Chapter 561 Going to the island and blocking the road!

"Squeak-squeak--"

Kuzan was riding a bicycle, carrying Ace, Sabo, and Luffy, heading towards the Kingdom of Alabasta. The weight of four people was too heavy for this bicycle. When Kuzan was riding, the whole frame made a sound of being overwhelmed.

"Oh! So powerful!"

"Brother Kuzan, your ability is really convenient."

"But. Isn't our speed too slow?!"

Ace looked at the ice road that was automatically formed under his feet with curiosity, and suddenly felt that Kuzan's ability was much more convenient than his own.

The shaping ability of the ice devil fruit is far beyond the comparison of other types of devil fruits.

"Slow?"

"Our speed is already very fast."

Kuzan pedaled the bicycle slowly, with an angry and embarrassed expression on his face.

It's not that he is not strong enough and can't pedal faster, but because the weight of several people is too heavy, the frame is already on the verge of collapse. If he speeds up, I'm afraid the chain will break.

Bicycles are new in this world, because the technology has not even gone in this direction, and the manufacturing process is very crude.

"Hey, I have a way!"

Ace smiled brightly when he heard this.

"Hey, don't mess around!"

Kuzan seemed to have a premonition of something, his eyes twitched slightly, and he couldn't help but remind him. But as soon as he finished speaking, Ace patted Luffy's shoulder gently and said with a smile:

"Luffy, you have to hold on tight."

"Speed ​​up!"

Ace squatted at the end of the back seat with his body to one side, clasped his hands together, and posed a "Kameha" posture.

"Hey!"

Kuzan noticed Ace's movements and hurriedly stopped him, but his words were still a step too late.

"Iku~~~"

Ace let out a low cry of excitement, and the flames ejected from his palms instantly hit the ice road behind him. A huge propulsion force passed through Ace's body and was directly applied to the bicycle.

The bicycle, which was originally moving slowly, soared into the sky at a speed visible to the naked eye, leaving a long tail flame in the air, flying towards the distant coast of the Kingdom of Alabasta.

"Asshole! Ace, you idiot, my bike is going to break down!!!"

"Oh, oh, oh, oh——"

The bicycle turned into a black dot in the sky, and Kuzan's angry curses and Luffy's excited cheers came from the sky.

On the deck of the warship, Zefa looked at Kuzan and others who disappeared in the air, and smiled with a sense of relief:

"Finally, I don't have to take those troublesome little brats with me."

"Huh~"

"Enjoy it."

Zefa lay comfortably on the recliner that originally belonged to Kuzan, and took the tea brought by the caring adjutant, took a sip of the tea, and exhaled a breath of hot air.

"Oh, oh, oh——"

On the beach of the Kingdom of Alabasta, Luffy's cheers stopped abruptly as the bicycle fell to the ground.

A flash of fire and a flash of lightning flashed down from the sky, and Kuzan also dropped his bicycle, jumped lightly, and landed steadily on the beach.

As for Luffy, he had a close contact with the beach, and his little head poked directly into the sand, took a bite of salty sand, and now he was using both hands to support the ground, trying to pull his head out. The characteristics of the "rubber fruit" made Luffy's neck stretched long.

"My bicycle"

Kuzan walked to the side of his beloved bicycle, looking at the wreckage of the bicycle stuck in the sand, his eyebrows had formed a "chuan" shape.

As for Ace and Sabo, they also hurried to Luffy's side at this time, grabbed Luffy's feet and pulled him out of the sand.

"Puff!"

"Hahahaha!"

"So interesting!"

Luffy, whose little face was flushed, sat slumped on the sand, with no signs of injury on his body. He quickly looked around and suddenly laughed out loud.

"Ace!!!"

Kuzan's angry voice came, and Ace immediately restrained his smile. He bowed respectfully in Kuzan's direction and apologized earnestly: "I'm really sorry, Brother Kuzan!"

Ace, who suddenly changed too much, was also stunned. The anger caused by the "death" of his beloved car was gone at this moment.

