This is the 57th chapter. I don't own the series of One Piece.
Nightmare Draws Near!
Alabasta, Alubarna
The Royal Tomb begins to tremor with many series of cracks and the rubble starts to fall from the outside and the inside. Luffy continued to rush downstairs, with his blood all over him after his wounds were opened up during the fight, but doesn't care because his mind was dead set on fighting Crocodile while catch up with Ace and Ventus.
"Where are you?! Crocodile!" Luffy yelled, panting heavily. "What's with this freaky place anyway?! The whole thing is crumbling into pieces!"
Soon as Luffy reaches down to the lower levels of the tomb, the rubble starts to crumble down as he jumps from rubble to rubble to get to Crocodile.
At the square, the battle between the rebels and the royal army continues when Usopp sent the signal to his crew after being informed by Vivi that she was able to figure out where the bomb was hidden.
"I'm certain of it, the cannon has to be in there. I can't think of any other options besides that place." Vivi protests.
"What makes you so sure that it's in there anyway, Vivi?" Usopp questions skeptically.
"We have to assume that this dust devil was part of the plan." Vivi states. "The cannon must be in a place where they can still well enough to hit the target."
Vivi then turns to the clock tower that's counting down in less than 5 minutes and close to 4:30.
"Also, it has to be an open space where a cannon can and can fit, but where it can't be seen from the sky." Vivi continues, remembered where Koza found the insde of the clock tower as a child. "So, that has to be it! It makes perfect sense to me!"
"Okay, hold on. We'll leave the others a message since you're heading this way." Usopp suggests, writing a message on the ground with his finger.
"Thanks, Usopp. I'm going ahead to the tower." Vivi told him, then ran to the clock tower.
"Hey! Wait, Vivi! Wait!" Usopp shouts when he noticed she went ahead.
"Hurry!" Vivi shouts back as Usopp followed her.
Suddenly, the Baroque Works agents revealed themselves from the dust devil when they noticed the signal from Usopp.
"Well look at that, it's the princess! We found her boys!"
"Yeah, that was just too easy! The signal led us right to her!"
"There are more members of the Baroque Works 'Billions'!?" Vivi exclaims shockingly when she stopped running.
"OH NO! WE SIGNALED THE ENEMY TOO!?" Usopp screamed in panicked with his hands in the air, budging eyes, and shark-like teeth.
At the ruins outside of Alubarna, Zoro managed to get himself lost and goes to the opposite direction instead of heading towards the signal because of the lack of sense of direction. He noticed the signal as he headed towards that direction.
"That smoke, it's Usopps signal. He must've found it." Zoro muttered. "Okay, but why is that palace so far away?"
At Alubarna, both Sanji and Ivan managed to notice the signal as they head back to the palace square.
"Good, it's not far from here." Sanji said.
"And we can get to the square in time." Ivan adds.
Nami, Shanise, and Chopper were heading to the same direction as Sanji, Ivan, Anna, and Zoro were at after noticing the signal.
"I wonder if that's the signal means that they've found a cannoneer?" Chopper asks curiously.
"Most likely, and they figured it out where the cannon is hidden." Anna answered.
"It could be! Let's go!" Nami suggested.
At the town square, the Baroque Works agents were about to fire their weapons at Vivi and Usopp.
"Barrage" Anna fired 5 arrows at the Baroque Works agents in the neck, killing them as she approaches them. "Sorry about that, I've tried to stop Zoro, but he just went on ahead at the wrong direction."
"That's Zoro, always get himself lost with his lack of direction." Usopp said with shrug. "Come on!"
And with that, Anna, Vivi, and Usopp head towards the clock tower.
Back at the Royal Tomb, Luffy continued to rush through the tomb while looking for Crocodile and to catch up with Ventus and Ace. Crocodile was now a bloody mess when Ventus and Ace are working on fighting against the Warlord of the Seas.
"Damn you! Even after figuring out my weakness, you're still able to do a number on me!?" Crocodile growled, but smirked. "But no matter, it's taking a long time to get this far. But now, once I escape from this wretched place, I will have my way! This country is entirely mine!?"
