Ray and Tokikake, the strangest duo, walked right into Rainbase.
Ray immediately picked up Luffy's scent.
'He's nearby. And... Mikita, Gem... and Smoker? All chaotic?'
Ray sighed. 'What a foolish kid.'
He'd already told Luffy where Crocodile's hideout was.
Luffy must have run into Mikita and Gem while stuffing his face, and then they all must have run into Smoker and Tashigi.
Now they were all chaotically rushing the casino together.
Ray didn't follow them right away.
Instead, he slowly walked over to the restaurant Luffy had just left, tossed two silver coins on the table to pay for the meal, and then walked out.
Tokikake trailed after him, still smiling, asking annoying questions.
"So, why are you targeting Crocodile? Just to steal his Warlord spot?"
Ray ignored him and kept walking toward the Rain Dinners casino.
As he walked, he mentally pinged Chouchou, who was miles away on the other side of the country.
…
Meanwhile, on the eastern side of Alabasta...
Chouchou, in his giant demon-dog form, had already found Vivi and Sanji.
Vivi had been staring at the giant sandpit where 20,000 rebel soldiers had been buried, completely distraught.
Sanji, having caught up to her, finally snapped out of his simp-mode and got serious.
"Vivi-san" he said, "we don't have time to waste. Based on this, the peace talks are 100% a trap."
Vivi was smart; she knew he was right.
She'd just been desperate for a peaceful solution.
"Thank you, Sanji," she said, her voice firming up. "I know what to do now."
They'd only slept for three hours, traveling the rest of the night.
Chouchou, carrying the rest of the crew, had finally caught up.
Now they were all on his back, flying low over the desert, trying to come up with a plan.
"We should reach the capital before the talks," Zoro said, taking a swig of booze. "What's the plan when we get there?"
All eyes turned to Vivi.
She looked a little awkward. "You've... you've all already helped me so much. If you get involved any further..."
Everyone just stared at her calmly.
The silent pressure made her fidget.
Finally, she bowed her head. "I'm sorry. I was wrong."
Nami just smiled. "And...?"
Vivi mustered her courage. "Please... help me save my country!"
She started to kneel, but Zoro and Sanji immediately stopped her.
Everyone laughed.
"No need to be so polite," Nami said. "We're nakama."
"Mm!" Vivi nodded, wiping away tears. "Okay. First step: Karoo has to deliver a letter to my father, warn him of the truth. At the same time, we have to find Koza so I can tell him in person. We have to stop this before the negotiations start."
"Understood, Princess!"
…
Inside the Rain Dinners casino...
Luffy was running around and yelling, "Crocodile, come out! I'm going to punch you flying!"
And so, under Luffy's "expert" leadership, he, Mikita, Gem, and Smoker all fell right into Crocodile's trap.
Ray, still walking towards the casino, almost facepalmed.
'This actually happened? Even with a completely different crew and plan, Luffy and Smoker still managed to get trapped together.'
He kept walking, Tokikake still trailing him like a lost puppy.
Just as Ray reached the casino entrance, an enchanting voice called out.
"Ray-san? Might I have a word?"
"Oh? Certainly." Ray had already smelled Robin nearby.
He could tell this was her real body, not a clone.
…
Meanwhile, in the casino basement...
Luffy, Smoker, Mikita, and Gem were all trapped in a Seastone cage, feeling extremely weak.
Crocodile was lounging at his desk, smoking a cigar and looking very annoyed.
"Miss Valentine, Mr. 5," he sneered. "Blatantly betraying me?"
Seeing their old boss, Mikita and Gem were terrified.
They knew what happened to traitors. But then they remembered Ray.
Mikita just pouted, turned her head, and sat on the floor.
"Hmph. Can't be bothered with you."
Gem did the same.
"Why should we tell you!"
He pouted his big lips, and Smoker immediately whacked him on the head.
"That's disgusting!" Smoker growled, then stood up and glared at Crocodile. "What's your goal?"
Crocodile ignored him and glanced at Robin, who was standing beside him.
"Miss All Sunday, where is Ray now?"
Robin gave her standard polite smile. "He's currently fighting an unknown strong opponent. They've moved far away to battle, probably to avoid implicating Luffy. I truly can't understand... jumping into a trap alone like this. How foolish."
She glanced at Luffy with contempt.
Crocodile didn't doubt her. 'She hasn't found what she's looking for yet, so she wouldn't betray me.'
"Then it seems we have time," Crocodile said, leaning back. "You're lucky. You get to hear my plan to conquer the world."
Ten minutes later...
Luffy, Smoker, Mikita, and Gem were all looking at Crocodile with different expressions.
Luffy was furious. "You bastard! You want to destroy Vivi's country! I'll definitely punch you flying!"
Smoker was grave. 'Where did Tokikake go? This is bad. Crocodile is planning to use Pluton to fight the World Government. I have to get this information out!'
Mikita and Gem were chilled to the bone.
'We definitely heard something we shouldn't have. Ray-sama, where are you?! Come save us! He's going to silence us!'
Crocodile just smiled.
"Next," he said, "you can all discuss the New World in the afterlife. Farewell."
With that, he activated a switch.
Seawater began pouring into the locked cage.
…
Five minutes earlier, outside the casino...
Ray and Tokikake had heard Robin's full explanation.
The biggest problem: Crocodile had 200,000 rebels buried in sand traps, ready to be executed at any moment.
To anyone else, this was a checkmate.
To Ray?
'Rebels join a war, they know the risks. Why should I care?'
But... he knew this would destroy Vivi, and by extension, Luffy.
Since he'd started caring about these idiots, he couldn't just walk away.
"Does Crocodile have a distance limit on his powers?" Ray asked.
Tokikake, who was also trying to figure out a rescue plan (200,000 civilians were at stake), listened intently.
"I remember there is," Robin said. "Based on my observations, his clone limit is about 5 kilometers."
"That doesn't make sense," Tokikake frowned. "How could he bury an army hundreds of kilometers away?"
Ray figured it out. "What if he's daisy-chaining his ability? Main body makes a clone 5km away. That clone makes another clone 5km away, and so on. The further it goes, the weaker the clones get, probably just strong enough to move sand, not create storms."
'Otherwise,' Ray thought, 'he'd be an Ancient Weapon himself. He wouldn't even need Pluton.'
Ray explained his theory.
Robin confirmed that Crocodile did seem weak after setting the traps, but recovered in seconds, as if the power returned to him.
It made sense.
Okay, so they couldn't just bum-rush Crocodile.
If they failed to kill him in one second, he'd give the order, and 200,000 people would die.
Too risky.
The safest plan was to rescue the rebels first.
Ray decided to put his Crocodile-hunting on hold.
He mentally contacted Chouchou, telling him to relay the new rescue mission to the other team.
Since Tokikake was here and wanted to save the civilians, Ray figured he might as well put him to work.
Tokikake, a man of action, immediately agreed and set off to find the rebels.
Before leaving, he turned back to Ray.
"By the way," he said, "help me save Smoker. Thanks. Oh, and Nico Robin? Never seen you before."
He winked, and he was gone.