Chapter 145: The Mermaid's Lament

Thoughts raced through Adrian's mind as he stood on the outskirts of the crowd, observing the chaotic spectacle unfolding before him with a cold detachment.

If, after a moment's wait, none of the fish-men dared to stand and resist, he was prepared to take matters into his own hands.

Adrian had clearly understood the words of the pirate lackeys.

The captain of the bull-headed pirate crew, Paris, had a bounty exceeding two hundred million berries!

With the assistance of the pirate bounty exchange experience point system, this translated to approximately 20 million experience points.

A walking 20 million experience points – he couldn't let such a fortune slip away!

At that moment, a panel message suddenly popped up.

[You have triggered a C-level random mission: 'Heroic Rescue of the Mermaid!']

[Mission Brief: Miss Serena is being threatened and bound by a vicious pirate crew that has invaded Fish-Man Island. She is on the verge of being taken to the Sabaody Archipelago above the sea to become a slave in the auction house. Your urgent assistance is required.]

[Mission Tip: Anyone who uses violence as a basis for coercion is garbage!]

[Mission Requirements: Defeat or kill the Minotaur Paris, annihilate the Minotaur Pirate Crew.]

[Mission Rewards: 5 million experience points, and Miss Serena's favorability rating will increase significantly.]

Adrian's mouth twitched slightly as the panel began to change inexplicably once again.

At this moment, triggering a mission seemed reasonable.

However, the mission name, "Heroic Rescue of the Mermaid"…

Mermaids are at least half-human, right?

Although it's not the more crucial lower half, the upper half is still beautiful!

Moreover, after the age of thirty, mermaids can directly shed their fish tails and transform them into human legs to walk upright, you know?

Adrian's complaints were interrupted by the prompt for the next mission that immediately followed.

[You have triggered an S-class random mission, "The Lament of the Mermaid."]

[Mission Brief: Mermaid trafficking and slave trading have always been the greatest sources of tragedy for Fish-Man Island. Every mermaid and fish-man living on Fish-Man Island deeply detests this practice. Whenever a mermaid falls into slavery, the lament of the remaining merfolk echoes through the deep sea. Eradicating this phenomenon is the lifelong wish of all residents of Fish-Man Island.]

[Mission Requirements: Completely eliminate the phenomenon of mermaid slave trading in the world.]

[Mission Prompt: This is an almost impossible task.]

[Mission Reward: 10 billion experience points, random rewards x5, world legendary status x2.]

[Special Reward: [Mermaid Liberator]: Your relationship with the Fish-Man Island faction will forever be at the highest level of [Admiration].]

[Slave Liberator]: Your relationship with any order faction will start at the level of [Respect].]

The second mission that appeared surprised Adrian.

"10 billion experience points…"

This is the most exaggerated experience reward quest Adrian has ever encountered.

Even after breaking through level 100, this amount of experience points should be enough to raise him by one or two levels, right?

However, along with the huge experience point reward, there is also the task difficulty, which is almost sky-high.

To eradicate the entire slave trade on Fish-Man Island?

Judging from the population base of Fish-Man Island, this is a task that is simply impossible to complete.

Even if Adrian were to station himself on Fish-Man Island, he would only be able to stop the fish-man slave trade temporarily.

At a glance, without buyers, there wouldn't be sellers, and consequently, there wouldn't be a product.

The real supporters behind the fish-man slave trade are not the nobles and merchants but the Celestial Dragon race that stands above the World Government!

Even the World Government, which has ruled the seas for 800 years, would not take the initiative to do this, so who else could?

Even the notorious Whitebeard Pirates, who boldly planted their flag above Fish-Man Island, couldn't put an end to the phenomenon of the mermaid slave trade. Incidents of mermaids being captured, abducted, and enslaved occurred almost regularly!

In other words, putting an end to the mermaid slave trade on Fish-Man Island is something that even the strongest man in the world cannot do!

The mission "The Lament of the Mermaid" is of excessively high difficulty.

Just like the mission prompt itself suggests, this is a task that is nearly impossible to accomplish!

For a moment, Adrian couldn't even imagine where to start.

However, the other random mission posed no difficulty for him.

After accepting the two quests, Adrian's eyes turned cold. He flashed and appeared in front of the advancing Bull Head Pirates.

The residents of Fish-Man Island who were watching the commotion were startled to see someone suddenly blocking the Bull Head Pirates' path.

"Who is that? Why did he stand out at this time?"

"That person is a human! Is he also a member of the Bull Head Pirates?"

"Why doesn't any fish-man dare to stand up and fight these pirates?"

"Are the guards of Ryugu Palace all dead? Why haven't they noticed the situation here yet?"

The members of the Bull Head Pirates were also slightly stunned when they saw the short man who suddenly appeared in front of them.

"Hey! Who are you?"

"Why are you blocking the way of our Bull Head Pirates?"

"Kid, are you looking for trouble?"

The captain of the Bull Head Pirates, Paris, lowered his head and stared at Adrian below with his copper-bell-like black eyes, saying without a trace of emotion:

"You're blocking my way; move!"

On this vast sea, there are countless pirates with similar faces.

Even those who look completely different and have completely different experiences can still be considered the same person, and there are many examples of this.

The most famous and interesting of these is Sanji and Duval.

Due to a mistake in the wanted poster operation, Duval was inexplicably given Sanji's name and was thus constantly hunted by bounty hunters and the Marines.

Because of this, Duval, who used to be a small-time thug in a mountain village enjoying bullying villagers, was forced to go to sea and become a pirate, while also carrying Sanji's 77 million beli bounty…

I don't know if it's because the will of the great universe really has bad taste, or if there are too many people with face blindness at sea.

Pirates identify each other mostly by their distinctive features.

For example, Edward Newgate's crescent-shaped white moustache, Shanks' red hair, and Luffy's straw hat, etc.

At this time, although Adrian's bounty amount exceeded 600 million beli, the world only knew the nickname "White Ghost" and could only confirm his identity by his releasing his ghost ability.

So, at this moment, Minotaur Paris indeed couldn't recognize who this approximately two-meter-tall, suit-clad figure standing in front of him was…

Adrian revealed a slightly mocking smile at the corner of his mouth.

"Captain Paris of the Bullhead Pirates, do you remember what your bounty is?"

Upon hearing this, a pirate lackey immediately arrogantly shouted:

"The captain's bounty is a whopping 220 million Berries!"