After finishing what he needed to do, Rocks had already returned to Nereus's River of Death space. By his own account, it had been a perfect operation. The commotion was definitely big enough.
Nereus himself didn't really care how much commotion Rocks had caused. After all, the fact that he was a Vampire Fruit user was something both the Marines and the World Government knew very well.
And the Vampire Fruit was a Devil Fruit whose abilities were recorded quite clearly in the Encyclopedia.
Although tracking down the fruit's location in Trans Town had taken some effort, its most notable abilities—aside from the regenerative power of a Zoan-type—were stealing lifespan and maintaining youth.
As for the ability known as River of Death, aside from Nereus himself and those he had killed, no one knew about it—not even Nanamo. The act of controlling the undead was something completely unknown to the world.
The powers of this Devil Fruit had already been taken to an entirely new realm by Nereus.
If there was any suspicion to be had, it would be suspicion that some other Devil Fruit user was stirring up trouble under Rocks's name.
The pirate world was full of swindlers, and many pirates liked to borrow the names of other pirates to cause trouble.
Although pirates like that were regarded as low-tier among pirates, those who did such things didn't care about their reputation in the first place.
There were all kinds of strange things happening on the seas. Even though journalism supposedly emphasized the three elements of novelty, facts, and reporting.
In reality, taking things out of context, fabricating stories, and swapping information were what people who made the news loved to do most.
Given the current situation, these rumors would probably spread for quite some time, and might even end up turning into some kind of horror legend.
As things stood now, Nereus still didn't know what kind of impact Rocks's actions on the outside had caused.
News from Fishman Island also came with a certain delay.
News Coo didn't fly through the Calm Belt, mainly because they couldn't be bothered. Flying in a windless environment took much more effort.
And as for Fishman Island, ten thousand meters underwater…
Even if News Coo wanted to fly there, they couldn't. Fishman Island usually got its newspapers when passing ships brought them down along the way, which sometimes led to delays of several days.
At the moment, Nereus was carrying out a preliminary screening of the slaves they had rescued.
In order to sell slaves at high prices, the Human Auctioning House kept certain records on the slaves sent there, and these records made Nereus's initial assessment much easier.
For example, which slaves had been captured from non-affiliated nations, and where their hometowns were.
Which ones were pirates, whether they were Devil Fruit users, and so on.
As for the ordinary people, those on the ship quickly helped them remove their shackles and comfort them. But when it came to the pirates, there was no intention of unlocking their chains.
"Hey, you should unlock ours too. If you're saving people, see it through. Don't treat us differently."
"Yeah, yeah. We've long heard of your great reputation. Being able to step onto the same ship is fate. We'll definitely repay your great kindness in the future."
These pirates had originally been waiting silently, but when they noticed that Nanamo, who had been unlocking others' chains, stopped and instead put away the keys, a sense of unease began to creep into their hearts.
"We don't have any 'fate' with you. We saved you from that place only because you were slaves too.
But saving you doesn't mean we're going to release you immediately. Stay put and behave yourselves. Once we confirm there's nothing seriously wrong with you, you'll naturally be released."
There was already a standard process here when it came to freeing slaves. If someone had the ability to leave on their own, Nereus wouldn't stop them.
If it's not along the way, they would be first sent to Delta Island and settled there, and taken along whenever there was a convenient opportunity.
However, among the slaves there were also some pirates. Because they were relatively strong and had better stamina, and also to satisfy the perverse tastes of certain nobles, they too had been treated as slaves.
Nereus and his group would carefully distinguish these people's identities and investigate the reasons for their bounties.
If, like Nereus himself, they had been wanted because they attacked slave ships or resisted in places where the local Marines were deeply corrupt, then they would be released directly.
Pirates who had gone to sea driven by greed from the very beginning, slaughtering at will and committing countless atrocities; Nereus had no intention of making extra trouble for himself by letting them set foot on Delta Island and disrupt the peace there.
"Th-then… what if there really is a problem with us?"
"If there's a problem, we'll just hand you over to the Marines. In any case, you won't be treated as slaves. At worst, you'll be sent to Impel Down."
The bounties on these pirates who had been captured by slave traders hadn't been revoked in the first place. By going through an Underworld broker, their bounties could be exchanged directly.
Nanamo didn't feel the least bit sorry for these people. From the moment they committed evil against innocent people, suffering retribution was only what they deserved.
Investigating these pirates would take Nereus some time, but whether or not they had issues was something these pirates themselves knew better than anyone.
Several of them exchanged glances, as if they all understood what the others were thinking.
The pirate closest to Nanamo suddenly lashed out, grabbing Nanamo by the neck.
"Don't come any closer! If you do, I'll snap her neck! Listen up! I don't want to be your enemy. Bring the ship up to the surface and let us leave safely, and I guarantee she won't be harmed!"
Having finally regained his freedom, he had no desire to be thrown into prison.
The ship was currently sailing underwater; trying to fight head-on would clearly be suicidal. Since that was the case, taking a hostage to threaten the others became this pirate's choice.
And when it came to hostages, naturally one should pick someone weak yet high in status. In his eyes, Nanamo fit that description perfectly.
The other Fish-Men and Merfolk either called her "young lady" or "Princess," so her status was obvious.
Several pirates gathered together into a small group, but reality turned out to be completely different from what they had imagined. The people on the ship seemed utterly unconcerned about the hostage, continuing to do whatever they were doing.
Only a single cloud looked extremely furious, noisily demanding that they release her.
"Hey, hey, hey, so you're just kidnapping me like this? You guys are really—"
Nanamo looked completely casual. With the level of strength these pirates had, let alone snapping her neck, even if she stood still and let them hit her, it would be hard for her to get hurt.
But before she could finish speaking, an angry voice rang out from the side.
"This is repaying kindness with betrayal!"
A Mink who had only just had their shackles removed sprang forward and bit down hard on that pirate's wrist.
Bzzz!
With the crackling sound of electricity, the pirate cried out in pain and lost his grip on Nanamo, only to be sent flying by the charging Mink.
"Isn't this kid only eight years old?"
"That's a Mink for you, a natural-born warrior race. Even as children, they're no weaker than seasoned, well-trained fighters.
But Nanamo, can you explain to me why this pirate was able to grab you?"
"Uh… Dad, don't you think pretending I didn't react in time, letting him grab me, and then effortlessly counter-killing him at the height of his smugness would've been really cool?"
"Do you think when I give you extra training, it would be cool too?"
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 25 chapters on my pa*reon.
Tiers-
1$- 10 chapters of OPUK
3$- 12 chapters
5$- 15 chapters
10$- 25 chapters