I got to admit, I'm impressed last chapter only got one review. Like I know nothing super different happened, but thats actually impressive.
I don't mean this to be snarky to you guys either! Really! I'm impressed. Anyway!
Enjoy!
The ride from Katorea to Nanohana was swift and chaotic. Vivi and her allies had been given horses to ride and, together with Koza and a battalion of rebels, flew towards Nanohana as fast as the horses could carry them. Vivi spurred her horse faster when she saw black smoke on the horizon.
What could Crocodile have to do with this? He has to be behind it, right? Father surely wouldn't...
"Princess!" Vivi was knocked from her train of thought as Smoker called to her. "Stay close once we get to Nanohana. Keeping you safe is a priority."
"Your priority should be saving the citizens!" Vivi shouted back. Smoker watched her irritably.
"I said a priority," Smoker said. "If this is apart of Crocodile's plan, agents will be on the lookout for you." Begrudgingly acknowledging the Captain's position, Vivi returned her gaze to the back of Koza's head as they rode. He hadn't said a word to any of them since they'd left Katorea, just furiously riding ahead of everyone else. She didn't even want to approach him, for fear of aggravating him even more. They'd been so close! Crocodile couldn't mess this up now!
It didn't take long to reach Nanohana after seeing the smoke, and Vivi's worst fears were confirmed. The port city was on fire, and people were scrambling everywhere. They passed easily through the streets, following the sounds of the chaos. It didn't take long for them to reach it.
And Vivi could no believe what she saw.
There, just as she remembered him, was her father. And there he stood, ordering soldiers to sack the city and set it alight. But she could not comprehend it. It couldn't be possible, right? Her father would never do this. It just didn't make sense. It wasn't real.
And yet it was.
"Cobra!" Koza shouted, bringing her back to reality. She watched Koza dismount his horse and storm towards her father, who watched him indifferently. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
"I came to apologise for the drought," her father replied, as if that was obvious.
"Lovely way to apologise," Nojiko muttered.
"Father!" Vivi shouted, getting his attention. She saw his eyes widen in recognition, but he masked it quickly. "What are you doing?! Why are you attacking our own people?!" Her father was silent for a moment, before he turned away from her.
"Because the only way to solve the water issue is to reduce the number of mouths that need it," he answered. "Surely you understand, daughter of mine. We simply can't fill all these mouths."
"That's ridiculous!" She shouted back angrily. "This isn't you! What happened to you?!" Before anyone could say another word. Screams resounded through town.
"A boats going to crash into port!" Someone shouted.
"Run away from the water!" Someone else shouted. Vivi and the others turned their heads and watched in shock as a massive cruiser of a ship steamed ahead, no intention of stopping.
"Bwahaha!" Her father laughed, a massive evil grin on his face. It was so wrong, so not him. But where had she seen it before?! "Sorry for causing you grief, my dear! But this is simply the way things have to be! Do you understand?!"
"You bastard..." Koza hissed, clenching his fists. A quick glance at him would show the rebel was practically glowing with rage. "After all this time, you really were behind it...You let all those people die! You let them all die waiting for rain! Who could you do this to your own people?! They all believed in you, until their last breath! And this is how you repay your people?!"
"My people?" Her father asked, his grin getting even wider. "They aren't my people, they're my subjects! They should be honoured to die for me!" Vivi should have been horrified by his words, but her mind was running into overdrive. She had seen that face before, she knew she had. But where? Where had she seen that damn expression before?! It had been somewhere!
"My dear pirate friends, I cannot thank you enough for your help!"
What Vivi did next happened so fast she thought Nojiko had done it at first.
She turned, reached for the flintlock holstered at the girls hip, drew it, and whipped around to aim it at her father.
And fired.
The bullet flew straight for the King's face, her father's face, but missed by an inch and only cut into the skin of his right cheek. Once he realised he'd been hit, her father raised his right hand to hold his cheek.
And Vivi was proven right.
Instantaneously, her father's face morphed into that of Mr. Two, Bon Clay. At first no one reacted, but soon Mr. Two realised what had happened.
