The newly coated Rayquaza slowly departed Fish-Man Island's dreamlike harbor and began ascending. On deck, Robin held a file folder, giving Kai a brief recruitment results report.
"Kai-sama, after recruitment ended, we took in a total of 1,203 male fishmen, 123 female fishmen, 254 male mermen, and 56 female mermaids."
"Oh?"
Kai was somewhat surprised, his eyebrow raising slightly: "More people than expected. There were actually female mermaids willing to leave with us?"
You had to know, female mermaids were hot commodities in slave markets. Ordinary fishmen regardless of gender, started at around one million berries, and male mermen were similar.
But a beautiful female mermaid's price could easily soar above seventy million berries!
Because of this, female mermaids historically suffered the worst persecution from human slave-catching teams—they usually would never easily leave Fish-Man Island's protection.
"A large portion came with family. And some others—"
Robin paused, her tone somewhat heavy: "They were rescued from a fishman slave-catching crew that captured mermaids to sell to humans. They had lost faith in Fish-Man Island and wanted to try their luck at sea."
This was actually an accident.
Beast Pirates' large-scale recruitment accidentally exposed this fishman slave crew hiding in Fish-Man Street's dark corners. What made Robin most angry and contemptuous was that the leading fishman, before being captured, actually argued righteously: "Even if I don't catch them, those idiots will eventually be tricked or captured by other human slave crews anyway! Why let others make this money instead of me!"
This behavior of betraying and persecuting compatriots for profit deeply resonated with Robin, who had endured constant betrayal and deception since age eight.
Every mention made her mood immediately terrible.
Kai remained silent briefly, finally sighing softly: "Every race has some who break the bottom line."
What he hadn't expected was that after verification, all members of that three-man fishman slave crew had once been "Sun Pirates" crewmen.
Former heroes who liberated slaves had somehow become dragons themselves. He shook his head, no longer dwelling on this, turning to Jack nearby: "After returning to Wano, personnel selection and reorganization will be your responsibility. Jack, you'll select elites from them to form and manage the future fishman combat unit."
Then his gaze moved to Kawamatsu: "Remaining non-combat personnel and their families will be uniformly managed and assigned work by you."
Not all fishmen and mermaids were suitable for combat. Those desiring peaceful lives or skilled in production were perfect for the upright, reliable Kawamatsu.
After a period of oppressive, dark deep-sea travel, when Rayquaza's massive hull suddenly broke the surface, once again bathing under cloudless sunlight, the entire deck instantly erupted.
"Sunlight! Is this surface sunlight? So warm!"
"Mom! Look! Those are real clouds! White clouds!"
"The ocean! I finally made it!"
Almost all fishmen and mermaids greedily gazed up at the azure sky, breathing deeply of the completely different air—salty yet incomparably free compared to the deep sea.
Many were so emotional they shed tears.
Longing for land, sunlight, and freedom was already instinctively carved into their genes.
Many even leaped directly into the clear seawater, swimming and playing joyfully on the surface, freely experiencing the boundless sensation of swimming in open waters.
At this moment, even Fish-Man Street's veteran thugs showed childlike smiles.
Kai leisurely leaned against the ship's rail, watching the fishmen and mermaids' excited reactions, his lips curving slightly upward.
This time, he had done something good too.
While fishmen and mermaids fully experienced the ocean and sunlight's beauty, Wano Country appeared.
"Such tall mountains! Such magnificent waterfalls!"
The ship's new immigrants raised their heads, gazing at Wano's towering, cloud-piercing cliffs like natural walls and thundering massive waterfalls, deeply shocked.
Worthy of being above the deep sea.
Such rugged, magnificent scenery couldn't be seen on Fish-Man Island.
Thinking of living here in the future filled them with anticipation.
Kai-sama had said that within these cliffs was their new homeland—they wondered what kind of environment awaited them.
Regardless, they were confident in building their new home well.
