Chapter 148: Dancing Powder And White Horse
Crocodile was wounded and fled, Baroque Works’ high-ranking members were all rounded up, the massive organization lost its upper leadership and instantly became a headless snake, rapidly crumbling under the kingdom’s official forces, vanishing into thin air and thoroughly becoming a piece of history.
Once Baroque Works completely collapsed and there were no more obstacles, Cobra immediately revealed the truth that Baroque Works’ use of Dancing Powder had caused the Alabasta Kingdom to have no rain.
To explain, the name Dancing Powder came later as a derivative; this green powder was originally called “Powder that Calls the Rain,” because using it could summon rainfall, making the people dance joyfully in celebration, from which the widely known nickname Dancing Powder emerged.
However,
Don’t let the nice-sounding name fool you; in reality, this stuff is an outright banned substance, and not just recognized by one or two countries—it was confirmed as banned by the World Government, prohibiting all World Government Member Nations from producing, possessing, or using it. Non-World Government Member Nations that use it will attract the World Government’s subjugation.
The reason for this is that once Dancing Powder is used to make rain, kingdoms downwind will suffer drought, as all the moisture is intercepted by the upwind country, and countries that discover the truth of the drought will brazenly launch wars.
Back when the flaw of Dancing Powder hadn’t been discovered yet, many kingdoms around the world were using it to control rainfall.
Interestingly, the truth behind Dancing Powder was exposed because two neighboring countries used it almost simultaneously to pray for rain; the upwind country got rain, but the downwind country didn’t get a single drop. The puzzled king gathered the nation’s smartest people to research the reason.
As a result,
The truth of Dancing Powder was exposed.
The whole world was in an uproar, and in the next instant, hundreds of kingdoms directly plunged into war—Four Seas, Grand Line, everywhere filled with the sounds of guns. At first, the World Government didn’t care about this matter, but when it came time to collect the Tenryuubito’s Tax, they discovered that due to the wars, many World Government Member Nations had no money!
Some World Government Member Nations were even directly destroyed in the wars.
At this point, the World Government’s high officials could no longer sit still, thinking that they could fight all they wanted, but they couldn’t default on the money they owed!
Because of this, without even waiting for the World Conference to convene and let the kings discuss it, the World Government directly declared Dancing Powder a banned substance, expending great effort to quell the wars around the world. To this day, Dancing Powder remains high on the World Government’s list of banned items, second only to things like Poneglyphs that involve the Blank Century.
The truth behind Alabasta’s lack of rain was revealed.
After a rain passed, King Cobra issued a pardon, absolving the Rebel Army of their crimes. The Alabasta Kingdom’s Rebel Army instantly collapsed, and the Rebel Army’s leader—a young man who had been Princess Vivi’s playmate in childhood—came to the Royal Palace gate to confess his guilt.
This young man naturally lived well; not only did he avoid prison, but Cobra appointed him as a kingdom official. The Nefertari Family’s reputation in Alabasta rose to another level… In short, the Alabasta Kingdom now tasted the sweet after the bitter, with a feeling of favorable weather, smooth rains, and all things flourishing.
In comparison, the World Government and Navy were extremely frustrated.
Why ask?
Of course, because the good Seven Warlords system had another setback. After Crocodile’s actions in the Alabasta Kingdom were exposed, King Cobra vented his anger harshly at the World Government and Navy. This was still fine, anyway—King Cobra just vented his temper and wouldn’t do anything more excessive.
The problem was that Crocodile had done these things, attracting criticism from many opponents of the Seven Warlords system, who believed it should be abolished, or at least that all the pirates among the Seven Warlords should be replaced with personnel like Eckmond Kingdom’s prince.
The World Government and Navy were seething with undercurrents, and Fleet Admiral Sengoku was racking his brains.
The Seven Warlords system could not be abolished—at least not now. Even though he didn’t like this system, at this point he had to admit that it had indeed helped the Navy shoulder the surging evil waves of the Pirate Era.
