In One Piece, as Hashirama Senju

11: The Baroque Work

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Chapter 11: The Baroque Work

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[A few hours ago]

Vivi's group reached Yuba almost half a day after they set out, so it was evening now and the hot atmosphere was calming down rapidly.

However, neither of the three people felt at ease even with the temperature dropping. Standing on the peak of a sand hill, Vivi and Pell were sweating coldly.

However, the sight in front of them seemed to bother them more than the sweating.

"How is this possible..."

Vivi's eyes couldn't believe the scene ahead.

Yuba had been a prosperous city, originally built a few years ago with the purpose of acting as an intersection for the towns and villages of western Alabasta. Since its creation three years ago, it has been an oasis of a place.

But now?

Huge trees that were the base of this city were broken in half, resting on broken rooftops of the more broken houses– houses that were empty by now. A sandstorm had reportedly hit this place, and the team of three could still see sand softly blowing around the place.

"I thought they were exaggerating..." Pell gulped at the scene. "We should inform His Highness first, then do whatever he tells us to do."

Mr. Toto was the mayor of this region, and he had gone to King Cobra a few days ago to inform him about this incident. Many people had died, and all had lost their homes. Cobra was very busy due to some other political things at the moment, so he handed the job over to Vivi, who was to be accompanied by Pell and Hashirama just in case.

Hashirama wasn't only here to accompany Vivi, however, as he was to try and fix the problem of the fallen trees, if possible.

Hashirama– the Wood Clone –watched the scene with a different reaction than the other two. Contrary to their simple fright and pity at the scene, Hashirama was frowning, annoyance and anger flowing through his chest.

He had spent nights in this city, building everything from scratch. So to see it crumble down like this, he felt something irk into his soul. It didn't help that he knew this wasn't a natural disaster, of course.

All of this was the doings of Sir Crocodile.

He was finally making his moves. But why now? It could be that he had reached the limits of his patience, but Hashirama sensed something else.

Was it his sister's departure?

Tsunade had shared the information that she would leave Alabasta to the King and Queen a few weeks ago, and the Royals had made countless preparations for her departure– since Tsunade was quite an important figure in this country, especially to the Royal family.

But of course, these 'preparations' couldn't be completed without more people, people who may have been working for Crocodile.

Was that why Crocodile made this calculated move?

Besides that, however, there may be someone else involved in this.

'Nico Robin.'

Hashirama recalled the Devil Child.

'She should have joined Crocodile 4 years before the start of the canon timeline. Currently, three years remain. She's been with him for a year by now, she probably made this plan for Crocodile to act on.'