With a roar of compressed smoke, Smoker transformed his lower body and launched off the deck like a white comet. Before streaking toward Alubarna, he paused, fixing his gaze on Sergeant Ramba—a lean, scarred veteran with eyes like flint—and his squad.
"Listen up! Ensign Tashigi leads this intercept mission. She's dealt with Takuya before and knows his tricks. Follow her orders without question. Understood?"
Ramba snapped a sharp salute. "Sir!" His ten Marines echoed the gesture, though a few exchanged wary glances. Tashigi's junior rank made some veterans bristle, but Smoker's explicit command brooked no dissent .
As the skiff surged toward shore, Ramba reported tersely: "Intercept vector plotted for Alubarna's western canyons, Ensign. We'll cut them off in 20 minutes."
Tashigi gripped Shigure's hilt, knuckles white. "Maximum speed, Sergeant. And stay alert—Takuya's like a pandora's box, no one knows what he might pull, so make sure you are ready.." Her voice wavered only slightly, betraying the storm beneath her calm:
Shattered ports. Smirking wanted posters. That unsettling proposition... Ramba followed, barking concise orders. The engine roared to life, churning water into foam as the skiff surged forward, rapidly leaving the Swift Justice behind.
Ramba watched Tashigi for a moment as she stood rigidly at the prow, knuckles turning white on Shigure's hilt. Her usual fierce focus seemed brittle, strained. "Ensign? You expecting heavy resistance from the target?" he asked, his tone carefully neutral.
Tashigi flinched almost imperceptibly. "Takuya is... unpredictable, Corporal. Highly dangerous. Assume extreme caution. We have encountered him twice and he not only got away but also made a mockery out of us in front of civilians as if we were clowns and it was a circus.
Non-lethal takedown is preferred, but prioritize mission success and squad safety." The words felt hollow, rehearsed. 'Apprehend him... Intelligence extraction priority.'
Smoker's growl echoed in her mind, clashing violently with the memory of Takuya's unsettling proposition and the confusing pull she felt. Could she actually do it? Could she betray Smoker? The Marines? For... him?
High above, riding the lone sand bike with effortless grace, Nico Robin traced the twin dust tracks of Takuya's group far ahead. The desert wind whipped at her hair, but her dark eyes remained fixed, calculating the distance to Alubarna, the speed of the bikes.
Her earlier smile was a faint curve on her lips. He sets the speed. Her gaze swept the huge desert below.
The twin dust trails left by Takuya's group were like faint pencil lines drawn across the vast, tan canvas of the desert. High on her sand bike, Nico Robin followed, a silent shadow at a careful distance.
She didn't ride directly behind them, but parallel, using rolling dunes and rock outcrops for cover, her dark eyes constantly scanning, assessing. The man who could read the desert's hidden language would surely notice a blatant pursuer.
Soon, the crumbling, sand-swept structures of Yuba appeared on the horizon, a ghost of the green oasis it once was. Robin cut her engine, letting the bike coast to a silent stop behind a large dune overlooking the town.
She dismounted and moved on foot, her steps making no sound on the soft sand, finding a perfect vantage point within the skeleton of an old windmill.
Below, Takuya's two bikes rolled to a stop in the center of the deserted town. The air was heavy and still, filled with the sigh of the wind over sand-blasted stone.
Vivi slid off the bike behind Takuya, her shoulders slumping as she looked around at the devastation. "This... this is Yuba," she whispered, her voice thick. "It's all gone. The water, the people... all buried."
An old man emerged from a half-collapsed hut, squinting against the sun. It was Toto. His eyes, weary and sad, widened in disbelief. "Princess Vivi? Is that really you?"
"Toto!" Vivi cried out, rushing forward and embracing the old man tightly. Tears welled in her eyes as she pulled back. "Where is everyone? Where's the rebel army?"
Toto shook his head, his expression grim. "Gone, my princess. They moved to Katorea, near Nanohana. The sandstorms Crocodile sent... they never stopped. There was no life left here for an army to sustain. Koza... he had to lead them away."
The hope drained from Vivi's face, replaced by a fresh wave of despair. "Katorea... that's days from here now! We'll never make it in time!"
Nami placed a comforting hand on Vivi's shoulder, her own face etched with worry. "We have the bikes now, Vivi. It changes things."
"But the path to Katorea from here is through the Great Sand Sea," Vivi argued, her voice trembling. "The bikes won't help much in those shifting dunes. It's a maze! We'll get lost, or swallowed by a sand whirlpool!"
Takuya, who had been silently surveying the ruins, finally spoke. His voice was calm, cutting through their panic. "Then we don't go to Katorea."
Both women turned to stare at him. "What?" Nami asked. "But the rebels—"
"Are a symptom. Crocodile is the disease," Takuya stated, his gaze shifting from the crumbling well to the distant horizon where Alubarna lay. "We cut the head off the snake. The body dies. We go to Alubarna. Now."
"But the people—" Vivi started.
