Disclaimer: One Piece does not belong to me.
Author's note: The world needs more Crocbin.
He could admit to himself that he was mildly surprised. He knew this situation would be an eventuality but he hadn't expected it to occur so soon. He'd hoped for more time, more time to plan exactly what it was he was going to do when it happened. Maybe that insufferable Straw Hat beat more out of him than bits of his ego for him not to be prepared.
Nico Robin was the last person he expected to see when he stepped out. He'd merely begun to get restless and decided to stretch his legs. He currently couldn't decide if staying in his room would've been a better decision. While turning back would be a reasonable option for some, it absolutely wasn't for one as prideful as Crocodile. He scoffed to himself, I will not turn tail and run like some coward. She is no threat to me; a plan isn't necessary. If Crocodile were to take at least one passing moment to listen to what hammered within his chest he would've known that he would never have been prepared to face her again, no matter how many years had passed.
Their last farewell was exchanged during one-on-one combat in the middle of a country on the verge of implosion. The outcome, which was supposed to result in her death and his lifelong incarceration, both avoided due to the interference of Straw Hat Luffy. One could say it was somewhat anti-climatic, that when they'd meet again it would be on some insignificant island. An island that is barely afforded a second thought if only to remember it's name. A quiet town with simple townie delights, simple people, simple laughter, and simple lives.
She doesn't belong here, he thought to himself. And yet there she was merely three stands away from the corner of the building he currently leaned against with a forgotten newspaper in his hands. Leaning over some mindless trinkets that were being sold by a lecherous old man who was more preoccupied with ogling her chest than his disappearing merchandise. The scene transformed Crocodile's frown into a grimace despite the thievery of the mans wares.
He watched for several moments more while she continued to eye the table with a small smirk on her porcelain face. She's no longer bronze. It seems her travels haven't brought her to an area where the sun shines nearly as hard as it does in Alabasta, he reminisced. He could see the two conversing sparingly but it was obvious to Crocodile that she was stalling for those small dirty hands to grab whatever they could from under the mans nose. As if the look on Crocodiles face wasn't already threatening it became positively lethal. Harshly glaring towards their direction Crocodile didn't notice the perimeter passerby's were creating around him, none daring to walk down the alley he occupied the opening of.
What is this foolish display?! She should know better than to help the weak become weaker. It is the basic law of nature, survival of the fittest. If those pitiful children cannot survive without the help of others they are better off dead, lest they forever become dependent on others. This isn't Nico Robin. Nico Robin in ruthless, calculating, and intelligent, never sympathetic. This isn't the woman I know! Crocodile continued to rage inside himself as he watched her clearly enjoy herself.
He burned inside with confusion. One would almost say irrational fury. He told himself the act of compassion from her, that went against his beliefs, was what was causing the deep ache within him. That it wasn't an inkling of betrayal he was feeling from her changed character. That it couldn't be a sense of abandonment from thinking that there was no longer someone out there that was like him, that they had become just like everyone else. That everything he had once thought he knew was a lie and that when the world moved on it did so without him. It couldn't be. Not at all. Because thoughts and feelings like those were imprudent and incompatible with someone such as Crocodile.
What Crocodile failed to realize was that he had gone such a vast amount of time feeling nothing that when something was able to reach him he felt it like the weight of the world. A mistake that would lead to his downfall. He was a passionate man at heart, one that made it a priority to keep it all bottled up to become the ideal calm and collected business man that gained him his riches. But his fervor has and would come forth in moments of extreme anger, distress and maybe even longing…
Completely dismissing his previous internal tirade about turning tail and running he decided he could no longer take in the scene playing out before him. A scene that was playing out like the beginning of some cliché children's book. Crocodile tore himself away from the scene lest he lose control of his temper and create a desert island. Hastily pushing himself off the building he spun away from the street, away from her, and away from the storm that was raging within him. Only to suddenly be stopped by a clap of thunder that seemed to deafen him. It appeared he choose the wrong route seeing as he found himself in the eye of the storm where all was quiet and all there was to be seen was her.