One Piece: Lord of the Weather Chapter 71: apology

With the first threads of dawn, Jinny's eavesdropping devices began to whisper.

She was sleeping on her bed, her body covered with a light blanket, when the sounds woke her. She sat up quickly. Her eyes were still half-closed, but her ears were fully alert.

She approached the devices. She turned up the volu. She began to listen.

It was a conversation between two high-ranking officers in the king's army.

"The main warehouse... it's completely burned down. Everything. Guns, cannons, gunpowder, ammunition. Everything has turned to ashes."

"How? How did this happen? Who did it?"

"We don't know. So soldiers said they saw a ghost. Others said the fire started on its own. But what is certain is that we have lost the warehouse."

"This ans we've lost half our arsenal. Half the weapons we were relying on for the southern war."

A terrifying silence. Then the first officer said:

"Soldiers have begun to flee. They don't want to fight without weapons. They don't want to face the revolutionaries unard."

"And the king?"

"They haven't told him yet. His anger will be great."

Jinny turned off the device. She sat on the edge of her bed. She was trembling slightly.

Not from the cold.

She was thinking.

The warehouse had burned. Half the king's weapons were gone. And the one who did it was... Pablo. The man she had doubted. The man she thought wanted to exploit the poor.

And now, he had burned an entire warehouse alone. Under the guard of over four hundred soldiers. And risked his life for a kingdom that was not his.

She felt sothing strange. Guilt. Regret. Perhaps admiration. Perhaps all of them together.

She stood up. She walked to Pablo's room. She opened the door. He was not there.

She sat on his bed. She waited.

The hours passed slowly. She listened to the footsteps of soldiers in the corridor, to the sounds of the early morning. She thought about Kuma. About herself. About Pablo.

She thought about how their judgnt had been hasty. How their assumptions had been wrong.

---

In the early hours of the morning, Pablo arrived at the headquarters. He was tired. His face was dusty, his eyes showed lack of sleep. But he was still on his feet.

He opened the door to his room.

He was surprised to see Jinny sitting on his bed. She was still wearing her simple clothes. Her pink hair cascaded over her shoulders. Her eyes were fixed on him.

"Jinny? Why are you here?"

She did not answer imdiately. She stood up. She looked at him for a long ti.

"Are you responsible for the fire in the north?"

Pablo paused for a mont. He could have denied it. He could have lied. But he looked into her eyes. He saw sothing he had never seen before. Perhaps admiration? Perhaps.

"Yes."

Jinny sighed. She breathed a sigh of relief. As if she had been waiting for this answer.

"You risked your life. Alone. Under the guard of over four hundred soldiers. Why?"

"Burning this warehouse at this very mont will be a painful blow to the king and his army. And when we spread the news in the south in the morning, we will raise the n's morale and gain more supporters."

She was silent for a mont. She was thinking. She was searching for words.

"Pablo... I..."

She stopped. She looked at the ground. Then she raised her eyes to him.

"I owe you an apology."

He raised an eyebrow. "An apology? For what?"

"For my assumptions. For my accusations. I thought at first that you were a man who wanted to exploit the poor. I thought you were like the nobles, looking only for your own interest. But you... risked your life for us. For the south. For people you don't even know."

She stepped closer to him.

"I am sorry."

Pablo looked at her for a long ti. He did not expect this. He did not expect her to apologize. He did not expect to see this weakness in her eyes.

"No need to apologize." he said quietly. "You were right to doubt . I am not a saint. I am not doing this only for the greater good. I have my goals. But that doesn't an I will abandon the poor."

"I know."

Another silence. Then he said:

"Now, let us finish this revolution."

She nodded.

She left the room. But before she left, she stopped. She looked at him over her shoulder.

"Thank you, Pablo."

Then she left.

Pablo remained standing. He was tired. But he smiled.

---

In the northern palace, King Bekori was in an indescribable state.

He was not sitting on his throne. He was sitting on the floor. His eyes were red from lack of sleep. His clothes were dirty, unchanged for days. His beard was unshaven, his hair tangled.

He stared at the cold wall with glassy eyes. He did not move. He did not speak.

Days ago, he had lost his only son. So ti ago, he had discovered that his herb convoys were being stolen. Days ago, he had sent an army to the south and it returned defeated. And now... now he had woken to the news that his main weapons warehouse had burned down.

Half his arsenal. Half his weapons. Half his ammunition. All turned to ashes.

One of his officers entered. He was afraid. He knew the king might kill him if he disturbed him. But he had no choice.

"Your Majesty..."

Bekori raised his eyes to him. His eyes were empty. No anger in them. No sadness. Just emptiness.

"What?" he whispered.

"The army... soldiers have begun to flee. They don't want to fight without weapons. And the thousand soldiers that Volkan was supposed to lead... only eight hundred remain."

Bekori was silent for a mont. Then he stood up. His body was trembling. But his eyes suddenly ignited.

"I will send two thousand."

The officer's eyes widened. "Two thousand, Your Majesty? But this will leave a great gap—"

"It doesn't matter! I will send two thousand! I will gather every available soldier. I will send them to the south. I will burn every village. I will kill every man, every woman, every child. I will turn the south into a graveyard!"

He was shouting. He was spitting words like fire.

The officer did not dare to object. "As you command, Your Majesty."

He left the hall. He left Bekori alone.

The king sat on the floor again. He was trembling. He knew that two thousand soldiers were the maximum he could send. He needed the rest to guard the palace, to guard the nobles, to guard the remaining weapons and food warehouses...

But he was determined.

He would send two thousand soldiers.

And he would win.