The next day, newspapers worldwide were filled with extensive reports on the World Noble murder incident, their language mournful as if their own parents had died. It must be said that the entire world had indeed been deeply shaken. After all, a World Noble had been killed.
It was common knowledge that if the descendants of the twenty kings who founded the World Government, the divine race residing high above the clouds, were ever harmed, a Marine Admiral would immediately be dispatched. Yet on this day, World Nobles were truly murdered. And not just one; three World Nobles, an entire family! Even non-affiliated nations were terrified, let alone the member nations of the World Government. They had never imagined there could be such lunatics in the world!
However, those who knew a bit about the man named Byrnndi World knew that he was indeed such a reckless hothead. The man named World was like an out-of-control locomotive, rampaging across the seas, mercilessly crushing anyone who dared to stand in his way with his Moa Moa no Mi abilities. How could that crazy guy care about whether someone was a World Noble or not? One could only say those World Nobles were unlucky.
However, the entire world was now eagerly awaiting the World Government's response. With the inviolable World Nobles murdered, if the culprit wasn't dealt with quickly, where would the government's face be?
In fact, the World Government was indeed going crazy. According to Stussy, the full power of the Marines and CP agencies was being deployed to eliminate World in the shortest possible time. Roa was paying close attention to this matter, instructing Stussy and Morgans to report to him immediately if there was any news. At the same time, the snail fleet was continuously advancing towards the New World, to the sea area where the incident occurred, which was in the early part of the New World and wouldn't delay their journey to Fish-Man Island.
Then, one afternoon.
"Roar!"
Accompanied by a shrill scream, a monstrous creature as vast as a mountain range crashed into the sea, instantly stirring up massive waves.
"A Sea King? It's so huge! Is this the Calm Belt? The Sea King's nest truly lives up to its reputation!" Bege wiped the splashed water from his face, exclaiming repeatedly, "And what kind of monster is this guy anyway!"
In the sky, Bullet, who had just delivered a mercury-heavy punch that shattered the head of an attacking Sea King, quickly descended onto a platform formed by several snails connected together. His face was almost expressionless; he clearly didn't feel he had done anything remarkable. It was just a slightly larger beast.
Indeed, he's truly a monster!Moria, covered in bruises and looking utterly disheveled, glanced at Bullet, thinking this. Roa is one thing, but what kind of monster is this guy? His experiences over the past few days had taught Moria that this kid also possessed the power to effortlessly kill him. Now, he was even more certain. He couldn't withstand a punch from this guy, dozens of meters in size.
Another incredibly annoying guy! Why would such powerful people help Roa? Moria averted his gaze and took a deep breath. Neither envy nor jealousy held any meaning; only becoming stronger himself was the truth!
"Again!" Moria roared.
"Good." In front of him, Dylan, holding a thick wooden stick, nodded lightly. "Then let's continue." The stick cut through the air, instantly smashing towards Moria again. Moria neither dodged nor avoided, using his body to endure Dylan's attack.
Dylan had said that Haki was a power hidden within everyone, and theoretically, with training, everyone could draw out Haki. The only difference lay in the speed of mastery and the intensity of the Haki. And to draw out Haki, there was no better way than to take a beating. Enduring blows with the body could stimulate Armament Haki. Attempting to dodge could guide Observation Haki. Moria didn't understand it all, but he simply took the beatings as instructed.
Beside them, Bege shivered involuntarily as he watched the scene. Is this really training? Is Dylan really not just abusing Moria? Roa said that Haki was a power that absolutely had to be mastered. Could it be that I'll have to undergo such grueling training too in the future?
"Don't space out!" Just as he was lost in thought, a slap landed on the back of his head. Bege instinctively bristled, but turning his head, he saw Doflamingo's half-smiling face, and Bege instantly quieted down. Seeing Bege's suddenly changing expression, Doflamingo's smile immediately became even more pleasant; he finally understood the joy Bullet and Dylan felt when they trained him earlier. "Continue training, Bege! Stamina is the foundation of all abilities!" he said righteously.
