Hey friends and fans! Kairomaru is bringing you another chapter of Journey to Raftel! Crocodile is using his Devil Fruit to fly east towards the royal capital of Alubarna after ‘losing’ the fight against Vivi and Luffy. Luffy immediately takes off after him on a somersault clod, screeching like an enraged monkey. Vivi informs the Straw Hats and Pell of the plan to defeat Crocodile here and now and prevent any ‘final battle’ scenario from happening. But when Operation Utopia is already in effect, can the final battle even be avoided?
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Chapter 29 – Desert Battle, Operation Utopia Begins
As the sun continued to set on Sandy Island, casting all of Alabasta into an orange glow and lengthening shadows, a cloud of sand flew above the desert towards the east.
‘Once I get to Alubarna, I’ll take some time to recuperate and treat my injuries. Then I’ll end this kingdom once and for all, I WILL get my hands on the location of Pluton! No one will stop me; I’ve spent too many years on this plan to have it ended by some upstart and the princess of this broken land!’ Crocodile thought to himself as he swirled the sand around his body powerfully and sped through the air swiftly under the power of his Devil Fruit.
But not swiftly enough.
THWACK
Something solid slammed into Crocodile’s back with enough force that for a fraction of a second he saw the image of Whitebeard in his mind’s eye. He didn’t even have time to wonder why he’d been able to be hit as a cloud of sand…the ground rushed up to meet him far too fast for such thoughts.
BAM
The impact kicked up a massive cloud of sand, dust, and grit obscuring the crater that Crocodile’s body had left in the sand.
“CROCODILE!!!” Luffy’s monkey-like screech was mixed with a bellowing roar as he stood atop his golden somersault cloud and looked down at the sandy dust. With a swipe of his Ruyi Jingu Bang, a strong wind blasted the cloud away, revealing Crocodile slowly pushing himself up from the center of the crater.
“You…ack!” Crocodile hacked out a mouthful of blood as pain radiated across his body. ‘How did he hit me?!’ That single blow had brought to mind the strike he’d taken from Whitebeard so long ago when he’d challenged the Yonko in the New World. A single hit so strong that it was like a full body beating delivered all at once. The same beating that had sent him fleeing from the New World and into Paradise for the last sixteen years, never crossing the Red Line again since.
Luffy didn’t give Crocodile time to gather himself. He reached up and grabbed some of the fur from his Full Beast Form body and pulled it out without even flinching. Tossing the hair into the air each one became a copy of Luffy, and every single one had a copy of the Ruyi Jingi Bang and a somersault cloud beneath their feet as they looked down on Crocodile all at once. The dozens of Supreme Grade staves were all pointed at Crocodile and extended faster than most people could blink. The Warlord of the Sea exploded into sand as the magically extended staves hit his location, stabbing into the sand below like a rain of spears.
Sand swirled around as the area of desert below shook and rumbled. Crocodile was literally IN his element as he took control of the landscape to add to his Logia Fruit’s power. “Desert Grande Espada!” His voice came from seemingly every direction at once. A split second later and massive rushing streams of sand pierced through ever somersault cloud in the same instant before going still and solid, sandstone spires stabbing and slicing upwards from the ever shifting sand of the desert.
Bam
From where he was hiding within the sand, Crocodile’s eyes widened as every single spire shattered back into dusty sand grain. He’d pierced every golden cloud…but he’d not hit a single version of Luffy. Every single copy, as well as the original, had sidestepped the sudden surprise attack as if they’d seen it coming, and then easily shattered the massive sand blades with a single job of their staves.
The fiery gazes of Luffy and his copies all zeroed in on Crocodile a second later, seeing through his transformation into sand. The sand exploded upwards as a dozen copies of Ruyi Jingu Bang extended to stab into the ground. With their immense strength, the copies heaved and the desert was lifted upwards and a small mountain of sand was thrown into the air. Streaks of gold chased the mass of sand into the sky as Luffy and his copies flew upwards on their somersault clouds.
