"How dare you people! Do you not know who I am?! Does Commander Hamanli know you're doing this?!"
Seastone's suppressive effect on ability users is absolute, but depending on the purity of the Seastone and the strength of the ability user, there can still be differences.
Someone like Charlotte Linlin, even if bound tightly with high-purity Seastone chains, can still move. Their overwhelming strength allows them to adapt to the weakness brought by Seastone. It simply prevents them from using their abilities.
But for someone like Hardinge, who relies purely on his Devil Fruit ability and only holds a slight advantage in certain aspects, once shackled with Seastone chains, not only is his ability sealed, but his body also becomes powerless.
Already exhausted, Hardinge naturally had no strength to resist in this state. The sense of weakness spread through his entire body, and pulling out his "shield" at this moment was already his last resort.
"Heh heh heh… Commander Hamanli… do you think we're doing this just because we got greedy for money? This is Mariejois. In front of power, money is worthless. Without orders from above, we wouldn't dare act so openly.". [TN: Power here means authority.]
Hearing Hardinge mention his "shield", several agents burst into laughter at the same time.
As a wanted criminal, the reason Hardinge could pass through the Red Line was because the Deul Kingdom behind him had reached some sort of deal with the World Government.
That was why the World Government had temporarily turned a blind eye to this "official pirate." And the Hamanli Hardinge mentioned was one of those who had accepted benefits from the Deul Kingdom and spoke on their behalf.
But that was in the past.
Nereus's sea ban made the World Government more directly realize the importance of Fishman Island's location, but only to that extent.
In truth, they don't really care how many pirates there are on the seas, whether pirates can reach the New World, or what routes the underworld smugglers use.
Without pirates causing chaos, the World Government would have no way to display its superiority.
By using this contrast, making non-affiliated nations suffer while highlighting the advantages of affiliated nations has always been the World Government's style.
If the World Government truly wanted to hide Hardinge and prevent Nereus from finding him, they would have already dispatched Cipher Pol agents.
If this had happened before Nereus attacked Mariejois, they might have done so. But now, that option has long been abandoned.
Reaching an agreement with Nereus was done under Imu's directive.
Although neither side had any intention of fully accepting the other, at this stage, it was indeed a honeymoon period between the World Government and Fishman Island.
The credit for illegal work Harald performed was even directly credited to Nereus by the World Government. With the Levely approaching, they truly intended to fulfill the promises made back then.
And banning the appearance of Fish-Men and Merfolk slaves was the very first clause of that agreement.
Hardinge's actions not only violated the World Government's ban, but even went against the orders issued by the Five Elders. Under such circumstances, the Five Elders naturally had no reason to protect him.
The only reason they hadn't issued orders to assist in his capture was because the Ryugu Kingdom was far too special.
On this sea, reputation can matter more than anything. If someone is willing to cast aside their own reputation to help another, that truly counts as a bond of life and death.
"In the end, you're still just a wanted criminal. Even if an affiliated nation backs you, there are limits. But the other party is the king of an affiliated nation, on the same level as King Chap behind you.
Where did you get the courage to go up against him?"
In the eyes of these Cipher Pol agents, wealth cannot rival power. Even if they had dealings with Hamanli in the past, they could not go against orders from higher up.
But on this sea, power is just as worthless in the face of strength. No matter how great the power, without absolute strength to uphold it, it's nothing more than a paper tiger.
Protecting Hardinge would bring the Five Elders no tangible benefit beyond irritating Nereus, while the risks were immeasurable.
Even if they were willing to negotiate, Nereus was already labeled a madman in the eyes of the Five Elders.
And a madman does not necessarily consider the consequences of his actions.
If Nereus were to notice even the slightest clue and make another trip to Mariejois, causing some kind of disturbance that might disturb Imu…
What would happen to Nereus, the Five Elders didn't know, but they themselves might face the risk of being "laid off" by Imu. That was something they absolutely could not accept.
No matter how chaotic the seas become, it fundamentally does not affect the lives of the Celestial Dragons. Without certain key triggers, the Five Elders would never risk themselves for the sake of the World Government's interests.
If Saturn hadn't had too many of his own ideas and personally intervened so frequently, he might not have become the number one target for being laid off.
Unless Imu suddenly intervenes with some new directive, the Five Elders will do their best to maintain the status quo.
"Oh, right. The Commander Hamanli you've been counting on actually wants you dead as well. Quite a few of his gray-market operations can't get past Fishman Island anymore. He's taken heavy losses recently.
So… you can die in peace. On this Red Line, there's probably no one who wants you alive."
When it comes to killing, these Cipher Pol leaders are professionals. The reason they bothered to say all this to Hardinge was simply because they needed to take him to a more secluded place, some appearances still had to be maintained.
"If only we'd run into him while on a mission outside. Now we still have to hand over a cut to the higher-ups…"
"Forget it. You won't be able to swallow all that money alone. You don't want to get shot in the back and 'commit suicide' while on a mission, do you? Compared to that, figuring out how to exchange the money is the real issue."
Exchanging the bounty on the Underworld side wasn't difficult, the problem was Nereus.
It wasn't that Nereus refused exchanges, but these people didn't quite dare to approach him.
Almost no Cipher Pol agents who encountered him survived. Even though the situation had changed, they still didn't dare take that risk.
"What's so hard about that? Just go to the Underworld brokers, they're the experts at this sort of thing."
Seeing the troubled expressions on the two agents, an older one at the side spoke up.
"Haha, true enough. But in the past, it was pirates who went to these middlemen to exchange bounties with us. Now it's the other way around."
In past pirate conflicts, the victor would sometimes turn in their enemies for bounty rewards. Some major pirates who controlled territories would also hand over those who refused to submit in exchange for money. This was how those underground brokers came into existence.
But today, the roles were completely reversed. As the "official" side, they now had to go to those same people to exchange money.
"Who cares? The Berry in hand is real. People might deceive you, but Berry won't. Even if those big shots above take a cut, it's still enough for us to spend freely."
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