Rayquaza skillfully passed through the diving port, riding the massive elevator to finally dock smoothly at Onigashima's harbor.
"Kai-sama!"
Beast Pirates members enthusiastically cheered, welcoming Rayquaza's return.
Kai smiled and waved back at them.
Behind him, the fishmen and mermaids began showing nervousness, seeing the wildly fanatical Beast Pirates before them, suddenly realizing they had arrived at a Pirate Emperor's headquarters.
Then Jack stepped forward decisively.
"You lot, show some spirit and don't disgrace me!"
"Yes, Jack-boss!"
Strangely, after Jack's shouting, the fishmen actually relaxed, responding enthusiastically with rising morale.
Kai looked appreciatively at his little brother.
Worthy of his chosen fishman unit leader.
He had already gotten these Fish-Man Street guys following orders so quickly.
On the other side, Kawamatsu played the good cop, gently comforting those slightly anxious women and children in the crowd.
Within just a few days, he had also successfully earned most immigrants' trust through his upright, reliable character.
After everyone disembarked, Kai also met King, who had been notified in advance and was waiting here.
"King-san, have their accommodations been arranged?"
As the first company matter, dormitories had to be arranged immediately.
King nodded, answering concisely: "I've sent people underwater to investigate. Those ruins under the inland sea, though ancient, are relatively well-preserved due to being submerged for years. However, internal repair and renovation work still needs to be done."
Kai said matter-of-factly: "Then leave it to them."
This was free housing—surely the fishmen and mermaids would put their hearts into it.
King tilted his head, his gaze sweeping past Kai to scan this considerable number of fishmen and mermaids he had brought, his tone rarely carrying a hint of praise.
"Well done. With these people, we no longer need to worry about underwater threats."
Not just Red Hair—Big Mom and Whitebeard actually also had dedicated fishman units.
In this ocean-dominated world, a reliable fishman unit brought enormous strategic advantages.
Now Beast Pirates had finally filled this gap.
Kai spoke calmly, his gaze toward the immigrants curiously examining their new environment: "This is just the beginning. As long as this batch of fishmen and mermaids live well here with guaranteed lives, future immigrants will naturally increase."
Maybe all of Fish-Man Island could move here.
King frowned slightly, raising a practical problem: "But with so many fishmen and mermaids, how do you plan to handle their settlement?"
Housing didn't worry him—Wano's inland sea was deep and vast enough.
But Beast Pirates wasn't a charity—they couldn't let so many fishmen and mermaids freeload.
Yet developing them all into pirates was obviously unrealistic.
"You don't need to worry about this at all."
Kai confidently counted on his fingers: "Those physically strong and willing to fight can supplement pirate crews; weaker ones can work in factories or mine deep-sea minerals—"
He also had a massive commercial plan regarding Den Den Mushi.
If everything goes smoothly with Tezolo, it could be implemented soon.
Actually, he even felt Wano's population was too small.
In this labor-intensive, industry-dominated country, population itself was the most precious resource and wealth.
Kai even wanted to find excuses to reduce Wano residents' burdens and encourage them to have more children.
King looked deeply at Kai, his tone becoming somewhat subtle: "Following these plans step by step—Beast Pirates probably won't remain a simple pirate crew anymore. You're managing and developing it like a real country."
Kai met his gaze, asking back: "What's wrong with that? King-san, you should understand that relying solely on traditional pillaging can only obtain extremely limited resources and development ceiling."
"To support greater dreams, we must have more solid foundations and richer production."
King remained silent briefly, having to admit Kai's plans brought enormous benefits for Beast Pirates' overall strength and development prospects in the long run.
But...
Would future Beast Pirates still be Kaido-san's Beast Pirates?
"King-san, I'll leave the initial settlement work for these fishmen and mermaid immigrants to your coordination."
Kai's voice interrupted his thoughts.
He then detailed his plan to divide these new immigrants into two batches—Jack managing combat personnel, Kawamatsu managing non-combat personnel.
