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Luffy, Nami , Zoro, Usopp and Ace were trapped in a cage with Smoker. The trap had been so simple yet the straw hats had fallen(figuetvly and literary) in. Luffy claimed it couldn't be avoided and Nami had disagreed. The Cage was in a large room built underwater, there was a long table dining table and a desk in the room; stairs led to the only exit.

Zoro suggested Ace melt the bars but Ace shock his head saying that his powers were useless and warned Luffy not to touch the bars before sitting on the jail bed and leaning against the wall. Luffy naturally did the opposite and grabbed the bars, he instantly felt his strength drain away.

Smoker took the opportunity to attack Luffy, knocked him on the ground with his weapon. Once on the ground he placed the tip of the weapon on Luffys chest. Zoro unsheathed his sword and warned Smoker off, but the Marine Captain ignored him. Usopp and Nami looked to Ace for back up but the other pirate just shook his head.

"Feel that Straw hat, your strength is draining isn't it?" Smoker asked.

"What gives I can't move, why does it feel like I'm in the ocean?" Luffu panicked.

"My Jitte is tipped with a rare meatal called Kairouseki. It emits the same energy as the sea,"

"It's more commonly known as Seastone" Ace added "it's only found at the bottom of the ocean at certain points in the Grand Line,"

"So naturally it can nullify devil fruit powers and bring down their users," Smoker finished.

"Wait a second are theses bars made from this metal too?" Nami asked.

"If they weren't I would have escaped already, and Fire Fist here could easily have melted them," Smoker said and removed his Jitte from Luffys chest.

"Zoro quick slice the bars," Usopp ordered.

"Okay stand back," Zoro said and got into a stance.

"Don't bother Seastone is the most durable metal in the world, it's pretty much indestructible," Ace claimed "if you hit those bars your swords will break,"

Zoro sheathed his swords; he just got two new ones and had no desire to replace them again. "So, how do we get out?" he asked.

"We don't," Smoker said and sat down on the one bed in with Ace.

Luffys strength came back to him and with nothing else to do he started doing impersonation of people with Usopp; Smoker did his best to ignore them. Suddenly a man walked into the room, he approached the cage.

The man was tall with a wide chest, broad shoulders, muscular arms and legs, and a thick neck. He had pale skin and nape-length neatly slicked back black hair, a long stitched scar at the bridge of his nose that stretches across his face and a large hook made from a tough gold alloy in place of his left hand.

"Well, well, look what I caught a nosey pirate crew, one of Whitbeards most powerful captains and a Marine Captain," the man said.

"Crocodile let me out now," Smoker demanded.

"Crocodile? He's Crocodile," Luffy yelled "Oi you I'm going to kick your ass!"

"Charming," Crocodile said "As for your request Smoker I'll have to decline, if I let you out then they will escape too. Can't have dangous pirates roaming free now can we?"

"Your one to talk," Smoker snapped back.

"Now is that anyway to talk to your friend? We're on the same side after all,"

"We are not friends and I never have or ever will trust a Shichibukai," Smoker declared.

"Crocodile!" Vivi voice suddenly filled the room.

Crocodile and the straw hats looked towards the door, there was Miss All-Sunday with Vivi. She pushed the princess down the stairs and Crocodile walked over to her.

"Where's the boy?" he asked Miss All-Sunday.

"I couldn't find him, I have the millions searching the city for him now," Miss All-Sunday answered.

"VIVI RUN," Luffy yelled.

"Vivi? As in Nerfrti Vivi…the missing princess of Alabasta?" Smoker asked.

"No matter he'll never leave this country alive," Crocodile claimed.

"CROCODLIE DIE!" Vivi screamed and attacked him with her Peacok Slash. The Attack didn't work because where Vivi had hit turned to sand and then repaired the damage.

"Oh S***," Ace said "Vivi watch out he's a Logia type user. You can't beat him,"

"What?" Vivi replied in shock.

"That's Right I ate the Suna-Suna no Mi, you can't hurt me," Crocodile claimed "now then how shall I deal with you? Any ideas Miss All-Sunday?"

"Something painful, she did put us through a lot of trouble. Though I'd recommend you be thorough; this lot did survive that sandstorm you sent to them," Miss All-Sunday advised with a creepy smile.

"Hmm you're right…" Crocodile eyed the cage.

"Crocodile what are you planning? Why did you start this pointless war?" Vivi demanded.

Smokers eyes widened "Crocodile started the Civl war?"

"Pointless war. Simple I want something, something very old and very secret buried beneath Alabasta," Crocodile said.

"There's nothing buried here," Vivi claimed.

"Oh but there is princess and to get I will destroy this country to get it,"

"Sir it's just past noon. Operation Utopia has begun," Miss All-Sunday interrupted.

"What's that mean?" Vivi asked panickly, if it was one of Crocodiles plans then it could not be good.

