Grand Line, Kingdom of Alabasta, Royal Palace.
"Ig–igram… Is it true what you're saying?!" Chaka asked with a face full of anger while listening to all the reports that Igram gave.
Not only Chaka who showed angry emotions but Cobra, who had just heard the report, also his emotions had now entered an angry state.
"That's right" Igram is currently in the treatment room and has been receiving treatment. At the time of his arrival here, Igram had many scars. He got this from the battle he had with the Baroks Works Agents. Although Igram himself is one of the cadres belonging to the Baroks Works agent. However, the Baroks Works organization itself saw how useful the person was and also judged by strength.
As long as there are lower-level members who can defeat the upper-level members. The lower level member can replace the top level member. Currently the Kingdom of Alabasta has been enveloped by a large number of Baroks Works members. Igram is one of its cadres known to all members.
"What… What I said earlier is true, Your Majesty" Igram said with difficulty, "The mastermind behind everything that happens in this kingdom is Crocodile's doing. Drought, poverty, and all the negative things that have happened so far are the work of Crocodile. He is also the current leader of the Baroks Works organization which controls the various mercenaries in this kingdom."
Cobra and Chaka fell silent again listening to this information.
"How is Vivi, Igram? Is he okay?" Cobra tried to change the subject while trying to slowly absorb the information.
"Princess Vivi is fine, Your Majesty" Igram said calmly, "Currently Princess Vivi's disguise is still unknown to anyone. He is still safe at this time and also he has a reliable partner." Igram paused and continued, "Forget about it, Your Majesty. We must make a move to expel, Crocodile from this kingdom. As long as Crocodile stays here, it won't take long for this kingdom to be destroyed."
"Even if you say so…" Cobra's face looked very ugly, "It would be very difficult for us to do that. As long as there is no solid evidence related to the actions taken by Crocodile, it poses a threat to the kingdom in full. The World Government will not withdraw Crocodile from this kingdom"
"Then we can ask Fortis Kingdom for help" Igram suddenly said, "Your Majesty has a good relationship with the Prodance King, right? Ask him for help so we can contact the King of Fortis for his help. With the help of King Fortis, even if it's Crocodile it can be done well."
"That's also hard to do" Cobra said uglyly, "Though my relationship with Elizabello II is quite good. However, I currently don't have his den-den mushi number for us to call."
"This…" Igram fell silent for a moment hearing this.
"You need to calm down, Igram" Chaka suddenly said calmly.
"Calm? What do you mean calm down, Chaka? Can't you see the current situation?! If we are late with the Crocodile problem, the Kingdom of Alabasta will be destroyed sooner or later!" Igram said with a face full of anger.
"I know that too" Chaka said with an ugly face, "However, what can we do now?! The rebel forces now numbered very much and also the Crocodile side had a very large number as well with some strong fighting forces on their side. We can't do anything right now."
"..." Igram fell silent again.
Even though Igram had long since left the Kingdom of Alabasta to accompany Vivi in their disguise. However, Igram was well aware of the current state of power of the Alabasta Kingdom.
"At least for now we can't do anything"
"At least?" Igram was confused by the words from the Cobra.
"His Majesty has now sent Bell to go to the Prodance Kingdom to ask him to help us contact the Fortis Kingdom" Chaka said
"Bells? Wait! What do you mean Bell went to the New World?" Igram asked with a face full of surprise.
"That's the only way we can do it" Cobra said with a gloomy face, "I don't know what condition Bell is in right now. However, we can only hope that he will make it there safely. Also, we hope that Bell can convince Elizabello II to contact King Fortis."
"We must be sure, Your Majesty!" Chaka said firmly, "Right now all parties have completely focused on the Fortis Kingdom. Surely no one would dare try to attack Bell there."
"Don't say such things, Chaka" Igram said grimly, "The New World is a brutal world. With Bell's level of strength, it will be difficult for him to survive."
