When Fang Huo, that monstrous boss, appeared again, the apprentices dropped to their knees in terror.
"My lord! Please don't kill me!"'
Even though Fang Huo had returned to human form, the apprentices were still paralyzed with fear.
"Take the clock and go in!"'
Fang Huo summoned the Seven-Colored Space-Time Gate, pointed to an apprentice who was already holding his suitcase, and spoke calmly.
"My lord! No! Please no!!"'
The apprentice tried to flee in horror, but Fang Huo shoved the clock into his arms and kicked him onto the island inside the Lost World.
One hour later!
Fang Huo opened the Seven-Colored Space-Time Gate again and pulled the terrified apprentice back out.
"How long did you feel you were in there?"'
Fang Huo snatched the clock; barely a minute had passed on its face.
Why was the ratio back to roughly 1:50?
When he himself had entered and exited, almost no time had elapsed.
Yet when this apprentice went in, there was a time difference?
Could it be a problem with the time anchor?
By pulling the apprentice back from the real world, he had dragged him to this exact moment in time.
Fang Huo thought of Captain Witon, who had brought back his Assault Leader Ian—lost in the Lost World for fifty years—still youthful.
"My lord, I did nothing in there! I'd only just turned around when you pulled me out!"'
The apprentice knelt, trembling, eyes full of dread.
In the blink of an eye he'd been in a desolate place; after about a minute of adjusting, he was back inside the familiar Rainbow Tower before he could even explore.
"Shut up!"'
Fang Huo drew the seven star demon sword and took complete control of the apprentices.
"Go in again!"'
This time Fang Huo personally accompanied the apprentice into the Lost World.
Fifty minutes later they returned to the real world.
Sure enough, the clock the apprentices were holding outside had also ticked off fifty minutes.
"Damn it!"'
"Am I, as the master, unable to exploit this time bug?"'
Fang Huo was dumbfounded; could he only use the Lost World's space, never enjoy its time difference?
"No way! There has to be another method!"'
After some thought, he had an apprentice outside tie a rope to him and keep the Seven-Colored Space-Time Gate open.
He entered the Lost World for a minute, then had the apprentice yank him back out.
This time fifty real-world minutes had passed when he emerged.
"Damn, this is a complete waste of time!"'
"This reverse time difference is useless to me!"'
He was speechless; instead of buying cultivation time, the Lost World was just burning it away.
"Forget it! Having a pocket dimension is already amazing—can't get too greedy."'
With a sigh, Fang Huo consoled himself that the place was still perfect for imprisoning enemies.
Food stayed fresh in there as well.
Lock a foe inside for a month and over four years would pass outside.
In four years he could grow far stronger.
Anyone trapped in the Lost World would experience something akin to the Time-Time Fruit's time-leap ability.
A single year could catapult them fifty years into the future.
"This time-anchor paradox…"'
Once he accepted it, he stopped obsessing over the issue.
"All right, you lot—get to work!"'
To keep the secret safe, he herded the apprentices—now under the seven star demon sword's control—straight into the Lost World.
Inside the Lost World.
Using his Gravity Ability, Fang Huo levitated most of the broken warships from the sea and drifted them onto the island.
Together with the apprentices he sorted the wrecks and scavenged quite a bit of treasure.
Over several days he used Gravity to tidy the ruined island and the Gulp-Gulp Fruit to fuse a few houses.
But for large-scale construction the Gulp-Gulp Fruit was still inadequate.
He'd have to capture that Cube-Cube Fruit user when he went hunting Byrnndi World and press the fellow into service as a builder.
Fang Huo didn't linger in the Lost World any longer.
He returned to the real world, leaving the apprentices behind.
When recruiting, he'd added the condition "orphans preferred."
So stranding these slightly greedy apprentices carried zero psychological burden.
··
"Staying on Ruruka Island so long must have made Rocks want to kill me!"'
Putting away the Seven-Colored Space-Time Gate, he smiled in satisfaction.
He took out the Permanent Log Pose for Jaya Island, soared into the sky, and vanished into the full moon.
After leaving Ruruka Island he pulled out a newly purchased transponder snail while still airborne.
"Fang Huo, you bastard! You finally bother to contact us!!"'
Rocks' furious roar burst from the transponder snail.
"Grand Line – Jaya Island!"'
"I'll wait for you all there!"'
Fang Huo stated flatly; with the Lost World in hand he was ready to empty Sky Island of its gold.
Most important were the Logia Rumble-Rumble Fruit and the poneglyph set in the Golden Bell.
Since a poneglyph was already on Sky Island, he couldn't be bothered to hunt for one in Alabasta's royal tomb.
Owning one block was basically enough!
"Jaya Island?"'
"Run off again and I'll break your damn legs!"'
Finally, Rocks stopped raging; as long as Fang Huo was safe, that was enough.
They'd wasted too much time in the Grand Line; it was nearly time to head back to the New World and try to recruit Harald of Elbaf.
"Gurarara! Fang Huo! My bounty's already passed yours, vice-captain!"'
"Even Linlin's bounty has overtaken you!"'
Whitebeard Newgate's booming laughter rang out, full of delight.
Nearly half a year of battle had let the Rocks Pirates' Executives grow tremendously!
"Newgate, no need to tell me—I'll speak to Fang Huo myself!"'
Charlotte Linlin's furious voice cut in, clutching the freshly printed bounty poster.
[Soul Queen] Charlotte Linlin – 888,000,000 Berries.
Her bounty had sky-rocketed, and her epithet had changed from iron balloon to Soul Queen.
Fang Huo, long unseen, remained at 880,000,000 Berries—Linlin had actually overtaken him.
[Whitebeard] Edward Newgate – 1,046,000,000 Berries.
Newgate became the second-highest bounty holder in the Rocks Pirates and, aside from Rocks himself, the first to break the billion-Berry mark.
"Vice-captain, hurry back and drink! My bounty's passed 500 million Berries!!"'
The Fishman Babel shouted excitedly into the transponder snail—he'd already made a name for himself on these seas.
Besides Babel, Fūgetsu Kisaburō, now a great swordmaster, had also soared past 500 million Berries, becoming another Great Pirate in the crew with a bounty above that mark!
---