Friend or Foe Alike...

At Charlos's house...

A crowd of servants, along with subordinates hoping to curry favor with Charlos, gathered outside his bedroom door, hesitating anxiously.

My lord, dozens upon dozens of merfolk had suddenly appeared in Mary Geoise!

Those were the merfolk you were most interested in! That mermaid who died not long ago had left you regretting it for over ten minutes!

But listening to the unceasing screams from inside the room, along with Shalria's furious curses...

In the end, the servants still did not dare knock on the door. Left with no choice, they dispersed.

Although Charlos missed this wave of merfolk, most of the Celestial Dragons aside from him received news of the merfolk influx within ten minutes!

This news not only had many Celestial Dragons bringing scoop nets and fishing rods, but also shackles and chains. Some of the more extreme ones even brought bomb guns!

Those bomb guns were extremely popular in Mary Geoise. Their power was roughly equivalent to grenade launchers, but because they were exceptionally expensive to produce, they had not been widely issued to the Navy.

But Celestial Dragons did not care about the price. Every household had them.

Take Saint Charlos from back then, for example. He used this kind of gun to sink Sabo's ship with just two bullets.

Meanwhile, Gawain and Mjosgard led the nervous merfolk through the streets and alleys.

Sensing their nervousness, Gawain smiled softly and clapped his hands.

After drawing the attention of both the merfolk and Mjosgard, Gawain made a suggestion.

"Saint Mjosgard, although our merfolk friends arrived in Mary Geoise in a less-than-peaceful manner, compared to everyone else in the Ryugu Kingdom, they can still be considered the first merfolk to ever enter and leave Mary Geoise.

"Since we have already decided to leave, why not introduce this Holy Land to these young ladies?

"Letting our guests arrive in sorrow was already our mistake. If we cannot even introduce them to the sights here before they leave, then you, as the host, would be far too negligent!"

"Yes, that's right!"

Hearing Gawain's words, Mjosgard nodded heavily and worked hard to shake off the nervousness in his heart.

Gathering his courage, Mjosgard ignored the bodyguards drawing ever closer on both sides of the road, as well as the faint but steadily approaching shouts, and loudly introduced the place to the merfolk.

"Gawain is truly thoughtful. If he had not brought it up, I would have forgotten to tell you about our city!

"We are currently walking through the center of the entire world, the World Government's most important political hub—Mary Geoise!"

Mjosgard pointed at the massive castle behind them, its height seeming to reach the heavens.

"That is Sabaody Castle, the very center of Mary Geoise, and the residence of our Five Elders predecessors!

"The towering castle built around Sabaody Castle is Pangea Fortress. At present, its only purpose is to host our banquets, as well as the Reverie held once every four years for the royal families of allied nations.

"Speaking of which, next year will be another Reverie. I miss it already.

"As for the ground beneath our feet, this area was built around Pangea Castle. It consists of the hereditary territories belonging to the nineteen great families of World Nobles.

"Because every Celestial Dragon in the world lives here, this place is also known as the Land of the Gods!

"Of course, our servants, guards, soldiers, and slaves live here as well. I have never counted them, but in terms of population alone, there must be more than a million people here.

"After all, every Celestial Dragon has hundreds of servants and hundreds of guards, not to mention an even more terrifying number of slaves. One Celestial Dragon represents a large group of over a thousand people.

"And there are at least two thousand registered Celestial Dragons."

As Mjosgard spoke at length, the merfolk's nervousness truly eased somewhat.

Tris, the lively red-tailed mermaid who had been acting as the leader of the merfolk, even spoke up softly to ask Mjosgard.

"Then, Lord Mjosgard, which direction is Lord Gawain's family?"

"Ah, Gawain's home..."

Mjosgard thought for a moment before pointing west.

"It's in that direction. After passing through the Rosward Family and the Karmael Family, everything you see will be Gawain's territory.

"But there are too few people in his family. Every generation has only one Gawain, so the area around his home is not particularly prosperous."

As he explained, Mjosgard pointed toward the distant wall—a massive city wall that encircled all of Mary Geoise and stood one hundred and eighty meters tall!

