Four years later.
The New World, the Kingdom of Dressrosa.
Palace Plateau.
Inside the luxurious palace, the current king, the young Riku Dold III, also known as King Riku, was hosting a banquet for the Dressrosa royalty and ministers.
In the Great Hall, red carpets covered the floor and wall lamps flickered with golden splendor. The gorgeously dressed ministers were all smiles, their behavior elegant and proper, without a single flaw to be found.
Suddenly, a towering figure abruptly appeared before the empty golden throne in the center.
Under the watchful eyes of the Dressrosa royalty and nobles in the hall, he leisurely took a seat on the throne, his hands resting on the coiled dragon armrests of the chair.
It was a tall, burly man with conspicuous white hair and a face as hard as iron.
The sudden appearance of the intruder caused the ministers and noble ladies in the hall to turn pale with fright, their exclamations of surprise rising one after another.
The soldiers responsible for guarding immediately rushed to the front of King Riku, shielding him behind them.
At the same time, numerous guards simultaneously aimed their long spears at the man on the throne.
The Captain of the Palace Guard drew his sword and roared angrily, "How bold! Who are you? How dare you break into the palace! Get off that throne this instant!"
As he spoke, the burly army Captain clad in heavy armor was about to charge forward with his longsword to seize this audacious individual.
Just then, the young King Riku seemed to recognize the man sitting on his throne. His expression changed slightly, and he spoke out to stop them.
"Lepanto! Stop!"
Army Captain Lepanto froze, his forward momentum halted, and he turned back with a puzzled look.
"Your Majesty King Riku, what is going on? Why won't you let me take this fellow down?"
King Riku shook his head. "You can't take him down."
"Does Your Majesty know him?" Lepanto shielded King Riku, warily watching the man on the throne.
King Riku didn't answer and instead ordered, "Evacuate everyone else."
"Yes!" Although confused, the loyal Lepanto immediately obeyed the King's command.
A few minutes later, the crowd in the hall was evacuated, leaving only King Riku and dozens of fully armed guards.
Only then did King Riku look at the man on the throne and say solemnly, "I wonder what the Fourth Division Captain of the Rocks Pirates, the 'Uranus' Lord Sorus Karlo, is doing here in my Dressrosa?"
"What? He's a Division Captain of the Rocks Pirates?"
As soon as King Riku said this, the guards' expressions changed drastically, their eyes clearly showing wariness and fear.
Lepanto's muscles tensed even more as he gripped his longsword tightly.
Sitting on the throne that belonged to King Riku, Carlo rubbed the carved dragon armrest with his palm, looked down at King Riku standing below, and said indifferently, "King Riku, I am here to provide Dressrosa with military protection."
"Military protection?" King Riku frowned. "What military protection?"
"It means planting my pirate crew's flag in your kingdom, Dressrosa. From now on, this will be territory under my protection. With my shelter, no pirate in this sea of the New World will ever dare to harass this place again."
As Carlo spoke, he reached into his robe, pulled out a small pirate flag, and tossed it onto the red carpet in front of the throne.
King Riku looked closely and found that the emblem on the pirate flag was not the mark of the Rocks Pirates, but a skull with wings.
"The mark of the Sky Pirates."
He recognized it; this was the mark of Carlo's own pirate crew, the Sky Pirates.
King Riku's heart sank, and his expression turned somewhat unsightly.
Carlo wanted his Dressrosa to become the territory of the Sky Pirates?
Wasn't this appetite a bit too large?
Did he not know that this was an Affiliated Nations of the World Government?
Furthermore, the relationship between the Kingdom of Dressrosa and the World Government was quite good.
For every World Conference, Dressrosa would be invited to attend.
Although there was anger in his heart, King Riku still forcibly suppressed it.
"This kind of protection surely comes with a price, right?"
Carlo smiled faintly. "Of course. Since you are accepting my protection, then naturally, you must pay some insignificant fees for the peace and security of the kingdom."
"How much money do you want?" King Riku asked with a grim face.
He planned that if Carlo didn't ask for much, he would pay some money to avert the disaster and fool this Great Pirate who was famous in the New World for now.
Afterward, he would contact the World Government and have them send a Marine fleet to handle it.
"Not much, just twenty percent of your kingdom's tax revenue."
