In the blink of an eye, two days had passed since the auction.
During this time, Rosen had been staying in Paradise. He didn't rely much on Xia's help, instead doing much the same as Moris—spreading rumors to confuse his trail.
At the same time, he was probing into the upper powers of the Andia Kingdom and the relations among its many fortresses.
The Andia Kingdom had a total of eighteen fortresses. Besides the king, the three dukes were the most powerful figures. Among them, Duke Remont commanded a portion of the military.
It was Remont's forces that had once been dispatched to Frans Island to hunt down Rosen but returned empty-handed. Clearly, His Majesty the King understood the art of weakening overgrown tigers even as he sought to eliminate enemies.
This alone showed the king was no easy man to deal with.
The other two dukes wielded their influence mainly among the nobility. They held vast estates and fortified strongholds.
Most crucial of all, Duke Valos was related to the king by marriage. Yet years earlier, a falling-out had led to the queen being sent back to the Valos estate. Rumor had it she bore a daughter there.
But even so, it did nothing to win back the king's heart. He seemed to have poured all his love into the Andia prince who was later slain by Rosen.
The last duke was far more moderate—low-key and unassuming, little more than a wealthy landowner with no striking qualities.
Meanwhile, not far from Paradise, in a sea littered with the wrecks of more than a dozen Marine ships—including a top-class battleship—Spandam now stood trembling before Rosen, face twisted in terror.
Fear gripped him so tightly that his hands shook as he held out a box containing two Devil Fruits.
"I didn't expect you to call in so many agents. I thought you'd come for me the very night of the auction. I gave you so many chances. Any last words?" Rosen asked calmly, eyes fixed on him.
It was a pity, but none of the thousand CP agents from Enies Lobby would leave alive.
Rosen had no intention of exposing that he was behind this attack. He still had plans for the Andia Kingdom, and for now, he needed to remain hidden.
"You can't kill me! My father is a high-ranking official in the World Government! I—I—"
"No problem. When I meet your father, I'll send him to join you." Rosen's sand blade pierced Spandam's heart. The chief of Enies Lobby died at sea, disgraced and unnoticed.
Afterward, Rosen summoned a pack of sea beasts to the area, letting them devour the corpses and shipwrecks until nothing recognizable remained.
Even if CP0 investigated, they would struggle to determine that this was an ambush.
Once everything was done, a merchant ship sailed slowly toward him. On board stood Moris, Xia, and the others.
Seeing the blood-stained sea, Moris and Xia fell silent. They had always thought Rosen, though powerful, was approachable. But just now, over a thousand agents had been fed to sea beasts without a single survivor.
Truly ruthless.
Rosen used Moonwalk to return to the ship, taking the artificial Zoan Fruit first. When he stored it in the system, he was delighted to find it counted toward his Devil Fruit capacity.
That brought his progress to four out of five. The remaining two were the Giraffe Fruit and the Bubble Fruit.
He wasn't fond of either. He had planned to use one just to complete the task, but even so, he had no real desire for them.
So, for now, he left his progress at four out of five and set the fruits aside. Later, he could ask his crew if anyone wanted them. If so, he'd finish the task then. Since artificial fruits worked, there was no need to waste these natural ones.
After all, artificial fruits were easier to obtain, and production seemed plentiful. Once he finished business in Andia, he would have to move quickly against Doflamingo.
Even offending Kaido didn't matter. Rosen's aim wasn't just to defeat Doflamingo but to seize everything he owned—especially his factories. As long as the artificial Devil Fruits weren't unbearably inhumane in their creation, Rosen could accept them.
Even if it meant sacrificing lives, he would proceed. The seas were full of wicked men; life wasn't sacred here.
With artificial fruits, he could rapidly build an army of dual-ability users. That would give him the qualifications to fight for world domination.
"Have you decided how to proceed?" Moris asked from the bow, with Bett at his side.
"Spread a story for me," Rosen said, gazing at the sea. "Say that the daughter of the former queen of House Valos is a remarkable woman. Make it vivid, don't worry about the cost. Within one day, I want everyone to remember her as a heroic figure."
When Rosen learned of Andia's situation, he had formed a plan.
It wasn't complicated. To replace the Andia Kingdom without alerting the World Government, he needed a "legitimate heir" to overthrow the current king.
And that heir had to be someone Rosen could control—or at least not an enemy. In other words, he would place a puppet on the throne while he ruled from behind.
Simple in theory, but hard in execution.
"Is that really necessary? We don't even know if such a child exists. Maybe there never was a royal heir," Moris said, struggling to understand Rosen's thinking.
"It is necessary. Remember, it doesn't matter whether people think it's real. As long as we decide it's real, and make her real, that's enough. At first, maybe one in a hundred will believe. But when the story spreads to ten thousand, perhaps a hundred will. And when thousands believe, then it becomes the truth." Rosen smiled faintly.
He trusted in the power of mass belief, especially in a land where kingdoms were isolated, education was low, and few questioned what they were told.
"I'll see it done quickly," Xia replied. She was now president of the AKS Chamber of Commerce.
Over the past two days, she had consolidated control. Most had accepted her leadership, while those who resisted had vanished without a trace.
And she could already sense this was the start of a vast conspiracy.
"If you kill the king directly, the lords and nobles will fight for the throne. That chaos could paralyze the kingdom for years. That would hurt my business. You must have a better way," Moris reminded him.
"The chaos will be brief. Afterward, your two chambers of commerce will profit even more without kings and nobles draining you. We're allies now; I won't let you suffer losses. And as I said, I came here not just for revenge, but to secure a place to thrive. If it were only revenge, I would've struck already."
"Let me explain the plan in detail so you don't worry. First, we create a legitimate heir. Then, we find a pretext for the heir to declare war on the king. The war must last a while and be backed by a powerful noble to appear real. During the conflict, we seize the chance to kill the king, claim victory, and put the heir on the throne—all while maintaining the treaty as a World Government affiliate."
"Your plan has two major flaws," Moris said bluntly, the voice of a seasoned strategist. "First, which noble will you ally with? Second, you don't have the manpower to control a war. Alone, without a trusted army, you can't monitor the battlefield. Andia is no small kingdom. Can you be sure others won't feign loyalty while secretly undermining you? One weak link, and the whole plan collapses."
(End of Chapter)