A week passed in the blink of an eye.
"Can't you stay a little longer?"
At the royal capital's inland river port, Caesar stood on the dock while Vivi nestled against him reluctantly, bidding him a final farewell.
"As much as I'd like to, there are still important matters to attend to."
Caesar gently ruffled her smooth, sea-blue hair with a warm smile.
This year was packed with tasks—first, assembling a full crew, then establishing his influence, followed by capturing Enel to seize the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, and finally, whisking away Vegapunk, the World Government's greatest technological asset.
Honestly, without Vegapunk, the World Government's threat level would drop by at least thirty percent, if not more.
And if those thirty percent were added to his own forces, the shift in power would significantly accelerate Caesar's conquest of the seas.
"Alright..."
Vivi wrapped her arms around Caesar's waist, lightly rising on her tiptoes as her delicate foot arched into an enticing curve. She leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to the corner of his lips.
"Who could argue when my man is destined to rule these seas?"
She giggled playfully. "But you have to visit me often."
"Don't worry, it won't be long."
Caesar smiled faintly. Sky Island wasn't too far from Alabasta—if he leaped from ten thousand meters up, he might even glide all the way here.
"Alright, everyone, time to go!"
After lingering a moment longer, Caesar spread his black wings and flashed to the ship's bow.
"Let's set sail, comrades—Ganna~"
"We'll miss you all, dearies~!"
Galdino and Bon Clay leaned against the railing, grinning as they waved enthusiastically at their former Baroque Works comrades, unable to hide their smug expressions.
Thanks to their unique abilities, the two had been chosen to join Caesar's crew—a fact that filled them with pride, as if they'd suddenly risen above the rest.
"Bye, everyone! See you later, Vivi! We'll come visit!"
Yamato waved energetically at Vivi. "Next time, let's sleep together again—mmph!"
Before she could finish, two extra arms sprouted from her shoulders, clamping over her mouth.
Baby5 sighed and pulled Yamato aside. "Please maintain some dignity, Sister. There are outsiders here."
"Outsiders? Where?"
Bonney tilted her head, glancing at Nami.
"Why are you looking at me?!"
Nami roared with a shark-like expression, her emotions a tangled mess.
"Heh..."
Robin rested her chin on her hand, chuckling softly.
She had grown quite fond of Alabasta—perhaps because of the scorching heat, the people here were warm and welcoming. Robin felt a strange connection to this country.
Incidentally, thanks to Bonis and the others, the rebel uprisings in Alabasta had been swiftly quelled.
After all, pulling up one weed brought the whole root with it—with the organization's top brass defecting, the royal family had little trouble dismantling the remaining branches.
Whoosh—
The anchor was raised, the sails unfurled, and the ship slowly departed the harbor, gliding along the canal toward the open sea.
Vivi stood on the dock, staring blankly at the receding vessel, a sudden urge to follow Caesar surging in her heart.
But as a princess, she never forgot her duty.
"Take care! I'll wait for you to come back and marry me, Caesar!!"
Vivi tightly gripped the reins on Karu's back before finally letting go gently. Cupping her hands around her mouth, she shouted toward the departing ship.
Splash—
In that instant, the hearts of Cobra and the others behind her seemed to shatter into pieces.
"Aaaaah, Princess Vivi!!"
Igaram was utterly shocked. Noticing the curious and gossipy gazes of the nearby citizens, he hopped around anxiously: "A young lady should be more reserved! Being so eager will invite rumors!"
Pell glanced at Vivi: "Shall I escort you to the estuary?"
Igaram's face darkened: "Hey! Pell, you traitor!"
"It's not like we can stop her anyway..."
Pell chuckled helplessly. Having trained under Caesar recently, he was well aware of the gap between them.
Thus, he didn't harbor much resentment toward Caesar's initial act of seizing authority.
Even leaving Caesar aside, any one of Yamato, Issho, or Kuma could single-handedly wipe out an entire kingdom's army without the slightest chance of failure.
From this perspective, the fact that they had negotiated peacefully and even offered various benefits spoke volumes about their magnanimity.
"Never mind, I prefer it when Caesar carries me while flying."
Vivi giggled, causing Pell's expression to stiffen.
"Serves you right..."
Igaram sidled up to Pell, pulling a comical face.
Pell: "..."
"I leave the rest to you, Bonis."
Only when the ship had completely vanished from sight did Vivi turn around, shedding her lovestruck demeanor and replacing it with an elegant, composed air.
She looked toward Bonis and the others.
"I'll be counting on your guidance from now on."
"Not at all. Please feel free to assign us any tasks."
Bonis bowed slightly, and the others behind him quickly followed suit.
"However... regarding your training regimen, this was set by His Majesty. I hope you won't make things difficult for me, Princess."
"I'll do my best." Vivi nodded.
She was already well aware of the Sand-Sand Fruit's weaknesses.
Vulnerable to water. Vulnerable to Haki.
The water weakness was unavoidable—an inherent trait of the Fruit.
But Haki was something that could be trained, and she had no intention of giving up on it.
She didn't want anyone to think Caesar was being selfish, wasting a top-tier Fruit on someone as weak as her.
...
