A Different Take

by pervertmonster

After being subjected to a nightmarish experience, Luffy has set off on his adventure to become the Pirate King! This is a fanfic set in an altered One Piece world! Devil Fruits are slightly changed, events that didn't take place in Canon occur, and Luffy is more bloodthirsty! Super!Luffy, Super!Robin and LuRo in later chapters.

11. The Lie that Must End

Okay everyone! Here's the next story arc, the "Alabasta" arc! I was just done halfway through this chapter.

Half of the chapter is from the manga with slight differences. The other half where Crocodile meets the crew is a bit different and doesn't follow the manga sometimes.

The chapter ends after Crocodile's fight! Hope you all enjoy!

I do not own One Piece as that belongs to Toei and Eiichiro Oda

---

As they were sailing away from Drum Island, the Straw Hats began to party.

Everyone was on the deck.

"Hey, Nami! Do I look like Yosaku?" Luffy asked while he held chopsticks in his mouth with his nostrils.

"It's a very beautiful night! I never expected to see sakura in this cold place!" Sanji was getting a drink which was poured by Zoro.

"Yes! It's a night to get drunk!" Zoro said as he tapped his glass with Sanji's. This wasn't the time for fighting.

"Hey, you!" Usopp called to their newest crew member, "Come drink with us!"

"Wait a minute here!" The party stopped when Nami started yelling.

"What happened to Carue?!" She pointed to where Vivi sat with Carue. She was crying as she wrapped blankets around him.

"Maybe he just fell in the water? What an idiot!" Zoro laughed. Carue looked funny.

"Quack...quack..." Carue told them all, but he knew it was futile. Nobody could know what he was sa-

"He said he saw Zoro jump into the water and he was in danger. He jumped in after him but became ice."

"It's all because of you!" Nami hit Zoro as hard as she could on his head, his head was smashed into the deck and he almost lost consciousness.

"Tony-kun! That's great! You speak animal?" Vivi enthused.

"Yes, I used to be one, so I understand their language."

"Alright!" Nami was happy. A two for one deal. "Not only do you know medicine, but you speak to animals!"

Chopper looked shocked, but began to blush and dance.

"Damn it! I won't be happy with those words, you know!" His face was one of joy as he kept dancing.

The rest of the crew was a bit confused as he seemed happy, but told them insults.

"Nami-swan? Why did you buy medicine?" Sanji asked. He had been out for most of their stay from his injuries.

Nami handed Chopper his bag, or what she thought was his. It had a cross on it and it was in the sled before they had left.

Chopper stopped dancing and reached into his bag. He pulled out a vial and handed it to Sanji.

"Drink this twice a day. It should help clear the infection up."

"Wait, wh-

"Chopper is a doctor."

"What?! That's great!" Sanji was glad.

He could still remain a man.

They heard Luffy and Usopp laughing.

"Chopper! Come join us!" They both had nostril-mouth sticks.

Sanji and Nami weren't too impressed with the display. It looked weird.

"Don't copy them!" Nami tried to tell Chopper, but it was too late.

She didn't want such an innocent soul to be tainted with the likes of those two idiots!

"Alright everyone!" Usopp blew into a whistle to make everyone pay attention to him.

"Let's have a toast to Chopper!" He stood there with his glass in the air.

Nobody paid any attention to him as they were already distracted.

Sanji and Zoro started fighting in the background. Zoro was hogging the alcohol.

Luffy was dancing around with Chopper, trying to look as ridiculous as possible.

"Let's have a toast!" He tried again and noticed that the crew mates were already holding up their glasses, in a way.

"To Chopper!" They shouted in unison.

Chopper just stood by in disbelief. He never expected any of this to happen.

He grinned widely. "I don't think I've ever been this happy before!"

---

It was now the morning after the night they had partied. They were headed straight for Alabasta.

"No, I don't know anything about what you're talking about..."Luffy muttered while he looked away from Sanji, sweating.

"Oh?" Sanji raised his eyebrow,"You don't know what I'm talking about?"

"Hey!" He noticed Luffy looking away even more, "Why do you keep looking away?! Look me straight in the eyes."

"How is it that the provisions that we had to last eight days suddenly disappears in the middle of the night?!" This was bad. They had eaten all of their food again.

"Resistance is futile." He grabbed Luffy's face, "You'd make a bad po-"

Luffy burped loudly in his face.

Sanji just stepped back in disgust and took a shocked look on his face.

"Is that some food on your cheek?"

Luffy's tongue shot out, trying to get whatever food particle Sanji had seen.

That was all he needed.

He stepped away from the now beaten Luffy towards his fellow thieves.

These people were terrible at lying. Well, except for Usopp, but Sanji knew he was the instigator in all of this.

Nami just watched on and sighed. Sanji was right. This was bad.

"Nami-swan! Can you believe this asshole?!" He stopped his course towards the other three, Usopp, Chopper, and Carue as he turned to Nami.

"You got to buy me a refrigerator with a lock!"

"You're probably right...our lives depend on it." She agreed with Sanji as he continued his walk towards the three.

---

Zoro finally woke up. It seemed everyone was still talking about that Baroque Works group.

"You better watch out, Crocodile! I'm going to kick your ass!"

"You didn't understand a word she said, did you?"

He wiped the tears of tiredness away. Baroque Works? Why did that sound so familiar though?

Whatever. He laid back down to do some more heavy sleeping. Recovering sucked.

---

"Luffy! I thought I told you not to eat the bait!" Usopp screamed in fear. Now they had no bait!

"But you ate som-"

"I only ate the stuff on the bottom of the lid!"

"Now we have no bait!" He paused and looked at Luffy who was pointing at Carue.

---

"Luffy? Usopp? How's the fishing com-AH! Carue!"

Vivi had just come to check how they were doing, but discovered they had tied Carue to their fishing poles.

"I hope we catch a shark!" "I hope we catch a sea monster!"

Vivi saw red as she started to beat Usopp and Luffy up.

She had forgotten about Carue though as he continued to hang off the side of the ship, quacking in fear.

---

The Going Merry had just passed steam coming from the ocean.

Nami explained that it was just from a hotspot, an island would be there in millions of years.

The weird thing that Luffy and Usopp noticed, was that they had caught something with Carue.

A weird looking man with makeup and strange clothing had latched onto Carue, who had passed out in fear.

"Ah! We caught an okama!" Okama was for effeminate gay men.

"Why did I hold on to this weird duck!" The Okama screamed as he fell into the ocean after losing the strength to hold onto the poor creature.

"Thank you very much for rescuing me." The Okama was thankful that they had fished him out of the water. It seemed that he couldn't swim.

He had decided to show them his ability.

"Here it is!" He smashed his palm into Luffy's face, making his head move back a bit.

Everyone began to get prepared for battle. This man could be capable of anything!

"Hey! Wait, everyone! Stop joking around!" They heard Luffy's voice, but it was nasally.

They looked in surprise at the man. He had transformed into Luffy!

"I ate the Mane Mane Fruit! I can copy anyone's physical appearance!" The Okama claimed as he turned back to normal.

"Of course," He walked to the Straw Hats and touched everyone's face except Vivi and Sanji.

"I don't have to hit them. See?" He proceeded to change into them, ending on Nami.

"It even copies the body too!" He revealed Nami's body to them all.

Zoro and Luffy didn't make an expression. They didn't care too much.

Sanji was in heaven! This was the-

He felt immense pain in his nether regions

This was the worst!

Usopp was surprised! He had never seen a woman's body before.

Chopper was confused. He didn't find humans sexually attractive, so he didn't get it.

Nami was furious as she started to hurt the Okama and the other men.

---

The Okama then showed them various faces he had copied. One of them had shocked Vivi, as she was shaking.

He had changed to her father's face for a brief second, shocking the woman. How did this man know him?!

The man continued to play around with Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper. They had been impressed by his ability.

"Someone kill them..." Nami couldn't take this anymore. This man had revealed her body and the four of them were annoying her too much.

---

"Length of time means nothing to true friendship!" The Okama threw his thumbs up at everyone.

It seemed his ship had arrived.

"We'll see you again!" Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper shouted.

Nami hoped the Okama would be burned alive on his ship.

"Let's go, lovies!" He told his crew as they departed.

"Yes sir! Mr. 2 Bon Clay-sama!"

The Straw Hats were stunned.

That was Mr. 2?!

"I never knew that was him! I've only heard that he was a huge okama, talked like an okama, wore a swan coat which had "okama way" written on the back...!" Vivi screamed.

"You should have noticed." Everyone told her.

---

It had been four days since they met Mr. 2.

Zoro told them all it was good that they had met him, they could now develop counter-measures.

They all wore a cloth on their arm with a x underneath it. To make sure it wasn't Mr. 2.

A sea cat emerged from the waters and stared down at the Going Merry.

"Food!" Luffy roared in glee. His eyes were already abyssal.

"The first food in four days!" Zoro had a weird demonic aura around him. Kitetsu shined as he drew it.

The creature saw this and panicked. The sea cat reversed, moving away from the ship.

"Don't let it get away! Kill it!" Sanji was screaming. He didn't want anyone to starve! This was hell!

"No! You can't!" Vivi hit the three on the head and they watched it swim away.

"They're sacred creatures. You ca-"

Luffy tuned the world out as he gnawed on the Going Merry. Not hard enough to damage the wood.

"My food got away..."

He could hear Usopp telling Chopper some stories. Largely embellished stories about himself, but he didn't care. Chopper liked the stories.

---

They could see enemy ships in the background, but they could handle it!

The Straw Hats all looked at Luffy who's teeth were daggers. They would let him go first. No point in being in his way while he was this hungry.

He might not know who was the enemy and who was an ally.

Vivi called everyone to huddle up and put their arms in the middle before they started fighting. Luffy reluctantly moved to them.

"Alright!" Vivi yelled, "This mark is a proof of our friendship!"

The Straw Hats cheered and began preparing to fight.

Baroque Works shouldn't have sent weaklings to fight them.

---

He didn't know where he was at first, but he knew his face was in a plate of food.

Raising his head off of the plate, Ace realized he had fallen asleep.

Lot's of people were looking at him weirdly though.

He needed to clean his face. He pulled the long skirt of one of the women to his face and rubbed the food bits off. The woman screamed and after he had finished, she ran away.

Ace couldn't help but feel proud of what he had managed to do. Going around to many different islands with his Spade Pirates. The Spade Pirates were currently docked somewhere near the New World with the Whitebeard Pirates. He managed to recruit more members with each Facility he burned down.

Now that was a fight! He actually managed to get Whitebeard to take a knee when he had threatened his crew.

Memories of being unable to protect anything had driven Ace to desperation. He would no longer be unable to protect anything. In fact, he would protect everything!

This was a nice place, but the people were freaking him out.

He made sure he still had his knife. Fond memories of hunting with it and saving Luffy with it flashed through his mind as he began to eat some more.

Ace needed to find Luffy. He hoped that the people of Drum Island gave him his message.

"Jeez, what are you guys getting so worked up about?" He asked the people that were watching him. Luckily, his food remained untouched aside from his face landing in the plate.

"We were worried about you!" The crowd screamed behind him.

"You guys hire comedians or something?" Ace asked the cook.

"No, well, we're gl-"

Ace's world went black as he passed out again. He had the faintest idea of people screaming.

The screaming reminded him too much of what Luffy went through so he woke up.

"Anyways, Pops? Have you seen a guy with a straw hat anywhere?"

The cook took a closer look at the Wanted Poster Ace was showing him. "No, I don't think I've seen him before."

"I guess you don't mind eating in public, 2nd Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, Portugas D. Ace." An unfamiliar voice called from the doorway and Ace looked over his shoulder.

The people in the restaurant began to scream! They didn't know one of the Whitebeard Pirates was here!

"I'm on a search for my little brother. I know he likes places like this." Ace replied while he turned in his chair to face the white haired marine.

"So, what can I do for you?" He asked him.

"You can sit tight and be arrested."

"Rejected. I'm sorry, I can't just do that."

"I'm looking for a different pirate, and I'm not really interested in you."

"You're hurting my feelings there, old man. Just let me go."

"I can't do that! As long as I'm a marine and you're a pirate..."

Ace swore he could hear someone shouting "rocket" but he had to pay attention to the marine.

"What a dumb reason! You need to-"

The white haired marine suddenly started flying at him. The marine was screaming in pain and his arms and legs trailed after him in the air.

Ace's eyes popped out of his head as he realized that he couldn't dodge or anything! It was too sudden!

They both went flying through the walls of the restaurant.

---

"Hey! Guy! Food! Food! Food!" Luffy shouted. It had been too long since he had eaten! Sure, he might have munched on some of those Building Agents or whatever, but he needed meat!

"Um, kid, maybe you should start running..." The cook noticed the savage light in Luffy's eyes.

