Alright, here's the next chapter!

Sorry about the wait on this one, I actually had problems with my electricity today, so didn't want to risk it crapping out while I did the editing.

"Alright here we are," Lumen frowned.

"We'd better go straight to where Crocodile is and end this as fast as we can," Sanji said, earning a few nods. However…

"Uh...where's Luffy and Usopp?" Chopper asked. THAT got their attention as they looked around...and saw that true enough, they were nowhere to be found…

"Oh great." Zoro groaned.

"Those two are going to get us into trouble, I just know it." Nami sighed.

"I suppose we should hurry then." Vivi frowned, before the group started walking quickly.

And it was when they were taking a quick break, with Chopper going to a nearby washroom, that…

"HEEEEY!"

"Oh not AGAIN!" Lumen shouted in annoyance.

"Yeah, it's happening again." Sanji confirmed with a twitching eyebrow.

"Freaking Marines, showing up at the worst times…" Zoro muttered.

"Let's just try to salvage things. Again," Lumen said dryly. This was becoming too much of a habit. Seeing as the Marines were hot on their tail, and the fact that Luffy and Usopp were stupid enough to run towards them...they did the only thing they COULD do right now. Run away too.

Sure they felt bad for leaving Chopper while he was still in the washroom, but as it was they had no choice. "Isn't it really bad for us to run around town like this? We'll be spotted by Baroque Works Agents!" Sanji said as they ran.

"I think it's a little late to worry about that," Zoro said flatly, discreetly pointing out several people that were looking between their group and a set of images in their hands.

"Then let's go!" Luffy said, earning sounds of confusion. "Let's go meet Crocodile! Where is he?!" he clarified.

"Alright," Vivi nodded before pointing to the large pyramid structure that had a crocodile on top. "That building right there, the one with a crocodile on top. That's Rain Dinners, the casino owned by Crocodile."

"Talk about making sure people know it's his," Lumen deadpanned.

"Well we can't go charging in head on right now," Sanji frowned. "We'd better split up."

"Alright, we lose the Marines then we meet up at Rain Dinners," Nami nodded.

"Okay, let's go!" Luffy said as they soon split up. "Hey Smokey! Come catch me if you can!" he threw back with a grin as he hung upside down in the air for a moment.

"Gladly." Smoker rumbled with a smirk before chasing after Luffy.

"Well, if we're picking targets…" Lumen mumbled, before throwing a finger up behind him, and if the curse he heard was any indication, Akira had just zeroed in on him.

"So uh...is this about the sword, or just being a pirate in general?" Lumen couldn't help but shout cheekily as Akira was now very much hot on his trail.

"Both!" Akira shouted at him.

"Yeah, that's about what I expected." Lumen shrugged to himself, before grinning as he reached into his clothes, pulling out a Candroid and popped the tap, throwing it behind him… where it unfolded into a Taka Candroid that started flying around Akira's face and pecking at him.

Akira growled at that one before...pulling out a set of Tako Candroids and setting them loose, one soon fighting the Taka Candroid, while the others went after Lumen.

"Oh so we're doing THIS then huh?" Lumen grinned, before pulling out and popping open one Candroid after the next, from Taka, to his own Tako, to even some Unagi… and a few Gorilla to try and trip up Akira.

What followed was a...bizarrely humorous image of the Marine trying to catch the Pirate...while both were deploying helper robots to try and trip each other up...and had the added effect of confusing any other Marines who got too close, and they were the ones who ended up tumbling to the ground as the Candroids fought to try and fulfill their orders.

"Persistent." Lumen grumbled, still throwing out Candroids while making as many turns as he could to try and lose Akira, but the Marine managed to keep track of him, right up until Lumen saw the casino, with almost everybody at the entrance, and Luffy had Smoker on his tail.

"Everyone inside!" Luffy shouted.

"Let's buy ourselves some extra seconds!" Lumen added, throwing out a large chain of Unagi Candroids… which all attached together and sparked, trying to stall the Marines even if just a little.

