"Report, Mr 1."
Inside an underground office of Rain Dinners, the hustling and bustling Casino and Restaurant, which was opened last year and had attracted the attention of people even outside Arabasta, a tall man with a horizontal stitched scar across his face and a cigar in his mouth, looked at the dark man standing before his desk and asked him to tell him the information that he had asked for.
"The Blackstar Pirates are still in Alubarna, and most of them have not left the Capital in the last week. The young Warlord was seen checking up on their ship now and then. He randomly appears on it in a bolt of lightning and leaves soon after." The man who was called Mr. 1, started telling all the information that he had gathered in the last few days. "Sin visited Erumalu yesterday."
"Why?" The man, who was the owner of Rain Dinners, heavily asked.
"He's planning on building a Tower there, his residence, and he also distributed 100 Million Berries amongst the people of the town. Architects and engineers from all over the country are already heading there, and he is also calling some from other countries. He has promised the people of Erumalu that he would solve the issue of the water crisis soon."
The dark man turned quiet after he saw the indifferent look on his Boss' face.
"And?" The heavy question made Mr. 1 tense up a little.
"His sister is still in Erumalu, together with Princess Vivi and two other young girls, and she has used her powers to coat all the dying Palm Trees with ice. Significant temperature drops have been observed throughout the city, and the people there are brimming with joy at the arrival of winter..."
There was a long silence in the room after Mr.1 finished his report, and the man behind the desk kept smoking his cigar with a blank expression.
Once the Cigar was out, he opened his drawer and took out another one, lighting it up and taking a deep puff.
"So, he plans on making Arabasta his base."
"Any orders, Sir?" Mr.1 asked and watched his Boss meet his eyes and look deeply into them.
"Cancel the shipments of Dance Powder. Keep all the focus on building Baroque Works. Search for strong and capable people only."
"Yes, Sir." The dark man lightly nodded and excused himself from the office.
It was only after he was gone that the man behind the desk clenched his right fist, and he clenched it so hard that some blood leaked from his palm as the nails dug into the skin.
It had been a while, a long while since he had last been this angry at something, and after a few minutes, he stood up and walked out of his office.
The people of Rainbase cheered for him when they saw him flying in the air, guessing he was off to deal with some Pirates and save their fellow countrymen.
"Look! Sir Crocodile is on the move!" A young teenage boy happily pointed out at the flying Sandman.
"Where do you think he's heading?" Someone curiously asked, and soon a reply came.
"That's the direction of Erumalu." It was an old man who was well familiar with the layout of his country, and his answer resulted in a new round of questions.
"Isn't Erumalu far away?" A little girl wondered, and soon people started telling her how amazing Sir Crocodile was, and how he could cover that distance in less than an hour.
...
Inside another office, far away from Arabasta, near the end of the Paradise, a man wore his glasses as he went through the latest file that he had received.
"What do you make of this, Tsuru?" He suddenly asked and pushed the file to the tall, old lady who was silently sipping on her tea, sitting across from him at the desk.
Tsuru picked up the file that contained all the latest information on the Blackstar Pirates, and after going through all of it, she picked up her cup again and took a sip.
"He's building a Capital City for the Drum Kingdom, a new Royal Castle, and also building a base in Erumalu, Arabasta." Sengoku frowned, repeating what was written in the file.
"He's going to take over Drum Kingdom." Tsuru indifferently said, and put the cup down, raising her head to look into Sengoku's eyes. "And there will be no resistance. People of Drum Kingdom will welcome him with open arms."
Her words made the Fleet Admiral wince, and he did not know why he had a bad premonition about all of this.
"He wants to become a King now?" He frowned, and Tsuru smiled at him.
"We can't do anything about it until and unless he harms the civilians." She said. "We gave him the power to do as he pleases when we made him the Warlord."
"It was not us who made that decision." He reminded her and then pushed a letter towards her. "I received this an hour ago. The people who made that decision have now made another decision."
Tsuru frowned as she saw the seal of the Five Elders on the envelope, and when she read the letter, her heart slowed down a little.