"Give me meat! Now! Give me raw meat! I can't wait!" Luffy began to whine. His voice was warped and loud. It scared the crap out of the people watching the scene.

After getting the food from the cook he started shoving it into his mouth as fast as he could.

"This food is great!" Luffy's voice muffled by the warp and the food, "Thank you!"

"No problem...kid, but seriously, you need t-"

"Lu-!"

"STRAW HAT!"

Someone tried to talk to Luffy, but his head was shoved into the ground by this white haired marine.

Luffy kept shoving food into his mouth. This guy was weird.

"So, you're finally here?"

A minute passed and Luffy was still eating the food.

"Damn it! Stop eating already!"

Luffy didn't know who this guy was, but he was yelling at him. Usually, when the marines yell at you, it's best to run away.

Shoving as much food into his mouth as he could, some of it flew out due to the amount and landed on the marine, Luffy started running as fast as he could.

---

"Straw Hat! Come back here!"

"Tashigi! Stop that guy! He's Straw Hat!"

This one woman jumped in front of Luffy and tried to cut him.

Luffy jumped as high as he could and he reached the roof of a building and continued to run.

He kept running as fast as he could, but the white guy was still too fast.

"White-

"Heat Haze!"

Fire suddenly erupted behind him and stopped the marines in their tracks.

Luffy turned to see who had done that and saw a being of complete fire.

Luffy saw the thing's face though. He gave a huge grin after seeing who it was.

"Ace!"

"Hey, Luffy! It's been a while!" The flames began to die down.

Standing where the being of fire had stood, Ace grinned at his brother.

---

Miss All Sunday just sat on Banchi as she trailed after the Straw Hats. She had to make sure that she was well hidden this time around, as it seemed they would be visited by someone very powerful.

Portugas D. Ace was no one to mess with. She would die if she wasn't careful.

The Going Merry set off from where it had docked.

Ace had bought them some time to get away. He told them he would meet up later.

Vivi had sent Carue to Alabasta. She wanted him to deliver a letter to her father.

Luffy and the others sat down on the deck of the Going Merry. Everyone was exhausted after running away from the marines.

Miss All Sunday formed an ear on the ship.

"You idiot! Conserve our precious water!" Usopp hit Luffy in the head. Luffy had been guzzling the water down at an incredible pace.

She giggled. It seems he didn't know the meaning of rationing.

"So, that guy was your brother? I'm not surprised that you have one, but what's he doing out here?"

"Ah! Ace is a pirate looking for One Piece too! He's three years older than I am!" Luffy was now hanging off the railing of the Going Merry. He had been excited to see his brother after so long!

Now that was a shocker! Portugas D. Ace was Monkey D. Luffy's brother?! And they were both D.s?!

It was interesting to note how strange the world worked.

"What are the chances of two people in the same family having Devil Fruits? That was surprising!" Sanji lit up a cigarette. He seemed to be doing better as he took a sip of the liquid medicine Chopper had given him.

It would probably be a while before he fully recovered.

"I know! Before he left, he didn't have an ability! He was always stronger than me back then!"

"Wait, your brother is stronger than you?!"

Portugas D. Ace was known to attack the World Government Facilities. It was one of the reasons why he had been considered to join Baroque Works.

That is, until he joined Whitebeard.

"You're not an enemy, are you?"

Miss All Sunday turned quickly! She wasn't even able to sense his presence!

"Woah! Hold on there, Miss! I was just wondering why you're spying on my little brother!"

Ace was standing in his boat next to Banchi. The turtle remained stoic as ever.

Miss All Sunday said nothing as she looked in Ace's eyes.

It seemed he had gone through much pain as well. When he mentioned his brother, he seemed to be a bit more protective.

"...I just think the Straw Hats are pretty interesting. They know me, and I know them."

"Oh? Is that so?"

"Yes, it is."

"I see...well, don't let me catch you doing anything to weird to my brother now!"

He produced flames from his arms to propel his boat over to the Going Merry.

She wondered why he didn't attack her or do anything.

Ace jumped on the Going Merry and looked as though he was introducing himself. He seemed to be very polite.

She formed an ear again on the ship. Ace's sudden appearance had caused her to dispel it.

Ace suddenly hit Luffy on the head.

"What did I tell you about eating raw meat?!"

"Ow! It hurts! You know how I get! If I see food, it's my food and if it's my food, I eat it." Luffy held his head while he whined.

"That doesn't excuse you from anything!"

Ace settled down, smile returning to his face.

"Luffy...will you come and join the Whitebeard Pirates? With your crew, of course."

To be able to join the Whitebeard Pirates? That was a great honor.

"No way."

Miss All Sunday giggled. Of course Luffy wouldn't join anything. He was more of a leader rather than a follower.

Ace just laughed. He had expected this as well.

"Just thought I would ask."

"Wait, Whitebeard Pirates?! You mean that mark on your back is real?" Usopp couldn't believe it! Whitebead was the strongest pirate in the world at the moment.

"Yep. It's my pride and joy! He's the greatest pirate I've ever known!"

He looked at Luffy with a somewhat guilty look in his eyes.

"I want to make him Pirate King, Luffy. Not you."

"Don't worry about it!" Luffy grinned, "I'll just fight him for it!"

Ace smiled back. He didn't even get mad at hearing Luffy claim he was going to fight Whitebeard.

No one knew this, but if Whitebeard were to ever go after Luffy...

Ace would make him pay.

Sanji noticed that the two had a weird aura about them. It seemed like they were going to get sad if they were to part here.

"Would you like to come in? I can make you some tea." He offered to Ace. Even if Luffy got on his nerves sometimes, Luffy was still his friend.

"No, it's okay." Ace seemed grateful for the offer, "I'm not going to stay long."

"Here, Luffy!" Ace tossed him a piece of paper. It was a bit heavy. "I wanted to give this to you!"

Miss All Sunday knew what it was. It was a vivre card. It allowed one to find another no matter the distance.

It was only given to trusted individuals. The sea was a big place. If someone was able to find you no matter where you were...

"Always keep that with you"

"It's a piece of paper." Luffy stated with a blank face. It was clear he didn't understand what it was.

"Yup, that paper will help us meet again, Luffy."

"Wow..." Luffy seemed to understand a bit. Ace wanted to meet him again in the future.

"Don't want it?" Ace teased.

"NO! I want it." Luffy seemed possessive of the vivre card already.

Ace turned around to prepare to jump into his boat.

"Having a dumb weaker brother, makes an older brother worry. I'm sorry if Luffy causes you all trouble." He said as he addressed the rest of the Straw Hats.

"Please, take care of him for me." Ace looked in her direction as well as he jumped to his boat.

Miss All Sunday dispelled the ear. She had to return to Crocodile now to give him news of Vivi's arrival.

She hoped he wouldn't be too upset from her absence.

---

"N-No way!" Nami was shocked, "How could a guy like that be related to a guy like this?!"

Nami looked at Luffy. They had just watched Ace sail away. Luffy was already punching the air, proclaiming that he would get stronger than Ace.

"I was sure he would be just like Luffy when he told us about him!" Usopp couldn't believe it either. Ace might not have been the most polite person, but he was much better than Luffy. He looked over to see Luffy was lifting their water barrel in the air.

"Luffy! Set that down!"

"What a great guy! He cares about his brother!" "Brotherhood is such a great thing..."

Zoro and Chopper were awed by Ace. They had never seen anyone care that much. To travel across many seas just to see his brother!

"I don't get it." Sanji couldn't believe they were related, "The sea is a mysterious place."

---

Ace was happy. He had just seen his brother for the first time in three long years.

The days got longer without his little brother there beside him.

He noticed five ships had tried to block him. They tried to tell him something, but he didn't listen to weaklings.

He jumped, sending his craft underwater. With the momentum he had gained, he knew it would be able to go under all the ships and come up from the other side.

Using his flame ability, he flew through the air over the ships. Not quite high enough as he passed by their sails and burned them.

He landed on his watercraft that popped up from the other side of the ships. He cocked his fist back.

"Fire...Fist!" He sent his fist forward, launching a powerful flame that ripped through the five ships and he watched as they sank to the depths below.

"Luffy...I hope you get stronger soon!" Ace was happy.

His brother had found a family of his own, and he was well on his way to reaching his position.

He had waited for this day for three years!

---

Miss All Sunday found her back to the wall again as a hand held her there.

Crocodile stood in front of her as they were in his office. A bananawani was sitting in the corner. They were at the wall next to his desk.

She would have preferred the hand to have belonged to someone else.

"Miss All Sunday...where have you been?" Crocodile looked at her with bored eyes. She could tell he was all but bored. She had been gone for a while.

"...I led the princess here, like you ordered." She wouldn't show this man anything but her cryptic smile. Even if she knew he could kill her instantly.

It seemed like he was contemplating something. Maybe he knew what she had done this whole time?

He let her go and walked away to his chair.

"...You have another job to do. I need you to arrange 150 billions agents to go to Nanohana."

"Yes, sir. I understand." She turned to walk away, but a hand grabbed her arm.

"All the officers will be meeting at the Spiders Cafe at 8 o'clock tonight. After you're done stationing the troops, you are to report back here."

"Yes, sir." She left.

Miss All Sunday headed to where they kept the animals. She had to let Banchi go. He was supposed to bring the other agents to Rainbase.

Before he had left, Banchi nuzzled Miss All Sunday once. He had never done that before.

She would miss Banchi too. A F-Wani was assigned to her.

Miss All Sunday began to write letters to the agents near Nanohana. She would be using Erimaki Runners to relay them the messages.

---

The Going Merry had docked at Erumalu and they were already having loads of adventures!

Vivi and Nami made him wear this weird robe. It was comfy, but it was hot too!

First, he watched Usopp get beaten up by a dugong! It was so funny!

Then, he beat up the dugong for Usopp since he knew Usopp would never be able to fight it and win.

After that, Vivi and Nami tried to explain the mystery powder to him.

It was long and boring, so mystery powder! Zoro agreed.

Luffy was having a great time! Though it was really hot outside.

He listened to Vivi's story about how her dad was framed for bringing the mystery powder to Alabasta and stealing the rain from other areas.

"Dang, Vivi! Your dad is evil!" Luffy shouted while he pointed at Vivi.

"You weren't listening at all, were you, Luffy?!" Sanji kicked him in the head, but it didn't hurt Luffy.

Sanji looked weird though. He clutched at his kintama and fell to the ground. He looked funny to Luffy.

Chopper started telling Sanji to take it easy for another day. Any strenuous activity would hurt him.

"It's already strenuous for Sanji to be alive." Zoro said while he looked away from Sanji, "I'm already feeling tired of his existence."

"What was that you shitty moss head?" Sanji said while his face was still in the ground. He didn't have enough strength to fight back.

Luffy was about to laugh, but Vivi started to cry.

"It was all a trap set by Crocodile! Everything worked out, just like he planned! Many towns dried up and caused death, anger, and mayhem! Rebels started to gather to fight a country they thought was evil!"

He didn't like the sound of those words. Someone gaining enough power to do what they wanted. To kill and make others suffer.

Luffy didn't like those kinds of people. Those were the kinds of people that would torture others to get what they wanted.

"The Kingdom's peace...the trust in the royal family...the rain! Towns! Even people's lives were all taken by that one man!" She let a few tears slide down her cheek. She was trying to stay strong, even when it seemed that everything was happening according to that one man's plan.

"Crocodile! What right does he have to do this to us?!"

"I will never..ever let him get away with this!"

Vivi had tried so hard. She did everything she could. Crocodile just had more resources! More men! Mo-

She heard a crash and a building had fallen down.

Luffy, Usopp, and Sanji were walking away from it towards their destination.

"Everyone! Hurry up!" Luffy shouted as the knuckles in his hand cracked as he clenched his fist.

"I'm getting anxious."

Vivi gave a small smile towards them. She had something she knew a man like Crocodile didn't have much of.

She had friends.

---

The Straw Hats soon learned a vital fact of the desert.

It was really hot.

Luffy was panting. His skin smelled weird as he slowly trudged through the sand.

Zoro was sweating profusely. It was too hot for even him.

Usopp was using a stick to prop himself up. He trailed slowly behind.

Sanji could take the heat. He was a cook after all.

Nami was sweating, but it wasn't too bad. The outfit she had was a bit ventilated.

Vivi was absolutely fine. She grew up here.

Chopper had to be dragged. His fur made the heat even worse.

"Water..." Luffy begged to be allowed to have a sip from the water barrel.

"Alright," Nami told him, "Only enough to fill your mouth."

Luffy stretched his mouth as much as he could as he filled it with water. His cheeks were the size of Chopper.

He got into a fight with Sanji and Usopp. What was wrong with having 13 sips like this anyway?

