Chapter Summaries

Aaron Ball survived a pirate shipwreck and scavenged supplies along the shore, then found an injured pirate who had helped destroy his village. As darkness fell, Ball approached the helpless man with a dagger and resolved to do whatever it took to stay alive.

• Aaron Ball woke on the beach, recovered memories of his life as Li and of his parents hiding him from pirates, and realized he had survived the wreck.
• Ball salvaged a curtain, a brass candlestick, apples, and other wreckage, then found a knapsack containing a dagger, rum, and a ship's log.
• Ball discovered an injured pirate twitching on the shore and cautiously approached him with his dagger drawn.
• Ball recognized the pirate as the first mate who had participated in the attack on his village, and his expression hardened as he repeated that he had to stay alive.

Boer awoke from a nightmare of being killed by a pirate and, desperate for power, discovered that the last apple in his backpack had transformed into a Devil Fruit. After eating it, he gained a perception of the world’s electromagnetic energy but collapsed from the overwhelming sensory flood.

• Boer dreamed that a corpse-like pirate cut off his limbs and killed him, then woke trembling and hungry in a reef cave.
• Boer called for a system to grant him power, but received no answer as the wind and waves continued around him.
• The apple in Boer’s backpack transformed into a strange Devil Fruit marked with lightning patterns.
• Boer recognized the fruit as a chance to gain power, ate it, and felt it merge with his body.
• Boer perceived electromagnetic energy throughout the sea, sky, sun, and earth, then collapsed unconscious with blood streaming from his face.

After awakening with the Magnet-Magnet Fruit, Boer discovered that he could sense life and energy, manipulate metal, and use magnetic force to fight and survive. Having tested his new abilities and eaten, he planned to explore the island, find survivors, and develop his powers.

• Boer woke renewed and discovered he could perceive the island through Extrasensory Vision.
• He lifted and controlled his dagger, then reshaped it into a metal glove and used magnetic force to punch a hole through rock.
• Boer gathered iron sand into armor and tested the range of his control, finding it weakened beyond fifty meters and failed at a hundred.
• He used iron sand to catch and cook a lobster, then ate it.
• Boer planned to explore the island, look for survivors and resources, build a shelter, and train his Magnet-Magnet Fruit abilities.

Boer spent a week developing his Magnet-Magnet Fruit powers and building a secure life on the island, then killed the seven pirates who had once captured him. After his abilities surged and he discovered he could generate limited electricity, he planned a year of training before setting sail.

• Boer gathered iron and survival supplies, tested his magnetic control, hunted island wildlife, and improved his freshwater distillation apparatus.
• Boer established a cave base on the mountainside and continued gathering resources and training with his ability.
• Boer encountered the seven surviving pirates from his memories and killed them, completing the original owner's lingering obsession and gaining clearer memories of the world.
• Boer's mastery of the Magnet-Magnet Fruit abruptly increased, doubling his sensing range and the precision and strength of his iron control.
• During a storm, Boer discovered he could generate a limited amount of electricity, though doing so weakened his metal control.
• Boer overcame his loneliness by writing a demanding yearlong training plan and resolved to grow stronger before setting sail.

Boer spent six months on a deserted island strengthening his body and mastering the Magnet-Magnet Fruit before setting out to find a sunken pirate ship and its treasure. He interrupted a pirate attack at sea and offered both crews the chance to join him.

• Boer grew from 159 to 180 centimeters, built up his metal-control abilities, and trained by intensifying magnetic fields around his Iron Sand Armament.
• Boer expanded his Extrasensory Vision to a three-kilometer radius and learned to disrupt creatures’ nervous systems with magnetic energy.
• Boer conceived a Pseudo-Superconducting Ring made with silver and headed toward a sunken ship to find gold and silver for his plan.
• A pirate ship captained by Greatsword Thatch chased a merchant ship, whose captain offered up its spices in exchange for the crew’s lives.
• Thatch leaped toward the merchant ship, but Boer stopped his greatsword in midair and sent him crashing into the cargo.
• Boer appeared between the ships in black-sand armor and offered the frightened crews an opportunity to make their fortunes and rise in the world.

