"A fortune-telling crystal ball?"
Was this for real? Brook stared at the orb, clear as spring water. Could this be the same kind of crystal ball that Madam Shyarly used in the original timeline?
She had accurately predicted the birth of Poseidon, one of the Ancient Weapons, right in front of Gol D. Roger. It was deeply mysterious... eerie even.
"Damn it," Brook muttered. "That sense of fate again... Is destiny really a thing in this world?"
His face darkened, spooking King Mars beside him. The fishman king looked uneasy. Why was this pirate suddenly giving off such a grim vibe?
But Brook quickly collected himself and stepped forward to touch the mysterious crystal ball. Nothing happened.
"Figures," Brook sighed. "Is this just another of the Sun God Nika's back-up plans for Fishman Island?"
The Ship of Promise—Noah, Joy Boy's apology letter, the red Poneglyph, this divination crystal ball... Brook even suspected the ES drug hidden in the Jade Box national treasure might've been used in the ancient battle against the 20 kings.
But maybe it wasn't used because Joy Boy or Nika realized how dangerous it was and gave it up. That'd be a righteous decision, fitting of a hero.
Since this crystal ball was considered a national treasure and something King Mars valued highly, Brook had no reason to forcefully take it. Especially since it wasn't useful to him at the moment. Better to wait for its rightful user to appear—and then make his move.
King Mars personally led Brook to the Jade Box and opened it with a key. Inside were a small recipe book and a few bottles of finished ES drugs. After a quick inspection, Brook nodded. Parrot—who had eaten the Castle Fruit—swooped down and stored the Jade Box into the Parrot's' castle.
Among the treasures, Brook found a stash of large white pearls, bigger than ping pong balls, and next to them, another box filled with slightly pink pearls—perfect for making a small necklace for Big Mom.
Being a gentleman (and also a bit of a scoundrel), Brook began choosing gifts for the crew. He scoured the treasure vault, selecting what he liked and loaded everything into his mobile Castle.
King Mars didn't object, and Brook didn't linger. Time was short. Golden Lion Shiki, Shakky, and the others had already flown Golden Island across the Red Line and were waiting.
"Thanks for the hospitality, King Mars!" Brook said, giving a polite bow.
He handed Mars a special Den Den Mushi and left behind some contact numbers so the Hell Pirates could be reached in case of emergencies.
Mars took the Den Den Mushi with excitement. As they exited the vault, Redfield and Tom were still off recovering the historical Poneglyph from the Sea Forest.
King Mars offered to hold another dance banquet in Brook's honor, but Brook declined. Instead, he chose to visit the legendary Ship of Promise—Noah—at the bottom of Fishman Island.
If they could raise it to the surface, maybe Shiki's Float-Float Fruit could make it fly, turning it into a true sky fortress!
But Noah was clearly guarded by a super-giant Sea King, and it was uncertain whether Shiki's ability could float something so massive underwater.
It had been lying beneath the sea for centuries. It lacked natural buoyancy, likely weighed down by its massive size and iron chains meant for Sea Kings to tow it.
The ship could very well be the salvation for the fishfolk—a mobile island they could use to migrate, or even a vessel to return to the surface world.
"Oh right, King Mars—there should be a Poneglyph in the ruins of an underwater city. Please send out a search team. I'll offer a bounty of 100 million berries to whoever finds it."
Brook remembered the historical text located in a Sea King-inhabited ruin. In the original story, Jinbei found it and presented it to Big Mom.
"Of course, Lord Brook. I'll put out the bounty quest right away! But please, you don't need to pay a single berry. Consider it a gift from Fishman Island."
King Mars was nothing if not clever. A hundred million berries meant little to the royal treasury of Ryugu Palace.
"Yohohoho! No can do, King Mars! A reward is a reward. We don't skimp on bounties—it's a matter of principle!"
Brook wasn't the type to nickel-and-dime, but rewarding allies properly built trust—and influence. He wanted the people of Fishman Island to know: work for the Hell Pirates, and you'll get paid.
