East Blue Overlord!

Several days later, a new bounty poster was issued.

Ordinarily, this would have been the most commonplace of affairs, a familiar sight in the Great Pirate Era. At most, some people would have remarked that anyone daring to show off in the East Blue after Momonga had arrived truly had no fear of death.

But once people saw the bounty poster clearly, they nearly spat out blood.

Bounty: FRANCIS LOWETT!

Alias: Black Count!

Bounty condition: DEAD OR ALIVE!

Crimes: Night raid on Branch 153, killing 227 officers and soldiers; true culprit behind the Ghost Ship Incident, causing widespread panic; assaulting a Branch 16 warship, killing 109 officers and soldiers; aiding the Arlong Pirates in dominating Cocoyasi Village and exploiting its citizens; seizing Marine warships... and more!

Bounty amount: 55,000,000!

Duration: Permanently valid!

In an instant, the East Blue erupted!!!

Previously, people in the East Blue had constantly argued over who was the strongest pirate in the East Blue. Some said it was the Arlong Pirates. The Fish-Men's strength was beyond doubt, and their bounty was the highest; others said it was the Krieg Pirates. No matter how strong Fish-Men were, their numbers were few, while even ordinary Marine branches dared not provoke the Krieg Pirates, whose momentum was unmatched; still others said it was "Hundred Schemes" Kuro. His record was the most dazzling, having fought his way out of encirclements dozens of times with a single ship.

But now, all debate came to an abrupt halt.

The massive bounty of 55 million Beli made all the "evidence" in those arguments seem pale and powerless.

The Marines only set bounties according to the level of threat, but a bounty largely represented the threat posed by an opponent's strength. Only someone like Nico Robin, the "Devil Child," whose knowledge of forbidden ancient lore made her bounty excessively inflated, was an exception.

55 million Beli!

It was a number capable of silencing the entire East Blue!

And that was not all.

When Bounty Hunters went to their nearest Marine branches to purchase information on this Black Count, they were stunned to discover that aside from his crimes, the man had three additional achievements listed.

First, the Black Cat Pirates had been wiped out. Apart from their new captain, Zango, who was suspected to have survived, everyone else had been slaughtered.

Second, the Arlong Pirates had been wiped out. The Marines suspected an uneven division of spoils. Including Arlong, the Great Pirate with a bounty of 20 million Beli, fewer than one in ten Fish-Men had survived.

And lastly...

Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral Momonga had led a large force in pursuit, but Black Count had used the bizarre method of controlling villagers and forcing them to commit suicide, compelling the Marines to abandon the chase in order to save lives. His strength had even allowed him to block one of Momonga's sword strikes and escape unscathed!

Danger rating: Five stars!

Bounty Hunters targeting this bounty were strongly advised to travel in groups. Otherwise, death was guaranteed.

The Marines and bounty hunters shared a complementary relationship. Though Marine higher-ups often looked down on the latter, believing that anyone capable enough to be a bounty hunter yet unwilling to join the Marines was wasting their talents.

In reality, at the lower levels, Marines and Bounty Hunters were like fences and morning glories, each keeping to their own boundaries. Simple exchanges of intelligence benefited both sides.

The final line had been added at Momonga's firm insistence.

He was not afraid of losing face. He simply did not want anyone to die for nothing.

He had actually escaped Momonga unscathed?!

And he had wiped out those Fish-Men under Arlong?!

Once these three pieces of information emerged, no one dared question the strength of Lowett, the [Black Count], any longer.

The East Blue's number one—he deserved the title!

East Blue, unnamed deserted island.

The Golden War Spear slammed onto the table. Its weight of over two thousand pounds instantly smashed the solid wooden table into splinters, sending dust billowing everywhere.

"Number one in the East Blue?"

Dressed in a full suit of golden armor, Krieg, captain of the Krieg Pirates, turned his cold gaze toward the subordinate who had delivered the report.

"Is that what they're saying out there?"

"Y-yes..."

The pirate lackey fearfully glanced at the cracked ground. None of them could even lift that massive war spear, yet their captain could wield it as a weapon.

"Interesting!"

"Looks like another troublesome bastard has appeared on my path to becoming the East Blue's overlord."

Krieg dragged the war spear back and stood it beside himself.

"Agin, what do you think?"

At his side stood Krieg's most trusted subordinate, the Krieg Pirates' combat division commander, "Demon Man" Agin.

He was not tall or imposing. In fact, he could even be called short, standing only around five feet three, with a scruffy appearance and dark circles under his eyes.

Yet despite his unremarkable looks, his fighting ability ranked second only to Krieg's in the entire Krieg Pirates.

One could even say that, setting aside the difference in equipment, it was uncertain who would win in a one-on-one fight.

But that situation would never arise. Agin's loyalty to Krieg was the true reason he could become the division commander.

Hearing this, Agin lowered his head and considered it for a moment before speaking.

"Very troublesome."