"All Warlords who make their bases in the World Government affiliated countries will now have a Marine Agent by their side, acting as a Government Messenger to them, and they will also monitor their actions that involve the citizens of these Nations."
"They have finally listened to our proposal." Tsuru frowned as she looked at the names of Agents who were assigned to the Warlords who had listed the World-Government-Affiliated countries as their Bases.
Donquixote Doflamingo, Sir Crocodile, and Black D. Sin were the only three Warlords who had been marked and assigned the Agents.
Bartholomew Kuma, Gild Tesoro, Dracule Mihawk, and Gecko Moria were not assigned any Agents as they did not have any base of operation in the World-Government-Affiliated countries.
And Jinbe, since he was from Fishmen Island, was safe from it for now but soon a suitable agent would be assigned to him as well.
"They left it to me to decide on the Marine Agent for Crocodile, but they have already picked the Agents for Doflamingo and Sin."
"Kalifa is not a Marine Agent." The Vice-Admiral narrowed her eyes, handing the letter back to him. "She is Laskey's daughter."
"Member of the CP9, intelligent, skilled, deadly, and importantly, young and beautiful." Sengoku nodded and meaningfully said the last three words.
"Honey-trap." She nodded and then smiled.
"What?"
"It won't work." She said and found Sengoku frowning. "He's too smart for this."
The Fleet Admiral remained silent for a while and then nodded to her.
"Kalifa will be officially listed as a Marine before she is assigned to Sin at the year-end meeting. Her identity as a CP9 agent is to be kept a secret," He informed her about the instructions that he had received and then poured himself some tea as well.
"He is the only one they are interested in."
"And why do you think that is?" He genuinely asked, feeling even more restless about this D. ever since he had read this letter.
"I am not sure," Tsuru honestly replied and shook her head, and then she proceeded to pour herself some more tea. "We will just have to wait and see."
Suddenly, one of the Den Den Mushi on the table started ringing, and Sengoku immediately picked it up.
"Sir! A sea of dark storm clouds is approaching Arabasta from the south. It will reach the southern sea-side cities of Nanohana and Erumalu in three hours. We believe it is Black D. Sin who is controlling it."
"Why?"
"The Vice-Captain of the Blackstar Crew, Boa Hancock, is making country-wide announcements from the Palace to the people of Arabasta, asking them to prepare for heavy rainfall for the next few days. He was seen controlling the Strom Clouds the day they robbed the Holiday Island."
Silence followed on both ends for the next few seconds, and then Sengoku ended the call.
"How do you think the people of Arabasta will feel towards him after he ends the worst drought of the century?" Tsuru asked with a playful smile, and Sengoku caressed his forehead as it had started hurting again.
"This D would be the death of me."
.......
Back in Arabasta, inside the city of Erumalu, a young girl with beautiful light-blue hair, dazedly stared at the building that Robin had just purchased and then coated it entirely in ice, except for the floors.
She was not seeing Robin use her powers for the first time, but she had still not gotten over how mystical and godly her powers were. Not to mention, everything she touched turned incredibly beautiful.
The building was the tallest one in the vicinity and was on the sea-view strip. From here, one would get a clear view of the beach and all the ships that were at the port. And this place was only a few blocks away from the land that Sin had purchased to construct a Tower, which would become the Crew's base of operation in Arabasta.
She had heard Sin tell Robin that they would slowly purchase the entire sea-view strip, and though she did not know why they wanted to do that, she had to admit that the view of the sea from this place was breathtaking.
"You are amazing!" She could not help but say when Robin stepped out of the building, and Nami warmly laughed at her words.
"She is!" The orangehead said, but then raised her brow when she saw Robin smile at Vivi, but then turned to look towards the north and frowned.
This caught Vivi and Nojiko's attention as well, and soon they realised why Robin was staring in that direction.
A short while later, a man, whose lower body was dematerialised into sand, and who was hovering several meters up in the air, looked at the four of them with a blank expression, and then he descended to the ground and his body materialised right before he landed.