The time went back to a little earlier, in the palace of Albana.
The king of Alabasta, Cobra, is listening to the report from the guards. Since Ian entered Albana, he no longer hides his identity, so the news of his appearance in Alabasta was naturally reported to the here.
It stands to reason that a member of the Shichibukai appears in a member of the world government, and anyone who knows a little bit of etiquette should come to the palace to pay a visit, but the purpose of Ian's trip is not the Neferutali family at all, so He never came to see Cobra at the palace.
However, Cobra was not worried, he no longer cared about this kind of etiquette, what he was thinking about now was what Ian, a newly promoted member of the Shichibukai, wanted to do in Alabasta.
Cobra is not young anymore, he has been busy with state affairs for a long time, his face is full of old age, and Alabasta is really troubled now, not to mention the long-term drought, and now even the rebel army has been established, which allows Cobra to say Is frowning.
This kind of turbulent country often attracts the covetousness of pirates. During this period of time, the number of pirates making trouble in Alabasta has gradually increased. Strength is really powerless.
Although Crocodile would take away the property that the pirates robbed as trophies every time he wiped out pirates, no one questioned this. Crocodile's reputation in Alabasta is very high, even Cobb La, without knowing the truth, is also very grateful for Crocodile's shot.
Therefore, when the news of Ian's appearance in Albana came out, Cobra immediately thought of Crocodile. He didn't understand Ian's real reason for coming, so he worried that Ian came to find Crocodile. troublesome.
"Gaka!" Cobra turned his head and asked the Alabasta National Guard Adjutant Ghaka who was standing beside him, "Do you know anything about this young man named Ian?"
The black-haired Gaka is a devil fruit capable user in the jackal form of the canine fruit. He is the same as another guard adjutant, Falcon Bell. So the entire royal family is very dependent on the two, and likewise, the two are also quite loyal to Cobra.
"I have some understanding!" Jiaka nodded and said, "I think this new Shichibukai is a very dangerous person."
"How should I say it?" Cobra asked, stroking his beard.
Jiaka said: "From the very beginning, he set fire to the holy land of Mariejoa, took the lead in rebelling against the nobles of the world, and then fought against the admiral twice. , was killed by a pirate... "
"Walpo!?" Cobra looked at Jaca in surprise: "He... he was killed!?"
"Yes!" Jiaka nodded seriously: "Although I dislike the king because of the grievances suffered by Princess Weiwei back then, the news is true. It is said that a very powerful pirate killed him. Walpo's, and the Kingdom of Drum Island, is on the same route as Alabasta..."
Cobra said thoughtfully: "You mean, the person who killed Valpo is most likely the new Shichibukai?"
"This is just speculation!" Gaka said, "After all, he suddenly appeared in Alabasta, so he couldn't have flown here..."
After being explained by Jaka, Cobra also felt that Ian was the biggest suspect.
"Killed the king of a country..." Cobra couldn't help but get a little gloomy: "Then, what did he want to do in Alabasta?"
"Unpredictable!" Jaca shook his head and said, "So during this time, Bell and I will always be by Your Majesty's side!"
This is the reason why Jiaka said that Ian was a dangerous person. Because of the suspicion of killing Valpo, no one could predict whether Ian would do it again in Alabasta.
However, for some reason, Cobra’s view of Ian is somewhat different from that of Jaca. If you study Ian’s past carefully, you will find that the targets of his actions are all evil people. Said that although they are the nobles of the world, even Cobra is very disgusted with their behavior, and the same is true for Valpo. Although he is the king of a country, Cobra can't see any king in him look.
Cobra was noncommittal about what Jaca said, to protect him personally. He felt that Jaka's worries might be unnecessary, and of course, he couldn't refuse Jaka's kindness.
He suddenly asked Jiaka: "My child, Weiwei, has there been any news from her recently?"
Ever since Alabasta began to suffer from drought, this abnormal climate has aroused doubts among some members of the royal family, but at this time, Vivi, the royal princess of the Neferitari family, found Alaba A mysterious organization Baroque Studio appeared in the country of Stan, and she intuitively told her that this organization might be doing some ulterior activities in Alabasta, so she volunteered to join this organization as an undercover agent.
Cobra couldn't stop her at all, so he could only send Alabasta's guard captain Icarem to join her in the Baroque studio to protect her by the way.
