Monroe waved the document in his hand, a wide grin spreading across his face. "Well? King Riku, this should be the simplest thing in the world for you."
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible! I will never do such a thing!" King Riku retorted firmly.
"Hey, hey, King Riku, why are you pretending to be a good person now?" Barossa mocked him mercilessly. "Aren't they just a bunch of lowly creatures? Besides, aren't they all your slaves? You didn't hold back when you were slaughtering them before! Why get all sentimental now?"
"You..." King Riku pointed a trembling finger at Barossa, a sharp pain twisting in his heart.
"Did we say something wrong?" Monroe continued to twist the knife.
The citizens, who had been on the verge of sharing a common enemy with their king, now no longer stood with him. They even began to think the pirates were better than King Riku.
Monroe and his men watched the citizens' reactions and smiled with satisfaction.
"If you want a fight, then let's fight! We're not afraid of you!"
With King Riku unable to act, it was the Tontatta who finally stepped forward.
A group of dwarves appeared in front of Monroe. If one didn't look closely, it would have been easy to miss them entirely.
"Hahaha, the Tontatta tribe?" Monroe's sharp eyes spotted Leo and the others, and a feeling of exhilaration washed over him. He felt that the moment to complete his mission had finally arrived.
"What? You look down on us dwarves?" Leo and the others instantly felt slighted and shouted in their loudest voices.
"Haha, of course not. I was just thinking how considerate King Riku is. It turns out he had the money prepared all along," Monroe said, immediately framing the king and making it impossible for him to clear his name.
"What are you talking about?" Leo and the others felt their minds couldn't keep up, completely baffled by Monroe's meaning.
However, Monroe and his men paid them no further attention. Instead, he turned to King Riku with a promise. "King Riku, we will keep our word. You can rest assured, just as you and I discussed."
Now it was King Riku's turn to be confused. He didn't understand why Monroe was suddenly promising to keep his word, nor when he had supposedly "prepared the money."
While the king was bewildered, the citizens were convinced that he had made a deal with the pirates long ago. The resentment in their hearts deepened. So, King Riku had been playing them for fools all along!
"What are you talking about? When did I prepare any money? We have had no contact whatsoever!" King Riku was no fool and would not let the pirate lead him by the nose. He voiced his confusion, trying to deny the accusation.
But in the eyes of others, his denial only made him look more guilty, like he was deceiving himself.
"Hehe, rest assured, King Riku, we understand your concerns," Monroe said with a sinister smile, acting as if he were in on a secret. "After all, it's a friendship of several hundred years! I get it, I get it! Leave it to us. You just sit comfortably on your throne."
Hearing this, the dwarves finally understood. Isn't he talking about us? The only ones with a friendship spanning centuries were them.
"King Riku sold us out," Leo said, his voice trembling with disbelief.
"I told you! What does Dressrosa's business have to do with us? How could these big people ever be on our side?" Kabu said resentfully.
"Alright, look at the time! We need to get out of this place now, or we'll be done for if they catch us," Bian urged.
"Hehe! Trying to run? How naive."
Monroe, who had been keeping a close eye on the Tontatta, immediately made his move, reaching out to grab Leo and the others.
But these were the elite warriors of the Tontatta tribe. Leo and the others were strong, and they swiftly dodged Monroe's attack.
"Idiot! You'll have to wait a few hundred years before you can catch us!" Leo and the others taunted.
"Heh, Rib, they're all yours," Monroe chuckled, completely unbothered by their insults.
"This is money we're talking about! Leave them to me!"
A man named Rib cracked his neck and loosened his joints, preparing for a big fight.
Rib was the captain of the Big Pocket Pirates and a user of the Paramecia-type Pocket-Pocket Fruit, with a bounty of 150 million Berries. He was one of the eight pirate captains captured by the Donquixote Family.
"Little guys, let your uncle here take good care of you," Rib said to the fleeing dwarves.
