"The Marines?"
"Why the hell are the Marines joining the party now?"
"We're doomed! This time, we're really doomed!" Buggy completely lost it, spiraling into a panic.
Carina, however, remained more composed. "Sanji, you said the Marines. Do you mean the Headquarters, or...?"
"Sorry, I was speaking too fast. It's not the Headquarters; it seems to be the Alabasta Marines!"
"I see. If it's Alabasta, we still have a chance to break through. Their fleet is strong, but they lack true powerhouses," Carina said, letting out a small sigh of relief.
There was a massive difference between the royal marine of Alabasta and the Marines from Headquarters. If it were truly the Headquarters' forces, they would be in genuine peril.
Even so, they weren't entirely out of the woods. While the Alabasta Marines lacked elite fighters, their warships were legitimately powerful. A standard vessel stood no chance of escaping them because the difference in sailing speed was nearly threefold.
'Wait, the ship Mr. Iceburg built for us was supposed to be finished today. He used the exact same technology as the New World warships. If it's already complete...' Carina mused for a moment before speaking slowly.
Breaking through on land wasn't the hard part; the challenge was how to lose the Alabasta fleet once they hit the water. But if that ship was ready, they might actually have a shot.
"Sanji, call Mr. Iceburg immediately! Ask if the ship is finished and if it's ready for immediate use!"
"Got it! I'm on it!" Sanji nodded, realizing the gravity of the situation.
"By the way, where are Koby and Alvida?" Carina suddenly remembered, her voice urgent.
Only then did the rest of the group realize that in their tension, they had forgotten two of their companions.
Meanwhile, in another part of Water 7, over a hundred fully armed Alabasta Marines had completely surrounded a man and a woman in the middle of the street.
The woman was beautiful, but the man beside her was quite the opposite—short and plain-looking. These two were the Straw Hat crew's Alvida and Koby.
Normally, Alvida wouldn't have given a hundred ordinary soldiers a second thought. She would have simply charged in, swinging her massive spiked club.
But right now...
'I just wanted to go shopping! Who knew this would happen? I didn't even bring my club!'
While she could easily break through using her Sube Sube no Mi abilities, there was the issue of Koby.
'What do I do? What should I do?'
Just then, the Marines in the circle parted to both sides, creating a path. This path wasn't for Alvida and Koby.
A young woman wearing a Marine "Justice" coat stepped slowly into the circle.
"Iron Mace Alvida, with a bounty of 38 million Belly, and pink-haired Koby, with a bounty of 10,000 Belly."
"Who are you?" Alvida demanded.
"Me? I am a Rear Admiral of the New World Marines, Nefertari Vivi!"
'Just a Rear Admiral?'
'That's not so bad!' Alvida felt a surge of relief. After all, during the Enies Lobby incident, they had defeated several powerhouses, including two Vice Admirals who had come with the Buster Call.
However, she didn't realize that Vivi was a Rear Admiral of the 'New World' Marines, not the Headquarters. While the rank was the same, the level of power was fundamentally different.
In terms of raw strength, Vivi had spent over a year consuming top-grade jerky and had the backing of the Suna Suna no Mi. Her current power was at least equivalent to an elite Vice Admiral from Headquarters. In a desert, Vivi could even unleash combat power comparable to an Admiral Candidate.
The two they had defeated at Enies Lobby were merely average Vice Admirals—and even then, they were on the weaker side of that rank.
"Koby, I'm going to charge out first, then I'll find Luffy and the others!" Alvida whispered. "You might be captured for a bit, but we'll definitely come back for you, understand?"
Koby nodded, a look of determination on his face.
Satisfied, Alvida nodded and suddenly lunged forward.
The next moment, gunfire erupted.
'Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!'
Unfortunately, the bullets had no effect. Even those that hit Alvida directly simply slid off her skin. At this moment, the surface of her body was so slippery that it produced almost zero friction.
Just as Alvida had thought, if she wanted to run, the enemy couldn't stop her. As for Koby, he would just have to wait until she found Luffy and the others to be rescued.
However, just as Alvida thought she was about to break through the perimeter, a figure suddenly appeared in front of her.
"Corundum Sand!"
"Cage!"
With a sharp cry from Vivi, a massive amount of sand surged from the pouch at her waist, rapidly forming a sphere that encased Alvida. It was like a prison.
Since Alvida's Sube Sube no Mi made physical attacks useless, Vivi simply built her a cage—one that was completely airtight. No matter how slippery her skin was, there were no gaps to slip through. Escape was impossible.
Alvida possessed immense natural strength and attacked the interior of the cage relentlessly. However, what Vivi had released wasn't ordinary sand, but sand she had processed using her ability...
Corundum Sand!
Its hardness was only slightly lower than that of a diamond. It was far beyond anything Alvida could break.
But Vivi's goal wasn't just to trap Alvida.
The Corundum Sand cage began to shrink. Eventually, it lost its spherical shape and tightened around Alvida like a skin-tight suit, turning her into a "sand person."
Once this was done, Vivi waved her hand.
An Alabasta Marine immediately understood, stepped forward with Seastone handcuffs, and snapped them onto Alvida's wrists.
Alvida tried to resist, but the sand adhering to her body like a second skin restricted every single movement. She couldn't move an inch—she couldn't even roll her eyes.
The moment the Seastone handcuffs clicked shut, both the sand casing and Alvida herself instantly collapsed.
Because of the Seastone, the sand ceased to cling and rained down onto the ground, revealing Alvida once more.
Alvida herself was in no better shape. Her strength vanished instantly, and she collapsed limply to the ground, her Devil Fruit powers completely nullified.
Almost simultaneously on the other side, several Marines worked together to easily take down Koby.
"Take them both back to the warship and lock them in the brig!"
"Yes, Princess!"
Upon hearing the order, Igaram immediately set to work.
Of course, it wouldn't have been difficult for Vivi to simply kill Alvida, but she chose not to. Sean's instructions were clear: whenever possible, all Ability Users were to be captured alive.
As for the pink-haired one... Vivi didn't give him a second thought. The New World Marine's intelligence department had already done their homework; this pirate's combat strength didn't even match that of an ordinary Marine from Headquarters.
Regardless, both had been captured. The operation had started quite smoothly.
'''
"It's no use, I can't get through to Iceburg!"
"Alvida and Koby aren't responding either. Do you think something happened?"
After several failed attempts, Sanji gave up and shared the news.
This left Carina feeling deeply anxious. If they lost that ship, they would have no way to successfully evade the Alabasta fleet, even if they managed to break through their current position.
'This... is going to be trouble!' Carina couldn't help but think.