Looking at Ace with an apologetic face, Kuzan felt a little bit reluctant for a while, thinking that he should not care about a child, and couldn't bear to blame:

"Well"

At the end of the words, only Kuzan sighed deeply.

Tired, tired of heart.

"Let's go, don't talk nonsense after entering the town, follow me."

"Let's hide our identities first and find out the news."

The Kingdom of Alabasta is the environment of Xia Island. The whole island is in a high temperature and high heat environment all year round, with sufficient sunshine and scarce rain.

Although most of the soil in the Kingdom of Alabasta is desert, the limited oasis land is fertile enough, and the specialty fruits are in short supply that can be sold all over the world.

However, after being controlled by pirates in recent years, maritime trade has been declining year by year. Correspondingly, the Kingdom of Alabasta has also built a number of military factories and, taking advantage of the chaotic situation, began to sell various weapons to various forces.

The main commodities of foreign trade have changed, which has led to a huge change in the identities of merchants from various countries traveling to the Kingdom of Alabasta.

The fruit merchants who came here to do business were relatively honest, but now the people traveling to this sea area are politicians, military government officials, or captains of pirate groups.

The mixed foreign population has also made the security of the Kingdom of Alabasta extremely bad.

Kuzan wore a pair of blue shorts and a white short-sleeved shirt. Ace and Sabo, who were traveling with him, were also dressed similarly. Although they had changed into casual clothes and tried their best to hide their identities, their dress and appearance were still very different from those of the local residents.

In the coastal town, Kuzan wandered aimlessly on the street with the three little ones.

The strangers who appeared on the street did not attract too many people's attention. The residents of the Kingdom of Alabasta have long been accustomed to seeing foreigners like Kuzan and others on the street.

Not only did no residents feel afraid or terrified of strangers, but some merchants enthusiastically recruited a few people.

Young Luffy was attracted by all kinds of novel things along the way, but Sabo and Ace, the two little adults, were also childish, and like Luffy, they walked and stopped.

Kuzan was not in a hurry to go somewhere to find out any news, but just took the children to stroll on the street, carefully feeling the customs and customs of the Kingdom of Alabasta under the control of the pirates.

Kuzan was very nice to Ace and others, and he never refused their "consumption requests". As long as the children wanted it, Kuzan would play the role of a kind parent and pay generously.

Not long after entering the town, several people carried a lot of things in their hands.

Drinks, snacks, fruits, small toys, etc.

And Kuzan, who spent money lavishly, was soon targeted by someone with ulterior motives.

"Fat sheep!"

In an alley at the corner of the street, a middle-aged man with a turban on his head was sticking to the corner of the wall, secretly spying on Kuzan and others who were spending money on the street.

The consumption in the Kingdom of Alabasta is not high, but this is only relative to the income of General Kuzan. The consumption capacity of local citizens who make a living from agriculture is not that strong.

The profits generated by military trade are impossible to flow into the hands of ordinary people. Even the wages that workers working in pirate factories can get are only enough to support themselves and their families, and the wages are very low.

Such work cannot be avoided. Pirates will let ordinary people know what the consequences of not working are.

Fortunately, there are not many military factories in the Kingdom of Alabasta, and the business is still in its infancy and not widespread. The number of workers required is also extremely limited, and only a small number of ordinary people are affected.

The large number of foreign merchants brought by military trade has also driven the growth of the local economy in disguise.

It is precisely because of this that the streets can show such a prosperous scene.

But if ordinary people are deceived by this superficial prosperity and relax their vigilance, reality may give these people an unexpected blow.

"Hmm!?"

In front of a pancake stall, the greedy Luffy was eagerly watching the merchant kneading dough and making pancakes. Kuzan, who was waiting not far behind him, seemed to have noticed something. He glanced at the corner of the street not far away, but didn't pay too much attention.

He noticed that someone was peeping at him.

Not only Kuzan noticed it, he suddenly noticed that Sabo was also looking at the corner not far away with his head tilted to the side, and the smile on his face was restrained.

"This kid?"

Kuzan, who noticed this, took a deep look at Sabo beside him, feeling more or less surprised.

He didn't expect Sabo to have such a sharp intuition.

