Red Port

New World, Dearena Kingdom, port.

A merchant ship with patched hull and sails slowly pulled up to the dock. The moment its mooring rope was thrown ashore, a silver figure impatiently leaped from the deck and landed heavily on solid ground.

Lucas closed his eyes and took a deep breath of air tinged with the scent of earth.

Since setting out from Toransu Town and dealing with Airey, he had drifted across the vast sea for a full forty-one days.

He had not encountered a single island or seen another ship. It was as though the entire world had been reduced to him, this wreck of a ship, and endless blue despair.

If Airey's ship had not carried sufficient food and fresh water, and if his monstrous physique had not been enough to sustain him in such extreme conditions, he would likely have died at sea long ago.

The first thing he did after coming ashore was sell the ship to a local ship merchant at a dirt-cheap price.

As for Airey's corpse, he had thrown it into the sea long ago. After forty-one days at sea, the body had rotted down to nothing but bones. Even if he brought it to a Marine branch, it would not fetch half a Beli in bounty.

After asking a passerby for the locations of an inn and a travel agency, Lucas headed straight there.

He had already decided where to seek treatment.

In this world, there were fewer than five doctors who truly researched Lineage Factor.

Vegapunk was one of them, but Punk Hazard was a completely magnetically disrupted island, and no Log Pose could locate it.

In the original timeline, the Straw Hat crew had reached it because they received a call from a Den Den Mushi. That had been nothing but protagonist luck at work.

Lucas did not think he had that kind of protagonist luck.

With Vegapunk ruled out, his only option was the Witch of Drum Island—Dr. Kureha.

The fact that Chopper had invented the Rumble Ball, which could temporarily disrupt the transformation wavelengths of Zoan Devil Fruits, was enough to prove Kureha's mastery in the field of Lineage Factor.

Though she could not compare to a genius like Vegapunk, she should be more than capable of examining his body and determining how many types of Lineage Factor he could contain.

There was no shortcut from the New World to Drum Island. He first had to reach the Red Port beneath the Red Line, cross the Red Line, arrive at the Red Port on the Paradise side, and only then continue sailing.

Lucas bought a ticket for a steam passenger ship bound for the Red Port at the travel agency.

He found an inn to wash away the grime of travel, then bought himself a trench coat and a pair of trousers.

When night had fully fallen, the massive steam passenger ship sounded its horn and slowly departed the port.

Lucas accepted the key handed over by a crewman, ignored the flirtatious looks repeatedly cast his way by several female passengers on deck, and walked straight into his private cabin.

For the first two days of the journey, the seas were calm. Other than the New World's characteristic sudden hailstorms and thunderstorms, nothing unexpected happened.

Under the command of an experienced navigator, the passenger ship passed through one dangerous stretch of sea after another without incident.

Noon on the third day.

Blinding sunlight spilled across the tranquil sea, making the surface glitter with ripples.

A heart-wrenching scream came from the lookout tower.

"Pirates! Pirates! Three medium-sized pirate ships! It's the Iron Hand Pirates! Captain Iron Hand Barnes, bounty of 140 million Beli!"

The entire deck fell deathly silent. Then screams and cries erupted one after another.

The experienced travelers did not waste a word. They turned and fled into their cabins, slamming the doors shut behind them.

The captain of the onboard guard force went pale at once.

The greatest achievement of his life had only been barely defeating a pirate with an 80 million Beli bounty.

Against a ruthless opponent with a bounty exceeding 100 million, he did not even have a thirty percent chance of winning.

But he could not retreat.

The travel agency owner had treated him well. Take a man's money, do a man's work. That was his duty.

The guard captain took a deep breath and slowly drew the rapier at his waist. Busoshoku Haki spread along the blade.

With a fierce swing, he unleashed a flying slash dozens of meters long that tore through the air toward the pirate ship in the center.

"Clang!"

A thunderous boom rang out.

A burly man with a metallic gleam on his right arm shot into the sky from the pirate ship's deck.

His entire body was coated in thick Busoshoku Haki, and he took the slash head-on with his chest.

