Bang!
A crisp gunshot echoed from the top of the high wall on the steep cliff face.
Kohza, who was about to step forward and help Cobra up, fell instantly.
This sudden, startling change left everyone on the desert ground speechless for a moment.
Cobra, whose head had been pressed to the ground, quickly looked up when he heard the gunshot, just in time to see Kohza fall. His eyes widened, and he let out a heartbroken roar, "Who fired that shot?! Kohza!"
Bell and Chaka, whose faces had just been filled with pride, instantly changed color. They whirled around, looking towards the top of Alubarna's city wall.
"Who fired that shot?! Without our permission, who dared to fire?!"
Atop the city wall, an ordinary-looking royal guard, holding a smoking flintlock gun, suddenly roared loudly, "Fire! Those shameless rebels want to attack His Majesty the King! Don't let them get near His Majesty! All of you, open fire!"
As the guard's words fell, dozens of royal guards standing beside him, cruel smiles on their faces, raised their flintlock guns and pulled the triggers.
Bang, bang, bang!
A rapid succession of gunshots seemed to initiate the chaos.
In an instant, among the square formation of tens of thousands of guards standing on Alubarna's city wall, hundreds immediately disregarded their comrades' dissuasion and opened fire downwards.
The firing of these guards led to others following suit, triggering a chain reaction, and thousands of guards fired their guns.
As the rain-like gunshots echoed over Alubarna, the rebel forces on the desert ground below also issued angry attack orders at the same time.
"Kill! They killed Kohza! Everyone, attack! Charge into the royal city! Destroy these hypocritical royals!"
"Kill! Fire! Avenge Kohza!"
In a flash, the agitated crowd, furious roars, and chaotic gunshots exploded over the desert ground.
Cobra's face was ashen. He cradled Kohza, sitting on the ground, watching a storm of bullets rain down from Alubarna's city wall, watching countless rebel refugees roaring and charging towards him, surging up the steps of the royal city.
It's over.
It's all over.
The war, it had finally come.
At this point, it no longer mattered who fired the shot.
The rage and resentment ignited by the gunfire would turn into boiling oil, incinerating this country.
Arrival from the Sky
However, at this very moment, a deafening clap of thunder suddenly reverberated from the sun-drenched sky.
The earth-shattering thunderclap instantly drowned out all the shouts of killing, gunshots, hoofbeats, and roars, causing the chaotic desert ground below to fall into a brief, stunned silence.
Subsequently, under the frozen gazes of countless people, a slender figure draped in a pure white cloak, embracing a small blue-haired girl, walked across the invisible void, taking strides of a hundred meters each, descending from hundreds of meters in the sky.
As the newcomer's feet touched the air, a burst of white air immediately exploded beneath him.
The air currents stirred the young man's flowing silver hair, and also the girl's sea-blue, long hair.
In the void behind them, large masses of clouds appeared out of nowhere, rapidly surging and churning, quickly spreading out in the sky, forming a hazy light-and-shadow effect in the sunlight that magnified the delicate features of the girl standing beside the young man hundreds of times, clearly reflecting them in the sky, visible to countless eyes both inside and outside the royal city.
Simultaneously, invisible air currents flowed across the desert ground below.
Some people horrifyingly discovered that the bullets fired from the flintlock guns of the royal city guards and the rebels were all floating in the air, like tiny insects.
Not just bullets, but even some cannonballs, were frozen motionless in the air, as if time had been paused.
Meanwhile, atop the royal city walls, the guards who were stirring up trouble and still trying to fire, were even more terrified to discover that their bodies were completely bound by invisible air-current shackles, unable to move an inch.
Among the rebels below, many were also bound by invisible shackles.
This included the emaciated old man who had reprimanded Cobra, and the weeping girl.
"That's... Princess Vivi!"
Suddenly, many exclaimed from within the rebel ranks.
"Vivi!" Cobra's eyes widened. He looked at Vivi, who was with the unknown Marine, and saw Vivi's image, magnified hundreds of times in the sky, visible to countless people. He didn't know what was happening.
Marine.
The person beside Vivi, with the pure white justice cloak, unequivocally revealed his Marine identity.
How could Vivi be with a Marine?
And, in such a breathtaking manner, standing in the sky, visible to countless people.
Looking at the vast, static battlefield below, Vivi, clinging tightly to Rorschach, was also utterly shocked, beyond words.
Those floating bullets and cannonballs, even suspended just a short distance in front of her, seemed so unreal.
"I told you, I've got this. Princess Vivi, go and do what you want to do. Only you can truly quell this war."
