In the afternoon at Coral Hill, the sunlight transmitted by Eve passed through the double refraction of the seawater and bubble membrane before falling upon the land of the Ryugu Kingdom.
Because of the frequent expansion of the satellite islands in recent years, as the light shifted, the shadows would sway along with it, eventually sketching out a unique scene within this deep-sea nation.
Shyarly was currently standing in front of a building in the central area of Coral Hill, holding the property documents in her hand.
The paper was the specially made waterproof paper most commonly used on Fishman Island, and the ink on it had also undergone a special setting treatment, leaving the writing clear.
At fifteen years old this year, she had already moved out of the orphanage. After completing her basic education, she graduated from Fishman Island's school and purchased a property of her own in Coral Hill.
The first floor was a commercial storefront, while the upper floors were her private residence. The large words "Mermaid Cafe" had already been written on the signboard, and from the looks of it, the place had already been open for some time.
"You... when did you buy this?"
"A few months ago, while you were away on duty."
Shyarly spoke calmly to the sawshark Fish-Man beside her, but it sounded rather different to Arlong's ears.
Arlong had only just returned from the first half of the Grand Line. As a member of the Neptune Army, his return to Fishman Island this time was simply for a normal vacation.
Although constantly being called "Shyarly's Big Brother" irritated Arlong, he still cared about this younger sister who shared his blood.
He had originally come to see how Shyarly was doing, whether anyone had bullied her, and so on.
Even though the overall environment of the Ryugu Kingdom was developing in a positive direction, it was still impossible to completely avoid scum who seemed rotten from birth.
Environment shaped people, but even under the same environment, two entirely different kinds of people could emerge.
"Do you still have enough money? I've got another four hundred and seventy thousand Berry here."
Four hundred and seventy thousand Berry was not a large sum. As long as one was not living in some sea where prices were absurdly low, an ordinary person could save that much in a few months after deducting living expenses.
Compared to the salary conditions of the Neptune Army, that amount seemed rather small, but Arlong had never been the type who could save money.
Holding banquets, buying alcohol, financially helping some of his fellow Fish-Men, spending money at amusement parks in various places, and similar expenses left Arlong living almost paycheck to paycheck.
Shyarly did not turn around. Her gaze rested on the signature section at the bottom of the document, and her fingertips lightly brushed over the newly stamped embossed seal of the Ryugu Kingdom.
"Four hundred and seventy thousand Berry is only loose change. It probably wouldn't even buy the restroom in the cafe."
"..."
The corner of Arlong's mouth twitched slightly. Sometimes he wanted to establish some authority as an older brother, but he always forgot that aside from combat strength, Shyarly crushed him in practically every aspect.
Through fortune-telling, Shyarly had long since accumulated wealth far beyond Arlong's imagination.
Shyarly was not some child who spent all day hugging a crystal ball and asking, "Will there be sunlight today?"
Her fortune-telling was not superstition, but a special channel of information that could even predict fragments of the future.
"Speaking of which, why are you running a cafe? Just doing a few divinations every day should be enough to cover your expenses, right?"
"Because I don't really want to do fortune-telling anymore."
"Hm?"
Hearing Shyarly say this, Arlong suddenly found it rather strange.
"You used to divine everything. What to eat, where to go—even when buying a single seashell, you would ask your crystal ball first."
"I was practicing back then. Fortune-telling doesn't only show beautiful futures. There are tragedies too. Seeing too much of that... makes you feel very uncomfortable."
Sometimes, even Shyarly did not know what result fortune-telling would ultimately bring about.
Was it because she told others the result after divining it, and those people then tried to change the future, only to accidentally bring about that very outcome? Or was it simply because they lacked the ability to change it in the first place? Shyarly herself was not certain.
Because she did not want to keep seeing terrible futures that she could not change, Shyarly had decided not to continue fortune-telling.
"I no longer do divinations for outsiders. I only perform some divinations for official matters of the Ryugu Kingdom."
Arlong had joined the Neptune Army to contribute his strength toward the future of Fishman Island, while fortune-telling was Shyarly's own way of contributing—predicting the movements of human traffickers, protecting some of their fellow Fish-Men, and so on.
"Is it difficult for you?"
"No. Divining things for the kingdom is actually fine. Even if the result is bad, His Majesty Nereus will go and change it. The few times my predictions failed were all because His Majesty intervened.
He brought those compatriots who should never have returned back to their homeland…"
"Shahahaha! That's His Majesty Nereus, the unprecedented king Fishman Island hasn't seen in centuries. Isn't that only natural?"
