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Chapter 118: Persuading Koza
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Alabasta Kingdom.
The Rebel Army Headquarters base, Katorea.
Two figures bypassed the perimeter sentries before the alarm could even be sounded, entering the core area of the Rebel command as if walking into an uninhabited land.
Inside the command room, the Rebel leader, Koza, was gathered around a wooden table covered in maps and documents with several high-ranking officers, fiercely discussing the next battle plan.
The map of Alabasta on the wall was densely marked with red and blue, indicating the spheres of influence and battle lines of the Royal Army and the Rebel Army.
"The defenses of the capital are stronger than we anticipated." A bearded middle-aged man pointed to Alubarna on the map. "If we attack frontally, the losses will be heavy."
"But we don't have time." Koza pressed his hands on the edge of the table, his brow locked tight. "The drought is getting worse. Two towns in the north ran out of water last week. If we don't end this war soon, more civilians will die of thirst..."
Before he could finish his sentence.
Bang!
The door to the command room was pushed open violently.
Everyone in the room looked up in astonishment toward the entrance.
Backlit by the dim light of dusk, the silhouettes of two figures gradually became clear.
"Vi... Vivi?" Koza's pupils dilated slightly, staring blankly at this old friend before him.
And behind her, another girl with ice-blue hair also startled him.
She stood there quietly, the peculiar horns on her head gleaming faintly in the light, her eyes exceptionally calm.
What made Koza most wary was the faint aura radiating from this girl—it was the aura of a strong individual.
"Protect the leader!"
After a brief shock, the quickest-reacting high-ranking rebel officers drew their weapons simultaneously.
The sound of swords unsheathing rang out in succession as five or six men rushed toward the two uninvited guests at the door almost at the same time.
"Wait! They aren't..." Koza tried to stop them, but he soon witnessed a scene he would never forget.
The blue-haired, horned girl stepped in front of Vivi with a speed invisible to the naked eye. Facing the oncoming attackers, she simply raised her right hand gently.
In an instant, ice-blue light bloomed with her at the center.
Crack, crack...
In the next moment.
The two officers at the front, still in their charging posture, had their bodies rapidly covered in a layer of crystal-clear frost.
Their movements froze in mid-air, turning them into two lifelike ice sculptures.
The men behind them tried to stop, but it was too late.
The ice-blue light spread as if it had a life of its own, traveling along the ground, the air, and even up their weapons. In just three seconds, everyone in the command room except Koza had turned into ice sculptures in various poses.
Koza's pupils constricted violently.
He remained in a half-standing posture, his right hand instinctively clutching the hilt of the sword at his waist, but reason told him that drawing his sword was meaningless.
A Devil Fruit user.
And definitely not an ordinary one.
"Vivi," Koza forced himself to calm down, sitting back into the chair belonging to the Rebel leader.
His gaze shifted between his childhood friend and the mysterious girl, finally settling on Vivi's face. His voice was low and serious. "Even if you kill me, the Rebel Army will absolutely not stop saving this country!"
He thought Vivi had come to assassinate him.
A princess of the kingdom, bringing a ridiculously powerful ability user, barging into the Rebel headquarters...
What other purpose could there be besides assassinating the leader?
"Koza, you've misunderstood!" Vivi stepped forward two paces, pressing her hands on the table. She leaned forward, her eyes earnest and urgent. "We didn't come here to kill you; we came to tell you the truth! The truth about everything happening in this country!"
Koza's expression clearly faltered.
He scrutinized Vivi's face.
There was no killing intent, no deception, only a desperate plea, and... the shadow of the kind princess in his memories.
His gaze involuntarily drifted to the blue-haired girl behind Vivi.
She still stood quietly, hands folded in front of her, as if the feat of freezing a dozen people just now had nothing to do with her.
But that power revealed through her indifference made Koza understand that if she really wanted to kill him, he wouldn't even have the chance to resist.
Koza took a deep breath, slowly raised his hand, and made a "please" gesture.
"Actually, I'm curious too," his voice carried complex emotions. "How did the kind, people-loving King I met as a child turn this country into what it is now? King Cobra... why on earth would he use Dance Powder to steal the entire country's rain?"
There was confusion, disappointment, and a trace of almost imperceptible hope in his tone.
When Koza was a child, he had accompanied his father to the capital and seen King Cobra with his own eyes.
At that time, the King would squat down to talk to common children, personally inspect water conservancy projects, and stay awake all night worrying about the drought in a remote village.
That image was deeply branded in young Koza's heart, and the King had even been his idol for a time.
But everything that had happened over the years—the increasingly severe drought, the eerie phenomenon where only the capital had favorable weather, and the rumors of the King using Dance Powder coming from all over.
It had gradually shattered that beautiful image bit by bit.
"Koza, Father has never changed!" Vivi shouted, her voice trembling slightly with emotion. "He never used Dance Powder, and he never abandoned any city! All these years, he has been trying his best to help the citizens and searching for the truth behind the drought!"
"Trying his best?" Hearing this, Koza couldn't help but scoff, his tone sarcastic. "Vivi, do you remember the city that the Royal Family funded and my father was in charge of building? The 'City of the Future' that was given such high hopes?"
Vivi's eyes lit up, answering somewhat uncertainly, "You mean... Yuba?"
"That's right, Yuba." Koza's voice became agitated. He pressed his hands hard against the table, his knuckles turning white. "That was the city my father and I planned with our own hands, watched being built brick by brick! It could have been the future hope of Alabasta, an oasis in the desert, but now it has almost become a wasteland!"
"What? Yuba City is also..." Vivi's expression froze instantly, the color draining from her face.
She had heard of the city's prosperity and knew it was one of the emerging cities with the best prospects in Alabasta in recent years.
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