She turned her head, seeing the young man beside her give a soft smile, his eyes holding a hint of encouragement.
Vivi bit her lower lip, a surge of gratitude towards Rorschach rising within her. She took a deep breath and looked at all the people on the desert ground below.
Vivi's Plea and the Revelation
"Hello everyone, I am Vivi."
As Vivi spoke, her clear, melodious voice, carried by the invisible air currents, was perfectly transmitted to the ears of hundreds of thousands below, making everyone stop what they were doing and look up at the giant image in the sky.
That was Hibari's newly developed technique, Mirage Cloud, under Rorschach's guidance.
It was a mirage created by using clouds to reflect and refract sunlight.
And the bullets and cannonballs floating in the sky were precisely restrained by the magnetic force generated by Rorschach's lightning.
The current intensity of hundreds of millions of volts, and the magnetic force that could be generated at will, were unimaginably powerful.
Restraining thousands of bullets and cannonballs was incredibly easy.
Facing the countless eyes below, Vivi continued, "I know all of you hold immense grievances in your hearts. The current state of the kingdom is indeed a manifestation of our Nefertari Royal Family's incompetence. We have failed to bring you all a good life, and on behalf of the Nefertari Royal Family, I apologize to you all here."
With that, Vivi stood in mid-air and bowed her body.
"We have let you down, allowing thugs to run rampant and devastate the country. However, I hope you will believe us, believe the Nefertari family, and believe my father, King Cobra. We absolutely have not done those abominable things. In recent years, the Dance Powder that has disrupted Alabasta's weather, and the people who have stirred up trouble and incited your emotions, deliberately creating conflict in various places, are the thugs and assassins of Baroque Works!"
"In Rainbase, I personally witnessed a high-ranking assassin from Baroque Works, a man codenamed Mr. 2, use his Devil Fruit transformation ability to impersonate my father, the King, and publicly shoot that innocent boy. Yes, I was there. If it weren't for the Marines coincidentally being there on a mission, I might not have been able to appear here today to explain the truth to you all."
As she spoke, Vivi's voice grew choked, tinged with a sob, making one feel an uncontrollable sense of pity.
"There, Mr. Igaram, the captain of the royal guard, was brutally murdered by Baroque Works thugs in order to protect me. The current state of this country is all the doing of Baroque Works; they are our common enemy. Everyone, I implore you to lay down your weapons. War will only bring greater bloodshed and casualties, leading to more tragedies."
"Please give Vivi some time. Vivi will surely reveal the full truth of all the disasters that have occurred within the kingdom and provide an explanation to everyone."
Vivi's voice, clearly transmitted to the ears of countless people below, made the refugees who heard her words waver and hesitate once more.
Deep down, these kind-hearted citizens were willing to believe Vivi's words.
But just after Cobra's words were spoken, Kohza was shot by a royal guard.
This made it difficult for them to accept, wondering if Vivi's words were another trap set by the royal family.
A King's Apology and a Marine's Promise
Just then, Kohza, who had fallen after being shot, actually rose from the ground and waved, shouting loudly, "Everyone! Please listen to Princess Vivi's words, lay down your weapons!"
"Kohza!" The rebels' faces showed surprise, realizing Kohza wasn't dead.
Kohza looked at his unharmed chest, also feeling a bit surprised.
The moment he was shot, an invisible membrane had blocked the bullet that struck his heart, preventing him from being injured.
"Everyone! Please give Princess Vivi some time. Everyone, lay down your weapons and sit here. We will await the truth, believing that Princess Vivi will not deceive us." Kohza ran through the crowd, loudly persuading the refugees to lay down their weapons.
Cobra looked at his daughter in the sky, a surge of relief rising within him.
His daughter had grown up; she could now help solve the country's problems.
Immediately, he also stood up and waved his hands to the surrounding crowd, "Everyone, please believe my daughter Vivi. I will sit here with all of you. You must all be hungry and thirsty, aren't you? Bell, Chaka! Return to the royal city immediately and have them bring all the remaining supplies, food, and water from the royal city to distribute to everyone."
"Yes! Your Majesty!"
Bell and Chaka had long been greatly shaken by what was happening around them, knowing that the Marine standing beside Princess Vivi must have done something.
That was a power they could hardly imagine.
The power of a Devil Fruit!
As the people on the ground below, calmed by Kohza and Cobra, began to sit down, awaiting food and the truth, Vivi, who was in mid-air, was gently sent down by Rorschach, slowly descending to land beside Cobra.
Cobra's eyes reddened, and he immediately embraced his daughter.
"Vivi, are you alright? You've suffered."