"Brother Kuzan, it seems that someone is watching us."

I don't know how Sabo confirmed the fact that he was being peeped at. He only saw him gently pulling Kuzan's trouser leg and reminding him in a low voice.

"Well, don't worry about it."

Kuzan nodded nonchalantly and answered casually, not taking the person who peeped at him seriously.

"Could it be Crocodile's people?"

"We were discovered so quickly?"

Ace, who heard the conversation between the two, also came to Kuzan and asked in a deep voice.

"It shouldn't be that bad."

"If the other party can find us so quickly, then the control of the pirates over this country may be beyond our imagination."

"Well-"

"It shouldn't be that bad yet, let's wait and see."

While Kuzan was talking, he happily took his things from the owner of the pancake stall.

"Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh~"

He couldn't wait to take a bite, and immediately lost the ability to speak because of the heat, and danced with joy, shouting "Malo" from his mouth.

Kuzan and others were also attracted by Luffy's funny scene. Sabo gently patted Luffy on the back and reminded him in a gentle voice: "Eat slowly, Luffy."

As Kuzan took Ace and others away, the big man who was spying on them also walked out of the dark. He followed them.

The man followed closely behind Kuzan, Ace and the others, but he did not notice that Kuzan and the others were moving faster and faster.

The few people who had been eating and stopping on the street kept moving away from the noisy crowd, and after turning several corners, they walked into an empty alley.

The man was concentrating on chasing Kuzan's men. When he found that the people in front of him suddenly stopped, he realized that he had walked into an empty alley.

The leader Kuzan slowly turned his head and waved to the surprised man behind him with a smile:

"Hey, uncle, why are you following us?"

"What can I do for you?"

The eyes of the middle-aged man and the young man fell on him. After a brief surprise, the middle-aged man also showed a ferocious smile on his face. He reached out his hand to touch his back. When he reached out again, a long knife was already tightly in his hand.

"You look very rich."

"Hey! If you don't want to get hurt, hand over all the valuables on your body to me."

"Hehe!"

While speaking, the middle-aged man took out a whistle from his arms and blew it.

The sharp and strange whistle floated away in the distance. Not long after, Kuzan and others heard dense footsteps coming from all over the alley.

In just a few minutes, seven or eight strong men had blocked the alley.

"Eh?"

"Robbery?!"

Luffy looked in front and behind with curiosity. Not only did he not show any fear on his face, but he showed an expression of great interest.

When Kuzan saw the other party blowing the whistle, he thought the other party would be someone important.

It turned out to be just a group of petty thieves who blocked the road to rob.

"Hey, hey, hey, it's just a robbery, do you need so many people?"

"I'm afraid the money I carry is not enough for you to share?"

Although they were just petty thieves, the noise they made when they blocked the road to rob was not small. Seven or eight people against him, an adult and three children, was a bit of an exaggeration. Kuzan thought he didn't have any valuable jewelry on him, and he didn't show off his wealth along the way.

He didn't expect to attract the attention of these petty thieves at first.

"Hehehehehe!"

The strong men who blocked the road did not answer Kuzan's question. The issue of dividing the spoils mentioned by Kuzan seemed to not exist at all for them.

In fact, Kuzan still ignored the value of his people. One adult and three children can be sold at a good price on the black market.

Who said that only gold, silver and jewelry can be counted as money?

In this world, everything can be exchanged for money!

"I see."

The robbers slowly approached Kuzan, Luffy and others. Looking at the greedy expressions of the other party, Kuzan also lowered his head slightly, and his face showed understanding.

There is no way to stop human trafficking. As long as the nobles in this world still have a demand for slaves, the slave trade will never be cut off.

Even a killer like Tsugikoku Yoshiichi may not be able to completely eliminate such things from this world.

"Brother Kuzan, leave it to us!"

Looking at the approaching robbers, Ace's eyes lit up and his blood began to boil.

"It's useful, don't kill."

Feeling Ace's excitement, Kuzan put his hands in his pockets and had no intention of taking action.

"gomu gomu noooo——"

Before the robbers could take action, Luffy's low voice had already reached their ears.