By the carriage window, Darian idly gazed out at the vast desert nightscape. Pulled by the giant land turtle, Banchi, the heavy wooden wheels spun rapidly, kicking up plumes of dry sand as the royal carriage sped off into the dark distance.
"I honestly thought you were going to force Vivi onto the ship with us," Nami said wistfully, leaning her head against the frame as she watched the distant, receding silhouette of Alubarna.
Darian turned his gaze from the window, looking at his navigator with a smirk. "What? Can't bear to part with her?"
Nami rolled her eyes at him, crossing her arms. "I'm worried you won't be able to bear the lack of a princess in your bed."
"It's not that bad," Darian laughed, stretching his legs out. "Although it's a bit of a shame to leave her behind, Alabasta needs its princess to rebuild far more than I need her right now. I'm not a complete tyrant."
"Still... I really hate to leave all of that behind," Nami sighed deeply.
Looking down at Nami's lap, Darian saw her eyes practically gleaming with pure greed. He was completely speechless, screaming internally, 'Are you actually sad to leave Vivi, or are you just crying over the rest of Crocodile's hoard that we had to leave behind?!'
That was the reality. At this exact moment, Nami was firmly clutching a small treasure chest packed to the brim with glittering royal jewels and heavy gold bars.
Crocodile's operation of the Rain Dinners Casino in Rainbase, alongside his underground, black-market arms-dealing networks, had been insanely lucrative. Even though Darian and his crew had only plundered a small, easily transportable fraction of his liquid assets before fleeing, it still amounted to a staggering fortune of over a billion Berries.
Darian had intentionally left all the real estate, casino properties, and unrealizable assets to Vivi. Alabasta was riddled with post-war economic crises, and the royal family desperately needed those funds to prevent a total collapse.
In the process of systematically dismantling Baroque Works, Darian had slaughtered a massive number of high-ranking agents and infiltrators throughout the capital. The sheer, violent commotion of his actions meant that despite his initial plans to keep a low profile, he had thoroughly drawn the full, alarmed attention of the Marine high command.
Marineford — Naval Headquarters
The night sky over the crescent-shaped island of Marineford was pitch-black, but the central administrative offices were still completely bathed in bright, artificial light.
Click. Click. Click.
A communication officer hurriedly picked up a ringing Den Den Mushi. "Moshi moshi, this is Marine Headquarters."
"Urgent intelligence report: The 'White Emperor' Darian and his crew have officially departed from the capital city of Alubarna."
Hiding in the deep shadows of the Alabasta desert, a specialized Marine scout watched through binoculars as the turtle carriage vanished into the dunes, quickly relaying the data back to base. The officer handling the transcription had his fingers practically numb from writing down the massive volume of incoming situational reports.
"Understood. Message received. Stand by."
Looking down at the extensive intelligence brief and the newly developed photographs that had been transshipped via visual Den Den Mushi, the Marine colonel couldn't help but mutter to himself in astonishment.
"A complete rookie from the East Blue... I originally thought Big News Morgans was just exaggerating his combat capabilities for front-page headlines. I never expected this kid would actually execute a Warlord of the Sea so quietly and decisively..."
"This is truly... extraordinary," the colonel murmured, shaking his head as a cold sweat broke out on his neck. "I need to take this to Fleet Admiral Sengoku immediately."
He gathered the top-secret files, rapidly left the communication hub, and hurried down the grand corridor toward the Fleet Admiral's private office, knocking forcefully.
"Report! Urgent intelligence regarding the Shichibukai!"
"Come in!"
Sengoku, who had been burying his head beneath a mountain of budget sheets and faction reports on his desk, raised his eyes, adjusting his glasses.
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku, this is the absolute latest operational intelligence from the Alabasta kingdom!" The colonel handed over the documents.
Taking the file, Sengoku quickly skimmed through the text, his eyes locking onto the attached battlefield photographs. His prominent brow furrowed deeply into a hard scowl.
Two days had passed since the internal strife in Alabasta was violently quelled. Marine Headquarters had already deduced that Crocodile was the mastermind behind the synthetic drought, but receiving confirmation that a rookie pirate had single-handedly slaughtered the Warlord in the royal tombs last night gave Sengoku an immediate, massive psychological headache.
Of course, the embarrassment of a Warlord falling to a rookie was only a minor issue; the main reason for Sengoku's rising blood pressure was the woman standing right next to Darian in the photographs: Nico Robin.
Even after twenty long years of hiding in the underworld, Sengoku recognized the "Devil Child of Ohara" instantly. Looking at her, Sengoku felt his old suspicions flare up regarding why Admiral Aokiji had allowed a young Robin to escape the Buster Call all those years ago. The frozen ice path left on the ocean was far too obvious for anyone with a brain to ignore.
