Leave your Power Stones!
37 Advanced Chapters on Patreon!
---
Grand Line – Paradise
Alabasta – Alubarna
A short walk later, Chaka guides the four through the royal palace to the throne room, where King Cobra is already waiting for them, sitting with his elbows resting on his legs, looking anxious.
At his side, standing, was a tall man, a little shorter than Chaka, with a serious expression on his face, just observing everything calmly. He wore a head accessory similar to a turban, and around and below his eyes, there were details painted in purple.
"Chaka, finally!", King Cobra says as soon as he sees Chaka entering the throne room.
"Sir, it hasn't even been ten minutes since we were informed about the presence of the four", Chaka says, a little exasperated; if he and Pell hadn't stopped him, the King would have run to the palace entrance himself to see Karoo and Vivi's friends.
Agreeing, King Cobra calms down a bit, but points out that it was a complicated situation to remain calm. "Yes, you're right, but we're talking about possible information about my missing daughter."
"Mhm, anyway, these are Sabo, Nojiko, and Kaya; they came accompanied by Karoo", giving in, Chaka changes the subject to the Straw Hats, introducing them.
Taking the initiative, Sabo steps forward and greets the King, then explains the situation they were in. "Ehh, pleasure to meet you, King Cobra, we are friends of Vivi! We came here to deliver a letter from her to you, clarify the situation, and stay on guard in case someone tries something against you."
Seeing Sabo extending a letter to him, King Cobra quickly stands up from the throne and approaches while greeting them, "Nice to meet you, I am Nefertari Cobra, Vivi's father. I want to talk more with you, but I also really want to read the letter from my daughter that you brought, so…"
"No, it's all right, we completely understand, go ahead", Sabo says, understanding that before being a King, Cobra is a father, and his daughter's letter was definitely a higher priority than talking to them.
King Cobra then takes the letter and opens it, devouring its contents quickly. And as soon as he finishes reading, looking stunned, he rubs his face with the palm of one hand before returning to his throne and sitting down without knowing what to say.
Concerned about the King's reaction, the tall man from before calls him, "Sir?"
"Read it, Pell, Chaka!", extending the open letter to both of them, King Cobra says before rubbing the lower part of his face with his hand, letting out a tired sigh in the process.
"That son of a bitch", the man from before, or rather, Pell, mutters angrily upon finishing reading what was written in the letter, passing it to Chaka beside him.
As soon as he finishes reading the letter, Chaka starts to speak, only to be interrupted by the King, "He struts around pretending to be a hero, and the people buy that lie…"
"We bought that lie, Chaka! We can't blame the people when we were deceived too, we gave him space, and he took advantage of it to do whatever he wanted", interrupting him, King Cobra says with a tired sigh, trying to process what he had just read. It seemed so obvious now that he looked back at the past.
Letting out a sigh, Pell asks, looking at the King for an answer, "What do we do now?"
"We strike back, we gather the army and march to Rainbase", Chaka says. The letter said that the Marines on the island knew about Crocodile, so they didn't need to worry about him being a Shichibukai or not. Of course, there was also the fact that this bastard was probably very strong, but they had an army.
"…Sigh… At least Vivi and Igaram are alive and well," sighing, King Cobra murmurs as he rubs his forehead with his hand, his gaze turning to Chaka as soon as he hears what he said. "And we can't march to Rainbase, Chaka! Not when we have an angry rebel army at our doorstep."
"But Vivi said she would stop them, didn't she? If there's someone who can do that, it's her, so while she handles that front, we attack the real enemy! Then her group comes in as reinforcements when they finish with the rebels", Chaka asks while pointing at the letter in his hand. Attacking Crocodile in Rainbase seemed to be the right path to follow since Vivi would deal with the rebellion.
Realizing that the conversation was taking a direction where they would put themselves in danger, Nojiko interrupts them, explaining that things were already being handled by them. "Sorry to interrupt, but neither the rebel army nor Crocodile and his organization are a concern anymore! I say this because we're here and we won't let anything happen to this island, so relax!"
"Sorry about that! Anyway, Vivi said in the letter that you guys saved her life and Igaram's; I thank you from the bottom of my heart for that", apologizing for the scene, King Cobra says, thanking them for saving his daughter and the captain of his royal guard.
