In just a few minutes, Den had explained the basic structure of ships and outlined their more vulnerable parts in detail.
"Although ships at sea come in all kinds of styles, their overall structure is mostly the same. What I'm explaining are the most styles.
Unless the hull has been specially reinforced, even a Mermaid, so long as she isn't physically weak, can still do it with simple tools.
Next… there are also some targeted topics. Everyone, please look this way."
Den then demonstrated how to destroy the bottom of a ship more efficiently, before moving on to advanced lessons, and the demonstration prop… was a warship.
In a sense, Fishman Island did not lack Marine warships. Those were all spoils of war from Nereus's past. Some that hadn't been heavily damaged in battle were preserved intact, even if they weren't put into use.
As for those too damaged to sail, they were placed in scrapyards, where materials could be dismantled when needed, and now, they happened to serve as teaching materials.
"If you can accurately locate the ammunition depot and trigger a chain explosion, you could even directly disrupt the enemy's formation. However, although Marine warships are standardized, the location of their ammunition depots is not fixed.
In theory, they could be in any of these positions…
But precisely because they are standardized ships, their hull structures are identical. So if you are attacking a Marine warship, the first priority is to destroy these specific areas…"
To Fishman Island, the Marines were not merely hypothetical enemies. They weren't even given euphemisms—they were directly referred to as enemies.
After all, given Fishman Island's situation, the level of trust and goodwill toward the Marines was about the same as believing in the Celestial Dragons.
More importantly, the Marines served the Celestial Dragons. Even if many among them genuinely sought justice and peace, it did not change the fact that the organization was, at its core, a lackey of the Celestial Dragons.
As accomplices to the Celestial Dragons, their reputation on Fishman Island was naturally poor.
They might not be enemies for now, but that didn't mean they wouldn't become enemies in the future.
[If extreme circumstances arise and Fishman Island can no longer remain habitable, millions of Fishman Island residents will disperse in small groups across the Four Seas, and any ship sailing on the surface may become a target.]
This information had not been made public. After all, the situation hadn't reached that point. This was merely a precaution.
Learning these basic skills was simply to ensure that, if that day ever came, they wouldn't be completely without means of resistance.
Before Den could finish speaking, Nanamo had already left.
What he was teaching was indeed useful, but it was useful for ordinary people. Someone didn't need to be as strong as Nanamo; reaching the level of Arlong in the original timeline would already make such considerations unnecessary when destroying ships.
With just a bit of acceleration, one could directly smash a massive hole into the hull using their own body.
"Millions of underwater saboteurs… that's pretty terrifying. Hopefully things won't come to that. Fishman Island's scenery is actually quite nice."
Nanamo understood what Nereus was trying to convey. Seeing that it was still early, she had no intention of returning to Ryugu Palace yet. But just as she was thinking about where to go next, a newspaper suddenly slapped her in the face.
"A newspaper? Has Fishman Island reached the point where newspapers are flying everywhere?"
News Coo couldn't deliver newspapers into Fishman Island. Normally, newspapers here came from passing pirate ships and merchant vessels. After establishing a new base in the Sabaody Archipelago, there were also people specifically responsible for gathering information.
However, on Fishman Island, newspapers were still an external information resource that relied on manual transportation. They weren't usually scattered around carelessly.
"Princess Nanamo, it's actually because of Morgans. The newspapers he's been publishing recently are in huge quantities, and he'd been constantly updating Hardinge's location in real time."
"You should know that both Lord Nereus and the Underworld have placed bounties on that guy, so the number of people buying newspapers has increased dramatically.
But Lord Nereus also issued a sea ban, and many ships couldn't get through. When the restriction was lifted later, quite a few newspapers were simply discarded like this."
Hermes gathered up the newspapers scattered nearby, checked their dates, and then threw them all into the trash.
News needed to be timely; outdated newspapers weren't of much use to anyone. Once news had already been seen once, bringing it out again would often make it worthless.
"I didn't expect Dad's sea ban to have this kind of side effect. Maybe we should charge those people some kind of sanitation fee so they don't just litter like this."
In truth, the impact hadn't completely ended. Even though the sea routes had been reopened, many people outside were still discussing the matter.
For example, out on the seas of the New World, aboard the Moby Dick.
"Neptune, are you still reading today's paper? That Hardinge has already been taken down. Morgans probably won't keep publishing that kind of news anymore, right?"
Ever since news of Nereus sealing the seas spread, Neptune had been following the situation beneath the sea through newspapers.
Closing off the sea like this was something they had never even imagined before. To the Fishman Island of the past, such a thing was simply impossible.
