"I understand, Boss. You should be careful too."
"Don't worry, Barbell. I'm not that easy to kill."
This time Barbell didn't insist. He could also feel that the atmosphere on the island was becoming increasingly strange.
As for letting Barbell go alone to the sea afterward, Nereus wasn't worried. After all, Barbell wasn't like the Fish-Man slave who had previously been sent away by Ivankov.
Barbell himself was quite strong. Once he reached the sea, it would be his home turf again.
If he ran into a situation he couldn't handle, all he had to do was jump ship and dive into the deep sea, and his safety would be assured.
Nereus and his group weren't the only ones who sensed that strange aura. All the notable powerhouses on the island felt it as well and made their own choices one after another.
In the sky, an enormous dragon-shaped silhouette flew toward the distance.
"So Kaido really did get the Devil Fruit he wanted."
Eating it and then soaring through the sky with the massive body. This was the normal reaction for an ordinary person after consuming that fruit.
Kaido now looked especially exhilarated, as if he couldn't wait to try out his Devil Fruit ability.
But someone was far more agitated than Kaido.
"Kaido! You b*stard, stop right there! I'm going to kill you!"
Charlotte Linlin stood atop Zeus, closely chasing after Kaido. From her expression, it was obvious she was truly furious.
"Barbell, let's go. No time to waste."
"Coming, Boss!"
Retreating from the island was what most pirates were doing at this moment. Although the treasures they seized weren't as much as Barbell's, it was still a considerable fortune.
At the very least, it was enough to serve as startup funds for their pirate crews for some time to come.
Golden Lion, Ganzui, John, and others also began a new round of fighting over the treasures.
As the Haki clashes at the center of the island grew more and more intense, these people sped up their movements as well.
God Valley wasn't very large to begin with. It didn't take long for Nereus and Barbell to return to the southeastern shore, and by now Nereus had already started choosing a ship.
"Boss, why not use Rocks' ship? That one should be the biggest here, and the best in quality."
"It's too big. You'd have trouble operating it by yourself."
Fish-Men were almost all natural helmsmen. Their immense strength and keen perception of sea currents allowed them to know how to handle a ship's helm better.
But sailing on the sea required more than just steering. Especially with a gigantic ship like Rocks', even to get it moving would require dozens of people working together.
There were plenty of other pirate ships around, but after taking a careful look, Nereus set his sights on a medium-sized warship not far away.
A warship of this size didn't carry as many people as a large one, but it was easy to operate, and since it was standard Marine equipment, its quality was guaranteed.
Because this area was where the Rocks Pirates and other crews had landed, the nearby fleet of warships had long since dispersed. The personnel on this particular ship also seemed to have gathered elsewhere, with only a small number left on duty.
Barbell took control of the ship with ease and brought it alongside the shore.
"What are you staring at?! If you don't want to die, get on the ship! If you want to die, stay on the island and wait for it!"
Glancing at some bewildered ordinary civilians on the shore, Barbell shouted at them irritably.
Fish-Men needed a better image in the outside world. For many years, Nereus had led them with that in mind, and as long as they weren't enemies, they usually got along quite well.
After the hunting game on the island ended, some people were sent away by Kuma using his ability, but many were still trapped on the island.
They ran around like headless flies, fleeing toward the shore. Even jumping into the sea offered a higher chance of survival than staying on the island.
But there were many Marine warships nearby, and the soldiers aboard those ships had a simple response to the pleas of those trying to survive.
"God Valley is not an affiliated nation. You are not allowed to leave."
That was the order the Marines had received, and so they mercilessly pulled the trigger on those unarmed people.
The current situation was a heavy shock for them, but no matter what, there was finally a warship that could take them away.
After a brief moment of hesitation, those people still headed toward the warship.
"Thank you!"
"Many thanks! I'll never forget your kindness for the rest of my life!"
The nearby civilians gained a bit more hope of survival, while those not on this side…
At the same time, in the jungle on the other side, Monkey D. Dragon also had a number of God Valley civilians following behind him.
Before coming to God Valley, the seventeen-year-old Dragon had been nothing more than an ordinary Marine soldier. Although his father was already a Marine Vice Admiral, the unit Dragon served in seemed unaware of that fact.
And ever since landing on God Valley, Dragon had begun to doubt the justice upheld by the Marines.
"This way! Don't rush, I'll definitely find a way to get you all onto a ship!"
At this point, Dragon no longer cared what the Marine orders were. He only wanted to save some people and get them out of here.
It was then that Dragon noticed something unexpected: a warship was also defying orders and taking in people from the island.
"That's great… There are still people in the Marines who can stay clear-headed…"
"Come this way! The warship ahead will take you away!"
Dragon shouted to the people behind him, then ran ahead toward the warship.
"Don't push! If you do that, no one will get aboard! Line up properly and take it slow. Everyone will be able to get on!"
Dragon began helping to maintain order among the people below, while a doubt arose in his heart. Why was it that the soldiers on this ship had chosen to accept civilians, yet no one had come down to maintain order?
Dragon also failed to notice that the looks the already-crowded people beneath the warship were giving him were strange.
It wasn't until Dragon himself stepped onto the deck that a chill instantly swept through his entire body.
A tall figure was leaning against the railing, looking at him. There was a smile at the corner of the man's mouth, but that smile made Dragon shudder.
"Vampire… Nereus…"
Nereus was extremely famous among the Marines—one steeped in utter infamy.
Setting aside his identity and bounty, according to past Marine statistics, the survival rate of Marine soldiers who had participated in operations against Nereus was less than one percent.
The few survivors who did make it out later suffered severe psychological trauma and were completely unable to continue serving.
"Why… is it you…"
Dragon couldn't understand why Nereus was on this warship, nor could he understand why he was accepting civilians from the island.
A soldier's instincts made Dragon raise his gun at Nereus, but he quickly dropped the weapon helplessly.
If it had been any day before today, he would have chosen to fight to the death. But now, hesitation had begun to creep into Dragon's heart.
More importantly, before Barbell or Nereus himself had made any move, the civilians who boarded the ship had already picked up the discarded weapons on deck and aimed them at him.
Please support on pat*eon for extra chapters; there is date to date subscription enabled on patreon. [There is a 7-day trial version availabe on patreon.]
https://www.pat*eon.com/dmtranslations
You can read ahead upto 20 chapters on my pa*reon.