No need for you to tell me that! Bege secretly gritted his teeth. Just wait! Doflamingo, you'd better not let me surpass you!
Once again, after being beaten to the ground by Dylan, Moria gasped for breath, recovering his strength while observing his surroundings. It must be said that, apart from Roa himself who was taking a nap, all of his subordinates were incredibly diligent. Bullet and King, those two monstrous individuals, were silently training, and even Doflamingo and Bege, who were truly young, were huffing and puffing through their weighted runs. They looked full of vigor.
But were they really a team? After days of observation, Moria discovered one thing: the atmosphere among Roa's subordinates wasn't really harmonious. In fact, they rarely had any friendly conversations with each other; a few casual words were the absolute limit. Even though they had been sailing together for a long time, they seemed like strangers. Without Roa's command, everyone went about their own business, with almost no interaction. If anything, it was just Bullet occasionally fighting with King.
Hmph, if Roa wasn't here, these guys would probably turn on each other immediately, wouldn't they? Moria couldn't help but think this, feeling they were completely disorganized, only held together by Roa's force. And Roa seemed to ignore it all, was he that confident? Confident he could always suppress these guys? If the sleeping Roa knew what Moria was thinking, he would probably laugh and reply that this was the corporate culture he had learned since elementary school.
Moria felt an inexplicable sense of pride, believing that this so-called Calamity Company was far inferior to his own harmonious pirate crew! However, thinking of his pirate crew, Moria's expression couldn't help but darken. Although his comrades weren't being abused, their lives in the factory were still tough. Roa, that bastard's factory, could be said to exploit its workers to the bone. Every day was work after waking up, and sleep after work. Even meals had to be eaten on the assembly line, with hardly any time to breathe. Moria felt heartbroken watching it. But there was no alternative; Roa said he didn't keep idlers among his subordinates. If he truly wanted to improve his comrades' situation, he had to contribute.
Contribute? Moria gritted his teeth, propped himself up with his hands on his knees, and stood. "Again!"
"Very good." Dylan looked at Moria with clear appreciation. This kid might be a bit weak, but his willpower was much stronger than Doflamingo's; there was a driving force within him. Just by the spirit in Moria's heart, Dylan knew his future wouldn't be weak. As expected of Boss, his eye for talent is excellent.
In just over an hour, the grand fleet passed through the Calm Belt and re-entered the New World. The unique nature of this sea region immediately startled Moria and Bege, who were country bumpkins from the West Blue. The weather changed almost every moment: sometimes sunny, sometimes heavy rain, sometimes thunderstorms, sometimes hail—completely unpredictable.
This is the New World? Moria looked up at the cloudy sky, the lightning bolts dancing within the clouds illuminating his battered face. This was the first time he realized the terror of nature! Human power, in front of this, was truly—
"So noisy." An annoyed voice sounded from the side, "Can't a guy get some sleep?!"
Then, the next instant, the dark clouds immediately vanished, and the sky cleared again.
"Eh?" Moria blinked blankly. Where was the terrifying nature? Where were the meteorological disasters that human power couldn't reach?
"Now you know who's the boss, huh?" Roa, woken from his sleep by the thunder, hummed softly, closed his eyes, and prepared to resume his dream. Mere weather, how could it contend with the authority of a Calamity Incarnate?
Was it Roa who did it? Moria swallowed. What exactly is this guy's ability?
Just then.
Buruburu buru.
Roa, who had just closed his eyes, opened them unhappily, pulled out his Transponder Snail from his pocket, and answered.
"Brother Roa, we found him!"
A sweet female voice came from the other end of the line, "We found Byrnndi World's whereabouts!"
"Oh?" Roa, who had been a bit grumpy from being woken up, suddenly regained his energy. "Elaborate!"
"If you want to go find him, you'll have to hurry, Brother Roa! That guy's about to be finished!"
On an island in the early part of the New World.
