The main hall of the Rainbase Palace was brightly lit with candles.
A map of the entire Alabasta was spread out on the long table, marking every marching route and every garrison post from Rainbase to Alubarna.
Charles stood at the long table, his finger tracing the dotted line northward from Katya, stopping at the end of the line near the outskirts of Alubarna.
"The scout team has lost contact."
He pulled his finger off the map and turned to the figure standing by the window with his back to him at the other end of the long table.
"This unit set off the evening before last, and was scheduled to arrive near Alubarna at dawn today. Their mission was to reconnoiter the outer defenses, but so far, their contact Den Den Mushi has not been answered."
Prince stood by the palace window, his back to the long table, his hands clasped behind his back.
Outside the window was the Rainbase night sky, and the desert wind blew from the direction of the Sandora River, slightly lifting the hem of his dark brown robe.
He didn't turn around. "Who else besides headquarters knows the marching route of this unit?"
Charles paused for a moment.
"The Kataya Town is where His Highness personally appointed a support force is stationed. The scouts exchange intelligence and replenish supplies when passing through Katya. As agreed, the support force should send a confirmation signal to headquarters upon the arrival of the scouts, but the signal has not arrived."
Prince didn't speak; he continued looking out the window.
Fisher leaned back in the leather swivel chair on the left side of the long table, the tattoos on his bald head gleaming with a dark bluish-black light in the candlelight.
After listening to Charles's report, he let out a short laugh through his nose.
The short spear rested on his knee, the engravings on its shaft gleaming dimly in the candlelight.
"Prince." Fisher switched the short spear to his other hand, speaking casually as if he were chatting in a tavern.
"Didn't you always say your army was well-trained and invincible? Didn't you say your officers were absolutely loyal to you? How come an entire town's garrison, plus a squad of scouts, just vanished like that?"
Charles turned around, his cheekbones becoming even more prominent on his thin face.
He looked at Fisher, his lips pressed into a straight line, but he didn't refute him.
Fisher was about to continue when Prince's voice rang out first.
"The Uchiha have arrived."
Fisher's words caught in his throat, and the short spear nearly slipped off his knee.
He glanced at Prince's retreating figure, his brow furrowing. "Uchiha?"
Dorovich, who was sitting at the other end of the long table, suddenly sat up straight.
He was trimming the nail of his right middle finger with a gold nail file when he heard the surname, and his fingers stopped.
The nail file was held between his thick fingers, his knuckles turning white from the pressure, and the pendant of the gold chain on his belly swayed gently with his movements.
"That Uchiha from the Uchiha Trading Company?" He raised his eyes, narrowing them into slits, and the tone of his voice changed.
Prince still had his back to them.
Are there any other Uchiha left on this Grand Line?
Dorovich slammed his nail file on the table.
His lips twitched downwards, his nostrils flared slightly, and his stomach clenched even tighter on the front of his shirt due to his rapid breathing. This reaction was far more intense than when he learned that the scout unit had been completely wiped out.
"The Uchiha Trading Company, they've only been in Alabasta for a few years. First they opened a spice transshipment station in Rainbase, then they seized the dock business in Yuba. My Sand Ant Gang has been operating in Alabasta for almost twenty years, Uchiha Trading Company has extended its tentacles into every conceivable underground business in less than three years."
His knuckles were white from pressing so hard. "Now they're even getting involved in this mess!"
"There are many Uchiha properties here; they'll definitely be coming."
He turned around, walked back to the long table from the window, and pointed to the location of Kataya Town on the map.
He stared at the place name for a moment, then looked up, his tone as calm as a scholar in a classroom. "During the years I faked my death, I gathered a lot of intelligence in various places. But regarding the Uchiha, I only had fragments of information. They were called the Demon Clan."
"Legend has it that demonic blood flows in their veins, allowing them to spew flames from hell; their eyes are blood-red, with Tomoe) rotating in their pupils, and anyone who sees those eyes will be instantly hypnotized, revealing everything they know."
He looked up from in front of the map, his gaze sweeping over the three people on either side of the long table.
"My people would never betray me willingly. Only the Uchiha could forcibly obtain intelligence and annihilate the entire Katya garrison overnight."
