Chapter 103

Luo En sped across the desert, and finally at noon, he found that great stone in the desert.

Arriving beneath that great stone, Luo En activated his All-Seeing World, and very easily found the quicksand cave entrance leading underground.

Luo En stepped straight into it.

After falling several dozen meters underground, his form landed heavily on the hard solid ground; the stone beneath his feet was shattered, the entire ruin trembled, and quicksand poured down from above.

"Sure enough, it's here."

Luo En gazed at the Poneglyph before him, nearly half of it sunk into the ground, and a smile appeared on his face.

"System, scan."

After storing this Poneglyph into the System Space, Luo En directly performed Moon Walk, left this mysterious deep pit of unknown origin, and rushed toward Alubarna at top speed.

By dusk.

He rendezvoused with Luo Bin and Koza outside the city they had agreed upon in Alubarna.

The three of them entered the capital of Alubarna together.

Inside a tavern, the three ate, rested and regrouped, while discussing their next plan.

"Next, I'll go into the palace to seize the Poneglyph. Koza, Luo Bin, you two wait for me outside."

Luo En said, chewing on a meat cutlet as he spoke.

Koza nodded.

Luo Bin, in front of whom sat a glass of juice, showed a look of surprise:

"Seize the Poneglyph? How exactly are you going to bring something that heavy out of the palace?"

Luo En didn't even look up: "Did you forget my ability?"

Luo Bin's face showed realization.

If it was that kind of ability, then it could indeed be done.

Luo En thought for a moment, then reached out and pulled a large sack from the void, set it on the table, and said to the two women sitting across from him: "There are probably several tens of millions of Berries in here. You can go buy some clothes, food, and whatever you want later. Luo Bin, if you can find a channel, bring back some more gunpowder too."

"Understood."

Luo Bin nodded.

…………

96. Princess Vivi and the Black-Clothed Boy of the Funeral Rites (3/4, begging for subscriptions!)

After night fell.

The three split up to act separately.

Alabasta's twelfth king, Nefertari Cobra, was still a monarch very much beloved by his people.

The capital Alubarna also presented a scene of thriving prosperity and stability; even at night, it was brightly lit everywhere, with armored guards patrolling and inspecting the streets.

Inside the palace.

Cobra was handling political affairs.

The door was gently pushed open, and a little girl with blue hair tied in a bun, snow-white skin, and a very delicate and adorable little face, wearing a pale-yellow princess dress, squeezed in through the opened door.

"Father."

Cobra raised his head, and seeing the little girl running toward him, smiled: "Vivi, what's the matter?"

The ten-year-old Alabasta princess, still a naive and adorable little girl, Nefertari Vivi, looked up with her big round eyes and said to Cobra, who sat behind the desk: "It's already very late, isn't Father going to rest?"

"Hahaha, if I went to rest before finishing the day's duties, I couldn't really be called a competent monarch."

Cobra said with a smile to her, then lowered his head again to handle his affairs.

"Vivi, if there's nothing else, you should go back and rest first."

Hearing this, Vivi's big eyes rolled: "Mm, got it. You rest early too, Father."

After leaving the room, she immediately hitched up her skirt and ran in great strides down the corridor.

Running to a certain palace courtyard, she called out to her mount Karu, whom she had hidden here.

"Karu, tonight we continue last night's palace adventure."

"Kru kru."

"Good, then let's go—toward the west side of the palace!"

Princess Vivi, mounted on its back, pointed toward the west.

"Kru kru."

The duck Karu carried Princess Vivi as it ran toward the west side of the palace.

……

In front of the Funeral Rites Hall on the west side of the palace.

A black shadow appeared before the eyes of the palace guards stationed here.

None of them even had time to react before they were silently knocked unconscious to the ground.

"Who… are you?"

The guard captain stationed here collapsed to the ground, struggling to make out that person's appearance, but only caught a blurry back before immediately passing out.

Luo En, wearing a long-sleeved black trench coat, opened the mechanism entrance to the Funeral Rites Hall and stepped inside.

Not long after he went in.

Princess Vivi, riding Karu, arrived here.

Seeing the group of guards collapsed on the ground, her eyes widened slightly.

"Has a bad person gotten into the palace?"

Vivi gazed at the opened door, feeling both a little scared and a little excited.

"Karu, how about we sneak in and take a peek?"

GLOSSARY:

- Luo En

- Luo Bin

- Wang Gong

- Kage

- Princess

- my lord

- Alubarna

- Alabasta

- Nefertari Cobra

- Nefertari Vivi

- Vivi

- Karu

- Poneglyph

- All-Seeing World

- Moon Walk

- System Space

- Funeral Rites Hall

"Pulu..."

"Hey, don't be scared. I'm Princess Vivi, vice-captain of the Sasha Squad — it's my duty to fight bad guys and protect Wang Gong."

Vivi patted the land-duck Karu on the head with her small hand as he kept shaking it, and said huffily, "You're my mount and partner — I won't allow you to be this cowardly."

"Come on, just take one peek, one peek and we'll come right out. Aren't you really fast? Don't be scared."

Under her coaxing, the land-duck Karu gradually mustered his courage and set off toward the great gate.

When they stepped through the opened mechanism gate, both the girl and the duck swallowed hard, and tiptoed down the descending staircase, holding their breath.

When they reached the main hall of the Burial Sacrifice Hall.

Vivi spotted from afar the black-clad figure standing before the stone stele, his back to them.

"Is that the bad guy...?"

Vivi wondered to herself.

Then, right before her eyes, the enormous stone stele in front of that person suddenly vanished entirely.

Vivi couldn't help but clap a hand over her mouth to keep from crying out.

Huh?

Did that huge stone stele really just disappear?

What on earth is going on?

Did he do it?

Is this some kind of trick?

Just as Vivi's little head was brimming with wild guesses, the person in the black windbreaker coat had already turned around.

To Vivi's surprise.

That person turned out to be a black-haired youth who looked only a few years older than her, with gentle, delicate features and a calm, composed bearing.

His gaze fell on Vivi and the land-duck Karu beneath her.

Karu stared at him; his animal instinct for sensing danger kicked in, cold sweat poured from his whole body, and he began trembling uncontrollably.

Then, without a word of protest, he immediately bolted back the way he had come, carrying Vivi on his back.

"Hey, Karu, what's wrong with you?!"

Vivi cried out in alarm, clinging tightly to his back.

"Pulu pulu!"

"Eh? You say he's scary? That person doesn't really look scary at all..."

Vivi couldn't help but glance back, and was startled to discover that the person had somehow already vanished from where he'd been.

The land-duck Karu carried Vivi out through the mechanism gate of the Burial Sacrifice Hall.