One Piece: Under the Throne

Leo brewed his emotions for a while: "Do you know that your death will accelerate the demise of this country? Without you, the kingdom's top master, those ambitious people will soon jump out. Your death will be a signal for their rebellion. Is this what you want?"

Leo's words reminded Alfred of the eldest prince's previous recruitment, so he knew that Leo was not lying, but what did it matter?

"Even if what you said is true, I can't stop it."

Leo felt that the emotions were in place, so he began to fool around: "I heard that the high-ranking officers of the navy have different understandings of justice, such as the justice that reigns over the world, absolute justice, burning justice, and ambiguous justice. Everyone has his or her own understanding, and everyone is trying to practice his or her own justice. Since your straightforward approach doesn't work, why not try another one? What do you think of crooked justice?"

"What is crooked justice?" Leo's words seemed to have some kind of magic, successfully arousing Alfred's interest.

"My understanding of the so-called crooked justice is that in order to achieve a just goal, some special means can be used, even if it slightly crosses the bottom line, as long as the purpose of justice is achieved." Leo told Alfred the reason he made up.

However, Alfred frowned: "You are using any means to achieve your goal, which is not advisable. Leo, you are still young, give up this dangerous idea." Alfred was a little disappointed. His education and the ideals he had always adhered to did not allow him to adopt such an approach.

"Listen to me first. Take the current situation of the Kingdom of Gorud as an example. Heavy taxes and gold from the sky are two huge mountains weighing on the people. On the contrary, the Mafia has become the savior of the kingdom's economy. Although the Mafia is a group of scum and working for them is tantamount to committing a crime, the lower-class people have no choice but to do so in order to survive. It's like a bottle of slow-acting poison. If the lower-class people don't accept it, they will die. If they accept it, the whole country will become the backyard of the Mafia."

Leo explained Gorude's current situation in just a few words. Alfred did not interrupt and continued to wait for Leo's answer.

"I can guess without investigation that the Mafia must have deals with the country's top leaders. Even the king is their target of bribery, so your fate today was predetermined. At this time, we must use the idea of ​​bending justice to solve the problem. Since the Mafia is indispensable, we should control it in our own hands. Even if you don't become the boss yourself, you can support your agents. Doing so can at least make the poor people's lives less difficult."

"What nonsense! I cannot coexist with the Mafia. Once the bottom line is broken, it will keep being lowered." Alfred thought this method was terrible, and he even had the urge to scold Leo.

However, Leo ignored Alfred's angry look and said, "Is it possible that you have set your bottom line too high? Not everyone has such high ideological awareness as you. Yesterday I heard many people in the square saying that you were provoking the Mafia for no reason and how would everyone live if the Mafia was driven away. It's not that everyone likes the Mafia, but they dare not mention the source of the problem, so you became the victim of the whole thing."

For a moment, Alfred felt speechless.

"The Celestial Dragons, the king, the nobles, you can't solve the exploitation brought by class, because the world is like this. Do you want to change the world? I think you are unwilling to admit this fact like most people. After all, you have been taught to protect these people since you were a child. If there is no gold from heaven, no king to set unreasonable taxes, and no nobles to suck the blood of the country endlessly, will the people still live so hard? Will the Mafia still have their living ground? Answer me, Mr. Alfred."

Leo's words almost shattered Alfred's faith. In his opinion, Leo's words were a bit treasonous, but he had to admit that he agreed with them in his heart. Thinking carefully, since he officially became a knight, the only belief he has maintained until today is honor.

"Do you still think that crooked justice is so unbearable? I believe you can do it with your ability. If you control the Mafia in your own hands, everything will be under control. But if you die, everything will be over."

Alfred continued to remain silent. In this conversation, he had no idea how many times the boy had left him speechless.

"Maybe you are right, but without actual testing, no one knows which direction the future will develop. Besides, I will be executed tomorrow. Thank you for your enlightenment. Now please leave immediately."

Leo was a little crazy. Why was Alfred so stubborn? If it weren't for you, who would care about this broken country? The Mafia was just a tool for him to achieve his goals.

"Since you have chosen to escape, I should come to save you. Leaving this country and severing the ties with this place is also an escape. It is better to go with me to see the outside world than to die here."

"Excuse me for refusing. Leo, I appreciate your kindness, but this is the Gorud Kingdom's own business after all. Please don't interfere." Alfred stared at Leo with burning eyes, and there was even a warning in his tone.

Leo was so furious. He had been trying to persuade Alfred for a long time but he was still stubborn. So he should not blame him for using force: "Whether to save you or not is my problem. It doesn't matter whether you accept it or not. We'll talk about the future later." As soon as Leo finished speaking, black lightning appeared near the castle. Leo decided not to suppress his thoughts anymore. He just had to do it when he wanted to.

