After securing the coast, the Crimson Harvest pirates stormed deep into the island. Following York's strategic orders, the massive army soon split into three distinct vanguards.
One group, personally led by Kaido, advanced to the left towards the dense mountain ranges. According to him, there was a hidden settlement of his Oni tribe in that direction. His goal was to subjugate his tribesmen and recruit them into his personal division.
Another group, led by Dragon, advanced to the right toward the rolling hills. This sector contained the sprawling estates of the Vodka Kingdom's nobility. Dragon wanted to see with his own eyes if the nobles of this world were the same universally corrupt parasites, regardless of the nation they inhabited.
The main vanguard, of course, was led by York.
Under his direct command, Ginny, Kuma, Squadron Leader Magha, and 1,000 elite pirates marched straight down the central highway towards the Royal Capital.
A few small-scale ambushes erupted on the way to the city, but they were hardly worth mentioning. York didn't even have to draw his sword; Ginny, Kuma, and the colossal Magha alone effortlessly crushed any opposition that stood in their path.
Finally, in the mid-afternoon sun, York's vanguard successfully reached the towering outer walls of the Vodka Kingdom's Royal Capital.
The massive stone walls looked simple, devoid of any ornate decoration, but possessed a rugged, militaristic grandeur. Fully armed Royal Guards stood atop the battlements, gripping their weapons tightly.
Suddenly, a massive man wearing heavy, ornate armor—clearly the Supreme General of the capital's defense forces—leaped down from the high wall, landing with a heavy thud in the dirt just outside the closed city gates.
He pointed a massive halberd at York's vanguard and shouted loudly: "I heard Kaido came back! Where is he?! Does that coward dare to come out and face me?!"
The General beat his chest. "It is said that nine years ago, he was already the strongest warrior of this Kingdom! But he became a traitor because he selfishly refused to sacrifice himself for the country! Well, now I am the new strongest warrior of the Vodka Kingdom!"
"Bring him out!" the General roared. "I want to see who is truly stronger! The legend from nine years ago, or the monster of today?!"
York stood at the front of the pirate army, looking at the boastful commander. He had to admit, for a man to actively challenge the current Kaido to a one-on-one duel showed commendable, if suicidal, courage. York just didn't know if this was pure bravado to stall for time, or if the man truly had confidence in his own strength.
To test his sincerity, York stepped forward a few paces, leaving his cadres behind.
"Kaido is busy elsewhere," York said smoothly. "But I am his Captain. If you can defeat me, you can still prove to your men that you are stronger than the legend!"
The General grinned viciously upon hearing this. He immediately charged towards York with massive, earth-shaking strides.
"Hahaha! You fell for it! You foolish, arrogant pirate!!"
As he charged, the General's arm muscles swelled grotesquely. He was clearly a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit user. Thick Armament Haki instantly enveloped his massive fist.
He threw a devastating punch directly at York's face.
THUD!
The sheer displacement of air from the punch generated a shockwave that caused Ginny, Kuma, and Magha to involuntarily step back, shielding their eyes from the dust.
"Is that all?"
York's calm, disappointed voice rang out from directly behind the General's massive, Haki-coated fist.
The Vodka Kingdom General froze, absolutely stunned.
"Y-You're not dead?!" the General gasped.
"You didn't answer my question," York said, lowering his hand from where he had effortlessly caught the General's fist with his bare palm. "For someone who wanted to challenge Kaido to a death match... is the absolute limit of your strength really just this pathetic?"
"How is that possible?!" the General roared, desperately trying to pull his fist back. "How could you not be dead?! Even if you blocked it, your arm should be shattered!!"
The General still didn't answer York's question. He finally yanked his fist free and stumbled backward. Seeing York standing there without a single scratch, not even a drop of blood, the General's pupils dilated in sheer, unadulterated shock. He retreated several steps in disbelief.
York sighed softly, rubbing his temple.
"I thought I had encountered another hidden talent," York muttered in disappointment. "But it turns out you're just a fool."
