Chapter 157: Blatantly Taking Sides
"Declaring war..."
Those two feather-light words caused an eerie silence to fall over the entire Social Plaza.
The suddenly kneeling Chaplin had already attracted the gazes of quite a few people, and for diplomatic relations between nations, the topic of war was undoubtedly the most critical of all.
Never mind over 170 nations; even if you just put 170 people together, a massive amount of conflict would inevitably exist among them. Although these countries had all joined the World Government, there was no shortage of nations with generational blood feuds.
Under most circumstances, they maintained a certain level of restraint. Even when meeting here, they would uphold a veneer of false courtesy.
Although these Kings were but single individuals, on this sea, a King's words and actions inherently represented their nation.
Previously, through Morgans, Nereus had launched a global kill order against Harding, which made the King of the Doel Kingdom feel as though he had been publicly slapped in the face.
The identity of an "official pirate" couldn't be explicitly stated, but no matter how you looked at it, Harding was a member of the Doel Kingdom, and his actions abroad were in service of the kingdom's higher-ups.
Nereus had offered a bounty in hard cash, and the underworld had raised an equally massive uproar. As a result, the protests Chaplin published in the newspapers were completely ignored; no one cared in the slightest.
Coupled with the Doel Kingdom's customary arrogance, Chaplin had long accumulated a great deal of dissatisfaction.
Most crucially, in Chaplin's mind, since Nereus had chosen to participate in the Levely, he would definitely be mindful of many things.
At most, the two sides would just have a shouting match here; there was absolutely no possibility of a physical altercation. The worst that could happen was throwing things at each other across the round table.
As royals born in the Four Blues who grew up pampered, the powerhouses they had seen basically all came from the Marines or the World Government.
Whether it was the World Government or the Marines, when facing these royals, they would display the requisite respect. Therefore, Chaplin, born in the North Blue, found it very difficult to comprehend the actual strength possessed by an absolute powerhouse from the New World.
Make a move?
If he didn't need to consider public reputation, Nereus could slaughter every royal present without needing a single physical movement.
The vast majority of people couldn't even withstand a single look from him; merely slightly activating his Devil Fruit ability would be enough to achieve that effect.
If a person inexplicably died right after talking to him, even if he hadn't physically done anything, it would be very difficult to explain clearly.
If he truly wanted to kill this kind of person, Nereus didn't need to resort to petty tricks like assassination.
Just as Nereus had said earlier, attacking a nation's soldier was already an act of declaring war. Even if this was brought up at the Levely, the others wouldn't be able to find fault with his logic.
And facing Nereus's questioning, Chaplin instead became the one being roasted over the fire.
Declaring war requires a reason, prioritizing political correctness and justification. Harding's behavior couldn't stand on logic at all.
But to say no...
Was he supposed to cower in front of everyone on such an occasion? He had proactively walked up, inexplicably dropped to his knees, and in the end, didn't even dare to utter a single harsh word.
However, at this moment, the guards from the Doel Kingdom temporarily relieved Chaplin of his awkwardness.
"King Chaplin!"
"What did you do to our King?!"
Upon entering the Social Plaza, the guards had consciously stood to the side, not entering alongside the royals.
But to be able to accompany a King to the Levely, their strength might not be the highest, but their loyalty to the royal family was absolute.
The King might still consider the implications, but these guards wouldn't think that much. The moment they noticed something was wrong with their King, they rushed over without regard for anything else.
"How bold. It's been a long time since I've seen guys daring enough to actively attack Lord Nereus. It's our time to shine, Broo—You bag of bones! You jumped the gun!!"
It wasn't that Nereus hadn't brought guards. If he had to make a move himself at a time like this, it would be somewhat degrading.
Just as Hermes felt his chance to show off had arrived and was ready to "guide the rookie," he realized Brook had already taken off.
To look more like a guard, Hermes had adjusted his body structure into Iron Cloud mode and molded himself a new shape.
From an outsider's perspective, he now looked more like a pure white suit of armor.
However, this molding offered no combat boost to Hermes; instead, the fixed shape hindered his original flexibility.
So much so that just as he was making his move, Brook's Iai slash was already fully prepared.
"Lord Cloud, I was the captain of a kingdom guard several decades ago. I know very well what a guard should do."
However, neither the guards of the Doel Kingdom nor Brook and Hermes had the chance to attack.
Before they could even act, several figures dressed in white suits emerged from the surroundings and simultaneously chose to subdue the guards of the Doel Kingdom.
"Everyone, this is Mary Geoise, not a place for fighting. Please exercise some restraint."
"Why are you only stopping my men?! That guy made the first move! What are you people doing?!"
In Chaplin's eyes, these CP0 agents were clearly taking sides, and he immediately raised a dissatisfied question.
However, despite them blatantly taking sides, Chaplin gained a bit more confidence in his tone.
The World Government's people had already stepped forward; Nereus couldn't possibly continue attacking right in front of them, right?
Holding onto this thought, Chaplin actually quickly stiffened his spine.
"Apologies, King Chaplin. I have been observing this area from the shadows the entire time and did not notice King Nereus make any move whatsoever. If you are feeling unwell, Mary Geoise has the best doctors in the world and can perform a medical checkup for you."
The CP0 member did not stand on Chaplin's side, and even used an extremely detached, bystander-like attitude to state what he had "seen."
He could guess that there was foul play involved, but so what?
The outside world might accept that Mary Geoise was hit by a meteorite, but insiders like him couldn't be fooled. Unless the words "Nereus" and "Meteorite" were pronounced exactly the same, he might accept it.
Even without knowing the deepest secrets, this CP0 agent had a clear understanding of Nereus's strength. His decision to only stop the Doel Kingdom's people and not Brook was heavily influenced by this factor.
Even if Brook made a move, at most one or two people would die, and by using their bodies as meat shields, they could block Brook's attack.
But if Nereus made a move... it wouldn't be a question of how many would die, but rather how many would be left alive.
Under normal circumstances, CP0 was only responsible for the safety of the Celestial Dragons and wouldn't interfere in such matters.
If Harald's identity wasn't unsuitable for appearing in this Social Plaza, the Five Elders would have likely had Harald shadow Nereus the entire way, rather than just having CP0 handle the "security issues" here.
CP0 didn't dare directly manage Nereus, but the Five Elders had said one thing when ordering them to execute this mission:
"That man Nereus is not here to pick a fight. If you don't give him a reason, there won't be any problems."
Given this situation, CP0 came to a conclusion: resolve the conflict early, and they wouldn't have to worry about Nereus causing even bigger problems. This ultimately led to this scenario of blatantly taking sides.
"It seems that, like Harald, you all have some sort of special mission?"
"You must be joking, King Nereus. We are merely handling matters impartially..."
Nereus's voice made the CP0 agent shudder, but he still had to answer the question. At this moment, he only wanted to gloss over this issue as quickly as possible. Even if something happened, he prayed it wouldn't happen in the area he was responsible for.
"King Nereus, the conference is about to begin. How about... I escort you to the venue first?"
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