Chapter 323: Banishment
"I hereby banish you from Drum Island."
Axel's declaration fell over the snowy peak.
Killing Wapol would have been easier.
Far easier.
But no matter how incompetent, selfish, or hated Wapol was, he remained the recognized king of a World Government-affiliated nation.
That title carried weight.
Killing such a ruler was not something the World Government could simply ignore. In terms of political consequences, it was not far removed from openly attacking one of the figures under its direct protection.
Crocodile was proof enough.
If all he wanted was chaos in Alabasta, killing King Cobra would have been far simpler than spending years engineering a civil war and manipulating the rebel army into overthrowing the royal family.
Yet he had chosen the complicated path.
Not because he enjoyed unnecessary trouble, but because assassinating the king of an allied nation himself would have brought consequences even a Warlord of the Sea preferred to avoid.
Doflamingo was another example.
With his strength, taking Dressrosa by force would not have been difficult.
Instead, he had gone through the trouble of deceiving the population and creating a justification for his rule.
The World Government could tolerate cruelty, corruption, and countless ugly things.
But at the very least, the appearance of order had to remain intact.
Axel did not fear the Marines or the World Government.
That did not mean he wanted to create unnecessary problems for himself.
Then something unexpected happened.
Wapol opened his mouth.
And began swallowing.
Gulp.
Gulp.
The air around him distorted.
The invisible pressure holding his body down began disappearing into his mouth.
Axel raised an eyebrow.
He had not expected that.
Then again, the Munch-Munch Fruit was famous for allowing Wapol to consume nearly anything.
Apparently, "anything" included the compressed air restraining him.
Interesting.
Next time, I should seal his mouth first.
As Wapol continued swallowing, the pressure around his body weakened.
His appearance did not fundamentally change, but his bulky frame seemed to shrink slightly, as though some of the mass around him had been consumed along with the air.
Slowly, he forced himself upright.
"Banishment?"
Wapol stared at Axel in disbelief.
He was the king.
And someone had just declared that he was being banished from his own country?
The absurdity offended him even more than the humiliation.
Axel nodded calmly.
"You heard me."
He gestured toward Chess, Kuromarimo, and the surrounding guards.
"You."
"Your subordinates."
"All of you leave the island."
Wapol's face twisted.
"Who gave you the authority to decide that?!"
He slammed one foot into the snow.
"I am the king!"
"King?"
Axel looked at him.
The invisible pressure returned.
Boom!
Wapol was forced back onto his knees.
Mud and snow stained his white clothing.
His hair was disheveled, his face twisted with rage, and his enormous body looked more like that of a furious bandit than royalty.
Axel tilted his head.
"That doesn't really matter."
Wapol glared up at him.
Axel's voice carried faint amusement.
"You're weaker than me."
"I'm stronger than you."
"So right now, you do what I say."
He smiled.
"Isn't that how your world has always worked?"
Wapol fell silent.
He hated the words.
But he understood them perfectly.
Was his own rule really any different?
People obeyed him because he possessed power they could not resist.
He monopolized the kingdom's doctors because no one could stop him.
He took whatever he wanted because his subjects were too weak to refuse.
Now someone stronger had appeared.
And suddenly, the same logic no longer felt nearly as enjoyable.
Axel shifted his attention toward the guards.
The pressure restraining them disappeared.
Several men collapsed forward before quickly scrambling back to their feet.
Then they froze.
No one knew what to do.
Their king was still kneeling before Axel.
Running might be treated as desertion.
Attacking someone who had just overwhelmed Wapol seemed suicidal.
So they stood there, caught between fear and uncertainty.
Until one guard raised his rifle.
His hands were trembling.
His face was pale.
Wapol's eyes widened.
"You bastard!"
He stared at the weapon.
"What are you doing?!"
The rifle was pointed in his direction.
For perhaps the first time, Wapol understood how frightening it was to have one of his own subordinates decide whether he lived or died.
"Put that down!"
The guard pulled the trigger.
Bang!
The gunshot shattered the hesitation gripping everyone else.
More rifles rose.
