Almost done with this arc people, this is the second to last chapter of it!

The trip to Alubarna was thankfully uneventful, though none of the group were relaxed yet. They were still potentially surrounded by enemies who were hell bent on seeing the country implode for their own reasons. It was why both OOO and Proto-Birth had opted to stay in their armors as they approached the city.

And it was a good thing they did too…

PING!

Kohza blinked several times, the light ringing sound resonating in front of him, right where OOO had put one of his arms all of a sudden, with the shield facing the top of the steps, with the small group having just reached the bottom.

"What just…?" Kohza said in confusion.

"Qua!" Carue quacked all of a sudden and pointed to the ground with one of his wings, making them follow it to see what looked like a flattened piece of metal.

"That's…" Proto-Birth trailed off as he crouched down to pick up the object "This was a bullet I think."

Vivi's gaze snapped up to the top of the stairs, glaring "Someone just tried to shoot Kohza in the head then."

"And that confirms what we thought. I was only 95% sure before, but now it's 100%, there's definitely some Baroque Works agents in the two armies." OOO said with a frown beneath his mask.

"Then we must hurry," Proto-Birth frowned as he turned to Vivi. "Princess, who should we find assuming we can't reach your father? There must be someone here we can trust fully."

"That would be Chaka. He's sure to be leading the army." Vivi said with a sure nod.

"Alright then, let's find him and spread the word...and we should make sure the others are okay if we find them along the way. I'm pretty sure most of them can hold their own but…" OOO trailed off. "...they should be okay, but we should definitely find them if we can."

"Right," Vivi nodded in agreement as they kept moving and were soon going up the stairs and before long…

"...huh, you know, I honestly thought we'd have to fight our way through a small army before we found the guy," OOO couldn't help but say as it turns out...Chaka was not just leading the army...he had been right at the top of the stairs.

The man stared at them in shock for a few moments "Princess? And Kohza as well? What is…?"

"To put a long story short Chaka? Everyone's been played for fools, Crocodile is behind everything. He's been riling up the rebels and the royal army to bring things to this level." Vivi explained seriously.

"And he's sent some of his goons to infiltrate both the royal army and the rebels." OOO said… before he saw something out of the corner of his eye, his arm lashing out and ripping off the sleeve of one of the soldiers... Exposing a Baroque Works tattoo. Slowly, he lifted his gaze to look at the now pale fake-soldier "You're an idiot."

The agent quickly tried to run, and to his credit he DID manage to get a bit of distance...before Proto-Birth casually used the Crane Arm to snag him and pull him back like a fish on a hook. "Oh no you don't," Proto-Birth said simply. "You're going to be answering a few questions first."

"Do as you like, you'll never get me to talk!" the agent said defiantly.

"You sure about that?" OOO said blandly as he held a leg up…and manifested a large crocodile head, jaws ready to take the agent's head off.

"...what do you want to know?" the agent squeaked.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." OOO said, shaking his head with a sigh.

Thankfully, the idiotic agent knew PLENTY of information, and was able to blab SEVERAL names of undercover agents… including some that were in the immediate area, which led to those ones being arrested as well.

"Well, that's these idiots taken care of." Kohza said, looking at the 2 dozen or so soldiers that were hogtied together stopping them completely from moving.

"In that case, we should head to the palace, we need to find my father before Crocodile can hurt him." Vivi said urgently.

"I don't know if he'll be there Princess, his highness has been missing for a short while." Chaka explained with a frown.

"It was probably something Baroque Works was planning." Proto-Birth said, kicking one of the agents in the shin for good measure.

"Hopefully the sandy bastard isn't anywhere nearby." OOO said before the group started to move towards the palace, this time joined by Chaka who gave strict orders to not attack unless attacked first, which he was sure they would follow without the trouble-starters present to rile them up now.

And as they neared the palace, they noticed something… wrong about it.

"That's… a sandstorm right on top of the palace." Kohza said with eyes wide.

"Crocodile's already there… chances are good Luffy's fighting him." OOO said, before the group hurried towards the palace… though they weren't the only ones to reach it.

"Holy SHIT Zoro! What happened to you?!" OOO gasped at seeing the swordsman… pretty much leaking blood from everywhere on his body.