"What did you say?! Twenty percent of the tax revenue? Are you joking with me?!"
However, Carlo's answer caused King Riku to lose his composure instantly, looking at Carlo with both shock and anger.
He almost thought he had misheard.
He had originally thought Carlo would open his mouth to extort a protection fee of several hundred million Berries from him.
That would have already been considered quite a lot.
But who would have thought that Carlo's appetite was even larger than he imagined.
He actually wanted Dressrosa's tax revenue!
And twenty percent of it!
Was this guy crazy?
Did he know how many Berries Dressrosa's annual tax revenue amounted to?
That was a fiscal income of tens of billions of Berries!
Even twenty percent of the tax revenue would be several billions.
This amount was even more than the celestial tribute the World Government required every year.
And Carlo, a mere pirate, actually dared to open his mouth so wide and ask him for so much money.
No matter how good King Riku's self-restraint was, he was furious now.
Without waiting for Carlo to speak, he said directly, "Captain Carlo! It is absolutely impossible for you to ask me to hand over twenty percent of the kingdom's tax revenue! Leave! Our Dressrosa does not need your protection; we have our own army and the protection of the Marines. In the New World, no one can threaten this country!"
"Oh? Is that so?" Carlo remained seated, ignoring the spears of the surrounding guards.
Suddenly, he narrowed his eyes.
The next moment.
A terrifying aura, like a deep abyss or a vast ocean, erupted from his towering body like a volcanic eruption or a rolling tsunami, sweeping across the area in an instant.
Thud, thud—
The large group of guards surrounding him all collapsed instantly, foaming at the mouth.
Even the kingdom's strongest army Captain, Lepanto, was no exception.
The floor, walls, ceiling of the entire hall, and the stone pillars supporting it all cracked with countless fissures.
At the same time, centered on the entire Palace Plateau, countless bolts of black and red lightning instantly spread across the sky of the Kingdom of Dressrosa.
Wherever the lightning spread, thousands upon thousands of Dressrosa's citizens were knocked unconscious.
It took only a few seconds.
Within the vast Kingdom of Dressrosa and the surrounding sea area for hundreds of kilometers.
On several islands, including Acacia, the Royal Capital, and Green Bit, not a single person could remain conscious; they were all knocked out!
Oh, wait.
There was one person left conscious.
That was King Riku.
Looking at the messy scene before him, King Riku's hands and feet trembled uncontrollably.
He looked at Carlo on the throne in terror.
"You... what did you do?!"
Carlo smiled faintly. "Didn't you say that in the New World, no one could threaten this country? Now there is."
"You!!" Looking at the smiling Carlo, King Riku only felt a chill all over his body.
Because of fear, he stumbled and turned to run, rushing out of the Great Hall.
As he ran out, he shouted somewhat hysterically.
"Guards! Guards! Contact the World Government immediately and have them send a Marine fleet! The Fourth Division Captain of the Rocks Pirates, Sorus Karlo, is here in my Dress..."
As he spoke, the voice in King Riku's mouth became smaller and smaller.
Finally, it stopped completely.
Standing on the high steps outside the hall, he found that the entire world seemed to have lost all sound.
The originally bustling Dressrosa had now become completely silent.
Outside the hall, people were fallen on the ground everywhere.
Looking down from this Palace Plateau, he could see the Corrida Colosseum in the distance and the Lovers' Lane of the Royal Capital.
But that place, which was originally prosperous and bustling, was also silent now, without a single sound.
The colosseum and the streets seemed to be covered with countless figures lying down.
He didn't know if they were unconscious or... dead.
In an instant, a huge sense of loneliness and boundless fear filled King Riku's heart, making him almost collapse.
"Aaaah!" With a thud, King Riku knelt on the ground, his soul seemingly lost.
Heavy footsteps came from behind him.
A huge shadow enveloped his body.
"Don't worry, they aren't dead."
"But next time, it might not be the case."
"Don't think about bringing the Marines here. If you bring the Marines to start a war with me, I will choose this place as the battlefield. At that time, I think you know better than I do what the fate of this country will be."
"Twenty percent of the tax revenue is not much to ask. I'll give you my flag. From now on, if any pirates come here to cause trouble, just give them my name."
The shadow moved away. King Riku looked up blankly, and Carlo's figure had already vanished from his sight.