As Jerry and his friends flew farther into the distance, Crocodile realized his long-range attacks were proving futile and finally stopped his pursuit. With an expression of barely contained fury, he glanced at the Marine forces still giving chase in the background, grinding his teeth as he cursed internally.
"Damn brat! How dare he play me like that!"
Then his frown deepened as he muttered to himself: "But how did he know about..."
Crocodile shook his head in frustrated defeat, forced to accept the reality that Jerry had completely outmaneuvered him. No matter how much he might deny any involvement with the Pluton blueprints, his protests would fall on deaf ears. Jerry's blame-shifting gambit hadn't been particularly sophisticated, but as long as no one could locate the actual blueprints, suspicion would continue to fall on the most obvious suspect.
From an objective standpoint, Rain Dinners was indeed his territory, and from any outsider's perspective, he certainly possessed both the means and opportunity to secretly acquire such valuable documents. The fact that Jerry had won several million berries at his casino earlier only added insult to injury, making the whole situation even more galling.
While those few million berries wouldn't actually hurt his finances—his casino operation was designed to take big bets and pay out small, ensuring steady profits—what truly infuriated Crocodile was how completely he'd been manipulated. He had rushed into this confrontation hoping to acquire the Pluton blueprints and recover his losses, only to end up with nothing while being painted as the villain.
After taking a moment to collect himself, Crocodile drew a deep breath and forced his anger back under control. At least he could be grateful that he'd kept Nico Robin hidden during this entire fiasco, ensuring that his primary operation could continue uninterrupted.
If that troublesome boy had encountered Robin in front of the World Government and Marine forces, there was no telling what kind of chaos he might have caused. Jerry had already demonstrated a disturbing talent for creating diplomatic incidents.
Staring at the distant figures gradually disappearing from view, Crocodile slowly turned away from the scene. He had plans to salvage from this disaster, and standing around nursing his wounded pride wouldn't accomplish anything.
Meanwhile, high above the desert kingdom, Jerry's flying squadron continued their tactical withdrawal. Kotatsu carried both Carina and Carrot on his enhanced form while Cavendish streaked alongside them as pure lightning, the group heading toward the Sandora River with a growing trail of pursuing Marine forces behind them.
Far to one side of their escape route, a tall blind man stood silently in the desert sands, making no sound or movement. After a long moment of contemplation, Issho turned and walked deeper into the vast wasteland, his thoughts unreadable behind his perpetually closed eyes.
On the Sandora River, aboard the Black Nova, Ace and his friends were steering their ship inland after successfully evading their own Marine pursuit when Skull suddenly called out from his position at the helm.
"Oh! Look over there—that's Boss Jerry's signal! And Cavendish's lightning!"
Skull's eyes lit up with excitement as he pointed toward the sky in the direction of Rainbase. Without hesitation, Ace cocked back his right arm and launched a massive flaming projectile straight up into the air.
"Fire Fist!"
The brilliant fireball exploded high above them like a beacon, announcing their location to their approaching crewmates.
Jerry and his group were moving at tremendous speed through the air when he activated his wide-range Observation Haki, combining it with his ability's unique characteristics to sense Deuce and the others approaching their position. He immediately condensed a thin, precise water dragon and sent it streaking into the sky as a response signal.
Seeing Jerry's technique, Cavendish also contributed by firing a brilliant bolt of thunder skyward, the electrical display crackling across the evening sky.
Sure enough, it wasn't long before Ace's Fire Fist answered them from the river below.
The reunited crew touched down on their ship's deck, with Jerry laughing heartily as his feet hit the familiar planking. "We're back!"
"Thank goodness you made it," Deuce replied with obvious relief. "Your timing is perfect—we need to get moving." He gestured toward the distant shoreline where Gion's distinctive figure was gradually becoming visible. "I'll fill you in on what we encountered while you were in town."
The thunderous boom of cannon fire suddenly echoed across the water as a Marine warship emerged from the river's mouth, heading directly toward their position before taking up a strategic position at medium range.
"Right, let's get out of here first," Jerry nodded decisively. He immediately began manipulating the ocean currents around their ship, using the same underwater technique that had served them well before. The Black Nova dove beneath the surface and escaped Alabasta's waters entirely.
Half a day later, after putting considerable distance between themselves and any pursuers, the crew had gathered on deck for an evening barbecue as they sailed across the open ocean. The stars were beginning to appear overhead as they shared stories of their respective adventures in the desert kingdom.
"What?! You actually encountered Celestial Dragons?!" Deuce nearly choked on his food, his voice cracking with disbelief.
