Chapter 153: Arubana Under The Night
Like a magnet, the Devil Child attracts hunters with different purposes and intentions to approach. Unknowingly, Alabasta has turned into a vortex, with visible and invisible dangers converging on the Capital Alabarna. Ambitious persons from nearby distances have already sneaked into the Royal Palace attempting to strike at Nico Robin.
The fate of these audacious guys is naturally not good. As one of the strongest aide-de-camps under Prince Elus, Dillon has received multiple miracles from the Hogyoku, forcibly raising his limits to the current level.
It can be said that unless a top strong person like a Navy Admiral or one of the Four Emperors takes action, or uses rare and powerful poison or similar means to temporarily deprive him of mobility, no one can snatch people from under his nose.
The blood flowers blooming in the Royal Palace merely brought extra workload to the maids and attendants.
Other than that,
it serves no other purpose.
King Cobra is a merciful monarch with compassion for his people, but he is not weak. His guts are considerable. The blood flowers blooming in the Royal Palace did not make him feel fear; instead, they made him deeply feel powerless anger once again.
Unable to protect the guests he invited to the Royal Palace.
The attackers brazenly sneaked into the Royal Palace. Even though the operation ultimately failed and they were all killed by Dillon, this has nothing to do with the final result. Being able to kill the attackers is Dillon’s own ability, but failing to protect the guests, even needing to rely on Dillon’s aid for his own safety.
Under the night,
Cobra could not sleep peacefully. After handling the piled-up documents, his active brain had not calmed down. He stood on the balcony, using the cold night wind to cool his overworked brain… That was the plan, but being accustomed to thinking, it was not so easy to empty his mind.
Gazing at the city still shining with lights, Cobra recalled the blood flowers that bloomed in different places every morning these days.
When Dillon acted, he did not hold back. To deter the enemies hiding in the dark as much as possible, he deliberately created gruesome scenes with fresh blood. Perhaps some hidden ambitious persons were scared off, but the world is full of madmen whose desires overwhelm reason. Moreover, the masterminds would not act personally…
In short,
these days, whenever night deepens, attackers from different influences would intrude into the Royal Palace, and as time passes, the strength of the intruding attackers is growing stronger. At the beginning, the Royal Palace guards could barely handle some attackers.
But as time passes, the guards gradually showed signs of being overwhelmed against the increasingly stronger attackers.
Falcão, who is of equal renown to Bell and together known as the two guardian gods of the Kingdom, Jaka was defeated by an attacker last night, sustaining serious injuries. He is still lying in the hospital. This result undoubtedly proves that the attackers’ power has exceeded what Alabasta can handle.
At the very least, in small-scale struggles among experts, Alabasta’s 600,000 standing army can no longer play any role.
“Bell, you need to hurry up.”
Patting the cold stone railing, Cobra once again firmened the resolve in his heart. Alabasta needs its own strong persons. Perhaps as long as Alabasta guards its own plot in Paradise well, it won’t attract enemies beyond its power limit. The matter with Crocodile was ultimately just an exception. If not for him luckily discovering intelligence about Pluto, Alabasta would not have faced this calamity.
After all, in Alabasta’s 800 years of history, an enemy like Crocodile is the only one.
But the changing winds of the current world made him smell the scent of drastic change.
Speaking of which, it has been nearly twenty years since the Great Pirate Era began. The young people have mostly grown up, and it is indeed time for explosive development. The current pirate world is full of old faces from the past. The endless new pirate rookies are the ones shaking the world’s order.
However,
these newcomers are merely stepping stones paving the way for those who come later.
Up to now, those at the peak of the world are still those people, the old ones from the same era as Pirate King Roger. Even the youngest Pirate Emperor, Red-Haired, is strictly speaking a legacy of Roger’s era. He rapidly grew after Roger’s death to join the Four Emperors, but his foundation was forged long before Roger was alive.
Whitebeard, Beasts, BIG·MOM… Perhaps Beasts and BIG·MOM have bodies that are sturdier and show less aging fatigue than Whitebeard, but they are ultimately overlords who have survived from the previous era. Every year, countless new challengers launch challenges at the Four Emperors.
Add to that the uncertain variable of the Revolutionary Army, and those lurking ambitious persons, such as… the Black Prince.
Yes,
King Cobra is indeed an ordinary person. Although he learned swordsmanship in his youth, lacking talent and interest, he never trained seriously. He has no innate Observation Haki. From his physical condition, he is just an ordinary person who is not very healthy but has no serious illness.
The only extraordinary aspect is the wisdom brought by his knowledge and experience. Without needing Observation Haki, after a face-to-face conversation, he discovered that Prince Elus is also an ambitious person not content with the status quo. Of course, he kept this discovery well hidden in his heart and did not reveal it to anyone.
All of this made Cobra foresee that an era of drastic change is likely to appear in the near future.
What the future will become, Cobra does not know. His brainpower is not sufficient to support him in foreseeing the future’s direction. It is merely his intuition telling him that in the future’s great upheaval, no one can stay out of it. The entire world might be drawn into it…
A rather absurd intuition.
However,
Cobra decided to believe this intuition. Alabasta cannot continue to sink like this.
“Your Majesty, you should go rest.”
Igaram, the captain of the Kingdom Guard with peculiar curly hair, slowly approached.
“It’s Igaram!”
Cobra did not turn back. He lightly sighed and asked: “How is Jaka’s condition? It hasn’t worsened, right?”
“The wound on his thigh is a bit deep, but Jaka is an Animal Zoan Devil Fruit ability user with strong recovery power. According to the latest check report, the doctor says at this recovery speed, he can probably get out of bed in less than a week and fully recover to move freely within a month.”