"I beat Mr. 1… and I learned how to cut iron." Zoro answered with an almost demonic smirk before being slapped upside the head by Nami, who was leaning on him due to having a hole in her foot.

"Jackass almost died and he's proud of it." she said with a shake of her head, before looking back at them and smirking "Though he's not the only one who won his fight. I defeated Ms Doublefinger… her stupid spike powers almost got me good."

"Well… I feel a bit conflicted at that, because I would LOVE to kick someone's ass now, but at least you're fine." Sanji said as he arrived as well, lighting a cigarette "I kicked that okama's ass by the way, we won't have to worry about any fakes anymore."

"And Chopper and I beat up a mole woman, a super strong batter, and a gun-dog!" Usopp proclaimed proudly… covered head to toe in bandages.

"... you ok there kid?" Proto-Birth asked him in concern.

"My everything hurts, but I'm fine!" Usopp said, posing… shakily.

"AAH! ZORO'S HURT! SOMEONE GET A DOCTOR!" Chopper shouted when he noticed Zoro.

"THAT'S YOU!" the crew shouted at the reindeer.

"Oh… right." Chopper blinked… before shifting to his Heavy Point and grabbing Zoro "Don't move."

"Yeah, yeah." Zoro sighed as he sat down and let Chopper get to work.

"So, these are your friends Vivi?" Kohza asked.

Vivi smiled "That's right. They helped me all get this far. They're all wonderful friends."

"Oh stop it you." most of the crew said bashfully, while Zoro just smirked.

"So… where's our idiot captain if everyone is here?" Sanji asked with a light grin.

"I think… he's up there." OOO said, pointing up at the palace "He's probably fighting Crocodile right now… hopefully he took my advice from the other day and jumped in water first."

"Right… then, we can rest?" Usopp asked, plopping down onto the ground.

"Yes, you can."

"Ah!" everybody jumped at the sudden voice from behind them, turning to see Nico Robin walking up to them in amusement.

She shook her head with a smile before focusing on them "Crocodile had placed a bomb in the city, but I took care of it already. I disarmed the detonator myself and took out the Mr. 7 pair as they were guarding it."

"Just the detonator?" OOO asked in concern.

"The actual bomb is covered in a hard and dense shell. I have no way of opening it, so neutralising the detonator was the best I could do. The only thing that could blow it up would be something getting THROUGH the casing and setting off the payload." Robin said with a shrug "In short, we're safe, seeing as nobody in Baroque Works is that suicidal."

The group sighed in relief at that, all of them sagging as they let the adrenaline drain away from them, with the two riders even undoing their transformations for now.

"Think we should get up there?" Zoro mused.

"Hard to say. If Luffy's going all out, it might be hard to get in the middle of that," Nami frowned.

"Plus not gonna lie. I need a break," Lumen said, sitting down on the bottom of the stairs he could find. "I may have stopped fainting, but using Combos is tiring as hell. I don't want to fight anymore right now if I can help it."

"I do NOT blame you there." Usopp said as he eased himself down to avoid aggravating his injuries.

"And if anybody even TRIES to get hurt further, I have enough tranquilizers to down a herd of elephants." Chopper said almost idly as he moved to Nami's foot, making every other crew member look away or whistle in fake innocence.

"So I guess all we can do is wait?" Vivi frowned, not really sure she liked this plan.

"Well, it's not ideal, but yeah," Lumen sighed.

"Not to mention in the event Strawhat loses, then we'll have to be ready to stop Crocodile," Akira added with a frown.

"Didn't want to think about that but it's something to consider," Lumen sighed.

"You're all certainly confident." Robin chuckled.

"The idiot captain is just that strong." Sanji grinned as he looked at the sky while smoking "Even if he somehow gets beaten down, he'll just get back up and hit harder."

Robin hummed "Will he now?" she said, almost as if considering something, before shaking her head "Anyway, since everything seems to be about to wrap up, I do believe we can look into the matter of the deal we made Princess."

Vivi sighed, but nodded "Right, I… I suppose we can. I'll show you where the ruins are."

"I'll come with. I wanna see if there's anything about OOO in there." Lumen said as he stood up, stretching a bit.

"Well then, lead the way Princess." Robin said with an amused smile.

