During the few days that Bai Sui and his crew explored the moon, Luffy and his crew not only found a new partner, Chopper, but also promised Princess Vivi, who had previously infiltrated the local community for the sake of her country, that they would help her save her homeland.
However, when the group arrived in Alabasta, they found that a riot had broken out. It turned out that Baroque Works, led by Crocodile, was carrying out its so-called " Operation Utopia " in Alabasta.
For three years, the entire Alabasta, except for the capital Alubarna, has been without a drop of rain. Under the deliberate guidance of the studio, the people believe that this Drought is caused by the king of the capital using Dance Powder, a drug banned by the World Government, to force rain. As a result, rebellions have broken out all over Alabasta, and war has spread everywhere.
Since the leader of the Rebel Army is Vivi's childhood Koza, Luffy and his crew decide to go to Yuba first to stop the Rebel Army ' actions. During their Luffy, they also meet Ace's sworn brother Ace, who is Devil Fruit User Luffy.
According to Ace, he is now the second division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, one of the Four Emperors. He came here to hunt down Blackbeard, a traitor to the Whitebeard Pirates. Blackbeard cruelly murdered the fourth Whitebeard Pirates in order to steal the Dark-Dark Fruit.
Along the way, they encountered Smoker, who had been pursuing them. Both being Logia Devil Fruit, Ace fought with Smoker and successfully forced him to retreat. Before leaving, Ace gave Luffy his Vivre Card so that Luffy wouldn't worry about him.
The group's journey continued to be fraught with difficulties. When they arrived in Yuba, the place was deserted, with only Koza's father remaining. At this point, Luffy decided to lead everyone to the Rainbase to fight a decisive battle against Crocodile, the " Desert King " and Devil Fruit User.
Meanwhile, Crocodile had already gathered his men and, after draining the water from the incompetent Mr. 3, fed him to the crocodiles.
Crocodile then used a trap he had set up beforehand to trap Smoker and his Luffy, who were fighting Smoker. Thanks to Crocodile's meticulous preparation, the cage used to capture and imprison them was inlaid with Seastone.
Because Seastone is not only hard but also has the ability to seal the Devil Fruit powers of its users, even Smoker, who can turn his body into smoke, cannot escape from it.
Fortunately, the people at Baroque Works thought Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata were also Devil Fruit User, so they left after imprisoning them. Naruto then broke the cage with his Rasengan, releasing everyone and rescuing Mr. 3 who had been swallowed by the crocodile. In gratitude, Smoker abandoned his pursuit of the group.
During the time Luffy and his crew were captured, Mr. 2, also known as Bon Clay, used his Clone-Clone Fruit ability to transform himself into the appearance of a king. He openly scorned all the citizens and even ordered his guards to open fire on Koza, the rebel leader who came to negotiate.
It was this that truly solidified Koza's resolve to launch an armed uprising and attack the kingdom's capital Alubarna.
After Luffy and his crew escaped from the cage, they continued their journey towards the capital. However, an unexpected incident occurred along the way: Crocodile suddenly appeared, intending to capture Vivi in order to threaten the King of Alabasta and force him to hand over the Poneglyph that he had been keeping secret.
Seeing this, Luffy told everyone to go ahead and stayed behind to cover the retreat. Unfortunately, Crocodile is Logia Sand-Sand Devil Fruit User, and like Smoker whom he had met before, he can transform his body into an element.
With such a huge gap in strength, Crocodile, who can freely change his body shape and state, overwhelmed Luffy, leaving him utterly helpless and nearly killing him. After all, the difference in their strength was simply too great; they were not even in the same dimension.
Throughout the battle, Crocodile only felt pain when Luffy's blood-soaked hand gripped him. He seemed somewhat uninterested in such an opponent, simply throwing Crocodile into a patch of quicksand he had created in the desert before Luffy Luffy leaving.
However, Miss All Sunday, Nico Robin, from Baroque Works, secretly saved Luffy's life.
When Vivi led the group to the capital Alubarna, a rebellion had already broken out. After realizing that Baroque Works was involved, the group sought out suitable opponents to deal with.
However, just as the war broke out here, a special ship arrived at the port of Alabasta. The reason why this ship was special was that it did not rely on the wind to propel its sails, nor on steam or oars. The entire ship was carried and propelled by the waves when it moved on the sea.
When the ship came to a stop, a group of people jumped off. The leader had long, curly yellow hair, no eyebrows, and a mustache. He wore a high-necked trench coat, cinched at the waist with a black silk ribbon, and a green undershirt underneath. He seemed somewhat out of place in this country full of sandstorms.
"It seems this is Alabasta. As agreed before, we will be responsible for bringing rain to this land. As for how to negotiate the specifics, that's your Revolutionary Army's problem." The speaker was none other than the Second Mizukage, Hozuki Gengetsu, from the original Hokage timeline.
"Okay, no problem. I'll take care of the negotiations. As for the rain-making work, I'll have to leave it to you all." The speaker was a man wearing a black hat with shoulder-length brown curly hair, Barney Joe, a Revolutionary Army officer in the early part of the Grand Line.
It turns out that when Dragon took Sabo and the others to the East Blue, although they didn't dock directly in Alabasta, someone informed them about the situation there. When they learned that the area suffered from water shortages year-round and the people were in dire straits, Dragon had an idea: could he turn this place into one of his revolutionary territories?
However, because he was heading to the outpost in the Ninja World at the time, Ryu kept the matter to himself and did not take any action. He only mentioned it when talking to Nawaki Senju.
