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Inside the Alabasta Royal Palace, chaos reigned.
"Princess, you can't go over there... there might… no, the Southern Palace Hall is definitely dangerous right now!" Igaram stood in front of Vivi, blocking her path, and spoke sternly.
"Pell and Chaka have both left Alubarna with His Majesty. The palace doesn't have enough strength left to protect you."
"No." At that moment, Vivi spoke in a deep, resolute voice. "That explosion just now must have been the hitmen Shinryu San mentioned. They used some method to disguise themselves as me. I... I have to go and confirm his safety!"
She was frantic, never imagining that, right after she left the Southern Palace Hall, Shinryu would be attacked.
From the information she had just received, it seemed that the attackers had impersonated her, lured the guards away, and then successfully entered the Southern Palace Hall.
If Shinryu were killed for such a reason, causing the situation in Alabasta to worsen as a result, she absolutely could not accept it!
"I have to go, Igaram... please don't stop me, all right?" She looked at Igaram with pleading eyes.
To her, the commander of the royal guards was far more than just a bodyguard. He was more like a family elder who had watched her grow up.
"…All right."
Igaram truly understood Vivi very well. The moment he saw her eyes, he knew he couldn't stop her.
This princess was usually gentle and easy to get along with. But once she had made up her mind to do something, no one could stop her.
"But you must promise me that if there's any danger or fighting that breaks out, you'll escape immediately!"
"Mm! I promise!" Vivi clearly understood that her own combat skills wouldn't help, so she nodded without hesitation.
With that, Igaram no longer hesitated.
Accompanied by many fully alert guards, they headed straight for the Southern Palace Hall.
By this point, the entire Southern Palace Hall had already been reduced to rubble by an earlier explosion.
The walls and pillars were covered in cracks, and the floor was littered with rubble and potholes of various sizes.
Fortunately, Alabasta's ancestors had clearly done an excellent job of constructing it.
Even after such a massive explosion, the overall structure remained intact, at least it wasn't going to collapse anytime soon.
"Move! Go in immediately!"
As soon as Igaram gave the order, everyone crowded around Vivi in the centre and rushed into the Southern Palace Hall.
Then...
"Ah?!"
"What… what is that?"
Uncontrollable cries of shock rang out.
As the commander of the royal guards, Igaram would normally have reprimanded such panic. But at that moment, he could not scold his subordinates.
His eyes were practically bulging out of their sockets, and his golden curls seemed to be standing on end with shock.
"..."
Even Vivi herself covered her mouth in disbelief, her eyes wide with horror.
Because, at that moment... the scene inside the Southern Palace Hall was utterly unbelievable.
On the left, the pillars and walls were covered in thick layers of frost.
Chilling cold had condensed into white mist and was spreading through the surroundings.
But in stark contrast... the ground on the right had almost completely melted.
The stone bricks, which had been carefully selected during the palace's construction, had been scorched red by intense heat. The heat waves were so powerful that they seemed to twist and distort the air itself.
Extreme cold and searing heat.
This was clearly a palace, yet at that moment it was as if an invisible giant had molded it into two completely opposing worlds.
At the boundary between ice and fire... The Baroque Works hitmen were already lying on the ground.
MR.2 Bon Kurei was embedded face-up in the ice.
MR.3 Galdino's candle-shaped hair had completely melted away.
Miss Valentine and MR.5 lay nearby, their parasol and sunglasses utterly destroyed.
Miss Christmas's mole-claw gloves had been burned to ash.
MR.4 and his pet lay not far from her, the massive baseball bat in his hands completely shattered.
And in the very center of the palace, collapsed on the ground, was the severely burned Miss Doublefinger, along with…
"Mon… ster…"
At the heart of the battlefield,
MR.1, Daz Bonez, was being held by Shinryu with one hand gripping his neck, suspended in midair.
His blade-like body, once his greatest pride, was now clearly riddled with frostbitten cracks.
His right leg had even been partially melted away by some scorching force.
In a weak voice, he said, "I… lost. Kill me."
There was no trace of resistance left in this hardened man. That wasn't just because his injuries no longer allowed him to fight… It was because of what had just happened.
No… this couldn't even be called a battle.
It was nothing more than the other side letting them witness pure, overwhelming power.
It was just as he had evaluated his opponent…
A monster.
For "them" to challenge a monster in the first place had been foolish. And as a veteran hitman who had already been famous long before joining Baroque Works, Daz Bonez had long been prepared to face death.
"Kill you?" But at this moment, Shinryu's voice beneath the mask was calm. "No. I think you qualify."
"What?" Naturally, MR.1 was confused.
But Shinryu didn't explain. He casually tossed him aside, smashing him into the ground. Only after confirming that MR.1 had lost consciousness did he clap his hands lightly.
