allendalepharm Chapter 273 Return to the Land of Harmony
Chapter 273 Return to the Land of Harmony
Chapter 273 Return to Wano Country
Early summer in June of the year 1495 in the Haiyuan calendar.
The Golden Eyes, traveling at breakneck speed, finally arrived in the waters near Wano Country just before the sweltering heat of early summer.
"oh!!!"
"Big brother!"
"This place is absolutely spectacular!"
Loki stood at the edge of the Golden Eyes, gazing at the massive island cloud above Wano Country.
"Rocky-san, may I take a look?"
He lowered his head, grabbed Otohime, and placed her on his shoulder.
During the months-long voyage, Otohime, with her unique Observation Haki, became close friends with Loki.
Although they can't be called best friends yet, the word "close friends" definitely fits the description.
"It's so pretty!"
Otohime stared blankly at the new sky island, her gaze sweeping across the floating seawater surrounding the island's clouds.
"Bazel, what's with those oceans? Why is the seawater floating in the air?!"
Bazel looked in the direction Otohime was pointing: "You mean that? That's not the ocean in the conventional sense."
"If I'm not mistaken, it should be a sea cloud. You can think of it as a liquid cloud."
"Whether it's the ocean or sea clouds, they all contain rock salt crystals that are part of the Seastone," these keratinous particles are the key to rendering ability users powerless to resist.
Unlike the ocean, sea clouds are a special type of cloud formed by the combination of rock salt crystals transported into the air and large amounts of water vapor.
"I see~"
Otohime looked enlightened. "Where do we mermaids live? Are we down here, or on this sky island?"
"Stay on Skypiea for now. Once we've resolved things in Wano Country, you'll be able to begin integrating into human society."
Bazel looked down at the azure dragon rapidly ascending below and added a comment.
"The giants of Elbaf should also come then."
"Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh~~~"
"Bazaar!"
The giant dragon rushed into the golden pupil, its body rapidly transforming from dragon form to human form.
"Long time no see! You've been doing some big things behind my back, haven't you?!"
"A bounty of 49 billion Berries? My bounty isn't even as high as yours!"
Upon meeting, Kaido immediately bent down and playfully wrestled with Bazel, his arm around Bazel's shoulder.
"Hahaha, come and worship this great pirate, you idiot captain!"
"Who are you calling an idiot?! While you were away, I was the one who had to manage Wano Country all by myself!!"
After some playful banter, Bazel introduced the group of people in the Golden Eyes to Kaido.
"The Shandians are a race of natural warriors. They are very likely to be hybrid descendants of the Abels, which can be seen from the wings on their backs."
"This is Amato, the chief of the Shandian tribe."
Just as Kaido and Amato and the other Shandian warriors were introducing themselves, a gust of wind descended from the sky.
A familiar figure emerged from the wind.
"Bazel, it's been a long time."
"Oh! Abel, your older brother brought you a present!"
Bazel pointed to the Shandians and explained their origins once again.
"A mixed-race descendant of the Lunaria race?"
Abel unfurled his black wings, removed his mask, and scrutinized the white-winged Shandians.
"You have wings too!"
Sal walked up to Abel, showing none of the awkwardness one might expect from a first meeting.
"I am Sal, a student of Professor Bazel. It's nice to meet you. But why are your wings black?"
"And it's so... big?!"
Abel's eyes sparkled when he saw the miniature white wings behind Sal.
"Sandia—does your tribe have a recorded history?"
Let Abel and Thrall walk aside to talk, and Bazel continued to introduce the merfolk's envoy this time.
"Otohime, Kaido, you should remember her, right? Neptune's lover."
"This time, Princess Otohime brought a total of over a hundred mermaids, with more male mermaids, 97 of them."
"This also includes some of the Neptune Army's guards."
With Bazel's introduction, the scattered members of the merfolk gathered together.
"They will temporarily reside in Takamagahara until we completely take control of Wano Country."
"If the living environment here becomes more suitable, Neptune will arrange for more fishmen to move here, and we will have to arrange for people to accompany and escort them."
"Nice to meet you, Kaido-kun."
Princess Otohime bowed slightly in greeting, a smile on her face: "We fish-men have waited for this day for hundreds of years. To be able to live under the sun is the dream of all fish-men and mermaids."
"Don't stand on ceremony with me, Otohime!"
Kaido remained as nonchalant as ever: "Since you're here, make the most of it. But you'd better not go to that human kingdom down there for now."
"You can go play after I've cleaned up all the trash inside."
"I'm sorry to trouble you to stay in Takamagahara and rest for a while. The little people have already moved in. Your two races should have a lot to discuss."
"Lilliputians!?"
Otohime's eyes lit up: "Then I'll leave it to you, Bazel, I want to move in right now!"
"I've never seen dwarfs before!"
Bazel didn't refuse, but before leaving, he called Nora over and told her not to eat random things before controlling Golden Eyes to head towards Takamagahara.
As the enormous golden sphere slowly descended.
Outside the residential area still under construction, Broki, who was wielding a hammer, stopped.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"It's Bazel and Loki!"
"Everyone, it's been so long!"
Loki leaped down from his golden eyes, raising his fist to collide with Broki's outstretched fist.
"Long time no see, Brogy. I never expected you to be learning carpentry now."
Brogy scratched the back of his head and chuckled, "Because Bazel forbade us from causing trouble in Wano Country before he left."
"Miss Shi left Dongli and Enel to be in charge of the protection work, while I brought the carpenters from Jiuli to build the house where we will live in the future."