Knowing that the vast majority of the planet's surface area was covered by seawater, the Ninja World deliberately dispatched a large number of ninjas skilled in Water Release. As a result, Nawaki Senju arranged for them to come to the Alabasta Kingdom. This marked the first formal cooperation between the two sides, so both sides attached great importance to it.
When he first heard that this country was all desert, Nawaki Senju actually considered taking action himself, because his grandfather, Senju Hashirama, had single-handedly transformed the desert of the Land of Wind into a forest. He had wanted to try it himself, but there was no desert left in the Ninja World that needed to be managed, so he had to give up.
Now that such a suitable country for practice has appeared, Nawaki Senju feels that if he doesn't go there to plant a few trees, it would be a waste of his time on this planet. However, as the person in charge of the previous work, there are still many tasks waiting for his arrangement, and he cannot act arbitrarily, so he has to give up. But he did not give up on this matter. Instead, he decided that when he travels to the Grand Line and passes through this country, he must plant some trees.
Meanwhile, considering that the combat power of Water Release ninjas would be somewhat weakened in the desert, a master was also accompanying them this time. This person was the Second Kazekage of the original timeline, Shamon. He was bald and had a blue dragon tattoo with a black claw on his head and right eye. He wore a yellow cloak, tied at the waist with a gray silk ribbon, and wore a black tight-fitting combat suit underneath. His overall temperament was quite in line with the desert.
The reason Shamon was sent was because he developed the ability to manipulate sand and gravel through chakra, making him a chakra version of the Sand-Sand Devil Fruit User.
Speaking of this Shamon, Bai Sui also values him highly. After all, he not only developed the puppet manipulation technique, but also developed a series of sand manipulation techniques based on his observation of Shukaku's sand manipulation when he was young. In the original work, Gaara's sand manipulation ability came from his mother and Shukaku, while Shamon's sand manipulation ability came entirely from himself.
This trip to Alabasta was actually at Bai Sui's behest, since fighting against a powerful being who also manipulates sand would likely be helpful to Shamon.
As for whether Shamon and his crew would be a match for Crocodile, Bai Sui wasn't worried about that. After all, Luffy was able to defeat him under normal circumstances. Although there was an element of luck involved, it still proved something. After all, no matter how lucky Luffy was, he couldn't possibly defeat Bai Sui right now.
Of course, Bai Sui also felt that Crocodile were not limited to what he showed when Luffy. After all, he was a member of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. Bai Sui could only conclude that Whitebeard had dealt him a heavy blow.
Crocodile, who had a smooth and successful life, had never truly lost since acquiring the Sand-Sand Fruit power. Even becoming Seven Warlords of the Sea was incredibly easy for him, which led him to believe that he was second to none. At this moment, Crocodile, who felt that he was invincible, approached Whitebeard, the universally acknowledged World's Strongest Man.
In that battle, Crocodile suffered a complete defeat. Whitebeard shattered his spirit, leaving him despondent and even seeking external help to find the Ancient Weapon Pluton in order to kill Whitebeard and overcome his psychological trauma.
In fact, Bai Sui had some doubts about this. Perhaps Crocodile was on the verge of Awakening Conqueror's Haki back then. If he had defeated Whitebeard, or perhaps if he had just held on a little longer, he might have been able to Conqueror's Haki. After all, that was his mindset at the time. His victories had raised his morale to its peak, and he was challenging the World's Strongest. Unfortunately, Whitebeard was too ruthless and completely crippled Crocodile. It was simply a matter of timing and fate.
The Revolutionary Army's mission is to recruit the Alabasta Kingdom, or rather, to recruit the Revolutionary Army that overthrew the current regime. Both options are viable for the Revolutionary Army, since the trouble that has befallen the entire Alabasta Kingdom was caused by the Seven Warlords of the Sea, who are permitted by the World Government to exist.
This hatred could easily be directed at the World Government. After all, while Crocodile's actions contributed to the country's dire situation, the World Government's exorbitant Heavenly Tribute collection also made Alabasta unable to afford even water from other countries.
During the journey to the capital, Hozuki Suigetsu kept sensing the moisture in the air. He discovered that although the moisture content in the air decreased as they moved further away from the ocean, the overall moisture level was still quite high throughout the Alabasta Kingdom.
Even in this vast desert, only the area close to the ground is relatively dry. At higher elevations, the moisture content remains considerable. This is unavoidable, given the natural distribution of the world's surface area; oceans far outweigh land, and apart from the Red Line, most other so-called landmasses are actually just islands.
"This place is truly a paradise for us Water Release ninjas," Hozuki Gengetsu couldn't help but exclaim.
Such sentiments were something they had never experienced before when maneuvering waterways at sea. After all, while the sea was their main battleground, they were still human beings who needed to live on land; they couldn't live in the sea forever.
Furthermore, since they had just arrived at the outpost from the Ninja World and were sent here, he had only read some written materials and did not have a clear understanding of the situation firsthand. At this moment, everyone was walking on the desert, and if there was such abundant moisture here, one could imagine what it was like in other places. That was why he had such feelings.
This is actually because he doesn't understand this world. He doesn't know that there is a Fish-Man Island built on the seabed. It is a beautiful city located nearly 10,000 meters below the surface of the sea. It is completely surrounded by seawater. If the world of One Piece is a paradise for Water Release ninjas, then Fish-Man Island should be the holy city of Jerusalem.
Guided by satellites, the group headed straight for the capital of Alabasta. Satellite images showed that the situation in the capital was not good; although a battle had not yet broken out, a large army was already pressing in.