What King Did You Just Say You Dreamed of Becoming? (Please Follow! Please Vote!)

"South Blue..."

Storm looked up at the sky, an immense sense of dissonance welling up inside him.

Before landing on the island, he had been thinking about how to recruit subordinates, how to charge into the New World, how to fight the Yonko;

But after landing, never mind charging into the New World—he had now charged out of the Calm Belt and out of the Grand Line!

What the hell was South Blue!?

Storm stood there, utterly bewildered.

It felt like everyone had been imagining just how earth-shattering a battle between Yonko would be...

Only to turn around and find two pint-sized Pirate Emperors grabbing each other by the collars and choking one another in the middle of Loguetown's main street...

The scene was beyond absurd!

Fine then.

Since he was already here...

Storm shook his head and cast aside those irrelevant thoughts.

He pulled a ten-thousand-Beli banknote from his pocket—the remainder of the Marine salary he had not spent before.

"I need a local guide, and I'd also like to ask about a few things."

Storm waved the ten-thousand-Beli note in front of everyone.

"Is anyone willing to take this job?"

There was no way he was staying in South Blue.

Storm's first thought was to rest on the island for a while, then immediately set off back to the Grand Line.

Seeing the ten-thousand-Beli note in Storm's hand, quite a few of the onlookers at the docks showed tempted expressions.

But when they looked at the majestic Blue-Eyes White Dragon in the sky, not a single person dared to move!

Seeing that the people on the docks had no reaction, Storm immediately realized what was going on.

He raised a hand toward the sky, and the Blue-Eyes White Dragon immediately beat its wings and flew toward him.

But before the white dragon could land.

The people on the docks erupted into miserable, heart-wrenching cries.

"Ah! Run!"

"That white dragon is coming this way!"

"The white dragon is going to eat people!"

Amid the chaotic shouting, the people on the docks all ran off into the distance as fast as they could, doing everything possible to get away from the pier.

In the blink of an eye, everyone on the docks had vanished.

Storm watched the fleeing crowd scatter like birds and beasts, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

He had overestimated Ordinary People's ability to accept the [Blue-Eyes White Dragon]...

Having shrunk down, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon lay on Storm's shoulder like a house cat, lazily swishing its tail.

Storm looked at the Blue-Eyes White Dragon and stared into its azure eyes.

"What a pity you're a dragon. Oh well..."

The next moment.

The Blue-Eyes White Dragon's appearance began to change. Its Dragon Wings vanished, its neck shortened, and its limbs became slender and graceful...

Even the pale dragon scales covering its body transformed into strands of crystalline, snow-white fur.

Most miraculous of all.

The Blue-Eyes White Dragon's originally thick, powerful tail spread apart like a peacock fanning its tail, becoming a full nine fox tails!

This was no longer the [Blue-Eyes White Dragon].

In its place was—

[Nine-Tails Fox]!

The snow-white, soft and bewitching Nine-Tails Fox leaped down from Storm's shoulder.

It held its head high and strode forward, its little rear raised high while its nine fluffy, soft fox tails swayed continuously through the air.

"Still, furry ones really are cuter than hairless ones..."

Storm clasped his hands behind his head and leisurely followed behind the Nine-Tails Fox as they headed toward the town on the island.

"This shouldn't scare Ordinary People anymore, right?"

Storm had only walked for a short while.

When a noisy group of people came toward him.

By human standards of beauty, this group looked rather bizarre.

Storm had spent quite some time in Impel Down, yet he still found the group across from him rather conspicuous.

Just as Storm spotted them, they spotted this stranger as well.

Perhaps their numerical advantage gave them ample confidence.

Right in front of Storm, they openly began sizing him up and commenting on him.

"A face I've never seen before..."

"His clothes are strange too. That emblem... it looks like the World Government's emblem."

"The World Government? Hah! Those lofty bastards wouldn't care about a place like this!"

"Hey! Everyone! Look at that fox! It has nine tails!"

"A fox with nine tails? Are you still drunk?"

"It really has nine tails! Could this fox be some kind of monster!?"

Just as the group was discussing it with great enthusiasm, the red-haired man with spiky hedgehog-like hair at the front barked at them.

"Enough!"

The red-haired spiky-haired man seemed to hold considerable authority among them.

The moment he spoke, everyone immediately fell silent.

"Hey! You!"

The red-haired spiky-haired man immediately turned his attention toward Storm.

"Did you just come from the docks? Did you see a monster over there?"

"A monster?"

Storm glanced at the red-haired spiky-haired man, then gestured with his chin toward the Nine-Tails Fox ahead, which was about the size of a house dog.

"Are you talking about it?"

"It?"

The red-haired spiky-haired man frowned.

"This white-furred fox—"

Before the red-haired spiky-haired man could finish saying the word "fox,"

the Nine-Tails Fox's body swelled like an inflating balloon.

In the blink of an eye, the nine-tailed fox, which had only been knee-high moments ago, grew into an unparalleled monstrous creature nearly a hundred meters tall!

Its nine fluffy, soft fox tails danced wildly through the air, their shadows blanketing everyone present.

"Fo—fox—"

The red-haired spiky-haired man stared up at the gigantic Nine-Tails Fox, his mind completely shutting down. He could not even speak properly.

