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Chapter 754: A Matter of Allegiance
Chapter 754: A Matter of Allegiance
On the other side of the battlefield, another military encampment stood. Unlike Dressrosa’s vibrant camp, this one felt desolate and eerily silent.
Around the camp, guards clad in leaf-stitched uniforms—exposing most of their bodies but wearing iron breastplates over their chests—stood motionless, eyes locked on the horizon.
Kas and Wilbur spotted the camp from a distance. As they approached with their group, the jungle suddenly rustled.
“Halt!”
Two figures burst from the foliage. Both wore black skin and grass-like garments, gripping flintlock pistols with tense, grave expressions.
“Navy,” one guard demanded coldly. “What business do you have here?”
Kas replied, “We received King Randolph’s plea for help. We’ve come to assess the situation.”
“Are you here to aid us?” the second guard asked, hope flashing in his eyes.
Kas said, “We’ll decide after we’ve seen things for ourselves.”
“Then enter,” the cold guard lowered his gun, leading the Navy into the camp.
The camp itself was a simple wooden stockade. As the Navy walked in, Donald frowned. The soldiers’ gazes felt hostile, simmering with an unsettling mix of despair and grim determination.
The air was oppressive, heavy with silence. The soldiers—seated or standing—tinkered with their weapons. When the Navy arrived, they glanced up briefly before returning to their tasks.
“Where’s your commander?” Wilbur asked.
Their guide paused. “Our commander fell in battle. Ask me instead—I’m Yef. Damned war… took too many of our kin.”
“Has Dressrosa wronged you so deeply?” Wilbur pressed.
Yef’s face twisted with fury. “Wronged? They’re beasts! I heard Dressrosa’s conquests only fight on open battlefields, slaughtering only enemy soldiers, never harming civilians. But my village… my family… they burned everything! Liars! All of them! They promised advancement, civilization, peace across the Grand Line! We believed them… and they betrayed us! They’re demons!”
The camp erupted. A soldier slammed his bow to the ground, shouting, “Fight back! They’re monsters! We won’t surrender—never again!”
“Never again!!” the others roared, their despair igniting into chaos.
Wilbur’s brow furrowed. Frankly, he doubted the tale.
He’d met David.
When Kuro was away, David had visited. Wilbur, moved by David’s reverence for “Kuro-sama,” had gifted him a copy of The Justice Quotes—a sacred text. Wilbur refused to mass-produce it, fearing it would dilute Kuro’s teachings. Only a few hand-copied volumes existed, each painstakingly written.
David, Wilbur believed, embodied Kuro’s justice. How could such a man wage senseless war?
Now, hearing the soldiers’ rage, Wilbur hesitated.
“Is David truly such a man?” he murmured.
“Enemy attack! They’re coming!!”
A breathless Laya Kingdom soldier sprinted in, shouting, “Dressrosa’s advancing!!”
Yef gripped his long spear, teeth clenched, bloodshot eyes blazing. “To war! Even in death, we’ll make them bleed! For revenge!!”
“For revenge!!” the soldiers surged forward.
“Kas,” Wilbur hesitated. “What do we do?”
Kas closed his eyes, tears slipping down. “How tragic…”
Opening them, he declared, “I feel their sorrow beneath this rage. Dressrosa’s actions defy justice! Wickedness is justice’s foe. Though we cannot dominate this war, we’ll stop their massacres of civilians!”
White energy surged from him, enveloping the Navy.
“Yes!!” The Navy saluted in unison.
---
Between the camps, the battlefield lay charred and blackened, strewn with corpses. Dressrosa’s forces advanced in perfect formation, their presence menacing. Opposing them, Laya’s soldiers charged wildly, disrupting the enemy’s rhythm.
“Here they come again,” muttered Cyrus, Dressrosa’s vanguard leader.
This reckless charge, fueled by hatred, bogged the disciplined troops down. Why such fierce resistance? Did their love for this land run so deep? Yet, orders must be obeyed—justice be damned!
“Prepare artillery!”
The Dressrosa commander barked. Cannons roared, hurling iron death. The Laya soldiers scattered, minimizing losses. Even as explosions tore through them, the wounded crawled forward, determined to reach close combat.
“Fire!”
Rifles cracked, bullets blazed. Suddenly—
“Fivefold!”
A white-energy beast materialized, shielding both armies from cannon fire and bullets. A voice boomed from within: “Cease this war—it is not justice’s path!”
Nearby, David’s ship approached. Clad in armor, he leapt from the deck, his greatsword drawn. “So this energy stalls the war… Let me end it!”
(End of Chapter)
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