Chapter 163: The Marine Admiral is Paying for Everyone Tonight
Nanamo didn't ask Zephyr for compensation directly. It wasn't that she gave up, but rather she planned to wait until Nereus and Zephyr finished talking.
She could still distinguish between what was urgent and what could wait.
But little Yekrik didn't think that far ahead; he had perfectly memorized Nanamo's previous grumblings.
"Mhm, it's only right..."
Being a Marine Admiral wasn't an unpaid job. Not only did the Marines cover many daily expenses, but the Admirals themselves received a hefty allowance.
He wouldn't be stingy over a few hundred thousand Berries for concert tickets.
After that, Nereus didn't stay much longer. The reason being, Nanamo quickly received news that the concert was preparing to restart.
The scope of the riot's impact wasn't actually that large. The Marines didn't dare approach Nereus's location, but they quickly formed a defensive perimeter on the outskirts, curbing the spread of the chaos.
Therefore, the concert, which had taken immense effort to organize, showed no signs of being canceled.
In a sense, she had managed to snag a free concert courtesy of a Marine Admiral.
It wasn't until Nereus and his group left that some of the surrounding Marines dared to hesitantly approach.
For Nereus, if the target he set his sights on lacked sufficient personal strength, then virtually no one could stop him.
For the Marines, the appearance of an Admiral was meant to greatly boost morale. But Nereus's past "battle record" struck fear into the hearts of many Marines, leaving them constantly in a state of hesitant observation.
"Admiral Zephyr!"
"Mhm."
Although he was in a bad mood, seeing the soldiers salute him, Zephyr still returned the gesture.
"I want a detailed and accurate intelligence report on exactly what happened on the Sabaody Archipelago. Not a bunch of messy, unverified rumors."
Zephyr still remembered that pirate's face. It was someone he had sent to prison not long ago. How the other party had managed to escape from a branch prison was a matter that required investigation.
As for whether this incident had anything to do with Nereus...
Zephyr felt it was just a coincidence. Initially, the message relayed by the Marines did cause a misunderstanding. But after seeing the facts, Zephyr didn't believe Nereus orchestrated this.
For the past few days, Nereus had been attending the Levely in Mary Geoise—a ready-made alibi. Moreover, Nereus had zero motive to do this. If he truly wanted to do something regarding this matter, he wouldn't use such a convoluted method.
Subsequent intelligence reports revealed nothing out of the ordinary, though a certain branch base did receive a penalty for lax security.
Meanwhile, Zephyr lost all desire to continue his escort mission. After an incident like this, even the normally rule-abiding Zephyr didn't want to be separated from his family for several more months. Instead, he chose to stay at Headquarters to accompany his wife and son.
However, Zephyr soon discovered that the subsequent impact of this incident was far more complex than he had imagined.
"Papa, that mister said he knew you from before. Were you guys friends?"
"Why did he have a skeleton man and a cloud man with him? And that big sister's color was weird too."
Children are naturally curious. Because he had just been saved, Yekrik was intensely curious about Nereus right now.
But Zephyr... didn't really want to discuss that man, brushing him off with various excuses for several days in a row.
However, a child's memory isn't that short either. Until their attention is captured by something new, they won't just forget what they previously saw.
"Isn't he the King of the Ryugu Kingdom? I heard that's a nation in the deep sea. Why are you always so unwilling to talk to Yekrik about him?"
After coaxing the child to sleep, Zephyr's wife asked in confusion.
Although she married Zephyr, she originally hadn't paid much attention to affairs out on the sea. It was only after marrying Zephyr that she began to learn about the world.
Coincidentally, they had married four years ago, exactly around the time Nereus reached numerous agreements with the World Government.
The events of the past had mostly been sealed away, and there was also Harald, essentially doing volunteer labor to continuously rack up achievements under Nereus's name.
This led some people to view Fish-man Island much like Zephyr's wife did: a mysterious deep-sea kingdom ruled by a King who hunted down pirates and slavers, and cared for his citizens.
"Do you know how many Marines he has killed?"
Zephyr didn't answer his wife's question directly. Instead, after a long sigh, he asked a question that left her completely bewildered.
"Killed Marines... a hundred?"
"A hundred... that's not even a fraction. The island you used to live on was quite remote, so it's normal that you wouldn't know these things.
In that era four years ago, the name 'Vampire Nereus' struck terror into everyone's hearts.
Cruel, merciless, leaving almost no survivors—these were synonymous with him. He harbored a deep hatred for the slave trade, and his very first bounty was issued because of it.
But later...
The Marines followed orders to hunt him down, thus initiating that bloody era. The number of Marines killed by him must be counted in the tens of thousands..."
"So that man..."
"As of now, I haven't heard any record of him killing ordinary civilians. If you aren't a Marine or a human trafficker, he's actually quite easy to get along with.
It's just that... whatever that guy is plotting is absolutely not simple. That's why I don't want to talk to Yekrik about this."
No matter what, Nereus was extremely dangerous; this was something Zephyr knew for certain. He didn't care what happened to himself, but he didn't want to drag his family into it.
Zephyr had faced mortal peril on the battlefield countless times, but he had never felt as terrified as he did today.
"In a few days, Yekrik should mostly forget about it..."
"I hope so. But today's events also reminded me—I need to start training this child. At the very least, give him the ability to protect himself.
From now on, when you go out, make sure to apply for guards from Headquarters... And if you encounter massive trouble on the Sabaody Archipelago that you can't solve... finding people from Fish-man Island isn't out of the question either. Safety is the most important thing."
Zephyr was internally conflicted. He didn't want his family to have too many ties to Nereus. But if that day truly came, regardless of who they were, anyone who could save his family was a good person.
However, before Zephyr could completely step out of this mental loop, he received a meeting notification from Headquarters.
"Mediate a war?"
"To put it simply, regarding what happened at the Levely earlier, there is a high probability that a war will break out between the Doel Kingdom and the Ryugu Kingdom.
And the Marines must step forward to mediate. This is an order from the World Government."
"Sengoku and Garp are still escorting those Kings back to the Four Blues, aren't they? Fleet Admiral Kong, under these circumstances, will you personally go with me to the North Blue, or has the World Government dispatched additional reinforcements?
Without reinforcements... frankly speaking, I have no idea how to stop Nereus."
It wasn't that Zephyr lacked the courage of a powerhouse, but rather the facts told him that fighting Nereus one-on-one was unrealistic. Taking on this kind of mission might even result in the deaths of more innocent soldiers.
"Zephyr, the key to this mediation is to 'mediate,' not to 'stop.' Do you understand what I mean by this?"
☆☆☆
-> 30 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Inkshaper
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you