Chapter 208: The Kuja's Love Sickness, Extorting a Fellow Extortionist
The ones who had arrived at the Sabaody Archipelago were none other than Rayleigh and Shakky.
Back then, after the God Valley Incident concluded, Shakky had left alongside Roger and his crew, though she never actually participated in the subsequent voyages of the Roger Pirates.
Now that Roger's journey had come to an end and the crew had disbanded, they no longer needed a Vice-Captain. Shakky also officially separated from the Kuja Pirates, choosing to live out the rest of her days on the outer seas with Rayleigh.
This was an incredibly rare occurrence among the Kuja.
The Kuja Pirates were affiliated with Kuja Island, otherwise known as Amazon Lily—the Island of Women. The inhabitants of this island were entirely female, renowned as a nation of warrior women. Over a long and storied history, these people had established the Kingdom of Amazon Lily.
Surrounded entirely by the Calm Belt, with the surrounding waters teeming with Sea King nests, Kuja Island possessed the ultimate isolation from the rest of the world.
However, the warriors of the island had domesticated a species of lethally venomous sea snakes known as Yuda. These sea snakes were so toxic that even Sea Kings would actively choose to avoid them. Only by relying on these massive, venomous serpents could the Kuja ships freely traverse in and out of the Calm Belt.
Their isolated environment meant Kuja possessed very few natural resources, and their single-gender society meant they couldn't produce offspring on their own. Thus, the Kingdom of Amazon Lily established the Kuja Pirates as their state-sponsored pirate crew.
Their objective was to sail out, plunder resources, and bring them back to Kuja. Some of the Kuja warriors who ventured out would inevitably interact with men, ultimately returning to the island pregnant.
The island seemed to possess a mysterious magnetic field; every single child born on the island was female, without a single exception.
Because they practiced a culture where every citizen was a soldier and every person a warrior, almost everyone would set out to sea when they reached the appropriate age. This surprisingly kept the island's population remarkably stable.
Yet, within this isolated nation of Kuja, a bizarre and unique illness had been born: Love Sickness.
Falling in love with a man but being unable to see him—what seemed like nothing more than a romantic woe was, for the Kuja, a genuinely fatal disease.
It wasn't just the ordinary warriors of Kuja; even several generations of Kuja Empresses had succumbed to this illness.
It wasn't until Gloriosa violated Kuja law and chose to flee the country that a cure for the disease was discovered, breaking the lethal curse of Love Sickness.
Shakky's situation was much the same. As a nation of warriors, the Empress of Kuja was unconditionally the strongest warrior in the country. The successive departures of Gloriosa and Shakky had a severe impact on Kuja.
Losing the leadership and protection of their strongest fighters, Kuja could still rely on the Calm Belt to defend themselves, but their accessible resources dwindled drastically.
After the God Valley Incident, Gloriosa and Shakky had temporarily returned to Kuja and trained the new generation's Empress: Toritoma.
Currently, Gloriosa remained on Kuja to assist the new Empress—after all, unlike Shakky, she was still completely alone. Shakky, on the other hand, ultimately chose to come to the Sabaody Archipelago with Rayleigh.
This location wasn't too far from Kuja, so if anything happened, she could still lend a hand. Even though it was right under the nose of the World Government, the lawless nature of this zone made it a perfectly viable place to settle down.
Groves 1 through 29 were all considered lawless zones, but the central Groves 10 through 19 were currently sovereign territory of Fish-man Island. Having taken a liking to Grove 13, Shakky naturally had to come and greet the landlords.
Meanwhile, Rayleigh intended to start a coating business on the island. Planning to work as a legitimate coating mechanic, he also required a permit issued by Fish-man Island. That was why they had both come here.
"We aren't traveling. We plan to settle down here. There's a nice spot over in Grove 13. I want to reopen my bar there. What's the procedure?"
Shakky blew out a smoke ring, snuffed out her thin cigarette, and clearly stated her purpose.
She remembered the girl standing in front of her. Back on Hachinosu, this girl had been full of hostility toward her—seemingly because Shakky's bar had stolen business from hers.
Over the past few years, she had also heard the name Nanamo, along with rumors of her formidable strength.
"The procedure... let me think about what you need..."
Having taken over Babel's post, Nanamo was naturally familiar with the procedures. In truth, she didn't actually do any of the paperwork here; all the specific administrative tasks were handled by other clerks.
Whether it was issuing transit permits or anything else, it could be completed very quickly. Nanamo's primary job was purely to act as the muscle—to smash anyone who tried to cause trouble and provide martial security.
When Babel was stationed here, he did the exact same thing.
Over the years, it wasn't as if no one had settled here. These ten mangrove islands weren't solely occupied by Fish-man Island's offices; hotels, bars, craft shops, restaurants, and various other stores were everywhere.
Compared to the outer zones protected by the Marines, this territory controlled by Fish-man Island was actually much safer and more stable.
If it were anyone else, processing a permit would be a mundane affair.
[But to think Uncle Babel went on vacation exactly this year... did the Old Man foresee this happening? Future sight Haki can't see this far ahead. Was it a diviner?]
Divination culture had a massive influence on Fish-man Island. Even though Nereus himself didn't believe in it, he sometimes used diviners as a tool for public opinion to further boost the confidence of the army and the citizens.
If the person in charge of Sabaody today was still Babel, who knows what kind of mysterious debuff would have affected him upon meeting Shakky. Nanamo hadn't forgotten how all those renowned, great pirates on Hachinosu back in the day had been reduced to a pack of utter simps in front of her.
After thinking for a moment, Nanamo looked back at Shakky.
"You said you want to reopen your bar?"
"That's right."
"The Rip-off Bar?"
"...Yes."
"Fill out this form."
Nanamo pulled a form from a stack nearby and handed it to Shakky, not doing anything out of the ordinary.
This was, after all, the official diplomatic office of Fish-man Island; they needed to maintain absolute credibility. What they promised, they would deliver.
For example...
No one who had a kill order issued against them by this office had ever survived.
But as their eyes met, Shakky caught a glimpse of a gaze she was all too familiar with—the gaze of a "kindred spirit."
It was the exact same look she had when she was about to extort someone. It seemed she had just become the target of a shakedown.
Attached to the form was an addendum detailing the tax brackets for operating a business on these mangrove islands. The amounts were incredibly reasonable. Shakky read it over several times and couldn't find a single hidden trap, which actually left her feeling a bit confused.
"What's wrong? You can always choose to move to a different grove. But if you want to operate in the territory we control, you have to follow our rules. This is a perfectly standard contract."
Clack.
A heavy pouch of gold coins was suddenly tossed onto the table by Shakky. Having been the center of attention for a sea full of simps back in the day, Shakky's personal treasury was incredibly deep. Opening a bar was less about making a living and more about just finding something to pass the time.
"Spit it out. What exactly do you want?"
Being a "succubus" wasn't an easy job. At the very least, when interacting with different people, you had to grasp their psychology perfectly. And when dealing with someone like Nanamo...
Assuming there was no major, irreconcilable conflict between them, simply throwing money at the problem was the most direct and effective method.
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