Chapter 85

After a short reunion, Rowan, Cobra, and Vivi had to separate themselves from the rest of the group, for the time being.

Now, in the secluded chamber, with all three of them standing in front of a stone wall that had the engraving of a tree, Vivi was nervously gazing between Rowan and Cobra, who were solemn.

Cobra took a deep breath, with him situated right in front of Rowan and Vivi. "Vasilia. There isn't much that I am aware of. What passed down through the generations of Nefertari were not the historical information, but the instructions."

Raising his hand up, Cobra placed his palm in the middle of tree engraving, before firmly pressing upon it. Subsequently, a small section of floor opened silently, revealing a narrow and descending staircase.

"The mechanism may seem simple, but our ancestors managed to integrate the concept behind Vivre Card as a safety measure. It will only react when the member of Nefertari family activates it." Cobra briefly explained before slowly walking down through the staircase, "Follow me. Everything that I know of, is in here."

Without any word, Rowan and Vivi followed Cobra.

*Tap* *Tap* The noises from the footsteps echoed around, as the atmosphere around the group became colder and colder. Eventually hitting the bottom, Rowan found himself in a small room.

Vivi felt her heart beating fast from the anxiousness she felt. All she saw was a darkness, for they were in the underground without a stream of light coming through.

"The descendant of Vasilia. The rightful heir of Vasilia. Those two sections that I have read so far," Rowan spoke up while taking off the blindfold from his face, revealing his amber-coloured eyes that glowed in the absolute darkness, "that's all I managed to find out. Based on this, I reasoned that... Vasilia must have been one of the twenty original kingdoms, or should I say, twenty-first?"

Cobra glanced at Rowan's glowing eyes, before turning back and walking forward, "Vasilia... the rulers of Yggdrasil. They had been the leader of all. The only reason that we were able to stand victorious against the Ancient Kingdom."

Even without vision, Cobra reached out his hand and grabbed one stone tablet from the wall and pulled it out. "I do not know the exact details, but at some period of time during the war, they were betrayed by nineteen others. Afterwards, the Ancient Kingdom was defeated, and the Poneglyphs were created through unknown means."

Rowan's eyes gleamed as he walked toward Cobra, who passed the tablet to him.

"Years later, one descendant of Vasilia visited our kingdom, unknown to the newly established World Government. She left this tablet to us." Cobra stated as he turned to Vivi grimly, "Vivi, this is our obligation as Nefertari. The secret we have been concealing from the rest of the world for years. If Poneglyph will cause them to purge our kingdom, the alliance with Vasilia will have them completely eradicate each and every single one of us."

"...Vasilia." Vivi gulped as she shakily raised her hand and wiped sweat off of her forehead. The amount of information that she took in just now, it was heavy on her. However, she managed to calm herself down—befitting of the princess of the Alabasta kingdom.

Cobra turned his head to Rowan, and whispered to himself, "Somehow, through the turn of the fate, the man from the family that we've been waiting for generations, saved our kingdom from the fall. Is this a mere coincidence?"

Rowan stood with his eyes locked onto the stone tablet, reading in a serious manner, "A change has been detected. Joy Boy will fail. We have to take this matter onto our own hands. One day, our true king shall arrive. There shall be a retribution. The throne shall go to its rightful owner. Friends, prepare yourselves, for a great war is coming by."

Gently placing the tablet back into the wall, Rowan found himself intrigued, 'Again, this is the second time I saw the name Joy Boy. Just who can this person be? One says to wait for his promise to be upheld, while the other says that he will fail and have to take matters into our own hands. From king's explanation, Poneglyph came before this stone tablet... something must have changed.'

"What's your plan from now on?" Vivi asked Rowan in a curiosity.

She initially felt intimidated by Rowan's status as the notorious pirate along with his ferocious-looking eyes. However, reminding herself of the time she spent with the Twin Cats pirates and his deep connection with her family eased her up; she had no qualms in initiating a conversion with him.

"Throne? Rightful heir?" Rowan spoke up, "To be frank, I don't care about those. However," He gazed at the stone tablet once more, "the enemy of my ancestors, namely the World Government. Once the secret is out, it is without a doubt that they will use every possible method to kill me, and everyone related to me. Until such beings are gone from the picture, I won't be able to rest in peace."

"Yet, with such feats that you achieved over the years, you already earned substantial amount of attention from them." Cobra retorted with a slight worry in his tone. "The direct opposition against the marines, and concealing the identity as one of the greatest enemy of the World Government. Your journey from here on will only get increasingly arduous."

"But I cannot cower like a weakling, can I." Rowan's eyes flashed with confidence, "Let them come. If they are weak, I will simply mesh them up. If they are too strong for us to handle, I will spit on their faces and run away. I am not intelligent enough to figure everything out and devise incredible plans, but if there is one thing I gained over the years, it's my resolve."

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[A week after, Marineford]

"Grimheart..." Fleet Admiral Sengoku muttered with visible dark bags under his eyes, which accentuated his exhaustion, "Dealing with the New World and maintaining the current balance of the world is tiring enough, and now, this pirate crew emerges again after three years."

In front of him lied two papers. One was the report made by Rear Admiral Kanzaki, which Sengoku received from Admiral Sakazuki himself. The other one was the news, published by the World Economy News Paper.

Upon receiving the report, Sengoku immediately attempted to cover up this event, by falsely accusing that Crocodile broke the agreement with the marines and devised an evil scheme against the Alabasta kingdom, and that Vice Admiral Onigumo sacrificed his life to save the kingdom from Crocodile's evil hands.

