In his life, he had several instances of anticipation. There was the time he had a chance to fight King to ascend in his position with the Beast Pirates. His training with Jack was always fun. Queen was annoying but he could also be exciting at times. The days he had a chance to sleep were always nice also but he would always keep one eye open, seeing as Kaido likes to do surprise training in the dead of night.
This was a different anticipation though, Luffy walked slowly towards the massive pyramid structure, with flashing neon signs of Rainbase. He didn't have to look for long, as on top of the pyramid, right at the peak, Crocodile looked down on him. Following his every step.
He wondered if this was a battle that would bring out desperation. A warlord of the sea is no joke, and this was going to be a testament of his place in the Grand Line.
He stopped, his feet seized to move forward, his eyes remained fixated at the man on the top of the pyramid. They both waited for the other to move, the inevitable clash that would be heard throughout the entire land of Alabasta.
The wind suddenly picked up, as if a signal to allow the two men to unleashed fury upon one another.
Crocodile jumped from his vantage point, his golden hook glistening in the hot desert sun, his coat flowing freely in the wind at his rapid descent.
His opponent, Luffy, kicked upwards, launching himself towards Crocodile. Despite the disadvantageous position, the collision was equal. With Crocodile bringing his right hands forward, colliding with the fist of Luffy midair. Crocodile was surprised at the impact, their punch caused a ripple effect to erupt. The force unleashed a powerful gust that destroyed everything in close proximity. Parts of the pyramid were sliced, some buildings were cut open, and some innocent bystanders found themselves scrambling for their lives.
Crocodile was surprised that his punch never reached Luffy, but the impact was tremendous. It seemed the young man was using a form of haki he once saw when he fought against Newgate.
The flurry didn't end there, as they remained suspended midair, Luffy retrieved his blade, catching the golden hook of Crocodile. They then exchanged strikes as they descended back onto the ground with neither man gaining the advantage.
Luffy unleashed his superior haki and swordplay against the sand user, but Crocodile had the home court advantage. The entire land of Alabasta was his playground.
As soon as they touched the sandy floor, Crocodile disappeared into the sand, leaving Luffy by himself.
Luffy physically whipped his body around, bringing up his sword as he anticipated the incoming overhead hook strike from Crocodile. The sandman used his environment to get behind Luffy, but as soon as he was blocked, he disappeared once more. Luffy was getting irritated at all the sneaking about, stomping his feet on the ground and catching Crocodile in the face before he could emerge for another sneak attack.
Luffy had to use his advance observation to locate Crocodile, and the hit was clean, but not enough to disable him. Luffy followed the aura of Crocodile as he continued to get further and further away from Rainbase, until finally they were in the middle of the desert, nothing but sand all around.
The full force of Sir Crocodile could finally be unleashed as Luffy had to postpone his pursuit, a massive sand wave crashed over the head of Luffy. He only had his forearm to block the sand and yet the attack did not end there, as a pillar of compact sand slammed into his chest, causing him to be launched backwards.
He had raised his arms enough to block the strike, but the pain was still there. Luffy couldn't believe the power of a Warlord, but he was disappointed.
"My turn." Luffy unleashed a wave of haki, destroying the sand around him. He then launched himself forward to where he felt Crocodile was lurking. He then brought his sword to his side, it emitted haki, cutting through the sand in its path.
"What the hell are you?!" Crocodile was still in his sandform but Luffy was able to cut him diagonally, his blood splattering through the dry sand.
"Luffy." Was his short answer before launching a powerful punch, straight to the guts of Crocodile. His fist never made contact with the sandman, but it launched him through the entire Alabasta land.
His body went through Rainbase, cutting straight through the middle and bursting the aquarium of the massive gators in his captivity. He then went through where the Straw hats sat, the crew following his speeding body through the sky. Then Vivi heard a thundering boom sound pass over her, she looked up only to find nothing. Finally Crocodile's body was etched on the wall of the highest building in Alubarna.
King Cobra heard the loud bang, but what he found outside was something he would never expect in his entire life.
Sir Crocodile was plastered against the wall of his kingdom, he was bloodied but breathing. His sand body managed to slightly decrease the damage, but he was still internally and externally destroyed.
Little did the people of Alabasta know, their saviour did not claim credit nor reasoning for beating the life out of Crocodile.
