The holy land of medicine, Winter Island.
The cold wind was biting, and the once arrogant King Wapol was now wrapped in a thick blanket, nestled by the fireplace in his small shop.
He moved his fingers nimbly across his phone screen, playing his fifth honor of kings ranked match of the day.
"Hahahaha, pentakill!" He suddenly sprang up from his rocking chair, nearly knocking over the steaming ramen next to him.
The sign on the wall, "Wapol's Toy Store," swayed gently, and the display case was filled with plastic toys he had synthesized using his Munch-Munch Fruit ability: color-changing tops, rubber ducks that made strange noises, the most expensive of which was only 500 Belli.
The shop door was pushed open, and several heavily bundled children poked their heads in. "Uncle Wapol, we want to buy that glowing marble!"
The formerly tyrannical king now smiled as he took the crumpled paper money, even slipping in two extra candies. "Hahahaha, Ben Hema, take them, just be careful Mama doesn't catch you sneaking snacks."
The afternoon sun shone through the ice-crystal windows. Wapol slurped his instant noodles while scrolling through TikTok.
"The Shichibukai have all been captured? Tch, always fighting..."
He grumbled, swiping to the next video. It was a novel explanation from another world, "swallowed star." When he heard the protagonist break through to the "Planetary level," a look of longing appeared on his greasy face.
"King? What's a king worth..." He muttered to himself, rubbing his round belly.
The memory of those hungry and cold days of wandering made him shiver involuntarily, and he quickly stoked the fire higher.
On the table was a metal phone case he had just synthesized yesterday. The screen was still on a page from a web novel: "swallowed star."
When he closed the shop in the evening, he hummed a tune out of key as he locked the door. Suddenly, he saw news playing a scene of a certain king on an outing.
Those guys walked along the wide road in fancy clothes, but he just scoffed, finding it boring. He turned and took a chilled beer from the refrigerator.
"My 'Wapol Happy Water' is still better..." The bottle had his self-designed logo printed on it – a cartoon version of himself playing a game.
In the dead of night, the occasional sound of metal clashing could be heard from the basement.
Hidden there were his final "inventions": honor of kings figures synthesized using his Munch-Munch Fruit ability!
Now these were used to assemble honor of kings heroes, sold cheaply to the children on the island.
When the Gekko shone on his sleeping, snoring face, no one would have guessed that this happy fat man was once a tyrant.
And on his TikTok profile page, his signature was clearly written: "Today's record: Star Glory III, sold 7 toys, added an egg to my instant noodles - another fulfilling day!"
In the latest video he posted, he was using his ability to turn scrap metal into cartoon hair clips, with the sound of children's laughter in the background.
Occasionally, someone in the comment section would ask, "Isn't this the former king?" A local resident would immediately reply, "He's our toy supplier for the holy land of medicine now!"
...
This day, Wapol was nestled in his small shop as usual, munching on potato chips while scrolling through TikTok.
Suddenly, videos of inventions by Vegapunk, Queen, and Germa 66 popped up one after another. Looking at those cool high-tech inventions, Wapol couldn't help but sigh, his chubby fingers unconsciously rubbing the crude toys he had created with his ability.
"Sigh, these guys..." He mumbled, a trace of loneliness flashing in his eyes.
But soon, his merchant's shrewdness made his eyes light up. "Wait, maybe I can ride this wave of popularity?"
Just as he was contemplating whether to film a "Great Collection of Transformable Toys" video, a sudden viral new video caught his attention.
The video cover featured an orange-haired boy wearing goggles, with a mechanical-looking island in the background. The title was clearly written: "Clockwork Island Invention Grand Reveal!"
"Clockwork Island?" Wapol clicked on it out of curiosity. The beginning of the video made him forget to chew his potato chips.
In the scene, the boy stood in front of a huge clockwork device, excitedly introducing, "This is our latest developed clockwork perpetual motion machine! As long as you wind it up, it can run forever!"
The next few inventions shown were even more astonishing:
-A clockwork-driven automatic cultivator, working tirelessly in the fields
-A miniature clockwork airplane model, continuously flying in the air for three full days
-The most shocking was a clockwork heart, beating rhythmically in a transparent container
"This... this isn't scientific!" Wapol suddenly sat up straight, the fat on his belly jiggling.
He noticed that the video had only been posted for two hours, but the likes had already exceeded a million, and the comment section had exploded:
"Even more amazing than Vegapunk's inventions!"
"Queen, come and see what real technology is!"
"Germa's genetic modification is so weak!"
"..."
This video had just been posted for a short time, but it was quickly pushed to the top of the hot comments, and the number of likes soared wildly.
The commenter's ID was "Mechanical Drifter," and their avatar was a clockwork gear pattern. In their reply, they described their observations in detail:
"I went to Clockwork Island three years ago. At that time, the center of the entire island was a giant gyroscope clockwork device, with a diameter of at least a hundred meters, which was the power core of the entire island.
The tour guide said that this gyroscope had been running for over a hundred years, and once it stopped, the entire island's mechanical system would collapse.
But now, the center of the island shown in the video has actually become a giant statue of a man?!"
This reply immediately caused an uproar, and countless netizens started replaying the video, analyzing it frame by frame.
Indeed, at 03:45 in the video, when the camera panned across the center of the island, the giant gyroscope device that should have been there was gone, replaced by a towering male statue.
The statue wore a Marine cloak, with its arms crossed over its chest and a stern face. A line of text was carved on the base of its feet: "Promoter of Order and Change."
Sharp-eyed netizens immediately recognized the identity of the statue:
"Wait! Isn't this the former Marine Vice Admiral Ron?!"
"That's right! It's him! The one who even participated in the 'Marineford War honor of kings Tournament' during the Marineford War!"
"I remember he retired later. Now he seems to be vacationing in Dressrosa?"
As the discussion deepened, more and more details were unearthed:
"Ron has a very good relationship with the Dressrosa royal family. King Riku even publicly praised him."
"When the New Navy established its headquarters in Punk Hazard, someone photographed him in a secret meeting with Zephyr."
"Someone even saw Ron having afternoon tea with Princess Rebecca!"
As the discussion became heated, various speculations emerged endlessly:
"Could it be that Ron is secretly controlling Clockwork Island?"
"Could those so-called 'perpetual motion clockworks' be products of his ability?"
"New Navy + Dressrosa + Clockwork Island... Are they playing a big game of chess?"
And Ron, who was at the center of the storm, was currently sunbathing on the beach in Dressrosa. When someone tried to contact him, they only received a meaningful reply:
"Since the clockwork has been wound up, it will naturally keep turning."
....
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