The two of them soon followed after Vivi, confident that Luffy would be able to beat Crocodile...and the fact that according to Robin, what Crocodile was REALLY after was in the tomb as well, so if Luffy didn't win...they'd know.

Fittingly for its name the tomb was underground and hidden inside a secret entrance in the ground, bringing them into an elaborate structure underground. The group couldn't really admire the architecture as they kept moving forward and soon entered a room with a large metal cube in it.

"There it is." Robin said, an almost hopeful look on her face "The Poneglyph."

"I assume that if you were looking for it… you know how to read it?" Vivi asked.

Robin nodded "Yes… I'm probably one of only two people who can in the world."

Vivi blinked at that "Only two? So… you know who the other is then?"

Instead of answering verbally, Robin looked aside, and Vivi followed her eyes… to see Lumen with his eyes glazed over and mumbling under his breath, making her sigh "Of course he's in his other voice mode."

"Other voice mode?" Robin asked in confusion.

"This… happens to him sometimes. His face goes blank and he starts to talk like he's faraway, he didn't even realize it at first and only just started to become aware of it from what Zoro told me." Vivi explained "...Is… is he actually reading it?"

Robin hummed, before leaning close to Lumen, while still looking at the Poneglyph, and nodding "He is yes. He's reciting everything on it under his breath."

"I… how does he even know how to read it though?" Vivi wondered.

Robin hummed, looking at Lumen "Well, most obviously, somebody thought him. The question is who?"

"So...are we going to just let him keep going or…?" Vivi asked, seeing as Lumen was still reading the Poneglyph.

"Hm...probably a good idea," Robin said, before manifesting an arm from the Poneglyph which snapped its fingers in front of Lumen's face, causing him to blink and snap out of the trance.

"Again…?" he groaned, rubbing the side of his head.

"Yes, again," Vivi nodded. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Other than zoning out I think I'm okay," He sighed "So, what did I say this time?"

"You read the Poneglyph." Robin said, making him stop short.

"I… ok, yeah, I don't have an answer for that." he said, before looking back at the block and blinking a few times "Huh… I CAN read it… weird… I don't remember learning how to read these kinds of hieroglyphs." he said, before looking at Robin "This isn't what you were looking for though, is it?"

Robin shook her head "No, it's not."

"What's written on it?" Vivi asked, making Lumen grimace.

"Nothing you'd want to know Vivi, trust me." he said, before walking around the block… and pausing when he reached the back "There's a second side here… oh wow now THIS is interesting, it's about OOO!" he said with a grin.

"Is it now?" Robin said in interest, following him and looking at the back side of the Poneglyph, reading it over herself "Well, so it is." she hummed softly, reading it to herself. "It seems indeed the Kingdom of Alabasta was greatly allied to the Lost Kingdom. So much so that the King himself came to Alabasta's aid in a time of great need," she mused before blinking a bit when she read the battle recorded in the Poneglyph. "According to this, an entire army that was poised to invade Alabasta...was completely decimated by the King himself donned in the armor of OOO. If this was fully true, then the armor's full potential would make Pluton look weak in comparison."

Her musing was cut short though as they heard something from outside, and before long someone was coming down the stairs, that person soon revealing to be Crocodile dragging King Nefertari Cobra behind him...though Crocodile sure looked like he'd been through the absolute wringer.

"Oh great, you." Lumen growled, already loading medals in his Driver and putting it to his waist.

"I could say the same to you brat." Crocodile sneered.

"Father!" Vivi gasped in shock at seeing how beat up her father was.

"Vivi! Thank goodness you're alright." Cobra sagged in relief when he finally saw his daughter after two long years, seemingly not worried about his current situation.

"Hey, Sand Bastard! Where's Luffy?" Lumen called out to Croc, already grabbing the scanner.

"He's dead, just as you will all be soon." Crocodile said with a confident grin.

"Pull the other leg jackass." Lumen said with a roll of his eyes before scanning the medals "Henshin."

"TAKA! UNAGI! CHEETAH!"

"The worst you've probably done to Luffy is knock him out for a few minutes. So I just need to stall you until he gets here." OOO said, readying his whips.

Crocodile scoffed "Just stall me? Have you realised you stand no chance of winning then?"

It was OOO who scoffed next "Hardly. Luffy just called dibs on being the one to kick your ass. And I don't feel like stealing his fight."

