As the Straw Hats continued their journey through the Sandora Desert, Vivi explained a few things about the rebel army. While that was going on, Crocodile was being visited by Miss All-Sunday.
"We've had to call in the few Millions we still have active for this. They're not going to be as effective in the final plan."
"We have to make do. My plan is on a tight schedule, so I can't afford to waste too much time." Crocodile sighed. "Is everything else ready?"
"As you requested. The Officer Agents will be meeting at 8:00 PM tonight at the Spiders Cafe. The endgame begins at noon in two days."
The cafe in question was being attended by a blue-haired woman reading a book. The door opened to reveal a squat old woman with a large red afro and a big blonde man carrying a heavy bat.
"Mr. 4 and Miss Merry Christmas reporting in!" The old woman said. "Mr. 4, you're lateness has been giving me a bad back!"
The large Mister 4 just stood there with a dumb look on his face as Miss Merry Christmas sat down at the bar.
"Paula! How's business? The place looks empty today!"
"You'll be having the shop all to yourselves today," Paula, the blue-haired woman, replied. Shall I make you some orange pekoe and apple tea?"
"No hot drinks! Just gimme something I can drink right away! I am parched!" Miss Merry Christmas said.
Mr. 3 soon came in alongside Mr. 2. Miss Merry Christmas was quick to notice that a certain somebody wasn't present.
"What happened with Miss Goldenweek?"
"Sadly, she's been compromised. So, for now I'm without a partner." Mr. 3 explained.
Mr. 2 sat at the bar. "One Octopus Parfait, please. So, are we waiting on anyone else? I notice the fatty and old hag are here."
"Shut your trap!" Miss Merry Christmas retorted as Mr. 4 gave her a rudimentary massage.
"Sure, sure. Which reminds me, I hear even Mr. 1's team is being mobilized."
"We really only have our own crew members to rely on for the final phase. I've just been informed that the Billions have all been captured by the Marines." Mr. 3 noted.
"So quickly?" Mr. 2 asked in surprise. "Don't tell me they made the mistake of trying to fill in one of the vacant Number Agent slots."
"Worse! They tried to take on seven bounties at once for prestige and got their asses kicked!" Miss Merry Christmas said.
As 8:00 PM started to roll around, a large man with dark skin entered.
"Ah, the man of the hour. A pleasure to meet you at last, Mr. 1." Mr. 3 greeted.
"This is all of us, then?" Mr. 1 asked. "Miss Doublefinger, it's time to drop the disguise."
Paula took off her bandana and glasses, revealing a large afro.
"So you're Miss Doublefinger. You know, I've never actually met either of you until now." Mr. 2 noted.
"We have orders from Mr. 0. We're to head for Rainbase, the City of Dreams. Our boss is waiting for us there." Paula AKA Miss Doublefinger said.
"It seems we'll finally be seeing our boss's face for the first time...Which means his plans are finally coming to fruition." Mr. 1 noted.
The Officer Agents exited the cafe to be picked up by a special carriage driven by Banchi.
-OP-
The Straw Hats finally reached Yuba, but it was clear why the place was abandoned. The entire oasis was destroyed, and the only living people there were Kaba and Kohza. The two childhood friends were overjoyed to see each other.
"Princessa!"
Vivi turned to see what the others could only
"Mingo!"
"Old pal of yours?" Calvin guessed, intrigued.
"Si!" The creature, Mingo, beamed. "I met these two when they were wee little chicos y chickitakas; muy adorable!"
"Mingo….!" Vivi and Kohza blushed in embrassment, hiding from the Straw Hats'ooes and awes.
"They actually saved me from thirst and Kohza's grandpapi gave me a home…Of course, that was whenever his majesty didn't have me perform…before this started going downhill…"
"What happened here?" Carue asked as he looked around.
"Bad luck. The city got hit by a sandstorm several months ago. Not the first either, they've been a real problem ever since the drought started three years ago." Kohza explained. "When the oasis got covered, I decided to move the clan out to Katorea. The only other person out here is..."