Psh
Psh
Psh
Psh
Psh
Powerful swings of absurdly long staves split the huge mass of sand into cleanly separated pieces, as if a titanic sword had sliced through the sand at the zenith of its height. Before Crocodile could even process what had just happened, Luffy’s foot slammed into his chest and sent him rocketing out of the tiny section of sand that the Warlord had been hiding in…which had been purposefully separated from all the others.
“Guh!” Crocodile hacked out as the wind was knocked out of him from the force of the kick. He swiped his arm forward, a long and thin crescent blade of sand extending from it to slice through Luffy and as many of his copies as possible. “Barján!”
The monkey men easily dodged the desperate attack, some leaping up from their clouds and sailing high into the air. Others simply flipped their clouds and stood upside down on them, using their powerfully monkey feet to grip the somersault cloud and not fall off.
A blurring swing from one of the copies saw Crocodile’s body split in half in a burst of sand as the Ruyi Jingu Bang passed through him.
“You can’t hit me all the time.” Crocodile sneered as he whipped up a massive sandstorm. “Sables!”
The sandstorm swirled around, growing larger and larger as the wind howled loudly. But multiple copies of Luffy all began to spin their staves at the same time, creating immense wind currents that sucked away the air of the sandstorm, leaving it as nothing more than a slightly sandy breeze, much to Crocodile’s shock. Three Luffy’s blurred forward, one kick made Crocodile’s left leg explode into a cloud of sand. The punch to the back sent Crocodile flying forward with a grunt of pain. The tail slap from the third turned the right arm into another thin cloud of sand. Then one of the Luffy copies that had jumped high into the air came down with an axe kick strong enough to split a mountain and blasted Crocodile’s body back down in the desert with a tremendous blast that looked like a bomb had gone off.
All of the Luffy’s flew down on their golden clouds, their staves ready to slam into Crocodile as they blasted the cloud of dust and sand out of their way with a burst of intense wind.
“Desert la Spada!” Crocodile threw his arm forward and the limb transformed into a massive set of four fan-shaped blades that cut through the air in a blur.
Woooooooo
An icy breeze cut through the desert as the sun continued to set, the temperature dropping rapidly as a swirling blizzard torrent slammed into the four sand blades and soaked them thoroughly to the point they slowed down so much that any semi-capable combatant would be able to dodge them.
“What?!” Crocodile roared out with blood staining his lips and chin. He looked over to his left with wide, bloodshot eyes to see Vivi descending to the ground with giant white wings made of snow, a cloud of frost surrounding her.
“CROCODILE!!!” Vivi roared out as her ‘feathers’ became blades of hyper compressed snow, ice made solid and sturdy by layers and layers of compaction. With a flap of her wings all of the ice blades cut through the air with a whistle of bitterly cold wind.
Crocodile raised a wall of sand from the desert to block the flying ice blades…but had taken his attention away from the rapidly approaching Luffy’s.
BAM
Over a dozen staves slammed down on Crocodile’s body at the same time, three of them managing to maintain the thin amount of Armament Haki that Luffy had put into them, while the others only passed through the Warlord’s body harmlessly.
“ARGH!!!” Crocodile roared out in agony as bones shattered under the three successful attacks. His soaked sand blades from his previous attack crashing to the ground with a heavy ‘thump’ from how saturated with water they were. He forced himself to focus, the adrenaline pumping through him doing its job to keep him from passing out from the agony. In a wisp of sand and dust, he vanished from where he was and swirled into existence again at what he believed was a safe distance from both Vivi and Luffy. “You… You both have caused me too much trouble… I’ll end you both here in this desert, then move on to destroy the capital and finally bring this country crumbling down!” He threatened as he spat out blood from his mouth.
“That’s not going to happen!” Vivi shouted back at the man that had brought her kingdom to the brink of ruin. Snow swirled around her in an intense chilled breeze, almost looking like a writhing, thrashing living thing.
Luffy and all of his copies were still surrounding the impromptu desert battlefield on their somersault clouds and looking down on Crocodile, clearly ready to keep fighting. “Bring it on, you damn Croc!” They all bellowed out in unison.
