Chapter 32: Kaido Will Always Fall From the Sky
As one of the last groups of pirates to leave, the Roger Pirates' ship also faced pursuit from the Marines. However, the Marines were focusing most of their energy on utterly destroying God Valley.
This island had to vanish into ashes—that was the supreme command from Imu. Roger and his crew didn't have much trouble shaking off the pursuit.
Although Imu was a "mechanic boss" with extremely troublesome abilities, over the long years, Imu had developed an attitude of indifference toward worldly affairs.
As long as matters didn't involve Joy Boy or Davy D. Jones, Imu almost always delegated tasks to others.
For certain matters, Imu even displayed a unique magnanimity—or rather, apathy. For example, even after Garp attacked one of the Five Elders, he was still promoted as the "Hero of the Marines" through propaganda.
At this moment, Roger wasn't even in Imu's sights. After confirming Rocks's "death," Imu ended their descent mode and returned to Mary Geoise.
Nereus, flying alone in the sky, had an even easier time, leaving the range of God Valley before long.
Because Babel and the others had left a step earlier, they had already broken through the encirclement and were currently sailing on the open sea. It didn't take long for Nereus to catch up.
"Big Bro, how's the situation over there?"
Babel, who was at the helm, asked casually about God Valley. Even though he left early, he had seen how massive the commotion was.
At this moment, Babel profoundly realized his Big Bro was right. With that scale of destruction, if he had stayed on the island, he might not have been able to leave.
"You probably won't hear the names 'God Valley' or 'Rocks' ever again. The World Government will spare no effort to erase all traces of their existence."
"Is that so? That really fits their style. But makes sense—how could they possibly admit to something like this?"
Having sailed the seas for so many years, Babel was well aware of the World Government's nature. Not to mention anything else, the Void Century alone was enough to explain everything.
But these words sounded different to others on the ship.
"Um... Benefactor, what should we do from now on?"
"You guys? I have two options for you. One is to find a safe island where you can disembark, and from there, everyone follows their own destiny."
In past voyages, besides rescuing slaves, Nereus would also help merchant ships that encountered disasters. On this perilous sea, shipwrecks happened much more frequently than in ordinary worlds.
Especially on the Grand Line, unpredictable weather caused shipwrecks to happen all the time. For those who had places to go, this was usually how they were handled.
After all, Nereus's crew wasn't a passenger liner; they wouldn't keep these people indefinitely.
"Then... what is the other option?"
"I have an island. It's a bit far from here, but safe enough. If you want, you can go live on that island."
That island was located in the New World near the Calm Belt, isolated by the Calm Belt on all sides. It could be considered a quiet paradise on the sea.
Many of the slaves Nereus rescued over the years were homeless; their hometowns had long been destroyed, and they had nowhere to go.
Moving alone on the sea carried the risk of being captured again.
For these people, Nereus didn't leave them to fend for themselves but settled them on that island.
"Living on the island requires obeying the order there. Because of the surrounding waters, leaving the island is also quite difficult. You can take your time to consider."
Hearing this, whispers began to ripple across the ship.
Difficulty in leaving the island wasn't really a problem for people in this world. The main reason was that essentially every island faced this issue.
Due to the unique environment of the Grand Line, communication between islands was scarce. Two adjacent islands could even exhibit characteristics of completely different eras—an ancient island and a futuristic island being neighbors wasn't impossible.
Even in the relatively stable Four Blues, most residents didn't go out to sea. Even fishing was done in coastal waters. Many people never left the island they lived on in their entire lives.
Dangerous sea conditions, potential pirates, the cost of ocean-going tickets, and many other factors contributed to this situation.
Only those with special professions or those harboring various ambitions to venture out would sail frequently.
Changing to another island wouldn't bring any special impact. They were more curious about what the "order" on Nereus's island was like.
Those who were originally slaves were the first to make up their minds, planning to follow Nereus to the island he mentioned.
Most of the residents of God Valley made the same choice. A few were still hesitating, but seeing the choices of others, they quickly made their decisions too.
At this moment, a massive figure was looming in the clouds above. Looking closely, one would discover it was a giant dragon.
The dragon spotted the warship below and swooped down as if it had found prey.
"Worororo! A lone warship? I'm starving... wait, is that Babel?"
The dragon was naturally Kaido. After eating the Devil Fruit, Kaido chose to leave God Valley by flying.
However, after fighting on the island, although he wasn't injured, he was hungry. He just happened to spot this warship.
For Kaido, to some extent, a warship equaled his cafeteria.
Back when he was first wanted, whenever he was hungry, Kaido would intentionally get captured. After being locked on a prison ship, he would break the chains, escape, fill his stomach, and then leave.
This time, intending to repeat his usual process, he saw an acquaintance on the ship.
Kaido naturally wasn't afraid of Babel. But logically speaking, Nereus should be nearby at a time like this.
"As expected, he's here..."
Soon, Kaido spotted Nereus on the bridge. However, he didn't turn back but landed steadily on the deck.
"Kaido?"
"Nereus. Didn't expect to meet again here. We really are fated.
Want to join me in doing something big? I want to build a pirate crew that speaks through violence, using absolute martial power to decide everything!"
Hunger was momentarily thrown to the back of Kaido's mind as he extended an invitation to Nereus.
"Kaido, if we go by your logic that martial power decides everything... if I join you, does that mean you have to listen to me?"
Nereus didn't reject him outright but questioned Kaido from another angle.
"Uh..."
"By the way, you broke things in my tavern earlier. Did you ever pay for that?"
"Well..."
"Also..."
"Wait! Nereus! A Marine snuck onto this ship! Let me kill him!"