Gourmet Kingdom

Grand Line, first half.

On the southernmost of the seven routes, on the spring island known as Haru Island.

This was an island rich in tea leaves and mushrooms. It had three cities and a population of around 290,000. Haru Island was home to the Haru Kingdom, one of the World Government's member nations.

At the same time, there was also a Marine Base here—G55 Base.

Black Tea City, Haru Island's port city, was prosperous and full of vitality. The countless merchants passing through, along with the lawless elements, brought abundant opportunities to this place.

At the same time, there were also the dangers of flashing blades and clashing swords.

In a dim corner of the Hyacinth Bar.

A tall figure sat there, completely wrapped in a cloak. He silently drank his beer while carefully listening to the conversations of several patrons.

"Gulp, gulp! Hah!"

After downing a mug of beer, Bearded Man said with a hint of drunkenness, "Buck, let me tell you something. I heard that a new island has appeared about 140 nautical miles southeast of Haru Island."

"Southeast of Haru Island? And 140 nautical miles away?" Buck froze, then quickly reacted. "Haha, you're spouting nonsense again. Isn't that near the Calm Belt in the South Blue?"

"Bullshit! Why the hell would I lie to you?" Bearded Man shouted.

"Haha..." Several other patrons burst into laughter as well.

However, another one-armed middle-aged man nearby seemed to know something.

"No, Green is telling the truth. The merchant ship I was on got blown off course there last week while avoiding a storm. There really is an island."

"There really is an island?"

The one-armed man explained, "That island is called the Gourmet Kingdom. It doesn't seem to be a World Government member nation. My merchant ship rested at one of its ports for two days."

"Gourmet Kingdom? It's probably one of those strange little countries. I bet pirates will wipe it out soon enough." Buck shrugged mockingly.

But the one-armed man shook his head. "Not necessarily. There are powerful people in that Gourmet Kingdom. I saw several Zoan Users there. One of them killed a Sea King with just one hand."

"A Devil Fruit Ability user? And he killed a Sea King with one hand?"

"That is pretty powerful."

In the corner, the person beneath the cloak trembled slightly. Then he extended a pale hand, picked up the beer mug before him, and drained it in one gulp.

He rose directly to his feet. His body seemed even taller now, radiating an oppressive presence.

After leaving the bar, he entered an alley. Then his figure flashed, turning into a black shadow before vanishing without a trace.

Not long afterward, a battered, eerie sailing ship in Black Tea City's harbor unfurled its black sails and set sail toward the southeast of Haru Island.

The newly appeared Gourmet Kingdom had clearly drawn many curious and malicious gazes.

Gourmet Island.

This was a massive oval-shaped island. Its terrain resembled a turtle shell, with an area of roughly 300 square kilometers.

At the island's center stood a gray castle, covered in countless trees, vines, and moss.

Surrounding the castle was a city blanketed in numerous Glass Greenhouses. This was the capital of the Gourmet Kingdom—Greenhouse City.

The island's edges had no beaches or anything of the sort, only sheer cliffs several hundred meters high. Those cliffs were also covered in Needle Grass and Razor Thorn.

Above the cliffs lay the island's outer edge, where dense Blade Mountains stood. These mountains surrounding the island's perimeter were likewise covered in Sword Trees, Needle Grass, and Razor Thorn.

Such an environment would clearly prove exceptionally troublesome for ordinary invaders.

Besides its capital, Greenhouse City, Gourmet Island also had eight other towns: the four inner towns of Furnace Town, Well Town, Ice Cave Town, and Appliance Town; and the four outer towns of Mushroom Town, Brewing Town, Fishing Town, and Candy Town.

Among them, Fishing Town and Brewing Town were the only two ports on Gourmet Island visible to the public, as well as the only two publicly accessible entry points into the island's interior.

In truth, this island had been built by Beelzebub over half a year ago.

After arriving in Paradise, he had gathered intelligence in secret while building up his forces. Since he himself enjoyed fine food, he established the Gourmet Kingdom.

He had also poached Charlie, the Kitchenware-Kitchenware Fruit user from Camel Island, away from Wang Gao and made him his Head Chef.

Naturally, to avoid being discovered, Charlie had undergone a complete change of appearance. Furthermore, the stand-in at Impel Down had already died, so publicly, the Kitchenware-Kitchenware Fruit had already reincarnated somewhere in the world.

Beelzebub and Charlie secretly bought a large number of slaves. Together with impoverished people secretly taken in from places such as the Alabasta Kingdom, they raised the Gourmet Kingdom's population to around 50,000.

There were also many pirate crews that had been absorbed into the kingdom.

Within the Gourmet Kingdom, Beelzebub did not proclaim himself king. Instead, he called himself the President of the Gourmet Association. Apart from the ordinary citizens, he commanded an armed force of 1,500 men.

This armed force consisted of the Sea Hunter Camp, Fierce Beast Camp, and Gourmet Camp.

The Sea Hunter Camp was stationed in Fishing Town and specialized in hunting Sea Kings.

The Fierce Beast Camp was stationed in Brewing Town and served as the port's defensive force.

Finally, the Gourmet Camp was the strongest of the three camps and was spread throughout the other six towns.

As for Greenhouse City's defensive forces, they did not rely on conventional troops. After all, it was also the residence of Beelzebub, Charlie, and the Gourmet Association's executives.

At the port of Brewing Town, the rich fragrance of alcohol permeated every street and alley.

There were three Gourmet Association executives here: Vodka, the Town Mayor of Brewing Town; Du Kang, a master brewer; and Pyg, the Battalion Commander of the Fierce Beast Camp.

As executives of the Gourmet Association, none of them could be too weak. Even the civilian Town Mayor and the technical master brewer possessed their own Base Armor.

With the enhancement of Base Armor, as long as one was willing to train hard, reaching Vice Admiral-level Combat Power was more than enough.

Within the Gourmet Association, Base Armor was collectively referred to as Gourmet Cells. This was because the Gourmet Association's Base Armor came with fundamental skills such as "Gluttony," "High-Speed Digestion," "High-Energy Calories," and "Calorie Heart."

By consuming large amounts of food and storing vast reserves of High-Energy Calories inside the body, one could not only improve combat endurance, but also repair the body and unleash power in extreme bursts.

To a certain extent, Base Armor and Devil Fruit Users were a perfect match. After all, the upper limit of a Devil Fruit Ability largely depended on the user's stamina limit.

If an ability user lacked stamina, then even with good ideas, they would be unable to produce the effects they envisioned.

Take Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit, for example. If Whitebeard had been in his prime, then Marineford would definitely have been destroyed in a single blow during the Summit War.

At present, there were only two Devil Fruit Users within the Gourmet Association. One was Head Chef Charlie, whose public name was Louis. The other was Pyg, the Battalion Commander of the Fierce Beast Camp and a Zoan User. His Devil Fruit was a Sub-Ancient Zoan—Flat-headed Pig.

With the support of Base Armor, the two of them would become exceptionally terrifying in battle. Pyg in particular had already achieved Initial Awakening of his Devil Fruit Ability.

Clearly, over the past half year, Wang Gao had made further progress in his research on Devil Fruits.

Grizzly Boom had previously been an initial test subject.

Now, through medicine combined with the assistance of Base Armor, Wang Gao could allow Zoan Users to quickly achieve ability awakening.

Thank you for your support (ω｀)