"Woo-hoo! We're finally leaving Alabasta!"
If anyone was happiest about leaving Alabasta, it was undoubtedly Bepo.
As a polar bear Mink, every day in Alabasta had felt like living in the fiery depths of hell.
If not for Yamato, who could manipulate freezing air, he might have genuinely worried about dying far from home in a climate utterly unsuited to his species.
A polar bear dying in the desert—that would have been enough to keep the World Economic Journal's humor section running for a whole year.
"Is the next stop Sky Island?"
Bonney bounced around, pestering Nami: "Hey! Nami! Let me see the Log Pose!"
"We're not in the target area yet."
Nami patted Bonney's head affectionately, showing her the Log Pose on her wrist.
"We're still using the Eternal Pose this time. I think it's... Jaya? Mock Town?"
"I know that place!"
Galdino raised his hand eagerly, desperate to contribute.
He now felt like a branch office manager suddenly promoted to headquarters by the chairman, desperately trying to prove his worth.
Seeing everyone's eyes on him, Galdino nervously swallowed.
Stay calm. It's the first day sailing with the big shots—he needed to report the details of this sea area thoroughly!
Thinking this, he rubbed his hands together and forced an ingratiating smile.
"Ships leaving Alabasta usually can't reach the next island because the Log Pose's magnetism gets stolen by Sky Island. Right below the pointer's destination is Jaya Island, just as the navigator lady mentioned earlier."
"Jaya Island is a summer island with beautiful scenery and pleasant weather, but because the Log Pose's magnetism gets stolen along the way, many Pirates who lose their bearings gather there."
"According to Baroque Works' intel, the magnetism of three routes—including Alabasta's—is affected by Sky Island, though the Alabasta route has the highest probability."
"Pirates, huh…"
Nami sighed, unable to hide her disdain.
With a troublemaker like Caesar around, the original course of history had long been blown to who-knows-where by his meddling.
This time, since she hadn't met Luffy, she naturally had no rose-tinted glasses when it came to Pirates.
"Sounds like a good place for training."
Caesar said casually, "You've got a new mission—wipe out all the Pirates on Jaya Island!"
Nami sighed gloomily, "I knew it…"
"Hehe, don't worry. No matter what, they won't be harder to deal with than your dear~"
Baby5 giggled reassuringly, though her words did nothing to comfort Nami.
Robin: "We can exchange bounties."
Nami: "Set course for Jaya Island! Full speed ahead!"
Caesar chuckled at the scene, but suddenly, noisy voices erupted from the cabin, mixed with Bon Clay's raspy shouts.
"What's going on?"
Caesar walked into the cabin.
"Captain, perfect timing!"
Deuce pointed at Bon Clay. "Where is this guy supposed to stay?"
"Men's quarters, obviously!" Caesar answered without hesitation.
"But I'm a okama, yo~! There's a difference between men and women, yo~!"
Bon Clay struck an exaggerated pose, batting his eyelashes at Caesar. "Little Caesar~"
BAM!
Caesar kicked Bon Clay straight into the wall and sneered.
"In that case, let's just chop it off!"
"EH?!!!"
The crew gasped in shock. Barto's eyes lit up as he pulled out a dagger, gesturing toward Bon Clay's crotch.
"No no no! Not that, yo~!"
Bon Clay scrambled up in panic. "How about giving me a private room instead?"
Caesar nodded. "Makes sense. Who wants to clean out the brig?"
Large ships like this usually had a brig—just in case they captured Pirates or if crew members went stir-crazy from the long voyage.
"NONONO! The men's quarters are fine! The men's quarters are great…"
Bon Clay hurriedly waved his hands. After all, according to their plans, Sky Island was the next destination, and he'd definitely have his own space by then.
"Should've said that earlier."
Caesar rolled his eyes.
Did they think this was some kind of "Land of the Free" where LGBT got special treatment?
Whether it was an okama or a Walmart plastic bag, he wasn't about to indulge them.
Seeing the hesitant looks on the boys' faces, Bon Clay quickly added: "Don't worry, I won't judge you!"
"It's us judging you!!" ×N
Everyone roared with shark-like expressions.
Caesar shook his head with a chuckle before returning to his room.
He still needed to contact Morgans.
Having left Alabasta, it was time to expose Crocodile's deeds - along with all the evidence of his crimes in the Alabasta Kingdom that Igaram had compiled and handed to him.
This was also part of Caesar's plan: to abolish the Warlord of the Sea system.
Strictly speaking, the combined strength of the Warlords could be considered equivalent to an Emperor Crew, which was precisely why the World Government refused to abandon the system.
While the Navy dominated most of the seas, their forces roughly equaled only three Emperor Crews - completely insufficient to withstand an alliance of four.
With the Warlords' cooperation and Vegapunk's future Seraphim project, they could essentially suppress the Four Emperors' crews, not to mention having CP and God's Knights as additional forces.
By strict calculation, the Celestial Dragons held many cards.
But as the saying goes: know yourself and know your enemy to win every battle. Caesar was well acquainted with most of these factions' active forces.
Moreover, these organizations weren't monolithic alliances, making them relatively easy to handle for Caesar.
Only one target truly eluded his understanding—God's Knights!