"Satiah told me about you; what would you like to talk to me about?" the beetle spoke to the group in its slightly robotic voice.
Inmo was quick to stand out from the group and said, "We've discovered the scarab and come a long way to find it." Inmo pointed to the armor, stating it matter-of-factly.
Merkare, on the other hand, was surprised that someone had found out about the scarab, but his daughter had already talked to him about it, so he could remain calm.
Inmo continued, "However, we didn't know it had found a user. This makes things more difficult. Thanks to your daughter, we found out about your situation and that you are a good person."
"That's why we decided to take a peaceful path and try to negotiate with you." Inmo finished speaking and waited to see if Merkare would respond.
"What will you do if I'm not willing to part with the scarab?" Merkare wanted to know the strangers' true intentions.
Inmo, who had been normal until now, closed off his expression, removing any emotion, and said, "Then we'll have to take it from your corpse."
Merkare, along with everyone in the base, readied their weapons, pointing them at the group, expecting an attack at any moment.
Inmo, seeing this, reverted to his usual expression and continued speaking, "Hey, hey, hey, I think you misunderstood. I'm not talking about killing you. Relax." Inmo spoke while making calming gestures with his hand, but none of them lowered their guard.
"This is so you know who you're dealing with, unlike you humans. Time will never catch up to us. So, we can wait as long as necessary for you to die like a normal human." Inmo realized that Merkare was starting to reconsider.
"You must be around 40 years old now. That gives you another 10 to 15 years of life. That's nothing more than a blink of an eye for us."
"Assuming the Thanagarians don't kill you first. Think carefully. Today, I'm here to make a deal. In exchange for the scarab, I'll help you kill the Lunmins " Inmo realized his words had reached the point they needed to. Now it depended on Merkare whether he would seize this opportunity or decline.
Merkare stood still for a few minutes as he looked at the quartet of strangers. Many thoughts ran through his mind. He was having a silent conversation with the blue beetle. Ultimately, his desire for the greater good prevailed over his desire for power. He decided to accept the proposal.
He signaled to those in the base. When they saw the signal, they opened the base gate.
Merkare spoke to the group, "Please follow me so we can talk more about this." After finishing his sentence, he turned his back to the group and entered the base. He might appear vulnerable now, but he was on high alert, ready to react to any possible attack from the group.
Inmo realized this could be a way for Merkare to show his trust while testing them. So, Inmo looked at the group and started following Merkare. Everyone understood and followed suit without hesitation.
Merkare noticed this; tactically, they were making a concession. They might not trust each other, but each one of them was demonstrating trust in their own strength.
The group was now in the main room, discussing the deal. They reached an agreement – Merkare would hand over the beetle only after the Thanagarians were removed from power. Inmo didn't bring up the matter again and agreed.
Now they were reviewing the information they had about the enemy. When they reached the part about the Thanagarians having a weapon capable of wiping out half of Egypt, Inmo spoke up, saying he could handle it.
He knew Merlin couldn't get close to the enemies' ship because it was made of a metal that blocked magic, making him an easy target. As for Diana and Franky, they might make a mistake at some point, taking half of Egypt with them.
In the end, there was a disagreement. The rebels didn't know Inmo's power, so they disagreed. Inmo realized he needed to show some power. He suggested a short fight against the blue beetle.
Merkare thought it was a good idea. He also wanted to test Luffy's power, so he agreed.
They went to the battlefield; the soldiers were making noise as they gathered around the chosen battleground. Cheers of support could be heard from the audience. They had seen him in action before and knew of his strength.
However, a few seconds after the fight began, the audience fell silent. No one could believe what they were seeing. The stranger named Luffy stood in the middle of the field and took all of the blue beetle's attacks without sustaining any damage.
After that, Luffy's figure blurred. When everyone realized it, they could only see their leader's figure. He had been in the sky a few seconds ago but was now on the ground in a crater, with Luffy looking down at him.
Luffy didn't even break a sweat fighting his leader. On one hand, they were scared. However, this stranger was on their side, giving them a great hope.
In the end, everyone agreed that Luffy could handle the Thanagarians' weapon. Even Merkare had no objections once he woke up. He was genuinely surprised by Luffy's strength and finally understood that if this strange group wanted, they could have taken the scarab at any time.
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