"They're rotten royalty!"
T-Bone remained silent, only gritting his teeth, while his underlings behind him shouted.
The extreme polarization within the country is enough to show that it is not a barren land, yet the common people still live such a difficult life, while the people above them live far worse.
Their righteous indignation was vented, and in an instant, everyone on the street focused their attention on Cifer and his group.
"It's actually that 'Black Winged Great Demon'!"
Once they recognized Cifer, the pedestrians began to hurry away from the street.
Even without any news of this man indiscriminately killing civilians, his notorious reputation would lead most people to prefer staying far away from him.
As for T-Bone and the others, since they had already decided to leave the Navy, they had long since taken off their Navy uniforms and were tacitly considered as Cifer's companions.
They arrived here aboard a pirate ship they had stolen, flying the flag of the Cifer.
Although he was no longer in the Navy, T-Bone wanted to leave with dignity, rather than betraying his allies.
Therefore, the warships notified the navy to come and take over as soon as they arrived in the second country.
"When the Navy has its concerns, it is clear that we do not."
He spoke up to comfort T-Bone beside him.
If T-Bone were still in the Navy, even if he encountered injustice or a foolish ruler, he could only stand by and watch.
As this is Affiliated Nation of the World Government, the navy has an obligation to protect the monarch here when it is present.
But now, being an underling of Cifer, one of the world's most wanted criminals, is a completely different story. He is a man who is already wanted by the bounty, so why should he be afraid of doing things that are against the rules?
During their two-week trip, the two exchanged their views on justice, and it was as if they had met a kindred spirit and felt they had known each other for a long time.
Therefore, Cifer directly assigned T-Bone to his lifelong subordinate, who would become his direct subordinate in the future.
"There really is a stench of human decay permeating this place."
Chopper has an extremely sensitive nose, and he had long ago discovered that the closer a city is to the capital, the stronger the perfume and other miscellaneous smells become.
But this smelled different from the perfume he had smelled in Alabasta; it made him feel nauseous.
"In wealthy areas, everyone wears a suit and tie, and the aristocracy wastes countless amounts of food every day."
"But after leaving the capital, some commoners are so poor that they can't even afford to eat tree bark."
Nolan sighed, the differences she had seen along the way were so great that she even felt that the Qing Kingdom's king was no more incompetent than this.
"However, it seems someone made a move beforehand."
Enel heard the sounds and noticed what was happening in the palace, but what did it have to do with him?
As the group approached the palace gates, a strong stench of blood wafted through the air, and the palace guards lay dead in pools of blood.
Just then, a young man with silver-white hair and a height of over two meters strode out of the palace.
He carried a massive spear, almost as tall as himself, that looked like a giant sword, stained with blood, and he himself looked as if he had just emerged from a blood-soaked hell.
"You are that... 'Black Winged Great Demon'! I've finally met you!"
The boy was stunned for a moment, then his face lit up with ecstasy. He brandished the large spear in his hand and charged toward Cifer.
"Rise."
Before he could even get close, Nolan simply raised a finger, and the ground instantly collapsed, sending countless stones and dirt flying towards the boy.
"Break open for me!"
The boy wielded his large spear, using only brute force to smash through all the earth and rocks in front of him, and his pace toward Cifer was not slowed down.
"I was really underestimated."
Nolan was a little angry. She was a person with Bounty of over 100 million, yet her attack was easily blocked by a teenager. Just as she was about to get serious, a hand stopped her.
"Let me do it!"
The person who speaks is a lifetime.
The person in front of him, though exuding a strong smell of blood, did not seem like an evil person. He wanted to see what was going on.
"Gravity disorder".
With a single, gentle flick of his wrist, he pulled the Gambler's Fireline, and the charging youth suddenly lost his weight and floated up before crashing to the ground.
The immense gravity pressed him to the ground, rendering him immobile, his bones creaking and cracking.
"Why did you kill everyone in the palace? And why did you attack my captain?"
Yisheng slowly stepped forward and stopped beside the boy, whose weight continued to increase.
"As expected of the 'world's most wicked person'! Even a random companion of his can be this strong, but I will not admit defeat!"
Ah~
The young man exerted all his strength, trying to break free from the shackles of his life. A surge of powerful energy emanated from him, and many of his subordinates behind T-Bone collapsed to the ground with a thud.
"Conqueror's Haki? That's astonishing!"
Even a lifetime can be shocked at this moment.
Even among his powerful companions, only the captain and first mate are currently the only ones he is certain to possess Conqueror's Haki.
Unexpectedly, this boy who looks to be only a teenager also possesses such kingly qualities.
"Damn it... why isn't it working?"
The boy began to realize something was wrong, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't break free from the blind man's grasp.
Moreover, his Conqueror's Haki clearly only had an effect on the henchmen behind them.
He coughed up a mouthful of blood and felt as if his body was about to be crushed.
"So, if you don't tell me, you're going to die."
Cifer felt that the other party seemed somewhat familiar, so he asked Yisheng to release the gravity that was being applied to him, and then asked.
"Phew~ Killing those scumbags would just be doing the people a favor!"
After catching his breath, the boy planted the spear in the ground and then stood in front of Cifer, his eyes showing no fear.
The scene he witnessed upon arriving in the country was one of utter devastation.
The civilians on the outskirts, in order to survive, even resorted to cannibalism, which stirred up some unpleasant memories for him.
Enraged, he killed everyone he saw who was like that.
His words before the last person died revealed the reason for the boy's journey:
"If you're so great, what's the big deal about killing us defenseless commoners? If you're so capable, why don't you kill the king instead!"
They're the ones who made us end up like this!
"This country... is truly terminally ill!"
The crowd was deeply moved. They hadn't expected things to turn out this way. What they had seen was already a stark contrast in lifestyles, but little did they know that it was just the Ikkaku the Iceberg.
But he never knew how to comment on the boy's behavior.
Were those civilians guilty?
Have!
But they all made decisions against their conscience in order to survive, after experiencing endless despair and struggle.
Then, I met this boy. Perhaps, this is fate.
For the weak, everything is fate, and they have no say in anything.