After the first performance, Kaku and Astrid were able to relax from the stage and do what they know best. In the main hall of the casino, the two assassins made sure that their backup members were nowhere to be seen. With them around, it would be almost impossible for them to actually complete their mission. The two decided to split up and cover more ground. At this rate, any evidence suggesting that Miss All-Sunday was Nico Robin was essential to their mission. The faster that they would be able to uncover and confirm the truth, the faster they could get out of there and away from one of the Seven Warlords. Their biggest risk of the mission was Crocodile. If he were to ever discover their true identity, it would compromise them. His anger and power would risk their lives and the exposure of CP9.
Astrid had wandered into the hallway where Crocodile's main office was. She calmly approached the door and stopped just before it to lean on the wall. Before Kaku and Astrid had separated, Kaku had warned her of one thing to not do.
"Whatever you do, do not talk to Crocodile. If you do, just come up with something and leave immediately".
Never before had she ever listened to Kaku but with the severity of this mission, it was the one time she would. She walked away from the door and made her way back into the main hall. She continued to walk through the building, but there was no sign of Miss All-Sunday or any clue that she could pick out. A few hours later, Astrid was alone in their room looking out of the window across the desert city. The trees were withering in the distant, as if they hadn't seen rain for a few days. A knock on the door brought Astrid's attention away from the slowly dying vegetation. On the other side was Miss All-Sunday.
"Crocodile wishes to speak with you about the performance," she said. "He was rather disappointment about it. Shame, I thought it was lovely."
Astrid was brought into Crocodile's office. Inside Kaku was already sitting in one of the chairs in front of Crocodile's desk. The look on Crocodile's face was the very same a parent would give their child to let them know something they did was wrong. Astrid only responded with a puzzled look and sat down. The smoke from Crocodile's cigar filled the air as Miss All-Sunday leaned up against the wall behind him.
"Do you understand why you are here?" he asked.
The two looked at each other hoping that the other would have an answer.
"You are here because your performance wasn't up to my standards."
"You're joking. Did you not hear the audience?" Kaku proclaimed.
Astrid put her hand on his arm to help calm him down and quieten him. She looked back up to Crocodile and nodded to let him proceed.
"What he is saying, is that you lack showmanship. Although I thought the performance was well done, Crocodile is correct. There was something missing," Miss All-Sunday replied.
"You are too strict, as if you were obedient little dogs of the Marines," Crocodile responded.
Astrid took in a deep breath, nervous that their identity was discovered. She looked him dead in the eye and responded, "And how do you expect us to change that Sir?"
Miss All-Sunday stepped away from the window and said, "The first costume ideas I had presented to you the other day were adequate, expecting that you already understood the concept of how to perform without the strict persona. A new costume change will be in order and a new routine will be established. I don't know what you will come up with, but more movement and stage personality is required if you want to stay here."
"This is Rain Dinners Casino and I expect that you will perform in a way appropriate for this establishment, do I make myself clear?" Crocodile proclaimed while standing from his desk.
"Yes Sir," Kaku and Astrid replied in unison.
"Then get out of my office and get to work,"
Kaku and Astrid walked out and made their way up to their room. In silence, they stopped by the backup member's bedrooms to let them know about the current situation. They were upset by the news, but understood that necessary changes they would have to make in order to remain. They made plans to come up with something better early the next morning to add a kick to their routine.
When the next morning came around, Kaku and Astrid got dressed and were about to head out to meet with everyone else in the theater room. On the stage were their back up members and a large rack of new clothes. Vic was yelling at Miss All-Sunday proclaiming that he would never wear anything that she was presenting to him. Kaku quickly made his way up to the stage in order to break up the argument. Miss All-Sunday proclaimed that if they can't change, then they should remove the dead weight. Once she was out of the room, Vic calmed down and sat in the chairs in the front row in silence. To see what Vic was actually talking about, Astrid jumped onto the stage to look through what Miss All-Sunday had given them. Each hanger had a set of clothes, one for each person. Astrid found hers and was shocked by the outfit that was given her.
"I'M NOT WEARING THIS!?" She yelled pulling it off of the rack.
The outfit consisted of an Alabasta original. A red bikini top and black shorts with a white veil skirt around the waist.
"How do they expect me to go onstage like this, I can't!" she continued to yell.
"We'll all change into our clothes now to adjust with the new routine," Kaku said not acknowledging Astrid's outrage and grabbing his own set of clothes.
