You Can Ruin My Reputation in Education

Before Nereus could finish speaking, Nanamo had already opened the sack.

Countless gold coins and all kinds of handicrafts spilled across the nearby beach, glittering even under the dim moonlight.

For someone with a love of money, even counting cash could bring a special kind of joy.

Those who worked in banks were the exception.

When an interest became a job, it could gradually turn into a burden over time.

"So... so much treasure..."

"Of course there's a lot. This was contributed by all the World Government's member nations. Calling it the power of the whole world wouldn't be far off."

"Don't forget to inventory those chests. I heard each one is worth a billion Beli."

"A billion?! Don't worry, Dad. I won't miss a single gold coin!"

Nereus was not worried that Nanamo would do anything strange. Though under certain circumstances, she did add a few extra items to the accounts, such as when she made Kaido compensate them for the tavern funds.

But this was an internal operation. She would not cheat her own people.

"Don't start counting yet. There's something else."

Seeing Nanamo rubbing her hands together, ready to dive into the sea of gold coins and count the treasure, Nereus pulled her back and drew her attention to the other three boxes.

Compared to the treasure chests worth a billion, these boxes were far more exquisite, immediately catching Nanamo's attention.

Normally, something this luxurious could not possibly contain anything ordinary.

"What are these?"

"Devil Fruits. This one is the Bird-Bird Fruit: Model Phoenix. The other two haven't been identified yet, but they're definitely high-quality Devil Fruits."

Aside from the Phoenix Fruit, which looked like a flaming pineapple, one of the other fruits resembled cherries, with two fruits hanging from a single stem, similar to the Love-Love Fruit.

However, one was black and the other blue, with rippling patterns across their skins.

The last fruit looked like a strangely colored banana. Nereus had a copied Devil Fruit encyclopedia in his possession, but it was incomplete, and neither of these fruits was recorded in it.

"No. I still want to swim. Dad, you can't expect me to try making a Water-Repellent Membrane with Acid outside my body, can you? Our abilities are different."

Her reason was much the same as Sebastian's. For a Fish-Man, giving up the ability to swim in exchange for a Devil Fruit power took quite a bit of courage.

"But if you insist on giving me one, Dad, I suppose it wouldn't be impossible..."

"These aren't for auction. You might not be able to buy fruits like these even with money. If you're not interested, we'll store them for now and take them out when we find a suitable person."

"Hehe... Princess, your little scheme has already been exposed..."

"Big Pan, stop laughing first. How well have you learned what I told you to practice before I left?"

At those words, Big Pan suddenly clapped both hands over his mouth, seemingly trying to pretend he did not exist. It did not help.

Nanamo snapped her fingers. Hermes, standing nearby, understood what she meant and immediately adjusted the spotlights within his body, directing every beam at Big Pan.

"Boss... it's too hard... I'm still practicing..."

"Keep at it. I've taught you every trick you need. If you still can't learn it, I'll have no choice but to punish you by making you learn to read."

"?!"

Big Pan shuddered at those words and immediately ran to the shallow bay to practice.

What Nereus had told him to learn was none other than his Water-Repellent Membrane tactics.

Because Big Pan was a Loach Fish-Giant, his body could also produce mucus, though it differed greatly from Nereus's.

The mucus produced by Big Pan's body focused more on slipperiness.

It could even make attacks that struck him slide away, like a weaker version of the Slip-Slip Fruit.

It was precisely because he had that ability that Nereus made him practice this technique.

As for literacy...

Among the officers, Big Pan was the youngest. When Nereus had first picked him up in the outer seas, Big Pan had still been a foolish kid, and Nereus had taught him many things.

He was fairly capable in combat, but when it came to education...

Simply put, Big Pan could never shake Nereus's position, yet he could ruin Nereus's reputation in the education world all by himself.

Making Big Pan learn to read was more painful to him than killing him.

Eventually, Nereus gave up on the matter. One more illiterate person would not make much difference.

By now, it had become a punishment used specifically on Big Pan.

The next day, after a brief rest, Nereus and the others boarded their ships again. Quite a few people who had emerged from God Valley also boarded the two large vessels, intending to head for the island Nereus had mentioned.

Dragon and a small number of others stayed behind. He still wanted to return to headquarters, as there were some matters he wanted to ask about in person.

As for the others, they had considerations of their own.

The medium-sized warship was left to Dragon. After Nereus's shipwrights inspected it, they found that its keel had suffered minor damage.

It could sail through the Four Blues without issue, but it was unsuitable for entering the Grand Line.

In any case, Nereus and his people were not used to operating a medium-sized warship, so they simply left it with Dragon. The two groups then headed in different directions.

Because of the terrain, traveling from the West Blue to the South Blue required crossing the Red Line. Nereus and his group had to return to the New World first, pass through Fish-Man Island, and only then could they reach the South Blue.

Several days later, while Nereus was still sailing, a News Coo suddenly flew onto the ship.

As birds specialized in delivering newspapers, they were widely distributed throughout every sea except the Calm Belt and could usually deliver newspapers around the world at the first opportunity.

Now that several days had passed since the God Valley Incident, its aftermath was beginning to spread, and all sorts of reports were constantly appearing in the newspapers.

Recently, a paper called the World Economic News Agency had begun to rise rapidly.

Though the newspaper's name sounded imposing, it had originally been an obscure local publication, and its president was Morgans.

Earlier, he had received the intelligence Ginny sent from the Marine transport ship, then leaked that information to Beehive Island.

News was inherently time-sensitive. With his advantage in intelligence, Morgans successfully made his newspaper known across the world.

As for the contents of the paper... much of it was fictional, which was hardly unusual. Every time, the World Government spent a great deal of money to have newspapers report altered versions of events.

And in today's paper, Nereus saw a particularly interesting report.

<The Lone Wolf's Triumphant Return! Unknown Recruit Recaptures Warship Single-Handedly! Headquarters Stunned!>

The Marines' photographers were as capable as ever, always managing to take incredible pictures in the most unlikely places.

For example, the battle-scarred warship and the ragged soldier in the newspaper made for quite a striking composition, provided one ignored Dragon's utterly terrible expression.