Crocodile grabbed hold of his golden hook and pulled it, revealing it to have been a sheathe for the real hook beneath, one of steel with holes in it, dripping a strange purplish liquid. “This hook has the most potent and lethal scorpion venom in the world within it! A single cut is a death sentence!” A single drop of the venom fell from the hook and touched a small stone in the sand. A second later and the stone was partially melted as the highly corrosive venom ate away at it. Crocodile blasted forward by turning his legs into sand and was in the closest Luffy’s face a fraction of a second later. “DIE!!!”
“No!” The Luffy shot back as he weaved and dodged a flurry of stabs and slashes from the poisoned weapon.
“Crocodile!” Vivi proved that she would NOT be ignored by the enemy of her kingdom as she launched herself forward with a burst of snow, much like Crocodile had just done. She swung he hand forward her fingers transformed into identical ice and snow copies of her Peacock String Slashers.
Crocodile deflected three of the bladed weapons with his hook, but the other two scored glancing blows on his arm, leaving weeping cuts behind. The man’s blood flowed slowly though, as if thickened by the intense chill of Vivi’s snow. “You can be first then, princess!” He raised his injured right arm and reached for Vivi’s face in a blur, planning to drain her of every drop of water within her body and leave her desiccated husk to fall where it may.
Wham
Luffy’s fist slamming into his cheek disabused him of that notion and sent the Warlord of the Sea rocketing away, bouncing off the sand three times before he finally managed to turn himself into sand again and disperse. “Don’t touch Vivi, you stupid Croc!”
Vivi would have to thank Luffy later as she was fully focused on ending Crocodile’s life right here and now. “YAAHHH!!!” Her entire body exploded into a miniature blizzard and a lateral tornado of snow, ice, and wind was launched straight at the spot where Crocodile reformed. She didn’t even realize her use of Observation Haki to find the man, she just wanted to hit him as HARD as she could!
“Desert Spada!” Crocodile launched a MASSIVE version of his sand slicing attack, splitting the compact blizzard rushing at him. But that only made it explode into an immense burst of snow and ice that covered the area in inches and inches of snow. The sand, still hot from the day, rapidly melted the snow and was soaked in water. “Just die already!” He bellowed in rage as sand swirled into a tight, compact sandstorm within his right palm. “Sables: Pesado!” He threw the ball of rapidly swirling sand that was sparking with electricity straight at Luffy and Vivi.
Luffy took full advantage of his vastly superior mobility and simply scooped the airborne Vivi into his arms and flew to the side of the incoming attack. His copies all did the same, leaving the intense attack to blur through empty air before exploding a great distance away, kicking up a powerful wind filled with sand…though the destructive force was too far away to harm anyone. “You missed!” He taunted Crocodile with a wide smile, mimicked by all of his copies.
Crocodile was never good at taking any form of mockery and his rage was only amplified by the pain he was already in from this fight. “Desert la Spada!” The four gigantic fan-shaped blades were launched straight at Luffy and Vivi to sliced them apart even as they flew through the air.
“HYAH!!!” Vivi unleashed an avalanche from both of her arms turning into snow, the sand blades cut through it easily…at first. The sand was soaked by the snow, slowing down drastically, and then it began to freeze over under the intense chill and the fading heat of the desert as the sun had almost fully set now.
“Desert Grande Espada!” Crocodile touched the ground to conjure the titanic sand blades from the desert, but he blinked when his attack was much slower than it should be, the golden clouds easily flying around them this time. ‘The sand! It’s soaking wet!’ He realized the problem a second later as his hand came away from the sand with small clumps stuck to his skin. “Ground Secco!” He rapidly drained all of the water in a large area around him, removing every trace of moisture and making the sand dry and light once more.
His actions had cost him both time and attention, however.
“Vivi can we have some snow?” Luffy asked the woman in his arms with a mischievous smile.
“Sure?” Vivi was visibly confused by the request but when Luffy and all of his copies got close and held out the ends of their staves, she realized what Luffy was up to. “Oh!” She quickly turned her hands to snow and tightly packed both ends of every single staff with layers and layers of snow as quickly as she could.
