Arriving at Rain Dinners

"So, aside from discovering the enemy, Crocodile of the Shichibukai, the current King has also been controlled?" Yota said thoughtfully. "It looks like the enemy is about to show his hand. We need to speed things up too. Let’s split into two groups."

"Violet and Kyros, go find that King. Violet has the Glint-Glint Fruit. As long as you have a general direction, you should be able to find the palace."

"As for Princess Vivi, take me to Crocodile’s base."

"Also, I’ll give you the Flying Thunder God Den Den Mushi. If anything unexpected happens, ask me for help immediately."

Yota directly handed Violet a Den Den Mushi. There was a reason he had sent Violet to the Alabasta palace. As far as he knew, that okama Bon Clay possessed the Imitation Fruit. As long as he had made contact with someone, he could easily transform into anyone.

Special Paramecia Devil Fruits of the deception type like that possessed extremely powerful concealment abilities. Even Observation Haki could not distinguish them.

But Violet had the Glint-Glint Fruit. She could even read minds, making her clearly the Imitation Fruit’s natural enemy. Even if Bon Clay transformed into someone else after being exposed, he would never escape Violet’s eyes.

After hearing Yota’s arrangements, Princess Vivi hesitantly said, "Are we going now? But my injuries might hold you back…"

Yota simply stretched out his hand. Black mist swept forth and swallowed Princess Vivi, then spat her back out a moment later. By then, all her injuries had completely healed.

"Let’s go. Don’t waste any time." Seeing the stunned expression on Princess Vivi’s face, Yota spoke directly.

"Okay. Karu, come back quickly!" Princess Vivi froze for only a moment before hurriedly nodding and calling out. Soon afterward, a duck suddenly burrowed out of the sand and raced over to Princess Vivi at incredible speed.

"No need to bring that stupid duck," Yota said irritably. "We’ll fly there directly."

"Quack, quack, quack! Quack, quack, quack!"

The Super Spot-Billed Duck Karu was currently streaming tears from both eyes, frantically flapping his wings as though trying desperately to fly.

"Can’t you make that stupid duck shut up?" Yota felt his head throbbing. Heaven knew that ever since he had used the Super Light-Weight Rock Technique to bring two people and one duck into the sky, the duck’s beak had not stopped moving.

At first, he had thought the duck was simply excited to be flying. Now, Yota finally understood. Just like Ryuma, this guy was afraid of heights!

"Um, Karu… please don’t be nervous. Try to be quiet," Princess Vivi said, doing her best to comfort the duck. Judging from Karu’s behavior, however, it had little effect.

"I told you not to bring this duck! Did you expect it to defeat Crocodile?" Yota said helplessly. Princess Vivi could only respond with a bitter smile.

Though Karu’s noise had been driving her crazy as well, he had been her companion since childhood. Whenever he looked at her with those pitiful eyes, Princess Vivi could not help softening her heart.

What Princess Vivi had not expected, however, was that her mount was afraid of heights. Seeing Karu constantly shedding tears now, she truly did not know whether to be angry or laugh.

Although Karu caused this little interruption along the way, Yota used the Rinnegan together with the Super Light-Weight Rock Technique, then used the Float-Float Fruit to control the airflow. Thus, the two people and one duck soon arrived at Crocodile’s base, the city known as Rain Dinners.

Looking at the lush city below, so rich in water, Yota said, "This place isn’t suffering from drought, is it?"

"That’s right. Rain Dinners and our capital, the Royal City, are the only two cities unaffected by the drought… Why are you looking at me like that?" Halfway through speaking, Princess Vivi noticed Yota’s expression and asked curiously.

"No… it’s nothing. A lot of the time, I feel like I don’t fit in with other people." Yota finally sighed.

If this were the Naruto World, Rain Dinners and Crocodile would have been investigated from top to bottom long ago!

Even any random ninja would find such a crude scheme unbearable to look at. If something like this really happened, those ninjas might even overthink it and suspect that someone was deliberately sowing discord.

In fact, if Crocodile dared to win people’s hearts for more than a month, there would probably be a squad of Anbu watching him twenty-four hours a day.

Only in the Pirate World could a scheme so crude that it insulted people’s intelligence actually be carried out.

Well, on second thought, the so-called benevolent King of the Ryugu Kingdom had been foolish enough to nurture nearly a hundred thousand rebels against himself. King Riku had been stupid enough to believe Doflamingo’s nonsense, and Kozuki Oden had been idiotic enough to dance naked for five years. By that measure, the Alabasta King’s performance was actually above average!

Yota shook his head. Fortunately, people in the Pirate World were simple and honest. Replace them with anyone with even a little brains, and they would probably have long since despaired of these Kings.

Princess Vivi found Yota’s words somewhat baffling, but she did not dwell on them. She continued, "Then how should we find Crocodile? Are we going to cause trouble at his casino?"

As she spoke, a faint blush appeared on Princess Vivi’s face, as though she were feeling a little excited.

"Cause trouble my ass. I’ve already found him." Yota rolled his eyes.

If Crocodile had merely been an ordinary person, neither Observation Haki nor the perception of Kagura Shingan would have been able to single him out. But as a Shichibukai, his presence was far stronger than that of ordinary people. The moment Yota spread out his Haki, he sensed Crocodile’s existence.

Crocodile, who was currently feeding his Banana Gator, had his expression change slightly. He raised his head, a puzzled look appearing on his face.

Speaking of which, this Shichibukai had suffered from appearing too early, which was why he had not displayed Haki when he fought Luffy.

But in truth, as a powerhouse who had once challenged Whitebeard and fought Bullet to a draw, it was impossible for him to know no Haki at all.

The only explanation was that his defeat by Whitebeard had dealt him such a severe blow that his Haki had greatly deteriorated.

"This feeling… Observation Haki? What an enormous range!"

Of course, that was mainly because Yota had not concealed his Haki at all, while Crocodile himself retained some degree of Observation Haki, allowing him to sense its presence.

Yet just as Crocodile sensed the Haki, lightning flashed, and a figure had already appeared before him.