Chapter 127: Cobra’s Dilemma
“Sorry, Cobra, Alabasta is too far from our country. A large-scale expedition is not an option our country can bear, and with that guy there, if it fails, it will be a devastating disaster······”
“······Our war has not ended yet. Even if I want to help you, reality conditions do not allow it. I’m really sorry, Cobra.”
“That crocodile is not to be trifled with. Our country cannot afford to provoke that kind of enemy.”
Rejection, apology, seeing off······Continuous visits yielded no gains. The kings of many countries that had once received favors from Alabasta kept emphasizing their own difficulties, either directly or tactfully, but all unanimously rejected Cobra’s plea for aid.
The reasons were not entirely the same, but roughly summed up into two common points. First, the distance was too great. The harsh climate changes of the Grand Line made long-distance large-scale expeditions carry enormous risk, plus the trouble of resupply along the way. Using the Navy’s bases and ports required payment······Jermma Kingdom’s mobile territory was not something anyone could learn.
Second, they were wary of that Seven Warlord staying within the Alabasta Kingdom’s borders, that cold-blooded, cruel crocodile with brilliant methods and a legal identity made many unwilling to make an enemy of him. Kings who could be friends with Cobra might not all be equally kind, but at least they were all qualified rulers.
With their insight, they could naturally see that Alabasta’s real trouble was not the Rebel Army. That crocodile who declared neutrality, neither supporting the Rebel Army nor the king’s army, was the challenge facing the Nefertari Family.
Helping Cobra would mean standing in opposition to [Crocodile].
Rejection and evasion thus became the natural response.
Though this was an expected result.
However······it still brought deep disappointment and exhaustion. Cobra sat resting on a park bench, his gaze wandering over the villas in the distance, his eyes exceptionally desolate, an indescribable frustration enveloping his heart like dark clouds.
Unable to find aid that could rival that crocodile meant relying solely on the Alabasta Kingdom’s own strength to cope······but doing so offered no chance of victory.
The Alabasta Kingdom was a great power with six hundred thousand Standing Army troops.
It was an ancient country with eight hundred years of history.
Yet this could not conceal the Alabasta Kingdom’s current predicament of lacking usable top-tier martial power. Even six hundred thousand well-trained Standing Army troops combined could not defeat Crocodile alone······this was Alabasta’s current dilemma.
Eight hundred years ago, the Nefertari ancestor’s generation swept through the world’s non-submitters along with nineteen others, establishing the World Government. Eight hundred years later, the superpower Alabasta could not even find a single Haki master.
Of course, this was not to say that Alabasta’s kings did not value training their subordinates.
Going back to Cobra’s father’s generation, the Alabasta Kingdom still had a national guardian expert comparable to the Navy Headquarters Vice Admirals, used to resist the great pirates on the sea. But times changed. The rise of the Rocks Pirates gathered the strong ones on the sea to the New World, causing the various powerful figures originally scattered across the Four Seas to gradually converge together.
Then Roger formally ushered in the Pirate Era with his death, turning the already brutally competitive New World into a battlefield where gods fought.
The pressure on the Four Seas and Paradise lessened greatly from then on. Though Paradise suffered harassment from pirates, most of the pirates operating in Paradise were newcomers. Strictly speaking, the pressure on various countries was actually much lighter than before. One could see this from the fact that Alabasta today could not even find a single Haki master······
Strong persons are forged on the battlefield. Merely bullying weaklings makes it hard to achieve greater progress.
For example, Bell, who was currently following beside Cobra, the kingdom’s guard team adjutant, bearing the title ‘Falcão of the Falcon’, alongside his companion known as ‘Chaka of the Jackal’, forming Alabasta Kingdom’s strongest duo. He was a rare flight-type Zoan Devil Fruit User, possessing one of the “six world-recognized flight abilities.” It was originally five, but with Elus’s battle records spreading, it became six.
This one’s talent was not bad, but due to the lack of powerful opponents for tempering.
He was not even Robin’s match.
The Flower-Flower Fruit was quite strange, but Bell was easily subdued by Robin······Zoan Devil Fruit Users, if nothing else, even a rat fruit could greatly increase the user’s strength. Could it only be said that Robin was too strong?
“Your Majesty, if you’re tired, why not go back and rest for a bit?”
Bell looked at Cobra, whose face was full of distress as he sat on the bench lost in thought for a long time, and couldn’t help but speak up to advise.
“No!”
Cobra sighed, “The World Conference officially starts tomorrow, and there won’t be time to handle this matter then. Let’s try a bit more.” He said this, but no matter how he roused his consciousness in his mind, he could not find any more objects for aid.
Nearly half of the kings attending this conference were familiar to him, but most of them had comprehensive national power inferior to Alabasta!
The possible aid targets had basically all been visited, but unfortunately with no results.
“Hoo!”
Cobra only felt his head throbbing from overthinking.
At this moment,
“Yo, Cobra, why are you sitting here?”
“······Your Excellency Sokachio?”
“Hey, what’s with the formality? I’m no longer king. Just call me by my name.” The tall, burly old man waved his hand casually. He was the former king of the Eckmond Kingdom, Sokachio Sokachio.
“How can I do that, Your Excellency Sokachio.”
Cobra stood up.
Greeting Sokachio, who approached surrounded by a group of guards and maids.
He was not very familiar with Sokachio, only knowing him from the World Conference. Because Sokachio and his father were of the same generation and had a good relationship, his father had once proposed abolishing the Slave Law at the World Conference, and Sokachio was one of the few who voted in support.
This was not to say Sokachio was particularly kind-hearted. The main reason was that the Eckmond Kingdom’s coffee plantations were accustomed to using captured pirates for labor. Compared to slaves that cost money to buy, those pirates not deserving of death cost not a single Beli. Anyway, whether willing or not, plenty of pirates always came looking for trouble.
