Why would Rumple expect someone to be after Belle when he knew Henry, Emma, and Regina were all after the most powerful object ever devised?
Maybe because he just got done with an arc where a God wanted Belle’s baby? And also nabbing Belle is the only leverage someone else would have against the most powerful person in the world.
I think he expected someone was trying to get hold of that all-powerful Olympian crystal. He didn’t know someone else was really after Pandora’s box. Also, thinking how Rumple often does, who wouldn’t target the shard over the box?
What happened to true love being the most powerful magic? Love is strength remember! Even if Rumple didn’t think anyone would go after Belle and instead would go after the crystal, he should still get Belle first. Even though he thinks he needs the crystal, he actually doesn’t! That’s his own flaw sure, and he probably really did think someone would take the crystal. But it’s his lust for power that makes him think that way. He’s more worried someone would take the crystal over taking his wife! If he thought about his wife first, his first instinct would be to protect her, regardless of whether he thought she was in immediate danger. Like if your wife or husband was next to you (in a box or in person), and you knew a portal was coming, wouldn’t your first instinct be to grab her/him? Idk, I just think the writers deliberately wanted us to see Rumple going for the power before Belle. It mirrors his choice for power over his son when he let Bae get sucked into the portal. Which makes me feel like he truly hasn’t learned anything, and also makes me think Rumple is in line to lose someone else he loves yet again which will drive him completely to the side of darkness.