Chapter 352: Chapter 352: Hidden Intentions
Chapter 352: Hidden Intentions
The Rebel Army camp had descended into chaos.
Koza had been seriously injured and remained unconscious. Without the man who had held the massive army together, uncertainty spread through the ranks almost immediately.
Then someone made a proposal.
Until Koza recovered, whoever killed Princess Vivi and avenged their leader would become the next commander of the Rebel Army.
At first, many opposed the idea.
But people had desires.
The rebels might have risen because of drought, desperation, hatred, and the need to survive, but that did not make them immune to the temptation of power.
As more voices began supporting the proposal, the objections were gradually drowned out.
Inside a secluded section of the camp, several men sat in a circle within a tent.
The surrounding tents had been cleared beforehand, leaving the area unusually quiet.
Had ordinary rebels seen the gathering, they would have recognized nearly everyone present.
They were minor commanders scattered throughout the Rebel Army.
And secretly, they all belonged to Baroque Works.
Dumps sat among them.
One man finally broke the silence.
"Koza still isn’t dead."
He frowned.
"Will that interfere with the plan?"
Another immediately cursed.
"Damn it. What kind of job did Baroque Works do?"
"They attacked him and still couldn’t kill him."
"What a headache."
Someone else leaned back calmly.
"It doesn’t matter."
The others looked over.
"Whether Koza wakes up or not changes nothing."
One man frowned.
"What do you mean?"
The speaker looked at him.
"You only care whether Koza dies because you’re wondering whether you can replace him."
The man snorted but did not deny it.
Working for Baroque Works did not mean he lacked personal ambition.
If anything, ambition was precisely why many of them had joined the organization.
The speaker continued without mercy.
"You think becoming leader means you’ll overthrow the Kingdom of Alabasta and crown yourself king?"
He laughed.
"Don’t be ridiculous."
"Whether you become leader or not, once the Boss’s plan succeeds, this country will be destroyed by that same plan."
"And so will whatever new leader the Rebel Army happens to choose."
The words were blunt.
But they were difficult to refute.
Alabasta had once been a great kingdom with military strength ordinary people could scarcely imagine.
Yet Crocodile had spent years weakening it piece by piece.
Now even a nation that powerful was being manipulated like a puppet.
Compared to Alabasta itself, what was the Rebel Army?
Another piece on Crocodile’s board.
Still, understanding the truth and hearing it spoken aloud were different things.
The man who had been mocked stood abruptly.
"What did you say?!"
Dumps raised a hand.
"Enough."
He was not intervening out of kindness.
With Koza down and the Rebel Army already unstable, internal fighting among Baroque Works agents would only create unnecessary trouble.
"We’re all Millions."
"There’s no point turning on each other over something like this."
He looked around the circle.
"The important question is how we make the Rebel Army march on Alubarna."
That immediately quieted everyone.
The rebels were furious.
But anger alone was not enough.
Koza had fallen.
Supplies were limited.
The Rebel Army was enormous, but most of its members had been ordinary civilians before taking up arms.
Asking them to immediately launch a full assault against the capital without a recognized leader was another matter entirely.
They hated the Royal Family.
Many wanted revenge.
But few had the confidence to lead hundreds of thousands into war.
Baroque Works had infiltrated deeply into the rebellion, but none of its agents possessed enough authority to command the entire army outright.
One man rubbed his forehead.
"Then think of something."
At that moment, hurried footsteps approached outside.
A rebel burst into the area.
"Leader Koza has disappeared!"
The Baroque Works agents exchanged glances.
For a brief moment, several malicious smiles appeared.
Then they vanished.
Dumps immediately rose with a shocked expression.
"What?!"
The others followed.
They scattered out of the tent in different directions, each wearing an appropriately anxious face.
Their beloved leader had disappeared, after all.
They had to look concerned.
...
Rainbase.
The City of Dreams.
Unlike most of Alabasta, Rainbase had largely escaped the suffering brought by the drought.
There was water.
There was business.
There was wealth.
And above all, there was Crocodile.
As one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, Crocodile had built a reputation for driving pirates away from the region and protecting its residents.
His influence was strongest here.
