Chapter 144: Overwhelming Advance
Every oasis in the desert is a treasure bestowed by heaven. The foundation of the Alabasta Kingdom is entirely built upon these oases of varying sizes. The Desert Kingdom cannot truly survive in the desert; the oases are the foundation for human survival.
Rain Base.
Among the many oases in the Alabasta Kingdom, it is a pretty good place. Its name alone shows that precipitation here is quite abundant. If it weren’t for its not-so-large area, it might not have been Alubana that was chosen as the Kingdom Capital back then.
Crocodile took a fancy to this good place at first glance. The Baroque Works headquarters is located on this land.
At the beginning, Baroque Works was still weak in influence and acted very low-key. But later, as Crocodile became the “national hero,” Baroque Works’ strength expanded rapidly. No longer needing to worry about strikes from the kingdom, it immediately puffed up and built the kingdom’s largest and most luxurious casino, Rain Dinners.
Today,
Rain Dinners has unusually stopped business.
Many gamblers who are addicted to gambling are anxious and scratching their heads, wishing they could break down the door and rush in. Unfortunately, the gamblers know better than those blindly following masses just how cruel Crocodile is. The idea of storming Rain Dinners is something they only dare to think about, not even dare to say out loud.
But to be honest, since Rain Dinners opened for business, this is the first time it has put up a sign pausing operations. A group of gamblers even started betting on this matter. One can only say these rotten people are beyond saving.
What moods and situations the gamblers outside are in, the owner of Rain Dinners doesn’t care at all. Compared to those small fry’s petty actions, Crocodile is concerned about the battle situation on the desert outside Rain Base. Just thinking about this inexplicable strong enemy approaching makes the fire in his heart burn three degrees hotter.
“No new news?”
He looked at the bald man guarding the door.
This is his confidant, numbered mr.1 in Baroque Works, real name Daz Bones. He was originally a bounty hunter from the West Sea, later subdued by Crocodile, becoming the second most powerful figure in Baroque Works after Crocodile.
“The Unlucky Combination sent a message three minutes ago. They discovered the Alabasta Kingdom’s Super Giant Duck Force directly east of Rain Base. The target person is among them. By time calculation, they should have just clashed with mr.6 and those guys now.”
mr.1’s personality isn’t one to talk much, but facing Crocodile’s question, he definitely can’t shut his mouth and pretend to be mute.
Of course, don’t expect him to say much. He answered Crocodile’s question as concisely as possible yet without omitting details, then shut his mouth again, standing at the room door as stubbornly immobile as a stone.
This is Crocodile’s study. At this moment, gathered here are not just Crocodile and mr.1, but all the high-ranking agents of Baroque Works, from mr.1 to mr.5, as well as Miss Doublefinger, Miss Goldenweek, and others. One could say Baroque Works’ strongest combat power is all here.
As for the cadres currently in the desert, they are just cannon fodder that can be replenished at any time.
Those people were sent out originally to probe the enemy’s influence strength, ability characteristics. Crocodile arranged the Unlucky Combination, the organization members most skilled at gathering intelligence—a sea slug and a vulture. These two guys are monitoring the battles in the desert and reporting the battlefield situation at any time.
“Have they already clashed?”
Crocodile bit his cigar, brows tightly furrowed.
Seeing the boss’s demeanor as if facing a formidable enemy, most of the high-ranking agents of Baroque Works honestly don’t quite understand, or rather, summoning all of them like this leaves them full of confusion. Among those present, except for mr.4, everyone else is an ability user.
Even mr.4 has a weapon that has eaten a Devil Fruit.
Over a dozen Devil Fruit ability users—such martial power is honestly one of the top influences in Paradise. One must know that Alabasta, this great power, openly has only two Zoan Devil Fruit Users. Although the number of ability users doesn’t necessarily confirm strength superiority.
But undeniably, the more ability users, the greater the threat.
Baroque Works, developed to today, is actually almost at its peak. If not for not yet pinpointing Pluto’s exact location, plus unwillingness to provoke Navy or other major influences’ interference too early, it has always remained hidden.