"We'll do as you say."
King showed no objection, accepting this plan with a flat tone: "I'll notify everyone—no Beast Pirates member may deliberately harm them. Anyone who does dies!"
He needed to ensure these valuable personnel wouldn't suffer unnecessary interference and damage during initial integration.
"That's perfect."
Kai grinned.
Fishmen and mermaids didn't want privileges—just equal treatment opportunities.
He wouldn't implement racial preferential policies. Providing a relatively stable environment free from malicious bullying was the maximum consideration he could offer.
As for those who insisted on courting death and actively challenging Beast Pirates' rules, he wouldn't specially protect them either.
"There's another important matter."
The topic shifted as his usually flat, almost cold voice suddenly carried obvious irritation.
He told Kai some absolutely terrible bad news.
"What? What do you mean—Rusukaina Island flew away?!"
Kai's eyes widened, his face full of disbelief.
This was Wano Country!
Beast Pirates' headquarters!
Someone brazenly stole an important island right at their doorstep?
If word got out, wouldn't Big Mom and Red Hair laugh themselves silly?!
Though hard to believe, facts were facts.
"That day, Kaido-san happened to not be on Onigashima."
King's tone was full of helplessness, revealing the key reason.
As everyone knew, besides helping people quit king addiction, Kaido's hobby was experiencing cordless bungee jumping—even Kai was recruited because of this hobby.
That day, Kaido happened to feel like finding new suicide spots and ran off, still not returning even today.
"Who did it?"
With things as they were, after the initial shock, Kai quickly calmed down. Now the priority was minimizing losses.
Rusukaina Island was crucial for artificial Devil Fruit research.
If not for Judge's habit of storing key raw materials, this vital research would probably be forced to halt now.
"Unknown."
King shook his head, then said very certainly: "But most likely related to Golden Lion."
According to reports, that night, someone taking a midnight piss saw the island flying in the sky but thought he was drunk and seeing things, so he didn't care.
Only the next morning, discovering such a large island had truly vanished, did he panic and report.
Looking across the entire ocean, those with abilities to make islands fly were countable—just that many people.
"So we're going to war with Golden Lion?"
After hearing the whole process, Kai had completely focused suspicion on Golden Lion.
Simply put, among those capable of transporting islands and having such needs, besides Golden Lion, there was no one else.
Besides, whether it was him or not, finding Golden Lion first was correct—they were pirates, not judges, and didn't need evidence.
King nodded: "I temporarily can't contact Kaido-san, so I need you to find Golden Lion and clarify the truth. Rusukaina Island can't just disappear for no reason."
He could fly, but with Kaido absent, he needed to coordinate overall operations and couldn't personally lead the expedition.
Kai didn't hesitate much before accepting this mission.
In his memory, the broken-legs version of Golden Lion wasn't very dangerous.
Even second gear Luffy could defeat him, though that was movie Luffy.
The only difficulty wasn't combat but finding a constantly moving flying island in the vast sky.
This was like finding a needle in a haystack.
But with Kozuki Hiyori and Violet around, pinpointing Golden Lion's lair location wasn't impossible.
However, before that, he needed to visit Queen.
Queen's Laboratory.
"Bastard Kai, what do you want me to research now?"
Queen pushed up his goggles, cursing.
"Underwater weapons for fishman units. Plus underwater-specific mining tools and equipment."
Kai shrugged, not caring about Queen's attitude as he listed what he wanted.
The series of demands made Queen's face twitch.
Underwater weapons were one thing—he would hold his nose and research them since it was just a side project.
But explain to me what "underwater-specific mining equipment" means!
I'm a weapons and chemistry expert, not someone who designs civilian products for you!
Queen shouted: "No way, I won't do it even if you kill me! This insults my personality! Insults my technology!"
He had made up his mind—no matter what Kai said this time, he wouldn't take this job!