A week had passed since Crocodile's visit to the bandits when a caballo alpaca with its rider arrived in the village. The man set down from the saddle and patted the white animal. He stretched his legs before he paced to the only cafe of Uliami. Apart from the tables, chairs and the counter, the place was rather sparsely decorated. A large den den mushi was in the corner with a poster hanging above it informing '250 beli/ a call'.

The traveller was welcomed with warm smiles, most of them lined with wrinkles. Nick had yet to collect those years before him even if he had passed the days of youth long ago. Both the customers and the staff looked at him with curiosity. It was not everyday they saw someone from outside of the town.

A man beside the wide window had noticed the outsider before he had entered and was now waving to him.

"Nick, over here!"

The officer nodded to the folks and made his way to the window seat. Both of the men were beaming and babbling to each other even after the waiter brought the stranger a large pint of water.

"I thought your screws were out of their place when you moved here voluntarily, Hedan. But now I see why you did." The man took in the atmosphere of the cafe.

"Well, nothing is stopping you. Pack your things in the capital and move here," the man joked and took a deep breath of his tobacco.

"You should know better than me that there's no work here." The police said as if he had taken the other seriously.

"Well..yeah, you'd have a hard time finding crime here to fight against."

The police sipped his drink in deep thought.

It sounded as if he was wondering to himself when he said: "So, there really hasn't been a single assault into this village for years?"

"Hey, you are the one who has the statistics on that sort of stuff." Hedan pointed at the officer and grinned. "But yeah, this is a place where literally nothing happens. In both good and bad." The man examined the street outside the window. Wind raised dust from the ground into a spiral. The only life Hedan was able to detect outside were a few youngsters playing. Nick also started to examine the town's life.

Kids.

The officer couldn't help but smile at the view. Those little sprouts never ceased to have a soft spot in his heart.

"So, just relax for now, you workaholic." Hedan shed some butt of his tobacco to his empty plate.

"No worries," Nick patted the clothes, today civilian, on him to reassure his friend.

The other was about to object him with his collections of their middle school time but gave up.

The door opened and a raven-haired youth entered. The child rushed to the cashier who reluctantly handed over to her some dry cookies from yesterday. The kid muttered a barely noticeable 'thanks'.

"Hey girl, hold on a second!"

Nothing could have been more venomous than Crocodile's glare that moment towards Nick. The officer blinked his eyes before walking to the counter and buying three meat pies. Smiling, he handed them in a paper bag to the girl who took it after some hesitation and hurried out of the store.

The woman behind the register grunted. "Don't take it to your heart. She is always like that." The officer shook his head and mumbled that he was used to kids without manners. He returned to his friend at the table who continued firing questions about the officer's life since they had last seen.

A soft darkness was starting to cover the town before the men decided it was time to let the store owner close the place.

"Hmm, I hope that girl also has a place to sleep at," the police thought aloud.

Hedan pondered for a time enough to awaken the officer's curiosity:

"She does have a place to sleep, doesn't she?"

His friend shrugged. The deep concentration on his face faded when he chuckled:

"They say she goes time to time to the wilderness. But I don't know..Probably just a joke because..well, you saw her attractive personality."

The officer nodded in agreement. He would have left the matter at that. But when he was on his way to his caballo, ready to get back home, he bumped into the girl.

"Evening," he nodded and noticed that the girl still had the food, including a small rucksack.

"Evening," Crocodile replied without even looking at him in the eyes.

The officer was about to ask about the girl's parents' whereabouts when she rushed away. The girl was really heading towards the woods. He stared at her back in confusion when suddenly it hit him. Only two kinds of people lived amongst the swamps: Tribal people and outlaws. The former hardly left the forest. Nick reached for the end of his pocket until he found the little den den mushi. He snorted picturing his friend's face if he knew what he was about to do.

Fine, maybe I'm a little bit workaholic.

/A:n I referred to Crocodile here as a girl because this was from a view that saw him so. I'm not good at making long chapters, sorry...OTL/