King Nefertari Cobra sighed on reaching his chambers. He'd counted himself fortunate to have presided over an era characterized by peace for nearly two decades. In recent years, however, that peace had become quite tenuous.
("Absolutely not!"
"But your majesty, the kingdom is"
"The people are the kingdom! What, they hit us, so you want to hit back? Do you think this is a fight between children?!"
"…"
"Attacking our subjects is the same as betraying Alabasta itself! Our real enemy is the one causing this unrest; they are who we must fight!"
"Sire, we're no closer to finding them than we were since the incident two years ago; if this continues, we'll be overthrown before we know where to aim our weapons!"
"Enough.")
Of late, it seemed all reports he received in the throne room struck the same, wearying note: tensions across the country were growing dangerously brittle, and the rebellion would soon be unsatisfied with anything less than war. The people were thirsty and angry; his Royal Guard was agitated and restless. Both sides were aware the country was in peril. Yet without a tangible threat, they were left anxious and too eager to strike at anything put in front of them.
Still, Cobra would hold out. He refused to play into the schemes of a coward who used such a thing as dance powder as their poison of choice. After all, what sort of King–what sort of father–would he be if his daughter returned to a country she couldn't recognize as home?
Thundering footsteps called his attention to the hall; Chaka, the guard's acting captain in Igaram's absence, burst through the door.
"Your majesty!"
"What's the commotion about, captain?"
Cobra briefly wondered if the rebellion had already begun their attack.
"Carue has returned, your majesty!"
A jolt seized Cobra's spine.
"Vivi," he murmured. He raised his voice. "Is the princess with him?"
"He's alone, Sire," Chaka reported. "He comes bearing a message, but he's refused to be escorted by any of the guard; I suspect the news he brings is meant for your eyes only. Pell has gone ahead to meet him."
Cobra nodded, a familiar itch spreading beneath his fingertips; depending on the word Vivi had sent, he might finally be able to take action.
"Good," he said. "Have the lieutenant bring Carue directly here; I will receive him in private."
Chaka bowed his head and hurried out again. In the span of minute, Carue was comfortably recuperating in Cobra's chambers, gulping down fresh water by the barrel. With only Pell and Chaka in attendance, Cobra abandoned formalities as they took in Vivi's report. They were all heartened to learn that she'd not only made it back, but that she'd done so in good, if strange, company that she trusted.
Unfortunately, that seemed to be the only good news in her rather comprehensive report.
Cobra held his head in his hands, just… processing it all.
"He's been hiding in plain sight," he muttered, frowning and wiping his hand down his face. "I would have never suspected Sir–that Crocodile had orchestrated all this!"
"Igaram."
Pell's grip on the report wrinkled the parchment.
"How badly injured would he have to be, that he hasn't reconnected with Vivi-sama?"
Vivi had explained that an explosion separated them; she hadn't elaborated much further other than to say she had it on good authority that Igaram survived.
"He must have his own plans," Chaka assured his fellow lieutenant. Both held Igaram in the highest regard. "This is the Captain we're talking about; I'm sure he's fighting for Alabasta even now."
"They have both fought for two years," Cobra said, clenching his fist. "And thanks to their sacrifice, we know our enemy!"
He stood to his full height, glaring out the windows facing west.
"We march on Rainbase! Prepare our army immediately!"
"Sire," Chaka protested. "The people hail Crocodile as a hero; their hearts are with him–forgive me for saying so–more than with you!"
Cobra remained silent. He had nothing to say against that.
"Rainbase is too far from here," Pell said. "Attacking Crocodile now would only incite the rebels, and leave Alubarna defenseless!"
"Then let them take it."
"!"
Cobra had never much cared whether he left a mark in Alabasta's history, but he would never do anything to stain it. So long as he could look his daughter in the eye–if his conscience allowed him to hold his head high before his people–he would accept whatever fate had in store for him, knowing he'd fulfilled his duty as King.
"Alabasta is not a place, nor a palace, but its people; if we fight the rebels, then regardless of the outcome, Crocodile wins!"
"Sire…"
Cobra clenched his jaw; all the frustration he'd felt at his impotence bubbled to the surface, sharpening his tone into a weapon all its own.
"His machinations, his deception, it cannot stand unchallenged; whatever the cost, he must be made to answer for his crimes! He's a Shichibukai, so of course, lives will be lost–all the more reason we have to attack decisively and without hesitation!"
Cobra took a breath, reining in his temper.
"Pell, fly on ahead to Rainbase and scout the enemy," he ordered. "Chaka, summon my officers and plot out a plan of attack. Spare nothing of our manpower."
