#rametoto

Rametoto, Darius, Mira, and Armakan are part of a “Board of Directors” in the International Alliance.  What I think they meant to do by abdicating and allowing their children (or sibling in Armakan’s case) to take the throne is to protect their respective countries while keeping themselves in an advantageous position by staying close to Sinbad who is arguably the most powerful person in the world (how’s that for a giant run-on sentence?).  Who would want to be on the wrong side of Sinbad?  To be honest I think they just saw the writing on the wall and acted accordingly.    

As far as the metal vessels go, I’m sure Sinbad was able to easily convince members to give up their vessels.  Years ago when Imuchakk, Sasan, Artemyra, and Heliohapt first joined the Seven Seas Alliance, Reim and Parthevia were big threats to their small countries.  The “don’t invade and don’t be invaded” motto sounded good to them.  In more recent years, the threats have diminished.  Titus isn’t interested in war and Parthevia appears to be a part if the IA itself.  Plus, Kou is in a weakened state and is also in the IA.  It’s not entirely surprising that Rametoto, Darius, Mira, and Armakan might have felt safe enough to voluntarily give up their metal vessels with very little arm twisting.  There wasn’t really anyone out there that could oppose the IA at the time.  The only person that I think was likely strong armed into giving up their vessel was Kougyoku and I’m sure Sinbad and the IA used Kou’s poor economic state against her in order to achieve that end.  

There’s no doubt that having the former Sindrian generals on the thrones in IA member nations is beneficial to Sinbad and makes manipulating member states much easier.  I think it would be much harder for him if Rametoto, Darius, Mira, and Armakan remained as rulers.  Sharrkan demonstrated to us in chapter 298 that most of the former generals, at least the younger ones, likely aren’t seeing anything majorly amiss with Sinbad so that makes it even easier for Sin to push his agenda.  To me Masrur appears to be the only one of the younger generals that gives any hint that he suspects something might be off.   

That leads me to the older generals, Hinahoho and Drakon.  The assumption is that Hinahoho took over for Rametoto as National Chief in Imuchakk.  As I’ve said before, the only thing that strikes me as odd is that he has yet to make even a brief appearance post time skip.  I find it strange because Hinahoho is one of Sinbad’s longest standing friends.  It doesn’t even seem as though Alibaba visited Imuchakk to negotiate terms for installing a teleportation circle there.  It’s hard to say whether this means anything or not at this juncture, but I guess at least we have an assumption we can make about his location.  

Drakon is the one I’m really worried about.  If Ceylan Dikumenowlz du Parthevia is Serendine’s little brother, one could argue that Drakon is in Parthevia serving him out of reverence to Serendine.  However, if that were the case then shouldn’t he have made an appearance when Alibaba visited Ceylan for trade negotiations?  I have a feeling that Drakon might have been on a similar wavelength as Masrur.  As someone who has known Sin the longest, he would probably be able to tell if something was wrong.  So I think he either left of his own accord or something happened to him.  I really don’t want to believe that there was any foul play so my theory is that he left because he was concerned about the path that Sinbad was headed down.  

Phew…I think I’m gonna stop myself here because I’ve written way too much already…