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Alabasta, the most famous country in the first half of the Grand Line.

The place where one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, Kain Pent, resides—it's considered one of the most affluent nations outside the Holy Land of Mariejois. 

It's also one of the few safe havens in the world. Everyone in Alabasta knows that their guardian, Kain Pent, absolutely detests pirates. He commands a team of powerful ability users who specialize in hunting them down.

Thanks to their efforts, even several neighboring countries enjoy a much safer existence. Upon hearing of this, those nearby nations can't help but envy Alabasta.

The people living here are likely the wealthiest civilians in the first half of the Grand Line, honored and backed by the prestigious Kain Chamber of Commerce.

In just two years, Alabasta has undergone a dramatic transformation. Once known as the kingdom of sand, now over 60% of the land has become a lush oasis. 

Wide roads connect major cities, and even two massive towers—each 20 meters wide—have been built across the Sandora River, serving as bridges.

During the Shichibukai War, the Kain Chamber of Commerce captured thousands of pirates. While the strongest were taken for other purposes, even the remaining pirates weren't weak. They were put to work: building roads, bridges, and more.

Their reward? A single meal a day.

Four minutes of hard labor wouldn't kill anyone—and even if it did, their bodies could still be exchanged for bounties. The Kain Chamber of Commerce ran this system for half a year before the nearby Marine branch couldn't bear it any longer.

Alabasta officially documented these pirates and reclassified them as slaves.

There are over 6,000 pirates currently in Alabasta. The Krieg Pirates alone number 5,000. If all their corpses were exchanged for money, Marine Headquarters would be in serious trouble.

After the Marines refused to acknowledge the identities of these pirates, the Kain Chamber of Commerce begrudgingly increased their food rations from 40% full to 60%. Even so, some pirates still couldn't endure and died.

But the dead hold no further value—and with Kain absent, not even the person overseeing the experiment was around to intervene.

"That Ah Jin from earlier is really a good guy. Hey, Vivi, Nami, when are we going to find Vivi? She still owes me a meal!"

Luffy was drooling at the thought, his eyes literally turning into roasted meat.

But Nami immediately punched him into the ground and yanked his rubbery face in frustration.

"Idiot! After what you just pulled, you still want to go find Vivi? She's the princess of this country—and a professional pirate hunter!"

"Hey, Kesu... Vivi's four powerful swords..."

Luffy's mouth stretched as he tried to get the words out, but it was hard. A good man keeps his promises, especially when a meal is involved.

As for releasing Ah Jin earlier, Luffy saw no problem. Ah Jin had been kind to them when they first arrived—gave them advice, didn't try to steal their food. To Luffy, that made him a good guy.

Zoro knocked Luffy on the head with the back of his blade, sighing.

"Luffy, you stirred up trouble in Vivi's country. We might be wanted already. There's no time to go looking for dinner with her."

Even he understood how serious it was to free a pirate like Ah Jin. But when he saw Luffy's resolve, he chose not to interfere. It was the captain's call, after all.

"What?! You bastard! It's all your fault I didn't get to see Vivi!"

Sanji exploded, grabbing Luffy and shaking him furiously. To think such a beautiful and heroic lady was here in Alabasta, and he missed the chance to see her—it broke Sanji's heart.

Boom! Boom!

Nami's fists rained down in fury.

"Cut it out! We might already have bounties on our heads!"

" Nami, don't worry so much."

Usopp looked calm and smug, nose in the air.

"When Luffy let Ah Jin go, I had my sniper eyes on the scene. No one around saw a thing. Maybe Alabasta hasn't even noticed. We're good for now."

He turned proudly to Nami.

"By the way, that ultra-long-range sniper rifle you promised me—it's finally here."

Nami smiled, visibly relieved.

"Really? Then I guess I can relax a little."

Before Nami could finish speaking, a group of Alabasta guard soldiers suddenly ran over, shouting in a hurry:

"Hey! Why did you suddenly issue a summoning order?"

