Chapter 378: Husband and Wife
With Bell and the Super Duck Troops there, the soldiers guarding the gate naturally would not stop them. Everyone rode the Super Ducks directly into the city from the nearest west gate.
After entering the city, the running ducks no longer run fast, but slow down to allow the guests to feel the style of Albania while walking.
Perhaps because Crocodile has not been in Alabasta long enough, the environment here is not as bad as at the beginning of the story. The streets of Albana, the royal capital, are bustling.
Bell was introducing the features of various places in the royal capital to Zhang Daye and the others, and was responding to enthusiastic passers-by from time to time. This young adjutant of the guard seemed to be very popular.
Everyone looked at the buildings on both sides of the street with great interest, and each of them wrote down the places they were interested in so that they could visit them later.
The palace of Alabasta looks a bit like a fusion of India's Taj Mahal and Egypt's Mosque of Moses Abu Abbas. It is a grand building with exquisite decorations. According to Bell, the history of this palace is at least several hundred years old. Such a historic building is rare in the whole world.
The castle has a long history and exquisite decorations. Although it is not decorated in a dark style, it is also in line with Perona's aesthetic taste. She can't wait to go in and take a look, but Zhang Daye stopped her and waited for Bell to go in and report.
So the two guards at the door saw a little girl wandering around the door like a headless fly, and even circled around them.
The guards dared not to be angry or speak. They could not discredit Alabasta in front of the distinguished guests and had to maintain their momentum.
A middle-aged man with black curly hair walked over quickly, followed by several guards. Judging from Bell's performance, this man should be King Cobra of Alabasta.
"Your Majesty, how could you... ahem, mamma~" An old man with big white wavy hair followed beside him. He even cleared his throat midway through his speech, adjusting his voice like he was singing bel canto, and then continued, "How could you act so rashly? At least let all the guards gather before coming."
"It's okay, Ikalem. You and Bell can just stay here." Cobra said nonchalantly, "Why bring so many guards to welcome guests?"
" I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for so long." Cobra greeted Zhang Daye and the others with a kind face.
"You're too polite." Zhang Da also secretly complained that this man really had no sense of defense at all, no wonder he was assassinated in Mary Joa.
After a brief introduction between the two sides, Cobra led Zhang Daye and the others into the palace. The guards followed behind with curiosity and nervousness. Unlike Ikalem and Bell who were familiar with the information of the Amber Tour Group, these ordinary guards were very curious about the distinguished guests who were personally welcomed by the king. They remembered that when the man from the Fire Mountain came, the king did not immediately come out to greet him so excitedly.
This is natural. After all, the navy belongs to the World Government. Even a king like Cobra does not like people from the World Government to interfere in the internal affairs of the kingdom. If Crocodile did not have the identity of one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, he would most likely think of solving it himself.
As the king of a large country with 600,000 standing troops, Cobra was confident that his military strength was enough to defeat Crocodile. He had no idea about the strong men in this world, so in the original plot he tried to bury Crocodile alive with the mechanism in the basement.
In his opinion, no matter how strong a person is, how can he fight against 600,000 troops? When the agents of Baroque Works were expelled some time ago, weren't they unable to resist?
So although Cobra was polite to Lieutenant General Huoshaoshan and supported his actions, he did not show much enthusiasm in his attitude.
But the Amber Tour Group is different. They do not belong to any force. They simply helped Alabasta. Now they are traveling here, so Cobra will of course receive them with gratitude.
Moreover, according to the intelligence provided by the navy, each of these people is talented and is unwilling to join the navy. If we can recruit one or two of them, it will be a good thing for the country.
As for some people whose information was marked with the words "huge appetite", Cobra ignored it. Appetite was a small matter. He could afford to feed an army of 600,000, so what was the problem with the rations for these few people?
"Thanks so much for your help with the Baroque Works." Cobra expressed his gratitude to the Amber Tour Group and invited them to stay in Alabasta for a few more days. He was even willing to lend them his Galloping Duck to ride during this time.
Zhang Da also said that he just happened to meet Baroque Works and had some personal grudges with them, so there was no need to thank them too much. He also wanted to disturb them for a while, at least to visit several famous cities in Alabasta. For him, the desert trip was also a rare experience.
