Chapter 255 The Accusation

When Erick Smakusa claimed to be innocent, no one questioned it. The truth was, until that moment, no one knew who was right, whether it was Ayumi Yamazaki, the greatest ruler of Oukiwa and Vasconcelos, or Erick Smakusa, an experienced, strict, and cunning nobleman.

Jimbe Collalto was analyzing the situation with all these factors in mind, as were the other Council members. Although they were not the ones who would vote on the sentence if Erick was convicted, but rather the jury, they were the ones who would make the decision whether Ayumi's evidence was concrete or unpalatable.

"Ayumi, continue your prosecution, please." Nico Sallow asked.

The blond-haired Elf was staring at Erick, however she regained her attention after her friend's request. "Mr. Smakusa, to really get all this started, first I will ask you something. Can you answer for me why there are so many cases of missing vessels or shipwrecks?"

Patriarch Smakusa didn't even turn his face to look her in the eye, and answered her by looking at the council members. "Why, dear Mrs. Yamazaki, we have already talked about this in the council many years ago, is there really a need to answer?"

"Collaborate, please, Erick." Rujierd requested, now with a much stricter countenance than normally.

"Right, right." The gray-haired man relented, as he smiled and held up both hands. "You want me to let the jury know too, don't you? All right, the reason there are so many cases of shipwrecks and missing vessels at sea is obviously not the strong waves or storms, after all, the sails we produce are the best, but rather attacks by pirates."

At that moment, a buzz started among the people making up the jury, because it was Erick's responsibility to protect the maritime territory of the Broteforge Empire, and this was not occurring.

Patriarch Smakusa was no fool, and used his own answer to defend himself as well.

"You all know how extensive the sea is, don't you? There is no way we can patrol every inch of it, much less fight intense battles against pirates every day. They are cunning, sneaky and also very intelligent, if we underestimated them we would already have entire cities taken over by them, including Oukiwa," Erick said, shifting his calm gaze to the jury and the council members.

Ayumi smiled wryly. "It's not necessary to protect the entire sea, just the coast is enough, but even that you can't orchestrate. The Smakusa family has enough power and money to protect the entire east coast of the Broteforge Empire, and the west coast is practically all uninhabited. Yet they don't even protect Oukiwa properly, and we all know it."

"Frankly, what are you talking about, woman?" Erick questioned, not understanding. With the lack of adventurers in the city, he was forced to put more security in the ports.

"I'm glad you asked... Almost a week ago, I started a task force in conjunction with the City Guard, and three days ago we were able to achieve our main goal: to end the reign of one of the heads of organized crime in this city, the Straw Hat." Matriarch Strogueher spoke.

By that time, everyone knew that Straw Hat was dead, they just didn't understand how that connected with the current trial.

"Other than the City Guard, I gathered a group of formidable people, a Tournament of Legends Champion, an S-Class Adventurer, also an official Member of the Cardinal Realm, and other people whose past and present few people were lucky enough to know. This unique group quickly found proof that the Straw Hat is actually not a legend as some cogitated, but just another pirate, in fact, the greatest of them."

Everyone was quiet for a second to digest this new information. Straw Hat's slave selling and drug trafficking scheme was well known among the most influential people, especially among the Council who had a tremendous headache with him. In the past, even the former Patriarch Landford put a bounty on his head or any information that led to him, but even then it was not discovered how his schemes worked.

"Straw Hat was killed by slaves three days ago, and his body was duly cremated. However, besides his ashes that he left behind, he left behind a lot of useful information, information that dooms someone as respected as you, Erick." Ayumi continued.

At this point, Erick Smakusa arched his eyebrows, and when he saw the confident look on the blonde Elf's face, he shook his head negatively, as if refusing to believe that she actually had concrete evidence. "You are bluffing, I have never been involved with this fellow, or any other criminal in this city. If he was trafficking slaves across the sea, it was probably only happening in the blind spots of my troops."

"Are you sure what you are talking about?" Then Ayumi snapped her fingers at Nathalia, this being the signal for her to bring out the silver-sealed scroll.

The white-haired Elf promptly stood up with the scroll in hand and handed it to Ayumi, who thanked her.

"Is that your main evidence, Ms. Strogueher?" Jimbe Collalto inquired, for he had already naturally assumed the post of trial remediator.

"Yes. I believe there is no circumstance, political privilege, validity, third party influence, or age that can contradict a fact." She replied.

"All right, let us see."

Then Jimbe pointed his index and middle fingers at the parchment, and suddenly a purple aura enveloped the delicate paper. The parchment began to levitate subtly, rising a few feet until Mr. Collalto caught it with his bare hands.

Calmly, Jimbe opened the parchment, read its contents, but expressed no opinion or reaction. The same happened later with Shanks Ballard, Thomas Landford, Amanda Hangen and the other members of the council, until finally the parchment reached the hands of Rujierd Daren.

The wild-looking man, canine teeth and chest in plain sight, closed his eyes as he finished reading, gritted his teeth and began to knead the edges he held of the parchment a little. As he opened his eyes, his eyes immediately met the eyes of Erick Smakusa, who was apprehensive because none of the members denied the parchment contents as they read.

With a clear expression of anger stamped on his face, the Noble Family Patriarch Daren said to Erick:

"I can't believe you were doing this under the covers all this time... Before we can vote, I demand an explanation from you, Erick."

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