Bronze Draw, 1 Million Beli Bounty!

Dunkirk's southwestern coastal dump.

The garbage here was regularly burned and destroyed. After escaping from the pile of corpses, Aeneas had come here and found a temporary place to stay—but it would soon be gone, since the burning time was approaching.

"Right, I haven't drawn the lottery today. I almost completely forgot." Aeneas immediately perked up and wolfed down the apple he had stolen earlier from a merchant in town.

After looking into it, he found that the Lottery System had quite a wide range of functions. It was far more than just the Pirate King Roger's Conqueror's Destiny and a mysterious Devil Fruit that Aeneas had drawn at the start.

Speaking of the Devil Fruit, Aeneas had not claimed that reward. He had kept it stored in the system's extraction panel.

Aeneas did not want to eat a Devil Fruit. Though he was extremely curious about what type it was, he still did not want to become a helpless swimmer, so he had left it there.

"Conqueror's Destiny alone can already put me among the strongest people—and at Garp, Roger, and Whitebeard's level!" Aeneas consoled himself and stopped thinking about that Devil Fruit.

Back to the Lottery System.

The Lottery System actually gave him one chance to draw every day.

The prizes also had a detailed ranking system.

Based on prize quality, the lottery ranks from low to high were: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Miracle, and Mythic.

Looking at it that way, the "Pirate King Roger's Conqueror's Destiny" and mysterious Devil Fruit he had gotten for free a few days ago could actually be rated Miracle Grade. They were practically gifts from heaven!

However, that beginner gift-package draw had not directly made Aeneas strong. It had merely given him the qualifications to become strong.

To truly survive on this sea, where powerful people emerged one after another, would still depend on Aeneas's own efforts!

"Congratulations, Host. You have drawn a 'Bronze Reward': Iron Padded Armor. Slightly increases defensive ability. Weight is negligible."

"Uh..." Aeneas was speechless. He looked at the adult-sized Iron Padded Armor before him. Though it was as light as air when lifted and was a good close-fitting piece of protection...

But!

"Why the hell did you give me an adult-sized one?!" Aeneas wailed miserably. "I'm only eight!"

Although people in this world grew to absurd heights, Aeneas happened to be one of those who grew normally. At eight years old, he was barely over a meter tall—and he might even be severely malnourished!

Iron Padded Armor that large was completely useless!

Over the past three days, every reward Aeneas had drawn had been Bronze.

On the first day, it was a "Type-F Flintlock," with no bullets.

No bullets!

Damn it!

On the second day, it was "Musician's Violin." What was he supposed to do with that?

Fling violin strings at enemies until they died?

On the third day, he had finally gotten Iron Padded Armor that could be used for self-defense, but it was still adult-sized!

Aeneas was speechless. After being speechless for a while, he consoled himself.

"Luckily, it didn't give me something like women's underwear. Whether it's the flintlock, violin, or padded armor, at least they're all proper things." Disappointed, Aeneas set the Iron Padded Armor on the ground.

The flintlock and violin were beside it.

Bronze Reward items could not be stored and had to be extracted immediately.

Aeneas had no choice. Those were the rules of the Lottery System, and he currently had no chance of drawing Bronze Rewards or anything above them.

Because the Lottery System had a fame mechanism.

The more famous the Host was, the greater the chance of drawing higher-quality rewards!

In other words, Aeneas needed to keep doing things that made him famous—and whether his reputation was good or bad, as long as he had fame, the odds of drawing higher-quality prizes each day would greatly increase!

Aeneas's fame was currently zero, so of course he had a one-hundred-percent chance of drawing Bronze Rewards.

"Looking on the bright side, I can sell the things I don't need for money. With Beli, I won't have to steal anymore." Everything Aeneas had eaten these past few days had been stolen amid the chaos on the streets.

He did not dare show his face, afraid someone might recognize him. Though that possibility was very small.

First, Aeneas had none of the original owner's memories from before—yes, after transmigrating, he had not inherited any of the original Aeneas's memories. What if someone who knew him recognized him? What if he was captured and taken back? He knew nothing. How could he suddenly have come back to life? There was no way to explain it!

Second, since Aeneas was the surviving orphan of the Dunhold Family, the Donquixote Family would definitely not leave behind a future threat.

Aeneas did not know where this premonition had come from, but he always felt that if he stayed here, something terrible would eventually happen to him!

To soothe his restless emotions, Aeneas could only drag his exhausted, hungry body toward the port.

Dunkirk was called a "great port" for a reason. Nearly ninety percent of the island's coastline consisted of ports where ships could dock—even pirates could remain in port as long as they obediently put away their flags.

On other islands, pirates who dared dock at a port were either preparing to burn, kill, and loot, or they were idiots—because that made it extremely easy for the Marines to attack them from both sea and land.

Even Luffy's pirate crew had to dock along uninhabited shores to avoid causing panic among civilians.

That was the trouble brought by being pirates.

"The Straw Hat crew are really just a bunch of adventurers flying a pirate flag while doing the Marines' job!" Aeneas complained.

He wore a loose, tattered black robe, with the flintlock and violin strapped underneath. As for the Iron Padded Armor, Aeneas had simply forced it on over himself. It did not fit at all, but he had nowhere else to put it.

As a result, Aeneas looked like a bloated dwarf—which conveniently served as a disguise. He jogged all the way toward Goldfish Port.

Goldfish Port was the port farthest from Dunkirk's prosperous districts. Pirates frequently appeared here, and occasionally merchant ships smuggling contraband would pass through. Even the Marines rarely managed this place.

It could be considered a lawless land!

"Extra! Extra!"

The street suddenly became noisy. Aeneas walked in small steps while listening to a boy about his height shouting the news. But after hearing two sentences, Aeneas froze on the spot.

"Dunhold Family's vicious criminal, Dunhold Anthonydas's son, Dunholde Aeneas, has gone missing! The Donquixote Family has blocked all merchant ships from departing until Aeneas is captured! A bounty of 1 million Beli for his head!"

What?

One million Beli?

In the North Blue, a private bounty of one million Beli was not much. But for capturing an unarmed eight-year-old child, the reward was rather generous.

"Just a child." Someone cracked his knuckles, clearly eager to make a fortune from this. "If I catch him, one million will be enough for me to live it up for months!"

"I read the newspaper yesterday. Wasn't Aeneas already dead?"

Someone else noticed this detail and asked the boy hawking the news.

"Aeneas's corpse disappeared. The Donquixote Family's overseer wants to see him alive or his body dead! Anyone who catches Aeneas will receive one million Beli!" the boy quickly said, continuing to stir up the crowd's excitement.

Aeneas watched all of this clearly from the shadows.

"This is bad!" Aeneas's original plan had been to trade the things on him for passage aboard a merchant ship. Now that merchant ships had been blocked, where could he go?

A pirate ship?