“Splash!”
A basin of cold water was dumped over Elik’s head.
The bone-chilling cold jolted him awake instantly.
Elik gasped for breath and looked around in terror.
It was pitch-black.
He seemed to be inside some abandoned factory, and there wasn’t another person in sight.
He desperately tried to piece together his memories.
Wasn’t I…
wasn’t I surrounded by a bunch of men in black…?
Where is this place?
The jumbled memories gave him a splitting headache.
When he tried to raise his hands and rub his temples, he suddenly realized that both his hands and feet were tied to a chair.
Snap!
A harsh white light suddenly illuminated the entire factory.
The blinding brightness made Elik squint and shut his eyes.
It took him a while to adjust.
When he finally opened them, he saw hundreds of people gathered throughout the factory, all staring menacingly at him.
Elik swallowed nervously before shouting in terror,
“You…
What are you going to do to me?!
I’m warning you!
My boss is the president of the Black Bear Society on West Street!
If you lay so much as a finger on me and our president finds out, he’ll have your heads!”
“Oh?”
Valsa stepped out from behind Elik.
“Then why don’t you take a look at who this is?”
Standing beside him were Lucas, Adrian, and Quans.
Valsa tossed a body forward.
The man’s eyes were rolled back, blood spilling from his mouth.
He was barely breathing, and it was obvious he wouldn’t survive much longer.
Elik’s eyes widened in horror.
Wasn’t that his boss, the president of the Black Bear Society?
How had he been defeated so easily…?
“Hm?
Take a good look.
Do you recognize him?”
Valsa walked behind Elik, bent down, and whispered beside his ear.
Elik had already been scared out of his wits by what he was seeing.
He stammered,
“N-No…
I don’t know him…”
“You don’t know him?”
Valsa’s voice was filled with amusement.
“He just told me he knew you.
And now you’re saying you don’t know him?
So whose story am I supposed to believe?
What a dilemma.”
At that moment, Valsa’s tone and expression looked exactly like those of a movie villain.
“Believe me!
Boss, believe me!
I have absolutely no idea who this man is!
If he says he knows me, he’s definitely slandering me!
That’s right!
He’s slandering me!
What kind of petty villain would dare question my loyalty to my boss?!
Bah!”
In order to survive, Elik immediately abandoned his former boss and embraced his new master.
He even spat at the man who had once been his boss.
“Hahahahaha!
That’s hilarious!
Very good!”
Valsa burst out laughing, thoroughly entertained by the spectacle.
At the same time, he realized something.
In this world, the person with the bigger fist got to do the talking.
“Thank you, Boss!
Thank you, Boss!
From now on, I’ll go through fire and water for you!
Even if it costs me a thousand lives, I’ll never hesitate!”
Still tied to the chair, Elik swayed back and forth as he declared his loyalty with absolute conviction.
The hundreds of subordinates below couldn’t help covering their faces with their hands.
Even the simple-minded Adrian couldn’t stand watching someone suck up this hard.
How can a man have so little backbone?
Valsa couldn’t help taking another look at Elik.
“How can you have absolutely no dignity?
And you’re a Devil Fruit user, too.
Honestly…”
“A Devil Fruit user?
What’s that?”
Elik looked genuinely confused.
Lucas’s deep, rumbling voice followed.
“What’s a Devil Fruit, Boss?”
“Devil Fruits are…
Uh, forget it.
Quans, you explain it to them.”
Valsa waved his hand impatiently.
Quans was well traveled and had naturally learned quite a bit about Devil Fruits.
“Devil Fruits are the treasures of the sea.
Eating one allows a person to gain extraordinary powers in a short period of time.
I’ve heard that even the cheapest Devil Fruits can fetch at least 100 million Berries.”
“One hundred million Berries?!”
The sheer size of the number left everyone below dumbfounded.
One hundred million Berries.
They hadn’t even seen that much money before.
Most of them wouldn’t have dared dream of possessing such a fortune.
“However, different Devil Fruits grant different abilities, and their values vary accordingly.”
“There are three major types of Devil Fruits: Zoan, Paramecia, and Logia.”
“Elik ate the Paramecia-type Sickle-Sickle Fruit.
It allows him to transform parts of his body into sickles.
You’ve all seen his strength yourselves.
Before eating the fruit, he was just an ordinary person.”
Valsa suddenly cut in.
He had specifically researched Elik’s ability earlier.
“More importantly, his arms were broken by Boss not long ago.
Yet look at him now.
How long has it even been?”
“They’re already completely healed.”
“Huh?
He’s right!”
Elik looked down at his arms, which had just been untied.
He couldn’t feel the slightest bit of pain.
They were as good as new.
Valsa gestured for Quans to continue.
Quans nodded.
“Every Devil Fruit can grant its user tremendous power.
Logia fruits are especially formidable.
It’s said that those who consume Logia-type Devil Fruits can wield power capable of destroying heaven and earth!”
“However, a person can only eat one Devil Fruit in their lifetime.
If a Devil Fruit user eats a second one, they will die immediately!”
“Die immediately?!”
Everyone was shocked.
“And that’s not all.
After eating a Devil Fruit, you become hated by the sea itself.
You’ll never be able to swim again.”
“If you fall into the ocean, you’ll sink continuously until you die.”
“Now that you mention it, Devil Fruits aren’t all that great.”
“How are we supposed to live without swimming when we all live by the sea?”
“Exactly!
The ocean is full of storms and rough waves.
Who can guarantee they won’t accidentally fall overboard?”
“Forget it.
If someone gave me a Devil Fruit, I’d never eat it!
What’s the point of having powers if I can’t swim?”
Valsa silently listened to their discussion.
Sigh.
Their remote location really had limited their horizons.
These people had no idea how far people elsewhere were willing to go for a single Devil Fruit.
Quans shouted angrily,
“Do you think Devil Fruits are common?!
There are only so many Devil Fruits in existence!
Most people go their entire lives without ever seeing what one looks like!”
Valsa straightened his collar.
“Next up is the East District.
Don’t waste any more time.”
“Yes, Boss!”
The subordinates immediately began leaving through the various exits.
Within a few dozen seconds, everyone had cleared out.
Only Valsa and a handful of core members remained.
…
The next morning, the sun rose as usual.
Crimson dawn stretched across the entire Inner City of the Kingdom of Lenk.
The white-jade castles and golden rooftops basked in the morning sunlight, radiating an almost sacred brilliance.
“What a beautiful view.”
Valsa stood at a high vantage point with his hands in his pockets.
The wind high above tousled his hair.
“Boss, everyone is in position.
With a single order, we can take control of all the kingdom’s current ministers!”
Quans stood nearby and respectfully delivered his report.
“There’s no rush.”
Valsa turned around.
Wearing a suit, he stood against the howling wind, the fabric outlining his perfect inverted-triangle physique.
His voice remained calm.
“We’re not just replacing the government through force.
Have you found suitable replacements?”
“We’ll need a little more time.”
“Some candidates still need to have their loyalty tested.”
“After all, some of our old acquaintances don’t want to leave the place they’ve called home for decades.
There’s only so much we can do.”