Beast Taming Underway

The people living in the Fish-Man District noticed something.

The neighborhood, once chaotic and disorderly, seemed to have grown quieter recently.

Before long, people realized why.

"The rowdiest troublemakers have all been dragged off by Boss Bright for training!"

The Fish-Man District had a population in the hundreds of thousands, but not everyone could possibly be a delinquent. Most of them were ordinary people living ordinary lives.

With ten thousand restless agitators gone, such a change was only natural.

But before long, the fishmen noticed an even more interesting change.

"Hyouzou?"

At a restaurant, a fishman who knew him well asked in surprise, "Hard to believe it, but you're actually just sitting here drinking quietly today?"

Hyouzou lay drunkenly sprawled across the table, his eyes hazy as he burped.

It looked normal, but something was clearly off.

Everyone familiar with Hyouzou knew that when he got drunk, he loved causing drunken trouble. Making a scene was common enough, and there had even been times when he drew his blades and started slashing at people.

But today, he was actually just drinking quietly?

"Burp~"

Hyouzou burped and said with a silly grin, "Well, what he said... burp~ somehow got me... got me all fired up..."

The bad kids of the Fish-Man District were changing, and the residents discovered this with surprise.

The disturbances in this neighborhood rapidly dwindled. The most chaotic place on Fish-Man Island was actually gradually becoming peaceful.

The residents began praising Bright's achievements without prompting one another.

This was something even Fisher Tiger, the former boss of the Fish-Man District, had failed to accomplish.

But Bright knew very well that it was still far from enough.

Dealing with one batch of unruly punks was still nowhere near enough to truly solve the Fish-Man District's problems.

The biggest problem in this neighborhood was poverty.

Because they were poor, because they had no other options, they could only take desperate risks.

A solution would only become possible once the mining company officially opened for business.

For now, the Ryugu Kingdom's few mineralogists were leading teams around Fish-Man Island every day, surveying for mineral deposits.

It probably would not be long before the company officially began operations.

Then one day, during a break in training, a fishman ran over excitedly.

"Brother Bright! We found one! We found a large sea beast!"

Bright immediately perked up.

"Shahahahaha! So we finally found one?"

Arlong, who had been lazily sunbathing nearby, sprang to his feet. "Bright, it's time to move, right?"

After deciding to tame sea beasts for combat strength, Bright immediately set things in motion. He had Arlong send the idle thugs of the Fish-Man District to search for suitable sea beasts.

Since they were meant to be combat strength, they naturally had to be fierce and powerful sea beasts.

Although sea beasts were not uncommon in the deep sea, finding one that met the requirements was not something that could be done so easily.

After two days of searching, they finally received word of the first one.

"Mm."

Bright nodded lightly.

Led by the messenger, they quickly passed through the Sea Forest, crossed the seawater walls and enormous bubbles, and entered the deep sea.

"This way!"

The fishman leading them swam off in a certain direction at full speed.

Bright followed after him.

Behind him, Arlong looked at Bright in surprise.

As a Devil Fruit User, this guy really wasn't afraid of seawater?

Shahahahaha!

Now this was what a Fishman Tribe Devil Fruit User should be!

After swimming onward for more than half an hour, the fishman led Bright and Arlong to the entrance of an undersea cavern.

The cavern was enormous. By the light Eve cast down from above, they could vaguely make out a colossal creature sleeping quietly inside.

Not far from the cavern, another fishman was hiding behind an undersea rock. The moment he saw Bright's group arrive, he excitedly swam up to greet them.

"Brother Bright! Brother Arlong! There's an adult Sea Lion inside! We found it hiding here asleep!"

"Very good."

Bright nodded in satisfaction. "You've worked hard. Go see Brother Arlong for your rewards later."

Although the Immigration Bureau had not officially opened yet, the funding was already in place.

With so few people available, Bright could only grit his teeth and let Brother Arlong manage the finances for the time being.

Once operations officially began, he would have to ask Neptune to send over some civilian officials, Bright thought.

"It was nothing."

The two fishmen scratched their heads somewhat awkwardly. "Isn't helping you only natural, Brother? Besides, haven't we already received our payment?"

"It's precisely because I'm your brother that I can't let you suffer a loss!"

Bright patted them on the shoulders. "That was payment before. This is a reward for finding it."

"Brother Bright!!"

The two fishmen were beside themselves with excitement. "We'll keep working hard to find Sea Beasts from now on!!"

