Monkey D. Dragon.
Rather than call him a "revolutionary,"
Storm thought he seemed more like a "peasant uprising leader"...
And the kind who did nothing but spout empty rhetoric all day...
A closer look made it clear that Monkey D. Dragon had barely taken part in any major events.
That would have been bad enough.
What left Storm even more speechless
was how Monkey D. Dragon, as the Revolutionary Army's supreme leader, could turn a blind eye to the life and death of his most important subordinates!
Emporio Ivankov, the Okama King and commander of the Revolutionary Army's Grand Line forces, had been imprisoned in Impel Down for years.
Monkey D. Dragon had done nothing for him;
Ginny, commander of the Revolutionary Army's East Blue forces, had been captured by the World Government and reduced to a miserable test subject for the Gorosei.
Monkey D. Dragon had done nothing for her, either.
But when his own son came of age and set sail,
Monkey D. Dragon had rushed to Loguetown at once to personally escort him.
Was this man really carrying out a revolution,
or just playing house?
It would have been one thing if Monkey D. Dragon were a "newcomer" who had only recently encountered revolutionary ideas.
But he had started building the Revolutionary Army more than a decade ago, after the Buster Call on Ohara!
In other words,
Monkey D. Dragon had been involved in "revolutionary activities" for at least a decade!
And this was the Revolutionary Army he had built.
No guiding principles, no platform, no revolutionary slogans.
Nothing but resistance for resistance's sake.
Storm wasn't wrong to call Monkey D. Dragon a "peasant uprising leader"!
All he could say was...
The world was one giant amateur production.
Bear could clearly feel the contempt for Dragon in Storm's words.
He wanted to defend Dragon, but didn't know what to say.
Because everything Storm had just said was ironclad fact.
The fact was, Dragon really hadn't done anything!
Well, perhaps Dragon had secretly done things that nobody knew about?
"That's all I have to say. Think it over carefully, Bartholomew Bear."
Storm shook his head and turned toward the church entrance.
"You've protected your daughter very well, but no amount of 'protection' can cure an incurable disease like 'Azure Jade Scales.'
"Of course, you can also pray to your god and ask for help from your Bible and your deity.
"See whether your god answers your prayers!
"Or perhaps—see whether your god will watch your miserable life with delight, clutching his sides and laughing out loud!"
With that, Storm walked straight out of the church.
He was afraid that if he said any more, he'd lose his temper and beat Bear up again!
At the very least, he didn't want to beat someone's father in front of his daughter.
That would set a bad example for a child.
Storm left the dim church and stepped into the bright outdoors, feeling the heaviness in his heart lift.
Monkey D. Dragon, the Revolutionary Army, Nika—all those frustrating things, one worse than the next, were immediately banished from his mind.
"Waaah..."
Just then, a sob reached Storm's ears.
He walked over to the two clay figures beside the small church—the ones he'd casually left there earlier.
"Old man, don't mistake me for some kindhearted gentleman."
Storm stood in front of Bulldog's clay figure and gave him a warning.
"If you attack me again, I'll show you what Hell's Baptism means!"
Throwing Bulldog into boiling oil or scalding water would be a little inhumane.
But tossing him into the sea and letting the cold water cool off his overheated head...
Storm could do that!
Snap!
Storm casually snapped his fingers, freeing Bulldog from the clay.
"You despicable pirate!"
Bulldog glared at him.
"You sneak-attacked an old man!"
"...Could you stop being so unreasonable?"
Storm's mouth twitched.
"You were the one who attacked me first, weren't you?"
Storm didn't feel like arguing with a stubborn old man.
He ignored Bulldog, walked over to the other clay statue, and released it from his control.
The next moment,
the former king of the Sorbet Kingdom, King Bekley, threw himself at Storm's feet like a stray dog with nowhere to go.
"Mr. Pirate! Mr. Pirate!"
King Bekley knelt on the ground and wailed as he begged for mercy.
"I have money! My country has money, too!
"How much do you want? I can give you as much as you like!
"Just let me go!"
Whoosh—
A sharp whistle cut through the air.
Storm glanced to the side.
Bulldog swung his cane and slammed it down on King Bekley's head.
Thud!
The old man was surprisingly strong.
The thick cane cracked down on King Bekley's head, immediately raising a lump on his forehead.
"You scumbag!"