Everyone suddenly heard the sound of a shovel, and Kohza sighed sadly.
"My father. He's the only one who stayed behind, digging as hard as he could for any water there might be. Honestly, with how long he's been at it, I'm surprised he hasn't succeeded by now. He's lost a lot of weight, so you'd barely recognize him. And with all that's happened, he still hasn't lost faith in the king. Though, given the broadcasting I've heard recently... I'm starting to wonder if he has a point."
"I've been trying to keep Kohza's eyes focused," Amingo added. "Even I know Cobra would never turn his back on the kingdom for no reason."
This brought a smile to the princess' face.
"Vivi? It is you! Princess, you're alive!"
Vivi turned to see Kohza's father Toto approaching and her heart ached seeing how skinny he had become compared to his pudgy yet jovial old self. Kohza was quick to what was going on and everything he had heard from the TB.
"I knew it, I knew the king would never betray his country. I've been saying it to you for three years." Toto said.
Amingo happily played a tune on his guitar, which got Sonson and Heart bobbing their heads in particular with how he played.
-OP-
Rainbase was essentially a gambling and resort city, centered around one of the largest oases in Alabasta. The Officer Agents had gathered at a resort called Rain Dinners. As they started to get antsy waiting, Miss All-Sunday arrived.
"Thank you all for coming all this way. The town of Rainbase is where the people dream of winning it big. And Rain Dinners is the largest casino resort in the entire city."
"Just skip the formalities, Miss All-Sunday," Mr. 1 said.
The woman rolled her eyes. "Leave it to you to get right to the point. I'm sure some of you have been curious about our boss. Well, allow me to formally introduce him. Up until now, I've been his proxy, giving you orders on his behalf. But now there's no more need for that. Sir Crocodile?"
The chair at the far end of the table swung around to reveal Crocodile had been there the entire time.
"Greetings, my esteemed Officer Agents. It's time for Baroque Works to begin Operation Utopia."
Needless to say, the entire group, sans Miss All-Sunday, was shocked to see a Warlord sitting there.
"I see you're all surprised, not that I can blame you. I can assure you I am the real Mr. 0, though you probably weren't expecting to be working under a pirate, let alone one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea." Crocodile said.
"But why would you need to be so clandestine?" Miss Doublefinger asked. "The Warlords are permitted by the World Government to plunder. You shouldn't need an entire company like this."
"First off, it's a bit more nuanced than that; Yes, we are permitted to plunder, but only the enemies of the World Government. And we do owe them a small tithe from our gross for every operation we take. We're also required to hunt down other pirates in order to maintain our position." Crocodile explained. "So you see, I can't just conquer Alabasta and not expect retaliation. Besides, it's not money or status that I'm after. What I seek is military might."
"And just how will taking over the country grant you that?" Mr. 3 asked.
"A valid question, one I will gladly answer, to give you context for the importance of this operation," Crocodile said. "Years ago, I fought the Yonko Whitebeard Edward Newgate and lost. It put a halt to my dream to become King of the Pirates. Eventually, I learned something interesting. That somewhere in Alabasta is an ancient Poneglyph that holds a great secret."
"The heck's a Poneglyph?" Miss Merry Christmas asked.
"It's an indestructible artifact that has an ancient language written on it. They're scattered all over the Grand Line. No one knows how to decipher them." Mr. 1 explained.
"That's hardly accurate. Our own Miss All-Sunday is fully capable of deciphering the Poneglyphs." Crocodile said. "And the one I'm seeking is said to have the secret to an ancient superweapon called Pluton. This grand battleship would give me the military might I need to challenge Whitebeard again, and this time succeed."
"Something like that really exists in this country?" Mr. 2 asked.
"Possibly, I'll know once the relevant Poneglyph is translated. Which happens to be under the palace at Alubarna."
"So that's why we're working to steal the entire country," Miss Doublefinger noted.
