"Protect the King!!"
Three bolts of lightning suddenly struck the platform—just ten meters away from King Cobra.
Igaram immediately realized—this wasn't ordinary lightning.
He shouted out at once.
More than ten soldiers rushed over, surrounding Cobra and forming a defensive circle around him.
They raised their long-handled weapons, unique to Alabasta, pointing them toward the impact site.
"Put your weapons down!"
"Your Majesty?"
"It's alright—they're allies."
Cobra patted Igaram on the shoulder, then stepped out from the circle of guards.
Opposite them stood three masked individuals in uniform from Jun Lin. The surrounding soldiers were still on high alert, weapons raised toward the trio.
But Cobra instantly recognized who they were based on their attire.
Still, he couldn't help but feel shocked.
Luo Lan had said they'd arrive within an hour...
But this wasn't even ten minutes later?
Now wasn't the time to daze out. Cobra quickly welcomed the three into the palace.
---
At the same time—
Less than a kilometer from the royal palace, in the basement of a mobile house—
Vivi had her mouth gagged and was tied to a wooden stake.
Even though the entire capital of Alubarna was under lockdown and being searched house-to-house...
This spot, oddly enough, remained lightly searched.
It was the classic case of "hiding beneath the lamp's shadow."
"Why kidnap a little girl? Just grab Cobra directly! With our methods, there's no way he won't talk!"
Jabra expressed clear dissatisfaction with the way Fukurou and Kumadori were handling things.
In his view, it was either: grab the main target or eliminate them.
Kidnapping a young girl felt disgraceful.
"Back during that assassination job, didn't you lure the target out by killing his siblings one day and his wife and daughter the next?"
Fukurou fired back without hesitation.
That immediately set Jabra off.
"You dare bring that up? If you hadn't gone around blabbing to everyone we were there to assassinate the guy, would we have had to go through all that effort?"
As the two began arguing and exposing each other's dirty laundry—
Kumadori stepped in between them.
"We're on the same team. Don't start infighting now. What we need to focus on is whether or not Cobra will take the bait tomorrow!"
Striking a kabuki pose, Kumadori emphasized dramatically, as if backed by his own theme music.
"If he doesn't take the bait—we chop off his daughter's arm and send it to the palace!"
"I don't believe that overprotective father can stay calm after that!"
The other two gave him a disgusted look.
Weren't you the one just ranting about how low it was to kidnap a girl?
Now you're jumping straight to mutilation?
"That's not okay!"
Kumadori quickly interjected.
"The Nefertari family is special. Coercion is fine, but unless we're explicitly authorized, we cannot use methods like that!"
He didn't know all the details about the Nefertari family, but Spandam had emphasized this point before they left.
They were strictly forbidden from using extreme measures on the Nefertaris without direct orders.
"Tch. What a pain..."
Jabra clicked his tongue, clearly annoyed.
This was the first time he'd encountered such a stifling mission.
So many restrictions—so many rules.
Absolutely irritating.
---
Back at the Royal Palace in Alubarna—
Cobra explained the entire situation to Hina and her two companions in detail.
"So even with a full lockdown across the city and house-to-house searches, there's still no trace of her?"
"That's right."
Cobra nodded with a troubled expression.
That was exactly what was giving him a headache.
"What about around the palace?"
"The buildings nearby, for instance..."
In truth—
Hina had already noticed something.
Just a few hundred meters away, she had sensed three powerful presences with her Observation Haki.
Powerful—at least by the standards of Alabasta.
To Hina and her companions, those three were nothing special, but compared to the average citizen here, they were overwhelmingly strong.
Naturally, this raised Hina's suspicion.
"Outside the palace?"
Cobra blinked in confusion.
Then realization dawned—he understood what area she was referring to.
"That's where the Royal Guard live—their barracks and their families' residences."
In Alabasta, the standing military was divided into two main groups:
One was the Royal Army, with a force of about 400,000.
The other was the Royal Guard—only 2,000 strong—tasked exclusively with protecting the palace and royal family.
So their camp, along with their families, was located right next to the palace.
"Among the Royal Guards, is there anyone ten times stronger than him?"
Hina pointed at Igaram.
At that moment, both Cobra and Igaram were dumbfounded.
Ten times stronger? That's impossible!
"Definitely not!"
"Then we're good. The targets are confirmed—leave the rest to us."
Hina nodded, stood up sharply, and walked off.
Ace and Zoro quickly followed her.
Leaving Cobra and Igaram behind—still in a daze.
---
"You located them already?"
"Hina is shocked—you two really didn't notice them?"
Hina's eyes widened in disbelief.
They were just a few hundred meters away!
"They're in that direction—less than 600 meters from here. Your Observation Haki couldn't reach?"
"Observation Haki? We're not fighting right now—why would I bother using that?"
Ace said casually.
"...Alright, let's pretend I didn't ask. What about you, Zoro? Couldn't use yours either?"
Hina turned to Zoro.
"I already used Observation Haki while standing on the rooftop platform earlier."
Hina nodded.
At least Zoro was more reliable than Ace.
But—if he used it, why hadn't he noticed either?
"Zoro, didn't anything feel off when you used it?"
"Nope. Everything seemed normal."
"And the direction I mentioned?"
"What about it? Nothing strange there, right?"
Hina stared in disbelief.
"You didn't sense three people who were clearly stronger than everyone else around?"
"Stronger? Nah, they all felt weak. No difference at all."
...
At first, Hina didn't get it.
But after a few seconds—she realized:
They all felt weak—so no difference.
That's right.
To Zoro, everyone was weak.
If someone's strength was far below his, he simply lumped them into the same category: "not worth noticing."
With that kind of logic, of course he wouldn't detect any threats.
So in the end—
One of them was too lazy to activate his Haki, and the other was too strong to care about anyone weaker than him.
Hina gave up trying to reason with them.
She just led the way—toward where Jabra and the others were hiding.
And they charged ahead.
---
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