The wind howled through the skeletal remains of the Rain Dinners casino. What had once been a pristine pyramid of avarice and vice was now a broken shell, its innards exposed to the cold desert night. The primary threat, Sir Crocodile, was safely tucked away in Ben's suitcase, and the Officer Agents were enjoying a similar, albeit cramped, accommodation.
The crew stood outside the entrance, ready to leave. Or at least, most of them were.
Ben adjusted his collar, looking up at the roof of the casino. Or rather, what was left of the roof. Perched precariously on the apex of the structure was the casino's crowning jewel: a gargantuan, solid gold statue of a Bananagator—the symbol of Crocodile's dominance. It glinted under the moonlight, massive, tacky, and undeniably valuable.
"Ben," Nami's voice was low, trembling with a mixture of lust and menace. She was tugging on the sleeve of his trench coat. "Ben, look at it."
"I see it, Nami," Ben sighed, already knowing where this was going. "It's a very large, very tacky statue."
"It's solid gold, Ben," Nami whispered, her eyes physically throbbing with Belli symbols. "Do you know how much gold is in that? That's not just a statue. That's a retirement plan. That's a small island. That's... that's beautiful."
"Nami, we have the contents of the treasury," Ben reasoned, gesturing to the magical pouch hanging at her hip. "We have millions. That thing weighs at least twenty tons. It's structural damage waiting to happen."
Nami turned to him, clutching his lapels with surprising strength. "Ben. We are pirates. We don't leave our loot behind. If we leave it there, the Marines will take it! Do you want the Marines to have my gold? Do you want Smoker to buy a new bike with our funds?"
Ben looked at the desperate hunger in her eyes. He looked at the massive crocodile statue. He looked at the rest of the crew. Luffy was picking his nose. Usopp was trying to calculate the weight. Sanji was swooning over Nami's fiscal passion.
"Fine," Ben relented.
"Yesl!" Nami shrieked, holding open the magical pouch. "Put it in! Put it in now!"
Ben raised his wand. He aimed it at the roof of the pyramid.
"Wingardium Leviosa."
A hum of magic vibrated through the air. The twenty-ton golden reptile shuddered. Then, with a groan of metal and stone, it lifted. The statue floated gracefully into the air, hovering like a golden cloud.
Ben flicked his wrist. The massive object drifted downward, shrinking rapidly as it approached the mouth of the pouch due to the extension charm's proximity field.
Zip.
The giant crocodile vanished into the small velvet bag.
Nami immediately cinched the drawstring tight. She hugged the pouch to her chest, nuzzling it with her cheek, letting out a giddy, high-pitched giggle that was both adorable and slightly terrifying.
"I love you, gold-chan. You're safe with Mama now."
"She's lost it," Usopp whispered to Sanji.
"She's found paradise," Sanji corrected, heart-eyes pulsing.
"Alright," Ben clapped his hands, breaking the trance. "We have the villain. We have the loot. We have the food. The rebellion is still raging in Alubarna, and there's a massive bomb ticking down. We need to move."
Luffy punched his palm. "Right! Let's go kick some more butt! To Alubarna!"
The crew gathered their things, ready to march. Ben did a quick headcount.
One, two, three, four, five...
Ben stopped. He frowned. He looked left. He looked right.
"Where is Zoro?"
The question hung in the cold night air.
The crew froze. They slowly turned their heads to scan the surrounding desert.
Silence.
Just the whistling wind and the chirping of crickets.
"Oh, come on!" Usopp threw his hands in the air. "Again?! We were all standing right here! How does he do it?!"
"He was right next to me when I was eating the bento," Luffy said, scratching his head. "I blinked and he was gone. I thought he went to the bathroom."
"The desert is a bathroom, Luffy!" Sanji yelled. "You don't need to walk away to find a toilet! That moss-head probably saw a tumbleweed and decided to duel it!"
"This is bad," Nami said, clutching her gold.
Ben pinched the bridge of his nose. "I should have put a leash on him. Or a bell."
He reached up to his wrist and tapped the Kimoyo Beads.
"Merry," Ben said, his voice calm but authoritative. "Locate Roronoa Zoro."
The beads hummed. A soft, holographic light projected from the necklace, forming the avatar of a small, cheerful girl—the spirit of the Going Merry.
