บท 24: Chapter 24: One of The Seven Warlords Of The Sea, Crocodile!
Luffy and most of his crew were currently trapped in a prison cell made entirely of sea prism stone. Luffy was currently sitting on the bench inside the cell with the navy captain from Louge Town, Captain Smoker. Luffy's crew, on the other hand, was having completely different reactions to being trapped in a cage when compared to their captain. Nami, Usopp, and Johnny were panicking while trying to pry the bars open with their bare hands while Nojiko and Yosaku were sitting in the corner of the cell trusting that Luffy had a plan to get them out of there, while Zoro was sitting on the floor with his back leaned against the bars sleeping without a care in the world. While the crew were having their own reactions to being trapped in a cage, Luffy and Smoker were sitting on the bench with a 2 ft space between them staring out at the cell at the man sitting on a big armchair with a desk in front of him staring at all of them with a smug smile on his face.
"Would all of you stop struggling," Crocodile said smugly while looking at the trapped pirates. "You'll all die here together, so why don't you stop struggling and accept your fate," he said before he started laughing maniacally. The three members of Luffy's crew who were panicking earlier began to sweat slightly and immediately huddled together before they all yelled out at once.
"I DON'T WANT TO DIE!" the three of them yelled out causing Luffy's eyebrow to twitch ever so slightly.
"Would you three put a sock in it!" Luffy yelled shutting them up and waking Zoro up in the process. "I told you earlier to calm down, didn't I?" he added rhetorically.
"Your pathetic screaming isn't helping the situation one bit," Smoker added as he took a puff of the two cigars in his mouth.
"Monkey D. Luffy," Crocodile said as he held up Luffy's wanted poster. "To think the Navy gave you a 100 million berry bounty. It's absolutely ridiculous!" he said before he started laughing. "You're not even worth 1 million much less 100 million," he said arrogantly while laughing causing Luffy to smirk.
"You're every bit the lowly sea scum I imagined," Smoker said while looking at Crocodile.
"My my, you're every bit the wild dog I heard you were, Smoker," Crocodile replied while staring at Smoker. "Unlike your superiors, you never really believed I was on your side, did you?" he asked with a smug smile on his face. "And of course, you were right," he added as he got up from his chair and began walking towards the prison cell allowing the straw hat pirates to get a good look at him. He was a tall man with a wide chest, broad shoulders, muscular arms and legs, and a thick neck. He has pale skin and nape-length black hair, which is kept neatly slicked back, though strands tend to fall in front of his face during battles. Crocodile has various battle wounds, most notably was 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. His eyes are deep-set and heavy-lidded, and his thin eyebrows are characteristically drawn upward in the middle. "I have a feeling that you'll die honorably in the line of duty. I will be happy to inform the government that you died fighting valiantly against the vicious Straw Hat Pirates," Crocodile said causing Luffy to chuckle.
"It's a believable story I'll give you that," Luffy added with a chuckle causing Smoker to growl.
"I've been wanting to meet you for the longest time, Straw Hat," Crocodile said turning his attention over to Luffy.
"Oh my, it would appear as though I have a fan," Luffy said calmly.
"Even though your existence has just become known to the public, I heard you are causing quite a stir with the Navy, the government, and the grand public as well," Crocodile said causing Luffy to raise an eyebrow in curiosity while the rest of his crew looked on in confusion.
"Huh?" Luffy said as he tilted his head to the side and looked at the warlord. "What are you talking about?" he asked in confusion. "I haven't even done anything yet," Luffy said causing Smoker and Crocodile to look at him like he was crazy.
"Wait, you mean to tell me you don't know?" Smoker asked while looking at Luffy. The straw hats looked at the marine captain with confusion written all over their face.
"Know what?" Luffy asked. Crocodile walked back over to his desk and grabbed a newspaper before walking back over to the cell and showed it to the group. When everyone saw the newspaper all their eyes except for Luffy widen in shock at what they were seeing. Luffy just smirked he saw the front page. On the front page of the newspaper was a picture of Luffy standing on the execution platform in Louge Town with his arms spread out wide while a beam of sunlight pierce through the thundercloud infested sky shining down upon him like a spotlight from heaven. As if the picture wasn't shocking enough the headline just made the picture look even more shocking. The headline read: "THE NEXT KING OF THE PIRATES?" Zoro saw the picture and immediately remembered seeing that scene in person at Logue Town while the rest of Luffy's crew were seeing it for the first time.
