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A lovely chapter full of action is ahead!

I do not own One Piece - that is property of Eiichiro Oda

Chapter 37: Mr. Prince

Crocodile was not a happy gator as he looked at the front of Rain Dinners. His elated mood had wavered slightly at the simpering patrons and desperate townspeople inside the casino but seeing the broken bodies of his minions made his mood take a sharp downturn. "What the hell happened here?"

Miss All Sunday looked around warily before answering, "This plus what the Alabasta's greatest warrior, Pell, had done earlier, I would wager to say all our 'billions' within Rainbase have been taken out."

Coughing out blood on the ground was a Baroque Works member who had barely clung to consciousness. Crocodile dropped his hard ass persona for a moment to listen to the weakened man. "He called himself Mr. Prince. He was heading towards the south."

The duo remembered that they had a weird call on the Den Den Mushi involving a Mr. Prince but they had disregarded it. Even if the Shichibukai had recognized the speaker's tone, he had dismissed the Straw Hat supporter as he had caged the main threat, why worry about a lesser? Seeing his men decorating the ground of Rainbase had sent him into a rage that when he noticed a man running away from the scene, he ignored his partner's words and charged the dashing person. However, Nico Robin was on the look for suspicious activity nonetheless and was anxious when the bridge to Rain Dinners sank. The raven haired woman bit her lip as worry flew through her. Too many people are in there. Crocodile can't get seen as a hero like this.

Inside the casino, Vivi had her hope sank when the patrons began to squawk about how they were trapped without even a boat to carry them out but before she could truly despair, a blond haired male muttered, "It was all according to plan."

Vivi's eyes lit up as she recognized him. "Sanji-san!" She realized how fortuitous it was that Crocodile had not informed his agents about how Sanji looked but the oddity was that Miss All Sunday had seen what the chef looked like. Another part of the luck was that with how fancy Sanji was dressed and with his typical manners, he was not out of place in the best casino in town.

The cook smiled at her with a million watt grin. "Chopper has been sent off to serve as a decoy. So, tell me where to go princess. But exactly what is going on here?"

-Meanwhile-

Nami began to yell in hopes that the sound would attract another bananadile but Andrea was skeptical. She had done too well of a job in disabling the gators so none of them wanted to be in remotely in the same area least they suffer the same fate. Luffy began to panic loudly at the water level rising even further. "It's up to my knees!"

Smoker however was relatively unfazed by the pirates' antics and his fellow Marine also was surveying the situation with relative calm. She had taken advantage of the water to wash off the guts from her skimpy clothing and sat on the chair above the water level with him. Usopp, panicking even harder than Luffy if that was possible, shouted at the Marine captain, "How are you so damn calm?"

"How much do you know about the situation?" he calmly intoned while still smoking his cigar. The Straw Hat's captain listened closely and looked at his sister who was curious as to how much the Devil Fruit user would reveal. "His partner is a woman who has been on the run for around twenty years with a bounty nearly as high as Crocodile's." He paused for a moment to watch the panic fully set on the crew but it was primarily being exhibited by the navigator and sniper. After a cautious nod from Andrea, Smoker continued, "The two of them being together and working as a pair in this country to take it over could develop into a disaster to threaten the world."

Nami's eyes bulged at the implication. "The entire world? Isn't that a bit much?"

Andrea giggled lightly as she looked around at the still steadily rising water. "It won't get that bad since I did call an Admiral as backup if we don't finish what we're meant to." She paused for a minute as the crew, particularly Nami, sagged under the pressure of the situation. "But if we have to resort to an Admiral to resolve this situation, I highly doubt that Alabasta would be salvageable yet alone still existing."

Luffy, with great difficulty, made his way to his oldest sister and shook her angrily. "How could you risk Vivi's country that she loves so much? Sis, what the hell happened to you?"

Snorting, she shoved off Luffy's hands and glared harshly at him. "So it's ok for the whole world to be at risk due to an uprising in some backwater desert island? I joined the Marines to make a difference and because I realized that sometimes, shit just happens. That woman with Crocodile is likely a bigger threat than you realize simply due to the fact that she exists," Andrea hissed angrily.