"Oh sure, this coming from the guy who gets to wear clothes that cover his entire torso. I mean come on!"
"Actually Astrid, she gave me black pants and an open vest only."
"So, Crocodile gives you guys the fun outfits, but we are stuck with the lame Alabasta robes," Vic said.
"Give it a rest Vic and go get change. We start rehearsing as soon as everyone is ready," Kaku responded.
"I'm not wearing this," Astrid replied.
Kaku gave Astrid a glare which sent a shiver down her spine. She gave in and walked off of the stage in to a small dressing room to change. As much as she didn't like wearing the outfit she did see a plus side of the colorful gold on the veil. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail and took in a deep breath. She calmly made her way to the stage unprepared from the responses she would get from the men she would be performing with. Vic and the other backups gave cat calls and other whistles when she walked in. Kaku's back was towards her as they hollered. He turned around to see the lovely partner standing before him as she nervously approached them. He began laughing at her making her feel embarrassed. Outraged, she clobbered him on the head as the backups began to laugh.
"Alright enough, we have work to do," she shouted.
Astrid went to walk away exposing her back to Kaku. Immediately he looked up and saw a long scarred mark along her back and the one bullet wound scar she had received on her very first mission.
"Astrid, your back. How come I didn't know?" he quietly approached her.
"And you still don't need to know," she said as she continued to walk away.
When the time of the performance came around, the group felt confident that the new attitude and modifications to their act would be enough to impress Crocodile. They performed, moving around on the stage like they never could before. During a minute break before the next song, Astrid had gazed out to the audience and noticed Miss All-Sunday sitting next to Crocodile with a smirk on her face. Kaku introduced the next song, which would be Astrid's solo bit of the performance. Looking at the two of them straight ahead and never veering away, she performed like she had never performed before.
After the show, Astrid was in the hotel room removing her revealing outfit to wear something more comfortable to her. Kaku joined soon after she was dressed and sat in a chair eating his dinner. When Kaku had pointed out her scar earlier, her behaviour was different. She was quiet and kept to herself. She had the odd feeling of wanting to get the mission done and over with. She had announced to Kaku that she was going to proceed in finding out if Nico Robin was Miss All-Sunday. Kaku proclaimed that it was a bad idea after their encounter with Crocodile the night prior. Ignoring what he said, she prepared herself to leave the room, but was stopped.
"Are you ok?" he asked, "You haven't been acting the same since this morning. If there is something wrong you can tell me. We're partners after all."
"It's none of your concern, I just want to get this mission done and over with as quickly as possible," she said pushing him aside.
As she walked down the hallway, she felt guilt for not informing her friend of the past she had experienced with her scar. She made her way down the stairs. By wandering around, she hoped that she would be able to find Miss All-Sunday. It didn't take her long to see the woman in all black with her cowboy hat walking outside of the building with Crocodile. Unsure of what to do, she made her way outside to at least see which direction they were going. The cold night desert air filled her lungs when she stepped outside. She decided to go alone once she could see the two of them walking down the main road. Crocodile and Miss All-Sunday proceeded to walk through town with Astrid not too far behind them. She stayed far enough away to where she could still be able to see where they were going, but far enough to where she could not be spotted.
The three of them had managed to make their way outside of town. They continued to walk until a man with a large wooden crate and buggy could be seen. Crocodile and Miss All-Sunday approached the man with the large crate as Astrid searched for a place to hide. She found a rock and proceeded to spy on the two as they converged with the mysterious man. She could see Crocodile talking to the man as the man continued to gesture towards the large crate. She was too far away to be able to hear what they were saying, but she could tell that Crocodile was starting to become furious with the man. In an instant hands began to appear around the man's body, grabbing him and pulling him back. His back was arched as he tried to yell out in pain. In an instant the hands jerked the man back as a large crack could be heard. The man fell to the ground without a sound. Miss All-Sunday gave a loud whistle. A large crab like creature appeared from the sand not far from where Astrid was. The creature came close to the two by the crate. Hands appeared out of nowhere on the crab creating a chain. The chain of hands grabbed onto the large crate and threw it up to the next set of hands on the crab. Eventually the crate was on top of the crab and it set off to an unknown destination. Astrid quickly moved to the other side of the rock as soon as Crocodile and Miss All-Sunday began to head back to the city. She allowed them to gain a lot of distance until she couldn't see them. She slowly got up from the rock and ran towards the man still on the ground by the crate. He was unconscious, but he was still breathing. She pulled him on top of the cart and began to run towards the city.