True enough, the Unagi Candroids proved to be a bit of a problem what with them near constantly releasing electricity. As such they had to deal with that for now while the Strawhats went into the Casino in a hurry.

Inside the Casino…

"Crocodile, come out! Fight me!" Luffy shouted...earning a dope slap from Nami and Usopp.

"Aside from the part where he won't come out just because you call, you DO realize he's the hero to the public here, right?" Lumen deadpanned.

"Besides, without Vivi with us, how do we recognize him?" Usopp asked.

All of sudden Lumen stood straight, and his eyes glazed over, and this time they all noticed "He has a scar going across his nose, from one side of his face to the other, black hair, likes to dress in a fancy manner with a large fur coat, and his left hand is a golden hook." he spoke in what the crew were starting to mentally refer to his 'Out of it' voice, and just as quickly as it happened, he flipped back to normal, shaking his head in confusion "Did… did something just happen?"

"So you were almost aware of it this time then?" Zoro asked.

"Aware of WHAT, exactly? And what do you mean by THIS time?" Lumen asked, worry on his face.

"It's happened a couple of times now, but, you'd suddenly start speaking like you were somewhere far away and give us answers to some of our questions we had about locations we were going to. You never seemed to realize it before though." Nami told him, looking a bit worried as well.

Lumen frowned at that, before shaking his head "We'll worry about that later I guess. Right now we need to focus on Croc."

"Yeah, you just described him." Luffy nodded, before repeating what Lumen had said, making the blonde nod, though he was obviously wondering HOW he even knew that.

Either way they started making their way in but…

"Hold it right there!" came Smoker's voice as he and Akira rushed into the building, having managed to get past the Unagi Candroids.

"Welp, time to run," Zoro sighed as they were soon forced to resume the escape/search combo.

And Luffy broke through a small group of people as they ran, but he didn't seem to notice it.

"Well… that was crap security, as Sanji would no doubt say." Lumen noted dryly as he recognized the men as bouncers for the casino… who failed miserably at their job of stopping the mad train known as Luffy.

Unknown to them all, they were being watched by a pair of eagle sharp brown eyes, the owner flagging over a worker "Invite them to the VIP Room."

"M-Miss Manager? Why should we-?" the worker started in confusion, before a hand was held up, shushing him.

"Crocodile's orders." Miss All-Sunday said, amusement on her face.

Back with the group…

"Ok, seriously! You two are SUPER persistent." Lumen shot at Akira and Smoker.

"That's because we are THOROUGHLY pissed off right now!" Akira shouted at him.

"And we're going to MAKE you explain what the connection between you and Crocodile is." Smoker grunted out with a glare.

Lumen blinked at that… before grinning widely "Oh yeah? In that case follow us and maybe you can actually put that bastard behind bars where he should be!"

The two Marines blinked in confusion at that, sharing a look between each other, before nodding and continuing to sprint after them, now VERY curious about Lumen's words.

Before the group could say anything else though…

"Hey, look there!" Usopp pointed ahead, where it seems that… a group of people were welcoming them to the VIP room? What?

"What is this, some kind of challenge to us?" Nami wondered.

"That or a trap." Lumen mused.

"Still, good to know he gets straight to business." Zoro grinned ferally.

"Let's GO!" Luffy roared, right as the large golden doors opened, and of course Smoker and Akira followed them in "... what's a VIP though?"

"It means 'Very Important Person'" Lumen said as he caught up to Luffy.

"Oh, ok." Luffy said, before blinking as he looked ahead "Hey, the path splits in two!"

"Looks like it." Lumen said, raising eyebrow at the sign "VIP to the left… and Pirate to the right… what kind of idiots does he take us for?"

"Yeah, it's totally obvious!" Luffy said, as they reached the split… and he made to go right.

"Very obvious indeed." Lumen said dryly, as he gripped Luffy by the neck without even looking, and dragged him along as he, and everyone else, went left instead. The room they reached seemed to be a lounge of some kind that would be fitting for a VIP room.

