Silence wrapped the plaza in a blanket of dust and ruin.
Fragments of shattered tile crunched under shifting feet. The wind whispered through the skeletal remnants of crumbling stone columns, and the acrid scent of scorched sand clung to the air like smoke after a fire. The chaos of battle had passed, but its weight lingered.
Vivi moved through the wreckage quickly, her hands trembling as they checked Sanji's bruised arm, Usopp's grazed temple, Zoro's shallow cuts. Her voice was soft and cracked as she asked if they were okay, but a thread of relief stitched through her concern when each of them nodded or groaned in the affirmative.
"Thank goodness…" she exhaled, sinking to her knees for a moment, fingers pressed into the sand.
Sanji leaned against a fractured wall, cigarette perched between his lips. He inhaled deeply, eyes half-lidded with exhaustion. "It's always the big ones that take the longest to drop."
Usopp lay sprawled in the sand, one arm draped dramatically over his forehead. "I think I saw my life flash by. It was short. But majestic."
Zoro grunted and cracked his neck. "You fainted again, didn't you?"
"I did not!" Usopp shot up with exaggerated offense. "I was just strategically retreating—horizontally."
That's when Nami's voice echoed from behind a broken column. "You guys look like you got stomped by a Sea King."
She stepped forward, her orange hair wind-swept, eyes wide as she took in the crater, the unconscious Baroque Works agents, and the team's bruised, dust-caked state.
"What happened here?" she asked, stepping closer.
Sanji, with a faint smile, motioned toward the crater. "Teamwork."
But Luffy wasn't part of the reunion. He stood several paces away, his arms crossed, his eyes narrowed at the dunes on the horizon. His shadow, long under the harsh afternoon sun, flickered unnaturally—as if responding to something unseen.
Something was coming.
They all felt it.
It began as a shimmer in the heat waves—like a mirage walking upright.
A figure emerged through the wavering air, her pace unhurried, her silhouette framed by the gleam of the sun behind her. A wide-brimmed hat shadowed her eyes, and her cloak billowed behind her, catching the wind with each step.
Zoro stepped forward immediately, hand twitching near his blade.
"Who the hell is that?"
The figure stopped.
A gust of wind pushed aside the last veil of dust.
She pulled her hood back.
"I see you've been busy," said the woman in a voice as smooth as glass on stone.
Vivi's breath caught. Her eyes widened in recognition. "That voice…"
Sanji's cigarette slipped slightly between his fingers. "Miss All Sunday…"
"Nico Robin," she corrected gently. "Or whichever name you prefer."
Her eyes swept across the group, calm and unafraid. She paused briefly on Luffy, lips curling slightly in amusement.
"You defeated Mr. 4. Very impressive."
Zoro's fingers wrapped tighter around his sword hilt. "You here to fight?"
Robin shook her head.
"No," she said, her tone cool and deliberate. "Just here to deliver a message."
From within her cloak, she drew a folded piece of paper. With a flick of her wrist, she tossed it through the air. The map spiraled once, catching the wind, then landed lightly at Luffy's feet.
He didn't move.
Zoro growled. "Don't touch that, Luffy."
But Luffy didn't hesitate. He bent down and picked it up, slowly unfolding the parchment. The red ink on the old map circled a name: Rainbase.
Robin's gaze drifted toward Vivi.
"Crocodile is waiting. He thought you might want an invitation."
Vivi stepped forward, fists clenched, eyes blazing. "Why?! Why is he doing this to Alabasta?"
Robin's smile returned, though it didn't reach her eyes.
"Because there's more buried in this kingdom than just a throne."
Luffy's fingers clenched the map tighter.
[SYSTEM UPDATE: ANCIENT COORDINATES FLAGGED – CLASSIFIED]
Only Luffy saw the text flicker across the corner of his vision. The quiet hum in his chest returned, the same pulse he'd felt back in Arlong Park when the Shadow System had fully awakened.
Robin's eyes narrowed slightly. She had noticed something—perhaps in the way his shadow subtly swirled behind him, or the way his gaze hardened.
"You're not like the others," she said quietly. "There's something watching with you."
"What are you talking about?" Vivi demanded.
Robin ignored her.
Zoro took a step forward, tone sharp. "Say what you came to say and leave."
Robin met his gaze without flinching. "When the time comes, you'll all see it for yourselves."
She turned away, her cloak trailing behind her like a wave of midnight.
As she walked back into the shimmering heat, her voice drifted over her shoulder like the last whisper of a dying fire.
"I look forward to seeing what the Shadow will choose."
Then she vanished behind the nearest dune, her form swallowed by the swirling desert wind.
No one moved.
The map in Luffy's hand fluttered again, tugged by the breeze.
He didn't let it go.
His shadow shifted quietly behind him—no longer flickering.
But waiting.
[End of Chapter 128]
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