"Put out the fire! Put out the fire quickly!"
"My wife is still in there! It's her, help me save her!"
"Notify the city defense forces, notify the city defense forces immediately."
On the street not far from the Dressrosa Palace, a roaring explosion jolted everyone nearby from their slumber. The blast set fire to a large section of the residential buildings, and chaos ensued as those fleeing and those leaving their homes to investigate. The cries echoed far away.
Dressrosa itself has a high temperature and little rainfall climate, which is very dry. In addition, most of the houses in Dressrosa are built of wood. If a fire breaks out in a densely populated area, the fire will spread quickly when the wind blows.
Relying on the spontaneously organized "firefighting team" of the people to deal with a city fire of this magnitude was simply a drop in the bucket. Although a group of people got themselves covered in dust and dirt, they really couldn't do much to stop the fire.
"Da da da da!"
The dense and crisp sound of horse hooves rang out on the street not far away. The people who were putting out the fire all turned their heads and saw King Liku III, wearing light armor, riding a tall horse and arriving first with a cavalry advance team.
"Here he comes! King Riku is here!"
"There's help! There's help!"
Seeing King Liku III and his cavalry arrive, the people cheered excitedly. King Liku was also shocked when he saw the fire before him, and then he quickly reined in his horse and shouted to the crowd:
"Remove the wooden buildings around the fire scene to prevent the fire from spreading further."
"Dig a ditch, hurry up..."
King Liku was worried about the people and gave orders quickly, but his hand was involuntarily placed on the long sword on the side of the horse's back.
"!!!" King Liku noticed the change, his expression froze, and he stopped talking. Meanwhile, the people around him were immersed in the joy of King Liku's arrival with his army, and they gathered around him, waiting for his orders.
Seeing King Riku suddenly draw his sword, the people were just surprised, but they did not feel any fear or terror towards him. Compared to King Riku's abnormal behavior now, the people were focusing on why there was no fire.
"How...how could this happen..."
The people heard King Riku mutter a puzzled murmur. The person standing in front of the horse, closest to King Riku, looked at him in confusion. The next second, a flash of sword light suddenly flooded his vision. King Riku leaned forward without warning on horseback and slashed a nearby person with his sword.
"Plop!" Blood splattered, the man's body softened, and he fell directly to the ground. Blood flowed out from his chest, and soon formed a small puddle of blood on the ground.
The strong smell of blood rushed into the nostrils of the people around. The people who saw this scene were all shocked and looked at King Riku in disbelief.
"ah--"
"Stop, stop now..."
At this moment, screams suddenly rang out. The people looked in the direction of the sound and saw that the knights led by King Liku had raised their lances and stabbed directly at the defenseless people.
The knights, like King Riku, had lost control of their bodies at this moment.
"Let's go! Let's go!"
"Stop it, stop it now!"
King Riku finally realized that something was wrong at this moment and shouted loudly to the people and the knights around him, but his hands did not slow down at all. He raised his sword again and slashed at a nearby person.
"Crazy...crazy..."
"Run! King Riku and his guards are on a killing spree!!"
A scream was heard from the crowd. Only then did people realize what had happened and witnessed the cruel scene with their own eyes. After hearing this scream, people had no time to think about it and immediately scattered like birds and beasts.
Although the people tried hard to escape, the knights all had horses. For some unknown reason, the knights who had lost control of their bodies still had excellent riding skills. They quickly caught up with the fleeing people, piercing the bodies of one person after another with their lances.
King Liku shouted "Stop", but his body had no intention of stopping. He controlled his slashing horse and slashed the ordinary people who originally admired and respected him and looked forward to him when the disaster came.
Chaos, utter chaos.
Not only did the advance troops led by King Liku point their blades at ordinary people, but even the guards who arrived later, shortly after entering this area, most of them suddenly lost control of their bodies, drew the long swords at their waists without warning, and slashed at their closest comrades and partners nearby.
The fire in the city, unable to be stopped, spread rapidly, destroying countless homes. Under the light of the flames, King Liku's army began to massacre the people in the city.
Fearful pleas for mercy, shrill screams, and bitter curses filled the entire Dressrosa.
In the dark night, Doflamingo sat on the roof of a house with his legs crossed, looking at the country in chaos with a bright smile on his face.
