"Boom!"
With a loud bang, a strange creature burst out of the water.
"This is... a sea cat?" Sanji asked uncertainly, looking at the creature in front of him.
This is the first time I've seen this creature. I wonder what it would taste like as food?
Sea Cat:!
"If you want to know what it tastes like, just cut it up and you'll find out!" Zoro slowly drew his sword from his waist.
Sea Cat:!!
"New food? That's great! I'm so tired of eating dinosaur meat and goldfish meat every day. I've been wanting to try something different!" Luffy said excitedly, drooling all over the place.
Sea Cat:!!!
"Hehehe!" The three of them let out a sinister laugh at the same time, preparing to kill the sea cat.
"What... what are you doing?!"
Vivi instantly appeared behind the three of them and punched each of them. Then she said irritably:
"Seriously, the sea cat is considered a sacred symbol in Alabasta. What are you all thinking?"
Taking advantage of the opening, the sea lion quickly dived into the water and hurriedly moved away from the ship.
This is terrifying! These people who want to eat me!
"My flesh!" Luffy cried out in anguish as he watched the fleeing sea cat. He was in utter distress.
m9( `д´ )!!!!
"Bang!" Luffy got another bump on his head, accompanied by Vivi's roar.
"Didn't I say you can't eat it!"
" Alabasta?" Sanji pondered, grasping the key point in Vivi's words.
"So, that means we're almost in Alabasta, right, Miss Vivi?"
"Yes!" Vivi nodded, then continued, "The appearance of sea cats proves that we've reached the waters near Alabasta, and Alabasta 're very close!"
Just then, Chopper shouted from the bow of the ship, "Hey everyone! There's an island over there, isn't that Alabasta?"
"Huh?" Upon hearing this, Vivi immediately rushed to the bow of the ship, picked up the binoculars from Chopper's hand, and looked at them with an excited expression.
"That's right, that's the desert kingdom— Alabasta!"
" Xia Chen, let's go!" Luffy and the others shouted to Xia Chen on the ship from the shore.
"Okay! Wait, I need to take care of something first!"
Xia Chen slowly walked to Mr. 2, who was tied to the main pole, and smiled.
But from Mr. 2's perspective, that smile looked chilling. He couldn't help but swallow hard and asked, "Mr... Mr Xia Chen, what are you going to do?"
"It's nothing, just letting you sleep for a bit!" With that, Xia Chen delivered a karate chop to Mr. 2's neck, knocking him unconscious.
They don't know how long they'll be gone on this trip. Even though Mr. 2 is tied up, it's safer to knock him out.
After doing all this, Xia Chen leaped to the shore. The moment he officially landed on the island, the system's check-in notification sound rang out.
[Ding! Alabasta check-in successful! Armament Haki upgraded to Advanced!]
Instantly, a powerful force erupted from the depths of Xia Chen's body, and Armament Haki automatically seeped out and wrapped around Xia Chen's arms.
Xia Chen raised his arm slightly, and could clearly feel the Haki swirling around it flowing.
" Ryuo "?
Xia Chen was a little surprised that he had reached the advanced level of Armament Haki; he had originally thought he would reach Conqueror's Haki first.
It seems the system wants him to be a student who excels in only one subject!
However, Xia Chen was quite satisfied with the result. After all, the leap from intermediate to advanced level is a qualitative change, and even if Conqueror's Haki were to go from beginner to intermediate level, it wouldn't have a significant impact on his strength.
Because the Conqueror's Coating can only be achieved at an advanced level.
Armament Haki Ryuo can be mastered from intermediate to advanced levels, and this is a technique that Luffy only learned after his first round of instruction from Teacher Kaido.
Now, he can even break down his defenses against Teacher Kaido, instead of just needing to sober him up.
" Xia Chen, what are you standing there for? Let's go!" Luffy and shouted from not far away from Xia Chen.
"They're here!"
--
"Everyone, you're all familiar faces to many people at the Baroque Works. For our convenience, it's necessary to dress up a bit!" Vivi said to the group.
"Let's replenish our supplies here now, and then head to our next destination— Yuba!"
" Chopper, let's go! We're going to buy something. You guys find a place to wait for us! All the rest of you have been seen by one of their members, it's not convenient!" Xia Chen said to Chopper.
"??"
"Shouldn't you be the one who gets seen the most?" Zoro, somewhat puzzled.
"It should be!" Xia Chen nodded.
"But I have Observation Haki, does anyone else have it?"
Xia Chen's words completely shut them down, leaving them both feeling stifled and their resolve to learn Observation Haki only strengthened.
"Bye-bye, Chopper, let's go!"
Walking along the city streets lined with Nanohana, Xia Chen couldn't help but look left and right with curiosity.
This was his first time visiting a city in the desert, whether in his past life or now. It had a distinctly exotic feel to it!
Xia Chen went into a clothing store. All the men's clothes inside were uniformly unfashionable and ugly. On the contrary, the women's clothes included the kind that were ugly, like the dancing girl style that Sanji bought in the original work.
Seeing this, Xia Chen understood why Sanji bought those clothes. He would have bought them too. There was no other reason; he simply loved looking at them!
"Achoo!"
Just then, Chopper, who was next to Xia Chen, sneezed a few times and showed a look of utter despair.
"Xia... Xia Chen, it smells awful here!"
"Um?"
Almost forgot, because Chopper's nose is so sensitive, perfumes that smell good to others smell like poison to him.
The dancers' clothes were all sprayed with perfume to varying degrees, which is why Chopper couldn't stand it as soon as he arrived.
After thinking for a moment, Xia Chen said to Chopper, "Wait for me outside for a bit, I'll come out as soon as I've made my selection!"
"Okay!" Chopper nodded, then walked out; he really couldn't stand the smell anymore.
As soon as Chopper left, Xia Chen's eyes lit up as he looked at the various styles of clothes in front of him.
Let him have a good look at it.
In no time, Xia Chen had bought everything he needed, but just as he was about to head back, an unexpected incident occurred.
Because his attention was focused on the surrounding shops, he didn't use his Observation Haki to perceive his surroundings as he had said before he arrived, therefore...
"Hey, Colonel Smoker, what a coincidence!"