Boer defeated the pirates attacking the merchant ship and revealed himself as sixteen-year-old Aaron Ball. He forced Thatch to pledge loyalty, then invited the merchant captain to talk over a metal bridge between the ships.

• The pirates opened fire on Boer, but his magnetic field stopped their bullets, and Thatch knocked Kurururu unconscious.
• Hunt fired a cannon at Boer, but Boer caught and dissolved the cannonball into iron sand.
• Boer bound Thatch in metal ribbons and subdued the remaining pirates, forcing Thatch to pledge loyalty.
• Boer transformed his armor to reveal his young face and introduced himself as Aaron Ball, sixteen.
• Boer ordered Hunt to prepare food and invited the merchant captain to a conversation, extending a metal bridge between the ships.

Boer revealed his Magnet-Magnet Fruit power and demonstrated that he could forge exceptionally strong blades, offering the Greatsword Pirates a path to enormous profits. Thatch and Roland eagerly accepted his leadership, and Boer promised that this was only the beginning.

• Thatch and Hunt described how bribes, crime-family fees, and operating expenses consumed most of the Greatsword Pirates’ earnings.
• Roland introduced himself as Baron Caffia’s business agent and explained his income from the Purple Iris Family’s trade.
• Boer revealed that he was Aaron Ball, wielder of the Magnet-Magnet Fruit, and named Captain John as its previous wielder.
• Boer transformed a metal cube into a blade, and Thatch broke a refined-iron cutlass against it without damaging the forged weapon.
• Thatch knelt and asked Boer to lead the pirates, while Roland calculated the profits from mass-producing Boer’s blades.
• Boer said he could make two hundred blades a day with enough materials and promised his followers they would witness a true legend.

Boer used his electromagnetic powers to forge a silver ring and tested it by throwing it into the sea, where it detonated with enormous force. Thatch pledged his sword to Boer, while the stunned Roland and the others recognized the scale of his power.

• Boer ordered Thatch to bring gold and silver and transformed the meeting room into a metal chamber.
• Thatch brought a safe of valuables, and Boer examined the magnetic properties of its gold and silver.
• Boer levitated a silver bar, heated and shaped it into a ring, then infused it with electromagnetic energy.
• Boer threw the glowing ring into the sea, where it caused a massive explosion and electromagnetic pulse.
• Thatch knelt and pledged his sword to Boer, while Roland and the others stared in shock.

Boer prepared to enter the Kingdom of Bernia by using arms trading and his power to dismantle the Dark Alliance. After Thatch and Roland agreed to help him seize control, Boer focused on Bernia as his first step onto the world stage.

• Boer assigned Thatch to handle the gangs and Roland to build connections with the nobility, and both agreed to serve him.
• Thatch warned that the gangs would target Boer’s operation, while Roland and Thatch explained the Hunter Family’s control of Bernia’s underworld through the Dark Alliance.
• Boer shaped a gold ring that could store electromagnetic energy and ordered them to gather the Hunter Family’s principal members for a meeting, where he intended to kill them.
• Roland and Thatch agreed to help Boer take over the Dark Alliance and establish a secure base in Bernia, then left to plan their campaign.
• Boer watched them go and pictured the Kingdom of Bernia as his first destination on the world stage.

Thatch and Roland planned to lure the Hunter Family into a trap while using nobles and underworld contacts to secure Boer’s expansion in Bernia. Boer assessed his growing electromagnetic power and ordered the crew to gather spare metal for the coming fight.

• Thatch and Roland designed a scheme to recruit ambitious Bernian nobles through a private weapons viewing and promise them protection and profits.
• Thatch planned to spread rumors about Boer’s wealth and provoke the Hunter Family into meeting him at a location they believed was safe.
• Roland and Thatch intended to destroy the Hunter Family’s leaders in one strike, then seize their territory and businesses with noble backing.
• Boer fitted an energized silver ring into his armor and assessed his abilities, limitations, and readiness to establish a base in Bernia.
• Boer ordered a pirate to gather every nonessential metal item aboard so he could stockpile ammunition for the coming conflict.

Thatch returned to the Nightingale Tavern and reunited with Camille, then told her about Boer and the power he had witnessed. He ordered her to tell Daniel that he planned to destroy the Kent Family, leaving Camille caught between her fear and Thatch’s demands.