"You have your final orders in hand. Read them now, then have them burned." Crocodile advised. "Keep in mind there are forces gathering that are aware of us, so more than ever we will need to practice discretion. We will also need to be aware of the Straw Hat Pirates. They have compromised several of our Officer Agents, so they may have vital information."
Mr. 2 nodded. "Do we know what they look like?"
"One second," Mr. 3 said as he created a few sculptures resembling the Straw Hats, and Mr. 2's jaw dropped.
"Yes, you met them before, and they were apparently broadcasting the meeting. So now the rebels know about yourClone-Clone Fruit. It will be less effective during the plan. Crocodile then pointed to the statue of Draco. "This one here is Whitebeard's son, and we've met before. He was only a toddler when I fought Whitebeard, but I've no doubt he remembers my face. Mr. 2, do you have their faces?"
"No, only one of their four captains."
"Four captains? What are they, some kind of fleet?" Miss Doubledinger asked incredulously.
"They very well might be. One of their members was able to keep me from touching the rest of them. If not for these statues we wouldn't know what they look like." Mr. 2 said.
"Then trying to turn them against each other is pointless, meaning I'll have to deal with them personally. The longer we let this operation go on the easier it will be for the World Government to find out what I'm doing." Crocodile said. "Above all else, we can't allow Vivi and Kohza to make contact. They're childhood friends, so Vivi reaching the rebel army would most certainly cause confusion. And there's already so much confusion among them."
Oh, if Crocodile only knew…..
-OP-
Meanwhile, the Straw Hats were now heading for Rainbase to confront Crocodile directly.
"So what sort of city is Rainbase?" Nami asked.
"It's a gambling city that has been allowed to thrive even through the entire drought," Vivi explained.
Nami's eyes became Berri signs along with Eddy and Fuu, only for all three of them to be slapped by Heart, Luna, and Hilda.
"We've got no time for pleasure, we have a country to save."
"Rainbase is only a day's walk from Yuba, so I'll be heading with you. My men were given special instructions, so even if that man with theClone-Clone Fruitarrives with my face they won't necessarily start marching immediately." Kohza said.
"Has he ever touched your face?" Double-D asked.
"During a meeting I had with Cobra demanding answers regarding the drought, that ballerina guy was there, and patted me on the cheek telling me not to worry about small details. I'm pretty sure he used his right hand." Kohza admitted before sighing. "I've been turning away children angry at the king because their friends got sick. Hopefully, they won't suddenly be accepted by a copycat just to bolster numbers."
As the Straw Hats made their way into Rainbase, they headed for a local bar. Hobbes and Luna had to hold Calvin back from trying to ask the bartender for a drink while Eddy tried to look cool in front of a lady patron only to get a drink to the face for his troubles.
"Ah, I figured you'd all be here. Good timing."
Everyone turned to see Smoker there along with Tashigi.
"Oh, hey Smoker!" Sonson greeted with a wave.
Tashigi stared down Zoro, then started comically hitting him.
"Oy, what the hell is wrong with you, woman?!"
"You damn jerk! Acting like you were just another sword enthusiast when you were really one of the infamous Pirate Hunters I was talking about! Acting all sensitive and awesome and hot!"
"Did you just say Zoro was hot?" Kuina asked.
Tashigi froze for a second to process just what she had said, and her face turned so red she could hide it in Luffy's vest.
"Oooooh! Zoro and Tashigi sitting in a tree!" Ed cooed as Calvin gagged.
A sudden bird cry was heard outside, which got Vivi looking up and smiling.
"It's Pell!"
The group looked up to see a large falcon, which then landed and changed into a tall man with a purple line under each eye that ran down the sides of his face and wearing a long white robe with brown star-like motifs on it and matching hat. He had a big orange necklace around his neck and also sported striped socks under a pair of normal shoes.
"Huh, nice to meet a fellow Bird Zoan," Kuina smirked.
"Mine is the Bird-Bird Fruit: Model Falcon." Pell clarified before turning to Vivi. "I'm glad to see you in good health, Vivi. Igaram arrived sometime before you did."
