Chapter 7: Feint Attack

I had heard about Luffy's powers from Smoker, but that didn't really prepare me for the sight of a human with limbs that could stretch out like rubber. The only Pokémon I'd ever seen that could grow and shrink spontaneously like that were Tentacruel, whose tentacles worked like sponges, and Hitmonlee, whose legs worked like springs. And neither of those were matches for what Luffy was doing.

Still, my instincts as a trainer took control of my thoughts; it was effortless for me to visualize a hotheaded Ambipom going up against an angry Hippowdon. The main problem was keeping my mouth shut as I watched weaponized sand and rubbery limbs fly across the battlefield.

"Ground Secco!" Crocodile growled, and a wave of dryness spread out from where he was standing, forcing Luffy back as the ground started to crumble away. Luffy immediately went to jump across the newly created pit, only for a blast of sand from Crocodile's hand to swat him out of the air. Instead of just knocking him back, though, the cloud of sand started swirling around him, gripping the rubber man in a makeshift hand and slamming him into the ground.

Luffy almost immediately bounced back to his feet, but I winced as he started swiping at himself, scraping off the clumps of wet sand clinging to every inch of his body. And the drops of water that were all over him previously were nowhere in sight.

"Desert Encierro: Jaula Ancha," Crocodile said as he reconstituted his hand. "Not as effective as the normal technique, but more than enough to soak up the water all over you."

I whistled quietly, impressed despite myself at the Warlord's display of control. Then I decided to flip Crocodile's advantage on its head with a single command to Vaporeon: "Rain Dance."

Crocodile's eyes widened as the clouds gathered, and seconds later rain was falling from the sky… and being stopped by an impromptu umbrella made of sand.

"Desert Fungo," he growled. "I fought in the New World, brat. Did you think I hadn't prepared for combat in a rainstorm?"

To be honest, I kind of had, what with the amount of effort he went through to put an entire desert biome, which wasn't exactly known for heavy rainfall in the first place, into a drought. And his countermeasure was admittedly impressive. I could see the wet sand sloughing off of it, with new sand flowing up to take its place, and it had to take some focus to keep that sort of thing going during a fight.

"Would've been nice," was what I said aloud. "But that wasn't the only reason I had Vaporeon set this up."

Like this, Crocodile wouldn't be able to just finish Luffy off with that desiccation technique of his again, not until the rain stopped. And the younger pirate immediately took full advantage, knocking Crocodile back with a whip-like stretchy kick and pressing him even harder.

Lucas, we just finished cleaning up the agents outside, Kohza reported in my head, and I half-turned away from the battle to focus on the report. The Mr. 10 pair and Mr. 12 pair have been apprehended along with them.

Any luck finding their second in command? The so-called "Devil Child" was supposed to be Baroque Works' strongest member after Crocodile, and based on what Vivi had told us about her abilities, she was probably even more dangerous from my point of view. Crocodile had the powers of an entire desert at his beck and call, but at least he couldn't strangle you to death from several blocks away before you saw him coming.

No one's run into her yet, Kohza replied. And with how experienced Nico Robin is supposed to be at staying hidden, I doubt we'll be able to find her if she doesn't want to be found.

I'll take your word for it, I said. It could be that she just decided to abandon Baroque Works altogether, leaving Crocodile to take the fall. According to Smoker's research, she'd pulled that trick several times in the past. But that would be too easy, and it'd still leave several deadly assassins running around, and they'd be sure to hold a grudge of some kind. Make sure to keep an eye out, though. I don't like just leaving her to do what she wants.

I turned my attention back to the fight just in time to see Crocodile's sand umbrella falter before being pulverized under Luffy's fists, completely soaking the Warlord. One more overhead strike with his fist smacked into Crocodile's lower back, cracking the ground beneath him, and a solid kick to his belly sent him flying into the barrier.

Crocodile's organization was done for. We'd taken down most of his officers, mopped up the infiltrators, and Straw Hat seemed to have their duel well in hand. There were still some loose ends hanging around, but the combined efforts of Gardevoir, the Marines, and the Alabastans should be able to take care of them. I still couldn't really shake the feeling that something was up here, but I couldn't figure out what…

Either way though, seeing Luffy shoot himself into the air and pummel Crocodile against the barrier using his Gum-Gum Storm attack was still ridiculously satisfying.

-o-

Several buildings away, another figure hummed to herself as she watched the end result of the battle. "Most unfortunate," Nico Robin mused as Smoker's mysterious ally moved to secure her boss. Not that Crocodile had much of a chance for victory regardless, not with so many of his weaknesses exposed and in play, but she had expected him to at least kill Straw Hat regardless.

Not that the rookie living here was a bad thing. He seemed so interesting, after all, and it will be such a delightful blow to Crocodile's pride to be defeated by a man like Straw Hat.

"Not that it matters," Robin muttered to herself, glancing at the large piece of artillery sitting next to her. With the Mr. 7 pair given a different assignment, and captured as a result, the safeguarding of Baroque Works' final gambit was left to her until the signal came.

"We still have a couple of aces up our sleeves."

-o-

Smoker grimaced (more than usual) as he powered his Billower Bike towards the capital. The former rebels had seen to the incarceration of all of the Baroque Works agents present, and though he was loath to leave them alone, the choice was out of his hands. At least their restraints were secure.