"Bell! Bell!" A little blue-haired girl ran over excitedly shouting Bell's name.
To be precise, she was a dirty little girl with blue hair. Her clothes, face and arms were all covered with black stains, and her blue hair was messy.
"Princess Weiwei!" Bell was surprised. "How did you get into this state?"
"Princess Vivi? Did you fight with someone again? Which bastard was it?" Ikalem was a princess-protecting man, and when he saw Vivi's look, he rolled up his sleeves while talking, ready to teach the 'murderer' a lesson.
Ikalem's use of the word "again" was quite interesting. Zhang Da also fell into deep thought. Although he knew that Weiwei was different from ordinary princesses, she was innocent and adventurous at the same time, but was she so naughty when she was a child? Did she fight with others every day?
Perona was already whispering to Wendy and Xia Lulu. Was this dirty little kid who looked younger than them actually a princess? They wondered if they could play together.
Jackie Chan glanced at Weiwei and his intuition told him that this was another problem child and it would be better to stay away from her.
Cobra, however, didn't react much when he saw Weiwei's appearance. Perhaps he was used to it. He asked, "Weiwei, what happened?"
“Hehehe…” Weiwei touched the back of her head with one hand and smiled sheepishly, “I went to the armory and tried to make fireworks with gunpowder, but failed.”
It turned out that it was smoked by gunpowder! Or it was simply blown up like this!
Zhang Da also found that he had underestimated Weiwei's recklessness. This child could no longer be described as "naughty".
Ikalem and the other guards were almost petrified. The princess actually went to play with gunpowder! Ikalem now wanted to hang up the guards of the armory and beat them up. How did they let her slip in?
"Because Bell's anniversary of joining the team is coming, so I thought..." Weiwei didn't notice that the others were completely frightened by her behavior, and said heartlessly, "It's a pity that I accidentally messed it up..."
Bang! Weiwei fell to the ground, holding her cheek. (Don't criticize me, Weiwei was really beaten, there are pictures to prove it)
"Who told you to do this on purpose, you bastard!" Bell roared, "How many times have I told you not to go to that place to play! What if you encounter danger?!"
Weiwei was stunned. She didn't expect to be scolded by Bell like this. She bit her lips in grievance, tears filling her eyes.
"Lord Bell!" The guards were shocked again. Lord Bell actually hit the princess?
"Hey, Bell! Do you know what you are doing? I'm going to fire you, right now!" Ikalem yelled at Bell and reached out to grab Bell's collar.
Cobra put a hand on Ikalem's shoulder and stopped him, "Don't do this, Ikalem. It's okay. Bell is not wrong."
Weiwei stood up, wiped her tears and ran away. A young running duck that was hiding not far away followed her with a clattering sound.
Seeing Weiwei running away, Ikalem became furious again. He waved his fist and said, "Bell, you bastard!"
Bell turned around and saluted the king: "Your Majesty, I..."
"Bell." Cobra interrupted him, "You made Weiwei cry, so you are responsible for comforting her."
Bell raised his head: "But your Majesty..."
"Go ahead."
Bell was moved and said, “Yes!”
After finishing the housework, Cobra smiled at Zhang Daye and the others and said, "Sorry, my daughter is a little naughty. Please forgive me."
"Ah, it's nothing. Every family has a naughty child." Zhang Da also glanced at Perona and smiled, "But you are really tolerant of your subordinates."
Perona glared at Zhang Daye, wondering who was being naughty. She felt that she was much more sensible than that little princess.
Altria also looked at Cobra. This was more than tolerance, it was almost indulgence. As a king of a country, few people could tolerate subordinates hitting their children, even if the children were at fault. Cobra didn't care about the face and authority of the royal family.
"Even though she is respected as a princess, Weiwei is just a child. She should be punished if she does something wrong." Cobra looked at the direction where Bell left. "Bell is a man who knows his limits. If he wasn't so worried about Weiwei, he wouldn't have done such a thing. How can I blame him?"
"Your Majesty..." Ikalem and his guards were so moved that tears were about to burst out. It was great to be able to serve the Nefertari family!
Cobra was not performing; all his actions came from his heart. Although he had no intention of winning people's hearts, people simply came to him.
If it is a peaceful and prosperous era, people would be blessed to have such a king, but living in such a world, it is hard to say whether it is good or bad.
