"This sea... never lacks fools who aren't afraid of dying..."
"Not afraid of dying? More like people looking to die... hic..."
One after another, Nereus and his group left the tavern.
Their conversation earlier had not been quiet, and everyone inside had heard what they were discussing—they all knew why Nereus had gone out.
No one knew exactly who had come to provoke them, but in the eyes of everyone present, those troublemakers were already as good as dead.
"You sound awfully certain. Anyone who can make it to the New World can't be weak, right?"
Among the chorus of agreement, a discordant voice suddenly rang out, drawing the attention of several nearby tables.
"Kid, how long have you been a pirate—no, how long have you even been in the New World?"
The middle-aged pirate who had spoken first glanced at the one who challenged him.
He looked like nothing more than a young rookie. Despite his drunken eyes, there was a trace of an elder lecturing a junior in his expression.
"I was born in the New World. Just set sail last month. What's wrong? Don't look down on me just because I'm unknown now—I'll make my name one day..."
"Hahaha, youth is nice. But do you never read the papers?"
"I can't read."
The tavern fell silent for a moment.
Then laughter erupted everywhere.
Illiterate pirates were common enough, but pirate crews usually had at least one person who could read.
A rookie sailing alone like this was unusually rare.
"Kid, listen carefully. There are many strong people on these seas—plenty you could call monsters. This island is a nest of monsters.
But among all the monsters gathered here, there are two people you absolutely must never offend.
One is called Rocks.
The other... is Nereus."
"They're that strong?"
Normally, those two names alone were enough to intimidate anyone.
But this young pirate clearly lacked that level of awareness and asked what everyone else considered an incredibly foolish question.
"You know what a Marine Admiral is, right? The Navy Headquarters' highest combat power—monsters themselves, you could say.
But Rocks killed an Admiral.
That was the first time I'd ever heard of a Marine Admiral being killed by a pirate.
As for Nereus—he may look human, but he's actually a fish-man.
And yet on land, he fought Rocks without falling behind.
Do you understand what that means?"
Fish-men, as one of the world's unique demi-human races, possessed natural gifts of their own.
Because they could breathe underwater, aquatic combat was their true domain.
A fish-man's strength underwater was usually several times greater than on land.
So if someone from such a race could display that level of strength on land, then how terrifying he would be underwater hardly needed explaining.
Seeing that the young pirate still looked unconvinced, the middle-aged pirate said no more.
Instead, he waved toward the counter and bought another barrel of rum.
Then he filled the young pirate's cup.
"Drink. This one's on me.
I've seen too many stubborn idiots like you.
If you survive, remember to buy me one back someday.
If you die... then treat this as your farewell drink."
The young pirate sensed the contempt hidden in the man's tone and refused to take the cup.
Amid the laughter of the other pirates, he stormed out of the tavern and ran in the same direction Nereus had gone.
It seemed he intended to see for himself what kind of person this so-called monster among monsters really was.
On the southeastern coast of Hachinosu, a group was inspecting weapons.
Among them were members who looked human, like Nereus.
Others had obvious racial traits like Sebastian.
There were also merfolk whose upper bodies were human while their lower halves remained fish tails.
Unlike fish-men, merfolk could only split their tails into legs after the age of thirty—and that ability belonged exclusively to female merfolk.
So the merfolk remained stationed in the shallows.
At the front stood two particularly large figures.
Between the two of them, they barely had enough hair to make one decent hairstyle.
The fish-man on the left had blue-green skin, thick lips, a large nose, and held a harpoon in his hand.
His name was Sunbell—in the original timeline, a member of the Roger Pirates.
Now, however, he had been recruited by Nereus.
The fish-man on the right had a gleaming bald head and a pair of mustaches, while slowly turning a string of prayer beads.
His name was Babel.
In the original timeline, he had been one of the Rocks Pirates.
Together with Sebastian and Bikupanda, the four formed Nereus's most trusted officers.
"Why is Sebastian taking so long?"
Babel impatiently spun the prayer beads in his hand, grumbling that Sebastian still had not returned.
"Maybe something important came up on Big Brother Nereus's side."
Sunbell answered in a calm tone.
Although Babel carried prayer beads and called himself a monk, his temper was far worse than Sunbell's.
"Rocks isn't even on the island right now, so what could possibly trouble Big Brother here?
Couldn't he just use a Den Den Mushi if something came up? Why make a special trip?
I bet Sebastian ran off again to flatter Big Brother..."
"Babel, teach me something—how exactly do you call someone who didn't bring a Den Den Mushi with him?"
While Babel kept muttering, Sebastian suddenly appeared behind him and answered irritably.
"And who are you calling kid? I'm older than you.
I just don't look as old as you do.
You went bald way too young."
Giants had a theoretical lifespan of three hundred years.
Those with giant blood inherited some of that trait too, including an unusually long youth.
But compared to age, Babel clearly cared more about hair.
"This is monk training! Training!! Not baldness—it's tonsure!! You think having giant blood makes you so impressive?!"
"It's alright. At least I'm not losing hair."
Sebastian flicked back the long black hair behind him.
The movement immediately made wrinkles and cross-shaped anger marks appear on Babel's forehead.
The word hair loss seemed to strike directly at his soul.
Once, Babel too had possessed long hair like blazing flames.
But as time passed, that glorious mane had abandoned him.
His midlife crisis had simply arrived early.
Of course, in public Babel always insisted he had shaved his head willingly for the sake of spiritual cultivation.
"Enough, both of you. Captain's here."
Sunbell patted both of them on the shins to remind them of Nereus's arrival.
As for why he patted their shins—
Sebastian's fish-giant blood made him enormous.
Babel himself was already broad enough to rival a small giant.
Such physiques were not uncommon among fish-men either.
Fish-men like Wadatsumi could even approach ancient giant size.
Compared to those two, Sunbell—who would normally count as large himself—looked almost dwarfish.
At his reminder, the two immediately stopped arguing.
For them, bickering was routine—almost a form of entertainment.
But when serious matters arose, they always knew where priorities lay.
Amid the surrounding chorus of different titles—
"Captain!"
"Big Brother!"
"Boss!"
—Nereus stepped forward before the gathered group.