Silence
The "King's Guardian Gods" of Alabasta glared fiercely at Warner Senior Director and his companions, clearly ready to spring into action at a moment's notice if King Cobra gave the command.
Faced with such a display of weapons and the aggressive presence of two Zoan-type Devil Fruit users, the latter remained indifferent, coldly awaiting the king's decision.
"Hey—"
After a long silence and an internal struggle, the young King Cobra finally sighed, waved his hand, and commanded, "Igaram, you and General Ulan take them to the Burial Shrine, but they are strictly forbidden from touching anything other than the Poneglyph!"
"Your Majesty, that is the resting place of our ancestors!" another general among the "King's Guardian Gods" quickly interjected.
"Enough, General Nasu."
King Cobra gestured for him to stop speaking.
"Since that's the case, we shall take our leave." Warner Senior Director nodded with some disappointment, then turned to leave with his group.
Igaram exchanged a glance with the king, and seeing the determination in his eyes, quickly followed after General Ulan, who was known as "Falcon."
"Your Majesty, why must we fear them so?" Once everyone had departed, General Nasu, known as "Jackal," said, his face flushed with anger.
"We have six hundred thousand elite soldiers in the King's Army, over ten million loyal citizens, and with General Ulan and myself, even if we lack warships to confront them at sea, we should have no trouble keeping the forces of the World Government at bay!"
Upon hearing this, King Cobra would have agreed in the past, as Alabasta's national strength was indeed undisputedly the strongest among all allied nations.
However, ever since witnessing the live broadcast of what the world called the "ONE PIECE Great Sea Battle," he now looked at Nasu with confusion.
"General Nasu, did you not see the world broadcast from a few days ago?"
"If you are referring to that so-called Pirate King's Grand Treasure, I indeed did not pay attention, nor do I have any interest in it. I would rather spend that time training the troops or honing my own strength and martial skills," General Nasu replied sternly.
King Cobra was momentarily speechless, realizing how difficult it would be to explain just how powerful the Marine Admirals and Vice Admirals were; even if he provided a rough outline, this general would likely not believe him.
He thought for a moment and decided to approach the matter from a different angle.
"General Nasu, once we completely sever ties with the World Government, we will face a large-scale assault from the Marine fleet. Even if our King's Army can withstand it, the peaceful lives of our citizens will still be disrupted. They are currently living in peace and prosperity; why should I plunge the entire nation into chaos over an incomprehensible stone?"
King Cobra's earnest words resonated throughout the grand hall, reaching the ears of every soldier in the King's Army, causing their resolute expressions to waver slightly.
"As descendants of the Nefertari family, failing to protect the Poneglyphs left by our ancestors and allowing outsiders to disturb their peace in the Burial Shrine is indeed my incompetence."
"But as the king of Alabasta, my primary responsibility is to ensure the safety and peace of my nation. In unnecessary circumstances, I should not recklessly resort to violence."
"In my view, whether it is the Poneglyph or the rules of the Burial Shrine, they pale in comparison to the safety of the kingdom. The King's Army should fight for the kingdom, not for a stone!"
Every word from the young king was powerful and resolute. Yet, this steadfast monarch, upon returning to his chamber, collapsed into tears, clutching his queen tightly, his tears flowing like a river.
"Titi, I am sorry to our ancestors, sob sob—"
At this moment, King Cobra's earlier belief that the World Government might have become more merciful vanished entirely; the World Government was still the same World Government.
Cold, tyrannical, ruthless, a terrifying pressure that made it hard to breathe—Holy Land, Mary Geoise, within the Pangea Castle's Chamber of the Moon.
"As expected, Alabasta has cowered!"
Im had just learned from the Five Elders about King Cobra's choice; he had chosen to obediently hand over the Poneglyph.
He had also considered what he would do if Cobra had not backed down and had chosen to confront the World Government head-on to protect the Poneglyph.
Alabasta's national strength was indeed formidable, deserving of its reputation as a superpower in the first half of the Grand Line.
However, this superpower referred to its strength among the allied nations; it was far from being able to match the World Government in a contest of strength.
Moreover, if one truly wanted to deal with Alabasta, Im believed that there was no need to wage war; simply blockading its coastline and prohibiting any ships from entering or leaving would suffice.
Because although Alabasta was vast, about ninety percent of it was desert, and it had very few resources to utilize. Freshwater was entirely dependent on imports from other islands, so as long as the flow of supplies was cut off, it wouldn't be long before the people inside would die of thirst and starvation.
However, unless absolutely necessary, Im did not wish to indulge in excessive bloodshed.
The reasoning was simple: population was crucial. Once the multiverse opened, population would become even more important. The scale of military forces in civilizational wars would certainly be measured in billions, but currently, the population of the sea stars was not particularly large.
"Fish-Man Island, Alabasta's Poneglyph is in hand, and the known Poneglyphs from the past include one from Ohara, one from Zou, one from Skypiea, two in Big Mom's possession, and one that I remember being discovered by Jinbe in the Sea Beast City."
Needless to say, the easiest one to obtain would be the one from Ohara! "Let me think, let me think."
Im continuously delved into his memories from before his crossing with his extraordinary mental strength.
"The Poneglyph exploration team formed by Ohara set out in 1494, which was four years ago, and then in 1500, they were captured by Sau, which means two years later, so right now Nico Robin's mother is still out there."
"They have been searching for so many years; they must have found quite a few Poneglyphs, but those things are too large and heavy, making it difficult to take them away. Therefore, for research, they need to make rubbings and record the locations."
As he pondered, he suddenly felt that there was no need to rush into this matter; it could develop naturally.
Even if a butterfly effect occurred, and this group was not captured by Sau, it would only require the CP to keep an eye on Ohara, and they could wait until they returned to capture them later.
At that time, the Poneglyph Management Division could retrieve the locations recorded by the exploration team one by one.
How easy is that?
Once captured, the scholars from Ohara who studied the Poneglyphs certainly could not be spared.
Because they were conducting illegal research despite the World Government's explicit prohibitions and repeated warnings, dealing with them was only natural, and they had brought it upon themselves; they must have been prepared for the consequences.
However, the Buster Call could be avoided; such a large tree, what a beautiful landscape! And with so many books, treating it as the largest library would be quite nice; blowing it all up would be such a waste!
For Im, everything on this planet belonged to him, so he thought to preserve unique places as much as possible.
Including those important characters, if they could be utilized, he would find ways to make good use of them; only if they were truly useless would he consider eliminating them, after all, anything that could not be used was waste, and should be treated as such.
"However, Nico Robin is a good seed; she should have already eaten the Flower-Flower Fruit by now. Sending her to CIPHER POL's Guanhao Island for training will not take long before she becomes a top-notch intelligence operative."
Im stroked his chin, secretly contemplating this matter. In the future multiverse, intelligence members would certainly be the first to enter and gather information, so the more experts in this area, the better.
"For her, I could use Olvia as a hostage; for example, based on her merits, I could consider reducing Olvia's sentence or something like that. I'm not afraid she won't listen."