Chapter 134: Yokai and Gods, Inuarashi and Nekomamushi
Nereus himself was currently sitting on Hermes, whose size had been magnified several times, while Nanamo and Big Pan were behind him.
But in the eyes of the residents of Wano Country, it was a completely different picture.
Upon a massive white cloud, or rather, an auspicious cloud, a handsome man was scanning below with a somewhat cold gaze.
Behind him, on one side was an attendant resembling a giant, and on the other side seemed to be a handmaiden?
Previously, because the outward appearances of Kawamatsu and the other two differed too greatly from humans, they were directly deemed yokai by the local residents.
Although appearance doesn't directly enhance personal combat power, it definitely affects people's first impressions.
A handsome but extremely wicked person who committed countless evil deeds could still attract some fans based on looks. But someone who is both ugly and wicked, without even any comedic effect, looks exactly like an NPC character at first glance.
A yokai's cloud shouldn't be this white.
The place where a yokai lives shouldn't be called the Ryugu (Dragon Palace)...
Under the influence of various folklore, the first person to kneel and pray appeared.
Following that, the people on the beach fell to their knees in droves. However, the look in their eyes was not one of piety or faith, but of fear born from the worry of having angered a god.
"Old man, your reputation is truly resounding. But this is the first time I've seen a country so afraid of you."
Nanamo looked at the group of "weirdos" beneath Hermes as if she had discovered a new world, but was then flicked on the forehead by Nereus.
"What nonsense are you talking about? Didn't you hear them say something about 'Toyotama-hiko'? It's probably some kind of god in the legends here.
I told you, this country is in a very ignorant state. Obviously, they misunderstood some things."
"Then should I be shouting 'Father God' right now?"
[My Princess Nanamo! You don't usually care about etiquette when I ask you to call him 'Royal Father', but what kind of joke are you making at a time like this!]
Hermes, beneath them, was very anxious, but unfortunately, he couldn't use telepathy and couldn't possibly say these things right in front of Nereus.
Immersed in the "heir drama" inside his own mind, Hermes completely failed to notice that Nereus didn't care about such things at all, and didn't even notice that Nanamo was telling him to descend.
It wasn't until he was patted several times that he finally reacted.
"Lord Nereus! Have you truly come to save us?! It seems you heard my prayer!"
"What prayer? It was deduced based on the location of your shipwreck and the direction of the ocean currents. Where is your mother?"
"Mother is in the mountain forest over there. She's injured. Originally, we wanted to wait until Mother's injuries healed before setting out to sea again to find a way back to Fish-man Island, and then..."
Seeing Nereus again, Kawamatsu was like a chatterbox opened, pouring out the grievances he had experienced recently.
"The people in this country are too ignorant! Not good at all! Earlier, I wanted to ask them for help, but they only threw stones at us..."
"That's right! Wano Country is no good at all! It's absolutely terrible!"
As Kawamatsu complained about this country, the two Mink Tribe members beside him also loudly agreed.
Having just nearly been burned to death by these people, they certainly had no good impression of Wano Country.
"Kawamatsu, your newly acquainted friends?"
"I guess we're just unlucky souls sharing the same fate. The two of them seemed to have drowned, but before I could even save them, I was captured along with them."
"My name is Nekomamushi."
"My name is Inuarashi."
"We are from the Mokomo Dukedom."
"Your title also saved our lives. Thank you."
Inuarashi and Nekomamushi introduced themselves, speaking one after the other. Back in the Mokomo Dukedom, they had heard the elders of the Mink Tribe tell legends of the past.
It was said that hundreds of years ago, the Mink Tribe and the samurai of the Kozuki Clan in Wano Country formed a sworn brotherhood of mutual assistance. Harboring this thought, they chose to set out to sea to find this unknown island.
But everything on the island greatly disappointed them.
This was also true in the original timeline; if they hadn't eventually been saved by Kozuki Oden, they wouldn't have harbored any goodwill towards Wano Country anymore.
Now that Kozuki Oden hadn't appeared yet, the two's impression of Wano Country was naturally still negative.
"Lord Nereus, your policy is absolutely correct. The Ryugu Kingdom needs to step out into the world. Only by letting the whole world understand us sufficiently can this kind of situation be avoided."
"Big Pan, go with Kawamatsu to his mother, check on her condition, and be careful not to cause too much of a commotion."
"Okay, Big Bro. Come on, super tiny baby, I'll take you to find mommy, puhahahaha~"
Big Pan grabbed Kawamatsu and placed him on top of his head, letting him point the way. Then, he activated his Fruit ability, and more than half of his massive body submerged into the ground.
Although the Swim-Swim Fruit allowed Big Pan to treat the ground like the surface of water, to others, it was still solid ground, and they couldn't dive in with him.
Only when the Fruit awakened and could assimilate surrounding materials would it be able to achieve a group swimming effect.
Kawamatsu pointed in the direction where his mother was hiding. But for some reason, Big Pan's laughter gave Kawamatsu a weird feeling; it seemed he was unintentionally being mocked.
"Old man, what about these people? Are we just going to let them kneel here indefinitely?"
"If they want to kneel, let them kneel."
Nereus didn't tell them to get up either. According to Kawamatsu, these people almost burned him along with Inuarashi and Nekomamushi.
Just kneeling for a while was already considered getting off lightly.
Hearing these words, those people buried their heads even lower, absolutely not daring to rise.
Big Pan's ability to burrow through the earth looked like an Earth God in their eyes. Being able to command an Earth God further solidified their belief that Nereus was the Sea God.
"The scenery here is pretty nice. But why is there a sea here? I remember looking from the outside, this is a mountain, right?"
"That was a long time ago. The current location of Wano Country is not its original location; this is actually halfway up the mountain.
The former Wano Country is beneath this inland sea.
Hundreds of years ago, for some unknown reason, the people of Wano Country built towering walls surrounding it. Later, due to heavy rains and other reasons, the original area was gradually submerged."
Back then, for some unknown reason, that miraculous artisan of Wano Country forgot to include drainage measures for this massive wall.
After the water filled up, it somehow connected to another water source, causing the water flow in the inland sea to be continuous and completely un-drainable.
"Such profound knowledge..."
"Benefactor! Do you know how many islands there are in the world in total? Is it five?"
"Idiot Nekomamushi, how could there be only five islands! There are at least five!"
The situation on Zou was, in a sense, much the same as Wano Country; both lacked understanding of the outside world. Up until now, Inuarashi and Nekomamushi thought there were only a handful of islands in the world.
However, at this moment, in the inland sea of Wano Country, a man wearing only a fundoshi (loincloth) had just surfaced from the water...
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