"Fufufufufufu!"
The tragic scene was reflected on the phoenix-eye-shaped sunglasses, and Doflamingo's chuckle echoed on the roof.
"King Riku, this is your country, is this how you treat your people?!"
Doflamingo held his hands in the air, muttering to himself with a low chuckle. His fingers moved slightly, creating an inexplicable sound in the air. Thin, invisible threads, invisible to the naked eye in the darkness, descended from the sky towards the city. Doflamingo's observation Haki covered a considerable area, and within that area, nearly the entire Imperial City army fell under his control.
The Thread-Thread Fruit can use thin threads that are imperceptible to the naked eye to control others to act according to one's own wishes.
This is the power of Doflamingo's devil fruit!
"beep--"
Just when the entire town was plunged into chaos, a sharp alarm suddenly sounded in the city defense base on the distant coast. The sound of the buzzer instantly pierced the sky and covered almost the entire town.
Highest alert level.
The previous explosion had already attracted the attention of the city defense forces under Cyrus, and they sent a team of more than ten people to deal with it early. However, more than ten minutes later, the fire in the city became bigger, and there was no news from the team of more than ten people sent by Cyrus, and they lost contact.
When things developed to this point, Cyrus, who had been in the navy for many years, immediately realized that something was wrong and immediately sounded the alarm.
Although the team he sent out was not strong, they were not weak enough to disappear without a trace after dealing with a fire.
There are not many powerful "underground forces" in Dressrosa. If there were any, they would have been eliminated by Yoriichi Tsugakuni long ago. Yoriichi Tsugakuni had just left not long ago, so how could any "underground forces" develop so rapidly?
Therefore, when the subordinates he sent out lost contact, Cyrus immediately began to gather troops and sent scouts into the city.
After serving in the navy for so many years, Cyrus has grown in more than just strength. He is a "regular soldier" who graduated from the Naval Academy and has been a lieutenant general for several years. His style of doing things has long been deeply influenced by the navy.
"Report, Commander, there's trouble in the city!"
"News has arrived: King Liku's imperial army has mutinied and is burning, killing, and looting in the city!"
"Not only that, some people have witnessed King Riku..."
"Witnessed King Riku go crazy!"
“They are… massacring the people!”
In the base's combat conference room, Cyrus sat at the conference table, frowning as he marked the area where the explosion occurred on the map on the table.
There were more than a dozen people in the conference room, each wearing a headset, gathering information from the front lines via their communicative devices. At this moment, one of them removed his headset, stood up, and quickly reported to Cyrus.
"Crazy? Killing civilians?"
Hearing the news of King Liku's eyewitness account, Cyrus's brows furrowed even tighter, a cold light flashed in his eyes, and he muttered to himself in a serious tone:
"Is it some devil fruit ability? Affecting father's brain?"
"The Imperial Army mutiny...is there any connection to my father? Or are all of them affected by the same devil fruit?"
"The World Government's hidden power in Dressrosa is so impatient to take action!"
Cyrus showed a hint of worry between his brows and was thinking in his heart.
He suspected that someone with special powers was causing chaos in Dressrosa. Ever since Tsugakuni Yoriichi left Dressrosa, Cyrus had long anticipated this day. Dressrosa had been labeled Tsugakuni Yoriichi's territory by the World Government, and no matter how much the people there wanted to distance themselves from him, they still bore his label.
Even if Yoriichi Tsugakuni really left Dressrosa, the World Government would not allow Dressrosa to exist peacefully!
Cyrus believed that the forces behind this chaos were from the world government.
"Have our men come into direct contact with King Liku or the mutinous Imperial Army soldiers?"
Cyrus asked the intelligence officers, who all shook their heads. Just as Cyrus was about to personally lead his men to investigate, an intelligence officer quickly stood up from his chair and connected his headset to a public Den Den Mushi.
"Captain, there is contact information."
As the intelligence officer finished speaking, a shrill scream echoed through the Den Den Mushi in the combat command room.
"ah--"
After the screams ended, a slightly terrified voice reached everyone's ears: "I, I can't control my body anymore!"
"Someone help me, someone help me!"
"I don't want to kill anyone. I don't want to kill anyone!"
