Setting Sail

As the sky gradually darkened, Sebastian and the others returned to the camp one after another.

"What's going on? Why is everyone packing up?"

Packed luggage was scattered throughout the camp. Many people were still gathering their belongings, and even some of the temporary houses had been completely dismantled.

Some people had even put away all their bedding, apparently planning to make do with sleeping on bare bedboards for the night.

This behavior puzzled Sebastian, who had just returned from patrolling the outer waters.

"Lord Sebastian? You're back. This is Lord Nereus's order. Everyone is to pack up and be ready to leave at any time.

He also said that once you returned, you were to go to the meeting room immediately. There's an important meeting."

The Fish-Man on guard duty in the camp stepped forward and explained the situation to Sebastian.

Hearing this, Sebastian headed straight for the meeting room. Aside from him, the other officers had already arrived.

Sambel was holding a nautical chart and quietly answering Nanamo's questions beside him.

Big Pan sat foolishly in an oversized chair nearby, waving his huge hand at the moon in the sky as if entertaining himself.

Babel sat silently on the other side, turning the prayer beads in his hand while muttering something under his breath. Even when Sebastian arrived, he did not bicker with him as usual. He merely glanced at him.

"That bald bastard didn't even say I was late. Looks like this really is serious..."

Babel's reaction made Sebastian realize that Nereus must have made some major decision. Otherwise, Babel would never have been this well-behaved.

"Big Brother, I saw everyone outside packing their things."

"Mm. After the meeting, you should pack up as well. Once this is over, we won't be returning here.

Just as I said when we first set sail, we went out to temper our strength, broaden our horizons, meet more people and experience more things, all to prepare for our future actions.

The preparations up to this point are more or less complete. At this stage, it's time to begin the next step.

I'll explain the arrangements from here on out. If you have any opinions, feel free to voice them."

Mentioning the time when they had first gone to sea, Nereus's tone carried a trace of nostalgia. So many years had passed in the blink of an eye, yet many things still felt as though they had happened only yesterday.

"Simply put, those Celestial Dragons are going to hold a game more bestial than beasts at God Valley. Someone leaked the news, and Rocks and the others ultimately decided to join forces and take the prizes back..."

After briefly summarizing the situation, Nereus continued.

"Once we reach West Blue, you'll lead the men and lie low on a hidden island offshore. Just prepare to provide support from the perimeter. As for God Valley, I'll go alone."

Nereus had far more subordinates than just Sebastian and the others. His numbers had indeed been small at first, but after Nereus's name spread back to Fish-Man Island, the number of people under him had continued to grow.

Some Fish-Men and Mermaids who had heard of Nereus chose to follow him. As admirers, they too left Fish-Man Island together and joined his ranks.

There were also some who wanted to see what the world above the deep sea looked like. Besides adults, this camp even had quite a few children. All of that was the result of their development over the years.

"Big Brother, I understand that you're worried it'll be dangerous over there, but going alone... isn't that looking down on us a little too much?"

"Yeah, we aren't weak either. We may not have monstrous strength like yours, but we can handle the Marines easily enough.

Even if you're worried about everyone else, there's no need to leave all of us behind, right?"

Sambel and Sebastian voiced their objections one after the other. They understood Nereus's intentions, but they felt he was being overly cautious.

There was nothing wrong with what they said. Even without Nereus, Babel and Sambel would respectively become crew members of Rocks and Roger, and neither of them was weak.

Sebastian would appear later, but he too would sail alongside Byrnndi World, known as the World Destroyer. Now that Nereus was around, and after training under him, they were no weaker than they had been in the original timeline.

Even Big Pan, the weakest among them, had undergone a qualitative leap in strength.

Big Pan did not say a word. He was naturally rather simple-minded—capable of taking care of himself and not stupid, but lacking many independent thoughts of his own.

After being taken under Nereus's command, he obeyed him without question and never argued.

"Big Brother, I'll go with you. The three of them are more than enough to guard the ships."

In the end, faced with their persistence, Nereus chose to bring only Babel with him. The others would remain behind to guard the ships.

Early the next morning, a massive pirate ship raised its sails and departed from Beehive Island's harbor, racing south at full speed toward West Blue.

This was Rocks's ship. Even hulking figures like Charlotte Linlin and Whitebeard would not feel crowded aboard it.

Behind Rocks's ship followed two large Marine warships.

It was not that the Marines had sent people to trail Rocks. Those two ships were filled entirely with Fish-Men.

The hulls had been repainted sky blue, and the seagull emblems on their flags had long since been replaced.

They bore a simple stretched design based on a moon and bat, strikingly similar to the Batman symbol next door.

Unlike the usual format of pirate flags, it was the banner Nereus's subordinates used to identify themselves while operating outside.

In a world dominated by the sea, where travel depended entirely on ships, vessels held an extremely important position.

Ships built by exceptional shipwrights often became famous alongside the powerful people who sailed them, but Nereus's ships had been taken directly from the Marines.

Whether in size, speed, hull quality, or firepower, Marine ships ranked among the best on the seas.

After all, the Marines were the World Government's armed force. Their shipyards could gather outstanding shipwrights from all over the world and use all kinds of high-quality materials to build their warships.

Other than a small number of legendary shipwrights, most pirate ships were inferior to Marine vessels in quality. Otherwise, the Marines would have no hope of catching pirates at sea.

A good ship was certainly valuable, but because of the Fishman Race's usual tactics, abandoning ships for naval combat happened fairly often.

Under such circumstances, Nereus had not yet planned to build ships of his own. The vessels they used were basically all seized from the Marines.

Nereus and Babel were currently aboard Rocks's ship, while their own ships followed at a certain distance behind.

At that moment, Buckin was calculating the route aboard Rocks's ship.

"The direction is correct. As long as that intelligence is accurate, we can reach God Valley before they begin."

"Can't we go any faster? My Shakky is still waiting for us to rescue her!"

"Shiki, what do you mean, your Shakky? She's mine!"

Golden Lion and Silver Axe nearly came to blows over that single remark, but the ship suddenly stopping made them halt.

"What's going on? Why did we stop?!"

"If you're not blind, look up ahead!"

Rocks's ship was already large enough to be called gigantic, yet compared with the vessel before them, it looked utterly tiny.

And that ship belonged to the Giant Kingdom—Elbaf.