"Aye aye, Ben!" Merry's voice chimed, cheerful and robotic. "Scanning biometric signature... Roronoa Zoro located."
"Display map," Ben ordered.
A holographic map of the Alabasta desert materialized in the air in front of the crew. It showed Rainbase, Alubarna, and the vast dunes in between.
A glowing green dot represented Zoro.
Nami leaned in, squinting. "What is he doing?"
The green dot wasn't moving in a straight line. It wasn't even moving in a logical curve.
Zoro was walking in a perfect, tight spiral. He would walk ten paces North, stop, turn West, walk ten paces, turn South, and repeat, slowly drifting further and further away from any known landmark.
"He's... he's walking in circles," Usopp said, dumbfounded. "He's literally creating a crop circle in the sand."
"Connect me," Ben groaned.
Merry chirped. "Establishing visual link."
The hologram shifted. The map shrank to the corner, and a live video feed appeared in the air.
It showed Zoro. He was tramping through the sand, looking furious. He was shivering slightly from the cold, his arms crossed, his swords clanking against his hip.
"Zoro," Ben said.
In the hologram, Zoro stopped. He looked around wildly, hand going to his sword hilt. "Who's there?! Show yourself, ghost!"
"It's Ben," Ben said. "Look at your wrist. The bead I gave you."
Zoro looked at his wrist, where a Kimoyo beads was tied into a bracelet. He lifted it up, glaring at the projection of the crew that appeared above it.
"Oh. It's you guys," Zoro grunted. He looked angry. "Where the hell are you?! I've been looking everywhere!"
"WE ARE WHERE YOU LEFT US!" Sanji, Nami, and Usopp screamed in unison.
"Bullshit!" Zoro yelled back at his wrist. "I walked straight! I turned right at the big rock, then I went straight again! You guys moved the casino! I bet it was Ben's magic! Why did you hide the building?!"
Nami's left eye began to twitch violently. A vein popped in her forehead.
"He... he thinks we hid a pyramid," Nami whispered, her voice trembling with suppressed rage. "He thinks we moved a massive stone structure just to prank him."
"Zoro," Ben said, cutting off the impending argument. "Listen to me. We are heading to Alubarna. You are currently walking into the deep desert. If you keep going, you will die of dehydration or stupidity."
"I'm fine!" Zoro insisted, though his teeth chattered. "I just need to find the road!"
"There are no roads, you idiot!" Sanji shouted. "It's a desert!"
"Stay where you are," Ben commanded. "Do not move. Do not walk. Do not try to find a shortcut. Just sit down. We are coming to pick you up."
Zoro huffed, crossing his arms. "Fine. But hurry up. And try not to get lost on your way here."
The video feed cut out.
The crew stood in silence for a solid ten seconds.
Luffy burst out laughing. "Shishishi! He told us not to get lost!"
"I'm going to charge him," Nami declared, her eyes glowing red. "I'm going to charge him a rescue fee. One million berries for every mile we have to travel."
"We don't have time to walk," Ben said, looking at the map. "He's managed to travel twenty miles in the wrong direction in under thirty minutes. His speed is impressive, even if his navigation is tragic."
"Right!" Usopp stepped forward. He cracked his neck.
Rip.
Two magnificent, feathery wings erupted from Usopp's back.
"The Great Tengu Usopp takes flight!" he struck a pose.
Fwoosh.
Then, for Nami, from her back pair of wings erupt. She hovered off the ground, her hair floating as if underwater.
"Let's get this over with," Nami said, checking her compass.
Then Ben pulled a rug from his enchanted pocket.
"Hop on," Ben said.
Ben threw it into the air. It didn't fall. It hovered at waist height, rippling gently.
Ben sat cross-legged on the front. Luffy immediately vaulted onto the back, cheering.
"Magic Carpet! Awesome!"
Sanji stepped onto the carpet, smoothing his suit. "A gentleman travels in style, I suppose."
"Let's move," Ben ordered. "Follow the green dot."
The group launched into the night sky.
Nami and Usopp flanked the carpet, their wings beating against the cold air. Ben steered the carpet through the dunes, banking sharply to follow the erratic path Zoro had taken.
