"Even now, are we? I truly appreciate it. But I still want to confirm something. Crocodile really wasn't..."
Cobra hesitated. Hearing him, Robin turned back and glanced at him. Under his tense gaze, she slowly said, "Don't overthink it. After all these years, you should have heard about Yemu-sama's way of doing things on the sea. Especially with this Poneglyph. We could have taken it whenever we wanted, but we still gave you sufficient compensation. And even then, we only copied the text on it and left the Poneglyph here..."
"I'm sorry. I was overthinking it."
Cobra immediately deflated. He understood that much, but unless he received a definite answer from the Rainbow Kingdom, he could not suppress the doubts in his heart.
Seeing this, Robin ignored Cobra and turned all her attention back to the Poneglyph before her.
She stepped forward and slowly ran her hand over it.
"It really is incredible. I've clearly read the text on this stone no fewer than a hundred times, but every time I touch it in person, it gives me a different feeling."
Cobra looked at Robin, whose entire mind seemed focused on the Poneglyph. After hesitating for a while, he still could not help asking, "So, did you really find it?"
"Ah... You mean Pluton? Yes, we found it."
Robin's blunt answer shook Cobra, especially when combined with the intelligence he had recently received.
"So that means you're ready? Ready to head to the Final Island?"
"Of course. We've already chosen the candidate."
"The candidate?"
Cobra froze.
"It isn't His Majesty Yemu?"
"Of course not. Something like the title of Pirate King is no longer worthy of Yemu-sama's current status."
Only then did Cobra realize.
No matter how loudly the title of Pirate King might ring across the world, to the vast majority of ordinary people, it still meant nothing more than a pirate, a criminal.
But Fire Dragon Yemu's current status had long since surpassed that of the Pirate King.
The title of Pirate King no longer meant much to him.
"So Mr. Ace is the candidate you chose?"
"Of course. The son of the Pirate King will fulfill the dream the Pirate King failed to complete and become someone who surpasses the Pirate King. Is there anyone more suitable?"
"But what about the key to opening Laugh Tale?"
"Don't worry. Yemu-sama has already prepared the key for Ace. You don't need to worry about that. Instead, you should protect your own daughter. After all, other than the one in the Holy Land Mary Geoise, she is the only person who can control Uranus."
Robin's words sent cold sweat pouring down Cobra's body. His voice trembled as he said, "Is she preparing to make a move? Vivi, I mean?"
"There's no need to worry for now. At the very least, you still have two months to prepare. And the Ope Ope no Mi is in our hands."
Hearing this, Cobra seemed to lose all strength as he slowly said, "I understand."
"Good. Since things here are settled, I'll be taking my leave."
Watching Robin slowly walk away, Cobra still called out his thanks in the end.
"Thank you for this."
"You're welcome."
When Robin slowly climbed the steps and left the underground palace, she took out a Den Den Mushi.
"Flare-sama, things here in Alabasta are settled."
Flare's voice came from the other end of the Den Den Mushi.
"Good work, Robin-chan. Next, I'll have to trouble you to follow Ace and head to the Final Island with him."
"It's no trouble. I'm very curious about everything on Laugh Tale myself."
"Then you have two months left. In two months, you must enter the New World and come to Wenmigudan Island. As an extra event for this alliance, Yemu will bring out that Fruit. Whether Ace can get it will depend on his own ability..."
"I understand. I'll tell Ace."
...
As time passed, people across the sea suddenly began to realize that something about the world seemed to be changing.
Every day, the newspapers delivered by News Coos and the reports broadcast through TV Dials carried major news.
First, the captain of the Whitebeard Pirates' Fourth Division was killed, and the Whitebeard Pirates began frantically searching the seas for the culprit.
Then the Rainbow Kingdom announced that it would hold the Rainbow Alliance Assembly a year ahead of schedule, throwing countless groups, companies, families, and nations that depended on the Rainbow Business Alliance into a frenzy.
Not long after that, Sir Crocodile, one of the Shichibukai, was defeated by a joint effort. Because he had plotted to seize Alabasta, Crocodile was stripped of his Shichibukai title, while Crocodile himself disappeared without a trace.
If Crocodile's removal only caused a small ripple in the Shichibukai system that had remained stable for more than ten years, then the defeat of another Shichibukai, Crescent Moon Hunter Catarina Devon, at the hands of Blackbeard Teach was enough to draw the world's attention.
The prestige of the Shichibukai system maintained by the Marines and the World Government had been seriously challenged.
But even all of that could not compare to the shock caused by the appearance on the sea of Ace, the boy who carried the bloodline Gol D. Roger had left behind in this world. The Marines placed a bounty of 300 million Belly on him, and that alone proved everything.
And while the world's attention was drawn to the boy named Ace, another main figure gradually began to make his name known.
Straw Hat Luffy, who had defeated Sir Crocodile together with Ace, the boy of Roger's bloodline, went on to defeat another Shichibukai, Gecko Moria, in the Florian Triangle. While completely undermining the existence of the Shichibukai, his own bounty soared to 380 million Belly.
Because of the special relationship between Straw Hat and Roger's son, many people began calling the two of them the twin stars of the sea.
At this time, perhaps to counter the serious damage dealt to the prestige of the Shichibukai system, the Marines and the World Government recruited Blackbeard Teach, who had defeated Crescent Moon Hunter Catarina Devon, as a new Shichibukai.
The reason the Marines and the World Government agreed was because Blackbeard Teach offered them a trade they could not refuse.
Among the people who had stood out in the war twenty years ago, aside from the Rainbow Kingdom, there was another major threat that weighed heavily on the World Government's mind: the Revolutionary Army. And within the Revolutionary Army, second only to their leader Dragon, was the top officer known as Tyrant Kuma, Bartholomew Kuma. Blackbeard's offer was Kuma's daughter, the pirate with a bounty of 120 million Belly, Big Eater Joelle Bonney.
But the trade did not go smoothly.
Just as the Marines and the Blackbeard pirate crew were making the exchange, the Revolutionary Army, which had always kept an extremely low profile, suddenly appeared.
A great battle broke out between the Revolutionary Army, the Marines, and the Blackbeard pirate crew.
In the end, Joelle Bonney was successfully rescued.
But in that battle, the one who truly drew everyone's attention was not their leader Dragon, nor Tyrant Kuma, nor Ivankov, nor even the various army commanders. It was a boy who had suddenly appeared, a boy named Sabo...
And not long after that battle, another piece of news swept across the sea...
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