Charles was in a foul mood. Saying he'd teach Crocodile a lesson wasn't something he could vent with just a punch and a kick.
But in the desert Crocodile ran too fast!
It wasn't that Charles couldn't drag him out, but it would mean flipping half of Rainbase. He wasn't deranged enough to wreck one of Alabasta's few oases just to blow off steam.
In the blink of an eye, Crocodile slipped into the boundless desert, his presence vanishing completely from Charles's senses.
Charles snorted. Where could Crocodile run, really? He didn't believe he'd just abandon all his plans in Alabasta.
Unless he gave up Pluton, he absolutely wouldn't leave. So there was no need to chase him; he'd come back on his own.
Because there was someone here he absolutely needed to execute his plan.
Charles returned to the roofless Rain Dinners and, sure enough, found Robin still at the bar.
It wasn't that she didn't want to run; it was mainly because Stella was sitting right beside her.
The air between them was a little odd. Robin beamed at Stella, while Stella looked puffed-up and peeved.
As Charles walked over, Stella came to his side. "Charles, I don't like this woman!"
She didn't give a reason, but Charles knew her well enough to guess.
Ever since Ohara's destruction, Robin had roamed the underworld. Using and betraying had repeated over and over as she grew.
So she'd long since learned to hide her true heart and trust no one. Even the smile on her face was fake.
Stella is sunny and straightforward, yet delicate inside. Faced with Robin's constant insincerity, she could hardly feel any goodwill.
Charles nodded to Stella. "Got it. Let me handle it."
He sat down across from Robin. "The Devil's Child, Nico Robin, right? Relax. I'm here for Crocodile. I won't make things hard for you."
Robin was quick on the uptake. "So Mr. 5 was beaten by you. Looks like Mr. 0 brought this on himself!
But if you want to find him, asking me won't help."
As the absolute core of Baroque Works, Robin knew plenty. She should have a clear picture of their other bases in Alabasta—she could probably even guess where Crocodile was hiding now.
But her meaning was clear: she wouldn't say a thing.
Charles frowned. He hadn't planned to get intel from Robin anyway, but her loyalty to Crocodile was a bit too fanciful.
Then it clicked. Robin wasn't keeping secrets for Crocodile's sake.
Crocodile wanted to use Robin to read the Poneglyph with intel on Pluton, and Robin was using Crocodile to find the Poneglyphs.
With that understood, Charles sighed. Since Robin was here, Crocodile would certainly be back, so he didn't care about her stance.
Robin was tactful enough not to test whether she could slip away from Charles. Charles, for his part, saved himself the trouble and checked the loot Crocodile had dropped.
This was Baroque Works' HQ, after all. Crocodile had fled so hastily he'd left a chunk of his collection behind.
The stack of identical fur-collared coats and suits was the least useful. The rest was valuable beli, gold, and jewels.
For Charles, the most valuable things were the weapons—two of them even ranked among the 50 Skillful Grade blades.
He flicked the edge of a curved saber with a finger and listened to the ring.
As a smith acknowledged by the forge-god Hephaestus, Charles had the eye to judge a weapon's quality.
In this world, famous swords have clear tiers: 12 Supreme Grade, 21 Great Grade, and 50 Skillful Grade—what every swordsman chases.
And whether due to special materials or forging technique, famous blades here have another quirk: the forging of black blades.
A master swordsman's blade, long tempered under its owner's Armament Haki, becomes dyed black. Such black blades possess astounding durability; even if the original quality wasn't high, once blackened they rank among the famous swords.
Known black blades include the katana of the dragon-slaying swordsman Ryuma—the national treasure of Wano, the Great Grade Shusui—and the world's strongest swordsman Mihawk's Yoru.
Other famed blades—whether Griffin in Red-Hair Shanks's hand, Cong Yun Qie, another Supreme Grade in Whitebeard's hand, or Ace in the Pirate King Roger's—never became black blades.
Two Skillful Grade blades among Crocodile's collection was already a pleasant surprise. Charles hadn't expected Supreme Grade pieces or Devil Fruits in there anyway.
He could tell the saber in his hand was forged from several common materials, yet its conductivity for magic was astonishingly high. The secret of black blade forging might lie in that.
Swordsmanship is the mainstream discipline here, and the complementary sword-forging arts truly have their tricks. Studying them might even level up his smithing skill.
So Charles felt no rush to find Crocodile and decided to stay in Rainbase.
After hearing about Ohara from Charles, Stella's impression of Robin changed.
And Stella's warmth, like flame, eased much of Robin's gloom. Though she hadn't opened her heart fully, she and Stella did become friends.
Two days later, before Crocodile returned, other uninvited guests arrived in Rainbase.
The Straw Hat crew showed up first—and to Charles's surprise, Ace, who should have split from them in the original plot, was with them.
He didn't know he himself was part of the reason. With a powerful unknown roaming Alabasta, how could Ace rest easy letting his kid brother run wild?
They were all stunned when they saw the flipped-open Rain Dinners.
To stop Alabasta's rebellion, Vivi had to expose Crocodile as the true culprit behind it all.
They'd braved hardships to reach Rainbase for the very purpose of defeating Crocodile.
Hearing from the locals what had happened, they came to Charles.
Ace's eyes went wide when he saw Charles. Running into the man who'd left such an impression here was beyond his expectations.
Even more surprising, before he could warn his brother not to provoke the guy, Luffy had already charged up to Charles.
"Charles, where's that cool bird of yours? Please, let me ride it once!"
Ace worked his stiff neck. "You guys know him?"
Zoro answered from the side, "Yeah, met him at Twin Capes. We're on decent terms."
Relieved, Ace exhaled. At least he wasn't an enemy.
Charles pushed Luffy's face aside. "This isn't the time. You might want to hide—looks like the Marines will be here any minute."
He was right—he'd sensed Smoker's aura from before. He was leading a large Marine force into Rainbase.
Pirates aren't the Revolutionary Army; they don't go out of their way to provoke the Marines. Naturally, Luffy's crew needed to steer clear of Smoker.
Charles had no such concerns, but he also couldn't be bothered to deal with the Marines—a mere enforcement arm of the World Government. He had no extra thoughts about them.
Marine "justice"? As long as the Celestial Dragons exist, it's a joke.
In any case, it looked like Alabasta was about to get lively as Crocodile's plan unfolded!
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