"I take it you remember doing that?" Crocodile asked as he folded up the paper.
"That was about a month ago and come to think about it I hadn't read the paper since we entered the Grand Line," Luffy replied with a shrug.
"Well, since then at least every week there is a news story about you," Crocodile said to Luffy surprising him. "From you slaughtering an entire city of bounty hunters to you overthrowing a king in the Drum Kingdom," Crocodile enlightened causing Luffy to take on a serious look on his face and narrowed his eyes slightly.
'Which mean that someone has been following us,' Luffy thought to himself. The idea of him being followed by someone all this time and he didn't notice anything rubbed him the wrong way. He is going to need to find this person because he cannot run an underground crime syndicate and have someone following him like this. That is just asking for trouble. Luffy placed it at the back of his mind for now opting to deal with it later.
"But enough about you, Straw Hat," Crocodile said knocking Luffy out of his thought. "It would appear that our guest of honor has arrived," he said causing Luffy to raise an eyebrow.
"Guest of honor?" Nami asked with confusion written all over her face. Just as she asked that question the doors on top of the staircase behind Crocodile opened and in walked Vivi and Ms. All Sunday.
"Crocodile!" Vivi shouted from at the top of the staircase.
Vivi!?" Nami and Nojiko yelled out in surprise while Luffy just sat there with an emotionless look on his face.
"My humble greetings, Vivi royal princess of Alabasta," Crocodile said as he walked over and sat back down on his armchair. "I compliment you on having evaded out assassins to get this far," he added smugly.
"You have no idea how far I am willing to go to see you dead, Mr. 0," Vivi added with an angry look on her face. "I wish you died in your cradle you monster!" she yelled before she leaped forward to attack Crocodile with her peacock slasher. Luffy saw this and sighed at the princess's foolish attempt to kill the warlord. "This country would still be peaceful if it wasn't for you!" she yelled.
"Peacock String Slasher!" she yelled as she thrust her peacock slasher forward slicing clean through Crocodile's head and the back of the armchair. Luffy's crew saw this and had their eyes widen in shock while Luffy and smoker looked on with an unchanging looking on their face before they both spoke at the same time.
"Not going to work," they said in a monotone voice simultaneously. Just then Crocodile's entire body turned to sand before it began to reform into Crocodile's body behind Vivi.
"Feel better?" Crocodile asked from behind Vivi scaring her. "As a native of this country, you must surely know that I have the power of the Sand-Sand fruit," he said as his body reformed and he grabbed the princess and placed his hand right hand over her mouth and his left hand with the hook around her waist. "Want to become a mummy?" he asked with a smile on his face while Luffy's crew began screaming at him to let the princess go. "Have a seat, Princess," Crocodile said ignoring the straw hat as he placed the princess down on an empty armchair opposite from his own with the princess's arms bounded behind her. "The part if just about to begin. isn't that right Ms. All Sunday?" he asked while looking over at the woman with the cowboy hat on.
"Yes," she replied as she pulled out a pocket watch. "It is exactly noon right now. Time for operation Utopia," she said getting Luffy and Smoker's attention.
"Utopia?" Nojiko asked while looking at the woman.
"What's operation Utopia?" Usopp asked causing Crocodile to start laughing maniacally.
"It will mean the demise of the kingdom of Alabasta, Ms. Wednesday,' he said while looking at Vivi. "I'm going to wipe it off the face of the map as though it never was," he said causing the princess to gasp out in shock.
"Damn you!" Vivi said while biting her lips. "Just what do you think you are going to do to Alabasta?" she asked in an annoyed tone.
"Princess, would you like to know what kind of people I despise above all others?" Crocodile asked with a smirk. "Those hypocrites preach endlessly about the happiness of the people," he said.
"You plan to kill my father?" the princess asked. "You'll be dead before you can get close to him!" she screamed with a crazy look on her face.
"You needed shout. I'm not going to touch a hair on his head," Crocodile said with a sinister smile on his face. "He is not even worth Killing. Instead, I will have him experience a humiliation worse than death," he said puzzling everyone except Luffy.
"What's worse than death?" Usopp asked himself as he looked out of the cage.
"Have him live and watch all of his people die," Luffy said to Usopp as he pulled out his bottle of whiskey and two glasses. "As a king, that's a faith worse than death," he added as he poured some whiskey in both glasses before sliding one glass over to Smoker. Smoker looked at the glass and then looked at Luffy before he growled and pushed it back towards Luffy causing him to chuckle at the marine captain's sense of duty.
