Inside the lavish royal palace of King Trux VI in the Kingdom of Toroa, chaos had broken out.
Countless pirates hurried in and out, hauling all kinds of chests and treasures, looking as if they meant to empty the entire palace.
On the throne, the highest seat of power in the kingdom, Enel sat back in satisfaction. Beside him, Erza, whose feet had transformed into jet-powered flamethrowers, flew happily around him while admiring the grand murals on the walls, none of which she understood.
Standing before them were five people.
Two of them belonged to the Thunder God pirate crew, the two High Priests personally appointed by Captain Enel. One was Griffin Cock, who handled administrative matters, including the operation of the entire pirate ship and scientific affairs. The other was Stuart Wiggins, who handled military affairs, including recruiting and training the crew's combatants, as well as joining battles himself.
The remaining three, all elderly men, had been chosen by the citizens of the Kingdom of Toroa themselves. They were the three most respected figures in the nation and were about to become its new leaders.
Since the Thunder God pirate crew would soon be leaving, Enel had his subordinates summon the three of them so he could give them his final instructions.
"So, we'll be leaving this afternoon. This country will be returned to you, and as payment, we'll be taking these treasures. Any objections?"
"Of course not, Enel-sama. That is only right."
The three old men, very aware of the situation, answered in unison.
Enel nodded in satisfaction, then glanced at Griffin Cock beside him. The somewhat inexperienced Cock understood at once and took a square box from his pocket. It had a small screen on it, with a large spiral shell attached to the back.
Only then did Enel explain.
"This is a communication tool unique to our Rainbow Kingdom: the Telephone Shell. We won't take your kingdom's treasures for nothing. If any fools come to cause trouble in this country in the future, you can use this to contact us. Of course, we can also use it to contact you."
The three old men were overjoyed and carefully accepted the Telephone Shell.
"Thank you so much, Enel-sama!"
"Alright. If there's nothing else, you may leave. We'll depart this afternoon. This country will be in your hands from now on."
"Then we will take our leave!"
As the three old men shuffled away with nervous, unsteady steps, Erza, who had been flying nearby, looked at Enel with stars in her eyes. Clenching her little fist, she said excitedly, "Enel-sama, you're becoming more and more impressive!"
Enel, who had looked completely calm until then, flushed faintly at Erza's praise. To be honest, though, it felt unexpectedly nice.
He turned to the two men beside him and asked, "Cock, have you finished counting the treasures in this country's royal palace?"
"Yes, Enel-sama. The total value of the treasures in this country's royal palace comes to 13.4 billion Belly..."
"That really is a lot... This should be our biggest haul in the past three months. I didn't expect such a poor country to have so much money..."
Stuart Wiggins, who had a panda-like head, spoke from the side with undisguised disgust.
"Maybe that's exactly why this country is so poor..."
Everyone immediately looked as if they had realized something.
Enel stood up as well and looked down at the extravagantly luxurious throne he had just been sitting on.
"It isn't comfortable at all!"
After complaining, he turned back to Cock and asked, "How is the nautical chart coming along?"
Cock seemed a little nervous, but his voice was steady as he answered, "Three months is still too short. We could only draw a rough nautical chart, marking the approximate locations and cultural conditions of these countries. And that was with the help of a team of more than a hundred people. If only we could make a trip to Ohara. It has the largest collection of books in the world."
Enel shook his head and said thoughtfully, "To avoid alerting the World Government, we'll stay away from Ohara for now. But Yemu said it won't be long before he goes there himself..."
"Mm."
Once Cock's report was finished, Enel turned to Stuart Wiggins and asked with a hint of excitement, "Wiggins, are there many people in this country willing to join our pirate crew?"
"Reporting to Captain Enel, there are many. This country already sees us as saviors. However, after a simple screening, only a little over a hundred meet the requirements... Fortunately, a few of them have excellent potential..."
"Is that so? In that case, my plan to recruit priests can more or less begin... Pass down the order. Before the Reverie ends, I will choose the eight most outstanding pirates from everyone who has joined our Thunder God pirate crew. They will become the Eight Priests of the Thunder God pirate crew, and each of the Eight Priests will receive a Devil Fruit as a reward..."
Stuart Wiggins was startled, but then he too grew excited.
"Understood. I'll give the order. A reward like a Devil Fruit will definitely make everyone give it their all..."
"Ah... Once all eight Priest positions are filled, we can begin the grand plan..."
As he said this, Enel's eyes flashed with excitement...
...
The North Blue, Kingdom of Flevance.
Beneath the white, dreamlike city lay countless suffering and darkness.
In order to squeeze the last bit of profit from Amber Lead before the country vanished completely, the mining never stopped.
Even though Amber Lead Disease had already spread through the entire country, afflicting nearly half the population, and even though the seas around the nation were shrouded in the clouds of war, with other countries invading from time to time, the mining of Amber Lead continued. In fact, it only grew worse.
On the surface, the blockade of this country seemed to have nothing to do with the Marines or the World Government. The ones sealing it off were the neighboring countries, who coveted its wealth and wanted to start a war. The World Government warships stationed in the surrounding seas, on the other hand, appeared to be protecting them.
But as time went on, more and more people began to wake up to the truth.
Those warships had not come to protect them. They were there only to protect the island's Amber Lead mines and the World Government's transport ships.
Ship after ship loaded with Amber Lead ore and Amber Lead products was safely transported away without being attacked. Meanwhile, any citizen of Flevance who tried to leave by sea was attacked without exception.
At the same time, secret agents dressed in black suits entered the country, took control of nearly every important institution, and continued to cover up the truth about Amber Lead Disease.
At this point, if the citizens of the Kingdom of Flevance still couldn't tell that something was wrong, then they really would have been fools...
They had tried to resist, but anyone who did vanished in secret the very next day, leaving not a trace behind.
The entire nation was trapped beneath the shadow of white terror, until three months ago, when a turning point appeared...