Marine warships surrounded the island from all directions. Almost every warship had a Marine with the rank of Vice Admiral standing ready. At this moment, a majestic voice, amplified by a megaphone, echoed across the island, "Byrnndi World, you have nowhere left to run! Surrender now!"
"How could this be! How did the Marines know we were here!" On a reef at the edge of the island, a short, middle-aged man exclaimed in disbelief, "This is a deserted island; no one should have been able to leak our whereabouts!"
"We can talk about that later. The problem now is, what do we do next, Captain!" Nearby, a pirate couldn't help but cry out.
"Hahahaha! What do we do?" The tall, muscular man standing at the very front, with especially thick arms and a horned helmet on his head, burst into laughter. "Just like all times in the past, of course, we'll take out all our enemies, then celebrate with a feast and leave!" His smile held a clear, simple honesty, as if he completely failed to grasp the current situation. But it was precisely this smile that instantly calmed the restless pirates.
"Hmm, you're right," a beautiful, tall woman in a cheongsam with a white lab coat over it, lightly tapped her red lips with a slender finger. "Captain, of course, no matter what kind of enemies they are, you can smash them into pieces with your abilities!"
"The Captain's ability is invincible!" A blue-skinned Fish-Man carrying two large nail-hammers laughed along.
"Then, let's fight!" A man with square-shaped twin ponytails and a giant war hammer, looking somewhat like a hammer-form mini-cannon, roared loudly, "Captain! Let's crush them!"
"Oh!!" The captain, Byrnndi World, captain of the World Pirates, laughed and raised his right arm. Just like countless times before, he was going to lead his comrades to victory! But this time, what was different, and what World and his cadres didn't realize, was that among the ordinary crew members behind them, several had flickering eyes.
"Launch attack!!"
Seeing that the World Pirates showed no response to their surrender demands, the warships on the sea immediately stopped wasting words and launched their assault. One after another, huge warships turned sideways on the sea, aiming their cannons at the coastline. But at this moment, World had already casually grabbed a cannonball.
"Multiply—Hundredfold Cannon!"
He directly threw the cannonball in his hand towards a distant warship. The next instant, the cannonball's volume and speed increased a hundredfold, turning into a giant cannonball that streaked across the sea like lightning, instantly slamming into the distant warship.
Boom!
A massive explosion instantly swallowed the warship whole, blossoming into a brilliant flower of fire on the sea.
"Fire!" Seeing their fellow crew members killed, the Marines were completely enraged. So, heavy cannons fired simultaneously, and a dense volley of cannonballs rained down upon the pirates like a storm.
"Hahahahaha! Useless, useless!" World laughed wildly. "Multiply—Hundredfold Stone!"
He casually picked up a large reef stone from beneath his feet and tossed it out. The next moment, the reef stone transformed into a mountain, directly shattering a large swath of incoming cannonballs in mid-air, and also smashing a distant warship to smithereens. The remaining cannonballs scattered around, causing a series of explosions, but they couldn't touch the pirates at all.
"So strong! As expected of the Captain!" The Fish-Man was already cheering.
"This is of course true!" World excitedly raised his arms, almost like a celebrating gorilla. "All who dare to block us must die!" His dream was to travel the world, and for that, he would eliminate anyone who dared to stand in his way!
The cadres were all smiling broadly. This time, too, they would easily win under the captain's leadership—
Tap tap tap.
A few faint sounds, remarkably weak amidst the roar of exploding cannonballs around them. But it was precisely these few faint sounds that caused several blood blossoms to erupt on World's back. His body swayed, and he suddenly fell to the ground.
"…"
The short vice-captain looked blankly at his fallen brother. "Walder?"
What happened?
"WALDER!!"
He suddenly heard a roar from behind, "If you want to drag all of us to hell, then don't blame us for taking you out first!!"
The cadres turned their heads in confusion. They saw several men with twisted expressions, holding guns, pointing at the fallen World.
"You… you betrayed me?" Though shot multiple times, World did not die. He merely turned his head back in disbelief.