The atmosphere on the black pearl grew eerily quiet after Yuki's casual accusation toward Leon…
This of course wasn't baseless as Yuki wouldn't accuse people so easily, however, the moment the mission to help the Lumina Kingdom required him to find out the true reason for why the new king Garan chose to betray his brother and initiate a coup d'état.
Yuki instantly decided to not fully trust the knight pirates until he was sure that there were no bad eggs among them, and he made Yurei responsible for keeping an eye on them since they can't detect him thanks to his unique Ability.
Look and behold, Just after they landed on water 7. Yurei pretended that he was going out with Rize and Shizue to collect information when in fact he quickly disappeared the moment they were out of sight and returned to the knight pirates' ship…
Once there, he caught sight of a restless Leon leaving Eden's side and sneakily returning to his room, he opened a hidden compartment on a desk in his room and took out a Den Den Mushi.
Then, Yurei watched in intrigue how Leon reported everything that happened to them to someone he referred to as "Your majesty", and even got to hear his new orders…
"Bring them with you… Maybe we can find a way to use them to drag away those pests…" A man with a helpless tone in his voice spoke to Leon through the Den Den Mushi, and Yurei noticed how Leon was clenching his fists before he said through gritted teeth "As you wish, your majesty"
After the call ended, Yurei immediately went to hug Yuki's leg and begged him to give him a vacation after having discovered the identity of the spy and Yuki reluctantly agreed and listened to his report with a frown before he sent him back to Shizue's location to keep pretending that he was gathering information with them…
…
This brings us back to today, and Yuki didn't want to waste too much time and directly confronted Leon in front of everyone, but before this knight captain could utter a single world, Eden suddenly stepped between him and Yuki and said with a firm voice
"Yuki-san, you must be mistaken, Captain Leon isn't a spy, he will never betray us"
"Arara, Things are getting more complicated" Aokiji rubbed the back of his head slightly but decided not to interfere yet and waited to see what kind of plan this new warlord was concocting…
"That's right, Captain Leon won't betray her highness, if you need to suspect someone, it should be me since I'm the son of the royal guards' captain" Marcus stepped beside Eden as well to vouch for his captain as well at the cost of raising suspicion toward himself, but he didn't care…
Meanwhile, as this was happening, the knight pirates were starting to get restless on their ship, but Yuki didn't pay them any attention and simply stared at the trio in front of him with interest
'This girl is clearly clueless, and so is the vice-captain… considering they managed to survive for this long, Leon probably cares for them as well, which means that the orders he received were to protect the princess… He called the person ordering him his majesty, hmm…' Countless thoughts flashed through Yuki's head before he shook his head and said
"We can't enter that kingdom recklessly and put the lives of my people in danger, if you don't share the information you have with us, we will just take our leave and avoid the trouble there… dealing with a celestial Dragon alone isn't easy considering the huge backlash we might receive, but dealing with them with teammates that might backstab us at any time is even worse…" After saying this, Yuki stared deeply into Leon's eyes and said
"You have two choices, trust us and tell us everything you know, or we will just take our leave, it's up to you to decide"
Eden shivered slightly after hearing Yuki's words and she couldn't help but turn to Leon who appeared to be hesitating and asked him "Are celestial dragons really involved in what happened to our kingdom?"
'How did he find out? I made sure I wasn't being followed and checked everything in my surroundings when I called his majesty…' Leon's eyes couldn't help but drift to a ghostly figure that was standing eerily close to Yuki yet no one seemed to give him much attention despite the eerie grin on his face as he stared at them…
'It must be this ghost, was he keeping an eye on me? It seems like Yuki didn't trust us from the start… He's not easy to deal with' While Leon was contemplating this, Aokiji decided to be the straw that breaks the camel's back and said "I agree with Yuki, If you don't come clean now, I will have to retreat as well"
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
"Sigh…." A long sigh escaped Leon's mouth upon hearing this, and his childhood friend Marcus couldn't help but stare at him in shock and asked "Oy Leon, they aren't telling the truth right?"
"No, what Yuki said is right… I'm a spy"
The moment Leon said this, Eden covered her mouth in shock while Marcus completely lost it as his eyes turned bloodshot and gave him a punch with all his might which sent Leon flying across the ship!
