Chapter 7: Port Town Beat-Down

My first undertaking as a member of Baroque Works was that of a lookout in the port town of Nanohana. The Small city was located on the southernmost point of Alabasta and was the most common arrival point for travelers and merchants. As the appearance of Princess Vivi would throw a wrench in Crocodile's plans to instigate a civil war, it was my job to intercept her if she or the pirates she was acquainted with arrived.

'I must say, Crocodile has been extremely meticulous in the preparation of his scheme. Not only has he spent almost fifteen years parading as the symbol of peace here on this island, but he has also been building one of the single largest and most structured criminal organizations I have ever seen or heard about. Baroque Works is not simply a gathering of as many mercenaries as he could get his hands on; it is more like an organized military institution with everybody resolutely unified under the same banner.

The amount of logistics that goes into a venture like this is absolutely astronomical. There is no way I would have had the self-control or patience to build up something so grand just to get the chance to look at an old stone for a while. I mean, since he has already had the trust of everyone for such a long time, it wouldn't be that hard just to pretend he was interested in archaeology or something and ask if he could study the poneglyph for a while. Even if that failed, I am sure he would be able to brute-force his way to it if what Robin claims about his strength is credible'.

'My only takeaway from all this is that Crocodile is much more comfortable fighting with his mind than with his fists. Maybe he had some traumatic encounters in the past, who knows'.

It had already been five days since I had been placed on this post, and despite not having anything to do, it had not been boring for me. Everything about this world was beautiful, the environment, the cultures, and the people – well, most of the people. I had been spending my time strolling around the port town, absorbing anything new there was to learn and see from anyone willing to talk with me.

It didn't seem like my NZT power was conditional on me taking a pill daily for it to function, as I could still utilize my brain to the same capacity as the day I woke up in the desert. This I was very happy about, as I kept expecting to wake up with a killer headache, but it never happened.

I also enjoyed some of my time talking to my ever-professional and serious direct in command.

'Hmm, I should call her. She must miss me', I decided at that moment as I pulled out my Den Den Mushi.

She picked up on the first ring. "Hello, Miss All Sunday speaking. Do you have anything to report, Mr. Blue Sky?" She sounded a little exasperated.

"Sup, Sunday. Nah, I just wanted to chat for a bit. You have some time to spare?" I answered her in a nonchalant tone.

I could hear an audible sigh from her side. "I have already told you not to call me every few hours if you do not have anything to report. You are lucky I provided you with an untraceable Den Den Mushi; otherwise, this constant calling between the two of us would have been suspicious to my superior. Why do you insist on speaking with me anyways?"

My signature wide smile was on my face as I gave my reply. "Would you believe me if I said you are still the most interesting person I've met even though I have probably made acquaintances with more than half of the population of Nanohana already".

The line went quiet for a second before Robin answered. "…It's great you can tolerate my company. You've made a deal to take care of me if we come out of all this alive, after all".

"When we come out of this alive", I corrected her. "Anyways, I just wanted to-"

*BANG!* *SCREAMS!*

I suddenly heard loud noises and screams coming from the direction of the city's center.

I spoke into the Den Den Mushi for the final time. "Well, seems there's some trouble over here; sounds like a pirate attack. It was good to hear from you, Sunday. I'll call you later, alright? Bye~". I hung up the call and hurriedly rushed towards the commotion.

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And right I was in my report to Robin, as I saw about 20 pirates holding civilians hostage at the main square. I could recognize several faces amongst the captives as those I had gotten to know during my stay at the port town. The pirates were all shouting loudly about how they would start killing people if they weren't delivered 50 million berries within half an hour.

Like had happened before, I felt strangely calm in this high-stakes situation; my heart rate not raising one bit. It must have been the NZT keeping my head cool throughout.

I immediately made a plan of action to save everyone and apprehend the pirates. I knew that with the powers of Yuujiro Hanma, I was fast enough to easily outrun bullets in the air, so there should be no problem with me quickly sprinting around and knocking all the pirates out before anyone could react.

As I began walking towards the pirates, what seemed to be their captain stepped to the front of their encirclement and spoke to me.

"Gwaahaaha! It seems we have someone with a death wish, boys!", the man obnoxiously screamed with a narcissistic glint in his eyes. All of his companions laughed aloud with him.

He was a very round man, with an even rounder face, bulbous nose, a row of rounded teeth, and gray hair sticking unkempt on the sides and top of his head. His arms and legs were skinny in proportion to his wide frame, making him uncannily resemble a pig.

"You should know by just our flag that we are the Puppu pirates, and I, Captain Puppu, have a bounty of 7 million beri! There is no way this town would survive if we were to attack you directly, but we decided to be amicable in our pursuit of gold, so we just took some hostages; how nice of us, right? However, we might just need to make an example out of someone for everything to go smoothly. Do you get it? You are going to die! Gwaahaaha!" The talkative captain was so self-obsessed with his little speech he hadn't noticed me not standing in front of him anymore.

I lightly tapped him on the back of his shoulder and said, "Sorry, but could you keep it down a bit? Some people are sleeping."

The captain looked confused momentarily as he noticed me beside him, but he quickly realized the scene where the hostages should have been held, and his eyes grew wide. Not-so-neatly strewn across the ground were exactly nineteen unconscious Puppu pirates. Not a single one of the hostages was hurt during the engagement.

"Anyways, maybe you should rest a bit, too. I heard well-rested pigs give more tender meat". I gave him a closed-eyed smile as his body grew limb with a flick of my arm.

For a moment, everything around me was eerily quiet. All the people watching in horror were now looking at me in awe and admiration. Slowly but surely, the onlookers began clapping, and those who knew me shouted my name aloud.

"Albert! Albert! Albert!!

I grew a bit sheepish from all the attention but didn't fail to notice the unnatural cloud of sand forming in the sky directly above the crowd.

'So he's here too, Huh?' I thought to myself.

(Author's Note: For those who don't know, the Puppu Pirates were the ones who attacked Nanohana for Crocodile's formal introduction in chapter 155)