Royal Mausoleum:

-x-

"Well, Straw Hat Luffy, this is a good way to die," Crocodile taunted as he stood on top of the Royal Palace holding Luffy's shriveled and mummified form by the throat. The entire lawn below them had been turned into a desert over the course of their second battle. The three water balls that had been Luffy's last desperate shot to get Crocodile continued to fly up into the sky. The face of the clock on the clock tower that loomed over the square where the Rebel Army and Royal Army were fighting read four twenty-four. "Within six minutes this yard will be blown up along with the square!"

SWIP! Crocodile released his hold on Luffy's throat and let the mummified pirate drop from the palace down onto the sandy lawn below.

"I'd stay but I'm in a hurry," Crocodile taunted. "You just wait right there, okay? And then you can celebrate the new King of the sand country." TMP! Luffy's still body finally hit the sand. "Now then... I should be on my way. He said it was in the mausoleum to the west of here." SHWOOOO! Crocodile's body became a cloud of sand and the Warlord floated off.

But had Crocodile stayed a moment longer he would have seen the three balls of water drop down from the sky and land on the prone pirate lying in the yard. PLURT-PLURT-SPLOSH!

"YAAAAH! THAT WAS WAY TOO CLOSE!" the rehydrated Luffy shrieked as he sat up with a start. The wet pirate sat there panting as he attempted to recover from almost dying at Crocodile's hand a second time. "THAT BASTARD! HE TOOK OFF!"

Luffy looked to the side where he'd seen the sand cloud float off from his position on the ground "I think he flew off in that direction," Luffy reasoned. "HE WON'T GET AWAY WITH THIS! DAMN HIM!" With that, Luffy was back on his feet and was off chasing after Crocodile.

-x-

Just outside of Alubarna, Y/N and Nico Robin followed King Nefertari Cobra along a stone path that led to an ancient-looking stone monument.

"So this is the Royal Mausoleum," Nico Robin remarked as she surveyed the stone tomb with a small smile, "where generations of your Kings lay in their eternal rest."

"You seem interested in this sort of thing," Y/N noted.

"Of course," Nico Robin replied. "I'm an archeologist. I've been studying this Kingdom's long and storied history since I first came here. But I believe we're here for the Poneglyph."

"Your Majesty, if you wouldn't mind?" Y/N prompted.

"I trust you know what you're doing?" the King asked. "Crocodile can't be allowed to find the Pluton. If its deadly power lives up to the legend Crocodile could use it to destroy the world."

"Nobody wants Crocodile to get the Pluton," Y/N stated. "But I've found that people like him are at their most arrogant when they believe their evil plans are going perfectly. And when they're arrogant, they tend to make the biggest mistakes. If Crocodile manages to escape from Luffy and makes it all the way here he'll think everything is going smoothly. And that's where I'll capitalize."

King Cobra nodded and moved off of the path and over to a large rectangular pedestal with a statue of a Sea-Cat on it. With his arms no longer bound behind him by one of Nico Robin's extra arms the King was able to push the pedestal and turn it ninety degrees.

CHUNK! Y/N and Nico Robin watched in surprise as a rectangular panel of grass rose up into the air and revealed a stone staircase.

"Hidden stairs," Nico Robin observed.

"The Poneglyph is kept down there," King Cobra informed them.

Y/N walked over to the staircase and stared down it into the darkness of the hidden tomb. "So... who wants to go down the dark and creepy staircase first?" he inquired.

Nico Robin pushed passed him and started down the stairs without a second's hesitation. Although she kept her composure, there was no hiding the almost eager smile on her face.

"You're allowing her lead the way?" King Cobra asked him.

"I'm allowing her to check for booby traps," Y/N replied before they followed after her.

"Very few people even know of the Poneglyph's existence," the King pointed out as they made their way down the stairs.

"Only an archeologist would," Nico Robin admitted, "Many events occur behind the scenes. Just because a country belongs to the World Government doesn't necessarily mean that its King knows what is going on."

"I smell a conspiracy," Y/N commented.

Nico Robin stopped in her tracks and looked over her shoulder at him, "So do I," she agreed.

"I'm surprised there's still someone left in this world who can read them," King Cobra admitted.

