Charles hadn't planned to go looking for trouble with Crocodile at first. After all, ever since his defeat in challenging Whitebeard, Crocodile had spiraled downward fast.
He had once fought the Devil's Heir, Douglas Bullet, to a draw, leading the World Government to consider him a potential piece to check the Four Emperors. No one could have imagined his strength would plummet so sharply in just a few short years.
A Logia user, fighting on terrain that was entirely his home field, still got beaten by a rookie who didn't even use Haki. If Hawkeyes hadn't shown up earlier, people would have started doubting the value of the Warlords of the Sea.
Even with the protagonist's plot armor, it couldn't hide how poorly Crocodile performed in that fight.
Having traded blows with Kaido, Charles had a good sense of this world's top tier. Naturally, he didn't think much of the current Crocodile.
But from what Mr. 5 said, Charles could more or less guess what had happened. Likely Baroque Works saw Charles flying on Zhongming and reported it up the chain.
A giant bird capable of carrying people—whether kept by the organization as strategic air power or sold as a rare creature—was an enticing prospect either way.
Whether the order came directly from Crocodile or not, Baroque Works had decided to take Zhongming by force. Survival of the fittest—the seas operated on the law that the strong owned everything.
The problem was the Mr. 5 they sent was far weaker than Charles.
Mr. 5 had just reached to dig for more nose gunk when his raised hand simply stopped moving.
He'd been locked onto, like a small animal fixed by a magical beast. He even forgot the instinct to survive and could only curl up and wait for death to arrive.
Miss Valentine blinked, and Mr. 5 was gone. A heavy impact thudded into the ground behind her.
She opened her mouth and looked at Charles lowering his leg in front of her.
"Hit a steel plate!" was the only thought in Miss Valentine's mind. She hadn't even seen how Charles got from the bird's back to Mr. 5 and landed the kick.
There was only one possibility: the other party's strength far outstripped her own, by a margin she couldn't even imagine.
Instinctively, she moved to activate the Kilo-Kilo Fruit she'd eaten, adjusting her weight to float like a feather.
But the moment her feet left the ground, her body was pressed back down. Staring at the blazing greatsword resting on her shoulder, Miss Valentine went pale.
With a gentle smile, Stella said, "Please don't move, miss. Otherwise something very dangerous might happen."
Charles scraped his shoe on the ground as if he'd stepped in something filthy. Only then did he look at Miss Valentine. "I'm in a bad mood, so I'll skip the chatter.
You've got an Eternal Pose to Alabasta, don't you? Hand it over."
The sunny smile on Charles's face made Miss Valentine feel like she'd fallen into an ice pit.
…
Alabasta, Rainbase.
With drought spreading across the kingdom, Rainbase was one of the few oases still intact.
And because Crocodile, one of the Warlords of the Sea, was stationed here, neither pirates nor civil strife had touched it.
In recent years, Rainbase had become a paradise city in Alabasta.
What no one knew was that Rainbase was now the headquarters of the well-known Baroque Works—for the simple reason that its true boss was here.
Beneath the casino Rain Dinners, the walls of an enormous sea-view tank gave this office beneath the desert a dreamlike feel.
Banana Gators lazily cruised through the water, the sharp teeth visible in their gaping maws a reminder of their ferocity.
A man in an overcoat sat in a chair; from behind, only his slicked-back hair showed above the seatback.
"Miss All Sunday, Miss Wednesday… No, better call her by her real name—Princess Nefertari Vivi. How's that situation being handled?"
The Transponder Snail on the desk had already taken on a cowboy hat and a faint smile, and a woman's voice came through.
"The execution failed. She's now tangled up with the Straw Hat Pirates. And she's learned your identity, Mr. 0."
Crocodile said in a low voice, "Straw Hat Pirates? What's their deal?"
"Rookie pirates from the East Blue," the snail replied. "But not bad. Our people at Whiskey Peak have already been taken out."
Watching the Banana Gators swim, Crocodile snapped, "You were there the whole time! Just a bunch of small fry from the weakest sea—why didn't you eliminate them!"
He'd long known the person on the other end had ulterior motives, but such blatant slacking was infuriating.
The snail's expression didn't change in the slightest. "I'm only a scholar, and they aren't that easy to deal with.
Besides, they've already headed to Little Garden. The Unluckies have made their wanted sketches. If you want them dealt with, send people there."
Reminding himself this person was indispensable to his plan, Crocodile choked down his anger. "In that case, return to Alabasta. I'll have available senior agents head to Little Garden and take care of them.
Oh, and if it's on your way, go check on Mr. 5. He took an assignment and hasn't reported back."
"Got it."
With just that, the line went dead, and the office fell quiet again.
Crocodile had no idea both matters he'd mentioned on the call would become serious trouble. Especially the second one he'd tossed off—it would show him what it meant for disaster to drop from the sky.
Even if he knew, it would be too late for regrets. Charles was already on his way to Alabasta.
Even flying, traveling the sea wasn't smooth sailing the whole way.
Charles ran into a storm en route. It wasn't dangerous for him, of course, but beating up Crocodile wasn't urgent enough to press on through driving rain.
So he and Stella stopped on an island for three days, waiting for the skies to clear before resuming the journey.
What Charles didn't know was that as he set out, the Straw Hats had just left Drum Island.
After they'd made a scene at Whiskey Peak, the Straw Hats set off with Princess Vivi of Alabasta's royal family, who had revealed her true identity.
Nico Robin, the historian codenamed Miss All Sunday in Baroque Works, had shown herself then as well.
Luffy, unwilling to sail a route someone else had arranged, crushed the Eternal Pose to Alabasta that Robin had given them for who knew what purpose.
So they followed their Log Pose to the next stop, Little Garden.
There they met two former captains of the Giant Warrior Pirates who had been dueling for a hundred years: Red Ogre Brogy and Blue Ogre Dorry.
After defeating Baroque Works pursuers, they left Little Garden with the path opened by the two giants' Hakoku Sovereignty.
But Nami had accidentally been bitten by a bug on Little Garden and contracted an ancient virus. For treatment, they headed to the medical great nation, Drum Kingdom.
After another chain of events, Luffy defeated the former king who had abandoned the country and fled, and made Drum Island's "cherry blossoms" bloom. The ship's doctor, the blue-nosed reindeer, Chopper, also joined there.
Answering Vivi's plea to save Alabasta, the Going Merry set course for the desert kingdom.
Of course, Charles reached Alabasta's port city of Nanohana ahead of them.
______
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