Chapter 149: Wealth Is Inferior to Power, and Power Is Worthless Before Absolute Strength
"How dare you guys! Do you not know who I am?! Does Commander Hammanli know you are doing this?!"
The suppressive effect of Seastone on ability users was absolute, but there would be certain differences depending on the purity of the Seastone and the inherent strength of the ability user.
For someone like Charlotte Linlin, even if she were bound like a dumpling in high-purity Seastone chains, she could still move. Her overwhelming strength allowed her to adapt to the weakness brought by the Seastone; she just wouldn't be able to use her abilities.
But for someone like Harding, who relied purely on his Devil Fruit ability to gain a slight advantage in a specific area, once shackled with Seastone, not only would his ability be sealed, but he himself would become completely powerless.
Harding, who was already exhausted, naturally couldn't put up any resistance at a time like this. A sense of powerlessness flooded his entire body. Pulling out his "amulet" right now was his last resort.
"Hehehe... Commander Hammanli... Do you really think we're doing this simply out of greed? This is Mary Geoise. Wealth is worthless in the face of power. Without authorization from above, we wouldn't dare make a move this brazenly."
Hearing Harding cite his "amulet," the agents laughed out loud in unison.
As a wanted criminal, Harding's ability to cross the Red Line was inherently due to some sort of deal struck between his backing Doel Kingdom and the World Government.
This was what allowed the World Government to temporarily turn a blind eye to an "official pirate" like him. And the Hammanli that Harding spoke of was the very official who had accepted the bribes from the Doel Kingdom to speak on their behalf.
But that was in the past.
Nereus's sea ban order made the World Government more intuitively aware of the strategic importance of Fish-man Island's location, but that was it.
In reality, they didn't really care how many pirates were on the sea, whether those pirates could reach the New World, or which routes the smugglers of the underworld used to pass through. Without pirates causing chaos, the World Government wouldn't be able to display its own superiority.
Using this kind of contrast—letting non-member nations suffer miserably to highlight the privileges of member nations—was the consistent modus operandi of the World Government.
If the World Government had wanted to hide Harding and keep Nereus from finding him, they would have dispatched Cipher Pol (CP) agents long ago. If this incident had occurred before Nereus attacked Mary Geoise, the World Government might have actually done so. But now, that option had long been abandoned.
Reaching an agreement with Nereus was accomplished under Imu's directive. Although neither side had any intention of unreservedly accepting the other, this phase was indeed a honeymoon period between the World Government and Fish-man Island.
The illicit deeds committed by Harald had even been directly pinned onto Nereus's head by the World Government. With the Levely approaching at this stage, they truly intended to fulfill their promises from back then.
And the prohibition of Fish-man and Merfolk slaves was the very first clause in that agreement.
Harding's actions not only violated the World Government's ban, but even defied the orders issued by the Five Elders. Under these circumstances, it was naturally impossible for the Five Elders to protect him. The only reason they hadn't issued orders to assist in his capture was that the Ryugu Kingdom was simply too special.
On this sea, the issue of "face" was even bigger than the heavens. If a person was willing to discard their own pride to help someone else, that was truly considered a life-and-death friendship.
"When it comes down to it, you're still a wanted criminal. Even if a member nation vouches for you, there's a limit. But he is the King of a member nation, on the exact same level as that King Chaplin backing you. Where did you get the courage to arm-wrestle with him?"
In the eyes of the CP agents, wealth could not match power. Even if they had past dealings with Hammanli, they couldn't defy orders from higher-ups. But on this sea, power was equally worthless before absolute strength. No matter how great the power, without absolute martial strength to maintain it, it was nothing but a paper tiger.
Protecting Harding, aside from being a petty annoyance to Nereus, offered no direct benefits to the Five Elders, yet the risks were incalculable. Even though he was willing to sit down and talk, Nereus still bore the label of a "madman" among the Five Elders.
And a madman wouldn't necessarily consider the consequences of his actions too deeply.
What if Nereus caught wind of some clues, made another trip up to Mary Geoise, and caused a commotion that disturbed Imu? What would happen to Nereus, the Five Elders didn't know, but they themselves would very likely face the risk of being downsized by Imu. This was something they absolutely could not accept.
No matter how chaotic the sea became, it fundamentally wouldn't affect the lives of the Celestial Dragons. In the absence of a few specific keywords, the Five Elders wouldn't risk their own necks just to gamble for the World Government's interests. If Saturn hadn't had too many of his own ideas and personally descended to the field so many times, he might not have become the number one downsizing target.
Unless Imu suddenly had a brain cramp, stepped down personally, and issued some brand-new directive, the Five Elders would try their best to maintain the status quo.
"Oh, right. Actually, that Commander Hammanli you've been pinning your hopes on wants your life too. He has quite a few gray-market businesses that can't get past Fish-man Island right now, so he's suffered heavy losses lately.
Therefore... you can die in peace. On this Red Line, there probably isn't a single person who wants you alive."
When it came to murder, these Cipher Pol leaders were professionals. The only reason they were chatting with Harding like this was purely because they needed to bring him to a more secluded location; they still had to be mindful of appearances.
"If only we had found him while executing a mission outside. Doing it this way, we still have to give a cut of the money to our superiors..."
"Don't even think about it. It's not easy to swallow this money all by yourself. You wouldn't want to 'commit suicide by shooting yourself in the back' while out on a mission, would you? Compared to that, how we actually exchange this for the bounty is the real problem."
Exchanging the money in the underworld wasn't difficult; the difficult part was Nereus.
It wasn't that Nereus wouldn't pay up, but rather that these people were somewhat afraid to go looking for him. Basically, no CP agent who had met him had survived. Even though times had changed, they still didn't quite dare take that risk.
"What's so hard about that? Just find those middlemen in the underworld. Aren't they the experts at doing this kind of thing?" Seeing the difficult expressions on the two agents' faces, an older agent nearby chimed in.
"Haha, true enough. Though usually, it's the pirates who look for these middlemen to exchange bounties with us. Now the roles are reversed."
In past conflicts between pirates, the victors would sometimes turn in their enemies for the bounty. Some great pirates who occupied territories would also turn in unyielding challengers for cash. These underworld merchants were born out of this exact necessity.
Except today, the extreme role reversal felt like turning the world upside down. The side representing the "officials" was actually going to look for them to claim a bounty.
"Who cares? The Berries in our hands will be real. People will lie to you, but Berries won't. Even if those big shots at the top take a cut, there will still be enough left for us to splurge."
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