But the main reason for his ire was simply fatigue; the closest thing to a moment of rest he'd had since arriving in this kingdom had been hashing out the plan with Tashigi and Lucas, and for almost a full day since then, he'd been on his bike from Nanohana to Katorea to Rainbase, and now from Katorea to Alubarna.

He wasn't low on energy. But it was becoming increasingly hard not to let the deficit show, and he sighed out a cloud of smoke in relief as he saw the elevated capital city on the horizon.

"Hopefully, Lucas has removed Crocodile from the picture by now," he muttered around his cigars.

As he drew nearer to the city, he made out another figure making its way there…one on four legs. A horse? He frowned in concentration as he drew nearer…and blinked at what he saw. That was a deer, not a horse…and it was wearing clothes and had a figure bundled on its back, heavily bandaged. He processed this in bewilderment before the deer looked over its shoulder, straight at him. Its eyes lit up in fear, and Smoker muttered out a curse as it began galloping away even faster.

Gritting his teeth, he poured more of his power into the bike, surging forward at breakneck speed and effortlessly outpacing the deer, who cried out in alarm. He turned to look at it… and recognized the person on its back.

"Roronoa Zoro," he said as a way of greeting, before eyeing the deer suspiciously. "And you. Are you with Baroque Works?"

He was expecting the deer to understand the question. He wasn't expecting it to answer him:

"Ah! You must be the Smokey guy!" the thing yelped, nearly dropping Roronoa as it jumped in shock. "I'm not with Baroque Works, I'm with Luffy!"

Smoker's eyes narrowed, and the deer quivered a bit under his glare, before its expression firmed. "I'm Tony Tony Chopper," he explained quickly, adjusting his grip on the unconscious swordsman on his back. "Zoro got really hurt taking on that Mr. 1 guy," he explained. "And Luffy and Pell went on ahead, so I patched him up before moving him."

"Is that so…" Smoker scowled further, searching the deer person for any signs of deception, and finding none. Fear, sure, but no deception, and a willingness to fight if necessary. "Alright then."

His snail rang, pulling his attention away from the reindeer, who was now sagging in relief, and when he pulled it out it had the features of Princess Vivi.

"Captain," the princess said, "Crocodile's defeated. My father's been rescued, and the palace is ours. Lucas is taking Crocodile to our dungeons as we speak.

"Acknowledged," he replied. "I've met up with Roronoa and Tony Tony Chopper outside Alabasta. They, Straw Hat, and a Royal Guard named Pell defeated the Mr. 4 pair and Mr. 1. Roronoa is injured, so I will be escorting them to the capital."

"My thanks, Captain. Some of the guards will be sent to retrieve the defeated agents." Smoker ended the call and revved the engine of his Billower Bike, startling the reindeer with the sound.

"Ah, thank you, Captain Smokey!" he yelped, unintentionally jostling Roronoa, who grumbled something about swords before passing out again. Smoker only grunted in response, but he made sure to not outpace the reindeer as they started moving again.

Smoker would look back on the choice he made that day and wonder how different things would have been if he had gone after the fallen officers himself.

He only learned much later that if he had gone to that battlefield, instead of a trio of unconscious bodies he would have found a massive mole's tunnel. One that reached all the way to Alubarna…and one that had been there since before dawn.

-o-

Crocodile looked much less threatening once he was inside of a jail cell. Though the fact that he was unconscious and covered in some serious bruising probably had a factor in it, as did the Seastone cuffs around his wrists.

"It's finally over," Vivi sighed next to me. "After so many years, I almost can't believe it."

"I know the feeling," I replied softly. Team Galactic was more or less done and dismantled compared to how it was a year ago, when it more or less dominated Sinnoh's criminal underworld, but its impact as one of the few criminal organizations to ever successfully capture multiple Legendaries still held an oppressive weight.

"And now that it's done?" I asked eventually. "What's next?"

"Now?" Vivi said. "Now I can finally take my rightful place as the crown princess. I can work to mend the country that Crocodile almost broke apart, I can train, become stronger, become the Princess my people need me to be."

"…And the Straw Hats?"

Vivi's posture didn't change, but her smile took on a more brittle appearance. "They keep going down the Grand Line, of course. They can't exactly stay, not after Captain Smoker's report goes through, and they won't achieve their dreams staying around here anyways."

And knowing Captain Smoker, we will likely be chasing after them, Gardevoir added with a mental chuckle. He's too determined to capture Monkey D. Luffy to stay idle. Lucario huffed in agreement, never turning his gaze from Crocodile's unconscious form.

"Though…" I said thoughtfully, "I'm sure he could be convinced to stick around for a little bit longer. My team and I have a drought to end, after all, and I'll bet he doesn't want to leave without us." Vaporeon was no Dragonair in terms of weather control, but a little bit of Rain Dance would go a long way to getting the most badly damaged areas back on their feet.

Personal honor and previous promises of aid aside, Gardevoir commented as we turned to leave the dungeons, We are a group of unknowns with combat prowess equal to the upper echelons of this world. I would be very surprised if he was not ordered to keep on our good side for the foreseeable future.