"That's why Crocodile and I became a team in the first place," Nico Robin stated. "It's also why he can't kill me. I'm no use dead." She went to continue down the stairs but stopped herself so she could look back at Y/N and the King. "Tell me... is it correct that the Poneglyph in this country tells where Pluton is? Is that really the case?"

"Alabasta's Royal Family has been obligated for generations now to protect it," the King replied. "That duty is about the only thing we know about it."

"Protect?" Nico Robin repeated. "Don't make me laugh." She continued down the stairs.

The only sound was their footfalls until Y/N spoke up, "Then what are you looking for?"

The faint smile that appeared on Nico Robin's face remained hidden to the two men behind her. She eventually answered, "The secret behind the conspiracy."

They reached the bottom of the stairs and made their way into a large hallway. The ceiling was easily fifty feet high and was supported by large columns that were each as thick as three grown men. The short walls that lined the hall and connected the columns had hieroglyph carvings into them and the occasional statue could be seen.

"This place is quite impressive," Nico Robin commented as she and Y/N surveyed the old room around them.

"Can you read these symbols too?" Y/N inquired as he looked at the carvings on the walls.

"I could if I took the time to study them," Nico Robin replied."However, those symbols appear to make up a different language than the ones on the Poneglyph."

"The Poneglyph is located behind the doors in the back," King Cobra supplied.

KREEK! Y/N and Nico Robin each pulled opened one of the large double doors and while the King stopped in the opened doorway and bowed his head, the other two continued on.

Rather than focus on the room in front of him, Y/N looked at the woman beside him and noted the full smile lit up her face as she stared at what laid in front of them.

"Ah! There it is!" Nico Robin gasped.

-x-

"Aaaahhh..." Tashigi groaned as she laid face-down on the ground in the middle of the street. The bodies of the fifteen Marines that Nico Robin had strangled were still lying nearby.

The defeated Marine dragged herself along the ground towards her broken glasses and her dropped sword. She thought of how easily she'd been defeated. Her fight with Nico Robin was over before it started. The woman treated her like a little girl wielding a sharp stick. In an instant Tashigi had been disarmed and helpless. Then the woman had added to her humiliatingly quick defeat by breaking her leg.

One Eye had been the one to defeat her. Tashigi had been the bait that Nico Robin used to lure him out into the open. But somehow he had withstood the attack from Nico Robin's Devil Fruit powers and managed to defeat her then headed off with the criminal and the King as if nothing had happened while Tashigi had been left behind to wallow in her defeat.

Ssshhhwwwooo... a cloud of sand blew into the street and suddenly the tall, blurry form of Crocodile was there standing over her.

"Hmph," Crocodile grunted.

"Crocodile... it's you..." Tashigi gasped.

"Kuahaha," the treacherous Warlord chuckled. Tashigi didn't need to see him to know that he was looking down at her as if she was a worthless dog. "Looks like Nico Robin made short work of you. I must say, I never thought the Marines would follow me to the city. Where's your boss? Did that smokey idiot run away and leave you all alone?"

"I need you to keep a vigilant eye on this country and where it ends up," Smoker had instructed Tashigi and Devo before he headed off and left them alone in a situation where they were clearly in over their heads. "Whether it falls or whether it survives the dawn of a brand new historic age is on the horizon."

"Justice is only for the people who take it," Crocodile taunted, "That's the kind of world we live in, girl. Why don't you just go back to your base and talk about justice until you're actually ready to fight for it."

"And at least this way, if Crocodile manages to get away from Luffy again I'll be able to set up an ambush," One Eye had said before heading off with Nico Robin and the King.

A pirate had defeated a notorious criminal while she, a Marine Officer, had failed. And now he was ready with an ambush for the treacherous Warlord standing over her while all Tashigi could do was lie there and fight not to cry. SINCE WHEN WAS IT THE PIRATES THAT FOUGHT FOR JUSTICE?

"Kuahahahaha," Crocodile laughed as he walked passed her. To him, Tashigi wasn't even worth the effort to finish off.

BANG! A Sea Stone net flew at Crocodile but the Warlord casually side-stepped it and searched for the one who was foolish enough to fire at him. Lieutenant Devo was on his knees at the bottom of the wall Y/N had knocked him into and had fired the net from his rifle.

"Worthless," Crocodile taunted as he began advancing on the Marine Lieutenant.

