Things had escalated from zero to one hundred really fast after his defeat by Straw Hat once again and after Stussy betrayed them. The Gorosei were relentless, not even allowing him to heal properly before they sent him and the rest of CP0 after princess Vivi. The girl was a bigger headache than she was worth it, but the Gorosei wanted her gone, and what they wanted went.
The group agreed to split up, covering more ground that way. They needed to find her fast before the troublemaker threw another wrench into their plan on putting Alabasta under the World Government's rule through a proxy. It was bad enough that she got involved in the whole incident with princess Shirahoshi during the Reverie. Perhaps that shouldn't have come as much of a surprise to him given the bluenettes ties with the Straw Hats, and ironic as it was, he really couldn't get rid of that pest of a boy and his allies, could he?
Tracking the alabastan princess down was a task more cumbersome than anticipated, taking him all the way to the Underworld, which proved to be less than ideal. Given Stussy's betrayal and everything they learned about it afterwards, he was treading in dangerous territory, which in turn meant that Hattori had to stay behind, the pigeon a too big telltale sign of who he was. Luckily for him, there were only so many people with such distinct hair colour, and it was relatively easy to find her.
Lucci had to wait for the opportune moment, and unfortunately for him, the princess was seldom alone, and even when she was, she was overly cautious. At least she knew how to watch her own back, unlike so many other royals he had the chance to encounter. In the end, the Cipher Pol agent resorted to using his leopard form, finding it easier to move and avoid people that way, and stalking through the many alleys was so much simpler, too.
The method proved fruitful, so once close enough, Lucci transformed back, getting close enough to her to be able to grab her if he so wished.
โย Found you, princess. โ
