Splurt!
Aeridar emotionlessly withdrew his hand.
Before him, Casey, a bloody hole in his chest, softly collapsed to the ground, an expression of disbelief still etched on his face. Several armored corpses lay scattered around—they were Casey’s guard knights, all having died at Aeridar’s hands.
A profound silence fell. The soldiers and knights in the plaza watched the scene in disbelief, especially those loyal to Casey.
"No!" Chad cried out in grief from within the crowd, drawing his longsword and charging forward. "Pirate! I’ll kill you!"
Bowen, facing Chad, was also stunned. Weren’t they allies? Why had that pirate leader killed the Third Prince?
Bang!
A gunshot echoed. Chad imdiately stopped. A small bullet hole appeared on the ground before him, barely a centiter or two from his foot.
"Cross the line, and you die!" Galan held a flintlock pistol, pointing it at Chad, his voice cold.
"How ruthless. You killed your own ally just like that," Benson grinned, a playful smirk on his face. However, inwardly, he found Aeridar’s thods incredibly vicious, yet quite to his liking.
"If you’re going to leave, do it quickly. Do you want to chase you down, or do you still want revenge?" Aeridar shot Benson a disgruntled glance, his voice sharp.
It wasn’t that Aeridar didn’t want to kill Benson and the others, but that he couldn’t.
Having thoroughly studied the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia, he naturally knew how troubleso Mando’s Swap-Swap Fruit ability was.
If the opponent was determined to escape, it would be almost impossible for anyone to kill him.
It was better to actively let them leave.
Of course, if the opponent was foolish enough to constantly oppose him, Aeridar would definitely hunt them down to the death.
"No, no, no. You don’t understand my hatred for them. If you don’t kill them, I’ll do it myself." Benson shook his head, a flicker of animosity in his eyes. But then, he offered a mysterious smile, playfully saying, "Besides, I truly lost. There’s no point in continuing this fight. How about we make a deal?"
Benson had no desire to avenge these so-called brothers. If he had won, he would have killed them himself.
"A deal? What kind of deal?" Aeridar looked at Benson with interest.
"As the fifth-in-line successor to the throne, I will abdicate the throne to you. In exchange, I’ll tell you the location of the royal palace treasury, where its key is hidden, and how to open it. In return, I want one billion Berries and for you to spare my subordinates. Compared to the wealth in the royal palace treasury, one billion Berries isn’t much," Benson stated his conditions calmly.
"I don’t think I need you to abdicate the throne; can’t I just take it? As for the royal palace treasury, the palace is only so big; can’t I find it? One billion Berries, quite the appetite!" Aeridar raised an eyebrow, sowhat displeased.
He knew he was the victor. Under absolute power, resistance only led to death. Worshipping and submitting to the strong was human nature.
"Having proof of abdication from a royal would make it much easier for you to take over the entire country. It would give ambitious individuals fewer excuses and minimize any losses, allowing you to fully integrate all of this nation’s power. Furthermore, the royal palace treasury is genuinely difficult to find. Even if you did locate it, without the key, you absolutely cannot open it. If you use violence or irregular ans, the entire treasury will self-destruct," Benson spoke calmly and confidently. "You can try if you don’t believe ; it will definitely go badly."
"Prince Benson, you’re selling out the country!" Chad roared at Benson. As a traditional knight loyal to the royal family, Chad couldn’t tolerate a prince selling their nation to a filthy pirate.
And upon hearing Benson’s words, many of the soldiers and knights present stirred restlessly. They didn’t want a pirate to rule their country. In their minds, pirates were nothing but ruthless thugs who only knew how to burn, kill, and plunder. How terrible would it be to have such a group of thugs rule their nation?
"Your Royal Highness, no!"
"You’re betraying the country!"
"I don’t agree to these terms! I can still fight!"
"..."
"Quite the passionate crowd, aren’t they? How can I trust you, Your Royal Highness Prince Dasco Benson? You know, I’ve seized your country and ruined your plans. If I let you leave with a group of people, I might have a lot of trouble in the future." Aeridar squinted, his eyes dangerously fixed on Benson. He truly didn’t want to let him go.
"As I said, you don’t understand my hatred for them. Besides, the throne doesn’t hold much appeal for . I only wanted the throne to disgust my foolish brothers," Benson explained, ignoring Chad and the restless army.
For Benson, the throne wasn’t everything; he was more fascinated by personal power, for the man before him was an example—suppressing everyone with absolute strength.
Of course, getting the throne would be better, but under the current circumstances, it was impossible.
Benson paused, then smiled, continuing, "As a show of good faith, I can first write you a certificate of abdication with the royal seal. Don’t worry, the king’s imperial seal in the palace was already stolen by beforehand. The one in the palace now is a fake, and it’s probably been destroyed by Prince Casey’s artillery anyway."
"Hooh... You’re truly soone not to be underestimated. I really want to kill you right here!" Aeridar’s lips curled slightly, a malicious glint in his eyes as he looked at Benson.
"It seems you agree. Then, please wait a mont; I’ll be right back."
Benson reached out and placed a hand on Mando’s shoulder. The two instantly vanished, leaving behind two iron plates in their place.
"Captain! Are we really going to do this?" Oliver walked over, asking reluctantly. Having been cut, he didn’t want to let the other party off so easily.
"Sigh... If there were a better option, I would have acted already," Aeridar sighed, patting Oliver’s shoulder.
If he could, Aeridar wouldn’t want to let them go either. His comrade’s face had been cut; as the leader, he naturally wanted to avenge him, otherwise, how could he remain leader?
However, killing the opponent was simply impossible unless he could sohow force them onto a small, isolated island, an uninhabited island with no other landmasses for a hundred miles around, and then sink the entire island.
And even then, he’d need to be able to fly himself, otherwise, he too would drown, resulting in mutual destruction.
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