"Mr. Orlan! I'm here to pick you up!"
Shaq came running over, waving his arms, his tone still filled with joy as it had been a month ago.
"How did you get this injury?"
Shaq had more than one injury on his body. Apart from a scratch on his arm, the rest were bruises, which were obvious signs of a fight.
Oran knew that many people on Fishman Island were not friendly towards humans.
The Hodi Jones and his gang in the original timeline were such people. Aaron at least knew how to take care of his compatriots, but Hodi Jones was so extreme that he could kill his compatriots at will.
If Shaq's injury was caused by a group of people like this, he would have to find a way to deal with it, otherwise it would become a hidden danger sooner or later.
"Nothing serious. I had a fight with a group of human traffickers. Luckily, I won in the end."
Fishman Island is not immune to resistance when facing human traffickers, but some pirates cannot defeat them, and some human traffickers are even fishmen themselves.
Not everyone would sit idly by and watch their compatriots being abducted, especially those who have had tragic experiences.
"What do human traffickers do? Sell people?"
"Yes, they would take people away from their families. They are a bunch of hopeless people. Anyone who does this should be hanged."
It was the first time Leliana heard this word, and she felt extreme disgust from Oran's answer.
Taking away from their families, Leliana could understand this sentence. Based on this description, she had already put this group on the list of bad people.
"Hey, this is..."
"Leliana, she's my daughter too."
"She looks a lot like you, Mr. Orlan. Where's your eldest daughter? Didn't she come with you this time?"
"Fran is at home. There's something going on over there that I need her to keep an eye on for me."
"It seems that you have a happy family, Mr. Orlan."
Very similar to you, this sentence is a common language used in Fishman Island to praise other people's children. This is related to the reproduction method of the Fishman people.
Murlocs and mermen can intermarry and reproduce naturally, but their offspring have more random attributes.
The gender is random, the appearance is random, the mermaid and the merman, and even the genes of the marine life in the blood are random.
Merfolk and merpeople share a common ancestral genetic memory. The species of fish they are born into is determined by the genes of their ancestors from many generations ago, and is not necessarily related to the species of their parents.
If a child is of the same species as one of the parents, then it is something worth celebrating, and looking alike is the best form of compliment.
"Isn't this Kate? You are exactly the same as you were a few years ago. Are you living a good life?"
"My body is a little peculiar, but it's okay."
"It seems you've stayed with Mr. Orlan. That's great. By the way, Mr. Orlan, I've already started working on the task you entrusted me with. So far, I've found five people, including myself."
The surroundings suddenly became quiet. This number was a bit exaggerated. Fishman Island had a population of about five million, and it had basically fluctuated within this range for so many years.
From this point of view, and these five people also include Shaq himself, if we continue to calculate in this way, the probability is one in a million, which is almost the same as the probability of the birth of Conqueror's Haki.
"Uncle Shaq, five is not enough, my friends all have, well, more than five."
Leliana counted her fingers and finally gave an affirmative answer, and Tong Yan broke the silence.
"I know it's a little low, but Mr. Oran, this is an accident. I don't know who spread the news about my divination. Mr. Oran, you are still a human after all, so most people would be reluctant."
This is a centuries-old racial conflict. The last time the relationship between the two sides was at its most relaxed was probably nearly 800 years ago, during the generation of Joy Boy.
In addition to Joyboy's efforts, it is probably also closely related to the fact that the mermaid princess of that generation was the awakened Aquaman.
Saturn, the king of Fishman Island in this generation, did not do much, and this was all Shark achieved in the end.
"Don't be discouraged. At least there are people willing to do it. I brought a lot of money this time. You guys can just do a demonstration. I'm sure someone will be tempted."
Orlan didn't force them to engage in human trafficking or war, they just wanted to explore the water, which was the easiest thing for the merfolk.
As an aquatic species, they only need to explore the seabed like taking a walk, but the explored area may be a little far away.
Olan believes that as long as the money is in place, there will still be people who will be tempted.
At this time, talking about feelings is meaningless, talking about interests is the most direct way.
"Take these for now. You can appear a little wealthier than usual in your daily life, but don't show too much, or you'll get into trouble."
Oran handed Shak some gold coins. In today's Fishman Island, gold is actually more popular than Bailey. After all, this is the deep sea and paper money is difficult to preserve.
"I understand, Mr. Oran. Also, that Otohime has joined as well."
"Otohime?"
"Well, she came here on her own initiative, and seemed to want to prove something with this behavior.
Mermaids are the fastest swimmers in the ocean and can communicate with fish. They're a bit weaker in terms of strength, but when it comes to exploration, they have a much greater advantage."
Mermaids and merfolk each have their own advantages. Merfolk have arm strength ten times that of humans, but they cannot communicate with fish, which is one of the reasons why merfolk eat fish.
Among the entire merman community, only a very small number of individuals can talk to fish.
Mermaids are different. Talking to fish is their instinct. The mermaid princess can even communicate freely with sea kings.