He simply came for a fight, although disappointed at the lack of it. While Sir Crocodile was powerful in his own rights, he wasn't at the level that Luffy expected. Maybe the man got lazy, maybe he just got older, but Luffy was sure he was going all out.
Sure it hurt a little, but it was just very disappointing.
Luffy returned to his crew, Ace leaning against the wall, Yamato sitting on the floor, Reiju talking with Gem, and Katakuri flipping a coin while sitting on a chair.
"Lets go." Luffy said simply, his crew not even saying a single word.
For the Straw hats had gone through one of the seven warlords of the sea, without breaking a sweat. The Straw hats disappear from the land of Alabasta without claiming their emphatic victory, nor asking for a reward.
They were simply...gone.
Alubarna
"How did this happen...right under my nose." King Cobra sat on his throne, grabbing his face in shame. In front of him was his daughter, Princess Vivi.
"Father, he has tricked all of us." Beside the Princess, a representative of the World Government.
"I hope that you find comfort in knowing that Sir Crocodile will be set to the depths of hell, to live out the rest of his days." She wore a mask, a face of a monkey etched onto it. Though she removed it, in order to reveal her face to the king and her daughter. Right before her face was revealed, sprouts of arms manifested from the guards of the throne room, their eyes, mouth, ears were covered, and they were all unable to move.
"You are…!" The King sat up suddenly, shocked at the revelation of who was behind the mask.
"This did not happen." She began. "The World Government implores that you forget all the events that occurred with Sir Crocodile. Otherwise, an unfortunate accident might occur with the Nefetari family. Good day King Cobra, Princess Vivi." The agent then winked at King Cobra along with Princess Vivi before returning her mask to her face. She then made her way out of the throne room, finally releasing the guards from her grip.
"Father who was that?" Asked Vivi, still shaking from the force that the woman presented.
"A very dangerous woman..." Responded the King.
Throughout Alabasta, countless members of the crime organization, Baroque Works, were taken by the marines. Sir Crocodile was put in sea prism cuffs to ensure he does not escape. The rest of the Baroque works were taken into custody. The general population were given a significant monetary amount to forget everything that occurred, and a warning for any breach of the verbal contract.
The once dry nation of Alabasta began to rain that day, no longer bound by Sir Crocodile and his power, Alabasta was finally free.
Aboard the Going Merry
The Straw hat pirates left without a trace. They did not wish for rewards for their deeds, only a good fight.
Instead they lounge about the ship, having drinks all around and celebrating the addition of a fairly weak, but promising addition in Gem.
Luffy was of course, located at the head of the table, on his left was Yamato who sat next to Ace and Gem. Then on his right was Katakuri then Reiju right next to him.
"Alright then, Katakuri, what can we do with this new guy." Ace took a drink of his alcohol, pointing towards Gem.
"Although creative, no more picking your nose. Anything you touch will turn into explosives, even your own breath, so we have to ensure that you maximize your abilities to its full potential." Katakuri began thinking to himself of ways to do just that.
"How did everyones day go anyway?" Yamato looked around the table.
"For a Warlord of the Sea, Crocodile was fairly strong. But he was a bit weaker than Jack. You could have probably dealt with him, Yamato." Luffy answered.
"I had to babysit this guy, acting all cool in leaving the crew to pave his own path or whatever!" Yamato shoved Ace playfully.
"Ouch Ouch." Ace pretended to be injured, although he was hurt, it wasn't that bad. "I got jumped, those damn agents got me good."
"Over reliance on your devil fruit, you have to learn to fight without it." Reiju said although it had only been a few weeks since joining the crew, she found them to be excellent company.
"Ah you got me there." Ace then looked at the group, particularly the two female non devil fruit users. "How can you do it? How do you fight without using a devil fruit in this dangerous sea?"
"Practice." Responded Reiju.
"And Haki training." Was Yamato's response. Katakuri snickered along with Gem. Luffy joined in on the fun but was instantly alarmed by something.
"I got it." Yamato was about to get up but Luffy decided to deal with it on his own. Two figures were rushing the Going Merry, and Luffy was not going to let them board.
He exited the common area, going onto the deck of the ship. He looked up and found a weird rotating dude with a bazooka on its back.
The bazooka launched its shot, trying to blow him up, but Luffy simply cut the bullet in half, both halves falling on opposite sides of the ocean. The bazooka launcher morphed into a machine gun, spraying a rain of bullets.
