G-3 Naval Base.
Three colossal warships and five large battleships rumbled as their engines roared to life. The layered sound waves rolled across the sea like drums from the depths of hell an omen that "Paradise's" pirates were about to face their judgment day.
At the bow of the lead flagship stood Renn Hawk.
His eyes were calm as he gazed down at the dense crowd assembled on the docks below. Then, slowly, he raised his right hand and gave a flawless salute a salute that carried the weight of both duty and conviction.
On the dock, Zephyr stood at the forefront.
Behind him, Vice Admirals Onigumo, Doberman, and several elite officers stood in formation, their expressions solemn.
As Zephyr looked up at the young man standing at the ship's bow, there was no hesitation in his eyes. He returned the salute firm, unwavering followed by the vice admirals behind him.
It was the old era of the Marines, saluting the dawn of a new one.
Further back, Dane led the G-3 branch's remaining troops, forming a perfect steel phalanx. Every face in that formation was filled with fervor and reverence an almost religious devotion to the man they called their commander.
"Big brother fair winds and following seas!" Dane's voice boomed like thunder as he slammed his right fist against his chest with a resounding thud.
That single motion ignited a roar from the ranks.
"LOYALTY!"
Renn turned his back to the dock, his coat fluttering in the sea breeze. "Set sail."
This voyage had two primary objectives beyond sweeping Paradise clean of every pirate who dared raise their head.
The first was to fulfill the promise he made to Kuzan: to bring back the woman who had been hunted by the World Government for over a decade the "Devil's Child," Nico Robin.
"The situation now is nothing like it was back then," Renn murmured, leaning against the railing as the salty wind brushed against his face.
Back at Marine Headquarters, the Navy still had to consider the World Government's approval. Every operation required restraint. But now things had changed.
The tides of reform were surging within the Navy. The massive war machine was turning, slowly but inexorably.
A confrontation with the World Government was no longer a question of "if," but "when."
A woman on the Government's wanted list?
If a current admiral of the Marines chose to protect her, then she would be protected.
As for Alabasta and Crocodile...
That would simply be a warm-up.
Renn's mind flickered with the image of a smug man smoking a cigar Crocodile, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, a scheming usurper who had thrown an entire kingdom into chaos for the sake of an ancient weapon.
Crocodile's greed for "Pluton" had driven him to manufacture droughts and lies, pushing millions of innocent people into civil war. To Renn, that kind of sin playing with the lives of countless civilians was the perfect fuel for his Justice of Slaughter.
But Crocodile wasn't his only target in Paradise.
There was another Warlord Gecko Moria.
Moria, the hermit of the Florian Triangle, who commanded an army of the undead using his Shadow-Shadow Fruit. Once defeated by Kaido, Moria had buried himself in the darkness, living in denial of his own failure.
Instead of facing his weakness, he preyed on the innocent, stealing their shadows and reducing them to hollow corpses.
To Renn, such desecration of souls was unforgivable.
"Two Warlords... that should bring me quite a bit of Justice Value," Renn muttered coldly, eyes narrowing.
He could almost picture it the moment their heads hit the deck and the numbers on his system panel climbed into something truly satisfying.
"It's time to toll the first bell... for the death of the Warlord system."
"WOOOOO WOOOOO WOOOOO!!!"
The fleet's horns bellowed in unison as anchors rose. Steel prows sliced through the waves, turning toward the desert kingdom of Alabasta at full speed.
Alabasta Kingdom – Port City of Nanohana.
The scorching sun blazed down upon the sand-swept streets. Dry winds carried the scent of dust and despair.
A tall young woman with bright orange hair leapt off a merchant vessel, landing lightly on the docks. She wore a practical outfit suited for travel, covered by an oversized Marine coat. Her sharp eyes carried a trace of exhaustion, but also quiet resolve.
It was Nami having traveled all the way from the East Blue to reach this land.
She exhaled deeply, feeling the solid ground beneath her feet, and for the first time in weeks, the tension in her heart eased.
The journey had been grueling beyond measure. The Grand Line's weather had tested her skills to the limit tempests, tsunamis, and sea kings had nearly claimed her life more than once.
But at last, she had made it to Alabasta.
According to the Eternal Pose, the G-3 base was not far from here.
"Hmm…?"
As Nami prepared to find a place to rest, her expression suddenly sharpened.
Something in the air was wrong.
It wasn't just heat or dryness it was lifeless. The humidity was unnaturally low for a coastal city. Even the wind felt weak, as if stripped of its vitality.
Her instincts as a top-class navigator screamed at her this wasn't natural.
She lifted her gaze to the sky. The thin clouds above drifted lazily, limp and lifeless, refusing to gather into rainclouds.
Her professional intuition clicked into overdrive.
This wasn't weather. It was tampering.
As she walked deeper into town, Nami observed the people. Every passerby looked malnourished, their lips cracked, their eyes filled with frustration and despair.
Overheard conversations painted the full picture.
"Another day of this damn weather when will it end!?"
"It's been three years! Not a single drop of rain!"
"They say it still rains in the capital where the king lives! That bastard must be using black magic!"
"The royal army's hoarding water while we die out here!"
Nami's eyes narrowed.
Only the capital gets rain?
She'd read about this phenomenon before.
It was caused by a forbidden substance banned by the World Government Dance Powder.
A catalyst that could forcibly absorb moisture from the air, concentrating it over a single area to create artificial rainfall. The side effect: every surrounding region would wither into drought.
It was a weaponized theft of nature itself.
Nami clenched her fists and glanced down at the Marine coat she wore.
Her weariness vanished, replaced by determination.
"If that's the case…" she murmured. "Then I'll investigate this myself."
With that, she strode into the heart of the sun-scorched city ready to uncover the truth behind Alabasta's dying skies.
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