"Heh, don't need to be a Xatu to see that coming." It was then that I realized Vivi hadn't followed us, instead staying frozen (metaphorically) in front of Crocodile's cell. "Princess?" No response. "Vivi? Is something the matt—OOF!" Only a lot of experience with overly enthusiastic Pokémon kept me from being knocked off my feet by the ensuing tackle-hug.

"Thank you," she said breathlessly. "Thank you so much…you and your friends are a miracle, I can never thank you enough."

"I, uh, I wouldn't go that far," I laughed nervously. "We just want to help, and we have the capability to do so."

Vivi pulled away from the hug to look me in the eyes. "Maybe, but for me, and for Alabasta as a whole, you're close enough as to make little difference."

A polite cough from the doorway stopped me from responding. "Pardon me, Princess," Chaka said, "But your father wishes to speak with your friend."

"The King wants to meet us?" I guess that made sense, what with our contributions against Baroque Works. "Right, then, we'll be right there."

-o-

The sun was barely starting to set as I stood before the doors to the royal throne room. Gardevoir and Lucario were alongside me, but Chaka and Pell had yet to open the doors to the throne room.

"King Cobra requested that we speak to you before you enter his presence. You and your companion… Gardevoir, I believe?" Pell asked.

Yes, she returned.

"He would like to request that you refrain from looking into his mind," Chaka explained neutrally, holding a hand up placatingly. "We only barely avoided a civil war because of a secret that was never meant to be known outside of the Nefertari family. We trust you, of course, after all that you've done for us. But we would rather avoid any possibility of other secrets leaving this country."

Gardevoir nodded slowly, but without hesitation. I understand. I shall withdraw.

Lucario, though disappointed, nodded as well. I sighed, but understood the concern. Defenses against psychic intrusion were the norm for League officials back home, but that could hardly be expected to be the case here. I returned both of them, and the two Zoans nodded, satisfied, before parting the doors.

The unconscious figure I had seen earlier now stood before his throne, and I have to admit I felt a bit intimidated. The closest thing to a ruler we had back home was Cynthia, and I had already gotten to know her too well by the time I found out that she was the Champion. Now, however, I was standing before a king. And he carried himself with all of the authority of his position despite what I thought were tearstains on his face. But as he saw me, he broke into a warm smile.

"Lucas, yes? It's a pleasure to meet you. Please, come in."

I stepped forward while Chaka and Pell remained at the entrances; the only royal guards inside the room were four men that I assumed were an elite force. They watched attentively but without hostility as King Cobra himself stepped forward to meet me.

"Words cannot express how grateful I am for what you have done for my country," he said, his eyes wet as he spoke. "Crocodile's drought has ravaged countless lives and many cities over the past three years, but your intervention has diffused the worst of the conflict. You have saved hundreds of my people from throwing away their lives out of love for this land…"

He covered his eyes, wiping away tears that he was unable to hold in.

"…My apologies. I had simply never dreamed that things could end this well. The greatest worries that I've had to endure for the past three years have suddenly disappeared, and the amount of relief I feel is overwhelming."

I smiled and bowed at my waist.

"I was just doing what any decent person would, Your Majesty."

Cobra chuckled, still close to sobbing in relief. He let out a cough and harrumph, and I straightened to see him turning his back and returning to his throne.

"I owe much thanks to the Straw Hats as well for bringing Vivi home safely; their captain's reward of choice is a royal banquet that we will be delivering this evening. You are welcome to join us, but before that…"

He sat upon his throne and looked down at me, his tone turning serious.

"I have been told of your circumstances. If I were able to send you home, I would provide the means at once, but I regret to say that I am unfamiliar with your companions. What I can offer you, however, is access to our royal library and storage. You will find a thousand years' worth of history that may be able to assist you."

I smiled and bowed to him again.

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

"It's the least that I can do for you. Now, one final matter: you're currently traveling with Captain Smoker, I believe?"

"Yes, sir?"

Cobra shook his head with a wry smile. "If you would…I would like to welcome him and his as well, but I do not want any quarreling between this island's saviors during the celebration. Pirate, Marine, outsider… all of you together have done this country a great service. As you are acquainted firsthand with both sides, I would appreciate you helping my daughter to convince them to suspend hostilities, at least for the rest of this evening."

I chuckled sheepishly, rubbing the back of my head. "I, uh, can't make any promises. They're both pretty headstrong. But I'll try my best."

Cobra nodded, still smiling slightly. "Thank you. Now, one of the guards will escort you to the library. And Pell, I'll ask you to welcome Captain Smoker when he arrives."

"Ah, excuse me, Your Majesty."

All attention snapped back towards the entrance where a single guard was flinching back a bit.

"I-I apologize for interrupting, but we've finished our run-through of the royal dungeons," he said, nodding to himself. "Every civilian prisoner has been stripped of their shirts to leave their Baroque Works tattoos displayed, where they have them. And, for assurance," he added, pulling back his sleeves to show the bare skin of his shoulders, as well as lowering his hood to reveal black hair but a bare neck.

Cobra nodded in grim satisfaction. "Good. And what of Crocodile's elite agents?"

His face fell a bit. "We are trying to find them, but it's quite possible that with their boss defeated, they may have decided to cut their losses and run. We do, of course, have the two pairs that led the false royal army, and the sniper team that Miss Wednesday and the Straw Hats defeated on their way in; they've been stripped of a disturbing amount of exploding ammunition. But it doesn't appear that any of his Devil Fruit users have reached Alubarna."

