A small boat was seen to be traveling at a slow pace. On the boat, Ace, who was wearing his signature orange hat with two smilies, was rowing at a gentle pace, with a conflicted expression.
"Blackbeard defeated by a man named Scorpion..." Ace was in contemplation as he mumbled a rumor he heard. "Teach defeated in the early Paradise? No, that doesn't sound right."
He sighed and took out an Eternal Pose that pointed to Alabasta. "But that's the only clue I have regarding the Blackbeard's whereabouts. I got no choice but to go—
—to Nanohana."
________________
[Whiskey Peak]
"What?! Return to Rainbase? All the agents?!" An outburst was heard from an attractive woman, who had her long and curly blue hair tied in a ponytail.
"Yes, Miss Wednesday. Just an hour ago, we received such an order, although we have no clue why." Mr.8, a man with broad shoulders and blond hair that is rolled into six buns, confirmed seriously.
"Well, what's the point of thinking?" Mr.9, a skinny man in a green suit, orange-red hair, number 9 written on both cheeks, and a crown on top of his head shrugged, "An order is an order. All we have to do is to follow."
The last person within the room, Miss Monday, a muscular woman with short pink hair pulled into twintails, spoke out, "Yes, I agree to Mr.9. No matter how much we think, we won't know the intention behind that order before we arrive at Rainbase."
Mr.8 put his hand into the inner pocket of his vest and took out the Eternal Pose of Alabasta. He briefly locked gazes with Miss Wednesday, before averting his eyes and placing the Eternal Pose on the table in the middle.
'What exactly is going on?' Although seemingly calm on the outside, Miss Wednesday's mind was full of turmoil. 'Baroque Works have been building a conflict between the royal forces and the revolutionaries discretely, and now a full-open mobilization at Rainbase? What's in Crocodile's mind?'
"Fortunately, we are provided with money, enough to arrange a quick return for everyone in Whiskey Peak." Mr.8 said seriously. "Let us not waste any more time and return hastily!"
_______________
[Tamarisk, Alabasta]
"Ah, feeling much better," Wiping a sweat on his forehead, Dan exclaimed with a new attire, which was made with special silk that allowed the wearer to keep his or her body cool.
"Agreed," Rowan said on Dan's right, letting out a relaxed sigh, wearing similar clothes as Dan.
On Rowan's right, Alfred was in a new set of clothes as well; he was inspecting what he was wearing with a notable interest written on his face.
On Alfred's right, Seastone-cuffed Robin was slouched on top of Farul, who stood proudly. If left alone in the ship, she would either die or be saved by her allies, and if the latter was the case, they would have to risk Prominence.
After they landed on Sandy island, they immediately took notice of just how hot the environment was. It was much, much worse than what Rowan experienced back in Tempus island. To accommodate for such weather, Rowan and his crew purchased the outfits sold from a nearby cloth shop.
*Creak* A door that leads to changing room opened, before Cavendish stepped out, wearing silk clothes with floral patterns all over. Frankly, Cavendish's fashion sense was absolutely horrible. However, his handsome face neutralized the horrendous look.
"Voila, Cavendish the floral prince! Bow, you ugly mortals, all sweaty and smelly—it seems that no one is able to reach my level in terms of fashion!" Cavendish placed his hands on his waist with a confident smile.
*Creak* Another door, adjacent to the room that Cavendish exited, opened, revealing Carina, Carmen. Their attires changed as well.
They were wearing a two-piece garment: A long silk skirt on the bottom and a brassiere on the top. Carina wore purple for the bottom and blue for the top, while Carmen wore pink for the bottom and red for the top. They wore a long white cape over.
Completely ignoring Cavendish, Rowan and Dan whistled at the girls in amazement, causing them to roll their eyes. Alfred was still busy with his clothes.
"Hmph, why do I have to wear this even?" Carmen lifted up her arms and inspected her new look, "I am the literal manifestation of fire!!"
Carina giggled and jabbed Carmen on the side, "Now now, don't be so shy. With these clothes and your hair down, you look like a perfectly average human being!"
Carmen turned stoic as she heard Carina's remark, "A-average? Me, the Flame Empress, look average?!!"
Cavendish was seen to be frozen on his spot, with his smile still apparent and his hands on his waist. A lone tear fell from his eye as he dejectedly walked to Farul and rubbed Farul's back, ignoring Robin who stared at him with a weirded-out expression on her face, "Oh Farul, only you understand."
Walking to Farul, who had a bag strapped around his neck, Carina took out the map they previously bought within the town. Unfolding the paper, she positioned herself next to Rowan, and pointed her finger at the eastmost town.
"So we are here, Tamarisk." Carina stated. She glanced back at Robin and inched closer to Rowan, before speaking with a lowered voice, "According to the information I acquired, a week is required for the Log Pose to fully record Sandy island. But obviously, we don't need to wait for that, if we were to follow Urouge's words and travel upward. Instead, we will have to acquire another Eternal Pose."
"And there's more than just that," Dan whispered, "that woman over there, Nico Robin was it? The name Crocodile was spoken from her, which indicates that we may have to expect for a fight."