"Monster," Nami whispered out as she stared at the warlord.
"I demand that you tell me, what is this operation Utopia!" Vivi yelled out causing Luffy to chuckle at the princess getting everyone's attention once again.
"What so funny!" Nami yelled at Luffy.
"It's funny that the princess thinks that she is in a situation to make demands," he said with another chuckle causing Crocodile to chuckle along with him. "Another thing that's funny is when she said Crocodile would be killed before he gets close enough to her father," he added before he took a sip of his drink. "Sorry to say this princess but he can get as close to your father as he wants to cause it is a simple fact that your father's royal guard is made up of just regular human beings. People like me, Smoker, and Crocodile, we're monsters in human skin," Luffy said coldly while looking at the princess. Vivi stared at Luffy with an angry look on her face. In her mind, he wasn't helping the situation one bit. All he was doing was sitting there drinking without a care in the world and that really made her mad. Luffy's crew were having multiple reactions to what Luffy just said. Nami and Usopp were wondering if Luffy had a once of sympathy in his system while Nojiko, Johnny, and Yosaku were trying to figure out what Luffy had planned to get them out of here. Zoro on the other and was wondering why he wasn't on the list of monsters Luffy just named. Is it because he didn't have a devil fruit? Smoker, however, agreed with everything Luffy just said even though he would never admit it.
"Now isn't that the truth," Crocodile said while looking at Luffy.
"Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't already have the king," Luffy said before he took another sip of his drink. When everyone heard that they all snapped their heads around at Crocodile to see his reaction. When Crocodile heard What Luffy said he started to laugh manically once more causing all their eyes to widen in shock while Vivi was pale as a sheet as she stared at Crocodile with a grief-stricken look on her face. "And the fact that we had to opportunity to meet Mr. 2 I can only hypothesize that you are going to have him impersonate the king," Luffy added in a monotone voice while staring at Crocodile.
"Well aren't you a smart on, Straw Hat," Crocodile replied smugly.
"The only question that remains is what you are going to have Mr. 2 do while he impersonates the king. Is he going to kill his own men? Name you king? Or is he going to kill his own loyal subjects?" Luffy asked while looking at the warlord. "It doesn't really matter which one he does really. All of them are going to bring out the same reaction out of people," he said before taking another sip of his whiskey.
"What do you mean?" Nojiko asked while looking at Luffy.
"Whatever Mr. 2 does as the king will spread throughout the entire country. Rebels from different towns and cities will mobilize and citizens who once had faith in the king will take up arms. Soon the entire country will rebel against the current king which would lead all of them to one place and one place only..." Luffy said as he narrowed his eyes and stared at Crocodile through the bars. "...Alubarna," he said in an emotionless voice.
"Is that your plan!?" Vivi yelled at Crocodile. "Is that it? Have all the people in the country overthrow my father!?" she yelled out
"No that's not it, Princess," Luffy said getting her attention. "Earlier he said he wanted to wipe Alabasta off the face of the map. Him overthrowing the king does nothing of the sorts. This leads me to believe that he has something planned for everyone once they reach Alubarna," Luffy added as he looked at the Warlord before a smirk slowly crept on his face. "Isn't that right, Scarface?" Luffy asked with a smug smirk on his face.
"Looks like straw hat got you there, Mr. 0," Ms. All Sunday said causing Crocodile to growl and look at her.
"Enough fooling around," he said before he turned and looked at Vivi. "It is time for us to head to Alubarna ourselves, Ms. Wednesday," he said before he reached into his coat and pulled out a small golden key. "If you would like to come with us then please do, or you can try and save them," he said as he held up the key from Vivi to see.
"The key to the cell," Usopp said as he stared at the key. The warlord then stretched out his hand with key and held it over a hole in the floor that seems to lead to another room under the one that they were in. Vivi immediately began to struggle and try to break free from her bonds just as Crocodile let go of the key causing Luffy's crew's eyes to widen in shock. At the last moment, the princess finally broke free from her bonds but sadly it was too late. The key fell through the hole in the floor down to the lower level.
"Oh no," Vivi said in a dejected tone.
