Chapter 323: Thunder Island Awakens

The third island at the entrance to the New World was once battered daily by violent thunderstorms, earning its name—Thunder Island.

In recent years though, the lightning has grown weaker and the island’s outer rim is now easy to land on.

Unfortunately, most of the outer area is just scorched earth and there’s nothing of real value to find.

Still, there are always some who believe a treasure is hidden somewhere at the heart of this island.

They keep venturing deeper, chasing every spot where the storms fade away.

And they’re not alone—at this point, five pirate crews have had the same idea.

“Captain Lex, another big change in the lightning zone!”

A voice called from the front lines.

Lex stepped out of his tent and, seeing the lightning retreating in the distance, burst into hearty laughter. “All these years waiting here weren’t for nothing. Looks like our treasure is about to show itself.”

Truth be told, they’d waited here not just out of greed but also to avoid the chaos outside.

With nonstop wars everywhere else, their own pirate crews were simply too weak to stand against monsters like Kaido or Roger.

Hiding here chasing after some mysterious treasure was a far better option than dying in those battles.

Hearing the noise, Nora emerged from a nearby tent.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Lex. That treasure doesn’t belong to you yet.”

“I’ll make this clear—if there’s a treasure, it goes to whoever’s strongest.”

Bruce chimed in, “You two should stop arguing. The treasure is mine!”

Right now, three pirate crews, theirs, were camped out on the island. Two others had only just arrived at the shore.

Crack!

A crisp sound echoed across the entire island.

“What was that?”

“Sounded like an eggshell breaking to me.”

“How could that be?”

“Come on, the only thing on this island is electricity. There aren’t even any animals. Where could an eggshell-breaking sound come from?”

Bruce wasn’t the only one wondering; Lex and Nora were just as puzzled.

They’d been camped here for ages and never heard of any kind of creature living on the island.

“Captain, look up at the mountain peak! What’s that?”

“The peak? What could possibly be…”

Lex looked up, half-distracted—only to find a massive shadow spread across the mountaintop.

Everyone stared and, sure enough, a gigantic blue dragon was standing right there.

Turns out, when Karl realized he was about to fall into a deep sleep, he tossed the Thunder Dragon Egg into a lake. Somehow, it had ended up hatching atop the mountain.

That egg soaked up so much electricity it was bursting with energy—and as soon as it hatched, the dragon was already in its growth stage.

“Roar!”

A vibrant dragon cry rang out.

The last bit of lightning atop Thunder Island was drawn into the dragon’s body.

It turned its head, noticing the pirates camped nearby, tracking their unfriendly stares.

With a flap of its enormous wings, it dove toward the ground.

Its gaze glimmered red—there was no way it would let anyone disturb its father’s rest.

“Not good, run!”

“Move! Now!”

Lex and his crew didn’t have a second to grab their things. They scrambled for the shore as fast as they could.

But compared to the dragon’s flight, humans were nothing. In under a minute, it had caught up to them.

Only when it was right in front of them did they understand the meaning of despair.

The sheer size of the thunder dragon blotted out the sky. It must have been thousands of meters long—a true monster.

It didn’t give them a chance to breathe. Opening its maw, it unleashed a torrent of electrical plasma.

The pirates didn’t even get out a final scream. They vanished into that blinding current.

Following the escape route, the dragon spotted several pirate ships moored on the shore.

Two of them saw it coming and tried to sail away in panic.

With a few wingbeats, the dragon soared out over the sea and spat another jet of plasma, melting the ships where they floated.

Everyone onboard was vaporized along with their vessels, left to dissolve into the ocean.

Boom, boom!

Deep beneath the mountain peak on Thunder Island, a massive pit lay hidden.

Inside, a huge capsule of lightning, dozens of meters wide, thudded slowly as it pulsed.

Suddenly, a pair of blue eyes glowed within the capsule.

[Ding!]

[Congratulations, Host, on your rebirth. The System will now issue your rewards!]

“You’ve been quiet for so long, I thought you’d died.”

“And since when did my hair turn blue? Don’t tell me I absorbed too much lightning?”

Karl touched his now-blue hair, a look of astonishment on his face.

Once sleek and jet-black, his hair had become long and pale blue, now swaying down to his waist.

It looked like he’d been asleep a long while.

[So far, the major course of history hasn’t fully solidified.]

[Kaido is still stationed in Wano. Nico Robin still lost her father, and her mother abandoned her again.]

[Roger still isn’t the Pirate King!]

[Historical Progress Shift: 10%!]

[Reward: 1 random unrestricted template lottery, and a complete Red Propaganda Handbook Collection!]

[Main Mission 3: Spread the Red across the entire continent!]

[Mission Reward: 5 random unrestricted template lotteries!]

“So after all that, it’s just one more random draw.”

“And what’s this whole Red Propaganda Handbook Collection supposed to be?”

Karl skimmed through the reward info at lightning speed.

One more random draw was better than none at all.

He still wasn’t sure why Kaido was occupying Wano, but he could investigate once he left the island.

“If it weren’t for that old geezer Im, it would be a cinch for me to head to the Four Seas or the first half of the Grand Line right now.”

Ever since taking that last hit, whenever Karl even thought about heading to the Four Seas or the Grand Line’s start, he’d get a strong sense of dread.

That feeling was his body warning him of danger.

It forced him to give up on going back there entirely.

Still, he’d never heard of this Red Propaganda Handbook before.

It turned out there were 108 books in all. He pulled one out and began to read.

“So that’s what it is!”

After flipping a few pages, Karl realized these were just socialist theory books—Red classics.

Their main message? Stand tall as masters of your own fate and toss out the old habits of lords and landlords.

Everyone can be a ruler of this world—let the call of freedom ring across the whole sea.

“That couldn’t have come at a better time.”

Before this, he’d only cobbled together his own ideas about freedom to spread through the World News Agency.

Compared to these complete books, his made-up versions didn’t even come close.

Now he finally had what he needed to stir things up across the seas.

“Roar!”

Hearing the commotion outside, Karl ripped through the barrier and leapt out.

“You… Are you the little thunder baby?”

Karl’s shock was genuine.

He hadn’t expected that the thunder dragon hatched from the egg would already be this huge.

Had he really been asleep for decades? Was this already the start of the original story?

“Can you make your body smaller?”

The thunder dragon tilted its head, seemed to think for a moment, then shrank its massive form to a wingspan of just twenty meters.

“No way… You actually understand what I’m saying?”

“Head straight in that direction and land whenever you see people. I need to know which era we’re in now.”

If only his Den Den Mushi hadn’t been fried by plasma, he’d at least still have a way to communicate.