While Roger and the others were still playing cards and Valthior sat off to the side watching, someone suddenly burst into the tavern holding a newspaper.
"Bad news! The Galzburg Kingdom has declared war on the Prodence Kingdom!!!"
The moment he shouted that, the tavern erupted in shock.
"As expected of the so-called Nation of Endless War, Galzburg. Didn't they just defeat the Fasia Kingdom not long ago? They even forced them into a humiliating surrender and seized a ton of wealth. And now they're already declaring war on Prodence?!"
"Those lunatics basically live off war. They've got no real production at all—the entire country is full of warmongers!"
"That's not true. It's just the rulers who are war-crazy. I heard the common people in Galzburg are actually dirt poor. Most of the wealth is in the hands of the nobles. Otherwise, why would they have child soldiers who can't even afford to eat?"
"The sea border between Prodence and Galzburg isn't far from here, right? This war won't spill over to us, will it?" a drunk suddenly asked, sounding worried.
Hearing that, someone hesitated before replying, "We're on Veracruz Island—a World Government member nation. It shouldn't, right?"
But someone else quickly refuted that.
"Why not? Both Prodence and Galzburg are member nations too, and they still went to war! Wasn't Fasia also a member nation? They still got beaten into the ground, and the World Government didn't step in at all. I even heard Fasia can't afford the Heavenly Tribute anymore—they might get kicked out!"
In truth, the World Government generally didn't interfere in conflicts between member nations. Of course, if both sides requested mediation, intervention was possible.
Wars between member nations were nothing new on the seas.
Take the North Blue, for example—countries there constantly fought each other. The Germa Kingdom was especially notorious, making a business out of war and stirring chaos everywhere.
Only in the past couple of years had things quieted down slightly, with rumors that King Vinsmoke Judge had gone missing—apparently joining some kind of private organization.
Still, the North Blue remained a battlefield.
At every Reverie held every four years, a large portion of the agenda was devoted to these nations arguing over their wars and disputes.
In short, the World Government didn't care about internal wars. Fight all you want—just don't interfere with their directives, and make sure to pay your Heavenly Tribute. Otherwise, you'd face the consequences.
Compared to the panic among the tavern's patrons, the Roger Pirates were completely unfazed.
Roger casually threw out a card and said, "Galzburg… sounds kind of familiar. Have we dealt with them before?"
"Nope. Probably just saw them in the news. They're always making headlines—constantly at war," Rayleigh replied without even looking up.
"You forgot? Back on Jaya, we read about them. I told you about that ten-year-old who looked like he was in his twenties—Douglas Bullet. We even made a bet about him," Valthior reminded him.
That jogged Roger's memory. He looked up and asked, "So what are you getting at?"
"I've heard their child soldiers are usually sent in as the vanguard. If we wait a bit, we might run into them. Then we can try recruiting him—see if he's willing to be my underling," Valthior said, stroking his chin with interest.
"Your underling? He might knock you out with one punch," Spencer chimed in. "Don't underestimate the Prodence Kingdom either. They're strong. Every king there is called the 'War King.' It's said their bloodline carries immense power, and they possess a technique called the King Punch."
"If I remember correctly, one of their former kings once destroyed the capital of another World Government member nation—the Dars Kingdom—with a single punch. That blow reportedly killed eighty thousand people. Terrifying stuff."
"Seriously?" Roger exclaimed, clearly hearing this for the first time. "A king who can destroy a city with one punch? Is he as strong as Garp?"
Roger wasn't surprised by the destructive power itself—he could do the same. In fact, top-tier fighters like him could easily wipe out entire islands.
Rayleigh, if he got serious, could split an island in half with a single slash, let alone a city.
What surprised Roger was that a king—someone ruling a country—could possess that level of strength.
Valthior also recalled the details of Prodence after Spencer mentioned it.
The kingdom really was strong. Even decades later, it would still be thriving in the New World.
Back then, the King Punch was hyped as being able to take down even a Yonko in one blow.
Sure, it later failed to break through the Barrier-Barrier Fruit, but that was probably because the king didn't use Haki.
Still, even a "light" version of the punch could one-shot someone like Pica. That alone put it on par with one of Garp's normal strikes.
Considering that Prodence would still be active as a powerful nation in the future, the odds of them losing to Galzburg right now were pretty low.
Looks like the so-called Nation of Endless War was about to suffer a defeat this time.
Which made sense—if Galzburg won every battle, it wouldn't be called "endless war." It'd be called the New World's overlord.
"What are you thinking about, Valthior?" Gaban asked, noticing he had zoned out.
"I was thinking—if I were Charlotte Linlin, I'd go kidnap that king and have a kid with him right now! Hahaha!" Valthior burst out laughing.
Everyone froze for a moment—then burst into laughter as well.
If Linlin actually did that and gave birth to a child inheriting the King Punch talent, combined with her own monstrous bloodline—even if the kid only inherited a fraction of her potential—plus the Big Mom Pirates' upbringing…
That would be terrifying.
At the very least, they'd grow into a commander-level powerhouse.
"Forget Linlin. Gaban, does that country have any beautiful princesses? Why don't you go have a kid instead? Leave a legacy!" Rayleigh teased.
"My ambitions aren't so shallow," Gaban said proudly, waving his hand. "I'm pursuing the limits of human potential. You guys wouldn't understand."
But then he rubbed his chin and added, "Though… I wouldn't mind dating a princess. Just not sure if she'd be into it."
With that, no one cared about the cards anymore.
Roger glanced at the few cards left in his hand and casually tossed them into the discard pile, pretending to be serious as he said:
"Alright, enough fooling around. Let's talk business. We've got something important to figure out."
Rayleigh and Gaban didn't bother calling him out on cheating—after all, he'd already lost miserably today.
They tossed their cards aside as well.
"Go on," Rayleigh said.
"Our next move," Roger said, taking a sip of his drink. "Don't forget—we talked about going to Hachinosu to get revenge for Shakky. Now Valthior's brought up Wano. We also need to find Zunesha, which is wandering the New World. And Linlin's got a Road Poneglyph we need to deal with."
"We've got a lot on our plate."
Hearing that, everyone nodded. Ever since entering the New World, things had suddenly become a lot busier.
"Put Hachinosu on hold for now," Rayleigh said decisively. "Wang Zhi's ability is troublesome. He might just run the moment he sees us. We can deal with him later."
Since even Shakky's man said so, no one objected.
Instead, Valthior grew curious.
"What's Wang Zhi's ability?"
"The Paramecia-type Warp-Warp Fruit. A very 'cheap' ability," Spencer replied, biting into an apple.
"Ah… that one," Valthior nodded in realization.
So, eventually, Teach will kill Wang Zhi and give his ability to Van Augur, huh? Got it.
"Zunesha depends on luck. There's no Log Pose—we'll have to rely on sightings and chase it down," Gaban said thoughtfully. "So the real question is—do we go to Wano first…"
"Or head to Totto Land and catch up with Linlin?"