"As you wish. I'll make arrangements right away!"
King Mars didn't argue further and instructed his ministers to announce the bounty task.
"One last thing," Brook added. "I'm placing a strength-testing machine on Fishman Street. Anyone who passes the test will get a berry reward and a chance to join the Hell Pirates."
He smiled knowingly. While strength alone wasn't everything, people with natural power had far more potential. It was worth keeping an eye on the strong.
He'd asked Vegapunk to whip up a simple tester based on the Navy's power-level system. In their system, a marine with a power level of 10 could lift 100 kilograms.
A power level of 500 meant lifting 5,000 kilograms—superhuman territory. 10,000 kilograms was where real beasts started appearing.
Fishmen were naturally 10 times stronger than regular humans, so most had a power level of around 100—but not many made it past that.
It seemed the gods gave fishmen a high base stat but low growth. Humans, meanwhile, were the opposite: weak to start, but full of potential. Maybe it was just the sheer number of humans that created so many monsters.
Even dwarves were dozens of times stronger than humans physically—and giants? Forget it.
In CP9, even Kalifa had a power level of 630, while Rob Lucci had 4,000—equal to 80,000 kilograms of lifting force. He could nearly lift Tang San's massive 180,000-kilogram Poseidon Trident.
And that was Lucci after wasting five years in the shipyard hammering nails. Two years later, he could fight an Admiral and take on Sabo.
There were probably tons of monsters in the One Piece world who could wield so-called "super artifacts" like Poseidon's Trident.
Tang San only managed it thanks to the protagonist halo—it shrank the weapon to 108 kilograms just so he could wield it. And that was after he'd become a God King.
-------------------
If Tom could lift a ship with one hand, then lifting a super artifact like Poseidon's Trident should be no big deal, right?
But there are tons of powerhouses stronger than Tom out there. If the gods from the Douluo Continent were to show up here, they'd probably get shredded in seconds. Oh right... Douluo Continent is supposedly on a hydrogen-based planet—different scales entirely. That was my bad, I slipped up there!
Shocking! That sneaky bastard who secretly learned martial arts ended up traveling through time and space, and didn't even spare a six-year-old girl—he even wanted to sleep in the same bed as her!
Terrifying! Tang San's twisted methods are darker than a crow's heart, and his ability to flip the table is leagues ahead of even his master!
Brook was deep in thought about Willpower when he randomly started thinking about that hydrogen-based Douluo world again. Maybe he really had gone crazy…
Back in his previous life, he'd read tons of Douluo fanfics. Most of those writers got slammed with copyright claims. Their stories were taken down completely—no soup left for them at all. The lawyers' letters sent to Tang San were more common than those to Jenny Tai Mei or Ya Qian Fan!
Honestly, if you're gonna write fanfiction, stick to foreign anime. That way, you won't get clobbered by domestic haters.
Tang San, who started out writing smut, led an entire censorship crusade that dragged down countless genres—horror, political, everything. This guy even sided with the idea that copyrights should belong to the platform, not the authors. Then he used his own copyrights to bash fanfiction creators!
A textbook case of flipping the table after finishing the meal.
Brook shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. Could that "Late Wife Doll" really follow him into the One Piece world and beat him up?
He hadn't even touched the forums. He was just writing stories about anime from other countries—milking the ones living their best lives.
Shaking off the effects of Flipping Tables to Tease the Rose, Brook turned to look at King Mars beside him. He should be fine with the idea of recruiting a few promising fishmen to train, right?
It wouldn't just build strength for the Hell Pirates, but also boost Fishman Island's own power and deterrence. A win-win.
Now, Brook had to find the promising young fishmen—those with raw talent who stood out well beyond their peers. He needed to sort out a batch with real potential.
