Chapter 236: Schrödinger's Lawless Zone
Arlong held a deep, personal obsession with amusement parks. When he was a child, he used to sneak out of the deep sea under the cover of night, floating to the surface to gaze longingly at Sabaody Park.
Back then, Nereus was not yet the sovereign of the Ryugu Kingdom. To Merfolk and Fish-Men, Sabaody Park was a place of dazzling beauty, yet one surrounded by terrifying danger.
Today, they could walk into that park openly and with their heads held high. Fish-Man Island had even established its own sphere of influence on the Sabaody Archipelago—though caution was still advised.
Yet that childhood longing for Sabaody Park remained permanently etched into Arlong's heart. Building a free, joyous paradise for his brethren was his ultimate goal.
However, there could be absolutely nothing related to Shyarly inside that park. It had to be built as far away from her shop as humanly possible.
Listening to Arlong plant flags like a cartoon villain, Jinbe didn't argue. While they weren't necessarily kindred spirits, they were old comrades who had known each other for years. When it came to a dream like this, Jinbe wholeheartedly supported him.
Agreeing that Arlong's strategy made perfect sense, Jinbe contacted Kawamatsu on the other end to kick off their "lumber parade."
The results were immediate and explosive. Shipbuilding companies that had been starving for raw materials watched the massive parade of premium wood enter the city and immediately began bidding against each other. Some were even ready to liquidate their assets for one last desperate gamble.
As long as they could successfully build and sell a large ship, it would be enough to bring their dying companies back from the brink.
A few desperate gangs naturally attempted to seize the lumber by force, but their meager combat power was effortlessly crushed by the Neptune Army escort.
With their traditional supply chains severed and venturing out to sea to procure wood becoming a suicide mission, Fish-Man Island's sudden arrival was seen as an absolute lifeline.
Whether it was armed escort insurance or bulk lumber purchasing, the shipwrights were willing to risk everything. As a result, Arlong and his team collected an astronomical sum in upfront deposits.
After all, Arlong's group wasn't a bunch of shady, wandering merchants. They sailed under the flag of an official World Government-affiliated nation, representing the regular military of a sovereign state.
Furthermore, because their entire populace consisted exclusively of Fish-Men and Merfolk, it was virtually impossible for human impostors to impersonate them. In this chaotic era, their credibility was exceptionally high.
Although their prices were slightly higher than before the Great Pirate Era, the increase was well within an acceptable range—and it was infinitely cheaper than commissioning the Marines for protection.
Hiring the Marines for private escort missions wasn't something just anyone could do. Even if you had the money, you couldn't necessarily spend it; that was an exclusive privilege reserved for affiliated royalty, with state-level price tags that these struggling civilian shipyards could never afford.
While the revenue generated didn't go directly into Arlong's personal pockets, he could use the merit from these operations to accumulate military achievements and earn substantial bonuses. And while Arlong was busy building his career abroad, people elsewhere were busy making their own fortunes.
Meanwhile, on the Sabaody Archipelago, within the territory under Fish-Man Island's de facto control...
The legal definition of this area was currently highly complex.
Originally, this sector had been a lawless zone. Once the Ryugu Kingdom took it over, given their status as a sovereign affiliated nation, it could naturally no longer be classified as "lawless"—and the Kingdom's official public broadcasts reflected this.
Yet, from the Marines' perspective, it remained a default "ignore zone." No matter what happened inside, unless Headquarters issued an explicit directive, the local Marine branches would not intervene.
Thus, by Marine definition, it was still a lawless zone.
Ironically, under Fish-Man Island's administration, this sector boasted the best public security on the entire archipelago.
Human trafficking rings avoided the place like the plague, and the only troublemakers were rookie pirates who had just made landfall.
Whenever trouble did break out, the Neptune Army suppressed it several times faster than the Marines ever could. To different groups of people, this single sector held completely contradictory definitions—a true Schrödinger's lawless zone.
Although the Sabaody Archipelago was primarily a tourist hub, a substantial permanent population lived there. Within the 10th to 19th Grove sectors, the workforce wasn't limited to Fish-Man Island officials; many humans lived and worked there as well.
Because of its central location, it was easily accessible regardless of where one landed. Aside from pirates looking to transit to the New World, the area attracted plenty of regular tourists, and the hotel district was constantly booked.
Inside the Ryugu Kingdom's diplomatic office, alongside the Fish-Men and Merfolk, quite a few human faces could be seen working behind the desks.
They were local civilian contractors. While the overseers and management were strictly from the Ryugu Kingdom, the everyday administrative clerks had been replaced by ordinary humans.
These workers didn't come from Delta Island. They were victims rescued when Nereus's forces smashed the human trafficking rings on the outskirts of Sabaody. Having nowhere else to go, they simply settled down to live and work in the archipelago.
"If it isn't Tesoro? Here to check on your girl again?"
Near the entrance of the Ryugu Kingdom's diplomatic office, a young man was peering anxiously inside, clutching a wrapped lunchbox in his hands.
A middle-aged human worker carrying a stack of wooden crates called out to him familiarly. Tesoro didn't reply immediately; he pulled out a small pocket mirror to check his hair, then smoothly lifted the topmost crate off the worker's stack to carry it himself.
He knew this was the daily supply delivery for the Ryugu Kingdom office. By helping them carry the goods inside, he could walk right in without having to wait outside until her shift ended.
"You little punk..." the middle-aged worker chuckled, leaning in. "Word on the street is Stella has a new admirer lately. You'd better step up your game."
"What?! Who is it?! Did she say yes?!"
The sudden mention of a rival instantly shattered Tesoro's carefully groomed confidence, his voice cracking with panic.
"Hahaha! I'm messing with you!" the worker laughed heartily. "The diplomatic office doesn't hire male clerks for the front desk, and us delivery guys are just rough, uncultured brutes—she wouldn't look twice at us. But who knows about the future? You'd better make your move soon!"
The Sabaody Archipelago had undergone drastic transformations in recent years. The single greatest change was that the open human trafficking auction houses had completely vanished from the island.
No matter how powerful their Underworld backers were, none of them could stand against a monster like Nereus. Under Nereus's watchful eye, those businesses simply couldn't operate openly anymore, forcing them to devolve into underground, guerrilla-style pop-up auctions hidden in the shadows.
This chain reaction led to a vastly different fate for Stella. Although she had been captured by slavers, the slave transport ship was intercepted and sunk by Fish-Man forces the moment it neared the archipelago. The rescued victims went their separate ways, and Stella chose to remain and work on Sabaody.
As for Gild Tesoro—the future "Casino King" of the original timeline—he was currently just a penniless young man who loved to sing and dreamed of performing on a grand stage.
His father had been an irredeemable gambler who died of disease when Tesoro was young, and his mother detested his singing. Unable to bear it, Tesoro ran away from home.
He survived through petty theft and gambling, using money as his only means of making friends.
Two years ago, after losing every Berry to his name at a casino, he was nearly captured by human traffickers. Running for his life in absolute desperation, he accidentally stumbled into Fish-Man Island's jurisdictional zone. Terrified of provoking the deep-sea rulers of that territory, his pursuers were forced to turn back empty-handed.
Beaten black and blue, Tesoro slumped against an alley wall, singing a quiet melody to comfort himself—right as Stella happened to be walking by after her shift.
"You have a really beautiful voice."
In that single instant, Tesoro felt his very soul cleansed. He was hopelessly, irrevocably in love...
From that day forward, Tesoro abandoned his life of crime, found honest work to support himself, and embarked on his earnest pursuit of the girl who saved his heart...
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