Vane and the others' Thunder Fortress wasn't at Gold Mine Island, but at Copper Mine Island.
The two islands were extremely close to each other. If anything happened, with the Thunder Fortress's speed, it would take at most a little over ten minutes to arrive.
The injured were receiving treatment aboard the Thunder Fortress. Right now, only Meowth, Lena, and Charizard were following Vane on Gold Mine Island.
From above the castle, they observed every move the Marines made below. The old king didn't put on any act of luring the Marines to attack the pirates. After a lengthy back-and-forth, Strawberry couldn't spot any problems and ultimately chose to withdraw.
Only then did Vane recall some memories about this future Vice Admiral. He seemed to have taken part in the siege of the Sun Pirates' Fish-Man Tiger, ultimately causing Tiger to suffer fatal injuries.
After that, he fought Jinbe at the time and was severely wounded by him.
Later on, he mostly remained in the background, with no notable battle scenes.
Back then, Jinbe was already close to Shichibukai-level in strength. Combined with the steady and powerful impression the blue heavyweight always gave afterward, being defeated by him wasn't anything shameful.
"Is that Headquarters Rear Admiral very strong, meow?"
"He should be pretty strong in the future. Right now, he's probably about the same as Schmitt from the Six-Gold Kingdom."
His great battle with the blue heavyweight would happen several years later. Right now, he had likely just been promoted to Rear Admiral, and among Headquarters Rear Admirals, he was probably at the bottom tier.
"Then he's not that impressive, meow. He might not even beat Bonez."
Bonez and Schmitt's fight had been forcibly interrupted, so the two were considered evenly matched.
"Let's go ask our king and see what he's really thinking."
After all, they were pirates. They didn't have the same credibility as the Marines. For the old king to resist reporting them to the Marines wasn't something an ordinary person could manage.
Soon, the old king returned to the castle, with a simply bandaged Schmitt by his side.
"Your Majesty, for you to trust us wanted Marine criminals instead of the Marines—it truly honors us."
The old king shook his head with a smile.
"The ones who brought me out of the mine weren't the Marines—it was you. At a time like this, there's no reason for me to distrust you and trust the Marines instead."
"I killed your most outstanding son. Does that not matter?"
The new king had been powerful—without question the old king's most exceptional son.
"No matter how outstanding a son may be, if he's unfilial, then he has nothing to do with me as his father."
Being locked in the abandoned mine yet still enjoying such decent living conditions hadn't been the new king's intention. According to the new king's arrangements, he should have been suffering in a filthy, miserable environment.
That relatively comfortable setup had been arranged by Schmitt.
The new king valued Schmitt's strength greatly. As for Schmitt's preferential treatment of the old king, he turned a blind eye—as long as the old king didn't step out of the mine.
This way, Schmitt would continue working for him out of concern for the old king's safety. Why not?
"The old king is quite open-minded…"
Using his Transparent World, Vane observed the man's heart. When he spoke those words just now, there hadn't been the slightest abnormality. Either this man's scheming was deep enough to control every fluctuation in his body, or he truly was exactly as he appeared—genuinely grateful to Vane for rescuing him from the mine.
In other matters, Vane might have investigated further to see whether he was truly so sincere. But this was a struggle for the throne.
In the history Vane knew, killings between brothers, fathers, and sons over such positions were far from rare.
"At my age, it's only natural to see things more clearly. Our Six-Gold Kingdom is a relatively wealthy nation. If you intend to restore me to the throne, it certainly isn't out of pure kindness, is it? As king, I can give you gold worth one billion Belly!"
The Six-Gold Kingdom was indeed wealthy. What drained them was the high cost of purchasing other resources. Gold, in their country, was almost too abundant to be valuable. So for the king to offer gold in gratitude to Vane and the others was extremely cost-effective for him.
"Meow! Gold worth one billion Belly! That's an amazing reward!"
Meowth's eyes instantly turned into the shape of gold.
"I do enjoy making friends with someone like Your Majesty."
A single move and he offered one billion Belly—truly a tycoon nation.
"I just wonder if Your Majesty could exchange part of that Belly for one or two Devil Fruits?"
Devil Fruits were truly things that depended heavily on luck. The king could only promise to try his best to search for them. If none could be found, then it would remain one billion Belly worth of gold.
"By the way, there's one more thing. The reason we came here is because of the guards and princess of the Nanami Kingdom…"
The king's expression darkened.
"I understand. I will give them an explanation."
...
After the king left, clearly in a sour mood, Lena turned to Vane.
"That Bear Guard's idea was never going to succeed."
The Bear Guard had hoped that once the old king of the Six-Gold Kingdom was rescued, the royal family of the Nanami Kingdom could be restored. Even if their bloodline had been slaughtered clean, he still had Princess Perona in his hands to ascend the throne as queen.
"That's normal. Although the new king did many things that wronged the old king, his achievements in expanding the territory are undeniable. As ruler of a nation, spitting out land that's already been swallowed is practically impossible."
The old king clearly had a tendency to reap the benefits and enjoy both fame and fortune. If it were Vane himself, he certainly wouldn't be willing to give up territory either.
Lena continued, "Actually, back in the abandoned mine, he already made things clear to me."
When Lena went to rescue him, she had initially used the name of the Nanami Kingdom. Who would've thought that upon hearing it was someone from the Nanami Kingdom, he had instead refused to come out?
"Rumor has it that the old king and the new king of the Six-Gold Kingdom had political disagreements, which led to the old king's imprisonment. Afterward, the new king launched a series of invasions against the Nanami Kingdom."
"So everyone—including the people of the Nanami Kingdom—believed the old king opposed the invasion."
"But in truth, their political differences weren't about that at all."
On the matter of invading the Nanami Kingdom, the old king had actually supported it.
The backward environment of the six mining islands was something the old king had long seen clearly. Every year, they had to spend enormous sums purchasing basic living supplies. Right next door was the lush, resource-rich, and superior Nanami Kingdom. Such a glaring piece of fat meat had been placed before him for far too long.
His policy had been to invade the Nanami Kingdom and then merge the two into a new nation—using Nanami's land to supplement agricultural resources, slowing development on the six islands, and allowing environmental restoration to begin.
The new king's policy, however, was to conquer the Nanami Kingdom and permanently reduce its people—and part of the Six-Gold Kingdom's own population—to miners, endlessly developing the six islands. Meanwhile, the nobles and a small portion of commoners would relocate to Nanami's land, enjoying both the wealth of the six islands and Nanami's environment.