After walking about ten meters, Tokikake suddenly flashed back to Robin's side.
He pulled a dried, crusty rose from somewhere, bent over, and offered it to her.
"Forgot something important," he said smoothly. "Beautiful lady, since it's our first meeting, would you be my girlfriend?"
Robin: …
Ray, who had started to walk away, just froze.
'Okay, now I get it. No wonder he's failed to woo Momousagi 100 times.'
Tokikake, completely unfazed by Robin's deadpan stare, just laughed.
"Hahaha, today's confession mission: accomplished! Let's go!" He tucked the rose back into his pocket and dashed off to the east.
Robin glanced at Ray, shrugging with an awkward smile, her eyes a little stiff.
Ray just shook his head, ignoring her reaction, and asked her about Crocodile.
Robin explained that Crocodile and her clone were heading to the capital, Alubarna.
She needed to go replace her clone and get back to his side immediately.
"Alright, go ahead."
"Okay~ See you later?"
"Mm."
And just like that, the impromptu meeting was over.
As Robin walked away, she replayed Tokikake's words in her mind.
'Nico Robin, I've never seen you.'
Combined with him rushing off to "rescue civilians"... it finally clicked.
'He's a real Marine.'
…
Using his Observation Haki, Ray easily sensed the trapped crew in the flooded basement.
He moved in, covering ten meters a step, and arrived at the submerged ruins.
A light swipe of his hand shattered the door.
His blade flashed, cutting the Seastone cage open.
Four energy whips shot out and rescued the four drowning Devil Fruit users.
One minute later, in a deserted garden, Ray was forcibly pressing the water out of all four of them.
As five jets of water shot skyward (Luffy, as usual, contributed two), they all started waking up.
"Ray! Where's Crocodile?!" Luffy yelled, instantly ready for a fight.
Duang! A fresh bump appeared on his head.
"I'll be more careful next time~" Luffy apologized.
Ray sighed. 'Teaching this kid to think before acting will probably take 20,000 years.'
Just as he was about to explain the new plan, an angry roar cut through the air.
"Ray! Why did you save me?!"
Ray didn't even look at Smoker.
"Did it as a favor," he said flatly. "Besides, if I hadn't, this reckless captain of mine would've annoyed me to death about it."
Smoker's expression was grave, his heart in turmoil.
A Warlord was stealing a kingdom, and Marine HQ did nothing.
Now, a pirate had to save him? His whole sense of justice was confused.
He just turned and walked away, his retreating figure looking kind of desolate.
...
Meanwhile, Ray led Luffy, Mikita, and Gem towards Alubarna.
After leaving the city, Mikita and Gem suddenly knelt in front of him.
Gem: "Ray-sama, we can never repay you for saving our lives."
Mikita: "We only ask to follow you! I can do any work! Warming your body, washing your feet, scrubbing your back..."
Before she could finish, Ray flung her away with his tail, sending her tumbling onto a sand dune.
"Enough nonsense. Let's go."
Hearing this, Gem and Mikita were overjoyed.
Mikita ran back, still chattering. "Ray-sama, could you step a bit lighter on my belly when you... you know... relieve yourself?"
[Pure Killing Intent]
"(⊙o⊙)... I'll shut up."
"Hahahaha! Ray, you're so funny!" Luffy burst out laughing at Ray's embarrassed/angry expression.
The result?
"My sincere apologies!"
Pig-headed Luffy said again, nursing a new bump.
…
Meanwhile, Chouchou, having received Ray's orders, had already explained the new, terrible situation to the rest of the crew.
Learning that 200,000 rebels were buried in sand traps, Vivi broke out in a cold sweat.
And worse... tonight, Mr. 2 was going to kidnap her father.
Save her father, or save the 200,000 rebels? She was completely torn.
Nami and the others were racking their brains.
Ray had given them one day to rescue 200,000 people.
How?! They needed the Marines' help, but where were they?
Suddenly, Nami had an idea.
"Chouchou, can you smell large crowds of people?"
Chouchou nodded.
Easy. But finding them wasn't the hard part.
"Okay," Nami said, "before tonight, we need you to fly and find all the trapped rebel groups. I'll record their positions. At the same time, we need to find the Marines and share the locations."
"But we don't have a Den Den Mushi," Sanji said, frustrated. "And even if we did, we don't know who to call."
"Ouch! Sanji, you're on me! That's hot!" Chouchou yelped as Sanji ground out his cigarette butt on his fur.
"Sorry, sorry."
Nami looked at the little singed patch on Chouchou's back and suddenly thought of a word.
"Marking!" She knew what to do.
"Chouchou," she asked, "are you willing to go through fire and water for Ray? Give your life for him?"
"Of course I am!" the giant dog replied. "Why?"
Nami smiled confidently. "Your demon roar... it can leave marks on the ground, right? Damage the sand enough so the wind won't cover the traces before tomorrow? Can you do that?"
Chouchou scoffed. "Are you looking down on this great dog demon? Piece of cake."
"Then," Nami continued, "we need to create signposts. You'll make ground markers, giant arrows, showing the rescue route to the Marines. And we have to rush to Alubarna before tonight to save Vivi's father and use the palace's Den Den Mushi to contact the Marines. We can't meet Koza; it's too risky, probably a trap. This is a race against time, Chouchou. It's 1 PM now. You have 5 hours."
Chouchou felt like he'd just been tricked.
'Is this woman trying to kill me?! Flying that fast, and using my power to draw a giant map on the desert?! I'm just a little yokai!'
Just as he was about to refuse, Nami added, "If you can't do it, Ray will definitely be... disappointed. You don't want to see Ray disappointed, do you, Chouchou?"
Everyone else just watched Nami's sinister tactics, thinking that the Marines' bounty titles were scarily accurate.
Chopper, being straightforward, even said it out loud, pulling the poster from his bag.
"No wonder the poster calls Nami the 'Extremely Vicious Cat Burglar'," he mumbled.
"The Marines really get you."
At that very moment, Nami saw her new wanted poster for the first time.
She. Exploded.
"WHAT ARE YOU STILL STANDING AROUND FOR?!" she roared at Chouchou, aura blazing.
"SPEED UP!"
Chouchou's fur stood on end, and he immediately took off, beginning his desperate, life-or-death labor.
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