The Straw Hat group went ashore, hid the Going Merry in a reasonably secluded spot, and then gave Igaram some simple treatment.
The sudden missile bombardment had caught them off guard, and even some of the medicine Chopper had brought was destroyed. Fortunately, pirates had tough physiques, and Nami had protected Igaram as a human shield, so he had not been killed in the blasts.
After resting briefly, Igaram was able to move again and decided that they should continue. He was injured, but whenever he thought of the royal capital under siege, he could not allow himself to waste time that should be spent advancing.
"Damn it, I never expected the weapons on the Grand Line to be this powerful." Luffy was still thinking about what had happened as they traveled. Although the missiles had not caused any specific casualties and the Going Merry's damage could be repaired, Luffy still felt upset whenever he remembered the massive explosions.
This was his first battle since entering the Grand Line, and he had not expected to suffer such a huge loss right away.
"The Grand Line really is a dangerous place. I heard that this world even has terrifying weapons capable of destroying a city outright, or even wiping out an entire country." Ben Tennyson could not help saying.
"Destroy a city or even a country?!" Usopp was astonished. "Wouldn't that make someone invincible?"
"Is it really that simple? There are countless extraordinary people in this world, and powerful figures are as common as oxen and horses. Even the Four Emperors may not be the strongest people in the world. There could be terrifying figures comparable to them hiding in some remote corner." Ben Tennyson spoke solemnly. "This world is too vast—so vast that it can shelter far too many powerful people."
"But at the same time, this world is too small." Zoro spoke calmly. "No matter how many powerful people there are, only one person can sit on the throne of the strongest."
"Anyway, we need to remember this loss properly." Nami folded her arms. "If you had activated your Conqueror's Haki a little sooner, we would not have suffered so much."
Conqueror's Haki was indeed one of the best ways to deal with technological weapons. No matter how advanced a weapon was, it still needed a person to operate it. As long as the operator was knocked unconscious, even the finest weapon would be useless.
"It's also because they did not know you had that ability." Ben Tennyson continued. "Conqueror's Haki generally has a maximum range. Modern armies are not incapable of dealing with it; they can conduct over-the-horizon strikes and launch attacks from a great distance."
"But is this really a rebel army?" Sanji thought of the armed helicopters and could not help asking Igaram. "How could an army organized by ordinary people from the bottom of society possess such sophisticated equipment?"
Back in the North Blue, he had seen armed helicopters because Germa 66 itself was a military superpower and a famous nation in the North Blue. Ordinary countries did not even qualify to possess air forces, and even those that did usually had only very basic aerial weapons.
Yet the Cartel had casually sent out three armed helicopters, each equipped with missiles. It was absurd.
"The Cartel once received support from the Revolutionary Army..." Igaram could not continue. He did not actually know what had happened, either. The Cartel seemed to have appeared out of nowhere and then expanded at incredible speed.
Even with the Revolutionary Army's assistance, it should not have grown this quickly. Moreover, no matter how much the Cartel expanded its forces, it always had enough weapons and equipment to supply them. That was simply outrageous.
Would the Revolutionary Army really be willing to provide so many weapons and so much equipment to the Cartel? Of course not. If it had that much weaponry, why would it not keep it for its own use?
"Forget it. There's no point thinking about all this now. We should hurry. I'm starving." Luffy rubbed his stomach. He had already wanted something to eat while they were aboard the ship.
"All the nearby cities have been occupied by the Cartel. If you want to eat, you'll have to keep enduring it..." Igaram said somewhat guiltily. He knew Luffy's appetite. After spending so many days with them aboard the Going Merry, he knew exactly how much Luffy could eat.
Even if they endured until Alubarna, the royal capital might not be able to produce a large amount of food for them immediately. After all, the reason he and Princess Vivi had risked their lives to leave the capital was that it had been under siege and was nearly out of supplies!
The Cartel had attacked Alubarna repeatedly and had come close to conquering it several times. If they had not received help from benefactors at critical moments, Alubarna would never have been able to withstand the Cartel's attacks.