Luffy gave her a hard look and poked her in the forehead. "Oi Andy… I think you forgot something." Andrea's eyes softened as the unexpected action. "Isn't our existence a crime in everyone's eyes?" Her eyes closed as she contemplated her brother's words. He looked at the caged people with him with pride. "Since when did we need yet another reason to kick his stupid ass?"

Smoker shrugged as he agreed silently while Andrea grinned at her little brother's enthusiasm. The male Marine felt like he had to point something out however. "So with the water thigh high, how are we getting out again?"

Luffy began to sway in weakness to Smoker's mild amusement and upon noticing this, Andrea dragged her brother onto the cushion although it would not be a water-free part of the cage for long. Turning towards the crew's swordsman, she asked Zoro, "Are you able to cut the bars?"

The green haired man shook his head as he tapped the bars. "I don't think I'm strong enough to. Dammit."

An undignified snort later and a trail of smoke had the crew turn towards the snooty blond chef who had just dashed down the wrecked staircase. "Shitty Marimo can't even protect Nami-swaaaaan while I'm gone."

Smoker snorted as he nudged Andrea in amusement. "He's not going to protect you too?"

Nami giggled as Andrea scoffed at the comment from the Logia. "I blew up two fucking gators. Do I look like I need protecting to you?"

Zoro glared at his swirly eyebrowed rival and shouted, "Hurry up and find the damn key! One of those gators swallowed it but Andrea scared them off."

Rolling her eyes, the female Marine sauntered as best as she could in the water to the cage's bars. "Sanji, I'm going to try something then I want you to kick the bars ok?" The blond chef nodded in delight at having her attention as she turned to her fellow caged inhabitants. "Please get on the cushion. Concentrating will be difficult enough with the water around."

She placed her right palm on a bar and closed her eyes. Around her, the water seemed to still and time go slower. Her heart beat started to still almost to the point of no motion and she thought of her savior from the past and his cheery yet lazy words. Ice slowly creeped up and down the bars and she willed it to spread to other bars so that they would have an easier time escaping. She saw to her surprise that the water had only been minutely frozen and was easy to break through. Wrenching her hand as she noticed it had been frozen to the Seastone bars, she nodded encouragingly at Sanji who kicked hard at the bars and to everyone's delight, the bars cracked and shattered between the brittle chill of the ice and the powerful kick from Sanji's legs. Glancing at the caged females with great delight, he did a dance of love as his eyes became hearts. "Nami-swaaaaaaaaaaan, Andrea-saaaaaaaaaan! Do you two love me?"

Nami gave him a peck on the cheek while Andrea's cheeks were dusted with rosy color in annoyance and embarrassment. Sanji started to help them out of the cage with Smoker floating a little above the water and Zoro carrying a weakened Luffy but the commotion had attracted the once previously frightened bananadiles. A particularly fat one was eyeing the crew as if contemplating a meal. Annoyed with the critters, Andrea stood in front of the creature as she drew her dagger. The reptile attempted to strike first but the angered female was still fast and full of adrenaline from what could have been her death. Her right palm bleeding and irritated did not deter her in the slightest as she cut a huge gash into the snout of the beast. Roaring in displeasure, it attempted to get on its hind legs to body slam but Andrea had other plans. Squaring herself carefully, she punched the gator in the stomach which caused it to spit up the contents of its stomach. Seeing the metallic sheen of a key fly through the air was the last straw and she scowled at the retreating, scaly beast. "I'm going to make a pair of boots out of you!"

Nami had barely restrained the female Marine when the gator, in pure fear, chucked up yet another surprise which gave the pirates a sneaky idea.

-A few minutes later-

Crocodile walked down to the room in annoyance as he thought on the current events. "The bridge was sunk to buy time and it looks like there are more Straw Hats to deal with."

The raven haired woman tipped back her hat to look at her partner. "Did they plan to sneak past us?"

Shrugging, the Shichibukai was spinning a key in amusement. "Even if they did find the right bananadile, I got the real key right here." Robin chuckled at her partner's cleverness and the man boldly pushed the doors open. "I'll kill those damn runts myself!" He froze however seeing the partially submerged room, coated with animal guts, a busted cage and the body of Mr. 3 sitting on top of a bananadile who looked rather ill. Pinned to the man's shirt, a message was written.

"See you later, you croc of shit."