Chapter 116: The Honest Harald Becomes the Target of Illegal Labor
If possible, the Five Elders didn't want to negotiate with Nereus. Even when Saturn questioned Nereus earlier about what he came to do, he simply couldn't figure out why Nereus fought his way up here.
This was clearly not an opponent suited for negotiation. If they negotiated, there might be endless future troubles.
However, since their boss had spoken, they had to change their perspective and find a way to negotiate with him.
And it was actually normal for Imu to do something like this.
In the original timeline, the Five Elders had a good negotiation with Harald. Harald was willing to work for the World Government, and many soldiers of the Giant Tribe joined the Marines.
But Imu wanted more and immediately forced Harald to the edge of the cliff.
Although the Marines still had a certain number of Giant Tribe Vice Admirals, they lost Harald, a top-tier combatant. Overall, they suffered a massive loss.
Despite having interacted for hundreds of years, Saturn felt at this moment that Nereus understood Imu better than he did.
[No, impossible. He doesn't know of the Great One's existence. He just came here to force us to make concessions... He merely hit the mark by a fluke...]
Clearing that absolutely impossible thought from his mind, Saturn turned his gaze back to the negotiation at hand.
Although the overall negotiation had concluded, there were still more details to be finalized.
In this world where the strong reign supreme, verbal agreements between powerhouses possess the most direct efficacy. Otherwise, just drafting the documents would take quite a while.
"As a member of the affiliated nations, we will restore the Ryugu Kingdom to the treatment it deserves. But how the world views you is not something we can handle."
"We will handle that kind of thing ourselves. However, I need the right to participate in the next Reverie. I was considerate of your face this year, waiting until all the Kings had left before fighting my way up.
Otherwise, you would have had this place beaten into ruins in front of all the Kings."
Words and actions are not always unified. Imu only told them to negotiate and agreed to the final result, but didn't stipulate the process.
This also meant that no matter how the process was negotiated, Imu could accept it.
Therefore, the Five Elders didn't plan to manage Fish-man Island too much. Nereus didn't care about this either, and even changed some of his rhetoric.
The real reason he waited a few days to attack was essentially fearing that those Kings wouldn't be able to withstand the shockwaves of the attacks; the older ones might even drop dead from sudden cardiac arrest.
That would truly become a worldwide terrorist attack incident, which would be hard to wrap up.
But this didn't stop him from using this rhetoric. After all, it was an unalterable established fact that Nereus arrived here after the Reverie had ended.
"The right to participate in the Reverie... we can give that to you. The Ryugu Kingdom originally had such a seat."
Saturn actually had someone dig out some agreements from the un-collapsed castle. It was a contract finalized over a hundred years ago. It's just that over these years, the Ryugu Kingdom's seat had been given to other countries.
As for who it was given to...
It could be described as an auction system: whoever paid more Heavenly Tribute got to come to the meeting.
"But a King of a member nation cannot be a pirate. If word of this gets out, what kind of reputation will the World Government have?"
Warcury shifted the topic back to the legal issue. The World Government was a very strange entity. You could say they obeyed the law, but their law was essentially whatever Imu wanted to do.
When Imu wasn't present, this role was replaced by the Five Elders. If needed, they could fabricate a new law at any time.
But sometimes the World Government could be considered trustworthy. Compared to pirates, whose interactions are filled with betrayal most of the time, the World Government could actually follow through on promised matters.
For example, the issue with Bonney. They promised not to lay a hand on Bonney. Even when Blackbeard captured her and the person sent to take over was Akainu, Bonney still managed to leave unscathed.
Since they were negotiating with Nereus, they naturally had to negotiate somewhat in their own favor.
"So regarding this King's position, you should..."
"So you guys just find an excuse yourselves and clear the bounty."
"I mean, you can switch to a puppet. Given your power, is it difficult to control an ordinary person to be the King?"
By changing the King, at least they could communicate with Nereus through this messenger. If anything really happened, they wouldn't have to face him directly. In the battle just now, the number of times they were collectively killed was hard to count.
Even though they could resurrect, they really didn't want to face him right now.
"Not difficult, but I refuse. I was the one who came to negotiate, and I will be the one negotiating terms in the future. Having someone else handle it is very troublesome. Since it can be handled, isn't it better to handle it all at once?
Clearing bounties—haven't you done this before?"
Currently, the Shichibukai system didn't exist yet. People whose bounties were cleared were either captured or dead. It could be said that Nereus had given them another new difficult problem.
"Perhaps we've been sitting for too long and need to stretch our bodies again?"
"..."
Seeing that Nereus had the intention to continue fighting, Nusjuro quickly raised his hand to signal a pause.
The Five Elders somewhat understood Imu after all. If they woke Imu up again over something Imu felt could be resolved with a single sentence but they failed to negotiate properly, the consequences would be unpleasant.
[Everything was fine. Why did you bring this up with him?]
[It concerns our face, after all...]
[The Great One doesn't care about such things. Agree to him, but how about we don't proactively clear the bounty and only notify the Marine higher-ups? Bounty hunters and ordinary people don't have the ability to attack him anyway. This way, we can save face.]
[Then what about the Reverie four years from now? We've already agreed to it earlier. When he appears there, won't all of this be exposed!]
At this moment, Nusjuro actually felt inexplicably comfortable in his heart. After all, during the negotiation just now, he was the only one who messed up by bringing about a 170-year Heavenly Tribute refund issue.
Now that Warcury had created another problem, he wasn't the only one messing up.
Between making a mistake alone and making a mistake together with everyone, the latter was obviously better.
This way, even if held accountable by their boss in the future, there would be someone to take the blame with him.
If Saturn hadn't personally gone down to handle things that one time, maybe the outcome could have been better.
[Looking at it from another angle, we actually have four years. Just like we said, notify the higher-ups first, and then cancel it in a few years when the whole impact has faded?]
[The reason?]
[How about saying he made some meritorious contributions beneficial to the World Government, which can offset those past events?]
[Acceptable, but where are the meritorious contributions? I don't think he would willingly work for us. How many people in this world have martial power equal to his?]
[Isn't there... still Harald?]
At this very moment, Harald, who was still doing illegal labor in the Florian Triangle, suddenly shivered, seeming to feel an inexplicable chill.
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