–Lily–?

  The palace was small. A far cry from the luxurious architectural art of Lily's home and even the servant quarters of her own family's third estate had looked more spacious than this sad excuse of a royal residence. It was, quite possibly, the clearest symbol of powerlessness and of how far the star of Kano's royalty had fallen. In fact, it was such a sad sight that even someone who despised the nobility like Lily couldn't help but pity the king.

  That feeling was only intensified when they approached the rundown palace, and its current state of disrepair became even more obvious. The walls over overgrown with moss and vines, the mortar was flaking into dust, and the gates were rotting on their hinges. No guards stopped an armed party from entering the palace grounds, the once brilliant crystal windows were cracked, and the tapestries of glory days were frayed and faded. And as Lily and her crew walked through the empty hallway, they left deep footsteps in the omnipresent dust.

  "This is actually really sad." Mani commented, running her hand over a rusted suit of armor. "No wonder nobody guards this place. There's nothing left worth stealing."

  "The gangs wrested away all the power from the king generations ago." Sabo explained. "I'd be surprised if they haven't ransacked the palace even once since then."

  "If you ask me…"

  Whatever Hewitt had been about to say, was interrupted by an elderly voice, cracked and brittle with age and exhaustion, its owner stepping out from behind a crumbling pillar.

  "They did. They all did. More than once in fact."

  "Your majesty." Sabo went to kneel before the short individual, whose three foot beard was about as long as he was tall. Quite the contrast to his taller and spindly aide. However, before the Chief of Staff's knees got very far, Kano's reigning monarch gestured for him to stop.

  "There's no need to stand on pomp and ceremony, Mr. Sabo. What majesty do you see in this place that I could possibly command?" King Miso grimaced. "Earnest pity and honest empathy, while certainly a blessing at times to some, can also be the sharpest of poisoned blades to others."

  "Your majesty…"

  "Please," the king whispered in a forlorn voice. "Do not have your pity rob my crown of what little dignity it has left."

  "…"

  "Let's save the bowing and scraping until after our work is done." Doing an about-face, King Miso waddled off, with his entourage of one falling into step behind him with practiced ease. "Come. There's much to do and very little time to do it in."

  The Crew scrambled to follow the surprisingly fast monarch as he led them down a series of corridors and into a medium-sized room.

  "Welcome to the Great Hall. Modest, isn't it?" King Miso said, clambering onto a cushioned chair while his aide took up his position behind him. "This used to be the steward's office, but it's stood empty since the days of my grandfather. My father later christened this the Great Hall and decided to hold court here. Not that he had many courtiers left by that point, but maybe he felt as if his court was fuller when he packed them all into a smaller area."

  "…"

  "Don't let its looks deceive you. This is a historic room where many important decisions were made."

  "Important decisions?" Rivers perked up, sensing an opportunity to brighten the mood. "Like about how to deal with natural disasters, new trade negotiations, snack imports…"

  If looks could kill, Rivers would have died a thousand times over from the death glare the aide shot his way.

  "Oh, much more momentous decisions than that, my friend. Important decisions, like on whom to bestow the honor of getting to borrow the royal regalia for perpetuity." King Miso chuckled. It was a harsh chuckle, and it was raw. In response, Rivers' smile froze and Lily would later swear to anyone who would listen, that her friend turned into cracked granite for a brief moment. Fortunately for the sniper, when she blinked he'd already reverted back into a being of flesh and blood. "Naturally, my father had no say in that decision. He was only the king, after all."

  "We'll help!" Aisa offered.

  "Thank you, little miss."

  "I'm not little." Aisa puffed out her chest. "I'm a brave shandian warrior."

  King Miso didn't miss a beat, giving their mascot a courtly bow. With flourish.

  "My humbles apologies, brave shandian warrior. I would be honored to accept your aid."

  "And Bellamy is really strong. We'll beat up all the bad guys and make everything better." Aisa's promise prompted a round of laughter, her optimism undoing the damage from Rivers' miserable attempt. So much in fact, that the first genuine smile Lily had seen flitted across King Miso's face.

  "I'm sure you will."

  The ice thus broken, the real meeting could start and they could get down to business after a short briefing to ensure everyone was on the same page regarding the current situation and their objective. Which was, unsurprisingly, to return power and control to the crown. The king was an active participant, weighing in where he could and listening attentively where he could not, offering insights at times that caught even Sabo off guard. How the gangs were interconnected, which officer was at odds with whom, where their secret warehouses were suspected to be… it was obvious that despite merely being a puppet, King Miso had put in a tremendous amount of effort into preparing for an eventual fight.