He turned his gaze on his two strongest soldiers, the men he trusted most after Igaram. Both dropped to one knee, heads bowed.
"We march at dawn!"
"You all right, Koza? 'S not like you, yelling at a kid."
Koza ran a hand through his hair and sighed. Being in charge of the rebellion meant a lot of people looked to him to make decisions; the position didn't exactly come packaged with breaks.
Even so, he had been a little harsh on Kappa.
("I'm just like you! I want to fight; I hate the king, too!"
"Falafra. Show him."
"Yes sir."
"!"
"He lost his hand and shoulder protecting me–and he's one of those who still can fight."
"I'm not scared!"
"Then you're nothing like us."
"Wha–?"
"We are afraid; none of us want to fight."
"But, that doesn't make"
"GO HOME! THIS PLACE ISN'T FOR CHILDREN!")
"He just reminded me of myself as a kid," Koza said. "I got irritated."
Koza remembered the frustration of feeling powerless; of wanting to help, being too small to wield anything but volume and anger as a weapon. Kappa had been wrong on one key point, though:
Koza didn't hate the King.
He didn't agree with Cobra, but Koza knew he hadn't caused the drought. And he didn't quite believe he'd been hoarding dance powder for the capital, either.
("The weather acts according to Kami's will; no one, not even a King, can change it.")
Cobra wasn't that sort of man.
Nonetheless, the fact remained that he had dance powder somewhere in the palace; Koza understood why it'd been banned, but if they just used enough to see the country through the drought, then he'd wash his hands of the stuff forever and accept any punishment the government had for him.
Koza shook his head; almost a decade later, and he was storming the palace again to demand rain.
Maybe he really hadn't changed.
"Spread the word," he said, addressing his officers. "As soon as we've all armed ourselves, we're taking Alubarna!"
Robin–Ms. All Sunday–checked her watch again, more out of idleness than out of any actual need; her internal clock told her an hour had passed since the sun had begun its ascent. She'd had another virtually sleepless night, though hopefully, it would be the last.
The officer agents had their final orders; the plants they'd assigned to the Royal Guard and the rebellion were on standby, ready to improvise should any unforeseen factors appear. The work of three years planning was coming to fruition.
Although, there had been one unexpected hiccup.
("Mr. 3?"
"You weasel! Where were you hiding?! I had orders to kill you!"
"Of course I hid; since I failed my assignment, it was only natural that Mr. 2 would be sent to kill me."
"!"
"I've come to ask for a chance to redeem myself, boss! I can"
"What do you mean, failed your assignment?"
"Um… That is, the princess and the Straw Hats, they, ah, got away.")
Crocodile had been displeased by Mr. 3's report. The consequences were predictably severe; dehydrated and discarded, the wax man had been left to the tender mercies of Crocodile's pets.
Monkey D. Luffy: more than surviving Little Garden, his gang still hadn't abandoned the princess. It was absurd, of course; with Mr. 2's input, the remaining officer agents memorized their faces, and by now, the entire agency knew to look for them.
Still, was it any more absurd than a captain who'd vehemently refused the easy way out she'd offered, or a long-nose who hadn't been cowed by her powers despite never seeing them before?
More absurd than she, who knew the Straw Hats had another whose face hadn't been among those Mr. 2 cloned, who withheld that fact on a whim?
Ms. All Sunday pulled up her watch, eyes passing over the clock face again; the okama and their plants would be halfway to Nanohana by this time.
Operation Utopia was imminent.
Rainbase.
Possibly the only oasis in Alabasta left where people could escape the drought, barring the capital. Casinos for entertainment, plentiful water, and the protection of a respected and idolized Shichibukai; everything Yuba and Erumalu lacked, Rainbase had. No one could accuse Crocodile of shoddy scheming.
Still, Usopp had to wonder
"Get them!"
How he'd ended up here.
Okay, wonder might've been the wrong word; he knew how he'd gotten here.
It had involved another slog north through the desert, all afternoon yesterday and this morning.
("Haaah…. Geeehh..."
"Quit groaning, you two. You don't see me complaining."
"YOU HAVEN'T WALKED SINCE YESTERDAY!"
"Give us a ride!"
"Silence, peasants; march!"
"You're doing better, Chopper."
"I'm getting used to it."
"Heh."
"How the fuck can you stand smoking right now?"
"Keeps me cool."
"You pretentious little")
The result of which had been massive dehydration by the end of their march, and, well…
("CROCODILE!
"At least wait till we find him to announce us."
"Water!"
"We should regroup before we do anything; everyone's thirsty."
"Yeah, let's go!"
"CaptaAAAAAAAAH!")
