"Ha-ha."
"Bastard, what are you laughing at?" King Gal growled angrily.
"I'm laughing at how naive you are, King Gal." Longinus chuckled, his expression suddenly turning serious. "King Gal, I hope you can understand one thing."
"The Marines maintain an absolutely neutral stance toward the World Government's member nations. In other words, we were never obligated to interfere in this matter."
Longinus lowered his head to look down at him, both hands in his pockets. "Helping you is a favor; refusing to help you is only proper. I have even less obligation to make you any guarantees. Do you understand now?"
"You—you—you... How dare you speak to a king like that?" King Gal was so furious that he could barely get the words out.
The royal family members behind King Gal turned deathly pale. As if they had realized something, one of them discreetly tugged at the king's sleeve. "Your Majesty, that's Commodore Longinus, who killed..."
"Stop pulling me. I know who he is. Isn't he just a pirate who got lucky and killed some guy named Ear... Earwax?" King Gal clearly knew something about Longinus, but in his view, the Marines would not casually move against even the Corrupt King. Surely they wouldn't dare touch him? "But that doesn't give him the right to show such disrespect to a king!"
"No... no, Your Majesty!" The man behind him was nearly frantic with tears. He stopped trying to be discreet and blurted out, "I mean, that's Commodore Longinus, the Just Arbiter who once killed a king of the North Blue!"
"Cough... cough, cough!" King Gal, who had been glaring coldly at Longinus, nearly choked on his own saliva. Casting aside all dignity, he threw an arm around his subordinate's shoulder. "Wasn't that lunatic a colonel?"
"He... he must have been