On the day school resumed, one of his students was actually missing—this was absolutely not good news for the homeroom teacher. If it had been Arlong or Jinbe who were missing, he would have been a bit more at ease.
At this time, Jinbe was not that righteous Knight of the Sea; the younger him was quite a troublemaker and the restless type in class. It wouldn't have been impossible for him to have forgotten school was starting because he was too busy having fun.
But Kawamatsu was known as a well-behaved child in class. He shouldn't be late at a time like this.
"I saw him during the first couple of days of the break. Kawamatsu said he was going out with his mother, and I haven't seen them since."
"Otohime, take them for a period of self-study. I've something to attend to outside..."
Although many of the subject teachers were humans from Delta Island, the homeroom teacher was still a local resident of Fishman Island.
That had been a two-month-long vacation. If they had left two months ago and still hadn't returned, then it was no longer a matter of skipping classes. It had to be reported as a missing persons case.
Fishman Island's safety level had improved greatly in recent times, and the number of outsiders daring to cause trouble on the island had dropped sharply.
However, if citizens left Fishman Island on their own, that was something impossible to predict. Not to mention people like Tom, who lived outside and only returned once every few years.
Usually, it was only after relatives or friends noticed that someone had failed to return on time that further action could be taken.
Even now, tracking the whereabouts of registered citizens remains a highly important issue on Fishman Island.
After the homeroom teacher reported the matter, the information was passed up layer by layer, eventually reaching Nereus himself.
"They're missing?"
"Boss, they didn't go missing on the island. This mother and son seem to have gone out to the open sea on their own and never came back. I investigated the ship they boarded; it seems to have sunk in a shipwreck.
I've already notified allied forces along nearby sea routes to keep an eye out, but..."
Sebastian didn't finish his sentence. For an ordinary human nation, this would have been normal.
People who encountered dangers at sea, being able to reach a deserted island where they can survive would already be considered lucky. Drifting on a small boat or dying in the shipwreck was the norm.
But these two were Fish-Men. Even if the ship sank, they wouldn't be harmed. Under normal circumstances, they should have been able to swim back to Fishman Island.
Being gone for so long meant that something had most likely gone wrong.
'I think I know where they are…'
Looking at the photo and names on the missing persons report, Nereus already had a rough idea.
If nothing unexpected had happened, the mother and son had likely drifted to Wano Country by accident. That was also the fundamental reason Kawamatsu was taken in by Kozuki Oden and became one of his retainers.
"The Tontatta Tribe contacted me earlier, there's news about the mangrove tree saplings I commissioned them to cultivate. I was just about to head out anyway.
I'll look for this mother and son while I'm at it. Call Big Pan over, I need to investigate something, and his ability will be useful.
Fishman Island will maintain the current state for now. Don't stop the existing search efforts either. If I get any definite news, I'll inform you."
Scarlett's birth date had already been moved forward by several years. Who knew if there would be other changes as well.
The situation in Wano Country was also quite special. The Pluton buried beneath it was only one of those peculiar situation.
The Kozuki Clan had once participated in the creation of the Poneglyphs. Although the country had long been in isolation, it still had many powerful individuals within, as well as numerous outstanding swordsmiths.
In terms of resources, it possessed the one-of-a-kind materials for forging and crafting blades—Drunken Iron Ore—and it was also the only known place of origin for Seastone, with its own unique Seastone processing techniques.
All Seastone products currently used across the seas had, over long years, been brought out from Wano Country.
As for the strongest person in Wano Country now, it was Kozuki Oden, who was 26 years old at the time. No matter what, Kozuki Oden's strength was unquestionable.
And strength had always been the most important thing on this sea. As long as one was strong enough, shortcomings in other aspects didn't matter much.
"Dad, are you taking Pan out with you? I'm already prepared!"
Before long, Big Pan arrived at Nereus's side, with Nanamo following along.
Based on her understanding of Nereus, if he really needed to take Big Pan out for something urgent, then Hermes would be an essential assistant.
After all, Big Pan couldn't fly, and even for Nereus, taking such a large person out wasn't easy. In the end, they would still rely on Hermes, who could change size.
Under normal circumstances, whenever Hermes was needed, Nanamo would come along as well. Aside from that one operation in Mariejois where she wasn't brought, Nereus usually had her follow him to gain experience.
"What's wrong? Don't tell me you're not planning to take me along this time either, Dad?"
As she spoke, Nanamo kept tossing items into Hermes's stomach, preparing supplies they might need for the trip.
"No, you'll come along this time. But you know my habits. If you fail the spot check, I'll make you do extra training when we get back."
"It's fine. Even if I have to train more afterward, I still want to go out and have some fun. Staying on Fishman Island all the time is boring."
[That's right, Princess Nanamo, that's the attitude! You need to show diligence. Looks like you did take my previous advice to heart…]
Hermes, who was packing the luggage, felt a bit touched inside. But as a Homie, his thinking was still somewhat simple, and he didn't realize that Nanamo's main focus was more on going out to have fun.
Just as Nanamo and Nereus were preparing to set off, an uninvited guest appeared on the MADS ship.
As MADS sailed through the area, a figure suddenly descended from the sky. If he hadn't controlled his strength, he would have almost punched a hole straight through the deck.
"Kaido? What are you doing here?"
"Isn't that Wobbegong? Worororo, long time no see. I'm hungry, got anything to eat?"
Seeing someone he knew on the ship, Kaido reined himself in a bit and changed his original plan.
"There is food. If you had come a year earlier, you could've seen Buckin, but she left last year."
"Last year? Back then I was still in the World Government's research facility. Those guys caught me by accident, it took quite some effort to escape…
But Wobbegong, I remember back on Fullalead Island, you said you could do fortune-telling, right?"
"What about it?"
"Even though I don't really believe in that kind of thing, for some reason, when I left the lab last year, I had this strange feeling… like something that originally belonged to me had been taken away by someone else…"
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