"That's right," Jerry confirmed with a slight nod, adopting a mock-professional tone. "Based on my many years of medical experience, that pig-faced Saint Croft will probably have permanent complications even if they manage to patch him up. Assuming they can patch him up at all."
Deuce glared at him incredulously. "You don't have any medical experience! You're more like a professional killer!"
"Well, they're both just two different ways of dealing with bodies," Jerry replied with a dismissive wave. "The important point is what happened, not the semantics."
"I suppose that can't be helped," Deuce sighed after a moment. "However, based on everything you've told us, I doubt they'll buy your blame-shifting act, no matter how theatrical it was."
The rest of the crew nodded in agreement. Jerry's assault on the Celestial Dragon had been so direct and obvious that he might as well have announced his intentions with a formal declaration. While he had successfully framed the CP0 agent on the surface—and that agent was now permanently unable to contradict the story—everyone else present would have witnessed the truth.
The Celestial Dragons themselves, their surviving followers, the Marine forces, and any reporters who might have been secretly recording the incident would all know that Saint Croft's injuries came from Jerry's hands, not from any accidental friendly fire during the chaos.
Unless every journalist on the scene decided to fabricate completely fictional accounts to maximize sensationalism, the real story would eventually emerge.
Ace's eyes filled with painful memories as he clenched his fists tightly. "You did the right thing beating them. Those parasites aren't human—innocent children shouldn't be executed by them for no reason at all!"
"I agree with Ace completely," Brook chimed in, lightly patting his ribcage. "Although this incident scared me so badly my heart is still racing. Oh wait, I don't have a heart! Yohohoho!"
"Hah! That's right, Boss Jerry!" Skull forced himself to sound confident while giving an enthusiastic thumbs up. "Even though my legs are still trembling, I support you one hundred percent!"
When he had first heard the news, Skull had felt chilled to his very bones. As their intelligence specialist, he fully understood the incredible power and influence the Celestial Dragons wielded throughout the world. Moreover, this incident was obviously different from their previous encounter on Gran Tesoro. That time, they had managed to shift blame cleanly enough that the World Noble himself never suspected Jerry's involvement.
This time was far more direct and obvious.
The rest of the crew showed their support in their own ways. Deuce didn't voice any additional concerns, but his steady gaze conveyed unwavering loyalty. Carrot offered her unconditional backing with characteristic enthusiasm, while Cavendish seemed more worried about whether Jerry would steal his newspaper headlines again than about any potential consequences.
After her initial nervousness during the actual confrontation, Carina had come to terms with their situation and accepted the reality of what they were now facing.
Jerry reached down to stroke Kotatsu's head as the enhanced lynx rested at his feet, feeling the understanding and support radiating from his friends. The warmth of their loyalty brought a genuine smile to his face.
"Everyone, try not to worry too much," he said reassuringly. "Even after attacking Celestial Dragons, the typical retaliation involves deploying either Marine Admirals or CP0 agents. However, Admirals aren't usually available for immediate response—they have more important responsibilities than chasing individual pirate crews. It's much more likely that CP0 will handle any follow-up operations."
Jerry continued his analysis in a calm, logical tone designed to ease their concerns. "Besides, our next destination is still undecided, which makes it much harder for them to predict our movements and set up ambushes..."
"As long as we don't have to deal with Admirals directly, we should be able to handle whatever they send after us."
The crew was nodding in agreement with his assessment when a disturbingly familiar voice suddenly echoed through the air around them, casual and lazy despite the underlying menace.
"Oh my~ How terrifying. They're actually predicting the Marine and World Government's response strategies."
"Huh? A workaholic?" Jerry blinked in surprise, recognizing the distinctive speech pattern immediately.
He immediately looked skyward and saw countless brilliant points of light beginning to fall from above like a deadly meteor shower. The familiar voice continued with mock concern:
"Eight-Foot Mirror Jewels!"
"Oh, come on!" Jerry shouted in exasperation, immediately seizing control of the ocean currents around their ship. The Black Nova plunged beneath the surface just as the devastating light-based attack reached their position.
Countless balls of compressed light energy bombarded the sea surface with tremendous force, but the explosions couldn't completely mask the sound of his crew's indignant protests from below.
"Didn't you just say Admirals wouldn't come after us?!"
"How was I supposed to know he'd work overtime?!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Writing takes time, coffee, and a lot of love.If you'd like to support my work, join me at [email protected]/GoldenGarudaYou'll get early access to over 50 chapters, selection on new series, and the satisfaction of knowing your support directly fuels more stories.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~