If Roger Became King

The next day.

Marine Headquarters.

Morning sunlight cleared the fortress wall and streamed through the office's towering windows.

A news gull flew in fast from the distant sea, beating its wings furiously.

It braked hard on the windowsill, a waterproof document pouch in its beak.

The soldier on duty froze for a moment, then recognized it as urgent intelligence.

After opening the pouch and confirming its source, he hurried straight into the office without even knocking.

At that moment—

Several freshly developed photographs lay neatly arranged on Rock's desk.

The images were remarkably clear.

They showed a remote, deserted island.

But its beach had been transformed. The entire coast looked as though it had plunged into a world of bitter cold.

White frost covered the sand, and the waves had frozen where they met the shore.

Most striking of all was the enormous pirate ship in the middle of the beach.

The entire ship—hull, masts, gun emplacements, and pirates on deck—

had frozen into a single colossal iceberg.

Clear ice sealed everything inside. The pirates on deck were still caught in their final movements.

Terror remained fixed on their faces, as though time itself had been forced to stop at that instant.

Another photograph, taken near the ship, showed something even more outrageous.

A gigantic dinosaur-like creature lay sprawled on the beach.

It was Huazha in his transformed state, granted by the Ryu Ryu no Mi, Ancient Zoan, Tyrannosaurus Form.

His massive body, more than twenty meters long, was completely sealed beneath thick ice.

Only his head stuck out.

And that head was clearly in a sorry state.

His nose and face were bruised and swollen, several enormous icy lumps bulged from his forehead, and shattered ice covered his face.

It looked as if someone had grabbed his head and