Gawain, who was standing on the deck, listened to Vivi's words and couldn't help but smile bitterly and shook his head: "Is this a plot by our own people?"
"No wonder the route of this voyage has always been within Alabasta and even passed by so many destroyed towns one after another."
"With Nami's abilities, she should be able to avoid this kind of thing completely."
"But."
"It was my own choice, after all."
"These guys know my character a little too well."
The pirate ship hoisted its sails and slowly sailed into the distance, following the direction of the sea breeze.
In a deserted town, Robin's figure slowly emerged from the yellow sand.
She stared at the pirate ship carrying Gawain until it disappeared from her sight.
"Dividing into three groups. Have you decided to intervene in Alabasta's affairs?"
"I just don't know..."
"Is it because he's overconfident in himself, or is it because of that woman, Vivi."
Robin turned and walked into the bar that belonged to her.
Squeak!
As the door was pushed open, the lights in the bar were still dim, but there was a hint of warmth.
There was nothing on the bar except a half-empty bottle of rum and two wine glasses.
There was also a sticky note.
Robin slowly tore off the note, but when she saw clearly what Gawain left, her eyes trembled slightly: "Nico Robin, do you want to board my ship?"
"We will find a place to take root in the New World and create a utopia where everyone under this pirate flag can survive —White Knight Gawain."
For a while, the bar remained silent.
Only the gramophone was still turning, and between the humming sounds, the soft music spread to every corner of the bar.
"Another... Utopia?"
Robin looked at the note in her hand with a complicated look, even a hint of coldness.
When the Baroque Works was first established, the goal of every member joining and fighting until death was to create a utopia here.
But on such a barren land, it is already extremely difficult to survive. As for the Utopia? Of course, it is Crocodile's lie.
"Is this another lie, or... is there really a man who is so naive as to want to fight against the will of the World Government on his own?"
Robin's eyes dimmed.
Countless times, she had been given a glimmer of hope of seeing the sun because of the accidental kindness of others.
But the next day, either she is being hunted by the World Government and the Marines, or she is being chased by ambitious people like Crocodile.
The almost endless betrayal and escape left her physically and mentally exhausted.
Even though she knew that Crocodile was simply using her for the history of Alabasta.
She chose to remain in this temporary shelter.
Now, another man has extended an olive branch to her again, but she uses the same words that Crocodile had already broken.
"Never mind."
"I shouldn't have any hope for this world."
Between her words, Robin crumpled up the note Gawain had left behind, raised her hand to throw it into the trash can, but then slowly withdrew her hand.
She unfolded the note bit by bit, flattened it, and put it back into the book in her arms.
Pere! Pere! Pere!
The rapid sound of Den Den Mushi suddenly rang out.
After the call was connected, Crocodile's hoarse voice came from the receiver. "Nico Robin, where are you?"
Robin drooped her eyelids and flipped through the book in her hand, but her eyes remained on the note. "In the temporary base in Pluto town."
"Did you meet anyone?"
Robin was slightly stunned and turned to look at the sea in the distance.
Now, Gawain and his group's figure had disappeared long ago.
She picked up the receiver and said calmly: "If mummies that are buried in the sand count, then I should have met someone."
"Yeah?"
Crocodile on the other end of the receiver fell silent, but it only lasted for a few seconds before he spoke again: "You need to return to Alubarna first. We need to speed up our operations. Only you can interpret the historical text."
"Understood, boss."
A few minutes later, the lights in the bar went out, and with Robin's departure, the town also lost its last bit of vitality.
... ... ...
Time flies, and several days pass.
Nanohana is one of the few large ports in Alabasta and is famous for its perfume production throughout the Grand Line.
Even though Alabasta is poor and destitute, it should be extremely prosperous, with countless merchant ships passing by.
But at this moment, there was only dead silence here.
When Gawain arrived here, driving the small pirate ship he had robbed, there was only this pirate ship in the entire harbor.
"Did they clear the place in advance?"
"No wonder."
Gawain murmured and led everyone off the ship, heading toward the agreed location in the harbor.
Soon, several Alabasta kingdom guards appeared in Gawain's sight.
The leader was a short middle-aged man with a pair of glasses. He was servile and fawning at them.
"Gawain-sama, this is the ransom that has been prepared."
The middle-aged man waved behind him, and a guard placed a suitcase in front of Gawain and opened it, revealing the neatly stacked cash inside.
"Please hand Princess Vivi over to us."
Gawain did not look at the cash on the ground, but his eyes fell on the middle-aged man.
Although the middle-aged man had disguised himself to a certain extent, his unique hairstyle was still too eye-catching.
Gawain still recognized his identity at a glance.
Mr. 3, Galdino, the third person in Baroque Works.
In fact, in terms of combat effectiveness alone, he is not even among the top five in Baroque Works, but he acts in a despicable way, unscrupulously, and his bottom line is extremely flexible.
In this regard, he even reached the point where Crocodile looked up to him.
Crocodile seems to be planning to take action here and wants to see what tricks these guys can come up with.
Gawain raised a faint smile and glanced at the person beside him. Then he saw Fukurou and Kumadori holding down a woman with bound hands and wearing a hood.
"The one you want."
Mr. 3 untied the woman's hood, but what he saw was an extremely haggard face.
He picked up the photo at hand and compared it. When he saw that the photo was 70% similar to it, he felt relieved.
After all, Vivi had been in exile for several months and had been imprisoned by the White Knight Pirate, suffering a lot, so it was understandable that her facial features had changed a little.
With the hostage in hand, Mr. 3's expression instantly turned cold.
He raised his hand and pushed up his glasses. The lenses reflected the light, and his temperament turned inexplicably cold.
"Thank you for escorting Lady Vivi, but I do have a request."
"Tell me about it."
The corners of Gawain's mouth curled up slightly. Sensing the murderous intent everywhere around him, his expression became extremely indifferent.
"Can you please... Die!"
As the sound landed, there was a sudden flash of fire between the surrounding buildings, and continuous bullets and artillery fire shot towards Gawain, engulfing him in an instant.
Boom!
Dust and smoke filled the air.
Seeing this, Mr. 3 had a smug smile on his face: "Even without the boss' help, I can handle this-"
Tsk!
Mr. 3 was halfway through his words when he felt a chill on his chest, then blood spurt out of his chest, and he fell to the ground.
He turned his head blankly, and the Vivi he saw had changed drastically.
With blonde hair falling down her shoulders, she looks mature and charming and has indifferent eyes.
It is obvious that she is someone who has killed countless people.
Where was the same attitude as before?
He had fallen into a trap!
By the time Mr. 3 realized this, it was already too late.
The wound in his chest took away all his strength to resist and also took his life away with it.
At the same time, two tall figures suddenly jumped out from the dust in the distance and attacked the Baroque Works killers lurking nearby.
One of them transformed into a tall and agile werewolf with ferocious claws and fangs, while the other had a head full of flying white hair, which turned into the shape of fingers and pierced into the human body like bullets.