"Whew... yeah..."
"Who taught you to smoke?"
Watching a few smoke rings drift from the pipe in Shyarly's hand, Arlong felt as though the string called reason in his mind was about to snap.
"I was irritated for a while and wanted to try it. Later I found it wasn't bad. Plenty of those colleagues around you smoke too, don't they? What's so strange about it?"
"You..."
Arlong wanted to stop Shyarly, but he could not find any good reason. After all, this did not seem like much of a serious matter.
"Forget it. Just smoke less. I'm heading to East Blue later. I might not be back for two or three years."
"Oh? Congratulations. You're finally being sent on an overseas stationing assignment?"
Although it meant being far from home, in the Ryugu Kingdom this was actually a sign of promotion. Tiger, Otohime, Jinbe, and the others all had records of being stationed in other seas.
"But why East Blue? Shouldn't it be North Blue?"
"The Ryugu Kingdom is developing too. Establishing ties with other countries and searching for overseas footholds throughout the Four Seas are all part of His Majesty's national policy. Looks like you don't pay much attention to this sort of thing usually?"
"I really haven't."
"Alright. Even though you don't do fortune-telling for outsiders anymore, I'm still your brother. How about divining what I'll experience afterward?"
Put another way, as long as someone had a few connections and relationships, it was still possible to get Shyarly to perform another divination.
Since Arlong had taken the initiative to ask, Shyarly picked up her crystal ball again.
"Your future... is intertwined with money. As long as you keep your head, stay cautious, and act carefully, you won't run into any danger. You may even encounter opportunities."
Shyarly interpreted the images she saw within the crystal ball, and the mention of money made Arlong somewhat excited.
"Will Princess Nanamo get involved?"
"Why would you say that? I didn't see anything about Princess Nanamo."
"Of course it's because aside from music, the princess likes money. You know that human named Tesoro, right?
"That guy doesn't even share our bloodline, but because he can both sing and make money, he's now one of Princess Nanamo's favorites. He can even get a word in with His Majesty Nereus."
Arlong's personality was not beyond correction. The period he had spent with Koala had already changed him somewhat. In the original timeline, if Tiger had not died on Foolshout Island, Arlong's future would have changed as well.
Now, when he mentioned Tesoro, there was no hatred toward humans in Arlong's tone, only envy toward Tesoro's opportunities.
In Arlong's view, Tesoro certainly had ability, but even more importantly, he had managed to establish a connection with Nanamo. Otherwise, it would not have been so easy for him to develop to this extent.
"I'm not sure. The future is vague to begin with. Maybe Princess Nanamo will go there someday?"
"That actually sounds pretty good."
Regardless of what Shyarly had divined, at least at this moment, Arlong had gained stronger confidence in his future.
At this time, East Blue's average level of strength remained the same as ever.
More precisely, ever since Garp learned that he had a grandson and began taking annual leave every year, the average strength of pirates in East Blue had been suppressed to an extremely low level.
No matter how strong a rookie was, they could not withstand a monster coming over every now and then to plow through the place.
Therefore, the Neptune Army exploration team heading to East Blue was not excessively strong either. Arlong's talent could not be considered genius-level, but he had undergone Fishman Island's elite training and had developed a relatively rudimentary grasp of Armament Haki.
Although he had made little progress with Observation Haki, that was still more than enough in East Blue.
Because the overseas assignment would last a long time, Arlong selected several subordinates he was relatively familiar with, such as Hachi and Kuroobi.
However, before departure, one person joined the group carrying official transfer orders.
Looking at this huge fellow who was nearly two stories tall, Arlong once again felt that the world had become incomprehensible.
"How tall are you?"
"A little over six meters."
"You're fourteen this year?"
"Yeah."
The huge fellow in front of Arlong nodded, then said in a muffled voice, "It's all written there."
Arlong was certain that the young man before him was an exceptionally rare giant of a fellow. He was heavily muscled, wore a braid at the back of his head, and had two braided plaits in front. His dark yellow hair looked as though it had not been cut in a very long time.
Arlong had also heard a little about this fellow Fish-Man named Jack. Supposedly, he was a genius among the younger generation.
"His Majesty Nereus said you're more tactful, so he wants me to learn from you for a while and not act as recklessly as Master Big Pan. So for the time being, I've been assigned to your squad."
With official transfer orders from above, Arlong naturally had no reason to refuse. Besides, when it came to helping fellow Fish-Men, Arlong had always done so unconditionally.