With Baroque Works utterly dismantled, the World Government's intelligence networks had easily mapped out Robin's deep involvement as Crocodile's Vice-President. Now, she had officially boarded the ship of Darian—the man who had just pulverized her previous employer. This turned Darian's crew into an incredibly volatile, geopolitical time bomb. Robin's unique ability to decipher the ancient Poneglyphs would draw the immediate, bloodthirsty attention of the Four Emperors of the New World.
Flipping through the photographs of Darian's lifestyle, Sengoku scoffed internally, looking down on the boy with pure military disdain. In the photos, Darian looked like nothing more than a decadent, flashy pretty boy, constantly surrounded by a literal harem of gorgeous pirate women, fallen agents, and a princess.
'In this harsh sea, true power comes exclusively from grueling physical training, an unyielding warrior's will, and the mastery of Haki,' Sengoku thought dismissively. 'Women are nothing but an intoxicating, soft trap meant to drain a man's focus. What kind of future can a pirate who spends all his energy chasing skirts and holding orgies possibly have?'
Despite his personal low opinion of Darian's character, the fact remained that a Shichibukai had been executed. It was time to drastically raise Darian's bounty to reflect his threat level.
Crocodile's frozen bounty stood at 81 million Berries, a number issued long ago before the massive economic inflation of the Great Pirate Era, meaning his true combat strength was worth easily triple that amount. If Darian's new bounty was going to exceed the legendary 100-million threshold, what exact range should it be set within to avoid causing mass panic? What geopolitical impact would it have on the rookies entering the Grand Line?
Furthermore, the diplomatic troubles surrounding the Nefertari Family were a total nightmare. With an incident of this magnitude, the World Government would be forced to issue an official apology and massive financial compensation to Alabasta. After all, Crocodile was a government-sanctioned sovereign entity who had explicitly tried to overthrow a founding member state of the World Government. Just calculating the paperwork and the public relations fallout gave Sengoku a violent migraine.
"You may leave, Colonel," Sengoku ordered heavily, rubbing his temples. "And summon Admiral Aokiji to my office immediately."
"Yes, Fleet Admiral!" The colonel saluted and quickly withdrew.
Sengoku stared at Robin's photograph. 'The cleanup for the Devil Child can be handled by Kuzan,' he decided.
Darian had absolutely no idea about the bureaucratic nightmares he was causing the Marine high command.
After several hours of agonizingly slow travel across the desert dunes, he was bored out of his absolute mind. If he hadn't retained a shred of public decency in front of the newer crew members, his hyper-sexual urges probably would have driven him to launch an explicit, naked orgy right inside the cramped carriage.
The giant land turtle was technically fast—moving at the consistent speed of a desert camel—but for a transmigrator who had been thoroughly spoiled by modern electronic entertainment and rapid transit in his past life, a powerless, low-tech journey was an absolute waste of existence.
Fortunately, Darian managed to pass the time by taking a long, deeply comfortable nap, burying his face completely within the soft, voluptuous, and incredibly warm lap of Paula, who submissively stroked his hair while he slept. By the time he woke up, the carriage had finally rattled into the port town of Nanohana just as dawn was breaking over the ocean.
After the women briefly rested in the morning and Darian thoroughly replenished the ship's fresh water and food supplies using Crocodile's plundered gold, the Little Fish weighed anchor. They left the port of Alabasta behind, steering out into the open sea, charting a direct course toward Jaya Island with the ultimate goal of reaching the fabled Sky Island, Skypiea.
The Grand Line — Near Ruluka Island
Darian had assumed they would enjoy a smooth, uninterrupted voyage across the first half of the Grand Line until they reached Jaya. However, as they sailed into the uncharted waters adjacent to Ruluka Island, the sunny weather abruptly vanished.
The ocean was suddenly and completely enveloped by a thick, shimmering, and unnatural rainbow-colored mist.
Darian stood at the ship's bow, his eyes narrowing as the colorful fog rolled over the deck, completely cutting off their visibility of the horizon. He vaguely remembered the specific underworld legends regarding the "Rainbow Mist" of Ruluka Island—a mythical, highly unstable anomaly that existed within the world, yet remained entirely independent of the world's natural flow of time and space.
The Ruluka Island arc was a chaotic, bizarre filler chapter from his memories of the anime, occurring right after the Straw Hats left Alabasta. Because it had been so many years since his transmigration, the finer tactical details of the arc were incredibly hazy in his mind.
However, his meta-knowledge firmly confirmed one vital fact: the magical Rainbow Mist possessed terrifying, unknown temporal and spatial powers, acting as a graveyard for missing ships throughout history.
Deep across that shimmering, rainbow-colored fog lay the "Ape's Concert"—the Eternal Kingdom. It was a bizarre pocket dimension independent of time, filled to the absolute brim with mountains of ancient gold, silver treasures, and historic plundered wealth, where humans never aged, never felt hunger, and remained trapped forever.
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