One-Punch Man in the One Piece World

Chapter 128 The Expanding Kingdom

The news of Ace joining the Kingdom of Norton took up an entire page in Morgans' newspaper.

The newspapers spread to every corner of the new world within three days. The reaction was more intense than expected.

"Fire Fist Ace went too?"

"The white-bearded man actually released them?"

The chatter in the bar never stopped from morning till night.

But there was less hostility in those voices than expected.

More than anything, it's curiosity, observation, and a kind of cautious, tentative excitement.

The city of Nestad was completely unaware of these discussions.

Or rather, even if they knew, they wouldn't care.

The port remains busy.

People come and go on the pier, and the sweat of the porters mixed with seawater left dark wet stains on the wooden planks.

In the distance, chimneys belched smoke from the workshops, black and white smoke mingling together, dispersed by the sea breeze, and then gathering again in a hazy gray fog at a higher altitude.

Ace officially moved into the 0th Division's residence on a sweltering afternoon.

The garrison was located in the north of the city, near the royal palace, and was originally an open space where animal-repelling wood was piled up.

Fu Ning and her team of boatmen spent five days building a row of wooden houses with bluish-gray stone foundations, silver-gray wooden plank walls, and roofs covered with thick palm leaves.

It's not particularly grand, but it's big enough to accommodate two hundred people.

The next morning, a queue formed at the entrance of the camp.

They weren't former members of the Spade Pirates—those people had already rejoined the crew.

They are new faces.

An unfamiliar, young face with a burning light in its eyes.

They came from Fishman Island, came from the first half of the Grand Line, and escaped from outside the Navy's blockade.

The name "Fire Fist" carries more weight in the New World than Norton had anticipated.

Diuss stood at the entrance of the camp, holding a pen and a crumpled notebook, writing down the names one by one.

"Nine hundred and forty-seven people." His voice was hoarse when he read out the last number.

Ace leaned against the courtyard wall, watching the new faces settling in.

"The 0th Division has a strength of five hundred men," Deus said, a hint of weariness in his voice. "Now it's almost double that."

"Then let's expand it," Ace said. "Norton said that there's no limit to the number of members in the 0th Division."

Deus opened his mouth, as if to say something, but seeing the smile on Ace's lips, he swallowed his words. He lowered his head and opened the fourth notebook.

"Next."

It was expected that some people would disagree with Ace.

The first one to step forward was Gold. He stood in the center of the training field, arms crossed, chin slightly raised, sizing up Ace with the look of someone scrutinizing prey.

"Fire Fist, I heard you couldn't even withstand a single move from Whitebeard?"

The training ground fell silent for a moment.

The pirates who were swinging their swords and kicking all stopped what they were doing and their eyes fell on Ace.

"Want to give it a try?" Ace put his hands in his pockets and walked towards the open space in the center of the training field.

Gold gritted his teeth, slammed his right foot into the ground, and charged towards Ace like a cannonball! His fist, accompanied by a whistling sound, aimed straight for Ace's face!

Ace didn't dodge, but just tilted his head slightly, letting the punch graz his ear, then raised his right hand, spread his fingers, and pressed it on Gold's chest.

It was a very light touch, as light as patting an old friend on the shoulder.

But Gold felt a warm force coming from those five fingers... and the temperature instantly became scorching.

Gold was lifted off the ground and slid backward for seven or eight meters, his feet carving two deep furrows in the mud before he could barely regain his footing.

"Your domineering aura is pretty good," Ace said, looking at him. "But it's not quite there yet. I'll teach you starting tomorrow."

From that day on, no one questioned Ace anymore.

It wasn't because of the power of his palm strike—although that power was indeed astonishing.

It was because of his attitude. He didn't use his power to oppress anyone, nor did he flaunt even the slightest bit of his strength in front of anyone.

He simply stood there, letting his abilities speak for themselves, and then proved through his actions that he was willing to teach, willing to share, and willing to impart all his knowledge to those who were willing to learn.

Gold was the first to submit.

Then came the second, the third, the tenth, the twentieth...

One by one, the old pirates fell silent and lowered their heads.

The number of people in the 0th Division began to expand at an alarming rate.

Ace leaned against the courtyard wall, looking at the sea of ​​dark heads in the yard.

"This is no longer the size of a squadron," Deus said. "It's an independent fleet."

"Then manage it according to the size of the fleet. Divide it into squads and appoint squad leaders. Promote those who are capable and train those who are not."

Diuss nodded and opened the eighth notebook.

