Walking away from the bustling streets, Karl scanned her surroundings to ensure that no one was tailing her before swiftly pulling out her baby Den Den Mushi. First thing's first, she needed to contact Lex and brief the Headquarters on the situation. A Shichibukai was bending the law as he saw fit. If they overlooked even this, then the justice emblem sewn onto the marine cloak was nothing that it stood for. She wasn't wearing hers at the moment; as she was supposed to be under disguise; but even so, she could feel the fabric weigh down on her shoulders in her mind.

The sound of a palm-sized snail blubbering drily echoed in the empty stretch of road. It continued until the 7th ring.

"Purupuru… Kacha." Something was off – it wasn't like Lex to answer a call at the very last second. He either picked it up before the 3rd ring or he wouldn't pick it up at all.

"…"

"Hello." She greeted in a nasal voice two pitches higher than her usual one. She wasn't sure who it was on the other side but it definitely wasn't Lex. He would've spoken up before she had the chance to utter a word.

"Hello, this is petty officer Kenny speaking." An unfamiliar voice and name greeted her.

"I have a report for Captain Karl, is he available?"

"Oh, he's been summoned to deal with the rebellion uproar at Alubarna. Wait who is this again?" Taking a deep breath she reminded herself to not lash out at the young marine. She needed to train this Kenny person when she returns. Just what kind of crew did she gather when she was promoted to be a captain? He just exposed what Lex; who was disguised as her; was up to. If the call was of malicious intent, that piece of intel could've been fatal. How did he even get promoted to be a petty officer?

"I'm… Lieutenant Lex. Transfer me to the Headquarters, I have an important report to make." For a second she was worried that her cover was going to be blown but the officer's naivety saved her and she was promptly transferred to the Headquarters' line.

While she waited for the call to be picked up, she tried to mimic Lex's voice. His intonation, unlike hers, varied a lot. If her voice was a level, well-paved road, then Lex's voice was a bumpy stone path. It jumped all over the place yet still managed to maintain a pleasant overall tone.

"Kacha." The call passed through and she was hardly ready to answer.

"Ahem. Hello... This is… Lieutenant Lex speaking. I have a report… surrounding the current warlord Crocodile." She was quite sure that she wouldn't be speaking with anyone she knew personally, but just in case if the person on the other side recognised her voice, she attempted to throw them off by incorporating constant coughing in her speech.

"Lex? Psh, no way. Karlie, who do you think you're fooling with that ridiculous voice hn?" A low hum of doom crushed all her hopes and confirmed her suspicions. She now knew for sure that the goddess of luck had forsaken her. Why was it that even though she finally aborted Aokiji's ship, he would come to haunt her like this. She didn't dislike him in particular, but his timing was always impeccable. In the destructive sense. She recalled those instances in the past when he would give her orders at the last second and ruin all her training plans beforehand.

"I hate your voice Aokiji." In her moment of despair and trauma, Karl accidentally spilt out a fragment of her true thoughts.

"Well, yours also sounds dreadful. It's only been a few weeks, what happened to you? The ladies are gonna cry after they find out that their beloved swordsman has a toad's voice."

"Well no lady has ever cried over you, and since I was mimicking Lex – I won't take offence to that." Years of dealing with Aokiji's nonsense has taught her to return insult with insult. The marine admiral enjoyed berating his subordinates and wouldn't stop until it backfired on him.

"Ouch, I'm hurt. You're as spiteful as ever Karlie." She was not going to comment on that. This was going nowhere and she had an important report to make.

"What are you even doing, picking up calls at the Headquarters? Anyways enough of that, I have an important report to make on the Warlord Crocodile."

"Well, Sengoku decided it's a new form of punishment," Aokiji answered lazily. Her previous charge had it coming. It was only a matter of time until Sengoku was done with his tardiness.

"But yea, what's wrong with Crocodile?"

"He's violated the Shichibukai regulation by harming government officials and is plotting something in Alabasta. He has captured Princess Vivi and Captain Smoker – I'm unsure what he wants to do with them. Also, this is just my hypothesis but I believe that he's behind the years of civil war in Alabasta and the rebellion at Alubarna right now."

"Wait that Smoker was captured?" Out of her entire report, that was the part he found most surprising? Typical Aokiji.