"Sanji! Open a lunchbox! We're eating!" Luffy thought that if they ate, he wouldn't feel so bad.

"Sorry, not until Vivi gives the okay."

"No, Sanji-san."

"There's your answer, Luffy."

"Jeez, Vivi. You're stupid. Haven't you heard of the proverb, "Eat when thou art hungry"?"

Usopp could tell a lie when he heard one, "You made that up, Luffy."

---

"Alright, everyone. Time to play rock-paper-scissors to see who has to carry the luggage!"

Everyone was taking a big risk. If the one that lost couldn't carry it, they wou-

"Why do I have to carry all the luggage?!" Luffy shouted. It was so unfair! Rock was supposed to beat everything!

"Sorry, Luffy! You lost so you get to haul all of it!"

"Hey! Look! Rocks are up ahead!"

Luffy had never run so fast in his life. He sat down in the shade the rocks provided.

"Ah! This is nice." Looking to the side, he saw some birds in pretty bad shape.

---

"Luffy! Are you alright?" Vivi asked him when the rest of the Straw Hats arrived at the rock Luffy sat near.

"I'm great!" Luffy was cleaning his teeth. Bird skeletons laid next to him.

Everyone began to rest. This was the first time they had sat down in a while.

"What's that running towards us?" Zoro said as he stared into the desert. What looked like a weird camel and a giant lizard were running towards where they sat.

"That's a Giant Sandora Lizard!" Vivi yelled. This was bad! Giant Sandora Lizards were very strong!

"What kind of star was I born under?" Sanji asked himself as he stood up. He wouldn't let this shitty lizard bother Nami-swan or Vivi-chan.

He found out that he could not look at beautiful women for too long. His nether regions were burn like crazy.

Being sick sucked.

Zoro unsheathed his swords.

It had been a while since he got to do anything.

Luffy just saw meat on legs. It was eating time!

Luffy and Sanji jumped into the air while Zoro charged it from the ground.

"Gum Gum...!" "Epaule...!" "Tatsu...!"

"Whip!" "Shoot!" "Maki!"

Zoro spun in a circle with his blades, cutting the beast's throat and sent blood flying from its wounds.

Sanji smashed its head in, causing blood and bits of bone flying from its head.

Luffy swung his stretched out leg into the lizard's side, making its ribs collapse and rupturing internal organs.

The witnesses to this were shocked! Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji were monsters on their own. The three of them fighting one lizard was overkill.

---

"Okay! I'll go o-ouch!"

The camel bit Luffy. He was trying to ride it since they had saved it from being eaten by the lizard.

"I am just a passing camel. Thanks for saving me. I'll let you ride me, but I won't let any guys get on." Chopper translated for the camel.

Luffy, Usopp, and Sanji started beating the camel up. What kind of gratitude was that?!

"I'm sorry for these horrible men for hurting you." Nami pulled the camels away and started to pet the camel after defending it from the other Straw Hats, who lay defeated on the sand.

The camel had hearts for eyes and blood dripped from its nose.

"What should I call you?"

"Idiot." "Moron." "Dumb-ass."

Luffy, Sanji, and Usopp suggested.

"How about, Eyelashes?" Nami inputted.

Zoro thought that was worse than the other names.

Eyelashes didn't care what she called him. Just as long as she rode him.

---

Vivi had also gotten on Eyelashes as he started to take them to Yuba.

"Hurry up, everyone!" Nami yelled back at them, "If you're not fast enough, you'll get lost and never get out of the desert alive!"

"Ah!" Luffy screamed, surprising the other male Straw Hats, "Tsunami!"

"What's wrong with him?" Zoro asked. He was nervous since the camel was getting farther and farther away from them.

With the only two that could get them out of the desert.

"After we ate the lizard meat, he ate this cactus over there!" Usopp saw the same thing Zoro had.

"Was it like this?" Chopper pointed to one of the cactus nearby.

"Yes! It was like that!" Luffy started to thrash around, stretching his limbs everywhere. He accidentally hit Usopp and Sanji in their faces.

"Oh no! He ate a mescal cactus! It causes hallucinations!"

"Gum Gum Gum Gum...!" Luffy was freaking out. He was about to attack everyone.

Chopper ran up to Luffy and stuck him with a needle.

"Tranquilizer...success!" Chopper noticed that Luffy reacted a bit too strongly to the tranquilizer.

"Right! Good job, Chopper!" Sanji was glad that Chopper subdued Luffy. He was going to kill him later.

"Oh no! Look how far that camel is!" Zoro was pointing where he had last seen the camel. It couldn't be seen anymore.

They began to run towards the camel's direction. They had traveled for a long time. Usopp almost got lost as he became too weak to move and had to be carried with Luffy.

Luffy woke up after the tranquilizer wore off and everyone beat him up.

---

"Those fools...are not here anymore."

The Straw Hats couldn't believe it. They had finally arrived in Yuba to discover it looked just like Erumalu.

They found one man still in the city of Yuba. A scrawny, malnourished man named Toto.

He told them that the rebels were no longer in Yuba. They had moved to Katorea. A town next to Nanohana.

"Vivi! Where is that?"

Vivi was shocked. After crossing the desert, after their travel here...

"It's a town next to Nanohana."

Nanohana was where they met Ace.

"What?! Why did we come here then?!"

"Vivi?" Toto asked, "Did you just say Vivi?"

"Ah! No, old man! Vivi isn't a princess or anything!" Luffy shouted, not knowing what he had just said.

"Don't tell him!" Zoro and Nami hit him. He couldn't keep a secret at all.

"I'm so glad you're alive!" Toto said as he approached Vivi.

"Don't you remember me? I guess not. I've lost some weight."

Vivi suddenly remembered him. He was Mr. Toto! The father of her friend Kohza!

He used to be fat, but healthy! What happened to him?! He looked like he had wasted away!

"Mr. Toto?!" Toto could see the recognition in Vivi's eyes.

"Listen to me, Vivi-chan! I-I believe in the king! He would never betray our country! Isn't that right?!"

Toto was crying. He had stayed in this decrepit city for three long years.

Three years of being dehydrated, of starving, of watching the headlines about the deaths of thousands!

"This rebellion is silly, Vivi-chan! Please...I beg you! Stop those fools!"

Luffy thought it was a bit rude, to put all of this on one person.

"We can stop the rebellion!" Vivi said with a smile as she handed Toto a handkerchief to dry his tears.

Luffy knew it was a fake smile. He could tell.

This was too much for one person to handle. Vivi was at her breaking point.

They had been given a place to stay by Toto. He was a really nice old man.

---

"Good work for today, boys!" Usopp exclaimed, "Let's all take a rest to replenish our strength for tomorrow! Goodnight!" He quickly chose the bed he thought looked best.

"You've been sleeping the entire day! We had to carry you!"

Usopp threw a pillow at Zoro which smacked him in the head.

"Shut up! I'm not a monster like all of you!"

"Sanji-san, that's mine..." Vivi tried to get Sanji to get out of her bed.

"I figured you didn't want to sleep alone tonight."

"Watch out, Vivi." Zoro warned, "He's got quite the surprise under his pants."

"You rude buffoon! I just didn't want Vivi to feel lonely at night!"

"Sure, pervert cook."

Usopp threw a pillow at Sanji's head.

"You bastard! That's it!"

"What the hell?! That wasn't me!"

The pillow fight grew as it included Vivi and Chopper.

---

Luffy sat outside with Toto.

"Hey, mister! There's no water! My throats dried out!" Luffy whined.

"It must be hard to live here." Luffy said with a slightly more serious tone. He knew what it was like to live without.

"The water will come. Yuba's oasis will not be beaten by mere sand!"

"If the sand covers it up, I'll just dig it away again. This was the land given to me by the king! My friend!"

Luffy smiled a bit. He liked this guy.

"Alright! Let's dig up some water!" He jumped down to assist the old man. He started digging.

"Hey! Wait!" Toto shouted, "Stop that! You're digging the wrong way!"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"The sand from your hole is going into mine! That defeats the purpose of digging a hole in the first place!"

Luffy paused as he thought this over.

"Ah! So it's a mystery hole!"

Toto sighed. This was going to take a while.

After he dug some more, Toto checked on Luffy.

He was snoring peacefully in the deep hole he had dug.

Toto couldn't be mad at him. He had helped a lot.

He took Luffy out of the hole and laid him down in the inn he provided for the Straw Hats.

Renewed by the spirit Luffy had shown him, Toto restarted his digging with more drive than he had done for a long while.

---

Miss All Sunday took this chance to enjoy the night breeze.

They had just finished the debriefing. The final plan was to begin tomorrow.

Crocodile didn't trust her anymore. She could tell. Then again, he never trusted her from the start.

As long as she made herself useful, she was allowed to live.

Miss All Sunday went to where they usually kept the mounts they used to travel through the desert. She wanted to see Banchi. He was her constant companion, and though he couldn't talk or show much emotion, she had grown attached to him.

Banchi was the same as usual. He was going to be some of the agents transport as they completed various missions tomorrow.

He looked up at her, face stoic as ever. It seemed as though he didn't remember her.

Banchi's head tried to nuzzle her. That was surprising. Banchi was known to not care about agents. He was actually ordered to leave agents behind if it was necessary.

She would miss him, she thought as she left the stables.

---

Luffy and the Straw Hats were preparing to leave. They needed to make it back to Katorea.

Toto stopped Luffy and gave him a gallon of water which he had been able to dig up thanks to Luffy's help. Luffy shakily accepted the water. He treasured the water he had been given and was very careful with it.

It had been a hour since they started their traveling. Luffy had suddenly sat down next to a withered tree.

"I quit."

"What?! What do you mean, "you quit"?!"

"We're going back, right?" Luffy asked.

"Yeah, we're going back by using the road we used yesterday to get to Katorea. We'll be stopping a civil war from killing a million people! This is for Vivi, Luffy!" Sanji explained to Luffy.

"Boring."

"What did you say?!"

"Vivi, I want to smash Crocodile's head in, but stopping a civil war won't stop him. We can't do anything when we get to Katorea because we're pirates. You'd be better off on your own."

None of the Straw Hats said anything. It was true that they were pirates. The most they could do is stand out of the way so they wouldn't make things worse.

Vivi didn't say anything. She knew that they couldn't do anything as well.

"You want to stop a man like Crocodile, a Shikibukai, who is going to cause a war between a million people, and you don't want anyone to die."

Luffy looked her in the eyes. "That's naïve."

Vivi was getting frustrated. They were wasting time discussing what she wanted?

"What's wrong with that?!"

"People die."

Vivi couldn't take that statement. She hit Luffy hard and watched as he fell to the ground.

"Don't talk like that! That's what we're trying to stop! You can't blame the army or the rebels for this! This is all Crocodile's fault!"

Luffy rose up and punched her in the face. He watched as she struggled to keep her balance. He didn't put that much force into it.

"Then why are you risking your life?! Why do you think your life is less important than theirs?!"

The two continued to fight. The Straw Hats watched, though some were more vocal than others.

"You shitty rubberman! Don't hurt Vivi!" "That's going way too far, Luffy!"

Zoro and Nami stood in silence. They realized what Luffy was saying.

"Because I only have my life to risk! I don't have anything else to give!"

"You can try risking our lives! I thought we were friends?!"

Vivi stopped hitting Luffy. She didn't want to risk their lives!

"You're crying." He noted as he watched her try to hide her tears, "You're the one that wants to kill him the most."

She kept crying. She didn't want anymore death! She didn't want to risk her friend's lives! Why did she have to go through this?!

Vivi realized it was all Crocodile's fault. Even if she didn't want anymore death...she wanted to kill him.

"Tell me where he is, Vivi." Luffy asked.

This man needed to die.

---

The Straw Hats decided to head to Rainbase, a gambling town to the north of Yuba.

That was where Crocodile was. That's where they needed to be.

"Gum Gum...!"

"...No way!" Luffy stretched his arms with the gallon of water he had been given by Toto.

"Come on, Luffy! Just one sip! That's what it's for!" Usopp was desperately thirsty. He had done a whole lot of being carried around! He was thirsty.

"Old Mister Sandy Guy gave this water to us after digging all night! We can't just drink it right away, moron!"

Usopp looked defeated. Luffy was too stubborn to waste energy on.

"So you really can restrain yourself?" Nami was surprised. It looked like Luffy was still full of them.

"Of course I can! How rude!"

---

After 16 hours, they finally arrived at Rainbase.

"Take a look, Nami! This is your new weapon, the Climatact!"

Nami had asked Usopp if he could build her a weapon, and he had done so! She was happy!

"You don't need to make any weapons for Nami-swan or Vivi-chan! Cause I'll protect them! Just call me, "Prince"!"

