In the magnificent, spacious palace,
Old Kik, who usually looked like a slob, had actually put on glasses for once and was seriously reading through reports.
"Pretty convincing act there, old man."
Hearing that voice, Old Kik finally looked up. A young man in a dark red suit with a black coat draped over his shoulders—
over three meters tall with those long legs, perfectly built physique, black hair and a face sharp enough to cut glass. "Handsome" didn't even begin to cover it.
He was lounging by the desk, munching on some fancy palace fruit.
Seeing Aus dressed like this, Old Kik's serious expression finally cracked into a smile:
"The new threads look good on you, you brat!"
"Gotta switch up the style sometimes."
Aus casually grabbed papers off the desk—tax stuff, public safety reports, whatever.
"Hey, old man, I made you king so you could live it up. Don't burn yourself out.
No matter how half-assed your governing gets, it's still miles better than the last king bleeding everyone dry. The people will worship you."
"Well... you got a point there..."
Stretching his aching shoulders, Old Kik hopped down from the throne.
Honestly, he had no clue how to run anything anyway. When reviewing documents, he just scribbled whatever popped into his head.
Like recently, during the power transition when some commoners started rioting, Old Kik saw the report and wrote back:
"Fuck 'em up!"
And when more young people from the kingdom started going to sea as pirates, his response:
"Hell yeah! Tell them to visit home more!!"
These batshit responses always left his staff completely lost, but they could only follow orders.
"Let's get out of here and take a walk. This old fart prefers living free."
The old man and young guy sat at tables in the palace garden.
"Yo, brat, you can definitely do that thing, right?" Old Kik seemed to remember something, leaning forward with hands on the table, staring at the chilling Aus.
"What thing?" Aus opened his eyes, looking confused.
"You know... that black-red lightning that goes crack-crack and drops everyone in sight..."
Old Kik couldn't describe it right, but the memory was crystal clear. In those world-ending battles from his youth,
as a bystander, those monsters always used this power. Just the aftershocks from their clashes could send him flying.
"Ah... you mean this."
Aus definitely didn't mind feeding the little old man's curiosity. After all, his biggest dream was becoming a great pirate like Whitebeard.
Now that he'd made it through Aus in a roundabout way, of course he was curious about everything.
Aus slowly raised his hand, clenching it into a fist, then a world-crushing aura gradually emerged.
Old Kik's pupils instantly started shaking, his body trembling uncontrollably.
But he was pumped: "That's it! That aura that makes your bones rattle!"
Then Aus pulled his aura back, slowly focusing it in his hand. Dense black-red lightning compressed around his fist.
Old Kik was getting crushed by this overwhelming pressure to the point he could barely breathe, but seeing Aus with that emperor-like presence, he couldn't help but cheer.
"What insane power! Hey, Aus, right now...
could you take Whitebeard, Edward Newgate?"
Old Kik asked, totally invested.
Aus felt crazy strong to him. Whitebeard had felt crazy strong back then too. Funny thing was, he couldn't tell which was stronger.
Like comparing a thousand-ton rock to a ten-thousand-ton rock—humans can't budge either one.
The gap was too massive.
But Old Kik's question actually stumped Aus. He rubbed his chin, thinking it over.
"Raw power-wise, I'm definitely still a step behind. I've seen Whitebeard's monster strength, Devil Fruit ability, and Conqueror's Haki—practically equal to Captain Roger.
And I'm still too young."
This bummed Old Kik out a bit, but he also found it reasonable and reassuring.
Yeah, Aus was still too young. Just a matter of time.
But Aus's next words got him excited again.
"But that's just numbers on paper. If we went all-out on the open seas...
I'm confident not one person from the Whitebeard Pirates would make it out alive."
"Not even the fishmen."
Aus's casual tone hit Old Kik's ears like thunder. He instinctively believed it—after all, Aus had been raising hell at Marine Headquarters since he was a teenager.
He just felt more and more at peace.
If even a monster like that couldn't handle Aus, then this brat should be pretty damn safe going forward.
He wouldn't have to stress every day reading newspaper reports about Aus.
After that,
Aus and Mihawk lived on Duramos Island for several months, properly spending time with Old Kik and getting some rest.
During this time, Aus also got Morgans' contact info through the news delivery seagulls.
"Buru buru buru..."
"Click."
As the Den Den Mushi connected, a bird face appeared on it, grinning:
"Pleasure to meet you, 'Black Gun' Aus. This is World Economic News—Morgans."
"Yeah, I figured. You've been writing about me for years."
Aus looked at the Den Den Mushi awkwardly sweating and smiling, his tone flat.
He hadn't forgotten that half his current massive reputation came from this guy's hype.
Most of it was true, sure, but he never signed off on it.
"Ah... haha... So what brings such a big shot to contact little old me?"
Morgans quickly changed subjects.
Over the years, chasing clicks, he couldn't even remember how much bullshit he'd published. Getting called out by the actual person was pretty awkward.
"I'm calling about two things today."
Aus spoke casually while sipping orange juice through a straw:
"First, from now on, Duramos Kingdom in the New World is under my protection. Run a story—anyone who dares attack it...
Whether it's some hotshot pirate or member nation, better get ready for total annihilation."
"Easy enough. 'Black Gun' Aus claiming territory is huge news for us~"
Morgans smiled with obvious mischief. He already had headlines cooking:
"SHOCKING!! Legendary Pirate Launches New World Territory Grab!!!"
"The Man with a 4 Billion Bounty—What's His Real Game..."
"Kill All Comers!! New World's New Overlord Makes His Move!!!"
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