• Thatch left Hunt in charge at the docks and went to the Nightingale Tavern to see Camille.
• Camille challenged Thatch about returning after ten years, and he embraced her before carrying her upstairs.
• Thatch told Camille that Boer had defeated his crew, could create hundreds of swords a day, and had unleashed a huge column of water from the sea.
• Thatch asked whether Boer could overthrow the Kent Family and unite Bernia's underworld, and Camille accused him of using her like the others did.
• Thatch ordered Camille to tell Daniel about Boer’s Magnet-Magnet Fruit and vowed to send Daniel and the entire Kent Family to hell.

Roland returned to Baron Caffia’s residence with pirates and crates of weapons and armor, then offered the baron a chance to build a profitable arms network and expand his power. Caffia accepted a discussion of the plan, while invitations began drawing other ambitious Bernian nobles into Roland’s web ahead of Boer’s coming bloodshed in Silver City's Underworld.

• Roland entered Baron Caffia’s residence with a band of pirates and more than a dozen crates, frightening the household staff.
• Benjamin rushed to warn Caffia, who left Lady Aurora and went to confront Roland in the courtyard.
• Roland revealed crates containing high-quality blades and armor, offering Caffia a fortune-making opportunity while warning that he could not take it all for himself.
• Caffia agreed to discuss Roland’s proposed arms trade network and the power it could bring him.
• Roland’s plan prompted invitations to other ambitious nobles, beginning to connect them to the coming violence in Silver City's Underworld.

Daniel Kent visited Camille after learning that Thatch had returned with a child who possessed the Magnet-Magnet Fruit and could forge valuable blades at astonishing speed. Greedy for the opportunity, Daniel arranged a banquet to lure Thatch and the child to the Kent estate, while Camille quietly watched the family move toward its destruction.

• Daniel Kent received Camille’s letter and went to the Nightingale Tavern, expecting to use his family’s power to control her.
• Camille told Daniel that Thatch had returned with a child who possessed the Magnet-Magnet Fruit.
• Camille revealed that the child could forge two hundred blades a day and that Thatch had already delivered weapons and armor to Baron Caffia.
• Daniel promised to marry Camille if she arranged a meeting and invited Thatch and the child to a banquet at the Kent estate.
• Daniel hurried off to tell Marquis Kent about the opportunity, while Camille wiped away his touch and watched him fall into her trap.

Boer searched the old harbor district for grievances against the Kent Family and its gangs, but fear kept the tavern patrons silent. Meanwhile, Marquess Kent learned of Thatch’s weapons operation and ordered a covert harbor lockdown, the detention of Miss Nightingale, and a banquet to bring the young master smith before him.

• Boer heard Bobo explain how Thatch had rescued him from an abusive traveling circus, then asked Bobo what kind of person he was.
• Boer offered money in the Breaking Waves tavern for information about grievances against the nobles, the Kent Family, or the local gangs, but nobody dared answer.
• Boer left the money for drinks and departed with Bobo, concluding that fear kept the harbor district’s residents from speaking.
• Daniel Kent hurried to Marquess Kent with Camille’s account of Thatch’s Magnet-Magnet Fruit and his large-scale weapons production.
• Marquess Kent praised Daniel and gave him the family ring, ordering him to mobilize the Black Raven Knight Order, seal the harbor exits, detain Miss Nightingale, and invite Thatch and the young master smith to a banquet.

Boer defeated Marquis Kent’s forces effortlessly and offered the marquis terms for his son’s survival. As Boer declared the manor’s business finished, Locke Hohen, the royal family’s Golden Eagle Zoan user, arrived.

• Boer entered the Kent Marquis’s Manor with Thatch and detected its hidden defenses and assembled forces.
• Boer unleashed his Biological Magnetic Field, knocking out the manor’s servants, knights, guards, and gang leaders.
• Boer confronted Marquis Kent, offered to send his son safely to the East Blue, and ordered Thatch to take Daniel.
• Marquis Kent accepted defeat and asked Boer to arrange his son’s inheritance in portions, while allied nobles led by Roland arrived.
• Boer told Thatch and Roland to clean up the loose ends and announced he would attend another party.
• Locke Hohen arrived as a gigantic golden eagle, identified as the royal family’s guardian and a Zoan Bird-Bird Fruit user.

