"You're a man who knows how to play along."
Rojen cast another glance at the man beneath him.
"Get up."
With that, he strode forward again.
Although his steps appeared slow, each stride covered three zhang, making his speed astonishingly swift.
Rojen had no genuine interest in Barut's internal conflicts. His primary concern was the Lordling's safety, followed by the security of the throne itself.
He had initially joined forces with Asi, Torons, and the others, believing it would speed up the process. However, he had not anticipated that these allies would hinder his progress instead.
"Leave the rest to me. I'll deal with that false king myself!"
As he spoke, he quickened his pace until he was three streaks of light, hurtling towards the king's castle in the depths.
"Salo, you have no idea of the true extent of His Majesty's power!"
Asi stared intently at Salo. Salo twitched the corner of his mouth. "I just met him myself!"
"What?"
Everyone was stunned, their gazes shifting to Salo.
"I found him outside the tavern on Crescentmoon Island," Salo explained.
Gerone stepped forward, his voice low. "Salo, based on my assessment, our new king is likely to be as strong as Abdon!"
"Are you serious?" Salo's excitement surged.
"If I'm not mistaken, the two figures flanking him aren't human. They're probably clones or something similar!" Gerone said gravely.
The kingdom's four most powerful wizards all felt their pupils constrict and their hearts pound with shock.
"Conqueror's Haki... two powerful clones."
Salo muttered. "Just who is this New King, anyway?"
Toron sighed.
…
Crescentmoon Island, inside the tavern.
The men that Modoray had brought with him were chatting animatedly, their voices buzzing with excitement. Driven by Rojen's curiosity about the sea, they delved deep into their limited knowledge, each trying to outdo the others with their wisdom.
Suddenly, a man sitting off to the side seemed to remember something.
"Wait a minute! I recognize that young man from earlier! I think I've seen him somewhere before!"
"What? Don't talk nonsense. We only met him for the first time today."
"No, I'm serious! I've definitely seen him before. Shh, let me concentrate; the memory is getting clearer!"
The man interrupted the others, straining to recall the details.
He closed his eyes, and the fragments of memory began to assemble rapidly before his mind's eye.
Suddenly, his eyes snapped open. He gasped, his eyes wide with shock and disbelief.
"That man... that man!"
"You remember him? Tell me who he is!"
"That man..."
Overwhelmed by shock, he couldn't even finish his sentences.
He slammed the liquor down on the table and gulped it down in one go. The alcohol quickly took effect, forcing him to take a deep breath before shouting at the top of his lungs, "That man is Gol D. Rojen, the man with a bounty of 880 million!"
"Rojen! The captain of the Nether Soul Pirates from four years ago!"
His thunderous declaration reverberated across Crescentmoon Island, silencing everyone nearby.
At that very moment, Rojen stood before a massive cluster of castle structures.
A dense flurry of footsteps erupted as armored guards, spears raised, swiftly encircled him.
"Move aside!"
His gaze swept across them like a thunderbolt.
Conqueror's Haki erupted from him, felling swathes of guards. Their wills were crushed in an instant under the force of his overwhelming boldness.
With each step, Rojen drew closer to the innermost castle.
His Conqueror's Haki swept through the area indiscriminately, suffocating and incapacitating every guard it touched, leaving them utterly defenseless. Soon, this domineering aura surged into the king's throne room, alerting those inside.
"Ah, I remember now! It's here!"
Abdonking chuckled and tapped his magic staff. A box materialized in the void before him. With another flick of his staff, the box reappeared in front of Robin.
"Robin Chan, decipher the Poneglyph inside this box and I'll grant you a painless death... guaranteed.'
Then he turned to the Lordling standing beside him.
"As for you," Abdon licked his lips. "I'm going to devour you... piece by piece."
"Let's start with your feet, shall we? Gya ha ha ha ha!"
His eerie laughter radiated a sinister aura and sent chills down her spine.
"Pervert!" Lordling screamed in terror.
Looking into his eyes as he spoke, she realized that this monster was utterly serious.
Suddenly, a terrifying aura swept through the palace.
This unrestrained, domineering energy crashed into the stone pillars surrounding the palace, carving deep fissures into the stone with its razor sharpness.
"Hmm?"
Abdon, who had been cackling moments before, narrowed his eyes, his snake-like pupils slitting vertically.
"An outsider! This aura... it's the Conqueror's Haki!"
Grinning savagely, he turned towards the palace entrance.
"Intriguing... are they coming for me?"
"Let's see who dares to challenge me!"
"The Barut Kingdom isn't some weakling nation you can just waltz into and out of at will!"
Outside, Rojen's eyes narrowed.
His keen senses detected an overwhelmingly malevolent aura emanating from the nearby castle, a terrifyingly potent force.
"This kingdom truly astonishes me!"
The Barut Kingdom was undoubtedly the strongest nation Rojen had ever encountered. Its five wizard-level powerhouses were all at the Vice Admiral level. If they were unleashed on the world, their combat prowess would be indistinguishable from, or perhaps even greater than, that of Vice Admirals. Of course, this assessment was based solely on the intensity of their auras.
Figures like Salo, however, possessed auras that nearly reached Admiral Grade!
How terrifying! Just imagine a kingdom boasting such overwhelming combat strength!
Even the king himself seemed firmly established at Admiral Grade, judging by his aura alone.
"This aura... it's no weaker than Kuzan's!" Rojen narrowed his eyes, a smirk playing on his lips.
"Perfect! This will be a good test to see just how much stronger I've become!"
With a few quick strides, Rojen entered the depths of the castle.
As the True King of this kingdom, empowered by the Barut Ring, the imposter ruler was destined to fall at his hands.
Ten breaths later, Rojen appeared at the palace entrance.
Inside, he saw Lordling and Robin collapsed on the floor of the grand hall.
Lordling had changed considerably in the four years since they last met, but Rojen recognized her instantly. Without hesitation, the Deva Path extended his right hand and unleashed a gravitational pull.
"Banshō Ten'in!"
The sudden burst of gravitational force took Abdon by surprise. In an instant, the Deva Path had seized both Lordling and Robin, holding one in each hand. At the same time, the Animal Path appeared before Rojen, its menacing gaze fixed on Abdon.
"From this day forward, you are a dead man!"
(End Of This Chapter)
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