Inside the palace, a pine wood stove was burning, the firewood crackling within.
The warmth, mixed with a faint woody fragrance, dispersed through the hall, yet it could not dispel the sorrow etched between the brows of the young king upon the throne.
Vailer, the current king of Drum Island, had ascended the throne at the age of eighteen.
At this moment, three kingdom ministers stood before him, reporting in low voices on the recent situation of the kingdom.
The commoners in the kingdom lived a very hard and austere life, yet everyone had no complaints to speak of.
Austerity meant poverty, and poverty meant no pirates would land to plunder; instead, the commoners felt such a life was stable and secure.
However, Vailer was single-mindedly determined to build Drum Island into a world-class medical kingdom.
Only after truly ascending the throne did he discover that things were far more difficult than he had anticipated.
Developing medicine required investing large amounts of Berries into purchasing medicinal herbs and forging equipment, but the treasury of the kingdom currently had no money.
“That is enough, there is no need to report further.”
Vailer waved his hand, pressing his fingertips against his brow as he leaned back against the throne, letting out a long sigh.
The gaze of Vailer pierced through the glass window of the palace, falling upon the vast, all-encompassing snow outside, his eyes filled with exhaustion.
“Crack——!
Crack——!”
Sudden thunder exploded above the palace, and the originally snowy sky suddenly darkened.
Dense, silvery-white thunder snakes shuttled and slithered through the clouds.
The explosive thunder overpowered the sound of the wind and snow, and the voice of Rector, accompanied by the lightning flash, spread across the entire island along with the blizzard.
“I will give you three days!”
“Find two Devil Fruits!”
“One is an oval-shaped, dark purple fruit, surrounded by black spiral patterns on its surface, with a huge jagged crack resembling an open mouth, and its stem is a curled, tender green.”
(Munch-Munch Fruit Picture!)
“The other is shaped like a mushroom, with the upper half being bright red, the lower stalk being light beige, and a curved green stem at the top.”
(Commoner Fruit Picture!)
“They are right on this island!
I give you three days!”
“Otherwise, lightning will strike down upon every single one of your heads.”
“Do you understand?”
Rector raised his hand and pointed vaguely at the peak to the left of the palace.
A pillar-thick bolt of lightning immediately descended from the sky, striking straight into the accumulated snow on the mountaintop.
The snow on the mountain peak was instantly melted by the scorching lightning, and the melted snow cascaded down the mountain walls.
The Rocks on the summit were ignited by the high temperature, burning with red flames that looked particularly dazzling against the vast white snowfield.
Everyone on the entire island looked up and saw this scene.
From time to time, several fragmented bolts of lightning fell from the clouds, precisely striking the Lapahn that had intruded onto the edge of the village, sending up a puff of scorched smoke from the snow.
“Bang!”
Vailer violently shoved open the heavy wooden palace doors, looking at the flames rising in the distance.
The sorrow on his face instantly vanished, replaced only by shock and fear.
“Quick!
Quick!
Quick!”
“Pass down the order!
All the troops of the kingdom are to be dispatched immediately; you must find those two Devil Fruits he spoke of!”
His voice carried an uncontrollable tremor, his eyes fixed dead on the figure hovering in the sky.
Amidst the swirling wind and snow, fragments of lightning danced among the silvery-white hair of Rector, and his handsome face bore no expression.
Behind him, three millstone-sized balls of lightning were coalescing and slowly expanding, casting a cold white glow across the entire sky.
Before the snowflakes falling from the sky could even touch him, they were evaporated into white mist by the high temperature emitted by the lightning.
The clouds overhead grew thicker and thicker, gradually sinking into a heavy, oppressive ink-black, weighing heavily over the airspace of the entire island.
In the entire sky, only that figure flashing with thunderous light remained particularly dazzling.
At this moment, Vailer had only one thought in his mind: make this person leave Drum Island quickly.
Just moments ago, all the Den Den Mushi in the palace had been struck by the invading lightning, and all the Den Den Mushi had died.
Marineford, Marine Headquarters; the afternoon sunlight pierced through the tall glass windows, scattering across the office floor.
Admiral Kong, who had just finished a high-level meeting, returned to his office.
Pushing open the door, he saw an afro-haired young man and a man with a crew cut huddled by the table, fighting over a bag of rice crackers.
“Garp!
You have already eaten three bags!
This bag is mine!”
“What nonsense are you talking about!
Whoever gets it first is theirs!”
“Sengoku!
Garp!
You two bastards!
That is my stuff!”