And up to now, Princess Weiwei has been undercover in this organization for a year...
Hearing Cobra's question, Jaca shook his head and said, "Princess Vivi sent back information that this baroque studio is likely to be related to this drought, but there may be a very powerful person behind this organization , she is still unable to determine who it is... "
Cobra nodded, just about to say something, but at this moment, a member of the guards suddenly ran into the hall, and said with some horror: "Your Majesty, Lord Crocodile and Ian, who is also the Seven Martial Sea , fought in the city of Albana!"
"What!?" Cobra was startled, and immediately stood up.
"There was also a huge sandstorm in the city!" The guard member continued to report.
Cobra and Jaca quickly ran out of the main hall, stood on the edge of the palace palace, and looked towards the city of Albana. Sure enough, under the distant sky, a tornado suddenly appeared in the city. A large amount of sand is undoubtedly the sandstorm.
But the strange thing is that the sandstorm didn't move, but just spun rapidly in place.
Not only Cobra and the others, but almost the entire Albana people saw the eye of this sandstorm.
"Quick! Evacuate the nearby people immediately!" Cobra was in a hurry, and immediately ordered the guards.
Alabasta's guards were dispatched urgently and rushed towards the center of the sandstorm, while Cobra and Jaca could only look at the sandstorm beyond that day with anxiety.
At this moment, for some reason, Cobra suddenly thought of the fact that Alabasta has often been attacked by sandstorms in the past two years, so a thought popped into Cobra's mind: "This sandstorm, Could it be related to Crocodile!?"
Crocodile is a sand fruit capable person, Cobra knows this, but Crocodile has never shown the power to control sandstorms in front of anyone before, if it hadn't been for Ian this time, It is impossible for Cobra and the others to witness the sudden sandstorm in their capital.
There was a sudden clear sound in the sky, and Cobra looked up, and Bell the Falcon, another guard adjutant, fell from the sky, and when he landed in front of Cobra, he had already changed back to his original appearance. After landing, he said to Cobra: "Your Majesty, do you want me to check the situation at the scene?"
"No, don't go!" Cobra immediately stopped Bell's plan, saying: "This is a battle between two Shichibukai, we can't intervene!"
Jaca and Bell were taken aback for a moment, not knowing why Cobra would make such a decision, but their obedience still made them nod.
Cobra turned his head and looked at the sandstorm in the distance. At this time, Ian's black dragon wave had already jumped into the sky, two black flame dragons were intertwined, the huge high temperature melted the gravel, and the sandstorm was quickly eliminated. Invisible, Cobra couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief seeing this scene.
"It really is him..." Now that the black dragon wave has become Ian's signature, when Cobra saw the black fire dragon, he immediately confirmed Ian's identity, but the doubts in Cobra's heart became even worse. .
Combined with the powerful behind-the-scenes figure mentioned in the news sent back by Weiwei, and the sandstorm that suddenly appeared in the center of the city, Cobra became more and more suspicious of Crocodile.
Ian didn't know that this confrontation between him and Crocodile actually became an opportunity for Vivi to investigate the behind-the-scenes boss of the Baroque Studio. Find out the identity of your boss? So this battle, it can be said that it has determined a general direction for their investigation...
Because of suspicion, Cobra made a decision not to help each other, but ordered the guards to evacuate the residents of the city as much as possible.
Ian didn't know these things happened, and he was stunned at this moment, because he never thought that Robin would ignore himself, and instead took the first step to rescue Ian from the bottom of the quicksand pit.
"Hey! What are you doing!?" Ian was pushed to roll over the edge of the pit by the hand of Robin Huahua fruit. This rolling feeling was really bad, so Ian couldn't help but say: "Stop it! You're going to be drowned in quicksand!"
However, Robin ignored Ian's cry, her body sank a little bit, but she kept pushing Ian to roll up.
At this moment, Crocodile suddenly appeared in the pit in the form of wind and sand, grabbed Robin by the neck, and said coldly to Robin: "How dare you help him!? You want me to kill him first!" Is it you?"
However, Robin smiled and said, "You won't kill me, because I'm still useful to you!"
"..." Veins popped out of Crocodile's forehead, but he kept on saying, Robin is a really smart woman, and she pinpointed Crocodile's fatal spot right away.