Sanji dialed with the cool precision of someone who pinpoints the lone weak spot in a fortress and is already sliding through it.
The transponder snail connected. The voice that came back was Crocodile's, a man who did not expect to be surprised and therefore was not particularly alarmed when a call arrived claiming to have captured the other Straw Hat Pirates outside the casino.
Sanji spoke into the snail. "I have three of them. Outside, east side. They tried to leave. I'm holding them."
A pause. The pause of a man running a brief calculation.
"Bring them in."
"I'm alone, and they're giving me some difficulty." "I could use help."
Another pause. Longer. The calculation was more interesting this time.
---
In the basement cage, the calculation was: they were in a cage made of Seastone, and the Bananawani were circling.
The monsters loomed, intent on hovering close. Crocodile hadn't unleashed them as weapons but stationed them as living scenery, radiating menace. They prowled with the slow confidence of predators who understood nothing nearby could threaten them, so they lingered.
Nami eyed the cage, measured the Bananawani, and deduced a logical sequence that led to a question: if those jaws were powerful enough, could they crush Seastone?
Usopp baited a Bananawani, who snapped its jaws on the cage's bars. The Seastone defied the assault without flinching. The Bananawani's teeth splintered against it.
The creature made a sound. The cage was unmoved.
Liam, who had been standing nearby, observed the experiment closely from just outside the cage. He nodded at Nami's attempt. "That was reasonable," he said, his tone offering no more.
"It didn't work," Nami told him.
"The reasoning was sound." "The Seastone is just that kind of material."
---
The second Bananawani produced Mr. 3.
Mr. 3, newly freed by Sanji's efforts, wore the look of someone whose dignity had recently vanished. He was alive, here, and Sanji's tone ensured cooperation.
"The key," Sanji told him. His voice had the register it used when he had decided the outcome and was communicating it rather than discussing it.
Mr. 3 looked at the cage. He looked at Sanji. He looked at the Bananawani whose stomach he had recently occupied. He looked at Sanji again.
Holding up his hand, Mr. 3 focused intently. Wax began to pour from his fingertips, collecting as he shaped it.
He worked with grim focus, pressed by a man who could make things worse. The key formed in careful stages, his Wax-Wax Fruit power applied with desperate accuracy.
The key fits the lock. The cage opened.
---
As the cage swung open, the basement of Rain Dinners erupted into sudden, chaotic motion.
Luffy burst out with the pent-up energy of someone finally freed from a Seastone cage. The Gomu Gomu no Mi was his again, and his energy snapped back to full strength. He stretched, and the sound was rubber snapping back to life.
Smoker stood outside the cage, an unplanned addition to the escape. No one commented. He wore the look of a marine officer freed by pirates and now wrestling with the consequences. He was clearly not pleased, but for now, he did nothing.
Luffy looked at Smoker.
Smoker looked at Luffy.
Neither spoke. The escape was underway, and neither was ready to fight. In the heat, with Sanji orchestrating above, something unspoken passed between them.
Smoker moved. In the opposite direction of Luffy.
---
The escape from Rain Dinners was quick, noisy, and messy—the only way it ever goes. The crew moved with the rough coordination of experienced improvisers.
Liam leveraged his time outside the cage to orchestrate the escape. He didn't detail his efforts; results proved effective. Doors swung open, threats vanished, and the path cleared.
Robin was at the outer perimeter of the evacuation.
She neither sprinted nor pursued. She monitored the unfolding chaos with the calm of someone ready to handle trouble if it struck. Her focus locked on Liam, as it had since the Merry.
He got close enough for a sentence.
"You have your own reasons for being here." His voice was low, meant only for her. "Not all of them are Crocodile's reasons. You know what this country will lose if his plan succeeds. You know what that means for the thing you're actually looking for."
Robin's expression stayed composed, but beneath it, something shifted. It was not fear, but the discomfort of hearing a truth from someone who should not know it. She had watched him for clues, for the reason behind his knowledge. His words gave her more to consider, but no answers.
She did not respond..
---
The crew left Rainbase at a pace that matched the danger. Nami led the way. Her eyes were on the desert road, on the distance to Alubarna, and on the speed of Crocodile's advancing plan. The city faded behind them. The lake at its heart glittered, beautiful in the wrong way.
"How much time?" Vivi asked.
"Not enough." Nami. "Which means we go faster." She looked at the road ahead. "We have the route. We have everyone. We move now."
Luffy was already in motion. He did not dwell on the cage, the Seastone, or what came next. Moving forward was obvious, and the road called. Carue kept pace beside Vivi.
The desert welcomed them back, its heat unflinching. Alubarna waited ahead, and so did the war Baroque Works had spent years building. The crew pressed on, driven by people determined to face whatever came next.
Rainbase shrank behind them. The lake still sparkled. Somewhere in the city, a man with a hooked hand pieced together what had happened to his basement, his cage, and his scheme.
They did not slow down.