The Dead Must Make Way for the Living!

Two days later.

As the World Economic News Agency's latest report was being prepared in full swing.

Alabasta, Arubana, the royal harbor.

King Cobra of Alabasta stood aboard a royal merchant ship.

At that moment, Huka and several guards stood on deck, their expressions solemn as they guarded their king.

Besides that, a voice came from above King Cobra's head.

"Your Majesty, they're here."

The one delivering the report was a giant bird soaring through the sky.

It was Bell, transformed into a falcon.

Along with his words.

Cobra indeed saw, on the distant Sandora River.

A warship slowly appeared.

But it was not a Marine warship—the crossed-star flag hanging from its mainmast was enough to reveal the ship's origin.

It was a warship directly belonging to the World Government.

At that moment.

Aboard that warship.

"Tap." "Tap." "Tap."

Footsteps rang out. Their owner was a man.

He wore a white suit and a white bowler hat. His eyes were one black and one white, yet had no pupils. His entire face was white, giving him a highly distinctive appearance.

If not for the beard on his chin, one might almost suspect that he was wearing a mask.

Beside him stood two tall men, likewise dressed entirely in white and wearing masks.

"You two stay here."

After casually giving his companions that order, the man's figure flashed.

"Whoosh!"

He activated Soru and Geppo at incredible speed, his figure repeatedly bounding through the air above the Sandora River.

In only a few seconds, he crossed several hundred meters and appeared before Cobra.

"Clang!"

Huka and the guards warily raised their weapons, signaling that he should not make any rash moves.

But Cobra merely raised a hand, stopping his guards.

He strode out from the group and looked at the man, loudly announcing his identity: "I am Nefertari Cobra, King of Alabasta."

Hearing this, the man removed the bowler hat from his head, held it before his chest, and bowed. "CP0, Gernika."

That was right.

The man named Gernika was an agent of CP0.

"We have come under the Government's orders to deal with the matter concerning the Shichibukai, 'Crocodile.'"

With that, he put his hat back on. "Now, please explain the current situation, King Cobra. Who killed Crocodile?"

Following the plan he had devised before coming here, he got straight to the point.

But what he had not expected was—

"As far as I know, the person who killed him called himself 'Dragon of the Dawn.' I'll naturally explain the details to you later."

Cobra nodded at that.

"But before then. Igaram!"

The king called out loudly, "Bring it up!"

As soon as he spoke, voices came from the cabin behind him. "Yes, Your Majesty!"

The next moment, the cabin opened.

Led by Igaram, several guards carried a large chest out of the cabin.

"Thud!"

While carrying it out, one of the guards seemed to lose his footing and twist his ankle, letting out a crisp muffled groan.

"..."

The sound made Gernika look over.

But the CP0 agent said nothing. He merely turned his gaze toward the chest.

"This is..."

he asked softly.

Cobra did not intend to keep him guessing.

The king continued, "Mr. Gernika, these are some documents recently given to me by a woman who claimed to be an 'insider.'"

His voice was calm.

"They record an organization called Baroque Works' plot to overthrow Alabasta—they call it the 'Utopia Plan.'"

"That woman also told me some other things, such as the identity of that organization's leader."

King Cobra spoke calmly.

"..."

Gernika's expressionless face seemed to grow somewhat more solemn.

As a senior agent of the World Government, he clearly knew a great deal.

So—

"Are you saying..."

"I cannot verify the truth of the information provided by that woman, so I thought perhaps the Five Elders could confirm it for me?"

Cobra spoke softly.

"...I understand. Please wait a moment."

Gernika nodded.

Then he decisively took a small Den Den Mushi from his robes and walked aside.

"Brru brru!" "Brru brru!" "Click!"

As the call connected, Gernika's lips moved slightly, apparently reporting what had happened here to the person on the other end of the Den Den Mushi.

Then he seemed to hear instructions from the other side and nodded slightly. "Yes."

He hung up the Den Den Mushi and returned to stand before Cobra.

"King Cobra."

He spoke in a deep voice. "The Five Elders deeply regret this year's natural disaster in Alabasta. They also never expected Baroque Works' MR.0 to be hiding in Alabasta. This was an oversight on the part of the World Government and the Marines, so the Government is willing to provide Alabasta with a substantial disaster-relief payment."

"As for the truth you mentioned, the Government is also willing to help you thoroughly investigate these documents."

"Would that satisfy you?"

He explained the situation in just a few words, his delivery clean and decisive.

Only after hearing this did Cobra finally nod. "Of course."

But then Cobra added, "However, as you can see, there are many documents. What's here is only a portion of them, so I was thinking... when the Government delivers the disaster-relief funds next time, I'll hand over the rest of these documents. Would that satisfy you?"

Hearing this, Gernika nodded as well. "Of course."

It was worth mentioning that while the two were talking, the guard who had twisted his ankle earlier seemed to lose his footing again and nearly fell.

This irritated Igaram, who looked at him and decided that the Royal Guard's training had to be intensified.

Meanwhile, after the two sides had reached an agreement.

"Then I'll take my leave, Your Majesty."

Gernika did not delay in the slightest and immediately announced his departure.

Then his figure leaped again, flying back toward the distant warship.

After watching Gernika's figure disappear into the distance.

Cobra remained silent for a moment before saying, "Igaram, all of you may withdraw."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Igaram, who had already been hoping for just that, nodded, though his gaze fell on the guard who kept making mistakes.

But at that exact moment—

"She stays."

Cobra gently pointed at that guard and spoke with authority.

Even Igaram was slightly taken aback.

"Your Majesty, he..."

He thought Cobra was angry because of the guard's mistake just now, so he hurriedly tried to explain.

But Cobra said nothing. He merely gave Igaram a firm look.