"Well, Vivi is part of the crew, so there's no need to thank us! She is our friend, and we do anything for our friends", scratching her neck, Kaya says while holding her bag at her side.
"What do you mean by part of the crew?", Pell asks suddenly, focusing on a specific part of what Kaya said.
"Well, she hasn't accepted the invitation yet, but if there's one thing our Captain is good at, it's being persistent", Nojiko replies, not seeing any problem in talking about it with them; after all, the one who would decide whether to join the crew or not would be Vivi, not them.
Deciding to change the subject, King Cobra asks, wanting to know why Nojiko said that. "Well… I think it's better to talk about that later! Now, you said we shouldn't worry about Crocodile and the rebellion. Why do you say that?"
"Because we're strong, stronger than Crocodile and anyone on his side! And since we're already dealing with this, you would only be moving for nothing if you decided to go to Rainbase with an army", Nojiko says, just hoping they would take her seriously, since her statements, although true, were very hard to believe.
"Look, I know it's hard to believe, but trust us! And if you still have doubts, fortify the capital as a precaution, just don't march against Crocodile; even though he's not the same as he used to be, he's still a dangerous man! What I mean is that you don't need to put yourselves at risk when we're already going to handle this problem", Sabo says, noticing the uncertainty written on the faces of the three men. And even though he didn't make it explicit, the three men understood the implication of what he said; they simply weren't strong enough to help with anything.
"No, if Vivi trusts you, then I trust you too!", letting out a sigh, King Cobra says, not insisting. Vivi fully trusts these young ones, and he trusts her judgment.
Continuing, Cobra asks to confirm, "Anyway, you came from Nanohana, right?"
"That's right, we left there this morning and pretty much didn't stop until we got here", Kaya confirms with a nod.
"That distance… that's just too fast…", Pell murmurs to himself. Just how fast were these young people?
Having his confirmation about the distance they had traveled, Cobra speaks, only to be interrupted when he begins to talk about the bandages on the arms that all four had, "Well, you must be tired from traveling that distance! Chaka, tell the maids to take care of them, they seem to be injured as well..."
"Ah, no, we're not injured, the bandage is intentional, it turns out there's a guy in Baroque Works who can transform into anyone he touches on the face, and he touched some members of the crew, so this is so we can identify each other", Kaya interrupts him, explaining very superficially why they all had bandages wrapped around their arms. Meanwhile, Chaka leaves the throne room to do what he was asked.
"Oh, alright then! Anyway, rest a bit, we'll continue talking later", realizing his mistake, Cobra insists that they rest for a while.
And not a moment later, Chaka returns to the room accompanied by a maid, who immediately begins working, guiding the Straw Hats and Karoo out of the throne room after they say their goodbyes.
As soon as they leave, following the maid, Pell asks as he thinks of something, "Vivi said in the letter that they were heading to Yuba, right?"
"Yes, they went there for nothing, right?", Cobra confirms before asking, having just remembered an important piece of information.
"Yeah, we found out that the rebel army changed their base of operations to Katorea! The worst part is that they were in Nanohana, right next door", Pell says, confirming what they already suspected.
Sighing, Cobra laments briefly, but soon tries to see the glass half full in this situation, "Well, that's some terrible luck! But if they are as fast as those young people who came to deliver the letter, then I don't think there's much to worry about."
"Are we really going to leave everything in these youngsters' hands? Crocodile is no joke, the Shichibukai title isn't just decoration, that guy is dangerous", Chaka, who had been quiet for a while, asks suddenly. Was it really wise to sit still while young people, powerful or not, handled their problems?
"No, I may trust that my daughter isn't mistaken, but I refuse to stay still just watching! Pell, gather a small task force and go to Rainbase, but do not engage in combat against Crocodile, your mission is to assess the situation, observe, and when Vivi and her friends arrive, you assist with whatever is necessary", for years, Vivi had proven to be nothing less than extremely competent; her words carried weight. But there was a limit to that weight; no King, much less a father, would accept staying safe while his daughter and her friends put their lives at risk, even if she had told him to do exactly that.
"I'll do that right away", Pell nods before leaving the room, going to prepare for the mission.