"Prince." Zoro said aloud.

"Not you, you shitty moss head!"

---

The Straw Hats sat on the ground to relax. They were currently inside Rainbase.

They sent Luffy and Usopp to go get the water. They had been the most enthusiastic of them all to do so.

"Do you think it was a good idea to send them to get the water?" Nami asked the group. She had been thinking about that decision.

"It's only an errand. They can do it." Sanji took another puff of his cigarette.

"Maybe we should prepare if they get into trouble." Zoro said as he cared for his swords. That sand seemed to get everywhere.

"Oh crap...they're being chased by marines..." Sanji said as he looked behind the wall he had been next to.

"Why are they running over here?!"

"What about Tony-kun?!" Chopper had gone off to use the restroom.

"Leave him, he'll be fine!"

The Straw Hats started running. Luffy and Usopp had lured the marines to them.

"You idiots! Why did you bring them over here?!"

"Hey, Vivi! Let's go take out Crocodile! It's already too late to be sneaky!"

"Alright, he owns that casino over there! Rain Dinners!"

"Let's all split up!"

The Straw Hats split up. It seemed Luffy managed to run into Smoker again as smoke followed him as he jumped building to building.

---

Sanji had easily taken out many of the marines. They were nothing without the smoke-bastard!

Zoro felt his sword's auras and was pleased.

They wanted a battle.

The small fry was easy to take care of. He'd be able to take all the marines out by him-

"Roronoa Zoro!"

'Oh no,' He thought, 'Not that voice again..."

Nami and Usopp had gotten lucky! First, Usopp manages to take out the Billions agents chasing them, then Zoro takes out the marines in their way! It was weird though, he looked like he was panicking.

Finally! Things were starting to look up for them!

"Come on, everyone! Go into the casino!" Luffy shouted as they began to head towards it. Sanji and Chopper were missing.

Hopefully, Baroque Works' building could protect them.

Luffy and the Straw Hats saw Miss All Sunday in the corner. She pointed towards a hallway in the back.

"Thank you!" Luffy shouted to her as he ran towards the hallway. Smokey was still following them.

---

The Straw Hats, plus Smoker, found themselves stuck in a cage made out of seastone.

"You know, I think she was actually pointing towards the VIP room." Luffy muttered.

"Yes, I agree." Usopp nodded his head with Luffy.

"You two are so stupid! Dragging us towards the room labeled "Pirates"! Who the hell just names one of the rooms that?!" Nami was more than upset. They had been trapped in an unknown place behind what seemed like unbreakable bars.

Luffy tried chomping on the bars, but he said they taste bad and couldn't dent them.

Smoker stayed silent while he sat on part of the room long bench. There wasn't much to do and Straw Hat was beginning to annoy him.

Zoro watched Smoker get up and take his jutte off his back.

"Luffy! Watch out!"

Smoker tried to hit Luffy, but Luffy turned around and smacked the tip to the ground.

"What's the deal, old man? I haven't done anything."

Luffy began to crack his knuckles.

'Looks like I have to beat this guy up.'

Zoro put a hand on his swords as well. He was prepared to back Luffy up if he needed too.

"Cut it out, you'll kill yourselves before I get to."

Everyone turned towards the opening of the cage and saw Crocodile sitting down at a table.

He was a tall man with a green coat that hung around his shoulders. He had a smug look on his face.

"Now," He began as he noticed everyone was paying attention to him, "Why can't we all be friends?"

Luffy tuned most of the speech out. The only thing he payed any attention to was when he heard the smokey guy call this man "Crocodile".

A loud bang came from the cage when Luffy slammed against the bars.

"Hey! You!"

"You did well to come this far, Straw Hat! I never expected to meet you, but I'll be killing you very soon. After all, the guest of honor has yet to arrive!"

"I just sent my partner to go pick her up!"

---

Vivi found herself surrounded by many Baroque Works agents. This was it...she would die here...

"You've caused us quite the trouble, Princess! But don't worry...we'll take good care of you!"

Or she would be tortured for an indefinite amount of time and then killed.

The agents were then assaulted by a giant falcon with machine guns mounted on its shoulders.

The falcon picked her up and flew to the top of a building nearby.

"Pell!" Pell was one of the royal guards to the Alabasta kingdom! She never expected to see him here!

"Please, wait here, Princess! I'll take care of these guys..." He took off towards the agents, appearing behind them while he had already cut them all.

"Tobi Zume!"

He had moved so fast! Nobody even saw him move.

"You saved me, Pell! Now, we must hurry to where the others are!"

"Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking."

Vivi paled. She knew that voice.

She turned to face Miss All Sunday.

"Hello again, Princess." She kept walking to the edge of the building and looked down at Pell.

"I've never seen a human that could fly! But I wonder..."

"If you're stronger than me?"

"Vivi-sama! Is this one of the people who are trying to destroy the country?!"

Vivi couldn't talk. She knew that this woman was too powerful for even Pell.

"If you don't mind, I would like to take the princess here to our mansion to introduce her to some friends."

"Stop joking. I won't let you do such a thing." Pell didn't like this woman. She seemed so confident that they were no threat to her.

Vivi tried to attack Miss All Sunday, but she was restrained.

"That's so un-ladylike, attacking me like that."

"Pell! Go to Rain Dinners and save the Straw Hats!"

"Princess?"

"Enough of this."

Miss All Sunday pulled Vivi towards her and an arm sprung out from behind Vivi.

It looked like she had just been impaled.

"VIVI-SAMA! DAMN YOU!" Pell flew with great speed. Miss All Sunday couldn't even see him.

Even if she couldn't see him, she had other abilities to rely on.

"Tres Fleur!"

Pell was almost upon Miss All Sunday when arms suddenly grew on his body. They grabbed, then pulled on his wings and arms, sending him tumbling on the roof the women were on.

He looked shocked. He was sure the arms belonged to the vile lady, but he didn't kn-

"Fufufufu...it looked like I killed her, didn't it?" Miss All Sunday was excited. It had been a while since she had been in a fight.

"What did you do?! Do you have a power as well?!" Pell drew his sword. If she had a power, this would be troublesome.

"Yes. I ate the Hana Hana Fruit. As long as my body is willing, parts of it can grow wherever I want."

"I won't let you escape from me now, Royal Guard."

"Escape?!" Pell was furious, "I won't let you escape! I'll avenge Ingram-sama right here!"

'Oh? Looks like they don't know he still lives.' She thought as she watched Pell rush towards her.

"Really?...I'm sorry then. It looks like I don't have enough time to play with you."

"Don't you worry about the time! I'll end you here!" Pell was getting closer, though it didn't matter.

"I don't think you understand." Miss All Sunday ran towards Pell as well.

"Seis Fleur!"

Arms held Pell, pulling his arms, head, and legs away from his torso.

"Power...speed...they mean nothing to me." With her new ability, this statement was very true.

"Clutch!" She moved past Pell, swinging her arms forward as she did so.

The sound of breaking bones could be heard in the air. Vivi was screaming.

She had broken his neck, arms, and legs. He wouldn't be walking around very soon.

Or, not at all if she put more power than he could handle in it.

She started walking towards Vivi. Pell's broken body fell to the roof with a sick thud.

"Now, Princess. I need you to meet one of my friends." Miss All Sunday wore a smile.

"His name's Mr. 0 and he's been eagerly awaiting your arrival."

---

Miss All Sunday watched from the top of the stairs. She had brought Vivi to Rainbase's secret hideout.

She saw Vivi attempt to attack Crocodile to no avail. His Sand Sand Fruit's ability prevented normal means of attacking him.

Crocodile held Vivi close to him. Miss All Sunday had to not show emotion at such a vile act.

She didn't even want to know what he had planned for her.

Miss All Sunday started to descend down the stairs.

"You bastard! Let Vivi go!" Luffy roared from the cage. It seemed he had already transformed a bit.

The seastone seem to prevent him from fully transforming as he still had his normal eyes and face.

His teeth were a bit sharp though.

Crocodile threw Vivi into an empty chair. Miss All Sunday formed hands to tie her in it.

"It's just about time for the party to begin, am I wrong, Miss All Sunday?"

She could see Luffy, Roronoa Zoro, Navigator-chan, Long Nose-kun, and Captain Smoker turn towards her as she continued.

Luffy had a surprised look on his face. Like he expected her to help him.

She ignored him as much as she could.

"You are correct. It's past 7 o'clock. 9 hours left until Plan Utopia begins."

She listened to Crocodile as he told the group of his great plan. How the Rebels and the Royal Guard would fight and kill themselves. Eventually, Crocodile would be able to take over the country by killing the "evil king" himself and the public would worship him as royalty.

---

"Kuhahaha! Isn't that a tearjerker?" Crocodile looked at Vivi while he talked, "Love for one's country is what will end up destroying it in the end!"

Zoro wanted to cut this guy into pieces. To manipulate the emotions of the people like this...

Luffy started to glare at Crocodile. He wanted to smash his face in!

"Do you want to know why I want to control your country, Princess?" Crocodile walked towards Vivi.

"How am I supposed to know what goes on in your twisted mind?!" Vivi struggled as much as she could, but the rope had been fastened too tightly.

"Hmm...a foul mouthed princess..." Crocodile just kept smirking. He liked it when they struggled.

Crocodile caressed Vivi's cheek. She shuddered visibly and forced her chair to the side, sending her to the ground.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"We can still stop you! If we just head east from here to Alubarna, there's a chance that we can get there before the Rebels and stop the fighting!"

Crocodile chuckled.

"Isn't that odd? We were just heading there to ask your daddy a question..." He spoke in his mocking tone. He was enjoying this.

"What?! What are you going to do to my father?!" Vivi shouted in fear from her position on the floor.

"Which is more important to you, Ms. Wednesday?" It seemed Crocodile even knew her codename.

"Your friends?" He looked at the Straw Hats plus Smoker. He held a key up which looked like it would open the gate.

"Or your country?" He threw the key towards the ground in front of the cage.

Luffy's fingers stretched towards it, surprising most in the room, but he was unable to get a hold of the key as it dropped through a pitfall trap he had installed.

Luffy huffed in frustration. He was so close!

"What will you do, Ms. Wednesday?" He shook his surprise off quickly. Straw Hat's transformation was strong.

Vivi could only stare in shock at the pitfall opening. She knew it led to Crocodile's pet bananawani habitat.

"Woah! Look at that! Crocodiles are growing out of the bananas!"

"What? No, Luffy. The bananas are growing out of the crocodiles."

"What weird bananas."

"Hey! They're weird crocodiles, not weird bananas!"

"Looking at the pen now, I think we're underwater!"

"We'll just take our leave now." Crocodile was growing tired of listening to the idiots speak. He preferred to not listen to trash.

He and Miss All Sunday started heading for the exit. It was a large door that led away from the underwater base.

"This room will also flood in one hour. Think about it, Princess. One million lives, or four pirates?"

"Do you like gambling, Princess? Kuhahahaha! This was so easy to do! Surrounded by so many idiots! Especially that rebel leader and foolish, hole-digging, old man..."

"What? You mean that sandy old guy in Uba?"

Crocodile turned to Luffy, who was unknowingly being corrected by Usopp.

"So, you know him? What a stupid old geezer! Digging up a well that's been long dead. Hilarious, right?"

Miss All Sunday hid her face with her hat. She knew what was going to happen next.

Luffy just grit his teeth. Forget beating him up, he was going to devour this guy!

"And he thinks he can overcome sandstorms over and over...tell me, Straw Hat. Do you think sandstorms can successfully attack one town so many times?"

"What does that mean?" "Don't tell me he..."

Crocodile formed a small sandstorm in his hand, laughing as he did so.

'Yuba cannot be defeated by mere sand..'

Luffy was beyond angry. "You did that!"

Vivi could only think of how skinny and frail Toto was as he tried to be more recognizable for her sake.

Crocodile began to laugh loudly as he and Miss All Sunday passed through the doorway. Miss All Sunday still kept her sight to the ground as she listened the cries of Usopp.

Vivi wanted to do something! She needed to do at least one thing!

She couldn't. She couldn't save anything...

"Vivi! Do something! Get us out of here!"

She turned towards Luffy. He had the expression of absolute hate on his demonic face.

"Begging for you life already, Straw Hat? Kuhahaha! I guess everyone's afraid of d-"

"IF WE DIE HERE, WHO'S GOING TO STOP HIM?!" Luffy's warped voice interrupted Crocodile.

Crocodile turned his head to glare at Luffy with a smirk on his face.

"Don't get too conceited, little man."

"No! That's you! You're the little one!" Luffy sneered back at Crocodile as he kept walking.

A bananawani came up from the pen and stalked towards Vivi.

"If you're going to abandon them, now's the time to do so, Princess!" Crocodile chuckled as he watched Vivi flinch in fear.

