Rody's words as he fell, though Igarappoi heard them, were too terrifying to utter a single word. After all, the situation had unfolded far too quickly before his eyes, leaving him barely time to react.
The smell of blood, the distant screams of the bounty hunters being torn apart by those beasts, and the shock of seeing his two former companions die so brutally left him speechless.
BOOM!
At that moment, the enormous serpent "Orochi" approached Rody, along with the Jade Wolf Totality, the Piercing Bull, and Kuroi Hyou, the Black Panther who had already reverted to his beastly form, dissipating his human/beast state.
Seeing these creatures so close, Igarappoi felt even more terror and didn't dare speak.
Rody frowned when he saw that the mayor of Whiskey Peak wasn't speaking. He smiled coldly and said in a monotone voice, "It seems you're not going to say anything." With that, Rody extended his hand toward Mr. 8 and prepared to kill him. The thrill of killing had already passed, and he just wanted to sleep for a while.
"Wait, my lord, please don't kill him. I know where the people you're looking for are." A blue-haired girl, her face contorted with panic, screamed at the top of her lungs as she watched her Royal Guard about to be killed by Rody.
"No, Princess, stay away! Don't come any closer!" Seeing the blue-haired girl approaching and screaming in panic, Igarappoi, who until now hadn't said a word, spoke out in a panic.
"Run...don't come any closer, Princess... Please...!"
BANG!
"You bastard, now you dare to speak? Don't you take me seriously?" Rody kicked Igarappoi in the face, breaking his teeth and making him spit blood. Before he could say anything else, Rody crushed his face with his foot and began twisting him against the ground.
"Please, please, don't kill Igaram, please forgive his stupidity. He has no manners and doesn't know what he's doing, so forgive him. As I said, I know where your two subordinates are, please don't kill him!" The blue-haired woman rushed toward Rody and, without thinking, executed a perfect dogeza while, out of the corner of her eye, she glimpsed Rody's face, filled with fear.
"Hahaha, did you hear that? It seems your master has come to save you!" Rody smiled as he increased the pressure of his leg, making Igaram's face contort in pain.
"Princess... ugh!" Igaram's face was still bleeding from the force of Rody's foot, but while this was painful, it was even more humiliating and heartbreaking that his princess had knelt before someone to save her life.
"I'm truly a disaster as a Royal Guard!" Igaram thought in despair.
Seeing Rody continue to torture his Royal Guard, the blue-haired girl said nothing. Instead, she remained kneeling on the ground, tears streaming down her face and despair filling her mind, hoping this gesture would quell Rody's anger.
"Captain, what happened? Why did you kill all these guys?"
"Yes, Rody, aren't you looking for Alpha and Beta? How did everything suddenly turn into a fight?"
"What's going on?" Nami, Bumblebee, and the others, seeing that the battle had ended, ran toward Rody, bewildered. Just moments before, they had been drinking and chatting happily when, suddenly, those friendly people from before began to surround them, and their friendly expressions immediately changed.
Only Nami had a vague idea of what was happening. After all, her eyesight was very sharp, and when they landed in this town, seeing how they were received, she sensed that something was wrong.
Although she shared the same bewilderment as the others, it wasn't as intense as Leo, José, Carmen, Bee, and Sebas Tian's.
"Let her tell you," Rody said, catching a glimpse of the raised, peach-shaped buttocks of the blue-haired girl, which stood out even more because her head was pressed against the ground.
BANG!
Rody kicked Igaram, sending him flying through the air, blood gushing out. Upon seeing this, the blue-haired girl exclaimed, tears streaming down her beautiful face, "Thank you, thank you, thank you, sir, for your kindness!"
"Tch, whatever!" Rody replied, heading for a comfortable sofa that Sebas Tian had brought.
The instant after Rody sat down, Orochi, the Piercing Bull, Kuro Hyou, and the Jade Wolf Totality writhed into shadows and vanished.
When Rody sat down, he took a mug of beer that Sebas Tian had brought him and began to drink. At that moment, Nami walked over to Rody and settled into his lap.
