Vivi

"You're going to Alabasta?!"

Ling Donglai's words caught the girl's attention.

She couldn't help but care, because Alabasta was her home. She loved that country more than anything.

A pirate with a thirty-million-Beli bounty was heading to her home.

Who wouldn't panic?

Even if Nami said they weren't pirates, who would believe it upon first meeting them? Who would dare to?

"What's wrong?" Nami noticed that she seemed nervous.

"It's all right. We really aren't pirates," Nami reassured her.

The girl reminded her of herself. She had also left home at a young age and harbored a bone-deep hatred for pirates.

That was why Nami didn't want this little girl to hold a prejudiced hatred toward them.

"That's my home."

"Did something happen to your family?" Nami asked.

"How did you know?!"

"Isn't it obvious? If you didn't hate pirates, how could you hate them so much?"

"Uh, well... I still don't know whether what happened to my family had anything to do with pirates. I just felt that something was wrong, so I infiltrated a secret company and became one of its agents. To rise through the company, we had to kill pirates and complete missions. And pirates are all wicked people, so..."

"How old are you? You actually dared to do something like that?" Nami was somewhat shocked.

All she had done was steal pirates' treasure and save it up. This little girl was even bolder—she had actually wanted to kill pirates.

"I'm twelve. This was also my first time doing it..." The little girl blushed.

And she had failed on her very first attempt.

"I don't know whether to call you brave or ignorant. Pirates aren't that easy to kill. My name is Nami. What about you?"

"My name is... M... Miss Wednesday. That's the name I use in my company, Baroque Works. As for my real name, it would be dangerous if I told you." Miss Wednesday hesitated before giving her alias.

"Uh... what a coincidence, haha. We ran into your company before too. They invited us to join, but our captain refused. He even took their Alabasta Eternal Pose and Den Den Mushi while he was at it." Nami was rather surprised.

"What... You not only refused Baroque Works' invitation, but also took their things?!" Miss Wednesday was stunned.

Only then did she understand the power of a thirty-million-Beli bounty. Baroque Works had taken the initiative to invite someone like that in, yet even after being robbed, they hadn't dared to say a word.

When had the mysterious company that made people tremble in Alabasta ever suffered such humiliation?

"By the way, Captain, what are we going to Alabasta for?" Nami turned and asked Ling Donglai curiously.

"Get in the carriage first. The island guards have been drawn here by the gunshots." Ling Donglai held out his hand.

Nami placed her delicate hand in his broad palm. Like a knight helping a princess into a carriage, Ling Donglai pulled Nami aboard.

"Are you coming in?" Nami turned to Miss Wednesday.

"..." Miss Wednesday hesitated, but her curiosity about their reason for heading to Alabasta won out, and she climbed into the carriage.

After lightly stimulating the horse with an electric current, the carriage slowly started moving.

"I'm going to Alabasta to find someone—Nico Robin."

"The Devil Child with the seventy-nine-million-Beli bounty?" Nami, who had gradually learned about the Grand Line through the News Coo, blurted out.

"With such a huge bounty, how strong must she be?!" Miss Wednesday was deeply shocked.

Ling Donglai, with his thirty-million-Beli bounty, could already ignore bullets. How terrifying would someone with nearly eighty million be?

"She's no devil. She was only wanted by the World Government because she obtained knowledge she shouldn't have had, much like me," Ling Donglai corrected.

"Then how do you know she's in Alabasta?" Miss Wednesday asked uneasily.

She was a major criminal wanted by the World Government. If the Marines found out...

It might be even more dangerous, because she was someone the World Government wanted.

"I don't. I'm just trying my luck. She's always hiding out in the underworld." Ling Donglai spread his hands.

He only remembered that Robin had been drifting through the underworld before Crocodile found her and made her work for him.

He wasn't sure whether Crocodile had found Robin by this point, though he probably had. After all, Baroque Works had already begun stirring up civil unrest in Alabasta, and Crocodile was the one who had founded the organization.

"Hey, is this woman Nico Robin really that important to you, Captain?!" Nami dragged out her words, unconsciously revealing a hint of jealousy.

"Indeed. She's a woman I want. Robin's importance in this world is beyond doubt, and only she can read the ancient script." Ling Donglai nodded.

"I see..." Nami breathed a sigh of relief, her expression brightening. So the captain only valued her knowledge.

That was fine.

Robin should be... twenty-four years old now, right in the prime of being an exceptional mature beauty... right?

Outside the carriage, the town guards passed by Ling Donglai with swords and guns in hand. One of them noticed Ling Donglai's profile and was just about to cry out when his companions covered his mouth.

Then they continued onward. Once they reached their destination, they scattered and searched around before the captain solemnly issued a new order. "No criminals found. Withdraw!"

That was their... rule for survival.

"Is that all it took? These people are way too unreliable." Hearing the order to withdraw, Nami lifted the carriage curtain and looked outside, muttering in dissatisfaction.

"This is the best approach when dealing with small-scale conflicts involving pirates," Miss Wednesday said.

"As long as they pretend not to see anything, it'll be fine. Once pirates have bought supplies, they'll naturally leave for the next island."

Ling Donglai slowly stopped the carriage. Beside him was a shop selling Den Den Mushi, and many pirates inside were picking out the ones they liked.

"What kind of Den Den Mushi are we buying?" Nami got out of the carriage.

"Buy some of every kind. Ones for photos, video recording, projection, and Bewildering Den Den Mushi. Get a few small Den Den Mushi too—I'll raise them myself and observe the bioelectromagnetic waves between them."

Nature was humanity's best teacher. Observe, learn, and finally master and surpass.

Sea King meat could no longer accelerate Ling Donglai's growth, so he could only find a new path himself—a path to becoming stronger, perhaps even using the power of the Zoan to transform into elements.

Ling Donglai had always craved the power of elementalization. To disperse his body into natural elements and then reassemble it somewhere else—such power was simply too tempting.

"So cheap! Why are Log Poses so cheap here? They cost a fortune in Loguetown!" Nami inadvertently spotted the blank Log Poses for sale and cried out in surprise.

Because the Log Poses here cost only ten thousand Beli!