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Chapter 1208: The Meaning of Our Arrival
Chapter 1208: The Meaning of Our Arrival
Before Castle Tower, a massive platform had been erected on the grand plaza as an execution platform. Crowding around it were countless Wano Country residents who had traveled for days from distant regions after hearing the news. They had finally arrived at the Flower Capital, all waiting to witness the execution.
Wano Country’s overall supply situation wasn’t dire, but pollution had rendered most food-producing areas inedible. Only a handful of regions still produced acceptable food, yet even these could barely sustain the population. Most of these scarce supplies were reserved for the Flower Capital.
With so many arriving, it was impossible to expect these starving people to pay for food. Thus, Kuro made a decision:
Open the granaries, distribute the food freely, and implement rationing.
No nine hundred and ninety-eight, no ninety-eight, not even nine point eight, not even a penny. Whoever came would eat.
The Navy would not let anyone starve.
The standard of living in the once-prosperous Flower Capital plummeted, but the trade-off was that more people could survive. However, this greatly displeased some local merchants.
A group of Navy soldiers marched through the crowd, interspersed with people of various appearances. Crocodile, cigar in mouth, surveyed the capital and scoffed, “After all these years, this Flower Capital still hasn’t changed.”
Half-fishman Joe Rudolph glanced at Crocodile. “I heard this country once possessed a formidable military force. Now that I see it, it’s indeed different from the rest.”
Samurai with swords at their waists strode through the streets. Though few in number and mostly unimpressive, a few of them radiated powerful life auras as they passed.
“In my memory, there should be far more people of this rank,” Crocodile muttered, blowing out a plume of smoke toward the distant Castle Tower. “Was it his doing?”
“You Damn Foreigners!!”
A sudden roar erupted from the street. A merchant in luxurious robes, flanked by several Samurai, fiercely guarded his shop doorway against approaching Navy soldiers. “This is my store! Mine! You won’t get in!!”
A Navy commander stepped forward, brandishing an official order. “By regulation, your rice shop must supply locals. We will compensate you according to global pricing standards, but you’ve refused to open and hoarded evidence of surplus grain. Explain yourself.”
“It’s my store! I’ll do as I please! Not even the Shogun can control me! Who are you outsiders to interfere?!” The merchant roared, defiant. “You won’t get in! I’ll kill anyone who dares!”
At his words, the Samurai drew their blades, faces fierce.
A crowd of onlookers gathered around the standoff. Their tattered clothes hung loosely on gaunt, malnourished bodies, stomachs hollow from prolonged hunger.
The Navy commander shook his head, signaling silently. “Open fire.”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The Navy fired, bullets piercing the Samurai and painting crimson blossoms on the merchant’s head. The bodies crumpled.
The Navy stormed into the shop, flinging open the doors to reveal grain piled like mountains, sparking gasps and commotion. The starved crowd’s eyes glowed green with hunger, desperate to rush in—but the white-uniformed soldiers’ muskets, capable of killing with ease, forced them to hesitate.
The commander surveyed the hoarded grain, then turned to the starving masses. “Line up for rations.”
Boom!
Gunfire and orders forced the crowd into a silent, orderly line, waiting for the food that would finally fill their stomachs.
“This…” Joe Rudolph leaned back, perplexed.
Was the Navy truly this overbearing?
Before becoming a Seven Warlords of the Sea member, his interactions with the Navy weren’t this harsh. They were supposed to eradicate pirates but not interfere in other nations’ affairs, much less act so brazenly within a foreign land—even Wano wasn’t a World Government member state.
No—the Navy itself wasn’t overbearing. This was that man’s doing.
Not only Golden Lion, but others who imposed countless rules on the Seven Warlords, forcing them into bloody conflicts in the New World. Even his subordinates were equally overbearing.
Thinking this, Joe Rudolph glanced at Kas and Wilbur leading their group.
The bearded man and the mustached ‘Colossal Shield’ Kas and ‘Big Gun’ Wilbur—Golden Lion’s elite forces were equally domineering.
From proceeding through Dressrosa to arriving in Wano Country, these two had never respected any Seven Warlords’ requests. Even when ‘Snake Princess’ Boa Hancock’s double-snake mount grew exhausted and she wished to rest, they denied her. They wouldn’t even utter warnings like “face the consequences.” Instead, they forced the Seven Warlords to march alongside them.
Did the snakes tire?
Then bind them to the ship. Reach the destination within the deadline.
Especially that bearded man. Unfazed by Boa Hancock’s authority or her petrification ability—World’s Greatest beauty—his will remained unshaken even under her Full Power charm. Joe Rudolph called it ironclad resolve.
Yet Joe Rudolph didn’t think him heartless. Rather, some unshakable belief seemed to steel him, an enigma.
Suddenly, Buggy shouted, “Hey, don’t you think this is going too far!”
He pointed at the Navy officer, his red nose redder with rage. “That man wasn’t a pirate! How can the Navy kill someone without cause?!”
This was Oden’s homeland. Though a Seven Warlord, he was a pirate at heart—protecting his comrade’s nation was natural!
No one responded.
Wilbur glanced at the scene, then remarked to Kas, “Poorly handled.”
Kas merely nodded.
Wilbur continued, “The moment we found those hoarding merchants and nobles, we should’ve executed them all, seized control of the Flower Capital immediately. This wouldn’t have happened. Even the outsiders should’ve been relocated in batches, made to join the crackdown for loyalty.”
Kas watched the queuing people, his gaze eventually settling on Castle Tower. “That’s the meaning of our arrival.”
Kuro summoned us here—was it merely to watch executions? Or to defend?
No!
Neither!
Our purpose here is to eradicate the chaos plaguing Wano Country!!
(End of Chapter)
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