Chapter 147

Luo En stretched lazily, his bones cracking all over.

"Floating in the sky for six whole months—time to get moving."

Hearing his words, Kuina, Luo Bin, and the others exchanged a glance and all smiled.

"Let's go, into the Grand Line."

………………

The day after that floating ship was spotted near Drum Island on the Grand Line, Marine Headquarters received the news.

"Finally shown yourself again, huh? Traveler Luo En…"

Fleet Admiral Sengoku, who had set down the Den Den Mushi, had a cold glint in his eyes.

He had already come to regard Luo En as a massive threat that had to be dealt with as soon as possible.

He immediately issued orders, sending Huang Yuan along with Vice Admirals Kujaku and Dobberman to take a warship and head straight for Drum Island, the so-called Medical Kingdom.

Against the Traveler Luo En, who possessed the power of the Float-Float Fruit, warships and numbers were utterly useless.

After Huang Yuan left, Sengoku thought it over some more, and just to be safe, he sent a message to Bartholomew Kuma, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea.

"If you assist Huang Yuan in capturing Traveler Luo En, the matter we discussed can be pushed back half a year from the originally scheduled time."

After a moment of silence, Bartholomew Kuma on the other end of the Den Den Mushi agreed.

Thus, the lineup heading to capture Traveler Luo En became one Marine Headquarters Admiral, two Marine Headquarters Vice Admirals, and one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea!

When this news spread—

Upon learning that Traveler Luo En—the one who had caused the North Blue incident that shook the seas, and who had then vanished from everyone's sight on the seas for six months—along with the floating ship bearing the 【Sky Disaster Voyage】, had appeared on the Grand Line, and that the Marines had dispatched such a lineup to capture him—

The Grand Line immediately burst into a frenzy!

The newspapers were completely dominated by this news.

"Traveler Luo En vanished for six months… he's finally resurfaced!! Been waiting for you, man."

"He's already come to the Grand Line, that Traveler Luo En, huh…"

"Compared to news about him, those rookie pirates popping up lately really don't measure up at all."

"Wonder what kind of big news that guy will stir up next—oh no, I think I'm getting a little excited!"

"Looking forward to it, looking forward to it!"

"One Admiral, two Headquarters Vice Admirals, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea… my god, are they going after a Yonko?"

"Ah~ over by Drum Island, huh… it's really far from Sabaody Archipelago, otherwise I'd want to go check it out too."

"You? If you went, the shockwaves from their fight alone would kill you. Just stay here obediently and wait for the papers."

"Er… I guess you're right."

"Besides Traveler Luo En, the other members of the Sky Disaster Voyage don't seem to have much of a track record, right? That Steel Witch—I wonder if she's strong… can she hold them off?"

"Probably… not."

"Let's wait and see."

……

Pirates, bounty hunters, reporters, and government intelligence agents from all sides rushed toward Drum Island.

The reporters in particular moved with astonishing speed.

After all, this concerned Traveler Luo En, who had a chance of becoming the fifth Emperor of the Sea—the hype was through the roof.

And this time, Admiral Huang Yuan was leading the team.

If they could witness Marine Admiral Huang Yuan face off against the Traveler Luo En, who had vanished for six months—

If they could see the other members of the Sky Disaster Voyage display their abilities and strength—

Either one would be a rare, blockbuster story!

If they couldn't report it in time, would they even deserve to call themselves reporters?

132. On Drum Island, a slash without warning—

At this moment, on Drum Island, where snow was falling over the sea.

When Luo En stepped onto the island with everyone, the long-absent chime of the system sounded in his ear.

【Beep! Detected that the host's current location, Drum Island, meets the sign-in conditions. Sign in to receive a sign-in reward. Sign in?】

"Sign in."

【Sign-in successful. Sign-in reward obtained: Qi and Blood +10

Sign-in reward obtained: Healing Art level increased—Lv. 2.】

Luo En checked the attributes of the Healing Art, now Lv. 2. There wasn't much difference overall—just the number of uses had gone from once a day to twice a day.

"What heavy snow."

Luo Bin pulled her white coat tighter around herself and said.

"

"Yeah, it's not even winter yet—why is it snowing this hard here?"

Kuina brushed the snowflakes off her head and said.

"It's mainly because of this island's geographical environment, I guess." Conis put on her hat.

"I can barely see ahead. If only this heavy snow would stop soon."

Luo En came back to his senses, and laughed at her words: "That's easy."

He snapped his fingers, and a ripple seemed to spread out from his body.

In the blink of an eye, it enveloped the entire Drum Island, and the countless snowflakes in the sky abruptly froze in mid-air, no longer falling!

The entire island was wrapped within the snow!

"This is… what's going on?"

Chopping wood outside a wooden cabin, Chopper looked up, his face blank with confusion.

"Your Majesty!"

Dalton, a Zoan-type user of the Ox-Ox Fruit, strode into the palace.

"What is it?"

Wapol, the current king of the Drum Kingdom's castle and a user of the Munch-Munch Fruit, said with some impatience.

"The blizzard outside suddenly stopped."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

Wapol leaned back on the throne, eyes closed, enjoying the woman beside him feeding him.

"No... the way the snow looks outside is a little strange."

"Strange?"

Wapol opened his eyes. "What could possibly be strange about snow?"

"Your Majesty will know once you go out and see."

Wapol thought for a moment, stood up, and followed Dalton out of the castle situated atop the lofty Drum Mountain.

Seeing the blizzard suspended in the air before him without falling, Wapol's eyes widened slightly.

"What's going on?!!!"

……

Drum Island, with snowflakes suspended in the air all across the sky.

Inside a stretch of mountain forest.

Luo En and his group trudged through the snow.

Luo Bin glanced at the snowflakes hovering in the air, then looked at Luo En beside her — clad in a black overcoat, with fine black hair and a black blade hanging at his waist — and said, "Using your ability like this — doesn't it drain your stamina?"

"For me, making objects float costs very little; the bigger and heavier the object, the more stamina it takes to control."

Luo En replied with a smile.

"I see."

Luo Bin nodded lightly.

After walking for a while longer, a group of massive carnivorous rabbits — Lapahn — appeared ahead of them.

One of them lunged and bit toward the group.

Yet the group acted as if they hadn't seen it at all, completely ignoring it, and continued walking forward.

A villager nearby saw this scene and couldn't help shouting out a warning.

"Wa—"