Looking at that unbroken stretch of wall, Gawain could not help curling his lip. A wall that tall could probably keep even Eren out, right?

"That is our next destination: Mary Geoise's main gate!

"Mary Geoise has only two gates in total. One is the East Gate leading to the Grand Line, while the other is the West Gate leading to the New World. We are not going to the New World, so our next destination is the Gate of Heaven on Mary Geoise's eastern side!"

"Wow!"

"Awesome!"

"I think I can see a forest?"

"The sun is so beautiful!"

"Thank you for the introduction, Lord Mjosgard!"

The merfolk shook off their earlier nervousness and looked around expectantly.

Whether it was the sunlight, the forests, or the flowers and grass, those were once their dreams!

If they had not longed for sunlight and secretly run away from Ryugu Palace ten thousand meters beneath the sea, how could they have been captured by slave traders back then?

But the pleasant moment did not last. Before the merfolk could fully enjoy the view, countless servants holding scoop nets and chains crowded in front of Gawain and the others.

Seeing them, Mjosgard clenched both fists.

"Damn it, you bastards actually dare stand in my way!"

He cursed loudly, but his voice was instantly drowned out by two or three even louder voices!

"Mjosgard!"

Behind the crowd, a Celestial Dragon seated atop a giant slave roared.

"What a disgrace! Your Donquixote Family has truly disgraced the Celestial Dragons these past few years!

"Whether it is Homing or you, you actually sympathize with those foolish lower-class creatures!"

"That's right, Saint Alrewyn. When Mjosgard bought those merfolk from me, I thought he wanted to kill them for amusement.

"Who would have thought he had been keeping those merfolk all this time, and now he even intends to... Hahaha, they're heading toward the East Gate, aren't they?"

"Shut up!"

Mjosgard's expression changed.

"Alrewyn, Truigada, neither of you may insult my friends!

"They are not foolish slaves. They are Queen Otohime's people!"

"Hahaha, Mjosgard, only you would treat things like that as friends!"

The Celestial Dragon Truigada snorted disdainfully, then turned to Gawain.

"And you, you're Gawain, right? What, do you enjoy showing off that much?

"You knocked Charlos unconscious just this morning, and this afternoon you are taking these damned merfolk out of Mary Geoise!

"Have you forgotten the Mary Geoise Raid from eleven years ago?

"Eleven years ago, that damned Fish-Man Fisher Tiger shamelessly stole over three thousand of our slaves!

"Which of our families did not have slaves seize the chance to escape back then, huh?!!"

The white-haired Celestial Dragon Truigada viciously pointed at the merfolk behind Gawain.

"Since ancient times, aside from the Mary Geoise Raid launched by Fish-Man Fisher Tiger, no slave has ever been able to leave Mary Geoise!

"And it will be the same now!"

As he spoke, Truigada raised his pistol and aimed it at Tris, the sole red-tailed mermaid and the most conspicuous one behind Gawain.

While aiming, he roared.

"Stop the merfolk! Kill all those damned slaves—"

Truigada's voice came to an abrupt halt. First, he swayed precariously atop his slave's back. Then, his eyes rolled white as he finally fell to the ground.

At the center of the crowd, Gawain stood expressionlessly and softly spat out a single word.

"Get lost!"

Conqueror's Haki swept outward, instantly crushing the floor beneath Gawain's feet into dust.

Likewise, the densely packed Celestial Dragons and their subordinates throughout the surrounding streets fell to the ground one after another.

Inside Sabaody Castle, the Five Elders sensed the rapidly spreading Conqueror's Haki.

They looked at one another, and then...

Slap!

They all smacked their foreheads at once!

"He really is a boy who dislikes being bound by rules!"

"Hahaha, just as I like it! What wielder of Conqueror's Haki should ever be bound by so-called rules?"

The Five Elders sighed with emotion, then laughed as they resumed discussing their previous affairs.

As for Gawain, he was a little stunned...

Although he had indeed intimidated every bastard blocking his path.

The problem was, he was still far from being able to wield his Conqueror's Haki proficiently.

And so, under the effects of that indiscriminate Conqueror's Haki...

Everyone behind Gawain, whether Mjosgard or the adorable merfolk...

Their eyes rolled white as well.