May 1, 1509 ( Sea Circle Calendar )
Noah secretly returned to the sea from the Paradise Sky Island Paradise.
This time, their return to the sea begins with the renowned Alabasta Kingdom.
Alabasta Kingdom, Nanohana Port.
A typical commercial transport ship slowly docked at the shore.
Noah and Kuro, along with Penguin and Shachi, who had just graduated, gazed at the bustling port.
"The target is in Nanohana Port. According to the Distillery's intelligence, this person recently fled to the Alabasta Kingdom. People from Baroque Works are also in contact with him, and it seems they intend to recruit him," Kuro reported quietly from the side.
Where is Crocodile recently?
"He's in the South Blue and hasn't returned to the Grand Line yet."
How many core members of Baroque Works are currently located in Alabasta?
"Currently, there are three: the Thorn- Devil Fruit User disguises herself as the owner of the Spider Cafe; the Imitation Devil Fruit User carries out an infiltration mission; and the Mole Devil Fruit User is in charge of peripheral work in Nanohana Harbor."
Kuro continued, "The transvestite who possesses the Clone-Clone Fruit, due to the fruit's power, is currently only known to be active in the capital of the Alabasta Kingdom; his exact location has not yet been determined."
"Let's go find that guy first."
"No problem."
Based on the information provided by the Distillery, Kuro led Noah and the others through a maze of twists and turns for more than half an hour until they arrived at the entrance of a magnificent casino.
The waiter at the door, seeing the group approaching, immediately greeted them with a smile, "Welcome! What would you like to do?"
"Give me 1 million chips." Noah walked straight in.
Following closely behind, Kuro pulled out a check and filled in a number. The check was clearly a Blue Sea Bank check issued by one of the underground giants, Loan Shark King.
The waiter immediately took the check and led Kuro to exchange it for chips.
Noah and the others had already entered the hall.
He spotted his target at a glance: a middle-aged man with bloodshot eyes, messy hair, and two fingers missing from his left hand.
"Hahaha! 21 points!" the middle-aged man shouted excitedly.
At the gambling table, a gambler left cursing and swearing after losing all his chips.
Noah then filled in the spot. "Would you mind adding me?"
"I don't mind, but..." one of the gamblers, seeing Noah's empty hands, wanted to remind him about the chips.
Kuro walked in from outside and placed a bet of one million Beli in front of Noah.
"Hehe, welcome!"
"Brother, you look unfamiliar!"
The middle-aged man, having counted his winnings, smiled and said to Noah, "Of course I welcome free money."
"Dealer, deal the cards!" Noah looked at everyone very calmly.
The dealer nodded and then began shuffling and dealing the cards.
Half an hour later, Noah had successfully won 13 million Beli, while the others had very few chips left, especially the middle-aged man, who had lost everything.
By this time, the middle-aged man was blinded by greed, staring intently at Noah: "Kid, are you cheating?"
"Maybe I was just lucky!" Noah said with a smile and composure.
Meanwhile, the casino's lobby manager appeared beside the gambling table, gave Noah a deep look, and then turned to say, " Ruru, don't cause trouble. You should know who owns this place."
The middle-aged man Ruru, glared fiercely at Noah: "Kid, don't let me run into you outside."
Then he got up and left the lobby, walking out of the casino.
Noah followed suit and left.
Kuro then used those chips to exchange for Beli.
Once outside the casino, Noah's Observation Haki had already sensed the target following him not far behind. He pretended not to notice and continued his stroll into the suburbs.
Soon after, Kuro caught up as well.
The group continued until they reached the edge of a Gobi desert on the outskirts of the city.
Ruru, who had been following from a distance, finally couldn't hold back any longer. He suddenly jumped in front of the group and smashed into the ground, creating a large crater.
"Heh, kid! You were pretty arrogant just now!" Ruru grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth, and glared menacingly at Noah.
"What a frog in a well..."
No sooner had he finished speaking than Kuro appeared behind him.
Ruru's body stiffened as a Armament Haki seeped into his entire body, instantly disrupting his nervous system.
Noah casually tossed out Seastone Handcuffs, restricting his Devil Fruit powers, and then opened a passageway within the Castle Space.
Before long, the Strong-Strong Fruit was successfully collected.
Ruru didn't even qualify to be transformed into Apostle, naturally because his physical condition was too poor and he was almost forty years old, making it impossible for him to unleash the full potential of the Strong-Strong Fruit.
After defeating Ruru.
Noah didn't bother dealing with those small fry at Baroque Works because they weren't worth much.
Although the Clone-Clone Fruit has considerable value, Alabasta's capital has a population of 1.3 million. Finding a Devil Fruit User would be extremely difficult unless Noah was willing to continuously probe the area for several weeks.
Moreover, eliminating these small fry would only alert Crocodile, so it's better to raise them and then come back to harvest them later.
After resuming its voyage from Nanohana Port, the Prosperity sailed towards the Calm Belt in the East Blue.
The tarot cards told Noah that sailing East Blue would bring him the rewards he desired.
On the morning of the third day after returning to the sea.
Kuro then knocked on the hatch.
"What is it?"
A small boat sent us a distress signal, but I had a feeling it had ill intentions.
A flicker of surprise crossed Noah's eyes. "Are they pirates?"
"It doesn't seem so, but the two of them exude malice." Kuro's Vampire Fruit gives him a special sensitivity to the malice of other creatures.
"Go and meet them."
The two went up to the deck.
At this point, the distance between the Prosperity and the small boat was less than 300 meters.
"So it was them. What an unexpected find." Noah had already seen what they looked like: a tall, burly man and a blonde old woman wearing a leopard-print shawl and sunglasses.
"Does the president know them?"
"That old woman was a former member of the Rocks Pirates, and the burly man is probably a hybrid of Whitebeard and her genetically modified form."
"A member of the Rocks Pirates?"
"That old woman is yours to handle. Just take her out."
"Leave it to me." Kuro's body vanished from the deck in an instant.
On the small boat.
Bakkin's Observation Haki instantly made her hair stand on end. "Oh no, son, protect me..."
Boom! Kuro's claws had pierced through Bakkin's heart and throat.
Before he could react, Weevil was pulled into the sea by the seawater tentacles that emerged from around him.
However, Weevil, who hadn't eaten Devil Fruit, didn't lose his power in the sea. Instead, he struggled wildly, unleashing ferocious and chaotic slashes.
On the sea, Bakkin had been torn to shreds by Kuro and was beyond dead.
Boom! The enraged Weevil burst out of the sea, but what awaited him was still a dense swarm of giant sea serpents, and Noah had already used Caesar's Gas-Gas Fruit to deplete the surrounding oxygen.
Weevil, who only knew how to use brute force, fought the giant sea serpent for half an hour, finally feeling that he was having more and more difficulty breathing. Unfortunately, his pitiful brain capacity meant he didn't have much intelligence at all.
After another ten minutes or so, Weevil finally lost consciousness from suffocation.
"A brainless brute is easy to deal with."
He casually released the card and sealed it away.