"...Yes!"

Igaram naturally understood what his liege meant.

He cast the guard a look that said you're on your own, then left with the others.

After all the guards had departed.

"Take it off."

"That armor is heavy. The padding under your feet can't be comfortable either, can it?"

Cobra looked at the "guard" and spoke gently.

"..."

The "guard" said nothing, but the body beneath the armor seemed to tremble faintly.

Seeing this, Cobra shook his head. "Vivi, I'm not a father who can't recognize his own daughter's voice."

"But you're not a good king!"

Hearing this, Nefertari Vivi finally could not hold back any longer.

She abruptly removed the helmet from her head and threw it to the ground.

"That man—Crocodile—he's the mastermind behind everything, isn't he!?"

She looked at her father and hurled a sharp accusation he would never normally hear from her.

"You know perfectly well that this is all his fault. Why didn't you tell the Government? Why... did you hide it for him?"

Just as Cobra had said earlier, he had not allowed her to get involved in anything concerning Dragon of the Dawn.

But Vivi had never been an obedient princess.

So she had secretly investigated everything. Then, not long ago, she happened to hear Tiragatan, Igaram's wife, mention that Igaram would apparently be coming to the harbor today. That was when she made her plan.

She secretly took the place of a guard, came here, and personally witnessed her father's conversation with the World Government agent.

She knew perfectly well what those documents represented.

They were evidence of Crocodile's crimes—the "truth" owed to the countless people who had died in this great drought.

But after hearing Vivi's words, Cobra showed no sign of anger.

He merely looked at his daughter and sighed. "I never wanted you to come into contact with these things so soon, but..."

He shook his head and smiled bitterly. "Like your mother, you've never had a rule-abiding nature."

After sighing, he pondered for a moment before speaking again.

"Vivi."

Instead of answering his daughter directly, he held up one finger. "I have two stories here."

"The first story is that Crocodile, a Shichibukai, was actually the head of a criminal organization. He tried to usurp our kingdom and was the culprit behind the seven-month drought in our country."

"Then a powerful man named Dragon of the Dawn defeated Crocodile for us and saved this country."

As he said this, he raised a second finger.

"The second story is..."

He looked at his daughter. "There was never any conspiracy. Alabasta went without rain for seven months simply because of this year's extreme weather."

"And the person who defeated Crocodile was MR.0 of Baroque Works, whose name was Dragon of the Dawn."

"Crocodile happened to fight him in Alabasta and was killed."

"Which story do you think the World Government would prefer?"

Hearing her father's question, Vivi naturally fell silent.

Which story would it prefer?

The answer was obvious. Of course it was the second.

In the first story, the Shichibukai selected and granted special privileges by the World Government had become a villain who attempted to usurp one of the World Government's member nations and one of the Twenty Founding Nations, causing countless civilians to die.

Meanwhile, a member of the Twelve Zodiacs, an organization that had stolen Celestial Gold, had instead become the hero who defeated him.

How could the World Government possibly accept such a thing?

The second story sounded much better—in that story, the World Government had made no mistake. Crocodile had simply lacked the strength.

It could even claim that he had died heroically while fighting a criminal, further proving that the World Government had been right to select the Shichibukai.

"..."

Vivi naturally understood what her father meant.

This was a transaction.

To ensure that the "second story" became the truth, the World Government had to seal Cobra's lips.

Gernika had realized precisely this, which was why he had contacted the Five Elders just now to report the situation.

And the Five Elders had indeed shown sincerity.

"To preserve the Government's dignity, they won't skimp on the money."

Cobra's gaze drifted into the distance, toward Alabasta.

"With that money, the disaster the people suffered this year can be made up for."

Did he really not want the truth to be made public?

No, of course he wanted to.

But

"Vivi, do you remember what our ancestor Lily said?"

"The past must compromise for the sake of the future."

"The dead must make way for the living."

He said softly, "We are the kings of Alabasta. We have to do everything we can to preserve the well-being of as many citizens as possible."

In the face of the weight of human lives and the stability of the kingdom, the truth was the only thing that didn't matter.

"Why?"

But before he could finish, Vivi interrupted him once again.

She raised her head and looked at her father, the king.

But this time, her tone was no longer questioning. Instead, she asked softly,

"Why did you hide this from me and go through with it all by yourself, Father?"

"If you had told me sooner, I could have shared this burden with you."

By this point, she understood everything.

She understood why her father had refused to let her know the identity of the mastermind behind everything.

Cobra had probably already come up with today's plan the moment he learned the truth.

And she naturally understood that, given her father's personality, making such a decision could not have been easy for him.

Making an enemy into a hero and burying the truth—this was a decision born of guilt and pain.

That was why she couldn't understand.

She knew how to put the greater good first. She would have understood and made the same choice as Cobra—just as, during that Reverie years ago, she had forced down her grievance and apologized to Wapol for bullying her.

She could have shared this pain with Cobra.

"I know, Vivi."

But at that moment, Cobra merely reached out and gently stroked his daughter's hair.

In his mind, he couldn't help recalling the last Reverie, when he had heard that his daughter had been bullied, and Vivi had forced back her tears and smiled at him as she said, "Father, I'm fine."

"I know you would have done that."

Of course he knew how exceptional his daughter was.

But that was precisely why—

"So I didn't want you to have to do it. Guilt and pain—one person bearing them is enough."

The King of Alabasta shook his head. "I'm already a bad king who hid the truth to protect a villain, so I thought... at the very least, let me be a good father."

Old Sand and Cobra will both still have important roles to play later on. [That's why I've spent more time depicting Cobra's personality.]

This chapter is about 4,000 characters long, so I've had a bit of an outburst today. I'd like to ask for a few more follows and monthly tickets.