Even so, the Cartel had surrounded Alubarna so tightly that not even water could pass through. The people inside were trapped in an isolated city and could receive no outside assistance.
Some time had passed since he left. He did not know how the situation in the royal capital had changed.
Meanwhile, on the distant opposite side of Alabasta, the royal capital of Alubarna—so dear to Igaram's thoughts...
A huge number of Cartel soldiers surrounded it in layer upon layer, sealing it off so completely that not even water could pass through.
This world had no shortage of suffering people from the bottom of society. Their numbers were always overwhelmingly greater than those of the so-called nobles and aristocrats. The Cartel only needed to mobilize a portion of them to obtain a massive army.
The battlefield now resembled a modern military war. Planes and tanks were both common, but aircraft were especially prevalent. Ever since the Cartel had surrounded Alubarna, it had been using planes to bomb the city continuously.
The ancient city had already been blasted into ruins, and the people inside had gradually grown numb. They mechanically followed the air-raid alarms into shelters, waiting for the Cartel's bombing raids.
This time, another ear-piercing air-raid siren rang out. The civilians hurried into the shelters, frightened yet almost accustomed to the routine. The entire city did not appear chaotic; instead, it moved with a kind of hurried order.
"Here they come again."
The current King of Alabasta, Nefertari Cobra, could not help sighing when he saw a dark mass appear in the sky.
He had not entered a shelter. Instead, he stood on the roof of a low building in the royal palace and looked upward.
"And there are more of them than before." Beside him stood a pirate in a heavy coat with a golden hook in place of one hand. The pirate took a puff of his cigar and spoke calmly. "There were only six planes last time. This time there are ten."
"Thank you again." Cobra sounded emotional. "If not for you, Alubarna would probably have fallen long ago."
"It's nothing. I may be a pirate, but I am also a pirate who has a contract with the World Government. Alabasta is my home, after all. I can hardly let the Cartel drive me out." The Warlord of the Sea, Sir Crocodile, spoke coldly.
The Seven Warlords of the Sea were all on the Grand Line, but as famous pirates of the world, not all of them competed with the Four Emperors in the New World.
Among the Seven Warlords of the Sea, Hawkeye, Toguro, Mirror Man, Doflamingo, and Kuma were in the latter half of the Grand Line—the New World—while Sir Crocodile and God Enel were in the first half.
Pirates like them were practically bullying people in the first half of the Grand Line. It also went against the World Government's arrangement for the Seven Warlords of the Sea. After all, the government's original intention was for the Seven Warlords of the Sea to clash with the Four Emperors. Hiding in the first half of the Grand Line was nothing more than exploiting the authority granted to them by the World Government.
However, the government could not force them to move to the New World. Although Crocodile had made his home in Alabasta, he had strangely remained very calm. He had not even used the authority of a Warlord of the Sea to conduct legal raids, almost making people feel that he had reformed.
Especially in recent years, after Cartel riots broke out in various places, Crocodile had not taken advantage of the chaos. Instead, he had firmly stood on the side of the royal family of Alabasta.
If Crocodile had not displayed his power so many times, Alubarna would probably have fallen to the Cartel long ago.
Even with the aid of this Warlord of the Sea, however, Alubarna's defense was extremely difficult. Almost every day, the city hovered on the verge of being breached, only barely managing to hold on.
Now, the Cartel's offensive had become even more ferocious.
Looking at the planes in the sky, Cobra knew that another round of bombardment was about to begin. Although most of the civilians had already entered the air-raid shelters and been evacuated, the defenders in the city would certainly still suffer heavy losses.
Boom!
Several white trails appeared in the sky, and several missiles streaked toward the royal palace. The Sand Crocodile, Crocodile, spread his hands, and a vast wave of sand surged up at once, becoming a solid barrier. The missiles struck the sand with a muffled boom. They still exploded, but they could not break through the sand's defense.
