Grand Line, Drum Kingdom.
[Knock, knock, knock]
Dr. Kureha heard the heavy knocking and shifted her gaze away from the treatment report on Platinum Lead Disease patients on her desk.
"Come in."
"Dr. Kureha."
The person who entered was none other than Zed, the former Marine Admiral, who had only arrived here a few days ago but had already started his treatment. Kureha glanced at the clock hanging on the wall and looked at him with a puzzled expression.
"Isn't it a bit early for the daily check-up? Or has your asthma flared up again?"
"No, ever since I started taking the medicine you prescribed, I haven't had any trouble breathing these past few days," Zed replied with a smile as he sat down in the chair across from the desk.
"The reason I'm here is to let you know that in a few days, when King Arnold heads to Mary Geoise, I'd like to personally take charge of his escort. The round trip will probably take about half a month, so I wanted to inform you in advance."
Zed's tone was filled with respect for Dr. Kureha, partly because of her exceptional medical skills.
The doctors at Marine Headquarters had previously told him that his asthma couldn't be cured, but after coming here, she had said it could be completely treated, though it would require a three-month process. The results over the past few days had indeed been promising.
The only downside was being forbidden from drinking alcohol or smoking, which was quite a challenge.
The second reason for his respect was her age—115 years old. She was undoubtedly an elder, and out of respect, he refrained from using the term "old man" to refer to himself.
Dr. Kureha asked in confusion, "Why do you want to personally escort him? As far as I remember, during the previous Levely, Marine Headquarters would send a warship and an officer. To be honest, I'm not in favor of you interrupting your treatment for half a month. It will only prolong your recovery time."
"To express my gratitude for your treatment, I wanted to do something to repay you in some way. Coincidentally, King Arnold is attending the Levely, so I thought I'd do something for the Drum Kingdom," Zed explained with a smile.
However, Dr. Kureha wasn't having it and bluntly replied, "What does thanking me have to do with that little guy Arnold? I'm not familiar with him!"
"Besides, you've already paid the full medical fee. You don't owe me anything, and I don't need any extra repayment from you. But as long as you're my patient, you must follow my instructions!"
"So, as for your request, I'm not allowing it. A patient's first duty is to listen to their doctor and focus on getting better!"
She didn't care about Zed's status at all and simply treated him as an ordinary patient from a doctor's perspective. This left the well-meaning Zed feeling rather awkward.
"Alright, since you're already here, let's start today's check-up early so you can get back to training your students as soon as possible," Dr. Kureha said as she stood up.
"Hahaha, no rush there! Those kids are currently swimming around the island in the winter. It'll take them hours to finish!" Zed laughed heartily, showing no sign of annoyance.
"Dr. Kureha, you mentioned before that the medicine I'm taking only alleviates the symptoms of my asthma. The current medication targets the chronic inflammation in my airways and has a soothing effect. Later, I'll need surgery to fully cure it, right?"
"Yes, yes, my condition is in your hands. I'll follow your instructions completely!"
Fish-Man Island, Ryugu Castle.
"Your Majesty, when are we setting off for Mary Geoise?"
Queen Otohime, with her beautiful golden hair, felt both nervous and excited. After all, she was about to deliver a speech in front of fifty kings, and it might determine whether the proposal would pass or not.
King Neptune, with his massive frame and orange-red fur, lowered his head and explained gently, "We are the closest to the land, so we don't need to leave early. We can just go on the day the Levely begins. How is your speech preparation going?"
It was somewhat strange. As Queen Otohime's husband and the king of Fish-Man Island, he had been refused the chance to hear her speech in advance.
Queen Otohime's reasoning was that she wanted to pour all her passion into this speech to maximize its impact, so she couldn't rehearse it beforehand.
"There's no problem. I will give my all for the future of the Fish-men!" Queen Otohime declared, her chest puffed out and her eyes filled with determination as she looked at King Neptune.
"Good, then I'll leave it to you."
"Yes!"
Meanwhile, in the East Blue's Goa Kingdom, the West Blue's Ilusia Kingdom, the Flower Kingdom, the South Blue's Yanad Kingdom, the North Blue's Germa Kingdom, and many other kingdoms with seats at the Levely, the kings, accompanied by a small number of guards, boarded their royal ships and headed toward the peak of the Red Line Continent after the Marine Headquarters' warships arrived.
The kings from the first and second halves of the Grand Line had it slightly easier, not needing to set out so early, but they could already sense that this year's Levely would be anything but ordinary.
The World Government's actions this year had been far too conspicuous.
It had long since stirred worry, caution, and anticipation among many. Now, all the undercurrents and overt waves were converging toward Mary Geoise, the Holy Land atop the Red Line Continent! Inside Pangaea Castle, the mastermind behind this storm of events was, unusually, not enjoying a game on the court but sitting alone in the Tree House within the Chamber of the Moon, staring intently at the empty air.
From an outsider's perspective, that's how it appeared.
But for Imu himself, what he saw were lines of explanatory text spread across a translucent background filled with starlight. This was the latest prompt he had discovered upon waking up this morning.
Compared to the previous introductions, this explanation seemed more like a complete version.
However, judging from the displayed date, it had appeared the day after he activated the first Stargate. The Starmap had given no audible prompt, causing him to notice it a few days late.
This reminded Imu that he should check the Starmap every day from now on. Otherwise, its complete silence made it easy to overlook certain information.
"In addition to gaining the authority to open a small Stargate leading to a random planet every year, every third year, besides the usual small Stargate, you can upgrade one of the three small Stargates to a medium-sized Stargate."
"In the tenth year, besides the usual small Stargate, you can also upgrade one of the three medium-sized Stargates to a large Stargate."
"A medium-sized Stargate is three hundred meters tall and two hundred meters wide, while a large Stargate is thirty thousand meters tall and twenty thousand meters wide."
At this point, Imu could see it clearly—this was a blatant temptation to launch a large-scale interstellar invasion.
Previously, he had thought that the small Stargate, which was three meters high and two meters wide, was too small. It would take a long time for a large troop to pass through, and large vehicles or warships simply couldn't fit.
However, this medium-sized Stargate was completely different. Even the Giant Tribe and smaller-sized Sea Kings could easily pass through.
In addition, it was explained in detail here that he had specific control over the Stargate.
He could freely adjust the opening and closing of the Stargate, freely adjust its position, and freely observe its surroundings. The observation range depended on the level of the Stargate.
The small Stargate had a range of a hundred meters, the medium-sized one had a range of a kilometer, and the large one had a range of ten kilometers.
When operating it, he only needed to issue a mental command.
However, when adjusting the Stargate, he could only do so from one side.
For example, if he was on Planet Hoshi (Pirate Planet) and opened the Stargate on the field below, on the opposite world, the Stargate would appear on the sea.
If he wanted to move the Stargate to the Marine Headquarters, he only needed to have its concept, location, and specific image in his mind, and he could directly deploy the Stargate there.
But the position of the Stargate in the opposite world would still be on the sea. If he wanted to change it to a location outside the observation range, he would need to personally pass through the Stargate to the other world and then adjust the Stargate's position in that world.
"And this Core Star Gate!"
Imu was most interested in this. Although the Core Star Gate could only appear near him, it allowed him to freely enter and exit other opened Stargates without needing to find the corresponding Stargate like others would have to when there were many Stargates.
"This is convenient. Otherwise, when there are more people, wouldn't we have to queue up?" As soon as he said this, he couldn't help but laugh at himself.