Crack! Crack! Crack!
York slowly clenched his right hand, the sound of his knuckles popping echoing loudly in the dead silence.
"Let me show you how much force a punch should actually have!"
York didn't bother using his Devil Fruit or his Conqueror's Haki; this guy wasn't worthy of either.
Using pure, fundamental Armament Haki hardening, York vanished.
He reappeared above the General, slamming his fist down directly onto the top of the commander's skull.
CRASH!!
With just that single, casual strike, the General's head was driven straight into the dirt. The impact crater spider-webbed outward for ten meters. The Supreme Commander of the Vodka Kingdom immediately lost consciousness, buried up to his shoulders in the earth.
A collective, terrified gasp echoed from the thousands of defenders watching from the top of the city walls.
York exhaled softly, dusting off his knuckles. He muttered to himself, "My baseline physical strength may not be absolutely monstrous compared to freaks like Linlin, Kaido, or Garp... but it's more than enough for small fry like you."
With that, York drew his sword and waved it toward the towering gates of the Royal Capital.
"ATTACK!! Leave no noble alive! Burn their estates to the ground!!"
"WOOOOOOOO!!"
The Crimson Harvest pirates let out a passionate, bloodthirsty cheer. Although this vanguard was a charge of just over 1,000 men, under York's leadership, they exuded the terrifying momentum of a hundred-thousand-strong army.
The defenders on the city wall, having just witnessed their strongest General swatted down like a fly, immediately fell into sheer panic. With one side riding an absolute high of morale and the other in total disarray, the outcome of the siege was inevitable.
Watching the reinforced steel city gates fall in less than ten minutes, York stepped over the unconscious General, shaking his head.
"As a supreme commander, rashly rushing out alone to duel the enemy Captain is the absolute most foolish tactical move you can make," York mocked. "Unless you have the invincible strength to back it up. Unfortunately, you did not."
After breaching the gates, the once rigidly ordered Royal Capital immediately plunged into a sea of blood and chaos.
The vast majority of the pirates adhered strictly to the rules set by York at the beachhead: they completely ignored the commoners' dwellings, instead exclusively targeting the massive, luxurious mansions of the nobility and the wealthy elite.
After smashing down the gilded doors, they slaughtered the armed guards, killed the noblemen, and ruthlessly plundered generations of hoarded wealth.
York slowly walked down the main thoroughfare, completely unfazed by their actions.
The high-and-mighty nobles of this kingdom had enjoyed absolute privilege for decades, enslaving their own citizens and sending them off to die in endless foreign wars just to maintain their luxurious lifestyles. Now, they were merely experiencing the exact same terror and suffering they had inflicted upon the lower classes.
What was there to pity?
Of course, limited by the fact that the Crimson Harvest recruits were still a relatively new, makeshift army of thugs, some pirates quickly became blood-drunk during the looting and began to attack ordinary civilian homes.
York didn't immediately execute these individuals. Instead, he silently swept his Observation Haki across the burning city, accurately locking onto the aura of every single pirate who broke his explicit "Death Order."
He simply nodded to Ginny, who walked beside him carrying a clipboard. Ginny dutifully wrote down their names.
York said nothing. But Ginny, the intelligence officer, and Magha, the massive enforcer walking behind them, clearly knew that the moment this war was over, those foolish, undisciplined pirates were going to be publicly executed.
Soon, the city's chaos spread upward, eventually breaching the inner walls of the towering Royal Palace.
The King, leading a small, elite squad of Royal Guards, attempted a desperate last stand in the throne room, trying to use the castle's choke points to block the pirates.
However, against Devil Fruit users like Kuma and Magha, their resistance was entirely futile.
In the end, it didn't even take a full day. By sunset, the entire Royal Capital of the Vodka Kingdom was completely captured.
The King and the surviving royal family members were stripped of their finery, tied up with heavy ropes, and brought to the throne room. They were thrown to their knees before York, who sat casually on the King's velvet throne, looking down at the captives exactly as the King had once looked down at a young Kaido.
