Baroque Works

"Oh, holding my wanted poster—are you trying to capture me?" Rody asked in surprise as he looked at the people staring at his bounty poster.

At that moment, the town's residents began gathering one after another, pulling out weapons from various places and aiming them at Rody. There were roughly a hundred of them.

"Originally, since you treated me fairly well, I wouldn't have cared what your intentions were as long as you didn't seek death by provoking me. But since you've chosen to point weapons at me, it seems you've decided to become my enemies."

"However, I won't leave a single enemy alive."

Looking at the armed people before him, Rody revealed a cruel smile. A mass of chaotic slashes gathered in his palm as he slowly walked toward the crowd, cold killing intent and malice pouring over them like an endless tide.

"W-What terrifyingly cold killing intent... N-No wonder he's called the Slayer!"

"S-So this is the Slayer? No wonder he has a fifty-million bounty. Just the killing intent he gives off is enough to suffocate us. I can't even summon the desire to fight him," the four people who had seen Rody's wanted poster said with terrified faces.

As they watched Rody slowly approach, these townspeople disguised as Baroque Works agents felt that what was walking toward them was not a man, but a demon king from hell wearing human skin. Behind him, they seemed to see endless blood, slaughter, and wailing.

The air itself seemed saturated with the stench of blood. Cold sweat continuously emerged on everyone's foreheads, and they swallowed nervously. Only by gripping their weapons tightly could they feel the slightest sense of safety. The scene fell into deathly silence, broken only by Rody's slow footsteps.

"Ah, I can't take this anymore!"

With a bang, one Baroque Works agent in the crowd could no longer endure the silent, terrifying atmosphere. He screamed and fired first at Rody. As if infected by the gunshot, everyone else raised their guns and pulled their triggers at Rody as well.

"Don't! Stop—"

The town mayor, Mr. 8, roared, trying to stop everyone from firing at Rody. But before he could finish, Rody waved his hand. Countless tiny slashes flew from his hand, cutting everyone present apart into innumerable tiny fragments—everyone except the four officers: Mayor Mr. 8, Sister Miss Monday, Mr. 7, and Miss Father's Day.

"T-They're all dead!"

"H-He killed more than a hundred people in an instant!"

"H-How can there be such a monster?!"

Looking at the severed limbs scattered across the ground, the four officers collapsed to the ground in despair and terror. These people had all been Billions agents, individuals with at least some fighting ability—not ordinary Millions agents.

Standing before the four officers, Rody frowned. "Tch, I forgot about you. Your laugh is really unpleasant." He gently placed his hand on Mr. 7's head, and in an instant, Mr. 7 was cut into tiny fragments.

"Mr. 7!"

"You bastard, I'll kill you!" Miss Father's Day, Mr. 7's partner, rose furiously to her feet. Raising the frog-shaped gun in her hand, she was about to fire at Rody—but before she could pull the trigger, a slash cut her in two.

"Hmm, all the overconfident fools are dead."

"Now then, can you tell me where my two interesting subordinates have gone?" Rody asked, looking down at Ikaboi, codenamed Mr. 8.

"Looks like you don't intend to say anything." Seeing no reaction from him, Rody stretched out his hand, preparing to kill Mr. 8.

"Wait!"

"Please spare him! We know about your subordinates!" The blue-haired beauty who had been dancing onstage ran toward Rody with a nervous expression.

"Princess, run!"

"Don't worry about me!" Mr. 8 shouted anxiously upon seeing the blue-haired woman.

Bang!

Rody kicked Mr. 8 in the mouth, cutting off his shout. His expression darkened as he said, "You're too noisy. If you dare shout again, I'll kill you."

"Please, don't kill Igaram. We know where your two subordinates are." The blue-haired beauty ran up to Rody, dropped to her knees, and looked at him anxiously.

"Captain, what happened here? Why did you kill all these people?"

"Yeah, Rody, didn't you come out to look for your two animal subordinates?"

"What's going on?"

Nami, Windfire Wheel, and the others had rushed over after hearing the gunshots, and they questioned Rody in confusion.

"Let her tell you."

"Now tell us who you are and what your purpose is," Rody said casually to the blue-haired woman as he sat in a chair Mike had brought over. Nami skillfully sat on Rody's lap.

The blue-haired woman gathered herself before slowly speaking. "My name is Nefertari Vivi. I am the princess of the desert kingdom of Alabasta. His name is Igaram, and he is the captain of Alabasta's royal guard."

"Wait, you said you're a princess?"

"You're not lying to us, are you? You don't look like a princess at all," Nami said, staring at Vivi in surprise.

"Exactly. What kind of princess looks like you? You'd better tell the truth. If you dare deceive our captain, you should know what will happen to you." Windfire Wheel pointed at the corpses on the ground, his face equally full of disbelief as he looked at Vivi.

Seeing Vivi, Rody remembered. In Sea Circle Calendar 1518, Vivi and Igaram had joined Baroque Works to investigate why large amounts of Dance Powder had appeared in Alabasta, stirring public outrage and causing a rebellion.

However, when Rody had watched One Piece in his previous life, the story had only updated as far as Dressrosa. After that, the updates were too slow, so he could no longer be bothered to watch it. Later, when TikTok emerged, Rody saw on TikTok that Luffy had defeated Kaido and awakened Gear Five. He only vaguely remembered the earlier arcs, having forgotten nearly all the details.

"I truly am the princess of Alabasta. It's just that one year ago, large amounts of Dance Powder appeared in Nanohana, the port city of our country, Alabasta. It stirred the people's anger and caused a rebellion. After investigating, we found that the rebellion within the country seemed to be connected to an organization called Baroque Works. To uncover the truth further, I joined Baroque Works with Igaram, the captain of the royal guard, and became high-ranking agents of Baroque Works."

"After a long period of infiltration and investigation, we roughly discovered the identity and purpose of the mastermind behind the rebellion in our country."

"The mastermind's goal is to seize the Kingdom of Alabasta."

"As for his identity, he is one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea."

"Desert Crocodile, Crocodile."