New World, Doerena Kingdom, port.
A merchant ship with patched sails slowly pulled into the dock.
As soon as the mooring lines were thrown ashore, a silver-haired figure impatiently leaped from the deck and landed heavily on the solid ground.
Lucas closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the air, which smelled of soil.
Since departing from Torrance Town and eliminating Aily, he had been drifting on the vast ocean for forty-one days.
He hadn’t encountered a single island or seen any other ships; it was as if the whole world had been reduced to just him, this dilapidated ship, and the boundless blue despair.
If not for the sufficient food and fresh water stored on Aily’s ship, and if not for his monster-like physique that allowed him to survive in extreme environments, he would likely have died at sea long ago.
The first thing he did after coming ashore was to sell the ship to a local ship dealer at a very low price.
As for Aily’s corpse, he had long since thrown it into the sea.
After forty-one days of sailing, the body had rotted until only a pile of bones remained; even if he dragged it to a Marine branch, it wouldn’t be worth half a Berries in bounty.
After finding a passerby to clarify the location of the inn and travel agency, Lucas walked straight over.
He had already decided where he would go to seek medical treatment.
In this world, there were only a handful of doctors who truly had research into Lineage Factor.
Vegapunk was one, but Punk Hazard was an island with zero magnetic force, and no Log Pose could locate it.
In the original timeline, the Straw Hat crew managed to reach it because they received a Den Den Mushi call—purely the power of protagonist halo.
Lucas didn’t consider himself to have that kind of protagonist halo.
Excluding Vegapunk, the only remaining choice was the Witch of Drum Island—Dr.
Kureha.
The fact that Chopper could invent the rumble ball, which could temporarily disrupt the transformation wavelengths of Zoan Devil Fruit, was enough to prove Dr.
Kureha’s attainments in the field of Lineage Factor.
Although she couldn’t compare to a genius like Vegapunk, she should be more than enough to examine his body and determine how many types of Lineage Factor he could actually accommodate.
There were no shortcuts from the New World to Drum Island.
He had to reach the Red Port below the Red Line first, cross the Red Line, arrive at the Red Port on the Paradise side, and then continue sailing.
Lucas bought a ticket for a steam passenger ship to the Red Port at the travel agency.
He found an inn to wash off the dust of the journey and bought himself a new trench coat and trousers.
When the sky had completely darkened, the massive steam passenger ship sounded its whistle and slowly pulled away from the port.
Lucas took the key handed over by the crew member, ignored the flirtatious glances thrown by several female tourists on the deck, and walked straight into his single passenger cabin.
The first two days of the journey were calm.
Aside from the hail and thunderstorms unique to the New World that could strike at any moment, there were no accidents.
Under the command of an experienced navigator, the passenger ship passed through one dangerous sea area after another without incident.
Noon on the third day.
Dazzling sunlight spilled onto the calm sea, shimmering with ripples of light.
A heart-rending scream came from the lookout tower.
“Pirates!
It’s pirates!
Three medium-sized pirate ships!
It’s the Iron Hand Pirates!
Captain Iron Hand Barnes, bounty of 140 million Berries!”
The entire deck fell into a dead silence instantly.
Immediately after, screams and cries of alarm rose one after another.
Experienced tourists didn’t say a word; they turned and ran into their cabins, locking the doors tightly.
The face of the ship’s escort Captain turned deathly pale in an instant.
The most glorious achievement of his life was barely defeating a pirate with an 80 million bounty.
Against a ruthless character with a bounty over 100 million, he didn’t even have a 30% chance of winning.
But he couldn’t retreat.
The travel agency owner treated him well; taking people’s money meant taking on their disasters.
This was his duty.
The escort Captain took a deep breath and slowly drew the Western sword at his waist.
Armament Haki spread along the blade.
He slashed forward violently, and a flying slash dozens of meters long broke through the air, hacking towards the pirate ship in the very center.
“Clang!”
A loud crash.
A burly man with a metallic sheen on his right arm soared into the sky from the deck of the pirate ship.
His whole body was covered in thick Armament Haki, and he took the slash head-on with his chest.
“With just this much skill, you dare to stop me?”