BANG! A bullet went through Crocodile's forehead but the hole filled with sand as the Warlord walked right up to the wounded marine. Whap! Crocodile grabbed Devo by the throat and yanked him up off of the ground. BANG! Devo fired his last bullet but it harmlessly passed through the Warlord's chest and went out his back. WHAM! Crocodile slammed the Marine into the wall behind him and Devo's guns dropped to the ground. KLAK-KLAK!

"Your efforts are pointless," Crocodile mocked the marine. "You can't hurt me so you'll never stop me. Justice will only be a distant dream for a weakling like you." WHUMP! Crocodile turned and threw Devo down onto the street.

Devo struggled to get up but was pinned down when Crocodile stepped on his right elbow. TMP! "You'll die along with the other cretins in the square," Crocodile stated. "But before that, you'll learn the price for opposing me without actually having the strength to do it." Crocodile's hand and arm became a blade of sand. "DESERT... SPARDA!"

SKUSSSH! "AAAAARRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!" Devo's bloodcurdling scream carried over the rooftops as Crocodile's attack split the street... and his arm.

"Kuahahahahahaha!" Crocodile laughed as he walked off and left the Marines lying defeated on the ground behind him. "That was quite therapeutic." After all the trouble Luffy and Y/N had caused him, being excessively cruel towards someone who had no hope of fighting back or making him pay for it made the treacherous Warlord feel a lot better. Torturing someone, just because he could, made him feel powerful once more.

-x-

"Kuahahahahahaha! Worthless!" Usopp copied Crocodile's cruel laugh as he stood in an alley holding a broken hook on his finger. It actually wasn't that bad of an impression.

KONK! Zoro hit the sniper over the head, "WHAT'RE YOU DOING?" he demanded.

"WHAT AM I DOING?" Usopp retorted hotly, "I'm trying to get inside Crocodile's head! THAT'S WHAT! Like, if I were him, where would I wanna shoot a cannon from?"

"JUST KEEP LOOKING!" Zoro yelled. "WE ONLY HAVE FIVE MINUTES!"

-x-

"Five minutes to go until a million people all die!" Chopper frantically thought to himself as he ran down a street in Walk Point form with Ayako still riding on his back and Nami running alongside him. "We really need to hurry! We don't have much time left! We have to find the cannon!"

"Chopper, do you think you can find the guy by using your nose?" Nami asked.

"That won't work," Chopper told her, "the only thing I can smell anywhere is gunpowder."

"We have to do something!" Nami exclaimed. "Try finding the smell of a guy whose about to blow up the square with a big cannon!"

"WHAT KIND OF SMELL IS THAT?"

"Frogs," Ayako piped up. "Try to smell for frogs."

"Why frogs?" Chopper questioned.

"Crocodile's bound to have one of his top remaining agents guarding the bomb," Ayako explained. "Since all the Officer Agents have either been defeated or defected and Mr. 3 killed Mr. 6 and Ms. Mother's Day before our mission to kill you on Little Garden, the highest ranking remaining Officer Agent is Mr.7. He and Ms. Father's Day are a sniping pair so they'd be the best to have guarding a cannon until it goes off. Ms. Father's Day wears frog-themed clothing, shoots frog-shaped bullets, and even smells faintly like frogs."

"Well, that's the best we can come up with," Nami resolved. "Chopper, put that nose of yours to work and find something that smells like frog in all this gunpowder!"

"Right!" Chopper agreed as they raced onward. At least now they had some possible cannoneers in mind.

-x-

ZZZZOOOOOM! Sanji sprinted down a street as fast as he couldn't while still making sure he was able to check for the cannon.

"Grrr... a cannonball that can blow up that big an area..." Sanji growled to himself.

But suddenly he had an idea, SKIIIISSSSSHH! The cook skidded to a stop and stood in a crouch as he thought about the situation.

"Hold on, in that case it's gotta be really big," he reasoned, "And if it's gonna be shot out of a cannon then it surely can't go very far. SO IT'S GOTTA BE CLOSER TO THE SQUARE!"

Sanji prepared to race off again but stopped himself, "GAAH! THERE'S NO WAY I HAVE TIME TO GO ALL THE WAY AROUND!" THWHAM! The cook raced at the building in front of him and kicked a huge hole in the wall. "There! A shortcut!" Sanji continued smashing his way to the square. Now at least he had a much more specific area to look in.