Both Ace and Ventus weren't even amused of his declaration about conquering Alabasta by destroying Alubarna. Just as they're about to finish the fight, the wall came crumbling down and dust came out which it got their attention. And as soon as the dust cleared, they noticed that Luffy was the one who punched that wall. Crocodile grunts with his eyes widen in disbelief when Luffy walked out of the hole with a heavy pant. Crocodile then growled with a scowl as he spoke.
"So, it's you!?" Crocodile said.
"You can't get away!" Luffy declared with a scowl of his own. "You're mine!"
"How are you still alive?! No matter how many times I tried to kill you, you just keep coming back for more and your crew kept interfering!" Crocodile yelled angrily. "Well, answer me, brat!"
"How'd he do it? How did he live and come here?" Cobra mutters with a question. "Who is this boy?"
"It's Straw Hat." Nico Robin said with her widen eyes in shock.
"Tell me! Just how many times do you have to die?!" Crocodile demands.
"There's something you still need to return, Crocodile." Luffy told him. "And I'm came here to get it back."
"What is this thing I took?" Crocodile counters with a question, mocking with a smirk. "Is it money? Is it fame? Or people's trust? Their lives? Is it rain? I have taken all of those things! So, which is it that you want me to give back, Straw Hat?"
"This land." Luffy answered seriously.
"The land? Really, you should know better than that by now." Crocodile mocks. "I have no intention of relinquishing this country. Why would I when I'm going to become the next king before long?"
"We came to this island to save Vivi's country, but then, when we get here, it was gone. You stole her country!" Luffy answered, causing Crocodile to glare at him.
Luffy, Ventus, and Ace then remembered back at the Sandora River when Vivi told them that she have to get to the rebel army and persuade Koza to stop the pointless war. Remembered that Vivi also told the Straw Hat crew that years ago, that the city Erumalu was once a thriving city that was full of gardens, palm trees, and lush green. Then back at Yuba after the rebel army left before coming to the oasis, Toto pleads Vivi to stop the rebellion.
"This is her country and we're here to take it back from you!" Luffy continued, then remembered back in the desert when he told Vivi that putting her life on the line is not enough to stop the rebellion and even at least try to have them put their lives on the line because they came to Alabasta to not only stop the rebellion and the pointless war, but to stop Crocodile. "We will defeat you and take this country out of your evil hands! And then...Vivi will smile again!"
And with that Luffy charged after Crocodile with a battle cry.
"Threaten me as much as you like, but without any water, you're nothing." Crocodile states with a taunt.
However, Luffy somehow managed to deliver a kick to the face, sending Crocodile flying as he crashed against the ground. Ventus then smells Luffy, noticed that he's smelling blood which it would explain how he managed to hit Crocodile. Luffy figured that with no water, he uses blood to cover his limbs. Crocodile then sat himself up with a grunt, looking at Luffy with a glare.
'This is impossible! He doesn't have any water! So, how can he kick me?!' Crocodile mentally growled with a question.
Luffy then cracked his knuckles with a determined look on his face, readied his fighting stance. Luffy then stretched his arm back, then delivers a punch right in Crocodile's face. Crocodile was sent flying again and crashed against the wall with a grunt. Just as the dust was cleared, Crocodile's mouth and nose was dripping in blood which it got him notice why Luffy can hit him.
"I see! You're using...your blood!" Crocodile exclaims, noticed the bloody hand from Luffy. "Clever."
"Blood can harden sand too, can't it?" Luffy counters with a question.
Crocodile now realizes that Luffy now has the advantage of taking him down because of the blood. He then smirks with a sinister chuckle as he pulls himself up.
"First Rainbase, and then the Royal Palace, and now the underground temple." Crocodile said, leaving Luffy, Ventus, and Ace confused. "You should be rewarded for your insistence on challenging me, even after I put through Hell only once, you keep coming back for more."
"Why you!?" Luffy shouts as he stretched his leg back and deliver a kick, but Crocodile quickly dodges and the Straw Hat captain hits the wall.
