be waiting for us here?"
Clover had seen his fair share of major events and was much calmer than other scholars. More importantly, he cared more about major events on the seas than the average scholar.
After Rocks's "death," Nereus could now be considered the man with the highest bounty. Clover still remembered his face.
If someone with such a bounty could be a Marine, then someone must have lost their mind.
"The nearby treasures… should be the legend of the 'Dretal' shipwreck from three hundred years ago, right? I've read the relevant records. That ship probably didn't sink, it was taken by some unknown existence."
Nereus didn't pay much attention to that topic. Instead, he casually tossed out the Poneglyph that had been underwater.
Long-term submersion had caused a lot of algae to cling to the Poneglyph, but after the passage of time, the inscriptions on it were still perfectly clear.
Clover knew that someone with Nereus's bounty couldn't possibly be affiliated with the Marines, so he wasn't worried about being hunted down.
And Nereus also knew that Clover could be considered anti–World Government as well.
Back then, Clover's older brother had been shot dead simply for answering a CP agent's question.
That question had been nothing more than, "What is your name?"
Because his name contained a D, his own brother died right in front of him, while Clover survived by lying.
In a sense, these two people meeting for the first time both had reasons to trust each other.
Under these circumstances, Nereus casually read aloud a line from the exposed Poneglyph.
"The sleeping machine can no longer produce a rumbling sound…"
"You can read Poneglyphs too? That translation is slightly wrong. The general meaning is fine, but strictly speaking, it should be 'robot.'
And that's a literal translation. In more modern terms, it would mean that the robot has lost its power source and broken down.
Who taught you to read Poneglyphs?"
Hearing Nereus's words, Clover corrected a few minor flaws.
"After all, it's a script that is no longer in use, so some inaccuracies are normal; it doesn't make much of a difference."
After finishing the corrections, Clover seemed to think of something and tried to patch it up, but this was no longer what Nereus was focused on.
He casually wrote a line of text on the ground and then looked at Clover.
"Then how should this part be translated?"
"This part? It should mean 'to sever the connection.' If I'm not mistaken, using your translation method it would come out as 'to break,' right? That's a common mistake. There also seems to be a hidden word here. It should be… 'the blade of the underworld.'"
"Clover! Come take a look at this, there's a new discovery!"
Clover was called away by other members of the exploration team, while Nereus remained behind, thinking about the translation issues.
He had taught himself how to read Poneglyphs through documents, basically memorizing them straight from a dictionary, so some translation errors were indeed inevitable.
But these small mistakes seemed to have a significant impact.
For example, the word "underworld."
Ever since mastering the technique "River of Death," Nereus had become even more certain that the underworld truly existed in this world, and that what he was doing was, in a sense, stealing business from it.
It's not that there aren't other Devil Fruits related to souls, but the most direct one is likely the Revive-Revive Fruit—a fruit that allowed its user to draw on the chill of the underworld for attacks, and could even instill fear in Homies, who are soul-based lifeforms.
[Revive-Revive Fruit… Brook. Looks like I'll have to make a trip to the Fog Sea. And those Poneglyphs from before should really be taken back to Ohara for another round of translation…
Ohara's Buster Call is still a long way off. There's still time.]
Ohara itself was bait—a lure meant to gather together all scholars who intended to probe into history, only to wipe them out in one sweep.
The World Government was not unaware of this. After all, Ohara's actions were hardly subtle. The only reason no move had been made yet was that the time had not come.
When they were ready to act, they would show no mercy.
In the original timeline, by the time events reached Egghead Island, Saturn was already complaining that Akainu hadn't been decisive enough, allowing survivors from Ohara to remain.
If Akainu were to hear such an evaluation, it was hard to say what he would feel; after all, at Ohara, he had already been the most ruthless of them all.
But that had little to do with Nereus. At worst… it would just mean adding a few more "customers" to the River of Death.
No one from Ohara even realized how Nereus disappeared. By the time they came back to their senses, he was already gone, as if they had truly seen a ghost.
Nereus himself had already returned to his ship. If there was a need, he would naturally make another trip to Ohara later. There was no need to get involved in their archaeological work right now. It offered him little benefit.
While the people of Ohara were still investigating the ruins, Nereus had already set off on the road to Sorbet.
Some time later, in a church within the Sorbet Kingdom—the church where Kuma and the others lived.
Back then, many people had been sent to this island by Kuma using his Devil Fruit ability. After all, the Paw-Paw Fruit could only send people to places Kuma himself had been.
Most people had already left one after another, and not long ago, Ivankov also departed alone on a small boat, citing freedom as his reason. By now, there weren't many people left in the church.
Only Kuma and Ginny, and the Fish-Man Shaq had been waiting here all this time.
And for these people, filling their stomachs was the biggest problem.
Kuma was now an adult Buccaneer, Ginny was naturally a big eater, and only Shaq had a normal appetite.
But the amount of food Kuma and Ginny consumed every day was enormous. Kuma would go into town to work, taking on hard labor. Being a fully grown, hulking adult, hardly anyone dared to bully him.
Shaq would go into the sea to fish, using his Fish-Man talents to make up for the lack of food. Ginny would gather wild fruits in the nearby mountains and clean up the church. This way, they managed to get by.
They didn't really have any grand ambitions anymore. For them, being able to eat their fill each day was already the greatest happiness.
As Shaq went down to the sea to fish, as he always did, a shadow suddenly appeared overhead, followed by several splashes as figures entered the water.
Several silhouettes moved with clear intent. They were obviously coming for Shaq.
Yet Shaq felt no fear at all. If anything, he was excited. At some point, his grip on the fishing net had loosened without him realizing it, and he didn't even notice the captured fish escaping.
This was more than a hundred meters below the surface. At this depth, only his own people could swim freely at such speed.
"Kid, you've waited a long time, haven't you? We're here to take you home!"
TN: Hey guys, I will be releasing extra chapters for every 20 power stones. (5-7 chapters.)
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