Chapter 192: I Suspect There's a Conspiracy Here
A painfully familiar phrase echoed from the doorway once again, causing Ochoku's heart to clench tight.
"What is it now?! Is there even worse news?!"
"Boss, those idiots... they published their movement in the newspaper! By now, it's probably known to everyone in the world!"
"Pfft!"
Ochoku, who had just taken a sip of water to calm his nerves, transformed into a human sprinkler once again. If this happened two more times, he might actually start coughing up blood.
Pirates publishing news in the paper seemed absurd, but it actually wasn't uncommon. The World Economic Journal wasn't just a sheet or two; sometimes, the stacked pages were thick enough to rival a magazine, and plenty of space could be bought for publication.
Staring at the newspaper in his hand, Ochoku looked as if he were melting. Sweat dripped relentlessly from his forehead, and no matter how much he wiped, he couldn't get his face dry.
"Boss, hurry up and contact Nereus! If he actually believes this... he's probably already on his way here to wipe us out!"
Ochoku's lackey could no longer maintain his composure either. A voyage from Hachinosu to Fish-man Island would take quite a while.
Even with Nereus having numerous informants across the sea, it would still take some time for him to receive the initial news, giving them a brief window to deliberate.
But once it hit the papers, everything changed. If Nereus believed a single word printed there, the entirety of Hachinosu would likely suffer his wrath.
Though no one voiced it aloud, every pirate in the room was praying for the exact same thing: they prayed Nereus understood their boss well enough to know that this "coward" absolutely lacked the courage to challenge him.
Ochoku frantically dug out his old notebook from the Rocks Era, searching for Nereus's Den Den Mushi number.
Simultaneously, Ochoku prayed fervently in his heart for just one thing: Nereus, please tell me you haven't changed your number!
However, Ochoku miscalculated one crucial detail. Printing a newspaper required time. Even a last-minute layout change demanded a certain amount of preparation.
These pirates had barely set sail, yet the papers were already blanketing the sky. This was not the result of news leaking at the last minute; these premeditated pirates had sent their declaration to Morgans's news agency well in advance.
And Morgans, having received the scoop, had naturally forwarded this information directly to Nereus long ago.
Compared to Ochoku, who was caught completely off guard, Nereus was already fully prepared.
To attack Fish-man Island, a ship first needed a coating, and the coating process could only be performed within the sphere of influence of the Yarukiman Mangroves.
If coating wasn't done within this specific environment, even the most veteran coating mechanic wouldn't be able to guarantee the structural integrity of the resin bubble.
The coating location for the first half of the Grand Line was the Sabaody Archipelago. There were more islands capable of it in the New World, but the shortest route from Hachinosu to Fish-man Island was a singular, fixed path.
Taking a detour meant facing far more unknown and treacherous waters; therefore, anyone sailing the New World would avoid doing so as much as possible.
"The most reliable way to engage the enemy is naturally to wait for these idiots to dive before making our move. However, we cannot simply hide in the deep sea forever. The Neptune Army also needs to learn how to engage enemies on the surface.
"The battle at the Doel Kingdom hardly counted as a proper tempering. This crowd of idiots will serve perfectly as a live-fire exercise for the Neptune Army.
"But there's no need to engage them in a terrestrial land battle right now; that would be throwing away our advantage. The location for this battle will be on the ocean surface."
Nereus roughly circled an area on the sea chart. Based on his calculations of their sailing speed, those pirates would arrive in these waters shortly.
"Big Bro, to tell you the truth, I don't think Ochoku has the guts to provoke you. There's absolutely zero benefit for him to do this.
"There might be some mysterious force pushing things from behind... perhaps a conspiracy by the World Government..."
Looking at the intelligence Morgans delivered, Sebastian felt that no matter how he looked at it, things didn't add up.
"That's not important. We'll wipe out this crowd first. As for Ochoku... we'll have plenty of time to deal with him later.
"As for whether there's some other conspiracy... we'll deal with whatever comes our way. The entire reason I train the Neptune Army is so they can handle this exact kind of trouble."
The sea was never lacking in hotheaded, reckless fools. Nereus believed there was a high probability this was just a bunch of rookies who hadn't yet evolved into cunning veterans stirring up trouble.
While he couldn't rule out the possibility of a conspiracy, forget about this caliber of trash—even Ochoku wasn't qualified to be used as a pawn in this level of conflict.
"Hand this matter over to the First Legion, Third Company."
"If it's the Third Company, let me lead the squad. You know my abilities synergize perfectly with this unit, Big Bro."
The fish traits of this company all revolved around camouflage and mimicry, falling into the exact same category as Sebastian's abilities. Furthermore, to Sebastian, going out to fight was far more entertaining than staying cooped up on Fish-man Island.
Babel was stationed at the Sabaody Archipelago, occasionally dealing with minor skirmishes. Sunbell was acting as the head instructor at the Fish-man Academy, thoroughly enjoying his leisurely days.
Without utilizing any ships or giant sea beasts to escort them, the dispatched troops followed Sebastian, advancing entirely by swimming.
Given the relatively short distance, there was absolutely no need for Fish-men to expose their movements by using ships.
An underwater march was not only far more covert, but also significantly faster. Assuming stamina wasn't an issue, the speed of a ship simply couldn't compare to that of Fish-men and Merfolk.
Sometime later, as the Neptune Army arrived at the designated combat zone, the scouts fanned out, beginning to track the pirate fleet.
Meanwhile, those pirates were also scheming.
The reason they published their declaration in the newspaper was twofold: on one hand, they wanted to build momentum and hype; on the other, they wanted to draw their opponent out.
Even if they departed secretly, the moment they dove, they would be detected by the Ryugu Kingdom. Fighting Fish-men underwater was incredibly unwise; even these pirates who had merely passed through Fish-man Island knew this fact.
Therefore, they wanted to trick the Neptune Army into fighting them on the surface. That way, they wouldn't be as utterly powerless as they would be in the deep sea.
However, these people severely miscalculated one crucial detail. While the deep sea was undeniably the home turf of Fish-men... the surface of the ocean was an equally perfect battleground for the Fish-men and Merfolk.
Directly beneath their ships, the Third Company of the Neptune Army had already positioned themselves. They didn't opt for a direct ambush; instead, they formed a massive ring and began swimming at high speeds beneath the surface.
At first, only tiny ripples spread out from beneath the hulls. But soon enough, the seawater began to violently churn and rotate.
The initial commotion wasn't obvious. The expanding rings of ripples merely caused the ships to rock gently—a motion so slight it didn't even catch the attention of the pirates on board.
By the time they noticed something was wrong, those tiny ripples had already evolved into a terrifying, monstrous whirlpool, mercilessly beginning to devour everything on the ocean surface.
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