A magic merchant infiltrating Fairy Tail

Perhaps because he had been racking his brains for so long, Makarov's voice was not as resounding as before, but it was still completely natural and his words were still very persuasive.

If Kira hadn't already heard from Neptune about the old man's nightly revelry and debauchery, and if he hadn't known exactly what kind of establishment he was in, he almost would have believed his lies.

Her acting skills are still top-notch!

The others, of course, didn't believe that Makarov had really made any contribution to peace either. After all, in a shop like this, with his appearance displayed like this, no matter how eloquently he spoke, no one, including the cat, would believe his story.

Makarov didn't care about the opinions of these young people. He had worked hard for Fairy Tail for decades, so what was wrong with taking a chance to enjoy himself now?

After tricking the others into going shopping on Fishman Island, Kira and Makarov finally sat down and talked about their return to Aslant.

The old man suddenly became reluctant to part with it: "Isn't it good enough for us now? The mages have such a large territory, you've become the guild leader, and your wealth is beyond my imagination. Everyone in the guild is still together, and this world has even more fantastical regions, more exciting stories, and more diverse races than Aslant..."

"We have companions, family, and unknown adventures—isn't that the core message of 'Fairy Tail'? So what difference does it make whether we're in this world or in Aslant?"

"Of course there's a difference! Haven't you noticed? People in this world can't learn magic!"

"This means that once all of us mages are dead, Fairy Tail will disappear completely!"

Makarov paused for a moment, then smiled sheepishly, "Sorry, I've been so busy... cough cough, I haven't had time to investigate the compatibility of magic with the people of this world. Since I can use magic, I assumed the people of this world could learn it too, but they just weren't good enough..."

Kira was speechless: "So, it's been several months, how come you haven't noticed anything wrong? It seems that your decadent lifestyle has really corrupted you!!"

At this point, Kira suddenly remembered something and changed the subject, "Wait! Didn't Neptune say you'd been staying in the shop all this time? How come you were using magic..."

Kira's voice abruptly stopped.

He got it.

Makarov waved his hand shyly and whispered, "Keep it down...keep it down..."

Kira rolled his eyes in disdain: "The reason I'm handing you over this time is actually because I want to go back. Six months is enough for our adventures here. After all, Aslant is our home!"

"You haven't forgotten the glory of 'Fairy Tail' just because you've been enjoying yourself for the past few months, have you?"

Of course not!

This time, Makarov responded very firmly.

When are you leaving?

"We need to finish things here in a week. So, are you coming back with us this time, or will I pick you up then?"

Makarov sighed and said with regret, "I'll go with you!"

He slowly turned around and, as usual, uttered a seemingly philosophical statement: "Adventure is eternal, so an adventurer must never perish in one place!"

"Celebrate to the fullest when it's time to celebrate, and part ways cleanly and decisively when it's time to say goodbye. That's the way of the 'Fairy Tail' mages!!"

Kira remained silent for a moment, then retorted, "That does sound like something an old scumbag would say! But don't think you represent the entire Fairy Tail! I'm the guild master now!!"

"Bah! I haven't abdicated yet!!"

"Then you'll have to pay this bill yourself."

"Wait! I suddenly remembered that I seem to have handed over the position of chairman to you a long time ago..."

Chapter 989 Ancient Wisdom: Technology Can Change the Future

After holding a "super important Fairy Kingdom Mayor's Conference" using a Den Den Mushi and gathering all his subordinates, Kira announced the most important thing to everyone.

"Gentlemen, we're leaving now."

All the mayors were stunned upon hearing this. Whether it was former Marines like Zephyr and Aokiji, retired pirates like Rayleigh and Marco, or talented students like Vegapunk, Issho, and Robin, they all stopped what they were doing and stared at Kira sitting on the magnificent kingdom, wondering if there was something wrong with their ears.

"Excuse me, what did you just say?" Zephyr frowned and was the first to ask, "Who exactly are you referring to as 'we'? And where are we going?"

"We mean us!"

Kira pointed to himself, his voice firm and resolute, "Mage! We must return to our original world, to Aslant, and never come back!"

Among the hundred or so mayors, some looked around in confusion, some scratched their heads and looked anxious, and some lowered their heads and seemed to be deep in thought, but all fell silent.

