Half an hour.
Not long.
But enough to accomplish many things.
For instance,
The battle between the Straw Hat crew and the top agents of Baroque Works.
Maude held certain expectations.
"Well then..."
Maude set down the custom-made bomb, and with a wave of his hand, a shadow carrying a dirt-yellow cloth bag flew up the staircase, directly into his grasp.
Opening the bag, he found an assortment of different fruits—practically every variety that the shadow clone could scavenge from Alubarna.
"Will there be a surprise?"
Maude gazed at the pile of fruit.
When a Devil Fruit user dies, the "devil" residing in their body immediately detaches, seeking out the nearest suitable fruit as a new vessel.
How likely this process was to occur—
Maude didn't know.
However, he believed that since each Devil Fruit's appearance corresponded to an actual fruit variety, then perhaps matching the vessel fruit to the original Devil Fruit's type might increase the odds of the devil choosing it.
Whether the theory was correct, there was no way to prove it.
But Maude leaned toward his own speculation.
After all, this world had a famous saying he deeply resonated with—
"Any wild fancy of humankind can become reality."
Maude placed the bag of fruit in the corner.
With Law absent, this was the only method he could think of to try his luck.
Bailey reverted to his original form, leaping onto Maude's shoulder and staring fixedly at the bag.
"Don't sneak any."
Maude warned.
Bailey pouted disdainfully. "It's not meat."
Despite his words, he discreetly wiped away a small trickle of drool from his mouth.
Maude caught the gesture and shook his head helplessly.
When he had given the Clear-Clear Fruit to Sunny, Maude had also asked the Revolutionary Army to obtain a Devil Fruit Encyclopedia for him.
If he truly wanted to harvest a batch of Devil Fruits from this incident, his best bet was to prepare corresponding fruits in advance.
With a purely utilitarian shadow clone at his disposal and plenty of time, he decided to gather every type of fruit available in the city.
By the time Perona lazily floated up from the stairwell, Maude had already set up his long rifle behind the clock face.
"Hmm."
Perona glanced at the corpse on the ground before shifting her gaze to Maude's back.
After a moment's thought, she sat herself on a wooden shelf against the wall.
Without Observation Haki like Maude, she didn't even have the right to join in the excitement.
Besides, if Maude needed her to do something, he would naturally give the order.
Comforted by this reasoning, Perona settled in for a nap.
Behind the clock face, Maude peered through a sniper hole made earlier by Mr. 7 and Miss Father's Day, observing the square below.
The view was clear—
But to Maude, it meant nothing.
What he cared about was the battle between the Straw Hat Pirates and Baroque Works.
"Should I go outside?"
"Forget it, too conspicuous."
Abandoning the thought, his eyes glinted red as he activated Observation Haki.
Invisible waves rippled outward, encompassing every presence within range.
"Oh?"
Ignoring the countless signatures in the square, Maude detected scattered pairs of combatants across different streets throughout the city.
Clear humanoid outlines formed in his mind, depicting the stand-offs between the Straw Hats and Baroque Works agents.
A faint smile played at Maude's lips as his awareness hovered like a vast eye over Alubarna, quietly watching the battles about to erupt.
"Luffy still isn't here... Did Crocodile already kill him?"
Within his range of perception, no figure resembling Luffy appeared.
This suggested that Luffy might already be dead at Crocodile's hands—or perhaps he had narrowly escaped but failed to reach the battle in time.
Once Maude had intervened in this incident, any outcome, including Luffy's death, became possible.
Whether Luffy lived or died, Maude didn't particularly care.
However, if Luffy missed the fight, Maude would lose his cover to strike at Crocodile.
In that case, he might miss out on the big fish.
In hindsight, he should have brought Smoker and Tashigi to Alubarna.
With those Marines witnessing Crocodile's crimes firsthand, they could have stripped him of his Warlord title on the spot.
Then Maude could have killed Crocodile openly.
A small pang of regret flickered through him.
Pushing the thought aside, Maude refocused on the impending clashes across the streets.
Without the Little Garden incident from the original timeline, all of Baroque Works' top agents were present, forming the greatest obstacle to Vivi's group preventing the war and defusing the bomb.
On the streets—
Zoro silently tied his headband, his beast-like eyes locking onto the dark-skinned brute before him.
The man was Mr. 1, real name Daz, a superhuman Dice-Dice Fruit user.
Among the few Baroque Works agents Maude acknowledged as valuable experience fodder.
Daz glanced at Zoro's swords and said coolly, "You picked the wrong opponent."
"No."
Zoro smirked defiantly. "My instincts tell me... I picked the right one."
Daz's brow twitched, his voice cold. "Since I gained my slicing abilities, no swordsman has ever scratched me. Understand? A swordsman can't beat me."
"That joke's not funny."
Zoro's mind flicked to Mihawk and Maude, his voice steady. "The world of the strong is bigger than you can imagine."
