Chapter 136: Dare to Fight This Lord for Three Hundred Rounds?
Floating Archipelago.
As the name implies, it is a cluster of islands suspended in the sky along with the seawater by someone's ability.
Its former name was 'Merveille'.
Now, it is called 'STRONG WORLD'—a land where the weak are prey to the strong.
Undoubtedly.
The citizens living in the villages of Merveille are the 'Weak'.
Since the strong and young were conscripted and forced to join the 'Golden Lion Pirates', only the old, weak, sick, and disabled remained here, capable of only the most basic labor.
Their arms bore strange wing-like growths, and their bodies...
"Cough, cough..."
Weakness and dark green poison spots were visible almost everywhere.
"I told you! You are absolutely forbidden from leaving the village—whether discovered by Shiki or the beasts, you'll lose your life."
A little girl was scolded by her mother again and walked out of the room dejectedly.
Before leaving, she heard a weak voice from inside.
"Don't be angry with her, Xiao is a good child..."
"It's all because Shiki made the island float that things became like this... cough... watch over her..."
"When she comes of age, Shiki will conscript her into the palace as a servant, and then... cough..."
It was her grandmother's voice.
Xiao knew very well—because the pirate named Shiki floated the island and monopolized the special herb 'IQ'.
He researched this herb, which could make animals incredibly powerful, turning the island's animals ferocious and dangerous. The villagers were forced to plant 'Daft Green' trees around the village to repel the animals—the scent of these trees was repulsive to them.
But simultaneously, the poison carried by these trees slowly poisoned humans, requiring 'IQ' to cure.
Xiao heard from the village doctor—if left untreated, her grandmother, absorbing the poison continuously, wouldn't live past three years.
"Damn Shiki..."
Walking to the corner of the village, she kicked a roadside stone angrily.
"If only someone could drive him away."
That was her deepest wish.
But unfortunately—her mother told her Shiki was a very powerful pirate, with few people on the sea capable of defeating him.
Instead, those targeted by Shiki almost always faced total destruction.
For example, this morning, it was said Shiki brought a ship back.
Her mother said it seemed to be a warship of the 'Marines', who specialized in catching pirates.
"Is there really no one who can defeat Shiki..."
Xiao thought.
Then...
Puru?
She saw the stone she kicked accidentally hit a giant Den Den Mushi walking by.
The snail turned its head, its huge eyes staring intently at Xiao.
"..."
Xiao knew—it was a large surveillance snail of the 'Golden Lion Pirates', Shiki's eyes and ears monitoring the village.
Since Shiki invited his pirate allies to the island for an annual banquet recently, the patrol frequency was high.
And now, she was clearly targeted.
Xiao recalled her mother's words—if targeted by the snail, immediately show submission to the Golden Lion Pirates.
Otherwise, it would invite death.
But...
Xiao bit her lip, unable to open her mouth.
Submitting to the enemy who destroyed the village, cast a decade-long shadow, and almost killed her grandmother—her father and grandfather died in Shiki's palace.
Submitting to such a guy, even for a child, was...
"I..."
After a long time, she took a deep breath, ready to speak.
But just then...
VMMM!
An invisible pressure descended.
Then, Xiao suddenly saw—the giant snail in front of her exploded instantly.
Blood splattered, though not on Xiao, leaving her stunned.
The next moment...
WHOOSH!
Xiao felt a gust of wind blow past.
She looked up instinctively.
She saw—a figure flying upward with the gale.
He wore white clothes, with black gauntlets on his hands.
His destination... was the highest point of the Floating Island.
"Please notify the villagers to prepare."
Xiao seemed to hear the person's voice from the wind.
"This Floating Island is about to fall."
At the same time, Highest Point of Merveille Archipelago.
Golden Lion Pirates Headquarters, 'Lion Palace'.
Due to the high altitude, snow was falling outside the palace.
Inside, the banquet was in full swing.
Pirates were reveling.
Of course, due to the sparse population on the Floating Island, there weren't many beauties.
But the atmosphere was still heated.
Because...
"As expected of Boss Shiki, actually capturing Marines for our entertainment!"
"Is this the power Boss cultivated for over a decade to conquer the world? Amazing! Those Marines are no match at all!"
"I heard they aren't ordinary Marines, but direct subordinates of that 'Black Judge' famous recently!"