Crocodile pulls himself up, turns to them, and remove the golden hook, revealing a poisonous hook inside which the young Dragoon noticed the scent coming from the hook.
"You're pirates, you certainly proven that in your determination to defeat me, no matter the cost." Crocodile said with a smirk. "And I'll admit that you three have becoming annoyingly persistent opponents during our encounters."
"Alright, what's that?" Luffy asks curiously.
"You dolt, that's a poisonous hook." Ace told him with annoyance, bonked his head. "That golden hook of his is nothing but a hollow. He has that poison hook hidden the entire time."
"But it's not just any poison, it's a scorpion poison." Ventus adds with a glare. "That stuff is potent enough to melt through rocks and kill anyone in an instant."
"How perceptive of the two of you." Crocodile said, impressed but unimpressed of Luffy's incompetence. "But unlike the two you, Straw Hat is seem to be incompetent pirate, I suppose. So, surely you three must understand that a duel between pirates has always about two people fighting for survival. And when that's the case, there's no such thing as playing dirty!"
Luffy, Ace, and Ventus readied their fighting stance while Crocodile readied his hook as the rubble falls down next to them.
"When the explosion happens in the square, this place will most likely crumble to dust." Crocodile continues. "This will be our final battle! So, let's settle this once and for all!"
And with that, the final battle between three pirates and one Warlord of the Seas has begun.
Back at the square, Zoro finally made it to the town, but his lack of sense of direction got himself lost once again after noticing the signal was gone.
"That smoke was coming this direction, wasn't it? Or was it?" Zoro questions himself, running through the town when the Marines noticed the swordsman. "Wha...The Marines?!"
"Hey look, it's Roronoa Zoro!"
"Just great, I didn't realize the Marines were in this town now, I don't have time for this." Zoro said in annoyance, readied his sword. "Oh, damn it! I guess I have no choice, but to deal with them quickly!"
"Why are you here in the middle of battlefield?"
"Yeah, what do you think you're doing here?"
"Well, I can say the same thing to you." Zoro retorted as he drew his sword.
The Marines decided to help him out since they know full well of his lack of orientation and it's getting quite annoying.
"Hold it, Zoro! We know you have absolutely no sense of direction, but this is just ridiculous, even for you."
"Go that way! If you head north at the next corner, then you can reach the palace square!"
"Go back and turn right, it's not this way!"
"Are you that stupid?!"
"'Stupid'?" Zoro repeats with a sweat drop.
"Get outta here! Go!"
Zoro not only confused, but completely shocked that the Marines are giving him some direction to the town square.
At the square, Vivi, Usopp kept heading towards the clock tower while Anna kills off the number of the Baroque Works with her twin swords. However, the Baroque Works agents surrounded her as they're about to ambush her, but Tashigi and the Marines arrived as they kill the number of the Baroque Works agents. Anna was shocked that Tashigi and the Marines gave the ranger a helping hand when they pursued the Straw Hat pirates for a while.
"Tashigi?" Anna said.
"We're here to help you, not fight!" Tashigi shouts seriously, turns to her. "Go stop the explosion in this square, okay?!"
And with that, Anna ran while try to head for the clock tower to catch up with Usopp and Vivi.
"Your orders are to assist them in any way you can! Move out!" Tashigi ordered as the Marines confirms with a salute.
Tashigi remembered back at Rainbase, remembered of Smoker telling her that she'll have to decide which is more important when she gets there in Alubarna. Smoker also told her to rely on the sense of justice, whatever happens, he'll accept responsibility.
The battle between the rebels and the royal army continued to rage on while the Baroque Works continued to kill the number of soldiers. The clock tower continues to countdown and the Straw Hat pirates have only got 2 minutes to stop it when Vivi and Usopp rush towards the tower.
"Hurry! We have to hurry!" Usopp protests with a pant.
"We've wasted a lot of time!" Vivi states.
"I don't why they help Anna back there, but if it weren't for the Marines, she'd be a lot worse now." Usopp told her.
And just as one of the rebels got shot and crashed down to the ground, Vivi widened her eyes in horror of the numbers of the deceased soldiers.
