"Something happened in the village, so I came to tell you. A... Fish-Man calling himself Arlong showed up with an official document saying that our village, along with several nearby villages, has been leased to them."
Genzo then took the gold coin out of his pocket. There even seemed to be a faint bite mark on it.
"They gave me this. It seems to be a real gold coin."
"Why did they give you that?"
"He said it was a greeting gift. Maybe because... I'm the sheriff?"
Belle-mère took the gold coin and rubbed her thumb over its surface, then pinched it as well. Its weight and purity all seemed to indicate that it was a real gold coin.
"How generous..."
There was an enormous difference between threatening ordinary people with violence and demanding protection money the moment they met, and handing out gold coins as greeting gifts. The average monthly income in Cocoyasi Village was around 150,000 Berry, and gold coins were rare things here.
In the original timeline, the protection money Arlong collected here had practically been set right at the limit. After paying it, people were left with just enough money to stay alive. The slightest accident could lead to irreparable consequences.
"What do you think?"
"I don't know. This is my first time dealing with Fish-Men, but what he said should be true, and the gold coin is real too."
"Fish-Men, huh... Back when I was in the Marines, I did hear about them."
Belle-mère had once been a Marine herself. When the villagers learned that she had joined the Marines, they had been quite excited. After all, for such a small village, producing even one Marine was already impressive.
And Belle-mère had once been the village's notorious "bad kid," famous for being mischievous.
Belle-mère had served in the Marines for nearly five years. Five years ago, an extremely fierce battle had broken out between the Oykot Kingdom in the East Blue and pirates, with both sides suffering heavy losses.
When Belle-mère was on the verge of death, she encountered Nojiko carrying Nami. In the end, Belle-mère dragged her severely wounded body back to her hometown, Cocoyasi Village, with the two children. She left the Marines and began living here as their adoptive mother.
"Do you know much about them?"
"I've never met any myself, but when I first enlisted, the Ensign leading our unit had once served as a Navigator aboard a fleet in the Grand Line. He had a kind of heartfelt... fear of Fish-Men."
"Why? Because of their appearance?"
"I'm not sure. He never explained it in detail. But once when he got drunk, he said that a Fish-Man named Nereus killed everyone aboard their entire warship. He was the only survivor, and he developed severe PTSD afterward.
From then on, he returned to East Blue and became an instructor for new recruits."
Marines in the Grand Line knew some of the inside story. Apart from a tiny number of elites, Marines from the Four Seas were not even qualified to serve as cannon fodder, so naturally they knew very little about such things.
"So you think... this is a bad thing?"
"I don't know, but... if they came here to rob us, they probably wouldn't bring gold coins, right?"
It was not that Arlong did not know how to handle matters. It simply depended on what objective he had in mind when he did so. With this single gold coin, Arlong had already begun opening a few doors.
And that was only the first step.
"Is anyone here?! Are these mikans for sale?!"
Before Belle-mère and Genzo could reach any conclusion, an unfamiliar but forceful female voice suddenly came from outside.
Hearing that someone wanted to buy mikans, Belle-mère immediately stopped paying attention to Genzo. She wiped her hands on her clothes and headed outside.
"They are! Of course they are! Just a moment!"
After returning to Cocoyasi Village and raising two orphans on her own, Belle-mère had never lived comfortably. The meager income from selling mikans was her most important source of money.
But when she came outside, what Belle-mère saw was a female Fish-Man with fins growing from her shoulders and webbing between her fingers.
There were also several such soldiers aboard Arlong's ship. Their main task was handling initial contact.
Compared with Arlong and Hachi, Fish-Men of this type looked more acceptable to humans. Arlong had deliberately sent them here to purchase supplies.
"You're..."
"A soldier of the Neptune Army. Could you fill this cart for me?"
"Of course!"
Seeing the Berry in the other party's hand, Belle-mère had no intention of refusing. She immediately began picking mikans from the trees, while Genzo, who had originally come to discuss the situation, ended up becoming an extra pair of hands.
The village was not wealthy, and its main businesses were agricultural and livestock products. Arlong's choice was to first play the role of a "Big Spender" and improve their impression of him.
Combined with Arlong's own thinking and Shyarly's divination, Arlong felt that paving the way with money was the optimal solution.
Whatever the case, it seemed to work extremely well on Belle-mère.
Similar scenes were happening all throughout the village. The people Arlong sent out purchased large quantities of fresh fruits, vegetables, and meat at slightly higher-than-normal prices, while preparations for a banquet were underway at the docks.
Hachi had already set up a stall. All six of his hands worked at once, grilling various kinds of meat over the barbecue while enthusiastically inviting the villagers to come over as well. However, most of them hesitated and did not dare approach.
"Boss Arlong, what exactly is your plan?"
"Plan? I'm going to build the most luxurious amusement park in the East Blue right here! I'll turn this place into the entertainment paradise every child in the East Blue dreams of visiting!"
"As expected, Boss Arlong still has nothing but amusement parks on his mind..."
"I told you I saw him near Bubble Park that time, and you didn't believe me..."
After Arlong made his declaration, several people immediately began whispering among themselves. They even felt that this sort of thing fit Arlong's usual behavior perfectly.
Still, building a Ryugu Kingdom-themed amusement park theoretically could indeed have some effect.
"Boss Arlong, don't tell me we're supposed to build it ourselves..."
With financial support from the Ryugu Kingdom, funding an amusement park would certainly not be a problem. But with only the manpower they had here... it might not be finished even after several years.
"Of course not. The average wages here are very low, and there are plenty of workers nearby for us to hire. Does anyone else have any suggestions?"
Arlong asked casually, then saw Jack stand up.
"I think we should build a statue of His Majesty Nereus here. That way, once the village becomes prosperous, they'll know exactly who changed everything for them."
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