"Taking control of Cobra... that should work."
"With Mr. 2's Clone-Clone Fruit, we can secretly control Cobra while keeping the kingdom stable."
"Come to think of it, I heard Bell and Chaka, Cobra's two royal guards, were involved in some kind of accident. Without those two standing in our way, taking control of Cobra should be much easier."
"Boss, when do we move?"
Compared to launching the rebellion ahead of schedule, the senior agents of Baroque Works had no objections to secretly taking control of King Cobra first. After giving it some thought, they all agreed.
Some of them even appeared eager to begin.
After all, their ultimate objective had always been to seize the kingdom.
If they could secure King Cobra in advance, carrying out the rest of the operation would become much easier.
"Very well. Then—"
Seeing that no one opposed the plan, Crocodile, eager to confirm the whereabouts of the missing Poneglyph, was just about to finalize the arrangements to capture Cobra.
"It's bad, Boss! A huge group of people has stormed the casino!"
Before Crocodile could continue, a casino employee—who was also a member of Baroque Works—came rushing down the staircase leading from the casino above, shouting frantically.
The sudden interruption caused Crocodile to stop mid-sentence.
The senior officers all exchanged surprised glances.
"What happened?"
"Who's causing trouble upstairs?"
Mr. 3 frowned and glared at the employee with obvious displeasure.
"I... I don't know exactly who they are!"
The terrified employee hurriedly explained.
"But they're definitely not people from Alabasta! There are too many of them, and they're incredibly strong. None of our people can stop them!"
The moment those words left his mouth, a ball of white wax shot toward him.
Before he could even react, the wax completely wrapped around his body, sealing him inside a solid white cocoon.
The airtight prison instantly cut off his breathing.
Within seconds, his life began slipping away.
"You came all the way down here without even figuring out who the enemy was."
Mr. 3 looked at the wax-covered body with undisguised contempt.
"You were obviously running away because you were afraid of dying."
Turning back toward Crocodile, he confidently declared,
"Boss, leave it to me. I'll go upstairs and eliminate whoever's causing trouble."
"We're all going."
Crocodile slowly rose from his chair, taking another drag from his cigar.
"I'd also like to see who's bold enough to make trouble on my turf."
His mood had already been terrible.
Now, someone had delivered themselves straight to him.
He intended to vent all of that frustration.
With Crocodile taking the lead, the other senior officers naturally followed without another word, leaving the underground conference room and heading toward the casino above.
"Ahhh! Somebody save me!"
"You idiots! Do you even know whose territory this is? We're Lord Crocodile's men!"
"Don't panic! The Boss and the officers will be here any second!"
The once-luxurious casino, usually overflowing with gamblers and guests, had become complete chaos.
Panicked customers fled in every direction.
Gaming tables had been overturned.
Decorations lay shattered across the floor.
The bodies of Baroque Works members were scattered everywhere.
Some surviving employees clutched their wounds as they screamed in pain.
Others continued shouting threats despite their hopeless situation.
In stark contrast, the attackers remained completely calm.
They were none other than the War Pirates.
Gunfire echoed throughout the casino.
Blades flashed relentlessly.
No matter how desperately Baroque Works members struggled, the pirates showed no mercy, cutting down anyone who dared stand in their path.
At the entrance of the casino...
"So this is Baroque Works?"
"It looks pretty ordinary."
"Yeah. If this is all they've got, we probably won't even need to lift a finger."
"There should be stronger opponents inside."
"At the very least, Crocodile hasn't shown himself yet."
Robin, Neferpitou, Lafayette, Law, Zoro, and Smoker stood side by side, calmly watching the battle unfold.
Standing in front of everyone with his arms folded, Kaito observed silently as his subordinates steadily wiped out the Baroque Works members inside the casino.
Although they had brought only three brigades of soldiers, the War Pirates possessed overwhelming combat strength.
In just a few short minutes, more than half of Baroque Works' personnel inside the casino had already been killed.
Meanwhile, on the War Pirates' side, not a single man had died.
Only a handful had suffered minor injuries.
"Hm?"
A crimson gleam suddenly flashed across the eyes of Kaito and everyone behind him.
At the same time, they all turned toward one of the casino's interior passageways.
A white tide burst out of the corridor.
The wave rapidly expanded as it surged forward, sweeping across the casino like a flood.
It was an enormous torrent of wax.
Whoosh!
A figure vanished from behind Kaito.
Lafayette shot forward like a phantom, instantly crossing the battlefield and positioning himself between the incoming wave and the pirates.
"Paper Art—Paper Wall!"
He thrust both palms forward.
Sheets of pure white paper erupted from his hands, rapidly multiplying and expanding until they formed a massive paper barrier in front of him.
Boom!!
The giant wave of wax crashed violently into the paper wall.
Yet the wall didn't budge.
Instead, it stood firm, completely blocking the wax flood.
"Mole-Speed Slash!"
The instant the wax attack was stopped, a burly bald man burst out of the passageway.
Skating across the hardened wax beneath his feet, he charged directly toward Lafayette.
Both of his arms had transformed into razor-sharp blades.
With explosive force, he slashed repeatedly at the paper wall.
Sparks burst with every collision.
The wall trembled slightly.
But no matter how fiercely he attacked, it remained standing.
The only evidence of his assault was a series of shallow scratches across its surface.
"Impossible..."
The bald man—
Mr. 1, Daz Bones—
stared at the paper wall in complete disbelief.
He had never imagined that his blade attack would fail to cut through something as simple as paper.
"Mr. 1."
"Move."
A cold voice echoed from the passageway behind him.
Snapped out of his shock, Daz Bones immediately stepped aside.
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