Chapter 173: Second Daughter, the Kirin Fruit
For pureblood Fish-men or Merfolk, looking at their lower half makes their race obvious. Hybrids, relatively speaking, were a bit more troublesome to identify.
"You're remembering it wrong. Besides, when you were little, you couldn't understand fish talking at all, so naturally, you wouldn't have the Merfolk bloodline."
Although a very small number of Fish-men could also communicate with fish—making this method prone to slight misjudgments—it was ultimately harmless. After all, whether someone was a Fish-man or a Merfolk hybrid, the impact wasn't all that significant.
It was nothing more than the former leaning toward speed, while the latter leaned toward strength.
"Running at eight months old... This little sister of mine seems to have pretty good talent."
Nanamo was sitting cross-legged on the floor, using a nearby toy to play a game with Chloe that she herself didn't even understand.
"If you were a bit more hardworking, your ceiling would be even higher," Nereus remarked.
"I'm helping you and Amphelite take care of my little sister! With Chloe's situation, would you even feel at ease leaving her to someone else?!"
A few months ago, ordinary maids could still help look after Chloe. But a few days ago, after she ignited the flames belonging to the Lunarian race, the number of people who could take care of her was reduced to just a handful.
Because of her young age, Chloe couldn't freely control the flames on her back like Amphelite or Alber.
As fellow Lunarians, Amphelite and Alber naturally weren't afraid; a child's flames lacked any discernible temperature to them.
But for ordinary people, the scorching heat of these flames was unbearable. Nanamo didn't care, and neither did Nereus.
The remaining executives did have the ability to resist the flames, but Nereus had no intention of letting them babysit his child.
Therefore, the only ones who could take care of Chloe were her father, mother, and older sister. Alber would occasionally help out; as one of the few surviving members of the Lunarian race, he also knew some of their traditions.
After Amphelite and Nereus had a child, Alber's reaction was one of sheer excitement.
When he first arrived here, he had fantasized that other Lunarians might be hiding elsewhere in the sea and might similarly find their way to Fish-man Island.
But the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. Over time, as no other kin arrived, Alber stopped harboring such expectations.
Actually, there was one more entity capable of taking care of Chloe—Hermes. As a cloud, it naturally didn't fear the flames. When assisting Nanamo in this regard, Hermes even appeared quite enthusiastic.
After all, it was Nanamo's order, and Hermes would execute it no matter what.
As for Amphelite herself, she was currently conducting high-intensity training for some of the recent graduates alongside Alber. With the help of her Flames of Regeneration, they didn't have to worry about casualties during training; no matter how harsh the regimen was, it wouldn't be life-threatening.
Besides the personal guards continuing their training, there were even some younger graduates—like the eighteen-year-old Jinbe—currently undergoing the hellish boot camp.
"Get up! Continue! These are just the fears in your dreams! If you can't even handle this, what will you do when you face real enemies?!"
Alber's current form was quite unique. The black wings on his back were spread wide, his neck had grown slender, and the flames of the Lunarian race burned brightly along his nape.
His head resembled that of a dragon, his hands had transformed into dragon claws, and numerous scales covered his skin.
Of the three Devil Fruits brought out from God Valley, the Phoenix form was given to Amphelite. As for the remaining two, the type of one had already been identified.
Ryu Ryu no Mi, Model: Kirin (Dragon-Dragon Fruit, Mythical Zoan: Kirin Model).
Given the natural marine characteristics of the Fish-men and Merfolk, this fruit was eventually handed over to Alber.
Aside from the standard physical enhancements of a Zoan, the Kirin form's most fundamental abilities were hypnosis and dream materialization.
Those hypnotized by Alber would fall into a dream state. Whether it was a nightmare or a sweet dream, it was entirely under his control, and Alber could materialize things from the dreams into reality.
Dreamt-up food could be eaten, while dreamt-up "fears" would turn into immortal, indestructible monsters.
In war, this ability was extremely useful, and the same applied to training—forcing the soldiers to face their deepest fears head-on and figure out how to overcome them.
However, right now on the training ground, amidst the various materialized monsters, one could also see many abstract versions of Alber himself.
Because he was always in charge of the hellish training, Alber seemed to have become the object of fear in many trainees' hearts.
Devil Fruit abilities were a significant boost even for top-tier powerhouses. Although sufficiently powerful physiques and Haki rendered them unafraid of most ability users, if they encountered a truly bizarre ability, even someone as strong as Rocks could fall victim if they weren't careful.
Against the weak, Devil Fruit abilities were essentially an overwhelming, higher-dimensional strike.
The materialized nightmare monsters would regenerate even if killed, and Amphelite's Flames of Regeneration would help heal the trainees. Amphelite and Alber used this opportunity to master their respective fruit abilities.
As for the trainees, they were constantly challenging their physical and mental limits.
When the training ended, although they had no scars on their bodies, the sheer exhaustion etched into their faces couldn't be hidden.
"That guy Arlong... Did he have a premonition that today's session would be dream training, so he just took a sick day?"
"Who knows? The brat dodged a bullet... But thinking about it carefully, we're exhausted here while he's sleeping soundly at home... It's really pissing me off..."
Several of Arlong's classmates grumbled, feeling very much like Arlong had skipped a pop quiz by taking a convenient day off.
Even Jinbe agreed with this sentiment. After a brief discussion, the group decided to go find Arlong. In the spirit of "mutual assistance," they were going to give him some "make-up lessons" so he wouldn't fall behind the rest of them.
"I know where Arlong's house is. Follow me."
Jinbe led his friends toward Arlong's residence. However, just as they reached the door, they heard the intense, piercing cries of a baby.
"Why is there a baby crying?"
"That guy... don't tell me he went and did that..."
Their tones were hesitant. Exchanging glances, a sense of worry washed over them. Arlong was inherently a bit greedy for money, so they feared he had been tempted by the underworld to help traffic citizens.
If he had committed such an act, it would be an unpardonable capital offense.
"What are you standing around for? We'll know once we go inside and take a look!"
Jinbe kicked open the door to Arlong's house. Once inside, they saw that Arlong's home was a complete mess, and a swaddled infant was wailing at the top of her lungs on the floor.
"Arlong, what... what is going on here?"
"What's going on?! It's all because of my deadbeat old man!
"I don't know where he got me a little sister, saying something like... 'Fish-man Island is better now, so you can definitely take good care of her, and I still have to go out and make a name for myself.' Then he just dumped her here!
"Why won't she stop crying?!"
This Merfolk infant was none other than Shyarly, the future's most outstanding fortune-teller of Fish-man Island and Arlong's younger half-sister. In the original timeline, she was dumped onto Arlong when she was three years old.
But now, it seemed this timeline had been pushed forward...
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