And yet, Morgans and his World Economy News Paper were quicker. It seemed that the president himself attained a great interest in the actions of the Grimheart pirates; Sengoku still couldn't understand how the information managed to reach faster to Morgan than to him.

With a deep frown on his face, Sengoku began to read the front page of the newspaper, word by word.

<Big News! The Re-emergence of the Grimheart Pirates!

Few days ago, the whole Alabasta kingdom has been in a turmoil. One of the Seven Warlords, Sir Crocodile, along with Vice Admiral Onigumo and his subordinates, gathered in the island upon sighting the Grimheart pirates, those who disappeared three years ago after the destruction of the marine base G-11.

A terrifying battle occurred, one that led to a complete ruination of Yuba, the Oasis town of Alabasta. To everyone's surprise and dread, the result was the complete loss of Sir Crocodile and the marines, with the Grimheart pirates standing triumphantly!

Apart from the fact, a strange phenomenon has been sighted, where the signs of rebellion instantly died down following such a battle. Currently, we are making further investigations->

*Crunch* Not being able to contain his anger any longer, Sengoku crushed up the newspaper with his hands shaking from a cold fury.

"Grimheart." Sengoku glared at the crushed paper in his hand, "So far, all of his actions led to the heavy blows upon the reputation of the marines. If we allow such man to harbour freely like this, not only are we risking ourselves of losing the trust of the civilians, but are also at the risk of erring the Five Elders. A drastic measure is required."

Sengoku grabbed the report of Kanzaki. "And the same applies to his crew members."

He began to flip through the report.

<An eradication of whole marine troop in Tamarisk. Every single one died with only a single strike on various vital points. Assumed to be the works done by Decarine, who revealed her mastery over the knives during the last encounter.

Next, Onigumo's corpse. Severe burns and deep gash. According to Captain Hina and Shu, they are the works done by 'Flame Empress' Carmen and 'Pirate Prince' Cavendish.

The corpses of six Commodores. Deep bruises, broken bones, and bleeding holes on their bodies. Most probable to caused through the blunt attacks, and surprisingly, Shigan. Originally thought to be the works of 'Grimheart' Rowan, but Captain Hina and Shu said otherwise. Caused by Black Mask, who was called as 'Dan' by the other crew members.

Finally, Crocodile. Broken skull, fist-sized injury on stomach, and internal bleeding throughout his whole body. Suffered great degree of harassment, even under the combination of Sand Sand fruit and Armament Haki.

Overall, Grimheart, Black Mask, and Pirate Prince are identified to be capable of using Haki. Great caution and attention required on this crew.

Additionally, I voice my suspicion that 'Demon Child' Nico Robin may have joined the Grimheart pirates. More information required to confirm this possibility.>

"What a mess." Sengoku gritted his teeth as he finished reading the report. "If the Vice Admirals are not capable enough, apart from the anomalies like Garp, the three Admiral should be the only valid option. However, spending the greatest marine forces on a mere pirate crew? This will further lower our reputation. Additionally, we are already as busy as we can be—we will have to wait until they reach closer."

Placing the report down, Sengoku grabbed a pen with his right hand and began to write down on a blank sheet of paper.

"If the marines are unable to prevent them, then we will have to resort to bringing in the another means of obstructing them." Sengoku wrote down at a very rapid pace, which has been honed throughout his countless years of experience serving in the Marine.

Finally, Sengoku placed the pen down and gazed at his production. It read:

<Ensure that following commands are executed immediately.

'Grimheart' Rowan: 205,000,000 -> 850,000,000 Beli.

'Phantom Assassin' Decarine: 60,000,000 -> 245,000,000 Beli.

'Flame Empress' Carmen: 200,000,000 -> 310,000,000 Beli.

'Black Mask' Dan: 10,000,000 -> 234,000,000 Beli.

'Pirate Prince' Cavendish: 75,000,000 -> 305,000,000 Beli.

Butler: 30,000,000 Beli.

White Horse: 100 Beli.>

"An extreme degree of increase in bounties." Sengoku muttered grimly, "But necessary... to arouse an interest in those eccentric bounty hunters."

Standing up from his chair, Sengoku briefly massaged his temple in fatigue, before straightening up his posture and looking through the window with resolute expression on his face.

"No matter what case it may be, the justice shall prevail."

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[Loguetown, East Blue]

*BOOOOOOOOOOM* An earth-shaking noise boomed across the whole town, as two men clashed against one another.

"Hurryyyy!!!!" Bartolomeo screamed in fear as his eyes popped out, upon sighting an unbelievable clash above the sky.

"What is grandpa doing here?!!!" Luffy screamed in a mix of confusion and horror, as his mouth opened wide comically.

""Your gramps is the marine hero?! What the hell?!!"" Zoro and Sanji screamed with widened eyes, as they frantically held onto the wheel.

As their ship carried them away from the Loguetown, two men, after the clash, stood on two different roofs, facing each other.

One man had short and spiky grey-coloured hair, alongwith similarly coloured mustache and beard. He was a very tall and muscular man, and went by the name Monkey D. Garp—Luffy's grandfather.

"What are you doing here... Dragon!" Garp grinned as he spoke out to the one who he was facing against: his own son.

"...Likewise, father." Dragon, who was wearing a dark-green cape that hid his appearance, grinned as well.

At the next moment, both of them vanished from their spots, before meeting fist to fist once again.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOM*

Smoker was seen to be watching this scene from the bottom, with a dull expression. His cigars have long fallen out of his mouth, lying on the ground helplessly.

"F*** this s***. I'm out of this town."