"Captain Sasaki, what are we waiting for here?"
Sasaki's crew still consisted of his old subordinates. Most of the pirates who joined the Hundred Beasts mid-journey were like this; the Hundred Beasts had no intention of splitting up their subordinates but instead allowed the original captains to command their former men.
"Waiting for someone. It's Captain Kaidou's order, don't ask so many questions."
He didn't know exactly who he was meeting, he just conveyed his location to the other party.
"You guys can do whatever you want, I'll wait here by myself."
After waiting for a while and not seeing the contact, Sasaki instructed his subordinates to go do what they wanted. But at this moment, a familiar voice came to his ear.
"Sasaki?"
"Mom?"
"M... Mom?!"
Hearing Sasaki's address, there was a burst of exclamation from the surrounding subordinates.
"Captain, is this woman your mother?"
"I told you not to call me Captain, I'm not a captain anymore. She's my mom, is there a problem?"
After Sasaki joined the Hundred Beasts, he relinquished his captain's title, but his former subordinates weren't used to it yet and would still call him by his old title during missions.
Sasaki wasn't angry about this, but the next sentence almost made him lose his composure.
"Sasaki boss, I can't believe you have a mom..."
Pah!
It wasn't Sasaki who acted, but the subordinate next to him, who briskly pulled the guy who couldn't speak properly aside and then scolded him, "Are you an idiot? Is it like you came out of a rock instead of having a mom!!"
Sometimes hitting was for their own good. Saying "I can't believe you have a mom" in front of others was just sarcasm.
"Go do what you need to, don't bother me."
Seeing his mom appear, Sasaki urged his subordinates to leave promptly.
Under Sasaki's urging, the subordinates quickly disappeared from his sight, leaving only Sasaki and his mother.
"When you suddenly set sail, your brother and I were very surprised."
"What's there to be surprised about? I just went to pursue my dreams. How about you and big brother?"
"Same as ever. Do you have any plans for coming back this time?"
"Just carrying out a mission, I'll be leaving again in a while."
Sasaki hadn't intended to reunite with his mom. His older brother was still with her, and considering her identity, there wasn't much threat in Water 7, so there was no need to worry.
Meeting again would only bring new farewells. So it was better not to meet. Before his dream was realized, he didn't intend to return home. Being an ordinary shipwright in Water 7 was not his goal.
While Sasaki was chatting with his mom, his Rotom Phone emitted a faint electric shock to remind him that the contact had arrived.
"Robin? What brings you here?"
"Kokoro granny? I'm here to meet someone, why are you here?"
Robin called out the name of Sasaki's mother—Kokoro, a mermaid.
She had admired Tom and come to Water 7 but later married a local human, something unknown to the inhabitants of Fishman Island due to her long absence.
During her days in Water 7, she worked as a beautiful secretary at Tom's Studio and gave birth to a half-mermaid child—Sasaki's brother.
She later had Sasaki with a member of the Fishman Race.
This was the source of Sasaki's fangs and horns. He wasn't like Ulti and Page One; rather, he was part of the Fishman Race. The fangs and sharp horns were manifestations of fishman blood.
Robin had met Kokoro a few times when she was in Water 7 looking for work, so she recognized her, but seeing Kokoro at the rendezvous point also left Robin a bit puzzled.
Seeing the Rotom Phone in Robin's hand, Sasaki understood that she was the one the Hundred Beasts had arranged to meet here.
"She's my mom. The information said it's not a confidential mission, so it should be okay, right?"
He really didn't know the specific task, but he knew it wasn't a secret mission, otherwise, he wouldn't be waiting here openly. Running into his mom was unexpected for him.
According to his past memory, whether going to work or wandering around, Kokoro would never pass through this area.
"Nothing much, just a small matter."
Robin's tasks in Water 7 were almost accomplished. Some family members knowing her identity wasn't a big issue, and the reason she applied for manpower wasn't complicated either.
She planned to bring the latest archaeological data and the information she collected on the Sea Train back to Ghost Island while handling the pirates in Water 7 and preventing any unexpected situations during her investigation.
Those World Government agents weren't any secret agency—they were the lowest-level agents, and Sasaki at this level was enough to handle them.
Dealing with the pirates in Water 7 was also because of Tesoro. Since the new store opened, there weren't enough staffing, causing frequent harassment from passing pirates.
Originally, Tesoro should have handled it, but he's been busy expanding his operations recently, and since Robin also needed manpower, he let her handle both.
Over the past few years, Sasaki had been sparring with Aggron and hadn't made a big name for himself, even his bounty remained at 88 million Belly, the same as before joining the Hundred Beasts.
Thus, Kokoro didn't know what her youngest son had been through these years, but she learned from his words that he'd joined some incredible pirate group.
Ultimately, Sasaki chose not to return home and directly started carrying out his task. The stationary bounty did not mean a stagnation in strength. Compared to a few years ago, Sasaki had made qualitative progress.
Not to mention, with the powerful defense brought by the Bastiodon, there were scarcely anyone in the First Half of the Grand Line who could harm him. Also, in their chat, he learned his brother was now married and had a child named Chimney.
A child with one-fourth mermaid blood, though unable to breathe underwater, this blood could grant her excellent swimming ability.
Meanwhile, a seemingly ordinary ship was approaching Water 7, but all the crew members were fishmen.
"Big brother, why are we here?"
"To find someone to build us a new ship, and conveniently deliver a letter for Dan. On this island lives a marine genius, Uncle Tom, known as the world's greatest shipwright."
This was a new exploration team formed by Tiger, aiming to search for Sacred Objects around the world. For this purpose, they needed a superior ship, and hence this trip was to visit Tom.
On another side of the island, Spandam's CP5 was also on its way to Water 7.