Chapter 119: Alabasta and Ohara!
Dead silence.
The 'Guardian Deity of the Kingdom' of Alabasta and a group of Royal Army warriors glared angrily at Senior Director Warner and the others, giving the impression that they were ready to take down these Men in Black the moment King Cobra gave the order.
Facing so many Weapons and two menacing Zoan Users, the latter didn't even bother to change their expressions, calmly waiting for the King's decision.
"Sigh—"
After a long period of silence and internal struggle, the young King Cobra finally let out a sigh. He waved his hand and ordered, "Igaram, you and General Uran take them to the Royal Tomb. But aside from the Poneglyph, they are absolutely not allowed to touch anything else!"
"Your Majesty, that is the resting place of the Kings of past generations!" another General who was one of the 'Guardian Deity of the Kingdom' quickly stepped forward to remind him.
"Enough, General Nass."
King Cobra waved his hand, signaling the other party to stop talking.
"In that case, we shall take our leave." Senior Director Warner nodded with some disappointment, then turned and left with his people.
Igaram exchanged a look with the King. Seeing the determination in the latter's eyes, he quickly followed with General Uran, who held the title of 'Falcon'.
"Your Majesty, why be so afraid of them?" After everyone had left, General Nass, who held the title of 'Jackal', asked angrily, his face flushed red.
"We have six hundred thousand elite Royal Army soldiers, millions of Citizens with popular support, and General Uran and I. Even if we lack Battleships and cannot contend with them at sea, preventing the World Government's Army from invading should be more than enough!"
Hearing this, King Cobra might have agreed if it were in the past. After all, Alabasta's National Strength could be said to be the undisputed strongest among all Affiliated Countries.
But ever since watching the World Broadcast that the world called the 'ONE PIECE Great Sea Battle', he looked at the other party with a puzzled expression.
"General Nass, didn't you watch the World Broadcast a few days ago?"
"If you are referring to the Great Treasure of the Pirate King or whatever it was, I did not pay attention, nor do I have any interest in paying attention. I'd rather spend that time training the Training Unit or honing my own Strength and martial skills," General Nass replied stiffly.
King Cobra was instantly speechless. He also realized how difficult it would be to explain how powerful Marine Admirals and Marine Admiral Candidates were. Even if he gave a rough explanation, this General would likely not believe him.
He thought for a moment, preparing to approach the matter from a different angle.
"General Nass, once we completely break with the World Government, we will face a large-scale attack from the Marine Fleet. Even if our Royal Army can withstand it, the peaceful lives of our Citizens will be destroyed. They are living in peace and prosperity now, so why should I plunge the entire Kingdom into turmoil for a stone I don't even understand?"
King Cobra's earnest words echoed throughout the Main Hall, reaching the ears of every Royal Army warrior and causing their resolute expressions to soften slightly.
"As a descendant of the Nefertari Clan, it is indeed my incompetence that I cannot protect the Poneglyph passed down by my ancestors and allow outsiders to trespass into the Royal Tomb, disturbing their peace."
"But as the King of Alabasta, my primary responsibility is to ensure the Kingdom is prosperous and the people are safe. Unless absolutely necessary, I should not rashly resort to military action."
"In my opinion, whether it's the Poneglyph or the Rules of the Royal Tomb, they are insignificant compared to the Kingdom's safety. The Royal Army should fight for the Kingdom, not for a stone!"
Every word from the young King was so forceful and resolute.
However, this resolute and wise King, upon returning to his bedroom, hugged his Queen and wept uncontrollably, tears streaming down his face like water.
"Titi, I'm sorry to my ancestors, woo woo woo—"
At this moment, King Cobra's previous thought that the World Government had become more benevolent vanished completely. The World Government was still the same World Government.
Cold, Haki-filled, ruthless, and terrifyingly oppressive.
Holy Land Marie Geoise, the Room of Authority within Pangaea Castle.
"As expected, Alabasta caved!"
Im had just learned from the Five Elders about King Cobra's decision; the latter still chose to obediently hand over the Poneglyph.
He had actually considered what he would do if Cobra hadn't caved and chose to confront the World Government head-on to protect the Poneglyph.
Alabasta's National Strength was certainly powerful, living up to its reputation as a superpower in the First Half of the Grand Line.
However, this superpower status referred to its Strength among Affiliated Countries. To contend with the World Government, it was still far too weak.
Nevertheless, if they truly wanted to deal with Alabasta, Im believed there was no need to launch a War. They could simply have the Marines blockade its coastline, prohibiting any Ship from entering or leaving.
Although Alabasta was vast, roughly ninety percent of it was Desert. The Resources it could utilize were very limited, and Freshwater was entirely dependent on imports from other Islands. Therefore, by cutting off the flow of Supplies, the people inside would soon die of thirst and starvation.
However, unless necessary, Im didn't want to cause excessive Slaughter.
The reason was simple: Population was very important. Once the Myriad Worlds opened, Population would become even more important. The scale of troops in Civilization Wars would definitely be in the hundreds of millions, but the current Population of Planet Sea was not that large.
"The Poneglyphs from Fish-Man Island and Alabasta are in hand. The Poneglyphs known from my Previous Life are the one in Ohara, one on Zou's back, one on Sky Island Shandora, two in BIG MOM's possession, and one I remember Jinbe discovering in Sea Beast City in the future..."
Needless to say, the easiest one to obtain among these was the one in Ohara!
"Let me think, let me think..."
Im continuously dug through his memories from before he transmigrated, using his extraordinary Mental Power.
"The Poneglyph exploration team assembled by Ohara set out in 1494, which was four years ago. Then they were arrested by Saul in 1500, which is two years from now. So, Nico Robin's mother is still wandering around outside."
"They've been searching outside for so many years, they must have found quite a few Poneglyphs. But those things are too big and too heavy to carry easily. So, for Research purposes, they would need to make rubbings and record the locations..."
As he thought, he suddenly felt that perhaps there was no need to rush into this matter. It could simply be allowed to develop naturally.
Even if a butterfly effect occurred and this group wasn't caught by Saul, they would only need to have CP keep an eye on Ohara. It wouldn't be too late to arrest them after they returned.
Then, the Poneglyph Processing Division could simply take the locations recorded by the exploration team and retrieve them one by one.
How much easier would that be?
After being caught, the Scholars in Ohara who researched Poneglyphs definitely couldn't be spared.
Because they conducted illegal Research despite the World Government's explicit prohibition and repeated Warnings, dealing with them was only right and something they brought upon themselves. He believed they were prepared for the consequences.
However, a Buster Call was out of the question. Such a large tree, what a beautiful landscape! And there were so many Books; turning it into the largest library would be quite good. How wasteful would it be to blow it all up?
To the current Im, everything on this planet belonged to him, so he wanted to preserve unique places as much as possible.
This included important characters. If they could be used, he would try to find ways to utilize them. Only if they were truly unusable would he consider eliminating them. After all, those who couldn't be used were just waste, so they should naturally be treated as garbage.
"However, Nico Robin is a good prospect. She should have eaten the Hana Hana no Mi by now. Send her to Cipher Pol's Kona Island for training. It won't be long before she becomes another top-tier Intelligence Agent..."
Im stroked his chin, pondering this matter. In the future Myriad Worlds, Intelligence members would definitely be the first to enter and gather Intelligence, so the more Experts in this area, the better.
"For her, Olvia could be used as a hostage. For example, depending on her achievements, Olvia's sentence could be reduced accordingly. She wouldn't dare disobey..."
(End of Chapter)