On the beach of the Kingdom of Lenk, a fleet of thirteen ships stood in formation while countless people gathered along the shore to see them off.
Valsa stood aboard the flagship, gazing out at the endless ocean.
An awe-inspiring presence naturally radiated from him.
“Boss, you should give the flagship a name.
It’s been finished for so long.
How can it not have a name?”
Elik shouted from below, and the other crew members immediately chimed in.
“Hmm…”
Valsa thought for a long while.
He had to admit, he wasn’t particularly gifted when it came to naming things.
“Then we’ll call it the Nautilus.”
Nobody knew what significance the name held.
But since it was their boss who had chosen it, there had to be a reason.
The crew erupted into cheers.
“In that case…”
Valsa threw his head back and laughed.
“Overlord Pirates, prepare to set sail!”
The sails were raised one after another.
At the highest point of the flagship, a black pirate flag fluttered proudly in the wind.
A black field.
A white skull in the center.
And resting atop the skull was a golden pair of brass knuckles, resembling a golden crown.
Like an overlord reigning supreme over all beneath the heavens!
“Woohoo!
We’re leaving!
We’re setting sail!”
“Long live Boss!
Long live Boss!”
“Long live the Captain!”
The sudden shout made all the pirates stop cheering.
For several seconds, the entire fleet fell silent.
Elik’s face immediately broke into a flattering smile, though his eyes shone brightly.
“Long live the Captain!
Long live the Captain!”
The other pirates quickly caught on.
They had already risen from being a mere gang to becoming a proper pirate crew.
Hearing their cries, Valsa couldn’t help feeling his blood stir.
He raised his voice.
“Ride the winds and break the waves for thirty thousand miles!
From this day forth, we shall seize the Dragon King’s crown!”
“From today onward, the Overlord Pirates will charge into the Grand Line with an invincible might and advance into the New World!”
The pirates had no idea what their captain was talking about.
But their boss’s presence was overwhelming.
Who cared what he meant?
Just shout along!
The pirates raised their voices in passionate roars.
Quans, however, knew exactly what the Grand Line and New World were.
Hearing his captain’s grand declaration, his own blood began to boil.
More and more, he felt that he had chosen the right man.
The twelve ships sailed toward the open sea in a magnificent procession.
No one knew what kind of future awaited them…
…
“You bastards!
How dare you!”
A figure was violently thrown into a prison cell.
Three fierce-looking men stood outside the bars.
“Didn’t you promise me that if I managed to raise fifty million Berries, you’d leave this place for good?
You said you’d never come back!
How can you go back on your word?!”
“Trust a pirate’s word?”
One of the men sneered.
“You really are an idiot.”
“Just look at yourself.
There aren’t even a handful of people in the entire village who dare approach you.”
“So why did you have to stick your nose into things that weren’t your business?”
“Considering how hard you’ve worked to earn those fifty million Berries for us, we’ll generously spare your life.”
“Spend the rest of it in this cell!”
“Hahahahaha!”
The three men laughed as they walked away.
The man inside the cell was named Kweiv.
He had a rather unusual appearance.
He had four arms.
The villagers regarded him as a monster, and no one dared approach him.
Only an old chef who lived at the entrance of the village had been willing to take him in.
Three years earlier, a group of pirates attacked the village and enslaved everyone there.
The old chef was brutally murdered.
Kweiv was consumed by rage.
Grabbing four kitchen knives—one in each hand—he fought with astonishing ferocity, killing several pirates in succession.
Even when surrounded by a large group of pirates, he managed to slash and wound many of them.
Seeing this, the pirate captain deceived him.
They promised that if Kweiv could somehow raise fifty million Berries, they would leave the village forever and never bother him again.
Kweiv immediately agreed.
He then went out to sea alone to earn the money.
But because of his strange appearance, hardly anyone was willing to employ him.
Raising fifty million Berries was already an impossible task for an ordinary villager.
For someone like him, it was even more difficult.
His unusual appearance made the road to saving money harder at every turn.
Eventually, he found a restaurant that didn’t discriminate against him and became a chef there.
