Danger is a relative concept. Depending on who you're facing, the definition of danger changes as well.
There are countless wanted criminals on this sea. Even before Roger ushered in the Great Pirate Era, the number of pirates roaming the seas was already vast.
Among all those wanted criminals, Nereus's bounty was unquestionably in the very highest tier.
As agents trained within the World Government system, they weren't ignorant pirates who had just set sail and knew nothing of the outside world. Someone with a massive bounty like Nereus was impossible not to know about.
And among these pirates, the one Marine soldiers and CP agents least wanted to face was Nereus.
If, during a mission, they ran into a pirate like Rocks, he would most likely casually slash their ship apart, then ignore whatever happened afterward. Whether they survived or not would be left to luck.
Although the survival rate after falling into the sea wasn't high, it wasn't zero.
Running into a pirate like Roger could even be considered lucky. If he wasn't in a particularly bad mood, he might not even bother fighting them, instead disengaging quickly and escaping.
For some pirates, the logic is simple: when they see Marines, they run.
But Nereus was different…
He would most likely wipe out all his enemies, then, depending on the situation, either destroy the ship or take it away as spoils of war.
If Marines encountering Nereus meant a slim chance of survival, then World Government agents fared even worse.
From the first time Nereus attacked a slave ship, the survival rate of all Cipher Pol agents who took part in operations against him was zero.
And every corpse was either completely drained of blood or aged to an extreme degree, as if they had entered some bizarre, eerie scene.
"N-Ne… Nereus… we didn't come here to be your enemy this time. We're just passing through. How about we pretend we didn't see each other?"
At this moment, the CP9 chief finally understood why he hadn't been able to see the other party at all.
CP9 members weren't required to have Haki; as long as they mastered Rokushiki, they could be selected. If they also mastered dual-colored Haki and accumulated some achievements, they could even be directly promoted to CP0.
As the chief of CP9, he wasn't trash like Spandam, whose power level was only 9 and who was weaker than an ordinary soldier. He was the strongest person in this group.
Not only was he a Devil Fruit user, he had also roughly grasped some Observation Haki. Yet even so, he couldn't sense Nereus at all, despite him being right nearby.
But if the enemy was Nereus, that wasn't surprising at all.
For an enemy of this level, hiding their presence was far too easy.
The essence of Haki clashes is similar to mutual cancellation. Roger and Garp together could break through Rocks's Conqueror's Haki defense.
Observation Haki is different, but the principle is largely the same.
In a clash of Observation Haki, it isn't just about you predicting me, or me predicting your prediction of me, leading to an endless cycle of mind games.
If that were the case, then theoretically the fight would turn into two people standing still, staring at each other, until one side suddenly surrendered or ran away.
Someone with stronger Observation Haki can negate the opponent's perception, rendering their Observation Haki ineffective.
The gap between the CP9 chief's Haki and Nereus's was clearly on entirely different levels.
And that was bad news. According to the few surviving Marine soldiers, Nereus would sometimes get playful, toying with his enemies like a cat playing with a mouse.
"Didn't see each other?"
"Yes. Our only target is that Lunarian. We can even hand her bounty over to you.
You surely know this, just providing the Lunarian's exact location earns one hundred million Berries. Capturing one alive is worth far more than that…"
A Cipher Pol branch chief is never simple-minded. On the contrary, their thinking is always very flexible.
Within the World Government, embezzlement and corruption were commonplace.
Those who could only fight without knowing how to adapt either had to be overwhelmingly strong that they could catch Imu's interest and be absorbed into the Knights of God, or else they would remain miserable frontline laborers. An administrative post was simply impossible.
"Sounds like a pretty good deal."
"Right? Then—"
"But I'm not interested. You're not qualified to negotiate with me."
As he spoke, Nereus's finger suddenly slid across the CP9 chief's carotid artery. Strangely enough, the damage to the artery did not cause blood to spurt out; instead, the blood seemed to vanish into thin air.
Then, the CP9 chief's face gradually turned ashen pale. There was even a smile on his face as if he had survived a disaster. In the blink of an eye, his blood had been completely drained, leaving him no time to react.
"Run!!"
The thoughts of the other CP9 members were simple at this moment. They never should have stood by and watched their boss negotiate with the enemy. The instant Nereus appeared, they should have run.
However, the agent who shouted "run" realized that he was actually the slowest one. The others had already bolted off in different directions, unwilling to waste even a single second.
"You've got to be kidding… how did we run into this guy? Why is this monster still in the West Blue…"
The CP9 agents pushed Soru and Geppo to their limits, fleeing toward the distance.
From time to time, they glanced back. Seeing that Nereus hadn't made any move to pursue, they finally breathed a slight sigh of relief, but not a single one of them dared to stop running.
At the very least… they had to run faster than the others.
After all, there was only one enemy. No matter what, he shouldn't be able to pursue them at the same time. It was like running into a bear in the mountains. So long as you ran faster than your companions, you gained a little more chance to survive.
"You Cipher Pol people really never learn any manners. It took me quite some time to find you, and the moment we meet, you run off. That's not very nice."
Nereus watched the agents flee the instant they came face to face with him, then casually raised his hand and aimed at their backs.
[Water Shot • Blood Shark]
A few drops of blood appeared on Nereus's fingertips. With what seemed like a casual wave, each droplet transformed into a streak of blood, shooting toward the fleeing CP9 agents like blood arrows.
Whether they could run even a step faster meant nothing before Nereus. The outcome was the same regardless.
Even though they managed to put a great deal of distance between themselves and him, they still couldn't escape Nereus's attack range. In the end, they were reduced to black dots falling into the sea, gradually swallowed by the dark depths below.
The ship that had brought the agents here was sunk as well, vanishing into the sea along with them.
At this moment, Amphitrite, who had already been a bit unsteady, suddenly stiffened.
The drug developed by Saturn that CP9 had mentioned seemed to be taking effect, making it difficult for her to control her body. She began to fall toward the sea as well, but Nereus caught her before she hit the water.
Given Nereus's recent slaughter of CP9 and the unmistakable panic displayed by the Cipher Pol agents, Amphitrite finally felt somewhat reassured. At the very least, Nereus clearly wasn't on the World Government's side.
"The… bottle… in the sea…"
Because of the drug, Amphitrite could no longer speak clearly, but she still managed to force out a few words, her gaze drifting down toward the surface of the sea.
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