The Uchiha Alliance faced an exceedingly grave situation. King Riku had never imagined that such a major power, which had risen so fiercely in its early days and possessed such immense potential that all the major forces regarded the Uchiha Alliance as a latent threat,
would face its most dangerous trial simply because it had lost one Alliance Leader.
Not only was the interior unstable, but some of the Alliance's subordinate nations had already begun declaring their withdrawal from the Uchiha Alliance in order to protect themselves. King Riku showed no iron-fisted measures to warn those fence-sitters, while Luo, Urouge, and the others merely chose silence. They did not know what judgment the Alliance Leader would have made if he were here.
Externally, however, they were already stretched thin. Countless hostile forces had launched attacks against the Uchiha Alliance. The Alliance's military strength was now basically reliant on the forces Hiko had personally gathered in its early days; the Alliance had yet to establish a properly organized army of any scale. Under these circumstances, merely supporting and protecting the Alliance's subordinate nations was already difficult, let alone striking back to warn those hostile forces.
Hearing Kuzan's words, King Riku grew even more anxious. "What do we do? Marco's forces cannot be underestimated! And he has considerable popular support in Whitebeard's former territory. If Marco wants to reclaim that land, he may very well rally everyone with a single call!"
A trace of weariness appeared in Kuzan's lazy expression. After Hiko's disappearance, the entire Alliance's burden had suddenly been dropped onto his shoulders. Kuzan had never expected this. During the war back then, Hiko had once made Kuzan lose confidence, but while Kuzan was still hesitating, he had been forced into the role of saving the Alliance.
If he did not