-----
-----
"Your Majesty Cobra, the post-disaster reconstruction efforts across the country are going smoothly under Princess Vivi's leadership."
Inside the palace of Alabasta, Captain Igaram of the royal guard was reporting to King Cobra.
"Well done, Vivi."
King Cobra nodded with a satisfied smile as he listened to the report.
"Make sure you tell her this—there's no need to rush these things. She mustn't wear herself out."
Hearing this, Igaram gave a helpless look.
"Your Majesty… I'm afraid Princess Vivi might not listen."
"Hm?"
"She said she wants to finish everything as soon as possible, and then..."
"…go back to her friends."
Cobra fell silent. He slowly looked up and asked:
"Is she… planning to go be a pirate with her saviors?"
Igaram shook his head. "She didn't say that, Your Majesty."
Cobra ran his hand across the throne beneath him and sighed.
"But Vivi… she would've made a great queen…"
"So you're telling me I was stuck in that cocoon for days?"
Inside the room, Bai Ye sat at the table, looking at everyone as he asked.
"Yup! You were in there a long time. You must be starving, huh?"
"This meal's all for you—Sanji made it special," Luffy said seriously, pointing at the feast on the table.
Of course, his left hand was already holding a giant hunk of ham, halfway to his mouth.
Suddenly, a foot flew out of nowhere.
WHACK!
Luffy's head wobbled like a bobblehead from the kick.
Sanji said coolly:
"I told you that food's for the Vice-Captain. Hands off."
"And besides, didn't you just eat like, five minutes ago?"
Luffy looked heartbroken. "Huh? But I'm still super hungry, Sanji…"
Sanji's head twitched with a few angry black lines. "Fine, fine. I'll go make you more."
Bai Ye watched the scene with a twitching smile, then turned to Robin, who'd been calmly sipping her tea the whole time.
"Looks like I was right after all."
Bai Ye smiled. "We really are crewmates now, Miss Robin."
Robin put down her teacup and smiled back.
"I didn't expect this day to come so soon either."
Then she glanced around at everyone in the room.
"But for now… I'm happy."
Hearing that made Bai Ye want to laugh too.
Back when he first got back, Robin was still in that "the crew doesn't trust her yet" phase.
But it had only been a day, and she'd already won everyone over.
Luffy was the one who invited her, so that was a given.
Sanji? That guy was already sucking up hard—where else did she get that tea?
As for Nami, the moment Robin showed her the stash of gems Crocodile had hoarded, she went full "big sis" mode.
Usopp and Chopper? As part of the certified "idiot trio," they were already playing with her using her Flower-Flower Fruit powers.
The only one still cautious was Zoro.
But that's just his personality—he doesn't make a fuss, even if he's suspicious.
So right now, the crew's vibe was solid.
Bai Ye honestly didn't expect Robin to still join them after all the chaos he'd caused in Alabasta.
And it was Luffy who invited her again. That was huge.
Not that Bai Ye was into Robin or anything—he just knew how important she was to Luffy's dream of becoming Pirate King.
To find Raftel, you need the Road Poneglyphs, and only Robin can read them.
Without her, even if they beat every enemy in their way, they'd never get there.
What, were they supposed to rely on Bai Ye's fortune-telling?
Or let Zoro lead the way and just walk in the opposite direction?
…Wait, that might actually work.
At that moment, Zoro—sitting quietly with his sword, eyes closed—suddenly shivered.
He opened his eyes and glanced around.
Someone's dissing me again…
Meanwhile, Bai Ye lowered his head with a helpless sigh.
"Chopper, I swear I'm fine now. You can stop the checkups."
Ever since Bai Ye broke out of the cocoon, Chopper had been running nonstop medical tests on him.
Even now, Chopper was still sitting on Bai Ye's lap, poking and prodding him, making Bai Ye's head spin.
"We can't just assume you're fine," Chopper said while examining him. "Dr. Kureha said some injuries don't show on the surface but are actually super serious."
"And besides, I still haven't figured out why your hair turned white."
Bai Ye touched his long white hair with a frown.
The Blood Demon Pill he took definitely burned through his potential—going white was clearly a side effect.
Still, he couldn't help but wonder…
If that Taoist spell that saved him could bring him back to life, why didn't it just fix his hair too?
What, does color treatment cost extra?
After returning, Bai Ye tried to communicate with the Dao Sect Record again, hoping to find out why it had saved him.
Unfortunately, the Dao Sect Record didn't suddenly turn into some kind of system and go "ding!" with an explanation.
But there were a few changes. For example, inside the internal space of the Dao Sect Record, the spiritual energy had clearly decreased, and some rare treasures had mysteriously vanished.
It looked like the price it paid to save him.
But after calculating carefully, Bai Ye realized that the "price" it paid was... basically negligible.
Which made things a little awkward. It was like the Dao Sect Record had done a minor surgery on him and just ended up sweating a little.
All in all, this whole experience gave Bai Ye a deeper understanding of the Dao Sect Record…
And boosted his confidence to go courting death—I mean, go on adventures.
Thinking of this, Bai Ye's appetite suddenly kicked in. He grabbed Chopper with one hand and moved him aside, then started wolfing down the food in front of him.
It'd been a while since he'd had Sanji's cooking, and yeah, he really missed it.
While eating, he asked Nami and the others to fill him in on how they managed to take down Baroque Works' top agents.
And what he heard surprised him—turns out that even though he didn't take part in this battle, the Straw Hats had made a lot of progress.
Zoro, for instance, fought Mr. 1 and got slashed a few times before finally mastering the ability to cut through steel.
And once he reached that level, Zoro had officially stepped into the realm of the swordmasters.
Then there was Sanji. His opponents were the super-strong Mr. 4 and his pet dog.
Mr. 4 had a pretty unique fighting style.
Basically, the dog would shoot out baseballs, and Mr. 4 would use his brute strength to smash them at enemies.
Since it was a long-range attack, and those baseballs were fast and powerful, Sanji took quite a beating at first.
But being in that kind of situation actually pushed him to finally grasp the technique Bai Ye had taught him—
[Wudang Style – Cloud Ladder Step]
Cloud Ladder Step was one of the top-tier light footwork techniques, focused on leg power.
Bai Ye had taught it to Sanji ages ago, but until now, he hadn't been able to get the hang of it.
Once he finally did, it was like learning the Navy's Soru, Kami-e, and Geppo all at once.
Naturally, Sanji crushed his enemies with ease after that.
"....."