"I'll reinforce the security of the palace and the city in the meantime", Chaka says. Crocodile would certainly be after the King, so protecting him was a priority as important as taking down the Shichibukai.
"Do that, but focus on the city; the people are more important", Cobra says, emphasizing that the safety of the people is more important than his own well-being.
=Scene Break=
About an hour after the Straw Hats left the throne room, in one of the many rooms of the palace, Sabo enters through an adjacent door, shirtless and wearing only a towel wrapped around his waist.
It so happens that after eating heartily, he, Nojiko, and Kaya were placed in separate rooms, and since he was a little tired from the trip, Sabo spent the rest of his time up to the present moment taking a relaxing bath.
Finishing drying his hair, Sabo puts on a set of clean clothes that had been left on the bed for him to wear.
Then, as soon as he grabs his top hat from the coat rack, a feeling that something is wrong hits him, and without wasting time, he covers the entire capital with his Observation.
And by doing this, Sabo feels three 'strong' presences walking through the palace corridors, while two other weaker presences were doing something together in the city.
Of the three presences in the palace, he recognizes one immediately. It was that guy with the weird hair from Little Garden, and that could only mean one thing: Baroque Works agents had just infiltrated the palace.
On another note, the matter of the two presences in the city is something they would have to investigate after dealing with the problem that just arose in the palace.
Grabbing his metal pipe, Sabo leaves the room where he was staying and knocks on the door of the next room in a hurry. "Nojiko, we've got a problem, use your Observation."
Without wasting time waiting, he moves to the next room, where he repeats the hurried knocks on the door. "Kaya, use your Observation, a problem just came up."
While he knocks on Kaya's door, Nojiko comes out of her room with her axe and shield in hand, wearing new clothes and with her hair still damp, indicating that she had most likely just taken a bath as well.
"Didn't we kill that guy?", Nojiko asks, referring to Mr. 3.
"No, I'm pretty sure we forgot about their existence after tying them up", Sabo says with a sigh, lamenting the stupid mistake.
"Shit", Nojiko swears, not believing that they had been so careless and inattentive.
At that moment, Kaya comes out of her room, wearing new clothes and with her hair still damp, having just finished her bath as well. In her hands, she is equipped with metal gloves that Usopp made for her.
"Sabo, let us handle these three", Kaya says as soon as she opens the door of her room.
"Alright, then I'll investigate the other two strange presences in the city", Sabo says before disappearing using Soru; he knew the two could easily handle the three presences in the palace.
As soon as Sabo disappears, the two glance at each other briefly before vanishing the same way, going after the three intruders.
---
About Patreon subscriptions:
.Level-0 on my Patreon gives access to 15 advanced chapters. [It costs $1/month]
.Level-1 gives access to all advanced chapters, plus bonus chapters and [Drafts]. [It costs $3.50/month]
.And Level-2 gives access to everything Level-1 provides, plus the ability to make me write a mini story with your ideas once a month. [It costs $6.89/month]
---
If you decide to give ideas or suggestions about things I should pay attention to in the story, keep in mind that, on Patreon, the fanfic is currently at the beginning of the Jaya arc.
Thank you for reading another chapter!
Leave a Review!
Comment!
Add to Library!
Leave your Power Stones!
37 Advanced Chapters on Patreon!
Besides this one, you can find more fics at: patreon.com/_Luizinho_
-----
Thanks to the members supporting on Patreon:
Bartłomiej, 66835, Thomas Pappaianni jr, avatoa, Castermaster7, Haha93, corinne fradet, The Milf Emperor, Liam finn, Vochel, Monkey D Tobi, Ell92, Alexander Schrammen, Mitchell Howard, Karl Moore, Chris Vance, Ryne Ameden, frewer, Unaskedcaboose, SHTC, Trev, David Tillery, Edward Mainwood, Martin Božnik, Hybrid, chris, Shawn Grover, Tyberseptim86, Devon Hill, Nathan Grindstaff, Hayden evans, Domenic Pohlert, irish, brian bates, Jaege D Lucifer, DeMki, Greg Johnston, King_Choppa_22, Patrick Nordraak, Anita Torres, Shem, T.0.PA.CI.0, Enrique Orellana, Destro, Jack Finnell