"I suppose there's no harm in telling you now .Operation Utopia is the final phase of my plan to seize the throne of Alabasta," Crocodile claimed.

"First I won the support of the people, as one of the Shichibukai. Becoming a hero to them by rounding up other pirates. Seconded I founded and used Baroque Works to secretly use Dance Powder to cause a drought everywhere but the capital city and had Baroque Works agents brought Dance Powder into the country under orders from the King,"

Third I assigned several members of Baroque Works to join the royal guard to aid in smuggling Dance Powder into the palace. When the powder was found, this pushed the people into thinking their king was behind the lack of rain,"

"I also had some member join the other side as well several Baroque Works members joined the Rebls ranks, even going so far as to become close officers to their leader,"

"And finalaly thanks to Mr. 4 and Miss Merry Christmas kidnapping the king of Alabasta; Mr. 2 pretended to be the king and told the people he had used the powder. Injuring the Rebel leader in the process and now the rebel army will begen its advancement on the capital,"

Vivi was in shock fom what she'd just heard. No one in the room spoke and Crocodile laughed at his own plan. "And when both armys are together in the capital city, I'll kill them all in one fell swoop,"

"You monster millions of people will die," Vivi cried.

"Crocodile what your doing is illegal and will get your Shichibukai status revoked," Smoker warned.

Crocodile laughed "So what, who's going to tell the government? Us pirates have a saying: Dead man tell no tales,"

"No But we do," a new serious voice added in.

"What who said that?" Crocodile asked, he looked around the room for another person but could not see anyone.

"Where's that coming from? Miss All Sunday wondered.

"Over here in the cage," the voice claimed.

Crocodile, Miss All-Sunday and Vivi looked towards the cage, but here was nothing out of the ordinary. Inside the Cage the Straw hats looked at each other, the voice didn't belong to any of them.

"Who are you? Show yourself," Crocodile demanded.

"Very well, Roannoa Zoro if you could reach into your pocket please," the voice asked.

Everyone in the room turned their eyes to Zoro. Zoro froze how did that voice know his name, he put his hands into his pants pooket and pulled out a baby white Den-Den Mushi. Ace recognised it as the one he'd seen Connor use.

"What the hell is this?" Zoro asked, he stared at it.

"Greetings Crocodile, thank you for revealing your plan; now we have all the information that we need. We have long suspected that you were behind the Civil war and the cause of the drought," the snail phone spoke.

"I don't know who you are but I will find you and kill you," Crocodile threatened.

"No you won't, we will get to you first. Also this snail phone has a recording function; it's been on this entire time,"

Crocodile froze, that meant whoever was on the other line had a record of what he'd just said.

"Tell me who you are," he demanded.

To be honest the rest of the room's occupants were wondering the same thing.

"I am the leader and Mentor of the Brotherhood and you Crocodile are my next target. Be honed, not many get to speak with me before they die," the voice said.

Ace and Smoker immediately jumped to their feet, and focused solely on the snail; neither of them wanted to miss a word. The other straw hats were confused by Smokers and Ace's reaction they had no idea who this Brotherhood was or what they did.

Crocodile froze and took a step back in fear "No…No. Your bluffing, you can't be in this country. I would have known,"

"I have had my people stained here for the past three years; did you honestly think it was a coincidence that only four pairs of numbered agents attended your little meeting yesterday?"

Crocodiles eyes widened, he thought it was strange that he'd lost contact with most of the numbered pairs in the last week. But he never suspected the Brotherhood was behind it.

"Weather the rebels or the Royal army wins this fight one thing is certain You Will Lose. We know what's buried beneath the sand and we will never let you have it, I'll see you very soon," the Snail phone clicked indicting the end of the call.

Vivi stared at the snail phone, she had never seen Crocodile afried of anything. Just who was that on the other end. The Straw hats were just as surprised as Vivi, if whoever that was could make him so frighted then perhaps they'd help them.

"Man I do not envy that guy," Ace commented.

"Agreed, Crocodile won't last the next 24 hours," Smoker confirmed and looked straight at Zoro "Just one thing, how did you get that snail phone?"

"I don't know I've never seen it before in my life," Zoro claimed.

"Zoro was that a friend of yours?" Luffy asked.

"If I knew someone who could take down a Shiibaki do you honestly think I would not have mentioned them?"

"So where did you get it? Did Connor give it to you?" Ace asked.

"Don't start that again," Nami hissed.

Crocodile suddenly slammed his Claw hand into the ground when he pulled it out water stated to come thogh it. He then went over to his desk and pushed a secret button.

"I'm flooding this chamber and letting my pets in, good bye princess," Crocodile said and climbed the stairs. He got half way up when another den-Den Mushi rang, for a moment Crocodile feared it was the Brotherhood again; thankfully it was Miss All-Sundays phone.

