Chapter 165: The Nox Pirates
Seeing this, Louis instantly understood Yelena's intention. He then raised his hand, creating a golden holy light, and controlled it to transform into thousands of scattered fireflies.
The specks of light fell into the bodies of the fallen crew members, and the powerful life force contained within them merged into their bodies, healing them at a rate visible to the naked eye. In just a moment, the group that had been on the verge of fainting slowly woke up, sitting up from the ground one after another, and spoke with lingering fear.
"Why do I feel like my head was thrown into a toilet and flushed down the drain... so dizzy."
"If the captain hadn't come back, I feel like I would have died."
"We're finally saved!"
The sunlight shone on Hajrudin and the others, stretching their shadows extremely long and obscuring Louis and the group behind them.
The fish-men and mermaid with Louis looked at the giants and let out an involuntary gasp. "They're—they're the giants who appeared on Fish-Man Island not long ago!" Because the appearance of giants on Fish-Man Island was an extremely rare event, the fish-men and merfolk who had witnessed it at the time had a deep impression. Among them were these three.
Hajrudin and the others heard the fish-men's exclamation and subconsciously lowered their eyes, a hint of surprise flashing within them. "Fish-men, and a Mink?"
"Captain, you really found them?"
"It was alright. A little shorter than I expected," Louis replied casually. He then instructed the slowly approaching Yelena, "Go have Uta contact Shirahoshi. Tell her to inform Neptune to come and pick them up."
Yelena heard him but did not reply. Instead, she quietly stepped forward, led the several fish-men and the mermaid away, and took them to the place where Uta was practicing her singing.
After Yelena left, Louis turned to Kuina, who had silently started training again after waking up. "Kuina, take her to wash up, change into some clean clothes, and then bring her back here." As he spoke, Louis raised a finger and pointed at Serena, who had already very naturally run over to the giants and was mingling with them.
Kuina heard him, let out a hot breath, then sheathed her Wado Ichimonji and nodded. And Serena, quite cooperatively, waved goodbye to the giants and smilingly followed Kuina.
Goldberg set up his cooking tools in the training area and began to cook. He prepared food for Louis's group as well as for the workers who were doing the fine renovations on the base. With two rows of large white teeth showing, he distributed the food to everyone.
Just then, Kuina returned to the training ground with a refreshed Serena and sat down opposite Louis. Seeing this, Goldberg added a portion of food for Serena.
Then, Serena held the food in front of her, took a deep breath of the aroma, a happy expression on her face. Immediately after, right in front of Louis, she began to wolf it down. It seemed she had been quite starved during her captivity. After devouring the food, she tilted her head to look at Louis and posed her question. "Is there something you want me to do, Lord Louis?"
The Mink tribe was relatively simple in character, but they were not fools. Serena could naturally see that Louis, who had saved her, wanted her to do something. Moreover, she had a faint guess that Louis's continuous destruction of the trafficker bases was for her, or rather, for people like her.
Hearing Serena's question, Louis was not surprised that she had seen through his intentions, because he had never hidden them in the first place. Anyone could see them.
To this, Louis was also quite direct and stated that he wanted to make a trip to Zou. "Serena, I hope you can take me to Zou."
Serena heard this and her body froze. She was clearly stunned. But soon, she gave a very decisive response. "Zou? I can't. I've lost my Vivre Card!"
At this moment, a hint of relief appeared in Serena's heart. The original沮喪 (dejection) she felt from losing the guide back home had also improved a bit. Because if the Vivre Card were still on her, then at this moment, she would be struggling with how to refuse Louis's request.
"Lost it?" Louis frowned slightly. He could tell that Serena was not lying.
Serena looked at the stunned Louis and, with a complete lack of personal boundaries, stepped forward. She poked Louis's side with a furry finger and asked, "Lord Louis, is there something important you need to go to Zou for?"
To this, Louis shook his head. "Not particularly important."
In fact, even if he reached Zou, he hadn't thought of how to persuade the Minks, who had been loyal to the Kozuki Family for generations, to switch to his camp. But since he couldn't get them to switch sides for the time being, he would first build up their favorability and think of a way later.
Thus, Louis reached out again, lifted Serena, who had at some point run behind him to get a feel of his wings, and met her human-like eyes. "In that case, you can stay here for now. I'll have people try to contact the Nox Pirates and have them come find you."
"Really?!" Serena's eyes lit up.
"Of course."
Since he wanted to build favorability with the Mink tribe, Louis had to find a way to get to know more of them. And by starting with Serena, a member of the Nox Pirates, he could get to know Pedro and Zepo, who were still active on the seas. As for how to find the two of them, Louis had already thought of a way.
The underworld intelligence network.
There was a reason it was called an intelligence "network" and not an intelligence "organization." When Daz had established the network under Louis's instruction, its operation and structure were very unique. Its core was a tiny organization of only a few people. After its establishment, the organization continuously obtained the contact information of personnel from various organizations in other seas through the intricate underworld. At the cost of money, they hired them to provide intelligence for the core members. Because the price given by the organization under Louis's instruction was high enough, and a piece of intelligence was often obtained from many unacquainted people in the same area, there had been no mistakes so far.
In this way, a tiny organization of only a few people, and a group of people from different organizations in other seas who wanted to earn extra money, had built a simple but useful intelligence network. Relying on them to obtain information or contact information for the two members of the Nox Pirates was the best way.
Several days later, at the edge of a town in the depths of the New World.
A jaguar Mink, wearing a green jacket, a dark green cape, and a sword on his back, looked nervously at the man in a black suit before him.
Nearby, a polar bear Mink with a small patch of short black hair, a beard, and small sunglasses on his face, slowly drew the sword from his back and asked bluntly, "Who are you? What are you doing blocking our path?"
To this, the man in the black suit first raised his hands, indicating he had no ill intent. "Don't be nervous, you two. I mean no harm. Someone wants to contact you—"
"I'm just an odd-jobber. I don't want to lose my life here."
Then, he took a Den Den Mushi from his coat pocket and placed it on a nearby rock. After that, he took a few steps back, took out a Camera Transponder Snail, snapped a few pictures of the two Minks and the Den Den Mushi, and then decisively turned and left.
Pedro, Zepo: "..."
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