If the Seven Warlords were abolished now without a replacement pillar,
Hawk Eyes, Heavenly Yaksha, Empress, Tyrant… if these people reverted to pirate status, the pressure on the Navy would double, and the New World situation might even be disrupted… So, abolishing the Seven Warlords system was not feasible at present.
Since abolition was not feasible, they needed to find someone sufficient to replace Crocodile and fill the Seven Warlords vacancy, using more pirate heads to reshape the Seven Warlords’ notoriety… The World Government lacked suitable candidates and simply tossed the problem to the Navy, letting them find a usable candidate.
This really stumped Fleet Admiral Sengoku.
Not just anyone can become a Seven Warlord, or rather, not everyone is willing to take on this “legal plundering license.” Even now, many pirates on the sea curse those who joined the Seven Warlords as lackeys of the World Government and Navy; many powerful pirates disdain the Seven Warlords title.
Among the current Seven Warlords members, Heavenly Yaksha and Black Prince value the benefits the title brings, Tyrant is a Revolutionary Army spy planted there, the Empress joined to protect her country from World Government and Navy attacks, and the two losers Moonlight Moria and Crocodile were beaten badly by the New World Pirate Emperors and are hiding under this title to lick their wounds.
There’s also Hawk Eyes, a once-in-a-century figure; the Seven Warlords title saves him a lot of trouble, making it convenient for him to travel the world alone seeking opponents to test his swordsmanship.
In short,
After Crocodile stepped down, this candidate was not easy to select.
First, they must be willing to take the Seven Warlords title; second, their reputation must be loud enough to attract many pirates to challenge them; finally, they must have considerable strength—at least enough to deal with those weak small fry pirates. Otherwise, if they are easily defeated by challengers, leading to frequent changes in Seven Warlords members, not only would it fail to stabilize the situation, but the entire system would become a joke.
…
“The Black Prince shouldn’t interfere in Alabasta Kingdom affairs.”
“It’s already done; saying this now is useless. Can we punish him for it?”
“No need for punishment, but a necessary warning is in order. He can’t keep acting so recklessly—in the New World it’s fine, but Paradise… his hand has stretched too far; that so-called Maritime Transport Network has now spread to Paradise.”
“Then, Eckmond Kingdom’s Tenryuubito’s Tax this year increases by 300%?”
“And that Maritime Transport Network needs restrictions too; he can’t keep expanding his influence.”
“Fine.”
“Excellent.”
Holy Land, Marie Geoise.
The view outside the window was bright and beautiful, with brilliant sunlight streaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows into the room, yet this light could not dispel the gloom in the room. The five elders sitting there were like devils devouring the light, swallowing it up, leaving only lingering darkness entrenched.
The Five Elders reached a conclusion on punishing Elus: in just a few words, they made Eckmond Kingdom’s Tenryuubito’s Tax for this year skyrocket. After discussing this, they turned to filling the Seven Warlords vacancy.
“Still no usable candidate?”
“Temporarily, no one better than Crocodile can be found.”
“Jinbe…”
“Absolutely not. That Fish-Man voluntarily gave up his Seven Warlords status; recruiting him back would make the Seven Warlords seem like cheap goods you can enter and exit at will, which doesn’t match our needs.”
“In that case… we’ll have to let the Navy find a candidate.”
“Let the Navy look first.”
“Mm, let’s do it this way for now!”
In their quick exchange, they soon determined a specific countermeasure for the matter—this was the Five Elders’ style. As the World Government’s nominal highest authority, they didn’t divide work into sections for individual management; instead, they sat together like this, making decisions on major events through conversation.
At present, the so-called major event was only the commotion in the Alabasta Kingdom.
It involved two Seven Warlords and the Alabasta Kingdom, an ancient superpower; ordinary matters didn’t qualify for the Five Elders’ attention.
————
Navy Headquarters.
Large conference room.
Fleet Admiral Sengoku personally chaired this meeting, attended by one Admiral, one Former Admiral, over ten Vice Admirals… So many gathered here for no other reason—the meeting’s focus was naturally the new Seven Warlords candidate.