"We left three of them along with a Devil Fruit-empowered dog in the desert," Pell contributed. "I am certain that Mr. 1 is in no state to recover. The other three…I suppose it's possible that they could slip away if given enough time."

"Smoker should be on his way over, though…" I muttered. "Maybe he'll have taken care of them."

"No, Vivi already informed me of their defeat, a group of guards has already been sent to apprehend them," Cobra sighed. "Even still… The gravest threat is safely locked away. See to it that Crocodile's cell is guarded at all times; if they try to pull a jailbreak, we will be prepared."

"Yes, Your Majesty," the man said with a bow.

"Oh, and I do have one more question."

"Yes, Your Majesty?"

Cobra's visage suddenly darkened. "Why did you refer to my daughter by her Baroque Works codename?"

The man stiffened. As fast as blinking, Chaka and Pell had their swords at his throat, growls echoing out of both of their own, even before I could pull out Vaporeon's Pokéball. And then…

"…OH, IT'S SO MISERABLY UNFAIR!"

The guard collapsed into melodramatics, throwing away his cloak—a concealed pistol clattering to the ground along with it—to reveal a blue shirt with a pair of Swannas on it, very…round pants, and a large, feathery pink coat, which… How is he even wearing that without suffocating?

"MR. 0 ENTRUSTED ME ALONE TO THE CAPITAL!" he continued to wail, tears coursing across his—was he wearing makeup now!? How!? "I AM BAROQUE WORKS' MASTER OF DISGUISE, THE GREAT MR. 2 BON CLAY! HOW COULD I BLOW MY COVER SO EASILY? OH, THE SHAME, THE UNBRIDLED—!"

"Oh, for Heaven's sake, you're embarrassing yourself," Cobra groaned, cradling his face. "Chaka, Pell, lock him up. And while you're at it, make sure that the other agents are secure as he said."

"Yes, sir," they said together, grabbing the wailing man and beginning to drag him away. Then Cobra straightened.

"Wait."

They looked back at him and he eyed them both. "Take your hybrid forms until the job is done. Vivi said that he can copy faces, but not Devil Fruits."

The pair of them nodded again, and it was a bipedal jackal and falcon that dragged Mr. 2's screaming form (until Chaka finally knocked him out with a pommel strike) towards the dungeons. Cobra sighed wearily.

"Well, I suppose that that's one less thing to worry about," he said.

"I was worried about that guy, honestly. Glad he got careless at the last second," I said fervently. And a good thing that he gave up so easily, too. If he were anywhere near as stubborn as Mr. 1 or Crocodile himself, we might've been in for a rough time.

"Indeed," Cobra said, lowering his hand. "Well, with that done…Brahm, Arrow, I'll leave Pell's earlier orders to you."

"Of course, Your Majesty," said two of the four guards around him.

And with that, the meeting was adjourned, and I quickly flagged down one of the guards outside to point me to the palace's library. I had some research to do before the victory feast.

-o-

As would be expected for a traveling trainer, I didn't really do large luxury meals. When you're out in the wild between cities, your diet was mostly limited to more simple foods, maybe a stew of some kind if you had the right materials, and often getting some help from any Grass-types you had (Torterra's fruit was delicious back when he was just a Grotle, and had only gotten better since). The best I'd ever eaten before now were some of the stuff served at the Sinnoh League headquarters and, of course, Mom's home-cooked meals whenever I had the chance to stop by.

Now, though, I had to offer her a silent apology, because the current victory feast, whipped up by a combination of royal cooks and the Straw Hats' chef, Sanji, had her beat hands down.

Meats, vegetables, exotic fruits, and more were spread out across a massive table in the center of the large dining hall, with servers running back and forth to keep pirates, marines and Alabastans well-fed. Even my team was able to participate, with Torterra taking up an entire corner of the hall by himself while the others grouped around him. Sanji had pulled me aside earlier to ask about meals for them, and after I pulled some spare berries out of my storage and explained them to him, he'd gone and made them into a meal that had several of my team crying literal tears of joy.

And while there were some nervous looks here and there between the two groups of Marines and pirates (Tashigi in particular seemed to have some sort of vendetta against Roronoa Zoro), Vivi was very easily able to defuse the initial tensions.

"Oh, no, Captain Smoker," the princess announced, with absolutely no urgency in her tone whatsoever. "Those vile Straw Hat Pirates have broken into our main dining hall!" Said pirates were, as a matter of fact, sitting at the table almost exactly across from where the Marines and I were placed, and no such dastardly activities were being committed.

"Curses," Smoker drawled back, nonchalantly leaning back in his chair. "I'm afraid my men and I are too exhausted from our takedown of Crocodile and his organization. We won't be able to stop them."

"You're right, Captain," I added, trying and failing to keep my own amusement down at his completely deadpan delivery. "We've done all we can, and it's too risky to try and fight them now." Lucario wasn't quite so discreet, outright huffing in amusement from his seat on Torterra's back as Tashigi tried and failed to stifle her own giggles nearby.

"Shishishishishi!" Luffy, on the other hand, wasn't even trying to hide his laughter in between disturbingly large mouthfuls of food. "You're a pretty alright guy, Smokey!"

