Not long after, Yami and the others bought fresh water and rented a camel.
There was only one camel, mainly not for riding, but for carrying water and clothes.
The environment of the Alabasta Kingdom was extremely harsh and not suited to leisurely travel.
With Yami's abilities, he could have used the quickest method to take Robin straight back to Alubarna and Nanohana.
In fact, with clairvoyance and see-through vision, Yami could view the Poneglyph in Alubarna while still in Nanohana.
However, Yami didn't directly copy down the ancient script. He chose to go to Alubarna in person and have Robin read that Poneglyph on the spot.
This process was a kind of growth for the three girls, and would, more or less, temper their will.
In this world, will is extremely important—something that can even stand above all else.
After all, Haki is the materialization of will and spirit.
People without strong will first struggle to awaken Haki, and then struggle to awaken their Devil Fruits.
There was no rush now. Whether for Carina and the others or for himself, Yami needed to slow down and cultivate the heart.
After buying the necessities for crossing the desert, Yami's group left Nanohana at once and set out toward Alubarna.
Along the way, the four of them trudged under the blazing sun, chatting about all sorts of topics.
Most of the talking was done by Carina and Nami; Yami and Robin listened and then answered their questions.
It had to be said: in this lifetime, Carina and Nami were very fortunate.
Saved by Yami, they avoided seven years of grinding trial and began receiving instruction from a powerhouse seven years early.
In this little team, Carina and Nami were the apprentices, while Yami and Robin were the teachers.
The former taught body techniques; the latter taught knowledge.
Under Yami and Robin's guidance, Carina and Nami not only surpassed their original stamina by far, their breadth of knowledge and experience also grew.
These accumulations were a strengthening of body and mind.
In Yami's eyes, that strengthening was what Carina, Nami, and even Robin needed most.
In the original story, even by the end of the Wano arc, Nami and Robin had not awakened Haki—their minds and bodies had not advanced enough.
Robin's will may have met the threshold, but her physique had not.
As for Nami, both body and mind were below standard.
In this lifetime, both would awaken Haki.
Time slipped by second by second as Yami and the others chatted.
Two hours later, the group was far from Nanohana.
Every hour, Yami would have the three girls stop to drink water and rest for a bit.
"This feeling…"
As the three stopped for the second time and prepared to drink, Nami's innate talent seemed to sense something. She spun around, staring toward the direction they had come from, and her expression changed sharply. "Not good, a sandstorm is coming!"
Almost the moment the words left Nami's lips, the path behind them turned a hazy gray.
A gigantic sand twister was rolling forward with a terrifying wall of grit, sweeping across the wastes.
Even scarier, the sandstorm seemed to be growing. Every stretch it traveled, it drew in more sand, forming an even larger vortex.
If no outside force stopped it and it continued to grow, it might become a city-destroying natural disaster.
"Don't panic. Did you forget Master has the Door-Door Fruit?"
Unlike the alarmed Nami, Carina stayed very calm, sipping her water as she spoke.
"Right."
Nami blinked in realization, and her fear faded.
But Yami's words made both girls stiffen slightly.
Yami frowned. "This sandstorm wasn't formed naturally. It was made by someone."
"Seriously? Can people really cause a 'natural disaster' like this?"
Carina and Nami found it hard to believe.
Robin's brows knit as well, as if recalling something. "There is indeed a fruit ability that can achieve this."
"But if I remember correctly, that ability should have been eaten by a very big name."
"Mhm. That person did this."
Yami nodded first, then the corner of his mouth lifted. He said to the three, "Head into the pocket dimension and hide for a bit. I'll go meet that Warlord."
The moment he finished, an astonishing black mist erupted from Yami's body.
It moved as if it had a will of its own, instantly wrapping Yami, the three girls, and the camel, forming a huge black sphere.
Inside the sphere, an air door opened, and Carina, Nami, Robin, and the camel all went through.
After sending them into the pocket-dimension shelter, Yami dispersed the sphere, then looked at the sandstorm that seemed close yet was actually still a distance away, considering how to counter it with a single move.
Suddenly, inspiration flashed. He thought of a bold idea.
He raised his hand toward the onrushing sandstorm, first converting stamina into dark power. Dense black mist wrapped his palm, forming a hand that looked as if black flames were burning upon it.
Invisible gravity brewed within the black mist at his palm, finally becoming a tiny vortex—like a miniature black hole.
"Amplify — Fiftyfold Dark Vortex."
In an instant, a transparent aura sheathed the miniature black hole, and it grew visibly larger to the naked eye.
Within a few breaths, the miniature black hole's size swelled fiftyfold.
A small black hole appeared in front of Yami.
As the black hole's size increased, so too did the gravity contained within.
When that gravity surged out and locked onto the rolling sandstorm—
Inside the pocket dimension, Carina, Nami, and Robin witnessed a startling scene.
The fully formed sand dragon, growing larger and larger, suddenly surged forward faster, and in almost an instant, it flew straight toward Yami.
But the sand twister didn't engulf him. Just as it was about to collide with Yami, the twister began to shrink at a speed visible to the eye.
From afar—
Watching at close range within the pocket dimension, the three saw the storm wall crash into the black hole before Yami and get rapidly swallowed.
Like water in a bottle being sucked up through a giant straw.
The massive sand twister deflated like a punctured balloon and vanished quickly.
The power of a fiftyfold Dark Vortex.
The darkness of the Logia Yami-Yami no Mi isn't just the night—it is the black hole.
Dark Vortex is the gravity of a black hole; it doesn't only work on Devil Fruit users. Like "Universal Pull" from that other world, it can draw in objects as well.
Likewise, Dark Vortex can swallow energy-type attacks, just like how the original Blackbeard absorbed Whitebeard's quake power.
But Blackbeard absorbed the quake wave before Whitebeard shattered the air—he pulled in the shockwave early.
Yami magnified Dark Vortex fiftyfold, literally crafting a black hole by hand and devouring the gigantic sand twister.
One move—destined to be a Natural-type user's nightmare!