Regigigas plunged headfirst into the volcanic magma, pondering how to create a few even stronger Legendary giants.
Meanwhile, the others were busy with their own affairs. Inside Onigashima, for example, Arceus's gaze had turned toward Mt. Fuji.
Ever since Regigigas returned, he had noticed the strange route it had been moving along within Wano Country. Only just now had it finally settled down.
"What is that guy trying to do…"
"Lord Sacred Beast, the New Fish-Man Island has arrived at its designated position."
While Arceus was contemplating Regigigas's intentions, Shayna walked in and brought the latest update.
"I already know about that. How have the arrangements been handled?"
The fact that Regigigas had returned to Onigashima naturally meant that his task had been completed.
Although Regigigas could sometimes be quite strange and not very sociable among the Pokémon, it would ultimately still carry out orders given by Arceus.
If the New Fish-Man Island had not yet been moved into position, Regigigas certainly would not have returned here alone.
"Most of the arrangements are already done. Supply ships have been sent over. Until they restore their own production, we'll be the ones providing those supplies."
In the new sea area, the Fish-Men need to find new fishing grounds, hunt sea fish, gather shellfish, and collect seaweed.
Before that, they had to familiarize themselves with the conditions of the new sea area and learn which things must not be touched.
Within the Beasts Pirates' waters, there existed a complete set of Pokémon-related laws: Pokémon were not allowed to actively attack allied humans, and humans were likewise forbidden from attacking Pokémon.
Competition in nature was part of the ocean's self-regulation, but technological hunting was not.
No matter the reason, attacking Pokémon in these waters was considered a serious crime.
The legal system here was not like the one in the Pokémon world, where poachers would be judged by the League.
Here, if someone was caught poaching, they would not even get the chance to work in the mines. They would simply be sunk into the sea.
The Pokémon themselves were not helpless either. In such situations, different Pokémon groups would often unite.
With multiple layers of forces protecting it, this sea region had developed a far healthier ecosystem.
"In fact, the New Fish-Man Island is easier to arrange than Kuja. After all, Fish-Men have very little demand for freshwater, clean seawater alone is enough."
As a race that lived under the sea, Fish-Men possessed special organs. Not only could they breathe underwater, but they could also directly filter the freshwater their bodies needed from seawater.
On the New Fish-Man Island, the ones that required the most freshwater were not the Fish-Men or Merfolk, but the Flygon race and the land plants being cultivated there.
After all, the New Fish-Man Island was Fish-Men's first step toward the land, a forward outpost for understanding the surface world.
In that case, there naturally had to be plants that could only be found on land.
"The amount of freshwater nearby is a bit limited, but it's still enough. If necessary, we also have freshwater purification devices, though…"
Seawater desalination devices were essential equipment for pirates during voyages. Most pirate ships carried such devices.
No one could guarantee that accidents wouldn't happen while sailing. Even in normal seas that was the case, let alone in the waters of the New World.
Failing to resupply in time was very common on the sea. You could endure a lack of food for a while, but not a lack of water.
In this ocean, where pseudoscience flourished and even cola could be used as an energy source, all kinds of black technology abound, and various homemade seawater purifiers kept appearing.
"What is it?"
"It's nothing major, just an issue with who would receive them.
The original plan was to have Tiger and Mandrell handle it.
But Tiger is currently leading the Fish-Men in battle, and Mandrell is over in Kuja taking care of children, so the candidate had to be changed."
Fish-Men naturally had greater affinity with their own kind. Although Mandrell was special, and is practically a unique living symbol on Fish-Man Island, unfortunately both of them were too busy to spare the time.
"In the end, the plan was to let Jack handle it. Though he has a bit of a violent temper and doesn't look very friendly, he's still a Fish-Man after all."
"Then who actually went?"
If it had been Jack, Shayna wouldn't have reported it this way. Judging from her tone, the reality clearly differed somewhat from what she had expected.
"It was Queen."
"Queen? He's finally willing to come out of the Reverse World?"
Queen had previously embraced the lifestyle of a hardcore shut-in. He would rather endure the noise caused when the Four Forces of Nature shaped the environment in the Reverse World, living with a completely reversed day–night schedule, than easily leave that place.
Even when Shaymin once forgot to open the door for him, Queen still didn't lose confidence in staying there.
To Queen, it was simply a matter of transportation choices. The outside world was like a car, while the chances of surviving a crash weren't low, accidents happened relatively often.
The Reverse World, on the other hand, was like an airplane. Its safety level was very high and problems rarely occurred, but when something did go wrong, it became a major incident.
The last time he got caught up in trouble there was a perfect example.
Kaido might return at any moment, so Queen choosing to come out now was extremely unusual.
Not only had he left his safe house, he had even taken the initiative to accept work that wasn't originally his responsibility. Without a doubt, this didn't match Queen's usual personality of never lifting a finger unless there's something in it for himself.
"What does Queen want to do? What attracted him there?"
"Not entirely sure, but most likely… the desserts of Fish-Man Island and the Mermaids."
Queen loved sweets, second only to Charlotte Linlin.
Aside from that, he was interested in certain research projects and women. As for treasures, he didn't have much obsession with them.