"Yes," Miss All-Sunday answered.

"Hello, Hello. Is this thing on? Can anyone hear me?" Sanji voice came through.

"Yes it's on do you have a report?"

"Ah good I've never used a baby Mushi before, so I wasn't sure,"

"Hurry up and report," Crocodile ordered.

"Now there's a voice I recognise, long time no talk Mr 0. Or should I call you Crocodile?"

Crocodile froze, he thought of all the people that knew his identity. All the agents he told were out in Missions, Miss Sunday was here with him and Vivi and these pirates were here as well. That left the boy and supposedly the leader of the Brotherhood.

"Who are you?" Crocodile asked.

"Me…You can call me Mr Prince,"

"Mr Prince?"

"PRINCE HELP US, CROCODLIE IS GOING TO KILL US!" Nami yelled out.

Crocodile eyed the cage and remembered all the faces Mr 2 had shown him; apart from the animal pet all the straw hats were here…weren't they?

"Oh it seems my crew is still alive…that's your first big mistake," Mr Prince said.

"Where are you?"

"I'm not going to tell you that, you'll come and kill me…But weather you can or not remains to be seen, so I guess I'll…"

Bang, a gunshot rang out and the sound of a body hitting the ground was heard.

"Hello boss? Sorry about that but we finally go the bastard," a new voice said.

"Who are you?" Miss All-Sunday asked.

"I'm one of the Millions stationed in this town. Mr Prince took out a lot of our guys but he's down now,"

"Where are you?"

"Just out the front of Rain Dinners casino. What should I do with this scumbag?"

"Empty your gun into his head," Crocodile ordered, several more shots were heard and when they stopped crocodile left the room.

"Sanji…"Vivi gasped.

"Vivi Watch out!" Zoro suddenly yelled as giant Crocodiles with banana crowns began to enter the room.

Outside of Rainbase Casino

Sanji and Jacob were hiding on the side of the building, a dead million lay at their feet he had six holes in his head.

"Was it necessary to kill him?" Sanji asked.

"Relax those were blanks, I shot them purely for sound effects," Jacob assured.

"Right, think they'll come out?"

"See for yourself," Jacob said and pointed to the bridge; Both Crocodile and Miss All-Sunday were crossing it.

"Aright lets go save the princess," Sanji said.

"And your crew right?" Jacob reminded him.

"Huh oh right I suppose if they're in the same room and if there's time,"

"Let's just hope that Vivi isn't in another Castle," Jacob joked.

Crocodile and Miss All-Sunday left the Casino to go and see this Mr Prince. Miss All-Sunday warned him about being in the open, not just because the Brotherhood was now after him but because the Millions did not know his identity. Once outside Crocodile saw a lot of Millions lying in front of his Casio, the pair crossed the bridge and approached the body's.

"Well this is awkward, he's taken out almost all of our men," Miss Sunday giggled.

"Boss, he went that way," one million managed to point out a large finger in a blue desert robe, failing to hide behind a corner.

Crocodile saw him and the figure ran, the Shichibukai chased after him, Miss All-Sunday was about to follow when a loud crash came from behind her, she turned around and found that the bridge leading into the Casino had been destroyed. She looked at the crowd gathering on the far side and noticed two figures walk into the Casino.

"So there trying to keep us out are they?" Miss All-Sunday smirked; this Mr Prince is smarter than he looks.

Both Crocodile and Miss All Sunday failed to notice the two figures hiding in one of the alleys nearby watching.

"There in," Evie said.

"Will they be okay?" Connor asked.

"Don't worry Jacob will get them out safe," Evie reassured Connor "Now let's go make sure Crocodile doesn't kill Chopper,"

Both Connor and Evie headed off down the Ally to follow Chopper.

Chopper was able to flee form Crocodile and thanks to his tiny hybrid form he was able to safely get away from the angry Shichibukai. He met up with Connor and Evie, to discuss the next step.

"Luffy and the others will still want to stop this rebellion right?" Evie asked.

"Yes, Luffy will undoubtedly go after Crocodile but Vivi will head to where the final battle is," Connor claimed.

"Then you need to get to Alubama before dawn tomorrow if you want stop this rebellion,"

"Is it far?" Chopper asked.

"It's directly east from here, you need to cross the Sandora river to get there,"

"What but we don't have time to make the journey back to the our ship, let alone cross the dessert again," Chopper pointed out.

"I know, I'm sorry but you won't make it in time," Evie apologised.

Suddenly a camel approached them and made some angry noises.

"Oh hi Eyelashes, sorry about ditching you earlier," Chopper said.

Eyelashes eyed Evie and nodded in approval with a dirty smirk he then spoke to Chopper.

"Is that yours?" Evie asked.

"Yeah we picked him up in the dessert, he's a massive pervert though," Connor explained.