In Usopp's defense, getting dragged through town by the collar by Luffy was the sort of thing that even Haki couldn't always predict, and it made concentrating virtually impossible. His captain wasn't usually amenable to direction when he was in a rush anyway.
Usopp couldn't be blamed for the fact that the bar Luffy picked for rehydration was the same spot Smoker had chosen to wait; nor for the multi-gallon spit take that followed.
(BLOOOOSH!
"SMOKEY?!"
"Straw Hat!"
"You can call me SogekiiIIIIIIIIIIING!"
"Tashigi, call for backup!")
Running around with the Navy on their tail–again–obviously drew attention from Crocodile's minions interspersed among the common folk, and…
("They know we're here now, no choice but to attack!"
"Vivi, where's Crocodile?"
"The casino with a croc at the top; Rain Dinners!"
"Split up! We'll meet up again there!")
Which brought him to the present, fleeing through the streets and trying to get Baroque Works off his tail. Familiar? Yes. Coincidence? Not exactly.
Usopp would've preferred a solid plan. He'd have taken any kind of plan, honestly, that might make the forthcoming fights a little bit easier, but they were up against a Shichibukai, one made that much more dangerous by virtue of real cunning. Usopp's Haki might've been a viable weapon, but he still lacked the sort of stopping power necessary to put Crocodile down before he could retaliate. If he showed his hand and Crocodile took them seriously from the outset, the whole crew would get eviscerated.
The only other potential wrench in Crocodile's plans Usopp could even think of was persuading Robin; as it stood, odds were about 50/50 between her choosing to help them or just snapping his neck.
Oil Slick Star!
Usopp's pursuers slipped on boots that failed to find purchase and they crashed in a pile behind him. He paused outside a striped building shaped like a pyramid in the middle of a lake, topped by an eye-catching golden crocodile with a banana on its forehead. He cast a pulse of Haki to find the others at the same time several guns cocked from somewhere in his blind spot.
Wham!
Shortly followed by the sound of Zoro's boot knocking out the shooters.
"You dozing off?" He grunted.
"No," Usopp said. "I heard you coming."
"Hey," Nami said, huffing a bit and stowing her Climatact back beneath her clothes. "Where's Vivi?"
"I sent her on ahead." Zoro said, throwing Usopp a significant look.
"She's not inside," he said, answering the silent question. The sound of a rampaging locomotive announced Luffy's appearance, Smoker still on his trail. "We don't have time to wait, though."
"Let's go!" Luffy shouted, charging past them across the moat leading into the casino.
"…"
Usopp stared through the cage bars with his arms folded, faintly emitting a sound not dissimilar to the dial tone on a transponder snail.
'We're the underdog, the underdog, underdog, predictability is a good thing.'
He kept an inward chant going in his head, trying to assuage his embarrassment.
"That was a clever trap." Luffy said with a straight face, standing beside Usopp with his arms folded.
"YOU RAN RIGHT INTO IT!" Nami screamed.
("Wh–they're leading us to the VIP room?"
"Heh! Bastard's got panache!"
"He knows we're here; at least we'll find the guy!"
"CROCODI–huh?"
"Pirates to the right, VIP to the left?"
". . ."
"We're pirates, so we go right, of course!"
"WAIT, WHY WOULD HE GIVE SUCH SPECIFIC–ARRRGH!")
Usopp cringed.
'Underdog, underdog, underdog, we want him to underestimate us.'
Luffy ignored the navigator, taking the bars of the cage in his hands; his posture immediately slackened and his tongue lolled from his mouth.
"Ugh, I feel drained all of a sudden."
"Don't touch that, cap'n." Usopp said absently. He perked up, feeling a tingle in the hairs at the base of his neck. "Zoro, Smokey's moving."
Smoker launched himself off the only cot in the cage, thrusting his jitte toward Luffy's back; Zoro intercepted it with the flat of his blade.
"Hmph," Smoker huffed. "I'll say this, Straw Hat; your crew's got decent instincts."
"You wanna fight?" Zoro asked, still holding his sword as Smoker pulled his weapon back.
"Believe me," Smoker said, glowering. "If this cage weren't made of kairoseki, you'd all be dead. And I'd be gone from this country getting sand out of my britches."
"Oh, shut up," Usopp snapped, the thin thread of his patience already frayed by embarrassment. "You got caught, same as us. Stuff it with the posturing."
Before Smoker could respond one way or the other, their captor announced himself.
"Kuhahahaha!"
His laugh was cold and dry as the desert sand; he wore a dark fur-lined coat across his shoulders over an orange vest with a blue ascot, the colors a stark contrast against his pale skin. A golden hook took place of his left hand; a horizontal scar crossing the bridge of his nose split his face in half. And the eyes that Crocodile, Shichibukai and professional bastard, pinned on them were appropriately reptilian.