Bulldog swung his cane again and beat King Bekley with all his might.
"You set the entire south on fire! And you still have the nerve to come back!"
"Stop! Stop!"
King Bekley shielded his head with both hands and shouted in protest.
"I did it for the future of the Sorbet Kingdom!
"In the East Blue! In the Kingdom of Goa, there's a beautiful town without a single piece of garbage!
"Even the Celestial Dragons praised how beautiful that kingdom was!
"To secure a happy future, we have to harden our hearts and reform the country!"
King Bekley would have been better off not defending himself.
The moment he did, Bulldog's fury flared like a fire doused in oil. He was practically ablaze.
"So that's your excuse for burning your own people?! Die, you trash king!"
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Bulldog's cane fell on King Bekley like raindrops.
The latter lay on the ground, curling up as tightly as he could to shield himself from the blows.
But the old man's strength was limited.
Bulldog had only been beating him for a short while when he grew breathless and had to stop.
Storm asked at just the right moment,
"You just said you had a lot of money?"
"Yes, I have money. I have lots and lots of money..."
King Bekley was no spring chicken, either. After taking a beating, he answered weakly.
"Just let me go, and I'll give you everything I have..."
Bulldog's eyes widened. He immediately tried to raise his cane and beat the scumbag king to death right there.
But this time, Storm didn't let him have his way.
"Your Excellency the governor, how could you treat your former king like this?"
With a thought, a ball of clay appeared from nowhere and restrained Bulldog once more.
"King Bekley, right? Where are your treasures? Do you have a vault like the 'Treasure of the King'?"
"My money..."
King Bekley secretly swallowed and couldn't help lowering his voice.
"It's all in the palace."
"And where is your palace?"
"It, it... It was destroyed by that 'Tyrant'!"
King Bekley answered helplessly, but then hope flared in him again.
"But my country is still here!
"As long as I become king again, I'll have endless treasure!"
The smile vanished from Storm's face. He asked coldly,
"So you're saying you have no money?"
"I don't have any money right now! But my people do!"
King Bekley answered at once.
"Mr. Pirate! If you don't mind, I can give you half the wealth of the Sorbet Kingdom!
"Just help me take the throne again!"
This was the first time Storm had ever been promised the moon by a king.
"Do you know something?"
"W-what?"
"If I want to, then even if you die, that money can still be mine!"
Before King Bekley could reply, Storm stuffed a ball of clay into his mouth.
Then,
Storm turned to Bulldog beside him and asked, utterly puzzled,
"Didn't you say there'd been a 'One-Man Revolution' in the Sorbet Kingdom? Why didn't you kill this piece of trash back then?"
"We old bones don't have what it takes to storm the palace and defeat the army..."
Bulldog said helplessly. He nodded toward the church.
"That was King Bear's decision.
"It wasn't just this time. I remember he did the same thing last time."
Fun fact.
More than a decade ago, Bear had already overthrown King Bekley's rule once.
Incidentally, Dragon and Ivankov had also been in the Sorbet Kingdom then.
The three great leaders of the Revolutionary Army had gathered together, overthrown the kingdom's ruling powers, and then...
They left. Just left...
Until this year, when Bear overthrew King Bekley's brutal rule once again.
That was the so-called "One-Man Revolution."
And then,
Bear let King Bekley go again...
Storm stared speechlessly at King Bekley's bruised and swollen face.
"Why did you insist on keeping the life of a piece of trash who could only make empty promises?"
"That isn't something we get to decide."
Bulldog shook his head with a sigh, then lowered his voice.
"Whether it was the Revolutionary Army back then or King Bear now,
"their actions aren't influenced by little people like us.
"What can we do but accept their decisions?"
Storm fell silent for a moment, then shouted toward the church,
"Bartholomew Bear! Can you hear me?!"
Storm roared,
"Revolution isn't playing house! It isn't a dinner party!
"How long are you going to stay so naive?!"
At the sound of hurried footsteps.
Bear came running out of the church.
Storm didn't feel like dealing with him for now. He casually pinched a White Dragon into existence and flew into the sky on its back.
The fierce wind at high altitude whipped Storm's robes.
He looked at the three warships on the sea, took a Den Den Mushi from his pocket, and dialed a familiar number.
"Moshi moshi—"
"Admiral Aokiji, want some warships?"
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