"It won't be too long until the rebels and the royal army battle to the death in Alubarna. If you hurry you might just make it in time," Crocodile said in a condescending tone. "To stop the rebellion, you need to leave at once, Ms. Wednesday. Will you do that or try and save your friends instead?" he asked with a chuckle causing the princess to clench her fist in anger. "If you chose the latter it doesn't help that I accidentally dropped the key in the banana gators den," Crocodile said smugly. Just then inside the den of the banana gators a rather large gator came up and ate the key.
"Oh no! A banana gator ate the key!" Vivi yelled as she looked down the hole. Luffy's crew began to give up hope of escaping while their captain just sat there as though everything was alright.
"I am terribly sorry," Crocodile said as he began walking towards the staircase the Ms. All Sunday. "But we must be going. Time is of the essence," he said as they walked away, and the two doors began to open for them to exit. "Oh, and speaking of time this room will be destroyed in exactly one hour," he added causing a few eyes to widen. "It is either 1 million innocent citizens or a bunch of mere pirates who have no future. It's time to choose, but to be honest, the odds are quite low for both," he said as he turned and looked at the distraught princess. "I hope you like gambling, Ms. Wednesday because like they do on the tables upstairs, you are going to have to roll the dice," he said before he started to chuckle once more. "Just like I did with this country. It was quite easy with all fools that live here like those rebels and that foolish old man digging in Yuba," he said causing Luffy's head to raise slightly and his eyes to narrow onto Crocodile.
"Now Crocodile," Luffy said getting the warlord's attention. "You wouldn't happen to mean that dried up old guy, do you?" Luffy asked in a dangerous tone of voice that cause Zoro to get up and move away from his captain.
"Of course," he replied smugly to Luffy. "That old fool keeps pecking away all day at an oasis that's long dead. Even as he is plagued by constant sandstorms he keeps digging away," Crocodile mocked causing Luffy to clench his fist and get up from his seat for the first time since they been there and stared at Crocodile with cold emotionless eyes.
"You should quit will you're ahead, Crocodile," Luffy said in clam yet menacing tone. "Or I'll make what Whitebeard did you look like child's play," he said causing the warlord to lose his smile and growl while unconsciously grabbing his golden hook before his face morphed into a smirk.
"Let you ask you a question, Straw Hat," Crocodile said with a smug smirk. "Ever wondered how a sandstorm can hit a town perfectly every time?" he asked. Just as he asked the question a bolt of lightning shot out of the cage missing all of the sea prism stone bars int he process and hit Crocodile right in his left eye destroying the left quarter of his face causing bits of glass to fall towards the ground. It happened so fast people were still puzzled at what just happened. Even Crocodile himself didn't know what just took place. All he saw was a bright flash of light before he suddenly lost sight in his left eye and the sounds of something hitting the floor filled the air. When he looked down at the ground next to his left foot her saw a bunch of glass flakes laying there puzzling him. He then brought his hand up to his face and felt a hole in the place where the upper left quarter of his head should be. The hole was slowly repairing itself due to him being a logia user, but it was repairing itself a lot slower than normal.
"I warned you," Luffy said as he stared out of the prison cell. The Warlord looked at Luffy for a minute before he chuckled and turned around and began walking through the tunnel. As he was walking through the tunnel, he snapped his fingers causing a trap door to open in the floor and a huge gator to come out of it with its eyes set on Vivi. After that, a bunch of smaller trap doors opened and water from the lake surrounding Rain Dinners to gush out of the doors causing the room to slowly be filled with water.
"Ahhhhh! We're going to drown!" Usopp and Johnny yelled while hugging each other. Crocodile just laughed at the helpless pirates as he and Ms. All Sunday began walking away. The giant gator then began making its way towards the helpless princess to devour her. Luffy seeing that the princess doesn't stand a chance unleashed a wave of conqueror's haki aimed at the giant gator causing the giant beast's eyes to roll back into its head and pass out onto the ground with a big thud. Luffy's crew were somewhat surprised but not as much as they use to be. Smoker, on the other hand, was beyond surprise. He had no idea what just happened, one moment the gator is about to eat the princess and the next it just passes out on the floor. He didn't see Straw Hat do anything, so it puzzled him just how the gator ended up unconscious without anyone moving a muscle. Crocodile and Ms. All Sunday heard the thud and decided to turn around to see what happened. When they looked behind them, they were expecting to see a dead princess but instead, they saw the giant beast that rivals a sea king in terms of power laying on its back unconscious. Just as they were about to walk back towards the room to deal with the princess themselves, a transponder snail in Ms. All Sunday's position began to ring.
