Chapter 57: Ohara's Expedition Team
The Door-Door Fruit (Doa Doa no Mi), a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit. Its ability is not complicated; in fact, it's quite simple.
This fruit allows the user to open doors at will. Any object touched, whether living or non-living, can have various types of doors created on it.
This includes the air.
By opening doors in the air, the Door-Door Fruit can connect to a special dimension. People inside the door dimension and people outside might be mere inches apart, but those outside cannot perceive what is happening inside the door at all.
It doesn't provide a direct, intuitive boost to combat power for the user, but in terms of overall strategic significance, the Door-Door Fruit holds immense value.
"They probably planned to auction it. Anyway, it's ours now."
Nereus took the Devil Fruit handed over by Sebastian and stowed it away.
Selling Devil Fruits was a choice many people made.
Becoming a "landlubber" (unable to swim) was only one of the reasons for the negative effects. Sometimes, they also faced the issue of uneven distribution of loot.
After all, only one person could gain the Devil Fruit's ability. Not everyone had enough camaraderie to be willing to watch someone else eat the fruit.
It wasn't uncommon for internal conflicts to break out over a single Devil Fruit. Selling it and splitting the money was actually a decision some pirate crews made.
There were also those who, the moment they saw a fruit, would eat it without a second thought. Regardless of the ability, once eaten, others couldn't do anything about it.
However, this situation was never seen in the Fish-man Pirates.
Even the more senior and stronger executives wouldn't mind giving the fruit to a newcomer. After all, the inability to swim had a much greater impact on Fish-men.
Only Nereus, who had a method to isolate water, would even consider eating a Devil Fruit; otherwise, he would have hesitated for a while too.
After a few minor skirmishes, Nereus and his group entered the Calm Belt zone. This was the most peaceful stage of their voyage.
The tamed Sea Beasts had stayed behind at Fish-man Island, but this didn't affect Nereus and the others sailing through the Calm Belt.
Nereus had a "cordial and friendly" exchange with a small Sea King taking a nap on the surface. Moved by his "reason and emotion," this Sea King volunteered to help drag their ship out of the Calm Belt.
"Big Bro, our direction is slightly off. The course has deviated 3 degrees to the east."
After entering the South Blue, the ship's navigator began to calibrate the course. Without the magnetic interference of the Grand Line, conventional equipment like compasses could function normally again.
Although the sea charts circulating in the world were incomplete and lacked records of many islands, the locations of affiliated nations wouldn't be wrong. The location of the Sorbet Kingdom was clearly marked on the South Blue charts.
Before sailing, a rough route had been planned. However, due to the lack of reference points in the Calm Belt, slight deviations were normal.
"What's the impact?"
"According to our original plan, we should have gone to the Sorbet Kingdom to pick people up first, then checked on the sunken ship. But with the current situation, doing that would be a bit of a detour.
If we reverse the order of these two tasks, we can save a lot of time.
This is the replanned route. It will pass through some people's hometowns. Big Bro, what do you think?"
"Sail according to the new route. Check which nearby islands can resupply us. It's time to replenish the ship's stocks."
Sailing for Fish-men was actually simpler than for humans. Relying on the bountiful sea, Fish-men could source materials locally most of the time.
Fish, shellfish, and seaweed could provide food. Even freshwater wasn't a rigid necessity for them.
The physiological structure of Fish-men and Merfolk allowed them to extract freshwater components directly from seawater without being troubled by the salt content.
However, that survival mode was more akin to wilderness survival. Given the conditions, they still stocked normal supplies, especially since other races on the ship needed ample provisions.
Compared to the Grand Line, the environment of the South Blue was much more peaceful.
The number of pirates wasn't small, but because Roger hadn't started the Great Pirate Era yet, their goal wasn't the One Piece. Their obsession with entering the Grand Line was much lesser.
Many just wanted to plunder and dominate the nearby waters. Their strength was weak; even the most ordinary combatant on Nereus's ship could handle a whole ship of such enemies alone.
After all, these were people who had fought alongside Nereus in the New World for over a decade. Even if their strength was average, they were elites who could roughly use Haki.
The number of people on the ship gradually decreased as they were sent back to their hometowns one by one. Nereus and his group also arrived at the predetermined location.
Perhaps there was an issue with the records in that logbook, or maybe too much time had passed. Nereus and his group didn't find the treasure on the sunken ship this time, but they discovered a cave on the seabed.
After a simple survey, Nereus found that this cave led directly to the interior of a nearby island. With curiosity, he swam in following the current.
Nereus wasn't afraid of any dangers inside the cave. Even if the cave collapsed, he had the ability to punch through the entire island and walk out.
...
Meanwhile, inside the island, within a massive space covered in moss and vines, a group of people was studying the murals inside.
"This mountain has been hollowed out. To think they left so many murals... But what exactly is depicted here? A battle between humans and giants?"
"Doesn't look like it. The giants in these murals all have horns. Judging by their size, they should be the Ancient Giant Tribe... There seems to be a Poneglyph in the pool over here... GHOST!!"
Near the pool inside the mountain space, a person had just discovered what looked like a Poneglyph when he suddenly let out a terrified scream, as if he had seen a monster.
"No need to be afraid. I'm not a ghost."
The person swimming up from underwater was naturally Nereus. He hadn't expected the underwater cave to lead all the way here, nor that there would be a Poneglyph in this pool.
"So... sorry. It's just your way of appearing..."
The frightened person took a few deep breaths to calm down. Nereus's attention, however, was drawn to another person.
The people here seemed to center around him vaguely. He looked like the leader of this group, and his hairstyle resembled a clover.
He wasn't frightened; instead, he had already approached the edge of the pool.
"Are you also a scholar here for research?"
"Scholar? No. Originally, I came for treasure hunting, but there was a slight issue with the documentation records, Dr. Clover."
This was their first meeting, but with that hairstyle and tone, identifying him was simple.
This also meant that this group came from Ohara.
Seeing Clover's identity recognized instantly by a stranger, the other scholars appeared somewhat panicked.
"Could it be... this guy is a Marine here to arrest us?!"
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