Pirates: Your emperor has returned!

Looking up, she also saw the tall, strange man's bluish-green skin hidden beneath his robe, and his face hidden under his hood.

The mother's eyes widened, and she exclaimed in surprise.

"Fish...fishman! It's a fishman!"

In an instant, the atmosphere on the dock became tense. The men immediately picked up their harpoons and shielded their families and children behind them.

call……

The sea breeze blew, and the tattered robes were blown up, revealing what was hidden beneath them.

It was a group composed of humans and fishmen.

There are few humans, only a handful, but many fish-men.

Their faces were exhausted, and their expressions became blank and helpless due to the reactions of those around them.

The tall fish-man who had intended to help the little girl up also took several steps back due to the little girl's mother's reaction, ready to jump into the sea at any moment.

Upon seeing this, the young man who was talking to the town elder immediately reached out to stop him.

"Please, please stop!"

He stood in front of the fishmen, and the other humans did the same.

"We mean no harm, please don't do this!"

"enough!"

The tall merman shook his head and put his arm around the young human's shoulder. "We don't belong here. Let's go..."

Upon hearing this, the young man bit his lip and prepared to turn and leave.

The rest of the townspeople still looked tense, but also somewhat puzzled.

They had heard since childhood that merfolk were a savage and ferocious race, extremely dangerous, but the way they were behaving now was actually... pitiful?

Moreover, these fish-men were on the same ship as humans. Where did they come from?

The old town mayor waved his hand, signaling the townspeople to put down their weapons, and then said to the young man:

"Don't go any further. Your ship can't take you to the next island. Leaving aside the fishmen, you'll die in the sea."

The young man put his robe back on and said slowly, "Thank you for your kindness, old man, but we have sworn an oath not to leave our friends alone."

friend……

Are humans and fish-men friends?

The residents of Yaruja couldn't understand it, and neither could the old mayor.

But the old man knew very well that the essence of these people was "life".

He couldn't let those lives, just like the townspeople's, die.

So the old man waved his hand, ignoring the townspeople's surprised looks, and said, "Stay. You can stay in the town's tavern for now, but don't bother the town's residents."

The young man turned around, smiled wryly, and nodded.

……

A group of fishmen and humans disembarked from the ship.

They went straight to the tavern arranged by the town mayor.

At the same time, the old man also said to the big man in charge of the town's security: "Tell everyone to stay away from that area as much as possible, and then immediately report what happened here to His Majesty the King."

The big guy nodded and used a Den Den Mushi to contact the nearest Royal Army outpost.

……

Thus, the report ended up in the hands of Cobra and Rowan.

Cobra stroked his chin.

“Ancestor, the World Government’s people haven’t arrived yet. Shouldn’t we be more cautious now? After all, the fish-men issue is very sensitive.”

Rowan shook his head and then stood up.

"No, I want to see it for myself."

On a table not far away lay a newspaper from a few days ago, bearing the headline news from that time—

Fisher Tiger, a fish-man, climbed up the Holy Land of Mary Geoise with his bare hands, triggering the Mary Geoise riots.

[Chapter 12. Indifference]

On the night he arrived at the Albanian Royal Palace, Rowan began his initial intelligence gathering.

This year is the 1507th year of the Haiyuan calendar.

Rowan knew very well that simply knowing about major events was far from enough; he needed to understand the "details" of this era.

So he first had someone bring over all the recent newspaper backups.

This sea is never short of explosive news.

Rowan analyzed them and compiled out the potentially useful information.

But when Rowan picked up a newspaper, his gaze fell on the day's headline news—

Fisher Tiger, a fish-man, climbed up the Holy Land of Mary Geoise with his bare hands, triggering the Mary Geoise riots.

"Oh?"

Rowan couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

Of all the recent news stories, this is the only one that can be considered an absolutely major event!

Fisher Tiger, a fish-man who was once a slave, climbed up Mary Geoise, the holy land of the Celestial Dragons, with his bare hands, and single-handedly stirred up chaos, freeing countless slaves.

This includes Boa Hancock, one of the future Seven Warlords of the Sea, and Gild Tesoro, the Golden Emperor, among others, directly influencing the maritime landscape of the next era!

Rowan stared at the photograph printed below the title.

A tall merman stood facing the raging flames burning in the Holy Land of Mary Geoise, roaring with all his might.

The blinding firelight illuminated his silhouette.

It was just a photograph, but the roar filled with resentment and anger seemed to echo in Rowan's ears.

That is Fisher Tiger, the "Fishman Hero"!

This scene unfolded just seven days ago.

"Fishmen..."

Rowan muttered to himself as he put the newspaper aside.

"I'll visit that memorable Ryugu Island again sometime in the future."

……

One night passed.

To Rowan's surprise, the very next day he received news about the merfolk from Cobra.

A group of refugees, a mix of fishmen and humans, appeared on a ship in the port town of Yaruja.

After all, they had just provoked the Celestial Dragons, a huge problem, so Cobra advised against taking any rash actions for the time being.

But Rowan thought of something else.

A refugee ship mixed with humans and fish-men?

In this era before Jinbe, the "Knight of the Sea," joined the Seven Warlords of the Sea, such a scene was indeed rare.

If a ship departs from the Sabaody Archipelago, which is close to the Holy Land of Mary Geoise, and travels at full speed without stopping, it will take about six days to reach Alabasta.

Approximately seven days!

Thinking of this, Rowan stood up and picked up the scepter beside him.

"I'll go check on the situation and be right back."

Knowing he couldn't change Rowan's mind, Cobra nodded in agreement.

But to the king's surprise, his own daughter blocked the gate.

"Ancestor, are you going to Yaruja?"

Weiwei exclaimed excitedly, "The town mayor there often brings me candy, I want to go play there too!"

"Vivi!"

Cobra frowned and said, "Our ancestor didn't go there for fun; merfolk appeared there!"

To Cobra's surprise, Vivi blinked her big black eyes and asked curiously, "What happened to the merfolk?"

"Fishmen..."

At this point, Cobra suddenly froze.

He suddenly realized that he had said the wrong thing.

Indeed, as Vivi said—

What happened to the merfolk?

The residents of Yaruja were merely reporting the incident; they were not "asking for help."

This means that the group of fish-man refugees did not pose a threat to the personal safety of the residents.

If that's the case, so what if they're "fishmen"?

At the World Conference, Cobra also chatted and laughed with Neptune, the king of Fishman Island.

Why is it that when it comes to Vivi, it's emphasized that the other party is a "fishman"?

Seeing Cobra frozen in place, Rowan couldn't help but burst into laughter and patted Cobra on the shoulder.

"It was just an ordinary wrecked ship."

Luo Wen patted Weiwei's head, gesturing for the little princess to follow him.

Then he said to Cobra:

"Don't worry, I'll take care of Weiwei."