After nearly a month, Longinus finally completed all the procedures and successfully expanded the Navy's sphere of influence to Fish-Man Island, ten thousand meters beneath the sea.
Queen Otohime also achieved her goal, bringing back signatures from the World Nobles agreeing to establish friendly relations between Fish-Men and humans.
Everything seemed to be developing in a positive direction.
Under the pretext of seeking guidance, Longinus also learned some of Queen Otohime's speaking skills.
Indeed, only some.
Unlike Count Red, Longinus had been able to expand his Mind Reading into memory reading because his Observation Haki Talent was almost identical to the other's.
Queen Otohime, on the other hand, could hear the voices in others' hearts, but her ability leaned more toward the resonance that arose from it.
Otohime's Observation Haki could convey her own thoughts and consciousness to others. If their will was not firm enough, even their values could be influenced.
The best example of this was a certain Celestial Dragon.
The speaking skills Longinus had mastered were far less effective and required repeated indirect guidance before they could take effect.
For example, Queen Otohime could force someone with insufficiently firm convictions, such as a Celestial Dragon, to accept opposing ideas.
Longinus, however, had to guide them step by step. He first used a more readily acceptable idea to gain their approval, then continuously led them toward accepting new ways of thinking until they ultimately turned to the complete opposite side.
In Longinus's view, this was the proper way to use "persuasion."
Queen Otohime, by comparison, was completely wasting her talent.
If she had also adopted an indirect, roundabout approach, Fish-Man Island probably would have long since ceased to have any hardliners.
Of course, with Queen Otohime's personality, even if she knew how, she could never do something so