Luffy was far quicker than whatever bullet came his way, using his blade to cut at each and every single bullet in order to protect the Going Merry.
The machine gun switched into a missile, and the rotating guy had an annoyed look about him. Then the duo launched themselves towards the Going Merry, a suicide dive to be precise.
Luffy couldn't let their mode of transportation be destroyed, so Luffy elected to meet them halfway, before they could even get close to the ship.
He was too quick for the duo, as their eyes could not adjust to his speed. Buffalo, the bigger guy of the duo suddenly felt a sharp pain in his midsection, then in an instant, he was sent flying back the direction in which he came from.
As for Baby 5, the human weapon, she was on the end of Luffy's hands, he was holding her by the neck.
"Who sent you?" Luffy had a menacing look on his face, gracefully landing back on the deck of the Going Merry and still maintaining a firm grip at the neck of Baby 5. Instead of responding, Baby 5 morphed her face into a flintlock pistol, aimed towards Luffy's head. She fired her shot but her bullet never reached the Straw hat Captain, instead, Luffy moved his head and Yamato caught the bullet with her bare hands.
Demons...Baby 5 thought, this was a fear that she has yet to experience, not even from Doflamingo.
"Kill me then!" She struggled under his grib, but her defiance was a welcomed sight to Luffy. One that caused him to let her go instead of keeping her hostage.
"You show resilience assassin, for that I will let you live. For now." Luffy then turned his sights to the sky, the bulky man returned for a second round.
Baby 5 coughed violently, spitting out blood onto the deck of the ship. Katakuri was quick to bind her and Reiju escorted her down to the holding cell. Seems like Luffy had plans for her.
"You tell your boss that if you want me dead, they should have come themselves." Luffy prepared his fist, launching it at the incoming rotating force of the rotating man. Luffy never made contact with Buffalo, but the impact was greater than the one he initially hit him with, sending him further than he was sent last time.
Baby 5 was beyond shocked, mostly terrified at the situation she was in. The target was someone stronger than expected and Doflamingo must not have expected him to be this strong if they were sent instead of the stronger members of the family.
Even Pica or Diamante would fail miserably at bringing in this powerhouse, Buffalo and herself were unable to even make him sweat. Maybe Vergo can do something against him, but most certainly, Doflamingo can. Now Baby 5 was a prisoner of her target, waiting for Doflamingo to come save her.
Some time later...
It may have been a day since Baby 5 had been captured, she sat on her cell without anything but her thoughts to occupy her.
Usually she would fall head over heels for anyone who would look her way. But somehow, this Luffy person was so cold and calculated, that even she can't fall instantly in love with him.
She wondered what was up with that guy, he was so uptight and straight forward. Like everything is a battle and not a single minute could be wasted. Footsteps interrupted her trail of thoughts, curly black hair came close to her cell, a plate of delicious food in his hands.
"Reiju told me to drop these off." The man handed her the food through the bars. Sure she could use her powers at any time, but that Luffy person instilled a deep fear within her that told her any escape attempt would be futile.
She hesitated at first, wondering if they were going to poison her. The man noticed her concern and took a spoon full of the food as if to show her it was safe.
Baby 5 immediately took the food, consuming the food in an instant. Damn manners, she was hungry.
"I'm Gem by the way." Gem interjected though she paid no attention to him, eagerly consuming the food that was given to her. "Well here's a drink." He placed a cup of water in her cell. "I'll leave you to it." Gem got up and walked towards the stairs back up to the deck.
"Thank you." Baby 5 whispered although Gem was able to hear her. He did not turn around yet he had a smile over his face. Not everyone seems to be this bad after all.
Unexpectedly, Gem returned the following day.
"Why are you back?"
"You need to eat don't you?" Responded the curly haired man. "Plus I feel like you'd get bored."
"I'm your enemy. I tried to kill your Captain…" Baby 5 tried to demonize herself but to no avail as Gem simply shrugged.
"So? It will take an entire army to even get close to my Captain. He's sort of a monster."
"Is that so?" Baby 5 was so unlucky, her assignment succession has been 100% for so long. And her only failure was tremendous, a shot at her self esteem.
"Yeah, he beat two giants without really trying. The guy's a monster!" Gem had witnessed amazing feats by the Captain. "He even defeated one of the seven warlords of the sea, my old boss, sir Crocodile." Baby 5 was wide eyed at the reveal. There was no way especially since Doffy saw the warlord as his equal, he must have cheated or poisoned him or something.
