The White City truly lived up to its name. The ground, the architecture, and even the surrounding trees of Flevance were as pristine and flawlessly white as a winter fairy tale. However, today, this beautiful white town was heavily tainted with the dark stains of tragedy and ruin.
From the countless bullet holes, scorched walls, and barricades left behind, one could vividly feel the suffocating despair of the abandoned patients. It also painted a horrific picture of just how absolutely cold-blooded and ruthless the neighboring nations had been during the extermination.
"Did you know?" Bardock spoke up, his voice echoing slightly through the silent, empty streets. "The tragedy that occurred here was actually completely avoidable. It was the World Government that single-handedly caused all of this."
"Oh?" Robin asked, her analytical mind immediately engaged. "What exactly happened here?"
"About a century before the Amber Lead industry truly exploded in popularity, the World Government secretly dispatched a geological survey team to Flevance to investigate the ore," Bardock explained. "During that survey, they actually discovered the absolute truth about Amber Lead: mining and handling the raw ore causes severe, generational heavy metal poisoning.
"However, to secure that unimaginable, endless wealth, the World Government and the Flevance Royal Family completely suppressed the research. They hid the truth from the public, willingly letting the citizens slowly poison themselves for decades. When the accumulated toxins finally broke out and the citizens began dying en masse, the entire nation was condemned to death under the guise of a contagious 'plague'. But the Flevance Royal Family? They took their astronomical wealth and fled this living hell with the World Government's help, long before the borders were sealed and the slaughter began."
Hearing Bardock's explanation, a profound chill ran down the spines of the entire crew. So this entire country, these millions of people... were just sacrificed for profit?
They couldn't even begin to fathom the absolute, crushing despair the citizens must have felt when they finally realized the truth—that their own government had knowingly poisoned them. It also made the crew silently wonder: in the eyes of the World Government's upper echelons, what exactly were ordinary citizens? Were they even viewed as human beings, or just expendable livestock?
"These people... they're so pitiful," Mansherry whispered, tears pooling in her large eyes as she looked at a ruined, ash-covered playground. "If only I had come here sooner with my dandelion spores... maybe I could have saved them all."
"There are no 'ifs' in this world, Mansherry," Robin shook her head, letting out a soft, sorrowful sigh. "And even with your miraculous abilities, it's physically impossible for you to cure every single suffering patient in the world."
"The World Government is absolutely, utterly disgusting!" Perona floated in the air, crossing her arms in sheer outrage.
"That's exactly the kind of depraved garbage those 'rulers' are capable of," Kid sneered fiercely, his fists clenched tight. Both he and Killer had grown up in the slums of the South Blue and had long since recognized the hypocritical, rotting core of the world's authorities.
"Captain Bardock," Hawkins chimed in, his stoic face remaining perfectly calm as he observed the ruins. "Is it truly as the official reports state? Are there absolutely no survivors from Flevance?"
"Speaking of survivors," Bardock smiled faintly. "There is actually exactly one."
"Really?!"
The entire crew instantly turned to look at him. Whether driven by deep pity or intense curiosity, they were all highly invested in the fate of the sole survivor of the White City.
"Yeah," Bardock nodded, not keeping them in suspense. "His name is Trafalgar D. Water Law. He's the son of Flevance's greatest doctor, and he was a patient of Amber Lead Syndrome himself. Fortunately, he managed to escape the extermination and miraculously consumed the Op-Op Fruit (Ope Ope no Mi), which allowed him to surgically cure his own poisoning. Right now, he should be operating out there somewhere in the corners of the North Blue."
"Another 'D'?! Just like Jaguar D. Saul!" Robin's eyes widened in profound shock. "He actually found the legendary Op-Op Fruit?!" "To survive a living hell like this and lose everyone you know... I genuinely don't know if staying alive was a blessing or a curse for him," Killer muttered quietly.
The crew exchanged heavy murmurs, deeply moved by the tragic tale. They unanimously agreed that if the opportunity ever presented itself, they absolutely had to meet this lone survivor.
"Alright, let's spread out and take a look around," Bardock said, scanning the desolate, crumbling streets. "There are absolutely no bones left, which means the neighboring countries definitely sent cleanup crews in after the massacre to hide the evidence. I doubt there are any valuable items or documents left either, but it's worth checking out."
"Understood."
The crew began to slowly explore the white ruins. Initially, they stuck together in small groups, but eventually fanned out across the quiet city to cover more ground.
Meanwhile, Bardock activated Geppo (Moonwalk), propelling himself high into the sky to secure an aerial view of the kingdom. He was specifically looking for the massive, open-pit Amber Lead mines.
He was genuinely curious about something. Since the World Government explicitly knew that Amber Lead Syndrome was purely heavy metal poisoning and absolutely not a contagious virus, would they secretly send slave labor back in to resume mining the incredibly lucrative ore? After all, in the eyes of the Celestial Dragons, human lives were obscenely cheap—just disposable batteries to generate more wealth.
Eventually, Bardock spotted the massive, spiraling craters of the Amber Lead mines on the outskirts of the city.
However, there wasn't a single miner or World Government operative in sight. It made sense; if there was an active mining operation going on, Enel's omniscient Mantra would have immediately picked up their bio-signatures the moment the White Dragon breached the clouds.
Bardock hovered in the air, pondering. He wasn't sure if the World Government was simply waiting for the political heat surrounding the Flevance massacre to completely fade away before resuming operations, or if they had genuinely abandoned the mines altogether. They likely already possessed a massive, hoarded stockpile of pure Amber Lead in Mary Geoise, but absolute greed was their foundational sin.
Right at that moment, the air crackled violently.
With a blinding flash of blue lightning, Enel instantly materialized directly beside Bardock in the sky.
"Bardock," Enel smirked, his eyes glinting with a dangerous, highly amused light. "Enemies have entered the perimeter."
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