-x-

"Anything from the sky Pell?" Vivi called up to Pell as he flew above her in his falcon form.

"I searched every rooftop near the square," he reported, "I couldn't find any sign of a cannon."

"Then it may be in a building somewhere," Vivi suggested.

"Right, I'll search them all," Pell vowed. WOOSH! He flapped his wings and ascended back up into the air and took off again.

-x-

TMP! Mana landed on a rooftop and stared down at the figure on the ground below her.

"Hey! Are you still alive down there? I need you for something!"

-x-

"Lieutenant!" Tashigi cried. She'd somehow managed to drag herself passed the unconscious marines and over to the wounded and bleeding form of Lieutenant Devo. Crocodile's sadistic spur-of-the-moment attack had sliced Devo's forearm clean off. Now nothing remained below his elbow. The Marine Lieutenant's right arm had been reduced to a bleeding stump. "Lieutenant! Stay with me!"

"Where's Crocodile?" Tashigi looked up and saw Luffy standing there barefoot and hat-less on the other side of the unconscious marines.

"Straw Hat!" Tashigi called out.

"Where'd he go?" Luffy asked. "Where?"

"Ah!" Tashigi gasped.

"One of Crocodile's men is going to fire a bomb into the square where the two armies are," One Eye had attempted to warn them. "It'll wipe out everything within three miles. Make yourselves useful and lend my crew a hand in finding it and disabling it and let me handle this."

"HE'S TELLING THE TRUTH!" King Cobra had shouted. "PLEASE! THE BOMB IS SET TO GO OFF AT FOUR THIRTY! IF IT DOES A MILLION CITIZENS WILL DIE!"

Tashigi remembered her humiliating defeat at the hands of Nico Robin, her broken leg still hurt but it was nothing compared to Lieutenant Devo's amputated arm. She remembered how One Eye had succeeded where she had failed and defeated the woman.

"And at least this way, if Crocodile manages to get away from Luffy again I'll be able to set up an ambush," One Eye had said before heading off with Nico Robin and the King.

"Justice is only for the people who take it," Crocodile had taunted her, "That's the kind of world we live in, girl. Why don't you just go back to your base and talk about justice until you're actually ready to fight for it."

"You can't hurt me so you'll never stop me," Crocodile had mocked Lieutenant Devo after effortlessly defeating him. "Justice will only be a distant dream for a weakling like you."

"You'll die along with the other cretins in the square. But before that, you'll learn the price for opposing me without actually having the strength to do it." Crocodile taunted before cleaving Devo's arm off.

Tashigi knew where she stood now. She didn't have a hope of defeating Crocodile. But Straw Hat and One Eye both seemed determined and able to stop him from carrying out whatever his treacherous plans were.

"TELL ME RIGHT NOW!" Luffy shouted. "WHICH WAY DID HE GO?"

Tashigi hung her head and pointed in the direction Crocodile had gone. "Towards the Royal Mausoleum," she answered, "That way."

"That direction?" Luffy questioned. "Thank you!" With that he ran off down the street in pursuit of Crocodile.

Tashigi fought to keep from crying. She and the Lieutenant hadn't been able to lay a hand on Nico Robin or Crocodile. And now she was reduced to relying on two pirates to carry out justice. There was no way she could make it back to the square in time on a broken leg. All she could do now was make sure Lieutenant Devo didn't die from his wound and hope that her remaining men managed to find the bomb and that the wanted pirates Straw Hat Luffy and One Eye Y/N could succeed where the Marines had failed.

"What justice is there?" Tashigi whispered as she broke out into open sobs. "To hell with Marine Headquarters..."

-x-

"HUFF! HUFF! HUFF!" Luffy ran as fast as he could towards the Royal Mausoleum. And since he didn't have the first clue what that was he just kept running in the direction Tashigi had pointed and hoped to come across something that looked suspicious.

SPLURT! Blood squirted out of Luffy's stomach. His wound from his first fight against Crocodile still hadn't fully healed. And he'd just recently barely survived being turned into a mummy during his second defeat.

Luffy staggered to the side and slammed into a building and dropped to the ground, WHAM! FWUMP!