"Don't even mention it! Some bastard in a straw hat released a pirate slave—then that slave freed a bunch more. They might've released all the slaves!"

An uninformed guard cursed angrily, "Who the hell would do that? Who's bold enough to release Lord pent's slaves?!"

"A straw hat, three swords, a long nose, and a woman."

As the voices faded into the distance, Nami, who was turned away applying gauze to her back, nearly burst into tears.

So they saw everything!

Boom!

Usopp and Luffy were punched again—one for talking big, the other for being careless.

"Listen," Nami said urgently, "we need to find Sanji and Chopper, restock supplies, and get out of here—fast. If we stay, we'll all be captured."

After hearing her, Zoro tilted his head toward Sanji and said, "Hey, cook. Buy more wine."

"Oh, three-swords? I only buy cooking wine."

Zoro and Sanji stared each other down, their faces almost touching.

"What did you say?! Don't you know wine is a swordsman's lifeblood?!"

"And cooking wine is a chef's soul! Do you want to eat low-quality food?!"

Boom!

A furious Nami decked both of them.

"Is this really the time for that? You two are still arguing?!"

Despite the ridiculous exchange, the group understood how dire their situation was. The meal Vivi promised was now impossible. At this point, even seeing her again was out of the question. Their idiot captain had messed up—big time.

Alabasta was a tolerant country, but ever since the incidents with lock's and Doflamingo two years ago, its goodwill toward pirates had vanished.

Luffy, Nami, and the others still had the port pass Vivi had given them, which allowed them to anchor nearby. 

Originally, they planned to stay in Alabasta for a while—but now, they could only restock and leave. Luckily, no one mentioned Sanji or Chopper, so they might still be able to buy what they need without suspicion.

"Pirate riot? How did they remove the handcuffs?"

King Cobra asked urgently after receiving the news. He wasn't too worried about the civilians, though—two years ago, on Kain's advice, he had dispersed the 600,000-strong national army into various cities, and most units were now equipped with modern firearms.

Only Rainland City lacked a standing garrison—it was home to the Kain Chamber of Commerce's headquarters, which had its own private forces.

Cobra's main concern was that those reckless pirate slaves might disturb the business environment in Rainland. If they did, and Mr. Kain returned to find the city in chaos, Cobra would have a lot of explaining to do.

Igram reported everything he had learned, including the identity of the one who released the pirates.

"What?! Igram, did you say the one who freed them was wearing a straw hat? Could it be… this guy?"

Princess Vivi, startled by Igram's words, pulled out the wanted poster for Luffy she had saved earlier and showed it to him.

Over the past two years, Vivi had been earning money by catching pirates—but influenced by Kain, she always conducted thorough investigations before making arrests.

 After meeting Luffy and his crew in the Drum Kingdom and fighting them briefly, she realized she couldn't bring herself to treat them as enemies. Luckily, Luffy couldn't do much to her either, thanks to her advanced energy-based combat gear.

Later, Vivi received information about the Straw Hats from the Kain Chamber of Commerce's intelligence division. It confirmed they had no criminal records and were decent people. Based on that, she issued them an Alabasta pass.

She never expected that Luffy and his crew would end up disturbing the peace in Alabasta!

"Princess Vivi, I'm not completely sure. The Kain Chamber of Commerce hasn't sent any recent images yet," Igram replied.

Just then, a guard burst in from outside, holding something in hand.

"Your Majesty! We've received the surveillance photo from the Kain Chamber of Commerce. This is the one wearing the straw hat!"

Before the guard could finish speaking, Vivi snatched the photo from his hand. Seeing that it was really them, her expression twisted in anger. Biting her lip, she growled, "It's really you... those Straw Hat bastards!!"

"Father, leave this matter to me," Vivi declared loudly, then turned and ran out of the palace.

If she could capture the entire crew, she'd earn enough money to upgrade her armor—then she'd finally be ready to head to the New World and hunt down pirates herself.

…

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