Preparing for War

The next day.

The morning light had yet to fully dispel the darkness from the ground.

His Highness Aleus woke up right on time, his dutiful internal clock working as reliably as ever. He did not wake the maid, who was still sleeping soundly, and washed his face and brushed his teeth himself. Though he was a prince, he preferred to handle such matters personally rather than standing or sitting like a wooden post while someone poked a toothbrush around inside his mouth.

Well, the maid's movements were very professional and not at all uncomfortable—on the contrary, they were gentle enough to be called a pleasure.

But not being used to it meant not being used to it.

Some habits left behind by his psychology had not changed because of his new life.

After washing up, Aleus changed into a set of training clothes and went straight to his private training ground to begin his usual morning exercises.

Over two hundred years ago, The ancestors of the Sokachio Clan had set out from the East Blue as bounty hunters, charging into the Grand Line and then breaking into the New World. With a pair of iron fists, they carved out a foundation in the New World, laying the groundwork for the Ekmondo Kingdom. Through the efforts of several subsequent generations, they finally achieved the favorable situation they had today.

A good life was not easily won.

Maintaining that good life was even harder.

This was a truth every child of the Sokachio family had to understand from a young age.

To survive in the New World, strong martial power was the most reliable guarantee. The kingdoms of the New World had rules entirely different from those of the Four Seas and Paradise. In the New World, a kingdom's king might not necessarily be its strongest warrior, but he would never be the kind of weakling who could be taken down in five moves.

Thus, generation after generation, the Sokachio Clan had never let up in their pursuit of martial strength.

Currently, the strongest member of the Sokachio Family on the surface was Aleus's grandfather—that old man who had married a new wife under twenty years old on the Red Line Continent. He was solidly at the level of a Navy Headquarters Vice Admiral, and during his reign, he had been a notorious scoundrel in the New World.

Then there was Aleus's father, the Sixth King of Ekmondo Kingdom, Sokachio. Placed within the Navy, he could be considered a master at the level of a Headquarters Rear Admiral.

As for Aleus, He was still young and had yet to display his valor before the eyes of the world. He needed a sufficiently dazzling opportunity to let the world know of his existence, to let both the friends and enemies of the Ekmondo Kingdom know that the next king of Ekmondo was also a strong man no less than his elders.

And that opportunity, Was already right before his eyes.

The war with the Amento Kingdom was the stage for Aleus's debut.

After finishing his morning exercises, bathing, and changing clothes, Aleus hurried through breakfast and once again arrived at the study His Majesty the King used to receive guests.

Before him, a guest had already arrived.

"Your Highness Aleus."

The burly man sitting on the sofa stood up and bowed in greeting to Aleus as he pushed open the door.

"No need to be so formal. Besides, you're my direct superior now—I should be the one greeting you, General Foy." Aleus smiled and greeted the burly man in return.

This burly man, standing two meters sixty tall with shoulders broad enough to race a horse on and a sallow beard under his chin, was none other than the Minister of the Navy of the Ekmondo Kingdom—Bamund. For Aleus, who was about to concurrently serve as Deputy Minister of the Navy, he was indeed his direct superior.

"Haha! You've really grown up! Much sturdier than when you were a kid." Foy let out a hearty laugh. He turned his gaze to Bovell, who was sitting behind the desk, and said cheerfully, "Your Majesty, looks like in a few years, we'll be heading to the World Government to retire!"

This was the rule of the Ekmondo Kingdom.

A new reign brings new ministers.

Just as Aleus's grandfather had abdicated to Bovell and taken his old retainers to the World Government's headquarters on the Red Line Continent, when Bovell abdicated to Aleus, he too would take his trusted ministers to the Red Line Continent.

And it wasn't just the ministers—other members of the royal family would be taken along as well.

Aleus's grandfather had taken his other two sons to the Red Line Continent, and when Bovell left, he would also take Aleus's younger brother and sister.