The angry roar of Kong immediately drew the attention of Sengoku.
Taking advantage of the gap while Sengoku turned his head to look, Garp snatched the bag of rice crackers, threw his head back, and dumped all the remaining rice crackers into his mouth, his cheeks bulging roundly.
“Ah!
Garp, you bastard!
Give it back to me right now!”
Sengoku looked at the empty packaging in his hands, blue veins throbbing on his forehead.
“If you want to eat them, go buy them yourself!
What is the deal with always snatching mine?”
“But the ones you buy just taste better!”
“Both of you shut up!
Since you are so idle, go capture this person and bring him back for him!”
Kong flung a thick stack of intelligence toward the two of them.
The documents scattered in the air, and a bounty poster printed with a portrait spiraled down to land on the desktop.
On the image was precisely the scene of Rector in the Country of Endless Warfare, silver-white lightning surging in his eyes as he unleashed the Divine Punishment of the Thunder Dragon.
In the background of the picture, the huge head of a thunder dragon protruded from the dark, thick clouds, with fallen corpses below.
The entire image exuded an intimidating sense of oppression.
“I am still busy chasing Roger, I do not have time to go.”
Garp waved his hand, leaning against the window chewing on rice crackers with an indifferent expression.
Sengoku bent down to pick up the bounty poster from the floor and glanced at the image.
“The Rocks Pirates in the New World have been making moves recently, and I have to keep an eye on them, so I do not have time either.”
“Thump, thump, thump!!!”
Urgent knocking suddenly sounded, interrupting their argument.
“Admiral Kong!
Emergency intelligence has been transmitted from the Fleet Admiral!”
“Nearby patrolling Marines discovered the Rumble-Rumble Fruit user Rector appearing on Drum Island!”
“The Fleet Admiral orders you to immediately dispatch men to capture him!”
The door was pushed open, and a messenger wearing a Marine soldier uniform stood outside.
He gave Kong a standard military salute and handed over the classified documents in his hands with both hands.
“Zephyr, you go on this mission.”
Kong handed the files over to Zephyr who was standing aside.
“This child is only five years old, and he already has this kind of strength?”
Zephyr stared at the age notation on the files, his tone carrying surprise.
When they were five years old, they were still playing pretend games!
Rector became a wanted criminal at the age of five!
What a monster!
Zephyr took the files, and the pages clearly marked all the information of Rector.
[Eldest son of Charlotte Linlin, officer of the Rocks Pirates — Charlotte Rector]
[Logia-class Rumble-Rumble Fruit user, naturally masters Observation Haki, inherited the monster-level talent of Charlotte Linlin — Iron Balloon]
[Initial Bounty: 130,000,000 Berries]
[Danger Level: Maximum]
[Evaluation: A monster whose future growth upper limit is no less than Rocks]
The moniker of Charlotte Linlin was clear to everyone present.
They had long heard about related matters previously from the mouths of Giant Race soldiers who joined the Marines.
When Charlotte Linlin was five years old, she once lived in Elbaf, where the Elbaf Winter Festival required fasting for twelve consecutive days.
By the seventh day, her eating disorder flared up, and she lost control in the giant village.
She demolished more than half of the village, able to snap the greatsword of a giant warrior with a single punch and shatter the ribs in the chest of a warrior.
In the end, she even killed Elder Joruul, the hero of the Giant Race.
The Giant Race had always regarded her as a woman who brought disaster.
Now her son not only perfectly inherited this monster-like physique, but also ate the strongest Logia-class ability — the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, which was also the reason why the Fleet Admiral urgently convened a meeting.
An ordinary Giant Race soldier could reach the combat power of an ordinary Vice Admiral in the Marines.
A five-year-old child already possessed such strong power; if he were allowed to grow, sooner or later he would become the next Rocks.
The World Government would never allow such a situation to occur.
The core of the high-level meeting today was to discuss how to eliminate Rector at the smallest cost.
Given the strength Rector currently displayed, ordinary Vice Admirals would die if they went, and this matter ultimately fell into the hands of Kong.
Among the current three Admirals of the Marines, one died in battle when encountering Rocks at Mary Geoise, and another was about to retire, their combat power having declined severely.
Now only Kong, who was in the prime of his life, could hold down the fort, and under his command Garp, Sengoku, and Zephyr were the three backbone figures most hoping to succeed as Admirals.
“I understand.
I will set off for Drum Island right now.”
Zephyr stood up, his gaze locked firmly on the bounty poster in his hand.
In his view, a child who walked the path of a pirate like this had to accept the sanctions of the Marines.