Pirates: Usurping a Kingdom Is Surprisingly Easy

Although the chief agents of Baroque Works were worried, they still had to follow the orders of their boss, Crocodile. They needed to assist Mr. 2, the imposter king, to make the King's Army and the Rebel Army outside the capital city, Alubarna, fight each other. There were already Baroque Works spies mixed in with the Rebel Army. Now, even within the King's Army, they had their own commanders installed by the fake king.

If the powerhouses of the Goa Empire were to arrive from Rainbase, then both the Rebel Army and the King's Army would attack Emperor Kael. Crocodile left gambling funds and casino executives to stall Kael, and now he was also preparing to use the King's Army against Kael. He would not let Kael disturb his search for the Pluton battleship.

He also wanted Mr. 2, disguised as Cobra, to expel Kael, absolutely preventing the Goa Empire and Alabasta from forming an alliance. Now he had been warned by the World Government to leave Alabasta.

If he found the whereabouts of Pluton this time, he would directly give up his position as a Warlord of the Sea. But if he couldn't find information about Pluton this time, he would sooner or later return to Alabasta.

Therefore, completely destroying the possibility of an alliance between Kael and Cobra was also a contingency plan Crocodile had laid out.

While the Rebel Army and the King's Army in Alabasta were engaged in fierce battle, Crocodile, along with Cobra and Nico Robin, were searching for the poneglyph, which had been guarded by the Nefertari family for generations, in the royal tomb of Alabasta.

Meanwhile, in Rainbase, Kael and his group had already packed up the luxurious Rain Dinners Casino. Whether it was treasures, antiques, decorations, or Seastone, even luxurious furniture, everything was moved out by Nami and Lafitte, who led the Royal Guard and clone army. Bege's internal castle was truly filled with things, and even the Exiled Emperor had a lot of items piled on it.

"This time, another one of Doflamingo's partners has been taken down. Will Doffy curse me?"

Kael looked at the batch of Seastone and a Seastone cage the size of a small house, a faint smile on his face. This Seastone cage was a large trap that could simultaneously imprison Straw Hat Luffy and his crew, along with Smoker the White Hunter, a Logia-type Devil Fruit user.

Kael just couldn't understand why this kind of Seastone cage could trap Smoker. Couldn't he elementalize and escape through the gaps? Or did the sea aura emitted by the Seastone cage make the gaps in the cage have the effect of seawater, preventing elementalization from passing through? Or was it simply that Smoker was too weak?

Kael had Aramaki, a Logia-type Devil Fruit user, try to pass through the Seastone cage. Aramaki found that even without touching, there was still a certain influence between two Seastones.

It seemed that when crafting Seastone cages, artisans already utilized the properties of Seastone to create appropriately spaced gaps, allowing the aura emitted by the Seastone to interlink. This could suppress Devil Fruit users without wasting too much Seastone in its construction.

However, after Aramaki used Armament Haki, he could easily cut off these ocean auras. He could even forcibly elementalize and pass through the Seastone gaps. It seemed that Smoker was just too weak, which was why he was trapped by the Seastone cage. The fact that Seastone emits an ocean aura is indeed objectively true. The technology of embedding Seastone into warships utilizes this principle.

By embedding Seastone at certain intervals at the bottom of the warship, the aura emitted by the Seastone deceives the Sea Kings, making them ignore Seastone warships crossing the Calm Belt.

This technology seems simple. But it still has some technical content. After all, Dr. Vegapunk conducted many tests before researching the optimal Seastone ratio and distance. It's important to know that Seastone is extremely expensive.

Before Doflamingo rose to become the underground broker emperor, the amount of Seastone flowing out of Wano Country was relatively small. The World Government had to 'conserve it,' prioritizing its supply to Impel Down and the Marines. It wasn't until Doflamingo connected with Kaido that the amount of Seastone on the market surged.

The World Government also obtained a large amount of Seastone through Doflamingo. With ample Seastone for experiments, Dr. Vegapunk was able to develop the Seastone battleship.

This technology, which seems like something even a child could think of, still has some technical depth. After all, using too much Seastone would be a huge expense, and mass-producing Seastone warships would be ridiculously expensive. Using too little Seastone would lead to discovery by Sea Kings, resulting in attacks and losses of both personnel and assets.

Of course, the most important factor was Doflamingo, who allowed a large amount of Seastone from Wano Country to flow out, thus promoting the development of Seastone-related technology.

Otherwise, both Dr. Vegapunk and other scientists would be like clever housewives without rice for cooking. Without a large amount of Seastone as a research foundation, who would bother to research Seastone technology?

Kael wanted to embed Seastone into his Exiled Emperor, turning it into a Seastone battleship that could cross the Calm Belt. However, he currently didn't know the embedding parameters for Seastone technology, but once he contacted Dr. Vegapunk, he would extract this technology as well.

Of course, even without the embedding parameters, Kael could use sheer quantity now. Anyway, he got a lot of Seastone from Crocodile this time. It's worth noting that this Crocodile had cooperated with Doflamingo for many years and had already hoarded a large batch of Seastone.

After all, Crocodile was a major client of Doflamingo. The rebellion Crocodile supported in Alabasta involved purchasing a large quantity of military supplies from Doflamingo. Crocodile established Baroque Works to make money, setting up many Bounty Hunter organizations along the seven sea routes in the first half of the Grand Line to hunt down new pirate crews and earn money.

As this large Seastone trap cage was moved onto the stern deck of the Exiled Emperor, Kael ordered everyone to board the ship and depart. As for the other Seastone tools, they were packed in boxes and stacked in the ship's hold or in Bege's internal castle.

"Your Majesty, this Warlord of the Sea must have been scared away by us!"

On the flying Exiled Emperor, Aramaki's face was full of confidence. Because these Warlords of the Sea had their bounties frozen long ago, without bounties as a reference, Aramaki, who had never left the South Blue before, thought the Warlords of the Sea were extremely powerful.

But after observing Marine Vice Admiral Gion (Momousagi), and a major battle in Kano Country and Wano Country, Aramaki gained a clearer understanding of his own strength. Even Emperor Kael himself confirmed that Aramaki was stronger than Crocodile. This made Aramaki even more confident and arrogant.

"Marquis Aramaki spoke well, what Warlord of the Sea? In front of us, they are nothing but weaklings."

Eric immediately flattered him. The strength of Marquis Aramaki and Marquis Issho had been recognized by His Majesty, and their strength was even greater than that of the Three Calamities or General Stars. Among these Warlords of the Sea, except for Dracule Mihawk, Aramaki and Issho were strong enough to defeat any other Warlord.

Moreover, with One Emperor and Two Marquises acting together, a small Crocodile was nothing but an easy target.