Pirate: My Piltover technology is far ahead!

Chapter 75 Fishman Island

"Dr. Sidier, we still have a mission to carry out and cannot accompany you any longer. When you need to return, you can come directly to the naval base in the Sabaody Archipelago, and we will take care of sending you back."

The people were picked up by the Navy, so they would naturally be responsible for sending them back. However, Oran had to make a trip to Fishman Island along the way, which made the situation a bit special.

Fishman Island is located 10,000 meters deep in the ocean. It is the country with the lowest average elevation and the most unique surrounding environment among all known countries.

The Red Line cuts the Grand Line in two. When the Navy wants to go to the New World, they usually just change ships but not crew members and cross the Red Line at Mary Geoise. That's why the Navy rarely goes to Fish-Man Island.

But pirates can't. They can't go through Mary Geoise. Except for a very few people with the ability to fly, their only way is to go through Fish-Man Island and travel underwater to the New World.

This brought endless trouble to Fishman Island.

Due to the extremely chaotic magnetic field in the Grand Line, navigation here requires the use of log pointers.

It is a special spherical compass whose function is to record the magnetic force between islands to guide the direction of the next island.

Therefore, at each island, it takes anywhere from a few hours to several months to fill the recorder's compass with data before setting off for the next island.

The Sabaody Archipelago is an island of mangroves, and it does not have this kind of magnetic force. Therefore, when you get to this area, the Log Pose always points to Fishman Island.

The magnetic field in the New World is more chaotic than that in the first half of the Grand Line, causing existing compasses to malfunction. Therefore, an upgraded compass with three routes on a single dial is needed to prevent getting lost in the New World.

This made Fishman Island an unavoidable transit point for pirates. Almost no pirate was willing to sacrifice their voyage safety by choosing to bypass Fishman Island and travel directly to the New World through the rift beneath the Red Line.

Fishman Island has taken advantage of its geographical location to exchange goods with the mainland, and selling new types of Log Pose is also one of Fishman Island's businesses.

Many naive pirates had no idea that the Log Pose needed to be upgraded before this.

The same applies to the original timeline's main characters. To this day, we still don't know what Rayleigh did in those two years besides laying the foundation, leaving the Straw Hat crew lacking essential knowledge about the New World.

However, the vast majority of pirates are representatives of disorder. Pirate movement can bring about economic changes, but it also brings huge risks. Judging from the current situation on Fishman Island, they have not grasped this risk.

Or rather, their military force and policy approach were not capable of handling this business.

There are many strong pirates, but Fishman Island is located 10,000 meters below the surface of the ocean. Humans need to use bubble membranes to fight against the deep sea, but fishmen and mermaids do not.

Despite being overwhelmed by pirates on their home turf, it would be one thing if they were monsters, but in reality, any pirate that manages to reach Fishman Island can cause them a huge amount of trouble.

To humans, Fishman Island is a pushover, the kind of place that can be bullied at will. For the Fishman Island royal family to have ended up like this, they must bear some responsibility. In Oran's view, they are far too weak.

However, this weakness might be more advantageous for Oran.

With the help of a powerful naval force, Oran quickly boarded a merchant ship with favorable winds and headed to Fishman Island in the deep sea.

Wherever there is profit, you will always see the presence of merchants; Fishman Island is such an example.

The deep-sea environment allows Fishman Island to be self-sufficient, but products from the land always fetch a good price there.

As the ship descended, the light gradually disappeared, and the darkness of the deep sea began to surround the ship. The sailors on board were very skilled, and no one seemed curious about the outside environment, so it seemed that this was not their first time going down.

At that moment, a man dressed as a captain walked over.

"Young man, is this your first time visiting Fishman Island?"

Oran is quite famous in academic circles, but people outside the circle don't know much about him. Most of them have only heard from newspapers that he is a very capable doctor with many achievements, and they don't know much about Oran beyond that, including his appearance.

He approached Oran on his own initiative simply because he felt that Oran was someone with connections; someone who could get the Navy to find a ship must have a very complicated background.

Since we're just idling around on the ship anyway, if we happen to stumble upon something of value, then we've struck gold.

"Um, what's up?"

"It's nothing, just a reminder that things aren't safe underwater, so be careful. Although the Dragon Palace Kingdom is a member state, it's practically a lawless place."

About 170 years ago, the Ryugu Kingdom officially became a member of the constituent nations, but this was more of a vanity project, and had no real meaning other than the world government's declaration of equality.

Fishman Island remains unchanged. Pirates passing by all want to make a fortune here, as young female mermaids have always been highly sought-after in the human trafficking market.

Inter-racial conflicts continue to intensify.

Is Fishman Island in chaos right now?

At this point, Oran knew nothing about the situation on Fishman Island. He only knew that after the Great Pirate Era began, Fishman Island faced its worst situation and was only able to overcome that predicament thanks to the protection of the Whitebeard Banner.

But according to this person, things don't seem to be much better now.

"The area around the royal city is alright. Saturn's Sea King Army maintains basic order. Saturn is the current king of the Dragon Palace Kingdom. That guy doesn't like humans very much, but he won't order his subordinates to attack humans either."

Remote areas are different, especially Fishman Town. That place is different from Fishman Island; many of the fishmen there are extremely hostile to humans. It's best to avoid that area.

Fishman Town is part of Fishman Island. It was originally a place to take in orphans, but over time, due to a lack of management, it became a place of illegality on Fishman Island.

Furthermore, Fishman Street is not located inside the giant bubble membrane of Fishman Island. It is situated on an underwater plain outside the bubble membrane on the west side of Fishman Island, where the environment is significantly worse than inside Fishman Island.

"So, hiring fishmen is a really troublesome thing right now."

From the captain, Oran learned the general situation of Fishman Island, which was more complicated than he had imagined.

Oran has three things to do on this trip to Fishman Island. One is to bring back some gifts for Leliana. The girl isn't picky about anything, but she especially loves to eat, and Fishman Island's desserts are a good choice.

Secondly, as the development plan gets on track, Oran's demand for resources is also increasing, and he wants to hire a group of fishmen to explore the underwater resources for him.

Thirdly, he wanted to see Shaq. After all, he had promised to visit Fishman Island, and he had to keep his promise. He couldn't let Shaq wait for "twenty-two years" like Pidgeot in Viridian Forest.

(End of this chapter)