"No! Don't look at that!" Usopp warned her. "We don't have time to help them! If we don't stop the explosion, the castle and this will be a lot worse than that!"
"Right!" Vivi reluctantly agrees.
"Crying about it isn't going to stop the attack from happening!" Usopp told her, looks up at the clock tower. "In 2 minutes, we're either gonna beat them or we're gonna die!? We still have time left!"
"Yes!" Vivi agrees.
"And we're all helping you!" Usopp continues.
"Right!" Vivi agrees.
And just as Vivi and Usopp continued to head for the clock tower, Nami, Chopper, and Shanise managed to find them while Anna caught up to them.
"Right there!" Nami shouts, noticed Vivi and Usopp heading that direction. "Vivi! Usopp!"
"It's Nami and Tony." Vivi said when she and Usopp stopped.
"What's going on? The Marines just helped us out back there." Nami explains, rush towards them.
"Were you able to find where the cannon is?" Chopper inquires.
"We haven't confirmed it yet, but this is the only place it can be." Vivi answered.
"Which means we passed it a bunch of times, we failed to realize where the cannon is hidden." Shanise points out. "And the only place big enough to fit in that cannon is the clock tower."
"Yes, right there. I'm absolutely sure of it now." Vivi confirmed, points the clock tower.
Nami, Chopper, Usopp, Anna, and Shanise widen their eyes in shock, looking at the clock tower.
"The clock tower?" Nami inquires.
"No doubt about it, the clock tower is high enough to hide a cannon." Anna confirms.
"I see, from up there, you can get a really good shot at the square." Chopper states.
"I still need Pell to get here though." Vivi suggests, looking for him. "It's the only way to stop it."
"Hold on, I'll give him the signal." Anna suggests as she pulls out her warhorn as she blows.
Pell continued to look for the cannon which was hidden at the clock tower while looking for Vivi and the Straw Hat pirates. He then heard a horn that was coming from the clock tower as he flew towards that direction, noticed the Straw Hat Pirates as he flew down and lands next to them.
"Did you find where the cannon is hidden?" Pell asks.
"Yes, it's hiding at the clock tower." Vivi nods. "We need to get up to the top and stop the cannon."
Back at the Royal Tomb, the tomb continued to crumble down and the fight continued. Luffy launched his fist when Crocodile dodged to the right and about to swing his poisoned hook.
"Dragon's Fang" Ventus flings his lance to impale him right in the shoulder.
"Fire Gun" Ace then point his index and finger from his hand, firing bullets of compressed flames from them.
Crocodile couldn't help but grunts with the grit of his teeth when Luffy launched his feet and deliver a kick to the face, sent him flying and crashed against the wall.
"You just don't seem to understand, do you?" Ventus said with a scowl.
Crocodile pulls himself up with grunt, panting heavily while glaring at the three. Luffy then charges after Crocodile once more.
"Gum-Gum: Pistol" Luffy stretched his arm and about to deliver a punch when Crocodile raised his arm, causing the Straw Hat Captain to stop.
"Lance Barrage" Ventus leaps in midair and slashed Crocodile twice, then charge forward and stabs him several times.
"Firefly: Fire Wheel" Ace shoots fireballs at Crocodile at high speed, causing them to scatter and distracted him.
"Fang and Claw" Ventus then unleashed a savage slashes at Crocodile.
"Gum-Gum: Stamp" Luffy then delivers a kick to the face, sent Crocodile right into the boulder as he crashed against it.
Crocodile pulled himself up again with a grunt while Luffy is panting heavily after losing too much blood after his wound reopens. Luffy continued to pant heavily when the column falls apart and falls next to them. Luffy and Crocodile charged each other when the rubber Captain launched his foot, smashing the column and kicked Crocodile in the face. He then grabs the golden part that connects the hook, then delivers a heel kick in the head, sent Crocodile down to the ground and slid right towards the wall the third time.
'They're so strong...who in the world are they?' Cobra mentally questions, watching the fight. 'Crocodile made even our best warriors look like children, but now, he's actually struggling.'
And when the dust clears, Crocodile chuckled which it got Luffy curious while Ventus and Ace glared at him.
