Chapter 171

Title: Fire... (2)

....

Blood was scattered all around, the whole cabin was riddled with the scent of human flesh.

Amon was standing still with his hands down, blood dripping from the tip of his left palm.

"Ugh, I dirtied my hands," Amon grunted with an annoyed face.

He glanced at the dead body under his feet. It was Wapol, the idiotic King of Drum Kingdom.

"What a waste." Amon shook his head lightly. The first option was to ask Wapol to leave the Kingdom respectfully, but he didn't recognise Amon so he rather tried to attack him. Amon killed him out of annoyance, not that it mattered.

Amon then looked around the room. There were other people around the room, royal guards lying all around. Amon ordered looking at one of them, "Hey, take this body and throw it in the forest, the least we can do is feed the poor animals."

The guard that was kneeling against a wall shuddered to hear this. Amon frowned, "Do you not hear me?"

Immediately the guard shot up with a gulp. "W-will you spare my life if I do as you say?"

Amon smiled sweetly, it looked frightening because of the blood on his face. "Of course, I don't gain anything from killing you guys. You will live and serve a king that I will choose myself. Just don't think of anything too smart, alright?"

After a short gulp, the guard nodded fiercely and shakily walked closer to Amon and the dead body. He picked the body up with all his strength and hastily walked away, leaving behind Amon and many other guards.

Meanwhile, Amon felt a slight tingle on the bag on his side. He already brought a fruit that should be compatible with Munch-Munch fruit(Wapol's fruit) that he identified from the DF Encyclopedia. It seems the fruit successfully reincarnated.

'I don't have anyone in mind who I can give this fruit to. Since it's more destructive than useful since the user becomes so hungry that he starts eating even bricks and trees. Not really useful.' Amon concluded and decided to stash this fruit for later, maybe he can make a deal with someone with this? Who knows.

He just shook his head then, next glancing at another guard. "Oi, where is Dr. Kureha's house?"

In the anime, she lived in this castle, but since Wapol is still here this time, she didn't get the chance to move here.

The guard Amon asked pointed his shaky hands towards the east as Amon closed his eyes. He focused on his observation of Haki, as he could clearly everything see even with closed eyes. Then as if a videogame, he moved his vision towards the east as he located a small house.

'Got it.' Amon mumbled in his mind as he opened his eyes. He looked at the guard again, "I heard there is a dude named Dalro... Dalton here?"

The guard nodded in fright. "He is imprisoned..."

"Hm, take me to him," Amon ordered with his eyes gleaming.

-

—

-

Dalton was the General of this Kingdom. He used to serve the previous King, Wapol's father. But after the previous King's death, and when Wapol started to eat up the kingdom from inside, Dalton opposed him.

In the end, he was defeated by Wapol and imprisoned in the jail underground of the Drum Castle.

Today Dalton was living his usual life, but something was amiss. He hasn't been given his breakfast yet.

Sitting against the wall, Dalton was staring at the floor with a dazed look. 'So they finally decided to stop my food supply...'

He sighed and started to mourn over the previous King's death.

He had no idea that a catastrophe happened in the Castle, he didn't know the guards had no chance to give him the food.

Just when he was about to release his third sigh, footsteps entered the prison as he looked ahead.

*Creak*

The sound of the prison hall's gate opening entered his ears, he guessed it was time for breakfast, but he quickly cancelled that possibility after hearing something more.

"S-sir, he is here..." Dalton heard the familiar voice of one of the guards as his interest grew to realise his stutter.

Soon, two figures walked out of the corner and stood in front of Dalton's cell. It took him a while to make up the faces of the visitors because of the sudden light from the opened door.

Gradually, Dalton's eyes grew as he looked at the tall man in front of him. He recognised him because this man used to work for the previous King as a bounty hunter before.

"Is that you... Mister Lucifer?" Dalton asked, barely uttering those words.

Mister Lucifer, Amon, grinned. "That's me."

«...★...»

Amon's plan was simple. To hire Kureha, he needs to make her feel grateful to him since she is the type of doctor who won't serve a single person.

The best way to do that was to defeat Wapol, and then let the news travel all around the Kingdom. With the help of the guards, no more than a few hours would be needed for that to happen.

Currently, Amon was standing on the edge of one of the tall rocks, beside Dalton who had eaten his food.

"Mister bounty hunter... did you really kill King Wapol?" He asked with a frown. Yes, Wapol was a bad man, but he was still the son of the man he vowed his loyalty to.

His next line sounded a bit more agitative, "Did someone hire you to do this?!"

Amon shook his head and slid his hands into his pocket, taking out a newspaper.

He handed it to Dalton. "Read that."

Dalton accepted it out of intuition as his eyes grew reading the headline. It was an old newspaper, talking about the 5th Emperor.

"You probably didn't know this since you were imprisoned, but I am not a mere bounty hunter anymore," Amon said with an indifferent look, his eyes locked at the horizon. "Anyway, what I am trying to say is – forget about Wapol. He was not the guy you vowed loyalty to, besides he was a terrible king."

Reading the newspaper with Shaky hands, Dalton understood there was nothing he could do to Amon even if he wanted. So to please his morals, he accepted his excuse. 'He was a terrible king, indeed. It's not a bad thing that he was killed...'

Reading his thoughts, Amon praised himself in his mind and chuckled, turning around.

"So, now that the King is dead, I have a better candidate for the throne, and no, it's not the current Prince," Amon said looking at Dalton's eyes. "I am sure you know who I am talking about."

Dalton took a few seconds to understand what he meant as his eyes grew large. "You want me to be a king?! But I am-"

Amon interrupted him. "I am sure you are good for it. When I was a bounty hunter and worked for the previous king, you left a good impression on me." Amon patted his shoulders. "I trust you."

