Chapter 3: Black Bounty

Rain Dinners; Rainbase; Alabasta Kingdom

Operating a casino had always been more of an obligation than pleasure to Nico Robin, but working as the manager of the Casino had it's perks. For one, she was no longer hunted by the Marines and the World Government and two she was finally able to deepen her studies of the Void Century.

Reading a book, she overlooked the casino floor like a queen watching over her subjects, when she received an interesting piece of information.

-The World Government is putting up a Black Bounty? I wonder who they are hunting now?- Robin though, remembering her own Black Bounty before she was publicly declared 'The Devil Child'.

The main difference between a Regular Bounty and a Black Bounty being that the later were only given to people the World Government didn't want to go public on. That being mainly former employees with classified information or sometimes called 'Subjects', who had been experimented on.

Checking out the black Wanted Poster adressed to Crocodile, Nico was instantly attracted by the picture on it, that showed a very attractive young man with full hair, she was even more impressed by the caption below it that red.

-WANTED ONLY ALIVE; SUBJECT 435; 250,000,000B-

But what really sparked Nico Robin's interest in the man was the caption in the lower left corner that red.

-Extremly Dangerous, capable of Teleportation. Extreme Precaution advices. Full tread assessment pending.-

Taking a sip of coffee, Robin mused. -Interesting, interesting... If things don't pan out with Crocodile and you aren't captured until then, you might be of some use to me...-

Erumalu; Alabasta Kingdom

After meeting the Kung-Fu Dugongs just like the Strawhats did in the manga with Luffy becoming their master, we finally arrived in Erumalu, formerly also known as the Green City, but is now deserted and destroyed by the sand.

By that point, I had gained a solid foundation when using my powers and as such decided to experiment on the ruined city with my 'Rewind' ability. With the city being nothing more than half-buried crumbled buildings and dead trees, with some skulls laying around the sand, I figured that I couldn't make it any worse than it already was.

At first, I started with a broken window and went from there and soon, I was able to repair an entire building in one go. By incorporating my high school level knowledge of physics, the efficiency and area of effect expoinitially increased. I felt like a god, turning sand into gold but that feeling of superiority was very short lived as soon as Vivi pointed out the city's main problem.

Looking at the canal that once distributed rainwater around the city, the princess told me sadly. "It is too bad that all your hard work is worth nothing as long as drought continues..."

Seeing everybody's confused look, Vivi explained. "... The town once used to rely on water from the Sandora River in order to prosper, but as the river began losing much of its force, seawater from the ocean started inflowing, taking over part of the river's course and turning the water unusable for consumption or crops. Without the river, the citizens became dependant on rainfall for survival. Because of the drought they could not resist the lack of water and Erumalu was abandoned."

Despite knowing that Sir Crocodile had orchestrated the artificial drought I asked Vivi. "So, I don't have to change the city but the river?"

Nodding, the princess instantly understood my train of thought and a huge blooming smile appeared on her face to the annoyance of Sanji who instantly complained.

"Hey, if you are that great, why are you still talking!"

[...]

Port of Erumalu; Sandora River; Alabasta Kingdom

Having split with the strawhats that continued their journey to Yuba, I had gone nearly all the way back to the Going Merry  the next day, I sat on the newly rewind pier, my feet dangling into the water . Having returned  half the port to it's former glory, I was left thinking.

Feeling the sea water slowly drain away all of my powers, I suddenly realized what was actually draining away my devel fruit powers.

-It's not the sea but the minerals in it that block and drain Devil Fruit powers. So you can technically swim, but the minerals drain you to the point that you drown.-

Coming to that realisation, I tried my luck 'rewinding' the river, fully aware that this might not work. And just as I had predicted, no matter how much I focused, the river wouldn't change from sea to fresh drinking water.

-Fuck this! I may as well start searching the point were fresh and sea water Meat!- Thought to myself, nearly fainting from exhaustion.

Then suddenly noticed a giant moving mountain coming my way. Spotting a hat that features a pair of rounded ears, I could instantly guess who it was.

-Who is it Bartholomew Kuma or one of those Pacifista models?- I asked myself seeing the enormous  6,89m tall man.

"A Black Bounty has been issued. Target detected." The mountain of a man said, unintentionally revealing a tattooed PX-0 on his neck underneath his jackets collar.

-I guess that's the original.- I thought to myself, just as two massive palms descended upon me.

Narrowly dodging out of the way by pure luck and instinct, I realized just how insanely fast people of this world actually could be.

Having doged out of the way, told the still half cyborg, just as I was reaching for him fully intending on using 'Rewind' on him. "I wonder how you were before the Marines and Vegapunk experimented on you!"

Avoiding my grip in under a second, Kuma stored his bible on his back, before he crouched down and attacks with open-palm strikes, using his special paws to launch powerful air bullets.

Focussing on avoiding every single air bullet coming my way, I unconsciously used my Devil Fruit power to repeatedly short distance teleport. Despite me doing it unconsciously, the number of teleports just drained a substantial amount of my concentration.

"Interesting..." Kuma eventually said, his air bullet attacks coming ro an end. "... Adjusting Bounty..."

Having just gotten a feeling for teleporting, I this time tried it out consciously and sucessfully ended up behind the giant. Slapping my hand on his back, I used rewind on him but only ended up turning his jacked into pieces of unsewn fabric.

Unfazed by my attack, Kuma simply back hands me to get me away from him. Hit by his hand, I felt like being hit by a truck all over again, before I crushed through several warehouses.

Having most, if not all my bones either crushed or broken by that single slap, I coughed out blood, when something inside my consciousness snapped like a rubber band and I suddenly comprehended another facade of my powers.

-I am not necessary part of this dimension, so why do I take damage like a puppet?-

That thought, I did two things simultaneously. On one hand, I started to recreate my body from the ground up and on the other, I moved it into another dimension. As such, by the time two palms were descending upon me, I was already elsewhere.

Seeing his palms just go through me, Kuma instantly retreated and jumped outside the warehouse we were in.

Meanwhile, I remembered Edwin Abbott Abbott's novel 'Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions' in which a ball aka a being of a higher dimension just like me was able to change his size on a wim. Tinking, that I should be able to do the same, I did just that and became a blue giant. Towering over the city, I easily spotted the now tiny Kuma.

"Now, were was I?" I asked him, just as I grapped for him once more.