The group behind him likewise fell into utter panic at that moment.

How could these "natives" of a South Blue island have ever seen such a terrifying monster?

Panic bred chaos.

Chaos drove them to flee.

They had arrived in an imposing mob, only to run away crying for their mothers and fathers.

Apart from the red-haired spiky-haired man, the only "local" who remained where he stood was a burly man with waist-length golden wavy hair.

"Kid!"

The golden-haired man grabbed the red-haired spiky-haired man by the shoulder and roared himself hoarse.

"RUN!!!"

However, before the red-haired spiky-haired man could react, the Nine-Tails Fox swung its terrifying claw and snatched both men into its grasp at once.

"Killer!"

At last, the red-haired spiky-haired man snapped back to his senses.

Unfortunately, it was too late.

The two struggled desperately, yet they could not budge the Nine-Tails Fox's claw. They could not even force open the slightest gap to breathe.

Just as the golden-haired man was about to resign himself to his fate.

The red-haired hedgehog-headed man let out an earth-shaking roar.

"What kind of joke is this?! How could I die here?!"

Strands of magnetic electricity crackled across the red-haired hedgehog-headed man's body as he unleashed all his strength.

"I'm the man who'll become the Pirate King!!"

"I think I just heard something very interesting."

Storm looked toward the Nine-Tails Fox, which immediately carried the two men before him.

"What king did you say you were going to become?"

The red-haired hedgehog-headed man was too busy resisting the Nine-Tails Fox's restraints to answer Storm.

In response, Storm merely took a weapon from his coat.

The instant the [Seastone Tonfa] touched the red-haired hedgehog-headed man, the magnetic arcs erupting from his body vanished without a trace.

His power was cut off on the spot!

The red-haired hedgehog-headed man was completely driven into a corner.

His all-out burst of power had been nothing more than a desperate struggle from beginning to end.

Once touched by the [Seastone Tonfa], the red-haired hedgehog-headed man seemed to lack even the strength to speak.

Forcing himself through the weakness, he barely managed to ask, "Y-you... who exactly are you?"

"Before asking someone else's name, shouldn't you state your own identity first? That's basic courtesy, isn't it?"

Storm looked at the strange pairing of the red-haired hedgehog-headed man and the blond wavy-haired man, and formed an initial guess about their identities.

He withdrew the [Seastone Tonfa] and had the Nine-Tails Fox release the two men.

"Your name? Red-Haired?"

"Kid!"

The red-haired hedgehog-headed man—or rather, Kid—looked warily at the weapon in Storm's hand.

"Eustass Kid!"

So it really was you!

Storm then turned to the blond wavy-haired man beside him.

Before he could ask, the latter spoke up on his own.

"Killer."

"Very good, Eustass Kid and Killer."

Storm had the Nine-Tails Fox shrink back to its normal size, then beckoned to the pair.

"I've only just arrived on Belfast Island, and I need a local guide.

"So I've decided it'll be you two!"

...That was it?

Kid and Killer, who had thought they were about to die here, silently exchanged glances.

"Oh, right. There's one more thing."

Storm took out the ten-thousand-Beli note he had not spent earlier.

He was about to hand it to Kid, but after thinking for a moment, he pulled another fresh ten-thousand-Beli note from his pocket.

"This is your payment for serving as guides. Ten thousand Beli each.

"What are you standing around for?! Take the money!"

Huh?!

Kid and Killer numbly accepted the banknotes handed to them.

For some reason, even though they were getting paid, they felt as if their dignity had been stomped flat beneath the other man's feet.

This loss of dignity felt even worse than when they had been caught by that Nine-Tails Fox!

Storm did not care what Kid and Killer thought.

He had finally found an inhabited island.

His top priority was to get cleaned up, then find a restaurant and fill his stomach!

Preferably with some vegetables and fruit...

Over the past few days, Storm had been eating Sea King meat nonstop, and he was starting to get sick of it.

"Lead the way, you two guides!"

Storm raised a hand in gesture.

"Also, tell me about anything interesting that's happened recently while we're on the way.

"...You two are planning to set sail together? What about that group from earlier? They ran away, so you ditched them? Good luck, then!

"...I'm not interested in what's happening on Belfast Island. I want to know about the major events reported in the news!

"...A 'One-Man Revolution' has broken out in the Sorbeth Kingdom?

"Tyrant Bear?"

Regarding Eustass Kid's timeline.

In Grand Line Era 1501, Kid was born;

At some unknown point, Kid unified the island where he was born and decided to set sail;

By Grand Line Era 1520, Kid was already very famous.

According to [Manga Chapter 999], when Ace traveled to Wano Country, he mentioned three and a half "newcomers."

The half was "Caven"—presumably Cavendish.

The other three were:

Kid of the South Blue.

Law of the North Blue.

Bege of the West Blue.

So, by 1520 at the latest, Kid had already made quite a name for himself.

Even a supernova like Ace had heard of him.

As for why Kid had already set sail by 1520, yet did not reach the Sabaody Archipelago alongside Luffy until 1522...

You'd have to ask Oda.

A Xin didn't know.

This Book's [Setting].

In other words, [secondary setting].

Eustass Kid set sail officially in 1518, when he was seventeen.

That was also a fairly normal age for a pirate to set sail...