Pirates: Your emperor has returned!

"puff!"

He spat out a mouthful of hot tea.

What the heck?!

Zhan Guo put down his teacup and stared intently at the newspaper article.

……

Black and white on white paper —

Yesterday, a case of platinum lead poisoning was discovered at the port of Alabasta by patrolling soldiers.

Because the World Government declared that Platinum Lead Disease was a highly contagious disease, Alabasta immediately sealed off the surrounding area for the safety of its many citizens and admitted the Platinum Lead Disease patient to the hospital.

Thanks to the swift action taken by Alabasta's authorities, no other reports of platinum lead poisoning have been received so far.

According to the platinum lead poisoning patient, his hometown is being plagued by a spreading case of platinum lead poisoning.

The emergence of platinum lead poisoning is not just a problem for Alabasta, but is closely related to every country on the high seas!

Therefore, under the leadership of Alabasta and after internal research within the Four Seas Alliance, it was decided to dispatch a large number of medical support troops to the North Sea to provide free medical assistance.

The Four Seas Alliance will do everything in its power to help countries suffering from platinum lead poisoning!

……

That's a general overview.

Sengoku gripped the newspaper tightly, his expression shifting between light and dark.

Platinum lead poisoning...

What is platinum lead disease?

Ordinary people might not know, but Sengoku, as the Fleet Admiral of the Navy, knew it all too well.

So-called platinum lead poisoning is not actually a disease, but a different kind of "poisoning"!

Platinum lead is a lead ore that can be used not only to produce tableware, paints, sweeteners, and cosmetics, but also in military weapons!

The source of this special mineral is the dreamlike city of Flevans, once known as the "White Town".

High-quality platinum and lead products have numerous buyers worldwide, and with the support of governments around the world, the platinum and lead industry has quickly become a pillar industry of Frefans.

For a time, platinum and lead brought a lot of money to Fryvanes, and countless people became rich overnight!

But the good times didn't last long, and the terrible "platinum lead disease" appeared.

The patient's hair and skin will gradually turn white, and they will eventually die in extreme pain.

Platinum lead poisoning is essentially a poisoning symptom caused by the absorption of platinum lead ore particles by the human body.

In other words, platinum lead poisoning is not a "disease" at all!

The World Government had known about the properties of platinum and lead for decades, but in order to encourage the residents of Frefans to mine them extensively, it did not publicize this information to the public.

The people of Frevans who were mining platinum and lead had no protective measures, and naturally suffered widespread poisoning.

In order to cover up this scandal, the World Government, while assisting the Flevance royal family to escape, claimed that platinum lead disease was a highly contagious disease.

Fryvanus was thus isolated from the world, which eventually escalated into a massacre of platinum-lead poisoning patients!

Countless platinum-lead poisoning patients perished under the World Government's sword, except for Trafalgar Law, who was beside Rosinante and began to hate the world from then on.

……

However, Sengoku was unaware that there were still platinum-lead patients who had survived.

When Rosinante reported his mission to Sengoku, he deliberately concealed the existence of "Rosinante" and instead used the excuse of "personal matters" to temporarily suspend his mission to infiltrate the Don Quixote family.

Therefore, the current Warring States period did not connect this news with Rosinandi, but instead frowned and pondered another matter:

Why is the Four Seas Alliance suddenly associated with "platinum lead disease"?

Although it's hard to admit, as one of the "dark sides" of the world government, everything about Flevance and lead poisoning has been thoroughly cleaned up.

Given the extremely high mortality rate of platinum lead poisoning, it's unlikely that anyone could have crossed the red earth and traveled to Alabasta.

Even assuming, hypothetically, that platinum-lead patients did manage to reach Alabasta, Alabasta had only recently connected with the Drum Kingdom.

As a "country with a strong medical tradition," it must have doctors who understand the pathology of platinum lead poisoning.

Based on Ryan Rowan's behavior, he couldn't possibly be the kind of person who unconditionally believes the World Government; the false information the World Government uses to intimidate ordinary people cannot fool him.

So... why is Alabasta behaving so dramatically?

