Flower Country, a powerful nation in the West Sea, is one of the member countries of the World Government, and a strong nation with the right to participate in the World Conference. Whether in economic strength or military strength, Flower Country is not weak in the West Sea.
Aside from the kingdom's own military forces, there are also multiple violent groups, including the Second Treasure Navy and the Eight Treasure Navy. The kingdom's military maintains internal security, while violent groups like the Eight Treasure Navy are officially licensed pirates.
The wealth they plunder is shared with Flower Country as per their special agreement.
However, this has little to do with Zeraora and their group; they are merely tourists and not here to cause trouble.
Upon entering Flower Country's territory, they still attracted many looks due to the unusual combination of five members of the Fur Race and Ferren, a rough-and-tumble little giant.
"Wanda, don't run off!"
Wanda, rejuvenated after leaving the sky, was captivated by the style of Flower Country, which was different from Zou, while Hatch and Ling were keeping an eye on her.
They realized that going out like this might disrupt the original plans of their eldest daughter and tried to minimize causing trouble.
"This girl... If she hadn't clung to my leg and refused to let go, I wouldn't have brought her out."
"That's probably a hereditary trait in your family."
"Hmm?"
"I heard that more than ten years ago, you clung to Shaina's leg and refused to let go. I should've taken a picture back then as a keepsake."
"...Forget it! Forget all about those things for me!"
Watching their eldest daughter playing around with others, Hatch and Ling showed a pleased smile, while a group was secretly observing Zeraora and the others in Flower Country's shadows.
Though a World Government member, Flower Country technically has the obligation to assist the Navy in capturing pirates or report to the Navy when pirates enter the country.
Yet, Flower Country doesn't engage in these thankless tasks and acts based on the situation; if it's just some small-time pirates, they are quickly captured.
Capturing such people takes little effort, and the impact is limited.
But against powerful pirates, Flower Country proceeds cautiously; as long as they don't cause serious events within Flower Country, they simply watch them leave.
Such powerful pirates cannot be easily handled, and should a battle break out within the country, innocents could be harmed, a matter the World Government and Navy wouldn't care much about.
Moreover, they gain no bounty from capturing them, so no one will do such thankless chores.
Zeraora falls into this category of pirates, with a bounty exceeding five hundred million, an officer of the Hundred Beasts pirate group, already listed on the alert list of member countries.
"No clear motive found for the other side; they seem to be...touring."
"New development, they've found the most famous local restaurant... exhausted one chef, but they paid, no trouble caused."
These messages were sent back, and confirming they were truly just touring, Flower Country's people lowered their guard.
Inside the restaurant, Ferren and Hatch appeared to be competing on who could eat more, which was why the chef was exhausted.
Ultimately, Hatch chose to give up.
"You win..."
"My pleasure." Ferren wiped his mouth; the Thousand-Year Dragon has a special habit of eating enough in one meal to last several months, benefiting long-distance travel.
As the chief's son, Ferren, responsible for forging paths, consumes more energy in general, making him quite the eater; this was just a half-full meal for him.
But since they'd worn out a chef, they left it at that.
After a hearty meal, they went looking for a hotel; Ferren got a room to himself, while Hatch shared a room with Ling and Wanda. Although Wanda wanted to sleep with her sister, Hatch and the others quashed that idea.
At night, Zeraora quietly woke Setsuna and flew out the window with her.
"What's up? Why the sneaky behavior?"
"Information gathered during the day indicates there's an Ice Continent to the south of Flower Country with aurora phenomena, a place frequented by couples."
The West Sea and the South Sea are both on the Southern Hemisphere, thus their southern part is colder than the north, resulting in this unique continent in Flower Country.
Yet, Zeraora missed one key point: normally, Flower Country's people might go to view the aurora, but they wouldn't actually step on the Ice Continent, as it's under Eight Treasure Navy's control and not publicly accessible.
Headed south and spotting signs of the aurora, Zeraora didn't mind the distance, reaching above the Glacier Continent, admiring the aurora's beauty in the sky, despite the slight height difference, everything was quite beautiful.
Soon, Setsuna noticed something unusual about the ice layer, its reflective light distinct from ordinary ice layers.
"Zeraora, do you think there's something underneath the ice?"
...
When they landed on the ice surface, they found a vast treasure below, filling an icy crevice. The reflection Setsuna noticed was from the gold.
Amidst the treasure were many skeletons, appearing to have frozen and starved to death.
Glancing at the radar in his arms, which didn't react, Zeraora's interest dwindled, as single treasures didn't attract him much.
"Zeraora, how do you think these things got placed down there?"
"Not sure, but it was probably done with brute force." He said, lifting his right leg high, striking the ice surface with his Haki-entwined heel, causing some cracks that quickly healed.
This glacier's peculiarity lies in its self-healing property; even if broken apart, it regenerates after a while.
This actually piqued Zeraora's interest.
He then knelt on one knee on the ice surface, gently placing his hands apart on it.
Amid the fur flashed electric sparks, Zeraora's hands seemed motionless, yet he was vibrating them across the ice surface at an extremely fast frequency; this speed, combined with minimal amplitude, created the illusion of stillness.
Under this condition, the sealed continent suddenly shook violently, and the solid ice surface cracked open into a wide gap, with dazzling golden light outshining the moonlight in the sky.
At the same time, at the glacier's end, a round-headed man gazed in disbelief at the cracked glacier.