Hearing this, Cyrus raised his head slightly, and a gleam of light flashed in his eyes.
"This is the Dressrosa City Defense Force Operations Command Room."
"Remain calm and report your situation."
"Repeat, this is..."
The intelligence officer grabbed the Den Den Mushi receiver and shouted at the other party.
After hearing this, the other party obviously calmed down a little, and then quickly said: "Report...Report."
"Number 0401, I'm currently at the specialty street in front of the Imperial Palace, and I'm losing control of my body."
"I...I killed eight ordinary people. I...I didn't mean to do it!"
"That's not my wish."
"Help me, I don't want to..."
At this moment, the communication voice stopped abruptly.
"Hey! What happened?"
"How are you? Answer me!"
On the street in front of the palace, Doflamingo's figure fell from the sky, lowered his head and looked at the headless corpse wearing yellow light armor on the ground, his brows furrowed.
"Plop..." Just the next moment after Doflamingo's figure fell, a head with a headset fell from the air and rolled twice on the ground before stopping.
Doflamingo glanced at the headset on the head, stepped forward, and crushed the headset with one foot.
"Furfurfural."
"Cyrus... he's a little different than I imagined."
"As expected of a former Vice Admiral, facing such chaos, he still had the presence of mind to send someone to investigate first."
"Did you guess something?"
"In that case..."
Doflamingo said as he lightly jumped and "hovered" directly on a line. He then quickly looked in the direction of the base where the city defense army was located, and moved his ten fingers slightly.
In the city, King Liku, whose body was stained with the blood of the people, suddenly stopped chopping people, then pulled the reins with one hand, turned the horse around, and rushed towards the city defense base on the coast.
At the same time, the imperial troops under control in the city also changed direction.
In the command room of the city defense army, although Cyrus had not yet figured out the full picture of the matter, he still got some useful information from the words of the signalman just now.
Just as he expected, the chaos in the city was probably caused by someone with special abilities.
A person who has lost control of his body still has his own will in his mind. In other words, the other party's ability should not be that of a devil fruit with "spiritual" attributes. The other party's ability should be traceable.
Realizing this, Cyrus did not hesitate any longer. He quickly walked out of the command room and went to the base training ground to greet the thousands of city defense troops who had gathered.
Just as Cyrus was about to lead his men into the city, he suddenly thought of something. He waved and called his adjutant over. He then took off the watch-shaped telephone bug from his wrist, threw it into the adjutant's hand, and instructed:
"The person behind this commotion should be a Devil Fruit user."
"Based on my judgment, it should be the power of the World Government."
"They actually attacked Dressrosa with such fanfare. They must have been fully prepared."
"Hold on to this Den Den Mushi. You don't need to participate in this operation."
"If I don't return before dawn and the riots in the city haven't subsided."
"Use Den Den Mushi to contact Admiral Yoshiichi Tsugikoku and report what happened in Dressrosa to him."
"If all goes well, I'll come get this Watch Den Den Mushi back."
Before setting off, Cyrus was cautious and took precautions. Facing a Devil Fruit user, Cyrus was not at all careless.
What's more, the other party is a person with the ability to control the human body. If he is not careful, he won't even have the chance to contact the outside world.
No matter what, Cyrus could not put all his hopes on himself alone. His biggest trump card has never been the sword he carries on his back!
"Captain, you are too nervous."
"You will definitely succeed!"
The adjutant looked down at the watch-shaped Den Den Mushi in his hand and said with a comforting smile.
Cyrus nodded slightly, then turned around, waved to everyone on the training ground, and quickly left the base.
The adjutant stood in the parade ground for a long time, watching Cyrus and the others leave. Then he turned around and was about to return to the command room to help with the dispatch when he heard several sounds of breaking through the air in his ears.
"Point the gun!"
"Lan Jiao!"
Two low roars exploded from his ears. The next second, the young adjutant felt that his body had suffered a heavy blow, and then he fell directly to the ground, and the Den Den Mushi in his hand also fell.
"Who is it?"
The young adjutant struggled to open his eyes, and before he completely lost consciousness, a doubt flashed through his mind. In his sight, a black boot stepped directly on the watch telephone bug.
“.”
Closing his eyes, the young adjutant was completely silent at this moment.
(End of this chapter)
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