Rainbase was also home to the largest casino in Alabasta.
Rain Dinners.
In a desert kingdom, the very word "rain" carried the promise of happiness.
The enormous casino had become a place where countless visitors dreamed of changing their fortunes overnight.
Above its roof stood a massive golden statue modeled after one of Crocodile’s Banana Crocodiles.
Calling the creature a pet was perhaps generous.
It was more like a monster he happened to own.
Inside Rain Dinners, Crocodile sat behind a thick glass wall with his eyes closed.
Beyond the glass, one of his Banana Crocodiles rested in the water.
Its stomach growled.
The beast was hungry.
Its instincts urged it to thrash against the enclosure and demand food.
But the man sitting nearby frightened it enough to remain still.
So it waited.
Eventually, Crocodile opened his eyes.
A woman had entered.
The Banana Crocodile noticed her as well.
To it, she was simply another appealing piece of meat.
It swam restlessly through the tank but made no attempt to attack without permission.
Crocodile reached into his coat and pulled out a cigar.
"You’re back."
He lit it.
"How did things go?"
"The negotiation failed."
Nico Robin stood before him.
Her clothing was somewhat more conservative than during their previous meeting, though her expression remained unchanged.
Crocodile took one drag from the newly lit cigar.
"I know."
Then he crushed it almost immediately.
"I already ordered the operation to move forward."
"The timing isn’t ideal, but it won’t prevent Operation Utopia from proceeding."
He looked directly at Robin.
"But that isn’t what I’m asking."
"How did the investigation go?"
Robin noticed the ruined cigar.
Crocodile looked calm.
His actions suggested otherwise.
A pleasant smile appeared on her face.
"I found something interesting."
Crocodile waited.
"According to a certain helpful person..."
Robin’s smile deepened slightly.
"The information about the Pluton blueprints appears to be true."
The atmosphere changed.
Crocodile’s expression hardened.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
If the information was genuine, then the plan would need some adjustment.
Not the goal.
Only one person’s eventual fate.
Axel.
But Crocodile would decide that after Alabasta fell and after he confirmed whether the Pluton he sought could truly be found here.
He shifted to the next matter.
"What about the Millions?"
"How far has the Rebel Army been pushed?"
Robin answered,
"Quite far."
"Koza disappeared shortly after he was attacked."
"The rebels are blaming the Royal Family."
She folded her arms.
"Given that they already believe Princess Vivi wounded him, the idea that the Royal Army later abducted him isn’t difficult for them to accept."
Crocodile nodded.
Robin studied him.
"There is something I don’t understand."
"Why didn’t you simply order Koza killed?"
"The instruction was specifically to injure him, not kill him."
Crocodile looked mildly surprised by the question.
Then he answered.
"If you kill the leader of an organization outright, there is always a chance the organization collapses with him."
Robin remained silent.
"The Rebel Army is driven by hatred, so the odds are low."
Crocodile continued.
"But I spent years creating this situation."
"I’m not risking all of that effort on unnecessary uncertainty."
"I hate uncertainty."
Robin smiled faintly.
It was a reasonable explanation.
Too reasonable.
And that was precisely why she did not completely believe it.
Would the rebellion truly disappear simply because Koza died?
First, the rebels could not simply return to their old lives.
The drought remained.
Their homes were ruined.
Their water sources were gone.
And the weather itself had been manipulated as part of Crocodile’s plan.
Even if every rebel laid down his weapon tomorrow, most would simply return to starving and dying.
Second, organizations rarely remained leaderless for long.
If Koza died, someone else would eventually rise.
Robin had studied enough history to be certain of that.
And Crocodile understood people far too well to overlook something so obvious.
He had manipulated an entire kingdom.
There had to be another reason.
Another layer she could not yet see.
Crocodile interrupted her thoughts.
"How do you think Koza disappeared?"
Robin blinked once.
Her expression never changed.
"The real Princess Vivi and her companions, most likely."
She smiled.
"According to the reports, Axel’s ability appears capable of far more forms of manipulation than we originally expected."
"Far more..."
Crocodile repeated the words quietly.
His face darkened.
Then he muttered,
"But foolish emotions are often fatal."
Robin studied him.
