There were two routes from the New World to the first half of the Grand Line.
One was the Red Line transport route, controlled by the World Government, and the other was through Fishman Island at ten thousand meters underwater, which belonged to the Great Kingdom.
The climate in the New World was extremely harsh, but for the Whitebeard Pirates who had been drifting on the sea for decades, it was just another day.
After preparations were complete, it only took a few days for the coated Moby Dick to successfully descend ten thousand meters underwater and reach Fishman Island.
The Ryugu Kingdom was the only country on Fishman Island, with the current king being Neptune, hailed as the Great Knight of the Sea and a close friend of Whitebeard.
Thanks to this connection, as soon as the Whitebeard Pirates arrived at Fishman Island, they were welcomed to Ryugu Castle, where a celebratory banquet was immediately held.
"Hey, Newgate, you finally decided to move out of the New World? How rare~"
Neptune guzzled down a large cup of wine, exhaled contentedly, and looked at his old friend with a playful tone.
"I thought you were going to stay in the New World playing house with your kids forever."
"Gurararara." Whitebeard chuckled lightly, also downing a large cup of wine without hesitation, then retorted to Neptune.
"You're the one who's practically spent your whole life on this Fishman Island! What right do you have to say that about me? Besides, this time it's to find treasure for my child."
As the two giants chatted, Chronos watched with a relaxed expression.
Whitebeard stood nearly seven meters tall, already considered a small giant, but Neptune's pure height was twelve meters, taller than most of the Giant Tribe.
More importantly, the Neptune before him was completely different from the kind, portly uncle in his memories.
He had a robust build of sinewy muscle, his physique like cast iron, with orange-red hair and a beard resembling a lion's mane. He sat boldly on his throne, exuding an aura of dominance with every movement.
Even while drinking and chatting with Whitebeard, Neptune's presence was in no way diminished.
Clearly, the Neptune of this parallel world had changed significantly as well. If nothing else, his appearance alone far surpassed that beer-bellied uncle from the main world.
This was likely because Joy Boy was alive in this world, and the mermaid princess whose relationship with him was unclear was also alive.
With their ancestor backing them, Fishman Island closely followed the Great Kingdom's lead, free from discrimination and with abundant resources. In this world, Neptune had nearly the same fame and strength as Harald, the king of the giant country Elbaph, and perhaps even slightly surpassed him.
After all, Neptune possessed the stature of a giant, while Harald lacked the innate talents of a fishman.
Whitebeard and Neptune had met through a fight; the two 'giants,' one large and one small, had acknowledged each other's strength and become friends.
Nowadays, Fishman Island didn't need the Whitebeard Pirates' flag for protection. The deterrent of Neptune alone was enough to suppress those with ill intentions.
"Oh? Tell me about this treasure. Maybe we have it here in Ryugu Castle."
Neptune declared boldly. Thanks to their innate racial abilities, fishmen could explore the entire ocean—the whole sea was their treasure trove.
Countless shipwrecks had sunk in these waters, with treasures lying dormant at the bottom, not to mention places like the Calm Belt where civilization had never reached.
If the Holy Land Mariejois concentrated the wealth extracted from most of the land, then Ryugu Castle on Fishman Island held the essence of most of the ocean.
Many pirates dreamed of seizing Fishman Island's riches, but their fantasies had been punctured one by one by the tridents of successive mermaid kings.
Whitebeard was surprised. Although he and Neptune were friends, was the treasure vault of Ryugu Castle something that could be opened to them so casually?
"No, that won't be necessary. As pirates, treasure should be obtained through adventure or plunder."
Whitebeard laughed and changed the subject, but Neptune remained firm.
"Look, Newgate, we're old friends, so I won't beat around the bush.
The ancestor has made another prophecy: the next person who might change the world is your child. The King of Sinners will eventually be pulled from his throne.
So, you can consider this an investment from Fishman Island.Neptune's persuasion made Whitebeard frown.
The ancestor of Fishman Island was the mermaid princess Poseidon from eight hundred years ago, possessing many extraordinary abilities, including controlling seawater, commanding massive Sea Kings, and foreseeing the future.
Although she rarely appeared nowadays, her last appearance was also due to a prophecy—that Roger would change the world.
And then, well, Roger discovered the new continent, and the long-standing bipolar structure of the pirate world was on the verge of collapse.
"Gurararara, that sounds rather unfortunate."
Whitebeard shook his head.
"An adventure with a predetermined future is quite dull."
"Well, I am the king of Fishman Island after all. Sorry, Newgate."
Neptune shrugged, though he didn't seem particularly apologetic, since he was offering treasures.
Whitebeard snorted, but after some thought, he called Chronos over, as this was indeed a valuable opportunity.
He and Neptune had known each other for many years, their relationship even closer than that between Rocks and Harald. Neptune wouldn't deceive him.
"Oh, so this is the child?"
Neptune leaned down to examine Chronos, casting a large shadow over him.
Chronos stiffened slightly. Even though he was now over two meters tall, compared to Neptune's size, he was no different from a doll.