"You! Who are you?" Alfred clearly felt the domineering aura at that moment, which also changed his attitude towards Leo.

Leo ignored Alfred as he was troubled by more serious issues at the moment. He kept exerting force on his armored limbs but was unable to move.

After trying for a long time, Leo gave up and shouted to the people below the city: "Will, come and help me. Who bought this suction cup? Why is it so tight?"

What happened afterwards also broke Alfred's three views. A fat man directly pushed Leo down from the city wall, and all that was left was the city wall with a large piece of paint missing.

……

The next morning, the square was packed with people, and a high platform was built in the center, on which today's protagonist Alfred knelt.

Grid III was standing on the city wall at this moment: "Alfred, go to hell with your repentance. Today I will show everyone what will happen if they dare to disobey my orders."

After saying this, Grid III pointed to the place where a piece of wall was missing and said, "Someone actually dared to come to save you. It seems that it is a very wise decision to execute you in public."

After a while, before the execution began, something unexpected happened. A mighty army on war horses rushed towards the square along the commercial street. The rumbling sound of horse hooves attracted everyone's attention. Even Grid III was confused. Where did this army come from?

The vanguard cavalry separated the crowd, and the subsequent cavalry, led by the Grand Prince, arrived under the city wall.

When Grid III saw that it was his eldest son, he roared again: "Pride, what are you doing? Who allowed you to bring the army into the capital?"

Pride did not respond to his father immediately. Instead, he looked towards the platform and said, "Alfred, I will lead the army to see you off today. You, who have lost the honor of a knight, should die with respect."

After that, he looked up at the top of the city wall and said, "My dear father, the great King Grid, may I ask what is so great about you? Look at what you look like now. How can you be so ugly as to roar in public as a king? You ignore state affairs and even your most loyal knights dare to disobey your orders. How can you continue to be king?"

King Grid couldn't believe his ears. How dare his own son accuse him in front of the people?

"Asshole, this is a disrespect for the royal authority. Someone take Pride down."

The king gave the order, but no one carried it out. Instead, many nobles in gorgeous clothes walked out of the crowd, came to the front of the team, and stood neatly behind the eldest prince. They first saluted the king, and then shouted for His Majesty to abdicate.

"You, you guys? You actually want to rebel?" At this moment, King Grid III was almost emotionally collapsed.

The gate of the king's castle slowly opened. The palace guards were also the eldest prince's men. Seeing that they had captured the palace without any effort, Pride laughed out loud.

All the people who came to watch the execution were stunned by the sudden coup, but at this moment there was a "surprise" waiting for them.

Grid III suddenly let out a scream, and the sharp tip of the knife pierced through his chest. The person who did it was actually a waiter in the palace. After succeeding, he did not forget to shout to the people below the city wall that the foolish King Grid had been executed and that His Majesty Pride was invited to ascend the throne.

Pride's face was livid. Who ordered this? He was accused of patricide. This was the biggest insult to the arrogant Pride. Even if he was to kill his father, he would give the order himself instead of being plotted against like this.

Leo and Will, who were hiding on the roof of a noble villa next to the square, witnessed the whole process. He almost applauded the performance presented by the two princes.

But there was someone happier than Leo. A loud laugh came from the roof of another villa: "Yeah hahaha, that's great, the plan succeeded. Let's see how you're going to end this... end this for that idiot eldest prince." He was a middle-aged man with green hair. Before he could finish his words, he saw two people, one fat and one short, on the roof next to him, staring at him with wide eyes.

Leo remembered that this guy was a cadre of the John family, and his name seemed to be Rohard. Without waiting for the other party to continue speaking, Leo waved his [Deep Blue Blade] and forced Rohard to jump to the square.

Rohard moved very agilely, as if he could predict Leo's attack. After dodging the deep blue blade several times, he raised his hand and launched a counterattack. A ball of dark green gas shot towards Leo and the other man.

Leo used [Deep Sea Tornado] to summon spiral water currents out of thin air to suck all the poison gas into the water, and continued to wave his hands to fight back. Rohard, who was in mid-air, had no way to dodge anymore, so he had to take a defensive posture and withstand the water flow. The huge force of the water flow knocked him away and he fell right into the army formation.

Rohard landed in a defensive posture. His sudden intrusion instantly became everyone's focus. After a brief silence, someone immediately recognized his identity.

"It's Rohat, the perverted poison maker of the John family." Rohat often used living people to conduct poison gas experiments, so his reputation was often associated with terror.

The series of incidents made the situation in the square increasingly chaotic. Civilians cried and wanted to escape. Soldiers surrounded the nobles and the eldest prince and were alert to the people around them. Rohard's exposure also forced the Mafia to act in advance.

A huge melee is about to take place in the Royal Capital Square, and today's protagonist Alfred has been forgotten by everyone.