Alabasta

"Whew." Li Ziming gazed at the vast expanse of yellow sand before him. "Being here reminds me of the time I got lost." His voice was tinged with resentment.

"I never would have guessed you had such a terrible sense of direction." Robin looked at Li Ziming in surprise, her eyes full of amusement.

"I do not." Li Ziming pursed his lips. "Anyone would get lost somewhere with nothing but sand, okay?"

"Whatever you say." Robin completely ignored his defense, sounding utterly unconcerned.

"Seriously..." Li Ziming felt helpless. But he really had gotten lost last time, so he could hardly argue.

"All right, we're almost at Alabasta's capital. We'd better disguise ourselves," Robin reminded him. She took out a local desert-style outfit, changed into it, and covered her face with a veil.

"Yeah, yeah." Li Ziming took out an outfit as well, though he wore something resembling a World War-era pilot's leather cap over his face. It only covered the upper half, but anyone unfamiliar with him still wouldn't recognize who was beneath the mask.

"Couldn't you use a more normal mask?" Robin asked helplessly. It concealed him well, but such an unusual mask was far too conspicuous.

"Relax. I'm doing the opposite of what they'd expect. Those guys would never imagine we'd dare come back while we're wanted, much less make a spectacle of ourselves like this," Li Ziming said smugly.

"Suit yourself, but we're mainly here to gather information. Don't cause any trouble," Robin warned him uneasily.

"Relax, relax. I won't." The more Li Ziming reassured her, the less reassured Robin felt. But as she watched him walk away, all she could do was silently pray that nothing would happen.

The moment Li Ziming entered the city, he completely forgot about gathering information. He looked this way and that, wandering around. "Come to think of it, I've never seen a desert city in my entire life." Then he noticed startled cries coming intermittently from a restaurant.

"Is something interesting happening in there?" His eyes lit up as he walked over. Upon pushing open the door, the first thing he saw was stacks upon stacks of plates. In their midst sat a man wearing an orange cowboy hat, with the Whitebeard Pirates' emblem on his back. His head nodded forward occasionally, and a piece of meat was still speared on the fork in his hand.

"What happened to that guy?" someone whispered to the person beside them.

"Who knows? I heard he accidentally ate a desert strawberry."

"A desert strawberry? You mean those spiders that look like strawberries?"

"Yeah. I heard you suddenly die a few days after eating one, and then your corpse becomes riddled with infectious viruses within a few hours."

"Hey." Li Ziming walked over to Ace and reached out to pat him.

"Don't touch him, young man! That guy might already be covered in viruses!" someone warned Li Ziming out of kindness.

"It's fine, it's fine." Li Ziming waved a hand. "The Whitebeard Pirates' Second Division Commander is a Logia user. Surely a single poisonous spider wouldn't take him down."

Boom! A burst of flame flew straight at Li Ziming.

"Are you a bounty hunter?" Ace's right hand burned with fire, but there was little fighting spirit in his eyes. Perhaps he didn't think Li Ziming qualified as an opponent.

"No, no. It's just not every day you meet such a famous pirate, so I got a little curious." Li Ziming seemed utterly unconcerned by Ace's attack, but the explosions constantly bursting from the hand resting on Ace's shoulder suggested he wasn't quite so forgiving.

Bombs? Feeling his shoulder remain continuously transformed into its elemental state, Ace grew annoyed. He prepared to finish his opponent with his signature move, Fire Fist.

"You've got some nerve eating here out in the open, Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates! Do you think the Marines can't stop you?" Smoker appeared at the restaurant entrance, smoking a cigar. "And you too, Bomb Man."

"Huh? You're after me too? Actually, I've been meaning to take something up with you Marines. Bomb Man sounds awful. Who comes up with your nicknames? Couldn't you give me something better?" Li Ziming was full of complaints.

"You're a pretty funny guy!" Ace had initially thought Li Ziming was no different from any other pirate, but he hadn't expected him to argue with the Marines over his nickname.

