Bronze Draw, 1 Million-Beli Bounty!

The southwestern coast of Dunkirk's garbage dump.

The garbage dump was burned and destroyed at regular intervals. After escaping from the pile of corpses, Aeneas had come here to find a temporary place to live—but he would soon have to leave, because the next incineration was fast approaching.

"Right, I haven't done today's draw yet. I almost forgot." Aeneas immediately perked up and wolfed down the apple he'd just stolen from a town vendor.

After looking into it, Aeneas discovered that the lottery system had quite a few functions. It definitely wasn't limited to the Pirate King's Roger's Conqueror's Haki potential and a mysterious Devil Fruit he'd drawn at the beginning.

Speaking of the Devil Fruit, Aeneas hadn't claimed that reward. Instead, he had kept it stored in the system's extraction panel.

Aeneas didn't want to eat a Devil Fruit. Although he was extremely curious about what type it was, he still didn't want to become a landlubber, so he had continued to leave it there.

"Anyway, my Conqueror's Haki potential is already enough to make me one of the strongest people around—at the level of Garp, Roger, and Whitebeard!" Aeneas consoled himself before putting the Devil Fruit out of his mind.

Back to the lottery system.

The lottery system actually gave him one chance to draw every day.

The prizes were also divided into precise grades.

According to quality, the lottery grades were divided from low to high into Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Miracle, and Mythical.

Looking at it that way, the "Pirate King Roger's Conqueror's Haki potential" and that mysterious Devil Fruit that Aeneas had gotten for free a few days ago were actually Miracle-grade rewards. It was practically a gift from heaven!

However, this sort of beginner's gift-pack lottery didn't directly turn Aeneas into a powerful person. Instead, it gave him the qualifications to become one.

If he wanted to truly survive on this sea, where powerful people emerged one after another, he still had to rely on his own efforts!

"Congratulations, host. You drew a 'Bronze Reward': Iron Padded Armor. Slightly increases defensive ability. Its weight is negligible."

"Uh..." Aeneas was at a loss for words as he looked at the adult-sized Iron Padded Armor before him. Although it was as light as nothing when he lifted it, and it was a good piece of close-fitting protective equipment...

But!

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

Although the people in this world didn't grow according to common sense, Aeneas happened to be one of those who did. At only eight years old, he was barely over a meter tall, and he might even have been severely malnourished!

This oversized Iron Padded Armor was completely useless!

For the past three days, Aeneas had drawn Bronze Rewards every day.

On the first day, it had been a "Type-F Flintlock," but there had been no ammunition.

No ammunition!

Damn it!

On the second day, it had been a "Musician's Violin." What was he supposed to use it for?

Play the strings to death?

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

Aeneas was speechless. After he finished being speechless, he consoled himself.

"Fortunately, it wasn't something like women's underwear. Whether it's the flintlock, the violin, or the armor, at least they're all proper items." Disappointed, Aeneas put the Iron Padded Armor on the ground.

The flintlock and violin were beside it.

Bronze Reward prizes couldn't be stored. They had to be extracted immediately.

There was nothing Aeneas could do about it. That was simply the reward system's rule. Besides, it was impossible for him to draw Bronze Rewards or lower-quality prizes now.

That was because the lottery system had a fame mechanism.

The more famous the host was, the higher the probability of drawing high-quality rewards!

In other words, Aeneas had to keep doing things that would make him famous. Regardless of whether his reputation was good or bad, as long as he became well-known, the odds of drawing higher-quality prizes in the daily lottery would increase greatly!

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

"Looking at it optimistically, I can sell the things I don't need for money. Once I have some Beli, I won't need to steal anymore." Everything Aeneas had eaten over the past few days had been stolen from the streets during the chaos.

He didn't dare show his face, afraid that someone might recognize him. Although the possibility was very small.

That was because the current Aeneas had no memories of his past at all. Yes, after transmigrating, he hadn't inherited any of the original Aeneas's memories. What if someone with ulterior motives recognized him? What if he was captured and taken back? Knowing nothing, how could he explain suddenly coming back to life?

Second, since Aeneas was the lone survivor of the Dunhold Family, the Donquixote Family would certainly not leave behind such a potential threat.

Aeneas didn't know where this premonition came from, but he always felt that if he stayed here, something terrible would happen to him sooner or later!

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

There was a reason Dunkirk was known as the "Great Port." Nearly ninety percent of the island's coastline consisted of ports, all of which could accommodate ships—even pirates could remain in the ports as long as they honestly lowered their flags.

On other islands, any pirates bold enough to dock at a port were either preparing to burn, kill, and loot, or they were idiots. It was extremely easy for the Marines to attack them from both land and sea.

Even Luffy's pirate crew had to stop at an uninhabited coast to avoid frightening the civilians.

That was the trouble brought by being pirates.

"The Straw Hat crew is really just a group of adventurers who fly a pirate flag while doing the Marines' work!" Aeneas grumbled.

He wore a loose, tattered black robe, with the flintlock and violin strapped inside. As for the Iron Padded Armor, Aeneas had simply thrown it over himself. Although it fit terribly, he had nowhere else to put it.

As a result, Aeneas now looked like a bloated dwarf. Still, it served as a disguise, and he jogged all the way toward Goldfish Port.

Of Dunkirk's many ports, Goldfish Port was the farthest from the prosperous districts. Pirates often appeared there, along with the occasional merchant ship smuggling contraband. Even the Marines paid little attention to the place.

It could be considered a lawless land!

"Extra! Extra!"

The street suddenly became noisy. Aeneas walked along in short steps while listening to a boy about his height shouting. But after hearing just two lines, Aeneas froze in place.

"The Dunhold Family's heinous criminal, Dunhold Anthonydas's son, Dunholde Aeneas, has disappeared! The Donquixote Family has sealed off all merchant ships from departing until Aeneas is captured. A bounty of one million Beli has been placed on his head!"

What?

One million Beli?

In the North Blue, a private bounty of one million Beli was nothing special. But for capturing an unarmed eight-year-old child, the reward was rather high.

"It's just a kid." Someone rubbed his fists together, clearly eager to make a fortune from this. "If I catch him, one million will be enough to squander for several months!"

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

Someone else noticed the issue and questioned the shouting boy.

"Aeneas's corpse disappeared. The Donquixote Family's leader wants to see him alive or see his corpse! As long as you capture Aeneas, you'll receive a reward of one million Beli!" the boy quickly replied, continuing to stir up the crowd.

Aeneas watched everything clearly from the shadows.

"This is bad!" Aeneas had originally planned to exchange the things on him for a chance to board a merchant ship and leave by sea. But now that the merchant ships had been sealed off, where could he go?

A pirate ship?