...
"Now tell me, could you tell us who you are and why the people of this town act so strangely when strangers arrive?" Nami asked curiously, looking at the girl who had stopped kneeling and was carrying a seriously injured man.
The blue-haired girl gently placed Igaram on the ground, and seeing that his breathing was calm and steady, she knew that, despite the wounds Rody had inflicted, he was still alive—albeit unconscious. Realizing this, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Hearing the orange-haired girl's question, the blue-haired girl looked up and saw Nami in Rody's lap. She thought for a moment and then spoke in a somewhat fearful voice: "My name is Nefertari Vivi, the princess of the Kingdom of Alabasta." She glanced at the wounded Igaram beside her and continued, "This is Igaram, the captain of the Royal Guard of the Kingdom of Alabasta."
"Wait a minute, you said you're a princess? Impossible, right?" Carmen exclaimed in surprise, unable to believe that a princess would be in a place like this, where fierce bounty hunters gathered.
"You're not lying to us, are you? You don't look like a princess at all; otherwise, you wouldn't be here." Nami stared at Vivi, her eyes wide with surprise.
"You're lying, aren't you? You don't look like a princess at all; otherwise, you wouldn't be here." "No princess in her right mind would want to live in a place like this. You'd better tell the truth. You should already know the consequences if you dare to deceive our captain." Bumblebee pointed to the ruined village still smoldering around them and stared at Vivi, his headlights flashing, unsure if she was telling the truth.
Rody looked at Vivi and remembered that she and Igaram had joined Baroque Works, guided by someone, to investigate why a large quantity of Dance Powder had appeared in Alabasta.
This Dance Powder was extremely strange. It was said to have the ability to make it rain only in a specific area. This wouldn't be so bad if you didn't know the context. While the effect was undeniably magical, from what he'd read, this strange powder stole rain from other areas and used what it stole to attract rain to the area where it was used.
According to the plot he recalled, the use of Dance Powder in the capital of Alabasta had affected other areas, resulting in a complete lack of rain everywhere except the royal capital. This had provoked the people's anger and the rise of a rebellion.
Of course, Rody knew that this use of Dance Powder was the work of Crocodile, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, and not the Royal Family of Alabasta.
"Hmm, now that I think about it, my knowledge of the future, as someone familiar with the plot, isn't very extensive; it only goes up to Dressrosa!" Rody thought.
It turns out that when Rody watched One Piece in his previous life, he only saw up to Dressrosa, specifically to the point where Luffy escapes from Fujitora and heads to the next island. The reason he stopped there was simply because he got lazy and didn't want to keep watching. The updates were very slow, and to be honest, he was a little annoyed, since he had watched all of One Piece in one sitting, which made him a bit fed up.
Anyway, later, thanks to TikTok, he saw Luffy defeat Kaido and awaken Gear Five. After that, he continued with the manga spoilers, only getting as far as the God Valley flashback. He only remembered the important things; he had no idea about the minor details.
"Well, what's meant to be will be. Knowing every detail would be too boring!" Rody thought, without giving it another thought.
"I am the princess of Arabasta. However, a year ago, a momentous event occurred in the kingdom: the rains ceased everywhere except in the royal capital of Arabasta. At first, this aroused suspicion among the population, but they didn't take it seriously, believing that everything would return to normal after a while. But as time passed, this wasn't the case. Finally, due to the drought, famine ensued, popular anger erupted, and a rebellion broke out to depose the King of the Kingdom."
Vivi sighed, her face filling with sadness, before continuing her story, "At first, the royal family determined that this was a natural occurrence, but as time went on, this natural process became very strange. Finally, after an investigation, it was determined that the internal rebellion was related to the organization Baroque Works. To clarify the facts, I joined Baroque Works along with the captain of the Royal Guard, Igarem, and became a low-level agent of the organization with the objective of reaching the to get to the bottom of the matter and clarify the facts"
Vivi paused, recalling what she had just discovered. The next moment, her face paled with fear, and she continued in a trembling voice, "After exhaustive undercover work and investigation, we have a general idea of the identity and purpose of the mastermind behind the events that have transpired in the country."
