On the note, Nami's handwriting was very messy, as if it had been written in a hurry during a state of panic.
Luo Chen's face darkened slightly.
The turn of events had diverged greatly from the original plot.
A Marine Vice Admiral had actually landed in Alabasta, presumably to capture him.
At the same time, Crocodile's planned coup in Alabasta was on the verge of erupting. The Marines must have sensed something.
To cover up his own crimes, Crocodile had pushed all the blame for Baroque Works and the coup onto Nico Robin. After all, Nico Robin had been the public face handling all of Baroque Works' affairs. Crocodile had always hidden behind the scenes, deceiving the nation with the image of a hero, his true nature unknown to all.
The reason he wanted to kill Luffy and the others was also because the Straw Hat crew had learned Crocodile's true identity from Vivi.
'Nami got caught up in it, so she's on the run with Luffy and the others?'
'Where did they run to?'
Luo Chen's brows were tightly furrowed.
Alabasta was a vast and rare superpower, with a standing army of six hundred thousand. Finding Luffy's crew would be extremely difficult.
'First, I'll go to Rain-Dinners and see if I can find Crocodile or Nico Robin.'
Luo Chen leaped out of the third-floor window of the hotel.
Before he even landed, the ground tore open, and a lifelike, green Wood Dragon shot into the sky.
Luo Chen stood on the dragon's back, ignoring the terrified shouts of the pedestrians below, and headed straight for the casino, Rain-Dinners.
With his increased strength, the Wood Dragon's speed was even faster than before.
Before long, Rain-Dinners appeared ahead.
Luo Chen leaped to the ground and walked to the entrance, only to find that the place had been cordoned off. Two Marines were standing guard at the main door.
Their eyes met. The two Marine soldiers were stunned for a moment, then their expressions changed drastically, and they raised their guns to fire.
Luo Chen activated Shave, flashing in front of the two, and with a casual swipe, shattered their rifles.
He controlled wooden vines to bind the two soldiers and asked, "Where are the people who were inside?"
Although the two Marines were terrified, they did not reveal any information.
Luo Chen's voice turned cold. "Since you recognize me, you should know that I am not a soft-hearted person."
"If you don't want to die, answer my questions honestly."
"Afterward, you can pretend I was never here. No one will ever know."
Hearing this, the two Marines were clearly moved. After exchanging a look, one of them gritted his teeth and said, "The owner of the casino is the wanted criminal Nico Robin. She fled a day ago, and the Marines have sealed this place."
Luo Chen asked again, "Where did she flee to? Do the Marines currently have a lock on her or the Straw Hat Pirates' whereabouts?"
"The desert north of Rainbase," the Marine replied. "Basically all the Marines who have landed in Alabasta have been sent to the northern desert to search for and capture Nico Robin, Straw Hat Luffy, and the others."
A glint flashed in Luo Chen's eyes. He grabbed the two Marines, leaped onto the Wood Dragon, and flew toward the northern desert.
"If you dare to lie to me, you will die a miserable death," Luo Chen said coldly.
The two Marines were silent. The information they had just given was true.
...
The desert north of Rainbase.
If one were to look down from the sky, one could see scattered black dots in all directions of the desert. These were a large number of Marines spread out, carrying out a search and capture mission.
Luo Chen stood on the head of the Wood Dragon. Looking at the sparsely distributed Marines below, he did not make things difficult for the two in his hands. He dropped them from a low altitude.
'They should be inside the encirclement. I'll search from the air.'
The only good thing about the desert was that it was bare, making it difficult to hide.
Riding the Wood Dragon, Luo Chen could conduct a large-scale visual search.
'The Straw Hat crew... only Luffy is a bit of an idiot. They probably wouldn't stay on the surface. It's very likely they're hiding in a cave beneath the desert.'
'That is, if they can find one.'
Luo Chen lowered the Wood Dragon, maintaining a distance of five hundred meters from the ground. Within this range, he could sense the Flying Thunder God marks on Robin or Nami.
'After this, I need to prepare a Vivre Card for Nami.'
'Finding people is too difficult.'
Luo Chen muttered to himself.
After flying in the air for more than ten minutes, he still had no luck. The desert was just too big.
Along the way, he encountered several small Marine squads, but due to the great distance, the Marines on the ground did not seem to have noticed him.
Just then, a sandstorm suddenly kicked up in the desert to his right front, a tornado connecting the sky and the earth.
Luo Chen's eyes flashed.
'Could it be Crocodile's fruit ability?'
'I'll go and take a look. In the desert, Crocodile's strength will be even greater. Luffy might not be his match.'
Luo Chen wasn't worried about Luffy's crew. But Nami had followed him from the East Blue into the Grand Line. He couldn't just ignore her.
...
The yellow sand filled the sky. The violent tornado lifted a large amount of sand, revealing a cave beneath.
Above the cave, Crocodile stood in mid-air on solidified sand.
Beside him were dozens of fully armed Marines wearing "Justice" coats.
The large group of Marines was led by four Vice Admirals. The ranks of the other dozens of men were at the Headquarters Captain and Rear Admiral level.
They also stood on the sand solidified by Crocodile, like heavenly soldiers and generals descending from a celestial palace.
One of them, a short and stout, bald but with long golden hair at the back of his head, middle-aged Vice Admiral shouted, "I am the base commander of the Marine G-2 Branch, Vice Admiral Gmil!"
"'Demon Child' Nico Robin, 'Cat Burglar' Nami, 'Straw Hat' Luffy, you can no longer escape!"
"Come out of the cave and surrender immediately! If you dare to resist, you will be killed without mercy!"
The cave was silent.
The Captains behind looked at each other, their eyes filled with doubt.
'Are they really in there?'
A Rear Admiral berated in a low voice, "All of you, prepare for battle! Observation Haki has confirmed that there are several people hiding in the cave."
Hearing this, the expressions of the many Captains turned grim. They either gripped the longswords at their waists or prepared to activate their fruit abilities at a moment's notice.
Smoker was also among them. Beside him was a heroic-looking female Marine with long pink hair and a magenta suit.
"Smoker, Hina is very curious. Did you really lose to a Major from an East Blue branch?" the female Marine, Hina, asked.
Smoker's face darkened. He was speechless.
Seeing this, Hina smiled. "Luo Chen isn't in the cave, is he? Hina thinks he abandoned 'Cat Burglar' Nami and ran away. We won't be able to catch him in Alabasta."
Smoker said in a low voice, "What a pity. Four Vice Admirals, over ten Rear Admirals, and thirty Headquarters Captains mobilized, and we can only catch Luo Chen's sidekick."
Hina flexed her leather-gloved hands. "But isn't 'Demon Child' Nico Robin still here? She's a major criminal wanted by the World Government."
Smoker said without much enthusiasm, "It won't be our turn to act. There are too many wolves and too little meat this time."
Four Marine Vice Admirals, over ten Rear Admirals, and thirty Headquarters Captains. There was even a Warlord of the Sea, Crocodile, assisting. With a lineup like this, even if Luo Chen came, he would be doomed to die, unable to escape even with wings.
"A bunch of rats. Do you think you can be safe just by hiding in a cave?"
Crocodile, a cigar clamped in his mouth, sneered mockingly.
His left hand, a golden hook from the wrist down, slashed down from the air.
A giant sand blade tens of meters long condensed in mid-air and slashed toward the cave.
"Fire Fist!"
Scorching hot flames burst from the top of the cave, clashing with the massive, tens-of-meters-long sand blade.
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]