"Huh. Props to Crocodile, he's got a nice place," Nami couldn't help but say.

The group had stopped when they entered...and Luffy and Lumen were promptly tackled by Smoker and Akira who'd entered seconds later.

"Not the fucking time you idiots." Lumen ground out as he lifted his head up.

"And why's that?" Akira asked with narrowed eyes.

"Because Crocodile is probably close and waiting for his chance." Lumen said, looking back at him "We're FIGHTING him as a favor to a friend."

"And why exactly would your friend be interested in seeing Crocodile fall?" Akira asked suspiciously. Sure he also thought Crocodile was shifty as heck, but he WAS technically on the side of the World Government.

"Oh I dunno, maybe because he's literally the reason why her country is on the verge of civil war," Lumen shot back in a tone dry enough to make the desert seem like an oasis.

Both Smoker and Akira froze at that "What. The. Hell?" Smoker ground out.

"Of course one of you is going to start to spill my secrets before I even get here." a voice said in the room, before a mass of sand coalesced together on the other side, revealing the form of Crocodile, looking at them in contempt.

"Ha! Sand Logia! Called it!" Lumen grinned.

"Did you now? Well, good for you, for however long it'll help you." Crocodile said in a bored tone as he lit a cigar, before gazing back at them "I'll admit though, I'm surprised you didn't fall for my trap with how headstrong your captain is."

"Headstrong and idiotic he may be, the rest of us have working brains." Nami said dryly.

"Good for you," Crocodile said in his same bored tone. "Unfortunately I can't let you all walk out of here alive," he said as his body started to generate a small sandstorm.

"If you think you're going to get away with this, you've got another thing coming," Smoker growled, his body shifting to smoke as he had his jute ready.

"Ah yes, 'White Hunter' Smoker," Crocodile smirked a bit. "I suppose being a fellow Logia you'll at least be something of a challenge," he said...before sending tendrils of sand at them. Smoker didn't hesitate and turned to smoke, letting the tendrils hit, before turning the smoke thick, stopping them while his hand holding the jute went straight for Crocodile. However, right as the jute was about to make contact, Crocodile dispersed into sand, causing it to miss its mark. Crocodile soon countered with his hook...but the same result soon happened with Smoker as he dispersed into smoke, making the attack useless. It eventually became a bit of a back and forth as both Logia users tried to outmaneuver each other, but ended up in a bit of a deadlock.

"...I guess Logia duels must be fun," Lumen said sarcastically from where he was still being held down. "That does it, I'm joining in. So get off me!" he growled, forcing himself up and shoving Akira off of him. Grabbing the OOO Driver he attached it to his waist and inserted the Medals before scanning them. "Henshin!"

"COBRA! TORA! CHEETAH!"

The armor formed over him as usual, and this time his helmet looked like it was wearing a copper colored turban with a purple gem in the middle, and the lens over his eyes being purple as well.

Crocodile rose an interested eyebrow "Huh, so THAT'S the armor Mr. 3 mentionned. Curious. It looks like some of the carvings I've seen outside the royal palace." he mused, mostly to himself, before he smirked "I suppose that just means I'll have one more weapon in my arsenal."

"If you think you can just take it, you really are too confident," OOO said, pulling out the Medajalibur. "I'll be using this for a while longer. It's a bit TOO compatible with my gear," he said to Akira who glared but didn't say anything. For now anyway.

"What can a sword do?" Crocodile laughed. "Can a sword cut through a sandstorm? Can a sword stand up to a force of nature? No, against me you'd be as good as using a tooth-" he didn't get to finish as while he was busy monologuing, OOO had wordlessly loaded three Cell Medals into the Medajalibur...and slashed at the mass of sand that was Crocodile's body. Normally that would have done nothing, but then...the armor and sword were anything but normal.

