Inside the royal palace of Alabasta, chaos reigned.
"Princess! You can't go over there—it might… no, the South Hall is definitely dangerous right now!"
Igaram blocked Vivi's path and said gravely.
"Pell and Chaka have both left Alubarna with His Majesty. The palace doesn't have enough force right now to protect you."
"No."
But Vivi replied in a low, firm voice, "That explosion just now must have been the assassins Mr. Dragon (Shenlong) mentioned."
"They used some method to impersonate me. I—I must go and confirm his safety!"
She was frantic, never imagining that right after she left the South Hall, Dragon would be attacked.
And based on the information she had now, the attackers seemed to have disguised themselves as her, lured the guards away, and only then successfully entered the South Hall.
If Dragon were killed for such a reason, and Alabasta's situation worsened as a result, she would never be able to accept it!
"I have to go, Igaram—please don't stop me, okay?"
She looked at Igaram with pleading eyes.
To her, the captain of the royal guard was far more than just a protector.
He was like family—an elder who had watched her grow up.
"…All right."
Igaram did indeed know Vivi well.
The moment he saw her expression, he knew he couldn't stop her.
The princess was usually gentle and easy to get along with.
But once she made up her mind to do something, no one could hold her back.
"But you must promise me—if there's any danger or fighting breaks out, you must run immediately!"
"Mm! I promise!"
Vivi clearly understood that her own combat strength wouldn't be of any help, so she nodded without hesitation.
Seeing this, Igaram no longer delayed.
With the guards fully on alert, they headed straight for the South Hall.
At this moment, the South Hall of the royal palace was already in ruins from the earlier explosion—cracks covered the walls and pillars, and rubble and craters of various sizes littered the floor.
Fortunately, Alabasta's ancestors had clearly built well.
Even after such a massive blast, the overall structure of the South Hall remained intact—at least it wasn't in danger of collapsing anytime soon.
"Move! Go inside immediately!"
At Igaram's command, everyone surrounded Vivi at the center and rushed into the South Hall.
Then—
"Ah!?"
"That is… what?"
Uncontrollable cries of shock rang out.
Normally, as captain of the royal guard, Igaram should have reprimanded such startled reactions.
But at this moment, he had no right to scold his subordinates.
Because his own eyes were practically bulging out of their sockets, his blond curls almost standing on end in shock.
"…!"
Even Vivi covered her mouth in disbelief, her widened eyes filled with horror.
For what lay before them—
Inside the South Hall was a scene beyond imagination.
The pillars and walls on the left side were covered in thick layers of frost.
Piercing cold condensed into white mist, drifting through the air.
But in stark contrast, the ground on the right side had almost completely melted.
The bricks carefully chosen when the palace was built had been scorched red by extreme heat, and waves of heat rose so intensely they distorted the air itself.
Extreme cold and searing heat.
Though it was a single hall, it now seemed as though an invisible hand had molded it into two entirely opposite worlds.
And at the boundary between ice and fire—
the assassins of Baroque Works were already lying on the ground.
MR.2 Bon Clay lay embedded face-up in the ice. The candle-shaped hair atop MR.3 Galdino's head had completely melted away. Miss Valentine and MR.5 were collapsed off to the side, their parasol and sunglasses utterly destroyed.
Miss Merry Christmas's mole-claw gloves had already been burned to ashes. MR.4 and his pet lay not far from her, the enormous baseball bat in his hands completely snapped in two.
At the center of the palace lay Miss Doublefinger, her entire body scorched—and beside her—
"Mon… ster…"
At the heart of the battlefield.
MR.1 Daz Bones was being held by the throat with one hand by Dragon, suspended in midair.
The blade-like body he took such pride in was now clearly riddled with frostbitten cracks.
His right leg had even been partially melted away by some intensely hot substance.
Weakly, he said, "I… lost. Kill me."
There was no trace of resistance left in his words.
That wasn't just because his injuries no longer allowed him to fight back, but because of the battle just now—
No, it couldn't even be called a battle.
It was simply the other party letting them witness pure, overwhelming power.
Just as he had described him—
A monster.
And for "them" to challenge a monster in the first place had been sheer folly.
As a veteran assassin who had been well-known long before joining Baroque Works, Daz Bones had long since come to terms with death.
"Kill you?"
But at this moment, the voice beneath Dragon's mask was calm. "No. I think you're qualified."
"What?"
Naturally, MR.1 didn't understand.
But Dragon didn't answer him.
With a casual flick of his arm, he slammed MR.1 down onto the ground.
Only after confirming that the man had lost consciousness did he clap his hands lightly.