She did not understand what he meant.
"Do you need me to do anything else?"
"No."
Crocodile leaned back.
"Rest for the next few days."
"Then wait for Operation Utopia to begin."
Robin smiled.
Rest.
Or perhaps Crocodile simply wanted his tool in good condition before using it again.
"I understand."
She turned and left.
Once she was gone, Crocodile looked toward the Banana Crocodile.
The creature circled restlessly behind the glass.
"Hungry?"
He pressed a control beside him.
"Bring the prisoners."
Shortly afterward, two ordinary-looking prisoners were dragged into the room.
The moment they saw Crocodile, they began begging.
"Please!"
"Have mercy!"
Crocodile did not respond.
Sand surged into their mouths.
Their pleas stopped instantly.
Both men collapsed, clutching their throats as they choked.
Their suffering did not last long.
They were thrown into the enclosure.
The Banana Crocodile lunged.
Two human lives disappeared.
For a creature that size, they were hardly a meal.
More like a snack.
Crocodile watched without emotion.
Death had long since lost any meaning to him.
His plan for Alabasta had already caused the deaths of countless people.
When the final battle began, that number would only rise.
It did not concern him.
He was a pirate.
And pirates acted for their own benefit.
...
Beneath the shade of a rocky overhang in the desert, Chopper worked frantically over the injured man lying before him.
Koza.
The hurried treatment he had received earlier had already begun coming apart during the journey.
Worse, whoever had initially treated the wound had possessed only basic medical knowledge.
The injury had been bandaged.
Little more.
There had been no proper cleaning and almost no care taken to prevent infection.
Chopper had been forced to start over.
Vivi stood beside him.
"How bad is it?"
Sweat covered Chopper’s face.
Treating anyone in the middle of the desert was difficult.
For a reindeer already suffering from the heat, it was miserable.
The rock protected him from direct sunlight, but not the temperature.
Still, his hands remained steady.
"The blade pierced his abdomen."
Vivi tensed.
Chopper continued,
"But he’s lucky."
"He’s physically strong, and nothing vital was badly damaged."
Vivi released the breath she had been holding.
"With enough rest, he should recover."
"How long?"
"Maybe a month or two before he’s fully recovered."
The pressure in Vivi’s chest finally eased.
Then she looked at Koza’s unconscious face.
"When will he wake up?"
Chopper shook his head.
"That’s harder to tell."
Wapol stood nearby picking his nose.
"What a hassle."
Everyone looked toward him.
"If my Isshi-20 were here, this would’ve been finished ages ago."
Chopper lowered his head.
To Wapol’s surprise, he did not argue.
"I know."
"My medical skills still aren’t good enough."
Wapol blinked.
He had clearly expected an angry response.
None came.
And irritatingly, Chopper was not entirely wrong.
Axel had brought medical records and treatment methods from Drum Island.
Chopper had studied them.
So had Kureha.
The Isshi-20 were highly specialized physicians.
They might not surpass Kureha in every area of medicine, but their surgical expertise was extraordinary. Even Kureha had acknowledged that several of their techniques surpassed her own knowledge, and she had referenced their methods while treating Axel.
Chopper knew exactly how much he still had to learn.
Wapol stared at him for a second.
Then lost interest.
"Tch."
He wandered over to a nearby rock.
Crunch.
And began eating it.
Axel licked his dry lips.
"This creates another problem."
Vivi looked at him.
"Water."
He glanced at their supplies.
"We already have limited water."
"Now there’s another person drinking it."
His gaze shifted toward Koza.
"And you just removed the leader of the Rebel Army from his own camp."
Vivi’s expression tightened.
Axel continued,
"Someone with the right intentions can turn that into anything they want."
"Kidnapping."
"An assassination attempt."
"An excuse to march on the capital."
Vivi remained silent.
She knew he was right.
Then she looked toward Koza.
"But we couldn’t leave him there."
Her voice became firm.
"Chopper already said his treatment wasn’t safe."
"And after what happened, I don’t know who inside the Rebel Army can be trusted."
She lowered her gaze.
"Whether for Alabasta..."
"Or because Koza is my friend..."
"I had to bring him with us."
....
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