"I can't move very well..." Luffy groaned as he tried to push his over-exerted body further. "This is strange... I ate all that meat... What's wrong? These wounds are small."

Luffy forced himself back onto his feet and managed to stagger another few steps forward. "I wonder... if I should... lie down..." FWUMP! Luffy collapsed onto the grass lining the path to the Royal Mausoleam.

As the fighting raged on in the square and the seconds until the bomb blew everyone up ticked by, Luffy closed his eyes and passed out right there on the grass.

-x-

Croc-ish:

-x-

Nico Robin stood in front of the huge stone cube and read the strange symbols while Y/N and King Cobra could only standby and watch.

"So... what's it say?" Y/N inquired.

"Did it tell you everything that you wanted to know?" King Cobra asked.

"Judging from the look on her face those are two separate things," Y/N observed.

"It's not what I'm looking for," Nico Robin admitted. "Are you sure this is the only Poneglyph in this country?"

A sly grin appeared on Y/N's face, "I might've seen something."

Nico Robin whirled around to face him, "Where? What do you know?"

"You first," Y/N retorted, "What are you looking for?"

-x-

High up above them on the surface, Crocodile walked along the stone path towards the Royal Mausoleum. It was then when he spotted the trapdoor and the hidden stairs that Y/N, Nico Robin, and King Cobra had left opened.

"Kuahaha," Crocodile chuckled, "Now I see it... secret stairs."

-x-

The Straw Hats and Ayako raced through the streets of Alubarna frantically searching for any sign of the cannon and the bomb.

The clocktower that loomed over the square read four twenty-six.

"Just four more minutes!" Vivi exclaimed.

-x-

"Zzzzzz..." Luffy let out a faint snore as he continued sleeping on the patch of grass near the Royal Mausoleum.

-x-

Crocodile hadn't seen Luffy and had begun to make his way down the stairs to the secret tomb.

-x-

"I doubt you've ever heard of the Void Century," Nico Robin stated, "It's something only and archeologist would know about. And thanks to the World Government, I'm the only one left. The Void Century is a hundred-year time-span that was completely wiped from the history books. It was several centuries ago and I believe it was the time period where the Pluton was created and then disappeared. At the end of that time the World Government was created and all evidence of what happened has been erased and covered up. The only thing left from that time period are the Poneglyphs. I'm trying to uncover the conspiracy and find the True History."

"..." Both Y/N and King Cobra were silent as the processed this information. An entire century has been erased from existence by the World Government. Clearly something had happened that they didn't want anyone to know about.

"Now..." Nico Robin continued as she looked at Y/N imploringly, "What do you know?"

Y/N reached down into his bottom right pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper, he unfolded it and handed it to Nico Robin, "Can you read this?" he asked.

Nico Robin stared at the etching with her eyes narrowed, "I doesn't say much," she informed him. "The only whole words that you managed to copy are 'terrible power'."

"When we first landed here, my Nakama and I headed for Yuba because that's where Vivi thought the Rebel Army was based," Y/N explained. "Along the way four of us got separated from the others and we ended up stumbling upon an underground dome. There was a Poneglyph down inside it. None of us could make out a single word but the ominous feeling I got from inside of the dome made it seem interesting. I copied some of the characters and left behind a way to find it again if I encountered someone who could read them."

"Could you take me—" Nico Robin's request was cut off when the double doors began to open.

"Shit," Y/N cursed, "Out of time." SKISH! He dashed away and ducked behind the Poneglyph.

KREEEEK! Crocodile made his way into the room and approached Nico Robin and the Poneglyph with a smile on his gray face.

"Just like any other national secret," Crocodile remarked, "No matter how hard you look you won't find it unless you already know where it is." Crocodile stopped and stood beside Nico Robin, "So... this is the Poneglyph we were looking for..."

"That didn't take much time," Nico Robin commented as she looked away from the Poneglyph and over at Crocodile.

"Now that you have this thing in front of you, were you able to decipher it?" Crocodile asked.

"Yes," Nico Robin answered.

"Now read it aloud," Crocodile instructed. "What does this thing say?"

Nico Robin glanced down at the folded paper in her hand then turned to the Poneglyph and started to read. "Kahira conquered Alabasta in Year of Heaven 239... In year 260 Taymar ruled the Bitein Dynasty... in year 306 the Taph Cathedral was completed in Erumalu... in year 325 the Hero Mamudin..."

