At the end of Sea Circle Calendar 1486, two and a half years had passed since the battle of God Valley.
(Oda-sensei set the manga's current timeline in 1541, but since many readers, myself included, were used to the current timeline, this book's timeline would remain unchanged and follow the original plan.)
In the first half of the Grand Line lay the Kingdom of Alabasta.
It was a vast, boundless desert nation.
Alabasta was located on Lodestar Island. By this world's geographical classification of islands, Lodestar Island was undoubtedly a super-sized island, with an area that thousands, even tens of thousands, of Dressrosas could not compare to.
Alabasta had always borne the title of humanity's oldest nation. Legend had it that Alabasta had established its kingdom more than four thousand years ago, and it had endured ever since, possessing an exceptionally ancient history and culture.
Not only was its history and culture ancient, Alabasta's national strength was also formidable.
Even after being ravaged by Crocodile for so long, with rebellions erupting throughout the country, the Alabastan royal family had still been able to maintain a standing army of six hundred thousand as the Royal Army. That alone showed the depth of its resources.
These were not militiamen conscripted from the streets, but proper full-time professional soldiers.
In terms of combat quality, they might have been comparable to ordinary Marines stationed at branch bases.
And now, Alabasta's national strength was clearly greater than it had been during Crocodile's devastation. Its capital alone, Alubarna, housed a permanent force of two hundred thousand troops. This capital of the ancient desert kingdom was enormous, supporting a population of several million.
At this moment, west of the royal capital Alubarna, near the imperial mausoleum and burial hall of the Nefertari Family, Vikengam sat beneath a parasol, avoiding the scorching desert sun.
The sun lounger formed from ice emitted wisps of cold air, constantly driving away the sweltering heat around him.
Beside him stood a table made from ice as well, covered with fruit juice and cold drinks.
Holding a book in one hand and sipping frozen fruit juice, Vikengam spoke at length. "More than eight hundred years ago, the Nefertari Family and the nineteen other kings formed a coalition army and established the World Government. But afterward, the Nefertari Family did not choose to relocate to the Holy Land Mary Geoise. Instead, they returned to what was now Alabasta and continued serving as its royal family. Even so, the Nefertari Family held an exceptionally special position within the World Government, far beyond what the royal families of ordinary member states could compare to."
While Vikengam drank his iced beverage and told his story,
not far away, within the scorching imperial mausoleum of the desert, Roger and the others wore thick, local Alabastan sun-protective clothing. Waving shovels, hoes, and other digging tools beneath the blazing sun, they sweated away at their work.
"You bastard! We're all digging holes over here while you're lounging around enjoying yourself? Can your conscience live with that? Get over here and help!" Roger felt like he was about to dry up in the sun. When he turned around and saw Vikengam looking so comfortable, he could not help getting angry.
Vikengam was completely unruffled. He calmly said, "I'm a scholar. Don't forget who found the clues in all those documents suggesting that a Poneglyph might be hidden here. Mental labor is what I should be doing. You only need to think about how to dig, while I have much more to consider... Don't stop. Keep digging. It's right beneath this imperial mausoleum."
In truth, Vikengam had remembered that there was a Poneglyph here. Still, he had indeed done plenty of mental work. After all, he did not know the whereabouts of every Poneglyph, and over the past two years, he had spent considerable effort finding the locations of several Poneglyphs from countless documents.
It could be said that Vikengam's existence had greatly accelerated the Roger Pirates' search for the Poneglyphs and even the Final Island.
"Is having an education such a big deal?" Roger grumbled.
Beside him, Gaban swung his hoe and joked with a smile, "All right, all right, get back to work. Viking really did burn through plenty of brain cells."
"You just spoil him!" Roger muttered unhappily, but he still lowered his head and continued working hard.
"According to the records, for nearly fifty years, whenever the Nefertari Family had the opportunity to attend the Reverie, they would always raise the issue of abolishing the Heavenly Tribute system. Tsk, tsk, they really are stubborn as hell..." Vikengam remarked as he looked at the book in his hands.
"So this is the special status you meant, the one that puts the Nefertari Family far above the other member states?" Rayleigh asked as he swung his hoe.
"That's right. If any other member state brought up the Heavenly Tribute, then today they would raise it, and tomorrow we Celestial Dragons would be throwing a party at their house. But the Nefertari Family is different. You could call them unofficial Celestial Dragons..." Vikengam said with a smile.
If any other member state's royal family proposed abolishing the Heavenly Tribute, God's Knights would absolutely mince their entire family into meat paste.
But the Nefertari Family brought it up at every meeting, and weren't they still alive and well?
However, as far as Vikengam knew, the Celestial Dragons of Mary Geoise also harbored a bellyful of resentment toward this less-than-friendly old partner.
It was simply that, as descendants of the Twenty Kings, they truly had no good way to deal with the Nefertari Family openly.
To deny them would be no different from denying the legitimacy of their own rule, which made things difficult.
Perhaps the reason Crocodile had later been able to run wild here was because the World Government had secretly indulged him. Otherwise, it was difficult to explain how a pirate could crap all over the heads of the descendants of the Twenty Kings.
The Celestial Dragons of Mary Geoise could only have tacitly approved of it, perhaps even encouraged it somewhat.
But Vikengam was certain that if Crocodile had truly wiped out the Nefertari Family, he would never have been allowed to become Alabasta's new king.
The moment Crocodile wiped out the Nefertari Family, the World Government would wipe him out too, making an example of him. Then they would publicly express deep sympathy for the Nefertari Family's tragic fate, mourn them a little, and install an obedient new royal family in Alabasta.
"Looking at it that way, Alabasta's royal family seems pretty decent, doesn't it? Isn't it a little inappropriate for us to secretly dig up their ancestral tomb?" intelligence officer Spencer could not help saying.
"We're conducting protective development. Don't talk nonsense." Vikengam shot him a glance.
"You're fucking genius." Spencer was also stunned by Vikengam's shamelessness.
Just as the Roger Pirates were digging up someone's ancestral tomb, not far away, a group of Alabastan guards escorted a young man riding a camel leisurely in their direction.
At first, the group remained calm. But as they drew closer, they discovered a group of unidentified people working inside the imperial mausoleum, while the mausoleum's original guards were all unconscious at its entrance. They instantly stopped being calm.
The young man riding at the front froze for a moment, then shouted furiously, "What the hell are you bastards doing? Men, arrest every last one of them!!!"
This young man was none other than the future King of Alabasta, Nefertari Cobra.
Of course, he was not king yet. He was Alabasta's prince, only fourteen years old.
He had originally come today to represent the royal family in a routine imperial tomb memorial ceremony. But the moment he arrived, he saw someone digging up his ancestors' graves. How could he not lose it?
Before you continue