Iron Balloon

Skypiea, God's Island.

The shrine where Gan Fall, the former God of Skypiea, had lived now bore a new sign: Thunder God Palace.

Just after finishing a day's training, Seven suddenly heard a constant stream of dinging in his ear.

"Ding! Your listed item, Flash Shell, was purchased by Warhammer User. You received 900 points. Current balance: 16,866."

"Ding! Your listed item, Image Shell, was purchased by Warhammer User. You received 450 points. Current balance: 20,016."

Seven let out a long sigh of relief. The platform's richest user, Warhammer Bro, had finally placed an order.

As expected of the platform's richest user. He bought even shells like Image Shells, which were barely any different from cameras.

"So this is Warhammer Bro's world?"

He didn't take points seriously at all. Unlike Seven, who'd had to sell everything he owned just to buy an Iron Balloon, then wait endlessly for some rich guy to place an order.

With the points in his account, Seven was wide awake.

"Purchase Iron Balloon."

"Ding! Purchase successful. The Iron Balloon will transform your physique over the next 90 days. Increasing training intensity, eating well, and getting enough rest will shorten the transformation period."

"Current balance: 16."

Staring at his utterly depleted point balance, Seven immediately rolled out of bed and ran three laps around Skypiea.

With Big Eater, Innate Divine Strength, and Iron Balloon working together, Seven had finally shed the label of a weakling and reached the top tier of natural talent across the seas.

Big Eater handled digestion, rapidly replenished and stored stamina, and sped up physical recovery. Even when badly injured, enough food could quickly restore his strength and heal his wounds.

It was the ultimate in endurance.

As a conceptual passive ability, Innate Divine Strength meant Seven still had considerable strength even when facing the Giant Race.

Iron Balloon, meanwhile, granted astonishing defense.

Take Charlotte Linlin, for example. A giant's blade had snapped against five-year-old Linlin's body, and even a hail of bullets couldn't leave a single mark on her.

The thought of such power made Seven wish he could jump into the sea and swim a few laps right away.

After twelve straight hours of extra training,

Seven dragged his exhausted body along and ate thirty people's worth of breakfast in one go. He couldn't help wondering: if things went on like this, could he eat enough to cause a food crisis on Skypiea?

Before coming to Skypiea, his daily consumption had been about as much as twenty people's.

After settling down on Skypiea and starting to train, he began consuming half again as much each day.

One person was equivalent to thirty Skypieans.

For Skypiea, with its limited farmland, that was bound to have some impact.

"I should take a trip to Sabaody Archipelago and trade the gold in my system space for Devil Fruits."

There wasn't another Warhammer Bro on the Trading Platform. This chance to earn a huge number of points quickly by selling shells was a one-time thing.

Seven had already seen plenty of posts on the Trading Platform offering low prices for shells.

[Buying: Offering 200 points for a Laser Dial. Guys from Pirate World, don't quote ridiculous prices.]

[Buying: Offering 300 points for an Octopus Balloon. Big brother from Pirate World, could you please give Dream One Heart back to me? I'm open to negotiating the price.]

"I bought Dream One Heart fair and square."

"Why should I give it back?"

Seven was completely unapologetic. To buy Dream One Heart, he'd traveled all the way from Loguetown to Skypiea and managed to snag a bargain.

Give it back? What a joke.

If Raiden Ei had the guts, she could come to Pirate World and catch him herself.

Seven didn't just refuse to return it. He immediately took out an Octopus Balloon and completed the commission, submitting the item in one smooth motion.

[Ding! Congratulations, you have completed the commission and received 300 points. Commissions completed on the platform this month: 9/10. Current balance: 316.]

"I wish there were more Iron Dummies like this."

Normally, the 88,888 tons of gold Dream One Heart had been listed for was no small amount.

On Earth in his previous life, the top five countries by gold reserves held 8,133 tons, 3,350 tons, 2,452 tons, 2,437 tons, and 2,333 tons, respectively.

Together, they amounted to less than 20,000 tons.

But that enormous pillar in Shandora had been an exception. As it happened, Seven had once followed Captain Roger to Shandora, which was how he'd gotten the chance to snag the bargain.

He could only say Seven had been lucky.

That Iron Dummy from Teyvat had been unlucky.

Days passed like this. While the Skypieans and the Shandia people were integrating, conflicts occasionally broke out, but the Thunder Cloud Guards always put them down with an iron fist.

Seven hardly ever showed his face.

Even so, he kept up his weekly training sessions for the Thunder Cloud Guards without fail, crushing hundreds of them every time.

Because of this, his rule as Thunder God grew even more secure.

Marine Headquarters, Marineford.

After a full three months of leave, Hero of the Marines Garp returned to Marineford aboard his beloved Dog-Head Warship and went straight to Sengoku's office.

Crash!

The office door was kicked open. Picking his nose, Garp shouted, "Why'd you call me back in such a hurry? What's going on?"

Looking after his pregnant wife at home had already worn him out. Then Sengoku had called him back like his life depended on it, so Garp took out his frustration on the snacks in Sengoku's office.

Sengoku gritted his teeth and suppressed his anger, then tossed an order to Garp.

"Since Roger's death, Douglas Bullet, the Devil's Descendant and former member of the Roger Pirates, has attacked more than ten Marine bases and destroyed countless merchant ships from Affiliated Nations."

"The World Government has ordered the Marines to launch a Buster Call, arrest Bullet, and lock him up in Impel Down."

Garp muttered, "With Roger dead, is he just lashing out and destroying things everywhere because he has nowhere else to direct his anger?"

So he wasn't the only one who felt lost after Roger's death.

"Oh, right." Garp seemed to remember something.

"What about the other members of the Roger Pirates? Is Bullet the only one causing trouble everywhere?"

Sengoku pulled several more files out of his desk.

"The Wings of the King, Pluto Rayleigh, makes a living coating ships in Sabaody Archipelago. The left arm of the King of the Pirates, Gaban, is nowhere to be found. The rest of the crew have been behaving themselves..."

"Barzeb Seven attacked CP9 a while ago and broke a prisoner out of World Government custody."

"By the time Borsalino arrived, the pirate ship had been reduced to scattered wreckage. Barzeb disappeared after that."

"What?!" Garp's eyes widened.

"Scattered wreckage? Is he dead?"

Judging by the wild stunts that white-haired brat had pulled recently, the likes of him were bound to cause trouble. There was no way he'd meet his end so easily.

"He's most likely dead," Sengoku said.

"You and I will sign the order for this Buster Call. Once the Intelligence Department finds Bullet, we'll set out."

"Fine," Garp agreed.

For a while after Roger's execution, Garp had indeed felt lost.

But after spending a month back at his old home in Foosha Village, Garp had finally found himself a new pastime: locking Barzeb Seven up in Impel Down.

That kid was simply too much trouble, and he did whatever he pleased without the slightest sense of right and wrong.

A person like that could become either a great disaster or a savior to the entire sea.

However, Garp never could have imagined

that Barzeb Seven would vanish without a trace, just as if he really had fallen.