As Alyssia reentered the main city, many old and some new stone buildings and an old stone palace came into view.
The main city was bustling with trade but there were also some children and teens running through the streets in rags.
Occasionally the city guards that had sabres at their waist would cast judgemental stares towards the people in ragged clothing as if they expected trouble from them.
As they had expected, a child stole some fruit from a stall and began to flee as the guards chased after him.
Alyssia had seen this sight many times and sometimes there were many brought back through the streets and put on a public display for all to see.
Depending on the severity of their crimes, they could be kept confined in public and have rotten food and stones thrown at them but in more severe cases they may even have their fingers or a limb removed.
In most countries affiliated with the World Government, poverty was a problem when they had to manage their own countries individual problems in addition to paying the heavenly gold to the World Government.
In most cases, the countries in more dire situations resorted to warring with other places to be able to keep up with their tributes.
If they could not produce enough with legal means and making their country more prosperous then they would resort to paying the tribute with blood money and what happened within Kano was just an example of this.
Typical examples of this would be Whitebeard's homeland which became that way for the same reason and it could be said that many of the current enemies of the Marines or World Government were actually created as a result of the flawed system and the messy things going on behind the scenes.
Even Big Mom or Charlotte Linlin had been brought up around one of the schemes that would nurture her to be sold off to the Marines or Cypher Pol to become a shield for the Celestial Dragons and it would have been successful if Mother Caramel had not 'disappeared' beforehand since she was the only person who could control her as a child.
Often times the nobles and royalty sold their own citizens into slavery or brokered a deal to gain better status or a seat at Reverie with talented or powerful individuals just so that they could have a voice within the world or have higher authority.
The more peaceful countries were usually the ones to suffer attacks as a result of the problems caused by the Heavenly Gold but some were lucky enough to have enough power to defend themselves or have strong allies.
Alyssia looked around the slum areas when she first arrived and after seeing the situation between the guards and the poor people from the slums, her first thought was. 'This kind of makes me think of the Alladin movie but with some slight differences. Many people in this land seem to love jewellery and piercings while at one point I saw a person using an elephant for a mount so they must have been a noble… If this country was not separated by sea then they would be able to raise many war elephants and show off their war potential on land and fortress sieges but sadly that potential has been wasted. Now they can only keep them domesticated and use them for noble mounts and transportation of goods. What a waste..'
However this may even be a good thing that things had turned out that way because in her previous world, various elephant species that had been used this way often ended up becoming extinct and their tactical use was shown in various movies like 300 how they were used in warfare.
However what caught her eye the most was various displays of riches and influence from those in high status.
Gold and silver loop piercings were on their cheek, nose, chin, lips, under their eye or their eyebrow, many dangling earrings were hanging from their ears and some of the richer people had a large ring on each finger, a decorated neck accessory or headdress full of jewels and other body decorations.
It did not matter whether it was a man or woman, those with such power dressed up like that and had worn makeup on their faces and a special few had even gone as far as bathing their skin in gold, silver or bronze coloured paints.
The higher nobles that rarely showed up in public had a much more ridiculous display of wealth compared to others and the more Alyssia witnessed it, the more she saw the vast difference between the poor and the nobility but it did seem like the biggest problem within the country was a shortage of food to be distributed to the citizens which shows why Bonney enjoys food so much as the country may have been much worse in the past.
Even if Kuma and Jewellery Bonney were portrayed more positively in the original, it did not change the fact that as rulers, they were not perfect and had their flaws.
She continued onwards and lined up with many civilians who were allowed entry one after another into the palace.
After investigating for some time, she had found out that the royals occasionally held a visitation into the palace for ordinary citizens.
This allowed for donations to the royal family and to settle many disputes or ongoing troubles within different parts of the land.
People came to update the royals on how their land had been doing on crop production and their tributes to the royals while others came to seek assistance for some injustice or to settle a conflict between two parties whether it be a personal grudge or a monetary problem.
Some brave enough may even come forward seeking help because of those in power committing crimes and causing harm to many and use the power of the royals to help investigate it if they were even taken seriously and had proof.
Not every royal in the One Piece world may perform their duties to the best of their abilities but it showed that those in charge were at least trying to learn more about the ongoings of their country.
As the line was shortening, the day was passing by quickly but Alyssia eventually found herself at the front of the line.
"You may enter." A guard coldly spoke to her and allowed her entry into the main palace.
As she made her way there, there was an pale skinned old lady with pink hair, red lipstick on her lips, a single loop piercing under one of her eyes but compared to most of the nobility and guards around her, she gave off a more unrefined aura and showed her lack of manners and royal etiquette.
By her side was a younger version of herself who looked to be in her late teens and had very similar mannerisms as if they had the same age, they would be mistaken as the same person.
The queen had the identity as Conney and the younger girl by her side was named Bonney.
Alyssia bowed to her slightly and spoke. "This traveller has come from a far away land to greet Queen Mother Conney and pass on an urgent prediction that concerns this countries royal bloodline."
"Insolence!" After she finished speaking some of what she had intended, a person stepped forward and placed a sword near her neck and many guards followed suit as they surrounded her.
Many swords and sabres were held around her neck and if she made one wrong move, then there would be blood spilled but Alyssia calmly stood there unfazed.
She did not feel threatened by them and could easily subdue them if they attempted to harm her, the main reasons why she held herself back was because she could sense that they did not intend to attack right away and she did not wish to cause any problems for the royals or develop any bad relations with them.
Conney lazily sat on her throne and showed a look of interest towards Alyssia's indifference. "If what you speak of is a lie then you will not be able to leave this place alive. Arrange her for a place to stay for now and a time for a meeting between us."
She was aware that some issues concerning the royal bloodline should be kept secret because it would cause unrest within the country so she quickly arranged for a private meeting without consulting her advisors.
Her intuition let her believe that what Alyssia had come from afar to inform her about was something involving Kuma which made her very worried enough to act a little impulsive.
Communication between Kuma and the royal family had been slowly becoming less and less over the years as if he was in a difficult position and did not wish for others to hear about his struggles and let them worry but that only let those who cared for him worry about him more.