Sea Circle Calendar April 10, 1503.
Kahn's group, having dealt with several obstacles on their way, finally arrived in Dressrosa.
At this time, Dressrosa isn't yet the resort island known as "the country of love, passion, and toys" it will become in later generations.
On the contrary, this is a very poor island among the member countries.
The treasury can only collect the heavenly tribute each year without even an extra 10 billion berries.
In the original story, King Riku fell into Doflamingo's trap because he couldn't gather 10 billion berries, leading to his overthrow by Doflamingo.
Currently, the island is most famous for its bullfighting arena and delicacies.
Without these two attractions, Dressrosa wouldn't even be able to gather the heavenly tribute each year and would have been kicked out of the list of franchise countries by the World Government.
Among the more than 170 member countries, Dressrosa ranks near the bottom.
At the World Summit held every four years, Dressrosa isn't even among the fifty invited countries.
Even so, Dressrosa is in the New World, and no pirates dare to provoke her.
Of course, this refers to powerful pirates.
The weaker ones can be dealt with by Dressrosa's permanent army.
Powerful pirates, able to survive in the New World, have realized the balance maintained between pirates, the World Government, and Marine Headquarters.
Anyone who dares to upset this balance will face the wrath of the World Government and Marine Headquarters.
Therefore, even the three major overlords won't attack the franchise countries.
It is this protection that drives many weak countries to wage wars and rob other countries' wealth, people, and territories in order to gather enough heavenly tribute and become a member of the franchise countries under this "balance" protection.
It's very difficult to occupy a franchise country as your own base.
Even if Doflamingo, the former Celestial Dragon, wants to reclaim the territory that his ancestors once ruled, he must first obtain the legal pirate status of Shichibukai, then tarnish King Riku's reputation, and finally seize Dressrosa with his ancestral glory.
If power cannot be obtained legitimately, then when other member countries learn that one of their own has been taken over by pirates and the World Government does nothing, they will wonder why they are still squeezing their people to pay the heavenly tribute.
If the member countries don't pay the heavenly tribute, the international organization World Government will cease to exist.
The World Government has no income, and Marine Headquarters has no military funding.
Therefore, the member countries are the bottom line of the World Government.
However, the real bottom line is that the 100-year blank history was deliberately erased by the World Government.
Anyone who dares to touch these two bottom lines will face the wrath of the world overlord.
Of course, compared to the blank hundred-year history, the bottom line regarding the franchise countries has loopholes.
And now, Kahn is here to exploit this loophole.
....
In the King's Place, within the palace.
"Your Majesty King Riku, the head of the 'Cross Family' requests an audience."
A soldier wearing knight armour knelt on one knee before Riku Dold III, also known as King Riku, and spoke respectfully.
"The Cross family?"
King Riku, who was chatting and playing with his sixteen-year-old eldest daughter, Scarlet and his ten-year-old second daughter, Viola, was taken aback for a moment. He then subconsciously looked at his most trusted subordinate, the captain of the Royal Army, Kyros, and asked, "Does our Dressrosa have such a family?"
"I don't know, but I seem to have heard this name somewhere..."
The 25-year-old Kyros frowned.
"The Cross family, do you mean the Cross Kahn family?"
Scarlet, still lively and full of youth, suddenly looked at the soldier with bright eyes and asked.
"...Yes, Your Royal Highness."
The soldier, who was about to remind King Riku, suddenly stopped and nodded vigorously.
"Cross Kahn..."
King Riku repeated the name, gradually revealing a look of surprise: "It turned out to be him, from West Blue, 'Walking Calamity'."
Kyros, full of vigilance, said, "The Walking Calamity, the strongest supernova in history... Why is this big pirate with a bounty of 300 million berries in Dressrosa? Your Majesty King Riku, should we contact the Marines?"
"For what reason?"
Before King Riku could speak, Scarlet, who had no good impressions of Kyros and resented him for always preventing her from going out to play, snapped, "The other party just wants to meet Father. It's not like he's here to harm him."
"Besides, didn't you read the newspaper last month? With Cross Kahn's record and abilities, does he need to go through such effort if he wanted to harm Father or the country?"
"...Understood, Your Royal Highness."
Kyros, scolded by Scarlet, looked embarrassed for a moment and then bowed his head respectfully.
However, this submissive appearance made Scarlet even more upset.
If Kyros had argued back, behaving differently from other soldiers and knights, Scarlet might have found him interesting. But now, in her eyes, Kyros was just a nuisance who had somehow tricked her father into making him the army commander.
No matter what Kyros did before proving himself a hero, Scarlet would look down on him.
"Scarlet is right."
Hearing his eldest daughter's words, King Riku, initially worried, relaxed, said to the soldier, kneeling before him, "Invite Cross Family Head Kahn to the reception hall."
"Yes, Your Majesty King Riku."
The soldier bowed respectfully, then stepped back and left.
"Father, can I go with you?"
Scarlet grabbed King Riku's arm excitedly. "It's rumoured that Cross Kahn could stand at birth, lift an adult with one hand before he was one, crush rocks at five, and has an invulnerable defence. He took over the family business at six, and after his parents' deaths at nine, it took him only six years to develop the 'Cross Family' into the largest mafia in West Blue."
"And this year, he's only fifteen, a year younger than me."
"I want to meet this legendary figure who's my age!"
Looking at his eldest daughter's sparkling eyes and anticipation, King Riku hesitated for a moment, finally nodded, and made a decision he would be grateful for the rest of his life:
"In that case, let's go together."
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