"Brru brru brru-brru brru brru-"
The urgent, distinctive ringing of a Den Den Mushi pierced the bedroom's lingering warmth and languor like a cold needle.
It came from the jewel-encrusted emergency Den Den Mushi beside Prince Locke's pillow, which usually went years without ringing once.
Locke Hohen, prince of the Bernier Kingdom, user of the Zoan Devil Fruit, Bird-Bird Fruit, Model: Golden Eagle, and once universally acknowledged as the kingdom's strongest fighter, was currently buried in expensive velvet bedding and the entanglement of even softer, warmer limbs.
The ringing woke him, but he did not open his eyes immediately, merely heaving a weary sigh deep inside. Minor matters can naturally be handled by the people below me. As for major ones...
A head of conspicuous short white hair appeared unbidden in his mind, along with that young face that always wore an expression of indifference and detachment.
...I'm afraid even I can't handle major matters anymore. He instinctively moved his shoulder blades. A faint phantom ache seemed to linger there, left by the suppression of overwhelming strength, reminding him of the despair-inducing gulf between him and that "White Monster."
The previous night's debauchery and passion had yet to fade entirely from his body and memory.
He and the carefully selected twin maids had enthusiastically spent a long time discussing their "experience" of the kingdom's roads.
Round after round of discussion had followed. Even with a Zoan user's physique and stamina, far beyond those of ordinary people, he now felt drained from overexertion. Only when the sun was high did that deathly insistent ringing forcibly drag him from deep sleep.
The air still held a cloying fragrance and the scent of lust.
On his left, the maid with wavy hair and a face as exquisite as a doll's gently slipped free of his thick, warm arm. With a trace of reluctance, she languidly rose and drew back the heavy crimson curtains.
Dazzling sunlight instantly poured in like a golden waterfall, dispelling the room's intimate gloom.
The sunlight also woke the other two people in bed. Locke finally opened his somewhat heavy eyelids, his gaze falling first on the naked maid beside the window.
Her milk-white skin seemed to glow in the sunlight, her graceful curves resembling a work of art carved by a master. The sight improved his mood a little after the irritation of being disturbed.
On his right, the other maid also woke. Her lovely face was almost identical to the woman by the window, though her hair fell in a long, straight, black cascade.
She gently pushed against his firm, upright chest, so full of strength, her voice husky and alluring with sleep. "My lord, it's time to get up..." As she moved, the soft goose-down quilt slipped from her full breasts, revealing breathtaking curves.
The wavy-haired maid who had opened the curtains was now sitting on the edge of the bed, the dip in the mattress accentuating the full, rounded curves of her buttocks.
She crossed one leg and reached for the Den Den Mushi, which was still ringing incessantly. Playful sunlight happened to dance across her jade-white toes.
"This is Lord Locke's residence," she said, her voice still carrying a trace of the previous night's sweetness, though she tried her best to keep it steady. "What is the matter?"
A terrified, panicked shout immediately came from the other end, the voice nearly cracking and loud enough for even Locke and the black-haired maid lying in bed to make it out:
"Lord Locke! Something terrible has happened! There's... there's a snake! A huge snake! Lord Boer... Lord Boer made a huge snake! In the sky! It's flying in the sky!"
Locke abruptly sat up and slapped his cheeks hard, trying to clear his muddled head.
I knew it... His helpless premonition had come true. This emergency line, which ordinarily did not ring even once in a year or two, had become so "active" since that man's arrival-and it had chosen such an embarrassing moment to ring.
Meanwhile, at the club's riding grounds.
As usual, Boer slowly descended from high in the sky, landing precisely beside the large pile of neatly stacked metal ingots.
The attendants waiting there bowed in greeting. Once his indifferent gaze swept over them, they quietly withdrew with practiced discipline, disappearing behind the distant columns.
The guards keeping watch farther away whispered among themselves, their eyes filled with mingled awe and envy.
"Hey, bet you today's lunch that Lord Boer gets it done in under half an hour!" A young guard nudged his companion with an elbow.