"Ah!" He shouted, "N-No, don't look over here! I'm still King Cobra Nefertari! I'm still the leader of this nation! U-Uh, please don't worry about what you just saw!"
"What the hell?" Koza asked weakly. "The King just..."
"Koza!" She shouted, "That isn't my father, he's an agent from Baroque Works! He has the ability to copy people's faces, I've seen him do it! Crocodile sent him here to do this!" Vivi was relieved to see the rage subside from her friends face somewhat.
"Damn it all," he hissed, "I almost..." Koza growled and stared at the ground, while Mr. Two looked positively livid.
"How unlucky can one be?!" He shouted, "That the ship that saved me from drowning had you on it, Princess Vivi! No matter! Do you think you've stopped anything? Mr. Zero will accomplish his goals! After all, surely you realise what it means if I have your fathers face in my arsenal!"
Vivi had opted not to think about it.
She watched as Mr. Two cackled and ran away, the soldiers that were presumably Baroque Works Millions following him.
"Should we give chase?" Nojiko asked.
"We have a bigger problem right now!" Yosaku shouted. Vivi turned, eyes widening as she realised how close the cruiser had gotten to the shore.
"Run!" She shouted, "that ship is going to hit the port!" She and the others barely had time to go a block further into Nanohana before a horrific crunch filled her ears, and Vivi was thrown to the ground from the impact.
Nojiko was more than a little dazed. The chaos in Nanohana had not stopped simply because a ship had crashed into the port, as fires and looting still raged around them.
"Are you guys okay?" A familiar voice rasped. It was then she noticed a mass on top of her, and she took in the situation around her.
Usopp, Yosaku and herself had been near each other as they ran from the shoreline. As the ship impacted and tore down buildings in it's path, debris had begun to fall on them.
And in that moment, Yosaku had thrown himself on top of Usopp and herself. And then debris fell on top of him.
"Yosaku, are you okay?" She asked, alarmed. He let out a weak laugh.
"Never better," he replied. "Just making sure you guys don't get hurt!"
"You're my hero, Yosaku!" Usopp cried, "I really thought we were done for!"
"No problem, Big Bro!" Yosaku replied. "Sadly, I can't bear the weight. We're stuck until someone clears it awa-"
"Smoke Strike!" Suddenly, the weight on top of Nojiko's shoulders lessened considerably. Looking to the side, she watched as the debris holding them down shattered around them, allowing Yosaku to stand and free them. Once the trio had gotten free, Nojiko looked to see who had freed them.
"Odd of you to save a bunch of pirates," she noted to Smoker, who was standing nearby.
"Don't bet on it happening again," he said. "We've got more important things to worry about right now." She knew that. Looking past Smoker and Tashigi, Nojiko could see Vivi kneeling next to Koza, speaking to him quietly. She had no clue what she saying, but it was probably motivation.
"Koza!" Nojiko turned, watching a large group of rebels running towards them, led by the people she assumed were the rebel leaders besides Koza. Some splinters of the group ran off, helping the people and put out fires.. "What the hell happened?" The man in front asked. "Did the King do this?!" Koza was silent at this, not saying anything.
"Koza!" Another shouted. "What happened here?! Why would the King-!"
"The king didn't do it!" Koza shouted, startling everyone. "Damn it all, it wasn't the King! We were almost fooled again! I was almost fooled again." Koza got to his feet, clenching his fists. "How could I ever doubt him?!" He shouted to no one in particular. "Of course it wasn't him! He's not that kind of man! Damn it!" Everyone watched silently as Koza ranted, before he grew silent again. He turned to his advisers, grimacing.
"We've been duped this whole time," he said. "I've got no time to explain right now, but what I do know is the King isn't behind this. He never was. We need to deal with this chaos and regroup. We're been fighting the wrong man."
"Can you at least try to explain?" One of them asked weakly. Koza's frown deepened.
