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Explorer, on deck.
"Vivi."
Hearing the footsteps behind him, Ikki turned back and glanced at Vivi, who had already changed out of her workout clothes.
"Captain Ikki..." Vivi nodded and stood next to him.
Looking at her familiar homeland getting closer, even though Vivi's expression was slightly calm, her mood grew more and more excited.
'It's finally here,' she thought. 'My current strength should be enough to prevent civil strife in Alabasta.' Vivi placed her hands on Sode no Shirayuki at her waist and felt her heartbeat quickening.
Ikki saw Vivi's nervousness, raised his hand and patted her shoulder, giving her a big smile.
Seeing Ikki's smile made Vivi feel at ease. 'Yeah, this time I'm not alone. There's Nami, Nojiko, and Captain Ikki is here too.' Thinking of this, a smile gradually appeared on her face.
"Robin, what about the other senior agents of Baroque Works?" Ikki asked, seeing Vivi calm down. He turned to look at Nico Robin, who was standing quietly aside.
"Don't worry, Mr. Ikki," Robin replied. "Since I promised you, in order to see the Poneglyph, I will abide by our agreement. I have used the Den Den Mushi to contact all of Baroque Works' senior agents. They'll meet at the Spider's Café not far from Alabasta's. At that time, Captain Ikki can capture them all at once."
"In addition," she continued, "I received news from Baroque Works members hiding among the Alabasta rebels. The rebels are now heading to Katorea across the Alabasta Canal due to issues with purchasing weapons and supplies. If we go to Katorea now, we might meet Princess Vivi's childhood friend."
Robin took out a simple map of Alabasta from her pocket and showed it to everyone.
Vivi's eyes lit up when she heard that Koza, the rebel leader, was in Katorea.
"Mr. Ikki, our current location is relatively close to the Spider's Café. Should we go there now, or head somewhere else?" Robin pointed to a corner of the Alabasta map and asked Ikki.
"Since we're close to the Spider's Café, let's go there first and catch them all," Ikki said, pointing to the café on the map. "I remember you said that among the senior agents of Baroque Works, Mr. 2 can use his ability to transform into King Cobra. If we let that guy wander around, he might create a bad image for the royal family of Alabasta. What do you think, Vivi?"
After witnessing Nami, Nojiko, and Vivi quickly awakening their Primary Armament Haki, Robin had made her final decision. She would fully cooperate with Ikki to increase the chances he would honor their agreement in the end. Therefore, she had already informed him about the appearance and abilities of all the senior agents.
When Vivi heard the code name Mr. 2, she clenched her fists involuntarily. After learning about Mr. 2's ability, she understood why many citizens in Alabasta claimed to have seen her father do terrible things with their own eyes.
"Captain Ikki, I will follow your orders." Although she wanted to see Koza as soon as possible, Vivi understood that following Ikki's orders now would help solve Alabasta's problems better.
"Very good." Ikki turned to look at Igaram.
Without Ikki saying anything, Igaram turned the rudder directly, increased the sailing speed, and headed straight for the coast nearest to the Spider's Café indicated on the map.
About twenty minutes later, under Robin's guidance, the Explorer avoided all the Baroque Works ships and docked smoothly on the coast closest to the Spider's Café.
"Vivi, Robin, Nojiko, come with me," Ikki said as he jumped from the deck to the shore. He looked back up at the ship and added, "Nami, Igaram, please wait on the boat for now. After we deal with the senior agents in the Spider's Café, Vivi and Nojiko will return here."
The two nodded, having no objections to Ikki's plan.
After a few more words of explanation, Ikki, Nojiko, Vivi, and Robin headed straight toward the back of the Spider's Café.
Meanwhile, at the Spider's Café, several senior agents were gathering together.
Squeak!
With the sound of the door opening, a tall man walked in.
"You're late, Mr. 1. Do you know how long we've been waiting?" A man dressed flamboyantly in a swan dance costume looked at the newcomer.
