One Piece: The Soul Purchasing Pirate - Chapter 18

Anton is a great-grandfather. He is living quite a happy life, despite his advanced age and declining health… until a group of cultivator bandits moves into the area. The nearby guardians of the area, the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars, are unable to track them down as they continue to ravage nearby towns. During one desperate winter Anton is out on a hunt when his family- his entire village- is killed or taken as slaves by the bandits. He lacks the strength to fight them, and he wasn’t even present for their arrival to die with his loved ones. At the pit of his despair, he wonders if he ever had any chance to change things. What could he even do? He cannot even pull his best bow, and his eyesight is failing. If he had been a cultivator… perhaps there might have been a chance, but he was decades- perhaps even most of his life- too late.Participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge (2022)Notes on cultivation levels:There are five general stages of cultivation, though the fifth is extremely rare. Each cultivation style might have their own name for the stages.1. Body Tempering2. Spirit Building/ occasionally System Creation (Ninety-Nine Stars)3. Constellation Formation (Ninety-Nine Stars)4. Life Transformation/Galaxy Construction (Ninety-Nine Stars)5. Ascension

⚠️ WARNING ⚠️THIS NOVEL PARTICIPATED IN WSA 2025!---Nero Vaelheim. A name etched in history as that of a fleeting antagonist, a mere stepping stone for the heroes.But what if the pawn refused to be sacrificed?When a devoted reader is reborn in the body of this doomed villain, he has only one goal: to break the script, rewrite his fate… and bend this world to his own rules.After all, why settle for being an obstacle when you can become the ultimate threat?

Born in the royal family, Yan Shi has too many things that he is helpless toward.

Doesn’t matter whether he is willing or not, he has already been dragged into the battle for the throne.

But above him there’s a father who detests and rejects him, and below him there are brothers watching him like a tiger watches its prey.

Yan Shi’s every step is filled with uncertainty, afraid that with one wrong move, he would lose everything.

But just as he was about to rein in the net, his stomach actually got bigger!

Help: We’re in the midst of fighting for the throne, what should I do with my big stomach? How do I ensure no one discovers it?

- Description from Novelupdates

A Count’s Daughter who lost in the running to become the Second Prince’s fianceé, Camilla. The Prince chose a Baron’s daughter as his fianceé, and the world blessed the two’s love as fated. On the other hand, Camilla who was tailored and elevated as the love’s villain in the end, as punishment she was made to marry a terribly fat and ugly man――called『Toad of the Swamp』from his appearance, a lord of a remote region named Alois.