"Later. First, we need to secure Nanohana. Erik, make sure no one's trapped under that ship, and clear it out. Kobi, help put out these fires. Okame, secure a safe place for the citizens to gather. We need to spread the truth to them." Confused but understanding, the three moved out to carry out his orders. Koza sighed, rubbing his eyes.
"It's all true," he hissed under his breath. "Crocodile, Baroque Works...You really weren't lying, Vivi." Vivi made a sad face.
"No," she said, "I wasn't."
"What should we do now?" Tashigi asked, "do we give chase to that man dressed as the King?"
"He'd be long gone," Smoker replied. "Koza is right. We save Nanohana first, then decide what to do. Tashigi, gather the men. We have work to do." The Marine Captain and his ensign ran off to help, leaving The Crew alone with Koza. The man sighed again, his shoulders.
"I should have known better," he muttered. "King Cobra would never do something like this. I knew that, but...But I couldn't just keep letting people die of thirst. I couldn't."
"It's okay, Koza," Vivi said, rubbing his back. "You're a good man. You stood up for what you believed in. As does every strong leader."
"Exactly," Nojiko said. "You made decisions based on what you knew. I don't think I would make a different decision in your shoes."
"You're so brave, Koza!" Yosaku agreed with tears in his eyes. "To stand up for the common man! I admire that!"
"Yeah!" Usopp agreed. "Don't you worry! We've got allies fighting Crocodile as we speak! He won't get away with hurting this country!": Koza watched them all with a small smile, turning to Vivi.
"You have such amazing allies," he said. Vivi smiled fondly at the trio, nodding.
"I do," she said.
"Let's hope your allies can deal with Crocodile as we finish with this mess," he said. "Because we have a lot of work to do."
"What the hell do you mean?!" Chaka shouted angrily.
"Sir, the timeline matches!" The guard reporting to him shouted. "The King has been missing for some time now, and now he's in Nanohana! It makes sense!"
'It makes no sense!" Chaka shouted back. No, the King Cobra he knew would never have done something like this. He would never harm his own citizens.
"Whether or not, sir, it changes nothing!" The scout said. "The news has spread like wildfire, and the people want answers! We have to-!"
The sound of a transponder snail going off stunned the men in the War room into silence. Chaka stared at it in surprise before he growled and rushed to pick it up.
"What?" He demanded angrily.
"Well, I expected a nicer response than that," the voice on the other line said.
"Who is this?" Chaka demanded, "this is a secure line, you're speaking to Chaka of the Alabastian army!"
"I know," the voice replied. "I was given this line by Vivi. It's Koza, the leader of the rebellion." Chaka's eyes widened and he stared into space, digesting what he'd just heard.
"What?" He asked weakly.
"A bit slow on the uptake, huh?" Koza asked, "no time. Listen, Chaka, and listen well. We knows the King is missing. Because we just saw his doppelganger making a mess of things here in Nanohana."
"...D-Doppelganger?" Chaka asked.
"Yeah. Which means neither of us know where the real King is, but listen closely. Vivi's assured me you know all about Baroque Works and Crocodile by now, so we can skip over that and just say that his organisation was behind this. And we both know he's in Rainbase, but here's something you may not know; allies of the Princess are in Rainbase fighting him right now. If you don't know that, than that's because Baroque Works has stifled your communication network. After we're done dealing with all of the chaos here in Nanohana, we'll sail up the Sandora River and join you in Alubarna. Regardless of the events in Rainbase, it will be Crocodile's main target, understood?"
Chaka stared in silence as he attempted to digest this information, but it wasn't easy at all. Finally, he managed to choke out a few words.
"Are you saying the rebellion is over, Koza?" He asked weakly. Koza made a gruff sound.
"Yeah, it is. But this war isn't. Not until we take down Crocodile."
Ka-cha
Chaka stared down at the transponder snail as Koza hung up, not sure what to say.
"Chaka, sir?" A soldier asked. "Chaka? What are your orders?" Chaka didn't say anything at first before gathering his courage.
"The same," he said. "Defend the city at all costs. Also, send a battalion down to the docks of the Sandora. Koza is coming to help us."
