Chapter 177: Offering Up Alabasta
Kaito Shirogane had initially assumed that the little girl Cindy's "Captain Coby" becoming a ghost was an isolated incident. On this vast sea, anything could happen. But now, he had seen legions of ghosts, a white mist of souls marching through the storm, surging across Skuld Island and converging on the forbidden mountain where El Dorado was.
This phenomenon clearly did not align with any event or ability from the original story. Not Brook's [Revive-Revive Fruit], which only allowed his own soul to briefly leave his body, and certainly not Big Mom's [Soul-Soul Fruit].
Some other power was at work, a power that was turning a massive number of people into ghosts.
The "ghost" of Captain Coby hadn't even seemed to notice him, and had simply followed the white mist toward the mountain. Kaito looked around. Vergo and his Marine team had already used the fog as cover to infiltrate the island.
Kaito also vanished from the beach. His method of suppressing his presence couldn't actually hide him from Observation Haki. Only by blending into a crowd could he truly conceal his tracks.
When he returned to the "Kingdom of God," he saw three pillars erected in the central square. Three corpses were bound to them. Though they were charred black, Kaito could still recognize them from their tattered uniforms and missing limbs. It was Leo, Barnaby, and the other dejected Marine from the sewer.
He guessed that the three of them had, in their own way, carried out Roshio's plan to send a distress signal.
Kaito stood in the crowd, observing the temple square. The Priest, [Shura], was sitting on his spherical cloud, his eyes closed. The giant dog, [Holy], and the other Priest, [Gedatsu], were flanking him. A large number of God's Guards were lined up inside the temple.
Clearly, Enel's subordinates knew their situation was precarious. The island was now the target of countless pirates and Marines, so they were on high alert. They were also using the corpses to bait out any other survivors.
Kaito's lips curled. This despicable tactic of exploiting human weakness was, he had to admit, effective. His gaze locked onto a spot in the crowd two hundred meters to his left. The little girl with the messy red pigtails was staring at the priests, her face full of anger.
Cindy was furious, and heartbroken. She didn't understand why everyone had suddenly decided to leave the sewer. And she didn't understand why, even after they were dead, the priests would treat their bodies like this. They were good men, brave men. They didn't deserve this.
The little girl's eyes darted around. She suddenly had an idea and was about to step out, but a large hand clamped down on the back of her neck and lifted her up.
"Ack… It's you, big guy!" Cindy kicked her legs a few times, but seeing it was her "friend," she stopped struggling.
Kaito moved with incredible speed, and in a few moments, they were back in the abandoned, white-walled district.
"What were you planning to do back there?" he asked.
Cindy looked down, her earlier joy at seeing him again gone, replaced by the fresh grief for the dead Marines. Today, Orkins had gone out again to gather information. He had said that wreckage from many warships was washing up on the beach, and that Captain Coby's reinforcements had probably been defeated, too.
"I was going to trick them," she mumbled. "I was going to say a bunch of Marines had landed on the island. And when they went to look, I was going to cut Leo and the others down... and find a place to bury them."
Kaito looked away, his opinion confirmed: she was an overly naive and foolish girl. Even if she didn't know that the Priest Shura could read her mind, she should have known that she had no way of moving the bodies from the middle of a public square without being seen.
Kaito didn't hate naive, kind people. He just believed that naivete and kindness, without power, were useless.
He didn't want to waste any more time on the corpses. He changed the subject. "In the last two years, has this island always had that thick fog?"
Cindy blinked, thrown by the sudden topic change. She frowned, thought for a moment, and then asked, "What fog?"
Kaito's pupils dilated, but his expression remained calm. "The white mist that makes everything hard to see. You've never seen it? It just happened a little while ago."
Cindy shook her head. "No, I've been in the square all morning. I didn't see any fog. The weather has been clear."
Kaito was now certain. The white fog, and the ghosts within it, were not part of this world. He had only been able to see them because of his [Body of Ten Thousand Spirits] and his [Spirit Seer] milestone. The divergence in this world was far more extreme than in the Jujutsu Kaisen world. It wasn't just that powerful characters like Hawkeye and Crocodile were dead. Something else was here. A power that did not belong to the One Piece world was beginning to manifest.
With this conclusion, he re-evaluated the treasure he had found. Aside from the Devil Fruit, the other two items were now much more suspect. The greatsword, which was in a style completely alien to this world, had been labeled by the Nexus as an "Ominous" blade. And the [King's Left Arm], a Red-quality item… who in this world had a Conqueror's Haki so strong that their severed arm could hold back the sea?
Shanks? Not strong enough.
Rocks?
Or perhaps… Joy Boy himself?
Kaito realized he had made a mistake. When he'd arrived on this island and learned of Enel and the sky island, he had subconsciously assumed Enel was the focal point of this world's divergence. He was powerful, and his presence was an oppressive force. But now, it seemed Enel's descent to the Blue Sea was, itself, a massive red herring.
Enel's goal had always been the "Endless Vearth" (the moon). Kaito, with his real-world thinking, had assumed that landing on the Blue Sea was close enough. But in the One Piece world, there was no "continent." The world was a sea of islands. Enel's true "Endless Vearth" could only have been the moon.
"Cindy, can you find me all the newspapers from the last two years?" Kaito asked. "As payment, I will bring those men's bodies down from the pillars and give them a proper burial."
[Time remaining until the second wave of Reincarnators arrives: 6 days, 17 hours, 44 minutes.]
[Current Team Battle Score: -7]
Kaito had originally planned to use this time to gain reputation with the Marines, and then, when the stronger second wave of Reincarnators arrived, he would use the chaos of the inevitable three-way battle between the Marines, the pirates, and Enel to pick them off.
But now, he felt a new sense of urgency. A "Rare" treasure map had yielded a "Red" quality item. A world he'd thought he understood was now showing signs of an entirely different power system.
Cindy, overjoyed, nodded. She first ran to the kitchen and brought out a pile of food—fruits and dried meats, all of it her "stolen" rations. "Big guy, you eat. I'll go look right now!" The little girl felt that she had just been saved by a truly good person.
After she left, Kaito once again took out the arm and the greatsword, examining them closely.
A short time later, Cindy returned with stacks of old newspapers. Kaito's reading speed was incredible. The dates were all jumbled, but he suddenly saw a report about the disappearance of a Warlord.
"With the complete desertification of Alabasta, and the mysterious disappearance of its entire population, some analysts believe this event may be connected to the Warlord, Sir Crocodile. However, Crocodile himself has now been missing for over two weeks. The Marines have refused to comment…"
The Nexus had confirmed Crocodile was dead. And the entire population of Alabasta was... gone?
Kaito felt a flash of inspiration. He had been focused on Hawkeye's death, assuming a Reincarnator had hunted him. But now, it seemed the situation was completely different.
Perhaps some terrifying entity had done something in Alabasta…
Among all the players in the Nexus, the number of abilities that could wipe out an entire desert kingdom in a short time was not large, especially since the Nexus wouldn't just let a high-tier player enter a low-level world to "farm." This limited the possibilities.
[Ritual]. [Sacrifice]. [Meme]. [Curse].
These concepts were now at the forefront of Kaito's mind.