"Don't push your luck, Straw Hat," he grunted, swiping at a rubbery hand that was reaching towards his plate. The hand retracted, instead grabbing something from Nami's plate despite her own attempts to stop it. And then Luffy's binging was interrupted by Sanji slamming a foot into his head (from a seated position no less) as the chef berated his captain for stealing from "my dear Nami-swan." And then, Zoro decided to insult Sanji's cooking, and the resulting sword-to-fist duel was only stopped by Nami herself literally slamming both of their heads into the table.

Farther down the table, Usopp was recounting the story of how he single-handedly defeated the Baroque Works' Mr. 7 pair to anyone who'd listen, including his Stantler-child crewmate, Chopper, only to deflate when Vivi spoke up, detailing what had actually happened during that fight.

I couldn't help but shake my head in disbelief as I watched all of this play out. Compared to Baroque Works and Team Galactic, the Straw Hat Pirates were almost… harmless, as odd as it seemed. "Are these really the pirates you chased all the way out here?" I asked, giving Smoker an incredulous look as Vivi laughed happily at the crew's antics.

Smoker looked at me with one eye…the other watching the scene with just as much bemusement at the crew's antics. He sighed and shook his head.

"It's a story for another time," he said. And figuring that it was something that would bring down the mood, I dropped the subject.

And then both of our hands shot out at once as Luffy's arms reached over to our plates.

"I'm still very willing to fight you if you keep stealing my food, Straw Hat."

"Oh, I'm sorry, you're hungry?" I asked with polite sarcasm, fishing in my bag and withdrawing a fist-sized yellow fruit with green circles on it. "Here, try this."

Luffy's arm snapped back and slammed the fruit into his mouth. Then his entire face crumpled in a way that I don't think would be possible if he wasn't made of rubber. "Thassh…zzo…zzour…" he squeaked from ridiculously puckered lips, and I couldn't help but laugh. I think I even saw Smoker crack a smirk at it.

"I…th-th-thought you were… saving those," Tashigi choked out through her own suppressed laughter.

"Heh…eh, Aspear Berries are a cure for being frozen, but that's a pretty rare condition to come across." Unless you were battling an Ice-type specialist, at least, but I hadn't encountered more than two or three of those in the past year, and one of them was Candice, Snowpoint's Gym Leader. "I can afford to lose one for this."

I eyed my team, who seemed to be caught between the urge to laugh or to wince in sympathy. Torterra in particular had far too much experience with Aspear Berries thanks to his severe Ice-type vulnerability; he preferred Ice Heals, even with the medicine's awful smell.

Luffy was able to pull his face back into shape after a few seconds and get back to eating, but I noticed with some satisfaction that his hands stayed away from my plate and those of my team.

Eventually, though, the meal started winding down, and Vivi pulled herself away from her family and the Straw Hats to give me a questioning look. "Lucas, did you find any references to your home in our library?"

"Not yet," I sighed. "But I was only in there for a couple hours, max. And it's not exactly small." Seriously, their royal library probably had as many books as the one in Canalave. Lucian would've done many, many unsavory things to have unrestricted access to some of the stuff in there. Come to think of it, so would Cynthia, because apparently Alabasta's history dated back to before the World Government's formation, which was 800 years ago.

Nothing useful for my purposes, unfortunately, but there was still a lot of library left. And even if there wasn't anything helpful, all we could do was keep looking. There had to be something somewhere in this world about a way home. There had to be…

A hand patted my shoulder, and I turned to see that Tashigi stopped glaring at Zoro to give me a reassuring smile. "Hey, don't worry about it," she said. "If your home's out there, the World Government should be able to find it. You'll be back in no time, no need to worry."

I let out a short laugh despite myself at the familiar phrase. "You sound just like Dawn." And just like Dawn, Tashigi was the optimist, pushing me onwards when I faltered.

"Yeah!" Luffy, mouth miraculously empty of food, gave me a thumbs-up from across the room. "You'll get back home in no time, Lucas! And we'll be helping you out too!"

That got me to double-take. "Wait, seriously? You guys want to help?"

"Of course!" was the rubber-man's enthusiastic reply. "You're our friend now, so why wouldn't we?"

"I'm going to be making a map of the whole world, after all," Nami added with a grin of her own. "I can't exactly call it finished without putting your homeland on there!"

"If those fruits you gave me are only a sample of what exists on your island, you bet your shitty ass I'm helping you get there." Sanji's gaze was fixed on the horizon, mind clearly running through the possibilities as he gestured at my team. "Going to have to touch up on my fruit-based recipes, but I wouldn't be able to call myself a chef if I didn't know how to feed those guys properly."

"And I want to see more of your medical treatments, too," Chopper said eagerly. "I've got so many questions!"

"Honestly, I couldn't care either way about any of this getting lost crap." Despite his words, Zoro was still giving my team a speculative eye. "But if there are more of these Poké-guys or whatever as strong as yours, I guess the challenge will make up for it."

Wow… Just, wow… I couldn't say much of anything in response to the outpouring of support. But… hold on a second, that wasn't the sound of me holding back tears, it was… King Cobra?

The king was tearing up again, sniffling a little and shaking. It was far more emotional than I expected based on what Vivi had told me of the man, and based on the Alabastans' reactions they thought so too.