Barnes sneered, stomping hard on the air under his feet.
“Bang!”
A white air wave exploded.
He used Moonwalk, rushing towards the passenger ship like a cannonball.
The escort Captain’s face changed drastically, and he swung the sword in his hand frantically.
Sword qi shot towards Barnes like raindrops, but it could only strike a series of sparks against his Armament Haki.
The speed at which the passenger ship could make an emergency turn was far inferior to the speed of Moonwalk.
Before long, Barnes had already crossed hundreds of meters and landed heavily on the deck of the passenger ship.
The immense impact caused the entire ship to shake violently.
Just as he landed, the escort Captain’s sword had already slashed towards his face.
“damn idiot!”
Barnes sneered, raised his right arm made of steel, and grabbed the sharp blade.
“Snap!”
The Western sword made of refined steel was crushed into a pile of scrap metal by him.
The escort Captain’s face turned ashen, and he closed his eyes in despair.
“Hand over everything valuable!
Leave the women!
The men can go swim in the sea!”
Barnes laughed triumphantly, throwing the scrap metal in his hand onto the ground.
His gaze swept over the trembling crew members, the greed on his face undisguised.
“Whoosh!”
An arc-shaped vacuum slash flew out from the window of a passenger cabin.
Before the smile on Barnes’s face could dissipate, his body had already been neatly sliced in two from the middle.
Modified mechanical internal organs mixed with blood and intestines scattered all over the ground.
Everyone stared dumbfounded at this sudden scene.
The cabin door was pushed open.
Lucas walked out, yawning, with a hint of post-sleep laziness still on his face.
He glanced at the corpse on the ground, then looked at the still-stunned escort Captain:
“The bounty belongs to me, no problem, right?”
He wasn’t the kind of idiot who showed off everywhere after getting a new ability.
There was no need to waste energy using the Vampire Fruit’s ability on an enemy that could be easily resolved with Rokushiki infused with Armament Haki.
“N-no problem!
Of course, no problem!”
The escort Captain snapped back to reality, nodding hurriedly, his eyes full of awe and gratitude as he looked at Lucas.
Lucas nodded, not saying anything more.
With a point of his foot, he used Moonwalk and shot into the high sky.
“[Rankyaku: Ran]!”
Countless vacuum slashes fell like a storm, and the three pirate ships were sliced into countless pieces of wood, sinking into the sea.
On the sea surface, only the shrill screams of those pirates struggling desperately in the water remained.
Lucas landed back on the deck and turned to walk back to the cabin.
According to the intelligence provided by Gion, Barnes was one of the affiliated pirate crews under Golden Lion.
Solving a potential enemy and conveniently taking the bounty was practically a buy-one-get-one-free deal.
The still-terrified escort Captain hurriedly directed the crew to clean up the battlefield and repair the damaged deck.
On the afternoon of the fourth day, the passenger ship happened to pass by a Marine base.
The escort Captain personally carried Barnes’s corpse to exchange for the bounty, delivering every penny to Lucas.
On the morning of the seventh day.
When the first ray of sunlight shone on the sea, an incomparably huge red wall appeared at the edge of his vision.
The passenger ship slowly sailed into the Red Port on the New World side.
This was one of the busiest ports in the entire ocean.
Countless merchant ships were docked densely at the wharf, and goods from all over the world were piled up like mountains.
Workers carried heavy boxes, shuttling back and forth on the gangplanks.
Hawking, shouting, and the sounds of steam whistles intertwined, merging into a noisy ocean.
On the wharf, Marine soldiers in white uniforms holding flintlock rifles could be seen patrolling everywhere.
Their eyes scanned every passing pedestrian with vigilance.
There were no pirate ships here.
After all, no pirate would be stupid enough to come to Mary Geoise to handle formal exit procedures.
Lucas carried a simple backpack and walked off the passenger ship with the flow of people.
As soon as he stepped onto the land of the Red Port, a lazy voice filled with heavy resentment rang in his ear.
“Hey, white hair.
Stop.”
“Where are you coming from?
Where are you going?
What are you doing at the Red Port?
Are you carrying any contraband?”