*purupurupuru* *purupurupuru*
"It would appear as though someone is calling," she said as she held up the snail in her right hand.
*purupurupuru* *purupurupuru* *Clachak*
"Hello?" she said into the phone.
"Hello? Hello?" A familiar male voice said through the transponder snail. "Can you hear me?" he asked causing Luffy to smirk once he recognized the voice.
"Yes, we can hear you. You're a million, right?" Ms. All Sunday asked.
"Hurry up and state your business, what is it?" Crocodile asked getting a bit impatient.
"Now I know I've heard that voice before," Sanji said through the phone puzzling the warlord. "Yeah hello there, you've reached the crap cafe," he said earning a chuckle from his captain.
"Crap cafe?" Crocodile asked still puzzled just who it is on the other end of the line.
"Yeah, if you still don't remember maybe this will jog your memory. Little Garden..." Sanji said causing Crocodile to think about it for a while before a look of realization spread across his face.
"Ah yes, mind telling me who you are," the warlord said.
"Me? Just call me Mr. Prince," Sanji replied.
"Well then, Mr. Prince, mind tell me where you are?" Crocodile asked. Before Sanji could reply to his Question Luffy yelled out to him from inside the prison cell.
"Hey, Mr. Prince!" Luffy yelled loud enough to reach the transponder snail. "We got a lovely princess here who needs saving!" he yelled causing Zoro and Nojiko to chuckle. "Who knows, she might just give you a kiss if you manage to save her!" Luffy continued trying to sweeten the deal for his perverted chef.
"VIVI-CHAWNNNNNN! I'M COMMINGGG!" Sanji yelled through the snail causing everyone to chuckle.
"Oh and ...kill anyone who just in your way!" Luffy added loudly in a serious tone causing all the yelled on the other end of the transponder snail to suddenly stop before Sanji replied.
"Aye, captain," Sanji replied in a serious tone before the sound of the transponder he was holding hit the ground and screams were suddenly heard coming out from it.
"Helppppp!" a man yelled.
"Please! Spare us!" another begged.
"It's a monster!" one screamed.
"Stop them before they make inside the Rain Dinners!" the voice of Chopper said pretending to be one of the Baroque Works agents causing Luffy to smile.
"Come on, Let's go pay this Mr. Prince a visit seeing as how he is right outside," Crocodile said as he began walking away from the Straw hats. When he was far enough away Luffy spoke to his crew.
"Okay, I think it's time we get out of here," Luffy said as he walked over to the side of the prison wall.
"Hey, straw hat," Smoker said getting Luffy's attention. "That woman with Crocodile..." he said with narrowed eyes.
"Is exactly who you think she is," Luffy said finishing Smoker's sentence. "With her being here means one thing and one thing only. Crocodile wants the information that's on the Poneglyph that the Nefertari have in their position," Luffy said before he turned to the wall and held up his right fist before coating it in armament haki. "When building a prison cell to hold devil fruit users you should put sea prism stones all over the cell, not just the bars in the front," Luffy said before he punched the concrete wall with his haki coated fist causing the entire cell to vibrate for a while before cracks slowly worked their way throughout the wall causing it to come crumbling down.
"You mean you could have escaped here anytime you wanted?!" Nami, Vivi, and Usopp yelled at Luffy as they all exited the cage.
"Well yeah," Luffy replied nonchalantly. Nami was about to shout something else at her captain but before she could, the entire build shook violently.
"What the hell is going on up there?" Nojiko asked as he looked around.
"I think we got bigger problems down here," Yosaku said. As she said that the sounds of glass breaking filled the air as the windows shattered causing even more water from the outside to pour in.
"Damn, that shockwave coupled with the water pressure from the outside cause the windows to break," Luffy enlightened with a sigh. "And on top of that I can't swim," he stated to himself but loud enough for everyone to hear. He was about to speak again but before he could the voice of his chef interrupted him.
"Captain!" Sanji yelled as he ran down the staircase towards the crew.
"Sanji, where is Chopper?" Luffy asked as he noticed Sanji was by himself.
"He is running around town acting as Mr. Prince," he said causing Luffy to nod.
"Come on, we need to get...out...of...here," Luffy said as he fell to his knees due to the water level rising.
"CAPTAIN/LUFFY!" his crew yelled as they saw him fall to his knees. Luffy was still conscious and he can see and hear everything that was going on. The only thing was he didn't have the energy to do anything about. He looked off to the side and saw Smoker was in no better shape than what he was. Zoro and Sanji being the closest to their captain grabbed onto him as the room began to fill with water.
