Chapter 131: Kaido: I Feel Like I Lost Something
On the first day back to school, having a student missing was definitely not good news for a homeroom teacher. If the missing student were Arlong or Jinbe, he would be a bit calmer.
The Jinbe of this time wasn't the righteous "Knight of the Sea" yet; in his youth, he was a bit of a troublemaker and belonged to the restless type in class. It wouldn't be impossible for him to forget about the start of school because he was playing too hard.
But Kawamatsu had a "good kid" persona in class; he shouldn't be late at a time like this.
"I saw him the first two days of the vacation. Kawamatsu said he was going out with his mom for a bit. After that, I haven't seen them."
"Otohime, lead them in self-study for a while. The teacher has something to do and needs to step out..."
Although many of the subject teachers were humans from Delta Island, the homeroom teachers were still assumed by local residents of Fish-man Island.
That was a two-month-long vacation. If they left two months ago and there was still no news now, then it wasn't an issue of skipping class; it had to be reported as a missing persons case.
Nowadays, the safety factor of Fish-man Island had drastically improved. The number of outsiders who dared to engage in dangerous activities on the island had plummeted.
But if citizens left Fish-man Island on their own, such things were impossible to predict. Not to mention there were also citizens residing abroad like Tom, who only returned to Fish-man Island once every few years.
Usually, it was only after relatives or friends discovered that the person was overdue to return that a subsequent action plan could be formulated.
Nowadays on Fish-man Island, the location information of registered citizens remained a highly scrutinized issue.
After the homeroom teacher reported the news, the relevant information was passed up through the ranks, eventually arriving directly before Nereus.
"Someone's missing?"
"Big Bro, they didn't go missing on the island. It seems this mother and son went to the outer sea on their own but never returned. I investigated the information regarding the ship they took; it appears to have encountered a shipwreck and sank.
I have already notified the factions affiliated with us along the nearby shipping routes to keep a close eye out for this matter, but..."
Sebastian didn't finish his sentence. If this were an ordinary human country, doing this wouldn't be a problem.
For people who encounter a shipwreck like this, being able to wash ashore on an uninhabitable deserted island is considered lucky. Drifting on a small boat or simply dying in the shipwreck is the norm.
But these two people were Fish-men. Even if the ship sank, the people wouldn't be in danger. Under normal circumstances, they should have been able to swim back to Fish-man Island.
Being gone for so long without returning meant that some kind of accident had likely occurred.
"Where they are... I can roughly determine that."
Looking at the photo and names on the missing persons report, Nereus already had a general judgment in his heart.
If nothing unexpected happened, this mother and son should have accidentally drifted to Wano Country. This was exactly the root cause of Kawamatsu being taken in by Kozuki Oden and becoming his retainer.
"The people from the Tontatta Tribe contacted me earlier. There's news about the mangrove saplings I commissioned them to cultivate. It just so happens I was planning to make a trip out.
I'll go look for this mother and son. Call Big Pan over; I need to investigate some things and will need his ability.
Fish-man Island will maintain the status quo during this time, and don't stop the original search efforts either. If I have accurate news, I will notify you."
Scarlett's birthdate had been pushed forward by several years; who knew if there would be other changes?
The situation in Wano Country was also rather special. The Pluton buried underneath could only be considered one of the special circumstances.
The Kozuki Clan participated in the creation of the Poneglyphs back then. Although they had always been in a state of isolation, there were many powerhouses within the country, as well as many excellent swordsmiths.
In terms of resources, they had the unique sword-forging and blade-crafting mineral—Liquor Iron Ore. It was also the only currently known place of origin for Seastone, and they mastered unique Seastone processing techniques.
The Seastone products used across the sea today were all brought out from Wano Country over long periods of time.
Currently, the strongest person in Wano Country was the 26-year-old Kozuki Oden. 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 had sufficient strength, even if they were lacking in other areas, the impact wouldn't be major.
"Old man, are you going to take Big Pan out? I'm already prepared!"
A short while later, Big Pan arrived at Nereus's side, and right beside him was Nanamo.
Based on her understanding of Nereus, if Nereus truly had some urgent matter requiring him to take Big Pan out, then Hermes was an essential assistant.
After all, Big Pan couldn't fly on his own. Even for Nereus, carrying such a massive living person outside wasn't easy; ultimately, he would still rely on Hermes, who could change his size.
Under normal circumstances, whenever Hermes was needed, Nanamo would tag along. Except for that operation in Mary Geoise where he didn't bring her, Nereus would usually let her follow along to gain experience.
"What's wrong? Old man, you're not going to tell me you don't plan to take me this time either, are you?"
While saying this, Nanamo was tossing things into Hermes's belly from time to time, preparing items they might need for the trip.
"No, you can tag along this time. But you know my habits. If you fail the pop quizzes, I'll give you extra training when we get back."
"That's fine. Even if I have to do extra training later, I still want to go out and play. Staying on Fish-man Island all the time is no fun."
[That's right, Princess Nanamo, this is exactly the attitude! You have to act like you're working very hard. It seems you actually did take my previous advice into consideration...]
Hermes, who was currently packing luggage, felt a little touched in his heart. But as a Homie, his thinking was still a bit shallow; he didn't realize that Nanamo's main focus was more on "going out to play."
While Nanamo and Nereus were preparing for their trip, an uninvited guest appeared on the ship of MADS.
As MADS sailed to their current location, a figure suddenly descended from the sky. If the person hadn't exercised some control, they would have almost smashed a massive hole in the deck.
"Kaido? Why are you here?"
"Isn't this Wobigong? Urorororo, long time no see. I'm hungry, got any food?"
Seeing an acquaintance on the ship, Kaido reined himself in a bit and changed his original plan.
"We do have some. If you had come a year earlier, you could have seen Buckin too, but she left last year."
"Last year? I was still in the World Government's research facility back then. Accidentally got caught by those guys, and it took quite a bit of effort to escape...
But Wobigong, I remember back on Beehive Island, you seemed to have mentioned that you could divine the future."
"What about it?"
"Although I don't really believe in this kind of stuff, I don't know why, but when I left the lab last year, I always felt weird, like something that originally belonged to me had been snatched away..."
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