"They're missing!!!"
Within the palace of Alubarna, the shocked cry of the current king, Nefertari Cobra pierced the night sky. "Even Pell?"
Standing before him was a man with loose, curly hair, his eyebrows also trembling as he constantly wiped cold sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief.
"Chaka has already sent people out to search. In the afternoon, soldiers saw Pell use his ability to fly out from the palace grounds, seemingly in the direction of Rainbase."
"Did something happen to them in Rainbase? Sand bandits again?"
Hearing the man's words, Cobra frowned deeply, "Igaram, I must go to Rainbase too!"
"That's impossible, Your Majesty!"
The captain of the royal guard, Igaram, anxiously blocked Cobra's path.
At this stage, with the crown princess and the vice-captain of the guard already missing, if they were to lose the king as well, Alabasta would truly be thrown into chaos.
Purupuru purupuru purupuru...
As the two were locked in a stalemate, the Den Den Mushi in Igaram's arms rang.
The two exchanged a look, and Cobra directly snatched the Den Den Mushi to answer, "Hello? This is Cobra!"
"Your Majesty!" The flustered expression of the person on the other end was replicated on the Den Den Mushi's face.
"Skip the useless talk. Any traces of Vivi and Pell?"
Cobra impatiently interrupted, getting straight to the point.
"There are, Your Majesty. Residents of Rainbase reported seeing a hawk land."
The report made the two of them relax slightly, only for their hearts to clench again moments later.
"But there are also reports saying they took off again very quickly, and were being chased by a giant black bird!"
Clatter!
The Den Den Mushi fell from Cobra's hand onto the floor. He paled, took several steps back, and collapsed onto his throne.
'To think the enemy, in order to kidnap my daughter, could even bring in a specialized flying-type ability user.'
'Such organized targeting... it seems the ones coming mean serious trouble!'
'Pirates? An empire? Or perhaps...'
Cobra's face was shadowed. He glanced at the cross flag fluttering in the distance, then lowered his head in deep thought.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty..."
The Den Den Mushi on the floor wasn't disconnected… Chaka's voice kept coming through.
"We... bzzt... in Rainbase... news, someone discovered... bzzt... a great pirate!"
Hearing this, Igaram's body stiffened. The two markers, 'great pirate' and 'giant black bird', were too easy for him to associate with certain things.
He urgently urged the surrounding guards to bring the bounty posters. After some searching, he picked out four of them.
"This is bad, Your Majesty!"
The bounty posters were slapped onto the table before Cobra. The string of zeros under the photo of the leading girl, in particular, made Cobra's vision darken.
"One billion two hundred forty million Berry?"
Raising a hand to support his forehead, Cobra frowned tightly, "We can't handle this matter ourselves. Notify the Marines directly!"
In the depths of the night, an urgent communication departed from Alabasta, heading straight for the Fleet Admiral's office at Marine Headquarters.
The Nefertari were no ordinary royal family… this was a clan that, eight hundred years ago, had the opportunity to become Celestial Dragons.
Even to this day, they maintained vague, inexplicable connections with the upper echelons of the World Government.
Thus, after the message was delivered, a simultaneous emergency alert was sent to all Marine bases around the Sandy Island.
A large force assembled in an instant, though the highest-ranking officer leading it was somewhat troubled.
"What is a pirate of this caliber doing in Paradise instead of the New World?"
Leaning against the warship's stairs, Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral Momousagi, Gion, with her unrestrained sitting posture, let out a sigh, "And on top of that, kidnapping Alabasta's royalty, forcing us to be ordered by Headquarters to spare no cost."
A tall, black-haired, blue-eyed female Rear Admiral, dressed in a black short-sleeved shirt and leather pants, walked up behind Gion, "I've heard the Nefertari Clan has a rather good reputation among the people. So, are these pirates a bunch of bad ones?"
"Doll, there are no good pirates."
Gion looked up, "Don't let that fellow Saul influence your judgment."
"On that point, Hina agrees."
A pink-haired female Marine walking towards them lit a cigarette and placed it in her mouth.
"Hmph! Hina, you..."
Doll snorted coldly, raising her hand to hook it around Hina's neck, mussing her hair, "I'm your superior, you know."
"Enough fooling around. We're about to enter Alabasta's territory. Get ready!"
Gion's Observation Haki had already spotted Sandy Island ahead. She stood up and jumped to the ship's bow.
On the other side, Sakura, having just carried a full 370 million Berry out of the Rainbase's bounty exchange, was in an excellent mood.
"Let's go, Tiger! Foot bath time!"
"..."
In silence, Tiger looked down at his large, webbed feet. A strange thought flashed through his mind.
'-Would a human foot bath shop have a tub suitable for someone of my size?'
Shivering, Tiger, who had unknowingly been assimilated by a certain pirate crew, vigorously shook his head to dispel the thought.
"I'll pass. Save the money to get something nice for the two kids."
Fisher Tiger smiled kindly.
Inherently kind-hearted, the first thing he thought of after obtaining the huge sum was the children on the ship.
"That's right, there's also Leviathan's paint job and Kuina's sword, but well..."
Sakura leaned closer to Tiger, nudging his leg with her elbow, "We're going to be staying in Alabasta for several more days. This is a rare desert atmosphere~ You really don't want to experience it?"
"I..."
Just as Tiger was about to speak, a clamor of footsteps interrupted him.
A large number of military police wearing Alabasta Kingdom uniforms surrounded them, their guns and cannons at the ready.
"Damn pirates! Return the princess!"
After that roar, the leading officer pulled the trigger.
Boom!
Intense flashes of light erupted. Dense pellets and bombs wove an impenetrable net in the air.
"What a hassle!"
Sweeping the surroundings with Observation Haki and reading the hearts of the surrounding military police, Sakura, sensing no room for turning back, directly took action. Chakra overflowed from her body.
A large amount of water inexplicably gushed forth in the arid desert, swirling around the two of them.
[Water Release: Water Formation Wall!]
A rapidly spiraling vortex flowed out, spreading, extending, and rapidly expanding. It pushed the explosions back towards the armed personnel while also shoving them away, clearing a path.
"Stop staring. Time to run!"
Sakura gently kicked Tiger's shin, jolting the dazed Fish-Man awake.
The two of them made a swift escape from the main street towards the weak point of the encirclement… the alleyways.
Unfortunately, Tiger's tall figure was far too conspicuous in a country like Alabasta, where the average height was less than 1.7 meters.
"Higanbana - Sakura Haruno, surrender…!"
A clear female voice roared as it descended from the sky. Gion, carrying her long sword, had finally arrived in Rainbase after a long journey.
Upon seeing Tiger, she drew her blade without hesitation, delivering a sword technique from the sky directly at Sakura.
"Hmm, a Marine brute, planning to start a fight with me right in the middle of the city district?"
Sakura held a Flying Thunder God kunai between her fingers and flung it with force towards the area outside the city.
Then, with one hand, she grabbed Fisher Tiger.
Amidst the low hum of shattered Space-Time, Sakura vanished from Gion's sight along with Tiger.
Seeing her target disappear, Gion could only abort her attack mid-swing, crashing into the ground and destroying a tall building.
"Damn it, don't think you can run!"