Crocodile snarled at that. "What the hell does a brat like you know?!" he growled. "You've all got some nerve getting in my way. I am the great Warlord Crocodile! For 4 years I've had this country dancing at the palm of my hand, and right on the last day some no named Pirates come and somehow ruin it all!" he roared.

"So?" OOO shrugged. "You pissed us off by playing around with Vivi's Country. We came and stopped you. Simple as that."

"Simple? SIMPLE?!" Crocodile shouted incredulously, releasing his hold on Cobra, not that he seemed to care anymore, all his attention was on OOO "So it's SIMPLE, for a bunch of no name BRATS, to come waltzing through MY future throne that I'll use to claim the world?! To claim everything I desire?!"

"Of course it is," OOO said cheerfully. "It's only natural you'd lose the moment you came into conflict with the crew of the future Pirate King."

Crocodile stopped short, seemingly trying to process it, before he smirked and laughed. "I'll have to admit, that one was a good one," he smirked. "You actually think that idiot could be Pirate King?!"

"I don't THINK he'll be Pirate King, I'm saying right now he WILL be Pirate King," OOO said simply.

That made everyone around stop short for a moment. The tone that OOO used...somehow they could tell, he wasn't bluffing or simply talking about what he believed. Something in that tone made it sound like it was a fact that Luffy would become the Pirate King.

Crocodile stopped before smirking again and laughing. "I didn't think you'd be quite the comedian," he said. "That fool becoming Pirate King? Don't be ridiculous! To reach anything in this world you need the power and talent to do it! I've been a Pirate for years! Obtained a powerful Logia! Planned meticulously for it! Even then I needed to take over this country before such a goal could become feasible! And you're telling me that fool could be Pirate King?!"

"Yep," OOO said simply. "Compared to Luffy, someone like you who has nothing to fight for but himself doesn't stand a chance."

"You really are just a brat if you think you can lecture me," Crocodile growled. "In this world the only one you can trust is your-!"

"That's why you're gonna lose," OOO said simply. "Sure, maybe at first glance caring only about yourself gives you an advantage. But the reality is people grow stronger when they challenge themselves. And what's more difficult than aiming to have your cake and eat it too when it comes to reaching your goals AND protecting others?" OOO smirked under his mask. "Unlike you who just cuts his weights off the moment they're a hassle, Luffy is the kind of person who's ready, able, and willing to carry the weight the whole way. In short, you've hit your limit, Crocodile."

Crocodile sneered, a vein throbbing on his forehead "Just who the hell do you think you are, you brat?" he growled lowly.

"Me? Simple answer really. I'm someone who follows his own beliefs but has his moral compass on straight, someone who won't stand by and let injustice take place… someone who will defend the weak and powerless from those like YOU. I'm a Kamen Rider, someone who takes pride in being a hero. But you can just call me OOO." OOO answered, the smirk audible in his tone at the end.

Crocodile blinked, smirked...then started laughing. "And here I thought your jokes were done!" he said. "What do you think you are, some kind of Hero of Justice? A Pirate talking about Justice as if they were a Marine, if that isn't the biggest joke I've ever heard, I don't know what is!" he laughed, before glaring. "Someone like you...LIKE HELL MY AMBITIONS WILL BE STOPPED BY SOMEONE LIKE YOU!" he roared as he released a wave of sand at OOO.

"Jeez, you're not THAT old that you can't learn," OOO sighed...as the sand was completely cut in half as he'd loaded up Cell Medals into the Medajalibur. "Then again I guess I shouldn't be complaining that our opponent is someone like you who's hit a dead end in their own growth," he finished as the sands fell to the ground harmlessly. "Just be glad Luffy has dibs, or I'd have gone for something stronger."

Crocodile sneered "I told you, THAT. BRAT. IS. DEAD." he ground the words out.

OOO simply tilted his head to the side, looking BEHIND Crocodile "Hey, Captain, how about you prove him wrong?"

Crocodile couldn't help himself. He turned his head so fast, he actually had to turn his neck into sand to turn fast enough to see. As true enough, Luffy was there. A bit beat up, but very much alive. "How?!" he roared...right as he felt something hit him and break as he was suddenly soaked.

