Chapter 202: A Pervert's Intuition!
"It's definitely their people…"
Usopp gasped sharply.
Vivi crouched down, looking at the soldier:
"How many of you are still in the rebel army?"
The soldier clenched his teeth and remained silent.
Sanji stamped out his cigarette:
"No need to ask."
"If they have people in the rebel army, they definitely have them in the Royal Army too.
"Their mission is to stir up trouble when the two armies confront each other."
"Once fighting starts," Nami continued, "there's no room for any negotiation."
Vivi stood up.
Her hands were trembling, but her voice was steady:
"There's no time. We must get to the royal city immediately."
They rushed out of the hideout.
Then, they ran straight into the second wave of ambush.
Baroque Works clearly wouldn't send just one person to wait here.
Over ten people dressed in rebel uniforms charged out from every corner, some holding knives, others raising guns.
Leading them was a man with a ponytail, who licked his lips:
"Miss Wednesday, no, Princess Vivi."
"The boss said you'd come, and you really did."
"Move aside."
Vivi said coldly.
"That won't happen."
The man laughed, "The boss's orders are, you can't reach the capital alive."
Before he finished speaking, he had already charged forward.
Then he was kicked flying by Sanji.
"I'm not interested in knowing your codename."
Sanji retracted his leg, lighting a new cigarette, "and I'm not interested in fighting you."
"Because," he paused, "you're blocking Miss Vivi's path."
The battle ended in a few seconds.
It wasn't that Baroque agents were too weak, but the members of the Straw Hat Crew, even the "non-combatants," were no longer rookies from the East Blue era.
Nami's Clima-Tact, used merely as a weapon, knocked them all over.
The pellets fired from Usopp's slingshot were varied, and using Ralph's rapid-fire method, he instantly took down a group of enemies.
Chopper, relying only on his human form, could knock down an adult man with just three punches and two kicks.
Not to mention Sanji.
When he got serious, these mid- and low-level agents tasked with interception couldn't even touch his clothes.
Five minutes later, over ten people lay scattered on the ground.
But everyone had also sustained injuries to varying degrees.
Nami's arm was cut by a blade, Usopp's nose hit the wall while dodging, and Chopper also injured his head.
Sanji's suit had several more tears, and his tie was crooked.
They didn't stop.
"Keep moving."
Nami gritted her teeth, tearing off a strip of cloth to hastily bandage her wound.
Just then, a familiar quacking sound came from afar.
Vivi turned sharply.
In the sand-filled front, several agile large ducks were charging toward them at astonishing speed.
The leader was especially familiar to them.
"Karoo—!"
Vivi's voice was almost a shout.
"Quack quack quack quack—!"
Karoo rushed over, braking sharply in front of Vivi.
Then it raised its head, looking at Vivi with its round black eyes, and quacked once.
That sound seemed to say:
Sorry, I'm late.
Vivi's tears burst forth.
Karoo rubbed against her hand, then turned around and called to the duck flock behind it.
The Super Spot-Billed Duck Troops, Karoo's kin, crouched down uniformly, assuming a carrying posture.
Everyone mounted the super spot-billed ducks and galloped toward the direction of the capital.
Wind and sand swept against their faces, but no one slowed down.
Outside the gates of Alubarna, the royal capital, on the sand dunes.
When the group arrived, the scene before them made everyone's hearts sink to the bottom.
Two armies stood facing each other.
On one side was the Royal Army, their armor gleaming, shields arrayed like a forest, spears standing tall like trees.
On the other side were the rebels, their clothes tattered but their eyes burning with fury, their weapons crude, yet their numbers several times that of the Royal Army.
Between the two armies lay only an expanse of empty sand.
Anger was building, patience wearing thin.
The charge was about to begin.
Vivi, riding Karoo, was about to rush toward that empty stretch of sand.
"Wait!"
Sanji blocked her path.
"Are you crazy?!"
"I have to go!"
Vivi struggled desperately.
"Those are my people! They're killing each other!"
"What good will it do if you charge in alone?!"
Sanji explained.
"You won't even reach the middle before both sides start fighting! You'll be trampled into a pulp!
In the chaos of battle, they won't see you or hear you at all!"
"Then I can't just do nothing!"
Vivi cried out hoarsely.
"I made it here! I'm right here!!"
She collapsed to her knees on the sand, tears sliding silently down her face.
Nami watched her, biting her lip.
"There is a way."
Everyone turned to look at her.
Nami took out three short rods—
the Clima-Tact that Usopp had modified for her.
Her eyes gleaming, she spun the three rods.
"Mirage."
"Using differences in air density to create light refraction. It requires a lot of water vapor..."
She waved the Clima-Tact, the three sections tracing elegant arcs through the air.
Hiss—!
Fine water mist sprayed from the tips of the rods, forming a faint, ethereal veil in the dry desert air.
Nami closed her eyes, sweat beading on her forehead.
