Luffy's Brother

The silence in the study lasted for about five seconds.

Vivi's fingers were still gripping the door frame, her knuckles turning slightly white from the force. Her gaze lingered on Sabo's face, gliding over the old scar on his left cheek that stretched from the corner of his eye to his jaw, before settling on the top hat on his head that hadn't been blown off during his fall from the sky.

"Luffy's brother."

She repeated the word, her voice carrying a complex quality—a mixture of confirmation, surprise, and a nascent sense of trust that automatically arose from the name itself.

You don't look like Luffy.

Sabo's lips twitched slightly.

"We're not blood brothers, we're sworn brothers."

"Three brothers."

His voice paused for a beat on those three words.

"Me, Luffy, and Ace."

Cobra heard the order of the three names from his chair, and his finger lightly circled the rim of his teacup.

"The second of three brothers, the Chief of Staff of the Revolutionary Army."

He looked at Sabo.

"Your father is Monkey D. Dragon."

"No."

Sabo shook his head.

"Mr. Dragon is Luffy's father, not mine."

"I was picked up by Mr. Long."

Cobra raised an eyebrow.

"I picked it up."

"When I was ten years old, I went to sea alone and was hit by a Celestial Dragons's cannon, losing all my memories."

Sabo's voice was flat as he spoke, as if he were reciting a file he had read many times before.

"Mr. Long pulled me out of the sea and brought me back to the Revolutionary Army."

"So you joined the Revolutionary Army not because of your beliefs."

Cobra's tone was devoid of judgment; he was simply confirming a fact.

"It wasn't like that at first."

Sabo admitted it.

"At first, it was because I had nowhere else to go."

"And then?"

"Later, I regained my memory."

His fingers touched the handle of the tube, and his fingertips felt the slight coolness left on the metal surface due to the extreme cold at high altitude.

"I thought of Ace, I thought of Luffy, and I thought about why I set sail."

"Then I chose to stay with the Revolutionary Army because what Mr. Long was doing was the same thing I wanted to do."

Vivi walked over from beside the door frame, her steps more steady than before, but the edges of her eyes still had a faint redness.

Do you know what Luffy did in Alabasta?

Sabo looked at her.

"I know some."

"He helped you defeat Crocodile."

Vivi nodded.

He saved the country.

He saved me.

Her voice dropped half a tone in the second sentence.

"So when you said you were Luffy's brother, I knew you weren't here to harm us."

Sabo was silent for two seconds.

This transfer of trust was so direct that it gave him a strange feeling, a feeling similar to when he first saw the news in the newspaper that Luffy had caused chaos throughout Alabasta.

Pride.

A sense of pride as an older brother.

Your Highness.

"Vivi will do."

Vivi interrupted him.

"Luffy calls me Vivi, so his brother should call me Vivi too."

Sabo's lips curved into a gentle smile, a smile more tender than any expression he wore when facing the white mask.

"Okay, Vivi."

His tone shifted back to business.

"Mr. Long judged that the Five Elders issued the purge order the moment the Sky Screen stopped. The first group of CP0 has been intercepted, but they won't be the last."

"CP0's standard mission formation is a three-person team. If news of the first team's failure reaches the Holy Land, the second team will be expanded to five people or even more."

Cobra tapped his finger on the table.

"You mean, they'll come again?"

"I will definitely come."

Sabo's gaze shifted to the white masked figure in the corner, whose hands were outstretched in surrender.

"But before that, I need to get something out of him."

He walked up to the white mask, squatted down, placed the tube horizontally on his knees, and looked at the expressionless eyes behind the mask.

Number 003.

There was no reaction behind the mask.

"You just said you chose option two, speak properly."

Sabo tapped his finger on the tube, producing a crisp metallic clang.

"Then tell me."

There was a three-second silence behind the mask.

"I have no obligation to disclose any mission information to the enemy."

"And you can't stop me from getting you to talk in other ways."

Sabo's tone was flat.

"But I gave you a choice, which shows that I prefer to resolve the issue in a civilized way."

"So you'd better cherish this opportunity."

The breathing rate behind the mask did not change.

What do you want to know?

When will the second group arrive?

"I have no idea."

You're lying.

Sabo lifted the tube from his knees, one end of which rested lightly on the edge of the mask.

"CP0 has a standard procedure for task scheduling. After the first group loses contact, the start time for the second group is fixed. You know that time."

The eye behind the mask paused for a moment at the end of the tube.

"After the first group lost contact for more than two hours, the second group automatically started."

How long after startup will it take to arrive?

"It depends on the departure point."

"If you start from the Holy Land."

"With a fast boat and favorable currents and winds, it will take fourteen to sixteen hours."

Sabo did some mental calculations.

CP0 Team 1 arrived in Alabasta about an hour and a half ago. Nearly an hour has passed since the operation began, meaning that the communication disruption for Team 1 is now a foregone conclusion.

Two hours later, the second group started, adding a voyage time of fourteen to sixteen hours.

A total of sixteen to eighteen hours.

The next episode of Sky Screen's recap will begin in nineteen hours.

The time window has a difference of only one to three hours.

It's too tight.