Turning his head back around, he glared at the offender, whose arm was still extended after throwing whatever they did "Nico Robin…!" he growled in rage.

"I just thought I'd even the playing field." Robin shrugged.

"And with that, I DO believe it's time for us to get out of here." OOO said, before saluting to Luffy "Give him hell Captain!" he said, before blurring and grabbing Vivi, Robin and Cobra, running out of the crypt before Crocodile could do anything, turning back to Luffy, who was already cracking his knuckles.

"I'm gonna kick your ass." was all the rubber man said, and it was all that was needed to be said really.

"And we're back!" OOO said as he reappeared at the bottom of the stairs, startling the rest of his crew and the others present, while he was carrying Vivi on his back, Robin under one arm, and King Cobra under the other "We even snagged the King back from Croc on the way." he said as he let everyone down.

"Your majesty!" Chaka and another man who had joined them said in relief upon seeing the king.

"Chaka, Pell, I hope you both handled things while I was indisposed?" Cobra asked with a small smile.

"As best as we could your highness." Chaka said, bowing his head in reverence.

"Though I myself was bit… occupied." Pell said, throwing a light glare at Robin, who simply smiled in amusement.

"It's alright Pell, she's on our side." Vivi said, and Pell relented with a sigh after a moment.

"Yes, and since I finally got what I wanted… well, honestly, I'm not quite sure what I'll do." Robin admitted with a slight sigh, actually looking morose "I obtained SOME information from the Poneglyph, but not the information I was hoping for."

"Speaking of information…" Zoro trailed off as he looked at her "Where WAS the bomb anyway?"

"The clock tower." Robin said simply, pointing back at the nearby clock tower "Specifically, inside the clock itself."

Vivi and Kohza shared a wide eyed look at that "The old hideout!" they gasped.

"Hideout?" Nami asked.

"Vivi and I were the co-leaders of the Sand Sand Gang when we were kids, and we made our hideout in the top of the clocktower itself." Kohza explained.

"...well that's a weird coincidence. The fact your old hideout was picked to set the bomb I mean," OOO blinked.

"Well it WAS rather well hidden," Robin shrugged.

"At least it won't be harming anyone," Vivi sighed. "Now all that's left is for us to apprehend Crocodile and Alabasta can finally move past this ordeal…"

"Uh...everyone?" Chopper suddenly spoke up.

"What's wrong?" Vivi asked.

"Is...it normal for people to be scaling up the clocktower?" Chopper asked.

"What are you talki…huh?" Kohza started but trailed off when they all looked...and saw that indeed there were apparently people scaling up the clocktower.

OOO got a bad feeling and used the Taka Medal's power to get a closer look...and his eyes widened in surprise. "It's a horde of Yummies, and they're trying to get into the clocktower!" he reported.

"What are all of them doing here?!" Vivi gasped in horror.

"More importantly why are they after the clock tower? The only thing there is...the bomb…" Kohza added before trailing off when he reached that part.

"Why would those creatures want the bomb?" Pell frowned, having used his own Devil Fruit to give his vision a boost and confirm the creatures.

"Whatever it is, it can't be good!" OOO growled. "I'll stop them before they can do whatever they want to do!" he said as he ran towards the Clocktower using the Cheetah legs.

"If those things are aiming to use the bomb somehow, we can't let them be either," Cobra said, quickly turning to Pell. "Follow him. Even if he should be able to deal with those creatures, we'd all feel better if he has some help."

"At once," Pell nodded as he transformed and flew after OOO.

Thanks to the Cheetah legs, reaching the clocktower didn't take long. However when he arrived… "There were this many Yummies?!" OOO gasped at seeing the Yummies literally swarming the clocktower.

"You've dealt with these already?" Pell asked from overhead.

"I destroyed a whole army's worth out in the desert with Akira's help at least half an hour ago if not more." OOO explained "I thought that was all of them though… Why are there this many? And just what do they want with the bomb?"

"Well, what is the goal of these creatures?" Pell asked, looking down at him.

"To hasten the realization of their host's desire… usually that is… these are a type of Yummy I have no information about though. They belong to the Reptile Greeed, and I don't know what his modus operandi is." OOO admitted with a frown behind his mask.

"Hmph. My Yummies don't need any hosts to grow," came a new voice.

