Chapter 873 - 873: Stay Out of a Fool's Business

Vivi's words were like thunder out of nowhere.

"You... you actually admitted it?"

Koza stood frozen in place, as if struck by lightning, his eyes blankly fixed on Vivi in midair.

The shocking secret he had spent the past few years desperately digging into, she not only had no intention of concealing it, she had openly admitted in front of the entire country, right before everyone, without the slightest hesitation, that she was not Cobra's daughter.

"My biological father is Jaygarcia Rosse."

Vivi looked down at Koza from above and gave an extremely arrogant, blunt question straight to the soul, "Why wouldn't I admit it?"

"..."

As soon as those words fell, the entire city of Rainbase, which had still been in slight turmoil, fell so silent in that instant that even the sound of a needle hitting the ground could be heard.

The whole city was silent.

Yeah, why wouldn't she?

In this world, was there really anyone who dared to question that name?

That was Jaygarcia Rosse.

The man who ruled the entire World Government, dominated an entire era of the sea, and was a living supreme god.

Forget a mere throne in Arabasta. As long as that man's bloodline was involved, even if it were the World Government itself that she were inheriting, Vivi would rightfully be one of the heirs in line.

The civilians who came to their senses looked at each other, suddenly feeling that there must really have been sand in their brains just now.

The King of Arabasta not only had the legitimate bloodline of the local royal family, she also had another identity: the biological daughter of the ruler of the world.

For a country to have a queen with such an overwhelmingly powerful dual identity, wasn't that a blessing falling straight from the heavens?

Moreover, not a single thing Queen Vivi had done was detrimental to them.

Maximum benefits, the best medical care, business, and education in the world, these were things they had never dared to imagine in the past.

The era of the old King Cobra had indeed been a good one.

But compared to the present, it simply couldn't compare.

Even if Cobra had been allowed to keep developing for another hundred years, it would never have reached its current level.

It was because Vivi carried Rosse's bloodline, and because Vivi was the Minister of Justice, that they could have such good conditions.

Under these circumstances, their standard of living was even better than that of most citizens of the Red Line.

Thinking about it carefully, most of the people who had come out to demonstrate had done so simply because the country gave them too much money and their lives were too easy. After Koza and Crocodile gave them a little push, they had basically just been so well-fed and idle that they went looking for excitement.

"All right, the farce ends here. Guards, arrest all the illegal demonstrators according to the law."

Looking at the civilians below who had instantly lost all will to resist, even beginning to look at Koza with some resentment, Vivi shifted her gaze away, bored.

She raised a hand slightly.

Whoosh!

An extremely gentle sacred light sprinkled down from her fingertips, like spring rain, falling upon the royal guards whose bones and tendons had been broken by Luffy earlier.

In the span of a single breath, all the injuries on the guards' bodies visibly healed completely under the nourishment of the holy light.

"Praise Queen Vivi!"

The young guards who had been howling in pain moments ago leaped up from the ruins. Feeling the strength filling their bodies, every one of them was so excited that tears filled their eyes.

They were all members of the new generation who had grown up benefiting from Vivi's new policies. They didn't even have the slightest impression of someone called Cobra in their minds.

The reason they had been at a loss when facing the protesters just now was simply that Queen Vivi hadn't been there, so they lacked the confidence and experience to suppress them by force.

Now, their god was watching them from the sky. And she had issued a lawful order.

"Take them down!"

The captain of the guards let out a roar, and hundreds of energized guards immediately pounced on the protesters around them like wolves and tigers.

A few burly men originally tried to shove the guards away and flee, but the moment they caught sight of that sacred and cold figure in the sky from the corner of their eyes, they became obedient almost instantly.

"I'm not running! I'm not running! I'll accept the punishment! Captain, these are my hands!"

Everyone obediently shut their mouths and squatted on the ground, holding out their hands. They even silently swallowed any thought of struggling or resisting.

It was only fifteen days of detention with food and lodging. They could treat it as experiencing life in prison. It was better than dying.

What pure or impure, what bloodline and status, at a time like this, what could possibly be more important than their own lives?

The huge uproar caused by the demonstration, in the face of Vivi's unreasonable power, it came to an end as lightly as a baby's play.

Even Luffy, who had been gritting his teeth and glaring throughout the entire process, gradually quieted down as the guards carried out the arrests in an orderly manner.

He didn't understand politics, but he could understand the looks in the civilians' eyes when they stopped resisting.

