When Lynn landed in a smoke-filled square in the middle of Duan Town, he instantly drew the attention of a large number of Kingdom Army soldiers, nobles, and outlaws.
"Lynn! You bastard! You drove us here, and now you still dare to show your face? You're asking for death!"
An angry roar came from the crowd as a middle-aged nobleman brandishing a flintlock musket stared at Lynn with a face twisted in hatred. His voice, filled with murderous madness, made it clear he wanted nothing more than to rush forward and tear Lynn to pieces.
"Lynn! You destroyed everything! You abolished the rights of the nobility! You trampled our wealth and glory beneath your feet! You will never understand our pain! Go to hell!" cursed a young noble boy angrily.
The surrounding nobles looked like a pack of savage wolves, turning their gun barrels to aim at Lynn.
Likewise, there were massive numbers of heavily muscled outlaws.
They were far cruder and more direct; the bloody stench and wildness clinging to them, combined with their ferocious grins, made them look like the incarnations of vicious beasts. They sized Lynn up, triumph and disdain flashing in their eyes.
One five-meter-tall giant wielding a spiked club laughed heartily:
"Hahahaha! So you're the new king?! Look at you, just a piece of trash! In that case, once I chop you down, I'll take a turn being king! Lads, charge! From now on, you're all nobles! Push through in one breath and storm the Royal Palace!!!"
He was the underground boss of Duan Town, commanding over a thousand outlaws.
At his command, the thousands of bloodshot-eyed thugs roared and surged toward Lynn to overwhelm him.
High up in the shadows of a street building, two cloaked figures overlooked the scene from afar.
"This young king is quite reckless. I wonder what kind of abilities and methods he has to handle the current situation," Yasopp said in a deep voice.
"Pay attention to those floating black spheres around his body. I have a feeling they're extraordinary," Ben Beckman said calmly.
The two of them had been sent by Shanks to gather intelligence and find out what Lynn had been doing in secret. Seeing Lynn reduce the nobles to commoners made the two of them feel this was the work of the Revolutionary Army.
Yet at that moment, both men's eyes widened in shock!
Lynn, completely engulfed by the crowd, manipulated nine high-speed rotating black spheres to form a defensive shield wall. The black spheres were exceptionally sturdy, tearing through countless flesh and blood bodies like a meat grinder.
Lynn stood firmly in place, his figure standing tall and straight. Like an emperor, he looked down coldly at the frenzied enemies surrounding him.
The wet thuds of flesh being pierced echoed endlessly in his ears.
With a single thought from him, the nine Truth-Seeking Balls shifted in form. They transformed into nine sharp black flying blades, instantly flashing past an outlaw's neck.
Three seconds later, the outlaw's movements slowed to a halt as blood spurted out like blooming flowers.
The exact same scene of decapitation played out for thousands of rebels at the very same moment. Hot blood sprayed across the ground, converging to form pools of blood.
As the final rebel fell, Lynn swept his gaze across the entire battlefield, resembling an elegant butcher who had finished cleaning up his prey. Afterward, he recalled the Truth-Seeking Balls, letting them carry him as he slowly rose into the air.
The ground beneath his feet was claimed by pools of blood.
"You could have accepted ideological reform here, learned my ideology, and become proud laboring people who contribute to the nation's construction. Unfortunately, you chose rebellion—you are beyond saving," Lynn said in a deep voice, his tone devoid of any fluctuation. To him, this massacre was nothing more than clearing out a tiny virus lingering within the kingdom.
This massacre was not merely for suppression. It was also a message he was sending to all outlaws and surviving nobles who harbored rebellious thoughts:
"Whoever dares to challenge my rule will surely pay with their lives. Submit to my rule, and you will live a happy life where everyone is equal."
The Kingdom Army soldiers below were profoundly shaken! Gazing at Lynn as he flew away like a god, they discarded their weapons one after another and fell to their knees in worship!
Yasopp and Ben Beckman witnessed everything from the distant high-rise, both of them astonished by Lynn's combat prowess. Especially those nine Truth-Seeking Balls, which completely defied conventional limits with their myriad transformations—it was a power akin to that of gods, utterly unimaginable.
"What kind of trick is this?! He slaughtered thousands of people in an instant! This, this, this!!!" Yasopp murmured, a trace of shock flashing in his eyes.
"His weapon is too bizarre!" Ben Beckman's voice was calm, yet it carried a trace of awe. "Let's go back and report to the captain. There's no need to attend tomorrow's banquet."
The two quickly departed, vanishing into the night.
...
On a sheltered shore in Foosha Village, a formidable red pirate ship with a majestic dragon figurehead was moored.
The deck was brightly lit, and the night watch was standing guard diligently. A large quantity of supplies was being loaded into the hold via wooden planks.
Shanks leaned against the bow, drinking beer.
"Captain, Beckman and Yasopp are back," a crewmate reported.
Shanks turned his head just in time to see the two men on the shore beneath the ship.
"Why are you back so early? Did you find anything out?" Shanks asked.
All the crew members were curious. They stopped what they were doing and gathered around the two men.
"A rebellion of several thousand people broke out in Duan Town—all nobles and outlaws. That young king used his mysterious spherical weapon to instantly resolve the battle. Thousands of corpses were decapitated effortlessly... Captain, there's no need to go to tomorrow's banquet," Ben Beckman said.
His words caused elite crewmen like Lucky Roux, Hongo, Snake, Building Snake, Limejuice, and Gab to all furrow their brows tightly.
An invisible shock weighed down on everyone's hearts like a massive boulder.
"Decapitated thousands of people in an instant?! And effortlessly?! No way! Can anyone in the weakest sea do that?! Looking across the New World, there are only a handful of people who could pull that off!" combatant Limejuice said with an exaggerated expression.
Yet when he saw Ben Beckman's stern, unsmiling expression, a wave of even deeper horror washed over him.
"Interesting. Did you find out anything else?" Shanks asked with a calm smile, forming a sharp contrast with the shocked crew.
When the crew saw their captain wearing that expression, they all realized the captain was definitely going to the banquet tomorrow.
"This young king is named Lynn. His style of action is close to the Revolutionary Army, and he promotes the ideology of universal equality. Those nobles and outlaws could have accepted labor reform, but they started a riot and brought about a massacre. All in all, this mysterious Lynn is decisive and employs mysterious methods. Coupled with his elite subordinates, it's enough for him to rule this country, though not yet enough to fight the World Government," Ben Beckman evaluated truthfully.
Shanks listened and nodded thoughtfully. Then, he laughed heartily and dismissively:
"So he's a young ideologue and revolutionary! Interesting, really interesting, Hahahaha! It's just that he does things too flamboyantly. I must win back Lucky Roux's face, otherwise how am I supposed to keep being your captain!"