As Gilbert's guards finally broke down the grand doors of the banquet hall, the sudden and bloody assassination attempt came to an end.
Gilbert, shaken to the core, wanted nothing more than to escape that death-filled, blood-soaked room. Still trembling from fear, he rushed back to his chambers under heavy guard. Once inside, he began smashing everything in sight; furniture, glassware, priceless ornaments desperately venting the terror and rage boiling within him.
The surviving nobles, social elites, and merchants fled the castle in a panic. Among the crowd of "survivors" were Aaron and Williams, blending in so seamlessly that no one spared them a glance.
Soon, news of the assassination spread throughout the port city of Vilia like wildfire.
Not long ago, rumors had already circulated about the Blizzard Legion's assault on Snowstorm City. Now, another shocking incident, Kingdom Army infiltrators attempting to assassinate Gilbert had erupted. The entire city was in an uproar.
The people of Vilia quickly realized that the civil war within the Drum Kingdom had truly begun.
That night, even though it was late, many fearful citizens swarmed to the nearest shops, frantically hoarding food and essential supplies.
Fights broke out over scarce goods. In several places, blood was shed, and deaths were reported.
Aaron's own territory wasn't spared the panic buying either. But thanks to the strict order maintained by his battle-hardened men, tempered through iron and blood, his districts managed to remain relatively calm.
"Never thought a civil war would cause this kind of panic buying… Good thing you had the foresight, Aaron! You're going to make a fortune off this. And tonight, damn, that was brilliant work."
At Aaron's base, Williams spoke excitedly after receiving a report from their subordinates via Den Den Mushi.
Before the war erupted, he had followed Aaron's advice and imported massive quantities of food and supplies from abroad, spending several hundred million Berries. Now, with the panic spreading, the goods were selling for five to six times the purchase price. If Aaron hadn't told him not to raise prices too steeply, he could've made even more.
And hearing about what Aaron had done at the banquet; slaughtering all of the Celestial Dragons' lapdogs and extorting Gilbert for a massive sum, thrilled him even more than the profits.
"Yeah, you really pulled it off. Shame I wasn't there to see it myself," said Shuma, laughing from across the room. The news of Aaron killing the Celestial Dragons' lackeys had delighted him too.
"It went well enough," Aaron replied calmly, ignoring their excitement. "What I want to know is, how are the city's factions reacting to the assassination and the outbreak of civil war?"
His tone was level, but his eyes were serious.
Tonight, had indeed been satisfying but it also came with grave consequences.
The Celestial Dragons' agents wouldn't just let their fallen men go unavenged. Investigators would be sent. And Gilbert, after suffering such humiliation and loss, wouldn't rest until he found a way to strike back.
They needed to be more cautious than ever. Enjoying the spoils carelessly now would only invite disaster later.
"No movement from the Frosthorn Gang, they're acting as usual," Shuma reported, his smile fading as he grew serious. "But the Dars Gang and the Regis Gang are both stirring. Not long after you two left the castle, Gilbert summoned Dars and Regis to his estate.
Also, a lot of pirates who usually hide out in the slums have started converging on the Regis Gang's territory, it looks like someone's giving orders behind the scenes.
And just now, we got word from Snowstorm City, the Blizzard Legion has captured it. The Second Army of the Kingdom has been completely wiped out.
Lastly, people have been evacuating from the secret underground drug factory in the Dars Gang's territory. They're boarding merchant ships and leaving the port."
As Shuma spoke, Aaron's expression darkened.
Dars and Regis summoned to Gilbert's castle.
Pirates gathering in the Regis slums.
The Blizzard Legion capturing Snowstorm City.
The Kingdom's Second Army annihilated.
And the underground drug factory shutting down.
Each of these details painted a troubling picture.
"Spread the word," Aaron ordered after a moment of silence. "We're keeping a low profile from now on. Withdraw all our watchers from the city lord's mansion, no more surveillance. And starting tomorrow, I want rumors circulating that I've gone to train in the mountains outside the city."
Gilbert's fear had clearly reached the breaking point. He'd dropped all pretense, summoning Dars and Regis; the two strongest underworld bosses to his castle. It was a transparent move: he wanted protection from the invisible assassin who had nearly driven him insane with terror.
As for the pirates gathering in the slums, that was almost certainly Doflamingo's doing. The Warlord must have struck some kind of deal with the Regis Gang.
Snowstorm City, the Drum Kingdom's second-largest inland city, was home to its greatest steelworks and armory, surrounded by rich iron mines.
Now that such a strategically vital city had fallen into Gilbert's hands, his power would surge rapidly. With his army fresh from victory and morale high, countless opportunists across the kingdom would surely flock to his banner.
The old king's position, meanwhile, had grown precarious.
The Second Army, one of King Gresham's elite legions had double the manpower of the Blizzard Legion and defended a fortified city, yet still suffered total annihilation. That alone proved how terrifyingly strong Gilbert's forces had become.
Even if the Blizzard Legion had taken losses, their victory demonstrated that Gilbert now possessed the strength to openly challenge King Gresham himself.
Still, Aaron suspected Gilbert wouldn't press his advantage immediately. After all, the old king's actions at the banquet had likely shaken him. Gilbert would need time to stabilize his power base before launching another campaign.
War, especially civil war was never quick. When two sides were evenly matched, it could drag on for years.
"That underground drug factory's retreat, though… that's strange," Aaron mused, rubbing his chin. "Why would they pull out now? And why didn't the Dars Gang stop them?"
It didn't make sense.
At a time like this, a product like the Berserker Drug: capable of enhancing soldiers' strength would be worth a fortune. Anyone with sense would ramp up production, not shut it down.
But these people had done the opposite.
He simply didn't have enough information yet to guess why.
Aaron had long been curious about that secret laboratory. He'd tried using Observation Haki to investigate several times, but all he ever sensed inside were ordinary managers and enslaved workers forced to labor under brutal conditions.
As for the raw materials used to produce the Berserker Drug, they were all delivered by various pirates, their origins impossible to trace.
The operation's secrecy was airtight. Whoever ran it was controlling things remotely, keeping their identity hidden even from the local gangs.
And the key synthesis materials used to make the drug were shrouded in mystery. According to Nobes and the other chemists in Aaron's own research lab, they had already analyzed most components but two remained unidentified.
Those two, they theorized, were likely new or undiscovered materials something not yet known to the world.
Aaron recalled the events that would someday take place deep beneath the sea: on Fish-Man Island, where Zeo, the Japanese wobbegong fish-man, would recreate the Berserker Drug, supplying it to Hody Jones and the New Fish-Man Pirates. Perhaps those two unknown materials existed somewhere in the depths of the ocean.
"Let's just wait and see how things unfold," Aaron said at last, looking out the window.
Outside, the streets were filled with anxious citizens rushing to hoard supplies, fear written all over their faces.
"To survive the coming storm," he murmured, "I'll need to grow even stronger. Otherwise, I'll just be swept away like everyone else."
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