"Hah… just a bit of stretching. Broke a slight sweat."
After saying this with a smile, he turned to look at Igaram and Vivi, who were both staring in stunned silence.
"Oh? Captain Igaram, Princess Vivi—you arrived just in time. Please take these people away."
"Th-they… they are—no, th-this place is—"
Igaram couldn't even form a complete sentence.
At this moment, it was Vivi who managed to keep her composure.
Still in shock, she took several deep breaths—the air, where icy cold and scorching heat coexisted, helped clear her head a little.
Then, with a trembling voice, she managed to say, "These people are…"
"Mm."
Seeing that she had steadied herself, a hint of approval seemed to flash in Dragon's eyes beneath his mask.
"That's right—they're executives of Baroque Works, and also the 'evidence' King Cobra wanted."
"You can notify King Cobra to return."
He said this calmly.
"Wait—are you saying my father…"
Vivi froze for a moment, then immediately realized the implication.
"He already knew? That's why he left the palace to tour the disaster areas?"
"And Baroque Works…?"
"The ones secretly causing Alabasta's great drought—was it this Baroque Works?"
"To be precise, it's the 'president' of Baroque Works."
Dragon nodded. "As for the details, ask King Cobra yourself once he returns—if he's willing to tell you."
"…!"
Vivi felt like she was about to explode with frustration.
Dragon and her father had clearly discussed a plan, had even captured the enemy through that plan, yet she had been kept completely in the dark from beginning to end.
And she knew all too well—
Even after Cobra returned, if she asked him in person, he would most likely still refuse to give her a straight answer.
But at this moment, watching Dragon turn away—clearly with no intention of continuing the conversation—
Vivi took several deep breaths before gritting her teeth and saying, "Igaram, arrest them all."
She had already made up her mind.
If her father and this infuriating man both refused to tell her the truth, then she would extract it personally—from the enemies' own mouths.
The guards immediately stepped forward, binding the Baroque Works assassins one by one and escorting them away.
"Make sure to restrain them with Sea-Prism Stone if possible. They're all Devil Fruit users—Alabasta should have Sea-Prism Stone, right?"
At this moment, Dragon said this to Vivi and Igaram.
"All Devil Fruit users?"
Upon hearing this, both Vivi and Igaram were even more astonished.
They naturally understood how powerful Devil Fruit users were.
Anyone who had eaten a Devil Fruit, without exception, possessed strength far beyond ordinary people.
Even a great power like Alabasta—with its inherited guardian Devil Fruits—had only two Devil Fruit users within the country.
Yet the assassins dispatched by Baroque Works numbered a full eight Devil Fruit users.
One could easily imagine just how powerful that criminal organization truly was.
But soon, Vivi realized an even more terrifying fact.
Judging from the surroundings, even eight Devil Fruit users working together had failed to inflict even the slightest effective damage on Dragon.
The implication was obvious to her.
Even though both were cadres of mysterious organizations hidden across the seas—
The "Dragon" of the Twelve Zodiac was clearly far stronger than the infamous Baroque Works.
That wasn't because Baroque Works was weak.
It was simply because—
The existence known as "Dragon" was overwhelmingly powerful.
More importantly—
"Someone this strong is merely one of the Twelve Zodiac."
"Then just how strong is the Twelve Zodiac… as an organization?"
Vivi's silent murmur in her heart, of course, received no answer.
After all the Baroque Works intruders had been captured, Vivi naturally invited Dragon to take part in interrogating them.
She had her own small calculation—if Dragon conducted the interrogation, she might be able to glean something from his words.
But unfortunately—
"I won't be going. I'll need you to arrange a new place for me to stay instead. No need to assign guards this time. Oh, and don't forget to prepare a bottle of cola in the room."
Dragon waved his hand dismissively.
"And—don't kill the people you captured today. I still have use for them."
Seeing how utterly uncooperative Dragon was, Vivi felt disappointed.
Still, she didn't say anything more, and soon left with Igaram and the guards.
Dragon was quickly led by attendants to his new residence—a similarly well-appointed room located on the southern side of the palace.
After entering, the attendants introduced the locations of the various household items, then quietly withdrew.
Dragon familiarly walked to the sofa in the center of the room, sat down, and opened the chilled cola that had been placed on the table.
Hiss.
The crisp, refreshing sound unique to soda rang out.
Dragon casually took two cups from the room and silently filled them with cola.
Then—
"I've taken out my precious cola to entertain you."
"To the guest hiding in the shadows—if you don't show yourself now, that would be rather impolite."