"This is Bell's own wish, Igram. We have to respect it" Chaka said seriously, "Besides, we might have a chance to establish a cooperative relationship with the Fortis Kingdom"
"Opportunity? What do you mean?" Igram although surprised by Chaka's words also had a confused expression.
Cobra and Chaka finally began to explain to Igram regarding the discussion of the contents of the first Octagon meeting. Igram was surprised by the information because so far he had not received the information because he had to always take care of himself and did not have time to read newspapers or anything like that.
New World, Prodance Kingdom, Port.
Right now in the harbor of the Prodance Kingdom there were already a large number of people gathered whose purpose everyone came here was to register as workers in the Fortis Kingdom. Young and old, all gathered together there. Everyone had hopes of being accepted as workers in the Fortis Kingdom.
It can even be seen that there are many high-ranking officials from various kingdoms who are currently mixed with ordinary people using ordinary clothes to keep their identities a secret in order to register as workers in the Fortis Kingdom. They do this because they are tempted by the salaries, prizes, and also the security provided.
There were also many people who were previously pirates and the Marines were currently gathering there to join in on the enlistment. The members of the Marines are marines who are in the lower ranks and want to change the fate of their families by enlisting as workers in the Fortis Kingdom. Not all of them are also members of the lower Navy, there are also many members of the Navy with a fairly high rank in the branch who want to register as workers in the Fortis Kingdom.
The venue for the registration has also been prepared and now everyone has gathered there and can't wait to queue.
Meanwhile, at the current enlistment place, there is Commander Iru and two high-ranking Marines there. The two of them were Vice Admiral Garp and Admiral Aokiji. The purpose of their arrival here is because they want to have fun while also hoping to meet Hashirama or anyone from the Fortis Kingdom in the battle division.
The arrival of Garp and Aokiji itself is enough to make many pirates who want to register nervous and afraid. However, after learning that the two of them were not here to catch pirates and were more interested in this registration. The pirates calmed down a bit.
While not far from them, there was also Admiral Kizaru there. However, Kizaru's current appearance had changed to that of an old man in his casual clothes and his location was a little further away from Garp and Aokiji so he wouldn't be known to come here.
After all, the three of them came here without Sengoku knowing.
"Is it true that the food in the Fortis Kingdom is really that good?" Garp asked suspiciously of Iru who was currently beside him.
Even though at this time the Prodance Kingdom no longer received protection from the Navy. However, Garp has a big name of his own. The majority of the population in this world know Garp and even all of them idolize Garp. To the common people, Garp was known as a Hero and protector while to the Garp pirates he was known as a Devil.
"That's really delicious, Vice Admiral Garp" Iru said politely since Garp himself was his idol, "I can even guarantee that there is no food that is tastier than the food made by a chef from the Fortis Kingdom. If only our royal chef had half of the abilities of the Chef of the Fortis Kingdom. I have been very grateful"
"Arara~ This is quite surprising" Aokiji said while scratching the back of his head, "To hear you say such things. I'm interested in trying it. I wonder if maybe I can give it a try."
"You can do it, Admiral Aokiji" Iru replied, "Perhaps at a time when the Fortis Kingdom will open itself to the world. You can try"
"That will take quite a while" Aokiji muttered.
"There he is!"
"The Royal Ship of Fortis has finally arrived!"
Instantly excited shouts were heard enveloping the harbor. Everyone present was immediately excited to see the ship from the Fortis Kingdom slowly starting to sail towards the prepared place.
"It's finally here" Garp grinned excitedly, "They've kept me waiting too long"
Aokiji who was beside Garp also showed full eyes and waited patiently for the ship from the Fortis Kingdom to land in the harbor.
"I think the person we want to meet is there, Garp-san" Aokiji said with a smile.
"Yes. I was lucky enough. I didn't expect that person to come personally to escort." Garp nodded.
Although the current distance of the ship is still quite far. However, both Garp and Aokiji have a very wide range of Observation Haki. The two of them could easily sense Hashirama's presence on the ship, especially Hashirama himself who had the strongest fighting power there.
"The whole army! Prepare for pick-up!" Iru shouted loudly.