"Zoro...grab Smokey," Luffy said in a weakened voice.
"What?! Why!?" Zoro yelled/ asked as everyone began to try and swim out of the room.
"Just do it," Luffy replied before he and Sanji were submerge under the water. Zoro left Sanji to take care of Luffy while he dove under the water to find the marine captain. The entire crew swam out through one of the broken windows to the lake outside of Rain Dinners where they resurfaced dragging an extremely weaken Luffy and Smoker to shore. When they all resurfaced Sanji laid Luffy down on the ground causing him to spit out some water as Nami and Nojiko came up after him dragging an unconscious Usopp while Vivi, Yosaku, and Johnny came out just fine followed by Zoro dragging out a weakened Smoker.
"Zoro, what the hell?" Nami said when she saw who Zoro pulled out of the water.
"Don't look at me," Zoro replied as he stood up. "Captain's orders," he added as he turned and looked at Luffy. Smoker began to slowly get up while coughing trying to get some of the water out of his lungs before he looked over at Luffy after hearing what Zoro said.
"Why did you save me?" he asked Luffy.
"Come on now Smokey," Luffy said with a chuckle as he stood up. "Who's going to chase after me if you die," he said before he clenched his fist and covered his entire body in lightning for two seconds before shutting it leaving steam surrounding his body as the water from his once wet cloths evaporated. Smoker just looked at Luffy for a while before he finally spoke.
"Then you wouldn't have any gripes of me carrying out my duty and arresting you, would you?" Smoker asked causing Luffy to smirk.
"You're going to have to put that off because we got bigger problems," Luffy said causing Smoker to raise his eyebrow. "Whether you want to admit it or not this country is going to hell cause of Crocodile and we are going to have to work together if we want to stop it," he said seriously.
"Why do we need to do that?" Smoker asked as he lit the cigar he had in his mouth.
"Cause, you don't have nearly enough men here to deal with this alone and it would take too long for reinforcement to arrive here," Luffy said before smirking at the marine captain. "The only option you have is to team up with us," he said causing the marine to growl.
"You make it sound like you have multiple options," Smoker noted earning a chuckle from Luffy.
"I do," Luffy replied confidently. "My crew and I can do everything ourselves, however, I have some respect for you. So, instead of the papers reading Pirates save a country while the Navy did nothing, I'm giving you a chance to save face," Luffy said earning silence from both his crew and Smoker. Luffy and Smoker stared at each other for a few minutes before Smoker finally spoke breaking the silence.
"Fine, but after this the next time we meet I'm taking you down," he said before taking a puff of his cigar.
"You're welcome to try," Luffy replied with a smirk.
"And I want Crocodile alive at the end of all this so he can pay for his crimes," Smoker added earning a nod from Luffy.
"That's fine with me," he replied. "We know Crocodile has something planned for both armies in Alubarna, however, we do not know what," Luffy said earning nods from everyone. "Let me and my crew take care of Crocodile and stop the rebellion while you and your marines try and figure out what it is he has planned and stop it," Luffy said causing the marine captain to begrudgingly nod his head in agreement. Smoker was about to say something else but before he could they all heard shouts coming from behind him. When everyone looked behind the marine captain, they saw a group of marines being led by the swordswoman who is always with smoker running towards them.
"Not her again!" Zoro said with a panicked looked his face. Before anyone could say or do anything, ropes of lightning came out from Luffy's fingers and wrapped around his crew before he teleported himself and his crew away from their current location.
On the outskirts of Rainbase, a bolt of lightning struck down onto the desert kicking up a dust cloud and turning the sand of the point of impact to glass. When the dust cloud cleared one could see Luffy standing there with all his crew members hunched over on the ground looking as though they are about to puke.
"Hey Sanji," Luffy said getting his attention. "How are we going to find Chopper?" he asked causing all of them to realize that they were still missing Chopper.
"Oh right," Sanji said before he turned to Nami. "Nami, could you spray that perfume that I bought for you," he stated causing Nami to shrug her shoulders before she pulled out a small bottle of perfume and sprayed it on herself.