"We once estimated that to deal with Arlong's group while facing their advantage at sea, we would need at least a force of over a thousand men."

"And yet he killed Arlong by himself..."

"Hmph! You believe the Marines' nonsense too?"

Suddenly, Krieg snorted coldly.

"The destruction of the Arlong Pirates and his escape from Momonga happened on the same day. I don't believe there was nothing fishy about it."

"Don't forget, he was also the true culprit behind the Ghost Ship Incident. Where those vanished pirates went remains an unsolved mystery to this day."

Agin fell silent.

He knew just how confident and arrogant Krieg was. Krieg had set his sights on the Fish-Men under Arlong five years ago, but he had never been able to defeat them.

Yet now, they had been wiped out by an unknown newcomer. This infuriated Krieg.

How could a man determined to become the East Blue's overlord lose to someone else?

He was the true number one of the East Blue!

But... even so,

What if the truth really was as the Marines claimed?

Agin rationally kept his speculation to himself.

"How did the matter I told you to investigate last time go?"

Krieg continued.

"Yes, we have investigated it thoroughly. There are thirteen weapons depots in total, tens of thousands of weapons, and a bank established by an Affiliated Nation."

Baru, the Second Division Captain, sidled over with a fawning smile. "We should thank this Lowett. If he hadn't destroyed the Arlong and Black Cat Pirates, our men would have had a hard time gathering information in the waters where they used to roam."

East Blue pirates rarely occupied territory, but they still had customary ranges of activity.

There were plenty of valuable things in the regions where the Black Cat Pirates and Arlong Pirates had roamed—enough to make anyone greedy.

However, Baru was foolish. He said exactly what Krieg did not want to hear, and his flattery struck the horse's hoof.

Bang!!

With a stunned expression still on his face, a fist the size of a sandbag smashed directly into his face. Tremendous force rippled through his facial muscles and sent him flying.

Krieg calmly withdrew his fist and dusted off his clothes.

"Notify everyone. Prepare to depart!"

"This time, we cannot make the same mistake again."

Agin's expression stiffened, but he nodded.

"Understood!"

Last time, they had aggressively recruited men and expanded the pirate crew, only to discover in the end that they lacked weapons and ships. They had been forced to dismiss the excess recruits, an utterly embarrassing outcome.

The Krieg Pirates did not lack money. What they lacked was supplies!

New ships were already being built, but weapons were nearly impossible to find.

At the thought of the mountains of weapons piled inside those thirteen depots, Krieg's eyes turned red.

If they succeeded this time, he would have enough to raise a pirate army of over ten thousand men!

Then whatever damned Black Count there was would fall beneath his sturdy ships and powerful cannons!

"I want to see who the real East Blue overlord is!"

Meanwhile, what was Lowett, the suddenly arisen "East Blue Overlord," doing?

"Forceps."

A pair of forceps was placed in his hand, and Lowett jabbed them in hard.

Squelch...

Blood sprayed more than three feet into the air.

Wouldn't draining all the blood stop the bleeding?

Such a simple principle.

"Bone drill."

Bzzzz...

"Hammer."

Ding dong...

"Steel nails."

Clang clang...

"Wrench."

Creak...

"Crowbar."

Crack...

"Sandwich."

Smack smack...

While eating dinner, Lowett carefully examined the biological modification specimen before him and silently gave himself a thumbs-up.

"Not bad. At least it looks human now."

"Ketchup."

Squelch!

"Next comes the nurturing phase..."

Puff puff!

With a wave of his arm, Skull Soul Lanterns lit up one after another, illuminating the dim cabin.

Now, one could see that a low wooden pool in the middle of the cabin was filled with blood. Through the rolling Blood Wave, a bone-powder magic array engraved into the base emitted a faint silvery-white glow.

Different magic arrays had different effects and required different materials to draw.

Lowett had not planned to follow the same agility route for Arlong's corpse. Though the differences would not matter much once they all leveled up, the gap between specializations was still obvious in the early stages.

Splash!

The Black Knight silently carried a corpse chunk more than fifteen feet tall and tossed it into the blood pool. The blood immediately seemed to come alive, climbing up the corpse against gravity and pouring in through its mouth, ears, and nose.

After finishing, the Black Knight tore off its kitchen apron and let out a low roar.

Roar!

"Why is he here?"

Roar roar!

"Oh? The Marines moved that quickly?"

Lowett turned around in surprise.

Having holed up at home for days modifying the Black Knight, Lowett knew nothing at all, even as the entire East Blue shook from his sudden emergence.

Thanks to readers ~Wenhe and Luanwu~ for the 10,000 rewards! Thank you for the support!

A ten-thousand reward means I need to post an extra chapter. Big Tree only has two chapters saved up, so let me see whether I can finish writing a third... I slacked off for seven days during National Day. Time to start paying off that debt at last.

Big Tree offers his thanks here!

This book has truly suffered one disaster after another. It is exhausting.

If you can't find the book by searching its title, try searching for the author instead. Maybe it was simply renamed!

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