This was a rule established by the second king to prevent internal strife within the family.

After all, Royal families like those of the Alabastan Kingdom or the Drum Kingdom, which passed down through a single bloodline, were rare oddities. As for the Goa Kingdom, which could only rely on adopted sons to inherit the throne—that was a tragedy. Of course, that was assuming they were really adopted sons and not bastards.

Most royal families wouldn't even dare to call themselves royalty without at least a hundred clan members.

As for how they managed to infiltrate the World Government, it was simple. The second king, with an invincible barrage of gold, had conquered the only daughter of a high-ranking official within the World Government at the time. He was already over fifty years old and married a new wife in her twenties—marrying a "younger" wife seemed to be a tradition of the Sokachio family?

In any case, the second king had thus "sacrificed" himself. Due to overwork, he died before reaching sixty, but he successfully laid the foundation for the Sokachio family's foothold within the World Government.

"I'm looking forward to that day too!"

Hearing Foy's words, Bovell also laughed heartily.

The gloomy clouds of yesterday had been completely dispelled by Aleus's return.

After the king and the Minister of the Navy had laughed enough, they got down to business.

"Foy, tell me about the situation at the front."

Bovell was holding a cigar in his mouth, though he hadn't lit it.

"The Amento Kingdom's navy is coming down from the north. The northernmost Whale Head Island was the first to fall, two days ago. Just ten minutes before you walked in, the garrison on Whale Belly Island sent word that the Amento Kingdom's fleet had appeared in the lookout's field of vision.

Your Highness Aleus, you need to rush reinforcements there before Whale Tail Island is taken. If Whale Tail Island falls, the islands we'll need to defend will become Fin Island, Macchiato Island, and Bowhead Island—that will make things much more troublesome."

A map of the Ekmondo Kingdom's territory hung on the study wall.

Standing beside the map, Foy pointed to various locations on it, explaining everything to Aleus with all his effort.

But, actually, it wasn't all that complicated.

The chaos of the New World's magnetic fields was enough to make even a slightly less skilled Navigator faint.

To sail in the New World, one had to follow the Log Pose's direction; otherwise, straying into certain extremely dangerous sea zones meant there was truly only a way in, no way out. This also limited the flexibility of naval battles to some extent, making warfare in the New World direct and brutal.

There were only a few attack routes, and just as few defensive positions. Neither the attacker nor the defender had much room for choice.

Tactics like Directly attack the Yellow Dragon—a decapitation strike—even if you had a permanent Log Pose for an enemy stronghold, were impossible to execute without island resupply along the way.

Such warfare didn't require many schemes or tricks. Whoever had bigger warships, fiercer firepower, and more powerful fighters held the advantage. It was a pure contest of hard strength between both sides.

Take Whale Head Island, Whale Belly Island, and Whale Tail Island, for example. These three islands, when connected on a map, looked like a giant whale. They were the three northern gates of the Ekmondo Kingdom. The seas and islands surrounding them were all extremely dangerous. Either you smashed straight through all three islands, or you bypassed that entire sea zone and attacked the Ekmondo Kingdom from another direction.

As things stood, the Amento Kingdom was preparing to punch through Whale Head, Whale Belly, and Whale Tail with brute force.

"Whale Tail Island, huh?"

Aleus stared at the sea chart for a few seconds, then nodded.

"I understand. I'll annihilate the enemy at Whale Tail Island."

"Ale, be careful. Don't forget that the Amento Kingdom is just a front; Umit is the real mastermind." Burwell urged repeatedly. Although Aleus's strength had already surpassed his own two years ago, as the saying went, weapons and bullets have no eyes. On the battlefield, even the Four Emperors couldn't claim a perfect record—the Beast had been captured by the Navy many times.

"Oh, right. The frontline intelligence mentioned several Great Pirates with bounties over a hundred million. Here's the compiled list and files—take a look." Burwell picked up another document from the desk and handed it to Aleus.