"The bottle in the sea? What's that?"
"It's… something the World Government… doesn't want anyone to see…"
Her speech remained halting, but compared to just moments before, it had actually grown a bit smoother. The Lunarian race's innate adaptability was helping her body break down the toxins inside her.
Judging by the situation, it wouldn't be long before those toxins were completely decomposed by her body.
Amphitrite, who had always been on the run, had no time to pay attention to bounties or news from the seas. The situation of the Lunarians was different from that of pirates.
When pirates defeat an opponent, they sometimes hand them over to the Marines through brokers in the Underworld in exchange for the bounty on their head.
Although a hefty intermediary fee would be taken, it was still one of the ways pirates made money.
If Lunarians did the same, they would most likely be reported outright.
The Underworld was extremely complex. Loyalty and honor were almost nonexistent there, and it was filled with all kinds of information dealers. Naturally, Lunarians would never come into contact with such a group.
As a result, bounties were nothing more than unredeemable bad checks to Lunarians, and they had no reason to pay attention to them.
Amphitrite could only tell one thing: Nereus was at odds with the World Government.
No matter what his thoughts toward her were, handing something the World Government detested over to a stronger force that was hostile to the World Government was beneficial to her either way.
In her current condition, she couldn't even handle those CP9 agents, let alone someone like Nereus, who could kill them in an instant.
"Earlier… when those guys were chasing me… I threw the thing… into the sea…"
"That won't be easy to find…"
After listening to Amphitrite recount what had happened, Nereus glanced at the vast, boundless sea below.
Even the traces left by the battle that had ended not long ago had already been swallowed by the sea. Searching for a small bottle in a place like this was no different from looking for a needle in a haystack.
But since it was something the World Government didn't want anyone to see, Nereus was interested.
"Let's give it a try. It'd be best if there were more well-behaved kids in this stretch of sea. Can you fly on your own right now?"
"My body… still won't move. I need a bit more… time…"
Amphitrite tried to flap her wings, but she still couldn't move.
"Your racial talents really are impressive. Such a troublesome situation only needs a bit of time to resolve. So, what are your plans afterward? Have you considered following me?"
"Following… you? Why?"
"You're a Lunarian. Once a Lunarian grows up, their strength won't be weak. And there's no possibility of reconciliation between the Lunarians and the World Government.
I'm also at odds with the World Government. Under these circumstances, we share the same stance. So I'm inviting you to join and strengthen our side. Isn't that perfectly reasonable?"
Nereus didn't hold anything back and spoke very frankly. After all, the World Government's attitude toward Lunarians was one of racial extermination. The once-glorious 'Kingdom of Gods' had long since fallen, leaving behind only refugees on the run.
In a situation like this, it was impossible for Lunarians to join the current World Government's camp. They were natural allies.
"You can take your time to think it over. If you're not interested, I can still find you a safe place to live; at least you won't have to hide and run like this anymore.
As for now… let's look for that thing you mentioned first."
As he spoke, Nereus lowered his altitude and came close to the sea surface. He didn't go down to search himself, though. Instead, he stood on the surface of the water and gently closed his eyes, as if communicating with something.
Before long, the surrounding waters seemed to boil. White sprays of water erupted across the surface as all kinds of fish leapt out of the sea, some of them holding strange objects in their mouths.
"A school of fish… so you're from the Fish-Men race…"
Glancing at Nereus's legs, Amphitrite figured out his race. As long as one knew about other races, reaching this conclusion wasn't difficult.
Communicating with fish was originally a Merfolk talent, but no matter their age, male Merfolks never developed separate legs. Their lower bodies were always fish tails.
Aside from Merfolk, only a small number of Fish-Men could do something similar.
[Amphy, Fish-Men who can communicate with fish—more precisely, with marine life—are extremely rare. Only a very small number of kind-hearted Fish-Men can do this.]
That was knowledge her family had taught her long ago. She hadn't expected to actually encounter such a Fish-Man.
Still, being able to communicate was one thing, but many fish weren't very intelligent. Even though Nereus possessed the Voice of All Things, allowing him to communicate with a wider range of fish, only some of them responded to him.
The fish brought Nereus all sorts of items: broken porcelain shards, seashells of various shapes, dagger sheaths, and occasionally a few bottles, but none of them were the one Amphitrite had thrown away.
"Squeee—"
After a long while, a pod of dolphins leapt out of the sea. One pink dolphin held a bottle in its mouth and swam up beside Nereus.
"That's… it!"
The appearance of the dolphins also scattered the fish that had gathered there. To ordinary sea fish, dolphins were top-tier predators, and extremely dangerous.
"Thanks. Remember to stay away from humans in the future. Don't get caught."
After a few simple words of farewell, Nereus sent the pod of dolphins away and brought the bottle over to Amphitrite.
"May I take a look at what's inside?"
"Of course."
The bottle's mouth had been sealed with wax for waterproofing. Judging from the traces left by time, it looked like no one had opened it for quite a while.
When Nereus opened it, he found a parchment scroll inside. He didn't know what material it was made from, but the parchment was still intact, and the writing on it was fairly clear.
However, the strange symbols on it were clearly not a script used on the seas today.
"These are… Poneglyph.. what's written on them…"
"The dark demon devoured the world. The Sun God's drums of liberation dispelled the darkness. Abandon everything, hold a fearless spirit, and break the horns from outside the board..."
Amphitrite was just about to explain the contents to Nereus when she realized he had already read it aloud himself.
"You… you can… read ancient… script?"
"I spent time learning it. Looks like I didn't mistranslate it? Too bad it's another allegory. The things written in these ancient texts are never very straightforward."
Overall, these texts were like a compressed archive. According to Nereus's own interpretation, they roughly recorded some kind of method aimed at the World Government.
"That should be right. I don't recognize those characters either. I just memorized the translated version."
Amphitrite's speech was gradually becoming clearer. It seemed the effect of the drug was slowly wearing off. Her eyes, however, were filled with shock, as if she couldn't understand why Nereus knew this kind of script.
After all, the method for translating this script had already been lost within her race, leaving the remaining members to merely memorize the translated versions by rote.
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