Since no one was bleeding anymore and no one was firing any more shots, Luffy, who was being held down by Sanji, no longer had a reason to keep throwing punches.

However, if he got the chance, sooner or later he would beat Vivi up for that dead bald man.

In the sky, from beginning to end, Vivi didn't even spare Luffy, who was pinned to the ground, or Crocodile in the distance, a single unnecessary glance.

In front of these people, she had every reason to ignore them.

She only did one thing as she turned around.

Through the scattered holy light, she looked toward Sanji, who was holding Luffy down while looking up at her with a cigarette between his lips, and politely gave him a slight nod.

In terms of seniority, Sanji should call her Sister.

It was just that within the World Government, Shirahoshi was the Grand Princess, and Vivi had never fought Shirahoshi over that position.

Then, amid the holy feathers drifting through the sky, Vivi's figure transformed into a streak of sacred light and shot through Rainbase's sky, disappearing without a trace.

The opening act of the good show was over.

For the days to come, it was time for her to sit in the palace and wait for the storm Luffy and the others would stir up.

The stage had already been set. Now, let her see how much potential Luffy had.

The smoke from the fighting at Rainbase Port had yet to fully clear, and the pressure belonging to the queen seemed to still linger in the air.

Just moments ago, law and strength had rendered the entire port completely silent.

And in the alley where the Straw Hat crew was staying, the atmosphere was equally tense, except that the two sides of the conflict were now their own people.

"Why did you stop me just now, Sanji?"

Luffy shook off Sanji's hand. His eyes were red with extreme anger as he pointed in the direction Vivi had left and shouted, "She didn't care about those people's lives at all! It was like stepping on bugs! Why didn't you let me go and punch her away?"

Sanji took a deep drag from the cigarette in his mouth, then exhaled a thick cloud of smoke, his expression dark:

"Punch her away? Luffy, did you even see what was happening just now? If I hadn't held you down, you wouldn't even have any ashes left by now."

"I don't care! I promised Crocodile that I would break the cage here."

Luffy gritted his teeth, stubborn as an uncooperative bull.

Back on the ship, Crocodile had already told him how miserable the people here were.

Now it seemed that with Queen Vivi around, there was no way this place could ever get better.

"Don't be naive!"

Sanji lowered his voice, his tone full of helplessness, "Do you even have the strength for that, yet you're rushing in headfirst? In this world, passion alone can't bridge the gap in strength. If you charge out, you'll accomplish nothing except getting yourself killed."

Faced with Sanji's blunt analysis of reality, Luffy clenched his fists tightly, his chest heaving violently. He couldn't take in any of this reasoning at all.

"Hehehe!"

A low, cold laugh came from the side at an inappropriate moment.

Crocodile stood up from the barbecue table and spoke sarcastically:

"Cook, you shouldn't put it so absolutely. There are some things in this world where lacking the strength doesn't mean you shouldn't step up."

"If everyone calculated things as carefully as you do, there would be no freedom left on this sea. Isn't that right, Straw Hat?"

Those words landed precisely on Luffy's nerves. He immediately turned his head and nodded hard.

"That's right! Sand Guy is right! That's exactly how it should be!"

Sanji glanced at Luffy speechlessly, then coldly looked at Crocodile, who was fanning the flames from the side, "Since you're putting it so righteously, why didn't you step up when that god descended just now?"

Crocodile didn't change his expression. He even showed just the right amount of regret and weariness as he sighed solemnly, "I was once like the young Straw Hat, fighting against the unjust order of this world. I stepped up... And you saw the result. I was left with these injuries that nearly killed me, and even now I haven't fully recovered. I have the will, but not the strength."

"..."

Sanji's mouth twitched as he stared speechlessly at the old fox.

Could they really not know what kind of person Crocodile was?

But considering his own identity and the current situation, Sanji rolled his eyes and couldn't be bothered to expose him.

"All right, all right! We're all companions, so stop arguing!"

Usopp came over at just the right time to play good cop, "Sanji is only worried about Luffy. Luffy, look, the enemy has left, and everyone's fine. That's already something to be thankful for."

Under Usopp's mediation, Luffy snorted and turned his head away. Sanji irritably rubbed his blond hair. Both sides backed off, but it was obvious they still found each other somewhat irritating.

However, because of this little incident, combined with Crocodile's earlier argument that one shouldn't ask about one's strength before resisting, the words deeply moved simple-minded Luffy.

