A magic merchant infiltrating Fairy Tail

"Given the current situation in Alabasta, ending the war won't be an easy task!"

Although it had only been a day, Robin already knew the personalities of these people, so she was certain that Kira's goal was not to escalate the war, but to end it.

"You have the nerve to say that? Isn't this all Crocodile's fault? You're his accomplice too..." Kira blinked and looked at Robin beside him, "By the way, why do you always wear that hat indoors? Aren't you hot?"

Throughout this period, Robin always wore a white fur hat and a white fur coat. It's a mystery how she survived in Alabasta, where the average daytime temperature is close to 40 degrees Celsius.

Robin: "..."

Is my hat bothering you?

"The real illness of this country is the problem of resources; we have merely brought this problem to the surface!"

Oh?! You're quite adept at using sophistry...

Kira nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, yes, I'm familiar with this kind of rhetoric: expose the problem, then solve it, sacrifice a group of people in the fastest and simplest way so that future generations can live better!"

Robin chose to lower his head, drink his coffee, and continue studying the historical text he had just acquired.

Kira and his friends spent the entire afternoon in the coffee shop discussing how to end the war, while simultaneously spreading the name of 'Fairy Tail' and the wizards throughout the entire sea in the loudest possible way.

The problem in Alabasta is the scarcity of water resources, so to end the war, they must be given enough water; otherwise, the conflict will continue.

Kira is not a saint, much less a pushover, so there's no reason for him to help them for free.

He is a mage, but also a businessman. The only thing that can drive him is profit. As everyone knows, Alabasta is very poor, so it simply cannot afford to let Kira improve the climate and terrain.

Giving them a good, thorough downpour was already an act of humanitarian aid, and Kira even felt that this gesture would earn him a lot of good karma.

After various analyses, examples, calculations, and speculations, a group of people came up with thirteen plans and compared them with each other. Finally, they came to the conclusion that they should "make a grand entrance when the war is at its most intense and then use magic to bring rain to the entire Alabasta, or simply make sure there is a downpour in Alabasta"...

It was exactly the same as the first proposal they came up with when they first started discussing it.

Kira was very familiar with this situation; he often encountered similar situations when he worked before. A plan would be revised again and again, and in the end, the other party would say, "The first one is still the best."

If Kira were still a wage earner, he would definitely be furious. But the situation is different now. He is the boss himself, and he devises plans to benefit himself, not to make money for an unscrupulous boss. So he definitely needs to pay more attention.

Moreover, he not only takes it seriously himself, but he can also find a group of people to take it seriously for him, and they don't even have to pay him a salary, which is very comfortable.

"In the end, I also... became the kind of person I hated most!"

As the sun set, the group finally finished their discussion. Kira looked at the guys whose faces were etched with 'tiredness' and 'boredom', and couldn't help but laugh out loud without any conscience.

"Great! Another afternoon wasted! We've spent another five very fulfilling but utterly useless hours of our lives. To celebrate, let's go eat at the most expensive restaurant in Albana!"

"Yay!!"

"Long live Kira!!"

Chapter 865: Gathering at the South Gate of Albana...

The next day, troops across Alabasta began to stir.

In Albana, the royal army had been assembled in a day and was preparing to march to the Rainlands under the personal leadership of the king to attack Crocodile, who was no longer there.

On the rebel side, troops in various regions have been assembled, and they have also unexpectedly obtained weapons prepared in advance by Crocodile from a merchant ship, and are preparing to attack Albana.

As for the Straw Hat crew, with Crocodile already escaped, Luffy, with nowhere to vent his anger, could only turn all his power into food. The group used pirate tactics to quickly scavenge some food and water in Crocodile's territory, then rode their moving crabs to turn around and head towards Albana, preparing to stop the impending war.

In the rainy areas, the commotion is much greater.

Erza dismissed Kira's grand promises to Mr. 1 and the others at the Rain Party as utter nonsense, and used force to coerce Baroque Works into disbanding on the spot, forbidding them from becoming assassins and taking lives at will in the future.

