After taking his people back to Sky Country, Rubick returned to Alabasta. The Royal Guard, Fleet Admiral Foer, and three hundred troops from the Sky Army stayed behind with him.
The next day, the three-nation alliance was officially established. Early that morning, Alabasta sent people to escort a group of experts from the Dragon Kingdom north. They could hardly wait to analyze the oil there.
Cobra and his people were anxious too. Their agreement with the Dragon Kingdom had only one condition: the Dragon Kingdom would receive exclusive extraction rights for the next ten years.
In other words, however much oil the Dragon Kingdom extracted during those ten years would belong to it.
But Alabasta wasn't getting nothing out of the deal.
It would gain oil extraction methods, refining technology, and ways to develop and use the byproducts of refined crude oil. It would also gain access to oil-powered machinery, cars, ships, and much more.
If travel between the two worlds hadn't depended entirely on Rubick, they could have extended that ten-year term even further.
But all those benefits hinged on one thing: Alabasta's oil had to be the same kind the Dragon Kingdom needed.
There was no use worrying before they knew. At Rubick's suggestion, Cobra had Chaka select three hundred warriors and one hundred support soldiers. Together with Sky Country and the Dragon Kingdom, they formed a joint force of one thousand.
And so a month of training began.
As chief instructor, Lan Zhan put the three-nation force through formation drills in the morning and physical training in the afternoon. They howled their way through it.
Rubick had it easier. He only had four people to train: Bell, Chaka, Dino, and Lan Zhan.
Bell and Chaka picked it up easily. They were already strong and had solid foundations.