Iron Hooves Subdue the Lands and Swallow Kingdoms, the Commandery-Country System Takes Root Throughout the First Half!

The news that Chen Yu had furiously rebuked the World Government delegation in the Hall of Supreme Harmony thundered across the entire sea. Not only had the Hua Empire rejected the World Government's offer of peace, it had openly proclaimed the slogan, "Raze Mary Geoise and overthrow the World Government," tearing away the last veil between the two sides.

Meanwhile, following Chen Yu's decree, the Empire's armies had already divided into three forces, driving into the heart of the first half of the Grand Line like three sharp blades. These waters, which the World Government had ruled for eight hundred years, faced the most thorough reshuffling in their history.

The Ironstone Kingdom, in the first half of the Grand Line.

This kingdom, renowned for its abundant steel production, had been under the royal family's iron-fisted rule for centuries. Its old king, Gregory, was a notorious tyrant who imposed exorbitant taxes and treated his people like dirt, massacring villages and exterminating entire families at the slightest displeasure. To curry favor with the World Government, he presented more than a thousand of his own people to the Celestial Dragons as slaves every year in exchange for the World Government's protection.

When the Hua Empire's army reached the Ironstone Kingdom's coast, Gregory did not surrender. Instead, he mustered every soldier in the kingdom and stubbornly resisted from the Royal Capital's steel-cast castle. Standing atop its highest point, he shouted arrogantly at the imperial troops below, "What does the Hua Empire amount to? I have the World Government backing me and a steel castle to protect me! You rebels could never breach my castle! Get lost if you know what's good for you, or when the World Government's army arrives, you'll all die!"

Below the castle, Guan Yu stood at the bow of the