"He really did it… For the sake of an ordinary citizen, he paid such a price just to make the deep sea known to the world…"
Neptune didn't respond to the question beside him, merely muttering to himself.
Neptune had long known of Nereus's personal strength, but the qualitative change that strength brought after he took control of Fishman Island was something Neptune had never imagined.
"Neptune, stop overthinking it. The reason he can do this is because he's strong. Even though he hasn't made many moves these past years, the name Nereus is still well known among pirates in the New World.
Including me, no one wants to face him in the deep sea.
And those senior officers under his command only obey his orders. That power is the foundation that lets him accomplish all this."
At this moment, Whitebeard had the perspective of an outsider and could see things more clearly than Neptune, who was caught up in it. Simply commanding those officers wasn't enough.
Without Nereus's "absolute strength," causing such a huge commotion would bring far more consequences. Although it would likely still be resolved in the end, Fishman Island would have to suffer casualties, rather than finishing things unscathed like this.
"Pops! Today's new paper has more news about the Ryugu Kingdom!"
Up in the lookout tower, a pirate took the day's newspaper from a News Coo. After a quick glance, he shouted down to Whitebeard and Neptune below.
By now, Whitebeard had begun widely taking in adopted sons. Aside from Neptune, everyone on the ship called him "Pops."
They also knew of Whitebeard's relationship with Neptune and understood how much Neptune cared about news from that side.
Before Nereus sealed the seas, time had already reached the end of the year 1508. The sea ban lasted for over a month, and with everything that happened before and after, it was now already the year 1509.
The Levely, held once every four years, was about to begin again, and the Ryugu Kingdom would participate as one of the fifty nations attending the conference, becoming a subject of news coverage.
"Participating in the Levely…"
Neptune, who had just snapped back to his senses, fell silent again upon hearing this news. The last time Fishman Island participated in the Levely had been nearly 170 years ago.
That time, the Fish-Men and Mermaids had gained the legal status of "human," but nothing had truly changed.
After that, Fishman Island had not stopped trying to change things, but they had never succeeded.
This time, Nereus seemed to have changed everything through real action.
"Compared to that… the part after this is more important, isn't it? Bounty revoked, a misunderstanding… Gurararara! The World Government really dares to say anything. This counts as a misunderstanding?
Just what exactly did that guy do in Mariejois that day?"
Looking at the latter part of the newspaper, Whitebeard suddenly burst into laughter.
A king of an affiliated nation, especially one attending the conference, naturally couldn't be a pirate. But even Whitebeard hadn't expected the World Government to directly revoke that massive bounty of five billion.
In truth, the bounty had already been secretly revoked, but the World Government had only now chosen to officially announce it.
Curious, Whitebeard immediately flipped to the next page. Morgans was quite skilled at creating suspense. The previous page only mentioned the revocation, but not the reason.
Though their relationship wasn't particularly close, Whitebeard had known Nereus for many years. He knew how much Marine blood was on Nereus's hands, and was extremely curious what kind of explanation the World Government would use.
[Regarding the matter of the enormous bounty on King Nereus of the Ryugu Kingdom, it originally stemmed from a misunderstanding…]
[The World Government had long ago reached an agreement with him. King Nereus's pirate identity was merely a disguise used to assist the World Government in eliminating pirates…]
[The Mariejois incident was also a misunderstanding. The root cause was that a high-ranking World Government official, due to personal grievances against King Nereus, ignored the highest orders and initiated a private act of revenge…]
"Gurararara…"
The "negotiation" after the previous Levely had already been covered up by the World Government as a natural disaster involving a meteor, so what they were concealing now were the events from before that.
With a single phrase, "misunderstanding", they had practically turned Nereus into an undercover agent planted among pirates by the World Government. The sight made Whitebeard's crescent-shaped mustache tremble as he burst into loud laughter.
As someone who knew Nereus fairly well, he was certain all of this was nonsense from the World Government. They must have reached some secret agreement behind the scenes.
Even Nereus killing those Marines was casually blamed on other members of the Rocks Pirates by a few words from the World Government.
Even the battle between Salazar and Nereus had been categorized as a "private conflict." The World Government didn't consider what the Marines themselves thought at all.
This was all meant for the other affiliated nations to see. As long as it could smooth things over on the surface with the other kings, it was enough.
But thinking about it carefully, for the World Government to accept something like "sacrificing" a Marine Fleet Admiral, the agreement reached behind the scenes was probably beyond estimation.
[Over the past four years, King Nereus has made tremendous contributions to combating pirates. In the Florian Triangle, he has eradicated a large number of pirates, greatly maintaining the stability of the seas…]
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