"Ugh!"
He made a disgusted face, clearly not expecting it to taste so bad.
But soon, feeling the power surge inside him, he clenched his fists excitedly.
"It's happening! This is it!"
Thick brownish-yellow fur sprouted all over his body, his brow ridge and mouth became more pronounced, and his skin darkened.
Already quite tall, his body further expanded, and in the blink of an eye, he transformed into a giant towering over eight meters.
Flock had become a massive ape.
"How's that? The Ancient Giant Ape form of the Ancient Zoan-type Human-Human Fruit," Ian chuckled lightly, "Satisfied?"
"Completely satisfied!"
Flock laughed excitedly. "I couldn't be happier!"
His body shrank back to its Human-Beast Form.
After transforming into an ape, his arms were already very long.
On top of that, he belonged to the Long-Arm Tribe, so his arms grew even longer, almost dragging on the ground when he stood.
An increased wingspan was not a bad thing for a boxer.
Flock kept throwing punches, feeling the power inside him surge wildly, uncontrollably.
His smile on his face couldn't be stopped.
So strong!
I'm so strong now!
"Lord Ian!"
After experiencing his new power, Flock knelt on one knee before Ian without hesitation.
This was the only way he could express his loyalty now.
Many pirate captains cast envious glances at Flock.
That was an Ancient Zoan!
Though it was far inferior to Lord Ian's Mythical Zoan, it was still a very precious Devil Fruit.
"All right," Ian smiled.
"Let's leave this island first."
He looked down on the island scattered with corpses.
It needed a good cleanup — otherwise, it wouldn't look nice.
The pirates had no questions about Ian's order and boarded their ships, then sailed away from the island.
Then.
"Time to finish things off."
The enormous golden flying dragon raised its two mechanical arms high.
Flames from its left and right hands merged instantly, transforming into a colossal fireball hundreds of meters wide, floating in the air like a miniature sun.
By the way, a little demonstration of power for the newcomers.
"The Wings of the Dragon's Radiant Flame."
From the pirate ships retreating into the distance, many pirates newly under Ian's command were left dumbfounded.
"What is that?"
Sasaki felt his scalp tingle.
Even from this far away, the terrifying heat was palpable.
What would happen if someone touched that fireball?
They'd probably be melted instantly.
"What is Lord Ian going to do?"
Durin swallowed nervously.
He saw Ian slam that fireball down.
The huge fireball landed at the center of the island.
After a brief silence, endless light and heat spread from that island.
The terrifying explosive fireball expanded, and within seconds, it swallowed the entire island.
The seawater kept evaporating, and the steam almost formed a fog surrounding the whole island.
Then, in the next moment, the fog was blown away by the shockwave.
A fierce wind roared from behind, making all the pirates instinctively cover their ears.
All the pirate ships were pushed forward at high speed by the raging wind.
"Ah!!"
Sasaki was stunned, his mouth almost unable to close.
What shocked him even more was that as the brilliant flames faded, within the thick fog and crashing waves, Sasaki saw nothing at all.
"Gone?"
Sasaki couldn't believe it.
"The island is gone?"
Flock was equally dumbfounded.
The island that should have been there on the distant sea surface had disappeared without a trace.
It was sunk.
Though the island wasn't very large, it was a genuine island.
And it was completely sunk just like that?
Unimaginable that humans could do something like this!
Is this the power of the Pirate Emperor?
Compared to him, their earlier battle was like child's play!
After the brief silence, cheers erupted one after another from the decks of the pirate ships.
"Lord Ian! The strongest!"
"Lord Ian! Invincible!"
So powerful, so invincible — this is the man they all followed!
As the Golden Dragon sailed overhead, the pirates each flushed red with excitement from their cheers.
Some even fainted from the overwhelming fervor.
Sasaki shouted almost hoarsely in response.
Lord Ian!
So mighty!
Please let me follow you for life!
For pirates, following the strong was almost instinctual.
When they came, there was only the Golden Dragon.
But on the return to Hive Island, nearly twenty ships sailed together — forming a vast fleet.
However, Hive Island suddenly felt empty now.
After all, the pirates who had been stationed here for years were mostly wiped out during the recent Battle Royale tournament.
Only one pirate crew survived, and they successfully joined Ian's banner.
The merchants on the island were at a loss.
What now? Business was impossible.
But it didn't matter; the migration had already begun before the Battle Royale even started.
The Beast Pirates scattered across the Hive Island waters had long begun moving civilians willing to immigrate from their respective islands.
Of course, Ian wasn't sure if those civilians truly wanted to migrate, but it didn't really matter.
Besides this, Ian had asked his good friend Umit to send a transport fleet to Fish-Man Island to welcome a new batch of immigrants.
This batch from Fish-Man Island was quite large.
Two days after Ian returned to Hive Island with the newly joined pirates, both groups of immigrants arrived.
Ian sent Tesoro and Jinbei and Tiger to settle them.
No one was better suited for the task.
According to Ian's plan, the fish-men and mermaids would live on the island by mining underwater resources.
Meanwhile, humans would rely on the related secondary industries.
Ore washing, rough processing, that sort of thing.
Hive Island was small, unable to accommodate too many people or industries.
But this was already enough.
At the port dock, Jinbei was organizing the newly arrived compatriots, each carrying a mix of timidity and a bit of hope.
There were a total of fifty thousand people. Even pulling everyone from the Sun Pirates together wasn't quite enough to handle them all.
Fortunately, a large portion of the immigrants came from Fishman District — many of them old acquaintances of Jinbei's. Without hesitation, Jinbei assigned them to help maintain order.
These Fishman District bosses didn't mind at all. But when they saw Tiger, who had undergone a complete transformation, standing beside Jinbei, their eyes reddened with excitement.
Jinbei let out a slight sigh of relief as he watched the compatriots begin to disembark in an orderly manner.
There were simply too many people this time.
Luckily, Hive Island was completely vacated, so housing was not a concern.
The only problem was the migrating merfolk. They were not suited to live on land, but since their underwater dwellings were not yet built, they would have to endure the temporary situation.
Jinbei thought to himself.
While he was working hard to keep order, "I've never seen so many compatriots before."
A voice came from behind.
Jinbei turned around to see Sasaki crossing his arms with a face full of amazement.
This guy was also a fishman but not born on Fishman Island.
Jinbei's expression turned strange.
Though Sasaki tried to appear casual, he looked pretty rough — bruised and battered.
Before Jinbei could respond, Sasaki went on, "Lord In, as expected! It's really possible for fishmen and humans to live together in harmony."
Even Sasaki, who had never been back to Fishman Island, knew how hostile the locals were toward humans.
Jinbei smiled and said with a sigh, "Lord Ian is truly the one who can make Fish-Man Island rise above the sea."
"Is that so?"
Sasaki wasn't from Fish-Man Island, so he didn't quite understand his fellow fish-men's yearning for the blue sky and sea breeze.
Because of that, he didn't feel much about Jinbe's words.
On the contrary, he thought islands floating in the sea were pretty cool. What's so special about floating above the blue ocean?
Just then—
"Hey! You're Jinbe, right?"
A voice called out sharply from behind.
Jinbe turned around in surprise.
It was Flock, a boxer pirate who joined the crew at the same time as Sasaki, glaring fiercely at him.
"Come fight me!"
He said with a look of excitement.
Huh?
**********
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