  Considering what the gangs were liable to do to him should they ever find out, King Miso's bravery to pursue his family's dream was something Lily could respect. His ability to make any headway at all was admirable. Perhaps, if her own king had been half as impressive, her life might have turned out very differently.

  "Mr. Sabo. I do apologize if I'm being a bit frank, but I do have to ask you this. When are you able to begin liberating my kingdom?"

  "Immediately. We can begin immediately."

  "Really? The Revolutionaries' ability to slip a whole army into a foreign nation undetected is impressive indeed. I know for a fact, that none of the gangs suspect a thing." King Miso's face lit up, some of the exhaustion fading in the light of hope. "When combined with your prudence in visiting me with only a small bodyguard detail, it seems like I made the right choice to entrust you with the fate of this nation."

  Oh.

  Bellamy and Sabo didn't twitch a single muscle in the face of the monarch's misunderstanding. Neither did Lily, calling upon her childhood education to give no outward sign of her surprise. Unfortunately, the rest of her crew wasn't as well-versed in hiding their emotions behind a mask. Bless their hearts, they certainly tried their damned best. However, their best was found severely lacking when measured against King Miso's decades of experience, whose expression darkened rapidly.

  "You didn't bring an army did you, Mr. Sabo?"

  "We're the vanguard, your majesty." Sabo explained. "The scouting party if you will. Rest assured; more are on their way."

  "Enough to drive out the traitors? Enough to keep this nation safe from the World Government's reprisal?" the aide asked, his voice climbing somewhat in clear frustration. However, rather than respond to him directly, Sabo's gaze didn't waver from the king.

  "The Revolutionary Army does not abandon their allies, your majesty. We never have and we never will." Sabo stepped forward; one hand placed over his heart as a sign of sincerity. "I promise that I shall personally oversee the interim period until the situation stabilizes."

  "…very well." King Miso sacked into his chair. "What is your plan, Mr. Sabo?"

  "I meant it when I said we could begin immediately, your majesty. Our current force is already more than sufficient to launch a series of surgical strikes against most of the gang leadership. Of course, that course of action is liable to result in a period of anarchy as the chaos of the gangs spills over into the rest of society."

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  "That is not acceptable." King Miso's fist slammed against his chair, his eyes daring Sabo to disagree. "The lives of my citizens cannot be placed in jeopardy."

  "On that we agree, your majesty." Sabo's replied, his voice maintaining its soothing quality. It also worked, the king unclenching his fist and closing his eyes as he visibly did his best to calm himself.

  "What do you propose, Mr. Sabo?"

  "Your majesty, we are aware of the crimes committed against you and your family, but…"

  "…but?" The aide asked, his voice conveying a lot of suspicion and perhaps a little hope. One royal eye reopened in wary curiosity.

  "…but would you consider pardoning the Happo Navy if we can sway them over to our side?"

  "!!!!!" Both eyes widened in shock.

  – Bellamy –?

  When compared to convincing the king, getting into contact with the Happo Navy was surprisingly easy, because the moment we entered their territorial waters we were met by a small squadron of their ships. Getting into contact with the leader of the Happo Navy was quite a bit harder, because the moment we entered into talking distance was also the moment they decided to loot my ship. Naturally, we made them pay for it, but no matter how quickly we sent them all into Lalaland we weren't quite fast enough to stop an alarm from getting out via Den Den Mushi.

  "I've got to say, your approach to diplomacy is rather refreshing." Sabo held up a hand to shield his eyes against the sun. "Those were some of the most hands-on arguments I've ever witnessed by someone requesting an audience. After today, I'd say the big head honcho is going to be absolutely thrilled to meet you."

  "That was just a misunderstanding. Sarquiss is handling it as we speak."

  "Of course." He said, his voice not even trying to hide his amusement at the situation.

  "Sabo, don't take this the wrong way, but has anyone told you that you are utterly insufferable at times?"

  "Oh, Koala says that to me every other week."

  "Stupid smug bastard."

  "Oi, I'll have you know my parents were married. Not happily, but they were married."

  "…"

  "You know, if your current level of eloquence is going to persist for much longer, I worry that our prospects of convincing Don Chinjao to support King Miso are looking rather bleak."

  "Don't worry. I can handle Don Chinjao." I waved him off. "He's a rather simple man at his core. Give him what he desires, and I know he'll become a loyal ally."

  "You…know? Not suspect, not believe but know?" Cue a raised eyebrow. "How?"

  "Elementary, my dear Sabo." Pity I didn't have the iconic hat and pipe. That would have made the moment all the better. Still, even without those accessories, I was able to enjoy the sight of Sabo's facial muscles twitching in all sorts of funny ways. "But I'm sure an educated individual like you can figure it out."