"What's there to bet on? Isn't it always like that? That's the power of a Devil Fruit..." The slightly older guard sighed, longing in his eyes. "If only I could have power like that..."
Today, however, seemed different.
Boer did not immediately begin forging standardized swords in assembly-line fashion as usual. He simply stood quietly as an invisible force field suddenly spread outward from him.
The next moment, an astonishing sight unfolded-the mountain of metal ingots began defying gravity, floating upward in vast numbers across a broad area!
As though granted life, or like the most loyal imperial guards, they silently and orderly converged from every corner of the riding grounds toward the "metal emperor" at its center, surrounding him.
Then some of the metal blocks nearest him began to soften and change shape. Like searing liquid, or living silver blood, they joined and gathered at specific points in the air. As the blocks rapidly shrank, a metallic snake's head gleaming with a cold light began visibly taking shape!
The head was ferocious, its diameter exceeding at least three meters. Two enormous, sharp, curved fangs protruded from its upper jaw, their cold metallic luster inspiring dread. Deep within its hollow eye sockets, there seemed to lurk a will to destroy.
Boer lightly raised a foot and stepped onto the top of the newly formed, cold snake's head.
More metal blocks merged into the emerging behemoth one after another, like birds returning to their nests.
The snake's body began rapidly lengthening, thrusting forcefully into the blue sky with its head held high throughout, in utter defiance of common sense!
The captain responsible for security at the riding grounds gaped up at the rapidly expanding metal monster. His legs weakened uncontrollably, and he nearly collapsed to the ground.
He abruptly came to his senses, as though remembering an immensely important duty, and scrambled toward the communications room. He had to report this to Prince Locke immediately, right now!
The wealthy merchants and nobles living around the Steel Club were the first to notice the terrifying sight.
The enormous metal head rose behind the club's buildings. At first, people mistook it for some new architectural sculpture or peculiar chimney.
But as it rose higher and higher, revealing the constantly extending, seemingly endless snake's body, everyone who witnessed it froze where they stood, as though immobilized by a spell.
After a brief, deathly silence, unease and terror spread as swiftly as a plague!
"God... what kind of monster is that?!"
Children wailed in fright, clutching their parents' legs.
Like startled birds and beasts, people standing on the open streets frantically sought cover or rushed toward the nearest building, as though hiding themselves would let them escape this incomprehensible terror born of the unknown.
Yet something even more terrifying happened.
As the final metal ingot merged into its tail, the metal behemoth's complete form was finally revealed to the world-nearly a hundred meters long! Its massive body slowly began floating away from the ground, casting an enormous shadow like the unfurled cloak of death.
Just like that, in defiance of every physical principle, it hovered silently above the Silver Capital, at its lowest point less than fifty meters above the ground! Silently flexing its cold metal body, it began slowly "swimming" from the Steel Club toward the docks, like the true ruler inspecting its domain.
Its enormous form easily cut off the warm morning sunlight. Wherever it passed, the streets instantly fell deathly silent, only for that silence to give way to stifled cries and frightened sobbing.
Its head and tail could easily span several city blocks. Boer sat cross-legged atop its head, his white hair stirring in the breeze as he gazed indifferently ahead. The commotion and chaos his creation caused in the city below seemed to have nothing to do with him.
Guiding the Iron Serpent, he first "inspected" the bustling docks, shrouding every ship and worker in shadow. Then it slithered through the sky above the headquarters of the security company Thatch managed.
Inside the security company, reactions were entirely different. After a brief shock, the former pirate brothers led by Thatch let out loud cheers and exclamations of excitement and admiration, rushing into open areas to point up at the sky.
Those who had been absorbed into the company but only feigned obedience, or even harbored ulterior motives, turned deathly pale. Cold sweat instantly soaked their backs as boundless terror gripped their hearts. Some even lost the strength in their legs and collapsed outright.
For the first time, they felt so directly just how utterly vulnerable their petty, ridiculous schemes were before such tremendous power.
