To Crocodile, Nico Robin was shrouded in mystery. Even though he could gather information about her past from his own sources, he was clueless about the details.
Regardless of which organization, those that had close interactions with her ultimately faced destruction, as if some terrifying force intervened, erasing all traces.
Once could be luck, twice could also be luck, but with so many instances, unless you're Buggy, it's impossible to safely pull through on luck alone. So in Crocodile's view, this woman must have considerable strength.
He wanted to take this opportunity to see just how strong she really was. Afraid? He didn't have that emotion; after all, he had challenged the Four Emperors and fought with Bullet. He hadn't lost all his resolve yet.
Mr. 7's life or death didn't concern him; just an ordinary subordinate. If he died, so be it. If he couldn't even defeat a bounty hunter from the East Sea, such a guy was only wasting resources alive.
Robin intercepted part of Crocodile's information and sent it to Vivi, warning her to be cautious of the people in the Imperial Palace. However, at this point, Vivi had already left the Imperial Palace and couldn't handle the issue herself for now.
Sometime later, Robin arrived at the meeting place, a coffee shop, at the agreed time and immediately recognized Mr. 2.
In Alabasta, transvestites were a very rare group, making Mr. 2 quite conspicuous.
Mr. 2, real name Bon Kurei, was a high-ranking agent of Baroque Works and the only one without a partner. The reason for not having a partner... possibly because he was a transvestite.
"I've been waiting for a long time, Miss Allsunday. This is what little 0 asked me to give you, along with the specific mission location."
"Thank you."
Having witnessed many peculiar people in Wano Kuni, even if the person in front of her was a transvestite, her expression remained unchanged as she calmly took her item.
It seemed to be filled with ancient script, but it was all worthless nonsense. Crocodile himself couldn't understand what was written; he gave it to Robin merely to demonstrate some of his abilities, like making promises to employees.
"Hey, Miss Allsunday, do you mind telling me what little 0 looks like? You should have seen him, right?"
His transvestite nature often earned him strange looks, but he didn't care. On the path of a transvestite, he was more of a man than many men, unshaken by mere strange gazes.
But Robin's indifference was quite unique, intriguing him enough to probe for Crocodile's information.
"He's an ugly guy."
"What? Little 0 is ugly?"
"Yes, indeed, and not as good as you. Well, I have other matters to attend to, so I'll be going now."
Robin had no intention of lingering here. After a brief conversation, she prepared to leave.
"Wait, there are more tasks little 0 assigned, Miss Robin. Do you have any acquaintances in the royal palace usually?"
As he spoke, Bon Kurei placed his right hand on his face, and in the next moment, he transformed into Robin's image.
After Kurozumi Chanson's death, the Clone-Clone Fruit regenerated and was consumed by Bon Kurei, making him the new Clone-Clone Fruit user.
His task was to enter the Imperial Palace as Robin, to interact with more people within the kingdom, facilitating future actions.
They had already made contact when exchanging the documents.
After transforming, Bon Kurei found a sly smile on Robin's face. Before he could react, several arms sprouted from his body, locking his joints.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch, what are you doing!"
"If I hear you've done anything strange using this form, don't blame me for being ruthless."
She knew the Clone-Clone Fruit's abilities. During her time reading literature in Wano Kuni, this fruit's ability was mentioned, so she knew it could mimic more than just faces.
"Okay, okay, I won't do anything inappropriate!"
Upon receiving confirmation, Robin retracted her ability and answered some of Bon Kurei's queries. The undercover work continued despite her dislike for the ability, though it was tolerable for now.
She then left Alabasta with a rough address in hand.
...
Sometime later, in the East Sea, Nico Robin came to this sea area which was also the site where Mr. 7 died, and the person who killed him was East Sea's somewhat renowned bounty hunter—Roronoa Zoro.
Originally, he trained under Koshiro in Shimotsuki Village, but after setting out to sea once, he couldn't return. No matter how others guided him, he would always get lost, going round and round but never ending up back in Shimotsuki Village.
When his money ran out, he started working as a bounty hunter, but still couldn't return.
Even by ship, after disembarking nearby, he would still get lost, then drift even farther from Shimotsuki Village like he was cursed.
Eventually, he resigned himself, wandering randomly across various islands in the East Sea. Since he couldn't control his direction, Zoro thought this might be his destiny, and it was just the right time to strive towards his original goal.
Besides, he could also search for the Netherworld that the mysterious dark figure mentioned.
Under Garp's periodic sweeps, the East Sea had truly become the weakest sea.
It wasn't difficult for Zoro to make a name for himself in this sea, which naturally attracted Baroque Studio's recruitment.
Their peripheral organization was a bounty hunter assembly located near the entrance to the Grand Line at Whiskey Peak, gathering bounty hunters from various sea areas.
When Mr. 7 tried to recruit him, Zoro's response was to consider it if they offered him the boss's position. Not pleased with the answer, Mr. 7 tried to kill Zoro and ended up getting cut down.
...
"Hey, green-haired gentleman, could you wait a moment?"
On this day, having just fixed the slightly damaged Wado Ichimonji, Zoro was stopped by a stranger's voice. Looking back, it was a tan-skinned woman dressed like a cowboy with a small lizard.
"What, do you need directions?"
"Pfft, of course not. It took quite some effort to find you. Just to confirm, you're the Pirate Hunter, Roronoa Zoro, right?"
Based on existing information, finding Zoro wasn't difficult.
He was a notable figure in the East Sea, and inquiring about his whereabouts wasn't hard. The problem was, Robin had blocked his path several times but missed him each time.
Initially, she came to the East Sea just to travel and change her mood, using it as an excuse to half-heartedly deal with Crocodile. The East Sea was so vast; not finding him was reasonable.
But this only stirred up a peculiar competitive spirit within her, determined to catch him at least once to see how he managed to evade her scrutiny.