The Luffy copies separated and flew in wide arcs through the air to surround Crocodile once more. Spires and blades of sand shot up from the newly dried out desert at blurring speeds as the Warlord attempted to skewer and slice every one of his enemies simultaneously.
A somersault cloud was left under Vivi by Luffy and lowered her safely back to the ground as he flew straight at Crocodile in a golden blur.
“CROCODILE!!!” Luffy’s monkey-like screech nearly shook the air as he closed in on the man.
A part of the desert rose upwards under Crocodile’s control into a small sand dune to shield him from the incoming attack. The hastily raised defense saved his life.
BOOM
Luffy exploded straight through the sand dune with a swing of Ruyi Jingu Bang. The snow and ice-covered end hit Crocodile like a battering ram, making him hack out a mouthful of blood as his sternum cracked under the force. Had the dune not absorbed a large amount of the charge for him, his torso would’ve been mostly mush from the hit.
Crocodile went flying, his feet leaving the ground entirely. Before he could hit the ground, another copy of Luffy was already in front of him and smacked him upwards with its staff. The rag dolling Warlord flew high, only to meet another copy of Luffy and be smacked laterally through the air to the next Luffy copy. Crocodile lost track of how many times he was hit, his mind flooded with pain as more and more of his bones cracked, every hit now landing true, but he hadn’t been able to see the snow and ice coated weapons to realize why every strike from Luffy was successful now. The feared ‘Desert King’ Sir Crocodile, a pirate that had a bounty of 81,000,000 Beri on his head before it had been frozen upon him becoming a Warlord of the Sea, was batted around like a ball between the various copies of Luffy.
“HUP!!!” Luffy, the original, extended his staff straight down into the beaten, broken, and bloody Crocodile, sending the pirate plummeting to the desert sands like a meteor.
BOOM
The crater was large and the dust and sand cloud covered the area for all of a second before, with a swing of their staves, the copies of Luffy blew it away.
Crocodile was only able to see from his right eye now as his left was swollen shut. The eye itself might’ve been smashed judging by the amount of blood pouring from the swollen flesh. He could only stare up at Luffy and his copies as they were now bathed in the silvery light of the moon atop their golden clouds, their fiery eyes all gazing down at him. In his nearly delirious state, he spoke through his busted mouth. “Wh-What…are you…?”
Luffy and all of his copies smiled widely. “I’m Monkey D. Luffy, an Adventurer and the Freest Man Alive!” The original Luffy jumped down from his somersault cloud and posed with his Ruyi Jingu Bang as he fell. “I’m the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, Sun Wukong!” He declared with a victorious cheer, recalling the boastful nature of the Monkey King from the book his grandpa had read with him and feeling an intense desire to proclaim such a thing as well for some reason.
The moment Luffy landed on the sandy ground…Crocodile struck like a desert viper. His right hand reached out for Luffy to drain the water from him and mummify the upstart that had done this to him. If he was going to die, then he would take this bastard with him!
“NOOO!!!” Vivi’s scream cut through the chilly night air like a blade. Throwing her hand forward, a thin wave of snow was launched in an arc that swiftly cut through the space between her and the two men, and then went beyond that…passing through Crocodile’s outstretched arm in the process.
Crocodile could only stare as his right arm seemingly floated in the air for a fraction of a second. Time had slowed down to his perception as he watched his severed limb start to fall as blood gushed from the new stump of his arm. Then he knew nothing at all as Luffy’s fist—covered in a slight haze of Armament Haki—impacted his head and slammed it into the ground with such force that a wave of air and displaced sand was sent in all directions.
Warlord of the Sea, Sir Crocodile, was dead.
“Bastard Croc.” Luffy growled, baring his monkey fangs down at the dead man.
“Luffy!” Vivi threw herself into Luffy’s arms, wrapping her own around him in a tight hug.
Luffy smiled and hugged Vivi back, noticing her nice scent in his Full Beast Form. “I’m okay, Vivi!” He assured her with a big smile as she slowly pulled back from their hug.