In fact, the mages never hid their origins from the beginning. It's just that the people of this world didn't quite believe it. After all, they had seen and heard of all sorts of strange and wonderful people and things on this ocean, but they had never seen or heard of anything from another world.

Although later, due to the strangeness of the 'magic' and the origin of the 'unidentified person,' everyone gradually came to believe in the 'other world' theory, now that half a year has passed, they have long since gotten used to these outsiders, not to mention the various benefits that the 'Fairy Kingdom' has brought to this world.

Now that this group of people who have brought about change to the world are suddenly saying they want to leave, naturally no one can easily accept it.

"Do you really have to leave?"

"What will happen to the Fairy Kingdom if you leave?"

"If we raise taxes, will you be able to stay?"

"The revolution has not yet succeeded, the world has not yet been unified, why is the king running away first?!"

"What happened? Tell us what the problem is so we can all work together to figure it out!"

"Didn't you say you wanted to see the One Piece appear in the world?!"

"..."

It's clear that Kira's sudden decision caught the mayors off guard, with several even starting to wonder if they hadn't done enough and whether they should increase taxes to beg Kira and his team to stay.

Kira silently made a mental note of these people, planning to have Zephyr investigate them later.

"Everyone, please be quiet and listen to me!"

Kira pressed his hands down, indicating that he had something to say: "Leaving this world was a decision made by us mages after careful consideration. Coming here in the first place was an accident, and now we are simply putting everything back on track..."

"After we leave, the Fairy Kingdom will not be dissolved, but there will be no king. You will still handle the affairs of your respective jurisdictions as 'mayors,' and you will need to hold a meeting like this at least once a quarter. You can decide on the content yourself!"

"If anyone intends to destroy the hard-won happy life of the people... I think it won't take you long to beat that person up."

Despite Kira's insistence on reasoning, the group had no choice but to accept the situation.

The Fairy Kingdom's power and influence are now enormous.

It is clearly the world's largest food exporter and the savior of the new era, but in secret it colludes with sea emperors like Kaido and Big Mom, and exchanges goods with the Seven Warlords of the Sea such as Boa Hancock and Mihawk; it also has secret dealings with the leaders of underground forces such as Dragon of the Revolutionary Army, Morgans of the News Agency, the Shipping King, and the Loan King, so it can be said that it has connections in both the legal and illegal worlds; what's more, many non-member countries are also showing signs of wanting to join it.

It's important to know that there are over 500 countries in this world, but only 170 are member states of the World Government. The remaining countries are poor and backward because they cannot afford to pay the Heavenly Gold and are frequently attacked by pirates. The Fairy Kingdom, however, can give them hope for survival.

Under such circumstances, their attitude towards the Fairy Kingdom was naturally one of welcoming them with open arms! Even though they haven't officially announced their joining the Fairy Kingdom yet, that day is not far off.

The confrontation between the Fairy Kingdom and the World Government has been ongoing for some time. Before the final battle breaks out, these opportunists cannot be tolerated. But in the end, they don't really have a choice.

Half an hour later, Kira arrived at Vegapunk's Egghead Castle and, through his senses, located his true form.

The one who just went to the meeting was 'True' Shakyamuni, one of the six clones, while his true body is inside the giant robot's body, conducting various studies on it.

Sensing Kira's approach, Vegapunk's true form, an old man with an apple on his head and a long tongue sticking out, seemed to be muttering to himself, or perhaps discussing something with Kira, as he expressed his confusion.

"It is now almost certain that the ancient machine was powered by electricity! However, compared to the energy issue, its inexplicable appearance and its purpose in climbing the Red Earth are even more puzzling."

The giant robot in front of us appeared mysteriously on the Red Line 200 years ago and kept climbing up Marlenejoia. However, it stopped moving after it ran out of energy. To this day, its energy source, appearance, and purpose remain a mystery.

Kira stared at the robot in silence for a long time. The technology of this thing was far ahead of this era, but Vegapunk could detect through the machine that it was a product from 900 years ago, so he really couldn't give it a good evaluation.

"Since it appeared 200 years ago, why don't you just think about it from that time? I don't know much about the history of this world. Do you know what happened 200 years ago?"

After thinking for a moment, Kira added, "Ideally, it should be related to Marinjoia, the Red Line, the Celestial Dragons, the Giants, the Tontatta, Fish-Man Island, and Wano Country?"

"Well..."