The entire army of the Prodance Kingdom immediately set up their formation to arrange for the pick up of the higher-ups of the Fortis Kingdom. Iru himself didn't know who would be coming for now.
The closer the ship from the Fortis Kingdom was to the harbor, the louder the screams of the people there became.
"What a terrifying enthusiasm~" Kizaru muttered from a distance, "Even the Tenryuubito's reception was never like this"
The ship from the Fortis Kingdom finally landed in the harbor quietly. The bridge that was used to help the passengers get off was finally lowered and the people who were on the voyage were seen. The appearance of all the higher-ups of the Fortis Kingdom was very conspicuous in their formal attire as well as the reminder from everyone there was still very clear especially the news regarding their bounty orders just came out a few days ago.
"That's them!"
"Contact - Miss Lowellmina! Ah! She is very beautiful even prettier than her photo."
"Financial Empress - Miss Shinomiya Kaguya! She's graceful as usual."
"Head Chef - Dogima Gin! I wish I could try the dishes made by him"
"Ah! Miss Shiina. True to his nickname, the White Librarian, he is as beautiful as snow."
"Ah! There he is! Witch - Tohsaka Rin! The pride is the same as depicted in the photo. Even so, she is also very beautiful."
Rin who heard his nickname, his face immediately blackened and his hands were clenched very tightly. Rin himself really hates his nickname.
"Calm down, Rin" Megumi immediately said, "If you do something that spoils your current image, you will get a worse nickname than now"
Rin slowly started to calm herself down.
"Miss Megumi! She is also very beautiful and innocent too. She doesn't look like her nickname."
Megumi who heard that comment immediately blushed in embarrassment.
"Miss Nezuko! Please look here! Unlucky! Is the Navy really that blind? How can Miss Nezuko get the nickname of a little girl when she looks like a woman?"
Nezuko who heard this became very happy that finally someone understood how tragic that nickname was for her. While Rin, who was listening to the comment, his eyes showed a serious look.
"Navy? bastard! Did they give me that stupid nickname?!" Rin muttered angrily.
"Master Isshiki! Ah~ His smile is so cute. True to his nickname." The women who were there were very happy to see Isshiki's smile which was followed by a wave of his hand.
"Miss Eina! As expected of the leader of the Ministry of Agriculture! She is very elegant"
"Master Hashirama!" Everyone especially the residents of the Prodance Kingdom were very happy to see Hashirama's appearance.
Hashirama in the Prodance Kingdom has been considered a hero by the people of the Prodance Kingdom, especially Hashirama's previous services who helped their kingdom in resolving conflicts with the other two kingdoms which caused them to have their time of peace.
"Wow! There are a lot of them on this trip." Garp muttered with a surprised face when he saw that some of the higher-ups of the Fortis Kingdom were on this trip. Garp's gaze instantly stopped on Gin, "Heeee~ I guess we got lucky today"
"Lucky?" Aokiji asked in confusion.
"There is Dojima Gin as the chef of the Fortis Kingdom. We could ask him to cook a dish and we tried it. I wonder if the taste of the cuisine of the Fortis Kingdom is really that good." Garp was currently very excited and his gaze couldn't take his eyes off Gin.
"Can we get a chance?" Aokiji asked with great interest.
"You are very pessimistic, Kuzan" Garp said calmly, "As long as we don't ask, there is still hope for us to get it."
"Hopefully so" Even though Aokiji said so. However, Aokiji was one of the people looking forward to it. He also wanted to taste the food made by the Royal Chef of Fortis.
"Wow! We got a very cannonball welcome" Hashirama said excitedly, "Ok, let's go down. Iru is waiting for us downstairs. After having a brief greeting with Iru, those of you who have no duty are free to do whatever you want."
Everyone nodded and immediately went downstairs.
Lowellmina as Head of the Department of Foreign Relations who led followed by Hashirama and then other high-ranking officials. Iru was now in front of the lowered bridge to await the arrival of Lowellmina and the others.