Many considered this tyrannical Empress as an incarnate of evil or the Devil himself in disguise, but those being cared under her wing knew better. To them, she was the kindest and the most loving woman to ever grace this sinful world. To repay her...
Kojima sat stiffly on his Mother’s throne. He’s sat there numerous times before when his Mother made trips outside the Empire but that never made the pressure of ruling any easier. This wasn’t a matter of self-esteem, far from it actually. Kojima knew his limits and could handle any assignment easily, but what was bothering him was how his Mother said that one day he will inherit the throne. Everyone else says he would become a good Emperor but Kojima thought otherwise. He didn’t want to take over his Mother’s throne mainly because he thought no one can be as great as her, but also the fact that it didn’t belong to him.
Before he could fester in these thoughts that would eventually annoy him, he was interrupted when the throne doors were smashed open as a tall, muscular gray-skinned man, with short black hair with a pair of jackal ears on top strode in. His only clothing was a thin black vest with white pants and dress shoes that fit him very well. As he stopped in front of the throne, the male playfully bowed as his already torn mouth stretched, even more, showing rows of his sharp teeth, “I greet thee, Elder Brother.”
Kojima glanced behind him and saw the two Scale Guards that brought him out of his room. They seemed troubled that he so rudely entered the throne room as such but relaxed when Kojima signaled them away. With great obedience to the acting Emperor, the Scale Guards grabbed the doors and brought them to a close. The new male glanced back for a moment before scoffing, “What’s their problem, manhandling me like that?” Kojima sighed as he shuffled through the numerous papers in his hands, “That’s probably because you’re always rough with them, Juba. I bet you lunged at them for even shoving you in your room in the first place.”
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Juba stuck out his abnormally long, black tongue as his smug smirk stayed on his face and his gold eyes gleamed, “I may have.” With a shake of his head, Kojima grabbed a piece of paper on top of the stack of files beside him and tossed it to Juba. With sadistic excitement, Juba grabbed the flittering paper and read over it, “Finally… Someone to kill…” Kojima sat quietly, allowing his brother to read the contents of his mission. Juba rose a brow when he finished reading, “Alabasta? I know that Mother’s been trying to have good ties with them, but why do I need to go and get rid of their problems? Shouldn’t they do that themselves?”
Kojima nodded his head at that, “Normally they would and currently are, but Mother saw this as an opportunity to get on their good side. As you read, after the death of their Queen, Titi, a sort of civil unrest has begun. A gathering army of criminals, unruly civilians, and soldiers are trying to go against the king.” Juba rolled his eyes as he crumpled the paper in his hand and tossed it behind him, “So? Why should I care?” Kojima held in his sigh as he answered, “I’ll be honest with you. We don’t care what happens to the Alabasta Kingdom.” Juba scoffed at that as his grin grew wider, “Shocker.”
With a small glare from Kojima, Juba closed his mouth and allowed him to finish explaining, “Sister Kamiya felt the presence of a Sacred Tear in Alabasta. If we help them in their time of need, perhaps we can gain easy access to it. Plus, there’s an interesting report that weapons that the Empire made are in their hands.” At this Juba spoke with narrowed eyes, “I understand about the weapons but the Sacred Tear? Sister Kamiya could be wrong. She said that before back at that hag’s lunch party but Brother Tone hasn’t come back from Totto Land yet. Perhaps she’s just seeing things.” Kojima let out a low growl as his own eyes glowed, “Do not doubt your sister, Juba!”
