Chapter 171: Winds of Change Above Reverse Mountain

Meanwhile, over in West Blue, Karl soared towards the New World, pausing for a brief rest atop a peak on Reverse Mountain.

Suddenly, a familiar ringing echoed in his mind—it was the System notification.

A second later, Karl traced the sound to its source and opened the mission module.

“Side Quest Four. Main Quest One complete.”

“Now distributing rewards: one Thunder Dragon Egg from the Cultivation World, one template draw, and three standard draws.”

“You sure popped up right on time.”

Karl chuckled softly. He hadn’t expected the System to push out the quest completion message only after he’d woken up. Apparently, even the System understood the value of keeping things under wraps.

He had nothing urgent waiting in the New World, so he figured he might as well try his luck with the draws before moving on.

Just how lucky would he be this time?

With a single thought, a golden disc began spinning slowly before his eyes.

His anticipation was cut by a cheerful chime. “Congratulations, host. You’ve drawn the Calabash Little Titan template.”

Calabash Little Titan? Isn’t that the Calabash Kids?

Guess he didn’t even need to check the description this time.

But could he inherit all seven of the Calabash Kids’ powers?

If he remembered right, Calabash Little Titan was formed from a piece of the Patch Sky Stone that fell to the mortal realm.

First Kid: Gigantification. Second Kid: Keen Hearing and Sight. Third Kid: Invulnerability. Fourth Kid: Fire Breath. Fifth Kid: Water Spout. Sixth Kid: Invisibility. Seventh Kid: Treasure Gourd, able to transform into a person.

Karl pondered—he was a little tempted to use it himself.

“Ding dong!”

Just then, the System’s voice startled him again.

“Congratulations, host. You’ve drawn: Superman’s Underpants from Ten Thousand Cold Jokes, the Stabilizing Bead from Demon Boy, and a Rank Nine Waste Pill from the Great Fantasy World.”

“System, did you get dazed by the Heavenly King’s attack? Pulling these out of a standard draw?”

Still, he couldn’t help but snicker.

He first inspected Superman’s Underpants. He wanted to see if they’d really been worth a standard draw—after all, they came up alongside the Stabilizing Bead and Thousand-Year Ginseng, so they couldn’t be ordinary.

“Superman’s Underpants: single-use item. Duration: one minute. Grants the power of Superman, breaking the limits of this world and reaching super overlord level.”

A minute? Isn’t that a bit too short?

Seriously? Just a minute?

Barely time to get started.

Even if he griped about the brief duration, they were still a treasure that let him surpass his own power ceiling.

“Stabilizing Bead: Holding this bead makes you impervious to the perils of the sea. (p.s. With this, Mom never has to worry about my swimming again.)”

Uh… really now?

System, are you being serious here?

System: “…”

“Fine, I’ll take it.” Despite the casual words, Karl couldn’t help grinning ear to ear. The Stabilizing Bead, in a world that’s eighty percent ocean—that was beyond priceless.

With this, he could search for treasure beneath the waves, ignore ocean storms and natural disasters, and since it was legendary, even Devil Fruit users might be able to handle the sea’s dangers with ease.

“All I can say is, that’s seriously OP.”

After checking out the first two, he turned his attention to the last reward.

He stroked his chin thoughtfully: a Rank Nine Waste Pill. Had to be some kind of potion, right?

“Waste Pill: Overflowing with frenzied spiritual energy. Upon consumption, the user loses all rationality and attacks mindlessly. But due to world limitations, the power cap is overlord level, and the effect lasts ten minutes.”

Now that could be handy for an unexpected twist.

“Alright, I’m more than satisfied. Let’s see what Main Quest Two brings.”

“Main Quest One complete. Opening Main Quest Two module.”

“Main Quest Two: Make the Rocks Family the top family on the seas.”

“Quest reward: One unrestricted template draw.”

That sounded both hard and not so hard.

Did ‘family’ include the Celestial Dragons?

And how would it even be judged?

The System replied coldly, “Based on overall strength, influence, and wealth rankings.”

“Your current family ranking is 27th.”

With those words, the System fell silent, but just that line alone was enough to leave Karl reeling.

He couldn’t believe there were twenty-six families more powerful than his, even in the One Piece World.

He and Charlotte Linlin alone counted as two admiral-level fighters. The Celestial Dragons only had twenty members, right? Who did the other seven belong to?

Looks like there’s a lot more going on beneath the surface here.

“Forget it, I won’t dwell on it.”

“Dealing with the Heavenly King is still a problem I haven’t solved yet.”

“One thing at a time.” After a brief rest, he dug his toes into the earth and sped off towards Cake Island.

Meanwhile, over in Wano…

“Ma ma ma ma!”

“Karl.”

Charlotte Linlin felt a quiver in her chest.

She realized her Vivre Card was reacting, so she took out Karl’s card. It had returned to its pristine white form, pulsing gently. Through it, she could sense that Karl was flying in her direction.

“Krell!”

At her shout, Krell hurried over. “What’s wrong, Lady Linlin?”

Seeing Charlotte Linlin’s bright mood, he figured it wasn’t bad news.

“Leave things here to you. I’m heading back to Cake Island,” Linlin said, slipping the Vivre Card back into her pocket.

“Yes, Lady Linlin.”

Krell surveyed the smoke-stained battlefield. “I’ll take care of things here.”

Thud, thud, thud…

Charlotte Linlin strode heavily toward the pirate ship on shore, with Perospero and the others quickly falling in behind her. Their part in this job was done; now Krell and the Fishmen Corps could handle what’s left. No need to stand guard any longer.

Once Charlotte Linlin departed, the place emptied out in no time.

“Hurry up and get this sorted,” Krell ordered, after seeing Linlin off and turning to direct the Fishmen.

At first, he thought Linlin would chew him out, since he was in charge of Wano’s intelligence and hadn’t seen the rebellion coming.

Luckily, Charlotte Linlin hadn’t punished him, and that lifted a weight off his shoulders.

All the more reason to get things done right.

“Leave one Fishmen Corps here. The remaining four will escort Lady Linlin back to Cake Island.”

A single Fishmen Corps numbered a hundred thousand. This time, they’d brought half a million to Wano.

Now, with just cleanup left, the other four hundred thousand weren’t needed.

Better to send them as Linlin’s escort than have them stand around.

“Understood, Lord Karl.” The Fishmen Corps leader bowed instantly.

In a flash, four of the five corps trailed after Linlin’s ship.

“Well, time to clean up this mess. You brought it on yourselves.”

Krell quickly sent out his spies once more to keep an eye on Wano. Who knew if there were rogue samurai still lurking? Just in case, best keep surveillance tight.