What Robin had told Cobra earlier wasn't anything else, it just so happened to be the Hundred Beasts' external mercenary price list.
As the most powerful armed group in the New World, aside from the enormous income brought in by the Hundred Beasts Fruit, war was likewise one of the Hundred Beasts' main businesses.
In this chaotic era, high‑quality weapons were always bestsellers, and mercenary services were one of them.
Before Queen's persecution complex flared up, he'd often gone out to carry out similar missions; the kingdom war in the East Sea was one of them.
Aside from Kaidou, the Hundred Beasts' officers had done plenty of similar jobs, especially Jack, who lately had been walking the path of picking fights every day in order to temper himself in battle; as long as the enemy was strong enough, he would join in as a form of training.
If the enemy wasn't strong enough, he'd toss the job to his underlings.
Nowadays Jack's ship had already become the unit with the highest casualty rate among the many Hundred Beasts squads, but also the one with the richest combat experience.
In their chats a few days ago, Yamato had complained a lot about how she didn't like Alabasta being at war, so Robin just happened to find her a reason to meddle in the war—and pick up a bit of extra cash on the side.
Being an external brain could be pretty exhausting sometimes.
A cool entrance—that was the only condition Robin gave Yamato; this would make the buyer feel they got more than their money's worth and be that much more willing to pay.
"Not bad, but remember to ask me that question after the fight next time."
Creating an ice field in a Desert Kingdom already maxed out the style points, it was just that last line that wasted all the foreshadowing laid earlier.
"You should've said so earlier, you didn't mention it before, so from here on I can do whatever I want, right?"
"Hold on a bit, let's see if His Majesty the King or Her Highness the Princess have any other requests. Vivi, or rather, His Majesty Cobra, do you have any other requests?
Let me introduce her, this is our young lady—Yamato, her price tag is over 2 billion Belly, you're getting a huge bargain with her taking the field this time."
If Robin had to evaluate it, she'd say she was used to it; if Yamato pulled off some perfect move, the target was definitely Kaidou. The way she was now didn't affect anything.
"Uh... the citizens are all innocent, they were all incited by Crocodile to end up like this, could you help us and try to minimize casualties?"
"Oh, that's all? That's not hard, it's just that there are a lot of people. After it's over, you'll have to handle things yourselves."
Swish!
As soon as Yamato's words fell, before the people nearby could figure out what she meant, a violent wind burst out from her as the center, her overwhelming presence crushing the entire field.
Thud, thud...
Vivi felt as if a huge boulder was pressing down on her chest; the tremendous pressure gave her a strong sense of suffocation. Yamato had originally just seemed like a tall, slender girl, but now she looked more like a ferocious beast wearing human skin.
Clang...
Several Soldiers' weapons slipped from their hands and clattered to the ground; their legs could no longer support their bodies and they finally collapsed to the floor. This was already because they were close enough that Yamato had reined in her power.
Whoosh~
The raging wind whipped up yellow sand, the howling gusts lashing against people's faces.
When the dust settled, the people outside the royal capital's high ground were already lying flat on the earth like cut wheat.
Kingdom Army, Rebel Army, civilians, Baroque Works' pirates, the Navy following Smoker—no matter what identity they had, at this moment they all lost consciousness and collapsed on the ground.
"What's going on... is this the Kingdom Army's secret weapon... they actually took down tens of thousands in a single strike..."
"No, look, those Kingdom Army guys are out cold too, what the hell is this..."
There were always exceptions among the crowd; some people had their arms braced against the ground, using the last of their strength to maintain their awareness, but in the end they still toppled over, their vision going black as they completely lost consciousness.
Occasionally, a few with particularly strong wills just sat there blankly under the baptism of that aura, not knowing what they should do next.
This was precisely Yamato's Supreme King Haki—the perfect choice for clearing out small fry.
In her view, as long as everyone fainted, naturally there would be no casualties, so she unleashed her Supreme King Haki to the maximum.
There were too many people to distinguish between them, and if she only intimidated one side it would easily lead to one‑sided slaughter, so aside from the area near herself, she adopted indiscriminate attacks against the distant zones.
To make these people stay unconscious a bit longer, she released her Haki to its fullest extent.
After years of honing, her Supreme King had gradually changed; its powerful intimidation made the Soldiers in the midst of the great battle instantly lose their fighting strength, perfectly achieving her goal.
Thud, thud,
Aside from the people who went down first, those a bit weaker in strength were also affected.
In Albana City, Daz Bonez, Mr. 1, had originally been engaged in a duel with Zoro, but when Yamato's Supreme King swept past, the two of them couldn't help but drop to one knee on the ground, their faces full of shock as they looked toward the direction of the palace.
Outside the city, Usopp directly foamed at the mouth and passed out; none of them could understand what kind of power this was.
Only a very small number of well‑traveled people knew what this thing actually was.
For example, Crocodile.
...
"Supreme King... Haki..."
The New World was a special place; even something like Supreme King, said to appear in only one in a million people, wasn't all that rare in the New World.
According to New World standards, people with Supreme King were as common as carp crossing a river. Crocodile had once been a well‑informed man too; it was just that he hadn't experienced the impact of Supreme King in over ten years.
"Someone like you actually... no, Nico Robin, you've been hiding deep."
Crocodile had originally wanted to ask why someone like Yamato would show up here, but remembering what Robin had just said, it stopped being a question.
"Is the Hundred Beasts interested in the Netherworld King too?"
Although he had settled in Alabasta, Crocodile still knew something about the New World's situation. Fighting his way back to the New World was one of his goals; for him, before becoming King of the World, the Pirate King's throne was a decent stepping stone.
Kaidou's love of war wasn't any kind of secret; in Crocodile's view, he would never pass up a weapon of war like that.
Too bad he didn't know the Netherworld King had always been under the Hundred Beasts' feet; if he knew that, his mentality might have exploded on the spot.
"We're not interested in that kind of thing. We actually just dropped by here on the way. Besides, I've wanted to beat you up for many years now. My friends aren't the kind of people you can threaten."
Yamato's words left Crocodile completely baffled; he could understand every individual word, but put together, he just couldn't figure out what she was trying to say.
Before he could say anything, a Soldier who had barely retained his consciousness staggered in.
"Y‑Your Majesty, bad news, the latest from the front—two hundred thousand Rebels and all of our defending forces have all fallen unconscious due to some unknown power..."