Pirates: Building High Walls Starting from the East Blue.

Chapter 52 Cooperation

The Royal Palace of the Kingdom of Alabasta – Arubana.

As a famous major power with tens of millions of people on the Grand Line, even though Alabasta's national strength has declined considerably in recent years due to internal strife and climate change, the Alabasta Royal Palace remains very grand.

After the civil war in the Kingdom of Alabasta ended, Shache and his party became honored guests of the Kingdom of Alabasta, and arrived at the Alabasta Royal Palace under the guidance of Princess Vivi.

In short: the work is done, it's time to collect the pay.

However, due to the special nature of this incident, in order to cover up Crocodile's true purpose, it was publicly claimed that Crocodile used the Dancing Powder to deceive everyone and intend to usurp the Alabasta Kingdom. As for Robin and the information about the Ancient Weapon Pluton, it was not revealed. At the same time, it was claimed that the one who saved the Alabasta Kingdom was indeed a pirate crew.

Therefore, the meeting was very simple; it was just a banquet hosted by Neferutali Cobra, the King of Alabasta, who was also familiar with the situation, to express his gratitude.

There weren't many people; those qualified to participate were all close confidants of King Cobra.

Before the banquet even began, King Cobra, accompanied by Princess Vivi, who was also dressed in her finest attire, approached Xia Che and knelt down to kowtow without hesitation.

This caused his close associates around him to panic.

But Cobra stopped the people who were helping him, bowing his head again, his voice filled with gratitude and self-reproach, "I've heard everything from Vivi. Thank you so much for saving Alabasta!"

For him, perhaps it was all his fault.

If he hadn't always trusted Crocodile and hadn't agreed to let Crocodile enter Alabasta, perhaps none of this would have happened.

As the King of Alabasta, he almost made a grave mistake, plunging the kingdom into disaster and potentially harming his own daughter.

He felt extremely remorseful and guilty about this!

Cobra raised his head, looking at Shacher with a serious expression. "The Kingdom of Alabasta will absolutely keep this secret. I swear in the name of Nefertari that I will never betray my benefactor. Please rest assured!"

Although he didn't know why the naval captain was hiding something that was clearly a good thing, he still listened carefully to their instructions and reported the situation to the admiral as they requested.

King Cobra was extremely grateful to the naval captain who had come from the East China Sea. If they hadn't suddenly appeared, he couldn't imagine what Alabasta would have become.

only.

After expressing his gratitude once again, King Cobra bowed his head in remorse, saying, "I am truly sorry, Alabasta is unable to provide the reward immediately."

Then, looking at Shacher, he said, "But rest assured, the Kingdom of Alabasta will gather the payment as soon as possible!"

They clearly saved the Kingdom of Alabasta, yet the Kingdom of Alabasta can't even come up with a billion.

Especially after he mentioned the reward, seeing his daughter's cheeks flush red, he assumed she was also ashamed. Cobra felt even more guilty. After hesitating for a moment, he looked at Shacher in a serious tone and said, "The Kingdom of Alabasta will never forget your kindness in saving the country."

Gritting her teeth, she adopted a firm tone, "As the current King of Alabasta, I have made a promise: if you have any further requests, as long as Vivi agrees, Alabasta will do its utmost to fulfill them. Please do not blame Vivi."

however.

The expected感动 (moved feeling) from his daughter did not occur; instead... Princess Vivi's face turned even redder.

This scene left Cobra looking puzzled, but then he seemed to realize something and hesitated for a moment before asking, "Vivi, did you perhaps agree to some other reward?"

At this point, he frowned, looked at Weiwei, hesitated for a moment, and said, "Weiwei, if you've already made a promise, you must try your best to fulfill it, no matter what, especially since it's about our benefactor!"

Before Vivi could even open her mouth to say anything, Cobra turned to Xia Che with a solemn expression, "I'm so sorry, Vivi didn't tell me about any other reward, but rest assured, whatever the reward may be, since we've already agreed, Alabasta will do its utmost to fulfill it!"

As soon as he said that...

Instantly.

"..."

Weiwei blushed and looked at her father with a dark expression.

Especially after sensing the meaningful look in Robin's smile, Nami's knowing yet smiling gaze, and Kuina's narrowed eyes, Princess Vivi felt a sudden panic and quickly said, "Father, please stop talking!"