"I'm glad. And Zimmerman and Clarine?"
"They were with him. They told us much regarding Baroque Works."
"Nice to see you're doing well!" Carue said, which startled Pell slightly before the others explained Gottfried's Devil Fruit.
-OP-
"We've had to take an extra step. With the rebel army currently lacking their leader somehow, we need to find a way to rile them up." Crocodile noted. "That will waste valuable time. Meaning we can't move to kidnap Cobra just yet."
"And Aladdin has not yet figured out his Devil Fruit, either…do you at least have some idea where you think Kohza is?" Miss All-Sunday wondered.
"Good question, without our Lizard Runners we're having a tough time getting information through. Also, I noticed we haven't found the princess yet, nor have the Straw Hats stormed Rain Dinners. They're smarter than I thought they'd be. And we've got no time to wait for them to fall into our clutches. We'll have to move to the next phase regardless. So long as I can reach that Poneglyph, it doesn't matter what setbacks hit my plans."
Crocodile sighed as he pinched his forehead.
"And after that time I spent hitting Yuba time after time with sandstorms, trying to start this rebellion. The Dance Powder scandal alone and killing the Seven Swordsmen wouldn't have worked, no matter how much I snuck into the palace."
It was then that Miss All Sunday's eyes widened when she realized something. Expertly hiding her delight, she feigned worry and pointed to what had caught her attention:
"Uh, boss...?"
Crocodile looked and noticed his Transponder Snail was active. Then he remembered Gottfried.
"GODDAMMIT! WE NEED TO MOVE NOW!"
-OP-
Kohza was utterly stunned but what he heard coming from Gottfried's mouth in Crocodile's voice.
"And you would not believe what else I heard too!" The Transponder Snail said. "Those banana croc pets of his are pretty chatty themselves!"
"And Father has his own Transponder Snail, so he'll also be aware of these plans!" Vivi realized.
"I recognize the woman's voice...She's had a price on her head for twenty years now." Smoker noted. "I believe the last bounty registered was 79 million."
Most of the crew was shocked, but not for the high bounty.
"She didn't sound any older than thirty!" Heart said. "Are you telling me she's had a bounty on her head when she was a child?! What sort of terrible crime could she have committed so young?!"
"The official crime is prying into government secrets," Smoker explained.
"Government secrets?" Amingo asked, scratching his head underneath his sombrero.
"There are a lot of things the World Government doesn't want known..." Penny frowned. "My father told me that much."
"I don't know the full details. But if she's joined up with Crocodile, then her back is likely to the wall. She's never really committed any serious crimes up until recently. No murders, no robberies, just moving from place to place eking out a living, being hunted the entire way." Smoker sighed. "Honestly, that doesn't sound like real justice to me. That sounds like torture."
"Good lord, that's horrible..." Double-D said.
"Well, whatever she did, she must've had a reason!" Marianne butted in, a desperate tone in her voice. This caught the attention of the others, her crew growing worried when they saw her fighting tears in her eyes.
"…She means the world to you, doesn't she?" Chopper guessed, Luna offering the painter a handkerchief to dry her eyes. Marianne simply nodded and managed to continue:
"Miss All-Sunday may be the Boss' right hand, but she's also everything he's not: Kind, caring to us…especially me; she always would bring me fresh paints and offer me ideas for my techniques and works….she even saved my life a few times!"
The Eds, Rolf, Calvin, Chopper and Luna were filled with memories of Crocus, the giants and Dr. Kureha doing the same for them as Marianne fell to her knees at Luffy, Sonson, Draco and Ben's feet.
"Please, Captains! I know I just joined and haven't done anything to warrant asking this, but…"
Luffy just leaned down and patted her shoulder. Ben cleared her tears as Sonson gave a thumbs up as Daco simply said.
"We'll save her. We owe her that much."
The painter smiled graciously and then recomposed herself, asking:
"What do we do first?"