"Straw Hat, you were skewered, buried alive, and dried up." Crocodile said, looked at Luffy with a sinister smirk while raising his poisoned hook. "You may have made it through all that, but neither of you won't escape this time. There's no hope for survival, the game is about to over. This poison will spread once I struck each of you three."
"You know, Crocodile, you just don't understand." Luffy states seriously, readied his fighting stance.
Back at the town square, the battle continued, and the clock tower counts down in less than 2 minutes which Vivi came up with the idea of how to get to the clock tower.
"I see." Pell said with a ponder. "Are you about this?"
"Yes, and we don't have time for second guess. We've got less than a minute." Vivi confirms.
"And going up the stairs to the top of the tower is out of option because we won't be able to make it in time." Shanise adds.
"HEEEEEEEYYY!" The voice of Sanji shouts, earned their attention when they noticed him and Ivan at the top of the building. "Nami! Shanise! Anna! Hi, Vivi!"
"Sanji! Ivan! What are you two doing all the way up there?" Usopp questions.
"What do you think?! You left a message where the smoke was, didn't you?!" Sanji retorted. "The message said go to the clock tower! So, we figured we better head up here to meet you! So, what should we do?"
"And where's the cannoneer?" Ivan adds with a question.
"The top! He's at the top!" Usopp answered, points at the top of the clock tower. "Go up from there and take him down!"
"Sanji!" The voice of Zoro shouts, earned his attention. "Hey! Where were you?! I was looking!"
"Zoro! You're here too?!"
"What are you doing down there!"
"Funny, I was gonna ask you the same thing!"
"It was the Marines! They kept saying, 'Go North! Go North!'! So, I'd just kept going north and I got all the way up here!"
"North and up aren't the same thing!?"
"Anyway, good job you three! Now just keep on going up from there and destroy the clock tower, okay?!" Usopp suggests.
"No way!" Vivi said, leaving Usopp gawked. "They can't get inside the clock tower from where they are now. You see, there are only two ways in: The backstairs on the first floor and from the sky. That's why Pell is here."
"But can't Zoro just go ahead and destroy the wall or something?" Usopp asks with a groan.
"We can't risk that." Vivi told him. "It could make the cannonball explode even earlier for all we know. Pell is the only option we have."
"Wait." Anna called her, earned her attention. "There might be someone inside besides the cannoneer, for all I know is the cannoneer may have someone with him. I think I should go with you and help you and Pell at the clock tower."
Until, the clock tower opens the clock which revealed to be the Baroque Works agents, leaving them shocked.
The female Baroque Works agent has purple hair with a long thin widow's peak. Over her hair she has a frog styled hat, with appendages jutting out with white balls on the end. She wears a purple shirt with pink dots up shirt underneath, and a blue tie. She had frog styled sleeves at the end of her shoulders and white gloves. She wears a purple skirt with pink dots on it, and a frog styled decoration with white balls at the end. She also has frog themed boots, that go up to the middle of her shins.
The male Baroque Works agent was covered in sevens, including his eyebrows, shoes, and his gun. Many of his body parts, the gestures he makes with his hands, and the way he opens his mouth also resemble the number seven. He has puffy bluish-white hair, that is styled similar to a helmet. He sports a purple coat that goes down to his ankles, with yellow frills on the shoulders, in of the sleeves, and in the middle part. The coat also has parallel sevens on each side of the chest. Under the coat he wears a dark blue shirt with pink lines on it, and a light blue neckerchief. He wears black trousers with long white socks, and yellow shoes in the shape of sevens. He also has square yellow sunglasses with red lenses.
"So, Mr. 7, according to what the boss told us, this is going to be our final mission. Ribbit, ribbit, ribbit." The female Baroque Works agent told her partner as Mr. 7 laughed.
"That's right, Ms. Father's Day. According to the plan, we have just 30 seconds left to go." Mr. 7 agrees with a laughter.
"Who are they?" Nami asks.
"Mr. 7 and Ms. Father's Day." Vivi answered in dread.
That's it for the 57th chapter.