Chapter 3: Not That Many Differences

The first thing that Crocodile heard the next morning was a ringing. It was similar to a Den Den Mushi, but it was also much different. He opened his eyes to see Sam next to him tiredly fumbling around for something. It seemed to take her a moment to find whatever she was looking for. Once she did find something, she brandished a small, black thing up in the air silently. Crocodile figured that the small thing in her hand was what was making the noise. The man leaned his head back as Sam climbed off the couch and pressed a button.

"Hey, Kat. Just about ready to get your kids back?" Sam spoke rather brightly for only just having woken up. The one she was speaking to must have been the mother of the boys and the sister to the woman in front of him. Hearing her tone as she spoke, Crocodile also figured that Sam was rather used to being woken up suddenly and having to be on the move right away.

Only half-listening to the one half of the conversation he could heard, Crocodile's thoughts went back to the night before while he and Sam had been drinking some wine. He had asked her questions about this world he had found himself in and Sam had answered most of his questions well. She was quite good at explaining most of the things he asked her about. If Crocodile remembered correctly, she had told him before that she was a teacher. That must have had something to do with it. He glanced out the window and noticed that it was quite bright outside. The rain must have stopped then.

Crocodile had asked Sam things ranging anywhere from geography to politics. There was more than just one continent in the world, there were seven, along with seven seas and four oceans. Also, the general sentiment about politicians in this particular country was that there was not one to be trusted. Interestingly enough, Crocodile would have said the same about the World Government leaders in his world, though for some different reasons.

There were no such things as Devil Fruit in this world, but there was a gum tree, though it didn't produce body-changing fruit. Crocodile remembered that Sam had asked for a small demonstration of his powers. It was an understandable and simple request since powers such as his were unseen in this new world, so he decided to humor the woman and formed a small sandstorm in the palm of his hand. Sam was quite impressed with that small display of power, to the point that Crocodile found it rather amusing.

This world, too, had also known an age of piracy upon the seas. The most interesting thing about this was that, from what Sam had told Crocodile, there were actually many similarities between these pirates of old and the notable pirates of the age in his world. Such as a man named Edward Teach, though he was more famously known as 'Blackbeard'. Amoung the most powerful pirates in his world was a man by the name of Edward Newgate, more widely known as 'Whitebeard'. An interesting coincidence. The most relevant to Crocodile, however, was a man called 'Captain Hook'. Sam assured him that Crocodile was more fearsome and powerful than any presentations of this captain that she had ever seen, but she went on to explain that a crocodile had eaten his hand and so it was replaced with a hook. Coincidentally, this Captain Hook was scared of ticking noises and clocks since the same crocodile that had claimed his hand had also eaten a clock. Crocodile scoffed at this, but supposed it made a certain amount of sense. If he himself were a lesser man, he might have been frightened of the bananadiles that he kept as pets. 'If', was the keyword in that phrase, along with 'might have been'.

"Alright, I'll see you then." Crocodile stirred himself from his memories of the night before as Sam finished her conversation. She put the device down on the counter before stretching her thin body, to get out any kinks that might have built up from falling asleep on the couch. "My sister is coming to pick up her boys in a little while. I've got to make sure that they've got their stuff packed then. Shouldn't take too long for them to do that."

"I take it you do this for your sister often." Stating his obversation, Crocodile noted with some amusement that the older of the two had been left there on the floor and was beginning to stir.

Sam looked over her shoulder at Crocodile. "You should get a prize for the understatement of the year." She told him as she leaned over and picked up the wine glass that had been left on a small table by the couch. "These boys are here almost every other weekend. Babysitters can be hard to find sometimes."

The boy on the floor sat up and rubbed at his eyes. His hair was all over the place. "Mm, Aunt Sam, what's for breakfast?"

Crocodile noticed that, once the child had woken up, he seemed to have been driven from Sam's immediate thoughts. The little boy had her complete attention."Oh, Brady, did we wake you up?" Brady blearily shook his head. Sam shrugged. "Oh good. I'll get out the cereal and milk and you go fix your hair. It looks like a bird nested in it."

"Alright." Brady groaned before turning and noticing that Crocodile was still sitting on the couch. Something was different about the way Brady looked at him this morning than the night before. "Are you the Crocodile from One Piece?" The boy asked, getting straight to the point.