"HEY HOLD ON!" Crocodile interrupted, he'd grown angrier and angrier as Nico Robin's 'history lesson' progressed. "WHAT'S THIS? Is this really all of the information here? I don't give a damn about this desert's history! I want to know about the World's most dangerous military power that's hiding in this country! WHERE IS THE PLUTON HIDDEN?"

Nico Robin looked back at Crocodile, "That information isn't on here."

"WHAT?" Crocodile demanded.

"History is the only thing that this text contains," Nico Robin stated.

"That's all?" Crocodile asked.

"Pluton... I didn't see it anywhere..." Nico Robin told him. "It isn't mentioned on this Poneglyph at all."

"..." King Cobra's eyes had gone wide in surprise.

Hidden behind the Poneglyph, Y/N grinned.

Crocodile stared at Nico Robin and the Poneglyph for a moment. "Not mentioned at all..." he repeated before he closed his eyes and frowned, "I see. That's unfortunate." Nico Robin looked at him in surprise. "You've been an excellent partner, but even so... I think that I'll kill you right here."

"AH! WHAT?" Nico Robin gasped in alarm as she took a step away from him.

"The agreement that we made four years ago has been fulfilled," Crocodile informed her. "Do you remember the terms of that agreement? I was to bring you to the Poneglyph and in turn you would hand over the information on the weapon to me. The work you've done for Baroque Works these past four years was excellent but in terms of intellect and your ability to command. Your usefulness to the company has been reason enough to keep you around. But in the end you've spoiled it all! BY BETRAYING ME! NICO ROBIN!" SWISH! Crocodile lashed out at Nico Robin with his golden hook, she leapt backwards to avoid the blow and lost her white cowgirl hat in the process.

"It's decided then," Y/N resolved as he turned around and silently climbed on top of the Poneglyph.

"You say the Poneglyph in this country doesn't say anything at all about the Pluton," Crocodile said. "Is that true? WAS THIS THE PLAN ALL ALONG? To hide the information from me even if you were able to find something useful?" Crocodile closed his eyes. "But even so... I don't feel any anger towards you. Do you know why that is, Nico Robin?"

"Hmph, fool," Nico Robin grunted as she reached into her coat. "I knew you'd try something like this some day so I'm more than ready." Nico Robin pulled out a vial of water and threw it at Crocodile. SWIFF!

"Water, huh?" Crocodile questioned as he leaned his head to the side to avoid the vial. WHAP! An arm grew out of Crocodile's shoulder and caught the vial.

Nico Robin pulled out a knife and seamlessly transitioned from archeologist to assassin. "IF YOU GET WET THEN A KNIFE SHOULD GO RIGHT INTO YOU!" she shouted as she charged at him and had her arm throw the water vial down at Crocodile.

SHHWWOOO! But the Warlord became a cloud of sand and the glass vial went right through him and shattered on the floor. KRESH!

Nico Robin stopped in her tracks and looked frantically around for Crocodile. "Damn it, where'd he go?"

SHWWOOO! Crocodile reformed in front of her and lashed out his hook. SWISH!

KLANG! But the blow never came.

"YOU!" Crocodile shouted as Y/N stood in between him and Nico Robin and blocked Crocodile's golden hook with the red blade of his sword.

THWHAM! Y/N lashed out his leg and drove the Sea Stone bottom of his boot into Crocodile's stomach and sent him flying backwards.

SKISH! Crocodile skidded to a stop and glared at Y/N and Nico Robin as they stood across the room from him.

"The only reason I didn't finish you off at the palace is because this one kept interfering," Y/N commented. "But now that you tried to kill her... it looks like she'll be working with me instead of against me."

"Hmph," Crocodile grunted, "I could've refused you and that entire palace to nothing but a pile of sand! I held back because there were people around that needed alive."

"That doesn't make you any better," Y/N retorted, "Just stupid."

"YOU MISERABLE LITTLE BRAT!" Crocodile snarled at Y/N then he glared at the woman standing next to him. "So you're siding with him then, Nico Robin. Your treachery knows no bounds."

"His health plan seems better than yours," Nico Robin stated.

