Bear Guard held his bamboo spear and stared fixedly at the king of the Six-Gold Kingdom.
All illusions ended at this moment.
After escaping and being rescued, when Vane and his group decided to help him save the old king, he had always felt that the former Nanami Kingdom was about to return.
But in the face of land, even the once friendly king of the Six-Gold Kingdom could not generously return the territory.
Had he played a fairy-tale game with the princess for too long, to the point that his own mind had started indulging in fairy tales as well?
"Three shots! Take my three shots."
Bear Guard let out a long breath. Veins bulged on his arms, and he looked like a black bear awakening from a snow cave. Each step he took forward made the ground boom heavily.
The bamboo-tipped spear swung into a gray arc. The old king raised his shield, which happened to block directly in front of it.
Bang!
The king only felt as if he had been rammed. His entire body was sent flying backward, rolling several times across the ground.
"Cough, cough… I even brought a short spear. Looks like that was completely unnecessary."
The old king struggled to climb up from the ground. Originally, he had held a shield in one hand and a short spear in the other.
After rolling several times, the short spear had flown off somewhere, leaving only a dented shield in his grasp.
"Second shot!"
Bear Guard charged forward again. This time, the bamboo spear thrust straight ahead.
Both Vane and Schmitt could see that Bear Guard was deliberately holding back. If he truly wanted to kill the king, the king's shield would never be able to keep up with his speed.
Yet now the king's shield once again appeared right along the trajectory of the thrust. That could only mean Bear Guard was intentionally aiming at the shield.
He simply wanted to vent his fury fiercely upon the king, without actually killing him.
Thud! The king was violently thrust away again. Holding the spear in one hand, Bear Guard stepped forward and made a throwing motion, hurling the bamboo spear like a javelin.
The spearhead struck the very top of the king's helmet as he flew back.
Bang!
The helmet was knocked into the air, spinning countless times before finally landing beside the fallen king.
"If I ever find out that you oppress the people of the Nanami Kingdom… next time, this spearhead won't be hitting your helmet!"
There was no way for the Nanami Kingdom to return. The moment the kingdom had been expelled from the World Government, this outcome had already been sealed.
Bear Guard felt boundless sorrow in his heart, but he could not kill the current king.
He truly wished to establish a new, fully integrated nation, where the people of the Nanami Kingdom and the Six-Gold Kingdom would stand equal. As for whether a successor beneath the king would carry out the current king's will—that was an unknown.
The royal family of the Nanami Kingdom could not return, but the citizens once under that king's rule deserved a stable and prosperous life.
The old king could not die yet.
"Create a new kingdom. Within it, there will be no distinction between Nanami people and Six-Gold people, no hierarchy of nobility. I will strive for this all my life… And after I die, if my successor cannot uphold this principle and attempts to divide the people, such a king may be rightfully overthrown."
Bear Guard's gaze was icy. Ignoring whatever the king was saying, he replied calmly,
"We can see whether Schmitt or I lives longer. Then we'll find out if that kind of bastard king still has guards capable of stopping me."
Bear Guard was thirty this year. Schmitt was fifty. Under normal circumstances, Schmitt would certainly not outlive Bear Guard.
"I'm very interested in this agreement as well… Old king, after all, my contribution helped you return to this position. I'm young—I can help you maintain this agreement long enough."
"And… in the entire West Blue, I doubt there are many who can stop me."
Vane walked out with a gentle smile. That smiling face made the king even more wary than Bear Guard's stern expression.
He was stronger and younger. In this stretch of West Blue, there truly were not many who could stop him. Perhaps such people existed—but one must guard not only against thieves, but against those who covet. A top-tier expert would not remain forever protecting the Six-Gold Kingdom.
...
Vane coming together with Bear Guard to "supervise" the future of the Six-Gold Kingdom and the Nanami Kingdom was naturally not because he had nothing better to do.
It was simply to earn Bear Guard's goodwill.
After leaving the mountaintop and returning to the Thunder Fortress, under Vane's instruction, Martha—who had been getting very close to Perona—naturally proposed that Perona and Bear Guard join their team.
Vane's main objective was Perona. Someone at Bear Guard's level of strength could only be considered an extra. At over thirty years old, advancing further would be difficult.
Of course, if he joined as well, Vane would certainly welcome it.
Within the current team, the disparity among the fighters was a bit too large.
Among the combat officers, the weakest at the moment was Dice, a promising talent. Yet even so, Dice's strength was comparable to a pirate with a bounty exceeding 20 million Belly.
Meanwhile, the lower-tier fighters were relatively weak. They urgently needed someone like Bear Guard—whose strength was neither high nor low—to balance things out.
Receiving the invitation, Bear Guard hesitated slightly. "With my level of strength…"
The position Vane offered him was Captain of the Guard Squad, primarily responsible for protecting non-combatants such as the ship's doctor and shipwright.
Of course, for now, it was a commander without subordinates. In the future, those lacking strong combat talent would be assigned to the Guard Squad.
If they couldn't handle fights outside, then they would stand guard at "home."
The nature of the job suited Bear Guard quite well—he had previously been a guard captain too.
He considered it an extremely sacred duty. But in a team full of experts like Rocket Team, could a small fry like him truly handle it?
"The Guard Squad's job requires not just strength, but a strong sense of responsibility. Let those guys fight, sure—but in terms of carefulness and responsibility, they might not match you."
If his strength was lacking, that was fine. He could learn breathing techniques, try to master some moves… And if all else failed, find a suitable Zoan Devil Fruit and have him eat it. His strength would always improve further.
"Take the position for now. If you later feel someone more suitable comes along, you can pass it on."
After Vane's simple persuasion, Bear Guard ultimately agreed.
Right now, he didn't know what else he could do. If it meant becoming a "pirate," then so be it. In any case, he no longer had any fondness for the World Government or the Marines.
After all, the Nanami Kingdom had still been an allied nation just a year ago. The moment it was expelled, the Marines didn't even bother showing up once. Though the new king of the Six-Gold Kingdom had certainly played a part, in his eyes the Marines' justice was nothing but hypocrisy.
The ones who helped him and the princess were not the Marines, but these "illegal groups" hunted by them.