Clifford Kingdom, Royal Capital, Nakor.
Palace Entertainment City, Central Tower.
Five minutes earlier.
In a spacious room, Aeridar sat on a sofa, leafing through a thin book. Suddenly, his nose twitched. The smell of something burning reached him. His jaw tightened, and his expression darkened.
"Zhurong! Don't set fires in the damn house!" [1]
Aeridar jumped up in a rage. A round table was already engulfed in flames, emitting thick black smoke and a pungent stench.
"Ah—Master! I won't do it again!"
A ball of fire with large, bright eyes fluttered through the air. It tilted its head and looked at Aeridar with a cutesy, pleading expression.
"Put it out! Now!" Aeridar's teeth ground together with an audible click.
"Oh..." The fireball looked dejected. It took a deep breath, and the fire on the table turned into a stream of light, sucked directly into its mouth. In an instant, the flames were gone, leaving only a charred table and wisps of smoke.
"Zhurong, if you burn anything else in this house, I'm throwing you into the sea!" Aeridar walked over and poked the floating flame in its "face," scolding it.
"Master, I'm sorry!" Zhurong bowed its head, looking perfectly obedient, a far cry from the mischievous fire-starter of a moment ago.
Click.
The door opened, and Oliver sauntered in. He took one look at the charred table and the pouting Zhurong and smirked. "Heh, in trouble again? Serves you right."
Zhurong glanced at Oliver, its eyes wandering up and down his frame. Seeing the flame's ill-intent, Oliver's face darkened. "You little brat, don't you even think about it!"
Clack-clack-clack-clack...
The sound of hurried high heels echoed from the hallway.
"Captain, something's happened!"
Seconds later, Mina burst into the room like a whirlwind, her face grim.
"Hmm?" Aeridar and Oliver narrowed their eyes simultaneously. Sensing the shift in atmosphere, Zhurong floated in the air, looking unusually serious.
"The External Affairs Department tracked the Beastclaw, Vatis. I sent Sriya on a mission to hunt him down, preferably alive," Mina said, her voice heavy. "I also granted Sriya authorization to deploy S-1."
"That's fine. If we can recover an Ancient Type Zoan, all the better," Aeridar nodded. He saw nothing wrong with the call.
"But... Sriya just called," Mina said, her expression tightening. "The mission failed. S-1 is damaged, and Sriya has been severely wounded... he lost an arm."
"What?! Sriya lost an arm? S-1 is damaged?" Aeridar's voice rose in shock. Even Oliver frowned, looking at Mina in disbelief.
Sriya was no weakling; he could take down pirates with bounties over a hundred million. S-1 was a weapon modified dozens of times; in terms of raw power, it could rival a Marine Vice Admiral. How could a hunt for Vatis end like this?
"Sriya says they ran into one of the Three Calamities, Jack the Drought," Mina said. "It seems Jack wanted Vatis because of his Ancient Type ability, so..."
"I understand." Aeridar didn't need to hear the rest.
The Beasts Pirates only recruited Zoan users. Vatis was a rare Ancient Type. Given Jack's temperament, he wouldn't care who he stepped on to get what he wanted.
Jack was a madman. In the original story, he had attacked a Marine fleet guarded by Admiral Fujitora, former Fleet Admiral Sengoku, and Tsuru just to rescue Doflamingo. Sriya, being stubborn and loyal, wouldn't have backed down either. The result was inevitable.
"Is that brainless oaf looking for a death wish?" Oliver growled, his hand resting on the hilt of Nagamitsu, his killing intent flaring.
"Jack the Drought... find his location," Aeridar said, his eyes narrowing with a dangerous glint.
"Captain, are you sure? Kaido of the Beasts..." Mina hesitated. If they moved against Jack, it could trigger an all-out war with a Yonko, which contradicted their current policy of staying low-profile.
"You have to look at the master before you hit the dog, but no one lays a finger on my people," Aeridar said coldly.
"I understand!" Mina stood at attention, her face resolute.
"Also, notify Chief Physician Jason. See if Sriya's arm can be reattached. If not, tell Dr. Dalt and Dr. Vade to build him a better one!"
Several days later, six thousand meters above the city of Nakor, a massive island floated in the clouds—Alvis Island, moved there by Aeridar's Float-Float Fruit powers.
It wasn't easy to keep such a landmass aloft; unlike Shiki the Golden Lion, Aeridar had to exert immense effort to maintain it. Over the years, the original residents had been relocated to the Clifford Kingdom. Now, the entire island was a massive research hub, featuring central zones, experimental sectors, testing grounds, and storage warehouses, divided into surface and underground levels.
The base housed over three thousand researchers and staff, a thousand security personnel from the Fifth Division, dozens of Dragonian bio-weapons, and numerous cyborgs. Safety was paramount, especially with the Elite Strike Team and the presence of Calamodus.
In a sterile white laboratory on the surface, Sriya lay pale on an operating table.
"Having an arm torn off like that... tsk tsk," Dr. Dalt muttered, examining the wound. "I'll ask you one more time: do you really not want your original arm back?"
"I'll pass," Sriya gritted his teeth.
"Fine by me," Dr. Vade said, approaching with a fanatical look in his eyes. "I'll build you a mechanical arm. I can't promise the raw firepower of Zephyr's 'Smasher,' but it will be far more flexible and indestructible!"
[1] Zhurong is a character in a video game called Dynasty Warriors, and also a god of fire in chinese myths.