"Hey! Hey! Is that gold?"
"Damn, there's so much of it, and not a trace of impurity."
"Who's this guy? How dare he swagger around Demon Valley Town carrying so much gold!"
"That's freaking extravagant. He actually made his armor out of gold?"
"It's the Gold Emperor."
"No wonder he's so arrogant. The Gold Emperor's ability is rumored to let him control metal."
"Lion King Gappa, Zebra Killer, and Camel Tepieru were all defeated and killed by the Gold Emperor using his ability."
Demon Valley Town was in an uproar. Every pirate in the street stared greedily at the gleaming golden figure strolling beneath the sunlight.
Chaos was making quite a show of himself. He had turned all the gold from the ravine into armor, intricately engraved with patterns of divine dragons and other designs. The armor stood nearly five meters tall, yet didn't look bulky at all. Instead, it was tall and imposing. He strode forward with an air of invincibility, and the clanging of metal rang out with every step.
A giant golden sword was strapped to his back, making him look like a walking mountain of gold.
All in all, he looked heroic and imposing, radiating extravagance. More importantly, he had the bearing of a king.
The eyes of many female pirates held more than greed; there was also a desire that was hard to decipher.
Chaos had carefully crafted this flashy getup.
He had now gained enough strength to act ostentatiously and arrogantly. So why keep hiding it?
He was laying his cards on the table.
He was done pretending.
That low-key style didn't suit him.
As for trouble?
He'd be more than happy to have it come knocking. It would be a perfect chance to train his Observation Haki.
Even if trouble didn't come to him, he'd make some himself.
Life came down to one word: fight!
He was loaded.
With a cold expression, Chaos walked down the street, soaking in the greedy, jealous stares. He felt secretly thrilled!
Being the center of everyone's attention was intoxicating.
"I don't care if you're the Gold Emperor or the Golden Turd. I'm taking the gold you've got!"
Chaos's grand entrance was like a scantily clad beauty flaunting herself, openly tempting everyone around.
Who the hell could resist that?
A good number of fierce-looking pirates jumped out at once, their gazes burning like the sun. They could hardly wait to melt Chaos into their own bodies.
It was an intense, possessive kind of love!
"We'll gladly take it."
"Hahaha! The gold is mine!"
"That's so much gold. It must be worth at least three billion berries."
Faced with all the attackers, Chaos folded his arms and looked on impassively. They were all small fry!
He couldn't even be bothered to get excited.
"Shing!"
The giant golden sword rose into the air behind him and hovered overhead, gleaming. It swiftly split into eighteen golden longswords, which shot out like bullets. The greedy expressions of the pirates charging at him instantly changed.
Pfft—
"Ah! Help!"
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Blades pierced flesh, followed by panicked screams. The entire street fell utterly silent.
The stone pavement cracked apart, and the pungent stench of blood filled the air. Eighteen golden longswords were embedded in the ground, each with a corpse beneath it.
Some of them weren't quite dead yet and continued to struggle.
Chaos hadn't moved an inch from beginning to end. Arms folded, he looked down over the entire scene. The pirates who hadn't joined the attack all averted their gazes, not daring to meet his eyes—even when he glanced down at them with his nose in the air.
"He's got the strength to back up his arrogance."
Some pirates with bounties in the tens of millions weren't the sort of mindless trash who'd lost their heads. Their eyes were full of greed, but they still had a measure of reason.
Pirates who charged out as the first to make a move despite lacking the strength to back it up would only be handing the gold over to someone else, even if they managed to steal it.
They were doomed to be cannon fodder who wouldn't last a minute.
"The Gold Emperor? I'll remember that."
"People who act too arrogant usually don't live long."
"He deliberately brought so much gold. Is there some reason?"
"It won't be long before all of Demon Valley Town hears that the Gold Emperor is carrying gold worth over three billion berries. What exactly is this guy up to?"
Quite a few pirates watching from the shadows furrowed their brows. No matter how they looked at it, the Gold Emperor seemed to be asking for trouble.
But he didn't look like an idiot!
Still, one thing was certain: Demon Valley Town wouldn't be peaceful for long. There'd be plenty of excitement tonight.
And the Gold Emperor would be right at the center of it.
Gold worth over three billion berries was no small amount.
The foul-smelling blood pooled together and seeped through the gaps in the stone pavement into the sewers. Amid the greedy, scheming gazes from both sides of the street, Chaos headed for the Tropical Grand Hotel.
The moment he entered the lobby, every eye inside and out turned toward him.
Chaos thoroughly enjoyed it.
He swept his bangs back with one hand, then walked up to the smoking owner. "You don't mind if I keep staying here, do you?"
The smoking owner puffed on his pipe as he looked at the greedy or amused gazes outside the door. His mouth twitched.
If he let this guy stay, there was no way anyone would have a peaceful night.
"Boss, what are you waiting for?"
"Keep him here. We'll slip something into his food tonight, then we can take all that gold for ourselves."
Triss was drooling, her eyes shining with golden light as she wailed loudly, making sure everyone could hear her.
"Triss, we don't run a shady inn."
The smoking owner glared at her in exasperation. How could she say such a thing in front of everyone? One careless move, and their business's reputation, built over more than a decade, would be ruined.
"Thud!"
Chaos acted as if he hadn't heard a thing. With a thought, he dropped a basketball-sized nugget of solid gold onto the counter. He tossed it down as casually as a lump of shit, his face full of disdain for poor people.
"That should be enough to renovate this place."
"Deal!"
The smoking owner exhaled a cloud of smoke and smiled, his face creased with wrinkles.
They both knew that after tonight, the hotel might be reduced to rubble.
Chaos's nugget of gold was essentially a temporary purchase of the hotel. The smoking owner could use it to renovate or rebuild afterward. They were both reasonable people.
"Kid, I hope I'll still see you tomorrow."
Holding nearly three hundred pounds of gold, the smoking owner looked at Chaos. He planned to sleep at one of his other properties that night.
He was old now and had given up on that sort of thing!
Ten years earlier, he would definitely have drugged him.
Chaos waved carelessly and went straight upstairs.
Tonight was sure to be thrilling.
But he lived for the thrill.
If you didn't risk your life and walk a tightrope now and then, it wasn't much of a life.
The sun sank below the horizon, and red clouds circled the sky.
Dusk had arrived.
A few more scheming characters had gathered around the Tropical Grand Hotel.
As for the smoking owner, Triss, Speck, and the chef, Bard, the four of them had already slipped away.
Word had it they were ambushed by over a hundred people on their way to another property. But the hundred attackers were the ones left lying on the ground. The smoking owner and the other three were still very much alive, carrying the gold as they walked away.
"Captain, should we make a move?"
In a brightly lit tavern in the southern part of Demon Valley Town, numerous pirates drank together. It was clear they were one crew.
The Octopus Pirates were one of the crews in Demon Valley Town that no one dared to mess with. Their captain was none other than the Octopus Maniac Rotes, whose bounty stood at 105 million. He was a genuine pirate with a bounty over a hundred million.
He also had a number of subordinates with bounties in the tens of millions.
"Don't rush."
At the head table, a comical man dressed as a clown grinned, revealing a chilling smile.
The pitch-black night had begun to envelop the town. A figure suddenly appeared atop a building. In the faint moonlight, he could just about be made out: a man in noble's clothing, a cross necklace around his neck, short blond hair, and a spiral longsword hanging at his waist.
In another tavern, plenty of pirates were making merry as well!
This night was destined to be anything but peaceful...
Before you continue