Homies

"Is that Lord Nereus's daughter? She's so cute~ I heard Lord Nereus split up with that woman long ago. I really want to be her stepmother..."

By the street, a boldly dressed female Pirate openly shared her thoughts with the Pirates beside her.

As an island of Pirates, Beehive Island was a place that revered strength. Good looks combined with top-tier power—

Along with the bonus of not being interested in Shakky's charm, a trait unique to this island, there were quite a few people like her.

"Stop dreaming. Why would Lord Nereus ever fancy someone like you? The Mermaids around him are far prettier than you."

"Can't I at least fantasize?!"

"You should think about what comes next instead. It looks like something big is happening on the island lately. Who knows what those Rocks Pirates leaders are discussing."

As the Pirates whispered among themselves, they failed to notice a mound of earth slowly moving beneath the ground nearby, heading in the same direction Nanamo was traveling.

As it passed them, a huge head suddenly emerged from the mound.

"She's right. Big Brother doesn't like your kind, pshihi~ pshihihihi."

After saying that, the head burrowed back underground.

"W-Who was that?"

"No idea. Probably... a Fish-Man?"

"Fish-Men... can swim through dirt too?"

The same thing happened all along the way. A huge head would occasionally poke out from underground, survey the situation, then withdraw again, startling quite a few people.

He was no enemy, but Big Pan, the one Nereus had previously mentioned who was following Nanamo.

Big Pan was also a Devil Fruit user. For most of the Fishman Race, the inability to swim caused by Devil Fruits was a severe drawback.

Yet some Devil Fruits unexpectedly suited the Fishman Race very well, such as the Swim-Swim Fruit Big Pan had eaten. Its more proper name was the Paramecia-type Swim Fruit.

It had nothing to do with water itself. It merely allowed its user to treat things like the ground and walls as water, swimming freely through them.

For humans, this fruit offered very little improvement. In the original timeline, it was the Devil Fruit eaten by Senor Pink, one of Doflamingo's subordinates.

For Senor Pink, the fruit did not improve his strength much. It merely gave him some means of launching sneak attacks.

The Lineage Factor produced by this fruit had also been used by Vegapunk in the Seraphim S-Shark, the Seraphim version of Jinbe.

With the aid of this fruit, the Fishman Race version of the Seraphim could treat the ground as water, using Fish-Man Karate and Fish-Man Jujutsu to manipulate the earth. A single punch could produce effects like mountains collapsing and the earth splitting apart.

Moreover, Big Pan's talent for combat was far inferior to that of the other three officers. That was why, after finding this Devil Fruit, Nereus had given it to Big Pan to bolster his strength.

For Big Pan, this meant that even on land, he remained on his home turf.

Not only could he swim across land to lie in wait, he could even breathe underground.

As Big Pan's massive body swam beneath the earth, Nanamo soon arrived at Charlotte Linlin's base, the dock on the other side of the island.

Only, the atmosphere here was rather grim.

The other children of the Charlotte Family were not as happy as Nanamo.

Charlotte Brulee was now lying here. A vicious knife scar stretched across her entire face, while the blood on her face and her blood-soaked clothes were enough to show that it was a fresh wound.

Purple-red short hair, sharp teeth, and stitched scars on both sides of the mouth.

The ten-year-old boy stared furiously and incredulously at Pudding, who lay on the ground.

"What happened? What happened?! How did Brulee get hurt so badly?!"

"It was those people you taught a lesson to earlier. They came back for revenge."

The eldest son, Perospero, answered the boy's question. The furious boy was Charlotte Linlin's second son—Charlotte Katakuri.

A descendant blessed with exceptional talent. Though he was only ten years old, he had already displayed extraordinary combat strength.

The scars at the corners of his mouth were not wounds from battle. He had torn them himself while forcing his mouth open to eat donuts in huge bites.

"Revenge? Why did they go after my sister?! If those bastards wanted revenge, they should have come for me!"

Still young, Katakuri could not understand why those people had not sought him out, instead targeting his innocent younger sister.

"Isn't it obvious? Those people were afraid of you and didn't dare provoke you, so they turned their attention to Brulee instead. Did Mom happen to be away dealing with something else?"

Nanamo, who had just arrived, happened to hear Katakuri's furious questioning. She tossed the snacks she had bought aside and walked over as well.

"Big Sister? Mom received some news earlier, then went to a meeting..."

Perospero answered again. He was not surprised that Nanamo had come over. It was perfectly normal for this older sister to visit when she had nothing to do; the timing was merely a little coincidental.

Charlotte Linlin herself was still enough to make those Pirates fearful. Attacking her children while she was away was already audacious enough. If they had dared come in person, they would truly have been courting death.

"I knew it. You know who did this, right?"

"Of course I know... It was those guys from the Fat Bottle Pirates..."

Katakuri practically ground out those words through clenched teeth. Anyone could tell that his anger was nearly overflowing.

"Then let's go."

"Go do what?"

"Do I even need to ask? We're going to get revenge, of course. They could come after Pudding for revenge, so naturally we can hit back."

"No. They came after me because of what I did. I can handle this myself..."

"Idiot, what nonsense are you talking about? She's my sister too, and even you are only my little brother. How could a big sister not step up when something like this happened?"

"Big Sister, Big Brother, I'm fine. This wound... doesn't hurt. You don't need to go after them..."

Worried that her brother and sister might be in danger, the injured Brulee tried to stop them instead, but her attempts were useless.

Nanamo could still control her emotions, but Katakuri's rage had completely erupted.

He no longer cared whether Nanamo would go with him. He grabbed a tablecloth nearby, wrapped it around his neck a few times as a scarf to cover his mouth, then picked up his trident and charged down a path beside him.

Nanamo followed as well.

"Wait! Princess Nanamo, and her younger brother, I think we should consider this matter carefully!"

"We should first understand the enemy's strength, then report it to Mom or Lord Nereus before taking action!"

Hermes's words had no effect. The two had already rushed out. Seeing this, Hermes did not linger either and hurried after them, while Big Pan beneath the ground changed direction as well.

After flying some distance, Hermes suddenly remembered something. He stretched his body and sent his head back toward Perospero.

"Long-Tongued Little Brother, now, right this instant! Go notify Mom! I'm leaving first!"