"Are you making a fool of me?" Smoker flew into a rage and drew the Jitte from his back.

"Interesting." Flames ignited in Ace's palm.

"Watch yourself." Li Ziming yawned. "That guy's weapon is made of seastone. If it touches you, you'll lose all your strength."

"No problem. I just have to avoid getting hit, right?" Ace didn't seem concerned. As a famous pirate from the New World, he probably would have been captured by the Marines long ago if he couldn't even handle a seastone weapon.

"Food!" Just as the two sides were about to clash, a figure rushed in shouting, knocking both Smoker and Ace flying. Li Ziming had been prepared and swiftly dodged with Soru.

"Now that's impressive." Li Ziming looked at the demolished wall, then at the completely oblivious Luffy, and began to wonder whether boarding that ship had been a mistake.

"Right, I still need to blast that bastard away!" Li Ziming suddenly remembered everything Luffy had done to his bar. Unfortunately, others were clearly more eager than he was to either pick a fight with Luffy or have a family reunion.

"Lu..." Ace looked excitedly at his younger brother, but a hand pressed down on his head.

"Straw Hat!" Smoker roared furiously, looking ready to tear Luffy limb from limb. He seemed to have forgotten all about Ace beneath his hand.

"Huh?" With his mouth stuffed full of food, Luffy looked at Smoker in bewilderment.

"I knew you'd come to this country," Smoker said smugly. "Stop eating!"

"Mashikugudiyang..." Luffy said through a mouthful of food. "Nuwasimozemodafang."

"Bastard!" Smoker glared at Luffy furiously.

"Xixixianudazao!" Luffy stuffed all the food on the table into his mouth, then ran outside.

"Don't run!" Smoker chased after him in fury.

"That Luffy..." Ace watched his younger brother race away, unsure whether to laugh or cry. "Wait up, Luffy!" With that, he chased after them too.

"Seeing this in person really is something else." Li Ziming casually picked up a drink and happily watched the figures disappear into the distance.

"Wait, I haven't blasted that bastard away yet!" Li Ziming put down his drink and started to head outside.

"Sorry, the boss wants to see you." Someone suddenly stepped into Li Ziming's path.

"The boss? What does Sand Crocodile want with me?" Li Ziming asked irritably.

"That's not something a small fry like me would know. The boss just said you'd come with me once I showed you this." The messenger took out a white cowboy hat.

"Robin..." Li Ziming's expression darkened. "Lead the way!"

Before long, the messenger had brought Li Ziming to an enormous office in Rainbase.

"I never imagined you'd actually survive." Crocodile looked at Li Ziming disdainfully. Beside him, Robin wore a pair of Seastone Cuffs around her wrists and looked helplessly at Li Ziming.

"What, you're planning to use Robin to threaten me?" Li Ziming was deeply displeased.

"That's right. A subordinate who knows as much as you do is hard to come by." Crocodile looked quite pleased with himself.

"You win." Li Ziming sounded as though he had given up.

Bang! A lash of sand struck Li Ziming.

"Urgh!" A trickle of blood seeped from the corner of Li Ziming's mouth as the tremendous force hurled him backward.

"Consider that the price of betraying me. Go to the Spider Cafe and meet up with the other officers. Then eliminate the Straw Hat Pirates, and I'll let you both go," Crocodile ordered.

"You'd better keep your word." Li Ziming glared furiously at Crocodile, repeatedly forcing himself to calm down. Then he casually laid a hand on the man who had brought him here and set off an explosion. The man collapsed to the floor, blackened all over, while Li Ziming left in a foul mood.

"He's going to make you pay for this." Robin shook her head. "That guy won't let you manipulate him so easily."

"You see things quite clearly. He certainly isn't the sort to care much about other people. But you seem to have underestimated how important you are to him." Crocodile turned to Robin with a smile. "You might as well serve one last purpose."

Robin's expression was equally grim, and she silently prayed that Li Ziming would be all right.