Facing Garp's question, Cobra stayed quiet.
After all, he was a prince, so Garp and the others might not take him too seriously, but they couldn't just force him.
They couldn't use any tricks to make Cobra talk if he didn't want to.
"Demon Aatrox will head to this country next, so I hope you can offer some help, Your Highness." Tsuru said in a serious tone. "We don't mean to pry into the secrets of the Upside-Down Pyramid, but this might be key to fighting the demon lord."
"This battle... if we don't handle it right, the whole country could be wiped out!"
Her words hit Cobra right in the heart. Yes, everyone knew how powerful Aatrox was now.
Wasn't that huge island where Jaltzburg Kingdom was located destroyed by Aatrox?
Jaltzburg Kingdom's land was much smaller than Alabasta's, but its island was about the same size as Alabasta. If that island got destroyed, how could Alabasta survive?
[To be honest, I've been using Yeguoyuedu app lately to read books and keep up with updates. It lets you switch sources, has lots of voice options for reading aloud, and works on both Android and iOS.]
If war breaks out, even if they evacuate civilians, it could still lead to massive loss of life.
It seemed like he was wrestling with some inner conflict. Cobra took a deep breath and slowly began telling the three about the "history."
"Truth is, I don't know many details myself. The stuff about the 'Upside-Down Pyramid' is only passed down by word of mouth from king to king. It's never written down anywhere."
He spoke with a solemn tone, like he was under a lot of mental strain.
"And because of some accidents, the knowledge about the Upside-Down Pyramid was lost for a while. Even when it was recovered, too much was missing, so what I say might not be the full truth."
Tsuru nodded.
Alabasta had thousands of years of history, but the Nefertari family only had eleven generations. Even counting Cobra as the future king, that made twelve. Forget thousands of years ago—even eight hundred years was a stretch.
So there must have been some royal upheaval in between, and losing some old traditions after that would be normal.
Looking at Dragon lying on the bed, Cobra said with a hint of reminiscence, "The story goes back thousands of years, to Kasira, the first conqueror of Alabasta."
"Kasira was the one who first conquered Alabasta. Legend says he did it by making a pact with the God of Death."
The God of Death...
The name alone made him sound like a mighty spirit.
owing to the pact with the God of Death, Kasira gained power no one could match. He built many churches and pyramids to please the god, hoping to gain eternal life. But one day, he still died."
Cobra continued recounting the hidden "history" in a low voice.
"Legend says he didn't really die. His soul went to the God of Death's realm and became a guard there. Later kings did the same. They built their tombs under these pyramids, in the area of the Upside-Down Pyramid, because after death, their souls would revive in those tombs."
"The Nefertari family is no different. We build tombs in Albana for our physical bodies, and in the Upside-Down Pyramid, we build tombs for our souls. That's why I went to the Upside-Down Pyramid earlier—to help my father prepare his future soul dwelling."
He seemed totally okay talking about his father's death. And really, in their way of thinking, death wasn't a big deal. They would keep existing in the God of Death's realm after dying.
But in reality, most of this pyramid was built by Genichi himself.
Brainwashing was easy—it was all about the mind.
Building physical ruins was much harder. This pyramid wasn't like the old Ascension Altar, which was small and easy to make with their power.
But this pyramid was like a whole city, and it extended downward. Pulling that off wasn't something you could do casually.
Makima controlled a ton of animals and used the Soul-Soul Fruit's power to create loads of homies. With Genichi sending in plenty of top fighters, they managed to finish this pyramid in a short time.
Inside this pyramid, there were actually many homies made by Makima with the Soul-Soul Fruit. That's what created the amazing sight Dragon saw earlier.
Now Genichi had gathered all the skills for tricking and scheming like a pro. On the mental side, he could rewrite things directly. On the physical side, he could remake stuff fast. It was all thanks to having Makima as a clone.
"And our job is to hide this Upside-Down Pyramid and guard it for generations. We can't disturb the peace of the past kings whose souls return there. That's why when Dragon tried to go to the Upside-Down Pyramid before, Lord Byakuya showed up—it went against our pact with the God of Death."
"So, who exactly is Kuchiki Byakuya?" Dragon couldn't help asking at this point.
Just hearing the name Kuchiki Byakuya made the wound on his chest ache faintly. That guy was way too strong.
Cobra said with some confusion, "He might be the gatekeeper of hell, the God of Death's representative. I've only seen him twice myself."
One of those times was when he badly hurt Dragon earlier...
"Hm?"
Tsuru was about to say something, but then she suddenly heard the Den Den Mushi ring again. She glanced at Garp, Cobra, and Dragon—all three went quiet.
Tsuru picked up the Den Den Mushi. It immediately took on Kong's appearance, and his voice came through.
"People from the Black Order are already on their way to Alabasta. Aatrox should arrive not long after they do."
"Makima called me earlier. She said there's a descendant of the God of Death in Alabasta. To seal Aatrox, we'll need his help."
A descendant of the God of Death?!
In that instant, they all thought of that Kuchiki Byakuya!
Did the Black Order know about this?
Tsuru glanced at Cobra and saw his brows furrowed tight.
She said to Kong, "We've already met that descendant of the God of Death. Dragon got hurt by him."
"What?!" Kong sounded surprised. "You've already seen him?"
"Yes, though it wasn't a normal meeting." Tsuru replied, "But from what happened before, getting him to help won't be easy."
He showed up and instantly beat Dragon badly, and even a prince had only seen him twice in over a decade. Someone like that wouldn't be easy to talk to.
"The gatekeeper of hell has access to the Upside-Down Pyramid. If you can borrow that access, it should let us seal Aatrox in the end."
----
You can read 30 chapters ahead on patre on
patr eon.com/JYouyi
Pssst, Free tiers can read 3 chapters in advance