Even if Queen hadn't said anything, Shayna could guess most of it.
Fish-Man Island's technology was relatively backward. After leaving the area near the Sabaody Archipelago, the New Fish-Man Island had also lost the convenience of bubble technology.
Under such circumstances, the only things that could attract Queen were probably the island's specialty desserts and the youthful, beautiful Mermaids.
"Then he'll probably be very disappointed."
The benefit of revealing her true appearance was that Shayna could show more facial expressions; Arceus had already caught the mischievous smirk on her face.
If someone in the Beasts Pirates hadn't tricked Queen at least once or twice, it would be embarrassing to call themselves a senior officer.
"Lord Sacred Beast, I'm not so sure. After all, Queen isn't exactly normal to begin with.
But it'll definitely be interesting."
Because he spent most of his time holed up in the Reverse World, Queen experiences a certain delay in receiving information from the outside world.
Major events couldn't be hidden from him, but the details of smaller matters were different, like this one.
Shayna knew far more about the actual situation at the New Fish-Man Island than Queen did.
When Queen volunteered for the task himself, she agreed without hesitation.
"By now… he should be almost there."
"Little guys, swim faster! Hurry up and charge forward!"
Near the sea area where the New Fish-Man Island had settled.
At this moment, Queen was holding a set of reins, the front end of which was attached to a large group of sailfish.
Queen himself stood on a giant shell-shaped board, letting the sailfish pull him forward as he glided across the water.
The Beasts Pirates took advantage of the time gap and dispatched the supply ship before Regigigas had even arrived.
So, both sides were able to arrive almost simultaneously. At this moment, the supply ships were following behind Queen, watching his "graceful" figure slicing through the waves.
"Those sailfish must be working really hard. Pulling Boss Queen must take a lot of effort."
"Who knows. But I feel like it's been a long time since we've seen Boss Queen this excited."
"Huh? Isn't Boss Queen excited every day?"
"That's because he's angry. I mean excited because he's happy. The last time was probably during last year's ranking battle."
Standing at the bow of the ship, the people there could already see the outline of the New Fish-Man Island. It looked like they would arrive very soon.
"Stop looking and go get the supplies in order. Otherwise it'll be a mess when we start unloading."
"Got it, Miss Lami. Leave the heavy work to us."
There were also many members of the Arceus Cult on the ship. If Queen hadn't shown such overwhelming enthusiasm, this task would have been handled by Lami.
Her ability was extremely effective for keeping things fresh.
Because of her ability to control the bacteria and viruses within her body, she could control certain bacteriophages to eliminate the bacteria that caused food to spoil.
This allowed food to be preserved for much longer, but it also came with a drawback.
Food had to pass through her hands once before it could be eaten, otherwise, it would send the person eating it straight to their grave.
Watching Queen on the sea, dressed up like Poseidon himself, Lami shook her head and walked back into the cabin.
She needed to retrieve her toxins to prevent preservation from turning into poisoning.
Spray from the waves splashed onto his face. Queen pushed up his sunglasses and then struck an extremely handsome pose.
Just as the sailfish were about to reach the shore, Queen leapt into the air and then "gracefully" landed on the land of the New Fish-Man Island.
"Muhahaha! After such a long journey, are you feeling tired? No problem! I've brought you plenty of supplies.
These are specialty goods found only in the seas around our territory."
Queen stood with his back to the New Fish-Man Island, waving toward the supply ships in the distance while using Observation Haki to sense the gazes coming from behind him.
The curious and puzzled looks felt quite satisfying to Queen, but when he turned around, he realized things weren't quite as he had imagined.
Red, blue, brown—Fish-Men of all kinds, men and women alike, were staring at him with curiosity.
When the transport ships docked and the supplies were unloaded, a burst of cheers followed, but that wasn't what he wanted.
"You… where are the Mermaids?"
What he wanted were the gazes of young Mermaids, not the attention of this crowd of Fish-Men.
The Merfolk race seemed blessed by heaven itself, young females among them were all first-rate beauties.
With their various forms and appearances, there was always one that could capture someone's heart.
As a patron of Wano Country's famous Oiran, this was the real reason Queen had taken the lead in coming here.
But so far, all he had seen were Fish-Men, there wasn't a single Mermaid in sight.
"Damn it, wasn't it said that the ratio of Mermaid to Fish-Men was fifty–fifty? How can there not be even one?"
"Lord Queen, the Mermaids have all returned to Fish-Man Island. They didn't come here together with the new Fish-Man Island."
"Not even one?"
Looking at the pirate in front of him, Queen remembered his identity; he was one of Mandrell's subordinates and also one of the accompanying personnel this time.
But Queen refused to give up. He hadn't risked leaving the Reverse World just to come here for nothing.
"Basically none. After all, there are no bubbles here, so it's inconvenient for Mermaids to move around."
"Basically none… so that means there are still some?"
"Uh… Granny Kahl! Are you available? Can you come out for a moment?"
A Mermaid stepped forward and demonstrated the process of merging her legs into a fish tail, proving her identity.
When Queen saw the Mermaid, and it was an elderly Mermaid who looked just like Kokoro, his complexion gradually turned ashen.
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