"Kill us... torture us... do as you please!!" the King roared, blood dripping from his brow.
He glared at York defiantly. "I have only one condition! Please, spare the children! They are innocent!"
York raised an eyebrow. The King of the Vodka Kingdom actually had some backbone; after all, he was the ruler of a warrior nation, unlike the spineless World Nobles who would immediately soil themselves at the mere mention of death.
"The one who kills you will not be me," York said coldly. "It will be someone else. I'm saving you for him."
York leaned forward on the throne, resting his chin on his hand. "As for whether I spare your children..."
York smiled, a terrifying, meaningful smirk.
"Life is inherently unfair, Your Majesty. Some are born slaves to die in the mud, while others are born royalty to sleep in silk. This absolute unfairness often determines the upper limit of everyone's future achievements."
York stood up, drawing his sword.
"So, since your children enjoyed all the lavish, systemic benefits of being born royalty, when the bloody reality of fate finally arrives at your doorstep... do not expect me to grant them any special privileges!"
With that, York no longer paid attention to the terrified, screaming royals. He sheathed his sword and followed Magha, who had just finished searching the depths of the Royal Palace, down toward the national treasure vault.
The heavy, steel vault door was ripped open with a grinding rumble by Magha. A vast, suffocating amount of wealth, reflecting golden light from the torches, gradually appeared before York's eyes. It was enough money to buy an entire fleet.
York let out a cold, disgusted laugh.
He turned to Magha. "Go back to the beach. Bring Hanafuda—the Ancient Zoan user Kaido captured at the port—up to the palace. Bring him down here."
"I want that loyal soldier to see with his own eyes the truth of the King he fought so fiercely to serve!" York ordered. "Even though there is immense, hoarded wealth rotting in this vault... the King still forced his lower-class citizens to acquire the Heavenly Tribute through endless, bloody wars of foreign plunder rather than spending a single coin of his own treasury."
York's eyes narrowed. "I will personally ask him then! Is a King like this truly worth dedicating one's life to?!"
"Yes, Captain!" Magha replied in a deep voice. The giant quickly turned and ran toward the port to retrieve the prisoner.
Coincidentally, a nearly identical realization was occurring on the right flank with Dragon.
After violently breaking into the sprawling estate of the Vodka Kingdom's wealthiest Duke, Dragon interrogated the surviving guards and located the hidden subterranean vault.
When he kicked the doors open, he stood in absolute silence, staring at mountains of wealth.
These were actual, literal small mountains. Bundles of Berries, meticulously wrapped in oil paper to prevent rot, were stacked into massive, pyramid-like mounds. The base of the largest mound was over ten meters wide, and the height reached the ceiling of the cavernous vault. The exact amount of hoarded cash was simply immeasurable.
Dragon painfully tilted his head back and closed his eyes.
Along his march toward the noble estates, he had walked past numerous ordinary, impoverished farming villages. The citizens hadn't been so poor that they were starving to death, but their simple, drafty houses and patched clothes painted a grim picture. The most haunting detail Dragon noticed was that almost every family was headed by a woman or an elder. There were virtually no adult men to be seen in the villages; they had all been conscripted and killed in the King's endless wars to pay the Tribute.
Yet, while the country bled its fathers and sons dry... the nobles hoarded mountains of gold.
"This world truly needs a revolution."
Dragon lowered his head, a look of terrifying, absolute determination emerging in his eyes. He turned to his subordinates, the swirling winds of a hurricane beginning to gather around his fists.
"Kill all the nobles in this estate!! Leave no one alive!" Dragon ordered, his voice devoid of mercy.
"Leave fifty men here to secure this vault! The rest of you, follow me to the next estate!"
Dragon marched back out into the burning night, the winds howling around him.
"I want to see exactly how 'impoverished' this kingdom truly is! I want to see exactly why it forces its citizens to endlessly wage wars of foreign plunder to survive!!"
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