Alabasta was located on Lodestar Island, in the first half of the Grand Line.
Lodestar Island was an extremely rare supermassive island, practically large enough to be considered a continental plate.
Because of this, Alabasta possessed an enormous territory. However, the island's terrain and climate were poor. Most of the island was desert, exceptionally arid and unsuitable for human habitation.
Even so, with its vast territory, Alabasta was still a camel larger than a horse even after death. Its population was immense, and the Nefertari family alone maintained a standing armed force of at least six hundred thousand.
One had to understand that these were full-time professional soldiers. If a nation could afford to support six hundred thousand career troops, that alone surpassed the populations of many countries in this world. What was more, Alabasta had suffered constant rebellions over the years, with several hundred thousand rebels scattered throughout the country. It was simply terrifying.
No wonder Alabasta was regarded as one of the world's foremost military powers.
In recent years, national instability coupled with prolonged drought had caused many oasis cities to vanish. Alabasta's overall situation was dire, and its economy had declined severely as well.
Yet under such circumstances, a splendid new city had risen within Alabasta: Rainbase.
With drought covering all of Alabasta, only the capital, Alubarna, and Rainbase received rain from time to time. This caused most of the country's population to begin migrating toward those two places, rapidly fueling Rainbase's prosperity.
Sand Crocodile Crocodile, one of the Shichibukai, had taken up permanent residence in Rainbase. He had also opened an exceedingly luxurious casino here, drawing wealthy patrons from all over the world. And because the capital, Alubarna, was frequently attacked by rebels, Alabasta's great nobles had flocked to Rainbase to settle down.
The reason was simple. Crocodile was strong enough to keep Rainbase under control. The rebels had attacked this place several times, only to fail every time. Eventually, they simply stopped coming.
Thus, in the eyes of many nobles, this place was even safer than the capital!
On an endless high dune in the desert, a camel caravan had stopped to rest.
Among the caravan was a camel whose entire body was snow-white. It was far larger and more powerfully built than the others, yet it still looked somewhat exhausted at the moment, because the one riding on its back was none other than Bane.
Speaking of which, after Bane's height had grown to around two meters thirty, it had stopped increasing. However, his weight continued to rise along with the growth of his physical strength.
A height of two meters thirty might have sounded impressive, but in this world filled with monsters, it was actually nothing remarkable.
"Along the way, every city we passed was desolate, with desert bandits running rampant. Only after reaching the vicinity of Rainbase have we finally seen the prosperity of this ancient kingdom," Bane said as he rode his camel, looking at the emerging city three or four kilometers below the dune.
That was Rainbase. Camel caravans flowed in and out of the city like endless streams of ants. As far as the eye could see, it seemed to be the only patch of green amid the boundless desert.
"Alabasta's tradition is migration. Apart from the capital, this country has almost no cities with particularly long histories. The yellow sands will eventually bury everything. The people here always leave their homelands to develop new oases, and Rainbase is merely one of them in that long history," Nico Robin said as she rode her camel over to Bane's side.
Having lived in Alabasta for years, she seemed accustomed to the vicious sun. Her wheat-colored skin was the best proof of that. While Nami had wrapped herself up tightly, Robin still wore her white trench coat and a stylish cowboy hat.
As for Bane and Zoro, naturally, neither of them cared. Bane's constitution made sunburn impossible. He wore brown cargo pants and a black tank top that clung to his body, making him look exceptionally muscular and radiating a sense of violence.
After arriving in Alabasta, their group had encountered Nico Robin, who had been waiting for them at Nanohana Port. Bane then dismissed his underlings on the spot, allowing them to move freely through Nanohana until they were needed for departure again.
Afterward, he set off with Nami, Zoro, and Robin, heading straight for Rainbase.
"Now that I'm here, Crocodile can't even be bothered to come greet me?" Bane clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"He said he would wait for you at the Rain Dinners Casino," Robin said with a smile.
"But if we fight there, I'll feel bad about breaking things," Bane said helplessly.
He already regarded everything Crocodile possessed as his own property. Who picked their own home as the place for a fight?
What? Marine Headquarters? Then forget I said anything.
After a brief pause, Bane turned to look at Nico Robin, who radiated mature charm, and asked, "Beautiful lady, is there any way to lure Crocodile out? We can take him out here in the desert."
Apparently pleased by Bane's compliment, Robin smiled and shook her head. "Not likely. He is already extremely wary of you."
"Shouldn't that make the desert even more suitable? This is his home ground!" Bane grumbled.
"All of Alabasta is his home ground," Robin said in a somewhat serious tone.
Then, before Bane could speak, Robin abruptly changed the subject. "Do you know who designed the Rain Dinners Casino?"
"Who?" Bane froze for a moment, unable to understand why Robin had suddenly asked that.
"Me." A dangerous glint flashed through Nico Robin's eyes. "When I first began working with Crocodile, Rain Dinners did not yet exist. His influence in Alabasta and the Grand Line was not nearly as great as it is now. Later, he chose Rainbase and wanted to build a luxurious casino here as his headquarters."
"And then you designed Rain Dinners for him?" Bane asked, rubbing his chin.
"No. The designer was recommended by Gild Tesoro, and Crocodile gladly accepted Tesoro's favor. But I switched out the final blueprints. Rain Dinners was built according to my design." Robin revealed that enchanting yet dangerous smile. "Do you know why I did that?"
"You had been planning how to kill him ever since then?" After thinking briefly, Bane gave the answer.
"That's right. The top three floors of Rain Dinners really are designed as a top-class casino and entertainment complex. But the bottom two floors are Crocodile's lair. To cater to his twisted tastes, I tampered with the design a little and built him a giant ornamental crocodile pool with enough water to completely flood the bottom two floors of Rain Dinners," Nico Robin said softly.
At that moment, Bane suddenly realized certain details he had never noticed before. Crocodile's ability weakness was water. Once he came into contact with water, he could no longer turn into an element. In the original story, Nico Robin had intended to exploit that weakness to ambush him.
She simply had not succeeded.
So here was the question. Crocodile's weakness—no, every Devil Fruit user's weakness was seawater. Yet this guy raised crocodiles in his own headquarters, and on the second underground floor at that. If something went wrong and seawater flooded in, he would be finished on the spot!
Such an outrageous move had never caught Bane's attention before. His instincts from having seen the story had made him consider it perfectly natural. But after hearing Robin's explanation, he finally realized it. Damn, this had been Robin's setup for Crocodile all along—a killing move she had left behind for him.
It simply had never been used in the original story due to various reasons!
While Bane was still astonished and shaken by this revelation, Robin retained that dangerous smile. "So, there is a very simple way to kill Crocodile. He will definitely receive you on the second underground floor of Rain Dinners. If you are willing to take the risk, then when you meet, I can activate that little mechanism that has never been used and let seawater flood in. That will end everything, and we will not have to worry about causing too much damage to Rain Dinners."
Bane burst into laughter upon hearing that. Then he raised an eyebrow and looked at Nico Robin with a meaningful gaze. "You know I'm a Devil Fruit user too, yet you're giving me this suggestion?"
"So, are you afraid that I'll drown you along with him?" Robin asked softly, still smiling.
The atmosphere fell silent for a brief moment before Bane waved a large hand. "No. I trust you, so we'll go with your plan!"
His decisive agreement instead left Robin, who had already prepared herself to be rejected, somewhat startled.
For some reason, warmth welled up in her heart. Was this trust?
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