"He's right, Smoker," Crocodile said from where he sat at a long table. "You're going to die together; you might as well be friends."
"That's him, huh?" Zoro muttered.
"Crocodile!" Luffy shouted, charging forward. "Fight me!"
Usopp snatched the back of Luffy's robe, stopping him just shy of the bars.
"Told you not to touch those."
"No need to rush," Crocodile said with a thin, greasy smile. "The guest of honor has yet to arrive, after all."
Slish.
Vivi panted, yanking back her peacock strings and pivoting on her heel to fend off another assailant. The Millions–pawns who comprised the majority of Baroque Works' force–had her surrounded, and they'd cornered her in a bad spot. The mounting number of unconscious bodies she felled weren't helping her find an escape route either. She kept moving, though, because if her strings stopped for even a second she'd be left wide
Thok.
"Unh!"
A solid thump against her temple sent her sprawling across the ground; she pushed herself up, ignoring the dull throb blooming across her skull and trying to regain her feet.
"Ah-ah-ah."
Only to find a blade hovering inches from her nose. The Millions drew closer, chortling with their weapons trained on her.
"Nowhere left to go, princess."
Vivi clenched her teeth, glaring. She shifted her weight on to one hand as subtly as possible to give herself leeway to at least try attacking.
Bang!
The one threatening her collapsed, a spray of blood erupting from his shoulder; alarm and confusion swept over the rest in short order. Vivi blinked. A shadow quickly descended from her periphery, spraying machine gun fire–
"Oof!"
And snatched her up in a very familiar grip.
"Pell!"
Pell dropped her gently on a nearby rooftop, briefly releasing his Zoan transformation and shooting her a smile.
"Good to see you safe, Vivi-sama," he said. "Wait here; this won't take a moment."
As he turned away, staring down at the Millions below, he changed into the form that had earned him the title of the royal family's Falcon; his chest expanded, a stout beak grew on his face, wide wings bloomed out from his shoulders, plumage adorned his arms and his hands turned to talons.
"What's he doing here?!" One of the Millions shouted in a panic.
Pell clasped his claws round the hilt of his sword; in a flash, he flew.
Flying Claws!
In one fell swoop, the Millions were laid out.
"I've never seen a flying man before; how impressive."
Ms. All Sunday's appearance robbed Vivi of any relief she might've felt, though. The princess glanced over her shoulder; Crocodile's right hand looked as unflappable and stoic as she ever had.
"Still, what a waste of henchmen."
"Vivi-sama," Pell said, pinning a glower on the raven-haired woman. "I take it these people are the ones threatening the country?"
Ms. All Sunday didn't react to his hostility.
"The boss has invited the princess to our place," she said. "I take it there's no issue with that?"
Vivi froze, one hand still clenched in a fist at her side, hyperaware of the string coiled around her pinky. She side-eyed the older woman; Crocodile might've been the more dangerous, but Ms. All Sunday was easily the more inscrutable. Despite working for such a man, she'd allowed Vivi and Igaram to tail her long enough to identify Crocodile as Mr. 0. She attacked Igaram, yet–Vivi trusted Usopp–left him alive and had ostensibly offered Vivi an easy route home. All told, if momentarily surrendering meant she could get closer to Crocodile, then…
"Not happening," Pell said, wings flaring out a second before he rocketed upward in their direction. "Crocodile will answer to me first!"
"Wait–!"
Tres Fleurs!
Three hands and arms sprouted from Pell's back and chest; two choked his wings while the third locked his blade in its sheath. Pell crashed and tumbled across the rooftop, missing Ms. All Sunday entirely.
"Gah," he grunted, back in his human form; more bruised and startled by the impact than truly injured, he pushed up again with his blade already drawn, eyes narrowed. "Devil Fruit?"
"That's right," she said, sprouting three more arms out from her elbow in a pinwheel. "Power and speed are rendered rather meaningless next to my ability."
Pell snarled, lunging forward into a blistering sprint.
"We'll see about that!"
Forced into acting, Vivi spun her peacock string and sent it flying at Ms. All Sunday.
Baroque Works' vice president caught her wrist without even glancing in her direction.
Seis Fleurs!
Three pairs of arms; one from the roof snagged Pell's ankles; another from his back gripped his elbows; the last from his shoulders, coiled around his neck and bent him backward in a submission hold.
"Stop!" Vivi shouted. "Release him and I'll send him away–I'll go to Mr. 0 willingly!"