Still, Arlong was rather curious just how dense this guy really was.
"Although His Majesty has temporarily assigned you to our squad, there's quite an age gap between us, and none of us really know you yet. That'll make it difficult to assign you tasks in the future.
So, let's have a little spar. Let me see what you're capable of."
In the military, the size of one's fist meant a certain amount of authority. Among those currently in charge outside Fishman Island, apart from Otohime who lacked direct combat capability, everyone else was more than capable of holding their own in the seas under their responsibility.
Arlong also wanted to see just how capable this so-called genius really was.
"Is that alright?"
Jack scratched his head, looking rather conflicted.
"It's fine. We'll do it right here. Just go ahead and make a move. Let me see—"
Bang.
Before Arlong could finish speaking, Jack threw a punch. Despite his seemingly clumsy body, his fist moved with astonishing speed.
By the time everyone else reacted, Arlong had already been sent flying several meters and was lying on the ground.
"Nyuuuuu! Boss Arlong!"
Hachi exerted all six of his arms at once and pulled Arlong up from the ground, but Arlong quickly shoved him away.
"I'm fine! You think I'd be taken down by a youngster in one hit?! I just wasn't ready!
Now I understand why His Majesty Nereus wants you to learn from me about how to conduct yourself..."
After giving the others a brief explanation, Arlong turned his gaze back to Jack.
"I didn't tell you to attack! This is a spar, not a battle! You only start when I say start! Understand?!"
"Oh."
Jack nodded heavily, seemingly indicating that he had firmly memorized Arlong's words.
"Ready... start!"
Boom!
This time, Arlong was fully prepared and assumed a defensive stance, but once the word "start" left his mouth, the result was no different.
If anything had changed, it was that Arlong flew even farther.
Arlong had thought Jack had already used quite a bit of strength with the previous punch, but he had never imagined that it had only been an insignificant probe.
Although Arlong had fully braced himself defensively this time, Jack also had not thrown his punch as casually as he had before.
"Senior Arlong, Boss Jinbe is stronger than you. I didn't even use my full strength."
While Arlong's head was still spinning, he heard Jack say this. Arlong had long known that Jinbe was stronger than him. In all the years they had known each other, he had never once beaten Jinbe.
Whether it was training in Fish-Man Karate or mastering Haki, the same was true. The more they learned, the wider the gap Jinbe opened between them, and Arlong had long since gotten used to it.
In Arlong's eyes, Jinbe was already worthy of being called a monster. Now it seemed Jack was also the kind of monster whose talent placed him overwhelmingly ahead of everyone else.
The problem was that Jack then said something absolutely terrifying.
"The other seniors in the Neptune Army told me that calling you 'Shyarly's Big Brother' would help us get closer. If you don't mind, from now on I can—"
"Shut up!!"
At this moment, Arlong understood. The huge fellow in front of him really was "straightforward." As long as someone had a decent relationship with him, he would believe practically anything they told him.
It had taken Arlong many years to gradually reclaim his own name, and he had no desire to once again be referred to in that way.
"Those guys are messing with you. Just call me Arlong. Senior, Boss, whatever you want is fine, just don't call me 'Shyarly's Big Brother'!"
"Oh."
Seeing that Arlong could still speak with such vigor after taking that punch, Jack's evaluation of him actually rose slightly. At the very least, he could take a hit.
But Arlong had simply had a sensitive keyword triggered. Even though Jack had not used the strength he would in a life-or-death fight, those two punches still left Arlong feeling as though his bones were about to fall apart.
"I think I know what you need to learn now... We'll be spending quite some time together. Do you have any dreams?"
"Dreams? I want to find a Devil Fruit too."
"Hm? You actually want to become a Devil Fruit user? That's pretty rare for a Fish-Man."
Most Fish-Men were resistant to Devil Fruits. After all, for most of them, eating a Devil Fruit was equivalent to sealing away one of their methods of movement.
"I don't reject things like that. They can bring power. Ideally, I'd like one that gives me wings like His Majesty Nereus."
In the original timeline, Jack believed elephants were the strongest animals and ate the Mammoth Fruit, perhaps in part because the will of a Zoan-type fruit had chosen him as well.
But now, Jack's understanding of strength had changed, so naturally his choice had changed too.
Nereus himself was synonymous with the greatest strength on Fishman Island, and most of his family members possessed either wings or the ability to fly. This had given Jack a new yearning for the sky…
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