"Roger really wasn't a good person."
Rosse nodded with a smile, and he indeed felt the same way deeply.
The meaning of Roger's existence seemed to be for the purpose of starting the Great Pirate Era, to open a more chaotic era.
And the meaning of this era's existence was to escort the fate of the future Fated Child.
To entrust all fate to the future, in his view, was no different from cowardice.
"Mr. Rosse...", Otohime recovered from her emotions and looked at Rosse with a slightly strange gaze.
After getting to know Rosse, she also got to know the people around Rosse.
In terms of the number of pillow-side partners, Rosse was undoubtedly a playboy.
But the women around Rosse all seemed to have some unusual experiences.
Reiju and Olvia were like this, and so were Sora and Stella.
She didn't know much about Gion and Moa, but in Otohime's view, they were probably similar.
To be honest, she herself was no exception.
Thinking of Nia, who stayed on Fish-Man Island, Otohime couldn't help but sigh.
"What's wrong?", Rosse asked.
"I don't know how Nia and the others are doing, I'm a bit worried about them," Otohime said softly.
Nia was a child she had watched grow up, she didn't think anything would be found.
Moreover, she didn't believe Neptune was involved.
However, since the other side did it for her own good, Otohime wouldn't refuse this goodwill.
"Since you want to know, just ask."
Rosse said casually. According to the time, it had already been three days since Nia and the others left Fish-Man Island.
'According to the progress, there should be some 'good' news.'
"Don't..."
Otohime wanted to stop him, but Rosse ignored her and directly took out the Den Den Mushi, dialing Nia's number, and gave Otohime a glance.
'If you don't want to be exposed, then don't make a sound, okay?'
Sensing the meaning in Rosse's eyes, Otohime helplessly closed her mouth and could only go along with Rosse.
["Saint Rosse!"]
The Den Den Mushi turned into Nia's appearance, and her energetic voice came through.
These past few days, Nia had been quite majestic.
Bringing all of CP9 into Fish-Man Island under the name of the World Government, no one dared to be disrespectful.
Nia truly experienced that Rosse's name was much more effective than Otohime's.
"How's it going over there on Fish-Man Island?", Rosse didn't ask directly about the situation but instead showed concern for Nia's condition.
["Super good! The people you sent me are amazing, those Ammo Knights guys couldn't even beat them. According to the information I provided, they found the people very quickly."]
Nia's tone was filled with happiness, but it made Otohime feel a bit of chest pain.
Nia had used the joint name of her and Rosse, and just a few days in, they'd already had conflict with the Ammo Knights. Otohime didn't dare imagine what would happen next.
Facing Otohime's concern, Rosse gave a reassuring glance:
"Nia, have all the Ammo Knights people been caught? What did they say?"
———
[Fish-Man Island]
The temporary base of CP9, also the home the Nia sisters had taken over.
Nia was curled up on the sofa with a contented smile on her face.
On the screen in front of her was the live broadcast of their basement.
CP9 worked professionally, with all kinds of tools.
In the footage, several Ammo Knights soldiers were tied up and separated, and CP9 and Iya were conducting an interrogation.
Hearing Rosse's question, Nia quickly responded, "Saint Rosse, we already have some information. One of them has confessed, saying it was under Holp's orders, but I and the other CP9 members suspect they're lying, they confessed way too quickly."
"And I suspect that capturing and selling us was jointly decided by the queen and Neptune," Nia said with certainty.
["The queen?",] Rosse was stunned for a moment and exchanged a strange glance with Otohime.
The queen, wasn't she right in front of him?
It couldn't be that Nia was sold off under Otohime's orders, right?
But that didn't make sense either. If that were true, Nia would've already blown up.
"Aiya, not Sister Otohime!"
Nia hurriedly said, "It's that scorpion-type fishmen called Sabina, who is now the prospective queen of Fish-Man Island. Please don't tell Sister Otohime about this, she'll be heartbroken if she finds out."
But this matter, had already been found out.
Rosse raised an eyebrow and looked up at Otohime.
Sure enough, Otohime was completely frozen, looking utterly devastated.
From his interactions with Otohime these days, she probably didn't mind if her partner had other women.
But the position of queen was very special. In the pirate world, the queen was unique, essentially the legal wife.
Neptune having other women wasn't scary, but stripping Otohime of her rightful position as queen was definitely a serious blow to her.
After all, from Otohime's perspective, she really hadn't done anything wrong.
Quietly holding Otohime's hand, Rosse gave a comforting look, then continued to ask Nia:
["What's the situation with this queen? Has the Ryugu Kingdom already abandoned Otohime?"]
"Exactly! Neptune is just a fishy scumbag!"
Nia said angrily, "As soon as I got back to Fish-Man Island, I heard the other mermaids talking about how the Ryugu Kingdom is holding a nationwide consort selection. I heard that over a thousand mermaids of all ages are participating."
["Aren't they still choosing? What does that have to do with Sabina?"]
Rosse felt the small hand in his palm tighten slightly. He glanced at Otohime sympathetically but still motioned her to stay calm and let him ask.
This wasn't something he had arranged.
It could only be said, Neptune was playing hard.
Choosing a queen out of over a thousand mermaids, even he would be tempted to try it.
"This is what we found out through internal sources. There are still quite a few people who support Sister Otohime, and they secretly told me that Neptune has already decided on a queen internally. Sabina has already moved into the palace that belonged to Sister Otohime."
Hearing this, Otohime clearly panicked, her beautiful eyes filled with visible anxiety.
["And the people who originally lived in Otohime's palace? I remember she had three sons by blood, right?",] Rosse asked casually.
Otohime and Neptune did have three offspring.
But the way mermaids reproduce was completely different from humans, it was an external fertilization model.
Otohime only needed to release small bubbles, there wasn't even direct contact.
Strictly speaking, Sora still went through ten months of pregnancy. Mermaids grew from fertilized eggs entirely outside the body, the difference between viviparous and oviparous birth.
"Oh, them? Right now they're being taken care of by Sabina. From what I know of her, it probably doesn't look good," Nia's voice turned heavy, unconsciously filled with sadness.
Although she didn't have deep feelings for those little mermen, they were still Otohime's children.
Hearing Nia's words, Otohime couldn't hold it in any longer. She looked at Rosse, pleading as she spoke, ["Saint Rosse, I want to go back to Fish-Man Island! Please help me!"]
"Ah?", On the other end of the Den Den Mushi, Nia was stunned upon hearing Otohime's voice.
She never imagined that Otohime had actually listened to the entire conversation.
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