"So I had no chance no matter what, you think my partner is dead." Gem seemed to frown at her question.
"Oh, ehem, I didn't know you had a partner….but Captain said he kept him alive to send a message to your boss." Baby 5 was confused at his reaction, but then came to realize that he had misinterpreted her statement.
"Buffalo is my teammate for missions. We have 100% success rate." She didn't know why, but she felt like clarifying. At this revelation, Gem smiled once more.
"Oh yeah of course. Well out of how many missions?" He changed the subject, to avoid any awkwardness.
"987 missions total prior to this one."
"Well then, I guess your success rate is now 99.8%." Gem snickered like a child, meanwhile Baby 5 giggled at his joke. "Well that will be all for now..." Gem got up once more, leaving Baby 5 to her own thoughts.
'He's starting to grow on me…is this...love!' Her eyes turned into comical heart shape as she looked forward to her next meeting with Gem, the enemy.
What started as an act of kindness, became a habit.
Dressrosa
"You failed?!" Doflamingo gripped his arm rest hard enough, that it shattered. His throne was made of metal, and yet he was strong enough to destroy it. Before him, a bloodied Buffalo, who returned with failure. It wasn't even Doflamingo who gave him a beating, he returned like that.
"Doffy, our target was a monster...we couldn't even touch him..." Buffalo could barely speak, but he spoke clearly enough for Doflamingo to understand.
"That fucken Kaido…." Doflamingo thought about the mission given to him by Kaido, one where he was asked to target Luffy and Yamato, dead or alive. "Get fixed up you dumb bafoon. Pica!" Doflamingo called for one of his commanders, the giant muscular man with gold plated gladiator armor was immediately by his side. "Is the new batch of s.m.i.l.e. Ready?"
"Yes Doffy." The response of the giant man was in such a high tune that he sounded like a little boy. Buffalo looked around in confusion, what about Baby 5?
"Doffy, they still have Baby 5..."
"Too late for her, she's as good as dead." With that Doflamingo walked out of the throne room, leaving Buffalo on his own. He did not like the decision, but that doesn't mean he was going to challenge it.
Going Merry
It was consistent, one, two and sometimes up to three times a day, Gem would come down and give her some food, talk with her for a bit and make his exit. This must have occurred for a week, not a single rescue party ever came for her.
But she didn't want to be rescued any longer. Baby 5 found comfort with Gem though today he did not come. She was confused at first, wondering what had happened.
The sun was setting outside of her holding cell, disappointment flooded her. But what does she care, these are the enemies and yet she cared enough for Gem's daily visit?
She hated the feeling, it wasn't like one of her mindless obsessions to anyone who gave her a smile. She found comfort in his company and he didn't want anything more than to help her.
He was the enemy. But she enjoyed their little talks, in fact she looked forward to them.
Suddenly footsteps echoed from a distance, her mood switched from gloom to happiness. It must have been Gem, she would forgive him instantly for forgetting about her, just as long as he was okay.
"Sorry I haven't been down all day." It was Gem and Baby 5 immediately smiled at his voice. But her smile turned into a frown after finding what had happened to him. Gem had a black eye, his body seemed to be filled with broken bones as he struggled to walk towards her. Regardless, he brought two plates of food for her, despite being so injured.
"What happened to you…?" She immediately blamed herself, the demon captain must have learned of his kindness. He must have beaten him to a pulp for associating with the enemy.
"Oh this? It's from training. I got in over my head and challenged Katakuri head on." Gem handed over the food to Baby 5. "I thought I had grown enough to challenge him, but he was far too strong."
"So he beat you up?" Baby 5 disregarded her food, putting it to the side while having a worried look on her face.
"I kind of asked for it, I insulted his family in order to egg him on." Gem had a soft laugh but he grimaced at the broken ribs that he had sustained. He really should've reconsidered before challenging Katakuri. He really thought he had trained enough to challenge the man, but he couldn't even get close, the difference was tremendous. It just excited him to grow stronger, he has to, or why else did he join the Straw hats?
Gem suddenly fell in front of Baby 5's cage, resting his head against the metal bars. "I'm just going to close my eyes a little bit. I hope you don't kill me." He joked but he did not wait for her response, falling asleep almost immediately.
