Igaram lowered his head, and what came into his sight was a fruit with the peel covered with blades. The blades were entangled with each other to form a fruit that bulged like a whirlwind.
"Is this... a Devil Fruit?!"
The existence of Devil Fruits is no secret in Alabasta.
Igaram's two headguards, Chaka and Pell, are Devil Fruit users.
He had also seen top-notch people like Gawain, Crocodile, and even Golden Lion.
When he saw the fruit, Igaram had only one thought in his mind: "Although Mr. Gawain did not want any reward, this should be enough to prove our gratitude, right?"
"No!"
"Compared to the kindness that man has shown to this country, this little reward is not even a fraction of what he has done."
"But they are destined to continue their voyage to the New World, and this thing should be able to help them in their voyage."
Time flies a few days later.
At the palace, this place had fallen into Crocodile's control several days ago, and the soldiers guarding the perimeter of the palace were replaced by people from the Baroque Works.
"Cobra still hasn't let go?"
"No, that guy's mouth is harder than we thought. We tried all kinds of tricks, but nothing worked."
"Waste."
Crocodile frowned, then pushed aside the Baroque Workshop member in front of him and walked quickly into the basement.
Soon, Crocodile saw Cobra, who was covered in wounds, deep in the basement.
"Tell me the whereabouts of the poneglyph, and I will leave the country immediately."
"Dream!"
Cobra spat, thinking back to what Crocodile had said before, and felt an indescribable irony: "Is this what you mean by building a utopia in this country?"
"It doesn't matter what that thing is."
Crocodile lit the cigar in his mouth, and he gradually became impatient: "If you don't want your daughter to die, then cooperate with me. Anyway, isn't the poneglyph a hot potato for Alabasta?"
Cobra was stunned, and his eyes instantly turned red: "What did you do to Vivi?!"
Then Cobra suddenly reacted.
If Vivi had been really controlled by Crocodile, he would not have seemed so anxious and would not have seized control of Alabasta in a way that could be described as brutal.
This conflicts with the man's previous careful planning.
"Vivi is not in your hands at all."
"Even your plan has encountered some kind of resistance, perhaps from the Marines, perhaps from pirates, yes... White Knight Gawain!"
Cobra's eyes fell on Crocodile's arm.
He remembered very clearly that there should have been a golden hook there, but now it was wrapped in gauze, and the gauze even had a bit of blood.
"You were defeated by White Knight Gawain."
"Because of this incident, you are forced to speed up your actions, even if you may be targeted by the Marines and lose your title as a Warlord."
"Hahaha..."
Looking at Crocodile, whose face was getting darker and darker, Cobra smiled happily. This bastard who stole the country actually had this day?
He only hates himself for believing the other party's lies and causing countless civilians to die and be injured!
"Are you done?"
Crocodile's voice turned cold: "You're right. I lost, and Vivi is no longer in my hands, but I have the people of Alubarna."
"A cold piece of poneglyph or the lives of everyone in the city. You choose!"
A few minutes later.
Ta! Ta! Ta!
Clear footsteps were heard from the underground prison of the palace.
Crocodile slowly walked out.
Following behind him was Cobra, who had a resigned look on his face.
Obviously, between the lives of the people of the entire royal city and the poneglyph that the Nefertari family has guarded for generations.
Cobra chose the latter.
"If you had cooperated earlier, how could you have suffered so much?"
Crocodile said indifferently.
He took the cigar from his mouth with one hand and walked towards the royal tomb outside the palace.
The poneglyph, which has been guarded by generations, is hidden in a secret room beneath the royal tomb.
Robin, who had received the news, had already been waiting at the palace gate. When she saw Crocodile arriving, she greeted him and followed them.
At this moment, after being imprisoned for many days, Cobra finally felt the scorching sun of Alabasta again, which almost roasted people into mummies.
But at this moment, he had no time to care about these things. His eyes fell on Alubarna in the distance. His eyes instantly turned bloodshot, and unspeakable anger rose in his heart.
It's because Alubarna has already fallen into chaos.
Burning buildings, wailing civilians, members of the Baroque Works who were slaughtering people wantonly with guns and swords, and the rebels led by Koza…
Everything in the city turns into hell.
This capital city, which has been maintained for nearly a thousand years and was established even before the World Government, is facing a real crisis of destruction today, just like the town that once existed in Alabasta but has been swallowed by the desert.
But what really moved Cobra were the countless bleeding civilians around him.
"Is this your promise?"
Cobra's hateful questioning only resulted in Crocodile's gentle ridicule: "You'd better move faster. Every second you delay, more people in this country will die because of you."
"Devil!"
"Damn you, devil!"
Cobra was so angry that his face turned red, and he spit out a large mouthful of blood on the spot.
The consciousness in his brain became blurred at this moment, but he knew more clearly that he could not fall down at this time.
Otherwise, with the temperament of this man in front of him, he would definitely be able to destroy a city and massacre hundreds of thousands of civilians!
Robin quietly reached out to support Cobra, but the latter struggled to break free: "I can walk by myself."
"Ah."
Robin's lips curled up into a smile: "That saves me a lot of trouble."
Crocodile followed Cobra and slowly walked towards the royal tomb of Alubarna.
The surrounding scenery passed by, artillery fire and wailing rang out, and soon, a small palace located in the north of Alabasta appeared in the eyes of several people.
At this moment, Crocodile's body was shaking with excitement.
Years of lurking and painstaking planning, all for the moment of reaping the fruits.
If, before the battle at Nanohana city, he was only 70% sure that the poneglyph guarded by the Nefertari family for generations recorded the information about Pluton.
Then, when White Knight Gawain and Golden Lion both appeared in Alabasta one after another, this confidence rose to 90%.
This is Pluton!
Pluton is one of the three Ancient Weapons!
A destructive weapon that can wipe a country off the map with one shot.
A few days ago, the scene of Gawain's defeat at the hands of Golden Lion reappeared in Crocodile's mind.
It also made his awe for these legends reach an indescribable level, far greater than before.
After all, even a monster like White Knight Gawain would be powerless against the power of Golden Lion.
What's the point of standing up again and again if you keep getting defeated?
Only man-made monsters can compete with natural monsters!
As long as Pluton is in his hand, even if he doesn't have the power to match Whitebeard, he can still reach the top of this sea!
But for some reason, the thing that he had been looking for all his life was right in front of him, but Crocodile suddenly stopped. He realized that he had inexplicably developed a sense of resistance in his heart.
What's… wrong?
"Boss?"
Crocodile didn't come to his senses until he heard Robin's call in his ears. Then he looked up at the road ahead.
They have arrived at the royal tomb.
Pluton is coming, too.
Cobra walked to a statue and stopped, then turned to look at Crocodile. There was a hint of hesitation in his eyes, but it turned into unwillingness in the next moment.
He didn't know whether Crocodile would keep his promise, but that was the only hope he could hold on to at the moment.
"I hope you'll keep your word."
"Um."
Crocodile nodded.
Seeing this, Cobra did not hesitate. He raised his hand and pressed the mechanism under the feet of the statue.
The statue slowly moved away, revealing the stone stairs below, and several people slowly followed Cobra's steps down and disappeared into the shadows.