Chapter 11: The Exiled King
"Stop yelling." Kael walked up to Kuro and, with a 'snap,' handcuffed him with an explosive slave collar. "Bandage him up!"
Kael instructed the Royal Guard behind him. "Yes, Your Majesty!"
A large group of Royal Guards swarmed forward, tied Kuro up, added more handcuffs, and carried him out. Just then, Kaya and Merry cautiously walked out.
"Your butler is the pirate Kuro of a Hundred Plans," Kael said, directly leveling a serious accusation against them. "You are now suspected of harboring a pirate. Do you have any excuses?"
Before Kaya could even ask about Kuro, an official from the Goa Kingdom shouted at her and Merry. "How dare you! Standing before you is the King of the Goa Empire, King Kael! Quickly kneel and answer his questions!"
Frightened, both Kaya and Merry immediately slumped to their knees, their faces incredibly pale. "Your Majesty, forgive us. We truly did not know that Butler Klahadore was a pirate," Merry cried out in fear. Kaya's eyes were filled with disbelief.
The gentle and kind Butler Klahadore was actually a pirate?
"Seeing that you are ill, I will let you off this time," Kael said indifferently, not bothering to delve deeper. He then turned to leave the mansion. "After you recover, report to the Goa Empire. My Queen just happens to need a batch of female attendants."
He was currently in a rush to attack the Gecko Kingdom and had no time to waste with Kaya, this small rich woman. Once he conquered the Gecko Kingdom, it would only take one order, and Kaya would have to report to the palace. That was how overbearing he was.
Watching a group of Royal Guards and bounty hunters follow Kael as he left freely, Kaya and Merry, who had intended to explain, stood frozen in place.
"It's alright, Miss Kaya," Merry said, breathing a sigh of relief as if he had narrowly escaped death. The fierce gazes of the Royal Guards and officials had truly almost scared them to death.
"Report to the Goa Empire after I recover?" Kaya asked Merry, bewildered. "Was he talking about me?"
"Miss, it seems the Goa Queen needs some female attendants," Merry answered cautiously. He also hadn't expected a king to actually conscript the ill Miss Kaya.
"Female attendant?" Kaya frowned tightly. What if she didn't want to leave Syrup Village? But for now, she could only take things one step at a time. After all, they couldn't contend with a king.
Kael and his entourage returned to the port, where they did not see Usopp. That coward had probably already hidden himself.
"Depart for the main island of the Gecko Kingdom!" Kael ordered. He had to conquer these kingdoms before the nearby nations and the World Government could react. Even Vinsmoke Judge could break through four Allied Nations and kill four kings in the North Blue in a short time. There was no reason Kael couldn't handle four kingdoms in the weakest of the four seas, the East Blue.
Moreover, the heads of these Marine branches were all rotten to the core. They were all evil colonels who deceived their superiors, oppressed their subordinates, and exploited civilians.
"Yes!" The four warships sailed out of Syrup Village's port, heading towards Moonlight Royal City.
Half a day later, Jango, Siamese Cat, and Spotted Cat, acting as a suicide squad, along with Eric and Van Auger, attacked Moonlight Royal City. As Kael once again exiled the fiercely resisting Moonlight Royal Family, the title of the King of Exile began to spread widely among the Royal Guards and bounty hunters.
Kael discovered a small island called Shimotsuki Village within the territory of the Gecko Kingdom. This caught his attention. He hadn't expected Usopp and Zoro to be from the same country. However, Kael had no time to land on Shimotsuki Village, busy as he was with his war of conquest.
Three days later, the neighboring Organ Kingdom also fell to the Goa Kingdom's army. The Accordion Royal Family was also exiled by Kael. However, Kael did not find the Buggy Pirates in Orange Town of the Organ Kingdom. It seemed that Buggy, who possessed Haoshoku luck, had escaped this calamity.
Kael conquered three kingdoms within a week, causing the entire Goa Kingdom to boil with excitement. Nobles, officials, and even the common people of the Goa Kingdom actively joined the imperial war to take over the three kingdoms.
When the World Government began to pay serious attention to the Goa Kingdom's expansion war, Kael's conquest fleet had already entered the Conomi Kingdom. The banner they flew claimed that the Conomi Kingdom had insulted King Kael and Queen Sally by sending only a paltry '100,000 in gift money and 10,000 catties of oranges.'
When the Goa Kingdom's fleet broke through the Conomi Kingdom's Royal City, Colonel Nezumi of the 16th Marine Branch was a bit flustered. He immediately reported Kael's brutal actions to Marineford, hoping that they would stop the Goa Kingdom's disorderly expansion. Colonel Nezumi was truly afraid that Kael would discover his cooperation with Arlong. He knew that Colonel Morgan of the 153rd Marine Branch had been captured by Kael.
At this time, in Marine Branch 16, Colonel Nezumi reported sternly into the Den Den Mushi. "Yes, yes, the tyrannical King of the Goa Kingdom has already exiled the kings of four kingdoms. Now the East Blue calls him the King of Exile. He also unjustly arrested Colonel Morgan of the 153rd Marine Branch! This is simply a disregard for the dignity of our Marines! Kael is simply lawless! His tyranny of exiling four kings is as evil as Vinsmoke Judge's four-nation slaughter in the North Blue!"
At Marine Headquarters in Marineford, Iron Fist Garp was secretly eating senbei in Fleet Admiral Sengoku's office. Upon hearing about the Goa Kingdom's rampant expansion, Garp also frowned. He did not wish for his hometown to become a war kingdom.
"What kind of trash is this new King who ascended the throne, dragging my hometown into war?" Garp cursed out loud. "King of Exile? I will definitely teach him a lesson with a fist of love!"
He then quickly took out a Den Den Mushi to inquire about the situation from Woop Slap, the village chief of Windmill Village. He asked if the war had spread to the peaceful Windmill Village. Even after learning that Windmill Village was unaffected, Garp's anger did not subside.
"Sengoku, I need to go back to the East Blue! I will never allow the peaceful East Blue to be embroiled in conflict again," Garp said as he was about to leave the Fleet Admiral's office. "Also, didn't that King capture a Marine Colonel? I'm going to teach him a lesson."
"Stop! Garp!" Sengoku rubbed his forehead. "The Goa Kingdom has already legally applied to the World Government for the merger of the three major kingdoms! Furthermore, the officials of the Goa Kingdom have already reported the matters concerning Colonel Morgan and Kuro of a Hundred Plans."
"Before Colonel Nezumi's report, the Goa Kingdom also provided evidence of Colonel Nezumi's evil act of harboring the Arlong Pirates."
Fleet Admiral Sengoku found it difficult to intervene in the Goa Kingdom's affairs. The World Government had already approved the Goa Kingdom's military actions, and Sengoku had guessed that the Goa Kingdom must have settled the celestial tribute issue. Due to the serious issues involving Colonel Morgan, Kuro of a Hundred Plans, and Colonel Nezumi with the Arlong Pirates, Sengoku even had to thank Kael for removing these corrupt elements for the Marines.
And Big News Morgans finally began to pay serious attention to Kael's feat of 'exiling four kings' this time. He seemed to have discovered an evil king just like Vinsmoke Judge!