Boer defeated Locke Hall, who had attacked him at Kent Marquis's Manor, and took their battle to a distant forest to avoid further damage. After knocking Hall unconscious and waiting for him to wake, Boer calmly invited him to lunch in the city.

• Locke Hohen attacked Boer with golden feather swords, but Boer intercepted every blade and protected the nobles caught in the attack.
• Locke Hohen transformed into a half-beast form and dived at Boer, who armored himself with the knights’ steel and struck him with an electromagnetically accelerated projectile.
• Boer and Hall flew away to a primeval forest, while Thatch ordered the nobles and guards to clear the manor and prepare to wait for lunch.
• Hall attacked Boer with wing blades and talons, but Boer trapped his ankle and smashed him into the forest floor with an electrically charged metal hammer.
• Boer waited as Hall regained consciousness, then invited him to lunch in the city.

Boer attended an extravagant banquet with Locke Hall and Bernia’s nobles, who praised him while gauging the new balance of power. After the entertainers and attendants withdrew, the nobles prepared to negotiate power and the city’s future.

• Boer entered the Kent Family banquet hall with Locke Hall, and Roland seated him at the head of the table.
• Boer noticed the Kent crest above him, and metal particles formed a five-pointed star over its central K.
• Locke Hall toasted Boer, and Viscount Wilson and Baron Caffia each praised his leadership as the nobles joined in.
• The nobles feasted and celebrated until the entertainers and most attendants withdrew, leaving them ready to begin negotiations.

Boer forced Bernia’s nobles into a meeting and unveiled plans for an arms and heavy-industry consortium, promising wealth in exchange for their cooperation. The Steel Consortium formally came into being, with its members ready to expand across West Blue.

• Boer used metallic particles to join the nobles’ tables and demanded half the profits from the arms trade.
• Boer appointed Roland and the nobles to form the Bernia Steel Heavy Industry Consortium and ordered them to recruit skilled smiths.
• Boer promised the royal family one billion Beli each year, and Locke Hall pledged the government’s support.
• Boer assigned Thatch to establish the Kingdom Security Company and absorb Silver Capital’s gangs.
• Boer demanded the consortium receive most of the harbor district’s dockland and promised to expand the harbor into a major trade hub.
• The nobles toasted Boer’s undertaking as the Steel Consortium formally came into being.

After consolidating the Steel Heavy Industry Consortium, Boer used a share of the Kent Family’s seized wealth to bind local nobles to his rule. The chapter ended with him facing Chloe Kent and Ellie-son Kent, presented as gifts by the new household, while he regarded their submission with cold amusement.

• Boer recalled how he offered nobles half the Kent Family’s seized assets, winning their support and encouraging them to help uncover the family’s remaining wealth.
• The nobles quickly removed Kent Family emblems from the mansion and replaced them with the consortium’s pentagrams.
• Locke Hall introduced Elena as the new head housekeeper and explained that the household staff and two women were gifts for Boer.
• Boer suspected Elena might be an informant, then went to bathe before inspecting the gifts in his bedroom.
• Chloe Kent tried to ingratiate herself with Boer and introduced Ellie-son Kent, who appeared frightened and unwilling.
• Boer looked down at the two women on the bed, his mocking smile deepening.

Boer resisted a violent impulse toward a maid, then joined Locke Hohen and Baron Caffia to discuss preparations for the Steel Club and their plans to reshape Silver City. He left breakfast ready to begin the work of forging and taking control of the city.

• Boer dressed himself, dismissed the maid’s help, and restrained his urge to harm her before asking about breakfast.
• Elena told Boer that Locke Hohen and Baron Caffia were waiting to eat with him.
• At breakfast, Locke teased Boer about the previous night and offered to arrange another evening with noblewomen.
• Boer turned the conversation to the Steel Club and asked whether its premises and staff were ready.
• Locke said he had gathered smiths and engineers, while Thatch and city defense forces were clearing out criminals and city hall was preparing dock plans.
• Baron Caffia reported that he had begun negotiating with private dock and warehouse owners to take control of their property.