One Piece: I am Imu-Chapter 295: War is Boring, But This Wedding Might Be Interesting

Chapter 295 - 295: War is Boring, But This Wedding Might Be Interesting

In a remote area in the southwest of the Valepis mountain range, two strange armies, totaling more than ten thousand fighters, were engaged in a bloody battle under the scorching midday sun.

The curious thing about these forces was that, on both sides, there were people capable of releasing elemental energy through magic staffs or swords.

Explosive flames, ice spikes capable of piercing armor, whirlwinds that launched bodies into the air... These abilities caused countless low-ranking soldiers to die in gruesome ways, leaving behind disfigured corpses or bodies covered in blood and twisted metal. The battlefield was transformed into a spectacle of colorful lights and incessant thunderous sounds.

"So this is magic? It looks... pretty boring." From the side of a nearby hill, Biba watched the war with an indifferent smile. He had expected something more impressive from his first battle in another world, but what he saw was nothing to write home about.

Beside him, Chelsea and Tucker nodded in agreement.

Only Knight Ander looked at them without understanding.

He, on the other hand, had his eyes fixed on the battle. Anger consumed him, wanting to rush into combat and exterminate these traitors who had sold out his homeland. However, his sense of duty reminded him that his most important mission at the moment was to escort these powerful adventurers to the crown prince.

As a knight of the royal guard, Ander knew all too well how desperate Prince Wales's situation was.

Right now, they only controlled the southernmost region of the kingdom of Albion, a territory that barely represented a tenth of the entire nation.

Furthermore, there was another curious detail about these outsiders: they did not understand the Halkeginian language.

For Ander, this was not a problem, but just another reason to trust them. After all, if they did not speak the local language, they could hardly be spies for the enemy.

As for the language barrier... He had no way to solve it, but he was sure Prince Wales could do it using magic.

Meanwhile, Biba and his group continued to watch the battle with growing disappointment.

They had hoped to learn something about this world through their war, but what they saw left them unsatisfied.

Magic... was quite weak.

The rank and file were nothing more than ordinary people wielding swords and edged weapons. Their armor was poor, and their combat prowess was pitiful.

As for the magic knights and mages who fired spells from the rear...

The former had decent swordplay, but nothing to write home about. Occasionally, they would release gusts of wind or flames from their swords, but in Biba's eyes, these effects were merely decorative.

The mages, for their part, threw fireballs from their staffs. Their destructive power was comparable to that of a rocket launcher, with the advantage that they could fire them in quick succession.

And... that was it.

Biba hadn't seen anything that really impressed him.

"Well, let's move on. We must first find Crown Prince Wales," Biba said in a disinterested tone, shaking his head in disappointment.

His expectation of that prince diminished even further.

The only detail that was interesting to him was what Knight Ander had told them: that the prince possessed magic capable of overcoming the language barrier.

If that was true, that power, or rather, that magic, would be of incalculable value to the World Government.

Furthermore, the fact that he was a prince gave him some potential for usefulness.

To avoid active combat zones, the group advanced cautiously, stopping and starting again several times. Finally, as evening fell, with the sun tinting the sky in reddish and golden hues, they reached the gates of a fortress under the guidance of the knight Ander.

Despite the tight security of the place, Biba and his companions did not show the slightest concern. They simply watched in silence as Ander negotiated their entry with the guards.

Of course, deep down they were still on the alert. After all, no one knew if there were still mages of a much more powerful level in this world.

"You may rest tonight at the Fortress. I have already had rooms and dinner prepared for you," Knight Ander informed Tucker, who after reading his thoughts informed Biba and Chelsea.

"Okay," Biba replied tersely.

Shortly after, the three were led to their rooms. They were simple spaces, no frills, but at least they served their purpose. However, after a while, they all gathered in Biba's room.

"Chelsea, Ander, and two other knights headed south. Follow them, locate the prince, and report back to us," Biba ordered with a smile as he watched the sunset through the window.

He had no interest in wasting time here. If they could see the prince that very night, there was no reason to wait until the next day. Besides, the surveillance in this world was so clumsy that it was hardly an obstacle.

"Understood, Captain!" Chelsea replied seriously. She immediately went to a corner of the room and activated the power of her Teigu, Gaea Foundation.

In an instant, her appearance changed, transforming into a small mouse.

She left the room and, after reaching a far corner, assumed the form of a yellow falcon. With a powerful flap of her wings, she rose into the sky and took flight towards the south.

Shortly after, she caught sight of Knight Ander riding into a dense forest, followed by two guards in silver armor and black robes.

As she entered the forest, Chelsea climbed down and hid behind a large tree. Seconds later, her body changed again, transforming into a black panther that, with stealthy movements, continued the chase in the shadows.

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"So this is it?" Chelsea muttered, stopping as she saw Ander and his men standing in front of a white church-like building.

After returning to her human form, she took out a small Den-Den Mushi from her pocket and established communication with Biba. "Captain, I found the target location."

"Good. Keep an eye on the prince. We're heading there immediately."

"Yes!" Chelsea put away Den-Den Mushi and activated her Teigu again, taking the form of a small sparrow.

Just as the huge doors were about to close, she seized a brief moment of opportunity and slipped inside.

...

Inside the church.

As soon as the knights led by Ander crossed the entrance, they were left perplexed.

Because at that very moment, Prince Wales had his back to a huge stained glass window tinted orange by the setting sun. In front of him, a man and a woman were standing, while he seemed to be officiating... a ceremony?

