Two days later, Bai Yu found the giant snake, the Lord of the Sky, Nolan.
This enormous serpent was said to be hundreds of years old. However, Bai Yu didn't kill it. Instead, he induced it to vomit and spit out the gold it had swallowed. After a few meals, he made a deal with the snake—ordering it to guard Shandora and not secretly consume any of the treasure.
Incidentally, he also renamed it: Wan Snake.
Bai Yu then gathered Enel's belongings, including a spaceship.
Nami took one glance at it and scoffed, "You call this a golden ship? The whole thing isn't even as big as the Golden Bell, and it only has a bit of gold added to the cabin. This so-called 'god' is actually pretty poor."
Bai Yu applauded.
Nami's standards had risen—she no longer considered the gold on Enel's ship impressive.
With the girls by his side, Bai Yu left Skypiea and continued his journey.
As for Shandora, the legendary City of Gold?
Nami, using various types of clouds, sealed it off before they departed, leaving with tears in her eyes.
Listening to Bai Yu, she clung to hope—once she could fully control the power of the Lion Fruit and move islands at will, they could retrieve Shandora.
Now, the search for the Golden Lion had begun.
Meanwhile, in the Blue Sea…
The world had erupted once again.
[The Land of Gold has been found!]
[Shandora—the City of Miracles, richer than Raftel!]
[The 400-year legend becomes reality!]
[Demon King Bai Yu—the legend begins!]
[The richest man in the world: Demon King Bai Yu!]
[Shocking! The Fleet Admiral is bedridden!]
[Unbelievable! The Four Emperors are all in an uproar!]
During Bai Yu's absence from the Blue Sea, Morgans had seized the opportunity, following the hottest news and adding vivid descriptions to Bai Yu's photos before publishing them worldwide.
The world was once again in an uproar.
This time, the sensation was even bigger than any major event of the past decade.
Wealth had always been a hot topic.
And nothing was more shocking to ordinary people than seeing an entire city made of gold.
The former World's Richest Man, Gild Tesoro, was interviewed and admitted bitterly, "Yeah… I'm no longer the richest man. That title belongs to the Demon King, Bai Yu."
Then, turning away from the camera…
Tesoro burst into tears.
His ship, Gran Tesoro, was 10,000 meters long and appeared golden from a distance, but it wasn't made of solid gold.
After all, even with his awakened Gold-Gold Fruit, he couldn't turn things into gold permanently.
He owned 20% of the world's wealth, yet even with all his industries spread across the globe, it was nearly impossible to match the sheer amount of gold Bai Yu now possessed.
Even he envied Bai Yu's fortune.
Elsewhere…
"Is that the kid…?"
A white-haired, glasses-wearing old man looked at a photo of Bai Yu standing in the golden city, his eyes flashing with deep thought.
"Little Hatchan…"
Memories of a fallen Fishman surfaced in his mind.
He sighed, rubbing his forehead.
"Why did I forget about Skypiea? If I had just gone up there and taken a couple of gold bars, I wouldn't be struggling to afford my sake!"
The newspapers might have exaggerated a bit, but one thing was certain—when Fleet Admiral Sengoku saw the reports, he lost his appetite for days, filled with envy and frustration.
The burden of military funding shackled the Marines.
Whitebeard stopped his commanders from acting recklessly. For him, Ace's safety was the bigger concern.
As for Big Mom, she had just learned of Bai Yu's existence for the first time.
After reading all the reports, she burst into laughter.
"Mmm~ Mamamama! The tea party is about to start! Who among my children can bring him to Mama?"
Confidently, Cracker stepped forward.
"Mama, let me go!"
But Katakuri interjected bluntly, "It's too dangerous for you to go alone."
Charlotte Linlin waved it off, unconcerned.
"Let Cracker go! Invite that boy to dinner. He won't refuse."
…He most likely would refuse.
Katakuri kept that thought to himself, unwilling to voice any opposition to his mother's decree.
Big Mom licked her lips as she gazed at Bai Yu's photo, drooling unconsciously.
"So young… and so strong… I must bring him back with me…!"
Bai Yu: ???
Meanwhile, on a certain ship…
"Drip… Drip…"
From the moment he saw the newspaper featuring Bai Yu standing in Shandora, Red-Haired Shanks silently shed tears.
Ben Beckman, smoking a cigarette, watched him in exasperation.
"You're not some wealthy businessman, so tell me—why the hell are you crying?"
Shanks sniffled.
"It's nothing… just remembering the old days with the captain and Buggy…"
Then, he suddenly burst out laughing.
"If Buggy sees that Bai Yu took Shandora… he'll cry himself to death! Hahahaha!"
…Buggy did cry.
He had been crying for days.
How could he forget about Shandora?!
How could he not have taken it for himself?!
Meanwhile, on Onigashima…
"Bwahaha… guhhahaha… HAHAHA!"
Kaido had been laughing uncontrollably for days.
Queen frowned, puzzled.
"What's going on? Did he finally figure out a way to kill himself?"
King shook his head.
"No. He's been staring at Bai Yu's photo and laughing."
Queen scoffed.
"That's normal. Bai Yu has a fortune in gold. Boss must already think of it as his own."
"No, he's not looking at Shandora… he's looking at Bai Yu!"
"What?! What did you just say?!"
Queen's eyes bulged in shock.
"Boss Kaido… is interested in him?!"
What. The. Hell?!
Queen instinctively scooted away—after all, he was pretty handsome himself!
King sighed.
"Boss Kaido… do you want Bai Yu to join us?"
Kaido instinctively nodded—then shook his head, took a swig of sake, and grinned.
"Nah, he's a true tyrant. He won't submit. But damn it, he keeps shaking the world again and again—I like that!"
He grew more serious.
"The more I think about it, the more I realize… We don't have enough powerhouses for a proper top-tier war."
"Strong fighters are all arrogant bastards who refuse to bow to anyone. But without them, we can't start the war at full scale. It's a contradiction."
Kaido took another long drink.
Then, he grinned wider.
"But now… if I really think about it…"
"I've figured out a way!"
"The perfect way!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thank you for choosing this novel, visit us
And access the complete novel in PDF format : ko-fi.com/abrahamsmith1b