Though he did say all those sugary lines, in truth he just wanted him to be a king since he became the King in canon. Amon was too lazy to look for someone else.

"In exchange, this area would be my territory. No pirate crew would dare attack this place, rest assured."

Dalton stared at his face for a few seconds before he made a resolved look. "I will not disappoint you. You are right, this country needs a better king."

Amon laughed. "Indeed."

«...★...»

It took a few hours for the news to get around the whole Kingdom. Now, most people of the island were gathered around one of the towns with Dalton standing above a platform.

"Everyone, as you have heard, the heinous ruler Wapol has been killed! Finally, God has turned his eyes towards us! He is giving us the chance to redeem ourselves, to stand up on our own again. We will..."

While Dalton started to sprout motivational lines, Amon started to look around the crowd. After minutes of searching, he finally found the old woman, Kureha.

'So she has come here to see who the new King was too, huh.' Amon thought while chewing gum.

"So I have volunteered myself to become the next King, what do you say everyone?!" Dalton announced, and after a short silence, everyone cheered his name in unison. Dalton had a good reputation with the citizens, so they didn't mind seeing him as the king.

While they cheered though, Kureha just turned around and walked away, going towards her house.

Amon stared at her back as she left the crowd.

-

—

-

·Kureha Pov·

I walked far from the crowd towards my sleigh. I was about to step on top of the vehicle as someone called from behind.

"Wait!"

With a frown, I sighed. 'What the hell now? Today is not my workday, I would refuse if he wants medical help.'

Deciding this, I turned around but the unfamiliar face puzzled me. I am the only doctor who civilians can see, so I know most of the people on this island, and I was certain he is not from here.

It was a young man who looked like he was in his 20s. Shoulder-length long hair, crimson eyes, and a black jacket. He had a handsome but cute face too, though that's not important now.

I asked, "What is it, brat? Today is not workday, so I won't be able to help." Still, thinking he was just a traveller, I answered him, hoping he would not bother me again.

However, his next words caused me to widen my eyes.

"I am no Brat, I am an Emperor of the sea, the 5th Emperor. I am here to ask you to work for me, Dr. Kureha." The young man said with an amicable smile on his face.

I frowned. 'The 5th Emperor?' Now that I think about it, he does look like that kid. I recognised him since he is pretty famous around this time.

'He wants me to work for him...?' It was a pretty interesting offer. To be honest, I was having double thoughts if I should reject him or not.

'Sigh, to think my old bones still looks for adventure.' I just shook my head. I am not sure where he got the news of me, since I am not really that famous of a doctor, but this makes me feel good.

Yet, "Sorry kid, I, as a doctor, can't restrict myself to serve only one person. My morals won't allow that." I said truthfully, keeping a respectable tone. The Emperors are quite easily angered, I heard.

The young man stayed silent for a while before he shook his head. "I am not offering you to become my exclusive doctor. You can obviously do your job as a doctor with others beside me. My Kingdom has quite the population, you are free to help anyone you want there."

'?' I was a little surprised. I didn't think the offer would be this generous. My only problem with working under someone is they would force me to help any other person besides him.

To be honest, this was not a bad proposal. My ego wants me to join an Emperor's army, it would be fun. But- "That's a good proposal, but it sudden for me to decide it."

I have to reject him. I still have one job left to do, to make cheery blossom bloom on this island. But rather than outright reject him, I will just reject him tomorrow.

As I said this, the young man nodded. "It's fine, take your time. I also have some time to do. Dalton asked me for a favour, he said it would be nice if this cold weather was gone." He grinned. "And I am good at changing weather, you see."

....What?

I was shocked and... somewhat hopeful.

«...★...»

–General Pov–

Meanwhile, Wyper's group had reached the Germa Kingdom. It was a few kilometres large and was floating in the sea.

The 10 ships had the Kingdom surrounded as Wyper stood at the edge of one of the ships.

Urouge was standing beside Wyper too. Tsumi and Urouge were the only Birkans who came to this expedition, and they were strong.

The Canon Urouge had the power to take down Snack, one of the Sweet Commanders. The current Urouge was stronger because of Amon's influence, he can even match Wyper's strength after stocking up enough 'Karma'.

Urouge had one job, to do crowd control. Germa 66 has around 10,000 soldiers overall. Although the soldiers were weaker than God's Army, with their weapons, they could match them. So to suppress them, a tank-like Urouge is needed.

Wyper was the main power of this mission, he plans to take on the Royal family on his own. He wants to test himself.

'If I die, it's because of my own failure.' Wyper thought as he clenched his black spear. This spear is made with a special material that Amon found in space. It can bear the heat around 40,000° C for a few hours before melting. It would be his main weapon for this expedition.

Whoosh!

As Wyper was thinking to himself, a red blur appeared in the air above his head.

Wyper instinctively raised his hand as the red blur, Ichiji, kicked his face.

Bam!

Wyper blocked it as a grin appeared on his face

The other party, Ichiji, was also grinning. "Oy, Fire Fist, is that all you got?"

Wyper didn't respond as he flipped his spear and jabbed towards Ichiji. "Talk for yourself, chilli bastard!"

Ichiji swiftly dodged the spear by bending his waist, but Wyper then raised his other arm, his fist, towards his face.

Fwa!

Before Ichiji could react, fire surrounded Wyper's fist as he swung it toward's his chest, hitting him and throwing meters in the air.

"FIRE FIST!"

**

**

**

[Read 15+ chapters before release in P.A.T.R.E.O.N]–

Link: Patreon.com/Master4thWall