Ms. All Sunday gave her the side-eye. Vivi set her jaw and met her gaze without flinching despite the vice grip around her wrist.
"Vivi… sama." Pell choked through a constricted throat.
"How admirable; very much like a princess," Ms. All Sunday said; despite her words, her voice still carried no hint of any inflection whatsoever. She turned her eyes back to Pell. "But I'm afraid I need to be firm with such a persistent sort of man."
Pell's back bent further; his knees slammed into the ground.
"NO!"
Clutch!
Crack.
Smoker sat on the cage's only cot, resigned to waiting out a chance to escape, assuming one ever came.
"Sanji impression! … 'Fwoo. Who ate all the shitty meat?'"
His cellmates had a decidedly different approach to the situation. Straw Hat had swept a fringe over one eye and the long nose was borderline cackling at the result. The redhead clocked the captain upside the head, though she whiffed on trying the same with the goggled kid.
"Hey, Roronoa." Smoker grunted.
The swordsman, reclined against a wall of the cage with his arms behind his head, cracked an eye open.
"Do you understand who that is?" He asked. "Or is this really the lot you signed on with?"
Smoker couldn't pretend to understand Straw Hat; a man who'd laughed on an execution platform and now was cracking jokes despite his survival depending on a Shichibukai's mercy. Save the woman, though, his crew seemed fine taking cues from his attitude on the situation, and even she acted relatively… normal about everything. From what Smoker could tell after three separate encounters, Straw Hat was just a rookie; was there some greater explanation for the disproportionate bounty on his head?
"Not our first Shichibukai," Zoro drawled. He lifted one hand up slowly. "Besides…"
The swordsman–all three pirates, he realized–pointed at Straw Hat in lieu of a verbal answer to Smoker's question. Though perhaps, that was their answer, whether or not Smoker understood it.
"Kuhahaha."
Crocodile laughed again, the condescending tilt of his brow chafing Smoker's nerves.
"Ah, trust," he said, patronizing and dismissive. "Truly the most overrated commodity in the world."
The redhead glared, hands on her hips.
"Get your kicks now, you rat," she said. "Once we're out of here, you'll answer to these guys!"
Crocodile scoffed.
Smoker puffed at his cigars; much as he loathed agreeing with any pirate, he'd also like to rearrange the bastard's face.
"Crocodile!"
Vivi's scream, belted out from the staircase leading in from the casino, echoed throughout the room. Vivi huffed, hands fisted at her sides; Ms. All Sunday had taken her through hidden passages through Rain Dinners to avoid anyone potentially recognizing her as the princess. She needn't have bothered. Vivi had offered no resistance, anger tightly leashed because she knew she'd finally, finally see–
"Ah, Princess Vivi," Crocodile said, spreading his arms out wide in mock greeting. "Or do you prefer Ms. Wednesday? Welcome; I must commend you and your little friends for making it here past all my bounty hunters and assassins!"
"That's nothing," Vivi said through a clenched jaw. "For two years, my greatest wish has been to see you dead, Mr. 0!"
"How admirable," Crocodile said, thin smile stretching across his face. "But I won't die, Ms. Wednesday. Alabasta on the other hand…"
Vivi sucked in a hissing, furious gasp.
She threw herself down the stairs; strings spinning so fast they buzzed on her pinkies.
"If not for you," she shouted. "Alabasta would still be at peace!"
"Vivi, wait! Let us out!"
Vivi hit the bottom step. She leapt.
Flew over the table.
Pulled her arm back.
Peacock String Slasher!
Hurled the blade forward with all her weight.
Crocodile didn't move.
KASHWACK.
The head of his chair clattered to the floor, cleanly split off.
Vivi landed on the tablecloth, scattering food and tableware. Sand swept past her, movement willful and unnatural.
"Satisfied, Ms. Wednesday?"
Her boiling blood turned icy; rendered momentarily frozen by the terrifying proof of her impotence against a Shichibukai.
"Gh!"
Let alone one who commanded sand.
Crocodile's hand formed around her throat, his hook hand ensnaring her wrist.
"Two years can't have been long enough for you to forget my Devil Fruit," Crocodile said from behind her, voice low and ominous. "Shall I remind you?"
"LET HER GO!" Luffy bellowed from the cage. "Fight me, Crocodile!"
The boss shoved her into a chair, having bound her hands behind her back.
"Have a seat," he said. "Don't wear yourself out so soon; the kingdom's in for a long day."
Vivi bit her lip, sneering at the man responsible for so much turmoil.
"Isn't that right, Ms. All Sunday?"
"Seven o'clock," she said, reading off a watch with that same shallow, unreadable smile. "Operation Utopia has begun."