Chapter 614: The Fourth Division's Approach!
Just as everyone went about their day, a colossal shadow dropped from the sky.
Boom!
The massive figure slammed into the ground and the impact gouged out a crater. Dust exploded outward like a storm, swallowing the street and shaking the surrounding buildings.
Diana had not landed randomly.
She had chosen the center of the district on purpose.
"Divine Weapon: Earth Hammer!"
Without wasting a single word, Diana summoned her divine weapon and brought it down with brutal force.
The ground swelled.
Stone surged upward in an instant, forming a towering platform as if the earth itself had been ordered to kneel.
Diana and King settled on top of it, looking down at the stunned crowd.
King stepped forward, his expression gentle, his voice clear enough to cut through the dust.
"Citizens of Wano Country, we are members of the Dragon Hunter Pirates' Fourth Division. I am King, and this is Diana."
He pointed slightly, then continued.
"Our captain has decided to bring Wano Country under our rule."
"We hope everyone will cooperate with the coming census and the new work arrangements."
King paused, then added politely, as if discussing the weather.
"If you have objections, please do not voice them, because we do not want to kill you."
"So read carefully."
The words were calm.
The threat was not.
Before anyone could respond, the giant bear beneath King shifted.
Its body flowed like living cloth, compressing, sharpening, transforming.
In the next breath, it became an enormous spear.
King lifted a hand.
The spear shot out like a bolt of judgment toward a distant mountain peak.
Boom!
A deafening roar slammed into the town.
The peak vanished.
Not cracked, not broken, not scorched.
Gone.
All that remained was flattened land, as if the world had been erased with a single stroke.
King turned back to the crowd with the same sincere expression as before.
"If you think you can survive an attack like that, then come and fight back."
Gulp.
Throats bobbed.
Fight?
That was not a fight. That was suicide with extra steps.
Even if everyone here charged together, they would not scratch the enemy, much less drain their strength.
That single strike could wipe out the entire square in an instant.
Then a small voice trembled through the silence.
A little girl stepped forward.
"I want to ask… if pirates take over Wano… will you force Mom and Dad to work again?"
Her eyes shook, but she kept speaking anyway.
"I don't want my mom and dad to leave me!"
Behind her, two middle aged parents stood frozen in terror, faces pale. They wanted to pull her back, to cover her mouth, to beg her to stop.
But fear had nailed their feet to the ground.
Diana stepped down from the platform and approached.
Up close, she was enormous, a wall of muscle and presence.
The girl's legs trembled so hard she almost fell.
Yet the fear of losing her parents again squeezed courage out of her small body.
She lifted her chin and stared at Diana with stubborn determination.
Diana looked down at her, then smiled.
"We will not force your parents to work for us."
Her voice was steady, warm, and strangely comforting despite her size.
"Jobs will be offered based on voluntariness and competition."
"I want to gain wealth. I want an independent self. I want my descendants to have a bright future."
She spoke like someone repeating a truth she had carved into her bones.
"Everything has to be built with your own hands."
"Our captain once said that if someone wants to change, they can never rely on others. They must rely on themselves."
"What we do is simple."
"We provide opportunities for those who want to change themselves."
Diana narrowed her eyes slightly, still smiling.
For a giant, she was surprisingly approachable.
And after displaying overwhelming power, showing mercy made that power feel even more believable, even more absolute.
The little girl blinked hard, then brightened.
"Mmm… thank you, Pirate Sister!"
She ran back.
"Dad! Mom!"
"The pirate sister said she won't force you to work, she's giving you a chance… I don't know how to say it right!"
"But I like this pirate sister!"
She was too young to understand the details.
But she understood one thing clearly.
She would not lose her parents.
That was enough to make her smile.
A frail old man stepped forward next, leaning on sheer will more than strength.
"Lady Diana, I am Firi, the former mayor of this town."
His voice shook, but he forced the words out.
"After this place fell under General Kurozumi Orochi and the Beasts Pirates, we had to provide strong labor every year."
He swallowed, then asked the question everyone feared to speak.
"The Dragon Hunter Pirates… will you treat us like slaves?"
Firi looked sixty or seventy, an age that was already old even on the Grand Line.
And this was Wano, where life was harsher than most seas.
His steps were unsteady, but he still stood before them, because someone had to ask.
Pirates taking a country was not new.
Pirates using reason instead of immediate brutality was.
Even for a man who had lived his whole life in a nation sealed from the world, this felt strange.
In Wano's eyes, pirates were always vicious, ruthless monsters.
King floated down beside Diana.
"Of course, we aren't only speaking."
His tone was calm, confident.
"There are many Dragon Hunter bases across the seas."
"The people living under our rule are living more prosperously than they did before."
"We bring more than technology and jobs."
He lifted a hand.
"We also bring new seeds."
As the Elf King, King carried a natural affinity that even humans could feel.
His face looked harmless, his voice steady, and that made his promise land deeper.
Then King took out a recording worm.
The worm's eye opened.
Images spilled into the air.
Scene after scene of Dragon Hunter territory appeared, showing what those places had been, and what they had become.
Order.
Work.
Food.
Homes that did not look like cages.
Faces that did not look hollow.
The difference between before and after was like night and day.
"This is… life under pirates?"
"I… I think I want that kind of life."
Whispers started spreading.
People leaned forward, unable to look away.
Firi's face crumpled.
Tears ran down his cheeks.
He had never dared to imagine living like that.
Not even in his wildest dreams.
Bang!
Firi dropped to his knees.
"If you can let us live like that… then so what if it's slavery!"
His voice cracked as he shouted upward.
"I am willing to accept the Dragon Hunter Pirates' rule!"
After Firi knelt, others followed like a wave.
One after another, bodies lowered, foreheads bowed, not out of loyalty, but out of desperate hope.
King glanced at Diana.
"Looks like it's basically settled."
"Next, we renovate."
"Diana, it's in your hands now."
Diana nodded once.
"Alright. Leave it to me."
She planted the Earth Hammer against the ground.
"The Breath of the Earth. Plains!"
In an instant, the rugged land flattened.
The streets leveled.
The spacing between houses shifted, replanned, reshaped as if an invisible blueprint had been stamped onto reality.
If they wanted dominance, they needed rebuilding.
And once the foundation was set, the other squads' work would become far easier.
….
Happy Valentine's Day to all my readers.
Thank you for being here and for supporting my stories, whether you're reading on Webnovel, Wattpad, AO3, or anywhere else. I'm wishing you a peaceful day, good energy, and something small that makes you smile, on and off the page.
With gratitude,
FanficLord03