One Piece - I Am A Different Luffy! - Chapter 556 - Makino's Position and the Goa Kingdom.

[Chapter Size: 1900 Words.]
Third Person POV

Goa Kingdom.

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"This..." With her feminine hands crumpling the newspaper, Makino looked at the front page from the throne of Goa wearing a dress with the crown on her head.

"It's Luffy! That reckless brat!" Dadan shouted beside her with a cigarette in her mouth while wearing a suit, exclaiming to the newspaper with anger and concern.

"He really crossed the line! He could’ve at least hidden this..." Woop Slap didn’t hold back his comment, looking at a newspaper beside him as well.

"We must prepare..." said another minister with some caution in his voice.

"Yes... it’s about to happen... We have to be ready!" one of the ministers said.

They were gathered in the throne room, discussing exactly what was in the newspaper.

"Silence! You know there are spies throughout the kingdom!" Dadan hit the elderly man who had spoken earlier on the head. "If they're listening to us... it’ll be a big problem!" Dadan exclaimed while the minister nodded, a bit reluctantly.

"Luffy is really having fun!" This time, it was Makino on the throne who exclaimed.

"My queen! You can't say such things!" a minister immediately exclaimed upon hearing Makino.

"Oh, come on! It's Luffy! He’s nearing the end of his journey. I remember him always coming into the bar saying he'd surpass Shanks, saying he'd find the One Piece! But Lucy used to exclaim that she’d stop him before that happened!" She began to revel in the past with a cheerful tone.

The ministers and guards only looked on with a tired expression, knowing that once she started talking, no one could stop her. Even if it was a bit dangerous.

"We should do something, a party, maybe even a holiday for this day! We'll bring in singers and a big photo of Luffy for the kingdom to celebrate!" Makino exclaimed while everyone stared at her, stupefied.

"NO, ABSOLUTELY NOT!" They all shouted at the same time, with white eyes and shark-like teeth aimed at the queen.

"Why?!" Makino seemed offended by their rejection—surely, a holiday for Luffy's action would bring joy to everyone.

"For obvious reasons, my queen..." Woop Slap said with a worried tone. "If the government sees that, we'll have a Buster Call the next day wiping out the entire kingdom!" he warned.

"Yes... Garp can no longer protect the kingdom... he's no longer a marine, now acting as a vigilante outlaw according to the government... He's being hunted by that Cross Guild too..." another minister said.

"We have to protect the kingdom... You know our defenses are getting weaker and the government more aggressive by the day... We don’t know what they might do—you saw what they tried to do to Lulusia..."

"You think they wouldn’t do something that terrible?" one of the ministers said.

"And what happened with Lulusia doesn’t count? They tried to kill everyone in that kingdom! How can you just question that they wouldn’t do it? They are wicked! Luffy proved that from the beginning." Dadan exclaimed.

"With their reputation now so low, and with people having such a cruel view of them, they're going to become much more aggressive. I say this because I’m already hearing rumors about them starting to arrest large numbers of people en masse, especially those who support Luffy." Woop Slap spoke with some regret.

"Luffy has become too big a threat, and even though he has his father’s support, he’s already shown that he’s caused more damage to the Government than anyone before him. We’re lucky that the weapon used on Lulusia can’t be used again. From what I’ve been told, it wasn’t created by Vegapunk." Another minister said.

The conversation continued in the throne room of Goa, as everyone was genuinely concerned.

"I think you’re right. Luffy is now on his final journey... All we can do is hope for them. But I don’t want to see a single citizen arrested by those Government agents in my kingdom just for supporting him, understood?" Makino suddenly spoke, while everyone seemed a bit cautious. But upon feeling her presence, they knew she would never let anyone be imprisoned for that.

"Alright, queen. We’ll do exactly that." Dan said, as Makino turned her attention back to the newspaper, placing her hand under her chin.

"He’s about to do something incredible. I never doubted him. And even his sister, who always yelled about arresting him, is with him now. And they’re going to do this together. How cute." She murmured with a loving look for those two kids who had lived in her bar for so many years.

"But now that I think about it... He’s going to face so many dangers. Shanks is among them. Oh my God... He’s going to face Shanks!" Makino started to grow worried.

"I think they’ll be fine. Luffy is strong enough to deal with the Red-Haired." Woop Slap said.

"I hope so... I’m just a little worried. I don’t want to see them fighting each other... I’d love so much to see them again..." she said.

"That’s going to happen soon, don’t worry, my queen." One of Dadan’s underlings said, while the woman herself started crying.

"Me too! That damn brat! Ace and even that blond guy have been in the newspapers lately! I’d love to see them again... Those idiots!" She continued yelling and crying.

While the people in the palace kept discussing, the kingdom itself was far from silent upon seeing today’s newspaper. Everyone was quite surprised.

"Look at that, Monkey D. Luffy! He’s going to find the One Piece!" shouted a man in a bar, laughing.