"Is that all you've got? And you dare stand in my way?"

Barnes grinned savagely and stomped on the air.

"Boom!"

White airwaves exploded outward. Using Geppo, he shot toward the passenger ship like a cannonball.

The guard captain's expression changed drastically as he frantically swung his sword. Slash after slash rained toward Barnes, but they could only spark against his Busoshoku Haki.

The passenger ship's emergency turn was nowhere near as fast as Geppo.

Before long, Barnes had crossed several hundred meters and landed heavily on the passenger ship's deck. The tremendous impact made the entire vessel rock violently.

The instant he landed, the guard captain's sword was already slashing toward his face.

"Courting death!"

Barnes sneered, raised his steel-forged right arm, and caught the sharp blade in one hand.

"Crack!"

The rapier forged from fine steel was crushed into a heap of scrap metal in his grip.

The guard captain's face turned ashen, and he closed his eyes in despair.

"Hand over everything valuable! The women stay! The men can swim in the sea!"

Barnes laughed smugly and tossed the scrap metal in his hand onto the deck. His gaze swept over the trembling crew, the greed on his face undisguised.

"Whoosh!"

A crescent-shaped Vacuum Slash flew from the window of one of the passenger cabins.

The smile had not yet faded from Barnes's face when his body was neatly cut in half down the middle.

His modified mechanical organs, mixed with blood and intestines, spilled all over the deck.

Everyone stared dumbfoundedly at the sudden scene.

The cabin door opened, and Lucas walked out with a yawn, his face still carrying the languidness of someone who had just woken up.

He glanced at the corpse on the ground, then looked toward the still-stunned guard captain.

"The bounty is mine, no problem?"

He was not the kind of idiot who ran around showing off every new ability he acquired.

There was no need to waste effort using the Vampire-Vampire Fruit's abilities against enemies he could easily deal with using the Rokushiki enhanced by Armament Haki.

"N-No problem! Of course not!"

The guard captain suddenly snapped out of it and nodded frantically, his eyes filled with awe and gratitude as he looked at Lucas.

Lucas nodded and said nothing more. With a light step, he used Geppo to launch himself into the sky.

"[Rankyaku Ran]!"

Countless Vacuum Slashes rained down like a violent storm. The three pirate ships were cut into innumerable splinters and sank beneath the sea.

Only the pirates' miserable screams remained on the surface as they struggled desperately in the water.

Lucas landed back on the deck and turned to return to his cabin.

According to the intelligence Gion had provided, Barnes was one of Golden Lion's subordinate pirate crews.

Taking care of a potential enemy while collecting a bounty on the side was like getting one free with every purchase.

Still shaken, the guard captain hurriedly directed the crew to clean up the battlefield and repair the damaged deck.

On the afternoon of the fourth day, the passenger ship happened to pass a Marine base.

The guard captain personally carried Barnes's corpse ashore to claim the bounty, then delivered every last Beli to Lucas.

Morning on the seventh day.

When the first rays of sunlight fell upon the sea, an incomparably massive red wall appeared at the edge of the horizon.

The passenger ship slowly entered the Red Port on the New World side.

This was one of the busiest ports in the entire world.

Countless merchant ships were packed tightly along the docks, while goods from all over the world were piled up like mountains.

Workers carried heavy crates back and forth across the gangplanks. Hawking, shouting, and ship horns intertwined into a sea of noise.

Marine soldiers in white uniforms, carrying flintlock rifles, could be seen patrolling everywhere on the docks.

Their wary eyes swept over every passing pedestrian.

There were no pirate ships here. After all, no pirate would be stupid enough to come to Mary Geoise to complete legitimate departure procedures.

Lucas carried a simple backpack and followed the crowd off the passenger ship.

The instant he stepped onto the soil of the Red Port, a lazy voice heavy with resentment sounded beside his ear.

"Hey, whitey. Stop."

"Where are you from? Where are you going? What are you doing at the Red Port? Are you carrying any contraband?"

TO BE CONTINUED