However, Dariun caught him just in time before he crashes and said with an angry voice"Don't harm the black pearl…"
However, Marcus didn't hear anything and was about to rush at Leon again, but this time, 4 red tentacles that were harder than steel extended from Rize's lower back and caught him firmly…
"LET ME GO, I WIlL BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF THAT TRAITOR!" Marcus yelled while Leon struggled to stand up with blood trickling from the side of his mouth…
'Is this woman a Zoan devil fruit user?' Aokiji wondered as he stared at Rize's red eyes and the tentacles coming out of her back, but he got distracted from his thought when Leon started speaking.
"I will explain everything… You already know that a celestial Dragon is involved so I guess there's no point in hiding anything from you anymore, I just hope you won't change your mind about helping us"
Marcus calmed down slightly after hearing this while Yuki approached Leon and said "Explain everything first before we can decide"
Leon nodded before he shot Eden a guilty look and bowed deeply and said "Eden-sama, I'm sorry I had to hide this from you, but it was your father's request…"
"Father?" Eden's heart started aching slightly in pain at the mention of her dead father while Leon simply nodded and stared at the cloudy sky before he said
"Our kingdom is so prosperous, and the royal family is wealthy and do not lack anything whether it be money or authority… However, there was nothing his majesty Gavan valued more than his daughter… Princess Eden… Not just him, but all of us felt the same"
At this point, Eden's eyes were already tearing up slightly while Marcus felt lost before he yelled "Why did my father betray him then? Why did uncle Garan betray his majesty as well?"
Hearing this, Leon shook his head and said "They didn't betray him… they were following his orders!"
Eden and Marcus froze in shock as they felt a lightning bolt smashing into their eardrums… They simply felt like they were daydreaming as they listened to the truth from Leon…
Aokiji's face grew serious as well and he started listening even more carefully…
"Everything started during the last reverie…"
"The reverie?" Yuki asked in confusion and Leon simply nodded and continued
"Yes, The reverie that's held every 4 years where the kings from the 50 strongest nations associated with the world government meet… During the last meeting that happened two years ago, His Majesty Garan was accompanied by her highness Eden as well as me and my master Mirka"
"While there at the holy land of Mary Geoise, a celestial Dragon called Saint Lance caught eye of her highness' beauty and wanted to have her as his slave…"
"Ridiculous! Those bastards would dare?" Marcus yelled in anger while Eden's face paled as she started to realize that the disaster that fell on their kingdom was because of her…
"No, what's truly ridiculous is that they will go to whatever extent to achieve their goal, and after two years of persistent threats from Saint Lance, His highness finally resolved himself and concocted a plan with his brother Garan to make it appear as if her highness was forced out of the kingdom after a rebellion took place…" Leon had a tired look on his face as he was shouldering a lot of pressure all this time by hiding the truth…
Realizing this, Eden felt even more Guilty… For it was all to protect her…
The girls on the crew felt sad for her and they started to console her while Aokiji asked calmly "So, what was the reaction of saint Lance after hearing this news?"
This question caught the attention of the crew…
"He sent agents to hunt for her highness and ordered uncle Garan to do the same, and if we don't deliver her to him in three months' time, he will come and choose 100 Women from the population of the kingdom that suits his taste and take them as slaves"
Disgust instantly covered the faces of everyone on the crew, but Yuki simply nodded in approval and said "So this is why he's starving everyone and causing them misery? If the saint finds the kingdom and its people so dirty for him to even soil his boots and step on it, he might change his mind right?"
"That's right… This is all we can do to save our kingdom from their tyranny" Leon responded with shame and anger overflowing from his face as he clenched his hands tightly until they bled!
They had to make their people suffer just to give them a chance to survive this calamity, and their king Garan and his master Mirka were forced to handle all this hate…
"Admirable" Yuki spoke calmly before he smirked slightly and said "But laughable"
"What did you say? Do you even understand the sacrifices we made?" Leon's eyes turned bloodshot as he rushed at Yuki and raised him by the collar as if ready to take a bite of his very soul even if it meant his death.
Eden and Marcus too were angry after realizing how much the people they doubted were sacrificing to keep them safe, so they also planned to assist Leon in beating up this arrogant captain even if it's the last thing they do.
However, Yuki calmly raised his hand to stop Kayle who started walking toward them with a smile and was about to snap their necks before he said "You and your king don't understand how far those celestial dragons can go in their cruelty… I bet you a billion B, the moment they find this kingdom so dirty for their liking, they would immediately call for a buster call and erase it from existence… Am I wrong, Admiral Aokiji?"
The trio were shocked so they turned to Aokiji in hope he would deny such an outrageous proclamation, but the admiral simply let out a long sigh before he looked at them pitifully and said "There's a high chance that what Yuki said would happen…"