"The leader of the rebellion?" One asked. "But why? Chaka sir, what is happening?" Chaka let out a weak laugh.
"I don't know either, but we aren't out of the woods just yet."
Robin watched the battle against the Straw Hats with limited interest. It was interesting to see the strategies they came up with to defeat him, but for the most part it was a one-sided smack-down. Not very interesting to watch. She flinched as the swordsman with the tattoo on his face was repelled and sent flying through a window. Yeah, this was going about as well as she'd guessed. No bother. She hadn't hoped for much anyway.
"You there!" Robin turned as a massive falcon landed on the rooftop next to her, morphing into a person who glared at her. He had a sack of some kind on his back, concealing something quite massive.
"You must be Pell," she said. "I've heard so much about you."
"And I you, Demon Child," he replied. Robin tried not to grimace at her alias. "Or do you prefer Nico Robin? Well, I don't care."
"How quaint," she said. "Do you have business with me, Pell?"
"Don't play coy," he snarled. "I can see Crocodile down there plain as day. Oh, I suppose I should mention that the Princess got a letter through to us detailing his plan. We know all about Baroque Works, and Crocodile! It doesn't take a genius to see him and you are connected. Why else would you be here?"
"And what do you plan on doing with that information?" She asked innocently.
"First," Pell replied, "I'm going to prevent your escape. Then, I'm going to help those pirates. I can only assume they're allies of the Princess."
"Bold assumption."
"And yet one that makes sense," he said. "Do you plan on telling me otherwise?"
"Nope," she said as she turned to face him fully, "but I do not intend on letting you take me into custody." There was a moment of silence between the two, punctuated only by the sounds of combat below.
"One more thing," Pell said darkly. "Igaram, is he dead?"
"Who?" Robin asked, "Oh, do you mean Mr. Eight? Yes, he's dead. Very much so, I'd say." Pell's expression darkened.
In the briefest of seconds, it started. Pell transformed into a human/falcon hybrid, using his wings to charge her and swing his blade at her. Robin brought her hands up and, using her powers, forced Pell's blade out of the way of her, making it swing way away from her. Pell stared in surprise as the arm and hand disappeared into a flurry of petals.
"What kind of power is this?" He demanded as he turned to a face her.
"I'm sure you know that telling you serves me no purpose," Robin replied. Pell grimaced at this (at least Robin thought it was a grimace, it was hard to tell with a beak), and charged her again. Robin dodged him by spawning legs underneath her own, kicking off of them and to the side. Raising her hands again, she created two arms on Pell's body that fought for control of his blade. Pell tried to keep it out of their grasp, but that was no easy feat. Growling, He threw his sword back into it's sheathe and took flight, flying far away from her. Robin watched him with interest, wondering what his plan was exactly.
She got her answer when Pell revealed Gatling guns. seems that's what he'd been hiding. Thinking quickly, Robin jumped off of the building as the bullets began to fly, using her power to spawn arms off of the building wall, grabbed herself and flung into the top floor window. She listened intently as bullets flew, hitting the building and even inside of the window, but none reached her.
"It's sad, really," she said to herself over the gunfire as she raised her hands. "You may be an incredible warrior, Pell, but what can you do against me?" She peered out the window and caught a glimpse of Pell flying.
And hands spawned around his neck and wings, holding them firm.
"Clutch."
This had not gone at all the way Luffy had thought it would.
He knew that Crocodile would be a tough fight, but this was something else. Nothing was even working.
Johnny had already been taken out. He'd been flung through a window recently and hadn't reappeared. Sanji and Zoro were still fighting with him, but it didn't matter. Sanji had been consumed by a sandstorm and flung a whole block away, while Zoro was struggling to get back to his feet with Luffy. Crocodile laughed as Luffy got to his feet, cracking his knuckles.
"You really came into the Grand Line with a power level this low?" Crocodile asked. "This is pathetic." Raising his hand, Crocodile's hook disconnected from his arm with a sandy explosion and flew at Luffy, who dodged it and centred his weight.