"Now all we have to do is wait for him to find us," Sanji said before he proceeded to swoon over Nami. Luffy ignored all of it and looked up to the sky and began to summon the thunder cloud that he normally uses as his throne. After waiting for about 2 minutes he could finally see the cloud descending from the sky at a high rate of speed. By now everyone else noticed it as well, however, they were all thinking that Luffy summoned it to give them a ride to Alubarna. When the cloud arrived Luffy quickly waked up to it and stuck his hand inside and pulled out his captain's coat before giving the cloud the command to leave. As the coat exited the cloud it shot straight up back into the sky at a blinding speed puzzling everyone.
"Isn't that cloud going to take us to Alubarna?" Nojiko asked Luffy while looking at him with a puzzled look on his face.
"Considering the fact that that cloud has all of our money and treasure stored inside it and us traveling through the dessert will only risk it being destroyed. I would say no, it's not taking us to Alubarna," Luffy replied causing Nami to gasp out in shock.
"I wholeheartedly agree!" Nami yelled out.
"Of course, you do," Zoro and Usopp said lowly causing Nami to hit them in the head. Luffy then pulled off the blue wrap he had around his hat and face along with the dessert robes he had on over his clothes and threw them on the ground causing everyone to look at him with a serious expression on their faces.
"Enough games," he said as he threw his captain's coat on and adjusted his straw hat. "It's time to get serious," he stated as the wind blew across the desert and the sounds of his coat billowing in the wind filled the air. "We're ending this now, understood!?" he yelled out/asked.
"Aye aye, Captain!" his crew replied.
"Hey, look over there!" Yosaku said getting all their attention. When everyone looked at him, they saw him pointing to the right of their current location causing all of them to look in the direction that he was pointing. When they looked over, they saw something making its way towards them. As it got closer and closer the crew were finally able to see what it was. "It was Chopper and the camel that they saved riding on the back of a giant crab.
"What the fuck?" Luffy, Zoro, and Nojiko said at the same time at the stared at the scene before them.
"that's a moving crap!" Vivi said with a smile.
"All aboard!" Chopper yelled out as the giant crab came to a stop in front of them.
"I guess Chopper found us a ride," Luffy said as he walked towards the crab. The giant crab lowered its claw allowing everyone to step on it before it raised it in the air allowing them to walk onto its back.
"Time to move out!" Chopper said as he took the reins. "Hang on everyone! Let's go!" he said before the crab took off in the direction of Alubarna. Everyone sat down as the giant crab was moving, everyone except Luffy that is. He was standing looking off in the direction of where they previously were with a smirk on his face.
"Zoro," he said earning his vice-captain's attention along with everyone else's. "You're in charge," he said before he reached into his coat and pulled out a transponder snail and threw it to Zoro who caught it and looked at his captain with a confused expression on his face.
"Where are you going, Luffy?" Vivi asked while staring at him with a worried expression on her face.
"To end this," he said. As she said that he stretched his hand forward and caught a golden hook, which everyone recognized as Crocodile's before it could get to Vivi. Luffy held onto the hook tightly as it tried to wiggle its way out of his grip but sadly it had no luck. He then covered his hand and the hook in lightning giving Crocodile a shock of his life forcing him to pull his hook away after Luffy released it. "I'll see you guys in Alubarna. Make sure to take care of your business," he said before turning his body into lightning and teleporting off the crab.
"Luffy, nooo!" Vivi yelled out as she tried to jump off the crab to try and stop Luffy only to be stopped herself by Nami and Nojiko.
"Relax Vivi," Nojiko said while holding the princess back.
"Yeah, no one has ever faced Luffy and was able to walk alive when Luffy is like this," Nami said trying to calm the princess down. "Trust me on that," she added.
"Crocodile will fail and Luffy will win. It's that simple," Zoro added while everyone else nodded in agreement. "So, stop worrying about him and focus stopping the rebels," he added raising his voice slightly.
**With Luffy**
Lightning struck down in the middle of the desert in front of two people kicking up sand blinding their view of the point of impact. When the sand settled back down the two people saw none other the Thunder Demon himself standing there with his hands in his pocket staring at them with cold emotionless eyes.
"I'm going to make you wish you never interfered in my business, Straw hat!" Crocodile yelled as he nursed his left hand.
"And I'll make you wish your mother swallowed you that night you were conceived," Luffy replied in an emotionless tone.
**CHAPTER END**
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AaronTaichou
AaronTaichou HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS CHAPTER! NEXT CHAPTER WE FINALLY SEE LUFFY V CROCODILE ALONG WITH LUFFY'S ORGANIZATION BEGINNING AND LUFFY CLAMINING ALABASTA AS HIS TERRITORY!
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