"Greetings, King Neptune."
However, Chronos wasn't particularly afraid. Instead, he responded with a smile, as Neptune was essentially an elder to him.
"No need to be so formal. Given my relationship with Newgate, you can call me Uncle."
Neptune's tone was also very gentle, a stark contrast to his attitude toward Whitebeard.
"Uncle Neptune." Chronos readily complied.
"Hmm." Neptune nodded in satisfaction, then called out to summon the Right Minister.
"Take this child to the treasure vault and let him choose three... no, five treasures. If it's a set, count it as one."
Neptune gave his instructions and then dismissed Chronos.
In his eyes, Chronos was indeed still just a child, and this was merely an investment following the ancestor's instructions.
But considering his relationship with Whitebeard, Neptune allowed Chronos to take two extra items.
With the matter settled, Neptune and Whitebeard resumed their heavy drinking.
The Right Minister was a seahorse merman and the head military official of the Ryugu Kingdom, usually responsible for guarding Ryugu Castle.
Of course, his role was similar to that of Taro's ordinary bodyguards. In a real fight, it was debatable whether the Right Minister would be protecting Neptune or vice versa.
With a sword at his left hip and a trident in his right hand, the Right Minister carried himself with sufficient authority. Having served Neptune for so many years, he had developed some skills.
The Right Minister had no objections to Neptune's orders and earnestly led Chronos to the treasure vault to select the treasures.
Chronos had no complaints either, since he was the one benefiting.
The Right Minister was a responsible official. The journey was smooth and uneventful, with no complications, and they soon reached the treasure vault.
Along the way, Chronos pondered various trivial matters, such as why seahorses were considered part of the mermaid lineage.
But before Chronos could figure out the details, his eyes were dazzled by the treasure vault of Ryugu Castle.
Seeing the wall almost entirely covered with Devil Fruits, Chronos nearly dropped his jaw in astonishment.
"Right Minister, sir, are those…"
"No need to be surprised, Master Chronos. These are additional harvests our fishmen teams have gathered from the sea over the years. The Calm Belt has quite a few."
The Right Minister chuckled as he explained. He enjoyed seeing outsiders stunned by such sights.
"Since neither fishmen nor mermaids would give up their innate abilities, Devil Fruits are of little use to Fishman Island. They're just displayed for show. If you want any, Master Chronos, please feel free to choose."
Chronos now understood what it meant to be obscenely wealthy, and how one man's treasure could be another's poison.
Eating a Devil Fruit meant losing the ability to touch the sea, which for Fishman Island was no different from poison. And since Devil Fruits were widely known to be precious, Fishman Island naturally wouldn't sell them cheaply.
Generations of accumulation had resulted in this many.
"Then I thank you."
Chronos suppressed his excitement, his steps trembling slightly as he moved forward, which made the Right Minister smile even more broadly.
[Zoan-Type: Sea Lion Fruit]
[Zoan-Type: Penguin Fruit]
[Zoan-Type: Walrus Fruit]
[Zoan-Type: Seal Fruit]
…
Chronos used his detection ability to examine them for a long time and found that the vast majority were Zoan-Type Devil Fruits.
And perhaps because they were 'harvested' from the ocean, most of these Devil Fruits were related to marine life.
This wasn't surprising. Even among the currently known Devil Fruit types in the world of One Piece, Paramecia fruits outnumbered Logia and Zoan types combined.
But Zoan-Type Devil Fruits were indeed the most commonly appearing. For example, the Dog-Dog Fruit alone had five common variants in the storyline.
If Dachshund, Dalmatian, and Hound were possible, then Golden Retriever, Husky, Chihuahua, and even Poodle could also exist.
The Devil Fruits in Ryugu Castle were exactly like that. From what Chronos could see, there were five types of Penguin Fruit alone—King Penguin, Emperor Penguin, Royal Penguin, Adélie Penguin, and Little Blue Penguin.
After examining the entire wall, Chronos calmed down.
There were many Devil Fruits here, but most were of average quality. However, there were some good ones as well.
The first ones Chronos noticed were several Devil Fruits that existed in the original storyline—the Barrier-Barrier Fruit, the Mane-Mane Fruit, and the Target-Target Fruit.
In the original timeline, the first two should have been the abilities of the old man and woman from the Kurozumi family during this period. But because the Kurozumi family was destroyed, those two elders no longer existed. Plus, according to their backstory, they lived overseas early on, so Fishman Island acquired them.
The latter one, in the original story, was the ability of the fishman Vander Decken IX from Fishman Island. Now that Fishman Island was powerful and actively exploring the seas, it naturally didn't fall to him.
Among them, Chronos first locked onto the Barrier-Barrier Fruit, because its defensive power was truly formidable. An old man on the verge of death, after eating it, could create a barrier that even blocked Kouzuki Oden's slashes.
Although it had gesture requirements and area limitations, its advantages were undeniable.
