Brothers Reunited!
Luffy and the others encountered no problems along the way. On the Grand Line, everyone came and went in a hurry, merchant ships and pirate ships alike. They all seemed anxious and rushed, departing or returning at speeds Luffy's group could not understand.
"Why are they all in such a hurry?" Sanji asked Mr. 1 curiously, smoking amid curling wisps of smoke.
"They're leaving this war, or heading to join it." Mr. 1 came over to Sanji and gestured. "Give me one."
"What war?" Luffy asked as well, watching the bustling merchant ships and pirates with curious eyes.
"The Alabasta Kingdom's revolutionary war." Mr. 1 took Sanji's cigarette, casually lit it, drew deeply, and spoke.
"I can understand pirates leaving, but what about the merchants?" It was only natural. No matter how formidable pirates were, they could at most throw their weight around in small nations like Drum Island. But when it came to a massive kingdom like Alabasta, spanning both desert and riverlands, pirates became useless.
The ports were only for trade. If they wanted to reach the royal capital, they would have to endure a journey of more than two days. Truly powerful people could fly through the air straight to the capital, but after suppressing the defending troops, they still had no way to transport vast quantities of treasure away directly. They still had to rely on ordinary pirates.
And those ordinary pirates would find it difficult to cross the great desert.
It could be said that the Alabasta Kingdom possessed a natural barrier as perilous as the Red Line.
There was naturally a reason it possessed such a nation and used its natural defenses to ward off pirates: like the Donquixote Family, the Alabasta Kingdom was descended from the Celestial Dragons. They were one