"Kuahaha, long time no see, King Nefertari Cobra!" he called out with an eerie laugh.
The palace was surrounded by dozens of Baroque Works assassins, including high-ranking agents like Mr. 2 (Bentham), a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit user with the "Mimicry Fruit," Mr. 3, a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit user with the "Wax-Wax Fruit" (Galdino), and Mr. 4, a Zoan-type Devil Fruit user with the "Dog-Dog Fruit" (Bebop).
King Nefertari Cobra was stunned to see Crocodile and his forces. To him, Crocodile had always been seen as a hero of Arabasta, so why was he here at night, surrounded by so many people? It was clear this wasn't a friendly visit.
Suppressing his anger, the king slowly spoke. "Crocodile, you arrive at this hour with so many people. What is it you want?"
Vivi and Nami looked on in fear at Crocodile. The man exuded an incredibly dangerous aura, and the sight of the dead guards around them was deeply unsettling.
In Nami's mind, Tony's face appeared, and she silently prayed.
"Tony... please come save me..." she thought desperately.
Igaram, the head of the royal guard, raised his iron spear, pointing it directly at Crocodile. He had already resigned himself to whatever would come, even if it meant facing dozens of assassins.
"Crocodile, as a hero of Arabasta, why are you attacking the kingdom at night? What's the point of assassinating the king?!" Igaram shouted, his voice full of righteous anger.
Crocodile responded slowly, as though everything was under his control.
"Kuahaha, assassinate the king? Tch, tch, tch, that's not something I would do. I'm here to protect the king."
"The king was killed by the pirate thief Nami, the little 'cat' from the sea. Arabasta was attacked by pirates in the middle of the night...", "And when I arrived, the sole heir, Nefertari Vivi, and all the guards had been brutally killed by pirates. As the nation's hero, I bravely wiped out all the pirates and thus took control of the now leaderless Kingdom of Arabasta!", "This will be the story I would tell the people after you all are dead"
Crocodile's face showed greed. The script was already planned out. He intended to make Nami the scapegoat, switching the guards' bodies with pirate clothes and successfully pinning the blame on the "flame controller," Tony, who had a bounty of 300 million, as mentioned by the Marines. This was also Crocodile's revenge on Tony, choosing this day because Tony had not gone with them.
At this moment, King Nefertari Cobra was in shock. Although Nami being a pirate was an unexpected surprise, especially a young girl like her being one, there was no time to dwell on that. What was most shocking was Crocodile's terrifying plan to take over the Kingdom of Arabasta and massacre everyone in the castle...
Although he could die, he couldn't let his country fall into Crocodile's hands. That would spell disaster for everyone. More importantly, his precious daughter Vivi... She could not die like this.
King Nefertari Cobra gritted his teeth and said, "Crocodile, don't even think about ruling this kingdom! My people will never believe your one-sided story!"
Faced with the king's weak threat, Crocodile wasn't the least bit scared. He saw it as the king's last desperate bark before death.
Nami stood up and positioned herself protectively in front of Vivi. She knew that as a friend, this was the last comfort she could offer Vivi, who didn't yet know Nami's true identity.
Nami was scared herself, but she remained calm. Turning around, she smiled and reassured Vivi.
"I'm sorry Vivi, I never told you about my identity, but it wasn't to deceive you. Please trust me. As a friend, I'll never let you die at the hands of these guys."
Vivi's eyes were filled with tears, but they were not because of Nami's deception. It was because at this life-or-death moment, Nami, as her friend, stood in front of her, regardless of her own safety. Seeing Nami's body tremble, Vivi knew that Nami was scared too... but she still stood up to protect her.
Vivi cherished this moment of friendship and seriously said,
"Nami, your identity won't change how I feel about you. Even if you're a pirate, it doesn't matter, because Nami is just Nami!"
"I will never doubt that you would hurt me or betray me!"
Vivi's overwhelming trust caused Nami's body to stop trembling. Her gaze hardened like a warrior about to face death, and she looked directly at Crocodile with contempt. "You must be the big 'crocodile' Tony mentioned, huh? Though I didn't fully understand what he meant before, today I've experienced it myself."
"You're truly disgusting. To come up with such a ruthless plan... people like you clearly can't defeat Tony, so you go after soft targets like me."
"What does that say? It means you're a coward who picks on the weak and fears the strong. You've got no backbone! You're just a piece of trash with an ugly face!"
Nami's words came fast and sharp, like a verbal champion.
But those around them were already drenched in cold sweat. It was obvious that their boss's anger had reached its boiling point. The sand around Crocodile's feet began to spread, and his fury was so intense that it seemed ready to explode at any moment.
Mr. 2 (Bon Clay) kindly reminded Nami from the side.
"Hey, hey, hey... little girl, don't provoke our boss any further. When our boss gets angry, he's really terrifying..."
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T/N:
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