On the western coast of Alabasta, a massive Marine warship dropped its heavy iron anchors into the shallow, crystal-clear water. The heavy chains rattled like thunder against the wooden hull, signaling the arrival of absolute justice.
Rear Admiral Light Yagami stood on the bow of the ship, the hot desert wind whipping his pristine white coat around his legs. The golden sands of Alabasta stretched out endlessly before him, a vast, shimmering ocean of heat waves and barren rock.
Behind him, Captain T-Bone was barking orders to the crew, diligently organizing the heavily armed landing parties to march on the capital city of Alubarna.
Bonney walked up to the railing next to Light, chewing aggressively on a piece of dried, heavily salted jerky. She squinted at the massive, empty desert, using her free hand to shade her eyes from the blinding afternoon sun.
"It's hot," she complained loudly, kicking the wooden railing. "And there's nothing but sand. Are we really hunting a thirty-million rookie in this giant, boiling litter box? My boots are going to melt."
Light didn't answer immediately. He stared out over the dunes, closing his eyes.
He let his Level 2 Observation Haki bleed out across the coastline like a vast, invisible net. Intermediate Haki was a completely different beast than the blurry, limited radius he had relied upon in the South Blue. His awareness expanded for miles, effortlessly mapping the topography of the desert, the distant winding rivers, and the towering sandstone walls of the capital city.
The island was alive with chaotic energy. He could feel the distant, panicked movements of the Baroque Works agents in the city square, desperately trying to flee. He felt a dense, intoxicating cluster of Red Karma radiating from the royal holding cells—millions of potential Karma Points sitting in chains, waiting to be harvested. He felt the stormy, heavily conflicted presence of Captain Smoker pacing through the market.
But Light filtered out the ambient noise of the country. He was looking for a highly specific anomaly.
A crew capable of toppling a Warlord of the Sea, Light thought, his mind a cold, calculating machine. They won't be in the city. They will be moving toward the coast to escape the blockade.
His Haki swept the western desert, combing the dunes. Suddenly, he found them.
Seven distinct presences, moving remarkably fast across a rocky ridge, heading directly toward a hidden cove up the Sandora River. They were completely exhausted. Their physical auras flickered weakly, battered by severe trauma, blood loss, and dehydration. But their wills—the sheer, concentrated intent radiating from their minds—were incredibly dense.
Light focused his mental eye on the group, pulling up the Karma System interface in his mind to read the numbers from five miles away. He started with the brightest presence at the front.
[ Monkey D. Luffy — Pirate Captain ]
[ Green: 185,000 / Red: 410 ]
Light's eyes snapped open beneath his calm facade.
Four hundred and ten. He stared blankly at the desert horizon. A pirate captain with a thirty-million bounty, capable of crushing a Shichibukai, and his Red Karma is four hundred and ten?
It was a statistical absurdity. He immediately shifted his focus to the presences running fiercely alongside the captain, running the arithmetic on the entire crew.
[ Roronoa Zoro — Combatant ]
[ Green: 62,000 / Red: 4,900 ]
4,900. Light's mind raced. Zoro was dangerously close to the 5,000-point execution threshold. The Red Karma was likely a remnant of his previous career as a lethal bounty hunter in the East Blue. He had killed men for money. But his Green Karma was massively inflated—loyalty, sacrifice, and protecting the innocent had heavily counterbalanced his ledger. He was a hair's breadth from a death sentence, but technically, he was still under the line.
Light checked the rest.
[ Sanji — Cook ] [ Green: 48,000 / Red: 1,200 ]
[ Nami — Navigator ] [ Green: 35,000 / Red: 850 ]
[ Usopp — Sniper ] [ Green: 22,000 / Red: 15 ]
[ Tony Tony Chopper — Doctor ] [ Green: 55,000 / Red: 5 ]
Light processed the data in a fraction of a second. The navigator had a slight accumulation of Red, likely from a history of thievery and betrayal, but her actions in freeing her village had clearly flooded her Green Karma. The cook was a fighter, but a principled one. The sniper was practically a civilian. And the doctor's Red Karma was so low it was statistically non-existent.
They were a pirate crew completely devoid of absolute sin. They were, by the System's flawless metrics, genuinely good people.
And yet, the Fleet Admiral of the Marines had explicitly ordered them to be crushed.
"We are, Bonney," Light finally answered, a slow, chilling smile spreading across his face. "Let's go see what a hero looks like in person."
Light turned away from the railing. "Captain T-Bone."
T-Bone snapped to attention, his skeletal hand flying to his brow in a crisp salute. "Sir!"
"Take the landing party. March on Alubarna and secure the high-ranking Baroque Works prisoners currently in Captain Smoker's custody. I want to see them later. " Light ordered smoothly, adjusting his cuffs. "I will intercept the Straw Hat crew myself."
"Alone, Rear Admiral?!" T-Bone gasped, his terrifying face contorting in genuine horror. "Sir, they just defeated Crocodile! They dismantled an entire criminal syndicate! Please, allow a Marine detachment to assist you!"
"That will not be necessary," Light said. He reached down without looking, grabbed the back of Bonney's collar, and effortlessly hoisted the complaining girl into the air.
"HEY! PUT ME DOWN YOU BASTARD!" Bonney shrieked, dropping her jerky onto the deck. "I TOLD YOU I HATE FLYING!"
"Hold your breath," Light advised mildly.
Before T-Bone could protest further, Light triggered Soru and Geppo simultaneously. The reinforced wooden deck of the warship splintered and cracked under the immense kinetic force of his launch. Light and Bonney vanished into the blinding blue sky, leaving behind nothing but a concussive sonic boom that rattled the ship's masts and echoed across the quiet bay.