The group split up tactically, with Vivi, Nami, and Sanji, along with Chopper, heading off on their own path, and Luffy, Zoro, and Usopp joining Kael on theirs, both routes meant to reach the city of Rainbase.
Kael hadn’t argued against the decision.
Even before the split, he had known it was the type of pressure the country required to bring the necessary facts into light.
And so, he kept part of his Sage Mode trained on Nami at all times.
He hadn’t said so to her, to anyone else, but right from the minute he saw her step away from the port with the rest of the group, his Sage Mode had started tracking her and hadn’t stopped.
Now, anywhere in the desert country, if Nami were in trouble, he would know it before the cry left her lips.
It wasn’t merely tactical.
And yet, in this case, it truly was.
Rainbase was a gambling town in the middle of the desert, Crocodile owning everything worth owning within fifty miles of the location.
The Rain Dinners, the tower in the middle, the hotel where the Rainbase leader lived, and where he sometimes took people that he wanted dead, was a place, Kael read from as far away as twenty miles, where the chakra field of every shade and color folded inward.
The building alone was a trap without anyone having been harmed within.
Kael noticed the fact and adjusted his strategy accordingly.
They reached Rainbase later in the day.
Sun blazing overhead as if trying to bake life out of existence, Rainbase seemed to be a place made for people coming from afar with ill intentions.
He let Luffy lead the way.
Kael recognized the fact that Luffy was more focused now, not because he was more serious but because, somehow, he had sensed the seriousness and honed his focus precisely for the task.
Crocodile greeted Luffy in the Rain Dinners’ lobby.
Their encounter lasted for several seconds—until the moment when Crocodile realized who they were, and then, of course, until their battle started.
Crocodile had expected them to arrive and had set the whole confrontation up.
Leaning on the counter with a cigar in his mouth, the look of a victorious man enjoying playing with his prey, Crocodile awaited their arrival.
Kael watched Crocodile from Luffy’s side and slightly behind him since they reached the building’s entrance.
He’d observed Crocodile since crossing the borders of the desert country and, as a result, knew everything about the Logia-type Devil Fruit the man possessed, a sand-type one.
Kael had gathered enough knowledge about the man to know exactly where to position the orbs to help Luffy.
But he didn’t send them there.
Instead, he positioned himself beside Luffy and waited for his turn to talk.
For what lay ahead was Luffy’s fight and, therefore, he must understand what he was getting into.
At least this much of the plan Kael knew for sure—he should serve as Luffy’s protection but not fight.
Crocodile opened the conversation in the lobby.
Luffy responded.
Then the words started to fly quickly, and, in no time at all, Luffy was ready to start fighting.
Their clash began.
At first, things went poorly for Luffy.
Not surprisingly so since Crocodile was fighting in accordance with how all Logias fought—dissolving and reforming the body upon impact.
Luffy’s punches went right through Crocodile, but the latter’s hand on Luffy’s neck was not empty and indicated the moment when Crocodile activated his ability to extract moisture from anything it touches.
Luffy paled almost immediately as his skin began to shrink.
Their fight, just a few punches away, reached the border of mortality.
Kael sent one orb toward Crocodile.
The orb floated up, behind Luffy’s back, and entered the area where Crocodile was touching Luffy’s throat.
The gap was no more than two inches wide.
Orb was small enough to get into the narrow space without brushing against the participants of the fight.
Crocodile’s touch was met with the chakra field of the orb and, therefore, was negated in the precise moment when it occurred.
Thus, giving Luffy a split-second to recover, the Straw Hat’s captain dropped and rolled under Crocodile’s next blow.
Getting on his feet behind a pillar, the latter managed to breathe for the first time in several minutes.
Crocodile stared at his hand.
Then looked at Luffy and finally rested his gaze on Kael.
He needed no explanation as to the fact that Crocodile had just learned something new about Kael.
The look the man threw him showed all of that—the realization of being in front of someone with the ability to negate Crocodile’s Devil Fruit.
There was no fear, however, only surprise.
“And you are.”
“Kael.”
“What was that.”
“A simple correction.”
“To what.”
“To your desire to kill him so soon.
He hasn’t earned the death yet, neither do you.”
Crocodile pondered this for a few seconds.
The cigar flickered in the corner of his mouth.
“You’re not going to fight me.”
“I’m not going to fight him for you, no.”
Crocodile chuckled in response.
It wasn’t a friendly sound—only an indication of the fact that, for now, he was focusing on the greater enemy.
He turned his gaze back to Luffy.
The fight continued.
Kael remained passive, standing by the pillar and letting them continue the fight.
In this case, his role was clear—he needed to protect Luffy without interfering in the fight.
Luffy couldn’t land any hits, while Crocodile seemed bored with Luffy and opted for taking him to the Rain Dinners’ basement where he put Luffy in a cage reinforced with sea stone so that the Straw Hat’s captain wouldn’t be able to break through.
And while the captain was in the cage, Crocodile ordered Mr.
2 to deliver Sanji, Nami, Vivi, and Chopper there.
Soon, Luffy found himself trapped in a cage submerged under three feet of water.
Kael who’d been trying to act as if he was under Crocodile’s control all along, found himself in the same cage surrounded by members of the crew.
He raised his hands.
The sea stone that surrounded them was useful solely due to the fact that it prevented Luffy from leaving.
Kael’s chakra field was unaffected, and he was prepared to deal with the situation.
He lifted his hand, and the Truth-Seeking Orbs in his chakra circle started spinning more rapidly.
One of the orbs left the rotation, drifted through the air, and touched the sea stone at the corner of the cage.
The bars there disappeared in an instant.
The crew had no time to be amazed by that.
Luffy was the first to get out since he was Luffy and, as usual, acted faster than everyone else.
Sanji carried Nami over the hole, while Usopp pulled Kael.
Chopper swam, and, finally, Vivi appeared at Luffy’s shoulder ready to leave the place.
They got out of the cage, left the basement, exited the casino and watched from the outside as Crocodile activated a self-destruct mechanism in the building.
The orb returned to Kael’s circle.
The crew left the place and headed for the higher streets of Rainbase city.
Vivi stopped for a second at the bottom of the stairs.
Half-furious, half-amazed, she looked at Kael who didn’t stop.
“What do you mean, you could’ve done that at any time?”
“Just so.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Luffy needed the fight.
He didn’t need to end it.
He needed to live it through.”
She nodded sharply at those words and took off upstairs.
Kael watched her go and started moving toward the entrance, extending his Sage Mode across the entire country as he did so.
Yuba army, the rebellion forces, and even Crocodile’s forces—they all moved as the former prepared for the confrontation.
The confrontation planned by Crocodile was meant to happen in Alubarna at a certain time, and the missing piece of the plan—the bomb that Crocodile wanted to plant there—started appearing in the chakra field.
Kael passed Vivi at the stairway and sped forward, his pace increasing as he started to see that something was about to happen.
“Reach Alubarna,” he shouted at Vivi’s retreating back.
“I’ll see you in the plaza.”
She didn’t even ask him what he meant, but only ran forward.
Kael rushed after her, knowing that, first, he had a longer path than she did and that, secondly, he needed to make it across the entire country before reaching Alubarna.
And there, somewhere in the streets, he needed to find the bomb and destroy it.
He moved as fast as his body allowed him.
The sun burned overhead.
Desert was flying by.
But he knew where he was heading for.
And so, he reached the goal just in time.