"But you've come at just the right time. Most of the cabins are already ready for occupancy; the rest are just landscaping."
Loki nodded, seemingly understanding, and pointed to the noisy woods in the distance.
"What are the Lilliputians doing over there?"
"The landscaping will be done according to Bazell's plan,"
He paused abruptly, then Brogy pulled out a huge map, the kind used by giants, from his pocket.
"King Ganqiao and his team were in charge of everything, including the patterns and locations of the greenery. Look here."
Loki bent down to examine the map in Brogy's hand.
"We live in the very center of the island cloud, with the inner sea to the south leading to the more distant sea cloud, where the fish-men live."
"Our Beast Corps has garrisoned in several other directions besides the south."
"However, those areas are at a slightly lower altitude than here, and they are separated by large patches of sea clouds."
"The only passable routes are the not-so-wide Island Cloud Channel and our Sunstone —"
Loki nodded from time to time, but Bazel, who happened to witness this scene, shook his head.
"Broki, don't bother explaining it to Loki. That kid doesn't understand it at all; he's just watching for fun."
Caught off guard, Loki blushed and snatched the map away: "I... how could I not understand it! It's drawn very clearly here!"
"Do you really understand it?" Bazel stared at Loki, his eyes narrowed with a smile. "Then tell me why Takamagahara was designed this way?"
"Of course! It's obviously to guard against the enemy!"
Loki held his head high and closed his eyes, displaying an air of self-righteousness despite his lack of conviction.
"You guessed right."
After muttering that, Bazel didn't tease Loki anymore.
He slammed his hands together.
The serpent spirit that swam into the island cloud quickly controlled the cloud layer to wriggle and arch, forming a huge white cloud grandstand held up by both hands in the very center of its dwelling place.
"Wait, Bazel, I'm still inside!!"
Just then, a bear's startled cry came from the golden eyes.
"I just took a nap, why am I suddenly locked up?!"
Bear?
Bazel controlled the Golden Eye to create an opening.
With a crisp pop, Xiong appeared beside Bazel, carrying a large bag of luggage.
"Honestly, why didn't you and Loki tell me when we got there? I had to rush to pack my luggage!"
"Sorry, sorry, hahaha~"
All I could do was give an awkward laugh in response.
When Bazel placed the enormous golden sphere on the island cloud shaped like his hands, the sunlight, after being refracted multiple times by the gold, radiated onto all the rooftops of the residential area.
In an instant, the entire Takamagahara residential area was bathed in a dazzling gold.
The originally simple wooden house now appears more luxurious.
"So beautiful~~"
The mermaid ladies gathered around Bazel and chattered amongst themselves.
"Hey, Lord Bazel, where will you be staying?"
"We want to live next to you! The beach is definitely not as pretty as this!"
"That's right, Lord Bazel, let's have little merfolk tonight!!"
Recalling all the snake spirits, Bazel tried to push away the mermaid ladies who were getting closer and closer.
"You're really popular, kid."
Kaido walked over with a suspicious look on his face. The oppressive aura emanating from his massive body subconsciously drove away the mermaids who were still trying to take advantage of Bazel.
"Does Ah-Shi know how popular you are?"
Bazel shook his head and glared at Kaido with a warning look: "Don't you dare cause any trouble for me. Don't think I don't know what you're thinking. I haven't done anything reckless!"
'
Kaido just chuckled a few times and didn't say anything.
Bazel's lips twitched. Seeing Kaido's silent smile, he knew that his foolish captain was bound to cause trouble.
"Bear, give me that Devil Fruit."
As Kuma approached with the Nine-Tailed Fox Fruit, Bazel introduced him to Kaido.
"The Bakania race? They're a very rare race. I remember seeing some of them in the Valley of the Gods eleven years ago."
The bear offered the fruit: "I was one of the slaves in God Valley back then. My parents and I were captured by the Celestial Dragons, and in the end, I was the only one who managed to escape from that place."
"Since you're Bazel's friend, then you're my friend too. I'll avenge you!"
"A Celestial Dragon, right?"
After patting the bear on the shoulder a few times, Kaido grinned and said, "When I lead my men into that place, I won't care how many Celestial Dragons you want to kill."
The bear simply nodded in response.
"Kaido, this is a gift for your daughter."
Bazel tossed the fruit in his hand to Kaido.
"This is the Inu Inu Fruit, Mythical Zoan type, Nine-Tailed Fox form. Part of the reason I set sail this time is because of this Devil Fruit."
"Another mythical beast!"
Kaido looked down at the fruit in his hand and carefully put it into his pocket.
"Yamato is still too young. Should we give this fruit—Bazel—to someone else?"
"No, this fruit is specifically for Yamato."
Bazel knew what Kaido was thinking. In the original story, it seems that Kaido didn't initially intend to give Yamato the Great Mouth True God Fruit.
If young Yamato hadn't been starving and accidentally found and ate this fruit, his life as a fugitive probably wouldn't have been so smooth afterward.
But this life doesn't need to be like that.
Kozuki Oden could not have appeared, nor could he have become Yamato's spiritual pillar and idol.
"This fruit is very similar to Enel's fruit, and in some aspects it is even better than that Great Descent Fruit."
"The Nine-Tailed Fox Fruit allows the user to mimic everything about the object she touches—appearance, strength, everything."
Kaido froze, then gasped after realizing the reason: "You brat, you don't actually want the future Yamato to touch the Five Elders and find their weakness, do you?!"