New World pirates were like fish and shrimp in the sea, inexhaustible.
With good luck, one could catch thousands of pirate laborers delivered to the door at once. Thanks to the astute methods and keen eyesight of successive kings, they had never provoked those tough customers they couldn’t afford to mess with. Plus, their rule was not too oppressive, so they did not attract those weirdos among the pirates who liked to uphold justice.
In short, because Sokachio had supported Cobra’s father, the two old men had a good relationship.
But later Cobra’s father passed away early, Sokachio abdicated, and there was truly no rapport between Cobra and Berville. They had not interacted for many years, but Cobra resembled his father by eighty percent in appearance, so Sokachio recognized him at a glance from afar.
“You look just like your father, all prim and proper, annoying to look at.” Sokachio walked over, and seeing the worry lingering on Cobra’s face, his smile faded. “Seeing you sitting here sighing, what’s troubling you? Don’t tell me an illegitimate son came back to fight for the family property?”
“You’re joking. I only have one daughter.”
Cobra smiled bitterly.
This······friend of his father still spoke so casually even after all these years.
“Then it’s because of the domestic rebellion?”
“······That’s right.”
“The civil war has been going on for a year, right? What’s the situation now?” Sokachio asked directly, without any tact. The faces of Bell and the other guards immediately darkened. Who asked about such sore spots so bluntly?
Cobra also felt a bit embarrassed.
This was ultimately not something glorious. Having it pointed out so directly in his face was really uncomfortable, especially since the other was somewhat an elder. During his father’s rule, the Alabasta Kingdom was so peaceful and harmonious, yet when he ascended the throne, a civil war occurred, something the Alabasta Kingdom had not encountered in eight hundred years.
It could be considered setting a precedent.
Thinking of this, his heart was filled with mixed feelings, the embarrassment overshadowed by emotions of self-blame, guilt, frustration, and more.
“It’s my incompetence!” He took all the blame upon himself. “If not for my momentary lapse in judgment, allowing that crocodile into the country, this would not have happened.” Speaking to this point, he truly regretted it.
Back then, Crocodile requested to settle in Alabasta on the condition of helping deal with pirates. After hesitating for a long time, he agreed, thinking that with this Seven Warlord’s reputation, it might deter those pirates swarming like flies at a summer butcher’s stall.
The result was letting the wolf into the house.
By the time Crocodile used the heads of numerous pirates to establish his ‘national hero’ title, even if he wanted to expel Crocodile, he could no longer do so.
“The situation is already this bad?”
Sokachio widened his eyes in surprise.
These days, his main attention had been on family affairs, worrying that Elus would cause a huge disaster. He had not paid much attention to other matters. If Cobra’s father were still alive, he might have followed Alabasta’s affairs a bit, but there were no such ifs.
“It’s my explanation that was inadequate. The domestic situation is not optimistic, but it can hold on. The Rebel Army is not hard to deal with. They are ultimately Alabasta’s subjects too. Having no rain in their hometowns for a long time, unable to survive, that’s why they did this. I do not want to harm them.”
“······This temperament of yours really came from the same mold as your father.”
Sokachio’s words were hard to tell if praise or sarcasm.
But to Cobra himself, this was the highest praise.
“Moreover, without solving the abnormal climate problem and fundamentally expelling Crocodile, even if this wave of Rebel Army is quelled, more Rebel Armies will soon appear across the country. This wave is at least truly just a group of desperate commoners. The next wave, with more muddle through types mixed in, will be the real disaster. The current civil war······its intensity is actually not high.”
Cobra continued, frustrated from today’s repeated setbacks, no longer concealing it, directly stating the Alabasta Kingdom’s plight.
“I see!”
Sokachio nodded.
Cobra was indeed soft-hearted, but this consideration was not wrong. Without addressing the root problem and dealing with Crocodile, the source of the issue, using the butcher’s knife on the Rebel Army would only destroy the good reputation accumulated by the Nefertari Family over centuries.
“In the end, the main problem is still that Seven Warlord?”
“That’s correct.”
Cobra nodded.
“Unfortunately, the World Government can’t help you here.” Sokachio was also somewhat helpless. “Your father proposed abolishing slavery back then, angering many big shots in the Holy Land. Those below were warned, including the Navy, not to extend aid to Alabasta. If you’re seeking help, you can only turn to other countries······”
At this point, he looked around.
Realizing this place was not near the Alabasta Kingdom’s lodging area, he suddenly understood. “You’ve already tried? So······no one is willing to help in your time of need?”
Cobra opened his mouth.
But after thinking, he closed it again. He was not accustomed to badmouthing others behind their backs. Resenting others for not helping him was something he could not do.
Sokachio frowned.
If he had not run into Cobra, even knowing about this today, he probably would not have cared. But now facing him directly, choosing to avoid······would be a bit embarrassing!
“Your Excellency Sokachio, if you have urgent matters, please go ahead! I have friends appointed to meet here too, so I won’t waste your time.” Cobra had not thought of seeking aid from Sokachio. The Alabasta Kingdom and Eckmond Kingdom had no deep ties, merely some personal friendship between his father and Sokachio. Relying on that past connection alone, he could not bring himself to use his deceased father’s name as an excuse to beg for aid.
He took the initiative to bid farewell to Sokachio.
Watching Cobra’s figure concealed behind a group of guards, Sokachio frowned deeply. He thought for a moment, did not reach out to stop him, but continued onward, soon arriving at the Eckmond Kingdom’s nearby lodging, where he found Elus casually chatting in the garden gazebo with Judge, who was visiting for the second time.