"In any case, we need to track down Crocodile. By now he should be heading straight for Alubarna." Mifune said with a glare. "I have that bastard right where I want him."
"I'll head out there with my unit. However, I can't be seen escorting pirates." Smoker said.
"Not a problem. Me and Gottfried already got into contact with a bigger transport." Chopper said.
Said transport turned out to be a Moving Crab, a large crustacean perfect for desert travel.
"Whooooo! Riding on a crab! Riding on a crab!" Calvin cheered, his hands in the air.
"Beautiful landscape we're seeing here, eh?" Ben smirked as he turned to Penny, who giggled.
As they traveled along, Draco sensed something and quickly threw up a black ice barrier. There was a large thunk as Crocodile's hook hand impacted it, right near where Vivi was sitting.
"YOU!" Mifune roared as he saw the Warlord.
"Looks like we need to play interception," Ace said.
"We'll deal with Crocodile, the rest of you guys get Vivi to Alubarna!" Luffy ordered. "Go, now!"
"Be safe..." Penny said to Ben.
"No need to worry about me. I've got more lives than a herd of cats, love."
Penny giggled with a blush as Ben gave her a quick kiss on her freckled cheek before jumping down to join Luffy, Sonson, Draco, Bamia, Ace, Sabo, and Mifune as Crocodile appeared from the sand, not looking happy.
"You know, I've had enough of this nonsense. You've somehow been able to make a mockery of my schemes from Whiskey Peak all the way to here."
"Well, we have an army of Ds on our side. You really should be canceling your plans until we move on." Sabo pointed out.
"That old legend, is it? Well, I have some time to play around." Crocodile scoffed before tossing an hourglass onto the ground. "Three minutes. That's all I'll give you."
"Too bad, You'd need at least an hour. That is if you wanted to get serious about killing us." Ace smirked.
As if to demonstrate, Draco breathed out a plume of burning ash from his mouth, which actually impacted Crocodile, much to his shock.
"Sand can be countered by heat, it's part of how glass is made."
"What kind of Devil Fruit is that?" Crocodile pondered. "First ice now ash?"
"I ate the primordial Logia, an ancient Devil Fruit long thought to be the forefather of every Logia that came before it; TheDisaster-Disaster Fruit!"
Crocodile's eyes widened in shock before suddenly seeing Mifune appear right in front of him, the Kiba blades poised to strike as lightning coursed through them.
"THIS IS FOR MY FAMILY!"
Crocodile tried to just phase through the blades but found them actually cutting him, forcing him to dodge to avoid a killing blow.
"Either you haveHakior you coated those things in Seastone..." Crocodile noted before recognizing the swords. "Wait...those swords..."
"That's right, the Seven Swords of the Desert Mist!" Mifune declared. "The seven noble warriors you slaughtered and passed off as a bunch of mindless psychopaths in need of being put down!"
"That's exactly what they were! I was doing you a favor, brat!"
Crocodile tried to launch a powerful sandstorm, only for a storm of fog blood to counter it, forcing the Warlord back.
"BLOODY FOG!"Ben smirked.
Crocodile grunted. "At this rate, they won't be weak enough for me to finish them after three minutes. I'll have to finish this now."
Crocodile then slammed his palm down, creating a large sandpit in an effort to suck the group of six down.
"DESERT GIRASOLE!"
"FIERY CANNON!"Ace shouted as he grabbed Sabo and easily blasted his way out of the sand trap on jets of fire.
"Sorry!" Ben smirked in a definitely not-sorry tone as he flew up with giant vampire wings while carrying Luffy on his back.
"Nice try!" Sonson taunted as she sat on her Nimbus Cloud, Mifune hitching a ride with her while Draco flew with hisMothra Wings.
Crocodile snarled. "Damn it! The desert is supposed to be my element! Where no one can stand against me!"
"If it was impossible to survive in the desert, then Alabasta wouldn't exist," Draco said.
That sentence seemed to completely wipe the smugness and anger right out of Crocodile….who spied that the hourglass had been emptied.