Crocodile's monologue was cut short when he FELT the sword cut through his body, not actually DAMAGING anything important per say, but the fact remained he felt the sword cut through him, and as a Logia who'd gone years without feeling pain… "AAAARRRGH!" he roared.

"Yeah, about that. I DID cut the sandstorm you sent towards Yuba, so THAT was for trying to bury the town and Toto," OOO growled.

Akira blinked at the sight, before looking at Smoker "Remind me, have I ever hurt you when I tried to use the sword on you in our practice fights?"

"It always went through me." Smoker said simply.

"Right…" Akira trailed off, looking back at Lumen "... maybe the kid isn't wrong about the sword being more compatible with him."

"It's still stolen military property," Smoker reminded. "But that can wait. For now, we have a soon to be Ex-Warlord to arrest."

Back with Crocodile, he'd reformed a short distance away, no signs of damage on his body, but he was panting as he felt like that damn sword had almost cut him in two. "Impossible…" he growled. "How could a sword cut through me?" he growled, before his eyes widened. "I didn't think there would be someone this early in the Grandline who could use Haki," he growled. "Especially not on some nameless pirate crew," he said...right before he smirked. "Not bad. Tell you what kid, I don't know what this moron is paying you, but I'll pay you that and more if you join my crew instead. I'm a Warlord, and as long as we shut up the witnesses, it can stay that way, all the perks included."

OOO tilted his head at that, before seemingly getting into a relaxed stance, resting the Medajalibur on his shoulder and looking back at his crew and the Marines… and unnoticed by Crocodile one of the lens become clear enough for them to see through it and see the wink he threw them, before he looked back to Crocodile as the lens became a single hard color again.

"Sure, I might be interested in that for the right price," OOO said.

Crocodile had to suppress himself from grinning in triumph. "Name it."

If his face were visible, Crocodile might have been able to see the shit eating grin on his face beneath the mask as he started to speak. "I'll join….right after you publicly confess to your crimes in causing the Civil War in Alabasta, framing King Cobra for the use of Dance Powder, and of course the fact you're the leader of Baroque Works. After that, you leave Alabasta and never come back and THEN I'll join. Maybe," he said, adding the last bit in a tone that just SCREAMED 'troll grin'.

Crocodile's grin dropped at that, turning into a scowl "Brat."

"I prefer pi~ra~te." OOO sang in a smug tone.

His crew couldn't help but snicker a bit at how he had led on Crocodile like that, while Smoker and Akira were both interested in what he claimed Crocodile was guilty of.

And then Luffy perked up "Oh! Hey, Lumen! You forgot to tell him to stop making Vivi cry too!"

And like that the crew froze as Luffy's words, while Smoker and Akira's eyes both widened at the straight up confirmation of what the relation between the princess and the strawhats was.

OOO meanwhile… he just groaned and hung his head "God dammit Luffy."

"I think I'll just settle for completely crushing this kingdom before I make it my own," Crocodile growled. However, before he could make his move, the sound of something moving was heard, right as a hidden door off to the side opened up and through it came Vivi...with Ms. All Sunday having a firm grip on her.

"I'm sorry, are we interrupting something?" Ms. All Sunday asked with a slight chuckle.

"Ms. All Sunday… perfect timing actually." Crocodile said, smirking "I could make use of your… capacities."

Ms. All Sunday looked at him, before she looked at everyone else assembled, seeing Zoro beginning to draw his swords, Nami assembling her new staff, Luffy getting into a stance, Usopp (nervously and with shaking legs still) raising his slingshot, on top of Smoker still keeping a grip on his Jutte and Akira reaching into his coat for something… she decided she only had one course of action.

She released Vivi and pushed her towards her friends, before simply stepping back.

EVERYONE stared at her in surprise at that.

"What? Do I look stupid?" she said in a bored tone, even if she still had her smile on her face "I can tell when I'm pushing my luck. And against this many of you?" she said, before tilting her head and closing her eyes, still smiling "I would lose, without a doubt."