"Gum-Gum Pistol!" His fist flew straight at Crocodile's head and flew right through it, once again not doing anything. The man's mouth remained as sand reformed his head, laughing again.
"Keep trying," he insisted, "I'm sure this will work eventually." Luffy was already having a hard time thinking, but the roaring of the crowd cheering for Crocodile didn't help. Where the hell was Nami?!
"Zoro!" He shouted, "have you figured out how to cut sand yet?!"
"How about I make you pound sand?!" Zoro demanded, "of course I haven't!"
"Get on that!" Zoro looked beyond irritated that he would suggest this, but didn't say a word back. Just as Luffy was about to go at Crocodile again, he saw her. He saw Nami's mane of ginger hair behind Crocodile, masked into the crowd. She raised her new weapon and nodded at him, making him smirk. Good, she was finally ready. This had been the plan all along. Now he just needed to keep Crocodile distracted.
"What the hell is your problem?!" Luffy demanded, "why are you doing this?!"
"Doing what?" Crocodile asked loudly so the crowd could hear. "Stopping rebels from destroying Rainbase? Because I must if the King won't. What a failure of a leader." The crowd cheered at this, which Luffy could guess was bad, but he'd worry about that later.
"You know what I meant," he growled. "Why are you trying to take his country for your own?" Crocodile made a face at him, and Luffy felt a tug on his shirt. Crocodile's hook had grabbed his shirt and pulled him in, getting him right in the face of the mad Warlord.
"A better question would be," Crocodile demanded, "why do you care? You're a pirate. You have no attachment to these people. And yet, you decide to get in my way. Just like everyone else; You and your crew, that damn Princess and Mr. Eight, crazy old men in Yuba, you all just insist on making my work harder than it should be." Luffy was ready to give a witty retort, but he froze.
"What did you say about old men in Yuba?" He asked. Crocodile gave him a wicked grin.
"Tell me, Straw Hat Luffy," Crocodile asked, leaning in so close Luffy could smell nothing but his cigar. "Don't you think it's odd that sandstorms would assault a city so normally? After all, they aren't that regular." Luffy's eyes widened as he remembered what Crocodile had used to throw Sanji away. His blood began to boil.
"You bastard," he hissed as he remembered the old man digging deep into the dirt for water, "you did that?!" Crocodile snorted.
"What if I did?" He asked lowly, "Look around, Straw Hat; the people love me. I am the hero of this place. Around now, the King will have attacked Nanohana, getting the rebels worked up to attack Alubarna. And I'll join them once I'm done here. But I ask again: What is this to you? Why do you care?" Luffy gritted his teeth in rage, but managed to spit out a few words as Nami snuck up being Crocodile.
"A few reasons," he replied angrily. "I care about Vivi, and she cares about this country. You're a Warlord, so taking you down benefits me...But mostly we were promised a boatload of money! Nami!"
"Whirlpool Tempo!" Nami's new weapon, given to her by Usopp, was pointed straight at Crocodile.
And water exploded out of the end, drenching both Crocodile and Luffy. The Warlord growled and turned to find the source, but Nami had disappeared back into the crowd.
"What the hell was that?!" He demanded, Luffy cackling to himself.
"Nothing much," he said, "just a friend of mine. Gum-Gum Pistol!" Luffy stretched his arm back and flung it straight at Crocodile's head.
And it connected.
Luffy heard a satisfying crunch as his fist connected with Crocodile, sending him flying backwards and freeing him. The crowd looked distraught at this.
"He managed to hit Sir Crocodile..."
"How is that possible?"
"No one's ever done that!"
Luffy grinned as Crocodile got up from the ground, looking positively livid.
"Sorry Croc!" He said with a laugh, "I think you needed a bath!" Crocodile stood back up, sand whipping around him.
"I will kill you, Straw Hat," he said. Luffy grinned.
"Try me," he replied.
I do have to get in the habit of making more changes, but I'll ease into it as we go. Besides, we have a a really long way to go.
A really long way...
I hope you enjoyed!