"Will keep fighting and dying in a war based on lies until Crocodile is stopped," Takuya interrupted, not unkindly, but with a firmness that brooked no argument.
"Your friend Koza leads them, yes? He believes the King is the enemy. Stopping him at Katorea might pause one battle, but Crocodile will just create another. We end this at the source. After all, his destination is also going to be Alubarna.
We reach there first and stop them as soon as they enter the town, we don't know how long before they have relocated, our best bet is to intercept them before they reach Alubarna."
Up in the windmill, Robin listened, her head tilted. A logical, ruthless assessment. He wasn't swayed by sentiment. He saw the battlefield not as a series of emotional crises, but as a strategic equation. It was a fascinating, cold perspective.
Nami looked from Vivi's devastated face to Takuya's resolute one. She bit her lip, then nodded slowly. "He's right, Vivi. Luffy and the others are heading for Crocodile too. Our best chance to save everyone is to make sure Crocodile falls. Permanently."
Vivi looked down, her fists clenching at her sides. The weight of the entire kingdom felt like it was crushing her. She knew they were right, but the thought of turning away from the rebels, from Koza, felt like a betrayal. Finally, she took a shaky breath and looked up, her eyes glistening but determined. "Alright. To Alubarna."
Toto, who had been listening quietly, gestured to his hut. "Rest here for a moment. You look exhausted. Let an old man at least offer you what little shade he has."
The group agreed, moving into the relative cool of the crumbling structure to take a brief respite and sip from their water skins.
As they rested in Yuba, a series of battles were reaching their climax in the distant capital.
In a sun-baked Alubarna alley, Usopp and Chopper, battered and bleeding, finally outsmarted Mr. 4 and Miss Merry Christmas, the giant dog Lassoo collapsing into a whimpering heap.
Across the city, Sanji, his body bruised but his spirit unbroken, landed a final, devastating kick on a defeated Mr. 2 Bon Clay, who lay unconscious in a crater of his own making.
In the palace gardens, Zoro, standing amidst a circle of sliced-up stone paving, sheathed his swords. Mr. 1 lay on the ground before him, unable to move. Zoro had learned to cut steel.
One by one, the Officer Agents of Baroque Works were falling.
Back in the hut in Yuba, Takuya stood by the doorway, looking out. Nami was trying to comfort a silently crying Vivi. Mira was curiously poking at an old, broken water wheel mechanism.
From her high perch, Robin observed it all. She saw the Princess's grief, the Navigator's pragmatism, the slave girl's strange innocence. But her focus always returned to Takuya.
He was the still point in the emotional storm. He wasn't just waiting; he was processing, planning. What was his role in this? A mere bodyguard? A strategist? His destination was the same as Crocodile's—Alubarna. Was he an ally to the Straw Hats, or did he have his own game?
She needed to get closer. To hear what they discussed when they thought they were alone.
The two sand bikes fell silent outside a dilapidated, sand-scoured lodge on the very edge of Yuba. The main hut had been too exposed, too full of painful memories. This place, an old trader's rest stop, was more secluded, its walls still mostly standing against the relentless desert.
"Get some sleep," Takuya said, his voice a low rumble in the quiet evening. He gestured to a smaller, connected room with a dusty but intact bedroll. "You two take that room. I'll keep watching out here."
He settled himself on the floor of the main room, his back against the wall, facing the doorway. The message was clear: he was the shield.
Nami and Vivi were too exhausted to argue. The emotional toll of Yuba, the weight of their redirected mission, pressed down on them. They disappeared into the side room, the faint sound of rustling fabric and weary sighs the only signs of life.
High above, perched on the crumbling roof of a nearby structure, Nico Robin watched. She saw the light in the main room go out, leaving only the silvery glow of the moon through the open windows. She saw Takuya's silhouette, still and vigilant.
And she saw the smaller room where the two women had settled. This is the moment, she thought. When guards are missing and the protected are at their most vulnerable, secrets are often whispered.
With the silence of a shadow, she descended. Her feet made no sound on the sandy ground. She slipped through an empty window frame into the main room, her eyes instantly adjusting to the deeper gloom.
Takuya was there, but his head was bowed, his breathing deep and even. Asleep on watch? That didn't fit the man she'd been observing. It felt... staged.
She moved past him, a ghost in the dark, and entered the side room. Moonlight streamed through a hole in the roof, illuminating two forms huddled together on the single bedroll.
But something was wrong. They were too still. Approaching, she saw they were merely piles of spare clothes arranged under the blanket. The room was empty.
A cold trickle of understanding ran down her spine. It was a decoy.
Her eyes swept the empty room and landed on a small, square piece of paper tucked into a crack in the wall beside the doorway. It was placed conspicuously, waiting to be found. Her heart beat a little faster. This was for her.
She plucked the note from the wall and stepped back into the main room, standing in a patch of moonlight to read. The words, written in a sharp, clean hand, made her blood run cold.
If my story made you smile even once, that's a win for me. That's what I want to live for—brightening dull days and reminding people that joy still exists. My dream is to keep getting better, to someday reach legendary level of storytelling.
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