Noblesse Privilege 7 (Patreon)

Noblesse Privilege
Chapter 7

-VB-

I made a mistake. I made a big mistake. God, I felt like an idiot right now, but I already made the mistake!

Smiling as calmly as I could, I raised a toast to King Cobra, who hosted a feast in his palace to make me feel welcome.

This wasn’t the problem.

The people of Alabasta, after I made a short speech about how I wanted to befriend them, looked ecstatic.

This wasn’t the problem.

Nefertari Vivi looked very uncomfortable, sitting right next to Cobra.

This was the problem.

My mere presence made her uncomfortable, and it crushed my heart like nothing else. It wasn’t worse than losing a hundred slaves who would all be sent to the mines and die outside of my reach, but it was far more personal!

My very existence was a pain to her!

Nevertheless, the show must go on and my plan for Alabasta must continue.

“So what brings you to our country, Lord vel Monstrathum?” King Cobra asked me with bright eyes and a wide smile. It was the perfect politician’s smile for conversing with politically inexperienced people, which I was not. Was he looking down on me or was this a genuine question?

“Well,” I started slowly. “I think that some of it had to do with looking for more allies as I always am,” I replied with a small smile. “My efforts in the New World have been put on hold for the moment.”

“Ah, yes, I have heard of it,” he hummed with a nod. “Your ‘Reclamation Crusade.’”

I snorted. “Is that what people are calling it these days? Personally, I prefer ‘Pirate Extermination Campaign.’”

He grinned with honest amusement. “Yes, you tend to leave a lot of pirates dead in your wake. Thanks to you, more than a few islands closest to the Red Line in the New World enjoy safety and prosperity that they have not experienced for a hundred years!”

I waved him off. “I’m not doing anything significant.”

“I beg to differ.”

“To each their own opinions, Your Majesty,” I shrugged.

“And what could Alabasta offer that others in Paradise, New World, and the four seas cannot?” he asked much more quietly while the feast continued all around us?”

I tried not to glance but my yearnings moved me more than my words could, and glanced subtly at Vivi. “Well, women of Alabasta are known for their beauty,” I quickly covered myself with a cough.

Cobra’s left cheek twitched.

“I see, I see,” he replied noncommittally, but the faux warmth and the welcome had fled his face.

“Don’t worry,” I quickly added. “I have no interest in wives today or months to come.”

“... So you say.”

Yikes, I just made him mad, didn’t I?

“On a smaller note,” I whispered. “I hear that Crocodile is in Alabasta.”

The king froze and then nodded stiffly.

“I do not like pirates, King Nefertari Cobra,” I hummed with a smile that didn’t reach the eyes. “Tell me… you aren’t consorting with pirates, are you?” I asked him slowly, more questioningly than threateningly.

“No!”

His vehement objection made me smile. I already knew that he wasn’t, but it was good to see someone else have such a visceral reaction to pirates.

“I’m glad to hear that!” I laughed, trying to ease the tension that had just skyrocketed after the king’s abrupt exclamation. “It means that I can lend you my help without worrying!”

He looked at me in surprise.

“Taking down pirates can be tedious, especially if they are the smart kind who knows when to retreat and when to strike your weak points,” I grinned. “And Alabasta’s weakness is that, even though it has an army, it doesn’t have the resources to feed them, does it?”

He settled back down as the music started up again.

“You are correct,” he grumbled. “But could you not accuse me of cooperating with pirates again? It is … a significant insult.”

“Then I apologize sincerely,” I nodded. “Would the guarantees of my alliance against future pirate threats suffice to show you my sincerity?”

He looked at me with wide shocked eyes.

This was like the nation of Georgia being asked if they would like to join NATO, because that’s what my alliance of kingdoms was to the people of this world.

He gulped. “Is that … truly something you would do?”

“Of course. I besmirched your honor,” I hummed, though my words had actually been part of a plan. “The only way I can give reparations to the honorable king that I have insulted is to offer something of equal value, is it not?”

He still looked flabbergasted.

“... what would be our obligations?”

Normally, such a momentous occasion of a kingdom’s path must be discussed in private, but I knew that Crocodile would not allow the alliance to form if he could help it. A long negotiation would be exactly the chance Crocodile needed to usurp the throne while Alabasta was not yet part of the alliance.

Oh, I would end him and everyone involved, but that would be after, not before. It also increased the chance of Vivi getting hurt, which … let’s just say that I would burn a lot of money to not allow such a tragedy to come to pass.

This alliance? It was just one card among many I could burn on a whim.

And this “happenstance” to have Alabasta become part of the alliance?

Part of my plan.

I didn’t come here strictly to only meet Vivi! She was a princess! There was no way I could do anything without making big moves here!

… At least, I realized this while locked up in my galleon and made this plan then.

“Oh, you’ll be asked to house my troops,” I shrugged. “But any help you need will be provided so long as you provide others with the help they need that you can spare. After all, Alabasta has many people, does it not? Many countries lack the people you do thanks to the constant pirate raids that have ruined their economy and people again and again.”

“And in return…”

“Alabasta would be protected. From pirates and marines alike.”

I glanced again at Vivi.

Because marines would be assholish enough to fuck with the royal family if a World Noble asked them to, but with me already here with a claim staked? Yeah, such a thing was not going to happen.

(Hopefully.)