"If you won't fight then at least steal that armor!" Crocodile ordered. "If it is what I think it is, assuming the legends were actually true, then it would be-!" he started, but Ms. All Sunday cut him off.

"Completely pointless," Ms. All Sunday said simply. "I know what that armor is, and I'll say it straight. For you and I, using it would be impossible," she said simply. "Even if I were to somehow steal it, it'd be nothing more than a paperweight."

OOO tilted his head as he looked at her, before smirking behind his mask "Had a feeling you weren't all that bad."

"Oh? Did you now? Even though I killed the captain of the royal guard?" Ms. All Sunday shot back, which made Vivi shoot her a glare.

"So you say… but thinking back… that explosion was FAR too excessive for a single small boat… you were just making everyone think you killed him, didn't you?" OOO said slowly.

Ms. All Sunday stared at him for a long moment, before angling her hat down and giving the barest of smiles "Smart boy," she said, but not before adding under her breath. "Like always."

"Wait… what…?" Vivi said in shock "Igaram… he's alive?"

Ms. All Sunday nodded "He is princess. A little crispy, but he's alive. He should be making his way back to Alabasta already. He might even arrive soon for all we know." she said with a seemingly uncaring shrug.

"So what now?" OOO asked. "You're clearly quitting your job."

"Hm...I still have something I want from this Kingdom. Nothing physical, so I'm not quite stealing, but I don't intend on giving up on it so easily," Ms. All Sunday said. "Depending on what happens next...we'll see," she chuckled.

Vivi bit her lip thoughtfully, before focusing on Ms. All Sunday "What is it that you want?"

Ms. All Sunday smiled, before leaning in close and whispering something only Vivi heard… which made her eyes widen in surprise, before looking at the now former second in command of Baroque Works as the woman stepped back.

Vivi glanced around the room, seeing all her friends giving her accepting nods, ready to accept whatever she was about to do… and a sight she was enjoying was Crocodile's near apoplectic expression, before she looked back to Ms. All Sunday and nodded "I can get you that."

Ms. All Sunday smiled at that "Wonderful. In that case, yes, I no longer have a reason to fight you all. And as a show of good faith, I'll let you know that Crocodile's Operation Utopia is beginning…" she trailed off, bringing out a pocket watch "Quite soon actually."

"Yoooouuu… Nico Robin… you traitorous bitch…" Crocodile snarled.

Her REAL name now revealed, Robin scoffed "Please, we both know you planned to gut me right from the beginning. This is just me jumping ship before you got the chance."

"Nico Robin…" Akira murmured in shock as he heard the name, sharing a glance with Smoker.

This just became even more complex.

"Don't think you can stop me. Even if you know my plans, its already too late!" Crocodile growled, turning fully into sand...and went through the floor somehow.

"Wait what?!" Usopp gasped in surprise.

"How did he do that?!" Zoro asked in surprise as well.

"It's quite simple really," Robin said with a chuckle, before she went over to a shelf and flicked a hidden switch, causing the floor to open up and reveal the entrance to the underground meeting room. "He ran into this room. Why, I'm not fully sure though."

"Well he's not getting away again!" Luffy shouted before running down the stairs.

"That idiot." Nami sighed, shaking her head before the others followed after, Smoker and Akira glancing at each other before deciding to start with the highest priority and following them as well.

At that, Robin was left alone upstairs, before she pulled out a Transponder Snail from the shelf and dialed a certain number in, which was quickly answered "Mr. 2? There's been a complication yes. I don't believe you'll be able to pull off your initial part of the plan. I recommend you regroup to Alubarna with the others." she said, not even giving the okama the chance to respond before hanging up, looking back at the stairs with a smile "I wonder if you'll thank me for that?" she mused, before shrugging as she walked back out.

It was best if she made herself scarce for now, what with how many Marines were present in the city after all.

Down below, the group had Crocodile seemingly cornered. "End of the line, Croc!" OOO glared. "Give it up now and you can at least go to jail conscious!"

