Time goes back a few minutes.
Drum Island's main peak castle, inside the meeting room.
These talks about the initial setup of the Four Seas Alliance have reached their final stage.
No surprises happened. Wapol, the king of Drum Kingdom, was completely defeated.
Crocodile fully believes that if Rowan wanted to, he could even make Wapol sign a lot of unfair deals without realizing it.
Then, Rowan could rightfully make Drum Kingdom a small country attached to Alabasta!
This is the best example of a "useless king."
But Crocodile also knows that Ryan Rowan wouldn't do that, because that man's ambitions go far beyond that.
If you want to build the Four Seas Alliance, you must protect your original goals and bottom line.
This ocean is too big, and there are countless countries and kings.
Among them are fools like Wapol, but there are also clever, smart, and ruthless people with strong methods.
To convince them to join the Four Seas Alliance, you can't rely on just force and tricks, or it becomes a disguised war of expansion.
You have to let them know if the Four Seas Alliance can bring enough benefits to their countries!
Because of this, the results of the talks with Wapol are very fair, even too fair.
After officially starting, there will be a fixed route connecting the two countries, with permanent troops helping along the way.
Ships of the Four Seas Alliance will have permanent compasses for both countries, to be returned and replaced when entering and leaving ports.
As long as they fly the flag of the Four Seas Alliance and have permission to sail, both countries' troops will arrive as soon as possible, whether they encounter pirates or unknown bad weather.
Because the route is fixed, the Four Seas Alliance troops should be able to act much faster than the Marines.
This is the basis for trade between the two countries, and the fixed route will bring many benefits to the people of both countries.
Of course, these benefits have nothing to do with Wapol.
He has signed the agreement and has no right to collect unreasonable taxes from ships of the Four Seas Alliance.
...
The agreement was drafted, and Wapol and Vivi signed their names.
After putting down the pen, Wapol finally realized that something was not quite right.
He asked his first question:
"Um... what benefits can this king get from that thingy alliance?"
Vivi, as Rowan told her, smiled and replied, "The people of Drum Kingdom will thank their king."
"That's useless!"
Wapol immediately slammed the table, baring his teeth and saying, "What does this king need the thanks of those low people for?"
Hearing this, Vivi leaned back slightly.
Rowan had told him that this might happen. The current situation meant that Wapol was planning to flip the table.
Sure enough, at Wapol's order, Chess and Kuromarimo behind him immediately looked fierce.
Vivi paused and shouted:
"Sma..."
Before she could finish, a gloved hand rested on the princess's shoulder.
Crocodile, with a cigar in his mouth, slowly said to Vivi, "You don't have to listen to him completely, especially when it comes to 'names.'"
Vivi nodded, understanding vaguely.
Crocodile was satisfied.
He took a puff of his cigar and looked up at the three Wapols in front of him, his voice slightly joyful.
"The boring stuff is finally over, isn't it?"
Crocodile smirked, and a blade started to extend from his elbow.
Seeing this, Dalton quickly tried to stop him.
Regardless of whether Wapol and the others could win, a fight would mean a complete break between the two countries.
The people of Drum Kingdom could not handle such a result!
But Crocodile clearly did not intend to give Dalton a chance to mediate.
He had been holding back all the way, and now he was completely in the mood to watch the fun.
Since Vivi asked for it, Rowan probably won't blame me!
Crocodile smirked and raised his right arm.
However, just as he was about to act, Rowan's "line" came over.
Whoosh!
In an instant, everything in the room seemed to stop.
Vivi and the three Wapols did not understand what had happened, but Crocodile and Dalton, after all, had sharp eyes and immediately noticed something.
The castle they were in had been "cut open."
A very narrow gap appeared on the ground and walls, splitting the entire castle in two!
After a few breaths, a huge rumble suddenly came from around the castle.
Even the narrowest gap could not resist the laws of physics.
The castle was split in two, and parts of the building that had lost their support collapsed after a brief pause!
But Drum Island's castle was still a castle; a narrow gap could only destroy a few rooms and could not shake the foundation of the castle.