  "Has anyone ever told you that you are utterly insufferable at times?" Sabo grumbled, which made me smirk all the wider.

  "How the tables have turned, eh?"

  "Fuck you."

  In the face of such crass profanity, a gentleman like me was left with only one appropriate response.

  "Gasp! Language!"

  "You don't have to say gasp, you bloody git!"

  Like Sabo had predicted, Don Chinjao was thrilled to get to know me up close and personal. In fact, he was so eager that he brought his entire navy along to our meet and greet.

  "That's a quite the welcome party. There's got to be at least a thousand of them."

  "Why do you sound so impressed? We've seen larger."

  "Doesn't change the fact that we're outnumbered nearly a hundred to one, captain."

  "So, scared?"

  "Nope."

  "Hoh?"

  "We survived an Admiral. Pretty sure that means we're certifiably hard to kill." Sarquiss chuckled. "Plus, if I've learned anything from the Summit and Payback War, it's that numbers aren't everything."

  "That's insightful of you."

  "I mean, there's only so many of them that can come at me at the same time." Sarquiss shrugged. "So, if we hold out long enough to knock out their leadership, most of them won't even have a chance to do anything."

  "True. Still, we aren't here to fight."

  "Of course not, captain. I was only referring to a hypothetical situation. Probably."

  I also didn't think we'd lose if it came to a fight, but that was a measure of last resort. Don Chinjao might have been a rival to Gol D. Roger and Garp in his heyday, but he'd been crippled and the source of his greatest strength lost. Not to mention he'd mentioned in the show, that age and illness had further diminished his strength. I might not be post-time skip Luffy, but I was sure I could at least hold my own.

  Thankfully, the odds of this meeting turning into a battle were slim, now that the earlier misunderstanding had been cleared up...wait. Why was the Happo Navy moving into attack formation?

  "Sarquiss, you did tell them we were here on a diplomatic mission, didn't you?"

  "Kinda?"

  "What do you mean, kinda?"

  "Well, we did briefly speak with an officer over the phone. He berated at me for daring to attack the Happo Navy. I told him it was self-defense. Then he launched into a tirade of threats while I tried my best to get a word in edgewise. I got as far as telling someone called Sai that as he wasn't ready to talk over the phone we were going to pay the Don a visit instead, but…" An arm helplessly gestured at the fleet entering attack formation. "…he spat out a string of curses and hung up on me before I could tell him what for."

  "You told the second in commander of the Happo Navy that we were going to…pay his aging grandfather a visit. After confirming that we clashed with his subordinates."

  "It's the bloody truth, ain't it?"

  "…"

  I couldn't help it. Seemingly, neither could my crew, all of them joining me in staring down my first mate with dead, soulless eyes. He had one job. One. Job. To explain that we came in peace and that our earlier accident was all a big misunderstanding. And what did he do? He'd gone ahead and essentially declared a war of retribution. Admittedly, Sai carried a larger share of the blame for this fiasco, but still. Maybe I should have let Lily handle it instead of simply nodding along when Sarquiss volunteered? She could be diplomatic when she wanted to be… that was just very rarely the case.

  "Don't look at me like that. It's not this situation is my fault. He hung up on me before I could finish."

  "Shithead."

  "Yes, darling?"

  "Shut up."

  The good news was that despite the Happo Navy slowly moving to encircle the Black Pearl, none of them had opened fire just yet. There still was a chance that I could fix this. At my signal, Eddy continued to steer us towards Don Chinjao's flagship, which was positioned at the very front and center of his fleet. And standing upon the prow was the big man himself, his long majestic white beard fluttering in the wind and clad in his iconic green shirt, opened at the front to reveal is somewhat rotund frame.

  "Ahoy! We come in peac…" I began as soon as we entered auditory range, but I was drowned out by an infuriated roar.

  "I'M HERE AS YOU WANTED, YOU DAMN WET-BEHIND-THE-EARS GREENHORN! STOP HIDING LIKE THE BRAT YOU ARE SO I CAN GIVE YOU THE SPANKING OF THE CENTURY!"

  "Now, this is all just a big misunder…" I tried again, only to be cut off again as a fierce wind buffeted my face.

  "I'LL TEACH YOU AND ALL THE OTHER BRATS OF THE WORST GENERATION TO RESPECT YOUR ELDERS!"

  "If we can just talk this out, I'm sure we can come to a mutually satisfactory agree…"

  "NONE OF YOU ARE WORTH ANYTHING APART FROM TEACH AND EVEN HE'S IFFY!"

  Ok, that just crossed the line.

  "RESPECT IS EARNED YOU DAMN FOSSIL!"