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised," Crocodile admitted, "Because I never trusted you from the very beginning of our partnership! If you want to side with him...then the two of you can die together. But now the kid gloves come off." Crocodile grabbed his golden hook and pulled. Clak! He pulled off a hollow gold covering and revealed a thinner silver hook with holes all over it. Purple gas rose out of the holes as Crocodile showed off his new venom. "My poisonous hook contains a powerful scorpion venom. It's strong enough to melt through rock and kill anyone with a single slash. You two have caused me too much trouble to be granted a clean death."

Nico Robin glanced at Y/N and slipped the folded piece of paper that was still in her hand into one of the pockets inside of her coat.

"You're deadly little toy doesn't scare me," Y/N told Crocodile. "This Kingdom means the World to Vivi. I won't allow your plans to succeed. I'll defend it until my last breath."

King Cobra stared at Y/N then glanced at the column behind him. The secret mausoleum had been built so that disturbing just one column would destroy the balance of the entire structure and cause it to collapse. But his daughter's pirate friend was willing to risk his life to save his Kingdom. The King decided to have faith in the brave young man in the hopes that he could defeat Crocodile and that they could escape the battle with their lives.

"I can tell from Cobra's reaction that the Pluton really does exist," Crocodile stated. "I don't need the Poneglyph. I can find the Pluton on my own. Once this country is mine it's only a matter of time!"

"There's just one problem with that," Y/N told him. "As long as I'm here, you'll never rule this Kingdom."

"Then that's a problem I'll rectify RIGHT NOW!" Crocodile charged Y/N and Nico Robin with his poisonous hook poised to attack.

"Stay back and only get involved if you see an opening," Y/N instructed the woman next to him. He changed the grip on his sword and prepared to face Crocodile's attack. "I've got this."

-x-

Vivi ran so fast through the streets of Alubarna that her sandals ripped and she fell to the ground. SKUSSSHH!

"Aaahhh..." the Princess gasped and held her badly scraped shin. "Three minutes left," she thought to herself. "Where is it? A cannon big enough to destroy such a large area has to be enormous! There can't be many places to hide such a weapon. So why are we still unable to find it after all this? An open space where a cannon would fit..."

ZING! "WAAAH!" Usopp shrieked in terror behind Vivi as a bullet whizzed by his head. "STOP SHOOTING!"

Suddenly Vivi's eyes went wide. "An open space..."

"That's not fair Koza!" one of the young members of the Sand Sand Band complained many years ago when they were little kids playing hide-and-seek, "Hiding in a place like this the entire time!"

"Yeah Leader!" Vivi agreed. "No fair!"

"Yes... that place would work..." Vivi realized. SHE KNEW WHERE THE BOMB WAS!

"THAT'S DANGEROUS I TOLD YOU TO STOP SHOOTING AT ME!" Usopp screamed at some soldiers. "TASTE SMOKE STAR!" CHOO! Usopp fired a pellet at the men shooting at him with his slingshot and engulfed them in a cloud of smoke. FWOOOSSH!

"HEY!" a soldier shouted as he ran at Usopp.

"That's perfect," Vivi muttered as she ignored the sniper's plight. "It's hidden and it's big!"

"STOP IT IDIOT!" Usopp shouted as he ran passed Vivi with a royal soldier chasing him. "I told you I'm not from the Rebel Army! USOPP HAMMER!" KONK! KONK! "USOPP RUBBERBAND OF DOOOOOM!" SNAP! "THAT SHOULD TEACH YA!" Usopp ran the other way, "DO THEY KNOW WHO THEY'RE DEALING WITH HERE?"

The glared at the other soldiers that had shot at him, "Don't be afraid when I tell you this! NO! BE VERY AFRAID! I AM THE INCREDIBLE CAPTAIN USOPP!"

YOINK! Vivi grabbed Usopp's long nose and pulled him around to face her.

"WAAH!" the incredible Captain Usopp screamed but then calmed down, "Oh, it's you Vivi. Were you able to find the cannoneer?"'

"I know now," she told him. "I figured it out."

"What? You know where?" Usopp questioned. He fished into his weapon pouch and pulled out a red pellet and put it in his slingshot. "I'll signal everyone, you're sure about this right?"

"Yes," Vivi assured him.

"SPECIAL ATTACK... RED SERPANT STAR!" WHOOOM! As soon as it was fired the red pellet burst and became a ball of red smoke. It flew up into the air and floated over their heads signaling their location.