How many people will be in the second group?

There was a two-second pause behind the mask.

Five people.

"Combat Power Level."

"They are all masters of the Six Powers, and at least two of them have Armament Haki at the general level."

Sabo pulled the tube back from the edge of the mask.

He stood up and turned to Cobra.

"Your Majesty, five CP0 agents will arrive in Alabasta in sixteen to eighteen hours."

"The next episode of Sky Screen begins in nineteen hours."

"That means they will arrive one to three hours before the Sky Screen begins to open."

After hearing the numbers, Cobra remained silent for a few seconds.

"Can you stop five?"

Sabo did not answer immediately.

Five CP0s proficient in the Six Powers, two of whom possess Armament Haki at the admiral level, would have a combat strength roughly equivalent to two Vice Admirals and three Commodores in the Navy.

His own combat strength is in the range of Vice Admiral to Vice Admiral, and with the advantage of the Flame-Flame Fruit, he can easily take on three people at once, but if five of them come at him at the same time, he will have to be distracted, and that distraction will create openings.

But he needs to protect more than just one person.

"I'm not enough on my own."

Sabo's answer was straightforward.

"But Mr. Long is on his way."

Cobra's finger stopped at the rim of the glass.

"Monkey D. Dragon."

"I'll come in person."

"Yes."

The air in the study seemed to change its density after those two words.

Vivi stood beside her father, her fingers unconsciously gripping the hem of her clothes.

The world's most dangerous criminal, the leader of the Revolutionary Army, and the Storm Devil Fruit Awakening whose full power was revealed on the Sky Screen, Monkey D. Dragon.

We're coming to Alabasta.

"He came here not just to protect us."

Cobra spoke slowly, each word as if he were confirming the accuracy of what he was saying.

Sabo looked into the old king's eyes, and he saw something in them.

It's not fear.

It is insight.

"You're right."

Sabo did not deny it.

"Mr. Long is here because the next episode of Sky Screen will announce the list of members of the Twenty Kingdoms Alliance."

"The Nefertari Family is the only one of the twenty first kings who did not become Celestial Dragons."

When the list was released, the whole world asked the same question: Why didn't the Nefertari Family go to Mary Geoise?

His tubes were placed at his side.

"The answer to that question may be the final piece of the puzzle to dismantle the World Government's rule."

"And you and your family are the only ones who might know the answer."

Cobra's fingers touched the thin chain around his neck that used to hold the brass key; the chain was empty, and the key was in Vivi's hand.

He glanced at his daughter.

Vivi was still clutching the brass key in her fist; the sharp edges of the brass were digging into the flesh of her palm, causing a slight pain.

"Therefore, our family, starting tonight, is no longer just the royal family of a kingdom."

There was a quiet acceptance in Cobra's voice.

"We have become living evidence."

"Evidence that both the World Government and the Revolutionary Army need."

Sabo remained silent.

His silence was the answer.

Cobra pushed the now-cold teacup to the corner of the table, then picked up the cup of tea Vivi had brought him and took another sip.

The tea was still a little warm.

"Sabo."

"Exist."

"When you fell from the sky just now, you smashed a hole in the ceiling of my study."

Sabo glanced down at the shattered floor beneath his feet and the two-meter-diameter gap above his head. The night wind was blowing down through the gap, ruffling the notes on the table.

"Sorry, I'll be careful to enter through the door next time."

"It doesn't matter."

Cobra's lips curved into a slight smile, just like before.

"Luffy smashed way more things when Luffy than this."

After those words, Vivi's expression finally changed slightly; the lines of her lips loosened a little, as if she wanted to laugh but didn't fully let go.

The desert night wind outside the window changed direction, turning from west to south, bringing an even drier heatwave through the Royal Palace corridors.

Chaka's footsteps came from afar, heavy but steady. The wound on his left arm had been temporarily bandaged with strips of cloth by the guards.

He walked to the study door and gave a military salute with his still-functioning right hand.

"Your Majesty, the Royal Palace has been cleared, and all three intruders have been apprehended."

"Four members of the outer patrol team were knocked unconscious; no one was killed."

"The communication line is under repair and is expected to be restored within half an hour."

Cobra nodded.

"Chaka, your wound."

"It's just a superficial wound, nothing serious."

Chaka's gaze swept over the unconscious CP0 officer on the ground by the door, then glanced at the one being held captive in the corner.

"What should we do with these two?"

Sabo took over the question before Chaka could even speak.

"Lock him up first, we'll decide what to do when Mr. Long arrives."

Chaka looked at Cobra.

Cobra glanced at Sabo.

"Listen to him."

Chaka's eyebrows twitched, but he didn't ask any further questions.

He bent down, picked up the unconscious CP0 officer from the ground with one hand, then gestured to the guards at the door to escort the one in the corner, before turning and walking out.

The study fell silent again.

Sabo walked to the gaping hole in the shattered ceiling and looked up at the night sky.

The countdown numbers on the Sky Screen glowed with a pale golden light high in the air, their rhythm as regular as a heartbeat.

Eighteen hours and forty-two minutes.

Eighteen hours and forty-one minutes.