Chapter 31: Iron Golem
In the end, Kuro and his crew left.
Of course, there were complications along the way.
The Black Cat Pirates rebelled.
After Kuro's defeat, some stragglers escaped capture by Luffy's crew. Among them, Jango feigned death and slipped away with the roaming pirates. Naturally, they had no intention of rescuing Kuro.
Within three years, Jango rose to captain of the Black Cat Pirates. By then, his relationship with the crew had changed, and their loyalty was his.
Kuro, on the other hand, had brought them nothing but failure. Now he seemed ready to reclaim the captaincy.
The old members, who had witnessed his strength, might have accepted him. But the newer recruits would not.
The result was inevitable: a clash between the two sides.
Jango was crushed. His ship and crew were taken.
Cheng Lang wasn't surprised. A current captain and a former captain could never coexist peacefully. At best, it would have been temporary. Kuro, being shrewd, acted decisively.
As for why Luffy's crew hadn't wiped out the Black Cat Pirates completely, the reason was simple.
Kaya chose to forgive.
After Cheng Lang exposed Kuro's inner thoughts, he could no longer face her. Was he humiliated? Would he seek revenge? Kaya's answer was disarming: if necessary, she would willingly give him her entire fortune. It was her way of repaying the years he had cared for her after her parents' deaths.
What do clever villains fear most?
A sincere heart.
Cheng Lang watched it all with a strange expression. Perhaps this was the essence of One Piece—that even minor characters carried their own stories.
But he didn't dwell on it. Instead, he turned to something he had long wanted to try.
In Kaya's courtyard, Cheng Lang summoned an Iron Golem.
He had held back on the ship, afraid its sheer weight might sink them. In Minecraft, iron golems had no weight. But here? Reality might be different.
The golem appeared exactly as in MC—towering, blocky, nearly three meters tall. And the first thing it did was hand Cheng Lang a poppy.
"Sugoi! Sugoi! Cheng Lang, is this a robot?!" Luffy's eyes sparkled like stars.
Usopp rushed forward, touching the golem's body. The cool, metallic surface felt like real iron.
"This… this, this!" was all he could stammer.
Zoro studied the creature. Its size was imposing, but its vacant eyes radiated only dull stupidity. There was no sense of danger.
"Zoro, want to test its weight? Don't worry, it won't mind," Cheng Lang said with a grin.
Curious, Zoro stepped forward, gripped the golem's waist, and heaved. His face reddened, veins bulging—yet the golem didn't budge.
"So heavy…" Zoro muttered, astonished.
Cheng Lang nodded. Just as he suspected.
An iron golem was forged from four cubic meters of iron blocks. One cubic meter of iron weighed 7.68 tons. Four blocks… the math spoke for itself.
Zoro might lift it someday—but not here in the East Blue.
The golem, oblivious, handed Zoro a poppy.
Zoro blinked, confused.
"Take it," Cheng Lang explained. "He thinks you're playing with him."
"…."
Zoro accepted silently. The pixelated flower in his hand made the corner of his mouth twitch upward.
Cheng Lang then tested the golem's intelligence.
It understood simple commands—run, patrol, guard. Even complex ones.
"Bring me the guard at the gate—the one with a hat and a scar on his face."
The golem lumbered off and returned, carrying the exact guard.
It could distinguish faces.
Impressed, Cheng Lang appointed Kaya as its second master.
The golem's expression dimmed, as if abandoned. But soon it offered Kaya a poppy, signaling acceptance.
"Name it," Cheng Lang said. "It's your bodyguard now."
Kaya thought for a moment, then smiled.
"Dabai."
The iron golem raised its arms, nodding frantically. Joy radiated from its blocky form.
"It seems he accepts it. Please take care of me, Dabai," Kaya said warmly, patting its iron body.
The golem gently stroked her head with its massive hands.
"Cheng Lang, why is there moss on it? Can I wash it?" Kaya asked curiously.
"You can try."
Soon, Kaya, Luffy, and the others were distracted, fussing over Dabai.
Cheng Lang, however, was lost in thought.
Could an iron golem identify enemies on its own? In MC, it only retaliated when struck. But here, it clearly recognized faces and obeyed orders. If Kaya commanded it to attack, it might act proactively.
At that moment, Merry approached.
"Thank you for everything," the butler said. He was the last elder left in Kaya's family, and he knew he had to work harder than ever.
"There's no need," Cheng Lang waved him off. "This was just an experiment. I can't take it on the ship anyway. Leaving it here makes the best use of it."
Merry hesitated, then touched the small horns on his head.
"Come to think of it… you must be from the Mink Tribe, right? You survived wounds that would have killed an ordinary man."
Merry smiled faintly.
"I'm not entirely sure of my race. My father told me my mother was half-Mink. So I suppose I'm a quarter. But as you can see, this is all that remains."
"Do you still feel the full moon's pull?" Cheng Lang asked.
"When I was a child, yes. Restless, wild. But not anymore." Merry's smile softened.
Only Kaya's parents had ever accepted his strangeness. That was why he had devoted himself to their household.
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