Vegapunk lowered his head and thought for a while before hesitantly saying, "200 years ago, Fish-Man Island officially established diplomatic relations with humans and became a member state of the world. Does that count?"

"Yes! Definitely! But I remember Neptune saying they hadn't participated in the World Conference, right? Since they established diplomatic relations with humanity and became a member state of the World Conference, how could they not have participated?"

"I don't know, something must have happened back then?" Vegapunk said, sticking out his tongue in confusion.

Kira suggested an idea: "Then... do you think it's possible that the leader of the merfolk was discriminated against and bullied by the Celestial Dragons, so they refused to establish diplomatic relations in a fit of anger?"

Vegapunk recalled the Celestial Dragons' disgusting faces and subconsciously felt that Kira's words made a lot of sense: "Very likely! But what does that have to do with robots?"

"Do you think it went to protect the mermaid who was being bullied by the Celestial Dragons?"

"Impossible! What kind of mermaid could be affected by an ancient machine... Hiss!!!" Vegapunk suddenly remembered something before he could finish speaking and immediately shut up.

"The Little Mermaid, Poseidon! If it's her, she's qualified, isn't she?"

Kira chuckled and patted the metal plating on the giant robot in front of him. "If this guy's programming is to protect the mermaid princess, then it makes sense why it climbed up Marlenejois in the first place!"

But Vegapunk suddenly shook his head, once again denying Kira's statement: "No! The timing is wrong! The time it climbed onto the Red Line is not the same as the time of the World Government Summit! And if it was to protect the mermaid princess, why did it climb the Red Line? Another very important question is, how did it appear?"

"You forgot? There's a Devil Fruit in this world that grants the ability to 'teleport'!"

Vegapunk's eyes lit up instantly. He thought of Bartholomew Kuma, who had willingly allowed himself to be modified by him, and a term immediately came to his lips: "Paw-Paw Fruit!!"

"That's right! It wanted to protect the mermaid princess, who was somewhere and what had happened to her, but because the Red Line was too high, it hindered the Paw-Paw Fruit's flight, so it had to climb. As a result, it ran out of energy halfway there!"

"That's quite a bold idea!!"

Vegapunk suddenly looked at Kira with admiration: "I always thought you were just strong, handsome, and rich, but now I realize you're not so simple-minded either!!"

“That’s right. How could you be just a brute with money, looks, and strength but no brains, who was able to build this ‘fairy kingdom’ in such a short time?”

Kira: "..."

Damn it! I know this old geezer is looking down on me, but why can't I get angry at him?

"Kira, you said that 900 years ago, that great kingdom's technology was already at this level, so how exactly did they perish?" Vegapunk suddenly asked Kira a question that had been bothering him for a long time.

"Do you know what Wano Country was like when it was in Kaido's hands?" Killer immediately retorted.

Vegapunk paused, then said, "I heard it's very bad..."

"That's right! In order to develop weapons, Kaido discharged industrial wastewater into the rivers and seas of Wano Country, polluting the environment and causing the people there to suffer. Perhaps that huge kingdom was destroyed because it did something similar?"

"There's an old saying in the magic world: 'Power always comes at a price.' You know that the legendary 'Heavenly King' and 'Pluto' were weapons from that era. To create weapons of that caliber, how much did they sacrifice for the environment? Who knows?"

Vegapunk fell into deep thought, realizing that Kira's words made sense.

In his youth, he had formed an illegal research team called MADS with Caesar, Quinn, Judge, and Bakkin. None of those four were good people, so he knew all too well how terrible the negative products of technology could be.

Kira continued his rambling: "Look at the strange and wonderful people on the sea! Some have long arms, some have long legs, some have long necks, some have long noses, some have big heads, some have thin legs, some have wings, and there are mermaids, fish-men, giants, little people, furry people... Can these really be produced by normal human genes? The key is that they don't even have reproductive isolation!!"

"Do you think it's possible that all intelligent life initially resembled normal humans, but mutated due to the 'industrial wastewater' of the vast kingdom?"

Vegapunk was speechless; he had never imagined this angle before: "Ah, this..."

"And have you noticed? This phenomenon is completely absent among the Celestial Dragons!"

"Is it possible that they are 'unharmed' people who escaped that mutation? The reason they wear those ridiculous clothes and helmets and don't breathe the same air as ordinary people is actually to avoid being infected?"