Chapter 12: Homies
"Is that Lord Nereus's daughter? She's so cute~ I heard Lord Nereus split up with that woman a long time ago. I really want to be her stepmother..."
By the roadside, a female pirate dressed very provocatively spoke her mind without reservation to the pirate beside her.
As an island of pirates, Hachinosu was a place that worshipped strength. Nereus had good looks and top-tier power.
Coupled with the "bonus point" that he was uniquely uninterested in Shakky's charm, women like her weren't uncommon.
"Keep dreaming. Why would Lord Nereus look at trash like you? The mermaids around him are far more beautiful than you."
"Can't I even imagine it?!"
"You'd be better off thinking about your next move. It looks like there's going to be big action on the island soon. Who knows what the Rocks Pirates' leaders are discussing."
While these pirates whispered, they didn't notice a mound of earth moving slowly forward underground nearby. The direction of its movement perfectly matched Nanamo's path.
As it passed them, a giant head suddenly popped out of the mound.
"She's right. Big Bro doesn't like people like you. Puh-hee~ Puh-hee-hee-hee."
After saying this, the head burrowed back underground.
"Who... who was that?"
"I don't know. A... Fish-man?"
"Can Fish-men... swim in the dirt?"
This happened all along the way. A giant head would pop out of the ground from time to time, observe the situation, and then shrink back, startling quite a few people.
He wasn't an enemy, but Big Pan, whom Nereus had mentioned earlier was following Nanamo.
Big Pan was also a Devil Fruit user. For most Fish-men, the inability to swim was a huge negative side effect.
But some Devil Fruits were surprisingly compatible with Fish-men. For example, the Swim-Swim Fruit (Sui Sui no Mi) that Big Pan ate.
It had nothing to do with water itself; it simply allowed the user to treat the ground and walls like water, swimming freely within them.
For humans, the boost from this fruit was minimal. In the original timeline, this was the fruit eaten by Senor Pink of the Donquixote Family.
For Senor Pink, the fruit didn't offer much enhancement other than some sneak attack methods.
However, the Lineage Factor produced by this fruit was also used by Vegapunk in Seraphim S-Shark—the Jinbe version of the Seraphim.
With the help of this fruit, the Fish-man version of the Seraphim could treat the ground as water, using Fish-Man Karate and Fish-Man Jujutsu to manipulate the earth, causing landslides and fissures with a single punch.
Big Pan's combat talent was significantly lower than the other three executives. So, after finding this Devil Fruit, Nereus gave it to Big Pan to bolster his strength.
This way, for Big Pan, even land became his home turf.
Not only could he swim and ambush on land, but he could even breathe underground.
With Big Pan's massive body swimming beneath the surface, Nanamo soon arrived at Charlotte Linlin's territory—the dock on the other side of the island.
However, the atmosphere here was heavy.
The other children of the Charlotte Family weren't as happy as Nanamo.
Charlotte Brulee was lying there. A grotesque scar ran across her entire face. The blood on her face and her soaked clothes were enough to show this was a fresh wound.
Standing beside her was a boy with short magenta hair, sharp teeth, and stitched scars on both sides of his mouth.
Only 10 years old, his face was filled with rage and disbelief as he looked at Brulee lying on the ground.
"What happened? What's going on?! Why is Brulee hurt so badly?!"
"It was those guys you taught a lesson to earlier. They came for revenge."
The eldest son, Perospero, answered the boy's question. This angry boy was Charlotte Linlin's second son—Charlotte Katakuri.
An offspring with exceptional talent. Although only 10 years old, he had already displayed extraordinary combat power.
The scars on his mouth weren't from battle; he had torn his own mouth open just to eat donuts in big bites.
"Revenge? Why against my little sister?! If those bastards wanted revenge, they should have come for me!"
Young Katakuri couldn't understand why those people didn't seek him out for revenge but instead targeted his innocent sister.
"Do you even need to ask? Of course it's because those guys are afraid of you and don't dare to mess with you, so they turned their sights on Brulee. Is Mama busy with something else and just happens not to be here?"
Nanamo arrived just in time to hear Katakuri's angry questioning. She tossed the snacks she bought aside and walked over.
"Big Sis? Mama received some news earlier and went to a meeting..."
Perospero answered again. He wasn't surprised Nanamo came over; it was normal for this older sister to visit, though the timing was coincidental.
Charlotte Linlin herself still instilled fear in these pirates. Attacking her children while she was away was audacious enough; doing it to her face would be veritable suicide.
"I knew it. Do you know who did it?"
"Of course... It was those guys from the Fat Bottle Pirates..."
Katakuri practically ground his teeth as he spat out the words. Anyone could feel that his rage was about to overflow.
"Then let's go."
"Do what?"
"Do you need to ask? Go get revenge, of course. If they can come after Brulee for revenge, naturally we can hit them back."
"No. They came because of me. I can handle this myself..."
"Idiot, what kind of nonsense is that? She's my sister too. Even you are just my little brother. When something like this happens, why wouldn't Big Sis step up?"
"Big Sis, Big Brother, I'm fine. This wound... doesn't hurt. You don't need to go find them..."
Worried that her brother and sister would face danger, the injured Brulee tried to stop them. But her persuasion was useless.
Nanamo could still control her emotions, but Katakuri's rage had completely erupted.
He didn't care if Nanamo was coming with him or not. He ripped a tablecloth nearby, wrapped it around his neck a few times like a scarf to cover his mouth, grabbed his trident, and charged toward a side path.
Nanamo followed suit.
"Wait! Princess Nanamo, and her little brother! I think we should discuss this further!
We should understand the opponent's strength first, report to Mama or Lord Nereus, and then act!"
Hermes's words had no effect; both of them had already rushed out. Seeing this, Hermes didn't stay behind. It hurried to catch up, and Big Pan underground also changed direction.
After flying a short distance, Hermes suddenly remembered something. It stretched its body and sent its head back to Perospero.
"Long-tongue Little Brother! Go notify Mama! Right now! Immediately! I'm going ahead!"