Belial, Tregear, new members of the Straw Hat Pirates

"Luffy! Thank you so much!" Belial roared.

Just now, Luffy started yelling that he wanted to cook. Everyone thought that even if Luffy failed at cooking, there would still be leftover food.

Unexpectedly, Luffy cooked all the food, turning it into something that looked unappetizing and was completely inedible: a huge pot of bizarre soup and rice shrouded in purple smoke.

Not only was it inedible, but Luffy also ruined all the food.

"Luffy, you bastard!" Nami unleashed a torrent of abuse on Luffy. Belial suddenly remembered that Tregear had told him before that there seemed to be some spare food in the storage room.

Belial walked to the storage room, opened the door, paused for a moment, then smiled.

“Isn’t there food?” Belial said, pulling Carrot out. “Braised rabbit should be delicious.”

Upon hearing this, Carrot rushed out and ran to Pedro's side, shouting, "Boss, save me! He's going to eat me!"

"Carrot, what are you doing here?"

"I snuck out," Carrot said sheepishly.

"I……"

At this moment, Beria took out a bag containing some plastic boxes and said, "Let's get ready to eat."

"Suck it!"

"Suck it."

As everyone ate the delicious instant noodles, Brooke exclaimed, "This stuff is so delicious, my stomach is about to jump out of my chest, even though I don't have a stomach."

Nami took a bite of instant noodles and said, "Belial, what is this? Why does it taste so good after being soaked in hot water for a while?"

"This is called instant noodles. It's cheap and delicious in that world, and it's Geed's favorite food."

“But eat less,” Beria said. “There’s not much nutrition in this.”

"Then why does he always eat instant noodles?" Carrot asked while eating instant noodles.

“Who knows, who knows what happened to his parents…” Belial stopped abruptly, his eyes widened, and his expression turned somber.

"Beria, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Belial said, standing up. "But with Luffy around, this stuff is clearly not enough."

Nami said, "You're right. We need to go ashore to find some supplies, otherwise we won't be able to get to Big Mom's territory."

Just then, a seagull in the sky suddenly dropped a newspaper, which read: The Revolutionary Army headquarters was attacked by the Blackbeard Pirates, and the whereabouts of the leader Dragon and his second-in-command Sabo and their subordinates are unknown.

"Is something wrong with Sabo?" Luffy asked worriedly.

“It should be fine,” Belial said. “It only says ‘missing’ on the document, and your father is one of the most dangerous criminals in the world. Blackbeard, that little brat, can’t take him down.”

“But more importantly, I’d like to find some nearby islands where we can resupply.” After saying that, Belial went to the cabin and took out the small ball containing the Victory Swallow II that Tregear had left behind.

“Wait, I’m going too,” Luffy said. “Me too,” Nami said, “If we run into a pirate crew, we might even get some money.”

Belial, Luffy, and Nami then boarded the Victory Swallow II to search for supplies, while the rest stayed behind to guard the ship.

Thanks to the radar monitoring of the Victory Flying Swallow II, the group detected an island and flew there.

The Victory Swallow II landed on the beach, Belial found something to hide the plane, and the three began to explore the island.

Nami looked at the instrument and said, "According to the detection, there seems to be a huge forest ahead, and there also looks like there are watchtowers."

"Oh ho, looks like there really is someone here!"

"Let's go."

Following the directions, the three arrived at a town, only to find it deserted and empty.

"What's happening here?"

Beria looked around and noticed a sign nearby: Mineral Town.

"Because there are cedar trees here, right?"

"Why is nobody here? It feels so eerie," Nami said, hiding behind Belial.

At that moment, Belial sensed that someone was inside a shop. He led Luffy and Nami to the shop door, opened it, and a harpoon flew straight at them.

Belial easily caught the harpoon, and an old man came out and said, "Bad guy, get out of here!"

Seeing this, Nami quickly said, "Grandpa, we're not bad people."

Luffy said, "That's right, we are pirates, not bad guys."

"What are pirates if not bad people? Get out of here!"

Belial calmly said, "Sir, we are pirates, but we are not bad people, otherwise we would have already been looting and robbing."

Upon hearing this, the old man looked at the three of them and asked, "You really aren't bad people?"

"No." They said in unison.

"I see, I misunderstood an innocent person." The old man scratched his head somewhat embarrassedly. "Old woman, come out, I'm not a bad person."

An old lady came out and said, "Oh, I see. Come and have a seat."

The elderly couple offered them some simple rations, which Luffy readily accepted, eating whatever was offered.

Beria asked, "Old sir, what's going on here? Why are there so many rooms but not a single person in sight?"

Upon hearing this, the elderly couple looked sad and sighed, saying, "Those young people have been conscripted by the navy, leaving only us old folks who can't react to the Forest of God."

"The Forest of the Gods? You mean this forest?"

"Yes."

"What exactly is going on?"

Through the elderly couple's explanation, they finally understood what had happened:

This forest is called the Forest of the Gods because its trees are among the finest timber in the world, and many pirates have tried to steal them.

In addition, there is also sea stone here.

Later, because the old man saved Edward Newgate, one of the Four Emperors who was still young at the time, this place became Whitebeard's territory.

However, after Whitebeard's death, this place was occupied by a terrible guy.

"He is a Celestial Dragon, Faldos Siskel Saint."

“Celestial Dragons, what are those?” Belial asked.

"You don't even know about the Celestial Dragons?" the elderly couple exclaimed in surprise.

"Oh right, I forgot to tell Belial. 800 years ago, 20 kings from 20 countries jointly formed the World Government. The descendants of these 20 kings are the Celestial Dragons, who control the World Government, possess all privileges, and consider themselves 'descendants of the Creator'."

"They can disregard the law, they can do whatever they want as they see fit, and their actions are not subject to any restrictions."

"They consider themselves superior and treat everyone except themselves with severe discrimination, not regarding others as human beings."

"They can make anyone their slave, and the slaves are at their disposal. The Celestial Dragons will brand the slaves. They can sell them or kill them."

"You could say that the status of a Celestial Dragon's slave is even lower than that of a Celestial Dragon's dog."

"Moreover, even if they kill civilians in front of everyone, others can only pretend they didn't see it. What's even more terrifying is that if they are harmed, they can even call in a naval admiral."

"Admiral!" Belial was somewhat shocked. He had previously faced Kizaru head-on and was naturally aware of the strength of a Marine Admiral. Yet, the Celestial Dragons were able to summon a Marine Admiral as a bodyguard.

"No wonder you endured such suffering without seeking help."

Suddenly Belial turned his head and looked warily at the door. Just as Luffy was about to ask what was going on, Nami covered his mouth.

Just then, the door was broken open, and a man rushed in. Belial charged straight at him.

The man's hand transformed into a knife. Belial drew his ultimate blade, first knocking the man's hand away, then slashing it into the man's chest.

The man instinctively stepped back, but was still slashed open, leaving a large, bloody gash.

Before he could react, Belial grabbed his neck and pressed the Ultimate Blade against the man's head.

"and many more!"

A loud shout rang out, and everyone looked in the direction of the sound to see a man with slicked-back hair, a long horizontal scar on his face, a cigar dangling from his lips, a gold hook on his left wrist, and a black fur coat slowly approaching.

When Luffy and Nami saw the man's face clearly, they were utterly shocked. Nami stammered, "You, you are..."

"Crocodale!"