The Straw Hats watched as Vivi attempted to attack the monster, but it easily brushed her aside.

The bananawani was then distracted by the ringing of a Baby Den Den Mushi snail phone.

"What?" Miss All Sunday wasn't in the mood for talking right now as she answered her phone.

"Hello? Hello? Can you hear me?" A strange voice came through the snail phone. It was a bit off as distance distorted the voice.

"Yes, I can. You're a millions agent, aren't you?" The intelligence of the speaker seemed like one.

"Hey! Spit it out already!" Crocodile was impatient. Miss All Sunday was the one that usually took care of things, but she had already irritated him.

"Ah! I know that voice!" The man on the other end cleared his throat.

"Welcome, sir. This is the Shitty Restaurant." Crocodile flinched as he heard that voice. It was the same one he had heard when he called Mr. 3's phone!

"You!"

"Nice...you remembered."

Miss All Sunday just looked at Crocodile with a small, unreadable smile. She knew who this was.

"San-!" Apparently, so did Luffy before he was silenced by his comrades.

They listened as the man on the phone wanted them to refer to him as, "Mr. Prince".

"Save us, Mr. Prince!"

"Ah! Those are the voices of my wonderful crew! I'll be on my way rig-gah!" A gunshot could be heard halfway through "Mr. Prince's" speech.

Crocodile just laughed as he heard that. The agent on the other end of the Baby Den Den Mushi told him that they had him in front of Rain Dinners.

He decided to pay this, "Mr. Prince", a visit. Miss All Sunday followed him.

"Princess, I've decided to make your choice for you." Crocodile's hand shot out and pulled her to him.

"I think I'll just take you with me!" The Straw Hats outraged and he could hear loud bangs coming from the bars as Straw Hat hit them.

Vivi struggled in his grip, but no matter. She would learn what it means to mess around with him.

---

Crocodile, Vivi, and Miss All Sunday were outside Rain Dinners, looking at the Billions agents that had been demolished.

"What happened here?!" Crocodile demanded. Where was this Mr. Prince?

"This one guy...called himself Mr. Prince showed up and destroyed us!" One of the agents said, "There he is...right there!" He pointed to a retreating figure before passing out.

Miss All Sunday saw a large man hiding the wrong way behind a building. She wanted to giggle, but frowned instead.

She didn't know what was going on...but she made a promise.

"Why don't you let him go?" She asked Crocodile.

"Don't joke around. He needs to learn what it means to go against me." Crocodile was already turning into sand, throwing Vivi over to her.

Vivi had her mouth shut by a gag. Miss All Sunday did not wish to learn why Crocodile carried that with him.

She saw Sanji rush by her, he was unseen by Crocodile.

Forming a mouth on his shoulder, she began to speak with him.

"Cook-san?"

Sanji suddenly fell to the ground, muttering something about "Miss All Beautiful Sunday" before gasping in pain, and reaching for his genitals.

It seemed he had not healed yet.

She told him how to lower the bridge so Crocodile could not get back inside. Sanji listened and obeyed.

Miss All Sunday wished him luck as she saw Crocodile return. Luckily, he did not have Chopper in his hand.

---

"Anti-Manner Kick Course!"

The bananawani was lifted off the ground by an immense force. Its stomach was ruptured and it spat out blood and a weird looking white ball.

Sanji had arrived just in time. The water was up to the captive Straw Hat's knees.

More bananawanis began to enter the room.

"Bring it on, you bananas! I'll take you all on!"

He could hear Usopp and Luffy talking about whether or not the bananawanis were crocodiles or bananas.

"Look! Even Sanji agrees with me! They're bananas!"

"No! They're crocodiles! Look how small that banana is!"

"It doesn't matter! Bananas and crocodiles are just food anyway!"

Sanji took care of the bananawanis, eventually, he had managed to make them all throw up and a key popped out of one of them.

He tried making it work, but it wasn't the right key!

"That stupid Banana! He didn't give us the right key!"

"Banana?" Usopp was confused, "Wait! You mean Crocodile?! How cou-"

"Doru Doru Ball Freedom!" A weird voice called out.

They all looked over to see Mr. 3 coming out of the white ball the first one threw up.

"W-Water! I'm alive!"

"Hey! Can't you use his wax powers to make a key for this cage?!" Usopp yelled out. They didn't have much time!

Sanji asked Mr. 3 to make a key and he did so. He didn't seem hesitant for some reason.

"Wow, that power of yours is really handy. Thanks." Sanji told him.

He just seemed a bit embarrassed. He was one of the types that liked praise.

Sanji kicked him hard in the head sending him unconscious and flying across the room.

"Alright everyone! Let's go!"

"Yeah! Let's go rescue Vivi!" Luffy shouted as he ran by Sanji.

"...What?! What do you mean rescue Vivi?!"

---

Crocodile was pissed. He made his emotions known as sand began to run down his body.

He and his "companions" had gone back to check on the status of his prisoners. He expected them to be dead.

Instead, they find Mr. 3 floating on a piece of wood with the note "You're a croc of shit. -Prince" waiting for them.

This day was so frustrating! This was supposed to be his glorious rise to power!

Not being humiliated by a bunch of rookies!

They were now headed towards Alubarna. Some F-Wanis were parked behind a sand dune.

At least he still ha-

"Gum Gum Bullet!"

A fist hit his face and sent him flying.

How was he able to get hit?!

Luffy landed next to Miss All Sunday who was still carrying Vivi.

"Gum Gum No way!"

He looked her in the eyes and took Vivi out of her arms.

She took a few steps back as he did so. He looked bloodthirsty.

It looks like he hadn't forgiven her for working with Crocodile.

Luffy tossed Vivi to his crew mates that were traveling on a moving crab, which was strange given that moving crabs were rare.

"All of you! Go to Alubarna and stop that rebellion!" He yelled out.

They started to say something, but they were too far away for their voices to be heard.

It seemed Luffy was able to hear them as he kept his sights still on their fading figures.

Crocodile appeared behind him and backhanded him with his hook. Luffy went sailing through the air and landed on his head.

"I'm getting tired of you, Straw Hat!" Crocodile had reached his limit. He was done playing around with this piece of trash.

"You know she's so weak, but she always wants to save everything." Luffy said as he stood up.

"She wants no one to suffer, or die, even if it means she has to go through so much pain..."

"Without anyone dying? What a fool! She doesn't even begin to understand real fighting." Crocodile seemed to actually take notice of Luffy's experience for once. "You agree with me, don't you?"

"I do." Luffy looked at Crocodile. His face was blank as he said those words. Vivi might have fought, killed, maimed people as Ms. Wednesday, but she didn't comprehend the actual fighting that was soon to take place.

"But, as long as you live, she will fight till she dies. I'm going to stop you to prevent that." Luffy cracked his knuckles and his skin turned white.

"Kuhahaha! You're beyond saving! Those who conspire with others all die because of it! I've left hundreds like you in the dust!"

"My family is what makes me strong, I guess you're pretty stupid not to notice that."

Miss All Sunday laughed. She knew exactly what he meant as she had seen it in these past weeks.

"What are you laughing at, Nico Robin?" Crocodile asked with a angry sneer. It seemed like everyone was taking him for a fool, "Do you want to die as well?!"

"If that's how you feel about it, do as you wish." She wore a smile on her face as she turned and walked away.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to go ahead to Alubarna. Enjoy your fight." She called out as she disappeared into the town.

Crocodile threw a sand glass near Luffy's feet.

"I'll give you thr-"

He was interrupted as he had to move his head to avoid a white fist from connecting.

Luffy had already transformed into a monster, his belongings thrown to the side. He was tired of all this waiting!

"Hm! Impatient little rodent!" Crocodile muttered as he sent a blade of sand at Luffy.

"Desert Spada!"

The desert itself was being cut in half, though Luffy didn't notice as he kept running towards Crocodile.

He dodged enough to the side so it would pass by him, arms staying in place as he got closer.

"Gum Gum Bazooka!" He cried out, his arms flying towards Crocodile's body, though they passed through.

Crocodile tried to impale Luffy on his hook, but Luffy barreled through him, following his arms' motion.

"Let me tell you one thing, Straw Hat." Crocodile spoke as he started to reform his body, "You will never, ever-"

"Gum Gum Gattling Gun!" Luffy yelled as his arms repeatedly struck Crocodile, interrupting him in the process.

Luffy ran towards Crocodile as he continued his assault with his arms, and when he got close, he rose his leg up high in the air, striking Crocodile's head, though he turned into sand.

"Gum Gum Stamp!"

"These mosquito attacks are worthless against me because you will neve-"

"Gum Gum Axe!" Luffy brought the leg that had been stretched due to the stamp to come back down upon Crocodile, interrupting him again.

Crocodile formed some distance away. "I already told you. No matter how hard you fight you will never def-!"

Luffy hand went sailing through Crocodile's head, interrupting him for a third time.

"Def?! What the hell are you trying to say, Banana?!" Luffy was getting more frustrated at not being able to hit Crocodile.

Crocodile himself was extremely pissed off! This worthless trash was wasting his time! Sand cascaded down his body.

Time to show this worthless trash what it meant to screw with Crocodile!

"Desert Girasole!"

The area Luffy was in suddenly collapsed and began to sink like quicksand.

Luffy was being pulled in, but in an act of desperation, he shot his arm towards Crocodile.

"You don't learn, do you, Straw-"

The hand grasped his shoulder and he yelled out in pain.

'He's able to touch me again?!' He thought. His shoulder felt broken, but he could heal it.

Luffy went flying towards Crocodile, roaring in his warped voice as he prepared to clothesline his opponent.

Crocodile ducked the arm and held his right arm in Luffy's path.

"Barchan!"

Luffy's arm dried up as it passed by, it flew uselessly about him as he flew through the air. He screamed as he landed and held the limp limb.

"My sand sucked up all the water in your arm! I hope that gives you a little taste of the desert!"

Luffy heard the words "suck" and "all the water" in Crocodile's words and he rushed towards his belongings.

Pulling out the gallon of water that Toto had given him, he drank all of it in one gulp and his arm returned to normal.

"Ridiculous." Crocodile commented though he was a bit nervous. Had the brat figured out his weakness?

"No it's not!" Luffy shouted, "Old Sandy Guy spent all night digging up this water! And you know what he said?!"

Luffy rushed towards Crocodile, mouth outstretched.

"He said that Yuba would not be defeated by mere sand! Gum Gum Chomp!"

Crocodile was enveloped by Luffy's mouth, his upper body disappearing in the void.

He quickly noticed that Luffy's chewing was able to hurt him! He burst forth of Luffy's mouth by dragging his hook around inside the glutton's maw.

Luffy spat him out, and Crocodile was screaming in disgust and rage from the rubberman's actions.

"Prepare to die! Along with that cursed city, Yuba!"

"Sables!" Crocodile threw a miniature storm from his hand into the air.

The storm quickly grew into an unstoppable sandstorm. Luffy could feel the wind push and pull him though he stood some meters away.

"What are you doing?! Where is that headed?!" Luffy demanded as he tried to stop sand from entering his eyes and mouth with his hands.

"Where? Why, to the south." Crocodile grinned maliciously, "To the city of Yuba."

Crocodile's face met with Luffy's fist and he was forced back a few feet.

Luffy himself had abandoned all thought and as he slid his momentum, he began to do a "Gum Gum Gatling Gun".

Crocodile wasn't going to take any chances anymore and tried to fly away, but one of the fists hit his feet and he felt pain.

'Is this brat fighting with haki?! How?!"

He didn't have time to think as Luffy's hand was almost at him.

Crocodile formed in another place, but saw Luffy was already headed towards him.

'He's also able to use "observation"?!"

He couldn't do anything as Luffy's fist stretched from his body into his face.

After flying some feet, Crocodile reformed so that he was standing. He was panting as he could feel the pain from his injuries.

Luffy was hunched over, like he was about to charge right for him.

Crocodile cleared his mind and sent his sand in random directions. He couldn't just broadcast his thoughts anymore. The kid would be able to track him.

Luffy shot forward, arms stretching for him.

Reflexively dodging to the side, he held his hook in Luffy's path.

Luffy had already done a "Gum Gum Rocket", and couldn't stop from impaling himself on Crocodile's hook.

He struggled as he hung from it. Unable to think straight he just grasped at the golden hook.

"I must commend you, Straw Hat Luffy! I didn't expect you to be able to use haki."

Luffy himself only answered with grunts and growls as he mindlessly flailed at the hook.

"This is the final sandstorm. Yuba will perish and the flames of rebellion will grow higher!" Crocodile continued his tirade.

Luffy started to hang limply from the hook. His transformation receding.

"You yourself would have lived a bit longer, Straw Hat Luffy! If only you didn't succumb to your weaker emotions."