"Yes, Smoker was captured and is currently detained in a cell" She explained, feeling her patience slip with each word.

"Seriously? Damn, he got Smoker good." Karl reminded herself not to curse at the admiral. The calls were always monitored and it wouldn't do her any favours if she gets accused of insubordination.

"Yes, so what are the orders?" She willed herself to keep calm – she was used to dealing with Aokiji's attitude, this was no different.

"Hmm. I don't know. I don't think Sengoku is particularly keen on dealing with one of his precious pirate generals right now. He hates the Shichibukai system but it's crucial. Also, I'm sure Smoker can handle himself and make something of the situation. You don't need to be concerned." That was the last straw.

"What do you suggest…" Before she could finish her sentence, the line was cut off. She knew that signals were pretty bad on the Grandline but to think that today was the day that she experienced it herself… Staring at her innocent-looking baby Den Den Mushi, Karl stood stoically in place for a few minutes before she took a deep breath and shoved the snail into her pockets. A little too roughly than what was probably good for the snail. Meanwhile, Aokiji shrugged at the quiet receiver, before continuing with his earlier task – slacking off.

Well, she had followed protocols and reported the situation back to Headquarters. Worse comes to worst she could just put all the blame on Aokiji since he was the one who said she didn't need to be concerned…

She abandoned the thought as soon as it came over her. Chanting the words; responsibility, honour, justice; in her mind, she controlled her breathing and stormed through the possible solutions for the current situation. Her fellow marine official's detainment deserved immediate attention. Aokiji might have blind faith in Smoker but she was not ready to stake his life on something she has yet witnessed. All Smoker has achieved so far was slander her name. Sure on the way to Rainbase, Smoker's proved to be quite competent in capturing stray pirates. But currently, he was stuck in a sea-prison stone cell with a bunch of pirates for god's sake.

She could either head back to the casino and try to bail out Smoker, or she could contact Tashigi and the rest of Smoker's crew and inform them of Smoker's predicament. If she was any less of an honourable swordsman, she would've considered letting him rot and die in Crocodile's hands, but she refused to scoop so low. Unlike the persona Smoker mistook her for, she lived and breathed the code of honour.

However, Karl was in no sense a saint and since Smoker decided to put dirt on her name she wasn't about to earnestly go back and save him. So opting for the second option, Karl rang up Tashigi and Co. Her snail was behaving a little out of sync, switching tones and pitches during the call – perhaps the result of her earlier rough treatment. After explaining what had happened; vaguely; leaving out her blunder and Smoker's ridiculous accusation, Karl hung up and this time carefully tugged the snail inside her pocket. She couldn't have it die on her in the middle of a mission.

Now that the situation at hand was out of the way… She had to respond to her duties as the Captain of the marine base. It's near impossible for her to make it back to Alubarna and make any noteworthy contributions now. She already exhausted her means of transport on the way here – and look where it led her! Right into this tangled mess.

A civil war on the verge of breaking out into full-fledged bloodshed. What were the odds? For all this to happen right after she assumed her post. And on top of that, she wasn't even at the base when everything went south. Even she would have a difficult time explaining all the coincidences to the Headquarters. She didn't need Smoker to get ahead of himself and be deluded into thinking that his assumption was correct. That was unacceptable.

Steel eyes narrowed at the dusty road ahead of her. Pulling her cap down so it covered her eyes, she turned heels and retraced her steps. She wasn't sure if she was capable enough to take down a Shichibukai by herself. Maybe with Smoker's help… Dousing the thought as soon as it came, she chided herself for even thinking about something so ridiculous. The man thought her to be a spy for god's sake! She was on her own until she could disprove the allegations.

Although she couldn't defeat Crocodile in a one on one fight in her current state, there were plenty of other things she could do in replacement. Foiling his plans would be one of those things. She needed to find the evidence for his crimes and expose them to light. She was 99% certain that he was the cause behind the decade long civil war, as well as the stimulus to the current chaos at Alubarna.

How did he do it was the question. She needed to find out the answer to that, along with anything else that the warlord was planning to ensue. She had an inkling that this was only the beginning – the Shichibukai could have planted an even more sinister plot that has yet to be executed. Time was running out – she had to move fast before all were lost. Time and time again, life had taught her that once something was gone, it would never return.