“Master Lizard… Why does this term sound so familiar…”
After leaving the area where the Kung-Fu Dugong were gathered, Vivi felt that the term sounded increasingly familiar, but she just couldn’t recall where she had heard it before.
“What’s wrong, Vivi? By the way, the royal capital is also on the other side of the river, right? Vivi, have you ever seen this ‘Master Lizard’ they mentioned?”
“Those Kung-Fu Dugong said that Master Lizard is a strange being who dresses similar to a human cowboy, who can cut through rocks with water just by flicking its fingers.”
As Chopper described him, the figure of Master Lizard gradually overlapped with Lizzi, who was following beside Robin. Vivi found herself understanding less and less about this former teacher of hers.
However, this did not delay their journey. In order to stop Crocodile’s plans, they pressed forward through the vast desert, traveling day and night without rest.
…
After some time, Yamato and her group finally arrived at the capital city, Alubarna.
According to Robin, they only needed to wait in the capital city for a few days. She would come over as soon as she finished handling some matters.
As the capital city of Alabasta, Alubarna remained somewhat prosperous, even though other regions had suffered droughts due to Crocodile’s actions.
But even in the bustling capital city, it was rare to receive such high-spending customers. They booked the most luxurious inn at an incredibly low price. In truth, even if they hadn’t booked out the whole place, barely anyone was staying here anyway.
With Alabasta’s rebel army in action and the country’s economy slightly declining in recent years, there were already very few travelers in the capital. Yamato, the wealthy young lady, had essentially saved this nearly bankrupt inn, injecting it with some much-needed cash flow.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I’ve heard that the rebel army has been active recently, but the capital city is still safe. However, just in case, I advise you not to go out at night.”
After saying this, the tavern attendant left Yamato and her group’s courtyard, glancing at the three of them and their unusual animals.
In Alabasta, the people had a strong tolerance for all sorts of strange creatures.
The fastest creatures in the Alabasta Kingdom—the Spot-Billed Ducks—were large ducks resembling Chocobo, and the country even had a specialized group of Spot-Billed Ducks.
The highly symbolic Sea Cats, the”all-terrain” turtle, as well as the Kung-Fu Dugong, Banana Gators, Evil Herons, and a series of other creatures with unique personalities.
Although Smeargle and Blissey looked quite different, they gave off a very friendly vibe. To them, it was completely normal for a wealthy young lady to own some unusual pets.
…
At this moment, Page One was inside the room, engrossed in a newly updated video game on his Rotom Phone, while Yamato was outside “basking in the moonlight” with Ulti.
“It’s so cold… This country is really not a place I can live in.”
As night fell, the scorching heat of the day faded away, replaced by a biting chill.
Alabasta’s air was extremely dry with little rainfall and sparse cloud cover makes it unable to absorb the sun’s heat radiation.
During the daytime, when sunlight and heat hit the desert, the top layer of desert absorbs the heat and releases it back into the air, overheating the atmosphere and causing temperatures to soar.
At night, most of that heat rapidly dissipates, making the sand and its surroundings much colder.
Temperatures of 30–40°C in the day and dropping below zero at night—this was a common occurrence in Alabasta.
The arid environment was one of the reasons Crocodile had chosen this place. His ability was greatly weakened in the rain, and compared to that, the drastic temperature shifts were a trivial matter.
But Ulti hated this kind of climate. The fluctuating temperatures weren’t enough to really affect her, but compared to the comfortable environments she was used to, this place was downright awful.
People often long for winter during the summer, swearing they’d rather freeze than suffer in the scorching heat. But when the cold winter actually arrives, that sentiment reverses, and they’d rather burn up than freeze to death.
Ulti was feeling exactly that way right now. The only thing she liked about this country was the various kinds of fruits.
“How did Robin even manage to stay here for several years?”
“Hmm… If I remember correctly, she wasn’t here the whole time. She spent a lot of time exploring the first half of the Grand Line. According to her, spending other people’s money to do your own thing is a reasonable way to slack off? No, what’s that word called… I can’t remember.”
The word was right on the tip of her tongue, but no matter how hard Yamato tried, she couldn’t recall it. In the end, she just let it go.
“Speaking of which, this country is really desolate. I feel like I’ve seen quite a few ruins along the way.”
“Who cares? There are countless countries in this world, and you’ve seen worse in the New World. Do you really think you can do something about all of them?”
“Maybe I can’t right now, but that might not be the case in the future.”
“Why didn’t I realize before that you wanted to meddle in so many things?”
“It’s not that I want to meddle, it’s just that seeing things like this makes me very uncomfortable. If everywhere could be like Wano Country, that would be great. As for before… maybe back then, all I cared about was fighting that damn old man?”
“Be confident. You’re thinking the same thing right now. I’ll go check what Pay-tan is up to, you do whatever you want.”
After saying that, she jumped straight up to the second floor of the courtyard. Entering through windows instead of doors was practically a signature skill passed down among the new generation of the Beasts Pirates. Apart from Jack, whose large size and lack of agility made it impractical, the others were all adept at smoothly vaulting through windows. And all of this could be credited to Kaido.
After Ulti jumped through the window back inside, a commotion erupted from within. Meanwhile, Yamato glanced over at Smeargle, who was painting on the wall. She also took a moment to start a video call for Blissey and the Blisseys back on Onigashima, then returned to studying the stars in the sky.
…
The next morning, as daylight broke, Yamato had initially planned to take in the sights of the royal capital. However, her thoughts were abruptly interrupted by the sound of an explosion.
The inn attendant’s words had been incorrect—under Crocodile’s instigation, the massive rebel army had already surrounded the capital.
Originally, both sides had been in a standoff, but agents of Baroque Works had long since infiltrated the kingdom’s army. With a “careless slip” of the hand, one of them fired a cannon from the city defenses, its thunderous roar marking the beginning of a war.
The situation had already been as volatile as a powder keg—this single shot was all it took to ignite the battlefield.
Countless camel-mounted soldiers kicked up a storm of dust, charging forward under a hail of artillery fire from the Royal Army.
“So this is war… Is this the kind of environment Father grew up in?”
Whether it was battles between pirates or skirmishes between pirates and the Marines, none of them truly qualified as large-scale warfare. But this was different. As a major kingdom, Alabasta had both vast land and a large population.
The number of people affected by this war far exceeded anything Yamato had ever experienced before.
“I really don’t like this kind of environment after all…”
Watching the kind of war that Kaido loved so much, Yamato couldn’t understand—why was Kaido so obsessed with it?
Just as that thought crossed her mind, she received another call from Robin.
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