"What really? And he'll let us ride him…even the boys?" Chopper quickly cried.

"Chopper what did that camel say?" Evie asked.

"Eyelashes says' he's friends with a Sand Crab that lives in the area, he says that he'll convince him to give us a lift to Alubana," Chopper explained.

"Sand Crabs are incredibly fast…you might just make it in time," Evie claimed "Alright Chopper you go with Eyelashes to get a ride. Connor and I will inform the rest of the crew and meet you on the eastern side of the City,"

"Right, lead the way eyelashes," Chopper requested and ran off with the camel. Connor and Evie began to make their way back to the Casino.

They approached the still destroyed entrance just in time to see Crocodile and Miss Sunday enter the casino, before they could figure out how those two got across the lake; the ground suddenly shook and Connor lost his balance.

"What was that?" Connor asked and looked up at Evie. He gasped; Evies eyes had turned bright gold.

'Her eyes…are they like mine?' Connor thought.

"This way hurry," Evie said and ran off.

Connor followed, he wanted to question Evie and but now was not the time. They followed the path and stopped directly behind the Casino a second later Nami and Vivi's heads broke the surface, the girls climbed ashore. The next to surface was Usopp and Sanji; they were supporting Luffy who was coughing up water. Jacob was the next to appear with Ace, the Whiteberd pirate was in no better state then his brother. Finally Zoro appeared and hauled Smoker ashore.

Connor stared at the crew; they were all out of breath and gasping for air. Evie ran to her brother to help him. Ace could not believe that Jacob had saved him, he always thought the man was a cold blooded murderer; he noticed Evie was here now too. Similar thoughts were going through Smokers head about Zoro.

The straw hats slowly got up and thanked Jacob for his help. Connor was staring at Smoker the Marine Captain had just noticed that he was here.

"Zoro why did you save Smoker," Usopp asked.

"Shut it, I didn't want too," Zoro claimed "that was probably our best and only chance to get rid of him,"

"Everyone, we need to get to Alubana right away," Vivi said.

"Right," the rest of the crew agreed.

"Count us in too," Jacob added "Right sis?"

"Right, there's no way you're leaving us behind," Evie claimed.

"I have no idea what you two are doing here but I suppose we could use the help," Vivi admitted "Thank you both,"

"Roanoa Zoro," Smoker said and thrust his Jitte at Zoro. Zoro managed to block it with his sword; and the straw hats got into a defensive stance.

"Why did you save me?" Smoker asked and lowed his weapon.

"I was just following the captain's orders. When the room broke from the pressure Luffy asked me to save you,"

"Straw hat did? Why aren't we enemies,"

"Who knows what goes through that brain of his, I stopped trying to figure it out a long time ago," Zoro finished.

Smoker eyed Luffy and the rest of his friends, his eyes lingered on Connor and the Frye twins, he knew that his men would be here any minute…but he owed these pirates his life. And something wasn't right with this country and as much as he hated to admit it the straw hats might be the only hope of saving it.

"Go, but next time we meet I will bring you all down," Smoker said.

The Straw hats took the hint and dashed off down the street, Ace and Zoro stopped when they realised that Luffy wasn't following them.

"You know," Luffy said looking into smokers eyes "I don't hate you,"

Smoker stared at the pirate and yelled at him to leave, which Luffy was happy to do. They caught up with the others.

"Follow me we need to meet up with Chopper," Evie said and led the straw hats to the eastern outskirts of the city.

When they arrived Chopper was waiting for them with a giant Crab he and eyelashes were riding on it. The straw hats could not believe their luck, as Chopper explained that the crab was friends with eyelashes but they were both perverts.

Once the straw hats, the Frye twins, Ace and Vivi were on the crab sped into the dessert at a very fast pace. Just when Vivi thought that they were safe and that they'd make it in time, a golden Claw grabbed her pulling her back towards the city. Luffy was the first to notice, he jumped up and grabbed Vivi and threw her back towards the crab; Zoro caught her.

"Get her home," Luffy ordered as he was pulled back towards the city "stop this war and get her home, I meet you in Alubana!"

Chopper was going to go back but Zoro made him keep going.

"Luffy will take care of them, we've got a war to stop," he claimed.

"But…" Vivi started.

"Listen Vivi you're the only one who can stop this war. No matter what happens to us, you need to live. As long as you're alive Crocodile can't win," Zoro said seriously.

Vivi nodded in agreement she knew that Zoro was right, but she didn't like it. The crab sped on and even though Luffy was left behind the group was even more determined to get to Alubana.

Two minutes Connor felt his brand pulse; his eyes widened and looked back in the direction of Rainbase.

"No," he whispered in despair.

His brand only pulsed to signify a change in ownership; Luffy had been defeated and was most likely dead.

He looked over at Zoro, his new Master.