"Your Majesty?" Chaka asked cautiously, taking a step towards King Cobra, only to freeze as the elderly ruler collapsed out of his chair, throwing it aside as he fell to his knees.

"I CAN'T DO IT!" the elderly king wailed, in a voice that was not his own. "SUCH COMPASSION, SUCH CAMARADERIE, SO FREELY OFFERED TO THOSE WHO SHOULD BE YOUR ENEMIES! OH, HOW COULD I FACE THE GREAT EMPORIO IVANKOV AFTER TAKING PART IN THE DESTRUCTION OF SUCH A BEAUTIFUL DISPLAY!" Before anyone could react, the king's hand snapped up, slapping across his own cheek with an audible crack, and the entire room froze in horrified shock.

An unfamiliar face gazed down at us, streaked with tears and completely ruining the makeup around his eyes. "I AM THE REAL MR. 2 BON CLAY, WIELDER OF THE CLONE-CLONE FRUIT! I WAS ORDERED TO IMPERSONATE THE KING BY CROCODILE HIMSELF, TO FURTHER HIS PLANS FROM WITHIN THE PALACE!"

The real Mr. 2? The one from before must have been an imposter, a body double to bring our guard down, and if the King was still missing…

Luffy and I locked eyes…and in that moment, coursing with the same anger and dread, we both understood what had happened. There was only one explanation for how things could possibly still be this dire, and it came out of both of our mouths at once:

"He planned on losing."

"Gardevoir, Vaporeon, with me to the cells!" The two of them were at my side instantly, and one flash of light later we were standing in front of Crocodile's cell. Or rather, what was left of it. The guards were scattered around the floor, and the cell we'd personally seen Crocodile thrown into was empty, the door opened by what looked like a key made out of wax. One pair of Seastone cuffs lay open on the floor of the cell, another wax key inside of it.

This must be the work of Mr. 3, Gardevoir glowered. I'll be right back. I grunted an affirmative, searching for any signs of the other missing agents and seeing nothing. She vanished in a flash, but was back a couple of seconds later with Lucario, whose eyes began glowing as he searched for a trail, and Smoker, who instantly pulled out his Den-Den Mushi.

"Tashigi, get the men to lock down the city!" he ordered. "Coordinate with the Royal Guards, and try to find any surprises!"

"Lucario will be able to track his Aura," I added. "Go with him, Smoker, he'll lead you down Crocodile's trail. Gardevoir, let's get back to the main hall. We'll pull info from Mr. 2 and try to cut him off."

I didn't wait for a response before gesturing to Gardevoir, and when I materialized back in the dining hall, I started talking immediately. "Crocodile's already escaped, and he's got Mr. 3 with him at the minimum. We don't have time to waste. Princess, what's the weapon that Crocodile is after?"

"I-I don't know!" Vivi replied, running a hand through her hair desperately.

"You're the princess, shouldn't you know better than anyone?" Tashigi snapped, before immediately wincing apologetically as Vivi flinched. "Uh, sorry."

"No, I understand. But I left to find Baroque Works before my coronation, I never learned all of our royal secrets," Vivi said miserably.

I grimaced and turned my gaze to the two head guards. "Chaka, Pell, do you two know the details?"

Both of them grimaced as well, but Chaka answered at once.

"Centuries ago, a weapon powerful enough to destroy the world was sealed away. The details have been lost to history, except for the name: Pluton. The Alabasta Kingdom has guarded the Poneglyph with the location where Pluton was sealed away for generations; only King Cobra himself knows exactly where it is."

"But it still doesn't make any sense," Pell said, pacing back and forth. "The inscriptions are in a dead language and study of it is outlawed because of the Ancient Weapons. Even if he managed to find the stone—and I do not exaggerate when I say this—nobody in the entire world is able to decipher it!"

…Almost nobody, Gardevoir corrected grimly, turning towards the still-subdued Mr. 2.

What is Miss All Sunday's assignment? she demanded, her eyes glowing, and the feminine-dressed man flinched as she dug into his mind.

I don't know! Mr. 0 isolated our orders to prevent any of us from possibly giving away his plans if we were subdued, he didn't take any chances after Mr. 1 lost so easily! She's probably the only one who knows everyone's plans! came Mr. 2's response, racing through his mind and ours faster than his mouth could move.

What DO you know, then!?

The main plan was always to feign defeat and lull everyone into a false sense of security, then jailbreak as many people as possible to turn the tables! If I had played my part to the end, you all would have gone to sleep thinking everything was all right and never woken up, but I couldn't stand condemning you to it! But the bombs are already in place!

"The confiscated explosives," Pell realized, eyes widening in panic. "If even half of those were stolen back, the potential damage would be…"

I didn't wait for him to finish. "Houndoom, Crobat, go!" I ordered. Black and purple streaks tore out of the room, senses straining for signs of the missing bombs.

"W-we're going too!" Usopp stammered, dragging Chopper out of his seat. "Chopper, you can sniff those bombs out too, right?"

"Uh…" The Stantler-like doctor froze briefly, eyes darting back and forth before his expression firmed. "Yeah, yeah, I got it! Let's go, Usopp! Walk Point!" Chopper's body grew instantly, taking on a thin, four-legged appearance. The long-nosed pirate quickly hopped onto his back, and the two of them took off in a blur of motion.