The Kingdom of Norton is expanding at an almost greedy, insatiable pace.

The population of Nestad City surged again in the third week after Ace joined. Rows of wooden houses stretched outwards from the foot of the city walls, like some kind of vigorous vine, enclosing more and more land within the winding walls.

"It needs to be expanded."

Funing sat in the chair next to Norton, a newly drawn planning map spread out in front of her. The map was densely marked with the locations of roads, houses, warehouses, and workshops in charcoal, the lines intersecting like an intricate spider web.

The city expansion order was issued that afternoon.

The wording was very cautious—"The new town plan has been finalized, and those who wish to participate in the construction of the new town will be given priority in housing allocation."

There were no threats, no coercion, and not much incitement. It was simply stating a fact: the city was overflowing and needed to expand outwards.

But those who had come from all over the world, those who had been crammed into makeshift tents for more than half a month, couldn't wait any longer. Ten times more people signed up than expected.

That evening, the first pioneering team set off.

Three hundred people, twenty oxcarts, fully loaded with planks, nails, ropes and tools for driving away animals.

The caravan advanced inland along the gentle slope south of the city, the wheels crunching over the thick layer of fallen leaves with a soft, rustling sound.

A low roar came from the distant dense forest, like some ancient, awakened thing issuing a warning.

The first new city was erected six days later.

Three rows of wooden houses, a well, and a wall that is not yet fully closed.

But those who came from Nestadt, standing on the cleared land, looked at the new houses that exuded the distinctive scent of the wood, and their eyes shone with an almost pious light.

Construction on the second new city began on the twelfth day. This time, it was on a larger scale.

Five hundred people and fifty oxcarts continued south along the first new town and stopped by a stream flowing down from the mountain.

The third new city broke ground on the twentieth day.

Then came the fourth, the fifth, the sixth... those new cities were like beads strung together by a newly paved gravel road that stretched from Nestad all the way to the edge of the dense forest.

Newly cultivated farmland stretched along both sides of the road, the dark brown soil turned up and gleaming glistening in the sunlight. The first batch of seeds had already been sown.

And Nestadt, the original town built of animal-repelling wood and bluestone, has now become a real city.

New ships dock every day.

Every day, new faces squeeze into this increasingly crowded city.

Kro's ledgers went through one after another. Nami's abacus jingled non-stop from morning till night. Funing's blueprints piled up all over the table.

Norton simply sat by the window on the second floor of the palace, watching all of this.

Occasionally, someone would come to ask for instructions.

"Admiral, we're running out of timber in the Third New City. Should we get some from Nestadt?"

"Adjust."

"A small iron ore deposit has been discovered in the Fifth New City. Should we start mining now?"

"open."

"The monsters in the forest have been getting increasingly restless lately, and Captain El said we might need to send more men."

"Send him to find Enel."

The expansion was happening faster than expected, so fast that even Kro was starting to feel uneasy.

"The population has already surpassed half a million." He placed the latest statistics table in front of Norton. "At this rate, it will reach six hundred thousand next month. Food rations can no longer be obtained through robbery and purchase. We need our own farmland and pastures."

"Continue with the land reclamation."

"The monster beyond the dense forest"

"Let Ace handle it; his flames are perfect for dealing with those things."

Kro nodded and turned to leave.

"Cloth".

He stopped and turned around.

Norton looked at him, a faint smile playing on his lips.

"Don't be too nervous, this island is big enough."

Kro looked at that smile, nodded two seconds later, and pushed open the door to leave.

The clearing operation in the dense forest went more smoothly than expected.

Ace's flames slithered among the giant trees like a living, orange-red serpent.

It licked the tree trunks, which turned to ash in seconds; it swept across the ground, burning the thick layer of fallen leaves into a scorched plain; it burrowed into the nests hidden deep in the tree roots, where the monsters didn't even have time to scream before being roasted into shriveled, smoking remains by the intense heat.

The operation lasted for two weeks.

The monsters emerging from the depths of the dense forest were becoming more numerous and larger.

Ace's flames were blocked for the first time on the fourth day.

It was a colossal beast covered in jet-black scales, its body the size of a small mountain, and its four eyes glowing a ghostly green in the darkness.

When the flames touched its body, the scales only turned slightly red, like a hot iron plate, but never melted.

Ace didn't speak, but just looked at the giant beast, at its four eerie green eyes, and at the three rows of inward-curving fangs that were revealed when it opened its mouth.

