131 I have finally found you.

Half an hour later, at the port of Enies Lobby, a vessel vanished into the horizon in the blink of an eye.

"Finally, that jinx is gone." Standing on the dock, watching the churning sea where the ship had departed, Spandine felt an indescribable sense of relief. He decided that he would have a proper celebration upon returning.

A few hours later, on a calm, deserted stretch of ocean, a small craft cut through the waves at high speed. With scorching flames erupting from the soles of his feet, Xuan Ye looked down at the Log Pose in his hand, a sinister, terrifying grin spreading across his face.

Long Ring Long Land is a peculiar island in the Grand Line. It is considered strange because it is formed by a ring of ten small islets, and the creatures that inhabit it are exceptionally long. It is as if their entire biological evolution was dedicated to elongation, resulting in a very bizarre environment.

On this island resided a pirate crew known as the Foxy Pirates. Their captain, Foxy, a user of the Paramecia-type Slow-Slow Fruit, had a bounty of 24 million berries—a total small-timer. Yet, this small-timer served as the leader of a crew numbering in the hundreds.

Today, however, this obscure pirate crew faced total annihilation. Across the vast, flat plains, the ground was littered with corpses, the soil soaked crimson with blood, presenting a ghastly and horrific scene.

"Slow-Slow Beam!" A voice roared in fury. Amidst the wailing of the dying, a man with a parted hairstyle, a red nose, arched eyebrows, and triangular eyes—looking remarkably like a fox—fired a pinkish-white beam from his hands. At the receiving end stood a hulking, obese giant.

Holding a naginata, the giant’s crescent-shaped white mustache twitched. He stared curiously at the incoming beam, even reaching out to touch it. Because the pirate crew’s strength was so pathetic—not even worth a fraction of his power—he had wiped them out with a casual wave of his hand, leaving only this so-called captain.

"Ah... ah-leh..." As the pinkish-white beam dissipated, the giant’s body froze, then began to move with agonizing, snail-like sluggishness, as if time itself had slowed down.

"Weevil, you stupid son..." On the fringes of the battlefield, a small, heavily made-up old woman with lipstick, sunglasses, and a leopard-print coat, leaning on a cane, pointed a gnarled finger at the giant in frustration.

"Mo... m-mom..." The giant, called Weevil, stammered, his mouth moving with extreme slowness.

"Finish him off quickly! A man with so many subordinates must have plenty of treasure!" Miss Bakkin snapped, tapping her cane impatiently.

"Yes... mo... mom..." But the giant was helpless, his body moving far too slowly to comply.

"You damned bastard! You destroyed my crew!" Opposite him, Foxy, his fingers curled into delicate gestures, fired another pinkish-white beam.

*Whoosh.*

Weevil couldn't dodge in time and was struck again, his body instantly slowing back down.

"I am a Slow-Slow human who ate the Slow-Slow Fruit! I’ll make you pay!" Foxy stepped forward, picked up a long sword from the blood-drenched ground, and approached Weevil, intending to deliver the killing blow.

*Squelch.*

Without resistance, the blade pierced flesh, and blood began to flow.

"So... so... painful..." Weevil’s face twisted in agony, yet both his voice and his movements remained unnervingly sluggish.

"You idiot son, serves you right..." Miss Bakkin cursed from the sidelines.

"Mo... mom..." Weevil looked confused, snot running down his nose, his expression vacant.

Miss Bakkin quickly covered her mouth, realizing her slip, and corrected herself: "But I love you very much."

"Yes." Weevil broke into a foolish grin, as if the pain of the blade in his body had vanished.

"What a stupid fool." Seeing Weevil smile, Miss Bakkin smiled back, though she was inwardly delighted. "Foolish son, you are the son of Whitebeard! How could you be defeated? You are meant to inherit your father’s legacy! Kill him!"

"Yes... Mom is right." As time passed, his body returned to normal. Weevil gripped his naginata and swung it toward Foxy.

Foxy scrambled backward, his heart pounding. Although he dodged the strike, the shockwave caught him, sending him reeling. He spat out blood, put some distance between them, and glared furiously at the mother-son duo.

"Mom is right, I am the son of Whitebeard. How could I be defeated?" Weevil slammed his naginata into the ground. The earth erupted, a spiderweb of cracks spreading instantly to form a crater. More terrifyingly, the wound Foxy had inflicted began to stop bleeding and the flesh visibly writhed and knit itself back together.

Seeing this, Foxy stared in disbelief, his lips trembling. To be blunt, he was just an ordinary pirate; his strength was mediocre at best. By relying on his Devil Fruit ability, he could catch many off guard, but against a true powerhouse, this level of strength was suicide. Having never left the vicinity of Long Ring Long Land, he was like a frog in a well, knowing only fragments of the world.

The man before him had never been mentioned in the newspapers, so Foxy had no idea of his identity. Yet, the opponent’s strength was overwhelming; he had slaughtered the entire crew in the blink of an eye. If not for the surprise use of his fruit ability, Foxy would have been dead long ago. The most infuriating part was that this mother and son had arrived on the island and attacked them simply because the old woman decided they must have treasure.

"Whitebeard’s son?" Foxy’s expression stiffened. Even a fool like him knew that Whitebeard was one of the Four Emperors, the strongest in the New World. Now that he looked, this idiot did indeed bear a striking resemblance to the霸主 of the seas depicted in the papers.

*Whoosh.*

At that moment, the massive figure suddenly appeared before Foxy. The terrifying aura radiating from him made Foxy’s heart quail with dread.

"I’m going to use my real strength now." Weevil looked down at Foxy with contempt, his right fist balled up. White energy rippled around it, a horrific power condensing. Before Foxy’s horrified eyes, he swung.

*Thud!*

Blood sprayed. Foxy screamed as his body was sent flying like a cannonball. With just one simple strike, the ground in front of Weevil collapsed into a jagged trench, and at the end of it lay Foxy, sprawled in a pool of his own blood, gasping for his final breaths.

"So weak!" Weevil paused, scratching his head with a vacant expression.

"Stupid son, well done!" Miss Bakkin’s eyes lit up. "You finish him off; I’m going to check for the treasure."

"Okay, Mom, go ahead!" Weevil grinned foolishly and prepared to obey her command to strike Foxy again.

But just then, a sound thundered through the sky, rapidly descending from above. It was the sound of something piercing the atmosphere—a streak of fire plummeting from the heavens.

*BOOM!*

Sand and stones flew, the earth shattered, and a violent wave of heat rolled outward.

"What is this!" Miss Bakkin stopped in her tracks, staring fixedly into the roiling dust.

*Whoosh... whoosh...*

Amidst golden-white flames, a human figure slowly emerged from the dust.

"I’ve finally found you, Edward Weevil."

The cold, icy voice, laden with a terrifying, bloodthirsty killing intent, resonated across the entire land.