"Vivi, be careful. Slow down."
Ye Chen and his three companions were walking down the street when several people approached from the opposite direction. A little girl led the way, skipping along at a run. She was so curious about everything around her that her bright eyes could hardly take it all in.
Suddenly, a large dog came charging down the street toward them. Fierce and unleashed, it barreled through the crowd.
Vivi could not dodge in time. Startled by the dog, she fell to the ground and burst into tears.
"Whose dog is that?"
The middle-aged men behind Vivi hurried over. One of them, a curly-haired man, glared at the dog, furious enough to attack it then and there.
"Who did that? How dare you frighten my prized hound! How are you going to make this right?"
A heavyset Celestial Dragon with a fleshy face came waddling up behind Ye Chen.
"Get on your knees, you lowly commoners."
He cast a disdainful glance at the weeping Vivi and sneered without a trace of pity.
"What?"
The curly-haired man started. Looking more closely, he realized the man belonged to a royal family of the Holy Land. He even bore the mark of the Nineteen Great Royal Families.
"Igaram!"
Someone behind the curly-haired man called out to him.
"Oh? And here I wondered who this was. King Cobra of the Alabasta Kingdom. If your ancestors hadn't left the Holy Land, you would be one of the exalted Celestial Dragons like me. What a shame. Now you're merely the king of an Affiliated Nation. The difference in our standing is night and day."
"Prince Porsmu, what do you want from us?"
Cobra remained calm and dignified. Though he knew the other man was deliberately looking for trouble, he kept his anger in