Alabasta is quite unique in this world.
Eight hundred years ago, twenty kings jointly overthrew a great kingdom and formed the World Government, which has ruled ever since.
The descendants of those twenty kings styled themselves the offspring of gods and moved to Mary Geoise atop the Red Line. They are the Celestial Dragons, the world's nobles.
But one of the twenty refused to move into the Holy Land: Alabasta's royal family, the Nefertari line.
For eight hundred years, the Nefertari family, who could have become Celestial Dragons, have ruled this desert kingdom, giving the country a special status.
In fact, because of this, the secrets hidden in this nation far exceed what others imagine.
For example, the Nefertari family's hidden initial "D"—a fact that not many in the family itself even know.
Compared to secrets tied to the Void Century, even the location of Pluton is nothing.
Don't be fooled by how Alabasta was nearly usurped by Crocodile; in reality, Alabasta is a vast nation with a standing force exceeding six hundred thousand—a superpower.
If not for the current king, Nefertari Cobra, being a benevolent ruler who loves his people, he could have crushed the rebels with overwhelming force.
In a world where most kingdoms' territories amount to a single island, nations on Alabasta's scale are few and far between.
As an external port for such a great country, Nanohana's prosperity goes without saying.
Charles and Stella came ashore in Alabasta here.
Because Alabasta's territory is so large, Charles decided to buy a map first.
Then the two of them spent the entire day wandering around.
Stella bought heaps of desert-style clothing, and thanks to that, Charles got quite the eye feast.
It must be said, that lake-blue bustier with a red sheer veil made Stella's figure look even more commanding. It was also her favorite piece; the crystal ornaments that chimed with every movement glittered so much Charles could hardly keep his eyes open.
He turned down a hawker pitching "golden apples." Painting ordinary apples with gold paint and calling them golden apples—how is that not a scam?
Apples are one thing, but painting pears gold and selling them as golden apples is a bit much. The average IQ in this world may be dubious, but people aren't that dumb… right?
Still, it piqued Charles's interest—not in the fakes, but in Alabasta's golden apple legend.
Legends have roots, especially in a world like this. If a legend exists, there must be a prototype behind it.
Sure enough, what the original storyline showed isn't everything; the unknowns of the real world can't be contained in a few dozen pages. For Charles, though, that's part of the fun.
The royal archives should hold plenty of materials unseen by outsiders. He could look into them later.
After a day of strolling, Charles and Stella checked into an inn, planning to set out for Rainbase in the morning to give Crocodile trouble.
The next day, washed up and ready, they headed to a restaurant for breakfast.
Unexpectedly, as soon as they walked in, they saw a man at the counter tapping a knife and fork on the table to hurry the proprietor.
An orange cowboy hat with "smile" and "sad" badges on the brim. A red beaded necklace at his throat, with a skull tag hanging from it.
Four letters—ASCE—were tattooed on his arm, with a cross through the S. Most eye-catching was the crescent-mustached skull emblem on his back.
That was the mark of Whitebeard, Edward Newgate, one of the Four Emperors of the New World, the world's strongest man.
Looking at the freckled face, Charles of course recognized him.
Second division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates and Luffy's sworn brother, Portgas D. Ace. Charles remembered well the greatest regret in the original plot.
His biggest meme, though, is probably that so-called Flame-Flame Fruit "not even a dog would eat it" joke.
Mainly because, in the New World, quite a few people command fire—Big Mom with her homie Prometheus, Kaido who can unleash Heat Breath.
Even Luffy has Red Hawk, which coats his punches in flame.
Yet despite being a rare Logia, Ace's Flame-Flame Fruit ran into the Dark-Dark Fruit, which counters all Devil Fruits, and then the superior Magma-Magma Fruit—leaving him with no prestige at all.
If nothing else, Charles himself hard-counters Ace. With that thought, a touch of amusement entered Charles's eyes.
Perhaps sensing Charles's gaze, Ace turned his head.
He didn't notice the slight impoliteness of Charles's look; what he felt first was pressure.
Having grown up rough in the mountains, Ace developed an extraordinary intuition. Facing Charles, he suddenly felt like he had as a child when he stood before the king of the forest.
Only when Charles smiled and nodded did he relax, though he remained distracted throughout the meal.
Feeling a giant dragon at your back—who could eat at ease? In the end, it was Charles who left first.
Just as he was about to leave town to find a spot to summon Zhongming, Charles ran into a group on the street.
White uniforms, seagull insignia—the Marines. At their head, a silver-haired man clenched two cigars in his mouth, his jacket open, more cigars tucked across his chest and arm.
Unlike pirates, the Marines have a robust training system but have not produced a new generation showcasing the caliber of the Three Admirals.
Even so, there are promising talents in the Marines, and Smoker is one of them. Like the Three Admirals, he's a Logia user.
It's just that the Smoke-Smoke Fruit does look inferior in performance next to other Logias.
They say there are no useless fruits, only users who fail to develop them—but fruits do differ.
As for being weak, that's on Smoker. Smoke has neither speed nor strength advantage, yet he forces his development that way—turning his fruit into a "shame of the Logias," like the Swamp-Swamp Fruit.
If it were Charles, he'd probably take a page from another world's Zanpakuto Haineko, developing toward fine-grained control.
Through his fight with Kaido, Charles had gained some grasp of both Devil Fruit powers and Haki.
His own magic is produced by a special organ—the source of magic power—that mixes ambient natural mana with his life force and spiritual energy.
Haki, meanwhile, is a special ability converted from life force and spiritual energy.
At root, Devil Fruit powers are similar, as if the fruit grants you a special organ that converts those same two energies into a distinct energy to drive various abilities.
That's why Haki can catch a Logia user's true body—both ultimately derive from the same energies.
Charles also knew several magics that could turn a person elemental, like the water-body magic Juvia of Fairy Tail wields.
But such magic is usually very difficult. Even the basics require extremely high aptitude from the mage.
Devil Fruits are different. Just eating one grants the power—no special physique or talent required. How far you develop it, though, depends on your own ability.
And it hadn't even been that long before Charles saw two exceedingly rare Logias on the sea. The one he was about to meet—Crocodile—was a Logia too. It seemed he had quite the affinity with Logias!
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