"It’s true! To think he came from this kingdom... We should root for him!" another man shouted.

"I told you Goa wasn’t a weak kingdom! Powerful people came from here! Garp, Dragon, Luffy, Lucy, Ace, Sabo... They’re all influential figures in the world! They grew up here!" another, a bit more drunk, shouted.

"Don’t give me that! They didn’t even live in this city! They lived in that dump outside the walls or in the village on the other side of the island. So don’t be a hypocrite! You’re the ones who taught those brats to become what they are today, if that’s what you’re insinuating." the bartender said calmly while cleaning a glass.

"Don't be such a buzzkill, man! Can’t you see we’re happy? We’ve got celebrities here! Man, the Goa Kingdom is going to be super famous!" another said, laughing.

"Goa Kingdom is the greatest kingdom in the East Blue. We’re already pretty famous. We don’t want the Government to just destroy us because their biggest enemies came from this island." the bartender muttered.

"Screw the Government!" a drunk suddenly shouted, drawing everyone’s attention.

"Don’t you see they’re evil? They’re trying to destroy kingdoms! And Dragon, the revolutionary, was already fighting them. Now his son too! I hope they destroy them all! I hate having to pay taxes to those pigs!" the man behind him yelled, stunning everyone with his open hostility.

"And maybe don’t say that kind of thing out loud, you fool? They say there are Government spies in all the kingdoms now, trying to find traitors!" another man said at the bar, while some people in the back were calmly observing the situation, exchanging dangerous glances.

The drunk who had spoken too much had to leave after the bartender himself kicked him out. His words were too aggressive, and the bartender didn’t want trouble for his bar.

As the drunk kept walking, he sang drunkenly:
"The Straw Hats will bring down the Government!
The Straw Hats will bring down the Government!"

The drunk wandered through the streets of Goa with a bottle, repeating the chant, trying to make it rhyme, until he was grabbed from the side as he passed by an alley and pulled into it.

"What the—?!" the man shouted, surprised, before his vision went black.

When he woke up, he was suddenly in the middle of a crowd, everyone staring at him, stunned.

"What is this...?" he wondered, realizing he was bound in chains, on his knees.

He felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck, as if he had just been slapped, making him come to his senses.

"As I was saying, this individual thinks he can insult the Government and get away with it. But I tell you all: anyone supporting the man formerly known as Straw Hat, Monkey D. Luffy, captain of the Dawn Pirates and their fleet, will be executed in the town square under charges of treason!" said a man standing beside the prisoner.

"Hey! Who are you? Why did you tie him up and call us here?" one of the citizens asked angrily.

"We are Government agents. We’re here to keep the peace and hunt down traitors. The Government has already authorized us to carry out executions of Monkey D. Luffy’s supporters and the revolutionaries. So now, we’ll show everyone what happens when someone thinks they can challenge the World Government!" he shouted, drawing a sword, while the drunk looked on in fear.

"What’s going on here?!" suddenly, a voice roared as someone began flying into the square.

Everyone was stunned to see who it was, with a group of people arriving right behind.

"It’s Queen Makino!" they all exclaimed.

"Queen Makino, what are you doing here?" one of the agents asked through gritted teeth.

"I should be the one asking: what are you doing in our kingdom?" she said with a hint of anger, looking at the frightened man.

There he was, still seemingly drunk, but from what she’d heard, he spoke ill of the Government and was now to be executed? What kind of absurdity was this?

"We’re going to execute this man. You must not interfere, or the World Government will make an example out of Goa for all other kingdoms."

"That’s a lie! The World Government made a pact with Luffy!" Makino shouted, clearly remembering the meeting where they all reached a non-aggression agreement during the Reverie.

"We will not tolerate people speaking ill of the Government." the man insisted.

"I don’t believe this!" Makino exclaimed, as the man grew furious.

In the next moment, impulsively, he raised his sword and brought it down with force, intending to strike the man right there in front of the queen.

He knew she couldn’t do anything—that she would show, in front of her subjects, that even the queen couldn’t stop them.

Before he could reach the drunk’s neck, a sonic wave erupted and blasted directly at the man, sending him flying backwards and crashing into a building behind the platform.

Several other agents, who had been aligned with him, quickly grabbed their weapons—but they didn’t have much time to react before thick chains began forming around their bodies, descending from the sky.

Dadan was forming them with the power of her fruit, like a tangle of threads binding them all, before landing beside the queen on the platform.

Makino unleashed the power of sound from her fruit—the one she had gained when she ascended as queen—quickly stunning all the enemies.

"What should we do? Isn’t this some kind of sign, Makino?" Dadan asked.

"It definitely is." Makino admitted. "Still, I said I won’t tolerate anyone attacking people in this kingdom. I want them thrown into a dungeon. I will not allow people to be censored here!" she said firmly, and everyone simply nodded in agreement with her command.