He charged forward, leaping onto the giant beast's head. His right fist, wrapped in a layer of blazing white fire, was drawn to his waist, and he slammed it down. The scales shattered, and scalding fluid gushed out, splashing onto his arm with a hissing sound.

The behemoth let out a deafening roar, its massive body crashing to the ground, shaking the earth and sending dust billowing into the air.

The crackdown is ongoing.

On the fifth day, another giant, scaled beast emerged from the depths of the dense forest.

By the end of the second week, the dense forest south of the city had been burned into a scorched earth strip several kilometers wide.

From above, it looks like a hideous, still-smoking scar, stretching across the depths of the dense forest.

"That's enough." El stood at the edge of the scorched earth, looking at the still churning, dark canopy of trees in the distance. "Any further in is their lair."

Ace stood beside him, a bloody scratch on his face from a tree branch, his lips chapped, and his eyes sunken.

But his eyes were still bright.

"To be continued tomorrow."

Al turned his head. "You haven't had a break for two weeks."

"Need not."

El remained silent for a few seconds, then did not try to persuade him further.

"Fire Fist, do you know why there are more and more monsters?"

Ace was stunned for a moment.

"Because of our expansion, they are retreating, but there is a limit to retreating. If we push them any further in, they will have no way to retreat. A beast with no way to retreat is the most dangerous."

Ace stood there, watching the tall figure disappear into the twilight.

In the distance, deep within the dense forest, something was growling, like muffled thunder rising from the depths of the earth, making one's chest tremble.

That was a warning.

Construction on the seventh new city began on the thirtieth day.

No one knows what this land will look like in three months.

Those who squatted on the edge of the field, pressing the seeds one by one into the soil, had an almost pious light in their eyes.

But deep in those dense forests where the light doesn't reach, the air is becoming heavy.

Al was the first to notice something was wrong. That evening, he led a patrol along the edge of the scorched earth.

After walking for less than half an hour, Luhanna under his crotch suddenly stopped, his ears perked up, and a low, uneasy whimper came from his throat.

Elle pulled on the reins and listened intently.

The wind blew in from deep within the dense forest, carrying the damp scent of decaying leaves and earth.

In that rustling, continuous sound of the trees, he heard something else.

It wasn't a roar, it wasn't a hiss, it wasn't even any sound he could recognize.

It was a rhythm, a slow, heavy rhythm, like a heartbeat.

It wasn't the heartbeat of one monster. It was the heartbeat of many. Many, many more.

Their heartbeats overlap, resonate, and amplify at a certain frequency, turning into a low-frequency hum that makes the air vibrate slightly.

A chill suddenly ran down Al's back.

"Go back! Everyone, go back!"

The patrol team turned around and quickly walked back along the route they had come from.

Luhan ran very fast, his hooves making a rapid clattering sound on the gravel road, which carried far into the twilight.

El was the last to return to the camp. Standing by the fence, he glanced back at the dense forest shrouded in twilight. The treetops swayed in the wind, like a breathing, dark green sea.

But he knew it wasn't breathing. It was waiting.

Meanwhile, in the Holy Land of Mary Geoise.

The latest newspaper was spread out on the table in front of the Five Elders.

"Fire Fist went too." Jaigolusia Satan's voice was as cold as ice. "Whitebeard sent people. This is..."

Is it a sign of weakness or a gesture of goodwill?

No one can answer.

"The island's population has exceeded half a million."

Marcus Mazsan flipped through the intelligence summary in front of him.

"It's still growing at a rate of thousands of people per week. Farmland is being cultivated, mines are going into production, and ports are being expanded. Give them another six months, and this island will become a real country... a country founded by pirates."

"We can't let it grow too big," Topman Vochuli said firmly.

"How can we stop it?" Nassuro asked in return.

Silence is like a wall, pressing down on everyone's chest.

"Let's put a bounty on him," Jaigolusia Satan sighed. "Raise Norton's bounty to six billion. Let the whole world know that he's a criminal more dangerous than Whitebeard, more dangerous than Kaido, more dangerous than any other pirate."

"and then?"

We can only wait.

""

The following morning, supplements from the World Economic News Agency were distributed to every corner of the world.

[The Demon King has a bounty of six billion! Surpassing the Four Emperors, he has reached the pinnacle of the world's bounty!]

Six billion!

This number is like a red-hot nail, driven into everyone's mind.

The port of Norton Kingdom remained bustling, with people coming and going on the pier, and the silver skull flag fluttering in the sea breeze. The new faces on the dock, who had just jumped off the ships, clutched newspapers crumpled by the sea wind, their eyes gleaming with awe.