Based on Bell's description and what she saw with her own eyes, Altria had almost understood Cobra's character. He seemed to be a very 'naive' king, and everything he thought and did was full of idealism.
"Is this really okay?" As a king, sometimes you need to make some cruel decisions, but can a king who is so kind really do it? Artoria wanted to say something, but she felt that as a king of a fallen country, she didn't seem to have the right to point fingers at other people's actions.
"It's okay, this is Alabasta." Cobra seemed to know what Altria wanted to ask, but the Nefertari clan had been doing this for a long time, giving their subjects the greatest trust and care, and believing that they would give them the greatest support.
Then, relying on this extremely naive idea, they successfully allowed the royal family to continue for hundreds of years.
As the captain of the guard, Ikalem often felt that the royal family's behavior was inappropriate, but it was precisely because the royal family was like this that he had been doing his best to protect them, and sometimes he himself felt conflicted.
"This is it. Please feel free to take a seat." As expected of someone who had studied the information of the Amber Group, Cobra took them directly to the banquet hall. "Tiragotha, are you ready?"
A maid who looked and was very similar to Ikalem came in. She said confidently, "With my 20 years of experience as a chef in the palace, I guarantee that I will not let you down!"
"Hey, hey?" Perona screamed, "There's an Ikalem uncle! Twins?"
"It's not... ahem, well~" Ikalem denied, "We just look like a couple. Tilaguda is my wife, and she's also the head chef of the palace. She's an excellent cook."
Wendy and Xia Lulu asked curiously what "couple look" meant.
"It is said that as a couple spends more time together, their faces, temperament, behavior and other aspects will become more and more alike..." Jackie Chan patiently explained to the little girls, but he himself was also shocked. "This is the first time I have seen people who look like a couple to this extent. It is incredible."
“It turns out that marriage is so magical, so amazing…” The little girls gained strange knowledge.
Shark Chili fell into deep thought. The B-series robots are very similar to humans in every aspect. So if he marries Tian Delina, will it be the same? Will Tian Delina become like him, or will he become like Tian Delina?
Zhang Da also wanted to say that the Ikalem couple were just exceptions, but he had never been married, and in the face of such real-life examples, what he said was completely unconvincing.
"Thank you for the compliment." Tilaguda took their comments as praise. She felt that this was proof of the good relationship between her and her husband. She clapped her hands and said, "Begin!"
Many maids and waiters carried trays on their heads and lined up in a long queue to walk into the banquet hall. They set the tables smoothly and it was obvious that they were well-trained.
Cobra didn't say anything else and just said, "Please enjoy it!"
Ten minutes later, Tiragotta had figured out who the strongest fighter was at the table: "A blonde girl, a black-haired girl, a robot, a black-haired boy, and... a cat?"
"This is the first time I've encountered such an opponent." Tilagda looked at Altria, "She has such a dignified temperament, such graceful movements, but she eats so fast that it's unreasonable..."
"I won't lose!" Tilaguda tied an apron confidently and walked towards the kitchen.
Cobra was thinking about the words "huge appetite" specially marked on the data, and suddenly felt that the navy was cheating him by deliberately marking it unclearly. But it was not a big problem, at most the palace's expenses would be reduced in the next period of time.
Zhang Da also carefully tasted the unique dishes of the Alabasta Royal Palace and felt that Aunt Tilaguda was worthy of being an experienced chef with twenty years of experience in cooking. Some chefs in Barati might not be as good as her.
Of course, in addition to enjoying the food, he did not forget his business. When he had almost finished eating, he talked to Cobra about the investigation of Baroque Works.
"Do you want to participate in the investigation as well?" Cobra hesitated, not wanting to put his guests at risk again. "This matter is very dangerous. Leave it to us. If things don't work, we still have the navy."
I just think you are too weak and may not be able to deal with Crocodile... Zhang Da couldn't say it directly: "In fact, there are a few talents among us who are very good at intelligence. Maybe their participation will have unexpected results. Besides, we have already offended Baroque Works, and we can't get away from it anyway."
"Well, do you need any help?" Cobra said, "How about sending Bell to protect you?"
"That's not necessary. We are quite confident in our own strength. We just need you to give us a suitable identity so that we can participate legitimately."