To project a specific human figure with precision over such a large area and complex terrain—this was her first attempt.
"A little to the left... a little to the right..."
She murmured to herself.
"No... the temperature and humidity... damn it, it's too dry here..."
Vivi watched her back, wanting to say something but afraid of disturbing her.
Usopp suddenly spoke up:
"A megaphone."
He fumbled through his backpack and pulled out an exaggeratedly styled loudspeaker—as a master of tall tales, he always had a way to make his voice the center of attention at any banquet.
He handed it to Vivi:
"An image without sound won't do."
Vivi took the megaphone, her fingers trembling.
Then, she lifted her head.
In the sky, a massive phantom figure was slowly taking shape.
It was Vivi.
Her own face, her own form, her own posture.
She had never imagined that one day she would see herself in the sky.
"Hurry!"
Nami called out anxiously.
"I don't know how long I can hold it!"
Vivi took a deep breath and raised the megaphone.
"Everyone—!"
Her voice, amplified by the loudspeaker, spread like the wind across the entire battlefield.
Everyone stopped moving.
Whether soldiers of the Royal Army or warriors of the rebel forces, they all looked up at the giant figure in the sky.
"Stop fighting—!"
Vivi's voice trembled.
"I know how much you've suffered over these three years!
I know you hate the king, hate this country, hate this unfair drought!"
Her voice was earnest, her expression resolute, "But my father—King Cobra—is innocent!"
"The Dance Powder incident was fabricated!"
"The drought in Alabasta is not the royal family's fault!"
"This is all a conspiracy orchestrated by a group of Pirates called Baroque Works!"
"Their goal is to incite war and seize our country!"
The battlefield fell silent.
Countless pairs of eyes looked up at the princess in the sky.
Those gazes held shock, doubt, hesitation, and confusion.
Vivi took a step forward, "Please..."
Her voice choked with emotion.
"Stop fighting each other... Our common enemy is not one another... It's those who want to destroy Alabasta..."
At that very moment—
Whoosh!
The phantom image in the sky was torn apart by an invisible hand, instantly dissipating.
"What's happening?!"
Nami exclaimed, the special weather phenomenon she had created suddenly changed.
Then, a fierce wind began to howl.
Yellow sand surged from all directions, surrounding everyone like a wall.
"A sandstorm!"
Usopp shouted.
But it was no ordinary sandstorm.
Sanji's pupils contracted sharply—
Amid the howling wind and sand, he caught a glimpse of a blurry figure.
A man.
A man with a golden hook for a right hand.
Sanji stepped out with Geppo, charging toward that direction.
But the sand was too thick, completely obscuring his vision.
He could only vaguely see the man reach out, grab something, and then vanish into the swirling yellow sand.
The wind and sand gradually subsided.
Nami crawled out of a sand pile, coughing and brushing sand off herself.
"Vivi! Where's Vivi?!"
No one answered.
Chopper emerged from another sand pile, his antlers covered in sand.
Usopp lay face down on the ground, spitting out a mouthful of sand:
"Cough, cough... Miss Vivi..."
Sanji stood still, his fists clenched so tightly they creaked.
"She was taken."
His eyes burned with anger, filled with self-loathing for his own helplessness.
"That man, right in front of me, took Miss Vivi away. Unforgivable!"
Sanji said nothing more.
He turned and charged off in a certain direction.
Watching Sanji chase after them, Nami muttered in confusion:
"How does Sanji know where Vivi was taken?"
Usopp got up, "A pervert's intuition, I guess!"
"What are we waiting for, then!"
Chopper instantly transformed into his reindeer form, "Get on!"
Nami leaped onto Chopper's back, and Usopp started running at full speed.
Three figures followed Sanji's trail, disappearing over the dunes outside the royal capital.
They didn't realize—or perhaps they didn't have the capacity to think about it yet—
That this direction led to the royal palace.
When Vivi regained consciousness, what she saw was an ornate dome, giant candelabras, and the mural on the wall she had grown up seeing.
The Alabasta Royal Palace.
She was back.
But she hadn't returned willingly.
"Awake?"
That voice made Vivi tremble all over.
She turned her head.
Crocodile—the man who had turned Alabasta into hell—stood not far away.
At his feet, a woman sat kneeling, wearing handcuffs.
Miss All Sunday.
Then, Vivi saw two people.
One was her father, Cobra. The other... was also Cobra.
One stood in the center of the room, pale-faced but with a straight back.
A person standing beside Crocodile wore a strained smile, beads of sweat glistening on their forehead.
At that moment, Crocodile openly admitted his defeat.
"Fine, you've won."
His tone carried a hint of self-mockery, a touch of resignation, but above all, madness.
"I won't be able to seize this country.
But the Ancient Weapon—I will have it without fail."
He turned his gaze toward the real Cobra.
"If you don't want your daughter to die before your eyes, then reveal the secret of the Ancient Weapon Pluton."