When the planes saw that they could not break through the sand barrier, they shifted their targets to the defenders. Machine-gun fire mixed with bombs, and dense explosions and screams erupted throughout Alubarna.
Crocodile controlled the sand and sent it toward the sky again, but the planes were extremely nimble and fast. For a moment, even Crocodile's sand could do nothing to them.
Alubarna did have anti-aircraft guns, but after so much time had passed, few shells remained. They could only be used sparingly.
"Your Majesty, if this continues, Alubarna will not be able to hold out much longer." Crocodile was not angry that he could not destroy the planes. Instead, he spoke calmly to Cobra.
This was not the first or second time such a scene had occurred. Cobra had accepted that Crocodile's sand could not deal with the bombardment from the sky, but his expression still darkened at those words.
If the Cartel had remained as it was at the beginning, there would have been no problem with Cobra surrendering. Both sides were citizens of Alabasta. If opening the gates and surrendering could spare them a horrific war, he was not incapable of doing so!
However, the Cartel had become extremely brutal in recent years. To encourage its soldiers to storm cities, it even allowed them to burn, kill, and plunder freely after breaking through. Many cities in neighboring countries had already been looted clean, and horrifying massacres had even taken place!
The Cartel had indeed begun as an organization whose only goal was to ensure that everyone had enough to eat. But now it was no different from demons. Cobra could not let it break through Alubarna, and he could not allow the tragedies suffered by other countries to happen in Alabasta!
"Vivi has been captured by them too!"
At that thought, his already clenched hands tightened again. His nails even pierced his skin and drew blood, but he ignored the pain, because his heart hurt far more.
At first, Cobra had not known that Vivi had gone out to seek help. He learned about it from Igaram's wife after Vivi and Igaram had left. When he learned that they had risked going out to seek assistance from the Marines, Cobra immediately felt a pang of unease.
The result had indeed been just as he feared. Vivi had been captured on the way to Marine Headquarters and was now being transported by Cartel soldiers to their headquarters. How could he not be furious? How could he not ache for his daughter after she had fallen into such a situation?
But there was nothing he could do. The difference in strength was too obvious. If not for the specially constructed city walls and Crocodile's assistance, Alubarna would have fallen long ago.
"Activate the Soul-Shield Membrane again!"
Cobra could only give that order. As his will stirred, the entire city radiated a strange power. Points of reishi light scattered outward and transformed into a gigantic membrane that enveloped Alubarna!
The sudden appearance of the Soul-Shield Membrane also enveloped the planes in the sky. They were like birds trapped in a cage, unable to leave. Seizing the opportunity, Crocodile activated his power again. Sand surged upward and directly wrapped around the immobilized planes.
The sand pressed down on the planes like a mountain. The ten aircraft flying through the sky rapidly plummeted and crashed into Alubarna.
Seeing all ten planes fall, Cobra finally breathed a sigh of relief. The Soul-Shield Membrane covering the city then vanished.
"If we had more killing-aura stones, Alubarna would be impregnable." Crocodile spoke as though intentionally or otherwise.
"Yes..." Cobra sighed.
The Soul-Shield Membrane was Alubarna's ultimate defense, and the final method that only the Nefertari family could control, because the Nefertari family was a clan that had signed a contract with the Shinigami!
Because of that contract, they had obtained stones from the Shinigami's world known as killing-aura stones. These stones possessed miraculous power. Once enough of them were gathered, they could produce the defensive barrier known as the Soul-Shield Membrane.
The Soul-Shield Membrane was a powerful shield capable of isolating even souls. If an ordinary person tried to force their way through it, even their soul would be dissolved inside the membrane. However, because there were not many killing-aura stones, the membrane could not be maintained for long. Every activation consumed some kind of power within the stones, so it could only be used at the most critical moments.
"It's a shame that killing-aura stones can only be obtained inside the Shinigami's Mausoleum. As things stand... we cannot leave Alubarna at all..."
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