Vivi smiled back as the adrenaline of the fight slowly left her and she realized that she was actually a bit worn out. “I’m glad.” A cool night breeze blew through the area and Vivi let out a pleased hum, not shivering in the slightest. “Thank you so much, Luffy.” She looked up into his eyes with gratitude, relief, and joy…only to blush cutely when Luffy pulled her back into a hug and gently squeezed her.
“I told you that I’d beat up this damn Croc for you, Vivi!” Luffy said with a wide grin and a chuckle.
“Yeah…” Vivi nodded, laying her head against Luffy’s shoulder as they continued their embrace. “…you did.” She felt a warmth in her tummy and had a soft smile on her lips as she held Luffy close and enjoyed being held by him. For just this short moment, she could relax and let the tension leave her body without worrying about anything else.
One of Luffy’s copies that was still standing atop its personal golden cloud called down to the two below. “The others are coming!” The greater height allowed him to see the figures under the moonlight as they rapidly approached.
Vivi reluctantly pulled away from Luffy’s embrace. “We need to get to Alubarna and meet my father. Then we can stop this war without any more bloodshed.”
“Sure thing!” Luffy smile at her as his copies descended. “I’ll fly us all over there fast!”
-Alubarna, Royal Palace ~ King’s Chambers-
Nefertari Cobra was looking out of one of the windows in his private chambers, his gaze looking out over Alubarna. ‘The army is prepared to move out. All that remains is the journey across the desert and the Sandora River to Rainbase.’ He would, of course, be leading this charge himself. He was the King and it was his responsibility to protect his people from any that would bring them harm. “We must eliminate Crocodile at any cost. Only then will the kingdom be safe.”
Clunk
A sudden noise got Cobra’s attention and he turned to look around…but didn’t se anyone in his personal chambers.
One of the large tiles that made up the floor suddenly lifted upwards, much to the King’s shock and two people were revealed. A large blonde man in a green shirt holding the massive heavy tile up over his head, and a short, older woman that looked to be half-mole half-human.
“No way, no way, no way!” Miss Merry Christmas said rapidly as she climbed out of the hole in the floor. “We can’t have you and your army fighting the Boss before everything is ready!” She brandished her large mole claws at the king of Alabasta. “The plan needs you to be gone for a while, so you’ll be coming with us!”
“Four…” Mr. Four said slowly while nodding once. Still holding up the large floor tile like it wasn’t heavy at all.
Cobra glanced over at the wall near his bed, his sword was resting there like it always was. If he could just get to it, then he could fend off these infiltrators long enough to get to the door and call for his guards. “You must be part of Baroque Works, Crocodile’s organization.”
Miss Merry Christmas nodded multiple times. “Sure are, sure are! Looks like your princess spilled the beans about us! Well, she’ll get hers in time! Yes, yes, yes!”
“You’ll do no such thing!” Cobra thundered while lunging towards his bed and the sword on the wall beside it.
“Hey, hey! None of that now, your majesty!” Miss Merry Christmas declared as she blocked his path with her arms spread wide, mole claws at the ready. “You just come with us without doing anything stupid! You got me?!” She caught Cobra with one of her claws and struggled to hold the king as he fought against her. But the king had been sick for a long time now, his strength wasn’t what it used to be, and Miss Merry Christmas was a Zoan Fruit user, which made her stronger than most people. “Simmer down! We gotta go! Come on, come on!” She wrapped both of her clawed hands around the king and picked him up with his arms pinned to his sides. “Make way, Mr. Four!” She hopped down into the hole she’d dug in the ground, taking Cobra with her.
Mr. Four took a second, but then he blinked and realized he could lower the tile now. Slowly and carefully he bent his knees and made sure the tile was settled back in its proper place so that it wouldn’t be noticeable as having moved. “Job…done…” He started to say, only from Miss Merry Christmas to interrupt him.
