"Your Highness Arthur..."
His expression was utterly shocked, and he could not help murmuring softly!
At that moment,
in his eyes,
the light sword His Highness Arthur held
roared with unimaginably violent flames, its blue glow so dazzling that it seemed to dim every other light around it!
And what shocked him most was this.
He could clearly sense the aura of death coming from that light sword!
Yes!
Although he had only watched it from a distance,
Alfred knew perfectly well at that moment
that the light sword in His Highness Arthur's hand was something he could not afford to touch even slightly. It was a power capable of annihilating and erasing every other power!
Alfred could not help being awed by the power His Highness Arthur possessed.
It also made him even more certain.
His Highness Arthur would surely be able to restore the kingdom!
"Your Highness Arthur, whatever command you give,
"even if it costs this old man his life, I will carry it out." Alfred could not help dropping to one knee before Arthur.
Once again, he declared and offered his loyalty to Arthur.
Hearing this,
Arthur dispersed the Atomic Light Sword in his hand.
He slowly walked up to Alfred, who was kneeling on one knee.
With both hands, he helped Alfred to his feet.
"Alfred, I know you will."
"But right now-"
Arthur had just said this with a smile
when an explosion suddenly rang out from the direction of Apple Town.
"What!?"
Alfred was startled.
An explosion that loud could not possibly have been an accident.
Arthur frowned as well.
During his first two days in Apple Town, the townspeople had not minded their sudden arrival. Instead, they had been warm and welcoming, helping the two of them a great deal.
Arthur had come to like Apple Town because of that.
He planned to stay on this little island for a while,
then consider his next move.
But that explosion...
A thought struck Arthur,
and his expression immediately turned serious.
"Alfred, I'll go ahead. Just follow me," Arthur said. He wanted to reach Apple Town as quickly as possible, and then...
Driven by that thought,
Arthur suddenly came up with a method.
Since he could now condense an Atomic Light Sword,
could he use the boundless power inside him to fly?
Arthur thought of examples of flight achieved by blasting energy from both hands.
Then he covered both hands with two layers of Godzilla Scales.
His palms immediately blasted out the power that originally belonged to the Radiation Heat Ray.
Boom, boom, boom!!!
The tremendous thrust instantly propelled Arthur into the sky!
Although Arthur felt a little out of control at first on his very first flight,
a moment later, he had completely mastered the technique of flying with both hands. He turned into two streaks of light, sweeping over the forest on Back Mountain toward Apple Town.
Beside the little wooden cabin,
seeing that his own Highness Arthur could actually fly,
Alfred was once again astonished.
But he had not forgotten Arthur's instructions.
He immediately ran toward Apple Town.
The white-haired Alfred's figure flickered, and he shot into the forest, his silhouette moving through the woods on Back Mountain like a swift phantom.
His speed actually kept pace with Arthur's first flight!
Apple Town.
Its quiet, peaceful atmosphere had been shattered that day by a group of outsiders.
At Apple Town's harbor sat a ship flying the Donquixote Family's flag, and a group of pirates in black suits had disembarked.
In their pursuit of Arthur,
they had finally found Apple Town.
The explosion earlier had been caused by one of them blowing up a shop in town.
Their aim was to force the townspeople to reveal Arthur's exact location.
"Huh!? Hurry up and tell me!"
"Where's that brat Arthur D. Dragonier!?"
A pirate in a black suit grabbed the mayor by the collar and demanded harshly.
Behind the mayor, Apple Town's residents had all been forced to gather together, their faces filled with fear and panic...
As residents of Apple Town,
they had always had little contact with the outside world.
Much less encountered lawless men like pirates.
The mayor looked at the pirate before him
and stammered, trembling:
"I don't know where the person you're talking about is! We've never seen him! There aren't any outsiders in our little town!!"
Hearing this,
the lead pirate's expression grew even uglier.
Just then, among the residents behind the mayor, one man was deeply puzzled.
Isn't the person they're looking for that brat who arrived a few days ago?
Why won't the mayor tell them?
Are we all supposed to die at these pirates' hands because of an outsider?
The man was utterly unwilling to accept that,
and was just about to stand up and speak of his own accord.
Just then, the pirates heard a sudden roar from the sky behind the town, and two streaks of light flashed into view, cutting across the sky.
"What!?"
The pirates looked shocked!
Then, in the blink of an eye,
those two streaks of light descended into Apple Town, coming into everyone's view as Arthur appeared at the other end of the street.
"I'm the one you're looking for, aren't I?"
Arthur spoke in a low voice as he looked at the pirates ahead.
While he was in the sky, he had already spotted the Donquixote Family's flag at the docks from afar, and naturally put everything together at once.
These pirates had clearly come for him.
Arthur simply had not expected
the Donquixote Family's reach to be so great.
In just a few days, they had uncovered the truth and pinpointed his location.
It seemed
the forces controlled by Doflamingo, one of the Shichibukai, truly could not be underestimated. This was a real world, after all.
At that moment,
the pirates saw Arthur appear
and compared him against the photograph they carried.
They confirmed that the fellow before them was the one they wanted.
"Good. See? There he is." The lead pirate released Apple Town's mayor and walked toward Arthur with his men.
"Arthur D. Dragonier, right?"
"Diamante specifically sent us to invite you to join the Donquixote Family."
"With your potential, you'll have no trouble becoming one of us."
The lead pirate spoke.
Recalling how the brat before him had appeared just now,
he thought Lord Diamante truly was impressive,
having recognized at a glance that this brat was different.
When Arthur heard what the pirates meant,
he could not help letting out a laugh.
Seeing how these pirates had treated Apple Town's residents had already made him quite angry. He had never expected these fellows to want to invite him!
And this Diamante he's talking about...
That's the executive in the Donquixote Family, isn't it?
To think someone like that would take an interest in me.
Arthur found it amusing.
He had never once considered becoming a pirate.
"What are you laughing at?"
The pirate leader frowned as he asked. Was this fellow so happy to hear that their renowned Donquixote Family was inviting him?
"I'm laughing at your ignorance of the world."
Arthur let the smile fade from his face and spoke calmly.
"What!? You brat!" the pirate leader immediately snapped. The underlings beside him also began angrily cursing Arthur.
"You little bastard, are you mocking us?"
"You brat, I'll make you pay!!!"
"You little punk, just wait till you're dead!!"
Before you continue