Crocodile smirked a bit. "You really think you can stop me just like that?" he said...before hitting a switch. "Don't make me laugh!" he said as the floor opened up...and out came several massive… alligators of all things… with bananas growing out the top of their heads?

"Ok, what?" OOO said, tilting his head in confusion… while Luffy started to drool at the thought of eating alligator meat, of course.

"These Bananagators are some of the most fearsome predators around! Let's see you stop me while you're busy avoiding being eaten!" Crocodile laughed as he soon turned to sand and escaped out of the room...and sealing the entrance to the room too with another switch.

"Ah great. Now we HAVE to fight our way out… ok, how many are there?" OOO said, mumbling the last part, before nodding "Right, only 5, so, me, Luffy, Zoro, and you two." he said, looking to Smoker and Akira "You fine with a truce while we get out of here?"

"Only for THAT period of time yes." Smoker grunted.

"Captain? That alright with you?" OOO asked as he turned back to Luffy, who was already cracking his knuckles.

"Works for me. Now let's beat these things up!" Luffy announced with a grin.

What followed was...okay I'm not even gonna pretend this was anything remotely interesting. It was a complete and utter slaughter as the fighters wiped the floor with the hapless reptiles who apparently lacked the survival instincts to realize when they were facing a 'bigger' predator. That was why it wasn't long before the floor was littered with the very dead Bananagators as the group dusted their hands off, OOO being the last to finish his off...and as it so happened, the universe decided to give him a prize...which rolled right out of the Bananagator's gullet until it plinked against his foot.

"Wow… talk about being on a roll with these." he said, before picking up the object, revealing it to be a medal… sporting a crocodile on it "That's another complete combo." he chuckled as he placed it in the side of his belt for now. Something Akira took notice of, but didn't say anything. They had more important things to worry about. One though was removed from the list when seeing that the Bananagators were dealt with, Vivi went over to the switch and pressed it, opening the hidden entrance again.

"We have to hurry!" Vivi said urgently, earning several nods as they soon got out of hidden room.

"I know I probably don't have to say it, but…" OOO started, but Smoker held up his hand.

"We know. Truce until this plot is stopped," he said gruffly. "I know when there's a bigger fish to fry."

"Thank you then. We'll count on you to keep the civilians safe. Your men will be able to cover more ground. Meanwhile…" OOO trailed off, looking to Vivi, who nodded.

"We're going to Alubarna. It's the only place Crocodile would go." she said surely.

Meanwhile, in Nanohana…

"What." Mr. 1 said flatly as he looked out into the waters of the port.

"I'm right there with you." Ms. Doublefinger said, just as flatly.

"We go to the effort of killing that ship's crew… and it ends up being for nothing." Mr. 1 sighed in aggravation.

The reason he said that?

The huge ship that was supposed to crash into Nanohana and destroy the town's harbor just got attacked itself… by a group of Kung Fu Dugong that obviously started by destroying the keel and then worked their way up.

The result was, of course, the Dugong all standing on the prow of the sinking ship and cheering, before all of them jumped back into the water.

"And with this on top of Mr. 2 not doing his damn part of the plan…" Ms Doublefinger said, clenching her fingers on her free hand "This was supposed to be easy."

"Nothing ever is… but THIS is ridiculous." Mr. 1 said, shaking his head before he turned around "Come on, let's head to Alubarna, we can still salvage this."

"Hopefully THAT part of the plan won't fail." Ms. Doublefinger sighed before following her partner.

They had a king to kill after all.

And voila!

Bet this chapter shocked everyone huh?

That's right, we just turned the whole arc around!

Things won't be as obvious anymore.

And on top of that, we've gotten the final orange medal!

Count The Medals:

Red: Taka

Green: Kuwagata, Kamakiri, Batta

Yellow: Lion, Tora, Cheetah

Grey: Sai, Gorilla, Zou

Blue: Unagi

Orange: Cobra, Kame, Wani

Purple: Tyranno