“Is that Lord Nereus’s daughter?
She’s so adorable!
I heard he split up with that woman a long time ago.
I’d love to become her stepmother…”
Standing by the roadside, a boldly dressed female pirate openly shared her thoughts with the pirate beside her, making no attempt to hide them.
Hachinosu was, after all, an island of pirates where strength was everything.
With his striking appearance, overwhelming power, and the added bonus of being one of the few men on the island who was completely uninterested in Shakky’s charms, Nereus had no shortage of admirers.
“Keep dreaming.
Why would Lord Nereus ever be interested in someone like you?
The mermaids around him are all far prettier than you.”
“Can’t a girl dream?”
“You’d be better off worrying about whatever’s coming next.
Feels like something big is about to happen on the island.
The leaders of the Rocks Pirates have been holding meetings about…
something.”
As the pirates whispered among themselves, none of them noticed a small mound of earth slowly moving beneath the ground nearby, heading in the same direction as Nanamo.
As it passed them, a gigantic head suddenly burst out of the dirt.
“She’s right.
Big Brother wouldn’t like someone like you.
Pushi~ Pushi-shi-shi!”
After saying that, the head immediately disappeared back underground.
“W-Who…
who was that?”
“No idea…
a Fish-Man, maybe?”
“A Fish-Man…
can swim through dirt?”
The same thing happened repeatedly along the way.
Every so often, a huge head would poke out of the ground, look around for a moment, then sink back beneath the earth again, startling unsuspecting passersby.
He wasn’t an enemy.
He was Big Pan, the one Nereus had mentioned earlier—the person secretly assigned to watch over Nanamo.
Big Pan was also a Devil Fruit user.
For most Fish-Men, the inability to swim that comes with eating a Devil Fruit is a devastating drawback.
Some Devil Fruits, however, happen to complement the Fish-Man race surprisingly well.
The fruit Big Pan had eaten was known as the Swim-Swim Fruit—a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit.
Despite its name, it had nothing to do with water itself.
Instead, it allowed its user to treat solid surfaces such as the ground and walls as though they were water, freely swimming through them.
For an ordinary human, the fruit wasn’t especially powerful.
In the original timeline, it was eaten by Señor Pink, one of Doflamingo’s officers, and its greatest advantage was giving him a highly effective means of launching surprise attacks.
Its Lineage Factor was later used by Dr.
Vegapunk in the creation of Seraphim S-Shark, the Seraphim modeled after Jinbe.
For a Fish-Man Seraphim, the fruit’s abilities were on an entirely different level.
By treating the ground as water, it could combine the fruit with Fish-Man Karate and Fish-Man Jujutsu, manipulating the earth itself.
A single punch could unleash force powerful enough to resemble a landslide or an earthquake.
Big Pan’s natural talent for combat was considerably lower than that of Nereus’s other three officers.
That was precisely why Nereus had given him this Devil Fruit after obtaining it—to compensate for his shortcomings.
With its power, Big Pan could fight on land as though it were his natural domain.
Not only could he swim silently beneath the earth to hide or ambush his enemies, but he could even breathe while underground.
Big Pan’s massive body glided silently beneath the earth as Nanamo made her way to Charlotte Linlin’s territory at the docks on the opposite side of Hachinosu.
The atmosphere there, however, was far from cheerful.
Unlike Nanamo, the other Charlotte siblings wore grim expressions.
Charlotte Brûlée lay on the ground, a gruesome slash stretching across her entire face.
Blood stained both her cheeks and her clothes, making it obvious the wound had been inflicted only moments ago.
Standing nearby was a boy with short purplish-red hair, sharp teeth, and stitched scars running along both corners of his mouth.
Only ten years old, he stared at Brûlée with a mixture of fury and disbelief.
“What happened?!
Who did this?!
How could Brûlée be hurt this badly?!”
“The people you taught a lesson to before…
they came back for revenge.”
The one answering was the eldest son, Charlotte Perospero.
The furious boy was Charlotte Linlin’s second son—Charlotte Katakuri.
A child blessed with extraordinary talent, Katakuri had already displayed exceptional strength despite being only ten years old.
The scars at the corners of his mouth weren’t battle wounds.
He had torn them himself so he could open his mouth wide enough to eat donuts.
“Revenge?
Then why target my little sister?!
If they wanted revenge, they should’ve come after me!”
Still a child at heart, Katakuri couldn’t understand why they hadn’t challenged him directly, instead choosing to attack his innocent younger sister.
“Isn’t it obvious?” a voice interrupted.
“They were scared of you, so they went after Brûlée instead.
Let me guess…
Mother was called away to deal with something and wasn’t here?”
Nanamo had just arrived in time to hear Katakuri’s furious outburst.
She casually tossed the snacks she’d bought aside before walking over.
“Big Sis?
Mother received some kind of message earlier…
then left for a meeting…”
Once again, Perospero answered.
He wasn’t surprised that Nanamo had shown up.
His older sister visited often enough that her appearance was perfectly natural—it was only the timing that happened to be coincidental.
Charlotte Linlin herself was still someone these pirates feared deeply.
Attacking her children while she was away was already an act of incredible recklessness.
Trying it while she was present would have been outright suicide.
“I figured as much.
Do we know who did it?”
“We do…”
Katakuri practically ground his teeth together as he forced out the name.
“It was those bastards from the Fat Bottle Pirates…”
Anyone could hear the barely contained rage in his voice.
“So let’s go.”
“…Go do what?”
“Do I really have to spell it out?
We’re going to settle the score.
They came after Brûlée for revenge, so we’ll return the favor.”
“No.
They came because of me.
I’ll handle this myself…”
“Idiot.”
Nanamo flicked him lightly on the forehead.
“What are you talking about?
Brûlée is my little sister too.
And you’re my little brother.
If something like this happens, how could your big sister possibly stand by and do nothing?”
“Sis…
Brother…”
Brûlée, despite lying there injured, tried to stop them.
“I’m fine…
It…
it doesn’t even hurt…
You don’t have to go after them…”
She was more worried about her older brother and sister getting hurt than about herself.
Her pleas accomplished nothing.
Nanamo still managed to keep her emotions in check.
Katakuri, however, had completely lost his temper.
Without another word, he stopped caring whether Nanamo intended to come with him.
He ripped the tablecloth off a nearby table, wrapped it several times around his neck like a scarf to cover his mouth, grabbed his trident, and charged down a side street.
Nanamo immediately followed after him.
“Wait!
Princess Nanamo!
And…
your little brother!”
Hermes hurried after them while shouting.
“I strongly advise against acting so rashly!
We should first determine the enemy’s strength, then report everything to Mama—or Lord Nereus—and only make our move after that!”
Neither of them paid any attention.
Both siblings had already sprinted off.
Seeing this, Hermes gave up trying to persuade them and hurried after the pair.
Beneath the ground, Big Pan silently changed direction as well, shadowing their movements from below.
After flying only a short distance, Hermes suddenly remembered something.
He stretched his cloud body backward, extending his head all the way back to where Perospero was still standing.
“Long-Tongue Brother!
Right now!
Immediately!
Go tell Mama!
I’m going on ahead!”