All around the square Pell, Ayako and the Straw Hats spotted the red smoke floating overhead.

Even Zoro, who without Usopp to hold him back had somehow gotten lost and ended up OUTSIDE of Alubarna, spotted it.

-x-

"Zzzzz..." the red smoke could even be seen from the patch of grass that Luffy was sleeping on. "Zzzzzzzzz..." SNORT! Luffy awoke with a start and pushed moved himself around so he was sitting cross-legged on the grass.

"Aahhh, I slept good," Luffy sighed. "Oh that's right... I couldn't move all of a sudden and decided to risk it and take a nap right here since there was really no other choice. Yeah... and I feel better now. So..." ZZZZZOOOOM! Reenergized from his two minute nap Luffy raced off. "ITS TIME FOR ME TO BEAT UP CROCODILE!"

WOOOOSSSHH! Luffy raced passed the secret stairs but skidded to a stop, SKIISSSHHHH!

"Huff... huff... huff..." Luffy panted as he looked over his shoulder at the secret stairs. "That hole over there looks kind of... Croc-ish!"

-x-

Down below, the third battle between Y/N and Crocodile had gotten underway.

"Flying... ARROW KICK!" Y/N launched himself feet-first at Crocodile. WOOOSSHH! Crocodile turned into sand and Y/N flew straight through him. TMP! Y/N landed in a crouch.

SHWOOO! Crocodile reformed behind him and lashed out his poison hook, WOOOSH! "Quarterstaff... SWEEP!" THWAK! Y/N spun under the hook and swept the Warlord's legs.

WOOOSH! Crocodile's unbalanced legs became sand and the top half of his body floated away to keep him from falling over.

"DIE ONE EYE!" Crocodile shouted as he flew down at Y/N from overhead.

"YOU FIRST!" Y/N yelled back. "Red Blade... VOLCANO!" SHOOM! Y/N launched himself up off of the ground and spun around in midair. KLANG! Y/N's sword collided with Crocodile's hook and knocked it aside. "Machete BACK KICK!" Y/N kept spinning and lashed his leg out behind him. THWAK! The Sea Stone boot smashed into Crocodile's chest and sent him flying backwards.

TMP! Y/N landed safely on the ground while Crocodile turned into sand to keep from slamming into the wall. SWOOOSH! The sand floated down to the ground and the Warlord reformed on his feet.

"I'll admit it," Crocodile confessed, "For a no-account pirate, you're not bad."

"You forget," Y/N corrected him, "I'm not just a Straw Hat. You're talking to the One-Eyed Jack of Spades and a former Whitebeard Pirate."

"None-the-less, you're still going to die here!" Crocodile assured him. WOOOOOSSSSHHH! Crocodile's legs became sand and he flew at Y/N with his poison hook once again poised to attack.

"I won't die without taking you down first!" Y/N insisted as he raced to meet Crocodile.

The two clashed in the middle of the tomb.

THWAK! SHUNK! Y/N drove his Sea Stone boot and his sword into Crocodile's stomach. "Got you," Y/N taunted.

"UUGGGHH!" Crocodile groaned as his blood spilled out. SLISH! With a great deal of effort the Warlord slashed Y/N's side with his poison hook. "And I got you!"

FWUMP! Y/N dropped to the ground and Crocodile staggered backwards and held his wound.

"Kuahahaha," Crocodile laughed, "You may have stabbed me... but a wound like this isn't fatal. Yours however... has deadly scorpion venom in it. It's over One Eye. YOU LOSE!"

"Aaaahhhh..." Y/N gasped as the poison began to take its toll on his body.

"You're next Nico Robin!" Crocodile declared. "It'll finish you and Cobra right here. Then in three minutes the bomb will blow up the square. Then everyone standing in my way will be eliminated! And in that moment, this land, WILL BECOME MINE ENTIRELY! KUAHAHAHAHAHAHA! KUUAAHAAHAAHAAHAAHAAHAAHAA!"

-x-

Luffy could hear Crocodile's mocking laughter echoing through the mausoleum as he raced down the long flight of stairs as fast as he could.

"WHERE ARE YOU?" Luffy shouted in his mind. "CROOOOCOOODIIIIILEEEEE!"

-x-

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!!!