After sailing through the entire night along Alabasta's outer coastline, the group finally reached Rainbase as the first golden rays of sunrise broke across the endless desert horizon.
This was Rainbase — the famous 'City of Dreams'.
A glittering oasis of sin and hope in the middle of the desert where towering casinos and extravagant buildings shone with brilliance.
People from every corner of Alabasta and nearby islands arrived here with hope in their hearts, dreaming of becoming the next overnight millionaire. A lucky handful left with fortunes, the rest left cursing their own greed.
At the pulsating heart of this mad city stood its crown jewel — the largest, most extravagant casino in the entire kingdom.
Robin led them through a hidden back entrance, carefully avoiding the noisy main gates and the prying eyes of curious gamblers.
"The meeting is still a few hours away," she said in her usual calm tone. "Feel free to enjoy yourselves until then, Just maintain your disguise."
With that, she took Jojo and Bon Clay with her and disappeared down a dimly lit private corridor, leaving Leo and Nojiko behind.
Leo cracked his knuckles loudly, a playful grin spreading across his face. "Well then… shall we go see what this so-called City of Dreams has to offer?"
Nojiko's eyes sparkled with excitement as she entered the casino for the first time, a greedy glint visible in her eyes.
"Let's make some berries," she said, rubbing her hands together with a mischievous smile.
***
For the next three hours, Leo turned the casino into his personal playground.
Using his Devil Fruit ability with precision, he subtly manipulated the internal mechanisms of slot machines, roulette wheels and card decks.
Nojiko stood beside him the entire time, placing bets and laughing brightly every time another machine exploded with coins and cheers.
Jackpot after jackpot.
The pile of chips in front of them grew rapidly. What started as 90 million Beri quickly snowballed.
"He's definitely cheating!" a dealer finally screamed after Leo turned a single 300,000 Beri bet into 3 million on a rigged slot machine but quickly repaired it when they tried to check for any irregularities as no one was able to recognize him or his ability in his disguise.
Security stormed in like an angry mob. A stern manager pointed at them. "You two are blacklisted from playing any game in this establishment! Effective immediately!"
Leo didn't even bat an eye. He simply leaned back with a lazy smile and spoke loud enough for half the casino floor to hear.
"That's hilarious, I was invited here as a VIP guest by Mr. 0 himself. Is this really how you treat his guests?"
The name "Mr. 0" hit them like a bomb while those unaware of the alias listened instinctively.
The manager's face was drained of all colors, after a frantic, emergency call through a Den Den Mushi to confirm the invitation, the security team did a complete personality flip.
Nojiko covered her mouth, shoulders shaking from laughter. "You are too shameless…"
Leo winked at her. "It's not every day we get to rob a thief's den in broad daylight without consequences, consider this public service."
By the time Robin returned exactly three hours later, their total winnings had skyrocketed to a jaw-dropping 195 million Beri.
Robin stared at the ridiculous pile of chips for a moment before raising an suspicious eyebrow. "I see you two didn't waste your time."
Leo grinned like a kid who just got away with stealing cookies. "We were just warming up for the meeting."
***
Robin and Nojiko walked side by side ahead, chatting casually as they moved through a vast, luxurious hallway decorated with golden chandeliers and expensive desert artwork.
Leo followed a few steps behind them, his Observation Haki and devil fruit ability fully activated, scanning every wall, floor and shadow for any hidden traps and to better understand the entire underground structure.
The underground meeting room was enormous, filled with a heavy atmosphere.
Several Baroque Works officers were already seated around a long, polished table.
Each present person felt like a coiled serpent ready to strike at the other. Bon Clay immediately waved the second he spotted them, nearly bouncing and spinning on his seat.
Robin introduced each officer one by one while Leo gave every single one a calm appraising look — as if measuring how trouble they would be before taking his seat beside Bon Clay. Nojiko sat right next to him, staying alert.
Leo deduced everyone here clearly had their own hidden agendas and only maintained this fragile united front because they were ordered to.
Suddenly, every light in the room dimmed. All the candles flickered and died at once.
A deep, gravelly voice echoed from the darkness like it came from the depths of the underworld.