"I have no more time for anything right now." The warlord growled as he prepar4ed to leave. "I need to finish my plan. Consider this first round a draw. But defy me further and I will end you."
"No, Crocodile...it'll be YOU that dies today...I'll make damn sure of it." Mifune snarled with a glare that could melt steel as a force came from him; a force that made the others all tense, but Ace, Draco, Ben and Luffy seemed less intimidated, even adding to the force.
The combined force told Crocodile one thing: These five had the same, or least the potential to have, the same strength as Whitebeard; the first person to ever deal him defeat. And for the others to be standing alongside them?
Retreat was the Warlord's only option.
Once their haki let up, Draco gave a glaring Mifune a look over.
'….Looks like we have another Conqueror in the crew.' He mused, then smirked. 'We Straw Hats may become what the Rocks pirates WISHED they were.'
-OP-
Meanwhile, the rest of the crew had reached the Going Merry at the edge of the river.
"Had to deal with a crazy fish while waiting. Some sort of large catfish." Nojiko said.
"Aye, the Sandoran Catfish, nasty little beast. Loves to snack on humans." Boss said with a sigh. "Bad day but then we had help."
Vivi and Carue looked with shocked joy as a whole group of super-spotted bill ducks ran up.
"It's the Supersonic Duck Squadron!"
The ducks all ran up to the Merry and saluted Carue, who saluted in return.
"Don't even try it, Lumpy!" Eddy said as he and Rolf held Ed back.
"BUT I WANT TO HUG ALL THE CHICKENS, EDDY!"
"THOSE ARE DUCKS, IDIOT!"
-OP-
Sometime later, the Officer Agents were waiting in ambush for the Straw Hats.
"Huh, check that out," Mr. 2 said as he noticed a cyclone of sand passing by.
"Must be the boss. Pay it no mind." Mr. 3 said dismissively before noticing a group of supersonic ducks, each with a rider on them. And all of them with their faces covered.
"There they are!" Miss Merry Christmas called out. "One of them has to be the princess!"
"Which one? Do we just go for her bodyguard?" Mr. 2 asked.
"No, they'd expect that. We should just take them out all at once." Mr. 1 said.
Mr. 3 started to unleash a massive wax attack, only for Ace's flames to hit it and cause it to melt. During this time, the group had split off.
"They're trying to reach the western gates!" Miss Doublefinger realized. "Even with the blockades, the royal guards will let anyone through if they're riding one of those ducks! We need to get inside the city and stop them!"
Little did the group know, none of the riders were Vivi. She and Kohza were being escorted inside by Draco, who was manipulating sand to make it look like he was Sir Crocodile. Marianne, Calvin, and Hobbes were with them, Marianne having used a part of her new Devil Fruit power,Jade Ghost, to make herself, Calvin, Vivi, and Kohza invisible in the process.
"You did amazing, Marianne." Vivi smiled at the ex-Baroque Works Agent, who blushed in response.
"Some of my men called in regarding an incident in Nanohana. Someone with my appearance was arguing with a figure that looked like Cobra." Kohza said. "But a small sandstorm had kicked up, so no one could be sure it was him. Though the fake did at least convince the rebel army to move on Alubarna."
"Since we just saw both Mr. 2 and Mr. 3, we should be able to convince the rebels that you didn't give that order," Draco said. "Is there anyone we can talk with in the meantime?"
"Chaka should be heading up the blockade," Vivi suggested. "We can speak with him first."
"I hope the rest of the gang are handling the bad guys," Calvin said. "I really wanted to be kicking butt with them as well."
"Well, we can't always get what we want, huh?" Hobbes said with Marianne smirking in agreement.
"Shut up..."
Knightmare Lord A/N:
In the next chapter, we kick off the final battle for Alabasta's freedom from Crocodile's tyranny! Will Mifune finally avenge the Seven Swordsmen of the Desert Mist? Will the Chimera Carpets make it back home in time? Find out all this and more in the next all-new exciting chapter coming soon!