"Alright. Humphrey, you don't have any objections, do you?"
Ross stepped out of the car and onto Humphrey's bulky back.
Humphrey's body was very strong, and stepping on his back was not much different from being on the ground.
"I dare not."
Humphrey's face was filled with despair. Ross's words were not in a tone of negotiation at all, so he dared not say a single word against it.
He had long heard of the Celestial Dragons' reckless behavior, and today he witnessed it firsthand.
"Since you don't dare, then let's keep going."
Ross stepped on Humphrey's back, gesturing for him to move forward.
He didn't care whether Humphrey had any complaints.
Humphrey and ordinary civilians were no different in his eyes. The only difference might be that ordinary civilians could become his assets in the future, while Humphrey could only hinder him from acquiring more assets.
If Humphrey truly had popular support, he certainly wouldn't have done that.
The verification method was also very simple: Humphrey had been crawling for so long, and no one around him had shown any pity for His Majesty the King.
With his Observation Haki, Ross could hear all sounds within a 200-meter radius.
There were quite a few onlookers, and the whispers among them were full of schadenfreude, which showed how badly His Majesty the King was viewed.
"Yes, Your Highness!"
Humphrey dared not disobey, and could only crawl forward, like a giant zombie crawling through the street.
Previously, Humphrey had always lived a life of luxury and had never done anything like this before. When he crawled, he didn't keep his back straight, and his whole body was twisting.
But Ross stood on his back as if he were standing on still ground, completely unaffected by Humphrey's crawling.
With his strength, maintaining a stable balance wouldn't be difficult, although it would be slightly more taxing than walking.
But this was the effect he wanted to achieve.
There are benevolent kings in this world, but without strength, they will only become easy prey, with everyone wanting a bite.
If you have power, no matter if you are a benevolent ruler or a tyrant, no one will dare to rebel.
However, once a new territory is occupied, the policies of a tyrant are always more effective than those of a benevolent ruler.
Because those who dare to resist will truly die.
The port area is one of the fastest places to spread news, and the news of Humphrey being ridden by Ross was spreading at an incredible speed.
Before Humphrey had even finished crawling one street, the news had already spread throughout the port area and was now reaching the capital and other cities on the island.
Some people were delighted, some were fearful, some were terrified, some were excited, some were gloating, and some were talking big.
Life unfolded in every corner of the island of Jaygarcia.
The crowds gathering around Ross were also growing larger and larger.
Especially when they realized that Ross didn't care about them and would occasionally nod and greet them, even more civilians gathered around.
Everyone wanted to catch a glimpse of the Celestial Dragons, especially the one who recently livestreamed the Buster Call.
And they had just announced that this Celestial Dragon's surname was Jaygarcia.
This was the name of their island, and also the noble surname that the Kingdom of Lanka always mentioned when claiming legitimacy.
Today, they finally met their king in person, riding on his back!
"Your Highness..."
As the crowd grew denser, Humphrey's despair deepened.
He now had only one hope left in his mind: that the large crowd would displease Ross, causing him to have all the onlookers killed.
Humphrey remembered that Ross had said he didn't like crowds.
At this moment, Humphrey was also feeling fortunate that he had informed everyone in the royal city in advance that after the Celestial Dragon left, they would decide on rewards and punishments based on everyone's performance.
Fortunately, these lowly people knew they would settle scores later, so they didn't go too far. At most, they could only occasionally burst into laughter as he stumbled along.
If this group of people were malicious and egged him on, and Ross got into the mood, he might actually take care of him in public.
If you're going to be a mount, then so be it. Being a mount for a Celestial Dragon isn't shameful.
This kind of work is usually only done by special slaves... slaves... slaves...
For a moment, Humphrey's face grew increasingly pale as he thought about it.
He lost his balance as his hands gave way, and fell to the ground with a thud.
Ross, who was behind him, also seemed to stumble because of the accident, which drew gasps and warnings from the civilians nearby.
If a Celestial Dragon were to fall here, they would all probably die.
But because they dared not get too close, the common people watched from a distance. By this time, even if they wanted to act as human cushions, it was too late.
Thump...
Under everyone's watchful eyes, Ross staggered twice, ultimately losing his balance and falling off Humphrey.
While Ross was still in mid-air, Zane appeared beside him in an instant and kicked Humphrey away, sending him crashing heavily into the stone house next to them.
Immediately afterwards, Zane grabbed Ross and landed on the ground to steady herself.
In fact, given Ross's abilities, he would be perfectly fine.
But to kill the king of a non-affiliated country, one always needs to find a pretext.
The audience was already there, so they still had to put on a show.
After thinking it over, Ross decided to make his own identity the basis for his actions.
Different social backgrounds require different excuses.
In a world dominated by a world government, bullying ordinary people is not an excuse at all; everyone does it.
On the contrary, causing fright or accidents to the Celestial Dragons is a serious crime punishable by death.
The Celestial Dragons were startled, and CP0 instinctively intervened to protect them, resulting in King Humphrey's accidental death.
The script had reached its climax; now all that was left was for Ross to bring it to a close.
"Humphrey!"
Ross landed on the ground, his gaze deliberately cold as he looked at the fallen Humphrey.
With his Observation Haki, he could already sense that Humphrey was a corpse.
Zane was stronger than him; a single kick from her would have been enough to kill Humphrey.
Hearing Ross's cold voice, the surrounding civilians instinctively took a few steps back, fearing they would be implicated.
If a Celestial Dragon got into an accident, it could attract the attention of a Marine Admiral. They didn't want to end up like Ohara, burned to death by magma.
At this moment, the royal guards who had been silently following behind dared not pretend they hadn't seen anything any longer and hurriedly ran to Humphrey to check the situation.
The captain of the Imperial Guard who was the first to run to Humphrey's body suddenly saw his pupils shrink as soon as he squatted down.
His Majesty Humphrey is dead?!
"His Majesty...has passed away!"
The Imperial Guard captain's dazed voice instantly caused an uproar among the civilians.
No one expected that Zane's seemingly hasty kick would kill the King of the Kingdom of Lanka.
...
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