Chapter 21

Sky Island, the Island of the Gods.

The divine palace where the former Sky Island God, Gan Fuer, resided now bore a new signboard—Lei Shen Palace.

Just after finishing that day’s training, Seven heard a continuous ding-ding-ding-ding in his ears.

“Ding, your listed item: Shanguang Bei, has been purchased by a Hammer user. You earned 900 points. Current balance: 16866.”

…

“Ding, your listed item: Yingxiang Bei, has been purchased by a Hammer user. You earned 450 points. Current balance: 20016.”

Seven let out a long breath: the platform’s richest man, Brother Hammer, finally placed an order.

No wonder he’s the platform’s richest— even a Bei as mundane as an image camera, he buys without hesitation.

“Is this Brother Hammer’s world?”

He treats points like dirt, unlike Seven, who sold every pot and pan and waited endlessly for Brother Hammer to buy.

With points credited, Seven’s sleepiness vanished.

“Purchase Steel Balloon.”

“Ding, purchase successful. The Steel Balloon will reshape your physique within 90 days. Increasing training intensity, eating sufficiently, and resting well will shorten the transformation period.”

“Current point balance: 16.”

Looking at his empty point balance, Seven immediately rolled out of bed and ran three more laps around the Sky Island.

The combination of Gluttony, Innate Strength, and Steel Balloon completely shed Seven’s reputation as a physical weakling and elevated him to the top tier of sea-born talent.

Gluttony handles digestion, rapidly replenishes and stores stamina, accelerates bodily repair—even with severe injuries, sufficient food restores strength and heals wounds swiftly.

Utterly unmatched endurance.

Innate Strength, as a conceptual passive, still grants Seven considerable power even against Giants.

Steel Balloon grants astonishing defense.

Take Charlotte Linlin as an example: a Giant’s blade shattered upon striking her at age five; even a hail of bullets left not a single scratch.

Such power made Seven itch to leap into the sea and swim a few laps right away.

After twelve full hours of extra training.

Seven dragged his exhausted body and devoured thirty portions of breakfast. He began to wonder: if he kept this up, would the Sky Island face a food crisis?

Before arriving at the Sky Island, his daily consumption was roughly equivalent to twenty people.

After settling in and beginning cultivation, his daily consumption increased by half again.

One person equaled thirty Sky Island natives.

This inevitably caused some strain on the Sky Island’s limited land resources.

“I’ll make a trip to Sabaody Archipelago and exchange the gold in my system storage for Devil Fruits.”

There’s no second Brother Hammer on the trading platform. Opportunities like this—quickly earning massive points through Beis—are one-time only.

Seven had already seen many low-ball offers for Beis on the trading platform.

【Wanted: 200 points for Laser Bei. Guys from the Pirate World, don’t inflate prices.】

【Wanted: 300 points for Octopus Balloon. Big Brother from the Pirate World, please return my Dream One Heart. Price negotiable.】

“I earned Dream One Heart with my own effort.”

“Why should I return it?”

To get Dream One Heart, Seven had traveled all the way from Luo Ge Town to the Sky Island just to snatch this bargain.

Return it? What nonsense.

If you’ve got the guts, let Lei Dianying come to the Pirate World and catch me.

Seven didn’t return it—he immediately pulled out an Octopus Balloon, accepted the quest, and submitted the item in one smooth motion.

【Ding, congratulations on completing the quest. You earned 300 points. This month’s quest completion: 9/10. Current point balance: 316.】

“I wish there were more of these iron fools.”

Normally, Dream One Heart’s price of 88,888 tons of gold was indeed substantial.

For example, in Earth’s past, the top five nations by gold reserves held 8133 tons, 3350 tons, 2452 tons, 2437 tons, and 2333 tons respectively.

Combined, they didn’t even reach twenty thousand tons.

Fortunately, the giant pillar in Gold Country was an accident—Seven had once accompanied Whitebeard on a journey there, giving him the chance to snag it.

Seven could only say he was lucky.

The Teyvat iron fool was unlucky.

Days passed one by one. During the integration of Sky Island natives and the Sandia people, occasional conflicts erupted but were always crushed by the Thunder Cloud Guard.

Seven rarely showed his face.

Yet he never missed his weekly training sessions with the Thunder Cloud Guard, each time overwhelming hundreds of them with sheer dominance.

Precisely because of this, Lei Shen’s rule grew more stable.

Marine Headquarters, Marineford.

After a three-month vacation, Marine Hero Garp returned to Marineford aboard his beloved dog-headed warship and immediately went to Admiral Sengoku’s office.

Crash.

The office door kicked open. Garp, picking his nose, shouted: “Why the hell did you rush me back? What’s so urgent?”

He’d been exhausted from caring for a pregnant woman at home, and now Sengoku was chasing him like death itself—so he took out his frustration on Sengoku’s snacks.

Sengoku clenched his teeth, suppressing his anger, and tossed a command at Garp.

“After Roger’s death, his former crewmate, the Devil’s descendant Douglas Barret, has attacked over ten Marine outposts and destroyed countless allied merchant ships.”

“The World Government demands the Marines launch a Tumo Order to arrest Barret and imprison him in Impel Down.”

Garp muttered: “Is it because Roger’s dead that he’s mindlessly destroying everything, venting his rage?”

So he wasn’t the only one feeling lost after Roger’s death.

“By the way.” Garp suddenly remembered something.

“What about the rest of Roger’s crew? Is Barret the only one causing trouble?”

Sengoku pulled out several more files from his drawer.

“Levi, the Pluton, is working as a film coater on the Sabaody Archipelago. Roger’s left arm, Jinbe, is missing. The rest of the crew have been relatively quiet…”

“Barzab Seven recently attacked CP9 and rescued a World Government prisoner.”

“When Bao Lu Sha Li Nuo arrived, the pirate ship was nothing but wreckage. Barzab Seven vanished without a trace.”

“What?!” Garp’s eyes widened.

“Wreckage? Dead?”

Judging from the Blackie kid’s recent antics, someone like that was destined to be a menace—he couldn’t possibly die so easily.

“Most likely dead,” Sengoku said.

“You and I will sign this Tumo Order. Once intelligence locates Barret, we’ll set out.”

“Fine,” Garp agreed.

After Roger’s execution, Garp had indeed felt lost for a time.

But after spending a month in the old house in Hui Feng Che Village, he found a new hobby: locking Barzab Seven in Impel Down.

That kid was too much of a menace, acting purely on whim with no moral compass.

Such a person could either be a catastrophe or a savior for the entire sea.

Yet Garp never imagined.

Barzab Seven vanished without a trace, as if he had truly perished.