He clamped Wado Ichimonji between his teeth, his gaze fixed on the blades formed from Daz's body.
A fierce aura radiated from him.
"If I can cut through this man's defense..."
"It means I'll be one step closer to those two men!"
At that moment, Zoro laid bare his desire to defeat Daz.
In a dead-end alley—
Nami leaned against the wall, panting, as a sultry woman sauntered toward her.
It was Paula, one of Baroque Works' top agents and a Spike-Spike Fruit user.
"Heh."
Paula smirked at the breathless Nami. "Your stamina is pathetic."
Nami gritted her teeth.
There was no running from this fight.
In a small square—
Bartolomeo picked his nose, eyeing Mr. 3, the Wax-Wax Fruit user, and the little painter girl Marianne.
"That guy looks easy to deal with."
Mr. 3 sneered at Bartolomeo's casual posture.
Bartolomeo grinned wickedly, shifting his gaze to Marianne.
"I'm no saint—I'll even beat up little girls when I get mean!"
"!!!"
Marianne's eyes widened in shock as an ominous premonition welled up in her heart.
On another street adjacent to the small plaza—
Usopp stood in the way of Gem, a Paramecia-type Bomb-Bomb Fruit user, and Mikita, a Paramecia-type Kilo-Kilo Fruit user.
"Hey, two-on-one? No problem at all!"
With confidence brimming, Usopp grinned at the man and woman standing side by side.
Elsewhere—
Chopper faced off against Drophy, a Zoan-type Mole-Mole Fruit user, alongside her partner, the hefty Babe.
Additionally, a rifle-wielding dachshund that had eaten the Zoan-type Mutt-Mutt Fruit, Dachshund model, stood with them.
Strictly speaking, Chopper was up against three opponents.
"For Vivi's sake, I'll defeat you here!"
Though the difficulty of the battle was plain to see, Chopper showed no intention of backing down.
Roughly two hundred meters away, on a bustling commercial street—
Sanji clenched a cigarette between his lips, his brow furrowed as he gazed at Bon Clay, the Clone-Clone Fruit user, joyfully twirling in a ballet dance.
"Why do I have to fight you of all people?"
Sanji's exasperation was palpable.
Bon Clay fluttered his lashes, blowing Sanji a kiss as he spun. "Don't be so distant, little Sanji~."
Just like in the original story, Bon Clay had already crossed paths with the Straw Hat Pirates.
Even in the heat of battle, Bon Clay greeted Sanji with zero hesitation.
Sanji shivered.
That seductive gaze was his ultimate weakness.
"Let's wrap this up quickly."
He tapped his heel against the ground, determined to end the fight as soon as possible.
Bon Clay smoothed his lapel and murmured, "Want to see it one more time?"
"Hm?"
The lecherous Sanji instantly caught his meaning. Though he knew the beautiful scene was nothing but an illusion, he couldn't suppress the flutter in his heart.
Without missing a beat, Bon Clay transformed into Nami, boldly pulling open his collar.
Sanji's face turned pale, and he collapsed in a spray of blood.
From atop the clock tower—
Maude, having witnessed the entire spectacle, twitched at the corner of his mouth.
Shaking his head, he shifted his gaze to Vivi, who was sprinting alone toward the plaza.
Thanks to the Straw Hat Pirates, Vivi had managed to evade the Baroque Works' top agents.
However, many of the Billion agents still remained.
"Oh, oh, look who we have here."
A hundred-strong crowd of sneering Billion agents blocked Vivi's path.
Their greedy eyes locked onto the lone princess—a fortune served on a silver platter.
Vivi's eyes narrowed as she brandished her Chakram weapons. Gritting her teeth, she barked, "Out of my way!"
"Don't be ridiculous. You're—"
One of the agents licked the edge of his sword mid-sentence.
Before he could finish, a crimson bloom erupted on his forehead, and he crumpled to the ground.
"Hmm?!"
The surrounding agents froze, unable to hear any gunfire.
Confusion spread—until another agent fell, shot dead.
One by one, lethal bullets rained down, cutting through the crowd.
"Who's there…?!"
A terrified cry rang out—answered by a bullet piercing the speaker's skull.
Vivi watched in stunned silence as the Billion agents fell around her.
The same question burned in her heart.
She could hear the commotion from the plaza but no gunshots.
Who could it be?
Could it be…
A figure flashed in Vivi's mind—Maude.
Her crewmates had kept the Baroque Works agents at bay. The only one left who could lend her aid was the man who had also come to Alabasta—Maude.
She had seen his terrifying sharpshooting skills with her own eyes.
Almost certain of her guess, Vivi's heart swelled with gratitude for Maude.
-------
Want to read waaaay ahead of schedule? Head over to my Patreon ——— patreon(.)com/EmperorGarus [remove the parenthesis ( )]
There are more than 400 advance chapters available for you!