Once in the city, she sought out for medical help. She explained to anyone who had asked her that she had went for a walk outside of the city and had found him alone like this. She had made her way to the casino to inform Kaku of what she had seen. After the event, she was positive that Miss All-Sunday was Nico Robin. No other person had the capabilities such as that of her Flower-Flower devil fruit power. She walked up the stairs and made it to the suite hallway. Halfway down the hallway, Astrid had felt something strange wrapping around her preventing her from moving. Astrid had quickly looked down to see arms wraping around her, much like what she had seen with the man in the desert. A hand appeared from her shoulder and covered her mouth. Behind her she could hear the cool voice of Nico Robin.
"I don't know what you were doing out there, but whatever you saw is about to get you into a lot of trouble," she said walking in front of her with her arms crossed in an X formation in front of her. "I had a suspicion that something wasn't right when I first met you. Now tell me who you are and what you want."
The hand covering her mouth let go allowing Astrid to speak.
"I don't know what I saw and I have no idea what you are talking about. I was only sent here to perform and nothing else!" she lied as the arms around her body got tighter. "Miss All-Sunday, please let me go, I didn't mean to see anything. I just wanted to get some fresh air."
Nico Robin stood there with a very concerned look on her face and placed her hands at the side. The arms wrapped around Astrid's body were removed as Nico Robin walked past her.
"Make sure none of this happens again," she sternly said.
"I promise," Astrid responded with relief.
"Promise is not good enough. Seis Fleur," she called out placing her hands back into the X formation. Six arms had appeared around Astrid's body and grabbed her. "Twist!"
The arms that had grabbed her had twisted Astrid's body and bent it. She screamed out in pain and she collapsed to the ground. Nico Robin had walked down the stairs just before Kaku and the others were able to see what was going on. Kaku quickly ran to Astrid on the ground who still had consciousness.
"She's Nico Robin, Kaku. It is her. She did this. Quickly before Crocodile finds out that we know. Get us out of here."
Kaku helped her up and quickly grabbed the transponder snail.
"We have located Nico Robin. I repeat we have located Nico Robin in Alabasta. Get us out of here and fast! We have completed the mission but we are compromised."
They grabbed what things they deemed were important and prepared to escape out of the window. Astrid was able to get enough strength through her pain to climb down the rope with Kaku prepared to catch her if she were to fall.
Vic peered out of the window and called for them, "What the hell is going on! Where are you going?"
"Our apologies Vic, but this was bound to happen from the start. We have important matters to attend to and we hope you make it out alive," Kaku yelled as he helped Astrid run.
"Make it out alive? What on Earth is he talking about," Vic yelled at the others.
It wasn't long before Kaku and Astrid were able to hear the screams of the men they had once worked with. They had made their way to the docking bay to see a small boat with a Marine on it. Once in, they took off from the island to make their way to the Marine ship which had been docked since they began the mission. Kaku had sat Astrid down in a medical room to let someone look at her. She proclaimed that she was fine and left the room.
She proceeded to walk towards the ledge of the ship. While leaning on the ledge she gazed out at the ocean as they made their way back to their base.
"Now we proceed to the second phase of all of this," Kaku said while walking up next to her dressed in his usual dark clothes.
"Whatever that may be that is. Any idea of what it could be?"
"I don't know, but perhaps the others might. Once we get back we will know for sure."
"You should have seen her in the hall. The look on her face. She knew, somehow she knew."
"I don't understand why you even followed them to begin with. I swear one of these days you're going to end up dead."
"You don't understand, she was scared."
"Scared? How could she, she was under the protection of a Warlord. What could she possibly be scared of?"
"Perhaps it was the Warlord protecting her."
"Nonsense, if he really didn't need her she would have been dead or turned in already."
The two continued to discuss the reasoning behind Nico Robin and her presence in Alabasta and the second part to their mission. It was still unclear why they needed to confirm Nico Robin's whereabouts or why she was there to begin with. There were so many questions that needed to be answered, but the only people who are able to answer them are Nico Robin herself and the World who worked with her. Their ship proceeded to sail away from Alabasta, back to the base in which they will move on to their next assignments.