I Sell Gacha Jars in One Piece

As Hiriluk and Chopper wept and held each other, the residents of Drum Island were beginning to notice the flowers blooming all around them.

"What's going on?"

"Drum Island... Drum Island has flowers?"

"What a beautiful scent. I never imagined our Drum Island would ever see flowers bloom!"

"It's Hiriluk! Hiriluk finally developed seeds that can bloom in winter! I saw him planting them everywhere just yesterday!"

"I saw it too! I still can't believe it!"

The residents who laid eyes on the blossoming plum flowers were overcome with emotion, with shock, and more than a few were moved to tears.

"Mama, what are flowers?"

A small child asked with wide eyes. Having never left Drum Island since birth, the word meant nothing to him.

"Flowers are those plants you see right there. They're things that grow when spring arrives."

"Mama only knew about them from books. And now they're actually growing here on this island."

"So Mama, does that mean spring is coming? Is Drum Island finally going to have a spring?"

"Spring? Spring is coming to Drum Island?"

"Yes! Spring is coming to Drum Island!"

The child's innocent words, spoken without a second thought, sent a wave of excitement rippling through every adult within earshot.

For so long, Drum Island had been ground beneath Wapol's boot. Life under his rule was miserable. To tighten his grip on the kingdom, Wapol had dismantled the very medical legacy that Drum Kingdom had built over generations. He drove every doctor out of the country, keeping only the finest physicians at his side, so that the lives of his people would rest entirely in his hands.

Everyone was exhausted by this cruel king. And yet no one had dared to resist, because the thought of it had always seemed impossibly far away.

But now, seeing flowers bloom on Drum Island of all places, something kindled in the hearts of the crowd. A fire, small but real.

If Drum Island could bloom with flowers this beautiful, then what was there left to fear?

"Go, go! Go get Captain Dalton!"

No one quite knew who shouted it first, but the crowd began moving together toward Dalton's residence.

By then, Dalton had already sensed that something was different.

The scent drifting through the air stopped him in his tracks. He rubbed his eyes, certain he was seeing things.

"These are real flowers. Hiriluk actually did it. His research succeeded."

Dalton had always known that Hiriluk had been working on plant seeds that could bloom in Drum Island's winters. He had never quite believed it would come to anything, and in much the same way, he had never quite been able to commit to Hiriluk's proposal of overthrowing Wapol's rule either.

But now, standing among the blossoms, the flame that had gone cold inside him roared back to life.

The flowers felt like a signal. From every corner of the island, people began making their way to Dalton's door.

"Captain Dalton! Dr. Hiriluk's research worked! The whole island is blooming!"

"That's right. If Drum Island can grow flowers, what reason do we have left to be afraid of failing?"

"Yes, yes! Let's go to Hiriluk's place and thank him!"

And so, led by Dalton, the crowd set off toward Hiriluk's cave.

---

"They really bloomed. What a wonderful fragrance. So these are plum blossoms?"

Robin gazed at the flowers spread before her with awe.

She had mentally prepared herself for this, and yet the sight of the actual blooms still hit her unexpectedly.

Beside her, Lily looked equally curious, her eyes roaming across the blossoms with quiet wonder.

Amon glanced at their expressions and smiled to himself.

Waking up to plum blossoms in full bloom was a fine way to start a morning. There were no plum blossoms in the world of One Piece, but they had existed in his previous life. Seeing them again now stirred something warm and familiar in him.

"Yes," he said. "These are plum blossoms. Flowers that bloom only in the harshest cold. Unyielding and unbowed."

"There's an old saying for it: *A sword's edge is forged through endless grinding; the plum blossom's fragrance is born from bitter cold.*"

"These are flowers that refuse to fear the winter."

The others looked puzzled. Amon smiled and explained further.

"*Born from bitter cold,*" Robin murmured, turning the words over slowly. Something in her eyes shifted as she said them.

Hiriluk and Kureha beside him both brightened at once.

"What a line. *Born from bitter cold.*"

"Hiriluk, congratulations. Your dream has finally come true. Can you hear it? The whole country is cheering."

Kureha raised her glass of plum wine and said it plainly.

"Yes. Thirty years. Thirty years I worked toward this, and Drum Island finally has flowers."

"Though in truth, I owe it all to Mr. Amon. Without his plum blossom seeds, I doubt I would have cracked it even if I had worked until my dying day."

"Mr. Amon, thank you. Truly, from the bottom of my heart."

Hiriluk said it with full sincerity, and bowed deeply toward Amon.

"Ha, don't mention it. Whatever came out of those jars was pure luck on my end. The fact that you managed to make it grow here is entirely your own doing."

"No, no. Without your arrival, no amount of luck would have been enough."

"You are the saviour of our entire Drum Kingdom."

Hiriluk bowed again.

"Saviour is too grand a word. But seeing Drum Island bloom like this makes me genuinely happy."

Watching the plum blossoms sway gently in the cold air, Amon found that he meant it.

"Now then, young man," Kureha cut in, setting down her cup. "Hiriluk told me you have some sort of mysterious jar that can produce all manner of remarkable things, and I have to say it's been eating at me."

"Is there any chance this jar of yours could produce something that keeps a woman forever young?"

Even at over a hundred years old, Kureha still had her vanity firmly intact.

"Forever young?" Robin's ears perked up the moment she heard the words. Her mind went straight to her own Beauty Elixir, the very thing that had given her complexion such a dramatic transformation.

"Of course it can."

There were no shortage of youth-preserving items. Between Robin's Beauty Elixir and Makino's Rejuvenation Pill, either one would do the job beautifully. If even one of them came out of the next jar, it would be more than enough to restore Kureha's youth.

"You're serious?"

Kureha had only asked out of habit, not expecting anything. Amon's answer caught her off guard.

"Completely serious." She still needed one more jar to complete the task, and with Kureha showing interest, he had no intention of letting the moment pass.

"So long as luck is on your side, you stand a very good chance of pulling something that keeps you young forever."

"All it takes is one hundred thousand Berries."

Amon pressed the advantage while it was there.