Crocodile only slightly noticed that Luffy's blood had drenched his arm.

"Sadly for you, you'll meet your end here, rooki-!"

Luffy's hand shot out and grabbed Crocodile's arm and began to grasp tightly.

The sound of bone breaking could be heard as Crocodile's arm lowered a bit in pain.

"Gah! You're still alive?!" He threw Luffy into the hole of quicksand he had made.

Luffy hit the sand with a sickening splat. His blood pouring from the hole Crocodile's hook had created.

"You must be in quite some pain, Straw Hat! But don't worry, it'll all end soon!"

The last thing Luffy heard as he raised his arm to his enemy was Crocodile's slow and mocking laughter.

---

It had been a hour since Luffy's defeat. 7 hours left until the Rebellion reached Alubarna.

A hole was in the middle of the desert, but it was quickly being filled with sand.

Miss All Sunday stood in front of it. She thought she saw Luffy in the middle of the hole.

But why did she sense him outside of it?

Focusing on his presence, she formed arms around it and pushed.

He burst forth from the sand, a few feet from her. He seemed to still have some of his transformation as he only had teeth on his face, his skin white.

Luffy had dug his way through the sand somehow. Why he wasn't able to dig out was unknown. Maybe it was due to the lack of eyes?

She just looked at him for a while. The weird feeling was stronger than ever.

It felt like she was connected to him in some way. She wanted to pro-

"Thank...you..."

He was still awake?!

"Luffy...why do you fight even until you are near death?" Miss All Sunday said with a worried look.

He reminded her too much of Saul.

"...Huh? Because...if I don't fight...who will protect my friends?" He struggled to get up, but his wounds were severe. His transformation receding.

The feeling began to disappear.

'Just what in the world are you?' She thought as she formed a hand to toss his hat to her. The rest of his belongings were unimportant, as she knew what he treasured.

A hand grasped her ankle and she looked down to see Luffy's hand holding her.

"Meat..." He muttered weakly.

Luffy wouldn't survive for much longer without aid, and she did see meats effect on him.

Miss All Sunday sighed as she formed more hands to hold him up. She placed his hat on his head.

Lifting even more, she put his arms around her shoulders and carried him off, more hands keeping him from slipping.

What had she gotten herself into this time?

---

Luckily, the threat of a sandstorm had scared most of Rainbase's population away.

Miss All Sunday was now in an abandoned house with Luffy on her back.

She set him down in a chair in front of a table and made her way into the kitchen.

Even with her sensory abilities, she could not sense inanimate objects.

As she took items from the fridge she remembered that Crocodile had mentioned "haki".

Was that the ability she now had? And Luffy possessed it as well?

Entering the room she had left Luffy in, she tossed the food on the table.

Chunks of the table actually flew through the air as Luffy's mouth engulfed all of it.

He swallowed, not caring about the potential wooden splinters in his meal.

"Thank you!" He seemed better already, though that must have been from the oxygen he now had.

Being buried under sand must have been suffocating.

Miss All Sunday couldn't be here for much longer. Crocodile actually expected her to be in Alubarna by now.

Luffy grabbed her sleeve before she could begin making her way to the door.

"Why did you save me?" He asked with a questioning look on his face.

She stood there in silence for a bit.

"I was just wondering why you fought so hard, is all." She didn't want anyone to know that the name of D. fascinated her.

"But you kidnapped Vivi and helped Banana out."

Now she had to stop from laughing. The first time he had called Crocodile that, she had to hold her stomach as the laughter had caused her pain.

She recomposed herself, and gave him a smile.

"His presence provides me safety. If not for him, I would already be hunted down by the World Government."

"Why? You don't seem like such a bad lady." He had kept the questioning look. Looks like he had lots of questions.

"It's because I'm a "demon", Luffy." That was what she had been labeled as ever since she was 8 years old.

All because the World Government decided to take away her home due to something as petty as fear and greed.

"Demon? I've been called that too!" Luffy seemed to get excited, "Monster as well! What did you do?"

"I existed." She had lost her smile.

Luffy frowned. He had heard something like this before.

"Well, I'm glad that you exist!" He said with a grin, "You're really nice, and you've helped us out a lot!"

Robin's world froze.

Someone was glad that she existed?

"Luffy." She began, "You've never really seen the true me. I'm a true demon. I've had to trick people, lie, ki-"

"Stop!" Luffy interrupted her and stood up. He looked up into her eyes.

"I don't care about any of that! I only care about what I've seen and you're not like that!"

She tried to pull away, but his grip remained strong.

"I don't know why you would work with a guy like Crocodile, but I noticed that you didn't laugh at Sandy Old Guy! I saw that you had fun while you were with me and Sanji!"

"You're a good lady!" He tried to assure her.

"Let go!" Robin pulled her arm away from Luffy and walked hurriedly to the exit.

She stopped before she left.

"I'm sorry, Luffy." She turned and looked at him with sad eyes, "Even if you think I'm a good lady, the World Government doesn't think so. They'll hunt me down because of what I know, of what I could do."

Robin paused.

"But thank you. For saying that you're glad I exist." Her fleeting words stayed with Luffy even as he stood there motionless.

He could only stand helplessly as memories assaulted him.

Of Sabo and how the World had taken him away.

Of how the World experimented on the innocent, and tortured them for useless power.

Of how the World allowed a pirate like Arlong to roam around and do what he pleased.

Luffy was tired of the World. He was its enemy.

Enough of this. He needed to get to Alubarna.

Banana has had his fun. It's time to pay him back for what he did.

---

Pell limped towards the desert. He needed to get there! He needed to save Vivi!

Falling to the ground, Pell cursed his condition.

His country needed him and all he could do is crawl pathetically.

He found himself picked up by some strange man wearing a straw hat.

"Hey, you look pretty weird. Do you know the way to Alubarna?" The man asked.

"Alubarna!? Yes! I do! Will you take me there?!" Pell pleaded. He would do anything for his country!

The man grinned. "My name's Luffy! I was actually thinking of you taking me there! You need food or something? You look pretty hurt!"

---

It was 1 hour before Plan Utopia came to fruition.

The Baroque Works agents that needed to stop Vivi stood outside and they watched as Alabasta's Super Spot Bill Duck Squad carried Vivi and the Straw Hat pirates.

Quickly chasing after some of them, they set off to stop Princess Vivi.

Little did they know, Vivi wasn't even among the group they moved to intercept.

---

Eyelashes and Usopp stared in fear at Mr. 2. He had followed them so far into the city, but he had caught up to them.

They cowered in fear, knowing that the man was able to break them into tiny pieces.

---

"Go get them, Zoro!" Nami cheered from afar.

"Shut up back there!" Zoro yelled back. She expected him to fight these two?!

He stared down Mr. 1 and Ms. Doublefinger.

Zoro unsheathed his swords.

Looks like he would at least have some fun before dying.

---

Sanji and Chopper had managed to get an old hag named Miss Merry Christmas and a dope named Mr. 4.

Sanji could only hope Vivi accomplished her goal while Chopper observed his opponents.

---

Crocodile could only watch as Miss All Sunday finally arrived.

He already had King Cobra next to him. He just awaited the Rebel leader and the Princess to show so he could take delight in their suffering.

"Where were you? I thought you left before me?" He questioned her as she got off the F-Wani.

"I'm sorry, I just needed to get myself prepared for this event." She now had a different coat on. Her previous one was a bit more revealing, this one was bulkier and hid more of her body.

"Hm. You know I don't like it when a change occurs in my plan." He walked towards her.

"Don't worry. Everything is going according to p-"

He hit with his golden hook and her face turned to the side, though she didn't stumble or fall.

"Don't let it happen again." He said as he glared into her eyes.

She just stood there defiantly and returned his gaze with a small smile.

"Of course, sir."

---

"Carue!" Vivi screamed with tears running down her face.

She had failed! She couldn't meet with her friend, Kohza, the Rebel leader!

Carue had protected her from the Rebel forces as they almost trampled her. He had taken the blows instead.

Then, Mr. 2 had tried to trick her, but Mr. Bushido's double-decoy mark had revealed him!

Carue had carried her away, though Mr. 2 was still able to keep up. Carue even ran up a wall, but Mr. 2 was able to do that as well!

He had been shot, and he stumbled before he fell. He tried to weakly wave her away, but he was too injured.

She couldn't leave him! He was her friend! Her family!

"Resistance is futile!" Mr. 2 called out to them as she tried to stay with Carue.

Carue just tried to wave her away. To get her out of there.

She didn't want to go! She couldn't just leave him behind...

"...Okay!" A sob escaped from her lips, "Alright! I'll go!"

She needed to. If she were to leave now, Mr. 2 would kill Carue and her.

Carue knew this. He didn't want her to die as well.

Vivi started running away. Even as Carue laid there dying, she couldn't do anything to help him!

"You shouldn't have interfered, you stupid duck!" Mr. 2 was about to deliver the finishing blow to the wounded Carue.

He was knocked back by two other Super Spot Bill Duck Squad.

"We can still stop them, right, Vivi-chan?" A familiar voice sounded out from up ahead.

"Sanji-san!"

---

"You guys aren't the only ones that can use underground tunnels!"

"Usopp!" "Damn! He used one of the underground tunnels!" "Fwah?"

Usopp brought his mighty 5-ton hammer down on Mr. 4's head.

After getting beaten up by Mr. 2, Usopp went to help Chopper with Mr. 4 and Miss Merry Christmas. He told Sanji about Mr. 2's plan to trick the princess and he rushed off to save her.

They were outside the walls of Alubarna. Currently, the two Straw Hats were dealing with a "human mole", "a heavy hitter", and a "gun/dog".

"I've lost count of how many ships I destroyed." Usopp claimed as he twirled his special foldable 2-kg hammer in circles.

"They call me... "Lord of Destruction"."

"Who are you?!" Miss Merry Christmas asked in fear. This man was even stronger than Mr. 4!

"They call me...Captain Usopp."

---

"Which way did that idiot go?! Didn't I tell her to hide?!" Zoro turned towards two of the Super Spot Bill Duck Squad.

"You guys look for her too!"

"Oh?!" He heard a scream," She's on the other side?! Alright!" He took off, running to the other side of the building.

Nami, who was being chased by Mr. 1 and Ms. Doublefinger ran to the side he was just on.

"Where did that stupid swordsman go?!" Nami cried as she ran. She wasn't a fighter!

"Assassination rule #1: Aim for the weakest first."

---

"If the captain is weak, so are his crew members." Miss Merry Christmas told Usopp as she held him from escaping.

"Luffy? What are you talking about?!" Usopp demanded. Nobody called his captain weak!

"Straw Hat has already been killed by Mr. 0!"

Usopp tuned out the world when he heard those words.

Luffy...was dead?

"Don't give me that crap, you stupid ugly mole bitch!" Usopp yelled furiously! Luffy couldn't die!

"I know him! He wouldn't lose to that filthy sand gator!"

"He's going to be the Pirate King!" Usopp believed in Luffy! He believed in his dream!

"Pir-Pirate! Ahahahahaha!" Miss Merry Christmas began to laugh. Mr. 4 could be heard laughing as well.

Usopp stood still. His vision was turning red! How dare they laugh at Luffy's dream!

"Listen to me, Chopper!" Usopp started shouting.

Miss Merry Christmas decided that he was to die now, so she started rushing towards Mr. 4.

"Even-Even if he's fighting impossible enemies-!"

He crashed into a wall, going through it. He still kept his hold on consciousness.

"Even..if...there's no way to defeat the enemies!" His voice was barely coherent due to his enemies.

Chopper just stood by, listening to his words, but he wanted to do something to save Usopp!

"Mr. 4! Get your 4-ton bat ready!" Miss Merry Christmas was going to make this guy shut up, once and for all!

Mr. 4 raised his bat. Usopp was getting closer and closer...

"Usopp!" Chopper screamed. He was still recovering from his rumble ball. He wouldn't make it!

Mr. 4 swung the bat and it collided with Usopp's skull. It broke his nose and his skull, sending blood and bone flying out the wound that had been created by the bat.

He was sent flying into a dust cloud, where his lifeless body was to lay.

"You bastards!" Chopper held back his tears. He had to stay strong and defeat these horrible monsters!

His eyes widened as he saw a silhouette appear behind the smoke cloud.

"...There...comes...a time...where a man must stand and fight!" Usopp barely held onto his life.

He wouldn't let these people win!

"That time...is when his friends' dream is laughed at!"

The agents seemed stunned. He had just been hit by a 4-ton bat! How was he still alive?!

"I know...Luffy will be the Pirate King..." Usopp remembered how much Luffy had fought for him and he had seen Luffy's kindness and his own sacrifices.

