By dusk the next day, the afterglow of the setting sun spilled across the sea, leaving behind a stretch of golden reflections.
The warship Nereus was aboard drew near the island where the others had stayed before arriving at God Valley.
Beneath the surface of the sea, a massive shadow was swimming alongside the warship. Though it carefully used the glow of the sunset to hide itself as much as possible, Nereus still noticed it.
From the changes in the shadow on the water's surface, it wasn't hard to tell that whatever was underwater was gradually approaching the surface.
"No need to be on guard, it's me! The one on patrol at this time today… it's Rachel, right? I saw your shadow!"
Nereus shouted toward the sea. His powerful voice pierced through the surface and reached underwater. Before long, a creature resembling a plesiosaur emerged, revealing most of its body above the water.
"Moo!"
It wasn't a plesiosaur, but a Sea Giraffe. It stretched its neck right up to the side of the ship, ignoring the figures of others retreating in fear, and warmly greeted Nereus.
After all, this was only the West Blue. The sea beasts and Sea Kings that lived here were smaller in size; a body length of over ten meters was enough to reign over a stretch of sea.
Those who rarely ventured far from shore had never seen such an enormous sea beast, but this kind of size was quite common on the Grand Line.
There was a saddle strapped around the Sea Giraffe's slender neck, and along with it came a beautiful figure with short black hair, holding a long spear, who was brought out of the sea as well. She was the Rachel Nereus had mentioned.
"Lord Nereus, welcome back."
"Mer—Mermaid! A beautiful mermaid!"
"So pretty… is this what mermaids really look like…?"
Unlike humans, Rachel's lower body was a fish tail wrapped in pale blue scales, the most distinctive feature of Mermaids.
Although the fact that Mermaids cannot split their legs before the age of thirty limited their ability to move on land, they possessed unparalleled speed at sea, making them the fastest swimmers in the ocean.
Unless a Mermaid's brain malfunctioned and something went wrong, predators in the deep sea simply couldn't catch up to them.
This speed also meant that most Mermaids under Nereus's command were assigned patrol duties together with sea beasts.
Earlier, Nereus had recalled the duty roster, which was how he had confirmed the identity of the patrol member.
"Hey, hey, Rachel! Is there really no one else in your eyes besides the Boss?"
"Oh my, Monk Barbell, with a body as big as yours, how could I possibly not see you? It's just that Lord Nereus is more eye-catching. I've got to keep patrolling now. See you later"
Compared to titles like "Lord" or "Boss," Barbell preferred being called a monk, since he always regarded himself as one.
It was just that this monk observed no precepts whatsoever; even a heretical monk would keep them better than Barbell did.
That said, Barbell was only joking and wasn't truly upset.
Although these Mermaids and Fish-men who partnered with sea beasts were technically his direct subordinates, if they really ignored Nereus and only had eyes for him, Barbell would find that far more troublesome.
With that, Rachel flipped herself back into the water and continued her patrol with the Sea Giraffe.
"The island ahead will be our temporary stop. If you want to stay here, we'll part ways here. Those who want to come with me, rest for one night, and we'll set sail again tomorrow!"
After explaining the plan to those on board, the warship continued toward the island ahead. Though it was uninhabited, it had a natural deep-water harbor and was a good place to dock.
Here, Dragon also saw the two large warships that had been repainted. In the past, seeing warships that had been seized would have filled him with shame, but now everything was different.
He was still wearing that slightly tattered Marine uniform, yet the people on the island did not look at him with any strange or judgmental eyes.
A Marine who could walk off Nereus's ship alive was bound to be someone different.
As for those who had originally lived in God Valley, they were instead drawn to the appearances of the people stationed on the island.
Nereus didn't have many obvious Fish-Men traits. Although Barbell was huge in stature, overall he also looked fairly close to a human.
Sebastian, on the other hand, was the kind of Fish-Man whose physical traits were much more pronounced. Together with the Mermaids active in the bay, the sight made people feel as though the world had suddenly become dreamlike.
In the seas of the Four Blues, it was still possible to see small sea beasts, but Fish-Men were extremely rare, and Mermaids existed only in legends.
"Sebastian, find a few people to arrange accommodations for them. Also pay attention to security, keep an eye on them."
"Don't worry, Boss. I know how to handle this kind of thing."
Protection worked both ways. As long as the people they had rescued behaved themselves, those on night patrol would ensure their safety. But if anyone harbored ill intentions, Nereus wouldn't show mercy.
Their own people always came first.
"This time, we got three Devil Fruits over at God Valley. They were all prizes from the Celestial Dragons. Although the types of two of them haven't been confirmed yet, they won't be bad fruits. Are you interested?"
"Forget it, Boss. I'm not like you, I can't coat myself. Devil Fruits aren't for me. I don't want to sink straight to the bottom the moment I enter the water."
"Then we'll talk about it later. Where's Nanamo? I haven't seen her."
"Nanamo? She's over at Sunbell, holding her concert."
Sebastian pointed in another direction, where a grove of coconut trees happened to block the view.
When Nereus walked over, the first thing he saw was a karaoke-style atmosphere light.
More precisely, it was an atmosphere cloud. No one knew what Hermes had stuffed into its belly, but multicolored lights were shining through its body and onto the temporary stage on the ground.
Judging from the applause around them and Nanamo's movements, the performance had already ended and the audience was starting to leave.
Singing was Nanamo's personal hobby, and she was fairly talented at it, but she was still some distance away from being able to hold a proper solo concert.
The current "concert" was more like a game of make-believe. Even so, the members of the Fishman Pirates were more than happy to play along with Nanamo.
All they had to do was listen to someone sing, clap a bit, and provide some emotional support. It wasn't unpleasant to listen to, and more importantly, this was their Boss's daughter.
"Dad? You're back?"
"The business over there is finished. I've prepared a very interesting job for you, you'll like it."
"A job?"
Before Nanamo could ask anything further, a spring of blood appeared beneath Nereus's feet. That enormous bundle was taken out once again and then tossed straight toward Nanamo.
The massive bundle was large enough to fit several Nanamos, yet she didn't dodge. Instead, she spread her arms and caught the oversized package.
"These are treasures we brought back. Your job is very simple. Sort through the treasures and register them…"
"No problem!"
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