While several noble shareholders of the Steel Heavy Industry Consortium were meeting in a secluded residence to discuss how to address the raw-material shortage and further "regularize" the accounts, the enormous snake's shadow slowly engulfed their entire block.
Looking through stained-glass windows at the cold metal scales that seemed almost within reach, these nobles, normally so adept at scheming and calculation, could no longer maintain their composure. Every one of them trembled, their faces drained of color. At that moment, absolute power crushed all their plots to dust.
Boer guided the Iron Serpent on an unhurried "tour" of the entire wealthy district.
On a viewing terrace at the palace, King Augustus Hall, a monarch long known for weakness and indecision, tightly clutched the golden scepter that symbolized his authority. His thin, withered body trembled slightly with fear.
With eyes full of a plea for help, he looked toward his tall, straight-backed nephew Locke, who stood attending him.
Meeting the king's gaze, Prince Locke could only shake his head helplessly, bitterness and powerlessness written across his face.
He looked up through the tall arched window at the enormous metal serpent slowly cruising above the palace, clearly realizing that royal authority meant nothing before this man.
Finally, Boer guided the Iron Serpent into the slums outside the city.
How could one describe this land, separated from the prosperous Royal Capital by only a wall, yet seemingly belonging to another world?
Poverty, filth, and despair filled this place.
Dilapidated structures that barely qualified as "houses" already counted as "luxurious" here. Far more common were shacks haphazardly assembled from rotten boards, torn canvas, and rusty sheet metal.
The air reeked of a pungent mixture of sludge, rotting garbage, and disease.
It was broad daylight now. Perhaps to earn a living, most adults had already gone out, leaving mainly elderly people with limited mobility and sallow, emaciated children.
When the enormous serpent's shadow engulfed this area, the reaction was entirely different from that inside the city.
At first, the children froze in fright, hiding behind ruined walls and gazing fearfully at the behemoth in the sky with dark yet clear eyes.
Soon, however, their fear gave way to an almost absurd curiosity.
They watched its enormous body glide silently through the air, watching the moving shadow it cast.
Some bolder children, dressed in tattered linen that barely covered their bodies, actually ran out of hiding and began chasing and running beneath that enormous shadow, screaming with both fear and excitement.
For them, this might have been a "marvel" unlike anything in their impoverished lives, something they would remember forever.
Boer sat cross-legged on the serpent's head, looking down at this forgotten land.
Decay, filth, poverty... every negative word could be applied here. Everyone here, whether a numb old person or an uncomprehending child, struggled to survive beneath the crushing weight of life.
At that moment, he seemed to be abruptly dragged from the lofty perspective of a "god" back into reality.
He examined his past, everything he had done since coming to this world-using strength to gain power and influence, twisting nobles around his little finger, enjoying beautiful women and tribute, building the Steel Heavy Industry Consortium to realize his ambitions and aspirations...
Is this really what I want? a voice asked deep inside him.
Playing with women, playing political games with nobles, building a heavy-industry enterprise to fulfill my ambitions... He watched the ragged children chasing one another in the shadow below,
but his thoughts drifted back to distant memories of his previous life. Back to himself, scurrying and struggling like an ant to make a living beneath the steel jungle of a thriving metropolis.
Whether it's Boer, who now possesses power, or my ordinary self from my previous life, aren't we essentially just like those figures chasing one another beneath the giant serpent's shadow? The only difference is that I've now become the snake casting the shadow, while they remain the people beneath it.
An unprecedented understanding washed through his heart like cool spring water, cleansing the restlessness that strength and authority had stirred within him.
I ought to do something, he told himself, his gaze no longer confined solely to nobles or money.
A grander, heavier sense of responsibility quietly took root and sprouted in his heart.
The Iron Serpent continued slowly patrolling the sky above the slums, but the look in Boer's eyes as he sat atop its head was already entirely different from when he had set out.
There was less pure indifference in them now, and more profound contemplation, along with a barely perceptible spark of fire.
Before you continue