"That's a truly brilliant idea," Karasu admitted, recognizing Dragon's wisdom.
For the Revolutionary Army, the goal was not domination, but liberation. After all, these countries still needed a ruler—so who could be a better ruler than the King of Alabasta?
In reality, Dragon made this decision not only because of Alabasta's strength, but also for the wellbeing of those countries. There was also a personal reason: he wanted to understand the true intentions of the King.
Although the blind warrior had only spoken a few words, he had revealed a meaning that made Dragon think deeply. Let His Majesty, the King of Alabasta, become the new master of this world.
Does Ezekiel want to create an entirely new World Government, or does he want to…
…rule the world!
That's what Dragon truly wanted to know. Could he be certain that Ezekiel actually harbored such ambitions?
No matter how great Alabasta had become, it would still be an enemy of the Revolutionary Army. After all, not every country wanted to become part of Alabasta, and this would inevitably bring compulsion and aggression—things the Revolutionary Army could never condone.
The Sky Island plan, the Underwater City plan, the electric era initiative, various projects to improve Alabasta's urban infrastructure—all these were ventures requiring vast sums of money, and Ezekiel had finally managed to recoup all last year's budget expenditures. Tax revenues for the first quarter of this year were also substantial: in just one quarter, they reached five trillion Belli.
This demonstrated the unprecedented potential for development that the country possessed.
....
Ezekiel sent the Revolutionary Army a request—to find Gecko Moria. And Dragon agreed.
However, Ezekiel received two unusual requests from the Revolutionary Army.
The first was for Alabasta to accept 5,000 Revolutionary Army soldiers, allowing them to settle in Alabasta and become its citizens.
Ezekiel readily agreed to this request.
The second request was for Alabasta to consider taking power over three island nations scattered across the globe. These weren't particularly large countries, but they had only just been liberated from tyranny and currently had no political leadership of their own.
Ezekiel neither agreed nor refused but set a condition.
If the Revolutionary Army would allow these three island nations to use Alabasta's mobile phones, then he would be willing to offer them support with development.
Ezekiel responded this way not only because he was wary of Dragon's sudden request, but also because present-day Alabasta simply wasn't in a position to control too much territory in distant seas.
The World Government would crush such countries within minutes.
Tens of millions of people lived in these nations—all potential future mobile phone users.
Modern Alabasta had already begun to actively grow its population. Every year, a large number of children were born, but these children, too, would need time to grow up.
...…..
Several months later, when the first phase of the "Heavenly Island" project was completed and ten islands were nearly finished, there still hadn't been any news from the Revolutionary Army.
But Ezekiel had already found the first traces of Gecko Moria…
It wasn't intelligence from Rayleigh, but rather Vivi and Katakuri, who had been drifting at sea and headed to the Florian Triangle, where they successfully located Moria's ship.
Thick fog blanketed this part of the sea year-round.
This is the area of the Florian Triangle. It's said that over a hundred ships have vanished without a trace here. At the center of the Triangle stands the enormous Thriller Bark, rising from the sea like an island
There's no doubt that this is one of the largest ships in the world; perhaps only the ancient ship Noah from Fish-Man Island could rival it.
Atop it stood a terrifying castle. If not for the enormous three-masted sails, it would be difficult for anyone to recognize this as a ship. This was the vessel of one of the seven Shichibukai, the Shadow Fruit user, Gecko Moria.
"Hmph," muttered the Ghost Princess Perona in the dark castle, staring into a mirror as she mumbled to herself, trying to make her makeup look softer.
At that moment, in the elegant, enormous mirror before her, her face suddenly turned into that of an old woman, covered in scars, both eyes white and lifeless, with a horrifying smile contorted by converging wrinkles. Only God knew how deeply she was terrified at that instant. Her breath caught, her heart pounded wildly, and her mind went blank.
"Aaaaaaaaah!" After being frozen for a moment, she panicked and promptly lost consciousness.
"Hm... Little one, did this old man scare you?" said Fujitora as he emerged from the not-so-large mirror, shaking his head lightly.
Boom—Boom!
Outside the castle, there were thunderous blows, as if a fierce fight was underway.
Indeed, two men were clashing near the castle. As their swords met, sparks flew furiously. These were two swordsmen.
Zoro stared intently at the formidable zombie swordsman. Ryuma was dressed in a white kimono patterned with designs. Although he used Brook's techniques, they were much more powerful and refined than Brook's. After all, even if a power is newly acquired, it can still be improved upon.
This man must have been incredibly formidable during his lifetime. And even now, possessing only a thousandth of his original strength, he was still a swordsman — a Dragon Slayer.
Ryuma!
The two continued to clash, and Zoro was putting more and more strength into the fight as it went on.
Ryuma was impressed by this man's resolve, and it rekindled his own pride as a true swordsman. He gathered every bit of strength he could muster and fought with everything he had!
When the final strike landed, Ryuma's body slowly collapsed to the ground and caught fire.
"Thank you, young man, for letting me fight once again as a swordsman. This Shusui, I give it to you. I…" He held out Shusui, but never finished his words.
A terrifying force of gravity crashed down from the sky.
"Gravitational Blade!"
Boom!
In an instant, Ryuma's body was slammed to the ground. His already fragile bones were crushed, and the flames on his body naturally went out. The force was overwhelming, pinning the body down as Brook's shadow slowly drifted away into the distance.
Zoro's pupils narrowed. Picking up Shusui, he looked at the newcomers.
"A kid and the blind samurai?"
It was certainly unusual for such a pair to show up here.
Dark clothes billowed in the wind amid the dark mist. Zoro saw that the young man was dressed in elegant garments and wore a golden crown on his head. The samurai behind him was dressed in a uniform very similar to that of The Watch, only black.
The young man didn't say a word, but the old blind samurai smiled politely.
"Swordsman, forgive me for interrupting your duel."