"Rumble—!"
A massive hole tore open in the clouds.
A gigantic ark, built entirely from gold and precious timber and radiating a highly futuristic, oppressive presence, slowly descended from ten thousand meters above, trailing azure lightning flames.
With a soft thud.
Under the precise control of an electromagnetic field, this super battleship named the Heavenly Court Thunder God landed smoothly upon the calm waters of the East Blue, without even splashing a single extra wave.
The sea breeze swept past, carrying a long-missed salty warmth.
"Whew... I'm finally back on the Blue Sea. The air up there was so thin, I was nearly forgetting how to breathe."
Lei En lay on a luxurious beach chair crafted from pure gold and upholstered in premium velvet, stretching lazily.
It had been exactly two years since he set sail.
Lei En was now a boy just over ten years old.
He had grown considerably taller, shedding the baby fat he had at five. His facial features had become as sharp and cold as if carved by a blade.
His tousled black hair fluttered lightly in the sea breeze. Paired with those deep black eyes that occasionally flashed with lightning, he exuded the aura of a scheming, unruly ruler.
He wore an outrageously flashy black coat, left wide open to reveal the solid lines of his muscles. The famed blade Yubashiri hung casually at his waist.
If he dressed like this in the East Blue, he would surely captivate countless innocent young girls.
"My lord, isn't this ship way too cool?!"
Dadi gripped the pure-gold helm, his face flushed with excitement.
"During that landing just now, the people aboard those merchant ships were staring so hard their eyes nearly popped out! They probably thought a god had descended!"
He was now the chief navigator and helmsman of the Heavenly Court Thunder God. Sailing this battleship, which gathered Sky Island's finest technology and wealth in one vessel, felt a hundred times better than commanding a warship at Marine Headquarters.
"Keep a low profile. Do you understand what that means?"
Lei En slurped some freshly squeezed chilled watermelon juice Little Carol had prepared, then rolled his eyes irritably.
"I'm the richest pirate in the world now. What's so impressive about this? One day, we'll sail this ship right over the heads of those Celestial Dragons at Mary Geoise and take a shit on them."
Rather than being frightened by Lei En's treasonous words, Dadi merely chuckled.
After following his lord for two years, he had long grown accustomed to Lei En's arrogant attitude of treating the World Government like shit.
In fact, he found it pretty thrilling.
"Lord Lei En, where are we going next?"
Kuina approached, dressed in a neat blue kendo uniform and carrying an ordinary standard-issue sword.
At Lei En's strong insistence, her Wado Ichimonji had been carefully placed in a dedicated sword case in the cabin. She usually could not bear to take it out and use it.
"Where are we going?"
Lei En rubbed his chin and fell into thought.
He now possessed max-level Roger's Swordsmanship, had eaten the strongest Logia, the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, and had a body enhanced by the system to an utterly monstrous degree.
Not to mention the mountain of gold piled inside the cabin...
Honestly, even if he charged straight into the New World, the latter half of the Grand Line, he could still swagger around unhindered.
But Lei En was someone who hated trouble.
The New World is currently ruled by those old bones. Whitebeard, Golden Lion, Kaido, Big Mom... they're all in their prime. Fighting them would be too exhausting.
Lei En shook his head, calculating silently.
I'm a man of refined tastes who lives for fun, not some battle maniac.
Rather than fighting those muscleheads for territory in the New World, I might as well lie low and develop for a few years in the East Blue, the beginner village known as the "Weakest Sea."
He glanced at Enel in the distance, the "apprentice night watchman" miserably pedaling away to supply power to the ship, and a malicious smirk curled across his lips.
"Besides, there are plenty of interesting 'early-game villains' and future 'protagonists of the era' in the East Blue."
"If I don't teach them a proper lesson while they're still weak, wouldn't this trip through time be far too boring?"
Lei En made up his mind to begin his "brutal conquest" and "demonic cultivation" plan!
First, he would beat all the notable East Blue villains into submission and capture them as laborers.
Then he would head to Foosha Village and train that rubber idiot in the Straw Hat, along with his two equally chuunibyou sworn brothers, into muscle-bound tyrannosaurs who only knew how to charge headfirst!
Just imagining the devastated look on old Garp's face when he saw his grandson turn into a hulking brute made Lei En want to laugh out loud.
"Dadi."
Lei En snapped his fingers, interrupting Dadi's excitement.
"Find an island with pirates around and dock there. I've been in the sky for two years, and my bones are practically rusting. I need some fun to loosen up."
"Got it! Hold tight, my lord!"
Dadi expertly turned the helm. The Heavenly Court Thunder God traced a graceful arc across the sea and sailed toward unknown waters.
Lei En lay back in his beach chair, closed his eyes, and luxuriated in the sea breeze.
His absurdly powerful Advanced Observation Haki, as sensitive as radar, silently spread outward in every direction like an invisible net.
Ten nautical miles.
Twenty nautical miles.
Fifty nautical miles...
In the East Blue, where there were no Haki experts, Lei En's Observation Haki was practically a full-map vision hack.
Suddenly.
Lei En's tightly shut eyes snapped open, and an azure arc of electricity flashed through his pupils.
"Oh? Not bad. I'd barely dozed off before someone brought me a pillow."
He sat up and looked toward the horizon to his left.
About ten nautical miles away, a pirate ship flying a pink skull-and-heart flag was tightly pursuing a luxurious civilian passenger ship like a vicious dog pouncing on prey.
That pink skull flag, that taste so tacky it made one's eyes hurt...
In the entire East Blue, there was only one woman it could belong to.
"Iron Mace" Alvida!
The exceptionally ugly woman who would one day become beautiful after eating the Sube-Sube Fruit, but who was currently covered in freckles and as fat as a sow!
Lei En rubbed his chin, a cruel yet eager smile spreading across his lips.
"Dadi, turn the helm thirty degrees left. Full speed ahead!"
He rose to his feet and walked to the bow, facing the howling sea wind as his gaze locked onto the pink pirate ship.
"Come on. Let's give the 'most beautiful woman in the East Blue' a free electric perm."
Before you continue