On Delta Island, the islanders had already become busy.
Though this sea was incomparably perilous, it also brought benefits that the ordinary world did not possess. Plants in this world generally grew at remarkable speeds, and many valuable plant species had even come into existence.
Treasure Tree Adam, Sunlight Tree Eve, Kuuigosu with extraordinary buoyancy, and more.
Aside from these rare timbers, on islands suitable for habitation, food production was usually abundant.
Some islands that have become places of famine due to natural and man-made disasters are special cases. Aside from these, islands with concentrated populations are basically able to achieve self-sufficiency in food.
Delta Island had originally been an uninhabited island. After years of development, and with Fish-Men and Merfolk able to obtain marine resources more easily, it could be considered well-supplied in terms of materials.
At this moment by the shore, many people were processing food. Through smoking, sun-drying, pickling, and other methods, they extended the shelf life of their food.
Although the island had plenty of food, they still had to prepare for unexpected needs.
"Are there no bounty posters left?"
"Nope. That's all they delivered, which are already distributed"
"I think Charlie next door grabbed several. Why don't you go ask him?"
When Kuma stepped outside, planning to do some physical labor and help out, he saw many people asking around about bounty posters.
This had become a custom on the island. Whenever Nereus's bounty was updated, they would collect the bounties, usually taking them home to use as posters.
No matter what, the photographers from the World Government and the Marines were top-tier. As long as the angle was right, they could make a wanted criminal look like he belonged in a promotional brochure.
Unless the person was some bizarre creature who simply didn't look good on camera, the results were generally excellent.
Ordinary people typically couldn't achieve that kind of effect.
"Here, I've still got one."
Seeing an islander constantly asking others if they had a spare poster, Kuma pulled one from his coat.
He had gotten up early for school and happened to run into the early-shift News Coo, managing to grab a few copies.
Meanwhile, in nearby waters, Nereus and his crew's ship had also appeared.
After leaving Mariejois, Nereus had brought his people here. Just as the people on Delta Island had guessed, this time they had freed more slaves than ever since Nereus began his operations.
In a certain sense, Nereus even had to thank the Celestial Dragons for doing relatively well with "family planning." Their numbers had not grown to an absurd level.
Over 800 years, judging by the development patterns of known societies, the Celestial Dragons could have multiplied to an unimaginable size.
The Ming imperial fanily, over just a little more than two hundred years, had expanded to over a hundred thousand members. If the Celestial Dragons had reached that scale, their slave count would have surpassed a million.
If it had really reached such numbers, Nereus's people probably still wouldn't have finished transporting them by now.
But population growth in this sea could even be described as slow. Take Cobra for example, counting from the founding of the World Government, he was only the twelfth-generation king, and the royal family was very small.
Eight hundred years passing through only twelve generations was already an extremely small number. The situation among the Celestial Dragons was much the same. If they had truly amassed millions of slaves, Nereus would have had to drastically revise his operational plans.
As it stood, everything was still manageable.
"Dad, it's today's paper. Your bounty's been updated again. This should be the highest bounty on the seas right now."
Nanamo took the newspaper and bounty poster from the News Coo. Beneath Nereus's updated poster, the figure of five billion Berries stood out prominently.
"Among the pirates still alive, it seems only you, Dad, have broken the five-billion mark."
After rescuing a large number of slaves from Mariejois, Nereus and the others had first returned to Fish-Man Island due to route constraints, where they carried out a personnel rotation.
Sunbell and Barbell remained behind on Fish-Man Island once again. Although Fish-Man Island's current situation no longer required Nereus to be nailed there twenty-four hours a day, it still needed capable officers stationed to guard it.
Meanwhile, Nanamo and Amphitrite reboarded Nereus's ship, bringing along some of the people who needed to be resettled as they set out once more toward Delta Island.
"There's no need to care about that sort of thing. Bounties are nothing more than a string of numbers to me now."
A higher bounty didn't necessarily mean greater effectiveness. Wealth could stir people's hearts; huge sums could drive people to do many things, such as attracting bounty hunters to actively hunt pirates.
But bounties were, to some extent, tied to strength. A bounty of one or two hundred million might still tempt some greedy individuals into action. But once it broke past a billion, criminals at that level were no longer targets a handful of bounty hunters could take down.
Nor would they feel fear simply because the number increased. At that point, the rising figure merely became proof of their power.
"You're right. I really don't know what's the point of raising it that high. Is it so that when they defeat a certain pirate in the future, they can reasonably request more funding from the World Government?
By the way… if the Marines capture a pirate, does the World Government actually pay out that bounty?"
"They probably do. Back when the Marines were chasing me, they mentioned wanting to turn me in for the reward."
"Well, your case is special, Miss Fire Mummy."
"Fire… Fire Mummy?"
Amphitrite didn't understand why Nanamo had suddenly given her such a nickname, until she saw the other bounty poster handed to her.
The scene must have been from Dressrosa, when they were fighting those agents. The mummy-like outfit, the long blade engulfed in flames, together they had led to that title.
And aside from that name, there were no other descriptive words on the poster.
"I've always thought the World Government isn't very bright. Are they trying to imply that anything connected to Dad should be given a bounty? But this poster… if you just change clothes, who's going to recognize you?"
Nanamo wasn't wrong. A bounty poster like that was bound to cause misunderstandings. If someone happened to be wearing similar clothes one day, they might get arrested by mistake.
Duval had suffered greatly because of Sanji's extremely crudely drawn bounty poster. But when that was mentioned, Amphitrite instead seemed a bit dejected.
"What's wrong? The bounty doesn't matter. Who would dare to come to Dad's side and try to capture someone? Worst case, you can just change outfits.
"Armor, tights, or a hood? Or do you have some kind of obsession with mummy outfits?"
"It's not that… I just feel that my ancestors once lost to opponents like this…"
"There's no need to dwell on that. It's fine to think the World Government is foolish, but those people aren't weak.
Besides, history that has already happened isn't something we can change. What we must seize is the present and the future. If we lost in the past, then we lost. We can just win it back."
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