Those with no criminal record or minor past offenses can be let off the hook and become bounty hunters if they want to make money in the future, hunting down notorious pirates; the rest will be packaged up and sent to Smoker as performance bonuses.

This is also one of the reasons why Erza did not go to Alabasta with Kira, but chose to stay. She did not want to see such a rotten organization as Baroque Works still existing in Alabasta.

Erza knew very well that although Kira verbally referred to them as a 'subordinate guild,' he was essentially just using these people as tools. He mainly valued their numbers, as they made things easier for him. Therefore, Erza wasn't particularly polite to them. Furthermore, she disliked Baroque Works, an organization that resembled a dark guild, so she disliked them even more.

As for whether doing these things would displease Kira...

Wouldn't that be even better?

I've finally gotten my comeuppance, shouldn't I be happy? I could totally throw a banquet!

Looking at the spies and assassins with bruised and swollen faces, bandages wrapped around their bodies, and limping as they walked, Gray hesitated for a long time before finally looking at Erza, the current leader.

"Hey Erza! Are you sure this is all right? Kira didn't say that yesterday, did he?"

Erza haughtily tossed her head aside and snorted, "Who cares about him? Ever since he came to this world, this guy has been talking about starting a new guild on his own, and even proclaiming himself guild leader. Does he even respect the old man? Even if the old man did say he was planning to retire recently, does that mean the new guild leader has to be Kira? Do you think I, Erza, have no chance of competing?!"

Gray: "..."

"You didn't seem to value the position of 'president' much before, did you?"

Erza retorted loudly, "Do you think I care about the 'Guild Master' position? I'm just teaching Kira a lesson on behalf of the old man! This guy is getting more and more outrageous. You know, he used to stay in the shop all the time and hardly ever went to the guild! But now? He's always talking about causing trouble. Do you think this is like his old self?"

"Fine, fine, do whatever you want, I don't care!" Gray had nothing to say, waved his hand, and turned to walk towards Juvia who was coming to greet him.

"Lord Gray~ Juvia has prepared a sweet treat for you~"

"coming!"

"Ta-da! This is a Grey Cookie that Juvia made especially for you!!"

"...I think I'll pass. I suddenly realize I'm not that hungry."

"Eh?! No way!!!"

……

Albana has five city gates: east, west, south, southeast, and southwest. The rebel army set out from Catalonia, a city near Nahana, directly south of the capital, and naturally attacked the south gate.

At this moment, an enormous golden magic carpet was hovering 300 meters above the south gate of Albana, the hot wind making the edges of the carpet undulate like waves.

"These people actually have horses?"

Kira, holding binoculars, stared in astonishment at the group of rebels about to arrive in Albana. "I thought the only things you could ride in the desert were camels, or maybe some strange native creatures like ducks, crabs, and turtles. I never imagined you could ride horses too!"

Lucy, embarrassed, replied, "Those are all aquatic creatures, aren't they..."

Robin, standing nearby, shook his head and explained to Lucy and the other travelers, "No, Kira is right! Alabasta does have fast ducks, migratory crabs, and tortoises; they are all animals that can move quickly across the desert! In comparison, horses are indeed much rarer!"

"Uh...is that so...??"

"Judging from the situation, they'll probably arrive in about 30 minutes," Kira said, glancing back at Albana's defenses. "They're all ready to go here too!"

Even knowing that Crocodile was the mastermind behind the internal strife in the kingdom, and even having already decided to go to Rainland to deal with Crocodile, when the rebel army was actually at his doorstep, even King Cobra could not so easily abandon the capital and send the entire army to Rainland.

It wasn't because Cobra was unwilling to bear the infamy of 'abandoning the city,' but because the hundreds of thousands of soldiers under his command would not allow such a thing to happen.

Even six people can't guarantee they'll be of one mind, let alone six hundred thousand!

These soldiers couldn't see Crocodile's schemes or the Baroque Works' underhanded tactics; all they could see was a massive rebellion, large enough to destroy a nation, and a foolish king who, seemingly using dancing powder, abandoned the city and fled at the last moment.