"Who's there?!" Pell said, the two of them turning to the source of the voice...and blinked when they saw an orange cloth unroll from the top of the tower, blowing in the wind before a figure stepped out from behind it, revealing…

"Don Krieg?!" OOO gasped in surprise, having read the early part of One Piece, and thus having seen this particular pirate. Right after he said that, he properly registered that this person had called them HIS Yummies. And considering what they'd seen so far… "No...you're the Reptile Greeed, aren't you?"

The Greeed chuckled, and now that OOO looked more closely, he noticed that while the body and face were those of Don Krieg, the hair and eyes were different, with the hair being slicked back and with several orange stripes going through it, while the eyes were those of a reptile, narrowed into slits, and they'd done away with the Don's signature Wotz Steel armor, instead just wearing an orange jacket that was left open to exposed a muscular torso "Uva and Kazari told me about you, New OOO… they said you knew who we were, but you don't know ME?" he asked, his tone one of incredulous amusement.

"Yeah well the materials I found only ever mentioned 5 Greeed, and teased a 6th," OOO frowned. "So excuse me if I only knew 5 of you. Care to fill in the blanks for me?"

The Greeed laughed "Very well, I suppose if the records you found failed you, I'll just give you the answer. My name is Batsushu, and as you've guessed, I am the Greeed who holds power over reptiles."

"Alright… and how do YOUR Yummies work then Batsushu? If they're nothing like Uva and Kazari's own, are they closer to Mezool's broods?" OOO asked, crossing his arms.

Batsushu rose an eyebrow "You're not far off actually." he admitted with a chuckle. "Since you've guessed pretty well, I'm a lot like Gamel and Mezool. I don't need a human to make Yummies, I can make them from myself, but they need 'food' to be able to grow. That's why I planted my yummies here. In this land that was growing mad with a desire for both blood and safety," he said before laughing. "I'll have to hand it to that Crocodile. He'd been providing my Yummies with high quality food, despite it only being a handful of months since I got here, so now I think I'll be grabbing the last course," he said, pointing at the bomb. "I wonder what kind of Desires the destruction of this city will elicit from the people here," he said with a sadistic chuckle.

"You bastard… you're going to make them activate the bomb forcefully?!" OOO snarled.

"Your plan won't work though. There is barely anyone left in the city." Pell informed him… yet Batsushu continued to smirk.

"Oh really?" he said, before cupping one of his ears "I wouldn't be so sure… I can hear them you know? Starting to come back into the city. Maybe you should have kept that emergency alert running."

OOO stilled at that, before turning his head and making his eyes focus as far as he could down the street and through the alleys "He's right… they're coming back into the city!"

Pell paled at that, before scowling at Batsushu "You bastard…! Endangering the citizens like this…!" he seethed, unable to find the proper words "I thought those created by the Multi King were supposed to be allies of Alabasta?!"

"Shut up," Batsushu said, and the sheer ice in the tone actually made Pell and OOO stop short. "Our King came to this land's aid when it was needed, yet when his time of need came, you stood on the sidelines. Our old alliance ended the moment our King and Kingdom fell. All of you are just a means for us to continue living," he said simply.

"We helped shelter the civilians of your kingdom!" Pell shot back.

"Yet our kingdom still fell when those 19 others attacked us." Batsushu growled "800 years… and you all think things can go back to how they were." he scoffed "Idiots."

"I'm guessing even if we ask for more information about what happened back then, you'll just blow us off." OOO surmised.

Batsushu snorted "Why would I tell you anything? Those idiots of Wano wrote it all down after all, go hunt down their writings if you're so curious." he said, before scowling "You humans are all bastards after all, the reasons will just be petty grievances… I still don't get what HE sees in you all."

"He?" OOO asked.

Batsushu turned away, not bothering to clarify who he meant, before snapping his fingers "Get to work boys." he said, and his Yummies started climbing up even faster, while he simply walked away.

"Wait!" Pell growled, but OOO stopped him.

"Greeed later, bomb now!" OOO reminded, earning a nod of agreement.

"Hey! What's going on over here?!" came Usopp's voice as they turned to see the others coming after them.

"And wasn't that Krieg we saw earlier?" Sanji said with a frown, remembering the Pirate that had tried to take the Baratie.