Thanks to the superb culinary skills he’d learned from the old chef—and the advantage of having four arms—he could prepare several people’s meals simultaneously.
He quickly established himself at the restaurant.
Before long, his exceptional skills earned him increasing responsibility, and eventually he became the head chef.
After a year and a half of hard work, he finally managed to save fifty million Berries.
Overjoyed, he brought the money to the pirates for their promised exchange.
Instead, they drugged his drink.
The fifty million Berries were stolen.
And Kweiv himself ended up behind bars.
“Damn pirates!”
Kweiv clenched his fists in fury.
“Those despicable bastards!”
“Just you wait!”
“I’ll escape from here one day and lead the villagers in driving every last one of you out!”
…
Dark clouds spread across the sky like an enormous hand, blotting out the heavens.
Lightning tore through the night.
Waves crashed against the hull like the war drums of giants.
Valsa’s pirate fleet was tossed about in the raging sea like handfuls of dead leaves.
On the decks, the pirates clung desperately to the rails to keep themselves from being swept away by the monstrous waves.
The helmsmen fought with all their strength to turn the wheels, the mechanisms creaking under the strain.
One of the ten-meter-long ships was caught in the hurricane.
Its sails were ripped to shreds.
Seawater poured into the hull from every direction.
The mast snapped like a fragile reed.
Wooden barrels rolled across the deck before tumbling into the sea.
Countless supplies were swept overboard as well.
The pirates aboard the ship fought desperately to secure the remaining sails and wrestle the rudder into position.
But all they could do was watch helplessly as the ship was pushed toward an unknown abyss.
The other pirates immediately boarded the lifeboats and fled toward the other ships.
“Everyone, get water into the hulls!”
“Quick!
Pump seawater in!”
“Move!
Don’t just stand there!”
Quans shouted toward the ships behind them.
As a former pirate with a 7,000,000-Berry bounty, his sailing experience was far beyond that of these rookies who had spent their entire lives operating only in the shallow coastal waters.
He immediately thought of a solution.
They needed to let seawater into the hulls, lowering the ships’ overall center of gravity and thereby increasing their stability.
Unfortunately, amid the howling winds, Quans’s voice couldn’t carry far enough to reach the ships in the rear.
They could only relay his instructions from person to person.
Meanwhile, Valsa stood at the bow of the flagship, facing the raging storm.
He threw his head back and laughed.
“Is this how you’re welcoming the great Valsa to the sea?!”
“Hahahahaha!”
“Fine!”
“Then let this world cheer for my arrival!”
As though responding to Valsa’s declaration, thunder immediately rolled across the sky.
Lightning flashed as the heavens roared like war drums.
“Boss!”
Elik clung desperately to the mast with all four limbs, mucus streaming down his face.
“I’M ABOUT TO DIE!
PLEASE STOP TALKING!”
“It’s just a storm.”
Valsa stood proudly against the raging wind.
“Consider it a salute announcing the birth of a king.”
After an entire night of relentless struggle, they finally sailed out of the storm.
Brilliant sunlight once again greeted them.
Gentle sea breezes brushed across their faces.
Every pirate collapsed onto the deck in exhaustion.
Several had already passed out completely.
They sat there on the deck, laughing and talking about the storm they’d just survived.
The relief of having escaped death hung in every voice.
Perhaps many of them hadn’t been particularly close before.
But after weathering that storm together, every one of them had become a trusted companion to the others.
Going through hardships together was the best way to forge bonds.
“Captain.”
Quans approached Valsa.
“It looks like we’ll have to interrupt our voyage for a while.”
“Because seawater flooded the decks, almost all of our food and fresh water have been ruined.”
“We need to resupply at the next island.”
“Hmm.”
Valsa nodded.
“Which island is closest?”
“Dunro Island.”
Quans unfolded the nautical chart and carefully determined their current position before quickly locating their next destination.
“There’s a small-to-medium-sized village on the island.
It’ll take us three days to reach it.”
“Good.”
Valsa looked toward the distant horizon.
“Then we’re going to Dunro Island.”