White Mask

Pell sensed a second anomaly on the roof.

It's not the wind.

It's a sound.

To be precise, it's the disappearance of sound.

In the garden on the south side of the Royal Palace, there is a small fountain. The sound of water falling into a stone basin can be heard up to the roof at night. The rhythm is even, with three to four drops of water falling per second.

The sound disappeared three seconds ago.

The fountain isn't broken.

Something was blocking the path of the sound between the fountain and the roof.

Pell's thumb lingered on the flare's pull ring for half a second before he pulled it down.

Red flames rose from the rooftops, exploding into a blinding sphere of light in the night sky, illuminating the entire outline of the Royal Palace.

The signal flare illuminated the garden on the south wall.

There was nothing in the garden.

The fountain was operating normally, and the sound of water falling into the stone basin could be clearly heard in the silence after the signal flare was fired.

Pell's eyes swept around the garden, but he found nothing unusual.

But the back of his neck was still numb.

"Pell."

Chaka's voice came from below as he ran out of the Royal Palace's main gate with four guards, their scimitars already drawn.

"What's wrong."

"I sensed something amiss towards the south wall."

Chaka glanced at the garden and frowned.

There's no one in the garden.

"I know no one's here." Pell jumped off the roof, knelt on one knee, and then stood up.

"But the sound of the fountain disappeared for three seconds."

Chaka's expression changed.

He is a user of the Dog-Dog Fruit its jackal form. While his sensitivity to changes in sound is not as high as that of Pell, the Falcon-Falcon Fruit, his sense of smell is stronger.

He lifted his nose and took a deep breath.

The air carries the dryness of the desert, the greenery of garden plants, and the dampness of water pooling in the fountain's stone basin.

There is another thing.

It's very light.

It's so faint that it's completely undetectable to the nose of an average person.

The smell was a mixture of metal and leather, topped with the scent of some kind of special chemical agent—a agent that Chaka had read about in intelligence files.

Odor masking agent.

The standard equipment used by senior World Government agents during infiltration missions is to mask their scent, but the agent itself leaves an extremely faint chemical residue.

Chaka's pupils contracted slightly.

"Pell." His voice was very low.

"What."

"Go and wake the king."

"She's already awake." Pell's gaze was still searching in the shadows of the garden.

"Take him and the princess out of the study and to the underground refuge passage."

"Chaka, are you sure?"

"I smell odor masking agent." Chaka gripped his scimitar even tighter.

"It's the CP that's here."

Without further hesitation, Pell transformed into a falcon, flapped his wings, and dashed toward the study.

Chaka faced the garden, with four guards standing behind him, swords drawn.

There was still nothing to be seen in the garden.

The sound of the fountain has returned to normal.

The night wind carried sand from outside the wall, and the leaves of the flowers and plants rustled in the wind.

"Step back five steps," Chaka said to the guards behind him.

The guards retreated.

Chaka's body began to transform into a beast.

Jackal fur emerged from beneath his skin, his muscles shifted, and the curvature of his spine adjusted. He had chosen a human-beast form, retaining his human physique and mobility while gaining the jackal's sense of smell and reaction speed.

His nose caught the scent in the air once more.

The residual smell of the medicine has faded.

It didn't disappear; the source of the smell moved.

They moved from the south side of the garden to the west side.

In the few seconds he spoke, the intruder's position changed.

Chaka's gaze followed the direction of the scent and turned to the west.

On the west side of the garden is a 2.5-meter-high stone wall, behind which is the Royal Palace guards' corridor, which connects to the west wing of the Royal Palace.

West Wing.

That place is closer to the study.

"He's taking a detour," Chaka's voice forced out from his throat.

The goal is not a garden.

The goal has always been the study.

The garden was just the first step in a feint.

"Everyone, move to the west wing!" Chaka shouted, and began to move.

But as soon as he uttered the command, his left ear caught a sound that didn't belong to the night wind.

That was the very faint popping sound made when the fascia contracts at an extremely rapid pace.

He instinctively held his scimitar horizontally in front of him.

The sound of metal clashing against metal exploded in the night. Chaka's feet slid two deep furrows in the ground, and the impact propelled him back three steps.

He saw clearly what was attacking him.

One finger.

A finger wearing a white glove, its fingertip coated with Armament Haki, was harder than the blade of his scimitar.

The owner of the finger stood two steps away from him.

White mask.

Black suit.

CP0.

"The communication lines have been cut off." The voice coming from behind the mask was completely emotionless.

"The outer patrols have been dealt with."

"Mr. Chaka, the captain of the Alabasta guard, please make way."

Chaka's arm was numb; the force of that finger strike was much greater than he had anticipated.

But he didn't let it.

What is your mission?

The white mask tilted its head slightly.

"World Government affairs do not require reporting to the Kingdom Guard Captain."

"You've come to kill the king." Chaka's voice trembled, not with fear, but with rage.

There was a moment of silence behind the mask.

"Supreme Command."

"Cannot be changed."

"Unavoidable."

"Cannot be delayed."

Every word was like a nail hammered into a wooden board.

Chaka's pupils, illuminated by the moonlight, transformed into the vertical pupils characteristic of a jackal, and his canine teeth peeked out from between his lips.

"You can try." He switched his scimitar from a defensive horizontal grip to an offensive vertical grip.

But you must step over me.

The person in the white mask looked at him for two seconds.

Then he nodded.

"Good."

The finger extended again, this time with all five fingers out, palm open, the Armament Haki covering the fingertip extending to the entire palm.

A reinforced version of the Tekkai, Shigan.

Chaka took a deep breath.

He knew he couldn't beat CP0.

But he only needs to do one thing.

Hold him off.

They dragged Pell into the underground passage with the king and princess.

Even if it's only five minutes.