"That was his body yes, but he's also been turned into a Greeed," OOO said. "More importantly we need to stop the Yummies, they're going to try and set off the bomb!"

"Right, worry about why these things are using our old enemies later," Nami nodded, though inwardly she flinched a bit.

"First things first, we'll need to get the Yummies off of the clocktower and get the bomb away from them!" OOO said, earning nods of agreement.

"Time to exterminate them in that case." Zoro said as he drew Yubashiri and Sandai Kitetsu.

"The civilians also need to be kept away from here, they've started coming back into the city since the alert ended." Pell added urgently.

"I'll take care of that then!" Chaka said, turning into his halfway form of man and jackal before taking off down the street, pulling out a Transponder Snail at the same time, no doubt to relay orders.

"Then that leaves us with the monsters." Sanji said as he bit his cigarette harder "Let's get to work fast."

"W-we'll support from behind!" Usopp said nervously.

"Yeah! You monsters go all out!" Nami added, looking just as nervous.

"I can help too at least." Chopper said, before turning into his Heavy Point.

"Don't forget me." Akira smirked, quickly transforming back into Proto-Birth.

"I'd recommend starting then." Robin said, her arms crossing, as several pairs of arms appeared higher on the clock tower and started batting down the Yummies as much as she could "I'll try to stall them for you."

"Every second helps!" OOO nodded as they soon ran towards the Yummies.

The Yummies were quick to notice them...but not fast enough to react, as the monsters hit them fast and hard, shattering several Yummies before they could properly react. "We'll deal with the ones down here. You take care of the ones going after the bomb," Zoro said.

"Though don't forget to throw some down for us. Wouldn't want to run out of targets," Sanji half-joked.

"Heh, will do," OOO nodded as he used the Unagi Whips to pull off some of the Yummies, while also gaining some altitude and soon reached the top of the clocktower thanks to grabbing one of Robin's hands, a few more appearing to push open the clock face, showing a large canon with a huge bomb resting at the mouth, thankfully inactive.

He also noticed two… bodies, because he doubted they were still alive, in a dark corner of the room, likely they were the agents set to guard the bomb and fire it… she was certainly thorough in taking care of them.

Either way, he had a bomb to secure, but right as he was going for the bomb, several Yummies scrambled forward, and entered the clocktower, OOO soon having to fight them. The relatively enclosed area and the literal bomb made fighting harder since he had to be careful, something the Yummies clearly had little concern over as they fought wildly, trying to get at him.

"Dammit, this just got a lot harder," OOO growled as he fought back, slashing at the Yummies with the Medajalibur, but as it was more were coming and not even Robin could hold so many back. "No choice then!"

"TRIPLE SCANNING CHARGE!"

"Don't fail me now! OOO Bash!" OOO roared as he used the powerful attack, cutting through the various Yummies and the world around them, the Yummies registering that they were about to die...before one of them, a Chameleon themed Yummy, turned to the bomb, and in a moment that would forever give OOO a 'WTF' feeling, it shot its tongue with apparently enough speed and force to actually break through the casing and get to the insides before it exploded, the tongue dissolving into Cell Medals.

OOO took a moment to process that, and quickly realized that the bomb had been triggered. "The damn Yummy triggered the bomb with its tongue! We gotta get it out of here before it blows!" he roared to everyone through the clocktower opening.

"WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!" was the expected shout from Usopp.

"Oh put a sock in it 'Rattrap'." OOO muttered even as he tried to think of a plan.

"I can't fly it out because I don't have Kujaku and Condor, I doubt I can run fast enough while carrying it with Latoratah, a clone army… it won't muffle the boom enough, no matter how many I make, tossing it with Sagohzou maybe? No, not enough space for a proper long throw. Dammit! Think Lumen, THINK!" he said to himself, hitting his forehead a few times.

"Throw it out of the clocktower," came Pell's voice, causing OOO to turn and see him flying just outside of the clocktower.

"What?!" he asked.

"Get the bomb out of the tower! I'll carry it away from the city!" Pell said urgently.

"But if you do that, you could get caught in the blast!" OOO gasped.

"If that's what it takes to save Alabasta then so be it," Pell said resolutely. "Now hurry, the longer we stall the less time we have!"