Below them, the desert was a sea of silver and black. The wind whipped past them, but Ben cast a Bubble-Head Charm around the group to block the wind chill and sand.
"Look at the map," Ben pointed. "He's right below us."
They descended. The coordinates on the Kimoyo map were precise. The green dot was pulsing steadily.
They landed on a flat stretch of hard-packed sand, surrounded by jagged rock formations.
"Zoro!" Luffy shouted, jumping off the carpet. "We're here!"
Silence.
The desert was empty.
There was no Zoro. There were no footprints (the wind had likely covered them). There was just sand.
"Where is he?" Nami asked, landing gracefully and retracting her lightning wings. "The map says he's right here."
"Maybe the map is broken?" Sanji suggested, lighting a cigarette.
"Merry is never wrong," Ben said, frowning. He looked at the hologram again.
Target: Roronoa Zoro.
Location: Current Coordinates.
Elevation: -50 meters.
Ben blinked.
"Minus fifty?"
He looked down at his feet.
"He's not lost," Ben realized. "He's buried."
"Buried?!" Usopp shrieked. "Did he die?! Is this his grave?!"
"No," Ben tapped his chin. "His vitals are stable. He's just... underground. How in the name of Merlin did he manage to get fifty meters underground while walking on flat sand?"
"He's Zoro," Sanji exhaled smoke. "The man defies physics."
"Stand back," Ben ordered.
He pointed his wand at the ground directly above the signal.
"Depulso!"
A blast of kinetic energy slammed into the sand. It didn't just scatter the dust; it cracked the bedrock beneath.
The sand drained away like water in a bathtub, revealing a hole. A dark, jagged hole that looked like the roof of a cavern had collapsed—or perhaps had been sliced open.
Ben walked to the edge and peered down. It was pitch black.
"Lumos Maxima."
He flicked a ball of light into the hole. It fell, illuminating the depths.
Down, down, down it went.
Finally, it hit the bottom, revealing a stone floor.
And sitting there, cross-legged, leaning against a pillar, was a green-haired swordsman.
Zoro looked up, squinting at the light.
"Oh," Zoro's voice echoed up from the abyss. "You guys finally came. Took you long enough. I was getting tired of waiting in this lobby."
"LOBBY?!" Nami screamed down the hole. "YOU FELL INTO A HOLE, YOU IDIOT!"
"It's not a hole," Zoro shouted back. "It's a shortcut! I found some stairs!" (There were no stairs).
"Let's go," Ben sighed. "Everyone, jump. I'll slow the fall."
Luffy didn't wait. He dove in headfirst.
Sanji, Nami, and Usopp followed. Ben cast Arresto Momentum on the group as they neared the bottom, allowing them to land as light as feathers.
They touched down on the cold stone floor. The air down here was stale and ancient.
Zoro stood up, dusting off his pants. "About time. I was just about to take a nap."
"Zoro," Ben said, ignoring the swordsman's attitude. He lifted his wand higher, the light expanding to fill the chamber.
For the first time, the crew looked around.
They weren't in a natural cave.
They were standing in a massive, sprawling hall.
Immune columns, carved from solid sandstone, stretched up into the darkness. The walls were covered in intricate reliefs—depictions of kings, battles, and strange creatures. Hieroglyphs covered every inch of surface.
Statues of jackal-headed gods stood guard at massive archways.
It was a ruin. A magnificent, untouched ruin hidden beneath the sands of Alabasta.
"Whoa," Luffy whispered, his voice echoing. "It's a castle!"
"It's not just a castle," Nami said, her eyes widening as she walked up to a wall covered in writing. "These markings... they're ancient. Older than the kingdom above. This is... pre-dynastic Alabasta."
"Why is there a castle underground?" Usopp asked, hiding behind Sanji. "Is it haunted? It feels haunted."
"I told you," Zoro grunted, pointing his thumb behind him. "I was walking, and the ground just... opened. I fell in. I figured this was the basement of the casino."
"The casino is twenty miles that way," Sanji pointed. "You fell into an archeological discovery."
Ben walked toward the center of the hall. He sensed something here. A hum. Not just the hum of history, but the hum of something... powerful.
In the center of the room, half-buried in rubble, was a massive stone slab. It was dark blue, almost black, and etched with square text.