"Good."

He really did need more Sea Beasts.

Bright's plan was for the Immigration Bureau to have a hundred squadrons, with one Sea Beast assigned to each squadron.

Sea Beasts for frontal breakthroughs, supported and assisted by fishman warriors—something like underwater infantry-armor coordination.

Of course, a plan was only a plan. It would probably take a long time to put it into practice. Leaving aside whether the bureau could currently afford the cost of raising Sea Beasts, simply finding that many suitable ones would not be easy.

Still, they could take it slowly.

If a hundred was impossible, then they would first aim for one Sea Beast for every ten battalions.

"You two, move farther away."

Bright rolled his neck. It was time to stretch a little.

"Everyone, back off! Shahahaha! Bright's about to show off again!"

Arlong laughed loudly and immediately swam into the distance.

The two fishmen followed after him.

They looked incredibly excited. "We finally get to see Brother Bright show off again!"

After the three had retreated some distance, Bright slowly drifted forward and emerged from the cave. At the same time, the colossal beast inside the cave twitched slightly.

Sensitive sense of smell?

Water Strike.

Bright casually flicked out a lump of water. The stream instantly pierced through the seawater and slammed into the beast like a cannonball.

"Roar!"

With a roar, an enormous lion's head shot out of the cave and bit toward Bright.

A Sea Lion was, as the name implied, a lion that lived beneath the sea. It had the upper body of a lion, even two forepaws, but from the waist down it had a thick, powerful fish tail.

It was more than fifty meters long, with sharp claws and fangs and powerful muscles. It was undoubtedly a predator not to be underestimated in the sea.

But unfortunately, its opponent was Bright.

Arcs of electricity began to dance across his body.

Bright paddled through the seawater with all four limbs, fully unleashing the Fishman Tribe's swimming speed. With the boost from Current Drive, he streaked through the deep sea in a white line.

Though he moved later, he arrived first. Before the lion could even close its jaws, Bright had already kicked the Sea Lion in the head.

"Awwooo!"

The giant beast let out a pained cry. Its enormous body churned up a dark current as it flew backward and crashed into the mountain wall, shattering even the sturdy undersea rock.

"W-What terrifying strength!"

The fishmen watching from afar exclaimed, "He kicked the Sea Lion away with one kick!!"

"He was already holding back!"

Arlong said disdainfully. "He wants this thing to obey properly."

Within the seawater, clouded by swirling dust, Bright slowly drifted forward. Then the water suddenly accelerated, and a massive claw tore through the sea toward him.

Bright smiled and raised his right hand.

He grabbed the fur on the massive claw, then—

"Fish-Man Jujutsu—Sea Beast Over-the-Shoulder Throw!"

The monster that had tried to ambush him stared in disbelief as Bright swung its enormous body overhead and smashed it heavily into the mountain wall, forcibly blasting another huge hole into it.

Then Bright shot forward and stepped directly onto the Sea Lion's nose as it howled in pain, staring straight into its eyes.

"Two choices. Today, I eat Sea Beast meat."

The Sea Lion's body suddenly trembled, and panic began to swirl in its eyes.

Sea Beasts were not as intelligent as Sea Kings, but they were still smart enough to understand what Bright meant.

"Or, you can choose the second option—"

"Roar!"

Sea Lion nodded repeatedly.

A little later.

The battered Sea Lion carried the four fish-men on their way back.

"It was that easy?"

The fish-man who had led the way earlier stood uneasily atop the lion's head. "This is a vicious sea beast!"

"Shahahaha! Clearly, compared to us, Bright is far more vicious!" Arlong burst into laughter.

Sea Lion pouted miserably.

It had been sleeping peacefully when these people barged in and gave it a beating.

Who was more vicious was obvious, wasn't it?

Still, having free food provided didn't seem too bad.

"Hm?"

Bright suddenly seemed to hear something.

He turned to look into the distance.

Far away in another direction, the seawater seemed unusually murky.

"What's going on?"

Bright was a little surprised. He lifted his foot and tapped Sea Lion on the head. "Go take a look."

"Roar!"

Sea Lion hurriedly turned and headed in that direction.

Before long, Bright and the others approached the murky waters.

Then—

"Whoa, what a... spectacular battle!"

Thanks to reader '20210114193954127' for the 100 reward, and thanks to 'Spear Bear' for the 200-point reward. Thank you, thank you!