Therefore, everyone was only slightly frightened, and no one was injured.
"What happened!"
Dalton jumped and landed on a relatively stable floor.
Crocodile also used sand to block the rubble that was about to fall on Vivi's head.
As for Wapol and his two men, they were already lying on the ground, terrified.
"This king's... this king's castle!"
Crocodile frowned and looked at the snowy plains in the distance.
"Did that guy do it?"
Splitting a castle in two from so far away, how did he do it!
...
In fact, Crocodile was wrong.
Rowan's target was not the castle, but Drum Island itself.
Using a line as a dividing point, Drum Island was split in two!
...
Some said that the top swordsmen have the ability to cut the sea.
Some have seen terrifying natural power users freeze the endless ocean.
As a member of CP0, Black Mask had also witnessed such spectacular scenes with his own eyes.
In his mind—and in the minds of most people—the battles of the strong should be world-shattering, like the end of the world!
Black Mask had always thought so.
But today, that emperor from eight hundred years ago seemed to have given another answer.
"Strength" is not the same as "loud and impressive."
Like a sharp knife, even if the blade is only a thin layer, when it really enters the human body, it has completed all the functions of a blade.
Ryan Rowan's move was like that.
It was a line, and also a blade across Drum Island!
The spear turned once, and the line turned with the tip of the spear.
The blade cut through space.
The line moved, forming a surface!
The "surface" split Drum Island into left and right halves.
But that "surface" was too sharp, so the entire Drum Island was only cut with a gap.
Drawing a knife to cut water only makes it flow more, and stabbing a mountain with a dagger cannot "kill" it.
For "nature" itself, the gap could be repaired in just a few seconds.
But for "people," it was not so.
After confirming that there were no innocent lives in front or behind him, Rowan turned the line in his hand.
Whoosh!
The line cut through the air, cut through the surging white waves, and cut through the body of that CP0.
In an instant, everything seemed to be quiet, time continued to flow, but space seemed to be still.
Very quiet, without a world-shattering presence, even no residents of Drum Island noticed, quiet enough to make one feel chilled.
Black Mask swallowed, his pupils shrank, staring fixedly at this scene.
And that impulsive CP0, still kept the movement of stepping forward, but his body was stuck in place.
His eyes widened, and he suddenly felt a strange feeling.
He felt a line in the middle of his body, and that line gave him a sense of hot burning.
Boom!
The white waves collapsed suddenly, but because of the stagnation, they lost the power to continue moving forward, and instead surged to the left and right sides, and soon stopped completely.
The CP0 wanted to move his body, but suddenly felt that the vision of his two eyes had shifted, one up and one down.
"Huh?"
He let out a puzzled sound.
Then, he completely lost consciousness.
Thump, thump—two sounds of landing, one on the left and one on the right.
Split in two.
Black Mask, also a CP0 member, watched this scene, his breathing started to become rough.
Rowan turned his head, expressionless, and slowly said:
"When there is no one else behind me, it will be like this."
Whoosh!
Hearing these words, Black Mask broke out in a cold sweat, his hair stood on end, and roared at the people around him:
"Retreat!"
The CP organization is worthy of being people of the World Government, and acted very quickly.
In the blink of an eye, they disappeared without leaving a trace.
Rowan waved to Hiruluk and Kureha at the edge of the forest, then turned and walked towards the main peak of Drum Island.
The leisurely pastime was over, and he needed to handle the next things himself.
...
The next day.
Drum Island, pier.
A large sailboat was docked there, with a special flag hanging on it.
With blue as the base color, it has a geometric pattern in the shape of an upside-down spear, and is also printed with patterns of waves and storms.
That is the flag of the Four Seas Alliance, whose original shape was designed by Nefertari and everyone together.
Rowan stood on the pier, looking at the ship with the Four Seas Alliance flag.
That is the first ship representing the Four Seas Alliance.
"The wind is picking up."
The corner of Rowan's ribbon was lifted by the sea breeze.
He took a deep breath and said in a deep voice to the people behind him:
"Sail!"
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