"???"

This left Kobra completely bewildered.

What's going on?

But as the King of Alabasta, Cobra didn't want his daughter to be seen as untrustworthy, so he asked in a serious tone, "Vivi, what exactly is the reward?"

however.

"I...I...I..." Faced with her father's sudden questioning, Weiwei panicked even more and was about to change the subject when...

At this time.

Sudden.

"There really is something!" Xia Che said at this moment.

Instantly.

"!!!" XN

Everyone immediately turned to look at Xia Che.

Now...

Robin's smile, with its meaningful look, Nami's meaningful yet smiling eyes, and Kuina's narrowed gaze all landed on Shache.

And then there's Cobra's puzzled and curious gaze, and Vivi's flustered and complicated expression.

Xia Che felt extremely uncomfortable under her gaze and quickly chuckled, explaining, "Um... I just wanted to talk about the cooperation with Alabasta!"

Now that we're here, and with Kuma's abilities, perhaps we can start doing business on the Grand Line.

As soon as he said that...

"..."

The atmosphere fell silent again.

Apart from Cobra, who still looked puzzled, everyone else seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and gave a sheepish smile.

Even Weiwei breathed a sigh of relief, but she still felt a strange, indescribable feeling inside.

"That's it!" Nami stuck out her tongue. "I thought you were actually planning to make Vivi keep that promise!"

"Weiwei, what promise is it?"

Kobra looked at the scene before him, his eyes once again filled with doubt.

however.

The words had barely left his mouth.

Before Weiwei, looking flustered, could even change the subject...

At this time.

"A promise? A promise that Boss Vivi made to the leader?"

A loud, boisterous voice suddenly came from the entrance of the hall.

"Could it be that Sister Weiwei made a promise to marry her off to the boss?"

Instantly.

Cobra: ? ? ?

The rest of the group: !!

Everyone turned around, bewildered, to look at Moke, who swaggered in from the entrance of the hall. Before Xia Che, his face darkening, could say anything...

"When I heard that the boss was going to have a banquet, I quickly had Big Bear bring us here." Moke seemed oblivious to the awkward atmosphere and continued cheerfully, "Pony and Chloe are here too. Old Ke said that the little girl could come as well, so she insisted on coming as well."

As he spoke, he turned around to call Bonnie over, only to find that Bonnie wasn't in the box. She wasn't beside him, and even the big bear that was supposed to be carrying Bonnie and walking with him wasn't there. Instead, it was standing several steps behind him.

"???" Moke was taken aback and asked in confusion, "Why are you all so slow? Hurry up, the banquet is about to start!"

only.

Faced with Moke's question, Bonnie and the other two did not answer immediately. Instead, they stared at him expressionlessly, leaving Moke completely bewildered.

In the end, the honest and kind-hearted bear couldn't bear it and hesitated for a moment before pointing ahead.

then.

"Up ahead?" Moke finally turned his head, looked at the group of people staring at him, scratched his head in confusion, and then looked at his boss, "Boss, what's wrong? Is there another mission?"

"No, I just want to thank you!" Shache expressed his gratitude to Moke in a somewhat irritable manner, then turned to look at Cobra, who was staring at him expressionlessly. He chuckled and said, "By the way, where were we? Oh, about the cooperation, Alabasta's geographical location is quite good, and it's also quite unique on the Grand Line. We'll each pay half the cost. Don't worry, King Cobra, we definitely won't let you suffer any losses. This is a win-win cooperation."

They even dropped a bombshell, preparing to steer the conversation away from what had just been discussed.

"By the way, I heard that the Santora River, Alabasta's mother river, has been flooded by seawater? This is probably Crocodile's doing. I'll arrange for someone to see if we can do some emergency repairs. Considering our cooperative relationship, I'll only charge you a small labor fee, which can be paid together with the billion."

however.

Faced with Shacher's sudden enthusiasm, King Cobra, who had been filled with gratitude, now looked at him expressionlessly, saying, "Thank you so much!"

Then, with a gritted-teeth smile, she looked at Xia Che and said, "We can talk about that later. Right now, I want to talk to you about my daughter and your situation!"

"..."

(End of this chapter)