One Piece: A Warlord's Path-Chapter 694: Internal Bloom

Midnight, Kingdom of Bivins. The Red River Wastelands!

Ever since the two rebel armies, each numbering tens of thousands, were defeated beneath the walls of Ronalfort, the Revolutionary Army had officially intervened. They gathered a massive number of routed troops, withdrew from the Laende River area, and established a base in the central region of the Red River Wastelands.

Flying the distinct banner of the Revolutionary Army, they attracted a steady stream of defeated rebels and desperate commoners seeking refuge and a cause. In less than a month, the forces stationed in the wasteland had ballooned to over a hundred thousand.

However, despite their swelling numbers, the Revolutionary Army did not resume the offensive. An army composed of a hundred thousand ordinary civilians possessed abysmal combat effectiveness. A reckless assault on the heavily fortified Ronalfort would result in catastrophic casualties, a scenario that contradicted the Revolutionary Army’s principles, and one Sabo would never allow to happen. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

The Revolutionary Army’s main camp was brightly lit, with patrol squads maintaining a strict and solemn vigil throughout the perimeter.

"What?! Valanfort, the so-called ’Port of Life,’ has fallen?" Sabo looked at the intelligence officer before him in shock, his voice laced with disbelief. "And the culprit is the Church of the Night? A religion?"

In the world of One Piece, religions generally didn’t gain much traction. The Great Pirates who roamed the seas were monsters, individuals so powerful they were akin to gods or demons. To many, these living legends were the gods.

That wasn’t to say faith was nonexistent; some prominent figures held religious beliefs, such as Bank or Bartholomew Kuma. However, these religious organizations rarely possessed significant military might, especially regarding high-level combatants, and they usually kept a low profile. A religious group seizing a national fortress as high-profile as the Church of the Night had just done was practically unheard of.

"Yes, Chief of Staff. According to our operatives in Valanfort, even the reinforcements sent by the Chris Pirates were driven back to the harbor!" the officer reported with a nod.

"Nani?!" Sabo’s shock deepened.

Ever since his previous clash with Sriya of the Chris Pirates, Sabo knew they would call for backup. Anyone sent as reinforcement would inevitably be an officer-level pirate, likely more than one.

As the number two of the Revolutionary Army, Sabo was well aware of the Chris Pirates’ strength. The SS drug originated from them; even their most basic deckhands were experts with a Doriki over 100. Then there were the Super Soldiers with Doriki over 500, and the biological humanoid weapons known as Dragonians.

If the Church of the Night had merely taken Valanfort by surprise, Sabo would have been merely surprised. But the fact that they had repelled the Chris Pirates forced him to treat them as a major threat. A typical church did not possess that kind of power.

"Do we know the size of the Chris Pirates’ force?" Koala, standing nearby, asked a crucial question.

"They arrived with three of the Chris’s secondary vessels, over 1,500 men. Several officers are confirmed present." The officer handed a list to Sabo.

Sabo read the names aloud, his expression growing increasingly grim: "Myles Dimitri, ’Gunfighter’ and Third Division Commander! ’Pirate Prince’ Cavendish of the White Horse! Quiniel Vito, Captain of the Triangle Pirates, the ’Fanged Devil’! Vice-Captain Fernal Rock, ’Big Gun’! And Combat Commander Muir Marcus, ’The Executioner’!"

Koala leaned in to see the list, her mouth hanging open in surprise.

"Oi, oi... they really think highly of me! A core officer, a top combatant, and an entire subordinate pirate crew!" Sabo cried out, half-joking but clearly wary.

"Sabo, do you have some kind of personal grudge with the Chris Pirates?" Koala teased, though her eyes remained serious.

"I shouldn’t! I don’t think I’ve ever offended them?" Sabo scratched his head, genuinely puzzled.

"While the force the Chris Pirates sent is formidable, the most urgent matter is this Church of the Night that suddenly appeared," Koala noted. "Being able to push back the Chris Pirates speaks volumes about their strength."

"..."

"The Church of the Night has immense influence within the Kingdom of Bivins. Many people worship the ’Goddess of the Night’ and are devout followers," the officer added hesitantly. "In fact, many of the refugees we’ve taken in are members of the Church."

Sabo and Koala locked eyes, immediately sensing the looming trouble. Out of a hundred thousand people, there was no telling how many Church moles were hidden among them. If they ever had to face the Church directly, their own army could spontaneously combust from within.

"If the Revolutionary Army and the Chris Pirates are two players on a chessboard, the Church of the Night has just stepped in as the third player," Sabo said, his eyes bright as he studied the map hanging in the tent. "If I were the head of the Church, I would wait for the Revolutionaries and the Chris Pirates to exhaust each other before making a move. And I wouldn’t just strike in one place, I’d make sure it was an internal bloom, striking multiple locations at once."

"Sabo, are you saying their uprising in Valanfort was premature? That there was a specific reason for it?" Koala, having partnered with Sabo for years, instantly caught his drift.

"Exactly! Koala, activate the Revolutionary intelligence network across Bivins. Investigate everything related to the Church of the Night!" Sabo turned to her with a series of commands. "Additionally, secretly vet everyone, especially the Church followers. Monitor their every move. I don’t want us to ’bloom’ from the inside."

...

Ronalfort.

Inside the castle’s tower, Sriya, dressed in his black combat uniform, stared expressionlessly at the map on the table. Beside him, Andrei sat slumped in a chair, idly trimming his fingernails out of boredom.

"Captain Sriya! Intel from Mina-san!"

An Elite Strike Team soldier rushed in, clutching a document. At the mention of Mina, Sriya’s expression shifted, and he took the file immediately. Andrei dropped his nail clippers and stood up.

As Sriya read the report line by line, his brow furrowed deeper.

"What’s happened?" Andrei asked.

"Something big." Sriya handed the document to him.

"The Church of the Night? How is that possible?! Even Dimitri-sama and the others were pushed back!" Andrei scanned the pages rapidly, his eyes widening in shock as he realized the gravity of the situation.

"There is a Church of the Night chapel right here in Ronalfort," Sriya said, his voice turning cold and sharp. "Andrei, take this document to the nobles in the castle immediately. Then, begin a purge of all Church of the Night clergy!"

BOOM—!

RUMBLE!

Suddenly, a deafening explosion ripped through the air, sounding as if tens of thousands of pounds of explosives had been detonated simultaneously. The tower shook violently, and debris rained down from the ceiling.

"What was that?!"

Sriya and Andrei were nearly thrown off their feet. They rushed to the window, looking out over the city.

In one section of the castle grounds, a colossal inferno was raging. Thick black smoke spiraled into the sky, and the towering flames illuminated nearly all of Ronalfort, turning the night into day. The shockwave of the blast was so powerful that even Sriya and Andrei, over a thousand meters away, felt the heat and the pressure.

"That direction... the armory!"