A large number of soldiers had gathered in front of the royal palace in Dressrosa, each holding a weapon and a musket, ready for battle.

A vast, dark mass; it looked like there were many of them.

The nearby civilians had already retreated in fear.

They didn't understand why they had to fight again when the war was supposed to be over.

Behind the soldiers, several richly dressed nobles were discussing amongst themselves.

"That Pansa family member, he clearly has nothing left, and has been like a clown for eight hundred years. Just because the navy chose him, does he think he's qualified?" The speaker was the head of the Wood family, one of the greatest nobles in Dressrosa.

"In the end, why should we listen to that navy's opinion?" The one who spoke this time was the head of the Melo family, who was also known as the 'human trafficker' in the documents.

"Who knows what will happen? If we hadn't been greedy and forced that guy Dold to give up, things might not have turned out this way." This time it was the head of the Tracy family.

They were all top nobles from Dressrosa.

They had received intelligence earlier that the World Government had delegated decision-making power to a naval officer.

Originally, it wasn't so easy for King Riku to abdicate, but after learning this news, they united their forces and forced King Riku to give up.

A king who abdicated long ago cannot regain the throne with just Cyrus alone.

If they hadn't heard this news, they would have accepted it, since the king was the chosen one and Don Quixote had passed the torch to Riku, which they acknowledged.

But if the throne becomes even slightly threatened, they will naturally want to give it a try.

Although King Riku is helpless against them, he is not exactly trying to please them. Given the chance, King Riku would definitely kill them.

They might as well take over themselves.

“It’s alright. Even though the navy has chosen Pansha, what can Pansha do? He’s just one person. What’s there to be afraid of? The purpose of gathering our soldiers is not for Pansha,” said the head of the Wood family.

The assassination attempt failed, but it doesn't matter.

The previous assassination attempt merely forced the decisive navy officer to choose a different family.

The reason they didn't want to have a public falling out was that they preferred to keep their rivalry to themselves.

But even if that golden lion really chose Pan Sha, they wouldn't care, because they wouldn't admit it.

The Navy cannot interfere in the affairs of member states. If the Navy were to attack them because of this, the World Government would absolutely not allow it.

“Speaking of which, Pansa used to be Don Quixote’s squire, right? I heard he was very strong,” said the head of the Tracy family with some concern.

The head of the Wood family scoffed, "Have you forgotten what happened so many years ago? We used to make fun of Pan Sha when we were drinking. He used to be a great nobleman, but now he's like a clown raising pigs and is often ridiculed."

The head of the Melo family nodded: "That's right. Even if he has gained the allegiance of some foolish commoners, our families still have a combined force of two thousand!"

Even if a commoner who hasn't experienced the world of nobility for hundreds of years manages to gain the allegiance of another group of commoners, how many people can he actually win over?

They gathered so many troops not to guard against that Pan Sha, but to take this opportunity to directly attack the palace, which is well-defended.

By dismantling the palace's defenses, they could force King Riku to completely abandon his illusions and then relinquish the throne.

As for who will choose the throne among the three families, that remains to be seen.

But no matter what, they can guarantee that their own interests will not be harmed.

The interests of the three parties are aligned.

Once they've chosen the throne, send someone to inform that navy officer, give him a gift, and ask him to give an explanation to the World Government.

"Forget about Pan Sha for now, let's charge in!"

The head of the Wood family looked towards the royal palace. "First, dismantle King Riku's armed forces and force him to abdicate!"

Boom!

Suddenly, a muffled clap of thunder sounded in the sky, and the whole place darkened.

"Let the soldiers charge!" the Melo family commanded in a deep voice.

Just as they were about to give the order, suddenly, the head of the Tracy family widened his eyes, pointed ahead, and said, "Someone's coming!"

A tall, slender figure gradually appeared on the street in front of the soldiers who were on high alert.

As the figure appeared, a group of civilians, armed with weapons, followed closely behind.

The figure wore a streamlined suit of armor, the wolf tail on his helmet swaying in the wind. He crouched slightly, one hand hanging limply at his sides, the other carrying a greatsword on his back. He walked with the gait of a wolf.

“Pan, Pansha?!” the Tracy family exclaimed in surprise. “Is this Pansha?! I’ve seen it in the painting at home. The ancient Pansha looked just like this.”

"Wearing a suit of armor makes you like the ancient Pansha? What a joke!"

The head of the Wood family snorted coldly and raised his hand high, "Kill him first, fire!"

As his arm fell, the soldiers who heard the command raised their muskets and pulled the triggers.

Bang bang bang!!

Bullets rained down against the gloomy sky above.

"grown ups!"

Behind David, some people screamed.

But not a single person retreated, even though the projectile's range was large enough to hit them all.

David watched the projectiles fly towards him silently. With a slight movement of his hand holding the greatsword, he simply swung it forward. The wind pressure generated by the swinging sword caused the projectiles to stop in their tracks. The wind pressure then forced the projectiles to the ground, making a clanging sound as they fell.

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