Grand Line, Alabasta, Rainbase, the Rain Dinners Casino.
"When will those weapons be delivered?" Crocodile asked, holding a Den Den Mushi.
"Sir Crocodile, the weapons you ordered will arrive at Port Nanohana this evening. All you have to do is send someone to receive them," the Den Den Mushi said, opening its mouth to reveal a man's voice.
"Good. Are the other things I asked for included?" Crocodile asked, his expression unreadable.
"Don't worry, Sir Crocodile. You're an old client of ours. Arlan-dono and Millie-san gave us specific instructions," the voice on the Den Den Mushi said with an appeasing tone.
Crocodile's expression relaxed slightly. "Once I have the goods, the bill will be settled."
Click.
With that, he hung up the call.
Puff.
"Miss Allsunday, our shipment has arrived tonight. I'm entrusting you to go receive it," Crocodile said, puffing on his cigar and blowing a ring of smoke toward the tall, attractive, light-skinned woman beside him.
"My, my, how resourceful you are, boss. Three thousand rifles, five hundred handguns, fifty 8-pounder cannons, fifteen 12-pounder cannons, five 18-pounder cannons, and five basic ammunition kits for each. A weapons shipment of this magnitude, and we received it in just half a month," the woman with the codename Miss Allsunday said with an elegant, soft laugh. "Hehehe... That man is truly something. With this, our Operation Utopia will have its logistics fully secured."
"Nico Robin. It's best not to know things you shouldn't," Crocodile said, his eyes narrowing in warning.
"My... boss. Didn't we agree that you wouldn't call me by that name?" Robin said, unbothered by his threat. She knew her value.
"Hmph. That man has a collecting hobby. His treasure vault even contains Poneglyphs. If he knew about you, do you think he'd be interested?" Crocodile scoffed.
"Is that so? But... you'll protect me, won't you, boss? Hehehe..." Robin said, smiling gracefully as she turned and walked away.
The "Devil Child," Nico Robin, a user of the Paramecia-type Flower-Flower Fruit with a bounty of 79,000,000 berries. Born in Ohara, West Blue, she now serves as the vice-president and supreme commander of the underground assassination organization Baroque Works, with the codename Miss Allsunday.
"Hmph... What a troublesome woman!" Crocodile said, biting down on his cigar and exhaling smoke.
....
East Blue, Warship Island.
"Ah, I was too late. This is a real headache," Aeridar said, rubbing his forehead in frustration as he walked aimlessly through the village.
He had just learned that the group he was hunting had been here for three days, looking into the legend of the Sennenryu, but had left without finding anything. What made it even worse was that they had only left half a day ago.
This annoyed Aeridar. He remembered some of the details of the Sennenryu arc from the anime. The dragon's bones could supposedly be used to create an elixir of immortality, and there was a very old Sennenryu in a cave on the mountain.
However, even if the legend of the elixir were true, he couldn't just eat the bones. There had to be a recipe and other ingredients, which would require extensive research. It was probably better to fully research the Calamodus he had. This might allow him to figure out its secret to immortality.
"Huh? A News Coo!" A News Coo flew across the sky and dropped a newspaper to Aeridar.
He caught the newspaper and opened it. The first thing he saw was a picture of Straw Hat Luffy with a wide, toothy grin and the back of Usopp's head in the bottom left corner.
"A wanted poster, huh... 'Straw Hat' Luffy, a bounty of 30,000,000 berries, dead or alive. Heh heh... that's 10,000,000 less than my first bounty!" Aeridar said, grinning.
After reading Luffy's wanted poster, he flipped through the newspaper but found no other important news.
"I guess I'll just head to Loguetown. I can meet his old man there." Aeridar raised an eyebrow, threw down the newspaper, and vanished.
"A-A ghost!"
"That man... he just disappeared!"
"Am I seeing things?"
"No way! It's broad daylight!"
Aeridar's sudden disappearance terrified the villagers. The rumor of a ghost who liked to read newspapers spread all over Warship Island, causing a panic that lasted for days.
....
On the Sea.
A plain-looking ship sailed on the water.
"Sabo, I heard from Dragon-san that the East Blue is your hometown," a beautiful woman with wavy orange hair said as she stood on the bow. She wore a short dress and high heels and a small hat with goggles.
Koala, a Revolutionary Army fighter and master of Fish-Man Karate, was part of the Chief of Staff Office.
"I think so, but I don't remember," a man with short, wavy blond hair and a scar over his left eye said helplessly, sitting on the top of the mast.
Sabo, the Revolutionary Army Chief of Staff.
"Honestly," Koala pouted. "Those guys are so annoying. They're so slippery, like rats, using their abilities to run everywhere."
"Hehehe... Koala, if they were easy to catch, Dragon-san wouldn't have sent us here," Sabo said with a nonchalant laugh. "Remember, they include the remnants of the old Clifford Kingdom's royal family. If they were easy to deal with, that man in the World Neutral Zone would have taken care of them already."
Koala clenched her fists, her voice full of hatred. "Damn it! They killed so many of our brothers and sisters, and we can't do anything about it! It's so frustrating!"
Sabo's expression hardened at her words. He said in a low, serious voice, "Koala, we must remember this hatred. We must engrave it in our hearts. One day, we will have our revenge!"
Koala nodded in agreement, then suddenly remembered something. "That's right, Sabo. The intelligence department sent a message saying that the man from the World Neutral Zone is also in the East Blue. His target is the same as ours. Dragon-san also seems to be on his way here."
"Is that so?" Sabo's expression changed. "Have the World Government's CP agencies been tracking us?"
"I'm not sure, but the CP agencies in the East Blue don't seem to be making any big moves. They're trying to find us, but they're running around like headless chickens," Koala said, shaking her head and smiling faintly.
"That's good. Even though I'm not afraid of them, the CP0 agents are a real pain to deal with," Sabo said, nodding and adjusting the top hat with goggles on his head.
"Sabo, where do we go next?" a middle-aged, yellow-skinned, wavy-haired Fish-Man asked, walking toward them.
Hack, a Revolutionary Army fighter and Fish-Man Karate master.
"Hack," Sabo said. After a moment of thought, he decided. "Let's go to the Sasardo Kingdom. We could use some supplies."