"Crocodile must have an escape plan beyond this," Chaka growled. "How is he getting out of the city? Where is his escape route?"

I don't know where they're meeting! I was to gain the location from Mr. 0 after the rest of you were asleep!

Gardevoir sighed explosively as she turned away and looked at the rest of us.

He is sincere. I'm honestly flabbergasted, but he's a fundamentally good person who made extremely questionable choices, and genuinely wants to fix them now.

Tashigi and several of the Straw Hats grimaced, and Vivi's expression was pure anguish.

"We'll worry about that later," Sanji snapped, one hand gripping his chin. "If Miss All Sunday is the only one who can read the Poneglyph and King Cobra is the only one who knows where it is, then they must be together. So, where do we need to look?"

Chaka and Pell were still grimacing, but Chaka answered at once:

"The Tomb of the Kings, the royal mausoleum west of here. The Poneglyph is in a hidden chamber somewhere beneath the temple, but again, only King Cobra knows where the entrance is. He would sooner die than impart that knowledge to any criminal."

"Unless he knew that we were all in danger of being blown up," I shot back. "Crocodile could've coerced him using those explosives, and lied about there being an off switch."

Gardevoir suddenly straightened, her eyes glowing, and then she disappeared. A moment later, her voice filled the room.

Captain Smoker has contacted me. He found the King and Miss All Sunday. Come to the royal tombs quickly; the entrance is open.

-o-

Smoker was livid.

It was a mild annoyance to follow Lucas's companion along the trail that only he could see, nothing that significantly added to the frustration of being played. On their way out of the dungeon, they'd passed by several more cells where Crocodile's other officers were kept, all empty and the guards out cold. That had been frustrating, but not surprising, which softened the blow.

But when the trail had finally come outside, Lucario had gestured towards Smoker's bike, as if to say that they needed to move quickly. And that led him to discover that Crocodile had sabotaged it, with several internal components ripped out and the engines clogged by wax as hard as steel.

The indignant rage at that alone may have been the reason why Smoker's gaseous form was able to keep up with Lucario's ExtremeSpeed technique as they blurred towards the royal mausoleum, only slowing to a stop in the courtyard as the jackal frowned in confusion. Smoker moved to continue into the mausoleum, but almost immediately, Lucario moved to a nearby statue of a sea cat and pushed its side. The stone spun ninety degrees and a trapdoor opened in the grass nearby, revealing a staircase underground.

Smoker glowered and drew his jitte. "Brace yourself. Something tells me that whatever's down there is the whole reason Crocodile did all of this."

The jackal nodded firmly, and after a quick descent, they found an ancient chamber that appeared untouched by time. Moving to the back of the chamber revealed a massive pair of doors that were wide open, revealing—

Smoke rushed out of Smoker's mouth in what was half a gasp and half a sigh. A gaping hole was on the far wall, clearly an escape tunnel, but rubble was barring the way. And more pressingly, Nico Robin and the real King Cobra lay unconscious in pools of blood in the room's center.

Between one blink and another, the jackal was beside them, pink light pooling in its paws and surging forcefully into the two fallen bodies. Smoker knew next to nothing of the technique, but it was easy to see that Lucario was straining himself.

"Gardevoir, we need help, now," he said to the empty air. He knew she was paying attention.

Two seconds later, she appeared beside Lucario, who immediately abandoned Nico Robin and focused his light on the king while Gardevoir put her full attention to the criminal. Smoker left them to it, flying over to the tunnel entrance to try and clear it of rubble, but he was forced to abandon that idea with a growl when the chamber's ceiling started to rumble dangerously.

"Smoker to all points," he said into his Den-Den Mushi. "King Cobra and Miss All Sunday have been located, both wounded but being stabilized. Crocodile left an escape tunnel pointing South, but I can't get through it without bringing the chamber down on us." Theoretically, Gardevoir would have been able to relay all of this much faster through telepathy, but Smoker didn't want her attention off of Nico Robin for even a second. "Scramble any pursuit units the Royal Guard can muster. The bastard probably made the tunnel point southward as a red herring, but we can't take any chances."

"We'll do what we can, Captain," Princess Vivi's voice was the first to reply. "But our best fast response unit, the Supersonic Duck Squadron, is crippled. Mr. 3 got to them before we did. Pell's already on patrol, but he won't be able to catch them if they're moving underground."

"If he can spot their exit point, that'll be enough," was his response, and he ended the call as he walked back over to Gardevoir. "What's the verdict?" he asked.

The Pokémon tilted her head to regard him with one glowing red eye. Both His Majesty and Miss All Sunday will live, though we will not be able to heal them fully, she said. I can awaken her now, if you wish, and ensure she answers our questions.

"Do it."

She nodded and looked back at the fallen woman, putting her hands together.

Now, how did it go again…she murmured, closing her eyes and putting her hands together. It took a few seconds before she began to glow blue-green. Her mouth opened, and she sang a note that reverberated like a bell's chime. Smoker swore that he could see a pulse of energy leave her lips.

And immediately, the king and the criminal opened their eyes. Almost unconsciously, Smoker shook his head in awe at these beings' power.

"Your Majesty, I'm Captain Smoker," he said at once. "You're safe for now, but we need to address something before I explain further."

All attention promptly turned to Nico Robin, whose expression could only be described as drained.

"Where is Crocodile?"

