Idle Level-Up in One Piece

"I will become the greatest and most magnificent queen in the history of Amazon Lily!"

Gloriosa stood with one hand on her hip, her brows sharp, and her delicate face radiating a divine and unshakable determination!

From the sky drifted five glowing words:

Queen energy, baby!

Confidence blazed like sunlight!

Instantly, the eyes of the other female warriors lit up, filled with worshipful awe. In Amazon Lily,

The stronger you are, the more 'beautiful' you become!

That phrase popped into Klein's mind, and he couldn't help but chuckle.

"At a moment like this, if I don't break your queen addiction…"

"That just wouldn't be right!"

Seeing the smirk on Klein's face, Gloriosa was instantly struck with a very bad feeling.

Crackle—!

Crackle—!

Black-and-red lightning burst from Klein's body.

Step!

As he took a step forward, dark lightning spread outward, tearing the air apart. Any female warrior touched by it immediately lost consciousness and collapsed.

This overwhelming aura was unlike anything before. These warriors didn't have the strength to face a true 'king'—they all bowed before the might of his Conqueror's Haki.

In a flash—

Only Gloriosa and Shakky remained standing on the entire deck, still conscious and on their feet.

Even the flower snake coiled around Gloriosa's arm hung limp and drooping.

Shakky's fair face turned pale with shock. Having been struck by the Conqueror's Haki, she found herself with a sudden urge to kneel.

'This guy… isn't your average Marine!'

"Conqueror's Haki?!" Gloriosa's eyes flew wide, her face filled with disbelief.

"Oi oi, a Marine with Conqueror's Haki—are you kidding me?"

Cold sweat silently rolled down her cheeks.

Suddenly, she erupted with her own Conqueror's Haki, lashing out like a storm toward Klein.

But the moment her Haki touched Klein's, it shattered like brittle twigs before a boulder—completely overwhelmed.

As easy as cracking an eggshell.

Gloriosa's face turned white as black-and-red lightning engulfed her. She staggered back a step, fear in her eyes.

"How… how is his Conqueror's Haki this powerful?!"

"A true king should have boundless ambition. How could someone like that willingly serve as a Marine?"

She didn't understand. But she was shocked beyond words.

Was this reasonable?

She had left Amazon Lily with full confidence, hoping to make a name for herself on the seas as the strongest queen.

But…

She had barely set sail and already run into someone like Klein. And she had even checked her fortune before departing—it said Great Luck!

And yet this situation…

Was the complete opposite!

"Your goal…" Gloriosa's pupils contracted.

"If it's not money, then it must be…"

A flash of realization struck her. She raised her long leg and lashed out like a dancer, slicing through the air.

Whoosh!

Smack!

Klein casually reached out and caught her by the ankle, fingers like a dragon's claw clamping down tightly.

"Nice leg strength. You've clearly trained hard."

"I'm short on maids on my ship. Normally I wouldn't care, but… the Queen of Amazon Lily? Now that's someone worth considering."

'Ran into a member of the Rocks Pirates?

And she's a total knockout?

No way I'm letting her go!

Let someone else raise her kids? Over my dead body!'

As Klein held her, Gloriosa felt like she'd been bound by steel chains—unable to move at all.

Swish!

She brought her fingers together and struck toward Klein's throat, swift and sharp like a snake.

The force of this strike was easily comparable to Shigan from Rokushiki.

Klein didn't doubt for a second that if a normal person were hit by that, their throat would be punctured clean through.

But instead of dodging or defending—

He casually reached out with his right hand and gripped her delicate swan-like neck, lifting her up effortlessly, nullifying the attack.

"So fast!" Gloriosa hadn't even seen him move before she was completely subdued.

She realized…

Their strength gap was massive!

'Damn it… I'll never trust divination again. This is a death trap!'

"Lady Snake Empress!" Shakky cried out, her face full of urgency. She threw a punch that sliced through the air.

"Shave!"

Whoosh—

Klein disappeared with Gloriosa in tow.

"Where'd he go?!"

Shakky looked left and right, panic rising, cold sweat forming at her temples.

Suddenly—

A large hand grabbed the back of her neck and lifted her effortlessly, like picking up a kitten.

Klein's calm voice sounded by her ear.

"You resisted my Conqueror's Haki. Not bad… not just some small fry."

"What's your name?"