“Heck no, you idiot! The job’s not done until we get him to the holding point!” The Mogu Mogu no Mi user lightly kicked her partner. “Now hurry up and restrain him! Hurry up, hurry up!” Miss Merry Christmas ordered rapidly as they secured their target and then made their way back down the tunnel to get outside the palace without being noticed.
Several minutes later and there was a knock on the chamber doors.
“Your Majesty. The army is ready to move out.” Chaka called through the door. When he didn’t get a response, the Royal Guard pressed his ear to the door. “Your Majesty? I’ve come to get you as you ordered.” When there was still no response, Chaka narrowed his eyes. “Please forgive me, your Majesty, but I’m coming in.” he opened the door and looked around, but didn’t see the king anywhere. Entering the room fully, he walked around, but didn’t see anything out of place. “Did he already head down to the castle gate where the troops are?” It would be against what had been previously ordered of him: to come escort the king to the meeting point once the army was ready to move out; but he knew his king was passionate about protecting the people from Crocodile’s insidious schemes. “I need to meet him down there quickly then.” He said before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.
-Katorea-
The rebel forces stationed in the oasis town were all visibly tense and on edge. The final battle was approaching and everyone knew it. This would be the last attempt, their final desperate act to take back their country that had been starved of rain by the king.
However, there were rumors that the missing Princess Vivi had returned and been seen in Alabasta for the first time in three years. These rumors had been further substantiated by a few Transponder Snail calls from Rainbase earlier…though the description of Princess Vivi matched, the strange claims of her creating snow and flying seemed absurd to most. But the rumors only continued to get stranger as Pell the Royal Guard had been seen with the supposed princess and there had been fighting going on with strange armed men that had attacked the people that the princess was with as well as the princess herself.
Koza, the leader of the rebels, wasn’t sure what to think at the moment. He and Vivi had known each other since they were kids…but with her sudden disappearance three years ago, no one knew what to think. In the room he was staying in, Koza looked up at the ceiling as thoughts swirled about in his mind. ‘Is it really you, Vivi? Where have you been for the last three years? Why would you appear right before our last charge? The timing is just too convenient for the Royal Faction…is this all just some ruse to make us hold off?’ He didn’t have the answers, but he had almost seven-hundred-thousand rebel soldiers that needed him to have the answers.
Hidden in the shadows of Katorea a group of Baroque Works agents that weren’t already planted within the rebel army were preparing for their part in the plan of Project Utopia.
“Tomorrow morning will be my best performance yet!” Mr. 2 said with a wide smile as he prepared his faked royal robes. “Men! Be ready to play your parts as well! Though I may be taking the lead, a swan star is only as good as the back up players that support it!”
“Yes, Mr. 2!” His men called out as they were preparing their soldiers outfit, carefully smuggled out by Barque Works agents planted within the royal army.
The okama laughed to himself a little as he touched his face and took on the form of King Cobra. “Now I need these royal robes properly fitted! A costume must be perfect for it to fool everyone!”
Two of his men came over and held up the robes so that Mr. 2 could slip into them.
“Do remember that we need to get this done soon, otherwise we won’t be getting any sleep tonight before the big show early in the morning!” Mr. 2 told the group as the fake royal robes were pinned up and new measurements taken.
“Yes, Mr. 2!” The group called back as they sped up their work a bit more, not wanting to have to go without sleep right before the most crucial part of the final plan from Mr. Zero himself.
‘As long as the ship with all of the weapons on board arrives on time tomorrow morning on schedule, then everything will go perfectly!’ Mr. 2 thought to himself, knowing that the other group currently in Katorea would ensure that the said ship had a little ‘accident’ and ran aground to spill out its payload of weaponry right after he broke the people’s trust in the king with his performance.
-Black Cage Corps-
“Ma’am, are you sure we should head for the capital?” One of Hina’s subordinates asked as they prepared to move out. It was easier to travel in the cold of the desert night than it was by the heat of the day. They had even hired a few local guides to get them to the capital quickly and safely.