"…You should be more worried about the bomb in the clock tower," she responded emotionlessly.

All present stiffened, and King Cobra forced himself to his feet, staggering weakly until Lucario offered an arm as support. "She's not bluffing, there's a massive bomb that will destroy the whole city at midnight if it's not disarmed," he confirmed, his eyes wide in panic.

"Gardevoir?" Smoker asked without turning away from Nico Robin, already knowing the Psychic's eyes were glowing.

Consider it handled, Your Majesty, she said with a curt nod, paying no mind to the King's surprise at her abilities. Crobat and Pell have already been informed. They will… her voice trailed off for a moment, before she abruptly spun around and marched away. You'll have to excuse me, Captain, Your Majesty. Her voice was now curt and annoyed. I must go and prevent someone else from needlessly endangering their life. And then she vanished in a flash of light.

All Smoker could do was growl impotently as he went about cuffing the unresisting Nico Robin, while Lucario and the King started shuffling towards the catacombs' entrance. Crocodile had outplayed them, outplayed him, and with all the threats and obstacles the bastard had set up and virtually no soldiers on the Hound, there was no way to catch him before his escape. All he could do now was mitigate the damage down here as best he could, and hope that everyone else could take care of the other threats.

-o-

"Pell, stop! What are you doing?"

"There's no way we can disarm this in time," Pell grunted, shifting to his Zoan form and gripping the bomb with his talons. "So the only option is to take it far away enough that the city won't get caught in the blast radius."

"What? But, what about you!?"

"Vivi…" The princess' heart fell at Pell's next words. "Don't lose your spirit. You are Alabasta's future—" A flash of light interrupted him, and a familiar voice in their minds rang out.

A well-known trait of my species is the willingness to give our lives where necessary to protect our Trainers.

Pell paused in trying to pull the bomb out from the cannon to glance at Gardevoir—and double-took at the absolute exasperation in her eyes.

As such, she continued, hovering over to him, we tend to find it irksome when someone attempts such self-sacrifice when it is not necessary.

"Excuse me for not considering asking someone I met less than a day ago to handle a massive bomb in our city," the falcon man retorted, though he did land and revert to normal. "But if you can handle this, by all means."

Gardevoir huffed as she raised both of her arms. A pink glow surrounded the bomb, and it slowly withdrew from the cannon. Would anyone rather I salvage this bomb instead of destroying it?

A few voices returned denials. Others expressed concern, but nobody said yes.

Her eyes closed in concentration, she levitated the bomb into the air, and Pell watched in awe as she sent it into the sky, far faster than he would have been able to. It was no time at all before it was out of sight.

And it is as simple as that, she said firmly, clapping her hands together.

BOOOOOOOOOM!

The explosion lit up the sky like the sun, and the shockwaves shook their footing even miles below. But not one stone in the city was moved; they were safe.

-o-

"So, they found it after all."

"Yes, Boss."

"No matter. We'll be gone long before the Marines can set anything up. You have the Eternal Pose; take us to the marked island. There is a cache there we can take from, and medical care for the ones who need it."

"Yes, Boss," Mr. 6 replied from his place at the wheel, before snapping out a few orders to the Billions on the ship, who scrambled to obey. Miss Mother's Day strode below deck without further comment, likely to tend to the wounded Numbered Agents. While the lower-ranked Frontier Agents had generally gotten away with minor fractures and some bruising, several of his lieutenants were still bedridden, particularly Mr. 1, Mr. 4, and Mr. 7.

Was one of his subordinates careless enough to get discovered? Did Nico Robin have one last trick to play, as she lay bleeding out in those catacombs below the city? Had Mr. 2's conscience finally gotten the better of him? It didn't matter, not anymore. That was the reason he'd left Downpour's location unknown to all but the Mr. 6 pair, after all. In the end, whether or not his enemies had perished was irrelevant to his main goal, the Poneglyph that was even now secured within the ship's massive furnace. And though his remaining stores of Dance Powder were better off sold than burned, the ship's steam engine would keep it properly hidden until he could make use of it.

In short, Operation Prometheus could be considered a success: he stole what he came for and escaped with the core of his organization. It hurt his pride that Straw Hat of all people had beaten him, and being forced to flee like a coward was even worse. But pride was secondary to results, a lesson he had been forced to relearn after having Operation Utopia blown to smithereens by the Marines and their new ally.

Crocodile turned his gaze out towards the endless expanses of Paradise over Downpour's figurehead. Alabasta was lost to him. His organization was crippled and exposed. His Warlord status would undoubtedly be revoked in a matter of days. His resources were reduced to a single ship, his most reliable agents, and a piece of rock he couldn't even read. All because of one impossible boy and his pets.

And yet… he was still free. The loyalty of his remaining agents was assured. He still had a goal to aim for, and one more person to take revenge on.

"Pluton will be mine," he muttered, staring out into the Grand Line as his ship sailed on. "And when it is… Whitebeard, Straw Hat, and now Lucas… Your lives will be mine to claim."

And so, Operation Prometheus comes to a close. Crocodile's free, and he's got the Poneglyph, but he burned a lot of assets to do it, and now he has to figure out how to translate the thing without Robin's help. Sure that won't become relevant later, not one bit. Anyways, feel free to let me know what you think of the chapter, and I'll see you all in the next one.