The World Government searched around and found no candidate more outstanding than Crocodile to fill the vacancy, so tired of the trouble, they kicked the ball to the Navy.
The Navy took a look and was also stumped.
But Fleet Admiral Sengoku couldn’t just kick the ball away like the World Government; he privately consulted others and found no good candidates, so helplessly, he summoned the high-ranking officers for a meeting, trying to brainstorm and see if they could find one or two suitable candidates to approach.
“Jinbe? Bring him back?”
Kuzan also brought up this unavoidable name.
As a former Seven Warlord, Jinbe’s reputation and strength both met the requirements, and his Fish-Man identity could even play some extra roles.
Unfortunately—
“Jinbe voluntarily left the Seven Warlords. If we invite him back now, people will think the Seven Warlords are nothing special. Pirates value reputation the most; if the Seven Warlords lose their prestige, this system might as well be scrapped.” Vice Admiral Tsuru rejected Kuzan’s proposal.
Pirates value reputation extremely highly.
Especially the vast number of weak small pirates—there’s a saying that newborn calves aren’t afraid of tigers. For these bold newbie pirates with fur growing on their guts, they have no idea how powerful the Four Emperors are and fearlessly bare their teeth at them.
For fame and profit, they issue fearless challenges to renowned great pirates.
If the Seven Warlords system loses its reputation, those little punks won’t challenge Seven Warlords members anymore. Without them throwing themselves into the net, even if these millions of Navy personnel exhaust themselves chasing on the sea, they can’t truly clear the seas.
“What about this year’s so-called Supernovas? Any usable ones?”
An old veteran Vice Admiral asked.
As his words fell, the room went silent; everyone exchanged glances, and finally, a Vice Admiral nearby spoke: “This year’s biggest-named Supernova was captured alive by Admiral Sakazuki two weeks ago; the guy’s already been sent to Impel Down.”
This old Vice Admiral had been recuperating from injuries recently and had just returned to duty; not fond of reading newspapers, he was behind on intelligence by quite a few days.
Hearing this answer, he was stunned for a moment, then helplessly shook his head and shut his mouth.
“No other candidates?”
Sengoku looked at the silent crowd, a bit of a headache. Isn’t this the Pirate Era? Why can’t they find a usable pirate?
“That Black Prince took down quite a few famous great pirates this year.”
Vice Admiral Tsuru sighed.
During Elus’ Maritime Transport Network expansion, there were friction conflicts with many forces; some feared Elus’ notoriety and chose to yield, while others were stubborn, refusing to budge, and ended up losing their lives to Elus’ aide-de-camp.
Plus Zephyr’s Pirate Guerilla Squad stirring up trouble in the New World.
The Four Emperors never stopped recruiting newbie pirates either.
All these factors combined caused the current dilemma; many pirates Sengoku thought could be recruited had already ascended to heaven, leaving no one usable.
“Ahem.”
Zephyr, sitting to Sengoku’s left, listened for a while, then lightly coughed. “I have a candidate here; everyone can consider it.” He pulled a stack of documents from under the table and had the recorder distribute them to the crowd.
“White Horse…”
“Cavendish… Supernova?”
The Vice Admirals opened their files, and low murmurs echoed in the room.
“Zephyr, if I recall, you pursued this White Horse?” Vice Admiral Tsuru glanced at the photo clipped in the file and looked up to ask.
“Yes.”
Zephyr nodded. “In the New World, I nearly caught this guy several times, but he escaped in the end. The kid’s lucky; during my pursuit, his strength improved rapidly, and he has a handsome face—pretty popular in the newspapers. I think he’s a good candidate.”
“Still roaming the New World… hasn’t joined a Four Emperors crew?” Sengoku flipped through the file in his hand and asked his old friend beside him.
“As far as I know, no.” Zephyr shook his head.
“In that case… indeed a good candidate.”
Sengoku frowned slightly and murmured.