When it comes to surveying the environment, Otohime's ability alone is even stronger than the other four people combined, but she can only survey things that are exposed, and has no way of surveying things deeper.
Even if she could communicate with the fish, they wouldn't be able to take samples.
"But Otohime's abilities are limited. Her body is too fragile."
Speaking of this, Shak was also a little helpless. Although the mermaid's physical strength was not as good as that of the murloc, it was not weak either. After all, it was a race that could swim at high speed in the deep sea.
But Yiji seemed to be an exception. Not to mention fighting, if she slapped someone, the end result would be a broken arm.
"She's actually quite fragile inside. The look you saw earlier, Mr. Orlan, was all just a facade she put on. The five of us had a small get-together a while ago, and she got drunk after just one glass of wine, and then..."
"Uncle Shaq, it's not a good thing to talk bad about girls behind their backs. You'll end up alone if you do that."
As they were talking, Otohime had already appeared here. She rushed here after receiving the news from Shak. Her current goal is to allow humans, mermaids and fishmen to live equally, so she cherishes her human friends very much.
"Hahaha, I'm telling the truth. Otohime, you can't drink much. You'd better not drink with strangers in the future."
"I see. Only you guys like to drink that kind of unpalatable stuff. Mr. Orlan, look at this. This is what I made recently."
Otohime is holding a shell painting that depicts something like racial friendship.
"Can you help me spread this idea on land? I know it might not be very effective, but what if it can influence even one person?
The prejudices of mankind against the sea are so deep that, if a man can bear it, he will teach his children new ideas.
This way, there will be less prejudice."
Otohime's current thoughts are still very simple. She would rather face setbacks and failures than do nothing.
No matter what, sitting back and waiting for death is a pretty foolish idea.
"It's just a small effort. You should be able to see that I don't have much racial prejudice."
At least before a race becomes the enmity of heaven and man, Orlan will not escalate the issue of an individual to that of a race, unless the race is hopeless from top to bottom. Yes, I'm talking about the Celestial Dragons on Mary Geoise.
Other groups give birth to a small number of evil parties, while this group gives birth to a very small number of good people, or normal people.
In the worldview of the Celestial Dragons, what is considered normal by ordinary people is considered abnormal.
"Yes, we have many different family members in our family, all of whom are from different races."
Today, in Oran's family, humans, robots, fur tribes, dragons, and "slimes" are all more or less directly related to Oran, but they are all intelligent creatures with independent thinking, and their racial composition is even more complex than that of the people in the sea.
"Indeed, I can sense it. Are you Mr. Orlan's daughter? She's very cute."
"etc!"
Oran stopped Otohime from pulling Leliana's hand, and handed Leliana a stick under Otohime's puzzled gaze.
"Riley, bend it."
"Okay, Dad."
Leliana took the stick and bent it into a V shape with both hands.
"I'm doing this for your own good. Riley is quite strong. Given your condition, I'm afraid you won't be able to keep your hand anymore."
Oran handed the bent stick to Otohime, and the touch of her hand told her that it was made of iron.
With her glassy constitution, Leliana might accidentally cause her to suffer a comminuted fracture.
"This child is in really good health."
Yiji withdrew her hand, and after listening to Oran's talk about their future plans, she took them to a newly opened dessert shop.
Shaq's family is not as wealthy as Otohime's, and he only knows some shops with high cost performance, while Otohime knows some special products, such as the handmade tiramisu in the Mermaid Cafe.
Although it is more expensive, it tastes better.
With Oran's reminder, Otohime did not contact Leliana rashly, but this did not prevent her from chatting with Leliana. The innocence of human children gave Otohime more hope for the future.
After arriving at the shopping area, the group split up and started shopping.
"You really want them all?"
"That's right, I've given you the money. What else are you worried about?"
"Yes. Wait a moment, I'll prepare it for you."
Faced with a big money sponsor, even if it was a human being, the shop owner did not refuse the business.
In the minds of Fishman Island, working for humans and simply earning money from humans are two different concepts.
But it still takes time to pack and box this amount.
Orlan began to write his own plan, such as the specific direction of fruit development and control. For now, he had no plans to eat another fruit.
The theory that devil fruits are born from fantasy comes from Vegapunk, while the theory that fruits fight is from Oran. They both have one thing in common: neither has been proven definitively.
Orlan did not intend to take this risk until there was accurate information.
If he succeeds, he will gain an extra ability; if he fails, he will die instantly. The benefits and risks are not proportional to him. The ability of the Book-Book Fruit to create its own world is enough for him to develop.
Even if he got a stronger fruit, he had ways to use it, such as Zack and Frankenstein, or the application of bloodline factors, Oran had ways to use it, so there was no need to gamble his life.
After the shop owner prepared everything, Oran wrapped his book with Zack's body and put the snacks piled up like a mountain into the book under the cover of mercury.
But at this time, some chaos seemed to have broken out outside. Otohime stopped a man carrying a bag and some kind of quarrel broke out.