"...AND I WON'T LET YOU LAUGH AT THAT!" Usopp roared! Life suddenly coursed through his body as he promised to make these people hurt for laughing at his friend!

---

"Basse Côte!" Sanji's leg collided with Mr. 2's head and sent him spiraling to the ground. He had finally gotten a hold of himself!

This shitty okama would transform himself into Nami-swan and send him to the ground!

In terrible pain! His rash had still not healed up yet!

He had managed to drink some of Chopper's medicine, and that reduced the pain so that he could fight!

Sanji had coughed out blood just from seeing Nami's beautiful face.

Even if it was on the okama.

"Longe!" He moved behind the dizzy okama. Pulling his leg outwards, he hit the okama's back with his heel.

"Tendron!" He moved towards Mr. 2 and stabbed at him with his leg, hitting Mr. 2's shoulder.

Sanji realized that Mr. 2 had stabbed his shoulder with one of his swan bullet kicks, but he wouldn't let up!

"Flanchet!" "Quasi!" "Queue!"

Sanji and Mr. 2 got on their hands and tried to spin and kick their opponent multiple times, each time colliding with each other.

"Cuisseau!" They both kicked their shins together.

"Jarret!" This time, their feet smashed into the other, sending them sprawling to the ground.

They both began to yell at their opponent. They wouldn't lose!

"Veau Shot!" They got into one final clash, flying past the other as their kick was too fast to see.

They stood at opposite ends of the alleyway.

Mr. 2 suddenly flew to Sanji's side, having received the full force of Sanji's kick.

He looked down at Mr. 2.

"That was a good fight...the rest doesn't need to be said." Sanji was tired.

Mr. 2 really was strong.

---

Zoro had just saved Nami from being cut by Mr. 1.

Zoro was excited! Mr. 1 seemed to be just as powerful as he was!

Maybe even stronger than he was.

He unsheathed the rest of his swords, now having Wadō and Yubashiri joining Kitetsu.

"After declining the invitation given to you by Mr. 7, you killed him. Or, should I say, the Pirate Hunter killed him." Mr. 1 remarked as his arms turned into blades.

"That's because you didn't agree to my conditions." Zoro really was alike to Luffy in some ways.

"My condition was, "I'll join if you make me your boss"!"

Mr. 1 came at him suddenly and he was forced to block.

Zoro didn't know what would happen to Nami, but she better be able to fend for herself!

---

"That freaking bastard!" Nami cried out silently.

She had found that the Clima-Tact had some useful properties, but it was just a party trick!

That, and Usopp didn't label the actual attacks in the first place! She had been reading the party tricks side this entire time!

---

"Ushi Bari!"

Zoro rushed past Mr. 1, attempting to cut him.

Not even a mark appeared on Mr. 1. His Supa Supa Fruit's steel body was too hard to cut!

"So...as long as I can't cut metal, I can't beat you."

"Hm? So what are you going to do now?" Mr. 1 asked Zoro as he watched him discard his robe.

"Heh, I pity you. Danger can force a swordsman to become stronger!" Zoro was preparing his next move.

"After I defeat you, I'll become a swordsman who can cut through steel!"

---

"Sea Urchin Spikes!"

Nami cried out as Miss Doublefinger's spikes went through her foot.

Things were bad for Nami, but at least she was able to use this stupid party toy to some use!

She had formed a thundercloud and made lightning strike her opponent!

That still wasn't enough, as Miss Doublefinger just got serious.

Her Toge Toge Fruit allowed her to make any part of her body into a spike, which she currently was doing to stab Nami's foot.

Nami tried holding her back, but the pain was getting to her.

Willing the pain away, she told Miss Doublefinger the last words she would hear from her.

"This...pain..is..nothing! It's nothing compared to what that person is going through!" She thought of Vivi as she said her words.

"Compared to that...one,two, or even three legs aren't enough! Watch me!"

Nami held the Clima-Tact up to Miss Doublefinger's face.

"Super Class Tornado!" She repeated the instructions Usopp had given her.

Two plastic pigeons sprouted from opposite sides of the staff.

Nami had a look of shock on her face. This was it? This was how she was going to die? Because Usopp sucked ba-

The staff began to turn, trapping Miss Doublefinger and eventually launching her through the wall ahead of Nami.

Nami was stunned as she fell to her knees. Miss Doublefinger didn't appear to be moving as she could see through the hole in the wall.

She realized she had won.

Nami rose her fist in the air from her kneeling position in a minor victory celebration.

---

Zoro stood bleeding in the middle of the a tower that had collapsed around him.

Mr. 1 was really strong. He had taken all of Zoro's attacks, and they still had not affected him.

He even threw a building at the metal man, but he just cut through it like nothing!

There really were monsters in this world.

"Impossible...standing even after taking all those attacks and dodging all the falling rocks?"

Mr. 1 must have been referring to all cuts he had inflicted upon his body.

It wasn't that he dodged the attacks, Zoro just knew where they were going to land.

Zoro could hear breathing. From everything. The trees, the rocks, the dirt.

And especially from Wadō. The sword had the loudest breathing in the area.

He went and picked it up. Its breath flowed through him. Becoming a part of him.

He looked at Mr. 1. He could also hear the breathing of his body.

Zoro wanted to cut it. He could feel Wadō's calm aura make him relax and focus.

He sheathed the sword. Mr. 1 just got closer to him.

In one fluid movement, Wadō left the sheathe and flew through the air.

It took less than a second. Zoro was already sheathing the blade back.

Mr. 1 had a look of surprise on his face as blood spewed from his wound.

"Ittoryu Iai:.."

Mr. 1 tried to turn around, but was unable as he fell to the ground.

Wadō's blade could be heard ringing as it was sheathed.

"...Shishi Sonson!"

Zoro waited until he heard Mr. 1's body hit the floor.

"I give my thanks to you! I am now stronger than I was before."

---

Vivi could only watch as everything fell apart.

The Royal Guard and the Rebel army just continued to fight, even as the white flag was raised on both sides.

Baroque Works had infiltrators on both sides. They had fired on each other even when the white flag was up, and it just ignited the fighting again.

She watched as Kohza laid on the ground, unmoving. He had gone out into the field to help with the surrender, but he was shot.

Crocodile laughed behind her. She could hear him walking closer to where she had knelt.

Her father was pinned to the walk with metal spikes. Miss All Sunday stood near him as she watched the mayhem.

She could hear her dad shout at her. Telling her to run away.

She was tired of running away. She had done that so much in the past.

Vivi turned to face the approaching Crocodile.

"If I can stop the bomb in the next 15 minutes, I can reduce the number of casual-"

"You can stop the uprising this way, you can stop the uprising that way..."

He was next to her, lifting her off the ground by her neck.

"Wake up, Princess!" He was smirking, "Your dream isn't realistic and this is reality! Only the strong could have such dreams."

"I don't care!" Vivi was beginning to cry, "Even if it's not realistic! I won't give up! For I am this country's princess!"

Crocodile had a full-blown smile on his face now. He was happy he had let her live for so long.

Her suffering was indeed, delicious!

Still holding onto Vivi, he walked over to the ledge of the palace that they were on.

"You wanted to save everyone...didn't you?" He asked her, seeing the pain and helplessness shine in her eyes.

He was really glad he had let her live.

"It doesn't matter what you do!" Crocodile told her. Cobra could be heard in the background, shouting at him.

"You can't save this country." There it was! The absolute defeat in her eyes!

It was glorious!

Crocodile let her go, watching as she dropped into the sandstorm he had created to add to the confusion of the fighters below.

He closed his eyes and started laughing! Today, was a great day! Everything was going so well! Nothing could st-

"BANANA!"

He tried to open his eyes to see the voice he thought he would never hear, but he was hit in the head and sent to the ground.

Looking up, he saw the one man he thought he would never see again. The stupid rubberman wore some sort of tank on his back.

"Straw Hat Luffy!"

Crocodile glared in Miss All Sunday's direction. She had a faint smile on her lips as always.

This was her doing! He knew she was working with this rookie!

She would pay!

But for now, she was useful. He needed to deal with this guy here and now.

"Stand up, Banana!"

Crocodile was furious! This again?!

"You! How did you live?! The last time I saw you, you were already half-dead!"

"I ate some meat," Luffy looked at him with complete seriousness, "and I got better."

"Desert Spada!"

Luffy jumped to the side and focused, making his skin turn white and losing his face except for his teeth.

Putting his hand in front of him, he cocked the other one back.

"Desert-!"

"Gum Gum Pistol!"

Without having to stretch back first, his hand shot forward and caught Crocodile in the gut.

He grunted in pain, but grabbed the arm.

The hand held some sort of hose and it sprayed him in the face.

Stumbling backwards, he missed Luffy's shooting towards his arm, leaving the other one behind.

"Gum Gum..."

Crocodile looked up just to see Luffy already at him.

"...Bullet!"

Agony shot through his face as Luffy's fist buried itself there and sent him flying into the wall.

---

Cobra stared at the scene in shock! This one boy was beating Crocodile? Who had beaten the kingdom's strongest warriors?

Miss All Sunday stood by and watched as well. She never expected Luffy to actually arrive in time. In fact, if one looked closer at his transport, it was that falcon that she had broken.

Looks like she didn't put too much strength into that "Clutch" like she thought.

They both watched as Crocodile used a "Sables" to try and rob Luffy of his water barrel.

"Who is that...?" Cobra muttered to himself.

"That is Monkey D. Luffy. He helped your daughter get here."

Cobra was even more surprised. He didn't expect this woman agent to answer him. This guy was the one that brought Vivi here?

Luffy finished his transformation into Water Luffy. A large gaping hole where he was impaled leaked water instead of blood.

"Crap! I'm leaking!"

Miss All Sunday laughed. Luffy never failed to entertain! Even as he was in a fight to the death!

"Come on, it's time to go." She took the metal spikes out of his arm, and used her ability to hold him up. Luffy had just sent Crocodile into a wall using "Gum Gum Bazooka".

"You should hurry up and take me to where your "True History" is written down."

"...What do you want to see? What are you planning?" Cobra asked her wearily. He knew what was written on that rock.

"It's none of your business." She said in her light tone, never losing it.

Miss All Sunday turned, but saw that Luffy was looking at her.

She tried to give him a wider smile, but was unable to do so. She just left the area with Cobra.

His good luck was about to run out.

---

Vivi and the other Straw Hats had decided to look for the bomb.

Pell gave her Luffy;s straw hat. He didn't want it to get damaged in the fight he would have with Crocodile.

There was only 5 minutes left! Where could the bomb be?!

"Worthless trash, worthless trash, worthless..." Usopp repeated with a mini golden hook in his left cast.

He and Chopper had teamed up to defeat Miss Merry Christmas and Mr. 4. A combination of Chopper's "Horn Point" and Usopp's "Rubberband + Hammer" had finished them off

"Stop fooling around!" Zoro bopped him on the head with his fist. Zoro was still recovering from his injuries, but he was happy. He managed to cut steel!

Vivi was calling them over! Maybe she had found something?

---

Miss All Sunday stared at Crocodile as she told him what the Poneglyph had contained.

"It's nothing but old history of Alabasta."

"I see..." Crocodile seemed to be even angrier than he was when he had fought Luffy.

"How pitiful. It looks like our agreement has come to and end." Crocodile tried to grab her by sending his hand flying, but she jumped to the side.

"I must say, though. You truly were, "the best"!" He had a mad glint in his eye as his face looked murderous.

He charged at her and swung his hook, only managing to take her hat off her head.

"You were a worthy woman, but I'm not mad!" He smiled at her, "I've actually had something I wanted to show you!"

Miss All Sunday just chuckled, surprising Crocodile.

"I always knew that it would end up like this. I've made some preparations though."

A vial of water was flung at Crocodile, who dodged it.

"Was that it? You disa-"

A hand sprouted from his shoulder and slammed the vial into him.

"Gah! Water?!" He suddenly realized what she was doing. He took a few steps back, expecting Miss All Sunday to be charging at him.

She was standing in her current position, unmoving.

He just watched her with a confused look on his face. He felt pain where the water had hit him and he looked to see that a knife was in him.

Looking around, he noticed more knives planted throughout the room.

"I'm not going to make this easy on you, Crocodile!" She shouted as she took another vial from her coat.

Crocodile liked it when they fought back. This meant he got to hurt them!

He rushed towards her. She still needed to see something he had! He wouldn't let her die before that though.

---

Luffy woke up. He was currently outside the tomb that Crocodile and Miss All Sunday fought in.

"Ah! I can't be sleeping now!" Not noticing the pool of blood beneath him, he got up and ran towards the entrance.

Crocodile still didn't get what he deserved! He was going to make sure he did though!

He could hear his stupid laugh! Time for vengeance!

