Roger

With the announcement of this news, the entire sea turned its attention.

"Is this a joke? A country where everyone can eat their fill just by working."

"It's obviously a scam—how could such a country exist?"

"But rather than waiting here to die, it's worth a look. What if it's real?"

"Besides, it's not that far!"

"That makes sense too."

This kind of conversation kept popping up among commoners everywhere. Though most couldn't believe it, a small number still decided to head to Spring Island and see for themselves.

And that small number was already countless times larger than the people who had come from Bell Island.

Lingling had been swamped these past few days. Every day, more people arrived at Many Countries—assigning work to each person, issuing identity documents to each one.

And allocating rooms, among countless other tasks. It was so much that Lingling had developed dark circles under her eyes, but even so, she felt incredibly happy.

This was striving for her own dream. Even if she died from exhaustion, Lingling wouldn't have a single complaint.

At this moment, it wasn't just Lingling and El who were busy. Even Milim, who had been lazing around all along, was dragged into work.

Right now, Milim was sitting in a sun lounger, gazing at the vast ocean in the distance. Her task was to guard the harbor here and prevent pirate invasions.

Those pirates had also seen Many Countries' name and deeds in the newspaper, and greed had stirred in their hearts, making them want to come plunder Many Countries.

So in recent days, pirates had been arriving constantly. Since Milim had nothing else to do, Lingling assigned her to guard the harbor!

At this moment, Milim wore sunglasses, sipped juice, and crossed her legs with extreme leisure.

In the distance, a pirate ship was rapidly approaching the Many Countries harbor!

But strangely, the people at the harbor were unhurried, moving cargo without paying any attention to the pirates' arrival.

"How many waves of pirates is this?" a dockworker asked while carrying goods.

"Who knows? Every day these past few days, pirates have been trying to attack Many Countries," another worker said, sitting on some cargo to rest and starting to chat with the worker beside him.

"What happens in the end? They all get easily defeated by Lady Milim."

"I heard that Lady Milim's attack that fires beams of light is called Dragon Star Diffusion Burst."

"That's right. Under that move, all those pirates turn to ash."

"Ha! Another bunch of fools who don't know when to die." Milim took off her sunglasses and glanced toward the pirate ship.

But suddenly, Milim looked somewhat surprised at the ship. "I don't sense any malice. And that guy—is that a young Roger?"

"And it looks like he's saying something. Whatever, I didn't catch it anyway." The Dragon Ears automatically filtered out things she didn't want to hear.

Milim flashed an excited grin. From the moment she was born until now, she had never fought at full strength.

Maybe this time, she could experience the thrill of a full-power battle.

[Dragon Star Diffusion Burst]

The light of magic flickered instantly in Milim's hand. A powerful aggregate of magical energy split into countless rays, attacking toward the pirate ship.

Standing on the pirate ship, Roger wore a straw hat around his neck. Watching the incoming attack, excitement gleamed in his eyes.

"What a willful little girl!" Roger's Voice of All Things told him that the other party had no killing intent at all.

"Rayleigh, protect the ship." With that, Roger leaped into the air. The famous sword Ace in his hand was instantly wrapped in Conqueror's Haki.

[Divine Repulsion] A shockwave formed from Conqueror's Haki collided with the magical aggregate.

Wave after wave of violent shockwaves overturned the clouds in the sky, and the sea itself shook relentlessly under the impact.

"The harbor is under attack! Everyone leave the harbor immediately!" El had appeared at the harbor at some unknown time and immediately directed all the workers to evacuate.

"Big Sister, that guy's a strong one. Can you handle him?"

"Leave it to me. No matter what kind of enemy, it doesn't matter—because I'm the strongest." Excitement shone in Milim's eyes.

Her wings spread behind her, and her entire form turned into a crimson meteor, tearing through the air with a series of sonic booms as she quickly arrived in front of Roger.

Roger barely managed to block the magical aggregate. The next moment, Observation Haki activated instantly, and a fragment of the future appeared before his eyes.

Roger immediately adjusted his stance and swung his sword fiercely to the side. Though his famous blade was wrapped in Conqueror's Haki, Milim's fist, coated in Armament Haki, broke straight through the Conqueror's Haki and clashed violently with Roger's blade.

The sheer force of Milim's strength made Roger grit his teeth.

No way? Even a Giant couldn't match this kind of power.

Roger's blade and Milim's fist separated at the same time. But the next moment, Milim showed no mercy—a whip kick lashed toward Roger's waist.

Roger raised his arm to block, and his entire body shot down from the sky like an arrow from a bowstring, crashing into the water. The massive wave it raised even swallowed the Many Countries harbor.

A joyful smile hung on Milim's face, but her movements didn't stop. Both hands raised high in the air, a magical aggregate countless times more powerful than before formed at an incredible speed.

[Dragon Star Flame Tyrant] An explosion triggered by ultra-high-density magical proliferation. In the original story from her past life, at Milim's peak, this move's power was countless times greater than taking 3,000 nuclear bombs head-on.

However, the current Milim was still a far cry from the Milim of the original story, so the power of this move couldn't compare to that version either.

Even so, this attack was enough to blast a small island into ruins.

A massive pillar of light formed from magic followed Roger's falling figure and blasted into the sea. In that instant, the entire ocean was pierced through.

"Roger!" Rayleigh and Gaban, forgetting everything else, immediately wanted to leap into the sea to rescue their captain.

But in the next moment, Roger's figure burst out from the water and landed back on his own pirate ship.

He touched a massive bloody gash beside his arm, chuckled, then immediately collapsed onto the deck, waving at Milim in the sky.

"Miss Milim, I surrender. No more fighting."

"Oh!" Milim had just started getting excited. Roger's aura hadn't weakened at all, and she could sense that if he fought desperately, he could still hold his own against her for quite a while—though the outcome would certainly be his loss.

But hearing Roger admit defeat, Milim stopped her attack, looking a bit disappointed. Then she turned into a crimson meteor and landed on the pirate ship's deck.

"You bastard, you start a fight whenever you want and stop whenever you want. There's no such good deal."

Roger lowered his head and laughed twice. "We just wanted to take a look at the so-called Many Countries. We never intended to fight Miss Milim!"

"Besides, I already told you when I first saw you that we were only here to visit."

"Did that happen?" Milim tilted her head and thought, only to realize she hadn't heard a thing.

"Whatever, it doesn't matter. As long as you don't cause trouble in the Many Countries, I won't fight you again." With that, Milim launched herself into the air, turning into a crimson meteor that vanished in an instant.