Next Bonus, 100!!
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After returning from the East Blue, Jin had escorted Shirahoshi and her retinue back to Fish-Man Island. He'd watched as Jinbe and the others descended into the depths, and only then had he been able to relax.
Shirahoshi's journey had caused quite a stir. The newspapers were comparing her to Hancock.
A mermaid princess with beauty said to rival that of the most beautiful woman in the world...
Any one of those titles was enough to attract all sorts of attention. There were many who wanted to capture her.
He'd heard that the slave black market had placed a price of three billion Berries on her head.
But despite the risks, Shirahoshi's journey had been a huge success, promoting the Ryugu Kingdom and greatly improving the image of the Fish-Man race as a whole.
And she had also made friends: Maya, Rebecca, Nami, Nojiko...
After Shirahoshi had safely returned home, Jin had taken Maya, who had been visiting her family, and Rebecca, who wanted to get stronger, to Amazon Lily.
Over the past two months, the faint blood connection between him and Hancock had grown stronger.
Gloriosa now knew about Hancock's pregnancy, and she didn't object.
From her observations over the past two years, she had come to a conclusion. In this age of deadbeat dads and heartless pirates, Jin, aside from his wandering eye and his many female admirers, was top-tier in every other respect: strength, status, wealth...
A union between the two of them would be of great benefit to both Hancock and the Kuja tribe.
After all, with the advent of steam-powered ships that could traverse the Calm Belt, Amazon Lily was no longer as safe as it once was. Contact with the outside world was inevitable.
Jin's strength was, in a way, a guarantee of their safety.
She was even a little excited.
With Jin's power and the Empress's beauty, what kind of genius monster would they create?
As long as it was a girl... she would surely be the next Empress.
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Hannabal.
A ship docked at the port. Sabo and Koala, disguised as passengers, disembarked.
The docks were a hive of activity, laborers bustling about, moving large quantities of cargo. The prosperity was dazzling.
Although Enru had been promoted to Minister of Political Affairs, his son had continued to follow his policies, rather than trying to make a name for himself with his own initiatives. That, and the fact that Jin had challenged a Yonko and made a name for himself on the world stage, had drawn many people to the island.
And the existence of the music hall, the arena, and the Entertainment Weekly magazine had made it a focus of global attention.
Some were even calling it a paradise, like Gran Tesoro.
"Hey! You guys going to watch?" someone shouted. "That slaver captain, Givuk, the one the navy caught a while back... they're about to execute him!"
A crowd of onlookers was heading in that direction.
Sabo and Koala, their curiosity piqued, followed.
It was a public execution.
A tall guillotine stood in the square. A prisoner was dragged out.
A judge read out his crimes: smuggling of contraband, abduction of children, human trafficking. He was directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of over a hundred slaves.
The sentence: death, to be carried out immediately.
"YEAH!" the crowd roared their approval.
Koala also pumped her fist.
Good!
"I hear the Winter Blossom Kingdom is one of the few nations to have written their opposition to the slave trade into law, and they enforce it strictly," Sabo said in a low voice.
"Human traffickers and slavers," Koala said, her voice filled with rage, "they all deserve to die."
Koala was from Foolshout Island. She had been captured by human traffickers and had become a slave of the Celestial Dragons.
At the age of eleven, she had escaped during Fisher Tiger's rampage at Mary Geoise.
At the time, due to the long years of abuse she had suffered, she could only ever show a smiling face, no matter what she was feeling.
If she was yelled at, or felt stressed, or was suddenly frightened, she would instinctively drop to her knees and start scrubbing the floor.
"I'm so sorry! I'll work, I'll clean non-stop, please don't hit me! I'm sorry... No matter what happens, I won't cry, so please don't kill me!"
Even though Tiger had helped her burn away the mark of slavery, and she had learned to be strong in the Revolutionary Army, the scars of that time still remained.
And so, seeing a slaver being executed, she was naturally overjoyed.
The locals and tourists who had gathered to watch all stared, their eyes wide, as the blade of the guillotine fell.
Blood sprayed through the air, and the head rolled to the ground.
A collective gasp went through the crowd, followed by a loud cheer. They were trembling, as if they had just witnessed not an execution, but a thrilling performance.
"Serves him right!"
"He deserved to die!"
After the execution, the crowd dispersed.
Sabo and Koala asked for directions and made their way to the rendezvous point outside the port.
Unlike other ports, the ground here was wide and paved. Cars drove by, and there were even sidewalks and decorative trees.
It was a strange and novel sight.
"Sabo!"
Karasu, in a light disguise, waved to them. Sabo and Koala hurried over and got into a car with him.
It was a white convertible sports car.
"This is a product of the Cthulhu Industrial Group, from last year," Karasu explained, seeing Sabo's curious look. "It's a copy of the Turtle-Royce from Gran Tesoro. But the Turtle-Royce is powered by turtles. These cars are powered by electricity."
"Electricity?" Koala said, surprised.
"That's right. King Jin is a Logia, isn't he? A user of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit. He stores the lightning in these power cells." Karasu pointed to a series of punk-styled towers in the distance. "You can recharge your car there. And outside the arena, by that big waterfall... they're building a dam. I hear it's a power plant."
Sabo scratched his head. He didn't understand any of it, but it sounded impressive.
"If it weren't for the fact that this is the only place with electricity, I'd buy one of these myself," Karasu said with a sigh.
Sabo looked out at the flat, paved road, the cars and people passing by, the shops lining the street, their windows filled with a dazzling array of goods.
"This is a truly prosperous town," Koala said.
"It is," Karasu replied. "It's hard to imagine that just a few years ago, this was a haven for pirates."
"If all the kings of the world were as wise as King Jin..." Koala began. "No, even just one percent as wise..."
"The world wouldn't be in such a mess," Sabo finished.
A driver in a small vest and white gloves drove them to a casino.
On the surface, it was a casino. In reality, it was a base for the Revolutionary Army to gather intelligence and raise funds.
"Dragon's orders are to lay low for a while," Karasu explained. "The other commanders and I are all scattered among the non-affiliated nations. But our intelligence work can't stop. You two are new faces to the World Government and CIU. From now on, you'll be in charge of operations here."
Sabo and Koala nodded. They had known their mission before they'd arrived.
"Be careful," Karasu warned. "Hannabal is crawling with intelligence agents from all the major powers. There are some you'll need to keep a close eye on."
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On his way back to his kingdom, Jin had made a detour to Thriller Bark and Water 7.
And now, finally, he had arrived at Baltigo.
A circular hole, over ten kilometers in diameter, appeared abruptly in the surface of the sea. It was pitch black, its depth unknown.
Seawater poured over the edge, forming a massive waterfall.
"A terrifying weapon," Jin said, his expression grim.
With that kind of power, no Admiral, no Yonko, could withstand it. They would be pierced through by a single beam.
Because it had been able to punch a hole in the sea itself, it meant that its destructive power was not just physical. It was infused with some kind of rule, some law of nature, that had caused permanent damage.
Ai collected the data, analyzing and assessing. Without knowing the principles behind it, it would be very difficult to withstand.
"Uranus?"
Jin spread his wings and flew over the hole, his eyes narrowed. He could feel a faint, strange sensation.
"Could it be... a Space-Space Fruit, to counter the Time-Time Fruit?"
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~ 70 Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon
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