Not only was the incident site quickly isolated, but a medical support team was also dispatched across the red earth continent to the North Sea...

and many more!

Crossing the Red Earth? Heading to the North Sea?

Warring States' pupils suddenly contracted sharply, as if he had suddenly realized something, and he murmured:

"He was..."

"He's pretending to be confused."

A familiar voice came from the doorway. Zhan Guo looked up and saw that it was He, who was also holding today's newspaper.

"Although it's not a world-shaking event, everyone outside is talking about today's news."

Crane walked in, sat on the sofa opposite Sengoku, and sighed.

"Really, I haven't had breakfast yet."

Sengoku handed the senbei to Tsuru, his brow furrowed slightly. "What did you mean by what you just said?"

"I haven't had breakfast."

"Not that sentence, the previous one."

Sengoku rubbed his temples in exasperation. "Stop fooling around, Tsuru. This joke sounds just like Garp's..."

Even so, Sengoku's expression relaxed slightly.

Years of friendship have made these veteran naval officers very familiar with each other's thoughts.

The crane was making a little joke, mostly to tell Sengoku not to rush and to calm down first.

There are two possibilities for doing this:

Either the matter itself isn't worth rushing;

There's no point in rushing this matter.

—Clearly, this incident falls into the latter category.

"It's too late."

Crane slowly ate his senbei and said gently, "Now the whole world probably knows about this, and newspapers everywhere are selling like hotcakes."

Sengoku stroked his chin. "Why?"

"what?"

"Why did he do that?" Sengoku asked.

He—referring, of course, to Ryan Rowan.

Sengoku probably had a guess in mind, but he still wanted to hear Crane's opinion first.

“I’ve already told you, he’s just pretending to be confused.”

He brewed himself another cup of tea. "That emperor is a master of feigning ignorance."

Then, the crane brought out a world map, spread it out, pointed to Alabasta, and said:

"Alabasta is a country located in the first half of the Grand Line. To get to the North Sea, you either have to cross the Calm Belt or cross the Red Line."

"The technology to traverse the Calm Belt was recently developed by the Institute of Science and Technology, and Alabasta could not possibly have mastered it."

"Moreover, even if that emperor could force his way into the Windless Belt with his own strength, he couldn't do it every time, and the risk would be too great."

"Therefore, they only have one option: to cross the Red Earth continent."

"The Red Line is the territory of the Celestial Dragons."

The crane remained calm as it analyzed the situation step by step.

"The Celestial Dragons and Ryan Rowan are enemies. If the Four Seas Alliance wants to cross the Red Line, they will inevitably face difficulties from the Celestial Dragons."

"That would be too complicated, and it's not the optimal solution either."

"Therefore, the emperor chose to use platinum lead disease as a pretext, intending to use the noble cause of treating platinum lead disease as a pretext to make a grand trip to the North Sea."

The crane slowly said:

"Platinum lead poisoning is a thorny issue—that's what countries around the world think, and now that someone is willing to take on the task, countries naturally welcome it."

"In this way, in order to stabilize public sentiment, the World Government must at least outwardly support the actions of the Four Seas Alliance. A single Celestial Dragon cannot influence the World Government's overall decision-making."

“This is a ‘clear move.’ Although we can see his actions clearly, we have no choice but to go along with him.”

He stroked his chin. "There's just one thing I don't understand."

"Logically speaking, among the four seas of the east, west, south, north, and south, the weakest sea should be the one most likely to establish trade routes with the four seas alliance, right?"

Why did that emperor choose Beihai?

Tsuru leaned back on the sofa, turned her gaze to Sengoku, and chuckled, "I suppose the World Government has some things it doesn't want 'lowly vice admirals' like us to know, Sengoku?"

This is a rhetorical question, because Crane is only responsible for analysis; the rest is up to Sengoku to judge.

Upon hearing this, Zhan Guo was taken aback.

He did think of it.

The deal between the World Government and the pirates that amounted to 5 billion Berries—

The Fruit of Surgery, Minion Island!

Purple Pen Literature

[Chapter 85: The Spy]

North Sea.