Chuckling, Crocodile quirked an eyebrow. So the kid finally figured it out? "Yes, I am." He watched for the boy's expression to change. The boy kept his eyes on Crocodile and he seemed to be chewing his lip.

It took Brady two tries to finally say anything. "What's your plans?"

"I don't have any at the moment." Crocodile told Brady honestly. Since he had very little knowledge of this world, he couldn't really make any plans, now could he? "Why don't you do as your aunt asked?"

Brady stared a little longer before running off to the bathroom.

"You handled that well." Sam called over to Crocodile from the kitchenette as she pulled out milk from the refridgerator. Some colorful boxes had already been set down on a small round table. "But let me warn you, you haven't heard the last of that from him." Hearing this, Crocodile quirked an eyebrow, however, Sam shifted the subject by clearing her throat. "Yikes, my throat is sore from all that talking last night. Even during the school year, I don't think I've ever done so much talking in that amount of time." She paused. "Well, maybe except for that first day of school."

That was something they had not talked about before. "Just what is it you teach?"

"Art." Sam told him simply. "But that also includes teaching the kids about styles of art, the influences on the art world, and such. Although, for every one kid genuinely interested in what I'm saying, it seems like they are three more only taking the class for the credit."

This was not a term that Crocodile had heard used in such a way before. "What does kind of 'credit' is this?"

Sam began to explain, but then stopped. "Hold on with the questions, Crocodile. Let my voice rest up. Staying up late explaining things isn't terrific on my voice, so I want to rest it a bit before continuing."

Something that Brady had done must have woken the younger brother, Trevor was his name, for the little boy came out of the bedroom with a bounce. "Morning, Aunt Sam!" The boy declared cheerfully. He spared Crocodile a glance and seemed to have suddenly remembered the events from the night before. "Morrning, Mister Crocodile!"

"Hey, Trevor, Fruity Pebbles or Lucky Charms?" Sam asked, holding up two brightly colored boxes. "You guys finished off the Cocoa Puffs yesterday."

"Both!" The boy cheered, throwing his arms in the air.

"Either one or other, Trevor, not both. You might go into a sugar-induced coma if you had both."

Trevor pouted for a moment, but soon perked right back up with a cheer for the 'Lucky Charms' options. Crocodile could only look at the boy with exasperated amusement and a quiet chuckle. The behavior of these boys was quite interesting to watch. Brady soon came running out of the bathroom with a call for the 'Fruity Pebbles'.

As both boys were eating breakfast, there was a light knock on the door. However, before Sam could go to answer it, Crocodile heard a key opening the lock and the door opened, without her accord. At the door was a woman that seemed close to Sam's age and had some similar features, like the eyes. There was a familiar gleam to them. This new woman looked to the couch and Crocodile first. It was very simple to see that she had not expected to see him there. After a moment of the woman's blank stare, she looked over to Sam who had practically frozen on the spot. The woman made a dry and unsuprised face. "So, sister, what's this guy's sob story?"

Sorry that this chapter took a little longer to post that the other ones. It's just that I didn't really have too clear of an idea of what to do with this chapter compared to the other ones. That and I held a little marathon to finish watching Avatar. The old men were amazingly awesome. This time I seem to feature the little brothers more than Sam... And more than once, I've wanted to draw the two of them cosplaying as Ace and Luffy. I should do it. It'd be cute.

What did you think Crocodile and Sam would do while drinking their wine? Stare at each other meaningfully before dropping everything and making out? While that'd be interesting, that would be a major OoC moment for both of them, not to mention rather embarressing to think about writing. I actually think that talking about politics with Crocodile would be interesting, and I don't find politics very interesting in general. After rereading the Alabasta arc a second time, I noticed something I didn't think about before. Crocodile uses a time bomb, and the ticking noise is heard before you hear it's a time bomb. Captain Hook was scared of clocks and ticking noises. I don't think Oda-sensei needs to come out and say Crocodile is based off of the Captain. The inferred hints are more than enough. A hook, crocodile motif, ticking/clocks, high ambitions, and a sort of mocking-gentlemen air about them.

Anyway, this has been another chapter of entertainment brought to you by Elfdragon12. By the way, if any of you were wondering why I didn't say anything about the One Piece pirate known as Blackbeard, that was because no one had heard of him until after Crcodile was defeated and his Shichibukai position left open. Crocodile wouldn't have known anything about him.

T-T-F-N.