In fact, Crocodile actually already has full confidence to seize the Alabasta Kingdom’s throne.
It’s just that Crocodile can restrain his ambition.
But these agents under him have gradually become arrogant, each with eyes on their foreheads, looking down on everyone. In their view, no country around the Alabasta Kingdom is a match for Baroque Works anymore.
Even if this enemy’s from the New World······ the newspaper hyped that Black Prince so much. If the Black Prince himself appeared, there might be some worry, but the problem is it’s just one of the Black Prince’s subordinates who came. Plus, Dillon isn’t a pirate and has no bounty, making it hard to judge his skill level.
At least, most of Baroque Works’ high-ranking agents actually still don’t have a clear understanding of this enemy Dillon who returned to Alabasta with King Cobra. Subconsciously, they think he should be quite strong, but definitely not a match for Baroque Works.
“Boss, should we go help mr.6 and them?”
The one speaking is Miss Doublefinger. This fiery-figured, scantily-clad woman is mr.1’s partner, the fourth-ranked in the organization. Even facing Crocodile, she has some confidence to speak, unlike mr.4, mr.5, and others who rarely dare to speak up in front of Crocodile.
However,
Today, Miss Doublefinger clearly misjudged the extent of Crocodile’s foul mood.
“Help? Even if you’re tired of living, your lives aren’t to be wasted like this. Those small fry are meant to consume the opponent’s stamina. You lot going up now would be nothing but sending yourselves to death. All of you stay put honestly. No one moves without my orders!” Crocodile used no polite words and directly scolded.
And not just targeting Miss Doublefinger—he swept everyone present into the line of fire.
The low tone carried deep killing intent.
His mood has been bad since receiving news of Dillon and Cobra landing together in the Alabasta Kingdom. Unlike his subordinates with little experience, Crocodile, who once roamed the New World and barely escaped after suffering a big loss under Whitebeard, knows full well how perverted the monsters of the New World are.
Escaping from Whitebeard wasn’t because he was strong, but because he wasn’t strong enough. So when Whitebeard struck, he was just playing around, not serious at all, not taking Crocodile seriously from the bottom of his heart.
Therefore,
Crocodile luckily survived from Whitebeard.
After witnessing the terror of Whitebeard’s casual strike, Crocodile’s ambitions suffered a severe blow. He left the New World, no longer struggling to survive on that extremely harsh sea, but came to Paradise, shifting his gaze from personal strength to pursuing external forces.
“Black Prince······ damn it!”
Crocodile bit his cigar, the anger in his heart surging so high.
No one likes to dampen their own people’s morale like this, but he had to do it. Otherwise, before these hard-cultivated subordinates could play any role, they’d be easily dealt with by the enemy, wasting his efforts in vain······
He still hasn’t figured out why the Black Prince is interfering in the Alabasta Kingdom’s matters.
When planning to steal the Alabasta Kingdom’s throne and Pluto Battleship, he had done extremely thorough investigations beforehand, confirming no powerful external aid that could affect him in the Alabasta Kingdom, before confidently implementing the plan.
In the end,
His grand plan had already progressed through the first ninety steps, just a few final steps from complete success, when the Black Prince suddenly reached out from the New World to Alabasta.
————
Desert.
Gunpowder smoke and dust rolled and intertwined in the air.
The shocking sound of cannon fire had not yet faded from people’s ears when the Billion and Million at the forefront sensed the ground trembling beneath their feet. Fine sand grains bounced high up, and in this intense vibration,
A rhinoceros with a long, thick sharp horn tore through the curtain woven of smoke and dust, crashing into the position of the Billion and Million.
The heavy cannons were sent flying easily like hollow rubber balls. Those Billion and Million were even more unlucky—not to mention the unfortunate ones directly torn in half by the rhinoceros horn, even those grazed or brushed against had broken bones and shattered tendons, lying on the sand emitting heart-wrenching screams of pain.
All this happened so fast.
