Chapter 293: Vivi's Decision
"Don't worry. Nothing will happen."
The blue-haired girl paused, then added with a stern look,
"And stop calling me Princess while we're outside. Use my code name."
Her smooth blue hair was tied into a ponytail, giving her a fresh and youthful appearance. Yet she deliberately kept her expression cold and serious, trying to fit the identity she had assumed.
A trace of heartache flashed through Igaram's eyes.
He had watched Princess Vivi grow up.
Seeing her deliberately suppress her natural warmth and disguise herself like this was painful for him.
"Princess Vivi!"
Vivi's eyes narrowed.
"Hmm?"
Igaram stiffened.
"Uh... Miss Wednesday."
"Much better, Mr. 8."
Vivi nodded with satisfaction.
"Then it's settled."
Igaram pressed a hand to his forehead and gave up arguing.
The princess before him was usually gentle and approachable, but once she made up her mind about something, she could be unbelievably stubborn.
Otherwise, she never would have infiltrated a criminal organization like Baroque Works in the first place.
Since he could not stop her, Igaram could only remain at her side and protect her.
Protect that smile.
As captain of the Alabasta Royal Guard, that was his duty.
Clatter!
A noise came from inside the room.
Vivi immediately looked toward the door.
"He must be awake."
She turned and headed inside.
Igaram instinctively wanted to stop her.
Then he reconsidered.
If the person inside was already conscious, loudly warning Vivi that he might be dangerous would be extremely rude and could create unnecessary hostility.
Still, Igaram had no intention of letting Vivi enter first.
He moved ahead of her and positioned himself between the princess and the room.
The dim interior brightened slightly as the door opened.
On the bed, the white-haired youth was already sitting upright.
He leaned lazily against the headboard with his eyes half-closed, looking far more relaxed than someone who had only recently been found unconscious.
A cup rested in his hand.
Igaram's gaze shifted toward the table opposite the bed.
One of the cups there had fallen over, while the matching holder was empty.
So that had been the source of the noise.
But something felt wrong.
The youth was still sitting comfortably on the bed.
Even the slippers placed beneath it had not moved.
There was no sign that he had gotten up.
Perhaps he had never left the bed at all.
Igaram's expression became guarded.
When they had first discovered this young man, he had been lying among a pile of dead pirates.
At first glance, it looked like the pirates had slaughtered one another.
Igaram knew better.
As captain of Alabasta's Royal Guard, he had enough experience to recognize the signs of a real battle.
If the pirates had truly killed each other, most of the fatal wounds should have come from guns, blades, or other common pirate weapons.
Instead, many of the corpses had suffered severe blunt-force injuries.
Igaram had personally examined several of their bones.
Something had struck them with tremendous force.
There was another detail.
People caught in desperate fights often became bloodshot from rage, panic, or exertion. Even after death, such signs did not immediately disappear.
Yet only a handful of the dead pirates showed those symptoms.
Most had died with constricted pupils.
Fear.
Not rage.
They had been terrified before they died.
That alone suggested the scene was not what it appeared to be.
But the strangest part had been the youth himself.
What ordinary person could sleep peacefully while surrounded by corpses?
When Igaram checked Axel's injuries, they had looked severe.
Yet not a drop of blood had flowed from them.
Nothing about him seemed normal.
Igaram stared at the youth.
"Who are you?"
"Why were you on that pirate ship?"
He paused.
"And were you the one who killed those pirates?"
Axel kept his eyes half-closed.
He raised the cup and took a small sip of water.
"I am myself."
His voice was calm.
"And yes. I killed them."
Igaram's brow twitched.
The answer irritated him.
Out of concern for Vivi, he reached toward the saxophone he carried and drew the hidden shotgun built into it.
To anyone unfamiliar with the weapon, it looked like an ordinary instrument.
In reality, Igaram could fire it while pretending to play.
Axel showed no reaction.
He remained seated against the bed, treating Igaram's weapon as though it did not exist.
Then his eyes opened fully.
Blood-red pupils came into view.
Igaram froze.
A crushing sensation engulfed him.
It felt like sinking into quicksand, his entire body dragged downward while something suffocating pressed against his chest.
His breathing stopped.
His fingers went numb.
The shotgun slipped from his hands.
Clatter!
It hit the floor.
Igaram had survived countless dangerous situations.
He was not among the strongest fighters on the Grand Line, but he understood combat well enough to recognize overwhelming superiority.
And right now, he understood one thing with absolute clarity.
There was no comparison between them.
Standing before this youth felt like being an ant beneath something enormous.
He could not tell whether the difference was tenfold, a hundredfold, or greater.
It did not matter.
An ant did not need to know the exact size of the giant above it to understand that resistance was meaningless.
Strangely, Vivi seemed unaffected at first.
She stared at Igaram in confusion.
Then Axel's gaze shifted.
Vivi finally saw his eyes clearly.
Her body began to tremble.
There was something in that gaze that did not belong to an ordinary youth.
It carried the weight of bloodshed, death, and experiences that should never have belonged to someone his age.
Her knees gave way.
Vivi collapsed to the floor.
"Cough! Cough!"
Igaram forced air back into his lungs.
He recovered as quickly as he could, and the first thing he did was grab Vivi and pull her behind him.
"Miss Wednesday, stay back!"
He spread himself between her and Axel.
"This person is a monster!"
Igaram stared warily toward the bed.
At some point, Axel had already looked away.
He was once again calmly drinking his water.
Even being called a monster failed to provoke the slightest reaction.
The insult might as well have been background noise.
Igaram felt a trace of relief.
If Axel truly intended to attack them, there was no chance he could protect Vivi.
But Vivi did not retreat.
She gritted her teeth and stepped forward instead.
"Miss Wednesday!"
Igaram called her code name again.
He still had no idea who this youth was, so he did not dare expose Vivi's true identity.
Vivi ignored him.
She continued walking toward Axel.
Igaram forced down his fear and reached out, placing a hand on her shoulder.
He could not let her approach someone this dangerous.
That gaze alone had told him enough.
The youth sitting on the bed was no harmless castaway.
Then Vivi turned toward him.
Igaram stopped.
Her eyes were filled with emotions he could not immediately put into words.
....
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