“Hina can’t shake the feeling that things aren’t right.” Hina said as she narrowed her eyes in thought. “Everything that we’ve learned about this secret Baroque Works organization points to them being in Alabasta. And the Mr. 11 we captured was assassinated before we could interrogate him for answers. Something is going on, but Hina doesn’t know what.”
The soldier nodded once in agreement, still feeling the sting of shame that their prisoner had been killed while under their custody. “Yes, Captain! I’ll make sure the men are ready to move out within the next ten minutes!” He saluted Hina properly.
Hina looked at her second-in-command. “Make it ten. Hina is frustrated that we haven’t uncovered the truth yet.”
“Aye, aye, ma’am!” The second-in-command took off to get every Marine ready to head out ASAP.
‘The rebels accuse the king of using Dance Powder, a substance banned by the World Government, to steal the rain from the rest of the island. But if that’s the case, why doesn’t it rain nearly constantly in the capital? Dance Powder only works for a certain amount of time before needing to be burned again to trigger more rain. Where could they be burning it where people wouldn’t notice any rainfall in this drought-stricken country?’ Hina pondered on the accusations levied against the king and the lack of the missing rain showing up anywhere else. “Ensign!” She called out and one of her officers rushed over.
“Yes, Captain Hina, ma’am!” He saluted properly, awaiting orders.
“Take the Black Cage ships and have half of them sail along the west coast of the island and the other half sail along the east coast of the island. If they meet up at the far side of the island, have them returned to Nanohana port.” Hina ordered as she realized that the only place the missing rain could fall was in the ocean. “Hina suspects that we’ll find a ship containing illegal cargo somewhere off the coast of Alabasta, away from any ports or seaside towns.
The ensign nodded as he memorized Hina’s orders. “Yes, ma’am!”
Hina gave one final set of orders before sending the man off. “If they find the ship that Hina suspects is out there; they are to capture it swiftly and with as little damage as possible, both to the vessel and its cargo. Capture and detain any and all personnel on board.”
“Yes, Captain!” The ensign salute once more before he rushed off towards the port to relay Hina’s orders to the two Lieutenants that served as the leaders of the ships when both Hina and the second-in-command were away.
“Hina won’t allow any other pirates or criminals to escape her on this island!” Hina promised herself as she lit up a cigarette. She was STILL annoyed that Portgas D. Ace had so easily escaped her. ‘And we have no leads on that young man that stopped all of us and allowed ‘Fire Fist’ to escape either.’ The only thing they knew for certain was that he wasn’t a pirate…or if he was a pirate, he wasn’t one with a bounty at any rate.
As night grew later, the various forces on Sandy Island made their plans to determine the fate of Alabasta. None knowing that the mastermind behind everything was already dead.
-End Chapter-
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
And so falls Crocodile!
You shouldn’t have fucked around, you sandy bastard!
Vivi played a direct role in the defeat of the man that tried to destroy her country! You don’t see that in most stories, huh? Her Yuki Yuki no Mi powers gave Crocodile no end of trouble and she rapidly improved in their usage in live combat. Survival is one hell of a motivator though!
Luffy was no slouch either though! The powers of Sun Wukong, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, have an answer to damn near EVERYTHING! He’s just SO broken…please nerf! Kek!
But none of Baroque Works knows that their Boss has been taken out! Project Utopia is still underway! Mr. Four and Miss Merry Christmas kidnap Cobra! Mr. 2 and his men are preparing to frame the king and use his face and form to ‘confess’ to using the Dance Powder! Even the parts of the project that only ‘Mr. Zero’ knew about are still moving forward…including Crocodile’s large and explosive ‘insurance policy’ hidden within the capital!
Captain Hina is starting to put all the pieces together, but in this puzzle, many of the pieces are missing from the start! Can her ships find the Dance Powder ship that she believes is hidden off the coast? Will the Marines’ presence in the capital help or hinder the battle against Baroque Works? Only time will tell!
Will the Straw Hats arrive in Alubarna before things go sideways and the rebels are spurred into a final, desperate charge? What can be done to stop Project Utopia when all of it wasn’t even known to Baroque Works?
Keep reading to find out!
Until next time, later!