"The purpose of the mastermind behind this operation is to seize control of the Kingdom of Alabasta."
"And that mastermind is one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea under the command of the World Government, the Desert King Crocodile!"
"Huh? Crocodile? Shichibukai? What's that?" Nami asked, blinking and confused, not understanding what this princess was talking about.
Vivi frowned and looked at Nami incredulously. She couldn't understand how this orange-haired girl didn't know who Crocodile was, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. Had she lived in a cave her whole life?
...
No matter how much she thought about it, Vivi couldn't find a reason why Nami didn't know anything about the Shichibukai, so she didn't dwell on it and said:
"The Shichibukai, or the Seven Warlords of the Sea, are a system created by the World Government to curb the uncontrolled spread of pirates." The World Government, in collaboration with the Navy Headquarters, established the Seven Warlords of the Sea system and organization. To this end, seven renowned pirates were selected, each possessing catastrophic destructive power, immense notoriety, and enough strength to rival the armies of a nation.
The Seven Warlords of the Sea are of vital importance, as they maintain a delicate balance with the Four Emperors of the New World and the Navy Headquarters.
These Seven Warlords of the Sea have the right to plunder ships, raid islands not affiliated with the World Government, and commit all manner of misdeeds without being arrested. Of course, they enjoy many privileges, but when the World Government needs them, it can order their conscription and compel them to serve; otherwise, their Shichibukai status will be revoked.
"In short, the Seven Warlords of the Sea are pirates recognized by the government, and Crocodile is one of them," Vivi said, despair etched on her face and tears streaming down her cheeks.
"It turns out the head of Baroque Works, Mr. 0, is Crocodile, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea!" Miss Monday exclaimed, inwardly shocked.
"Legal plunder? How... how can this... this... this is too much... right?" Nami exclaimed, stunned; she couldn't believe such a system existed.
"Huh? Legal plunder? Isn't this a license to marry, as those humans called it?" Bumblebee exclaimed, surprised. Obviously, he was already familiar with this system of legal plunder thanks to his adventures on Earth.
"Well, I'm not interested in the World Government, the Seven Warlords of the Sea, or any of that crap." "I just want to know where my two pets are!" Rody interrupted impatiently. It was clear that all this talk about the Shichibukai, the World Government, and other nonsense had made him impatient.
Hearing Rody's impatient tone, Vivi wiped away her tears and said quickly, "Mr. Rody, your two pets are members of Baroque Works under Crocodile's command. The Otter's codename is Mr. 13, and the Vulture's is Miss Friday. They serve as intelligence officers for Baroque Works, responsible for gathering and reporting information for the organization, as well as executing Baroque Works members who fail to fulfill their duties."
"Mr. 13 and Miss Friday secretly escaped by flying away while you weren't paying attention." "They should be on their way to Alabasta to report what happened."
Rody frowned. He hadn't expected that getting distracted by drinking and having fun would have caused his two pets to become so bold and run away from him. Furthermore, he hadn't expected that his two pets were members of Baroque Works, an organization created by Crocodile.
"Wow, I seem to have forgotten this plot!" Rody thought, rubbing his chin. When he recruited his two pets, he had no idea they belonged to Baroque Works. He recruited them because their appearance and style were really cool; he had no other intentions.
The reason he asked Crocus for the Eternal Pose he carried to Alabasta was because he was interested in the historical texts found there. He wanted to see what those texts were like, the ones the World Government forbade reading at all costs. That's why he asked Crocus for the Eternal Pose.
Rody didn't care at all what Crocodile did with Arabasta. If he killed everyone in Arabasta, he wouldn't even say a word; after all, it wasn't his problem. But since Crocodile had his two missing pets under his command, Rody had no choice but to go and meet with him. After all, it was always in his nature to get what he wanted, regardless of the means.