Inside the lounge, which was the size of a grand ballroom, Vivi was restless. She instinctively felt that the girl she had encountered at the harbor was no ordinary person, a feeling only confirmed by the earlier confrontation with the guards.
Based on the girl's tone, she clearly knew it was the Straw Hat crew who had defeated Crocodile. If that were the case, could she pose a threat to Luffy and the others?
Ignoring the spread of exquisite delicacies and drinks on the round tables before her, Vivi wanted to find the girl to see if she could glean any information that might help her friends.
However, after circling the massive room several times, Vivi couldn't find her. There were very few women in the room to begin with, and the girl was dressed in a conspicuous white outfit; if she were still there, she should have been easy to spot.
"Excuse me, but it seems someone has gone missing," Vivi said, walking up to the two guards holding halberds at the door.
"Who?" one guard asked.
"The girl who wanted to leave earlier. The one in white."
"Missing?" The guard blinked and scanned the hall. Finding no sign of that striking figure, he guessed, "Maybe she went to the restroom?"
"I checked. She wasn't there," Vivi said, shaking her head.
"..."
The other soldier, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke with a look of dawning terror. "Say... didn't the insignia on the back of that girl's gloves look a bit familiar to you?"
"Gloves? What about them?" the first guard asked, clearly having failed to notice such a detail.
"Just stay here and keep watch. I need to report this to my superiors immediately." The soldier, looking pale and frantic, hurried away, leaving the first guard to mutter, "Crazy..."
"What is happening...?" Vivi's brow furrowed. Though young, she had survived countless trials; her intuition for danger was exceptionally sharp, and right now, she felt a premonition of something ominous.
…
If the residence of the Celestial Dragons and the Gorosei represented the very peak of the Holy Land, then the lounge where Vivi and Kyros were waiting was merely the base.
Meanwhile, at the summit of Mariejois, the meeting of the world's highest powers was underway.
When the Government decided to enact the Fish-Man and Merfolk Protection Act, the reaction from many Celestial Dragon families was nothing short of explosive. The Rosward and Mjosgard [1] families led the charge, as they were the most fond of merman slaves. If equality and protection laws were passed, how were they supposed to purchase their "merchandise"?
Five such families had gathered to discuss the matter heatedly.
"Dammit! What about my favorite merman slaves? Father, you must put more pressure on the Gorosei!" a snot-nosed man who looked like a bloated pufferfish whined to the elderly Celestial Dragon wearing sunglasses beside him. These were the father and son of the Rosward family.
"Calm yourself. I've already spoken with the Government. While the Act might make capturing them a bit more troublesome, they can ensure the soldiers look the other way during 'procurement' operations."
Hearing Saint Rosward's words, the other four families relaxed, nodding in admiration of his wisdom. Rosward, in turn, basked in their flattery with a smug expression.
"But many merfolk have moved to New Fish-Man Island. They're hard to catch now."
"True. That's Alucard's territory, and it flies Whitebeard's flag. It's a troublesome place."
"We could try doubling the bounty. Or talk to that Tesoro fellow; doesn't he have extensive connections?"
The five families quickly pushed the Protection Act aside and began eagerly discussing methods for hunting fish-men and merfolk.
"The meeting for the Protection Act is still in progress, and here you are discussing how to break it. Is that quite wise?"
The mocking voice made the eight Celestial Dragons from the five families shudder, cold sweat running down their spines.
"W-Who are you?! Do you know where you are?" screamed a middle-aged Celestial Dragon woman, using a folding fan to hide the lower half of her face.
"Oh, Madame Hadilly, it's been a long time," Loli A said, smiling at the woman.
Hearing the stranger say her name only increased Madame Hadilly's unease. "Wh-who are you, really?"
"Fine, fine. I'll show you a face you recognize then."
As Loli A spoke, her body began to churn with a mass of dark red blood. Five seconds later, the gore receded, revealing a face they all knew.
"You... you're... Saint Aptheim!"
Hadilly stumbled back two steps, nearly collapsing. "But... you died over a decade ago!"
The "Aptheim" form Alucard had assumed was the identity he used years ago when he had infiltrated Mariejois to pose as a Celestial Dragon. That life had ended during the chaos caused by Fisher Tiger and the Revolutionary Army. The other Celestial Dragons and the Government still believed that Aptheim had perished in those great fires.
"I just wanted to come back and see my old home. I didn't expect you lot to be occupying it."
Using Aptheim's face, Alucard walked toward Rosward and the others. This had been his residence for the two years he spent posing as a god; he had returned on a whim, only to find it taken over.
To have a man believed dead for over ten years suddenly appear before them in such a supernatural manner was too much for these cowards to handle. Even experts like Garp or Sengoku would have found it difficult to process in an instant.
"No... no, no, Aptheim! We... we only used this place as a meeting hall because you were gone! We didn't mean to take it over!"
"Yes! Exactly! It was Rosward's idea! I-If you want revenge, take it out on him!"
"You bastard, Mjosgard! You're selling me out!?"
Alucard spread his arms and laughed boisterously. "Rest easy. I don't intend to do anything to you. I'm just going to... borrow you for a bit."
As the words left his lips, a pool of blood surged behind Alucard, morphing into a monstrous black hound covered in eyes, its blood-soaked maw yawning wide.
[1] It's Mjosgard family here instead of Donquixote. Maybe his surname wasn't introduced at that time.