Brook recalled a few names from the original story: Namur, the shark fishman and Whitebeard's Eighth Division captain. Then there was Drought Jack of the Beasts Pirates, a grouper-type fishman. Katakuri from Big Mom's crew might've even had some eel-human ancestry…
Then there was Kawamatsu, the red-finned pufferfish samurai; Sebastian, the giant scorpionfish under a world-level threat; and Haku, a red snapper fishman in the Revolutionary Army…
Clearly, Fishman Island wasn't lacking in top-tier combatants. Imagine gathering Jack, Namur, Jinbei, Fisher Tiger, Tom... Wouldn't they be a force stronger than a Warlord of the Sea?
If someone could rise up and truly lead them all, would Fishman Island still be in this sorry state?
Brook had also realized something deeper. The class divide on Fishman Island was massive. Fishman Street and Ryugu Castle were night and day—heaven and hell.
King Mars may have claimed he didn't care about treasure, but he hadn't spent a single berry on improving life for those on Fishman Street.
Just like that saying goes: Pa says he doesn't care about money—but he won't miss a chance to make it. He won't give you a berry, and he sure won't lower the price of his store.
Even in a virtual store, everything's controlled by the platform. No money? No business.
Capitalists and aristocrats all agree—you can't feed everyone, or no one will work. For the lower class, it's enough that they don't starve.
In this capitalist system, whether you make 10,000 berries a month or just 3,000, your wallet still ends up empty. You're always broke, always forced to keep grinding.
Because if everyone could live comfortably without work, how would the capitalists maintain their superiority? Who would serve them?
The world can't be fair. That's just reality.
Eighty percent of the population exists to support the other twenty. Even on a place like Fishman Island—oppressed as it is—this rule still holds. More than 80% of the fishmen have to keep grinding under the weight of Ryugu's upper class and the fear of humans.
...
In the end, thanks to King Mars's suggestion, the strength-testing station wasn't placed deep in Fishman Street. Instead, it was set up in Gyoncorde Plaza, giving every fishman—no matter their class—a chance to participate.
Of course, King Mars still hoped more elites from Ryugu Castle would join the Hell Pirates. That would help secure the royal family's position.
This made Brook realize just how divided Fishman Island really was. It wasn't united against the outside world at all. The gap between the nobility and the commoners was just as bad as any other kingdom.
But Brook had no idea how to fix these deep-rooted problems. The world of One Piece was still in a half-feudal, half-slave era. To the people, the royals and nobles were still sacred officials they'd die to protect.
Meanwhile, Redfield returned with two Poneglyphs in a golden ship. Brook immediately ordered Tom and his team to start coating The Erebus, preparing to leave Fishman Island. They didn't want to keep Golden Lion Shiki waiting too long.
While the coating was underway, Brook and King Mars traveled to the deepest part of Fishman Island to see the Noah, the Ship of Promise.
Honestly, Brook couldn't find a better word than "big." It was just a gigantic wooden ship. No weapons, no magical features—just massive in size.
To him, it seemed useless. After glancing a few times, he left. No Sea Kings appeared.
Returning to Gyoncorde Plaza, Brook reminded King Mars once more to keep Ariel safe, protect the strength tester, and continue searching for more Poneglyphs.
After getting the king's firm promise, Brook left satisfied. Before departing, he quietly warned Ariel not to fall for Prince Neptune's sweet words and told her to focus on training her unique Observation Haki.
Brook also had Redfield teach her for half a day before the golden ship finally took off, leaving Fishman Island.
Ariel and Dan stood side by side, watching The Ship disappear from view. Prince Neptune, meanwhile, stared at Ariel like he'd fallen in love at first sight.
But Ariel wasn't feeling it. She stood barely two meters tall. Neptune? Over ten meters and definitely overweight. That gap was just too much!
Besides, she had her orders from Lord Brook—to travel across Fishman Island, giving speeches and tuning in to the emotions of the people. She needed to keep honing her special Observation Haki.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Check my Pâtreon for (40) advanced chapters
Pâtreon .com/Fanficlord03
Change (â) to (a)