Shakky tried to pry his fingers away with all her strength, but no matter what she did, she couldn't move him.

Seeing Shakky taken down so easily, Gloriosa's eyes burned with rage. She glared at Klein.

"You think I'll become your maid?! Dream on!"

"Such a feisty woman." Klein grinned.

"Oi, you wouldn't want Amazon Lily to be destroyed, would you?"

Gloriosa's pupils shook violently.

"You… you're threatening me?!"

"Hahaha—smart girl!" Klein laughed.

"You wouldn't want to go down in history as Amazon Lily's first queen to have her dreams crushed the moment she set sail, right?"

"This could go down as an unprecedented event in Amazon Lily's history."

"The dream of becoming the greatest queen—reduced to the biggest humiliation ever…"

"You… you…"

Gloriosa was trembling with rage. She had ambition, dreams—her eyes burned with fury. She bit her lip hard.

"You shameless bastard!!"

"Eh? You're absolutely right." Klein's expression turned cold, eyes glowing blood-red.

"In this sea, the weak have no right to choose."

"Sailing isn't child's play."

"To survive out here, you need power. You need backing!"

Without warning, he squeezed slightly. Gloriosa's face turned red, veins bulging on her forehead.

Klein's voice carried an oppressive chill.

"Now…"

"Answer me."

"Will you be a maid—

…or will you both die?"

"I'll give you three seconds to decide."

Feeling the crushing strength in his grip, the suffocating lack of air, Gloriosa's mind began to blur.

For the first time, she felt so close to death.

Just one wrong move and it was over.

Her eyes were filled with fear.

As her vision dimmed and her consciousness faded, panic surged in her heart.

'Am I really going to become Amazon Lily's disgrace?'

She had only just become queen…

"I… want to live!"

Klein loosened his grip. Gloriosa collapsed onto the deck with a thud, completely disheveled.

Her eyes were full of terror as she looked at the man who had just toyed with her life so easily.

Pale, soaked in sweat, she clutched her neck. In that moment, she had understood clearly:

Her life was in someone else's hands.

He was her executioner.

Inside, Gloriosa was in utter turmoil.

'I… I'm supposed to be a genius. The strongest in Amazon Lily.

Why… why is this man ten, a hundred times stronger than me?'

She had set sail brimming with confidence.

But Klein's overwhelming power now made her—

Doubt everything.

Was she really strong?

That question rattled her entire sense of self.

Klein loosened his other hand.

"You still haven't answered. What's your name?"

"S-Shakky…" Shakky stammered, eyes wide with fear. Sitting limply on the ground, she reached up and touched her nape.

The sheer power gap…

Crushed her dreams of the sea into negative points.

'Maybe I should've stayed on Amazon Lily and trained for a few more years.'

But the result—

The empress' startup dream had died before it even began.

Shakky?

Klein blinked.

Wait… that Shakky?

This really was buy-one-get-one-free.

He took a good long look at her, thinking:

'Compared to that middle-aged, short-haired, chain-smoking woman from Shakky's Rip-Off Bar in Sabaody a few decades from now…'

'The difference is massive!'

'That bust, that skin tone—they're worlds apart!'

No wonder he hadn't recognized her at first.

Thanks to Oda, male characters barely age.

But female characters?

Unless they're special cases, they all get hit hard by time.

Most end up looking like dwarfs… or in Linlin's case, like a giant blob.

Klein's deep black eyes carried suffocating pressure. His voice was cold as ice:

"So, Shakky—"

"Do you want to live? Or die?"

He didn't have time to flirt or play the gentleman. Build rapport?

What a joke.

His goal right now was to make money, pay-to-win his way to strength.

Only once he reached admiral or Yonko level would he feel even a little safe.

As a Marine, if he wanted dignity, he had to be stronger.

Otherwise, he'd just be a glorified Celestial Dragon babysitter—

Yelled at by the Five Elders on a whim?

That would disgrace all transmigrators with cheats!

Power was the only path forward.

Women? Just side quests.

He could tell which mattered more.

Under Klein's cold glare, Shakky broke into a cold sweat. The air around her felt like ice.

She knew—

This man was not joking.

"I…" She bit her lip hard enough to bleed.

"She wants to live!" Gloriosa suddenly shouted, begging for Shakky's life.

Shakky froze on the spot.

"Stand up."

The commanding voice rang in both their ears.

Their bodies trembled instinctively.