"This is the first time an external force has intervened in this war in this way."
Fisher suddenly sat up straight in his chair, his back lifting off the chair back.
His expression changed, turning into a belated sense of alertness.
He opened his mouth, his voice rising a half-octave. "Uchiha? The Uchiha from Damian? Vice Admiral Uchiha Damian?"
Dorovich snorted and tapped his nail file twice on the table.
"You've been retired for too long; the Navy's intelligence network has completely dried up. Uchiha Damian, Vice Admiral of the Marine Headquarters, is known as the monster who captured the most great pirates among the Navy's Golden Generation."
He tossed his nail file onto the table. "He single-handedly took on the entire pirate crew; even cannonballs couldn't get close to him. And then there's Uchiha Baro, the president of the Uchiha Trading Company, who controls all the trade routes between the East and West Blues. And Uchiha Mira, the de facto ruler of the East Blue's underworld; she sets the rules, and no one dares to disobey."
Fisher stood up, his short spear planted firmly on the ground, the end of the shaft striking the sandstone floor with a dull thud.
"Little Prince, do you know what the Uchiha clan means? Do you know who Damian is? Do you know how many people are in the Uchiha Merchant Guild's security force? Have you witnessed the methods of Uchiha Balo and Uchiha Mira?"
"Quiet," Prince hissed.
The sound wasn't loud, but it fell into the hall like a knife striking a chopping board.
Fisher's words were abruptly cut off in his throat.
He stood before the long table, his fingers still gripping the handle of the short spear, his knuckles white from the force.
He spent over twenty years on the Grand Line, and after retiring, he was pulled back into command by the Rocks Pirates. He has encountered countless formidable characters.
But there was something in Prince's low growl that he could discern.
That was the authority of someone in a position of power; this guy certainly had the potential to be a ruler.
Prince turned around, his expression returning to calm.
How can you be so sure that the Uchiha will definitely stand against us?
Fisher practically blurted out, "Are you stupid? Damian's Marine Vice Admiral! Who here dares to act tough in front of the navy?"
Dorovich did not refute, nor did Charles.
Prince looked at them, remained silent for a few seconds, and then let out a very soft laugh through his nose.
"One family, four people, each going their own way. One became a naval officer, hunting pirates all over the world; one ran a trading company, monopolizing all the shipping routes in the West Blue and even the Grand Line, with only profit in his eyes; the other two mingled in the underworld, their hands stained with all sorts of dirty work that couldn't be brought to the light of day."
He spread his palms out, facing the three people on either side of the long table, his tone as cold as a desert night wind.
"With such a divided family, how good can you expect their relationship to be? They're probably already at odds with each other."
He turned around and walked back to the window.
The hem of the long robe dragged across the map, making a rustling sound.
He stood in the moonlight, half of his face hidden in shadow, the faint scar below his left eye appearing slightly white in the moonlight.
"Family? Kinship?"
He uttered those words one by one, each word carrying a chilling, razor-sharp edge.
He gave a cold laugh, a very shallow and cold smile curving his lips, a smile that conveyed only a contempt that seeped from the very marrow of his bones.
"Everything else is bullshit when it comes to profit."
The night wind outside the window suddenly picked up, and the candlelight flickered on the long table. All the shadows cast on the wall swayed, except for Prince's shadow, which remained as still as a rock.
"No one knows this better than me."
The hall fell silent for a moment.
Fisher stood there, leaning on his short spear, his lips moved, but he ultimately didn't speak.
Dorovich tucked the nail file into his pocket, his small eyes darting around in the candlelight.
Charles stood before the map, his gaze fixed on the marker for Kataya Town. He was calculating what adjustments would be needed to the next troop deployment if the Uchiha had already intervened.
Prince turned away from the window and returned to the long table. He reached for the charcoal pencil in the corner of the map, slowly drew a circle around the location of Kataya Town, and then forcefully crossed it out.
"Whether the Uchiha come or not, the war has only just begun. They've already drawn their swords, which is a piece of information for me."
He placed the charcoal pencil on the map and put his hands back behind his back.
"Alabasta will be a signal: if you can't break this old world here, you'll never break it anywhere else in the world."