Cobra's arrangements had been surprisingly good, he had to admit. They'd been placed in a remote corner of the palace—after all, the guests for the wedding had been arriving in a steady stream over the past few days. But when Cobra claimed that everyone assigned to such a secluded spot was an exceptionally honored guest, Shirakawa wouldn't believe that kind of nonsense for a second. Still, he understood.
After all, they were the infamous Silver Pirates. If word got out that they were here, it would cause a panic. Until someone capable of keeping the Silver Pirates in check appeared, Cobra absolutely could not let anyone else know they were present.
So over the last two days, when Jaka guided them around the palace, he only took them to out-of-the-way, unimportant areas—places that were essentially superfluous, expendable corners of the royal grounds.
"So what kind of trump card is your king holding back to use against us? It's been two days without so much as a whisper," Shirakawa asked Jaka as they walked along a quiet palace path. Could Cobra have actually given up on dealing with them? Impossible.
"You'll find out today," Jaka said after a moment's thought.
"Is that so? Then I'll be looking forward to it. Hope it gives me a nice surprise."
After a leisurely stroll around the palace, Shirakawa and his crew went back to rest.
"Come to think of it, why haven't we seen what the king's future wife looks like these past couple of days?" Adara was rather curious about the queen-to-be. A woman chosen to be queen had to be exceptionally beautiful or possess some other remarkable quality.
Although they'd been under Cobra's surveillance the whole time, shaking off those watchers was child's play for them. They'd already explored nearly every corner of the palace. Shirakawa had even tried to find out if the ancient weapon Pluton was hidden somewhere within the palace, but he'd turned up no clues. Either the king had hidden it extremely well, or it simply wasn't here.
"Who knows? We'll see her on the wedding day, I suppose."
The group spent the rest of the morning and afternoon gathered in the courtyard they'd been assigned. Then, a royal guard arrived with a message: the king was inviting them over.
"Looks like the king is finally ready to show his hand," Shirakawa remarked flatly. The whole crew rose and followed the guard to the king's palace.
As they reached the doors of the throne room, Shirakawa stopped in his tracks. His expression shifted sharply.
"What's wrong, Captain?" Jorah asked, puzzled by the sudden change.
"I never thought Cobra could get that person to come here. This is genuinely unexpected."
Shirakawa's voice was grave. In the next instant, Euristine and Kurokam's faces changed as well. They could sense it—inside that room was an overwhelmingly powerful presence, so strong it weighed down on even the two of them.
"Captain." They both spoke at once, hesitation in their eyes, as if questioning whether they should even walk through that door.
"You've been standing outside long enough. Come on in."
Before Shirakawa could answer, a voice rang out from within. The ten-centimeter-thick iron door might as well have been nonexistent; the words reached their ears with perfect clarity.
Shirakawa gave a bitter smile. This time, he'd really overplayed it.
"Let's go. If he decides to act, a good number of us won't be getting out of here."
Hearing their captain give the man such a grave assessment, the crew grew intensely curious. Who could possibly make Shirakawa this wary?
No need for the guard. Shirakawa pushed the doors open himself. The scene before them was the same as last time, except now, two additional rows of Marines stood below. And beneath the king's dais, an extra chair had been placed. The man sitting there was the very person Shirakawa feared.
The instant they laid eyes on him, Kurokam and Euristine went rigid, poised to strike at any moment.
King Cobra, seated on his throne, wore an expression of pure satisfaction. This was the first time he'd ever seen the Silver Pirates look so grim.
"I never thought the one who'd show up would be you—Vice Admiral Garp."
Yes. Sitting right in front of them was none other than the Hero of the Marines, Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp. Shirakawa had never imagined he'd run into him here.
"Long time no see, brat. Never thought you'd have this kind of strength now. Hahahaha!"
As Roger's sworn rival, Garp had naturally clashed with the Roger Pirates countless times. Back when Shirakawa had still been on that ship, they'd fought no fewer than five times. So Garp had a vivid impression of him.
"I didn't expect that the first person I'd meet after the Roger Pirates disbanded would be a former crew member like you."
The two were chatting like old friends catching up.
The excitement on King Cobra's face had completely vanished. What was going on? Where was the tense, drawn-swords standoff he'd envisioned? And judging by the comfortable way these two were talking, they already knew each other.
"Vice Admiral Garp, are you acquainted with the captain of the Silver Pirates?"
"Oh, that? When I was trying to capture Roger back in the day, I ran into him a few times."
"I see." Hearing Garp's explanation, Cobra relaxed. He'd mentally filed Shirakawa away as one of Garp's targets, too.
"But Vice Admiral Garp, why are you here? Normally, you wouldn't have any interest in something like this."
"That actually starts with you." Garp fixed Shirakawa with a resentful glare that made him tense up. "I'd already applied for two months of leave to go back to the East Blue. But because of you lot, I've had to stick around here for a whole month. Now my leave's down to a single month."
"So that's how it is." Shirakawa understood now. Garp had two reasons for being here: one, he was passing through on his way back to the East Blue; two, the Silver Pirates were here. He'd probably been sent by Kong, too.
"By the way, do you have any idea where Roger went? Ever since the Roger Pirates disbanded, he's vanished off the face of the earth." Garp had gone months without seeing Roger, and he was honestly starting to miss him.
"I don't know. Since I left, I haven't seen the captain once."
"Don't lie to me. I know you met up with some of them after the crew disbanded." Garp had naturally heard about the gathering at Little Garden.
"But the captain wasn't there then, either. And from what I heard, he was the first to leave. No one knows where he is."
"I see." Garp looked disappointed. No leads on Roger here, either. His trip to the East Blue wasn't just for family; he was also planning to investigate whether Roger had returned to his hometown—Roger's hometown was in the East Blue as well.
"Well then, I suppose there's no point keeping you here."
"What do you mean by that?" Garp's words made Shirakawa jump, one hand already gripping the hilt of his sword.
"Hahaha! Just kidding, look how scared you got." Garp gave Shirakawa a few hearty slaps on the shoulder—he didn't hold back on the force, either.
"King Cobra, you can rest easy. As long as I'm here, they won't dare try anything."
"With Vice Admiral Garp saying that, I'm completely at ease."
But Shirakawa was thinking something else entirely: Cobra, you sneaky bastard. Without a single word, you've been holding back a trump card this big.
Truth be told, Cobra was a little surprised, too. He hadn't expected the one to arrive would be none other than Marine Headquarters' Vice Admiral Garp. But that only put his mind more at ease.
/-\
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