"Capturing an Admiral Candidate's subordinates? Is this the boldness of the legendary pirate once mentioned alongside the Pirate King and Whitebeard?"
Amidst the noise, the pirates spoke of the man sitting on the central throne.
He had extremely long, golden hair like a lion's mane.
He was clearly not young, with marks of time on his face.
A steering wheel was lodged in his head. He wore an orange and yellow kimono. His legs were severed, replaced by two swords as prosthetics.
But all this only deepened the pirates' admiration.
Because every scar on the man was part of the 'Legend'.
The steering wheel was proof of the 'Battle of Edd War' against Pirate King Roger.
The severed legs were proof of his solo invasion of Marineford and subsequent escape from Impel Down alone.
Yes—from any angle.
'Golden Lion' Shiki was a legend among legends.
And this prestige was the reason these pirates gathered here.
At this moment...
"Jihahahaha!"
Looking at the cheering pirates below, Shiki laughed heartily.
In his view, this was how pirates should be—gathering in numbers and acting recklessly!
Clang! Clang!
He stood up, the sound of his steps like swords clashing.
"My little ones."
He spread his arms.
"Look—we don't need to wait much longer."
In the banquet hall window was a giant projection Den Den Mushi.
It projected the scene outside the palace.
In the projection, a group of massive, berserk beasts were conducting a 'Hunt'.
BOOM!
A giant centipede burrowed through the ground.
Its movement created a ten-meter-wide fissure.
Elsewhere, a mantis at least five meters long swung its scythes, slicing through massive trees instantly—its movements resembled the rudiments of 'Swordsmanship'.
Clearly.
These animals possessed strength, speed, physique, and intelligence far exceeding normal animals.
And in the 'Hunting Ground', there were at least hundreds of such beasts.
This was what Shiki researched over the years, the symbol of his ambition.
Using the island's herb 'IQ', purifying it into the special serum 'SIQ', and cultivating animals.
This created these ferocious, powerful special beasts.
Their name—[IQ Beasts].
And now, the prey these powerful beasts were hunting... was a group of Marines.
This was the 'Entertainment' Shiki prepared for the banquet.
He didn't expect it either—originally, he and his subordinate, scientist Dr. Indigo, went to the East Blue to test the latest batch of IQ Beasts.
Their plan was to drop beasts on a deserted island to test their destructive power.
But coincidentally, their Den Den Mushi intercepted a Marine warship's signal.
Hence this hunting show.
Shiki knew well—the pirates behind him only followed him due to his legendary fame and power.
After over a decade of dormancy, many were wavering.
So Shiki needed to show the power gained from his endurance.
"My subordinate has developed the best works. The IQ Beasts need at most one or two more iterations."
"By then..."
He laughed. "First destroy the East Blue as a warning, then pressure the four seas... The world will be in our grasp!"
Hearing this, the pirates were excited.
But just then...
"Hey! That Rooster-Head! Called Golden Lion or whatever—aren't you a legendary pirate!?"
"What skill is there in letting a bunch of animals play with us?"
"Dare to come down and fight Lord Hans for three hundred rounds!?"
A loud provocation came from the snail.
"..."
The atmosphere stagnated slightly.
Shiki's heroic laughter paused.
He looked at the projection. On the screen, a muscular Marine held a can of cola in each hand.
He was covered in blood, indistinguishable between his own and the beasts'.
He gulped down the cola in his left hand.
Then...
VMMM!
His right arm expanded instantly.
"Satiated · Right Arm!"
He clenched his right fist, punching a giant black bear away.
Then he tossed the empty can at the bear, landing perfectly in its fur.
He turned to the palace provocatively.
"Again... does this guy treat cola cans like white gloves? Every beast he hits gets a can thrown at it."
"Not just beasts, the ground is covered too—why does he have so much cola?"
"Completely provoking Boss Shiki."
"Seems to be an ability user. Fighting like that despite being so injured."
"The other guy seems to be an ability user too... he hid the injured Marines."
"..."
This was what annoyed Shiki most about today's banquet.
In this banquet to establish prestige and show power.
The captured Marines were uncooperative, refusing to die obediently.
Especially those two ability users.
Their combat power wasn't high, weak as ants to Shiki.
But as shown now—they were extremely annoying.
Normally, he would laugh off such low-level provocation.
But today...
"Ignorant fools... truly annoying."
A harsh light flashed in his eyes.
☆☆☆
-> 30 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you