"Hoo… that was a bit of exercise. Worked up a little sweat."
After saying this with a smile, he turned toward Igaram and Vivi, who were both standing there, utterly stunned.
"Oh? Captain Igaram, Princess Vivi. You arrived just in time. Please take these people away."
"They… they're… no, this… this place…"
Igaram couldn't even form a complete sentence.
At this moment, it was Vivi who managed to keep her composure. Still shaken, she took several deep breaths, the air, filled simultaneously with icy cold and scorching heat, helped clear her mind a little.
Only then did she manage to speak in a trembling voice:
"These people are…"
"Mm."
Seeing that she had steadied herself, a hint of approval flashed in Shinryu's eyes beneath the mask.
"That's right, they're officers of Baroque Works, and they're the 'evidence' King Cobra wanted. You can notify King Cobra and tell him to return now." He said this calmly.
"Wait… do you mean Father…?"
Hearing this, Vivi froze for a moment, then immediately realized the truth.
"He already knew? That's why he left the palace to inspect the disaster areas?"
"And… Baroque Works?"
"The ones secretly causing Alabasta's great drought were this Baroque Works organization?"
"More precisely," Shinryu nodded, "It's the 'president' of Baroque Works. As for the details, ask King Cobra yourself after he returns… if he's willing to tell you."
"…"
At that moment, Vivi felt like she was about to explode with anger.
Shinryu and her father had clearly discussed a plan together. They had even already captured the enemy through that plan… Yet she had been kept completely in the dark from beginning to end.
And she knew even better…
That even after Cobra returned, if she personally questioned him, he would most likely still refuse to give her a straight answer.
But at this moment, looking at Shinryu, who had already turned his back and was clearly not planning to continue the conversation… Vivi took several deep breaths, then clenched her teeth and said,
"Igaram, arrest them all." She had already made up her mind.
Since her father and this annoying man both refused to tell her the truth, then she would personally pry the answers out of their mouths. So the guards hurried forward and bound the Baroque Works hitmen one by one, taking them away.
"Remember to restrain them with Seastone if possible. They're all Devil Fruit users, Alabasta should have Seastone, right?" At this moment, Shinryu added, speaking to Vivi and Igaram.
"All Devil Fruit users?" Upon hearing this, Vivi and Igaram were even more shocked.
They naturally understood how powerful Devil Fruit users were. Anyone who had eaten a Devil Fruit, without exception, possessed abilities far beyond ordinary people. Even a superpower nation like Alabasta, with its inherited Guardian Deity Fruits, had only two Devil Fruit users within the country.
Yet the hitmen dispatched by Baroque Works numbered a full eight Devil Fruit users.
It was easy to imagine just how powerful that criminal organization truly was.
But then, Vivi realized an even more terrifying fact.
Judging from the surrounding scene, even the combined strength of eight Devil Fruit users hadn't managed to inflict even the slightest effective damage on Shinryu.
The implication of that was obvious to her.
Even though both were mysterious organizations operating in the shadows of the seas, the officer "Shinryu" of The Twelve Zodiac was clearly far stronger than the infamous Baroque Works.
That wasn't because the latter was weak.
It was simply because… the existence known as "Shinryu" was far too powerful.
And more importantly…
"Someone this strong is merely one of the Twelve Zodiac. Then just how powerful is the Twelve Zodiac is?"
Vivi's unspoken question, of course, received no answer.
After all the Baroque Works intruders had been taken into custody, Vivi naturally invited Shinryu to participate in their interrogation. She also harbored a small, clever hope that if Shinryu conducted the interrogation, she might be able to glean something from the conversation.
But unfortunately…
"I won't be going. However, I'll need you to arrange a new place for me to stay. No need to prepare guards this time. Oh, and don't forget to put a bottle of cola in the room."
Shinryu waved his hand dismissively as he spoke.
"And one more thing, don't kill the people you captured today. I still have use for them."
Seeing how impervious Shinryu was to persuasion, Vivi felt disappointed. But she didn't say anything more, and soon left with Igaram and the guards.
Shinryu was then quickly led by attendants to his new residence, a finely furnished room, also located on the southern side of the palace.
After entering, the attendants introduced the locations of the various living necessities in the room, then quietly withdrew.
Shinryu, thoroughly at ease, walked over to the sofa in the center of the room and sat down, opening the chilled cola that had been placed on the table.
"Psshh."
The crisp, refreshing sound unique to carbonated drinks filled the room.
Shinryu casually took out two glasses, poured cola into both, and then…
"I've taken out some precious cola to entertain you. If the guest hiding in the shadows doesn't show themselves now, that would be rather impolite, wouldn't it?"
(End of Chapter)