Cobra shed tears, carefully examining Vivi, fearing she was injured.
"I'm fine, Father. Lieutenant Commander Tina and Rear Admiral Rorschach saved me. But, Mr. Igaram he... ." Vivi's eyes were moist, a hint of sadness in them.
"Alas, Igaram indeed lived up to his name as the captain of the royal guard. He upheld his duty and conviction; he was a loyal warrior."
Cobra sighed, comforted his daughter for a few moments, then looked up at Rorschach, who was still in the air. He asked, puzzled, "Vivi, that Marine is...?"
Vivi also looked up, a bright, relieved smile finally appearing on her face.
"Father, that is Rear Admiral Rorschach, the young Marine hero who protected the Holy Poplar Kingdom from twenty thousand pirates."
"It's Rear Admiral Rorschach? No wonder, no wonder he could so easily stop a war. I heard he's only fourteen years old, just one year older than you, Vivi."
Cobra's eyes widened, somewhat surprised.
He had seen news of Rorschach a while ago.
However, at that time, his main focus was the Holy Poplar Kingdom, an affiliated country of the World Government. Rorschach, who protected that country, was merely noted in passing.
He never expected that he would come to Alabasta, save his daughter, and stop this massive war.
"He's truly an excellent Marine officer, so young, yet already holding the rank of Rear Admiral. Vivi, why isn't Rear Admiral Rorschach coming down?"
Cobra looked at Vivi, but found his daughter staring blankly at the Marine youth in the sky. A subtle, gentle smile appeared on his tired face.
Sensing Cobra's gaze, Vivi's pretty face flushed slightly. She quickly averted her eyes from the sky, gave a light cough, and softly said to Cobra, "Father, Rear Admiral Rorschach is waiting for the right moment."
"Waiting for the right moment?" Cobra was stunned. "What moment?"
"The mastermind behind Baroque Works is the Sand Crocodile, Crocodile! Rear Admiral Rorschach is waiting for him to show his true colors and expose his crimes. That's when Rear Admiral Rorschach will make his move!" Vivi said through gritted teeth.
Her words received no response from Cobra. Vivi couldn't help but look at her father, only to find that Cobra's face showed little surprise.
"Father, did... did you know all along?" Vivi was astonished.
Cobra smiled bitterly, sighed, and shook his head: "Something like this, you don't even need to deliberately investigate to know. Who else in the entire Alabasta Kingdom, besides Crocodile, a Shichibukai, could possibly create such a large organization here and operate with impunity?"
"Since you knew all along, Father, then why..." Vivi wanted to ask why Cobra hadn't acted sooner to stop Crocodile.
But as the words reached her lips, she felt a sense of defeat.
What good would knowing do?
If he couldn't stop it, it was useless anyway.
Moreover, just as the Fleet Admiral had said, what Cobra said was also mere speculation, not irrefutable proof. Even if Cobra reported it to the World Government, it would only ignite Crocodile's wrath and would not serve to restrain him in any way.
This world, after all, was ruled by power.
In the face of absolute power, so-called royal authority simply couldn't stand.
Justice Descends
Just then, a swirling vortex of air swept above the crowd. In the midst of the people, the white-haired old man who had been continuously reprimanding Cobra cried out in alarm. His body was bound by invisible shackles, and before everyone's eyes, he was pulled into the sky, flying to stand before the Marine youth.
This sudden turn of events caused some commotion among the crowd below.
Cobra, Kohza, Vivi, and others immediately looked up.
In the sky, the magnified images of Rorschach and the white-haired old man, hundreds of times larger, were clearly visible to countless people below.
"People of Alabasta, allow me to introduce myself. I am Marine Headquarters Rear Admiral Rorschach. Today, I have come to the Alabasta Kingdom for only one purpose: justice! And this fellow, who used his ability to impersonate a pitiful old man and incite unrest among the refugees, will be the first to face my blade of justice."
With that, on the giant image in the sky, everyone saw Rorschach casually wave his right hand.
Then, the white-haired old man, whose face was filled with fear, fell backward more than ten meters with a thud, landing in mid-air, and spewed out a mouthful of blood.
Before the refugees below could cry out in uproar, a scene that astonished everyone unfolded.
In the giant image suspended in the sky, the white-haired old man's face and body rapidly transformed. From the emaciated, withered old man, he turned into a heavily made-up, provocatively dressed, strange-looking man.
"Mr. 2 Bon Kurei, Baroque Works high-ranking assassin, his crimes are: murdering innocent children, impersonating the King, inciting unrest among the populace throughout Alabasta, provoking conflict—he deserves to die!"
(End of Chapter)
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