Chapter 58: Perhaps Your Teacher Taught You Wrong
The expedition teams from Ohara had frequently been pursued by the Marines. In his youth, Clover had been imprisoned several times.
Although they weren't pirates and wouldn't be thrown into Impel Down upon capture—usually released after a period of detention—they still avoided the Marines whenever operating outside.
"Calm down. Why would Marines be waiting for us here?"
Clover, having seen much of the world, was far calmer than the other scholars. More importantly, Clover paid more attention to major events on the sea than ordinary scholars.
After the "death" of Rocks, Nereus currently held the highest bounty. Clover definitely recognized that face.
If someone with that bounty could become a Marine, then someone must have gone insane.
"The treasure nearby... should be the legend of the sunken ship Deletar from three hundred years ago. I've read related data; that ship probably didn't sink but was taken away by some unknown entity."
Nereus didn't care about this issue. Instead, he casually tossed out the Poneglyph he had found underwater.
Long-term submersion had caused algae to cling to the Poneglyph, but after enduring the baptism of time, the writing on it remained clear.
Clover knew a wanted criminal like Nereus couldn't be a Marine, so he wasn't worried about being arrested.
And Nereus knew well that Clover could be considered an anti-government element.
Years ago, Clover's older brother was shot dead simply for answering a question from a CP agent.
The question was merely: "What is your name?"
Because his name contained a "D," his brother died right in front of him, while Clover survived by lying.
In a sense, two people meeting for the first time had reasons to trust each other.
Under these circumstances, Nereus casually read aloud a line from the exposed Poneglyph.
"The slumbering machine can no longer emit its roaring sound..."
"You understand the Poneglyph script too? You translated that sentence wrong. Although the general idea is correct, accurately speaking, it should be 'robot.'
Also, yours is a literal translation. Interpreting it into modern terms, it can be understood as 'the robot lost energy and broke down.'
Who taught you to read Poneglyphs?"
Hearing Nereus's words, Clover corrected some minor flaws.
"After all, it's a language no longer in use. It's normal to have flaws; the impact isn't significant."
After correcting him, Clover seemed to think of something and tried to smooth things over, but this was no longer Nereus's focus.
He casually wrote a line of text on the ground and looked at Clover.
"Then how should this part be translated?"
"This part? It should be 'severing the connection.' If I'm not mistaken, your translation method probably rendered it as 'breaking'? That's a common mistake. There seems to be an implied term here; it should be... 'Blade of the Underworld' (Yomi)."
"Clover! Come look at this! A new discovery!"
Clover was called away by others in the expedition team, but Nereus pondered the translation issue.
He had taught himself the Poneglyph script based on some literature, which was practically rote memorization using a dictionary. Translation errors were indeed inevitable.
But these small errors seemed to have a significant impact.
For example, the term "Underworld" (Yomi).
Since mastering the skill "River of Death," Nereus had further confirmed that the Underworld truly existed in this world. What he was doing, in a sense, was competing with the Underworld for business.
There were Devil Fruits related to souls, but the most direct one was probably the Revive-Revive Fruit (Yomi Yomi no Mi). It allowed the user to channel the chill of the Underworld for attacks and even instill fear in Homies, which were soul-based lifeforms.
*[Yomi Yomi no Mi... Brook. Looks like I'll have to make a trip to the Florian Triangle. Those previous Poneglyph texts should also be taken to Ohara for re-translation...
The Buster Call on Ohara is still a long way off. There's plenty of time.]*
Ohara was essentially bait—bait to gather all scholars intending to explore history in one place and then wipe them out in one go.
The World Government wasn't unaware of this. After all, Ohara's actions had no secrecy to speak of. The lack of action was simply because the time hadn't come yet.
When they were ready to act, they would show no mercy.
In the original timeline, during the Egghead Island arc, Saturn complained that Akainu wasn't thorough enough, allowing a survivor from Ohara to live.
If Akainu heard this evaluation, it's unclear what he would feel. After all, at Ohara, he was already the most ruthless one.
However, this had little to do with Nereus. The worst outcome... would just be adding a few more customers to his River of Death.
The people of Ohara didn't realize how Nereus disappeared. By the time they came to their senses, Nereus had already left, as if they had truly seen a ghost.
Nereus himself had returned to his ship. He would naturally visit Ohara when needed; there was no need to participate in their archaeological work now, as it offered him little benefit.
While the people of Ohara were still exploring the ruins, Nereus had already embarked on the journey to the Sorbet Kingdom.
...
Some time later.
In a church in the Sorbet Kingdom, where Kuma and the others lived.
Many people had been sent to this island by Kuma using his fruit ability back then. After all, the Paw-Paw Fruit (Nikyu Nikyu no Mi) could only send people to places the user had been to.
Most people had left one after another. Just recently, Ivankov had also set sail alone in a small boat under the pretext of praising freedom. The people remaining in this church were actually few.
Only Kuma, Ginny, and the Fish-man Shark who had been waiting.
For them, filling their stomachs was the biggest problem.
Kuma's current state was that of an adult Buccaneer. Ginny was inherently a big eater. Only Shark had a normal appetite.
But the food consumed daily by Kuma and Ginny was massive. Kuma would go into town to work, doing manual labor. Because he was a fully grown big guy, few dared to bully him.
Shark would go into the sea to catch fish, relying on his Fish-man talents to supplement the food shortage. Ginny would gather wild fruits in the nearby mountains and clean the house, barely maintaining their livelihood.
Right now, they had no grand ambitions. Being full every day was already the greatest happiness for them.
While Shark was fishing in the sea as usual, a shadow suddenly appeared above his head, followed by the sounds of several splashes entering the water.
Several figures moved with clear purpose, obviously heading for Shark.
But Shark felt no fear; instead, he was somewhat excited. Unknowingly, his hand gripping the net loosened, and the captured fish escaping didn't even catch his attention.
This was over a hundred meters below the surface. The only ones who could move freely at this depth with such speed were his compatriots.
"Kid, kept you waiting, huh? We've come to take you home!"
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