Rowan simply shrugged hearing this. "I don't think there's much speculation we can make as of the current moment. Just stay here for at least a week for the Log Pose to fully record the island. At the same time, look for an Eternal Pose that will lead to an island north to Alabasta. Finally, just as Dan wanted," Rowan paused with a grin as he looked at the map Carina is holding, "adventure time. We will visit each town in the following order: Katorea, Nanohana, Yuba, Rainbase, and finally, Alubarna. How does that sound?"
Everyone nodded in agreement to Rowan's proposal, especially Dan, whose eyes were sparkling from excitement.
Although there was the fact that one of the Seven Warlords, Sir Crocodile, is on this island, they did not know his exact location or his powers and abilities, since Crocodile kept himself low-profile for years. It is true that his title was 'Desert King,' but Rowan believed that it is most probable that such title was given simply because he chose Alabasta as his territory.
'But what's the point of worrying over this?' Rowan thought to himself as he and his crew began to set off to Katerea, 'If he comes, I just gotta beat him up to a pulp.'
Over the past three years, he and his crew trained vigorously. Although it took quite some time, they managed to master basic forms of Armament and Observation Haki to an adequate degree. Rowan, in particular, far surpassed his crewmates when it came to Haki.
As soon as he became capable of moving under the restriction of Seastone, he began to strap on a Seastone cuff on his ankle 24/7. With such a restriction upon himself, Rowan conducted physical exercises such as push-ups and sit-ups, which proved to be very gruesome processes.
With the continuation of such training, Rowan came to realize that the concept of Seastone resistance did not exist; it was simply impossible. Instead, Haki could be incorporated to allow oneself to move even under the effect of Seastone. The torture of keeping himself cuffed all the time turned out to be an excellent way to train his Haki and physical endurance.
And as for his devil fruit ability... it improved along with the augmentation of his physical prowess—enough for him to easily blast off a large ship into the air.
"You know Rowan," Carina chuckled while walking on hot sand, "I don't think I've seen you go all out since three years ago, against that Rear Admiral."
Alfred nodded in agreement, "I can say for sure that captain Rowan, in the present, is one of the stronger pirates I have seen so far, including the ones within the New World. I have full confidence that we will breeze through this first half of the Grand Line."
"So hey," Dan spoke out with a curiosity lingering in his eyes, "apart from captain, who's the strongest among us now?"
Carmen snorted and crossed her arms hearing this. "Hmph, it's definitely me, the 'Flame Empress' with a bounty of 200 million!"
Suddenly, a giant-sized scorpion emerged from the nearby sand to assault the group, but Carmen, even without looking, incinerated into ashes before it got to do anything.
"Says the one with the weakest Haki among us." Carina said loudly enough for Carmen to pick up her words. Hearing this, Carmen grew a tick mark on her forehead and gritted her teeth in annoyance.
"Okay guys, not here," Rowan sweatdropped as he held his hands up to calm his crew down, "especially when we don't know where Crocodile is going to pop up from."
Carina, Carmen, and Dan calmed down hearing this, deciding to leave the matter for the next time.
"By the way," A hoarse voice, belonging to Cavendish, spoke out. Half of his face was grinning devilishly, while the other half was normal without any unique characteristic, "why are we walking like this exactly, when we can just dash off and arrive in seconds?"
As for Cavendish, he managed to gain full control over Hakuba through the Haki training regime. An improvement in Haki meant enforcement of one's will; Cavendish gained enough spiritual force to suppress Hakuba. Although Hakuba still pops up randomly, now, Cavendish always remained in control. Additionally, whenever Hakuba pops up under Cavendish's control, Cavendish would become relatively rational, unlike his normal self—although that does not necessarily mean that he's smarter.
"There's no point in rushing when we have to wait for a week at least." Carina retorted with a shrug.
"You know..." Cavendish opened his mouth once more, "I find this whole thing dumb. Why? I literally heard that Crocodile owns a casino in Rainbase..."
"Casino?" Carina's eyes widened. Her arms went limp on her sides powerlessly, and she froze in the middle of the track.
Rowan broke out a cold sweat as he witnessed Carina's sudden change in demeanor. 'Cavendish, what have you awakened?!'
"Rowan, did you hear that?!!" Carina suddenly appeared in front of Rowan, grabbing the edge of his silk attire and shaking it wildly, "Casino, a literal casino there!!! Imagine how much money Crocodile stored for himself!!! Shishishi, we will be filthy rich!!!"
Rowan gave out a weak chuckle seeing Carina's crazed behaviour. Placing a hand on her head and caressing it, Rowan tried to cool her down, "That does not necessarily mean that there isn't anything worth of value in other places. Who knows, we may be able to find another devil fruit."
Atop of Farul, Robin was stoically watching the jovial interactions of Rowan and his crew, unknown as to what she was thinking.
Dan turned around and was met with Robin staring at them. Rubbing his arm in fright, Dan spoke up, pointing at Robin, "Uh, can we blindfold her? I'm getting goosebumps you know."