As night fell, Sebastian and the others returned to the base one after another.
"What's going on? Why is everyone packing up?"
All around the camp were packed bags. Many people were still gathering their belongings, and even some of the temporary structures had already been dismantled.
Some had even rolled up their bedding entirely, seemingly prepared to make do with sleeping on bare beds for the night.
This behavior struck Sebastian, who had just returned from a patrol of the surrounding seas, as rather odd.
"Lord Sebastian? You're back. It's Lord Nereus's order. Everyone is to pack up and be ready to leave at any moment.
He also said that when you return, you're to head to the meeting room immediately. There's an important meeting."
A Fish-Man in charge of watch duty stepped forward and explained the situation to Sebastian.
Upon hearing this, Sebastian headed straight toward the meeting room. Apart from him, the other officers had already gathered.
Sunbell was holding a sea chart and quietly answering Nanamo's questions beside him.
Big Pan was clumsily seated on an oversized chair, waving his massive hand at the moon outside the window as if entertaining himself.
Barbell sat silently on the other side, turning prayer beads in his hands and muttering something under his breath. Even when Sebastian arrived, he didn't bicker with him like usual, just shot him a glance.
"This bald guy isn't nagging me for being late? Something serious must really be going on…"
Barbell's reaction made Sebastian realize that Nereus definitely must have something big to discuss. Otherwise, Barbell wouldn't be this well-behaved.
"Boss, I saw everyone outside packing up."
"Mm. After the meeting, you all should start packing too. Once we leave this time, we won't be coming back here again.
Like I said when we first set out to sea, we're out here to temper our strength, broaden our horizons, meet more people, and experience more things to prepare for future actions.
The early-stage preparations are more or less done. Now it's time to begin the next phase.
I'll lay out the upcoming plans. Feel free to speak up if you have any thoughts."
As Nereus mentioned the time when they had first set out, his tone carried a trace of nostalgia. So many years had passed in the blink of an eye, yet many things still felt as if they had happened just yesterday.
"To put it simply, the Celestial Dragons are planning to hold an inhuman game in God Valley. Someone leaked the news, and Rocks and others ultimately decided to band together and snatch everything..."
After giving a brief summary, Nereus continued:
"Once we reach the West Blue, you all will take the men and hide out of sight offshore. Stay on standby at the perimeter for support. As for God Valley, I'm going alone."
Nereus's subordinates weren't limited to just Sebastian and the others. While the numbers had been small at the beginning, once word of Nereus's name reached Fishman Island, more and more people had joined him.
Some Fish-Men and Merfolk who had heard of Nereus's reputation chose to follow him, leaving Fishman Island as admirers and becoming part of his crew.
Among them were even those curious to see what lay above the deep sea. As a result of these years of growth, the base now included not only adults but quite a few children as well.
"Boss, I get that you're worried about the danger there, but going alone… isn't that kind of underestimating us?"
"Yeah, we're not weak either. Sure, we don't have your monstrous strength, but we can at least handle mere Marines.
Even if you're concerned about the others, you don't have to leave all of us behind, right?"
Sunbell and Sebastian voiced their objections one after the other. They understood Nereus's reasoning but felt he was being overly cautious.
What they said wasn't wrong. Even without Nereus, Barbell and Sunbell would eventually become crewmates of Rocks and Roger respectively, and neither of them were weak.
Sebastian would show up later, but he ended up sailing with Byrnndi World, known as the World Destroyer. Now with Nereus around, and under his training, they were all stronger than they would have been in the original timeline.
Even Big Pan, the weakest among them, had undergone a significant leap in strength.
Big Pan remained silent. His nature was simple-mineded, capable of taking care of himself, not exactly stupid, but lacking much independent thinking.
After being taken in by Nereus, he obeyed his every command without question.
"Boss, let me go with you. The three of them are enough to guard the ship."
In the end, under their insistence, Nereus chose to take only Barbell with him, leaving the others behind to stay and guard the ship.
The next morning at dawn, a massive pirate ship set sail from the port of Fullalead Island, heading full speed southward, straight toward the West Blue.
This was Rocks' ship. Even for giants like Charlotte Linlin and Whitebeard, the ship never felt cramped.
Following behind Rocks' ship were two large Marine warships.
But it wasn't that the Marines had sent people to tail Rocks; these two ships were full of Fish-Men.
The hulls had been repainted a light sky-blue, and the Marine seagull insignia on the flags had long been replaced.
The new emblem was a stylized, stretched-out design based on the moon and a bat, very similar to a certain Batman symbol.
Unlike traditional pirate flags, this was the banner used by Nereus's forces to identify themselves while operating outside.
In a world dominated by the seas, where transportation relies entirely on ships, vessels hold a position of great importance on these seas.
Some ships crafted by skilled shipwrights became famous alongside their powerful owners, but Nereus's ships were snatched directly from the Marines.
In terms of size, speed, build quality, and firepower, Marine ships were among the best on the seas.
After all, the Marines were the military arm of the World Government. Their shipyards could gather outstanding shipwrights from across the world and construct warships using the finest materials.
Aside from a handful created by legendary shipwrights, most pirate ships were inferior in quality to those of the Marines. Otherwise, the Marines wouldn't be able to chase pirates across the seas.
A good ship truly held great value, but due to Fish-Men's tactics, abandoning ship and fighting on sea was a frequent occurrence.
Because of that, Nereus hadn't yet made plans to build a custom ship of his own. Most of the ships he used were ones seized from the Marines.
At this moment, Nereus and Barbell were aboard Rocks' ship, while their own vessel followed at a set distance behind.
On Rocks' ship, Buckin was busy calculating the navigation route.
"No issues with the direction. As long as that intel is accurate, we'll reach God Valley before it begins."
"Can't we go any faster? My Shakuyaku is still waiting for us to rescue her!"
"Shiki, what do you mean your Shakuyaku? She's mine!"
Golden Lion Shiki and Silver Axe nearly got into a fight over that one sentence, only stopping when the ship suddenly halted.
"What's going on? Why did we stop!?"
"If you're not blind, then look up ahead!"
Rocks' ship was already enormous, but compared to the vessel in front of them, it looked downright tiny.
And that ship belonged to none other than the Giant Kingdom - Elbaf.