Some guards acted from panic.
Others followed because everyone around them was doing the same.
And some may simply have been waiting years for an excuse.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gunfire erupted across Drum Peak.
Bullets poured toward Axel and Wapol in a dense storm.
The guards no longer cared that their king was standing in the line of fire.
Chess and Kuromarimo were caught first.
Their bodies jerked beneath the barrage.
Blood sprayed across the snow.
The firing continued.
Five seconds.
Ten.
Rifles thundered until smoke filled the air.
Eventually, the shooting stopped.
Chess and Kuromarimo lay motionless near the front, their bodies devastated by the concentrated gunfire.
Blood stained the snow around them.
Wapol's white clothing had also been splashed red.
The guards stared at what they had done.
For several seconds, none of them moved.
Had they killed their own king too?
Perhaps.
Yet strangely, the thought did not bring the horror it should have.
They had lived beneath Wapol's tyranny for years.
The ordinary people below suffered even more.
If the king died here, perhaps Drum Island would actually be better for it.
And if anyone asked what happened...
They could always blame the wanted criminal.
Then the smoke cleared.
One guard's expression froze.
"No..."
Another lowered his rifle.
His face drained of color.
"Monster..."
Axel still stood exactly where he had been.
Untouched.
The snow surrounding him was riddled with bullet holes.
Hundreds of dark marks covered the white ground.
Yet the boy at their center had not suffered a single new wound.
The courage created by numbers and gunfire disappeared.
The guards remembered what they were facing.
Axel slowly raised one hand.
One of the soldiers stiffened.
His body twisted violently under an invisible force.
"AAGHHHH!"
The man collapsed into the snow, screaming.
That scream broke the others.
No order was given.
No one needed one.
Their bodies moved before their minds caught up.
"Run!"
The guards scattered.
Some dropped their weapons.
Others stumbled over one another in their desperation to escape.
Within moments, the entire group was fleeing down the slope.
Axel watched them go.
He did nothing to stop them.
Soon, Drum Peak became quiet again.
Then something shifted amid the bloodstained snow.
Wapol stood up.
"Bastards!"
His face was purple with rage.
"Damn traitors!"
He pointed after his fleeing guards.
"Once I leave this place, I'll come back and swallow every last one of you!"
Axel walked over.
Then kicked him in the backside.
Thump!
The gesture looked almost casual.
Like a child kicking a stone out of the road.
Wapol's massive body lifted several meters into the air.
"WAAAH!"
He crashed face-first into the snow.
Wapol scrambled up while clutching his rear.
"What are you doing?!"
He turned and saw Axel.
His anger immediately lost some of its force.
Still, his mouth refused to surrender.
"How dare you kick the great King Wapol!"
Wapol pointed accusingly.
"Don't think that just because you saved me from those bullets, you can do whatever you want!"
Axel stared at him.
"You're still pretending to be king?"
Wapol stiffened.
"Your own guards just abandoned you."
Axel glanced toward the bodies nearby.
"And the ones who didn't..."
His eyes settled on Chess and Kuromarimo.
There was little left to say.
Wapol followed his gaze.
His expression darkened.
Then he snapped his head back toward Axel.
"You bastard!"
He pointed at him.
"Don't think I didn't notice!"
"You were behind that!"
Axel smiled.
Wapol had seen the first guard's face clearly.
That had not been the expression of a rebellious soldier boldly choosing to assassinate his king.
The man had looked terrified.
Like a prisoner being forced toward an execution platform.
"Congratulations."
Axel nodded.
"You figured it out."
He paused.
"No prize, though."
Wapol's face twitched.
Axel looked toward the direction the guards had fled.
"People follow crowds very easily."
"One person fires."
"Then another thinks he should fire too."
"Then another."
He glanced toward the fallen soldier whose scream had triggered the retreat.
"It works the other way as well."
"When one person dies, everyone becomes afraid."
"And once the first person runs..."
Axel's crimson eyes returned to Wapol.
"The fear that was already inside everyone else finally gets permission to move."
He smiled slightly.
"All it takes is one person to start."
....
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