---

Miss All Sunday was backed up against the wall. She had tried her best to fight him.

But he was just too strong. Even with water and weapons, she barely scratched him.

"This is too great! This is exactly what I wanted!" His hand was coming down to grab her by the throat.

In desperation, she quickly formed arms on his chest. Normally, she would have thought that it wouldn't work, but she was running on instinct as he approached her.

Black arms shot out from within Crocodile, erupting from his chest. Pain coursed through his body.

'Haki?!' A brief thought flashed through his mind. This was now dangerous for him.

The arms started to push his head back. He wanted to turn into sand, but it wouldn't matter. The arms were touching his back all the way to his head.

She was trying to break his back before he could break the woman in front of him!

His hook shot out. Miss All Sunday was too preoccupied on snapping Crocodile in two.

It impaled her, almost hitting vital organs.

The arms disappeared, and he slowly made his way towards her.

"I see you still have some fight in you!" He noticed that she was still struggling to stand.

He yanked the hook out. She gasped as she fell to the ground.

Putting a foot down on her, he reached into his jacket and pulled out some papers.

"Here, your pink slip, so to speak!" He dropped the papers down on her. They were bounded together, so they wouldn't fly all over the place.

"...I didn't know you did your own paperwork..." She muttered. The wound may not have hit anything vital, but she was still slowly bleeding to death on the floor.

"Kuhahahaha! Still so fiesty?! Read them." Crocodile demanded, and expectant look on his face.

"I held onto these for you. Ever since I broke you out of that facility."

Panic flashed through her eyes as she tried to cross her arms. Crocodile just pressed harder into her wound so she would stop.

"I said read them."

Reluctantly, she picked up the papers.

It was papers about a project.

"How long do you think you spent at that facility?" He asked her. Crocodile was getting impatient. He was waiting for this moment ever since he suspected her of betrayal when she didn't come back when she was supposed to.

"I only spent a few months there, as I recall." Miss All Sunday said with a grimace. The memories were still pain-

"You spent more than a few months there, Nico Robin!"

Surprise now adorned her face. "What are you talking about?! How wou-?"

"I said read!" He pressed down, making her cough up some blood.

The project on the paper had the name, "Project Genesis".

The name scared her.

She slowly opened up the packet of papers.

A name list greeted her. It wasn't a long list, but she could tell they were all Devil Fruit eaters.

Her name and Luffy's was on it along with many others.

'He spent time at a facility?' She wondered. That was something she didn't know.

Miss All Sunday turned the next page and froze.

It had to be a lie.

She hurriedly looked up to Crocodile. This had to be a lie!

He wore a victorious grin on his face.

He wanted to see her suffer before he killed her. She knew his ways after working so long with him.

Looking back down, she could only recognize a few words.

"Project Success." "...Nico Robin was a perfect candidate..." "...female child..."

How long had she spent at that facility?!

Looking through her memories, she couldn't recall any of this! How did they do this?!

How did they make her give birth to a child?!

"Yes! That's the face! But there's still much more to look at, Nico Robin!"

"What do you mean?! How could there be more?!"

"Easily! Just look at the results!"

Turning back to the paper, there was one she hadn't read yet.

It had red lettering all over it. It was different than the other papers.

She slowly took it out and read it.

Her hands trembled. She started to shake.

It was a progress report. One about her child.

The little girl was too uncontrollable. She had great powers, and they had succeeded in the project.

They made a being that had two Devil Fruit powers, but they couldn't control the experiment.

They had terminated her daughter.

Miss All Sunday just looked up with defeated eyes.

She always thought she would never be allowed a child, but if she was, she wanted to be there for them!

Remembering the treatment of the Facilities, terrible things must have happened to the little girl.

She wanted to not let her child suffer! To not have the same childhood she had!

Her little girl was murdered. Before she could ever live, she was denied her life.

The world grew darker as Miss All Sunday hung her head. Crocodile's laughter resounded throughout the room.

It seemed he had gotten what he wanted from her.

---

"This is great! Too great!" It had been some time since he had felt this good.

Crocodile had just broken two women that had strong wills. It was something he enjoyed doing.

"You're a monster!" Cobra said as he laid on the floor nearby. He had already told Crocodile of the self-destruction of the tomb he had started. Crocodile would survive.

"And you're a dead man! I'll take your kingdom, your ancient weapon, and your life! This day couldn't get any better!" Crocodile continued laughing.

The room started shaking.

"BANANA!"

"What the he-?!"

A foot crashed into his face, sending him flying across the room and slumping against a wall.

He looked up to see Luffy sliding towards him.

"Straw Ha-?!"

Luffy's arm had stayed in position when he had kicked Crocodile, but it shot forward, smashing into Crocodile's face and making a dent in the wall behind him.

"You're going to pay for hurting Vivi!" Luffy screamed in his face. He had already transformed, and his demonic teeth were pointed straight at Crocodile.

"You rubber bastard! I'm not going to let you ruin this great moment!" Crocodile threw the golden hook covering off, revealing the poisonous hook beneath.

Luffy briefly noticed that Cobra and Miss All Sunday were watching the fight.

Cobra was bleeding, but it seemed like he would be alright.

Miss All Sunday looked terrible. Her wounds didn't look like they would kill her, but her face...

She looked like her spirit had been broken completely. She looked like she was already dead.

Crocodile didn't let him think as his hook flew towards Luffy, intending on ending this fight quickly.

Luffy ducked below it as it sailed above his head and ran towards Crocodile, hands staying where he was before.

Crocodile tried to make his hook return, but was hit by Luffy's bazooka. He knelt to the ground, putting his hand on it.

"Mass Eros-"

Luffy hit him in the face, sending Crocodile to the side as his arm stretching along with him.

The technique had only partially succeeded, Luffy lost his balance as some of the ground shifted.

Crocodile skid along the ground, his hook already positioned to impale Luffy as it returned to him.

Luffy's hand had sunk into the earth near Crocodile, and he rocketed towards him.

Crocodile split apart, letting Luffy pass by.

He noticed that Luffy had been struck by the poison hook. He began to laugh.

"It's all over for you, Straw Hat Luffy! Soon, that poison will rob you of your life!"

Luffy paused to look at Crocodile.

"You don't understand anything." He said in his warped voice.

"I understand nothing?!"

It would be pointless trying to explain anything to this man.

"Gum Gum Gatling!" His arms blurred as he attempted to hit Crocodile.

Crocodile cleared his mind and spread his sand. He watched as the fists missed him, even as he just stood still.

It hurt spreading the sand, but he used it to try to avoid getting hit even harder on his main body.

Luffy rushed forwards, jumping and stretching his leg at Crocodile.

"Gum Gum Stamp!"

Crocodile easily sidestepped Luffy's attack. He was beginning to lose his speed. The poison was taking effect.

"Why do you still fight?" He asked as he saw Luffy's body unable to withstand the return of his leg. Luffy fell down on his back.

But he looked back up at Crocodile with rage filled eyes.

"Like I said...you don't understand." Even if he had rage, his voice struggled to come out. He was starting to lose consciousness too.

"Vivi..." Cobra started listening intently, "Even though she wants no death...she tries to throw her life away to save others."

Memories of self sacrifice flashed through his mind.

Shanks. Zeff. Prisoners who wanted to protect what they still could.

Nami.

"If I were to just do nothing...she would die! You guys would kill her!" Luffy rose to his feet. His skin was white, teeth were sharp, and his eyes turned into slits.

"If it's just you versus me...I can kill you!" Luffy's slits opened up, darkness pooled forth as his wrath reached new levels.

Crocodile felt a pressure he hadn't felt in a long time. He couldn't move! And his sand wasn't responding.

"Look at yourself!" He shouted, trying to regain some willpower, "You can barely stand! What makes you think you can win this?!"

"Because I will become the Pirate King!" Luffy yelled out as he ran towards Crocodile.

"If you really understood how harsh the seas were, you wouldn't say things like that!" Crocodile readied his hook to impale Luffy.

"I said it before! Weaklings like you are all over the sea! Once you realize the level of pirates in this world, you will stop having such foolish dreams!"

He swung his hook at Luffy, but Luffy backhanded the hook's base, breaking it.

Luffy grabbed Crocodile's face and pulled him closer.

Crocodile was forced to stare into the pits Luffy had for eyes.

"Then I'll just surpass you!"

Luffy pulled Crocodile back, and sent him into the air.

Crocodile wouldn't let this pest stop him! He formed a sandstorm in his hand.

"Sables: Pesado!"

The room shook from the force that he generated along with the further collapse of the room. Debris flew through the air and more pillars around the room fell.

Luffy jumped to Cobra and Miss All Sunday and grabbed them. He then set them in an area where they wouldn't get hurt by any flying objects.

He turned to look at Crocodile, who was still in the air, and started coiling his body up.

After coiling himself up, he sucked in air, making him bloat out. The air went through the coils he had made in his body, and he looked like a fat spring.

He blew the air out, his body twisting as he did so and it launched him into the air, towards Crocodile.

"Desert La Spada!" Crocodile sent solid blades of sand at Luffy, hoping to finally end the rubberman.

Luffy was still twisting through the air, but his fists started to multiply, as he was moving his arms so quickly it seemed he had more than two.

"...STORM!"

The blades of sand were no match for Luffy's fists, he went straight through them and to Crocodile.

Luffy's hands smashed into the ceiling repeatedly. Crocodile being forced against it from Luffy's onslaught.

Luffy continued his warped screaming as he did so. The ceiling was beginning to rise from the impacts.

The ceiling was being demolished, the remains forced further upwards and upwards.

Luffy broke through bedrock, dirt, clay, and stone, and finally, Luffy through all the layers between the tomb and the surface level.

Crocodile himself was flying high above the city of Alubarna now. Luffy's attack had been too strong and now he was unconscious. His plans destroyed, and himself beaten.

Luffy fell to the ground, laughing with a grin on his face.

He was so happy he had finally ended Crocodile's schemes!

---

Luffy hit the ground as Miss All Sunday was trying to stop herself from passing out.

The trauma she had taken was great, but she had to stay awake for at least a few more minutes.

The poison still coursed through Luffy's veins and she had the antidote.

"Hey! Are you alright?!"

Cobra got up to check on Luffy. It seemed that the King felt gratitude towards the one that saved him and his city.

"I will have to thank you." Cobra said while looking at the hole. Rain poured through it.

"Shishishishi! Don't worry about it. I did it cause I wanted to." Cobra started laughing.

Making a hand to poke Cobra's shoulder. She threw the vial at him and he caught it.

"What is th-?"

"It's the antidote for the poison Luffy has. Please, give it to him."

He quickly untapped the vial and poured it into Luffy's mouth. The antidote should take some time.

Luffy would survive. That was all that mattered now.

"Why would you do that?" Cobra asked her.

"I don't really know why myself." She said with a blank face, "He's really had an effect on me when I trailed him all the way from East Blue."

She closed her eyes. Miss All Sunday wouldn't want to remember anything bad now.

She focused on all the good things she had seen. How the Straw Hats had affected her.

How Luffy had changed her into who she was now.

"Well, I'm glad you exist!"

She truly was happy she had met the rubberman.

Movement jarred her from her thoughts.

She was being put over Luffy's shoulder.

"What?! No! Leave me here! Leave me here to die!" Miss All Sunday screamed.

Living was not an option at this point! Why did she deserve to live?!

When her daughter had died!

"No." Luffy said in a strained voice. The poison had not left his veins yet.

"I'm not going to listen to that." He took steps towards the hole he had made to the streets.

"I want you to live."

She could only think of was how selfish he was.

---

Luffy deposited them on the streets and shortly passed out. The fight had been tiring for him.

She got up to leave. The World Government would capture her if she stayed too long.

Luffy would be safe. He had a King on his side.

"Where are you going?" She heard the King ask her.

"Away. I'm not going to bother you anymore. There's no reason for me to be here. Goodbye, Nefertari Cobra."

She left. She went to the edge of town and laid next to a building.

This was it. No more strength remained in her. She was going to either die here or be captured.

There was no where left to go. The Straw Hats wouldn't expect her to be friendly. Not after they had seen her working with Crocodile.

Luffy would, but he would probably be out for a few days.

Sighing, she resigned herself to her fate.

Till she felt something lick her face.

Opening her eyes, she saw the last thing she had expected.

Banchi stood next to her with his head down. He wanted her to get on.

In a daze, she obliged.

She could now get out of here. But where would she go?

Memories of a goat-themed caravel filled her mind. Memories of a happy crew that had been through so much.

Miss All Sunday set off on Banchi.

Luffy would have to pay for keeping her alive. Her life was now his responsibility.

---

Hope the "Robin having a kid" thing doesn't bother you all. I just see how motherly she seems to be and that inspired this. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter!

Sorry about the length...