The Mane-Mane Fruit was weaker, only allowing the user to change their appearance to that of another person, with uncertain physical capabilities, and combat skills trained in the original body couldn't be fully utilized after transformation.
Unless this Devil Fruit could replicate someone like Charlotte Linlin and also mimic her iron-balloon ability, then its evaluation would be worth discussing.
The Target-Target Fruit also had clear pros and cons. The advantage was that after touching a target with the palm, the user could lock onto it directly, and anything thrown would automatically pursue the target, even if the user couldn't throw it themselves.
The disadvantages were that it seemed only the hand could lock on, one hand could only lock onto one target, and washing hands after contact would cancel the lock. If the user didn't want to change the target, they had to wear gloves constantly.
Judging from how Vander Decken IX nearly destroyed Fishman Island with the giant ship Noah, the Target-Target Fruit's ability could be island-destroying level, even allowing the user to use entire islands as weapons.
For an individual, it might not mean much, but for a large organization, it held significant value.
Chronos tentatively decided to take the Barrier-Barrier Fruit and the Target-Target Fruit.
Then, Chronos's gaze fell upon a pair of complementary fruits.
Paramecia: Atsu-Atsu Fruit and Paramecia: Freeze-Freeze Fruit.
In the original storyline, Charlotte Oven of the Big Mom Pirates had a heat-based fruit, but this Atsu-Atsu Fruit wasn't the same as Oven's. Instead, it belonged to Accino from the One Piece anime filler arc, the Flag Hunter.
Actually, this was a translation issue. Since One Piece is a foreign work, and even the original work's actual title doesn't mean "One Piece.Accino's heat fruit was called the Hot-Hot Fruit, while Oven's heat fruit was called the Scorching Fruit. These were not the same fruit.
"Atsu-Atsu Fruit" uses "Atsu" as an adjective meaning pure heat.
The "Heat-Heat Fruit" uses "heat" meaning fever, heat, and refers to heating or baking, so translating it as Heat-Heat Fruit isn't wrong, but to distinguish it, it could be translated as Bake-Bake Fruit or Heat-Heat Fruit.
From their performance, Accino's Atsu-Atsu Fruit tends to freely regulate body temperature and immunity to high temperatures, while Oven's Netsu-Netsu Fruit focused more on transferring heat outward to contact objects and the environment.
It's hard to say which is better, but Accino's Atsu-Atsu Fruit had some exaggerated values, claiming it could freely adjust body temperature from 1 degree to 10,000 degrees.
The surface temperature of the sun is only about 5500 degrees. Reaching 10,000 degrees would make it a miniature sun.
As for the Freeze-Freeze Fruit, it didn't appear in the original storyline, but since there was a corresponding heat fruit, there must also be a freeze fruit.
Devil Fruits that could regulate temperature wouldn't be weak. Among this wall of Devil Fruits, these two were considered top-tier, so Chronos chose to take them.
It was somewhat regrettable that there were no Logia-Type Devil Fruits in Ryugu Castle's treasure vault. After all, even in the original story, Logia fruits were the rarest, even rarer than Mythical Zoans.
Therefore, in this treasure vault, Chronos discovered the only Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit.
Bird-Bird Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Siren Form.
In mythological legends, the Siren is a sea creature with a human face and bird body, flying over the sea, possessing a heavenly voice, often using their songs to lure passing sailors, causing their ships to wreck on rocks, with the crew becoming the Siren's meal.
In other accounts, Sirens were also guides to the underworld, possessing soul-snatching abilities.
Both mermaids and Sirens are famous mythological sea creatures. Finding a Siren Fruit in Fishman Island's treasure vault was unexpected, yet made sense.
Chronos was already curious about the Siren's abilities: flight, hypnotic singing, and connections to the soul—quite impressive.
"Right Minister, I've decided. I'll take these five Devil Fruits."
Chronos made his decision: Paramecia—Barrier-Barrier Fruit, Target-Target Fruit, Atsu-Atsu Fruit, Freeze-Freeze Fruit, and Mythical Zoan—Siren Fruit.
These were among the best Devil Fruits on the entire wall in Ryugu Castle's treasure vault.
"Ah, all set?"
The Right Minister scratched his head. Devil Fruits truly held little meaning for their Fishman Island, and Chronos had only taken Devil Fruits.
It seemed Master Chronos was quite an honest fellow~
In no time, Chronos returned to his seat.
When Neptune learned that Chronos had taken five Devil Fruits, he showed no particular reaction, since they had a whole wall of the things in their vault.
"Gurararara, use this power wisely, Chronos."
Whitebeard advised, and Chronos nodded seriously, then expressed his gratitude to Neptune.
Neptune waved it off, and the matter was settled.
"Come, let's drink!"
Glasses clinked as the two
old friends drank once more.
At this moment, Chronos felt a surge of ambition in his heart. The foundation for his future was now in place!
However, Chronos wouldn't eat the Siren Fruit himself, since in most legends, Sirens are predominantly female, and this story wasn't a gender-bender.
The okama way in the world of One Piece might be dazzling, but that wasn't what Chronos desired.