He opened his large hand and casually swept it toward the Tontatta. They scrambled to escape in a panic, but Rib's hand transformed into a giant pocket, scooping them all up inside.
"Bian, no!" Kabu shouted.
Bian was a Tontatta who had eaten the Bug-Bug Fruit, Model: Hornet, and her speed was incredible. But in her foolish attempt to save her comrades, she sealed her own fate. The dwarves trapped in the dimensional pocket were already like fish in a barrel, completely at Rib's mercy. Now, she too was in grave danger, unable to save herself.
"Run!"
Bian's last word, shouted just before she was captured, reached the ears of her remaining friends.
In stark contrast to the Tontatta's desperate flight for their lives, the onlookers adopted an attitude of detached indifference. While they might have felt a flicker of sympathy, the pirates weren't trying to capture them. Besides, if these little people were caught, wouldn't that mean they were safe?
King Riku felt a bitter taste in his mouth. He was hesitant. Should he intervene to help the dwarves? But if he sacrificed the Tontatta, Dressrosa could safely pass through this crisis.
The guilt in his heart was finally drawn out. In truth, he wasn't the only one thinking this way. Simmons and the others also felt that if they just sacrificed a few dwarves, they would all be safe. It wasn't them being captured, so they could accept it with a clear conscience.
"Stop!"
Just as everyone was calmly watching the pirates capture the Tontatta, Kyros stepped forward. He could not accept this method. It went against everything he stood for.
Kyros's shout was useless. Rib's hand didn't stop for a second.
"You're asking for death!" Kyros raised his sword, about to attack Rib.
"Kyros, stop right there!" However, before Monroe or his men could react, it was Simmons and the others who moved to stop him.
Kyros turned to look at Simmons, his eyes filled with astonishment.
"Kyros, do you want to be the traitor of Dressrosa? Do you want to bring ruin to our country?" Simmons lectured him from a moral high ground.
"I... I don't... I just want to save the Tontatta. They came to help us, after all," Kyros stammered, breaking out in a cold sweat. He couldn't withstand such a moral onslaught.
"Did we ask them to help us?" Simmons continued his attack. "Besides, it was our ancestors who saved the Tontatta tribe. Is it not right for them to repay that debt now?"
Kyros could only look pleadingly at King Riku, hoping for his support. But the king, as if sensing his gaze, avoided his eyes.
In that moment, Kyros understood the king's thoughts. He didn't blame him. After all, he had a whole kingdom and a family to protect. But would a peace bought by betraying friends not weigh on one's conscience? Of course, Kyros would never say these words. He felt terrible, and the sword in his hand fell powerlessly to the ground.
Seeing Kyros's reaction, Simmons nodded with satisfaction. He felt Kyros was teachable and hadn't ruined everything.
Leo and the others felt their hearts turn cold as King Riku and his men stood by and watched. They said no more, focusing all their energy on escaping.
Finally, the chaotic scene quieted down. Except for Leo, all the Tontatta who had been at the scene were captured.
"Hahaha! What a bountiful harvest! King Riku, this matter is now settled! If you have such a good deal next time, be sure to call me!" Monroe said, complimenting the king with a wide grin.
Without waiting for a reaction, Monroe gave the order to leave.
"Move out!"
Before the disbelieving eyes of everyone present, the pirates they considered despicable, greedy, and cruel actually fulfilled their promise and stopped tormenting them.
"They're gone! They're really gone!"
"That's right! We won!"
Walker, who had been lying on the ground playing dead, jumped up and shouted excitedly. His old comrade Simmons happily joined in.
A flicker of relief and joy passed over King Riku's old face.
Only Kyros remained, kneeling powerlessly on the ground, his heart heavy with unease and his face etched with guilt for what had happened to the Tontatta.
The citizens did not join in the celebration. Seeing the reactions of the king and his men, they felt nothing but disgust.
The atmosphere, which should have been joyous, did not become harmonious with the pirates' departure. Instead, it was filled with a strange, dangerous, and unsettling tension.