Chapter 227 Undercurrents
That day, Fish-Man Island became unprecedentedly lively.
People from Paradise, from the New World, even from the Four Blues—they traveled thousands of miles to flood into this island.
Making the island more crowded than ever before.
Why had it become so lively?
The reason was quite simple. After the Longarm, Longlegs, Snakeneck, Mink, Giant, and Tontatta tribes had successively determined their final victors, tonight finally marked the decisive moment for the World's Greatest Audition's Fish-Man Island division.
After months of fierce competition, fighting their way through round after round, three contestants ultimately stood on the final battle stage.
And tonight, these remaining three contestants would determine the winner. Only one of them would become the final victor, earning the right to participate in the subsequent idol group.
Throughout the months-long competition, Fish-Man Island's contestants had gained enormous numbers of fans worldwide.
No helping it—who could say no to mermaid ladies?
So for tonight's decisive battle, having massive numbers of fans arrive from all across the seas wasn't strange at all.
The finals stage was set at Geode Square. Even this plaza that had once hosted a movie premiere had been expanded—otherwise it probably couldn't accommodate tonight's audience.
"How lively." At Fish-Man Island, Immigration Bureau headquarters, inside Brett's office—
Tesoro stood by the window, looking down at the streets below that were practically packed with people. "How about it, Brett?"
He turned back with a smug expression. "This time I've brought Fish-Man Island unprecedented customer traffic!"
"Just this one time is enough to advance Fish-Man Island's economy and influence by a huge leap, right?"
Brett sat lazily in his large chair, head tilted back, eyes vacant as he stared at the ceiling.
"But it's also made security a huge headache."
The problem was that far too many people had come.
Fish-Man Island already maintained extremely tight immigration control. Even on the island itself, surveillance of outsiders was very strict. Now this level of customer traffic had left Brett's forces somewhat insufficient.
Even adding Ryugu Palace's soldiers, just maintaining order was quite troublesome now.
These past two days, Brett had barely left his office.
After all, the people coming to Fish-Man Island came from all over the world, and many were influential figures in their localities—otherwise they couldn't have traveled across thousands of miles.
Dealing with these people required being somewhat cautious.
"Hahahaha! Can't be helped." Tesoro said quite self-satisfied. "Even I didn't expect this audition would become this popular!"
"Even just the top three contestants from a single division already have countless fans at sea!"
"Fish-Man Island's division is especially like this!"
"Anyway," he said ambitiously, "tonight will be another moment that makes the entire sea boil!"
While Brett dozed off here and Tesoro felt ambitious, in another corner of Fish-Man Island—
"Today is the best opportunity." Some unremarkable-looking individuals had gathered together.
"Thanks to this grand event, Fish-Man Island has received countless outsiders!"
They were scheming. "Fish-Man Island is currently short-staffed. This is our best moment to act!"
"The action time is set for tonight! Taking advantage of when the event begins, mobilize everyone we've recruited and investigate all the secrets on this island in one go!"
"Yes!"
Certain people had never relaxed their probing of Fish-Man Island. They'd even further intensified surveillance of this island after the Heptagonal Alliance's formation not long ago.
And now, they'd already begun to act.
Amid such surging undercurrents, night quickly fell. Finally, Fish-Man Island's final audition battle was about to begin.
Outside Geode Square's entrance, long lines had already formed. People from around the world and Fish-Man Island's local residents were equally excited, equally loudly discussing who would be tonight's final victor.
However, different viewpoints existed between the two different groups.
Fish-Man Island residents said this:
"It's definitely Queen Otohime!"
"That's right! Besides Her Majesty, who's qualified to become the star representing our Fish-Man Island!"
"Can't wait to hear Her Majesty's singing again!"
The outsiders just felt baffled, with some even feeling angry.
"I said from the start that mermaid queen's advancement was rigged!"
"Her appearance among all participating mermaids can only be called mediocre. Her singing and dancing aren't the most outstanding either. How could she fight through every round, causing the entire venue to cheer every time she appeared!"
"Right! There's definitely rigging. That Tesoro guy must have yielded to the Emperor of the Deep! I heard that man named Brett has a very good relationship with Ryugu Palace!"
The outsiders simply didn't understand what remarkable charm that mermaid Otohime possessed.
When they watched the broadcasts, from every perspective, that person just seemed mediocre!
"What foolish things are you saying!"
"How dare you slander Queen Otohime like this! You bastards want a beating?"
Fish-Man Island residents instantly became furious.
"Have the guts to rig things but not admit it, huh!"
"Her advancement was problematic from the start!"
The people who'd traveled from afar didn't back down. The vast majority of them were supporters of other contestants anyway.
Both sides argued loudly while queuing. Eventually guards had to come maintain order before they finally managed to enter.
Then the final battle finally began.
Brett didn't enter this time. Too many people had come tonight. He worried something might go wrong, so he quietly observed from the high wall at the plaza's edge.
Tesoro mounted the temporarily constructed stage, then shouted with all his might amid the crowd's cheers that tonight's final competition officially began.
This guy was quite dedicated. For every race's final battle, he personally appeared as host. During this period, he'd been running back and forth across the seas.
The final battle thus opened. The remaining three contestants appeared together, and the entire audience cheered and jumped for joy.
Even people around the world watching the broadcast cheered simultaneously at this moment.
This world was also spherical, so at this moment when Fish-Man Island held its competition, various places worldwide experienced daylight, deep night, dawn, or dusk. But without exception, regardless of the time, massive numbers of people were watching the broadcast.
And at the same moment—
"Begin the operation."
The undercurrents beneath the sea's surface also began to surge.
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