It looked like a wedding.

The woman, with long pink hair, wore a simple white veil on her head.

On either side of the church, four knights, wielding magic swords, stood firm in their positions.

Faced with this scene, Ander decided to remain silent and suppress his doubts. Instead of interrupting, he discreetly retreated into the darkness, ready to await the outcome of this strange ceremony.

In the midst of all this, no one noticed the little bird that slipped into the church.

"Is this... a wedding?" Chelsea sighed in relief when no one had detected her presence.

Her gaze immediately fell on the young man presiding over the ceremony: he was dressed in a luxurious blue robe with gold edging, radiating a natural elegance, and his golden hair and green eyes stood out with an unmistakable distinction.

He was Prince Wales.

"But... what about that guy?" Chelsea tilted her head in curiosity as she watched a man hiding behind one of the stone columns.

He was a suspicious-looking man with curly blond hair and a green hat. He stealthily raised his right hand—on which he wore a ring with a purple gem—and pointed it towards the prince and the couple in front of him.

Chelsea noticed that the stone on the ring was emitting a faint glow.

Meanwhile, the ceremony continued.

However, there was something strange. The age contrast between the bride and groom was all too obvious: the grey-haired man was an adult with a scruffy beard, while the girl barely looked like a teenager.

But what surprised Chelsea most was that the young woman seemed to be in a trance.

Noticing that the young girl's condition did not seem quite right, the prince frowned, visibly puzzled. The grey-haired man muttered something in response, as if explaining the situation.

As a former intelligence agent for the Empire, Chelsea had a keen instinct for spotting irregularities. And at that moment, her attention was drawn to the suspicious man still holding the shiny ring.

"It looks like some kind of magical object, similar to a Teigu..."

From her hiding place in the rafters, Chelsea alternated her gaze between the man with the ring and the pink-haired girl. The more she watched, the more convinced she became: the girl was not acting of her own free will.

Most likely the ring was controlling her.

So the man with the ring was manipulating her into marrying the grey-haired man.

That meant that they were both in collusion.

Now the big question was... what role did the prince play in all this?

As a woman, Chelsea had a natural revulsion toward any form of forced marriage. But she was also a trained agent, with a calm, analytical personality.

So, rather than acting impulsively, she decided to keep watching.

[Bang!]

"Louise!"

A loud bang and a scream interrupted the ceremony.

Everyone turned their heads towards the entrance of the church.

A young man with black hair, a sword on his back, panted heavily as he stood at the threshold.

"Huh? What's with that guy's clothes?" Chelsea muttered curiously as she examined him up and down.

He was wearing jeans and a blue jacket, an outfit that did not fit at all with the medieval European style of this world.

"Louise!!!"

The black-haired youth shouted again at the top of his lungs.

At the same instant, the pink-haired girl's eyes regained their luster. She removed the white veil from her head and responded with an equally loud shout: "Saito!"

Chelsea smiled inside. This was like something out of a romance novel: two people separated by fate reuniting. How interesting!

And, most importantly, it confirmed her suspicion.

She didn't understand what they were saying next, but she clearly saw that they were arguing heatedly.

Meanwhile, the knights, following Prince Wales's order, began to slowly surround the black-haired youth.

But what happened in the next instant left Chelsea completely stunned.

The man with long, silver-gray hair, with a sharp movement, pushed the pink-haired girl aside and, without warning, pierced Prince Wales's chest with his sword, which shone with an eerie green glow.

Everything happened so quickly that the entire church fell into absolute silence.

It wasn't until the man withdrew the sword, causing the prince's body to fall heavily to the ground, that the people reacted.

"Ah!!"

"Your Highness the Crown Prince!!"

The pink-haired girl ran desperately towards the prince, while the knights, crazed, launched an attack against the grey-haired man. Within seconds, a fierce battle broke out.

The prince, aware that his end was near, gave the girl one last smile and, with difficulty, removed a silver ring with an inlaid amethyst.

Just when he was about to close his eyes...

A hand appeared out of nowhere and forced a white pill with a purple butterfly on the surface into his mouth.

At the same time, he heard a strange voice muttering something in an unknown language. He didn't understand the words, but the tone of urgency and concern made him decide he swallowed the pill.

"W-Who are you?" Louise looked in bewilderment at the stranger who had suddenly appeared.

At her side, Saito gripped the hilt of his sword tightly, his face tense as he watched the newcomer.

After all, he had just seen with his own eyes how a small bird transformed into this beautiful woman with long red hair.

"Damn it! Don't you dare die, you bastard!" Chelsea muttered in frustration. "This is my first mission. If I can't even keep an eye on a single person, how the hell am I going to be able to gain a foothold on CP-8?"

Completely ignoring Louise and Saito, Chelsea kept her attention fixed on the prince, praying inwardly that the Purple Butterfly Emergency Pill would save him.

"Ahhhh!"

On the other side, an even more absurd scene left Chelsea speechless.

That grey-haired man managed to get rid of eight guard knights with ease, using only the wind blades emanating from his sword. Now, the only defense left in his group was the black-haired boy, plus Ander and two other knights who were rushing to join them.

Chelsea seriously doubted that those four would be enough to stop the enemy.

"Ugh, what a pain... I'm not the combat type." She sighed. "I don't know if the breathing techniques Sister Kanroji taught me actually work..."

Resigned, she stood up and untied her Shingu, Sidewinder, from her waist.

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