Slavery: a pain that Fish-Man Island has found hard to forget for so many years.
Even Fisher Tiger's initial goal in climbing the Red Line was to rescue those imprisoned Slaves.
As it happens, Blake had previously mentioned wanting to find a companion for Aida, the mermaid young lady, but hadn't encountered anyone suitable during his several trips to the Sabaody Archipelago.
He would take this opportunity to have the organization's peripheral members capture some for him.
On the other end of the Den Den Mushi, the sound of Aramaki turning pages came through again. A moment later, he replied:
"Your Highness, there are indeed some people in this field, but the numbers are very small."
"Those professional Slave-Catching Groups already have fixed partnerships with the Blake market, or they have their own channels for fencing goods on the Sabaody Archipelago, so they don't really need our forces."
Blake was not surprised by this and instructed:
"Then let them make the first move, and then contact other Slave-Catching Groups, offering high prices to purchase Fishman and mermaid Slaves."
"Fish-Man Island's current forces are very thin. Send a few core members who haven't shown their faces before to hold the line; you can even charge directly into Fish-Man Island to snatch people."
"I only need to achieve one goal: to make Fish-Man Island jump, to make Neptune flustered and at his wits' end."
"Yes! Your Highness! I understand!"
Aramaki acknowledged the order first, then hesitated slightly before saying:
"However, doing this might require a large sum of funds."
"It doesn't matter. I will be responsible for the funding."
Blake was, after all, a Celestial Dragon. Having made no major expenditures for so many years, he could be considered very frugal among the Celestial Dragons, and the cash he could produce definitely exceeded that of most Celestial Dragons.
Although it might seem like a bit of a loss, this money was useless anyway. Using it to execute the plan could be considered recycling waste.
After ordering all of this, Blake was finally completely free.
The implementation of the Slave-catching plan would take some time; now, he just had to wait for the battle for the sing-sing fruit to begin.
Over the next few days, Blake spent his time in the manor building relationships with the little Maids.
The circle of Robin, Perona, and Olga grew further.
Monet was relatively rational. She liked reading books with Robin in her spare time or following Kalifa to learn professional knowledge, so she could barely be considered a member of the small group.
After Alpha became familiar with the basic application of the Ope-Ope no Mi, she first experimented on the Trafalgar couple, then helped Rami completely clear the effects of the lead rot disease.
Having fully recovered, Rami showed a wild side; her current personality was actually somewhat similar to Perona's.
Blake felt that this was actually a rebound after suppression, and she would calm down on her own after a while, but for now, Rami could be considered a member of Perona's small group.
Secondly, there were the two Little girls training with Koala.
Kaya's situation was the opposite of Rami's.
When Rami was seriously ill, she was sickly and didn't like to make a fuss, being very quiet on most days.
Kaya was completely different; this Little girl had become exceptionally irritable due to her illness.
Blake had no intention of interfering with this. He had too many obedient-type Maids around him, and an irritable Little girl was also quite interesting.
As for Sugar, her personality was somewhat similar to Perona's, so Blake didn't find it strange at all that the two could play together.
However, the power of this small group was growing larger and larger. And it was foreseeable that as Kaya and Sugar grew older and their training with Koala deepened, they would become stronger, and the trouble they could cause would certainly grow larger as well.
Blake expressed that he would wait and see. Causing some fun was also quite interesting; in any case, he certainly wouldn't be the one becoming the entertainment.
Half a month passed in the blink of an eye, and Blake finally waited for news from Thersfield Island.
"Boss, a strange person has come to the island these past few days, and he has been asking about the Devil Fruit."
The peripheral members arranged by Aramaki had already infiltrated Thersfield and were reporting the current situation to Blake.
To this end, Aramaki had specifically sent a Den Den Mushi to the other party.
This peripheral intelligence agent did not know Blake's identity; he only knew that this was the "Boss" of this surveillance operation.
"A strange person?"
Blake raised an eyebrow. Although the Red Hair Pirates had members of all shapes and sizes, they shouldn't count as "strange," right?
And they shouldn't be just one person, either. Could it be the person Garling mentioned who was also eyeing the sing-sing fruit?
Thinking of this, Blake asked:
"What does that person look like? Does he have any distinguishing features?"
If this was a face that had appeared in the original work, as long as the intelligence agent could describe it relatively accurately, Blake felt he should be able to guess the person's identity.
The intelligence agent scratched his already messy hair and struggled to organize his language for the Den Den Mushi:
"Uh... Boss, let me think carefully..."
"He is a Black Fatty. He is really tall and big, and he looks very burly and powerful."
He paused and continued:
"His hair is Blake, very thick and fluffy, just like... just like a clump of seaweed blown messy by the sea breeze. It's very distinctive and makes people remember him at a glance."
"The most eye-catching thing is the beard on his mouth."
The agent gestured on his own chin with his fingers, and the Den Den Mushi faithfully imitated his actions:
"That guy's beard is very dense, but the length is actually not very long. It's just growing naturally, looking a bit... unkempt."
"Oh, right, his way of speaking is also very special."
The intelligence agent seemed to have found his rhythm, describing it more and more fluently:
"His voice is a bit hoarse, like a broken gong."
"But his laughter is particularly distinctive—it's that kind of 'Zehahaha' laugh."
"As for the way he walks, well, he drags his feet, looking a bit lazy."
"But what's strange is that although he looks casual, his eyes always reveal a glint of shrewdness."
He added at the end:
"Boss, I feel this person is not simple."
"Although he looks rugged on the outside, there is a hint of sharpness in his speech and behavior."
"But strangely, I haven't seen this guy's photo on any bounty posters."
With such obvious characteristics, if Blake still couldn't guess who it was, he would basically be suffering from amnesia.
However, he really hadn't expected before that the person preparing to compete with Shanks for the sing-sing fruit on Thersfield Island would actually be Teach?
As for not having a bounty, that was normal.
Before the Dark-Dark Fruit appeared, Teach was just like Blake, a small transparent person in the crowd, and he didn't have a bounty himself.
Previously, Blake had found it strange that there was a "sneaky one" in the pirate world similar to him?
But if it was Teach, it wasn't too strange.
Teach's matter could be considered later. Blake was actually quite interested in this intelligence agent.
Being able to describe Teach's appearance so clearly, and reminding himself that Teach seemed to be not simple—this intelligence agent also had some skills.
-------------------------
If you enjoy this story, you can read 70+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
Webnovel will keep getting 1 new chapter every day but Patreon readers can stay far ahead.
Maybe it's not a big deal now… maybe it will be later.
[email protected]/Rexlent
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"