"I had a task to complete, so I'm a little late, Mr. 2," Mr. 1 replied casually, turning to look at the others in the café. "It seems all the senior agents of Baroque Works have arrived except Mr. 4 and Miss Merry Christmas. I wonder what Miss All Sunday wanted when she asked us to gather today."
As Mr. 1 spoke, he casually found a place to sit down.
"Hehehe, Mr. 4 and Miss Merry Christmas won't be coming," said the girl wearing an orange skirt and holding an umbrella. "Mr. 1, didn't Miss All Sunday tell you? Those two have been killed. They're really gone."
"Really? How useless," Mr. 1 replied, casually glancing at Miss Valentine who was speaking and her partner Mr. 5 sitting next to her.
"It's not just Mr. 4 and Miss Merry Christmas who are absent," said Mr. 3, who had the number '3' braided into his hair. He looked over with a glass of wine in hand, his tone revealing strange confidence. "Mr. 1, didn't your partner Miss Doublefinger also not show up? It's past the agreed time."
"No, she's already here," Mr. 1 said casually.
"Here? Where?" Mr. 2 stood up and looked around the Spider's Café with curiosity. "Come to think of it, I've never seen her before."
"No need to look, Mr. 2." Paula, the female owner of the Spider's Café, untied the headscarf on her head and took off her coat. With a charming smile, she said, "Miss Doublefinger is my code name."
Everyone in the café, except Mr. 1, looked over in surprise.
"What? You're Miss Doublefinger? Mr. 1's partner?" Mr. 5, who was drinking coffee, widened his eyes and almost spit it out.
It was no wonder the senior agents were surprised. They were quite familiar with Paula, the café owner. Naturally, they were shocked when a familiar woman suddenly revealed herself as Miss Doublefinger.
"She's right. The owner of the Spider's Café is indeed Mr. 1's partner, Miss Doublefinger!" At that moment, a voice very familiar to the Baroque Works agents came from outside the café door.
Everyone turned to see Nico Robin walking in with her hands in her pockets.
"Miss All Sunday, you're here," Mr. 3 put down his wine glass and adjusted his glasses. "Is there something important from Mr. 0 that brings us all together?"
"There is something very important indeed," Robin smiled. "It's just that it's not Mr. 0's business." She turned to look toward the door.
"Not Mr. 0's business?" Everyone looked confused and followed Robin's gaze.
Vivi walked into the café first, followed closely by Ikki and Nojiko.
"Is that... Miss Wednesday?" Mr. 5 stood up and looked at Vivi with surprise. "What's going on, Miss All Sunday? Isn't this woman supposed to be dead?"
Once, the mission to assassinate Vivi had been assigned to him and Miss Valentine. However, since they never encountered Vivi and Igaram, the task was reassigned to others. When Mr. 5 heard that Mr. 4 and Miss Merry Christmas had died trying to eliminate Vivi, he couldn't help feeling lucky that he and his partner hadn't encountered her first. Otherwise, they might have been the ones who died.
"Miss All Sunday, have you deceived Mr. 0?" Mr. 1 frowned. Although Robin normally conveyed Crocodile's orders to senior agents like them, this didn't mean Crocodile never contacted them directly. A few days ago, he had received an order from Mr. 0 to hunt down Vivi, followed by another order to cancel the hunt because Vivi had allegedly been killed by Miss All Sunday.
"Yes, I did deceive him," Robin nodded and admitted generously.
When everyone heard this, they became even more confused.
"Miss All Sunday betraying the boss is a serious matter," Mr. 3 frowned, considering the implications. "After all, except for Miss All Sunday, none of us know what Mr. 0 looks like."
"I don't think you need to worry about that anymore," Robin chuckled. "After all, you're all going to be defeated here."
"Defeat us? Just you? Or those few people behind you?" Mr. 1 stamped his foot on the ground and directly used his Devil Fruit ability to turn his hands into long blades, slashing toward Robin.