Igaram reported.
He had just returned from the hospital. Jaka is his adjutant. His Majesty the King is tied up with official duties and cannot visit, so he had to go. Princess Vivi had already visited and did not go with him.
“He can recover within a month? That’s good, that’s good!!!”
Cobra’s taut nerves relaxed slightly.
“However…” Igaram trailed off, hesitating and not speaking smoothly.
“Is there another problem?”
Cobra turned to look.
Igaram’s expression was complex. He stammered a couple of sentences. Facing Cobra’s increasingly sharp gaze, he sighed quietly in his heart and braced himself: “Jaka’s injuries will heal in less than a month, but this failure has dealt a somewhat… somewhat serious blow to his spirit. He is completely dispirited, keep saying he failed Your Majesty’s expectations. I saw his mental state was really poor and feared something might happen, so I assigned a team for close protection.”
“……”
Cobra opened his mouth but was speechless.
At this time, any words of comfort would probably be useless. For someone with Jaka’s sense of responsibility and honor, being injured by thieves who intruded into the Royal Palace is a huge blow. It is equivalent to trampling all his pride and honor underfoot.
“Igaram, go see Jaka more these couple of days.”
“I will. Princess Vivi also said she will visit Jaka at the hospital every day.”
“She should.”
Cobra dotes on his daughter, but not to the point of spoiling her. He indulges her in small matters but has well shaped an independent and sound personality for Princess Vivi on major issues. Compared to the two bastard sons raised by the old king of Drum Kingdom who has already died, it is like heaven and earth.
Without saying more about Vivi, he thought for a moment and said: “Igaram, go tell him that failing once is nothing. What I care more about is whether he can stand up after experiencing failure. I believe he won’t disappoint me. Also… go to the Royal Palace library and find some notes on martial arts left by previous generation guard captains. Copy a set and bring it to the hospital for Jaka.”
“I understand.”
Igaram nodded solemnly.
With His Majesty’s words, plus those notes left by previous generation guard captains, it should be enough to help Jaka rally.
He knows those notes too and has read them before. However, although he is the current guard captain, compared to those previous seniors, he is more like the Royal Palace’s chief steward. He does not excel in personal martial power. His limited talent makes those notes as incomprehensible as heavenly script.
As for Bell and Jaka, they ate Devil Fruits very early. As ability users, they have already developed their respective combat styles through actual combat. Plus, their environment limited their vision, so they did not take those notes from the seniors seriously.
If not for Cobra remembering that the Kingdom still had this asset, Igaram might have forgotten about that pile of notes in the library.
“You actually remembered it. I completely forgot about those notes.” Igaram sincerely sighed.
“You haven’t seen your great predecessor.” Cobra waved his hand. Looking at the distant city brilliant with lights, he said: “The guard captain before last grew up with Grandfather. When I was young, he taught me swordsmanship for a few days. He once split a rock 300 meters away with one sword in front of me. Unfortunately, I had no interest in swordsmanship at all… Later, after Grandfather Nigel passed away, the Kingdom no longer had such an expert…”
Nigel.
This is the name of the guard captain before last.
Igaram has not met the man himself, only seen his photo in the office dedicated to successive guard captains.
He silently listened to Cobra’s soft murmurs, imagining the dazzling sight of splitting a rock 300 meters away with one sword. Perhaps, about the same level as Your Excellency Dillon? His own martial skills are not high, and his eyesight is quite limited, so he cannot grasp from Cobra’s description what kind of expert that was.
However, he also agrees with His Majesty’s plan.
After experiencing the crisis event brought by Crocodile, Igaram also understood how terrifying a powerful individual is as an enemy. That is not a threat that can be matched by a large army. Don’t think Crocodile was beaten away by Dillon with three punches and two kicks, but Crocodile’s terrifying power of controlling sand tornadoes left a deeper impression on him than Dillon’s fists and feet.
This is common,
How strong Dillon’s seemingly unflashy fists are, only experts and the enemies on the receiving end can understand. Laymen like Igaram are more easily impressed by the destructive power of Crocodile’s moves that seem to create huge commotion.
“How much longer will Bell stay in Eckmond Kingdom?”
“Unknown. Last contact, he said there are still many deficiencies to make up. It was said to take several years initially… This is still because Prince Elus is willing to help. If Prince Elus doesn’t help, it might take more than a decade without results.”
“Right, tell Jaka, if those notes are not helpful… send him to Eckmond Kingdom to ask Prince Elus for help.” Cobra recalled the agreement with Prince Elus. The terms were “Cobra can select a few people to send to Eckmond Kingdom.”
A few people,
Prince Elus did not specify the exact number,
as long as it does not exceed two digits, it is strictly within the scope.
“…Will this work?” Igaram has not met Prince Elus, only formed an not very positive image of the Black Prince from newspapers and rumors. Even though Cobra and Vivi’s accounts changed some impressions, preconceptions are not easily overturned.
“Didn’t I tell you? Don’t fully believe the newspapers. Nowadays, reporters and newspaper companies are increasingly without bottom line, publishing all sorts of nonsense without caring about truth or falsehood.” Cobra casually criticized the newspaper companies and reporters.
“Alright! Since you said so, I will relay it to Jaka as is.”
At this moment,
A commotion came from a corner of the Royal Palace.
But Cobra and Igaram stood still without moving.
“Coming so early tonight?”
Cobra sighed almost helplessly.
The source of the disturbance was precisely the guests’ residence.
