"Marine Admiral… Zephyr…"
"Just pretend you never saw me. If that doesn't work, then just think of me as Nereus in disguise."
After leaving those words behind, Zephyr paid no attention to the Neptune Army soldiers in the Royal Palace and instead used Geppo to leave the place.
Nereus's ability to disguise himself had never been shown publicly. Zephyr had only said it casually, but to the royal guards, it carried a completely different meaning.
"Was that His Majesty in disguise? Could it be… His Majesty wants to shift the blame onto the Marines?"
"Impossible. This is a national war, not an assassination. Why would His Majesty impersonate someone else at a time like this? Maybe I saw it wrong, maybe that was just… someone who looks like Zephyr.
Forget it. I'll report this to His Majesty. You all split up and secure the entire Royal Palace!"
The royal guards carried out their tasks as planned. At the same time, Nereus also received their report.
A mysterious powerhouse, suspected to be Zephyr, had made a move against Chap before they could.
"Zephyr… so you finally couldn't hold back anymore? It seems Deul Kingdom, as salt on the wound, is still effective enough."
Eliminating a high-ranking Marine combatant outright was troublesome, but simply making Zephyr leave the Marines wasn't particularly difficult.
If no one interfered with the pirates and they killed Zephyr's wife and child just like in the original timeline, that alone would be enough to make Zephyr withdraw from the front lines.
If, on top of that, a powerful individual were arranged to kill his trainees while he served as an instructor, sever one of his arms, and then be recruited by the World Government as a Shichibukai, Zephyr would most likely fall into another extreme.
But that kind of radical Zephyr would only be a ticking time bomb.
The New World isn't inhabited by pirates alone. There are also large numbers of civilians, as well as many Marine branches.
Zephyr's final idea had been to blow them all up. That kind of extremist wasn't what he wanted.
The goal was to peel back the truth bit by bit and lay the bloody reality bare before Zephyr. So far, the results were fairly satisfactory.
The soldiers currently engaged in battle were all elites of the Neptune Army. Having a basic grasp of Haki was their minimum requirement.
In the environment of the Four Seas, a force of eight hundred did not encounter any resistance, quickly crushing the defensive lines formed by Deul Kingdom's royal army.
With the news of Chap's death and the freed slaves taking up arms to join the battle, the scales of victory had long since tipped decisively.
To be precise, the scales had already tipped before this war even began.
This so-called national war didn't even last an hour before it was declared over.
Zephyr also returned to the sky near his warship.
"You've really done quite a lot under my name."
"I don't understand what you're talking about. I was just carrying out the orders of the World Government: mediating the war, that's all."
"Yes, now it's your turn to step in. Eight hundred people are enough to wipe out this kingdom's upper echelon, but stopping the rest of the royal army is something you Marines should handle."
Nereus naturally had his own methods, though they were rather simple and crude—one sweep of Conqueror's Haki, and the entire population could be knocked unconscious.
But that approach treated the symptoms, not the root cause. Either everyone would have to be captured or killed, otherwise once they woke up, the problem would just have to be dealt with again.
That method worked well for annihilation battles, but it wasn't suitable for post-war governance. With so many Marines present, it would be a waste not to make use of their manpower.
Zephyr's no-kill principle could create major risks when dealing with pirates, but in a situation like this, it was actually quite useful. The soldiers he had trained were especially skilled at handling this kind of "security issue."
With the Marines' intervention, Deul Kingdom which had been quickly returned to calm.
As for most of the ordinary citizens, those above slaves but below the nobility, or those who could become slaves at any moment for various reasons, this national war barely affected them.
It had ended too quickly. From the moment the Ryugu Kingdom's ships were spotted and the alarm was raised, to the announcement of Chap's death, only an hour had passed.
And as for the future, they were numb.
Chap hadn't inherited the throne in the traditional sense either; he had seized it through war.
For the newly risen noble class, Chap's ascent had brought great benefits, but for ordinary people, life in the kingdom hadn't changed.
Slavery still existed, and was even harsher than before. The only difference was that someone else now sat on the throne.
This had always been the way of the seas—new bottle, same wine. What a kingdom became was usually determined solely by the person sitting on the throne.
Now, the original royal army had been disbanded, and those slaves who had regained their freedom didn't know where to go.
Some of the more daring ones had already rushed to the shore amid the chaos, hoping to set sail and escape this land of trouble.
But quite a number of the old and weak remained, looking toward Nereus.
Clearly, Nereus was the leader of the enemy forces. Now that the enemy had won, and even had the support of the Marines, he should be the new ruler of Deul Kingdom.
And his orders would undoubtedly determine their future.
At this moment, they didn't appear particularly panicked. No matter who the king was, their lives would go on. It was only a matter of how harsh the exploitation would be.
But when they saw that Nereus intended to leave without taking control of the country, they panicked instead.
"U-umm lord! Where are you going?"
"Of course, back to my own country. I only came here because of this kingdom's king. Now that the chief culprit has been eliminated, there's no reason for me to stay."
"B-but… if you don't rule here, then who will…?"
"What? Do you want me to stay that badly?"
According to the negotiations between the World Government and Nereus, they didn't mind if Nereus killed Chap and destroyed the original royal family.
But if Nereus directly occupied the country, that would be inappropriate. After all, both were affiliated nations. They couldn't just allow one country to annex another; it would be impossible to justify publicly.
However, if the people of the country themselves requested that Nereus stay and help them, then it was a different matter.
Assisting a new regime in quickly restoring national governance was acceptable.
The original noble class had no say, and among these commoners were many former slaves. They naturally hoped he would stay. After all, quite a number of Neptune Army soldiers had taken part in liberating slaves.
In their eyes, no matter how Nereus's people might rule in the future, it would be better than letting the former slave owners remain in power.
After all, if escaped slaves fell back into the hands of their masters, their fate was obvious…
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