Chapter 133: The God Descending Upon Wano Country
The shipping business he could do, Fish-man Island could do as well.
The shipping routes he had, Fish-man Island also had, and they even possessed stronger military force.
Moreover, Nanamo was Nereus's daughter. If she really wanted this business...
Before he knew it, sweat began to bead on Umit's forehead again as he seemingly pondered how to deal with the upcoming situation.
"Don't worry, you're doing quite well. She's just joking around."
Sensing the change in Umit's emotions, Nereus reassured him a bit. Nereus truly looked down on the shipping smuggling business.
Sitting at the Fish-man Island chokepoint to collect tolls yielded higher profits and had lower costs.
Furthermore, Fish-man Island was now an official member nation. He had no need to personally engage in this kind of gray-industry trade. The profits from state-to-state trade far exceeded these petty operations in the underworld.
"I have other matters to attend to, so I won't delay you any longer. If you encounter any trouble you can't solve, you can contact me."
Leaving these words behind, Nereus quickly departed the island, following the direction of the Eternal Pose towards Wano Country.
Sometime later, in the mountain forests of the Kuri region in western Wano Country, two figures, one large and one small, were hiding.
"Damn it, what kind of country is this?! The humans here are completely different from those on Delta Island!"
The smaller figure was unhappily complaining about this country.
This person was exactly Kawamatsu. Nereus hadn't remembered incorrectly; due to ocean currents, Kawamatsu and his mother had accidentally drifted to Wano Country.
Although the Fish-man race could breathe freely in seawater, excessively violent ocean currents still posed dangers to those with weaker strength.
And the ocean currents near Wano Country could be described as extremely perilous, with massive whirlpools distributed throughout. In these unfamiliar waters, Kawamatsu's mother sustained some injuries and was unable to swim long distances in the short term.
Coupled with the barrier of the dangerous outer currents, the two of them were temporarily unable to return to Fish-man Island.
And the residents on the island made Kawamatsu experience the ugly side of human nature.
The moment those people saw them, they shouted things like "monster" and "yokai" without a word of explanation, chasing and beating the mother and son with stones and wooden clubs.
"The Fish-man race has a very long history of being discriminated against in this world... Over a hundred years ago, we were even classified as mere fish.
This changed later, but the general situation remained the same. Since His Majesty Nereus took power, he has truly changed our status and given us the right to dialogue as equals."
Kawamatsu's mother clutched the wound on her shoulder, telling Kawamatsu about past events.
She had blocked most of the stones and similar objects thrown by those Wano Country residents, but her already frail body sustained significant injuries.
Added to her previous injuries, she was extremely weak right now.
"The humans on Delta Island received favors from His Majesty Nereus and understand our situation better, so they don't discriminate... This country must still be in an isolated state...
Otherwise, they wouldn't use 'yokai' to refer to us...
Let's hide first. Once my injuries heal, we will return to Fish-man Island..."
Unlike the original timeline, after Nereus took power, a custom of all citizens practicing martial arts to strengthen their bodies emerged on Fish-man Island. Many dojos even popped up to teach combat skills to Fish-men and Merfolk.
Although Kawamatsu's mother was still relatively weak, she wasn't completely without combat capability and didn't die directly in Wano Country.
"Mom, you rest here. I'll go to the sea to find something to eat."
Compared to foraging for food in the mountain forests, Kawamatsu, who had taken some wilderness survival classes, was better at catching food in the water.
The forest they were hiding in was very close to the sea, and Kawamatsu felt he would have no problem.
On the coast of Kuri, a figure wearing a woven hat had just swum ashore from the sea.
"Damn it, I hate this country. Why are the fish in the water so weird too?!"
Kawamatsu didn't catch any fish; instead, he was almost eaten by one in a single bite. For some unknown reason, the inland sea here was inhabited by a type of giant carp, whose eyeballs alone were larger than Kawamatsu's head.
Because his body was also very weak, Kawamatsu was no match for that carp, ultimately fleeing back to shore looking rather disheveled.
Then, he saw two other people lying like corpses on the coast.
"Hey, hey... are you guys still alive? You're from the Mink Tribe, right? Why are you here?"
Picking up a branch, Kawamatsu cautiously poked the two suspected corpses in front of him; one looked like a cat, the other like a dog.
If it hadn't been taught in textbooks and if he hadn't seen other Minks on Fish-man Island, Kawamatsu really wouldn't have dared to approach.
What Kawamatsu didn't notice was that while he was focusing on these two Minks, a group of local Wano Country residents were observing him.
"What is this?"
"Dog yokai... cat yokai... and a kappa? Why are there so many yokai... Is this coast cursed?"
Hundreds of years of national isolation had a massive impact on the residents of Wano Country, and their perception was one aspect of it. Devil Fruit abilities were seen here as sorcery or ninjutsu, and demi-human races were equated with yokai.
Taking advantage of Kawamatsu preparing to rescue these two drowning Minks, the people behind him launched a sneak attack.
When Kawamatsu woke up again, he was already tied to a wooden frame, and a crowd of people was clamoring to burn them all to death to dispel the curse.
"Wano Country is terrible! Where is the brotherhood here?!"
"Damn it, I knew I shouldn't have set out to sea!"
"I'm not a yokai! I am of the Fish-man race! A citizen of the Ryugu Kingdom! You ignorant fools can't do this! If you burn me to death, Lord Nereus will definitely avenge me!
Lord Nereus! If you can hear me... please save me!"
The Minks were complaining about setting out to sea, and because of the changes and education on Fish-man Island, Kawamatsu didn't yell about being a kappa at this time, but emphasized an objective fact.
"Nereus... what a strange name. What is that?"
"Wait! Ryugu? Could that be an alias for the Great God Toyotama-hiko? Could it be... he's not a yokai? Is he a messenger of the Sea God?"
Nereus's title indeed held no sway here, but isolation had its own characteristics. The belief in gods, spirits, and yokai was clearly much stronger here.
The term "Ryugu" (Dragon Palace) made the locals associate it with matters concerning gods.
"Put out the fire first! It'll be terrible if we truly anger a god!"
The crowd frantically began to extinguish the fire, but they didn't dare untie the ropes. At this moment, they couldn't determine whether these were yokai or messengers of a god.
"How about we report to the Daimyo and let him decide this matter..."
Thud...
Before he could finish his sentence, the person next to him dropped straight to his knees.
From the perspective of the Wano Country residents, an auspicious white cloud was floating in the sky not far away, and the person sitting atop the cloud seemed to be a god himself.
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