Return to the Island

After four days of sailing, the Pale White was finally about to reach Festival Island.

Since the town had been established, the Ritual Hall's development and expansion had always been directed toward the nearest southern shore. After a year of growth, not only had a sheltered harbor been built on the southern coast, but the road leading there had also become bustling with traffic.

At this moment, on the southern coastal road.

The king's guard, dressed in black armor, stood in two lines with solemn expressions, holding black spears upright. Their formation stretched over a hundred meters. Countless people of every sort stood outside the guard's perimeter, gazing out at the sea.

The Pale White's white hull, along with another pirate ship following behind it, soon entered everyone's sight. Before long, waves of chatter spread through the watching crowd.

A group of pirates who had been making their way through the New World for over a year stood together, waiting expectantly for the Pale White to dock. One pirate spoke up. "Boss, Buggy the Star Clown may be the king here, but this is one hell of a reception. Even the Celestial Dragons wouldn't get a welcome like this, heh heh."

Another pirate chimed in, "The Shichibukai are all lawless tyrants, but Buggy can't compare to Donquixote Doflamingo. That guy seized control of Dressrosa more than ten years ago."

The pirate captain was a middle-aged man with a red headband tied around his head, named Jerome. He continued, "Indeed. Dressrosa is a World Government member nation that has existed since before the Void Century. Donquixote Doflamingo took it over from the Riku Family without receiving any suppression or interference from the World Government..."

He paused and looked toward a man standing quietly in the distance with a cigar between