"Welcome… to Baroque Works."
The candles reignited perfectly in unison revealing a tall, imposing man now sat at the head of the table — a wide fur coat draped over his shoulders and a gleaming golden hook replacing his left hand.
Most of the agents looked visibly impressed by the theatrical entrance and the identity of their boss except Leo.
Leo, stared at Crocodile for two full seconds before bursting into loud laughter that completely shattered the heavy atmosphere in the room.
'A Warlord of the Sea…' and according to his intel, the second weakest among them all, Leo thought with amusement, he was going to find them all but the man delivered himself to him.
Crocodile narrowed his cold eyes at him. "What's so funny, boy?"
"I expected a lot more from a Warlord of the Sea," Leo said, still chuckling. "But pulling cheap horror movie entrances like this? I'm genuinely disappointed."
Leo said, recalling Dracule Mihawk's entrance, he remembered how the Warlord had casually sliced an entire galleon in pieces while sitting on his tiny coffin boat.
Crocodile's face darkened like a brewing sandstorm, though he tried his best to maintain that mysterious, intimidating image and didn't get provoked.
Without any warning, Leo placed his palm on the long meeting table.
"Shift."
The entire meeting table where they were sitting smoothly slid across the room to the opposite corner.
The moment they moved, the floor beneath their original seating position violently split open with a rumble.
Three deep pits appeared beneath where Leo, Nojiko and Bon Clay were occupying seats, and the next second, a massive Seastone cage launched upward carried by the pillar of concrete, smashing into several stone pillars.
From the newly created hole, a huge aquarium filled with seawater and hungry, thrashing crocodiles could be seen waiting to devour anyone unfortunate enough to fall in it.
The lethal trap was now completely exposed for the entire room to see.
Crocodile's eyes flashed with fury as he glared at Robin, clearly suspecting betrayal. Robin, however, simply returned a calm, elegant smile, completely unbothered as if she didn't have anything to do with it.
Leo leaned back comfortably in his seat and spoke with confidence.
"You underestimate my ability, Crocodile… or should I say, Mr. 0. It's not just things I can see that I manipulate. I can deconstruct and understand the complete internal structure of anything I touch and things connected to it. Your little 'welcome gift' was painfully obvious from the start."
The very next second, thick concrete shells erupted from beneath the table, accompanied by dozens of razor-sharp needles that rose dangerously close to the agents throats, stopping mere millimeters from their skin.
In an instant, all the Baroque Works agents — except Crocodile and Bon Clay were brutally restrained. One wrong move, one attempt to activate the Devil Fruit ability and those glistening needles would pierce straight through their skulls from multiple angles.
"Neither your agents, your traps, nor you scare me," Leo declared calmly.
Several agents growled but Crocodile raised his hook hand, stopping them at once. A low, booming laugh escaped his lips as he leaned back in his seat.
"Not bad… Not bad at all," Crocodile said, his deep voice laced with amusement. "You've passed."
The other agents looked at their boss in confusion, clearly shocked that he was tolerating such insubordination from a rookie.
"A test for what exactly?" Leo asked, genuinely intrigued.
"To see where you would fit in my grand project Utopia," Crocodile replied calmly, seemingly unthreatened. "Your ability has proven you to be quite a valuable piece on the board."
Leo tilted his head slightly, then asked with a mocking smile, "Then why was there a trap directly beneath Mr. 2's chair as well?" The room fell silent once again.
Bon Clay's eyes widened dramatically. "Ehh?! Boss… you planned to trap me too?!" His voice cracked as tears instantly welled up in his eyes.
He pointed a trembling finger at Crocodile. "After all these years of loyal service… after all the fabulous deeds I performed for you… you still don't trust me?! I feel so betrayed right now…!"
Crocodile's eyes flashed with hidden fury, but he quickly forced a calm smile.
"It must have been a mistake," he said smoothly, glancing toward Robin. "Isn't that right, Ms. All Sunday? Bon Clay is an inseparable part of our family." Robin simply smiled without saying a word.
Leo leaned back in his chair and smirked, making direct eye contact with Crocodile. The seed of discord had been perfectly sown.