Most importantly, Dillon’s speed was astonishing. Dillon in Woolly Rhinoceros Beast Form didn’t become sluggish due to his massive body; on the contrary, the complete beast form granted him even stronger explosive power and stamina. He charged back and forth in the position set by Baroque Works’ cadres, entering as if no one was there.
In just over ten seconds, before mr.6 and the other high-ranking agents could react, the over-a-thousand Billion and Million were already routed. Under the threat of death, these disloyal wallflowers cried for their fathers and mothers, fleeing in all directions.
Used to bullying with Baroque Works’ name, used to throwing their weight around with numbers, these wastes hadn’t seen such a brutal scene in some time.
To be honest,
In such a short time, not many were personally taken out by Dillon—fully counting less than fifty. Most were just rammed with broken bones and lost mobility; they were actually still alive. But the gory scene of being pierced and torn in half by that long spear-like horn was quite frightening.
Those scared out of their wits weren’t just the bottom-tier Billion and Million; many double-digit agents were shaking in their boots, wishing they could flee this slaughterhouse like those below. Unfortunately, recalling Crocodile’s cruel punishments made their already lifted legs retract.
“Don’t be afraid, everyone attack together. No matter how strong he is, he can’t stop all of us striking at once.”
The one shouting is mr.6, a burly man carrying six machine guns on his back. This guy’s guts aren’t small; while rallying his companions to act together, he really unslung the machine guns from his back and fired directly at Dillon still charging through the crowd.
Without caring about those Billion and Million who hadn’t escaped yet. And even more speechless, the bullets spat from the machine guns didn’t even graze Dillon’s fur; instead, they mowed down a bunch of those Billion and Million.
This result was naturally unsatisfactory.
But mr.6’s action did successfully boost some companions’ courage. Everyone else also attacked, each using their means to try launching attacks at Dillon······
However,
No use.
The gap like heaven and earth can’t be bridged by mere blood courage. These agents’ resistance not only brought Dillon no trouble but made him, who originally planned to clean up these apparent leaders last, turn on them early.
The battle from start to finish lasted no more than two minutes.
This was still because Dillon intended to capture the opponent’s leaders alive. Otherwise, if he focused on wiping out these wastes, with his methods, he could take down everyone in under a minute. The reason it took this long was also that ordinary Zoan Devil Fruit Users lack area-of-effect attacks.
If it were someone with area attacks, not to mention over a thousand, even tens of thousands could be downed in an instant. The most typical example is Conqueror’s Haki—anyone in the New World mastering this is a pro at clearing small fry.
Dillon hasn’t awakened Conqueror’s Haki. Unlike Armament Haki or Observation Haki, those who awaken Conqueror’s Haki seem to all be wildly ambitious types.
“Mister Dillon, is it over already?”
Princess Vivi, riding on Karoo, didn’t get too close. She looked up at Dillon still in Woolly Rhinoceros Beast Form, eyes full of surprise. But her peripheral vision caught the bloodstained yellow sand and cooling corpses, a trace of reluctance and sympathy appearing on her face.
Of course, sympathy is sympathy. Princess Vivi, who knows priorities, didn’t say any mood-ruining stupid words.
War killing people is the most normal thing!
“It’s over for now.” Dillon lifted his eyelids, glanced at the vulture fleeing into the distant sky, didn’t pursue. He reverted to human form, dragging several half-dead Baroque Works cadres to the front of Princess Vivi and the others.
“Two people come over. I need to interrogate these guys.” Dillon said so.
Princess Vivi’s mouth twitched at the word “interrogate,” seeming about to speak, but before she could, two guards dismounted from their ducks, came to Dillon’s side, and together started interrogating these captives Dillon had captured alive.
“Princess Vivi, we need intelligence on Crocodile. Mister Dillon’s actions have no issue.” Igaram looked at Princess Vivi’s changing expression and spoke first. With a complicated expression, he sighed, “We originally didn’t want you to be exposed to such things too early, but······ since we’ve encountered it, you might as well understand. Where there is light, there must be darkness. You will encounter these things sooner or later.”
