I collect everything in the One Piece world.

They lost a lot of food and water in the sandstorm, and their physical strength was also greatly depleted.

"Ptooey! Ptooey! This damn weather!" Big Norton spat out sand from his mouth and growled angrily, "The whole plan is ruined! So many days have been wasted!"

Captain Rhine sat leaning against the rock, not saying a word, but his face was terribly gloomy, and he exuded a low-pressure atmosphere.

As the captain, he was always calm and composed, but the series of misfortunes that had befallen him in the past few days were so bizarre and unfortunate that he could no longer maintain his absolute composure.

The mission timeline has been greatly delayed, the target's trail may have faded or changed, and everything is fraught with uncertainty.

Ella, standing nearby, was carefully re-bandaging Gail's nose.

Gail suffered a fracture in her nasal bone, but with the help of a special medication, it has recovered somewhat.

Hearing Norton's complaints, Ella couldn't help but look up and glare at him irritably: "Alright, that's enough. The sandstorm has stopped, which is a good thing."

Then she glanced at Rhine, who looked unwell, and comforted him, "Besides, Gale's injuries are also healing. The special medicine is working well. After resting for a while, his 'nose' will be useful again."

This big oaf can't he see that the captain was already in a bad mood? He's just stirring things up.

Gale quickly chimed in, and despite his still slightly stuffy nose, he took a deep breath and demonstrated, "Yes, Captain. I can smell some scents again, though it's still a bit blurry, but I can roughly discern the direction of the target. Give me a little more time to recover, and it shouldn't have much of an impact."

Listening to Ella and Gale's words, Rhine closed his eyes and slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, as if to expel the depression and anxiety of the past few days.

When he opened his eyes again, his gaze had regained its usual calmness and sharpness.

"Rest a little longer and replenish your strength and fluids," Rhine ordered in a deep voice. "Gail, make the most of your time to recover."

Fortunately, the sandstorm has stopped, and Gale's sense of smell is rapidly improving thanks to the special medicine he had prepared in advance and his own Zoan-type Devil Fruit ability. Soon they will be able to track their target again.

Although it caused a few days' delay, the impact should not be too great. The target group has quite a few people, and they will be traveling slowly in the desert, stopping frequently.

Rhein comforted himself with this thought.

However, one question kept lingering in his mind: What exactly happened in the last two days?

With one unexpected accident and misfortune after another, could it be that someone is targeting them? But it doesn't seem like it at all.

Quicksand, accidental injuries, sandstorms... these are all natural dangers in the desert. It seems like they were just incredibly unlucky, and unlucky to an extreme degree.

But subconsciously, he felt something was off. It was all too coincidental, so coincidental that it aroused suspicion.

At the same time, he unconsciously thought of the information he had previously read about the "Collectors" adventure group.

That woman named Bakura's Devil Fruit ability seems to be related to "luck," which is why she always wins money in casinos.

Is it...

Rhine's heart skipped a beat, but he immediately shook his head, suppressing the somewhat absurd thought.

Even so, this fruit's power shouldn't be this terrifying, right?

Even without any contact with them, or even from a distance of unknown distance, they can affect their "luck" and cause them such great misfortune?

This is beyond his understanding of the fruit's abilities.

A jumble of thoughts swirled in his mind. After a moment, Rhine shook his head vigorously, temporarily shaking off these chaotic guesses and doubts.

Thinking about these things is useless now; without solid evidence, it's all just speculation.

Moreover, the most important thing now is to get back to work.

The plan had already been delayed for several days, and they really needed to be more careful from now on to avoid any more mistakes, Rhine silently warned himself.

After calming her thoughts and mindset, and replenishing her fluids and food, Rhine stood up.

"Gail, how is it?" He looked at Gail, who had already removed the gauze and was constantly sniffing and trying to find her way.

Gale closed his eyes, concentrating intently. After a while, he opened them and pointed in a direction: "Captain, it's okay. The smell over there is a bit fainter than before, but the direction is right..."

"Then go after them!" Rhine gave the order without hesitation.

“Yes!” Ella, Norton, and Gale responded in unison.

……

As dusk falls in the desert, the sky is dyed a magnificent orange-red, the temperature begins to drop, and the wind carries a hint of coolness.

Mosen and his group were riding the fast ducks toward the next ruin marked on the map, and expected to arrive in a little while.

The atmosphere in the group remained relaxed. Vivi was still discussing with Nami and Baccarat where they would go after returning to the capital, while Robin was immersed in the discoveries she had just made from another small ruin.

Just then, at the very front of the group, Mo Sen, who appeared relaxed and languid, furrowed his brow almost imperceptibly.

His Observation Haki is like an invisible radar, constantly scanning the surrounding environment.

But just now, he caught a fleeting glimpse of an unusual aura, which was behind several weathered rock pillars that could be seen ahead.

"Something's not right..." Mo Sen's alarm bells rang. He abruptly raised his hand and shouted in a deep voice, "Stop! Something's wrong!"

Icarum and Bell almost simultaneously reined in the running duck, their hands on their weapons, and looked around warily.

Nami, Baccarat, Robin, and Vivi immediately stopped smiling and looked at Morsen.

"Boom!"

Just then, a dramatic change occurred.

The sand beneath their feet suddenly began to collapse without warning; it wasn't natural quicksand, but a carefully calculated and set trap!

The collapse was extremely tricky in its scope and shape, perfectly encompassing the people in the middle of the group, namely Vivi, Nami, and Ikaram who were riding the fast duck.

The area beneath the collapse was not a sand pit, but a deep pit connected to a nearby underground passage.