OOO bit his lip behind his mask, before shaking his head clear "Fine… FINE! But you better live through this dammit! I don't want to see Vivi cry even more because she lost someone important!"

Pell's beak quirked upwards in a sort of smile "A pirate giving me an order huh?... Well, I suppose this is one I can agree to listen to. She's likely spilled too many tears already."

OOO nodded, before quickly replacing the Unagi medal with Gorilla, and lifting the bomb out with his new super strength, he held it out to Pell, who took it with a nod, before he started flying as high as he could, pushing himself to his top speed.

Once he reached a high enough height and was away from the city, he let go of the bomb in a way that swung it towards the desert and quickly moved to try and get away. Unfortunately he didn't get too far as time ran out...and the bomb exploded full force, lighting up the sky over the city…

Down below in the tombs…

Even though it was far above the ground, the vibration of the explosion and the light echoing could still be heard even in the tomb. Even so, that didn't bother the two combatants.

"H-how could you possibly...push me to this extent…?" Crocodile growled. "A no name Pirate like you…?" he gasped as right now he was covered in bruises, his hook broken during the fight.

"That again?" Luffy frowned. "I told you already. You made Vivi cry and took away her country. We're taking it all back!" he said, and compared to the Warlord, he was in much better shape. Covered in some cuts, and with his shoulder hissing with some purple liquid yes, but still in better shape than Crocodile.

"That...stupid...drivel...again?!" Crocodile growled. Even after all this, he absolutely refused to accept, that such stupid sentiments were not only pushing the Strawhats forward...but were the whole reason why his carefully laid out plans had fallen apart. "Doesn't matter...I'll kill you here, then I'll use the Poneglyph to find Pluton. Once I do, the whole world will be mine!" he said, but Luffy had already surged forward.

"No, I'm stopping you right...here!" Luffy roared as he landed a powerful punch right to Crocodile's chin, sending him flying upwards. He hit the roof, but before he had time to fall down, Luffy was already winding up…sort of.

Taking a deep breath and inflating himself, as if for a Gum Gum Balloon, Luffy instead started twisting his body up like a screw, and when he felt it was enough, he aimed his head down and let all the air out, sending him flying upwards as well towards Crocodile while spinning around, the Warlord having enough time to get his wits back and prepare his own attack.

"Gum Gum…" Luffy began as he pulled his fists back.

"Desert Spada!" Crocodile shouted as he threw down blades of sand shaped like guillotines towards Luffy.

But before they could hit their mark…

"STORM!" Luffy bellowed as he started punching at the same speed he did for a Gatling all while spinning, and with Crocodile doused in water already, and Luffy's own blood covering his fists…

Well, the result was quite obvious, wasn't it?

His fists broke through the sand, all of the hits rising up, with Crocodile barely having even a second to react, before he was hit with a massive barrage of attacks.

"RRRRAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHH!"

One that showed no sign of stopping. Even as he was pushed up hard into the ceiling. Even as the ceiling started pushing up even higher due to the many blows, even as the city streets above them started to bulge upwards.

Luffy didn't stop.

"YOOOOOOUUUUUUU LOOOOOOOOSSSSSSEEEEEEEE!" He roared out as loud as he could as one final fist broke through the ceiling, and sent Crocodile flying skyward.

And as he went flying higher and higher, with the crew and everyone else witnessing the sight in shock…

A miracle finally happened.

PLICK

Vivi blinked, her tears from earlier stopping as confusion came to her face… before she felt even more droplets fall on her, slowly gaining speed, until there was no doubt about what was happening.

It was raining.

And as Lumen quickly shouted down to everyone, he could see that the rain was spreading BEYOND Alubarna, reaching the rest of Alabasta for miles and miles.

Vivi couldn't help it, she started crying again.

But they weren't tears of sadness.

These were tears of joy.

"WE WOOOOON!" the crew all shouted together in celebration.

They'd averted the war, they'd somehow managed to come out of the battle with almost no casualties, they completely TOPPLED Baroque Works, and finally, through sheer divine miracle, rain had returned to the country all on it's own.

They had truly won.

And there you have the second to last chapter of this arc people.

That's right, we brought Krieg in to be the body for one of the brand new Greeed.

I bet you're wondering what appearances the others will take, huh?

Well, you'll find out eventually!

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