Without realizing it, Luffy not only began to think Crocodile was a good guy, he even unconsciously shifted a little closer to Crocodile's side.

Just as the atmosphere became somewhat subtle, a loud and cheerful voice broke the deadlock.

"Mr. Crocodile! You're finally back. You suddenly disappeared before, and you really scared us."

Everyone looked toward the voice and saw Koza running over excitedly, a bright and cheerful smile on his face.

Luffy's eyes widened as he pointed at the two of them in surprise, "Eh? Not only do you know each other, you're actually this close?"

Zoro, Nami, and the others all raised one hand to their foreheads in perfect unison, their faces full of speechlessness.

Of course they knew each other.

Hadn't Luffy been paying attention when Kuro gave them the information earlier?

Crocodile was the person supporting Koza's rebellion.

Although everyone was complaining wildly in their heads, that layer of paper hadn't been pierced yet. On the surface, everyone remained completely calm and simply watched the show.

Hearing Luffy's words, Koza naturally walked over to Crocodile's side and loudly explained with a smile, "Of course! You may not know this, but when my father went out to sea to do business back then, he nearly died at sea. Mr. Crocodile saved my father."

Gratitude and recognition shone in Koza's eyes as he continued, "And Mr. Crocodile is the only person who recognizes our ideals. Arabasta should rightfully be inherited by the bloodline of Arabasta's previous king, His Majesty Cobra. It absolutely must not fall into the hands of those bastards in the World Government. That's what we believe."

Crocodile exhaled a deep ring of smoke beside him and patted Koza on the shoulder, like a kind yet steadfast revolutionary mentor.

The two of them looked like a pair of upright figures fighting for their country's future no matter how one looked at them.

"Not only that."

Koza laughed heartily, seeming very cheerful and talkative, "Mr. Crocodile even personally taught us how to train our combat skills! Although we can't compare with that usurper from just now, even if I had to fight those royal guards now, I definitely wouldn't be weak!"

Getting carried away, Koza even raised his arm and showed off his solid biceps to everyone.

"Wow! That's amazing! You even have muscles!"

Luffy immediately played the perfect straight man beside him, his eyes shining.

As this familiar conversation continued, the whole group suddenly took an extremely strange turn.

Quite naturally, they walked into the barbecue restaurant from earlier, sat down, and started eating.

The barbecue sizzled on the iron plate, giving off an enticing aroma.

"Boss! Add two more plates of the most expensive Sand Crocodile meat."

Crocodile waved his hand generously. Then he pushed the whole piece of meat he had already grilled on his plate directly in front of Luffy, even showing a faintly gentle smile, "Straw Hat, eat more. Young people need enough energy to pursue the freedom and dreams they want."

"Wow! Thanks, Slick-Back! You're such a good guy! Munch! Munch..."

Luffy's mouth was stuffed with meat. He chewed wildly like a hamster, and even while eating, he didn't forget to praise the two of them sincerely through his muffled voice.

This meal lasted for more than half a day.

Luffy and the other two sat at one table, while Nami, Usopp, and the others sat at another.

When it was time to pay, Koza stood up and solemnly pulled out his wallet, "Mr. Crocodile, you're a benefactor of our Arabasta. I have to pay for this meal."

"How could I let you do that?", Crocodile pressed down on Koza's hand, "Your funds right now all need to be used for the great cause of breaking these chains. Of course I'll pay for this meal."

The two of them kept pushing each other's hands away in front of the bearded owner, nearly leaving the owner speechless.

At the other table, Nami rested her chin on one hand and drank her juice expressionlessly. Zoro tilted his head back and drank his beer without even bothering to look over, while Sanji smoked and watched the ceiling, blowing smoke rings.

Everyone looked at this ridiculous scene with speechlessness.

They didn't know whether Koza was a good person, but Crocodile definitely wasn't a good guy.

For now, the two of them were simply working together to fool the simple-minded Luffy until he couldn't tell which way was up, and he had even started treating Crocodile like a good buddy.

But then again... Nami looked at the mountain of empty plates piled up on the table, then at the other two suckers fighting over who would pay the bill.

Whatever. What did it have to do with them?

Luffy had been an idiot for more than a day or two. Since someone was willing to pay for them, getting a free feast here wasn't so bad.

Nami raised her glass and clinked it against Zoro's beer bottle.

After all, it had nothing to do with them.

They might as well keep eating, drinking, having fun, playing the music, and dancing.

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