Vivi and the others gasped as they plummeted down, along with the fast-running duck, into complete darkness. Only the dull thud of their landing and their short screams could be heard.

"Your Highness!" Icarus and Bell's exclamations were swallowed up by the rumble of the collapse and the dust that rose up.

"Vivi! Nami!" Bakara, who was almost falling into the pit, cried out in alarm.

All of this happened too fast and too suddenly. The other side had obviously scouted the terrain in advance and used the nearby underground ruins to set up this trap to divide the team and create chaos.

However, thanks to Mosen's advance warning, the team stopped much faster than the attackers anticipated, causing the trap to not achieve its full intended effect.

The original plan of the Fox Hunt team was to use a trap to completely separate the most crucial target, Nico Robin, from the seemingly strongest collector, Morsen, who was by her side, while also separating other people who might get in the way.

Then Captain Rhine quickly engaged Morsen, Ella and Norton dealt with the isolated Robin as quickly as possible, Gale cleared out the minions, and finally they joined forces to deal with Morsen.

But now, because of Morsen's alertness, the team paused, causing the trap to be triggered in the wrong place. Robin, who should have fallen in, was still on top, but Vivi and Nami fell in instead.

Before the sandstorm had even subsided, four figures shot out from different directions like ghosts, landing around the collapsed area and forming a semi-encirclement.

Leading the group was Captain Rhine, whose cold gaze swept across the field as he quickly assessed the situation.

Although it wasn't as perfect as expected, it still played a certain role, and they reacted extremely quickly, immediately adjusting their tactics.

“Continue with Plan B,” Rhine whispered to Ella and Norton beside him, his voice cold and swift.

"Ella, Norton, go take care of the target and that redhead!"

“Gail, go... and keep an eye on those royals.”

"Yes!" the group replied without hesitation.

The next moment, a well-organized attack was launched!

Ella and Norton pounced on Robin and Bakala, who had just regained their footing and were separated on the other side of the collapsed area!

Their goal was clear: to eliminate them, especially Nico Robin, in the shortest possible time!

Although there was one more person than originally planned, in their view, apart from Robin who needed to be dealt with specially, the other Bakala was not worth mentioning and could be dealt with casually.

Gale, on the other hand, rushed to the edge of the collapsed pit, staring coldly down below.

This was also an "unexpected" turn of events. They hadn't anticipated that the Alabasta royal princess and her guards would be with Morsen's group, and that they seemed to have a close relationship, which made things a bit tricky.

If it were an ordinary guide or mercenary, they could easily eliminate them together to prevent the news from leaking out.

However, when it comes to the royal families of member states of the World Government, especially princesses, the situation is different.

Killing a princess of a nation without cause would bring considerable trouble and investigation, even for the CP organization.

Therefore, Rhine made a temporary adjustment, assigning Gale to keep an eye on them, preventing them from climbing up and interfering with the battle, and also preventing them from seeing too much that they shouldn't see.

We'll deal with this after we've resolved the main objective.

The best-case scenario, of course, is to threaten and silence them, or to create some kind of accident so that they cannot determine the attacker's identity. In short, they cannot simply "clean up" the attacker like they would with other people.

"Listen up, you guys! Stay put! If you dare to make any rash moves, don't blame me for being impolite!" Gale shouted coldly towards the bottom of the pit, the murderous aura emanating from him making Icarus and the others somewhat frightened.

With the pit walls steep and Gale watching them menacingly from above, it would indeed be difficult for them to escape in a short time.

At the same time, Captain Rhine's figure also turned into a blurry afterimage, rushing straight towards Morsen, who was standing on the other side of the collapsed area.

"shave!"

"Storm Kick!"

Rhine's figure appeared instantly beside Morsen, and then his right leg swung out suddenly, sending out a crescent-shaped beam of light that slashed fiercely towards Morsen's chest.

"Your opponent is me!" Rhine's icy voice rang out along with the attack.

Chapter 116, Battle

While Mosen was entangled with Rhine, Robin and Baccarat's situation gradually became somewhat delicate.

Opposite them, Ella moved like a ghost, using Shave to move at high speed while constantly launching countless thin yet incredibly strong steel wires with her hands.

Some of the steel wires are also inlaid with fragments of sea stone, making this most difficult-to-work weapon a deadly nemesis for ability users.

Every time Robin attempted to attack or defend, he was precisely intercepted and entangled by the steel wires inlaid with sea stone.

The constant weakness from contact with the Seastone made her movements sluggish and greatly reduced her ability to use it.

In the end, she could only rely on her rich combat experience and physical skills to create distance and try to maneuver around, but unfortunately, under Ella's dense and highly targeted attacks, which were like a spider web, she already had several bloody marks on her body.

"Child of the Devil, your abilities are useless against me!" Ella sneered, flicking her wrist as several steel wires coiled around Robin's wrists and ankles like venomous snakes. At the same time, she flung out a sharp steel spike with her other hand, aiming straight for Robin's throat!

Robin tried his best to dodge, but was still grazed on the shoulder by the steel spike, instantly leaving a bloody gash.

The situation on Bakara's side was equally dire. The giant Norton was like a human tank, carrying a small, specially made cannon, constantly bombarding her with special ammunition containing anesthetics or explosives. Bakara occasionally found an opportunity to retaliate, but he would defend against her with iron blocks, rendering her completely ineffective.

Bakara was not known for her direct combat skills, and faced with this barrage of firepower and close-quarters pressure, she could only dodge and evade, ending up in a sorry state.

"Boom!" A shell exploded where she had just been standing, and the blast wave instantly threw her away, sending her crashing onto the sand.

"Cough cough... Damn big guy!" Bakara got up, looking disheveled. "Time to replenish my luck!"