The soldiers refused to obey orders to abandon the city and flee, which prevented Cobra's army from setting off for Rainland. They were forced to stay and defend the city while they made further plans.

Kira turned the telescope around and looked westward. There was a plume of smoke at the edge of his vision, and it seemed that people were also heading this way.

"It must be Luffy and his crew, right? Since they're almost here, I should get ready!"

As for how to prepare? Of course, it's all about eating well, drinking plenty of water, and getting enough sleep!

"You lot, you ate everything! Leave me some, I'll be using up a lot of magic power later!"

At this moment, on the airship, Urudia and the others were sitting around a table, leisurely eating hamburgers, fries, steak, chicken wings, egg tarts, roast meat, hand-pulled pancakes, and crayfish, and drinking coffee, milk, green tea, black tea, lemonade, strawberry milkshake, and mango pomelo sago. How could one word describe their comfort?

However, upon hearing Kira's voice, the group not only did not stop eating, but instead ate even faster.

"You bunch of guys..." Kira was instantly furious.

……

Half an hour later, Luffy and his crew, riding on the Super Fast Duck, arrived at the city gate first.

Without Crocodile's delay as in the original story, Luffy and his crew spent less time in the Rainlands, so they arrived earlier than in the original work.

"Great...we've finally made it!" Thinking of the country that was about to be at peace, Weiwei, a sixteen-year-old girl, burst into tears of joy.

"Weiwei, what are you planning to do next?"

Vivi quickly wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes, clenched her fists, and cheered herself up: "I want to see the leader of the rebel army and tell him the truth!"

Just as I thought! But will things progress that easily?

Looking at the billowing dust in the distance, both Luffy, who rarely showed his intelligence, and Zoro, whose body was still wrapped in bandages, frowned for a moment.

They knew perfectly well that Crocodile was the root of the nation's turmoil. Eliminating him could prevent the situation from worsening, but restoring what had already been damaged would be equally difficult. Moreover, with the situation now escalating to the point of being at the gates, would those rebel troops really listen to Vivi's advice?

Unless, right now, a heavy rain falls here to extinguish the fire in the hearts of those people!

Thinking of this, the group suddenly looked up at the sky...

Chapter 866 June Rain

The sky was clear and the sun was high in the sky.

There was not a single sign that it was going to rain.

That's true. Rainfall is scarce in Alabasta to begin with, and the use of "dancing powder" several years ago has had a negative impact, resulting in a prolonged drought.

The rebel army moved very quickly. Soon after Luffy and his crew arrived, they saw countless cavalry and infantrymen, wielding sharp swords, axes, or even more powerful firearms and cannonballs, shouting as they charged in.

Smoke and dust billowed before my eyes, shouts filled the air, and all I could see were people dressed similarly and with similar expressions. Their gazes were firm, their faces solemn, devoid of joy or sorrow, only filled with rage.

"How many people are there?!" Nami was completely stunned when she saw a war of this scale for the first time.

Chopper said, "I heard from that Lily that the rebel army numbers over 200 million..."

Two million. The entire population of Alabasta is only ten million, while the Kingdom's army has about 200. This means that the war directly involved more than a quarter of the country's population, not including the elderly, the infirm, the disabled, and the young. So perhaps more than 60% of the country's young and able-bodied are here.

Hearing this terrifying number, even Luffy and his crew couldn't help but feel a sense of awe, but once they had made up their minds, they would not back down in the slightest.

High in the sky, Marcus was munching on a grilled chicken wing while looking down from the edge of the flying carpet. When his gaze fell on Luffy and the others, a feeling of genuine admiration welled up within him.

"They dared to directly intervene in a large-scale war involving 270 million people for the sake of their partners. They are truly loyal and righteous..."

Romeo lay beside him, constantly stuffing potato chips into his mouth, his eyes gleaming as he exclaimed in amazement, "So amazing! So cool!! Are all pirates like this?"

"No way! They're just isolated cases!" The father, Marcao, punched his son on the head, then exhaled a puff of smoke. "But they are certainly handsome!"