Baby 5 used her hands to grab Gem's head and lifted it, she used it as a pillow so he wouldn't have to sleep on the cold hard ground. It would only take a moment before she too fell asleep, only the metal bar separating herself from Gem. And yet she found comfort in his company. Her meal growing cold on the edge of her cell.
…
Yamato had been searching for Gem, especially since he had disappeared from the infirmary bed that he was supposed to be resting at. She looked in the kitchen where she found Reiju.
"Have you seen Gem?"
"No but I am missing some portions of the meal I cooked for dinner. Check the holding cell."
"Holding cell? Why would he be..." Then it dawned on her, who else was down stairs but the young pretty prisoner.
Yamato went to the holding area, where sure enough, Gem was resting peacefully next to the cell wall. On the other side, the prisoner who was comfortable in letting Gem use her hands as a pillow. Yamato let out a sigh, who could get mad at that.
Instead of forcing Gem back to the infirmary bed to recover, Yamato left them in peace. If Baby 5 wanted to, she could have killed him at any time in an attempt to escape. But there was a certain level of trust between them
Yamato made her way to the kitchen, where the rest of the crew were already grabbing a meal.
"Seems like nobody is going after the girl." Yamato commented, sitting next to Ace.
"Yeah it's been a week. They must not care for their comrade." Katakuri commented, he had become comfortable with the crew, revealing his pelican eel mouth to them. They did not make fun of him for it which was a relief for him.
"Bet you it's a New World power." Ace deduced. "We could always just ask her."
"I think your project is starting to take a liking to our prisoner " Luffy looked towards Yamato.
"Maybe he sees something in her like you saw something in him?" Yamato responded, shrugging. If it were any other person, they would tremble at the pressure Luffy was exuding. Not the Straw hats, they were strong enough to resist his pressure.
"I feel that she can be an asset to the crew. She showed no fear in challenging you Captain, and only people with a death wish will do that." Reiju brought up a good point. But Luffy was already generous enough in giving Gem a shot, another project could be detrimental.
"Katakuri?" He looked at his helmsman.
"If she can grow to be a powerful ally, then I can assist in her training." Katakuri responded. He still felt bad for beating up Gem and wanted to make amends by giving him this one. If he really did take a liking on the new girl, then why not.
"Fine, I'll let her join. But on one condition." Luffy held out one finger and looked at everyone in the crew. "She best tell me who the fuck sent her to assasinate me."
"I knew you'd come around to it Captain." Said Reiju.
"I don't know why you all are so attached to the guy, we literally just met him last week." Luffy shrunk on his desk, defeated by the will of his own crew.
"So what's next then? We defeated one of the warlords of the sea, so what can we do now?"
"Lets go hunt for another one." Luffy was quick to respond, standing up. "Who do you guys want?"
Boa Hancock, the only female member of the Royal Shichibukai. Though in order to find her, they need information, as she has been missing in action for some time.
Bartholomew Kuma was in Marijoe, being experimented on as a weapon of the world government. Him, along with a volunteer were the prototype of the new weapon. Though Luffy would not challenge the World Government, not yet. So he was out of the question.
Dracule 'Hawkeye' Mihawk was currently floating aimlessly throughout the New World, no way to track him, not worth the effort.
Gecko Moria was nowhere to be found, disappearing from any news or sitting for quite some time. They wouldn't even know where to look.
Jinbei was somewhere in Fishman Island, and they were nowhere near there.
So that leaves Doflamingo, Luffy was yet to learn that he was responsible for the assasination attempt, but wanted to go after the man.
"Where can I find Doflamingo?" Luffy asked his crew, who had more experience in the Grand Line than he has.
"Dressrosa." Katakuri responded, his mother made dealings with the man known as 'the Joker'. "His family is fairly formidable. I feel that we need more people to challenge his reign."
"Doesn't matter, we got'em." Yamato flexed her muscle and showed that she was not scared of a nation. Knowing Luffy, he'd just want to mow right through them.
"I know one of his territories to be Mock town, a great place to get information about all the warlords. Since, you know, we're going to go after them eventually." Ace interjected.
"I'll go check on the lovebirds." Reiju got up, exiting the room to see how Gem and Baby 5 were doing.
"It's decided, we're going to Mock Town." Luffy announced, no protest for the rest of the group.
Luffy didn't know it yet, but as soon as he learned that Doflamingo was the one who sent her to kill him, he would be extra motivated to return the favor.